A/N: This is the result of a prompt from istoleyourcheesecake, who wanted something with guns and violence. I hope I hit the nail on the head.

I dunno bout you guys, but I feel like maybe this could go somewhere? Maybe a two parter?

In any case, read and enjoy. Credit to istoleyourcheesecake for the inspiration. The song lyrics belong to Lorde, original song belongs to Tears for Fears. Xxx

'Welcome to your life.
There's no turning back
Even while we sleep
We will find you…

There's a room where the light won't find you
Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down
When they do I'll be right behind you

So glad we've almost made it
So sad they had to fade it
Everybody wants to rule the world'

Everybody Wants To Rule The World – Lorde.

Collateral

It wasn't unusual for Cloud to be late home, but it was rare and forty five minutes was pushing it. Vague anxiety knotted itself in Leon's stomach. Gravel crunching underfoot, he walked quickly along the quiet backstreet taking a few shortcuts he knew well to get to the Engine Shed, a squat, sheet metal lean-to building in the industrial part of town. He knew it was closed for the night – he had seen Cid already, Cloud's colleague being the sort of person that like to keep order and time, if only so he could maximise his hours at the bar. Leon had waited for him there, the same as he'd done every weeknight for the last three years, and when numerous calls to Cloud's cell had failed to throw any light on the blond's whereabouts, that small, innocuous tug of unease began to grow and feel uncomfortable.

Leon rounded a leaf-blown corner, a chill wind freezing the tip of his nose and the points of his ears as he hunkered down into his scarf and hunched his shoulders, balling his fists deeper into his pockets and waited for the Shed to come into view behind the slatted fence.

Light spilled out from under the large sliding doors in a soft arc, illuminating and shadowing the modest forecourt. The tarmac was oil stained and wet, leaf mulch gathered up in the corners but it was otherwise empty. The office light was out showing that it was empty, but the diffused light from the garage itself, shining through the murky windows told Leon that someone was in there. It should have given the brunet a moderate amount of relief: it was obviously Cloud. Yet a heavy disquiet still sat in the pit of his stomach.

Crossing the forecourt, he reached the smaller door set into the larger sliding runner and pulled the handle, hearing the click of the latch and the rattle of the corrugated iron. He stepped inside, ducking a little and was about to pull the door closed behind him when he froze on the threshold, his hand tightening on the handle.

He had found Cloud, but who the other five men were, he had no idea.

'Leon, what are you doing here?' Cloud asked, the question a little too sharp, a little too nervous to be considered casual.

'You're late.' Leon explained, still not letting go of the door handle, one leg inside the Shed, one leg still in the forecourt. His eyes darted to each of the men, quickly evaluating them before they settled on Cloud. He didn't like the way they were all spread out, one sitting casually on the work benches, one leaning up against the back wall, rifling through a filing cabinet – though his snooping had stopped momentarily to assess the newcomer that had interrupted them.

'I'll be home in a little while, just wait for me there.' Cloud replied quickly, his deep voice undermined by a touch of panic. You wouldn't have noticed it, but Leon had known Cloud a fair while and he had never heard him sound like that before.

'What's going on, Cloud?' against his better judgement, Leon stepped the rest of the way into the Shed and closed the door behind him.

'Nothing, just do as I-'

'So this is the little wifey.' the man nearest to Cloud said, a casual smile breaking across his face that made Leon feel anything but at ease. The man wasn't old, but his greying, salt and peppered hair made his age impossible to determine. He was broad and heavy looking, with a rounded stomach and powerful looking hands. Neatly dressed in a black shirt and a dark felt overcoat, black slacks and polished dress shoes, he was out of place in the oil stained, grimy workshop. Stood next to Cloud, he was tall and imposing and that knot of apprehension that had been twisting in Leon's stomach was now a full blown siren.

'What's going on? Who is he, Cloud?' Leon asked, turning back to look at the blond, who had his eyes trained on the tall man, tension obvious in every line of his face.

