A World to belong to

A/N; Those familiar with Final Fantasy will see the similarities and differences in this chapter. It's my own take and it's simplified for those not familiar with the actual events. This is the end of the game but not the end of the story. I plan on an epilogue to close off the story. Hope you enjoy.

As you can probably see this chapter starts with a Slash scene as most of this chapter will be action-based.

Warnings: SLASH

Chapter 9; Compression

(AN. M-rated scene. Minimal plot. Skip if you don't like.)

Harry woke with a sigh and stretched himself against his larger boyfriend's naked body. Squall's arms came up around him, pulling him tighter. "We're getting spoilt with all these beds lately." Squall told him.

"And I've gotten my share of near-naked boys in my bed." Harry teased.

"As long as you're talking about Zell and Irvine it doesn't bother me. I'm surprised Zell isn't trying to cuddle with me full time." Squall chuckled.

"He'd like that, you know." Harry told him softly as he shifted to straddle Squall. He pushed up so he was kneeling over him and looked down at their lined up cocks. They were both hard and they normally were since they'd started sleeping together. "I've seen Seifer naked too you know. Will you mind if I cuddle with him?"

Squall tilted his head. "When did you see him naked?"

"When I checked up on him before I got this put on me." Harry reached up to touch the ornate horror on his arm. He itched at it and Squall caught his hand and put it to better use around both of their cocks. "He didn't think about what I could see in the mirror. Don't worry you've definitely got something to gloat about down here."

"So do you." Squall grinned up at him. "And since we fought him on Galbadia Garden I've started to see a different side of him. He shows you something he never showed the rest of us."

"You and he are so similar." Harry told him as he slowly stroked them both. "Though you can be sure I only think of you pounding me into the mattress." He grinned as he sped up, using his hips to rub their cocks together even as he stroked them both.

Squall held tight to his knees as Harry kept him pinned to the bed with his left hand on his chest but it was Harry that went over first but Squall didn't last much longer with Harry's cum coating the tunnel of his hand.

(End scene.)

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

An hour later

After finding themselves in a mess they'd hunted down the shower on the ship and washed up together which had led to a mutual round of sucking each other off though they knew that with a possible war on their way that day they couldn't afford to be rougher with each other and avoided full sex but promised one another with little motions that they'd celebrate together after all of this was over. They went down to the cargo bay after they were ready for the day and at Harry's suggestion drew weapons on one another. They'd spent so little time fighting side by side that they needed more time to understand one another so they weren't a problem together on the battlefield. Soon they were exchanging blows at a scary speed, using speed against strength to balance one another perfectly.

When Quistis, Zell, Selphie and Irvine appeared it was obvious they wanted a warm up too and soon they were pairing up against each other. Zell and Harry made an awesome team together because of their matched speeds, they could move together far faster than the others. Over the course of the very early morning before they went for food it was decided that when things hit the fan later they'd move in two groups. Squall was their heavy hitter but with Harry and Zell with him they covered all physical and magical issues. So Squall, Zell and Harry would make up the lead team with Irvine keeping to long range with his guns with Quistis and her lethal whip and Selphie in case anything got close enough to them.

They didn't plan on separating all that much but if numbers started piling up against them then that was the formation they'd take up. Harry was just happy that Squall wasn't trying to keep him back away from the fight using his magic like they'd done on the bridge into Esthar. Harry kept it to himself that he thought they'd be even better off with Seifer to mirror Squall's strength but the team weren't ready to trust Seifer to watch their backs even though Harry was willing to trust Seifer with his life.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

An hour later

Harry watched from the circle of Squall's arms as Irvine lowered the Ragnarok carefully down onto Esthar's airfield. They'd received a call from the Mayor's administration because Professor Odine had come up with a plan. Harry just had a bad feeling about it all.

"You okay, Harry?" Squall asked as they all met at the bay door to head outside.

"Yeah." Harry sighed.

"Spill it." Irvine demanded.

"I just got you all back." Harry sulked. "I kind of want to just run from all of this and hide away with all of you."

"We fight this and defeat her and then there's nothing looming over us." Squall told him. "Then we can all live at Balamb Garden and do whatever we want and we can take in orphans or whatever. Seifer too."

"As long as all of us survive." Harry muttered and Squall hugged him tightly.

They all headed onto a taxi, Zell sticking close to Harry, and arrived at the Palace not too long later. Ellone met them with a round of hugs and led them through to a meeting room where they found Odine and to Squall's distaste his father, Laguna. Squall moved closer to Harry and proceeded to ignore the man and Harry took a seat with Squall to block him from the man.

"So I hear you want to kill Ultimecia?" Odine asked.

"Rather I'd think we all want her gone." Harry cut in. He really didn't like the Professor's attitude to things like this. He was too fascinated with his tests and results and didn't care about who got hurt in the process.

"Quite." Laguna agreed with Harry.

"Well nothing you do here and now can harm her." Odine pointed out.

"Meaning we must go to her." Quistis decided.

"We give her what she wants." Harry frowned. "I don't really like that."

"But if we control it…" Quistis nodded.

"It's not so easy though is it?" Zell asked. "She wanted to possess Ellone to put her back again right?"

"If we want any control then Ellone must be free to control her own power." Laguna frowned.

"But she can't put Adel back right?" Selphie asked. "You have to know the person."

Harry slumped back and Squall turned to him in horror. "So you're basically saying we have to kill Adel and make her possess somebody else, somebody that Ellone knows. And it's probably best to leave Rinoa out of it so that leaves me."

"Harry…" Zell almost whimpered.

"It's simple." Irvine sighed. "We use the Ragnarok to get in to Lunatic Pandora. We kill Adel and let her possess Harry. Ellone comes in behind us and as soon as Ultimecia is in Harry she sends them both back."

