The Veiled Vestiges - Last of His Kind

Disclaimer – This is a work of purely speculative fiction. It is not intended to infringe on any rights by and of the companies and/or individuals involved in the production of any series mentioned here. The characters involved are the intellectual property of their respective authors except for the ones that are listed as an OC, which are mine.

Author's Notes - 1. The earth continuity for this fic will be Earth-199999 which is where the events of Marvel cinematic universe occur. But there will be certain aspects that will be taken from Earth-616.

2. This story will be running alongside 'The Veiled Vestiges' which, admittedly, is well on its way to completion even if I haven't reviewed and posted most of it yet. Worry not, it is coming.

3. The pairings for this fic hasn't been decided yet but two arcs have already been planned and some of it has been written. Though the progression of this story will decide where I lean on when it comes to Harry's love interests.

4. As for priority, I will not say one way or the other before I have got a handle on a schedule that I can actually adhere to. But I will say this, there will never be any story written by me that will go unfinished. I hate dangling stories just as much as you readers do.

That is all. Enjoy the Chapter.

This is a different play on what could have happened when Harry attempted to go back in time to save his world from dying which is the premise of my ongoing story titled "The Veiled Vestiges". Thus the beginning will involve a similar set of circumstances like that one.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Burning…It had a distinctly different feel to it than anything he had ever felt before. The way his flesh sizzled and melted right before his eyes. The smell of it…his screams…his very life being lifted out of his body. He could feel every second of it. Could see it as if he was an outsider, watching his body being scorched asunder. It was almost easy at this point, despite the pain involved, to let go. The end would either bring him to the judgement of his cruel existence or would take him towards his only chance at redemption. A fifty-fifty gamble at most. One he was more than willing to make. He had known as much before going through with the insane and seemingly masochistic idea that had been the result of years of struggle. A last-ditch effort, as it were. Something only someone of his blood could carry through. His life had been painful enough; his death had no right to be anything but.

Had he been consciously aware of his musings, he would have shaken his head in mild amusement. As it was, the pain was a marvellous distraction. And a reminder. A reminder that he had failed in his duty and left the fate of his world, his people, on mere chance.

A circulatory logic if there ever was one. The fate of the world, dependent on his own.

A sudden pressure came from above and he felt his essence being pulled from his body and knew, it had to be done now. Just as the thought struck, a radiant white blur flew into him even as he felt his consciousness slipping from his body. He should have known that she wouldn't listen. She had told him as much when he had left her in the safe house. Hagrid had been right, after all, she would be by his side till the day he died.

His hand came forth and threw his boiling blood onto the runes carved on the stone below. They came alight with a fiery radiance, glowing ominously as the life-brew powered his last hope. A raspy breath left his lips and Harry James Potter spoke his last words in the burning world beneath.

"Redivivus Ignis Sacer".

-x-x-x-x-x-

A mind-shattering scream seemed to echo in the abyss as he felt himself being wrenched by an invisible force. A strange tug of war ensued between things at either end of him. He felt a forceful jerk and suddenly his essence veered towards another direction altogether. Time lost all meaning as the journey seemed to go on forever. Down and further down he went as if being pulled by some force he had no understanding of. It took some time to realise that the echoing scream he was hearing was coming from his own throat, not that it helped him any. He had no control over anything anymore. Nothing he could do or rather wished he could do seemed to change anything in this place. Minutes, hours, days, blended in together. Where was he? What was happening? Was this it? The afterlife. The great next adventure that the meddler seemed to prattle on and on about. Didn't seem like much, did it? At least the screams had stopped. Or was it just him? Wasn't he the one who had been screaming?

The black streams of nothingness touched him and backed away repeatedly as if in the rhythm of breathing of some gargantuan beast. There was nothing here but constantly flowing black miasma that he couldn't even touch. His body, if he could call the translucent blob that, was flowing through the stream along with a multitude of other things that he couldn't name nor understand.

A faint tinkling laugh echoed in his surrounding and a strange warmth spread through his being. A warmth that he hadn't even noticed that he needed. He liked the sound. He was sure it was someone he knew. Did he know anyone?