'My name is Angelo Diego, and I'm not surprised Cloud here hasn't told you about me, you see,' Diego took a step towards Leon, his manner relaxed and casual with an undercurrent of something altogether dangerous and sinister running just below the surface. 'He's in a lot of trouble.'

Cloud moved, following Diego's steps with a flash of panic in his eyes, only to be stopped by a large hand in the centre of his chest; the fourth man, big and bald and just as immaculately dressed as Diego had moved across Cloud's path, blocking him from view for a split second.

Leon took a step back.

'What are you talking about?' Leon returned, swallowing back thick and bitter dread; it tasted like iron and ozone on his tongue.

'Not very smart this one, Cloud, but he's pretty. I'll give you that much.' Diego said flippantly over his shoulder. The comment made Cloud's brows furrow in anger, his jaw visibly clenching.

'He's got nothing to do with this, Diego. Just let him go.' Cloud ignored the hand against his chest, though he didn't attempt to push past it. His eyes were still hard and focused, trained on Diego, his whole body ridged and tense.

Diego turned back to Leon, his smile slipping low. The brunet starred back and when the large man spoke again it wasn't to him, but to Cloud, who Leon could see just over Diego's shoulder and behind the bald man, that hand still placed firmly against Cloud's chest.

'You've known me a long time, Cloud. You know that's not how this works.'

The moment Cloud began to struggle – his futile attempts to get past the huge bald man wild and ferocious - Leon's heart leapt into his mouth, his pulse beating painfully in his neck as every instinct in him told him to run. The fifth man, stood to Leon's left and way at the back of the shop had skirted around and closed in on the brunet while Diego had been talking, and as if from nowhere Leon found himself slammed up against the metal door, an arm across his throat as a hand seized his left wrist. He was turned sharply and slammed back into the door, his wrist pulled sharply up into the middle of his back and the wind was forced from his lungs as a weight pressed up against him; a fist in his hair jerked his head back into his neck.

Feeling his panic stiffen his limbs, making it hard for him to process his alarm, Leon was dragged away from the door. A foot came down into the back of his knee, crumpling the brunet to the ground and twisted his arm higher up into his back. The hand in his hair pulled back sharply and as he opened his eyes he found himself on his knees, looking up into Diego's face, the weak and insipid light from the naked bulbs in the garage's ceiling silhouetting the giant above him.

'DIEGO!' Cloud shouted. 'Diego I swear to god if you hurt him I'll kill you!'

He couldn't see him, but Leon heard Cloud, his voice high and panic stricken and somewhere off towards the back of the shop. Leon blinked hard, the light from the bulbs overhead making it hard to see around him when the flash of something metal glinted in his peripheral and then something hard and cold was pressed between his lips.

'You should have run further, Cloud. You should have been better at hiding.' Diego remarked, turning his body aside, giving Cloud a perfect view of Leon on his knees with a gun in his mouth.

A terrible, animalistic rage erupted in Cloud at the sight and he let out a guttural growl of rage as he struggled harder, kicking out with his legs, trying to break the hold the massive man behind him had on his arms. He'd break them out of his sockets if he had to.

'You want money?!' Cloud yelled, his chest heaving with toxic, fiery wrath. 'I can get you money, just let him go.'

Diego looked back over his shoulder, the line of his arm still dangerous and deadly, his thumb poised to cock the gun.

'Don't insult me by making this about money. This was never about money. This is about integrity – honesty. This is about loyalty, Cloud. You know what loyalty means?'

Cloud's eyes flicked to Leon and saw the terror in his lover's eyes. He nodded his head.

