Wounds
Sheyna paced around the room restlessly. Several cauldrons were bubbling near one of the walls, filling the room with various vapors. She silently fumed as she went about her work. Harry had left her to brew them and she intended to do it, but she didn't have to like it. She knew there was more to her being left behind than just the need for someone to guard the sorceress crystal and brew potions. Harry thought she couldn't handle herself yet, and as much as she hated to admit it, he was probably right. She did have more control over her powers, but the fact remained that she had a long way to go before she was back to how she was before.
She was startled back to reality when a loud whooshing sound followed by the sound of something landing on the floor came from behind her. She turned to see a very tired and very bloody Harry and an unconscious Andrea. She rushed over to the two of them and started checking out their injuries. Harry was in the worst shape with a deep puncture wound on the right side of his chest and several other cuts, she suspected that he'd also broken his ribs, yet again. Andrea had a lot of minor cuts and a few deep ones, she looked very pale and her breathing was extremely shallow.
She decided that she needed to get Andrea breathing better and stop the bleeding in her wounds as well. A Curaga should take care of the wounds but the exhaustion and malnourishment would take a lot of time to cure. In the meantime Harry wasn't moving much and he hadn't so much as moaned since getting back. He looked like he was conscious, but he also seemed to be in quite a bit of pain. He had his hand on the wound in his chest, in a vain effort to stop the bleeding.
She cast the Curaga spell on Andrea and as expected her wounds healed, she then turned to Harry, about to do the same when he stopped her.
"Don't" he said breathlessly
"I have to stop the bleeding" she protested
"Curaga…worse…tried before…can't use magic…" his words were lost as he attempted to breathe and talk at the same time. Sheyna suspected that he had ruptured one, or possibly both, of his lungs and was having trouble breathing as a result. She still managed to get the gist of what he meant in spite of the broken speech, but that didn't mean she knew what to do about it.
"What do I do then?" she asked getting a little panicky
"Calm down…potion in chest…blue" came the broken reply.
The trunk suddenly appeared beside Harry's prone form and with what seemed a great effort, he reached over and tapped the lid, causing it to open. The simple actions caused him to wince in pain and he looked, if possible, even more exhausted than before.
"Don't try anymore spells." said Sheyna as she looked through his trunk for the 'blue' potion. She eventually found it and took it over to him. She gently poured the potion into his mouth bit by bit so that he could swallow it easily. She repeated the process a few times until the potion bottle was empty. Almost immediately the effects of the potion started to take place, Harry's breathing became less strained and the bleeding in his wounds slowed considerably. He was far from recovered though since his wounds were sill bleeding and he looked about ready to faint.
"We need to get you both somewhere a little more manageable." said Sheyna
"The bastard probably has some sealed…bedrooms somewhere." said Harry, still a bit breathless.
"Well since there's just the one with the big bed in it, you'll have to go in there." said Sheyna
"Fine" said Harry, attempting to stand, he managed to get both feet on the floor before stumbling. Sheyna caught him before he could hit the floor again and let him lean most of his weight on her. Sheyna noticed that he was favoring his right leg and wondered what happened to the left one, it didn't look injured, but he also had a boot and pants covering it. They eventually made their way into the large master suite and Sheyna helped Harry get onto the bed.
"I'm going to get Andrea, DO NOT try to get up or use magic while I'm gone." she ordered Harry
A grunt was the only response she received, so she took that as an affirmative and went to collect the fallen SeeD.
…
The next few days were hard on everyone. Andrea still remained unconscious, but she seemed to be in some sort of coma. She would shake sometimes and there would be a spark of energy near her, and then she'd just lay still. Sheyna continued brewing potions and using what limited food there was to sustain herself and the others. The nutrient potions were helping Andrea immensely, she'd regained her color and she didn't look as exhausted as she had before.
Harry on the other hand wasn't doing as well as he or Sheyna would have liked. The wounds seemed to resist any type of magical assistance in healing. Sheyna had cleaned and bandaged them every day for the past week and she'd given Harry all the potions he'd requested, yet nothing was helping. The wounds just bled through their dressings, causing the wizard to go through several vials of blood replenishing potion. The good news was that the wounds were healing naturally, albeit very slowly.
"I'm going to stitch these shut." said Sheyna to Harry.
They were in one of the normal bedrooms that Sheyna had discovered through her exploration of Grindlewald's hidden cave. The place was actually very large. Harry had admitted that he hadn't really searched the entire place thoroughly at the time when he'd found the hidden room, he'd been in a hurry to leave the island and only considered taking the many books that were left. As it happened the place was roughly the size of a small mansion. There were several rooms, some empty and some furnished, there were three sitting rooms, seven bedrooms, a kitchen, four bathrooms and six rooms that were completely empty.
"Just give it time, they'll heal." said Harry
"That's what you said four days ago." said Sheyna "I don't know about you, but bleeding to death isn't my idea of a good time, and we don't have enough ingredients to keep making blood restoratives.
"Try a Curaga again." said Harry
"No" said Sheyna "Last time we tried that you screamed like a little girl when all your wounds started burning.
"It hurt!" defended Harry
"And that's my point" said Sheyna "You need to be healed and leaving those wounds open, even under the bandages, isn't a good idea, they could easily become infected and then you'll be in real trouble.
"Fine, stitch them then." said Harry miserably "I didn't scream like a girl though."
Sheyna didn't answer, instead she got a needle and threaded it before starting her ministrations.
