The song of birds died exactly at the same time that the color of the trees faded. The leaves slowly fell to the ground like tears. The flowers withered within moments. The animals laid down and fell into a deep slumber. The once vibrant and crystal clear water turned to ice. The waterfall became a dangerous cliff of deadly sharp icicles. The air turned cold. The sky grew dark. All life stopped. The Forest of Elysium is no more.
A desperate scream left her mouth as her eyes snapped open. Her body trembled. The chains that coiled around her body tightened as she tried to move. She gasped and closed her eyes. Breath in. Breath out. Calm. She repeated those words to herself.
The chains loosen. Her eyes once again open. But all that met her sight was devastation. Emptiness. The forest she had once loved, is now a grave that keeps her trapped between worlds. How long has it been now? Ten? Thirty? No. Close to a thousand years now.
She heaved a sigh and began to walk. She could not go far. Her chains only allowed her to go to the edge of the once living forest.
The chains pulled her back as she was but mere feet from the edge. She fought their tug for as long as she could. Until she couldn't. Slowly she turned to resume the trek back to the elder tree, which still tried to stay alive.
'Some one! Anyone! Please...please...save her!'
The sudden loud voice of a man echoed all around her. Her feet came to a stop. Had she imagined that? She waits. Nothing. Again she resumes walking.
'I will do anything! Anything that is asked. please... anyone listening...save her! Just her! I care not for the child. But she...she does not deserve to die!'
That was definitely a voice. She stops. Looking around. She reached out through the weave that barely existed. She took hold of it and tugged. The beating of a heart. Of great desperation. Fear. Grief. It all bombarded her.
An image formed. The barrier that kept her hidden from the rest of the world, showed her who those emotions belonged to. He hid in the darkness. Dark eyes held panic. His long shoulder length hair, a mess. She looks in the direction that he so desperately observed a home. A hooded figure wearing a cloak and a mask was making way towards the door.
'No..nononono! Too late. It can't be. Save her! Don't let her die!!' the man mentally cried out.' He took a step forward.
Her eyes moved back to the stranger before her. Knowing he could not see her. Maybe. Just maybe. "I can save her!" She calls out.
There was no response from him. Bright green light emanates from the bottom windows. The man takes another step. She pulls on the chains. Getting as close to the barrier as she can. "I CAN SAVE HER!!" she shouts with all her might.
~*~*~*
Severus gritted his teeth as he watched the dark lord enter the home. His mouth opened but no words came. His feet were frozen in place.
Suddenly, an electrical wave of energy ran up from his back into his skull. It made him stagger and gasp. His vision became blurry. Everything around him stops.
Snape tries to get himself under control. He falls to his knees. Forces himself to stand. His body is in tremendous pain.
"I can save her," a woman's voice echoes around him.
Opening his eyes, Snape is met by the sight of a stranger. A woman. Large, heavy chains wrapped around her body. Her long black hair changed into a red hue halfway down. Her left eye is a bright blue color, and her right is the deepest green he'd ever seen. What clothes she wears are tattered and merely staying in place by the chains. Her feet are bare.
"I...I can save her," she repeats.
Severus takes a step forward, a hand reaching out, "Who-argh!!" He screams as his hand is shocked with some type of energy.
He had tried to touch her, only for his hand to be blocked by some type of barrier.
"Don't try that again. Those that placed me here made sure the barrier couldn't be easily broken," she tells him. "I heard you..."
"Heard me?"
She nods, "You we're pleading for someone to save...the woman in that home." She points behind him.
His eyes go wide,"Lily!" He turns to look back towards the Potter residence.
Everything around appeared to have been come to stop. The flash of lightning still reflected on the home. The leaves in the air did not fall. He glanced towards the stranger, "What is happening?"
"Obviously, time has come to a complete stop."
"That's not what asked," he says annoyingly. "How and why?"
She steps closer, halting only when the chains begin to pull her back. "Why? Because I heard your call for help. How? I am not sure. Never before had anyone been able to see me or speak with me. But I'll take that as a sign that this is meant to happen. Make a contract with me. And in exchange, I will save that person for you."
Severus looks her up and down, "It seems to me that you're in chains. "
"Nothing that can't be fixed," she tells him. "Free me."
"Excuse me?"
"Break the chains. Free me. And I'll save her."
"You keep saying that! There's no proof at all that you can. How do I know that you're not going to simply run?" His hand wraps around the base of his wand. "You're an illusion. Some sort of conjuration to keep me from going to her. A figment of my tattered mind!"
"I assure you, I am-"
A flash of florescent blue light, emanated from Severus' wand. The spell crashed against the barrier that kept them from touching.
"We're all of these an illusion, then everything would have faded away," she tells him calmly. "I am as real as the air your breath."
Severus lowers the wand, "Can you truly save Lily?"
She nods, "There are...conditions..."
He raised one eyebrow, "Obviously. Otherwise, I surmise, you wouldn't be locked up?"
"Imprisoned, is a better word," she tells him.
"What must I do?"
"Bow you loyalty and love to me," she speaks.
Caught off guard by that, Snape laughs. A nervous, almost crazed laugh. "You joke!"
She shakes her head. "It is a contract. You, the one seeking aid. Pledge yourself to me."
"Never! There is only one person-woman-"
The chains begin to pull on her again. The woman bites her bottom lip, "Then go on. Rescue that person. You don't need my help. Time will resume in a matter minutes."
Severus takes a step closer to the barrier, but does not touch it, "What are you?"
"Should the question not be 'Who am I'?" She replies while struggling with the chains. "Don't think that matters, do you? After all, looks to me that you can save... what's her name? Oh, Lily."
Snape did not like the way this strange woman was speaking to him. His guy was telling him to turn and not give her a second thought.