He gritted his teeth as a sudden shooting pain thrummed in his being. Crying out, he firmly closed his eyes and waited for the oblivion. A soft melody reached his ears even as the sounds of his life-past blew against his ears like the gentle gusts of wind.

"…blessed be this union which brings love together. Joining of hearts, minds and souls. A journey of love, friendship and respect. A hearth to call home. A love to call eternal. Do you take…"

"AHHHHHHHH…"

"…to be companions throughout life and beyond, to be the guides and partners in everything so forth?"

"ARGHHHHHH…"

"…I do."

"I do."

The words escaped his lips as soon as he realised what the vision had been about. Without warning, every single thing in his periphery turned bleached white, peevishly so. A pause and he felt the floor vanish again. He could feel himself falling. Could feel something akin to gravity take hold of his body and delivering it to its ultimate conclusion. He could see the floor below. His end. The concrete seemed far more intimidating at this height. As the floor reached near, the last of the voices he heard brought an unknown sense of peace with its final deliverance. A soft voice that soothed all his wounds.

"…Always."

-x-x-x-x-x-

"…Harry."

"…"

"…Harry."

A soft whispering voice broke his sleep as the brightness from the irritably white surroundings brought a sudden light to his vision. Thoughts, jumbled as they were bounded within his mind and a momentary realisation came that he wasn't falling anymore and possibly hadn't been for some time now. His eyes took a moment to adjust to the new scene, strangely vacant though it was. A second passed and he felt a fleeting touch on his shoulder which heaved him up on his feet with a single pull.

A single touch that brought him back to reality. Every scrambled thought became familiar and he remembered everything, his life, himself, his attempt at redemption. Everything.

"…Harry?"

He turned around to look back towards the persisting voice that weirdly, in spite of having heard again and again he couldn't quite concentrate on. But something gave way and he knew…he knew that voice. He had, in fact, heard it twice before in his life. Both times the reason for its presence had brought him more suffering than he could imagine. For her to be here…it did not bode well for the hair-brained scheme that he had just attempted.

"Wha…" was all that came out when he attempted to question her. A need for some water welled up in him and as ifthis strange world knew what he wanted, hefelt his parched throat moisten up from his need. Not one to question the weirdness of things anymore, he began another attempt at askance. "What happened?"

The being in front of him, the woman dressed in impeccable black robes sitting on a small raised dais, pulled her hood behind her head. A heart-shaped face adorned with the calmest expression he could ever imagine looked back at him with a kind yet strangely weary visage.

She was as she always had been, beautiful. He hadn't let himself acknowledge it the last time she had graced him with her presence but now…now when he couldn't for some reason muster up the resistance, he let that thought settle in. It didn't help that there had been a time when he had longed to touch her to get to her just so he could lay rest to his troubles and give in to that eternal sleep.

Death.

A personification or not, she was nothing if not deific. A being of such radiance, such intense power that he doubted there ever could be someone who could even come close to matching her in power.

She looked at him and despite the circumstances, despite her station, smiled warmly at his presence. Even now, when she knew that her next words would bring him nothing but pain, she attempted to capture his questioning visage. He was dear to her, mattered to her more than any in her long, very long existence. Even if she could not ever let him know this. Even if every single time they had met, she had taken something from him. She prepared to see the same disappointment that she had seen twice before. "You failed."

A short pause and suddenly darkness erupted the vast hall from every direction as soon as the words escaped her lips. A simple twitch of her finger was all it took to return it back to its previous state, but even then, she understood why it came to her to do this terrible task. To control a higher plane of a being such as her, even if fleetingly…Wizard or not, he was monstrous in his capabilities. 'Is it any wonder that he is the last one alive, no matter the circumstances involved in bringing about such a change.' Before she could turn her thoughts to him again, she felt something change within the air and a wave of such intensity passed through her that she felt her form pushed back a little.

Harry knew nothing of her internal musings nor of the burdened state that had been saddled onto her shoulders. For him, everything had stopped after hearing those two words. 'You failed.'

Failed.

His last hope at redeeming himself. His last chance at regaining what was lost to him. Gone. A sudden urge came and he gave in. He screamed and let loose the carefully crafted locks on his being. Nothing mattered anymore. Nothing.

