It was the first day of spring. Warmth pulsed across the earth, and a welcoming sunshine beckoned new life to sprouth from the ground and reach longingly towards the light. Little animals began peeking out from crevices where they had spent the harsh, snowy winter, and with them their young witnessed a beautiful new world. It was a time for youth and love. To Leon, it was sickeningly sappy.
But she had loved it.
Nearly three years had passed until he had last seen that devastating beautiful, simple smile. Nearly three years until he had last seen the gentle wind caress her face and blow her soft chestnut hair about her. Nearly three years until he had last kissed those small, pink lips.
Gods, it was so hard. But Leon trudged forward, picking up the shattered pieces of his broken mind in an attempt to move on. Three years wasn't nearly enough time to move on for him, but he had to try for them at least. In nearly three years, his life had returned to the monotonous silence that it had been before he met her. When Rinoa had died she took Squall with her, leaving a shell of a man going through the motions of feeling by the name of Leon.
Despite the emotional trauma Rinoa's death had caused Leon, he learned to keep it bottled up and instead cast a reserved, introverted attitude that helped him not to care. That, in turn, helped him not to feel, and Rinoa's death didn't seem so painful anymore when he didn't dare try to care.
But when spring came, it was different. Everything reminded him of her. Memories would unwillingly flood into his mind, simple thoughts of her bent over the rose bushes, gently pruning the daffodils, or sprinkling bird seeds for the new mother birds. Her brightness shone the most during this time, right up until it happened.
Leon shook his head, willing the unwanted images to leave his mind. He attempted to empty himself of the anger and overwhelming sadness that threatened to eat him inside out for the loss of such a wonderful thing in his life by pinching the bridge of his nose and bowing his head in frustration.
The phone rang at that moment, and Leon never felt so grateful for the invitation to be distracted.
"Heartilly speaking," his cold voice spoke into the receiver. It sounded bored almost, devoid of any inflection. The loud voice on the other end immediately caused him to regret the thankfulness of a distraction, and he decided to promptly hang up.
"Yuffie..." He muttered to himself. The name alone caused a migraine to froth in his brains at the thought of the annoying creature. He knew, however, that she would call back, and he would inevitably be sucked into her conversation and that is how he would go to his grave, with all sanity driven from him by the child's inane talking. The phone rang again, and Leon prepared himself by inhaling deeply and answering once more in a sharp, clipped tone.
"Heartilly speaking, and you'd better make this quick Yuffie or I swear to God--Oh, Aerith." Immediately, Leon's voice lost the threatening tone and he gave her a quick apology for the rudeness.
"Hello, Leon. Just called to see if you wanted to come out with us tonight to see a movie," her cheerful, sweet voice carried over, and he knew immediately that she'd called to make sure he was alright; to make sure he was still breathing. He always said no to her invitations--they both knew this time would be no different, but she did so anyway, just to hear his voice and to see he was doing fine.
"Do I really need to answer that?" Leon's voice returned to the monotonous tone it always had, but any semblence of annoyance was gone. If there was one person Leon could never get mad at, it was her. Aerith laughed into the receiver, but he could detect the concern hidden in her voice.
"No, but it was worth the effort," she answered. "Is everything okay on your end? Need anything at the grocery store?" Leon replied that everything was fine, and no, he didn't need anything.
"Yuffie tried calling but she said you hung up on her," Aerith brought up, and Leon rolled his eyes.
"She was being annoying." He replied.
"What was she doing this time?" Aerith asked curiously.
"Talking."
Aerith laughed again, and they said their goodbyes and Leon went to go take a warm shower. He knew Yuffie had called him out of concern, just as the others did. He considered that it was selfsh of him to make his friends worry over him when they were just looking out for his well-being. Leon shook the thought from his head. Selfish or not, he refused to go back to the state of agony he had been in before he learned to numb his feelings.
