Title: Orange Eyes
Author: NHunter aka N.H.
Genre: General, Adventure, eventual Romance
Rating: M
Warnings: AU; crossover; occasional gory violence; swearing; suggestive themes; crazy author...
Summary: Magic answers little Harry's plea for a better family and gives him one. In a different world, a dimension away.
Disclaimer: I DO_NOT own "Harry Potter" or "Freezing". No profit is being made. The same goes for any other books, films, video games, anime and manga that might use as the sources of inspiration.
"Talking"
'thinking'
written text
spells/skills
Author's Note:
1. This story disregards some of the more recent developments of the "Freezing" canon. Namely, here Illusion Turn and Dimensional Accel will NOT let one hop through parallel dimensions in this story. Nova dimension in this story will also be far more alien than what is seen in manga. Finally, here Maria Lancelot will be just an especially powerful and benevolent N3 Nova.
2. This story also disregards plots from "Freezing: Zero": the Legendary Pandora, while still artificial creations, don't start out as already-adults in this story. They will have something resembling a childhood here.
3. Just like it was in the original oneshot, Harry's intended pairing is an OC, an N3 Nova, that he accidentally summons while trying to send himself 'home'. This, of course, doesn't mean that he will be completely ignoring all other girls around him.
And, one more thing, this is a side project, so don't expect regular or frequent updates. Now, without further ado...
Orange eyes
Part I: Harry's New Life
Five years old Harry sobbed pathetically in the bunched-up rag that was his pillow as he lay on the cold and bare floor inside his cupboard under the stairs, curled into a ball. His entire being was filled with pain, and all because he had made a terrible mistake of whimpering too loudly from his hunger-induced stomach ache and disturbed Uncle Vernon while he was trying to relax after a terrible day he had had at his workplace. That was all the excuse the man needed to flog him to the inch of his life.
Curling even tighter, little Harry wondered yet again why Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were so horrible with him. Why did they always punish him most severely for any real or thought up reason, yet never gave his Cousin Dudley even a slap on his wrist? Why was he treated with such hate? Harry had no idea, but as his consciousness began fading away he desperately wished he was far away from here, someplace he had a real, loving family.
Unknown him him, today was the summer solstice and Magic, being at its peak, heard his plea. Blue wisps of ethereal light ghosted inside the cupboard under the stairs, gently wrapping themselves around Harry's unconscious, broken body. And as more and more Magic amassed around him, time and space themselves began to bend and twist around the raven-haired little boy. Then, with a thunderous boom, the reality tore itself apart.
At the same moment, in an ancient and magical castle hidden far away in the Highlands, a number of silvery arcane devices stopped their mysterious movements and went completely dead. Harry James Potter no longer existed in this world.
~/ *** \~
Gengo Aoi let out a small, tired sigh as he walked a country road circling the lake his summer house sat next to, his beautiful Goddess walking by his side. Yet, even Maria's comforting presence was not enough to calm his many worries, for he was worrying about their children.
Their five precious little girls were suffering, and there was nothing the human science could offer at this time to truly save them. The extradimensional powers they have inherited from Maria were slowly tearing them apart, and the best he could do was slow this terrible process down. And, even worse than that, it wasn't just death that awaited his precious daughters, should he fail to devise a true cure to their condition; should their powers consume them, they'll turn into the very monsters Maria refused to become when she chose to embrace humanity instead…
Gengo's rather grim thoughts were interrupted when his Goddess suddenly separated from him and glided with a purpose towards the bushes growing on side of the road. Curious about what had drawn Maria's attention, he walked up to his love, just in time to see her pick some off the ground. Well, not something, someone - it was a small dark-haired child wearing old and dirty rags. What's more, it looked like this little boy had been through something really horrible. Whoever he as, he needed medical help, and quickly. And Maria, for all of her limited understanding of humans, could see this as well. Thus, she allowed Gengo to take the boy from her embrace and him to the nearest hospital.
The doctors, bless their souls, were able to stabilize to boy and patch him up a little bit. And while they worked, Gengo tried his best to find out, who this child was. His inquiries to the Police, however, brought in no results: there were no reports of missing children that matched the boy's profile. And digging a little deeper earned him no results either. It was almost like this boy had magically appeared out of thin air… Could he be from another dimension, like Maria?
Anyway, now that the doctors have done everything they could for the poor child, and now he needed to be moved to a different, better equipped, hospital to continue his treatment. Alas, there was only a single ambulance attached to this small provincial clinic, and the staff weren't willing to lend it because the boy was now in a good enough condition to be transported by other means. Thus, the task of getting the still-unidentified child to another hospital fell to Gengo.
