This was a tough chapter for me to write, but not quite as bad as the one for "Peace". (Those of you that read it will know what I'm referring to.)
I have to admit, though, I had a fun time writing this chapter. :) I hope you all have a fun time reading it.
Severus groaned as he came to, stomach aching and head reeling. He pushed himself up, and then hissed as a pain shot up his left arm. He lifted his hand and looked at his wrist. It was a gross mixture of red and purple. He'd somehow sprained it.
As he looked around, however, he was extremely confused. Wind swept his black hair, and tall grass tickled his nose. He sat up, turning his head slowly, mouth agape and eyes wide open as they took in the foreign landscape in front of him.
He was in a vast field on a mountainside that overlooked a small village. He was sitting in a patch of strange looking purple, white, and lavender flowers that swayed like leaves in the wind. Birds flew over his head, and he looked up, shielding his eyes from the sun's rays. He looked at the sky, scanning it for the doorway.
To his dismay, there wasn't one. At this, he stood, startled and… scared. No… scared was an understatement at this point. He turned around, trying to still his racing heartbeat.
He sat himself back down, and smacked his cheek as hard as his body would allow him. It stung a little bit, signaling to him that this wasn't a dream. At this, he sighed.
"Ok… that door must have just been some sort of portkey, that's all. I can find my way back to Hogwarts. Nothing to be afraid of." He reassured himself. He had to admit, he was proud of himself.
He heard laughing behind him, and he jerked his head around, happy that he'd found people. Or rather, that they'd found him. The smile was wiped off his face as he saw his mother and another man running through the field, holding hands.
"Mom? What the hell are you doing?" He shouted, enraged that she'd even be doing such a thing. When she didn't answer, he stood up and ran over to her, trying to push the man away. He let out a yelp when he ran straight through the man. Flabbergasted, he turned around.
They continued on, dancing with each other happily, gazing into one another's eyes lovingly. The happiness he saw in his mother's eyes was one that she had when being with them, and with their fathers. It was pure love.
"Mom, who is this guy?" He barked. She didn't notice him. She didn't even seem to hear him.
He glared at the man she was holding hands with, examining him closely. He blinked a few times, and slowly recognized his face. He'd only seen the door for a split second, and the man here was the man on the door. His blonde hair was shoulder-length and curly, and his eyes were a striking blue. His wings were long and white, the very ends of them dragging along the ground.
He watched in horror as they kissed, and then took a few steps back when the man dropped to one knee and pulled a ring out of his pocket. It wasn't very flattering. In fact, it looked incredibly cheap. The man held an apologetic look on his face, saying something in a language that Severus couldn't understand.
His mother squealed in glee and threw her arms around him, repeating what he figured to be yes. He'd also heard something else, which he figured to be the man's name: Tazaro. This scruffy, poor-looking bastard, with wings no less, had asked his mother to marry her, and she'd guiltlessly said yes.
He reared back a fist and punched the man straight through the head, somehow forgetting that he seemed not to exist. He stumbled through them, shuddering as a chill erupted through his legs where they'd passed through the man.
The scenery swirled around and around, the colors mixing together. Wind whipped at his hair, and he shielded his eyes as leaves and grass picked up and cut at him. Severus felt dizzy, and shut his eyes, unable to bear the undiscernible blur.
The wind stopped, and he gazed upon a new scene. The man and his mother were walking through a market, and she looked pregnant. Severus looked around, eyes almost bulging out of their sockets.
When the hell did all this get here? How? He wondered. He watched as they purchased some pumpkins, and how his mother grabbed the man's hand and set it on her belly. The baby must have been kicking, Severus guessed.
The scenery changed again, and Severus tried to call out to one of the people before they disappeared. Too late, he realized, as he found himself back in the field. His mother and that man were sitting down on a blanket with a young girl wearing a blue dress. She had her hair back in pigtails, tied with blue ribbon to match the dress and her eyes.
Severus looked at them all, and saw the resemblance to his mother and to the man. He also recognized the little girl as being the one on the door. She, like her mother, had no wings.
"Kadie?" He said aloud. When the scene continued on, he remembered that he was non-existent, and so sat down and crossed his arms, waiting for the next turn of events. The man pulled a golden pocket watch from his coat pocket, checked the time, and stood. Severus figured that he'd announced that they should leave, because they stood too, packing up their things. The wind whipped around again, and he closed his eyes, waiting.
When he was sure that the scenery change was over, he opened them. This time, he was in a house. His mother was on the couch, crying and holding onto Tazaro for dear life. He noticed that Tazaro was holding a letter in his hand, a forlorn look on his face.
Tazaro took his mother's hand in his, and said more words Severus couldn't understand. Sheeva stood sharply, yelling what Severus took to be "no", over and over again. Tazaro stood and hugged her, and she slapped his chest in anger, still continuing to shout "no".
