FIC: Twin Blades -- HP/FFX -- Chapter 8 -- 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: I suppose it's been three days, eh?
XD

-0-
Extremes
-0-

Harry woke to the sounds of fighting. When he cautiously opened his eyes, he saw that his friends were badly outnumbered and fighting against Seymour and the warrior monks, as well as a few Guado. Yuna was hard-pressed to heal the party, while the party themselves had fallen back into a circle around her, weapons facing out towards their numerous enemies.

Harry felt that his neck was still bleeding sluggishly and trying to heal back together, and he'd need blood very soon, but he was otherwise in perfect working order.

So, grinning madly, Harry cast an overpowered Thundaga on those fighting his friends before climbing to his feet and shooting two men next to him who hadn't fallen from the spell with the guns he'd drawn.

"What is this?!" Seymour shouted.

Harry winked at Yuna and Tidus, both of whom looked quite relieved to see him on his feet again, then he looked at Seymour. "Oh, didn't you get the memo?" he asked, casually shooting a Guado who was coming at him. "I can't die." Then he shot off another Thundaga, causing a few more opponents to fall dead.

Harry walked through the cleared path to his friends, while Seymour roared, "Impossible!" and shot a bolt of Thunder at Harry.

Harry blinked. "Excellent. I needed that," he commented, falling into line around Yuna. "So, you lot are going to tell me everything that happened later, right?"

"If we can ever get out of here," Wakka agreed grimly, throwing his ball out to hit an approaching Guado.

"I didn't know Thundaga could do that," Lulu commented from the other side of Yuna.

"You're just not as awesome as me," Harry replied, shooting another warrior monk. "Dear Merlin, where are they all coming from?"

"Those doors," Auron replied, using his sword to point at the doors on either side of the stairs to the Trials, then slice a warrior monk in half.

"Also from the doors outside," Yuna offered. "And, Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"There's still blood on your neck."

"Happens when your throat gets slit," Harry replied drily, making Yuna giggle nervously.

"Kill them!" Seymour shouted, then sent a Fire spell at the group.

Harry hissed when the spell hit him. "Okay, he's on my shit list," he groused, then turned and, leaning around Yuna and Lulu, emptied his guns into the man's chest.

Seymour let out an angry roar, but didn't fall.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's immortal too," Tidus complained.

"Nah, you just haven't hit him enough," Harry replied cheerfully as he got hit with Thunder again for shooting the maester. "Oh! I know a spell!" He put his guns away and dug around in the bag at his belt until he pulled out the Elder Wand, which he kissed and said, "Don't fail me now, Death Stick."

"What's that?" Tidus asked.

"Focus," Harry grunted, ducking another Fire spell. Then he spun away from the group so he could get an unimpeded view of Seymour, who smirked at Harry's little stick. "Avada Kedavra," Harry intoned.

Seymour dropped like a rock and everyone in the room turned to Harry, who shrugged and put the wand away. "Old Death spell," he explained, then pulled out his sword to cut the nearest Guado in half. "Get out of the temple!" he shouted at the party.

With the way clear, everyone made for the doors, Harry bringing up the rear. He briefly wished he hadn't emptied his only two magazines into Seymour's chest, since guns would have been really nice when running from their enemies, but figured, at least the people chasing them didn't have guns either, so they were even.

Only metres from the travel agency, they ran across two more Guado who called up a giant ape.

Harry and Auron both dashed forward to take off the two Guado, leaving the ape to everyone else in the party.

As the ape died, however, it smashed its fists against the ice beneath their feet, which grew cracks and, before any of them could think about running for it, cracked open under them, sending them plummeting down.

-0-0-0-

It didn't take long for everyone to find everyone else. Wakka was freaking out about everything that had happened, and Harry left him to Lulu, shaking his head. Tidus and Rikku were both joking with Kimahri, standing around Yuna. Wakka complained about their laughter, but the teens just ignored him.

When Yuna woke, they all crowded around. "Now what?" Yuna asked.

"Yevon's almost sure to want us dead now, considering we've killed a maester. Even if it was self-defence," Auron pointed out.

