Final Fantasy

by Asagi Tsuki

Harry graduated and became a SeeD, an elite force created to fight sorceresses. Little did he know that his graduation was the beginning of a journey of epic proportions, all around the world, out of the world, and through time and space. Also, little did he know that the members of this group, founded to fight sorceresses, would fight alongside one

Final Fantasy

By: Asagi Tsuki

Pairing: Harry/Draco, Blaise/Draco, Ron/Hermione

Summary: Harry graduated and became a SeeD, an elite force created to fight sorceresses. Little did he know that his graduation was the beginning of a journey of epic proportions, all around the world, out of the world, and through time and space. Also, little did he know that the members of this group, founded to fight sorceresses, would fight alongside one

Warning: OOCness, AU

Disclaimer: obviously, Harry Potter is not written by me. If it were, it would be so lame, that this fandom would be non-existent. And I would be off writing another book instead of fanfics. Final Fantasy is property of Squaresoft/SquareEnix

A/N: unoriginal title, I know. The plotline is taken from Final Fantasy VIII with minor/major tweaks. I was rereading an old fic I wrote based on FFVIII and was tempted to rewrite the game again. Of course, I didn't play the game til finish and couldn't remember the story (I remember FFV better) but still. Haha. I'm working one loosely based on FFX too :)

Anyway, hope you enjoy! This is gonna be long.

Please note that while I use a walkthrough to guide me through the events of the game, they don't include the dialogues in there so most of the dialogues I invented myself. Hope it doesn't screw the story up too bad. But that also meant that some of the scenes would be skipped (mostly Laguna scenes).

I was about three quarters done with this fic when I saw the bottom!draco fest for 2013. Will definitely be joining if I can claim a prompt and the OP trusts me enough xD anyway, speaking of adaptation... this fic is an adaptation too :P

Final Fantasy

"I'll be here."

"Why?"

"I'll be waiting here."

"For what?"

"I'll be waiting for you, so if you come here, you'll find me."

"I promise."

- Opening scene Final Fantasy VIII

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Harry blinked his eyes open and stared at the plain white ceiling, wondering how the hell he had ended up in the infirmary again, and who was the mysterious man who had spoken to him while he was half-conscious. He couldn't even remember what he had said.

He then scowled when he remembered what had happened in the training room. He was sparring per usual with Blaise, his school rival, but the jerk had used fire magic although it was part of the rules that no magic was allowed. He reached up a hand to gingerly touch his forehead and felt the scar that Blaise gave him.

"Are you awake?" Madame Pomfrey asked as she walked into the room and checked on him. "Boys, really, when will you stop hurting each other?"

"He started it," Harry protested as he sat up on the bed.

"And you can't be the mature one and stop it before it gets out of hand?" Madame Pomfrey asked with a lifted eyebrow.

Harry opened his mouth to retort but Luna walked into the room.

"Hello, Harry," Luna greeted cheerily. "I heard the story from a passing student. Are you well enough to come back to class?"

"Of course," Harry said. Anything than being nagged by the school doctor.

"Very well, let's go back," Luna said. The two then made their way back to the classroom where their class was held. Blaise was already there, sitting lazily. He sneered at Harry as he glared at the other boy.

In this world, there were several schools, named Gardens. They taught their students to fight and the graduates would become part of their army or the special force. Harry attended Balamb Garden and aspired to become part of the special force, called SeeD. Blaise did too, and they had been fighting with each other since years before, much to the dismay of their classmates, although their instructor, Luna, chose to ignore it.

Luna was young but talented. She was chosen to be an instructor when she was but sixteen years old, and so most other people thought Harry and Luna were only friends, not teacher and student.

The class went on smoothly as Luna explained to the students what Guardian Forces were. They were Summons that could be called in battle to help. After she was done, she asked Harry if he wanted to come with her to the Fire Cave and tame a GF called Ifrit.

"You don't have any GF right now, do you?" Luna asked. "I'll give two to you and then you can have Ifrit too. Usually people have three GFs."

Harry agreed and accepted Shiva and Quetzcolt from Luna. He agreed to meet Luna at the front gate in an hour as she had another class to teach. As he was walking out, he bumped into someone he had never seen before.

"Ow," the girl said as she fell down from the force of the bump.

"You okay?" Harry asked as he helped the brown-haired girl up. "I've never seen you around before. Are you new?"

"Yes, you guessed right," the girl answered cheerily. "The name's Hermione Granger. I used to study in Trabia Garden, but I'm here to take the SeeD exam."

"Ah, I see," Harry said. "I'm Harry Potter, to take the SeeD exam too."

"Well, Harry, are you in a hurry?" Hermione asked. "I tried finding my way around, but got lost instead. Since you're a student here, you can help show me around."

"Yeah, sure, I have one hour to kill anyway."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Once Harry had shown Hermione around the school, he walked her back to her dorm before going to the front gate to meet up with Luna. She was already there and they quickly went to Fire Cave as they wanted to return to the Garden before nightfall.

"You can choose the amount of time you're allowed inside," Luna explained as they stood in front of the Cave. "It doesn't matter much, it just affects your rank a little."

They walked in and noticed how it was like the inside of a volcano. Harry summoned Shiva to keep them cool while they were inside and Ifrit looked surprised to see that they had Shiva and cursed. The victory wasn't easy by any means, but Harry knew it would have been much harder if he didn't have Shiva.

They went back to the Garden and were thankfully there before sunset. Luna told him to rest as the SeeD exam was the day after and he needed to be well-rested for it. Harry nodded in agreement and said goodbye to Luna before going to his dorm.

He lay on his bed and thought about what happened that day and what would happen tomorrow during the exam. He could only hope it would run smoothly, because if it didn't, well, he was screwed.

That night, he fell asleep dreaming of blond hair and grey eyes.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The next day all SeeD candidates were gathered in the headmaster's room for briefing of their exam. The room was big for the sakes of briefing.

"As you might or might not know, the President of Galbadia is trying to force Dollet to become a part of them," Ted Tonks, the headmaster, explained. "There are Galbadia forces in Dollet, and the citizens and army of Dollet have requested help from us."

"The Dollet Radio Tower is supposedly the only radio tower remaining," Luna added. "The President of Galbadia wishes to use it to broadcast himself and his campaign. They want to take it by force."

"Squad A, Hermione Granger, Lavender Brown and Padma Patil," Ted said. "You guys follow Instructor Lovegood and secure the coast. Galbadia forces have to get there via the coast."

"Yes, sir!"

"Squad B, Harry Potter, Blaise Zabini, and Ronald Weasley," Ted said. "Dispose of the Galbadia forces in the central square and protect it from further attack."

"Sir, yes sir."

"Good, you are dismissed. Go to Balamb City to get a boat to Dollet," Ted said. "I am very sure you all want to graduate, so please do your best. This is not just any exam. The fate of Dollet lies in your hands."

The six saluted him and went with Luna to Balamb City where they got a battleship to Dollet. Once there, they carried out the mission as was requested, but, thirsting for more action, Blaise had left his squad to follow some of the Galbadia soldiers who went to the communication tower.

"Is he always like that?" Ron complained to Harry who shrugged. "What a jerk. He won't do well in an army."

"He's always been doing a solo act."

The two stood around in the central square watching for any opposition and thankfully found none. Hermione approached them and asked where Blaise was.

"He went off to the radio tower," Harry said. "Why?"

"We've got an order," Hermione said. "All candidates to go back to the coast by 1900 hours."

"Ugh, do we have to fetch him?" Ron asked as he rolled his eyes.

"Considering we don't have any other choice," Harry said as he shook his head. "Let's go fetch him then."

"I'll come with you. After all, I'm the messenger," Hermione offered.

The three then took off to the radio tower and went to the top, where Blaise was, fighting a group of Galbadia soldiers. They took care of the rest of the soldiers, much to the disapproval of Blaise.

"Shut up. We have a new order," Ron said sharply when he saw that Blaise was about to tell them off. "We're to be at the coast by 1900 hours."

"Whatever," Blaise said.

They were about to go down, but were stopped by two more Galbadia soldiers. They had snuck from behind and managed to activate the tower. Harry and Blaise took care of the two, but Hermione's shriek made them aware of another problem.

A huge, spider-like robot activated at the time the tower was activated and was controlled by the Galbadia soldiers to attack them.

"Spider!" Ron screamed in fright and ran off.

Harry shook his head and ran off after him, but making sure Hermione was running in front of him and not behind him. On the way to the coast Blaise ditched them again and went off his own way, leaving them to take care of the robot by themselves.

The three ran as fast as they could down to the beach while evacuating all Dollet soldiers and SeeD candidates who were still there. As soon as they reached the beach, the robot was shot down by the battleship's gun, motored by Luna.

"Phew, that was close!" Ron complained.

"Well, at least none of you got hurt," Luna said cheerily. "Let's go back to the Garden now. Dollet is safe now. We've managed to knock back all Galbadia forces."

When they got back they were told to go to the headmaster's room, where he announced who had passed the exam and who hadn't. Blaise had failed the test for not following orders and for ditching his teammates two times. He left in a fit and no one dared to go near him.

"Well, congratulations to all of you who are standing here," Ted said as he clapped his hands for them. "You guys have passed the SeeD test."

The remaining students cheered and some even hugged each other. Harry, Ron and Hermione cheered together, as being chased by a crazed robotic spider had made them somewhat closer and more sympathetic towards each other.

Luna then informed them of the ball that would be held in celebration of their graduation. The students were ecstatic, especially the female ones, while Harry groaned. He hated balls and he couldn't dance. Still, it wasn't good form to be absent to your own graduation celebration, so he went.

He was just minding his own business when he saw a flash of blond hair. He stopped and did a double take. The boy had light blond hair and bright grey eyes. He was standing against a pillar and staring up at the dome of the hall, which was opened to allow the students to stargaze.

Harry stared curiously at the boy, and as if sensing the pair of eyes on him, the boy turned to look at Harry. He smiled at him and walked over, causing Harry to panic a little inside.

"Hello," the boy greeted. "Alone tonight?"

"Yeah," Harry said softly and berated himself for being so awkward.

The boy laughed. "Well, it's your night, isn't it? Let's go dance."

"Wait—wait—but—I can't!"

"Oh, tosh, everyone can dance," the boy said as he dragged Harry to the dance floor, ignoring the struggle Harry put up and Harry was surprised to see the boy who looked so frail could drag him around like he weighed nothing.

The boy put a hand on Harry's shoulder and held his other hand. Harry instinctively placed his other hand on the boy's back and smiled back awkwardly when the boy smiled at him. Despite the many disasters in the first few attempts, Harry got hold of dancing quite soon and they were dancing smoothly on the dance floor then.

"Oh, look, a shooting star," the boy said as he looked up and Harry followed his line of sight, barely catching the last of it. "Make a wish," he said, before ducking his head and closing his eyes. Harry stared at him and thought it was cute of him to still believe in shooting stars.

The boy looked up at him. "Did you wish for anything?"

Before Harry could answer, the boy saw something over his shoulder and gave Harry an apologetic smile before he walked away, towards Ted. Harry stared at him strangely, wondering what business he had with the headmaster but decided to ignore it and turn in for the night instead.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"I have considered your plight," Ted started as he stared at the boy sitting in front of him, "and it would be heartless of me to deny you your request."

"Oh, thank goodness! Thank you so much, Headmaster Tonks," the boy said with a huge sigh of relief. "As the leader of Forest Owls, I give you many thanks."

"Very well then, I shall write up a binding contract for some of our SeeDs to help you, Mr. Black," Ted said. "These three will be at your disposal. However, I expect them to return safely once the mission is over."

