Word count: 442


The night Salazar decides to leave, there is a full moon. He wonders if, perhaps, there's something almost fitting about it. Aren't monsters supposed to hide under the light of the full moon? Hasn't he become the worst sort of monster of all? Or, at least, that's what the others surely see him as. As much as it kills him, Salazar knows there is no place left for him at the castle.

He reaches the grounds without being noticed. Good. If he wanted to say goodbye to the others, he wouldn't have chosen to leave under the cover of night.

A heavy fog has settled over the area, and he hears howling in the distance. Some say the forest around the castle is filled with werewolves. Salazar has never bothered to find out if it's true or not. Why should he?

"Salazar?"

He swears softly under his breath. "Go to bed, Godric," he calls, and, against his better judgment, he turns around.

He should have kept going. Seeing Godric breaks his heart in a way nothing else ever could. Leaving should be easy, but Godric insists on making things hard.

"We both know this was inevitable," Salazar says calmly, though he's struggling to keep his voice level. Does Godric see the way he's hurting now?

"Don't be a fool."

"Pretend you never saw me," Salazar says.

Godric closes the distance between them, capturing Salazar's hand gently. The touch makes Salazar shiver. "Stay," Godric whispers.

"I don't really care for this conversation," Salazar tells him, silently praying it will be enough. Just this once, he hopes Godric won't be too stubborn, that he'll understand that what Salazar is doing is for the best. In the end, Salazar is too different from the others.

"Who will warm my bed if you're gone?"

The question hurts more than Salazar anticipated. Leaving Godric is a special sort of agony, one that words cannot describe, one that most could never comprehend. The others often remark that they are like brohters, but Salazar's bond with Godric goes so much deeper than that.

But perhaps this is a good thing. Perhaps it gives him a chance.

"Find a common whore to keep you company," he says, "for you will no longer have me as a lover."

It's such a nasty thing to say, something Salazar doesn't mean, but what else can he do? How else can he get Godric to understand that he is leaving and nothing can make him stay?

"Salazar…"

With that, Salazar turns, ignoring the tears that sting his eyes. He knows what he has to do, but his heart breaks with every step he takes.