"Bevelle, home of my eternal friends," Harry said drily, earning him a dirty look from Wakka.

"Now, we climb out of here and head for the Calm Lands," Lulu said.

"We've already been to Bevelle," Auron agreed, "So we don't have to go there and see if news of this madness got that far."

"This is all your fault!" Wakka exclaimed, pointing at Harry. "If you hadn't used that machina of yours–"

"Wakka!" Harry roared, shocking the man into shutting up. "First off, if I hadn't used my 'machina', you would have been the only person capable of hitting the magic suppressor, and that battle would have taken a lot longer. Secondly, Seymour hasn't liked me from day one, ever since he came to the conclusion that Yuna and I are attached. Even if I hadn't used my guns, we probably still would have had to fight our way out of there, because he doesn't like me, I don't stay dead, and Yuna didn't want a prick for a husband!"

Rikku coughed. "Isn't it hard not to have a prick for a husband?"

"You have been spending far too much time around me," Harry decided.

"None of this matters," Auron said firmly. "We'll wait until night falls, then climb out of here and make our way to the Calm Lands. You can point fingers when we are safe from Yevon."

"Good plan," Kimahri declared.

Harry nodded and turned to the three teens while Wakka walked off in a huff. "So, what happened after I died?"

"Seymour suggested that Yuna rethink her choice to not marry him, especially since her options seemed to have halved there, you know?" Rikku said quietly while Yuna coloured. "Yuna told him where he could stuff it and Seymour got really ticked. So he had everyone attack us."

Harry sighed. "Why didn't you just run? Why stay there?" he asked.

"Because we didn't know when you'd be back," Yuna said softly.

"We didn't want to leave you behind," Tidus agreed. "Not on enemy territory."

Harry smiled and shook his head. "Oh, you lot..." he murmured, then drew all three of them into a big hug.

It wasn't much longer after that explanation that they all stopped talking in surprise. "The fayth stopped singing," Yuna commented softly.

Everyone looked around for the cause. Tidus spotted Sin first. "Look."

"Yu," Harry whispered. He hadn't seen Sin since he'd found out about what it was.

"Watch out!" Lulu shouted as Sin stirred.

-0-0-0-

Harry realised he was floating and felt his old friend's presence. "Yu?" he asked.

A spectre appeared before him of his friend. "Hello, Harry," he said. "It's been a long time."

Harry nodded. "I'm sorry."

Yu shook his head. "No. I should have known better than to create a creature of pyreflies and program it to attack as a defence."

Harry sighed. "Yu? Why am I here? And, erm, where am I?"

"You're in Sin," Yu explained. "And you are here because both the aeon which powers this armour and I want your party out of harm's way."

Harry chuckled, part of him wondering about that aeon statement. "Your cult is as much trouble as the last idiots who ran Bevelle."

Yu sighed. "I know. I almost wish I hadn't sent my people there to help rebuild."

"It's in human nature to want power," Harry commented. "If our people hadn't been the ones to claim that power, others would have been."

"I suppose."

Harry eyed his friend curiously. "Yu?"

"Yes?"

"Is Yuna's chosen path the only way?"

"The aeons are the key," Yu said, "but the Final Aeon won't defeat me. It will only make me stronger. And... aeons alone aren't enough."

Harry nodded. "So there is another way?"

Yu smiled. "There's always another way," he whispered, starting to fade, "especially when you're a man who can never die."

-0-0-0-

Harry woke with a mouthful of sand. "You did that on purpose," he accused his best friend, spitting the sand out.

Harry climbed to his feet and looked around curiously. Leagues of sand stretched in all directions and he cocked an eyebrow. "Out of harm's way, huh?" he asked the desert. "Where is there a desert in Spira? Uhm... Oh! Bikanel Island! Wait, isn't that where the Al Bhed... Yu! You bastard! Who said this place was safe from Bevelle?!" he shouted.

"Uhm, who are you shouting at?" a curious voice asked.

