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nightseer @ :
Title: Unfulfilled Wishes Disclaimer: I don’t own anything in here.
Summary: AU: Every child has a special wish they desperately want granted. Harry and Irvine’s just happen to be a touch more complicated than a pony or a new video game.
Warnings: a curse or two, and some OOCness because this originally was never meant to go beyond my scrap folder.
Fandoms: Harry Potter, Final Fantasy VIII, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Author’s Notes: I was playing around in my scrap/rough ideas folder and found this. Before I knew it, I started cleaning it up a bit and playing with it, and it developed into a one shot. This is the path Connections almost took.
Unfulfilled Wishes
No matter what memories Ifrit took from him, Irvine always remembered his first and only wish for a family. It was the only wish he had ever had granted.
It happened right after his father had died. As a thin woman packed his things before sending him to Matron, Irvine had been sitting on his bed, watching her and trying not to cry, when he softly whispered he wished he had family with him.
At five years old, Irvine hadn’t yet understood the subtleties of the spoken word. Looking back, he knew he had meant he wanted his father to still be alive, or his aunt and uncle to want to care for him, some kind of relative who wanted him around to walk through the door and claim him so he didn’t have to leave his home. But he hadn’t said that, and his wish was taken exactly as it was spoken.
A harsh whisper of “Granted” later, and Irvine was given a family of sorts, a family consisting of a scared four year old boy who bore a striking resemblance to Irvine’s father with his mother’s bright green eyes.
It had been apparent right off he and Harry were the only ones who noticed anything had changed. The woman continued to pack his things, only now pulling a slightly smaller set of clothes out of the dresser to put in an empty suitcase next to Irvine’s. The woman’s husband, a large man with a booming voice, continued to walk around, listing what could and couldn’t be sold. When he passed the toy chest and said his son, Dudley, would like them, Harry, despite the oddness of the situation, ran for the teddy bear holding a wand its clutched paws, a teddy bear Irvine knew, despite knowing Harry hadn’t been there five minutes earlier, was Harry’s. To make Harry’s behavior seem a little less odd, Irvine had followed and picked up his own cowboy hat-wearing bear. As far as the woman knew, their mother had made them especially for them, even though Irvine and Harry knew they hadn’t existed before his wish.
That was the beginning of their family.
The two boys bonded over the bears, preventing the man from taking them and the woman from looking to closely. They knew the bears were special, a symbol of what should have been and wasn’t. Irvine and Harry didn’t talk much during the three day trip to Matron’s, both somehow knowing speaking of the strangeness around the adults would lead to separation, and neither boy wanted to be away from the only other person who knew how strange their situation was.
Their first night in the orphanage, they huddled together in Irvine’s bed, Harry preferring the comfort of a new brother he didn’t know to the big emptiness of his own bed, and discussed their situation. Harry admitted he had wished for a real family after an incident with his aunt’s dog, and that it felt very odd to remember being part of a family when he knew he hadn’t had one. Irvine confessed he had always wanted a little brother to play with since his cousin was a spoiled bully.
From that night forward he and Harry both no longer questioned the result of their respective wishes, and simply accepted they had been granted. Irvine took it one step further, becoming the most over protective big brother Edea Kramer would ever encounter. He guarded his brother’s playtime with the other kids zealously, getting into more fights with Seifer than Zell and Squall combined. Edea had tried once and only once to arrange separate adoptions, but both boys put a stop to that real quick. Paying several thousand gil to get a new set of tires for prospective parents was not something she wished to repeat.
After Harry shocked one of the older children across the room for picking on him and Irvine, Edea gave up on the boys all together. She had tried several times to teach Harry responsibility when it came to his magic and believing their attachment was bordering on obsession and unhealthy, tried to separate the boys repeatedly, and failed on both counts. The boys also gave up on her ever understanding, after repeated attempts to explain how they came to know each other and why they didn’t want to be separated. The two boys were placed on the next train to Galbadia Garden where Edea hoped Harry would learn discipline and Irvine how to let his brother live his own life.
Looking back, Irvine figured that was probably Matron’s biggest regret. It was probably Cid’s as well. But then neither had expected Martine to take finding out Harry was a sorcerer so well. Ten years later, Irvine was the best sharpshooter in Galbadia, and Harry was the first Garden trained magic specialist to ever exist. Rinoa, Irvine thought as he watched the girl carefully and cheerfully pump the old man for information, was probably going to be the second, via a program that never would have existed if Harry had been sent to Balamb or Trabia.