A shockwave of pure magic left his being and travelled around him pulsatingly. The darkness returned with a vengeance and the place where nothing could exist was drenched in cold blue fire. A terrible amalgamation of scorching heat and bone-chilling coldness permeated the white palace jarring and rupturing the flowing black miasma from end to end.

She watched it all from her dais having flared her own power a little to remain stationary in the presence of the raw force that the wizard was pouring out. She did not take offence. She couldn't really. Not when she knew what the two words meant for the man in front of her. That he was capable of bringing life to a place where nothing could exist, wasn't surprising to her in the least. After all, it was the reason that she had wrenched his essence towards her from being eviscerated in the time stream as the others intended. He was the one, the only one who could bring about the change that the creations needed.

The last of his kind.

She couldn't tell how long it took for the eerie blue flames to begin flickering. Time held no meaning in her presence nor in the palace that she called her own. She was intransient. She was and she will be. The one being that the creator couldn't unmake. All it took was a wave of her hand and the flames, as impressive as their birth was in her presence, died away instantly, bathing the world back to its unremarkable state.

Harry looked on past her lost in his grief not even registering the change in environ. He would never see her again. He would never know the joy of being a father to her son, would never be able to call her name and see her brown eyes shine with the love she had for him. The last hope, the last gamble that he had played with his very soul, failed. Yet, somewhere deep down, a place that remained untouched by the raw emotions that were playing within him, he knew, it couldn't have happened solely on its own. He had safeguarded its conception from everyone, had taken a vow of silence from the only being who knew of it. The very being that stood before him. A fury unbridled sparked within him again and he lifted his head and with a hollow voice asked, "Who?"

She knew what he meant and knowing that the answer would not please him even a little, gave the answer still. "The only one who had the power to stop you. The one who created us both."

A look of confusion and agony contorted his face into an ugly grimace and he whispered. "W…Why?"

"Why else? Because he could. Because he wished it to be so. His whims and his reasons are aplenty, Harry. You know this. I told you what you were attempting would bring his attention. No one can play with his toys as he can." She spat the word as if they sulled her tongue.

Harry closed his eyes hearing her answer. He hadn't really thought it would come to this. Deep within himself he knew, felt it in his bones that he, the one who birthed them all would want nothing more but to help them, would only want his progeny to flourish. That the burnt and hollow world that was left of his creation could be redeemed and brought back to its former glory. But now, hearing her words, he understood. His faith had been foolish in the extreme. Even if it had been years since he had allowed himself to believe in something with such determination, this one had slipped past his defences, had eroded all common sense from his actions all because it gave him one thing that he hadn't had for a very long time. Hope. Hope that he could save his people. Hope that he could see her again and give her the life she deserved. Hope that even he could live a life without pain and suffering.

Hope, that his world needed him to have.

A world left of nothing but husks of past that had been left after continued wars between one another. Wizards bleeding wizards. The sickness created by Voldemort and his forces. The eradication of all who opposed him with extreme prejudice. Their secret out in the open. The unveiling of wizardkind to the whole wide world. The persecutions. The unending wars. Families torn apart. Fields getting marred by the blood of innocent. And then…after years of struggle, a single event. Destroying any and all that stood between the ambitions of a monster whom he had failed to slay when it mattered. The end of his world, the end of billions of souls… on his shoulders.

He had thought he could save them all. Had had the audacity to believe that he could go against the order and set things right. That he could bring her back.

His wife. Hermione Granger.

Her brown eyes shining with intelligence. Her tangled locks between his fingers. Her soft touch. Her ability to cheer him up even in the direst of circumstances. Tears, hot and fiery flowed from his eyes as he remembered his beloved.

Lost as he was in his grief, he didn't notice Death leaving her Dais for the first time until she was crouching beside him, looking at him with a sympathy that he knew was genuine.

None better than she knew the loss of such proportions. None better than she knew how visceral the pain was when everything they cherished was taken away from you on whims of a higher being. He gave in then and when she embraced him as he lost himself in his grief, sobbing and crying out for those he knew, he would never see again.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Death's realm. A place of infinite possibilities and no possibilities at all. A place of eternal rest for the souls that came through its door. A place where time loses all meaning.