Harry looked up to where Rikku stood on the top of a dune and sighed. "Hi. Don't mind me, just yelling at a dead man."

Rikku shrugged. "Well, Bikanel is safe from Bevelle, you know."

Harry grunted and made his way towards her. "Not for much longer. Last I heard, the maesters have plans to attack Home for your lot's tendency to kidnap summoners."

Rikku stared at him in horror for a long moment before turning and starting back down the dune with far more speed than even Harry would have felt comfortable with. "I have to tell them!"

"Rikku! I already told Rin to pass it on!" Harry snapped, making his way down the dune much more slowly.

Rikku stopped then, and waited for Harry to catch up. "If they've moved," she said softly, "then I don't know where they are." She looked up at him sadly. "If they've abandoned Home, I don't know where they would have gone. Home was all we had left."

"I'm sorry," Harry said, knowing very well what it meant to be lost in a familiar place because your home was gone.

Rikku shook her head. "There aren't a lot of options for places to stay," she reasoned, "and only Bikanel is really big enough for all the Al Bhed. Chances are they just moved and are in the process of making somewhere new to live. If they're still on Bikanel, they'll have scouts, so we can probably meet up with someone who can direct us there." She beamed and bounced a bit. "It'll work!"

Harry smiled back. "Good. But, first, we need to find the rest of the party. I'm not comfortable leaving them out here alone, especially when you're the one with the desert know-how."

Rikku laughed and nodded. The two of them made their way back up to the top of the dune they'd been on before and looked around.

"Looks pretty empty," Rikku said after about ten minutes of looking.

Harry sighed. "Damni– Wait! What's that?" He pointed to where he could see a lot of sand being kicked up.

Rikku blinked. "Not enough wind to be a sandstorm," she decided, "and my people tend to be far better on the sand."

"Think it's the others?" Harry asked with a knowing grin.

"Only one way to find out!" Rikku said, then whooped and slid down the dune.

Harry groaned, then hurried down after her.

-0-0-0-

They came across Kimahri along the way and, after talking him out of his useless climbing, they headed back out towards where they'd seen the sand cloud. About halfway there, they finally ran into the rest of the party, sans one member.

"Where's Yuna?" Rikku asked.

The others traded looks. "We'd hoped she was with you," Lulu finally said.

"Al Bhed?" Harry suggested.

Rikku sighed and nodded while Wakka opened his mouth to curse them. "Shut up, Wakka," the Al Bhed of the party snapped. "She's probably better off with them, anyway. And this is their land."

"It is?" Tidus asked as Wakka's mouth snapped shut.

"Bikanel Island has been the home of the Al Bhed since before the Machina Wars," Harry said. "They claimed it as well as a chain of smaller islands south of us shortly after people began populating Spira again once the air cleared. At that time, no one was willing to argue with them about it, since we'd all just come out of isolation to live through the poison in the air. In the two and a half thousand years since that initial claim, no one has ever argued it, especially since the Al Bhed tend to stay to themselves."

"And then Sin came," Rikku whispered.

Harry nodded glumly. "Sin, the common enemy of all the people of Spira. Except perhaps the Ronso," he amended, nodding to Kimahri, "since your kind live in the mountains."

"Ronso share pain," Kimahri declared solemnly.

Harry inclined his head. "The Ronso too, then. But, Sin doesn't care who or what you are, it still attacks. The Al Bhed don't believe in the summoners – they never have – they believe in machina, but not in the same way that Bevelle did. It led to some tension back during the Machina Wars, because the Al Bhed disliked summoners, unlike Zanarkand, but they didn't believe in using machina to wage war, unlike Bevelle. In the end, they just stayed out of it, cutting all ties between the main continent.

"But now Sin has come," Harry continued, "and the Al Bhed can't ignore it. So they've found their own way to fight: with machina. Moreover, they find machina that were lost after the Machina Wars and try to repair them. It's actually quite clever of them."

"But it's forbidden!" Wakka complained.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I had a little talk with Yu on the way over here, and would you like to know what he said?" When no one responded, Harry continued, "He said that the aeons were the key, but the Final Aeon would never defeat him, and just using the aeons won't be quite enough. Doesn't that tell you that, somewhere, somehow, there's something else we need to destroy Sin?"

