Oracle

Epilogue

Justice woke up suddenly. The last memory of soil covering his mouth and eyes rushing through him sharply. He looked around suddenly, and found himself in a stone room, empty of anything apart from a metal door and metal chains which were keeping him in the centre of the room. He was naked and his fake leg was gone. It was cold. Justice shivered, closing his eyes again and sobbed. He was going to die. He was going to die and John was going to make as painful as possible just because he wanted to be free. 

"I've told you before, Justice. Crying is pointless," John's voice echoed around the room suddenly. Wrapping around Justice and making it hard for the man to breathe as fear flooded through him.

"Yes, Master," Justice agreed, unable to stop the tears rolling down his face. He rubbed his cheeks but it didn't stop them. They just kept coming, rolling down his arms as he tried to dry them. 

"You look like such a baby," John's voice scolded with disgust. The door swung open and John was stood there in his human form again, barefoot and hair like he had just been dragged through some bushes backwards. He was wearing a green tunic and soft trousers. It was a strange look on the normally well-dressed man. Somehow more alien than the monstrous form Justice had seen in the forest. The anger on John's face was the same though. The fury in his eyes still burned into Justice soul. 

Justice met them for a few moments before look down in shame. He had known the risks, hadn't he? He had known from the start how John treated those who tried to escape him. 

"How long have you served me now, Justice?" John asked, his voice still echoing in the stone room. Apparently, there was going to be no idle talk, they were just going to dive straight into this. "And in that time, have I ever broken a promise?"

Justice bit his lip and curled his hands into fists on the floor. "Almost 6 years, and no, Master, you have not," he admitted almost steadily, with the tears rolling down his face like a child he had already lost part of his dignity. As for promises, John had always stated when he could or could not promise something. John had always been very clear on all of it. Justice knew that.

"The last time you ran from me, what did I promise you?" John asked, shifting his hips and leaning against the doorframe 

"I didn't run from you last time! I went to my mothers funeral! I was always coming back," Justice found himself yelling, looking up at John desperately. That was a mistake.

John's whip appeared in his hand and he flexed it threateningly. "Want to try that again Justice?" He demanded in his own yell. John's stronger, firmer and a lot more serious that Justice could ever really hope to be.

"You promised," Justice hiccupped slightly before bowing his head. "You promised you would kill me," Justice admitted, trembling. "You also said it was going to be painful," he added tearfully.

"Yes," John agreed. "It will be." John walked forward and reached down to unfasten in the chains on Justice's wrists, Justice sitting quietly as he did so, tears still rolling down his cheeks.

"Master, please," Justice pleaded, gripping onto John's soft trousers tightly as John stood up. Unable to keep from begging just once for John not to kill him. "Don't do this."

John cupped Justice's chin, his hand almost as cold as the look in his eyes. "It's too late for that now," John said neutrally. "You broke the rules, Justice. You must be made an example off." John slapped Justice face hard, making the young man yell in fright and let go of Johns trousers. He crawled backwards, trying to escape more pain but John grabbed him by his hair. The fae's fingers curling painfully in the curled locks as he dragged Justice behind him.

Justice screamed in pain, unable to do anything without his fake leg. One leg wasn't enough to get purchase on the ground. John gave no mercy and continued to drag him by his hair. Tears ran down his face and Justice scratched at Johns' hands, trying to get the supernatural creature to let him go.