'You say you do,' Diego replied, his eyes hard. 'But to me, loyalty means keeping your mouth shut. Loyalty means remembering whose side you're on. Loyalty means not ratting someone out to save your own skin!' Diego's voice had grown louder. The subtle and intangible curtain that had hidden his volatile character had shifted, allowing glimpses of the dangerous man underneath and Cloud needed no reminding of exactly what this maniac was capable of. Cloud wasn't a man prone to begging or pleading. He had considered it to be a weakness and a waste of time. If your number was up, it was up, and where he came from, that number came up in the form of a gun or a knife to the back when you were least expecting it. Begging had been useless to all those people he'd been sent to deal with – to all those people he'd watched die. But he'd be damned if he'd just sit back and watch it happen to Leon. He'd get down on his own knees and kiss the soles of Diego's feet if he had to.

'I was just a kid, Diego. What did you expect me to do? They were going to put me away for life if I didn't promise to help them.' He tried to reason.

Diego's eyes darkened, his mouth turning down at the edges and Cloud's heart froze – knowing that look. The man removed the gun from Leon's mouth, changing the trajectory of his arm, shifting it to the left and down a bit and pulled the trigger. The shot rang out, loud, deafening, echoing around the tinny room, drowning out Cloud's desperate shout and Leon's cry of pain as the bullet ripped through the brunet's shoulder.

Leon sagged to the floor, the man behind him letting go of his arm and hair as he was effectively neutralised with pain.

Feral panic, hard and cold ceased Cloud's struggling and he stood, immobile, rooted to the spot, his eyes wide with disbelief and pain.

'You know I don't tolerate excuses. Don't insult me with them.' Diego said darkly, his soft words loud in the aftermath. Cloud heard them, their meaning resonating deep within him as he watched Leon squirm helplessly on the cold concrete, drops of his blood splashing on to the oil stains.

'Please,' Cloud heard himself whisper, unable to take his eyes off of the brunet quietly gasping and moaning in pain. 'Don't hurt him.'

'I'd say we're a little late for that.' Diego replied.

The man's words had an awakening effect on the blond. Like a head breaking the surface of water, he came back to himself, snapping his eyes back to the tall man. He felt that impotent rage again.

'What do you want?' he asked, preparing to sacrifice anything; prepared to beg for anything.

'Six years.' Diego replied lowly, his eyes steady and dark and resolute. 'Your betrayal cost me six years. I want them back.'

'I can't do that. You know I can't. Hurting Leon isn't going to change a damn thin-'

'If you give me one more excuse I'm gonna put a bullet in your faggot boyfriend's stomach and you can watch him die, slowly and painfully. Do you understand me?' Diego interrupted him, lifting the gun again and pointed it at Leon, who had managed to stay conscious and had pressed a hand to his shoulder, stemming the flow of blood until it was just a trickle, running over his fingers in claret rivulets. The threat barely registered. Somewhere between Diego and his men entering his workshop and Leon stumbling into the mix he had resigned himself to someone dying tonight. No one received a visit from Angelo Diego and lived. Four years of stealing cars, running drugs and killing in the mobster's name had proven that much to Cloud. Yet in his naivety, in his futile hope that he had left all of that behind, hoping that he had run far and long enough, he had forgotten. It was easy to forget really. Too easy.

'So what do you want from me?' Cloud asked, his patience beginning to run thin.

'I already told you: Six years. I want you to learn what it's like to watch those years go by without you. I want you to learn how precious they are. I want you to feel how maddening it is, knowing that each day you're losing more and more of your life as you sit and rot.' Diego lowered the gun and stepped over Leon, bending down to grab a fist full of his hair and forced him onto his knees.

Leon gave a muffled cry of pain, the sound leaking out from behind gritted teeth as he balanced himself precariously, his right arm dangling uselessly at his side as blood dripped from the ends of his fingers. To the man's credit, he struggled; wrenching away the mobster's grip on his hair with an elbow to his thigh. Diego stumbled, letting out a soft curse before bringing the butt of the gun down across the back of Leon's head, making the brunet grunt in pain and bowl over, clutching the back of his neck in agony. With an angry snarl, Diego gripped Leon's hair again, pulling him back into a kneeling position and pointed the gun back at his head.

