Chapter 5: Heartless

The new Severus Snape bore no nametag, unlike the first two Gestalt had met. He strode in, surveying the room around him, before making his way over to the bar. "Am I early?"

"I suppose," Obscurial replied, looking the Snape over. "No nametag?"

"Nametag?"

"Hold on, I have extras." Obscurial took out a tray from behind the counter and gestured for the Snape to take one of the sticky nametags.

"What do I write?" the Snape asked.

"It's enchanted. Courtesy of the wife."

The Snape inclined his head and took one, sticking it to his shirt. A singular word formed on it.

HEARTLESS

Gestalt and Obscurial shared a look of concern before the former turned back to Heartless and asked, "... so... you're Heartless?"

Heartless looked down at the tag. "... well, that's rather rude."

"At least you're not named after a debilitating condition," Obscurial murmured, taking a sip of his drink.

"Tell us about yourself," Gestalt said, ignoring Obscurial's complaint.

Heartless was now staring at Obscurial's nametag, his brow knit with confusion. "... how did that happen?"

"Self-loathing," Obscurial said dismissively. "Anyway, what about you?"

"Well," Heartless answered carefully, "from what I know, Gestalt and I have identical lives."

"... what?" Gestalt asked.

"Same lives, same circumstances, same deaths. Can I order some water?"

Obscurial brought out a glass of water almost immediately.

"Thank you." Heartless took a ginger sip before continuing. He turned back to Gestalt and said, "Our paths diverge at the point where we meet Albus. You chose to go back in time, while I chose to move on."

"And how did that work out for you?" Gestalt asked.

"Not very well. There was enough grey area in my life that I could overlap with either Heaven- or Hell-adjacent afterlives... to keep it very brief, I received a less than warm welcome."

"That bad?" Obscurial asked.

"Bad enough that I holed myself up in an apartment."

Gestalt pointed at the nametag. "And what about that name? You must have some idea as to why you have that."

Heartless was silent for a moment, but he eventually answered. "I was in a fairly bad place, so... I had my heart removed."

Gestalt didn't know what that meant, and judging by Obscurial's reaction, neither did he.

Heartless continued, "I was permitted to have my pain removed: all of my fear, anger, and grief. But to do this, I also had to lose the ability to feel anything."

The words that came out of Heartless's mouth made Gestalt feel cold. "Do you still...?"

"No, it was undone," Heartless said, almost bitterly. "You can thank Harry for that."

"Surely, that's a good thing," Obscurial said.

"At first, I didn't take it well. You'd understand if you were numb to something and it immediately came back in full-force. It took some time before I came to terms with feeling again. Harry and Lily helped me with that."

"You reconciled with Lily?" Gestalt asked.

Heartless nodded. "How many others of us are here?"

"Aside from us, there's the janitor," Obscurial said.

Gestalt felt someone approaching. "Someone else is coming."

"Must be him," Obscurial mused.

"No, this is different. It-"

The door opened, and another Snape walked in.