Chapter 1

Darkness, silent darkness. That is what our two heroes flow through. The silent space outside the gummiship,the annoying boinks, and twangs of the cartoony engine as it is piloted by an equally annoying driver. Sora. Cloud was in the passenger seat mulling over the last thing his friend told him before he abandoned them. "I can hear her calling Cloud, I can hear her clear as day." Leon said, arms crossed, one foot flat against the wall he was leaning on.

Cloud sitting on a crate across from him in the small alleyway of traverse town, holding the grip of his buster sword, still wrapped in medical bandages. His black apparel, with the one sleeve made him almost invisible in that dark alleyway, all except that chocobo colored head of hair. "Who is calling out to you, and how?" Cloud said without emotion, trying not to show much interest, for his mind was always on a one track mile of vengeance.

"Rinoa is calling Cloud. I don't where, or how; but she is calling me, summoning me." Leon said now starring at Cloud, showing him how severe this was. "I don't know what to do. Stay here and keep fighting the heartless; day in ,day out. I know this world needs me, but it's Rinoa. I-I can't help it." A small tear trekked down his young face. "I want to stop the heartless, but I can't let this go by. If there is the slightest chance of saving her, of recovering her heart from the darkness. Then I'm gonna take it!" Leon said sternly as he walked away from that alleyway, gunblade in hand.

That was the last Cloud had seen of him. After that, a panic arose, their leader abandoned his post, robbed Cid of his ship and had taken off into the night. Now here Cloud and Sora were floating along, following the signal of the homing beacon on Leon's ship. It was far off, farther off the same winds of space Sora normally navigated through. He felt a little hollow inside, Goofy and Donald needed to go back and help with the reconstruction of the Disney Castle. So Sora was the only available warrior to undertake this mission. He was happy to have Cloud accompany him, even though he was mostly quiet and kept to himself. Sora, would constantly try to strike up a conversation, but it was in vain. Cloud only answered in sighs, in shrugs, and in silence. Then Sora asked the right question. "Why did Leon leave? We needed his help, all of his friends are there, so why would he leave so unexpectedly?"

Cloud, knew he needed to inform Sora of Leon's last words. Being paired up with him meant he needed to secure his trust, like any other quest. "Leon is having delusions" Cloud said calmly with an undertone of disappointment.

"What?" Sora said in shock. "So he's not himself?"

"No, he is himself. The same, dreary guy I met long ago." Cloud Scoffed, "I have really bad feeling about this. Squall is either crazy, or there is something out there trying to devour his heart. Either way, its not gonna be good Sora."

Sora puzzled over how Leon could have just abandoned his friends so easily, thinking of all the unforgettable relationships he had discovered over all the worlds he had helped. "Cloud, would you have imagined this happening?"

"Yes, Sora." Cloud said indifferently. "The moment he said he was hearing Rinoa I knew how bad it was. He tried acting like the leader when he told me if he 'had the slightest chance of saving her' he would take it. It isn't surprising, which is why its only you and I going after him. No one else wants to stop him."

"Rinoa?" Sora said as he laid his hands behind his head and rested his spiky brown hair among them.

"Rinoa is Leon's long lost love. He failed to save her when radiant gardens turned into a breeding ground for the heartless. It destroyed him, and yet it made him the cold, calm leader we have today. Yet, he died a little inside. He was never the same after she was swallowed by the darkness. He is friendly, but he has never learned to love another, especially after the nights of being alone without her."

"Wow, I never knew." Sora said timidly.

"No one has the nerve to say it in front of Leon, so after a while we all stopped talking about her, and some of us have even forgotten her existence completely. So don't feel horrible about it, how could have known Leon is clawing at his own heart all this time. He does a good job of hiding it."

After Cloud finally said his bit, Sora felt silence was a welcomed tone from both of them. He was intrigued by the history of his good friend, for he never really asked what their lives had been before the heartless. What trials they faced, what enemies they overcame, what love they had known before their worlds were consumed.

Then a blue shadow appeared and a giant rift in space opened. Within this small expanse of the universe was a planet. It was dark and obscure being in the shadow of every sun. The duo nodded at each other as the signal was successfully traced to the ominous realm beyond the fabric of time and space.

The two heroes stepped on the solid cold ground. Cloud looked forward, entranced. All the while Sora hopped from the side of the small cliff to the other, looking at the worn torn ground about them. There pillars smashed and fallen, and a large white lighthouse in the back ground, even though it was inactive in reminded him of home. Then with the childish gleam in his fading as he saw the bodies of people in the waves, and on the shore, and around the pillars. He was so caught off guard by the horrendous bloodshed he almost vomited. He tugged on Cloud's sleeve, but the soldier was unresponsive. Sora walked in front of him and looked into the green glowing eyes as they were stricken with woe. Then he traced the stare and gazed at the same terrifying spectacle before them.

A giant castle, of the most Gothic design and horrific appearance. Lighting struck as the winds made a maelstrom crown around the apex of its structure. A giant chain was suspended from the castle to the small cliff where Sora and Cloud stood. "This, is the darkness of Leon's heart. The gloomy reflection of his soul. There is no way this can end well Sora."