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

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

A/N: Oh, I suppose I should tell you lot that this fic is finished. So I update when I feel like it. (And, of course, the more reviews, the more inclined I am to update quickly. XD)
Yes, I'm a review whore.

-0-
The Broken Town
-0-

Harry managed a quick trip back to Cary's temple to tell her he wasn't mad at her, just... distressed by the news. She'd accepted his apology and cheerfully sent him on his way, excited by having a summoner again soon.

Harry had to put on quite a bit of speed to get back to Luca by the time they'd planned to meet, and still ended up running a little later than he'd intended. "Sorry!" he called, hopping down the last staircase and grinning at where Kimahri was scowling at him. "Bit further than I'd remembered it being."

"You're back!" Yuna said happily from where she was leaning against the railing over the city with Tidus. The boy grinned at him, though something in his eyes said he'd had a hard night of it.

Harry looked over at Lulu and Wakka, only to see a rather impressive man in red. He slid over, smiling winningly, and extended his hand. "I'm Harry. You are?"

"Auron," the man replied shortly. "You're the missing guardian."

Harry just smiled a bit more, then paused and looked carefully at Lulu, who rose an eyebrow at him. "Hey, lovely Lulu, is it okay if I hit on him?"

Lulu closed her eyes, looking like she was asking for patience, while Tidus and Yuna let out similar squeaks and Wakka moaned.

Harry grinned back at Auron, who looked rather wary. "I can already tell we're going to get along great," he decided.

"Harry," Tidus complained, coming over with a red-faced Yuna, "please don't do that. I think you broke my brain."

Harry blinked at him. "Yeah? How'd I manage that?"

"He's like, thirty!"

Harry blinked again, then snickered and kissed Tidus on the forehead, much to the boy's utter horror. "You're so cute!"

Lulu sighed and grabbed Harry's ear. "Behave," she ordered.

Harry tried his best innocent look. "Yes'm."

"Now, what were you up to last night?" she asked.

"Oh!" Harry perked up again, grinning madly. "So, there's a temple that's a bit off the beaten path, as it were. It was in a town called Junon which was destroyed shortly after the Machina Wars by Sin. Some Zanarkand survivors lived there after helping rebuild the original Junon when one of Bevelle's test missile's brew it up. KABOOM!"

"Forbidden machina," Wakka said wisely.

"So, if Sin destroyed the city, how is the temple still standing?" Tidus asked, clearly remembering the destruction of Kilika.

Harry shrugged. "I didn't say it was still standing," he pointed out, "I just said it was there." He looked at Yuna. "The fayth is still active and seemed rather desperate for a summoner to come and request her help. I do believe that the last summoner to ever use her was Lady Yunalesca."

"How difficult is it to get into this temple?" Lulu asked while Yuna exclaimed over the idea of having something in common with her namesake.

Harry sighed. "Very. The Cloister is so damaged, you wouldn't be able to run it, however, all the doors are locked open, so we can still get through that way. The room outside the Fayth's Chamber is... Well, I'd suggest no more than three people go in there, or the floor may very well collapse. But the Fayth's Chamber survived the attack very well. It's probably the most intact part of the entire city."

"How far is it?" Auron asked.

Harry pulled out a map he'd bought during his time in Luca before the game and pointed to his old home. "This is Junon. It's probably a day's trip out of the way, but I very much suggest making the stop, and not just because the fayth is going mad." He grinned. "Carbuncle is probably one of the most useful aeons, because she can cast protect and shell over the whole party without using the summoner's magic. Excellent for going into a dangerous situation, and even better for us because no one in this party knows those spells yet."

"Not even you?" Tidus asked him.

Harry shrugged. "I was more concerned with learning to heal myself and fry my enemies to worry about covering myself with a protection spell. Anyway, if you can move fast enough, the spell is practically useless, but neither the lovely Lulu nor Yuna are particularly fast, and while you and Wakka are faster than the girls, you're still not quite fast enough against the fiends we're coming up on. Kimahri's going to handle much better, I think, and Sexy Red behind me looks like he'll be good too." He grinned over his shoulder at Auron, receiving a frown in return. "Aw, you're no fun."