"Ahh!...don't push on it!"
"I have to apply some pressure, stop whining"
"I'm not-…ah!...do you have to…ow!...why is it every time I…shit!"
"You mean to tell me that you can withstand the Cruciatus, but this hurts?"
"Shut the hell up Seth!"
"There, done" said Sheyna
"I think you enjoyed that a little too much." said Harry
"What?" asked Sheyna innocently while 'accidentally' pushing on one the bandaged areas on Harry's forearm
"Ow, damn it, that hurts!" said Harry
"Oops, sorry" said Sheyna, not sounding too apologetic
"Guess she's still pissed at you." observed Seth
"What was your first clue?" asked Harry sarcastically
"There were actually several indications of the female being displeased." said Zero
"He was being sarcastic dragon breath." said Seth
"Oh no" groaned Harry aloud
"Excuse me?" said Zero menacingly
"You heard me." said Seth
"I do not find your attempts at humor funny whelp." said Zero
"Come on guys, not again." pleaded Harry
"The serpent shall learn his place." declared Zero
"Bring it!" said Seth
Harry grabbed his head and winced when he felt the GF's shifting around his mind, they'd done this several times since Zero had been junctioned, apparently Seth still held a grudge against Tiamat and decided that since he couldn't get the dark dragon, one of its counterparts would have to do. Zero on the other hand, had never been junctioned to a human before and seemed to be fascinated by their behavioral patterns. This caused him to make odd comments at times that only seemed to irritate Seth.
Harry had considered removing them, but their power was helping him heal faster and t hat was something he didn't want to go without. He prepared himself to bare the minor jolts of pain through his head as the two Guardian Forces hashed out their differences in another pointless battle, they couldn't really hurt each other, but to them it was all about principal.
…
Harry's sleep was anything but fitful. He found himself watching a scene of utter carnage. It appeared to be some sort of village, it was nightfall and a storm was thundering overhead. Rain poured all around, but did nothing to quell the many flames which were consuming the village. Death Eaters ran around cursing helpless muggle victims, while others battled against what could only be vampires.
Harry was confused by this, if anything he thought the vampires would be trying to aid the Death Eaters, or at least be more concerned about all the food that they were killing, but it seemed as though the vampires were trying to protect the Muggles. Harry's attention was drawn to two figures standing in the middle of the village. He recognized one immediately as Voldemort. The other was a tall vampire, his face still looked mostly human, aside form the eyes and the large bat ears on the side of his head. He had a strange looking sword in his hands, it had what appeared to be a bleeding eye at the top of its hilt, and the blade was blood red, while the handle was pearly white.
Voldemort had no weapon, he didn't even have his wand drawn, it was as if he was unconcerned about the hostile vampire standing before him. Neither made a move to attack, they just stood there, staring each other down while looking for possible weaknesses.
"You have crossed the wrong clan this night, wizard." hissed the vampire in a deep, Russian accented voice.
"I am merely responding to your master's message, I don't take kindly to having one of my Death Eaters turned into a filthy half breed." said Voldemort
"You threatened us, we responded accordingly." said the vampire "The Verick Clan serves no one."
"Then you and your brethren shall die as you should have long ago." The Dark Lord thrust his hand toward the vampire, causing a large wooden spike to drive itself right through the creature's heart. The vampire grunted in pain, but the expected disintegration never came.
"You honestly thought such a cheap trick would work." said the vampire while laughing and pulling out the wood. "A stake through the heart only works on younglings."
The vampire moved at incredible speed, coming up behind Voldemort and brought his sword in an arch towards the dark wizard's torso, intending on eviscerating him, but Voldemort was faster and caught the sword in his left hand without even turning around. As soon as Voldemort touched the blade however, he hissed in pain as his flesh was burned and he felt his blood going into the blade.
The vampire absorbed the blood through the sword and his eyes glowed as the magical blood made him stronger. The action enraged Voldemort and he didn't give the vampire a chance to assimilate the influx of power. He sent a severing hex at the creature's head, which the vampire only barely avoided. He kept on sending severing curses at the vampire, but the creature still avoided them. Growing tired of playing games, Voldemort conjured a strong burst of sunlight which stopped the creature in its tracks.
The radiant light quickly turned the vampire into ashes, its screams were like music to the Dark Lord's ears, and he wanted to hear more cries of agony. He saw a muggle woman trying to escape in the distance, clutching her infant child as she ran. Voldemort took careful aim and sent the killing Curse. The sickly green light sailed through the air and hit its target right in the chest. The woman screamed in shock and dropped her now dead infant to the ground. She cried and babbled on in Russian, unaware of the Dark Lord walking up behind her.
"No one escapes Lord Voldemort, woman." he said coldly
The woman looked up into the merciless violet eyes of the Dark Lord and was unable to move from the shear terror that the creature before her exuded. The Dark Lord pointed his right index finger at the woman and cast one of his favorite curses. "Crucio" Harry could feel the pain from the curse and it was worse than anything he'd ever felt before. It had been a long time since he'd felt Voldemort's Cruciatus, but he could tell that it was much stronger than the last time. The woman let out an ear piercing scream as the curse did its work. Voldemort left the curse on for a full five minutes before releasing the woman.
