A World to belong to

A/N; I won't say much here but I would like to draw everybody's attention to New! Paragraph in my profile. Just have a look for me so you know why things might slow down a tad with updating.

Chapter 4; Enlightenment

Centra – Galbadia Garden

Harry sat with his back to the wall, his knees up to his chest and his arms wrapped around his knees, he'd been there most of the night and he'd tried to contact both Ellone and Squall with absolutely no success. Squall was once again unresponsive and Ellone's mind had been missing from the mind-scape though she didn't seem to have taken Squall with her so maybe in his pain she couldn't take Squall into the past. It was early morning when his door slid into the wall with a hiss and three men walked in but what he found interesting was that Seifer wasn't with them. He'd been hoping that after the previous night Seifer would come to speak to him but maybe Seifer hadn't been quite so convinced that he knew Harry regardless of his small revelation.

The three men were Galbadians by their armoured uniforms and they seemed to be rather nervous about their own presence there as they looked down at Harry. Harry pulled himself up the wall as best he could but his chest hurt still from the torture he'd received while under Voldemort's 'care'. Seeing his pain seemed to rally their confidence and one of the men moved so he was standing right in front of Harry and backhanded him, hard. Harry fell to the side but a fist in the stomach pinned him to the wall.

They each took turns using him as a punch bag for about fifteen minutes before they retreated again without a word to him or to each other, leaving Harry lying against the wall, littered with bruises and what he thought was a cracked rib. Sabre could have told him for sure but unfortunately Sabre's regeneration relied on him taking from Harry's strength and if Harry had none then Sabre couldn't come back to him so Harry was alone until he could recover enough for Sabre to do the same. It seemed that the Galbadian army had decided to listen to Voldemort's suggestion to keep him too weak to fight back.

Checking his reserves mentally he decided he had to spare one of his curing magicks and he turned one inwards at his ribs to heal the damage. He was running short and he couldn't afford to waste them on the bruises, it would merely tire him out further. Pulling himself up onto the bench along the opposite wall he collapsed backwards into a trance and reached out once again with him mind, hoping to find anybody.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Ellone's mind

Harry slid into his older sister's mind smoothly regardless of how weak he felt while doing it. He'd spent a few hours searching the mind-scape even after finding Squall was unconscious and Ellone had returned. He'd hoped that after seeing Seifer with his own eyes he'd be able to find his mind but it hadn't worked and he'd eventually slipped back into Ellone's mind. She was in Balamb Garden, kneeling in front of a long box of flowers in the Quad. "Hi." Harry greeted her making her hands tighten around a flower she was pruning as he surprised her.

"Don't scare me like that, Harry!" She admonished. "It's like when you were younger."

"I tried to find you last night but I couldn't." Harry told her.

"I took the others back. Zell, Selphie and Quisty." Ellone told him. "Squalls... I'm sorry to tell you this..."

"He's been captured somehow." Harry finished for her. "I haven't been able to talk to him at all. What happened?"

"I don't really know. I know that Headmaster Cid got together with the Headmaster of Galbadia Garden and they sent Squall, Quistis, Selphie, Zell and Irvine to assassinate the Sorceress." She told him.

"To assassinate her?" Harry was shocked before something else made it into his thoughts. "Wait! You said Irvine!"

"You remember I told you he was at Galbadia Garden? Well the Headmaster there sent him with Squall and the others to shoot the Sorceress." Ellone explained. "Something went wrong obviously because with the exception of Irvine they're all locked up."

"Do you know where Irvine is?" Harry asked hopefully. It hadn't even occurred to him that Irvine might be at Galbadia Garden and could help him.

"I don't know. Why?" Ellone looked up from the flowers and walked to the edge of the Quad to look down across the grass of the plains of Balamb Island.

"Things have changed." Harry told her, feeling weak all of a sudden.

"How?" Ellone asked.

"I told you about the resistance here? And Voldemort?" Harry asked and saw the scenery shake as she nodded her head. "Well Voldemort's men attacked the resistance base. I don't know how many people survived. I was captured."

"Harry! Are you alright?" Ellone gasped. "Did they...?" Her vision was getting blurry and Harry realised she was crying and he found it strange to see through her tears. Squall never cried, not since the Orphanage.

"They tortured me." Harry admitted. "It hurt. I'm hurt."

"You sound weak." Ellone covered her face. "Are you still there? If there was anything I could do, I'd do it."

"Can you talk to Irvine?" Harry asked. "You said he remembers me."

"He does but I don't see how he could help you. He can't get to the World you're in." Ellone pointed out sadly.

"Voldemort used me to open a portal to here. He's here with some of his Death Eaters and they've allied with the Sorceress." Harry told her.

"Wait! You said here! Did they bring you with them?" Ellone asked, hope rising in her mental voice.

"He wanted to use me as a keystone for a two way portal so he could gain powers in Centra and use them on Earth." Harry told her. "I broke free and came through to Centra and the portal collapsed behind me permanently. I've got home, Elly. But... I gave Voldemort access to my home."

"We can handle him, Harry." Ellone told him. "The important thing is that you're home again!"

"He's evil, Elly. He'll kill people without a care and it'll only take him a single wave of his hand." Harry pointed out. "And I'm too weak to even wake up right now, let alone escape."

"Where are you?" Ellone asked. "I'll come get you."

"No!" Harry snapped. "You can't! Seifer's got me and I'm under the Sorceress' guard. I don't want you anywhere near her. I know you're a Sorceress and she can't get to you, even for me."

"Where are you, Harry?" She asked again.

"Only if you give me your word to not try to come for me." Harry told her.

Ellone looked around her and seemed to sigh. "Fine, Harry. I promise not to try to rescue you."

"I'm being held in Galbadia Garden." Harry admitted.

"Maybe if I can give Irvine a heads up he can come and get you out. Can you get out yourself?" Ellone asked.

"Three soldiers just beat me up to keep me too weak for Sabre to recover." Harry told her and saw her flinch. "I'm going to be kept too weak to even get out of bed and Seifer's..."

"Seifer might be beyond your help now, Harry." Ellone told him softly.

"I refuse to believe that, Elly." Harry told his big sister stubbornly. "I'm never going to give up on him and I almost made him remember me last night."

"But he's letting them beat you up." Ellone said angrily. Harry didn't say anything. "Are you still here, Harry?"

"I'm tired." Harry admitted.

"Stay safe, little brother." Ellone told him out loud and her voice soothed him more than anything he could imagine having right then. "We're going to meet soon, Harry. I promise you."

"Goodbye, Elly." Harry told her before fading from her mind and back into his own body. He looked at his ceiling as the pain of his body swept through him and tears of pain spread from the edges of him eyes. He shut his eyelids again and reached into the mind-scape once more in search of Squall. Wanting the comfort of being in his boyfriend's mind regardless of whether he was awake or not.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Squall's mind

When Harry opened his mental eyes he was looking out and down across a small room. He felt happy for all of a moment as he found Squall awake before he realised Squall was tied to the wall and was shaking enough to effect Harry's vision. "Squall!" Harry declared, ignoring the empty room in favour of the young man he loved and that he hadn't spoken to since after he'd visited on the train and he'd told Squall that his old Matron had become the Sorceress. That was just before the resistance base had been captured and a lot had happened to both of them in the time they'd been apart.

"Harry!" Squall's thoughts were frantic.

"Slow down, love." Harry soothed him.

"What happened to you?" Squall asked.

"I think we should leave history lessons to when you're not strung up on a wall." Harry pointed out. "In short Voldemort came for me, captured me and now I'm a captive."

"Same here, minus the Voldemort part. We tried to kill the Sorceress and failed and got locked up here." Squall told him. "Harry! I found Irvine!"

"I know. Ellone told me." Harry sighed. "I just spoke to her."

"He remembers you, Harry." Squall told him softly and Harry found himself more relieved than he'd ever been. Ellone had told him that would be the case but the proof from his boyfriend was so much better.

"Ellone said as much." Harry told him.

"We'll find a way to get you here, Harry." Squall promised and Harry was about to speak when he reminded himself where they were.

"Can you get yourself down?" He asked instead.

Squall struggled for a few minutes, straining against the bindings that held him in place before with a lurch the room spun and soon Harry found himself looking across the floor. Squall groaned and made to pull himself up just as the sound of the door slamming open turned his vision in that direction. Three people lurched into the room. "Squall!" Harry recognised Selphie's voice.

"Hey, they managed to escape before you did." Harry pointed out with a small amount of amusement fuelled by his relief.

"They probably weren't being electrocuted." Squall pointed out before forcing himself to his feet. Zell jumped forwards to help him and Quistis stayed to watch the door.

