Written for Dyno_Drabbles and won Mod's Choice! Disclaimer: The characters and canon situations in the following story belong solely to JK Rowling, Scholastic and WB. I am not making any money from the publishing or writing of this story.

Gone.

Every bloody one of them... gone.

He should've known they would leave him for dead, never caring if or when he breathed his last breath. It wasn't like he tried endearing himself towards others, quite the opposite really, so it came as no great surprise when no one stayed behind to send him off to his next plane of existence, if there was one. Not even the snake had bothered to eat him.

Severus.

The glint in his eyes had faded to nothing more than a dull, blank stare for the casual observer, but his mind still moved, albeit sluggishly. A myriad of smells invaded his nose as sonorous echoes clanged loudly in his head.

Severus.

So this is what dying was like? A final assault on the senses while some voice rattled about in his brain to lose what was left of his mind? No, thank you... he would pass on this experience if he could, not that he had much choice.

Severus, please.

Oh, dear Merlin, not that... not that pleading again. Hadn't he done enough already? Did he not fulfil his master's wishes though he begged not to? Was he to be cursed even in his supposed afterlife? The guilt and regret of his actions and inactions always hung about him, heavy as Death's noose. Why could he not slip their grasp for just a moment?

You're safe now, Severus.

Go away, loathsome voice, let me die in peace. This is no safety, not for me, not ever. Ever vigilant, though I will never tell Moody that I agreed with him.

Come push me on the swing, like you used to do.

Images flashed like lightening across his mind's eye of the little girl he played with so long ago before everything became clouded and murky, before he killed her with his jealousy. Oh, how he wanted the serenity he felt when he was in her presence, would do anything for the merest taste of that bliss.

Don't be afraid, come with me.

Hesitantly, he reached out towards the translucent figure and took Lily's welcoming hand, tightening his grasp when the warmth of her flesh touched his. He smiled for the first time in years, pulled her along the path that led to the now grassy area where they used to play, and pushed her high into the air, never to be earthbound again.