AN: Wow.. has it really been nearly two years since I last updated this story. Well I can say that my life has been a hectic whirlwhind of BS that normally leaves me drained and brain dead. But.. lets see if I can get the muses speaking again shall we.
…...
Donum Deae: It goes bump in the night
….
Hogwarts at night…
Even living in a world where magic literally encompassed every breath you took, there was something about this castle that could only be described as 'Magical'.
It was strange walking these corridors at night. There was this calm among the ancient paintings and ghosts that he had only felt walking the gravel walkways of the temple grounds back in Wutai as a child.
The sleeping paintings paid him no mind, those that were awake didn't even look his way most of the time. Those that did talked in hushed whispers..
Never before had they seen a student move through the halls with such a silent step that even the ghosts floating nearby made more noise. It granted the once Wutain a strange sense of satisfaction, watching the baffled looks crossing the faces of what should have simply been oil oil on canvas. Seemed even inanimate objects could be mystified by the years of training that had granted him the near silent walk. It took actual conscious effort to walk in a way that made noise now, often leaving him with a leg cramp because of the change in posture, foot and leg position.
Hopping up onto a nearby railing the once Turk hunkered down, balanced perfectly on the thin banister. If any were to look he would look like a gargoyle perched on the banister. A very sexy gargoyle.. But a gargoyle nonetheless.
Sounded like Peeves was getting into something a few floors below. Shifting on his perch slightly, Tseng glanced down trying to pinpoint exactly where the poltergeist was. Where ever Peeves was, Filch was never far behind. That squib had made it his life mission to get rid of that impish little ass.. Or at least that was how it seemed to the students. Dumbledore seemed to get great enjoyment watching the impish little creep messing with both student and staff.
The spirit had tried a few times to mess with him during his first few years. Now though the poltergeist gave all of them a very wide berth, all the ghosts did now that he thought about it. While it had once been common to see the house ghost floating among the table during meal none of them dared to come close to their collective spot anymore. No doubt they could sense what they all were. Not many ever wished to mess with a planet's WEAPON.
A crash from below nearly masked the sound of near silent foot falls from down the hall. Head whipping to the side, Tseng watched the darkness, ears tuned to what ever was moving down the hall he had just vacated.
Slowly he stepped down from the railing, his foot rolling in just a way to help minimize the sound the shoes required by the school would create on the flag stone.
This would not be the first night since his awakening that he had roamed the dark halls in the dead of night. Many nights he had sat in some dark corner watching as the teachers made rounds. Watched with a smirk as the older students ran for their dorms, a cat with strange markings around its eyes hot on their heels.
Sitting in the dead silence of the night, it was very easy to hear foot falls. With it came the ability to distinguish who exactly was attached to said feet. This one.. He knew well. His head of house…
Despite Snape being his head of house, Tseng knew he would not escape punishment if he was caught. He had little desire to be alone with the man, not for any bad reason.. Simply because he knew Snape saw the same in him that Tseng saw with him.
They were both spies.
There was an instant distrust between the two men. They were men that had built up their entire existence around lying and manipulating those around them, reading others and playing on their weaknesses. While Snape was extremely hard to read, he was not impossible. It could not be said about him. He could see every time the man looked at him that he was trying to read him and finding absolutely nothing.
It made potions class very interesting, he had seemed to have become Snape's newest target.
Slipping into the shadows, Tseng kept against the wall steps silent. There was a statue about twenty feet farther down the hall. Each step was carefully placed so as not to draw the attention of the silently moving man. It would seem.. For the moment that Snape had yet to see him, not if his stopping to check in a classroom was anything to go by.
Minute the door was open, Tseng bolted for the statue ducking behind it quickly and silently.
The door down the hall snapped shut, the change in Snape's heart rate and that sound of wood being drawn from fabric told him he had been caught, or at least.. The man knew someone was out there.
A soft "lumos" and the hallway was flooded with a pale glowing light.
Grabbing the back of the statue the former Turk quickly climbed. Thankfully this was one of those that was extremely tall and very bottom heavy. There was a few times Snape had nearly caught him, but the man had never thought to look up. Was quite hilarious to be honest, it also showed how simple minded the general student was here at the school.
Tucking himself against the back, using the folds in the statues robes to hold set himself, he watched as Snape instantly moved to look behind the statue.
Slowly the man moved back and to the front of the statue, wand raised to help spread the meager light granted to him from the spell. You could see the gears working in those black eyes. Perhaps he thought it was Sephiroth in his invisibility cloak again. That.. actually was not a bad idea. Man no longer fit under it, it was great when he was five foot nothing as Harry, but being the nearly seven foot tall general… He liked to show a little leg now.