"Let's just get the hell out of here." Zell told Squall and pressed something into his hand, making Squall look down at his silver Gunblade. "Here."

"Say thank you." Harry told his boyfriend.

"Thanks." Squall told Zell obediently making Zell grin. "Jeese, he's like a little brother wanting his older brother's attention." Harry managed not to say anything to that though he wished he could.

Harry lingered at the back of Squall's mind while the group started trekking down through the prison towards the ground floor only making a few comments so that Squall knew he was still there. It wasn't until the four reached the bottom only to find they were underground that he struck up a full conversation with Squall. "You know you made that promise just now to find a way to get me back to this world?"

"Of course, I've always promised that." Squall told him as he paused to let Selphie dart past him after Zell.

"You don't need to anymore. Voldemort opened a portal and went through it to Centra. I managed to break free and follow him through." Harry waited for this to sink in and knew when it had when Squall stumbled up the steps and had to catch himself on the railing. "Elegant, love."

"You're here?" Squall mentally yelled. "In Centra?"

"Yeah." Harry told him.

"Where? I'll come get you." Squall told him.

Harry almost told him before remembering what could happen to Squall by bringing him here. In fact, now that he thought about it he didn't want Irvine knowing where he was in case he got hurt trying to get to him, but at least with Irvine he could sneak through the Army that surrounded his cell and they'd have a chance. If Squall tried to break through alone, or even with all the others, they'd be cut to shreds. "Harry? Tell me."

"I can't." Harry sighed. "If I tell you, you'll try to rescue me and you'll get yourself killed."

"I can handle myself!" Squall told him stubbornly.

"I know but I'm being kept alive and I don't want to lose you to some rescue attempt." Harry sighed.

"What about Sabre?" Squall asked.

"He was taken out when the Death Eaters invaded the resistance base and they're keeping me too weak for him to regenerate." Harry admitted.

"I really want to come and get you, Harry." Squall sighed.

"Squall! Come on!" Zell yelled.

"I know you do, Squall." Harry sighed. "But right now you've got other things to worry about."

"We're not done talking about this, Harry." Squall ran to catch up to the others and Harry went back to taking a back seat.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

A little later

Irvine looked over the group that he and Rinoa had just bailed out of a battle and sighed to himself. He'd admitted defeat to any of them remembering who he was after they'd all fought the Sorceress and not recognised her as their Matron but what Squall had said about Harry had him worried. Either Squall was very slightly insane and had created an imaginary friend he talked with in his mind from the forgotten memory of their dead brother or he was telling the truth and Harry was trapped away from them all. Alone. Like himself.

Squall grabbed his arm as he passed him and pulled the two of them to the side slightly. "What?" Irvine moaned. "I said I'm sorry for not getting you out sooner."

"It's got nothing to do with that." Squall told him and tapped the side of his head. "Harry's here." He whispered so quietly the others couldn't have possibly heard.

Irvine stopped and stared at Squall, trying to prove in his features that he was speaking the truth. He had to be telling the truth. "Prove it." Irvine said harshly.

Squall went quiet and seemed to be thinking but then his eyes focused back on Irvine and he frowned. "Harry says he knows you're worried about me being insane but it's true." Squall told him. "He says the two of you always used to lie out under the stars and dream of the future."

"Anybody could..." Irvine paused. It was true that Squall could know that even without Harry being in his head but Squall didn't remember. Maybe he was pulling at memories but not remembering he was involved in them.

"Nobody but somebody you grew up with could know..." Squall argued before going quiet again. "Harry says that maybe the others knew the two of you did that but they didn't know that you went through a phase when you were both four when you used to sneak out of the orphanage to camp out in a little shelter you'd made from animal skins so you could pretend you were on an adventure."

Irvine choked. Harry and he had cut their palms and shared blood to swear an oath to keep that little thing a secret. Harry would never have told Squall that when they were younger, no matter how close the two had been. Harry was that kind of child, he took promises seriously and he'd never have betrayed something he shared with Irvine alone. Irvine was forced to put his weight against the wall before he looked into Squall's eyes as if he could see Harry there. "Harry?"

Squall nodded. "There's something else you should know. I told you about where he was trapped. Well he was captured and he's now in a cell but he's in Centra. We can go get him."

"Where is he?" Irvine asked clinging to the chance to finally be able to see his younger brother, to hold him. To be able to spend time with somebody who hadn't forgotten about his very existence.

"He won't tell me." Squall sighed. "He says we'll only get hurt or killed if we try to get to him."

"Can he get out?" Irvine asked.

"Guys!" Rinoa's voice grated on him at that moment. "We've got to keep moving up!"

"They're beating him up and he's too weak for his GF to regenerate."

"Who's they?" Irvine asked.

"He won't say. Only that the Sorceress is keeping him alive." Squall sighed.

"I know where he might be." Irvine told Squall.

Before Squall could ask his eyes unfocused slightly and a few expressions past across his face in rapid succession and when he spoke it was clearly not what he wanted to say. "Harry is ordering me to tell you that if you tell me where he is he'll hunt you down when he gets out and string you up." Squall sighed. "He's not normally like that. He's just..."

"Putting everybody else first." Irvine managed to smile finally. "That's just like him."

"He's telling me to tell you that he loves you and he's never forgotten." Squall told him.

Irvine smiled. "I love you too, Harry. And neither have I even if some of the others have." Squall looked really confused but obviously wasn't going to try to pry by asking about the cryptic words.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Galbadia Garden

Harry returned to his body, leaving Squall, Irvine, Quistis, Zell, Selphie and their new friend Rinoa to steal a couple of trucks, as he felt his body calling to him in that strange way it did when he was in pain. He was happy to leave Squall now that he knew they were away from danger but as he opened his eyes to find himself on his front on the floor that happiness left him. He'd been pulled off of his 'bed' and onto the floor by a less than cheery looking Galbadian soldier.

"The Sorceress wants to see you." The Soldier sneered down at him and waited, as if Harry was going to pull himself up on his own. Harry decided to try and managed to bring himself onto hands a knees and then push back so he was vertical but he couldn't raise the energy to actually get to his feet. The soldier's uncaring hands aided him the rest of the way and the man had to help support his weight so that Harry could walk a pained gait out of the room and into the corridor.

He was half dragged and half guided down the corridors and past maybe two dozen wandering soldiers of different ranks as well as quite a few trainees. The man did make one mistake though and that was taking him through the central arena of the Garden, showing Harry exactly where his cell was, though by the looks of the gazes he was getting he probably looked as beat up as he felt so the man probably didn't think he had a chance to escape even if he knew the way out. From there he was led through into the Garden's main auditorium and around to a huge balcony that overlooked the front gardens.

He was surprised to see only the Sorceress out on the balcony and after being shoved to the floor about ten feet from her his escort retreated from the balcony and they were left alone again. "You're arrogant." Harry managed out. "Where's your lapdog?"

"Seeing to other matters." She said before turning to face him from where she'd been looking out at the view.

"What matters?" Harry attempted hoping she'd slip and give him something he could pass to Squall about her plans.

"The destruction of Trabia and Balamb Garden." She told him simply and Harry realised he'd overlooked something, she wasn't slipping up in telling him, she merely didn't care if he knew or not.

"Why?" Harry frowned. "What did they do to you?"

"They attempted to assassinate me." She said simply. "Their mission, it seems, is to destroy me and therefore they must be killed to ensure my survival."

"They'll scatter and all you'll get is lots of people that hate you more than they already do." Harry told her.

"Will you attempt to talk me out of it?" She asked in amusement. "What care do you have for the pathetic Gardens of the SeeDs?"

Harry kept his mouth shut and she laughed and turned away and paced around him, studying him. "Voldemort is a blunt instrument. If he doesn't understand something he destroys it, breaks it. He should never have alienated you, you have power and he should have tried to harness that."

"He would have failed." Harry spat. "He's insane and cares for nothing beyond himself."

"That is true." She mused, "But he may be a useful tool for me. Even now he proves his worth."

"What is he doing?" Harry asked before he could stop himself from sounding worried.

"Practicing." The Sorceress laughed and Harry felt the hairs on his back raise up. That didn't sound good. "I'm going to offer this to you once, Harry. Serve me and you will be well looked after."

Harry had flinched at the sound of his name from her lips and he couldn't stop the tears that spilled onto his cheeks at such a thing from his beloved Matron, their mother for all intents and purposes. She laughed and was suddenly wrenching him to his feet by one of his shoulders. "Join your brother at my side. Seifer will remember you as this host does. Yes, Harry. I know where you came from and I know who you have been talking to. I can sense your incursions into the mental plain. Who is it that you have spoken to? Is it your older sister, Ellone? Yes it is."

