TW for blood, torture, rape, mindbreak, suicidal thoughts and more blood

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Everything was blurry, Seonghwa's sight fading in and out of focus. He had lost all feeling in his fingers, his brain the only thing aware of the hard word of the ship under his fingertips. The numbness actually helped, making him not notice the burn of his marred body anymore.

For another countless time these past few days Seonghwa just wished to die already.

He blinked harshly when someone moved in front of him, a voice belatedly filtering through his brain. He did not understand any words, just looking up at his own face weakly.

He was beautiful, this copy of him. He had a beauty Seonghwa had not known he himself posessed but it was nothing short of terrifying. This face, this handsome and pleasant face, it was nothing more than the mask of a twisted demon. It was cruel to look at.

"Can you hear me?"

Seonghwa nodded weakly at that, nearly losing to gravity when his head rolled around, letting his jaw pulse numbly with pain. He knew it hurt, he just did not feel it.

The perfect mirror of himself kneeled down between his spread legs then, gently running his merciless hands down the expanse of once smooth skin that was now criss-crossed with crimson. They were shallow wounds, nothing too dramatic but they had still stung when he first got them.

"I want to destroy this place already... Make sure no man will ever touch you like this again. That I was the last one at least, if I could not be your first. But sadly, dear, Hongjoongie said we might still need it. And the trauma, you know..."

He had grown to hate this version of himself so much. He did still not know who they were, where they came from or what their motivation was. But they were cruel and twisted and Seonghwa loathed them.

Not even for what they had done to himself, no. He loathed them for Wooyoung's agonized cries filling the cell block of the ship, for the absolute silence that sounded from Yeosang's place.

He hated them for anything they ever did to his friends because he was finally aware.

Those were his friends. Compared to these people they were the best friends he ever had.

"Why not kill me already?"

The other Seonghwa was grinning at that, slowly running his devious fingers over every single cut, every single drop of blood on Seonghwa's body.

They disappeared at that. Every injury, every little scrap, all gone.

Seonghwa had not understood at first just how he had not understood their presence. But those demons or whatever they were, they hurt them and then they healed them again.

It was the only thing keeping Seonghwa sane. The nagging feeling that these people, being themselves, could not truly hurt them or else they would feel it too.

It all was an illusion, every bit of pain but Seonghwa's brain got not tired of believing it, of sending panic and pain cursing through his body.

He was sick of it. He just wanted to see Hongjoong.

"How far can we wreck you, what do you think? Will seeing the heart of your beloved being eaten be enough? How about a public execution? I don't think Wooyoung knows it's all a lie."

Seonghwa did not know of their motivation but he also did not truly need it. They were cruel and ruthless and their ways of messing with their brains even worse.

Honestly, Seonghwa sometimes felt himself doubt what even was the illusion anymore. Was it the hurt or the healing? He did not know.

That Seonghwa gently settled between his legs, pulling him up against his chest. Seonghwa felt his hands bound by heavy chains drag behind him, completely defenseless. For a second he held his breath as the other man breached his body with that length that was never ever supposed to be in Seonghwa himself.

When he was settled down he breathed again, feeling the other's gentle hand swipe through his hair. It was terrifying, this gentleness. There was always no good coming from it.

"You're so wet. I always wondered how my own body would feel around me. Hongjoong was right about his tastes."

Seonghwa felt too weak to respond. This was no matter for him to think about. He was still caught up on how to kill these people. He probably could never kill them as they were themselves. Would both of them die if they killed one? It seemed too risky to try out.

However, they did seem to suffer the same injuries as their counterparts did. Their San seemed to hold his shoulder more often than not and that Mingi was careful in the way he moved too.

What kind of game were they playing?

Seonghwa zoned out as his other clone had his way with him, teaching him that no, this was not common practice and whatever pain that his Hongjoong had spared him of came with a whole palette of torture for his double to indulge in.

What was needed to kill them? Were they sent by some angry god? Was the only way of killing them committing suicide at the same time?

Seonghwa wanted to see Hongjoong already. His Hongjoong, his very own. They had made sure for Seonghwa to have not a single second of sleep ever again, showing him his wrecked body day by day and listening fondly as he screamed and cried his voice all raw.

But Seonghwa knew he was alright. The second Hongjoong was fine, strutting around and giving commands in full health. Hongjoong did live and while they made him feel pain, none of this was real.

It had to be. Seonghwa could not bear with this any longer if not for him, if not for the hope to get them all out alive.

"I'm thinking about keeping your mouth like this. It looks so pretty."

Seonghwa tiredly focused on himself, grinning fondly down at him before tugging Seonghwa's cut open mouth in a smile. It felt absolutely monstrous, that big gap his mouth formed and he shivered at the thought of the other actually thinking about keeping it like this.

