Dark Summoner

Harry drifted back to the land of the waking in a daze, feeling heavy and warm as his green eyes began to blink away sleep. He remembered the day before and everything that had happened right up to when he’d passed out after leaving the Chamber of the Fayth. Anything after that, however, was a complete mystery, prompting the Summoner to get up and find out where he was now.

Well he would, had he been able to get up in the first place.

Green eyes glanced down at his waist where an arm was pinning him to the bed and he could feel the weight of a body against his back so he quickly came to the conclusion that it was Tidus. Subconsciously he got a faint twinge of disappointment when he realized he was still dressed. Carefully he tried prying the blonde’s hands off him but the possessive grip was just a tad too strong. It didn’t help that whatever was going on in his mind was causing the skin visible on his arm to turn gold. Harry knew that it was an uncontrolled reaction to the guardian’s emotions. It seemed now that he had an image of what he could change into, the animal side of him was simply trying to force itself out without any regard to the rules that governed the transformation. Although that was probably because Tidus had pretty much accepted his wild side already.

The Summoner quickly figured that even though he couldn’t get up he could roll over and quickly did so, bringing himself face to face with the one holding him. Tidus looked peaceful in sleep, for once. The blonde hadn’t slept that well during their time in Spira. Harry knew that well enough because his guardian refused to even leave him alone in the bathroom, let alone in a bed. (Fortunately in those cases, Tidus had just waited against the door.) Harry removed his arms from where they’d been squashed between their bodies and traced a line down the Guardian’s nose. Tidus twitched in irritation when he felt it and tried to bury his face in the pillow, never once letting go of Harry. The summoner smiled a little and traced along his ears. Tidus moaned this time and rubbed his ear against his shoulder.

‘Alright…’ Harry thought to himself. ‘Gold skin means really sensitive.’ Suddenly he found himself grinning wickedly and his hands shot toward any exposed skin. The blonde’s eyes snapped open in shock as he let out a surprised scream before it trailed off into nearly gut busting laughter.

“HARRY!” He managed to yell out amid the laughter. “Stop!” Not thirty seconds later the rest of his guardians piled into the room, making the door bang into the wall and rebound right into O'aka’s stunned face. They all saw the small figure of Harry pinning Tidus to the bed and tickling him mercilessly while their fellow guardian laughed helplessly with a ‘help me’ look on his oddly gold tinged face. Auron just laughed outright and held out a hand to Rikku who groaned and dragged a handful of Gil out of her pocket and dumped them in his hand. They’d been betting on whether or not Harry was going to get sick of Tidus’s mothering and do something. Naturally, the old guardian had won. The four then simply walked out of the room, leaving Tidus to get what was coming to him. Harry waited until the door was shut before he finally let up on the attack and stopped, still sitting on top of Tidus.

It was around then that the pair realized what kind of position they where in and that was enough for the guardian’s face to go red, dispelling the effects of the botched transformation. Harry felt a rush of dizziness go to his head as he sat there, almost afraid to move… then he rolled off, and it was Tidus’ turn to feel the disappointment. He propped himself up on his elbows as Harry looked over the edge of the bed in search of his sandals and over robe.

‘Why do you keep pushing me away?’ Tidus thought to himself, desperately wanting to ask the question out loud.

‘I’m afraid.’ A little voice in the back of his mind replied to the unspoken words. ‘I’m afraid that if I let myself love you, you’ll vanish just like my other guardians did.’ Tidus thought about the words for a moment before his eyes widened in surprise.

“What the hell?!?” He said out loud as the Summoner grabbed his staff and was reaching for the door handle to leave the room. He froze at the ill-timed outburst looked over his shoulder, a faint sparkle of curiosity in his eyes. Tidus swung his legs over the side and got up, jamming his feet into his sneakers before he crossed the room. “You heard that, didn’t you.”

It wasn’t a question.

His blue eyes shone with certainty as he reached out to the hand that was resting on the door handle and pulled it away.

“I’m not going to go away.” Harry went pale as he realized what Tidus was talking about.

“How?” he managed to gasp out before Tidus puled him close again.

“Dragon thing.” He answered, blaming the most logical source of the telepathic outburst. Harry stared up at him blankly before the life slowly came back to his expression.

