The whole cottage was a horrific mess when Tom stepped in through the door. It seemed as if a tornado had struck the place and blown everything away. The scarce furniture was toppled over, shards of glass littered the floor and by the disheveled state of the rooms, it was enough to assume that whatever had happened, shook the foundations of the dingy little place.
Confusion crossed his features as he couldn't fathom what could have caused such havoc. But then soon enough, realization began to dawn upon him. Without wasting any time, he rushed to the room where he had kept the ex-Auror Nathan Whitburg imprisoned. The door of the room had fallen off its hinges and a suffocating dust like substance engulfed him as he drew near.
The particles of black dust reminded him of the day he had attempted to break into Perseus's mind and he had retaliated. And even though he hated to admit it, the memory still sent an uneasy shiver down his spine.
Lighting up his wand, he stepped inside the room noticing that the dust had begun to clear up by then. He had last visited the cottage two days earlier when he had brought Nathan with him and kept him there. To him, it was quite alarming that in just two days his cottage was nothing like it had been before.
To his utmost horror, the chair on which he had strapped Nathan was smashed nearby and there was no sign of the man anywhere in the room. Coughing from the suffocating dust, he walked deeper among the debris searching for him. If he had had even the slightest idea that things would go so bad, he would never have taken the risk of housing another prisoner with Perseus.
Thinking of Perseus sent an unquenchable surge of anger pulsating through him. Of course it was all his doing; the black dust clinging to the place was enough proof of it already. Tom internally cursed himself for underestimating him yet again.
He had thought that finally Perseus was succumbing to a state of mindlessness. He had thought that he was not in the right mental state to do anything which would cause him any trouble and he had definitely not expected this deteriorated and half insane Perseus to wreak up such a tremendous havoc.
And to add much fuel to fire up his anger was the fact that Nathan Whitburg was nowhere to be seen. He couldn't afford it if that man escaped from his clutches, Nathan knew far too much for his own benefit. But now it was quite clear to him that he had escaped and the only person who could have assisted him was none other than Perseus Burke.
He spotted Perseus collapsed on the floor at the far end of the room. He rushed towards him, not out of concern but out of extreme anger which he felt coursing through his veins due to him. Grabbing him by the collar, he yanked him off the ground. Perseus's head dropped askew, his skin was covered in scratches and his eyes were shut.
He conjured some water and splashed it on him in order to make him gain consciousness. After a few splashes, there was a slight stir in his otherwise lifeless body. A short while later, blue eyes stared up at Tom with a mixture of shock and confusion written across them.
"Where is that traitor?" Tom almost yelled at him, features contorting with rage.
He stared at him blankly as if he had no idea what he was talking about.
"Don't you dare play innocent with me," Riddle growled, "you've been faking this madness for the past many weeks, haven't you? You've been fooling me with this act of yours but now I know the truth very well. Tell me; where the hell is Nathan Whitburg?"
He got no reply and that drove him further outraged. He was losing his outward calm; Perseus had tried enough of his patience with him already. All he could feel at the moment was intense anger and a murderous intent was echoing through his brain.
"And what the hell have you done here?" he swatted the dust that had settled on his hands, letting go of Perseus who crumbled on the floor silently, simply watching him with wide blue eyes. "Answer me!" his voice had risen to a dangerous pitch but it seemed to have had no effect on Perseus.
Tom was frustrated at his lack of emotion, at the blank confused way in which he was looking at him and though all he wanted was to crush the life out of him as fast as he could, but due to some intangible reason he just couldn't do it.
When Perseus didn't respond for another five minutes, Tom felt as if something was dreadfully askew with him. As if he wasn't actually pretending to be like that in order to annoy him.
"If you're not going to answer me yourself, then I'll have to use other means," he remarked, cautiously eyeing him for any change in expression.
However, there was still no response from Perseus who was looking at him as if he had not seen him before, and that unfamiliarity of his gaze was bothering Tom a lot.
Eager to find out what really was the matter with him, Tom steadied him holding him firmly by the shoulders. Then slowly but steadily he intensified his gaze, looking directly into his blue eyes as he penetrated through his mind.
Legilimency was an option he had steered clear of since the day his power had broken forth from him the first time. But now Tom knew there was no other way left. Maybe that act of his would force out some sort of reaction from Perseus. Seeing him so still and indifferent was internally gnawing at Riddle.
Much to his surprise, he easily penetrated into his brain without receiving any resistance from his side like he had expected. Usually Perseus had never given him access so easily, he had kept blocking him out till the very last ounce of his strength. But now that he wasn't putting much of a fight was quite alarming to Riddle.
Deciding that he wouldn't get another opportunity as fine as that one, he penetrated further into his mind hoping to find something that could be useful to him. But the strange fact was that wherever he looked, he was met by an empty darkness. Where Perseus's memories should have been there was nothing but darkness.
He was surely not expecting that. The deeper he searched for anything at all, the more he was met by blankness. His anger subsided to fear at that. Perseus's mind held absolutely nothing as if all his memories, every single thing he had learnt or knew had been wiped clean off his brain.
