On Edge
Disclaimer: Still not mine. See Previous Chs for all variations on the "do not own, just playing with other people's toys" theme.
Note: Yes, it has been a bit of a wait. I realize. Real Life does that, and even when I have time, inspiration likes to be a sodding tease, flirting for a while, then skipping out on me last minute, even though we have a previously planned date night. Siiiigh.
... ... ...
Somewhere, Over the Lifestream
Harry stared, nonplussed as the pretty woman with that damn pink ribbon leaned against the blonde behemoth lurking in the doorway. Only the slight tilt of the straw-topped head betrayed that he too could hear her, if not see her, like Harry could. Well. At least he knew that he was not, in fact, crazy.
Of course, the fact that he was actively in communication with two invisible people wasn't particularly heartening, but at least he would know he wasn't crazy. Right. Harry wasn't convinced that would be good enough if Remus caught wind of his little...issue. The man would probably bundle him up and tuck him away in a tower like a princess for his own protection, guard dragon and all.
Harry's eyes narrowed slightly at the blonde as his face shifted subtly in response to whatever Ribbon Girl was saying, but...
It was weird...the man seemed to almost talk to her without talking to her? It was hard to articulate exactly what he was seeing without being privy to what was going on in blondie's head, but Harry had a feeling that that was exactly what the man was doing. Speaking, without the blonde man having to say a word.
"I promise."
His eyes narrowed in on blondie again as he mumbled, eyes fixed on his forehead without really seeing him...what, exactly, was up with the blonde feather-head, anyway? He sure hoped it wasn't anything that'd give him a head-ache later, because the current situation was head-ache inducing enough already. His stomach grumbled at him, reminding him he'd yet to finish eating and should get on that, pronto.
Harry turned back to his stew with a sigh, slowly scooping up the last spoonfuls of the deliciously thick broth and swallowing it. God, but that was good. He had no clue what that was even called, or what some of those vegetables had been, but he wasn't going to judge, not even if they were withered mandrake feet, or sommat. Anything that good deserved a pass, regardless of ingredients.
He startled as the brunette, "Teefah," hustled over to the blonde, tugging him away from the doorway to whisper frantically at him, all the while waving her arms, and casting worried frowns in he and Remus' direction. He tried not to snerk when the brunette accidentally whacked the blonde in the face with her dripping soup spoon, but it was a near thing.
Feather Head's squawk of indignation and sputtering as he cleaned his face reminded Harry very much of one of Mrs. Weasley's chickens in a snit, and...well, with that bird hair, it was all too easy for him to imagine the behemoth as an overgrown bird. It probably wasn't as funny as he thought it was, but stress seemed to have the odd effect in inducing hilarity in him, it seemed, so he went with it. Harry coughed lightly into his fist, biting back a snicker as "Teefah" started clucking, for lack of a better word, at the fussing blonde.
He had to look away before he lost it. Harry lifted his eyes to meet Remus', and met a matching grin. Seems like he wasn't the only one holding back his laughter out of politeness. After a moment, they both had to look away, or risk bursting out into inappropriate laughter. He took a breath, two, and let his mind focus on the low, serious tones of "Teefah" and "Feather Head." That did the trick, sure enough.
Harry knee jerked, bouncing anxiously as he waited for whatever whispered debate the two were having to be over. He glanced at the two out of the corner of his eye, meeting pained, sympathetic brown of the kind brunette, and jerked his gaze away. Harry shifted, uncomfortably aware of the flush spreading up his neck and across his face. Well, that was awkward. He felt like a prat already without having been caught trying to eavesdrop.
"You think we're ever getting out of here?"
Remus looked up, startled. "What d'you mean?"
Harry was vaguely aware of the blonde in the doorway raising his hand to cut off the brunette, his expression shifting to confused concentration.
"Well, Corporate Lackeys 1 and 2 have been giving us the same look Uncle Vernon used to give me for breathing, and all this staring...well, I've been stared at a lot, and this doesn't feel like the friendly kind of staring."
