A/N: A while ago, I was struck by this image of Severus visiting a place he used to go with Lily to 'talk' to her. Sometimes loving someone who's been dead for decades can make you go a bit crazy… literally.
Staring at the tree ahead, he traced the shapes carved eternally into its bark. This was all he had left. Shadows of the only happy moments of his life. Only these talks they shared – about his work for Dumbledore, his hatred for this empty world, his struggles… her son (because she asked, always asked, about him; he always responded that the boy had her beautiful eyes) – kept him from fading away.
Today he asked her if he was a coward, if his actions meant nothing after everything.
Today she was silent, merely gazing at him with those beautiful, sad eyes.