It was their sick minds showing again. If Seonghwa was right, mutilating him like this for real meant that this other Seonghwa had to suffer through it too. While they were absolutely disgusting und cruel in their sadism, Seonghwa feared this masochism much more. They seemed alright if it meant that Seonghwa and the others would bear some lasting marks themselves.

"You're no fun. Will you only be fun again when you see that Captain of yours? Did you fall that hard for him? So many things we are sharing." Seonghwa weakly felt himself get kissed, not responding to that in the slightest. He just weakly turned his head away, not wishing to stare at himself while he came inside for what had to be the tenth time ever since they had met each other.

Seonghwa was pretty sure they had been here for nearly a week.

"Come on, we will wake him up. He deserves to see you, don't you think? All pretty like this."

Seonghwa could barely walk as he was pulled up and out of his open cell. His clone never even closed the door when he arrived, making Seonghwa's helplessness seem all the more useless.

His clone has to support his body fully by the hip, idly scratching deep wounds in his stomach with blunt nails.

Once he had opened Seonghwa's body up and shown him part of his guts. Seonghwa was so sure to die then, so ready to finally see this end.

But he did not. He was healed, the illusion washing away and leaving no traces on his skin.

They passed the cell Yeosang was laying in, probably just sleeping still in full gear. It seemed like his clone did not enjoy torturing him, instead breaking his mind by making him listen to the others. Seonghwa nearly felt sorry for screaming so loud when his clone had fractured every single one of the bones in his legs when raping him for the first time. He had kicked too strongly.

He pulled a face at the thought, stumbling to a halt when his clone caught him.

They were standing in front of Hongjoong's cell, Seonghwa immediately feeling tears brim in his eyes again at the cruel state they left him in.

They had not shown their illusion skills to him. Hongjoong was laying there actually thinking he was teetering on the cliff of death and Seonghwa was worried what that might do to his brain.

"How much do you know about your dear Captain, huh? Did you know it was one of his own men who gave him those scars? His own crew committed mutiny against their very own Captain, his father. And then they tried to kill  him too, because he would have been appointed Captain. With this very whip they tried to kill him. And with this very whip he killed nearly every single man on board."

Seonghwa shuddered in his hold, seeing the other San emerge from Wooyoung's cell in order to go wake up the real Hongjoong. Seonghwa's clone was still leaning close, whispering those stories he was not meant to hear into his ear.

"What do you think, how bad is his trauma? Should we put a pretty new scar there too? I think my precious would be quite pleased by that."

That San was leaning over Hongjoong by now, roughly pulling him up by his hair. Seonghwa winced at the sight of his bloody face and neck, nearly severed. He had learned that on the keel of a ship there were meany sharp shells and other accretions that could cut through skin far too easily. The real horror of keelhauling was not the possibility of drowning. It was dying of their wounds.

Hongjoong had another nasty cut horizontally over his nose, making pale bone shimmer through and his body was in no better condition. He was not missing any limbs at least but there was no way of him living if that had not been an illusion too. His guts too were laying out in the open, making Seonghwa nauseous.

Seonghwa did still not know whether he was thankful for this trick of theirs or suffered even more because of that. Maybe a fast death would have been more clement.

"Wake up, great Captain. Don't you want to see your pretty friends?" His clone pushed him forward, directly into the tiny spikes on the cell bars that immediately bit little wounds in his skin.

His clone was bodily pressing against him, bringing his fingers down to idly play with Seonghwa's numb entrance.

When Hongjoong finally did open his eyes he got a view of one very healthy and grinning Seonghwa pressing the bloodied one against cool metal and that unmistakeable liquid trailing down his shaking legs.

"Hongjoong..."

The captain's eyes cleared up a little when Seonghwa whispered his name but he dared not move, instead just staring at Seonghwa's cut up face.

"It pains him, seeing you like this. You did so well, Hwa, getting him all wrapped around your fingers. This will be so much more fun because of that.", this velvety voice whispered to him again, then he turned his head towards Hongjoong.

"He is still refusing to break, still too sane to hurt you. How do you feel? Would you be easier to get through to? We could take him together, you know?"

"Could you- please, please give me a minute. I need to tell him something."

Seonghwa needed to do something. Hongjoong's odd silence could mean he was so far gone already that his mind would never truly come back to him again. Seonghwa did not know what kind of trauma he already had lived through, how directly they were making him suffer.

But he was glad when his clone stepped away indeed, making him drop to the floor heavily.

"Hongjoong, listen to me. Listen, before they break you. May this make you angry enough that you have something to hold onto. Find your motivation in killing me yourself, please."

Hongjoong's eyes dimly found him, all fire long gone but he was listening.

"I am no prince, Captain. I lied to you."