Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the storyline. Thanks for reading.

On The Other Hand

The Japanese Guild Master tried to reason with Lee without success. Neither did the attempts at bribery or pleading, and finally the man just got down on his knees, begging for mercy. But Lee was unmoved and when the man refused to call for his family to be brought to him, apparently hoping that someone would have warned them already, Lee just shook his head at the man like he was the adult and Kobayashi the foolish, naïve child. And proving why that was Lee took over Kobayashi's mind and made him do it, Kobayashi helpess in the face of Lee's power.

The man's wife had no reason to think her mate was lying when he said that the threat was over and he needed to see for himself that they were all okay. She brought their two children to his office without any idea what she was walking into.

Once they opened the door Lee made it clear that the patriarch of their family would die if they didn't come inside, the two teenagers clutching at their mother's arms at the sight of him. And with both tears and fear in their eyes the three came into the room, flinching when Lee mentally closed the door behind them to cut off that exit.

Ordering them not to move from their position by the door Lee turned his back on them for the moment and walked over to stand beside Kobayashi, who was staring blindly into space, on his knees in the middle of his office. Only then did he released Kobayashi from his control and only for a few seconds, insuring that the Guild Master knew what was happening. That he saw his family there and knew that there was no escape for them.

Then Lee reached over and placed a hand on top of the man's head, Kobayashi's eyes rolling back into his head and his face-his face became a mask of horror.

Lee kept the physical contact up for about a minute and then he removed his hand and turned his attention to the remaining three people in the room.

"He arranged for the murder of my family. He thought to turn me into a weapon he could use to gain more power and enslave the Fae when they arrive in this realm. He's like everyone in this world, seeing me as a thing to be used to hurt other people. And if you're not like that, if you're a good person, people like him kill and hurt you."

Lee walked over to stand within two feet of the woman who had pushed her children behind her, trying to protect them with her very body. Knowing, all the while, that there was nothing she could do to stop him.

"An eye for an eye. Do you believe in that, Mrs. Kobayashi?"

"No."

"You were going to raise me. That was his plan, was it not? And you were going to go along with it...even though just the idea of being in the same room as me terrified you. Terrified you even before you stepped into this room. You think I'm a monster. Am I? Who decides what a monster is, exactly?" Tears gathered in Lee's eyes. "Why couldn't you just leave me alone? Why does everyone want to kill the people I love? I didn't want them to die-but they're dead because of me and I don't-" Lee's words hitched as big, fat tears slid down his cheeks. "I just-why? Why did you-why didn't they-I want my family back!"

The woman stared at Lee, and in that moment Harry believed she did see him for the child he was.

"I'm sorry you lost your family. Please-please don't take mine from me."

Rubbing his arm over his eyes to remove the tears Lee stared at her for several tense heartbeats before nodding.

"I won't hurt your kids. Or you. That's-that's what Uncle Matthew and my dads would say is the right thing to do. But you all stay away from me from now on. Or else."

The nature of 'or else' didn't need to be stated.

"And my mate?"

Lee's eyes hardened. "Will never awake from the nightmare he's in. For as long as he draws breath all he will see in his mind is you all being tortured. Being punished for what he did. Death would be too quick."

Kobayashi's mate went back to looking at Lee like he was a monster, but Lee just stared back for a moment before walking away and leaving the room.

Waiting for him nearby was the man he'd made his puppet, Lee informing him that they were going to England. He wanted to go home.

)

Harry found himself...numb. He just couldn't feel anymore without drowning in his pain, horror, and anguish. He should have been there to stop all of this. Been able to protect his son and keep him safe so that he never, NEVER had to know what it was to be without family. Without someone always there to love and care for him. Harry couldn't even see what the Keepers were showing them now, the images were just colored blurs and buzzing in his ears. Lee was all that mattered. What had been allowed to happen to his child because he'd failed him.

But the numbness could only last, only protect him for so long. And then he had to see once more as his child continued to grow up before his eyes.

Somehow, he'd missed it, Lee had ended up in their home. The one Lee should have grown up in. He lived there alone with his human puppet and all the scenes they were shown next...were ordinary. And they all took place within the walls of the house.

Hiding. Lee was hiding away from the world there and not interacting with anyone but his servant. Cutting himself off from the rest of civilization. Not once did he smile, or laugh, or show any emotion really as the years went by. He might as well have been dead for all the life in his eyes. And that was as horrific to Harry as the rest.

And then his son was a grown man who looked just like Harry. Same hair, eyes, and build. And yet Lee looked nothing like him. Life had seen to that. Had taken the life from Lee's eyes and smile from his face.

