Master of Death

The moment Harry left the room, so did the peace. With the aura of protection his presence caused subconsciously in Tom leaving with him, Tom was vulnerable to the memories of his recent death to plague him in his sleep. The flash of his own final green light he was so intimately familiar with, the feeling his soul doing a patchwork knitting job of itself trying to be whole again for the first time in 38 years, and finally the sensation of every particle of his body tearing itself to shreds as his body exploded like his blood decided that an immediate exodus was in order. He was drowning. Of all of the ways he thought he would die, by his hands had never even crossed his mind. He relived the moment over and over in a seemingly never-ending loop of his own failures.

In addition to that, he relived the pain of ripping his soul apart constantly. His soul cried out in pain as the temporary fix started unraveling so it could come back together more complete than before. The process was similar to rebreaking badly healed bones, except the soul encompasses so much more than the physical aspects of a being. He experienced the sensation of losing his mind, but this time, instead of over a course of years, he felt himself being lost over and over as his soul reformed slowly in his sleep. Trapping him in an insane loop of pain, fear, regret, understanding, acceptance, and increased knowledge.

He wasn't called a genius for nothing. His intellect was something he had been proud of his whole life. A staple to his character. It was only now, as he continuously goes through the pain cycle again and again that he realizes that his quest for respect and peace has brought him to a place where he had abandoned the very innermost part of who he is. Tom realized that the soul was so eager to split apart was comprised of one's emotions, will, and most importantly the mind. His horcrux's all took a part of him and hid them outside of his body. He was taking parts of himself and excommunicating them from his body so that killing him was impossible. He finally understood what the process was doing.

To kill a person with the killing curse is a two-pronged attack. The first thing the curse does is sever the connection the spirit has with the soul. This is the same thing that a Dementor does. However, instead of ripping it out, it is stuck inside of the body unable to move it because the spirit holds a backup copy of information that the soul and body knows, but is unable to influence a body without a connection via a soul. The next step of the killing curse is to destroy that soul. This means destroying every aspect of a person, their intelligence, emotions, willpower, so forth and so on until there is nothing left. With a horcrux, there is a chance for survival. Separating your soul into different unconnected parts gives your spirit something to attach to when the connection is severed. Since the spirit has all of the information of the entire soul and body, as long as some part of the soul is present, the spirit can sort of make up for what's not there, to an extent. It's like looking in a broken mirror. The overall picture is still there, however, each piece of the mirror will be focused on one aspect of the picture at a time instead of the whole thing. Additionally, each part of the soul is attached in some way to the body. Thereby influencing his physicality as well as his spirituality.

Tom, through this process, realized that his diary housed a good bit of his emotions. It not only was made in a time where he was an extremely emotional being, in the midst of puberty, it was also his feeling of wanting to make the girl he accidently killed's death meaningful that influenced what part of the soul the horcrux took. It also took away his ability to meaningfully emote. He had to work hard to learn how to change his face on will because he lost the emotions that came with the physical reactions he had to relearn. Things such as smiling, frowning, grimacing, showing shock, anger, or even confusion were all things he had to learn how to show to appear normal and blend in.

His next horcrux, the Peverell's Ring, took the part of his soul that housed familial relations. It took his ability to create, form, and appreciate familial ties in people. He understood the power of family, to an extent, however he didn't have the capacity to build on of his own. This also, consequently, took his ability to create life. His body became sterile. He lost the will to have sex and procreate so, while he used his good looks to get him places, he never actually had sex or desired it. He, and his followers at the time, assumed he was asexual and aromantic because he didn't feel any urge to be sexual in anyway even to masturbate and he definitely didn't want any type of relationship with anyone, even one that was based on companionship and didn't require sex like Bellatrix suggested.

As the horcruxes continued to be made and his body continued to change, he didn't realize what he was doing to himself until this very moment when he realized that his transition from Tom to Voldemort and now back has shown him that he is not who he though he was. His dreams, goals, ambitions, sexuality, and very being were all systematically stripped away as he became this subhuman creature that he created himself to separate himself from his worst fear. Death. Then, as the process finished. He opened his eyes.

There it was. Standing over him with its hand outstretched as if to touch him. He had never seen it looking like this. Instead of the epitome of clichéd caricatures of death it had presented itself as when they first met it was…different. Standing even shorter than Harry at 5'10 with its hair faded on the sides with short spikes at the top. platinum blonde at the roots and ice blue at the tips to match its intense eyes offset by its pale skin. It was wearing a tight black no sleeve t-shirt with a picture of the grim from "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy" glaring with red flames in his eyes on the front half tucked in to maroon skinny jeans that hug its legs all the way down to black converse. He looked like a muggle punk teenager about to go out.

