One Last Time
A/N: Snape's last thoughts... Written after reading Prince's tale, which made me cry like a baby. How does she do that??
Disclaimer: I own nothing... JK is king here.
His lifeline was failing him; his beating heart crying throughout his body to maintain life but the wound was too deep, too brutal to heal.
The thick blood gushed from his neck covering his face and hands, and Snape knew this was the end, the end of everything.
His Master had turned on him at last, craving the power of the Elder Wand he so desperately needed. The irony of it all was that as the eighteen years of service neared its end, Voldemort had never discovered Severus Snape was truly Dumbledore's man through and through.
Snape had played his part well, fooling the Dark Lord one last time.
The old wooden door behind him creaked open; he dared for a moment, his blurry vision betraying him, to think that it was she who had come back to him, to help him to the other side… But it was not her, she could not come.
Holding his throat he gasped, 'take it...take it...' and with all the strength that was left within him released the few memories he held dear – the only memories he had ever treasured about the one girl he had loved, and in turn somehow cared for him. The silvery substance, not gas nor liquid seeped from his mouth and eyes providing the only means of redemption.
As the boy in front of him took it, Snape realised they had understood each other at last... They, more than anything, had loved the same woman.
And as he murmured his last words and stole a final breath, Severus looked into the eyes of Lily, the girl he first laid eyes on those many years before, the girl he had poured everything into without dignity. That girl had become the woman he grew to trust, to love, and finally, begrudgingly, the woman he had betrayed.
I'm sorry, he whispered, but his strength had failed him... No more dreaded life remained… only the hope that he had done all he could, and that somehow through all the evil and the sorrow in the world, the one thing of her's would survive...
Those beautiful emerald eyes gazed back at him and at last he felt her forgiveness. They had forgiven him.
… Let me look into those eyes, and at last, be at peace...
Alter/ego