Chapter 9-Memories

He sat at his normal mahogany desk, stacks of ungraded essays sitting to his left, a headache growing. The night is cold so his classroom, office, and no doubt the dungeons, are freezing. He pulls his cloak more tightly to try and secure some type of warmth, if only he could have a glass of firewhiskey. He casts a tempus only to see that it is ten at night and on a Tuesday no less, he sighs and wonders what's really keeping him here. His fireplace glows green and Lucius's head pops into the flames,

"Severus leave, do not question and do not stall. You are in grave danger, leave now before he finds you."

The fire dies down leaving a terrifying silence in its wake, Severus sits back on his haunches and that is when he feels it. A black tainted magic so strong that he vomits right in front of him, his stomach is in knots causing him to re swallow bile that has accumulated within his mouth. He gets up quickly and pulls a box out of the same cabinet that contains his whiskey and shrinks it to fit in his pocket, he vanishes the mess before grabbing his spare wand and clasping it within his leg holster. The sickness washes over him once more...

Severus is warm, he can't see anything around him but he feels warm. He is not even sure if he is alive anymore, there is no pain, no emotions, nothing. He cannot have been out long since he can still hear Danzo's voice, he has to come back, his memories are not that important. Not now.

"You..."

Severus pulls himself from whatever darkness he was in, he slowly regains consciousness. He can feel his limbs and even the pain radiating from every nerve in his body, but he ignores it as he struggles to get to his feet.

"I'm not done yet..." Severus grounds out through clenched teeth.

Severus can see that Danzo is backing up while the Anbu keep the tight circle they had in the beginning, his fiendfyre is still burning and his shield is still fully intact. He huffs and pulls himself to his tallest yet, his hard glare that is promising death is leveled at Danzo.

"You haven't seen the worst of me yet," Severus levels his wand at Danzo at this point. "You think your Mangekyu can stop me, yours pales in comparison to Itachi's. Now..."

Severus waves his wand above his head and mutters his incantation; a spell so illegal and dangerous that there is a reason it is as such, the clear sky turns dark. Clouds gathering at a rapid rate, thunder rumbling and lightning striking out in waves. No rain is dropping but the atmosphere begins to heat with such intensity that even the inhabitants within the protective barrier show signs of feeling the heat, he roars as he unleashes a different version of fiendfyre he had created and shared with no one.

"You will die Danzo."

The hiss that leaves Severus mouth is not heard as an unimaginable heat produces from the end of his wand; aimed at Danzo, the heat is so intense that it is leaving scourge marks within the earth as it licks its way toward its target. He watches as Danzo backs away; fear plainly written upon his face, the fire growing in intensity. Severus feels no remorse as the flames consume the old man, there is a scream for a short moment before the flames dissipate and leave nothing but charcoal remains left. The walking stick falling to the ground where Danzo had once stood.

Severus falls to his knees from the shear exhaustion of the spell, his others failing in the process but there is nothing to fear from the others failing. The Anbu that had followed Danzo are now backing away with looks of pure fear, their bodies screaming defeat and conceding to the more powerful enemy. His body seizes and he falls to the ground; paralyzed, he cannot move a muscle. For a moment he fears if the others will take advantage of his inability to move but because of what happened previously, none of them are sure on what to do. He can see them looking at each other and most of them lay down their weapons in front of him, it doesn't matter what era you are in, he knows this is a sign of surrendering.

Once more, He defies all odds and manages to move his body; despite being in horrendous pain. He stands up to see the Anbu lowing to their knees before him. Severus smirks and asks them all the rise to their feet,

"You will not have me as your leader, I am sure the Hogake will pick another to lead the anbu ranks. You will however never attack the Uchiha compound or any of its members again...ever. Am I understood?"

Severus gets a resounding yes from all members of the anbu squad and looks toward the house he had fought to protect, with his wards now gone, he can see Itachi, Mikoto and Sasuke running toward him as the last of his strength and will leave him. The magic and shear will he needed to cast that particular spell is taking a toll on the now sixteen year old body he has, hell even his thirty year old body might not have handled it.

"Severus!"

Sasuke is the first to reach him as he falls to the ground not feeling much but his fingers, he slightly smiles as the younger boy wraps his arms around his neck. Itachi is not far behind and is kneeling beside his battered and beaten body; Severus is still very aware of the wounds he had received. The blood is only trickling by this point, his innate magic having healed him at some point.

"You are insane young man."

Mikoto berates him but all he can do is smile slightly as his vision starts to fade, he voices what he can.

"Please get me to some healers," Severus struggles to say as he flips himself onto his back, "I'm still bleeding and cannot heal myself."

He sees Mikoto nod and disappears from sight, Itachi and Sasuke are still by his side.

"How?" Is all Itachi can ask.

Severus smiles slightly; still clinging to consciousness by a thread. "It's a promise I kept."

"The power you possess is impossible Tsuyoi, there is no way..."

Severus's smile turns bitter, "There is much you do not know about me Itachi, I'm not a man to be trifled with."

"But?"

He knows that Itachi's brain is not comprehending the severity of the situation, the ability that he had just shown was not something he has shown many, even back in his home land. He is a powerful wizard and he knows this, the dark side has always called to him, no matter the circumstance. See, Severus has a dark side that he has always kept to himself, a side that is way too dangerous to let out. Yet, in this time or world, he is able to unleash the true potential he had kept from everyone.

"Itachi, please, just don't. What I know and what I can do...you might not want to know what I can do."

Just then Sasuke piped up, "But we don't care, right Itachi! He saved us all. I don't care what you know."

Severus actually felt the love in the hug that Sasuke gives him, he manages to lift his arms and wraps them around the boy, he can feel the tears from the boy hugging him.

"Don't cry Sasuke, I will be okay. I'm just exhausted, that's all, okay?"

Sasuke nods and backs up as healers come, he can feel them healing the wounds from the Mangekyu. He sees Tsunade once again, her demeanor speaking of an ass chewing that is surely to come.