Dr. McNulty flicked the lever and the iron door opened with a loud creaking sound. The heels of his boots echoed ominously off the cobblestone floor as he slowly rolled a tray of supplies into the room. His eight blue tentacles trailed behind him, curling and twisting in the air like wisps of smoke. The doctor turned on the glowstone lights to see a bacca cuffed by his wrists and ankles to an operating table. His head was lolled to the side and his eyes were closed.

The doctor took some tools from the tray and recorded information such as the bacca's height and weight. He then removed several strands of the bacca's fur and placed them in a bag. The unconscious bacca groaned slightly and twitched as the doctor carefully extracted the venom from his teeth. Once he was finished, Dr. McNulty smiled sadistically. Now the fun could begin.

Dr. McNulty took a hypodermic needle and filled it with a blue liquid. An low, unstable laugh escaped his lips as he stuck the needle in the bacca's chest and pressed the plunger. The bacca instantly jerked awake and the back of his head hit the table as his body went rigid. His black eyes seemed ready to burst out of their sockets and he let out a loud gasp as the adrenaline coursed through his veins. Jerome's heart pounded furiously and his chest heaved as he panted heavily. "What... What the..." the bacca stuttered, still slightly disoriented.

Dumbstruck, Jerome watched as the doctor removed the needle from his chest and placed it back on the tray. He then rolled back the white sleeves of his coat and snapped on a pair of gloves before turning to face the bacca. Jerome took a swift glance at the name tag on his coat before meeting his gaze. "I'm glad to see that you're awake." Dr. McNulty said casually.

Jerome realized in horror that he was tied down and he grunted as he struggled to move his limbs. His efforts proving to be fruitless, he looked up and stared at the eight tentacles flowing from the man's back. "You..." he mumbled, the mismatched pieces in his mind falling back in place. He shook his head and his lips drew back in a snarl of anger as he yelled, "You! What do you want from me? What have you done with Se- OW!" Jerome yelped when the doctor slapped him in the face with his tentacle.

"You're not the one asking the questions here. Understand?" Dr. McNulty said menacingly. Jerome merely glared at him in defiance. He struck the bacca again, but this time Jerome did not cry out. "Understand?"

Jerome quickly realized that there was no point in fighting back. "Yes." he said quietly.

The doctor relaxed and smiled. "Good. I hope that we can keep things nice and simple here. All you need to do is answer the questions I ask. Easy, no?"

"Depends on the question." Jerome replied as he tried to conceal his fear behind a mask of indifference.

"I would extremely regret it if I were forced to use, ah, painful methods to get the answers I want. So let's not cause too much trouble." Jerome shivered slightly at the subtle tone of his voice. Dr. McNulty pulled out a notepad and a quill. "Let's start off with the simple questions, shall we? What's your full name?"

"Jerome Aceti." He heard a faint scratching sound as Dr. McNulty wrote on the notepad.

"How old are you?"

"19."

"Family members?"

"They abandoned me when I was a pup."

"Why?"

Jerome hesitated before answering. This was a touchy subject for him, but he wasn't willing to find out what the doctor would do if he didn't answer. "Baccas are supposed to have strong legs for swimming, but I was born with a defect. Plus, I was a runt. So they abandoned me. End of story."

"Are you and Seto close friends?"

"I'd... I'd say we're pretty close, yeah." Jerome said, a tinge of worry in his voice as he wondered what had happened to the sorcerer.

"Hmm." Dr. McNulty said, thinking for a moment. "Well, Jerome, we're doing well so far. Let's keep it that way, shall we?" Dr. McNulty said. He pulled out a golden dog tag and dangled it in front of Jerome, who gasped in surprise. "Why was this in Seto's pocket?" he asked.

Jerome averted his gaze and shut his eyes tightly. "Because it belonged to a dead friend." he said quietly.

Dr. McNulty's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Who was this 'dead friend' of yours, and how did he die?"

"His name was Mitch. A group of creepers blew him up." Jerome's voice was hollow.

Sensing that what Jerome spoke was the truth, Dr. McNulty continued. "Where are your other friends?" the doctor asked.

Jerome suddenly became defensive. "You don't need to know that." he said a little too quickly.

