See You Again

-𝕃𝕏𝕀𝕀𝕀-

For as long as there was life, there was Death. His duty is not one of malevolence or cruelty, it is the solemn responsibility of guiding souls from the realms of the living. A harmony between life and death interwoven into the very essence of creation. The balance he maintains is essential, for without the finite nature of life, the beauty of its moments would lose their meaning. So Death was careful with maintaining the balance as he roamed for what felt like an eternity. Surrounded by the echoes of his own footsteps and the darkness that shrouded him, he guided the souls to their rightful places. Death was an enigmatic and solitary being, the very essence of transition and transformation. But despite his solemn duty, a deep loneliness gnawed at his cold immortal heart. As the eons passed, Death witnessed countless lives bloom and fade, yet he was the constant witness. Never truly experiencing the companionship of other beings, or the warmth or connection that they held for a loved one. He felt detached from the realms he traversed, and the burden of his eternal duty weighed heavily on him. The concept of time became an insurmountable wall that separated him from the mortal beings he shepherded. They all feared him and tried their hardest to escape him, but no one ever tried to understand him or embrace him. No one ever accepted him, warmed him.

One day, while lingering amidst the celestial twilight, Death's loneliness reached its peak. He gazed upon a distant star, whose light flickered in the vast darkness. And an idea emerged like a faint glimmer in the void. He wondered if it was possible to create that connection that he yearned for by separating a part of himself. With immense determination and trepidation, Death focused his immense power and carefully ripped a piece of his soul. That small little piece beamed brightly down on his shroud of darkness and for the first time he felt a small spark of connection and his coldness thaw. But Death forgot something important. Balance. What he did would come at a price, and his little soul was ripped away from him. The warmth he felt faded and his coldness hardened once again, but he still felt that small spark of connection... His little soul was still alive, somewhere, and he needed to find it. He just didn't know how, until he met them. The Peverell brothers. Three brothers who were traveling along a lonely winding road where they drowned in a deep treacherous river. He was meant to claim their souls and guide them, however... he felt it. There was a warmth connected to them that reminded him of his little soul and he knew, he knew that it would be their bloodline that would lead him to it. So instead he returned their souls to their bodies and let them try again. When they awoke they had struggled their way back to safety and instead of trying to cross through the water again, they made a bridge with their magic.

As they crossed the bridge, Death revealed himself and cunningly pretended to congratulate them and awarded them of their own choosing. A wand, a stone and a cloak. Just like that the Deathly Hallows were born. They believed they had left with gifts but in truth they left with a means for him to find his little soul, for only it could ever claim all three and live. Right away he knew his soul wouldn't come from the eldest brother, for the wand fed off his greed and in return made the brother drunk with power. The brother wandered to a village and boasted of his wand gifted by Death himself, believing himself invincible. In doing so he enacted the price for claiming the Hallow that wasn't truly his. By morning, the eldest brother was dead and Death had claimed his soul, guiding him to his afterlife. His little soul wouldn't come from him.

The middle brother returned home, and the second he turned the stone thrice in hand, Death watched with curiosity. The girl who the middle brother had hoped to marry before her untimely death, appeared. Death found himself disappointed, as the middle brother too, took claim over the Hallow that wasn't truly his. Letting the stone feed off his greed as he summoned her back to the mortal world she no longer belonged and refused to let her go, despite her sadness and suffering of being there. The stone enacted its price and drove him mad with hopeless longing, making the middle brother take his own life. Leading Death to claim another brother's soul and narrowing down his search to the final brother. His little soul would surely come from the final brother's bloodline, and Death found himself hopeful.

He spent years searching for the final brother but never succeeded. It was then Death realized he once again had a price for what he had done. For he may have found a way to find his little soul's bloodline, to help her with the gifts... but what he had done, needed a balance, a price. The youngest brother never claimed the cloak as his own, meaning Death would have to suffer waiting, unable to find and watch over the bloodline. It was only as the youngest brother had reached a great age, that he shed the cloak and passed it down unto his son. To Death's surprise, the brother greeted Death not out of fear or wariness but with kindness, as one would greet an old friend. The tales of the Deathly Hallows grew, and so the Hallows passed from one to another but still Death had to suffer waiting...

He had felt it. The moment his little soul was born, and he had finally got his first glimpse of her. For she had saved her mother from death, with her magic the moment she was born. Death had tried to follow but, once again they were hidden from him. He searched and searched until that one night came, she had called to him and so he appeared. For the first time Death felt fear... for someone had harmed her, tried to kill her! And worst of all, left a parasite attached to her! The more he looked the more he feared. He gently held the blackened strings of fate that were attached to her, as they slowly began to fade away to nothingness. He recognized it from other souls he had claimed throughout the years, someone was changing people's paths. Someone was changing her path! Before his very eyes of darkness, a new brightly shining golden string materialized, showing a path of pain and suffering. He couldn't let that happen! So he tried to remove the parasite but found that he couldn't, something was preventing him from doing so. Instead he turned to her string of fate hoping to change it but just like with the parasite he couldn't. She opened her eyes and to his surprise he didn't fade away.

It wasn't long before he realized that a part of his price was to watch her suffer... unable to do anything to help. But he made sure to watch closely despite the suffering, for he promised to punish those who had dared to hurt her! It didn't take him long to figure out that the one behind changing people's path's was Albus Dumbledore. He watched as he played with peoples live as if they were pieces in some game of his own making. And the reason he escaped his price for doing such, was because of the very creature that was tethered to him. The phoenix. Dumbledore had found a way to attach his magical signature to the bird, so when it came time to pay for the price, the bird would burn and begin anew. And the price would be considered fulfilled. A clever trick that confused magic herself and angered Death to no end. A phoenix was one of Death's creatures and by forcing it to burn for him, was making the creature burn more than it needed causing it to endlessly suffer. But yet again, Death was unable to intervene... especially when Dumbledore played with Adhara's life.

The time came for when she had to walk to her death. The moment she was struck with the killing curse, her path was completed and Death's price was fulfilled. He felt sorry when he told her that she couldn't ever join her loved ones in the afterlife... but then she asked for a deal. To go back and change things, to save them. He didn't want to accept it. He felt they didn't deserve her! Especially after standing by as she suffered and how they let her down repeatedly, dumping the weight of their world on her shoulders! But she begged and pleaded, Death had found he didn't have the heart to say no to her... not after everything that he witnessed her go through. But the price... he'd have to wait all over again for her, but reluctantly he agreed. He made the deal and chose the lowest possible price he could, but then he knew - he knew what would happen so he had to add to it. Cover all the bases, for when she finished paying her price, she wouldn't have to do another one and the balance would remain... So that he could be with his little soul without having to wait any longer.