"Of course," the boy replied. He stared at the names and a look of disappointment flitted through his eyes although he didn't dwell on it. "Thank you so much, Headmaster."

"You may go back to your headquarters," Ted said. "I will brief them myself."

"Thank you again, Headmaster," the boy said as he bowed at Ted. "I hope we can save lives this way."

Ted smiled at the boy and watched as he left. Once he was out of the room, he then asked for three of the newly inaugurated SeeDs to come to his office.

Within fifteen minutes, the three were gathered in his room. They were Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger.

"Good morning, SeeDs," Ted greeted them and they saluted back. "I have your first mission."

The three looked at each other curiously but then focused their attention back on the headmaster.

"As you may know, Galbadia has forced a lot of cities under their command by force," Ted started. "One of them is Timber. The leader of Forest Owls, a freedom fighter group trying to free Timber has just come and requested for our assistance. The three of you will go to Timber and help them until their mission is over."

"The leader of Forest Owls was here?" Hermione asked in surprise. "I didn't see anyone with such air of authority around."

Ted chuckled. "Of course not. He is but a young boy," he said. "A brave young boy who decided to fight for what is right."

Hermione nodded and didn't say anything else. They were told to go to Timber via train and then meet the Forest Owls. They were said to be gathering on a train, but why they were there, Ted didn't tell them. He told them of a password to be said to be allowed entry, and with that, they went off.

The train ride to Timber was quite long and the three fell asleep. Harry had the strangest dream of a man and a woman that he couldn't remember who. When he woke up, he decided to forget about it because he didn't know who they were and what the dream meant.

When they woke up, it wasn't long before they reached Timber. They headed to the train station immediately to find the Forest Owls and found them gathering in the last carriage of a train due out in half an hour.

"Who's the leader?" a Forest Owl member asked as he looked at the three. They all looked at each other and Ron and Hermione voted for Harry to be it. "Well, come through this door and find our leader. He'll explain everything."

Harry walked past the door that led to a hallway and peeked into the compartments to see if the leader was there. He paused in front of one of the compartment when he saw the boy he had danced with yesterday sleeping on a bed inside. He knocked on the door and saw the boy stir.

The blond boy sat up on the bed and saw Harry standing outside. He went to open the door and sleepily hugged the taller boy. "Glad you made it."

Harry wrapped his arms around the blond boy's waist to steady him. "We're waiting for the briefing."

"Yes, of course," the boy said. "Let's head back to the last carriage."

When they were all gathered, the boy introduced himself as Draco Black. He then proceeded to explain their plan to kidnap the President of Galbadia, Vinzer Deling, and force him to pull the Galbadia forces back and liberate Timber from their oppression. They were to kidnap him on this train, where he was riding on his way to Deling.

"There are guards on the middle cars, so we need to uncouple them," Draco explained. "There's a keypad outside to uncouple the cars for maintenance and such. Someone will go down there to key in the codes while I will read it off. Then we'll head to the first car where the president is."

Harry, Ron and Hermione nodded. The Forest Owls members were left behind to take care of any remaining Galbadia soldiers on the train and one would go to the control room and redirect the cars back to Timber.

They went above the train and both Draco and Hermione were nearly blown off by the strong wind due to their slight stature.

"Careful," Harry said as he steadied Draco and Ron did the same to Hermione. They made their way to the fifth car and Harry went down to key in the codes. Once the remaining cars were separated from the first five cars, they made their way to the second car to separate the first two cars from the other three.

They went down into the second car and then entered the president's room in the first car.

"Vinzer Deling," Draco said as he walked into the room.

The president's lips twitched into a smile when he saw Draco. "Draco Malfoy," he greeted with a sinister smile. "How good to see you again. Have you finally decided to join your father to serve me?"

"Not in a thousand years," Draco bit out. "And I'm no longer a Malfoy."

Hermione looked surprised. "Malfoy? You're the son of Lucius Malfoy?"

"That doesn't matter now," Draco bit out. "I demand you liberate Timber."

"And who are you to demand such a thing, boy?" the president asked.

"I—" Draco was cut off as he shrieked because the train suddenly lurched into a stop, causing them to fall and the president's desk to skid. "Why is the train stopping!?"

"There's something outside, sir," a Forest Owl member said.

Draco glanced outside and his eyes widened when he saw the deformed creature lurking outside. "What is that thing?"

Vinzer lunged at Draco while he was looking at the creature outside and Harry quickly took out his gunblade and slashed his torso. Draco's eyes widened in horror as blood dripped right in front of him.

"Harry! We need him alive to pull the forces back!" Draco protested.

"Look," Harry said fiercely and Draco paused. All of them stared as Vinzer slowly morphed into a similarly deformed creature. "He's not the real president."

Draco felt like throwing up. He was tricked and had caused grief to his members who had expected victory after this mission. Tears stung at his eyes and the three SeeDs took care of the fight for him.

"Hey, don't cry," Hermione said softly as she hugged Draco. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have known."

The train the returned back to Timber and Draco broke the news to his members who tried their hardest to remain positive.

"It's okay, we can still get him," one of the members said. "I just got news that he's supposed to make an appearance in the television so he would be over at the TV station."

They planned for the rest of the journey back to Timber, but upon knowing how heavily guarded the TV station was, they had to abandon the plan because they were greatly outnumbered.

Harry sighed at the news. "Are you sure you're really fighting for Timber?"

Draco looked at him sharply. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know," Harry said with a shrug. "It just doesn't seem like you care, what with all these planning but no action."

"Harry," Hermione chided but stopped and everyone else turned to look when they heard a loud, resounding slap.

"How dare you," Draco said as he seethed in fury. "How dare you accuse me of such thing! You don't know how many people we've lost! You don't know how these people have been hurt! While you were sheltered in your Garden we had to fight and watch as our comrades and civilians fall! We didn't attack because we know it would be a suicide mission!"

He took a deep breath and continued. "I thought someone from the special force would know that. Apparently hiring you guys is a waste of money and the biggest mistake I've made so far."

Draco left to his room and the rest of the Forest Owl gave him a dirty look before following Draco.

Hermione sighed and shook her head. "Boys. Never sensitive of others' feelings."

When they reached Timber, they had to go to the TV station immediately to help Luna. Blaise had appeared on screen, kidnapping the real president of Galbadia and Luna wanted to give chase to save the president. After all, it wouldn't do to kill him. The Galbadian soldiers would just declare war.

Harry had wanted to go find Draco and apologize but he couldn't because of the urgent mission and Hermione convinced him that Draco would be happier if he could capture the president alive to get him to liberate Timber.

As they caught up to Blaise and the president, Draco caught up with them too, claiming that he had seen what happened on TV and that he had disbanded the Forest Owls. Harry frowned at him but said nothing.

"Why are you doing this?" Draco demanded as he took a step forward towards Blaise. "Let him go! You're only going to cause more damage by killing him."

Blaise sneered. "And who said I didn't want to?"

Draco's mouth fell open. He took another step forward but paused when Blaise pressed the blade of his gunblade closer to the president's neck. "Blaise—"

He screamed and fell over backwards when a woman suddenly appeared in front of him, wearing dark robes and flashy ornaments. He stared up curiously at her.

"So this is the little sweetheart, then?" the Sorceress asked as she looked down at Draco. "As you wish, I shall not hurt him for now."

"What about him?" Blaise asked as he motioned at the president.

"Leave him be," the Sorceress said. She grabbed onto Blaise's arm and together they disappeared, leaving everyone there standing and staring awkwardly at the empty spot where they were just moments ago.

"Sweetheart?" Harry asked curiously.

Draco stood up quickly, dusting off his pants, and glared at Harry. "Don't get started on me, Potter."

Harry sighed. "What's your problem? I was just asking."

"What's my problem?" Draco asked angrily. "My problem is that you're a self-centred jerk who doesn't think before he speaks! My problem is that your mouth has hurt me more than anyone else before! Now what, you want to accuse me of something else too?"

"No! Gods, I was just asking!" Harry shouted right back.

"Well then mind your own business!"

"Boys," Luna intervened before the screaming match could escalate further. "Calm down. Draco, what seems to be the problem?"

"He's a jerk," Draco said petulantly as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"That's not all," Luna said softly. "There's something else bothering you. Something greater. Something that hurts you so much," she added. She paused, then added as an afterthought, "What happened to the Forest Owls?"

Draco mentally debated with himself whether to tell her or not. "Well," he started with a sigh, "The base was ransacked. The Galbadia soldiers finally found our base. I had to disband it so they don't get hurt."

Luna smiled at him and patted his head. "You're a good boy, Draco," she said. "Well, it's not safe for you in this city. Come with us."

"Where are you going?" Draco asked curiously.

"We're going to Deling City," Luna answered. "Someone contacted us and told us that the Sorceress would hold her coronation there soon and we're going there to keep in contact with him too."

"Him?" Draco frowned. "No one should know—oh... oh, you mean—no, please tell me it's not him."

"Sadly, it is him," Luna said. "General Malfoy."

"No, I can't see him," Draco said as he shook his head. "He'll lock me up. I—he—"

"But you have to go," Hermione spoke up. "It's true that it's not safe here for you."

"I—fine, alright, I'll go," Draco said with a sigh, conceding defeat. "We'll go there and I'll show you the way as best as I could."

"But, before that," Luna spoke up suddenly, "let's make your wish come true first, shall we?"

Draco looked at her curiously but she merely pointed at Vinzer who was still standing there. Realization dawned on him and they made him go up on the TV again and tell all of the Galbadia soldiers to pull back from Timber and never to attack again.

"Well, for a while now the city is unsafe for you, but then it'll be safe," Luna explained. "What do you want to do, Draco? Do you want to stay here?"

"I—I'll come with you," Draco said nervously. "I mean I—but I—I want to fight with you."

"Very well," Luna said. "I shall train you while we're at it."

Hermione, Ron and Draco walked out first while Luna and Harry stayed back.

"Harry," Luna started, "you might forget about this, but Draco is as close to a civilian as he can get. He has no proper military training, unlike the rest of us, and he can't fight by himself. He can aid us, but not fight for us. Remember that. Remember that your job is to protect him."

Harry pursed his lips into a thin line. "Yes, of course."

The five then took a train to Deling City that would pass by Galbadia Garden first. It was quite a long journey so they got a compartment with beds, much like Draco's room.

"Who's Blaise to you?" Harry asked softly. He had waited for Draco to be half-asleep and half-conscious to ask because he knew that should the boy be in his right mind, he would scream at Harry again.

"Love," Draco mumbled. "He was my boyfriend."

Harry frowned as he felt an irrational surge of jealousy. He watched as Draco drifted off to sleep and sighed. He tucked his hair behind his ear and whispered good night into Draco's ear before he went to bed himself.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Welcome, SeeDs," Lucius greeted as Luna and the SeeDs walked up to him, while Draco trailed behind. "Draco, go to your room."

"I don't have a room," Draco spat out spitefully.

Lucius narrowed his eyes. "Go, now. Or else."

Draco inhaled sharply but went to his room. Once inside, he set about trying to eavesdrop on what they were planning to do.

"It has been in the news for a while now," Lucius started, "but in case you're not up to date with the news, the Sorceress is holding her inauguration today."

"Vinzer Deling has chosen her to be the Ambassador of Galbadia here in Deling," Lucius explained, "and tonight would be the official ceremony. However, I know that the Sorceress is up to no good and tonight we're going to assassinate her."

They then went into lengthy discussions of what to do and who to do what. Harry would go up the tower with a sharpshooter from Galbadia who had just joined them, Seamus Finnigan, and snipe the Sorceress. Luna and Hermione would lock the gates while Ron and Lucius would mingle with the crowd and watch the proceeding as well as give them cues on when to start.