"Of course I do. Why else would I ask?" Dr. McNulty asked.

"Well I don't know where they are."

Dr. McNulty looked up from his notepad, his blue eyes flashing dangerously. "You're lying."

Jerome swallowed nervously and his heartbeat quickened. Those eyes were really creeping him out. "No, I'm not." he said shakily.

The doctor repeated his question with a low, deadly voice. "Where are your friends?" When Jerome refused to answer, the sorcerer stood up and slowly walked over to him, not once averting his piercing gaze. "Are you going to answer the question voluntarily, or am I going to have to force you?" Jerome remained silent and looked away to avoid the doctor's eyes, trembling slightly. "Tsk, tsk, tsk." the doctor said in disapproval, shaking his head. "And here I thought we could do this the easy way. This is your final warning, Jerome Aceti. Tell or suffer the consequences."

"Never." Jerome whispered. He let out a choking sound as one of the sorcerer's tentacles wrapped around his neck. The tendril glowed for a second and Jerome's throat tingled unpleasantly as the doctor released his grip.

"I'm broadcasting your failure to the whole prison." Dr. McNulty hissed. He raised a tentacle and it began spurting electric sparks like a firework. "Maybe a certain friend of yours will be able to hear you." Jerome instinctively shut his eyes and braced himself.

There was a loud zapping sound and Jerome saw white as he felt an excruciating pain bloom in his arm. It quickly spread like wildfire all over his body and Jerome's back arched as he convulsed violently on the table. Jerome's eyes welled with hot tears as a scream of pure agony was ripped from his throat. The pain only intensified as the electrical whip descended on him again and again.

---

As fast as lightning, Seto leapt off the bed and ran to the front of the cell. His knuckles were white as he clutched the cold iron bars tightly, and his wild eyes were glued to the entrance of the hallway where the loud cries of pain were coming from. "JEROME!" he screamed in pure desperation as he shook the bars. Metallic clangs rang out as he began pounding his fists violently against them. "JEROME!"

The bars slipped from his grasp as Tyler grabbed the back collar of his jailsuit and pulled him to the floor. Seto shrieked hysterically and punched Tyler in the face. Tyler shook his head to clear the pain, grabbed the front of Seto's shirt, and pinned the frantic sorcerer to the left wall. "Stop it, Seto! It's no use! You're only hurting yourself!" he yelled.

"But Jerome's in trouble, I have to help him!" Tears of anguish ran down Seto's face as he tried to wriggle out of Tyler's grip. Jerome screamed again and Tyler saw Seto's brown pupils dilate in fear. "Let me go, LET ME GO!" Seto tried to punch Tyler again, but this time the dog-hybrid grabbed Seto's wrist to stop him.

"Seto, listen to me!" Tyler ordered, shaking him roughly. "You need to calm down!" Unable to think clearly through his panic, Seto did not hear a single word Tyler had said as he continued to panic. Left with no other option, Tyler lifted his hand and slapped Seto in the face. "SNAP OUT OF IT!" he shouted.

Seto immediately stopped struggling as he stared at Tyler with his mouth wide open in shock. As he came to his senses, Seto swallowed and slowly unclenched his trembling hands, which had large purple bruises on his knuckles. He turned his hands over and noticed eight crimson-red crescents where his fingernails had dug into his palms.

Seto began to tremble violently as he gradually sunk to the floor, covering his ears with his hands. Tyler could see that the poor sorcerer's mind had completely shut down, for his extremely pale face was void of emotion and his wide brown eyes were vacant. He sat beside Seto and tried to ignore Jerome's screams as they increased in volume.

---

After ten minutes, Dr. McNulty finally stopped to examine what was left of the bacca on the table. Jerome had been reduced to a quivering, uncontrollably sobbing mess on the table. He was hyperventilating and his heartbeat was erratic. Jerome's wrists and ankles were rubbed raw from the cuffs that had held him down when he had been shocked repeatedly. The air was filled with the scent of his burnt fur.

Realizing that the pain had stopped, Jerome coughed weakly and opened his smarting eyes blearily. His vision was hazy and everything seemed dimly lit. Dr. McNulty reached over to touch his forehead but quickly drew his hand back when the bacca made a low growl of defiance. So he hadn't completely broken Jerome's soul after all. "You're still resisting me?" the doctor said with slight surprise. "Even after all the pain I've put you through?" Jerome didn't respond; the fierce glint in his black eyes said enough. "Why would you endure so much for the sake of your friends? Would they do the same for you?"