"Machina," Rikku whispered. "The airship!"

"You have an airship?!" Tidus replied.

"How do you know what the Al Bhed have?" Wakka asked.

Harry sighed. "The airship might tip the balance, yes," he said to Rikku, then turned to Tidus. "They have it, but I'll need to show them how to use some of the systems. Rikku thinks, if I can do that, her dad will let us use it long enough to get the colonists out of the caves." Then he turned to Wakka, who was gaping. "Rikku's an Al Bhed. And if you start talking like a Yevonite, I'll take you over my knee and beat you like the child you are. Anymore questions?"

Auron chuckled.

Harry rolled his eyes at the dead man, then turned to Rikku. "What's the best way to call the scouts' attention?"

Rikku's eyes lit up. "Think you can find a way to make some bullets which explode with blue and green lights?"

Harry grinned and pulled out one of his guns. "I think I can manage something," he agreed.

The party watched on is surprise as Harry worked a little Old Earth magic and conjured a new magazine. He muttered a couple of spells over the bullets, then shoved the magazine into place. "Cover your ears," he suggested drily, and waited until they'd done as he said before firing three rounds into the sky directly above them.

"I think I heard that anyway," Rikku complained, rubbing at her ears.

"Your bullets don't usually make that much noise," Tidus commented.

Harry grinned and put his gun away. "Couldn't get the colours to stick without a third spell to tie it together – conjured bullets are difficult like that. Wasn't sure what another colour would do and, anyway, I figured the sound would help get their attention."

"What do those specific colours mean, anyway?" Auron asked their resident Al Bhed.

Rikku smiled. "Green light means an Al Bhed is calling for travelling assistance. The blue meant I had friends with me. Uhm, red means I've got enemies and need backup, purple means wounded that need attention, black means dead that need transportation to the burial ground."

"Useful," Auron said.

"Especially in the wide open expanses of the desert," Harry agreed. "Those colours will stand out against the sand, and shooting it up in the air with a gun will let it be seen over the dunes."

Rikku nodded. "It's a problem, though, when you don't have a gun. The sand mobiles each have one with various coloured bullets, but if you somehow get stranded out here on your own..." She shrugged.

"I never realised desert life could be so difficult," Lulu commented.

"It's only difficult when you're not prepared," Harry replied, then turned his head, hearing something. "Kimahri?" he asked the only other member of the party that had senses as good as or better than his.

"Kimahri hears," Kimahri replied. "Machina."

Harry nodded slowly. "Not one I'm familiar with," he admitted. "So probably those sand mobiles."

"You've never been around them before?" Rikku asked, surprised.

Harry chuckled. "Contrary to popular belief, there are some things I don't know. Last time I was on Bikanel, the Al Bhed hadn't created them yet."

The party was laughing still when the motorbike-like machina came over the dunes.

"Someone called for help?" one of the men on the bikes said.

Rikku bounced forward. "That was me! Sin dropped us off here for some reason, and I was hoping to get a ride to Home, or wherever we've moved to. Harry says he got word through Rin that Yevon was plotting something?"

"One of these is the man who gave us the warning?" the Al Bhed asked in surprise.

Rikku glanced back at Harry, who shrugged. "That was me," he admitted. "I don't care for Yevon and I like their policies concerning your people even less."

"He is welcome," the Al Bhed said, looking back at Rikku. "But these others could pose a risk."

Rikku bit her lower lip and looked at Harry. "We can't just leave them..."

Harry sighed. "Can all of you swear to never reveal the Al Bhed's secrets? They'll leave you here if you don't." Up with her people, Rikku was translating what was going on, since most Al Bhed didn't bother learning Common.

"I swear," Tidus said.

"As do I," Lulu agreed.

"Kimahri will not betray Al Bhed," the Ronso offered.

"I have no intention of giving them up to the same group that's hunting us," Auron said drily, making the party laugh nervously.

