FIC: Twin Blades -- HP/FFX -- Chapter 7 -- Harry/Tidus -- R/M

[batsutousai]

Title: Twin Blades
Fandoms: Harry Potter & Final Fantasy X
Author: batsutousai
Beta: tsuki_no_suzu
Rating: M/R
Pairings: Harry/Tidus (with a side of practically everybody/Harry)
Warnings: OoC, AU, playboy!Harry, NON-SPARKLY-vampire!Harry
Summary: Harry was shunned by his own people because of a bitter vampire and continued living long after England was just a pile of rubble. He watches his world become Spira and finally sets out again to save the world.

Disclaim Her: This story uses characters and settings owned by J.K. Rowling, her publishers and Square Enix. No money is being made from the creation of this fanfic, and no copywrite infringement is intended.

A/N: Sorry. I usually like to try and get chapters up after three days-ish, but I forgot. (Clearly this means you need to send me more reviews. *nod, nod*)
Happy Heart Day. XD

-0-
Maybes are Nevers
-0-

Harry eventually fell asleep in the chair next to Yuna's bed and was shaken gently awake by Lulu, who looked at him with concern in her reddish eyes. "Is she okay?" she whispered.

Harry carefully detangled his fingers and stood with a grimace. Lulu nodded in understanding and they both left the room to talk out in the hallway. "Jyscal's ghost left behind a sphere, and the contents shook her up a bit."

Lulu sighed. "What did it say?"

Harry glanced out of the corner of his eye at the black mage. "Seymour killed his father," he replied blandly, smiling grimly when Lulu looked horrified. "I think she was most upset by the fact that there's really nothing we can do about it, however."

Lulu sighed and nodded. "There isn't, is there?"

"Not unless we want to spend the rest of this journey being hunted by Guado and Bevelle both." He chuckled humourlessly. "And, having been hunted by Bevelle before, I very much suggest against it."

Lulu offered him a thin smile. "I don't intend to try it, personally."

"Excellent." Harry rubbed at his chin. "Yuna could probably use a little more sleep."

Lulu nodded. "She should be okay for now. Come and eat something."

"Mmm... Was that an offer?" Harry inquired teasingly, then dodged the lick of fire she shot at him. "That almost hit me!" he complained.

Lulu sniffed as they entered the small room set aside for guests to eat in. Kimahri, Auron and Tidus were seated around the table already, and all three looked up in surprise when they entered.

Harry frowned at Tidus. "You look like you haven't slept," he admonished, walking over to the boy.

Tidus shrugged. "Where were you all night?"

Harry sighed and sat in the open chair next to the boy. "Yuna had a bad time of it last night, so I stayed up with her."

"He was asleep in a chair next to her bed," Lulu commented drily, and no one at the table was certain if she was reassuring Kimahri or Tidus that nothing had happened between the resident playboy and their supposedly innocent summoner.

"Has she decided what to do about Seymour's proposal?" Auron asked.

Harry shrugged. "She didn't say," he said neutrally.

Harry and Lulu had almost finished their breakfast when a slightly panicked Rikku came through the door. "Yuna's freaking out!" she said.

Harry was out of the room before the others could do more than get halfway out of their chairs.

"I keep forgetting how fast he is," Lulu muttered as she finished getting up and made for the door at a much more sedate pace than she normally would have. Tidus and Rikku both fell in beside her, with Kimahri bringing up the rear.

Back at the table, Auron chuckled and finished his coffee before getting up and following them.

-0-0-0-

When Harry got the the girls' room, he found Yuna curled into a ball on her bed, sobbing. "Yuna?" he said.

Yuna glared up at him, making him blink in surprise. "You lied to me!" she shouted at him.

Harry frowned. "I never lied to you, sweetheart."

"You said you'd stay! You said you'd be here!" Yuna accused.

Harry sighed and walked over to the bed, which he sat on. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "Lulu and I thought you'd be fine long enough for me to eat."

Yuna stared at him for a long moment, almost disbelieving. But Harry just kept looking at her with that same heart-wrenchingly sorry expression he'd worn when he spoke to his son's memory on the Farplane, and she eventually leaned over and hugged him, feeling his arms wrap around her as well.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Harry whispered again.

