Author's Notes: Larakain is that world's name. Sorry I didn't mention it before. Silly me! LOL Yeah, I know I'm no great and awesome writer. :p I just hope I won't bore anyone!

Thanks to Menecarkawan for beta reading!

Songs: 'Cherish' by Ai Otsuka (From Album 'Love Cook'); 'Cherish' by Beni Arashiro (From Eyeshield 21)


Ch. 17: Cherish

Al really wished he had a whip. Depending solely on magic would make the fight truly difficult and exhausting, but he had to escape. He knew the fight was one he would lose in the end, so his main course of action was finding a way to flee from that strange warlord, or whatever that man was. There was also Fawkes. Al's magical mutation allowed him to combine with Fawkes as he used to do with Phaisanny, but it wasn't the same. Fawkes was a real phoenix, not a summon. Fawkes' magical strength would never reach the same levels as Phaisanny's. Unfortunately, all of Al's summons had perished in his last battle to rescue Marina.

He developed a flame wall that he sent against the veiled man, but the man countered with a dispelling magical cloud before sending a black dust against Al. The now boyish looking ancient wizard chanted, and after changing into a semi human form set ablaze, sent his fiery arms to each side, palms opened. In this fashion, Al accomplished vanishing the dark dust that had been approaching him. With great speed, he then created two giant arcs that combined fire and holy magic and sent them both against the veiled lord. Nebureth had to dispel both arcs, but couldn't manage to get rid of both at the same time. That was what Al needed to make his run for it. Just as Nebureth destroyed one of the arcs and was attacked by the other, Al slid forming an imaginary circle, and vanished from the site.

Al was panting as he appeared in human form and Fawkes on his shoulder at the other side of the river, hiding behind a tree. He removed his half-moon glasses that were now clouding his eyes, saved them in a pocket, and started to run from there, knowing full well that he had to get as far as he could from where he had been. He felt almost drained. The phoenix combination magic had always been exhausting and even if he looked and even felt like a fourteen year old, in his mind he could almost feel the weight of being really almost one hundred and fifty-five years old.

As if perceiving its master's despondency, Fawkes suddenly chirped and pecked Al's cheek. Al stopped on his tracks, smiled, and transfigured a tree branch into a rope that he tied to Fawkes' right leg, and then he carefully tied the rope around his abdomen, passing it under his arms. Fawkes chirped again, spread his wings, and took off carrying his human, but not too high so that they wouldn't be spotted. Al truly wished he could find Harry, but he knew that if he was where he thought he was, at Larakain's current dark lord's domains, he had to be extremely far from wherever Harry was.

XxXxX

Hermione had been crying ever since she and Ron had last spoken to Harry. Ron had tried consoling her in vain, but at least during classes the girl had seemed calmer. She had screamed when Nebureth's image had appeared yet again, but just like the first time, Ron had smashed the mirror. This time she hadn't bothered to repair it and Ron didn't either. He had simply vanished the mess caused by the shards and thrown the handle into the nearest bin.

Both friends had been extremely worried about Harry, but he had seemed fine to them. He was even with some young woman. Ron wondered who the woman was. She was pretty in a very unique sort of way, but he had no thing for diamond white haired girls. Something about the woman was very odd in the redhead's opinion. It reminded him a bit of veelas and how they weren't entirely human, but the woman didn't have the charms that veelas possessed. In that sense, the woman with Harry was more normal and at least Harry seemed comfortable with her.

Hermione had also wondered about the woman with Harry, but decided not to give it much thought. She wondered if Ron was giving it some thought though. Boys did have a tendency to analyze girls. It almost made Hermione gag, but if Harry was happy, she would be alright with it. What really worried her was the man in the mirror. It gave her chills to remember, but that wasn't all. Even when the hand mirror was to remain permanently broken she didn't want to see mirrors. Whenever she could see her reflection somewhere she stepped back. When she went to the ladies' rooms, she was afraid of glancing at her own image in the mirrors there. She wondered if she was being silly, but for some reason she was afraid she wasn't being silly at all. She and Ron had opened a very dangerous link by contacting Harry.