"To compress time she must send him back into the past and then bring him back to the present like an elastic cord." Laguna declared. "It should slingshot her back out of Harry and into the future and compress time."

"Once time compresses you must concentrate on one another and that will pull you all in the same place so you may face Ultimecia." Odine nodded.

"Which means we have to unbind Harry and Ellone." Quistis pointed out.

"You're forgetting something." Harry frowned. "Voldemort."

"We don't know for sure that he's there." Irvine shook his head.

"Except we fought two of his Death Eaters." Harry pointed out. "We'll face at least his Death Eaters and most likely him as well."

"What do we do?" Quistis prompted.

"We kill the fucker." Harry growled. "We can't let him go free or we might never get another chance like this and he'll kill hundreds or thousands."

"Then it is decided." Laguna nodded. "Squall…"

"We attack in one hour." Squall demanded before turning to Odine. "You need to remove the restrictions on Ellone and Harry."

"Simple enough but for securities sake I'll ask you all to look away." He declared. "I would rather a Sorcerer and Sorceress did not know how to remove such restriction."

"That's…" Squall started.

"It's fine." Harry stood up and offered his right arm even as he turned his head away and shut his eyes. He didn't want to know how it came off. He refused to be used as a tool. But when this was all over and Ultimecia was dead he'd never let somebody bind his power away again. He felt Odine touching his arm and the ornate device and then he felt it come away. He turned back to find Squall before something burning hot rushed up inside him.

He wavered and suddenly Zell and Squall were catching him as he tipped over. He felt his power surging inside him, wanting to be used, so he turned and buried his face in Squall's chest until the sensation disappeared. By the time he got himself together Ellone was freed as well and they smiled at one another.

"So what now?" Zell asked.

"Now Harry needs to rest. We take off in one hour so if you're going be there." Squall told Laguna before smiling at Ellone softly.

"We'll be there." Ellone nodded before letting Selphie and Quistis tug her from the room. Zell, Squall, Irvine and Harry took the taxi back to the Ragnarok and they just settled in on the observation deck to wait while Harry curled up in Squall's lap.

"Should I warn Seifer?" Harry asked softly, taking them all by surprise.

"You want to." Squall told him. Harry just nodded. Squall pulled his head onto his shoulder and just stroked his hair as Harry shut his eyes and reached for the power he had so missed. Even if it had just been gone for a few days.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

When he opened his mental eyes he had the distinct sensation of wanting to throw up. He'd seen bad sights before and he'd seen Trabia after the attack but nothing had prepared him for seeing what Seifer was doing. Whatever he was doing his face was an inch or so from a week-old corpse's face but what was worse was the corpse had no skin. Harry tried not to make a sound to disturb Seifer because it quickly became obvious he was helping other people move the body. He could hear somebody telling Seifer to 'pull' and then a horrible sound before Seifer was pulling back and more came into his view. Harry kept silent as Seifer helped two other men lift a naked man's skinned body off of a group of others on spikes and laid it out on a sheet.

Seifer sat back. "Harry?" He asked softly, almost as if he was just being hopeful.

"I'm here." Harry announced. "I think I could have done with arriving a few seconds later though. Squall probably thinks I'm ill."

"I heard you." Seifer told him demurely as the other two men ignored him in favour of covering up the body and going back to what Harry realised was the main entrance to the garden. Bodies had been pinned on spikes all around the door frame and door. "You get used to it."

"I'm sorry I suggested this." Harry wanted to cry. He'd seen horrible stuff on Earth but nothing on this scale. "I saw some really awful stuff that Voldemort did on Earth but I think he went all out here because it's his calling card here."

"I'm glad you suggested this." Seifer told him. "I'm glad I came. There's only a few of us capable of doing this. There's a few dozen wounded but they aren't fit for this sort of thing and if we leave them too long people will get sick and we'll end up having to just burn the entire place. We're already having problems with scavengers and we can't rebuild the holes in the walls because of those damn traps."

"Are you doing alright?" Harry pressed.

"I'm okay." Seifer nodded his head. "I can't say I enjoy this but… well if I hadn't come here I'd be stewing on my own."

"Do they know you?" Harry asked.

"They recognised me the moment I arrived." Seifer sighed. "I had to hire a boat and car from Balamb to get here but when I told the villagers in Balamb where I was going a few guys volunteered to come with and we stocked up the truck with food, water and medical supplies. I gave up my blade straight away but I think they trust me more now because they gave it back a few days ago so I could help guard the holes in the walls."

"These two are giving you strange looks." Harry commented. Both men were clearly comfortable with Seifer but they could hear him talking and they were giving him strange looks.

Seifer laughed and raised his voice just a little. "They know about you." Seifer laughed. "I told them everything when I arrived. I told them your powers were bound in Esthar though to protect you. They've figured out I'm not just talking to myself."

"Oh right." Harry would have smiled if he could. The two men waved and headed back to the wall to try to get another body loose but they were clearly waiting for Seifer.

"We've just been cleaning up bodies." Seifer told him. "All the loose ones had already been dealt with by the time I got here but the Death Eaters… they did some pretty unpleasant things."

"They like displaying their kills." Harry sighed. "Whenever they killed on Earth they'd display the body somewhere prominent and they used to enjoy using their imaginations."

"I couldn't stand them the instant they arrived." Seifer looked down at his lap.

"Hey! You're wearing clothes for a change!" Harry laughed in order to cheer Seifer up a bit. "I got to cuddle with Zell and Irvine you know?"

"You're incorrigible." Seifer told him before turning serious. "Harry? As much as I love the fact you're here… why are you here? Shouldn't your powers be bound? Are you safe?"

"Things are about to kick off, big brother." Harry sighed. "We have to give Ultimecia what she wants in order to get to her and kill her."

