⌐ Pulse demanding.

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Alternate Universe card had been dealt…so no flames

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Chapter 1: UTEI- See, Awaken

'To hurry…to hurry back…to the place where I knew you would be waiting, right?'

"I…"

'Huh?'

"I…who am I?"

Light filtered through thin shades to the left. The bed was hard and warm the thick sheets smelled like cinnamon.

Gray blue eyes focused slowly not resting their gaze on anything. It had felt as though he had been sleeping for a very long time, as though his eyes had not been in any sort of use for years or probably ever. His limbs felt oddly heavy as he tried to move them, his hand coming up slowly palm towards his face. Every crease, the small curved scar near the bottom of the pale palm of his left hand. When had he gotten that?

He lowered his palm to his face, it was smooth as though he'd never done a hard days work in his life. Come to think of it he couldn't really recall anytime he'd ever done anything strenuous or at all. 'What's my name?'

His memory was a blank slate when suddenly the strange dream returned; that petal soft voice, warm, kind and distant.

'…to the place where I knew you would be waiting, right?'

'Waiting where?'

'To hurry…'

'Hurry where?'

'…to hurry back…'

His lips, chapped pale pink parted for what felt like the first time as he spoke. His voice came out rough like when waking first thing in the morning, cracking. "I…I…who am I?"

"Cedric? Are you awake?"

A boy's voice, no a man's voice a man who was supposed to be a boy, he was sure of it. It was familiar, a soft tenor drifting just as slightly as a cool spring breeze. Who was speaking to him? Who was Cedric?

"You are awake!" A head came into view hovering above his own startling him at the intense green blazing eyes opened widely and a bright white goofy smile adorning the tanned face. The mess of black hair, the green eyes and the smile…he knew this person.

"H-Harry Potter…right?"

Thick black brows knitted together, the frown didn't appear right on that face. Was it the wrong name he had asked? Was this person, this man angry now?

"That's my name…Cedric what's wrong?"

"Cedric…is that…my name?"

"You don't know who you are?" Harry asked. His head tilted slightly to the side in confusion. "Your name is Cedric Diggory you were...you were killed four years ago."

"Killed? I was dead?"

"Yes. Don't ask how you're back-I'm not sure myself." Harry said with a sigh. He sat beside Cedric's thighs far enough away not to invade the apparent dead returned to life boy lying beneath the sheets. "I was awakened suddenly ten nights ago to the sound of the rain feeling slightly excited for some reason. It was the first time in two years I felt like that I can only imagine it was because of you. I must have knew, somehow that I would see you, of course that's what it was."

"I was suddenly quite drawn to leaving the house to walk in the rain, I can assure you that I would, under normal circumstances never do such a thing however I felt the need no the urge to leave the house. Once outside in the rain I began my forced walk because surely it was forced. Under normal circumstances I would never leave this place unless I had to-so why would I suddenly leave in the dead of night in the rain?" Green eyes shut; Cedric noticed that Harry looked tired. The dark bags under his eyes seemed out of place, he knew they didn't belong there and felt a sense of guilt-it was his fault. "I walked to the beach, it isn't too far away from here, and walked along the shoreline staring out into the ocean. I would have never imagined that would enjoy living in China so much-Oh I know I'll take you to Qingdao the beach is just heavenly! Oh I seem to have run off a bit…urm anyway, as I was walking along the shoreline I came across a dark heap half in the ocean half lying on the shore-there was a certain sort of glow. When I neared it I came across you."

"You found me in a beach in China? Are we s-still in China?"

"Shandong province to be exact. Shinan district." Harry said with his goofy smile back in place. The bags beneath his big green eyes seemed to fade because of that smile making Cedric feel less guilty.

"Where are we from?"

"London. Well I am, I'm not too sure about you-we weren't incredibly close at Hoggwarts so I'm not too sure exactly where you are originally from. For all I know you may have been born in America." Harry laughed. "A riot that is."

"So you don't know…I don't know…no one knows? What about m-my family?" Cedric asked in eerie monotone, he wasn't too adept yet apparently in showing his emotions, he still felt a bit numb. Maybe it was an after effect from being dead that may or may not ware off. "Did I have siblings? A girlfriend? Boyfriend?"

"I don't know about your family too much. Your father worked for the ministry. I don't think you had any siblings. You had a girlfriend named Cho but I don't know how serious that was, there was so much going on during that time."

"Is she happy?"

Harry nodded, dark hair falling messily in his eyes. "Married with a son I think on the way."

"Good." He didn't feel anything, he couldn't remember her at all her face just as blank as his past but he knew he should at least feign relief for the girl. In all actuality he didn't really care. "My father how is he do you know?"

"He died last year."