And if that was the case, then Riddle truly had no use left of keeping him with him. No memories, no information meant no benefit whatsoever to his cause. Realizing that further searching would be futile, he let go of his hold on Perseus and extracted himself from his mind.
"Perseus... What have you done to yourself?" his tone was much softer than earlier though there was an edge to his voice indicating his unease at having to deal with him in such a state.
His question should have provoked some sort of shock or surprise in Perseus, had he been his usual self, but it seemed as if he was miles away mentally, even though he was physically right there in front of him.
Much frustrated, he grabbed him by the arms and shook him, "are you even listening? Why the hell are you behaving like this? What have you done to Nathan Whitburg? And most importantly what have you done to your brain?"
Tom was taken aback when Perseus reacted, freeing his arms from his hold. "What are you talking about?" His voice was raspy and it seemed as if he was speaking with effort.
"Perseus..."
"Water," he ignored him, standing up but stumbled and lost his balance.
Tom grabbed his hand making him sit down, "wait." He conjured a silver goblet and filled it with water handing it to him. Perseus immediately grabbed it downing it in one gulp as if his throat was dried up for long. He refilled the goblet twice more as Perseus relished the water going down his throat.
"Thank you," he mumbled as the goblet vanished in thin air.
Tom raised an eyebrow quizzically; his behavior was quite suspicious to him, "you're thanking me?"
"Why? Should I not have done that?"
He shook his head, "Perseus, you're anything but okay."
"Who's this Perseus you keep mentioning?"
The abrupt question set off an alarm in Riddle's brain. "You're Perseus, who else do you think is here for me to address?"
Perseus rested his head back, looking up at the ceiling briefly as if assessing the information then bringing his eyes down to meet his, "oh right. I'm Perseus."
Tom's anger had long gone replaced by bewilderment and an inner sense of dread, "wait a bit, do you even know who I am?"
"Who are you?"
He stared at him long enough trying to make sense of everything. Perseus was usually good at masking his feelings but he had never done anything like that to him before. He could go as far as to say that Perce was a decent enough actor since he had almost tricked him into believing that he had gone insane. But the Perseus who was sitting in front of him, with a lost expression visible in his eyes seemed nothing like his old self.
There wasn't any doubt that Perseus was faking anything because he simply wasn't doing so. Even Tom could see that. And though he had himself wanted Perseus to go insane and lose himself eventually, he felt a shocking blow to actually see it happen.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Tom resumed, "alright, I'm going to show you a few pictures, they will be likenesses of some people that you must have known at some point. All you have to do is tell me who they are."
Perseus nodded, gently massaging his injured leg while keeping his focus on him.
Tom flicked his wand and a picture of Caractacus Burke appeared in the air. The picture was strikingly clear, fading a little at the edges. "Who do you see?" he asked.
Perseus's eyes narrowed as if he was racking his brain to find the answer, "I... I don't know. That's probably... Probably a man who lost something he valued most."
His reply was a little unsettling, however, Tom changed the picture to Belvina Burke.
"She seems like a lovely lady with too many responsibilities on her head. You really think I must have known these people?"
Tom didn't reply instead he changed the picture to Demelza Burke. He was hundred percent sure that Demelza's picture would ensue some reaction out of him.
A short spark appeared in the blue irises as if the picture had struck a cord somewhere, "she's... She's an innocent creature held in the clutches of a monster. And she can't fight it." His voice cracked from sadness, "don't show me anymore of these pictures. These are sad people and seeing them makes me sad."
Tom was startled a bit at that. The pictures he had shown him in no way depicted any sort of sadness. It seemed as if Perseus's insight was telling him things about them even though he failed to recognize them himself. The stranger part was that whatever he was saying about them was too close to the truth.
"Just a few more, I have to make sure," he changed the picture to Renata Fawley.
Perseus's reaction changed drastically. Tears began to well up in his eyes, "stop it."
"Who is she? You have to tell me or else..."
However he didn't get to finish the threat as Perseus answered, "an angel who fell to her death. She's an angel who cut off her own wings and drowned in the river."
Perseus was not in his right mind that was for certain, he could judge that from his failure at recognizing them. But still there was some part of him which knew, some part of him which was still able to trigger his instincts regarding them.
"But you don't know the names of any of these people?"
"No," his reply was vague.
Tom nodded, "fine, I'll let you be only if you answer two more questions."
Perseus looked at him wearily, "what questions?"
"Who are you?"
Perseus's eyes glazed over as sorrow spread on his face, "a broken puppet."
"And who am I?"
He paused not replying as immediately as he had done so before, taking a good look at him before answering, "the puppeteer from hell."
"What does that mean?" a small frown had taken over Tom's face.
"It means that you're the Devil," Perseus buried his head in his hands, "and you've been pulling my strings for so long now that I can't even remember. So long now that whatever was left of me has faded into emptiness. My limbs are broken and so am I. But you'll keep on pulling my strings for that is the only part of me which is still intact. Keep on pulling until there's nothing left."
***