Title: Twin Blades
Fandoms: Harry Potter & Final Fantasy X
Author: Batsutousai
Beta: Shara Lunison
Rating: M/R
Pairings: Harry/Tidus (with a side of practically everybody/Harry)
Warnings: OoC, AU, playboy!Harry, NON-SPARKLY-vampire!Harry
Summary: Harry was shunned by his own people because of a bitter vampire and continued living long after England was just a pile of rubble. He watches his world become Spira and finally sets out again to save the world.

Disclaim Her: This story uses characters and settings owned by J.K. Rowling, her publishers and Square Enix. No money is being made from the creation of this fanfic, and no copywrite infringement is intended.

A/N: Last chapter!! XD (Hey, it was longer than Fayth by two whole chapters.)

And, uh, sorry about the wait. About the time I was planning to update, I realised I had two huge projects due. So I've been working on those. Almost done with the second one. *ded*

-0-
Blood
-0-

"So, let me get this straight," Cid said. "You plan to meet with Sin, tomorrow, by Bevelle, right?"

Harry nodded, rolling his eyes. They'd already explained everything to the Al Bhed leader when they'd gotten on board the evening before.

"Okay. And then, you want me to use my airship to blow a hole in its side?"

Harry glanced at Yunalesca when she let out a quiet growl. Yuna was already shushing her namesake for the perceived slight in regards to the ownership of the airship.

"Then, we take you...ten...in there and just... leave you?" Cid continued, looking dubiously at Fred. He'd been able to accept Yunalesca's presence, but was still having trouble with the fiend. Truth be told, Fred wasn't sure how he felt about being around so many people, and had taken to either staying in the room Yuna had been given, or following her around. It was almost cute how he'd attached himself to the young summoner.

"You could come in with us," Auron said drily.

"And risk my airship?"

"It's not–"

"Yunalesca," Harry said, rubbing at his face. The woman frowned at him. "The Al Bhed found the Fahrenheit fairly. Their claim is legit."

"But it's Father's!" Yunalesca insisted, leaning forward.

"I somehow doubt Yu has much use for it," Harry replied.

"I will not sit here and–"

"You're not yet too old for me to beat you over my knees, young lady," Harry snapped, standing from the table and giving his niece a sharp look. "The Al Bhed found this ship and repaired it and figured out how to drive it themselves. It belongs to them. If your father wishes to make a claim, he's more than capable of doing so. Now sit down and shut up."

Yunalesca glared at Harry for a long moment before, finally, sinking back into her seat and crossing her arms over her chest. It wasn't the first time the vampire had reminded her that he was still the man who'd brought her up to be a Lady of Zanarkand, in spite of his usual flirting. He'd already had her change into something a little less revealing and told her off a few other times when she'd complained about the Al Bhed being on her father's ship.

Harry dropped himself back into his own chair and looked tiredly at Cid, who was trying to hide a smile. "Oh, sod off."

Cid chuckled. "Want to play parent to my kids, too?"

Harry gave the man the finger, which set most of the people around the table off.

"Oh, I needed that," Tidus said once he'd caught his breath, and the others nodded. They'd all been on edge since Harry had set a date with Sin, both because of the impending battle, and the state of the city they were to fight near. They'd sent word to Bevelle that Sin was heading their way, but considering who the message had been sent by, the party had a feeling Bevelle wouldn't evacuate. Indeed, the Al Bhed in the area around the city said the people were continuing on normally.

Harry, Tidus and Yuna were feeling the stress the most. Yuna had become friends with all her aeons, and wasn't looking forward to watching them be killed. Moreover, Harry and Tidus had let her in on the secret of what Tidus was, since the younger vampire needed someone to feed from, and Yuna had seemed the most likely prospect, as the two were good friends. So all three of them were worried about whether or not Harry's plan would keep Tidus in this world, as well as feeling pained at the knowledge that they were going to be killing the fayth.

The whole party, of course, now knew that Tidus was a vampire, as it had been a little hard to hide his growing abilities and the fading of his dark tan. But the only people who knew why Harry had turned him were the two vampires and Yuna. Tidus and Harry agreed that Auron probably guessed, since he, too, knew the whole story, but considering how tight-lipped the unsent was about most things, he would never voice his suspicions.

