#defiance in idea and belief
The Merry Whump of May 2: Beg To Differ
Denial | Confined|Eye Contact
@themerrywhumpofmay“How does it feel,” the victor crows, “knowing that in the end, it was all for nothing?”
The traitor, naked and bruised and stuffed into a cage sized for a dog, cranes his neck to look up at his enemy. “It was not for nothing,” he says. “It was for justice.”
The tyrant kicks the cage. “Don’t play facetious with me,” he hisses. “You failed. Your little rebellion is nothing but ash. Can you taste it?”
“I regret nothing,” the traitor says. “It was the right thing to do.”
“Oh you willregret it,” the tyrant growls. “I’ll make sure of it.”He casts about the room angrily. The fire is not lit – that’s an idea for later – but he grabs the poker from its stand anyway, and jabs it sharply between the bars. The naked man grunts, and bares his teeth.
“I am going to breakyou,” the tyrant tells him, digging the tip of the poker in hard between two ribs and leaning his weight against it. “You will regret everything before I’m done with you. You will beg me for mercy. I will make you scream until you can’t remember your own name.”
“You can – break my body –” the traitor answers, body twisted under the pressure, voice twisted under the pain “– You can make me scream. You can – maybe even make me beg. But you can’t make me – regret. I did what had to be done.”The tyrant loses his temper then, and beats the prisoner savagely through the bars of the cage, bringing the metal poker down hard on immobilised limbs and quivering flesh. When he finally steps back, both men are panting hard.The traitor looks the tyrant dead in the eye and grins a snarl of a grin. “It was worth it,” he says. “It was worth it.”
“It was worth nothing,” the tyrant snaps back. “I will put them all to death. Everything you built will burn. I will erase your name from history. You have failed, and no one will ever remember that you even tried.”
“How like you,” the traitor sneers, “to think that a thing is only worth doing if it is glorified. Do whatever you want with me. You can’t change the truth – It. Was. Worth it.”