"I never knew what she wanted." Seifer frowned. "Well except for Ellone."

"Ellone can send people she has met and knows back into the past." Harry told him. "Ultimecia wants to compress time into one big lump by possessing Ellone in our present and casting herself back even further into the past. If she does that she controls everything. All time."

"How can we stop someone in the future?" Seifer frowned.

"If we instigate it then we can be thrown into her compression." Harry told him. "But we have to decide the time and place and Ellone has to control it herself. Right now Ultimecia is possessing an old Esthar Sorceress called Adel. We have to kill her to force Ultimecia to take a host that Ellone can send back into the past."

"You mean you!?" Seifer's sight shook as he jumped to his feet. "Harry…"

"Meaning me." Harry confirmed. "But it's all part of the plan and she won't be there long. We'll kill Adel and Ultimecia will have to possess the closest Sorcerer or Sorceress and that will be me. As soon as she's possessing me Ellone will come and put me into the past and then when she pulls me back to the present it will slingshot Ultimecia back into her own present and time will compress except everyone with me will be pulled in as well. She'll be vulnerable to us and we'll kill her. As soon as we do time will be restored and we'll all be free of all this crap."

Seifer slumped back down and hid his face in his knees. Harry gave him a moment, knowing he had some time. "And then we'll all be able to have a life. We'll put Balamb Garden back to rights and reopen the school and run it together and I'll come and find you, maybe with the others, and we can be a proper family again and look out for each other like we used to."

"Maybe I should just keep my distance?" Seifer offered.

"No." Harry told him simply. "I have no future if you're not there."

"You'll have Squall."Seifer told him.

"Seifer…" Harry hadn't really thought about telling Seifer this but if they all died trying to do this and provided they managed to kill her regardless then Seifer deserved to know. "I talked to Matron about where everyone came from before she took us in. Do you know where you came from?"

"No." Seifer rubbed at his face.

"You were born in Dollet." Harry told him. "I want to tell you just in case something happens to me but it's not a happy story. Do you want to know it?"

"Tell me." Seifer demanded. "I can handle it."

"You had parents of course and you had a big brother." Harry told Seifer, his voice turning a little softer. Seifer hugged his knees to his chest and just sat. "You had a friend who lived next door when you were about two and he was about six months younger than you. He had parents and a little baby sister only a few weeks old. You were playing at his house when men stormed in. It was just after the uprising in Esthar and they were fanatics looking for a Sorcerer or Sorceress. They killed your parents and your friend's parents as well as your big brother and his little sister."

"They kidnapped him?" Seifer asked softly.

"No. You pulled him into the bottom of a wardrobe with you and hid him. You saved him." Harry sounded miserable.

"That was you, wasn't it?" Seifer guessed.

"Yeah." Harry admitted. "Matron and a guy she was working with, Squall and Ellone's father, arrived too late but they found us. Matron took us to the orphanage. According to Matron I wouldn't let anyone else near me."

Seifer just sat in silence for a while. "So no, Seifer. You're not getting to hide away from me. You're my big brother and you've been protecting me since we were just toddlers. I need you in my life just as I need Squall."

"When are you attacking?" Seifer demanded.

"Really soon. Within the hour. You might feel the time compression. Sabre say's your GFs will notice it." Harry told him. "But to you it'll feel like seconds I think."

"And then you'll come and tell me you're safe, right?" Seifer demanded.

"I'll come tell you straight away." Harry nodded. "But if something happens to us somebody will come tell you. Even if it's Ellone or Matron. Somebody will let you know."

"I don't want to imagine a future that's not got you around." Seifer declared unhappily.

"It won't be long and then I'll come see you." Harry declared.

"Just you. I'm not ready just yet." Seifer sighed.

"Me and Irvine." Harry bargained. "They won't let me leave on my own but you and Irvine don't have any bad memories between you."

"You and Irvine." Seifer nodded.

"I should go." Harry told him. "I love you, big brother."

"I love you too, little brother." Seifer nodded and stood up and Harry suddenly wished there was a mirror there so he could see Seifer, especially if he wasn't coming back. Seifer turned back to help the other two men and Harry withdrew back into his body and turned to look at Squall to tell him what he'd talked to Seifer about.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Shortly afterwards

"I don't know about you." Harry said to Zell as Lunatic Pandora came into sight. "But I'm strapping myself in."

Harry pulled over the restraints and everyone looked at him before jumping into seats to do the same. Lunatic Pandora grew rather rapidly in the screen as Selphie hurtled them towards it. The Ragnarok had picked up a large energy field around the monolithic tower but Irvine had made quick work of understanding all the weapons and right as they came into range he fired all the missiles and bullets the ship was loaded down with. The ship seemed to know what to do and Selphie let the auto-assault system kick in as a hole appeared in the shield in front of them. The ship shot through and slammed into the side of the tower, blowing a hole in the side and grabbing onto the rim with its front claws and smashing its head inside.

"Let's go." Squall announced and Harry was right at his side as they headed through the ship and out of the forward ramp and through the debris just inside the large tower. Zell was on Squall's other side as per their plans and seconds after them Quistis, Selphie and Irvine followed them out.

This area was pretty empty but they could hear alarms ringing and they weren't going to waste time. They rushed straight up a set of steps and through another couple of corridors to get away from their entry point knowing that Laguna was following with Ellone but keeping back from anything they had to fight.

Zell spotted a large room ahead of them with lifts just like the one they'd come to where they'd been ambushed before. They skidded a little as a Galbadian soldier rushed out of a side room tugging his armour over his chest. Clearly caught by surprise by the alarms. Another guy ran out and by the look on his face they'd been doing something a little indecent inside. Squall hesitated because neither of them were anywhere near ready to fight them and he didn't want to cut them down.

