Prolongue: Heavens hell, hellish heaven.

The depths of hevenly hell

He tried to move, but his body protested and a sharp pain shot through him.

"Don't try to move. They did quite a job on you. You must have fought back as I saw some injuries on that ... monster." He heard a soft, yet quite angry voice coming from across the room, he apparently was in.

"I did my best and tried to take care of your wounds with the stuff they gave me but it's only so-so. I'm not a medic..." The voice seemed displeased and Seok sighed.

The myriad of questions that swirled in his head earlier that day multiplied, and he felt his headache worsen.

"Thanks, I guess." Seok thanked the voice.

"Don't thank me. If they took you here with the same purpose as those I saw before, you'll wish you died in that fight."

Ignoring the pain, Seok managed to shift into sitting position and as his eyes became little accustomed to the darkness, he noticed that he was in some kind of cell, with two old looking beds, one which he occupied and the second across the room and presumably where the second voice resided.

"Despite that, thanks." Seok repeated and heard the voice sigh.

"Sure, no problem."

Seok massaged his left wrist, jerking when he felt the dull pain in it and frowned.

"So... where are we? I'm guessing you've been here for a while."

For a moment, he heard and saw nothing, but after waiting a while longer, he heard rustling of clothes.

"I've been here for a week or so, but I still have barely any idea what this place is. Only thing I know is that this is a residence of some 'Boss' person, which is held in quite high regard by those thugs that delivered you and before that, me, here. The second thing I know is the fact that his 'Boss' likes young boys and he uses them for God knows what. Scratch that, there is no God in this place..." The voice trailed off and Seok could almost hear the clenching of fists.

"I don't know what that 'Boss' does to them, but when they carry their lifeless bodies, all I can see are countless injuries and a devastated look in their eyes. As if their very souls have been crushed by something. If I'm right, something similar awaits you too in a few days time." The person probably didn't want to sound cruel, but despite that, Seok felt sick again.

"Can... can't we escape from this place?"

He heard a sad chuckle.

"Impossible. Remember that group of thugs? This 'Boss' person has twice the amount of guards and servants. Not to mention that the rumor is, he possesses some spiritual power, so the only way you could escape from this place is if you would happen to be a shinigami."

In that voice, Seok recognized the tone of somebody that submitted to his fate and he clenched his own fists and slammed them on the wall he was leaning on.

"Damn!"

After a moment of silence, he heard the other voice again.

"What is your name, anyway?"

Seok raised his head and stared at the place where he could barely see the silhouette of somebody.

"Isn't it polite to say your name first before asking for mine?" A chuckle followed his words.

"In this hole there is no place for politeness."

"That we can create it."

After another moment of silence, the other voice called out to him again.

"I'm daehyun."

Despite the situation, Seok managed to form a small smile.

"Nice to meet you, daehyun. I'm Seok."

The person across the room, daehyun, opened his mouth to say something, when they both heard a creaking noise, alerting them that someone was coming.

Not wanting to abandon his somewhat comfortable bed, Seok shifted himself, so that he could see the hallway as the light from the opened doors lit the dungeon their cell was situated in.

He heard some steps and he glanced at daehyun, who was sighing.

"They are probably carrying another one that broke." Daehyun said and Ichigo steeled himself.

It couldn't be that bad, could it?

In the next few moments, he learned just how broken a person could look.

When his eyes caught the sight of the body a duo of men was carrying across the hallway, he widened his eyes and strength abandoned his limbs and only with luck he didn't slide down on his bed.

That thing those men had in their hands didn't look like a human being anymore.

The body wasn't smashed beyond recognition.

It wasn't bloody.

It barely had any injuries at all.

What it lacked was the expression on his face, any sign of being alive. The two eyes that were staring at the ground looked so distant that the person was most likely so deep in his mind, nothing could ever bring him out of it.

His face was expressionless, yet despite that one could see the frozen horror on it, the deeply embedded humiliation after surviving something that he would never tell anyone about.

It looked so bizarre, so unreal that Seok almost wanted to look away, but he couldn't.

He felt like he was looking at the empty shell that housed nobody within.

Truly, it was a broken being with crushed soul.

It shook Seok greatly and he could almost sense the sympathetic look on daehyun's face.

"This... this is Afterlife? Isn't it supposed to be great?" Seok asked the silence.

"But it is great, don't you see? A heavenly hell."

...

(End of prolonge)