“So you promise you wont go?” he asked, his quiet voice layered with a power that made the blonde’s skin tingle.

“Yeah.” He said without hesitation. “I swear I’ll never leave you or Spira.” He didn’t know exactly why he included Spira in his oath, but the hesitant smile Harry gave him soon made him forget.

“You’d do that…for me?” he asked hopefully and Tidus nodded in conformation.

“Yup.” Without really thinking Harry just let go. One minute he was standing by the door with Tidus holding his hands and the next he was kissing him fiercely with his arms threaded around his neck. His guardian’s eyes widened in shock before he began to kiss back. A round of tonsil hockey later Harry finally managed to pull himself away and smiled as he saw the goofy grin that was slowly blossoming over the blonde’s face.

“You can’t believe how long I’ve been wanting to do that.” Tidus drawled, nearly intoxicated. Harry rolled his eyes and bent to pick up his staff from where he dropped it when he’d practically jumped on the blonde. Even as he schooled his features into a more normal expression his eyes practically glowed with life. Uncontrolled and wild power was flowing off him as he went to open the door once more. He looked back at the last second and smiled.

“Don’t tell the others yet.” He said softly. “I want to enjoy this while it lasts.” Tidus nodded dumbly as Harry finally left the room. It wasn’t till then that he dared to move in the direction of the bathroom.

‘Damnit, Damnit, Damnit, Damnit… why did that kiss have to be so good?’ he asked himself, making sure he wasn’t going to broadcast again as he took care of a little problem.

_______________________________________________

Gatta and O'aka where confused.

Ever since Harry had woken up that morning he’d been… brighter than he’d ever seemed before. Hell, he was moody and often lost in thought but the Summoner held himself a little higher, now more so than ever, the weight on his shoulders had been somewhat lifted over the past two days and if it wasn’t obvious before it was blatantly so now. Of course, unlike Rikku and Auron, the pair didn’t quite understand ‘why’ it was that Harry was buzzing with energy as he talked with Captain Lucil and the other crusaders. They where finally heading north. A small contingent of fighters where to stay at the temple and help protect it but the rest needed supplies and other things that couldn’t be found in the area. After all, they’d stayed to wait for Harry in the first place and now that they where sure of his safety and status with Yevonites they didn’t mind going on ahead.

“We’ll clear the way.” Clasko had said as Harry and Rikku waved him and the other Chocobo knights off. Eventually the frantic pace of the morning slowed and Harry decided it was time to leave.

“As nice as it would be,” he said wistfully as the sun reached it’s peak in the sky, “we can’t stay here.” The guardians agreed and Tidus gave him a lopsided smile.

“Maybe we can come back later.” He suggested brightly. Harry gave him a smile before they went to get ready, but before he could get far Rikku spoke up, or rather, just squealed.

“Oh, Oh! Hey Ry! You’ll never guess what I found!” She bounced on the spot as everyone stopped and watched her flee toward her room before running back with a long object in her hands. She came to a skidding halt in front of the dark haired Summoner and held out the object with a grin that nearly split her face in two. In her hands was the staff.

“I found it in the temple.” She chirped brightly. “I blew out a wall and this was behind it and I thought it must be yours. "Cause it’s all black, with the emerald like your eyes and it has pretty lightning all over it just like that really faint scar on your head I saw when you where sleeping back on Kilika.” At her words Auron’s head snapped up to look at her with a fixated expression but shifted silently and didn’t pursue the issue as he watched Harry speculatively, his suspicions already forming. Everyone else, fortunately, where oblivious. Harry didn’t take his eyes off the staff as he offered Rikku a kind of distracted smile. Along its side there where engravings, inlaid with silver wire that wove a pattern, and for a moment, under the dancing sparks of electricity, they almost looked as if they where alive.

An owl soared down its length behind a largish dog, a fox, a wolf, another bird, this one smaller and a moon calf. His face nearly drained of all colour as he realized what they looked like and where he’d seen them before. His good mood from that morning went crashing down around him as he reached out and took it from Rikku’s grasp only to have the magic around them sing in recognition, not unlike the reaction a wand had when it found the one who could wield it to its full potential. Rikku was staring at him, confused by his reaction as Tidus listened absently to the faint and panicked ramblings of Harry’s mind.

