Death has a name.
His name is Severus Snape.
As if an unknown entity needs last name, Tom lamented, but his face betrayed nothing to the entity who came to him that night, the night when he killed his father's family and almost killing himself in the process. In that moment between life and death, he saw The Death. He was...nothing like Tom expected.
"I thought your name was Death." Tom pointed out as Snape? Severus? Sev? Collected every glowing sphere floated on top of his father's family's corpses. With a swish of his wand—black, surprisingly without any markings or ornaments—all glowing sphere entered the glass bottle on his hand.
"An appropriate name. But Severus Snape is the name that I choose myself." Severus said, pocketing the bottle before turning his back.
"Wa-wait!" Tom called him, "Aren't you going to take my soul too?"
Suddenly, Severus is already in front of him, that pair of black orbs studying him intently. "You just split your soul in three pieces. I cannot take you, Tom Marvolo Riddle."
"Not today, then." Tom presented his bad boy-ish grins, the one who charmed all Hogwart's residents. Severus did not smile back, but Tom can see amusement dancing in those eyes.
Tom Riddle was sixteen when he found out Death's name.
He believed they will meet again.
Tom came back to Hogwarts a changed man.
He eyed Slughorn with an air of superiority. While that man can only tell stories, Tom was living it.
He was the story. He was legend.
He met Death, and came out alive.
I See Black Light
Supernatural, T-rated, semi-AU
Tom Riddle & Severus Snape
Based on JK Rowling's Harry Potter
Written for Snape Day Challenge by Ambudaff
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The first time Tom created a horcrux, Severus did not come to him. The fact that Myrtle's ghost remains in this world also mean that Severus didn't collect her soul. He asked the man why, when they meet at his third horcrux creation."I was there." Severus said, as he collected the nameless Albanian man's soul inside his glass bottle. "But you didn't see me."
He was gone after that, leaving Tom shivering alone on the forest floor. Splitting his soul always left him cold inside and outside. As if suddenly half the space inside him became empty, leaving him brittle and fragile. The pain, though, the pain was worth it.
He's willingly ripped his soul away to achieve immortality.
Myrtle, it seems, was too attached to this world so Severus didn't take her. Tom is suspicious that Myrtle actually used her new ghastly status as an excuse to peek on boy's bathroom.
Killing human was easier now, when he knows it will make Severus come to him.
The Death keeps on dancing on his mind when he's awake, plaguing his dreams when he's asleep.
Tom finds himself wanting more, more horcrux so he can guarantee this immortality.
After all, a mortal can only court death when death no longer able to touch him.
"Are you stalking me?" Tom asked, one day, after he killed four muggles who came too close to his shack in Albania. The Death always presents whenever Tom killed anyone, these days. It feels like he was offering human sacrifices for the Death, not that Tom minded in the slightest. He would prefer if the human sacrifices is for him, though. But competing with the Death himself is futile, he thinks.At Tom's question, Severus spared him a glance, face still impassive. "It is my job to attend any death-related events." He answered.
"Are there any other death reapers out there?" Tom cannot hold his curiousity. He assumed Severus is a death reaper.
"You are not authorized to know." Severus said, matter-of-factly.
"Authorized by who?"
Severus' lips curled up slightly in the corner. It's his smug face, Tom realized, the one he pulled when he knows something that Tom doesn't. It's worrisome that the smug face came out too often for Tom's liking. In a blink of an eye, the man vanished to thin air. Only his whispered voice lingered.
"Until then, Tom Riddle."
Tom was working on Borgin and Burke's when he stumbled on stories of The Deathly Hallows.
Imagine how surprised he was when he found out he possessed the resurrection stone.
Severus confirmed that he did, in fact, give the three items to Peverell brothers.
Tom can't help feeling giddy—if not a bit petty—that Dumbledore's theory on the children fairytale turns out wrong.
The Peverell didn't create the hallows, Severus did.
