Annnnnnnnnnnnd time for chapter two! lol.
Hope you guys enjoy this.
Hints of Yaoi... if you don't like, then I suggest you don't read (or read and ignore those parts...lol)
Disclaimer: None is mine, but MAYBE the plot...maaaaaaaaaybe
Rufus ShinRa sat behind his desk, pouring over the throngs of paperwork covering it. His normally perfectly combed and gelled blonde hair was falling into his face, as he continually ran his hands through it trying desperately to come up with some sort of idea on how to rid the planet of this menace, of Meteor.
His second-in-command, Tseng Xiang, stood in the doorway, holding two tall cups of coffee. "Shachou, I believe you would benefit from a break." His soft voice caused Rufus to look up at him.
"I can't afford to take a break. If I don't get something, ANYTHING... The world will be destroyed, and I can't have that happening, not on my watch."
"It's been your watch for much too long now Dear Heart... You'll not find a way to rid our planet of the encroaching menace if you continue to run yourself ragged while looking for the solution." The Wutain man perched himself on the edge of the desk, and handed his superior the coffee, hoping that even the smallest bit of a break would help soothe some of the man's frazzled nerves.
Just then, the door to Rufus' office opened and in walked two of his top Turks, Reno and Rude, but Rude seemed to be leading someone inside that had a most petulant look on her face.
"Sir, we brought someone to see you." Rude said, pushing the girl forward slightly.
Tseng rolled his eyes and slid from the desk. "Bring her back another time Rude. Let the President have a break... He's been hard at work fo-..."
"I think I can decide for myself, Tseng, if I can handle talking to her or not." Rufus interrupted Tseng's rant, earning him a disapproving glare from the older man. He stood up, and went to the girl and began circling her like a lion stalking its prey.
Hermione quirked a perfectly sculpted brow at the man prowling around her, looking more defiant than she had when Rude and Reno said she needed to come see Rufus.
"I take it you're their boss?" She asked, looking Rufus up and down. Damn, he looked SO much like Draco, eerily similar in fact.
"That I am." He extended his hand to her. "Rufus ShinRa, President of ShinRa Electric Company."
"Hermione Jane Granger... Hogwarts Head Girl and sole survivor of the massacre at Hogsmeade Village..." She trailed off at the end. Hearing the words come out of her mouth made them seem so... final.
"Sole survivor? I was under the impression that more than just you made it out."
"Well, one would think that if they weren't the-...Waaaait... How would you know about that?" She narrowed her eyes, looking at Rufus very suspiciously.
"There is much you don't know Hermione, and that is why your sudden appearance doesn't faze us at all." He said, turning back to the window, looking up and out, out at the fiery red skies, letting a sigh pass his lips. "We were told of your coming."
"What do you mean told?"
Rufus turned back to her, and gestured at Reno. "Reno's lineage is almost purer than mine. He comes from a long line of mages, and many of them had the Sight, and Reno was no exception." He allowed the redhead to smile smugly as he continued.
"You see, Hermione... We know of exactly what's happened to you, why you are here and what's going to happen."
"Then tell me."
"I am afraid we can't do that. Much of what happens, has a timeline, and if that timeline is disturbed.. Well, the consequences would be disastrous for our world and yours."
"Then why even tell me about it?"
"There are a few things you can know, and that you do NEED to know as of now."
"I'm not getting any younger... tell me what I CAN know so I'm not totally bloody clueless while I'm here."
Rufus motioned for her to sit down, and he dismissed the other three men. "Oh, and Tseng... if you could bring Elena in, that would be much appreciated."
"Of course Shachou."
"Ms. Granger, if you would wait just a few moments, I'm sure Elena would also be able to help with this as well."
"Shachou? You sent for me?" Another blonde came into the room, her short hair framed her heart shaped face.
"Yes Elena, I did. Sit next to our guest, I'm sure you will recognize her."
Elena looked over at Hermione, and after a few moments, recognition dawned on her. "Hermione? Sir? Is it really...?" She looked to Rufus for affirmation, which she received.
"What the bloody hell is going on? How do all of you people know me?!" Hermione was getting tired of all these people knowing who she was and what was going on and she had no clue about anything but the fact that she should either be dead, or back at Hogwarts right now.
"Calm down dear... All in due time, all in due time." She huffed, but looked back at Elena, waiting for the woman to go on.
