Chapter One: Meeting at the Crossroads

Lily Potter walked through featureless mists for she knew not how long. She was aware of other people on the path around her, visible only as dark outlines in the fog. Where am I? The thought was dull; muted. Lily's mind felt like it was wrapped in cotton. She walked on, unsure why she was doing so.

Gradually the concealing mists thinned, and Lily could see a ring of bright, shining light ahead of her; its radiance made the others trudging down the path little more than shadows. One after another they stepped into the light. When it was her turn Lily entered. Space, time and identity collapsed around her.

Avada Kedavra!

Lily gasped as she took her next step, her feet falling on smooth stone. "James! Harry!" She staggered and fell to her knees, feeling the echo of pain radiating outward across her chest from the point where Voldemort's killing curse had struck her.

"Easy, Lily; it's all behind you now."

Gentle hands caught Lily under the arm and helped her to her feet. She turned to see who was speaking, and found herself looking into the wrinkled, bearded face of a familiar old man. "Professor Dumbledore?" Lily murmured, confused.

The ancient wizard shook his head as he helped Lily take a few faltering steps off of the cobblestone path, settling her onto a bench flanked by some shrubs. "No, Lily, I'm sorry. I tend to take on the appearance of one familiar to the dead. My true appearance alarms most."

Dead. "I'm dead," Lily sighed, the memories coming back. She and James had fought Voldemort, but they'd never really stood a chance. No one but Dumbledore did. She'd fallen to a killing curse, and the last thing she'd seen was… "Harry!" She stood up like a shot. "He's in danger!"

Lily took a step toward the ring of light she'd emerged from, but Dumbledore grabbed her arm in an iron grip. "You cannot return, Lily," he said firmly. "None pass through my gate twice."

"But my son-"

"Harry Potter is alive and well," Dumbledore replied. "He will not pass through my gate for many years."

Lily felt a bit of relief, but some urgency still gripped her. "Still, he'll be alone. I have to be there for him!"

Dumbledore only gave her a sad, sympathetic look. "You cannot return, Lily. None pass through my gate twice. Only one path from this point is open to you." He pointed to the stony trail behind her. "James is waiting for you, Lily. You'll be together, and happy, and when your son breathes his last with friends and family around him, he'll join you in time. You will see him again."

Lily studied Dumbledore, and saw something ageless behind those kind eyes. Thinking for a moment, she finally understood. "You're Death," she whispered. "Creator of the Hallows."

"I am," Dumbledore replied. "Take the path, Lily. Go to your hereafter."

Lily shook her head firmly. "I won't," she growled. "Harry still needs me." Pushing past him, she walked into the ring of light – or tried to. An invisible barrier blocked her way. Lily pounded on it with her fists, but made no headway. Feeling the weight of her wand in the dueling holster at her wrist, Lily stepped back and drew the wooden rod. "Bombarda Maxima!" The resulting explosion was strong enough to push her back a pace, but it deflected off of whatever was protecting the gateway between life and death.

Dumbledore watched calmly. "It's no use, Lily. No amount of power will allow you to pass through that gate again."

Lily tried every spell she could think of to batter down, dispel or circumvent the barrier keeping her from reaching Harry. It was no use, however, and when she was too tired to cast another spell, Lily had to admit defeat. "Please," she begged of Dumbledore. "Let me go back."

"No one returns, Lily," Dumbledore insisted. "Go to your fate. Go to James."

Feeling tears threaten, Lily angrily wiped them away. Her heart ached for her son, but she was smart enough to understand that she wasn't going to get back to Harry remaining near the gate; she needed to look for options elsewhere. She sheathed her wand and with one last angry look at Dumbledore, she headed down the path. It soon ended at a broad boulevard, on which walked many people, some familiar-looking, others strange. There were even odd figures that didn't look like people at all.

As she set off down the main road Lily noticed that many of the other travelers faded away after a few minutes. Maybe they disappear once they accept the inevitable? Lily thought. Well I'm not quite ready to give up. Walking a bit further, Lily started to see other small paths meeting up with the broader one she was on.

Curious, Lily diverted down another path that was only a dirt road through towering, primeval trees. She hadn't walked far before she heard loud noises: grinding of stone, crackling of flame and more. Cautiously she continued, and saw something interesting. There was another ring of light here and apparently someone else who wasn't going to stroll peacefully into the afterlife.

A woman with hair that was actually crimson red rather than Lily's orange was attacking the barrier over this new gate. She struck it with her fist and Lily felt the vibration of the impact through the earth. The other woman followed that up with a blast of fire from her mouth that set several trees around the gate alight, but didn't scratch the barrier.

"Kushina, this is not a matter of power. You cannot pass through my gate a second time." Those words came from an older woman whose tresses were the same crimson hue under an elaborate headdress, and whose angular features bore a resemblance to the one trying to break down the gate. Both women wore archaic-looking martial uniforms. Lily watched from behind a tree as 'Kushina' kept up her assault, stomping down a foot and making the ground produce a wide spur of rock that shattered on striking the gate.

"Like hell I'll leave my son alone," Kushina shouted defiantly. "Naruto needs me! Damn you Mito, let me pass!"

Lily felt a surge of sympathy for the stranger. She's a kindred spirit; someone else in my situation. Lily's eyes widened as glowing chains erupted from Kushina's back and wrapped around the gate, applying constrictive force to no avail. Mito merely sighed. Eventually the chains faded and Kushina dropped to a knee, panting and sweating.

"Now do you believe me, dear? You cannot pass through my gate twice. Go to your fate. Minato is waiting for you."