He comforted his mind with the thought that, even if he was at the point where he had the emotional range of a towel (an example he borrowed from the fact that, at the moment, he was drying himself off with a towel and his rather uncreative mind couldn't come up with something better), he was doing rather well for himself and they didn't really need to be concerned. He had a good job, a more than decent house that he had bought with Rinoa when they'd had plans for a family, and...
Leon's thoughts drifted off, and he regretted the direction they'd turned. He promptly decided that he needed to watch T.V., and he nearly had himself convinced that yes, indeed, that little puppy singing the K-9 Advantix song was the best thing he'd ever seen.
Later that night, Leon poured himself a glass of vodka and decided to sit out on his front porch and watch the bright stars. It was a habit he had gotten into lately, and was a wonderful thing to drown in as he watched the blinking stars and wondered about the universe. He watched a star shoot through the sky, rather low and close, though he didn't really care. He sarcastically reminded himself to make a wish, and continued on gazing until he felt the beckon of sleep. He turned in for the night.
When crashing noises sounded outside of his window, Leon awoke with a jolt and immediately grabbed a pistol in on bedside drawer before making his way to the front door. Being in a rural area just outside the town, Leon felt the need to have the constant comfort of the pistol by his side in case of an emergency--and, judging by the way someone was crashing through the bushes outside--he was rather certain that some kind of emergency was at hand. The rustling stopped, and Leon gently opened the front door with a flashlight in hand and quietly made his way down the cemented steps off his porch, following the wall to his bedroom window where he'd heard the sounds nearby.
Leon cocked the pistol and held it in front of him, aimed, and called softly, "if you can hear me, come out right now or I swear I will shoot you if you try anything stupid." The thought just occurred to him that it might be some animal, and that he was being ridiculously paranoid, but when he aimed the flashlight around and saw a lithe, still figure on the ground Leon lowered the gun and warily approached the figure. Whoever it was was unconscious, curled in a fetal position so Leon couldn't make out his face. Leon gently tapped the figure with his boot but when he didn't move Leon finally bent down to examine the person.
Taking the boy by his shoulders, Leon carefully turned him over to examine his state. Golden blond spikes, and eyebrows arched into what seemed like a permanent frown greeted him. No wounds, no strong stench of alcohol. Leon didn't know what to make of the boy. It was certainly an odd thing to have some stranger pass out on one's doorstep, especially considering the town took a ten minute drive to reach and it seemed nearly impossible that he had simply...walked there.
Grumbling slightly with annoyance, knowing how Rinoa would have scolded him if he didn't, Leon hefted the surprisingly light figure onto his shoulder and brought him into his home. Despite his suspicions that he very well might be some mad killer or the like, the pistol held in Leon's hand comforted him to the point where he was able to deposit the stranger on his couch and cover him up. Whatever happened to the boy would be worked out with a night of rest, and whether he was gone in the morning or not, Leon didn't care. The thought that the boy might steal his possessions while he slept entered his mind, but the only possession Leon cared for was safely locked away in his bedside drawer. He went into his bedroom and crashed unceremoniously onto his mattress, drifting off to sleep with the pistol safely put away.
The bright morning rays poured in from the window and cascaded across Leon's face. He frowned slightly and tossed on his side, attempting to shield himself from the light. However, he was awake now so it was a rather pointless attempt. He let out a loud yawn and sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and swinging his feet over the side of the bed. He looked up, only to be greeted by the sight of the piercing shade of sky-blue eyes he'd ever seen. Leon started with shock, eyeing the boy suspiciously. The blond stood innocently in the doorframe, watching with a narrow gaze and an unfriendly face.
"Can I -help- you?" Leon asked incredulously, running a hand through his slightly tangled chestnut hair as he stood up. He approached the boy with his arms crossed, noticing that their height was nearly dead-even. The blond returned Leon's intimidating glare with one of his own, turning his face slightly upwards in an arrogant gesture. After a moment of glaring, the blond finally broke their gaze and turned around, walking out into Leon's living room.
