Work Text:
Sano's POV
Sano had to admit that she was cute when she slept.
Normally, he wouldn’t care to keep victims this long. He typically collected all of the information that he needed on his specimen in three days or so. If they lived that long, that was. That’s where she stood out from her predecessors. Unlike their bodies, which couldn’t handle much more than a few doses of the naga’s special anesthesia and the operations associated with them, hers was sturdy. She’d even grown to be able to break free of his anesthesia and make bitter eye contact with him. Of course, he’d punished her for it, but he couldn’t help but marvel at just how strong she was becoming. It was as if the more he broke her down, the more she was able to build herself back up. There was something more that ran through her blood than science could explain. Something like magic or, rather, a miracle. The tether that tied her to the world of the living that he couldn’t manage to snap by his usual means.
It was almost impossible for him to not be impressed by her.
He watched as her chest rose and fell slowly, smiling slightly as he watched her turn onto her side. Her arms wrapped around the emptiness beside her. As if she were expecting someone to take the bait and fill the void, worming their way right into her arms. Sano wondered just how cold she would think he was if he wriggled into her grasp. If she’d wince at the sudden iciness beside her or lean into his touch. Like he was any other boy that he was certain she’d hooked up with after meeting under similar circumstances before. Imagining the panic on her face made him chuckle a bit, but he’d have to put that off for another time. He couldn’t risk her waking up. Not before he began on the next phase of plans he had in mind for her. He turned to his table of tools, looking for the best one to begin this latest operation with.
The ice pick wouldn’t be sharp enough to make as precise incisions as the naga was intent on creating. Using it for foreplay was one thing, but during a surgery as particular as this one, there was no room for error. He scanned the tray of tools for anything else that might be of use to him, evaluating each tool carefully for its usefulness. The familiar glinting of a metal blade underneath of the overhead lights caught his eye. A scalpel. Sano’s second favorite tool of the trade (topped by only his obscene collection of syringes). He grabbed it off of the tray and held it in his hand, relishing just how much capability such a small tool had to inflict so much damage on any one being. Stuffing some needles and thread into his pocket, he got to work before he could think better of it.
Her toes were so much smaller than he’d expected them to be. Within his gloved fingers, he grabbed onto the pinky toe of her right foot, rolling it between them as he figured out the best place to begin severing the bone from the rest of her foot. Cutting through that much tendon wasn’t going to be easy but, as long as he pressed hard enough, he figured it wouldn’t take more than a couple of hours for him to sever them. One by one he pressed his blade into the empty space between her toe and her foot, frowning as he realized that he’d accidentally nicked the bone instead of making a clean cut like he’d intended. Even more disappointingly, he was able to reposition and slide the metal right through it without so much as a whimper from the girl on the operating table. No matter how hard he pressed, how painstakingly long he stitched up the stumps where he’d freshly severed the appendages, she didn’t wake up.
He’d have to remember to not give his next victim as much anesthesia, if he ever decided to do this again.
After all of her toes were severed, he took his gloves off and sat down in his chair. Blood stained the bottom of his jacket, making the doctor curse under his breath. There went another five dollar gallon of bleach down the drain. Even using the cheap stuff, he went through bottles as if he were an alcoholic buying vodka. The smell of iron permeated the air, bringing Sano back to reality as he remembered that he needed to find a place to store the appendages he had strewn across his tray before the girl could wake up and see them. He walked over to the cabinet behind his desk and pulled out an empty jar. It was a little dusty but, as long as he washed it before he filled it up with formaldehyde, it would suffice. He filled up the glass with the pungent liquid, watching as every toe he dropped in stained the liquid an even deeper crimson.
Oh, how priceless the look on her face would be when she woke up.
Y/N's POV
The first thing I’m aware of when I wake up is the pounding headache and the bright light shining down on my face. My feet are numb, and my hands are no longer tied to the operating table. I rub my wrists and cautiously sit up, my eyes scanning the room for any signs of Sano. He doesn’t seem to be here.
I try to swing my legs around the table, only to notice that they’re still tied down. I look at them, checking if there’s a way to undo the restraints, but stop when I see the damage I unknowingly had inflicted on me in my sleep - my toes were gone. All ten of them. My feet were practically stubs now, with little stitches along them, marking where my toes had once been. I begin to feel dizzy and have to lie back down. How sick is this guy? Does he have a foot fetish or something?
My thoughts are interrupted by footsteps. I instinctively shut my eyes, acting as if I’m still asleep, until I feel fingers delicately tracing the wounds on my feet. My eyes fly open and I sit straight up, before shying away again when I see Sano’s face. He’s dangerous, I can’t just yell at him… even if he took away my toes without permission.
“What are you doing?” I ask with a forced curiosity, trying to seem as naive to the situation as humanly possible. Sano smiles.
“Just admiring my handy work. Wanna see?” His eyes practically light up at the question - something I wouldn’t usually see from him - so I nod reluctantly. He then bends over, messing with something on the ground, before coming back up with something in his hands. A jar. Full of toes, piled on top of a pool of blood. My toes. My jaw drops and I have to resist the urge to scream. This only makes him grin harder.
I know I should be afraid, but honestly? I’m just mad. I’m fucking pissed. Those were my toes. They were important to me. They helped me walk, helped me get popular with the ladies; they were my everything. And he has the audacity to just take that away from me? He wants to trap me in here? Fine. He wants to torture me daily? Fine, I can handle that! I’m tough enough! But taking my toes? That’s going too far… I feel anger boiling up and decide, fuck it. I’m going to die here anyway, might as well give him a piece of my mind beforehand. I open my mouth to speak.
“Sano, what the fu-” I begin, but I’m cut off by his frown. I’ve never seen him look so genuinely depressed, and that’s saying a lot considering how emo he is. I almost pity him.
“Do you.. want your toes back?” He asks, his voice wavering. I swear, he’s showing me more vulnerability than I think he’s ever shown in his life. What do I even say to him? ‘Ah no, I like not having my toes! Thank you so much!’? Like hell. I have to let him down. Gently.
“I don’t particularly enjoy... not having my toes.” I mutter, being as cautious with my wording as I can be.
“Really? I’ll give you new toes, then.” He speaks with a practically monotone voice. His old, colder personality is back, possibly even worse than before, and I shiver. Did I fuck him up? I’m getting my toes back, so there’s that at the very least.
“I would appreciate that. Thank you, Sano.” He nods and sets the jar of my toes back on the floor, and once again begins fiddling with something underneath the table. He stands back up, holding a new jar, full of small hot wheel cars.
What the hell?
“Uh.. Sano? Are those going to be my new toes?”
“Yes. Is that going to be a problem?”
I think on it, trying to weight the cons and pros. Pros, I’ll have my toes back. Cons, they’ll be hot wheels. The answer is obvious.
“Sure. Why the fuck not.”
He then pushes me down and ties my hands back to the table, and begins the operation. In the end, my new feet are finally complete. I’ve never been happier.
Ending #21: Sano replaced your toes.