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Chapter Text

Game Start

Harry browsed the game shelves loosely holding onto the one game he’d come here specifically for. He’d never been a gamer, not really having time the time what with the Dursley’s and the Wizarding World basically controlling life, but now he actually had a chance to try it out and if he could meet his little sister in the game all the better. Nothing else popped out at him, though, so he brought his prize to the smiling attendant at the counter. The girl was much too chipper in his opinion but he was able to check out with little fanfare.

Cautiously the wizard made his way back to the new apartment in T City, pulling up his hood to avoid being completely doused in the chilly rain. His purchase was safely tucked away inside his charmed jacket so that wasn’t a worry. Instead he kept a careful eye out for any suspicious activity. He knew the war was over, intellectually, but his paranoia was a constant friend. Not that it wasn’t needed what with the constant dodging of Death Eaters that just didn’t know when to give up. They were the entire reason Harry had been literally all over the world, the Asiatic countries just being the last on the list of places during his three year running stint.

Oh Merlin. He’d had the shock of the lifetime as soon as he set foot in Tokyo, Japan. Surrounded on all sides, he’d freaked out- thinking of a Death Eater ambush- and started powerhousing through the local authority. Not that he’d know that’s what they were at the time, of course. Eventually, he ended up fleeing all the way to Kyoto where he was taken down by the elite guard of the Emperor of the magical world. Yea, he had so not learned how to deal with Yokai -though he’d impressed them with his tenacity and ingenuity in spell usage.

Waking up pain free and in an overly opulent gold and red room decorated by moving statues of Japanese Kirins had shocked him enough not to attack the people surrounding him immediately. Lucky for him at the time. That’s when he learned he’d basically been abducted by the Emperor himself-through his guards of course- because they thought he was some long lost child of the Chinese Emperor. Yeah right.

Well turns out they were right. Magical signature and DNA tests were conducted post haste, turning out positive. That… well it wasn’t one of the most embarrassing meltdowns he’d had but it definitely ranked high on the list. Being the overprotective ‘Hero’ he also had to shoot down the idea that they reveal him to the public. Why? Because he was Harry bloody Potter that’s why. And here’s the scar for proof.

That hadn’t gone over so well, Japan almost ready to declare war on Britain if he hadn’t dissuaded them from their ‘honorable’ intentions. Merlin if he thought the Japanese were miffed, well… The Chinese had them beat by a landslide. That argument went down in the history books for longest correspondence with the fastest hawks ever. Harry won in the end if only due to the birds’ exhaustion and refusing to deliver messages.

For the next few months Japan got to play host to the Heir to the Chinese throne and Harry, or Wang Fei as he was named at birth, got to learn a little -a lot!- about his history. He learned his birthday was actually August 1st at 2:33 am, he was stolen at barely 13 months, and was declared officially dead in his home country after three years of searching. His younger sister was born 1 year and 4 months after him- causing quite the celebration, she preferred to go by Doll, and his parents were actually quite nice when not worked up into a towering fury. He also was forced to learn of the past Emperors, political crap, and allied nations -including Japan. His favorite thing to learn during his whole time there, though, was about the magical creatures and beings of each country, especially Yokai and demons from other countries, and the spars/lessons he received from the Royal Guard.

Overall it was the most intense but relaxing time he’d had since before Hogwarts and it gave him much needed time to rest from being hunted.

Eventually he agreed to move to China but absolutely refused to go near the palace just yet. He loved his time in Japan but being an honored guest was much better than being the Honored Heir and Harry particularly liked his freedom. There was also the fact that he couldn’t quite kick his paranoia and saving people thing, so he couldn’t allow the Death Eaters to get near his family even if they were warded to the nines with guards everywhere. He wanted to meet his family but didn’t want to be trapped or cause any trouble just yet so… T City it was. It was fairly close to the palace and also had convenient marketplaces all around.

His apartment was in a larger building, not tall being only three stories compared to a lot of the skyscrapers around, but fairly spread out over some acres. Not too expensive but also not the hovels he was used to staying in. The stipend his parents sent him helped with that but only after they won the argument over money. It was his money too, they had said. Well, now ‘his money’ had also bought the newest game on the market called ‘Second Life’ and if he was lucky he’d be able to meet his little sister who also had an account. It was actually sort of cute how she raved about it in her letters.

“Right… now how in the world does this thing even work,” he muttered turning the helmet over in his hands. Technology was not his forte at all. He despaired at see the wires and the helmet but if he wanted to do this and not look like a complete idiot to his friendly neighbors he had to do this himself. Sucking in a breath, he glanced over the manual again noting the little ports on the bottom of the helmet. He’d have to get it hooked up to the internet for the downloads.

“C’mon Harry! It’s an instruction manual with step by step instruction! It can’t be that hard!”

With having said that encouraging little tidbit to himself he grabbed the first wire, a light grey, with a weird shaped doofer on the end and glanced at the manual. According to this, the weird bit went into a wall for hardline internet or he could use a computer for wifi and forgo the wire entirely…. Well seeing as he didn’t own a laptop just yet and he knew wifi was wireless internet -thanks Poland- he’d have to use the wall. The wizard vaguely remembered the landlady saying something about free internet in these buildings being included and there was a funny shaped outlet behind his bed. Couldn't hurt to try right?

With a little maneuvering the bed was pushed up against the wall of his bedroom, the dresser that had been there previously now blocking the door -but that could be dealt with later- exposing the funny outlet where Harry then proceeded to shove the funky end of the wire into. It was a perfect fit! Right, he could so do this. The other end was flat with a more trapezoid shaped head. That easily slotted into the helmet and he waited for the light at the top to start flashing green signifying that it was downloading. He sat on the floor and stared at it for a few good minutes, just waiting, before he finally gave up and looked to the manual for help.

The helmet didn’t come charged. Of course it didn’t. Now Harry just felt like an utter fool as he snatched the black wire from the bed. Once again he slotted the wire into the helmet port and dragged the pronged end over to the outlet a few feet away from the funky one. A red light flashed near the visor as soon as it was plugged in. Well, at least he wasn’t a complete numpty then. The manual said it would take a few hours to charge so he left the helmet on the floor and walked into his small living room after shoving the dresser to the opposite side of the room. It contained a beautiful brown suede couch, a matching recliner chair and a coffee table. Where a telly might be in a normal house sat his inconspicuous trunk that contained mostly all he ever needed while on the run…. Plus a few extra rooms for brewing and libraries and such. He could have gotten a bigger place but this one bedroom apartment was perfect for him.

Passing through the living room, he made a beeline to the fridge, pulling out some fresh greens and veggies to make a salad. Now that he had a nicer place to settle and lower risk of Death Eaters tracking him, at least for a while, he could make himself something healthy.

Harry stared at the computer screen in front of him as the little boy chattered on about the different classes and how assigning your ability points was crucial to character development. The little instruction booklet in the game’s case didn’t have near as much information. It only told him how to work things and explained a few of the classes. This… was an overload of information.

Bao didn’t seem to notice his new friend’s glazed eyes but his mother sure did. She called for dinner making the small boy pout and Harry sent her a thankful look. A few days ago he hadn’t been expecting a knock on his door and an invite to dinner, seeing as he’d only been here around a week and he didn’t know any of these people. He politely declined but An Di could be a bloody dragon with her stubbornness. She was a force to be reckoned when she found out that he was alone in his apartment and usually just ate salad for dinner. He still had no idea how she’d figured that out as he rarely left but he appreciated the effort she put in for him and his therapist said he needed to to socialise more. He’d also done a thorough check -or as thorough as he could with limited resources as he so wasn't going to involve his new family- to make sure she wasn’t an imperial guard or some form of threat to him. She passed with flying colors. The single mother was just a strong independant woman raising her son in a society that frowned upon such actions. He gave her props for that alone.

The only reason he’d finally given into her daily invitation today was that her son Bao Di was chattering behind her into a small phone about the awesome quest he had finished just that morning in Second Life. Wanting to learn more about the game, he agreed and, once the boy was off the phone, asked for tips. An 8 year old boy grinning manically was a slightly terrifying sight. He was dragged to a very worn laptop, under protest and trying to get the boy to release his wrist without hurting him. Then the info dump of massive proportions was dropped on his head and he forgot all about someone touching him. Harry swore he was going to be dreaming of stats in nightmare format tonight.

“So, what prompted you to buy the game Wang Fei? You don’t seem the type,” An Di commented laying the serving bowls on the table. Grilled whole fish, rice, and an assortment of grilled veggies was an absolutely heavenly smell.

“I have a little sister that I can’t see right now. I wanted to meet up with her in the game,” Harry replied.

“Oh how sweet of you,” she giggled as Bao dug into the rice and snapped up some fish really quickly.

“After dinner I want to show him all the bosses! Mom, can I please!”

By the time he got back to his apartment, Harry was absolutely exhausted and had just enough energy to make sure everything was locked up. He barely missed tripping over his helmet as he dropped in his bed, the springs bouncing underneath him, and he was out like a light.

When he woke up the next day, it took him a minute to understand why he was still fully dressed and on top of his covers. With a grunt he pushed himself up onto his forearms, shaking off the last vestiges of the strange dream he’d had. He could honestly admit that was one of the best rests he’d had since coming to China even if it was filled with floating numbers and different character routes. Speaking of…

He turned his green eyes onto the helmet on the floor noting the steady green light that signaled downloading was complete. He glanced down at his sleep wrinkled clothing. Perhaps he could afford to be lazy for today. It’s not like he had anywhere to be until the next semester of school started anyways. With a little bit of excited glee, he flipped over and kicked off his shoes and pants onto the floor before working on freeing himself of his button up shirt. If he was gonna be laying down for this he was going to be comfortable, one of the upsides of living alone. Once he had stripped to his boxers, he gently lifted the helmet from the floor and wondered if it was supposed to stay connected.

With a huff he set it down on his bed and picked up the discarded instruction manual and game booklet and flipped through them. Okay, so the charge would last for almost 24 hrs if it was unplugged but it could be left in during gameplay. Charging and playing at the same time too often would start to damage the battery which could lead to small amounts of radioactivity… Wait. They seriously sold these things to kids!?

“Okay! Calm down Harry… Just don’t play and charge it at the same time. It’s not like you’ll be playing for more than 24 hours a day anyway….”

With a decisive nod he searched for the internet wire instructions. Apparently he was supposed to leave it in if he didn’t have wifi because the game needed to be connected as it was a MMORPG… Whatever that was. But internet was needed so he’d leave that cable alone, it was long enough to reach the bed with extra to spare. So he’d tossed the books onto the dresser, stepped over his clothes, and picked up the helmet again. With a pop the charger cable came out and was dropped carelessly on the floor. He sat gingerly on the edge of the bed staring at the game helmet.

This was it. The first video game he would ever play and the machinery was a knowledge that was mostly lost on him. And then there was his magic which he had no idea how it would react. Technology was not the antithesis to magic as he’d thought during Hogwarts. Running through the very technologically advanced America, Poland, and Italy had proven that, and then Japan had proven his mistaken belief wrong on many occasions as well. Unfortunately magic could still fry machines and anything running on electricity if given in high enough doses that it wasn’t ready for. The Emperor found that out the day of Harry’s meltdown when practically everything technological short circuited within a mile radius.

The wizard really needed to stop thinking of all the negatives. This was his chance to see Doll!

But first he laid the helmet on the bed and did a quick check of the apartment. Everything was locked and secured, nothing out of place. It was finally time! Harry almost skipped back to the room but forced himself to only slightly speedwalk.

He took a breath grabbed the helmet and stuffed it on his head, wincing a bit at the tight fit- the padding still needed to be broken in- before carefully laying down. Slowly he drifted into unconsciousness as the game activated, completely missing the three shimmering orbs that sank into the headset.

Black. Everything was pitch black and for a moment the war veteran felt a peace he’d not had since his first introduction to the wizarding world. That peace was shattered with a blinding flash of dizzying blue as his surroundings melted into a white chamber that seemed to stretch for eternity on all sides.

Harry blinked dazedly, body tense and ready to fight, glancing at the floating chair that held a small girl wearing a helmet with wires coming out of it from nearly the entire thing. The different colored wires all went back into the chair behind her making her look like some macabre parody of some cheesy old sci-fi science experiment. The front had a giant three emblazoned upon it which meant absolutely nothing to Harry. She shifted, her curtain of long chestnut brown hair waving slightly, and smiled down at him. “Hello and welcome to Second Life! Here you will be creating your avatar and once it is made there can be no changes afterwards. Because it is supposed to be 99.9% realism guaranteed there will be no changing of genders or anything of that sort~,” she chirped cheerfully with a small twinkle in her brown eyes.

She opened her mouth to talk again but paused cocking her head to the side as if listening to someone speak. After a moment her attitude became even more cheery, if that was even possible. “Wow! You are our one millionth player to create an account. How extremely lucky! The creators will give you wish in celebration so choose wisely!”

“Um….” Harry muttered in shock, “I’ll choose my wish later.”

The girl nodded energetically.

“Can I…” Harry paused thinking over the race options Bai had explained to him last night. While choosing the angelic race would give him the freedom of flight it was also the class that had the least amount of physical and magical defense. So that was out. He didn’t really want to be human even if overall they had the most well-rounded stats. He wasn’t… into becoming a beast either. Really the only choice he even remotely liked was the elves and that was mostly because of his fascination with High Elves during his schooling. It was a wonderful day when he’d stumbled across an ancient tome in the Black library that spoke of the Elvhen people leaving for another dimension. Actually that was pretty much the start of his fascination with all types of beings and creatures. That day he had been in such a fantastic mood that not even the cruciatus he had suffered in his dreams via Tom had brought him down.

The game elves had extremely high agility but, just like the angel race, had pretty terrible physical defense. The magical defense was decent at least. “... see myself as an elf?”

Slowly a form fizzled into existence in front of him and Harry had to admit that he liked it. His tan skin had lightened to a fairer tone and his hair fell slightly flatter but not enough to make a difference in the bird’s nest of flyaway hair it normally was. His ears were long enough to poke out of the black hair. Other than that he looked just as tired and thin as Harry himself. It was pretty realistic.

“Would you like to either beautify or uglify by 30%?”

There was actually an option to uglify? Okay… “I’ll do the beautify, I guess,” the wizard said softly.

The girl nodded her head, even though Harry couldn’t see it, and added the beautification to the bishie that was already in front of her. The end result had the small girl trying in vain to stem a nosebleed. Harry stared critically at the healthier looking avatar. For once… he actually looked like a normal person. A normal person that had a normal life with no nightmares or paranoia haunting his every step. It was oddly satisfying.

When the avatar opened his eyes there were twin gasps and a resounding thump behind Harry, startling him into turning around. The girl had fallen off the chair, the helmet rolling a small distance away. He turned his attention back to the form in front of him, keeping an ear open for the person behind him. The sclera were completely pitch black where there should have only been white. It made the elf’s already glowing eyes seem ominous and his face took a more feral expression. It was disconcerting but slightly… awesome.

“Oh my! I’m so sorry! There must be a glitch in the system that I can have fixed right aw-”

“No,” Harry interrupted. “I’d like to leave it like this. If you would please?”

He glanced up at the still blushing female slipping the fallen helmet back on clumsily. A thoughtful look stole over her face, and hesitantly she nodded. In a firm tone she said, “But if it gives you any problems Pm me. My name is Lolicat and I’m a GM, okay?”

Harry nodded and turned his attention back to the elf version of himself. There was just something saying that he should keep those eyes… and there was nothing saying there weren’t muggleborns that played this game. He could not allow himself to be recognized in that case. He was being extremely risky in only barely glamoring himself while in China and that didn’t even seem to apply here in the game world. So he needed to make him look different and while the eyes were definitely a distraction he needed something more.

“Ah! Could you turn the scar into a tattoo and elongate it through my eye and and to the bottom of my chin? Is lengthening hair possible?”

“Of course! And how long would you like it?”

“Hm… calf length please.” It would be easy to braid out of his way and long hair was quite different than his normal rat’s nest. The tattoo was perfect, looking nothing like how his original scar did. The hair was also nice; with the length weighing it down there was only a slight wave to it instead of the mess he was used to. “Can I change the color?”

“Well it’s possible but…”

Harry turned to her with a raised brow, “But?”

“May I make a suggestion?”

“Please do. If I don’t like it I reserve the right to reject it, though.”

“But of course~! With your current skin tone and the way you’re opting for a more intimidating look,” Is that what he’d been going for? He’d just wanted to make himself unrecognizable, “I’d say to darken your hair. Right now it’s very dark brown but making it black or blue black… no just regular black as the blue would contrast your eyes too much. Anyway, the dark would make your skin pop in a very pleasant way~!”

Harry mulled it over. He was trying to change his appearance entirely but.. This was the first time he’d seen himself so… pleasing to the eye. It was the first time ever that Harry actually enjoyed looking at himself. He supposed the previous two changes would sufficiently hide him from most common sense lacking wizards. Well… it wasn’t like he wasn’t already risking his hide with the glamors already. His paranoia could kiss his ass for once, he wanted to enjoy this game and search for his little sister.

“Alright,” he agreed watching the very long hair darken. It was definitely very pretty to look at.

“Is there anything else now?” Lolicat had to try very hard to hold in her squealing. Lolidragon was going to be so jealous that she’d met a bishie on par with Prince, or even better considering his more masculine lean compared to Prince’s distinctly feminine look. And she’d even gotten to help him, if only slightly, with his character design!

“No.”

“Of course! Have you thought about what you’d like your wish to be?”

He hadn’t. Not really. Harry had been too busy admiring himself embarrassingly enough. He’d never had the chance to be vain like this after all. It definitely had to be something non-restrictive and his mind flashed briefly to the angel class. It was like an epiphany and with a smile the soon-to-be-player turned to Lolicat and asked for wings.

It was such a strange request that she hesitated, but the full force of those pleading green eyes and that hopeful little smile did her in. She contacted the creators and was silent for a few minutes while Harry fidgeted impatiently, forcing himself to still. Fidgeting was movement that could give away your position.

Her eyes opened and she jerked her chin at the avatar. There just barely poking over the shoulders were the tips of what looked to be tiny bird wings. The wizard walked behind his avatar to study them. They were a beautiful brown that turned white at the tips but...they weren’t quite what he was expecting…

“You’ll need to level them up just like any skill. The more you use them the larger they’ll get. This makes it fair to all the players, okay?”

That made a lot of sense.

“Alright. I’m done with my character then.”

“Oh no you’re not! You still haven’t decided on a name,” Lolicat exclaimed.

Harry looked startled at her exuberance, but nodded and started thinking. There wasn’t anything he could think of that would fit. Obviously he was not going to use his titles from the wizarding world; that would be a dead giveaway. Hermione’s voice popped up exclaiming his people saving thing. Harry shook his head. That would be a dead give away and Saviour of the Wizarding World was one of his titles.

But her voice nagged at him in the back of his mind. He’d always been the Saviour even of the bullied and downtrodden. The wizard groaned and rubbed his eyes. Why was this so hard?

“Would you like some suggestion?”

“No, no… I would like to be named Savior.” Hermione always did win those arguments in the end. And just because it was his screen name didn’t mean anything! There was going to be no funny business in this game. “I’d like to start on the Central Continent, please.”

Happily flouncing back to her chair, Lolicat sat and activated the player’s life. “Oh yeah! All players stats are randomly assigned so you don’t have to worry about that,” she beamed cheerily as the man and his avatar merged and disappeared.

Chapter Text

Game Start

Harry woke up groaning. The dirt and rocks were surprisingly uncomfortable for being a videogame but he supposed it was supposed to be realistic. It made him wonder about the pain factor…

Slowly, he sat up and looked at his surroundings brushing hair out his face and adjusting his position so he wasn’t sitting on any and pulling at his scalp. He was most definitely in a forest and the distant murmuring he heard indicated some civilization nearby. He turned around to check on his wings but couldn’t get a good look. Instead he stretched a hand up behind him to feel between his shoulder blades digging his fingers through piles of hair. The wings were gone! There was a brief second where his eyes heated and itched, he had actually really wanted those wings!

And with that thought and a slight gasp at the unexpected pain, his wings popped out, ripping through the fabric of the shirt he was wearing, stretching as far as they could. They caught painfully in his hair and he spent the next few minutes untangling silky strands and glossy feathers as best he could, pulling the hair forward over his shoulder so it wouldn’t happen again.

It was a really strange sensation being able to control limbs that he hadn’t had before. He rolled his shoulders getting a feel for how the muscles in the wings shifted and coiled at the movement. His concentration narrowed as he tried closing both wings and flexing them again. This was just like getting your eyebrows to raise separately or making your ears move. Incredibly strange but really satisfying when you did it right. With a lot of practice he’d be able to move them with no trouble at all.

So he sat in that tiny clearing for who knows how long while he worked his wings hard; to the point they were actually becoming sore. This game was pretty realistic if it included muscles soreness. It was just at a lower level than he was expecting.

He was determined to at least get himself off the floor before he let them relax, though. And finally, after flapping them on and off for as hard as he could for a few minutes-Merlin was that a workout!- he lifted a few inches off the ground. In his excitement he stopped focusing on his wings and thumped to the ground.

System Notice: Savior learned New Ability- Hover (lvl1)

The new player blinked in surprise at the voice that came from nowhere. He grinned at his accomplishment, stretching his arms and wings to prevent soreness. Even the game was recognizing his hard work and it felt pretty bloody good. Now he need to go into town and change out of these beginners clothes and into something that suited his style more.

He glanced back at his wings, he didn’t really want other people seeing them and calling him a cheater… so how did he get rid of them?

Just like that they disappeared leaving a few feathers on the floor. Oh. So it was thought based then. That made things much easier.

According to his internal clock he’d been in this clearing for close to two hours so it was definitely time to set off. Following his ears, he meandered through the forest, stopping to look at certain plants and some shiny rocks. He wondered if they were important and so just in case he picked them up and placed them in his inventory. And wasn’t that a novel experience! Same as his wings, with just a thought the items he picked up disappeared.

Bao had explained the inventory once Harry had asked where there extra weapons and stuff went and he likened it to an extra pocket space that wizards could store things in. It was a brilliant idea to use in a game and he would definitely take advantage of it. Every piece of money that he could earn, he would, which would make it easier to buy something he wanted or needed later down the road.

Oh. He paused slowing down. He should probably check his stats and his character record and his inventory before he actually got into town. Right.

“System,” Harry stated clearly. Or at least thought he did but the game didn’t think so as it flashed an error sign in his face. Bloody rude. His stupid accent was always messing things up. While he could take a pill to learn the language, it didn’t change the way he said things. So, of course, any new foreigners that knew the language but still talked with a British accent were immediate suspects on the Death Eaters list.

“Sy-ste-m,” he tried. Almost immediately his stats popped up on the screen in front of him.

Name: Savior

Gender: Male

Type: Elf

Level: 1

Strength: 9      Endurance: 5    Dexterity: 17    Charisma: 5     Intelligence: 10     Wisdom: 9      Luck: -100/100     Health: 250     Mana: 10    Reputation: 0     Unused Skill Points: 6

Abilities lvl: Hover- 1

“What unusual stats. I’m not much of a gamer but aren’t they a bit high for a new player…. And seriously what is up with my luck,” Harry exclaimed in irritation. Okay, Bao had explained what the stats were for but he’d prefer to see the descriptions himself. With just a thought the screen in front of him switched.

Strength: The stat that represents a person's physical power. Used to determine how strong they are and how hard they hit.

Endurance: The stat representing a character's physical toughness. Used to determine how much damage someone can take and how well they resist poisons, illnesses, etc.

Dexterity: Dexterity represents a person's physical nimbleness. Used to determine fine motor skills, reaction time, and aiming.

Charisma: The stat representing a person's force of personality. Used to determine how well someone can influence others by speeches, diplomacy, fear, lying, etc.

Intelligence: The stat representing how smart a character is. Used to show how skilled a person is, how quickly they learn.

Wisdom: The stat representing a person's intuition and street-smarts. Used to determine a character's perception, willpower, and decision-making skills.

Luck: The stat representing how lucky a person is. Used to determine how certain quests or situations will play out.

Perfect. Now what about his race description…

Elf: A humanoid race known to live in more wild areas such as mountains or woods. The pointed ears and more ethereal visage denotes their lineage. Extremely nimble, these people are suited towards stealth or magic jobs. They are not physically strong and have a higher endurance for magical pain than physical.

Well then looks like he had some skill points to distribute. As an elf he would have to rely more on speed than anything but upping his defence wouldn’t hurt. It wasn’t possible to dodge every attack after all.

3 points went to endurance, 2 to strength, and 1 to wisdom.

