Poison Ivy | T. Riddle ✔

[25] Repeated Failure

The marble under his hands would feel cold to a normal person, but to him it didn't make any difference. In fact, as compared to the temperature of his skin, the white marble sink was considerably warmer.

Tom's eyes were fixed on the red patch tainting the bottom of the sink. Blood. His blood. He was slightly shivering, a sliver of blood dried on his mouth and a pool of it drained into the sink.

Never before had he felt this terrified of what he was slowly but steadily transitioning in to. He had been anxious the first time he had seen the increasing patchwork of bruises on his body but had eventually grown accustomed to it. For him, it wasn't a very big deal.

But now that his blood had begun to drain out of his body, it had got him quite alarmed. He had been standing there for an hour perhaps, coughing out pools and pools of blood such that the marble wasn't white anymore, instead a sickening red color persisted at the surface.

The veins around his neck had become prominent from the constant coughing and he felt completely exhausted. Not being able to properly stand even, he dragged himself out of the bathroom, grabbing the walls for support and collapsed against the bed.

He was doing all he could to become stronger and more powerful. Yet at the moment he felt weakened beyond repair. As if all of his life force had drained along with his blood into the sink.

But then he wasn't a human anymore so why should he have human characteristics? Why should his body store blood in it despite the fact that he didn't need it anymore?

Blood was essential for humans to survive. While Tom Marvolo Riddle was anything but a human.

It was beyond his understanding why everything had started to go downhill, even though this was the time when he was so confident that he had finally succeeded.

He had managed to convince the sage Kushtim into teaching him and by taking his snake Nagini into his confidence, he had very cleverly got him out of his way. The cave which was home to the old sage, was now the hiding place of one of Tom's Horcruxes.

Just like a serpent, he had let Kushtim live for as long as he was beneficial to him and when his purpose had been fulfilled and he had learnt whatever the sage had to offer, he had got rid of him in the same way as he had done with so many of his victims including Hepzibah Smith, Hokey, Gabby, Renata Fawley and so on.

The only exception were the Burke cousins. He couldn't dare lay a hand on either of them even though it was more than clear to him that both were of no advantage to him whatsoever.

He couldn't get rid of Demelza because he loved her. As for Perseus, he couldn't kill him because he feared him.

***

Perseus's mind was an utter mess; he feared that he was slowly losing his sanity. He couldn't drive away the voices that screamed agonizingly in his head, he couldn't get rid of the dreadful feeling that something hazardous was about to happen and he couldn't make himself become calm again.

He was always on the edge of his nerves, as if waiting for the danger to strike him hard and topple him off the narrow cliff on which he was barely standing. He longed to be free of his captivity, he longed to breathe in fresh air and he longed for the nightmares to end. But now for almost more than an year, it seemed as if fate loved to do everything to him which he didn't want to happen.

All his desires were a dream long forgotten. And he was nothing but a desperate prisoner clawing at the bars of his cage, screaming to get out.

The extreme silence of the house had become intolerable for him and it was then that he decided to come out of the room he had kept himself locked in for a week perhaps, and take a short walk in his current prison abode. 

A faint hope glimmered in his heart; what if the enchantments around the house had weakened? What if he could manage to break free at last?

Deciding the hope was worth the risk, he silently crept out and made his way upstairs to check whether Tom was at home or not.

Being as silent as possible, he peeked in through the door and was quite surprised when the scene met his eyes. Tom Riddle was sprawled against the bed; his hands gone limp and his head dropped at a dangerous angle. The white sheets were stained with blood and he noticed that a small amount of blood was still trickling out from his nose.

Seeing him like that only sent one message to Perseus's brain; what if Riddle had actually died? Slowly and cautiously he inched towards him, scrunching his nose up in disgust at the horrible stench of blood around him. Upon edging closer to him, he saw that Riddle was breathing. Short slow intakes of breath, as if he had lost the strength to do so properly.

It was the first time in weeks that his mind kicked back into action, as if seeing his captor like that had brought his thought process back to normal. A thousand situations whirred in his head as he was planning on what to do next.

Everything else faded into a blur with his mind shifting into a fight or flight mode. He could easily get rid of Tom Riddle judging by the way he looked so helpless. His hands ached to wrap themselves around his throat and squeeze out whatever life that was left in him. But he wasn't a murderer and he couldn't become one.

But he's responsible for so many deaths! He took every happiness away from you, Perseus. Don't be a fool to let him live. He's a monster and monsters can not be redeemed. 

A battle had broken forth in his brain as two voices quarreled inside; one was his conscience and the other was his trauma.

I can't kill him, I can't take anyone's life!

He killed Renata!

And that was his breaking point. The one fact on which he couldn't argue anymore.

And if you don't stop him, who knows maybe Demelza would...

"No!" A storm was raging in his blue irises as he stepped even closer to Riddle, his hands poised and his jaw clenched in determination. He would kill the monster before any more damage could be done. He would kill Riddle even if it meant dying himself.

He knew the second he would intentionally take his life would be the last moment he would spend alive as well. He knew that killing was a violent act which would break apart the oath he had taken entirely and he would definitely have to face death.

But what was left in life for him either? Death would be a relief; an escape from the worldly prison in which he was captured since so long.

He positioned himself and carefully grabbed Tom by the throat. Riddle was so weakened that his eyes didn't even flutter open. Knowing this was the only chance he had, Perseus steadily began to squeeze his throat using all the strength he had in him, determined to finish him once and for all.

He was so close, so close to get rid of the serpent that had destroyed his life but an excruciating pain shot up in his thigh, making him collapse on the floor. His hands flailed and Tom's head dropped back on the bed, his breathing slightly more rapid as if gulping in heaps and heaps of air.

Perseus turned to see a snake coiled around his leg, with its fangs dug deep into his skin. The pain increased as the venom spread and he tried hard to pry the snake's lethal fangs away from him.

But Nagini's favor laid with Tom, whom she envisioned as her new master. And she couldn't let anyone pose any harm to her master. It wasn't long after that the pain became unbearable for him. Perseus's senses extinguished and the last thing he heard was Nagini hissing threateningly at him as she finally took her fangs out.

***