"All Rise" the order was spoken like a whip against the skin; startling and disembodying.

But rise he did, because he would not, could not, should not, fall.

"Have you reached a verdict?"

Serpent-like eyes moved slowly from the judge to the jury, to the foreperson who would become his executioner.

"We have, your honour".

"What say you?"

"We, the jury, in the case of The State of Washington VS. Kim Taehyung find the defendant guilty of sixteen counts of first-degree murder".

It is as if time freezes, an icy thaw chills his bones, keeping him in place as he hears his sentence of life imprisonment for each sordid life he took. He does not regret his actions, nor does he shy away from the consequences.

"Mr Taehyung" the voice breaks him from his thoughts, "Do you have anything to say?"

"Hineni, hineni".

•••

"Seven minutes" the guard shouted, hand roughly between his shoulder blades as he shoved him into the cracked, concrete wall.

Dropping his head, his shaggy, raven hair draws a curtain across his eyes as the scalding water beats like a drum against his spine. The burn is cruel, but he stays silent as he knows it is not meant to be kind.

"Arms up".

Like a flag hoisted, he throws his arms up, spreads his legs and bites his tongue till the ever-familiar taste of blood swirls around his mouth- it's a taste he'll never forget, and that is his curse.

"Turn around".

And he does.

Flinching away from the steam that ghosts along his face, melting away the straight face he wears to hide the pain he's in, the pain he is ALWAYS in.

A navy blue jumpsuit is chucked into the pool of water at his feet with an uncaring "Put that on".

As he feels the silver cuff around his ankles and wrists and drag him forward, he almost winces at the way it rubs against his newly burnt flesh.

"From here on out, you're not just gonna see hell, you're gonna live it, out there, in the big, bad world, you may be somebody, but in here, you're a nobody and believe you me, son, it's best you stay that way". The guard sighs, shakes his head and laughs "Time is all you have here and far too much of it, it's up to you" he emphasises his word with a push of his index finger into the new inmate's toned chest, "And you alone what you do with it, you'll see a lot of things you don't like in here, more than anything, you'll see what you don't like in yourself, just don't let anyone else see it too".

With an unblinking stare, he hitched a brow "Why are you advising me?"

"Because" he eyed the spider tattoo beneath the man's steely eyes, watching as it moved downward as if about to crawl every time he blinked, "Tonight, I go home, now, you are home, and no gang affiliation out there can save you in here".

"No". His finger ticks side to side like the hand of a clock. "Why are YOU advising ME?"

A sly grin emerges over his cracked lips, eyes alight with the kind of fire you knew you'd burn in. "I'm not" he steps closer, something silver shimmering between his knuckles, "I'm warning you" And with that, he ends his sentence, blade rough through, what he hopes, is a vital organ, the squelch of blood and ripped skin the only sound as he drives the knife in a little harder.

Velvet red pours from his lips, he stumbles, tripping backwards till his back slams onto the floor and his hands hold onto the handle with a death grip. Groaning in pain, he steadies his gaze on the good-for-nothing man above him, slows his breathing and tries to recall his surroundings.

"Medic, we need a medic in here, inmate number four has stabbed himself!"

"My name" he speaks gutturally, blood still spewing and tainting his pearly white teeth, "My name is V" With that said, he allows his eyes to shut, hoping this will be the release he has always craved.

A/N: Hi, and thank you so much for reading! Points of clarification ; I chose for his inmate number to be the number four because four sounds like death in Korean, so it's generally seen as an unlucky number, he is not the fourth inmate. He also isn't Jewish in this story, but there is a reason why he said a Jewish phrase and more will be explained on that as time goes on. I apologise for how short this was but future chapters will be longer as this was just a prologue!