Kracken
Disclaimer:I don't own them and I don't make any money off of this.
Warning: Male/male sex, S&M, NCS, submissive Duo, Ocs, graphic, violence,
language, bondage, uhm... drugs... I think that's it.
Mind's Eye
Market
1x2, 6 x 2, oc x1, ocs x ocs, will eventually be an exclusive 1x2.
He felt cold bars and something cold and metallic underneath him. Duo stirred.
His head ached. His right arm felt wounded. He tried to reach for the pain and
discovered that his wrists were bound behind his back. He tried to lever himself
onto his knees and banged his head and back on bars over head. Naked, shaky,
and disoriented, he discovered the limits of his new world; four foot square.
Something was wrapped tightly around his eyes, making his open eyes blind. He
tried to rub it off against the bars and failed.
"Do you feel that?" a rough voice asked and Duo felt the prickle of electricity very close to his arm. "Make any trouble and I'll taze you."
He understood the words, but they dropped into a mental emptiness as vast as a dark lake. There was nothing in his mind that told him who the voice belonged to, nothing that told him why he was in the situation he found himself in now, or what situation he should be in instead.
Voices, they were all around him; mostly calling numbers back and forth excitedly. He smelled cigarette smoke and heard feet shuffling and walking around him. One voice suddenly said over the others, smooth and cultured, "Twenty thousand." No one spoke after that except to curse and mutter.
Feet moved away and so did the cigarette smoke.
"How do you want him?" a strange voice wondered and there was the shuffle of paper and pencil.
"Naked," the cultured voice replied. "Collar, rings, drugged."
There was a snort of amusement. "Pet?"
"Assuredly so," the voice replied. "May I ask where you found him?"
"Passed out in a gutter. I think someone robbed him. Pretty thing. I couldn't pass up the opportunity. He didn't take much cleaning and he's taking the drugs well. Keep the insert in and up to date and he'll be open to any suggestion you give him. I hope he's worth your twenty grand. He's not that young and he's marked."
"Aren't you supposed to be congratulating me on my purchase?" the cultured voice wondered, amused.
"Someone like you, I want happy," the man grumbled. "I'm not about to pull anything over on you."
"I'm glad you realize that... for your health's sake," the man agreed. "Now, if you please, get him prepared. I'll have my men pick him up."
"Must be nice having such a large estate," the man said enviously. "You can have a hundred 'pets' and no one would know."
"It is very nice," the cultured man chuckled. "But this is my first such... eccentricity. One of my associates saw his advertisement and alerted me."
"Looking for something special, then? Well, he is unusual. That hair.. That doubled his price right there."
"He's well worth it," the cultured man agreed, but then warned, "Be gentle with him. I don't want him injured or abused in any way."
"Whatever you say, sir."
"Yes, whatever I say."
Footsteps went away. Duo shivered. It was one thing to understand what they were saying, but it was another thing entirely to put it into any context. They might as well have been speaking another language.
"Hey," the man said very close by. "You did good. That's one powerful son of a bitch. You'll be in the lap of luxury." Then the voice moved further away and said, "Put the rings on him... no, not any of that, and a collar... the good one with the silver studs."
Someone grabbed Duo by the bangs and pulled his head against the bars. Something that smelled like new leather went around his neck. Metal jingled and bobbed against the skin. A hand slipped into the collar and held him tightly.
"Got him."
"Steady."
A cold hand grabbed Duo between the legs from behind. He started and tried to move away, but the hand was practiced and firm. More metal touched his skin and closed around the base of his sack. When he moved, he heard a jingle there as well. The leather binding wasn't tight or painful, but it was there and Duo felt nervous about that, though he didn't know why.
The hands released him.
"Good boy. Might as well let his arms go. He's in for a long ride and the drugs are working well."
Duo's wrists were released. They fell at his sides and he wasn't sure what to do with his new freedom. Rings clinked and there was the feel of leather bands around his wrists. He lifted a hand to touch his hurting arm and felt an odd nub under his skin.
"Hey now!" one of the voices warned. "No touching that, or else."
Duo dropped his hand, obeying without thought because he didn't have any thoughts to think of a different response.
"Everything's locked, so you'll only hurt yourself trying to get out of them, got that?"