She sounded so satisfied by working that out that Harry felt sick. He tried to squirm away. "I'd never help you!" Harry spat.

She let him go and he landed on the ground, painfully. "Then you leave me no choice. Tell me where Ellone is and I will spare your brothers and sisters."

Harry tensed up. She wanted Ellone for her powers but Harry couldn't tell her anything and she probably didn't know that Squall, Quistis, Zell and Selphie had escaped from her captivity, which meant her only bargaining tool was him and he'd sacrifice himself for Ellone in a heartbeat. "Go to hell." Harry spat at her feet. "And take Voldemort with you."

She backhanded him and a wave of power punched into his entire body throwing him back into the building and into the railing that led around the auditorium. When he managed to look up again she'd already turned her back on him. Harry slumped back to the floor and passed out.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Ellone's mind

Harry found Ellone in a set of rooms that he didn't recognise. They weren't laid out like any of Squall's had been and they weren't Ellone's own ones. In fact they were huge in comparison to any of the normal ones. "Are you still in Balamb Garden?" Harry asked without any warning, scaring her. She turned around from where she'd been sitting on the bed and he saw two men standing on either side of the door. They were the two men that had collected her after Squall and Quistis had saved her in the Training Centre.

"I am. These are the Headmaster's rooms." Ellone told him before standing up and walking to the dressing table under the window. "Do you have to always scare me?"

"There's no point, I've tried not to surprise Squall but all I can really do is lurk until I find a moment that will spare him a little." Harry admitted before going silent as he finally got the first view of her in more than a decade. "You're beautiful."

She blushed before realising that by sitting in front of the mirror it was as if Harry was talking to her face. "Does Squall do this?"

"If he can, it's not so strange this way." Harry told her. "And he'll try to speak aloud when possible but you've got guests."

"Are you still captive?" Ellone asked.

"Yeah. I just got pulled in front of the Sorceress." Harry admitted. "I found out some things. Did you know she was after you?"

"Yes, that's why I'm hiding here." Ellone replied.

"She knew I was talking to people in what she called the mental plain but she guessed you might be one of them. She tried to get me to give you away." Harry told her. "I told her to get lost."

"Thank you, Harry. I know she must have offered you something."

"She offered a place at her side with my 'brother'." Harry sighed. "She knows about where I come from."

"I don't know how it works, she seems to remember some things from Matron but not everything." Ellone informed him. "Did she admit anything else?"

"She's going to destroy Trabia and Balamb Gardens." Harry told her. "I don't know how but I think she's sent Voldemort and his Death Eaters to one. Either way you have to evacuate."

"I'll get word to the Headmaster but I don't think we'll be able to leave. Things have gone a bit crazy here. It's civil war between the Faculty and the SeeDs." Ellone sighed. "That's why I'm here, I'm being hidden."

"You have to get somewhere safe." Harry told her.

"Right now this is the safest place for me, Harry." Ellone told him.

"I just don't want you getting hurt." Harry told her adamantly.

"I'll be okay, little brother." She smiled into the mirror.

"You'd better be." Harry told her before fading from her mind.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Squall's mind

Harry went straight to his boyfriend after leaving Ellone knowing that if he returned to his body his exhaustion and pain would overcome him. In fact just being in Squall's mind while he was as injured as he was was incredibly dangerous. Squall was in a room in what looked like a train and as he turned his head away from watching out of the window he saw Irvine lying on a bunk. "What's happening?" Harry asked, making Squall jump slightly.

"We're on a train heading for Balamb." Squall said out loud making Irvine look at him.

"I know that." Irvine frowned.

"Harry's back." Squall told him making Irvine sit up and turn to face him. "Selphie, Rinoa and Zell have gone to the Missile Base to try to stop the launch and Quistis is with us. We're going to try to warn Balamb and get the place emptied out."

"I've already told Ellone. She's in Balamb and she'll try to sort things out but there's problems there. Fighting between the Faculty and the SeeDs." Harry explained and paused while Squall explained what he'd said to Irvine.

"He's talked to Ellone?" Irvine stood up and Squall stood as well.

"He saw her when I ran into her in Balamb Garden. She was like you're big sister right?" Squall asked.

"Yeah, she was a big sister to all of us." Irvine looked sad.

"Tell him it'll all be alright." Harry ordered and Squall did as he was told.

"He's sure?" Irvine asked and Squall nodded.

"The Sorceress let Voldemort attack somewhere. I think either to Balamb or Trabia." Harry informed Squall.

"So the Sorceress is going to destroy one with missiles and the other with Voldemort?" Squall mused.

"Voldemort?" Irvine frowned. "Wait, Squall. Does Harry know about who the Sorceress is?"

"He recognised her when I first saw her." Squall said. "I'm sorry, Irvine."

"Is he alright?" Irvine asked.

"I'm fine. I had a chat with the Sorceress and she threw me about a bit. I'm just tired and I really need to sleep." Harry told Squall honestly.

"The Sorceress beat him up a bit but he just needs to sleep." Squall told Irvine. "Do you have to go now?"

"I need to. I'll get some sleep and you can concentrate on making sure Balamb Garden is safe." Harry told him. "Tell Irvine I miss him."

"Harry has to go to get some sleep but he wants me to tell you that he misses you." Squall repeated for him.

"I miss you too, Harry." Irvine sighed and sat back on the bed with his hands over his face.

"I love you, Squall."

"I love you too, Harry." Squall said, accidentally say it out loud rather than in his head, making Irvine look up in shock. Harry laughed at Squall and bowed out of the conversation to get some much needed sleep.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

A few hours later Galbadia Garden

Harry awoke suddenly and his hands automatically searched for his Katars only to come up empty, they were lying in some store room in Voldemort's castle on Earth and wouldn't be doing him any good here. He turned his head to look at the door to see what had woken him up and found Seifer standing in the doorway looking at him.

"What do you want?" Harry demanded spitefully, he really didn't want a reminder of everything that had gone wrong in his life.

Seifer flinched at the hate in the words and that made Harry frown. Not once in the time he'd inhabited Squall's mind had he ever seen Seifer flinch. "The last time I saw you flinch was when we were kids and I walked in to see you making fun of Zell." Harry saw the miserable look on Seifer's face and forced himself off of the bed and to his feet though it made his body scream at him. "You remember."

"Of course I remember." Seifer tried to sneer. "I'm not some weakling."

"Cram it, Seifer." Harry snapped.

"So it really is you?" Seifer moved into the room and the door shut behind him.

"Of course it's me." Harry told him but now the weariness was back in his tone.

"But how?" Seifer asked. "You died. You ran out of the fire and we couldn't find you."

"I didn't run from the fire, Seifer." Harry corrected. "I was taken, by magic, to another world. That's what started the fire. I was trapped there."

"In the world that Voldemort ruled?" Seifer asked. His tone held respect for the insane tyrant.

"Don't respect Voldemort, Seifer." Harry glared at him. "He's a monster that's hunted me ever since I arrived there, he rapes, tortures and kills for his own pleasure."

"You snuck back here and trapped Voldemort here." Seifer finished the story.

"And now that you remember, what are you going to do about it?" Harry asked. "Are you going to help me?"

"The Sorceress told me she offered you a place at her side. You could fight alongside me." Seifer offered once more.

"She's not our Matron, Seifer." Harry said quietly. "I won't serve her. I want the woman we knew back."

"You don't know this world, Harry." Seifer said using his name for the first time and it clearly hurt him. "The days when we were all happy at the orphanage are over."

"The others are all alive, Seifer. It's not too late to try. Help me out of here and we can go and find them. We can help them free Matron." Harry knew he was pleading but he didn't care. He'd pleaded with Seifer more than once in their childhood.

"How do you know where the others are?" Seifer asked.

"I've been visiting Ellone and Squall's minds." Harry told him seriously. "I could do it from Earth and I can do it here."

"Then tell me where Ellone is." Seifer demanded.

Harry moved up to him until they stood face to face. "I always looked beyond your bullying side in the Orphanage, Seifer. Even when you hurt Zell and you always loved me because I saw who you really were but over the years while I was in Squall's head all I saw was your bad side. I tried to get Squall to befriend you, to try to get through to your good side but every time you turned away from that side of you." Harry whispered tiredly. "I still believe that side I loved is in there somewhere so I'm going to give you a choice."

"What choice?" Seifer asked in almost the same level of whisper.

"I know where Ellone is and if you ask again I'll tell you and then the Sorceress can go and possess her, force her to serve her, force our big sister to kill and be evil." Harry's voice went up to a harsh hiss. "If there's any of that good side left then prove it and don't ask where she is. If the Seifer I knew and loved, the one I've defended in my mind ever since I can remember, really no longer exists then ask me where she is again."

