The Mysterious Traveler

(2nd Version)

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Avatar: The Last Airbender!

Chapter Twenty-Three:

Let It Flow

Darkness filled his vision, a cloud of emptiness stretching on endlessly. His first thought was that his eyes were closed, but was proven wrong when he blinked, although he couldn't see. He moved his hand to his face, feeling the warmth of the contact between skin. Turning aimlessly, with no light to be seen, he felt panic begin to rise as his chest rose and fell, his breathing turning into panting.

Taking a moment to calm himself, he took a step forward as slowly as he could, fearing that he might begin to fall or get his footing wrong, only to let out a sigh of relief once he felt the flat surface beneath him. He did the same with the next foot, slowly built up the confidence to begin running, hoping to find a way out of the darkness. It wasn't long before he was sprinting across the unseen floor to find a way out of the empty abyss before him.

It never occurred to him how much stamina he had in how long he was running, lost in his fear of being trapped in a place like this. His heart beat rose, pumping against his chest as it rang in his ears, a reminder of the bells back at Hogwarts and a reminiscent of his life before he fell from the sky.

Within a blink of an eye, a brink light appeared in front of him, blinding him as he came to stop, nearly tripping in his sudden halt. Holding his hand in front of him to shield his eyesight, he tried to get a glimpse of the light, but was unable to. He reached for his wand, only to find that it wasn't there.

The light began to dim, allowing him to lower his hand and look directly at it.

Floating in the darkness, just a couple of feet away from him, was a glowing orb. An orb of white light as it lit up the abyss around him, like a beacon.

Narrowing his eyes to study it, he instantly recognized it and slowly approached it, remembering the last time he rushed to touch it. But this couldn't be the same one as before, it was supposed to be back at Hogwarts. His world. Unless…

His train of thought interrupted as the orb began to change from different colors at a rapid pace as he drew near, forcing him to stop in fear. And as he did, the orb settled on the color of red, creating a disturbing atmosphere around him. It reminded him of a scene from a movie he once saw, a space adventure that had a group of humans struggling to survive on a planet that orbited a red sun.

Conflicted, Severus made his decision to approach the orb, forcing himself through his fear of what will happen next. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he touched the surface of the red orb and felt a surge of energy flow through his spine.

A moment later, he slowly opened his eyes and found himself in the hallway of some house.

Looking towards where the orb was supposed to be, he found that it was no longer there and lowered his arm back to his side, turning his attention to his new surroundings. Only to quickly recognize that the hallway, and with that realization came a rush of fear that pierced his heart.

"I asked you a question!" a voice yelled, quickly making him turn. "Where have you been? And where is my son?"

The man stood in front of his mother, angry eyes that were under the spell of alcohol.

The woman struggled to answer, "I was out... running errands..."

His heart was beating against his chest as he remembered.

"Severus's... at the park."

The man mockingly laughed, "You think I don't know that you took money from wallet while I was asleep?! You went out and wasted my hard-earned cash, didn't you!"

"Tobias... I swear-"

The strike against her cheek made Severus cringe and look away as she shrieked in pain. He heard the door open and a pair of footsteps approach, the beer bottle shattering as the man fell to the ground and pleading of the woman as they all slowly realized what had transpired.

"My boy?! No, no, no! Not my boy!"

"Tobias, please! It wasn't him-"

"One- one of you?! My son is an abomination... a mistake... like... you?!"

"Tobias! It was me who shattered the bottle, not him! Severus can't perform magic like I can!"

"You...! You made him like this! The one normal thing in my life and you took that away! My son!"

"No! Tobias, don't touch him!" Eileen screamed. "SEVERUS, RUN!"

Without looking only made it worse as he heard the man grab the unseen boy and drag him to the living room, the blows that were being forced upon a child, the cries of an innocence dying before its time.

"So, you and this little shit think you can steal my money, destroy my beer and lie to me?! Well, let this be a warning!"

Frozen with fear in the hallway, Severus's body began to shake as his heart pounded in his chest, a growing sound that got louder with each strike and cry that came from the living room. And worse, he could feel the pain that the boy was experiencing, the impact of each punch that left their mark.

But unlike the boy, Severus never once cried out. He forced himself to endure it, to push his fear aside in his attempt to survive the ordeal. Just knowing that it would end was enough strength to do it.

However, his belief was met with a bittersweet result.

Laughter filled his ears as the pain suddenly vanished and a new kind took his place. He quickly opened his eyes to see where he was and felt a single second of enjoy seeing the hallways of Hogwarts, only for it to disappear as fear and anger took its place in remembrance of what he was witnessing now.

A young boy with greasy hair and old robes was struggling to pick up his books that had fallen onto the ground, while fighting off two other boys as they tried to hex him. And with every hex that hit him, Severus also felt. Including the hatred that burned in his heart for both boys and the fear of the humiliation he was suffering in front of everyone.

Just seeing the way how the two boys wore their enjoyment of the moment on their faces made both the boy and him glare at them in anger. They hated how their pleasure ruled them in their decision-making, like an intoxication.

A flash of red light blinded him for a second, quickly changing his surroundings from the hallways of Hogwarts to a beautiful landscape under a tree.

He saw a boy and a girl of red hair there, sitting together in the shade. Both were doing their school work, enjoying the peaceful moment without anyone in sight to ruin it. And like before, Severus could feel the boy's emotions. The way he stared at her made his own heartache, understanding the emotion that he was experiencing.

But there was also fear filling his heart. Fear of exposure and rejection. Memories of the man filled his head, including the boy. The fear of pain made the boy turn away, pushing all his emotions down as he focused on his schoolwork, while Severus looked on.

