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: I appreciate the reviews very much and am glad to see that this rather foolish idea is coming to light. Also, there will be sixth book components thrown into this tale that will make it deviate from its Final Fantasy roots. Of course, those of you that haven't played the game won't know that. Those that have, you will be able to tell the difference, I assure you of that.
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Chapter Four
Leaving the Woods
-
Severus glared whole-heartedly at the thief as he righted a table, listening as the man explained his plan to get them out of the Forbidden Forest alive and in one piece. The prince stood nearby, gathering up the feathers from the pillow he had destroyed in the rage that had turned his eyes gold and left him with the ugly, albeit, healed scars on his left arm.

"Well, what do you think?" Severus looked up from his examination of the claw marks on the table to find the thief standing over him, clutching several pieces of broken glass in his hands and looked down at him expectantly.

The mage scowled.

"I'd say you were an idiot," he replied and returned to cleaning up the mess that the prince had made of the room.

"You seem just as much an idiot to me," Severus glared at the knight as he entered the room.

For the last several hours, he had been asleep thanks to a cleverly concocted potion that Severus had given him. The mage had gotten irritated and given it too him while he blubbered about his failure as a knight and the prince being a werewolf.

"And what have you done so far beside yell incoherently?" he accused.

The knight stuttered for a moment, flushed red, and than said with a scowl, "I'm not the one that couldn't kill a werewolf."

"If that idiot hadn't transformed and gotten in my way," he motioned to Sirius.

"How am I an idiot?" Sirius growled, stepping toward the mage, using his height to tower over the slighter mage.

"You've spent the last ten minutes yammering about walking carefully through the woods as if the creatures won't attack us if we don't threaten them."

"At least I came up with a plan!"

"It is better to have one good plan than two bad ones."

"I don't see you coming up with anything!"

"Because no plan is going to get us out of these woods intact unless we find some way to get this hunk of an airship flying again."

"You're the mage; use your precious magic to levitate this thing!"

"I have neither the strength nor the spell to levitate it. Most mages that do know the levitation spell can't levitate something this large."

"Considering the fact that I took out the werewolf and saved our lives, you're being awfully cocky. You should be thanking me for saving you!"

"Why would I thank some flea bitten animagus for anything? I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"Which, I'm sure you will. Once we're all asleep, you'll probably murder us in our beds and take the prince to your precious city."

"More than likely," the mage smirked.

"Unbelievable!" Sirius rushed the mage, with every intention of beating him, either into unconsciousness or to death.

Remus watched this unfold with a growing irritation. He couldn't recall ever being so angry with someone before. Perhaps the lycanthropy was having an effect on his temper. When Sirius started toward the mage, drawing his dagger from his belt, Remus leapt to his feet with a frustrated growl. He stepped between the two men and prostrated himself between them, glowering at both of them.

"You're all idiots!" he yelled to be heard over the two as they argued.

Silence.

For only the second time in his life, Remus was glad that Weasley wasn't stupid enough to pick a fight needlessly. Not that he could say anything of the other two. With an animalistic growl, he pushed both of them away from the other and stood panting in the middle of the room as the three stared at him.

"I want quiet! Can you not speak peaceably to the other for longer than a few minutes at a time? This is immature behavior and I am the youngest amongst you!"

"Sorry," Sirius grumbled and returned to picking up feathers from the floor looking ashamed.

Severus rolled his eyes and lowered himself onto the only intact piece of furniture in the room, a wooden stool, crossing his arms over his chest and scowling. Weasley simply lowered his eyes when Remus turned sharp gold eyes on him and with a loud metallic bang, he dropped to the floor and began to pick up feathers alongside Sirius.

Looking up at the ceiling, the prince took a deep breath to calm himself and pray to the gods for more patience.

-

Dora stood uneasily in the clearing that surrounded the crash site, gazing out at the dark trees. Kingsley was sitting nearby sharpening with a steel blade the edge of the wooden dagger that he was fond of using. Both of them had been placed on guard duty by the boss after Sirius had returned with the prince. Aberforth may have been a bit strange, but he wasn't an idiot. With his brother being one of the most powerful blue mages in the last five hundred years, he had picked up quite a few tricks.