"Excuse me, I was talking to you," Leon stated pointedly, anger etching itself across his face. The blond turned around again, any traces of proving dominance gone.
"Where am I?" He finally asked in a soft voice. Despite his quietness, he held a commanding tone that forced attention to him and left no room for question. Leon, slightly irritated that that was all the thanks he got for sheltering the blond, aproached him once more in an intimidating stance.
"I think I'm the one who needs to ask questions," Leon said, boring into the blond's blue eyes. "Why the hell were you on my property? What the hell are you even doing all the way out here in the first place?" Leon asked. The blond shrugged his shoulders.
"I got lost."
The simple reply caused Leon to pinch the bridge of his nose and bow his head once more. He felt an oncoming headache at the prediction of the blond's unwillingness to cooperate with Leon's interrogation.
"You did not get lost. It's impossible to get lost here. The town is a ten minute drive away. You'd have to know where you're going to even get down here to the houses." The blond shrugged at Leon's irritated reply.
"Where am I?" The blond asked once more.
"Where else are you? You're in my fucking house!" Leon replied tersely, his temper flaring. The blond remained cool and shook his head.
"What town?"
"What town?" Leon repeated. His anger was quickly fading to be replaced by guarded suspicion. "Traverse Town." Immediately the blond's face screwed up in confusion, as if Leon had spoken a foreign language to him.
"That far?" the boy said, more of a statement than a question. Leon raised an eyebrow and nodded, though he wasn't exactly sure what the boy was referring to.
"What's your name?" Leon asked, tiredly seating himself on the couch by the boy. He raised his gaze to give him an inquiring look.
"Cloud." Immediately his eyes hardened again, almost daring Leon to make a joke. Leon nodded passively, refraining from letting a stupid smirk spread across his features.
"How old are you, Cloud?" He asked again, shifting his gaze out towards the window. The sunlight had disappeared behind a mask of gray clouds.
"Seventeen." Leon nodded again, having accurately presumed Cloud's age.
"Do you drive? Come here with a car?" Leon asked again. He was hoping that Cloud would take the hint to leave. To Leon's dismay, Cloud shook his head negative.
"Well," Leon sighed, making a big ordeal out of rising to his feet from his warm seat, "I guess I've gotta drive you home then." His annoyance had built up again. "Don't let this happen again. I have no idea how you got here, but don't expect me to be so charitable in the future." He moved towards the door where a hook held his car keys. He paused, listening.
"Coming?" He asked again, not bothering to hide his irritability as he turned around to face Cloud. He was surprised to see the blond standing there with a hard look about his face, posed in a clearly defiant stance.
"Teenagers," he muttered to himself, rolling his eyes. He addressed Cloud with a patience on the brink of breaking. "Care to explain?" He asked. Cloud considered himself for a moment before crossing his arms and following Leon.
"I live pretty far," Cloud warned as Leon led them to the garage, where is silver Toyota waited. Leon frowned.
"I figured as much," Leon supplied dryly, unlocking the car door and sitting in the driver's seat. He put on his seatbelt and carefully adjusted the mirrors as he waited for Cloud to sit. The blond shut the door and sat, looking plainly at Leon. Leon, in turn, raised an eyebrow and continued waiting.
"What?" Cloud asked, glaring under the scrutiny.
"Seatbelt," Leon informed. He continued watching as Cloud rolled his eyes and put it on.
"Alright," Leon continued, slowly backing out of the garage. The long metal door slowly slid shut as Leon shifted the gear and turned onto the long stretch of road. "Where to?" He asked, feeling much like a taxi driver.
"Bastion City," Cloud replied, staring directly ahead at the stretch of road with a dark look on his face, though there was something of a smirk on his lips. Leon gaped for a moment.
"Bastion City?" Leon repeated incredulously. Cloud nodded. "How the hell did you get here?" Leon asked again, feeling his eye twitch.
"Walked," Cloud shrugged indifferently. Leon couldn't spare the kid a look, so he settled for looking at the road with a funny expression.