Cid sighed and leaned forward, all joking gone from his expression. "You two know this ship," he said, looking between Harry and Yunalesca. "What are the chances of it coming out of a battle with Sin in one piece?"

Harry and Yunalesca traded looks. "Not very," the woman replied. "But Father may not want to actually damage Fahrenheit, considering how much he loved it, so it's got a better chance than any other airship."

"There are... certain precautions we can take," Harry added carefully.

"Like that ward you used against your boat?" Tidus asked.

Harry grimaced. "I don't know that I can create a shield strong enough to completely ward off Sin's attacks, but I can probably put something together. We can also keep to distance attacks. It'll limit how much damage we can do, but enough of our party can use magic that we should be fine on deck, and if we can get that damn main gun working properly without overheating after ten minutes, that'll go a long way to evening the playing field."

"If we help you with this shield, could we make it stronger?" Lulu asked.

Harry blinked and considered that. In his time, creating shields like the one he was planning were usually done by a group of wizards and witches, but he'd never been sure how much Old Earth magic the people of Spira could do, and since he was a fairly strong wizard, it had never been something he'd really needed to think on. "We can certainly try it," he agreed. "It's Old Earth magic, but since you lot were able to cast the lightning ward..."

"No harm in trying it out," Tidus said, practically bouncing in his chair. "Can we?"

Harry chuckled and nodded to Cid. "We'll go see what we can do. Yunalesca, would you like to come?"

Yunalesca looked around the table to where Tidus, Yuna and Lulu were all rising, then nodded and got to her own feet. "Sure. Never tried casting Old Earth magic, before."

Harry shrugged and led the way out, with Fred moving quickly to follow Yuna.

"So, what about us?" Wakka asked.

Cid stood. "Well, I've got a main gun to fix," he said. "Which you can help with, if you feel like being sacrilegious." He smiled knowingly.

Wakka blinked while Rikku stood to go with her father, and both Kimahri and Auron went their own ways. Without anything better to do, Wakka sighed and stood. "Sure."

Looking impressed, Cid led the two guardians down to the bottom of the ship, where the gun was located.

-0-0-0-

Harry went over the ward he wanted to use with his group before they went out onto the deck to cast it. With five casters, the ward was much stronger than the one Harry had cast himself over the boat to Bevelle. Considering the ward after they'd finished anchoring it, Harry said, "You know, this might – just – work."

"Really?" Yuna asked, looking up and trying to see the magic that she could feel surrounding them.

Harry walked over to her. "Here, close your eyes," he ordered, then cast a spell on her eyelids. "Okay, try now."

Yuna looked up at the ward and gasped. "Wow..." she whispered, staring at the various colours swirling above them. "That's the ward?"

Harry nodded, then turned to add the magic vision to his other helpers so they could see it too. Even Fred.

"Colours," Fred said, blinking up at the ward with all seven eyes. "Pretty."

"It is," Lulu agreed. "Do they mean anything? The colours?"

Harry nodded, then smiled when everyone turned to him. "Anyone who uses magic has an affinity for a spell, or a certain type of magic, and that particular magic shows in their magical aura, which you can see with magical sight when a person casts a spell. Wards are coloured with the auras of the people who create them, so all those colours are us."

"So, who's which?" Tidus asked.

Harry considered the colours. "The yellow-green is me. It used to be more green, but after that lightning accident I told you all about, it took on a yellow hue."

"What was the green for?" Yunalesca asked.

"The Killing Curse," Harry replied grimly. "Old Earth Death spell." He sighed and rubbed at his chin. "The white is Yuna, blue is Tidus, purple the lovely Lulu, and that sickly green is you, lily." He glanced curiously at his niece. "Looks like a zombie spell, to me."

Yunalesca nodded. "I started favouring it near the end of the Wars."

Harry chuckled and looked back up at the bright colours again.

"Why white?" Yuna asked of herself. "Cure magic?"

Harry shook his head. "Cure magic is more blue. No, the white is life magic."

"And I'm water?" Tidus asked, pointing at a bright blue patch directly above him.

Harry nodded. "Most blitzers I've met were. Something about spending so much time in the water."

Tidus snickered. "So I'm your opposite?"

Harry chuckled. "Partially. I also have an affinity for death, if you'll recall."

"So that means we're both your opposite!" Yuna said, bouncing a little.

"Hm. I suppose so," Harry agreed with a smile.

"And purple?" Lulu asked.