XxXxX

Harry had been worried about Ron and Hermione, but had willed himself to think that they were alright. He had breakfast normally that day and approached Soshlan with a rounded piece of bread. "You should eat too. We cannot dwell on it forever. We have to go on." The slightly pointed eared boy stared at Harry, pastel yellow eyes connecting with emerald orbs that had a sapphire border around them. "You know... I was wondering about that rain you caused..." Harry quickly realized he had somehow said something terribly wrong because Soshlan broke into sobs. "What did I say? Soshlan! What's wrong?"

Nemaisse ran to the spot and tapped Harry's back. He turned and she whispered: "He thinks it's his fault Janryu perished in that dark fire because he didn't create the holy rain sooner."

Harry sighed, lowering his head, his mane of blue streaked black hair falling neatly, covering his cheeks and partially falling on his shoulders. He signaled for Nemaisse to leave him with Soshlan and the dark skinned girl nodded, biting her lower lip before leaving. Harry placed a hand on Soshlan's shoulder that wasn't rejected. He then sat beside the golden haired boy. "It wasn't your fault, Soshlan. Eat." Harry offered the bread again.

"How can you say it wasn't?" The tear streaked boy asked. "You saw it with your own eyes! I was able to stop that magical fire all along with my..." The boy covered his eyes with his hands. "With my own life energy! If I had realized I could stop it before... If only I had realized it sooner, Janryu..." He uncovered his eyes and stared at Harry, his lips trembling. "Janryu would have been alive!"

"Don't speak nonsense, Soshlan. You couldn't have known you could stop it just like that. You..." Harry suddenly remembered Sirius falling through the veil. "You didn't cause Janryu's death. Did you make Janryu run into the fire?" Soshlan shook his head. "I was going to run inside and rescue those little ones, but he stopped me and went himself. It was his choice and at least you didn't stupidly lure him there to make him go into that fire..." Harry kept trying to put the image of Sirius away, almost feeling sick.

Soshlan, noticing Harry's seemingly mental storm, took the bread from Harry's hand and started to nibble on it. He gazed curiously at Harry and stated: "You still blame yourself for someone else's death. You think you lured that person into the place where he died."

Harry's eyes hardened. "We're not talking about me. I'm... I'm glad you feel a little better." Harry stood to leave, but Soshlan stood too and grabbed Harry's tunic.

"Are you alright yourself?" Soshlan asked with concern.

The-Boy-Who-Lived was having trouble trying not to snap at the elven fairy or anyone else for that matter. He took a deep breath and faked a smile. "I'm alright, Soshlan. Just eat, okay?"

Only a few hours later Harry found himself in front of a cliff, staring at what seemed like a bottomless depth. "I am not going to jump! Are you mad?" He turned to the young woman that was beaming beside him.

"Harry! And here I had this image of you being so brave! You are ruining that image! What would Zheylks think?" Dianeia seemed quite happy with herself.

"You do know that's manipulation, right? You are trying to make me jump into a bottomless pit!"

"It's not bottomless, Harry! It's just that there's a little bit of fog and you can't see the bottom!"

Harry pointed into the clouded depths. "You call that a little a bit of fog?"

Dia giggled. "Okay, so it's not a little. Still--"

"Still, nothing! I am not going to jump into that!" Harry, who had interrupted the woman, checked the wings that he had freed earlier and shook his head.

Dianeia sat on the ground and rested her chin on her right palm. She sighed. "We'll wait then."

Harry paced from side to side, occasionally checking the cliff. He shook his head yet again and kept pacing while Dia waited. She started to blow her diamond white bangs from over her eyes, ignoring Harry, but was startled when Harry ran backwards and then to the front before throwing himself.

"Hey! You were supposed to tell me before jumping!" She yelled at him as she prepared to jump after him, but was amazed when he broke the fall flapping his wings. She clapped. "Very good! You have definitely surprised me, although for a moment I thought you were being suicidal!" Harry flew to where she was and threw himself over her, making her lose her balance and fall backwards. She pushed a laughing Harry from over her and said in an annoyed tone: "If that wasn't on purpose then you'll have to work a lot on your landing!" The young woman was rubbing her bottom as she stood.

