A/N: Thank you for all the love! There isn't a posting schedule, this is just something that i update from time to time.

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Tea Lights and Autumn Leaves: Chapter 2 - Lifetime #12


Remus awoke with a jolt.

Gasping in panic, he blindly scrabbled for a hand hold thinking for a moment that he had fallen from his perch in his sleep. His calloused fingertips found the ropes securing his legs to the thick branch, causing his shoulders to slump in relief. Shallow breaths of air tasted of stale wood smoke and chilled his lungs.

He took a few minutes to sift through his memories, keeping his eyelids closed as he tried to separate memories from this present lifetime from all his other past lives. Remus had a pounding headache which threatened to split his mind open. He really didn't want to deal with it right now. He gently bumped his skull against the tree trunk, thinking it might be best to distribute the pain some how.

As his breathing slowed and his heart found its steady rhythm again, he squinted around in the soft sun rise trying to make sense of this lifetime. Remus had died, again and always woke up feeling as if he was falling. It wasn't weightlessness or the rush of the wind whipping past his ears as he rode a broom. It felt like a rug was suddenly pulled from beneath his feet, tripping him up, making him feel unbalanced.

Remus clutched his patched backpack to his chest, being careful to not injure himself on the double bladed axe strapped to the bag. This bag was important, he felt it. He wished he had hours to sift through his memories, but in the back of his mind Remus knew his time was limited this morning. He just couldn't remember why.

"Are you awake, Moony?" a quiet voice floated up.

Remus scrunched his eyes shut, briefly pressing his fingers into the sockets. In Remus' last lifetime, he and Sirius had a petty row which ended in disappointment for both men. Remus died before they worked it out. He was glad to see his friend again.

"Yeah, I'm awake." Remus replied.

"Better get going then, and make use of the daylight. Sun's almost up." Sirius was already untying his own knotted rope.

"Right,"

Working to untie his ropes, Remus used the time to continue sifting through his memories. He didn't want to start his first day in this new lifetime blind. It's happened before of course, but living someone else's life… his life? Made him nervous. So much was unknown to him until he could find his bearings.

Remus looped the rope and tied it together neatly, then rummaged in his bag for some clues that would tell him more about his life. Finding a carabiner, he clipped the rope to the outside of his bag. Snacks, matches, nail polish, bandages, filled water bottles, mismatched pens, a notebook, two novels with a number of missing pages, extra clothes that smelled worse than they looked, a thin blanket a bar of soap and cache of bullets. A hand gun.

His decidedly muggle life, it seemed.

During the second wave of panic, Remus found his wand nestled inside the breast pocket of his jacket. Thank Merlin.

Remus slid his arms through the straps, the lumpy bag felt both familiar and foreign against the lines of his back. He was filled with trepidation, unsure if he wanted to find Hermione in this lifetime. Not after reviewing his inventory. Not when he didn't know where his place was in her life.

"You're slower than a flobberworm this morning." Sirius' voice floated up from the forest floor.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." he growled.

Sirius looked the same but different. His dark hair reached his shoulders, tied up in a half pony tail. Sometimes his skin was decorated with tattoos from his prison stay or personal desire, but this lifetime wasn't one of those times. Both men were dressed similar, ratty denims, jumper, boots, and an overcoat, so Remus couldn't exactly see but it was one of the things he knew. Without knowing. His mind would separate the memories, but it was a slow process and after more than ten lifetimes, he was turning into an impatient man.

"Let's get going. Maybe we find a stream close by." Sirius hiked his pack up higher on his shoulders, nearly bumping his head on the blunt side of his axe. "I don't know about you Moony, but I could do with a proper wash."

They walked a bit, following the slight sloping lines of the forest. With the sun's rays warming the left side of his face, Remus hoped this lifetime was not as dangerous as it appeared to be.