A/N: Hello! This is a tinsey little oneshot that I wrote while I was trying to think up ideas for 'Of Darker Beginnings.' I hope you enjoy it! I do have a warning for you: the oneshot is mostly dialogue, I know, but it won't be that way for the last paragraph. Kay? Kay. Happy reading! ~M.M.
Summary: Harry, after going to meet Voldemort, is captured and tortured to the point of breaking. HP/LV, mentions of torture. Oneshot?
Maybe the good guys are the bad guys and the bad guys are the good guys and we've just been looking at the picture from one way for too long. - The Best of the Doctor, Doctor Who
Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always go there first, and is waiting for it. - Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man
"That was the problem with having walls so hard and high and unscalable...When they came down, they crumbled completely, shattering into nothingness." ― L.J. Smith, Witchlight
Roses:
"Why don't you just give up?" Because I can't…
"You have nothing left!" But I told them I would defeat you…
"Your friends have abandoned you, your precious Headmaster has been defeated, and your body has been beaten and battered." But I still have my will…
"So just give up." Why?
"Give up, Harry." Ha…that's the first time you've used my name…
"Wouldn't you just rather stay here?" But these shackles are hurting my wrists and ankles…
"I could move you to a more comfortable location; a real room in my mansion." Why would I want to stay with you?
"Wouldn't you rather not fight anymore?" But I have to…
"Who's left to blame you for giving up? Who's left to look at you with shame?" Myself…
"I could make you forget. I could erase your memory of the people who you once knew." But then whose advice and company would I have to look back on as I do nothing?
"You wouldn't need to. I would tell you what was right and wrong. I would distract you after too much time alone with your thoughts." But then what would I become?
"Whatever you wanted. You could go to school…you could gain mastery in any subject…you could rule, by my side, forever." Why would you want me? I'm broken…battered…bruised…bloodied…
"You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen." I am nothing. I am filthy…
"You are pure, untainted, uncorrupted innocence. And you look positively miserable, chained up like that…" Everything hurts…everywhere…
"Allow me to help. Let me unchain you and take you upstairs to the main manor, and get you some medical attention." But I'm not worth it. I'm not worth anything anymore…
"You are worth something. You are worth everything…to me." But…but…
"Just give in. Give up. Sit back, please, and call it a day. Give up the fight. Let all your worries go. Let yourself relax." …okay. I give up. You win, Tom. You win.
There were four clicks at the shackles came off.
Then the gentle, black-robed arms of Tom Riddle picked up Harry, and carried him upstairs to the main manor, and Harry Potter caught his first glimpse of sunlight in an entire year, and the Savior of the Light was lost forever to the depths of the darkness.