"Hm. You suppose we could run for it?"
Harry shrugged, his expression dubious as it landed on the hovering redhead. "You saw how Red took to the stairs. You honestly think either of us is in any condition to outrun him?"
Remus grimaced.
"Ah, excuse...excuse me. You don't have to...fuck, but I'm rusty at this...you don't have to worry. We aren't going to hurt you."
Harry was sure he wasn't the only one staring, astonished, at the blonde. A quick glance at Remus, Red, and "Teefah" confirmed this. They were all looking at Feather Head like he'd sprouted wings, or another head. The man squawked...again...when "Teefah" and Red dragged him away from where he'd stepped into the kitchen and began whisper-shouting at him. Were he not so dumbfounded, Harry was sure the man's henpecked look would have amused him more than his imitation of a ruffled chicken.
"Whatever the hell you said sure did the trick." Red patted Feather Head a little too hard on the back, and the man shoved the redhead away in retaliation.
"But I didn't SAY anything, really—"
"Cloud? What was that? What did you say?" Blondie gave the brunette woman an annoyed look for interrupting, which he directed at Red as he opened his mouth a moment later.
"I didn't say anything, really. I just told them that they don't have to worry, because we weren't going to hurt them."
"'S that what they looked so worried about, yo?"
"Yeah. They seemed to think they'd need to make a quick escape," the blonde looked at Red pointedly, "can't imagine why, with the way you've been looking at them."
The brunette frowned. "Cloud...how? How can you understand them? Is it...is it because of Them?"
Feather Head shook his head, his eyes distant. "No. It's...I don't know how you were raised, Tifa, but my mother...that entire side of the family was from the Nibel mountains. Even after ShinRa took over, and everyone started speaking Common, she still spoke Nibel." He shrugged. "It made it hard for her to get work, but I didn't mind translating for her, when I could. Anyway, those two," Harry blinked when the blonde nodded in his and Remus' direction, briefly meeting his eyes, "are speaking some really bizarre dialect of Nibel. It's old..."
"How old?"
"... really old. Had I not grown up hearing it, I probably wouldn't have recognized it."
"I didn't speak it much, which is probably why I didn't notice..." "Teefah" met Blondie's eyes and shared a nod.
"Exactly."
Red rolled his eyes, looking bored with Feather Head's rambling. "Not that it's not impressive to see that you can manage to string together more than a sentence at a time—"
"Screw you."
"—I think we should be focusing on the fact that we can finally figure out where these two came from, cause they sure didn't walk here from Nibelheim."
Blondie frowned, and Harry exchanged another look with Remus. The man looked seconds away from jumping in front of him to shield him with his body. Harry frowned, shaking his head, and the man settled back. He didn't want to assume they were going to be attacked, because if they jumped the gun, they were outnumbered, with no wands to back them up.
Harry sank back into his chair as the blonde entered the kitchen again and approached them. Merlin's hairy, saggy scrote, but the man was big. He'd looked big enough taking up half the door frame of the kitchen, but now...fuck. Hilariously cowlicked blonde hair aside, he was built like a powerhouse. He wasn't quite the juggernaut the perhaps-not-imaginary bloke with blue eyes and dimples was, but he was no waif. Broad shoulders, with biceps the size of Harry's sodding thighs (the giant was standing close enough to confirm this was so), and a frame that looked to be pure muscle loomed above him.
He was very, very grateful he'd stopped Remus from lunging. Feather Head looked like he could shatter Remus' bones, not to mention his, without even moving. It would be like trying to beat up a cement block.
Harry met Blondie's glowing eyes, the same dazzling shade as the hallucinatory man's. "Er, hello?"
The blonde's mouth twitched in a smile. Harry had a feeling he didn't do much smiling. "Hello," he seemed to stammer awkwardly, like someone trying to speak a foreign language for the first time in years. For all Harry knew, that could be the case, "I...I'm Cloud Strife. Your name is what, please?"