The old man glanced at him, and Irvine sneered before looking out the window once more, letting his mind wander again. Harry he understood, Rinoa he could deal with, but some freakish old sorcerer who claimed Harry wasn’t his brother and spilling secrets they didn’t want spilled was a nuisance. Maybe Squall would let him kill Dumbledore; SeeDs were trained for that after all, with the exceptions being peaceful magic users or ones loyal to Garden.
Martine sending him and Harry on that mission with the others was Irvine’s biggest regret. Irvine had never wanted his baby brother to become a killer, and Harry had come damn close to it when Ultimecia, while possessing Matron, had tried to kill Squall. Not that Irvine knocking him out had prevented that, but he had stopped Harry from leveling Deling City after Squall fell. The next day proved Harry’s training was just as thorough as his own when Harry killed three soldiers sneaking up on Selphie and Quistis on their way out of D-District prison, using Edea’s ice attack and sarcastically thanking the absent sorceress for showing him how to do it.
A choked gasp jerked Irvine out of his thoughts, and everyone in the room turned to stare at Dumbledore. The old man was staring at Harry in horror. Irvine looked at Rinoa, and she shook her head: she hadn’t said anything to upset the man. Hand already going for his gun, Irvine’s glare pinned Dumbledore to his seat.
“You were reading my mind,” Irvine said flatly. Dumbledore nodded absently, not aware of how hostile their response would be to his answer.
Squall moved to stand between Harry and the old woman, pushing him back towards the door and ignoring Harry’s repeated jabs to move, and Xu grabbed Rinoa, yanking her away from Dumbledore and closer to the emergency exit. Quistis stepped forward, as did Selphie and the two SeeDs guarding the doors; everyone, including Rinoa and Harry, were gripping their weapons or getting ready to call on magic and Guardian Forces.
“We were willing to listen to your story,” Squall spat, finally giving in and moving just an inch so Harry could see around him, “but I don’t appreciate you violating our trust. And I believe you don’t appreciate what we are.”
“Young man, I did not mean to…”
Irvine mostly tuned him out and looked at his brother. Dumbledore wasn’t just blowing smoke with his story, but it was their secret to tell. Harry sighed and nodded right as Irvine shook his head. Harry scowled at him before stepping in front of Squall, placing one hand on the older man’s chest to get his attention.
“Dumbledore’s not completely crazy; he’s right about where I’m from,” Harry said softly, glancing at Irvine, “You see, Irvine and I are brothers, but…” His voice trailed off as Squall stepped back, his expression icing over.
With a muttered curse, Irvine let go of his gun and stood, still glaring daggers at the old man. “You just had to go poking your nose into things, didn’t you? Do you know how long he’s been here? What it was like to know somewhere my mother didn’t die during childbirth, taking him with her? What it was like for him getting screwed by Petunia and Vernon twice, once with a cupboard, once with getting dumped on Matron? What it was like finally having a family that wasn’t a broken drunk of a father, or an aunt and uncle who only wanted something to do with us after we helped defeat Ultimecia and they needed money?”
Dumbledore shook his head silently, motioning for McGonagall to stay quiet as well. Out of the corner of his eye, Irvine noticed Squall was moving to touch Harry’s shoulder in a silent apology and Harry shrugging his hand away. Only Selphie moving to stand next to him, close enough that he could feel her warmth, held Irvine back from punching Dumbledore. Two years of Harry trying to break through Squall’s icy shell and six months of a good, solid relationship (one Irvine actually approved of, mind), cracked and possibly broken because of an interfering old bastard.
“No, you don’t know any of that. You want to know why?” Irvine asked. He didn’t wait for Dumbledore’s answer, mentally scoffing at the old man’s sad expression. “You don’t know, because you don’t give a damn about my brother beyond his use in winning that war in your world. You didn’t care Petunia and Vernon locked him away, made his life hell with them there. You need a weapon, not a person.
“Well, old man, I’ve got news for you. Harry, just like everyone else in the building, is a SeeD, a weapon.” Irvine smirked, an expression that would have looked more at home on Seifer’s face. “You want my little brother to help save your collective asses, you better be willing to pay for it. Through the nose. We ain’t cheap…”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Halfrek stopped the simulation, her scowl making her scarred face more frightening than normal. She had hoped to fulfill two wishes with one act, but this just wouldn’t do.
