The Traveler
(BEGIN)
Harry Potter sat on the Headmaster's chair in the great hall of Hogwarts. Sweeping his gaze across the ruined castle laid out before him, and the forest and lake beyond the crumbled wall.
He was old now. It had been thousands of years since he had sat in the great hall of this castle as a student.
He had been different then.
So brave, to face this new world of magic coming from the abusive family he had been raised in, so innocent, believing that now his world had changed for the better.
So full of life.
So naïve.
So young.
That was a long time ago.
The world has changed so much since then.
Morphing, changing, societies leaping forward and others falling to the dust.
The world surged forward, undaunted by the passing of time.
Humanity pushed itself forward, advancing scientifically, morally, creatively, spiritually.
It pushed itself forward until it reached the edge of the abyss.
For years, humanity basked in the glow of its own glory, unknowingly teetering on the edge of destruction.
Until, inevitably, the world took the plunge. And fell into darkness.
Such an arbitrary way for the world to end.
So caught up in their progression, muggles and magicals alike took no notice of natures decline around them.
Pollution, that was the word that damned the earth.
Progression came at a cost, both magical and muggle. Raw burning magic hung in the air caused by volatile experiments, smoke from burnt fuel and gas raising into the sky and staining it red.
Pollution of all kinds hung in the air.
It crashed onto the world, a suffocating miasma oppressing all of the creatures in the world.
The air became toxic.
The oceans boiled away.
The forests wilted and decayed.
And the world died.
Naturally, all of humanity died with it.
And yet, he remained.
Even now, as he sat, his lungs burning with the acidic air that was all the earth now knew, he lived.
Where everyone else had died, he lived.
And he knew why.
Death, after all, would never be willing to let her master die.
The Hallows, they were neither blessing nor a curse.
They were a contract.
And upon him gathering all three together at the age of 17, he had unknowingly signed it.
And now here he was. Granted immortality, agelessness, and unfathomable power, all at a single price.
He was bound, permanently, to Death.
He was her mate, her master, the one who was destined to walk beside her until the end of time. When all life in all the universes were gone, and Death ceased to be.
He had become her angel, with the ability to summon black wings to match, her reaper, her lover.
And she had become his servant, all the power of the primordial being, the God, that she was, was his to command.
It had taken some time to get used to the fact.
With these new powers, his life had changed drastically.
But, truth be told, he liked to think it changed for the better.
Hard to accept at first, it may have been, but eventually, he settled into his new role quite well.
He came to love Death, just as she did him.
And as time passed, his power only grew, far outstripping anything a mere wizard as he once was could have ever hoped to achieve.
He became a god in his own right.
Another part that he had played well, controlling the world from behind the scenes, leading the fields of study as both magic and science moved forward by leaps and bounds.
But even he could not stop the end of the world.
Perhaps, had he reacted quickly enough, he might have been able to save it all.
But by the time anyone, let alone him, had noticed the worlds decline, it was a process already too far along to have any chance of stopping.
So here he sat, the god of a destroyed world.
And he was without question, mind-numbingly bored.
His thoughts were interrupted by a soft simmer of magical power that split the silence, as Death stepped into existence behind him.
"Ah, I had almost forgotten how hot it was here." He snorted in response to her quip, the air temperature was somewhere around 204 degrees, 400 if you used Fahrenheit. It was only an extremely overpowered cooling charm on himself, the chair, and the floor around him, that allowed him to sit so comfortably.
He listened, eyes closed, as the soft padding of her bare feet across the stone floor of the castle drew near him.
Slowly, she wound her arms around his neck from behind, her fingers dancing across the cloth covering his chest, she leaned into his back, nestling her chin in the crook of his neck with a sigh, her breath chilling his skin.
"Are you bored again, my love?" She purred, seductive as always, even now, when he knew himself above her power, Death still tempted him, just in new ways.
"You run out of things to do so quickly now," She simpered, "You always find your way back to this silly golden chair, and you simply sit here lost in thought."
He didn't bother turning his head to look at her, he had no need to, he could feel the grin stretching her face just as easily as he could predict her next line.
"Perhaps, I should endeavor to find some way to entertain you, my master." She breathed, turning her head gently so that her breath fluttered against the nape of his neck.
He smirked and reached a hand up to rub gently into her hair. Petting her much like one would have done a dog. She leaned into his hand with a happy sigh.
"Will you ever grow tired of such things?" He asked, chuckling softly as he envisioned a small pout replacing her smile.