Lily's eyes narrowed. 'You cannot pass through my gate twice.' Four times in the last few minutes she'd heard those exact same words, from Dumbledore and now from Mito. A thought occurred to her, and before the wisdom of revealing herself could give her doubt, Lily stepped out from behind her tree and approached the new gate. "Excuse me," she said politely to Mito.

"Yes?" The regal woman replied.

"Could I pass through your gate?" Lily asked.

Mito looked thunderstruck. "What? This is not your world!"

"I gathered that," Lily said patiently. "Nonetheless, would you allow me to pass through?"

Mito blinked, looking thoughtful. "I don't see why not," she said slowly, "if you're truly so reckless."

Kushina's face turned almost as red as her hair. "What?" she screeched. "You'll let some total stranger who isn't even from the Elemental Nations go through, but not me?"

Mito's expression became stony. "You cannot-"

"-pass through her gate twice," Lily finished the sentence. "Yes, the guardian of my world's gate said the same thing." Thinking quickly now, she turned to Kushina, offering a friendly smile. "My name's Lily. Lily Potter. I think we might be able to help one another."

Kushina blinked, looking faintly embarrassed in the wake of her outburst. "Sorry. I'm Kushina Uzumaki; it's a pleasure to meet you, but what are you talking about?"

"I couldn't help but overhear some of your words," Lily apologized. "I gather that you and your husband died, leaving a child behind?"

Kushina's face fell. "…yes. Well, Minato's my boyfriend, but we did die and now our son doesn't have anyone. We don't really have any extended family to take him in." She gave Lily a suspicious look. "Why does it matter?"

"Because my husband and I are dead too, and my son Harry is in the same situation." Lily made a face at the reminder that she did have relatives, but they were Muggles of a moderately horrid variety. There was no way her friends in the Wizarding World would allow Harry to wind up with them.

Kushina's expression became sympathetic. "I see; I'm sorry to hear that." She paused. "How do you think we can help- oh." Kushina's eyes lit up as she understood, and she turned to Mito. "Could I go through the gate back to Lily's world?"

Mito looked a bit annoyed, but shrugged. "I can't imagine why you'd want to, but there's nothing metaphysically stopping you." She looked at the pair crossly. "You do understand the eventual consequence of what you're talking about? If you," she pointed at Lily, "step through my gate, you'll enter the Elemental Nations, but you'll be alive again."

"That's the idea," Lily murmured.

"Don't interrupt," Mito said sternly. "If you pass through my gate the wrong way, you won't be able to return here when you do eventually die again."

A chill ran down Lily's spine. "Then… I would be a ghost?"

Mito shook her head. "Worse. Your soul will be trapped between life and death. Do you recall the trackless mists you traversed before the gate?" Lily nodded. "You will be bound to that place again, but without a gate to bring you here. Souls trapped in that limbo sometimes find their way to their afterlife without a guide… but only after many long years of wandering. Others cannot find their way out, and simply cease to exist." Mito's eyes narrowed. "That is the fate to which you consign yourself if you step through my gate."

Lily considered that and shuddered. It didn't sound pleasant at all. "If it means my son won't be alone, I'd risk it."

"It's an interesting idea," Kushina ventured, "but we don't know each other. Why would you trust me to care for your son? For that matter, why should I trust you?"

"I think we're alike," Lily replied firmly. "I think we're both willing to do whatever it takes to protect our sons. If I can't go to Harry and you can't go to Naruto, then why not trade places? As to knowing each other… that can be fixed."

Lily drew her wand, and Kushina studied it curiously. She looked suitably impressed when Lily conjured a stone basin filled with water at waist height between them. "That wasn't ninjutsu," Kushina noted. "You barely have any chakra."

Lily blinked. "Such odd terms; is that the name for what you were doing to the gate?" Kushina nodded. "Well this is my wand, and this," she gestured to the basin, "is magic. If you're willing, there's a way we can share our memories with each other. It will be useful if we are to attempt this, and it will allow both of us to know the other thoroughly before we make this pact."

Kushina considered that before nodding. "All right; what do I do?"

"Stand still," Lily murmured. She touched her wand to the other woman's temple and watched Kushina suppress a flinch as the wand's tip drew away multitudinous strands of silver. Lily deposited the thick cluster in the basin before repeating the motion at her own temple. When her memories had joined Kushina's in the basin and the water shone with argent light she conjured two cups and handed one to Kushina. "To view memories we need only submerge our faces in the basin, but to gain them permanently, we must drink. It will be disorienting and uncomfortable."

"Whatever it takes," Kushina replied, not hesitating to dip her cup into the glowing water. She drank quickly. Lily did the same, and grimaced as decades of alien memories poured into her skull. The headache was remarkably painful, but she endured. Kushina staggered but recovered quickly. New knowledge shone behind her eyes.

"You are a good person," both Lily and Kushina said at the exact same time. Lily laughed, while Kushina cracked a smile. The kunoichi – that word now had meaning in Lily's mind – extended her hand over the now-empty basin. "To care for each other's sons, until death finds us again?"

Lily clasped that callused hand firmly and nodded. "Until death," she echoed. "Now let's go make sure Dumbledore is going to allow you to pass through his gate."

Dumbledore was as startled at the idea as Mito had been, but had no objection to it. He gave Kushina the same warning, that when she died again her soul would be trapped in limbo and might fade into oblivion. The warning didn't dissuade Kushina any more than it had Lily.

"Give Naruto my love," Kushina said to Lily in parting.

"Give mine to Harry," Lily replied.

Kushina smiled, nodded, and then took a step back into the gate leading to Earth, vanishing into the light without a trace. Lily wasted no time returning to the gate in the forest leading to the curiously named Elemental Nations. Mito watched her calmly, but said nothing as Lily stepped into the light. A growing roar filled Lily Potter's ears, and a sensation of rapid movement.