The Magic Within

Chapter 6

I'M SO SORRY THIS TOOK ME SO LONG! I kept getting distracted then losing inspiration. If it weren't for me getting a headache and needing something to do that wasn't super noisy this might have taken longer. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this installment of The Magic Within!

((ALSO SPOILER WARNING, MINOR SPOILER WARNING FOR THE EVIL WITHIN 2 IN BOTH THE STORY AND THE END NOTE!(It's only a couple minor details, no major spoilers towards like, the end of the game or anything, well, one minor detail, but nothing to the huge plot of TEW2. but yeah, if you've watched any of TEW2's trailers the part in the story isn't even really a spoiler.)))

'Why me?' Harry thought to himself. His face was burning, Ruvik wasn't moving and Sebastian was trying not to laugh at this point, and Jimenez who had come over at the conversation was cowering in fear. Ruvik glared at Jimenez but ignored him in favor of focusing on his Little Wizard. The Little Wizard's mental shields weren't the best, and this place was wearing them away. While that would be good for Ruvik to read his mind finally, he would hate to lose his Little Wizard's sanity to this place because the deterioration of his shields might make it hard to block out his past.

"Ruvik? You're shaking, are you alright?"

His Wizard's voice broke him from his thoughts, then registering what was said he looked at himself to find he really was shaking, though it was from anger at the idea of losing his Little Wizard. He smirked, ignoring the other two in favor of kissing his Harry again, deciding to also Ignore Jimenez's sound of disgust. Though he found it a bit harder to ignore when the detective punched Jimenez in the stomach rather painfully. Solar plexus, if the sound of Jimenez' wheezing breaths were any indicator.

Harry was beyond embarrassed at this point, but Ruvik's mouth on his was so thoroughly distracting. He shivered, feeling the cold of the water finally against his skin after seeping through his clothes. Ruvik pulled away, smirking as he stood and pulled Harry with him, making a gesture and Harry was dry again. Ruvik blinked and flickered when a bullet passed through his head, not injuring him in the slightest though it seemed to enrage Harry, who punched Jimenez-who had been the shooter if the smoking silenced handgun now on the ground was a clue- in the face, breaking his nose quite painfully and loudly. Harry kicked him in the groin to make one last point, then stomped away fuming while Jimenez whimpered. Ruvik chuckled, which made Sebastian half glare at him.

"I don't like you nor do I trust you, but if Harry likes you I'll give you a chance. One chance, you hear me? You've done a bunch of shit here already, You hurt him once I Will, find a way to kill you." Sebastian couldn't explain it for the life of him, but He was protective of the younger cop. Ruvik nodded.

"For the first time in a very long time I have someone I would hate to harm. He has become so important to me in such a short period of time, but that seems to be part of his charm." He smirked, going to follow his Little Wizard. Sebastian groaned, following as well. Though he did pause to stomp on Jimenez' crotch as well, he didn't do anything more than that. Once he caught up with the two, (Not noticing Jimenez's crumpled form disappear to Ruvik knows where) He walked next to Harry.

"I'm sorry kid, If I'd seen he had a gun I would've done something."

Harry waved it off.

"To be honest I didn't even think he knew how to shoot a gun, let alone that he carried one on him. Dude's a total coward, I wouldn't have taken him for the type to carry. Think he had a license?" He joked. Not that it mattered here but still, cop humor? Well, Sebastian was laughing at least. Ruvik just shrugged, not getting it but knowing it was supposed to be humorous. He surprised the both of them by teleporting them all to the Hospital main room. Harry blinked, looked around, then turned to look at Ruvik.

"Really? Not even a warning?" His tone was so exasperated. Ruvik chuckled lowly, Hearing Harry's thoughts if only faintly.

"You are grateful for the respite are you not? None of the creatures shall harm you while I am here." He got close to Harry, grabbing his chin gently and laying a kiss on his forehead.

"I can hear your thoughts, if only faintly. Take care with your shields My Little Wizard." That made Harry blush heavily. He'd never had someone do that to him before. He paled then, fully registering what Ruvik had said. He took a deep breath, he couldn't check his shields now, he'd be inside his own mind and vulnerable. Ruvik made Harry sit down on a bench, avoiding the blood puddle on it. He leaned into his ear.

