Chapter 873 - The Foretelling Ⅲ

With more brains hungrily leaping out of the tank, Devante blinks foolishly before rapidly coming to his senses as fear begins to envelop him. "Master, please help me!" He desperately pleaded unable to reach for his wand while simultaneously fighting off the hungry brains.

Voldemort lovingly ċȧrėsses his wand as he approaches Devante. "Nott, do you know what I hate above muggles and mudblood's?" Voldemort pensively mused out loud reaching down to stroke the head of Nagini's warm, but cool smooth serpent skin.

Devante is unable to reply as a wet, but powerful brain tentacle wraps around his mouth leaving him unable to speak. A cold smile of amusement spreads across Voldemort's face as he tilts his head in the direction of Lestrange. "Nott appears to be terribly busy, Lestrange, would you care to answer in his stead?"

Rodolphus's lips twitch for a moment, before smoothly replying, "Betrayal of blood traitors above all else, Milord."

"Precisely," Voldemort practically purred with a pleased expression. "I do so loathe blood traitors above even failure and ineptitude."

Devante frantically struggles as Voldemort raises his wand up in the air. "Avada Kedavra," the green sparks in slow motion move forward smacking the struggling form of Devante Nott and the brains. They all abruptly cease to struggle and falls limply back into the green tank. Within the green potion solution tank, the brains hungrily lunge forward and swarm the deceased, while cannibalizing their limp brain brethren.

The wailing, smoky rune of Hydra flickers in the blue, white light, but the chamber is much too dim and dark to be clearly noticed. The only one who actually seemed to notice is Rodolphus who had witnessed the sight of that same mark twice before. He carefully hides his frown and turns to cryptically eye the Dark Lord, who is hunched over in pain passing through some terrible unseen agony.

"Nagini," Voldemort gasped in agony as his soul rips itself apart once again. A splinter of a memory, a broken fragment of memory in that moment returned. At that moment, he knew and recognized who or rather what his enemy was. At long last, he could finally remember enough, and what as all that he needed for it was just enough to set his next plan in motion.

The enormous green serpent darts forward in concern yet there is a strange taste in the air. It was something that set the very air pulsing akin to a heartbeat that slowly grew louder and louder in strength. It was as if something most awful and foul was about to be birthed into the world.

Nagini's tongue flicks in the air with worry and fear at seeing her kin in so much agony. She lifts her scaley head up and rubs her head against the hand of her kin to comfort him. There was nothing else she could do but offer a measly comfort to her kin. Internally, she promised to never abandon her kin and never permit him to feel lonely again.

Voldemort's crimson serpent eyes narrow as if in sorrow for he could not truly feel grief, but he understood loss well enough. He knew that he was incapable of love but for the first time in his life, he felt true anger at being denied an emotion that every single human is capable of possessing. He knew that he was not capable of even returning a fraction of his Nagini's affections. There was no one in this world he trusted more and no one else he had ever been capable of fully trusting so fully.

A streak of pain causes Voldemort to hunch even further in pain. His soul had torn itself apart five times before and this would be the sixth time, but with each Horcrux, the splitting apart process grew more and more agonizing. Perchance, it hurt more because, for the first time ever, Voldemort truly cared for the vessel that would house his Horcrux. He would never be wholly capable of caring for another existence, but he cared for Nagini as much as he was capable of feeling and displaying.

A dark mist erupts from Voldemort's ċhėst and lazily flickers in the air, before hurtling down to the large figure of Nagini. Instinctively, Nagini recoils to defend against the unseen attack but finds herself completely overpowered by an unseen force unable to move. She frantically tries to open her jaws to speak or even scream to no avail. Abruptly, she feels her body grow weak and limp as a maddening force painfully enters inside her. It was all that was rage, malice, and hunger.

Nagini's eyes widen in terror and begin to change as the madness that was shed from her kin begins to hungrily engulf her and fill her insides with its terrible existence. It suffocated her and soon something else was peering out of her eyes instead of her. All that was her, her precious memory fragments were cruelly erased and replaced by memories of the one she called kin. A single tear escapes from her snake eyes mourning for that she could no longer remember and for the self that she would soon cease to be.

"It's him. It's him. It's him," Nagini thought giddily to herself. Feelings of warmth and protectiveness filled her soul as she finally recognized the figure before her, "Creedence Barebone."

Creedence slowly came to a halt before her and smiled with that thin crooked smile of his. He extended his pale hand to her in greeting and invitation. "Are you ready to go, Nagini? They are waiting for us."

Nagini to her own surprise stretched out her hand and found that she was human again. Wet tears slipped down her eyes as she intertwined her hand with his. She tightly squeezed his hand as if saying, "Oh, how I've missed you. Why did you leave me?"

Despite all the pain and bitterness between them, the turbulent emotions instantly faded away the moment Nagini took his hand. It was all in the past, she had at long last been reunited with Creedence. And, in the end, that is all that truly mattered.

They stood there for a moment leaning closely against each other. The two of them leaned in the forehead to forehead resting against each other leaving their faces scant centimeters apart. Their breaths intertwine with each other becoming part of the other. Pulling back, their eyes met, and swore never to be apart again.. Hand in hand clenched tightly together, they turned away and walked towards the warm light that awaited them never to part evermore.