Harry considered the colour. "Poison."

"You do like to use Bio a lot," Yuna commented.

"Not as much as she does Fire," Harry complained.

Lulu rose an eyebrow at him. "That's because I can't grab your ear."

Harry rolled his eyes while the others laughed. "Yeah, yeah. Sorry I'm so fast. But why Fire?"

"Because you hate it so much. And you always duck it, anyway," Lulu replied.

"Hey, why is that, anyway?" Yuna asked. "You do always manage to duck the Fire."

Harry shrugged. "Fire's not really the fastest element. Especially through air. Thunder, on the other hand, I cannot dodge. Even if I wanted to."

"Really?" Yuna said, looking surprised.

"Black mages learn that as part of their training," Lulu said quietly.

Yuna frowned. "Does that mean I was the only one that didn't know that?"

"I, too, am a white mage," Yunalesca offered. "It not something I learned, but it is something I figured out, from the war."

"Well, maybe I'll learn some black magic, then," Yuna decided, looking around at her friends. "Will you teach me?"

Harry smiled. "Sweetheart, when we've defeated Sin, we'll teach you anything you want to learn."

"Even Old Earth magic?"

Harry nodded. "Even Old Earth magic."

Yuna smiled. "I'll hold you to that."

-0-0-0-

The next morning, they flew to Bevelle with a full shield and a mostly functional main gun. Surprisingly, it had been Wakka who found the problem in the gun: a small piece of grey-green seaweed had gotten caught in the mechanism, and the islander had been the only one to see it. The machina-hater had found himself suddenly the centre of attention on the ship and had been asked more than once if he could fix something else before, laughing, Harry and Lulu rescued him.

Sin hadn't yet arrived when they flew into the city's airspace, so Harry had hopped into the comm. chair and flipped it on. "Okay, you bunch of idiots, this is your last warning. Sin will be here today and there will be collateral damage to the city. If you don't get the hell out of there, we won't be held accountable for your deaths. That's all!"

"Hm. And here I thought you didn't care about the people of Bevelle," Lulu commented once Harry had shut the comm. off.

Harry snorted. "I don't. But I also can't just let them all die because they're idiots. Well, actually, I can. But not because of a lack of trying."

"He's got such a kind heart," Yunalesca commented with a touch of sarcasm.

Harry rolled his eyes and leaned back in the chair. "Yeah, yeah. So what? I'm allowed to be nice."

"To Bevelle?" Yunalesca replied, looking dubious.

Harry shrugged. "So they chose to live in a bad place and followed idiots. Doesn't make them bad people, just stupid."

"Sure about that?"

"Well, most of them aren't bad people," Harry corrected, grinning at his niece.

"Unless you're an Al Bhed," Rikku supplied playfully, "then they throw things at you."

Harry chuckled. "Or one of our party. I'm sure, if they saw us, they'd pull out the pitchforks and chase us through the streets."

"Why pitchforks?" Rikku asked.

Harry just groaned.

Yunalesca snickered. "Old Earth," she explained.

"Ah..." Rikku nodded. "He does that a lot."

"I know. You'd think, after a thousand years with people who keep asking him, he'd start using Spiran terms," the unsent woman commented. "But he just keeps on making a fool of himself."

Harry eyed his niece balefully. "You grow up in a different world and try to keep up," he complained.

"Sin's coming!" Cid shouted from the front of the ship.

"That's our cue," Harry said, hopping out of the chair. "To the deck!"

Together, the party ran for the elevator and made their way to the open deck of the airship. Fred went with them, scared but determined.

When Sin saw the ship, it seemed almost surprised for a moment, then let out an angry sound and shot a blast at it, which missed completely.

Harry chuckled and pulled out the remote connection to the comm. "Sorry about that, but we couldn't let you destroy her. You understand."

"Where'd you take that from?" Rikku demanded as Sin let out another angry shout.

"Made it last night," he said, keeping it from the Al Bhed girl. "Do you mind?" he added when Rikku kept bouncing around him, trying to get the controller.

"Save your energy for battle," Auron suggested, pulling out his sword. "Sin is here."

"It flies?" Tidus demanded as Sin grew wings and rose from the water.

"Apparently so," Harry said drily, putting the controller away. "Don't stare, hit it before it hits us!" he ordered, then shot Thundaga at it.

