Gaia's Children
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Final Fantasy VII. These belong to J.K. Rowling and Square Enix respectively.
Harry Potter/Final Fantasy VII Crossover
Warnings... this fanfic contains SLASH and unbetadness...
Pairings: Cloud/Harry and other pairings I'm uncertain of at the moment (but most likely Vincent/Aeris... don't ask...)
Summary: Harry Potter had won. He had defeated Voldemort and brought peace to the wizarding world. He had also died a martyr. Thousands of years later, a Doctor intent on surpassing Hojo resurrects him. Harry's not happy but soon finds out he was brought back by more than just the whims of a quack scientist...
A.N.: Thanks to all that reviewed :D and as you can see, I present to you (finally!) the second chapter of Gaia's Children! Hopefully, I haven't disappointed you guys. I was going to insert some random cute scenes of bonding between Harry and Cloud but I really couldn't think of anything (it's not close enough to the exam period yet lol)... so let's just say they're there and we are all happy ;) (well, okay, most likely no one will be happy but what can I do? :P) And if I come up with anything, I'll be sure to inform you guys and add it in here...
Hmm... just realised that this fic will probably be quite short too and I might actually be able to finish it for once... Would be a nice change, ne?
Chapter 1.
A soft groan brought him out of his thoughts. As gently as he could, he pulled the man towards him, "Hello?" he called out tentatively, "How do you feel?"
Suddenly the man's eyes snapped open and Harry could only wonder how anyone could have such brilliant blue eyes...
"W-who...?" the blond suddenly whispered, breaking into Harry's thoughts.
The emerald-eyed teen flushed if only for a second as he back-tracked over his last thought but quickly composed himself, "Er... I'm Harry," he replied, looking down at the blond at little worriedly; he'd managed to heal all the physical wounds but... "Do you remember who you are?"
Blue eyes blinked and stared back at him, "I... I'm..."
Harry frowned when blue eyes became hazy and unfocused. Emerald eyes then widened in horror when the blond started to shake uncontrollably.
"H-hey!" Harry called out in shock at the sudden change, "What's wrong?"
The blond only groaned in response, eyes unseeing as they stared out into the sky. Suddenly, Harry realised exactly what he had to do and grimaced. As gently as he could, he grasped the sides of the blond's head with his hands and stared deeply into his eyes.
Legilimens.
As soon as he entered, Harry felt like as if he was right in the middle of a raging storm. Random thoughts and memories were thrown at him, the blonde having lost total control of his own mind. Harry steeled himself before he threw himself into systematically reorganising his mind. He grabbed whatever came flying at him, nailing them down back into place and little by little the storm calmed.
Harry flinched, barely keeping from losing his grip when a particularly bad memory hit him. Horror rose up inside him, unable to look away as he watched a silver-haired man set people and the whole town on fire, their screams of pain reverberating in his own mind.
Sephiroth.
Harry's own pain echoed with the blonde's as he watched the silver-haired man cut down a dark-haired man. His role-model and only friend.
Zack.
Bile rose up in his throat as Harry watched the blonde suffer over and over again under the machinations of a mad man. A scientist willing to go to any measures to get one step closer to his darkest desire.
Hojo.
And then there was nothing.
Emerald-eyes blinked tiredly as he stepped into the deepest recesses of the mind. Wisps of blue smoke wafted around him and around the flickering mirrors that circled around him.
And in the centre of it all was one small blonde boy.
"It's quiet now," the boy said as he stared at Harry curiously with his bright blue eyes.
Harry nodded uncertainly, watching the boy carefully as he moved towards him.
"But he still isn't okay," the boy continued, gaze unwavering, "You'll help him though, right?" he said, voice tinged with hope.
"Him?" Harry echoed.
"Him. Me. Us," the boy shrugged unconcerned, "So will you?"
Harry nodded, "I'll do my best."