Yes, they would. Jerome said to himself.

"If you were a human instead of a bacca, you would have died by now." Dr. McNulty continued. "But even you can't last forever. What if, to protect your friends, you died?"

Death wouldn't be so bad... Jerome thought. Then the pain would be over...

"So with that said, are you sure you want to keep fighting?" Dr. McNulty asked. "Or are you going to answer the question and end your suffering?"

Jerome let out several coughs and rasped, "Go... Go to the Nether..."

Dr. McNulty's teeth flashed white as he smiled. The all-too familiar crackling sound of electricity filled the air and Jerome whimpered as he shied away from the sound. Oh Notch, he didn't want to go through that torture again... But he steeled himself as the tentacle lashed at him several times.

Red-hot pain shot through him, setting his nerves on fire, but Jerome felt too weak to scream. He was just so exhausted...

Jerome's eyes rolled back in his head as he finally blacked out.

---

Outside his treehouse, the bacca pup could hear the groans of burning zombies as the sun rose in the sky. He stared at the ceiling as he laid in his bed, deeply lost in thought. It had been about three months since he had been abandoned, and although survival had been hard at first, he had quickly adapted to living in the woods on his own. For a seven-year-old, this was quite impressive, but also quite lonely.

The bacca shook himself from his thoughts, for although he was extremely tempted to stay in his warm bed a little longer, Jerome knew that he had a lot to do to prepare for the approaching winter. The days were getting shorter and the nights were getting longer. Jerome sighed as he climbed out of bed, rubbing his eyes and yawning lazily. He grabbed his fishing rod, his boat, and his wooden axe and made his way down the ladder.

Jerome reached the nearby lake and ate breakfast by chewing on some rotten flesh, or "wet noodles" as he liked to call them. After he was finished, he rode the boat to the center of the lake. Jerome yawned again and splashed some of the cold water on his face to wake himself up. Suddenly, a squid's tentacle lashed out and grabbed his wrists. Jerome cried out and wrenched his paws from the squid's grip. "What was that for?" Jerome demanded.

"You're the Seventh..." the young squid replied timidly. Without warning, his black eyes changed to the color of the sky. Jerome slowly began to back away in shock but was stopped when the squid grabbed his ankle. "The Sixth is coming..." he said ominously.

"Prince Derpollous the Third, get away from him!" another squid said frantically. "He'll hurt you!"

The squid ignored the cephalopod as he continued to stare into Jerome's eyes. "Save the Sixth..." the squid said finally as he let go of Jerome and swam away.

Before the bacca could react, he let out a yelp of surprise as the boat started to sway to and fro. Ripples formed on the surface of the water and he could hear the squids screaming in terror as they swam out of the lake. The bacca pup fell down on his knees and clutched the sides of the boat as it rocked violently. His heart pounded in his chest. Was this how he would meet his end?

Crackling sounds of raw energy filled the air. Jerome looked up and his mouth fell open in shock and awe as a young human shot out of the water like a jet. Torrents of water spiraled around the boy as he levitated in the air a few feet above the lake. An bright aura of purple surrounded him. Jerome shielded his eyes with his paw but could not look away as the boy raised his head to reveal a purple mist emanating from his wide brown eyes. And then all at once, the boy stopped glowing and he fell back into the water with a splash.

Jerome blinked rapidly, wondering if he had been hallucinating. Slowly, he picked himself off the floor and peered over the edge of the boat. Bubbles floated out of the unconscious boy's mouth as he slowly sank to the bottom of the lake like a stone. Without a second thought, Jerome held his breath and dove into the lake. He swam towards the mysteriou boy and grabbed the hood of his gray cloak before propelling himself to the surface. Jerome had no idea how much his life was going to change.

---

When the screams stopped, Seto gradually slipped out of his state of shock. He slowly hugged his knees to his chest and began to rock back and forth. Tiny whimpers escaped Seto's throat and his eyes were tightly screwed shut in an attempt to not cry. "Not... real..." he whispered, his chest heaving as he took another shaky breath and buried his face in his arms, sobbing. "Not.. real..."