They gaped at the three of them and both went shockingly pale. Harry spotted the way the first one out stepped over in front of his 'friend' and took pity on them. He threw out a hand and the second one slumped back against the wall fast asleep. Esthar had done wonders for his stock of magic. He had plenty. The other guy turned and horror. "He's just asleep." Harry intoned as he stepped forwards. "Answer a few questions and I'll knock you out too and then we'll put you both back in there and you'll wake up in an hour or so and you can go on with your lives together. With any luck that bastard Voldemort will be dead by the time you wake up."

"Voldemort stays up on the top floor." The guy fumbled through his pockets. "That'll take you straight up to that level but his Death Eaters are everywhere. We…"

"Don't really have a choice if you want to survive." Harry finished for him. "I grew up under his reign. I get it."

"Take this." The soldier handed him a pass card. "It'll get you to the top. The elevator will take you straight to where he normally is and they're sending everyone down here."

"Thanks." Squall sounded surprised.

"There's a lot of us in the army that won't fight you. We can't leave with Voldemort around. He's killed dozens of us in the last few days… there's a… pile down there of us." The soldier looked physically sick. "Please, kill him. Once he's dead we can probably turn on the Death Eaters. Fuck, most of us will follow your orders whether he's alive or not."

"Will you take orders from SeeD then?" Irvine asked sharply. "Or one trained at Galbadia Garden?"

The soldier nodded so Irvine nodded to Harry who reached out to his own spell and withdrew it. The guy against the wall started up and stared around in confusion. "Jake?" He frowned.

"We're not going to fight them." 'Jake' declared.

"Sure sure." The other nodded.

"We're letting you go. Try to get in contact with the others." Squall declared.

"I can do more than that. Those bastards can't use technology for anything." Jake grinned. He grabbed a head set and hit the transmitter. "Captain?" He paused. "I know everything's going to shit. We need to change the plan. These SeeD mercs mean business." Another pause. "They're here right now. They don't wanna kill any of us any more than we want to do that bastard's dirty work. Let's hit back. SeeDs can take on that Voldy-git. We'll deal with the Death Eaters."

He grinned back at them before pausing. "What's going on?" Squall frowned.

"Captain just gave the order to turn on the Death Eaters." Jake told them. "We'll distract them but we need you to deal with Voldemort and that Adel woman he keeps going on about."

"We'll handle it." Squall nodded.

"Take this bit carefully. We've got an armoured suit guarding the elevators but there are two Death Eaters there too. The guy running the suit is on comm but he can't make a move on them both unless you distract them." Jake told them. "Distract them and he'll hit them before they know what's going on."

Squall thanked him and the two moved out of the way to cover their backs as Squall, Zell and Harry led the way towards the elevator room at the end of the hall. These Death Eaters weren't hiding but looking right at them as Harry, Squall and Zell edged into the room. Harry pulled up his strongest magic as the two Death Eater's raised their wands.

Then the massive armoured suit reared into action and a belted chain gun on its arm lit up right into the back of one of the Death Eaters. It was a pretty horrific sight as most of the Wizard's upper torso and head were turned to ribbons. The other Death Eater spun in shock but Irvine took aim and put a bullet through the back of his head.

Irvine gave the armoured suit a mock salute as Harry used the ID card to open the elevator. They all piled in as the armoured suit was joined by Jake and his 'friend' and Squall jabbed the top button. "This would have been rather more difficult without the Galbadian Army turning on the Wizards."

Just then the ground rocked and a rumbling sound started up through the floor. "That was an explosion." Quistis frowned.

"Looks like your new friends are staging a full-blown war." Laguna grinned.

"And distracting the Death Eaters." Selphie grinned just as the elevator stopped.

Harry was out of the elevator and out of the line of fire even as they others took cover inside when a spell slammed through the door. It dissipated against the back and Harry threw out a Quake spell powerful enough to throw everyone in the room off balance. The others ducked out. He joined Squall and Zell as they attacked the first of the Death Eaters, killing them before they could regain their feet. Quistis and Selphie went to work throwing the Wizards off balance as Irvine took any chance he could to take out one of the six Death Eaters.

Then everything went the other way as Squall, Harry and Zell were hit by a solid wall of magic that threw them back. Harry landed with a thump but Squall and Zell flew back even further and in seconds their advantage was gone and they were held at wand point as a figure strolled across the room with his wand pointed at Harry. "Well, little Harry." The serpentine man hissed. "I can't say I ever expected to see you again after you disappeared into the petty masses of this world."

Harry shifted to get up and magic slammed into him and flipped him onto his front. He struggled to kneel and Voldemort let him get to his knees. "But I'll have to make the most of what I have." Voldemort sneered as the Death Eaters spread around the room, disarming the others with a flick of their wands. "See, I'd let you live just to see what you've done to this world by bringing me here. To watch me slowly take control of this planet as I did on Earth but I don't just want this world. I want Earth as well. And you're my link to it."

"That link is gone." Harry told him through gritted teeth, trying to find an opening to get passed Voldemort's magic and drive his Katar into his gut or something similar. "You can't get it back."

"Well I can enjoy trying." Voldemort sneered before aiming his wand down at Harry's chest. "Crucio." Harry fell onto his side as pain flared through him. He was used to the odd bout from Death Eaters and he'd undergone his share when he'd been a captive in Galbadia Garden but he still couldn't stop the scream from emerging from his mouth as his body ripped itself apart under the torture. The scream told all of his family exactly how much it hurt and he heard a struggle as they tried to get to him.

It went on and on and he knew then that Voldemort wasn't going to let up until there was nothing left of his mind. He'd seen dozens of people without their minds on Earth after a bout with a Death Eater, mindless shells without enough mind to do even the simplest of tasks. He reached out for the one comfort he knew would always be there and his world shifted to another view in the room and in an instant the pain dulled just enough for him to cope as he settled into Squall's mind.

