"But I still remember it," Pyotr groans, bowing his head. He sinks his fingers deep into his own hair, pulling on his scalp. Breathing hard, he wheezes, "I know I don't deserve the peace of forgetting, but it hurts so much to remember...I drank to drown out the pain. Being touched by you was even better; I was wholly focused then, on a singular crystalline concept. It was beautiful -- until you asked me to think about my past."

He looks up at Erik with desperate, grief-stricken eyes. "Please don't ask me to think about it again," he begs. "It's too painful... I really can't bear it."