A/N: major warning for rape 

Nikki

I hear Dae's voice, through the pain. I think I'm dreaming at first, because he's in hospital and there's no way he's in hell with me. But I open my eyes, which I was keeping tightly shut, waiting for the next blow, and he's there, looking beseechingly at the suave man who was here when these vicious thugs brought me. He's the one who's spoken to me – the others seem to rely on using only their fists and their weapons.

Perhaps they don't speak American, because Dae and the man are talking rapidly in some lilting language, and it takes me too long to work out it's probably Korean, because they sound like I'm hearing them through water. My back stings, and I can feel cold drizzling down it, which I know has to be blood.

The big, rough one is letting me down, and I don't want to, but I slump into him as he lets my wrists free, unable to stand on my legs, which feel uncertain and newborn. He flings me onto a table of some kind. It's hard under my bare chest, but at least I can just slump, and he makes a comment that I can tell is nasty, from Dae's hissed breath and the sordid chuckle from the other man.

I can tell Dae is placating them in some way. I can't understand, of course, but there's a rise and fall of his intonation that suggests it as he moves closer, and in the next moment I think he's washing the blood off my back, because there's something lovely and warm, though it stings. I try not to react. His hand is firm on an unmarked portion of my skin, as if he's asking me to stay quiet and stay down.

I can almost relax, allowing my tense muscles to loosen as the men leave. I don't know why Dae is here, but I feel safer with him by my side. I start to faze out as he keeps his steady, careful movements over my skin, but then he's leaning close, running the cloth over my neck.

"Don't speak," he whispers, so quiet I have to strain to hear him over the shuffles from the cages. "There's microphones. I'm gonna get you out, but you have to follow my lead. When I can give you the sign you have to run up the stairs and left. The back door is right there, and you'll have to climb the back wall. Don't look back and don't stop for anything."

I shift my head slightly to show him I understand.

"I mean it, Nikki. Anything."

* * * * *

We're down in the basement for a long time. It feels like hours, even if I know that's because of the interminable wait, but Dae doesn't say anything else. We just sit on hard wooden chairs opposite each other and he keeps glancing between the cages, the basement stairs, and me, his brow furrowed. I can hear noises up the stairs, on the other side of the closed door. It must be locked, unless Dae is just waiting for everyone to go to sleep, but I doubt it. There's no way those men will forget Dae is with me, or that I'm not tied up. But then maybe they think Dae will stop me from escaping. He obviously knows them in some way.

At one point someone in a cage calls out to him, and he responds harshly, and loudly, which I assume is for the sake of the microphones, because he shakes his head urgently at the tearful boy who spoke, his eyes belying how much it's bothering him to be cruel.

I'm jolted out of almost-catatonia by the click of the door unlocking, and Dae sends a dark eyed look at me, that makes me think I have to be prepared. I try to surreptitiously tense and release my muscles, so they're ready to flee if I need to use them.

It's both of the men from earlier, and I see they leave the door ajar. I wonder if there's anyone on the other side, but know I'll take the risk if Dae gives me the sign. Nothing good can come from letting these men win, I can see that.

Dae stands, approaching the taller and narrower of the two men, who is wearing a brown leather shoulder holster with two guns. Dae's acting a little strange, resting his hand on the man's chest, but he's pushed away as the man speaks rapidly, angrily. Dae seems to be trying to placate him. I think he's denying whatever the man is saying, and he's making his eyes going very wide and innocent. It's almost as if he's flirting, though I could never expect what happens next.

The man throws Dae onto the table I was on, his hand rough at the back of Dae's neck, as he pulls down the elasticated waistband of the scrubs Dae's wearing. They're loose, so they fall right off his ankles, and he's naked from the waist down. The man laughs cruelly, slapping Dae hard on the hip as he unzips his pants.

I hate having to watch. I have to though. Is this Dae's plan? For all I know he said something purposely to make the man react this way, to give me a chance of escape, and I can't miss Dae's sign if he's doing it for me. But it sounds a lot like Dae is begging him not to do it, even as the man just hits him again, even harder, and drives into Dae's pinned body.

Dae screams, and I stand, determined to do whatever I can to stop this. I just catch Dae desperately shaking his head, and his eyes unmistakably flicking to the door, just as the other man steps forward, slapping Dae's face and pressing himself into Dae's mouth, cutting off his screams of agony.

I waver for a moment, wanting to save Dae, needing to not leave him to his fate. But the other man is armed too, I can see the black flash of metal as his jacket flaps with the force of his movements, so I run, as quietly as I can, because I think they've all but forgotten I'm even there.

I get all the way to the top, about to push through, when there's an angry shout from below, and I burst through the door, slamming it behind me, perhaps foolishly thinking of any extra seconds I can buy. It's a kitchen, and I see the door Dae told me about, running to it just as someone appears from the opposite direction. I don't stop, or even pause, as that person shouts in Korean, a moment to simply be thankful that the door isn't locked, before I'm in a garden, square and small, with a high wall all the way around. I just run at top speed, jumping and clinging to the rough top of the wall, cutting my hands but swinging to lift a leg over. There's another shout, this time at the outside door, and I hear the sharp crack, feel the searing pain as metal tears into my thigh just as it swings over, and I fall the full six feet to hard ground on the other side.

I lay there dazed for what can only be a few seconds, even if it feels much longer, until I feel a shadow over me. I brace for the end, for the final moment...

"Nikki?"

I open my eyes, wincing at the bright sunlight, trying to make out the shadowy silhouette.

"Please, Dexter. You have to save Dae. Please," I manage before blessed darkness takes me.

A/N: I'm sorry Dae, and it literally makes it no better that he's 'used' to treatment like that (worse, if anything). But he really would do anything to save his friends, and making himself a sacrifice would be something he'd do