Now to see what exactly he had in his inventory. The screen switched again into an itemized layout of all the interesting doofers he’d picked up. Grassroot, Elfroot, Mulberries, 3x Shiny rocks, and a pebble. Up in the right corner he noticed a small helmet looking thing and he focused on it. Ah, this must be his armor and weapon inventory; his beginners shirt, shoes, and trousers were listed with a small E next to them. They weren’t all that fancy, his trousers being tanned leather and his shirt an off white peasant’s shirt that he’d legitimately seen worn in Wizarding Britain. The shoes were plain leather forming a sort of moccasin.

The description given was slightly odd but good to know: Plain traveler’s clothes that offer no defense. Right well he didn’t have anything interesting so time to finish his trip into town.

As soon as he broke the treeline his ears started ringing with the overwhelming noise of the bustling town. Harry took a few moments to calm down the panic he felt crawling in his throat at the sudden noise difference. Once that was over with the elf took a moment to berate himself. There was nothing going to attack him in a safe haven like the town. He couldn’t just freak out like this! This was a game!

With a sigh he headed into the crowd to find a store, his fingernails digging into his ribs to keep himself from freaking out with so many people around. It’s not like he had agoraphobia… but after being mobbed by well wishers -and Death Eaters on a few occasions- so many times he preferred solitude or the company of his close friends rather than being out in public. Not to mention how easy it was to kill someone in a crowd and then escape unseen as proved multiple times in New York trying to lure him out of his hiding spot.

He had to remind himself several times that no one knew him here and he was just here to maybe get a weapon and see how much he could sell his stuff for. Oh. It might also be prudent to find someone who’d be able to braid his hair -after he’d tried and failed to do so himself in the forest- because it kept falling in his face now that he was trying to hide from the masses.

The shop was the easy part, surprisingly the shiny rocks were worth more than he thought, and he was in and out with a small dagger with no problem, but new clothes would have to wait for more money. The empty feeling of the NPC shopkeeper was a bit eerie and probably played a part in getting him to leave faster than he might have otherwise. The hair braiding on the other hand… that took almost an hour before he came across a girl that did not come off as an outright fangirl, didn’t run screaming or whimpering, or that didn’t glare at him in disgust for his more feminine lean with the longer hair; that being some girls and a few men (that had their own braids) that he’d tried asking. The girl who’d agreed was a small and average looking middle aged human with bobbed brown hair and cheerful eyes. She easily did Harry’s long hair into a loose braid that fell over his right shoulder.

In thanks, he gave her a small smile and an offer to help her if she needed something which she waved away. “I have hair like that in the real world! It wasn’t an issue. Just make you keep it from getting caught on anything, okay? And be careful with those eyes! You might accidentally scare some poor fangirls to death.”

Harry laughed with her and bid her goodbye completely missing the blush that had formed on her face. After that he’d headed into the forest to hopefully tangle with some monsters. Several younger girls had tried to stop him to ask for training with him after seeing him laugh with the human but he politely turned them all down. He didn’t want company while he was still figuring things out, or in general really. A few of them couldn’t take a hint, though, so he’d had to resort to glaring and ice cold shoulders.

Unfortunately for Harry, this did the opposite of intended with a few of them and his very own club of gaming fangirls was birthed on that day. Watching in jealousy from a distance, were a group of beasts that glowered at his back as he left Star City. He didn’t see them but his danger senses kicked in and he glanced around cautiously. He had to remind himself again that nothing would attack him in the city.

There wasn’t much out here so far, so he popped his wings out, with no pain this time, and started some practice. As he moved he focused on hovering as much as he could instead of walking and was too absorbed in his tunnel vision to notice the creeping green slime.

Attack Successful: Savior -20HP

“Gah!”

He kicked the green monster off into a tree where it lost 10 HP. He glared at it, wishing it would die and leave him alone. He hated when his panic kicked into overdrive with a surprise attack! In the war he’d learned to control it to some extent but that didn’t stop the rush of adrenaline or the painful thumping of his heart as his mind scrambled to think of something other than fight or flight. It popped out of existence leaving behind a small knife, startling the elf.

Savior Learned New Ability: Basilisk Glare (lvl 1)

Wait what!?

“No way,” he moaned softly. Why? Why did his past have to haunt him? It was bad enough he was still running from Death Eaters, now he had a reminder of the Chamber shoved in his face. Was it even a legit ability or was someone on the other side messing with him? Because this was just too cruel. He didn’t want to remember the manipulations of Dumbledore. Of how the headmaster had stolen him from his parents because the real Harry Potter had been stillborn and then put him through his paces every year to get him ready to become a martyr. He just wanted to play a game and meet his sister. Was that too much to ask for?

“Excuse me?”

Harry startled out of his thoughts, his vision dimming briefly -he hated those little black spots that reminded him of his weakness- at another unwelcome surprise. There was an old balding man in a ragged cloak hunched before him, practically hanging off of a knobby cane.

“H-hello,” He stuttered, clearing throat to push the panic back down. “Can I help you?”

“Hello, Háizi. Would you help me please?”

Judging by the empty feeling surrounding this man, he was an NPC so this was some form of quest. So he hadn’t just freaked out in front of a player, thank Merlin.

“Sure. What exactly do you need?”

“Oh! Thank you! Thank you, Háizi. My poor wife and I were attacked by two large beasts! They made off with all of our belongings. Would you please get it back for us?”

“Uh, sure, but first let’s get you back to your wife.”

Ding

Savior has accepted mini-quest “In the Forest Doth Hide…”

With that said, Harry helped the old man out onto the road and to the wrinkled woman that was lounging up against a tree, in the shade. She greeted her husband and was told Harry had come to help. Her tearful thanks just made the new elf feel a little guilty about not trying the quest soon at the least. He was only level 1 but he could try right? He’d level up on the way. “This is where I’ll leave you. I’ll be back before you know it, okay?”

2 hours he’d spent in the forest killing slimes and the occasional pack of wolves he came across. His level had gone up a few times but he wasn't keeping track, too focused on trying to find the ‘large beasts’ he’d been tasked with. Everything in this forest was tiny, though, and Harry was starting to wonder if he’d been asked to find Boss monsters. Because if he was… it would probably be a good idea to assign those ability points he’d ignored. And wouldn't you know, the Potter luck decided to kick in right as he was summoning up his screen. It flashed an error sign and ‘You cannot open this screen in battle’ message.

Then Harry’s war trained reflexes kicked in and he dodged to the side getting nicked by some claws.

Attack Successful: Savior -150HP

150!? Harry’s heart hammered as he checked his health. After his leveling to lvl 5 it had risen to 500 leaving him with only 350HP. And that was from a nick only! If he tried to fight this thing he’d be dead!

Without even checking to see what kind of monster it was he tried to flee, dodging another claw swipe, but was blocked as a giant green slime with a crown on his head dropped out of the sky in front of him. The panic clawed at his chest and up his throat again, threatening him with a blackout. He dove to the side, the slime spit hitting the monster behind him with a wet splat.

Attack Successful: Wolf King -50HP

A long furious howl rent the air sending chills down his back. That sounded too much like a werewolf for his liking. This was not okay! This was definitely not okay! He was up against two monsters much higher level than him and his chance of escaping was looking dim. He glanced around desperately, his vision swimming in memories, heart in his throat. He didn't want to give in!

The wolf growled again snapping forward in an attempt to bite him and he was lost in bloody battlefields, half-man half-wolf rending his classmates and friends limb from limb, a howl to the moon, rancid breath washing across the back of his neck as he was pinned to the floor of the Forbidden Forest.

The calm swept over him like a blanket.

He spun in place dodging the, now revealed, Wolf King’s bite and stabbing the extra small knife he had down on the snout. The knife was lost as the wolf jerked away.

Attack Successful: Wolf King -150HP

Another utterly furious howl but he had already rolled forward under the softly belly to escape the Slime King’s spit.

Attack Successful: Wolf King -50HP

The beasts could hurt each other and he was going to use that to his full advantage. On his way out from under the back legs he slashed his dagger through the back tendon but it didn't have the intended effect,  instead only just barely slicing through the skin.

Attack Successful: Wolf King -20HP

Game logic worked differently. The face must be a weak point. He sprinted forward swerving to dodge another spit, and ran straight at the slime slashing at the stomach.

Attack Successful: Slime King -20HP

Previous and current observation were the same. Physical attacks were weak on slime. Ignore the slime, focus on the wolf. The slime jiggled in warning and even though he knew this attack, he had no time to dodge. Instead he flattened himself making sure the pommel of his dagger was on the ground and the blade was straight up. The Slime King pounced, landing directly on the elf and the upturned dagger.

Attack Successful: Savior -300HP

Attack Successful: Slime King -20HP

After being absorbed he was spat out seconds later, rolling with the impact to avoid more health loss. He was down to 50HP. He somersaulted forward dodging another claw swipe. The elf glanced up at the Wolf King’s head as it came down for another bite. He was able to retrieve his dagger while jumping up on the nose, balancing in a crouch. The wolf went cross-eyed and snarled, beginning to shake his head.

He jumped, his wings flapping furiously behind him trying to hold his weight. It wasn’t enough. He needed to fly.

The Slime King’s spit landed directly in the wolf’s eyes barely missing his feet as the elf pushed his wings passed their limit.

Attack successful: Wolf King -500HP

System Notice: Savior Learned New Ability- Flight (lvl1)

His new ability was ignored in favor of the newfound weakness. So, it wasn't just the face, the eyes were a critical weak point like a dragon’s. He dropped like a stone, retracting his wings and dropping straight onto the giant canine’s left eye with both blades. More slime spit sailed overhead splashing harmlessly against a tree.

Attack Successful: Wolf King -600 HP

He smashed into the ground losing 10HP after he was shaken off the boss monster. The red glow around it was something new. He’d need to be on guard. The slime jiggled a few feet away and he cursed, jumping up and racing to the treeline. A loud crash sounded behind him, the ground shaking and knocking him to the floor, followed by a thump and a yelp.

Attack Successful: Wolf King -200HP

He spun, pushing himself to his feet to gaze at the scene critically. The wolf had pounced first, the slime second, and the wolf had been flattened by the slime. The slime couldn’t absorb the wolf, instead wobbling on top of it and shooting another easily dodgeable spit. He jumped atop the snapping mouth and aimed for the second eye.

Attack Successful: Wolf King -600HP

With a rumble that spread through the ground the giant canine pushed itself to its feet, dislodging the slime, and flinging its massive head back. The elf was barely able to right himself with his wings before crashing through some branches and into the ground.

Attack Successful: Savior -20HP

With a savage growl, he pushed himself to his feet and grabbed his fallen weapons. It was close to death, it would die and he would survive. The trees in front of him started cracking, being flung as the wolf charged blindly, heedless of the damage it was causing. It’s mouth opened and he readied himself. With a mighty chomp, the elf was snapped up off the ground as he shoved his dagger upwards. It had longer reach than the knife and was sufficient enough in stabbing into the brain.

Attack Successful: Wolf King -1000HP

Wolf King Defeated.

System Notice: Savior leveled up to 11. Flight leveled up to 3. Hover leveled up to 7.

Attack Successful: Savior - 300HP

Rejuvenating health during level up. Useful.

He grunted, using his feet to shove the roof of the beast's mouth open and pull his injured arm inside, glancing at the fang there. It would be next to useless in this next fight but removing the fang would only cause massive blood loss. Did the game deal with blood loss? Better safe than sorry.  The Wolf King started to dissolve and he only had a few seconds to scramble into a better position- difficult in such a cramped space- before he fell onto the ground shoulder first trying to roll with the impact, as the boss disappeared around him. The fang was jarred and he lost 20HP. He’d need to be more careful dealing with the second threat.

He grabbed his dagger and knife, shoving the second into his inventory. His wings popped out again as he jumped, pushing himself up into the air to land on some branches. From his vantage point he could make out the Slime King slowly jiggling its way to his location. Good. He had time to think. Physical attacks were useless. As a new elf he had no magic, except the basilisk glare. He was Weak.

He’d have to make due.

He launched himself to the next tree and the next and the next, slowly moving towards the boss monster. Once he had it in his sights, he shot forward using the trees to keep him eye level. The ability was activated. The Slime King tried to turn away but he only followed it using the branches and trees as his kickoff points. It tried to spit at him but he was already out of the way keeping it’s eyes in his sights. After a few more spit attacks it tried to pounce, failing in the tightly wooded area. The attacks were the same pattern. Four to five spits then a pounce. It would be slow but he could win. He could be Patient.

Throwing in physical jabs every now and then, he had finally worked the Slime King into the red glow the Wolf had had. More pounces were doled out but he had the advantage.

Attack Successful: Slime King -30HP

Slime King Defeated.

System Notice: Savior has leveled up to 15. Flight has leveled up to 6. Hover has leveled up to 10. Basilisk Glare has leveled up to 7. Savior acquired Stolen Luggage, Egg, Growing Type Weapon: Raze.

He had survived.

Harry stopped with a gasp and gazed upon the empty clearing, vaguely noting the System Notice blaring above him. The trees around him were bent and destroyed, gouges and craters lined the dirt. It was utter destruction.

His arm throbbed bringing his attention to the fang stuck there, the tiny rivulets of blood dripping down his arm. With a careful hand he yanked it out, letting it fall to the floor.

His head was stuffy, full of cotton but his chest hurt and his vision was dancing. His arm hurt too and the game agreed saying he lost HP but the elf didn’t care.

Why couldn’t he… think? He had… blacked out?

With a snap, clarity came back and Harry screamed, clutching his hair as his fingernails dug into his scalp. His breath came in short stuttering gasps, his throat raw. He couldn’t breath! He couldn’t feel!

Harry woke to pressure surrounding his head and, already panicked, he ripped it off chucking it across the room. He couldn’t breath as he scrambled off his bed, hitting the floor with a harsh thud. A hysterical sob tore up out of his throat. He was WEAK! He was so weak and stupid and he’d been doing so well. He scratched at his arms trying to feel something, anything! Of course, he was still weak. Did he honestly believe that he could change himself? He was a danger to everyone around him.

Harry hated himself! He hated that he couldn’t even control what happened during those blackouts outs. He didn’t… he didn’t deserve to be here! He shouldn’t be here!

He scrambled to get up barely noticing as he banged into his dresser and the wall by the door in his panic.

He needed to get out. He needed to get away! With trembling legs he ran full throttle to front door, smashing into it. He beat his hands against the frame and the door, his thoughts swirling and desperation growing. He needed OUT! He switched to ramming his shoulder into the door again and again until it finally buckled under his weight. He crashed onto the the walkway of the second story of his apartment building and scrabbled up on his knees not noticing his neighbors start to come out.

An Di was shook awake by her son and a rhythmic loud banging. She jumped up, pushing the blankets from her legs as she hopped out of bed. Bao clutched at her torso in fear and she shushed him, switching his hands from her waist to her own trembling hands. They both made their way to the front door, cracking it open to glance out. A few others were poking their heads out, frowning and grumbling about the noise. An Di noticed Wang Fei’s door bulge out with every hit until the man came tumbling out in an explosion of splinters and blood. WIth a quiet swear unbecoming of her she shoved Bao further inside closing the door behind her.

Her feet were bare but she was careful to avoid the wood as she made her way closer to the trembling form of her neighbor.  There was quite a bit of blood running down his face and on his hands and forearms. His cry startled her into stopping as he gave great heaving sobs, starting to scratch at his arms. Considering the blood this was probably not something new.

An Di desperately wanted to help him but from her brief time studying medical she knew it wasn’t safe to approach him without knowing the cause of his anxiety attack.

“Wang Fei,” she called softly. There was no reaction. “Wang Fei, You need to stop. You need to stop and breath.”

He wasn’t listening at all. She really didn’t want to touch him and make it worse but by this point he needed to stop scratching or he’d tear his arms to ribbons. He had short stubby nails, she’d noticed that at dinner, but he definitely knew how to cause damage with them.

“Mom, what’s wrong with him?”

She whirled around giving her son a stern disappointed look.  “Go back inside, Bao.”

“But Mom-!”

“St-o-op looking at m-me!”

Bao gasped, backpedaling from the screaming man and rushing into the house. Wang Fei had managed to stand on shaky legs and was whipping his head back and forth like a bull about to charge staring at the neighbors that had started to gather. The mother almost wanted to throw something at them. Couldn’t they see they were only making him worse? But, no, instead they were starting to mutter to each other while keeping a safe distance.

“Go back inside,” she barked. “There is nothing to see here!”

An Di only received scornful glares even as they backed further away when Wang Fei swung his arms out and then back in, punching himself harshly in the jaw.

“Wang Fei, you need to listen to me,” her voice was strong and steady. “Stop hurting yourself.”

“M-Make it st-o-op,” he groaned, hunching over and almost falling on his face.

“I can’t make it stop if you don’t let me close. Can I come closer?”

He screamed again and sobbed, obviously not hearing her. She pursed her lips and tried again, “ Wang Fei, may I touch you?”

“I can’t feel. I can’t feel I can’t feel!”

An Di took a step closer before hesitating and glaring at the still whispering crowd on the walkway. She really wished they’d go away… this was already going to put him in their bad books and if he harmed her they might even get the police involved. It was honestly surprising they hadn’t already. She took a steadying breath before reaching forward and placing a hand on his shoulder. It was only because she expected  the attack that his backhand didn’t conk her on the temple. Instead she caught his wrist gently, letting it go when he tugged on it, his head whipping around to stare at her with wide eyes.

“Wang Fei. I need you to breath, okay? It’s An Di. You know me and my son, Bao. You were over enjoying a really nice dinner with us just a few hours ago.”

His breath hitched painfully in his chest. Oh Merlin he’d almost hit her! Almost hit the nice mother who’d taken it upon herself to welcome him into their life. He was so weak! This is what he’d been afraid of! He was so stupid! Stupid! Stupid!

And all these people were watching his breakdown…. His bottom lip quivered as he tried to breath like An Di was instructing but the air just wasn’t coming. His lungs were on fire and if this kept up he’d pass out. It was safer that way probably. He wouldn’t hurt anyone.

He didn’t even feel the floor when he hit it.

Harry huddled miserably under his blanket, sitting on his couch with a cup of tea warming his hands. It’s very scent, Oolong, was calming in a way that was hard to describe but it did little to quell the guilt and burning self hatred that he felt. And he thought he’d been getting better too.

His bandaged arms throbbed in time with his heartbeat but he was adept at ignoring the pain. His shoulder was still a bit numb compared to the rest of him so he couldn’t really tell if it was broken. His feet were also throbbing after having picked several splinters out of them as well as his knees. He was just a bloody pathetic mess...

An Di sank into the recliner chair, clutching her own steaming cup of tea. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to…. But, I’m here to listen if you need someone to talk to.”

Tears pricked the corner of his eyes as his face flushed in shame. It wasn’t fair that this wonderful woman had to deal with episode and was even trying to help afterwards! “I’m fine. It’s… been a long time since I’ve had an attack that… strong. You don’t have to be here. I can take care of myself.”

She gave his injuries a disbelieving once over before sighing. “Maybe you can take care of yourself, but I’m saying you don’t have to. I don’t like to talk about my Grandpa but he was a soldier with PTSD. Terrible night terrors even in his seventies and always trying to do everything himself. He even cut himself off from the family… He was a lonely man, Wang Fei. I want to help you the way I never could with him.”

Harry snorted bitterly. “And get smacked around? I’d rather you just leave me alone.”

“Is that what you’re worried about? I can take care of myself, you shouldn’t worry about hurting me.”

Harry grit his teeth silently. She just didn’t understand. She was a muggle and had no idea the destruction he could and would cause during an episode or a blackout. So he turned his pleading eyes onto her aiming for a different tactic “You don’t understand. I’ve killed people before and I didn’t even know until afterwards. I’m a danger to society so just leave m-”

“And let you tear yourself apart in the process? You don’t need isolation, you need someone to talk to or at least someone to be there for you when these things do happen,” she stated firmly. “You can try to chase me away but it’s not going to work.”

“And what if I hurt your son,” the wizard asked scathingly.

She paused and looked at him. It was extremely uncomfortable having that stare weigh heavily on his shoulders.

“You don’t seem like the type of person to hurt a child, Wang Fei.”

His loud hysterical laugh startled her into leaning back.

“But that’s just it! I’m not a person! I’m a bloody killing machine made for one purpose! Look,” he said, calming down, “...just go back to your life and forget that I live next to you, okay? It’ll be easier for both of us.”

“Easier, maybe but not right.” She stood up turning the empty cup over in her hands a few times. “I suppose I’ll take any mistakes that happen later onto my own head. I’d like to see you over for dinner again tomorrow. And you’re human not a killing machine.”

She set her cup in the kitchen and walked carefully around the pile of splinters that had been swept inside and to the right of the broken door pieces. She gave him one last stern look before brushing past the dark blue blanket blocking the doorway and leaving Harry to his depressed thoughts.

Harry watched her go, a heavy frown settling on his face as his eyebrows furrowed. Bloody stupid woman and her dragon like stubbornness. He didn’t need her ‘help’. She reminded him of his therapist in that regard. An extremely stubborn Japanese squib that studied psychology almost every day of his life after his adolescence. The man hadn’t been pleased with the spell he’d put on his himself and was also very adamant that Harry needed to face his fears and socialise more, even if it was only a close circle of friends.

Speaking of facing his fears… it was much too early to try to go back into the game, with anxiety still squeezing his lungs tightly. It was more manageable now that he didn’t feel trapped or watched -he glanced over to the window curtains to make sure they were closed and to the blanket blocking the doorway- he could at least control his actions.

Harry sighed. He needed to do something as a distraction. Running was out as that was outside and he couldn’t do that right now no matter how dark it was. Baking…. Might be possible but he’d have to check the pantry. He looked at his lukewarm tea before sighing and taking a sip. This was going to be a long sleepless night.

Chapter Text

Game Start

Harry Potter was absolutely exhausted. Not able to sleep because of anxiety, but also not able to motivate himself to do anything, he’d sat there the whole night slowly sipping his cold tea and letting his self hatred and disgust run rampant through his mind. It was the bare indications of light shining through the curtains and blanket that finally spurred him to move. Which was painful. Extremely so.

He spent the next two hours huddled in his room, away from the bustling early morning life, diagnosing his patched injuries and healing the more severe and out of sight ones. Three cracked ribs, a shattered shoulder and a fractured skull later he was ready to force himself into cleaning. The splinters were magicked away and the two door pieces were chucked in the garbage cans the complex shared.

He didn’t really want to be out in public but the thought of being without a door for any longer was heart clenching enough. When back underneath his own wards he set a mild notice-me-not charm to make sure no one snooped before getting dressed in nondescript clothes and a baseball cap and heading to the nearest hardware store.

The purchase was easy. Dealing with the staring because of the dark bruises and cuts on his face not so much. In fact, it almost set off another episode because he was so high strung from the last one. He made it home and had the door set up and locked before noon. Then he walked to his couch and plopped onto it face first before passing out. It wasn’t a restful sleep in the least.

The knocking on his door was an annoyance but also a reprieve. Opening it to the sight of his manager was absolutely not. In fact, it sent another round of anxiety ringing through his body. Just what he needed right now.

“Wang Fei,” The older balding man smiled blandly. “With all the complaints I came into at the office I was expecting more property damage.”

Harry swallowed tightly, his hand clenching on the door, resisting the urge to slam it. “I replaced the door.”

“I see. Normally, I’d given a written warning but since you’re so new I will accept an apology and give you a verbal warning.”

With his sharp suit and overhanging brow the smile was more predatory than bland now. This man… was looking to humiliate him and Harry was willing to oblige as long as it would make him go away. He bent over at the waist, hands clenched at his side and opened his mouth.

“You straighten your back right now!” Harry lifted his head in surprise and slowly righted himself as the manager turned to An Di with a frown. “How dare you bow like that for something out of your control-” the woman climbed the last three steps to the second floor her son trailing close behind. There was a fire burning in her eyes as she rounded on the manager. “-and how dare you even make him do that!”

“An Di this is not your business.”

“Oh don’t even start with me,” she seethed. “Did you know he is a veteran? That he has PTSD?”

Beady eyes narrowed and he crossed his lanky arms but said nothing.

“You did! You knew and you still come up here demanding an apology!”

“You are walking a thin line, woman.”

Harry had to forcefully refrain himself from saying something. If he opened his mouth right now his filter would be nonexistent and he didn’t need a black mark on his record already. A verbal warning was perfect because there’d be no documentation and his parents wouldn’t have to know how messed up he was.

“I will walk that line if I have to. This is reprehensible and I won’t stand for it.” She shifted the grocery bags to one hand so the other could be propped on her hip. She looked like a dragon ready to breath fire and roast the poor manager alive.