“What’s wrong, Ry?” The Al Bhed asked, leaning over slightly to see up into Harry’s face. Green eyes didn’t budge from the staff in his hands.

“Nothing Rikku.” He said quietly, “Just old memories.” Rikku opened her mouth to apologize but Auron abruptly cleared his throat.

“We need to leave soon.” He said in a voice close to monotone. “And we still need to find a way past the warriors guarding the Shoopuff , not to mention how we will pass Guadosalam.” Harry ripped his eyes away from the staff and looked at the grizzled guardian.

“Right.” He said with a tone that dismissed his previous air, pushing his memories back into the depths of his mind and bringing himself back to reality.

“You’d best get back to preparing. We’ll leave in an hour or two.” With nods and a happy ‘Yes’ from Rikku and Gatta they dispersed to their duties once more. Harry went back to his room, with Tidus on his tail. The blonde stole a kiss before he went about repacking his backpack. Grabbing the robe he’d left on a chair, Harry went out into the temple grounds alone and sat down on one of the natural rock stairs that framed the area around the temple. Sitting there he opened himself to the magic and the bleak place sprung to life in a blaze of colour and sound that only he could see.

Ever present was the giant throbbing blue node of power the electrified temple sat on. There had been one in Kilika too, the ley crossings of this world where most powerful where the Fayth rested. Aside from that though, were the auras of those around him and that of the numerous small creatures that infested the area. The local’s called them monkeys, but Harry thought they looked more like a mix between a cat and a dog rather than a monkey. The human presence wasn’t as numerous as he carefully looked at the Inn.

It was as if the walls didn’t exist really. A golden pyre of energy burned in the place where Tidus stood, imprinted with the shape of a dragon that loomed beside the temple node, gaining clarity almost disturbingly quick. Not far away was a smaller, but still impressive red aura that was tightly controlled by its owner. That was Auron, without a doubt. Gatta was hanging around him again too it seemed. His aura was white, but a sharp slash of sickly green that represented pain split it almost in two. Rikku’s Aura sang under his scrutiny. It was a sunny yellow that he nearly couldn’t see behind that of Tidus. It was this that confused the Summoner more often than not. They where either very alike in personality or they had a common ancestor, in order to display such similarities. The fact itself was the reason why it was easy for anyone to mistake the for brother and sister.

Last but not least was O'aka. The merchant’s aura was purple. A funny colour for sure but after seeing Lulu’s previously, Harry knew it was probably due to his affinity for black magic. The new black mage was coming along in his studies too, but the wily ex-merchant still had a habit of beating people over the head with his staff if they irritated him enough. Not that it was bad of course, O'aka could hit HARD!

Harry was so caught up in observing everyone from a magical perspective that he didn’t notice when one of the young monks in training approached. The child, a little girl, tugged on his sleeve shyly, shattering his concentration in a heartbeat. He jumped slightly and looked down a little to see the child’s hesitant smile. Harry offered her one in return and raised an eyebrow, silently asking her what she wanted. The girl went red and began to mumble.

“I’m training to be a Priest.” She said in a tone that almost sounded proud before she went back to her quiet mumbling. “I was wondering… since you’re the Master Summoner and all… would you summon an Aeon for us to see?” Harry blinked before he looked up to see a few other children gathered around him with older monks and priests watching from the shadow of the temple.

“I’m no Master Summoner.” He said softly and the girl looked as though she was about to cry, but Harry went on. “But I haven’t seen my new Aeon yet.” The children immediately took that as a ‘yes’ and pulled him from his seat on the rock stairs and into the center of the courtyard before scattering to a safe distance. Harry shook his head and heaved a sigh before he closed his eyes and sorted around his mind to find the new Aeon. The connection came alive almost as soon as he called and the air around him crackled with ambient energy once more.

From the point of view of his audience he suddenly became surrounded by a force field that shone brightly as lightning flashed and lanced around him. A symbol appeared in the air above him and Harry swung around as the Aeon cried out for help getting through. A chain of lighting grabbed hold of it’s horn and Harry pulled on his staff as hard as he could before the barrier between worlds gave way and Ixion burst into life, accompanied by errant shards of reality. They dissolved as they hit the ground but Ixion landed and pranced in front of Harry as the Summoner opened his eyes. There was clapping from nearby as some of those who had been watching from a distance moved closer and stared. The children bounced over and all clamored to touch it. Harry looked at the proud Aeon as it allowed the children to coo over it and nearly laughed.