Draco snuck out of his room once they were done planning and caught Luna as she was about to leave.

"Luna," he said. "I need your help."

"What is it, Draco?" Luna asked.

"Well, see, I... I don't think the Sorceress is a bad person. I mean, it doesn't feel like it's her, but rather, someone else. Do you get what I mean?" Draco asked as he stuttered nervously. "I... I feel like she's—I mean, well, there must be a way aside from assassinating her."

Luna stared at him in interest.

"There's this thing, this bangle, created by Dr. Odine," Draco added as he produced said bangle. "It suppresses magic. I believe if we can make the Sorceress wear this, whatever magic is possessing her will be lifted."

"Draco," Luna said, "I'm not saying your idea doesn't have its merit. But we have to go with the plan now and I can't accompany you to the Sorceress' place. I can't let you go either, because I know some people who will kill me if I let you go into such danger."

"But—"

"Stay in here, Draco, and stay safe," Luna said as she squeezed Draco's shoulder. "A lot of people still need you."

Draco watched as Luna walked out of the manor and sighed. He stared down at the bangle, then steeled his resolve.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The crowds cheered as the Sorceress paraded around town with Vinzer Deling on a parade car. It went well for a while, until the Sorceress spoke. She taunted the citizens of Deling for being lowlifes and filthy scums, telling them of how they had scorned sorceresses for generations and yet they heralded this one.

She then turned to Vinzer Deling and proceeded to kill him, causing an uproar. Luna and Hermione pulled the gate down at that time, causing the parade car to stop in its track. Seamus got ready to shoot, but he hesitated, saying how he remembered that the Sorceress wasn't a bad person. Harry urged him on, but when he finally shot, the Sorceress had constructed a barrier around herself.

Abandoning the mission as soon as it failed, Harry and Seamus rushed down from the clock tower where they were staying. The communication device buzzed and Lucius berated all of them for allowing Draco to escape the manor.

Harry looked curiously at the parade car and felt his heart stop when he saw Draco walking up, followed closely by Blaise.

"What the hell is he doing there!?" he demanded into the device.

"Long story," Luna replied. "Rescue him first!"

Ron, Harry and Seamus rushed towards the parade car to rescue Draco as the Sorceress conjured the two gargoyle statues to devour Draco as sacrifice for her inauguration. Draco stood in a trance, staring blankly at nothing as the gargoyles came to life and lunged at her.

Draco was shoved aside and he screamed as he fell down. However, the impact broke the spell on him and he stared up frightfully at the gargoyles. He glanced to the side when he saw the blade of a gunblade stopping the gargoyles and saw Blaise beside him.

"This isn't in the agreement," Blaise gritted out as he pushed his blade against the gargoyles. "You promised not to hurt him!"

"He was the one who started it," the Sorceress said. "The poor, deluded little boy, thinking I won't know what that bangle is for."

Draco gasped. "You! Who are you!?"

The Sorceress cackled but transformed the gargoyles back to stone. "Let's go. Continue with the parade."

"Blaise, wait," Draco said as he grabbed onto Blaise's arm. "Why are you doing this? I know you still care for me, so why?"

"You won't understand," Blaise said coldly.

"But—"

Harry, Ron and Seamus reached the parade car then. Blaise turned to sneer at Harry. What happened next happened so fast that no one had the chance to react. The Sorceress suddenly materialized an ice spear and sent it flying towards Harry, stabbing him in the shoulder and forcing him to fall off of the parade car.

"Harry!"

And the last thing he heard was the command from the Sorceress to capture them all.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"I don't know why he's always being a jerk around me," a voice said. "I want to like him, but..."

"He'll come around. He's more tactless around people he cares about, I think."

"But why? Why would you drive away someone you care about because of what you say? I mean, I'm sure he has his reason for being so harsh, but what good is that reason if no one stays long enough to find that out?"

"Us soldiers stick together."

"I know, and I wish he would see that. I wish he would stop being so insecure, like he'll be abandoned any moment. I wish he would stop keeping people away, because at that rate he would not find anyone outside SeeD."

"How do you know he's insecure?"

"I can see it in his eyes."

Harry groaned as he turned in his sleep. Why can't these people find somewhere else to discuss their problem? He was trying to sleep in peace!

"Oh, Harry, you're up!" the second voice said cheerily and Harry finally pinpointed it to Luna's voice. "Come on up, boy, we haven't had much time."

Harry opened his eyes slowly and took in his surrounding. He was lying on a hard bed and staring at stone walls. He sat up and stared at Luna and Draco.

"I think he hit his head harder than we thought," Draco said with a small smile.

Harry snorted, but when he saw the smile slipping off of Draco's face and remembered what Draco had said when he was still half-awake, he quickly added, "Has to be much harder than that. My head's tougher than a rock."

Draco's smile widened as he began to chuckle. "Well, jokes aside, we really need to get moving. Prison breaks aren't games."

"We're in a prison?" Harry asked and Draco stared at him pointedly. "Hey, I'm not a morning person!"

Draco stared at him thoughtfully, his gaze calculating, but then he broke into a wide smile. "Thank you, Harry."

"Huh? What for?" Harry asked curiously.

"Nothing," Draco said quickly. "Come on, get your things and leave. We have to fetch the others."

"And you better make it quick," Ron said as he suddenly joined them. "Galbadia has issued missile attacks on Balamb and Trabia."

Ron and Luna walked out of the cell prison but Harry grabbed onto Draco's arm. The blond boy looked at him curiously.

"What is it?"

"You're not a soldier," Harry started. "Whatever happens, stick close to one of us. Stick close to me."

Draco looked at him in confusion but then smiled at him. "Of course," he said, "thank you."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Remember the bangle I told you about, Luna?" Draco asked when they were all gathered and were discussing which team would be sent to the missile base to prevent the launching of the missiles and the other team which would go to Balamb and evacuate everyone there.

"The one that can suppress magic, yes," Luna said. "What about it?"

"The Sorceress knows it. She said so when she was turning the gargoyles back to stone," Draco explained. "There must be someone. A greater power possessing her. The Sorceress herself is not a bad person so we can't—we shouldn't kill her."

The others looked at each other.

"Well, we'll try not to harm her too much," Luna said. "But if it calls for it, then our survival is of higher priority."

"Yes, that's all I ask for," Draco said with a smile. "Well, then, assign the teams, leader."

The group had decided that Harry would be leader. He assigned Hermione, Draco and Seamus to go to the missile base while Ron, Luna and him would go back to Balamb.

"Be safe, all of you," Harry said before they parted.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"You know, I think I know what you mean," Hermione said as they rode on a jeep towards the missile base. "I've heard that a strong Sorceress can detach their soul and possess someone else."

"That's scary," Draco said. "But why would they do that?"

"There is stories of a spell called Time Compression," Hermione started again, "I read it in one of the books in Trabia Garden. It says that when a Sorceress manages to get her consciousness in past, present and future, then she can initiate this spell. It causes all of time and space to compress into a single point, and then she can recreate the world as she desires."

"Wait, so, the sorceress possessing the Sorceress isn't here in this time?" Seamus asked.

"And she's probably looking for a way to get into the past as well. However, we have to be very careful. She won't go without a fight, so if we defeat the Sorceress and there's another sorceress nearby, this evil sorceress would just latch onto her."

"But how do you tell if someone is a sorceress?" Draco asked. "I mean, the only females in our group are you and Luna. So it's better to just let us guys fight?"

"A sorceress has strong magic power, Draco," Hermione said. "I'm decent at magic, but not to the point I can be a sorceress. Luna doesn't use magic as she fights."

"Pity. Healing magic is very handy," Draco said. "I used to practice both attack magic and healing magic. I haven't been using them a lot lately because—well, whenever I get there, they were already dead."

Hermione looked at him sympathetically and squeezed his hand in reassurance.

"But does that mean you can be a sorceress?" Seamus asked as he looked at the backseat through the rearview mirror. "I mean, you're talented at magic, more than at fighting."

"Hey, I'm still learning to fight!" Draco protested. "But sorceresses can only be females, right? So you don't have to worry about me."

"Yeah," Hermione agreed. "I hope. There're enough bad things happening to you already."

Draco smiled at her. "It's okay," he said. "My life has finally started looking up since the liberation of Timber."

They then continued their journey in silence.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Meanwhile, Luna, Ron and Harry were having a similar discussion.

"The speech she gave during the parade was so spiteful," Luna said. "It's like she's been through a lot of hardships because of humans, or something."

"And?"

"You know how she said she wanted to rule everything, wanted to shape the world as she desires?" Luna asked and the two nodded. "There's a spell that makes it possible. The Time Compression."

She explained it to the two, who theorized that the real evil sorceress wasn't in that time with them. She also brought up the point on how they had to be careful not to let any sorceress nearby when they were trying to free the Sorceress from her influence.

"You're not a sorceress, are you?" Harry asked Luna. "And I don't think Hermione is one, either."

"We haven't been practicing lots of magic because of the military training," Luna said. "And we rely on GFs too much. The only one in our group with great magical capability is Draco."

"But he's not a girl, so he can't be a sorceress, right?" Ron asked.

"Well, I sure hope so. Just make sure to keep an eye on him."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Hermione, Seamus and Draco reached the missile base and knocked out a few soldiers to steal their uniforms and disguise themselves. Draco was awkward because he didn't know how soldiers behaved so Hermione stuck close to him all the time.

They came right in time as the missile was about to be launched. The operators didn't suspect them and ask them for target coordinates of Balamb Garden and they gave them the wrong coordinates.

Afterwards, they set a self-destruct machine that would destroy the missile base on and ran off, watching as the base was destroyed before them.

A surviving commander confronted them and told them that the missiles to attack Trabia were already launched. Hermione had broken down because Trabia was her home before Balamb and Seamus and Draco fought the commander, only the two of them.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked softly to a crying Hermione. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's not your fault," Hermione said as she wiped her tears. "You've suffered as much as I have. Let's go back to meet them now."

"Of course," Draco said with a smile. He helped her up and they went back to the jeep. They had agreed to meet up with the others at Fisherman's Horizon, a neutral city that doesn't support Galbadia or the opposing force.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

When Harry and the two others arrived at Balamb Garden, it was in a state of riot. The Garden Faculty, who had time and time again doubted the headmaster, especially after the Forest Owls mission, had set up a rebellion and the students had to choose. Most of them chose to support the headmaster but some fought for the Faculty.

"What is this?" Ron asked as he shook his head. "How can this be?"

They tried telling them of the missile launch and the Faculty got even angrier at the headmaster, saying it was his fault that they were now targeted by Galbadia.

Left with no choice, the trio fought with the Faculty and everyone who followed them, knocked them out, bound them, and put them in a huge room under the watch of Luna. Harry and Ron continued on to find the headmaster and told them what happened.

"Well, there's a secret about this Garden that we've been keeping for a while now, hoping that the time will never come for us to use it," Ted said. "Galbadia and Balamb Gardens were built by Estharian engineers. They made this a mobile Garden. The controller can be found in the basement."

"Well, let's go then," Harry said, urging Ted on. "We'll escort you there."

The three went down and was soon rejoined by Luna who said Cho, another instructor, had replaced her in watching after their 'hostages'. They went through a secret path towards the controller and finally activated the mechanism.

The Garden floated away and was directed towards Fisherman's Horizon where they had agreed to meet up. Harry was chosen to be ambassador of Balamb Garden and was told to give a formal apology to the mayor of the city, and he went, although with no lack of grumbling and cursing.

After all, they did crash into the city and nearly destroyed the dock.

The mayor hadn't accepted their apology and told them to go away, saying he didn't want to be involved in the fight. When Galbadia soldiers came, he tried reasoning with them about a peace treaty but the soldiers didn't listen, leaving the SeeDs to rescue him.