"Pops! Start firing as soon as it's in range!" Rikku ordered into the mini comm. on her shirt which allowed them to keep in communication with the bridge.

"Roger! Loaded and ready!"

"Hey, what's that?" Tidus asked, pointing at something on Sin's fin.

Harry stepped up next to the teen and looked at the spot. "Rikku?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell Cid there's a shiny spot on Sin's fin. It's really small, but I think that, if we aim for that, this might be a little easier."

"Right!" Rikku said, then set about passing the message on while Yunalesca, Yuna, Lulu and Wakka all moved forward to stand with Harry and Tidus.

Those using magic all started casting – Yunalesca had spent the night before teaching Yuna Holy – while Wakka waited for the monster to get a little closer before gleefully bouncing his ball against it.

With six distance attackers and a full arsenal of guns, it didn't take long to bring Sin out of the sky. Wounded, the great beast landed in the centre of Bevelle.

Harry cackled. "Well done, old friend! Brilliant aim!"

"Looks like Bevelle will have to rebuild again," Yunalesca said with a smug look.

The two gave each other high fives, making the rest of the party shake their heads.

"Here," Rikku said, handing out elixirs to the party.

"He's not going to stay down for long," Auron pointed out.

"And we still haven't found a way in," Tidus agreed grumpily.

Harry scratched at the back of his head. "Hm. Wait!" He turned to Yunalesca, braid whipping out behind him and almost hitting Tidus and Wakka. "Yu's favourite spell."

Yunalesca's eyes lit up. "Gravity!"

"Translate?" Yuna asked.

"Gravity pulls people to you," Yunalesca said while Harry picked the bridge comm. off of Rikku's shirt.

"Hey, Cid! Willing to come in with us?" Harry asked, skipping out of Rikku's reach.

"What are you planning now, you crazy vampire?" Cid demanded.

"I'm thinking, since we're having trouble blowing a hole in the side, why not take the door? Sin might just be angry enough to think swallowing us is its best bet."

"Take it from the inside?" Cid replied.

"Blow it," Harry agreed. "We'll take the long path to destroy Yu while you lot make us an escape route. Sound good?"

"Perfect!" Cid replied, then started bellowing orders to his crew.

Harry handed the comm. back to Rikku, who glared at him, then pulled out his own comm. and flipped it on. "Poor little Sin," he said nastily. "Can't take on a little ship. Maybe you should just eat us, hmm? Might work better."

Sin let out a furious roar and tried hitting them with another blast of energy, but it just went around them.

Harry laughed. "You missed."

Sin screamed at him, then pulled itself up and got back in the air, heading for the airship.

"Hold on tight!" Wakka shouted as Sin opened its mouth.

Everyone grabbed at the deck and each other as Sin pulled them all inside.

-0-0-0-

"You know, a part of me was actually expecting a stomach," Harry commented as they left the airship behind to start blasting holes in the armour.

"Even though you knew Sin wasn't actually alive?" Yuna inquired.

Harry nodded. "Odd, isn't it?"

"How do you know this isn't a stomach?" Wakka asked.

Harry blinked. "My people sent little cameras down into people's stomachs. I know what one looks like."

"You put machina in people's stomachs?" Wakka demanded.

"Usually after they were dead," Harry replied, as if that would make is better.

Wakka moaned.

"Well, I didn't expect to find fiends in here," Tidus complained as they got attacked.

"Fiends everywhere," Fred said helpfully, then shot a string of acid at the adamantoise.

"What he said," Wakka added, tossing his ball.

Tidus just sighed.

-0-0-0-

"Aren't you dead yet?" Tidus asked Seymour when they ran into him again.

Seymour smiled at them creepily. "Sin has chosen me. I am part of Sin. I will be with Sin, forever. Immortal!"

"That's funny," Harry said. "From what I know of Sin, it's hardly immortal, just hard to kill."

Seymour looked at where Yunalesca stood, staff held ready to attack. "But without Lady Yunalesca, no one will ever attack Sin again. I will live forever!"

"Not if I can help it," Yuna said, then cast Holy.

Seymour hissed at the damage and glared at the party. "Then I will destroy you," he said, and attacked.

Once again, they kicked Seymour's arse, and, this time, there was nothing to stop Yuna from sending him. So she did.

They came across Jecht next, inside a ruined blitzball arena.

"You're late, Auron."

