[Y/n] sat in the kitchen, twirling a teabag in a cup of boiling water with a teaspoon; a pout resided on her lips and her brows furrowed slightly. Her head upturned when she heard light footsteps. "Good afternoon, Laion," she dipped her head, though no emotion presented itself on her face other than confusion and thoughtfulness.

"Good afternoon, [Y/n]," Laion dipped his head, walking over to her. "You like tea?" he questioned. [Y/n] shrugged in response, which earned a light laugh from the blonde. "I didn't know whether you would or not. I chose this one especially, though. It contains jasmine. Good for many things," he smiled. [Y/n]'s fist clenched around the spoon and her eyes narrowed. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Thanks for the aphrodisiac," [Y/n] rolled her eyes, removing the spoon from the steeping brew and taking the cup over to the sink, pouring it away. Laion let out a sigh.

"That's not the sort of properties I was on about," he huffed, "jasmine is good for anxiety - which I know you've been having a lot of." [Y/n] was about to respond 'I wonder why,' but she thought better of it. "It's also an amazing antidepressant and contains antiseptic properties too—"

"And it's a sedative," [Y/n] added, turning to look at him, "I had a friend who never shut up about alternative medicine. I've heard everything there is to hear about damned jasmine and it's amazing ability to make you an incoherent fool." Laion rolled his eyes.

"It's not that potent. Plus, there's only a small amount in there. I'm not making you take it in the form on compressed pills or something." He paused, giving her a small smile. "I understand that you're sceptical of my intentions but have I done anything to break your trust of me?" he questioned. [Y/n] looked away, walking over to the small box of teabags, placing them back in the cupboard. She didn't fancy tea anymore.

"Sorry for wasting the tea," she sighed, looking down. Laion simply shrugged and offered her another smile, though she almost felt it to be patronising. She sat down at the table again, peering up at the blonde. "When you were looking for me... you were in pain. Did something happen?"

"So I missed you by that little, eh?" Laion laughed dryly, though his eyes quickly went dark as he grew more annoyed at himself. "Yeah. Rayne stabbed me. Nothing bad, don't worry— not that I expected you to," he added, another dull chuckle escaping him. [Y/n] didn't respond verbally; a simple nod of apathy which caused Laion to let out yet another depressed sigh. He walked over to one of the cupboards and pulled out a wad of dried plant stems. Plucking one stem from the wad, he passed it over to [Y/n].

"You're tense," Laion sighed, "its lavender stem. Just chew on it or whatever, you don't need to actually eat it." [Y/n] raised a brow. "Really, it helps. It'll relax you," he hummed, staring over at the door.

"Do you do this every time you get stressed?" [Y/n] questioned, twirling the lavender root in her fingers but making no move to follow Laion's advice.

"Well... um, yeah, I do—"

"So you're telling me to suck a plant because you do it and it makes you calmer?" [Y/n] questioned, leaning back and pushing the lavender root away from her. "Sorry Laion but you can have your plants back. I have a feeling this isn't really gonna work for me," she sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It does have scientifically proven benefits," Laion mumbled, picking up the stem and walking back over to the cupboard and placing it with the rest of the stems, "but if you insist it won't work, you'll work yourself up to the point where you feel no difference." [Y/n] rolled her eyes. "[Y/n], why are you being so hostile with me?"

"I'm not being hostile," she snapped.

"Sure you're not," Laion sighed, his eyes glancing over to the kitchen door once again. "If you're going to eavesdrop, Aytsa, at least do it well." Aytsa's head popped around the side of the door, a mischievous grin on his face. Laion glared at him, seemingly in a foul mood himself.

"Ayy, Laion, what's got you so salty?" Aytsa laughed, wandering into the room without a care in the world. He stopped behind [Y/n], placing his hands on her shoulders. "No wonder [Y/n]'s angry; she's probably just reacting to your mood. Also... you suck plants?" Laion didn't respond. He walked over to the door, left the kitchen and made his way up the corridor to his room. Aytsa stared after him curiously, though didn't say much other than "damn."

"With you two grounded at home, I presume everyone else is out working?" [Y/n] questioned, looking over at Aytsa. Despite him definitely not being the stablest of the boys, he was easily one of the calmest when he was in a good mood. He nodded, a small smile growing on his lips.

"Yup. Just me and Laion," he hummed, a slight sigh escaping him. [Y/n] looked around.