"As happy as I am that I can finally hear your thoughts I would rather not risk your sanity My Little Wizard. I prefer your mind intact. After all, tis not every day I find someone who genuinely interests me so, in more ways than one." He kissed Harry's forehead again. It was an oddly tender move for Ruvik to do at all let alone more than once, but his sister had often done it to him as a show of affection. He had never had anyone to do it to in the past. He had never had the wish, nor the time or opportunity. Harry could do nothing but blush heavily again and nod, feeling slightly lightheaded. He gave a shuddery sigh, closing his eyes and relaxing, sinking into his own mind. It was a disaster zone! His inner mind, which he had shaped into Hogwarts as it was the only home he'd ever truly known, Looked like it had after the final battle! He went around, carefully reconstructing the walls, rehiding the memories and rebuilding the "Wards" that were his mind's shields. He damn near almost whimpered when he found the state of his darker memories' hiding spot, the chamber of secrets. It was severely deteriorated, the memories leaking out and the guardian incapacitated. He garnered his strength, his mind creating an image of Ruvik to stand by him as he fixed the walls, repaired the statues, and woke up the guardian who was in the form of the basilisk from the chambers. She apologized for letting the chamber get into such a state, but he waved her off and explaining the reason it had happened at all. Once everything was fixed and his memories and mind shields secure once more he slowly brought himself from his mind to the sound of muffled gunshots.

His eyes snapped open to find himself now hidden in a cabinet of sorts alongside bottles of medicine. He opened the cabinet, finding the room he was in- a side room off the main he assumed- was empty. He went out to find Ruvik not in sight and Sebastian was shooting Muertos.

'Where's Ruvik?!' Harry thought as he pulled out his gun and ran to help Sebastian.

"Harry! You alright?"

"Yeah. what in the hell happened? Where's Ruvik?"

"He said he had to go, something about Kidman. He wasn't even gone a minute when these fuckers showed up!"

"Goddammit!" 'what the fuck is Kidman doing that Ruvik needed to go stop her?' Harry wondered as he stabbed a Muertos in the temple. He growled, yelled for Sebastian to get down, then sent out a magic pulse. He'd learned he could do that by accident when he'd been being mobbed by reporters and greedy-eyed fans. It was just that, a blast of pure magic. It knocked anybody within fifteen or twenty feet off of their feet, some going flying. It was also exhausting, so after Harry did that he staggered over to Sebastian and passed out, The detective barely catching his head before it hit the ground.

Dream

Harry was in the Gryffindor boy's dorm, in his bed. He was writing a letter to Sirius about this week, and the Triwizard Tournament's first task. Suddenly Ron came into the room, staggering. At first, Harry thought Ron was ill again, which made sense from the partying the house was doing, but then Ron straightened out and he had boils on his face, grey skin, prominent veins, and his eyes were milky and crazed. Ron rushed at Harry, and attacked him without mercy, biting into his neck and tearing out the flesh.

End Dream

Harry woke up with a shrill keen, jerking away from the hands touching him with a flinch. He looked around wildly, slowly calming down when he realized he wasn't in fact in the dorm room, Ron was not there, and he was not, in fact, missing part of his neck. A cold hand touched his cheek, making him jump. He looked to find it was just Ruvik, who was rubbing his cheek with his thumb.

"You're crying Little One."

Was he? Oh. that was embarrassing. Ruvik said no more, only shifting to awkwardly hug him close and bury his face in Harry's hair. Harry slowly returned the gesture, shifting so it was less awkwardly positioned as he buried his own face in Ruvik's chest, soft sobs making his frame shiver. Sebastian gave them a few minutes for Harry to calm down then cleared his throat behind the two.

"Sorry to interrupt, I really am, but we do have to get going. Ruvik, you said something about Kidman and Leslie. What is happening?"

Ruvik made an irritated growling noise.

"Kidman is a spy. Sent into S.T.E.M by Mobius, the organization that turned on me, that Jimenez works for and introduced me to. They used my work, Jimenez stole credit, and Mobius betrayed me, used my brain as the center of S.T.E.M." Harry tightened his grip at the word Betrayed. Ruvik would have to make note of that. Sebastian clenched his fists tightly. He sighed, unclenching them forcefully.

"Alright. Now what? How do we get out of here?" He asked.

Ruvik sighed.

"I do not know. I truthfully only know how to get myself out. No one that has entered stem has ever been able to exit on their own. Perhaps if we had outside help, but I know not how. Maybe if I can get out I will definitely be able to get you two out, but I have no knowledge of whether or not Mobius has reached the hospital yet." Harry sighed, pulling away a bit to look at Ruvik.

"Whatever you need to do I will help you." He held Ruvik's gaze, eyes showing exactly how serious he was. It was ridiculous how quickly Ruvik had burrowed himself into Harry's heart, but Ruvik was honest, he liked Harry for who he was, and he Understood. Sure Harry may not agree fully with Ruvik's methods, but at least he understood his reasons. And so long as it didn't hurt someone Harry still cared for He would help Ruvik. He let Ruvik hear his thoughts, understand why he was saying that.