"I know," the red-clad man replied.

Jecht looked at Tidus, who cocked an eyebrow at him. Jecht sort of smiled and said, "So you came."

Tidus shrugged. "Not for you."

Jecht laughed. "No, I don't suppose you did," he said, looking at where Harry stood behind the younger vampire, something in his eyes asked Harry to protect Tidus, and Harry nodded.

Tidus looked between his father and the other vampire with a frown. Harry just smiled at him, so Tidus turned back to Jecht and said, "I hate you."

Jecht laughed again. "I know." He smiled crookedly. "When this battle starts, I won't be myself anymore," he warned them. Then, looking at Yunalesca and Harry, added, "Neither will he."

"We understand," Harry said for the whole party.

Jecht nodded and turned into his aeon, which they beat ruthlessly.

When it was over, Jecht was just himself again, and he smiled up at where Tidus stood over him. "So it ends," he whispered.

Tidus nodded. "Say hi to mom for me."

Jecht nodded and closed his eyes. "I will," he agreed, then faded away into pyreflies.

Above them, a ball of black light glowed down at them, just watching.

"Father," Yunalesca whispered.

The light bobbed, as if in agreement.

"Let's set him free," Yuna said firmly, holding her staff out to start summoning.

"And end this," Auron agreed.

"Keep an eye on Yuna," Harry ordered Yunalesca as Yu came down to take control of the first aeon Yuna had ever made friends with, Valefor.

As Yunalesca hurried over to the younger summoner's side, the party met Valefor in battle and defeated it.

So it went, until there was nothing left but a ball of light, and that light formed into a greying man with full robes. He looked over at where Yunalesca hugged a crying Yuna, and then to where Harry stood, a streak of blood on his face from where Odin had gotten him and the wound had healed. "Thank you," Yu said.

Harry cocked his head to one side. "For?"

Yu smiled. "For coming back. For fighting me, no matter what. For being my friend, even when I sent you to your death."

Harry grinned. "You never tried burning me at the stake."

Yu shook his head. "I did worse, though."

"I suppose that depends on your definition of 'worse'," Harry said. "As far as I'm concerned, burning me at the stake was the worst thing my friends ever did to me, and they didn't even do it believing I'd live. You knew I wouldn't die, and, yet, you always worried. That made it worth being your friend."

Yu inclined his head. "I'll be waiting for you, when you finally figure out how to die."

Harry grinned. "I look forward to it."

Yu smiled, sadly, and looked at Yuna and his daughter. "Send me," he requested.

"We thought we'd have to fight you," Tidus said, confused.

Yu chuckled. "I am not yet so lost that I cannot keep myself from attacking my family. Send me, daughter of Braska."

Yunalesca rested a hand on Yuna's shoulder. "Remain strong, High Summoner Yuna," she said, then stepped forward to stand next to her father, who took her hand.

Yuna nodded and started the sending.

The air around the party filled with pyreflies as Yu and Yunalesca faded away. Auron stepped forward, pyreflies leaking from him, and nodded to Yuna. The girl swallowed, but sent him as well.

Just as the armour they were standing on started to break apart, the airship came thundering over and picked them up. They flew out a hole that had formed and the party went out onto the deck to watch Sin, finally, go away for good.

Above them, the aeons appeared, smiling. In front of Yuna, James appeared. "Send us, Lady Yuna. Free us from our prisons."

Yuna nodded, and started her dance again.

James looked past the dancer, at his grandfather, and smiled. Harry smiled back at him, understanding, and the child disappeared.

"Harry?" Tidus whispered, setting a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Hm?" Harry asked, watching the fayth disappear.

"I'm hungry," the younger vampire said.

Harry frowned and turned to look at the boy. He took in the eyes hazing over with red and the unusually long fangs, horror welling in his stomach. "You're going into bloodlust," Harry whispered.

Tidus closed his eyes. "The party..."

Harry swallowed and looked around. No one was watching them, entranced by Sin's explosion as they were, so he grabbed the teen's arms and said, "There's only ocean beneath us."

Tidus smiled. "Jump."

Harry nodded, and, together, they jumped off the Fahrenheit and into the sea not far from the empty streets of Bevelle.