With the life debt hanging over his head, the mayor finally agreed to let them stay and ask his engineers to repair Balamb Garden while the SeeDs took care of the Galbadia soldiers.

They saw a jeep coming with three more Galbadia soldiers and were about to attack before the driver honked loudly and started waving like a lunatic.

"Hey!" he shouted with a wide grin on his face.

Relieved to know that it wasn't more Galbadia soldiers, the three then urged the other three to go into an inn, where they were to rest while catching up. Draco noted that Harry looked happy to be reunited with them again and he smiled, happy that Harry had listened to him and became more sympathetic and caring.

"When we got there, the missiles to Trabia were already launched," Draco said, looking at Hermione to make sure she was okay. "So we couldn't stop it."

"It's our fault too," Ron said. "Should've gone to Trabia to warn them."

"No, it's just their luck," Hermione said as she shook her head. "What if Balamb was targeted first and we could only save Trabia? It's really just our luck, or lack thereof."

Harry then decided to go with Hermione to Trabia and offer refuge at Balamb for the surviving students. The remaining four decided to throw a Garden Festival to cheer Hermione up and to celebrate Harry's ascension as the Garden's ambassador.

"Let's surprise them, shall we?"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Hermione came back in a better mood. The Trabia students were all staying in Fisherman's Horizon until Balamb was up and running again, and then they would join Balamb.

When Hermione reached the makeshift stage that the four had made, she frowned when she saw someone she didn't recognize. There was another girl wearing a cream-coloured halter neck dress much like her own. She had flowing dirty blond hair and was looking at the three playing musical instruments on the stage.

"Who's that?" Harry asked as he approached Hermione.

"I don't know. My question exactly."

"Ta-da!" the girl exclaimed excitedly when she heard Hermione's voice and turned around to show herself.

Hermione burst out laughing and Harry's eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

"Draco!" Hermione exclaimed as she rushed over to the boy. "So that's why the dress seems familiar. It's mine!"

Draco laughed as he hugged Hermione. "Feeling better now?"

Hermione laughed again. "Whose idea is this?"

"Mine," Draco said proudly. "I know you'll laugh at the ridiculousness of it."

"You look good, actually," Hermione said with a sly smirk. "I'm sure Harry agrees."

"What?" Harry asked, snapping back to reality at the mention of his name.

"Come on up, Hermione," Luna said. "The piano is reserved for you."

Hermione gladly joined the three up on the stage and sent Draco a grateful smile, before she smiled to the other three as well.

"Well, let's leave them to their rehearsal," Draco said to Harry. "I'm going to go change."

"You look good," Harry said. "You sure you're not a girl?"

"I've looked down there many times, Harry. I'm sure I'm not one."

Harry walked Draco towards his room so he could change but they stopped on the way, talking about random things, just trying to know each other more.

"When I was little, my Mom died," Draco said. "Somehow her death made me distant from my Dad, until I ran from home and took up residence in Timber. It has become my second home, so when it was under attack, I joined them to fight."

"You're really brave," Harry commended. "You're a civilian yet you fight fearlessly."

Draco blushed and picked at the hem of the dress he was still wearing. "It's because of you."

"Huh?"

"I can fight because of you, all of you," Draco said. "Well, I've always fought for myself, and then for Timber. But I'm scared. I'm always scared. I can overcome my fear and fight my best because I know you're there with me and won't let anything bad happen to me."

Harry smiled and pulled Draco close against him. "Of course we won't let anything bad happen to you."

They sat at the ruined dock, staring at the setting sun. Once the night breeze began blowing, Harry took off his jacket and draped it across Draco's shoulders.

"What about you, Harry?" Draco asked. "Why did you become a student of the Garden? Why do you seem so distrustful of people?"

"I don't know," Harry said truthfully. "I can't remember most of my past. I can't remember my childhood. All I know is that I've been in the Garden for as long as I can remember."

"And? Nothing else?"

"Well, there's this vague memory of being left by an older brother," Harry admitted. "I don't even know if it's real. I just felt like I couldn't trust anyone or let them too close to me because they're going to abandon me."

"Oh, Harry," Draco said as he held onto Harry's hand. "That's not true. Have you seen your comrades? They're loyal to a fault. They will never abandon you."

Harry smiled at him. "Yes. I've realized I'm wrong because of you."

Draco rested his head on Harry's shoulder. "That's strange though," he said. "I mean, I can remember my past, sans the first three years of my life, maybe. But I remember them. Why don't you?"

"I don't know," Harry said softly.

"Harry, it's not your fault," Draco said as he squeezed Harry's hand. "I was just commenting on how strange it was. There must be something that caused the memory loss."

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "Sounds like they're finished practicing. Shall we check up on them?"

"Harry," Draco spoke up suddenly. "I know you said that you'll protect me, but I don't want you to risk your life for me."

"How am I supposed to protect you if I don't?"

"I mean, well, I don't want you to die trying to protect me," Draco said as he fidgeted, scuffing the tip of his shoes. "If you're certain you can save me and survive, then that's fine. If not, just let me die. I'm more dispensable."

Draco yelped in pain when Harry flicked his forehead hard. "Ouch! Do you have to hit me that hard?"

"Don't be stupid," Harry said with a slight growl. "No one is more dispensable than the others."

"But—"

"If you don't want me to die protecting you, then you have to promise that you'll survive too," Harry said, not looking at the shorter boy. He sighed then produced something from his pocket.

"What is this?" Draco asked curiously as he stared at it. "Is that a chimera?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "It's a lion."

"Oh?" Draco asked, his eyes twinkling in amusement. "So that's why you're like a lion?"

Harry sighed.

"I'll make a replica of it," Draco said cheerily. "Maybe then I can become like a lion too."

Harry's lips twitched into a smile. He placed the ring on Draco's palm. "This is my prized ring. I named it Griever," he said as he watched Draco inspecting it. "I'll entrust this to you for now, but you'll have to return this to me once things have settled down."

Draco looked up at him and smiled at the unspoken request—stay alive to give this back. "Of course. I'll keep it safe," he said. He unclasped his necklace and slid the ring in before putting it back on.

"Now we really should join the others," Harry said, offering a hand towards Draco. "Shall we?"

Draco grasped Harry's hand and together they walked back to the makeshift stage.

The four musicians greeted them when they came back and told the two to dance while they played the background music. It was the same song as the one that was played when the two first met each other and danced under the moonlight.

They had fun all night—dancing and feasting. For one night, their problems didn't exist.

"Thank you everyone for organizing this," Harry said. "Now let's go get some rest because we have long days ahead of us."

"I'd like to apologize and thank you at the same time," Draco spoke up after Harry was finished. "I mean, you have the choice to turn me down when I said I'll be following you after the liberation of Timber, but you allowed me to come. You all fought by my side and that's why I can find courage in myself. I apologize for being such a burden to you all, but I wish you would look after me again."

"You're not a burden, Draco," Luna said with a smile. "If anything, you are the one who helped us."

"There's one thing I don't understand though," Draco continued. "Do any of you have problems with your memories? I mean, I talked to Seamus about the failed assassination attempt because he kind of remembered that the Sorceress was a good person, but, I mean, well—"

"We got what you mean," Luna said. "Well, now that you brought it up, I do seem to have troubles with my memories. I can't remember where I grew up and how."

"Me too," Hermione agreed, and Ron and Seamus joined in.

"So it's not only me," Harry commented. "But why would all of us have troubles with our memories but not Draco?"

Draco thought for a bit. "The Guardian Forces," he said finally. "I'm the only one here who doesn't have Guardian Forces. Maybe they are the cause?"

"Might be," Hermione agreed. "So the Guardian Forces take up a part of our memory and make us forget them."

"But now that we're talking about it," Ron started, "I kind of remember growing up in an orphanage. A place with a huge flower field behind it."

"And the Sorceress," Seamus continued, "she was the Matron. She's the one taking care of us."

"And I remember that boy we call Brother," Harry added.

"So that place is our next lead," Hermione said. "I'll try to look up where it is. We should be able to go there."

They all agreed to help the engineers repairing Balamb Garden the next day so they could get it finished sooner. They walked back to their rooms then, Ron escorting Hermione, Seamus escorting Luna, and Harry escorting Draco who promised to return the dress to Hermione once he washed it.

"Are you excited?" Draco asked. "After all, we're going to the place where you grew up."

Harry smiled. "Kind of," he said. "However, the threat of Galbadia hasn't passed yet. Headmaster Ted told us that Galbadia Garden is also a mobile garden, much like Balamb. I fear that it will try to attack us as we head towards the orphanage."

"Hey, don't worry! We've survived whatever they dish out at us, so I'm sure we'll get through this one just fine," Draco said cheerily. "You're the leader, you have to stay optimistic, Harry."

"Yeah, you're right," Harry said. "My actions aren't mine alone. I have to think of my team too."

"That's the spirit!" Draco cheered. "You make a good leader, Harry. I'm glad you changed for the better."

"I'm glad too," Harry said. They stopped in front of Draco's room and he turned to face Draco. "It's all thanks to you."

"No, it's thanks to you," Draco replied. "You could be stubborn and unwilling to change and hate me instead."

"I can't hate you," Harry said softly. He leaned down and pressed a kiss on Draco's cheek. "Good night."

"Night, Harry," Draco greeted back. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Harry nodded and then walked away to his own room. Draco entered his room, closed the door, and stood leaning against the wooden door. He slowly raised his hand towards his chest and felt his heart beating hard.

"What's happening to me?"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

With the students' help, Balamb Garden was restored to its former glory in less than a week. Harry had then announced of their plan on going to Centra to find the orphanage and that anyone who didn't want to fight was allowed to stay at Fisherman's Horizon, particularly the juniors. He also spoke of the risk of being attacked by Galbadia Garden while they were on the way to Centra, so he asked only those experienced in combat and willing to fight to stay with them.

Three quarters of the students from both Balamb and Trabia had stayed on the mobile Garden and followed them en route to Centra.

"I want a group of five people to guard every possible entrance of the Garden," Harry said during the briefing. "Ten people would then protect the main hall. Squads of three to protect important rooms or venues. Vacate all dorms. I need three in the headmaster room to protect the headmaster. I will personally choose my own squad. We will establish connection to enemy's Garden and begin the ambush."

They divided the students into groups. Harry chose Luna, and Seamus to come with him while he told Ron and Hermione to look after Draco. He hadn't wanted Draco to come along but the boy was stubborn so he only told him to stay away from danger.

The first wave of attacks was of Galbadia students on hoversuits and jetpacks. They gained access to Balamb without being connected and started fighting. At the time of attack, Ron, Hermione and Draco happened to be at one of the access points, an open space that acted as a terrace.

As they were aiding the original squad there in battle, Galbadia Garden rammed onto Balamb to establish more access points. A student who was fighting near the edge stumbled and was about to fall. Draco saw her falling and in a last attempt to save her, he grabbed onto her hand and using the momentum, switched their places.

"Draco!" Hermione shrieked in horror as she watched Draco fall off the edge while Ron cursed, knowing Harry would have their heads for this.

The two quickly made short work of the remaining Galbadia students there and went to look for Draco.

"Draco?" Hermione asked as she stared at the blue sea. "Oh, what are we going to do? I can't find him! What if he drowns?"

"Hey, hey, don't jinx me."

Ron and Hermione looked down to see Draco sitting on a small protrusion from the lower wall of the Garden that was meant only for decoration. He was lucky that thing existed or he would have fallen down into the sea.

"But I can't get up by myself," he said as he looked up. "Can you get help? Oh, and fast. If the two Gardens clash onto each other again, I will definitely fall into the sea."

