Title: Saishū Yume
Author: Remus J. Lupin-Black
Rating: R
Genre: Action/Adventure/Alternate Universe/Romance
Pairing(s): Remus/Sirius, Severus/Harry, Hermione/Ron, Albus/Minerva
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: As usual, a thank you to the lovely HK for betaing this. A few awkward jumps in the beginning. Sorry about that, but it is longer than the last chapter and the next chapter will be longer than this. Promise.
-
Chapter Twenty-Nine
A Deal
-
Sirius awoke with a start, pushing himself up and off of the floor. With a groan of pain, he collapsed back to the floor, his right shoulder throbbing in agony. Forcing himself onto his knees and examined his surroundings. The room was small, barely large enough for him to struggle to his feet. The walls were a dark gray color, smooth as marble. Reaching out and placing his hand on the smooth stone, Sirius realized that it was indeed made of marble.

He took a moment to examine the four walls around him with his hands, searching for the door. After a long examination, he found a thin crack in the marble. Following it with his fingers, he crowed in triumph. He had found the door.

"I wouldn't get too excited," the voice filled the tiny room and Sirius spun around, reaching for Angel Bless. His shoulder gave a painful throb and he cursed. He wouldn't be able to handle the weapon like this.

"Regulus!" Sirius shouted. "Come out and fight me!"

Laughter, soft and mocking, filled the air around him. Sirius ground his teeth in aggravation, wincing as he clutched his shoulder.

"Bastard," Sirius hissed painfully.

The laughter cut off as suddenly as it has started.

"Your friends are in rooms like the one you are," Regulus said matter-of-factly. "And of course, your little prince is here as well. I'll let them live if you do something for me."

"Remus," Sirius gasped. "Where is he?"

"He's nearby, but injured," Regulus paused, allowing this to sink in. Sirius' stomach lurched uncomfortably. "It could be fatal. He could die – that is, if you don't do as I ask."

"Shut up!" Sirius snapped.

"I seem to have hit a sore spot. No matter, he and your friends will live if you do this one little task for me," there was silence.

Sirius growled.

"You're not giving me any choice, you know! What do I have to do?" he demanded.

"Excellent. Step outside," Sirius' eyes widened in surprise as the door disappeared, sliding up and out of view.

Stepping into the outer chambers, Sirius saw that there were several doors besides his own. No doubt his friends were behind them. He looked forward to find a black mage standing only a few feet away. She reached out and wrapped long, brittle fingers around his arm. He nearly jerked away from her at the unsettling touch.

The mage Disapparated, bringing him along on the nauseating ride. He had done it a few times, but it hadn't made him any fonder of the experience. Pulling his arm from the mage's grasp, he took an unsteady step forward and looked around the room that she had brought him to. Scarcely decorated, it was clearly an out chamber of some other room. The door set into the back wall only proved this.

"Wha–?" he turned around to see that the mage had all ready left.

"Welcome to my humble abode," the doors opened and for only the second time, Sirius was face to face with Regulus.

"Look, I don't care," Sirius growled. "Just tell me what you want."

Regulus smirked, crossing one arms across his chest and brushing aside a long strand of thick black hair from his face.

"Oh, we're upset aren't we? Either way, I want you to retrieve something for me."

"What is it?" Sirius demanded.

"Watch your tone," Regulus said darkly, his gray eyes narrowing contemptuously. "You haven't forgotten that your friend's lives hang in the balance."

Sirius' scowled only deepened.

"I am sending you to a fortress on the Salem Continent. There is a stone there that I want you to retrieve."

"Why can't you get it yourself?"

"It's not my sort of place," Regulus answered. "There is an anti-magic barrier around the place."

"So you're sending me."

"Yes, because you're too stupid to use magic," Sirius glared at Regulus as he looked up at the ceiling. "Once you get there, I want you to retrieve the Philosopher's Stone for me. What do you say? It's a rather simple task. Even you could do it. I'll even let you use my airship so you don't have to worry about transportation."

Clenching his hands, Sirius checked himself so he wouldn't hit Regulus as he walked away from him.

"Of course, it might be too much for you. I'd better send you with a few of your friends. Let's say three, so I still have the other four to barter with. Besides," Regulus smirked, "no one likes to fight against themselves."

"What?"

Regulus waved his hand dismissively.

"Who are you going to bring with you?"

