Chapter 47: Solomon Grundy

It was deep into the realm of Faeries that Harrison and Morgaine went, preparing themselves for the very worst that they needed to take care of. Needless to say, the very worst could be extremely bad indeed.

"So, warning you in advance, even though we fix this, there's a chance that….."

"I know," Harrison said, he resigned himself to that point. That was the sacrifice he might have to make. Plus, he figured that he could only have a certain shelf life as well. The reason why Prime kept him around past his use as to slowly phase his presence out of that accursed and backwards world and they had other problems than keeping the Boy-Who-Lived fad alive.

The problem was that Harry threw a bit too much of himself into the making of Harrison, a mistake that he never made again, and he had become a bit more of a magical duplicate. Plus the fact that he was made before the merger of the Hallows have him certain interesting quirks towards him.

"But, I don't go in here to die," Morgaine said and Harrison smiled.

"Yes, that should be avoided when possible," he agreed with her and Morgaine placed her hand on his shoulder.

He was ready and there were cracks in the ground, pretty much spitting out magic, leaking it at an accelerated rate. It looked like some multi-colored landfill the moment that they pressed on.

"Well, this could be trouble," Harrison commented and he scanned his surroundings, this was where the magic pulled them along the most. Therefore this was where they were heading next.

Harrison walked amongst the cracks; he could hear the strangled voices. They were getting more frantic and he was pretty sure that they were getting more threatening.

Okay, shake being pretty sure; he was almost certain that they were being fairly threatening. His heart skipped a beat, pressing forward into the distance.

"Well, there are the consequences of being in here."

They came across a body that had been turned to stone and Harrison raised his eyebrow, giving a whistle.

Then there was a decimated husk on the ground. The ground was littered with them, which made the journey quite a disgusting one. And added to the atmosphere of foreboding that had been created on their path there.

"Heads up," Morgaine whispered to him and Harrison smiled, noting that he had been planning to do just that as he kept walking forward.

The breeze blew around them which drew Harrison's attention towards the skull. It had reverted to a dismal slate grey and it seemed to be getting greyer the deeper in they got. Trees have gotten the life sucked out of them as well. Overall, this looked like a miserable and depressing place to be where no life could really exist or even flourish.

Morgaine stopped, holding her hand up but shook her head. It was nothing.

Then Harrison looked up into the sky and sure enough, he did feel a slight bit weaker. Not as much as he shook but it was unsettling, very unsettling.

Red Sun was hanging up in the sky above his head but that was actually the tamest of the problems here.

The fact that the heat was stifling him was far worse than the actual Read Sun. Harrison gritted his teeth and Morgaine noticed his discomfort, mostly because she was feeling a little bit of it herself.

"Why do I get a feeling that things are about to heat up in more ways than one?" Harrison asked her and Morgaine gave him a shadow of a smile.

"Well, mostly because it's fairly likely that they are," Morgaine admitted, keeping her hand forward and ready to shoot down anything and she meant anything that would attack her at a second's notice. She was not fucking around in here. "So, someone's watching us, I can feel it."

"Can you?" Harrison asked her, he did have that sense the same thing around him.

"Which makes it the lovely hot spot," Morgaine said and the further they got it, the more garbled any bond chatter talked.

It was like listening to the bond link on a very bad cell phone reception. The type of cell phone that made them want to chuck said cell phone out of the window and watch it gleefully as it shattered into hundreds of tiny little pieces.

There was a whisper in the wind and they were on edge. The two continued to edge closer.

"Something is on the edge of our perception….it was like….."

There was something that rose in the corner of their eye and something that was hovering around them. Harrison turned, Morgaine turned, and both of them saw two statues in front of them that were most certainly not there moments ago.

They looked like white creatures with wide teeth and they two of them locked their eyes towards the statute.

The two turned away and they sensed movement. When they turned back, the statues remained immobile, still, calm, unable to even shift for the briefest second.

"Oh, that's wonderful," Morgaine commented lightly.

"Sick and twisted spell…..isn't it?" Harrison whispered to her.