"It was on purpose," Harry stated, still laughing. "Got you, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did. When did you practice?" she asked raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Last night, while you slept peacefully and obliviously on," he smirked and mimicked a sleeping person.

"How come I didn't hear you?" she asked with a pout.

Harry placed a quick kiss on her pouting lips and whispered: "It's called a Silencing Charm." He winked at her and she laughed, but he then asked changing the topic: "Where were you after breakfast?"

Dia smiled mischievously. "As we will be in the village for some time, I thought we could distract ourselves by working."

Harry blinked incredulously. "Working?"

"Yes! Kroy and I went to find jobs and found temporary jobs for everyone," she was beaming.

Harry opened his mouth and closed it, then he opened it again, a feeling of dread washing over him. "What's my job?"

"You and I will work together at the Bakery!" She looked quite excited.

Harry gaped before stating: "I don't bake. I can cook, but bake? No way!"

"We'll learn! I've never baked anything in my life either! And I can't even cook!" She giggled.

"You can't cook?" Harry asked sounding almost exasperated, but he remembered that on the few times they camped the one to cook was Janryu.

"Not really! Glad to know you can!" She wore a big smile.

"May I know what else you can't do?" The image Harry had of Dia being pure perfection was shattering in front of his eyes.

"I can't sew, I can't cook, I can't bake, I'm quite bad at cleaning too or so Father says..." She spoke looking pensive.

"Well, at least you can sing..." Harry said trying to find a nice attribute.

Dia frowned. "Actually, I can't. I only know that singing spell from that time to make those men sleep, but I cannot sing properly." She grinned.

"What can you do?" Harry asked looking pale.

"I am a mage! I can perform magic!"

"I meant physically..." Harry twitched.

"I'm not sure..." Dia went thoughtful all of a sudden, and then she brightened. "I can wash clothes without magic!"

Harry wanted to bang his head against the nearest tree trunk he could find, but smiled to himself. It was better to know that she wasn't perfect at all and he liked her just the way she was. "So... What are the jobs you and Kroy found for the others?"

"Nemaisse and Soshlan will be working in a Flower shop, Neville and Kroy will be working with the Blacksmith, and Luna will be working at the Antique's shop. Why?"

"Er... Why couldn't I work with the Blacksmith? Sounds more manly..."

Dia went thoughtful and replied: "Because you can get hurt and dirty?" Harry made a face. "Kidding!" She laughed. "I don't know. That was Kroy, not me! He got that job for him and Neville before I found the jobs at the Bakery so he was the one who left you out." She went very serious and Harry nodded in understanding. He then wrapped his arms around her and kissed her lovingly. "This is still confusing, you know?" he spoke about their situation.

"I know, Harry. I know," the woman stated looking nervous.

XxXxX

Harry was gently shaping what was supposed to become a loaf of bread over a floured surface. He was completely covered in flour from kneading the dough, still wondering what in the world he was doing working in a Bakery when they were supposed to look for more fragments and destroy Nebureth, but deep inside he knew they weren't ready yet. He placed the loaf on a baking sheet that was sprinkled with flour and left it in a warm area to rise in volume with the other loaves he had already dealt with, then he went to start working with flour, yeast, water and the rest of the ingredients as they changed to give the loaves different flavors. He was concentrating for a while, kneading the dough when a sack of flour crashed against his face. He coughed and looked at the very chubby middle-aged woman that owned the Bakery and was laughing with Dia. He had to make a very nice sight with his face covered in flour, he thought to himself. The nice woman kindly said: "How long will you stay with that dough, boy?" That's when he realized the dough had been ready a while ago. He laughed nervously and placed it on the baking sheet.

"Sorry," he apologized, but the woman shook her head with a smile.

"It's alright, son. I know you've been through many hardships. Your eyes reflect that. Just don't go daydreaming on the job!"

Harry sent an annoyed glance in Dianeia's direction and she stuck out her tongue while dealing with dough just like he was.