"Oh yes... After Reno began having the weird dreams, about you, of course, they asked me about my family background, since I was pretty vague on my application, and I never speak about them... And all for good reason." She looked over, waiting to see Hermione a little more relaxed before she kept going.
"My family was murdered."
Hermione's head whipped around so fast, Rufus and Elena both though that she would get whiplash. "That's dreadful!"
Elena nodded, "I know... It really is. The worst thing was... they never did figure out who did it. No marks on their bodies, and autopsies revealed nothing."
"But...how can that be?"
"They weren't the only ones."
"Huh?"
She sighed, and looked down for a moment. "Around that same time, Reno's mother and Rufus' mother were found in that exact same manner. Rude chooses not to speak about it, but I have a feeling some member of his family was killed as well. Tseng mentioned something about it, but he doesn't like to talk about it."
"All without marks, and autopsies revealed nothing?"
She nodded.
"It sounds like... The killing curse, but that's impossible. None of you do that kind of magic here, do you?"
"No, we don't, which is why when Reno's dreams started up, and we saw the effects of the killing curse, we knew that was our cause, but just HOW remains to be seen."
Hermione's brows knitted together in concentration. Just how would a wizard get here and get away just as quickly, and why would they use the killing curse on people here? It didn't make any sense. There was no reason for a wizard to come here willingly, much less actually use the killing curse.
"Perhaps... If you related to us what happened to you just before you appeared here, maybe we might fine out how YOU got here, and see if maybe the same thing could have happened to someone else."
Hermione looked up at Rufus, and nodded slowly. It wouldn't be easy to talk of the massacre, but he was right. It might just help them to figure out how any of this was possible.
Flashback
"Hermione! Come on... We have to get to the Great Hall before Filch leaves!" Harry called out as he tugged on Hermione's hand, trying to hurry her up.
"Harry, calm down, really. Filch will be there for another thirty minutes, and you know that. What's got you so excited anyway?" She looked over at the overly excited Harry and extracted her hand from his grip.
"OH. Nothing really... It's just, this is our last year, and our last time to go to Hogsmeade. Don't you think that's worth being excited about?" He turned his green eyes to her, and looked her over. "Besides, aren't you the least bit excited that you get to go shopping for your baby while we're there?" That earned him a smile from Hermione.
"Yes, I am quite excited about that... Although it would have been more exciting if the father were here." She looked down, a tear slowly making its way down her cheek.
"You know he's on a mission for the Order... Everyone has been saying that my next showdown with Tom will be the final one. With all of his Horcruxes gone, even his dear Nagini, he's nearly defenseless."
"Don't be so cocky about it Harry... There's always a chance that he could have something up his sleeve."
"Like what? Muggle weaponry? I doubt it 'mione... He despises anything muggle, even though he himself is a halfblood."
"I'm just saying Harry... Don't go into the battle half-cocked. It's still going to be a harsh, and longwinded fight."
He nodded, "I know... And you're right."
She smiled, and pushed him towards the door. "Come on, enough of talking about this... We need some downtime, and a butterbeer sounds like a good idea."
Harry grinned, and pulled her out of the portrait hole and all the way out to the carriages, where they met up with Ron and Ginny.
The ride to Hogsmeade was uneventful, as usual... And no one noticed the absence of most of the 7th year Slytherins... and even quite a few of the 7th year's from the other houses. Once they arrived and stepped out from the carriages, it became very clear that something was not right.
The shops stood empty. Not a soul was seen inside or out, not even from the Hog's Head pub down on the outskirts of the village.
"Harry... Is it just me, or is this really suspicious?" Ron asked, looking around. He could have sworn he saw the edge of a black robe fluttering around the corner of the Three Broomsticks, but he brushed it off.
"It is quite suspiciou-ARGH!" Hermione, Ron and Ginny turned back to look at Harry, who was kneeling on the ground. He looked up at them, and they immediately knew what was going on.
"He's here...isn't he?" Hemione voiced the question, despite knowing the obvious answer.
Harry nodded mutely, and looked down the road... past the Hog's Head, and saw his mortal enemy making his way towards the village. His Death Eaters walked behind their leader, the sunlight glinting off of the silver masks covering their faces, although nearly all of them were known, and had nothing to hide.
"Bloody hell. It looks like he's recruited even more Death Eaters... We need to get everyone into position." Ron said, turning to the others that stood behind them, and started barking out orders. They'd practiced a scenario like this one in the D.A. and most everyone knew where they should go, and what they should do.