The boy grinned happily at him, his small hand reaching out to take Harry's, "Great! By the way, I'm Cloud Strife. Who are you?"
Harry tightened his grip around the small hand and smiled softly down back at him, "Harry Potter."
-
Insert cute and fluffy scenes of Harry/Cloud!Bonding here... :P
-
Cloud silently watched Harry tend to the flowers as he sat leaning against the cold, stone wall, the Buster sword innocently laid beside him. It'd been months since Harry had first found him, his memories still fuzzy on the exact specifics of what had happened to him. But one thing was absolutely clear to him; he was completely indebted to the young dark-haired man.
Like Harry did for Aeris, Cloud had taken to protecting the older teen to the best of his abilities. Not that he really needed it; Harry was far stronger than his appearance let on. That didn't change the fact he felt the inexplicable need to shadow the teen in his every move, afraid if he looked away for just a moment, Harry would disappear and never return.
Emerald eyes raised, lips turning up in a reassuring smile as he brushed his long fringe aside with the back of his hand. Cloud smiled back softly; it was amazing how the raven-haired teen always seemed to know what he was thinking and was so quick to quell his fears...
"And how are my two favourite people doing today?" a bright voice chirped from the church entrance.
Harry looked up at her in half-amusement, half-exasperation, "As well as we were half an hour ago when you first came, Aeris."
Aeries mock-pouted at him, "Just checking. Sheesh, this is what I get for helping you guys. I'm so unappreciated," she ignored his snort of laughter, "Anyway, are you sure you guys have enough blankets to keep warm? The weather's getting awfully chilly lately and this place isn't exactly close off very well from the cold and-"
"We're fine, Aeris," Harry interrupted, smiling softly, "This old church is a lot more warmer than it looks."
The Gainsborough house had been quite squashed what with addition of both Harry and Cloud. As a result, Harry had moved into a spare room at the church to allow Cloud to recover. However, as soon as the blonde regained conciousness and found out, he was horrified that Harry had been kicked out of his own home (no matter how much the dark-haired teen tried to disagree), insisting to stay at the church himself. Harry wouldn't allow such a thing though so in the end, both became residents of the small, dusty church. Even after Cloud had made a full recovery, this arrangement had stuck though the two made frequent appearances at the Gainsborough household.
"Well, I've brought you guys lunch," Aeris huffed, giving her basket a little shake to emphasise her point.
Harry grinned and stood up, dusting off his pants with his hands as he did so, "Thanks Aeris. And thank your mum for us too won't you?" he said, taking the basket from her before moving to sit down next to Cloud.
"You can thank her yourself. Mum wants you to join us for dinner to night," her voice still sweet yet leaving no doubt that they didn't have a choice in the matter.
"She really shouldn't trouble herself," Harry argued weakly. He reached into the basket, taking out the large, warm bread roll, deftly breaking it in two. He handed the much larger piece to Cloud before taking a bite of his own. The blonde frowned but took it without protest, having learnt long ago that arguing with Harry was futile.
Though, he mused silently, it's even more futile to argue with Aeris...
"You know," Aeris begin, putting a sad smile on her face that made Harry pause as he looked up, "You guys haven't been coming around to the house as much any more. I see you everyday here at the church, but mum really missed you two. She mentioned the other day that maybe it's too much of a hassle for you to come visit and that maybe her cooking isn't as good as she thought it was and that maybe you were just saying it was wonderful so as not to her hurt feelings and tha-"
"Alright, alright!" Harry grouched, feeling absolutely guilt-ridden by this point. Inwardly, he knew Aeris had probably made that all up to get him to agree with her – flower girl persona be damned... she was evil, really! – but the guilt had already settled in too deeply for him to refuse, "We'll be there."
Harry ignored the soft, amused snort from beside him.
"Great!" Aeris chirped cheekily, face brightening happily almost instantaneously, "Now scat, you two. I can take care of the flowers. And I expect you to see you at the house by five," she said, waving her finger at them threateningly.