Originally, his planned destination was the Sapporo Royal Hospital, but that changed rather quickly when his Goddess decided that she had a better idea on how to help the boy she had found. Gengo, of course, was already aware that Maria had a soft spot for the little one, but it still caught him by surprise when she offered her own blood and powers to help him. He attempted to explain it to her that this wasn't a good idea for a number of reasons, but his Goddess was unyielding and nothing he said was able to change her mind. Thus, with a sigh he changed his plans and turned towards his laboratory in Southwest Furano.
Laboratory #13 was a research facility that the UN and Japanese government gave him so that he could study Maria and her powers and, hopefully, devise a way for the humanity to fight against the extra-dimensional invasion that the orange-eyed Goddess warned them about. It was also the place where Gengo's and Maria's five daughters were, well, created. Thus, while the lab's medical ward might not exactly be the best place to treat injuries such as bruises or broken bones, it was still good enough to provide the still-unconscious boy will all the medical care he might need…
As he watched the doctors working for him do their job, Gengo made another attempt at finding out the identity of this mysterious boy Maria had found. Alas, once again neither the Police nor the Migration Serviced had any useful information for him. Could this child really be from another world? Letting out a deep sigh, the world's premiere expert on Novas walked up to the lockers. There he donned a lab coat and gloves. Then he approached the bed the mysterious boy lay on.
Having carefully collected the samples of his blood and soft tissues, Gengo retired to his laboratory so that he could run a few tests on those in peace. He was really curious about the origins and the true nature of this mysterious child - children normally don't magically appear in the middle of private properties. And if the boy somehow turned out to be a perfectly normal human, then, perhaps, the results of these tests will finally let him convince his Goddess that giving him her blood was not the best of ideas…
The results he got from his tests left Gengo quite surprised. Save for a couple of small oddities, the boy was perfectly human, yet, for some reason, his cells were unusually receptive towards Maria's stigmata tissue. In fact, this was the first time Dr. Aoi had observed unmodified human cells to readily bond with those of a Nova. This was both a bit annoying and greatly inspiring for the young scientist.
This annoyed Gengo because he had spent several years trying to figure out a way for him and Maria to have children - even if via a test tube - and their precious girls were quite literally designed gene by gene. He still failed to make them perfect… And here was this boy; he came out of nowhere yet possessed an all-natural potential to become a nigh-flawless transition link between the humans and the Novas.
Yet, at the same time, Dr. Aoi couldn't help but be greatly relieved and inspired by this accidental discovery. This mysterious child, he was a definite proof that the Pandora project was more than just an illusory dream of his and, should the extradimensionals try to invade Earth like Maria warned, that mankind would be able to stand against them.
Still, no matter how great a potential this boy had, there was very little Gengo could do about it without a permission from the boy's guardians. And those bastards - there was no kinder word to describe someone who would abandon a child like they did - were nowhere to be found, not even by the mighty bureaucratic machine that the Japanese government was. Letting out a sigh, Dr. Aoi reached for his phone and dialed the Police yet again. Hopefully, this time they had some good news for him...
~/ *** \~
As Harry slowly regained his consciousness, he quickly became aware of a few things. First and foremost being a comfortable bed he was now lying in. And since his Aunt and Uncle would never let him into a proper bed, this could only mean that he somehow wasn't at the Dursleys' residence anymore. But where was he then? A hospital of some sort, perhaps, if the strong medicinal smell was anything to go by. That would also explain why his injuries were aching much less than he expected.
Getting more curious about his current whereabouts, Harry opened his eyes, only to close them shut a moment later as the light in the room was unbearably-bright to him. After a few seconds, he squinted his eyes open again and carefully studied the room he was in. It was big, white and brightly-lit by the morning sun. There also were many mysterious machines around this room, and Harry himself was connected to one of those with a wire that came out of a band he now had on his left wrist.
More curious, though, was the fact that he wasn't alone in the room: a bed on the opposite side of the room was occupied by a girl a few years older than him. This girl had naturally-violet hair and strange, almost-inhuman orange eyes. Finally, Harry couldn't help but notice that she too was wired up to those strange machines - more than one in fact - but, unlike him, she wasn't at all bothered by this. Instead, she was focusing her attention on some peculiar rectangular device she was holding in her hands.
Suddenly, the girl lowered her device and eyed Harry fixedly for a couple of moments. Next, she tapped something on that strange device a few times and then held it to the side of her head like it was a phone. Which it apparently was, despite looking almost nothing like one… Harry didn't quite hear what the girl said to whoever she was calling, but he was pretty sure she wasn't speaking English. Once she was done talking, the orange-eyed girl went back to doing whatever she had been doing before, paying no more attention to the world around her.