"Okay, wait there, I'll get help," Hermione said as she rushed off.

"Will you be okay there?" Ron asked.

"Yes, Ron," Draco said. "You can't do anything from there anyway, so better make yourself useful."

"Okay, just making sure," Ron said. "Harry's going to have my head."

Draco chuckled then looked around, trying to find a place where he can possibly step on. There was one, another protrusion similar to where he was sitting on, but it was too far.

"Ah, well," he said in defeat. He leaned back on the wall and pulled his necklace out from behind his clothes. He stared at Griever and smiled. He wouldn't die, not while he still had Griever to return.

He waited and waited, wondering when and how someone would help him. Maybe they could get a rope to pull him up. Or if worse comes to worst, he'd have to wait for the battle to finish and for Balamb to cruise back to land before they could get him down.

Or they could dispatch a small boat to save him from the sea?

He was snapped out of his reverie when Balamb rammed into Galbadia again. He screamed as he lurched forward and in a moment of desperation, flailed to find purchase. He grabbed onto the protrusion and tried to hold himself steady. He heard a splash and turned to see what it was when suddenly the Gardens clashed again and he screamed bloody murder as he lost grip on the protrusion and began a free fall towards the water.

He screwed his eyes shut as he prepared to crash into the water but it never came. Instead, he was caught by a strong pair of arms and was suspended in air. He dared to open an eye and gasped when he saw Harry in front of him.

"I told you to stay out of trouble," Harry said angrily.

"It wasn't my fault," Draco said with a pout.

Harry sighed but said nothing as he controlled the hoversuit to go up to the terrace. He then abandoned the suit and walked into the Garden.

"Harry?" Draco asked as he followed him inside. "Are you mad?"

"What do you think?" Harry bit out harshly.

"But—"

"I told you to be careful!" Harry shouted. "What part of that was careful!?"

"But—I—"

Harry growled in frustration, running a hand through his hair. "How can you expect me not to risk my life if you keep getting into trouble like this?"

"Not fair!" Draco shouted back. "So you're allowed to get into danger but I'm not?"

"Because I'm a soldier! Everything we do is danger!" Harry raged on. "When will you understand that you're not a soldier!?"

"Now you're being unreasonable," Draco said, starting to get frustrated as well. "I've been fighting alongside you! Why can't I now?"

They both stared at each other, but then Harry seemingly deflated. He sighed and turned around and started to walk away.

"Harry!" Draco called as he caught up with the other boy and grabbed onto his arm. "You haven't answered my question!"

"What?" Harry asked angrily. "What else do you want me to say? Do you want me to say that I care for you more than anyone else and don't want to see you hurt more than anything else in the world? You want me to say that I value you more than my own life and would rather die than see you die? What is it?"

Draco's jaw fell open in shock. "What—but you—you were mean to me!"

Harry sighed. "As Luna has said, I tend to become harsher to those I care about. Somehow I expect them to do their best with my urgings."

"I was jealous when you said Blaise was your boyfriend—"

"When did I say that?"

"You were half-asleep, never mind that. Anyway, I started truly caring for you after the liberation of Timber, when Luna talked some sense into me," he admitted. "I admire and respect you for what you've done. Now that you don't have a reason to fight, I don't want you to. I want you to stay safe."

"Harry, I didn't know you felt that way," Draco said softly. "I'm sorry for being rash too."

"And I'm sorry for shouting at you," Harry said. "You are every bit a soldier. I just don't want you to risk yourself in battle."

"Harry, there is no place where I can be safe," Draco said, holding onto Harry's hand. "The place where I'm safest is where you're at."

"Yes. I will never harm you."

"I believe you."

Harry leaned down and pecked Draco on the lips. "Come, we have a battle to fight in."

Draco smiled at him. "You're allowing me to fight alongside you now?"

"Yes," Harry said with a sigh. "Just stay alive."

"I promise," Draco said. He pulled Harry's hand up and intertwined their little fingers together. "Pinky promise."

"What are you, five?"

"Shut up."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Once all the Galbadia students that had invaded Balamb had been taken care of, the Balamb Garden students began to start on the offense. They sealed off all entrances and exits save for one and ambushed Galbadia via it.

Most of the Galbadia students had been dispatched in the ambush to Balamb so it was eerily silent when they got there. The SeeDs gave chase to Blaise when they saw him and ended up in the auditorium.

Knowing that Harry and Blaise had something between them, they agreed not to interfere in their fight. Ron, Luna, and Hermione sealed off the exits while Draco watched with bated breath. He used to love Blaise and he wasn't sure whether he still loved the boy or not, but Harry was starting to take up a lot of space in his heart. So much that sometimes he felt suffocated.

The fight was halted when the Sorceress suddenly materialized beside them. Draco berated himself for forgetting that the Sorceress could do that, as she had shown at Timber TV station.

"Be done with the foolishness, boy," the Sorceress said sharply to Blaise. She then turned towards Harry. "He's a good soldier. He'll make a good Knight."

"Aren't you restricted to one Knight?" Blaise asked with a frown.

"I never said otherwise," the Sorceress stated. "And he won't serve me willingly either."

"Huh. What are you planning now?"

Sensing something was wrong, Draco got up from his seat and ran towards them.

"I'll explain later," the Sorceress said as she noticed Draco rushing towards her. Just as he was about to reach them, the three disappeared with a pop.

"No!" Draco screamed.

The three guarding the exits and Seamus rushed towards Draco to try and calm the hysterical boy down.

"What did she say she was going to do?" Luna asked.

"I don't know," Draco said as he shook his head sadly. "She said something about how Harry would become a fine knight."

"She meant a sorceress knight," Hermione said. "Sorceresses are generally weaker and slighter in stature, and although their innate magical ability is great, they learn physical combat very slowly. That's why they need a knight."

"But Blaise said she's restricted to one knight," Draco added, "and she said she can't make Harry serve her willingly. I don't know what she's trying to do."

"Calm down, Draco," Luna said as she stroked his hair. "Our first priority now is to track Harry down. We can resume our quest to Centra and the orphanage later."

"Wait," Ron said. "The Sorceress is the Matron of the orphanage, right? What if she's there?"

"I can try to track him down," Draco spoke up softly. "I can try and cast a dowsing spell to locate someone if I have something of theirs that is of great importance."

"And what do you have of Harry's?" Seamus asked.

Draco pulled out his necklace. "This is Griever, his ring," Draco answered. "He gave it to me yesterday and told me to return it to him once everything has settled down."

"I see," Luna said. "Has he said anything to you, then?"

Draco blushed bright red as he remembered the confrontation that happened after he was saved from a watery fate. "Well, yes."

"Good," Luna said. "I won't make you say it in front of all these people. Now, let's try and track him down, shall we?"

Draco nodded. He grasped Griever tightly in his hand and silently cast the dowsing spell. A sphere appeared above Griever, showing them pictures of sceneries. It moved and moved until it settled down on a house surrounded by a flower field.

"It's the orphanage."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Ted had controlled Balamb to land in Centra and approach the orphanage. It wasn't a big building, a simple two-story house. It looked deserted as it was surrounded by miles of flowers.

"Right, we don't know what to expect, so be very careful," Luna said to the SeeDs as they disembarked Balamb. "Especially you, Draco. Harry is not here to protect you."

Draco nodded solemnly. Together they walked towards the orphanage and confronted the three. The Sorceress said they had no room to fight inside so they all went outside.

"Come now, Harry," the Sorceress spoke into Harry's ear, voice like honey. "Fight for me, my dear."

Harry raised his gunblade and Blaise watched in amusement from the side while the SeeDs were shocked.

"Harry! What happened to you?" Hermione demanded.

Harry didn't answer. He didn't say anything. Silently he ambled towards the SeeDs and began attacking them.

"No!" Draco shouted. "Harry, stop it!"

Ron fought with Harry while Luna stood in front of Draco, keeping him protected. It was evident that Harry was the better of the two as Ron was starting to struggle.

A loud clank was heard as Ron's gunblade fell from his grip. He readied himself to be attacked by Harry, screwing his eyes shut and trying to ignore Hermione's frightened screams.

However, the attack never came. When he opened his eyes, he saw Draco standing in front of him, the blade of Harry's gunblade mere inches away from him.

"You promised me, Harry," Draco said softly. "Do you remember?"

"Draco..."

"Yes," Draco said. He held onto Harry's hand and lowered it, moving the gunblade out of the way. "Yes, Harry, it's me. Remember, you love your friends and teammates. You can't hurt them."

Harry's eyes that were clouded over started focusing. He blinked his eyes. "Draco? What happened?"

"Oh, Harry," Draco said with a sigh of relief. "It's okay now."

The Sorceress laughed. "Pity. So he has become someone else's knight."

"Huh?" Draco asked in confusion. "Whose knight?"

The Sorceress merely laughed and told Blaise to attack them. This time Harry emerged victorious in their fight and they went to attack the Sorceress.

"We know about you possessing her," Luna said. "When we defeat you, you'll be kicked out of her consciousness and have nowhere to go."

The Sorceress' laugh grew hysterical. "Nowhere to go? What about this sorceress right in front of you?"

Hermione and Luna frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I knew this time would come, using that machine," the Sorceress said, "so I went back further in time and sacrificing a little of my sorceress power, changed the gender of this powerful sorceress before he was born so no one would suspect him."

Draco's eyes widened. "You're not talking about me, are you?"

"Who else, child?" the Sorceress said with a smirk. "And he would have made a fine knight too. Too bad he had chosen to be your knight."

Draco remembered their plan of not having any sorceress nearby and was about to run away, but the Sorceress was faster. She summoned an orb of light which exploded, blinding all of them, and that was the last thing they remembered.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Harry, wake up!"

Harry opened his eyes when he sensed the urgency in Hermione's tone. He stared up at her face and frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Draco—"

"What's wrong with him?" Harry asked as he sat up, looking around and his gaze fell on the motionless blond boy.

"He's in a coma."

"What?" Harry asked, alarmed. "What happened?"

"We're not sure," Hermione said sadly. "I only remember that bright flash of light and that's it."

Harry clenched and unclenched his fist in anger. He stood up and walked over to Draco, touching his hand gently. "Draco," he whispered as he held onto the cool hand. "Tell me this isn't true."

Luna approached him. "I'm sorry, Harry."

"He was so lively," Harry said. "Such a star. Why does this happen to him? Why do bad things happen to him?"

Ron and Seamus joined them and they only patted Harry's shoulder in sympathy.

"It's unfair," Harry said, squeezing Draco's hand in his. "I'm the only one allowed to be unfair to him."

"Harry!"

"Say my name again, Draco," Harry said softly, lifting Draco's hand and touching it to his cheek. He stared at the ashen pale face and narrowed his eyes in determination. "Let's bring him back to the Garden."

"What will we do now?"

"We'll talk to the Sorceress. Maybe she knows something."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

After safely depositing Draco under the care of Madame Pomfrey, the SeeDs and their instructor went back to the orphanage to confront the Sorceress. They were curious to see that Blaise wasn't anywhere in sight because the Sorceress was there.

"Hello, children," the Sorceress greeted them. "I have to thank you for freeing me from her influence."

The five looked at each other and asked the Sorceress to tell them the complete story as far as she could remember.

"My name is Andromeda Tonks," the Sorceress said. "I'm the wife of Headmaster Ted Tonks. He established Balamb Garden and the SeeD on my urging."

"A long time ago, a war broke out. It was called the Sorceress War as it was started by Sorceress Adel, leader of Esthar at that time," Andromeda said. "She was looking for an heir, someone to pass her powers onto. She had her sight on a young boy with unique powers. You see, he has the ability to send people's consciousness back in time. It's not like you're physically sent back in time, you're just sent back in time in someone else's body to see the past from their eyes."

