BEWARE: FIRST EVER ATTEMPT ON SOMETHING CLOSE TO ROMANCE.
This is for Tarry who makes my day with her words :) And yeah... because she always fixes my mistakes. Thank you, my dear friend :)
Thank you Azzie (Inkfire) and Tarry for correcting my mistakes.
She lay on her back, completely alone. Silence. Solitude. Or was it solitary confinement? No. Punishment was not supposed to be so... calming, so comforting. But when did the usual rules of feelings and behaviour apply to her?
If this is a dream... she thought. She could do if it lasted forever. Or maybe not forever, only until she could put all of her thoughts in order. And it had been a long time since that had happened. A small, sad smile curled her lips.
Her lips? So she existed... If she could feel her lips, she could -
Oh Dark Lord. She was truly there, only she was naked. She had never had a problem with nakedness -not her own anyway- and she was completely alone there, but this was a little disturbing...
Quickly, she sat up to find herself in a very familiar room. This was one of the cocktail rooms of her family house in Scotland. Actually, it was The Cocktail Room. She would have recognized it anywhere. The books covering all four walls, the fireplace with the marble mantelpiece, her late father's favourite armchair and the two small tables to play bridge.
A controlled euphoria filled her slowly as she made sure everything was where it was supposed to be. Her gaze trailed to the right bookcase beside the fire. A violent shudder of pleasure hit her as she remembered vividly the powerful push Tom had given her, as he forced his lips on hers that night of the ball, when she wasn't even fifteen.
Tom... Had she just called her Lord Tom? Panic ran through her with the amount of her disrespect, but at the same time a longing too. And surprise. She had forgotten, after all these years now, that once she had been his princess, future Queen of the world they would create together. That time when he would hold her to his chest and whisper to her how she was everything to him and he would never hurt her.
But he did in the end. Though it wasn't completely his fault, she loved him more than she should, more than he deserved...
And Tom always broke the things he touched. She had lasted longer, much longer than anyone else, both because Tom cared for her and because she was strong, but one day she found herself in pieces on his lap. And then she needed him desperately to keep what was left of her together, only he didn't need her. Now that she was broken, she was just a painful reminder that he would never play nicely, that he would always destroy everything. A reminder of what he had lost.
So they got even more twisted by the day, until today. Today. What had happened? Had it actually been today? Oh, yes. The battle, Harry Potter, the second battle and then the fat Weaslette woman. How stupid of her to get distracted and laugh only for Tom to notice.
Not Tom again, she mentally cursed. Her master. Her Lord. These days were gone, gone forever and they were not coming back.
As if in a trance, she walked to the library and stretched a hand to stroke the books. The sight of his hypnotizing green-grey eyes filled her completely and she felt the loss hit her hard. Suddenly she was cold, she wanted the warmth of her clothes. As if the room had heard her, a simple white dress appeared on the armchair.
She put it on, enjoying instantly its security. She had turned her attention back to the precious books, when a slow whimpering caught her ears.
Turning slowly, she found the source easily.
A small, wrecked, completely naked child was curled up on her father's armchair crying. Its skin looked burnt, raw and she could see it was practically emaciated. The child twitched and trembled, trying to catch its breath. It had confided itself in the corner of the chair, in an effort to disappear from the world, pretend that its shameful existence had just been a bad dream. Because no matter how fragile and tired it looked, it had something... repulsive on it. No, in it.
She had never been compassionate or caring and definitely not the motherly type, but this child drew her in. After a moment's hesitation she took a step forward, and then it raised its head. Its intense eyes found hers and she was lost in the dark green eyes.
How? Why? How could this creature be Tom? So destroyed, so... so needy? But it was him, definitely him. Because he seemed to recognize her as his whimpering became louder, inviting her closer. Without caring how ugly it looked and how disgusting his skin was, she reached her hand out and stroked his cheek. He trembled and stopped crying, but he was still struggling to draw breath.
''Tom'' she whispered, although her voice sounded clear and loud in the complete silence.
The child shrunk even further, as if it was scared she would hurt him.
''Shush'' she muttered softly. ''I will not hurt you'' and with a fluent move she took him in her arms.
They stayed like that for a long time. Every time she stopped stroking his cheek he would start crying and coughing badly, but when she did, he didn't seem to improve. And she realized she would be there for eternity, because she couldn't leave him like that and he couldn't follow her...
An explosion hit her unstable mind as an idea hopped in front of her.
Once he had asked her what she would sacrifice to be with him. Her answer had been everything. Now it was time to do it.
She raised her hand to her throat finding the golden chain from which a tiny hourglass hung. ''I mark the hours, every one, Nor yet have I yet outrun the Sun. My use and value, unto you, Are gauged by what you have to do'' it read. With a small smile she adjusted the date and stroked Tom's cheek again.
''Don't worry, my love'' she told him softly, finally getting up.
A/N: Thanx for reading, please tell me what you think.
Hope it wasn't very out of character... I wrote this a long time ago when I wasn't in a very happy place and needed something...soothing. Anyway, although it looks like the beginning of a time travel story, it's alone, ONE-SHOT. My main focus is Ioli and Intuition Games, that's not gonna change.
And I just realized I haven't said Bellatrix' name once...