She convulsed on the ground for several moments after the curse had been lifted. Her eyes were still wide from shock and pain and it was easy to see that the curse had shattered her mind. Voldemort cast an organ decaying curse on the woman and watched as she slowly withered away, not even able to scream anymore. He turned away from the dead body and walked back to the center of the village. His Death Eaters seemed to be having problems with some of the vampires, as they wielded blades similar to the other vampire. Few of his followers knew of the spell to conjure a ball of sunlight, and the ones that did, didn't have nearly enough power to do it on a level that would kill the vampires, the most they were managing to do was burn them slightly.
Voldemort took out his wand and pointed it at the sky. He did a complex series of motions before casting his spell. " Solem Transfero!" A ball of sunlight erupted from his wand and rose into the sky. It grew larger and larger as it rose and became steadily brighter. Soon the rain clouds dispersed leaving a circle of blue sky where the ball had risen. The vampires all started shrieking as the brilliant light consumed their undead flesh. The Death Eaters then made quick work of any remaining Muggles before surrounding their lord once more.
"Let it never be said the Lord Voldemort takes kindly to threats." said Voldemort "The news of this attack will spread through the other dark creatures and the Muggles will view it as a threat from wizards, pushing them closer to where I want them to be. The time for war will be upon us soon, and the next attack will have more resistance. I am disappointed in many of you, I expected you to be able to handle a few half-breeds, but it appears I was wrong."
Some of the Death Eaters visible shuddered, knowing that they were in for a night of torture and screaming by the looks of things. The Death Eaters soon disapparated leaving Voldemort standing alone in the smoking remains of the village. The light from the artificial sun had disappeared as well.
"Enjoy the show, Potter?" asked Voldemort with a sneer
"Not really" said Harry "It's just the same old visions of random torture and over compensation. More or less what I've come to expect."
Voldemort merely smirked at the statement before responding. "Are you saying I'm predictable?" he asked hotly
"As a matter of fact, I do" said Harry "You still have the 'I want everyone to fear me' tactic, and it really is stupid to me. You run around with a bunch of morons in Halloween masks and torture defenseless people to get your jollies. Then when you get mad you torture a random Death Eater and sometimes kill perfectly good followers, not that I think killing your followers is a bad thing, keep doing it please. And if all that isn't enough you have to be overly dramatic with everything you do, you leave a skull deep throating a snake as your calling card when you kill people. Did I get everything?"
"You should learn some respect, boy." said Voldemort angrily "Your intrusion into my mind and your arrogance will make your loved ones suffer."
"Whatever" said Harry dismissively "Like you weren't planning on hunting down whoever was still alive anyway. You're easy to read, how'd you like loosing control of all those fiends by the way?"
The Dark Lord's eyes narrowed and his anger reached new heights. He lashed out with a mental equivalent of a Cruciatus Curse, catching Harry off guard and causing him to thrash around in mid air. Seconds later Harry broke the curse and lashed out with an attack of his own. The Dark Lord was prepared however and blocked the attack easily.
"Time for you to go." said Voldemort shoving Harry out of his mind and sending him back to his own body.
…
Harry's eyes shot open as he returned to consciousness. He now had a very bad headache to go with his other pains and he also had the after effects of the Cruciatus to deal with. In hindsight, trying to spy on Voldemort when he wasn't at full strength was a very stupid thing to do, while he did learn something, he'd paid a high price for it. The only good thing was that Sheyna didn't know he'd technically been doing magic and had once again aggravated the wounds, causing them to start bleeding once again.
"Now, how to fix this before she comes in here." he thought quickly
He thought once again about why his wounds wouldn't heal correctly with magic. He'd gotten the majority of them from fighting Antym, they weren't as bad at first, but after he mad the portkey, his magic began making them worse. Not knowing this at the time he'd cast a Curaga on himself, further worsening his injuries. Being hit by that last attack hadn't helped h is situation either. He'd taken the brunt of the damage for Andrea while he turned his sword into a portkey.
"It had to be the sword" he thought aloud "Maybe it can undo what it did."
He had no idea where his sword was now. Sheyna had taken it 'for his own good' and didn't seem to be planning on giving it back to him any time soon. That left him with only one option. He knew that when he had it before, he could just summon the sword from wherever it was, regardless of distance, until he lost it that is. After that, no matter how many times he tried to call the sword to him, it didn't come. That could have been Grindlewald's doing, or it could have been because someone else had the sword, either way he was going to try now and hope for results.
He stretched out his right hand and willed his sword to come to him. There was a flash of blue light and the sword appeared in his hand in all its blazing glory.
"Now what?" he wondered while examining the sword. He didn't notice a drop of blood seep through the bandages on his chest and land on the blade. He did however, notice when the sword glowed a pale green color and bathed him in a warm light that immediately caused all the wounds made by the sword to heal. He also felt the effects of the other spells and potions that had been held back by the block on the sword. Unfortunately some of those potions were Dreamless Sleep as well as a few other sedatives and pain relievers. The combination of so many medicines helped heal all Harry's other wounds, but it also brought him to a fitful sleep.
…
Kuja crawled along the cave floor, barely able to pull himself towards the large stone doors only meters a head of him. He knew what he was looking for, and he also knew that it was right through those doors. It was so close, yet so far. If only he could move his legs again.
"Damn you Harry Potter!" He seethed through clenched teeth.
Ever since his battle with the young wizard, he'd been slowly deteriorating. He knew that the body Zidane gave him had its limits, and unless he found a new source of power, he'd soon find himself right back in hell, and going back there was not an option. For going back to hell meant facing Sephiroth, the self proclaimed lord of the underworld, and Sephiroth just plane scared him.