Blowing out a breath, Harry unclenched his fist and ran his fingers through his greasy unkempt hair. “Please, An Di. This doesn’t involve you.”

He almost flinched as those fire-bright brown eyes focused on him. She studied him a moment before clenching her jaw and staring down the manager instead. Was that a bead of sweat on the man’s prodigious forehead? He cut in quickly before she could say anything to get herself in trouble. As far as he understood her standing here was precarious. As a single mother that barely made anything she was only here due to government help and if anything went on her record she could be kicked out.

“I sincerely apologize for any disturbance the other tenants suffered last night. I will endeavor to keep my attacks to myself in the future. Was there anything else I could help you with today?”

The perfectly manicured, raised brow An Di shot him was not appreciated. Nor was the nasty glare and gritted ‘No’ from the manager. And no he did not just use an extremely sarcastic tone. Not at all. Then he closed his door and clutched his chest wishing the painful thudding would stop. There was absolutely no reason for him to be freaking out and he needed to make sure that the manager was not harassing his neighbor. With shaking fingers he formed a small split in between the blinds and glanced out. The asshole was already walking down the steps and An Di wasn’t in sight.

He thought she’d gone home until there was a light knock on his door.

“Are you coming over dinner,” she asked once he peeked his head out.

Really this woman was persistent. Today was just not a good day for him though, and being forced to interact would only make things worse in his opinion. He glanced at Bao and how white his knuckles were as he clutched his mother’s red wool skirt. Great. He’d scared the kid. Going over was a definite no now.

He closed the door with a sigh. She seemed to understand his need to be alone but was not at all happy about it. ‘You will have dinner with us within the week, Wang Fei,’ resounded through his head. Ugh he didn’t want to think about this right now. Instead he tromped into his room and flopped face down on his bed. He could deal with life later.

Or, his negative thoughts and lack of motivation could keep him in bed for hours until it was nearly one in the morning and he didn’t think he could hate himself anymore than he did now. He glanced at the helmet sitting on the floor. He could play but then he was at risk for another attack.

But...

He’d never get anywhere in life if he was worried about his anxiety. His therapist said that a lot, not that it helped much. In this case he was right. Without going to the palace, which was not happening anytime soon, Second Life was the only way he’d be able to see his sister. Well,  there was also enchanted mirrors but… call him vain but after seeing his avatar and how he could look… the wizard wanted his sister’s first meeting to go well. Seeing his gaunt form with haunted eyes twitching from paranoia was the exact opposite of how he wanted to be viewed.

He just could not allow himself to be weak again.

A dark part of his mind purred in pleasure.

The sun was shining brightly through the trees. The leaves dancing in the wind casting swirls of light upon the ground. It was a few hours from sunset, when the sun would rise in real life, and the air was warm and light, flowing easily through his lungs.  The realism of this game was almost magic.

Harry sighed softly glancing at his fingers. There was no blood left and he felt revitalized. His health was back to maximum after so long being logged out. Between his fingers he caught a glance of white and blinked in surprise. All of the items that he’d won were still sitting by his folded legs where he'd left them. An iridescent egg sat perched against his knee, a sword in front of both knees,  the fang that had been lodged in his arm sat glistening next to the hilt of the sword, and an old leather backpack was a few inches away from his thigh. Right. There was a quest he was supposed to complete. And he’d just had to think that his luck was holding up okay before the whole disaster, too.

With a sigh he started gathering the items to place in his inventory. The egg disappeared first, the fang next and the backpack, or Stolen Luggage as it was labeled, last. The sword he saved so he could check its stats and see if he could use it. It was a basic longsword, looking very much like Gryffindor’s sword but with no hand guard. The hilt also had five round bumps that went from bigger to smaller, the biggest being the pommel.

The stats on this thing were amazing!

Growing Type Weapon: Raze

This weapon is ready to drain enemies dry! The more you use it the stronger it becomes!

ATK: 25

DEF: 12

Class Lock: Warrior

Well. Looks like he couldn’t use it unless he became a warrior. How inconvenient right now considering how strong it was compared to all the other weapons he had looked at in the shop. His dagger only had and ATK of 4. Speaking of his dagger Where had it gone after the fight? With a sigh, Harry banished the sword to his inventory and checked it for his dagger. Both the small knife and his longer dagger were there and he sighed in relief. He still had two weapons to protect himself.

Now he just had to make his way back to finish the quest… And of course they were being attacked by bandits. Because why not just make his life harder? Especially since he still hadn’t distributed those bloody ability points! He didn’t bother with his wings, these were ground attackers and he didn’t have enough practice with them to use them in this kind of battle. He’d have to work on that, definitely. Being only level 5 the bandits themselves weren’t hard to take care of. It was that they numbered over twenty that was difficult. By the time he was done he had gulped down three potions, almost lost the old lady, and nearly had another anxiety attack because he wasn’t strong enough.

System Notice: Savior leveled up to 14. Basilisk Glare leveled up to 8.

He sucked in a sharp breath as all his aches faded with the system notice. That was definitely a feeling he would have to get used to. And now that he was done fighting… the wizard hunched over and stuffed a fist in his mouth to keep the scream in. It built in his throat, beating, gnawing, burning, but he swallowed it back. He sucked in another sharp breath through his nose, ignoring the burning of tears as they dripped onto the hard packed dirt beneath him. His lungs threatened another blackout as they constricted but merlin dammit he had done this before and he would do it again. What had the therapist said again? Breath in for a count of four, hold for five and breath out for seven?

He could do that. He did do that. Until finally he was breathing normally, only slightly dizzy, and nothing hurt.

His anxiety attacks made him wonder. Here in this game he could feel the attacks but physically he came to no harm unlike when a monster attacks him. Did that mean that Harry’s attacks weren’t actually happening? The gameplay was done inside of their minds basically. So was everything in his head? Was he only suffering the attacks because he thought he was suffering the attacks? If that was so… then this was a mind over matter situation and Harry was a stubborn blighter. He had been doing better for a few years he wasn’t about to let a stupid game drag him back to the dark years right after the war.

He would get stronger, stronger than any monster and player. He chanted a small prayer under his breath and settled his mind. Clarity is what he needed.

He straightened and turned to the elderly couple who had been fussing over each other with the same lines for the last few minutes. The wizard was extremely grateful that they were NPCs.

“Here’s your luggage, sir,” Harry said as he pulled it out of the inventory and set it in front of them.

“Thank you ever so much, Háizi. Here take this as a token of my appreciation.” The elderly man smiled, slipped off his ragged cloak and handed it to Harry.

System Notice: Savior has completed a mini-hidden quest “In the Forest Doth Hide…”. Item Received: Cloak of invisibility. Savior Learned New Ability: Invisibility (lvl 1)

The elf choked on air…

Really? Really!? First the eyes and now this. The game had to be stalking him or using legilimency on him or something! There was no way this could be a coincidence.

For the elderly man’s sake he forced a small smile onto his face and stiffly nodded. He had the strongest to kill something. Now.

Harry spent just over ten hours in the forest grinding on any monster that dared approach him. He even went off after higher level monsters than him to prove his strength and gain levels faster. This resulted in his levels rocketing up quickly. Right now the winged elf was at level twenty, which he thought was pretty good for someone who hadn’t been playing for more than a week.

Of course his eating and hygiene had taken a hit for it but at this point he was rather focused on his goal of strength. So focused that he forgot to pay any attention to the little things. At level 10 Harry should have gone in to change his class so he could use the nifty, and extremely rare as he’d recently found out, sword he’d won in the mini-quest. He also kept forgetting to distribute ability points at each level up and he’d not had a weapon or armor upgrade since he’d started. Strength was one thing… making things unnecessarily tougher and impeding how fast he could progress was different.

Which was why he was finally heading back into town. After he distributed the last of his points, of course.

“Sy-s-tem.” He’d finally gotten that word down to a T.

Name: Savior

Gender: Male

Type: Elf

Level: 20

Strength: 24      Endurance: 20    Dexterity: 24    Charisma: 10     Intelligence: 19     Wisdom: 14      Luck: -575/575     Health: 1200     Mana: 295    Reputation: 15     Unused Skill Points: 3

Abilities lvl:

Hover- 13

Basilisk Glare- 10

Flight- 9

Invisibility- 3

Alright. One to dexterity to make it a nice twenty-five and two more to strength because if he was going to be a warrior he was going to need it.

Perfect.

Upon reaching the now bustling Star city, he activated his invisibility to keep out of the way of fangirls. He crept by a group of giggling girls, sprinting away once he had safely passed them. Harry had noticed it before and it unnerved him that there were a lot of fangirls roaming this city. Like millions… either that or he kept seeing the same ones, which meant they were somehow stalking him.

‘CONSTANT VIGILANCE!’

Ugh but how much was his paranoia and how much of it was real? Better to err on the side of caution anyway. A mask should be good at hiding his face. And it wasn’t paranoia if they were really out to get you. Weaving in and out of the crowd, Harry grinned in delight once he found the store he was looking for. The invisible elf slipped inside with a few seconds of his ability left as he walked up to the NPC at the desk.

“I’m here to join the warrior class.”

“That’ll be ten wolf fangs, lad.”

Oh he had quite a few more than just ten. “I’d like to sell the rest for money, please and browse some of your wares.”

“Of course.”

Classes cannot be changed later. Are you sure you’d like to change?

“Yes.” He’d thought extensively on the subject while he’d lounged in his apartment wasting the day away. He really wanted that sword which was locked to warrior class and it was the best class to gain outright strength. Mage was too obvious if there were somehow people here that would recognize him. Priest, well he’d never been the best healer and Necromancer just reminded him too much of Inferi. He also had no patience to sit there and chant, leaving himself wide open, when he could just go up to the monster and cut it in two. Aggressive fighting was definitely more his style. Monk class also didn’t really appeal to him because he’d rather not feel the give of flesh under his fists. He had enough of that in the war when he’d lost his wand thank you very much. Being an archer had played on his thoughts as it was ranged but also quick, but his mind leapt back to the sword again. Something like that had to cost a fortune and he’d gotten it for free. Better to put it to use.

System Notice: Savior has changed class to Warrior.

Bonus of 10 Ability Points.

Bonus Accessory Added to Inventory.

He tossed all ten of them into strength.

The NPC handed over his money and the elf gave a grateful nod. Now he was curious. The manual he’d read hadn’t said anything about a bonus accessory. So he opened his inventory to check it out and promptly freaked out.

“Holy Merlin’s left testicle!”

There was the Gaunt ring, one of the three Deathly Hallows. Wasn’t magic supposed to destroy technology!? How the hell had two extremely magical items slipped into a virtual reality game? Did it have something to do with the mind over matter thing again?

Better questions: Where was the last hallow? Was he going to have to wait for it to give him a heart attack out of nowhere too? Or was he going to wait and build himself up into a full on panic attack waiting for the other shoe to drop?

He cursed the bloody game creator that let this happen.

Breathe. He needed to breathe. He was better than this. He chanted the small prayer under his breath while he squeezed his eyes closed. Clarity.

Right. Those stupid things had followed him everywhere. No matter how many times he had thrown them away they’d show up no later than a week. It wasn’t all that surprising that they’d followed him. What was surprising was that they came into the game when they were in the top dresser drawer with his sleeping body. He lifted the edge of his cloak and glared at it balefully.

“You’re not gonna just give me answers, are you?”

It shimmered briefly before turning back into the raggedy brown cloak. “I thought not,” he sighed. “Let’s see what the ring will do for me then.”

He plucked it from his inventory and slid it on his middle finger.

Savior learned new ability: Immortality (lvl 1)

Immortality? What in the world was that supposed to do?

The description was surprisingly plain. It allows the user to become immortal for a small amount of time once HP hits zero. Once time is up, the user is given 1 HP. The higher the level, the longer the immortality lasts. Useful.

“Thanks I guess.” The ring glinted back at him. Sometimes he wasn’t sure if these things didn’t have some sentience to them. They were pretty old and magic had a way of taking on a life of its own after some millenia...

He turned back to the NPC shop owner and asked to see the masks. No matter how much that would train his Invisibility he didn’t want to waste mana unnecessarily when he was just gonna go out and grind again.

The elf studied the masks the owner brought out critically. One was a bright blue with yellow rings surrounding the eyes and mouth area. It looked really weird because it had two black horns sprouting from the side. Those wouldn’t work with his hood Harry thought and turned to inspect the other one.

This mask was much better. It was plain white with only red markings above and below the eyes. There were no protrusions except for the nose. It was actually quite simplistic and would work well with his cloak and his idea to stay hidden while in a crowd. So, he bought it.

Slipping on his mask, Harry walked out of the store to come face to face with a bunch of beast types that looked ready to mob someone.

“Hey, Boss this ain’t who we was waitin’ for! Hay little dude, you seen some pretty boy in that store? We really need to have a chat with ‘im and we knews that he was gunna be comin’ round these parts fer a while now,” asked the one that looked like a bear.

“You idiot!” The tiger rounded on the other and whacked him across the muzzle.

“Ow! Boss what waz that fer?!”

“This is probably him! Just because he comes out in a mask doesn’t mean it isn’t,” the tiger turned back towards Harry, who was now trapped in a ring of the beasts, “We been looking for you, little Bishie. You see we don’t like your kind much. Even formed a club, we did. WHB stands for We Hate Bishies. Did you know that? Of course you didn’t, that’s why I had to tell you.”

During the speech, Harry had to wonder why the cliche bad guys always had to make a long spiel about their plans and why they did what they did. The Death Eaters were like that in the beginning. It was honestly annoying. Harry just wanted to get to the fight, but for some reason his gut was churning. That was definitely not a good sign. The only times it had ever felt like it did now, was when he was getting into a situation that he might not get out alive.

Admittedly, he would only lose a level if he died, but he had a feeling these guys would track him down and beat him even after they had already killed him. They would probably try to kill him until he was a level one again.

“So, you know what we’re gunna do with you? We’re gunna throw you to the lovely nymphs and watch as they tear you apart out of anger and hate, not joy,” the tiger boss snarled.

Well… that didn’t sound too pleasant. Especially, since he knew that nymphs were only level sixty and up. He wouldn’t have a chance. Harry sent a sharp kick at the unsuspecting rhino beast and hit him in the family jewels. The rhino went down and Harry jumped over his body, dodging grabbing arms as he went, and ran straight to the forest. Once there he could use his wings to fly away, but he would rather not show his ace here in front of everyone.

The beasts raged as they chased after him. He knew they were all stronger than him by at least ten levels  now that he was looking for their name and levels above their head. Right before Harry could reach the forest his path was cut off by a pissed rhino beast. The smaller body turned to run another direction, but found his path blocked again. A panic started to set in - trappedcan’tgetoutdon’twanttokillthemmurderer- before he felt a sharp pain in his neck and fell like a rock.

OMAKE:

Wen Di loved her job as a Second Life creator. It was fun to create little impossible tasks just because she could. The other day though, she had noticed something new in the program. It looked like three viruses but when she looked more closely she could tell they were benign. Well there wasn’t any reason to delete them if they weren’t going to harm the program… So, she had ignored them and went about her day around the office with her sweet, precious coffee as her only friend.

Today she was lounging around her desk, idly checking for glitches in the program when the sudden urge to sneeze hit her. She tried holding it back, but the compulsion was too strong and a loud, “ACHOOO!!” echoed throughout the room. An awkward silence descended on the room as all the other workers stared at her. She fidgeted for a moment before excusing her rudeness and turned back toward her computer. With a beet red face, Wen Di, vowed revenge on whoever had been talking about her behind her back.

Chapter Text

Harry awoke to the feeling of rope on his hands and feet and immediately fell into bad memories.

He was on the stage in front of everyone, the announcer talking faster than his mind could comprehend. This was supposed to be a black ring bust because they were associated with Voldemort but he’d underestimated their security. They’d caught him, tied hemp ropes cruelly around his wrists and ankles and dropped him on his face on the stage like a stone. Black silken robes and masks upon masks, different colors and sizes stared back at him. Wands were raising, the price sky-rocketing-

He was back in the dungeons, screaming tugging trying to make it Just STOP .

Hemp ropes. He hated hemp ropes. They tore cruelly into his skin as he tried to escape but the blackened rusted torque on his neck prevented any magic. He retreated into that dark place.

“Shaddup,” a voice cried. It was jarring, disorienting. That isn’t what happened. His voice didn’t sound that way.

“You shut up! We don’t need the nymphs comin’ down on us here!”

“He won’ stop moanin!”

“Then slap him, idiot.”

“Got it boss!”

There was a sharp sting on the bottom of his foot and Harry jerked from his memories. That’s right he was in game. It was okay. He chanted the prayer in his head since his mouth was bound with a rough cloth that bit into the corners of his mouth. The pain wasn’t as bad as he was expecting but then again it was only 99% realism; they had turned the pain levels down.

Now that he was thinking about it the ropes didn’t actually hurt, they were smooth, just pressure. And he was hanging upside down like a pig hung on a stick. It was actually really uncomfortable and the elf was glad this wasn’t real life because the blood would have drained to his head the way he was hanging.

He struggled to shift it into a better position than his head just lolling on his shoulders but it was more difficult than one might expect. There was also a blindfold tied tightly around his eyes that was making his head start to throb. His mask was gone, he couldn’t feel his cloak or shirt, and from the slap earlier his shoes were also gone. These men were robbers too! And what even was a be-she?

He was startled out of his twisting when a rough voice piped up, "So you're finally awake, huh? Took ya long enough. Seriously, we didn't hit ya that hard! Oh, wait maybe your just a weaklin'! Hahaha!"

"Shut up, you idiot." The tiger growled and huffed muttering under his breath about stupid underlings.

Whatever the hell it was, it was apparently bad news for Harry as it had gotten him in his current situation. They said they wanted the nymphs, who were women, to tear him apart. So, maybe it had something to do with how many fangirls kept staring him down or those millions of girls he kept seeing everywhere.

Considering how ugly some of the beasts were that was probably the reason. Harry sighed as he swayed back and forth in his hanging position. He had thought his avatar had looked sorta cool, but he didn't see how he could have attracted as much attention as he had; he wasn't that handsome or pretty.

The wood gave a sharp jolt as it was lifted and dropped a little bit, seeming to have been shifted off a shoulder. Thinking back on how he had woken up, and trying to ignore his throbbing hands and feet, Harry pondered what it felt like to die in the game. Being dismembered was brutal in real life, slow and painful. He would know. He wasn’t too keen on letting it happen again.

Thinking of dismemberment made him think of Malfoy who had turned early in the war. Once the boy had been assured of his parent’s safety he’d become something of a berserker. Helped Harry out quite a bit actually. He’d come to regret not making friends with the blonde earlier as their relationship was always strained but the stuck up poncy child had reminded him too much of a skinny Dudley. They’d both been captured during a guerilla mission and dragged to a werewolf camp on the night of the full moon. After he’d woken up he mourned for as long as he was able before fleeing back to his friends to report the tragic news.

Harry was jolted from his memories -that seemed to be happening quite often and he was not comfortable with how easily he was getting lost in them- as his hands and feet were untied, but he was held still in a crushing grip.

"You know, I think it's pretty lucky that we've gotten this far into the land of nymphs and we haven't been attacked by a single one," the leader of the beasts pondered. "Oh, well. Now there are only purple robes around. Have fun little bishie. We'll be watching from the safety of the trees."

With that, Harry felt himself be lifted and tossed. For a moment there was the soft air rustling his trousers and caressing his skin and it was peaceful. That peace ended when he tumbled painfully across the dirt, his neck snapping to the side and actually deducting 50HP. The elf did nothing but lay there and listen to the sound of the breeze as nymphs passed him by without a second glance waiting for the claws to rend him to pieces. After a few agonizing moments that dragged on into eternity he decided he really needed to get the stupid blindfold off.

Slowly, ever so slowly so as to not irritate the nymphs, Harry reached up with his right hand (his left was pinned beneath his body and he was too afraid to move it) and tugged the blindfold loose so it slid down around his neck. Raising his head, Harry looked straight at the group of beasts that had brought him here. There only seemed to be three, probably to keep from attracting too much attention from the monsters. Harry had to admit the nymphs were beautiful creatures. They were all smooth alabastor skin and soft curving bodies. The silken purple kimonos decorated with all forms of lighter and darker flower petals hugged them like a second skin. Their black hair was pulled into a loose bun atop their heads showcasing their delicate necks. Wisps of hair framed their unnatural faces perfectly. They were too perfect. So much so that even if Harry liked woman it would put him off. Only dangerous magical creatures, usually seductive ones, ever looked so perfect.

All he wanted now was to get out from this place alive and if possible unharmed. He severely doubted it though; it was his luck that got the group in unharmed, he was positive; he was definitely not getting out that way.

Harry shifted his cramped muscles trying to get some relief. Finally he tried to get to a standing position as fast as he dared. As he rose, Harry cautiously glanced around. The entire clearing was beautifully decorated with flowers and white trees that glowed with an inner light. It was also filled to the brim with more nymphs than he could count and that was just in front of him. This could definitely take the biscuit for crappy situation of the day. And it had been going so well… too well his luck agreed.

The group of beasts looked particularly displeased about the lack of action but Harry was still ready. His bad luck usually kicked in at this point. Well he was right. His head jerked from a muscle spasm in his neck, his muscles protesting their stiff position. The quick motion caught the attention of all the nymphs in the area. All of them were glaring at him. And all of them looked ready to commit murder.

Oh Merlin.

It was like a signal was given as they all sprang at once. A reflex from the war kicked in and he crouched in a fetal position so none of his more sensitive places were exposed. He felt a nick on his shoulder but not much else. Cautiously, the elf peeked out from under his arm and seeing nothing slowly unfurled from his tight ball. He glanced around, wondering what had stopped the attack. Standing to one side were the nymphs and they were looking behind him. Even the group of beasts behind the nymphs was gaping at something behind him.

Harry never got the chance to turn around as he was swept up into someone's arms. A male someone going by the flat chest. The flowing sleeves of the man's garb wrapped around Harry for a brief second before they settled. It felt like water cascading over his skin, cooling and soothing. Strong steel arms held him aloft bridal style, safe and warm. It was like nothing he had ever felt before.

Terrifying.

"Wha-!"

"Little beauty be mine?"

Harry was stunned speechless. For a second a thought crossed his mind. Where had his well-honed war reflexes gone? Then it was banished by a new concept. This man had grabbed him and then asked him to be his! Harry struggled only managing to get himself stuck deeper in the embrace. He glared at the unnaturally perfect face above him.

This man was absolutely beautiful. His eyebrows were shapely and manicured, enhancing his good looks, partially covered by straight bangs that were being tousled in the wind. White hair fell in a long straight waterfall down his back with some gathered between Harry and the firm chest he was pressed up against. Warm golden eyes gazed back at him and… well, the elf couldn't properly describe how ethereal this man was.

Harry had been in fourth year when he had found that he was attracted to boys. It had been a real shock, and in his embarrassment he had told no one. He was especially attracted to the Hufflepuff, Cedric Diggory. When Cedric's name had come out of the cup, he had been ecstatic for his crush but also worried about his health. So, when Harry's own name came out of the cup as well, he had been absolutely devastated. He didn't want to compete against his crush that was three years older than him . His attraction had only grown stronger throughout the year and near the end, Harry -thought he- knew he was in love. It was rare that he let anyone deep into his heart because of the Dursley's but there was just something about Cedric and his smile. He’d learned at the end of the year that anything he really cherished would ultimately be taken away from him. Cedric had been killed right in front of him by Pettigrew, the bloody traitor. That was when he had closed his fragile heart and surrounded it with a thin layer of ice that only grew thicker as the years went on.

"You d-do know I'm m-male, right?" was all that Harry managed to squeak out. Because what else was he supposed to say in this moment?

The white haired Adonis chuckled, sending warm vibrations through Harry, and simply nodded.

As Harry was trying to stave off an impending brain overload, the male nymph turned to look at the group of beast players that had yet to move from their spot. They were gaping at him, so he scoffed. They were stupid and ugly. Not like his precious little elf was. He sent a command to his nymphs with a flick of his fingers to attack the worthless beasts in the tree cover. The nymphs turned on the group with a malicious glee and immediately ripped into them.

His darling, hearing the shouting, was broken out of his trance and he whipped around to face the area that the beasts had occupied last. The emotion in those, oh so, fascinating eyes were so strong and varied. Satisfaction, horror, pain, sympathy -or was that empathy?- delight. He almost cooed over how adorable this man was. The warrior turned back to face his captor and he couldn’t help but gaze tenderly right back at him.

"Let me go!"