It had been millennia…uncountable millennia since she had brought him to her realm. Millennia since his world and even his universe had ceased to exist. Millennia that she had spent on her lonesome despite having someone with her for the first time since she could remember. Millennia since she had heard his voice. All because she had refused to do as he asked, had refused to even answer him when he asked the reason for her denial.

How could she tell him that after all his deeds, after all his sacrifice, she could not erase his existence like he did not matter to her at all? How could she tell him that she could not repay the kindness that he had shown her by eradicating his soul?

Seeing him resting in front of her reminded her of the last time she had heard him speak to her. A day she hadn't let herself forget for all this time. For it had been the only thing that stayed her hand whenever she thought of waking him from his unrestful sleep. She knew he did not know of the passage of time. She knew he could feel nothing as he was. But it did nothing to stop her from picturing his anguish filled face when he had looked at her last.

(flashback)

His eyes opened slowly and he found himself lying in the same place he had been when he had again lost the battle with his emotions and given himself to the tender mercies of his hostess, just like he had done so many times before. There could be a multitude of emotions that he knew he should be feeling, anger, disappointment, fear, sadness, but at the moment all he felt was numb. It was as if he finally understood that nothing he did would matter now. That nothing would change the reason for his despair.

It was as if he was mocking him further when his numbness subsided and gave way to something else.

Guilt was a powerful emotion. Harry knew it intimately. Knew it as well as anybody could. So, when faced with the reality of things, there was nothing else to do but drown in it. He knew this too. But the guilt here was overpowered with his need to know the complete truth from the one who held some answer. It was as if he let himself accept the truth, it would suddenly be real. He didn't think he could ever allow himself to feel it. Knowing that despite his apparent vacant surroundings, he was never alone, he attempted to gain answers from her once again. "You told me that he cannot intervene himself directly with the state of things when his creations are concerned. It could not have been him. Tell me the truth."

When no answer came from her, he shot to his feet and let his anger get the better of him. "YOU OWE ME THAT MUCH."

A sudden gale forced him back on the floor and a sudden pull from below made him unable to move an inch. "I owe you, wizard, it is true. But do not let your grief blind you to the fact that you are within my domain. I am willing to forgo many things between us but be sure that it is you who asks these petulant queries and not your grief or guilt. Do you think your universe is the first to be destroyed? Do you think it is the first time that the creator has let his whims change the course of worlds?"

When she saw him scowl at her, she let her anger subside. The pain in the wizard was raw still. For a being such as him who loved with such passion and from his very core, it would take nigh on centuries to get past this loss, if he ever did. For the time being, she decided to answer his questions, if only to let him feel something else other than the guilt he was undoubtedly feeling now. "You know the answer to that, Harry."

Fury akin to an erupting volcano came from within his chest as his suspicions were confirmed. "Fate," he growled. "She did this? HER?" He asked, the anger in his voice quite visible by the end.

"You dared to challenge a god, Harry," she said, her voice soft but firm. "You dared. You did something that shouldn't have been possible for a mere mortal. You deceived her. Fate asked for justice. She received her due. It did not matter that he wanted the same thing. He simply gave her a chance. A chance to take something that you cherished most as you took from her. And here you are, standing before me, years after your world brunt to ashes. Noble causes do not usually beget noble ends."

"I STOPPED HER FROM KILLING MILLIONS OF SOULS BEFORE THEIR TIME," he shouted at her.

"It was her weave, Harry. It was her task in life. The one thing that she prized the most. You shook it apart and made the world anew. You took that from her when you killed the monster that she had written would kill you. To her, it was only fair that she returned the favour." Death explained, even as the words left a foul taste in her mouth.

"She got what she wanted, didn't she? There…there's nothing left. They are gone. All of them." The darkness came around the palace as it ever did when he felt overwhelming sadness and this time Death did nothing to stop it.

She looked at him with the same pitying eyes as she had countless times before. There wasn't a single sight that could compare to the painful visage that she saw in his face as it continued to drip salty tears of anguish and pain. Even so, she knew, she had to do the unthinkable. Again. She had to make him believe. Had to give him the one thing that could bring the salvation of the universe that had begun anew. Hope. "There is never nothing, Harry. Despite hiswhims, creations have always had a way of balancing themselves. An end doesn't necessarily mean an end. It is always…always a new beginning."

