♕✿~♕✿~Chapter 15//: I'm sorry♕✿~♕✿~

Madison's POV

I shudder, my whole body trembling and my vision tunneling at the corners, as Nathan whips my hands once more.

I don't know how many minutes have passed. But to me, it feels as if I have been whipped for eternity. At first, I had screamed into my gag, the pain foreign and uncomfortable. But after the continuous whips, I have lost the energy to even scream, my throat aching at all the screaming I had done before.

I can't recognize my hands anymore. All I see is blood and broken flesh. I feel nauseous, the bile stuck in my throat. I try to focus on anything but my hands. I focus on the man's weight, still on top of me. I focus on the bloodied whip Nathan is holding. I focus on his eyes, a startling blue that holds no remorse and only shows the raging thirst for revenge he has. The fire in his eyes seem to burn infinitely. Like there is no way to extinguish it except through death.

Nathan gestures to the woman behind the camera to stop recording. A muffled sob escapes me in relief. I can finally get away from this torture. I can return to my cell, even though it's not exactly a prime location to recover. But all I wanted to do was to get away from this room and the pain.

"Send that to the palace immediately," Nathan orders the woman, who nods and takes the camera away with her. He nods his head towards me. "Take her back to her cell." Nathan looks around at the remaining Rogue Dawn members. "The rest of you, get out. Except for you, Lucas."

The weight on top of me is gone, and a pair of hands grab my arms to lead me out. But the person ends up dragging me out of the room when I collapse from the sickness and faintness I feel. I try to will my legs to move, but I don't have the strength. As the person pulls me out the door, I catch the horrified and terrified look on Lucas' face before the door closes and I'm back outside in the chilly air.

Halfway down the stairs leading to the prison below ground, I finally find some strength to force myself to walk. I grit my teeth in pain when the palm of my hands slightly brush against the pants I'm wearing.

Just a little bit further until you can rest. Come on. You can do it, I think to myself, putting all of my effort into moving my legs closer to my cell.

We reach the cell, and the one holding me opens the door of my cell with a wave of his hand. Another magnetron? Just how many are there in the Rogue Dawn? I think as I walk into my cell, the cell closing up again once I'm inside. The man turns away and walks back to the stairs and outside.

I take deep breaths to calm my racing heart, my hands still stinging in pain. I start to make my way to the bed before I notice Damon sitting by the bars separating our cells. He looks at me intently. "What happened? Are you okay?" He asks me.

Too tired to speak, I just show him the palms of my hands. He sucks in a breath at the sight of them, his eyes going back up to my face. "Madi-" he starts, but I'm too tired to listen. I needed sleep. I needed an escape from the pain.

I shuffle over to the bed, more or less collapsing on it. I close my eyes, my breaths stuttering as I lay my hands palm up on the surface of my bed, trying to avoid brushing my hands on anything.

I focus on slowing my breathing to find sleep. All I wanted was to not feel the pain in my hands. And all I could do to get that was sleep.

♡

I wake up too soon. I felt like I had just closed my eyes and opened them in the next instant, but the soreness of my back told me that more time had passed. The pain in my hands were now dull, but still present. I felt tears gather at the corners of my eyes. At this point, it didn't seem like even the healers would be able to do anything if I ever escaped.

Looking over into Damon's cell, I can see his form on his bed. The rising of his chest told me he was asleep. I moved to push myself up from my bed but hissed as I forgot about not putting pressure on my hands. I stayed still for a moment before carefully pushing myself up with my elbows.

Closing my eyes, I try to find other things to focus on instead of my hungry stomach and useless hands.

If I listened closely, I could hear the snores of the other prisoners. Above me, I could hear people talking. And I could even hear echoing footsteps so clearly it was like someone was walking in front of me.

My eyes open as I listen closely and realize that there are footsteps echoing. And it was coming from someone walking here in the prison, the steps a bit uneven.

Looking out the bars of my cell from my bed, I listen as the footsteps come closer. I didn't know whether to cry or scream because it seemed every time I hear footsteps, it always meant something bad for me. And I was definitely not ready for another form of torture.