"Why would I do that little beauty?"

"Leave me alone! I don't even know you," the elf growled desperately.

"Well, in that case. I am Caelus," Harry froze at the name. Caelus? As in the third strongest boss in the whole of Second Life? Well fuck. No wonder they were floating. It was one of his signature moves.

"Now what is my little elf's name?"

"…My screen name is Savior."

"Screen name?" Caelus frowned. That word probably wasn’t in his vocabulary. Oops. "What does screen name mean?"

Harry looked at the boss NPC critically. If he hadn't been told by the man himself what he was, he’d have never believed he was an NPC. All the other NPCs he had met, including the monsters, had a feeling of emptiness about them and their movements seemed almost mechanical if you knew what to look for. Harry had a lot of experience with Imperiused people and knew how to read body language. It was as if there was no soul inside the body, which there shouldn't be because the NPC's were only a part of a program. But Caelus, he felt exactly like a player. There was a soul in this NPC's body, and it piqued his interest. Maybe this was why the Hallows came to him here?

Harry wasn't going to give into the temptation to leave with the man, though! No warm honey and sun streaked eyes were going to keep him in this utterly terrifying embrace. He was not going to relax into some random man’s arms like a damsel being rescued in a fairytale. He was a war hardened veteran dammit and why wouldn’t his body work with him!?

A blast of light shot out of the area signaling that one of the three beasts had died. Honestly, Harry was surprised that they had lasted this long. He stared at the other two still fighting; resolutely ignoring Caelus' curious stare and following pout when he didn't answer. A pout that looked way too realistic… Oh give it up Harry! Don't let this get to you.

Caelus and Savior's Relationship + 3

That startled Harry and apparently the remaining beast players as well. The nymphs took the opportunity to break through their defense and cut them down before they could get their guard back up. It was done really efficiently. Wow.

"Oh! My little Savior we were meant to be together," Caelus cooed.

Harry blinked. Was it even possible to improve or even have a relationship with an NPC, even if it was one as weird as Caelus? It probably wasn't but Harry always had defied all laws of nature. It was only logical that he could defy the laws of a computer program as well.

Unfortunately, he was still very low level, especially compared to this boss, so struggling wouldn’t get him anywhere; not that his body was cooperating with him at the moment anyway. Caelus tightened his arms enough to stop the weak struggling but not enough to crush him. Then he leaned down and ran his tongue across the small wound on his shoulder eliciting a shudder from the elf in his arms.

"Wha-what are you doing," Harry screeched.

"I'm cleaning this little cut. It wouldn't do for my new mate to get infected from a little cut such as this. A nymph's poison is serious business you know."

Harry was confused about what Caelus had said. Nymphs have poison? Is this why he couldn’t move? And therefore didn't notice the giant portal opening up above him and Caelus. So, it was a complete shock when they suddenly lurched upwards and slipped through a giant rip in space. Once Harry had gained his bearings he observed that Caelus wasn't holding him anymore. He was also lying on a very comfortable king-sized bed.

Caelus watched giddily as his new spouse woke up from his disoriented state and glanced around the room. It was a separate room from his and was decorated in hues of green, blue, and a little black. He had designed and decorated that room himself. It had given him something to do in his castle instead of sitting in mind numbing boredom. He was positive Savior would love it! The room was made with who he wanted as a partner in mind. Of course that meant, he had decorated for a boy, but Caelus had always known that he preferred his gender over the fairer sex. He couldn't help it and he didn't really want to.

When he had seen those ugly beasts making their way through his land without attracting the attention of any nymphs he had been slightly curious. Who was lucky enough to do that? What had really caught his attention, though, was the squirming bundle that two beasts had hanging between them that had turned out to be another person. Once they had tossed the smaller body into the midst of his subjects he had become angry. Who would be so dishonorable? What had spurred him into going down there was when the small prisoner had pulled down the blindfold. It exposed the emerald green eyes that shined as if with an inner flame surrounded by deep all encompassing black and the elf ears that had been hidden by long bangs and hair that seemed to have fallen from the braid.

They were absolutely stunningly beautiful. Then he noticed the lack of breasts. Aside from the ragged trousers and blindfold there was not a scrap of cloth present. It presented an unparalleled view of the well sculpted muscles that were his arms and abs; not too thick but not too thin. The little elf was a picture of perfect. Caelus had fallen in love instantly and made an impulsive decision to stop his nymphs from killing his new spouse. He didn't regret it one bit as he watched Savior look around the room in confusion.

Harry was confused. Where had the boss gone? Where was he? And most importantly, why was it so cold?

Harry slipped his legs over the side of the mattress and cautiously slid out of the bed. When his bare feet hit the floor, a shiver ran up his spine. The floor was freezing! He looked down and spotted a carpet to his right and hastily jumped over to it, letting out a sigh as his feet got some relief.

A grunt fell from Harry’s lips as he felt arms snake under his arms and around his midsection. A head with white hair came down to rest upon his shoulders. He could feel the smirk against his cheek that Caelus was wearing on his face. Harry immediately reacted, grabbing Caelus’ exposed thumb and jerking it backwards to loosen the grip. He thrust his hips back and then his head, getting a satisfying yelp from the resulting collision, before using the thumb leverage to yank himself out of the hold and swing around to plant an elbow in the sensitive neck junction.

Instead of dropping, Caelus wrapped both his arms around Harry in a reverse of the earlier hug. But this time the wizard’s arms arms were trapped, his feet were off the ground, and he was staring directly into piercing yellow eyes. He froze like a rabbit in front of the wolf’s maw.

“Ah! My spouse is so mean to me~,” Caelus cooed, eyes softening. “It’s rude to elbow someone you know.” Caelus studied Savior critically. “We need to level you up,” he declared finally. “And get you some armor.”

Caelus released his hold on Savior, his feet hitting the floor with a soft thwump, and softly grabbed his wrist, tugging insistently to get the elf to follow him. Savior didn’t move, eyes still wide staring at where Caelus’ face had been moments before. Was… there something wrong with new spouse?

“Savior?”

No response. It was actually a little worrisome. He didn’t get to interact with people much but he was almost sure this response wasn’t normal. He waved a hand in front of those beautiful eyes and got a blink. Two more blinks and suddenly his eyes came back into focus, staring at Caelus like he was the Ghost King here to steal his soul.

“Oh! My poor husband! It’s the floor isn’t it? It’s too cold? I know just what to do~!’

Spinning around his spouse, Caelus stuck his arms under Harry’s neck and knees and lifted with relish.

There was something seriously wrong with his chosen spouse and Caelus was determined to find out what… but for now trust building and bonding exercise time!

As they were making their way through a maze of hallways Caelus started chattering to fill the awkward silence between them. His spouse had yet to struggle, was in fact still staring at him aghast, so the Nymph King would take full advantage of it.

“Well to level you up I’ll let you kill some of my beautiful nymphs! We could start at the lower level ones but I think the whole leveling process would go faster if you only fought the higher leveled ones. Of course in the beginning they won’t be attacking you. Even then it would probably take a while for you to kill one. Maybe starting off with the lower levels would be best then. Oh my poor husband is so weak!”

That got a reaction at least. The elf’s entire body twitched and his arms crossed as a mutinous glare crossed his features.

“I’ll show you weak,” he muttered.

Harry gaped at the armory with an entire wall of full bodied plate metal, the other two walls containing a myriad of fancy looking weapons.

“Pick anything you like!”

“Uh… right.”

He staggered over to the first armor set, complete with helmet and black spikes and obsidian chain mail. It required level 50. The next one, a red and gold leather set that required level 40. The next was a garishly orange set of plates that only protected certain areas with a mask that looked sort of fox-like, more than likely meant for speed characters, but it required level 70. And so on it went until he was closer to the back wall where it was random pieces of equipment thrown into a pile in the corner.

“Oh, those were from fighters that dropped them or left them behind. My nymphs like the forest to stay pristine and I agree! So they collect all the trash and it gets dumped in the room it’s categorized for.”

The elf blinked, processing the fact that any items left in the Nymph Forest would be hoarded in the castle.

“So an elixir or escape rope?”

“Elixir would go to the potion room in the dungeon and the rope to-,” Caelus stopped talking abruptly, a strangled gasp leaving him. “Nooooooo,” he wailed. “You can’t leave me! I won’t tell you!”

Then Harry was glomped, his knees almost giving out under the Nymph King’s weight. The NPC was surprisingly heavy.

“Guh!”

“You’re perfect and mine! Going to be my husband. I won’t let you leave!”

And so it went for another ten or minutes before he was finally able to get the blubbering man off of him with the excuse of picking armor. Harry shuddered, rubbing his shoulders to ward off the pleasant tingling still sparking under his skin. Touch never felt pleasant and it was slightly jarring how much he wanted the man to hug him again.

He sucked in a sharp breath and got to work to distract himself. In the end he ended up with a near endless roll of medical tape that gave plus 200 health points that was wrapped around his torso and hands and forearms, silver layer-plated shoulder pauldrons that strapped across his chest and back with leather and buckles instead of the normal metal piece (DEF +3), one pair fingerless black leather gloves to help grip his sword (Def +1), and a new pair of leather trousers (Def +4). Everything else was too high a level for him to handle or just wasn’t the right class. And, of course there were no regular shirts. Like hell he was going to wear some fancy embroidery and get robbed.

He absolutely refused a new weapon because damn if he didn’t work for Raze and it was growing type anyway. It would get stronger with him.

The two set off towards the forest.

Oh Merlin he was so weak. At this point he could deal 10 normal damage points and 100 critical damage points per hit and taking into account Nymphs had health well into the 10000 range… It literally took him the entire night to kill one nymph. That was ridiculous on multiple levels. And it wasn’t even the purple robe.

The white haired boss had been cheering on the sidelines the entire time, giving pointers on where to hit. Harry had learned the hard way that he couldn’t tune the other out. Caelus had some sort of sixth sense for it and would always come over and touch him physically in some way. A hand to the shoulder here, a restraining bear hug there and Harry still flinched at all the contact. All the attention wasn’t suffocating, though, which was nice. Strange but nice.

Leveling up nine levels with one kill was also nice and extremely satisfying. And so was distributing his 27 ability points.

Level: 29

Strength: 44      Endurance: 24    Dexterity: 38    Charisma: 10     Intelligence: 20     Wisdom: 15      Luck: -1050/1050     Health: 2150     Mana: 580    Reputation: 15     Unused Skill Points: 0

His Luck stat was still absolutely ridiculous.

“You should rest, dear. You’ve been working really hard,” Caelus encouraged as he came over with a very large grin on his perfect face. He scowled at the Boss shying away from the grasping arms. He wanted the touch too much for it to be normal in any way shape or form.

Caelus was still faster, swooping him into another bear hug. Harry flinched at the suddenness. Slowly his form relaxed as the warmth of the abnormal NPC soaked into his back before tensing again. He could not let himself relax here no matter how much his body wanted to. He was still in enemy territory.

Caelus and Savior's Relationship + 2

Caelus cooed hugging him tighter and Harry just let out a strangled groan.

Chapter Text

Game Start

The wizard removed his headset groggily, laying it on his chest. The light from under his door meant he had played longer than he’d thought. He wasn’t really paying attention to the time while Caelus was trying to, literally, tuck him into the bed he had woken up in. Apparently, that was his room and his bed for as long as he’d like it be. The Boss did say he wouldn’t mind if Harry slept with him, though. Which... yea no. Not happening.

Then he’d waited until he was completely sure that Caelus wouldn’t catch him in the act of logging out. The white haired man hadn’t brought back up the screen name question and the wizard wasn’t in a hurry to remind him.

He sighed gustily. Lifting the headset so it could be laid next to him, Harry rolled out of bed, rubbing sleep crust from the corner of his eyes. He stumbled to his small kitchen and pulled out the ingredients for a quick omelette, his mind working on autopilot while he focused most of his half-awake thought processes on the game.

He needed to find some way to get away from the crazy nymph. That was a fact. But he also wanted to keep using the easy and free level ups because facing a monster that much higher than him with no repercussions? Score.

Still it would have to be soon because being around Caelus made him uneasy and for some reason the system was actually against him.

He placed the pan into the sink and grabbed his plate, sitting in his armchair with the plate balanced on the arm. Slowly he worked his ways through his food, half formed thoughts flying through his mind. The food did little to actually wake him which was no surprise. He hadn’t slept at all yesterday or the day before and then he’d gone and played the game. The warnings in the manual recommended against continuous playing -or staying awake then playing without taking a break. Something to do with interrupting the natural brain processes was unhealthy.

Harry would rather avoid his problems until he was exhausted. Then he could sleep without dreams.

The plate and fork almost went into the sink when a knock startled him so badly that the plate clanged loudly on top of the pan and the fork went flying across the kitchen to bounce off the wall and back against his calf. He cursed, picking up the offending item and chucking it into the sink, gritting his teeth against the resounding clatter. He stomped to the door swinging it open and blinking against the harsh light.

And Di stood there, hands on her hips in a Molly-esque pose. He frowned at her. Unhappy was the nice word for how he felt right now. The woman was great. A good neighbor, a wonderful woman, a fantastic mother but apparently an overbearing good samaritan when it came to Harry himself. Her coming over to check on him everyday was starting to get under his skin.

“An Di. I’m fine. Just like the last few days you’ve come over.”

“You look far below ‘fine’. You are not taking care of yourself,” she growled throwing her arms into the air. The flowy sleeves of her white shirt fell around her shoulder before falling back to her elbows when she crossed her arms. “You’ve also yet to come eat dinner. Tonight Wang Fei. I won’t stand for you destroying yourself anymore than you have.”

Harry glowered at her pretentiousness. He was not in the mood. The ominous creaking of his still new door and the increasing harshness of the breeze around them was a sure sign of his shortening fuse.

“What I do and don’t do is none of your business. We are not family and you sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong is going to end up with your and your boy hurt. Now go away before I toss you over the railing!”

Her eyes went wide at the small threat, her arms loosening and becoming more defensive, as she took a step back. Seeing the slight fear in her eyes had his heart beating erratically but it was better this way. Then her expression became mulish.

“No. I’ve seen the end of the path your on and I won’t allow it.”

“There is nothing to allow. You don’t know me and I don’t want to know you so stop coming over An Di.”

“I won’t.” She retook her previous stance, shoulders pulled back and chin raised.

“Not even for the sake of your son?”

“Bao is and will be fine. You won’t hurt him.”

He snorted bitterly. “You want me to come over and you haven’t even noticed his expression when he looks at me? Some mother.”

An Di jerked back as if struck. Good. If being cruel would get her to finally go away then she’d be safer. Her hands fell to her sides as she clenched her fist, head lowering and lips trembling. Harry subtly leaned into the door for support. Okay maybe this was harder than it sounded in his head.

“I know he’s afraid of you, but he’s never going to unlearn that if you’re just a distant figure. You need to face your fears, not run from them. Besides,” her dark eyes glared at him, “how are you supposed go near your own family without fear if you cannot even interact with us.”

It was Harry who jerked this time.

“I’ll see you at dinner,” he growled.

The wizard slammed the door shut with more force than necessary. He stood there for a few moments debating what to do next. He had a lot of pent up energy he needed to release and he was just so angry…

Harry sighed tremulously, tears of pain and frustration building behind his lids. An Di wasn’t wrong, was she? Harry had just been ignoring the obvious for his own selfish reasons. In this state he shouldn’t be anywhere near Doll or his parents. Even the game wasn’t safe because he still had attacks.

He dropped into a crouch his hands coming up to grasp his hair harshly. His heart was pounding a concordant beat, his lungs were tightening again. Merlin damn it all! He was being so selfish! He’d allowed himself back into society. Allowed himself to socialize in hopes of meeting his family, his actual blood family that wanted him back.

He needed to disappear again. He was in danger of settling here and that was not safe at all for anyone. Death Eaters were still after him and no matter how much the Palace assured him that theirs borders could not be breached he highly doubted it. They were Voldemort’s Inner Court for a reason; the most talented and skilled Dark or Neutral leaning wizards to be born in Great Britain.

He needed to go.

He stood slowly, his limbs reluctant to obey as he dragged himself to his room. The trunk was hauled with him. He opened the 6th lock, storage, and started grabbing his meager amount of clothes from the dresser. Systematically, Harry stripped the room shoving furniture and little knick knacks he’d started to set out into his trunk. It ate them all without complaint. The bed was last and as he approached it the haze that had fallen over his mind cleared a bit. The headset was still sitting innocuously on his bed; the only link he would have to his sister.

His chest tightened and he crumbled into the bed, his knees hitting the floor and his head the soft mattress, as his legs gave out. His arms dangled limply, knuckles barely brushing the floor. He was so so selfish. He couldn’t leave. He needed to get away, keep them all safe. He finally had something to look forward to after the War. A reason to live instead of running and surviving. And his own state of mind could end up tearing it from him quicker than an Avada Kedavra could kill. Merlin but he still couldn’t…

He didn’t want to just survive anymore. He so very badly wanted to live and be happy. To have family, someone to love and return his feelings, to be rid of the demons plaguing his every step.

Caelus popped up unbidden in his thoughts. The love he offered so freely that was almost anathema to the wizard he’d become was- was…

He swallowed, wincing at the scratchy burn as the lump practically forced its way down his throat. Harry brought his arms up to pull himself onto the bed. He landed heavily next to the headset and he couldn’t help but stare mournfully at it. Hope had a way of making you do stupid things, like buying a game to see his sister because he couldn’t bear to put her in danger in real life. But… it had been the best decision he had made since coming into China. It was a resolution. One Harry had made for himself to get better with the therapist’s words ringing in his mind.

There was also the warning that he’d nearly forgotten about. Backslides were common, expected. It didn’t make him any worse off as long as he could overcome it.

Yeah right.

He was still staring at the headset when An Di’s words came back to him as well. Face your fears instead of running? He was a Gryffindor. He did that on a daily basis. Just because he wanted to keep civilians and his family out of it didn’t make him a coward. What kind of lion would he be then?

His thoughts rang false even to himself. The wizard snorted. He really was messed up in the head.

Lying to oneself did not a sane person make. Neither did trapping his emotions but well… Was he allowed to feel sorry for himself with all of the mental disorders he’d been diagnosed as having? PTSD, Severe Anxiety, Severe Depression, an eating disorder he couldn’t recall the name of among other little things he hardly remembered.

Still, he was warring with himself. If he left he would survive just fine, had been doing so for years, and would keep people safe. Staying gave him the option of possibly healing and creating interpersonal relationships that he craved at the risk of placing those bonds in very real danger. If they didn’t exist they couldn’t be broken. But if they did exist he would be here to protect them.

Like that worked so well during the war…

Ugh. Harry couldn’t make himself move an inch either way. Both had merits and downfalls. Protect himself from further damage by making sure there was nothing to hurt and suffer mentally or form bonds that could help and place others at risk. Normally the answer would be obvious but he was so tired…

“Why can’t things just fall into place easily?”

Ha! As if anyone would answer that.

Back to his dilemma. Actually, hadn’t it already been answered by himself? He said he’d see An Di at dinner without even thinking about the consequences. That… that sounded like he’d already made a choice without realizing it.

Bao’s terrified eyes flashed by.

Harry didn’t like people being afraid of him -except Death Eaters and they could rot for all he cared-. He especially couldn’t stand it knowing that it was the friendly little boy who’d chattered at him so easily before.

Was this really the right decision? Could he truly live with the consequences if things went sour?

The wizard clenched his hands in the blanket.

“Wang Fei.”

He could hear the relief in her voice.

After stewing for another few hours, Harry had finally pulled himself into his bathroom to take a shower and become even slightly presentable. The water, turned as hot as he could stand, had been a relief from his thoughts as he enjoyed the cleansing feeling. If it wasn’t already getting too late he might have stayed in there for a few hours and roasted. Instead he cleaned himself quickly and hopped out, wrapping himself firmly in a towel before approaching his still open trunk on the bedroom floor. He’d pulled out a black V neck T shirt, a pair of faded well-worn blue jeans, and his recently purchased blue sneakers. His hair was brushed as best as it could ever be tamed and he’d made his way over to the apartment next door.

An Di ushered him inside, softly closing the door.

“You’re just in time. I’ve got everything already set at the table. Go ahead and have a seat. I'll join you in a moment.”

The ravenette warily approached the table where Bao was staring at him with apprehensive eyes. He sent an awkward wave and received one in return. Well. This was going swell.

“You, uh, still playing... ? The game, I mean. Uh, Second Life.”

“Yea,” the little boy grinned. Then he bit his lip hesitantly. “Wang Fei…?”

Harry shifted awkwardly. “Uh, yea?”

“Mom said…I just- I’m sorry,” he blurted.

“What?”

That was not exactly what he’d been expecting.

“I’m sorry,” he cried again, this time with actual tears. “Mom said that you were scared and in pain and I scared you so you scared me back and I didn’t mean to!”

“Um.”

He couldn’t help but stare. What exactly was he supposed to do? To say? It wasn’t exactly accurate what the kid said but it wasn’t inaccurate either. There were tears involved now too which just made everything worse. Where was An Di?

“Look Bao. I get it. It’s okay. You didn’t mean to scare me and I definitely didn’t mean to scare you so can we forget about it?”

“Really it’s okay,” he sniffled questioningly.

“Yea, yea. All is, um, forgiven.”

The boy flashed him a blinding grin as he scrubbed away the tears with the back of his hands and something in his chest shifted just a little.

“That’s great! So… Second Life?”

Because really that was the only thing he even had in common with Bao.

“Yea!”

Not even a moment later An Di walked with a smug smile settled on her face and Harry had the strongest suspicion she’d been listening to the entire conversation. It was kind of nice being given the time to make things right -sort of-. She was trickier than he’d originally given her credit for, though, and he’d have to be careful about that. Just because they’d put a bandaid over their broken relationship doesn’t mean that everything was all better. Her pig headedness was probably going to cause him multiple headaches in the future.

The dinner was nice at least. After clearing the air with Bao they chatted a bit about their avatars and what they were doing. Bao was still in Star City working on some wolves and he’d delegated himself as a human rogue that specialized in long range weapons. So far he could only get his hands on bows which suited him because he went to the archery range every Saturday evening for school. Harry couldn’t really divulge he was holing up with a monster boss so instead he weaved a mysterious training story. It sounded awful and made An Di giggle but Bao soaked it in like he was speaking the word of God.

(Apparently though, he would have to be careful about his character build because it was better to focus on strength or dexterity and not both if he wanted to become the best warrior. According to Bao anyway.)

It felt good to have that awed stare back instead fear. The cheery atmosphere of the entire dinner certainly helped to lift his mood exponentially. Maybe staying and fighting was the better choice. The best things in life came from a little hard work as his therapist told him.

“So Wang Fei are you planning on getting a job or going to school?”

Harry almost choked on his roasted duck. He cleared his throat softly before answering, “I hadn’t really thought about it. I have money for rent right now so…”

More money than he could probably ever spend in a lifetime really.

“Yes but how long will that last? You can’t just waste away in your apartment!”

Oh he could. He’d done for years after all. The only thing a crowd was good for was disguise but that was a moot point when Death Eaters would slaughter everyone on the street just to find him. And people in general just made him twitchy.

“I’ll think about it,” he muttered. If this would get her to stop talking about it then fine.

Her manicured eyebrow rose and he could just see the challenge burning in her eyes. “Hm. I’m sure you will. You’ve got plenty of time after all and you did decide to come to dinner.”

Harry glared.

An Di smirked.

The bed was so warm. He had forgotten that his avatar appeared exactly where he left it which just so happened to tucked into bed in Caelus’ castle. For some reason the covers, which should be cold from lack of body heat, were so deliciously warm and inviting. He was tempted to wiggle deeper and throw the duvet over his head to block out the annoying boss that was sure to appear.

“O’ My love~ My heart~ We will never be apart~!”

Speak of the devil…

Caelus’ voice was echoing down the hallway getting closer and closer. He was singing? It was actually rather impressive even if the flowery lyrics could use some work. It was almost as embarrassing as the dwarf poem he’d gotten once upon a time.

The large door to the room opened with a bang and Harry couldn’t help but feel tired already. Where in the world could this man get the energy to spin around and sing at the top of his lungs? Oh right. Video game. Pre-programmed nonsense or something like that.

Caelus twirled to stop right next to the bed, his white locks fluttering to their natural pristine position, with a grin showing off his perfectly straight blindingly white teeth.

“My dearest it’s time for more training! But first- to get ready for the day! C’mon up! Up!”

“Whoah, no, I’m good,” the elf flinched away from the reaching hands only to be stopped by the tucked in blanket. Traitorous warm piece of garbage. Despite his protests, he was plucked from the bed with ease and once more tucked against the boss’ chest.

