"The Day Salazar Slytherin Left"
Disclaimer: I do not own anyone or anything that you can recognise.
A/N: First time writing anything from the Founders-era! The prompt was heart broken which I found quite fitting for Salazar/Rowena. Please tell me what you think of it!
The day Salazar Slytherin left, it was all eerily silent.
Godric had known that something was wrong then. He had already anticipated Salazar's move. So why was he still feeling the shock coursing through his veins? Why was he feeling that pang of pain deep in his heart?
Helga had known something was wrong. The nagging feeling in her guts had told her that something was wrong. She just hadn't expected Salazar to just up and leave today, so suddenly. She hadn't expected Salazar to leave at all.
The day Salazar Slytherin left, a piece of Hogwarts left with him.
He had left in the middle of the night whilst his friends were asleep —in Godric's opinion, sly and sneaky, like a true Slytherin. He had left without a single word or even a mere letter to them —in Helga's opinion, very thoughtlessly.
But none of their opinions matter, because Salazar didn't care for them. Salazar had long since ceased to care for them. Salazar had stopped caring about what other people thought about him ages ago.
The only person he had cared about was the person he couldn't face. Not anymore. The only person who was the only reason why he had stayed on for so long was the one that would refuse to make her feelings known. Not to them.
The day Salazar Slytherin left, his heart was numb.
With every step he took away from Hogwarts, he could feel the old memories coming back to him. He had built a life here. He had vowed to make a difference in the world here. He had students here. He had made friends here. He had learnt to laugh here.
He had her here.
And he was throwing them all away now. He was throwing her away now.
Was it really worth it?
He shouldn't leave, he knew it. He knew that if he left, he would be giving her up. He could feel it deep in his gut, the clenching sensation. But he did. His ambition, in the end, was more important than she was to him.
The day Salazar Slytherin left, Rowena kept herself in her room.
Try as hard as Helga might to convince her to come out to talk things over, to offer her a shoulder to cry on she hadn't responded. Try as hard as Godric might to make her see sense, to see that Salazar wasn't really worth crying over for, she kept quiet.
She didn't need Helga's concern right now, she didn't need Godric's help right now.
Rowena needed to think.
She hadn't understood why he left. She might not have completely agreed with his ideas, but they would have come up with an idea to tackle it together, as a unit. Godric and Helga weren't beyond reason. She hadn't understood why he was so angry at them. She hadn't understood why he didn't even try to make it work. She hadn't understood why he hadn't talked to her about this. She hadn't understood why he had to leave.
But it didn't matter anymore, because Salazar was gone. Long gone. And there was nothing Rowena could do to undo it.
The day Salazar Slytherin left, Rowena's heart died.
There was nothing Godric could do. There was nothing Helga could do.
Her heart had died with Salazar. There was no turning back.
He had left after she had told him that she loved him —in Rowena's opinion, like a coward.