Ancient Magic and Parseltongue

Chapter 8, In Her Screams

   You kept reminding yourself to keep calm, to not let your emotions out. You had to, for the sake of your friends.
Ominis, Sebastian and Anne were knelt down on the other side of the room, bodies locked in a curse to keep still.
"I know you've found my Scriptorium and the secret room with my book and this room," he waved around the room. "I figured you'd want to know the truth about our magic, but you should have come to me. I would have willingly told you. Now, I'm just going to take what I want."
He approached you, his wand already glowing in anticipation as he grabbed a handful of your hair when you tried to back away and touched it to your chest.
It felt like ice had been dumped into your veins, starting with your heart and in that moment you felt your magic connect to Salazar's and a wicked grin spread on his face.
He began to pull his hand away, while ancient magic swirled from you. 
Fighting, you tried to hold on to the warmth, but the emptiness kept growing as he easily overpowered you.
Anne and Sebastian watched in horror as Salazar inhaled your magic, before throwing you to the ground and headed towards the door.
Your muscles burned and ached as you looked to the twins who were trying to fight their binds. Their expressions were enough to tell you how bad things really were. 
A growl of frustration sounded behind you, quickly followed by a loud explosion that sent a blast of heat to cascade over your skin.
"I should be powerful enough!" He hissed, spinning around to face you.
Trying to backtrack away from him seemed futile, but you knew the only reason you were alive right now was because you were still valuable. Not that you were going to give him what he wanted.   
"No!" Sebastian and Anne yelled at him as he kicked you onto your back and pointed his wand directly between your eyes, making you grateful the necklace remained under your clothes.
"You know more than I do, don't you? Tell me!"
His eyes were practically red as his hands shook in silent rage.
"I don't know anything-"
"Liar!" His eyes moved to your friends, splashing dread throughout your veins. "Maybe you'll change your mind after I torture your friends."
He moved off towards them after putting the leg locker curse on you.
"I don't know anything more than you do!" You snapped seeing him head towards Ominis.
He probably seen you two acting cozy earlier and was only attacking him because of it. 
He ignored you, dead set on casting the torture curse on Ominis, his hands already gripping his wand in anticipation.
You saw Ominis trembling from where you laid, memories of his parents no doubt resurfacing as Salazar's footsteps grew closer and you knew you couldn't allow that to happen. Just the thought of hearing him scream in pain made your heart twist uncomfortably. 
"I do know one thing!" You yelled desperately, getting Salazar to stop and look over his shoulder. "I do."
"Spit it out then."
Dropping your head, mostly to get ready for what you were about to do, you found a laugh bubbling out of your throat and you couldn't stop it.
"I'm completely magic-less and yet you're hanging on my every word," you teased, your friend's faces twisting between concern and fear as Salazar spun towards them and raised his wand, the torture curse on his tongue. "Especially since I was raised by muggles."
You never thought you'd wield that like a sword, especially to Salazar Slytherin. Time felt like it slowed as you stared, hoping you angered him enough, pushed the right buttons to make him forget all about torturing Ominis.  
Salazar stopped as if processing the new information, while watching Anne, Ominis and Sebastian's faces tell him you weren't lying as their eyes widened in horror.
"No, she's lying!" Ominis said sharply, but it only told you that you were doing the right thing. 
He still hadn't turned towards you, in an obvious daze. So, you swallowed and prepared yourself as your body trembled. "And now you're infected with more muggle magic."
He looked at you, eyes practically burning a hole through you as you laughed again. Pushing the right buttons, he completely ignored Ominis as he tried to grab his attention again.
"Crucio!"
"No!" Ominis yelled desperately as pain exploded throughout your body and a scream ripped from your lungs.
Neither Ominis's or Sebastian's spell hurt that much. This was like claws digging at your flesh, lava on your skin. Your muscles clenched so tightly they locked your joints up. 
Salazar held the spell on you until the three other founders burst into the room and Godric hit him hard enough it stopped the connection.
As a fight broke out, Rowena moved closer to Anne, Ominis and Sebastian without getting hit, while Godric summoned their wands right out of Edward's hands and Helga broke the curses on your friends.
They easily joined the fight, defending Ominis while he ran over to you as soon as he could locate you, finding you unconscious and barely breathing.
Between the founders and your friends, they chewed away at Salazar's defenses until it was only him left.
"I'll be back," he said, shooting one last glare at your body before apperating.
Godric moved over, checking your breathing, having to reach past Ominis who had pulled you into his arms after kneeling beside you.
"She's barely alive." He pulled your body away from Ominis, having a bit of trouble when Ominis refused to let go for a moment and headed towards the exit.
He followed almost immediately, with Helga and Rowena trailing behind as something clicked behind the twins. They turned seeing the door opening. 
Confused, they side glanced at each other, before walking over and peering into the room. 
It was small, well protected with ancient magic they couldn't see floating around, though without the large suits of armor that attacked if someone approached. 
They walked in, seeing a box with a strange golden light shining through the cracks on top of a book. 
Sebastian moved before it and reached out, but found a barrier that shocked him hard enough that he collapsed to his knees, instantly making him nauseous. 
"Sebastian! Are you okay?" Anne moved to her brother, helping him up to his feet, quickly noticing how he wobbled. 
"Yeah, it's protected from being stolen. I don't know how, but I don't think we're going to get that book or box any time soon." 
Anne nodded, looking at the funny looking symbol carved onto the top. "Why don't we go check on our friends. They're more important right now." 
"Yeah, we should." 

         Ominis was lost in his own head, while the founders checked on you. Having told them that Salazar took your magic, the three of them actually looked concerned, but whether that was because you lost all your magic or because Salazar was now a lot stronger, no one could decipher.  
Sebastian stared out of the window, while Anne sat numbly beside him. None of them had ever heard you purposely goad someone before, especially while laughing. It was unsettling how easily you disregarded your own safety to defend them. 
Ominis knew you took that spell for him and that ate at him. You had been unconscious since, which made knowing your condition harder. He held onto your hand, to make sure you weren't cold, his pinky over the gentle beating in your wrist, being your breathing was so shallow even he could barely hear it.  
"It wasn't your fault," Anne said softly as she walked over. "She knew that mentioning being raised by muggles would put his rage onto her." 
"I know, but she shouldn't have done it. I could have-" He stopped himself, the idea of being at the mercy of that curse made his skin crawl, but knowing she was and nearly died from it, was a worse kind of pain he hadn't experienced before. He never felt the urge to kill someone, until that moment. 
"There was nothing you could have done the moment she mentioned her parents," Sebastian replied, his eyes glaring at a particular cloud that told of a coming storm. "Which is why she used it the way she did." 
"He hurt someone you love, that's not easy to deal with," Anne whispered, her eyes traveling to your face. 
Ominis tripped over the word love. He wasn't sure he even knew what love was, but from what books described, it certainly felt close to it.
"Love?" 
Sebastian stood and moved beside his friend. "You were scared to be hit with that curse, right?" He waited only long enough for Ominis to nod. "But the moment you heard her mention being raised by muggles, how'd you feel?" 
His lips trembled as he opened his mouth. "I wouldn't have cared how many times I'd have to go through that pain, if it meant she never did." 
Realization crashed down on him as he gripped your hand tightly. He never took into consideration why he was willing to take that curse. He was just desperate that you didn't. 
It only became worse when that moment replayed. You had done the same for him, by using something you knew Salazar would find disgusting. 
"Does she love me?"  
Knowing they couldn't answer, the Sallows fell silent and looked at each other.