Harry was swept through an adjacent door that he hadn’t noticed before and into an immaculate marble bathroom with the biggest tub he’d ever seen in his life. It looked like an entire kiddie pool! Caelus plopped him onto a comfortable white low backed chair where he took a moment to gather his wits about him. The room was about as large as his entire apartment with the tub taking up over half of it. It sat flush against the left and rear wall with space to walk along it on the right (the marble fading into dark blue tiles to form the walkway). There were stairs, made of black tile, leading into it from the right and Harry could see the edge of a bench on the edge closest to him. Caelus was over by the door fiddling with what looked like knobs and levers.

A large roar interrupted his thoughts followed by the sound water splashing against the smoothed grey rock that made up the bottom of the tub. In the corners there were giant holes -how in Merlin’s name had he missed that?- that were gushing steaming water into the ground tub slowly but steadily filling it.

Caelus appeared, blocking his view and he couldn’t help but stare at the looming smile the other wore.

“Time to undress~!”

“Wah- No!”

Harry tried. He really did. He rolled, he scrabbled, he scratched, he punched and in the end it did nothing. The Nymph stripped him of his meager armor leaving a white fluffy towel to cover his dignity. As he sat there traumatized, Caelus started to strip, untying his Obi and carefully pulling his silken kimono off. He hung it off the hooks next to the underwhelmingly small sink area, next to Harry’s own armor. The muted heat from his face was a sure sign he was blushing hard. He averted his eyes as the rest off the clothes started to follow, clutching at the towel that was his only barrier.

“All done~! Time to bathe now, hm?”

Caelus strolled passed and deposited a few bottles (where did those come from?) against the ledge of the bath before coming back to swoop Harry up again.

“Ah my love you are so adorable!”

“Y-you- Do you even realize that this is inappropriate,” Harry stuttered.

The skin to skin contact, though nothing like it might have been in real life, felt so wonderful it was sinful. Which was still heart stoppingly terrifying.

“Whaaaat?”

“YOU STRIPPED ME! Without permission! You keep c-carrying me like I want you to! I don’t even know you!!”

Oh. Oh no. He knew this feeling. His heart rate rising, his head spinning. The steam of the bath -which was normally so nice- was only muddling his thoughts. Not here. Not now!

But his panic was only making the oncoming attack even worse.

“P-put me down,” he gasped desperately. He couldn’t do this now, not in front of him. Not in front of anyone. Not again. He struggled to calm his breaths; count them, but all he got was hot steam. It burned, there wasn’t enough oxygen.

“Savior! Savior!”

His fingers clawed against his arms before they were pried away, held tightly against his will. Trapped. Exposed. Vulnerable.

“Savior you need to stop. Love please!”

His back was set upon something cool, it radiated through his limbs, his head. Ugh, why couldn’t he breath! Why did this hurt!?

He tried to whisper his chant but his tongue was heavy.

“Savior can you hear me?”

He needed away, he need to-

There was something on his lips. Soft. Warm. Moving?

“Please,” a voice said? There was a voice? It sounded so pleasant. Soothing. What was it saying?

“Breathe. Take a breath.  A deep breath.”

He needed to breathe. To breathe. But he couldn’t. His fingers curled trying to claw at his chest but they wouldn’t move. There was pressure around his wrists. The muscles in his arms strained. Burned. Everything burned.

“Oh what do I do? What do I do? Come on, Savior. Love you need to listen to me. Breathe. In and out. In and out.”

He gasped desperately, his mouth opening and closing but it. Still. Burned.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I’m so so sorry. Please forgive me.”

It stopped.

Harry jerked awake. His mind was half reeling and there was a phantom sensation of burning in his chest. What? Hadn’t he just- where was- what was going on?

“Oh Savior! You’re okay! I’m so sorry! I didn’t know! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

Harry blinked at the Boss that was literally sobbing above him, fat tears rolling down his slightly reddened cheeks. It was unfair that this man could be such a beautiful crier. Was that even a thing? Weren’t all people but actors ugly criers? Wait- was he acting?

“I don’t know what I did but I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to make you feel that way. I’ve just been so lonely and you’re so perfect and I thought we belonged together, even the air says so! I’m sorry!”

No. Caelus didn’t seem to be that great of an actor. He was too… genuine. At least right now he was.

“What happened,” Harry groaned, trying to shift his arms and push himself up. Caelus didn’t even try to help him which was strange. Wasn’t the nymph entirely bent on touching him all the time?

“You… you went… away,” he sniffled carefully wiping away his tears with the fluffy towel he held. Harry blinked at him, noticing the cloth still protecting his dignity as the only fabric near him. His face lit up, the blush spreading down his chest very visibly. “You wouldn’t respond and kept t-trying t-to scratch yourself. I didn’t know what to do! I st-stunned you with a spell…”

That’s right. He’d been having another attack set off by the situational embarrassment and lack of control.

“Thank you,” Harry muttered into his chest.

“W-what?”

“I said thanks,” he grumbled loudly, his chin raising.

“Of course, my love,” Caelus cooed looking about ready to jump into another hug. The nymph stayed in his spot kneeled on the marble instead, picking at his towel that was draped across his knees. Which now that he was actually paying attention gave him a great view of the milky smooth skin that made up Caelus chest and the rock solid abs he was sporting.

Completely inappropriate. Harry fixed his eyes on the other’s bangs to avoid looking at his face or body. It’s not that he was super embarrassed about a man’s body, he’d grown up in a boys’ dorm after all. It was just something about Caelus himself that was setting off all these unusual reactions in him. He hadn’t felt like this (not truly) since Cedric. Now here he was trying to throw away lustful thoughts and the unseemly urges to get as close to the white haired man as he possibly could.

This was absolutely not natural.

“Um, so bath?”

“Oh. Do you still want to? You can say no… I-I don’t want to force you.”

Well, how kind but after all the struggle and humiliation it would be a shame not to at least take advantage of a steaming bath to help relax -even if the steam didn’t help his earlier attack-.

“No.” Caelus practically drooped. “L… Let’s take a bath… together,” he strained. “You got it all set up and everything…”

With lights reignited in his halcyon orbs, Caelus hopped to his feet and floated over hand held out but nothing more. It was an offer.

“Stop that.”

What?

“What?”

“I uh… You-stop it. The hesitancy. It’s not... It’s weird. You’re creeping me out. You’re all glompy and touchy and… just stop it.”

As strange as it sounded, it unnerved Harry more that Caelus wasn’t trying to be all touchy feely. It jarred something inside of him; screamed that something was wrong. As much as he didn’t like being touched especially by strangers he, reluctantly, enjoyed the tingles Caelus gave him with skin contact. The warmth of his entire presence wasn’t so bad either.

The Nymph King squealed, pulling him upright into a brief a hug before letting go. The smile on his lips would probably crack his face if it got any bigger.

“Ah~ My beloved is so wonderful! You really do care under all the grouch!”

Caelus and Savior's Relationship + 20

Chapter Text

Game Start

Caelus was staring and Harry couldn’t help but blush. He just.... What else was he supposed to do when another guys was blatantly staring in the bath? Even the towel still wrapped around his waist didn’t help the feeling. Rising steam at least hid the fact that he was blushing because of the intensity in those gold eyes, but the fidgeting might be giving him away.

“You know you’re supposed to wash yourself in the bath, love.”

Harry spluttered.

“Of course! I- wha- you aren’t doing anything either!”

Caelus smiled so bright his eyes squinted and Harry squirmed uncomfortably. Why in the world was this energetic piece of sunshine trying to woo him?

“Weeell,” the NPC drawled, “I was thinking about your hair and how long and beautiful it is and I was just wondering if you would let me wash it?”

“What?”

“You can say no!”

He said that but… with those puppy eyes how could anyone say no? That was like trying to kick a happy puppy.

Harry sighed explosively and brought the half wet braid over his shoulder to pick at it. Loose strands were stuck out in the oddest places where it was dry and the hair hung heavy where wet. It was slightly surprising to watching some of the water come away brown when the hair swished through the water. That was a little more realism than he was expecting.

The dirtied water flowed away into a crack in the wall which meant it wasn’t the just the jets moving the water. It was a bath that filtered itself.

He glanced up again to see Caelus watching him with glowing eyes and a fond smile. It… actually made his chest ache. He hadn’t seen something like that since Cedric and that ended horribly before it could even go anywhere. And, ugh, he really need to stop making comparisons and thinking about his first crush.

“I guess.” Harry shrugged fiddling with the braid some more.

Caelus beamed.

He made his way over slowly, sitting on the bench and reaching a hand out, palm up, waiting.

The no touching thing was still weird. Even stranger than all the forced contact. Which made it all the more jarring that he had gotten used to the touches so quickly, even if he still flinched.

The elf dropped his braid into the boss’ waiting hands, watching the miniscule facial changes that came over Caelus. The third strongest NPC was different. His voice was strong and carried far. His body movements and facial expressions were exaggerated but still so natural. His energy was something else altogether; over dramatic beyond anyone else that he had ever met. He was absolutely sincere in every move that he made. It was refreshing how open Caelus was now that Harry was looking at him, truly looking.

But it was the minor details that showed more to Harry. His grin was broad and happy but the depth of the creases in the corner of his eyes showed the level he was at -beyond ecstatic by the way-. The curl of his lips and the almost dreamy gaze expressed his adoration of the player currently sitting next to him. The relaxed set of his shoulders gave away how comfortable he felt around Harry even after his attack. There was no hesitancy now that he had been given permission.

Even still, Caelus was careful and slow, being as gentle as possible and he unwound the braid. The little brushes that he had expected against his shoulder or back was nonexistent and he was glad and upset at the time time. He wanted the touch, wanted it so much he was willing to forgo past trauma and experience just to have those fingers around his arm, to have those arms wrap around him, to have that chest pressed against him.

That scared him.

Harry sighed again, slipping deeper into the water, letting it brush against his clavicles. His thoughts kept circling and it was rather annoying.

Caelus hummed beside him. “If you sit sit sideways I have better access. I’m almost to your head, darling.”

“Why do you call me those pet names?”

He was genuinely curious. Nicknames were okay but he’d never understood pet names, they were weird.

“Hm? Because you are all of those to me! Darling, my love, my sweet, beautiful-”

“Okay, okay,” he cut in quickly. He had a feeling Caelus could go on for a while with his list of adjectives and he wanted to be spared that embarrassment, thank you.

Caelus only chuckled, the sound reverberating in the water between them.

Caelus and Savior's Relationship + 5

Again!?

“Here we go.”

And then there were fingers combing through his hair, scratching slightly on his scalp and Harry practically melted, almost becoming one with the water. Never in his life had he felt this… this… pleasantly relaxed. It was like a switch that turned his brain to absolute mush. Caelus could do whatever the hell he wanted with him if he just kept up with what he was doing.

Merlin, if it felt like this in the game how would real life feel?

He’d never had anyone pet his head before. His hair was always too messy and he didn’t like to be touched in the first place. The head was a vulnerable spot, why would he let someone get that close?

Cor’ blimey he really regretted that decision.

Those perfectly manicured nails made a few more runs through his hair, scratching pleasantly as they went, before they pulled away. He whined. He legit whined, high in his throat before he choked it off with a gasp.

Had he done that? Had he actually done that? Whined like a puppy wanting more pats? What was wrong with him?

His flush spread, turning a deep red as it spread from his chest to his toes.

“Oh, darling that was adorable! You really like head massages, hm? I’ll give you the best experience of your life,” Caelus cheered.

The elf contemplated drowning himself and respawning at the rebirth point.

The rest of the wash went much the same. Using a shampoo from one of his bottles, Caelus started at from the bottom, lathering up the hair and placing it back in the water to rinse once he was finished with that portion. Finally, he got to Harry’s scalp and gave the most amazing massage the wizard was ever given, period. The boss’ fingers were firm but gentle with just enough pressure to feel good. Every other pass his nails would scratch gently along his head, presumably to pick up dead skin.

Every whimper and groan of pleasure he made was met with encouraging whispers from his masseuse. Harry was almost ashamed to admit that he lost track of time as zoned out as he was from the treatment. Caelus, much much later, always squealed happily at the reminder of their first bonding moments together.

“There we go love, gently back in the water so I can rinse it.”

Two hands cupped the back of his head, slowly letting him sink into the water until it covered his ears and muffled the sound of the man’s voice. Instead the roaring of the filters was almost deafening but it was so consistent and he was so relaxed that Harry felt he could fall asleep to that sound. The fingers were back, one hand now so the other could support his head, combing through the suds and washing them away deftly. Who knows how long he was like that before Caelus started lifting his head from the water which broke him from his trance like state.

Caelus and Savior's Relationship + 10

Harry shot up the rest of the way, blinking away the sudden spots and dizziness the movement produced. The heat certainly wasn’t helping either. That pleasant buzz was still slowing his mind but now he had enough awareness to realize how vulnerable he had been during that entire episode. But he had also been content and at peace. He hadn’t felt that, well, ever really.

What was happening to him?

“Savior, are you alright?”

Harry startled, jerking forwards before turning around to look at the man that had literally swooped him off his feet to a far away castle. Caelus’ brows were furrowed just a slightest bit and his lips were thinned with worry.

“I-I’m fine. I just haven’t ever… No. No. I’m fine. I-thank you. For my hair.”

The boss beamed. “It’s not done yet! You still need to wash and then I can dry it and braid it again before bed.”

“Oh. Right.”

He’d completely forgotten about washing his body.

“Wait, what about your hair?”

He had actually tied it up in a loose bun before getting in the water. Didn’t he need a wash as well?

“I took a bath yesterday so I’m still very clean. If you wash your hair too much it can make it dry and unhealthy! I can’t have terrible hair,” he wailed.

Well, the Nymph King would know about beauty and body health tips.

“Right let me finish up now then.”

The rest of the bath went by very quickly. Soon both of them were out with new dry towels wrapped around their waists. Caelus also had a soft green cotton kimono, to match the NPC’s soft orange one, ready for him under the sink. It was very comfortable and he wished he had one to wear in real life.

His hair was gently towel dried and finally they moved out of the bathroom.

Then they were on ‘Harry’s’ bed, Caelus shifting behind him with an ornate jade brush in hand. Like before, the man started at the bottom, the soft tugs sending tingles racing from his scalp to his limbs. It almost felt like it would burst from his fingertips in a dazzling electric show.

As soon as he got used to the level of pleasure, Caelus moved to directly below his nape. The tugs intensified sending shocks of static straight to his brain. He moaned his entire body shivering under the magnitude of sensation. The brushing paused and Harry blinked his eyes, a grunt of displeasure erupting from his chest.

There was noise behind him, maybe a huff, maybe a chuckle, but the brushing resumed and despite his higher reasoning screeching to not be vulnerable he let himself sink into feelings. Cognitive functions could screw themselves. If he thought the bath was amazing, it was nothing compared to the feeling of the slight tugging the brush produced.

Of course only a little while later, the moment he’d been waiting for arrived and the brush ran straight over his scalp, down his neck and back, before disappearing.

Harry practically collapsed, his entire body going loose, face planting into the duvet, blinking lazily against the soft fabric.

“Oh, my love, you’re so silly. Come on. Let’s make this easier, hm? Come on.”

Caelus gently pulled him back by his shoulders and twisted his torso until Harry needed to follow with his hips. He ended up with his head cushioned by the pillows, his arms stretching around it to clutch it tight. His belly was flat against the bed, long hair spilling behind him which Caelus gently gathered up. From this angle the elf could vaguely make out his supposed fiance’s face. The soft light of the bedroom made the man seem ethereal, a halo practically forming around his white hair and his face glowing softly. His yellow eyes looked like melted gold and the content smile was so perfect that Harry never wanted it to go away.

The brush came back and Harry was gone.

Caelus and Savior's Relationship + 15

He was warm again. Content to never move under the magical blankets that seemed the right temperature at all times. He would have stayed there all day if an intrusive thought wasn’t banging on his mental door.

When had he fallen asleep?

Was it even supposed to be possible to do that in the game?

He sat up slowly and blinked. The lights were off, the room dark, which indicated night time. The system menu was much more helpful. It was already past 12 o’clock in the real world and if he didn’t get up An Di might try to break down his door to see why he wasn’t answering. He sighed and logged off.

His room was dark enough that slipping the helmet off didn’t blind him but the lack of furniture was unfamiliar enough that his heart started pounding. Until he remembered that he’d had a fit and stuffed it all in his trunk and hadn’t brought it back yet. Thank Merlin it was only his bedroom. It would have taken forever to get up the motivation to put the kitchen and living room back in order. An Di would have been mighty suspicious about the lack of proper house settings especially after she’d already seen how it was supposed to be.

He dropped the helmet on the bed next him, making sure to plug in the charger, before rolling off the bed and stretching slowly. He went through his long neglected morning routine, making sure to work each muscle group and relishing in the burn that meant he was doing better. Physical exercise had always been a good outlet for him and it had come in handy during the war. Good cardio beat out a lot of the stupider Death Eaters. It had been a while since he had done this, though, his motivation having been at an all time low.

After last night…

Actually why had last night affected him so much?

He felt… not happy… but definitely better than he had since the last few sessions he’d had with his therapist. Seeing Doll was supposed to have brought his spirits back up but Caelus had managed to do it instead. And find one of his major weaknesses as well.

Harry ran his almost blunt nails against his scalp experimentally. Hm. Still felt good, the tingles racing up and down his spine, but it was nothing like last night. Was it something to do with Caelus doing it then? How strange.

Still, he was ready to put his productive mood to good work. An Di had mentioned school or work, something his parents had actually brought up before as well. They told him he didn’t have to but after his therapists suggestions of interacting more with people they thought it might be the easiest way to do it.

He’d never been in the actual workforce a day in his life and the thought of trying something new like that was still pretty daunting. School, on the other hand, was slightly more comfortable. He’d never had a regular schooling experience and it might actually benefit him in the long run.

Bu if he was to do that, where could he go?

Harry sucked in a breath and dug into the second lock of his trunk to pull out writing utensils. He walked to the kitchen using the counters to write a letter to his parents explaining, in vague words, of his dilemma. He pulled open the silverware drawer, picking up the small storage unit he kept in there so he could get to the white bone whistle with intricate flower carvings and the small jade tube with gold inlay. Then he opened his window and blew the small whistle in one long drawn out breath. He closed the window again and rolled up the parchment, placing it in the small tube so it would be ready for the messenger hawk.

Harry pulled out the last two eggs and some raw rashers, placing them on a plate on the counter. He pulled a few herbs down as well to sprinkle on his meal for more flavor. The cooking was always his favorite part of a meal. Eating it was good too since he obviously needed it to live but he’d grown up with such garbage leftovers and a lack of meals that had sort of killed that enjoyment. Making the meals was always more enjoyable because it was when he got to be creative, within reason, and have time to himself without being bothered. Aunt Petunia was adamant Dudley leave him alone then so their food wouldn’t be messed up.

The eggs were scrambled and the rashers cooked to his liking, a little soft but not floppy, just as there was a cry from outside. Harry grinned and opened the window, letting the hawk settle on the counter as he closed the window again, pulling the curtain closed for privacy. They all had muggle repellant wards but it was still better to be safe than sorry.

“Hey there, fella. You’re new! Quite the handsome one too,” he cooed reaching out to smooth the cream chest feathers.

The Goshawk preened, fluffing his feathers and butting Harry’s fingers with his head.

“Well you’re a right lover. Alright, alright,” he laughed. “A few scritches and then you think you could take a letter to my parents for me?”

The hawk churred blinking happily before sticking out a leg as Harry scratched beneath his beak. The wizard smiled as he secured the tube to the bird’s foot before sending him on his way. After giving him an uncooked rasher for the trip back, of course. The hawk was delighted, taking the offering with a scream of delight and swooping outside.

Breakfast was scarfed down and before he knew it he was standing in front of An Di’s door. And he was stuck again. He couldn't’ knock. He just couldn’t. He knew she had offered him help and she was likely more knowledgeable about schools (especially after being the one to mention it) in the immediate area but… He didn’t need to bother her right now, right? He could ask later?

Maybe when she was already outside. Yea. That would be better.

He turned on his heel to trudge past his apartment and down the stairs. He needed more groceries anyways. Harry was supposed to have gone earlier but with his panic attack and replacing the front door, he’d forgotten about it. Now was the perfect time to restock the shelves and the fridge.

Maybe he could take a walk and see if there were any schools in the area? Actually, he should probably jog instead. Yea. The wizard could do that.

He ached.

Ohoho, did he ache. His muscles burned pleasantly, his lungs were already numbed to the strain and his brain was riding a bit of a high. It always felt good to know he could get up and run if he needed. If he hurt, then it was real and he was alive. Merlin, why did he ever stop working out? Right. Depression. Lack of motivation. He should probably work on that.

With a huff, he crested the stairs, keys jangling in hand, as he prepared to open the front door. It would be a little tricky considering the amount of bags he had hanging off his arms but this wasn’t the first time he’d put himself in the predicament -though, it had been a while- and it likely wouldn’t be the last.

“Wang Fei!”

Harry blinked and lifted his head to stare at Bao, who was hurtling down the walkway. The kid danced around an elderly neighbor that was giving him a spiteful glare and muttering about discipline. The brunette braced himself for impact, shifting his left arm back to shield the breakable commodities left vulnerable while dangling in the air. Thankfully, it wasn’t needed as the little boy screeched -literally, a happy screech tumbled from his opened mouth- to a stop in front of Harry.

“Oh… Hello Bao.”

“Oh wow! That’s a lot of bags! You’re really strong! I mean, you have to be to break down a door like the movies but that’s cool!!”

Wow. Um. Super excitable much? Who gave the kid sugar?

“Uh. Yea. It’s always good to be strong. I hear you’ve got some pretty good muscles too because of your archery.”

That was apparently the right thing to say as Bao grinned blindingly and went off about how his day was amazing and he made friends that played Second Life too and how they thought it would be cool to meet an adult player that knew next to nothing about gaming. Which, while sort of nice, was something of an ego killer. These kids could probably kick his ass in this game. But, well, at least they were playing this and not getting into actual life threatening situations.

Bloody hell, though, his arms were starting to lower without his consent and the bags were starting to hurt a bit.

“That’s nice. Uh… I’ll let you know if we’re ever in the same area.” If he even knew in the first place. “Right so, where’s your mom?”

“Oh! She went to talk to the manager. I was supposed to stay inside but then I saw you and I remembered your training story in the mountains and I wanted to know if me and my friends could come!”

“Your… enthusiasm is appreciated.” Not really. The boy was still bouncing on his toes eyes wide and hopeful. What was he supposed to say? He couldn’t tell him the truth and, to be honest, Harry barely remembered what he’d said about his fake training. He wasn’t doing that great yesterday.

The wizard shifted awkwardly trying to adjust his arms to relieve some strain.

“Aren’t you going to get in trouble when And Di comes back?”

Bao stared, his entire body drooping, before whimpering, “You won’t tell her, right!?”

“Sure. As long as you let me finish my training in peace.”

The boy’s teeth found purchase in his lower lip as his whole face contorted into a grimace and his hands balled into the bottom of his shirt.

“But… my friends…”

“Hey. Don’t worry about it. I’ll meet them some other time, okay? I swear. But I need to get these inside. They’ve already been out of the fridge for too long.”

Taking the chance, Harry inched past the kid trying to ignore the kicked puppy look he was sporting. Jeez, what if it was Caelus that was doing that? His heart clenched, almost spasming painfully, so he dropped the thought faster than a cursed object. He would find a way to make it up to his little neighbor when his arms weren’t going to kill him in the next few minutes.

With as much haste as he could spare, he stuck the key in the lock and disappeared inside.

Chapter Text

Game Start

It was about an hour later that there came a light knock on his door. Harry looked up from his recipe book, halting his search for a healthy dinner that he was in the mood to eat with the ingredients he now had stocked.

He blinked and wondered who would be over right now. Actually, why was that a question? It was probably An Di. And, surprise surprise -not-, there stood the slight nurse with worry lines carved into her forehead. They were light, as were the crinkles of her eyes, but to Harry it was a glaring sign that something was wrong. Her hands were also behind her back, hiding something. He swallowed, his shoulders hunching defensively almost automatically. He used the door as a sort of shield as his body tensed getting ready for anything.

"Oh, Wang Fei. Sorry about disturbing you."

He snorted, a slightly bitter smile tugging at his lips. "Sure you are. Can I help you with something?"

"I just-I hope you thought about work or school. Bao told me you had groceries earlier-"

"I hope you went easy him."