Ruvik for his part could not believe his luck. He had someone who cared for him, despite how he looked and acted, did not judge him for the way his mind worked, understood his reasons, and genuinely liked him. He hadn't had someone who did a fraction of that since Laura. Oh. Laura, oh how she would have loved Harry if she had gotten to meet him. Ruvik could not help it, he cupped Harry's face and pulled him into a fierce kiss, imitating what he'd seen others do in their memories and following his instincts. Harry blushed heavily, squeaking in surprise and pleasure at the kiss.

'Damn, for someone inexperienced with this he is a damn good kisser.' He thought to himself. Sebastian sighed in exasperation and more than a little amusement.

'They're like teenagers who are new to relationships. Especially Ruvik, but then again, if what little I saw of his childhood is true, Ruvik was always more focused on science and knowledge than romance or relationships. And then that barn fire… Now that he really thought about it, this was probably the first time Ruvik's ever had someone like this. Harry moaned and gripped Ruvik's coat when Ruvik's hands slipped to his arse and squeezed.

"Ok, this is getting a bit uncomfortable!" Sebastian practically shrieked. Harry jerked back with an embarrassed squeak, face bright red. He'd never reacted like that before, hell no one had ever groped his arse before! Well, no one had gotten a chance to, seeing as... But he knew Ruvik wouldn't hurt him, though he knew he was perfectly capable of it. Ruvik laughed, bringing Harry to stand.

"Well, let us see what we can do. We must reach the center of the hospital, where the STEM unit resides." He explained, then snapped. However, nothing changed. he frowned, then sighed in agitation.

"It seems my own world does not wish to make things easy for me. well, the lab is not that far. Shall we?" Harry and Sebastian nodded, then the three began to walk, Ruvik making sure the creatures kept well away from them and helped Harry avoid traps, Sebastian avoiding them by default. They got separated eventually, Harry having missed a hole in the ground. He landed on his ankle, it bending painfully before he heard a soft crack from his ankle. He stifled a scream, cradling his leg in his arms. Ruvik Could not feel Harry's presence, and that worried him. There were only two things besides himself that could do that, and neither was good. Both were people sent in by Mobius, and both were very dangerous. Well, Kidman was relatively dangerous, but if it were the other one... Oh, now he was worried. He hated this feeling, this painful ache in his chest when he thought of Harry being hurt. It was much too fast to be so attached, he'd read countless studies that said it was not healthy. He wanted Harry close true, but he didn't want to go so fast. He felt like he had no control, and he hated that feeling so much. While he wasn't stupid enough to take it out on Harry, He wanted to be in control somehow. So, he sent what was left of Laura's memory in his repertoire to protect Harry. If she could find him. Ruvik growled softly to himself, then blinked when Sebastian smacked the back of his head. He turned to stare at him incredulously. Sebastian smirked.

"Harry's a big boy, he'll be fine. We just have to find him. Now let's go. We'll find him. And i'm sure if he isn't fine you'll do something about it now won't you?" He continued on. Ruvik could not believe what just happened but followed Sebastian anyway. They soon came upon an exit, which was weird since the hospital shouldn't have any exits down here. But there was no other door, and Ruvik was still not able to make the world shift for them for some reason. Ruvik suspected Mobius. Somehow. Sebastian opened the Exit, and found himself in a basement? Jail? there were cells everywhere, a hallway of them. Ruvik would have paled if he could have. Dammit why where they back here? why couldn't he change this?! He was the core! Who was interfering with his influence! Sebastian walked, pausing and staring in horrified amazement at the sight of the little boy from the barn, now badly burned, being whipped by the father he'd seen in the Victoriano mansion's master bedroom.

"Good God. What the hell?" He didn't want to believe it. He whipped around to look at Ruvik, who looked him in the eyes. He paused.