At the same time, he couldn't fight the other part of him that told him to trust her.
"I need proof..." His voice is almost a whisper.
The woman tups on the chains, trying to stop them. "I can do that. Watch."
With a flick of her wrist, everything around Severus began to rewind. The flashes of lightning. The green light emanating from the top window. The dark lord himself walked out backwards. The front door returns to it's place. And then everything stops again.
Snape turns slightly towards her, "I can simply from this point-"
The woman laughed, "Honestly, you think I'd make it that easy for you to betray me?" Her eyes turn cold, "Take one step and everything will move faster than the blink of an eye. She'll be dead. I'll be gone. And you...You will be left to be swallowed in depression."
Severus grits his teeth, "Tsk!"
Her eyes soften, "You love her..."
"Lily is my friend. Of course I care."
"There's a difference between the love for a friend. And the love of being IN LOVE with a friend. I am not judging you. Simply stating a fact. Because in order to free me, you will have to love me."
Severus stared at her in obviously confusion. Then recalls what she has told him before, "I must give myself fully to you."
She nods.
He gives a frustrated growl, "Tell me how."
"Cross the barrier that separates us," she tells him.
"I casted a spell and the damn thing didn't budge!"
"Your heart must be open. You can't hold any doubt in you about me. No hidden agenda to betray me. No seeking my death. Acceptance of what you are about to do."
"If it is that easy, why hasn't someone else freed you," he asks raising an eyebrow.
At that she lowered her head, "Others have come. But always with greed in their hearts. The barrier stops them. Takes away their memory of ever making it between worlds to find me." She raises her head, "Perhaps...you would be different. Before, I had never heard the others...only when the barrier reacted and trapped them. But with you...I heard your call for help."
Severus lets out a long sigh. The whole ordeal was truly ridiculous in his mind. However, if doing as she wanted would secure Lily's safety...then he'd be willing to sell his soul. He took a deep breath. Exhales. Closes off the part if his mind in which Lily resides so that his emotions will be controlled. His mind clear. Except for one thought. The woman on the other side of the barrier.
Snape takes a step forward, immediately coming in contact with the barrier. Its immense magical energy hit him like a ton of bricks. Menacingly, pushing against his mental blocks. His body trembled with the force that kept fighting him as he took another step forward. He groaned as the energy intensified the more he fought against the barrier. But he would not be stopped.
Nothing and no one will deter him from freeing the woman on the other side. To free her meant to save the life of another. Severus growls loudly. The barrier crackles and makes a buzzing noise as he keeps fighting it.
He screams in excruciating pain, using his entire body to Burt's through the barrier. He stumbled to the ground, the barrier shatters behind him.
The vibrations of magic that scattered around her were like a drum beating at a rapid beat. Wildly coaxing her with every note. The chains around every inch of her body hummed and cracked. She takes a step, the chains snake around her tighter, unwilling to release her.
Severus rose from the ground, his eyes locked with those of the stranger seconds before the chains yank her off her feet and drag her away. "Damn it!" He feels his body complain as he runs after her.
He grabs hold of the chains. Pulls and tugs. "You said all I had to do was break the barrier!"
"You took too long to get yourself up from the ground!"
Severus raised an eyebrow, "Oh, so now's my fault?!"
"No. That is not what I am insinuating at all," she replied. "Grab hold of my hand!"
Severus rapidly takes hold of the hand reaching out for his. Their fingers entwined. The chains again overflowed with the same kind of magic as before. The cracks on the metal spread further. Snape felt the woman tighten her grip of his hand. He once again met her eyes with his. He could see fear in hers.
"Please, don't let go..." She whispered.
Something inside him aches. He takes hd of her other hand. "I won't."
The chains lit up in a blinding light of blues and light purples. A tremendous wind began to envelope both him and the woman. He feels as he is lifted off of the ground, just as the woman is. The force of the wind threatening to pull their hands apart. He could barely make out the chains anymore. They'd begun to disintegrate. Revealing more of the woman as they disappeared.
And then, both were descending to the ground. The wind was gone. It was as if nothing had taken place at all. Yet their hands remained still locked to each other's.
Severus was the first to realize this and lets go of her hands.
The woman smiles, "You didn't let go."
"I said I wouldn't," was his short response.
She reached out to touch him, "Do not be afraid." Her hand came to rest on the right side of his face. "Our contract is not complete. But time is short. We will finish it once I do as promised."
He watched the woman move pass him. And then he hears the loud tearing of cloth. Sees her stop. Sees part of the back of the dress that had been holding on by mere threads, rip and fall. Exposing her bare, pristine skin underneath.
She froze in place the moment she heard the back of her dress rip and slide off her body. She should have realized sooner that moving about would cause her dress to break apart. Mustering as much dignity as she could, she slightly turns to look at the man who had freed her. But instead...
Severus immediately turns away. Removes his coat as fast as he could. Too many buttons. "Here. Put this on." He said offering her his coat.
"Uh...T-thank you," she whispered taking the offered coat. She puts it on. It fits her quite big and it's long enough to cover what needs covering. "You can turn around now. It's safe."
Severus does as she says.
"Well, shall we get move-"
Severus rapidly walks by her. Leading the way back. There's no barrier to block his path this time. He stops, and is surprised to see her right next to him. He's sure he had walked fast.
"You, stay here," she tells him. "I will bring her back safely to you."
The woman was gone. Before he could even say a word. His looks back towards the Potter's home. The scene restarting from where it has been last. The Dark Lord blasted the front door open. Stepping inside. A flash of florescent green and the scream of a man.
And then... quiet.
TBC
Author's Note:
Comment your thoughts! I'll post Chapter 2 as soon as I can.