"Yes, some kind of necromantic spell to turn these things into….well these things," Morgaine whispered to Harrison, it twisted the victims of whatever killed innocents into those things and it was twisted, crazed even.

The two kept themselves moving forward and then reached a maze.

"Inside," Harrison said, the maze was fairly twisted and there was no doubt it was designed where anyone who went in would not come out, at least not alive.

Morgaine, fearlessly, took the plunge inside, and Harrison followed. The fact that nothing attacked them might have been perhaps the most unsettling thing of all there.

Harrison performed a spell that would block off and deter their pursuers, although that would make them increasingly mad.

There were the whispers that were strained, in tongues that had been long since lost to human knowledge, and it was almost like the specter of death loomed over Harrison's head.

They caught their breath, eeriness filled the air and they continued their pursuit what appeared to be a tower amidst the desert.

It looked like an oasis, at least it was an oasis and streams of magic shot off of it, drawing the two of them in there.

This was foreboding to say the very least and Morgaine raised her eyebrow. The magic washed off of their bodies.

"I think we're very close."

Harrison was intrigued by this, especially considering that he could feel the magic stinging his skin as it rolled off of it and Morgaine felt the same sensations.

The bond traffic appeared to be completely gone or at least muted on his end, the deeper in that they got. And the deeper in they got, the more strong their sense of foreboding got.

Selina Kyle always made her presence made in a big way and Harry would be lying if he didn't slowly go over the memories of the occasion and her arrival last night in a big way.

She was a hit with several of the girls in the tower, the twins, Kara, and Donna. Then there was an information about some of the sorrid details of the job that she had. Needless to say, she was not all that shy about the details and did not skimp out on asking any questions.

It left Donna with a full body blush and a desire to relieve herself between her legs. She tried to pass it off as something else but Harry smiled and knew better. The twins and Kara would never let her here the end of it, this might have finally replaced the time that Harry marked her on a very private area.

That being said, those were details that Harry wanted to commit to memory. Then again, he did see Selina in her natural environment up close and person for his birthday. And it was something that he would not really forget as well.

Harry made his way reading the paper. In the midst of the various fluff pieces and filler news, there were some interesting pieces of information. And by information, Harry meant increasingly distressing.

'And Deacon Blackfire's body had been swiped from the Gotham City Morgue,' Harry thought and he figured that someone like this could happen. Although he really didn't expect them to be so brazen about it.

'Oh, they found the body?' Dinah asked, her interest piquing.

'Yes, for a short time but…..not too much we can do about that right now,' Harry thought. A cult leader would have any number of followers who were so devoted and twisted that they would steal a man's corpse. It shouldn't have been that big of a shock.

Hopefully it was just for being stuffed and mounted in a place in honor, as twisted and sickening as it sounds. Because that was better than several depraved alternatives that popped into Harry's mind.

The new Major Crimes Unit ran by James Gordon was officially announced to the press. Harry personally hoped that it would work well but they had their work cut out for them. Especially with the city ripe for the picking at recent events, which Harry shook his head, recalling. It would be a long time before his body forgot them, that was for sure.

Ben Turner was still missing, that was a curiosity in itself but what could one do about that?

Then there were whispers of the fire damage that was done to the city. Followed by an interesting piece about Ferris Boyle, the new CEO of GothCorp.

Harry was intrigued about the peace that he read. It talked about how GothCorp was hoping to rebuild the old areas of Gotham to be a place where the citizens of Gotham could appreciate and live in harmony.

Harry pursed his lips and gave a momentary hmm as he read it over. He considered what he was reading.

'So do you think that we're going to have to reconsider the hands off approach regarding GothCorp, since Daggett's gone,' Faora thought to him, coming to a similar conclusion that Har-Zod came to, come to think of it.

'Daggett's gone, left with his tail tucked between his legs,' Harry thought with a smile. 'We're just going to have to keep an eye on this one, see where it goes.'