-0-0-0-

There was a search for the two vampires for a couple days, Yuna fearing the worst about their fate. But, finally, the search had to be called off, because Kinoc had asked them to come to the stadium in Luca, where the whole party could be congratulated. Kinoc was the only maester left, as Mika had been in Bevelle during its destruction, and Kelk had been one of the Ronso on the mountain who had died trying to stop Seymour in his mad quest up the mountain to destroy the people who had denied him.

"Yuna," Lulu said, walking up behind the summoner who was looking over the ocean hopefully, Fred next to her.

Yuna looked back at the black mage. "It's time?"

"It is."

"Time for what?" a voice asked behind them.

Yuna turned around. "Tidus?"

Tidus and Harry pulled themselves onto the dock, soaking wet. "Hey," the blond vampire said.

"You're still here!" Yuna cried, throwing herself into waiting arms.

Harry rolled his eyes and cast a drying spell over both himself and Tidus. "My poor guns," he complained, pulling one of them out and dumping water out of the magazine chamber.

Yuna hugged Harry after letting go of Tidus, smiling up at him. "You can make more," she said.

Harry put the gun away and hugged her back. "I suppose I can," he agreed. Then he looked up towards the stadium. "Now, what in Merlin's name is going on over there? Doesn't look like a blitzball game."

Yuna shook her head. "It's a celebration of the destruction of Sin. I have to give a speech."

"Think they'd mind if a couple of vampires attended?" Harry asked teasingly.

"You're the guests of honour!" Yuna exclaimed. "Well, with me, I suppose."

"And we're going to be late," Lulu added.

Harry snorted. "If we're the guests of honour, they can wait," he replied easily, but started walking towards the stadium anyway.

"So, what happened?" Yuna asked the two vampires. "We turned around and you'd both just disappeared."

"We told you Sin and the fayth were what was keeping Tidus there, right?" Harry said. Yuna nodded. "Well, when those two entities disappeared, the only thing left was the vampire, and since Tidus had been turned with those other two supporting bits, the vampire wasn't quite ready to support everything. So Tidus went into what we call bloodlust."

"We had to get off the ship, or I would have killed everyone on board," Tidus said grimly.

Yuna looked between the two in horror and they stopped walking, Lulu turning to look at them with understanding; Yuna had told the rest of the party about the possibility of Tidus disappearing while they were looking for the vampires.

"You cannot tell friend from foe in bloodlust," Harry said softly. "Tidus would have killed without knowing what he was doing, and I'm not sure I'd have been able to stop him."

"So we jumped," Tidus said. "Down into the ocean. Something about that... knocked me out of bloodlust. But it also, uhm..."

"The stress, of his vampire blood having to take over all of his systems knocked him out," Harry said drily. "I wasn't sure if he was safe to bring back to land, so we just sat on the ocean floor, him sleeping and me bemoaning the state of my things. Didn't have time to cast any spells on them."

Yuna giggled, having seen, during the course of their journey, how Harry always worried over water ruining his clothing or guns. The vampire had once said that it was because his thousand year sleep had left him with two useless guns and rags for clothing, and the party had laughed over it.

"You stayed underwater for three days," Lulu commented.

"Vampires don't need to breathe," Harry replied.

"I only just woke up today," Tidus said, blushing. "Harry and I came up near Macalania Lake early this morning, before the sun rose. Luca was the nearest town we could think of that was still in one piece, so we decided to swim here."

"Faster than walking, if you'll believe it," Harry added cheerfully.

Yuna shook her head. "If you say so."

"Blood?" Fred said to the two vampires.

"Oh! Do you need some?" Yuna asked.

Tidus shook his head. "Turns out water for me is like lightning for Harry. After three days in the ocean, I'm full of energy."

When Yuna and Lulu looked curiously at Harry the elder vampire shrugged. "I can't tell you. Tidus and I are the only two vampires I've ever heard of that could survive on a magical element, rather than blood. I don't know if it's just a gift I passed on to him because of my own damned luck, or if it was his vampirism reaching out to find something to help him survive. But he's like me now."

"But with Water," Tidus added with a grin.

Harry just sort of stared at the younger vampire for a long moment before looking back towards the stadium. "So, event?"

"Oh!" Yuna nodded and grabbed both Harry and Tidus' hands, then hurried down the dock with them, smiling.

Shrugging, Lulu and Fred followed them.

"You're back!" Rikku said as soon as the three walked into the back of the maesters' box.

"Cheers," Harry replied with a wink.

