Rating:: M

Warnings:: Slash/Yaoi, AU, OOC, If you are a kid, please don't read.

Disclaimer:: I don't own anything you recognize.

Note:: So apparently this story was deleted before. I wasn't of it and I odn't remember what I was calling it before. Since I wasn't warned, I don't know why it was deleted. It's M for a reason though, so you've been warned.

Green eyes stared unblinkingly into the night sky. A fag smoked its sultry lines from between his lips seemingly forgotten. Propped against the crumbling stone, the lean body was hidden beneath one of the oddest pieces of clothing in the universe. A silver shirt hung loosely down to his knees, the sleeves going just as far down to cover deceptively thin hands. The almost robe like garment had slits all over it that were only noticeable if he moved in a certain way. Slits for his hands, for his weapons, and just to offer a tantalizing glimpse of the body beneath.

The seductive swirls of smoke stopped long enough for the tip of the cancer stick to glow red before a hand emerged from its slit and pulled it away. Rings of smoke puffed out of his mouth making the small creature with him frown disapprovingly. "You shouldn't smoke you know, it's bad for you." The high voice had him smiling, bad for him, right. "Excuse me if I'm not to worried about my health Majesty." The cigarette was replaced between his lips.

Black hair was spiked out in a natural way held to look good by spray rather than its usual mess and a fall of that same dark hair covered the left side of his forehead as well as part of the left eye. The right side had been spiked into the rest of his hair as if there were no bangs there. He wasn't overly fond of the scar on his brow but he didn't want to impair his sight either. Baggy army pants done up in blacks, whites, and grays were stuffed into combat boots which had been laced up tightly.

He wondered how long he would have to wait, they'd already been there an hour. The creature leaning against one of the aging pillars in front of him was the reason he was even bothering to contemplate waiting. Harry could remember their first meeting as if it were yesterday. He'd been riding the currents like he did every third night of the summer. His beloved Dokuken was waiting for him and he never had been one to miss something he enjoyed so much…

Silent as a hunting hawk, Harry slid through the air on warm currents racing the setting sun to his field. The familiar security of Dokuken on his back was sorely missed and he half feared he'd fall from the sky at any second without him. Green eyes glared out at the city below from behind a sleek new pair of glasses. Wizards, they were ignorant and easily frightened.

With the defeat of Lord Voldemort the dark magic and power had flown into Harry boosting his strength and penchant for the darker aspects of life. He'd readily accepted it, not wanting his surrounding friends and comrades to be burdened by the backlash of such powerful dark magic. Days after that they had turned on him fearing he would become another Voldemort. The few that stayed around were quickly driven off by his rapidly changing personality and sense of style.

By the end of the first month of Voldemort's defeat he had immersed himself completely in Hollow Haven. It was a city renowned for its dark, almost brutal society. Few could enter and leave it as they pleased without dabbling in its shadowy depths. He had felt at home as soon as he'd stepped foot inside. Watching the people walk around with weapons in plain view, threats exchanged like greetings, street fights getting not even a second glance, he'd thought he was in paradise. A Haven for Hollow souls.

It hadn't taken long for his presence in the city to be noticed by the higher ups and it was only the quick thinking of a weapons smith that had him off the radar again. He'd gotten the name Mizu and his precious Dokuken then and had never parted with them since. As the lights from the city below began to thin out and wild land grew more frequent he began to descend. This would be his last flight to the clearing, Harry planned to flee to Hollow Haven tonight never to return.

Remus, bless him, had come to Privet Drive not hours ago to warn Harry of the ministries intent to arrest and imprison him while he slept so he could never become a threat. The werewolf had been uneasy about meeting with Harry since he was one of the few that were driven off by the boys colder personality but he had still done it.

Landing on a grassy hill Harry quickly ran to a large oak tree to touch its trunk. A folded Japanese style fan appeared leaning against it. This was no ordinary fan however as it was as tall as Harry himself and had a silver liquid floating inside its translucent frame. When he picked it up and opened it the connecting paper was reveled to be a fine silver silk that shimmered in the moonlight. It was his beloved Dokuken, his two children hidden in modified holsters on his hips sung in his presence of Chaos and Peace.

"We will go and never return to this place. The worries of wizards are not our own now Dokuken. Besides, your children call for the blood of the Hollow." He briefly ran his hand over the silky substance that stretched between the translucent frame then with one quick motion had the fan open on his back. It flickered briefly before melting into his skin and growing out again as gleaming silver wings.

Silence reigned as he took to the air again. This time he knew he would not fall as he had powerful wings to support his weight. The green eyes that had been so resentful before looked up into the night sky seeking the familiar twinkle of one star in particular. As he watched, Sirius flickered like a candle flame. Something was wrong. Why would a star flicker like that? He squinted up at the night sky and just like a flame the light went out.

Grimly he searched the sky but could not find the star of his godfather. This was not a good omen, not at all. He could see the far away lights flickering out all over the night sky. What sort of magic would cause even the stars to look away? A hard light in his eyes, Harry set off for Hollow Haven hoping the books he kept there would have something about the stars in them. He hadn't read through all of them after all.

Landing with a thud on the harsh pavement of a dirty alley the eighteen year old ruffled his feathers and walked onto the bustling street as if he owned the place. People eyed the young man looking so much smaller than they with distaste but didn't come near. He was well known in this part of the city as a merciless fighter who could wield his weapons with the precision of a surgeon.

That was why, about three hours into his trek through the streets, Harry became acutely aware of hurried footsteps following him. He walked several more blocks before turning down a side street and whirling to face his stalker. The man was small with two large, round ears atop his head. What appeared to be red shorts peaked out from under a black cloak "Who are you?" His voice was harsh and angry. The ministry would follow him even here?

His thoughts were interrupted by a high pitched voice "I'm Mickey Mouse, are you Mizu?" Silence reigned. Mickey Mouse? He certainly had the ears for a mouse but Harry had never come across a creature quite like this before "And so what if I am?" he was intrigued. The ministry would never use a creature to retrieve him after all. "Clay said you could help me." Clay. The magic word as far as Harry was concerned. Clay had made him Dokuken, had taken him in for a year before disappearing, had given him a place in Hollow Haven.

"I think we'd better find some place else to talk."

Another inhalation of the soothing smoke "You're not even going to humor me on this are you?" Harry chuckled "Nope. If it makes you feel any better I'll put it out once your friends get here." Mickey nodded looking grateful. He'd gotten word that one of the people they'd be searching for was coming as well and the thought of him being exposed to such a deadly smoke was worrisome.

Harry was just starting to consider picking Dokuken up and practicing with him when a faint light began to descend into the outer circle of Stonehenge where they'd been waiting. A brightly colored ship settled and a door opened. No one came off but the king was already half way there by the time Harry had secured the large fan to his back.

He had no trouble catching up however and they boarded one after the other quickly. One last drag on his cigarette before he put it out on the bottom of his shoe and banished it with a simple spell later they were on their way to Radiant Gardens where Clay apparently came from.

A blond man sat the controls with a large cleaver laying beside him while a brunet was stationed at what appeared to be a weapons turret. The boy he'd been told about sat strapped into his seat tightly, asleep. Harry snorted catching the attention of the other two on the ship "Is this the guy Cid was talking about?" Leon asked motioning toward Harry. The green eyed wizard leaned back against the wall of the ship frowning slightly "I don't know a Cid."

The blond at the controls tensed but before Harry could say anything, Mickey spoke "That's right! I forgot you met him when he was being Clay. Yes, this is the right guy Leon. Mizu I'd like you to meet Squall Leonhart and Cloud Strife. One of them will go with you to find Sora and Kairi." Harry pushed off the wall to bow toward the two men.

King Mickey made a pleased face as he saw this "Leon, Cloud this is Mizu. He'll teach the kids how to summon their Key blades." There were quiet greetings said in his direction. Harry had settled back against the wall by the time Riku awoke. It took the silver haired teen a few seconds to realize where he was but when he did an excited little sound escaped him. "I'm really here right?" He asked looking around.

Harry cocked his head looking curiously at the fourteen year old "Where else would you be?" He asked not minding that Mickey and Leon were watching the interaction between the two carefully. "Twilight Town!" Harry snorted. Who had named the place? Such a stupid name, Twilight Town. Of course he couldn't really say anything, what with his town being called Hollow Haven. "You're aboard an alien craft headed for a lab that will poke you in uncomfortable places."

Mickey sighed, he should have known Harry wouldn't keep his sarcasm to himself. Leon choked on his own breath, had he really heard that right? Cloud, well, Cloud had to bite his tongue to keep from snickering. That was the first time he'd ever heard anyone call Radiant Gardens an anal probing lab. "I thought we were going to a place called Radiant Gardens!" Riku squeaked out looking slightly panicked. Mickey again intervened before Harry could say anything more "We are Riku, my friend is just joking with you."

Silence followed this as Riku stared in fascination at the giant Mouse and Harry contemplated disagreeing with Mickey. It couldn't hurt to traumatize the kid right? Unfortunately he never got to scar Riku further "We're here Majesty." Oh well, there was always next time. There was a jolt as the Gummi Ship touched ground and everyone filed out of the vehicle. A dark street met them, Harry smiled. This was his territory even in an unknown world.

Dokuken let off a faint glow as they began to walk, drawing the attention of Cloud. "What sort of weapon is that?" he asked when his curiosity could no longer be contained. His voice was disinterested however, no need to let everyone know he was curious. "It's a modified Tessen. Clay….Cid made it for me." A pale hand reached out to touch it before Cloud could warn Riku. There was a yelp followed closely by the soft glow going out.

The silver haired teen sucked lightly on his bleeding finger staring with wide eyes at the figure before him. Harry stood facing him with a reproachful frown on his face, a pair of large silver wings fluffed up on his back. Unknown to Riku, magic snapped and crackled along his body making it impossible for anyone to touch him. If he had known he would have realized that what he was seeing couldn't possibly be real as they were in a clearing rather than the city.

