That Boy is a Monster V
Title: That Boy is a Monster
Pairing: none even though SOMEONE insists it's Taoris
Rating: PG-13
Genre: AU
Previous Chapters: One, Two, Three, Four
Disclaimer: I never claimed to be good at this
Kris had laid awake that night, long after he'd been moved back to his quarters. He'd sprawled out on the mattress, arm folded behind his head, and stared at the ceiling. His expression was blank, empty; Yixing watched him on the monitor for a while, trying to decipher exactly what the lack of expression could mean. It was well past midnight before he finally gave up trying and moved to the couch to sleep.
Every time Kris closed his eyes, the images of Tao he had seen on the screen played against his eyelids, a grotesque movie with no storyline behind it. It eventually followed him into his dreams when exhaustion took over; the world in his mind was reduced to blood, skin, and cold blue eyes. Ice, and death, and Tao's face, both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.
He jerked awake with a gasp, sat up, and propped himself against the wall to wait for the next time that exhaustion would drag him back into uncomfortable, fitful sleep.
In his room down the hall, Tao was slumped against the wall just inside the door. His shirt lay crumpled in a ball on the floor next to him, stained with red that was drying to brown already. There was still blood splattered on his skin, and his hands were smudged and smeared with it, but there was nothing he could do about that right now. They wouldn't allow him a shower until the morning, at the very least. He let his head rest back against the wall and closed his eyes, sighing softly.
He'd killed another young target tonight. A Korean. He only knew that much because the boy had been screaming at him in a language he couldn't understand; Tao could hear it now, though he hadn't really at the time. He had appeared in the room where the boy and a handful of security guards had been; they too had lost their lives that night, joined the ranks of the countless personnel who had gotten between Tao and his target and had not lived to tell the tale. There had been four of them, and it hadn't been difficult to dispatch them; they had, however, managed to land a few blows of their own, blows Tao could now feel in his ribs and chest.
It was hardly an even trade, those blows for their lives. Tao had finished them, barely noticing how slick his skin became when their blood sprayed on him, and had turned his attention to the young, screaming Korean. The boy's name was Jongdae, and he had fought back of course; they always fought back if given a chance. However, a few strikes with the bladed staff Tao had been given were more than enough to drop him to his knees.
He'd clutched at Tao's shirt, begging him with words Tao didn't understand and staring up at him with pleading eyes. And Tao had looked down at him, his own eyes devoid of anything resembling humanity, and slit his throat deep.
He'd died quickly, and the proof of that had been absorbed into Tao's skin. He opened his eyes and stared at the dark discolouration on his hands before picking up the shirt and trying in vain to scrub it away again.
The next morning, Kris sat at the desk, one hand cuffed to the chair, and watched the monitors. Tao was still in his room, eyes closed, one leg bent at the knee and the other stretched out as he seemed to doze against the wall. Kris swallowed hard as he examined the image on the screen, taking in the dark splotches on his friend that showed the blood still stained his skin, and finally he looked away.
From the couch, Yixing watched and smiled.
It was late morning before someone finally fetched Tao from his room. Two of Yixing's lackeys came and pulled the boy to his feet, ignoring the way his legs buckled and the soft groan of pain he let out. They dragged him to the showers and let him go; when he collapsed against the wooden bench and didn't move, one of them picked him up and shoved him into the small shower. He leaned against the wall, breathing heavily as pain ran through his chest and side, and barely made a sound when he was stripped naked and the water was turned on.
His ribs had been cracked. He could tell; he'd been hit hard last night, had taken a kick or two to his ribcage, and now that his human side had come back fully and he'd had a few hours, the pain was starting to get worse. Tao stayed on the floor where they'd left him and just let the hot water pound his skin. It was the easiest way to wash it all away, and it didn't require much movement.
"Don't touch me..." he whispered when they returned for him. They ignored him, lifting him onto the bench and forcibly redressing him in clean clothes before dragging him out again. He went limp as they moved down the hall again, eyes closing, voice only lasting for a moment before it failed. "Hurts..."
