Title: Saishū Yume
Author: Ex-Professor Remus Lupin
Rating: R
Genre: Action/Adventure/Alternate Universe/Romance
Era: None
Pairing(s): Remus/Sirius, Severus/Harry
Summary: It starts, as a simple kidnapping. It will become an adventure unlike any other as a group of mismatched heroes find themselves drawn into a war for not only their lives, but also their very souls.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's Note: In this chapter I jump forward to the end of the play because I do not intend to repeat the events of Final Fantasy IX because that would be stupid and this would end up being a very boring fanfiction. I hope you like this turn of events better despite the fact that they are slightly if not completely different from the events of the game. I have no intention to make this the exact same story as Final Fantasy IX as you can already tell, I hope. Also, thank you for the reviews; they are a highly appreciated ego boost.
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Chapter Two
Escape
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"For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo," the prince said sadly, as he gazed at the dead lovers.

Romeo lay across the bier, his black hair hanging loose from its binding. Juliet was crumpled on the floor beside him, her dark blue hair pulled up into a bun and the dress she wore stained with stage blood.

"Your Majesty, we have an emergency," King Cornelius frowned as a dark skinned man wearing black and silver robes walked onto the balcony.

"What is it Blaisé?" he demanded, turning away from the mage and applauding politely as the actors took their bows upon the stage.

"It would seem that Prince Remus has disappeared," Blaisé answered lowly. "I'm certain that Your Majesty understands the importance of having the prince's location at all times, especially now."

"What?" Cornelius stood and strode toward his general. "General Granger! Captain Weasley!"

Hermione snapped to attention, her sword still balanced precariously with her left hand. She smirked when she saw Ron jump to attention, his armor creating a loud clamor as he straightened and saluted. She always thought he wore far too much armor for a man of his age.

"Yes, Your Majesty?" she asked smoothly, her brown eyes crinkled with laughter as Weasley glared at her from across the balcony, his helmet leaving only the upper part of his face visible.

"Yes, Your Majesty?" Ron asked. Cornelius waved both of them off as he paced behind his throne.

"Find my son immediately," the two knights gazed curiously at each other. King Cornelius looked furiously at them. "I don't have all night, move!"

-

Severus cursed under his breath as he Apparated himself onto the theatre ship. He had just recently learned the trick to Apparation and as of yet, he hadn't managed to perfect the ability. He had been concentrating on the prince's magical energy in an attempt to bring himself directly to him, but something had gone wrong with the spell and he had ended up in the galley.

Wondering for a moment if the prince had put up a shield, Severus moved carefully toward the door closest to him and pressed his ear to it, listening. He heard voices, muffled heavily through the heavy oak. He could hear a woman and a man speaking, but it was nearly impossible to disconcert what they were saying.

"Fuck!" the man was shouting obscenities and something slammed.

Severus just barely managed to make it out of the way as the door slammed open and the man that had taken Prince Remus strode angrily into the room. He was followed by a pretty woman with now violet colored hair gathered into a complex bun at the base of her neck and wearing a Victorian gown. Obviously, she was Juliet, though the hair had changed colors.

"Calm down, he can't have gotten that far," the woman was saying as she followed him across the galley to the other door. Severus remained behind the door, listening.

"Dora, if he's seen by someone it's going to ruin everything and how the hell did he manage to get out of a locked room anyways!" the man yelled and he made a wild gesture as he pulled open the opposite door and stalked through it, the woman at his heels trying to placate him.

Severus followed quietly behind.

-

Ron Weasley, captain of the Knights of Gryffindor and loyal protector of Prince Remus, moved carefully down the hall, his armor creaking and clanking enough to warn even the deafest of individuals. Hermione had gone the other way to check the city, ordering Ron to look through the crowd.

He stepped out into the crowd. People pressed in around him from all angles as they hurried to leave the courtyard, laughing and speaking with great enthusiasm about the performance. Ron gazed over them, glad for his six foot six frame, as he surveyed faces for one he recognized.

-

Remus stepped lightly out onto the backstage of the airships prow, glad for the chance to examine the stage where the performance had taken place. His blue eyes alight with interest as he examined a large pile of props; he was surprised to find that many of the weapons were real.

There was a particularly loud surge of conversation from beyond the curtain. Remus looked up from his examination. He stood slowly and moved toward the curtain. Just as he had pulled it back and could look out onto the stage, a loud, gruff voice spoke, "I would suggest Your Highness that you stepped back, unless you want to be seen," the prince turned to find his kidnapper standing next to him, a grave look upon his handsome face.

"It would do you well not to speak to the heir of Gryffindor in such tones," Remus spat back, drawing his hand from the curtain and allowing it to fall back into place, plunging them into darkness.

"I'll speak to you how I wanna speak to you, you selfish prat," Sirius almost grinned at the fire that flashed in the prince's eyes he turned to him.

"Y-you," Remus stammered for perhaps the first time in his life.

"So I can shut you up, good," Sirius said, examining his right hand in the dim light.

"You pretentious, low class mutt," Remus hissed.