"No, really. Harry, please stop talking about him like that," Tidus requested. "He practically brought me up after my old man disappeared."

"Ah. So it's like thinking about your parents in bed. Got it." He ducked a big blue fist aimed at his head and turned to stare at Kimahri. "What did I do this time?!"

"Harry shouldn't speak so crudely."

Harry huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Big blue meanie," he complained, then turned to Yuna with a grin. "So, wanna go get Carbuncle?"

Yuna glanced questioningly at Auron, then at Lulu and Kimahri. When they nodded, she smiled at Harry and said, "Yeah."

Harry rolled his eyes, but still took the lead up the stairs and turned again towards his old home.

-0-0-0-

"How much farther?" Yuna complained.

Harry blinked back at the party. Yuna looked exhausted, with Tidus, Wakka and Lulu not looking much better. Auron and Kimahri were both more used to forging your own path through overgrown grass and weeds, so they were holding up better. "Ah..." He looked back ahead and grinned, then pointed. "See that hill?"

Yuna nodded. "Yeah."

"Just on the other side. Enough of the residences near the hill are far enough from the water that Sin only did minor damage to them, so we can probably camp out there. Think you'll make it that far?" He looked worriedly back over the party. He often forgot how quickly humans could tire.

Yuna blinked at the hill and nodded. "I think so. But could we take a break first?"

Harry glanced up at the other older guardians. Auron looked resigned and Kimahri nodded at Yuna's plea. "Okay. We'll take an hour's rest here, then plough on, okay? I want to get safely into the ruins before nightfall, though."

Yuna fell to the ground happily and nodded to Harry's order. The other three joined her on the ground, all looking pleased to be resting.

Harry sighed and shook his head. He was restless, especially with the enforced break.

Auron came up next to him. "How are you with those swords?" he asked, nodding at the twin katanas Harry had strapped to his back under the sword he'd been again using to show Tidus a few new tricks. Auron had looked rather impressed with the tutoring, especially once he'd seen how far the teen had advanced in only a few days.

Harry blinked. "Okay, I suppose," he allowed.

"Show me," Auron ordered, taking out his own giant sword.

Harry eyed the sword for a long moment, considering its weaknesses and how best to use his two swords against it, then nodded and handed his extra sword to their watching audience before pulling the two swords out.

Auron was good. Harry had already figured that out on the road there, but the man still wasn't quite in Harry's league. (Then again, Harry hadn't been able to find someone in his league for a couple thousand years.) Harry, however, was impressed by Auron's ability to handle the two swords, as most swordsmen weren't able to stand against it.

Eventually, Harry managed to get one of his blades against Auron's throat and grinned at him. Feeling daring, he leaned forward and kissed the other man on the lips, then skipped back out of the way of the sword swipe that followed, cackling madly.

From the cheering coming from the younger guardians, Harry had a feeling that none of them had seen the kiss, which worked out all the better, since it meant Lulu wouldn't grab his ear again or, Merlin forbid, set his back on fire.

"We should continue," Auron decided, putting his sword away.

Harry nodded and put his own swords away. "Agreed. If we wait much longer, we'll be picking through rubble in the dark." He took the extra sword from Tidus and they started off again without any real complaint from the younger journeyers.

When they reached the top of the hill, everyone paused to take in the sight. "Sin did all this?" Tidus whispered.

"Almost four thousand people lived here," Harry said tightly. "And now they're all gone." He started down the hill, frowning. The others followed him without a word and they managed to find a building in okay condition at the foot of the hill. They all hurried in and found rooms they could sleep in, then sat together around the fire Harry built in the fireplace and ate an easy meal.

"How do you know about this city?" Yuna asked curiously. "If no one's been to the temple since Lady Yunalesca, how would you know it was here?"

Harry sighed. "One of my ancestors lived in this city before Sin. He loved it." He smiled sadly. "We managed to save some of his writings and spheres through the ages, so I knew there was a temple, just not what had become of the city."