Seifer went completely rigid in shock and horror and Harry continued. "All the time I was trapped away from this world, before I found a way to talk to Squall I held all of the memories I shared with Squall, Ellone, Zell, Selphie, Quistis, Irvine and you close to my heart. Using them to survive. Prove to me you're not the monster I've seen these last few years. Show me you're really the boy I used to practice fighting with, the one that helped clean up my bruises and scrapes when I got hurt playing rather than the one that just laughs at other people's pain."

"Harry." Seifer looked away and when Harry snaked out a hand and pulled his face back he saw tears in his eyes though Seifer yanked himself out of Harry's grasp sending Harry's balance off and forcing him to catch himself on the wall. "I'm not the boy you remember."

With that Seifer turned and fled the room and Harry sagged back down the wall to sit on the floor. A small smile crept across his face. Seifer hadn't asked again, he may not want to compare himself to the boy Harry had known but that boy was still in him somewhere.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Ellone's mind

Harry opened his mental eyes to find himself being slammed into a wall and his world spun for a moment. "Of all the things to find myself doing when I arrive." Harry groaned as Ellone righted herself with the help of one of the White SeeDs.

"Harry!" Ellone rubbed her head and his vision was obscured for a while.

"Should I ask what's happening?" He asked dubiously.

"There was fighting up until about half an hour ago but then the Faculty all just sort of disappeared." Ellone explained. "And the whole place just sort of jerked. What's that?"

Ellone rushed to the window before Harry could comment and her eyes found the one thing that Harry didn't want to see. In the sky were six white lines, flying straight at them. "Missiles, Ellone!"

"There's nothing we can do about them." Ellone pointed out and her vision blurred as she turned to look over her shoulder and her two guards leapt to her sides to look at what she'd seen. Just as Harry was about to tell her she should get further inside she tumbled to the side and had to catch herself on the windowsill and on the SeeD on her right whose arms came up to hold her up.

"What's happening, Sis?" Harry demanded to know.

"We're moving!" Ellone gasped out loud knowing it didn't matter if the two SeeDs heard her. Harry kept silent as the missiles grew closer and closer and soon he realised that they might just get lucky. Harry was glad when Ellone didn't shut her eyes and he could see as the six missiles just about missed them, streaking passed the right of the window before everything shook and the view was filled with thick dust and smoke.

"Ellone!" Harry yelled into her mind, needing more information.

"They missed!" She cried happily before the view blurred as she lost her footing and nearly fell to the ground, obviously the ride wasn't that gentle. "We're floating!"

"You mean to tell me that Balamb Garden is floating?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Go find Squall! I saw him arrive. He'll know what's going on." Ellone told him.

"One second, Elly." Harry countered. "Seifer remembers everything. As soon as he saw me it started coming back to him. He won't get me out but he's not asking me where you are even though he already knows I know."

"Maybe he's not lost to us completely then." Ellone sighed. "Maybe in time he'll get you out."

"I hope so." Harry sighed. "I'll talk to you once I know more."

Harry left Ellone's mind and slipped into the vast mind-scape and instinctively went towards Squall's mind, floating alone amongst the millions of minds.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Squall's mind

When he found Squall it was to find themselves almost completely surrounded by air. They were high up upon a wide platform. As he arrived Squall was looking down over the side. Harry could make out the Headmaster's audience chamber and beyond that the sloping sides of the Garden leading down to the distant ground, broken only by the sight of the familiar floating rings except that the normal high floating and stationary rings were now spinning rapidly around the base of the floating Garden.

"That's not something you see every day."

"Harry!" Squall straightened up and Harry knew he was smiling by the look of shock on Quistis' face. "We dodged the missiles."

"So I saw."

"Were you here the whole time?" Squall asked sounding a little wounded. Harry rarely arrived and didn't say anything.

"I just visited Ellone in time for the Garden to start floating. Was that you?"

"The Headmaster sent us to search for the defences from when this was a bomb shelter." Squall explained. "We did it in the nick of time."

"I saw." Harry mused. "Do you have a plan now?"

"Not really." Squall frowned looking around at the people with them. The Headmaster was there as well as Quistis and Irvine and while Quistis was looking at Squall worriedly the two other men were looking at the controls.

"We've got a small problem here." Irvine pointed out in front of the Garden.

"What?" Squall asked.

"Balamb." Irvine turned to look at Squall who ran forwards and flinched at the sight in front of them. The floating Garden wasn't really underway but it was slowly sliding straight towards Balamb which was substantially smaller than the enormous SeeD training facility.

"Try to steer it." Harry suggested helpfully but Squall was already working, trying to force a small lever in the middle of the console to the left, but the only problem was that it was rusted beyond hope and didn't seem to want to move. But eventually Harry could see the Garden begin to lean to the left and it skirted the small coastal town and with a massive explosion of water it settled into the ocean.

"Things never get boring when you're in my head." Squall sighed as he collapsed into the side of the console in exhaustion.

"You need sleep." Harry commented blandly.

"What about you?"

"I just slept." Harry admitted before coming to a decision. "And Seifer visited me a while back."

"To do what? Torture you?" Squall growled.

"I don't think he'll ever lay a hand on me again." Harry said quietly.

"Seifer's a bastard." Squall said out loud, blowing his cover once again. He looked around and relaxed when he saw Cid and Quistis talking on the other end of the platform.

"What are you talking about, Squall?" Irvine's voice made him look the other way to find the young man looking at him with a frown.

"I'm talking to Harry." Squall explained.

"Squall, I need to tell you something about Seifer." Harry continued. "He and I..."

"What did he do to you?" Squall growled angrily.

"Nothing!" Harry defended.

"Nothing?" Squall frowned and glanced at Irvine who raised an eyebrow at him.

"Seifer forgot a lot about his past because he used Guardian Forces." Harry threw himself in, not knowing another way to say this to his boyfriend. "He didn't used to be like this. At least he had a good side to offset it."

"Seifer was always a mean bully, Harry." Squall argued. "Ever since he came to Balamb."

"But he wasn't that bad at the Orphanage!" Harry almost shouted before he could stop himself. He'd wanted to tell Squall but maybe that had been a bit too blunt.

"The Orphanage?" Squall managed to gasp out. "You knew him!?" He pulled himself up and turned to Irvine. "You knew Seifer at the Orphanage?"

Irvine flinched. "Did Harry tell you that?" Squall nodded angrily. "I didn't think that Seifer remembered it."

"Tell Irvine that he remembered a little after he saw me." Harry pleaded. "Please, Squall!"

"Harry says that Seifer remembered after seeing him." Squall ground out. "I can't believe you didn't tell me earlier! Why didn't you tell me, Harry?"

"Seifer didn't remember me. What good would it have done?" Harry snapped back. "He'd forgotten that we loved each other. That we were brothers to each other just like Irvine and I."

"Who else, Harry?" Squall hissed. "Is there others here that you know and you've pretended not to?"

"Squall!" Irvine shouted and grabbed him. "Shut up! You'll just hurt him."

"I told him I'd help him find the people he grew up with and he didn't even tell me that the person I've always fought with was his brother!" Squall hissed. "All the times he tried to convince me to be nice to him was just so he could get closer to him."

"That's not like Harry!" Irvine hissed back ignoring the looks the two were getting from the Headmaster and Quistis.

"Clearly you know him better than I do so why don't you have him?" Squall gritted out angrily and turned away from Irvine. "Why don't you just run to Irvine? He clearly knows you better than I do. Hell, Seifer must know you better, why don't you just run to him?"

Harry just sat in shock at the words, not knowing what to say in response. He knew Squall well enough to know that he didn't really mean the words and he knew that Squall must be envious because he'd never met Harry whereas now he was faced with both Irvine and Seifer. If only Squall could have accepted the truth. Instead of responding Harry slipped out of his boyfriend's mind and retreated back to his body.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Galbadia Garden – An hour later

It had taken Harry a little while to get over the effect of Squall's words and he merely had to convince himself that Squall's harsh rejection was purely because he hadn't liked the idea of Harry and Seifer growing up together. It would all be fine once Squall learnt the entire truth and when Harry got out of here and found him he'd tell him, and the others, everything. Even if they didn't remember him, even after the story. Seifer had clearly remembered everything after seeing him but the others were with Irvine and that wasn't enough to trigger their memories but then again Irvine hadn't tried to force them to remember. He didn't for a moment think that it was because they didn't love Irvine as much as Seifer had loved him.