What must it be like, Harry silently wondered, to have so much power, the ability to shape the world however he wanted to really, and not be able to have what really mattered to you. What you wanted the most but thought you couldn't have. The love and family that made life worth living.

And then the Fae came and Lee didn't care.

They watched as he looked up from the newspaper one morning, tilted his head to the side in contemplation, and then say to himself, "So they're finally here.". And then he went back to the newspaper again like nothing of significance had occurred.

The scenes that followed didn't include Lee at all. Instead they showed the initial clashes between the magical races of dragon and Fae, showing them all how the ingrained arrogance and sense of superiority was both their species' undoings.

And the battles that followed led to the human race discovering the existence of both, which spelled the beginning of the end for them all.

Mass hysteria and paranoia reigned, coupled with human world leaders who weren't so dumb that they didn't recognize that they were no match for either race. And as was so often the case with humans when they faced something or someone they couldn't control and didn't understand-mass violence erupted all over the world. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people dying from one end of the globe to the other as dragons transformed into their true forms in populated areas to protect themselves from attack or fell from the sky when injured or dead. People mistaken for magical beings in disguise because their ears were a little too pointed or someone didn't recognize the language that they spoke. Doctors overrun with people with magical injuries they had no idea how to treat...

When they saw Lee again he was walking calmly down a street while two dragons, one magically under the control of an elf standing nearby, battled in the middle of the city like dragon Godzillas.

Lee didn't do more than glance at them.

There was a magical barrier around his house, protecting it from harm, and there he seemed content to stay. And as they watched dragons from all over the world came to his door to plead for his help and deliverance. Begging for him to protect their children or do something, anything, to fix the hell their world had become.

In response he posted a sign for all who came to see.

'None of you were there when I needed your care and protection. You don't deserve mine.'

The last image was London in complete ruin. Their family home the only thing still standing as far as a dragon in the sky could see.

)

Harry blinked and then blinked again as the real world came back into focus. A world that smelled of vomit, urine and feces. Of sweat, tears, and fear. So much fear. A world full of weeping and voices that he couldn't understand even though on some level Harry knew that the majority of the speakers were English. But all he could register was the hysteria and fear in their tones, both foreign and familiar. And then Harry became aware of the hand holding his. Holding on so tight it was a wonder his bones weren't breaking under the strength of the other man's grip. But he was holding onto that hand just as tight, Harry realized in some dim corner of his brain. Eggsy's hand. His mate's hand.

It was the thought of Eggsy, the father of his child and the man he had to protect so that the horrors that they'd witness could never come to pass that cleared the last of the fog from Harry's mind so that he could look and see Eggsy's face. His beloved's tearstained face, those eyes blurry and then slowly focusing in on him with obvious struggle. Holding his gaze as they looked at each other and made a hundred-no a million silent vows to each other. And to the son still safe and undamaged by the world inside his womb.

"That's...not happening...to our son." Eggsy's voice was gravel, like he'd just spent hours screaming at the top of his lungs. Maybe he had. Been screaming.

If his own voice was anything to go by, as he managed to say yes, Harry had done some screaming in fear and rage too, in those minutes when he'd been trapped in his mind.

On his other side Harry heard Colin hiss the name 'Kobayashi' like it was the most hated world in the English dictionary. And feeling the exact same about the man-who was in this room. One of the men who'd hurt-no...no MANY of the people directly responsible for the pain he'd just witness his child suffering were here. Right here.

And a dragon was never truly defenseless, even in human form.

But before he could attack, before he could even bellow his rage, the Keeper spoke again, her words oddly like the sharpest of blades, sliding neatly through his ribcage to pierce his heart.

"That is our future, if the people in this room are allowed to act in their immediate and shortsighted best interests. Now let me show you what life could be like if you thought not of yourselves and your own selfish interests...and instead did what was best for the child. And the rest of the world."

Darkness fell over Harry's eyes once more.

)

The room before them...was both very similar and very different from the first vision the Keepers had projected into their heads. This time around the bedroom was painted a cheerful yellow, which they could see thanks to the revolving lamp that had a lightshow of stars flashing all over the walls and ceiling. The furniture in the room looked new save for the rocking chair and the crib situated beside it, a crib Harry recognized right away. The Hart family crib. And in the crib, his arm wrapped around an equally familiar looking pug, Lee sat and called out for his parents in a loud but unafraid or worried tone of voice.

Lee didn't have to wait long either before the bedroom door opened, in stepping a shirtless and rather sexily rumpled looking Eggsy.