Her face twitched as if startled before the lines melted away a bit and humor sparked in her eyes. Her lips tugged upwards and Harry wanted so badly to relax but her hands… He was being stupidly paranoid. He'd already checked her out! She was safe!

"Well, he might be grounded tonight for not listening," she chuckled lightly. "But that's not why I'm here. I just thought… well, I hope you don't take this the wrong way but I know how hard doing things can be sometimes so I thought I might help you. I put together a list of schools and a few jobs hiring around the area," she said, clearing her throat a few times.

Then slowly, as a light flush built on her face, she brought out a manilla folder at least 2 inches thick with multiple colored tabs.

Harry could not be blamed for his jaw dropping right then.

Who in their right mind would go out of their way to do something like this for a neighbor they barely knew? Nobody. That's who. An Di had to be a supernatural creature of some form. Maybe an alien because he couldn't sense any magic from her or her son.

"You are one crazy woman. You know that?"

Her entire face flushed a deep red.

"I know that this is forward but I swore I was going to help. But b-but I don't want to cross any lines that we can't recover from so… I mean I just. I thought you might want some help with this because you don't have a laptop and I mean- Here!"

She bowed low and shoved the folder forward into his stomach. He stared down at the pages in bewilderment. How was he supposed to be offended with that whole spiel?

And the way she was bowing, was she trying to prostrate herself? Holy Magic woman…

"Um. You need to stop bowing like that. Uh, please. Like now."

He grasped the folder in one hand and her upper arm with the other so he could pull her upright, abandoning the door in the process. She didn't go easily, at first trying to stay in her position which could not be comfortable.

"Come on, up."

And, oh, were those tears in her eyes? Okay, now he was beyond uncomfortable. Standing fully upright again, Harry held back a wince at the look on her face. There was something almost desperate in the way she was staring at him with watery eyes. Her entire body was leaning forward, ready to drop into another bow.

Harry huffed, "Will you stop that. I'm not offended. I was going to ask for your help anyway."

Whenever he had the time to, of course. Definitely.

"Oh," she breathed, a firmer more confident smile forming on her features. "Well, in that case-"

"No no no no no. Don't even go there. I appreciate the help now. You're obviously more knowledgeable than I am in this case but that doesn't mean I want you barging in on my life, got it? Keep your nose to your own household, okay?"

She sniffed in fake offense but the smile never dimmed and her eyes only glowed with more determination. The wizard internally groaned, knowing that he should have just rejected her help. But he sort of needed it. And the way she had looked… And there was no telling what kind of 'advice' his parents would offer. Nice as they were, they did still rule a country and indulge in ridiculous opulence.

"Whatever you say, Wang Fei," is what she replied in that very obnoxiously fake sing song voice.

His eye twitched as he slammed the door shut, folder in hand. Screw rudeness.

Well, there were several options according to his neighbor. The jobs he'd barely glanced through, having no interest, but the schools he'd carefully spread on the living room floor. With a tired huff, he leaned back into the couch propping his head back on the cushions.

There were a few really good schools but all of them were pretty far. The only one that was even remotely close, which would still require him to use the train, was a good 40 miles away. The ones that were close were alright, more like community colleges than actual Universities. They did have their good points, like not costing as much, but they also didn't focus too much on any one subject. Speaking of, what did he even want to study? He did enough of that in Hogwarts!

Harry highly doubted that college was as practical as magical school. He didn't exactly want to sit and read and write notes again. That was for teenagers, dammit. Maybe there was a half magical school? There were a few of those that he'd come across in America and he'd heard vague mentions of them in Japan. That kind of school would actually be ideal. He could focus more on subjects pertinent to him and throw in some muggle subjects on the side. Yea….

Unfortunately, any schools that An Di gave him would be moot because he wouldn't be able to tell if they had magic subjects. Bloody hell, was he going to have to write another note to his parents to include magic/muggle schools?

He groaned, angrily lifting his head back up with some effort. Green eyes glared down at the practically useless paperwork before him. Why didn't he think about this before looking through all of this and basically melting his brain? He could almost feel it flowing out of his ears!

Right, because forethought was more Hermione's forte and he hadn't even had a full day to focus and think on the subject. That's what he got for jumping into things headfirst with no information again.

Sluggishly, he organized the papers again, stuffing them back in the folder before tossing it onto the couch. Dinner and then seeing Caelus sounded absolutely lovely right now. He may have only been up for a few hours but this day had been unexpectedly exhausting.

Savior woke in the same bed with the same ridiculously warm covers wrapped around him like a burrito. He took a moment to bask in the pleasure before slowly unraveling himself and slipping out onto the cold stone floor. It still sent the same shock of cold up his legs but he was expecting it now so it wasn't nearly as bad.

He was still dressed in the green kimono like bathrobe and his hair was in a long ropey braid. First things first, getting ready. If everything had been left where it was before, his armor should still be in the ridiculously large bathroom.

With a slight shiver, he marched over to the door and shoved it open. The armor was hanging on the hooks where it'd been left right by the mirror. On his way over, his own reflection caught his attention and he couldn't help but stare.

Looking at himself was so very strange when it wasn't his own body staring back. He wasn't vain, never had been. Not like Seamus or even Ron who would primp and prep sometimes to impress girls. With Harry you either had to take him or leave him(okay, that was a slight lie but any vanity he might have cultivated was beaten out of him by either the Dursleys or the war).

It was… nice to be able to stop and look. To wish and hope that maybe one day he might actually look anything close to this. Maybe not as hairless or even pale or otherworldly... But healthy and happy. The wizard could never remember seeing himself even slightly happy. His reflection was only ever around when he was angry or miserable.

His fingers traced the contours of his face gently, swiping along the high cheekbones and narrow nose before following the tattoo straight up from his smooth jaw. His eyebrows were straighter and neater in the game but not at all thin like ladies seemed to prefer. His brow was smooth, no worry lines or wrinkles, and arched into his hairline gracefully.

And his hair… Wow. Whatever Caelus had done had pulled it entirely away from his face. Starting at the crown of his head it twisted, pulling in every piece of hair, including his bangs, as it continued in an intricate weave down his nape and back. He pulled it over his shoulder admiring the twist of the braids -was that five different strands?- until he noticed the small decoration at the bottom. Instead of the plain leather strap he'd used before there was a thin shimmery purple band. On one side there was a large bead that looked like an iridescent pearl bound to the tie with gossamer thin strand of gold that wrapped around it like an X.

"What in the world," Harry muttered as he stared at the new trinket in his hair.

More than likely it was one of Caelus' belongings. It certainly seemed fancy enough.

A warmth built in his chest and the elf didn't even realize he was smiling until he glanced at the mirror again. He was so startled by it, in fact, that he froze. Was that him? Was that truly his own face staring at back at him? It was so different and yet not. It all looked familiar except for the smile -and the eyes but what in the world was that smile!?-. It was so foreign, so strange that he couldn't help but try to catch the stranger in its act. But, no. When Harry moved so too did the stranger.

The elf dropped his braid to bring up a finger to poke at his lips. Soft and unchapped, but still tilted up even if not quite as high as before. His glitched eyes blinked and the spell was broken.

Harry jerked back from the mirror with a frown.

What was he doing staring at himself like a bloody numpty? It wasn't even his actual body so what was the point in being envious about it.

Completely unbidden, a small traitorous thought slipped through his guard and squeezed around his mind and heart like a viper.

Caelus only liked him for his looks. He would never like him in real life. He was pathetic, weak, useless, muder-

"Savior~!"

Harry sucked in a startled breath, his lungs inflating painfully as he jerked his hands away from his chest.

"Where are you my darling~?"

He swallowed dryly, coughing to clear his throat. Merlin, he'd almost had another panic attack. He wasn't even doing anything! How depressing was that?

He took a few stilted steps to the side towards his armor before Caelus' voice became clearer as he appeared in the bathroom doorway.

"There you are," he exclaimed happily.

Harry bit his lip, keeping his back to the other. He'd been so excited to see him and now… now it felt like too much. The boss' presence weighed heavily on his back even though the man wasn't actually doing anything. It was so mortifying how weak he still was.

"There's a lot of training to do today! You missed yesterday's so we need to make up for it!"

"Are we in a rush," he croaked in response.

"Well, I suppose not," the whitette's voice was a little more subdued as Harry reached up to pull his armor down. "You're right! No rush, darling. It just means spending more time together. But… are you okay?"

The elf snorted in response before he could stop himself. He tried to cover it with a cough but that failed miserably as Caelus only came closer with hurried steps.

"Savior, is there anything I can do?"

"No," he grunted. "No. Just… thank you but give me time to change… please," he tacked on trying not to let his soured mood affect the only light he had in life currently. At least until he could find his sister. Like he came here to do in the first place.

"Of course." And Merlin, if the kicked puppy voice didn't strum his heartstrings discordantly…

Ugh.

He chanted under his breath hoping for his day (night technically?) to go much better.

"Are you sure I can't do anything?"

"Caelus, if you ask one more time I will shove my sword in your gut."

The nymph boss bit his lip at the, admittedly, scary glare his darling was giving him. It wasn't his fault he was so worried! Yesterday Savior had been so relaxed and content and he'd been absolutely ecstatic at being the cause of it. He'd expected some grouch, that just seemed to be a part of his lovely's wonderful countenance, but the absolutely growly acidic attitude was a slight shock. Had something happened? Had he done something wrong?

Or wait! What if he was embarrassed about yesterday night? That was okay! No need to be shy!

"My love," he cooed dancing around the man as he sat and took panting breaths after leveling up again. It still took so very long for him to defeat one of his beauties but he was already getting better. Maybe in the next few days or so the nymphs could start fighting back with basic maneuvers. "No need to be bashful! You were so adorable last night and I'd never tease you with it! Well, okay maybe only a little," he chuckled.

Savior's entire face flushed. "What in the world are you talking about?"

"Waaa~ You're so cute!" He bent over and leaned in really close to the elf's face, so close their noses were almost touching. But he was careful not to touch. He'd learned after the scare in the bathroom. There was something about his demeanor, the hunched shoulders and pursed lips and glowing eyes, that gave away when he wasn't ready. He'd seen it then too but hadn't really understood. But now he did. Whatever had triggered his beautiful elf this morning had him in a terrible, no touching, mood all day.

"Your ears and your eyes and your hair and your body. Your everything. It's all beautiful," he said in a dead serious tone. He needed Savior to understand that.

Except… it had the opposite effect of what he was trying to achieve. The warrior drew further into himself, eyes dimming and head drooping. That… wasn't supposed to happen. What had he said that was wrong? He adored the man in front of him! He just wanted him to know that!

Mentally panicking and flailing, he continued, "You are amazing! Even with your grouch!"

"Stop talking."

Caelus' heart plummeted. "You make me smile and I know it's not been very long but I know with all my heart we're meant to be!"

"Shut up. You know nothing about me," he growled. Savior's head raised again and there was that deadly glower multiplied by a thousand. "You haven't even known me more than a few days and you think you love me? You're so shallow!"

Suddenly, he was shouting and hopping up, chest heaving and teeth bared. Caelus squeaked and backpedaled a few feet. He wasn't scared, not truly. Savior was still too weak to cause any serious physical damage… but you only needed words to tear apart someone's heart.

"Savior, I-"

"Shut up," he roared. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! How can you just waltz into my life and think everything is fine and perfect rainbows and-"

The elf gasped, cutting himself off, shuddering as he hunched over in obvious pain. Then he collapsed onto his knees with a groan as his forehead clonked onto the floor.

"Savior," he gasped, startled. He jumped forward, hands fluttering in his uncertainty. He kneeled, worry restricting his lungs and pounding in his head. What was he supposed to do? His darling was in pain and, ohnonononono please don't be another attack!

But it seemed nothing like last time. There were no panicked stuttering breaths, no hands trying to claw himself to pieces. It was more like…

The nymphs nostrils flared at the coppery pungent scent of blood drifted by.

Savior shifted back, struggling to pull himself upright and Caelus didn't hesitate to help him. Hands resting on those firm shoulders, he pushed the warrior up gently, running a probing eye over his physical state.

"Wha- What happened," he practically squeaked as he saw the gushing blood from a deep stab wound in his lovely's side. The strangest thing was that his health was still at full points. "D-darling!"

Another wound appeared, close to the original and Green and black eyes stared at him in a pained haze before his entire existence just…

Disappeared.

He was gone. And Caelus was left staring at nothing, the image of Savior bleeding out burned into his mind.

No one could blame him for the hysterical screaming fit that followed.

Harry woke just in time to see a large serrated knife coming back down. He rolled into the body as hard as he could, knocking the attacker and him to the floor. Quick as a snake, he struck out with his palm delivering a nasty blow to the man's (a firm body, large and muscled, 85% chance of being male) nose. It crumpled with a sickening crunch and the attacker yelped, scrabbling backwards.

Harry had enough time to yank off the headset, uncaring of where it landed (easily replaceable) as he lunged for the wand he kept under his pillow.

"I don' tink so, Po'er," a nasally voice growled, obviously through a hand clutching his bloody nose.

A hand clutched at his ankle and amidst the throbbing in his side and the blank panic muddling his mind, a calm blanket fell over him.

He turned, grabbing the hand around his ankle and twisted, forcefully breaking the grip and twisting the thumb so the whole arm followed. Mercilessly, he lashed out with a donkey kick finding purchase on a ribcage. There was an audible crack. Good. Made the attacker less efficient. He grabbed the mattress and hauled himself up, one hand smoothly pulling out his wand while the other supported his weight. He was losing blood at an alarming rate and he needed to destroy his opponent before he passed out.

"Grah!" The man retreated through the door and he followed.

The man swerved as he ran to the front door. Too injured or an aversion tactic? Could be a magical if he was zigzagging for avoidance purposes.

Why not use magic then? The wards. Anyone could get in the muggle way, that needed to be fixed. It should have been done beforehand.

The man slammed into the open door, throwing it open as he tossed himself over the railing and dispersed into black smoke that took off into the sky.

Death Eater.

He launched himself from his current residence in hot pursuit. His magic swirled hot under his skin and, as soon as he passed the ward line by hopping over the railing, he blurred into grey smoke. He was faster in the air, catching up extremely quickly and overtaking the enemy above an apartment building. They crashed two streets over into a dark alley. The rough concrete dug into his skin, shaving away a few layers but he ignored it. It didn't impede him at all.

He stared at the Death Eater standing defensively less than a yard away running his features through his mind. There was a match.

"Rookwood."

"Bloody 'ell! And I thou' ya were stubid fer usin' tha' anti-magic ward!"

He dodged back barely missing a punch to the face. His wand was up in a flash of red light throwing the enemy down the alley.

"Two ta tango Potter!"

He dodged to the left, brushing the bricked wall, to avoid the maliciously purple spell. He'd been slow. Allowed his enemy to use magic. It should have been ended earlier. He risked a glance down at his shirt. It was stuck to his side, stained a dark black in the early morning lighting, and tugging painfully. Already there were black spots in his vision.

"Why didn't you kill me while I slept?"

He needed to know. Information was key to survival. There had to be a reason. They couldn't know, could they? His plans would need major adjustments in that case.

Rookwood smiled grimly blood still dripping from his crooked nose and staining his teeth. "Ya impordant, Potter. A key to 'is rise!"

"Delusional fool."

"Jus' fall fer me, yea?"

Even with his vision fading, his hearing was not yet drowned in incessant ringing. He heard the barest scrape of the sole of a shoe on the cement behind him. It was just enough time to throw himself down to avoid another purple light.

He rolled to the side, his wand waving in front of him to weave a stronger version of Protega Maxima. Two more spells splashed harmlessly off of it.

Two men, one an Unspeakable with years of experience but suffering two slightly debilitating injuries. The other, unknown, was in perfect health. Both were only a few yards away and he was starting to get dizzy, even the adrenaline doing nothing. No time for even a quick magical fix.

He could not let them see.

With a growl he summoned his will, stoking the magic until it was an inferno. Quick and simple. It burst from his skin quicker than an explosion but silently roaring his anger and desperation. There were two short screams that cut off after a second and then a ringing silence.

He staggered up, dragging his shield with him and checked both spots. Covered in ash with a lingering magical residue.

Death Eaters terminated.

The shield dropped at the same time as his knees hit the floor. His fingers clawed at the ground dragging him forward. He just needed to get back. He just needed…

Chapter Text

It was a normal day; she played Second Life, woke up and had breakfast, yelled at her brother as she left the apartment. What was absolutely not normal was almost tripping over someone's head on her way out of the gates.

"Hiiiii! I'm so sorry!"

She turned and swung into a low bow but there was no response. Hesitantly, Feng Lan glanced up. The man she had tripped over was lying almost face down, looking as if he'd been crawling before he collapsed.

"Oh uh… hey, sir? Sir? Are you okay?"

She was going to be late for school if she stayed but what kind of good citizen would she be if she left a poor drunk man on the sidewalk?

"Sir?" She shook his shoulder with no response. Maybe she could flip him over? Oh, man what if he was dead!?

With a panicked move she grabbed an arm and shifted it out from underneath him so she could drag him away from the bricked front gate. Then she used both hands to shove him over until he was laying on his front. That's when she saw the blood and stifled another scream. His arm and body had still been warm so she frantically checked for his pulse, trembling fingers settling on his neck. It took a moment but she felt it, that reassuring pulse that denoted life. Relief had never felt so heavy but she wasn't out of the woods yet. She yanked off her jacket and backpack, ignoring the slight sting of the morning chill. She pushed the jacket over his side, keeping a steady pressure, while she fumbled to find her phone with the other hand. She looked at his face, pale way too pale, and was startled to see green eyes staring back at her. She would deny the yelp that tore from her throat to her dying days.

She would also deny to everyone -but herself- that she stared for a precious few seconds before his eyes fluttered as he groaned. She had never dialed a number so quickly in her life.

The emergency responder kept her on the phone, telling her that she was doing great with the pressure and to make sure that he stayed conscious.

"LanLan!?"

Feng Lan glanced up at her brother with wet eyes. "Where have you been! What took you so long," she screeched. "I know you were just in the lobby! Help me! We need to keep him awake," she moaned, trying to keep the phone to her ear with her shoulder as she kept both hands on her jacket. Feng Ming dropped his bag and kneeled down leaning over so he could look at the man's face.

He patted the guy's face a few times until bleary green eyes turned in his direction. "Hey, man. Can you hear me?"

There was a soft grunt.

"Okay. Okay. That's good. I'm Feng Ming. That's my sister Feng Lan. Help is on the way, okay?"

The green dulled for a moment and Feng Lan nearly had a heart attack in her panic. It was only the soothing voice of the emergency responder telling them that they were five minutes away that kept her from a worse reaction than heavy breathing.

"Five minutes," she gasped leaning forward to put more pressure on his side as if would stop him from dying. "Just five more minutes, please."

Ming bit his lip and patted his face again. "Hey. Hey do you play Second Life?"

Was he crazy? Why in the world would he even ask that?

Apparently, Ming caught her look and stared back with narrowed eyes for a second before turning his attention to the man on the ground. He bent forward so his ear could be right next to the man's mouth. "Could you repeat that dude?"

A second later her brother grinned. "That's awesome man! What's your screen name?"

"What is the point of asking that?" She seriously wanted to know because of all the subjects, why Second Life?

He glared up at her. "It's really popular right now and I'm asking a question that he actually has to think about. If he's thinking, he's alive."

Feng Lan bit her lip at the chasting tone. Why did she care so much about the topic her brother asked about? He was right with his reasons. They were legitimate.

"Hey man. Think you could talk a little louder, no stress if you can't. I couldn't hear you before."

"Sav… ior," came the raspy reply.

"Awesome."

At this point there were curious people starting to gather around and it set her nerves on edge. A few even had their phones out. Was that all they cared about? Getting the next cool video? There was a man bleeding out on the pavement!

In Second life she loved killing monsters. She relished bathing in their blood. It made her feel alive for some inexplicable reason. But as she looked at her hand which was covered with the blood of a dying man soaking through her jacket, she wanted to throw up. She couldn't just give him a potion and expect him to brush off the experience as a normal thing. This person wouldn't go back to the rebirth point if he died. He would never be able to come back. He would be dead and gone forever.

And these stupid assholes around her didn't even seem to care! They didn't care that he would never see the next day, or see his friends again or even…

Tears gathered in the corner of her eyes as the reality of the situation crashed down on her. Her arms trembled harder and her stomach roiled. This man, if he fell asleep right now, would never wake up. Her brother was still talking to him, asking his name and age but the replies were so quiet she couldn't hear them. She took her time looking over his face, studying it. Burning it into her memory.

It was beautiful. A strong jaw and high cheekbones gave the impression that he was born of nobility. His eyebrows weren't too thick or too thin and his lips were supple. There was a hint of stubble but nothing too dark.

But there was no color. His skin was an ashen grey. His eyebrows and lips were contorted into a pained grimace. One scrunched eye slit open and she caught sight of that same breathtaking green that was still glazed over. His image was perfect. Feng Lan couldn't find a blemish except the odd lightning shaped scar that was barely visible through the sweaty hair matted to his forehead.

Then he coughed and there was blood on his lips and Ming's face. Her brother jerked away, wide eyed and stunned but she was more focused on the lack of breathing.

"No no no! Hey, check his pulse," she barked and her brother jumped to comply. A second, another, and another and another. He stared at her with wide brown eyes, the same eyes staring back at him. No. No he couldn't.

"Hey! Man wake up! Come on man!"

"What about CPR?"

She glanced around at the eyes -so many eyes- hoping for someone, anyone, to say something but they only shifted and murmured quietly. Her breath came short and quick, burning just as much as her eyes and ears. In fact, her entire face was burning with her need to suppress the tears. If she started now she would never stop. Min Min looked the same.

"I don't know CPR!" But he tried anyway, inexperienced hands thumping harshly on the man's chest.

A siren (when had it gotten so close?) broke her out of her panic and she gratefully turned toward the truck racing down the street.

"Everything will be okay. Just hang in there. Please don't die," she whispered fervently as her brother kept pumping and pumping and pumping.

Then there was a moment when everything washed away as clear emerald eyes gazed into her plain brown. Hope ignited in her chest as the paramedics arrived pulling them both away so they could finish resuscitation and load the man onto a gurney.

Later, as Feng Lan washed her hands in a restroom, she stared transfixed at the pink that sluggishly swirled around the basin and finally went down the drain. This was the blood of a living person, the blood of a dying person, the blood of someone she had watched almost die in front of her. It was an hour later when someone found Feng Lan in the bathroom still staring at the water that now ran crystal clear.

Harry woke to blindingly bright white lights and he couldn't help but groan in annoyance. He had to be in the hospital. There were no other places with obnoxious lighting like that. Which also meant that he had probably been found by someone after he'd been stabbed. And dammit he could hardly remember anything after waking up from Second Life. Did he have another blackout? Had he killed anyone? Were his neighbors okay?

Before he could really freak himself out, though the feeling was still there in the back of his mind and chest, he felt a curious weight shift next to his arm. His eyes shot open and he jerked away, startling whoever it was that had been there.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!"

He stared. She stared back.

She was pretty in a next door neighbor way. Soft features, brown hair, brown eyes, thin, and a nervous smile. The thing was… she looked extremely familiar.

"I'm so glad you're okay! The doctors said your heart had stopped three times! It was too much blood loss and they had such a hard time finding blood that your body would accept. Your body kept rejecting everything. I was so worried. I d-didn't want t-to watch someone d-d-die!"

Oh. Well, that explained it then. He hadn't hallucinated the look-a-likes that tried to help him. They were still really blurry in his memory but her face definitely stood out now that he could see her.

"Oh."

She was crying now and Merlin did he feel absolutely wretched and uncomfortable. He didn't deal well with crying. At all. Especially crying females. Cho had sort of ruined any future experiences he was likely to have. That, and he just had no idea what to do. He didn't want to touch her so he just stared awkwardly as she had a mini meltdown next to him. He shifted his arms to pull them defensively to his chest, noting the wire in his left arm that was connected to an IV bag.

"I'm not dead," he muttered. "I'm still alive. Thanks to you. And I think there was a boy? You guys saved me so… thanks. I mean... Yea. Thanks."

He was actually grateful. He'd rather not have his secret exposed to the world by suddenly reviving in a morgue or in front of people. She also saved him a lot of pain and discomfort which would have had him panicking for days. So that was nice.

She sniffled trying to frantically wipe away her tears. "T-that was my younger twin. Feng Ming. I'm Feng Lan. S-sorry about… the crying."

"It's natural. No need to be sorry. I guess I should be sorry for worrying you," he grinned painfully, his lips deciding to not cooperate. "Probably traumatised you for life, eh? My bad?"