Yuna nodded. "Thanks."

Harry smiled faintly and turned his head to kiss her cheek.

Someone cleared their throat from the doorway and Harry sighed. "Who looks the most likely to kill me?" he asked the girl in his arms.

Yuna giggled weakly. "Kimahri."

"Ah, Big Blue," Harry said, nodding sagely. "Kimahri, if you stick me with your lance, the blood will get all over Yuna."

"Lulu can burn you," Kimahri grunted in reply.

Harry considered that. "Mm. Yeah, I suppose she could," he agreed, then whispered, "Does she look likely to do that?"

Yuna giggled again, sounding more like herself. "She might."

"Bugger."

Tidus huffed. "So, Yuna, what's up with you hogging Harry lately?" he asked with just the smallest hint of teasing in his voice. "We come to Guadosalam and you hang on to him, and then you talk him into sleeping next to your bed?"

Yuna grinned. "I'm allowed to hog him sometimes," she declared. "You get him to yourself all night."

"Please tell me I don't have teenagers fighting over me?" Harry moaned.

Yuna pulled away from him, life in her eyes again at the semi-familiar banter she and Tidus had occasionally shared on the road since Junon. "I'm afraid so," she told Harry, then leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

"Oiy!" Tidus called.

Yuna stuck her tongue out at the blond boy and climbed out of the bed, leaving Harry behind with his face in his hands.

The others in the doorway laughed at the drama, while Yuna and Tidus met each other in the middle of the room and mock glared at each other.

"What's going on?" a sleepy Wakka asked from the back of the group in the doorway, and they all laughed again.

Harry shook his head and stood up. "Okay, kids, break it up," he told Tidus and Yuna, draping an arm over both their shoulders.

In sync, Tidus and Yuna kissed Harry's cheeks, then gave each other high fives and scampered out from under his arms, laughing.

Harry chuckled. "Oiy! I'm the only person who's supposed to be kissing people in this party!"

Laughing, they all made their way back to the dining room.

-0-0-0-

"What do you plan to do about Seymour's proposal?" Auron asked once those who hadn't eaten were finished.

Yuna sighed. "I'm going to tell him no," she said. "Harry's right. This time that's left, what little there is, is for me. It's time for me to spend with my friends and family." She smiled around the table. "I don't want to ruin our time left by bringing another person in, especially one who not everyone is sure of."

"But he's a maester!" Wakka complained.

"Wakka?"

"Yeah, Lu?"

"Shut up."

"Yes, ma'am."

Harry rose an eyebrow at the woman, who rose one back at him, then he looked at Yuna, who was sitting next to him, and said, "If that's your choice, we will support you."

"We'll make a stop to let Seymour know on our way out," Auron decided, though Rikku looked nervous.

Having a plan, the party got up and finished getting any last minute things together before heading to the manor. There, however, they were told that Seymour had gone on to Macalania Temple.

"Well, that puts a wrench in things," Harry commented, ignoring the odd looks he got at the mention of the old Earth tool, which didn't exist anymore. "Oh well. We're headed that way anyway, right?" He looked at Auron, who nodded. "Brilliant! Let's go!" he declared, then dashed for the exit madly.

"Lightning?" Yuna asked Tidus.

"Lightning," Tidus agreed.

"What about lightning?" Rikku asked nervously.

"He loves it," Tidus said. "Even ties off his braid with it."

"He does?" Yuna asked, looking amused.

Tidus nodded. "It's a wonder none of us have gotten shocked."

Yuna shook her head. "He's crazy."

"But we love him?" Tidus suggested.

Yuna giggled.

Out on the Thunder Plains, they found Harry dancing in an open space, laughing madly every time he got hit. "Brilliant!" he called to the party when he saw them.

Rikku laughed nervously. "I think... I might have left something in... Guadosalam..."

"Nice knowing you," Auron said, then started across the plains with the older guardians, leaving only Yuna and Tidus with Rikku.

"Are you okay, Rikku?" Yuna asked, taking one of the girl's hands in hers.