"Your work... do you miss it? I mean, I know you've not been home for very long but you seem so down already," [Y/n] observed.

"Ah. I probably do seem out of sorts," he realised, walking over to the sink and running the water for no particular reason. He watched it trickle down the drain, shutting off the tap, before running the water once again for good measure. He turned around to look at [Y/n] again, a light laugh escaping him at the confusion on her face. "It's things like this that I enjoy about my work. Rayne's taught me a lot about psychology... your heart rate just picked up and all I did was turn on a tap. Why was that?" he questioned, though waved his hand when he noticed [Y/n]'s lips part to answer his question. "Rhetorical question. I already understand," he hummed.

"What...? You turn on taps at work?" [Y/n] muttered. Aytsa let out a laugh.

"No. I present situations that are questionable," he explained.

"I'm confused," [Y/n] sighed, rubbing the back of her neck.

"No, you're [Y/n]," he smiled. [Y/n] rolled her eyes at the terrible dad joke but decided not to comment. "You know, I could just show you what I do," Aytsa offered. "I'm sure the others won't mind. Plus, Rayne's clearly off doing something."

"I don't know how comfortable I feel walking into Rayne's dungeon of... whatever the hell he spends his time doing," [Y/n] shuddered.

"You'll be with me. You don't need to be worried," Aytsa smiled. [Y/n] didn't have the confidence to say 'what if that's why I'm worried,' but nor did she have the confidence to say 'okay, let's go,' so she stood in awkward silence for a while whilst Aytsa stared into her eyes to make an attempt at understanding what the hell was going on in her head. And I apologise for the uncomfortably long sentence. Ouch.

"So that's a yes?" Aytsa finally concluded after staring for a while. [Y/n] looked around for a moment as though there was the possibility that he may have been talking to someone else. Her gaze turned to meet his once again.

"I... guess so?"

* * *

"This was a terrible idea," [Y/n] groaned as the pair of them walked down the increasingly familiar corridors of this weird underground kingdom that [Y/n] just couldn't get her head around. Aytsa shrugged his shoulders at the statement, staring ahead with a nonchalant expression.

"Sometimes terrible ideas are also the most flawless," Aytsa mused.

"You're starting to sound like Lobotomy McGee," [Y/n] groaned. Aytsa's pace faltered for a moment and a snort of laughter escaped him.

"That man's been called many things but Lobotomy McGee was yet to be one of them," he laughed, continuing down the corridor with ease, not seeming to be bothered by the many staring faces of unfamiliar people or the many split-off hallways that made this kingdom the maze she'd been unable to navigate in the first place.

"Well he's clearly missing a part of his brain and I've never heard you guys mention a surname," [Y/n] mumbled. Aytsa hummed.

"We don't have surnames," he said simply, "though we do have reference numbers to separate ourselves from anyone else who may have the same name," he explained. "I can't say I remember mine, though— oh, here we are." In front of the pair of them was a door like all the rest, though a small note was attached to the handle. [Y/n] picked it up and opened it, squinting a little to decipher the terrible handwriting.

'To anyone who seeks me in need of medical assistance, I am currently off work for a few days and cannot tend to you. If the situation is life or death, enjoy the latter. Dr Rayne.'

"Wow, what an asshole," [Y/n] huffed. Aytsa took the note and read it himself, his brow furrowing.

"I wonder why he didn't just ask Laion and I to look after the place." After a moment of thoughtfulness, the raven haired boy shrugged, placed the note back, pulled out his keys and unlocked the door. [Y/n] couldn't help but tense up a little as she watched the door creak open - she was indeed about to enter a viper's nest.

The entrance hall was white; very very white. White painted coat hooks were beside the door (which, on the inside, was also painted white). On these white hooks were white lab coats. A white wardrobe resided on the right wall, and on the left a small white table with a small white lamp (which, might I add, exuded white light). There was also a white bookshelf holding the only splash of colour in this torturous room — books.

"It's more... um... white than I expected," [Y/n] mumbled.

"You get used to it after coming here for a while," Aytsa shrugged. "My workplace isn't white. The only place here that isn't," he laughed. There was an opening in back wall on the left hand side which Aytsa led [Y/n] towards — it seemed Rayne wasn't a huge fan of doors as there seemed to only be doors in places where doors were essential. After leaving the entrance hall, Aytsa took a left down a thin corridor (which, of course, was white). At the end of the corridor was a white door which Aytsa had the key for.

