FIC: Fayth -- HP/FFX -- Chapter 2 -- Harry/Tidus -- eventual M/R

[batsutousai]

Title: Fayth
Fandoms: Harry Potter & Final Fantasy X
Author: batsutousai
Beta: tsuki_no_suzu
Rating: eventual M/R
Pairings: Harry/Tidus
Warnings: OoC, AU (etc, etc, etc....)
Summary: Harry Potter defeated Voldemort, but at a price. When a new evil comes that he cannot defeat alone, he and his friends lock themselves in stone to fight it. One day, thousands of years later, Harry is freed and starts a journey with another young man who is equally lost to finish the job Harry once started.

Disclaim Her: Surprise chapter!! Happy New Years!!

A/N: I'm going to have a fair bit of fun with FFX canon, just so you know. Ginny, Luna and Neville are all fayth from the game, but Harry isn't. (Technically, Harry's aeon is from other FF games, but was never in 10. ^.^" )
Also, because a lot of people asked: Ron and Hermione are dead. They never became fayths, so they only live on in the memories of Harry, Ginny, Luna and Neville.

OH! And because people kept mentioning it: No, I haven't yet read phoenix catcher's Bound through the Ages, though it IS on my to-read list. So, if you see anything in the first...oh...five chapters or so from that fic, it's not on purpose. (Nor is on purpose if you see stuff from Dark Summoner, really, but something might have slipped in. *sheepish* )

-0-
Ruins
-0-

Harry woke with a groan and blinked up at the sun, feeling confused. Hadn't he just been a fayth? He, Luna, Neville and Ginny had watched as the years passed and summoning became a popular pastime again. They watched fayth come and go and, occasionally, granted aeons to those in need.

He knew that a new creature, named Sin, was running amok in what had become of his world after the millennia had passed, and that summoners chose to sacrifice themselves to destroy it, giving their world peace for ten years.

Harry had always thought those people brave. Really, really stupid, but brave.

So, what the hell was he doing in the sunlight? Fayth didn't just become humans again.

Someone grunted nearby and Harry struggled to sit up, squinting against the glare. A boy lay not far from him, dressed in outlandish clothing. 'Although,' Harry considered, looking down at his own ripped clothing, the same from his last days as a human, 'I'm not dressed much better.'

The boy jerked upwards, looking around in panic. He didn't seem to see Harry and instead shouted, "Anybody there? Auron! Heeey!"

Harry sighed at the boy and said, "I sincerely doubt anyone is around to hear you."

The boy spun around quickly and ended up overbalancing, falling sideways into the water surrounding the small ruin they'd been sitting on.

Harry cocked an eyebrow as the boy broke through to the surface of the water, glaring at him. "Yes?"

The boy crossed his arms over his chest. "Who're you?"

Harry sighed. "Harry. And you?"

"Tidus," the boy ground out, looking around. "Where the hell are we?"

Harry glanced around himself. "I don't kn..." His voice caught as he sensed the magic in the air and realised where he was. "No..."

Harry jumped into the water, ignoring the boy behind him, and swam to another piece of ruin, his heart in his throat. He climbed up on the half-submerged rubble and touched the Hogwarts crest, which lay emblazoned on it. "Oh.... Merlin...."

"Heeey!" Tidus shouted, pulling himself up onto the stone behind Harry. "Why the hell are you running off for? Hey..." He came to a stop next to Harry, blocking out some of the sun. "What's that?"

Harry stood up, determinedly looking away from the crest, trying not to see what was left of his home. "Let's go," he ordered Tidus, jumping back into the water.

"Would you answer me?" Tidus demanded, jumping back into the water after Harry. "Where are we?"

Harry stopped and turned to look at the blond, treading water. "This place was once called Hogwarts," he said in a voice he forced to stay steady. "It was a school of magic. As you can see, it's not much of anything, now." He turned away from the boy. "If you don't mind, I'd like to find some dry land, before we freeze to death. The sun is going down."

Tidus seemed to decide his best option was to follow Harry quietly, for that's what he did.

They kept their peace until they reached some dry ground, beyond which was a stone bridge. There, Tidus asked, "How do you know this place? Are you from around here?"

Harry sighed. "The crest, back on that stone," he said, waving his hand negligently in the direction of the rubble he'd found the crest on, "it was the crest for the school. And, no, I'm not from around here. I'm not even sure why I'm here." He glanced suspiciously at the boy. "What about you?"

Tidus shrugged and walked past Harry, starting along the bridge. "I'm from Zanarkand. Sin showed up and attacked during a game. Now I'm here."

"Zanarkand?" Harry replied dumbly. If he had his time periods right, Zanarkand was destroyed a thousand years ago. Which meant...