He saw a bit of an article regarding Oswald Cobblepot. He shifted a bit where he sat, his shoulder was still kind of killing him. That was the reason why he couldn't sleep, because he was still sore from the fight with Grundy.

Never the less, he delved into the Cobblepot article. It was a puff piece mostly but in the puff, there was some valuable information about how he returned to Gotham City, after rebuilding his family's fortune. After being bankrupted from his family's attempt to outdo the Wayne's. Harry figured there may have been a slightly more interesting story than what the article delved into, there always was when you looked into the Gotham City elite.

Then there were his plans to open a casino/club that would be the talk of Gotham City. That being said, Harry read the article, sipping on the coffee slowly. He only half heard the sound of the door opening and the footsteps approaching.

"So, early riser are we?"

Harry looked at her and he saw Selina walking towards him. The fact that she was completely naked was not lost on him. He blinked and verified that she stood there without a stitch of clothing on her. All of her assets were on full display, her breasts firm and high. It was almost like they had a life of their own. Her flat stomach and long shapely legs was also in prominence, along with her center with a small strip of dark hair.

She sat down, looking at him with a smile on her face, as if she was not completely naked.

"Well most of the time, yes," Harry admitted, as the woman in question shifted in front of him, eyes completely focused. "But, really couldn't sleep last night…..my body is still sore all over….."

"Oh, that makes sense, with what you've been through," Selina said, she nearly gotten ran off the road by an idiot once or twice in her life. She wasn't sure if it was an accident half of the time to be honest, people in Gotham City could try to kill you over some rather trivial things.

Harry played things calm and cool, but then again, he was more than used to seeing beautiful women in a state of undress by now. She slowly looked across at him, sipping the glass of orange juice that she had.

Though to be fair, Selina did have a body that many would kill to have. Or at least seriously maim, actually kill would be a better word. Actually kill would the best word.

"Well, yes, I've been through a lot, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," Harry said and Selina smiled, pursing her lips.

"That's for sure."

"But I don't know too much about you, which is a shame considering that we're busy partners," Harry said, fully aware how Selina subconsciously spread her legs as she situated herself on the chair.

"Well, my past could be a made for TV Lifetime movie," Selina said, trying to lighten the mood a little bit. Harry raised his eyebrow, no reason why he wasn't going to be curious after a statement like that. So Selina decided to press forward with an explanation. "The man my mother said was my father…..well he drank himself to death at a very early age….and my mother….she wasn't exactly neglectful or abusive, but cold, indifferent, that is a pretty good description of her."

Selina was calm, almost too calm when she relayed this information.

"I was raised by my older sister, Maggie for a short time, but she took off, last I heard she became a Nun," Selina said, amused almost by the separate paths that the two sisters seemed to take in their lives. "My mother did die though around that time, thirteen years old, and…..I got sent out to live on the streets, getting whatever I could."

Harry attentively listened to her and she was glad that he did, so she pressed on. She was getting to a tricky part of the story.

"And I was caught pickpocketing someone….and wouldn't you know it, it would have to be James Gordon," Selina said, nearly smiling at the memory.

"Small world, isn't it?" Harry asked her and Selina nodded, that was for sure.

"No kidding, but things are about to get even stranger," Selina said, catching her bearings and she continued to speak. "I was picked up, sent to Juvie for about a year. That was an interesting experience, and you'd never guess who I was picked up by when my time was done."

The question was in fact rhetorical and Selina smiled before she revealed that tantalizing piece of information . "Carmine Falcone."

"The Roman?" Harry asked, that was interesting.

"The very same," Selina confirmed to him. "He had a favor for my mother, never quite found out why for sure."

It was left unsaid that she had her suspicions about what, but she wasn't going to say things because she didn't have any proof. There would always be rumors and she wondered if some of them were true.

"He provided me with the apartment and I guess the means to get myself back on my feet," Selina admitted and Harry nodded attentively. "As a result, I became a stripper and a dominatrix, but never a prostitute, contrary to rumors."

"You don't seem like the type anyway," Harry said.