"His parents died for resisting the sorceress. He was then taken in by Lily Evans, his next door neighbour. They live happily until one day, James Potter, a soldier, came washed up on the shores of Winhill where they lived, together with his comrades. Lily and Neville, the boy, took care of them and soon they all became family. James married Lily and they lived happily."

Harry frowned his eyes.

"However, their happiness was short-lived. The sorceress Adel hasn't given up on Neville yet and kidnapped him. James gave chase to Esthar and with the help of the scientists of Esthar, froze Adel's body in a room designed specifically to freeze the bodies of sorceresses, named the Sorceress Memorial. They put the frozen body into a device they called her Tomb, and sent it into space, never to be found again."

James was asked to stay in Esthar to become the new president. He agreed to stay and told Neville to go back to Winhill before him. What he didn't know was that Lily was pregnant when he left, and she died shortly after childbirth. Their neighbours sent Neville and the newborn here, to this orphanage."

"That newborn was you, Harry," Andromeda said with a soft smile. "This orphanage housed all the children that were left by their families because of the Sorceress War."

"Then what happened?" Hermione asked.

"One day, a curious thing happened," Andromeda said. "I saw Harry from the future. You've grown to become such a strong boy. He said that he has become a member of the elite force SeeD, founded to put a stop on evil sorceresses. Because of that, I urged my husband Ted to found SeeD to make the future come true."

"Then the sorceress Ultimecia influenced me, but only for a short period of time," Andromeda said. "That's all I can say. Now, tell me why you are here."

"Draco is in a coma," Luna said bluntly.

"Draco? The blond boy, is it?" Andromeda asked. "Well, I suspect that this is the sorceress Ultimecia's doing."

"But how do we get him back?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know, children," Andromeda said sadly.

"Where is this Neville you spoke of?" Harry asked.

"What do you wish to do, Harry?" Andromeda asked.

"I'll have him send my consciousness back to the moment just before he fell into a coma," Harry said. "I'll find out the reason why and what we should do next."

"Very well," Andromeda agreed. "Because Esthar continuously pursues him, I had him board the White SeeD ship."

"White SeeD?"

"It's similar to a SeeD, but they're hand-picked and trained by myself," Andromeda explained. "You'll find their base somewhere in Centra. I'll write you a letter to give to them so they'll let you on board."

"Very well, thank you, Sorceress," Harry said.

"Please, Harry, call me Andromeda," she said. "After all, all of you were, at one point in time, my children."

"Except for Draco," Luna said.

"Yes, except for him," Andromeda said as she began writing the letter. "He's a good boy. You have to save him, okay?"

"Of course," Harry agreed.

After Andromeda finished her letter, they went back to Balamb in search of the White SeeD ship. When they found it, they brought Draco's body together with them. However, their search didn't end there, as the leader of the White SeeD told them that Neville sacrificed himself and went with an Estharian battleship to save the rest of the White SeeDs.

"Then we go to Esthar," Harry said firmly. "If what the Sorceress said is correct, then the current president of Esthar is my own father. Surely he would listen to my request."

The White SeeDs looked reluctant for a moment but agreed to send them to Esthar, also to fetch Neville.

"What do they want with him, anyway?" Hermione asked. "It's unethical to do that to a person."

"They're trying to study his brainwaves and such while he sent someone's consciousness to another time and place," a member of the White SeeD explained. "And I heard rumours that Dr. Odine is finally making progress on his research."

"Dr. Odine? He's the one who made the bangle to suppress magical power, isn't he?" Luna asked.

"Yes, he's the best scientist of Esthar," the member said. "He has made many things, including the Lunatic Pandora, that awful machine made under the rule of Sorceress Adel."

"Lunatic Pandora?" Ron asked.

"Oh, my, what have you been learning?" the member asked in surprise. "Long time ago, when the Moon was closest to the Earth and it was saturated with monsters, a phenomenon happened in which the monsters fell down from space into Earth. The event was called Lunar Cry, and it happened in set time over the decades."

"The first observed and recorded Lunar Cry, there was something else. A huge, pillar-like structure. The sorceress Adel commanded Dr. Odine to create a device that could summon the Lunar Cry, instead of letting it take its own course. To amplify the effect, they also make a place called Tears' Point. If the Lunar Cry is performed there, the destruction is even greater."

"Pulling monsters in from the space," Harry mumbled to himself. "I have a really bad feeling about this."

"What is it, Harry?" Luna asked.

"Andromeda said that Adel's body was frozen in a tomb and sent to space," Harry said.

"Oh, yes, that's right," the White SeeD member confirmed. "They knew that killing Adel would not produce much result because she would just transfer her sorceress power to someone else, so they made a device with high-tech sealing. That thing is the reason why Dollet radio tower is the only fully functioning one left. It messes up with radio waves."

"I don't think it's safe to bring Draco with us," Harry said softly, so that only his teammates heard. "After all, they have a special room to lock sorceresses away, and he is one."

"But they won't know he is one," Hermione reasoned.

"They won't know, but you underestimate Draco and his conscience," Harry insisted. "If this was really Ultimecia's doing and she used him to advance her plans, he would submit himself to be frozen and sent into space!"

"Do you want to leave him in the Garden again?" Luna asked.

"We're already heading towards Esthar now," Ron said as he looked out of the ship. "And we can't leave him with these people either. We don't know them yet. SeeDs are elite forces against sorceresses too. What if they find out about him and decide to do something even worse?"

Harry groaned, rubbing his face with his palm in desperation and frustration. "We shouldn't have brought him along with us."

"We didn't know," Luna said as she patted Harry's shoulder. "And I understand why you want to be near him when he wakes up. I think he would want to see familiar faces when he wakes up too."

Harry sighed and reached out a hand to hold Draco's cold one. "Just this once," he started, "just this once, please be selfish and refuse to be taken away from us."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

When they reached Esthar, they had immediately requested audience with the president of Esthar. When the guard wouldn't let him, Harry told them that he was the son of the president, the son he had with Lily Potter nee Evans. They were allowed entry after that.

They met Dr. Odine, the renowned Estharian scientist who offered to let Draco be put in a special capsule that forces deep sleep. They argued within themselves but finally agreed, saying that once they knew the reason behind his condition, they would immediately go to fetch him.

"President of Esthar," they all greeted as they bowed at him.

James stared at Harry and dismissed the soldiers inside the room, telling them he'd like a private audience with this group of people.

"You said your name is Harry?" James asked.

"Yes. Harry Potter is my name."

James' eyes softened when he saw the boy. He motioned at his two friends and trusted advisors who smiled at him. "We've found our boy."

"What brings you here, Harry?" a tall man with dark brown hair and kind eyes asked. "Oh, how rude of me. My name is Remus Lupin and that is Sirius Black. We are good friends of your father."

Harry nodded in greeting at the two. "Well, if I may be so rude as to go straight to the point," he started, and the three nodded. "There's this... boy. We met under unusual circumstances and fought a lot. However, he had made me see the errors of my ways and see that my insecurities have no merits. Now I care for him deeply, more than anyone else in the world."

"And?"

"He's in a coma," Harry said sadly. "No one knows what happened. I heard of Neville from Andromeda, and I wish to ask him to send my consciousness back into his body at the time it happened so I could know what really happened."

"The boy Dr. Odine put under deep sleep?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, he is the one."

"Well, I have to say you have good taste, young man," Sirius said with a smile. "Neville is currently in the Lunar Base. We made the base to monitor Adel's Tomb and take turns looking after it every six months."

"How long is he going to be there?"

"About a month or so," James said. "But that doesn't mean you can't go to the Lunar Base to see him."

The five looked at each other.

"That's great," Hermione said. "Do you want to bring Draco with you, Harry?"

They all stared at each other, their earlier concerns of Draco being captured and sealed away unvoiced but still there.

"Yes," Harry said. "We'll bring him with us."

"Very well, I'll go with you there," James said. He then told Remus and Sirius to look after Esthar while he was away.

As the space pods were limited, Harry only brought Luna and Ron along to the Lunar Base. Seamus and Hermione stayed in Esthar to await their return. On the way there, Harry spotted a seemingly abandoned airship floating about in space. Once they reached the Lunar Base, he asked James about it.

"We sent Adel's Tomb into space with the help of Ragnarok," James said. "There are three such airships, they are left in space now."

In the Lunar Base, Draco was again put in a special room and Harry hated seeing Draco dragged here and there and put in special rooms. He hated seeing the usually lively boy so helpless.

"Harry, let's go find Neville," Luna said when she noticed Harry staring at Draco. "The sooner the better."

The three followed James to a room at the back where the scientists were. They were the ones looking after Adel's Tomb.

"Hello, Harry, Luna, and Ron," Neville greeted when he saw them. "What brings you here?"

"I need you to send me back," Harry said, then explained the situation to Neville who nodded in understanding.

"Very well, I shall try and send you back then. Brace yourself, Harry."

Harry felt like he was dreaming. It was the same feeling he got whenever he dreamed of his father and their friends, all those mysterious dreams that he seemed to forget the moment he awoke. So that was all Neville's doing?

He opened his eyes and stared at a hazy background, as if the room was filled with thick fog. He felt the body he inhabited move against his will, and knew then that Ultimecia had indeed taken control of Draco's body.

Draco knelt beside Blaise and leant down. Harry wanted to screw his eyes shut, not wanting to see the scene, because he thought Draco would kiss him. However, his worries were unfounded as Draco stopped inches above him.

"Blaise," he said, "go to Lunatic Pandora and direct it to Tears' Point. I'll control this boy and unlock Adel from her tomb. Once that happens, perform the Lunar Cry to pull us back to Earth."

Blaise stared at him and nodded. He stood up then walked off. Meanwhile, Draco stared at him until he left, then dropped down and fell into a coma.

"Harry?" Luna asked and Harry opened his eyes. "Oh, thank goodness you're here. What happened then?"

Harry looked at the others cautiously then leaned forward to whisper to her. "Ultimecia is in his body and she's trying to break Adel's seal."

"We have to stop her," Luna said, "but if we stop her, how do we get her out of Draco's body?"

"I don't know!" Harry yelled in frustration. "I'm going to check up on him first."

Suddenly, everyone and everything froze. Even the hand of the clock froze, although they could still speak.

"What's happening?" James asked.

"Code red, the boy they brought here is a sorceress!"

"Huh? A sorceress? But how is that possible?"

"What is he trying to do?"

"He's—he's heading off to space!"

"Oh no!"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Draco opened his eyes and looked around at his surroundings. He sat up and noticed that Dr. Odine wasn't there, so no one was looking after him.

"Good job, worms," he said with a sinister smirk. "You finally brought me to Lunar Base. Now I'm one step away from my goal."

As he stepped off the bed he was on, he cast a spell that froze the movement of everything. He then walked out, and the guards were enraged because they could only watch him walk past. He put on a space suit and floated into space, reaching for Adel's Tomb that wasn't far from the Lunar Base.

"It's really a pity that that boy has chosen this one," Draco said as he finally entered Adel's Tomb. "He's even stronger than my Knight."

Lowering the glass that sealed the spacesuit from the environment, because there was air inside the device, Draco walked closer to Adel's frozen body.

"This boy is worthless," Draco said as he scowled. "Keeps trying to resist me. Good thing his resistance finally wavers the closer I get to Adel."

He placed a hand on top of the seal that kept Adel frozen and transferred Ultimecia's sorceress powers into Adel. The ice melted slowly but surely. Adel's body was free from the frozen prison as soon as the transfer of power was completed, and Draco fell down in unconsciousness. As soon as the transfer was complete, time moved as usual in the Lunar Base again, and the scientists there were enraged at Harry, Luna, and Ron for bringing a sorceress with them.