Harry stopped, suddenly remembering the dream some of the fayth were having. A dream of Zanarkand as it was before Sin destroyed it. A dream they were hoping would save Spira by bringing forth people...

There was a cracking sound ahead of him and Harry heard Tidus shout before he fell down into the water under the bridge.

"Now what?" Harry muttered to himself, hurrying forward to where Tidus fell. The bridge was out, which meant he'd probably have to join the boy in the water. And didn't that sound like fun.

"Hey! Harry! You still up there?" Tidus called up.

Harry sighed. Nothing for it.

Once Harry was again treading water next to the blond, Tidus intelligently asked, "Now what?"

Harry sighed again. "Is there an underwater exit? I didn't think to look..."

They both dove down to try and find an exit, but before they could, they had to deal with a few small fiends. Harry realised, then, that he had no wand – no focus – and was technically useless. He mentally cursed himself until a bigger fish showed up. At that point, he grabbed Tidus' arm and made for a hole he'd seen.

They just made it through the hole, which closed up behind them. Breathing hard, they took a moment to rest out of the water before continuing further into the building, both shivering slightly.

They found a dead campfire and separated to find something to light it with. When they got back, they managed to light the fire and sat on either side of it.

"I'm hungry," Tidus complained, breaking the silence.

Harry smiled bitterly, remembering his friends all those years ago and scavenging the ruins of London for food.

Briefly, Harry wondered what had happened to London.

Harry heard soft snoring and looked across the fire to where Tidus was off in dreamland. Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. "I'll take the first watch," he muttered to the sleeping boy.

-0-0-0-

Harry woke Tidus when the fire went out, then watched helplessly as the boy tried to keep it from going out. After a moment, Tidus snapped, "What are you just sitting there for?"

"It's out of wood," Harry replied.

Tidus huffed and stood. "I'll go find more the...n... Shit!"

Harry jerked around to see what Tidus had and found himself staring at a giant fiend. "Oh, bugger," he complained, hurrying to his feet and putting Tidus with his big sword between himself and the bug. "I really need a bloody focus," he added as Tidus took a swing at the fiend.

Before the fiend could do more than step towards Tidus, a door slammed open and a group of oddly dressed people with guns came in. The lead girl stepped forward to help Tidus while Harry stepped back, relieved. Before he could feel too relieved, however, one of the men who'd stayed near the doors grabbed him and slammed the butt of his gun against the side of his head.

-0-0-0-

Harry woke to raised voices yelling in another language. He slowly opened his eyes and groaned.

"Harry?" he heard Tidus call, then one of the men near the boy snapped something and waved his gun around threateningly. "Whoa! I'm just making sure my friend is okay!"

Harry forced himself into a sitting position, only to find a gun pointed warningly at his head. "All those years, and I never bothered to study Al Bhed," he complained, hands up in surrender. "Please don't shoot me."

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Tidus said, moving towards Harry.

"Ehcmahla!" one of the men shouted, putting the end of his gun next to Tidus' head.

"Please don't make them angry," Harry said tiredly.

Tidus grinned.

The girl who'd fought with Tidus earlier came forward then, telling her people to stop – at least, that's what Harry assumed she'd said, as the guns pointed at their heads had lowered. The girl then turned to them and said, "You can stay if you make yourselves useful."

"You... You understand us?" Tidus said incredulously.

Harry sighed. "Well, the idiot's handy with a sword, but I've lost my focus, so you might as well toss me overboard."

"Harry!"

The girl's lips quirked. "We can get you another focus."

Harry cocked an eyebrow at her. "In that case, I'll happily help you with whatever you're up to."

She turned back to her men and gave them directions while Tidus sidled up to Harry and asked, "Focus?"

Harry sighed. "I use magic, and I need something to channel that magic through to use it. If I hadn't lost my wand, I could have made us a nice fire and maybe conjured up some food earlier."

"Now he says something."

Harry rolled his eyes, then looked up in surprise when a staff appeared in front of him. The man holding it out looked quite disgruntled, so Harry took it gently and nodded his thanks. The man glared and backed up, giving Harry room to stand next to Tidus. Before he did anything more than stand, Harry cast a couple of spells on himself to mend his clothing and speed up his natural assimilation of the Al Bhed language, hoping he wouldn't need the girl to translate for him for the entire rest of the journey.

"Well, come on!" said girl urged them, then jumped into the water.

Tidus eyed Harry with concern, so the young man waved him on before casting a bubble head spell on himself and following the two down into the ocean.

Both the girl and Tidus looked rather amused by his need for the charm, so he stuck his tongue out at them before miming a question about where they were headed.

The three of them swam down to a large piece of machina and went about getting it up and working a bit. They had to battle a large fiend while they were down there, but between the three of them, it wasn't much trouble. (It helped that Harry knew some good offensive spells, even if none of them were like the magic for this version of the world. Harry made a mental note to learn those spells as quickly as he could, so he wouldn't stand out as much.)