"Yeah, you'd be surprised what the type would be in this city, but that's neither here nor there," Selina said with a grimace and she looked over her shoulder. It was an odd habit that she developed but she needed to be alert in case someone tried something with her.

It was amusing that they were just talking about Jim Gordon and how she pick pocketed him because his daughter sauntered in a few seconds later, looking rather tired.

"She's been hitting things hard, between all of her classes and her jobs," Harry said, deciding not to bring up her other activities. Because Barbara didn't know that he knew anyway.

"Right, I can tell," Selina said with a smile to him. "So, I guess I'll be heading out now…..but is it okay if I use the gym?"

"Knock yourself out."

Selina smiled and sauntered off, her hips swaying and she passed Barbara. Miss Gordon was jerked out of her state of being half awake by Selina passing her.

Harry, without missing a beat, greeted her with a very cheerful and somewhat nonchalant, "Good morning, Barbara."

Morgaine and Harrison made their way to the direction of the tower and things got even more unsettling the further they got. Harrison got a slight headache, it wasn't so bad that it was deliberating but it was a dull buzz that really interfered with his ability to think, which wasn't a really good thing to say the least.

Harrison shook his head, trying to pull himself back to reality, at least the most he could anyway. His green eyes flashed with fury, pushing himself forward, his heart beat heavily into his chest, continuing his movements closer into the tower.

"We're reaching a place this is responsible for the Faerie's slow and withering death," Morgaine said and she could feel the magic there. The dark haired woman made her way forward and the two of them slipped inside of the tower, for better or for worse.

One set of stairs later, they were reaching their destination but Harrison paused. Slowly he peered over his shoulder.

"We're not alone."

There were more statues leading the way, which was foreboding on their own. That was just the tip to the insane iceberg.

Then there were books littering the floor, looking like they had been bitten and mauled by something. The tower was much larger on the outside than it was the inside.

The uneasy that they were feeling only increased as they made their way further up the stairs towards a library.

"Good evening," a low voice said and Harrison turned around, seeing a very distinct figure on the top of the stairs, peering down upon them.

He had glowing yellow eyes and appeared to be a man with grey hair. His presence was very foreboding to say the very least. He gave off an aura, dressed in a stylish black suit, with a silver tipped cane in his hand.

'Stay alert,' Morgaine thought, the bond link only working now when they were shoulder to shoulder. Not even the garbled noise could be heard now the further they entered the tower.

Harrison saw the literal mane of hair, he looked like he could pass off for Rufus Scrimgeour's father he did. He moved a bit clunky as well, almost as if he had a bad leg or something.

'Something is wrong,' Harrison thought, nudging Morgaine and her eyes locked onto him. 'Do you feel it….it's not right.'

'Yes, I can see it too,' Morgaine thought, she couldn't quite put her finger on it, but he was moving like his internals were way too large for his body.

His movements were very off and it seemed like he was sizing up Harrison and Morgaine for the kill. The woman stood at the top of the stairs, her burning eyes locked onto him, her mouth curled into a frown.

'Something really off about him,' Morgaine thought to Harrison and Harrison nodded in response. 'Prepare to jump him when he's ready…..at the moment of truth, we attack.'

'Right,' Harrison told Morgaine, his knuckles white from the pressure that he put on them, his movements were so sound, so fluid, that when Riddle was alive, he would want to take lessons from him.

He said something to the two of them and Harrison paused, he was speaking in Greek, a very ancient Greek.

Was he just speaking English a moment ago? He managed to get a general gist of what he was saying, but still it was hard to make it out.

"He wants us to come with him," Harrison whispered to Morgaine underneath his breath, so he could not hear.

"He does, of course….."

Both of them knew that was not going to be a good idea.

"Follow me."

He turned around and finally Circe broke through the bond link.

'I'm trying to relay this best I can…Hippolyta correct me if I'm wrong,' Circe said, she was breaking up a little bit, like she stood at the end of a very large tunnel. 'Something about how….all sentient creatures have a spark of magic in it…..'