Tazaro nodded slowly, and Severus caught his mother's name and Kadie's name, as well as the word "Kadessa".
Didn't Mom say that she was from someplace called Kadessa? He wasn't sure what was going on, but from the way that his mother reacted, he guess that maybe Tazaro was going to war, or being sent to jail. He found himself hoping that it was the former, rather than the latter.
He gasped as he realized: this must be mom's memory!
He relaxed a little bit, and smiled slightly, feeling foolish. All this time, he thought that he was witnessing his mother having an affair with some poor bastard named "Tazaro", when all he was really witnessing was simply her memories. He felt his stomach turn when the scenery changed again, and closed his eyes. He swallowed hard to suppress the urge to puke.
Sheeva stood alone on the hilltop, overlooking the valley. The wind swept through her hair and rain poured on her, soaking her through. She hardly moved, hardly even blinked. He couldn't recall ever seeing her so depressed. His stomach flipped when he imagined what could happen to make her depressed like that now, and he shook his head to clear it. He couldn't let himself think of something like that.
Kadie came running up the hill, crying. Sheeva turned, and knelt down, concern on her face. Kadie barreled into Sheeva's arms, sobbing into Sheeva's already sopping wet hair.
Severus stared at another person that walked up to the two holding a roll of parchment in his hands.
This man wore long red robes with a hood pulled over his head, and a wolf-mask that hid his face. Sheeva looked up at him, scared. The man handed her the scroll, and she took it, shaking. She read it, and her face froze. She cried out, and began to cry, bringing her mouth to her hand and clutching the letter and her daughter close to her.
The man said something, shaking his head slowly, as if sad. Sheeva glared at him, and stood, punching the man in the stomach. Severus burst out in laughter, yelling: Nice shot, Mom! The man keeled over and stumbled backwards and fell, rolling down the hill.
Severus closed his eyes as the scene shifted again, now used to the pulling of his stomach and the blurring of colors.
Sheeva was standing at the foot of a long table, leaning over a map of five islands, place markers on two of them. She looked dressed and ready to kill. Severus began to shiver as he looked into his mother's eyes. They were dark, emanating fury and pain.
She was talking to five others in her main language, and they were nodding, conversing back with her. One was paying almost too much attention, and Severus thought the red-haired man seemed a bit… off. His gut tightened. He felt something was telling him that they shouldn't be trusting this man.
However, he was forced to stay silent, and watched the event pan out.
She was obviously outraged, and seemed to be setting up a battle plan with the way that she presented herself as well as with the way she moved the markers around the map. The others cheered as she slammed her fist on the table, shouting something he didn't understand. She stood tall, confident and smirking.
Severus waited while the scenery shifted again. He found himself wondering how she'd ended up here, hoping that the room would show him eventually. If not, he'd ask her himself—after apologizing greatly, of course.
He jumped as he felt hands on his shoulders, and his body being shaken. He looked around, and shuddered, as there was no one there to grab and shake him. He was in a dungeon, illuminated barely by the moonlight streaming into the window. He stared out the window, mouth agape. There were two moons, one rather large, and the other, roughly one-fourth the larger one's size.
"I'm definitely not on Earth…" He muttered to himself.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw his mother, chained to a wall, beaten black and blue. She was sickeningly thin, and her head hung in exhaustion. He ran over to her, and went to lift her head, but his hands fell straight through her body. His face contorted to one of utter sadness and pain.
So he was forced to watch this memory out, too.
The door burst open, and the light from outside shone in, casting a shadow of a two people. A man and a smaller figure. Severus' gut tied itself in a square knot as he watched the red haired man walk in, pushing Kadie in front of him.
Kadie began to cry, reaching out to her mother sadly as she saw the shape she was in. Kadie placed her small hands on her mother's cheeks, wiping away the tears that Sheeva shed. Sheeva turned her head to kiss Kadie's small palms.
Sheeva looked up at the red haired man, horrified as she saw that he'd drawn her sword. Severus watched horrified, unable to look away, no matter how much he didn't want to witness what he thought was about to happen.
Run, Kadie! Severus guessed she'd said. Kadie turned around, and tried to run, but the red haired man was too quick, and brought his sword down upon the little girl, cutting a large gash in Kadie's tiny torso.
Severus began to cry, and backed up against the wall, watching as his poor mother lost her mind, screeching at the top of her lungs at the man, probably throwing every curse word at him that she knew. She was tugging as hard as she could against the chains that held her to the wall, trying desperately to attack the man. He only sneered at her, pulled something out of his pocket and threw it at the ground in front of her.
She gave up trying, having used up all of her energy trying to break free to kill the man, and stared at the pocket watch. Severus let out a sob as he realized who's it was. It had been her husband's. He slid down the wall, tucking his knees into his chest and sobbing into them, not wanting to witness anymore.
