The meaning of the words took a full minute to sink into his mind. There was something tying him to the world of the living? Impossible! Severus Snape had nothing to live for on earth.

His usual frown took its rightful place on his lips when he could think of no reason for being there.

"Are you sure?" he asked, finally sitting up with a soft groan.

Evangeline nodded. Her expression was guarded, stoic, as she let her arms drop away from the dark-haired man. "Quite. Your soul lingered in your body because you willed it to. Your spirit has left you though, that's why your heart isn't beating."

"What's the difference?"

"Everything has a spirit; it's what makes the body live."

Severus' frown deepened. "And you're telling me that my soul remained in my body?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I just bleeding told you," the angel snapped softly as she rose to her feet.

For a long moment Severus looked up to the woman he had not seen in many a day through narrowed eyes. She could be lying to him. Or was this the curse that had been inflicted on him?

"I have no reason to remain in this world."

The aggravation was written clearly on Evangeline's face as she stared down to him. Her blood-stained wings were folded against the black fabric of her robes in an attempt to hide them from sight. She knew he still wasn't comfortable with that fact about her and tried to make coping with it as easy as possible for him at the moment.

"Whatever makes you feel better," she sighed as she folded her arms across her chest.

Silence enveloped them as Severus climbed to his feet. He still stood nearly a head over the angel, but that didn't seem to bother her at all. Evangeline had always been a fool like that. Fearless, stubborn, proud.

"Why are you here?" he asked at long last in a tone as sharp and cold as an Artic wind.

Evangeline seemed to tense at the sudden inquisition. Good. He wanted her to be uncomfortable around him. Especially after what she had done to him.

She set her jaw and lifted her chin to stare up into his piercing black eyes almost challengingly. "I was looking after my charges. Angel business."

Snape snorted and turned for the door. Just the word angel seemed to rile him up.

Evangeline only watched as the professor made his exit. She should say something. She could make things better. Severus wouldn't believe her though. He believed only what he wished to and held grudges longer than any person should.

Let him go.

With a soft sigh, the redhead turned as well and walked back to the window that she had entered in. She had work to do. The love of her life was still alive and about to walk out of her life again, but she had bigger problems than that. There was a war going on out there that hinged on how well she did her job.

The shadows outside the door were a perfect place for the former teacher to take a moment and look back to Evangeline, who had spread her wings and climbed onto the window sill. She took a moment to look in the direction that he had disappeared to before gliding out into the open air.

Snape's shoulders slumped the slightest bit. A part of him had hoped that she would come back for him. It was a ridiculous notion, but it hadn't stopped him from hoping.

In his many years he should have known better than to hope. Hope begot nothing but disappointment and sorrow.

Evangeline had never loved him and never would. She was an angel.

Humans didn't want him; why would a divine creature?

The way he figured, he was cursed and it had nothing to do with stolen virginity. That was what tied him to this plane of existence, it had to be.

Severus Snape had nothing to live for other than a penance he apparently owed to the world.