"Yeah, yeah," Harry grumbled as he got up again and headed towards the entrance, "Seeya later, Aeris."
Aeris grinned when Cloud mumbled a soft "bye" and hurried after the raven-haired teen, trailing behind him like a little puppy.
Isn't that just so cute?
-
Harry gave his surroundings a bored look as he threw a fireball at the vice. Beside him, Cloud slashed down with his Buster, cleanly cleaving another vice in two. Sector 6 seemed even more of a dump than usual, bits of concrete and scrap metal scattered haphazardly around them. Picking up the smattering of gil and shoving a potion into his pocket, he briefly glanced at the curious blonde beside him as they made their way through. This is the first time he'd brought Cloud this way, having avoided it before as they'd been no reason to aggravate the blonde's wounds with battles they could easily avoid. But now that Cloud had made a full recovery, they could go hunt the stronger monsters in other parts of the slums.
Harry suddenly stopped, Cloud, having not expected that and following closely behind him, bumped into him. Harry turned his head slightly, giving the blonde an amused look. Cloud just shrugged sheepishly back but didn't move away. So what if he was walking a bit too closely? He could protect Harry better this way...
Yes, you keep telling yourself that, a voice that sounded strangely familiar piped up cheerfully in his mind. Cloud immediately viciously squashed it back down.
"You two are pretty strong," the reason Harry had stopped grudgingly admitted, eyeing them warily yet with a strange spark in his eyes.
Cloud frowned, eyes narrowing but a light nudge from Harry stopped him from saying or doing anything.
"And what of it?" Harry called back. Despite his appearance (Harry noted how the black man was probably three-times his size and seemed to have a gun grafted into his arm), the raven-haired teen sensed no feeling of threat from the man.
"I don't know 'bout blondie there beside you but I've see you 'round here a while back," the man replied instead, "Then you seemed ta have disappeared. Thought you must've been done in or sumthin'."
Cloud tensed but Harry waved him off nonchalantly, "And I ask again, what of it?"
The man stared at them for a moment, "Ever heard of Avalanche?"
Harry quirked an eyebrow at him, "Nope."
"WHAT?! You've neva heard of Avalanche? What rock have you been livin' under, punk?!" the man shouted, waving his arms around wildly.
Cloud scowled, "If you've got something to say, get to the point. We don't have all day to listen to your complaining."
"You...!" the man swore a bit but took a deep breath, calming himself, "Fine, whatever. Look, I've got a job for you."
"And why would we take a job from you?" Cloud grumbled.
"Let me finish!" the man growled, "The mako energy everybody's been using; Shinra's been sucking it outta the planet! And if we don't do something soon, the planet's gonna die and-"
"Not interested," Harry dead-panned, seeing where this was headed. He'd had enough of saving the planet and all that rot, thank you very much.
"But-"
"Not. Interested." Harry ground out and without giving the man another chance to say anything, he stormed off in the opposite direction.
Cloud stared at the abnormally agitated Harry in surprise before shaking himself out of it. He took one step, anxious to catch up to the raven-haired teen when something stopped him.
"I'll pay you," the stranger grunted.
Cloud paused and looked at the man intensely.
"1000 gil," the man grumbled.
The blonde twitched. It couldn't possibly make up for everything Harry, Aeris and Ms. Gainsborough had done for him but it was a start. You couldn't make that sort of gil from killing monsters. Not in a short amount of time anyway.
"3000," Cloud replied.
The man glared at him, "What?!"
"Take it or leave it," Cloud dead-panned.
"2000," the man growled, "and we're meetin' at the Seventh Heaven in two days time. Know where that is kid?"
Cloud nodded. No, not really. But hopefully Aeris will.
The man grunted, turning to walk away, "Oh, and the name's Barret."