Everyone turned to Wakka who glared. Harry cocked an eyebrow at him. "Are you really so set on dying of dehydration?" he asked.

Wakka sighed. "I swear I won't tell anyone about the Al Bhed," he finally agreed.

"Brilliant!" Harry turned back to where Rikku was finishing translating. "Do they pass muster?"

"They may come," the Al Bhed said grudgingly. "But if they ever betray us, even just one of them, you all die."

Harry chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind." He turned back to the party. "We're good to go. Oh! And if anyone tells Yevon, everyone dies. That would be a horrible way to end the pilgrimage, wouldn't it?" He waggled his eyebrows.

Tidus grabbed Harry's arm and walked him towards a bike. "Stop taunting Wakka."

Harry just chuckled again.

-0-0-0-

The building they came across was mostly underground, with only a few above ground aspects, and those had been painted the same colour as the sand. The building also looked like it was still in the process of being built, which made Wakka wonder why.

"Because Yevon was making plans to come out here and kill them all off," Harry told him drily, "but I warned the Al Bhed."

"So, wait, does that mean they owe you something?" Wakka demanded.

Harry snorted. "Sure, and I plan to take their entire stock of magazines, because I'm really tired of conjuring sub-par ones."

"Where are you going to put them all?" Rikku asked.

Harry held up the bottomless bag. "In here. Why?"

"Sometimes, I really wonder about your sanity," the girl said.

"I just ignore it," Tidus commented with a grin. "We all know he's mad, why wonder?"

"Good point."

"I'm not talking to you two anymore," Harry complained.

There was a party of Al Bhed waiting for them outside the complex, and as soon as Rikku saw them, she grinned and hopped off the sand mobile before it came to a halt, took a moment to regain her balance, then ran forward to a tall bald man, calling, "Father!"

When the party looked at Harry for translation, he chuckled and said, "Her dad," then got down from the bike as it stopped. "Thank you," he told his driver, who nodded, then joined the party in walking over to their welcoming committee.

Rikku had been speaking to her father in rapid-fire Al Bhed, explaining everything that had happened, but when the party came over, she finished up, then turned and smiled at them. "Guys, this is my dad, Cid. Dad, this is the party I've been travelling with. Well, except Yunie."

"Do they have her?" Tidus asked.

"We do," Cid supplied. "But you can't have her back, not if you're planning to let her get herself killed."

"I have no intention of letting her call the Final Aeon," Harry replied coolly. "It won't work."

"Finally, a human with brains," Cid muttered, making Harry and Rikku grin.

"According to Rikku, this is the same man who warned Rin about Yevon," one of their drivers commented.

Cid turned to Harry in surprise. "You're the one who sent the warning?"

Harry inclined his head. "I was."

"You have our thanks!" Cid decided, grinning. "Just yesterday some Guado attacked with fiends, but we'd gotten everything out by then and set it to blow." He laughed loudly. "Sure gave those bastards a shock!"

"I'm glad," Harry replied honestly, then glanced back at the antsy party. "Is it okay if the others get taken down to see Yuna? I've got a couple questions, but I think they'd like to know she's okay."

Cid nodded and called out some orders to a few men behind him. "They'll take you down," he told the party as a few men came forward. Everyone but Rikku, Tidus and Harry followed them, waving.

"Oh! Dad, do we have any gun magazines?" Rikku requested once the others had gone. "Harry's out."

Cid looked surprised. "Eh?"

Harry snickered and pulled out one of his guns, popping out the empty magazine and holding it out to the leader of the Al Bhed. "I like my guns, no matter what Yevon thinks," he explained to Cid's dumbfounded look.

"You save us and use machina, yet follow a summoner on her pilgrimage, declaring that you won't let her call the Final Aeon?" Cid replied taking the magazine and looking it over. "I think we have some like these," he agreed, handing it back to Harry. "Didn't have a use for them."

Harry laughed nervously. "Yeah. That would be because these are the only two guns like it in all Spira."

Cid blinked. "The magazines were in Zanarkand."

Harry coughed. "Uhm, yeah. I lived there."

