What do you want?

Harry arrived in the middle of the Atrium, a familiar battle before him. He saw Harry Potter to the side, injured, Bellatrix too, and the Minister and the Aurors were just showing up.

Fudge was not happy to see You-Know-Who.

Watching for just a moment, Harry noticed that something about this place just seemed off. Not like God was unavailable – but as though God had been rejected.

It was a queer feeling.

Making a decision, Harry pulled his Wand and cast a spell.

Soon, everyone present was standing still – nothing they could do would allow them to act.

"Okay. I have a few questions for everyone."

Fudge, stiff but still able to speak, asked, "And who are you?"

Considering it for just a moment, Harry just decided to keep it simple. "A God. Now shut up until I speak to you."

Cornelius shut up.

Walking forward until he was before Voldemort, Harry asked curiously, "What exactly are your goals? What moves you?"

With a snarl, Voldemort replied, "I will crush those I find beneath me and remake the world into one which serves my greatness."

Harry shook his head. Yeah – not on his watch. Harry then moved to Albus Dumbledore and asked the question of the Leader of the Light. "What is your goal in all of this?"

"The Greater Good," was the man's reply.

Harry considered that for a moment and asked, "What is the Greater Good?"

Albus seemed to struggle for a moment but no mortal can really refuse a God who is concentrating. "My own Glorification and the Rule of Magicals over the Muggles of the world."

Harry's eyes widened. "What if the Muggles don't want to serve wizards?"

"It doesn't matter. Their only purpose should be for whatever the Wizards decide for them."

Harry sneered in disgust. This was not someone that should be leading others.

Harry paused for a moment and went to Fudge. Knowing it was pointless but his nature requiring it anyway, Harry asked, "And what does the Ministry of Magic stand for?"

Fudge was actually showing some surprise. "Well, I had thought that Dumbledore was an addle-pated senile fool. But actually he seems to be right on the top of things. I should have been listening to him all year instead of Malfoy. He's got the right of it. Oh – as long as I enjoy a comfortable life of course."

Harry shook his head. What FOOLS these wizards were. Finally, hoping for at least one bit of sanity, the Traveler walked to his counterpart. "Okay. And what, Mr. Harry Potter, do you want? What is the ideal scene?"

With some anger, Harry snarled "Revenge. That wanker killed my parents and now the bitch killed my Godfather at his orders. I want to see him dead."

"That's fine. And understandable. And then what? What happens next?"

Harry stopped and considered that for a moment. It was as if the idea of a future beyond Voldemort was not something he had thought about. "Well, then I guess I get married at some point and have a kid or two. As long as she wants them. Have fun? Enjoy myself?"

The Traveler tried to keep his voice calm. "What about the Wizarding World? What about the Muggles?"

Harry thought about it, and then shrugged. "Don't know. Don't really care. As long as I'm happy, does it really matter what the Muggles do? Or the magicals? What Dumbledore was saying sounds pretty good."

The Traveler shook his head. He couldn't believe it. The Traveler tried, he truly tried, but he couldn't find one damn person here who gave a damn. Finally, Harry popped off to another part of the Ministry. He found Hermione and healed her enough so that she could be clear-headed. "Ms. Hermione Granger. I need to ask you a question."

Hermione was feeling her chest, checking the wound and was shocked to find it almost healed. "Thanks for healing me. What is the question?"

"What do you want in life?"

Hermione quickly answered, "The largest library in the damn world and the time to study it."

"How about House elf freedom? Equal rights for Muggleborns? Justice?"

Hermione shrugged. "House elves are happy to serve. If they want to allow themselves to get beaten – there's nothing I can do about it. I would like to show up those purebloods – show them how much better us Muggleborns can be. But it's too much work – as long as I get my library, it doesn't really mean much."

Harry stood and started popping around to different people. Finally, he arrived at the one being he knew would give a good answer. "Dobby. Do you recognize what I am?"

Dobby nodded his head vigorously. "Dobby sees that you is a God! Dobby has heard about Gods!"

"Okay then. What do you want Dobby? In all the world what do you want?"

Dobby considered that. Finally Dobby answered, "Dobby wants to be happy!"

Harry nodded. Nothing really wrong with that. "How about other people – like maybe Harry Potter – being happy? Is that important to you?"

Dobby nodded. "If Harry Potter is happy, he can make help make Dobby happy. If Harry Potter cannot help Dobby, then Dobby find another wizard to help Dobby be happy."

