I sort of wanna get in on the crackshipping bandwagon. Suggestions? :3

It was late afternoon in Pyrite Town, and Lyuri was staring into the face of the man who'd turned her life into a living hell.

No, that was wrong. She wasn't looking at his face. She'd never seen his face. She'd only ever seen the mask, that eerie, dissonant smile that was somehow even worse than a blank expressionlessness.

It was almost unfair how she knew so little about him. She didn't even know his real name. Yet Alexiel knew everything about her. He watched her every move, directed her every action. Even her voice had been taken away from her, since speaking would instantly give her identity away. Reveal her to the world as the traitorous coward she was. All she had left that was truly hers was the several square inches within her own skull. And even that wasn't safe with his Gallade around.

Forcing herself to tear her gaze away from Alexiel's face, she cast her gaze over the rest of the warehouse.

The Ultra Ball that had snagged Bishop was now still, but she could've sworn that she saw it move out of the corner of her eye as the Scizor within continued to struggle, hoping in vain that he would be spared from his worst fear. Duke was stood silently in the corner, a dark grin that showed too many teeth spread across his face as he restrained the helpless Sakura. Not that Sakura needed restraining - all the fight had gone out of her from the moment she'd entered the warehouse. Lyuri didn't look straight down. She knew what was waiting for her if she looked straight down.

She kept telling herself that this shouldn't have happened, that things weren't meant to be this way. Yet the bloody reality of it was laid out in front of her, plain for all to see, and the spark of hope that she had allowed to blossom was dying like a fire set on damp wood. The rest of the J-Team could be no more than mere metres away, and yet they'd have no way of knowing what was going on within these four walls.

"And it looks as if the curtains have closed on this particular scene," Alexiel announced, breaking the awful silence hanging across the warehouse like a mourner's shroud. "Excellent work, everybody! You all played your roles perfectly, and everything went according to the script. With one or two minor deviations, admittedly, but that can't be helped, can it?"

Lyuri didn't answer. Nobody did. Her tongue felt like a dead weight in her mouth, atrophied from months of disuse. She felt a churning sensation in her gut as Alexiel turned towards her. It might have been horror once, but after everything she'd been forced to do, horror had since numbed into a dull, constant, awful sickness lurking in the bottom of her stomach.

"Particular thanks to you in particular, my dear sister. I didn't think you had it in you to finish him off. Looks like I was pleasantly mistaken."

Lyuri fought back bile behind her mask. She still couldn't bring herself to look down at the body. Then again, it was barely recognisable as Herbert anymore.

Her brain was still refusing to acknowledge that she'd done such a thing. In a way, it was right - she hadn't raised a finger against him herself, but she'd simply stood back and let it happen, watched as Duke savoured the screams of his former student before suddenly silencing them. She'd done nothing to intervene, nothing to try and stop it. She'd just stared, her mask hiding any trace of sorrow or shock. At least he'd died without knowing it was her behind the mask. She didn't want to think about what his reaction would've been had he found out.

Would it have made a difference if she'd tried to help him? Probably not. She didn't even feel like she was in control of her own actions anymore. She felt helpless. Like a puppet on a string, unable to do anything but watch herself dance. But then again, wasn't that exactly what she was? Nothing more than a puppet, with Alexiel holding the strings. For all his talk about his "precious sister" and "dearest Alexia", she was just a tool to him. A tool for him to use, a tool through which he could fulfil his desires. And that was all she'd ever be, now.

With a dread that bordered on resigned acceptance, she looked up. As she'd expected, Alexiel was still looking at her, not a trace of emotion besmirching his perfectly inhuman expression.

"You've exceeded my original expectations by far. I was originally going to let you go once I was finished with you, you know. But now... now I want you to be my Alexia forever."

She didn't resist as he ran his hand against her mask, caressing her false face with his gloved fingers. If she just stayed as still, silent and emotionless as she always did, then maybe he wouldn't hurt her. There was no point in trying to resist him. She'd learnt that on her first day at Cipher. It was easier if she just accepted her fate, accepted that she'd spend the rest of her life trapped behind the mask she'd given her, looking out at the world like a prisoner gazing through the windows of her cell.

"You'll be a good dog, won't you? You won't make me punish you?"

Yes. She'd be a good dog. She'd listen to his every word and obey his every order. Then, maybe, just maybe, he'd keep Duke safe. Nothing else mattered to her anymore. She didn't care about what Alexiel did to her. Even if he was nothing more than a twisted mockery of his former self, as long as Duke was alive, then there was still the possibility that everything could go back to normal. Any hope of rescue had died along with Herbert, but so long as that possibility existed, then she could still delude herself into thinking that everything would be all right.

She'd be a good dog. For forever, if she had to be.

As Alexiel began to run his hands down her thighs, Lyuri closed her eyes and thought of Duke. For the first time since her ordeal had begun, she managed a small smile beneath her mask. Then Alexia opened her eyes and looked up into the smiling porcelain face that had replaced the only love she'd ever known.