"Harry saw this, before. He, you guys said you understood each other's pasts. This... this isn't the end of it, is it? You two," He paused, looking away. the memory had faded, but the blood caked on the wall had not, nor had the shackles. He couldn't believe it, didn't want to believe it! Harry had been through similar things. God, What kind of sick person does this?! He continued down the hall, feeling sicker and sicker as he caught glimpses of Ruvik's horrible past, what he hadn't seen before. God, this made him almost able to understand why Ruvik was this way. He'd been tortured! blamed for his sister's death, and, He wanted to throw up, brutally raped. God, he wanted nothing more than to take a hot iron poker and shove it up Ruvik's sperm donor's ass! At least his mother had actually cared about him, even if she did let herself be tricked into believing both her children had died. Ruvik didn't want Sebastian seeing this, HE didn't want to see this! Why? Why were they back here? And why did it hurt so much? He had forced all the pain of these memories down decades ago! Why was it all coming back! Was it, Harry? the idea that Harry had dealt with much the same as him? Is that why it hurt anew? He sighed, continuing to walk, ignoring Sebastian whenever he paused to stare at a memory in disbelief. Ruvik paused halfway down. That was not...

"Little FREAK!"

This memory was in full color, much different from his own memories. There was a fat man bearing down on a small child, seemed to be about five with black hair and oversized clothes much too big for his clearly skinny frame. The boy was curling in on himself, not making a noise but shaking. Ruvik felt sick all of a sudden when the little boy was smacked, round glasses going flying and the little boy had been turned around. Those green eyes...

"Oh my god, That's Harry." Ruvik jumped, he hadn't sensed Sebastian coming up beside him. Ruvik didn't want to believe it, but he knew the truth. Those emerald green eyes could not be mistaken. The boy, Harry, was being beaten mercilessly by fists and feet, then the fat man pulled off his belt and used it on Harry, buckle end. Throughout it all, Harry didn't make a single noise. Ruvik couldn't take it anymore and hurried away. He kept seeing different memories that were clearly Harry's childhood...

Being locked in a boot cupboard, Being smacked for getting better grades, furiously beaten and/or violated for doing magic by accident or even saying the word! Then a good memory, Harry making his first friend in a giant man with a bushy beard who gave him his letter. As the memories continued though, they were mostly bad. Harry breaking bones, being attacked by giant man-eating spiders, having a Giant snake fang in his arm! Then the summer memories and the violations continued. Until the third year, but that wasn't a fun year for Harry until the end. The bad Hogwarts memories continued, but the bad summer memories did not resume until Harry was clearly fifteen, after his Godfather had died. Harry had looked so broken, and it hurt both Ruvik and Sebastian to see Harry scream and cry for Sirius, unable to go to him. after that the memories were horrible, the beatings worse, the violations brutal. It was a testament to how strong Harry is that he hadn't killed himself or given up and let himself be killed!

The two of them wanted to throw up, it was horrible! Ruvik for once believed he could genuinely wish to defend someone else, with every fiber of his being. To protect them and never let anything happen to them. Once the last memories had played,

((Harry defeating Voldemort and Harry's uncle died from a stray entrail spilling curse, They counted that as a win,))

They reached another set of doors, Coming out back into the Hospital. Another area. They headed down, finding Harry on the floor around the corner, on his back, covered in large gauges in a pool of blood! Ruvik rushed to Harry's side, just as Harry jerked and sucked in a harsh gasp and began coughing up blood. Ruvik helped turn him to his side, so he could spit up the blood and not choke on it. He was astounded as he noticed the wounds begin to knit themselves back together. Sebastian could hardly believe it, but he had seen medicine in this place do the same thing, so he guessed it was possible. Especially for Harry. Ruvik picked Harry up bridal style, though Harry weakly protested.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. See? I'm healing already! I'm fi-" Ruvik kissed him briefly to shut him up, no matter how awkward the angle was.

"Just let me do this My Little Wizard."

Harry huffed but accented. Ruvik sounded worried, which was new. Merlin Harry hated that friggin thing! That stupid, box faced fuck. Then Laura had shown up, fighting it. and Yeah sure she protected him, ((Which was new,)) But she'd also ended up hurting him pretty badly trying to protect him. She'd knocked him back before leading the fucker away, but her claws had caught his chest, which had led to him bleeding to death. Well, the gashes were healing nicely now, so he wasn't mad or anything.

Ruvik, for the most part, was scared. Scared of how fast he got attached, how much control he had lost. He hadn't feared for someone so much since he lost Laura. Well, Harry's wounds seemed to have healed, and his color was back. That eased the little knot in his heart at the thought of Harry so badly hurt. Once they went through another pair of double doors they were in a room very similar to the smaller STEM system they'd seen before, only much larger. Ruvik gently set Harry on his own feet, then moved to the control system. Harry and Sebastian walked towards the glass, looked down, then gasped, seeing themselves in tubs under the glass.

"What the hell?" Harry couldn't believe it. It was one thing knowing the truth, it was another thing entirely seeing it. Ruvik sighed, then moved to pull him close, offering what little comfort he could and letting him bury his face in his chest. Ruvik hummed, hesitantly petting Harry's hair and thinking carefully.