'Leon, don't. Just… keep still.' Cloud implored, unable to catch the brunet's eye.

'This is insane, Diego. I'll give you whatever you want, just please… let him go!' he added, sensing that he was fast running out of time.

'Whatever I want?' Diego laughed, his amusement quickly turning into a snarl as he jerked on Leon's hair, whipping his head back harder. 'I want you to pick: Six people, starting with this one. Six people in your life that mean the most to you and I want you to watch as I take them all away from you.'

A terrible emotion swept over Cloud in that moment: Hopelessness. He realised he was giving up – resigning himself to this. His trigger happy, streetwise, quick-fire brain had stalled, and in a desperate moment of fluttering, useless panic, it dawned on him he had no way out. Diego hadn't come here to kill him. He had come here to destroy him.

He looked at Leon, who was pale and terrified and he felt his heart break. His lover had been his turning point – his waking moment. Leon had walked into his life, his unassuming and quiet nature drawing Cloud to him despite the blond's best efforts to keep himself away. He had been powerless to stop himself from falling for Leon – his goodness, his honesty, his simple, enigmatic kindness. The man had been nothing like his previous lovers. He was a writer, private and introspective, clever and gentle, stubborn and proud. He had been the opposite of everything that Cloud had been moulded into. Cloud was rough and uncouth, uneducated and tempestuous. He was filled with dark and unspeakable things and he had known that all of those things could have pushed Leon away, but they hadn't. The brunet had persisted. Leon had been his balm. He had made him feel worth something. He had made all of the terrible things Cloud had done seem like a lifetime ago and for a while there, he had lived his life not through the eyes of the stupid, reckless, seventeen year old kid he had been, but through the eyes of the man who had loved him enough to accept him. Without asking or accusing or judging, Leon had taken Cloud into his life and loved him. If Diego killed Leon tonight, there would be no need to take anyone else. Cloud's life would already be over. There was no one else that mattered to him more than Leon.

'If you kill him,' Cloud began, his voice low and dangerous, his eyes flicking to Diego, full of malevolent anger. 'If you kill him and leave me alive, I won't ever stop. I'll find you. I'll kill every man you put in my way until I find you. And I promise you, you'll die. After you've suffered enough, you'll die.'

Diego smiled. It was cold and humourless, his lips tight and waxen over his yellowed teeth as he grinned at Cloud, enjoying the man's rage and fear and horror.

'Who said anything about leaving you alive?'

A shot rang out, ripping a desperate cry from Cloud's lips as he flinched and felt his heart tear itself from his chest. Everyone stilled, the room thrown into silent chaos as Cloud's eyes darted about until they finally settling back on Diego who had gone pale and ridged, his eyes glassy and vacant as a slow trickle of blood tracked its way down the middle of his eyebrows and dripped off the end of his nose.

Cloud watched as the man collapsed, his eyes catching the small bullet wound in his forehead before he hit the ground. He spun his gaze around to his left and saw, over his shoulder, a small girl stood in the doorway of the darkened office, her frightened little face pale and immobile with shock as she held the gun in her trembling hands.

'Marlene!'

Cloud felt the grip on his arms go slack and taking advantage of his moment, he twisted to the side, ducking under the great hulk of the man behind him and out of his reach. Snatching the gun from the girl's fingers he threw her backwards, slamming the door closed as a huge weight crashed into his back, knocking him sideways and into a steel cabinet. He grunted with pain, shaking his head quickly to clear his vision and slammed his elbow back, the sharp angle connecting with the soft, fleshy stomach of the man behind him. The weight lifted, and Cloud twisted his torso, raising the handle of the gun above the back of the man's head and brought it down across his exposed skull. The man dropped like a sack of bricks.

Flicking his eyes around the room, he counted the three other men, still planted, immobile with shock where they had been stood only seconds ago. Picking one, he lifted his arm and took aim, squeezing the trigger evenly as the man in his sight realised a fraction too late, his eyes widening as they gazed down the barrel of the gun. The shot went off, a fine spray of blood spattering the metal sliding door behind him and the man dropped, his body collapsing on top of Diego's in an awkward heap.