"Now, now, Luv. What's all this? Haven't we talked about how the thunder can't hurt ya? And that J.B. isn't ta sleep with you neither." Waving a teasing finger in Lee's direction Eggsy strolled over and lifted Lee out from the crib and into his arms, cuddling the dinosaur pajama wearing boy against his chest as he swayed a little back and forth. "There, now. You're just fine, ain't ya?"

A boom of thunder had Lee's face settling into mutinous lines as he stated that it was too loud.

"So you've said." Shifting over Eggsy slid a hand under J.B.'s tummy and lifted the pug out of the crib before crouching down to return the dog to the floor.

"Where's Papa?" Lee demanded to know, lower lip popping out in a pout. "Want Papa too!"

"Papa too? Are ya tryin ta con me in ta lettin ya sleep with us again?"

Lee's innocent expression wasn't fooling anyone.

Chuckling, Eggsy shook his head but didn't argue. Instead he turned around and headed back towards the door with Lee in his arms and J.B. trailing behind them protectively.

The walk to the master bedroom was a short one, Eggsy opening the door to reveal that 'Papa' wasn't asleep either, but had in fact turned his bedside lamp on low and was sitting up, waiting for Eggsy's return. Harry's future self started to ask if Lee was all right before spotting the boy in question, a soft look coming over his face at the sight of his child. His heart.

"Apparently the thunder's too loud and he needs both of us."

"Of course he does." Beaming, Lee's papa held out his arms and coming around the bed Eggsy handed their son over to him before walking back around the bed to join them from his side.

Happily snuggling against his papa's chest now as Harry settled back in as well, Lee's eyes were already closing before Eggsy had slipping under the covers and scooted over to pillow his head on his mate's free shoulder, Eggsy hand coming over to settle on Lee's back so that his son would know both were there even in sleep.

Lee's sleepy, blissed out smile said it all.

Present day Harry had only a moment to wallow in that, in the perfection of that moment and how it was everything he wanted for them, and then a new, very different scene slid into his mind.

A time jump of about a year had happened, Lee now nestled snuggly in one of Roxy's arms while her other arm was occupied holding a boy who looked to be about Lee's age. A boy who looked just like the pictures Harry had seen of Colin at a similar age, which was why Harry assumed he was looking at Roxy's future brother...and not sister since the nearly shoulder length white blond hair did androgenize the boy a bit. Along with the pink rabbit the boy was clutching. The two toddlers were taking turns making faces at each other and having a marvelous time at it while Roxy was talking to a man and his mother about the must see sights of London. They were all crammed in what looked to be a very overcrowded city bus, which explained why Roxy was holding the boys instead of letting them stand on their own two feet. They'd be trampled.

The young man Roxy was talking to, Canadian judging by his accent, offered to hold one of the boys for her to give her arms a rest, but Roxy assured him that there were only three stops to go before they got to where they were going.

It was while they were talking that Lee's eyes flashed dragon for a moment, his featuring tensing up as he reached out and tugged on Roxy's shirt until she looked down at him.

"Get off now."

"Three more stops, Lee. I know it's crowded but-"

Lee looked her dead in the eyes and told her, "NOW."

Brows scrunching up Roxy looked at him for a moment, then towards the approaching stop.

"If we have to walk all that way for no good reason there will be no dessert for you tonight."

The crush to get out of the bus had Roxy cursing under her breath but she managed it, setting the boys both down on their feet once they'd safely reached the sidewalk. And then she was turning at the sound of her name to see that the two Canadians had followed after them, the man holding out the stuffed rabbit that Harry realized Roxy's brother had been holding on the bus.

"BUN BUN!"

"Your brother dropped this."

The blond boy hurried over to say thank you and clutch the stuffie to his chest, his other hand locked in Lee's.

"Oh, thank you so much. Olly would be heartbroken if he-" Roxy's look of relief morphed into a grimace. "Oh I'm...the bus." The bus leaving without any of them as it continued on its route.

"It's all right, really. We'll catch the next one. Or see something nearby. Any suggestions?"

"Not really, I'm afraid. Most of the places around here are just office buildings. Like I said before I was just on my way to drop the boys off with Harry. He's-at least let me reimburse the two of you your bus tickets. Especially since-"

A single scream cut off the conversation, more voices rising in shouts and screams as everyone turned to look and see what was happening.

It happened so fast.

Like a scene from an action movie. A blur of motion that Harry recognized as a large lorry going far too fast and showing no awareness of the pedestrians in its path and then BAM. It smashed right into the bus, the force of the hit causing the bus to tilt and see saw back and forth dangerous for several breath catching seconds before it tipped over into the building and onto the pedestrians who hadn't gotten out of the way in time.

The bus they would have all been on if not for Lee.