"I see." He frowned, a crease forming on his pale brow. That he did feel, but it wasn't a bad feeling. He felt relived as though he knew his father was in some sort of better place in the darkness that Cedric could only slightly recall. Warm, quite and ethereal somehow encompassing him in a blanket of warmth like a warm snug embrace forever. "So there is nothing then? W-what can I do now?"

"You can stay here with me."

"I don't want t-to be a bother to you."

"You aren't, besides there is something that your father left me, surprisingly in his will that I think was meant for you?"

"Is there?" He sat up, a prickling feeling running down his back. "Wait, you said ten nights."

"Oh yes, well you were asleep for ten nights and well…" He left off his eyes dimming slightly and staring off recalling something possibly disturbing.

"What?"

"When I found you, you were slightly decomposed." Harry said his eyes now trained on Cedric's. "Y-your skin was slightly rotted and looked as though ready to fall from the bone in its decay. Your eyes were pale with a film glossing over them-you looked as though you may have been dead for only a few months rather then four years."

I-if I looked like a corpse then why did you bring me back here and lay my in what I assume to be your bed? Y-you weren't doing things to me were you?"

Horror stricken and slightly green Harry's sputtered with disgust.

"NO! I brought you back here because you were…you were breathing."

"Breathing? A breathing corpse?" Cedric asked incredulous. It was hard to believe but figuring that he had no recollection of his life and that he was previously dead he decided not to diminish the possibility of Harry's words.

"I was shocked when I found you, shocked further by your corpse. I was sure you had been buried somewhere far from where I was-though you were obviously in some stage of advanced deterioration I immediately recognized you. I was close to calling out to someone for help, to pretended that it wasn't you that I had found but someone who looked like you when suddenly the glow from earlier returned and you took a deep breath." Harry removed his round glasses and rubbed his tired eyes. "I decided to bring you here, which was no easy task either just touching you had me turning green and nauseated. No offense."

"None taken."

"You were shivering and alive but looked dead. So dead so rotted that I was half tempted to just bury you but each time I thought of it you would breath deeply and sigh and I couldn't do it. So I watched over you for ten nights and each night you'd look less decayed. Your eyes finally closed, your skin pale but not rotted and the flesh on your legs and arms didn't appear to drupe as though to fall from bone instead it became plump and firm."

Cedric stared bewildered, slightly embarrassed by the thought of this man staring at his bared legs and touching him-somehow he knew Harry had touched him to probably make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Ten nights it had taken him to regenerate, the only word to describe it, ten nights to become whole and alive. How on earth had that happened?

The flush on Harry's cheeks brought him from his morbid confusing thoughts. Pink across Harry's tanned cheeks, green eyes looking elsewhere proving that Cedric was right that Harry had to have touched his arms and legs-in fact Cedric could smell something like soap from himself. Harry must have bathed him as well. A wicked idea suddenly struck him. "If you were watching over me then that means you must have bathed me."

"Yes."

Cedric removed the comforter from himself, lying in all his very naked glory. He placed his arms behind his head and smiled, his eyes half lidded. Harry stared in shock, his blush intensifying. "Like what you see?"

Harry groaned and removed himself from the room-it was going to be a long day.

Sera: It got a bit funny at the end…I'm kind glad for it. Cedric isn't exactly gay just to tell you guys-he is an equal opportunity kind of man so the pairings may vary between male and female. Also he wasn't really hitting on Harry he was just teasing him since it was rather obvious that Harry thought Cedric was rather attractive and had touched him unintentionally in intimate ways. So it's safe to assume that yes, Harry is quite gay however whether he wants to be romantically linked with Cedric is still in the air. I'm not trying to rush any sort of romantic relationship early in the story since it probably has a long way to go and besides I may have Draco and Harry paired in this story if and when I decide to add him in.

What in the seven levels of hell is Harry doing in China? Well I didn't really add it in this chapter but basically he's trying to rid himself of his former life by moving as far away from it as possible-he doesn't do magic here and as stated he's a sort of hermit who doesn't leave his house if he doesn't have to. The fact that he had not called on anyone from the 'wizard-ing world' about Cedric's body further proves that he wants nothing to do with that former life of his-Cedric just showing up probably screwed it up but well you'll see. Also Harry is 19-making his age at Cedric's death four years prior to be 15 though that more then likely isn't the case in book canon. I'm no good with ages at all so the ages in this story will probably be out of wack. Cedric's appearance is mostly the same except he looks a bit older-though that may be due to the fact that he might appear more withered then before. No baby fat if he ever had any. So basically Harry is 19 and Cedric is stuck at 17 but is technically 21.

Sasuke: So read and review and don't flame. Also she only updates when she gets reviews. Which mean is there are no reviews then the story will not be continued at all.

Sera: Review!