"No one lives there, kid," Cid replied.

Rikku giggled. "Can I tell him?" she begged the vampire.

Harry groaned and nodded while Tidus laughed.

Rikku grinned at her father, who was looking them over with a frown. "Dad, Harry's almost five thousand years old. He's immortal."

Cid blinked at Harry in disbelief, then started laughing. "Right."

Harry shrugged. "Rikku says you have an airship in dock?"

Cid nodded, still chuckling. "Yeah. The Fahrenheit.

Harry's eyes widened. "Dude, for real?"

"Yes," Cid replied, starting to look a little suspicious.

"What's so great about that specific ship?" Tidus asked.

"It was Yu's flagship," Harry explained. "It was the one I rode on for diplomatic missions. Well..." He grimaced. "It was until Bevelle threatened to shoot it out of the sky if they saw it in their airspace again. After that, I went on a boat, which had no weapons. For some reason, Bevelle seemed to think that was the better option." He snickered. "Didn't keep me from coming back, though, which I think was their intent."

"Didn't they ever try shooting the ship out of the water?" Rikku asked, glancing at Cid, who was staring at the vampire unblinkingly.

Harry shrugged. "Sure. But, for some reason, they always missed."

"Old magic?" Tidus inquired.

Harry chuckled. "You bet. Confused the hell out of them. But they couldn't very well demand we undo whatever we'd done to the ship to keep it from getting hit, since no such magic exists that can do that."

"No wonder Bevelle hated you," Rikku commented with a grin, earning her one in response.

"Oh, they had lots of reasons for hating me," Harry said, "and practically none for liking me."

"You said 'practically none'?" Tidus asked.

Harry grimaced and rubbed the back of his head. "They owed me a favour, of sorts, from before the war. Uhm, one of their submersills found an Old Earth bomb that had a faulty detonation. Since I was the only person with any knowledge of Old Earth, they called me down from Zanarkand to look at it. Only problem was, something they'd done right before I got there fixed it, and I was the only one that realised that the damn thing was counting down to explode. We were close enough to the water that I grabbed it and got it the hell away from Bevelle in the ocean. When it exploded, I was the only person killed." He shrugged. "Hurt like a bitch."

"So you saved their city?" Rikku asked. Both she and Tidus were staring at him, having never heard anything about the event. Behind his daughter, Cid was blinking in confusion.

Harry coughed. "Their most prominent citizens were in that room. Some of the people in the lower parts of the city might have survived, but not anyone in that room. I ended up saving their whole city. Their whole way of living."

"And they kept trying to kill you during the war?" Tidus asked, incredulous.

Harry chuckled. "I brought that up once. The City Master replied, 'We didn't kill you for the first ten years of your being a diplomat, our debt has been repaid'."

"No way! Did they really?" Rikku pleaded. When Harry nodded, she shook her head. "Stuck up pricks."

"I'm pretty sure my response was something along those lines," Harry replied.

Cid coughed. "Okay! Enough story time! Let's get you those magazines and see what you can do with that airship, capiche?"

Harry blinked in surprise a couple of times while Tidus asked, "Ka– what? Was that Al Bhed?"

Harry snickered. "Old Earth term. It means, 'do you understand'. How did the Al Bhed pick it up?"

Cid frowned at him, then shrugged. "Don't know. Just something my old man used to say. Come on! To the weapons lockers!"

Harry shook his head and fell in behind Cid with the two teens. "Well, I'll be damned," he said. "I always did wonder where the Al Bhed came from."

Rikku giggled.

-0-0-0-

Harry was helping the Al Bhed translate the controls when the rest of the party finally showed up, Al Bhed escort included. Harry and Tidus had been able to get away with just Rikku around, since Harry had already proved his trustworthiness, and Tidus held no apparent ill will towards the people.

"Harry?" Yuna asked.

"Please, a moment?" Harry requested of his working partner, Rikku's brother. When the man nodded, Harry grinned and turned to the party. "Hey! You okay, sweetheart?" he asked, coming over to hug her.

