Stay

ten.

Aaliyah always wondered what it was like to be tortured.

Raised in such brutal war zones, it wasn't too far fetched for her to be concerned. It would be painful, sure, but just how painful? The human body can only withhold so much before shutting down, yet everyone had their breaking point.

Khem - Adam was determined to find hers.

Aaliyah screamed her throat raw. She thrashed so wildly against the restraints that held her that her skin was starting to peel, scraped raw and burning like nothing she'd ever felt. She felt like her heart was getting ready to explode, yet she held her tears.

She would not give the twisted man in front of her the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

"I must admit." He chuckled, as he held his hands behind his back and circled her. "You are holding up much longer than I anticipated."

"I told you once before." She panted and shut her eyes. "I cannot tell you what I do not know.

He laughed heartily. "Oh, but dear, how many times must I remind you." She yelled out in pain when he yanked her head back and she winced to avoid having to look at him. "I do not believe you!"

He released and cackled. "Do you not realize how much longer I can make this last?"

"Until you kill me, right?" She moaned, forcing back the tears. She couldn't cry.

She wouldn't.

"I can't kill you yet." A beat. "At least, not until your precious Warith Al Ghul arrives and I force him to watch me drain the life out of that pretty little neck of yours."

She stilled and forced herself to grunt out. "You are a fool if you think he will come."

"No badeen onthaa." he hissed in Arabic. Fat female. "You are the fool if you believe he will not."

As much as she wanted to not believe him, she knew he would in fact come. Even if it was too late, he would show up. She just wasn't sure if she wanted him to. She didn't doubt the Onslaught leader's warning. He could most definitely make the pain extend for however long he pleased.

That was the benefit of the herb he injected into her system every twenty or so minutes. It caused no physical pain, but instead attacked the psyche. Brought every bad or painful memory, every guilty feeling to the forefront of the mind and created unadulterated agony.

She was tortured with aberrations of her sister, of her parents, her grandparents. All of them, happy and together, only to end with visualizations of their mutilated bodies surrounding her. Their last breaths spent berating her on how she failed to save them, of how she let them down, of how she killed them.

It was different scenarios each time, but the ending was always the same.

Their blood was on her hands.

She knew deep down she blamed herself for their demise, but never thought she could have those feelings be intensified to what they were. The more the herb coursed through her system, the harder it became for her to fight to live.

"Now, let us try this again." He pulled out a knife and lightly trailed it down her chest. "Where is the Pit?" He annunciated each word.

"Let us try this again." She shut her eyes and clenched her jaw. "I don't know what you are talking about!"

He smiled when she yelled. "You have a newfound fire about you."

"I am not afraid of you anymore." She wasn't sure who she was trying to convince.