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: This chapter's title is what I was originally going to call this fic, but I eventually decided against it for various reasons, one of them being that I was going with the more modern spelling of the word for the actual fic, another being that I thought people might not read it, especially those who abhor Twilight like I do. XD

-0-
Vampyre
-0-

For the first time since he'd started sharing a bedroll with Harry, Tidus woke up with the vampire still next to him. He took a moment to enjoy the unprecedented event, then opened his eyes to smile at Harry.

The smile died on his lips when Tidus realised that Harry was unnaturally pale, even for the vampire. Before Tidus could figure out a reason, green eyes opened and Harry smiled painfully at him. "Morning."

"Wha–" Tidus swallowed. "What's wrong?"

Harry closed his eyes and shrugged. "I'm low on blood."

"Well, then, drink from me!" Tidus said, baring his neck.

But Harry shook his head. "Vampires can't drink from each other." He looked up into horrified blue eyes. "Hit me with Thunder a few times. I'll be okay."

Tidus swallowed again and pulled away so he could do as he'd been told. Once Harry had regained some colour, Tidus asked, "If we can't drink from each other, does that mean we have to find another person who would be willing to donate?"

Harry nodded and pulled himself from the bed. "Yes. I mean, I can probably survive on lightning, but you'll need real blood." He shrugged. "You've got a couple of days, though."

Tidus groaned and fell back against the bed. "Damnit. I had no idea being a vampire was so complicated."

Harry chuckled. "Welcome to the life of the undead." At Tidus' confused frown, Harry said, "Between life and death, but not really either. The people of Old Earth called us the undead."

"Cheerful."

"Rather," Harry agreed, pulling on his pants. "Oh, and a word to the wise: Don't drink blood from a fiend."

Tidus blinked. "Don't?"

Harry nodded. "Did that once. Was sick to my stomach for a week. Just... don't do it."

Tidus nodded. "Right. Don't drink from fiends. I'll keep that in mind. Anything else I shouldn't drink from?"

"Auron," Harry replied. "I haven't tried it, myself, but..."

"Mmm... Yeah, he's kinda dead."

Harry cocked his head at the teen. "He told you, then?"

Tidus blinked and nodded. "Yeah. After the fayth on the mountain. How'd you find out?"

"He told me back in Junon. I think he was hoping I'd stop hitting on him if I knew I couldn't make a meal of him." Harry grinned madly.

Tidus snorted. "You took it as a challenge, didn't you?"

Harry nodded. "But of course. Now! Are you going to get dressed? Or do you plan to lay in bed all day? Because, if so, I think I'll just take these clothes back off, and..."

Tidus jumped out of the bed and went for his boxers. "I'm up!"

Harry chuckled and walked over the the window to look out at the sun that was just starting to peek over the horizon. "Going to be a beautiful day," he murmured, resting his back against the window sill.

Tidus blinked up at him. "What time is it?"

Harry shrugged. "Five? Pretty early, at any rate." He turned his head and seemed to be looking through Tidus for a moment, then focused on the teen. "Auron's up. And... Fred, I think."

Tidus blinked in surprise and tried to hear that, but got nothing. "How did you...?"

Harry grinned and stepped forward to finish snapping Tidus' last suspender in place, making the young vampire blush. "It'll take a few days for your body to finish acclimating to all the changes. Over the next week or so you become a bit more agile and faster on your feet. You'll be able to hear and see things you couldn't have as a human. Your endurance will also be better. By tomorrow, you should be able to keep up with Auron, and the next day you'll probably be able to keep pace with me."

Tidus grinned. "Really?"

Harry nodded. "Really. But, until then, you're still mostly human, just a lot tougher to kill and with the added bonus of needing to drink blood." He poked Tidus in the chest. "Don't do anything heroically stupid, understand?"

Tidus nodded, then, curious, asked, "Only tougher to kill?"

Harry sighed and tugged on one of his sleeves nervously. "Remember how I said a stake through the heart or fire could kill vampires?"

Tidus nodded. "Yeah, but the fire just irritates you."