Hermione nodded, and helped Harry up from the ground. With Harry held in one arm, and her wand in the other, she sent her Patronus up to the school, warning them of the danger, and the need for backup from the Order and the Aurors.
"You can let go of me now 'mione. I can stand on my own two feet..." He smiled at her, and stood straight, and began to yell out orders himself and directed those who hadn't been in the D.A. to places where they could help, but wouldn't be in the way once they got started.
By the time the Aurors and Order members arrived, the battle was in full swing, and right in the middle of it was Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna. The others had formed a circle around Harry, allowing him to snipe at Voldemort, which was angering the man to no end. Though it looked as though the battle was going in their favor... They began to notice strange things. What looked like a wall of fire was surrounding one Death Eater and his opponents (the Weasely twins) and he wasn't fighting with a wand. He was fighting with actual weapons... Which wasn't typical Death Eater style at all. Another had columns of water around him, and large bubbles were blasting away at the Aurors around him as he picked away at the oversized guitar in his hands.
Harry looked in the direction of a loud, pained scream... and saw one of the 4th year Gryffindors fall to the ground, two sharp throwing knives stuck through her chest where her heart was at. Another was fighting using...a book? It seemed odd, but it became clear that the man was not using the book to fight. He wasn't even fighting at all. He had replicas of himself around the area he was in, and he laughed every time he saw a stunner or even the killing curse hit one of them, reducing it to nothing before he produced two to take its place.
He shook his head, not believing what he was seeing. "Move... Let me at him." He said after a few minutes. He was ready, he could feel it in his bones that this was the final battle, that he had to end this now.
Grudgingly, they parted and let Harry through.
"Go. Go help the others... I can handle this." They started to protest Harry's orders, but he waved them off. "GO! They need your help more than you can help me with this." And with that, he took off, and went back to his assault on Voldemort.
Here, Hermione had to stop and collect herself. She looked down at her stomach, and rubbed a hand over it, feeling a feeble kick in response. She managed a smile, and then continued on with her story.
Halfway through the battle, Hermione and Ron were back to back, fending off a good half dozen Death Eaters when a very familiar voice screamed out. Everything stopped in that moment, fighters for the Light and for the Dark.
Harry Potter was still standing, though how was a separate question in itself. He had a Claymore sticking out of his chest, and the man who had wielded it stood beside Voldemort, his hood hid his face except for wisps of long blue hair and the glow of maniacal yellow eyes.
"HARRY!" No less than two dozen voices yelled at once. They stood, transfixed by the horrible sight of their savior, their classmate... their best friend... falling to the ground, the horrible weapon still sticking out from his chest.
"Now... Who will save the world from me? Your wretched Boy-Who-Lived is NO MORE!" Voldemort yelled, and pointed his wand at Harry, whispering the two terrible words that would bring about the end of their beloved Harry Potter.
"Avada Kedavra."
And with one last twitch, the Boy-Who-Lived was gone, never again to fight Voldemort, never again to look at his friends and laugh at a stupid joke that Ron had made... He would never again open those brilliant green eyes, mutter another curse, or anything else for that matter.
Harry Potter, was dead.
The man beside Voldemort walked forward, and pulled the now bloodied weapon from Harry's rib cage and pointed it into the crowd.
"Let this..." He kicked at Harry's body, "..be a reminder to those who oppose us. You stand against a force stronger than you will ever know, and you will NEVER defeat us. With our forces combined, we number far more than you..." He snapped his fingers, and suddenly the meadow behind him filled with horrific creatures. Inhuman, animalistic and hellbent on destroying anything in their path.
"As you see... We do indeed outnumber you. Now. Prepare to die, you insolent fools. Those who dare oppose Lord Voldemort and his new cohort, Master Xemnas shall die by wand or by weapon wielded by one of these men."
"HEY!" A loud, strong, and distinctly female voice screeched.
"Yes, Larxene... It slipped my mind, do forgive me." Voldemort said, dodging one of her kunai.
"Sure you did... pompous old fool. Don't forget next time." Even the Death Eaters looked concerned for her. No one, not even the late Harry Potter dared talk that way to their Lord, and live.
"I assure you, love, that I will not forget again."
"Good... I'd hate to have to skin your scaly, snake ass."
