dancing on bones (our souls of iolites and emeralds)

Chapter 9

The infliction of torture by any public officer and cruel punishments are absolutely forbidden.

— Chapter III, Article 36 of "The Constitution of Japan"

//

Kusuo wonders why he ever thought he'd be good enough. Felix is a broken toddler. Kusuo is a recluse of a man who was never able to keep what he wanted. Who was never able to keep the things he loved in his first life.

Why the hell did he ever think it'd be different in his second?

//
When Voldemort appears, it is sudden, like a sharp jab in the gut that you hadn't been expecting.

Death, it seemed, truly did transcend everything.

Voldemort's eyes are a bright bloody red, and he thinks about Kaido, because if he thinks about what happens next he'll break.

He hears it...the very moment Jame's body hits the ground, can hear every thought that escapes his mind before Avada Kedavra drains his core.

(And Kusuo weeps in silence, because how could he not have thought about apparition when he carved his runes? How could he be so fucking useless?)

And Kusuo, well he tries to use his powers, to do anything to help, but they stop working. He hadn't had and accident or malfuntion like this in years, not since he was nineteen (but the Body is one, this body is only one year old and he treated it as he had treated his grown one. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot.) This was the worst possible time for his powers to not work. It wasn't supposed to happen like this! He felt his breath quicken at a ridiculous rate. They were going to die die die di-

Lily ran upstairs and started whispering soft reassurances. Than several things happened in quick succession;

Lily somehow threw herself in front of them and got killed in a flash of green light. Harry was screaming, but Kusuo was silent, in shock, shutting down at the pain as he had so many times before.

Of all the worst case scenario's he had come up with, one where his powers stopped working entirely had never come to mind.

His parents are dead, because he had made an oversight, and its all Kusuo's fault.

(He wants to scream. To wail and make his pain known to the universe at large, to scream his guilt to heaven or hell or whatever universe they will reincarnate into so they know just how fucking sorry he is.

He stays silent. This is his fault, afterall. What right does he have to grieve his hubris?)

About thirty minutes pass with a strange sort of dread looming over the now destroyed home. Harry is curled by his side, body racked with loud sobs.

Through blurred eyes, Kusuo saw a man enter. That man goes straight to them- no, to the unconscious woman on the floor beside them.

The silent sobs of a man hugging a corpse do nothing to quell Harry's impending panic attack.

Kusuo wished this wretch of a man looked at them. He and Harry were alive. Harry was alive.

Severus Snape had entered the scene, which meant Dumbledore was close behind.

Dumbledore, absent as he was, would protect them to an extent; that, at least, he would do for them. Still, he couldn't help but wonder as he watched Snape cry over Lily's body, if this would have happened if he had cared about people a little more, and his idea of "the greater good" and fickle prophecies a little less.

Kusuo's protective hold on Harry tightened, enraged at the man who would abandon helpless children to destroy the monster he had created, and Kusuo wasn't sure he could ever forgive him, not even if Harry survived the greedy claws and soul-crushing realm of politics and war, if he made it out alive.

And if Harry died... if Harry died, well, there would be nowhere in the world that the man could hide from his wrath. Kusuo would kill Dumbeldore and Voldemort both, before burning the world down, because goddamn it, Harry was the only good thing he had right now.

He was just so tired, and angry. His heart bled for Harry, even as he raged at the blatant neglect. His brother was suffering, would continue to suffer, yet these people did nothing, all of them did nothing!

Through Harry's screams, Kusuo vaguely registered the sound of a door opening and-

Heavy footsteps on broken floorboards.

A pop.

A giant face comes into his view. Bushy hair, bushy beard, squinted eyes, and is that supposed to be a smile-?

The giant pulls Harry away from his side and he practically hisses in protest.

Kusuo looks at the carnage around him and sees the sobbing man and Lily's dead body. The reality of the world he's been reincarnated into dawns upon him once again.

Calloused hands reach towards him.

Kusuo hiccups.

The giant picks him up.

Kusuo cries.

A/N
Perhaps I'm too cruel?

Since disappeared I've dealt with three births, two deaths, a car accident, four baptisms, packing to move in a few days, exams, and allergies. So updates have been kind of slow.
I plan on posting some more soon though seeing as school is nearly over!

You look super pretty today, even though I know you're reading this in your pajamas ( YOU know who you are, I see you) .

Remember to hug your father, kiss your mother, and take care of the family (biological & found) in your life!

:D