Harry nodded. "I don't know if that part of the curse will transfer over to you, because I think that has to do with my ownership of a few objects which were said to have the ability to defeat death if all together. They're from Old Earth, and though they haven't always been on my person, they still belong to me." He shrugged. "I'd rather you be careful than test it, personally."

"Okay. I'd rather not try dying, myself," Tidus admitted, then grinned. "Breakfast?"

Harry chuckled and led the way downstairs to the kitchen, when Auron was sharpening his sword. "Expecting trouble?"

"I always expect trouble," Auron replied, then glanced over at Tidus. "You're up early."

Tidus pointed at Harry, who was making them some food. "He threatened me with horrible things if I didn't get up."

Auron looked disbelievingly at Harry. "He's lying."

"Not completely," Harry replied easily. "I did threaten him if he didn't get out of bed, but he was already up."

Auron looked back at Tidus, who was sticking his tongue out at Harry's back. "As I said, you're up early."

"You'll have to tell them eventually," Harry commented.

Tidus huffed and leaned back in his chair. "I'm a vampire."

Auron rose one eyebrow at the boy, then shrugged and went back to sharpening his blade.

"That was anticlimactic," Harry said cheerfully, putting a plate in front of Tidus and sitting next to him with his own food.

Across the table, Auron chuckled.

Tidus just rolled his eyes at the two older guardians and ate.

-0-0-0-

Finding the way to the blitzball stadium turned out to be a lot less trouble then Harry had originally feared. It helped that both Tidus and Auron also knew their way from the East Block to the stadium, and with three pairs of eyes looking, they were able to find the shortest path without the trouble Harry had encountered the night before. As a result, the party reached the stadium just before noon, having only been out in the ruins for about two hours – Wakka had been difficult to wake up.

An older man awaited them when they reached the broken doors of the stadium. He seemed to have eyes only for Yuna, asking her to name herself, but as the summoner was doing so, the old eyes travelled over the group, freezing when he saw Harry. "Lord Harry!" he gasped.

Harry smiled thinly. "Mamoru," he replied.

"You know him?" Yuna asked, looking back at the oldest member of her party.

"Mamoru and his brother, Maechen, were the sons of one of the Masters of History," Harry said softly. "Maechen, we have seen, travels Spira, relating history to curious travellers. Mamoru, however, had never been interested in history, but had, rather, wanted to be a guard of the summoners. Specifically my niece. How curious, Mamoru, that you now spend your afterlife guarding her, as she would never have allowed in life."

Mamoru smiled. "Indeed, my Lord. After the death of Lord Zaon, Lady Yunalesca returned to Zanarkand to help future summoners in their quest to destroy Sin. There were a few of us, then, living among the ruins, and she asked us to help watch over summoners once they reached Zanarkand."

"But... no summoners reached Zanarkand for another four hundred years," Lulu murmured.

Mamoru inclined his head. "The others died or left, including Maechen. I alone stayed, and have been guarding my Lady since."

"But, what of the summoners?" Tidus asked. "Your original orders, right?"

Mamoru shrugged. "If a summoner reaches Zanarkand, they don't need what little protection I can offer."

Harry sighed. "We're ending the practise of the Final Aeon," he said, meeting the unsent man's eyes. "And Yuna is going to send Yunalesca."

Mamoru shook his head. "But Lady Yunalesca says the Final Aeon is the only way to defeat Sin!"

"Yu tells me differently," Harry replied calmly.

Mamoru just kept shaking his head, disbelieving. "My Lady is wrong."

"Yunalesca is only human," Harry said softly, stepping forward to rest his hand on the unsent's shoulder. "She makes mistakes; we all do."

"Not you, Lord Harry," Mamoru insisted.

Harry chuckled. "Oh, but I do. And my mistakes always seem to have the greatest consequences, as is the way of those with great power. But we are sending my lily, and we are going to defeat Sin for the last time. There will be nothing left here for you to guard."