Rikku nodded, then cowered when a bolt of lightning came a little too close to her for comfort. "I don't like lightning and thunder," she whispered.

"Keep her away from Harry," Tidus suggested.

Yuna smacked his arm lightly, then looked back at her cousin. "We have to cross it," she said. "There's no other way."

Rikku looked past Tidus with wide eyes and the other two teens turned to see Harry approaching with a worried frown. When he reached them, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"She's your exact opposite out here," Tidus commented, waving at the plains.

Harry nodded in understanding. "You're not the first person I've met with a fear of lightning. Here." He murmured some foreign words under his breath and Rikku glowed yellow briefly. "The lightning won't hit you now," he promised, "but it's only got a four-hour keep on it and I can't cast it on you again for eight, so move quickly."

"Really? It won't hit me?" Rikku asked hopefully.

Harry grinned at her. "Try it." When she looked uncertain, he held a hand to his heart and said, "I swear it'll work."

Rikku nodded nervously and let Harry lead her out onto the plain, the other two teens following at a distance.

A bolt of lightning came rushing down at Rikku and she gave a cry and threw her hands over her head, but the lightning simply disappeared about a foot from her and she looked up in awe.

Harry grinned as a lightning bolt struck his head, making his hair stand on end. "Okay?" he asked.

Rikku nodded, then asked, "How can you let them hit you?"

Harry chuckled and cast the spell on Yuna and Tidus so they could walk with him safely, as he had no intention of walking near the towers. "For one, they can't kill me," he explained. "For another, I have a strange immunity to lightning. Shortly before World War Three, the war that destroyed my world," he added for Rikku's benefit, "I was working on a machine out in a thunder storm because we had to get it done, and the spell I used on you lot was just wearing off. Something about the spell failing and the machine and my general inability to get killed acted up with the lightning, and now they don't hurt me. Actually, they tend to energise me, instead." He grinned at Tidus. "I won't need a feeding for a couple of days."

"So lightning is blood for you?" Yuna asked, blinking.

Harry nodded. "Pretty much."

"So you don't actually need blood, you just need someone to hit you with a Thunder spell."

Harry blinked. "Why haven't I ever thought of that?"

"Because you've been a vampire too long?" Tidus suggested.

Harry chuckled. "Must be. I'll have to try that, then."

Tidus pouted. "What? My blood not good enough for you?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Tidus..."

"Answer me!" Tidus demanded.

Harry sighed. "Look, I need blood too often to have one donor. Your blood doesn't replenish fast enough for it to be safe for me to drink from you every two or three days. Every five or so is fine, but any more than that you won't be able to pick up that sword."

Tidus looked down at his sword and grumbled wordlessly.

Yuna cleared her throat. "So, you feed from Tidus, and then, the next time you need blood, he hits you with a Thunder spell. Sound good?"

"Kinky," Harry decided.

Rikku hit him. "There's nothing 'kinky' about lightning!"

"You're kinda cute when you're distressed," Harry commented.

Yuna hit him that time. "Harry! No hitting on my cousin!"

"Afraid of the competition?" Harry inquired teasingly.

"The last thing you need is another teenager fighting over you," Tidus pointed out drily. "Auron and Lulu know better than to take you seriously."

Harry snickered. "Sexy Red's too busy trying to hit me to worry about hitting on me," he replied brightly. "And the lovely Lulu's heart clearly belongs to a certain red-head."

"Whaaa! Lulu and Wakka?!" Tidus exclaimed.

"You mean you haven't noticed?" Harry asked. When all three teens shook their heads, he sighed and said, "I'm surrounded by kids."

All three of them hit him.

-0-0-0-

On the other side of the travel agency, which they didn't stop at, Harry pulled out his map and stepped closer to Yuna. "There's another temple I know of on a little spit of land over here," he said, pointing directly north of the Thunder Plains and a little east of the entrance to Macalania Woods. "It'll be about a day out of the way, I think, and I wasn't sure if you'd want to try and make a stop or not."

