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"Sadistic . . . bitch . . . "</span>The insult slipped out between tightly grit teeth. However, the sharp prick of a needle slipping into Hawke's spine was nothing in comparison to the fear and apprehension that had taken hold of the Auror as he felt the serum quickly beginning to do its work. While he'd been trained to easily resist the potion's effects . . . in combination with the physical torture he knew would come and the potency of the serum's delivery, he wasn't quite sure he'd be able to withstand its influence for long. Secrets or no. Especially with his mental fortress already wavering, the sudden eager need to answer any and all questions gnawing at him from the inside.<br/><br/>And then suddenly his world exploded with a familiar pain as the torture curse burned through every nerve in his body, but true to his word, the only outward sign of the blond's agony were labored breathes, his strained expression and white-knuckled fists now clenched above his head as he pulled subconsciously at the shackles digging into his skin. But did he scream? No. How long this went on, he couldn't know, but even with the veritaserum weakening his resolve, Hawke wouldn't let this woman see his weakness.<br/><br/><i>Then the torture ceased and Hawke could breath easily at last as the familiar sounds of a raid echoed throughout the shack. <span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ffa64d">"Department of Magical Law!" </span>Aurors rushed into the room, some Hawke recognized, others he didn't. Analiese's wand was summoned from her hand before she had time to react and within minutes she was bound and lying on the very same rug Hawke had occupied what felt like hours ago. His bindings were removed as he sat up, muscles sore and rubbing at his abused wrists as his rescuers escorted him outside the shack . . . </i><br/><br/>Only for Hawke to find himself still bound and thrashing above the mattress within the next blink.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#b30000">"No . . . nonononooo . . . "</span>It couldn't be. He'd been free of this hell only seconds before.<i><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#b30000">It wasn't real. Just a lie.</span></i>Or was his current reality the lie? With his occlumency weakening under Analiese's methods, those iron walls began to crumble just enough to make her manipulation of his mind all too easy. And struggle as he might to build them back up, the serum's effects wouldn't allow it because to do so would be an obstruction of the truth. In fact, withholding his screams was also an obstruction of the truth. And so the auror found he could no longer hide his pain as the first of many tore from his throat. As his walls shook, so too did his resistance to the other mind now connected to his own. Though in this moment Hawke found he no longer cared on that front. Defending himself from both sides had spread his willpower far too thin.<br/><br/>Though he quickly regretted his decision as Albiorix's thoughts washed over him, dark murderous images that caught Hawke off guard.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#5900b3"><i>Theo's own screams as he too underwent the torture curse. Theo pleading for his life, surrounded by Death Eaters. A flash of green. Theo, skinned alive and begging for his big brother's help, a faceless creature crawling towards him . . . while Hawke could do nothing but scream and thrash. </i></span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#b30000">"Don't you fucking touch him!"</span>He hadn't meant for the words to escape him. Or had they? Caught between three worlds: his unending pain, another hope of false freedom and his little brother's beheading, Hawke wasn't quite sure anymore which one was real. Or if any of them were . . . quite literally being driven mad by the overwhelming stimuli, vicious waves of one false world after another, his mind descending into madness as he lost his bearings on reality. And quite literally unable to escape these delusions no matter which dark vestiges of his mind he tried to flee to.<br/><br/>Nowhere was safe.<br/><br/>But he knew one thing for certain. If that bastard dared to lay a finger on his brother, Hawke would tear him to shreds.<i><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#b30000">Leave him alone. It's me you want.</span></i>Theo's screams continued to haunt him, drowning out even his own as Hawke desperately pushed himself through the link, bringing the torture with him, attacking Albiorix as he shared his physical agony with the man out of hatred . . . only to realize he was nowhere near Theo.<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#b30000"><i>What do you want from me? </i></span>Even his thoughts were exhausted as he was thrown once more into yet another vision, this one of Analiese's doing.<i><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#00b300">His mother lying face down in a pool of blood. His first love, crying out for help as his body was cut to ribbons. </span></i><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#b30000">"Answer me, damn you!" </span>