Chapter 14

A/N: I don't know if the torture scene in this chapter will be considered too graphic for some readers but for me it isn't that much gory. You may have already understood that I don't hold back while using profane language in this fic. so no warnings for that. Anyway, WARNING: TORTURE SCENE IN THIS CHAPTER!!!!

(ROTS)

Alden woke up in an unfamiliar place. Wondering where Edmund had brought him, he looked around to see the boy sitting on a chair, looking intently at him.

"So you finally decided to wake up. I've healed you already, fair fight and all that."

Alden cackled and replied, "You'll regret this brat. I'll enjoy watching the life fade away from your eyes when I have your throat in my hands."

"That's how you killed my aunt right? My mother's little sister. You r.a.p.ed her as you choked her to death. Mom had left her memories for me to see what happened to the Whirlpools."

Alden threw his head back as he laughed, "Yes! I killed that bitch as I ravaged her! I remember her screaming and begging me to stop. Your whore of a mother begged for mercy. Too bad she was taken by Altair. I'd have enjoyed breaking her. What will you do? Kick my ankles? You think you can beat me with your hands?"

Edmund stared blankly at the beast laughing as he boasted. Focusing on his seals, he whispered, "Kai."

The seals flared and removed all the resistance on his body.

"What was that, boy?" Alden snarled as he rushed towards Edmund with his fist raised, ready to clock him in the face.

Edmund easily blocked his punch and rammed his knee into Alden's gut, making the man spit blood.

Edmund grabbed him by his neck and threw him at the wall. What followed afterwards was thorough beatdown. Alden was thrashed and tossed around like a rag doll. Edmund was careful not to break any bones, except the jaw. It only took a minute for Alden to faint from the pain and blood loss.

Edmund healed him again and strapped him to a chair while tearing off his clothes. Waking him up, Edmund said, "I'll be asking you some questions and if you answer them truthfully I'll give you an easy death."

Alden tried to speak but his mouth was closed firmly by a piece of cloth. Moreover, his jaw was broken so he could utter little to no words.

Edmund ignored him and began asking his questions. "Why were the Potters targeted by Voldemort?"

Not getting any answer from the man Edmund decided to start his torture. He had been working on various kinds of poisons and had concocted many in the past three years. He filled a syringe with his special torture poison and injected it into Alden's arm.

"When this poison will show its effect, all the nerves in your body will become hypers.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e. Then the skin on your body will begin to wither away as gashes will appear all over your body. Next your muscles will start breaking, slowly. You'll feel every fiber of your being tearing and breaking apart. Your stomach will produce acid in such high quantity that it will start burning through the stomach and escape into the cavity of your gut, burning everything inside. But don't worry, it'll slow. You'll feel your organs burning as you'll writhe and scream in pain. But it won't stop."

As Edmund was describing the effects of the poison, Alden's skin was beginning to peel off due to the poison and disintegrate. Gashes began appearing all over his body, exposing his muscles to the environment. Terror stricken, Alden screamed in agony. It felt much worse than the cruciaticus curse.

"But you won't die," Edmund continued. "After two hours the poison will fade away along with its effects. Everything will return back to normal. Then we'll have another enjoyable session of you being injected with another dose of the poison. But it will last longer. We'll keep doing it until you are ready to give me the answers. But don't worry, I'm not cruel, uncle. I will never kill you, directly, as you are part of my family. I won't touch a single hair on your body."

Finishing saying what he wanted to, Edmund left the room as Alden continued to suffer.

Two hours later, Edmund returned after having a filling dinner. Seeing a fully healed Alden, he grinned. "Ready for another dose uncle?"

Alden screamed and tried to free himself from the chair. The last two hours were so agonizing that the thought of suffering through all that pain again terrorized him. The process of healing back to normal was much more painful and he was horrified of the thought of experiencing it again. He was ready to answer any question Edmund wanted to ask but couldn't speak as his mouth was bound.

Edmund injected another dose of the poison into him, this time more concentrated than the last. "This one's effects will last for six hours. It's effects will be slower but the pain it'll cause will be much worse. Enjoy."

Alden struggled to get free and tried to beg for mercy, but Edmund had already left the room.

(ROTS)

Two days of continuous agony had completely broken Alden and had left him as a trembling and sobbing mess.

Edmund didn't hold back and exhausted all his supplies of the special poison. Approaching Alden, he undid the cloth on the man's mouth which was now soaking with blood. He then healed Alden's jaw and sat on a chair in front of his uncle.

"Now that you're subdued, let's begin. Why were the Potters targeted by Voldemort?"

Alden answered immediately in a shakey, monotonous voice, "A prophesy was made that said about a child being born who will kill the dark lord."

A prophesy? Hmm... "Who made the prophesy and how did Vodemort learn about it?"

"It was Sybil Trelawney while giving her job interview to Dumbledore. Snape eavesdropped on their conversation and was able to hear the first half of the prophesy. It was him who informed the dark lord."

"Does Dumbledore know about this?"

"Yes."

Crap. Dumbledore knew Snape was responsible for Potters being killed and had still defended him, saying Snape was his spy.

"How does one obtain the dark mark? Can someone be forced to accept it?"

Alden answered in the same monotonous voice, "The dark lord used to cast a spell in parseltongue. Then we were required to kill an innocent soul for the mark to appear. It cannot be forced upon anyone. The dark lord wanted his followers to be loyal to him."

Moldy had used a spell in parseltongue to give his dark mark to all the followers. Thus, it was a dead end for him. There was something in the dark mark that caused it to have a similar aura as that of Moldy's soul. This similarity was even shared by the scar on Iris' forehead, but it was much denser than the dark mark's aura.

Deciding to think more about it later, Edmund asked Alden of all those who took part in the destruction of Whirlpool family. He wasn't surprised to know that Snape was there. He had personally killed one of Clair's brothers and her new born nephew with a cutting curse. Undoubtedly, Snape was added into his kill list.

Edmund had been getting frustrated day by day before the World Cup. He had to kill Altair before he turned fifteen to get emancipated by activating the end of line clause. With Alden in his grasp, he could finally get the location of Altair and get his revenge.

"Where is your brother hiding? Where is Altair Vulpis?"