"You." It says, drawing Tom's attention back to it's face. He startled as he recognized the disgust and anger hidden on the being's face behind a look of contemplation. It reached out farther towards him and he flinched. "All it would take is one touch and you would be gone again for who knows how long. Just a simple explanation to my master about how your split soul coming together killed you like it almost did and we'll be free of your taint." Here its expression contorted to the ill hidden rage lurking behind its wondering façade. "I have been protecting Master from you for millennia. You with your undevotion, mess, heartbreak, and idiocy all wrapped up in a mediocre package that us insufficient for my Master. I have had to watch as time and again you have failed to live up to your supposed station. I had to watch as time and again my Master has had his hopes of being with his 'one true love', his 'only perfect partner', and 'the one who will get to stay with him forever' has chosen someone else, died, or failed to meet the requirements of being a consort time after time after time and I am sick of it." It leaned forward even farther into Tom's face. "I watched from afar as my Master has chosen you over me in the vain hopes that you would maybe prove yourself to be worth of the position. Ha. More fool to me. You are nothing but a worm with dreams of coming out and interacting with the sun in hopes of a better life. Well I have news for you. All it will do is dry you out and kill you! So, you should just crawl back into your nice moist hole and bury yourself in the moist darkness of the earth where you came from or else I will help you get to a new place of darkness." As it was speaking, Tom could hear the cry of a crow and, as it finished, a dark greyish blue shadow with one's likeness came and engulfed the immortal being. Taking it away to places unknown.

Tom blinked. 'What the f*ck was that?' He thought. He sat up from the sofa he didn't remember being placed on and tried to assimilate all of the information that, again, came to him at breakneck speed. 'Did this being just threaten me? It thinks that because it's Death it can talk any way to me? I am Tom Riddle. If it thinks that now that I am whole it can intimidate me because I was scared of it when I was child, it has another thing coming. I may have lost my way and it may have years on me, but I do know this. I have been reading people my whole life. I have been studying them, manipulating them, and intimidating them to do my bidding for so long, I know all of the tricks. First of all, I know for a fact that if it could kill me with no repercussions like it suggested in the beginning, I would already be dead. That was an empty threat. Rookie mistake. Secondly, it is so clearly in love with its master it wouldn't take a blind dog long to figure it out. It obviously has been rejected as a partner and is blind enough to think that if it is given half a chance it could take my place. It is being led by jealousy. Ha, this 'master manipulator' has no legs to stand on. It has already shown its hand and I know just how to win this game. However, I need to think this through. Do I want to crush its spirit, if it has one, to the very core, or dominate it so that it will bow to me? Both sound satisfying, however, one does reap more rewards than the other… we will see.'

What both Tom and Death didn't know was that their little performance didn't go unnoticed or watched. Harry sat on the armchair next to the couch, hidden so that his presence could be felt by none. He knew that as soon as his influence on Tom's soul was lifted Tom would be in immense pain and would suffer. He didn't want to leave him alone, so he went quickly to check the ruin array and hurried back so he could just sit and watched his Tom as he was made part and whole all at once.

He saw Death come in to enjoy the sight of his beloved in acute pain and made note of it. As the assimilation came to its peak, Death and himself were the only witnesses to a most miraculous phenomenon. The assimilation of the soul usually ends with a tattered soul mostly fused together with scars to mark where the soul was ripped asunder. These rips and tears make the connection between the soul and the spirit weak because the spirit is still attached to the technical different parts of the soul, but the fusion means that the connection tried to fuse together but were pulled apart in the end creating even weaker bonds. In the past, this has always been the case, so when Harry would find his mate and his soul was already in pieces (there are many different realities and instances where he has found his mate in the past. In some the scenarios were similar and others vastly different. They were all in different times, however, he doesn't repeat the same time period again and again. That would be insane.) there would be an astronomical chance that his soul rupture during the ritual and he would "die" a painful death where he would have to be reborn at an undetermined about of time in the future as his soul heals and comes back together, but without the knowledge of the past life he already lived.

This, Harry believed, was why the array was perfect when he checked and spelled it. Death didn't think that Tom would survive the ritual, so he didn't have to do anything to cause a problem. However, this time was different. This time after the process was over Tom's soul looked shiny and new. The normal cracks and tears were nowhere to be seen and the connection between his soul and spirit was as strong as it could be without his full knowledge being unlocked. Seeing this, Harry became hopeful. For the last time he'd found Tom the one almost deemed him ready to be the Master of Death's Consort, however, one mistake was made that forced the occasion to be missed and Tom's soul was banished back into the realm of time and space to go through the rebirth cycle right before his eyes. He knew Death had something to do with it and Harry punished him for it dearly. For, while he loves his puppy, he couldn't compare to his mate.