"It hurts, Squall." Harry muttered and Squall groaned. There wasn't anything either of them could do though Squall did try, as did the others but they were all restrained as they watched Harry's body writhing on the ground. Harry could feel it like an echo into his mind and by the muttering in Squall's desperate mind he knew this was torturing Squall as much as Harry even if Squall couldn't feel the spell itself.

Finally Voldemort let up with a laugh and Harry's body went completely limp and still though Harry could see his muscles were still straining. It was going to hurt like nothing else going back into his body but at least his mind was intact. Voldemort stepped over Harry's body. "I've wanted to do that for a long time." Voldemort sneered down at Squall. "But don't worry. I plan on showing you all what that feels like."

Harry braced him as he slipped out of Squall's mind and back into his body. His hands spasmed but his right hand tightened, rather painfully, around the handle of one of his Katar. His whole body twitched and in a second he transferred his most powerful boosting magic, his stock of Triples, onto his body, and went into motion. His body screamed as he jumped up but the Death Eaters were too surprised to even try to stop him and in a second Harry drove his Katar right up through the back of Voldemort's neck and up into his skull so far that the tip of the Katar came out of Voldemort's right eye.

Everything went still for a second before he pulled the blade back out and Voldemort slumped down like a puppet with its strings cut. The Death Eaters stared in shock before they all took aim at Harry only to seize up. One gasped in pain before they were all clutching their arms. Their skin went pale and then before their eyes they collapsed to the ground and their skin started to shrivel over their bodies. They all watched in part fascination as all ten of the Wizard's shrivelled to nothing but mummified corpses.

Harry's body cramped up all at once as his muscles screamed at him and he fell to the ground shaking. One cramp was bad enough and at least you could work it off but his entire body was crying in pain. Squall grabbed him and he felt cures pouring into him from at least three of his family.

He whimpered into Squall's stomach as they worked on him but even once they'd done everything they could he had trouble when Squall tried to stand him up on his own. "I'll be fine." He promised Squall as Zell slotted Harry's Katars into their pouches and grabbed his cold hands in his own.

"We can't wait around." Harry declared. "I'll stick to my magic but we have to go before Adel gets any stronger."

Squall sucked in a breath but they all knew they couldn't stand around pampering Harry even as much as they all wanted to.

They headed through the large doors opposite the elevator, gingerly stepping around the desiccated bodies of the Death Eaters. The sounds of battle elsewhere had come to a rather abrupt end and they could only guess that killing Voldemort had killed all of the Death Eaters as well and Harry rather liked the idea that perhaps once Voldemort had been cut off from Earth the same had happened to the Death Eaters left behind. Maybe Sirius and Remus and the kids in the rebel camp could now live peaceful lives. As he stumbled along with Squall he only hoped they could have that here too.

They found Adel standing waiting for them in a rather regal looking room like an audience chamber. In a word she looked wrong. She was too tall and her limbs were too long and she was twisted as if she'd been distorted for too long. And she didn't waste any time trying to kill all of them. She lifted her right arm and pointed straight at them and power welled up. Squall shoved Harry away from him as they dodged. Zell ended up rolling over Harry and Irvine landed with them as Squall, Selphie and Quistis went the other way. Ellone and Laguna were clearing staying right back and they couldn't let Ellone be too near or Ultimecia would definitely jumped to her rather than Harry.

Zell righted himself as Irvine pulled Harry up and pushed him back behind him. Harry just didn't have the physical strength right now to fight with his blades but his magic showed up everyone because of his Sorcery.

"You can summon me." Sabre reminded him.

"Not if we need you later." Harry told him sharply but pulled his guardian up just beneath his skin and released the hold that kept Sabre incorporeal so that his guardian could jump into action if necessary.

And with things going as they were it seemed Irvine and Zell were willing to use their own powers. The air boiled just a little between them and Adel even as the light darkened. Irvine took a shot to distract her even as a massive beast of fire erupted up through the floor in front of Zell and a demon emerged from darkness on the other side. Squall had summoned Diablos and Zell had pulled up Ifrit. Ifrit's overwhelming strength and Diablos' magical power would definitely be a help.

Harry decided to take a more passive role in the battle. He cast shields around everyone, even the Guardian Forces, and threw out curing spells as the others distracted Adel and went on the offence to keep her on the defensive so she couldn't pull out all the stops with her Sorcery. His own Sorcery didn't give him a fighting advantage but being a Sorcerer almost tripled his affinity with spells and of course that counted for magic junctioned to his own body through Sabre. It was a fact that whereas Squall and the others needed at least one Guardian Force to draw and junction magic he could do it without Sabre but Sabre massively increased the effect of junctioning it to his body.

With defences set up and half his mind on monitoring the others and staying out of the way he focused more on Adel. Her magic was powerful and all the spells she had collected over the decades of her rule still hung around her. He got an idea as he felt the massively powerful spell inside her that he'd never come across before but he'd heard of it in Squall's training as a SeeD.

He drew it out of her and instantly had her complete attention. He twisted the magic through the air, slingshot it around himself without really absorbing it and threw it back at the Sorceress. But she wasn't a fool and in the seconds that had taken she'd pulled up her own defence and his spell reflected from a quickly thrown up reflect spell and he had to be quick to end it before it hit him. He absorbed it into his stocks instead as she threw out a hand and sent him flying back into the wall.

Squall and Zell engaged her close in to distract her from Harry as he tried to come up with a way to better her with magic. He'd learnt that trick and used it when Squall had been fighting to gain control of Diablos but she was one step ahead but an idea came to him but she had to react the same way without knowing what he was doing. And it came down to one thing, a spell could only be reflected once but casting offensive magic on yourself was very difficult to do. He struck out hard and fast as if he was just trying the same trick but trying to take her off guard this time and even as the Ultima pulled out of her body towards him she threw up another reflect shield and turned to hit at him. But she had no chance when Harry threw the Ultima at himself instead even as he threw up a reflect shield, juggling the two spells.