Tyler rubbed Seto's back comfortingly, not knowing what to say.

---

Suddenly the memory faded away as white invaded Jerome's vision. Jerome gasped loudly, his eyes widened, and his body turned rigid. He looked down to see a needle embedded in his heaving chest. A gloved hand removed the needle and placed it back on the tray. "You're not getting away from me like that, Jerome." Dr. McNulty said as he faced the trembling bacca.

"I... I thought that when I was unconscious..." Jerome stuttered, tears stinging at the corners of his eyes as he looked away. He didn't know how much longer he could take this. "Why?" he asked, his breath hitching in his ragged throat. "Why are you doing this to me?"

"You brought this upon yourself." Dr. McNulty stated. "It's your fault that you refuse to cooperate. All you needed to do was to answer the question to stop the pain. I don't understand why you continue to protect your friends."

"No, you wouldn't." Jerome said quietly. He looked up at the doctor, who seemed mildly surprised by his statement. "You wouldn't understand. I bet you've never even had a friend before. Well I'm telling you this: I don't know why you want to know where my friends are, but I do know that it can't be good for them. They saved my life before, and now I'm saving theirs." Jerome's voice grew stronger as he continued. "And you can electrocute me all you want. You can break every bone in my body if you want to. But in the end, the result'll be the same. I will /inot/i betray my friends."

Dr. McNulty blinked for a moment, but he seemed unfazed by what Jerome had said. "I must admit, that was a brave speech there. But don't forget: I still have one other person who could tell me where your friends are. Would you like him to suffer the same way you did?"

The ominous threat hung in the air, sending chills down Jerome's spine as he gasped and his eyes widened in pure horror. His mind instantly conjured up terrible, disturbing scenes that far surpassed any nightmare he had ever dreamed: Seto being helplessly strapped to a table, Seto pleading desperately for mercy, Seto convulsing violently as he was electrocuted, Seto drawing his head back as he screamed in pure agony, Seto sobbing in pain and terror, and finally Seto lying limply on the table, his body pale and cold and his dull brown eyes glazed over in death.

Jerome shook his head to clear it, but the haunting scenes had taken their toll and the damage was done. The bacca shut his eyes tightly and hot tears leaked from them as he realized that now he was faced with a sadistic choice: betray Jason, Quentin, and Ian to save himself and Seto or protect the three and condemn himself and Seto to extremely painful deaths; that is, if Seto didn't give in to the torture. All Jerome could hope for was to either be rescued or for the doctor to let him go. Both possibilities were highly unlikely.

Jerome turned his head away when the doctor stood up. He knew what was coming.

---

Seto's face was still buried in his arms, although by now he had stopped crying. He felt Tyler flinch as Jerome began to scream again. Would it ever stop? Suddenly, a steely resolve sunk its way into Seto's stomach as he lifted his head slightly. He clenched his teeth and stared coldly out the window. Tyler noticed Seto's body tense up beside him. "Seto?" he asked with concern. Seto gave no response as he watched the white clouds in the sky bunch together, blocking the light of the moon and suffocating the prison with shadows. Seto's eyebrows narrowed in concentration as the clouds darkened.

It began to rain.

"Seto?" Tyler repeated, a tinge of fear in his voice as he witnessed the scene outside. He began to scoot away from the sorcerer, whose bruised knuckles were white from gripping his elbows so tightly. "Seto, what are you-"

A loud clap of thunder interrupted him. The dog-hybrid let out a squeak of fear and dove underneath his blanket, quivering. He peeked out and saw Seto trembling as he slowly stood up to face the iron door. An blazing purple aura of magic surrounded him as the rain poured in torrents and lightning shook the ground. Tyler could practically feel the anger radiating from the sorcerer as his hands began to glow.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you." Tyler whimpered and shrunk into himself at the sound of Warden Arana's voice. The spider-hybrid's red eyes gleamed with amusement as she flicked her long black hair behind her shoulder. "Think you're the first sorcerer to try to escape? The door is magically protected; your magic would only be absorbed." Seto remained silent as he aimed a ball of magic in Arana's direction. Startled, Warden Arana instinctively reached for her enchanted sword before relaxing again. "Go ahead and try, then. It's not going to work."