That night Harry felt exhausted. He never thought that dealing with dough would be so tiring, but Neville looked much worse than him when the boy arrived with Kroy. Kroy didn't look very tired though.

The blackened and dirty Neville went to Harry with a pleading gaze and grabbed Harry's shoulders. "Please trade jobs with me! Please! Please!"

Kroy raised an eyebrow and grabbed Neville by the collar. "Oh no, you don't! You will turn all that fat into muscle whether you want to or not! It will do you good!"

Neville looked like he could cry when Kroy escorted him to the bathroom. "Now you will take a warm bath. You'll feel better in no time."

Harry doubted Neville would feel better. He now considered that perhaps he had been lucky. Soshlan and Nemaisse looked perfectly fine and dandy while Luna had a smile adorning her lips. She blurted: "I love that store. It's so full of extremely interesting things! Mr. Cozlo told me he would let me take some things if I worked well. How long will we be working here in Chikbo Town?"

"Not longer than three weeks," Harry stated with determination. "At some point we have to leave, not just this town, but this land. There are no more fragments here."

XxXxX

The last night for them in that town arrived. They had been working for three weeks, always hiding when Nebureth's shadow men came. The people seemed willing to hide them, but Harry wondered how long their loyalty would last. He knew that they already had to leave because he was sure Nebureth was offering very nice amounts of money when it came to children, especially them.

Harry went to the bathroom to wash his face and noticed something strange in his reflection. He touched the mirror with his fingertips and asked aloud: "Hermione?" But there was no response. He dried his face, ignoring the strange sensation nagging at him, and went to sleep.

He woke dressed in school robes in a room that was completely dark. He couldn't find his way around that room, but touched something in front of him. Suddenly the room started to glow and gradually illuminated itself. The object Harry was touching was a mirror, but in the mirror was Al, also dressed in school robes. "I found you!" the boy in the mirror exclaimed. "Glad to see you're fine!"

Harry was taken aback because it genuinely seemed like Al had been looking for him. "How can you look for me when you don't even know me?"

"Mr. Potter! Of course I would know you!" the boy in the mirror exclaimed chuckling and with his blue eyes twinkling. "You have no idea how much it cost me to find your magical signature! It has changed so much! Miss Granger was right! Anyway, I don't have much time. Have you been to Zanoa yet?"

Harry registered in his mind the lands and cities they had been in and he was sure Zanoa wasn't one of them. "I don't think so..." Al seemed relieved, but as he was about to speak, Harry interrupted him. "How do you know about Hermione? You're supposed to be from the past!"

"I'm the present one, Harry..." Al's eyes seemed ancient all of a sudden, like eyes that had seen far too much in life. "But there's no time to explain why." Harry gasped when he saw Fawkes land on Al's shoulder. "When you get to Zanoa, you might need to go through an abandoned castle. There's an enchantingly beautiful sleeping man there. This is very important! When you get there you have to..." Al gasped. "He found us again, Fawkes!" The image disappeared and Harry woke abruptly. He was sweating and gasping for breath. He had felt dark magic very close to him, like wanting to swallow him; plus the dream had been too real.

"Are you alright?" Dianeia asked, straightening in bed.

"Yes... Fine..." Harry said with a distant gaze. Al had said that he had to tell him something important, but wasn't able to say what. Harry had a bad feeling that whatever it was would bring him problems later on. Al said something about a sleeping man. What about him? "Let's just go back to sleep," Harry muttered and Dianeia nodded and lied down.

Only two hours later they were abruptly awoken when they heard screams coming from the other rooms. Harry sat up on the bed and asked aloud: "What's happening?" All of a sudden, he felt a strong chain entangle itself around his neck. He gasped as the chain almost strangled him and heard Dianeia screaming beside him. He was violently thrown to the floor and could feel his magic being sapped by the chain. He realized that it was a neutralizing power just like the one he had seen before with the caravan the bounty hunters had.

