Fed Up
By Rhino7
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This little plunny attacked my brain all day today, and I finally got fed up and appeased the damn thing. So in my quest to make Leon and Tifa friendship known, I have shamelessly ignored one of the factors: Cloud. This one-shot is an attempt to rectify that. I have to be in the right mood to write Cloud, and I've only been in a Leon mood for the last month, so I apologize if Cloud is a little off. I'm not the biggest Cloud fan in the world, either, so that contributed. Anyway…enjoy.
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He was being a coward. He knew that. He hated it, but if he tried to explain everything, there was no way they would let him leave. He had to do this…alone.
Cloud made it down the stairs and across the first floor of Merlin's house. He had only the clothes on his back, his sword, and one bag of supplies. Biggs said he could borrow his Gummi for as long as he needed, and Cloud had to take advantage of that, because who knew—
"You moron."
Cloud hissed, his hand closing around the knob of the front door. "This doesn't concern you."
He was met with silence and Cloud stared at the door, hoping that maybe if he just ignored the other man, that Leon would leave him alone. Boot steps crossed from the back room and he stiffened. No such luck.
"The Hell it doesn't."
Gritting his teeth, he turned begrudgingly to face Leon. In the darkness of the first floor, the man looked like a shadow, with his folded arms and deepset frown.
"I have to do this. I don't want her involved. It's too dangerous." He said. "And I don't have to explain myself to you."
"I don't care." Leon responded flatly. "You're not running out on her again."
Cloud narrowed his eyes. "I'm not running out on her. I'm trying to protect her."
"Could have fooled me." Leon shot back.
Cloud turned his back on Leon and opened the front door.
"She's getting fed up with you." Leon said.
Cloud didn't respond to that. Every time he went on another search for Sephiroth, Aerith tried to talk him out of it. And every time he came back, with no more answers and only more frustration, Aerith was always there to talk him out of his wallowing pool of angst. He could hardly imagine her getting 'fed up' with him, though he knew she had more than enough right to.
"You leave now, that might push her away completely. Is that what you want?" Leon cut in.
"If that's what it takes to keep her safe." Cloud half turned back to him.
Leon gave him a narrow look. "She can take care of herself."
Cloud faced him fully. "This isn't Heartless or Organization XIII. This is Sephiroth, my darkness. He won't hesitate to kill her. He's too strong. I will not put her at risk again."
"Bull." Leon took an imposing step forward. "For some reason, she wants to save this…whatever you two have going on between you." He gave a throwaway gesture. "And you're sending all of the signals that you don't even care."
"Why do you care?" Cloud bit back defensively. "This has nothing to do with you."
"It does have to do with me. I'm the one here holding down the fort while you're off banging a bar wench in Olympus for all she knows."
Cloud bristled. "Watch it. I'm not up and leaving for kicks. Until I've defeated Sephiroth, the darkness will continue to grow inside me."
"Are you listening to yourself?" Leon said incredulously. "You're a selfish bastard."
Cloud had half a mind to punch Leon in the mouth, but he refrained, only because the commotion would wake the rest of the Restoration Committee upstairs. He had hoped for a more subtle leaving. Leon was just determined to be the thorn in his side.
He didn't respond to the name calling. He walked through the front door and into the cool night air of Radiant Garden. Sephiroth wasn't here anymore. Cloud could feel it. Here or not, he was haunting Cloud, and Cloud knew he wouldn't be able to move on until he'd defeated the one-winged angel.
Leon's eyes were drilling holes into Cloud's back, and they stayed silent for several seconds, maybe an entire minute. He could never make the other man understand. He was doing this to keep Aerith safe: from Sephiroth, from the darkness, from Cloud himself. He bristled and turned to see Leon standing in the doorway, arms folded and looking like a provoked lion.
"Watch out for her, will you?" He asked.
Leon narrowed his eyes further. "I always do."
A beat passed.
"She won't forgive you for this one." Leon added.
Cloud straightened, flattening his shoulders. "Aerith doesn't have it in her to hold a grudge." And boy, did he count on that.
Leon's brows knit together. "I was talking about Tifa."
Cloud blinked. "What?"
"Tifa." Leon hissed the name. "The woman who's been chasing you all over this world just trying to talk to you. The woman you won't give the time of day." He narrowed his eyes, "What is the matter with you?"
From what little time Cloud had spent around Leon, he had gathered him not to be an emotional man. He was a warrior first; feelings came second. Both men were cut from the same mold. That's why it was so difficult to interact with him. They rubbed each other the wrong way. This display of anger was uncharacteristic of what Cloud had expected. He responded the only way he knew how.
"Back off. You don't know what you're talking about." He snapped.
"For all I care, you can go hunt down your 'darkness' or whatever or bang every bar wench in Olympus. I could not care less, but Tifa does. She's my friend too and I'm not going to keep covering up for your failures like this."
Cloud was really starting to dislike Leon.
"You really want to talk about failures?" He shot back.
Leon physically tensed at that and Cloud knew he'd hit another nerve. Instead of slicing back with a sharp retort, Leon just lifted one hand and glared at him seriously.
"If you leave right now, you're going to hurt her all over again. Tifa AND Aerith. You may be able to live with that, but I'm not. So if you keep walking, don't bother coming back."
Cloud saw the follow-through to the threat and faced Leon. "And how will you explain that to them?"
"Just the truth. You ran away…again." Leon said, his expression deadpan.
The two stared each other down in a battle of wills.
Another beat passed.
Bullshit he'd not come back. Contrary to his warped mind, Leon was not the boss of the entire Restoration Committee. Cloud knew Aerith would—and Tifa would—worry until he came back. He didn't like leaving them here without an explanation, but it was the only way to keep them safe. He had enough nightmares of Sephiroth getting to them without having to make that fear a reality.
He would hunt down Sephiroth, defeat him, end this madness once and for all, and then he'd come back and make amends for the final time. It would take time to mend his wrongdoings with Aerith…and Tifa…but once they understood the entire situation…he had no idea. Hopefully they would forgive him. Leon never would…but Cloud wasn't going to lose sleep over that trivial loss.
"I have to do this." He said emphatically.
"So you keep saying." Leon replied. "Are you still going?"
Cloud averted his eyes. "I have to."
Leon exhaled heavily and dropped his arms. "Then stay gone."
With that, he walked back into Merlin's house and closed the door behind him.
Alone now, Cloud took a moment to commit the front of the small house to memory. Drawing a thin breath, he turned his back once more to Aerith and Tifa and aimed his feet toward the Gummi Hangar in downtown Radiant Garden.
He was being a coward. He knew that. So did Leon, and by morning, so would Aerith and Tifa and the rest of them. He hated it, but he had to do this…alone. Just like he did everything.