Guest reviewer Isali: I despise genderbending stories, so you're never going to get what you want from me. Sometimes, the only way to get the story you want to read is by writing it yourself. Think about that. Or go bother someone who's actually written genderbend stories before.

Anyway. Wow. Total demotivation. This story is… shwoom. Brain dead. I dunno. I'm going to finish it, don't worry, so I guess I'm glad this was never intended to be a particularly long story. Just, the quality might be lacking.

I've cut what I'd intended for this chapter in half, because it was fighting against me a lot, and I wanted to have something to upload.

Chapter Eight – Pathways to Immortality, Part One:

Harrison tugged at his hair and adjusted his glasses. This whole thing had become a right mess in nearly no time at all.

He glanced behind them, squinting as though he could see through the dense layers of trees to the castle.

"We'd have needed to test the tracker anyway, but we can't do it here. Not on castle grounds. Dumbledore will know it was us, and he'll come after us. We have to be away from here." Harrison walked over to the enclosure, coaxing some of the thestrals over to the fence. They were beautiful creatures, walking such a thin line between life and death. Over their two months at the castle Harrison had spent long hours watching them, but now was no time for sentiment.

"I am not getting on one of those." Sebastian sneered, disdain clear. He kept several feet back, torn between the need for haste and a personal need for decorum. "Where are you headed? I'll meet you there."

"Fine, fine, we don't have time for this. Undertaker." Harrison gestured pointedly at one of the thestrals, and Undertaker obliged the demand with a flourish and a mocking bow. "Three miles that way, past the village and out of sight."

"Alright then."

Sebastian vanished, demonic reflexes kicking into gear as he sped off towards their meeting place.

"Show off," Harrison muttered. He leapt the fence and approached one of the thestrals, rubbing his hand down its skeletal neck.

Undertaker was already mounted. For once he was wasting no time dawdling. Harrison quickly followed suit, not to be outdone by the man he was in charge of.

This was serious business now. Even more than the original go at Riddle, barely half an hour past. It was go time.

oOoOo

It barely took any time at all to arrive at the clearing Harrison had indicated, flying through the sky on their skeletal steeds. Sebastian was, predictably, awaiting them when they landed. There was no beating the speed of a demon.

They landed to more looks of barely veiled disdain, and dismounted without a fuss, allowing the thestrals to fly back towards the Forbidden Forest. Keeping them would have been nice, but Harrison knew better than to try and keep something that belonged to those wizards. Especially at a time like this. It would draw too much attention. Not the best way to enact an investigation.

Sebastian tapped his foot in clear agitation. Harrison was well aware that the demon despised having to ask for help, especially from Shinigami. Add in all the rest of the factors this time around, and it was no wonder Sebastian was so on edge.

"Okay then." Harrison took a deep breath, and rolled his shoulders. "I guess it's time to test this tracker."

Undertaker produced two smooth, black stones, and took off Voldemort's jar, enlarging it slightly. Harrison took the base of the jar and cupped it in his hands, maintaining a connection with the soul they were using to track. Inside the jar, Voldemort's soul was oddly docile, a cloudy haze filling the bottom half.

"Do you know what to do?"

"Close my eyes and hope it works?"

Sebastian clenched his jaw, clearly unpleased. Undertaker chuckled, shrugging his shoulders helplessly and positioning the stones within his grasp.

"Or hope your head doesn't explode. Untested, right?"

Harrison, who had been preparing to close his eyes, glared sharply at Undertaker. That sort of thing would kill him, Shinigami or no, and he hadn't even considered the possibility until just then.

"It won't," he retorted, trying to make his mild confidence in Admin sound like absolute certainty. His fingers tightened their grip on the glass, and he closed his eyes. Two deep breaths followed, before he nodded, planting his feet more firmly on the grass.

Undertaker stepped forward, and placed the stones against the jar, one on either side, directly across from one another. An almost magnetic force immediately gripped them in place, a tension beneath Undertaker's fingertips. Voldemort's soul glowed russet, swirling and raging, trapped between the foreign energies. The stones themselves glowed bright white, with a blinding intensity.

Harrison's body froze, his arms rigid, fingers pale against the jar. Sebastian could see nothing, but to Undertaker, that white light was also leaking from beneath Harrison's closed eyelids.

Harrison groaned, head spinning as he was tugged in five directions at once. That blasted tracker that those R&D nuts in the Admin Division whipped together was awful. He'd been hoping for some sort of mapping mechanism, something visible, not this godforsaken draw. It was like a freaking divining rod, like following a rope through thick fog. He couldn't see where he was going, but even worse, he didn't know where he was meant to go to.

His heart beat raggedly, painfully, in his chest. His knees quivered. His brain could barely process past Five and different places. Everything hurt.

Undertaker pulled the stones apart immediately, the violent glow receding until they appeared as nothing more than smooth onyx once more. The tugging sensations took a while longer to fade away. Once the jar was taken from him, Harrison held a hand to his head, trying to decipher them as the intensity dulled.

The strongest ran behind him, back in the direction of the school. It clanged loudly in his head, clamouring for attention, shaking and screaming. Instinctively, Harrison knew that meant it was close. He'd even wager, given his horrid luck, that it was back in the castle. Just where he couldn't go. Not now.