Maybe he could convince the man to let him steal it every now and then.
Catching the change in the location of the shadows, Tseng quickly ducked back behind the statue. Barely managing to full hide behind the marble as the light from the wand hit the top of the statue. "I know you are there.." Damn it.. What he got for falling into a false sense of security.
Pulling the hood of his sweatshirt up in a bid to hide his face, Tseng launched off the statue catching the man below him by surprise. Hitting the ground he rolled back up onto his feet, wand already slipping from his sleeve.
"Petrificus totalus."
Fuck! Was he seriously trying to cast that on a student running down the stairs? Whipping around Tseng raised his wand, spell already on his lips. "Protego!" There was no way in hell he was getting hit with a paralyzing spell mid sprint down the stairs.
The air around him seemed to charge, the sound of a spell forming behind him forced the once Turk to hit the ground in a slide down the last several flights of stairs. An unknown spell flew over his head, aimed right where he had once been. Snape was one of those that could cast nonverbal magic? Well.. wasn't this man just full of surprises.
Rolling back onto his feet, he dared a glance back up. Snape was at the top of the stairs, wand held in such a way that it would take but a flick to cast his next spell.
Moving on pure instinct, thin fingers gripped the marble stair well tightly helping in the propulsion of the rest of the body up and over. Twisting as he cleared the railings, he released, dropping down nearly ten feet onto a moving stair well below.
Slamming into the stairs below, his knees buckled nearly sending him to the ground. While it seemed upon his awakening he had regained much of the mako enhancements from his previous life, this body was still no where close to the condition it should have been.
There was little time to worry about such matters. This stairwell would be crossing over the one directly below in less than ten seconds. Grabbing the banister once more he launched over it dropping down and nearly missing the stairwell below him. Seemed his timing was off by a few seconds.
Ignoring the shout from above he dodge a second spell, the marble shattering right next to his foot.
Was Snape trying to stop him or kill him?! At the moment, he really didn't feel like sticking around and asking.
With the cover of the moving staircase above Tseng took stock of exactly where he was. The south halls, next floor down would lead him out to the courtyard. He would be revealed in only two seconds, he needed to move.
Pulling on the mako speeding through his veins he launched off the stairs at a dead sprint, hitting the base of the stairs just as the stairwell above him cleared revealing Snape above. The hair stood on the back of his neck, the distinctive sound of magic forming behind him once more.
Cursing Tseng whipped around the corner, the spell barely missing the back of his sweatshirt. What the hell was up with this ass hole? Regaining his footing from the near slide around the corner, he was instantly pushed into flip to avoid crushing a cat wandering the hall.
Flipping he rolled himself along the ground and back onto his feet, only taking the barest of seconds to glance back at the fuzz ball he had nearly taken out. A tabby cat with strange markings around its eyes.. Fuck..
Not daring to stick around to be caught by not only the manic Snape.. But the sure to be pissed off McGonagall, Tseng hit the natural nox in his blood, hitting the court yard at a near dead sprint.
Bounding over the first low bench, he flipped over the second. This court yard was a parkour dream. Granted it was nothing like the wet dream the grand stair case was.. But this was still fun.
His blood was pounding in his ears as he raced across a low wall, feet slipping slightly on the thick coating of ice that covered nearly everything. Making a hard right he jumped up into one of the open aired 'windows' landing several feet below in the thick snow.
Behind him came the sound of rushing feet, two sets this time compared to one.
"Where did he go?" McGonagall sounded confused, at first there had been heavy footprints leading out into the courtyard, but as they had started to move across benches and walls they had become harder and hard to see before vanishing completely some way back. "The boy simply did not apparate."
Snape fell silent as he glanced around, no.. it was impossible to apparate with in the school grounds. "I think I know which of the students this was."
The deliberate footprints in the snow that tapered off and vanished, the way the boy had moved across those stairs… It had to be Zabini.
Ever since the children had started to change Zabini he been one that had put him the most on edge. The boy had always been cold, but there had always been this arrogance under the cold exterior. Now though, there was that cold.. But the arrogance was gone, replaced with a deadly calm. Being around the new Zabini felt like you were standing among a predator.. And he nothing but his prey.
Standing next to Voldemort did not unnerve him as much as standing next to Blaise did now. Those gray eyes felt like they were looking through every carefully built wall, looking deep into his very soul and reading every intimate detail.
During a potions class, on a whim he had tried a bit of Legilimency on the boy. Never before had he been repelled so quickly and by such a strong force. Not even Albus had been able to repel him that quickly or forcefully.
