Hearing his cries, encouraged by his tone - the captain struck harder and harder. He threw down the crop and changed to the lash which he yielded with savage force. Sweat pored from his massive body through the exertion of the attack. The captain did not relent. He continued to deliver blow after blow; the whip swooshing through the air to land on every part of Sébastien's front torso, welting the skin in a crazy pattern of red.

The blows rained down on him time and time again until Sébastien was hanging limply from the chain, his head exploding with the pain, yet his heart still rejoicing in the suffering - for the suffering subdued his crushing guilt which was far more torturous and unbearable.

Then the whipping halted.

The pain lingered in Sébastien's body. The guilt was there as well, but its hideous nature had miraculously been tamed by the weapons the captain had so firmly yielded. It had been broken like a horse, still physically the same but the nature changed. And for the first time in two years, Sébastien Gervais was at peace. He had found a treatment to gain remission from the cancer that had been eating away at his soul.

Pain was the answer - pain and submission. His total surrender, physically and mentally, would allow him to breathe again. In the bubble he had entered, removed from the world, euphorically riding the soaring eagle of bodily suffering, Sébastien realised what he now must do.

The captain looked at Sébastien hanging limply from his bondage. He placed his hand under the lad's chin and raised his face. Tears were streaming down the young man's cheeks, his chocolate eyes had melted to liquid, and his ruby lips were quivering through his suffering. The captain waited on a word, a plea for him to stop. Those eyes were pleading, the lips started to move - the word was coming and he wondered if he had the strength to refuse what was asked.

The captain braced himself. He looked at the eyes, so compelling with their warmth. He looked at the lips so inviting with their sweetness. He felt his heart touched by the beauty that he saw. Could he refuse those eyes? Could he deny a word pleaded from those lips? Could he deny this boy his mercy?

The answer came surprisingly easy - for the word was not what he'd expected.

"Merci!" Sébastien said.

It wasn't mercy that Sébastien asked for. He thanked him instead. Thanked him for thrashing away his guilt. He thanked him for his deliverance.