It sounded like somebody had hit a gong as the Ultima spell hit his own reflect and shot at her like a sick green shot of lightning. It reminded Harry of the Wizarding Killing Curse and he knew it did the same sort of thing. It slammed into her in five branches of green lightning before the magic flared out from her with a roaring sound as it pulverised her soul and magic. She screamed as the others took cover but Harry wasn't finished even as she started dying. He reached out for her magic and started drawing at her stocks of magic starting with the Ultimas and working his way through it knowing as he pulled it away from her she was weakening even further.

Her body slumped to the ground, her skin and flesh burnt beyond recognition, and Harry leaned back against the wall as he settled the masses of spells he'd just drawn into his body properly. The others stared at him in surprise but Squall had a small proud smile on her lips.

Then Harry felt it and he tensed up and Squall lost his smile. Something was falling down onto him, he could feel the presence against his mind and he put up a fight knowing he couldn't let Ultimecia think this was the plan. The others backed up as Squall called out to him in concern and Harry continued to fight, his body twitching as he fought the invader but was slowly pushed back little by little until he was quite obviously losing.

He felt his body straighten up away from where he'd been leaning against the wall to recover from the fight but he wasn't the one making him move. His eyes moved around the room taking them all in and he felt a smirk spread across his features and saw all of his family recoil from him at the expression. He felt a laugh bubble up and his mouth open to speak but it wasn't even his voice.

"Not part of the plan but this specimen is fascinating." A distorted voice emerged from his mouth and he saw them all grip their weapons. His eyes twisted towards the door as Laguna and Ellone appeared and he felt Ultimecia's confusion.

"Busted…" Harry taunted within his own mind and felt Ultimecia turn inwards to try to find out this plan from him. "Too late, bitch. We'll be seeing you really soon."

"Now, Elly!" Squall ordered and Harry felt the world slip away from him. He could feel Ultimecia's mind along with his own as he found himself in the void of minds before it all spiralled away from him and he felt himself flowing into another mind. His own Sorcery was mixing with Ellone's but he couldn't sense Ultimecia anymore so she'd been thrown elsewhere.

He opened his mental eyes and found himself staring at a little boy's bright green eyes. The boy had dark black hair and was less than two years old. The boy held up a bright red wooden block and held it out to him with a grin. Whoever's mind he was in reached out and took the block and looked down and put it on the top of the little wall they were building between them.

Harry realised what this was and he kept his mouth shut. He was in the past just like they'd planned and his own power had sought out one of the minds that he could connect to. Ellone had put his mind into the past but it was him that now controlled which mind he went to and it seemed he'd found Seifer on instinct alone because he'd found him before the mission had started that morning.

He was about to go searching for Squall, Zell, Quistis, Irvine or Selphie before Ellone brought him back into the present and triggered the time compression. But before he could he realised that Ellone hadn't purposely picked this time but Harry's mind had drawn him here. He only knew that when he heard a scream from another room in the house and realised what was going to happen and knew his adopted sister would never have sent him back here on purpose. Not with what he was about to witness. He heard a scream cut off in a blood-curdling cry and a scream of denial before he heard a gunshot and then something heavy hit metal.

He was about to tell Seifer's toddler form to grab his own young self and hide but then they were moving and Seifer grabbed little Harry's hand and rushed towards the door only to stop when they heard heavy footsteps and a door slam open and then a young boy's scared cry which was cut off. Harry swallowed down his words, knowing that he'd just heard Seifer's older brother die. Seifer yanked little Harry away from the door and to the wardrobe and pulled open the door. He pulled the bottom up and pushed a scared Harry into the hole before climbing in with him. The door shut, cutting off most of the light and then Seifer was pulling the bottom of the wardrobe over them and all light was cut off. Harry couldn't see anything through Seifer's eyes, if they were even open, but he could hear two boys crying.

"Just stay very quiet." He told Seifer softly and heard Seifer's breathing catch in surprise. It suddenly occurred to him that between him and Ellone they could change anything in the lives of anyone living or that Ellone knew and could show Harry to. He soothed Seifer with soft words and promises of safety and despite himself Seifer seemed to accept the strange voice and slowly the noises of people searching the house, even the wardrobe above them, faded into angry shouts before people were leaving on the hunt for them elsewhere.

He stayed with Seifer until he felt his mind being pulled away and like a bungee cord he was back in his own body and felt himself falling to the ground. He drew his knees up in front of him and hugged them to himself. He'd just witnessed the murders of both Seifer's and his own families.

"What happened?" Squall demanded.

"I was in Seifer's mind." Harry muttered as Ellone knelt in front of him. Squall knelt on his right and stroked his hair softly. "Back when… when they were all killed."

"You made him witness their families being murdered!?" Squall gasped as he looked at Ellone.

"No. I was aiming for some time in the orphanage." Ellone frowned. "A happy memory. But Harry's mind took over and disappeared from me."

"I searched out someone I knew. I could go into anyone's mind." Harry lifted his head. "I talked to Seifer. Kept him calm when he hid us from the Esthar soldiers. I could have…"

"Oh my…" Ellone gasped. "Between us…"

"We could change the past." Harry nodded. "As long as you showed me the mind in the present I could find them in the past and lead them to do something else."

"We can't do that, Harry." Ellone told him and Harry just nodded his agreement. He knew it was too risky. But he also knew that he'd do anything for the ones he loved.

"It is happening, Harry." Sabre warned him.

"It's time." Harry told them. "Ellone, you have to go before you get pulled along with us."

