A World to belong to

A/N; First off this is probably the shortest chapter I have written in years but although I've played up to this point hundreds of times I'm a little sketchy on the next bit so I don't want to ruin the story by missing out too much therefore I will wait until I can review the game again before I continue on with this story. It shouldn't be long, no longer than a normal wait for the next chapter. Sorry.

Chapter 6; Determination to survive

The next morning

Harry woke up and for the first time in over ten years he finally woke without a care in the world. The threat against him and the others didn't come back to him for a few moments and those few moments were utter bliss to him. On Earth even with Sabre to look out for him he'd always woken with a start and gotten free of blankets and ready to fight, it was habit from the number of times somebody had startled him awake. This morning though he woke to find himself curled up to Squall's side with his head on Squall's shoulder and upper right chest and his arm tightly wound across Squall's stomach. He loved the feeling of warmth that Squall gave off, in complete contrast to the normal coldness that the young man exuded at all times.

Harry dipped his head back down and laid his cheek on the centre of Squall's chest and merely listened to his heartbeat for a moment, soaking in the sensation of finally being so close to the person he had loved for his entire life. He knew the exact moment that Squall woke up by the slight tensing of his body when he realised that somebody was so close to him but after a moment his body relaxed and his arms came up around Harry who twisted his head and put it on Squall's shoulder to gaze at him with a small smile which Squall returned, using the smile that Squall had always reserved for when he was looking through the mirror at 'Harry'.

"Good morning." Harry told him before pulling away from him and sitting up. Squall followed him up, sitting so his chest was to Harry's side and he pulled Harry back against him.

"It's definitely going to take some getting used to waking up like that." Squall told him.

"As opposed to waking up with me in your head?" Harry asked and Squall responded by putting a kiss against his neck, just under his ear, making Harry shiver unconsciously. "Where are we?" Harry asked glancing out the window and seeing a tall metal structure in the distance, a crane of some sort.

"Fisherman's Horizon." Squall told him. "I told the control room to set a course for it before I came to bed last night."

"Fisherman's Horizon?" Harry frowned before realising why. "So that we can cross the transcontinental railway by foot to reach the Eastern Continent?"

"Yeah." Squall nodded. "And also because it's the best place to find you a weapon you can use. I know you said you used Katars back on Earth and if we're going to find something like that it'll be here not in the Galbadian Empire or back in Balamb."

"Thanks." Harry told him. "I was starting to think of myself as baggage."

Squall hugged him tighter. "You'll never be baggage to me." Squall told him with love. "Nor to the others either. It's true we've never seen you fight but I know what you survived back on Earth so I know you have skills even if you've never told me."

"I need to start drawing spells as well." Harry sighed. "You know that type of magic is very uncommon on Earth and what little I had I almost run completely dry when the Death Eaters attacked the resistance base and again when I was captive. I have no curing magic at all."

Squall frowned before standing up and it was a moment before Harry could pull his eyes away from his boxer clad form and focus on his face though he found Squall watching him in amusement. "You've seen me with less on than this and in more compromising positions." Squall reminded him.

"Why'd you stand up?" Harry asked suddenly feeling cold and alone. He shook his head to rid himself of the feeling.

"Because you need curing magic." Squall told him. "In case of emergency."

"Where are we going to go?" Harry asked. "There's no curing magic drawing points in the Garden."

"But I have some." Squall reminded him. "I want you to draw from me."

"But you could need it!" Harry stood up without thinking about it and he watched as Squall's eyes unconsciously and then without option dragged around his body, taking in every feature before Squall could look up at his face only to find Harry blushing ever so slightly.

"Now I've never seen you like that." Squall grinned and Harry moved forward and slapped him on the arm before hiding himself in Squall's arms, putting his cheek on his shoulder again. In this case he didn't mind being a little on the short side since he could wrap Squall around him like this. "And you're not going to take all of it, just enough so that if you get into trouble you can heal yourself and others. I have more than enough."

Harry grumbled about pain-in-the-arse boyfriends before nodding and pulling away to concentrate. "Only a dozen or so." Harry warned him. Harry didn't have to concentrate hard and since he could put his hands on Squall's chest, just above where his core was he could draw it that much easier. He felt magic across the skin of his hands and then arms and then finally his torso before it soaked into his core. He looked down at his arms to see little blue lights trailing up his arms and soaking into his chest and he shuttered his eyes as he junctioned to Cura spells directly onto his vitality. Curing magic was the best magic to junction to vitality and it was half the reason he hadn't been healing that well when in captivity because he hadn't had any magical regeneration.

He buried himself back into Squall's chest and Squall hugged him, laying his cheek onto the top of Harry's head. "We'd better get changed and go down and meet Zell. He wanted to come into the town with us to find a weapon. I think the others want to come too but Quistis told them you probably wouldn't want to be inundated with all of us all of the time."

"I don't mind." Harry muttered into the skin of Squall's shoulder. "But maybe she's right. I won't get anything done in the town if I'm focusing on all of them."

Squall held him for five more minutes before finally deciding that they couldn't merely hold each other for the entire day and he pulled Harry in for a shower which led to another few minutes of holding each other and of Squall exploring Harry's body and finally they changed into fresh clothing and headed down to the town to meet Zell.

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Fisherman's Horizon

Harry studied the row of swords on the wall and let his finger run down the dulled edge of one before sighing and moving on. Zell sighed next to him and lightly brushed Harry's back with his hand to show him that there was no rush but Harry knew that in only a few hours they were supposed to be setting out towards the Eastern Continent and already he, Squall and Zell had been to four armoury shops searching for a weapon that Harry could use and so far the only thing they'd seen had been a set of gloves like Zell's that Harry could fight with. The problem was that even though Harry used his hands to fight he was used to slashing with them and only punching when he went for a killing blow. If he fought normally with gloves like Zell's it would be ineffectual and that could get somebody hurt. He needed Katars and if that failed then a couple of short blades but he wasn't used to gripping weapons like daggers and he'd invariably be as useful with daggers as with bare fists.