"Severus?" Blinking slightly Severus turned to see Minerva staring at him, something akin to concern in her eyes. Shaking his head slightly he stowed his wand. "It's one of mine. Return to bed, I will deal with him."
…
Flicking his wand, Tseng enchanted his sweatshirt warm. There had been no plans on going outside, so he had only grabbed his husbands sweatshirt. The longer he walked outside the more and more he missed Midgar. Yes it was a hell hole, but it was WARM!
Walking along the edge of the lake a frown pulled at his brow. Strange.. Moving to the waters edge he reached down, fingers running through the water. Wasn't this lake completely frozen only this morning?
Knelt beside the waters edge he looked across the vast expanse of the massive lake. There was not a single ounce of Ice anywhere across the water's surface. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the magically enchanted phone. Yeah the temperature wouldn't be accurate because it was picking up the first muggle town around there, but it would give him a good idea.
"five degrees.. This lake should be a solid sheet of ice still." So where the hell was the ice? What.. what was this strange feeling.. It was almost as if the water was calling to him. Pushing himself back to his feet he quickly backed away. He didn't think the merpeople here called out to students.. Did they?
Whatever it was, it was enough to have him quickly moving up and away from the waters edge. Yawning Tseng stretched his arms high above his head. He was becoming far to much of a night owl lately, this stupid insomnia was going to be the end of him.
It was the reason he had taken to walking the castle at night. In the last few weeks it felt like he had explored nearly every part of the castle. Guess it was about time he started to explore the grounds themselves. As Blasie, while he had been an arrogant little shit he had kept his nose clean.. Never really making waves.
Well.. it was time to end that.
Following a stone path, he soon found himself not far from Hagrid's hut. The hulking man currently fretting about his small home, seemed he wasn't the only one unable to sleep. Keeping away from the house he found himself now walking along the edge of the forbidden forest.
The teachers always said that there were fearsome monsters residing here.. If there was then why did many of their care of magical creatures classes take place inside?
He wondered…
Standing beside one of the large dark trees, Tseng checked his person. Wand, check.. Bracers blades, transmuted sword, boot knives, throwing knives.. Check, check, check and triple check.
Vincent said once before that if there were any dark creatures in this forest, he had yet to see a single one. There were a few that he knew of, Hagrid's many pets, most of which probably were some of the most deadly in the world. Unicorns, centaurs and the spiders thanks to Seph's retelling of his time in the forest. Outside of that, he had never heard of anything really dangerous in the woods.
Lying a hand on the dark tree, he glanced back eyes searching the white landscape for any sign of pure black. How is it that Snape had not continued to follow him? He didn't think a simple jump out of a open aired window would have lost the spy.
Maybe.. This world was just so reliant on magic that simple things like that just didn't cross their minds.
Making one final sweep across the lands he turned, heading into the forbidden forest.
…..
What in Merlin's beard?
Stepping up to the water's edge, Severus' lifted his wand high, casting the brilliant light as far as he could. The lake.. It had thawed in meer hours.
While there were spells that could dispel the ice, it would take even Dumbledore days to clear the entire black lake of all ice. What.. what could be causing all of this?
A glisten of green from the corner of his eye drew his attention once more to the waters edge. "No.." Stepping over quickly, he knelt down gloved hand turning over the green corpse of one of the lakes merpeople.
It was unheard of to ever see them at the lakes surface, even once they passed on they remained under water their bodies disposed of in only merlin knew how. To see one here.. Beached.
Raising his wand once more, what befell his eyes looked like something from one of those muggle horror movies. Dozens of merpeople lay dead..beached upon the banks of the lake. Never in all his life had he ever seen anything like this..
Dark eyes glanced between the castle and the dark forest. He had lost sight of Zabini right at the forest edge. That boy could not be stupid enough to go in there alone…
Standing once more, he flicked his wand a silver doe materialized before him. The Patronus glanced back at him before bounding towards the castle. The message would reach the appropriate people, for now he needed to go find that reckless child.
…..
Sword held tightly in his hand, Tseng slowly stepped through the underbrush of the forest. Each step carefully calculated to create little to no noise as he moved among the fallen leaves and dead foliage.
There was certainly a very dark feel to this forest. It felt like there were hundreds of eyes upon him coming from every which direction, despite the near dead silence of the forest. That factor only increased the dark feeling these woods were giving off. No forest he had ever been in had ever had this deathly silence to it.
All of this plus the reputation had him moving through practically blind. Relying only on his enhanced hearing to move through the dense forest and not kill himself.