Mamoru nodded his understanding and looked at Yuna, who stood with sad eyes between the other two teens, Fred peeking his head around her legs. "Please, Lady Summoner, will you send me?"

Yuna nodded and stepped forward to perform her dance. Behind her, Auron stepped back a few paces, frowning.

Once Mamoru had been sent, they took a lunch break just inside the stadium, then made their ways through the broken building to the Cloister of Trials, watching ghosts of the past precede them. Auron sat back and let the rest of the party play with the light-up blocks, commenting that he'd already done this puzzle once, and didn't care to do it again. The younger members of the party and Harry had all laughed at him, then gleefully hopped around with Fred, leaving Kimahri, Lulu and Wakka to stand with the unsent near the door, shaking their heads.

The fiend guarding the elevator wasn't too hard, though it did scare Fred, to which Harry inquired, "Aren't you older than that? It should be scared of you."

"Big," Fred said of the Spectral Keeper. "Angry."

Harry just rolled his eyes and helped the fiend onto the elevator, which started down once everyone was on it.

They stepped into a room with a cracked crystal and everyone stared at it in horror. "What–?" Wakka said.

"Zaon," Harry whispered, kneeling next to the crystal and touching it.

"This is... Lord Zaon?" Yuna asked.

"But Zaon fought Yunalesca with Sin, right?" Tidus asked.

Harry felt his heart twist and he looked up at Auron. "What is the Final Aeon?" he asked the silent unsent.

"Why–?" Yuna started.

"The Final Aeon is a guardian," Auron said, glancing at Tidus, whose eyes widened in understanding. "Jecht, became Braska's aeon."

"But, Jecht is Sin," Tidus whispered.

Harry swallowed. "Yunalesca was killed when Sin ripped Zaon from her," he whispered, the pieces of the terrible truth finally coming together. "Zaon was a fayth, sacrificed by Yunalesca at the chance that, with him, she could defeat Sin. Yu said the Final Aeon would only ever make him stronger..."

"Are you saying... Yu makes the Final Aeon part of him?" Rikku asked.

"The armour was made of pyreflies," Harry said, staring down at the broken crystal. "Sin is made of death, to protect the dead in a summoning to remember the dead. The Final Aeon is what is created after a summoner sacrifices a guardian, the dead spirit of that guardian. But Sin is made of death. When the armour is destroyed, something dead must take its place. Of course."

"The Spiral of Death," Auron intoned.

Harry chuckled then, humourlessly, and looked up at the horrified party. "Let it have an aeon, then destroy it before it can create a new armour, while it's still fighting to control the aeon. Go through all the aeons and there will soon be none left. If there are no aeons – no dead spirits – for Sin to use in creating armour, it will become only what it began as: Yu. And Yu can be destroyed."

"But we have to use the machina to get to that part, because there's no Final Aeon?" Rikku said weakly.

Harry nodded. "Use the airship to blast the armour enough to somehow get inside. Fight the current aeon, Jecht. Let Sin or Yu or whatever possess the aeons, then kill whatever's left. The fayth will die, but so will Sin."

"We'll never get the airship close enough before Sin attacks!" Wakka snapped, clearly shaken. "Sin will destroy the machina before it can do enough damage, and us with it."

"Actually," Auron said, "I don't know about that."

"Think of who is in this party," Lulu murmured, looking at where Yuna and Tidus stood next to Harry. "Harry is Yu Yevon's best friend, and Tidus is Sir Jecht's son."

"And Auron was my old man's friend, right?" Tidus said, looking at the unsent man. "And Yuna is Braska's daughter, his other friend."

Harry stood slowly, looking over the group. "Let's see to Yunalesca," he murmured. "This, can wait." Then he turned and waved his hand at a section of wall. It shimmered and turned into a doorway, which he then walked through.

"Come on," Tidus said, taking Yuna's hand. The two teens followed on Harry's heels, with Kimahri and Fred not far behind.

Slowly, the others followed, leaving the ruined crystal and the horrible truth behind.

