Written for THC Challenge: Severus Snape–Alan Rickman!
Part 1: Write a story involving Severus as the main character in any way, shape, or form.
Notes: The story begins with Voldemort's POV but then switches to Severus's.
Severus and Voldemort are in a romantic relationship.
Prompts:
(dialogue) "I've been calling you for thirty minutes!"
(first line) He never thought he'd turn back to these woods again.
(title) Eyes into the past
Word count: 1838
Warning: Dealing with a death
-x-x-x-
He never thought he'd turn back to these woods again. He had spent years in this place – years he didn't enjoy thinking back to. It represented his downfall, his failure. Defeated by an infant, stripped of all his power, devoid of a body, and abandoned by all his followers. A mere shadow, hiding in the forests of Albania, lurking, waiting… for anyone, anything. For a reprieve from the pain; a devoted servant to help him in the moment of need… But no one came. He was left all alone, abandoned, forgotten.
And then he met Nagini. In so many ways, she was more similar to him than anyone he had ever met. It was improbable that two lonely, unique souls like themselves found each other here, in this god-forsaken place.
Being here again, deep in the Albanian woods, stirred memories of those long days that stretched into months and seemed to have no end; memories of the time when all the two of them had was each other.
Nagini had spent many more years in these woods than he had. It had been her home, her place of solitude to which she had escaped from people who feared her decades before. It's where she had become who she was, finally embracing her beastly nature. She had followed him everywhere since the day they bonded, but he knew this was where she wished to be returned to, to rest after death.
He thought he heard a distant voice somewhere far away, as if he was sinking and sounds from the surface could barely reach him under water. The voice called again, and he suddenly remembered he knew it very well. He forced himself to resurface from the gloomy past.
"Voldemort!" came his loyal follower's worried cry.
-x-x-x-
Severus was trudging through the forest, calling his master. He couldn't believe Voldemort just rushed ahead like that, without even glancing back to check if he kept up. Branches whipped his face as he watched his step with effort, trying not to trip over tree roots and vines which seemed to actively tangle around his feet. His wand hand occupied with performing Mobilicorpus, he viciously waved the other one in an attempt to chase away persistent insects. He called out his partner's name again, but the only answer he received were the noisy sounds of the forest.
Severus was really starting to worry. Losing a Horcrux always took its toll on Voldemort, but this time it was different. This one had been bound to a living thing, not an object. Perhaps that was the reason why Nagini's death seemed to have ripped out more from Voldemort than anything before. Or perhaps the Horcrux itself didn't have that much to do with it. After all, Severus had never known the Dark Lord to treat anyone with the kind of affection he had for Nagini.
The trees began to thin and Severus could see a little further ahead. When he finally spotted his master's tall figure in the distance, he called his name yet again, but Voldemort didn't turn until Severus was by his side.
"What?" he asked in an oddly subdued tone, his fingers running absent-mindedly along tree bark.
What? Severus thought with irritation. Seriously?
He scowled. "I've been calling you for thirty minutes!"
"Have you?" Voldemort murmured emotionlessly. "I didn't hear."
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to walk through this forest for someone who's never been here before?" he blurted out in annoyance.
An unpleasant glint flashed in the Dark Lord's eyes.
"As it happens, walking through this forest is a first for me too."
Severus mentally kicked himself. He was here to support his partner, not to make things worse. It was bad enough for Voldemort to have lost Nagini, but being back here, in these woods, must have stirred painful memories of all the time he had spent in suffering, when Severus hadn't been there for him… when Severus had failed him.
If he had had the slightest reason to think his beloved master was still alive… But Voldemort hadn't told him about the Horcruxes until after his rebirth. Those in his inner circle knew the Dark Lord had taken some steps towards immortality, but no one had been included in the details of his doings. Then he was suddenly gone, and Severus, like many others, believed it was for good; that the measures he had taken simply hadn't worked.
Only Barty, along with Bella and Rodolphus, tried to look for the Dark Lord, and if Severus was being honest, that was largely the reason why he resented the young Death Eater so much. He often asked himself whether Crouch had known something he hadn't, or – even worse – if Severus wasn't as smart as him to have figured it out on his own.
Voldemort broke the silence that had fallen between them, and pointed to a spot between trees.
"This is where I first saw her. She was just devouring a whole bear." The corners of his lips lifted in a fond smile at the memory, and he sighed. "She was so beautiful."
Severus's eyes widened as he cast him a sideways glance. He quickly told himself that calling his lover a sick man would not be helping right now.
"This used to be her burrow." Voldemort indicated a sizable hole in the ground.
