Title: Darkness Fell Upon You
Author: Jinni (druscilla@cox.net)
Rating: PG13
Pairing: W/SS
Genre: BtVS/HP Crossover
Disclaimer: All things BtVS belong to Joss Whedon, et al. All things HP belong to JK Rowling, et al.
Distribution: WLF, WLS, BMP, NHA, Aislin, Serena.
Author’s Note: Pairing #31 at The Quickie Challenge. http://quickie.moonlitpaths.com .

~*~

"Why do you fight me?"

"Fight us?"

"Why?"

"Just give in. . . I’ll make it worth your while. . ."

~*~

Consciousness came and went those first few days, as the poisons he had knowingly placed in his system were slowly burned out by the healing potions his captor administered with tender hands; massaging his throat each time until he would swallow the tangy liquid down, letting it work a type of magic he did not want.

He had been the one to swallow the poison, after all. He didn’t want to live. Didn’t want to continue on here, in this prison.

They knew he was a spy.

And yet they had still. . .

He shuddered without thinking, bringing the attention of the only other person in the room to him. She was his captor. This small woman who had found him before the Aurors did. She kept him bound to the bed. He was not free. Not by a long shot.

"Severus. . . How do you feel?"

He wouldn’t open his eyes, wouldn’t look upon the face he had initially thought was an angel of mercy come to help him on his way to the afterlife. She had been so beautiful as he lay there, in the snow, the vial that had held the poison still in his hands. He had been too incapacitated to get away by that point, the Aurors who were ‘holding’ him had seen to that before dumping him outside, ‘hopefully to freeze’.

Yes, wouldn’t it be so much simpler to explain to their superiors if he simply froze to death, the elements covering up the brutal violence they had used upon him. They wouldn’t have to explain to anyone then why Severus Snape, spy for the Light, had been betrayed by his own side.

Why they treated him as bad as, if not worse than, all of the other Death Eaters they got their hands on.

"Why. . .?" He whispered, still not daring to look at her, the one that had stolen his heart when he thought she was an angel, and broken it when she revealed herself not to be.

"Why what?" She teased gently. "You’ll have to be more specific than that, I’m afraid. Mind reading isn’t one of my strong suits, though I’ll give it a shot if you like. . ."

He didn’t answer. . . just waited.

"Why did I save your life?" He heard a dry laugh. "You’re an important man Severus. Very important to my benefactor. Despite everything you’ve done. . . he does not wish to see you dead. Not yet. Maybe not ever if you play your cards right."

"Voldemort. . .?" His eyes shot open, ebony black meeting emerald green.

"Of course." She smiled, a flash of white teeth. "Who else would still dare to want to help you? He’s the one person who knows what you’re going through. He knows the pain of betrayal. . . but he’ll forgive you."

Severus chuckled, the laughter breaking into a wheeze and then a ragged cough. Too much time spent in cold, wet clothing. Too much time in the snow, exposed to the harsh winter winds. He gasped for air, sucking in deep lung fulls that never quite assuaged his body’s rapidly growing need for oxygen. In short, he felt as though he were choking though the air was there for him to breathe.

"Shhh…" She whispered, holding her wand over his chest.

He felt a warm glow begin in his chest, easing the pain of the coughing. Now he could breathe freely, clearly. And she began to calm down, his eyes growing heavy.

"Go back to sleep, Severus, we can talk later."

~*~

"They betrayed you."

Severus nodded, sucking a small amount of soup from the spoon in his hand. It was good. Something brothy with little bits of chicken and vegetable in it. She had made it herself, she was proud to tell him.

"Yes, they did." He said evenly. "But they were not the first."

She smiled.

"Was his betray any worse than theirs?"

"Do you have any idea what he did?" Severus snapped. "Or did he send you hear to preach to me about how evil he is NOT without half an intelligent thought in your head."

She pulled back, those green eyes going dark as power built up within her. She wasn’t naïve, nor was she innocent. And he had made an error by assuming either he quickly saw.

"He informed me of everything I needed to know, Severus Snape." She growled, standing to pace the room. The bowl of soup before him was forgotten as her power leveled out, filling the room with a darkness he could never hope of matching. It called to that part of his soul that had always been dark, sang to him sweet lullabies of power and deceit.

"His betrayal of you was a defense mechanism." She stated firmly, not meeting his eyes as she went from one side of the room to the other. "James Potter was a threat all by himself. Harry Potter was to be his downfall, a seer had told him. Of course, she missed the part where the downfall would happen because he went to kill the brat. Lily. .. got in the way. She could have been spared. . . all she had to do was step aside."

"He promised me Lily would not die." Severus snarled, standing so suddenly that the chair he had been sitting upon toppled over. "The only promise he ever made to me. . . and he broke it."

"She jumped in front of the curse meant for her son." The witch stated simply, emotionless. "He never intended to kill her. . . and he’d do it differently if he could. You were like a son to him, Severus. How deeply did it pain him to find out. . . to know that you were the one twisting the knife into his back. . ."