He was unconscious when they got back to his room; instead of just tossing him inside and leaving him sprawled out on the floor, the men carefully set him on the bed, propping him up against the wall. One turned to look up at the camera in the corner; Kris was watching, unable to ignore the monitor for Tao's room for very long when there was movement in it.
"Z's injured. May need medical attention."
Kris looked back at Yixing; the thin boy had moved closer when the men had dragged Tao into his room, and he was examining the screen from just behind Kris. His face was dark, filled with annoyance.
"I hate it when my toys break..." he sighed and looked at Kris, seeming surprised when he saw his expression. "You look upset."
"Tao isn't a toy." He pointed at the monitor. "He's a person, and he's hurt..."
Yixing frowned. "He's a monster, you saw him last night. He's not human."
"He doesn't have to be human to be a person!" Kris shouted, standing from his seat; the handcuff around his wrist pulled tight, keeping him from going anywhere, but he grabbed at Yixing with his free hand. "He's not some plaything!"
Yixing stepped out of Kris's reach, jaw clenching as they stared at each other angrily. He had thought he'd broken Kris of this weird bond he had with the monster... not many people would see a murderer covered in blood, with eyes like shards of ice, and consider them to be a friend still.
"Something more will have to be done to free you from his grasp, apparently," Yixing murmured finally, licking his lips and tucking his hands into his pockets. "My little monster got his claws into you deep."
He tilted his head, indicating for Kris to sit down again; the boy ignored the motion, even tugged at the handcuffs to try to break them open again. Yixing sighed and moved back to the couch, sprawling out on it and resting his head on his pillow with a yawn.
"Relax. I'll call for the physician and have him checked out. Even if we have differing opinions on what he is... he belongs to me, just like you. I don't like when my things are broken, and I can't discard him just yet."
Kris clenched his teeth, fingers curling into fists at his sides as he visibly shook. The handler closed his eyes, listening for the quiet creak of his pet sinking back into his chair as his mind spun.
There had to be a way to win his allegiance from the monster. There just had to be.
The physician didn't come until after Kris had been returned to his room; the young man had protested, had refused to return to his quarters until he was sure Tao was being taken care of, which had pricked at Yixing's nerves. He'd grabbed Kris's shirt and lifted it roughly, tracing a line of scarred flesh as he whispered a quiet reminder of his prisoner's place. The young man had flinched and gone quiet, though the defiance had remained in his eyes. His memories of what had happened hadn't yet faded enough to allow for courage in the face of threats, however, and he'd allowed himself to be led away.
Yixing stood just inside the door as the doctor examined Tao. The boy had been unconscious most of the day, and was barely awake now. The old man had given him a sedative when he'd arrived, just enough to make his limbs heavy and his reactions sluggish; the monster watched him, groaning quietly as he prodded and poked at his bared chest and abdomen. Tao's fingers curled into the blanket under him as the pain breached his medication's reach.
"Cracked ribs," the old man murmured, casting a glance back at Yixing. The tall young man crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe, a soft sigh escaping him as he shook his head. "I can't give you a total guarantee of that unless I take him to the medical ward for x-rays, but that's what it seems like."
"How long will it take for them to heal."
The physician shrugged. "Normal humans take a couple of months, most of the time, depending on the severity. I don't know about him, though. I've never had a chance to study him. Whatever he is could heal faster than we do. You'll have to be easy on him for a while though, if you put him through training like this it could make it much worse."
Tao mumbled something unintelligible, and Yixing shot him a dirty look. He was a broken toy, and in Yixing's opinion, broken toys should be quiet until they were fixed and usable again. He motioned to the door, indicating the doctor could go, and moved to perch himself on the edge of Tao's small bed.
"I'll leave medicine in your office. He's going to need it."
A suited man met the doctor just outside the door and led him away; as soon as he had gone, the handler turned his full attention to his injured monster and sighed. Tao was staring at him, eyes bleary. The look on his face irritated Yixing, and he reached to grip the boy's chin. Slowly he tilted Tao's head back, stretching and exposing his neck and the collar locked around it.