"She... She's right, Seto." Tyler said, stuttering in fear. "It's no use..."

Seto whirled to face him and Tyler's eyes widened when the sorcerer prepared to launch the spell at him instead of Arana. He tried to scramble away from Seto, but the chain attached to his collar went taut. The dog-hybrid panicked and tugged at the chain in a vain attempt to wrench it from the floor. He looked up just in time to see Seto hurl the ball of energy. Tyler shrieked and threw his arms in front of him, shutting his eyes. There was a loud crunching sound and Tyler cowered on the floor before realizing that he wasn't dead.

Tyler cracked open his eyelids and caught a glimpse of Warden Arana holding a remote control. "STAY DOWN, MUTT!" she ordered, her voice slightly frantic.

"Why?" Tyler mumbled, confused. What had he done? Was she talking to Seto?

"JUST STAY DOWN!" Warden Arana threw the remote on the ground and stomped on the button, holding it down with the heel of her boot. Tyler let out an unending melody of pain as stars danced in his vision and he collapsed on the floor. His red shock collar continued to spark slightly as Warden Arana stepped off the button.

Seto made a low growling sound in the back of his throat as he turned to Arana, seething in pure anger. She smiled confidently as she faced him, hiding the fact that she was actually very afraid. "What are you going to do now, huh?" she asked. "It's not going to work, no matter how hard you try. So you might as well just give up."

But Arana's words seemed muffled to Seto, as though he was listening to her underwater. What Seto clearly heard instead was Jerome's shouts of agony as they reverberated in his eardrums. His heart thumped strongly in his chest as adrenaline rushed through his veins. Then he heard Arana's laughter as it echoed in his mind, further fueling his anger. Jerome was hurt, and she. Was. Laughing.

Seto lowered his head so his brown bangs covered his eyes. He could almost feel the cold sweat running down his face as he tightened his jaw with grim determination, breathing through his clenched teeth. He knew that as a sorcerer, it was extremely dangerous for him to use so much power at once. The overexertion would damage his body, possibly to the point of death. But that didn't matter to Seto as he fed all of his rage and frustration into his magic. There was only one thing on his mind, and that was to save Jerome.

He raised his head sharply and his bangs shifted to reveal his eyes. They narrowed in anger as purple fire emanated from his brown pupils. Seto pressed his hands together and spread them apart to form a massive ball of magic. He held it above his head, straining under the effort. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Seto's mind suddenly cleared.

The sorcerer screamed in fury as he hurled the ball at the iron door. The ground shook and Arana almost fell to her feet. She looked back at Seto, smirking. "Did you really think that would work?" she taunted.

But Seto wasn't finished yet. In quick succession, he launched spell after spell, each one more powerful than the last. Warden Arana quickly stopped laughing when a small crack formed on the door. "N-No..." she whispered in shock, slowly backing away as the crack began to spread. "How... How is that even possible..." She pulled out her taser, but her hands were trembling too much to use it. Arana leaned against the cobblestone parapet, her mouth wide open as she met Seto's eyes. Seto glared venomously at her as he summoned one final spell. He let out a loud roar of anger as he flung it forward.

The iron door shattered, the force of the blast sending Arana to her knees. Seto's eyes were ablaze with ferocity as he raised his hands to the ceiling again. Behind him, the toilet began to rattle violently as the water in the basin levitated in the air. Seto quickly spread his arms apart and the water took the shape of a whip. Arana screamed as she tried to run away, but Seto was faster. The whip snaked around her neck and lifted her into the air, choking her. Seto savored the look of pure terror on her face right before he tossed her over the balcony like a ragdoll.

"Who's laughing now?" Seto hissed, cackling as he reveled in the satisfying feeling of power. All of his senses were heightened and he felt more alive than ever before. Gone was the Seto who was always mild-mannered and nonviolent. His mind had finally snapped under the trauma, and anyone or anything that was in his way would pay the consequences severely.

Yes, Seto thought as he heard Jerome scream again, everyone was going to pay.

(A/N: Yeah, uh, just a little bit of advice: never, ever, ever piss Seto off. It doesn't end well.)