Yuna considered the question, then glanced ahead of them, to where the other half of the party was darting between the towers. "I don't know that I'm ready to face Seymour yet," she admitted. "So I think, yes. Can we?"

Harry smiled and put the map away in a pocket. "Okay. We should probably go catch up with the others, then. There should be a path just a little ahead and to the right, if I remember my directions from Yu right, which will take us out of the plains."

"Sounds good!" Rikku declared. Even with the strange shield Harry had cast on the three teens, Rikku was still a little twitchy, especially since she kept seeing Harry get hit.

"Let's go, then," Tidus suggested, then took off towards the rest of the party.

It didn't take them long to talk the other four into taking a detour, and with eight eyes watching, they were easily able to find the path.

Once off the Thunder Plains, Lulu asked if Harry would teach her the shield he'd used on the teens and Tidus and Yuna, both of whom practised some magic, agreed that they'd also like to learn. So Harry taught them all the spell, warning them ahead of time that it was Old Earth magic and he had never tried teaching someone from Spira his world's magic.

As it turned out, all three were able to learn the spell – they tested it on the four who had stayed under the towers – though it seemed to tire them out sooner than it had Harry. As a result, Harry called for them to make camp at a reasonable-looking site to their left and the three spellcasters gratefully ate a quick meal and rolled into their bed rolls.

"Your fanclub's asleep," Auron pointed out evenly, "now what will you do?"

Harry appeared to consider that for a moment, then grinned and said, "Why, hit on you, of course, Sexy Red."

Auron made a lame attempt to hit Harry with his sword in retaliation for the name, but Harry just ducked it.

"You're not even trying anymore," the vampire complained.

Auron shrugged. "I've gotten used to you."

Harry huffed and pouted while Wakka and Rikku laughed.

"Oh, you laugh now," Harry said, shaking his finger, "but without Sexy Red to tease, I'll just have to find someone new to torture, and I think that'll have to be you, my dear Wakka."

Wakka paled and shook his head vehemently.

Harry snickered with Rikku and Auron.

The others went to bed after a while, with Harry taking the first watch and promising to wake Auron about halfway through the night to pass off. Harry enjoyed the quiet night and spent a few hours recalling the constellations above him, smiling at the Dog Star fondly in memory of his godfather.

After waking Auron, he curled up next to Tidus and fell asleep with a smile.

-0-0-0-

The next morning, they finished their journey to the little spit of land that Harry had known the temple to be on. They found the temple, but the stone inside looked like someone had hit it with a hammer a few times, and Harry sighed, wondering if Bevelle had found and destroyed the crystal during the war, or if the fayth itself had found someone willing to destroy the stone that kept him prisoner.

Empty-handed, the party made their way back to the last few feet of the Thunder Plains and the entrance to Macalania Woods.

Once under the safety of the trees, Yuna said, "Does anyone mind if we stop at Bevelle before going to Macalania Temple?"

"You really don't want to face, Seymour, do you?" Rikku asked.

Yuna grimaced and shook her head. "Not really."

"I don't mind holding off on facing him," Harry commented easily, leaning against a tree with a faint smile on his face.

Yuna smiled at him, then looked at Auron, since it often seemed to be Auron and Harry who made the choices about any changes to their journey plans. With Harry already agreeing, Auron just inclined his head, so they made for Bevelle, Harry grimacing in distaste.

Bevelle was as irritating as Harry had expected it to be, but they made it to the temple and through the Trials without any trouble.

Once Yuna was done with the fayth, she came out and said, "Harry, he wants to talk to you."

Everyone looked at Harry in surprise, though Tidus and Rikku both looked somewhat understanding, recalling that Harry's grandson was supposed to be the fayth there.

Harry just nodded and walked into the chamber. He leaned against a wall nonchalantly and waited for the boy to appear.

James did eventually rise from his crystal, watching his feet nervously. "Grandfather," he said.

Harry sighed. "Surely your father explained why he hadn't let you join the wall."

James nodded. "He explained, but..." James looked up, bright green eyes pained. "Grandfather, there wasn't anything left! You'd disappeared and Mum and Dad were both dead! Uncle Yu..." He choked briefly. "Uncle Yu was Sin, and Yunalesca was determined to bring him down. So everyone was gone! And I thought, I thought, 'Maybe if I become a fayth, I can meet Grandpa,' because Dad always spoke so fondly of you! I wanted..." James started crying.