It was about an hour after the missiles had struck where Balamb Garden had been when his door slid open and four people walked inside. Harry turned on the bed to look at them and narrowed his eyes at the closest two, Death Eaters. It was the other two, the Galbadian soldiers, that moved to the bed and hauled him up before dragging him out of the room. They were taken through the same route as before and finally ended up on the same balcony area as before. Harry was thrown to the ground unceremoniously and he looked up as the four escorts backed away to the edges of the railings. On the balcony were two people that he felt pain to see and a third that he despised with all his heart, almost as much as the Sorceress that inhabited his Matron. Seifer stood at the Sorceress' side while Voldemort and two of his Death Eaters stood a little to his right.

Harry couldn't help but glare at him with all the anger he felt for the Sorceress merely because he couldn't glare at his Matron on the off chance she could see through her own eyes. Voldemort stepped forward, raised his wand. "Crucio!" He spat and the red light struck Harry before he could get up the energy to dodge. Harry tipped over as his entire body exploded with pain and after only a few seconds he couldn't help but scream in pure agony. He rolled over and found himself staring up at Seifer who had gone deathly pale but he couldn't focus on him properly through the pain.

"Stop!" Seifer's scream broke through his own and the pain vanished.

"You let your inferiors make demands?" Voldemort sneered at the Sorceress. Harry rolled onto his back unable to make his muscles move enough to do anything else. He had to focus purely on soothing his trembling limbs.

"This serves to no end." Seifer glared at Voldemort.

"Learn respect for your Elders, whelp!" Voldemort hissed and raised his wand at Seifer.

"No!" Harry whispered but nothing came out of his dry throat.

"Calm yourself." The Sorceress spoke gently, hiding her true nature. "Torturing the boy will gain us nothing."

Voldemort visibly seethed and Harry could see the anger burning behind his blood red eyes. Voldemort hated Harry beyond anything else because he had taken an entire world away from him and Harry wouldn't be surprised if the Wizard found a way to get to him. Seifer knelt at Harry's side and helped him up onto his knees and then lingered nearby but Harry didn't smile at him and merely wiped away the blood that had gathered on his lip where he had bitten into it. "The assault on Balamb Garden was a failure." The Sorceress told Harry airily. "Your friends of this world were able to escape in time to return but Trabia Garden fell to Voldemort and his Death Eaters."

"Why are you bothering to tell me that?" Harry spat out the blood in his mouth but his voice was still barely above a whisper.

"I know where I will be able to find Balamb Garden in time but if you tell me where it is now and tell me where the girl is I will spare the children there." The Sorceress bargained. "If you try to hide them then I will send Voldemort to Balamb and the same will happen there as what happened to Trabia."

"Been degraded to a mere attack dog have you, Voldemort?" Harry managed to sneer at the monstrosity. "You're just out of your depth here."

"If he's not going to tell us anything then why keep him alive?" Voldemort rounded on the Sorceress. "Just let me drive him insane and then he'll blab all his secrets to us."

"And we'll lose the connection he has to the girl." She sneered. "Through him I can get to her."

"I won't ever help you." Harry narrowed his eyes at her. "I'd rather die than let anything happen to her."

Harry knew he had no chance to escape right then but he had adrenaline fuelled energy from his bout under the Cruciatus and knew they'd beat it out of him before Sabre could feed from it so he decided to show them just how fruitless it was to try to interrogate him. Just as Voldemort was turning to level his wand at him once more, regardless of being told to leave him alone, Harry reached into the most powerful spell he could cast safely and with a burst of para-magic the only Flare spell in his inventory slammed into Voldemort. Voldemort felt the magic before it burst towards him but he only had time to send his own burst of magic against the Flare which only weakened it enough to save him. The Flare ripped through the air and threw Voldemort and two of his Death Eaters flying across the balcony. Voldemort and one of his servants struck the railing with sickening crunches while the other Death Eater was thrown clear of the railing and down the five floor drop, smoking the entire way.

Harry felt a wave of nausea sweep through his body before a strange lack of sensation overcame him and he tipped forwards onto the floor in a dead faint with the ringing sound of the Sorceress' amused laugh in his ears.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Ellone's mind

Harry had awoken in his cell and according to the small strip of window near the ceiling it was late evening or early night. He'd tired himself out with his Flare but it had been satisfying and weak as he was they hadn't bothered to weaken him further. He'd eaten some of the food left in the cell and drunk down the water before collapsing back onto his bunk and reaching out into the mind-scape. He'd found Squall automatically before retreating. Squall didn't want him around right now. Instead he'd gone in search of Ellone's mind and found her on the back of a boat he didn't recognise, looking up at the stars that were slowly appearing in the sky.

"You're not in Balamb Garden any longer." Harry pointed out and for a change she didn't flinch.

"Harry, you sound so weak!" Ellone looked around herself and Harry took in the shape of an elegant ship in the dark.

"I'm weak." Harry admitted truthful. "Voldemort, the evil of the world I was in, wants to just kill me but the Sorceress is hoping she can convince me to give up your location. Seifer came to my rescue when Voldemort was torturing me."

"Torturing you?" Ellone leaned weakly on the railing over the back of the ship and looked down at the wash behind them.

"It's a spell that he likes called the Cruciatus." Harry explained. "It makes you feel like every part of your body is being torn apart, burned and then frozen. It's pure agony. He takes pleasure in driving people insane from it and he uses small bouts of it on his Death Eaters, his followers, as punishments."

"Are you okay?" Ellone asked.

"Unless it breaks you it's nothing permanent, it leaves your body a bit weak for a while though and it has a habit of making other wounds worsen." Harry informed her. "Why are you on a different ship?" Harry asked knowing she wouldn't mind him wanting to change the subject.

"This ship is that of the White SeeD, those that protect me from the Sorceress." Ellone explained. "I'll stay with them for a while. Eventually I'll go back to Squall but not until they learn the truth about where we grew up."

"Squall and I..." Harry trailed off.

"Irvine and I spoke briefly before I left." Ellone told him. "He told me what Squall said."

"He said he didn't want me around." Harry sighed. "I'm going to give him some time."

"As I understand it they were drifting southwards when I left. They'll run into the transcontinental railway line eventually, they might already have arrived in Fishermen's Horizon." Ellone told him.

"I can't exactly go and meet them." Harry pointed out.

"There's something I thought of." Ellone spoke quietly. "I told Irvine I would try to help you find him to talk to him. Are you willing to try?"

"Follow you across the mind-scape?" Harry asked in confusion, he'd never thought of it before.

"If that's what would happen. I just think about them all individually and then put them back in time one at a time." Ellone said.

"We could try." Harry felt enthusiastic about it but he didn't really want to get his hopes up but he really missed talking to Irvine and he already missed Squall. They'd never argued like that before and it was hurting Harry more than anything Voldemort could do to him.

"You want to try now?" Ellone offered.

"Please." Harry nodded and felt himself flowing out of Ellone's mind and into the mind-scape. He ebbed around Ellone's mind for a moment before the area around her began to shift. It was a strange sensation but the 'space' around him seemed to shift and flow around them. Whereas Harry flowed through the mind-scape to find Ellone and Squall, she seemed to shift the mind-scape around her to bring the person she knew to her using memories of them or so she'd explained it.

When the mind-scape settled again there was a mind close to them and Harry flowed around it without needing to be told it was the one Ellone had come to. Instead of just flowing into it he 'poked' it with his own mind like he had done when trying to find out who Ellone had been and memories flooded his mind. One was of Irvine arriving at Galbadia Garden when he was ten and then another of Zell being comforted by Ellone on the beach. The memory shuddered even as Harry witnessed it and Harry knew that Irvine was trying to rid himself of it. Harry pushed further to make sure it was Irvine and not somebody else since he didn't know the memory personally and he found himself looking at a younger version of himself just before the younger Harry leapt at him. The memory was filled with arms and legs for a few moments before the young Harry pulled away with rumpled hair and a grin across his face. It was the memory of Harry and Irvine wrestling on the beach at the Orphanage about six months before Harry had been kidnapped.

Harry retreated as he felt the memory shudder strangely again and realised that Irvine, witnessing the same memories in his mind, was trying to shake them from his head. Harry drifted briefly through Ellone's mind and with a flash of stars again he gave her his gratitude and told her it had worked before he retreated and slid into Irvine's mind for the first time.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Irvine's Mind

When Harry arrived in Irvine's mind it was to find him alone, sitting with his feet hanging over a ledge of some kind about thirty feet above the slow waves of the middle of the ocean. Harry waited for a while to make sure he wasn't interrupting anything but all he could hear was the quiet sounds of the waves below them and the gentle whistle of the wind through the air around them.

"You always did like the peace and quiet, brother." Harry greeted making Irvine almost slip forwards off the platform. He ignored Harry which wasn't a massive surprise to him. "Ellone helped me find you, Irvine."