The two remaining men bolted. The one that had been lounging idly against the workbench drew his gun, in too much of a rush to aim properly and he let off a few rounds, the bullets going wide and echoing off somewhere above Cloud's right ear. The blond flinched down behind the cabinet, waiting for the man to run past and expose himself before he stood again, levelling his arm at the man and pulled the trigger.

The sound of the metal door banging open wide, blowing uselessly in the slight breeze brought Cloud back, a large gulp of air rushing through his nose as he blinked away the red mist that had blinded him for those painfully long seconds. The last man had run, letting the chilly autumn night into the floodlit workshop. He stood on shaking legs, unable to get them to move just yet as he lowered the gun and let it drop. The clatter was loud in the deafening silence and as he drew in large, shaking breaths, he looked about himself, down at the man splayed out face down on the concrete, at his blood pooling around his head and felt a rising sickness.

The garage was still. Three men lay dead and another unconscious behind him and with a trembling hand he ran it through his hair. Out of the corner of his eye Cloud caught a movement and the dark material of Leon's leather jacket. His stasis was broken, his pounding heart thudding back into life as he stumbled over to the older man, huddled against the wall, still clutching his arm.

The brunet's face was snow white, his eyes large and glassy and tight with pain. He flinched the moment Cloud put his hands on him, his lips pulled back into a hiss of agony. Looking up through watery eyes at the stranger knelt above him, Leon felt him place his hands to his cheeks, heard him call his name, but nothing registered.

'Leon!' Cloud called again, shaking him slightly.

The brunet mumbled something, his mouth working unintelligently as he tried to speak; a bloodied hand that had been pressed to his shoulder reached up to rip the blond's fingers from his face.

'Marlene!' he choked out, his pinpoint bright eyes sliding to the door behind them both.

Cloud followed his gaze, cursing under his breath as he took in the bullet holes in the plywood and he stood, rushing over to throw the door open. In the diarkness behind it, a small figure in white pyjamas sat huddled under the desk, her hands over her ears as she sat sniffling and cowering.

Cloud rushed into the room, knocking aside the swivel chair and reached under the desk to pull her out, crushing her to him in a breath of relief.

'What were you doing down here?' Cloud gasped, his eyes filling with helpless tears as her little arms snaked around his neck and hung on tightly.

'I heard noises.' she offered in a small, trembling voice.

Cloud allowed himself a few seconds for the fear of what could have happened to wash over him, before he gathered it together and stomped it down.

'Where's your daddy?' he asked her, pulling away just a fraction to look into her large terrified eyes.

'I don't know. He wasn't upstairs and I heard a loud bang and I got scared. Why were those men here?' large fat tears broke over her lashes and fell heavily down her ash white cheeks. Cloud tucked her head back under his chin and fought his own.

'Don't worry about that now. We need to get help.'

He cast his eyes about, desperately seeking the whereabouts of the office phone and finding it, he snatched it up, carrying both it and the little girl back out into the workshop.

The police found Barret outside, unconscious and bleeding from a head wound, but alive. The paramedics that had swarmed the forecourt of the Engine Shed lifted him onto a stretcher, tightening the oxygen mask around his face as they strapped his gurney in and prepared to take him back to Hollow Bastion General. Marlene had been taken back upstairs, Tifa volunteering to stay with her until the morning when they would visit the hospital and check on her father. The police would need to question her at some point, but for the time being they'd plenty of work on their hands.

'Look, I'll answer your questions. I'll come with you and you can take as long as you want. But right now you need to let me go with him.' Cloud ground out, pushing against the restraining hand of one officer as he tried to get to where Leon was being strapped to a gurney.