-
Seventh Heaven, Cloud looked up at the sign. Thankfully, the flower girl didn't ask too many questions when he'd asked her about it and had promised to keep where he was going a secret. All one needed to see was the stormy look on Harry's face after meeting Barret to know that telling him about this was a very bad idea. The raven-haired teen had been brooding ever since but none of them had pried knowing Harry would tell them once he had calmed down. And it was only because of that brooding was Cloud able to sneak away to Sector 7 to meet Barret.
Pushing the door open, he glanced around inside. He eyed glasses sitting innocently along the back wall and wondered if this was the right place. It looked like a plain, old bar to him. Movement to the side caught his attention and to his surprise, a little girl stared almost fearfully back at him. As soon as the blonde took one step forward, the little girl whirled around, disappearing behind a door, "Tifa! Tifa!"
Wait... Tifa?! Cloud thought, stunned.
A tall, busty brunette with long, flowing hair stepped into the room, "What can I do for- ...Cloud?" she said, eyes wide with recognition despite the many years they hadn't seen each other.
"Tifa," Cloud greeted, though a little stiffly. After all, she was once his crush before she practically threw him to the mercy of the other villager's wrath. Though, he supposed he couldn't really blame her considering how loved she was by the townsfolk and he was just the little runt. The nobody.
They stood there for a moment in silence, neither of them really knowing what to say first. They were both spared the action though when the floor gave a shake, the pinball machine to Cloud's right disappearing into the floor. Seconds later the pinball machine and its platform rose again, this time carrying a passenger.
"Yo! 'Bout time you got here!" Barret practically shouted, "Get over here!"
Cloud eagerly complied, though he didn't show it, anxious to get out of the awkward silence. He quickly looked away when Tifa seemed to want to say something, letting out a small sigh of relief when he could no longer see her. Barret gave him a queer look that he stubbornly ignored as he glanced around the new room and the people he was going to have to work with.
-
"Cloud?"
The blonde jumped but relaxed when he realised who it was, "Aeris? What are you doing out here?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Aeris mused, practically waving her basket of flowers in his face, "Would like to buy one?" she grinned, "They're only a gil each."
Cloud rolled his eyes, "And what in the world would I do with it?"
"Hmm... maybe give it to a special someone?" she giggled, "Someone we both know who's moping around at the moment and could do with a little cheering up?" she said, giving him a light nudge with her elbow while giving him that knowing look.
Cloud scowled at her but couldn't stop the slight heat that rose up in his cheeks, "You can give it to him yourself."
Aeris pouted though inwardly she was laughing like crazy, "Aww, that's no fun. Anyway, don't think you've gotten off. What are you doing here Cloud?"
"Uh... That..." Cloud stuttered, "Actually I've got to go! The other guys are waiting for me! See you later Aeris!" and with that, he quickly ran off.
"Hey!" Aeris tried to call him back but to no avail, "Who's the other guys...?"
-
Cloud watched as Barret and the rest of Avalanche disappear downstairs to prepare for the next mission, leaving him alone with Tifa. He grimaced but he supposed he'd need to talk to her sooner or later.
"So..." Tifa started uncertainly, picking up another glass to clean, "How're you doing Cloud?"
"Fine," Cloud paused, "...And you?" he asked a little stiffly.
"Good, good..."
Silence.
"Is that a flower?" Tifa asked curiously.
Cloud blinked and looked at where she was pointing. There, poking innocently out of his shirt pocket was a small white and yellow flower. Cloud groaned mentally, Aeris must've stuck it there while I wasn't looking...
"How nice..." she said, staring at it almost wistfully, "You almost never see them here in the slums."
She turned her big, brown eyes on him but Cloud wasn't interested and ignored her.
"I bet it smells so wonderful... Maybe I should get some for the store," she said, staring at him hopefully.
Cloud didn't answer.
More silence.
"So where are you staying...?"
Cloud shrugged, "With a... friend."
"Oh?" Tifa looked up, surprised. Cloud raised an eyebrow at her, making her blush in embarrassment at what she was suggesting, "It's just... you... never..." she trailed off, uncertain as to how to continue without sounding insulting.
