At some point, she had passed out from the sheer pain and humiliation. When she opened her eyes at last, the pain was still there but she was no longer held in that monster's grip.

An acidic taste filled up her mouth and she felt like she would vomit any second. A bowl was pushed close to her shortly after and she wretched her guts out, feeling terribly weakened to breathe even.

Her body had started shivering and then a warm blanket was draped over yet she couldn't see who was taking care of her at the moment.

Darkness clouded over her as she passed out again. She did not remember how many times she had been passing in and out of consciousness. It was a very cathartic feeling of being stuck in a loop. It reminded her of the paradox and she wanted it to end as soon as possible.

Her eyelids were too heavy from exhaustion to flutter open yet she flinched at the slightest touch until a woman's voice reached her, assuring her that she was not going to hurt her.

After that, Eleanor stayed in that half-dead state for quite a long time. She was still in pain but there was some kind of medication given to her that was slowly taking effect, numbing out all sensation until she slipped into a state of unfeeling darkness.

She did not know how long passed in that state either.

But when she was finally able to open her eyes, nothing around her made sense.

She was not in that room she had been kept in by Voldemort, neither in the dungeons nor that dreaded meeting hall. That room she was in currently was vaguely familiar but she couldn't quite remember why.

She tried to sit up but couldn't, her whole body numbed and she was too weak to fight against it.

But she didn't have to as a hand gently took her arm and helped her up. It wasn't Narcissa's hand, she realized and tilted her head to see who it was.

Her eyes welled up in tears to take in the sight before her and she was near convinced that she was dreaming.

Pale blue eyes met hers and it was Regulus who had helped her sit up. Regulus who she had been praying to see one last time before she collapsed under all that torture.

Her head swayed from too many emotions flowing in and she would have passed out again if he hadn't helped her drink some water to steady her. He was very concerned for her and though he seemed like a hallucination to her at first, by each passing second, she was starting to realize that it was really him.

Her mind was not playing tricks upon her and Regulus Black was truly there by her side.

"Reg..." She breathed out, hope and relief shining in her eyes to see him at last, "Regulus..."

His arms wrapped around her comfortingly as she buried herself into his warm embrace, breaking down into tears.

"Don't cry, Elle," he tried to comfort her, "you're safe now. You're with me."

For a brief instant, she let herself believe his words, while he kept stroking her head to comfort her.

But then Voldemort's morbid voice filled her up again, shaking her to the core with fear. "You are mine, Eleanor. I will not let go of you. Never."

She panicked, finding it harder to breathe. And though she had seen it was Regulus holding her and not Voldemort, that firm grip terrified her.

Her hands were too numb to lift even as she tried to push him away, feeling suffocated all of a sudden.

It was not until she fell limp against his chest that he realized what was going on. She had been having a panic attack and had passed out again.

His brow furrowed in concern as he laid her down on the bed, rubbing her palms to get her to gain consciousness.

She was so terribly broken that it hurt and deep down he feared they had perhaps gotten too late to save her.

The patches on her neck were enough proof of the kind of heinous torture she had been put through and it hurt Regulus to see her as such.

But at least he had brought her out from the hideout and they were now at the headquarters. She was supposed to be safe with them.

But he knew that assurance was an illusion in itself. Lord Voldemort would be hunting them down by then, utterly furious that the Order had broken into his hideout and taken away his prisoner.

He would not let go of her that easily and the only way she could be free of him was if she died or if he was murdered.

He hoped it was the latter because he couldn't bear to lose Eleanor again.

On the other hand, Lord Voldemort was truly in a disastrous temper.

Not only had his hideout been broken into but his most precious possession had also been snatched away.

He was fuming in anger, getting consumed completely by the intense rage.

He couldn't let Eleanor Troy slip from his fingers again.

He wanted her back at any cost.

He was pacing furiously as the Death Eaters around him tried to fix their base up. Some of them had been ordered to find out the location of the Order's headquarters so that he could go there, retrieve Eleanor, and kill every single one of them.

His patience had been tried too much and now it was running out.

All he could think of was that Eleanor had slipped from his grasp once again and that was a bruise to his pride and ego.

He would hunt her down even if he had to tear the world apart to get to her.

And once he got her, he would make sure she never forgot her lesson.

He hated it when his possessions were taken away and he could wage wars to get them back just to prove his point then mercilessly break them and throw them away.

He intended to do the same to Eleanor with the only difference being that he would never throw her away.

She would live on in her miserable life as nothing but a broken puppet.

All he had to do was find out where the Order was hiding and eliminate all opposition. Then and only then would he feel that he had truly claimed victory.

***