Using the thoughts of his possible torture as motivation to keep going, he managed to get a whole two meters closer to the door before collapsing once again. He felt his body begin to tingle and he knew that the end was near.
"Not like this!" he roared defiantly
"Look's that way." said an amused voice from above him.
"What are you doing here Zidane?" asked Kuja dejectedly
"You're giving up?" asked Zidane "After all your plotting to undermine me and take over the world, you just give up when you're this close to being more powerful than ever before?"
"I'll be gone in less than five minutes and you know it." said Kuja "There's nothing I can do about it either, so I just have to accept it."
"How mature of you." said Zidane "Last time you died you cried like a baby and decided to take everyone with you."
"People change" said Kuja
"Well, last time you had nearly godlike power when you were about to die" said Zidane "And now, well… you don't"
" Why did you come here anyway?" asked Kuja "You're not supposed to be here and you know they won't like it much."
"I figure I'm already breaking their stupid rules to begin with, that and I don't care what they think in the first place." said Zidane "As for why I'm here, I don't want you to die just yet, I know what you're trying to do, and I'm going to help you do it."
"What?" asked Kuja, surprised, Zidane had clearly lost his mind, why would he help him of all people, but then again, he'd done it before.
"Well maybe not you but your body anyway." said the blonde Genome cryptically
"What do you mean?" said Kuja, his body starting to fade slightly.
"It's easier to show you" replied Zidane, then he shot a beam of orange light right at Kuja's chest.
The mage shuddered in pain as the dark energy coursed through his body. He suddenly began to feel incredibly light headed and with that feeling, the pain went away. He was now only vaguely aware of his body and his surroundings, and it felt as though someone else were now in control.
"Luckily for you, your parasite has other ties that keep him bound to this world." said Zidane "As long as you let him keep control of your body, you won't disappear, unless his counterpart dies, which is unlikely."
"This is a wonderful gift Zidane, but don't think I feel indebted to you." said Kuja's voice, but with a tinge of someone else's mixed in.
"Wouldn't dream of it Tom." said Zidane, emphasizing the last word in order to annoy the soul fragment of the Dark Lord. "Just get the Aeon and do whatever makes you happy for now. If I need something I'll ask, and believe me, you will do it if I ask."
"We shall see." said parasite, unafraid.
"For your sake it would be better if it didn't come to that." said Zidane, he then disappeared before the parasite could form a reply.
Annoyed, but not undaunted, the parasite managed to drag the broken body up to the doors and up onto his feet. Opening the doors was a hassle, but the task was soon complete and he slowly made his way inside the temple. The first room was a wide atrium with statues of several Aeons on either side of the walkway. Each Aeon had a glyph underneath them and all the glyphs were glowing slightly in different colors. He walked to the far end of the room and up to a single stone door. He placed a hand on the door and the whole room lit up suddenly in a brilliant flash. When the light dimmed the door was no longer there so he headed to the next room.
This room contained a large statue of yet another Aeon, this one had bandages wrapped around most of its face, leaving only one eye and the mouth uncovered. The creature had two savage looking arms across its chest and they were held in place by heavy looking chains and manacles. The rest of the monster's body was covered by a shell that held spikes along the insides and trapped the creature into place, along with more chains. The whole predicament looked painful, and the expression on the Aeon's face further illustrated this fact.
"Anima…" said the parasite, drawing on Kuja's knowledge to identify the Aeon "The most powerful Dark Aeon. So feared that King Bahaumut had you imprisoned unjustly to subdue you. Such a waste of power."
He walked up the statue and unsteadily knelt before it. He placed his hand on the large rune drawn around the statue and began chanting a mantra.
"Dark Aeon of pain, here my plea, let me free you from your plight, I can end your suffering and help you bring justice to those who condemned you to this hell. Help me and I will help you."
He repeated this several times, and each time magic surged around the room. Soon the chamber was awash with colors and a disembodied voice filled the room.
"I have lived this way for so long…" said a hoarse sounding female voice "To be free is my only desire, can you set me free?"
"Yes" said the parasite eagerly "I can give you freedom and so much more."
"So be it." said the Aeon
The statue's only visible eye glowed red and a beam hit Kuja in the center of his chest. Energy began to surge into him as the Aeon granted him the use of her power. Soon the chamber was filled with cold laughter as the newly revitalized, parasite controlled mage, began to formulate his next move.
…
It was a quiet afternoon in a city known as Eden's Horizon, the city was located at the middle of a bridge between the Eshar continent and the Galbadian Mainland. The peaceful afternoon was broken by a large explosion near the center of the city, Garden Prime to be exact, the only stationary SeeD base on the planet, it was more like the center of government for all of Garden. People screamed in fright as the building was blown apart by a massive beam of purple energy. A dark shape floated above the city, laughing coldly at his handiwork.
SeeDs rushed out of the collapsing structure, weapons drawn and spells at the ready. As they came out, they were hit with a deadly barrage of ice spikes being hurled at them by the unknown assailant. Some of them managed to avoid being hit, but others weren't so lucky. The ground was soon covered in blood from the many wounds inflicted by the deadly shards. All the while, the dark figure laughed at the plight of his former comrades.
One of the SeeDs that had avoided being killed cast a Flare spell on the floating psychopath. The spell connected and when it dissipated the glowing purple figure was still standing, unharmed.