Rikku jumped forward to hug the two vampires, while Wakka and Kimahri both greeted them with smiles.

"Is she– Oh!" Kinoc stared at the two new additions.

"These are the two friends we've been looking for," Yuna said, gesturing to the two vampires. "I met them at the docks."

Kinoc looked suspiciously at Harry – all the maesters knew about him and his forbidden machina – and the vampire just smiled at him, uncaring.

"Maester Kinoc?" Yuna said, stepping nervously between Harry and the man.

"Ah! Yes. If you're ready?" Kinoc said, focusing on the summoner.

Yuna nodded. "Yes," she said, trying to sound brave.

A hand landed gently on Yuna's shoulder and Harry kissed her cheek. "We're right behind you."

"If Lulu doesn't burn him for kissing you," Tidus added easily, taking Yuna's hand in his own.

On the summoner's other side, Rikku grabbed her hand too. "You're not facing this alone."

Yuna smiled at the three around her, and at where Lulu, Kimahri, Wakka and Fred stood next to the door, all smiling their support. "We go out together," she said. "Because we all fought. It was all of our victory. I wasn't the only person who defeated Sin."

"Why not tell them that," Harry suggested.

Yuna nodded. "I think I will," she said, and they all walked out to cheers.

"May I present, High Summoner Yuna!" Kinoc shouted, moving to one side.

Tidus and Rikku let go of Yuna's hands and the summoner walked up to the edge of the box. "Sin is gone," she said, and the stadium broke out in cheers. Yuna swallowed. "Sin is gone, but I didn't defeat him alone. I fought with friends, all of whom have become my family, and I fought with your help, in your kind words and the hope that we would make it. I may have been the one to finally send Sin, but I didn't do it alone. I want to remember that.

"And... And I want to remember the people who fought beside us who aren't here anymore. The people who fought Sin at Mushroom Rock Road and those who died when it attacked various cities and towns. I want to remember the people of towns long gone, and the summoners before me, who gave us the time to find another way. I want to remember the fayth – those men and women who died to give summoners a chance to fight back.

"And, most of all, I want to remember the man who created Sin: Yu Yevon." The stands filled with whispers as everyone turned to their neighbours in disbelief. But Yuna said, "Yu Yevon, leader of Zanarkand, who faced the horrible choice between the destruction of his people by Bevelle, or the continuation of their way of life by becoming Sin. I want to remember that, sometimes, good people are forced to do horrible things.

"Remember Zanarkand. Remember that Sin was created to protect it. Maybe, then, we won't make that mistake again." She glanced back at her party, all of whom were smiling in understanding. "That's what I want everyone here to remember."

Slowly, the crowd started to clap. And, soon, they were all cheering again, so Yuna stepped back to let Kinoc talk again.

"Do you think they'll remember?" Yuna asked her guardians.

"I don't know," Harry replied honestly. "But they'll think about it for a while. And maybe they'll make mistakes again, mistakes which remind us of Sin. But that's the beauty of being alive. They have that chance. We all do."

Yuna looked back at the stands and stared over the people there, cheering and laughing. "Okay," she said.

"The important part," Lulu added, "is that there's someone there to keep them from destroying themselves."

Harry rose an eyebrow at him. "Are you implying that I'm here to make sure humanity doesn't completely destroy itself?"

"Isn't that what you've been doing for five thousand years?" Rikku asked.

"Four thousand and a half!" Harry complained.

Tidus glanced over at the older vampire. "At least you don't have to do it alone?"

Harry blinked, then grinned. "No," he agreed, "I don't suppose I do."

"See! None of us is ever alone," Yuna insisted. "Because we've always got our friends and our family beside us. And even if some of our friends die, there's always someone else there. Right?"

Harry nodded and hugged the summoner. "Right."

-0-0-0-0-0-

A/N: The End!!
XD

So, I have a vague thought of doing a sequel, but since I'd be basing it on X-2, I feel that I should actually play that game first. (Or, at least, get further than Besaid, which is where I've gotten stuck all three times I've tried playing that game, now... -.- ) So the sequel, if there is one, won't happen for a while.
But Harry, as mentioned in an earlier chapter, knew about Vegnagun, and that hasn't really been faced, yet. So there's definitely potential for a sequel, I just have to play that damn game before I feel I can write it.

Until then!
~Bats ^.^x