Both boys were going to wish for a family, and while it wasn’t possible for her to bring back a child who hadn’t been carried to term without the wish being twisted; it was possible for her to rip holes in the realities to transport one child to another. Irvine Potter, going to be Irvine Kinneas once Petunia conveniently ‘lost’ his birth certificate, would have made a good brother to Harry, and Harry’s presence in his life would have made him a better boyfriend for Selphie and friend to the other children, but she couldn’t ignore Harry’s destiny or Irvine’s. Warp their paths, make it harder for the wizards to survive, make Ultimecia stronger, but not change destiny’s final goals. If she sent Harry here there was a ninety nine percent chance Irvine would not let the boy stay in his original reality long enough to complete what the Powers needed him to, what she and the others like her needed him to do for their world to survive.
She paced the temporarily frozen bedroom, turning the problem over in her mind. She could adjust Irvine’s personality slightly to make him less protective…No, that wouldn’t work either. If she changed him too much, he would lose the competitive edge he needed to become the sharpshooter assigned to assassinate the Kramer woman. There were others she could place the boy with, blood kin who would love the boy like their own, but fulfilling his wish that way would also negate his destiny. She couldn’t risk that.
Halfrek growled; she would have to leave things alone here for now. Unlike some demons, she didn’t want to become a target for the Powers by risking ending the worlds; she liked her life.
She would place Harry with Rupert Giles like she had originally intended. She did like the idea of having someone looking out for Harry like Irvine would have, and Giles would keep the boy safe and teach him what he would need to know. Harry would never become a Watcher, but he would have a much more balanced view of the world than he would have had with only the wizards’ point of view. However distant a relation, he also fulfilled the mother’s blood kin requirement, something Halfrek needed to keep on Harry to avoid death as well.
Placing her hand on Irvine’s head, Halfrek blessed him, cursing the Dursleys of this world in the process—they were despicable people in every reality. She wanted to do more for this child than making his ties with the other orphanage children closer, but she couldn’t risk it at the moment. She would, however, keep an eye on him. Just because she couldn’t grant his wish right now didn’t make him unimportant to her. She pitied the idiots who tried to hurt him.
As Halfrek faded away, answering the call of the charm she had placed on Harry, the room restarted. Irvine clutched his bear to his chest, its small felt cowboy hat tickling his chin, and watched his Aunt Petunia pack his things. He wanted his father back, a brother, a sister, for his aunt to care about him. He wanted anything but to be sent to the orphanage she was talking about. “I wish I had family.” He looked at Petunia and added, “A real family.”
Nothing happened.
Irvine squeezed his bear even tighter. Why couldn’t his wish be granted?
No matter what memories Ifrit took from him, Irvine always remembered his first and only wish for a family. It was the only wish he had ever had granted.
It happened right after his father had died. As a thin woman packed his things before sending him to Matron, Irvine had been sitting on his bed, watching her and trying not to cry, when he softly whispered he wished he had family with him.
At five years old, Irvine hadn’t yet understood the subtleties of the spoken word. Looking back, he knew he had meant he wanted his father to still be alive, or his aunt and uncle to want to care for him, some kind of relative who wanted him around to walk through the door and claim him so he didn’t have to leave his home. But he hadn’t said that, and his wish was taken exactly as it was spoken.
A harsh whisper of “Granted” later, and Irvine was given a family of sorts, a family consisting of a scared four year old boy who bore a striking resemblance to Irvine’s father with his mother’s bright green eyes.
It had been apparent right off he and Harry were the only ones who noticed anything had changed. The woman continued to pack his things, only now pulling a slightly smaller set of clothes out of the dresser to put in an empty suitcase next to Irvine’s. The woman’s husband, a large man with a booming voice, continued to walk around, listing what could and couldn’t be sold. When he passed the toy chest and said his son, Dudley, would like them, Harry, despite the oddness of the situation, ran for the teddy bear holding a wand its clutched paws, a teddy bear Irvine knew, despite knowing Harry hadn’t been there five minutes earlier, was Harry’s. To make Harry’s behavior seem a little less odd, Irvine had followed and picked up his own cowboy hat-wearing bear. As far as the woman knew, their mother had made them especially for them, even though Irvine and Harry knew they hadn’t existed before his wish.
That was the beginning of their family.
The two boys bonded over the bears, preventing the man from taking them and the woman from looking to closely. They knew the bears were special, a symbol of what should have been and wasn’t. Irvine and Harry didn’t talk much during the three day trip to Matron’s, both somehow knowing speaking of the strangeness around the adults would lead to separation, and neither boy wanted to be away from the only other person who knew how strange their situation was.