A figure comes in my view. They walk unevenly; every time they put weight on their right leg, it starts to buckle and they quickly move their weight to their left leg. I shrink back in my bed, trying to hide myself from their view as they come closer to my cell. I didn't want to deal with some drunk guard or something similar.

The figure comes to a stop in front of my cell. I ignore them as best as I can as I quietly lay back in the bed, hiding my face in the stiff mattress. Silence envelops me and my heart is pounding as I wait for the sounds of the person leaving.

But all I hear is a soft, "Madi?"

For a moment, I stay still, unsure if I want to turn around or not. But I sigh, finally looking up at Lucas, who stands at the front of my cell, holding something in his hand.

Pushing myself up from the bed with care, I walk over to the bars of the cell where Lucas is standing. I frown as I notice sweat lining his forehead. Walking down here shouldn't have been so difficult. Then, I remember the limp he had been sporting when walking over here.

Up close, I can see the items in his hand. A small container holding something and some cloth. Lucas holds out his hand, motioning for me to give him my hands. Hesitating for a bit, I put out my hand and he holds it gently as he opens up the container. I can see some sort of balm in there. Lucas dips his hand in it and gently rubs it on my right hand. I flinch slightly but relax. Like I suspected, it was some sort of ointment.

"We can't have you getting an infection from this," Lucas murmurs when I stare at him questioningly. A lump forms in my throat as he wraps one of the pieces of cloth around my right hand, moving on to my other hand.

"Why were you limping?" I finally ask him. He stays silent, suddenly seeming very interested in rubbing the ointment on my hand. I purse my lips before asking, more firmly, "Why were you limping, Lucas?"

Lucas places the cap back on the container, moving on to wrapping my hand with the other piece of cloth. When he's done doing that, he finally looks up at me, a haunted look in his eyes. Like he's reliving something horrible.

"Remember when Nathan told me to stay back after..." Lucas lets the sentence trail off, looking at me. I nod at him in response.

Lucas lets out a shaky breath. "Well, he wanted to...talk." He grits his teeth. "Apparently, another Rogue Dawn member heard our conversation." At my confused look, he clarifies. "When you were asking me to help you and that other guy escape. Nathan found out about that."

My heart drops at his words. It is bad news that Nathan knows about my plan to escape. Maybe he put up extra obstacles now that he knows about it. What if it is near impossible to escape now?

"I told Nathan that I hadn't agreed to help you guys. But he wouldn't listen. He said that me just talking to you guys about it couldn't go unpunished." Lucas swallows before saying, "Nathan told me my sister would pay for my mistake. I don't want my sister to suffer any more, so I told, begged, Nathan to just inflict the punishment on me. So he did. He burned my right calf," Lucas explains, wincing slightly at the memory.

I stay silent, anger boiling within me. Once again, I had to be reminded how much power Nathan had. Both influential and ability-wise. I hated how he was able to hurt and manipulate others with ease. It was sick. One day, he's going to pay for everything he did, I think.

"Did you put an ointment on the burn yet?" I ask him. He nods. "I did, but it still hurts like hell," he says through his teeth. He glances at my hands once more, probably remembering the ruined flesh underneath the pieces of cloth.

"I'm sorry for what Nathan did to you. I swear, I didn't know that he was going to do...that. Even I didn't think he would be that cruel, especially by going as far as to send it to the palace," Lucas says softly. I swallow at the mention of what happened being announced at the palace. I didn't want Ahren, Juliet, Nick, and Rose to see what happened to me.

"It's alright, Lucas. This isn't your fault. Nathan did this to me. To us," I tell him, emphasizing the us. Hoping that it would change his mind to help us.

But it doesn't. Lucas wordlessly shoves the ointment into my cell and starts to back away from my cell. "Make sure to put that on your hands once every day," he instructs me, pointing at the ointment. Before I can say anything in response, he turns away from me, limping away to go back upstairs.

♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~

Thanks for reading this chapter guys! I hope you all enjoyed it. How do you guys feel about Lucas? Still hate him? Or are you starting to warm up to him again?

Anyways, hope you all have a great week!

Glass_Sword