'And some have a larger spark than others, but without that spark, all will perish,' Harrison continued, picking up the narration right where she left off. His green eyes flashed and they arrived at their destination, finally.

It was a large library and things got a bit more uneasy. Especially with the sight that Harrison saw at the edge of the library. It was giving off a pulse of energy so strong that you would have to be dead to the world not to notice it.

It was one of the books of magic like Nimue showed him. It was shooting weird streams of magic out of it. Then the streams of magic got solid for a few seconds, and then more magic appeared to be sucked straight into the book.

Harrison saw it, he saw the light.

"Do you see it now?"

The book was drawing magic but Harrison could not be preoccupied to that. Sure enough, the man began to shift forms, his skin ripping off of his body. It tore off, showing that it was in fact a suit over his real form.

Morgaine took a step back and she eyed Harrison. It looked like a ravenous beast that snarled at him. It was a far cry from the deep seductive growl that he had before.

Two bolts of magic nailed the creature but it didn't do much damage other than sent him back into a shelf.

Really, really, really pissing him off in the process. His eyes grew yellow and he made his way to his feet, before he whipped a tail towards Harrison.

Harrison was the one that was sent flying this time. Morgaine blocked the attack.

'Manticore,' Harrison thought, he could see the creature advance on him.

Harrison was knocked around by the creature. He managed to put the shield up, using his abilities to block some of the more brutal attacks.

He could hear a frantic buzzing, he was pretty sure that the girls that flittered in and out of the bond were freaking out something fierce but the noise was still garbled.

Harrison slid underneath his attack and sent furniture flying at the Manticore but he smashed through them.

"He's been drawing off of the magic here, he's more powerful than he should be."

"Yes, I figured that."

His frantic scrambles to deal with the Manticore, but it was obvious that magic was not going to do any good. That was fine, he pulled out an exploding throwing dagger.

The creature caught it and it exploded in it's hand, causing him to back off.

"You'll pay for that."

"Hardly," Morgaine said, rushing forward with an enchanted sword and clanging it against the creature's arms, trying to wound him. The magic added an additional layer of armor.

Harrison ignored the very grievous wound she suffered and picked up what appeared to be a black egg like device.

It caused large waves of sonic energy to emit out, scrambling the creatures brains. If it could not think straight, then it would be a lot easier for it to go.

Harrison saw it's wings as it took flight, and he could see at the joint, it was particularly vulnerable. At least it was a weaker spot than the rest of him.

'Distract it,' Harrison hissed mentally to Morgaine and she nodded.

'Of course,' she agreed, and she dodged out in front of it.

It was a game of cat and mouse, with both sides trying to lure the other into a false sense of thinking that the other had the advantage. It flapped its wings, with a menacing look on its face.

They were outside, which gave them more room. On the negative side, it gave it more room as well.

The Manticore circled them, essentially spitting fire and Harrison had two throwing daggers. Wincing as he took aim with a severely cut up pair of hands, he flung the daggers with an overhand throw towards the creature.

He hit the mark, damaging the creature's wings and causing it to howl. It went down hard, crashing into the spiral of the tower.

Harrison slumped forward, his wounds would have to wait. Blood gushed and the strange energies caused them to worsen further but he had no choice but to press on.

Harrison stood over the book, looking at it, and he turned to Morgaine. They figured that this was the case before now but it really didn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together.

"One of the Books of Magic, I should have known," Harrison said and he looked at the title to see what precisely he was dealing wiht. "Rituals."

They assumed that this problem would have ended with the death of the Manticore but they were completely and utterly wrong. All of the surrounding magical energy was still being drawn into the book and if things did not get settled, they were going to have a huge problem.

"Well there's only one thing that we can do to stop this," Harrison said, trying to figure out what he had to do. "We need to remove the book from the pedestal that it rests on, hopefully that will disrupt the spell."

"Is that really the safest thing to do?" Morgaine asked and Harrison's eyes turned towards her.

"Likely it isn't, but do we have a choice?" Harrison asked her and Morgaine hung her mouth halfway.

