He opened his eyes to a white sky. The pain that he knew he had just experienced was gone as though it had never happened. He lifted his left hand in front of his eyes, and saw it perfectly healed, not a scar to be seen. He touched his throat. It was painless.
Hadrian slowly sat up, taking in his surroundings. Or rather, the lack thereof. There was nothing to be seen except white. As he turned however, he was startled to see an object in the distance.
He moved forward, feeling as though he were walking in a dream. He couldn't feel the passage of time; he couldn't feel anything, for that matter. His feet walked on nothing. He was nothing.
He was suddenly in front of the object, which as he looked upon, focused into a large, black elder tree. There was not a speck of color to be seen on it; it seemed to consume whatever light was cast upon it by the white landscape surrounding it.
"You have planted your first tree." Hadrian froze as he heard a familiar voice call out behind him. He slowly turned, and found himself face to face with white skin and hair, and golden eyes.
"Ash." He breathed out, eyes wide.
"I've been waiting for you. You have an important decision to make." Ash stated, a hand reaching out to cup Hadrian's cheek.
"What...?" Hadrian responded, senses muddled and focused only on his touch.
"Where would you like your first streak?" Ash asked. Hadrian felt his mind grind to a halt. Suddenly, everything that had happened in the last few hours flashed through his mind, and he jerked away from the soft hand, back hitting the tree.
"I'm dead." Hadrian stated, feeling resentment bubbling to the surface.
"Yes." Ash replied, his deathly grin not leaving his face.
"I've been looking for you for months." Hadrian growled out, any happiness he had felt at the reunion abruptly snuffed out. Ash's grin fell a bit. "I just died, and have been looking for you for months, and you left me! I died, and you did nothing to stop it! You never let me know where you were, or if you were okay, or if it was something I did that made you leave, and now you're, you're just -" Hadrian fell to the ground, exhaustion finally hitting him. He felt as though he had just lived a thousand years. Whatever anger he had felt, whatever happiness, it was all gone as quickly as it had appeared. All that was left was the ache in his chest. "Why did you leave me?" He whispered.
Ash knelt down, hands gently holding Hadrian's face.
"You did nothing wrong. Nothing." Ash growled. "The reason I left had nothing to do with your actions, and everything to do with mine." He finished, resting his forehead to Hadrian's.
"What do you mean." Hadrian tiredly asked, looking up into golden eyes from beneath his bangs. Ash sighed, thumbs stroking soft skin.
"I broke the rules, Hadrian. That night with Aria, I interfered when I wasn't supposed to, and so I was punished. You have to understand, Hadrian, I'm not all powerful. I'm not the only entity out there with power over the living. So we have rules, to prevent those like me from breaking reality, and I broke them too many times. You were just the final straw.
"When I was... when I was punished, I was left with only the default, only the desire to fulfill my purpose. My soul was snuffed out. But Hadrian, you brought me back." Ash looked up, relief in his eyes. "You brought me back, and made me remember what I was, who I am. That's why I'm here right now." At this he stood, releasing Hadrian and turning to face the white abyss.
"This domain is mine. I created it, when I first gave Hadrian Harmonia the gift of Death. No other entity can interfere here. So, for now, I can only meet you here. When you die."
Hadrian looked up, confusion clear in his eyes.
"So, because you broke the... deity rules, you can't be seen with me by others like you? And that's why you never showed up for all that time?" He asked. Ash nodded.
"But that's in the past now. Now, while you're here, I can help you. So I will. Tell me what you need." Ash stated with conviction. Hadrian leaned back into the tree, looking up into its black branches.
"It must have been Aria. That's why the dark elves lured me in, that's why the king said my death would secure their prosperity. Aria is with Dumbledore, and Dumbledore wants the creatures against my father. They would never willingly follow Dumbledore, so he must have threatened him. Yes, that's what the attacks were. They were a show of power, to ensure their cooperation. Which means that Aria is the only real threat. Can you help me with that?" Hadrian rambled, eyes finally meeting Ash's. Death nodded, and walked back to the tree.
"I will tell you why she is what she is, and why she has the power that she does." Ash said, and sat down beside Hadrian to lean against the tree as well. "Where to start..." He muttered.