"You look almost human right now," he murmured, tapping a long finger against the boy's cheek as he examined him. Tao tried to turn his head, a growl catching in his throat, and Yixing frowned. "Injured and in pain like this... Do you know how much trouble you're causing me? I'm going to have to call in favours... I should punish you and Wufan both for how careless you were."
Tao lifted a hand and sluggishly placed it on Yixing's wrist; the handler didn't bother to shake him off. He was too weakened by drugs and his injury to do anything, and Yixing knew it.
"He doesn't like to be called that." Yixing arched an eyebrow. "Please let him go. I won't run again, I'll do anything you want... just don't hurt him anymore..."
Yixing sighed and squirmed his wrist out of Tao's hand. He didn't immediately let go; in fact, his grip tightened, and when the handler worked his arm free, he grabbed the boy's hand and pushed it up against the wall next to his head. He held it there, face close to Tao's as he leaned over him with a small smile. Tao turned his head, moving his face away and closing his eyes, a slight grimace flashing across his face at the jab of pain Yixing moving his arm caused.
"I don't trust you, Zitao. You can say you'll behave over and over... but I don't think you would. You're so willful, even now when asking for a favour from me." His lips brushed against Tao's ear as he moved closer to it to whisper. "Your friend is mine now. I think I'll hold onto him a while longer... at least until I'm done playing with him."
He released Tao's arm, and the monster let it fall to the bed. His entire body was dead weight now; moving hurt too much to bother trying. Breathing even hurt, and Tao knew it would be weeks before he could take a deep breath without his chest aching. The handler leaned back again, and his fingers brushed lightly through Tao's tousled hair, fixing it absently.
"You'd be pretty if you were a human. It's a shame that a monster and a killer was born with such a face." He patted Tao's cheek lightly before standing and heading for the door without another word.
Before Yixing swung the door shut, Tao opened his eyes. The dark brown orbs fixed on the well-dressed man, and a slight smile tipped one corner of his mouth up.
"Someday I'm going to kill you, too."
I promise to update my other stories in this coming week. Apologies for my absence.
Pairing: none even though SOMEONE insists it's Taoris
Rating: PG-13
Genre: AU
Previous Chapters: One, Two, Three, Four
Disclaimer: I never claimed to be good at this
Kris had laid awake that night, long after he'd been moved back to his quarters. He'd sprawled out on the mattress, arm folded behind his head, and stared at the ceiling. His expression was blank, empty; Yixing watched him on the monitor for a while, trying to decipher exactly what the lack of expression could mean. It was well past midnight before he finally gave up trying and moved to the couch to sleep.
Every time Kris closed his eyes, the images of Tao he had seen on the screen played against his eyelids, a grotesque movie with no storyline behind it. It eventually followed him into his dreams when exhaustion took over; the world in his mind was reduced to blood, skin, and cold blue eyes. Ice, and death, and Tao's face, both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.
He jerked awake with a gasp, sat up, and propped himself against the wall to wait for the next time that exhaustion would drag him back into uncomfortable, fitful sleep.
In his room down the hall, Tao was slumped against the wall just inside the door. His shirt lay crumpled in a ball on the floor next to him, stained with red that was drying to brown already. There was still blood splattered on his skin, and his hands were smudged and smeared with it, but there was nothing he could do about that right now. They wouldn't allow him a shower until the morning, at the very least. He let his head rest back against the wall and closed his eyes, sighing softly.
He'd killed another young target tonight. A Korean. He only knew that much because the boy had been screaming at him in a language he couldn't understand; Tao could hear it now, though he hadn't really at the time. He had appeared in the room where the boy and a handful of security guards had been; they too had lost their lives that night, joined the ranks of the countless personnel who had gotten between Tao and his target and had not lived to tell the tale. There had been four of them, and it hadn't been difficult to dispatch them; they had, however, managed to land a few blows of their own, blows Tao could now feel in his ribs and chest.