Another flash of red light appeared, and the scene changed back to the abyss of where he had started, with the orb floating just above him. Looking directly at it, he wanted to shout at it and unleash his anger but was refused the chance when three figures appeared from the darkness, floating off the ground as they came to a stop just below the orb.

Severus's eyes widened in surprise as he saw Tobias, James, and Lily standing in front of him, their eyes directly on him. He felt fear as each face held a different emotion; hatred, pleasure, and love. All for him.

His heart began to race with overwhelming fear, panting as he struggled to form a coherent thought on what to do.

Without warning, the bodies of Tobias, James and Lily evaporated into ash, with three new figures replacing them. Severus watched in awe and confusion as to the bodies of Aang, Katara and Sokka that were now standing there, staring at him with loving expressions. And that fear came rushing back.

He remembered the ruins of the Southern Air Temple and the terrifying graveyard of skeletons, the small desire to be part of the embrace that the three had at that moment. He remembered the oil rig prison for Earthbenders and how the Fire Nation treated those who they considered being mistakes in their own eyes, while Katara tried to strengthen their spirits by using him as an example. He remembered his time training under Jet in the attempt to gain better skills, alongside Sokka as his partner. He remembered how they took him in when they could have felt him to die in the snow of the South Pole.

With each memory, he felt an appreciation and a realization for each of them as his fear suddenly evaporated along with them, with the figures of Tobias, James and Lily reappearing, wearing the same expressions as before. But this time, the fear was nowhere to be found in his heart. Tobias's hatred no longer held any control over him, James's pleasure no longer angered him, and Lily's smile no longer made him want to turn away in shame.

In his moment of relief, he felt something tingling in his spine, like as if a bolt of electricity was flowing through him.

As their bodies evaporated, the red light from the orb changed to yellowish gold and a gravitational feeling urged Severus to approach it. Reluctantly doing so, he slowly reached out and placed his hand on the orb as he had before, and he felt the dark ground give way as he began to fall into the abyss.

"Did you feel that?"

The voice echoed through his ears like a dark tunnel.

"What do you mean?" a female asked.

Silence followed.

He felt himself slowly beginning to regain consciousness and choose to allow his body time to gather its strength before making any kind of movement. He started to remember what had happened in the woods after he had stupidly runoff. It was clear that he was now a prisoner to whoever had attacked him, but the question remained of who and why.

"Are you sure he is the one they speak of?" the female asked.

A male responded with a hum, "We won't know until he's awake."

"Was attacking him necessary?"

The man grunted, "I wasn't going to wait and find out."

The female laughed, "I'll bring my daughter once we've confirmed he is the man we've been searching for. Now if you'll excuse me, watching him sleep is rather contagious."

No one spoke again, leaving Severus to his thoughts as he wondered who these people were and whether if they were referring to his given false name. He wondered where Aang, Katara, and Sokka were and if they were out looking for him in the rain. Adding another reason to hate himself for running off.

As he began to wake up, his eyes opened and adjusted to the small candles around, quickly realizing he was in a hut. His arms were bounded behind his back and around a wooden pole that held the hunt together. A figure stuck out to him on the other side, a man in brown robes. His head was bowed, and his hands were placed together, meditating. It appeared he was asleep, but Severus knew better.

"You've awakened," the man looked up and stared into his eyes as he lowered his hands onto his knees. "I'll ask you just this one question. Are you the one they call the Mysterious Traveler?"

Severus stared back at him, "Yes."

"ALEX!" a voice echoed through the forest, making some bird-like animals take flight through the night sky as the clouds began to disperse after a long storm that had come through, allowing the moon shine down from above.

"Okay, what exactly happened, Katara?" Sokka demanded as he used his club to cut his way through the leaves and branches.

"It wasn't my fault… at least, not on purpose," Katara sighed, her eyes looking desperately into the darkness for her friend.

"Okay, but can you tell us what happened back there?" Aang asked.

The three of them had been searching the forest for nearly an hour after waiting out the storm to search for Severus, who they feared may have gotten lost. It took a while for the two boys to get any information out of her, who was not willing to share anything with Jet or the Freedom Fighters around. They had ultimately agreed to split up to search the forest, leaving the three of them as their own group while the others did the same.

"Uh, I don't know how, but… I was somehow in one of Alex's dreams…"

The two boys stopped and turned to look at her, their eyes wide.

"Wait… what?"

Katara sighed, "Look, I don't know how it was possible, but I witnessed something that Alex was dreaming about and the moment I told him what I saw, he just… freaked out."

"First waterbending and now dream-bending?" Sokka shook his head. "Remind me to sleep as far away from you as possible."

Katara snorted, "Like I would ever want to see what you dream about."

"Um, guys…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, so me refusing to see your messed-up dreams is now offensive to you?"

"Guys!"

Sokka's mouth dropped in shock, "I'll let you know that I have some of the most amazing Sokka-style dreams. And you aren't invited!"

"Does Suki have anything to do with-"

"GUYS!" Aang shouted as he prepared his staff in his hands.

Both Katara and Sokka turned in his direction and saw what he was referring to.

In the bushes were a pair of eyes staring at them, the rest of its form hidden in the darkness. But then it began to move forward, and a wolf-fox hybrid appeared, coming to a stop just a few feet away from them. It growled, forcing them to get into a fighting stance.

A small whistling sound was heard, and the animal stopped growling as it turned its head towards the source.

A man appeared from the bushes of where it came from, being followed by another.

"Uh, hi," Aang sheepishly waved. "We're sorry if we worried you guys. Our friend is lost and can't seem to find him. Name's Alex, but everyone else has been calling him the Mysterious Traveler. Have you seen him?"

The two men looked at each other, a silent exchange passing between them.

I'm getting excited with what will happen next.