Harry closed his eyes and knelt in front of the ghostly figure of the boy who had been his own flesh and blood once. "I'm so sorry, James."

"I didn't want to be alone," James whispered.

Harry rested his hands on the crystal. "If I'd known your mother was pregnant, I would have come home. I would have found a way to get you out of Zanarkand. I never would have gone to sleep."

"And maybe you could have stopped Uncle Yu," James said. "Maybe you could have stopped Sin before he'd been around for one thousand years. Maybe the new Spira could have been built in your image, instead."

"But maybes are nevers," Harry murmured, repeating back something Yu had often said after Bevelle managed to get a missile through to hit a part of the city or took down an entire group of twelve summoners.

James sat in front of his grandfather and reached out a ghostly hand to almost touch his face. "You didn't know. Dad used to say he wished he'd told you when he first found out, but he wanted it to be a surprise, and by the time the news made it back to Besaid, you were already asleep."

Harry sighed. "Of course. Your father got that same flair for surprising people that my father had." He smiled bitterly. "And you got your insistence to sacrifice yourself from me."

James smiled. "Dad used to joke that he'd considered naming me after you, but realised that then there'd be two Harrys running around, and one was already too many."

Harry laughed and shook his head. "That does sound like him," he admitted.

James chewed on his lower lip for a moment, then said, "Dad told me, once, that you'd always refused to become a summoner, but... would you let me join with you?"

Harry closed his eyes. Was he, the man who had always spoken against sacrificing someone so they could be used by others, especially children, willing to take an aeon at long last? "Yes," he agreed.

James smiled and held out his arms like he was going to hug Harry, then faded into him.

Somewhere, in the back of his head, he could feel his grandson, curling up comfortably. 'Thank you, Grandpa,' the boy said. 'I know...'

"You know I wouldn't have done it for anyone else," Harry murmured, then turned and left the chamber.

The three teens met him at the door. "What did he say?" Rikku asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Did you forgive him?" Yuna asked.

"Are you okay?" Tidus asked.

Harry looked at the three of them and chuckled. "We spoke of why he'd done it. Yes, I forgave him. And I'll be fine." He glanced past the teenagers to the four amused adults near the other door. "Let's find somewhere in this horrible city to stay the night."

"We can go back to Macalania Woods, if you'd prefer," Lulu commented.

Harry smiled grimly. "I don't know. Something in me finds glee in the idea of finally being able to spend a night in Bevelle without waking up in the canal the next afternoon."

The party either laughed, or grimaced, then they headed back out into the city and found an inn to stay the night in.

Harry spent a large portion of the night up, talking to James in his head, but eventually even the fayth was sleepy, so the two called it a night and Harry climbed into bed with Tidus.

The next morning, they finally made their way through the forest to Macalania Temple. Just before they got to the edge of the snowy grounds, however, Auron stopped them to get a sphere for Tidus that his father had taken. Tidus watched it all the way through, but didn't seem to know what to think, so he just pocketed it and suggested they keep going.

They met Tromell on the path. "Lady Yuna, we've been expecting you. Lord Seymour sends his apologies for having left without notice."

Yuna nodded. "That's okay. It gave me time to think. Is Maester Seymour at the temple?"

Tromell inclined his head. "Of course. But... We must follow Guado tradition," he said, then turned to the tensing guardians, "I'll have to ask you to wait here–"

"I'm afraid," Harry said sharply, "that we won't be letting Yuna go off alone, tradition or no. Either we all go, or Maester Seymour comes to us."

Tromell frowned at him, but Yuna nodded and said, "I would prefer for my guardians to come with me. It's what they're here for."

Tromell nodded. "Very well. If you would, then?"

The party followed him down the slope and onto the ice, which Rikku cheerfully slid across. Yuna and Tidus tried to follow her example, but mostly just falling against each other and laughing. Tromell looked horrified.