She paused and stared at him in disbelief. "Are you trying to joke with me? To cheer me up?"

"Is it working?"

She snorted before throwing her head back with a watery laugh.

"I'll take that as a yes," he commented dryly. Still, her happiness was slightly infectious and his grin became more real.

"O-oh man! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! You're terrible! I-I- Oh! I'm supposed to call the nurse! Hang on!"

And there she went summoning the possy. There was a whirlwind of nurses checking on him and getting his information followed by the police getting a statement. Not that they got much considering he couldn't remember a lot. And, of course, a representative of the palace had to come down within the hour after the news 'got out'.

"I'm sorry, Miss. I'm going to have to speak to him alone."

Feng Lan, who had been with him the whole time watching the entire circus show with hawkish eyes, bit her lip and glanced at him.

"It's alright. I'll be fine. I'm here, aren't I? Actually, I'm starving. Think you could get me some palatable food instead of this… goop?"

He stared down at the soft food the nurses left. Yea, he wasn't eating that no matter how nutritional they said it was. And it was a good excuse to get her out of the room. She seemed pretty intent on being his watchdog. It was slightly worrying and suffocating but her personality made it so it wasn't as bad as it might have been otherwise.

"Yea… Yea I can do that." She made her way out, throwing a glance back. Harry gave her a reassuring smile.

Green eyes focused on the palace guard that was pulling an ornate golden hand mirror out of an enchanted pouch necklace. It rather reminded Harry of his own mokeskin pouch.

"Your parents have insisted this be used instead of the hawks. They are aware of your discomfort but they would at least like you to have it in case of emergencies. They are quite adamant they talk to you now as well, young master. I will set up the wards now."

Harry took the offered mirror with hesitance. It's not like he could reject it without being extremely rude and insensitive. They were probably freaking out over his 'near' death experience. He winced at the thought. He'd bet all of his vaults that his parents would try to convince him to move or have a guard.

His pallid face reflected back up at him as he stared at the glass. It's not that he couldn't use it. He just… didn't want to. They knew that. It's why they'd been using hawks even though this was a much safer and secure route. He respected their respect of his boundaries. That didn't mean he wanted to use it now.

He bit his lip as the feeling of wards slid over his skin, his hair raising at the foreign magic. He shivered and had to repress his automatic attack reaction. Damn war…

Then, he sighed and ran a fingertip over the smooth surface. It rippled letting him know that his 'call' was sending. Almost immediately, two faces were staring back at him. A woman with soft dark brown eyes, rounded cheeks, and plump berry lips pulled into a worried frown. Her chocolate hair spilled over her shoulders, accentuating the pale milkiness of her skin. The man next to her looked extremely severe, his lighter brown eyes narrowed and lips pulled into a thin line. Even his dark black hair was pulled tight in a top bun.

It was jarring staring at them and seeing parts of his own face stare back. He'd obviously gotten his cheekbones from his father but the eye shape was all his mother. His nose was a mix of his father's, long and sharp, and his mother's, short and button like. Even his forehead was reflected back at him from the slope on his father's to the gentle curve into the hairline from his mother.

His jaw was a little more square than either of them and his eye color was most definitely his own. Still… it was slightly unnerving, it being the first time he'd allowed himself to look at them. Sure, they sent photos but Harry was an absolute numpty (he knew dammit) and didn't want to grow too attached so he had stored every unopened photo into his storage room in a worn grey muggle shoebox. The same box that held the photos he'd collected of the Potter's. (The photo album just did not have enough space once he started asking teachers for more memories.)

"Oh my baby. My precious child," his mother hiccupped, tears clinging to her lashes and the little crow's feet in the corner of her eyes. "This is why you need to stay with us! This never would have happened-"

"You don't know that," Harry cut in with a frown. "I don't think you understand how bloody resourceful some of these people can be. If this had happened at the palace, you and Doll could have been placed in harm's way."

"And you think we cannot protect ourselves?" His father's voice was slightly gruff and rumbly.

"I'm not saying you can't. I'm saying I'd rather not take the chance," he grumbled.

They were back to the same argument. Of course they were. But this time his parents had more ammo against him. Great.

"You would be safer here!"

"But I would be suffocated! Isn't that exactly what the therapist recommended against? Isn't that why you're letting me stay out here? I've handled myself for years like this! It's nothing new and it's not going to change anything."

He was adamant about that.

His mother placed a hand on her husband's shoulder when it looked like he was going to start arguing.

"Dear, we understand you need time. We really do. We accept that. But… can't you at least visit?"

The wizard visibly winced at her distraught tone. She looked on the verge of a breakdown. If he thought talking to over letters was bad, seeing her in person was worse. Man, did she have the emotional manipulation down. Even knowing he was being tugged around did nothing to stop the gnawing guilt.

"Maybe someday. I swear, I will," he said just a tad bit desperately. "Just not right now, please. Please."

And then he was throwing the manipulation right back in their faces. Teary eyes, solemn face, wobbly lip. Yea, he learned from two marauders and even his newfound mother. Take that.

She crumbled, her shoulders sinking, before she took a deep breath and recomposed herself. She straightened and nodded much to the protest of his father. "You're just going to give in-"

The image cut off and he was staring back at his own average unhealthy features. And, oh Merlin, that reminded him about Caelus. What the hell was he supposed to do about that situation?

Sitting in a hospital was boring and worse than Death Eater torture. Harry could honestly tell you that with a straight face. The only reason he didn't go absolutely barmy was Feng Lan and Feng Ming. They visited him all three days he was awake in that horrible place and Harry, if he was anyone else, might have kissed them.

After the guard had left and the mirror was safely tucked away into the pouch that was then given to him, Lannie, as she'd said to call her, came back with junk food from a vending machine. He knew he should eat healthy, his body deserved it after everything he'd put it through, but staring at a packet of chocolate and cream cookies… He didn't care.

Lannie laughed at him for practically devouring the sweet treat but it had been a while since he'd allowed himself to splurge. Sweets were more expensive, and when you were on the run with extremely limited access to your vault they were definitely less of a priority than protein. Then in Japan, they had been focused on balancing his nutritional intake and allowing his body to catch up and heal from the years of neglect and starvation. In China, he had just stuck to the previous plan with hardly any temptation at all for sweet food even if it had been his favorite in Hogwarts.

Then came the cookies. Yeah, he might have gorged a bit while reminiscing on his first train ride with Ron.

"Oh man, I bet you're super excited to get out today," Feng Ming laughed as he watched Harry's ever growing impatience with signing papers.

"Of course I am. I hate hospitals. I'd rather deal with my nagging neighbor." He paused green eyes widening slightly. "Oh no. She's going to roast me."

The twins burst into laughter at his horror and pledged to protect his honor. They'd decided to escort him back home and Harry had reluctantly agreed after their pestering. They were surprisingly persistent little buggers.

He stuck his tongue out at them and shouldered his way through the crowd at the hospital entrance. If touching these people could get him out faster, all the better. Four days in a hospital was more than his anxiety could stand. His only saving grace was the twins plodding after him like well trained poodles.

"I still don't understand why you see the need to escort me back home. I'm perfectly able to take care of myself."

"The two stab wounds in your gut say otherwise," Feng Ming chirped with a cheery, slightly manic smile. Lannie mirrored her brother before tossing in, "You even admitted to causing trauma. It's only fair you let us cope."

Harry had the feeling that her words were more true than she wanted him to believe. Which was… understandable. He actually knew what they were feeling. He'd had more than his fair share of friends and allies die in his arms. The ones that didn't, that lived, he felt the need to make sure they were okay. He had to ensure they weren't actually going to keel over. So yea, he knew why they were following him and he could tolerate it. Their company wasn't the worst either.

"O' woe is you," he snickered.

"Exactly. Woe," Lannie laughed.

Chapter Text

He approached his complex warily keeping half an ear on the chatter between the twins. They were talking about the next semester coming up and their enrolling into XX University. He pulled his keys out and, pulling out the special scanner bar, stuck it up against the gate reader.

“Oh wow. You live in such a fancy place!”

Harry shot an incredulous look over his shoulder. Ming snickered at him but didn’t retract his statement.

“Uh-huh and the high rise almost in the heart of downtown isn’t fancy? Don’t be brats.”

“You’re almost the same age as us,” he shot back.

“And yet somehow I’m more mature. How did that happen I wonder?”

Feng Lan let out a hideous giggle snort as she stuffed her face in her hands to stop laughing.

“Yea yea. We’re here.” He pushed open the gate and gestured them inside. He was quick to follow behind, pulling the gate shut instead of letting it naturally close. The twins were looking at the sprawling complex with interest, eyes roving over the neatly manicured strips of plants and grass. “Come on. I’m over this way.”

They passed by the office and he noted that it was empty despite it being business hours. Which was strange because the owner was quite a stickler about his landlady being ‘available’ to the residents. He was a stickler and an asshat in general but still… sometimes it came in handy. There were also no sign saying she was going to be out for the day or for certain hours.

As he rounded the corner, the twins scrabbling to catch up as he’d just left them to gawk, he understood why no one was behind the glass panes that surrounded the office. The landlady stood, with the condescending owner, talking to An Di who looked to be near tears. Her face was twisted and her body language was curled inward, shoulders hunched with invisible weight.

A flicker of anger burned in his guts. Talk down to Harry all you wanted but his neighbor was a sweetheart, nosy but still someone who had taken an interest in caring for Harry. Whether he wanted it or not… which was not the issue.

The wizard upped his pace, his hospital given shoes rapping harshly on the pavement. None of them noticed his approach until he started up the stairs, his face stiffening into a polite smile.

As An Di was facing towards him she saw him first. Her eyes widened glistening with unshed tears and her face was panicked but she couldn’t do much of anything to warn the other two before he was right behind them.

“Excuse me, is there a problem here?”

Harry found it extremely difficult to keep anything from passing his lips. The owners sharp words and the white paper on her door were more than enough for him to know exactly what happened.

The landlady jumped in place and turned around an apologetic smile on her lips. A sweet lady but one that was easily pulled to heel by the owner. Said man man scoffed and twisted his head dismissively.

“Nothing that involves you. Though, I did warn you about more property damag-”

“I don’t believe there has been any unless it was caused in the last few days while I was in the hospital,” Harry cut in sharply. He vaguely noticed An Di’s hands rise to her face but his attention was focused on the greasy weasel in front of him. “Now, I understand it is your job to keep and maintain your properties but I see no reason for you to be harassing its occupants. That’s rather counterproductive don’t you think, sir? You’d think a property owner would know that. How long have you been in the business again, sir?”

The owner sniffed, splotches of mottled red appearing high on his cheeks. Oh, Harry had his full attention now. Subtlety was not his forte and he didn’t care to wield it at that moment anyway. He wanted the man’s attention right now. He was not the man hiding behind his door to keep the peace anymore. He was the protector standing in front of an ally to shield them from a curse.

Hermione was not wrong at all about his people saving thing, much to his detriment most of the time.

The man sucked in a breath and gave a disgusting grin, his eyes darting to An Di briefly before he opened his mouth, “This woman has failed to provide rent in the time provided. She’s been quite the bother to you, hasn’t she? Well, you won’t have to worry anymore. Her eviction has reached it in and she’ll be out tomorrow.”

The smug little bastard looked so proud of himself. As if he’d just offered the best insult and compliment rolled into an attractive package that Harry would have to accept.

“Oh? Is that all? You’ll see the money by sundown.”

That clearly threw everyone off.

“I-I’m sorry? That’s not-”

“Oh, that would be wonderful dear-”

“Wang Fei what do you me-”

“Now if that will be all? I’d ask that you stop causing a scene on my doorstep, thank you.”

He glared around at the other apartments and curtains fluttered in the wake of his poisonous eyes.

“Now see here-”

“No. You see here. I will be attending to my neighbor while you get off my doorstep because your presence is unnecessary. Thank you and have a wonderful day.”

He brushed past the silently gleeful landlady and the blustering owner to grab An Di’s arm and guide her to her cracked door. With a gentle hand he pushed it open and gestured her in while loosening his grip. The he paused and turned a look over his shoulder at the twins. They were standing off to the side, faces cold but eyes alight in mirth. Ming sent him a wink as the owner stalked past him and Lannie shifted just enough just for her shoe to be right where the owner stepped. Instead of recoiling like a normal polite person he stumbled and barely caught himself before shooting a dirty look at the twins. Harry snorted and sent them a wave. He was sure the gratefulness was shining through on his face because they both waved at him before turning to follow behind the sweet landlady.

With a sigh, he closed the door, cutting off most of the light even if some of it was streaming in from behind the curtains.

“An Di.”

“What were you thinking?”

He frowned, blinking to adjust to the dim lighting. Her tone of voice sounded off.

“An Di-”

“Are you stupid!? I don’t have that money! And now- now I’m going to look like a liar and an unsuitable mother!” Despite here harsh words, her voice never rose above a whisper and he could hear the waver underlying everything.

“Hey, everything will-”

Her head shot up and he could just make out the redness rimming her eyes and the shine of tears on her cheeks as he took her expression of despair. There wasn’t even a hint of anger, as if it had already burnt out and now she was resigned to her fate. Where had the strong-willed woman with a burning passion gone? The one bull-headed enough to strongarm even Harry into doing something he was reluctant to do?

“An Di. I can help you make up whatever you need. You can pay me back.”

Her whole posture crumpled and her knees wobbled. If Harry hadn’t been through Hell and learned the signs he might have missed catching her before she hit the floor. Fingers clawed into his thin nightshirt as voiceless cries spilled from her lips in body wracking trembles.

“An-An Di. An Di. Breathe. Can you breathe for me please?”

Already he could feel the touch of her skin against his overriding his need to help, an itchiness born from mindless hives of imaginary insects under the skin. He didn’t know her. She was still a stranger, vaguely outlined in his mind’s eye but she had tried so hard to help him despite his lashing out so the least he owed her was this.

“One deep breath. That’s it. Can you take another?”

He could sit her with her and console her. Allow her to cling to him with a desperate ferociousness that her tiny frame belied.

“I’m here. I’m here. Shhhh.”

His words were soft, maybe not particularly soothing due to their awkwardness, but that didn’t seem to matter to the single mother attached to him. His touch was… well, basically him sitting them on the floor so she wouldn’t be weighing down and ripping his shirt, but the woman still seemed to appreciate his presence. So they sat there, him muttering nonsensical comforts while she wound herself down from the emotional overload.

“I’m sorry.” The words were so quiet he almost didn’t catch them.

For a brief second he was stuck. What did he say? Don’t be sorry? It’s okay you’ve seen me worse?

Thankfully, he needn’t have worried because she continued, “You shouldn’t have had to deal with that… but I’m so… so glad… I appreciate that you sat here with me. I know it couldn’t have been easy.”

“Well… you’ve helped me,” he muttered.

She let out a small cough that might have been a laugh with how hoarse her voice was despite her silent screaming. With careful slowness she extricated herself from his arms and stood on shaky legs. “You’re a good friend. I don’t wanna lay my sob story-”

“An Di. This is your final day of eviction.” She sucked in a sharp breath and paused her unsteady stride. “I’m not worried about money and I am going to pay it for you. I don’t need to know why but if you’d like to tell someone…I’m here.”

Her breath left in a great woosh as she plopped down on her couch and practically sank into the cushions. For a moment he thought she might not tell him, that he might be able to leave, but her eyes opened and she briefly patted the couch with her hand.

Harry took a moment to mentally prepare himself for prolonged contact with another emotional woman. Lannie had been bad enough the first day of his hospital no matter how hard she tried to hold it in and, thankfully, his mother had been on the other side of a mirror. Instead of sitting right next to her, he perched on the armchair. An Di noticed and shot him a wry smile.

“I… lost my job almost two weeks ago and I’ve been trying to scrounge up everything I can. I’ve called for loans and looked into getting another job everyday but… No one wants to hire a single mother. We aren’t available enough. And no one wants to loan money when they know it can’t be paid back because I don’t have an income…”

Harry narrowed his eyes in thought. Society was not kind to single mothers, he already knew that. A lot of countries had help plans for people in her situation but China didn’t seem to be one of them. At least not anything that was easily accessible. It was almost a miracle that she had gotten a residency permit and stayed in such a nice complex. It also was and was not a surprise she’d lost her job. China seemed to be really bigoted…

Maybe he should talk to his parents about this. Or… what if they were like that too? The magical counterpart of China hadn’t seemed so bad but what did he actually know? He’d stayed away for so long and was used to gathering the bare minimum amount of information needed to survive on the run.

He was so disconnected from everything still…

Harry internally snorted at himself. Who’s fault was that? His own. He couldn’t be complaining about it.

But that didn’t help him solve the An Di situation and all the other women out there that were suffering the same treatment. Wow… he hadn’t though in such a large scale (unselfishly anyway) since the war… Maybe her presence was good for him. Even if he’d never admit it out loud.

“Well, I can at least pay for your next month’s rent so don’t worry about that, okay? Everything else can be figured out.”

She cast him a sideways glance before glancing back down at her lap.

“I appreciate the thought… but I didn’t help you because I want your charity, Wang Fei. I just saw someone that needed help and I wanted… to at least do something for you before the end of the month.”

“Then it’s good that that’s not the reason I’m helping you.”

Which was a little bit of a lie. If she had never tried so hard to help him he wouldn’t have paid much attention to her plight, too busy hiding away from the world. But she did deserve attention and help and he could provide it right now.

She snorted in disbelief. “Wang Fei you hardly left your apartment. You wouldn’t have even noticed us gone.” He opened his mouth before closing it. “That’s what I thought… If you’re going to be doing this like the stubborn ass you are, I am going to tell you a story. It’s one I wanted to tell you a while ago but…”

She sighed.

“I grew up on a small farm in a little village. I grew up like any other girl, making myself ready to be married and settle into the role as a housewife. There were two older girls in the village that weren’t like the others. They wanted to study business and medicine so they were spurned for it. Those girls didn’t care. I didn’t know then… but I yearned to be like them.

I was afraid and a coward but I was also a little girl.” An Di sucked in a deep breath before continuing.

“A year after the older girls had left my grandpa came to stay with us. He couldn’t look after himself anymore and he would jump at shadows. He was terrifying to be around honestly. But one night I snuck out of bed to watch the fireflies and he was sitting by the fire. He looked at me and said ‘You shouldn’t be here.’

I thought I was going to be in trouble for sure but he only gestured for me to come over. When I was at his knee he sat me down and said ‘You should be seeing the beauty of the world. Don’t let them cage you, little bee.’”

Harry watched a silent tear slip down her cheek.

“I don’t know why that had such a profound impact on me but after that I was very close with my grandfather and it hurt me every day that I was unable to help him. It was thanks to him that I went on to study medicine, and despite my parents trying to stop it, he always encouraged me. When he died I made up my mind to study in a big city but it was hard alone and without support. So I married Wei Di and he supported me as long as I gave him a child. That was when Bao was born. Wei was...not a nice man but I was desperate. For years… I stood to the side and let him do as he pleased because he was paying for everything.”

More tears were falling but her voice was still strong if soft.

“It wasn’t until he died that I realised I had trapped myself in another cage. Even now… I am still trapped. I love Bao and he is my life but every waking moment I spend trying to provide for him. Our experiences may be different… but I understand that feeling of enclosing walls… of never being able to get away; to get out. And you are a good man that reminds me of my grandfather. I couldn’t save him so I had to at least try with you.

That. That is why I tried to help you. It was completely selfish.”

“Well, you certainly stopped me from completely embarrassing myself in front of that nasty weasel so I don’t particularly care if it was selfish,” he tried to joke.

What else was he supposed to say? She’d basically given him her life story summarised. Did he console her? Did he just not mention it? Did he share his own life? Yeah, that was not an appealing option. It did help him understand her thought process at least. He reminded her of a loved one and a little bit of herself -even if he didn’t agree that he was trapped because he was always running instead-.

The snort she let out again was rather satisfying.

“I… you really don’t have to pay-”

“Don’t even start. I’m an awkward man okay? Let me have this little thing. I want to help. And I’m definitely not your ex-husband. No strings attached.”

An Di shifted, turning her body to face him and opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by her phone chirping a cheery tune.

“Bao! I’m going to be late! Wang Fei-”

“Hey, no worries. I need to get home anyway. I probably have to check everything is still there,” he muttered as he stood up.

His neighbor, with more life in her eyes than he’d seen all day, winked at him before telling him she’d locked the door and shut it the other day. Then she threatened him to tell her why he’d been in the hospital… just later. After the whirlwind of a woman had pushed him out the door to make herself presentable for her son, Harry stood outside rapidly blinking for a moment.

That had been a very strange experience and he had not expected anything besides a tongue lashing and worry when he got home. Actually, speaking of worry. Caelus.

His heart gave a pronounced thump before skipping a beat.

He dreaded that meeting much more than An Di for some reason… He still hadn’t figured out what he was going to tell the cheery man, especially after he’d snapped at him. Well, no time like the present, when he was going to be alone in his apartment, to think about it.

He jogged the few yards to his door and jiggled the handle. Locked. Right. Of course. An Di had said she’d locked it. With a sigh, he banged his head on the door. The ward prevented magic and now he was going to have to break into his own apartment. What a great day this had turned out to be… At least the twins didn’t get a chance to see this. He had a feeling they would never let it go. Ever.

Chapter Text

Harry warily put the headset on. He’d been in a surprisingly good mood since the beginning of his hospitalization, excepting that weird feeling listening to An Di, but now he was consumed by a feeling of dread that settled like a metal band around his lungs. Maybe he could just not play the game again? Or possibly start it over? But then he couldn’t look for Doll once he got away from Caelus… If he got away. Because he definitely wanted to despite the pleasant feelings the boss monster elicited. He did.

The wizard groaned and allowed himself to fall back onto the pillow while he closed his eyes. 

He stood in the same training area he had been in before he was forcefully logged off. Everything was silent. A heavy oppressive silence that made Harry frown. He opened his mouth to call out but the sound caught in his throat, refusing to break the ominous atmosphere hanging over the castle. He closed his mouth and licked his dry lips. Then he started walking towards his room trying to quiet his footsteps. It was honestly creepy and he’d lived in and wandered a drafty old scottish castle for almost seven years. Not to mention the fact that, the closer he got, the heavier his legs became until they almost felt like solid lead each time he lifted them.

With a quiet huff he willed himself onwards, ignoring his body -mind over matter mind over matter mind over matter- and focusing on his goal. He knew he needed to talk to Caelus and by Merlin’s beard he was bloody well going to do it.  It was best to do this now while he was still feeling okay anyway.

Several very long direful minutes later, the elf stood in front of the ornate door to his room. He dithered, shifting from foot to foot, his mind whirring with possibilities. If he went in and Caelus was there, what would happen? If he went in and Caelus was not there, what should he do? He didn’t actually know the castle that well and he might get lost if he went exploring in earnest. And would the nymphs that sometimes wandered the halls recognize him even without their master around? They were NPCs after all. Maybe he could go in and just wait, but how long would that take? Would Caelus even come back to the room at all?

His fingers twitched as his pale hand inched towards the knob. His courage was dying by the second but he had to do this. Harry wasn’t sure why the urge was so strong, he just knew that seeing Caelus right now had to happen. That the other needed to see him or- ...something would happen.

With teeth grit, Harry grabbed the door knob firmly and entered the room, facial features twisted into fierce determination. 

Then he froze.

Upon the bed, with white hair spread like a halo, Caelus lay like a puppet with its strings cut. His eyes were closed but it didn’t hide the absolute misery that suffocated the very air. Even the man’s soul was crying out, wailing pitifully every moment now that Harry could see it. Harry lurched forward as pain in his chest surfaced abruptly making him gasp. He had never felt anything like this before. 

Misery, agony, despair. Those he knew quite well; suffered some every day actually. But this? This was a whole other level and it wasn’t even him feeling it! His chest throbbed again making him gag quietly as his nails came up to dig into his skin.

He had known Caelus was an emotional person, he had known . This shouldn’t be such a surprise but bloody hell -

“Savior…?”

The tiny choked gasp distracted him from the radiating torment enough that he glanced up -when did he look down?- into shimmering halcyon orbs. The nymph was now sat up on the bed staring at him like- like- he couldn’t even describe it. It was when someone came home from war alive, a lover returning to their partner, a traveler returning home. It was all of that and more wrapped up into the golden eyes of his host as the man shakily stood from the bed and staggered over to him, all grace lost in his haste.

“Savior!”

Arms flung themselves around Harry and he stiffened momentarily until the pleasant tingles came back in roaring force, almost as strong as the hair session they’d had before. From head to toe, finger to shoulder, nose to belly; everything burned pleasantly, making his knees wobble.

