Rise Against
Chapter 1: Whereabouts Unknown
The first sensation was cold.
The next was damp.
Naruto could already tell he wasn't going to like wherever he was. Breathing slowly, he listened intently for any hints of life, his nose twitching at the less than savory smell of the place. It was definitely dank, a dungeon perhaps? That seemed pretty cliché in his opinion, but he supposed a villainous fortress wasn't complete without one. And he was most assuredly sure that this was indeed a villainous fortress of some sort, because honestly, whenever one awoke to such conditions it was pretty much a given that the hosts had nothing but evil things in mind, and evil people usually came equipped with evil residences, and often instruments of torture.
Naruto wished he didn't end up in places like that so often.
Sighing deeply, he finally opened his eyes, and then promptly wished he'd just left them closed.
**PAGEBREAK**
Severus Snape was in a particularly foul mood. Now, under any other circumstances, this wouldn't come as a surprise to anyone since the surly potions master always had an air of unhappiness and discontent about him, but this was different. The source of all his rage lay in a drooling, semi-conscious heap on the floor, the blinding orange of the blonde's ridiculous jumpsuit practically blinding in its outrageous color scheme. Despite the ungainly color, he easily picked out the many shredded patches of orange, mixed with the now dried reddish-brown hue of dried blood, revealing smooth, unmarred skin underneath. Severus Snape was baffled.
And Severus Snape absolutely hated being baffled.
Hooked noses were really rather funny in Naruto's opinion. They could completely ruin one's facial features without fail. Not, he noted, that the man needed any help in that department. The sallow skin, greasy hair, and the other man's radiating sense of dislike for all other living things already made him seem rather unattractive.
"Ya know," Naruto rasped, the congealed blood in his throat making it rather unpleasant to speak," you could really use a tan, and maybe some shamp-"
"Crucio!"
'Wizards,' he thought almost drunkenly as his body seized up in spasms,' they really have no sense of humor.'
Snape watched in utter detachment as the blonde writhed on the floor, his small body arching up off the ground, fingers clawing at the floor until they left bloody streaks, small pieces of his fingernails breaking off in his struggles. He felt oddly removed as he observed, noting each and every reaction, the total lack of any auditory response, not even the tiniest of whimpers. The boy's face remained scrunched; eyes closed tightly, his lips bleeding from his teeth biting to deeply. He lifted his wand, ending the spell, and the boy's body sunk back to the ground, shaking uncontrollably. Snape's gaze remained unflinching even as those deep blue eyes met his in a vicious stare.
"Is that all you got you son of a bitch?"
Snape felt his lips curl back in a sneer. Not dignifying him with an answer, he merely raised his wand once more.
Harry couldn't breathe. It felt as though someone had decided to reach into his ribcage and grasp one of his lungs. He fought to breathe, what little air he could get only coming through in short, painful bursts. He clutched desperately at the carpet, curling into a ball on the floor as the seizures continued to wrack him. Hedwig hooted in alarm in her cage, wings ruffling in agitation as Harry continued to convulse on the floor.
The pain came swift and searing in his forehead, the added anguish making his vision blur and blacken randomly, spots erratically dotting his gaze. And then it was gone. His body deflated and lay there in a shuddering mass, breathing hard and labored. Weakness ran through him, and what little strength he had before the sudden attack left him with no hope of getting up anytime soon.
'Was….was that Voldemort?' he wondered weakly.
An odd vision of bright blonde hair and blue eyes crossed fleetingly into his mind before he passed out.