Their first night in the orphanage, they huddled together in Irvine’s bed, Harry preferring the comfort of a new brother he didn’t know to the big emptiness of his own bed, and discussed their situation. Harry admitted he had wished for a real family after an incident with his aunt’s dog, and that it felt very odd to remember being part of a family when he knew he hadn’t had one. Irvine confessed he had always wanted a little brother to play with since his cousin was a spoiled bully.
From that night forward he and Harry both no longer questioned the result of their respective wishes, and simply accepted they had been granted. Irvine took it one step further, becoming the most over protective big brother Edea Kramer would ever encounter. He guarded his brother’s playtime with the other kids zealously, getting into more fights with Seifer than Zell and Squall combined. Edea had tried once and only once to arrange separate adoptions, but both boys put a stop to that real quick. Paying several thousand gil to get a new set of tires for prospective parents was not something she wished to repeat.
After Harry shocked one of the older children across the room for picking on him and Irvine, Edea gave up on the boys all together. She had tried several times to teach Harry responsibility when it came to his magic and believing their attachment was bordering on obsession and unhealthy, tried to separate the boys repeatedly, and failed on both counts. The boys also gave up on her ever understanding, after repeated attempts to explain how they came to know each other and why they didn’t want to be separated. The two boys were placed on the next train to Galbadia Garden where Edea hoped Harry would learn discipline and Irvine how to let his brother live his own life.
Looking back, Irvine figured that was probably Matron’s biggest regret. It was probably Cid’s as well. But then neither had expected Martine to take finding out Harry was a sorcerer so well. Ten years later, Irvine was the best sharpshooter in Galbadia, and Harry was the first Garden trained magic specialist to ever exist. Rinoa, Irvine thought as he watched the girl carefully and cheerfully pump the old man for information, was probably going to be the second, via a program that never would have existed if Harry had been sent to Balamb or Trabia.
The old man glanced at him, and Irvine sneered before looking out the window once more, letting his mind wander again. Harry he understood, Rinoa he could deal with, but some freakish old sorcerer who claimed Harry wasn’t his brother and spilling secrets they didn’t want spilled was a nuisance. Maybe Squall would let him kill Dumbledore; SeeDs were trained for that after all, with the exceptions being peaceful magic users or ones loyal to Garden.
Martine sending him and Harry on that mission with the others was Irvine’s biggest regret. Irvine had never wanted his baby brother to become a killer, and Harry had come damn close to it when Ultimecia, while possessing Matron, had tried to kill Squall. Not that Irvine knocking him out had prevented that, but he had stopped Harry from leveling Deling City after Squall fell. The next day proved Harry’s training was just as thorough as his own when Harry killed three soldiers sneaking up on Selphie and Quistis on their way out of D-District prison, using Edea’s ice attack and sarcastically thanking the absent sorceress for showing him how to do it.
A choked gasp jerked Irvine out of his thoughts, and everyone in the room turned to stare at Dumbledore. The old man was staring at Harry in horror. Irvine looked at Rinoa, and she shook her head: she hadn’t said anything to upset the man. Hand already going for his gun, Irvine’s glare pinned Dumbledore to his seat.
“You were reading my mind,” Irvine said flatly. Dumbledore nodded absently, not aware of how hostile their response would be to his answer.
Squall moved to stand between Harry and the old woman, pushing him back towards the door and ignoring Harry’s repeated jabs to move, and Xu grabbed Rinoa, yanking her away from Dumbledore and closer to the emergency exit. Quistis stepped forward, as did Selphie and the two SeeDs guarding the doors; everyone, including Rinoa and Harry, were gripping their weapons or getting ready to call on magic and Guardian Forces.
“We were willing to listen to your story,” Squall spat, finally giving in and moving just an inch so Harry could see around him, “but I don’t appreciate you violating our trust. And I believe you don’t appreciate what we are.”
“Young man, I did not mean to…”
Irvine mostly tuned him out and looked at his brother. Dumbledore wasn’t just blowing smoke with his story, but it was their secret to tell. Harry sighed and nodded right as Irvine shook his head. Harry scowled at him before stepping in front of Squall, placing one hand on the older man’s chest to get his attention.
“Dumbledore’s not completely crazy; he’s right about where I’m from,” Harry said softly, glancing at Irvine, “You see, Irvine and I are brothers, but…” His voice trailed off as Squall stepped back, his expression icing over.