Ellone nodded and quickly placed a kiss on his forehead. She left quickly with Laguna but she'd clearly said her goodbyes to the others while he'd been in the past.

Their first warning was when everything around them blurred and then completely distorted and then Harry realised he couldn't feel Squall's fingers in his hair anymore or see any of the others. He found himself alone as everything disappeared around him and he knew he had to think hard on all of the others to draw them all together.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Everything was a blurry mess for a while, glimpses of one another whenever they focused on each other and flashes of important places in their lives, until finally they were looking at one another clearly. Harry knew he'd reached out with his sorcery to find them all but he knew they'd find each other without him linking them all together. It was obvious they'd find the orphanage together but Harry wasn't expecting all the bodies around them.

"Whoa!" Zell announced in amazement.

"So many dead." Quistis looked around miserably.

"These are SeeD." Squall frowned as he crouched to study the uniform of one. "But not any we know."

"From the future." Harry pointed out eyeing a skeleton with scraps of uniform. "These are the future SeeDs that have tried to kill her."

"And failed." Irvine frowned.

"If we kill her do we undo all of this?" Selphie asked with a frown.

"I doubt it." Harry shook his head. "We're in her time now. Killing her doesn't change what's happened in her existence."

"But we'd free the world of her tyranny." Irvine declared.

"We owe it to everyone." Selphie nodded.

"And all of these guys." Harry muttered before turning towards the beach. There were more bodies along the way.

"Do you know where you're going?" Zell asked as the others rushed to follow him.

"They were all killed trying to go this way." Harry told them. "I've seen it enough."

They all agreed with that and soon they were out on the beach. More bodies were strewn about but they barely had the time to focus on them before the air shimmered over the water and a chain seemed to appear rising up into the distance where a massive castle floated over the water.

"That'll be it then." Zell mused. Harry grabbed his hand and smiled at his brother. "This isn't going to be easy."

"Nothing worth doing ever is." Harry grinned before jumping up onto the chain, feeling a little more energy in his muscles now. His strongest magic, the Ultimas, were fuelling his muscle regeneration and it was doing wonders. He'd shift them again before going into battle but this place was so rich in magic he planned to absorb as much of it as possible.

They all climbed the anchor cable and through the open doors of Ultimecia's castle. "Why the open door?" Quistis frowned.

"Arrogance?" Irvine offered as a reason.

"Distraction." Harry grinned. "That little flick through time probably disorientated her."

"How do you know?" Squall frowned.

"Because I can feel her mind." Harry turned to him with a small smirk. "She was in my head so I can feel her mind. It's elsewhere still. Her mind is buried in the time compression still. But it won't be long before she comes back to herself."

"We need to find her then." Squall nodded and headed across the massive foyer.

"I'd aim for the top." Irvine grinned.

"Nobody builds themselves a castle for a home and doesn't live at the top." Harry nodded in agreement. They didn't waste time heading up but they were waylaid twice by beasts the like they'd never seen before. The first one was a technological marvel that made everything on Earth look primitive. Harry had gone for overloading it the instinctual way and hit it hard with lightning magic and Squall and the others junctioned their own stores of lightning magic onto their weapons and soon they managed to beat it down until something short-circuited inside it.

Further up the castle they found a large audience room but even a single step meant they were in trouble. A form took shape in the middle of the room and soon they were stuck into a fight against a thick hided beast that was actually a Guardian Force that Sabre announced as Tiamet. It took far longer to fight their way through it and Harry lingered back to pummel it with magic, most of which was its own since it had quite a few powerful spells.

It finally fell with hundreds of slashes and wounds and faded away just like any defeated Guardian Force. They were soon heading up an elegant staircase up onto a second floor balcony and then up into more private rooms which were still rather extravagant. Harry stilled as they entered a small ante-room.

"She knows we're here." Harry whispered to the others. "And she's pissed."

"We need to hit her before she can possess Harry." Irvine suddenly declared and everyone turned to stare at Harry.

"Trust me. Still me guys." Harry declared and Squall just nodded his agreement and turned to the double doors and kicked them open. She was waiting for them in a massive ballroom-type room and she was pissed beyond imagination.

"Plan's not working quite the way you wanted, is it?" Harry teased and saw a furious twitch in her face. She was admittedly attractive but her magic was writhing with everything nasty.

"Who will face me then?" She sneered.

"Do we look like idiots?" Harry sneered right back. "We're all here and we're all going to kill you." He made a move before she could respond and lighting shot out of his hands and up towards the ceiling, bent down before it hit the ceiling and slammed down into her. Or at least it slammed into her shell shield. But it was all the distraction that the others needed as they split into two groups. Selphie jumped in to help Zell and Squall engage her in melee while Quistis, Irvine and Harry hung back.

She was amazingly good at keeping up her defences and keeping Squall, Zell and Selphie on their own defensive and Harry just focused on using his magic to get through her strong protect and shell. It seemed she was avoiding reflects so obviously she remembered his trick from earlier but they were all recognising her fighting style from when they'd fought Adel.

The shell fell under a blast of fire from Harry that he attached to a precision shot from Irvine after a moment's planning and with the shell gone Harry hit her with a dispel. Before she could throw up another protect shield Quistis struck with her whip and hit her on the right cheek. She stumbled back in pain, pausing long enough for Zell to duck in and wind her with a solid punch to the stomach and then Irvine took a shot over Zell's shoulder and hit her in the shoulder. She fell back but blasted them all away from her with magic.

They quickly got control of themselves and turned back to face her only for her to touch her shoulder. Her skin seemed to bubble a little as the wound closed over and then she focused on them again and pulled up her next attack. Harry yelled a warning even as he threw Sabre out into the mix. A massive wolf erupted from Ultimecia and into the room even as Sabre landed softly and bared his fangs across at the wolf Guardian Force.