"It's half an hour away," Leon supplied, "driving." Cloud nodded as if it were the obvious. "Why did you walk all the way down here?" Leon asked, trying to keep any of his curiosity from showing in his voice. The boy merely shrugged again.
"Whatever," Leon said, his eyes trained on the road. Silence passed for about ten minutes as Leon drove and Cloud was absorbed in his thoughts.
"I didn't get your name," the quiet voice spoke up suddenly. Leon cast a quick glance at Cloud, who was watching the trees blurring together through the window.
"Leon," He answered curtly. Cloud remained silent until they reached the suburban area of Bastion City.
"So where do I let you off?" Leon asked as the passed a row of houses with perfect green lawns. Cloud sighed and ran a hand over his brow.
"Wherever," Cloud answered casually. Leon rolled his eyes again.
"You have a house or anything where I can drop you off at?" He tried once more, tapping the steering wheel as he made a left turn closer towards the city and it's magnificent, towering skyscrapers.
"Here's fine. I can walk back home," Cloud answered shortly. Leon, fed up with the boy, quickly turned onto the curb of the road.
"Alright then," Leon said with finality, "go home." Cloud nodded and murmured a quick thanks before exiting the car and casually made his way down the street. Leon grimaced at the difficult behavior, took one last glance at his retreating figure, and pulled a U-turn.
When Leon finally returned home, he settled back into the quiet, dull pattern of his life and turned on the T.V. Nothing decent was on during a Saturday afternoon, so Leon decidedly went to his study to make lesson plans. He had the kids reading Hamlet and by Monday they should have finished reading Act III. Feeling particularly cruel, he made up a rather complicated quiz on the themes and motives of the reading they should know despite being fully aware that they were probably too stupid to understand it--or, being seniors, they just didn't care enough to understand it.
Pleased with the quiz, he closed the book he'd used for references and cracked his knuckles, leaning back in his chair. The thoughts of his job briefly passed in his mind. He despised socializing, yet he was a high school teacher. He smirked at the irony and his own misfortune. It was because of her that he'd taken the God-forsaken job. This was an excellent neighborhood to raise their children. Excellent pay, too, since the lack of teachers in the area caused a high demand for his skills. Everything was set for them, when...
Leon immediately moved to stand up. He knocked the chair off its feet with the rush, but he didn't care. He ran a shaky hand through his long chestnut locks and paced a bit, desperately trying to drive her from his head.
The blond boy, Cloud, came to his mind and he wondered if he'd made it home alright. Despite all the effort he put into not caring about the world, his duty as a teacher forced the paternal instincts out of him whether he was truly concerned or not. He was easily assured by the boy's strong character and independence that he'd made it home fine. Cloud reminded Leon of himself when he was younger...before he'd met Rinoa. Leon ground his teeth, frustrated with himself.
He made his way over to the glass liquor cabinet and poured himself a generous amount of scotch. It was easier to forget with each sip, and on each passing moment his mind turned to more mundane things. He drifted farther and farther away from Rinoa's smiling face, until she was nothing but a fuzzy blur...
And before he knew it, it was morning. The glass he'd been using last night was tipped on its side on his coffee table, discarded instead for the comfort of the whole bottle. A pounding headache greeted Leon upon awakening, and he groaned dramatically. He rose up slowly, grabbing his head, and with a disgruntled observation, he noticed that he was lying unceremoniously on the rough carpet in the living room.
He pulled himself up, trying his best to ignore the sledgehammer banging his brains senseless, and made his way to the bathroom to take some extra aspirin. Feeling absolutely miserable, Leon dragged himself to his bedroom and collapsed on the mattress, not bothering to pull the sheets down or cover himself. He rested his head, hoping that the hangover would pass soon.
Leon's life passed in peace that lasted only a few days until Cloud showed up again.