Sirius opened his mouth to reply and then stopped; he couldn't bring Remus, Harry, or Severus. All three of them were magic users and Remus was injured. If he couldn't have Remus with, then Weasley would have to stay as well. The knight was the only one who would put all of his responsibility into keeping Remus safe. So that left him with, "Hagrid, Ginevra, and Narcissa."

Regulus smirked.

"Of course."

"You'd better keep your promise," Sirius said darkly.

"You needn't worry," Regulus said dismissively as one of the mages entered the room and took Sirius' arm and Disapparated from the room.

Regulus sighed, shaking his head as he turned from the empty spot. That had been entirely too easy. Pushing the doors to the inner room open, he walked into the dimly lit room to find James, his arm bandaged now and in a sling; gazing at him from the chair he was sitting in.

"Why didn't you tell him?" James demanded.

"He wouldn't have believed me anyways," Regulus replied smoothly.

"But–" James fell silent at the furious look Regulus sent his way.

-

Hagrid, Ginevra, and Narcissa were standing on the docks when the mage Apparated onto it, Sirius at her side. He wrenched his arm out of the mage's grasp and moved towards them.

"Where are the others?" Ginevra asked, looking worriedly at the thief.

"Safe – I hope," Sirius answered, glancing at the massive airship beside them. It's blue body pulsing with red light. "We're going to get something for Regulus and he'll let us go. I hope."

"Do you really think you can trust him?" Narcissa asked dryly.

"I don't know," Sirius replied tiredly. "Let's just get this over with."

-

"Well this is just perfect," Narcissa said as she watched Hagrid push on the huge doors of the fortress, straining in the heat that made the air around them ripple.

"Narcissa, you are not helping," Sirius snapped irritably.

They had been standing out in the hot sun for the last three hours, Hagrid trying to get the doors to the massive fortress, it's walls curving and twisting upward. The style was vaguely familiar to Sirius, but he couldn't place it as he and Ginevra watched the giant wipe sweat from his forehead and step back.

"It's not gonna budge," Hagrid rumbled.

"So, we're stuck in the middle of the desert and the others are at the mercy of Regulus," Narcissa said with a bitter laugh. "Oh, this is rich. How did an idiot like you get appointed leader again?"

Sirius glowered at the bounty hunter and stalked over to the door, jerking his head to signal to Hagrid that they would try again. The giant put his shoulder against the huge doors and dug his feet into the stone beneath his feet. Ginevra moved quickly, putting her own weight on the doors and pushing as well.

"Idiots. The whole lot of you," Narcissa muttered.

Sirius put a hand on the door. The doors fell open with a loud thud and Hagrid stumbled forward, loosing his footing. Surprised, Ginevra collapsed to the floor and Sirius stared at the doors in shock.

"It opened when you touched it," Narcissa said carefully, gazing suspiciously at the doors as she strode through them.

Ginevra got to her feet, dusting sand from her clothes and gazing curiously at Sirius, her blue eyes unfocused slightly. Hagrid watched her for a moment and then followed Narcissa into the dark fortress.

"I–" Sirius swallowed, staring at the doors in amazement, gray eyes wide. "I just touched it."

"So it would seem. I'm getting a faint pulse of magic from you, but that's to be expected," the elf said calmly.

"But I can't use magic…well, there was the time I turned into a dog," Sirius rationalized now staring at his hand.

"You're an Animagus?" Ginevra breathed.

"A what?" Sirius asked. The elven princess coughed, pushing a strand of hair from her sweat covered face.

"An Animagus is a person who has the ability to turn into an animal at will. It is highly powerful magic. The last known Animagus was Merlin."

"You're kidding."

"I most certainly am not," Ginevra looked offended. "That doesn't explain how you were able to open the doors, unless this place was built by Merlin himself and if it was, I would suggest that we go back and take our chances with Regulus."

"The mages would kill us if we tried to go back without this stone he wants," Narcissa said, reappearing. "Are you two going to stand out here and bake or are you coming inside?"

Sirius gazed uncertainly at the massive gothic building before them.

"We've come this far," he muttered. "I don't understand why the doors opened for me, but I'm going to find out."

"The Whomping Willow did the same thing," Narcissa pointed out as Sirius and Ginevra stepped into the cool darkness of the fortress. "Reacted to you I mean. Think they're related?"

"I don't know. It doesn't make any sense," Sirius replied quietly, gazing around the entrance hall.