"Ah...Harry. Potter. That's Remus Lupin. He is—well, he was my Professor."
The guy, Cloud, tossed a pained look back at Red, who seemed to be egging him on with a shit-eating grin. He sighed, rubbed at his forehead, then spoke again. "Where...fuck, this is awkward...where in Nibelheim do you hail from?"
"Er, nowhere? I—We're from England."
Cloud blinked at him, absolutely zero fucking recognition on his face. That...wasn't reassuring, at all. Even ignoring the fact that English seemed like some obscure as toad's balls soup language, England should have been pretty recognizable as a country, right?
Well, that is, unless his suspicions were true, and they truly were in some unknown country, planet, whatever, beyond the Veil.
Harry watched Cloud wave off the redhead, who looked like he wanted to try and pry his way into the already awkward exchange. "I have not heard of this England. Is it on the Western Continent?"
He felt Remus start next to him, and glanced over at his former professor. The man looked pale, and drawn. Well, Harry might not be a genius of Hermione's caliber, but he knew enough to know that even counting the countries and micronations hidden by magic, there was no such place as a 'Western' Continent on Earth, which meant they were truly fucked. Harry slumped back into the chair and covered his eyes. He didn't move as he heard Remus' gruff tones take over the conversation, because he was just...just too...too something, too drained, too angry to say much more.
God, but he wanted to go home. He hoped Sirius could forgive him for thinking it, but he wished he had never stepped through that Veil and dragged he and Remus into this.
"Is the boy in good health?"
Red snorted, and Cloud snarled. "Fuck you, Reno. I haven't spoken Nibel since I was 13. This is bad enough without you butting in."
"The boy's name is Harry, and yes, he should be fine, he's just overwhelmed, as am I. Look, I don't know what to tell you. Where we were, there was this place...an arch, with a Veil that wasn't solid, or liquid, or smoke, and lots of glowing Green beyond. We fell through it, and just woke up...here. Well, not here, per se, but in a little ruined church, a few hours' walk from here."
"'Green'?"
"Yeah, kind of...it was like the Veil, not really smoke, or liquid, or solid, but I could feel it move around me, through me. It was like fireflies, and starlight, but really green...kind of like Harry's eyes."
He tilted his head, curious, as Cloud, sounding surprised, spoke to the two listening in, "They were in the Lifestream; That's how they got here."
Harry heard Red and the kind brunette startle, and peeked through his hands to take in three pale, drawn faces. "This...church. How did it look to you?"
Eyes darted across his ex-Professor's face, taking in the pretty flush and the warmth in his eyes. "It was...beautiful, and sad. It was mostly ruined, but there was grass and beautiful daylilies growing up through the cracks in the floorboards."
. . .
Harry stifled a sigh, arms buried up to his elbow in suds as he scrubbed at the bowls, and spoons, and ladles, and pans that had been spread across the small kitchen counter. Remus leaned against the scrubbed counters, absently drying the dishes. Honestly, it was the least they could do for Tifa and Cloud, after the two had waved off their offer to pay back the food, insisting that it was fine.
"Do you think we should? Stay here, I mean?"
Remus shrugged. "I'm not exactly comfortable staying here for free, but we don't exactly have many options, right now."
Harry grimaced. Years of suffering the Dursleys telling him he was a burden made him terribly uncomfortable with the idea of freeloading off a pair of generous strangers.
Remus' gaze was distant as he absently dried yet another soup spoon. "Still, I offered to help Tifa man her bar, and you could continue to help in the kitchen, tidy up, til I can find some work that would let us find someplace else to stay."
His shoulders loosened, and he felt a smile flicker to life across his face. That he could definitely manage, especially since Tifa didn't seem the sort to withhold food or water from him, if he took too long to finish his chores.