"Hmm," Cloud just agreed, knowing all too well how lonely his childhood had been. He'd never gotten on well with others though most of the time, it was as much their fault as it was his. Silently, he mused that not much had changed though... Cloud smiled softly, he was no longer alone.
"She must be a very special person," Tifa said with discomfit in her tone. Cloud looked up just to catch the strange look on her face before she turned away.
"What do you mean?" Cloud eyed her peculiarly.
Tifa shrugged, "You were smiling," was all she said.
Cloud frowned, opening his mouth to say something but closed it a moment later, not really sure what to say, "I better go," Tifa didn't respond or turn around. As he reached he door, he decided to add one more thing, "And his name is Harry."
Cloud couldn't hold back the small grin when he heard the sound of glass shattering.
-
Cloud smiled sheepishly when he found Harry leaning against the bar at Seventh Heaven, an eyebrow quirked at him. Apparently, it was a lot harder to sneak past Harry when he wasn't brooding.
"Aeris was worried about you," Harry added drily.
"I told her I was fine," Cloud protested weakly.
Harry sighed, "I know I haven't been the most... agreeable these last couple of days but-"
"It's okay, Harry," in his peripheral, he saw Tifa's head shoot up immediately, "You don't need to explain yourself. I understand. I just... I know it's not much but I wanted to pay you back somehow."
Regret welled up inside Cloud when he realised he was cause of the sad smile on Harry's face, "You don't need to pay me back you know."
"I know," Cloud said, shrugging but didn't agree. Harry noticed that and looked up at him in amusement, "Anyway, did you come all this way just to scold me?" the blonde teased, nudging Harry softly on the shoulder.
Harry rolled his eyes but grinned, "No, I just wanted to see the look on your face when I caught you and I must admit, it was worth all that sneaking around to see it."
Cloud snorted.
"Um..." The two males turned to look at her simultaneously, making her twitch slightly, "So, you're Harry?"
The raven-haired teen blinked and nodded.
Silence.
Harry flicked his gaze to Cloud in confusion but the blonde just shrugged. He didn't know what was wrong with her either.
"Cloud," Tifa finally spoke up after cleaning several more glasses, "Can I speak to you for a moment?"
"Privately," she added when Harry didn't move.
Cloud immediately raised his hand and placed it on Harry's shoulder, earning him a look from the shorter male that he ignored, "Whatever you want to say to me, you can say to Harry too. I'd tell him afterwards anyway," he said with an unconcerned shrug.
Tifa seemed to argue with herself but eventually came to the conclusion that she might not get to speak to Cloud again if she didn't take this chance, "Listen, Cloud..." she began, eyes flickering to the hand on Harry's shoulder constantly, "I'm asking you... please join us."
Cloud felt Harry tense beneath his fingers but answered before he could say anything, "Sorry, Tifa," he shook his head.
"The planet is dying," she hedged on, "Slowly but surely it's dying. Someone has to do something."
"So let Barret and his buddies do something about it," he shrugged, completely unconcerned, "It's got nothing to do with me." It's not that I really don't care... he thought, his gaze turning slightly towards the small male beside him, there's just... something else I'm more worried about...
"So?!" Tifa suddenly shouted angrily, "You're really just going to leave?! You're going to just walk right out, ignoring your childhood friend?!"
Both of Harry's eyebrows rose at statement, making Cloud grimace, "That's not-"
"You forgot the promise too," Tifa said sadly.
"Promise?" Harry spoke up softly, his curiosity getting the better of him.
The brunette ignored him however, rather stared at the blonde imploringly. Cloud looked away; he did remember that promise... seven years ago... but it was different now. Now there was Harry.
"So you did forget," Tifa said, deflating visibly. Cloud pushed back his flinch when Harry looked up at him with a small frown.