"Pathetic" said Antym mockingly "Is this all SeeD has to offer?"
"Dark Messenger!" yelled someone from behind him, he turned just in time to see one of the SeeDs vanish, only to be replaced by a multitude of small black demons that looked very similar to bats. The demons flew into one central point, forming a ball of inky blankness several meters in diameter. Something began to emerge from the bottom of the black void, a tall demonic figure with large red and black wings landed on the ground below the ball of energy, it put one of its scaly hands into the void and began to combine its own energy with it. The sky became overcast with a dark purple haze and it appeared as though the ball of blackness had combined with the atmosphere itself. All this happened in the span of only a few seconds, giving Antym little time to dodge the incoming attack.
The demon thrust the distorted matter at the crazed ex-Knight, crushing him with the force of over one thousand times normal gravity. Under normal circumstances, this attack would have killed him almost instantly, but with Griever being mostly in control and taking the brunt of the damage, combined with the awesome power from the dark Trance, the attack did little more than irritate him.
With the attack completed, the demon disappeared into a multitude of smaller demons before the sky returned to normal and a terrified but determined SeeD appeared in its place. The young mercenary rushed toward the recovering ex-Knight, hoping to do some damage before he fully recovered. He wielded a normal revolver gunblade and brought it down, aiming for Antym's chest. The blow was blocked by Antym's raised arm, the SeeD had already pulled the trigger, and the added force behind the blow caused it to recoil, shattering in the process. The stunned SeeD didn't even get time to wonder at how that had happed, as he was impaled through his head by one of the pieces of his gunblade.
The carnage continued until most of the garden was a charred ruin. Some SeeDs were left alive after being thoroughly beaten by one of their former comrades. They all were given one simple message to tell the other SeeDs.
"I won't stop until I find Dincht and kill him with my bare hands."
…
Sheyna walked into the room containing the comatose Andrea and immediately noticed a change in the room, namely, Andrea was sitting up in bed looking around frantically. Upon seeing Sheyna, she lunged for her, catching the Lunarian off guard and tackling her to the floor. They scuffled around a bit, until Sheyna finally managed to over power the weakened SeeD and hold her to the floor.
Andrea struggled to get up, but she was just too weak. Finally she let out a frustrated sigh and reluctantly stopped trying to break free.
"Alright do it." was all she said
"Do it?" asked a confused Sheyna
"You're sick you know that?" she said bitterly
"I still don't know what you're talking about." said Sheyna "But I can't stay here and hold you down all day, Harry banged himself up pretty badly trying to save you from the sorceress, and a simple Curaga won't do it this time."
"What?" said Andrea, now looking puzzled, then she seemed to shake herself and simply glared at Sheyna
Not knowing what else to do, Sheyna answered her question "You've been here for about two weeks now, you were at the tower for at least a month, although it might have been longer since we kind of lost track of time trying to find you. From what I got from Harry, you were somehow already fighting the sorceress when he found you, he fought her knight and beat him, but then she made him go into trance and that pretty much ended the battle."
"Is she dead?" asked Andrea
"The sorceress? Yeah, she's dead, Harry said you killed her."
"I…" said Andrea before shaking her head and letting out a moan of pain
Sheyna helped her up and onto the bed. Andrea sat with elbows resting on her thighs and her head in her hands. At first Sheyna thought she was crying, but upon closer inspection she was simply messaging her temples and shaking her head every so often.
"Are you alright?" asked Sheyna worriedly
"Just leave me alone." was the dead reply
"Alright, I'll be back in a little while, if you need something just come and find me." she then left the room, closing the door gently behind her. Before she left the door, she thought she heard a muffled sniffle, but she wasn't sure. She made her way to Harry's room and once inside, the sight she saw, made her stop dead in her tracks.
Harry was lying on the bed with his sword clutched loosely in left hand which was hanging off the bed. His bandages were also gone and there was no trace of any wounds on him whatsoever. In fact, the only thing out of the ordinary with him was the fact that his scar was pulsing slightly with a soft red glow and a tiny stream of blood with trickling from it.
"What did you do?" she asked the sleeping wizard. As expected no answer came, so she attempted to wake him up. She shook him gently at first while calling him, then more forcibly to the point where she was nearly throttling him. Seeing that this didn't work, she took out her pistol and fired three shots into the air hoping the noise would rouse him. She checked his vital signs and everything seemed normal. He simply appeared to be in a deep sleep.
She thought about any other ways to wake him up, and figured she'd just let him rest and inquire about his miraculous recovery later, but just to make sure he wasn't just faking it to avoid questioning she leaned over and kissed him full on the lips, once again there was no response at all, so she figured he was most likely not faking it. She left the room wondering what he would do if he knew she'd just done that, knowing him, he'd probably write it off as just teasing, and if he kept that attitude up much longer she'd just go for the direct approach once and for all.
…
Several hours had passes since Andrea had awoken and she still didn't know what to think. When she'd woken up she had expected to still be chained to the wall in Mia's tower. Instead she'd found herself in a very comfortable bed in a modestly furnished room. Then a few minutes later the door opened and Sheyna walked in. That was unexpected, but she figured it all had to be another trick and she wasn't falling for it. That was when she attacked and after being bested quickly in her weakened state, she'd had no other choice but to go along with it like every other time.