"Why did you give the invisibility cloak to Ignotus Peverell?" Tom asked, Hepzibah Smith's corpse sprawled on the floor. Good riddance, in Tom's opinion. The woman liked to touch him in a way that makes Tom's skin crawled with disgust."He asked."
"That easy?" there's note of jealousy somewhere in Tom's question.
"His request was the most interesting. Granted, the other two are amusing to me too, but the cloak was the one causing me less work."
Tom does know that the elder wand and resurrection stone caused a lot of fight and death. "I caused you a lot of work," Tom said, "My antics should've made you not amused all this time."
Severus, in a moment of an out-of-character chuckle, said "You are the most amusing of all, Tom Riddle." He then proceeds to extract Smith's soul inside the glass bottle. "By the way, are you planning to make another horcrux?" Severus asked.
Tom smirked, "You'd know when I do. It will be a surprise. I need to keep you on your toes, after all."
Severus ignored the last comment, his face turned serious. "Your soul will bear irreversible damage if you keep this up. The repentance will be too painful for you."
"Are you disappointed that you can't take my soul?"
Severus shakes his head, wistful smile on his face. "My warning is because we've already become, dare I say, companion. Good day, Tom Riddle."
Isn't it say something to Tom's social skill that the first and only person who become his friend is Death himself?
The wizard spat blood on the ground. "I pray death will be upon you!" he cursed.
"Death is my friend." Voldemort said simply as Avery's light-green avada kedavra killed the man.
It was said in utter honesty.
Severus did not come, but Tom knew that he heard.
Severus didn't seem surprised when Tom created his fifth horcrux.The muggle tramp was beautiful, for muggle standard—there's no way Tom choose just anyone to lain with, she or he should at least the most beautiful around. She is more beautiful as corpse, though. No fake moans or giggles. Good riddance, just like the others.
"You are not planning to repent." Severus said matter-of-factly.
"I'm not. I'll stay on earth forever, longer than anyone else. That way I can keep meeting you."
"No one lives forever."
Tom cupped Severus' cheek, thumbs caressing lightly. His skin was cold and smooth, like a statue carved from marbles. All sharp angles and striking eyes. It was perfect. "You do. And I'll keep on living with you."
Severus closed his eyes for a moment, face conflicted. "This is futile. I will have to take your soul someday."
Tom pulled Severus' face until their cheek touched. He whispered right in Severus' ear "But not today." Tom added a chaste kiss on the Death's cheek for good measure.
Severus let out a long-suffering sigh, slowly vanishing from Tom's sight.
Tom watched as Lucius Malfoy killed the boy, one that he doesn't care to know the name.
Severus didn't show up again.
He gathered that he can only see Severus when it was him doing the killing, not others.
Tom knows the face of this kneeling young man. It was awfully familiar with the death entity he encountered over the years. He almost can't stop himself from casting a killing curse, just to see if this human, the one bearing Severus Snape name, will die. He killed a death eater standing beside human-Severus instead, then wait.He expected Severus—the Death—to come anytime now, but there are no familiar drawl that he was accustomed to. Instead, human-Severus' eyes are glowing green, just like it was covered by a killing curse. The human body rose from the ground to a standing position so they can see eye-to-eye.
"So you're a human now?" Tom asked, because he knows that THIS is his Severus.
"I can be human when need—"
"Avada kedavra!" The green light bounced harmlessly over Severus' body. Tom shrugged, it was worth a shot.
"—like I was trying to say before you interrupted, I can be human when needed. Doesn't mean my human version can die like normal human."
"Hmm. Interesting. Does your human counterpart know everything about you too? About us?" Tom starting to make a plan to 'kill' human-Severus in public, so he will be forced to leave the human realm. Severus' presence is his and his alone.
"He doesn't have my memories, practically his own person." The Death chuckled lightly, added, "He's afraid of you."
And isn't it funny? A Severus Snape who is afraid of Tom Riddle. "Like all my followers should be."
"I'm not afraid of you."
"Of course not, you're The Death. I should be afraid of you."