How deep exactly was he? Turning back the way he had come all he could see was dark black trunks. Frowning at a sound he slowly turned around. There was something there, stalking him…
Gripping his sword tighter he turned with the almost silent sound. Whatever it was, it kept circling around trying to get behind him. One.. two.. Three.. Four.. four distincts foot falls. What the hell was stalking him? It was nearly as silent as he was…
Turning, the moonlight above broke through the trees, illuminating the creature for the barest of moments. What… the hell was that? It had looked like a hairless pure black spiked leopard.
A flash of memory.. Care of magical creatures, scoffing at the book that had only moments ago tried to eat Neville… absently flipping through the pages stopping only at XXXXX creatures.
Every ounce of color drained from Tseng's face in that instant. A Nundu..
Swallowing thickly he looked down at the sword in his hands, the words written in the book running through his minds eyes. This creature was said to be the most dangerous in the wizarding world, more so than any dragon that had ever roamed this planet. No Nandu had been subdued by less then a hundred wizards working as one. It was an east African animal.. What.. what the hell was it doing here?
Gaia damn it Hagrid!
Even that brute of a half giant couldn't have been so stupid as to bring the deadliest creature to Wizard kind to a school? Right?
Slowly he started to step back and away. As formidable a warrior as he may be, even he knew when he was completely and utterly fucked!
The snap of a twig under his heel seemed to break the strange trance the two of them had been in. The Nundu roared with a ferocity that no big cat on the planet could match. Not even hesitating a moment the once Turk turned student turned and bolted.
No longer did it matter how much noise he made.. All that mattered was staying alive. Right now that meant the safety of the castle. The wards around the school protected the students against dark forces and kept most magical creatures at bay.. Maybe.. Just maybe crossing the boundary from the forest to the school would stop this creature.
He was running completely blind, relying completely on the sounds of the woods around him and the sound of the lake in the distance to guide him back to the school.
His size and enhancements were the only thing allowing him to stay up and head of this monster. Never in his life has he ever seen a creature that large, move with that amount of speed, agility and silence.
Hearing a strange sound behind him he moved on instinct, grabbing the mask from his belt. It was transfigured to resemble the mask from his days as an imperial assassin, with the added benefit of being able to filter out most disease and airborn poisons.
Nearly tripping over a tree root as he put the mask on, Tseng grunted twisting his ankle slightly on the rebound. Ignoring the sharp pain he leapt over the next tree root. Was it always this rooty or were these trees alive?
A sound caused him to veer off course, feet propelling him towards the very thing he had originally been running from.
Bursting through the tree line, a hand wrapped around the startled man's upper arm, dragging him several feet before the Professor once more regained his footing. Severus tried digging his feet into the ground and stopping Zabini. Minute he put any pressure on the ground in order to pull them to a stop, he would be pulled violently forward with tremendous strength. "Run!" Stopping short at the tone he was shocked to be staring into not dark gray but blazing green eyes.
The crashing from the forest had him whirling around as they ran, his blood froze in his veins.
Hagrid came banging out of his tiny house, startled from his slumber by the loud roar that had issued from right beside his bedroom window. He paled seeing the creature that was bounding past his house and after two dark figures running for their lives for the castle.
Bolting back into his home he grabbed a fist full of floo powder and threw it into the fire. "Professor!
Hand still wrapped around Severus' arm in a near death grip, Tseng glanced up hearing alarms blaring up inside the castle. Hagrid must have woken and sounded the alarm.. It was to late though..
Glancing back the Nandu was catching up and rapidly, it's huge body propelling it even faster over open ground. Never once slowing, Tseng glanced over to Severus, the man for the first time looking as terrified as he did. There was no way they were going to out run the creature, not on open land.
Come to the water
The terrified thoughts of once more leaving his husband froze in place, a strange voice over riding his terrified internal voice. Glancing over past Severus he gazed at the lake, the normal calm waters almost rolling.
"Water.. Run!" Tseng started to drag Severus down towards the waters edge. "The lake.." The lake was almost boiling, the water bubbling and rolling wildly. Hitting the waters edge both men came to a screeching halt, their movements nearly sending each other plummeting head first into the water.
Okay they were at the water.. Now what? Tseng looked desperately out across the rolling waters. He had led them both to the water.. Why was nothing happening. Feeling a body pressing against his he glanced back seeing Severus had taken up position in front of him. His head of house using his body to block him from the now stalking beast.
The Nandu, no longer needing to chase the now cornered prey slowly stalked towards them. The skin around its neck inflated making the beast look more like a hairless black lion then a leopard. The stench of decay and disease emitted from the beast in almost waves.