"Might as well talk to a damned chair. Don't talk to the merchandise, idiot."
"Whatever. Load him up."
Duo clutched at the bars as his cage tipped and rocked. There was a brief moment when he felt the sun on his naked body, but then he was cold again and something clanging shut. An engine started up and Duo felt more movement.
"I can't believe he's doing this," a new voice said close by.
"If you have money and power, why not?" another voice replied.
"It's sick," the first voice retorted. "That's a man in there!"
"Not anymore," the second voice replied. "Now he's the boss's toy, so get used to seeing it."
"Someone's going to know who he is," the first voice warned.
"The seller didn't," the second replied contemptuously. "If he had, he would have sold Duo Maxwell, Gundam pilot, for a hell of a lot more than twenty thousand."
Gundam pilot. Duo Maxwell. Sold. Twenty thousand. Toy. The words touched Duo, but didn't trigger any thoughts or any memories. They skipped over the surface of his mind and then were gone. He curled up, exhausted, anxious, and hurting, and waited to see what happened next.
It was a long time before the truck stopped. Feet scuffed. A door was thrown open with a loud clang that made Duo start and shiver, and then his cage was being lifted and carried into sunlight again. It was warm, and there was a long walk that allowed Duo to hear birdsong, feel a clean breeze, and hear it sifting through the leaves of trees. Then the heat on his skin was gone and he heard the muffled sounds that told him that he was inside again.
The cage was put down. Duo huddled in a ball, arms around his knees and the bars pressing against his back. Not knowing what was going to happen next was fraying his nerves. He was afraid in, a vague sort of way, and not sure why. His fear was without expectation. He didn't wonder if the men around him would hurt him. He didn't wonder if he had been taken to a bad place. He couldn't remember any experiences where he had suffered. When there was nothing to spark the few memories he did possess, he was without them completely. Instead, it was the anticipation of feeling, of something touching him unexpectedly, and of motion, that had him on edge.
"Leave," a familiar voice said.
"Sir?" One of Duo's handlers sounded incredulous.
"I'm his master," the man told him curtly. "I have to teach him what is expected of him. He can't be confused by having anyone else near him." There was a paused and then the man said disdainfully, "Surely you can't imagine that I can't defend myself against him?"
"Of course not, sir," the handler became deferential instantly. "As you wish."
Footsteps retreated and then lone footsteps walked around Duo's cage. "Clean," the man sniffed. "I don't think I care for their definition." There was a sigh and then water began to pour nearby. "It seems I will have to spend a few hours being your manservant, but... don't get used to it."
The water continued to pour. The man walked about. Things were moved. Duo listened intently and then started when hands touched the leather ring between his legs. Duo heard the jingle of rings and a lock clicking closed. He shivered as the cold fingers touched flesh, weighed his sack possessively, and then let it go.
Footsteps came around his cage and then metal squeaked as the door to the cage opened. Something tugged on the ring between Duo's legs and he flinched.
"Out," the man commanded. "Come forward on your hands and knees."
Another tug. It hurt, not a great deal, but that small pain promised that it could be worse if he didn't obey. Slowly, Duo walked forward on his hands and knees. When he was clear of the cage, he began to sit up. A hand pushed his head down.
"No." The command was sharp. Duo was startled again and he huddled in on himself, unsure what was expected."Stay down," the voice told him. "You will always stay down until I tell you otherwise."
Hands tugged at Duo's long braid, unraveling it and spreading it out. It poured over his back, but it was stiff in places and tangled. The hands left him and something clicked and whirled several times.
"It's always good to record the beginning of an endeavor," the man said with some satisfaction.
A moment passed while Duo felt his knees becoming sore. He began to sit down, but that tug on his sack had him up again instantly. That was slightly more painful.
"Only when I tell you that you can sit," the man warned. A hand caressed Duo's cheek and then cupped under his chin almost playfully. "As long as you obey, you will be treated well." The hand tightened. "Disobeying my orders will always have consequences."
Duo was released. The water was turned off.
"You need to bathe. Come forward."
Duo moved forward without the tug.