"Do you have any idea what's going to happen when you do that?"

Harrison had to answer that question honestly. "Not in the slightest."

"Oh, this should be interesting then, are you….."

"I'm going to have to be the one, I'm a duplicate of Prime, therefore, it doesn't matter what happens to me," Harrison said and Morgaine opened her mouth to protest. "Trust me, this is the best option, and we don't have much time to come up with another."

Times were getting far worse. Harrison knew the risks, and he embraced them. That was what he did.

"You don't have to do this….."

"I have to," Harrison said firmly. "Another duplicate can take my place, although I think Prime is a bit better in making them so they don't start living lives of their own and run the risk of becoming unstable."

It was believed that it was kind of dangerous to allow the dupes to live separately, for it caused them to grow in different ways. And the diversion point was one that would lead to some of the more interesting and dare they say it, unplanned changes.

"Morgaine, please stand back, this could get ugly."

After an attempted protest, she did as she was requested. Harrison walked over the book and already he could feel his hands blister the closer that they got close to the book. He had a high tolerance for pain and knew that nothing in the world was going to numb what he was about to do.

His hands pressed upon the book and Harrison groaned, with the energy flowing from his hands into the book. He gave a pained grunt, with the energy swirling around his arms, drawing more power into him.

Morgaine took a step back, watching the highly impressive light show, and seeing Harrison roll his head back. She could feel the pain that he experienced but if she pulled him away, reality could crack in half even worse than it was right now.

All of the stored up magic slowly returned where it came from and Harrison flickered out of reality for a second, which freaked Morgaine out. Thankfully she was able to keep her cool and watch with Harrison returning back to reality from where he stood. His hands pressed on the book were being burned and the power spread up to his elbows.

Morgaine could feel the backlash of the magical power that was shooting in every single direction. She could see Harrison at the pedestal, it was almost like he was being shocked, electrocuted, burned at the same time.

Harrison felt like his blood boiled and his arms were completely burned. His heart was speeding up and it was almost like he was having a heart attack. His head was ringing and he lifted up the book. It might as well have been a thousand pounds, almost like it was glued to the table. His fingers dripped with energy.

"Harrison?" Morgaine asked and suddenly, he ripped the book from the pedestal, the magic drawing within him.

He glowed like a neon light and for a few seconds, Morgaine thought that he was going to spontaneously combust into an explosion of blood, guts, and magic before her very eyes.

The book flew through the air and landed in Morgaine's hands. She instinctively caught it in her hands and bent down, seeing Harrison. There was a state of perpetual pain etched within Harrison's eyes, with the visible skin on his arms and hands completely charred.

'Morgaine!' one of them yelled, maybe it was Lily, actually it was Lily.

Things were going on and Morgaine finally was brought back to reality. Things were stirring back to normal but at what cost?

He was still alive, for what it was worth. It would be a long time before she forgot what she saw.

'Just get him back to the castle, we'll see if we can do anything about the damage,' Peve said, trying to keep her voice calm and evening.

Morgaine could not touch Harrison directly, due to the fact that he was literally humming with magical energy. It could potentially be lethal to do so, so she levitated him into the air.

That strained her magical powers, but she managed to lift him up and go through the portal.

Harry joined Kara, Karen, Diana, and Faora in making their way to the castle. Despite the injuries that he suffered, the state of emergency that he heard of was too grievous for him to really ignore.

The group made their way in silence, where Jaime, Circe, Morgaine, and Lily were about to join them.

"Things look bad," Lily summarized and Harry winced. That was a fact that he knew about was bad as anyone else.

"Yes, I felt it, I thought I was having a stroke,' Harry said, looking rather flushed in the face.

"That's impossible," Faora reminded him.

"Yes, I know, but I still felt like I had one," Harry said, and he had to shut down the bond link completely to prevent it from effecting the girls.

So he took the brunt of it, which was a mind rattling experience to be put things bluntly.

"So Peve, Alura, and Lara are running tests?" Diana asked, her voice oddly somber.

