Tom jerks awake in a cold sweat, heart racing - feeling like its about to beat out of his chest, really. He doesn't remember most of that nightmare, bar that it was made even worse by how vivid and detailed it was - full color, sound, even feeling - but what he does remember clearly is bad enough.
Being stuck in a tent, nothing to do but read the same two dozen books over and over, play games of chess that inevitably get won by the red-headed boy, and have debates with the brown-haired girl. The fight the three of them had.
Your parents are dead! You have no family!
Oh, how he wants to tear that insipid fool apart with his bare hands, no magic or wand involved except to make it as excruciating and drawn-out as possible. Because the cold, empty feeling that filled him right then, that certainty that he was never really wanted to begin with…it cut him to the bone. Tore something to shreds inside him.
Or, Tom's mind supplies, inside her - that was far too vivid and realistic to be anything but a memory, a flashback of some kind. And its no memory of his, but he can take a real good guess of who's it was.
Evelynn's.
That feeling was just lying in wait, he can guess, for her to be cast off by one of her closest friends - Ronald Weasley, he thinks that was. Accusing her of not caring about the people she damn well saw as her family, saying he'd thought Dumbledore would've told her something useful, leaving when she needed him. It cements it in Tom's mind that she's just waiting for everyone around her now to leave to, to throw her away like everyone in her old life did. That she well and truly believes she'll always be alone in this world, no matter where or when she goes, simply because she doesn't know any other life and its been ingrained in her that nobody will ever care enough to stick around for her.
Your right, of course.
It takes everything Tom has in him, every ounce of self-control, willpower, and self-preservation instincts not to scream at the sound of the voice. A voice he's got no clue as to the origin of, not one idea whatsoever. Its in his head, and yet not, and he doesn't recognize it and its freaking him the FUCK out!
Hm, so twitchy. A bit like my Mistress, really.
Tom whirls around, beyond thankful right then that Slytherin Third Years and up each get their own rooms since the Dungeons are so big. It'd be nigh-on impossible to explain to the others why he's lighting up the entire room with the most powerful Lumos he can manage in his sleep-deprived state. Less thankful that he can't find any source of the unfamiliar voice, though.
You know, she had much the same reaction when we first met, although hers was much more…explosive. Comes from having survived a war and then having to go on the run yet again, I suppose. And, before you start thinking your insane, you're not. I'm just visiting for a quick chat.
Tom shakily sits on his bed, remembering the memory Evelynn showed him about how she met Death one Halloween - yes, he remembers her throwing curses like her life depended on it once more. Rather nasty ones, to boot.
Very good, you always were a smart one when whole.
"Death?" Tom glances around at the shadows, just waiting for the being he saw in Evelynn's memories to step out of them once more.
Indeed. Or Thanatos, if you wish. Your taking this much better than the revelation of my Mistress.
Tom promptly blushes at the reminder of just how he took learning Evelynn's immortal - Merlin, he's never fainted from anything before! He embarrassed the hell out of himself like that.
Not really, my Mistress did the same thing. And then was in an extended breakdown and existential crisis for a good while afterwards.
Alright that's good to- wait a minute. "Are you reading my thoughts?!" Despite the detail that its Death he's talking to, Tom can't quite stop the indignation rom leaking through to his voice.
I'm in your head, at the moment. I can hear your thoughts as you think them. Small difference, in the long run, but still.
Tom doesn't know whether he should be terrified or outraged that Death is currently in his head. One the one hand, its Death. On the other, the eternal being is in his head.
How about you ask why. That's where my Mistress ended up. Eventually.
"Alright, why are you in my head? And how?"
Another good one. The why is the easier one to answer, though. Although, in the end, it's the same answer. And it's because you're getting closer and closer to my Mistress, despite her best efforts.
"Her best efforts? What do you mean?"
My Mistress swore years ago that she'd never trust anyone else, not after the betrayal of her so-called friends. She trusted them with everything she was, thought of them as her family - what she imagined family was supposed to be like, anyway - and they turned on her at once when the war was over and hunted her down. She meant it when she said she has trust issues.
"I know, she told me." And even if she hadn't, it had been all-too apparent in those few memories he saw of after the war. She would only go into a town once she'd mastered the power of the Cloak, to ensure nobody could find her or any trace of her.
She did tell you, and showed you, but do you know? After all, she told you. She willingly gave you that information when you asked, didn't hold any of it back. While she hates being outright lied to, omitting small amounts of information is another matter entirely, be it to make things easier or to spare someone pain. So, why do you think she told you everything?