-0-0-0-

Once the party had gathered in an extravagant hall with high ceilings, the door at the top of a staircase slowly opened and a beautiful woman with long, pale hair stepped through, bracelets jingling.

"Yunalesca Yuriko Yevon!" Harry shouted in an approximation of the voice he'd once used to chastise her with. "Where are your clothes?!"

Yunalesca blinked at the top of the stairs a few times, looking unbalanced. Then she saw the smiling vampire in the middle of the room and dashed down the stairs and into waiting arms. "Uncle Harry!"

Harry hugged the girl tightly, biting back tears. He pulled back gently. "Hello, little lily."

Yunalesca smiled. "I'm not so little anymore, Uncle."

"No, I daresay you've outgrown me," Harry replied, chuckling. "Goodness. And here I remember twirling you around last time you ran down the stairs at me."

"Uncle."

Harry laughed and gently touched the side of her face. "You're as lovely as your mother was, lily. I wish she could have seen you."

Yunalesca gently touched the hand, then stepped back and looked over the group behind him. "Braska's daughter, Jecht's son, and the head-strong young guardian, Auron." She looked back at Harry. "You travel well, Uncle."

Harry inclined his head. "We came to send you, lily."

Yunalesca jerked back, as if struck, then shook her head angrily. "Uncle, no! I have to be here! I have to show the summoners how to call the Final Aeon! I have to..."

"Yu says the Final Aeon isn't the way," Harry replied softly, eyes sad. "It only builds new armour and he is Sin again. Something else is needed."

Yunalesca stared at him, then asked, "Are you saying that everything I've done... It was for nothing? Zaon died for nothing? All those summoners... All those guardians..."

"It wasn't for nothing, Yunalesca," Harry replied. "If none of that had happened, we never would have found another way. Spira needed time."

"It was for nothing!" Yunalesca shouted, furious. "They all died for nothing!"

"Yunale–"

"And where were you?!" the woman asked furiously. "Where were you while people were dying? You, who could have stopped Father right away? You, who could have destroyed Sin before he could have done any harm?"

"I'm not all powerful," Harry snapped. "You're old enough to know better than to assume I could solve the world's problems!"

"You've done it before!"

"Have I?" the vampire asked coldly. "When was that? Perhaps when I hid with a group of refugees for a thousand years so the human race would continue? Or was it when America got so pissed off at Britain that they bombed the place to hell? Or, perhaps, the time Bevelle sank Baaj Island and four thousand people died because they didn't want to fight in the Wars?"

Yunalesca swallowed and looked away.

Harry sighed. "Lily, I'm immortal, not a god."

"You have... You have that magic–"

"Magic has limits, even Old Earth magic. You know this, Yunalesca."

The woman looked at him, tears in her eyes. "But you still left," she whispered.

Harry inclined his head. "I regret leaving you and James," he admitted. "And I will regret it for all eternity, just as I regret all the other people I left to die. But there was only so much I could have done. You know I tried to talk Yu out of the summoning, but," Harry smiled sadly, "stubbornness was his best – and his worst – trait, as you yourself know. It was right up there with his love for you, and for Zanarkand. He needed to see Zanarkand's survival, and nothing you or I could have said would have changed that."

Yunalesca nodded and sat on the steps behind her. "Maybe if you were here, instead of in Junon?"

"No, lily, he wouldn't have listened to me any better in person," Harry replied knowingly. "He never did."

Yunalesca nodded again with a pained look on her face. "He truly said the Final Aeon wouldn't work?"

Harry sighed. "He said that the aeons were the key, but the Final Aeon only made him stronger. That to defeat him, something else was needed."

Yunalesca blinked. "Machina?"

Harry nodded. "That's what I think."

"But all the machina has been lost."

Harry shook his head, a smile on his face. "The Al Bhed found the Fahrenheit."

"Father's ship!"

"We intend to use it to blast a hole through the armour, then let him possess the aeons Yuna has collected until there's nothing left. And then, at the end, we will destroy Yu," Harry said.

Yunalesca nodded and stood. "I want to come with you," she said.