"Oh," Yuna said. "I'm surprised no one's tried to come back into the ruins, though."

"I would assume they didn't think there was anything useful." He debated a moment, then pulled his old sphere out of a pocket. "I found this in what was supposed to be my ancestor's house." He hit the play button and it crackled to life, showing his family.

"That's Lady Yunalesca!" Yuna gasped.

Harry nodded. "Her father and my ancestor were friends, according to his writings. He was originally from Zanarkand, but came down here with some of the people who wanted freedom from the wars. He settled here in Junon after he helped rebuild it." He snapped the sphere off and put it back in a pocket.

"Wow..." Yuna smiled. "I wonder what it was like, back then."

"I imagine it was pretty bloody," Harry said drily.

Lulu coughed. "Perhaps it's time we all turned in?" she suggested.

"That's a good idea," Wakka agreed, getting quickly to his feet.

Harry nodded absently and continued gazing into the fire. Lulu got between him and the fire, making him look up at her curiously. "You too, Harry."

He smiled at her. "I'll go to bed later. I'm not tired yet."

Lulu sighed and nodded, then left the main room.

Harry leaned back in his chair and snapped his sphere back on, watching his family as he thought. He hadn't had time to truly look over what was left in his old house the night before, and he sort of wanted to see what else was left.

Harry snapped off the sphere after it had started replaying for the third time and put it back in his pocket as he stood. He wandered back out into the city and carefully made his way through the ruins to his old home. He slipped inside and smiled fondly at the couch, then set about looting the place.

He managed to make it upstairs without too much trouble and found a few more spheres as well as some half-rotted pictures of his son that he'd taken while the boy was growing up. Harry smiled fondly at them before gathering them to throw in the fireplace downstairs.

He also found some of his old clothing which was so far gone, he wasn't sure even magic could save them. There was also some old baby clothing from when his son was small enough to wear it, and he laughed fondly at the little booties. James had always blushed a few shades when Harry had teased him about how small he'd once been, especially since James had been almost a head taller than Harry when he left, and had supposedly grown some more while he was in Zanarkand, if Yu was to be believed.

Harry eventually started a fire with the older stuff that he had no chance of saving, then went into the closet in the kitchen that'd he'd resized and put protection spells over. Inside were the few things he'd managed to save from his old world, including the bottomless bag Hermione had brought with them during their Horcrux hunt and a well-loved picture of the whole Weasley family, Hermione holding a baby Rose in her lap.

There were also some of his old school books and the Deathly Hallows, all of which he'd kept. In retrospect, that had probably helped keep him alive, above and beyond his vampirism.

Harry was just about to start moving the old items as well as the spheres he'd found upstairs into the bag when he heard a creaking sound in the front room.

Harry pulled out one of his guns and crept back to where the living room and the kitchen met. There, he closed his eyes and mentally pictured the room, as well as where the intruder would be. Having figured it out, he turned out into the living room, gun pointed at Auron's head.

The two froze for a long moment, both staring at each other, before Harry growled and put his gun away. "Fucking hell, Auron. Don't scare me like that!"

Auron just shrugged. "I'd wondered where you'd gotten to. Saw the smoke from the chimney and decided to come see."

Harry huffed. "You're lucky you didn't break your neck out there," he snapped, waving past the other man to the streets outside.

"You haven't seemed to," Auron commented. When Harry snorted and turned away, Auron added, "I find it interesting that you were even able to find this house, considering all the street markers seem to be gone, and some of the buildings have fallen over the streets."

Harry cocked an eyebrow at him. "What, you think I'm lying?"

"Yes," Auron agreed simply.

Harry shrugged. "Feel free to tell me the truth, then," he suggested, then moved back into the kitchen to finish packing his old things.

Auron followed him. "I have no explanation," he replied.

"Well, I won't be telling you anything," Harry commented. "All you need to know is that I intend to protect Yuna, and that should be enough for you." He shoved the spheres in the little bag, followed by the Hallows and his picture. He was just debating about whether or not to bring his old school books when Auron reached over and grabbed the bag. "Hey!"