"He was under Ultimecia's influence, it wasn't his fault!" Luna tried to reason.

Meanwhile, Adel, which now hosted Ultimecia's consciousness, threw Draco out of Adel's Tomb and left him floating in space to die. She then gave up a little of her sorceress powers again to notify Blaise that it was time to summon the Lunar Cry.

The Lunar Base was affected by the Lunar Cry as well. When the scientists caught up on what was happening, they immediately prepared the emergency escape route. The three were last to be evacuated because the scientists were still mad at them, saying it was their fault that this was happening, but James and Neville stayed back to accompany the three.

"Harry, what about Draco?" Luna asked in worry.

"I'll go find him," Harry said as he quickly donned a spacesuit.

"It's a suicide mission, Harry," Neville said. "You don't know where he is and whether you can survive, even if you find him."

"Then let us die," Harry said firmly. "I won't let him die alone, all by himself in the cold, dark space. If we have to die, then we die together."

James smiled and hugged Harry. "You've grown into a fine young man, Harry. I'm so proud of you."

Harry urged them all to go into the escape pods. "My only chance at survival is if we can come across one of the three abandoned Ragnarok airships," Harry said to them. "If we survive, we'll find you all. Promise."

Harry then left them and found another exit that led him straight into space.

Draco snapped into consciousness when he felt that he couldn't breathe. He was shocked to find himself floating in space, as he didn't even remember putting on a spacesuit. Frantically he touched everywhere to find the button that would put the glass back up, and when he finally found it, he sighed in relief as the area around his head once again filled with air.

He stared at the seemingly endless space ahead of him and sighed. Was this his fate? To die in space and never to be found again? He lifted a hand to rest on his chest. He desperately wanted to pull Griever out and hold onto it. It had soothed him and gave him confidence even in the direst of times, knowing that Harry would never abandon him.

He mentally imagined Griever, imagining he was holding onto it with his hand, tracing all the lines and bumps with the pads of his fingers, committing it to memory. He cried when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist from behind.

He turned around in Harry's embrace and gave him a watery smile, mouthing "You found me".

"Of course," Harry mouthed back. "I won't ever leave you."

They stayed there for a while, awkwardly hugging each other because of the space suit. As he held Draco, Harry scoured his surrounding and nearly screamed in joy when he saw one of the Ragnaroks slowly floating towards them. As Adel's Tomb orbited around the moon, so did the Ragnaroks.

He pulled Draco towards the airship, and when they were safely inside, the two took off the spacesuits, and Draco immediately tackled Harry down with a hug.

"Ssh, it's okay, Draco, you're safe now," Harry said softly. "Come on, we have to go back to Esthar."

The two went to the cockpit and Harry used the auto-pilot function to let the Ragnarok do its job and bring them back to Esthar. The two sat, embracing each other, as Harry told Draco of what had happened after the battle against Andromeda.

"I knew she's a good person," Draco said as he smiled to himself. "Harry..."

"What is it?"

"Do you love me?" Draco asked, shyly looking up at Harry. "Because I—I do. You're the only one who can make me feel so safe."

"Of course I love you, haven't I made it clear enough?" Harry asked, hugging Draco tighter towards himself. "I've done everything for you."

Draco smiled. "I believe you."

They stayed like that until they landed in Esthar, which was soon after. Luna, Ron, Hermione, Seamus, James and Neville were all waiting for them.

"Harry! Draco!" Hermione exclaimed in joy when she saw the two.

"Seize them!" the soldiers suddenly said, surprised everyone there.

"Wait!" James shouted. "What's the meaning of this?" he demanded as the soldiers captured Draco.

"We have to seal the sorceress away," the head soldier said simply. "You've seen what he could do. I won't let it happen again."

"Draco!" Harry shouted as he pulled his gunblade, preparing to fight the soldiers.

"Harry, stop it!" Draco shouted. "Don't hurt them or yourself, please. Not because of me."

"But—"

"It's okay, Harry," Draco said softly. "What they said is true. I can hurt them. Ultimecia can come back to me and make me hurt people again. I don't want that, Harry."

Harry felt his heart breaking as Draco silently accepted his fate, smiling as he was whisked away to the Sorceress Memorial. Hermione was sobbing while Luna comforted him. James stared at him apologetically.

"Mate, what are you doing standing there?" Ron was the one who scolded him. "He didn't want you to hurt the soldiers, but that doesn't mean you can't break in and bring him to safety!"

"That's right," Neville added. "Come on, I'll lead you to the Sorceress Memorial."

"I'll handle things in Esthar," James said. "I'll make sure no one goes after any of you two again."

"And we'll take care of any soldiers trying to get in your way, won't we?" Ron asked, and Luna and Hermione nodded in agreement.

"Very well," Harry said. "I'll bring him back to the orphanage with Ragnarok. Come find us there after everything here has settled down."

"Of course," the SeeDs agreed.

Neville and Harry went to the Sorceress Memorial first. On the way there, Neville asked, "Do you know how Ultimecia got her consciousness here?"

"No," Harry answered truthfully.

"Dr. Odine, who has been doing researches on me to find out how to send someone's consciousness back to the past, has finally invented a machine to do so, which he named Junction Machine Neville, obviously named after me."

"Ultimecia somehow found out about it and sent her consciousness back to the past. However, the machine had its limits, and so, in this present time, she's still looking for me, wanting me to send her consciousness back further in the past so she can exist in all past, present and future and start the Time Compression."

"Is it too late to stop her?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Neville said sadly. "Dr. Odine has made the blueprint. Although it is now safely hidden, it is only time until someone finds it and creates the machine."

"This is so unfair," Harry said, although more to himself. "Why does he have to suffer all the time?"

Neville smiled at him. "We're here."

The SeeDs caught up with them after they had taken care of Estharian soldiers blocking their way. They fought their way inside the Sorceress Memorial and Harry caught Draco just as they were preparing to freeze him and seal him away.

"Harry!" Draco exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"If you think I'm going to let them take you away from me after all that I've done, you're sorely mistaken," Harry said with a low growl as he grabbed onto Draco and ran.

The soldiers began to gave chase but the SeeDs blocked their way. Harry and Draco quickly made their way to Ragnarok, which he set to bring them to the orphanage. It didn't take long on Ragnarok and they were awed at the technology behind it.

The two descended and sat among the flowers. Draco hugged Harry tightly and Harry hugged him back.

"I'm scared, Harry," Draco said softly. "I don't want people to fear me or hate me. What if I turn evil?"

"You can't turn evil, Draco," Harry said patiently, stroking Draco's hair. "You're the gentlest person I've ever met."

"But what if she got hold of me again?"

"We're almost at the end. We'll defeat her, the real her, and stop her once and for all."

"But, but until then, maybe it's better if I—"

"No," Harry said sternly. "You know I'll just come and get you again."

Draco rested his head on Harry's shoulder. "Yeah," he said. "But if I really turn evil, even without anyone's influence, then I want you to kill me."

"I mean, I don't mind anyone, but I think it'll be better for me if it was you," Draco added. "After all, you've saved me countless of times. It's only in your hands that I don't mind giving up my life."

"You know I can't do that," Harry whispered into Draco's hair.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm your Knight."

"Then I don't want you to use GFs anymore."

"Why?"

"Because they make you forget things," Draco answered sadly. "What if we get separated and you forget all about me?"

Harry chuckled and buried his face in Draco's hair again. "Silly. I will never be able to forget you."

"How are you so sure?"

"Remember that time in the orphanage, before Ultimecia took control of you?" Harry asked and Draco nodded. "She controlled me to be her pseudo-Knight. I forgot Ron, that's why I fought him. I even forgot who I was. But..."

"But?"

"But somehow I remembered you," Harry admitted. "I remember you. That's why believe me, even if I try, I won't be able to forget you."

Draco hummed softly to himself and Harry chuckled. "What, not going to tell me you believe me?"

Draco laughed. "I've always believed in you, Harry," he said. "Did you know, while I was asleep—"

Harry snorted. Trust Draco to belittle his condition into sleeping.

"Anyway, while I was asleep, I had a nightmare," he said, and Harry felt Draco's grip tightening. "I dreamed that I was alone. I was all alone. No one was there, not even a stranger. I screamed, I cried, I waited, but nothing happened. Even—even Griever was gone."

Draco paused but Harry waited for him to continue patiently, not wanting to rush the blonde.

"I was so scared. I screamed, I called for everyone's names; even my father's. No one answered. I missed you, and I knew that if only I could find you, then it'll all be better, so I ran, I ran searching for you. I ran up hills, mountains, crossing plains, and even seas, but there was no sign of you."

"And when I woke up, I was all alone in space."

"But I found you," Harry reminded gently.

"Yes, but you found me," Draco said, joy shining in his eyes.

"I'll be here then."

"Huh?"

"I'll be here, in this flower garden."

"Why?" Draco asked curiously.

"The reason why you couldn't find me is because we haven't promised where to meet if we're ever separated," Harry explained. "So if we're separated, we'll come back here, and you'll find me."

"Really?"

"Yes, I'll be here, waiting for you. I promise," Harry said. He took Draco's hand in his and intertwined their little fingers together. "Pinky promise."

Draco smiled at him, then leaned up to kiss him.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

When the SeeDs were reunited with the two, they brought James, Neville, and Dr. Odine together with them.

"I have to apologize for causing all of this," Dr. Odine said. "Had I not tried to build the machine, Ultimecia wouldn't have been able to send herself back in this time to wreak havoc."

"Also, Draco Black, I believe?" Dr. Odine asked. "I'd like to apologize to you too for how the guards treated you."

"Black?" James asked in surprise. "You're related to Sirius Black?"

"I don't know," Draco said honestly. "Black is my mother's maiden name. When I moved to Timber, to get their trust, I changed my name to Black instead of Malfoy, because my father is a well-known Galbadian general."

"I see. Sirius would be happy to see you," James said. "But we have a more important task at hand right now."

"Too right," Dr. Odine agreed. "We've finally devised a plan to defeat Ultimecia."

They all gathered in a circle and listened attentively to Dr. Odine.

"As you know, Ultimecia's plan is to get back into further past and initiate the Time Compression. We will confront her, defeat Adel so the only remaining sorceress is Draco here, and send the two back into the past," Dr. Odine explained. "Then, when Ultimecia has initiated the Time Compression, Neville will send her back to the future and Draco will be taken back to the present. This should halt the Time Compression, which takes quite a long time."

"As the time and space is now merged somewhat, a movement in space moves you in time too, so you can locate her castle and defeat the Ultimecia from the future to stop her once and for all."

"Of course, you have to be very careful," Neville warned. "Once you defeat Ultimecia and time and space is back to normal, you have to concentrate hard on being somewhere, or you'll be trapped in between time, and it won't be pretty."

"Sounds like a plan," Harry said. "After all, this is why SeeD was founded."

"As Lunar Cry has just happened recently, Ultimecia in Adel's body is most likely still in Lunatic Pandora," James said. "You can ride Ragnarok to it. Be safe, Harry. I don't want to lose my son as soon as I met him."

"Of course," Harry said. "After all, if I die, who'll look after this brat?"

"Harry!" Draco protested. "I'm seventeen!"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

They all stood silent and stiff in Ragnarok, the only noise was the pressing of the buttons by Dr. Odine. They looked at each other but no one broke the silence.

"Are you nervous?" Draco asked finally, unable to handle the silence any longer. "I mean, it has all come down to this. The source of all our problems, even when you were still children."

"We should have a peaceful time after this," James agreed. "So I'm going to head back to Winhill. Esthar doesn't need me any longer."