"My son." The voice echoed around him with a faint emotion. Was it love? Pride? The silver wings spread wide and a black version of the fan, much smaller this time, was taken out. There was a blurring of the image before it was replaced with a curled up dragon. "He is a magnificent son is he not?" It was male, whatever the voice was. "Mizu protected many important things with the power of Chaos." Riku frowned, his vision was blurring again.

This time a smiling blue eyed man was watching a baby crawl around. "He could not protect everything." Sea green eyes blinked to try and clear the next blur away. "What are you talking about? I don't understand." He mumbled, barely audible to even himself. A boy that looked remarkably like the man from the ship moved with fluid grace. A white version of the miniature Dokuken held in his right hand while a wooden fan sat in his left. He was doing some sort of slow dance, following the instructions of a kind looking black haired woman.

The image faded to black then the night of Radiant Gardens came into view again. He could hear the worried shout of that giant mouse, could feel the hands closing on his shoulders. "Not even Peace can bring him Tranquility's Shadow, do not hurt him young one." "RIKU!" Silver hair flew as Riku shook his head "Huh?" Mickey's relieved sigh reached his ears but it was the knowing look that Harry was giving him that caught his attention.

Leon frowned at the large fan "What was that? He's not hurt is he?" Harry shrugged one shoulder "If he is then at least he'll not try touching Dokuken again." he said indifferently. The tessen wouldn't have hurt Riku permanently so he wasn't worried. A mild magical shock would only make you sensitive to high level spells for a while, nothing to worry about here. "So where are we going anyway?" He asked to try and get them moving again.

His plan worked as first Cloud then Leon began walking down the street again. Everyone else followed them as Mickey was still a bit worried and the other two had never been there. "Merlin's house. Cid's found which system Kairi is in." Merlin's house? As in, King Arthur's Merlin? As in, the greatest wizard known to wizarding Europe? They came upon a crooked house that reminded Harry of the Burrow. "And here we are. All we need to do is get the coordinates from him then we can go."

Blue painted door, gold colored door knob, the sound of Clay shouting something insulting at someone. It was almost like walking into Hogwarts that first time, the feeling that is. "Mizu! There you are. Tell this old man that I'm not nearly as ancient as he is!" That was definitely Clay, or Cid as he was known here. "Cid, that's Merlin. As in, I swear by his name Merlin. I don't think I have any right to be telling him anything!"

The old man was staring at Harry in interest now, he recognized the features from a painting that hung on the stairway between the fourth and fifth floor. "Are you from England?" He asked curiously and Harry nodded. "A Hogwarts student then. It's very nice to meet you Mizu! How is the old castle? I remember when she was just a few magical rocks being chipped at…" he trailed off with a nostalgic look.

Harry shifted a bit uncomfortable with talking to a dead man. Despite this he answered that Hogwarts was fine, yes he was from England, and it was very nice to meet Merlin too. After several minutes of pleasantries that were making Harry even more twitchy, he didn't like the magically charged atmosphere of the place, they got the coordinates. Cloud volunteered to be the one to go with Harry to find Kairi and Sora as soon as they were in the street again.

"Can I go too?" Riku looked hesitant, like he was afraid he'd be told no. Mickey frowned "Well if Cloud and Mizu don't mind then I suppose it couldn't hurt. I wanted to show you something Leon, will you come to the Bailey with me?" The two left leaving Harry and Cloud little choice but to take Riku with them. Harry vowed revenge on the little rodents deviousness. They loaded onto the Gummi Ship, Cloud immediately taking his place at the controls while Harry went to sit in Leon's weapon turret.

For what felt like days they flew through space seeing nothing but stars. Riku had settled in his chair, unbelted, a while ago so at least Harry didn't have to worry about him. He'd been shooting at random pieces of Gummi to get the hang of the weapon controls when a red light came on. "I hope you've had enough practice Mizu, there are Heartless ships closing in!" It was a short, if not exciting, fight as Harry found that blowing ships up was much more gratifying than Gummi pieces.

A brownish colored world finally appeared on the front screen "That is the first planet we're going to search. Kairi is somewhere in this system but we don't know where." Riku was gazing at the brown ball with wide eyes. It was so big! Had his town seemed so big when they left it? He couldn't remember. They touched down on a flat area. There was new grass and sparse trees all around them that reminded Harry of the African savannas he'd seen pictures of in grade school.

The door opened with a little hiss and there was a noise of surprise. The ears atop his head flicked back to catch the noise. Harry's whiskers flicked in his amusement and he jumped gracefully from the ship to the soft ground. "It appears there are no humans in this world." Cloud said jumping down beside Harry. The green eyed lion nodded his agreement. Where Harry had a black mane and tan fur, Cloud had a blond mane and white fur. He looked a lot like an albino lion though Harry knew that wasn't true.

A frightened yowl made the two males stop sizing each other up, Harry was bigger, and turn to look at the open Gummi door. A silver cub sat there with his tail flicking anxiously. He looked apprehensive as his sea green eyes stared at them pleadingly. "What's wrong Riku?" Harry asked slinking passed Cloud to sit in front of the cub. He had to tilt his head back to look up at him but Harry didn't mind that. "It's awkward! If I jump like you two I'll stumble and fall. This body is so weird."

Green eyes turned to Cloud "Is it awkward for you as well?" He asked with a hint of amusement. Cloud nodded but didn't offer up any description of just how it was awkward. Pushing himself up on his hind legs Harry settled his large paws next to Riku on the edge of the open door. He stared down at Riku who had his ears pressed flat against his head. It took a few seconds but the head lowered in what could only have been shame.

Leaning forward, Harry settled his jaws on the back of Riku's neck. On the ground Cloud tensed up, but Harry just pushed off the ship and turned to walk over to Cloud with Riku in his mouth. The silver cub was put down in front of the blond lion and Cloud relaxed again. "How did you know to do that?" Riku asked turning to look at Harry through narrowed eyes. He was a bit disgruntled at being carried off the ship like a child.

"Back on my world there is all sorts of different magics. Some make you float, others root you to the ground, and the most evil can kill you in a heartbeat. One of my favorite types turned one thing into something else. During several of my missions for the Order I was part of, this magic was used to turn me into large cats. This is the first time I've ever been a lion though." Harry explained sounding both wistful and angry at the same time.

There was a soft hiss that let them know the ship had closed "Well, where do you think we should start looking?" Cloud frowned thoughtfully. How this was possible as he didn't have the facial muscles to frown Harry didn't know. "We should probably look for some of the locals and ask if they've seen a girl named Kairi." The blond said looking around. There wasn't a single creature anywhere around. Riku was sniffing curiously at the ground however, as if he could smell something interesting there besides dirt.

Silver fur shimmering in the heat of midday, the little cub began to walk clumsily toward what looked like a valley filled with giant bones. As ominous as that was, it was as good a place to start as any. They didn't reach it by nightfall so when they came next upon a tree Cloud made them stop. Sometime during the day Harry had picked Riku up again, much to the cubs secret relief. All the walking was making his paws hurt, not to mention the heat which made him tired.

A halting purr startled him out of his half dozing state, was that him? Harry had settled with Riku between his paws and was absently cleaning his ear. "I'm hungry, why didn't we bring anything from the ship?" The silver feline asked rolling over so he could bat at Harry's muzzle. The black mane shook when he fluffed it up "We couldn't open anything if we had." Riku's stomach complained heavily of his lack of thumbs. Harry chuckled "I could go get us something if you're that hungry."

Cloud lifted his head from where it had been resting against his paws. Blue eyes that were once lazily watching the interaction between the largest and smallest of their group were now sharp. "What sort of something? We don't know what these bodies can safely eat." Harry pushed himself up on his paws then knocked Riku toward Cloud. "Meat. It doesn't matter what kind so long as it doesn't taste poisonous." He stretched, scratching at the ground slightly.

Skeptical blue eyes watched as Harry disappeared into the night. The first thing Harry noticed as he fell into the familiar mindset of a predator was that this body wasn't nearly as instinct driven as the others had been. He could think rational thoughts for one thing. Another was that, no matter how much he expected it, Harry didn't have the urge to instigate a fight with Cloud.

Before, when he was with another male while they were both felines, he'd had to fight to assert his position as dominant. He lost sometimes and he won others but either way the first thing they'd done was fight. Maybe Cloud just didn't have a very dominating personality? The second thing he noticed was a faint, tantalizing scent on the air. An animal was bleeding somewhere.

He crouched low in the high grass, moving silently toward the sounds of a scuffle. About fifty yards ahead of his new position in some bushes there were several hyena darting around a gazelle. They'd bite it then back away from its flailing hooves. This kept up until the thing was finally to tired to fight back. Harry chose that moment to dart out of his hiding place with a frightening roar.

The canines yelped and scurried back before realizing that this lion meant to take their kill. A demented half growl half laughing sound started up. "This is our kill, go find your own you over grown kitten." A female voice yelled. Harry crouched down then let out another frightening roar. A few of the less brave hyenas scurried off, back to their cave. The few that remained snarled at Harry and darted around him. They'd come in to bite at him only to be knocked away by his powerful paw.

By the time they had retreated from the fight for food Harry was tired, covered in various bite wounds, and nursing an injured paw. None-the-less he grabbed the throat of the gazelle, killing it finally, and began to drag the carcass back toward the tree. A limp kept him from speeding up to get there faster as one of the horrid canines had bitten what would have been his wrist.

When he did make it back into the little alcove that the drooping tree branches made around Cloud and Riku, he had caught his breath again. The animal dropped with a soft thump in front of Cloud "This is probably the best thing for these bodies. Lion's naturally hunt gazelle." He slinked off to a spot as far from the entrance as he could get and began to licked at his wounds. Riku skittered over to him with his ears pressed flat and tentatively licked at a bleeding kink in Harry's tail.

It appeared that though these creatures weren't as instinct driven they still had the basics programmed into them. Harry started up an encouraging purr while Cloud cautiously pulled at the already torn gazelle's stomach. Riku, emboldened by Harry's positive reaction, caught the twitching tail in his paws to lick at the wound more thoroughly. "I thought you were hungry Riku." Harry said, his tone amused. He'd paused in his own licking to watch the silver cub.