"This is unusual," Auron commented, looking the bag over. "How much stuff can you fit in here?"

"I wouldn't know, I never bothered trying to figure it out," Harry replied. "Now if you'll kindly give it back..."

Auron pulled out Harry's picture and his words trailed off. "Who's this?"

"My family," Harry said tightly. "Put it back."

Auron shrugged and looked it over. "You don't look related."

Harry closed his eyes. "Auron, if you don't put that back, I won't be held accountable for what I do to you."

"Who are you?" Auron requested, putting the picture back. "And what is all that stuff? I've never seen anything quite like those..." He trailed off, frowning at the books in the closet.

Harry slammed the closet door closed. "They're called books. School books, to be more specific. They're from before World War Three, before half the land masses of this world sunk and the polar icecaps melted."

Auron blinked. "Right. And you are?"

"You already know who I am," Harry snapped. "Give me my bag, Auron!"

Auron eyed him, then tossed him the bag. "Alright then, what are you?"

Harry tied the bag to his belt, considering the man. "I'm a vampire," he finally admitted. "Immortal."

Auron's eyes widened. "Immortal?"

Harry shrugged. "Nothing's killed me yet," he commented, "and I've been around for a few thousand years." He smiled bitterly. "I've been shot, stabbed, lost my arms, burned at the stake, thrown from a couple thousand feet in the air..." He shrugged. "Legend says my kind can be killed by fire or a stake through the heart. I've managed to avoid the latter, but the former clearly didn't work."

"Are there others? Vampires?" Auron asked.

Harry snorted. "No. The others are dead. Killed in World War Three. Are you done questioning me?"

"Not..." Auron frowned. "What's the catch? Immortality always has a catch."

Harry blinked at him in surprise, then smiled. "Clever, yes, I really do like you."

Auron narrowed his eyes.

Harry chuckled. "I have to drink blood every few days." He eyed the man. "Would you care to be my donor?" he practically purred, stepping closer to the other man.

Auron frowned and shook his head. "I doubt you'd get much from me."

Harry blinked. "No? You think you'll cut me up, first?"

"No, I'm dead."

Harry blinked again. "Ooh... Never tried drinking from a dead guy before!" he said with a mad smile, then remembered drinking from the fiend and paused. "Oh, wait, no. You'll probably give me cramps, assuming there is, as you said, any blood in you." He huffed. "Damnit. You ruined all my fun."

Auron rose an eyebrow at him. "Will you stop trying to have sex with me now?" he asked.

"Are you kidding?! You're the most fun I've have in hundreds of years! In Zanarkand, Yu would have murdered me if he found out I came on to anyone."

"I'm surprised that stopped you," Auron replied.

Harry huffed. "Yu knew what to threaten me with, you don't." He waved it off. "And, in answer to your question, no, I don't intend to stop hitting on you. Like I said, you're fun, and it's entertaining watching Tidus freak out. On the other hand, sex with a dead guy sounds a bit off, so you're safe there."

Auron frowned. "Wonderful."

Harry grinned madly. "Oh, yes, isn't it?" Then he looked around his house and sighed. "I suppose we should go back before one of the others decides to come looking for me, too."

Auron nodded and they walked back out into the streets, Harry waving the fire out. "That sphere," Auron said. "That was your family?"

Harry sighed and lightly touched the bag at his side where the sphere was. "My son and his wife, and my adopted niece, Yunalesca, and her boyfriend, Zaon. The sphere came on the last boat down here before Yu called them all back to keep Bevelle from realising some of our people had escaped the slaughter."

"Yunalesca eventually married Zaon," Auron said.

Harry's eyes lit up. "She did? Oh, wonderful! Yu would have killed them, if he'd ever known." Harry felt his heart fall, recalling how Yunalesca had died. "On second thought, perhaps he did." He sighed. "My poor little lily..."

Auron looked over curiously. "You didn't know?"

Harry shook his head. "I fell asleep just before the end of the Wars, from the sound of things. Only woke up a few days ago."

