Breaking Benjamin (NSFW, 18+)

Ben flinches at the touch, starting to get unsteadily to his feet. He doesn't quite expect his legs to hold him after... after everything.

 

She settles a hand around his waist, catches his arm in her other wrist, and quietly pulls him forwards with a big smile, leading him out of the room and towards the stairs.

 

He stumbles as she pulls him along, but he doesn't fight, even as he starts shaking with panic. His hip still aches when he moves, a low throbbing of overstressed muscles and tendons that makes his breath catch.

 

She pulls open the door and pulls him down the stairs, smiling wide.

"Back to work we go, Halverson~"

 

"... how... how many are you going to break this time?" he whispers. It feels like he's been here forever.

 

"We're going to find out together, Halverson," she purrs.

 

Ben gives a tiny sob, and lets her lead him to the rack again, naked and aching and vulnerable.

 

She smiles, caressing his cheek, then shoves him against the rack, leaning forwards to lock his upper body and wrists back in.

 

He doesn't fight, lets her move him like a doll or toy, even as he's hyperventilating. It's almost a relief, after the threat of sex. Almost. Not really.

He can't take much more pain like this. He can't. His joints are only barely starting to heal, dark bruises blooming into life everywhere she breaks him, and she's already... He's going to die. He's going to die here, and there's nothing he can do, and the despair swallows him whole as she straps him down again.

 

She gently smooths back Ben's hair, sticks a length of leather in his mouth, then stalks to the wheel. "Let's begin."

 

He bites down, starting to hyperventilate again, as he braces for agony.

 

The wheel begins to turn, slow and inexorable.

 

The pops come faster this time, joints sliding back out of their abused sockets. He screams. It feels like it's tearing his throat open, again; he's had just enough time for his voice to come back.

 

She kisses his forehead.

This time she doesn't pause, just keeps going, turning the wheel on and on, watching silently as it takes him apart.

This has got to work.

It has to work right this time.

 

All his limbs are coming undone, and then ... then the ligaments start breaking with sharp snaps, and bruises bloom at his shoulders and hips. He screams until his voice is destroyed again, and he keeps screaming; tiny, agonized whispers of sound. He looks pleadingly up at her, lips shaping soundless pleas, begging for her to stop, for her to end this. He can't take it anymore.

 

The woman stares down at him.

Her face is painted.

Did she... when did she do that? Ben can't remember her stepping away, but she has to have. It's...

The woman circles to stand in front of him, pulling a necklace off of her neck. It's cord, wrapped around a huge, bloody tooth, serrated and three inches long.

 

It looks like a skull. It looks like she's some kind of phantom, and for a moment, he can't tell whether it's paint or whether it's really her death that he sees, leaking through her skin. He stares at her, shaking. Is she going to let him go, until tomorrow?

Or are things going to get worse?

 

The whole world starts to shift like it's underwater, like the lights are seeping down from the ceiling through deep, deep water, creating slow-drifting patterns of light.

She steps forwards, tooth clutched in her hand.

"My name is Veronica Douglas."

The woman presses a hand to his throat, and begins to carve into Ben's skin, murmuring, as The Drowned Woman rises behind her, helping guide her hand as she moves the tooth along and through his skin, slow and deliberate.

"Benjamin Halverson."

She drags the tooth through another curled pattern, leaving more blood spilling out across his body.

"Today Is The Day You Die."

 

He can't make a sound, even as he arches and tries to scream, tries to cringe away from the sharp cuts. He looks up at her pleadingly, tears leaking from his eyes to mingle with the blood.

After all this... God. He knew... he knew he wouldn't make it out alive, after this. But somehow, he still hoped...

He still wants to live.

 

The agony goes on, as she cuts, slow and patient, endless, tiny injuries, making him bleed, slow and painful.

Then she presses a hand to his chest, grits her teeth, and starts digging through his chest, forcing her way in.

She could have used the bonesaw. She knows she could have, but...

This requires a dedication.

No shortcuts.

She can't afford to make a single mistake.

Not anymore.

She reaches in to the wide gash in his chest with bloody hands, grips his rips, and hears the satisfying crack as she jerks them apart.

She watches his heart beating, fast and frantic.

Closes her eyes.

Breathes out slowly.

"Yosef Adler, I Dedicate This Death To You."

She pulls her arm back, adjusting her grip on the tooth so she won't let it slip or fall, even with bloodslicked fingers.

"You Live. You Die. You Live Again."

Ben feels the tooth pierce his heart.