Round ears pressed flat, had he done it wrong? Was that why Harry was trying to get rid of him? "But you're hurt Mizu." Green eyes softened "I'm fine Riku, go eat before Cloud gets all the good parts." The others white muzzle was stained red with blood as he snapped up another piece of meat. Cloud had forgone all pretense of human manners and torn into the gazelle as soon as the first drop of hot blood hit his tongue. Riku meowed indignantly as he realized that the blond hadn't been worried at all.

Eventually his stomach made up his mind and the silver cub moved in on the dead creature as well. Harry relaxed in the warm feeling that always came after a successful hunt. The sting of his various bite wounds had faded away, come morning they'd just be scabs hidden in his fur. The only thing that worried him was his paw, how bad would that be come morning? Would he have to use magic, could he use magic, to fix it?

When the other two's bellies had become distended they moved to the back of the shelter as well. Harry snatched Riku over to himself and began grooming the squirming cub "Why do you do that?" Cloud asked then licked as best he could at the blood on his muzzle. Harry paused "If I don't he will smell like blood and prey. I had to fight with some hyenas, they're like dogs, and if they smelled him he'd be unable to fight them all off." The large tongue went back to cleaning the fluffy chest.

Cloud crawled his way over to them feeling to lazy to stand and began to lick at Riku's face. Harry stopped cleaning the cub in favor of cleaning Cloud. Eventually they ended up curled around each other in sleep, or at least Cloud was curled around Riku. Harry had waited for them to nod off before moving over to the carcass and snapping up some meat for himself. When he had taken the edge off he dragged the mangled body from the shelter down to another tree about ten minutes from where his small pride lay sleeping.

His hunger was finally sated there so he left what was left for the scavengers to eat. Settling down in front of the opening he settled his chin on his paws. Green eyes scanned the area before closing, he would take a light cat nap. That way even the slightest disturbance would wake him. He may be fat and drowsy from having just eaten but that didn't stop him from wanting to be alert.

When the sun rose Riku was the first to notice. He looked around the enclosed area at the dappled light on the ground. He could see Harry just outside, asleep, and the warmth at his side told him Cloud was there as well. He stared drowsily at the orange sky through one of the holes in the tree branches. Why didn't he feel like this was weird? He'd eaten a raw animal last night, had a tongue bath that should have been embarrassing, and then he'd fallen asleep in the proverbial embrace of another male. Cloud was only seventeen, not much older than Riku.

So why was it that he didn't find any of this disturbing? Riku's morning contemplations were interrupted by Harry coming in. The dark lion had only a little bit of bulge to his belly to show that he had indeed eaten last night. He made a shushing noise before Riku could even think to greet him. "We'll go down to a little pond I smelled last night. We just have to wait for Cloud to wake up." Riku squirmed under the white limb holding him against the afore mentioned lion.

Harry had started to move the blood soaked dirt outside when the blond finally began to stir. First his tail began to twitch, then his leg moved to free Riku. After a few seconds he lifted his body so he was standing "What did you do with the carcass?" he asked after watching Harry scratch at the ground for a few minutes. The brunet looked up with a confused look before he remembered what Cloud was talking about. "I moved it to another tree, about ten minutes away. If your still hungry you should be able to follow the scent." Cloud shook his head.

There was a sleepy silence after that as Cloud yawned, exposing sharp fangs. Riku shattered that by bounding in with a lizard between his jaws. He let it drop to the ground and start to run away before pouncing on it. Harry paid this no attention, used to the play of kittens and cubs but Cloud couldn't tear his eyes away. "What are you doing?" He asked weakly. Riku looked over at him startled, giving the lizard a chance to escape.

"Cloud's up!" He trotted over to the blond to rub his head against Cloud's legs. Harry patted down the disturbed earth "So he is. We were going to go down to a pond I scented last night, do you want to come?" Cloud mentally rolled his eyes, like he had a choice. They all trekked down to the little pool of water. Harry's little bit of pudge had disappeared by now making him a sleek, powerful creature. As Cloud watched him he thought that the limp seemed to add to the attractiveness.

Blue eyes widened, he hadn't thought Harry was attractive! He didn't even know the other teen, or was he a man? Either way the black haired male was definitely older than Cloud. "We can get a drink and maybe run into a few of those locals we were looking for there." Harry called then started to trot after Riku who was going full speed. In little time the two lions were basking on the shore while Riku splashed around in the shallow water.

It was almost dried up so they weren't worried about some creature appearing in the water and eating the silver cub. "Mizu?" an ear flicked in his direction "You said you were part of a magical Order. Are you with us because it was a mission they assigned you?" The ear flicked back toward the happily swimming Riku. He was starting to look muddy, yuck. "No." Harry opened one eye to look at the white lion. He really was a magnificent specimen. Both human and feline.

The sound of arguing voices made Cloud recall Riku. Pouting slightly at having his fun ruined the silver cub shook out his fur and basked in the sun with his elders. Cloud absently began to clean him, glad that the muddy color was mostly from the fur being wet. "Why did I have to come in?" Riku whined stretching so Cloud had an easier time of it. "Someone is coming and I'd rather not have you being killed if they're dangerous." Harry said in reply.

Riku settled at that, he didn't want to be killed as much as they didn't want him killed. "But Timone!" "No Pumba, I'm telling you that lions don't come out this far during the summer! It's much to hot for them." There was a rustle in the bushes heralding the entrance of a skinny creature and what looked like a pig with tusks. Harry stared calmly at them, they were prey so they weren't a threat.

It was too bad this reasoning didn't work both ways. Timone was busy trying to think up ways to convince the lions they weren't tasty while Pumba muttered "I told you so." The meercat laughed nervously "Hello there Mr. Lion. We really aren't all that tasty, we just wanted a drink if you don't mind." Pumba gaped at Timone, why weren't they running away?!

Across the pond Harry was watching them in interest. Riku had to strain his neck to look over his shoulder at them but Cloud wouldn't let him move until he was clean again. This was also a source of amusement for Harry who would never tell either of them that. "If you answer a question for us then I don't mind." he murmured but Timone apparently heard him. "What question was that?" Pumba asked looking curious if not wary.

"We're trying to find a girl named Kairi, have you seen her? Do you know anyone that might know her?" the warthog frowned while Timone sucked up water like a vacuum. "We don't know anyone named Kairi but if anyone would it would be King Simba!" Timone spat his water out looking shocked at Pumba. "Now we can't even run to Pride Rock for protection Pumba! They'll know we've gone there!" Cloud finally let Riku up "So this king is at a place called Pride Rock? How do we get there?" He asked and the two non-lions looked at him in surprise.

Forgetting his fear momentarily, Timone gaped "You're a boy!" Cloud narrowed his eyes, what did they mean he was a boy? Wasn't it obvious? Harry smirked slightly and intervened before Cloud could kill their only chance at finding Pride Rock quickly. "Yes, he is. Now could you tell us how to get there?" Pumba lifted a hoof and pointed toward a barely noticeable rock formation "That's Pride Rock, just tell them Timone and Pumba sent you if you run into trouble with the lioness'."

Cloud doubted they'd run into any trouble that knowing those two would fix and said so when they were safely away from the watering hole. Harry chuckled but didn't comment as he had a mouth full of Riku, they moved faster when he was carried. They arrived at the bottom of the rock formation when the sun began to go down. Cloud had taken Riku from Harry to give the larger male a chance to rest his jaw.

As expected nothing had given them any trouble up to that point so it was surprising when a pair of female lions jumped out in front of them. They were crouched low and looked for all the world like they would tear into the three if they moved much closer. Cloud set Riku down "Who are you? Why are you here?!" One of the females growled. Harry moved so Riku was behind his front legs, protected if the lioness' decided to attack them.

It was Cloud who answered "I'm Cloud, this is Mizu. We just wanted to ask King Simba if he's seen someone." Riku scowled at being left out of the introduction "Timone and Pumba sent us." The two looked surprised at Cloud's deep voice making the blond glare again but when Riku spoke they relaxed. "You should have said something before, King Simba is right this way." Riku slinked around Harry's legs with his tail in the air looking very smug indeed.

They were led up a path to the front of a den "Wait here." One of the lioness' went inside, presumably to get the king. The other sat down to wait with them "So who are you looking for?" She asked curiously. Riku, who had been running around the rock looking at things came over to them "We're looking for Kairi." The lioness smiled down at him. "Is she your sister?" Riku frowned, he knew that in his past life Kairi had been one of his closest friends. Would that count as being his sister? He certainly got brotherly feelings when he looked at her pictures or read about her from the books Leon and Cloud had brought to retrieve him.

Thankfully he didn't have to answer himself, as Harry had already murmured that yes, she was. "Her and Riku are Cloud's cubs. Their mother was killed by a pack of hyenas not to long ago but Kairi's body wasn't with her so we're hoping she's okay." Riku turned wide eyes on Harry, none of that was true! Besides, Cloud was to young to have children "I haven't heard of a Kairi in my lands." The voice was deeper than Harry's making the three off worlders turn to see who'd spoken.

Red mane fluffed from little lions tugging on it, fur a shade darker than Harry's own tan stood the king. Behind him was a lioness with two cubs running around her feet, a second lioness was standing beside a darkly colored male. Harry limped forward to bow slightly to Simba "You're sure you've never heard of anyone named Kairi?" Cloud asked trying to look anxious, she was supposed to be his kid after all. Simba gave him a sympathetic look "I'm sorry Cloud, I haven't. I know everyone in my lands but that name has never reached my ears."

There was an obviously disappointed air about the three from another world. Simba, feeling sorry for them, said "Why don't you rest here tonight then continue your search in the morning? It'll be dark soon and I'm sure the cub is tired." Riku puffed up indignantly, just because he looked much younger than he really was didn't mean he was a kid! Harry picked him up before could rant however and they all followed Simba inside his den.