'You're not going anywhere. I've got three dead bodies and three in the hospital and you're my only witness above seven years old. So sit down, take a breath and tell me what the hell happened.' The officer said, placing his hands against Cloud's shoulders and forced him back into the workbench.

Cloud staggered back. His exhaustion and fear had drained him and while under any other circumstances, the officer would have lost a couple of teeth with that move, Cloud had enough sense to know that he had to keep his cool.

'You don't understand he's my partner; we live together. I have to go with him.' Cloud shot back, his eyes dark and serious, edged with his all-but-spent anger.

The two officers gave each other a snide, derogatory look, curling their lip at Cloud who couldn't have given a rat's ass at that point what they thought. He just needed them to let him go.

'Fine, but you'll be escorted by one of our officers. Once he's stable, you'll be brought in for questioning.'

Cloud didn't bother to thank them, he pushed past and raced to the crowd of paramedics gathered around a stretcher, one holding an IV bag up high as the others tightened the straps that secured Leon.

The brunet was awake, his heavy lidded eyes glassy and vacant, the oxygen mask obscuring his face as Cloud came up beside him, raking his concerned gaze up and down his battered, blood spattered form.

'Leon?' he called gently. 'Lee, can you hear me?' he softly ran a thumb over the brunet's brow, and watched as he squeezed his eyes shut, clearing his vision, before opening them again and settled his gaze on the blond.

'You've got… a lot of… explaining… to do.' Leon replied sluggishly.

Cloud couldn't help it. Tears of relief flooded his eyes and he laughed. Sniffing away his unwanted emotions, he wiped his nose with the back of his hand and continued to gently stroke a thumb against Leon's temple.

'Okay let's go. Let's get him in!' a medic shouted off to Cloud's side, pulling the stretcher across the forecourt as they all bundled into the back of the ambulance. Once the doors where closed and the gurney secured, Cloud settled himself on the seat by Leon's head and reached down to grasp Leon's blooded hand, careful to avoid the IV line that was attached to it.

'I guess this… explains a lot.' Leon murmured as the engine started up. 'I never did… understand why you were… so difficult to talk to.' He smiled crookedly to himself as he let his eyes slide closed, morphine and the residue of fear making him sleepy.

Cloud recalled the many times in the past when they'd argued about him and his refusal to talk. About his dark, secretive soul and how shut out Leon had felt because of it. Those times left Cloud feeling empty, yet full of regret.

'I was an asshole.' He said, knowing every word was true.

'You were mysterious.' Leon corrected him, opening one eye a crack and lifting the corner of his mouth in that lazy sardonic smile that Cloud loved so much. 'I kind of liked it… Made you dangerous.'

Cloud gave a soft, wet hiccup, his shame and guilt convulsing his chest as he fought down the rising tears.

'Guess… guess I had no idea, huh?!' Leon managed to quip, even in his battered state.

'I'm so sorry, Leon.' Cloud managed to say, his bravado crumbling beneath him as he grasped Leon's hand between both of his and brought it to his forehead, pressing the fingers to his skin and relishing in their warmth. Leon was alive. Nothing else mattered.

'Would you… would you really have… gone after him? If he'd… if he'd killed me…' Leon asked, turning his head and opened his eyes to stare at Cloud. The blond lifted his head and settled his teary gaze on Leon, the orbs sharp and full of deadly warning. He nodded slowly, never blinking, impressing all of his rage and fear and promise into the gesture.

Leon wasn't sure how he felt about Cloud's answer. His mind was muddled and scattered, mercifully disconnected from his body, but he knew he wasn't upset by it. Cloud's silent determination – the promise he'd seen in his eyes – was oddly comforting. He'd never want to be caught in that situation again, but knowing Cloud had been there, seeing the anger in his eyes, he was strangely reassured. Leon was positive it was the morphine talking.

Letting that heavy implication settle between them, Leon said no more and closed his eyes. Letting sleep and sedation claim him, the last thing he heard before unconsciousness took him was Cloud's voice, promising to be there when he woke.