"You slept for a thousand years," Auron said, deadpan.

Harry grinned at him. "Creepy, isn't it?"

"I would think it would be disorienting."

"Mmmm... That too." Harry stopped just outside the building they were staying in. "Right. You don't tell the living I'm a vampire and I won't tell them you're dead. Understood?"

Auron raised an eyebrow at him. "Yes."

"Hm." Harry walked into the house and went up to bed, quite content to sleep the rest of the mad night away.

-0-0-0-

The next morning, Harry hit on Auron twice, ducked Lulu's attempts to grab his ear, and generally made a nuisance of himself, just because he could.

When they reached the temple, Harry stopped them with a serious look. "The fewer of us that go in, the better," he told them. "Like I said, this place is not in the best of shape."

Auron looked seriously over the party. "Tidus, go with Yuna and Harry." When Kimahri looked like he might disagree, Auron said, "The less weight we put on the floor the better. Tidus and Harry are the lightest, and they're capable of protecting Yuna if they have to."

Harry saluted, then hopped up to the entrance and held a hand down to help Yuna up.

"Harry!" Lulu called. When Harry glanced at her curiously, she gave him a warning look.

Harry saluted her and called, "Yes, ma'am!" then continued helping the two younger members of the party into the temple.

"What was that about?" Yuna asked as they started carefully through the ruined Cloister of Trials. Harry was leading the way, watching for any danger spots, while Tidus watched their backs, in case Harry missed something.

"The lovely Lulu was just reminding me that if I hit on you again she'll flambé me," Harry muttered distractedly.

"Flambé?"

Harry sighed and paused to look back at the girl. "Set me afire."

"She wouldn't really, though, right?" Tidus asked. "She knows you hate fire."

Harry nodded. "All the more effective as a threat," he commented, then held up his hands for a stop. "This is the Chamber. Stay here a moment and let me check to make sure the floor is still stable enough to take all three of us," he ordered, then moved into the room gingerly.

Yuna looked back at Tidus. "He hates fire?" she asked.

"He almost got burned alive once," the boy explained. "He doesn't use it."

Yuna grimaced and looked back towards the entrance.

"Hey, Yuna, does it bother you when he comes on to you?" Tidus asked.

Yuna smiled back at him. "He's only done it once. Well, he kissed my cheek on the Winno, but... no. Not really. Why?"

Tidus sighed. "Shouldn't it bother us, though?"

"Yuna!" Harry called from the other room.

"I don't think so," the girl said to Tidus, then moved into the doorway and looked at where Harry stood on the other side of the floor, which was shot through with cracks. She paused in the doorway. "You're sure this is safe?" she asked, eyes wide.

"That's what I'm trying to find out, but I need Tidus in the doorway behind you to catch you. You'll have to try walking across." Harry sent her an apologetic smile. "I made it, didn't I?"

"I'll be right behind you," Tidus assured her.

"Okay," Yuna said then, taking a deep breath, started across.

The floor held almost the entire way across, but about seven feet from Harry, the floor jerked warningly under Yuna and she gasped just before it caved in.

Harry jumped forward and managed to catch her arm, only just balancing on the edge of the unbroken floor by holding on to a vine that had started creeping down from the ceiling. There were a few such vines, and Harry counted himself extremely lucky this one was here. He didn't much fancy trying to break Yuna's fall without her getting hurt, especially since it would most likely mean dying. Again.

"Okay?" Tidus called from his doorway. He'd started to try and run out to grab Yuna, but the floor was too unstable and a small hole had started forming on his side.

Harry nodded, then looked down at Yuna, who was looking up at him with wide, terrified eyes. "I need you to reach up with your free hand and pull yourself up," he told her.

"But I don't think I–"

"Yuna!" Harry snapped, wincing as his shoulders screamed at the strain. "Sweetheart, I can't do anything but stand here, and Tidus is stuck. You need to try and pull yourself up. I know it's hard, but I'm sure you can do it," he soothed, tightening his grip on her wrist, and feeling her hand against his own wrist tighten in reply.