Squall, bless him, had long since gotten bored of watching Harry look for a weapon and though he kept glancing at Harry he was over looking at long swords. Harry didn't blame him and merely tried to find a weapon for himself.

"You know it doesn't have to be perfect right?" Zell asked him after another five minutes.

"I'm not looking for perfect any more, brother." Harry sighed, falling back to what he'd always called them all, brother or sister. "I'm looking for useable."

"Is there anything in here you haven't looked at yet?" Zell asked fidgeting.

Harry poked him in the side making the slightly older boy scramble away from his touch with a rather undignified yelp. "I'll ask." Harry said and turned and took a few steps to the woman sitting at the back polishing a long sword though it was still painfully blunt. "I'm sorry but do you have any other types of weapons?"

She glanced around the room before nodding and standing up. "Not much luck out here then?"

"I'm sorry but no." Harry sighed. "I didn't learn to fight from anywhere in particular. My style just kind of happened and I can't use any of these normal weapons."

"What exactly is it that you need?" She asked.

"A Katar, or preferably a pair." Harry told her without thinking and was rewarded by a blank look. "It's a kind of wrist blade. Looks like a normal tip of a blade, cutting edge on both sides but it's wide at the base and open so that you can grip it by a crossbar." He showed her what he meant using his right fist to show her where the blade lay.

"I've never heard of anything like that before. I imagine it allows you to fight martial style and put your entire arm into a line to stab your enemy." She nodded. "I don't think we have anything like that out here or in the main stock room but there's some dusty crates of old weapons in the basement from when my grandfather owned the shop a few years back that I've never bothered to go through. That's your only chance I'm afraid."

"If that's my only chance." Harry shrugged and he, Zell and Squall followed her through a stockroom and down a short flight of stairs into a dusty basement. She left them to it and Harry looked other the eight boxes and sighed. "How long do we have?" He asked Squall who glanced at his watch.

"About an hour before we're supposed to meet them out on the tracks." Squall told him with a small reassuring smile.

Harry moved to one of the boxes and with a heave managed to dislodge the lid. Zell and Squall moved to other boxes and searched through them for something that would work with Harry. Harry only found swords in his and a couple of rather decrepit whips so put the lid back on and moved onto the next one and sighed when he opened the long flat box to find a row of swords again and almost closed the lip when he noticed that the leather sitting under the swords was too high in the box to be lying on the bottom. He pulled up the edge and the swords tumbled into a heap and Harry gritted his teeth for a moment as he found rather grotty looking leather gloves but then his eyes narrowed as he spotted something under the other side of the box. All he could see straight away was the edge of a holster but it was similar to what he'd sown into the inside of his trousers back on Earth. He picked up the leather with the swords in it and dropped it onto the floor and stared for a moment at the rather tatty looking holsters and their strange shape.

He grabbed the closest and with nimble fingers cracked open the hardening leather and pulled out a dull and blunted Katar, almost identical to what he'd used to own except it was a metal with a dark red tinge to it and the grip was shielded with a lattice of armour. He put it aside and hoped that the other was its twin and he let out a happy laugh when it was.

"Harry?" Squall asked. "Did you find something?"

"Yeah." Harry turned to look at him. "They're perfect."

Squall sighed in relief and he and Zell were at his side in an instant studying the weapons. "Weird." Zell told him.

Harry laughed as Squall hugged him, clearly relieved that Harry could defend himself now. Harry hugged him back. "I didn't want to be useless." Harry told him even though he knew that Zell had heard him.

"We know." Squall told him. "And you wouldn't have been. You'd have found a way to fight, even if it was just with magic and you've always got Sabre remember."

"I know." Harry sighed and let his head settle on Squall's neck for a moment before he pulled back. The three headed up to the shop proper and Harry didn't complain when Squall paid for the two weapons and their sheathes. Harry didn't have a penny to his name after all.

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Intercontinental Railway

The station was rather decrepit but it still served as a meeting place. Squall, Harry and Zell found Quistis, Selphie, Irvine and their Matron waiting patiently with Rinoa lying peacefully on an old metal bench in a stretcher. Harry eyed the unconscious girl for a moment before looking at his Matron who held out her hands. Harry moved over and embraced her, kissing her on the cheek.

"Have you managed to communicate with your older sister?" She asked him. Harry pulled back and shook his head.

"I haven't tried." Harry told her honestly. "Tonight I will."

"Do you rest as you do so?" She asked.

Harry shook his head. "I don't tire as quickly while in the mindscape but I need normal sleep as well."

"Then you can try once we stop for the night." She nodded before turning to Squall. "Are we ready to go?"

"We are." Squall nodded. She smiled to tell Squall to take charge and Squall touched Harry gently on the back and moved off to leave Harry with their Matron.

"Are you planning to protect me, Harry?" His Matron asked.

"You hardly need protecting by someone like me." Harry laughed.

"You give yourself so little credit, Harry." She touched his shoulder and Harry could feel her magic tingling under her skin. "You managed to survive a world that created a monster like Voldemort, Harry." She sighed. "You have a greater strength within you than even Squall. You are determined to survive, that is your greatest strength."

"Hopefully my determination to survive will allow me to save you all." Harry nodded before the group set off with the sun at their backs.

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End Chapter