Harry looked up at his mate sitting there with a cute bewildered expression that changed to quiet rage and then contemplation. What he wouldn't do to know what was going through that wicked head of his. His mate, no matter how old he was, always managed to surprise him and Harry couldn't wait to see how he would be surprised this time around. He set off a flash of light and released his presence. Watching in amusement as Tom had to shield his eyes from the intensity of the light and then scowl at him when he recognized his presence. Harry chuckled. "Are you ready to go?" He asked not acknowledging Tom's reaction.

"Is a flair for dramatics a requirement for immortality? If so, I can see why I haven't been able to keep up with you people. Between his shadow and your light what's left for me?" Tom complains as he stands up from the couch. Only then noticing the green blanket that had been laying on the back of the couch hanging off of him. He looked at it and blushed, "Did you do this?"

Harry smirked, "I take care of my own." He reached out and the blanket replaced itself on the back of the couch. "As for the, as you say, 'flair for dramatics' death exists equally in the shadows and the light. There is no place that hasn't seen death; therefore, death can appear from any place at any time. Be it shadowed or covered in light. It is just a preference that affects our coming and going. If you would like I could appear places without any form of notice at all?" He purred as he pierced Tom with his intense jade eyes that swirled with dark humor.

He smiled as Tom shuddered and let his magic out to play for a bit. He was pleased to note that Tom's magic rose immediately out to play with his, submitting the pleasure of his touch and even taking the initiative of exploring his magic itself. Harry watched hungrily as Tom closed his eyes in rapture as their magic mingled for the first time in too long. He had to touch. He moved forward and cradled Tom's face in his hands leaning forward and raising up. His eyes half lid, he licked his lips, catching Tom's with how close they were. Just as he was about to close the distance, Tom's eyes opened. What he say gave him pause. There was pleasure, but no recognition. In fact, he could see Tom starting to think and pull away as their position overrode the pleasure he was feeling. Harry closed his eyes to hide the heartbreak as Tom wrenched himself away from Harry, enhancing the chasm Harry could already feel between them. He could hear Tom breathing heavily and feel him trying to bring his thoughts together again. Harry knew that, although Tom submitted to him before, his hold over Tom was purely a survival instinct. Tom submitted because that is what he felt he had to do to survive. It was not a true submission of trust. As he opened his eyes and saw Tom, he was, for a moment, fooled into thinking this Tom was his. He remembered how close he was to his eternal love last time and hungered. He had waited billions of years and he wasn't going to wait a second more than he had to for him to get what he wanted.

His thoughts were derailed as he noticed Tom take an actual step back from him and almost fall over onto the couch. Tom wasn't ready for the predator in Harry's eyes, but that was okay, Harry thought, because he would be in time. All he had to do was be patient. He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, he was calm. "Are you ready to go?" He repeated as if the whole moment that just passed never happened. This time he turned and led the way to the door. Tom trailing behind hesitantly.

Harry paused by the door. "This house belongs to me and is somewhat sentient. Therefore, this door, the hallways, and everything in this house is controlled by me and those I deem to put in charge of the wards. Normally, you would be one of those people. However, you are not whole and have not been for a long time." Harry looked at Tom seriously. "When this door opens it will lead directly into the ritual room. You must not speak. This is of utmost importance. For this ritual to work everything must be done by intent. In the past, we have tried only opening as much as 20% of your spirits information of past lives and that was only a couple of percentages at a time. Today we will be opening all of your spirits information at once." Harry placed his hands on Tom's shoulders. "This will hurt. It will feel like nothing you have ever felt before in your life. The sheer information download itself will alter your personality, somewhat, and the physical changes that will come with the change in your soul and spirit will hurt like a b*tch- "

"Wait! I thought you want me to be myself. You want me to go willingly through this…process that will fundamentally alter who I am? What if I cease to be the dominant personality? Who are you trying to change me into? The man I saw inside of my magic? What are you- "