Come morning they left Pride Rock with food in their bellies and an invitation to visit again if ever they were near by. When everyone was back in their human forms Riku's face turned so red Harry had to wonder if it was a health hazard. "So sorry." the silver haired boy nearly whimpered interesting Harry very much. "What for?" Cloud's own face was tinged pink but he understood the pull of instinct a bit better than Riku. "For acting like such a child, making you uh…clean me, being so slow I had to be carried everywhere, not being any real help,-"

He was cut off before he could apologize for breathing loudly "It's fine Riku, instinct makes the best of us into animals." Cloud's coloring darkened considerably at Harry's words. There was little mention of anything after that as they traveled through space shooting down any Heartless ships they came across. A planet covered in water with a sprinkling of islands filled the screen faster than Harry thought it would. "What is that place?" He asked eyeing it, there was a chunk of land vaguely shaped like England.

"Port Royal. It's named for the largest town on its surface." Cloud answered sounding bored. Both Harry and Riku watched intently as they got nearer until the ship had landed. Once everything was set to hibernate Riku dashed out the door. He let out an excited yell when he didn't turn into an animal. Cloud then Harry came down looking amused at his exaggeration.

Little time was wasted there however. As soon as they'd established where they were exactly the three of them spread out to look around. They'd each seen a picture of Kairi, so they would know what to look for. It was five days before Harry heard any word on his companions. He'd managed to get invited as a guest into Governor Turner's household after saving his son from some guy named James Sparrow. The boy didn't seem all to inclined to be saved but he needed a way to get into the Governor's company.

From the reports he'd overheard a blond man, Cloud, and his silver haired son had been caught with a bunch of pirates. Harry had stopped himself from laughing at the news of Cloud pretending to be Riku's father again. Now he was sneaking through the city with William Turner (named for his great grandfather) on a mission to break his friends out of jail. He'd had to promise to help Will find James Sparrow but since he had already asked everyone about Kairi he didn't mind.

They slipped through the shadows with all the skill of a drunken man. This was not conductive to a jail break though no one seemed to notice. For the seventh time that night Harry winced, the fifteen year old had knocked over a pile of boxes. "You're going to be a very bad pirate kid." He whispered heatedly making Will turn to glare at him briefly. The boy slowed his somewhat rushed steps "And I suppose you're a pirate?" Harry smirked lightly "I'm a good pirate lad, I got into your fathers house didn't I?"

Wide blue eyes turned on him causing a flock of chickens to be rushed through. They moved out of the way silently, Harry thanked whatever god allowed that. "You're a pirate?!" Will asked with an air of excitement that reminded his older companion of a first year. Harry didn't bother to answer, they were coming up on the jail. For all the clumsiness demonstrated earlier, William Turner was remarkably good at stealing keys and opening cells in silence.

Sadly for Harry the young Turner also took time to release all the pirates. Sure they were Sparrow's crew, but with all of them running around it was hard to sneak out of the city. Riku disappeared from sight for several nerve-racking minutes reappearing with a wide grin on his face and a girl in his grip. Cloud didn't stop to ask him about her so neither did Harry. They rushed to the Gummi ship avoiding red coats as best they could.

It took exactly two minutes to get into the air then another five to begin the journey from Port Royal to wherever they were headed next. Only when they were safely on their way did they turn to Riku who had been trying to get the girl to take off her face cover. Harry cleared his throat "Riku? Who is this?" He asked sounding both annoyed and puzzled at the same time. The silver haired teen grinned lightly "This is Kairi! She won't take her mask off though."

Cloud glared intently at the girl until she finally pulled the white clothe from her face. It looked like a handkerchief to Harry. The face revealed to them was indeed Kairi. Her cheeks were red, her eyes wide, and her expensive dress dirty but she was definitely the girl they'd been searching for. "Well isn't this wonderful? We don't have to look for you now, just Sora." Kairi frowned "What do you want with me? How are we traveling through the stars?"

Her accent wasn't as thick as Harry's. She could almost pass for an American if she were in London. Harry let Riku explain everything to her, going to lean against Cloud's chair instead. He watched the blond adjust something on the control panel "How old are you, Cloud Strife?" Riku's excited explanation was loud enough that the two teens couldn't hear him speaking. Cloud frowned "I'm seventeen, why? How old are you?"

Harry frowned, lately he'd been having less than innocent thoughts about the blond. It wasn't anything more than noticing how beautiful he was, or how well toned he was. It had started not to long after he'd brought that gazelle in for dinner actually. "I'm nineteen. My birthday was a few days before you guys came to get me and the king." He shrugged one shoulder, just hold out for two more years right? Cloud turned to look up at him with the cutest look of surprise.

"You're nineteen?! I thought you were sixteen, maybe seventeen at most." Harry couldn't decide on indignant or flattered. He chose neither as Riku dragged Kairi over "She says she doesn't mind." The silver haired teen motioned to Kairi. Harry smiled a bit, she hadn't really had a choice but it was always good to know they wouldn't have to force her.

The ride to the next world turned out to be longer than previous experience so the two teens, Kairi was thirteen, fell asleep half way there. Harry and Cloud were left to themselves which turned out to be a not so good thing. "Why are you here Mizu? You weren't part of the original Kingdom Hearts fiasco, you have no destiny to aid the key blade wielders." Harry looked up from the black fan he'd been running his fingers over.

"I owe Cid a life debt. He saved me, fed me, housed me, and gave me Dokuken. I don't know if you understand this or not but in my culture a life debt is repaid even if its to a descendant of the original person." He kind of wished Snape hadn't felt obligated to help him. Maybe then the bastard would have showed his true colors sooner. Cloud frowned "So you're just doing this because you have to? You don't care for any of them, if they win or not?" Harry pursed his lips, no need to be so extreme "A star near and dear to me went out. The only way to get it back is by helping them."

Which didn't much answer Cloud's question. This, of course, annoyed the blond "That isn't what I asked you. Do you care for any of us-them?" Harry caught the slip, Cloud prayed he hadn't. "No. No I don't." The words were quiet and they made Cloud look back at his controls. After that there was silence. Cloud was stewing in his unexpected hurt and anger while Harry wondered at the validity of his statement. Did he care for them? He thought Cloud was a very attractive man, but did that mean he cared for him?

After caring and then being discarded like so much trash so many times he wasn't sure he could honestly care for anyone. Like them, sure. Not want them dead, absolutely. Did that mean he cared for them though? His contemplation was interrupted "Merlin sent a message. He says we should take time to train Kairi and Riku before retrieving Sora." Cloud said with an icy edge to his voice.

He was met with a sigh and reluctant nod "He's found the world Sora's on so we don't have to go looking for him anyway." Harry nodded again, this time a little more accepting. If they didn't have to search then they should have the time to train them up some. All they needed was a place that could hold all four of them as well as any destructive training they came up with.

Just as he was about to suggest going back to his home world, they could use his place at Hollow Haven as well as a few meadows and fields, Cloud spoke again. "I'll take Kairi back to Radiant Gardens and you can take Riku wherever you like. They need to be trained individually and I don't think Kairi would learn well from someone who doesn't give a damn about her." venom seemed to drip from every word. It seeped through the cracks in Harry's skin and made him recoil slightly.

Of course he couldn't argue, he had said that he didn't care for them after all. Instead he just nodded, refusing to look at the younger blond who was staring stoically at the screen. They stayed on opposite sides of the ship, total silence making Harry wonder what he could do to make the blond less angry.

They arrived after a few hours at Radiant Gardens. The two youngest had woken up an hour before that but had stayed silent save for the occasional whisper at the tense atmosphere. Cloud landed the ship as smoothly as he usually did but had trouble getting the door open. He'd stewed so long in his anger and hurt that a dark aura could almost be seen around him.

Harry just sat and watched him fumble with the lock until Kairi came and undid it for him. Cloud stalked from the ship as soon as the door had hissed open enough and Kairi followed him, curious about this new world. When Riku made to go after them Harry grabbed his arms. The silver haired teen turned to ask why he was being stopped but the words died in his throat.

Black dots had appeared under Harry's right eye. They were arranged so that a lighter streak made them look like tears that had fallen and stained his skin As Riku stared the black seemed to fade into a swirl of colors. Greens, reds, blues, purples all shifted restlessly. He went to take a step back but Harry stopped him "Come on Riku, we have to go." He murmured. A dark portal appeared behind the green eyed man and Riku began his struggles anew.

"Let go Mizu! Cloud, CLOUD!" there was no answer to his frantic calling. Harry frowned but pushed the silver haired teen through the portal before following him. Once on the other side Harry didn't stop Riku from first trying to go through the portal again, then beating on him. There would be a few new bruises added to his list but Harry didn't mind that. Foul names and accusations flew carelessly from Riku's mouth and Harry soaked it all in.

Anger and fear burned in Riku's heart as he glared up at a man he'd trusted "How could you? Do you care at all that people are going to die because you've taken me away?!" Green eyes closed and Harry sighed tiredly "I do care Riku. This wasn't my idea." That got the teen to shut up. "We got a message from Merlin saying he knew where Sora was and that we were to train you and Kairi before getting him. Cloud is the one that decided he would train Kairi at Radiant Gardens while I was to train you wherever I wished."

Silence seemed to echo around them as Riku stared at him through narrowed eyes. The distant sounds of a fight going on in the street below was drowned out by the silence of the room they were in. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Riku's posture relaxed and he sighed "Sorry." Harry shook his head "It's fine Riku, I'd have been worried if you came with me so easily without an explanation." A small smile seemed to dance at his lips before it was gone again.

The two sat in a more comfortable silence, each waiting for the other to speak. Riku broke the silence when he registered the sounds coming from below them "What's going on out there and where are we exactly?" The smile was real this time as Harry moved to sit in a cushy looking chair "We, my student, are in Hollow Haven. Filled with the rapists, murderers, crooks, and thieves of the magical world. That down there was probably just an argument over who bumped into who."