Voldemort chuckled, and looked back at the other man. "Saix... I believe it is time to finish this off, and quickly."
The man lowered his hood, and motioned for the others to follow suit.
"Prepare to die." Saix stated, baring his fangs for all to see.
Soon, the entire village had been decimated, and the battle had moved from there to the Hogwarts school grounds.
Hermione stood shoulder to shoulder with the remainder of the forces of light. Hagrid, McGonagall, Remus, Emmeline, Sirius, Ron and the rest of the Weasely's... Kingsley, Dawlish, Proudfoot... That's all that remained. Their forces had been so badly decimated, and the rest of the teachers were inside the castle, standing guard over the first and second years.
The Flurry of Dancing Flames, the Melodious Nocturne, The Cloaked Schemer, the Savage Nymph and the Luna Diviner stood across from them, surrounding Voldemort.
"Give it UP. You're not going to win against us." A snarky female voice called out over the grounds. "You can't win... not against us."
"Like HELL we'll just lay down and give up!" Hermione spat out, a frown adorned her face.
"Oh..yes. You WILL!" The hood was dropped, and the blonde woman stalked close to Hermione, standing toe to toe with her.
"And what makes you think that? We may number few, and the odds may be against us... But we will NEVER give up." Her hazel eyes flashed dangerously as she stood to her full height, bringing her eye to eye with the other.
"Awww... so noble and brave of you." The blonde said, smiling nearly sickly sweet. "But, I'm afraid I find bravery and nobility quite stupid and foolish." She never took her eyes from Hermione's, but she was able to fling one of her kunai and hit Ron in the arm, scoring deep into the bone.
"Bloody hell, you bitch!" Ron yelled, trying to get the knife out, but found that he couldn't.
With a smirk, Larxene made her way over to him and jerked it free, not caring if she hurt him further. She returned to her place next to Saix, and awaited further orders.
"Finish them."
The command was quiet, but everyone on the grounds heard it.
And then... That was when all hell broke loose.
The remaining forces of light stood, wands at the ready when, almost like they had apparated, the five who stood next to Voldemort were behind them, weapons drawn. There hadn't been a crack of sound, or anything like when they'd disappeared, other than a flash of black.
"Like our little trick? Too bad you can't do anything like that." A stray red spike fell from inside of the hood, and bright green eyes looked out from it as well.
The Weasley twins looked to one another and nodded, disappearing in a flash of light and with a crack, appearing behind him.
"Looks like we CAN do that..." Fred (or George) said, scoffing at the man's obvious cockiness.
"Who ARE you people?" George (or Fred) asked, looking the nearly anorexic man over, wondering how such a skinny twig of a man could have beaten them so badly earlier.
"The name's Axel. A-X-E-L, got it memorized?"
They didn't answer him, but they launched themselves at him, which started the fight up again.
Soon, everyone was fighting, and Hermione noticed a Death Eater fighting next to her, fending off the other Death Eaters, keeping them from her.
"Draco?"
"The one and only love, the one and only. Now. You need to get away from here. They have something planned, although I don't know what, and it involves you." He said, leaning close to her, inhaling her familiar scent.
"No, I refuse to leave while everyone else is still fighting!"
"Herm. If you don't leave, you are putting both your life and our child's life in danger."
"Draco... What use is it to run away? To run means he has won, and I refuse to allow that."
"Hermione, to run means you will be able to live, to have our child and raise it. I would rather you run, and live, than to stay, die and lose our child."
"I can't leave you."
"In a way... you're not." He placed his hand on Hermione's growing stomach. "You'll always have a small piece of me with you, where ever you end up."
Hermione knitted her brows at his words, but she didn't have time to ask him what he meant before she saw the redheaded firewielder come close to her and Draco.
"Get away from us!" She snarled, and clung to Draco's waist.
Axel chuckled at the girl's reaction. "Calm down... I'm here to help you."
"Didn't look like you were helping earlier when you were toasting everything and everyone in sight."
"Had to make it look like I was actually on their side, didn't I?"
Hermione had no comment for this, so she just looked up at him, wondering just what the HELL was going on.
"Look, we don't have time. I'm going to do something that'll help you in the long run. I have no clue where you'll end up, nor will we be able to figure out where you've gone... so you should be safe until it is time to return."
"Return? Wait... what? I don't understand!"
"No time to explain. Now, GO!" Axel held out his hand, and opened a small portal.