Tom frowns, seeing the being's point - why did she tell him everything? She could've just refused, or made something up to satisfy him. No, instead she told him her entire life story, the good and the bad. And the unbelievable. After a while, he says "She wanted to keep that future from happening." She wanted to scare him out of ever even considering making even a single Horcrux...right?
Mm, partially. She did indeed see the chance to change your path and took it. But, had that been her only motive, she could've just killed you and been done with it. You pointed it out yourself. No, instead that thought had never crossed her mind. She also could've just showed you your future, your fate, instead of hers.
Death's right, Tom knows he's right. He's been turning the question around in his head for a while now, as it happens. He wants to know why the immortal entity is right, though. Not being inclined to kill people, even if you've done it before, is one thing...but it never crossing one's mind when the potential corpse had done so much is another. And showing them everything is another once more, in a league all its own.
There's an amused chuckle that sounds in Tom's head, and he can imagine the being shaking his head at the same time. The answer, for once, is rather simple. The two of you are much alike, as your older counterpart in the Diary once said to her. Both orphans, Half-bloods, raised by Muggles. Even being Parselmouths. Despite everything, you've somehow managed to get close to her. Quite the amazing feat, all things considered.
Tom gets a few brief glimpses of what must be moments of Evelynn's past, between killing Voldemort and coming here - all of them tinged with despair, betrayal and loneliness that surpasses anything he's ever known before.
Her sitting in ruined manors, hiding in the basements or whatever equivalent there was so people wouldn't find her. Waiting for a solid two hours using the Invisibility Cloak's powers, watching as her former friends searched the manor she was in for any sign of her - too wary to move too much in case it tips Granger off somehow, too shocked at the revelation that they fully believed Dumbledore even when there was no evidence to back up his claims of her inevitably going Dark to think of much anything else, too hurt to even knock them out.
Nights spent in forests, climbing trees to have somewhere to sleep that wasn't the hard ground.
Learning magic and skills that were entirely new to her because it was that or give in to despair and she didn't want to start crying and never stop.
Watching from the shadow of a tree as Ronald Weasley curses her existence and her ability to disappear, while Granger consoles him with the knowledge that she can't run and hide forever.
The attack that sent her back - the betrayal that cut her to the core all over again at the spells they were flinging at her, despite everything they'd been through and all she gave for them.
Once the memories and emotions that aren't his fade, Tom quietly asks "Why? Why me?" After all he put her through, even if Dumbledore manipulated her entire life, why didn't she just stay away from him if she wasn't going to kill him? Why would she trust her former nemesis enough to fall asleep so easily each night when they were alone together? If their situations were reversed, he'd never have gotten a decent night's sleep again, too worried about Evelynn deciding to preempt the prophecy like she easily could've done for the future she grew up in.
An excellent series of questions, however telling you wouldn't work out so well. I will say this, though. You make my Mistress happier than she's been in a very long time. You give her something to hold onto, for however long you're in her life. Her thoughts, not mine.
Tom processes that then quietly asks "So…why did I see some of her memories?"
Clever, but I still won't tell you. All in good time, as you two have to figure it out on your own. At least, the first bit.
And then Tom feels something leave his mind as abruptly as it entered, leaving him with far too many questions and no answers. The first question being if Death is always so damn vague about everything.
He gets the uncomfortable, unfortunate feeling the answer is yes.
And then he thinks of another question - does Death just randomly pop into people's heads for kicks, or is something happening to him?! He'll have to ask Evelynn at some point - alone, though, he most certainly does not want people to think he's suddenly crazy. As he lays back on his bed, something Evelynn said to him the day after telling him everything goes through his head all on its own.
"I've always been alone, Tom. Its all I'll ever be, to, because its all I know how to be. I've got eternity to get used to the idea, to, just in case I haven't yet after a lifetime of betrayals and hatred at every turn already."
To live forever, but doing so in such a bleak manner…Tom didn't think anything could rob him of his desire to live forever, but the combination of what the Horcruxes did to him and Evelynn's own circumstances has certainly dampened it.
Evelynn would probably point out the detail that I'm a genius and say I'd have made a working theory at some point if I asked why she told me everything. Not that any sane person would think 'time-travelling Master of Death' if left to it on their own…
AN: Hey, everyone! Alright, the next chapter is here! I'm sure everyone can guess why Death was in Tom's head, and why he saw some of Evelynn's memories. Poor Tom, Death didn't exactly give a step-by-step instruction manual or anything. But, if it were up to Evelynn...she wouldn't have Bonded her soul to anyone, ever. Way too used to being betrayed, checking around the corner for an ambush and looking over her shoulder in case someone tries to stab her there again, etc.
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