There were three doors, all perfectly innocent looking, except for a massive swell of red energy swirling over the door to their right. Hagrid was examining it carefully. Ginevra hurried to his side and she stopped with a soft gasp.

"What ever is in there is powerful magic, but the anti-magic wards are making it difficult to feel," the elf said quietly.

The room was shaped in an oval. Three doors were set into the walls, one to the left and another on the right and the last one on the back wall. The floor was covered with symbols. It was a language that Sirius didn't recognize.

"That's probably what we've got to get. Guess we'll have to find a way to break the barrier. Come on," Sirius motioned toward a blue crystal set in a twisted pillar of black steel sitting beside a set of doors set into the left wall. He examined the blue crystal while Narcissa tried to push open the doors on the back wall.

"Not budging," she said irritably. "Why don't you try touching them, Sirius?"

"Shut up," Sirius snapped, touching the crystal. Powerful blue light flooded from its center and the thief jumped back in surprise. The doors in front of him opened and Ginevra slipped through them into the next room "I really hate this place."

"You should see this," the elf called back to them.

They moved carefully into the room, Hagrid ducking down to keep from hitting his head on the ceiling. The room they had entered was shaped like a sphere, the walls smooth and black. At the center of the room, a massive shape hung suspended in the air, glowing easily with soft blue light.

"What is it?" Narcissa demanded, glaring at the massive shape.

"A planet. Most likely it's this one. Come on, there's stairs on the other side," Sirius muttered, walking around the spherical shape.

"I thought you wanted to find out about this place," Ginevra pointed out gently.

"Later," Sirius replied.

The sphere's blue light pulsed briefly and symbols suddenly filled the air before it just as they all neared the stairs. Ginevra and Narcissa exchanged puzzled looks and Hagrid's beady black eyes narrowed in confusion.

"Mother…Terra?" Sirius said quietly, gazing at the symbols carefully. After a moment, he shook his head and the words disappeared. "I can't make it out."

The other three gazed at him in surprise.

"Sirius, can you read it?" Ginevra asked.

The thief shook his head.

"No, it's like the words are talking to me…or," he made a sound of irritation in the back of his throat and started down the stairs. "It doesn't matter. Come on."

The next room was empty, the stairs curving back up into another room. Sirius led them through the empty space, lost in thought. None of this made sense anymore and it seemed as if the more he tried to protect Remus the deeper and more complicated everything got. Why did the doors open for him?

The wall in the next room lit up and words floated across it. Sirius stopped, staring at them for a moment, looking lost. Ginevra reached out to place a hand on his arm, to urge him to move onward, but he spoke.

"Beginning… the city… Lord," the symbols disappeared and he cursed, just as more appeared just above his head. "… Terra thrived…then… died. The city… began to decline… cities all over Terra… decline…"

"What the hell is this?" Narcissa demanded.

Sirius shook his head.

"I don't know," Sirius admitted, sounding panicked. "It doesn't make any sense. Why can I read it?"

"We should move on," Ginevra said, touching the thief's shoulder.

The doors opened into the entrance hall and Hagrid frowned, gazing around the room and seeing that the barrier still covered the door on the right side of the room.

"Try the back door now," Sirius said, crossing the room hurriedly and touching the door on the back wall. It opened easily under his hands and he shook his head. "I don't understand."

"Come on, maybe we can find a way to break down that barrier in here," Narcissa announced walking into the room beyond. "Holy shit. You've got to see this."

The room was spherical, but it was larger than the Planet Room and the walls were covered with stone faces, smooth and frighteningly human in their appearance. Some of the features had been worn away with age and the faces had eyes made of shining gray stones.

"This is just...creepy," Narcissa growled, gazing up at the faces as the rest of the group joined her.

One of the faces pulsed suddenly with white light.

"Visitor, listen to my tale," Hagrid made a sound halfway between a scream and groan and Narcissa grabbed Ginevra's arm in an almost bone breaking hold. Sirius simply looked curiously at the faces.

"All flora and fauna died out… The decay of Terra was immanent… In order to stop the decay, many methods were researched. The best minds of Terra were gathered… A final resurrection of our beloved mother world was attempted… It ended in failure… After four tremendous sacrifices, flora and fauna were revived, but…the Lord and… still in stasis…"

Another face lit up suddenly.

"… final results… are pending…"

The faces went dark again and did not light up again.

"What does this mean? Terra?" Ginevra asked, looking at Sirius in surprise. "Do you think Regulus knows what this place contains?"