For a couple of minutes nothing happened and Harry was about to throw this whole thing out of his head. Then, he heard the sound of a door opening, and a few moments later a tired-looking dark-haired man in a white lab coat walked into his field of view. He said something in that strange language to the violet-haired girl, who nodded in response without even looking away from her phone-thingy. The man then sat down next to Harry's bed and asked him something. He still wasn't speaking English, so Harry couldn't understand what he said. Letting out a small, tired sigh, the man shook his head and tried again:
"Hello, little one." The man said, this time speaking a very decent - though with a weird accent - English. "I know, you need more rest, but can you please answer a few questions for me?" Harry gave the man a tentative nod. The Dursleys told him to never speak to the strangers, but they weren't there right now and the man seemed nice... "What's your name, little one?" The man asked him.
"H-Harry." The dimensionally-displaced boy croaked. Whatever has happened to him, it did a number on his voice. "Just Harry." He clarified when he noticed the nice man waiting for him to say something more. Of course, the Dursleys often called him 'Freak', but he very much doubted that it was a proper name, so he didn't say anything about that.
"And I'm Dr. Gengo Aoi." The man introduced himself. There was a brief moment of silence, before the man asked his next question: "Now, Harry, do you know where your parents are?"
"They are dead, Sir." The green-eyed boy replied quietly.
"Oh, I'm sorry" Dr. Aoi said in response. Then, he asked: "And who is looking after you? Do you know where we can find them?" Harry shook his head: he was only ever allowed out of the house to weed the backyard, so he had no idea where his Aunt and Uncle actually lived. And he'd rather not go back there anyway. "I see..." The man said with a sigh. After a second or two, he continued: "Alright, I'll see what I can do about all this. Meanwhile, do get better, Harry."
"T-Thank you, Sir." The green-eyed boy replied, receiving a comforting smile from Dr. Aoi. The man then stood up and headed out of the ward while making a call somewhere… Once the door behind him closed, Harry shifted anxiously in his bed as he tried to relax. That wasn't easy, however. Even though the man - Dr. Aoi - seemed to be nice and genuinely trying to help him, Harry couldn't help but be scared of what might happened to him next. What if the doctor decides to send him back to the tender mercies of his Aunt and Uncle? What if the doctor decides that he's not worthy of his help and throws him out like trash? What if this all wasn't even real, just a twisted dream made up by his agonized mind? What if?..
As those thoughts kept swarming inside his head, Harry's need for more rest caught up with him and he began dozing off, eventually falling into uneasy sleep.
When Harry woke up next, he was delighted to see that he hadn't dreamed up being spirited away from his cupboard under the stairs. Indeed, he was still in this strange medical ward, though he now was its sole occupant as the violet-haired orange-eyed girl from across the room has disappeared without a trace.
A few minutes passed since his awakening, and Dr. Aoi entered the ward, accompanied by a lovely woman. Tall, with shapely body and luscious blond hair that reached her thighs, she was a beauty unlike any other. And as she got closer - moving with an alien grace, so smooth one would think she floated on thin air, rather than walking on the ground - Harry finally got a glimpse of her eyes. Orange, with vertical slits for pupils, yet full of compassion and understanding.
"Good morning, Harry." Dr. Aoi greeted as he and his lovely companion sat down next to Harry's bed. "I hope you're feeling better now."
"Yes. Thank you, Sir." The green-eyed boy replied while trying to understand a strange feeling he was getting from the blond lady: a strange prickling on the very edge of his senses that seemed to make him feel assuaged and protected… There was a bit of a pause, before Gengo spoke again:
"I'm very sorry to say it, but we were unable to locate your relatives or your guardians. Even when we searched outside of Japan." He then stopped, letting his words sink into Harry's head. After a lengthy period of silence, Dr. Aoi continued: "If you would like it, Maria and I can adopt you." These words were accompanied by a spike in that comforting sensation Harry was getting from the orange-eyed beauty, Maria. "Or, you may choose to go to an orphanage and find a new family with their help instead."
This offer caught Harry completely by surprise. Thanks to the Dursleys, it was hard for him to imagine that someone might actually want him. Yes, he had often dreamed about a family that would love him, but could such family exist in the real world?.. Apparently, the answer was 'yes'. Dr. Aoi seemed to be a nice man, and so did Maria. And they were offering to adopt him into their family! That was really great, as his Aunt and Uncle had always described orphanages as little branch offices of Hell to him. And while Harry wasn't sure how much he could trust their word, he'd rather not find out that they were telling him the truth.
"I… I would like it very much." Harry replied, still not quite believing that this was happening. Gengo and Maria both gave him a reassuring smile.
"Alright." Dr. Aoi said. "I'll submit the paperwork tonight, and once everything is processed, you'll become our son, Harry." The green-eyed youth couldn't help but smile back.
Even though Dr. Aoi was clearly a very busy man, he nevertheless opted to shelve whatever his business was in favor of getting to know his not-quite adopted son a little better. He asked Harry a few questions about his likes and dislikes as well as his dreams for the future. In return, Gengo told a bit more about himself and his family.