"Harry?" Irvine asked tentatively.

"Of course it is!" Harry laughed. "Who else would be talking inside your head? Unless you do have other voices? Insane ones that is."

"You're the only insane voice in my head." Irvine managed to tease but Harry could see in his vision that he was crying. "God, Harry. We thought we'd lost you."

"And until a few days ago I'd thought I'd lost you all too." Harry responded. "I've missed you, Irvine."

"I've missed you too, Harry." Irvine moved around and slowly stood up and looked around them. They were on a railway line that looked disused and Irvine crossed it showing a massive circle of solar panels with a stage in the centre where a band was playing music that Harry hadn't heard before. There was a large crowd down there too. "Selphie wanted to liven things up for everyone and we won't get the Garden working until at least tomorrow evening."

"Then where will you go?" Harry asked.

"That's up to Squall. The Headmaster put him in charge." Irvine explained. "Harry? How come only you and me remember? It's been so hard..."

"With Squall, Quistis, Zell and Selphie right there in front of you?" Harry sighed. "I know. It's because they've used GFs for so long and as the GFs grew it blocked their memories. You and Ellone never used GFs and mine bonded with my magical core and not my mind."

"So you never forgot?" Irvine asked worriedly.

"I've never forgotten a single thing about any of you." Harry promised.

"What happened to you?" Irvine ground his teeth. "You were there and then there was that fire and you ran."

"I never ran." Harry countered. "I'd have never left that fire until I knew you were all safe. I've been on another world and the people there needed a weapon to fight and they summoned me with magic that's different to ours. It started a fire."

"How could they do that without a care for who you were or who you'd leave behind?" Irvine sighed.

"The spell wouldn't bring anyone through who had any blood relations but by the bits I saw of them I think they'd have done it regardless." Harry sighed. "I admit they were pretty desperate. Voldemort and his followers rule almost everything there. But when he found out about Centra he wanted to harness the power here and he started hunting for me. He caught up to me a week ago and a few days back he used me to come here. I managed to break free and come through so that world's cut off now but Voldemort and a few of his followers are here."

"What's he like?" Irvine asked, still speaking out loud.

"Pray you never meet him to find out." Harry told him simply. "To find me he kidnapped a few adults and children. The children were found dead a few days later, tortured and mutilated."

"Oh..." Irvine stuttered. They were quiet for a while before Irvine spoke again. "When can Squall and I come and get you?"

"I'm hoping Seifer will get me out given some time." Harry told him. "But until I have a good plan I don't want you trying to break me out. You'll be killed long before you get to me."

"I think we may be going to check on Trabia Garden once the Garden works again." Irvine told him after another few minutes. "Selphie says that no missiles were fired other than the ones at Balamb but we want to make sure they're alright."

"Irvine?" Harry paused. "Trabia is going to be in ruins."

"What!?" Irvine jerked. "But how?"

"The Sorceress..." Irvine winced but Harry continued. "...she sent Voldemort and his men there and they came back happy. I don't think you should go there, it probably won't be pretty."

"Selphie..." Irvine trailed off.

"She needs to see for herself." Harry sighed. "I figured that."

"I'm tired of all of this." Irvine told him. "I've wanted to tell the others so bad but after Squall said you'd been in his head since you were younger I realised they won't remember."

"It'll happen." Harry promised him. "Seifer remembered everything after seeing me."

"Then why didn't seeing each other work?" Irvine countered.

"Maybe because all of you remember the same thing about me. Ellone was the one to say it, I was the glue. I kept you all from being outcasts and I fit in with all of you. You all had your differences now and then but I didn't. And then Ellone told me that the fire and my 'death' was the start of the end for you all. Matron changed, the Headmaster left and the happiness died."

"That's true." Irvine sighed. "It was never the same with you gone. We weren't the perfect family anymore. Even Seifer couldn't bully Zell anymore because it reminded everyone of you because you always stopped it."

"As soon as I'm free I'll tell you and we'll meet up." Harry promised.

"Aren't you going to come back before that?" Irvine pleaded. "Now that you're back, I don't want to lose you again. I've been so..."

"You were always the lonely one, Irvine." Harry sighed. "I'll be back as soon as I can but I really need to sleep and regain some of my energy. They're not letting me regain enough for Sabre to come around and there's only a few ways they can manage that."

"Harry..." Irvine sighed.

"I know, Irvine. I love you."

"I love you too. Be careful." Irvine concluded and Harry slowly faded back into the mind-scape glad that he now had three minds in this massive expanse to talk with.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Galbadia Garden – The next day

Harry was woken late in the morning by the feel of his body by a massive jerk that sent him flying out of bed and onto the hard ground. He groaned and instinctively looked around for whoever had pulled him out of bed only to find himself alone. Another, larger jerk, made him realise that it was the building being moved and after the concept of an earthquake was rejected from his mind he realised what it was.

He moved into the corner of the room and a long stretch of shuddering overtook the Garden and with another jerk that almost made him fall over he felt weight pressing down on him, as if he was in an elevator but the sensation didn't last long and afterwards he found the Garden to be calm once more. They'd worked out how to do the same thing to Galbadia Garden as they had with Balamb Garden, made it into a floating base which couldn't be good for Squall or the rest.

Harry pulled himself back onto the bed and let his exhaustion take him back into sleep once more.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Trabia Garden – Two days later

Irvine swallowed violently and decided he really didn't want to breathe anymore. If he breathed through his nose he could smell it and if he breathed through his mouth he could almost taste it and it was horrible either way.

"No!" Selphie moaned painfully and sagged at his side. He quickly caught her arm as they looked down the path and the smoking ruins not far from them.

"This is horrible." Quistis gasped and Irvine looked at them all in turn. Zell looked like he was about to keel over while Quistis and Rinoa were trying not to turn away from the scene laid out before them. Squall was probably the most collected there but Irvine could tell it was only due to a massive amount of will power and practice that he could keep his face blank. Irvine turned back to the scene before him.

In the near distance was the shell of Trabia Garden, almost identical to Balamb Garden where it hung over the scene from behind, lit by the rising sun as it was. The ruins were smoking and in the odd place old fires still held onto life even though he couldn't imagine there was much left to burn. The gardens around the base of the main structure were completely shattered though and he doubted even Selphie could recognise anything amongst that mess but what really held their attention, and the attention of numerous SeeD members and trainees in Balamb Garden, was the bodies that ran all the way up the front path. The wall had been completely decimated in the attack but pinned to it were the closest bodies, pinned there by their arms and legs and hanging from splinters of stone that looked as though they'd come out of the stonework of the wall. Beyond the wall the road ran thick with a red mud that could only be soaked in one thing and the remains of bodies littered the path and some were strung up to ruined buildings and mutilated in ways that Irvine could never have imagined before.

He was interrupted when Selphie keeled over and threw up. Zell came to his aid and between the two they soothed her. It was, in a word, horrific and Irvine wanted to completely remove the memory from his mind. He looked up a while later to see Squall studying the bodies on the wall and he stood but just as he did Squall made to step over the wall.

"Stop him!" Harry suddenly screamed in his mind and Irvine, shocked though he was, couldn't help but do as told.

"Stop, Squall!" Irvine shouted.

Squall paused and turned to look at him quizzically. "Harry?" Irvine asked as everyone turned to look at him.

"The bodies draped over the break in the wall weren't made at the same time as the ones pinned up. There's a trap there." Harry explained without mentioning how long he'd been lingering in Irvine's mind which Irvine decided to leave until later.

"It might be a trap." Irvine simplified before moving towards Squall. They were soon joined by Quistis and they crouched down, trying to ignore the smell from the numerous bodies draped over the wall.

"They look newer." Quistis commented. "And where's the spikes that went through them like the others?"

"You're right but I don't see any form of mechanism." Squall frowned at Irvine suspiciously.

"Throw something across the gap." Harry suggested.

Irvine straightened up and looked around for something. Finally deciding on a block of stone broken from the wall he lifted it up and Squall and Quistis, seeing what he had planned, moved out of the way. Irvine threw the rock through the wall, about a metre clear, but then all three recoiled in shock as, just as the block of stone crossed the wall, a spike shot up and smashed through it.

"These people were trying to help them!" Quistis gasped, going white, as she stared at where the rock had been pulverised. "It's horrible."

"It's worse." Squall spoke quietly. "Who could do this?"

"Death Eaters." Harry told Irvine quietly.

"Death Eaters?" Irvine asked out loud without realising it and Squall rounded on him.

"How?" Squall asked before his eyes widened. "He?"

Irvine nodded and tilted his head ever so slightly even though it confused the others who were all watching the exchange. "What are you two talking about?" Rinoa asked.