Yuna smiled at him weakly. "Yes," she agreed. "But... Harry, Auron said Yu told you that the Final Aeon wasn't the key. That we should use machina?"

Harry sighed and glanced at the red-clad man. "Mm. Yes. Yu said the aeons were important, but the Final Aeon would never defeat him. He said something else was needed, but he didn't specify. I concluded machina."

"Use the thing which he most hated against him?" Yuna requested. "Wouldn't he have specifically guarded against that?"

Harry nodded. "Indeed. But just aeons won't get through that shell. You'll need something with a bit more punch, which the Bevelle machina of old can do. The machina can punch a hole through, but the bombardment won't fully kill him, because that he would have expected, see? Bevelle would have just attacked, especially in their anger over their destroyed city. But you have aeons, Yuna. You have access to the one thing – probably the only thing – that Yu held stock in. He loved the aeons. Especially..." Harry trailed off and swallowed. "Especially Alexander, the aeon of white magic."

"Why that particular aeon?" Lulu asked.

Harry looked away. "Alex was Yu's brother. He was expected to lead Zanarkand, but he was severely wounded in battle only days before the election. He knew he wouldn't make it, so he requested the ceremony be preformed to make him a fayth. Yu and Yunalesca were the only two summoners who were ever able to wield him."

"Then there is no hope," Yuna murmured, her head drooping.

Harry shook his head. "No, Yuna, wait! Wait..." He settled his hands on her shoulders gently. "To free Yu from pain, I honestly believe Alex would let you wield him. And if he will not..." He trailed off, disgust in his eyes.

"Harry?" Yuna whispered, lightly touching his face.

Harry's eyes hardened. "If Alex won't allow you to wield him, I will."

"You're a summoner?" Rikku demanded, jerking around from where she was working with Tidus at another console.

"Just having the ability to be a summoner, does not mean one will be," Auron said.

"What Sexy Red said," Harry agreed, turning to look at the dead man, who rolled his eyes. Harry grinned weakly. "I...have never agreed with sacrificing people to be fayth. More so, I have never been able to stomach making children fayth, which was common during the end of the war." He turned away from the party and looked back at the console he'd been working on with Brother. "I swore, when the war first started, that I would never become a summoner, never use the dead in battle. But if it's the only way to save my best friend..." He clenched his hands into fists.

Delicate arms encircled his waist and Harry glanced over his shoulder to where Yuna stood, leaning her head against his back, between his swords. "Only if there is no other option," she promised.

Harry closed his eyes and placed his hands over hers. "Thank you."

Yuna nodded into his back.

"What's to say this aeon is even still around?" Wakka asked.

"Cary implied he was," Harry replied, gently disentangling himself from Yuna and turning to face her. "He and another aeon, Odin, will both be somewhere in the ruins of Zanarkand."

"So we're still going there?" Rikku asked. "Even though the Final Aeon won't work?"

Harry smiled grimly. "Yes. I need to speak with my niece, and Cary said she was there. And Yuna should probably send her."

"Who?" Wakka asked.

Yuna's eyes widened with recognition. "Lady Yunalesca?" she breathed.

Harry nodded. "Yunalesca Yevon. Guardian of the Final Aeon."

"She's unsent?" Wakka demanded.

"She never completed her duty," Harry replied grimly. "And, at the end, there was no one to send her."

"We'll do it, then," Yuna said firmly. "We'll continue to Zanarkand and get Alexander and Odin and then we'll send Lady Yunalesca."

"And then?" Auron asked.

Yuna turned to him, fire in her eyes. "Then? Then we defeat Sin."

Tidus and Rikku both cheered, while the older members of the party smiled.

-0-0-0-0-0-

A/N: So, I sorta burned out partway through this chapter, because, at that point, I'd been writing for about two weeks straight. And my classes had started, of course.
Took about a week off, with the constant nagging in the back of my mind of, 'Shit! I haven't finished that chapter yet!' So, after a week, I finished it. You lucky bastards, you. XD

~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]

You lucky bastards, you. XD

Why thank you! XD