"Mom, I'm so sorry! I didn't know…" He muttered aloud to himself. The sound of his voice was a slightly comforting aspect of this whole messed up situation. He felt the scene shift, and he didn't bother looking up, until he heard a demonic laughter.
His eyes widened as a dark, shadowy figure stood in front of his mother. She stared back at it. Severus blinked a few times, shivering as he looked in her eyes once more. What used to be bright, happy, carefree globes of green were now dark, dull, almost lifeless. She nodded readily at the shadow. It turned into a cloud of dust and seeped into each opening of her body; through her mouth, nostrils, ears, and eyes.
She went completely limp for a few seconds before she sat up, smirking evilly. She grabbed the chain holding her right hand to the wall and jerked at it sharply, breaking it from the wall. She grabbed the other and snapped it too. She ripped the chains holding her feet as well, and let out a monstrous howl.
Dark strands of energy floated around her body and she fell to her knees clawing at the ground as two gigantic, leathery skinned wings tore out from her back. She snapped her fingers, and the metal around her wrists and ankles shattered into dust, floating in front of her and shaping into a large sword.
The blade resembled a wolf's head, appearing to have its jaws open, ready to bite. She looked at it, and brandished it, an insane look in her eyes.
"Okami ni kama…" He'd heard her say. He couldn't believe his ears. Among her voice was another, dark, and deep. Demonic, even. She let out a scream that resembled a war-cry, and took off. Severus took off after her, following on her heels. She was chopping guards up left and right, sending heads flying and body parts every which way.
She turned corner after corner, running wildly. He wasn't even sure if she knew where she was going, but he followed her anyway, terrified of the scenery around him. He wanted out. She stopped at a dead-end, a gigantic window. She turned back around, and stared her pursuers down. They readied their bows and arrows, taking aim.
Severus looked back at them, and as they fired, he dodged the arrows desperately. He heard the window shatter, and snapped his head back, remembering where he was running. He stopped at the edge, trying to keep his balance. He stared at the ground below. He must have been five stories high.
He turned back, but his foot slipped on the shattered glass and he fell out of the window, screaming. His stomach twisted and turned as he fell.
He expected to hit the hard ground, but let out another startled yelp as he hit something soft and fluffy. He turned over, and looked around. He was in what appeared to be a lab, lying on the floor. He pushed the floor. It felt so light.
This isn't right! He thought, trembling as he sat up.
Sheeva was standing in front of an archway, standing next to the same masked man that had brought her the news of her husband's death, however it may have happened. The masked man turned a dial on a small round container. As it began to tick, Severus recognized it as being a bomb. His stomach dropped.
He watched as the masked man turned a machine on, and the area under the archway turned black, sucking the air in as though it were a drain. Severus nodded as he realized how she'd gotten here. It was with the help of the masked man.
Sheeva faced the archway, and muttered something to the masked man. He set the bomb down and walked out of the room. Sheeva ran through fearlessly. Severus sprang to action, running through the archway into the pitch black…
Severus jerked awake as he felt hands on his chest, shaking him. He had opened his eyes to his fathers standing over him, terrified looks on their faces.
"Where's Mom?" He asked. Draco looked at Severus pitifully. His face was pale, like he'd seen a ghost, and he had broken into a cold sweat. His t-shirt was drenched in sweat. When Draco didn't answer, he turned to Blaise.
"Where's Mom, damn it? Is she back in the room?" He asked. Blaise slowly nodded.
At this, Severus pushed Draco's hands away and jumped out of the hospital bed, trying to run towards his parent's room. He staggered, limping horribly. His wrist hurt, and he used his t-shirt to create a makeshift sling.
He stopped, leaning against the pillar of the archway to the hospital wing. Draco and Blaise caught him before he fell over, standing him back up.
"Let me go! I gotta tell Mom. Gotta tell her I'm sorry!" He struggled against them. Despite him being in such horrible condition, they had a hard time keeping him back.
"Severus, calm down! We'll bring her here! Relax!" Draco barked. Severus bit Draco's arm and broke out of Blaise's grasp, trying to run. He was still very disoriented, and ended up slamming his shoulder into the wall. He cried out in pain, and slumped to the ground, frustrated.
He had a sudden, crazy idea, but acted on it anyway. He tore his t-shirt off of himself, and focused. If his mother had wings, surely he did too. His shoulders hurt as he felt an intense heat pooling at a spot beneath his shoulder blade. He reached a hand back, and felt a lump growing at the heated area.
He gasped, and grabbed his shirt and stuffed it in his mouth. He took a deep breath, and forced them the rest of the way out, hearing what sounded like a window shattering. Dizzy, he looked behind him. Giant, feathered wings stuck out, and he stared at them, amazed.