"There's a bit of a smell down there. Don't worry about it too much," Aytsa smiled. He unlocked the door and led [Y/n] down the metal staircase. He had a firm grasp on her wrist — firm enough to feel her pulse slowly quickening with each step down the staircase. He unlocked the second door. A wave of chemical stench flooded through, along with something else that seemed strangely familiar, yet [Y/n] couldn't perfectly recall what it was.

After spluttering in response to the wall of chemicals, she took a step inside and glanced around. To her right was a long desk with cupboards underneath and experiments of every sort cluttering it. [Y/n] moved to pick up some papers that had been scribbled and written on but Aytsa's hand took hers before she could do so.

"Don't touch anything. Rayne likes to leave nasty surprises for curious guests," he hummed. [Y/n] nodded her head and averted her gaze to the far right corner of the room. A cage just about big enough to fit a human was fixed in the corner, and next to it was a bloodstained chair with straps. A moveable table sat next to the chair on the left hand side, also beside a large metal operating table. [Y/n] turned around to look at Aytsa, left completely speechless by the horrible place, though her eyes quickly caught sight of something even more alarming behind the boy.

The wall was completely covered in torture devices. You name it, it was probably hung up on that wall. Everything she'd ever heard of, everything she'd ever read about, it was all right there in front of her. Aytsa followed her horror-filled gaze and stared over at the wall.

"Sometimes... sometimes I don't like my job," Aytsa hummed, "being an apprentice for Rayne has its perks, but also... it can be hard." He glanced over at the operating table. "Laion has interest in other fields so I'm sure his idea of work is very different to mine. I'm more in the experimenting department, whereas he sticks to methods and recipes that are proven to work. He makes medicine, I test the limits of medicine. And sentience."

[Y/n] backed up a little. "So... you're saying you torture people?" she murmured.

"Yeah, something like that. I receive a fair amount of pain myself, you know," he added, "Rayne's not easy to work for."

"You torture innocent people," [Y/n] whispered, ignoring Aytsa's second statement. "Innocent people who've never done anything to hurt you." She took another couple of steps back, though she realised she was only taking herself further into this den of suffering.

"[Y/n], you wanted to know about my work. I showed you."

"But— but I didn't expect you to be—" [Y/n] cut herself off, staring at the floor.

"To be what? A monster? [Y/n], kitten, do you really believe I have fun doing these experiments? No. They're necessary, not enjoyable." Though Aytsa realised perhaps now would be the right time to stop speaking as [Y/n]'s hand darted for a certain object on the table beside the chair. In her hand she held one of Rayne's scalpels.

"[Y/n], put that down. You don't know what to do with it," Aytsa muttered.

"I don't need to know what to do with it," [Y/n] hissed.

"Look, I don't want to hurt you," Aytsa exclaimed, "just put it down."

"You don't want to hurt me... and for how long will you not want to hurt me?" [Y/n] spat, continuing to hold the scalpel out in front of her. "What if... what if one day I end up in here?" A creak could be heard from the other side of the room. The metal door slowly opened up, revealing a certain man in a blood-soaked lab coat.

"Aytsa, [Y/n], how wonderful to see you here," Rayne smiled falsely. He walked over to [Y/n], not at all bothered when his proximity allowed her to press the scalpel to his chest. "As this constitutes as an escape attempt, I suppose you'll be staying here much sooner than expected. Do you mind? Wait, don't answer that. You might hurt my feelings," Rayne grinned.

"Rayne, look— you don't need to do anything. I can take her back and pretend none of this ever happened—"

"Maybe you can, but I don't know if I want to. As she's in my house, it's only right for me to have some say in this situation." Rayne glanced down at the scalpel and a small giggle escaped him. "My how the tables have turned. Though if you want to seem threatening, you should always go for the neck. Either way, I'm sure I can snap your arm off if need be. So, you can either keep the scalpel where it is and lose your arm or you can stop poking me like a child and we'll take it from there."

[Y/n] retracted her arm hesitantly, taking a small step back.

"Aytsa, would you knock her out for me?" Rayne requested with a lazy drawl to his voice. "I'm oh so tired from walking all day."

[Y/n] turned to look at Aytsa, hoping for mercy from the boy, though she was greeted with no such thing. No leniency, no apology, no emotion whatsoever. Just a hammer and two quiet words of warning: "stay still."