But instead of hurting her or dragging her away she'd just held her down looking alarmed and confused. Then after Andrea prompted her to do it, she just acted more bewildered. That was when the SeeD started to think that maybe it wasn't another trick, but she quickly squashed that hope, knowing that hoping just made it harder.
After Sheyna explained what had supposedly happened to her she was even more uncertain of what to believe, especially when the images started to come to her, supporting what Sheyna had said. The one thing that stood out though was that she'd killed the sorceress, if what she remembered was true, then she'd gotten her revenge. But it was too good to be true. They'd done this before, made her think she'd gotten out when she hadn't, she wouldn't let them do that again, the memories were just put there by Mia to confuse her.
She had expected the charade to end soon, but it didn't. Sheyna simply helped her onto the bed and left her alone like she'd asked. Every other time she pleaded for them to leave her alone, they didn't, they just kept on doing whatever it was they wanted to do, but not this time. This time they were going to lure her into a false sense of security and then take it away. Any minute now it would be over. That's what she told herself as she tried to ignore the growing clarity of the memories from the battle. After several hours she really began to get on edge and began pacing the room.
Her eyes fell on the door and she wondered if they'd left it unlocked, it was worth a try. She turned the knob and was surprised when the door actually opened. She walked out and found herself in a hallway that went left and right, her room was closer to the left end of the hallway, so she decided to go that way first then go back the other way if she didn't find anything.
She eventually came across a door that was slightly ajar and voices were coming from inside. One sounded like Sheyna and the other was Harry.
"You did what!" yelled Sheyna "How could you do something so…so….stupid?"
"I was bored?" said Harry lamely
"So the fact that you could barely walk and had a gaping wound in your chest that was gushing blood every two hours, plus a multitude of other injuries didn't cross your mind?" asked Sheyna
"I thought about it afterwards." said Harry "I didn't think he'd catch me in there anyway, if I had thought that, then I wouldn't have done it, but I'm fine now so don't worry about it."
"So that's all you're going to say?" she asked expectantly
"What else is there to say?" responded Harry "I thought you'd be glad I'm healed so you don't have to play nurse for me anymore, but all you do is scold me like some child."
"You could have died!" yelled Sheyna
"But I didn't" said Harry
Sheyna let out a frustrated huff and left the room, not even noticing Andrea standing outside the doorway. Before she was out of hearing, Andrea heard her mutter something along the lines of "stupid asshole" and then she had entered one of the other rooms in the hallway slamming the door.
If this was really all a trick, Mia was going all out. She decided that if she wanted any answers then she'd need to talk to 'Harry' or whoever it was impersonating him. She went through his still open door and found him sitting on the bed in the middle of the room with his back turned towards the door.
"Here to yell at me some more for being reckless?" he asked bitingly
"I want answers" was all Andrea said
"Huh?" Harry said confused
"What the hell is going on here? I know this has to be a trick, so why don't you people just get on with it already." said Andrea coldly
"I thought you were still unconscious." said Harry "And I really don't know what you mean by 'get on with it' either."
"Like I'm going to buy that." said Andrea "You people disgust me."
"Just what do you think is going on then?" said Harry
The question only served to make Andrea angry. They were going to keep up their little act until the end.
"It's all a trick" said Andrea "She's done it before, I won't fall for it again, so stop playing games and show me who you really are."
"I'm Harry Potter" said Harry "Who else am I supposed to be?"
She even dignify that with a response
"Look, Andrea, I'm still not sure what you think is happening to you, but this isn't a trick." said Harry "But I can take a guess, you aren't with the sorceress anymore, I don't know how to get you to believe that, but it's the truth."
Andrea mentally seethed, if they were going to play this game, that left her with only one option, she'd have to play along, for now, and hopefully find a way to get out the next chance she got. Not that there would be one, she knew that as soon as she accepted that it was real, as soon as she let that small glimmer of hope inside her brighten, Mia would appear and crush it, just like every other time and she wasn't letting that happen again.
"She's really gone then?" she asked, trying to sound as hopeful and desperate as she could, which wasn't too hard considering.
"Yeah, you killed her." said Harry "I was too busy fighting her knight, the bastard gave me right beating at the end there. I barely managed to make a portkey from his gunblade and get us out."
"His gunblade?" asked Andrea "And what's a portkey?"
"Last question first, a portkey is a means of magical transportation from where I'm from." He explained "And yeah, his gunblade, I knocked it out of his hand during the fight and somehow you had picked it up. It's what you killed Mia with."
The little bit of hope inside her started to grow at this comment, but she quickly squished it down. It was all a trick. But if it was a trick, how did they know about 'portkeys'? The simple answer was that they were simply making things up to confuse her. There was also one question she could ask that she knew he wouldn't be able to answer if this was a trick.
"Where did her powers go?" she asked him
"Her powers?" said Harry "To tell you the truth I don't know, I was kind of hoping you could tell me, but if you don't remember then I guess we'll have to wait and see if another one pops up anytime soon. Where do they usually go anyway?"
"They would usually go to the nearest female that could accept them." said Andrea
"There was only you at the tower then." said Harry "Do you think maybe they…"
"No!" said Andrea forcibly but with a little bit of panic creeping into her voice "I didn't get hem I haven't had any of the signs."
"Not that I don't believe you or anything" began Harry "But you've been unconscious for the last two weeks, what kind of signs are there?"