"And if Harry died?" the God asked.

"Then Dobby must find another wizard to help make Dobby happy."

Marek Ilumian popped out.

And though he tried Muggles, magical creatures, wizards, witches, Harry could not find anyone who truly cared about anyone other than themselves – even if they were faking it.

Even the Religious leaders he spoke to were more concerned about their own Earthly glory – or, if they WERE concerned about what came after, they were only concerned that they would up in a good place. And maybe with other people they could have fun with.

Harry found an empty field far from people and looked out – and screamed in frustration. After calming himself down, Harry decided to find out of there were other planets with life. And there were. These were as Harry expected them to be. The people were normal – and generous where they could be. They were concerned for the happiness of others. It was only Earth, it seemed, that seemed to carry this "Don't Care" attitude toward others.

Using his powers, Marek traveleled back in time until he found the nexus point: The Gods of Earth were in convocation. And after debating what goals they should have on the world that they were responsible for, these decided that the most important thing was their own Glory.

As long as they were glorified, they would help and guide the humans and other sentients.

And to entice the Mortals, they gave them glory within their own communities. And thus one's own happiness became the coin of choice. As Marek scanned history forward, he saw the mortals lose interest in the Gods one by one, and as they were no longer glorified, the Gods began ignoring the mortals and the world. And what was left was what Harry found.

No real consideration for their fellow man and Free Will reduced to "What can I get today with the least effort?" No love, no sacrifice, no effort, no sense of brotherhood – just a pale mockery.

Harry then jumped to a place he had heard of but never been: The Diner at the End of the Universe.

A creature which looked mostly female to him – even if he wasn't sure – came up and asked, "What can I get for you today?"

"Pie. Get me pie. And a second one for my friend who is coming. If he doesn't arrive – I'll eat both."

"What kind of pie?"

After a moment Harry said, "Something with fruit – but surprise me. And anything non-alcoholic to drink."

Harry started eating his pie. He hardly glanced up when Goth Kid God made his appearance and sat across from him. Finally, after a bite, Harry commented, "This cherry pie is great. And the crust has this … almond-like taste; sweet with a small bit of bite. I wonder what's in it?"

God smirked. "It is almonds. Actually, it's the entire almost, pit and all, ground up and crushed to a fine powder and mixed with nutmeg."

Harry paused for a moment. "Aren't raw almonds poisonous?"

God looked at him and said, "Yeah! If you were Human."

Harry considered that and laughed. "Right. Forgot. Sorry."

The two went on to continue eating their pies. Finally Harry said, "I don't know what to do."

God nodded. "What do you think should happen?"

"I don't know. But I do know this: My Divine brethren have completely screwed the pooch on this one. I'm worried about the extra-terrestrials who will eventually meet up with them. What contact with Earth will do."

"Maybe they'll notice and avoid Earth."

Harry shook his head after taking a draught of his … whatever it was. "Humans are good at faking it. I just can't decide what I'm going to do."

The two continued eating pie for a few minutes.

God contemplated Harry as He chewed his pie. After swallowing, God asked, "So what are you going to do?" God took a sip from his own drink.

"I'm the God of Free Will. Their Free Will seems to be heading for a crap future – but if that's what happens, they deserve their fate."

God nodded. "What will happen to Free Will if the Earth Humans make it into space?"

"Hopefully, someone will eventually decide that they've had enough and do something. We can't control everything. I think at this point – I just have to let them screw themselves over."

God nodded and, finishing his snack, sat up. "Well, if that's what you think is right."

"I think I need to go visit Ginny and get laid."

God smirked. "Actually, that world where Ginny and Hermione are together? The two are once again contemplating more children. Maybe an act of Creation will get the taste of this dimension out of your mouth."

Harry chuckled, "I knew there was a reason you're the Boss. I'll see you in the flip side." Harry walked away and waved at his Boss without looking – a reversal of past interaction. God chuckled and ordered a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster.

The Waitress looked at him suspiciously. "You got any ID?"

God just looked at the Waitress for just a moment before reaching for …

Far into the future, on the world formerly known as Togat:

The senior archeologist watched in satisfaction as his people combed the newly found site.

His people were far different from the sentients that used to rule the galaxy. Descendents of squid that had learned to leave the water and walk upright, They had eventually evolved into a species that walked on three feet and had four different arms to manipulate – two larger arms to do heavier more crude action and two smaller arms with delicate tentacle-like extrusions for fine work.