As it turned out, he and Maria already had five daughters, and when Dr. Aoi showed Harry their photos on his phone, the green-eyed boy immediately recognized one of them, Teslad, as the violet-haired girl, whom he had already seen the other day. The other four girls were just as unique, and if it wasn't for those orange eyes they all had, Harry would have had a hard time believing they could actually be related.
The first of the five sisters was Cassandra, a phlegmatic eight years old girl with long platinum-blonde hair, which made her look like a miniature and aloof version of her mother. Next was the girl whom he had already 'met', the second sister, Teslad. Still, seeing that she was always so reserved, even in the bosom of her family, surprised Harry a little. Meanwhile, the middle sister, Windy May was a little ball of sunshine with a bright smile that seemed to be permanently etched onto her pretty face. And, much like Teslad, she had the most unusual hair color, hers being dark-pink. The fourth sister, Lucy, on the other hand, appeared as someone even more aloof than Cassandra and Teslad. Which, coupled with her pale-blue, almost white hair, made her look like a little ice queen. And then there was the youngest sister, Chiffon. She had light-brown hair that reached the middle of her back and kept her eyes closed most of the time. She was also just as stoic and aloof as Cassandra.
Harry, understandably, was very much afraid that his to-be sisters wouldn't accept or like him. And, apparently, his fears were written all over his face as Dr. Aoi was quick to reassure him that his little princesses would love him…
Throughout this whole conversation Maria remained completely silent. Yet, Harry was quite sure that the mysterious blond lady was actively communicating with him, just in some way that was completely alien. Indeed, he could occasionally feel echoes of emotions coming from her somewhere on the edge of his consciousness. It was… a strange experience, and Harry couldn't help but wonder, who his soon-to-be adoptive mother really was.
The adoption papers didn't take too long to go through the bureaucratic system, and just three days after Harry was made an offer, he officially became the eighth member of Dr. Aoi's family. He was still recovering from his injuries at the time, so the welcoming party was pretty small and tame. Even like that, it still was, without a shadow of doubt, the best party Harry has ever had in his life. And he was so looking forward to the 'real' party that Gengo - his new father - promised to hold once he was discharged from the hospital.
Later that night, when Harry was soundly asleep, a shadow silently entered the medical ward, carrying a tray with several syringes on it in its hands. The visitor then approached Harry's bed and placed his tray onto the small table there. His hands now free, this mysterious person turned on a small flashlight - just bright enough to break the darkness of the ward - and revealed himself to be none other than Gengo Aoi. He didn't come down to the medical ward as Harry's new father, however. He did that in his capacity of the leading scientist behind the Pandora Project...
Picking one of the syringes from the tray, Gengo carefully injected its contents into the sleeping boy's blood. Then he cast a glance at his watch, noting the current time. The serum he had just used took fifteen minutes to put a person into a medically-induced coma. And until it did its job, he refused to proceed any further. Despite all of the questionable things he has done in the past and will undoubtedly do in the future, he wasn't a heartless monster. He didn't want Harry to suffer unnecessarily while his body was bonding with the Stigmata Tissue.
And he really hoped that - when he told him about this one day - Harry will be able to forgive him both for turning him into a human-Nova hybrid and for the destiny he was laying out for him… Still, this was something that had to be done in order for the humankind to survive the coming dark days. And so, once the fifteen minutes passed, Gengo injected Harry with the preparation of Maria's Stigmata Tissue.
Now that it was done, and all that Dr. Aoi could do was waiting for Harry's body to assimilate and properly bond with the Stigmata Tissue - something that would take roughly two weeks, according to his estimations.
~/ *** \~
Albus Dumbledore gently pushed ornate iron gates that marked the edge of the Hogwarts' grounds open. There was something special about approaching the ancient and majestic castle on foot and right now, after three weeks of long and tense parleys at the ICW conference, this was exactly what his old and tired soul needed. And by the time he finally reached his office, he indeed felt much better. Even the mountains of paperwork that were, undoubtedly, waiting for him there didn't seem to be scary anymore.
As soon as he stepped into his office, Dumbledore immediately noticed that it was quiet there. Too quiet. Something definitely was amiss. With the sense of dread quickly filling his being, the old warlock rushed to check the many instruments he had attuned to young Harry Potter. None of them were moving as they should have, and were standing motionless instead.
Dread began filling the ancient wizard's soul. Something terrible had happened while he was away, and now Harry Potter was gone. Quickly drawing his wand, Dumbledore began frantically casting many arcane spells, trying his hardest to determine what had happened to the young Mr. Potter. Alas, he didn't get many answers: the only thing he managed to learn was that the boy was still alive, somewhere.
That's all, folks!
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