They all turned in surprise at a mechanical noise from behind them.

"Al Bhed!" Wakka shouted.

"Oh no," Rikku moaned, having not wanted her family to find out she'd decided to become a guardian, rather than kidnap the summoner.

"Rikku!" a voice shouted down from the ridge behind which the mechanical noise was coming from, "Don't interfere or you get this! Your precious magic and aeons are sealed!"

"Oh no!" Rikku cried again.

"What?" Tidus demanded as the mechanical creature they'd been hearing came over the ledge. The party all pulled out their weapons, even Yuna, to Tromell's continued horror.

"He's going to use an anti-magic field on us!"

"Get them!"

As the anti-magic creature hit the air, Harry pulled out his guns and sent two shots into just the right spots, bringing it down. "Thunder!" he ordered Tidus and Lulu while the others all jumped forward to hit the metal beast with their weapons and Yuna cast Pray.

The machina went down in a spark of electricity and the Al Bhed on the ridge stared at them in shock. "Go back to Home!" Harry called. "And feel free to tell your leader that Lady Yuna is protected! We won't let you take her!" When the man didn't move fast enough, Harry cocked two guns at him.

The man jumped down and out of sight.

"Was that really necessary?" Rikku asked as Harry put his guns away.

Harry grinned. "It avoided any further violence," he pointed out, "especially from Wakka."

Rikku glanced over at where Wakka was gripping his ball angrily. "Hm. You might be right."

"Of course I'm right," Harry replied, then called, "Shall we keep going? I believe we'll all be safer in the temple."

Tromell gave him a dirty look, though Harry couldn't tell if it was because of his ability to speak Al Bhed or that Harry used machina himself, then turned and led them back along the path.

Seymour was waiting for them in the temple. He looked surprised to see the guardians, but still smiled and said, "Lady Yuna and guardians, welcome to Macalania Temple. I'm pleased to see you well."

Yuna nodded. "I have my answer, Maester Seymour."

Seymour glanced at his aid and they seemed to communicate silently for a moment. When Seymour looked back at the party he said, "Why don't you all go and get Shiva and I'll speak to you afterwards?"

Yuna looked back at Harry and Auron, who were both frowning at Seymour. "I think we will," Yuna decided.

They managed the Trials without too much trouble, and Yuna got Shiva with equal ease.

When they walked back out into the main part of the temple, Seymour was smiling at them. As soon as they'd stopped, Harry tensed, feeling far too many eyes on him, as well as the tension in the air.

"I have decided," Yuna said, "to not marry you, Maester Seymour."

Seymour looked shocked for only a brief moment before he made an angry motion with his hand. "I wasn't going to do this, Lady Yuna, but you leave me no choice," he said.

"Harry!" Tidus shouted, making the rest of the party spin to look at where a few warrior monks held the vampire, a sword at his throat.

"What are you doing?" Yuna cried, turning back to Seymour.

Seymour smiled. "Those who use the forbidden machina must be punished."

"Harry!" Yuna said, making as if to run forward and somehow stop Harry's death, but Lulu grabbed the girl's shoulders to stop her.

Harry smiled at his friends, accepting, and closed his eyes.

The last things he heard before his throat was slit was James' quiet whisper of, 'Grandpa...' and Yuna's bitter sob.

-0-0-0-0-0-

A/N: I seem to end these chapters with Harry dying far too often, don't I?

~Bats ^.^x

Chapters:
1 - Washed Up ||| 2 - Forgotten Fayth ||| 3 - The Broken Town
4 - The Abyss ||| 5 - Depth ||| 6 - Ghosts
7 - Maybes Are Nevers ||| 8 - Extremes ||| 9 - Regret
10 - Fred ||| 11 - Vampyre ||| 12 - Blood

..

Comments

[larawander5.livejournal.com]

Sorry. I usually like to try and get chapters up after three days-ish, but I forgot. (Clearly this means you need to send me more reviews. *nod, nod*)

Well how am I suppose to ignore that, besides saying that I can not wait for more BB! You fic always keeps me enthralled and it keeps me wanting more.

Thank you so much for the V-Day prezzie! ^_^