"Extreme exhaustion, magical instability, sometimes illness and in some cases a short term coma." said Andrea, automatically retorting what she'd learned in her training
"Well, you look exhausted, your magic is fluctuating and it's a lot higher than it was, and you've been in a coma for the last two weeks, sound familiar?"
"I am not a sorceress!" she screamed desperately. At the same time she felt a surge of power run through her and her hand automatically thrust toward Harry, sending a bolt of fire at his head, he easily avoided it and the fireball hit the wall, leaving a black scorch mark in its wake.
Andrea stared at the spot wide eyed. She should not have been able to do that. She didn't have Quetzacoatl anymore, and she didn't have any materia and she'd never been able to cast magic without either a GF or materia before. That meant that Harry must be right, maybe she did get the Mia's powers, but if that were true, then she really wasn't being played by Harry and Sheyna and it really was them and not imposters under the sorceress' command. She really didn't know what to think so she simply ran out of the room just wanting to be alone again to sort her thoughts.
…
"Looks like you're on a roll, Harry." said Seth "That's two women you've sent storming out of your room in less than an hour."
"Shut up you overgrown worm." said Harry
"Hey!" said Seth "I resent that, a worm could never look this good. All joking aside though, what are you going to do?"
"No idea" said Harry "I can understand why Sheyna is mad, but its really not that big of a deal, I'm fine. And as for Andrea, she's definitely a sorceress, I just hope she can accept that and get past it."
"She's going to need a knight." said Seth "The power will consume her otherwise and she could end up just like Mia was."
"We'll have to find her one then." said Harry "Maybe once we find the others Ethan or Bastian can do it, but until then we'll just have to try and keep her grounded."
"Couldn't you do it?" asked Seth "Not that I'm saying you should or anything, just wondering why you didn't even consider it."
"From what little I know about it, the bond created by a sorceress and knight is a very deep intimate bond. I don't think Andrea trusts me enough to even think about doing it with me, plus I won't be here too much longer."
"Where exactly are you going." asked Seth
"Home" said Harry "After Kuja's been dealt with I'm going to really start looking, I know I promised Bastian I'd help him free Spira, and I'll help whatever way I can, but I'm going to start looking for a way back too."
"Well that's one reason for not doing it I guess." said Seth
"But if worse comes to worse, and she's willing, I guess I would." said Harry "She is my friend after all and I don't want to see her end up a psychopath."
"Well sitting here talking to me won't solve your problems, you've got two people to find and both of them probably don't want to see you right now."
"You're right, I'd better get it over with." said Harry
He made his way out of his room and around the large dwelling until he found Sheyna sitting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee. She glanced at him but didn't make any other indication that she'd noticed him and merely ignored him while drinking her coffee.
"Look, I'm sorry about earlier." he began "I understand why you were mad and I'll try not to worry you so much next time."
"Do you really understand, Harry" she asked, finally looking at him "I don't think you do, I wasn't mad that you worried me, I was mad that you did it in the first place, then you just do all these reckless things and don't even think about them until after. You could have died, but you act like it doesn't matter."
"It really isn't that big of a deal." said Harry "I've been doing these kinds of things all my life and I haven't died yet."
"But what if the next time you aren't so lucky?" asked Sheyna
"Then I'll be dead." said Harry "I'm not afraid of death, it happens to everyone and if the next time is my time then that's just the way it is."
"That's how you really feel isn't it?" she said sadly
"It's the truth" said Harry
"It isn't that simple!" Sheyna nearly shouted "What do you think will happen if you die?"
"Never really gave it much thought" said Harry honestly "I always just figured I'd be dead, so it wouldn't matter."
"Maybe not to you." said Sheyna "But what about everyone else, what about me? If you died, Harry, I'd have no one left, not really. Sure I have a couple friends but not like you, you're different, I don't know what I'd do if you died, but lately that's what you've been almost doing, and you don't even value your own life."
"I'm not doing it intentionally to hurt you." defended Harry "Its hard for me to change something that I've been doing all my life, I'd prefer it if I wasn't always in danger, but as long as there are people out there trying to kill me, I'm going to have to try and be one step ahead of them instead of just reacting all the time like I've been doing. I did manage to unsettle Tom some with that stunt I pulled, and even though I had to take a Crucio to get it, I don't regret it. If it's any consolation I was trying to break into Kuja's mind, I just got side tracked."
"I just wish you'd realize that there's more to life than killing the bad guy." said Sheyna
"Not for me" said Harry "I can't afford to enjoy my life like everyone else, I have things to do."
"Life isn't about enjoying yourself, its about being alive and making every moment as fulfilling as possible, know that you lived on your own terms so that if you die tomorrow at least you died living how you wanted to live. If you dedicate yourself to killing Kuja, Volde-whatever or whoever else threatens you, then you already give them a victory, they may not kill you, but they're still taking your life from you."
That comment made Harry pause, he had been doing that, letting everyone else dictate how he did things, rooting his life around what everyone expected or doing what he believed others wanted. He had returned to the Dursleys because Dumbledore had wanted it, he had tried to shut everyone out because of Voldemort, he had decided to quit school because of Voldemort and because he thought Dumbledore would have wanted him destroying the other Horcruxes. He'd let the Dursley's destroy his self confidence and it was also because of them that he always felt like he was worthless. All of his inner demons were dictating how he lived instead of him dictating how he let them effect him.
"You're right." he said finally "I won't guarantee that I won't ever do things that will put me in danger, but I will start trying to enjoy my life more, maybe I won't be so reckless with my life if I do."