"Brother." Sabre spoke in confusion but only Harry heard him. The massive wolf snarled, frothing at the mouth. "She has driven you mad, brother. I cannot let you hurt them."

And with that the two leapt at one another, flashing teeth and claws as Sabre-toothed tiger went against wolf. Wings emerged from both as Harry stared even as the others turned to fight Ultimecia once more. Harry turned to help his GF, throwing protective spells all around and throwing offensive ones against Griever and occasionally Ultimecia.

Finally between Harry and Sabre they took down Griever and he slumped down onto his four legs and his head fell down. Griever whimpered and his eyes rolled to look up at Sabre in sadness before his eyes closed.

Sabre stepped back but before they could move Griever burst into light and instead of vanishing flowed into Ultimecia who was lifted up off of the floor at the power. Her body started to change until she became something half way between the two. Wolf jaws and her magic struck straight away and Squall, Zell and Selphie were hard pressed to keep her at bay. Harry hit back hard even as Sabre joined them in pressing back, offsetting her use of Griever's body.

Harry knew his Guardian Force had history with Griever because of his words and because of the emotions he could feel while fighting him but now wasn't the time to ask. Harry decided to pull out all the stops because it was obvious normal magic and weapons weren't going to do it. He put his most powerful magic onto his own ability to cast magic and threw an Ultima up into the air, aiming for them all, relying on the delay in its impact. He cast out all around him, remembering Sabre, and a reflect spell shot up on them all. The Ultima hit them all, Ultimecia included, but all it did to Ultimecia was destroy her magical shields but her hastily cast reflect did nothing to protect her as the Ultima bounced off of each of them and slammed into her seven times in rapid succession.

Her skin boiled as the magic tried to destroy her and she fell back as the Griever part of her vanished. Harry gasped as he felt a presence form inside him and out of habit he junctioned it right alongside Sabre. It slumbered, unconscious, but he could feel Sabre's brother within him.

Ultimecia's skin continued to boil under the power of the spell until it stilled and she looked up to glare at them all and then as if she was folding outwards she exploded and her human form vanished as she emerged as a four armed demon with massive wings that held her just off of the ground. She flicked out a hand and magic slammed into Irvine, Zell, Quistis and Selphie. They all flew back but Irvine and Zell managed to roll with it even as Quistis and Selphie hit the wall so hard they were knocked completely unconscious.

Harry looked at Squall and they dove into the fight once more even though they were all exhausted by now. Irvine and Zell joined in and that allowed Harry to throw some healing spells in his sisters' direction as Sabre joined Squall and Zell in harrying the Sorceress.

Squall took the opportunity, no matter how risky to himself, when Irvine and Zell drew her attention. He leapt to attack and Ultimecia turned to skewer him on a shard of magic. Harry reacted in an instant and all the protective magic he could pull up hit his boyfriend. Squall broke through all her magic with Harry's help and took a powerful swipe across her chest, cutting deep and right as his gunblade lined up with the centre of her chest he fired.

She fell back in shock, white light burning from the slice and hole through her chest. Her wings slumped and she landed heavily with a cry of pain as she tried to almost hold in the white light burning out of her.

Squall grabbed Harry's hand as he moved back out of the way and Harry glanced back to see Quistis and Selphie helping one another to rise. Sabre faded away and he could almost feel him curling up around the unconscious Griever inside of him.

They gathered just in case it wasn't over but that worry was thrown right out of the window as she exploded in a massive white flash of light. They all felt suddenly weightless for a few long seconds before slamming into the ground.

Harry shot up to check on them all and came face to face with a worried Galbadian soldier. Jake jumped backwards. "Is it over?" He asked sharply as Ellone and then Laguna appeared over his shoulders. Harry stood and looked to the others who were all standing themselves up. They were back on Lunatic Pandora and the room was full of Esthar and Galbadian soldiers. Harry did another scan of the room before turning to Ellone in panic.

"Where's Squall?" He demanded.

"All of you just appeared." Ellone shook her head. "But Squall didn't."

"We lost him!" Harry gasped.

"What happened?" Laguna demanded. "Is it over?"

"She's toast." Selphie declared.

"I'm going after him." Harry declared as he shut his eyes, ignoring his own body. He reached out for his boyfriend's mind but couldn't find it. His eyes snapped back open and he found himself in Zell's lap. Clearly his brother had caught him. "He's not in this time." He frowned before looking at Ellone. "Send me back. Doesn't matter when."

"Harry…" She started.

"Do it." Harry growled making her just nod. He didn't know how he knew it would work but he needed his boyfriend. He felt the world vanish as Ellone pushed him into the past with no real destination and he felt minds flying past him, appearing as they were born and then disappearing as minds died. He could feel his entire family including Squall as he went back in time but the minds were out of place and he knew it was just the past version of Squall.

And then he sensed another Squall appear in the mind-scape and knew it was his present Squall and went for it. Squall was still in a bubble of compressed time, linked to both Harry's own present and the future where they'd just killed Ultimecia and he was surprised when he found himself looking across at Squall rather than out of his eyes.

Squall was looking at a younger version of his Matron as she spoke to Squall and she turned to look at him in confusion. Squall followed her gaze and a grin split across his face. "You're missing the party, Squall." He smiled as he approached. Squall reached for him but his hand passed through Harry. "Not really here, Squall. Come on."

Squall nodded and then turned to wave goodbye to their Matron. Squall vanished from sight and Harry was pulled along with him and quickly pulled himself back into his own body back in the present. Squall appeared next to him and in a second Harry was hugging him as people cheered their proper arrival.

Harry let things just flow on around him as he settled himself against Squall. He was just letting it soak in that the war was over. There was no Ultimecia and there was no Voldemort.

There was just his family. His brothers and sisters and Squall.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

End Chapter