The party gasped, and the two from Zanarkand looked back at them, having forgotten about them completely. Yuna swallowed and stepped forward. "Truly?" she asked.

"You're her namesake and her idol," Harry muttered to his niece.

Yunalesca covered her mouth with one hand. "And what have you done to her, Uncle?"

"Been the perfect gentleman," Harry hissed. When Yunalesca looked at him disbelievingly, he grinned and added, "Except for once, but a couple of her guardians warned me off."

Yunalesca snorted in a rather unladylike fashion. "The black mage set fire to you, didn't she?"

"Eventually," Harry agreed, "but for not sleeping enough, rather than hitting on Yuna."

"What are you two whispering about?" Rikku asked suspiciously.

"Just gossiping like the two old women we are," Yunalesca replied with a sweet smile.

Harry raised an eyebrow at the woman while the party broke out in snickers. "Do I look like a woman to you?"

"A flat one," Yunalesca replied primly, gesturing at Harry's chest.

"That's right. You raised her, didn't you?" Tidus asked.

Harry glared at the younger vampire for a moment, then looked back at the unsent next to him. "Don't make me take out the embarrassing spheres I have in my bag, young lady."

Yunalesca blinked and looked at the bottomless bag on Harry's belt. "Ah... What sort of spheres?"

Harry smiled and reached for the bag. "Shall I show you?"

Yunalesca reached out and grabbed Harry's hands, smiling nervously. "No need. I'll be good, Uncle Harry."

Harry snorted. "No you won't," he replied, but moved his hands away from the bag. "If the rest of the party doesn't mind, you may come with us, I suppose."

Yunalesca looked over the party hopefully. "Please?"

"Why?" Auron asked.

Yunalesca blinked. "I want to see the end of everything I fought for," she said firmly. "I want to see what I sacrificed my life for, and the life of my husband. I want to see my father receive his peace."

"You want to know it was all worth it," Auron accused.

"Is that really such a bad thing?" the woman asked. "Isn't that half the reason you've remained?"

Auron blinked, then sighed. "Very well."

Slowly, with both Harry and Auron agreeing to their tenth companion, the rest of the party gave their agreement, even Fred, who Yunalesca looked confused by until she learned his name. Then, she said, "You visited Uncle Alex."

"We did," Yuna agreed. "And he granted me Alexander."

Yunalesca glanced at Harry, who shrugged, then turned back to Yuna and smiled. "Good."

With everyone in agreement, the party made their way back out into the city, Rikku calling her father to come pick them up.

Outside the Dome, Sin sat, waiting for them.

"Father..." Yunalesca whispered.

Harry nodded and stepped forward. "Yu? We're going to try that other way you told me about."

Sin huffed.

Harry took a deep breath. "Will you meet us, in two days, at Bevelle?"

"Why Bevelle?" Wakka asked.

Harry grinned nastily, still watching Sin. "Because if we're going to make a mess, I want it to be there."

"Hey! What about those sheep-people you told me about?" Rikku asked.

"We can always tell them to evacuate," Yunalesca commented easily.

"But..."

"Wakka?"

"Yeah, Lu?"

"Leave it."

"Yes, Lu."

"Two days," Harry said to his best friend.

Sin let out a cry, then turned and started moving back into the ocean.

"Do you think he'll come?" Yuna asked.

Harry smiled grimly. "Oh, I know he'll come."

-0-0-0-0-0-

A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, but it was a good place to end it. ^.^"
Alternately, next chapter is the last!! XD

Oh! And Yunalesca's middle name is not meant as some sort of nod to femslash, as some of you might assume – though I admit to being fond of it, myself. Yuri is a Japanese girl's name meaning 'lily'. The suffix '-ko' means child, or, in this case, 'little'. I figure, if Harry helped raise Yunalesca, he would have known the meaning of her name – or perhaps even been the one to name her – and may have given her a nickname meaning something like that.
And, no, canon Yunalesca didn't have a middle name, so far as we know. I just wanted her to have one. XD

~Bats ^.^x

Next Chapter: Blood