Perhaps facing death had caused his soul to be washed anew for he could no longer feel the bonds that were once tethered to his soul. It was unlike in the world that was once his where many different threads had tied themselves to him and even after their death, he could still feel what once was beneath the agonizing pain of having them torn away.

It was different here. As though the bonds never were, his soul, although laden with grief from the memories that still haunted him, was unburdened by the toll of losing his Elements. There was a strange emptiness that took its place and he was not quite sure what was worse- no bonds at all or the feeling of having all his bonds ripped away.

He spent his years in hollow quiet. The orphanage had too many children in ratio to the number of caretakers to notice the young boy tucked in the corner with eyes too old for his small body. The children saw a boy too unnerving to play with and so, like the adults, let him be in silence.

Unlike what he had been taught to do, for the first five years of his life, he wallowed and grieved and mourned for the people he had lost. His family was probably rolling in their graves at the pitiful sight that he made up. It was almost enough to draw a laugh.

Almost.

What could he say? Tsunayoshi Sawada had always been nothing. His family made him something but with them gone...it's only natural for him to revert back into what he was before, right? Dame-Tsuna. The no good boy that no one was quite willing to help.

It took meeting a scrawny boy who had moved into the village for him to finally get his life together.

"A new family arrived at the village."

"I saw! The woman was breathtakingly beautiful."

"Her husband is a lucky man."

"But the poor boy. So young and already a face riddled with scars."

"I wonder what happened."

"You don't think he's being abused do you?"

"No way. I've met them and they are so utterly polite!"

He did not mean to eavesdrop on their conversation. It wasn't his fault their voices were so loud. He doubted they noticed him either and so, were a lot more lax in gossiping. The head caretaker had always been a bit fickle when it came to gossiping in front of the children.

"A scarred face, hmm?" he whispered under his breath, his eyes glazing over.

The sight of a towering man, face set in a permanent scowl and blazing red eyes came to his head. A man he had fought and fought and fought before finally gaining the complete respect of, ten years after they had first met. When he had welcomed him into his bond, there had been a feeling so right that had settled into his bones.

And there was a small desperation in his heart (his intuition, which carried on even in this life, warned him that it was not him) that perhaps the boy they spoke of was the very man who he had come to see as family.

So, for the first time in a long, long time, he stood and left the orphanage house with the intent to interact with someone. Gazes from the children followed him in quiet curiosity as he stepped into the blinding sun, warmth encasing his cold body.

He did not know where the boy lived but he chose to stroll through the village. There was a certain bustle and cheer that reminded him of the family that had gone before him. The noise was almost deafening in his ears because despite the cacophony of sounds, there were no familiar voices calling out. There was no one to scold or sigh exasperatedly at. There was no chaos to smile at fondly. No family to pull into the warmth of his Sky.

Pulling himself from his thoughts before he could be drowned in negativity, he straightened his back from the slouch that was forming. There were some things that never changed, regardless of how broken he was. His tutor had taught him to stand with his back straight even if every bone in his body was broken and even when his mind was being tortured to bits by a Mist only too happy to comply.

(As the years had dragged on, the male Mist had grown more and more reluctant to do so before refusing entirely.)

He had walked aimlessly for hours on end, having circled the entire village twice. It wasn't a large village. It rested on the outskirts of a forest, miles away from a more urban area. Those who moved to the village were little.

It wasn't long before he decided to listen in to the chattering of men, women, and children alike. He was not quite in the mood to speak to them outright but he had no doubts that he would come across someone speaking of the newest family in town. After all, such an event was a hot topic to talk about.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before he heard that the newest family, the Lupin family, owned a small home on the fringe of the village. It was an isolated home from the rest of the village but before the Lupin family had arrived, it was one of the only empty ones too.

Now, with destination in mind, he walked leisurely over. He wasn't quite sure what he would do when he got there. He just wanted to see the boy with the scars (It's not him, his hyper intuition hissed) and see if there was a semblance to the man from his memories.

Thankfully, the boy was sitting on a rock by the forest's edge, his face buried in a book and dressed in wool clothing too loose for his lanky frame. For quite a while, he watched the boy quietly, taking him in.

There was no way it was the man from his memories (whispers of I told you so echoed in the back of his mind). His presence was too small and just the fact that the boy had his head in a book was enough to differentiate them.

He took even steps towards the boy before giving a, "Hello."

Green eyes shot up and met sunset orange. They flicked around a little nervously before giving a small, "Hello."

Scars crossed the boy's face, some recently made, others a lot older. He noted how similar they looked to scratches from claws and wondered if the Lupin family had a temperamental cat. Brown hair messily sat upon his head. His entire body was weary and looked rather ill, a sharp contrast to what a young boy his age should look like.

He took a seat beside the rock on the lush grass. The boy with green eyes watched him warily, body tense, ready to run. Sunset eyes paused, assessing the boy and he was suddenly seeing boys forced to grow up, having been through anguish and pain much too young. He saw a boy scared of his own shadow with monsters lurking in the depths of his eyes. He saw a boy in need of a hand-

"What's your name?"

The scrawny boy hesitated before mumbling out, "Remus."

"Remus," he tested the name on his tongue before letting a smile slip on his face that he once believed he would never wear again. Sky flames that had rested dormant for far too long eased forward, brushing against Rain Flames.

-and so he stretched one hand out.

"My name is Ciel. Ciel Forrest."

Yeah, so KHR characters will not be taking the place of canon characters. I'm just going to make that clear. Honestly though, I haven't read the HP books in six years and I honestly don't remember much. So, y'know, excuse the subpar characterization. I'm thinking of rereading the books and maybe then I'll update but until then, I don't know, I probably won't update. Sorry.

Thanks for reading anyways!