Semper Fidelis [4/64]
Title: Semper Fidelis
Author: demon sloth
Pairing: Acheron/Harry (eventually)
Fandom: Harry Potter and Dark-Hunters crossover
Theme: #23. Range
The bedroom door had just closed behind Harry when he paused, uncertain which was he should go. He had never been here before and didn’t know anything about where he was staying. What if...Ash? (and didn’t he need to learn what he was called, fast) lived in a labyrinth? What if there was a Minotaur roaming his halls?
Hell, what if he just liked monsters in general and kept them as pets? As free pets. Because he was some kind of hippy.
Or what if he had some sort of secret laboratory that had monsters in cages and they all had gotten out by accident last night?
...Okay, he really needed to stop watching horror films; they were making his imagination go crazy.
On the other hand, this guy was a friend of Savitar...
Harry rubbed the back of his neck.
Guess it never hurt to be prepared...and completely paranoid. Completely paranoid sounded safe.
That sorted, Harry looked around him. He was in a hallway that seemed to run on forever. Left or right, which way should he go?
Harry shrugged, “Eenie meenie miny mo...” He rolled his eyes at his own childishness. Fuck it, he’d go left.
Nyaaaa Akra-Harry’s going the wrong way!
Harry jerked at the voice in his head. How on earth had he managed to forget about that?
The Simi don’ts know either.
“Right...” he said slowly and carefully turned to face right, “this way then?”
Yup-yup!
Harry took two steps forward before stopping suddenly and shooting a mistrustful look at the dragon on his stomach.
The right way to where...?
To Akri, silly! Akri needs his Akra!
Harry blinked.
Is Ash...Akri? He thought hesitantly at his new companion.
Akri is Akri. I said before. Weren’ts you listening?
The voice was pouting at him and Harry had the strong urge to comfort it.
Of course I was listening! It’s just...I needed a few minutes for the information to sink in. You took me by surprise that’s all. Akri is Akri. Got it.
Yay!
Harry shook his head with a fond smile and started to walk down the hallway, trusting the voice - Simi? - to tell him if he needed to change direction.
“So...” he said, talking out loud because walking down this never ending corridor was just a little bit creepy, “Is Ash nice?”
Akri is the best Akri ever!
“Do you...do you think he’ll like me?” Harry mentally cursed the hopeful note in his voice. For seemingly his whole life he had wanted to be liked - to be accepted. He mostly blamed it on the Dursley’s treatment of him during his early years. His Hogwarts years had been a rollercoaster of being both accepted one moment and hated the next - even by those he had considered his best friends. But who knew...if it all hadn’t ended the way it did...
The only one who never changed was Luna. Which, considering, was probably a good thing.
And after it had all finished there was Savitar. Yes, Savitar trained him, but he made it extremely clear that he didn’t really want to spend his time with him, and when he was forced he seemed to enjoy exercising his sadistic streak.
Don’ts be silly! Akri will like Akra-Harry! How cans Akri not like his Akra? Stupid!
Harry felt warmth bloom in his chest with a small smile, “You...you think?”
Before the voice could answer him a loud banging startled Harry into looking up; he was about two feet from a partially open door behind which someone was talking. On the spur of the moment Harry moved closer in range to hear clearer.
“Look Savitar, just take the kid back okay?”
Harry’s smile dropped from his face and his chest seemed to turn to ice, numbing him so completely that he abstractly wondered just how he could still breathe.
“Yeah...yeah okay, fine...but he can’t stay here!...Of course he can stay on the island! It’s a bloody island! Surely you could just ship him off to the other side!...Look, I don’t care - I don’t want him, okay?”
Harry’s breath caught in his throat and the voice in his head fell silent. He must have made some sort of noise because the next moment the door swung open completely and Harry was confronted with his new guardian who looked extremely irritated.
Ash took one look at Harry and snapped his phone shut, cutting off whatever excuse Savitar was trying to feed him.
“Were you eavesdropping on me?” He snapped.
Harry shook his head. “No, sir.” He managed to force out.
Ash sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why are you here?”
“I-I...the voice...told me to come here.” And didn’t that sound crazy. Harry felt a blush rise on his cheeks.
Ash shot him a weird look. “Voice?”
“Um...” Harry pointed to his stomach.
Ash looked down and did a double take. “Simi...” he breathed.
“You know what it is?”
“She.” Ash practically snarled and Harry flinched back, “Simi is a girl.”
“Oh,” Harry whispered, hanging his head, “Sorry.”
Ash sighed harshly, “Simi, return.”
The dragon tattoo - Simi, Harry reminded himself - seemed to reluctantly leave him, turning into a small red dragon with a flash then turned back into a tattoo on Ash’s back. Harry flexed his hand, feeling suddenly very vulnerable and very alone.
“Right. Follow me.”
Harry swallowed sharply as he followed his new guardian, blinking to keep tears from falling.
It had been stupid to think that for once he would be accepted. It had never happened before. It had always taken a while for someone just to accept him for being him - for being just Harry. Even Ron hadn’t accepted him straight away, seeing first the boy-who-lived.
Harry shivered and crossed his arms across his stomach, belatedly realising that he still wasn’t wearing a shirt. He’d be embarrassed but he just couldn’t bring himself to care. His new guardian already hated him - what was wandering about not wearing a shirt going to do?
“Here.” Ash stopped so abruptly that Harry almost walked straight into him; it was only the years of Harry having to trail behind Uncle Vernon that brought him up before he bumped into him.
“This can be your room for now.”
Harry shifted awkwardly in his place, doing anything in his power to avoid looking at Ash. It wasn’t like he hadn’t noticed the ‘for now’ Ash had added onto the end of that sentence. “Thank you,” he said quietly and hurriedly entered the room, closing the door swiftly behind him.