InsaneJournal

Ficlet: Absolution
Title: Absolution
Author: nishizono
Pairing: Severus Snape/Tom Riddle
Rating: R
Word Count: 560
Disclaimer: Sadly, they aren't mine

Summary: “And behold, I saw a pale horse. And the name of he who sat upon it was Death, and Hell followed with him.” –Revelations 6:8

WARNING: Although it is not particularly graphic, this piece contains highly blasphemous material. If you are religious or find the desecration of sacred spaces disturbing, I advise that you do not read this.


~*~*~

“And behold, I saw a pale horse. And the name of he who sat upon it was Death, and Hell followed with him.” –Revelations 6:8

~*~*~

“In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.”

“Amen.”

One hundred voices in a whispered confession of faith in the divine, fingertips drug from forehead to chest, from shoulder to shoulder, and the faithful lower themselves into the hard wooden pews as if prostrating themselves before the gilded cross that shines over the altar.

He does not feel it, cannot feel it, not with the Devil himself at his side and the mark of the beast seared into the pale flesh of his forearm. There is nothing for him here, not anymore.

“Look at them,” the man says in a whisper, “Sheep. A flock of doomed creation, proud of their ignorance and blind faith.”

“I was one of them,” he murmurs as the smoke from the incense rises around them.

If they knew, if they could see that Lucifer himself is amongst them, haunting each movement of their hands with dark, calculating eyes-

“You have no need for blind faith, Severus,” the man whispers, hand closing over his, “Not anymore.”

“The eucharist,” Severus says softly, bowing his head.

“Take your communion, then, if you must,” the man replies, stroking silky black hair away from the boy’s face, “Partake of the flesh, and of the blood, for tonight we dine in Hell.”

“My Lord,” he whispers in a prayer, though he knows that that he has no soul with which to seek redemption.

~*~*~

“And power was given to them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death.” –Revelations 6:8

~*~*~

The flames of Hell dance along the walls, crackling and screaming in an unholy chorus with the echoed cries of the dead. They lay in heaps, the smell of charred and wounded flesh mingling with the stench of incense lingering in the air.

Darkness spreads him out across the altar, seeps into him, fills him, and when the Lord of Treachery presses a kiss to his throat, Severus screams.

“Ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae.”

~*~*~

“His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire.” –Revelations 1:14

“And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last.” –Revelations 1:17

~*~*~

“What have you done?”

Severus bows his head, kneeling at the feet of righteous fury, and knows that he is beyond absolution.

“My Lord has commanded-“

“Your Lord is Deceit,” Albus says quietly, staring down at the boy who kneels before him, “How has it come to this? Have I allowed you to suffer so much that you would have such blind faith for the words of a madman?”

“I have no faith,” Severus whispers, the truth lingering in the space around him like a tarnished halo, wrought with defeat and tainted by nightmarish subservience.

“If you believe in nothing else,” Albus murmurs, resting a hand on the young man’s shoulder, “Believe in me.”

~*~*~

“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.” –Matthew 6:13

~*~*~

Translations
'In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti'
- In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit

'Ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae'
- Pray for us sinners now, and in the hour of our death