"Professor! Professor!" Chn'dok looked over to see one of his more … enthusiastic students standing there waving her four arms.

He chuckled as he walked over – first the middle leg, then the outside legs, balanced by the larger arms as needed.

Dem'ba was always one to dive head on. So her enthusiasm could be a major find or a minor clue.

As he arrived, he decided: It looked like a major find. "Professor! I've found a buried recorder. And it still looks accessible!"

The Professor inspected the object closely. "Yes! Look there." Dem'ba, as well as a few others who had been curious and so had come over, looked. "It has a Chaos Energy Battery."

Evidence had been found on over a hundred worlds that the dead civilization had been able to manipulate Chaos Energy – or at least the Master Caste that ruled had. It had been found that the lower castes could not do this, but often had access to devices that ran on Chaos Energy. The closer the servant was to the Master Caste, the more likely they had such devices.

"So we need a Chaos Container!" Dem'ba cried.

The Professor nodded and motioned for a few of the others to go to their ship to retrieve it. Chaos Containers had been invented to help isolate objects that had Chaos Batteries that might still be dangerous.

When such an item was found, it was returned to a Campus which could deal with such items and the items were carefully studied. They knew as much as they did about the dead Empire of Magic because so many records had been maintained in such devices.

As soon as it was loaded, the Professor sent his students back to work. This new dig had already proven to be a good choice.

Two years later

Dem'ba of Char'ek was nervous as she stood in front of the board of Masters as her Master's Thesis was reviewed.

"And you claim to have found the Nexus. Explain."

"As your Excellencies are aware, a part of our Master's Path is field work. Two years ago, I was on Planet RG4-3A. It was a newly found dig site, just found three years before."

A few of the Master's nodded.

"During that dig, a Chaos Recorder was found. When I returned to the campus, I was a part of the group which worked to translate the record. It was much harder than most translations."

One of the Master's asked, "And why is that?"

"Because it wasn't in the Master Caste language – it was the language of one of the Slave races."

"And how did you achieve the translation if it was one of the languages that was being stamped out by the Master Caste?"

"Another record on the dig found a Master Caste-Togatti Matrix. It was a tool used to teach newly enslaved species the accepted language."

The Master who had asked nodded. Another Master asked, "And what was the final translation?"

Dem'ba nervously reached for the paper. This was it. This was the basis of her whole thesis. She looked up and said, "Please realize that the grammer was not exactly as this translation indicates – the precise translation is included in my Thesis submission, but this is the closest translation into our language." The Masters nodded.

She began.

"We have had enough.

"The Galactic Empire of Chaos Energy came to our world because we held rich deposits of Gold, of which they covet.

"We were an agrarian people, and we had no great engines of war, no lethal defense. We were ripe for the taking.

"Very soon Chaos Masters had arrived and we were told that our new purpose was serving them, and ensuring the Gold was retrieved. The Short Chaos Masters would turn this Gold into their currency.

"And so we became a subjugated people.

"Many times we planned revolt, but somehow the Chaos Masters always knew and examples were made of any who did more than daydream about it. Our brothers were left with their skins inverted inside to outside and outside to inside in display cases in front of the Master Caste places. It was an effective tool to prevent rebellion.

"Finally, we were deemed tractable. However, one of ours stumbled upon a way which hid their true thoughts from the Master Caste's chaos energy.

"This was a great boon. Soon, we began to make plans in secret. And because we of Togat have been deemed tractable, we have been taken many places and put to work on many worlds.

"We have stolen and developed weapons. And we have organized a coordinated assault on the Master Caste.

"We go knowing that we might die and that we might be forgotten in time. We accept this. We can only hope that our efforts provide freedom to our people and the others subjugated or led by the Human Master Caste.

"Charon of Togat"

The Master listened in fascination. "And this, you claim is the Nexus?"

Dem'ba nodded. "According to the old dating system, this was written at the beginning of the time when the Chaos Empire began self-destructing. Within twenty years, only a few sentients on one planet or another survived and, without the resources that were destroyed in the cataclysm these too soon died. And so, my Thesis is based on this being the point which finally caused the destruction of the Empire."

It took several hours, but Dem'ba finally succeeded in defending her thesis. She had earned her Masters Degree!