"This isn't going to work," Harrison conceded. He dutifully ignored the barely refrained impatience Sebastian was constantly emitting. "I can't do this without a map. I need to go back to HQ and get help from Management."

"To use the soul map?"

"That's the plan."

Sebastian cleared his throat, eyes glowing red as he glared at them.

"Is this necessary? You're wasting time."

Harrison gestured for Undertaker to hand him the stones and Voldemort's jar.

"Listen. Riddle over here might be a pretty nasty guy, but do you know what he is? A gloater. So I believe him when he says Ciel is with some of his minions. And if they're some of his most trusted minions, they also may have been, unknowingly, entrusted with a piece of this guy's soul. So tracking them down will give us five definite locations to search. And the sooner I discern those locations, the sooner we can investigate them."

Sebastian's lips tightened around his fanged teeth. He was not happy, and it showed.

"With haste, then. Time is of the essence."

Harrison shuddered, echoing an agreement. Ciel was unable to die, but being killed and brought back to life? That was horrendously painful. The only reason Ciel wasn't on the Shinigami's black list like Riddle was that this immortality shtick hadn't been through his own doing.

"I'll be back as soon as possible. Hopefully my 'do whatever it takes to collect his soul' clearance includes misuse of the soul map."

Harrison tucked everything into his pockets, keeping the stones separate.

Shinigami headquarters didn't exist anywhere in particular. It was everywhere and nowhere. It resided on a different plane of existence. One that could only be accessed by certain beings. Sebastian could go there, if he truly wanted to, but he'd be detained immediately.

Harrison reached out with his scythe, touching the blade to a certain point in the air in front of him. Harrison liked visualising the tear in reality when he moved from place to place. It helped him concentrate. He ran the blade down in a straight line, envisioning the world splitting in its wake. The air shimmered, the straight line from his scythe hazing and spreading out. The world beyond that point disappeared, blocked from supernatural sight by the appearance of a grandiose set of double doors.

Harrison entered the grand doors without hesitation, leaving behind the bleary Scottish countryside for the cavernous halls of Shinigami HQ, the United Kingdom Branch.

No one gave his entrance a second glance. Shinigami came and went in that manner all the time – it was the fastest and most convenient way back to HQ. Harrison stayed put for several long moments, soaking in the hustle and bustle of the place he mostly called home.

As Undertaker had guessed, Harrison was off to attempt to access the Soul Map. It was what Personnel and Management used to sort out where Dispatch members should be sent out, and what they should be on the lookout for. Generally speaking, they were also the only Shinigami allowed to view the map. Harrison was hoping to be the exception.

He sauntered over to the counter, baring his scarred forearms and loosening his shirt-collar as he went. Behind the counter was a rather stern looking lady, one Harrison didn't recognise (there were lots of Shinigami he didn't recognise – he didn't even know everyone else in Dispatch), but he didn't let that deter him.

Harrison rested both elbows on the edge of the counter, and sat his chin atop folded hands. The woman gave him a bland stare. He didn't let it discourage him.

"There's absolutely no chance I'd be allowed in to see the Soul Map is there." Harrison didn't even phrase it as a question. He left it as a statement, uttered with a tired smile. Asking to go inside was the fastest way to be denied.

"You would be correct," she confirmed, a frown pinching her lips.

Harrison waved away any questions she might have with a lazy motion of fingers. He dug the stones out of his pockets and placed them on the counter, ensuring they weren't touching.

"These are…?"

"Stuff from R&D." He removed Voldemort's containment jar and placed that on the counter as well. That really got her attention.

"What the hell is that?!"

"A soul. Well, part of one. That's the thing, see. I need to find out where the rest of it is."

She stared at the jar, them up at his face, then at his wrists, a contemplative scowl replacing the frown she gave to people wasting her time.

"I see," she said finally.

Harrison didn't say a word. She'd recognised him now. That was all he needed, really.

"I'll see what can be done."

She gathered everything up and left the counter, pulling the shutter down in his face.

Harrison sighed. Dealing with admin people gave him a headache.

He put his back to the counter and rested on his elbows. He'd likely be there for a while.

oOoOo

When she eventually returned, two more Shinigami followed in her wake. One was a nameless nobody, but the other – Harrison stood up straight, quickly rolling his sleeves back down and attempting to smooth out the wrinkles in his suit jacket – was William Spears.

"There were five," she said without preamble, shoving a piece of paper into Harrison's fumbling hands. "The locations are as listed. Your supervisor bade me tell you to be quick – he may not be so eager to attend to the map a second time."

Harrison nodded quietly, and she slipped back behind the counter after handing Voldemort back. He turned to the two Shinigami, uncomfortable from the sudden attention. He greeted William with a nod and a mumbled "Mr Spears," and more or less ignored the other.

He unravelled the paper and scanned it quickly. Just as he'd suspected, one was somewhere within Hogwarts Grounds. The others were less familiar. Little Hangleton? Nocturne Alley?

Malfoy Manor. There was a brat at Hogwarts called Malfoy. Slytherin.

He handed out assignments. William was to investigate Nocturne Alley (it was far too dangerous for Harrison's personal health to send William to Hogwarts, no matter how much he wanted to), while the other, whose name turned out to be Arthur, took the Hogwarts gig. Harrison, Undertaker and Sebastian would check out Malfoy Manor.

They would regroup after that, and go after the final pieces.

They had goals now. That was something.

It was time to find Ciel.