Wide eyes turned to the window, the orange glow from the setting sun provided little light inside the apartment but there was enough for him to see the street when he moved to look outside. Riku gasped "He just killed that guy! No one even stopped to help them, they're just watching or ignoring it!" Harry chuckled darkly. He'd taken a while to get used to it, but Hollow Haven was his home "Then that guy should have been stronger. In this city you either fight good or run fast."

More silence followed that as Riku watched someone wave at the body. It vanished, startling him even more, and he turned away from window to look at Harry with so much confusion that the green eyed man had to grin. "Why did you bring me here? This place is so violent, no one blinks at a murder and there's even less reaction when the body just disappears." There was an almost whine in his voice so that Harry took pity on the silver haired youth "If you can survive here you can survive anywhere." Not much pity though.

Two years later found Riku lounging on a musty couch. He'd let his hair grow out so now it brushed the middle of his back and hid his eyes from view if one wasn't searching for them. A pair of red haired twins were sprawled lazily on another couch while a man with graying brown hair read in a chair. There were people bustling around them, going in to report or coming out to start on a mission. This was Riku's last assignment, self appointed without the knowledge of his teacher.

He'd infiltrated the Order of the Phoenix to get revenge for the person that had become a brother to him. Harry had sent him out after the first year of intensive training to get experience on his own. In that time Riku had discovered Way to Dawn, found out the story of Harry Potter or Mizu as he knew him, and decided to get revenge as a final test of his skills. He had a week to implement his plans before Harry contacted him and they returned to Radiant Gardens.

Over the long months of training he'd noticed that more and more Heartless were appearing. They moved freely in Hollow Haven, not bothering to hide their presence, but slunk around in the shadows outside the city. He planned to use them as bate to lure the entire order out of the house. Harry had expressly forbidden him from killing anyone unless he had no other choice so he was going to destroy their base of operations. He'd enjoy watching them scramble to hide themselves before their newest dark lord found out.

"Riku, what's that smile for?" Fred asked eyeing the other. He'd been wary of the teenager ever since he'd showed up and the boy's smiles never failed to make him anxious. Riku's smile widened just a bit "I'm just feeling happy I guess. Why Fred? Is it a crime to smile?" Remus shifted in his chair with a little frown. Riku had shown himself to be a good asset to the order but the little things he did or said made the old werewolf worry.

Half the time he seemed to mirror someone Remus had been trying to forget for three or so years. It wasn't just things he said either. Mannerisms, interests, even the scent was somewhat alike! He didn't have time to contemplate it further as an alarm suddenly blared through the whole house. People began to rush down the stairs into the street, Riku going with them easily. He'd been calling Way to Dawn and then banishing it for a month now. Creating a beacon that flashed once a day, drawing Heartless to it. They'd all converged on the street at once in what appeared to be a coordinated effort.

People were rushing around shouting or running or both as the creatures stole hearts from the muggles surrounding them. The order hurried about, killing as many as they could but being vastly out numbered they barely made a dent. Riku caught sight of a person in a long black coat directing a few Heartless before he slipped away to implement his revenge. The house was empty as he'd planned, not a soul around to notice as he closed the little circle of black paint that would set off the magic he'd carefully rigged.

A portal of darkness opened behind him and Riku stepped through it as the circle lit up then exploded. He appeared on the street behind some bushes catching the attention of the man in the coat. Neither said or did anything as they locked gazes. Even as the world around them seemed to explode with fire and screams they remained motionless. Flaming red hair, dancing green eyes, and black tattoo's that were stationed just below the mans eyes.

Someone rammed into Riku, knocking him out of his daze. The red haired man grinned mockingly at him but before the silver haired teen could go after him he'd already disappeared into a dark portal of his own. Riku didn't think twice about opening a portal in the middle of the street. Didn't care that Remus was watching him in disbelief as he walked into the festering oval of evil. As the world crashed down around the order Riku walked back into the place he'd called home for the past two years.

There was a curse and a shriek as someone scrambled to cover themselves while Harry scowled over his shoulder at Riku. The teen grinned cheerily at his teacher "So this is why you wanted me to go gain experience? So you could screw people in peace?" He teased lightly. The man in the bed was blond with clear blue eyes. His skin was lightly tanned and over all he looked just like all the other men Riku had seen Harry bring home, remarkably like Cloud.

It had started nearly a month after they'd arrived in the city and from the looks of it, it never ended. What really made Riku laugh was how Harry always denied that they looked like Cloud. Always denied that he cared about anyone though it was obvious he cared for Riku at the very least. The man laying under Harry shifted nervously and then cried out as it made the organ still inside of him hit his sweet spot. Harry hissed in pleasure himself and Riku hurriedly left the room.

As fun as teasing him was, the younger of the two didn't want to be around to watch his 'brother' fuck someone. Ten minutes later Harry flopped onto the couch next to Riku with a cigarette dangling unlit from his lips. Seconds later the blond man came out with one of Harry's shirts on and what appeared to be an old pair of Riku's boxers. He settled on Harry's lap with a little blush, avoiding Riku's eyes "Anyway, I did something special for you Mizu!"

Harry perked up slightly and turned his head to look at Riku. The man, or rather boy, on his lap cuddled closer. He tried to make it not so obvious that he was interested in what Riku had done as well. He'd been living with Harry for close to two months now and nothing ever seemed to be special to him. At least nothing he'd seen "You should be able to turn to any news channel and watch it! Magical would probably be better though."

Finding the remote easily, Harry quickly turned on his television and switched it to Clabbert News. Immediately a flaming house came into view with muggles, wizards, and heartless scurrying about causing chaos. Recognizing the place immediately Harry chuckled. The blond on his lap frowned curiously at the image and turned up the volume some "…of events the headquarters of an organization dedicated to destroying the Dark Lord exploded in the middle of a battle. No one even knew it was there until pieces of it were suddenly flying through the air…"

It was turned down again as the blond turned wide eyes to Riku. "You did that? Staged the battle and blew apart the house?" he asked in an almost scared voice. Green eyes blinked at the blond and Riku frowned "Who is this anyway Mizu? I didn't know you were in the habit of cuddling with your partners afterward." So he was a bit bitter at having to put up with a total stranger, it wasn't like he was disapproving of the guy! Harry frowned at him anyway "His name is Roxas and I'm not cuddling. Cuddling after sex would take place in a bed."

Roxas smiled slightly and cuddled closer still. Riku eyed him with a feeling of bemusement "Besides Riku, he lives here." That caused the older teen to squawk. Lived here?! The apartment was a two bedroom thing with a small living room and even smaller kitchen! Where the hell would he stay? Harry had trouble sleeping in the same room let alone the same bed as someone!

His shock and horror must have shown on his face because Roxas' tentative smile fell and he burrowed into Harry's chest. His voice came muffled from his position hiding his face "I told you he wouldn't like me Mizu. No one ever does." There was a sniffling noise and Riku mentally groaned as he realized he'd made the kid cry. So, with a little sigh, he spoke up "I like you just fine Roxas, I'm just wondering where I'm going to sleep is all."

Having remained silent through the whole exchange Harry now cleared his throat. Attention was brought to him immediately "You'll sleep in your room and Roxas will stay in mine as he has been. Don't worry about it Riku." a little smirk tugged at his lips "We'll all be leaving in the morning anyway." Roxas pulled his face out of the crook of Harry's neck and Riku gaped at him. "We're taking him? Why!? He's got nothing to do with Kairi and Sora!"

Blue eyes narrowed on Riku "I do too. Sora is the guy from my dreams and I'll be damned if I don't get to meet him." Riku scowled darkly at the blond. Despite his reassurance to the contrary he was starting to really dislike Roxas. Again Harry intervened before anything could start "He's been having dreams of Sora's adventures in his past life Riku. I contacted the King and he said to bring Roxas with us." Almost immediately he calmed down.

So it was an actual case of dreaming about someone you've never met rather than just thinking someone was perfect for you based on a first impression. They sat in silence after that with Roxas eventually drifting off to sleep in Harry's lap while the two older men watched television. The next morning Riku found Harry sleeping on the couch while Roxas lay snug in the mans bed. He frowned at it but didn't bring the subject up when everyone was ready to leave.

Riku opened the portal this time and Harry led Roxas through with his tear drop tattoo nearly glowing in response to the darkness. When Riku came through the pathway automatically closed behind him. He was shocked to find a key blade and a big ass sword pointed at him rather than the warm welcome he'd expected. Wouldn't they want him back since he was a guard of the key blade master as well?

"You turned to darkness?" A feminine voice asked in anger and Riku's frown deepened. He moved so he was standing beside Harry who clutched a familiar black fan in his hand. Roxas had tensed as well and looked on the verge of attacking whether he had a weapon or not. Seeing how bad the situation was going to get Riku shook his head "We aren't evil Kairi. The darkness is part of us just like your key blade is part of you. The difference is that we use it, it doesn't use us."

No one looked ready to believe him save the King and Merlin but neither of them were speaking up. Cloud turned narrowed blue eyes on Harry "Why are you using the darkness Mizu?" He ground out. Harry smiled slightly at him "Several years ago, on my world, there was a dark lord so evil that the citizens feared to speak his name lest he find out. A prophecy was made that pegged one of two babies as the champion of light.

When he found out he went to kill one, marking him as his equal and destroying his own body in the process. Thirteen years later he regained his body and three years after that the boy he'd tried to kill finally killed him. The dark lord was so saturated with evil magic that there was an explosion of darkness that happened right after his spirit left him. The savior of the light accepted the darkness into himself, to spare his friends the pain it brought." Everyone was silent after that, Cloud eyeing Mizu suspiciously. Well, everyone was silent but Kairi "What does that have to do with anything?" She asked in an obnoxious voice. Riku stared at her oddly and Roxas was only glad the weapons were gone.