Harry felt himself being dragged through the floor and he bent his knees and placed his feet firmly on the floor to avoid being taken by whoever it was that was capturing him, but he only managed to make the chain strangle him even more. He was stubborn though. He wouldn't let himself be dragged like that. He tried to invoke his magic, but received a painful shock wave through his whole body. He swallowed the scream that had wanted to come from his throat in his pride. He wouldn't let the enemy see him scream. Arms started to pick him up from the floor and he thrashed, but felt another wave through his body as one of the enemies placed a strange object against his chest, and everything went dark for him.

XxXxX

His eyes flung open and he reacted by immediately thrashing on the floor. His wrists and ankles were chained to a wall and he saw that Neville and Luna were there with him, but no one else. Getting into a standing position he asked: "Where are the others?" His heart was thumping so fast he thought his chest would burst.

"They took them away. They said they had to be separated from the children from the other world..." Neville lowered his eyes as if hiding something.

"What about the supposed to be adults? What about Dianeia and Kroy?"

Luna also lowered her eyes and Harry glared at Neville. "They were both forced to turn into their magical forms through some strange magic." Neville stopped for a minute, and then continued speaking. "Dianeia has been enslaved and will be transferred to a place called Baskuran. Kroy will be executed under the accusation of treason for hiding children."

Harry couldn't believe something like that could be happening. He just couldn't believe it. How were they supposed to escape? He was suddenly furious. "Where's that idiot? Where's that Angelus bloke? Why didn't he help us when we needed him the most?"

"We cannot depend on him, can we?" Luna asked with saddened eyes.

"He helped us before... Why did he disappear if he is supposed to be our comrade?"

"Harry... I don't think you're being reasonab--"

Neville's words were broken. "Reasonable? Reasonable? Who can be reasonable in this situation, Neville? We're soon to become slumbering idiots and then what? Everything will have been in vain!"

Harry started to pull the chains and started trying to remove his hands from the chain cuffs. His wrists started to bleed, but he didn't care. His eyes started to glow all of a sudden and he screamed as he felt something triggering inside him, but the energy was blocked by a shock wave like the one he had received when he had tried to invoke his magic before. He clenched his teeth and stopped fighting the chains, dropping on his knees. Neville and Luna gave him pitied gazes and he scowled at them. "Don't you dare give me those looks! I don't need sympathy from people that are in the same situation as me, especially if they're not even trying to do something about..." He stopped short when he noticed that Neville's wrists were dripping blood too and even Luna's. "I'm sorry..." Harry said lowering his eyes and feeling extremely stupid. They had been awake, probably the whole time, unlike him. They had already fought the chains before him, to no avail.

Even though Harry had noticed that in that world that Dianeia had told him before was called Larakain, there was something similar to Muggle electricity, in that dungeon there were burning torches to provide them with light instead of 'electric' lamps. The fire in the torches started to flicker and Harry cursed thinking that they were going to be left in darkness soon to make things worse. He noticed something white moving fast through columns across the room and he asked aloud: "Angelus?" He heard a familiar laugh and paled as the person appeared in front of him, putting a finger to his lips. Luna and Neville gasped.

"We've come to get you outta here!" the black haired young man that was dressed completely in white exclaimed in a whisper.

"We?" Harry asked weakly as he stared at the person he was seriously considering a ghost. "Yes! I've been with Angelus all this time! The dude actually started speaking to me!" The young man froze the chains that held Harry and made them crumble looking like ice cubes.

"Why can you break them and I can't?" Harry seemed alarmed at that detail.

"Because they only stop the magic from the one being trapped, silly. Now let's free the others! There isn't much time! Kroy is about to be sacrificed to some strange diety! And before you ask, he is currently unable to transform into a dragon even if he tenses too much. Magical blocking just like the spell on those chains holding you guys."

Harry was still registering everything in his mind. He had so many questions to ask, but ran to free Neville and Luna. They had to rescue the others and flee!


Five reviews for the last chapter! Okay, I'm being pathetic, I know. Anyway, thanks to: Fk306 animelover, lovenotknown, HitoshirenzuKage, bandgsecurtiyaw, yoYO - I feel flattered when I'm accused of being evil. -mad cackle-