That was probably why they were all still alive. The magic that had been imbued upon the airship when it had been built hadn't stopped it from crashing, but it had kept it in one piece. This was saying a lot since the cliffs outside of Gryffindor that dropped down into the Forbidden Forest were nearly a mile high.

A branch cracked somewhere just beyond where the light from the moon touched and Kingsley leapt up, his dagger forgotten in favor of drawing his sword.

Dora giggled, "Relax, Kingsley."

The dark skinned man looked at her for a moment and then back at the trees. He sheathed his sword and sat back down to continue his project.

"Do you think we'll be able to get out of here?" he asked.

Dora shrugged.

"Who knows? With the way the boss is acting, we're probably going to get out of here as soon as it's light. I mean, did you see what that Werewolf did to the prince?"

Kingsley shrugged.

"No, but I saw the blood on the floor when Peter was cleaning," he frowned. "I bet we'll hang for this."

"First we kidnap the prince, than we get him turned into a Werewolf, probably," Dora replied with her usual cheerful attitude.

"You worry me sometimes," Kingsley muttered.

"I worry myself," she said with a laugh, "but, it beats being depressed all the time."

-

"We're leaving now?" Ron looked at the thief in amazement. Sirius knelt upon the floor of the galley, tossing a loaf of bread into the bag at his feet along with some dried fruit that lay scattered about on the floor.

"We need to get to Ravenclaw before Cornelius can send his troops down here to get the prince. They'll probably hang the lot of us," Sirius answered, closing the bag.

"And you'd deserve it for kidnapping the prince," Ron said with a scowl.

"Weasley, I'm going with him to see my uncle, you can not stop me," Remus stood in the doorway examining the bow that Sirius had given him. "You are free to return to Gryffindor if you wish."

"No!" Ron very nearly shouted. "It is my sworn duty to protect you, Your Highness, and I shall do just that. Nothing will stop me from following you. I do not understand why you insist on allowing this – this thief to take you."

"Nor is it your place to," Remus answered slinging the bow onto his shoulder and looking to Sirius, gold eyes daring him to disagree.

The animagus shrugged.

-

The forest pressed down around them as they left the safety of the airship. Sirius was on full alert, his daggers at the ready as he and Weasley walked at the front of the group. His dark hair had been pulled from his face into a low ponytail. Dressed in black leather, the thief's trim form was clearly noticeable now even while he wore the traveling cloak.

Severus was still in his black robes and cloak, now looking the worse for wear as he adjusted the silver belt around his waist and wished that he had a staff. It was one of few weapons that black mages were allowed and his had been destroyed by a particularly angry Graphorn on his way through the mountains between Slytherin and Gryffindor.

The prince had been supplied with new clothing after Peter had pointed out, while he stuttered, that the blood on his clothes would probably call more attention to them. So the prince was outfitted in the only spar clothes they could find. The prince was a slight man and most of Sirius's old clothes (also of leather, Severus had pointed out) fitted him poorly so they had to rely upon a few things from the prop closet.

Sirius's trousers fit only because he had worn than when he had been fifteen. Even so, they were a bit too tight. Remus had thrown a fit when he'd seen himself in a mirror and Weasley had a few words with Sirius about keeping his eyes where they belonged. Remus had kept his boots, refusing to change out of the shin high dragon hide ones he wore. His shirt had also been destroyed with the mage's help and been replaced by an ill fitted dress shirt from the prop closet and a knee length leather tunic cinched at his waist with a leather belt.

Remus had agreed to the tunic when he'd seen that it'd covered most of his lower body, or rather the parts that really mattered. Attached to the belt was a sheath that held a dagger and he had slung a quiver filled with arrows onto his right shoulder and agreed to carry the bow. Binding his mid-back length hair had been simple once he'd torn a strip of cloth from the bedding that he had destroyed.

Sirius stopped in his tracks, gray eyes gazing sharply into the trees alongside the path, his hands tightening upon the hilt of his daggers. Ron very nearly ran into him and gazing at the thief in confusion, drew his two-handed sword and prepared himself.

"What is it?" Remus asked stepping toward the two warriors.

"I heard something," Sirius answered.

There was a whizzing sound and Sirius jerked back as an arrow hit a tree standing beside him, very nearly hitting him. All four of the walkers looked in the direction that the arrow had come from.