Mickey laughed slightly to lighten the mood "Welcome back guys! And its nice to meet you Roxas. Would you fellas mind going with Cloud and Kairi to get Sora? He's somewhere in Atlantis but we couldn't pinpoint his exact location." Riku and Roxas readily agreed but Harry took one look at Cloud's frown and instantly felt his stomach drop. Discreetly spreading his fingers behind his back he readied himself to spring.

No one expected it when the swirling mass of darkness opened behind Harry and they were even more shocked when he jumped backwards into it. "Sorry." was all he got out before the portal closed. Riku made to go after him, even opened a portal that would take him into the realm of darkness, but before he could go someone had grabbed his arm.

Cloud stared intently at the portal while holding on to Riku "Let him be for now Riku. If he cares for you at all he'll show up in Atlantis." The silver haired teen frowned. If he cared? Of course he cared! Harry cared so much that he'd nearly died in an attempt to protect Riku during his first month in Hollow Haven! So why was he worried? Of course Harry would show up.

They boarded the gummi ship an hour later and set off for Atlantis with Cloud at the controls and Riku at the guns. There seemed to be an even larger fleet of Heartless flying about than before so it was a longer trip than any of them expected. They finally arrived on a stretch of beach several hours after departing. There was very little dry land so they decided that the most likely place for Sora to be was under the water.

It was uncomfortable to try swimming but Riku did so anyway. How else would he find Sora? It had taken him some time, but the boy had realized he had begun to think of this other child as his perfect match. His excitement couldn't even be dampened by the progressively murky water that flowed through his lungs and traveled out hidden gills on his sides. Riku's body was sleek, a barracuda if ever there was one.

Cloud too was sleek and powerful. The odd scales of a mako shark failed to glisten in the now muddy water. He relied heavily on the scent of the others to keep track of them and only paused once when an unknown smell wafted to him through the water. It wasn't dangerous, was almost pleasant in fact. Deciding to investigate the scent later he sped up to keep pace with the excited Kairi and Roxas. They were both dolphins, intent on playing a game of tag while searching for Sora.

It wasn't long before they came upon a city. Its lights twinkled merrily at them providing a respite from the murky water. Once in the city limit's the water cleared. Cloud searched for the scent again, but it was gone. "Not so fast Riku!" The yell instantly drew his attention to the silver haired teen. Riku was speeding along as if he knew exactly where he was going.

Taking another little taste of the water, Cloud felt his heart speed up. Prey! There was blood on the currents and he wanted it; badly. Pushing through Roxas and Kairi didn't even register with him as the blond rushed after Riku. Following the scent through a maze of alley's and buildings Cloud came upon something he hadn't thought possible. Harry, the man he'd believed he would never see again, floated on the other side of an underwater meadow.

He was pressed back against a rough wall of rock covering a little hole from attack. His arm hung limply at his side though that didn't stop him from looking terrifying. Unnaturally sharp teeth snapped at the attacking heartless while a small black fan slipped through the water damaging anything it touched. Already there were obvious casualties on the heartless side.

A screech woke Cloud from his stunned trance "Harry!" He'd been attacked from above without any warning. The lifeless body of Harry Potter sunk like so much trash to the bottom. Riku was rushing toward the heartless, after revenge no doubt. Cloud hurried forward as well, though it was for a different reason. He'd seen what Harry was trying to protect.

"Not so fast!" The blond growled out as another of the jellyfish like heartless floated forward. His buster sword appeared as it had many times over and went easily through the filmy skin. Moving with his mako half was even more awkward than when he was a lion. The water resistance caused his attacks to be much slower than usual, but eventually all of their attackers had been defeated.

He glanced into the hole then floated down to Harry's side. Riku was trying desperately to wake him but the gray tinted man wasn't responding. His hair flowed around him in the water, ruining his intimidating hairstyle while blood forced the predators to war with their instincts. "Shay?" The tentative call had both Cloud and Riku looking up at what, or rather who, Harry had been protecting.

Sora floated above the trio with a concerned frown marring his features. Carefully he moved toward them, hyperaware of the danger that surrounded the predators. Sure dolphins were known to drive sharks off but he'd never seen one scare away a barracuda. "Is Shay okay?" he asked quietly. Riku couldn't take his eyes off Sora so Cloud answered "We're not sure. I don't know how effective a potion will be in the water, as soon as a I open it the water will rush in."

Lips curled into a small smile "Oh good, I was afraid you tried Curaga and it hadn't worked or something.!" A keyblade appeared in Sora's hand with little prompting and he twirled it. Instant warmth spread through them and the wounds that marred Harry's pale skin closed up. Wasting little time, the three conscious males settled Harry on Clouds back and they started for the city again. Roxas and Kairi were talking, motioning wildly to each other with distressed expressions.

Before they could reach them however, a portal of darkness opened up and they were pulled through. Sora cried out "We have to go after them! Ursula took Tidus through one of those portal things and then sent his body back to me!" He turned to Riku with an expression of desperation and the silver haired teen couldn't stop himself from opening a portal. Both he and Cloud cursed as Sora darted into it immediately "I'll get him Cloud, you just take care of Mizu."

He was gone before Cloud could protest. Glancing at the strand of soft black hair floating in his line of sight the blond sighed "Well Mizu, it seems I'll have to take care of you if I want to go after them." The brief search for a suitable place to stay brought them to a small hotel and Cloud settled Harry in one of the beds before sitting next to him with a sigh.

"I don't like you, just so you know. You're a real jerk most of the time and you don't care at all for me…them." Blue eyes managed to look at everything but the unconscious man on the bed. After an hour Cloud couldn't help looking over the pale form. The blanket had floated down and caught on Harry's fish half, revealing a silvery network of scars.

The mako's hand came forward to trace a long strip of flesh that ran from shoulder to hip diagonally. A smaller slash crossed that one and ran tangent on a puckered star just below the rib line. Before his exploration got to far he was distracted by noise. Blue eyes snapped to the troubled face of the brunet on the bed and Cloud froze. Harry's lips moved again, that quiet whisper barely enough for the mako to hear "Cloud…"

Thinking he'd been caught, Cloud jerked back and started to mutter an explanation. The brunet didn't respond to it. "Well the least you could do is say something!" He looked up and was startled to find Harry was still asleep. Relief filled him and the blue eyes wandered back to the marred body. This time his eyes were drawn to a thick scar over Harry's heart.

Slowly, he reached out to touch the darker patch of skin. A flurry of bubbles hid his hand for several seconds as something strong and tight grabbed his wrist. "Don't. Touch. It." A thrill of fear shot up Cloud's spine as glaring black eyes were leveled at him. The swirling darkness seeped away as quickly as it had come however and soon the cool green returned.

The tear spots under Harry's right eye had darkened "What did you want Cloud? Where is Sora? Riku, Roxas?" Turning his head to hide the distasteful look he added "Kairi?" Cloud frowned "Someone named Ursula opened a dark portal and took Roxas and Kairi. Riku couldn't help himself and opened a portal at Sora's worried plea to follow."

Harry tensed "Why didn't you follow?! I would have survived, children against Ursula can't! Especially if she has help from-" He cut himself off with a curse and threw the blanket off. Cloud looked away on reflex before remembering that they all had fish fins and nothing showed. "Damn it! That's why it was so hard to kill those fucking things!"

Harry let go of Cloud's wrist and opened a portal distractedly "Go. I have to be somewhere." Cloud shook his head "Where? You have to come with me, I can't protect them all if whoever this is has you so agitated." Harry looked at the blond in surprise "Ursula? She'll give you no problem. That creature couldn't plot her way out of a closet."

Lips pursed, Cloud darted in front of Harry "You're the only one Sora knows, he'll trust you more than me." A smile slowly formed on Harry's lips "You sound desperate to keep me around Cloud. Just the other day you wanted me no where near your new charge, now I'm the only one he'll trust?" The blond blushed a light pink but didn't react otherwise.

Laughter bubbled out of Harry's throat as he pushed Cloud through the portal and followed him. They arrived to a scene that would forever burn in Harry's mind. Riku stood over the unconscious Roxas with Sora on one side and Kairi on the other. All three of them were brandishing keyblades at the octopus woman Ursula.

Cloud attacked first, removing one inky tentacle and gaining her attention. Harry delayed only as long as it took to set the kids on the arriving heartless before summoning Chaos and Peace. The two fans were a blur after that as he moved expertly through the water. Soon the black blood that was to like ink had clouded the area around Ursula and she retreated with a shriek.

Following her were the heartless that had occupied the keyblade users. Once the chamber had cleared Harry closed his fans and let them disappear. "Sora? You go with Cloud here, he's a…good," here he smirked "friend of mine. I have to take care of something before I can leave." A portal opened and Cloud cursed as the brunet went through it faster than he could stop him.

Harry wrinkled his nose as the transition into the world of shadows caused his body to morph back to its original form. A quick twist of his wrist had him wrapped in a black coat with Dokuken on his back. The fan melted into his skin, through the jacket, and reformed as a pair of silver wings. The hood was pulled up before the man opened a second portal and went through.

Three people draped in the same dark coats looked over at him from various positions in the room. It was the one trying to set fire to a chair that he went to " Is he here Axel?" The redhead jumped up with a wide grin "You found your other half yet Shay?" Harry rolled his eyes "No, you fool. She is my other half and I'd rather not have her back. Things don't seem quite so bad when she's gone."

Axel barked out a laugh "You hear that Zexion? Our little Shay is afraid of his heartless!" The third person, the only one not mentioned so far, jumped onto Harry's back "He's not scared! That Rissah girl is a cry baby." Harry craned his neck to look at the sandy haired youth attached to him "Thank you for saying I was a cry baby before Demyx, I appreciate it."

Axel chuckled "Anyway, Rasc is here. He's up at old Xemnas' hide out, the one he hid you in before he died." Harry wrinkled his nose as he remembered that terrible experience. He'd been in the middle of his battle with Voldemort when the insane Nobody somehow managed to transport him into a large white room. He'd been stuck there for three days before the thing died and he was sent back to the moment just before he originally disappeared.