He was working late in his study, grading essays, quizzes, and making progress reports. It was early in the morning--very early. 1:00 am. Yet Leon didn't care, and was thankfully absorbed by the huge amount of work he had ahead of him before school began that Thursday morning. He reached for his warm white mug and drank the black coffee, loving the way the caffeine buzzed in his mind and forced his eyes open despite the exhaustion he felt.
The only noise was the slight ticking of the small clock beside him. He just finished grading one of his better student's essays and was following up with a bad one from one of his mediocre student's when he heard something that wasn't the ticking of his clock. Leon frowned, listening closer.
Someone was actually knocking on his door. Leon's brows furrowed and he left his study to greet the unwelcome guest, planning a lecture about stupid brats and one in the morning.
"Hey," greeted the strong, quiet voice. Leon's eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened in surprise. He certainly wasn't expecting to see the blond boy.
"C-Cloud?" Leon struggled for a moment, trying to remember his name. "Cloud." The boy nodded. "What are you doing here?" The shock of seeing him was wearing off, and Leon felt the irritation begin to form. "Do you even know what time it is?" Cloud looked down and scuffed his shoe. His face showed no sign of emotion but his body language spoke enough for him, showing Leon that he at least had the decency to acknowledge that yes, he'd come at a bad time.
"I'm not driving you back," Leon answered immediately, "I've got to teach in a few hours and I still have a ton of marking to do." He gave Cloud a look that made sure he knew he was unwelcome.
"I don't need you to drive me back," Cloud spoke up, raising his gaze and meeting Leon's look with a pointed one of his own. Seeming to remember why he was at Leon's doorstep at such an absurd hour, his eyes lost their resilience and he sighed in a resigned manner.
"I just...Uh..." Cloud grimaced, obviously having difficulty voicing what he wanted to. Leon crossed his arms impatiently. "I...Can I..." Cloud drifted off, looking at Leon imploringly. However, Leon had no clue what he wanted and just stared at him with a cocked eyebrow.
"Ergh. Never mind," Cloud finally said, throwing his hand up to his face, fed up. He turned around and gave Leon a short wave. "Sorry to disturb you." Cloud turned to give Leon an attempt at a smile before heading off into the dark. Leon was so dumbstruck he stood there for a moment, his jaw working to find something to say. Finally, he settled to slamming the door shut and heading off towards his study to continue grading. Surprisingly enough, he wasn't mad.
Leon's alarm clock rang at seven in the morning sharp. Leon rose, though his body begged him for just a few more hours of rest, and headed towards the shower. He'd only gotten three hours of sleep from all the work he did, but the satisfaction that he had nothing to grade later that night made up for his exhaustion. He took his shower, made some coffee and downed it quickly, and hit the road with his briefcase full of the graded papers beside him. Leon turned on the radio, though he didn't really care about the topic of discussion.
During his short trip to work, however, Leon was completely taken off guard to see a lone blond figure near the road, thumb up for hitchhiking. Leon pulled next to the blond, who in turn greeted him with eyes wide in surprise that someone had actually stopped.
"Need a ride?" Leon asked with disapproval as the blond hopped in. If the kid's eyebrows could go any higher, they would have.
"Leon?" Cloud asked with surprise. Leon returned the greeting with an unpleasant glare.
"You were hitchhiking."
"I guess I was."
"That is incredibly stupid of you."
"Don't care."
"Anyone could have picked you up."
"I was hoping for that."
Leon felt his eye twitch, and he pinched the bridge of his nose. He wished he could bow his head and shut his eyes like he normally would, but that would be an extremely dangerous thing to do on a road.
"Listen, kid," Leon began, his patience wearing thin, "I can't take you home right now. Shouldn't you be in school?" They were greeted with a sign that welcomed them to Traverse Town, and the buildings became more frequent and clumped together. Cloud merely shrugged, but realizing Leon couldn't see his movement, he made an answer.
"Not in school."
"You're not in school." Leon repeated with disbelief. "Seventeen, right?" Cloud agreed. "Graduated?" Cloud disagreed. "Graduate early?" Cloud disagreed again. "Well?" Leon ground out.
