This story takes place soon after the events of The Force Awakens and before The Last Jedi, focusing on what would happen if Severus Snape met Kylo Ren. The idea really stuck with me after seeing all those articles comparing the two, so I wanted to explore that more by tossing them together! Hope you enjoy~

*NOTE that this is NOT a slash between Kylo and Snape and I do not intend for them to be involved in a sexual/romantic relationship. All interactions will stay as close to canon and each character's personality as possible.

The Potions Master, about to meet his demise by the mechanisms of simple serpent's venom.

What a fool he was; thinking that he would accept his fate when the time came, and welcome the darkness after he relieved his duties to the boy. That he would just lay down and die without so much as a phial of Dittany on him.

But as he sat there alone, fire burning through his veins and blood pooling in a hot, thick puddle around him, and pain indescribable wracking his paralyzed form, it occured to Severus Snape that he was not ready to die.

Not yet, not like this.

The surge of panic rose like bile up his throat, and the man desperately reached out for something within his grasp; anything. His wand was in his cloak. If only he could move his hands, if only he had more time…

He reached outward, and he saw something. Not through his eyes, no; he realized that his physical sight had long gone. But he saw it in his mind, blurry at first, as if through the lens of a worn watchglass. It appeared to be a room, dimly lit a cold grey, with some dark shape lying still to one end. The longer he watched, the clearer and closer it became, until he could see that it was a human form in the room, asleep.

And then Severus realized- though the thought itself felt disconnected, distant now- that he was disapparating. The absurdity of it registered little to him, as he felt his body get sucked up into the vortex, into himself, and take him farther than he'd ever gone before.

THUD.

The man's eyes shot open before he even identified the source of the sound, fingers instinctively clenching around the metal hilt of his saber. Kylo Ren sat up, weapon poised as he scanned the room for signs of an intruder or some insolent guard that had dared awake him; but his gaze fell upon a prone form that currently occupied the floor of his quarters. It appeared to be a male, though the strange dark cape covering him obscured all other apparent features. And he looked quite dead, the scent of blood strong on him.

Where did...how did he... ?

Kylo took another glance about the room, making sure no one else was with them and that no other bodies would materialize, before striding towards the man. The slightest hint of uncertainty played across his features. Was this another test? Carefully, he bent down before the body, and gripping the hem of the cloak, swept it aside to reveal a startlingly familiar face- the aquiline nose, the dark hair, the defined features-though everything appeared at least a decade older than his own. At the sight, a wave of emotion crashed over the younger man; confusion and recognition, coupled with fear and a strange sense of longing.

Kylo was about to stumble away when he noticed, with a flare of shock, that this man was still breathing. He saw his chest rise and fall weakly, and when he reached out a hand to affirm it, he sensed a faint flutter of a heartbeat within, clinging to the last threads of life.

And then to even more astonishment, Kylo heard the urgency in his own voice as he lifted his head and yelled out with little hesitation,

"Guards!"