Nevertheless, he flexed his wings and knocked Demyx off his back then headed toward the door. Calling absently over his shoulder, he waved slightly "By the way Axel, I've seen an old friend of yours. His memory is a tad fuzzy though." Before the redhead could demand answers, Harry was gone. He disliked this castle, it reminded him unsettlingly of what he lacked.

Passing the almost flower shaped containers stationed along the wall he couldn't keep his eyes from falling on the form of a sleeping girl. Her long black hair floated out around her in the liquid that kept her alive while wisps of darkness rolled off of her skin. She was pretty enough, but he couldn't stop the echo of loathing that welled up as he walked by.

He'd become a nobody a long time ago. The memories were practically gone from before he was five so he guessed that was when it happened. He'd ended up waking to an abusive family and she'd ended up rich with loving parents and siblings. He didn't think he would hate her so much if she didn't spend the time before her sleep whining about how terrible her life was.

There were a few more heartless in the various glass containers as he walked, not all nobodies wanted to rejoin with their other half. When he made it up to the windowless room he'd been kept in, Harry scowled. A man with dark brown hair was leaning against one wall with a small group of nobodies at his feet. The black eyes didn't leave the lion-like creatures as Harry entered.

Hood up, wings slightly flared, Harry really was a powerful presence. He called his own nobodies, silver in color with large black wings. Their bodies liked to shift between swaying humanoid with deadly claws to harmless phoenix. Of course, he was the only one who knew that form was a phoenix. "You have become attached to them?"

The smooth voice grated on his nerves more than he thought it would "Of course not, I can't grow attached to anything. You know that as well as any of us. My question is why have you offered help to Ursula? She would gladly take your place if she could convince them to turn against you."

Rasc looked up and Harry barely stopped himself from glancing at the long scar that took the place of an eye. The slightly taller nobody raised an eyebrow and smirked slightly "You worry for me Shay?" Harry had to bite back a snarl at the cruel tease. Rasc got some sort of sick satisfaction out of rubbing their lack of emotions in their faces.

"One more word and you'll regret having crossed me Rasc. I'm in no mood to play with you, remember who is king of this pride." Fangs were bared at him and a tail was suddenly lashing behind the man. Harry readied himself to force his magic into a lions shape, that was the form Rasc often took when he fought. It was a little odd for a nobody to have more than one form, but Harry had decided it was because the man had originally been a lion. He'd just hung around long enough to gain the power to make a human form.

Nothing violent happened though and Harry relaxed slightly. The nobodies he'd summoned remained in their humanoid forms, white eyes narrowed in the ever present scowl. They were the only nobodies with eyes that he knew of, though how effective they were was questionable. He personally thought they were just there for intimidation purposes.

They stood in silence for a while before Harry decided they probably wouldn't speak with one another again that day. He turned on his heal and stalked out of the room with a dark scowl hidden beneath his hood. He was walking through the hall that held their individual quarters when Demyx cornered him. The sitar player somehow backed him into Zexion's room and Axel locked the door.

They all knew it was useless, if he decided to leave then he could just open a portal and they'd have to play chase. "Tell us what's going on Shay. You haven't spent this much time away from us since you realized you could come here. You always visited, especially when you started to bring in stray nobodies." Axel's frown deepened "The castle even recognized you enough to give you your own nobodies, Rasc had to force his into creation."

That little triumph over the cocky bastard brought a small smirk to his face. "Rasc has surpassed my power. The castle may not recognize him as a proper leader, but I would not survive a fight."

Demyx sighed and scratched at the back of his neck "Well, I guess there's nothing for it. Where are these keyblade users of yours? We'll have to make nice with them so they'll kill the jerk for us." Harry quirked a small grin. One could always trust Demyx to make something as serious as that into something not so threatening.

Zexion didn't comment, as usual, and Harry explained about where he'd left them. When he was done he turned to stare at Axel. The redhead stared back until his temper got the better of him "Well? Why are you staring at me Shay?!"

Chuckling at his victory, Harry pulled a picture from the folds of his coat. In it was a grinning blond in an overlarge T-shirt. That was it. No boxers, no shorts, not even a blanket to give the illusion of wearing something other than the large shirt. Roxas was waving at the camera and would occasionally play at lifting the shirt to reveal more before letting it drop again.

Waving this in the others face, Harry smiled deviously. "You know who this is don't you Axel? He's quite the minx, I see why you want him back." The smile turned slightly cruel "He has a heart now you know. I felt it with every fiber of my being when I had him. It called to me, to the heartless that roamed my Haven. You should protect that heart with everything you have Axel."

Letting the angry redhead snatch the picture away he tugged his hood off. Almost immediately the anger melted from Axel's face and was replaced by concern "Shay, your tears…" Harry raised a hand to touch the line of dark tears imprinted on his flesh. He smiled bitterly at the cold sting they left on his fingers.

"You knew what it would do to you to have him, why did you do it?" Zexion asked with a frown.

Harry smiled a tad wistfully "He reminded me of someone. Sorry Axel, but I couldn't let the opportunity pass me up when he offered. If it makes you feel any better I resisted for nearly two months before he convinced me." Demyx shoved Harry down onto the bed and then stood in front of him with his hands on his hips.

Finger pointed firmly in the others face, the sitar player looked down at Harry with an annoyed air. "Oi, you idiot! You only have one more left! If your darkness spreads any further then you'll lose control like last time and we don't have Marluxia to calm you down this time!" Green eyes darkened a fraction at the mention of the pink haired nobody.

"I know Demyx, I won't let that happen without leaving you guys some way to stop me." He flopped back to stare at the white ceiling. "Cloud is probably really pissed off at me right now. I left him there to deal with an angry Riku and a hyper Sora by himself." A little smirk tugged at his lips "Then there's the whole problem with Roxas having an attitude and Kairi being an idiot."

Axel laughed as he imagined what could possibly be happening in the absence of his comrade. "I wonder if any of them realize that you are the only thing standing between them and Rasc?" he asked with a malicious grin. There were quiet smirks, or in Demyx's case loud snickers, exchanged between the four.

Letting himself be pulled onto his feet, Harry ran his fingers through his hair. The limp strands instantly shot up into their more familiar hair style with the electric tingle of magic. "They don't even know Rasc exists yet. Hell, they think that the only nobodies left are the Dusk and Creepers." He threw an arm around Zexion, making the other frown, and began to lead them out of the room.

"Anyway, where is dearest Ryu? I haven't seen him wandering around yet." Zexion slipped out from under Harry's arm and pulled a little ahead of the group.

He knocked on a door after a few minutes of wandering down halls and the distinct sound of something crashing drifted out to them. There was a few muffled curse words and then the door was jerked open to reveal a white haired person around Harry's age. Ice blue eyes surveyed the group before him until they landed on the smirking wizard.

Almost immediately the dark features lit up in a grin "Shay, you're back!" The slender man tugged him inside and left the door open for the others. Moving excitedly to a corner of the room, Ryu crouched to peer under a desk. He pulled something out then scurried over to show it to Harry with a small smile. Peering up at the older male was a baby dragon.

It's gray body glistened in the soft light and it opened its mouth to yawn widely before turning an eyeless head to inspect the others in the room. It was Axel who spoke first "I guess Xaldin really is dead huh? If Ryu got his Dragoon as a nobody." The creature shifted in Ryu's hold then shot at Axel with undeveloped weapons. An Assassin appeared to deflect the attack lazily then sunk into the floor awaiting further orders.

With that nobody, everyone else's appeared. They were comrades, possibly friends, but that didn't mean they trusted one another not to attack. Zexion was a bit annoyed as a person sized version of the Twilight Thorn appeared. He'd been given this nobody shortly after arriving back at the castle. It was why they were sure Marluxia was dead.

Ryu seemed surprised and cradled the baby dragoon closer to his body. "He didn't mean to! Your voice just startled him Axel, don't hurt him!" Large green eyes blinked at the worried look on the white haired nobody's face before they closed to accommodate the loud laughs issuing from the redhead.

"We won't hurt it, just teach it not to attack us, got it?" Ryu nodded and absently began to pet the small gray head.

Harry glanced around the room in some amusement. The lamp was knocked over, a picture was crooked, and there appeared to be various holes in the walls. "What happened in here, a heartless attack?" He grinned at the stunned expression on the smaller nobody's face.

Apparently Ryu hadn't expected anyone to comment on his room. "Er, well…the dragoon got a little excited when you guys knocked and…" Demyx snickered into his hand and Ryu flushed a dull pink.

"It doesn't matter, just train it up so the rest of the Dragoon's will know what to do when they appear. This is the only one that will be a baby, all the others will be fully formed with whatever abilities you teach this one." Everyone blinked at Zexion, not expecting him to be the one to explain that.

Demyx grinned widely and draped himself over the silvette, ignoring the threatening shift of the Twilight Thorn. "Hey Zexy, how come you never talk that much with me? Should I be jealous of Shay's little dragon? Should Shay be jealous?"

Green eyes sparkled in amusement at the annoyed expression on Zexion's face. "Don't worry about it Demyx, Ryu isn't the type of Nobody Zexion goes for. He prefers mindless idiots with mullets, not naïve children with split personalities."

Said mullet sporting Nobody huffed and hugged Zexion tighter, obviously put off by the teasing. "Anyway, I have to go before Sora manages to drive Cloud over the edge. I might have to deal with guilty brats if I don't save him." An oval of darkness opened up a little away from the group and Harry made his way toward it.

"Wait, Shay! When will you be back? You were gone a long time last time you left!" The almost desperate note in Ryu's voice made Harry pause and glance back.

"When you can control a portal you can come visit me, until then I'll be away. Let me know if Rasc gets to high for his station and come visit the minx sometime Axel. He misses you, even if he doesn't know it's you he's misplaced." Harry turned away and stepped into the portal, letting it close behind him.

When Harry reappeared he experienced a moment of crushing pain before his body morphed back to it's fishy state. The first gill full of water made his body relax. Not for long though, as Cloud's fist smashed into his shoulder and tried to connect with his face a second later.