"I only go when I want to," Cloud rephrased.
"So you're still in school." Leon affirmed. Cloud remained silent.
"Well, call your parents and tell them to pick you up at Traverse High School." Cloud turned sharply to face Leon, his mouth turned downwards into something of a grimace. "Cell phone is in the briefcase."
Cloud reached down to the briefcase he'd placed on the floor when he'd entered and retrieved the cell phone. Leon made a turn and drove on the last stretch towards the school as Cloud fiddled with the phone.
"It's Cloud." Cloud waited as the person on the other end spoke. "Later. I'll come home later tonight." With that, Cloud hung up and replaced the cellphone.
"So who's coming to get you?" Leon asked, knowing full well Cloud hadn't mentioned anything of being picked up. He merely shrugged.
"Thought I could get my day's worth of school over with before I walked back," Cloud answered quietly. Leon could hear the smirk in his voice and felt something of a smile tug at his lips in an unaccustomed way. Leon, frankly, didn't care if anyone came to pick the kid up or not; he'd done his responsibility. He promised Cloud to get him a visitor's pass for the day, and shortly afterwards they were parked at the school.
There was still half an hour until the bell rang and Leon's first period students assembled in his room, so Leon took a sip of the coffee from his thermos and began preparing his lessons for the day. Cloud took a seat randomly near the desk, as always without a trace of emotion on his face. The bright orange sticker labeled with "visitor" in large bold letters stuck on the navy blue sweatshirt he wore.
"So," Leon began as he wrote instructions on the chalk board, "how come you didn't go home last night?" Though it was none of his business and he tried to sound as if he could care less, his eyes flitted curiously over to the blond sitting nonchalantly in the seat.
"Because." Cloud's eyes, full of disinterest, briefly met Leon's before looking away. Leon sighed in an agitated manner, trying to let the annoyance at the boy's clipped answer dissipate.
"Well there has to be a reason, or else you wouldn't have been knocking at my door at one in the morning. Which, by the way, never do again unless you want me to kill you." Leon set the white chalk on his desk and sat down on the squishy brown swivel chair, clasping his hands behind his head as he looked over at Cloud. The corner of Cloud's mouth twitched into something of a smile.
"I'll remember that, Mr. Heartilly." Leon sputtered for a moment before raising an inquisitive brow at the boy. Cloud shrugged.
"We're in school. You're the teacher. Simple rules of conduct," Cloud answered sagely. Leon smiled dryly.
"Now aren't you the model student?" He replied with amusement. Cloud shrugged again at the comment, resting his head onto the desk and folding his arms over his face. Leon sighed and looked away, thinking of anything else he could do before the little monsters began piling into the classroom.
"Want some coffee?" Leon finally asked the blond, who lay still on the desk. He stirred slightly and lifted his head so he could look at Leon and nodded. Leon pulled out one of the mugs he'd left at school from the drawer and poured in some coffee from his thermos before he got up and brought it to Cloud. The blond took the mug gratefully and muttered a quiet "thanks" before taking a long sip.
"Why do you call yourself Leon? Is it your middle name or something?" Cloud asked as he set the mug down on the desk. Leon looked at him sharply.
"How do you know that?" Leon asked wearily, his eyebrows narrowed. Cloud pointed to the lanyard with Leon's school ID carelessly discarded on his desk. Leon snatched it up quickly, putting it around his neck and tucking it inside his bleached white shirt.
"It's none of your business," Leon answered in a quiet voice, picking up his copy of Hamlet and pretending to look through it.
"Squall," Cloud mused, "it's almost as bad as my name."
"My name's not Squall. Don't ever say it again." Leon glared at the stark white pages and the poetic verses written on them, gripping the cover of the book tightly. Cloud scoffed.
"If you say so."
"I do say so."
And that was the end of the conversation. The bell rang a moment afterwards, and Leon directed Cloud to a desk that wasn't assigned to one of his students. Then the kids began filing in.