He could see people racing from the castle entrance towards them, Dumbledore in the lead. Wouldn't matter though, even with Dumbledore and all the heads of houses they didn't have enough magical power to so much as tickle a Nandu let alone stun it.
Call to her.. Bring her forth..
Call her.. Tseng's eyes unfocused slightly, a familiar feeling rising in his chest. Her… he had no means of calling her to him. His gaze turned from the water to the wand sheathed against his upper thigh. Gripping the dark wood, he all but ripped it from it's holster.
Grabbing Severus' shoulder, he pulled him back and behind him. The older man making a noise of protest. "What are you doing stupid boy."
"Hopefully saving our lives." Was the snapped reply. Closing his eyes Tseng raised the wand high above his head, all focus now on the power he felt in his wand. This wasn't going to work…
Blue glowing ruinics appeared under his feet, identical symbols flared to life over the surface of the boiling lake. From the depths merpeople started to break the surface in droves, each one frantically swimming for the water's edge and the rocks. The giant squid broke the surface hugging a rock outcropping not far from the shore.
The Nundu's neck almost instantly deflated, the creature lowering itself and looking around almost frightened. It could sense something.. Something powerful..
"God of the raging waters and the vast sea.. Hear the prayer of your children. Lend us your grace and power.. I call to me your beautiful woman.. Hear and come to me.. LEVIATHAN!"
With the power of a nuclear explosion, water exploded skyward. Leviathan erupting from the center of the lake.
The giant blue serpent like dragon towering over all as it lifted fully out of the water and into the sky. Huge funnels of water formed out of nowhere, slamming into the ground and tearing a path of destruction across the school grounds.
The teachers stopped dead in their tracks, wands raised towards the massive creature hovering above them. Dumbledore could only stare, he had read about this creature.. No goddess.. In books so ancient your very breath would turn the pages to ash. The ancient text did not do this beauty justistic. Her size alone was baffling, she towered above them.. Easily able to wrap multiple times around the entirety of the school.
The roar that issues from the massive beast above them shook the very foundation of the school. Water rising in a rotating wave around the school blocking the school off from the rest of the world.
A second roar nearly deafened those upon the ground, the summon diving for the Nundu. Jets of water shot from the cyclones tearing across grounds, slamming into the Nundu. The hits powerful enough to send the creature hurtling back several feet.
Shaking its head the Nundu had hardly regained its feet when the beak of the massive summon slammed into it, pushing it into the earth, water crashing in behind the summon flooding the area.
Rushing back into the sky, Leviathan hung in the air above them.. The Nundu nowhere to be seen. The only remains of the creature a few black spikes sticking from the now bare spot of earth it had once stood.
….
Students jolted awake, confused to what the hell that noise had been. The more curious moved to the windows of the dorms, those that had yet to rise would hear the excited and confused chatter of 'water'.
"Whoa.. Harry.. Come look at this!" Still half asleep, Seph sat up in his bed rubbing his eyes. He was having a good dream.. Why was he being woken now? Yawing the former general had hardly swung his legs over the too small when he was grabbed roughly by Zack. "Sephiroth."
The tone from the former first had the man instantly awake. Following his gaze he heard it before he saw it. The roar of water.. Water that should not have been there. Jumping to his feet Sephiroth moved to the closest window, glowing eyes going huge at what he saw.
There was only one thing on the planet that could create a barrier of water like that… Leviathan..which meant.. Tseng…
Leaving his wand on his bed, Seph ripped Masamune from it's new stand and was down the dormitory stairs in seconds.
There was little surprise as he ran that he could feel Cloud moving quickly towards them from the direction of town.
…
The wand in Tseng's hand fractured, the power required for the summon shattering the core inside. Eyes rolling into the back of his head, he slumped to the ground.
Seeing the boy falling unconscious, Severus grabbed him tightly, sinking down to the ground with him in a bid to protect his head from the sharp rocks under their feet. Holding his unconcious student against his chest he glanced up, instantly every ounce of blood in his veins draining.
He was now staring eye to eye with the massive summon.
….
AN: WOOOOO DONE! Omg I have been staring at this chapter for about 6 months now. Finally FINALLY got it done. For those that saw the teaser, i did change the chapter title but it's still the same and follows the original flow of the chapter. Well.. i hope you all love it, it was fun to write once my plot General decided to work with me again. Hopefully no more 2 year pauses between chapters.. But.. life tends to kick me in the ass.
So please read, review, share let me know what you all think! Also for more updates and if you want to talk to me join my discord! / UNPCKP (if you don't know how to use discord or use that code to follow the invite drop me a pm.)