It was hardly an even trade, those blows for their lives. Tao had finished them, barely noticing how slick his skin became when their blood sprayed on him, and had turned his attention to the young, screaming Korean. The boy's name was Jongdae, and he had fought back of course; they always fought back if given a chance. However, a few strikes with the bladed staff Tao had been given were more than enough to drop him to his knees.
He'd clutched at Tao's shirt, begging him with words Tao didn't understand and staring up at him with pleading eyes. And Tao had looked down at him, his own eyes devoid of anything resembling humanity, and slit his throat deep.
He'd died quickly, and the proof of that had been absorbed into Tao's skin. He opened his eyes and stared at the dark discolouration on his hands before picking up the shirt and trying in vain to scrub it away again.
The next morning, Kris sat at the desk, one hand cuffed to the chair, and watched the monitors. Tao was still in his room, eyes closed, one leg bent at the knee and the other stretched out as he seemed to doze against the wall. Kris swallowed hard as he examined the image on the screen, taking in the dark splotches on his friend that showed the blood still stained his skin, and finally he looked away.
From the couch, Yixing watched and smiled.
It was late morning before someone finally fetched Tao from his room. Two of Yixing's lackeys came and pulled the boy to his feet, ignoring the way his legs buckled and the soft groan of pain he let out. They dragged him to the showers and let him go; when he collapsed against the wooden bench and didn't move, one of them picked him up and shoved him into the small shower. He leaned against the wall, breathing heavily as pain ran through his chest and side, and barely made a sound when he was stripped naked and the water was turned on.
His ribs had been cracked. He could tell; he'd been hit hard last night, had taken a kick or two to his ribcage, and now that his human side had come back fully and he'd had a few hours, the pain was starting to get worse. Tao stayed on the floor where they'd left him and just let the hot water pound his skin. It was the easiest way to wash it all away, and it didn't require much movement.
"Don't touch me..." he whispered when they returned for him. They ignored him, lifting him onto the bench and forcibly redressing him in clean clothes before dragging him out again. He went limp as they moved down the hall again, eyes closing, voice only lasting for a moment before it failed. "Hurts..."
He was unconscious when they got back to his room; instead of just tossing him inside and leaving him sprawled out on the floor, the men carefully set him on the bed, propping him up against the wall. One turned to look up at the camera in the corner; Kris was watching, unable to ignore the monitor for Tao's room for very long when there was movement in it.
"Z's injured. May need medical attention."
Kris looked back at Yixing; the thin boy had moved closer when the men had dragged Tao into his room, and he was examining the screen from just behind Kris. His face was dark, filled with annoyance.
"I hate it when my toys break..." he sighed and looked at Kris, seeming surprised when he saw his expression. "You look upset."
"Tao isn't a toy." He pointed at the monitor. "He's a person, and he's hurt..."
Yixing frowned. "He's a monster, you saw him last night. He's not human."
"He doesn't have to be human to be a person!" Kris shouted, standing from his seat; the handcuff around his wrist pulled tight, keeping him from going anywhere, but he grabbed at Yixing with his free hand. "He's not some plaything!"
Yixing stepped out of Kris's reach, jaw clenching as they stared at each other angrily. He had thought he'd broken Kris of this weird bond he had with the monster... not many people would see a murderer covered in blood, with eyes like shards of ice, and consider them to be a friend still.
"Something more will have to be done to free you from his grasp, apparently," Yixing murmured finally, licking his lips and tucking his hands into his pockets. "My little monster got his claws into you deep."
He tilted his head, indicating for Kris to sit down again; the boy ignored the motion, even tugged at the handcuffs to try to break them open again. Yixing sighed and moved back to the couch, sprawling out on it and resting his head on his pillow with a yawn.
"Relax. I'll call for the physician and have him checked out. Even if we have differing opinions on what he is... he belongs to me, just like you. I don't like when my things are broken, and I can't discard him just yet."
Kris clenched his teeth, fingers curling into fists at his sides as he visibly shook. The handler closed his eyes, listening for the quiet creak of his pet sinking back into his chair as his mind spun.
There had to be a way to win his allegiance from the monster. There just had to be.