Sirius's gray eyes flared angrily and before he could stop himself, there was a loud crack and the prince was thrown to the floor. Both men froze, Sirius staring at the prince in shock while Remus held his hand over his reddened cheek, head bowed so that the long light brown strands hung into his eyes.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," Sirius repeated as he knelt down beside Remus.

"My apologies," the dark haired man blinked as the prince spoke.

"What?"

Remus cleared his throat and looked up, blue eyes brimming with tears as a nasty bruise began to shade the left side of his face.

"I apologize, I should not have said such a thing," for the briefest of moments, Sirius felt an overwhelming surge of affection toward the prince, but it was quickly ruined by a voice behind them.

"I'm afraid that I must ruin this touching moment so that I might collect His Majesty," the two men looked up to find the black mage standing nearby gazing amusedly at them and holding a ball of soft blue magic in his hands.

Before Sirius could stand, Severus tossed the magical attack. It struck his chest, knocking him backwards and onto Remus' legs. The prince gazed uncertainly at him, eye wide with shock.

"What did you do to him?" he asked, pulling his legs out from under the thief and standing.

"Just a simple sleep spell, nothing permanent," Severus answered. "It rather simple, even a white mage like you could learn it."

Remus had just enough time to run as the black mage called up another wave of magic and sent it blasting toward him. He ducked out from behind the curtains and onto the stage just as the spell hit, sending him crashing to the stage, unconscious.

Severus followed.

-

Looking up in alarm at the sound of a loud thud from the airship, Ron looked up to see Prince Remus fall onto the stage, lifeless. Looking wildly about the stage hoping for a cause, he saw a black cloaked figure stalk across the stage toward the unconscious prince. The knight gave a cry of alarm and shoved past an elderly couple watching the events unfold in horror. Behind him and high above in the balcony above, he could hear King Cornelius giving orders to nearby soldiers.

The mage smirked, "Do you really think you can stop me, Sir Knight," black eyes fell upon him as he climbed up the ramp and onto the airships back end.

Ron stepped forward, drawing his sword and holding it steadily before him as he stepped between the mage and his prince.

"I will not allow you or anyone else for that matter, harm the prince!" he yelled.

The mage's smirk deepened.

"You have no hope stopping me."

The temperature of the night air had been a nice seventy-five for most of night. Now it had dropped to nearly freezing as the mage lifted his hands into the air and made a quick motion. Ron looked down at his hands, covered by heavy steel gloves. They were rapidly turning to ice.

With a cry of horror, he flung his sword to the deck and struggled to remove the frozen items before it could spread further up his arms. Within the span of several minutes, he had managed to remove his gloves, armlets, chest plate, and helmet and stood panting in his undershirt and pants, short red hair clinging to the sides of his narrow face, leaf shaped ears giving him away.

"Y-you will not take him," he managed, picking up his sword once more and advancing on the black mage.

"Weasley!" Prince Remus cried out in alarm as he watched Ron swing his sword toward the mage in a killing blow.

Stepping easily out of the way, Severus watched in amusement as the knight missed and stumbled, falling across the sleeping body of the thief. Gazing at the two, he sighed as the knight stood up only to have the thief groan in pain and attempt to sit up at well.

"I shall cut you both down!" Ron yelled, turning on the thief as well.

"Not today," Sirius said, leaping gracefully out of the way of the blade. "It's two against one now," Sirius growled, brandishing his daggers threateningly.

"I will not give up!" Weasley struck out at the thief, this time catching him and leaving a deep slash across his upper arm.

Remus stood and joined the battle simply by lifting his arms and casting another spell. White lights wrapped around Sirius's arm, flushing through the wound and healing the flesh. The dark haired man looked down at his arm in surprise, than over at the prince.

"Wha?"

"I am a white mage," he explained simply as he cast another spell upon the black mage, healing a nasty looking cut on his hand.

"Nice," Sirius said cheerfully and he rushed toward the knight, intent upon bringing him down with this blow.

Before he could strike, the airships engine roared to life and the gigantic contraption shuddered, throwing him to his knees. He heard screams from the people in the crowd that had lingered too long and then, the terrific mind shattering sound of a cannon firing.

Looking up in alarm, he saw the terrific ball of flames coming directly toward them. Without thinking, he grabbed the prince's leg, slamming him down onto the deck and covered his body with his own just as the magical bomb hit the ship and exploded.

Debris fell upon the four in a rain of heated ash and wood, covering them as the airship took off and with a stuttering delay soared off into the sky. Remus struggled out from beneath Sirius and stood, gazing back at the balcony where his father stood making orders to nearby soldiers.

"We're going to crash," Severus said simply as he sat up and pressed a palm to a heavily bleeding head wound.

"I noticed," Sirius grumbled.

He struggled to his feet and than fell back onto his knees as the airship tilted and began to descend rapidly into the dark trees at the bottom of the cliff at the edge of the kingdom.

The airship plunged into the trees of the Forbidden Forest with a loud crash, fire ignited in the engines catching upon the trees. The four standing and sitting upon the back of the ship were thrown off as it came to a rest in a clearing of its own make.

The full moon rose silkily into the night sky.

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Author's Note: Yeah, new chapter, now I can be pleased with myself. I hope you're enjoying this.

Next Chapter: The Forbidden Forest leaves at least one of the group changed...