"I didn't forgot," Cloud protested almost vehemently, though it was quite obvious he had directed that at Harry much more than at Tifa, "I'm not a hero or famous. I can't keep that promise."
"But you got your childhood dream didn't you?" Tifa argued, "You joined SOLDIER. So come on! You've got to keep your promise-"
"Yo, Cloud and that green-eyed punk!" Barret suddenly shouted from below, "Mission time! Head for the station first. Our next target's sector 5! I'll fill you in on the rest on the train so get going!"
Cloud blinked at Harry, "You're coming too?" he asked, though he supposed he shouldn't have been surprised.
Harry nodded, "You didn't think I'd let you go without me did you?"
Cloud smiled, "Right then. What are we waiting for?" with a sudden burst of courage, he reached out and clasped Harry's hand in his own, "Let's mosey!"
"Let's mosey?" Harry laughed as he let the taller male tug him out of the bar.
Leaving behind the tall, busty brunette; silently fuming at being ignored once again.
-
"You say sumthin'?" Barret shouted, gun arm waving around threateningly, "I said 'you say sumthin'?! Yo, would you look at that! It got empty alluva sudden!"
Cloud eyed the gunman's surprise in disbelief; it was pretty obvious why it got empty so sudden. He shook his head lightly as Barret harassed one of the passengers, turning his gaze speculatively at Harry and Jessie, "What are you looking at?" he asked, trying to peek past their semi-huddled forms.
"Oh, Cloud!" Jessie jumped, her face flushed red, "I'm just showing Harry the Railway Map Monitor."
Cloud nodded, recognising it from the last time they took this train.
"You know a lot about this kind of stuff," Harry commented as he stared with mild fascination at the screen.
Cloud's eyes narrowed slightly when the blush of Jessie's face deepened, jaw clenching when she leaned closer to the raven-haired male. Harry didn't seem to notice. "Yeah, I really like this kind of stuff. Bombs and monitors... you know, flashy stuff."
Suddenly, the alarm went off, a red emergency light flashing above them.
Type A Security Alert!! Unidentified passengers confirmed… A search of all cars will be conducted! Repeat!! Type A Security Alert!! Unidentified passengers confirmed… A search of all cars will be conducted!
"What's goin' on?!" Barret looked around wildly.
"Oh no!" Jessie paled, "It must've... We've got to get to the next car!"
-
The group of four glared angrily as the President of Shinra got in and took off in a helicopter, leaving them with the strangely shaped 'techno-soldier'.
"Yo, Cloud!" Barret shouted from beside Cloud, "We've gotta do somethin' 'bout him!"
"Help Cloud!" Tifa cried from the other side of the airbuster, "Is this from SOLDIER?"
Beside her, Harry rolled his eyes, "It's just a machine."
"I don't care what it is!" Barret growled, "I'm gonna bust it up!"
As one, they charged forward from both sides. Cloud and Barret were quick to hammer into it with Tifa throwing in an occasional cure. Harry on the other hand, stood a ways back, flinging one lightning spell after another, dealing mounds of damage. They continued like this for quite a while before finally, something changed.
The airbuster shook wildly and then without warning, it exploded. Chunks of the bridge fell into the glowing mako beneath them. The bridge shook and crumbled some more.
To Cloud's horror, the bridge fell apart beneath Harry's feet. Emerald eyes looked at him fearfully as he lunged forward, desperate save him. But it was too late.
And Harry fell into the glowing mako beneath them.
"Harry!"
chapter 1 fin
(btw... this chapter is subject to change... it's 2AM in the morning now so I might end up disagreeing with myself in the morning when I reread this lol I thought of posting it later but meh...)
A.N. Er... I ended with a cliffy... oops? 0:3 And, yes I realise when Cloud fell in the game, he landed in Aeris' church... for the sake of this fanfic, let's just say there was only mako below like it should've been anyway... And finally, I have only one more thing to say: review and you will receive :P