Harry dodged just in time to avoid any damage and blinked at the cold faced man. "Nice to see you too Cloud. I trust you had a good fight with Ursula?" The blond snarled quietly and launched another attack.

This time Harry caught the slim wrist and jerked Cloud forward until he could trap the other in his arms. "Let go, let go damn it! You have no right, none at all!" Cloud squirmed and gasped for water, obviously distraught about something. "Let me go Mizu!"

Struggles continuing, Cloud didn't notice as the three teens left the room at a look from Harry. Riku herded them into their own room and channeled a bit of magic into a silencing spell so they wouldn't hear anything if Harry didn't manage to calm Cloud down.

"Cloud…Cloud…STRIFE! STOP STRUGGLING FOR A SECOND, DAMN IT!" Cloud stilled at the unexpectedly loud voice. He'd never heard Harry yell before, not counting the times he'd shouted orders at Riku during Heartless battles. "Now tell me what has you so riled your spazzing like this? It couldn't be my leaving, you were perfectly clear on not wanting me around before."

The blond winced slightly and gripped at Harry's shoulders. "I…" he trailed off and frowned at the wall behind them. "You had no right." He pressed his face into the side of Harry's neck.

"I had no right?" Harry's question was quiet, coaxing almost. "What didn't I have the right to do Cloud?" He prompted after a few minutes of silence.

Blue eyes closed, though all Harry felt was the brush of lashes against his skin. "You had no right to leave." He seemed to deflate and the rough scales on his shark half dragged over Harry's smoother flesh.

The Nobody supported his weight easily and floated them toward one of the beds to settle a little awkwardly. He pushed a reluctant, and tensing, Cloud away enough to get a look at the blonds face. "You saw my scars earlier didn't you? Traced a few of them?"

A nod answered him and Harry caught Cloud's wrist in a gentler grip. Guiding his hand to the small pucker Cloud had noticed before, he rested the blonds fingers on it. "This one was made by my lover when she decided I spent more time on the war effort than on her. She took a screwdriver, snapped off the end, and then impaled me on it. Then she proceeded to explain to me that the enemy was just as involved and still managed to make time for her."

Cloud tried to jerk his hand away, but Harry held it steady and brought it to the thin line connecting the pucker to the larger slash. "This little one was made by my uncle when I was about twelve. He wanted to punish me for doing magic in his house, though it wasn't me who did it."

Now he was trailing the fingers down the horizontal scar that looked like it could have split Harry in half. "My best friend made this one before being killed by a stray attack from our side. He didn't mean to, the magic controlling him had made him spend his last moments turning against me."

Green eyes closed as the hand finally rested against the jagged slice over Harry's heart and Cloud's wrist was released. Instead of pulling away he flattened his palm to cover the scar and felt a shiver race through Harry. "And this one? Who gave you this scar?"

The line of tears seemed to darken and deep green eyes flickered half open. "I did. My enemy asked me why I fought for the good of my people when I couldn't possibly understand their feelings. How could I even attempt to when I didn't have a heart?" His voice had become very quiet now "So I went home and opened my chest to see if he was right. To see for myself if I had a heart or not."

Cloud looked up from the covered scar "How? Wouldn't you have died from something like that?"

"It took me a while to set up the enchantments, after that it was easy to take a knife and cut myself open." Harry smirked, but it was a hollow thing on his pale face.

The mako rubbed his thumb over the small bit of scar his hand couldn't cover. "Did you…did you find what you were looking for? Was it there?"

Echo's of pain rippled in green eyes "No. What I found was nothing remotely similar to a heart. I am the things we'll be fighting, a Nobody." Cloud stared at the scarred chest before him as he processed this. Mizu was a Nobody? Was that why…?

"Is that why you said you didn't care about us? Why you…" he trailed off, but Harry knew he was going to ask if that was why he'd left. His only answer was a small nod. "So It isn't that you don't want to care, you just can't." Another nod and green eyes closed in preparation for the rejection.

They flew open again as arms slid over his shoulders and soft lips pressed to his own. It was warm, chaste, and wet. Harry suspected the last was because they were underwater, but he wasn't going to complain. Not when tingling vines were shooting through his body and warming the not-quite-blood in his veins.

Cloud pulled away after a few seconds, face red and eyes averted. Harry quirked a little half smile at him and tilted his chin so Cloud could look at him. "I think, for a second there, I felt the echo of affection. Can I try again and see if I'm right?"

The blush darkened, but Cloud nodded a little jerkily. Harry's hand slid from his chin to cup his cheek and the Nobody leaned forward to connect their lips again.

This time the heat came immediately and rushed through his veins like fire. A shiver rippled down his back, the echoing reaction felt on Cloud by his hands. Those same hands slipped from his face and back to settle at the blonds hips, drawing a quiet noise from him.

Again they broke apart for water "Mmmm. Yes, that was definitely remembered affection. It's getting late though, we'll have to rest before morning else the brats will worry." Harry's hands fell from Cloud's hips, dragging a stream of water over the sensitive flesh.

He made to back away, but Clouds own hands shot out to pull their hips back together. "We can sleep later." He mumbled into Harry's neck and the brunet blinked as something slick dragged over his fishy half. A glance between them had a wicked smile pulling at his lips.

"Oh my Strife, I'm not sure I'd know where to stick it in this body." Cloud's face heated, but he didn't pull away and instead pressed himself more firmly against the older man. "Well I can see you won't be deterred and I know I can't sleep with an erection." Harry sighed as if he were resigned, but the sparkle in his eyes told Cloud otherwise when he took a peek. "Looks like I'll just have to help you."

Blue eyes widened as a firm hand gripped the heated organ. Sharp nails dug into pale shoulders and a quiet cry was pulled from the mako's lips when Harry jerked his hand harshly over the flesh then soothed it with soft touches. "We really do need to sleep Cloud, but if you can beg pretty for me I promise to make it up to you."

Those same blue eyes fluttered closed and Cloud pressed himself more firmly against Harry with a shuddering breath. "Ah! What-" gasp "-what about you? Nnngg…"

Harry smirked and pressed his thumb to the slit, collecting milky precum to spread over the throbbing flesh and make the motion smoother than the water could. He briefly wondered why the liquid wasn't affected by said H2O before he decided it didn't matter. "I'll be perfectly fine Cloud. It's you I'm worried about."

A particularly loud cry escaped the blond as Harry changed the angle of his hand. The wizard was cheating a little, sending out his magic to stimulate various pleasure nerves. Cloud could have sworn he even felt something fondling that spot in his ass that he knew would drive him crazy if only it could get some real attention.

In no time at all Harry was licking his hand clean and tucking Cloud back into the grouping of scales that had previously hidden him from view. "Now little shark, it's time for sleep. I honestly can't stay awake much longer." Harry gave a loud, and obviously fake, yawn that made Cloud laugh a bit breathlessly. He was drifting on the small current that flowed through the building, boneless after being satisfied so quickly.

The next morning Harry had to ignore Riku's smug look and Cloud's innocent blushes every time he caught their eyes. Both caused his non-heart to feel echoes, but for entirely different reasons. He knew he should have knocked Riku around more when they'd stayed in his haven.

Harry snorted, interrupting the planning session the others were having around him. "Your idea is stupid. If you fight your way there then he'll have time to set things up against you."

Cloud frowned at him, arms folding over his chest. "Then you have a better idea?" He asked, eyes narrowing.

"You have darkness users don't you? Why not just have us open a portal to the castle and you simply take him by surprise?" Riku blinked, shocked that Harry would offer to do such a thing. He'd always been so cautious about taking people through the darkness portals, warning Riku about others getting lost in them.

A quick look around got a general agreement by everyone. "Alright, we'll go in three days. Everyone needs to be ready by then."

When the time finally came, Harry saw them all safely through the portal into the castle. They were met on the other side by Axel, who had to keep himself from latching onto Roxas as soon as he saw the blond. "Took you long enough Shay. Come on, he's entered Kingdom Hearts."

Green eyes took in Roxas, who couldn't tear his eyes from Axel; then Axel, who was studiously not looking at Roxas. "Hey Axel, could you take Roxas for me? I need you two to make sure that guys Nobodies don't swarm us when we enter Kingdom Hearts."

Both men looked at him incredulously, but they didn't argue over it. It was a sound reason for them to be together away form the others.

Demyx was equally easy to convince and Ryu was nowhere to be found. In the end, making it to Rasc was easier than any of them had expected. Cloud and Harry let Sora, Riku, and Kairi continue on ahead of them once they reached the final stage, protecting their backs from attack.

Harry grunted as he slashed the last lion in half, his fans stirring up a dangerous wind that kept the others away. "Cloud, pick up the pace would you? I can't keep them off forever!" There was no answer. Harry, scowling, turned to yell at the man only to freeze.

Laying in a puddle of his own blood was Cloud. His chest wasn't moving, his eyes were dull, and a lion was clawing hungrily at his heart.

A black rage took over the Nobodies mind, filing it so thoroughly that he couldn't feel anything else. One, two, three slashes of his fans and then a final swipe with suddenly formed claws removed the lion. The rage didn't subside.

When Riku stepped through a portal into the small chamber he was in Harry turned black eyes to him. Riku paused, shoving whoever was behind him back through the portal. He didn't make it through himself before Harry was on him. Dangerous magic ripped at the silvette, blood sprayed out.

The final tear developed on Harry's cheek and he screamed. The world exploded around him and everything went white.

Epilogue

About thirty years later.

Cloud giggled quietly as he watched the other toddler run toward him. "Cwoud!"

"Hawwy."

The black Haired toddler grinned up at Cloud, pushing onto his tiptoes to press a sweet kiss to his cheek. "I missed you!"

End

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This is how I always planned to end this story. Another reincarnation. Lol. Everyone does end up happy this time. No more heartless and shit. Yes, Harry's Darkness overloaded Kingdom Hearts and killed everyone in that particular world. On the plus side, since all the Hearts that the nobodies were missing were there, they were reincarnated with them.

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Review please.

Taku