A/N: A very small oneshot...No, I'm serious.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the Inheritance Cycle.

He Remembered

He remembered an impenetrable darkness, the kind that offered no comfort and chilled you to the bone, threatening to steal every bit of warmth and happiness that you possessed. Pain that was sharp, constant and so intense in its never-ending cycle…and then a fear unlike anything he had ever known before...A fear far greater than a mere father's wrath, betraying the King or a pending death sentence. No, this fear was worse. For him, it was hell personified.

…imprisonment.

He remembered the torture that followed; physical, emotional and mental. Pieces of his entire self, stripped bare and exposed for all to see, even though he screamed and swore and refused to give way...And then to watch those pieces be systematically destroyed. His mind invaded and violated, repeatedly, despite how hard he tried to defend it.

His final sanctuary. Simply gone.

Stolen.

He remembered the raw emotions that curled within him tauntingly as a snake poised to strike. Anger, sadness, doubt and shame...He then felt them again, every night that the dreams came back to haunt him with devastating lucidity.

He remembered the cruelty of the ones who took delight, in willingly inflicting torment upon him. He remembered the anguish and self-loathing...The desperate need to die, just so that all his suffering would finally cease.

He remembered being bound by invisible chains, forcing him into slavery as his mind shattered. He remembered the light and the new pain made with his bond, but still could not forget what he had endured on the way even as he found strength within the red dragon that had hatched solely for him. Loved Thorn in a way he had he would never love anyone else...Yet he was sad? Angry. Furious.

Thorn was innocent.

More innocent than Murtagh had ever been...More innocent then Murtagh could ever hope to be.

Never having been given the choice.

Never having known anything else.

The red dragon was his second half...His soul...And yet they belonged to someone else.

He remembered what freedom was and how it felt…and he remembered how he no longer possessed it.

How it seemed, Thorn would never know it.

A/N: Horrible? Okay? Let me know.

Edited: Hopefully it doesn't sound as if their bond was forced anymore. I apologise to readers as that was never my intention.