She paused and waved her hand. A view of what his world used to be shimmered into existence. The images flickered between random people moving about smiling going about their work, spending laughing times with their loved ones. He saw his family before they had been taken from him. His mother, her fiery red hair and bright green eyes sparkling with intelligence and warmth as she looked at him lovingly. His father with his mischievous smirk as he played around with the cat trying to bring a smile to his face. His godfather transforming into a shaggy large dog carrying him around on his back. He saw them all. And just when he thought it would end. He saw her. His wife. His beautiful, brilliant wife looking at him with such love that he felt his fingers touch the shimmering view with shaky fingers.

She saw him reach out to touch the image of his beloved and sadness crept in her heart. "Your mother was right, you know. Your loved ones never leave you, Harry." She cupped his face with her cold fingers and looked him in the eyes. "Never."

"I can bring them back?" he whispered, hope blooming into his eyes again, asking her that one question that he had asked countless times.

"I cannot bargain, Harry. You know this," she replied, her usual reluctance plain for him to see. "And even if I could, their souls have left the cycle after all these years. I couldn't even if I tried, which I cannot, bring them back to you as you knew them. Creation, as you know, isn't in my purview." she chided, shaking her head. She knew there was a thin line between what she wished to impart to him and what he was hoping she would do. He meant more to her than he could ever know, but her hands were tied. She was bound now more than she had ever been before, ever since he had freed her from her chains.

"THEN WHY?" he wrenched out of her grip. "WHY…why torture me with this? Why show me everything over and over again just to realise it was all a dream? WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS? WHY NOT ERASE MY PITIFUL EXISTENCE?" he asked. His green eyes boring into her onyx ones.

He looked at her beseechingly and when she didn't respond shook his head and left to wander off in the limitless expanse that was her realm.

(flashback)

It had been the last day she had seen him with wakefulness. Such was the control of his magic, even in her domain, that he had willed it within himself to keep him in a state of a dreamless slumber. And she had, despite her own overwhelming urge, respected his decision to shut himself off from the world.

Her will had remained strong for far more than she thought it ought to have been. Time as was its wont passed without her askance. He continued to create and destroy and she…she did what she existed for. She brought an end to those he left. She brought them peace the only way she knew how.

And then…something strange happened.

The creator overreached.

He created another world, another universe from his very essence. Foolishness she had never thought him capable of even with his hubris.

He created six singularities. Then the universe exploded into existence, and the remnants of this system were forged into concentrated ingots... Ingots of his own powers.

And soon as it existed, he knew what he had done. He knew his mistake. For now that he had created something from within, he could not destroy it as he had done with countless creations in the past. Not if he wished to diminish his own power, his very being.

If she were stupid enough to believe in such a thing, she would have given thanks to the being that had called herself Fate before the creator had destroyed her with the same compassion as he showed his other creations. But this turn of events. This posed an opportunity that she could not let it pass by. She had told Harry once, things had a way of balancing themselves. If this was not it, then she did not know what could be. They would need to act soon and they would be ready.

But this universe was still in its infancy. And there was no doubt in her mind that the creator would have realised his mistake and would be, even now, trying to salvage what he could and plan for things he couldn't. He was nothing if not crafty. And when it had to do with his power, it belayed understanding what lengths he would go to safeguard what was his.

It didn't matter now. Dice had been cast already. She could wait. But soon enough she would have to wake him. There were none whom she could entrust this with. She may not have been able to return him to his loved ones, but she could give him something that he desired with the same passion…

His vengeance.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Sounds of cataclysmic explosions, roars of angry denizens and chaos all around echoing in his periphery were the first things he heard as his consciousness returned. He could tell from his surroundings that something had changed. He could feel the difference in his skin as the air? touched him.

He hadn't thought that she would do this. He had thought that she respected him enough to abide by his decision. Apparently not.

And speaking of, after years and years of living with her, he knew that he had gained an uncanny ability to sense her presence, but with the way his surroundings had changed, even this he wasn't certain he was capable enough to do. All he saw around him were various shimmering images of unbridled rage and gore of war as the scent of blood permeated around him. The realisation surprised him somewhat.