"I'll go back and see my father for a bit," Draco said. "Then maybe I'll travel, or something."

"You're always welcome to come, Harry, Draco," James said, "because you are my son, Harry, and I'm sure Sirius would be more than happy to see you, Draco."

"You don't know if I'm related to him," Draco said. "I mean—"

"No, you are," James said softly. "You have an uncanny resemblance to your mother."

"You know my mother?" Draco asked in surprise.

"I frequented Deling city in my youth," James admitted. "I know of the beauty Narcissa Black. I was in love with her. I promised her to come back, but I guess I'm a worthless man, for I can't keep my own promise."

"No, please don't belittle yourself like that," Draco pleaded. "I'm sure my Mom would've forgiven you if she knew what happened."

"Yes, I'm sure," James said with a grin. "And after all, if I had married your mother, one of you won't be here now."

Harry and Draco looked at each other, then Draco looked away blushing.

"Uh, what about you guys?" he asked quickly, changing the topic.

"I'll probably go back to Trabia and help with restorations," Hermione said. "Engineers from Fisherman's Horizon have agreed to help so it shouldn't take too long."

"Ah, good for you. What about you, Luna?"

"I'm heading back to Balamb," Luna answered. "After all, I'm still an instructor. I have students to teach and freshmen to terrorize."

Draco laughed, then turned to the other two boys.

"I'll probably still be SeeD," Ron said with a shrug. "It's the reason why I tried so hard, so why give up on it?"

"I'll go back to Galbadia and try to make things better," Seamus said. "When I left, it was in a state of disrepair. Many of the cities forced under Galbadia had rebelled and caused riots. Now that the president is gone, there would be much more chaos. Once everything settles down, I'll go back there and see what I can do."

"That's nice," Draco said. "All of you have such noble dreams. I'm only thinking of travelling."

"I'm dreaming of returning to a peaceful, quiet place," James piped up. "Everyone's dreams are different, Draco. You can't compare yours to others'."

"Yes, you're right," Draco agreed. "I'd like to live in a quiet place too."

"As I've said, you're welcome to join us in Winhill," James said. "And by us, I mean me, Sirius, Remus, Neville, and hopefully, Harry too."

"Yeah, I'll come," Harry said. "I've had enough of fighting. I'll resign from being a SeeD after this."

"You'll grow old sooner if you don't fight, Harry," Draco teased.

"Who said I'm not fighting?" Harry asked as he chuckled. "I said I've had enough of fighting. I'm going to resign from SeeD because I'm only going to fight for one person—my sorceress."

"Oh," Draco said as he flushed, looking at the floor near his feet. "Well, I suppose we could go. Me and my father. I'm tired of being distant from him too. After this war is over, it's time for us to reconcile."

"Good for you, Draco," Luna said as she smiled at him. "I'm sure your father will be happy."

Draco smiled back at her. He opened his mouth to say something, but they already reached Lunatic Pandora and had to go fast before Ultimecia moved away.

They were in luck as they came across Adel and Blaise as they were exiting Lunatic Pandora.

"Blaise," Draco tried again, "why are you doing this?"

"You won't understand," Blaise said coldly.

Adel summoned a magical ice spear, similar to the one Andromeda had summoned to attack Harry during the parade and shot it at Draco. He dodged the projectile and the battle begun.

It was a mess—chaos, everywhere you look. Harry and Blaise fought each other while the other SeeDs fought Adel and Draco kept barriers up to protect the SeeDs from Adel's magical attacks.

Harry defeated Blaise in the duel, throwing Blaise's gunblade away so he was unarmed before joining the rest of the SeeDs in the battle against Adel.

Adel stopped the time again and her first target of attack was Draco. Draco's eyes widened as he saw the ball of light directed at him and screwed his eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable.

"Argh!"

"Blaise!" Draco shouted as he watched his ex-boyfriend crumple to the ground, gritting his teeth so he didn't make any sound of pains.

"Fool! What do you think you're doing?" Adel demanded.

"You agreed... not to hurt him..."

The anger bubbling inside of him caused Draco to enter a state of berserk trance. He froze Adel's body, similar to when she was first sealed away, then came back down from his trance. He used his sorceress power to heal Blaise.

"Why are you doing this?" Draco asked as Harry joined him. Harry still looked at Blaise angrily, but there was gratefulness in his eyes. "You gave me the audience with Headmaster Ted, but then you went and followed her. Why?"

"Draco," Blaise said as he sighed. "The reason I followed her is to protect you."

"I don't understand."

"Think, what if I hadn't become her knight, and someone else did?" Blaise said. "You would have died at least twice. The reason why I wasn't affected by her spell earlier is because I'm her knight. Some of her spells don't affect me."

"I know what you are even before you yourself know it. I know that you are a sorceress. I wanted to be one of the three sent to help you, but I didn't pass the SeeD exam. I could only hope that there would come someone who truly cared for you to become your knight, because I couldn't."

"Why?" Draco asked. "Why do you have to sacrifice yourself to that extent for me?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Blaise asked. "Because I love you."

Draco looked heartbroken and Blaise quickly amended himself. "I'm not doing this to get you back, Draco," he said. "I lost you because of my stupidity, and now you've found someone else. I accept that. However, if he hurts you, then I'll be back to try and win you again."

"You flatter me, Blaise," Draco said with a smile. "Well, we have things to do, including defeating this sorceress of yours."

James and Neville agreed to stay back to look after Blaise. Draco broke the seal on Adel and killed Adel's body, forcing Ultimecia to transfer her consciousness into Draco again. According to plan, Neville then sent both consciousness into the past, and that was the time that Andromeda said she was influenced by Ultimecia but only for a short while.

As soon as the Time Compression started, they could see the signs. The sky turned into a blend of colours instead of blue, and the landscape looked wavy. Everything became foggy, as if they were all just an illusion.

Neville then pulled Draco's consciousness back to the present while he sent Ultimecia's consciousness back to the future, where the real her was.

"It's started," James said. "Good luck, SeeDs. Come home safe."

They all nodded and made their way through time and space. Every step they took advanced the time a year, and before long, they came across Ultimecia's castle, where the sorceress resided.

"This is it," Harry said as they looked up at the castle. "This is the final showdown."

"Yes," Luna agreed. "Don't let your guard down."

They traversed the castle to the top, battling monsters and guardians on the way. Seeing Blaise nearly dying because of him had unlocked Draco's Angel Wing state, in which he entered a berserk trance and his magical capabilities increased tenfold. This had allowed their trek up to the top become nearly a breeze.

When they reached the top, there was only Ultimecia left, none of her minions remained.

"Worthless scum! You are the reason I lost my knight," Ultimecia said as she growled, glaring at Draco.

"You lost your knight yourself," Draco retorted.

"Never mind that, I don't need a knight as long as I have my guardian," Ultimecia said as she cackled. "Prepare to face the true terror! Griever!"

A black, lion-like chimera with dragon wings appeared beside Ultimecia and roared mightily, the sound alone seemingly shaking the whole castle.

"Griever!" Draco shouted. "Don't listen to her! You don't belong to her!"

"Draco!" Luna shouted as Draco walked over to Griever.

Griever roared, but bowed its head to Draco, and the Griever ring around his neck shone brightly.

"What!? How could this be!? How could he be a much better sorceress than me!?"

"Your time has come to an end, Ultimecia," Draco said. "You've caused nothing but trouble to everyone I care about. Now it's your time to suffer. Go, Griever!"

Griever let out a huge tongue of fire and Ultimecia screamed as she was burned alive. The others watched in rapt attention and in their minds, it was as if history repeated itself. Witches were burned to death.

When Ultimecia died, Griever disappeared and time and space slowly became normal.

"Quick, concentrate on where you want to be!" Hermione shouted. "Don't lose focus or you'll be trapped between time!"

Draco imagined himself in the flower field behind Andromeda's orphanage and ended up there. He looked around, but couldn't see anyone.

"No," he said to himself. "No. Is this a dream? Where is everyone? Where is Harry?"

He sat amongst the flowers and cried. He waited for Harry to come, but he never did.

"You promised, Harry," Draco said with a choked sob. "Why aren't you here?"

Suddenly, his eyes widened as fear settled in. What if Harry hadn't been able to get away in time and got stuck in between? He quickly grabbed hold of Griever and closed his eyes.

"Griever... bring me to where he is."

When he opened his eyes again, he was in a dry, barren land. There was no hint of life and he began to grow scared. He looked around, trying to find Harry, and saw him lying on the ground, unconscious.

"Harry!" Draco exclaimed as he rushed over to the other boy. He held Harry close to him, resting his cheek on Harry's chest to listen to his heart beating, and let out a sigh of relief when he could still hear it beating.

He then concentrated all of his power in transporting them back to the flower field. The dry, barren land slowly filled with green grass, the sky turned blue, and flowers grew. They were back at Andromeda's orphanage.

Draco held Harry close to him, and when he felt Harry stir, pressed his lips onto Harry's in a loving kiss.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Harry stood leaning against a wall, a glass of champagne in his hand. He stared up at the open dome of Balamb, at the night sky with full moon and bright stars.

If he didn't know better, he would say someone had invented time travel and he was back in time, to the day of his graduation ball. He chanced a look to his right and saw Draco standing there, looking beautiful as usual.

Draco turned and noticed Harry there. He smiled and walked towards him.

"Do you know today is very similar to the day we first met?" Draco asked as he stood beside Harry.

"Yeah, was just thinking about that earlier."

"Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves," Draco commented. They held a party to celebrate the defeat of Ultimecia and also as a farewell party before most of them went their own ways.

Ron had finally agreed to go with Hermione to Trabia and help with the restorations. Luna would go with Seamus as an ambassador of Balamb to sign a peace treaty with Galbadia and help with restorations as well. Harry and Draco would head towards Deling to fetch Draco's father then head off to Winhill, where they would hopefully live in peace.

"Oh, look, there's another shooting star," Draco said excitedly and Harry looked up only to catch the tail again.

"Make a wish, Harry," Draco urged as he closed his eyes.

Harry smiled, leaned over and kissed Draco softly.

"I don't need to wish," Harry said. "My wish has already come true."

End Story

Finished! Goodness, while I'm busy, piled with assignments, I seem to get most inspiration. Granted, this was adapted, but anyway. I finished this in three days D: while there are some of my one-shots that have taken months and still counting T_T

I mostly followed the walkthrough, so there were only minor tweaks, especially in the dialogues (the one where Luna told Harry that Draco's not a soldier, the Time Compression discussion, the conversation as they waited for the group to finish rehearsing, the confrontation during the Battle of the Gardens, etc). I skipped out the scene where Quistis asked Squall out. Skipped out on all of Laguna scenes. I made Harry give the Griever ring himself instead of Ron asking for it then giving it to Draco. However, the scenes after the Battle of the Gardens, in which Harry was kidnapped to become the Sorceress' pseudo-knight wasn't in the game. That's the a major change I made, as it had effects on the scenes later as well. Another major change is the reason why Blaise follows Ultimecia. I don't know what Seifer's reason is, though.

There were some scenes I was just dying to get to, especially the flower field scene when they made the promise xD and also the ending scene, although in the game, it focused more on Squall who got trapped in time, but this time, I chose to focus on Draco who had gotten to the flower field first.

Hope you enjoyed that :D if you do, do leave a comment coz I'm a comment whore :P

Oh, and I'm thinking of doing more game adaptations. What do you think? If this gets enough reviews/likes, I'll consider writing more. And you can suggest which game I should do (some of the ones I thought of include: Secret of Mana, Wild Arms 4, Star Ocean 2, Kingdom Hearts, and Rhapsody (xDD))