"What does she have to do with you?" Hadrian asked. Ash hesitated, turning away for a moment.
"I... she was one of the rules that I broke." He said cautiously. Hadrian nodded, urging him to continue. "When the elves divided into the two races, the dark elves were fiercely hated. They were seen as a poison to the purity of the elvish race, and were treated as such. The children born of dark elves were used as slaughter toys, chased through the forests of Germany in torturous hunts. I just wanted it to stop. I hadn't interfered significantly before that, so I was ignorant of the ways of mortals, even long-lived ones as the elves are. So while I thought my actions were noble, I only made the problem worse. I... created a monster through Aria. I thought giving her a way to fight back against the prejudices of the world would make the hatred just disappear, but it only made it worse. She took my gift as a sign of her being 'special', a savior to the world. Her narcissism only grew from there, and she used my gift - my power - to achieve her own selfish goals. She drove the light elves practically to extinction, and killed anyone who stood in her way. I'm sure that's how Dumbledore was able to sway her to his side, simply by playing to her superiority complex." Ash paused, glancing over to Hadrian in concern.
"Her power. What is it? You told me it could kill even me, that you wouldn't be able to bring me back. What can she do?" Hadrian questioned, undisturbed by the story so far.
"I gave her my power to reap souls. She can send them directly to the afterlife, whether that is heaven or hell, without having to go through the intermediary."
"The intermediary?"
"That is what this is, though instead of personalized, as this one is for you, the intermediary is where all souls go. When a soul dies, it is sent to the intermediary, and from there, I or my reapers send them to their final destination. By skipping that step, she gives me no way to prevent the soul from moving on. If she used this power on you, I could not pull you back to the mortal realm because you would already be in hell." Ash succinctly stated.
The rush of fear that Hadrian had come to expect whenever he thought about his death never arrived. Instead, an overwhelming sense of calm pervaded his mind, which he attributed to Ash's presence.
"So this is my intermediary... and the tree?" Hadrian asked after a brief moment of silence. Ash nodded, and pulled Hadrian up with him. He didn't let go of his hands, though. Rather, Ash held tight, pulling Hadrian closer.
"When I said you have an important decision to make, I meant it. Black doesn't belong in the intermediary. It represents impurity of the soul. It adds on to your sentence in hell. Do you understand?" Ash asked, uncharacteristically serious.
"I think so." Hadrian hesitantly replied.
"If you choose to go back to the mortal realm, you will take this impurity with you. And each time you die, a new tree will grow. Enough times, and you run the risk of never being released from hell. If you want, that never has to happen. You can pass on right now, serve whatever sentence you have in hell, and then spend the rest of eternity in heaven with your family. Do you understand?" Ash asked again, searching Hadrian's eyes for honesty. Hadrian nodded.
"I understand."
"Then what do you choose?" Ash finally asked. Hadrian looked down, trying to grasp what this meant for him.
"You said I would be in heaven with my family, right?" Hadrian asked, not looking up.
"Yes." Ash replied.
"But I wouldn't, would I. My father... he's still alive. And he might always be alive." Hadrian finally looked up, and Ash understood.
"Okay." He replied.
Ash let go of Hadrian's hands, and walked around him to the tree. He raised a single palm to the black bark, and as he did, he seemed to take the very life out of the tree, letting the blackness coat his hand in an inky paste. When he finally released the tree, it no longer stood in stark contrast to the surroundings. Instead, it stood in brilliant white, majestic to Hadrian's mortal eyes. Ash turned away from it, facing Hadrian instead with his palm still raised and coated in the tree's black. He stepped forward, chest pressing to Hadrian's own.
"Are you ready?" Ash asked, a light smile gracing his lips. Hadrian nodded. "Alright." His hand lifted up towards Hadrian's head, and with a light brush through it, transferred the tree's essence to Hadrian. What was left to the naked eye was a bright white streak through otherwise stark black hair.
As soon as Ash's hand left his hair, Hadrian felt his body lose what little energy it had left. He swayed, and faintly heard Ash's words to him.
"Remember, little snake. I am always with you, whether in wand, stone, cloak, or soul. Call for me, and I shall always come."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*