"I can accept that." said Sheyna "I know I can't change you, but I'm glad you're open to reason. I'm glad your feeling better too, how did that happen anyway?"
"I thought since the sword was responsible for the injuries, it might have the key to healing them, so I just thought about having the sword and then I had it, so I thought about healing my wounds and they were healed, but then the effects of those potions started to kick in, and it knocked me out."
"Only you Harry" said Sheyna smiling "It was that simple all this time, and you just now thought of it today."
"You didn't think of it either." said Harry
"I was busy taking care of you and Andrea, it wasn't my job to think of everything." said Sheyna "Speaking of which, you know she woke up today?"
"I ran into her, well she more like came into my room after you left demanding answers." said Harry "I think believes that me and you are just figments of her imagination and that Mia is just messing with her head. I tried to explain things to her, but then we got into where Mia's powers went and things got a little out of hand."
"She didn't attack you did she?" asked Sheyna
"Not intentionally, at least it didn't look that way." said Harry "Based on what she said, I gathered that she must have gotten the power, but she freaked out and launched a fireball at my head, then she bolted and I haven't seen her since.
"It's a lot to take in." said Sheyna "She's been trained for almost half her life to contain sorceresses or even kill them if necessary, so this has to be even harder on her. We should probably just leave her alone other than making sure she at least takes care of herself. and be there if she wants to talk to us, but I doubt she will."
"She's always been a pretty independent person, and were aren't really her good friends, all of them are…somewhere….alive….hopefully."
"Since you're fine now we can start looking for them." said Sheyna
"But we've got no idea where they are, or even if they're alive." said Harry "I'm not saying we shouldn't look, I'm just saying I don't know where to start."
"Well we'd need a means to look first, and for that we need transportation, and the best way I can think of is an airship." said Sheyna
"Where would we get one of those." said Harry
"Limblum" said Sheyna "I'm sure we can get a small one there, especially with all the gil you managed to get from killing so many fiends. Your EFC account was colossal."
"I can get us there if you or Andrea has been there." said Harry "If you let me look at the memory, I can make portkey for us."
"I've never been there." said Sheyna "So you'll have to ask Andrea, and I don't think she's feeling too generous right now."
"I won't know until I try." said Harry "But I'll leave her alone right now, I wouldn't want to use Legilimancy on her right now anyway."
"Well, I've had a long day and I'm going to take a nap, I'll see you later, Harry." She walked around the table and over to Harry, she seemed to think about something before wrapping her arms around Harry and hugging him tightly, he hugged her back, but then she did something that took him completely by surprise, she kissed him. His momentary shock was overridden by his desire and he began kissing her back without a second thought. They stayed there in the kitchen kissing passionately for some time until they finally broke for air.
"What was that for?" asked Harry
"Do I need a reason?" asked Sheyna
"Not particularly" said Harry "But I've wanted to do that for a while now."
"Why didn't you?" asked Sheyna
"It would make things complicated." said Harry "I want this, I really do, but…"
"What did you just finish saying Harry?" asked Sheyna "I don't care that you're an offworlder or that your going to have to go home one day, it doesn't change how I feel or what I want."
"What about when I have to leave?" asked Harry quietly "This'll just make it harder."
"I'll just go with you." said Sheyna
"I couldn't ask you to do that." said Harry "This is your home, my world is on the brink of war right now and if what I saw is any indication, things are going to get worse before they get better, I couldn't bring you to that."
"And I couldn't let you go back into something like that alone." said Sheyna "I don't have anything to keep me here, I go where you go, remember? I love you Harry, I have for a while now, and if you think you're just going to leave me then you'd better think again."
"I love you too, Sheyna." said Harry "If you really want to go with me when I find a way to leave, then I won't stop you, its just that I don't know for sure what we'll be walking into, and now with the fiends, Voldemort antagonizing an ancient vampire clan, and the Muggles knowing about the magical world, things are bound to be crazy."
"Well we'll have to go one step at a time." said Sheyna "We've still got to find the others, kill Kuja and then we have to start looking for a way back to your world before the merger completes. I know it sounds simple, but actually doing it is going to be something different entirely."
She finally let go of him and began to leave the kitchen, Harry decided that he'd let her rest and went off to kill some fiends in the surrounding desert. Since he was now fully recovered they were no match for him, only a few of them managed to even hit him and those were only glancing blows. When he returned to the cavern five hours later, he didn't even need a Cure spell.
He was tired though and wanted to rest again. He supposed that his stamina still had to recover even if his overall power was back at its maximum. When Harry opened his room door he found that his bed already had an occupant, Sheyna was fast asleep with the covers pulled over her and she appeared to be resting peacefully. Shrugging, Harry simply stripped off his outer clothes and climbed in with her. He pulled her close to him and soon he found himself drifting off into a peaceful slumber knowing that the hard work began the next day.
…
A/N: That took a lot longer than I thought it would to get done, I'm sorry for that, I have factors that keep me from working on this fic like I used to, that's why updates take so long now, I do get free time, but most of the time it gets interrupted so much that if I do try and write, my concentration gets broken and I end up stopping because I can't write a decent paragraph. Then sometimes I just can't write, I'll just stare at the screen knowing what I want to write, but I just can't formulate how to do it. I think I'm over the writer's block now though and I'll have the next chapter up sooner than this one was, it might even be less than a week, but I won't swear to that.