Standing just beneath the branches and holding a nocked bow pointed at Sirius, stood a Centaur. Enormous, the half-man, half-horse glared at them with deep brown eyes from beneath thick black eyebrows and equally thick black hair that fell to his shoulders not unlike Severus'.

"Why do you humans enter the Forbidden Forest," the Centaur said gruffly. "Do you seek your deaths?"

"Our airship crashed, we're only trying to get out of here," Sirius answered.

"We trust no human, especially one who would dare to allow a Werewolf walk free on the night after the full moon," he pointed his drawn arrow at Remus. "We found one of our own dead because of these miserable creatures. What proof do you have that it was not this very Wolf?"

Sirius scowled and stepped between him and the Centaur. Remus gently pushed him aside and stepped up to the Centaur to look boldly up at him.

"I was turned last night and have been resting this last day," he said softly. "It could not have been me."

The Centaur's bow moved down and he gazed at the prince with a mixture of pity and sorrow.

"Than accept my apology and allow me and my mate to escort you to the edge of the forest," he offered. "When the next moon comes, we will not be so kind."

Remus bowed.

"Thank you, if I might ask your name."

"I am Firenze."

"Remus than," the prince said and he smiled.

Sirius breathed a sigh of relief and than stiffened further when a female Centaur appeared, dark blonde hair falling to where her human half met with the mare form. A leather vest was worn over her chest and she carried a bow and quiver as she cantered toward them.

"Come," she said as she led them down the path, Firenze following behind.

"Well," breathed Sirius, "at least we know we won't get killed today."

-

"Okay, according to the map, we are here," pointing to a spot just beyond the edge of the Forbidden Forest alongside a large lake, Sirius tried to gather his bearing and figure out how he would get out of the mountain surrounded moor. "Now, Gryffindor is located at the top of an immense cliff as shown here," he pointed to a spot on the northwestern section of the continent. "Ravenclaw is on the other side of these mountains," he motioned to a dot on the far southeast section of the map, "and the only way to get over these mountains is this cave, here, which will take us past Hogsmeade and Slytherin."

Weasley frowned as he looked at the skull and crossbones printed carefully beside the cave labeled quite simple 'The Cave'. It was situated just a half a days walk southwest from where they were camped. The city of Hogsmeade was situated just outside where this cave was supposed to lead them and Slytherin was probably a days walk from there. As for Ravenclaw, the city seemed to be three or four days away and like Gryffindor, sitting atop a cliff.

"Perfect," Severus said with a smirk, "I can take the prince directly to Slytherin and you two can bugger off."

All three men scowled at the mage and he turned his gaze to the mountainous cliffs that surrounded them on all sides.

"Anyways, as I was saying," Sirius said loudly, turning his attention back to the map, "it would be quite easy for us go to Hogsmeade and take the train to Ravenclaw."

"Why is that skull drawn there?" Remus asked curiously gazing at the sketch that was worrying Ron.

Sirius shrugged.

"I've always had this map, even before I can remember, so I can't be sure," he answered, looking skyward and tapping his chin thoughtfully.

Severus rolled his eyes and prepared himself for a fight, going over his magical abilities so far and wishing that he could Apparate without draining himself as it had back in Gryffindor. The spell had been new and the chance to use it had been a great temptation that he hadn't denied himself. He just hadn't expected the energy draining effect that it would have.

"Normally it's a danger symbol, so I expect the cave might be dangerous," Sirius said.

"Excellent deduction! The cave might be dangerous," Severus said sardonically, glaring at the gradually lightening sky.

"Oh, shut up."

"Don't tempt me thief," the mage was already calling up his fire spell when Remus stood up and walked off.

"Your Highness!"

Weasley pushed himself to his feet and followed the prince. Remus turned around so suddenly that he stopped walking, "Weasley, I am ordering you to stay where you are!" he turned back around and continued walking.

"Remus, where the hell do you think you're going?" Sirius shouted.

"Away from you!" was the echoed response.

-
Author's Note: I'd say this turned out quite well. I'm not certain about Firenze and Cordelia's involvement as of yet, but I do think that they may make a return appearance. I'm glad that the chapter was longer than the last three.

Next chapter: The group enters the cave and find far more than they bargained for...