Draco and Blaise were gaping at him, frozen where they stood.
"He broke it." Draco muttered. Blaise wiped his eyes, not sure if he was seeing this or not.
"I thought she said they couldn't?" He asked. Draco shook his head.
"No, she said that they shouldn't be able to." Draco corrected him. They snapped out of their daze and walked over to him, helping him to stand. They both draped an arm over their shoulders and wrapped an arm around his middle.
"Alright, we'll take you there, Severus." Draco and Blaise muttered, walking with him slowly.
Severus was drained, barely able to register the fact that he was being helped. His head hurt, throbbing at the same pace that the area around his newly spread wings was throbbing at. A few times, he eyes fluttered closed, and he was sure that he'd blacked out.
After enduring a lot of pain and lightheaded conscious/unconsciousness, they made it to the doorway of his parent's bedroom, and they barreled in. They set him on the couch and collapsed on the floor next to him.
Sheeva and Nayeli looked up, shocked.
"Mom." Severus blurted, then began to laugh crazily. He reach out a hand for her, and she took it gratefully.
"I'm sorry. About what I said." He stated, before beginning to cry.
"I'm so sorry. I saw it, everything." He babbled. Sheeva just sat there, silent, smiling and holding his hand to her mouth, placing kisses on the back of it.
"You have a sword, Okami ni kama. You went berserk, killed the guards that had you captive. And that man, that red haired man. He killed Kadie." Severus continued, his eyes showing the fear that he'd felt witnessing the memories.
"Tazaro, Kadie, Zarkas, and that masked man. I know what happened now, and I'm sorry." He slurred. One wing was leaned against the back of the couch, and the other was jutted out to the side. Blaise moved it to lean against the other one on the back of the couch and started to rub his back beneath the wings.
"Severus, what are you talking about?" Nayeli asked. He let his eyes close, too tired to keep them open.
"It is alright, Severus, dear. Sleep. You are alright now." Sheeva whispered, wiping the sweat off of his forehead and continuing to hold his hand.
Draco caught Nayeli's attention, and called her over to him.
"Yeah, Dad?" She asked. Draco pulled her into a hug and sighed.
"We found him on the floor of the Room of Requirements, on the seventh floor. He must have tripped when he entered or something, but he was out cold when we found him. We took him to the hospital wing, and then he woke up." He started.
"Ok, but why the hell does he have wings?" She asked, demanding to know.
"You have them too. You all do. We just… we sealed them away after you were born. We wanted you kids to have a normal life. Like she said, we were only trying to protect you." He explained. Nayeli was stunned, but then it clicked. Oftentimes, her back would hurt below her shoulders, and no matter how much she tried to stretch it or exercise it, nothing helped.
"I will break the seal. It will hurt less, Nayeli. Breaking the seal with your own power… I suppose it would be similar to being placed under the Cruciatus Curse." Sheeva announced, standing and forming a few seals. She ran her hands along Severus' wings, and they sunk back into his body slowly. Severus groaned from pain in his sleep, tightening his fist and wincing.
Nayeli winced too, for she could only imagine how he felt.
"Come back in the morning, Nayeli, and I will release them for you. It is time that you learned to fly… without a broom." Sheeva said proudly. Nayeli smiled, and her heart swelled with excitement.
She fought a yawn, but ended up losing.
Sheeva chuckled as she noticed it, and hugged Nayeli tightly, patting the back of her head.
"Goodnight, dear." She whispered.
"Goodnight, Mom." Nayeli replied. Sheeva snapped her fingers, and Nayeli reappeared at the entrance to the Gryffindor Commons. She looked around, surprised.
"Wow… that was cool. Pst, hey, wake up!" Nayeli called to the fat lady that guarded the door. The lady opened up an eye, and yawned.
"What are you doing?" She asked, grumpy.
"Trying to get back inside. I've had enough excitement for one night. I need to get some shut-eye." Nayeli growled. The Fat Lady groaned and swung open the door, letting her in.
Not to Nayeli's surprise, Kathryn was still awake, reading a book as usual. She looked up from it and smiled at Nayeli.
"Feel better?" She asked.
"Feel better? I feel like a million galleons." She responded happily, grinning from ear to ear. Kathryn grinned too.
"That's good news. I'm glad. How did your chat with your parents go? What was it about?" She asked. Nayeli bit her lip, choosing her next words carefully.
"Family secret." She decided, smirking. Kathryn sighed and nodded, returning to her book. Curious as she was, she had no right to pry. Nayeli was glad that she didn't try.
She let another yawn slip, and tottered off to bed, crashing down into it without bothering to take off her shoes. Tomorrow would yield an interesting day.
I think I'm done for a few days; I've got to get back on track of homework.
Don't stray for too long, though! I'll be back on and updating before you know it. :)