[Crow's been dutifully taking notes. He comes in every day, coldly administers the drug, and watches Rean just long enough to see how he feels. From there it's a hidden camera and the vitals-monitoring device stuck to his skin that tell Crow how the withdrawal is going.

He hates it. He hates seeing Rean cry, and he hates seeing him lost in the high just as much. This is meant to erode Rean's sense of self, but Crow likes Rean. He doesn't want to lose him. But he has to. He tells himself that if he was willing to annihilate Crossbell, fucking Rean up should be small potatoes. But every day he has to put on a blank face, to keep himself from losing it.

Today's no different. He's quiet and cold, injecting Rean and standing back to watch it kick in. The goal here is to make Rean so desperate he breaks -- to make him willing to do anything for his fix, and to make his identity fade. The more drugs he takes the more it'll eat away at his memory, and while he'll remember everything when sober, when he's high it'll get harder and harder to be anything but a creature that exists to stay that way.

They're not there yet. But soon they will be. Today though Crow's just given him a bigger dose, so the pleasure is greater and will last a little longer.]

Have you accepted it yet? That you lose.