The physician didn't come until after Kris had been returned to his room; the young man had protested, had refused to return to his quarters until he was sure Tao was being taken care of, which had pricked at Yixing's nerves. He'd grabbed Kris's shirt and lifted it roughly, tracing a line of scarred flesh as he whispered a quiet reminder of his prisoner's place. The young man had flinched and gone quiet, though the defiance had remained in his eyes. His memories of what had happened hadn't yet faded enough to allow for courage in the face of threats, however, and he'd allowed himself to be led away.
Yixing stood just inside the door as the doctor examined Tao. The boy had been unconscious most of the day, and was barely awake now. The old man had given him a sedative when he'd arrived, just enough to make his limbs heavy and his reactions sluggish; the monster watched him, groaning quietly as he prodded and poked at his bared chest and abdomen. Tao's fingers curled into the blanket under him as the pain breached his medication's reach.
"Cracked ribs," the old man murmured, casting a glance back at Yixing. The tall young man crossed his arms and leaned against the doorframe, a soft sigh escaping him as he shook his head. "I can't give you a total guarantee of that unless I take him to the medical ward for x-rays, but that's what it seems like."
"How long will it take for them to heal."
The physician shrugged. "Normal humans take a couple of months, most of the time, depending on the severity. I don't know about him, though. I've never had a chance to study him. Whatever he is could heal faster than we do. You'll have to be easy on him for a while though, if you put him through training like this it could make it much worse."
Tao mumbled something unintelligible, and Yixing shot him a dirty look. He was a broken toy, and in Yixing's opinion, broken toys should be quiet until they were fixed and usable again. He motioned to the door, indicating the doctor could go, and moved to perch himself on the edge of Tao's small bed.
"I'll leave medicine in your office. He's going to need it."
A suited man met the doctor just outside the door and led him away; as soon as he had gone, the handler turned his full attention to his injured monster and sighed. Tao was staring at him, eyes bleary. The look on his face irritated Yixing, and he reached to grip the boy's chin. Slowly he tilted Tao's head back, stretching and exposing his neck and the collar locked around it.
"You look almost human right now," he murmured, tapping a long finger against the boy's cheek as he examined him. Tao tried to turn his head, a growl catching in his throat, and Yixing frowned. "Injured and in pain like this... Do you know how much trouble you're causing me? I'm going to have to call in favours... I should punish you and Wufan both for how careless you were."
Tao lifted a hand and sluggishly placed it on Yixing's wrist; the handler didn't bother to shake him off. He was too weakened by drugs and his injury to do anything, and Yixing knew it.
"He doesn't like to be called that." Yixing arched an eyebrow. "Please let him go. I won't run again, I'll do anything you want... just don't hurt him anymore..."
Yixing sighed and squirmed his wrist out of Tao's hand. He didn't immediately let go; in fact, his grip tightened, and when the handler worked his arm free, he grabbed the boy's hand and pushed it up against the wall next to his head. He held it there, face close to Tao's as he leaned over him with a small smile. Tao turned his head, moving his face away and closing his eyes, a slight grimace flashing across his face at the jab of pain Yixing moving his arm caused.
"I don't trust you, Zitao. You can say you'll behave over and over... but I don't think you would. You're so willful, even now when asking for a favour from me." His lips brushed against Tao's ear as he moved closer to it to whisper. "Your friend is mine now. I think I'll hold onto him a while longer... at least until I'm done playing with him."
He released Tao's arm, and the monster let it fall to the bed. His entire body was dead weight now; moving hurt too much to bother trying. Breathing even hurt, and Tao knew it would be weeks before he could take a deep breath without his chest aching. The handler leaned back again, and his fingers brushed lightly through Tao's tousled hair, fixing it absently.
"You'd be pretty if you were a human. It's a shame that a monster and a killer was born with such a face." He patted Tao's cheek lightly before standing and heading for the door without another word.
Before Yixing swung the door shut, Tao opened his eyes. The dark brown orbs fixed on the well-dressed man, and a slight smile tipped one corner of his mouth up.
"Someday I'm going to kill you, too."
I promise to update my other stories in this coming week. Apologies for my absence.