"You better see it for yourself, but it's not for the weak at heart," Lily said and if that was foreboding. "He will live, but he's not quite alive."

That statement was morbid and quite frankly kind of foreboding as well. Hippolyta walked over, greeting her daughter silently, throwing her arm around her waist and pulling her in.

The magical energy coursed through his body, Harry could feel it, even though he was shielded. Even though Alura, Lara, and Peve did their tests, from a safe distance to see what went wrong.

"He should have never tried to do that….."

"He knew the risks," Harry said, and now the cross would be the duplicate's to bare. "What I want to know is….."

"Why he didn't just disintegrate because of the overload of power?" Karen asked, deciding to spell things out, or at least what she thought that things were.

"Well it would have been a lot less painful if he would have," Harry said, morbid as that sounded, that was a good question.

Lara's diagnosis proved to show how screwed up Harrison became.

"His blood burned through three containers before we found something strong enough to hold it long enough to take a test, it was overloaded by magic," Lara said.

'So, do you think that you can recall him….and then create a fresh copy,' Daphne thought to Harry, thinking that this would be the most logical conclusion.

'No, recalling him at this point would destroy Harry,' Kara said, clinging onto Harry. He did suffer, although not as the duplicate did but on top of the injuries he suffered against Grundy.

'She's right, maybe if I was at full power, but watch or no watch, recalling him at this time would cause…..well it would make the Big Bang look like a wet firecracker,' Harry said, he really wished that he could, because a small part of himself would be feeling pain as long as his dupe was.

He couldn't even get close enough to put him down because of the magical energy flowing through his body. Nothing could ever be easy.

'Well, it isn't like he didn't know the risk, once he was given life for that long, it was a choice that he made, 'Faora thought. 'But from what I can tell, it was a no win scenario.'

That much was true for sure, and Harry sighed, drawing in the breath that he was holding in.

"So, what's the damage?" Harry asked, seeing that the tests on Harrison were done.

"Immense," Alura said grimly. "His CORE might be more battered than yours was after you absorbed the Hallows."

"It is, his arms are burned even beyond third degree, severely, the nerve endings have been damaged as well," Peve said, frowning. "He could be healed, in time, but all of the excessive magic will be siphoned from his body for the healing process to even be considered. A process that will take time, because done too fast, and it will degrade him further and cause you even more pain."

Harry could see the perpetual state of pain in his double's face and it was the thing that nightmares were made of.

"You already know the reasons why it would be ill-advised to recall him, even though it could repair him and heal him…."

"But if it destroyed you, then it would be irrelevant because there would be no way to bring him back with the prime being gone," Lara said, keeping her eyes locked on the downed form of Harrison. It looked like he aged at least twenty years. The body was not meant to absorb magic.

"Yes, it would be for the same reason why, no matter how independent he got, he could never kill me, because that would mean his end," Harry said.

"The slave cannot live without the master," Lily agreed, looking down towards the duplicate. There was absolutely nothing that any of them could do.

"All we can do is make him as comfortable as possible, and time is the best healer," Peve said and she smiled. "Thankfully in the castle, we had plenty of it."

Morgaine looked grim but Circe turned to her.

"You took a great risk bringing him back here and your quick thinking might have been the difference between life and death."

"But is there truly life, when one is not alive?" Morgaine said and that was a question that had no logical response.

Harry knew the response but the barrier flickered.

"You better get some rest, there's nothing that you can do."

"I'll stay here, report back if anything happens, good or bad," Lily said and Jaime looked at him, with a smile.

The two of them needed to have a discussion anyway.

"I bet you didn't expect him to live that much of a life of his own,' Jaime whispered to him, with the two of them walking off.

"Well, I didn't expect the Hallows to have the impact that they did on me either," Harry told her, steadying himself, with Kara making sure he didn't go down. "That's where the real diversion point began but he's got his own handicap to overcome now."

"What does not kill you, makes you stronger," Jaime said and Harry smiled.

Time healed most wounds but not all of them. Only time would tell with this one.