"Draco... You know what you have to do." The blonde nodded, and pushed Hermione away.
"It is time for you to die, Mudblood!"
Hermione's jaw drooped. He hadn't called her that word in nearly two years. Then, she saw him mouthing at her.
'Everything I say... I mean the opposite.'
She nodded, trying to figure out just what he was going to do. Time was not in her hands however, as he raised his wand.
"It takes much hate to be able to cast this... AVADA KEDAVRA!"
All eyes turned to the shout, and watched in horror as it looked like the horrible green jet of light was going to hit Hermione. Axel made a small motion with his head, and Hermione felt something nudge her in the direction of the portal. At the angle she was, it looked to everyone as though she would be hit by the curse. Another shout came from her left, and a jet of husky blue light headed for her as well. Just before she would have been hit, the two streams of light converged with a blinding flash, and she fell through the portal.
Draco fell to his knees, laughing hysterically. To anyone but those who were close enough to know he and Hermione's secret, it would have looked as though he was laughing for having rid the world of her, but it was quite the opposite. He wept, and laughed, for having had to done this and risk never seeing her, or his child ever again. He felt like he was losing his only tie to his sanity that he had left.
"Come on Draco... we gotta go." Axel said, tugging on his arm.
End flashback
Rufus and Elena sat still, transfixed by the tale.
"So... you're saying that after this 'Axel' opened the portal and pushed you through... You fell out here, in the middle of what's left of Midgar?" Rufus looked slightly confused, but he was still trying to work it out in his mind.
"Exactly. I'm not sure what happened when I went in the portal, but I know for a fact the trip didn't take but a few moments before I popped out here."
"Hmmm... This is utterly intriguing. It coincides exactly with Reno's dreams, and the details are exactly the same...except..."
Hermione's ears perked at that. "Except what?"
Rufus shook his head. "Never you mind right now dear... I think it would be best if you got some food in you and got a good long sleep. Tomorrow is a new day, and who knows what might happen?"
Hermione sighed. She was obviously going to have to play by this man's rules and not her own. "Of course, that would be delightful."
"Elena, if you be as kind as to show our guest to where she will be staying?"
"Which is?"
Rufus rolled his eyes. "With Reno and Rude, remember?"
The other blonde looked confused for a moment, then it hit her. "OH yeah... ok, yeah, I'll take her." And with that, she led Hermione from the office and to an elevator.
"Why am I staying with Reno and Rude?"
"Security measures."
"I'm not going to run away."
"It's not you running away that we're worried about."
"Huh?" Hermione looked to the female Turk, and cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean?"
"It means, that others know you're here, and you are very, very important, and if they got a hold of you well...it could get bad."
"What do you mean?"
"Big boom, explosions, death destruction..then end of our wo-I'M going to shut up now..." Elena slapped a hand over her mouth to keep quiet.
"What do you mean, the end of your world?"
"Nothing, forget that I said anything."
"No, I don't believe I will."
"You had better."
"Or what? You'll oblivate me?"
"Might."
"Do you even know how? Do YOU have a wand?"
Elena smirked, and held up a very familiar slender stick of wood. "Why...yes, it seems I do."
"Damn."
"Indeed. Now, this is Reno and Rude's quarters. Ignore any strange noise you may hear, including, bangs, bumps, booms, screams, wails and any form of vocalization that sounds pleasured. They really are a kinky couple."
"I'm staying...in the same quarters...as two men... who are randier than rabbits?"
"That about sums it up."
"Great... just wonderful."
"They're absolute sweethearts though... You'll love them, I know you will." She gave a suggestive wink and flounced away.
"These people are so damned odd..."
"Why thank you. I pride myself in being distinctly different." Reno said from behind her, walking down the staircase, towards the kitchen, nude as the day he was born, except for the towel he was using to dry his hair.
"Oh, sweet Merlin, do put some clothes on!" Hermione exclaimed, but snuck a peak anyway. 'Oh BAD Hermione! You have Draco...' Her inner voice scolded her, until she turned and saw Rude come downstairs in much the same manner; minus the towel, as he had no hair on his head to dry. 'Oh bloody hell...' Even the voice had to agree...
"He's gorgeous..." Hermione said quietly, and followed the two men into the kitchen, the whole time, she was staring at the tattoos that spanned the mulatto expanse in front of her. She was thoroughly entranced.
"Maybe staying here won't be too bad..."