"Harry, I may be able to get us out, but it may be difficult. Sebastian would have to cooperate. I may be able to link our minds temporarily, then Harry can attempt to use his magic to wake us up. The magic being sent directly into the system may short-circuit it. However, we run the risk of it killing us instead." He explained. It was a crazy idea, but with the memory, he'd briefly seen, magic tended to make electronics malfunction. If he, being the core, could use his literal connection to short-circuit the machine, may wake them all up, or it could kill them all. But then he realized a major problem, for himself at least.

"I don't have a body. All that is left of me is my brain." He hadn't realized he'd said that part out loud. He thought to himself; 'Even if it kills me, I cannot allow Harry to rot here with me. I cannot. I will not. I will send them out and stay to die. Like Laura had done for me all those years ago.' Harry meanwhile had heard Ruvik speak, and realized the same. He didn't know what to do. He'd gotten attached to Ruvik so quickly, and so fiercely, how could he lose him now? Now when he was only just realizing how much someone could mean to him? How much he could mean to someone?! Just then The blond boy, Leslie ran in, running away from Kidman. Leslie ran over to Sebastian and hid behind him, and Kidman stared and frowned.

"Sebastian-"

"Kidman." He cut her off. "Don't even bother. You lied to my face. I get it. You're not just some rookie detective and this is no ordinary boy. But if you think for a second that I'm just going to hand him over-"

Kidman interrupted him in return.

"You don't understand, Sebastian! If Mobius gets their hands on that boy, you don't know what they'll do! You don't understand what they can do. They… You don't understand what they've done…" She looked like it pained her to keep talking, to try and convince Sebastian it was for the better. She hadn't even noticed Ruvik and Harry, until Ruvik spoke, surprising most of them.

"Who's Lily? And why do you seem so pained to think about her?... Ah, I see. They planned to build another system, without me. How rude. They think a Little Girl's mind will do better?" Harry noticed Sebastian had stiffened at the name Lily, then when he said little girl Sebastian whipped around to look at Ruvik, then back at Kidman who looked even more pained. Extremely so. Ruvik seemed surprised briefly, then made a sound of intrigue.

"The girl you two are thinking of seems to be one and the same." Sebastian seemed to sink into himself.

"Lily, is alive? Mobius took her? How?! I saw the police reports!" He was angry now. Leslie moved back to Harry and clung to his side, scared. Harry sighed, petting Leslie's hair gently like he would a child's. When a gunshot rang out he jerked his head up, having missed much of the conversation it seemed. Sebastian was pointing his gun at Kidman, who was holding her hand, her own gun now on the floor. Seems she had aimed at Leslie and Harry, and Sebastian had shot her gun out of her hand, grazing it in consequence. Ruvik's hand suddenly appeared in the corner of Harry's vision, laying on top of Leslie's head. Suddenly the room shifted to a strange area, the stem system now a brain wrapped in what looked like barbed wire. There was water covering the ground. Harry turned around to gape at Ruvik, who was only wearing pants now and exposing all of the burns he had suffered, and the section of his brain that was visible. Leslie seemed to melt into water, then was absorbed by the brain. Harry sighed, then moved to Ruvik and cupped his badly scarred face. He smiled gently, then whispered:

"I better see you out there. I'd hate myself and you if I lost the one person I can see myself falling in love with~." And, as the world seemed to brighten to painful levels, Harry was the one to kiss Ruvik. The last thing he sensed before he lost consciousness was strong arms around his waist and whispered words against his lips he could hardly dare to believe he'd heard.

Aaaaan that's it for now! Lemme know if you guys liked it, if you hated it or if you think it should have gone differently?

Lemme know guys, I love hearing each and every review, a couple frequent commenters in particular~ ;3

but yeah, tell me what you loved what you hated, what you think could be done better. Next chapter will not explain how they got out, so imma just, attempt to summarize. Ruvik follows through with the whole, overpower the system plan, but because he had gotten Leslie, he had a body to get out. Next chapter will be them waking up. ((Sorry for the SPOILER here, but no, Ruvik overpowering the machine did not kill the Mobius members, he had no idea about the chips or he probably would've just offed them the moment he realized he could, as killing them requires a specific signal from the Core.)) Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed!

Till next time Lovelies!~

EDIT: I CHANGED SOME OF THE DETAILS AND ADDED SOME MORE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR RUVIK! THANK YOU LICKYNUMBER1 FOR TELLING ME ABOUT THAT! I HOPE THE ADDED DETAILS MAKE IT FLOW BETTER!