"Never with you, my love." She spoke, palming the side of his face with one hand, and turning his head to the side so that they were looking into one another's eyes. "You don't know how long I've waited for you." She sighed, touching her forehead with his. "This world, it wasn't the first, you know. Nor even was this universe. I have been around for a very, very long time, long enough that even your numerous years seem like mere minutes. And I have waited for eons, for you to come." Her fingernails dug into his skin slightly, possessively. "My destined one, my perfect equal, my mate." She sighed again, contentedly this time, breathing in his scent like she wished to never forget it. "My master."
He smiled gently, "And now I'm here." He leaned back, gazing at her features. Studying her face, not unlike the way a scholar would study some freshly unearthed tome, ripe with ancient literature and knowledge.
Death was beautiful, she had very soft features, enough so that the sight of her face alone was comforting. A thick curtain of ebony black hair fell gracefully to her shoulders. Her eyes were a captivating dark grey, an abyss he found himself falling in far too often. A single, silver earring, hung from the lobe of her left ear, from it dangled an intricately designed scythe. An unneeded reminder to him of who she really was, and the power that she wielded.
She blinked softly, ignoring his blatant scrutiny of her face, and leaned her head down on his shoulder with a heartfelt smile. "Yes," She said. "Now you're here."
"Well," He spoke, the air from his words gently ruffling her hair, marring it from its perfect curtain. "I suppose it may be eons again before we ever part ways."
She looked up at him, her eyes warm, "Would that be such a bad thing, my love?"
He sighed gently. "You are all that I have left, but as much as I have come to love you. I'm not sure I have the stomach to deal with this," He swept his arm out, indicating the ruined castle, and the desolate world beyond its walls. "For another thousand years. Let alone, eons."
She stood, and walked to stand in front of him, she turned abruptly away from him, and sank into his lap, leaning comfortably against his chest. She leaned her head back against his shoulder and looked up at him.
He stared down, into her eyes, waiting.
"You know, there are other worlds out there, entire universes even. Filled with untapped potential, just waiting for someone like you to come along and be a hero all over again."
He groaned, "Yes, I know, but as I've told you before, this is my home. I was born here, I should…" He faltered, knowing he was nearing dangerous territory, too late, as he could tell by the hardening of her eyes that he had already crossed the line.
"You should die here as well?" Her voice was cold, cutting, he flinched away from her words like they were sharpened blades. "Is that what you want, Harry, for me to let you die?" Her voice broke. "For me to be alone again?"
He circled his arms around her waist, pulling her tight against his chest. "No." He spoke, firmly at first, but his voice wavering as he continued. "I don't want that, it's just, this world held everything I've ever loved, all I've ever known." He looked down at her, and in that moment he knew he must have looked broken. "I just don't know what to do."
Her eyes softened, and she reached up with a hand to cup his cheek. "You move on." She spoke, "It won't be easy, but it's all you can do. You just, move on." Her lips parted and she kissed him gently.
As they broke apart, he released a breath he didn't know he was holding. With it went a heavy weight from his shoulders. "Alright," He said, gently. "I'll move on... What do you propose we do then?"
She smiled up at him. "There's an endless sea of worlds and universes, my love, some of them similar to your own, some of them more different than you could ever dream. All you have to do is pick one, and then I shall take you there."
His eyes brightened, and so did her smile in response, he clutched her tighter.
"Tell me about them."
(END)
AN: Alrighty then! Here is the second plot bunny that has been bouncing around my head, If you are here from "Death, Walks" and are disappointed that this is not another chapter of that story, then don't worry. I should have an update for that out within a few days.
As for this story, this has been something that I have been thinking of for approximately, oh... 14 hours now? It was written within about four of those, so please don't judge me too harshly. Also, if there are any grammatical mistakes, don't blame me, I tried, blame the Grammarly app for not living up to its hype.
I'll be blunt, I have no fecking clue what I want to do with this. I'll be putting Avengers as the crossover because I know that that is one of the worlds I definitely plan on having Harry go to. But as for whether it will be the first one... Eh? I honestly don't know, I think it will be, simply to not disappoint the ones who clicked expecting that right away. But I may do something different.
The worlds I'm thinking of so far are these, Avengers, Sword Art Online, Fallout (4), Familiar of Zero, Star Wars or StarGate, maybe some Firefly, or some Rosario+Vampire. With a little jumping back and forth between just to keep it interesting and avoid time sequences that I simply don't feel like writing.
If you readers have any ideas for crossovers other than those listed, feel free to let me know. The only bad ideas are the ones you never tell me. (And The Walking Dead, cuz I'm already writing one of those.)
Well, that's all, for now, folks, thanks for reading if you've stuck it out this long. Please review, I don't care if you loved it, hated it, or just want to talk about what old Mrs. Lynn whispered to Becky in the row behind you at church last weekend. (I wouldn't know, I never go to church.)
This is Onyx-Pendant, signing off.