It looked as though it was a mix between a unicorn and a thesteral. It had a short and powerful body and bunched muscles that where tensed and ready for anything. Its mane and tail looked as though they’d been shocked by lighting or gelled that way, sticking right up in the air, its tail curving slightly where the hair became too heavy for the static electricity the Aeon generated to keep it up in the air. Large chunks of his mane where plastered down against its neck with gold and blue rings. On its head was a horn, although it was two pronged with the larger point curving over the top and the smaller decorated by a fist sized gem. Its body however was bony and looked like its ribs where showing, but if you got close enough you could see they where only stripes. They where another sign of the Aeon’s supernatural nature.

Harry finally dragged his eyes away from it and looked it in the eye, only to see one milky white iris and pupil looking back at him like it was blind, but Harry knew better.

“Alright… I think its time Ixion returned.” The children groaned but backed off as Harry made a gesture and the thunder unicorn, as he’d daubed it, bowed awkwardly before leaping backwards and shattering the barrier of reality once more as it left the corporeal plane. There was clapping form off to one side and Harry felt himself going red with embarrassment as he spotted Auron smirking at him. He spent the rest of the time waiting for the others under the guardian’s watchful eye as he answered the questions of the young Acolytes and Apprentices.

None to soon it was time to leave and just like in Kilika the majority of the temple population came to wave them off. Even so, Harry was relieved when they passed out of sight around the bend in the road.

“So what now?” Tidus asked as they fell into a steady walking pace. O'aka was nearly bouncing as he answered.

“We’re going to cross the Moonflow.” Gatta gave him a flummoxed expression.

“Didn’t Sir Auron say people where guarding the Shoopuff?” O'aka looked at him before pouting.

“Bugger.” He muttered childishly and continued walking. Harry laughed at his guardian’s antics from his place between Rikku and Tidus. The Al Bhed was looking thoughtful.

“Hmmm, maybe… I know!” She chirped, a new bounce coming to her step and she turned side on and did a funny kind of side skip in order to see Harry’s face as she walked. “You know how we where kidnapping Summoners to stop them from using the final summoning. Well, some of my people where going to try and recapture Yuna at the Moonflow. Maybe if some of them are still there they can give us a ride across.” Eyebrows raised and everyone stopped to look at her.

“What!?” She asked indignantly, making O'aka laugh again. Harry came to her rescue.

“That’s actually a very good idea Rikku.” He said evenly, looking around as they took up walking again. “I was going to suggest using Illusions to sneak across on the Shoopuff. At least if the Al Bhed can get us across we won’t have to take unnecessary risk.” General noises of agreement went around and Rikku bounced along, before falling back to Harry again.

“Alright! They’ll be able to help us. They had our underwater ship in the river as a temporary base of operations.” With that settled they picked up the pace to reach the relative safety of the river before nightfall. En route they came across two large Ronso that where taking their time as they swaggered across the path, peering into the trees, eagerly looking for something. Harry’s group slowed in caution as they approached and the Ronso pair looked up at them with arrogant gazes.

“Look Yenke!” The blue Ronso of the pair said loudly. “A Summoner and guardian’s!” The blonde looked at their party with dark eyes before focusing on the Summoner at the center of their defensive formation.

‘At least someone knows what doing.’ Yenke thought to himself.

“Summoner.” It wasn’t meant to be taken either positively or negatively, just as a simple acknowledgement that the dark haired Goatling was a Summoner. Among their tribe respect needed to be earned and until then they weren’t worthy of their respect. Harry nodded in return as they made to continue on past, not looking for a confrontation but before they could get far the Ronso, Yenke stopped them.

“Wait! Ronso give warning!” He said in a loud rumbling voice. “Summoners disappear, Never return.” It was a repeat of the warning he’d given to Summoner Yuna when she’d passed with the hornless little Kimahri.

“Next will be your Summoner!” Biran threw in his two cents, directing the comment at the nearest Guardian, which happened to be Tidus. A flash of blue appeared in his eyes and for a moment the Ronso could see the power within. Tidus shook his head.

“No one is going to take Harry if I can help it.” His words where fierce and Yenke, although he’d probably never admit it, was a little impressed.

