Summary: In a peaceful Radiant Garden, a new enemy surfaces. Even with Sora and friends coming to their aid, the situation looks grim for the Restoration Committee. With the Radiant Garden in ruins, the Warriors of Light make one final stand. But who is this new enemy? And why does the person alongside the new enemy bring Leon to his knees? Squall L. /Leon x Heh heh (Read to find out XD)

Kingdom Hearts and all related works are copyrighted by Square-Enix. I own nothing.

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Prologue: Leon's Pain

All was well at the Radiant Garden. Peace was restored throughout the world. They finally finished tearing down the castle formerly known as Hollow Bastion, planting an enormous flower garden instead, at Aerith's request. Ansem's computer had been moved to Merlin's house in order to keep the town's security system up and running. Very minimal amounts of Heartless came to fight, and when they did, the security system kicked in, leaving little work for the Restoration Committee. Nobodies were often seen around the Bailey, but the security system managed to handle them until someone arrived.

Cloud had returned, along with Tifa. This sparked a love triangle between the two of them and Aerith. This triangle was the talk of the town, and the catalyst for many rumors. Most of the rumors turned out to be lies, spread by the mischievous ninja, Yuffie Kisaragi. Cid and Merlin often spent the day trying to update the security system, getting it to kill Heartless instead of knocking them in the air. Squall Leonhart, however, tended to go off by himself to train at the Dark Depths.

Of course, he was no longer "Squall Leonhart". After losing this world once to the Heartless, he cast away his name in shame and took up an alias, "Leon". And the Radiant Garden wasn't the only thing he lost. Along with his home, Leon lost the love of his life, the beautiful Rinoa Heartilly. She had her heart stolen during the escape, and Squall Leonhart couldn't protect her. He was supposed to be her "knight", someone who could protect her against all odds. If anyone should've died, it was him. Not her, the beautiful young woman who had a promising future.

Such thoughts often entered his head as Leon trained. The Dark Depths was a nice, quiet place. It reminded him of the Secret Waterway back in Traverse Town. Even there, these thoughts entered his mind. It drove him to become faster and stronger, so that no one would ever have to endure the pain his heart felt every single day.

"Squall!" someone yelled behind him, pulling him from his thoughts. Leon looked to see the spunky ninja bouncing towards him. Leon placed his precious Gunblade on his belt and faced her.

"It's Leon," Leon replied frigidly, correcting Yuffie yet again. "Now, what do you want?" Yuffie looked hurt, but Leon knew it was her fake pout to try to lure him into something.

"I just came to tell you that Sora and his friends decided to visit," Yuffie replied, trying to imitate Leon's frigid voice. "Oh, and King Mickey showed up with Donald and Goofy."

"So, what do you want me to do about it?" Leon replied, turning away from her and drawing his Gunblade. Without waiting for a response, he resumed his training.

"Please come with me, Squall," Yuffie pleaded. "They're your friends, too. They want to see you." When Leon didn't acknowledge her, she pulled a ninja star out of her pocket and launched it directly at his head. Leon sensed this, turned, and swung in a large arc. The star was deflected above him and flew harmlessly over the cliff. Leon glared at her with his icy blue eyes, sending chills down Yuffie's spine. "Okay, I get it! I just don't see why you always have to be such a damn turd!" With those last words, she stormed off, stomping her feet on the ground as she did. Leon sighed.

'This is the way it should be,' he thought. 'I lost my happiness long ago. I have no right to it now. All I can do is make sure that no one else can feel this pain." He began training furiously, using his emotional pain as his drive. Not long after he began training, however, he felt another presence behind him. He turned to find the spike-headed blonde walking towards him.

"The girls sent me to come get you," Cloud said. "They said you need to stop being so antisocial and come see your friends."

"I told them I'm not going," Leon replied, turning away.

"Oh, come on, Leonhart," Cloud argued. "I know why you're here by yourself."

"To train and become stronger so that the people of Radiant Garden don't have to fear the Heartless," Leon stated simply. "And don't call me by that name."

"Look, Leonhart," Cloud said, ignoring Leon's last comment. "I know you're thinking about her, but you still have to remember, you're not the only person who lost someone that day. We all lost family, friends, and everyone else that mattered to us. It was a tragic day, but you need to learn to get over it and move on. We all did, now you have to. If not for everyone else, move on for yourself."

"You make it sound easy," Leon said, finally placing his Gunblade on his belt. He turned and began walking towards Cloud.