Severus tilted his head to look inside, and a movement caught his eye.
"It seems to be occupied," he noted.
Anger flashed across the Dark Lord's face. He hissed something in Parseltongue, and a big snake (though not nearly as large as Nagini) appeared, gazing at him expectantly.
Severus was no Parselmouth, but he was so familiar with his partner's body language that he could practically hear him say, 'Get out!'
The snake flicked its tongue indignantly, then slithered away, Severus hastily jumping out of its way. Voldemort waved his wand to widen the opening to Nagini's burrow.
"Is this where you want to bury her?" Severus asked softly.
When he received a stiff nod, he directed the large bundle he had been levitating into the hole in the ground. Voldemort wandlessly uncovered Nagini's head and, for a long while, stared into her large glassy, unseeing eyes; the eyes of the one who had once been his only companion; the eyes into his past.
An outsider might deem Voldemort's look impassive, but Severus could see the subtle tension in his facial muscles and the depth of emotion in his intense gaze. The Dark Lord wasn't one to manifest his feelings. Hence, many people foolishly believed he was devoid of them.
Severus gently put a hand on his master's shoulder.
"She was supposed to live forever," Voldemort breathed. "With me."
Severus couldn't help but feel a sting of jealousy. Perhaps it was silly to be jealous of a snake, but Nagini hadn't always been one. She had been a human once, however long ago it may have been. She was a person, with whom Voldemort alone could communicate, in the noble language of Salazar Slytherin. A person Voldemort had shared his soul with. He had never even mentioned the idea of granting Severus that honor.
They buried her in silence. Severus had never seen the Dark Lord so pensive.
"Would you like to say a few words?" Severus asked softly as they stood over her grave.
"Yes," Voldemort said in a thick voice. Then he hissed something in Parseltongue for a good minute before, once again, silence fell heavy.
Severus cleared his throat, feeling like he should say something in order to contribute, but he had no idea what.
"That was… beautiful," he whispered.
Voldemort considered him through narrowed eyes.
"You didn't understand a single word I said," he pointed out snappishly.
"I um– I understood the tone," Severus insisted.
The corners of Voldemort's lips twitched and a warm spark entered his eyes as he looked fondly at his most devoted Death Eater.
Severus's heart clenched with both love and pain as a thought entered his mind that this fondness would never come close to what his lover had felt for Nagini, who had shared his soul and helped him when Severus had failed him so terribly.
The Dark Lord eventually forgave all his servants for abandoning him, and even privately admitted to Severus it had been a mistake not to trust anyone with his secret, but Severus could never forgive himself. He should have known better than to think Voldemort was truly gone. He should have at least tried to look for him.
He felt his eyes water and he swallowed a lump in his throat.
"I know that I can't compare to her," Severus said, trying hard to keep his voice even. "And I know I can't ever make up for all these years I haven't been by your side. I will be forever grateful to her for being there for you when I wasn't… when I've failed you." With effort, Severus raised his gaze to meet Voldemort's, his heart fluttering, as always when he looked into those entrancing eyes. "But for what it's worth, I'm with you now. You are not alone."
Voldemort gave him a small smile, then pulled him into an embrace. Severus inhaled deeply, taking in the familiar scent of his beloved. Voldemort tightened his arms around him and pressed his cheek against his temple in, what Severus knew, was an expression of words his master would never say out loud.
Severus closed his eyes in contentment. He may not share a soul bond with the Dark Lord, but he was cared for; he was needed. That was enough.
"We shall avenge her." Severus breathed passionately. "We will get Potter, and whatever is left of the Order, and make them pay for what they've done to her."
Every Death Eater had heard and said the phrase 'Get Potter' so many times over the past few years that it had become a joking matter, but Severus spoke it now with new, dogged determination. The brat had crossed a line, coming after Voldemort's most precious Horcrux. Severus would not – could not – fail his master again.
"We'll find them," he promised fervently, overtaken by pure anger at the boy who had caused his lover so much pain. "We will crush them."
Voldemort could feel his partner's wrath, and he was never indifferent to it. The things that got his master going could be viewed as worrisome, but Severus could never bring himself to care. Voldemort lifted Severus's chin and claimed his lips, almost hungrily. Their kiss was fierce and brutal, just like the promise of their revenge.
They stood in each other's arms, in the depths of the Albanian woods, surrounded by falling darkness and all the evil forces that approached with it, yet a tidal wave of warmth engulfed Severus's heart, and he knew he could stay here forever if that's where his master decided to remain; if there weren't enemies to hunt and the Wizarding World to rule.