They made it back up to the ship without any problems and Harry sat back to listen to the Al Bhed language some. He quirked a smile when Tidus got shoved away from the door that led deeper into the ship.

Tidus stormed over to him and flopped down on the deck. "Bastards."

Harry smiled outright and shook his head. "I'm sure they say the same about you."

"Who are they?" Tidus asked.

Harry sighed and silently conjured some food, receiving an enthusiastic 'Thanks!' "They're Al Bhed," he replied to Tidus' question as the boy stuffed his face. "They aren't well liked by the other people of Spira, because they use machina – machines – which is against the 'holy' writings of the religion here." He waved his hand about negligently.

"Spira?" Tidus asked around a mouth-full of food.

Harry rolled his eyes. "This world. It's called Spira." He eyed the boy oddly. "Surely you knew that, being from Zanarkand? The world's been called Spira for almost three millennia now."

Tidus blinked. "If you say so."

Harry sighed. So, the boy was from the dream.

"So, what are the chances of my going home, do you think?" Tidus asked, going back to the food.

Harry winced. "Tidus, Zanarkand has been destroyed for almost one thousand years now – there's nothing for you to go back to."

Tidus stopped eating in favour of staring at Harry in disbelief. "No, that's not..."

"Zanarkand is gone, boy," Harry said firmly. "Denying it won't change that."

Tidus watched him for a few more minutes before getting up and walking to the railing along the bow, which he leaned against.

Harry sighed and waved his staff to get rid of the food. He glanced up at the boy's back and called, "If it makes you feel any better, my home's gone too."

Tidus turned to look at him, wounded. "Yeah, but has it been gone for one thousand years?"

Harry smiled bitterly. "Hogwarts was my home," he replied simply.

Tidus swallowed and looked away, clearly remembering the rubble they'd woken in.

The door to the rest of the ship opened then and the girl from earlier came out with some food. She eyed the two males curiously for a moment before offering the food to Harry, since he didn't seem to be brooding like Tidus was.

"Thank you," Harry said, taking the tray and setting it next to him.

The girl smiled and sat down next to him with one last look at Tidus. "Is he going to be okay?"

Harry glanced up from the food, which he'd taken a few bites of. "Tidus? I assume so. He's had a rough time of it."

The girl watched him curiously. "And you?"

Harry smiled. "My whole life has been rough. I count my blessings, rather than my woes."

The girl's nose wrinkled in disgust. "Please tell me you're not about to praise Yevon."

Harry laughed and shook his head. "Oh, Merlin, no. I don't believe in that false prophet."

"Even if the teachings are what helps us achieve the Calm?" the girl replied.

Harry paused at that, and wondered how bad of an idea it would be to tell her what he, as a fayth, knew about Sin and Yevon. Al Bhed were, by no means, believers, but telling her the truth could very well break any beliefs she had about the teachings, and Harry wasn't one to tear people's worlds apart; he'd had it happen to himself far too often for that.

"Hey, so, what's your name?" Tidus asked the girl, walking back over to join them. As soon as he sat down next to Harry, he pulled over the tray of food and started scarfing it.

The girl wrinkled her nose again and answered, "Rikku. And you're... Tidus?"

Tidus nodded, then jerked a thumb at Harry, "He's Harry."

Harry cocked an eyebrow at the boy, unamused.

Tidus just grinned at him.

Rikku smiled at them and asked, "So, what were you two doing in those ruins?"

Harry shrugged. "Well, Tidus blames Sin, but I haven't the faintest."

Rikku blinked at the younger male. "You survived an attack from Sin?"

Tidus blinked, then nodded. "Yeah. Why? Am I not supposed to?" He glanced at Harry, as if expecting the other to have an answer.

"It's unusual for someone to survive a direct confrontation with Sin," Harry admitted quietly. "But it's not impossible."

"See! What he said," Tidus said to Rikku, then turned back to what little food was left on the tray.

Rikku smiled at them in amusement. "If you say so. You are an unlikely pair, though," she added. "With your odd clothing. And the fact that you both turned up in those ruins..."

"Our clothing isn't odd," Tidus complained, then looked down at his shorts. "Is it?"

Harry shook his head. "Yes, Tidus, we're wearing strange clothing. At least, we are so far as the people of Spira are concerned." He rolled his eyes at the sheepish smile on the boy's face and the grin on the girl's. "Honestly. Let's see, your shorts are odd, and no one has shirts like that. Anyway, you're a fighter, so you're expected to dress accordingly. I dunno, maybe some pants. Sturdier shoes, certainly."

"And you?" Tidus challenged.