'I have never been able to sense anything within these images before. Not even when I attempted to touch the scenes. Why is this time any different?'

As soon as that thought registered in his mind, images of times past when he had tried and failed to feel his beloved through the shimmering visions flashed in front of his eyes. His pain, his longing, after all these years, it was still there. Simmering just below the surface.

He shook his head to focus on the difference in his surroundings. As much as he loathed to admit it, he knew, even if it was her lack of respect for his decision, she would not have woken him up on a whim. Everything she did, everything she had done to him, for him, had a reason behind it. But it was taxing his nerves to not just call her out on it.

Gathering what patience he had left for her, he let his senses wander around to let her know of his conscious state as if she already did not know everything that happened in her domain.

A couple of seconds passed before he felt her presence coming from behind him where a second before nothing had existed.

"I hope the slumber was satisfactory." Despite her control, despite everything she knew about the reason he had cut himself off from everything, there was a bite to her tone that she couldn't suppress. She had long since been used to her loneliness but his presence had given her something that someone like herself should never have been exposed to. A taste of companionship. And when after mere years of that, when he had let his magic shut him off, she had been disappointed to learn that she had developed a habit of looking forward to his presence. A habit that had taken her millennia to break. A feeling that had come back with a vengeance when she saw him looking at her with those rigid emerald orbs.

Harry didn't let himself be goaded into what he thought was another attempt at making him realise some bullshit about how things that happened, happened for a reason spiel. When he opened his mouth, it was for a simple cold truth. "Why?"

She suppressed the fury that one word from him brought within her. After all these years, after all this time, even if for him it had been nothing but a scant few moments, for her it had been the difference between the creation and destruction of several universes, he was still cold to her as he had been the last time they spoke. She decided to focus on the matter at hand rather than giving in to those seemingly human emotions. "Something has changed. I..."

"I can tell," he interrupted her, "...there is more...life in this place than before. Even if the life before was of your own making. Tired of ferrying souls, are you? Contemplating life?" He asked ignoring the feeling of something...something different tingling the back of his brain.

Her eyes widened slightly as she heard him. "You can feel the difference?" she asked.

"Do not attempt to change the subject, Death. You were never good at it. Answer my question. Why did you wake me?"

She pursed her lips at that. "As I said, something has changed. He has done something extremely foolish. It goes beyond his need for destruction and creation. He has overreached with his current attempt for creation."

He looked at her uncaringly. "Nothing has changed for me, Death. My world, my people, my...my family is still gone. I cannot join them," he paused. "Or are you saying that I can?" he asked, his uncaring voice hiding behind in it a sliver of hope he had never been able to let go.

She shook her head minutely and he didn't let his disappointment show on his face. "See. Nothing has changed. There is nothing left for me here Death. I cannot live. I cannot even die. Saving you made sure of that. I am an aberration that has no solution. You know this. You told me this." Harry said turning around and heading away from her to go find another place for his unrestful slumber.

"You can stop him!" she shouted at him with such force that he stopped in his tracks. She saw him pause in his step and continued. "He undid his essence and poured it into his new creation, Harry! He literally split his powers and created the new universe! For the first time since his existence, he is vulnerable. I cannot, even with everything I am, give you what you desire the most. But there is something that I can give you..." she paused as she saw him turn around to look at her with a steely expression that she had only seen once before. "A chance to stop him and possibly snatch his power from him."

He glared at her for what felt like an eternity before he moved with such ferocity, that even she couldn't comprehend how he had travelled the distance between them with such ease. "You are not lying," he half stated half asked.

She looked him in the eyes and responded with the most sincere truth. "No."

"And this isn't another attempt at making me realise some cosmic truth about acceptance."

"No."

She waited for him to speak with bated breath. This man, he held within his grasp the future of the continuum. She knew she could task this with her many heralds still among the living, but they would not ever be half as capable as he could be. Especially when it involved avenging his kind and loved ones. The words she had waited to hear for so long, the words that would change the future of so many worlds in this universe left his lips as he looked at her with determination.

"Tell me everything."

-x-x-x-x-x-

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