“Luck to you.” He said with a nod before they wondered off in the other direction, looking for more fiends to kill as they walked. Rikku just stared in their direction after they’d gone with her jaw hanging open. Auron reached across and closed it for her.

“What was that about?” Harry asked. O'aka just looked at him as though he was mad.

“The Ronso are real proud creatures.” He said, composure slipping. “They do everything for a reason and they don’t nod to anyone the first time they meet them… well… at least I don’t think so.” Tidus looked a little stunned but Harry just rolled his eyes in exasperation.

“Everywhere I go…” He muttered, irritation reflected in his eyes even if it wasn’t reflected in his tone.

They continued on to the Moonflow none the less and stopped by the water’s edge, out of sight of the people at the wharf waiting for the strangely absent elephant like beast to return. Rikku went to the waters edge while Tidus and Harry stared at the river and the mass of pyre flies that floated above it, completely enchanted by their surroundings. The Al Bhed girl reached into her pouch once again and came out with a whistle. Putting it to her lips she blew as hard as she could and the soundless signal went out over the water at a frequency to high for human ears to hear. She stopped when she ran out of breath and put the whistle away before walking back to where every one else was waiting.

“They’ll be here soon.” She assured them. They waited, just watching the pyreflies for what felt like forever before the water rippled just a little ways into the water. Tidus noticed it and got to his feet to stand beside Auron and watch. Slowly a tall metallic fin emerged from the water and a door opened in the side. A few Al Bhed hopped out of the underwater ship and got into a boat that was swiftly paddled over to the river bank.

“Knaadehkc vneahtc!”(Greetings Friends!) One shouted as they got within range. Rikku bounced around once more and waved energetically.

“Rammu Pnudran!” (Hello Brother!) Rikku replied as they beached on the river bank and the Al Bhed jumped out and hugged her. “Femm oui ramb ic lnucc?” (Will you help us cross?) she asked, gesturing to the river.

“Cina.” (Sure) The Al Bhed whom they assumed was yet another of Rikku’s brothers nodded making Rikku grin at him and spin on her companions.

“They’ll help!” She confirmed, even though at least Harry and Tidus had understood the conversation. “Come on! Let’s go!” Everyone laughed at her exuberance and piled into the boat before they pushed off again. As they neared the Fin, Harry looked down into the water and the pyre flies swarmed to light the object that floated passively in the water awaiting them. Harry nearly fell out of the boat as his jaw dropped in complete shock.

“LEVIATHAN!? YOU HAVE LEVIATHAN!?” Their little boat nearly tipped as nearly everyone jumped in shock at his shout. “Merlin! I didn’t think I’d ever see it again…” He trailed off staring at the giant sub with eyes that nearly glowed with excitement. The Summoner was close to hyper when they reached the ship and entered it. Much to the confusion of everyone there. The moment he was on board he fought the urge to dance and span on the spot, trying to take in everything at once, from the rune engraved strips that made the corridors glow, to the personalized doors that he’d once looked at every day for six months.

Then he spotted one that he’d never thought he’d see again and ran over to it before hitting the wall off to one side, causing a panel to open and extend a keypad. Harry’s fingers danced over it as he fumbled to type in the code.

The door slid open with a hiss of pressurized air and revealed the deathly still room beyond. Those who had rushed to follow him stopped dead and gaped as dust floated serenely under the dim emergency lighting. The Al Bhed had never been able to access these rooms. They’d never discovered the mechanism to unlock them, and they would have had difficulty getting past the passwords. Harry was smiling as he stepped inside and breathed in the millennia old, stale air.

“What is this place?” Harry didn’t move from where he stood as Tidus entered the room behind him with a whisper, hardly wanting to disturb the Summoner all that much.

“This is my room.” He answered in a low voice, surprising everyone when he opened his eyes, only to have them glow as memories flowed behind them. It seemed today was a day for confronting memories. “I traveled on this Submarine on my first pilgrimage and this is where I stayed in that time… the Magical Underwater Combat Sub, Leviathan.” Suddenly Harry’s reaction to the underwater ship began to make sense to anyone who had guessed Harry’s identity. Tidus and a few Al Bhed suddenly nodded in understanding, and to at least Harry’s surprise, so did Auron. Once again Harry mentally groaned.

So much for secrets.