"Excellent!" the man praised and, when Duo reached the tub of steaming water, he was given a soothing rub along his back. It was pleasant, much better than being punished. Hands helped him into the water, but he floundered, unsure, as the hot water sizzled on his skin and he was pushed into it almost up to his chin. The man chuckled at him. "You are in a very expensive, Italian marble bathing pool, my pet. Enjoy yourself."
Duo did after he recovered from his uncertainty. Hands washed him with pleasant motions. His hair was scrubbed gently. His aches and pains were soothed away by the hot water. His experience with the market faded away and he relaxed.
"Out," the man commanded. Duo climbed out with help and stood, dripping, until a hand pushed him down onto all fours again. He was dried and then his hair was combed out. It was a long process, with many tugs and patient moments spent teasing out knots. When it finally fell free, it was pulled back, left unbraided, and tied with a hair ribbon half way down.
There was a moment when Duo felt almost alone. Footsteps receded. Hand weren't touching him. He was on all fours on cool marble, nothing in his mind but the uncomfortableness of the position, and then he heard a bottle open and he smelled it. A familiar cologne. It scratched at memory and peeled back his numbing cushion of drugs like a scab over a wound. Heero! His mind shouted it and it galvanized his body into motion. He scrambled up, still blind, and crouched as if to... but he didn't know what he intended to do. His mind couldn't translate his incoherent memory into action.
"No! Down!" The command was shouted, the voice of a man used to being obeyed, used to commanding men. The leash snapped and Duo howled. Before he could reach down to his pain, hands were wrenching his arms back and the sound of a lock clicking was harsh. Arms bound, Duo was thrown down. A hand held his collar, keeping him in place, while another touched the nub on the side of his arm.
The smell was gone. The memory it had stirred, faded. Duo's mind slipped into blankness again.
"I told you," the man said angrily. "Disobeying has consequences."
Duo was pulled by his lead to a wall. He moved awkwardly, falling more than once as he tried to move on his knees. Something clicked to a ring on his collar.
"You will spend some time alone. That is your punishment," the man told him."It may not seem very harsh, but you will find that, after awhile, it can become quite unendurable."
The footsteps receded. A door opened and closed. Duo strained his ears, but there wasn't any sound. He slumped against the wall with a small whine of confusion. He had three feet to move, a chain pulling him up short when he tried to settle more comfortably. Without any sounds, without anyone to talk to him or touch him, Duo's mind slipped into a blankness that was, true to the man's promise, unendurable. He curled up against the wall, knees held tightly to his chest, and felt stinging tears.
Heero Yuy walked the rain drenched streets of the entertainment section of the city. It was very late at night, closing time for the bars, and it wasn't unusual to find drunks staggering home. It was a time for fools and those who preyed on them.
Heero broke all the rules. He walked near darkened alleyways and looked both lost and rich in his expensive 'club clothes'. He stopped, checked street signs, and moved with an unsteady gait. It wasn't long before someone took the bait.
There wasn't a fight. Heero wasn't drunk, he was very much sober as he thrust the ragged man against a brick wall and held him in place by a strong arm across his throat. Lanky hair, narrow face, and small eyes, the man looked his part; a small time thief who couldn't pass up opportunity when it knocked.
"Answer me truthfully and I won't snap your neck," Heero warned in a low dangerous voice.
Heero's eyes were hard blue and the man didn't doubt that Heero would do exactly what he threatened. He nodded and then choked when the arm tightened.
"There was man; very long, brown braid," Heero described. "He came here to drink and never came home. Even drunk, he's a match for you, but I suspect that someone else might have had the ability to over power him. You have five seconds to tell me exactly what you know."
Heero began to count. The man's eyes went wide. "Yeah, I saw it go down!" The man said quickly. "Palo nailed him, hit him good right on the head. The guy was out like a light and Palo rolled him. I was going to see if there were any leavings, but some other guy came along and took him."
"Where?" Heero demanded as he ended his count.
"I don't know and that's the truth!" the man exclaimed fearfully. "Stuff like that happens here. Sometimes, they want your cash, other times, they want all of you. Sometimes, they just want you dead."
"Tell me exactly what this man looked like," Heero demanded icily. "If I find out that you are lying, I will come back and kill you."
The thief swallowed hard and scrambled, in his alcohol riddled brain, to remember a man, in the shadows, taking a long haired man from the gutter.
TBC