"I don't know," Sirius said, "but the others are in danger. We have to worry about them first. If we can, we'll come back."

Returning to the entrance hall, they looked to the right door. The barrier was gone.

"Go figure," Narcissa said sarcastically.

-

The stone was quite large, nearly the size of an apple. Sirius picked it up from the twisted looking holder it had been resting on and examined it carefully in the sunlight coming through the swirled orange glass window on the right side of the room.

"This is it?" he said quietly. "It's not a ruby, so why the hell is it so important?"

"Too easy," Narcissa growled, unsheathing her sword and glancing around the room for some sort of enemy. Nothing.

"Regulus said something about fighting against yourself," Sirius said, tucking the stone into his bag and turning away from the clawed holder to the group.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hagrid mumbled.

"Most likely–" the ground gaze a tremendous lurch and the elf stumbled, only to be caught by Hagrid before she could fall to the ground.

Sirius turned around quickly to find a massive wardrobe had taken the place of the stone's holder. Reaching back, he removed Angel Bless from where it had been secured and twirled the double bladed weapon quickly in his hands as the wardrobe shook violently.

"What is that?" Narcissa demanded.

Sirius took half a step from the shaking creature – it had to be some sort of creature – and nearly fell over as pain spiked through his body. With a cry, he stumbled and the wardrobe doors burst open.

"Fuck," Narcissa cried as a new creature stepped out of the wardrobe.

Sirius.

The copy was a perfect replica, the leather clothes, long dark hair bound back into a ponytail, and even the sharp green blades of Angel Bless. The copy gazed at Sirius for a moment and without a word, buried one of the blades in the thief's chest. Blood poured from the wound as the copy pulled the weapon out. Sirius' mouth opened in surprise, his hand pressing over the gaping wound, the blood covering his fingers as he fell forward.

"No," Ginevra breathed, reaching for her medical bag. She gazed at the copy as it turned dulled gray eyes on its next closest opponent, Narcissa.

"Ginny, help him, Narcissa and I will handle it," Hagrid said, moving toward the copy just as Narcissa streaked forward, swinging her sword in a high arc.

The elven princess watched for a moment as the copy swung its weapon, blocking the bounty hunter's sword and then twisted a bit to strike out at the giant and leaving a shallow cut across his thigh. Shaking her head, she watched as Narcissa managed to back the copy away from the now empty wardrobe. Then, with a deep breath, Ginevra ran across the room, pulling her spear from the holder on her back and setting it at her side should Narcissa and Hagrid fail to keep it away from her as she set about trying to keep the thief alive.

-

The copy was slower than Sirius, which, Narcissa thought, gave her an advantage, but this creature seemed to not feel any pain. Her blade cut through the soft flesh of the creature's belly and the copied Angel Bless twirled, shoving her sword out of way. A jolt of pain across her shoulder and she stumbled back half a pace, her sword clanging loudly as it met with the creature's weapon.

Blood was welling up from the shallow wound and her shoulder seemed to be on fire, but Hagrid was moving in now, ignoring his own wounds. She moved in for another strike, but Hagrid was gotten there first. His fist connected with the creature's back. There was a crack of bone – its spine had snapped – and the copy fell to the floor, it's back twisted.

Breathing heavily, the bounty hunter plunged her sword into the copy's throat, separating it from the body and the lifeless gray eyes turned black. She stepped back as the creature crumbled into dust and the wardrobe it had come out of disappeared into a trail of smoke.

Brushing sweat soaked strands of white-blonde hair from her eyes, Narcissa looked over to Ginevra. The elf was kneeling beside the thief. Blood had turned her yellow uniform an ugly orange.

"Well?" the bounty hunter demanded.

"We need a white mage," Ginevra answered, her voice surprisingly calm considering the amount of blood she had on her clothes. "I know only one white magic spell and it has only done enough to close the wound on his back. I managed to staunch the blood flow for the moment, but he'll die if we don't get him back in time."

"I hope he's unconscious," Narcissa said roughly.

"He is."

-
Author's Note: I'm just an evil son of a bitch. Yet another cliffhanger for you guys and this time it's a bit worse than just things going black. It's funny but the ending was supposed to be a bit different. The chapter sort of ran away from me.

Next Chapter: While Ginevra, Hagrid, and Narcissa struggle to keep Sirius alive, Regulus doesn't plan on keeping his promise…