Yuna closed her eyes and reached her free hand up, trying to grab Harry's arm. She could only reach as far up as her own elbow and let out an angry sound, trying again.

Harry looked over at Tidus, who looked helpless. "Go outside," he told the boy softly. "See if the others can find a rope that hasn't rotted."

"But what about–"

"If we can't get ourselves out of this," Harry said calmly, "we'll need a rope through this hole so you can pull Yuna out. If you can find a rope, I need you to climb onto the roof, which will probably be falling apart as much as this floor, I warn you, and I need you to lower that rope down here so you can use it to lift Yuna out. Can you do that, Tidus?"

Tidus stared at the struggling girl hanging from Harry's arm for a long moment, then nodded and turned to run back outside.

Harry let out a breath of relief.

Yuna looked up at him, terrified. "You don't think this will work," she accused.

Harry grimaced. "I think we need to get you to train up your strength a bit more," he said instead. "How's your shoulder?"

Yuna hissed, suddenly noticing of the sharp pain in the shoulder. "Oh, Yevon..."

Harry nodded. "You pulled it. We'll get you out of here and heal it in no time." He smiled down at her.

"What about you?" she asked. "Are your shoulders okay?"

Harry chuckled drily. "Not in the least, but I can hold you here for a while yet, I should think. I would love to think that I can lift you out of here, but I'm afraid I don't have that kind of strength."

"Lord Harry?" a voice whispered from behind him.

"The fayth," Yuna whispered.

Harry closed his eyes. "I'm a little busy, Cary."

Cary ghosted over to them, eyes wide. "I'm sorry," she said.

Harry shook his head. "No, it's fine," he said. "Can you go up and see if Tidus is coming? Preferably with a rope?"

Cary nodded and floated up through the ceiling.

"They can leave their crystal?" Yuna asked.

"There's only a certain distance from it they can go," Harry replied, "and most don't bother, since people always come to see them anyway, but Cary's been alone here for almost one thousand years. I have a feeling she pokes her head out fairly often."

"That poor girl," Yuna whispered.

Cary floated back down next to them. "Tidus is coming," she said, looking worried. "But, Lord Harry, the vine you're holding on to..."

Harry sighed. "It's about to break, isn't it?" he inquired.

Cary nodded.

Harry smiled bitterly. "Brilliant."

Yuna looked up at him in horror, then down into the dark depths beneath them.

"Cary, grant her Carbuncle," Harry told the fayth.

"But I haven't prayed!" Yuna complained.

"You pilgrimage to get rid of Sin," Cary said. "That beast that destroyed my home. And you'll take me from here, show me Spira again. You don't need to pray to get my help, Lady Yuna." Then she disappeared into the summoner, just as a rope started slipping through the hole.

"You two okay?" Tidus called.

"Fabulous!" Harry called back, watching the rope slide down toward Yuna, who was staring up at him with tears on her face. "You sure took your time!" Harry added to Tidus.

The boy let out a strained laugh. "Yeah, sorry about that! Kimahri had to run back inland to find a good rope!"

"Ah, got to love the Ronso," Harry chuckled, then looked down at Yuna. "Take the rope," he told her.

"But what if you–"

"Yuna, take the rope," Harry said firmly. "I'll be fine. The weight of two of us isn't going to keep this vine from breaking any slower, but it'll take less time if I'm holding on alone. And I'm still braced against the floor." He glanced back to where his feet were only just on the floor.

Yuna took a deep breath and wrapped her free hand around the rope then, slowly let go of Harry and transferred her other hand to it. "Okay."

Once Harry was certain she had a good grip, he let go of her wrist. "Pull her up, Tidus!" Harry called.

The rope started moving up ever so slowly. Just as Yuna reached the top of the roof and was able to start pulling herself up, Harry felt the vine give again and sighed. "Good luck," he murmured just as the vine finished pulling free.

"HARRY!!"

-0-0-0-0-0-

A/N: *insert mad cackle here*

~Bats ^.^x

Next Chapter: The Abyss