"Nothing is that easy," Cloud replied. "But I'm sure Rinoa wouldn't stand for it if she saw you like this. She always did her best to make you smile and get you away from your antisocial self. How do you think she'd feel if she knew all her hard work went to waste?"

At the mere mention of her name, Leon immediately felt depressed. He reached under the collar of his shirt and pulled out the necklace he had been hiding for the past few years, a silver chain with two separate rings hanging from it. He sighed softly before returning it to its hiding place. The both of them then began walking back towards the Marketplace.

"That belonged to her, didn't it?" Cloud asked, breaking the silence. The both of them walked through the Ravine Trail towards the Bailey. Leon didn't answer. Cloud then saw why as a Soldier Heartless appeared in front of the two of them. The both of them waited for the security system to destroy the Heartless, but it never activated. The Soldier took this opportunity to charge at the two warriors. Cloud drew his enormous Buster Sword and lunged at the Heartless, but it leaped above him and performed a Spin Kick, knocking Cloud to the ground of the Bailey. He then watched as the Soldier rushed at Leon. "Leonhart, look alive!"

Leon looked up and saw the lunging Heartless. Instead of drawing his Gunblade and cutting it down, however, he reached out with his left hand and caught the Soldier by the neck. "You can't face me," he said to the struggling Heartless. "You're not good enough!" He threw the creature to the ground, drew the Gunblade, and cut it in two. He then walked over to Cloud and held out a hand.

"The town's security system should've activated," Cloud said, using Leon's hand to get to his feet. "Those two need to stop messing with it. And you! How can you just doze off during a fight! You need to get over it, damn it!"

"Shut up!" Leon growled, placing the Gunblade to his belt. "Let's just get back to see what's wrong! I have a bad feeling about this!" The two of them sprinted towards the Borough, cutting through any Heartless that appeared before them. When they reached the Borough, they were greeted by a horrific sight. Several Crimson Jazz Heartless were hovering above the houses burning them to ash. Several Morning Stars were also exiting Merlin's house. Without thinking, both warriors jumped on top of one of the burning roofs. Cloud rushed towards the Crimson Jazz and cut them all to pieces with his mighty sword. Leon leapt off the roof and cut through one Morning Star as he landed. The remaining three Morning Stars rushed at Leon with their spike-covered bodies, but Leon charged, cutting through one as he did. One Morning Star managed to strike him, knocking the Gunblade wielder to the ground. The other jumped above him and prepared a Body Press. Leon easily countered this by pointing his sword directly at the Heartless, allowing it to become impaled on the Gunblade as it dropped down. The remaining Heartless attempted to crush him with a Body Press of its own, but Cloud arrived at the scene, hacking it in two.

"Let's go," Cloud said, walking over the shattered remains of Merlin's door. Leon stood up and followed through the door way. The inside of the house was in chaos. Everything was either burned, broken, or both. Ansem's computer was broken and in flames. Both Cid and Merlin lay on the ground, unconscious. Cloud walked over to the flaming computer and examined it. Leon knelt down next to the unconscious men. "Well, that explains why the security system didn't activate. I wonder what'll happen to Tron."

"He'll be alright," Cid suddenly said, sitting up. He held up a flash-drive. "We create a weekly back-up file for him. Merlin can just load the most recent data and he'll be good as new."

"What happened here?" Leon asked.

"Some confounded Heartless barged in and started burning up the place," Cid explained. "Merlin was knocked out cold before he could fire off a spell. I was knocked out trying to stop them from them from destroying the computer. These Heartless were on a mission. I'd get going to the Marketplace if I were you. We don't need some stinking incident with Sora and the King here."

"What about the two of you, will you be okay?" Cloud asked. "I think we should wait till Aerith gets here."

"We may be old, but we're stronger than we look," Cid replied. "Now, get going! Sora and the King are in danger!"

With those as parting words, the two sprinted off, racing towards the Marketplace. Several Soldiers stood in their way, but they were quickly disposed of. Leon swung the Gunblade, cutting through two of them. He turned and performed a side-swing, slashing three more. Cloud leapt high into the air, impaling the last one as he landed. Leon ran ahead of Cloud, who was forced to fight another Soldier that had appeared. Leon reached the overhang of the bridge that led to the Marketplace, and it was there where he saw a grim scene.

The battle had already begun.

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So here it is, my first fanfiction. Read & Review please.

And for those wondering, no this isn't a Leon x Cloud. He just happens to be here the first chapter. Seriously, Leon x Cloud is just creepy.