SLAP

Tom's head turned with the force Harry put behind the slap he just received. He turned his head back and almost tripped backwards at the thunderous look on Harry's face. "How dare you." Harry was shaking violently as he suppressed the urge to shake Tom. "You, as you are right now, are nothing but a shell of a person. Do you remember the relief you felt when your soul finally assimilated perfectly and you felt like Tom again? That is going to be the result of the ritual. This little measly broken part of you is like a horcrux made of a part of who you are. It is such a tiny insignificant part of who you are as a whole it might as well be the small part of you that was left when I first saw you as baby." Tom flinched as he recalled his experiences after splitting his soul that last time. "Yes. Even when you were a part of a part of the whole you, I still loved you because I love every aspect of your whole being Tom. However, seeing you like this physically hurts me. I can see the potential for who you are as a whole as I remember all off the different people you were and had become. Yet, now is the time. I want to meet the man who is destined to be with me forever. I want to meet the man who I haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet. The man who is the sum of all of the parts that I have loved so much and lost so soon." Harry, who's eyes had been tearing up at this point suddenly became piercing and wild. "I could wait until the end of everything for you if you weren't ready until then. However, you being ready and just stubborn I cannot stand. So," he suddenly became calm. "either you follow my instructions to the T of your own free will, or I will make you." His eyes became silted like a reptile's and when he blinked three distinct eyelids were seen. "Choose."

Tom felt a wrench in his soul as he realized that what Harry said had to be true. He wondered if this is what his horcruxes felt as they were being pulled into his body as he was put together again like humpty dumpty. He looked at the infinitely powerful person in front of him and saw how lonely he was. To spend eons with a companion who is nothing more than a lapdog. Cute for a while but not feeling the void the want of a partner puts in your heart. Knowing someone is out there for you, meeting them time and again only to be disappointed and forgotten. Never knowing when you would finally be able to rest with someone who has seen the many sides of you and loves and will hold you anyway. Ready to be strong for or with you. Tom inclined his head and let his shoulders fall from their tense position. "Alright. What do I need to do?" he asked, looking at his hands in for a moment and then meeting Harry's eyes.

Harry gave him a second glance to make sure he wouldn't ruin this and then inclined his head as well. He moved into parade rest position with his hands behind his back and his feet shoulder width apart. "Like I said. No talking at all when you enter the room. As soon as you enter, your clothes will disappear and the runes on the floor will light up in a specific order. This will symbolize the path you must take to the center of the array. It is going to be huge and will take you a while to arrive. You must not deviate from the path of the runes and you must not fall behind not matter what you see, hear, or feel. You will essentially be walking down an eons long memory lane." Tom raised his eyebrows at this. "You won't be going through every part of every life you have ever lived." Harry reassured. "From what you've told me before it is like a brief recap for most, however, some moment will stick out to you and stay with you longer. There will be temptations along the way as you learn about yourself. To stay, walk off the path, to try and change things, or avoid something. You can't give into temptation. You must stay the path. At the end of the last life you lived will be the center of the array. There is where the assimilation will actually happen. It will go from a cinema experience to being a part of you. Whoever, or whatever you are at the end will be the real you. I can't wait to meet you." Harry looked away for a while. Tom looked on as he pulled himself together. "We all have a name that the One gave us when we were blessed into exitance. My name is Harry Potter, this time, but my name is not. When we meet again, you will know your name and I will give you mine. Hopefully, you will want to reciprocate." With that Harry disappeared in a flash of light.

Tom looked at the door waiting for him and took a breath. He doesn't think anyone had ever had the experience he was about to have. An eternal walk that will, inevitably, help him find out explicitly who he is as a person. He took a deep breath and walked through the door.

A/N: Well, that was the end of that chapter. Woo! I have respect for people that can just write 10,000 words because, let me tell you! I barely made it to 4,000 and I almost died. I wrote this all in a night for fear of losing my muse like I have so many times in the last couple of years. However, here we are!

In all seriousness I have a question for the few of you who have read and like this story. I kind of lost track of where I wanted to go with it. I read my previous outlines and didn't like where they were going. So, I decided to free write what I have above and just post that and then see where the plot could take me from there. A few points before I go on. The endgame for this fic is a 3some with Harry/Tom/ Death where Harry is the head followed by Tom and Death. Also, Tom and Harry get together immediately after the ritual is over. No more waiting for them. I just want y'all to know that. What I have is this. Would you rather see…

All three getting together and then attending Hogwarts as 3 different kids in the HP universe with golem harry also attending

The pair getting together and then Death gets together with them after attending Hogwarts with them as different kids in the HP universe with golem Harry

Either of the first 2 but Harry takes his place as "harry" and tom and death still attend as different students

They don't go to school at all, Dumbledore is handled by the lack of villain to fight, and they end up having to band together against some other foe who has it out for MOD harry

If they do go to school, they will retain the ability to revert to their grown-up sizes for any sexual exploration that happens because I don't believe in pedophilia. Thanks in advance for the feedback. If you have anything else to say that isHELPFUL CRITICISM I would very much appreciate it. Wolvesheart out!