With a muttered curse, Irvine let go of his gun and stood, still glaring daggers at the old man. “You just had to go poking your nose into things, didn’t you? Do you know how long he’s been here? What it was like to know somewhere my mother didn’t die during childbirth, taking him with her? What it was like for him getting screwed by Petunia and Vernon twice, once with a cupboard, once with getting dumped on Matron? What it was like finally having a family that wasn’t a broken drunk of a father, or an aunt and uncle who only wanted something to do with us after we helped defeat Ultimecia and they needed money?”
Dumbledore shook his head silently, motioning for McGonagall to stay quiet as well. Out of the corner of his eye, Irvine noticed Squall was moving to touch Harry’s shoulder in a silent apology and Harry shrugging his hand away. Only Selphie moving to stand next to him, close enough that he could feel her warmth, held Irvine back from punching Dumbledore. Two years of Harry trying to break through Squall’s icy shell and six months of a good, solid relationship (one Irvine actually approved of, mind), cracked and possibly broken because of an interfering old bastard.
“No, you don’t know any of that. You want to know why?” Irvine asked. He didn’t wait for Dumbledore’s answer, mentally scoffing at the old man’s sad expression. “You don’t know, because you don’t give a damn about my brother beyond his use in winning that war in your world. You didn’t care Petunia and Vernon locked him away, made his life hell with them there. You need a weapon, not a person.
“Well, old man, I’ve got news for you. Harry, just like everyone else in the building, is a SeeD, a weapon.” Irvine smirked, an expression that would have looked more at home on Seifer’s face. “You want my little brother to help save your collective asses, you better be willing to pay for it. Through the nose. We ain’t cheap…”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Halfrek stopped the simulation, her scowl making her scarred face more frightening than normal. She had hoped to fulfill two wishes with one act, but this just wouldn’t do.
Both boys were going to wish for a family, and while it wasn’t possible for her to bring back a child who hadn’t been carried to term without the wish being twisted; it was possible for her to rip holes in the realities to transport one child to another. Irvine Potter, going to be Irvine Kinneas once Petunia conveniently ‘lost’ his birth certificate, would have made a good brother to Harry, and Harry’s presence in his life would have made him a better boyfriend for Selphie and friend to the other children, but she couldn’t ignore Harry’s destiny or Irvine’s. Warp their paths, make it harder for the wizards to survive, make Ultimecia stronger, but not change destiny’s final goals. If she sent Harry here there was a ninety nine percent chance Irvine would not let the boy stay in his original reality long enough to complete what the Powers needed him to, what she and the others like her needed him to do for their world to survive.
She paced the temporarily frozen bedroom, turning the problem over in her mind. She could adjust Irvine’s personality slightly to make him less protective…No, that wouldn’t work either. If she changed him too much, he would lose the competitive edge he needed to become the sharpshooter assigned to assassinate the Kramer woman. There were others she could place the boy with, blood kin who would love the boy like their own, but fulfilling his wish that way would also negate his destiny. She couldn’t risk that.
Halfrek growled; she would have to leave things alone here for now. Unlike some demons, she didn’t want to become a target for the Powers by risking ending the worlds; she liked her life.
She would place Harry with Rupert Giles like she had originally intended. She did like the idea of having someone looking out for Harry like Irvine would have, and Giles would keep the boy safe and teach him what he would need to know. Harry would never become a Watcher, but he would have a much more balanced view of the world than he would have had with only the wizards’ point of view. However distant a relation, he also fulfilled the mother’s blood kin requirement, something Halfrek needed to keep on Harry to avoid death as well.
Placing her hand on Irvine’s head, Halfrek blessed him, cursing the Dursleys of this world in the process—they were despicable people in every reality. She wanted to do more for this child than making his ties with the other orphanage children closer, but she couldn’t risk it at the moment. She would, however, keep an eye on him. Just because she couldn’t grant his wish right now didn’t make him unimportant to her. She pitied the idiots who tried to hurt him.
As Halfrek faded away, answering the call of the charm she had placed on Harry, the room restarted. Irvine clutched his bear to his chest, its small felt cowboy hat tickling his chin, and watched his Aunt Petunia pack his things. He wanted his father back, a brother, a sister, for his aunt to care about him. He wanted anything but to be sent to the orphanage she was talking about. “I wish I had family.” He looked at Petunia and added, “A real family.”
Nothing happened.
Irvine squeezed his bear even tighter. Why couldn’t his wish be granted?