"I suppose it wouldn't be too bad, til we—" Remus gave him a stern look, and Harry rolled his eyes, "you found a job, but..."
"But what, cub?"
"What are you going to do about your, erm...furry little problem?" Remus snorted, and Harry tossed him an indignant look.
"Well, I like that. I show some concern, and you laugh at me. Git."
Harry ducked, squawking, as Remus ruffled his hair with the damp, sudsy dish towel. "I wasn't laughing, Harry, really. You just...god, you reminded me of James when you said that."
"Yeah?"
Remus nodded. "Yeah, he called it my 'furry little problem,' too...well, that, or my 'time of the month,' if he thought he was being clever."
Harry smiled, briefly, nudging Remus with his shoulder, his arms still buried in hot water. "Still, though...what are you going to do?"
"That depends."
"...on?"
"On how my curse reacts, here."
Harry glanced up, startled. "What d'you mean?"
"Well, we don't really know where we are, do we? We have no wands, so have no real way of telling if magic even exists here, let alone works in the same way. I'll find someplace to tuck away, just to be sure, but...I'm not betting on it being a normal transformation."
Harry turned away, frowning down into the murky dish water. He had been trying not to consider that, the fact that his ability to harness magic may be truly and irrevocably gone. For so long, it was his refuge, the thing that got him away from his dull, painful life with his family. To think that his magic might be lost to him...worse, just nonexistant...here hurt him deeply. It was kind of like The Wizard of Oz, in reverse. He felt like he'd flown out of Oz, with all its color and wonder, and awoken to find himself in the dreary monochrome of Kansas...well, Edge, in this case.
"...Merlin, Sirius must be going spare in this place."
Remus frowned, his shoulders slumping. "Yeah, I suppose he would be. It's not the same for me, since I don't have a choice about my transformations, but Sirius...James used to joke he should just stay a dog, with how often he shifted between forms. Honestly, I think it was easier for him to deal with everything as a dog. Well, that and—" Harry was intrigued by Remus's blush.
He stared, wide-eyed, at the man's bright red face. "What?"
The man cleared his throat, eyes shifting away from Harry's as he busily dried a bowl. "Well, it used to be a joke between James, Sirius and I that he, er, the reason he stayed a dog so often was because he could get away with licking his...ahem, well, licking in public."
Harry snorted, a startled chortle echoing in the kitchen. "No, really?"
"Yes. The first time James caught him at it, well let's just say he invented a new shade of Mortified Red that day."
Harry snickered, smiling at Remus' happy expression. He sighed. "We'll find him, Moony. Really. Even if I have to go looking for him on foot, we will. We can put up missing signs with my terrible drawings on them, and everything."
He didn't resist the tug when Remus pulled him into his side, hugging him. Harry buried his face briefly into the grotty sweatshirt and tried not to breathe in the acidic smell of the drying gunk. Remus ruffled his hair, sneering mockingly at the mess the flaking goo left on his hand. Harry laughed, shrugging.
Remus sighed, sounding very much like Molly Weasley, as he pulled him away from the sink and shoved him toward the door. "Go, shower. I'll finish up here then get cleaned up." He raised his hand before Harry could object, "There's no need for both of us to be miserably dirty when there's an empty shower. Go."
[end]
A few notes:
On Old Nibel/English to Common Translation: I see the native language of the people of Nibelheim/The Nibel Mountains as very Norse and Germanic in root, and since English has similar roots, there might be a bit of a cross-over. Since Cloud hasn't spoken it for a long, long time, his grammar might be a little rusty, hence his awkward sentence structure. I know this is a stretch, but I do have tentative plans to explain the connection between Earth/Gaia to make this explanation work.
Sirius and Licking: Sirius was an enthusiastic flirt/"Ladies' Man" and could transform into an Irish Wolf Hound. He is quite literally a horn-dog, so I don't find this much of a stretch...also, it made me laugh.