Harry cocked an eyebrow. "And me? Well, I should probably be wearing robes of some sort, since I'm a summoner–"

"You're a summoner?!" Rikku squeaked at the same time as Tidus asked, "A what?"

Harry rolled his eyes skyward, then turned to Rikku first, since she actually understood what he was. "Yes. Is there something wrong with that? I was under the impression that the Al Bhed were as pleased as the rest of Spira with the Calm, even though they don't care for Yevon."

"We like the Calm, but not when it means sacrificing the life of the summoner who brings it about!" Rikku snapped.

Harry's eyes widened in surprise, then he smiled. "I have no intention of sacrificing myself or a guardian to bring about a Calm that only lasts ten years. If I'm going to sacrifice people, I intend for it to be permanent."

Rikku relaxed a bit and said, "Finally, a summoner with sense," which made Harry chuckle.

Tidus shook his head. "Hey, uhm, not to sound dumb or anything, but... What's a summoner? And the Calm?"

Rikku looked at the boy like he was mad, then turned to Harry, who mouthed 'toxins' at her. She nodded slowly in understanding.

"Hey!" Tidus snapped, looking disgruntled.

Harry chuckled. "A summoner visits temples around Spira and collects aeons from the fayth. They use these aeons in battles against fiends, though the true intent for them is to use the aeons to defeat Sin, bringing about what is known as the Calm, which lasts for ten years."

Tidus eyed him curiously. "And... Summoners die?"

Harry sighed, eyes darkening at the memory of his own fight with aeons. "A summoner's pilgrimage ends when they collect the final aeon. That aeon is actually the soul of one of the summoner's guardians. The summoner uses that aeon to defeat Sin, getting both themselves and the guardian used for the final aeon killed." He shrugged and said. "Well, the final aeon isn't really killed, per say. Rather, it becomes part of Sin until the next summoner comes and kills it, leaving room for their aeon."

Rikku covered her mouth with one hand in shock, while Tidus looked ill. "The guardian... lives on inside Sin?" the Al Bhed girl asked.

Harry winced. He didn't suppose that was common knowledge. "Yeah."

"So that guardian is attacking..." Rikku was shaking her head in horror.

Tidus lurched to his feet and walked back over to the railing. "Why do the summoners do it, then?" he demanded, turning to look accusingly at Harry.

Harry shrugged. "I assume it's because it's made better knowing your loved ones are safe for ten years because of your sacrifice. Even if you then turn around and destroy them when that time is up."

Before anything more could be said, the ship lurched as a large wave rose up on the portside.

The door behind Rikku slammed open and the man that came dashing out shouted, "SIN!"

The ship dipped madly again and Harry grabbed onto the railing next to him. Rikku squeaked and grabbed the end of his staff to keep from sliding across the deck.

Tidus, however, had been standing next to the railing, and one more wave knocked him over the edge.

"TIDUS!"

-0-0-0-

Once Sin had left, Harry and Rikku both dashed overboard to see if they could find Tidus in the water around the ship. Both knew there was little chance he would have survived the angry beast, but they both needed to check.

When they came up empty-handed, the other Al Bhed just shook their heads and went back into the innards of the ship.

Rikku stayed out on the deck with Harry for a while as he stared out over the sea, feeling helpless. When she left, the young man whispered, "I'm cursed to lose everyone."

-0-0-0-0-0-

A/N: I'm trying to change the story just enough to keep people interested. I know reading the entire plotline of the game word-for-word can get really tedious after a while, so I'll do my best.

I had hoped to make this chapter a bit longer, but that was a good place to stop. (Then again, considering how short the conversation between Tidus and Rikku in the game was, it could have been worse. XD)

Next chapter, a bit from Tidus' perspective. And, yes, the boys'll meet up again, never fear. After all, the pairing is Harry/Tidus. XD
Oh, and that pairing will take a bit to form. I must admit to being a bit irritated with other fics of this fandom that always have them start being attracted to each other practically right off the bat. This Harry's a bit too jaded for that, and I can't see Tidus falling for some guy when he's just met him. They've got an entire pilgrimage to figure things out. XP

~Bats ^.^x

Chapters:
1 - The Beginning ||| 2 - Ruins ||| 3 - Besaid & Kilika
4 - Luca ||| 5 - Operation Mi'ihen ||| 6 - Guadosalam
7 - Macalania & Bevelle ||| 8 - Calm Lands & Mt. Gagazet ||| 9 - Zanarkand & Sin
10 - Epilogue

...

Comments

[hekelachan.livejournal.com]

hey, nice update. thinking ahead into the game makes me giggle with what you might have the Yevonites say/react about Harry's dislike of them. can't wait.

happy new year!

[batsutousai]

Well, I hate Wakka, so he gets his rather impressively. Let's just say, Harry loses his temper with the blitzballer more than once. *mad cackle*