Which had the unfortunate side effect of sending both of them to the floor since Caelus had practically leapt at him. Still, Harry wasn’t sure that he minded all that much. Why had he been worried about this reunion again?

“My love,” the nymph wailed burying his face into the shorter man’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I was so worried!”

Oh, right. This. The talking part.

Harry tried to speak up to calm the man but the crying only got harder and louder. The elf resigned himself to another long crying session. Two in one day was a record -thankfully- and not one he wanted to beat in the future. With one hand useless trapped between them, his other went to the man’s hair stroking the way Caelus had done for him during the bath. Or trying to, at least. He probably wasn’t all that great at it but it was the thought that counted, right?

So he laid there, crushed by a much heavier male -it wasn’t fair dammit- and spewed nonsensical soothing mutters hoping the crying would end soon. Thankfully this wasn’t nearly as bad as An Di considering he enjoyed Caelus touching him but it was still something he’d rather do without.

“Where were you,” Caelus hiccuped almost three hours later. The nymph was stuck to him like a leech that Harry doubted would be moving anytime soon. At least they’d moved to the bed earlier which was much more comfortable.

“That-” Harry hesitated. He couldn’t believe he was even contemplating telling someone they were a video game character that didn’t exist but… the man had a soul . A very vibrant, very fervent and poignant soul that was strong enough to transfer those feelings to Harry. “I need to tell you a very important story, okay? And I need you to not ask questions or I might not be able-”

Caelus shoved his face into the crook of his neck and nodded. “Okay.”

The elf shivered as the breath ghosted across his very sensitive skin and he sucked in a sharp breath. What the hell was this man doing to him?

“Okay.” He had to focus. This was important. “Okay. First of all, Savior is not my real name. That’s technically Wang Fei but I go by Harry Potter. I honestly prefer Harry but my family-”

And it all just came spilling out; his kidnapping, his upbringing, the years at Hogwarts, even the war. He didn’t go into major detail about most things but he did give a comprehensive overview. Enough that Harry was sure his bedmate was just filling up with questions. Still, the man stayed quiet and practically unmoved aside from his hands that would periodically stroke his chest or arms. Finally, though, he was finished after the words had forced themselves from his mouth like a garbage waterfall.

In a way it was much easier to talk to Caelus than it was his therapist. There was no hawk eyes watching his every move to ‘categorize’ him, no patronizing words about getting better. It was only silent support and a warm body -still strange how easily this man could get close to him-. But it was also harder because he wasn’t going to shatter the therapist’s worldview.

“I see,” came Caelus’ muffled voice. “That world sounds nothing like this.”

Harry swallowed before carefully whispering, “That’s because it’s not.”

Caelus’ fingers paused their drawing of random shapes on his shoulder.

Harry had to push on now before his words failed him, “It’s not this world at all. This world… it’s a ga-” Yeah, let’s just go calling Caelus’ entire bloody world and life a game. Harry would have punched someone if they said that to him, “an escape. A way to escape the harsh realities of our world. It’s structured differently and only the… the players can come and go when we sleep. It’s all so… very different. And- And when I left last time it’s because.... Well, someone hurt me and it woke me up. And I was gone because…”

Here his voice caught. Harry wasn’t sure he wanted to tell Caelus he’d spent so long in the hospital but what else could he do? Lie? That… he didn’t really want to do that. How to phrase it, though?

“Because I was with a healer for several days while they helped me recover.”

The elf grunted a bit as the man next to him rolled over, straddling him, and gently brushed the spot where he’d been injured.

“Someone hurt you,” the Nymph King croaked his hands clutching Harry’s sides. “Someone hurt you and I couldn’t help. I didn’t even know what was wrong- if you were gone forever because you didn’t respawn. You just- d-disappeared! I couldn’t find you at all! I tried to- leave my forest to check the town I know is out there but I-I couldn’t go! It was like chains binding me here- and I feared I had lost you forever! That- that you would find someone else because y-you would be h-h-happy to be a-away from me because I did something wrong a-again even though I said I-I wouldn’t!”

Harry was staring at the shimmering tears cutting tracks down the porcelain skin. His deep soothing voice was cracking and crumbling under his onslaught of half hysterical words and all Harry could do was stare like a bloody numpty. He’d thought the crying bit was already over with. What was he supposed to be doing now?

“An-A-And then I thought, what if he’s actually g-gone? Like actually actually? He didn’t l-leave me! Because he’s dead!”

“Caelus!”

The nymph stopped, his mouth hanging open letting out little pants and his eyes nearly glued shut with tears. Petal pink lips trembled for a moment before he was tucking his head into Harry’s neck again, almost crushing his throat, as the sobs started up. The hot drip of tears against his skin was less than pleasant, reminding him that he had absolutely no idea what to do with crying people.

With gentle hands, Harry tucked the other’s hands into one of his own -or tried to really, it’s the thought - and stroked the white silky hair. This time, though, the elf was quiet, lost in his own musings.

Despite the lack of time and bonding, Caelus actually cared for him a great deal. It was such a strange thought; someone caring about him. When people cared about Harry Potter, they only got hurt, so Harry never let anyone care. He would be there, then he would be gone. It was easier that way. Then he found family. Actual living, breathing family that wanted him, not for his status, -because they hadn’t known that- but because they cared for him. Even after they mourned for him, they never stopped caring so when he came back into their life they were ready to go to war for him. It was so very strange.

And now here came Caelus, who Harry never would have believed cared for him if it wasn’t for the absolute outpouring of emotion exuding from him in waves. He’d never felt someone who could affect their soul, their being, in such a way before… which must mean that Caelus was just that genuine of a person. It was just so strange that the nymph had chosen him to care for despite Harry trying to push him away. And Harry… Harry wanted it. Ever since his parents had kindled the dying embers and An Di had added lighter fluid, his inner fire of desire to be cared for was at an all time high. It would be so easy to give in. To let himself be cared for and loved without reservations.

But there were the Death Eaters to be afraid of. He wasn’t afraid for himself. He’d long lost that particular fear after everything he’d been through and conquered. No, it was the fear that if he allowed himself close to people the Death Eaters would take them. There were worse things than Death after all and those bastards knew quite a few of them.

But here, in the game…?

Despite changing his appearance to make sure he wasn’t recognized, he highly doubted that Death Eaters or any sympathizers would enter here. They were mostly purebloods and half bloods stuck on their traditions from the dark ages. For the most part, they rejected technology with a lion’s ferocity. 

So, maybe… he could let himself have this. Just this. It wouldn’t hurt, right?

Subconsciously, the elf’s arms had wrapped around the nymph pulling him tighter into his embrace.

“I remember things that shouldn’t have happened; places that don’t exist. I thought I was going crazy but what you just told me explains a lot.” 

Harry blinked and tried to look down but his chin was still sat snuggly on the top of a head of white hair.

“You do?” It was out of his mouth faster than he could stop it.

“Giant skyscrapers of glass and stone, metal transports that travel on flat black roads, so many people but all the same… I thought perhaps they were fantastical dreams. Something I could… make a story about maybe. I’ve written most of what I remember down. I keep the sheaf of papers in my room if you want to see.”

“I believe you.”

“Then you came, darling. I was so curious about you at first. I only wanted to know how you were so lucky and you were just so gorgeous… Then I held you in my arms and everything was right in the world. And the dreams, they were so much more vivid and real. I felt as if I was actually there. I-I… I want to know more. Will you tell me?”

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything. Anything! What’s the same? What’s different? What-”

Okay, Harry needed to cut him off before he kept going. “Caelus. Caelus! Slow down!”

The nymph grinned sheepishly into his neck. It was a very strange feeling. Then he pulled away until his weight was mostly on Harry’s hips. His honey orbs gleamed and a gentle smile played on his lips.

“What I wouldn’t give to join my love in his world…”

Harry blinked at that. There was no reason he shouldn’t be able to. He had memories, vague as thy were, and a bloody soul. So he had to have come from the real world somehow. Harry would just have to find some way to get him back out again.

“Maybe you could be,” he murmured, eyes glazing over and staring at the roof of the bed. “Maybe I could find some way.”

“Savior-”

“Harry. Please, call me Harry,” the elf muttered blinking back into the present. Those thoughts were for another time when he had access to research material.

The smile on the man’s face grew bigger. “Of course. But you will always be darling to me~!”

Harry snorted, putting on a grumpy face and grunting, “Disgusting.”

Peals of laughter burst forth as Caelus threw his head back in utter mirth. His whole body shook and he once again emitted his emotions, the giddy joy infecting even Harry. He chuckled lowly before bucking his hips and tossing the other man off the side of the bed in one smooth move.

They both blinked, Caelus in stunned surprise and Harry in shock that his move had worked. Then Harry really laughed.

Caelus and Savior's Relationship + 20

Caelus heard the air speak again but he didn’t pay it too much attention. No, instead he was enraptured by the man on the bed. It was the first time he’d ever heard him laugh. And, oh, it was such a beautiful laugh. It lit up the entire elf’s face. His normally cold, sharp, intimidating features turned warm and welcoming. There was also a hint of mischief dancing in his deep green eyes, the sclera doing nothing to detract from that. And his smile, oh, his love’s smile wasn’t overly large but it was the most beautiful thing he’d seen in… ever! He wondered what the man would look like in the other world. Would his ears still point and wiggle? Were his eyes so unique? His hair so soft? Was his smile so wonderful? Of course it was. What was he thinking? No matter what Harry may look like, he would always be beautiful!

And this man; this wonderful, fantastic, gorgeous man, had to be his. Cauleus didn’t think he’d be able to live if lovely wasn’t there. He’d almost not-

No. Bad thoughts. He didn’t want to think of that. Harry was here. He was okay and he was going to stay that way. 

( If only he could be there to be sure… )

“My love, that was very mean,” he pouted.

The smile turned into a smirk. “Was it? I think kidnapping is worse.”

His heart clenched for a moment, the thought of ‘I did something wrong’ clanging in his mind but the smirk never changed. Nor did the mischievous warmth in his darling’s eyes. So, he dramatically threw himself down so his back was upon the floor.

“Waaaaaah! My love is so mean to meeeeee!”

Chapter Text

“Caelus…?”

Strong fingers pulled another piece of hair into the intricate braid.

“Hm?”

Harry swallowed nervously. 

“I’m sorry… for snapping at you. I’m not-”

The hands stopped.

“Darling there’s no need-”

Green eyes fluttered closed.

“Please… Let me say this?”

Caelus’ hands resumed their previous work, gently tugging and plaiting another braid into existence.

“Of course, my love.”

Harry let out a soft breath, opening his eyes to stare at the far wall while he gathered his thoughts again.

“I’m sorry for snapping at you. I wasn’t okay that day. I’m… not okay a lot of days. I’m rude and quick-tempered. I have… a lot of mental issues that I’ve been trying to work through… And I just- No, no. I- I want… You make me feel… so much- lighter, freer… than I have in years. You are so- wonderful- I can’t even-”

Harry let out an explosive sigh, trying to find the right words that he wanted to get out. It sounded so perfect in his head but it wasn’t coming out the right way.

The hands continued their gentle work, giving him the courage to continue.

“I… want to try to… get to know you. But- I‘m not- I’m not easy to deal with. And there are other things I have to do in this world… just… right now- I’d- I want to stay. For just a little while longer. If you- If you’re okay with that.”

Finally! He’d said it. It was awkward and not as smooth as he’d have liked but it was out there. And he meant every word he said. Harry was not easy to deal on a daily basis; it took a stubborn bastard like An Di to even try. He’d been told on multiple occasions during the war when he was still surrounded by his friends and comrades that his temper and brooding made him difficult to hang around. Which he sort of understood but he couldn’t help it. That’s just how he was. He had to consider everything, the possible what if’s, the way things could have gone instead, how it was his fault no matter what anyone said… So, yeah. He stayed away from people to keep them safe but it was also… sort of… because he wouldn’t be able to stand it if he got attached and they ended up hating him. Honestly, it was a very poignant fear he had about Caelus but- the nymph made him want to try. If Caelus could learn to put up with him, then the least Harry could try to do would be better.

“I can’t promise it won’t happen again but I’ll- I’ll try .”

The hands stopped, instead circling around his shoulders and chest to bring him back into a warm hug.

“Oh, my darling, my love… I could ask nothing more from you than what you’ve already given. Everyone has bad days-”

Harry squeezed his eyes shut in pain. It wasn’t just bad days! He needed Caelus to understand.

“Caelus, please! I don’t think you understand. Every day of my life is a bad day! I’m always struggling with something! If it isn’t the memories, it’s the anxiety or paranoia. If not that, then the depression stealing my motivation and whispering my weaknesses into my head over and over and over. How I’m not good enough, I don’t deserve this because how could I? All I ever bring is ruin and death to those around me! I-I just need you-”

“Harry.” It was said with such compassion that he couldn’t stop his mouth from clicking shut. “Harry, I understand. You are grouchy, yes, but I still love you. You hate yourself so very much but I will love even more until you see what I see. You say terrible things but you don’t focus on the positive.”

He snorted, “What positives?”

“Oh, my love, I do not regret seeing you at all,” Caelus sighed, his arms tightening. “Whatever brought you to me that day was a blessing. That you do not see what I see… it hurts but I will not stop trying to show you. You are so very selfless especially after everything you’ve told me; giving up happiness for your friends, always thinking of others before yourself, trying to warn me even though I don’t need it. And you are so very brave; facing your fears both physical and mental, outside and inside, day after day. You are also kind-”

“I am not!”

“Hush love. I cannot teach you about yourself if you will not listen.”

Caelus propped his chin on Harry’s head and hummed, the vibrations traveling through the back of his head. The elf grunted but subsided, his hands dropping away from tugging at the nymph’s arms.

“You are kind . You helped your neighbor even when you didn’t have to-”

“I couldn’t just- not after what she did,” Harry protested grumpily.

Caelus hummed. “No. You didn’t have to. You could have let her leave to figure things out on her own.”

“That would have just been-”

“Mean? Awful? It wasn’t your business to get into. But you did it anyways.”

“Well, my life wasn’t hers to butt into yet she bloody did.”

Caelus giggled. “That doesn’t mean it wasn’t kind, darling. Was the first thought in your head about paying her back?”

Harry shifted. “Well, no but-”

“Then accept that what you did was out of kindness,” the nymph finished happily cutting off any protests. “Trust me, my love! If you have such trouble identifying it, then I will point out the good in your actions until you start to see them yourself!”

Harry could feel the heat burn in his cheeks. Caelus and his bloody pet names and positivity and- and-

“Okay. I’ll try!”

“Good. I know you can do it, lovely,” the Nymph King cooed. “Now sit back up so I can finish this braid. I’m almost done.”

He did. “It feels a lot shorter than before.”

“Hm. Oh! That’s because It’s a 9 strand braid. It’s shorter but wider. More complex so I could spend a little bit more time on it.”

The elf snorted, adjusting his legs into a more comfortable position. “You’re just having a blast trying all these different braids out.”

“Well of course I am! But it helps us both relax. You were even able to tell me more about the world and your life. And you weren’t crying this time either.”

“Are you patronizing me?”

“Of course not, dear.”

Even though training still hadn’t happened, they both wore smiles when they went to sleep that night with Caelus curled into Harry’s chest.

Harry pulled the headset off with a smile. He felt… not light exactly but different . Like things would be okay for a while. Logically, he knew they wouldn’t. Death Eaters had already found him here -he still needed to change his wards- and the muggles were in danger and so was his family. But… those thoughts weren’t constantly clamoring for his attention. Instead, it was the soft drag of Caelus’ fingernails on his scalp, the slight tug of his hair as it fit into another braid, the soothing voice that offered to listen and accept him no matter what he said. So Harry had told him.

Questions about the world slowly turned into questions about Harry. It wasn’t that subtle but still he found himself answering. Going into more detail. Offering gory images of his past and his personality that Caelus embraced with no hesitation. And Harry clutched at that acceptance desperately, unwilling to let the feelings the nymph evoked from him go. It had taken his heart finally pushing his brain aside before he spoke those words to the Nymph King. It had been so very long…

With a small content sigh, he stretched his sleep laden muscles and rolled out of bed. He had so many things that he could do. He still wanted to look at those schools again, possibly sort them into yes, no, maybe piles instead of staring blankly at them. He needed to put his bedroom back together and he could probably sort some of his trunk compartments while he was it. It had been quite a while since then. 

Thankfully, he’d already gone grocery shopping so he had some food stock for a good week or two. Maybe he could go check in on An Di, though. Actually, that was probably a good idea to do before she burst through his door demanding to know about his hospital stay. He should also probably text the twins before they stormed over as well. Also… should probably figure out the phone they’d badgered him into buying.

It’s not that he hadn’t seen how they worked but he shied away from technology for multiple reasons… One of the main ones being that he was extraodinarily incompetent and that was just way too embarrassing to admit. The twins, though, were extremely stubborn and bought him a new phone before demanding he pay them back (after they found out he could afford it, little brats). All for the sake of making sure he didn’t keel over in bed, of course. 

He never should have mentioned he had money but it just sort of slipped out in the casual conversation about him buying the nerve gear for the game. Harry just supposed he was lucky that they weren’t gold diggers...

Feng Ming did also mention possibly meeting up in Second Life whenever he was done with his ‘mysterious’ training when they shoved the phone into his hands.

Yea, so he sort of sucked at lying but at least he stayed consistent with the mountain story. Hopefully. Not that he thought the younger twin bought it, even if Lannie seemed to.

So, with a very long list of things to do, Harry made his way from his still barren room to make breakfast.

1 New Message

Feng Yang Ming blinked at his phone and opened the screen. An unknown number popped up and he grinned. His friends next to him were too caught up in their own Second Life planning so he was all good for the next few minutes before they noticed his lack of attention.

XX XXXX XXXX

These things are too complicated.

He snorted. Wang Fei was an interesting man and he’d come to like him over the three days him and his sister had visited him in the hospital. They talked mostly about Second Life -about statistics, and their characters, and character development- considering they had that in common, and Ming had come to learn that the man was almost a technophobe. Considering the day and age it was pretty hilarious if inconvenient. So Lannie had sought to rectify it because, damn, if she wasn’t going to keep in contact with the man they’d saved. Ming agreed. So, they sorta forced a phone onto the poor guy. 

After finding out he had money.

They weren’t cruel. They just wanted to make sure he was okay and phones were probably the most reliable thing they could think of bar making a trip to his apartment every day. And Wang Fei could afford it!

At least he was using it, though. He’d almost been worried they would have to go back to Wang Fei’s apartment to check on him first. (Sue him, he was unreasonably attached to making sure this guy was alive.)

Yang Ming

Hey! Good to see ur phobia isnt acting up!

XX XXXX XXXX

I am not a technophobe. And your spelling is atrocious.

Yang Ming

Its called text slang my dude

Learn it

U sound like an old man otherwise

XX XXXX XXXX

I’m hardly older than you. 

Ming chuckled at how long the short responses were taking. The poor guy really needed help learning the ropes.

And to think, he’d almost missed out on all this amusement because he didn’t want to visit the hospital. The whole situation had been traumatizing enough, he didn’t exactly want to see the guy in a hospital setting. Lannie had been all over him, though, after the first day. She said it was such a relief to see him alive and he had helped her save him so he better go at least say hi. The food bribe she’d given him might have helped her argument a lot more than anything else. In the end it was good closure to actually see Wang Fei alive instead of just hearing about it. And he’d made another friend so that was a plus.

“Ey, man. What are you doing? These are important strategy talks!”

Ming’s lips twitched. He had still yet to tell his friends he’d found a group to run with during the tournament in a few weeks. They were pretty cool and he knew Zhuo Ling Bin, username Wicked, from when they were kids.

“Texting. What does it look like? Anyways, suckers, I already have a group for the tournament.”

He ignored their complaints and snickered when they suggested he was just hanging around to steal their strategies. They weren’t entirely wrong anyways.

His phone chimed again and he looked down at it.

XX XXXX XXXX

I just wanted to let you know I’m alive so don’t have a coronary. I also messaged your sister but she hasn’t responded yet. 

Yang Ming

Thanks dude

Appreciate it. Don’t die anytime soon

or ever

also! When are you free to meet in Second Life!?

An Di puttered around her kitchen -and it was still her kitchen!- getting dinner ready when a knock sounded at the door. Her hands were covered with fish guts at the moment so she pursed her lips before calling out, “Bao, would you see who’s at the door?”

His answering agreement sounded from the bedroom before his tiny form raced through the living room.

“What did I say about running!”

“Sorry, Mom!! Oh! It’s Wang Fei,” Bao cried peeking through the blinds.

She paused in bewilderment. She honestly hadn’t expected the man to come over for at least a few more days considering she had cried on him just yesterday. With how uncomfortable he was around people, coming over right now could be a very good sign.

“Open the door for him, baby.”

She watched, keeping a careful eye on the man’s body language as he stepped inside. He had the normal hunch to his shoulders that he always did when she or Bao when talking to him but his eyes seemed much brighter. They still did a quick sweep, categorizing everything in the house, but they seemed more open. An Di couldn’t stop the blinding smile forming on her face even if she wanted to. Not only was he in a good mood, he had come over to their place of his own volition with no request or demand.

“Wang Fei! I’m sorry, I’m a bit busy right now. I should be finished in about twenty or so minutes if you’d like to keep Bao company.”

He glanced at her and nodded, smiling a little awkwardly at her son. Bao bounced excitedly and dragged him over to the computer to talk more about Second Life she assumed. She watched them for a moment longer before focusing back on dinner, keeping half an ear on their conversation (that Bao dominated just like always).

“Dinner’s ready,” she called half an hour later.

The man let out a sigh of relief that was audible even to her and she couldn’t help the giggle. Bao could be a lot but he was a very good boy. An Di was just glad her son had recovered so easily from his earlier fright of their skittish neighbor. They seemed to be good for each other, the way Bao always lit up and chattered about how cool Wang Fei was and the way Wang Fei himself was forced to come out of his shell a little. 

“Bao come set the table, please!”

“Mooooom!”

Wang Fei chuckled and stood from the chair as her excitable son dragged himself away from the computer.

After a few minutes of shuffling everything into place, the rest of the meal went very well. Her neighbor was quiet but he answered when spoken to. There was even a gentle smile on his lips that made her heart flutter and her cheeks strain with the force of her grin. Today was a very very good day!

Harry sighed as he crashed against the mattress face first. It had been a very long day but… it was the most accomplished he’d felt in a very long time. The wards had been updated to spread to the entire apartment complex (a little more oomph required but it wasn’t like he was lacking in magical energy) to make it less suspicious, he’d visited An Di and Bao, messaged the twins, and even sorted through half of the schools before his brain just decided to quit on him. Honestly he was so tired but he really wanted to see Caelus. The vague warnings about playing too many nights in a row or when exhausted rang in his mind but… he’d slept in the game before hadn’t he? Perhaps he could just do that? 

Yea… that sounded really nice.

The universe never really let him get what he wanted, though, because, right after he’d had that thought, a small chiming started in his room.

The wizard groaned already knowing what the sound meant. Of course his parents would call today. Couldn’t they have waited for tomorrow? This is why he didn’t want a stupid mirror. If he didn’t answer they might freak out and send imperial guards to check on him which would just be a nightmare.

Grumbling, the wizard dragged himself out of bed and grabbed the mirror off the top of the dresser right almost knocking his new phone to the floor in the process. With a deep breath, Harry answered the call, trying his best to keep his face neutral while he sat on the edge of the bed.

“Hello?”

His mother stared back at him with a small awkward (was that sheepish?) smile on her lips.

“Hello, my son. I do apologize for calling at such a late hour,” it was only eight o’ clock what in the world was she on about? “but I just wanted to let you know I sent out a letter with your requested schools.”

His brows furrowed slightly. Why in the world did she need to call for that? He would have just gotten the letter when the hawk got here.

She was still talking though, “I tried to keep in mind what you might prefer but your father was very adamant about adding some prestigious schools… and the palace tutors. I know you’re most likely not going to pick those but I hope the rest of it is helpful, my child.”

“Um… yeah. I’ll look through them as soon as they get here.”

Which should be like in an hour so now he had to stay up or deal with a very unhappy bird shattering his kitchen window. He’d much rather not have that happen again. That first experience was not fun, okay?

With a warm smile that practically lit up her face, accentuating her natural beauty (and making Harry slightly envious of his own mother, Merlin what was wrong with him!) she wished him a good night and safe dreams. Interesting phrasing but alright.

“Goodnight, Mother.”

Her eyes watering and her teeth bared in a grin was the last thing he saw before his own pale features were staring at him. His own green eyes blinked at him, before he sighed and sat the mirror down next to his leg.