Severus stared at her for a moment. . . unseeing in the pain and rage that were warring with his very soul for domination. The pain wanted to believe that the Master he had served so willingly, the one that he had thought of as his father, had never intended to hurt him. But the rage in him was still churning with Lily’s loss. The loss of the only true friend he had ever had. . . the only one he had ever dared to love, even though she had loved someone else.

"What did he offer you?" He asked at last. "You haven’t even told me your name and yet you lecture me on my heartaches. Tell me – what did he offer to you? Power? Fame? Glory? All of the above?"

She stilled, her dark eyes going back to their green color, a world of pain showing in them. For a long moment he thought she would not answer the question he had asked in complete honest curiosity.

And then. . .

"My name is Willow. And he didn’t have to offer me power or fame. I have the former and I don’t want the latter."

"So what did he offer to you – what was the price of your immortal soul, Willow?"

She smiled sadly, drawing her wand from her sleeve and unlocking the door. Her back was to him when she answered, the words sad.

"He offered me companionship. Someone that would understand me. . . Who would understand what it was like to be betrayed by the ‘good people’ of this world. . ."

Severus collapsed onto the bed he had spent many days upon, wondering at the woman’s words. He knew what she meant without having to take even a moment to decipher her cryptic words.

Voldemort hadn’t offered her just anyone.

He had offered her his ‘son’.

He had offered her *him*.

~*~

Severus looked up as the door to the room opened, his captor entering silently, her face a stony mask.

"I need an answer. Now."

"Now? But its only been a few days. . ."

She shook her head.

"You fought the poisons for weeks before waking the first time. Nearly a month and half has gone by, Severus. And not even I can hold back from Him for that long. Will you come back to the fold or will you seek your eternal rest. . . for I cannot let you leave this place if you will not be with us one hundred percent this time."

He sighed, covering his face with his hands to hide the pain he felt.

"He said you’d understand me. . ." She whispered, sitting down next to him. "That you could understand what it feels like to have your friends turn on you."

Her hand was on his back, rubbing small circles that soothed him despite his best attempts to remain stoic. This wasn’t magic, per se, just the comforting touch of a woman.

"My ‘friends’." She hissed the word and he knew that she was glaring, though pain was beneath every word. "Abandoned me . . . they let me fall into darkness and never once tried to pull me out. They didn’t care enough to try to help me. . .and when I went ‘too far’ they were the first to try to destroy me, body and soul."

Ah.

So she knew the keen edge of betrayal well.

He snorted at the idea that Voldemort was even capable of playing matchmaker on this level.

Yet, the evidence was before him.

"And if I say yes. . . Who’s to say I won’t just be lying to get out of this place?"

Willow grinned, though it was cold.

"And where would you go? Your manor has been confiscated, though you’ll be happy to know we rescued all personal items and artifacts. I believe Lucius is holding onto them until we determine your loyalty. Now. . . where was I? Oh, yes. The manor is no longer yours. The staff of Hogwarts, including your precious Headmaster, have denounced you. This is based on lies made by the Aurors that assaulted you, of course. And then there are the Aurors themselves. . . and the Ministry. . . Azkaban awaits you when they catch you again. . . if you aren’t accidentally Avada’d in the process of capture."

Severus shivered. His sentence had already been decided by those on the side he had worked faithfully under since the night of Lily’s death. Well over a decade of service and now he was a wanted criminal if what Willow said was true.

And why wouldn’t it be?

She hadn’t had to heal him or feed him. If she had planned on lying to him, why go through with any of that? Besides, lies such as those were easy to prove false if he so desired.

"I –"

"Yes?" She asked softly, laying a hand on his knee. "What’s your decision? I’m going to back it by Veritaserum, be forewarned."

He nodded, having expected as much actually.

"If My Lord will have me back, then I would be a fool to say no."

She smiled.

And it was glorious.

"Yay!"

For a moment he saw through to the person she had been, before the world turned her into the killer she had become. She was still just a child; he doubted she had seen more than twenty-five years, perhaps far less.

"So now Voldemort has me back. . . and you. . ."

"Will have a new friend." She murmured. "Though. . . if you want more. . ." She raised her eyebrows before throwing him a wink.

He laughed.

Genuinely.

It felt good.

"My dear. . .I think something mutually enjoyable can be arranged."

As the darkness he had kept at bay for so long began to weave its way through every pore of his being, he felt her own power answer in response. The corner of his mouth curled up in a smirk as he caught hold of one of her hands, lifting it to his lips. Instead of kissing it, he jerked her body forward, causing her to crash into him.

As their lips met, he knew those who had betrayed him would pay. . . and then they could make her friends pay, too.

The power between them, connecting them in a dance of pure delicious wickedness, felt like sin. Pure and decadent in nature, unearthly pleasure that wrapped around them, catching their mere kiss up and making it a moment they would both remember for the rest of their lives. This is what it felt to meet one’s match, one’s equal; a kindred spirit in all things dark and deadly.

And he abandoned himself to it.

Body.

Mind.

And soul.

~*~The End~*~