Title: Choosing Sides
Author: OCDegrassi (Holly)
Pairings: None
Rating: K+
Warnings: Mentions of War and Child Abuse
Note: This was written for Shuna in the Drabble Request Thread. The prompt was the lyrics that are italicized. They are from "In Power We Entrust The Love Advocated" by Dead Can Dance. Hope you enjoy.

XXX

Sail on silver wings
Through this storm

Severus Snape was lost in a hurricane of thoughts. His emotions were a wreck, and he didn't know what to think or where to go. One the one hand, he craved the power that the Dark Side brought. He'd lived his entire life in the shadows of other people, always being picked on or put down. Even his own mother had chosen that pathetic excuse for a man over him. He was tired of coming in second. He wanted to be in charge, and wreak havoc on everyone who had ever made his life a living hell. Even the people who had nothing to do with him specifically were symbols for the greater institution of people Severus despised. Muggles like his father. Muggle Lovers like his mother, who would choose a muggle over their own flesh and blood. He wanted to send a message to the world that Severus Snape would not be pushed around.

What fortune love may bring
Back to my arms again
The love of a former golden age

Then there was the other side of him, albeit much smaller than the dark side, but still strong. This side remembered the few good people he had met in his lifetime. His mother had sent him to a muggle school to learn the basics like reading and writing, and Severus still remembers the teachers and administrators who tried to help him. They saw the bruises that his father left on him, and they rallied behind him to have his father arrested. It wasn't their fault that Tobias Snape always beat the system. They tried so hard to convince his mother to leave her husband, but she refused. Those teachers, who had fought so hard for him, were mere muggles. So Severus knew they weren't all bad, and that left him in emotional turmoil.

I am disabled by fears concerning which course to take
For now that wheels are turning
I find my faith deserting me

The time to chose was now. The war was beating down on all sides of him, and he had to decide fast. Should he punish many for the crimes of a few, or let the few get away with what they'd done to spare everyone else? He wished he could take the middle road, and only punish the people who deserved it, but that was simply impossible. The war was raging on, and he had to pick a side. There was no balance in war. There's no room for a gray area in which both sides were right. Only one side could win, and Severus needed to decide which one he wanted that to be. As the whirlwind of emotions and thoughts plagued his mind, he finally made a decision.

XXX

A/N: So I decided not to include which side Severus chose, because I want that to be up to you. Please review!