Disclaimer: We all know I don't own these amazing characters.

The title of this story is taken from "Texia", a beautiful song by Blossoms.

All mistakes are mine, sorry about that.

Chapter I

SHADOW CURTAIN

oOo

Brittle bones clad in dark tattered cloth hovering above her, just a bag of rotting bones that apparently still holds the power to suck away everything she has left: the lonely speck of light swimming in the black ocean of her orbs, the air inside her corrupted lungs, her tainted soul. Everything.

Raven-black curls shield her pretty face, lifting slightly from where her breath is coming out in short puffs. And suddenly she's falling, spiraling down the depths of her own mind. Pitch-black's all she can see, yet she recognizes the shadows around her, the familiar way they sigh their welcome back.

She finds herself dreading the endless fall while being engulfed by old fears she thought forgotten. And suddenly it's like being her old self all over again, the silly little thing she was before he came into her life. So young, with great unrefined powers running through her veins and darkness cloaked in flawless alabaster skin, but heavy-lidded eyes so dull. What is existence without a purpose? Without a... mentor?

She had never truly lived until he made her his best lieutenant. And she fell in love with a man who wasn't a man any longer, a man whose ambition was so great it had destroyed everything human in his nature. A chest filled with cold ashes cannot love back, a one-track mind never cares about anything else, a bloodshot stare is blind to true devotion. But still she loved him, still she followed him until he was no more, still she hoped someday he would come back.

Memories of him tinge the darkness around her with a whole new color that reminds her of the most vivid light, and so the chase begins... And she starts to remember.

She remembers what a privilege it was to be able to learn from him, how glorious it felt to become stronger each day under his watchful eye. She remembers being filled with pride whenever he was pleased with her, wanting nothing more than to feed upon his praises until the end of her days. She remembers feeling completely safe by his side, almost as drunk on power as he was. Once you take a taste you can never forget its intoxicating sweetness.

She could definitely use some of that sense of safety right now, she would give anything to feel that way again. But the solace provided by the memory doesn't linger, it lasts but for a moment and it's soon taken away by the dementor's kiss.

A mirrored image of the grim empty-eyed creature floating mid-air flashes across her wide orbs.

She screams.

And when she cannot scream any longer, curled up on the damp stone floor of her cell, she does what Bellatrix Lestrange has never done before: she begs.

She wraps her tongue around the unfamiliar words, she forces them past her chapped lips, she tries to forget their bitter taste as soon as they leave her mouth.

A feeble voice lost in the loud silence, she begs for him to come. She calls his name, over and over again. Slurred syllables dripping with longing, bound to fall on deaf ears.

And she thinks maybe this is it, maybe that's how it all ends... in darkness.

Go on then, she mentally addresses the dark creature looming over her, unhinge your jaw and devour my soul once and for all. Make it quick. Just make it all stop.

Burning cold surrounds her as she prays for the numbness to claim her spent body at last.