"But you don't."
"No, I don't."
"Why went so far that you split your soul, then, if you are not afraid of death?"
Tom smirked, "I think you already know." he took a step closer, then another. "I did it because…"
He brought his face closer to Severus', lips hovering near the man's. Close, but yet to touch. As sudden as they came, the green glow vanished and Severus—human-Severus—drop to the floor. The young man woke up disoriented, Tom can see his eyes widen in shock at the sight of his fellow death-eaters' unmoving body.
"My-My Lord?" his voice timid as he called Voldemort. A stark contrast with his counterpart.
Tom tamped down the wave of disappointment before he asked, voice silken, "Now what about this prophecy you heard about my demise?"
A choice, between the Longbottom or the Potter.
Young Severus Snape's eyes widen a fraction upon hearing the Potter's name,
went so far to beg for Lily Potter's life. It was an easy choice, then.
Lily Potter must die.
Voldemort came, that night, to Godric's Hollow. James Potter didn't stand a chance.Tom took his time studying Lily Potter's features. The woman was standing in front of her son's crib, all bravado wrapped in a sweet face. He still didn't get it, though, what was so good about this woman that makes Severus Snape—the human—so attached? She was so easy to kill too, fallen in a lifeless heap in front of her son's crib.
The baby was crying in earnest now.
This baby was the proof of his desperation to keep his immortality, he mused. Voldemort was not one to rely on a prophecy, having spent his life building his own way—and look where he is now, with all that power in his hand. But when it came to his immortality, he was always, always desperate. He has to make sure nothing comes between him and his Death. Nothing, not even a prophecy, much less a powerless infant.
Voldemort casted the curse to kill the baby, and then his world exploded.
It was like his soul was ripped into many, many pieces in one time. The pain was unimaginable, his memories in disarray because the fragments of his soul pulled him to each of its own direction, confusing himself at what point of life he was in. Tom chanted Severus' name, he doesn't want to forget. Never, never forget…
A vast darkness embraced his soul. He was less than spirits, less than meanest ghost.
"I told you not to kill Lily Potter." Severus said, as Tom's conscience slowly slipping.
"It was you? I thought it was the foolish attachment your human has." Tom didn't even hide the note of jealousy on his voice. In front of his Severus, there's no point in hiding.
"It led you to your demise." Was that regret on the Death's voice?
"I am alive." Tom said simply. He was.
For a moment, Severus looked at Tom intently, like he never saw him before. He raised his hand slightly in Tom's direction, but aborted it in last minute. The jerking motion was noticeable by Tom, who smiled wistfully at that.
"It will be quiet the next few years you're not around." Severus finally said, before he, too, fade behind the dark veil covering Tom's being. Tom smiled again, the kind of smile that only Severus has the privilege to see. He closed his eyes and let himself being one with the darkness. He knows Severus will come to take him, one day. But not today.
Not today.
Years later, as Voldemort lost the duel against Harry Potter, he saw Severus's face.
The Death kneeled beside him, hands slowly caressing Tom's deteriorating soul.
"I can't take your soul. It was too damaged." He said with his usual cold expression, but Tom knew better.
Tom smiled so wide his face hurt, this time, because he's the only soul in this universe that managed to put a crack on Death's mask.
"It doesn't matter." Tom said, "I will be the only soul you remembered."
And that is enough for Tom.
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The End
And now, the boring part: Author's note,
I own nothing, even some of the plot was JK Rowling's. Title was taken from Victor Hugo's last words. "I was less than spirits, less than meanest ghost." was said by Voldemort, somewhere in one of the books.
English is not my first language, and this story is unbeta-ed, so I apologize for any grammar mistakes.
This entry is supposed to be part of the celebration for Snape's birthday or something, it was a challenge in a forum. For me, I just want an excuse to write Snape as a death reaper, and who would have the opportunity to meet one if it's not our resident Dark Lord, now wouldn't he?
Anyway, I really enjoyed writing this so I hope you will enjoy reading it.
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