"This was done by Death Eaters." Squall turned back to look at one of the bodies.

"Who're Death Eaters?" Zell asked.

"They can use magic without Para-magic." Squall told them. "And they're not nice."

"How do you know about them?" Quistis asked. "I've never heard of them before."

Squall couldn't think of an answer to that one and turned to lift another slab of rock. He tossed it across the wall halfway up the crumbled gap and it cleared without problem. "Only the lowest part is trapped. Quistis, send word back to the ship about the trap. Irvine, do you think the rest is safe?"

"How would..." Irvine started before Harry interrupted him.

"He's asking me." Harry said solemnly. "Tell him that the Death Eaters rarely trap anything but the first entrance, they want a few witnesses to what they do. And this is their kernel stone on this world."

"They only normally trap the entrance so that people can witness..." Irvine trailed off.

"Witness what?" Zell asked.

"What they've done inside." Irvine swallowed and soon followed Squall over the wall before helping Selphie, Zell, Rinoa and finally Quistis over behind him.

"Do you think anybody survived?" Irvine asked inside his own head.

"Probably anybody that found a good enough hiding place and didn't try to fight. The Death Eaters wouldn't have done the hard work to find them." Harry explained.

"There should be at least a few survivors." Irvine repeated though only Squall knew where he was getting his information from. "Selphie? Do you know anywhere that people might have hidden or someplace people would meet up after the main building went?"

"Standard procedure was to hide in the underground rooms of the courts." Selphie managed out. Zell and Rinoa were staying by her sides and it was obvious she was trying not to the look at the bodies around them.

"Harry? Are you alright?" Irvine asked after they'd walked further into the area and he hadn't said anything.

"I'm just a little tired." Harry said but Irvine didn't really believe that one.

"How long have you been in my head?" He asked.

"I was there about five minutes before I spoke." Harry replied, sounding truthful and was about to say something else when Squall suddenly stopped in front of them and Irvine was forced to side step to avoid walking into his back.

"Squall? What...? Irvine started before catching sight of it. In the centre was an almost pristine fountain and it was still running. It was about ten feet tall in the centre and about fifteen foot across at the base but it wasn't water running through it anymore. It was thick blood, blood from the twenty or so bodies pinned to every inch of it. Irvine choked and found himself holding the back of Squall's jacket as he almost heaved.

"Oh, fuck..." Zell whispered from behind them and Irvine heard the distinct sound of Rinoa throwing up and Selphie's pained whimper as Quistis tried to sooth her.

"Harry?" Irvine managed. "Why would they do something like this?"

"It's a warning to the world." Harry sounded sick.

"Are you okay?" Irvine asked.

"This is my..." Harry started.

"This is not your fault!" Irvine snapped though only he and Squall heard him. Squall snapped around to face him.

"He thinks it's his fault?" Squall hissed quietly. "Harry! Stop being an idiot. Just because Voldemort used you to come here doesn't make you responsible for his actions."

"Harry?" Irvine prompted when the voice in his head didn't speak. "Harry?"

He shook his head at Squall to show he didn't know where Harry had gone and Squall sighed before straightening up and then sighing in relief. "He's just a little..." Squall started showing that Harry had moved to Squall's mind which didn't surprise Irvine.

"Horrified?" Irvine suggested looking up at the fountain once more.

"Exactly." Squall sighed before seeming to settle into his own mind and Irvine left him to it knowing that the two needed to talk through what had happened the other day on the bridge of the Garden.

"Selphie?" Irvine took over. "Which way?"

Selphie looked up at him weakly before pointing down one of the other three paths around the fountain. Irvine led the way with Squall at his side, ignoring it when their leader muttered to himself a few times. Irvine had already worked out that Squall and Harry were more than just brothers or best friends, they were together no matter how strange their relationship was.

"There!" Selphie screamed and darted past them and towards a row of what seemed to be seating stands. As Irvine and Squall followed they noticed people lying and sitting against walls and soon they realised that they were alive.

"Zell, send word to the Garden and get people to come and help. Escort them past the trap and to here. Quistis, Rinoa, see what you can do in the meantime." Squall ordered. "Irvine, we'll search the area for anything else."

The team accepted the orders and Zell broke into a run, heading back along the way they'd come to get help while Quistis and Rinoa went to Selphie to help her sort through the survivors finding the worst off for quick transfer back to the Garden. It was going to be a long day.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Squall's mind

Harry slipped into his boyfriend's mind as night began to fall on the travelling Galbadia Garden and found Squall leaning on the side of a large boulder that had been thrown into the middle of a basketball court by Voldemort's attack. In his line of sight was another boulder with Quistis and Rinoa leaning against it and Zell sitting cross-legged on the top. Which meant that only Irvine and Selphie were unaccounted for in the group.

"Where's Irvine?" Harry asked and Squall only twitched the smallest amount.

"He's sitting on the boulder behind me." Squall told him and leaned to the side and twisted his head and suddenly Harry was looking directly at Irvine who was looking down at Squall. Squall turned back to the silent group and went back to simply waiting. "Sorry again for how I acted. It's just with that thing with Seifer..."

"I know." Harry interrupted him. "I knew it when you were saying it. I just thought it was best I kept my distance for a while and I needed some good amount of rest anyway."

"Did you get any today?"

"I slept a little until lunch but then some Death Eaters came in and..." Harry paused. "Well, they knocked me out for the rest of the afternoon."

"You're not healing at all are you?" Squall observed rather than stated.

"I'm honestly getting a little worse." Harry admitted truthfully. "I've run out of curing spells in my arsenal and without Sabre around I can't equip offensive magic to power my body's vitality."

"Harry..." Squall sighed.

"You can't do anything anymore. I wasn't where I was originally and I don't know where I am now." Harry told him. "And I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other soon anyway."

"Why?"

"Because the Sorceress is convinced she knows where you're going to end up and she wants to meet you there." Harry told him.

"Then we can sort all this out." Squall nodded.

"Voldemort will be wherever she is. You can't face him and the Sorceress at the same time." Harry told him but was interrupted from saying anything else when they all turned towards Squall's left as Selphie appeared in the basketball court.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Selphie told them and Harry looked her over, she looked so tired and worn but she'd recovered just like the fighter she was. "Thanks so much for coming out here."

"Cheer up, heh?" Irvine suggested as he slipped off of the boulder to stand at Squall's side. Squall glanced at him but didn't comment.

"Thanks." Selphie paused before looking directly at Squall with determination in her eyes. "Take me with you when you fight the Sorceress. I want to get revenge."

"Do we have to fight?" Rinoa spoke up. "I mean, isn't there another way to avoid the bloodshed."

"What the...?" Zell frowned. "What are you saying all of a sudden?"

"Maybe somebody really smart could come up with a way so we didn't have to fight anymore." Rinoa suggested.

"That's what Dumbledore waited for. Me to come along and fall into the Prophecy and kill Voldemort for him." Harry pointed out. "You can't win wars that way."

"In a way you did free that World from Voldemort, maybe that's what the Prophecy meant."

"Yeah, and instead he does this on our World." Harry countered.

"Squall, you have to voice your feelings or I won't understand." Rinoa broke Harry and Squall away from their internal discussion. Clearly Squall had made an expression at Harry's words.

"You were part of a resistance movement." Squall pointed out. "Unlike others who were just talk you took to your weapons and fought. And now you're saying all this? What happened to you?"

"I guess I'm just scared. Sometimes when I'm with all of you I feel like we're on the same wavelength, you know?" Rinoa tried to explain, the frustration evident in her voice. "But when the battles start happening, it's different. Everyone's tempo seems to pick up and I get left behind. I try to catch up, but it's no use. 'How far is everyone going? I can't hear anyone.' Once I catch up, I wonder if everyone is safe and if they'll welcome me with open arms?"

"Wow, she's..." Harry stopped himself from finishing that thought. He really hadn't spent much time getting to know her and until he found a way to be with his family again he wasn't all that interested.

"Rinoa, I understand." Irvine spoke up and stepped forwards, putting his back to Harry and Squall. "Someone might not be there. Someone you love might disappear before your very eyes. It's tough when you live your life thinking that but that's why I fight."

"Oh, Irvine." Harry sighed knowing he was talking about Harry in particular. It can't have been nice for any of them after they thought Harry had died but at least the others hadn't grown up remembering his death and then the added loss of all the others.

Squall reached forwards and touched Irvine on the back of his brown jacket and pressed his hand into his new friend, undoubtedly realising the same as Harry did, at least on the aspect of Harry's supposed death and he couldn't help but be caught up in the pain in Harry's thoughts. Irvine turned to look at him and his eyes met Squall's directly, as if trying to see Harry through them.

"When I was five or so I was in an orphanage." Irvine spoke up making Squall tense as he realised Irvine was going to tell everyone about who Harry was. Irvine turned back to the others and picked up a basketball from the floor and lobbed it at the burnt net only for it to bounce off the backboard violently. "Lots of kids, all without parents. It was around the end of the Sorceress' War so I guess it couldn't be helped. Anyway, that's where I was and out of all the kids there one meant more to me than any of the others. I loved all of them but that kid was more important to me. To all of us."

"Is he talking about you?" Squall asked. Harry didn't answer, he didn't trust his thoughts not to betray his weakness right now, not even to Squall.

"We played all the time, all of us kids but he was special to all of us." Irvine trailed off.

"Harry, you should go to him. Talk to him." Squall told him.

Harry would have but he was distracted by something else right then. The others were thinking about something. It was Selphie that looked up at Irvine first. "Was that Orphanage a stone house?" She asked.

"You guessed it." Irvine nodded and Harry heard the hope in his voice and he hoped too. Maybe having Irvine mention it, like Harry had mentioned it to Seifer would be enough. Having it pushed into their faces like this.

"An old house made of stone?" Quistis frowned pushing forward so she wasn't leaning on the boulder any longer. "By the ocean?"

"You guessed it." Irvine was sounding a little happier now as looks of sudden revelation spread across Selphie, Quistis and Zell's faces. "I knew the first time we met."

"Hey! Why didn't you tell us?" Selphie complained.

"Yes, why didn't you tell us?" Quistis asked.

"Cause you seemed to have forgotten." Irvine sighed. "And it kinda sucked that I was the only one that remembered. Spunky little Selphie and bossy little Quistis."

"Squall?" Harry spoke finally into the silence of Squall's mind. In fact it wasn't quiet at all but so much was flashing through Squall's mind that Harry couldn't comprehend it.

"Hey? Do you guys remember setting off fireworks?" Zell suddenly perked up and slid down off of his boulder. Selphie turned and nodded at him with a big grin. "The beach and the lighthouse!"

"Yeah!" Selphie was almost bouncing now. It seemed to all be coming back to them, piece by piece but Squall was still utterly silent.

"Then what about my parents in Balamb?" Zell asked suddenly.

"The Dinchts must have adopted you." Quistis reasoned.

"That's probably it." Irvine nodded and turned and smiled at Squall but he lost the grin when met by Squall's stoic face.

"I was there!" Zell leaned back against the boulder tiredly and rubbed at his head and Irvine turned back away from Squall.

"Oh my goodness." Quistis gasped. "Seifer was there too. I remember now, he always used to bully you, Zell."

"My arch nemesis." Zell groaned.

"Wow, I don't believe Seifer was there too!" Selphie gasped looking at them all in amazement.

Irvine turned his back to them and faced Squall directly again. "Well, Squall?" He asked loudly making all the others stop discussing the orphanage and look at their leader. "Seifer was there and apart from Rinoa we all were too."

"What, does that mean...?" Zell frowned.

Squall's mind suddenly snapped back into clarity and his vision shifted to each of the others. "Yeah, I was there too."

"Squall..."

"Oh god, Harry!" Squall was almost crying inside and more of his weight was being placed onto the boulder. The others were focusing on the good memories but Squall wasn't like that, he had found and focused on all the worst ones. "I was always waiting for sis to come back." Squall said to the others. "She was a bit older than us and we all called her 'Big Sis' but she left. We were all there, Irvine, Zell, Selphie, Quistis, Seifer and..."

"And...?" Zell frowned.

"Who else, Squall?" Quistis frowned and Selphie looked at Irvine for help.

Squall cupped his hands over his face. "Harry." Squall gasped out. "How could we have...?"

"Harry?" Zell frowned but then his eyes widened and he sagged back against the boulder. Selphie looked from Irvine to Squall before she gasped and sagged back onto the boulder and down to the floor. Quistis grabbed her neck as her throat closed up on her. "How could we have forgotten him?"

"That's you!" Squall's mind was wild again but his confusion was directed at Harry.

"Yeah, Squall." Harry sighed but didn't say anymore.

"He was so..." Zell started.

"He kept us all together." Selphie managed to finish for Zell. "He was the one you were talking about, the one that was a little more special to us all." She turned to Irvine.

"Yeah." Irvine nodded. "He's the one that really understood each of us separately. Even Seifer loved him. We all did."

"There was a fire." Squall started. "I remember waking up and it was everywhere. We all ran."

"But Harry ran out onto the plains and nobody could find him." Quistis said. "How could he have died and we all just forgot about him?"

"Tell Irvine to tell them." Harry told Squall.

"Harry?" Squall couldn't think clearly. He was too overcome with trying to fit it all together.

"They deserve to know that I'm not dead. My supposed death destroyed our family and if knowing I'm still alive can help mend the wounds then they should know." Harry told him.

"Irvine?" Squall attracted his attention. "He..."

"He?" Quistis frowned at Squall, never having seen him so distressed in all the years she'd known him.

"He says to..." Squall swallowed. "Tell them."

"Is he sure?" Irvine looked into Squall's eyes. Squall nodded and Irvine sighed. "Harry didn't die that night."

"What?" Selphie straightened up. "We all remember it."

"Somebody cast a spell that stole Harry from the orphanage and it started the fire." Irvine told them. "He's still alive."

"Where is he then?" Zell stood back up again.

"He was taken to another World and was trapped there. But the people..." Irvine looked around and gulped. "The people that did this tracked him down and found out about Centra and used him to open a portal here. Now they are here. Harry managed to break free of them long enough to get through the portal but not enough to get free on this side."

"So he's alive?" Selphie had tears on her face and Zell and Quistis didn't seem far behind.

"He's alive." Irvine nodded. "In the Sorceress' hands, but free."

"If he's in captivity how do you know about where he is?" Rinoa suddenly joined the conversation.

"He's in my head." Squall managed to say without too much distress.

"What?" Selphie and Zell managed to cry at the same time.

"Ever since we were younger he's been paying me visits in my head. Just a voice." Squall told them and Harry couldn't focus properly through Squall's tears. Squall was seriously upset by this revelation. "And I didn't even remember he existed until now."

"I tried to tell you. I didn't know you'd forgotten when I first found you but you got so confused by the idea and whenever I mentioned it you rejected the idea so I gave up." Harry told him honestly. "So I decided to start anew with you in the hopes that one day you'd remember it all."

"And now I have. We all have." Squall muttered. "I can't believe even when Harry spoke of Irvine and Ellone, even about the Orphanage I never even thought I might have been involved but he always pushed me to open up to Zell and Quistis and when he always tried to make me befriend Seifer."

"Does Seifer...?" Quistis asked.

"According to Harry he does. He remembered after seeing Harry face to face, after Harry forced information about it on him." Irvine took over the explanation.

"So he can talk to you?" Zell asked Squall. "In your head?"

"And in my head. And Ellone's too." Irvine answered for Squall. "It's his ability but finding a particular person's mind is next to impossible."

"He found mine but could never find anybody else's." Squall continued for him. "After Ellone took us into the past for the first time Harry could find her mind and talk to her."

"And Ellone led Harry's mind to my own a few days ago." Irvine sighed.

"So he could talk to us?" Zell asked hopefully.

"If he searched for long enough." Squall sighed. "But..."

"Wait!" Selphie suddenly gasped, realising what Squall had stopped himself from saying. "You said he was in the Sorceress' captivity."

"Yeah. And he's weak." Squall said. "Too weak even for his GF to regenerate and he's used up all his curative magic just to keep himself strong enough to talk to me and Irvine."

"Why is she keeping him alive?" Rinoa asked drawing everybody's attention.

"Because with his ability he can enter anybody's mind and see where they are and what they are doing." Irvine explained. "And he knows where Ellone is and that's what the Sorceress wants the most."

"So he's in your mind right now?" Quistis eyed Squall.

"It's not like you're about to grow another head or something." Harry pointed out.

Squall laughed and the other five jumped in surprise by the strange response to Quistis' question. "He said that it's not like I'm about to grow another head or something."

"Sounds like Harry." Zell said with a chuckle. "Harry?"

"Urgh!" Harry grimaced at the odd sensation and it couldn't have come at a worse time.

"Harry!" Squall frowned. "What...?"

"Somebody's hurting me, worse than I've ever sensed like this. The Cruciatus."

"No!" Squall gasped.

"Just tell them all that I love them all and soon..." Harry promised. "We'll see each other soon and you'll make it up to me for forgetting about me."

"Harry..." Squall frowned, ignoring all of the others shouting questions at him.

"Love you, Squall."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter