Not mine. Not ever going to be mine. Probably because I'd abuse it terribly by inserting Leon/Cloud and Sora/Riku yaoi like I'm going to do here and have most of the cast go psycho. Because I decided that if I was going to do an AU, I was really going to do an AU. This is going to get warped.

Telling Tales

Chapter One: Of The Lost And The Found

"Excuse me."

The voice was soft and somewhat timid in tone, yet it still managed to carry with ease across the room. Probably, Leon reflected, because said room was completely empty save for himself, several inefficient fans that were blowing more of his paperwork around the room than cool air, and the stranger. Shifting slightly on the wooden backed office chair, Leon tilted it back to a more upright angle as he spun away from the wall to confront the newcomer. In truth, acknowledging the speaker was an action mainly done out of curiosity. Visitors were rare in Leon's office. Obviously word about his general demeanour had finally got out.

Just inside the doorway to Leon's office stood a young boy. He could have been anywhere between about twelve and fifteen in age, Leon reckoned. His small build and short stature weren't helped by the oversized clothes that hung off his frame in that stupid street style all the middle class kids were adopting in the hope of looking like they came from the ghetto. Brown hair spiked in every direction, lacking the slightly more ordered style of Leon's own choppy chocolate strands. What struck him most about the kid were the huge blue eyes that were staring at him with a mixture of hope and terror. Leon couldn't remember the last time he saw eyes as blue as that in anyone older than a few weeks.

Stepping further into the room with no small amount of trepidation, the kid began to shift his weight restlessly from foot to foot. "Excuse me. You're Squall Leonheart, right?"

Leon's blue-grey eyes narrowed as he frowned, feeling the scar that cut neatly across his nose and forehead stiffly protest the gesture. "It's Leon," he said in a low voice that left no room for argument.

Or so he thought for the kid's face crumpled in confusion. "Really? They told me you were called Squall Leonheart. They said you were a SeeD." Sensing that he wasn't making the situation any better the kid squeezed his eyes shut. "I need your help!" he forced out before dropping into a deep bow holding his clasped hands above his head in a pleading gesture.

Leon raised an eyebrow as he leant his elbows on the desk in front of him. The lack of any paperwork on its surface reminded him that work had not exactly been plentiful in recent weeks. "You need my help," Leon repeated in a flat tone. "You look a little young and innocent to want someone dead."

The kid looked up at Leon in shock, his body still twisted in the contortions of earlier. "Why would I want you to kill someone?"

Leon resisted the urge to sigh. "What do you think SeeD are normally recruited to do? We're mercenaries."

The boy straightened. "You're the best there is though, right? I need you to find someone for me."

This time Leon did sigh as he leant back in his chair and swung slightly from side to side. "Then get the police."

"The police won't listen to me!" the boy protested. "So I thought I'd try you. After all, even if you're killing someone, you'd have to find them first, right? This way, you just … skip that part."

Leon did his best to fight the desire to sigh again, instead pinching the bridge of his nose as though warding off a headache. He hated dealing with kids. They had no idea about how the world worked. "If the police won't listen to you, what makes you think I will?"

"Because I know something's wrong! Please! I'll even pay you if I have to!"

Leon dropped his hand in order to not obstruct the quelling glare he levelled on the kid. "Let's get one thing straight. If, and I do mean if, I choose to work for you; then I will be getting paid for it. And don't think I won't charge you exactly the same price I charge everyone else. If you can't afford it, you go somewhere else."

Rather than appear intimidated, the kid's expression brightened. "You mean you'll help me? Seriously?"

Leon rolled his eyes. "How much can you afford?"

The kid rummaged around in his pockets before pulling out a crumpled handful of dollars. "I've got two hundred saved up."

Two hundred? Leon tried not to scoff. The teenager in his office was never going to get anywhere if that was all the money he had. With yet another sigh, Leon leaned forwards across the desk to reach for a blank notepad and pen. "For two hundred I'll dig around for a couple of days and let you know if you've got enough of a case to take to the police. And that's better than you'd get elsewhere, so I'd consider it if I were you."

To Leon's inner surprise, the kid actually appeared to do just that as he bit his lower lip and began to chew it absently as he studied the money in his hands. Then he looked up at Leon and again the SeeD noticed the expression in those eyes that bordered on desperation. "But you'll really look, right?" the kid said. "For those two days, you'll really try hard to find him?"

Some small shred of conscience deep within Leon was trying to get his curiosity to acknowledge that there was clearly an interesting story here if the boy's obvious distress was any indication. He squashed the rogue piece of empathy with his usual brutal efficiency and treated the kid to a brief nod. "For two days, this case will have my undivided attention."

Leon was treated to a somewhat watery grin from his new client as the kid crossed the room to drop the money on Leon's desk. Clicking the tip of his pen, Leon gestured to the other chair in the room as he pulled his notepad closer. "Take a seat…"

"Sora," the kid said when he saw Leon pause for a name. "I'm Sora."

"Sora," Leon confirmed. "Perhaps you'd better tell me just what has brought you here. And it would be best to start from the beginning."

In the beginning there had been three. Sora, Riku and Kairi; the closest friends you could imagine. They never seemed to be without one another and where you found one, the other two were surely nearby. At least until that particular summer when Kairi had turned twelve and then vanished from the face of the Earth. They never found the body, but it didn't stop the man who did it from confessing. He'd killed a string of girls and some malicious twist of fate had brought him to the woods where the three friends played together on that one day when Sora and Riku had been late to join Kairi. Following her death, Sora and Riku had refused to retreat into their individual grief and instead had become closer than ever: two halves of the same soul in different bodies. Nothing would come between them.

But a few months ago, Sora had noticed a change in Riku. The older boy had become withdrawn, which although wasn't anything new to most of the people around him, wasn't something that Sora had ever found directed at himself before. Riku would vanish for hours, sometimes even the best part of a day and never speak a word about where he had been. Sora had been confused at first; then hurt until worry began to take over. This wasn't like Riku, he'd reasoned, and he decided to make a final effort to get his friend to confide in him.

He'd asked Riku to meet him in the cave they'd adopted as their secret hideaway as children and the other boy had agreed. Once there though, Riku had seemed restless, unable to keep still and constantly pacing about the small space. Sora had felt his questions die in his throat as he watched his friend move about.

Finally Riku had turned to him, his mouth open as though about to speak before he frowned and turned away again, closing his mouth once more. Sora had been about to speak into the silence when Riku beat him to it. "Sora … ever heard of Kingdom Hearts?"

Sora had blinked in puzzlement. "Kingdom what?"

"Never mind, it's not important." Moving to the far side of the cave, Riku had paused to run his hand over the crude drawings that had been carved into the stone surface by Sora, Kairi and himself as children. "If … if you had the chance to make it so everything was as it should be … not all messed up and wrong … if you could gain everything you ever wanted, would you risk it?"

"What?" Sora had frowned. This sort of questioning was not like Riku at all. "What are you talking about Riku?"

"I'm talking about this. What if you could make everything like how it's supposed to be?"

Sora had pulled a doubtful face. "But you can't. You can't control everything about your life, it doesn't work that way."

"But if you could," Riku had pressed. "Would you?"

There had been something almost frightening about Riku's expression at that moment and it had made Sora stop before he spoke. Instead of answering the question, Sora had laughed in a forced and nervous manner as he attempted to change the subject. "What's up with you Riku? You're acting all weird, even for you."

Riku had paused before slumping down to sit facing Sora on the opposite side of the cave. "I guess you're right," he'd said with a tired smile. "Sorry."

Sora had simply smiled the whole previous conversation away. The next morning Riku was gone.

Leon had paused once Sora had finished speaking, tapping the tip of his pen on the ring-binding of his notepad as he glanced over what he had written. One thing stood out. "Kingdom Hearts," Leon repeated. "What is that?"

On the opposite side of the desk, Sora shrugged, holding out his arms helplessly before dropping them back to lie loosely in his lap. "I'd never heard of it until that afternoon," the teenager confessed, hunching his shoulders as he leaned forwards. A slight frown creased his young forehead as Sora gazed down at his interlaced fingers. "I thought maybe it was some kind of cult or something that he'd joined, but when I tried to find out more about it …"

"You couldn't find anything," Leon finished for him, waiting for the bob of brown spiky hair before continuing. Dropping his notepad back onto the desk, Leon tilted his chair backwards as he narrowed his eyes in thought. "Doesn't necessarily mean it's not a cult. It could just be something underground."

Sora's head rose as he stared wide-eyed at Leon. "You mean like a secret society?"

Leon shrugged one shoulder. "It's a theory. It could be something else entirely. A place, a book, some sort of code name or phrase. It could also be completely unrelated to your friend's disappearance." He glanced over at Sora and saw that the kid looked completely crushed. "It's a start though," he heard himself saying.

Sora just seemed to sag with relief. "So what's next?"

Leon pushed his chair back from the desk and rose to his feet. "If it's okay with his parents, I'll have a look around Riku's room. See if he left any clues behind."

"Riku doesn't live with his parents anymore. He moved out when he turned sixteen."

Leon stopped and turned back to look at Sora in confusion. "Then just how old are you?"

Sora grinned. "We're both seventeen."

Leon knew he didn't manage to keep the look of complete shock from his face. Seventeen? At seventeen, Leon had been a newly graduated SeeD. The kid seemed so much more than a mere ten years younger than himself. With a shake of his head, Leon picked up his notepad again and tried to remember how to act like a professional. "Well if you can give me his address, I'll head over there this afternoon. I don't suppose he gave you a key?"

"Huh? Oh sure," Sora said as he pulled a vast collection of keychains from his pocket and began to rapidly sort through them. He then unclipped one with a small silver crown at one end and a pair of keys at the other. "The bronze one is to get into the apartment block, and the silver will open the door to Riku's place. It's number twenty-two. The apartment block's in the Second District, next to the Hotel."

Leon nodded as he accepted the key. "I know the one. I'll provide a full written progress report for each day, detailing what I've found. Should anything exceptional come to light, I'll notify you by phone as soon as it's possible."

Sora also clambered to his feet, pausing to look hopefully at Leon. "Do you … think you'll find anything?"

For some reason, it was harder than usual to answer. Leon shrugged and looked down at the floor. "It's too early to tell. I'll certainly try."

Sora's shoulders slumped slightly before he straightened and smiled at Leon. "Thank you."

For some reason, Leon really didn't like holding the kid's gaze. He busied himself with grabbing a jacket so as to not appear unnecessarily rude. "Whatever. I'd better get started. If this is only going to be two days, you'll no doubt want something to show for it."

Leon's office was pretty much central to Traverse Town, being located over quite a popular café in the First District which was always the busiest of Traverse Town's three main districts. The stairs to his office led down to a small alleyway that opened out into the central square. Leon paused for a moment amongst the bustle and consulted his watch. The time was currently a little after three in the afternoon so Leon reasoned that should Riku's apartment fail to turn up any promising leads as he suspected might be the case, he'd still have time to stop off at the Police Headquarters in Second District on his way back to the office. When he'd been training to become a SeeD, his closest rival had been Seifer Almassy although Seifer had never qualified as a SeeD. He'd gone to work for the police instead and despite the frequent clashes they had both had as students, over the years they had been able to form a sort of truce that saw the pair help the other out with information when the need arose. If this Kingdom Hearts really was some sort of group, Seifer would be able to let him know if it was something the police were keeping tabs on.

Forgoing his car, Leon hitched up the collar of his jacket as protection against the chill wind and began to weave his way through the crowds that filled the streets of the First District. It would be about a half-hour walk to get to Riku's apartment in Second and Leon could really use the time to think.

First and foremost in his mind was the ongoing problem of just what he was expecting to uncover here. For all Leon knew, there wasn't even a case. This Riku could have simply decided to take off for a couple of days or gotten distracted by a new lover. Leon could very well make his way into the apartment to find a slightly confused teenager demanding to know who he was and why he was trespassing. Yes, according to Sora, Riku had been acting oddly before he vanished, but again that didn't have to mean anything. Perhaps the previously close friends were growing apart and Sora hadn't realised he was being given the brush off.

Even as he considered these options, Leon was aware of the 'but' hovering in the back of his mind. Yes, it was all entirely possible, but … Leon wasn't quite sure how to articulate just what came after that. But … Sora seemed too aware of his friend to not have noticed if Riku was merely trying to end their friendship. But … there were the somewhat strange issues Sora had faithfully reported the two of them discussing before Riku vanished. But … Sora hadn't been able to find out from anyone where Riku was. But … something about the words Kingdom Hearts disturbed him. Leon couldn't quite shake the feeling he'd heard them before, or maybe read about them.

None of that was going to solve a case however, although it was presenting Leon with some ideas of where to start proving or disproving that this Riku had simply chosen to run off somewhere. Any other paths for this investigation to follow would no doubt present themselves once Leon really started looking into things. Although … two days: he really wasn't sure just what Sora expected him to do.

Leon reached the large gates that marked the border between the first and second districts. Both the large wooden gates were open to allow for the steady flow of pedestrians and traffic. Leon passed through them with little trouble. While First District had become the financial hub of Traverse Town with the bulk of businesses and shops relocating there, Second District still managed to consist of a mixture of residential areas and independently run boutiques and bars. Leon was quietly impressed with the idea that Riku could afford an apartment in this area, even with a SeeD salary, Leon's budget wouldn't see him able to move out of Third District without running into serious cash problems.

Leon found the apartment block with little trouble. There was only the one hotel in Second District after all and one side was taken up with a building that clearly wasn't apartments, but appeared to be some sort of workshop or factory. Leon studied it before deciding it would clearly be renovated into expensive apartments within two years. Turning his attention back to the apartments, he located the neatly written Nakamura R. next to number twenty-two. Experimentally, Leon pressed the buzzer beside the name to see if anyone would answer. After all, there was little point in heading inside if Riku had already returned from wherever he'd run off to.

After the second ring went unanswered, Leon rummaged in his pocket for the keys Sora had provided earlier and unlocked the door to the foyer. Stepping inside, Leon crossed immediately to the row of mailboxes, each engraved with an apartment number. Twenty-two's was overflowing with mail and Leon made a mental note to try and locate a key for the box inside the teenager's apartment. There might be some sort of lead contained within all the inevitable junk mail.

There were the options of stairs or a lift to reach the second floor and Leon opted for the stairs automatically. It wasn't as though he was heading up to the top of the building and Leon saw little point in being lazy. The stairwell was clean, well lit and minimally decorated in neutral tones. Reaching the second floor revealed that the colour scheme had been carried on into the main corridor as well and so rather than admire it, Leon strode briskly along the floor until he reached apartment twenty-two.

Unlocking the door and stepping inside didn't raise any immediate shouts of alarm, so Leon carefully closed the door behind him before turning to take in the apartment fully. It was of a fairly reasonable size, consisting of a large living area with a small alcove serving as a kitchenette and two doors leading off that Leon assumed lead to both the bathroom and bedroom. The contents were tidy and ordered, meaning that had Riku left under duress, any mess that resulted had been cleaned up. All the lights in the room were on, but that didn't necessarily mean anything either.

Pulling a pair of leather gloves from his jacket pocket, Leon slid them on before advancing further into the room. The living area was sparsely furnished with a large chocolate brown sofa, a television set with several games consoles and neatly stacked games, a low coffee table and a potted plant by the window. Various band posters hung on the plain white walls alongside flyers for upcoming gigs. Leon glanced at them, recognising only a few of the more-well known bands, the majority appeared to be local bands and unsigned acts. Aside from a prevalence of what looked like hard rock, it was pretty much what he expected from a teenaged boy. There were more flyers on the coffee table alongside a couple of gaming and movie magazines. The television had been unplugged, which Leon found strange considering all the lights had been left on, but he didn't pause before walking into the kitchenette.

The surfaces were clean of both dishes and leftovers, having been wiped down recently. The hob was equally immaculate and a quick look inside the small fridge/freezer revealed an apple, a couple Tupperware containers of leftovers, a half-eaten tub of Chunky Monkey ice-cream and several large bottles of Mountain Dew. Leon was mildly surprised to find even one item of fruit and veg inside Riku's fridge, but again he didn't see how it could be important. He closed the fridge and checked the other cupboards, finding a neatly concealed washing machine and waste-bin that was about half full of various empty containers.

Leaving the main room behind, Leon opened the first of the two doors and found the bathroom. It was tiled in white and the only real colour came from the bright blue towels that were draped neatly on the warming rail beside the bath. Again the lights were all on and the room was pretty much immaculate. No bloodstains or bodies in the bath. On impulse, Leon turned on the hot tap and watched the mirror in front of the sink slowly fog up. No hasty messages or warnings written on the mirror either, although he did spot a small smiley face in the bottom left-hand corner. If anything, its presence relieved Leon; it was good to see evidence that this Riku was actually capable of acting his age. Leon turned off the tap once more and made his way to the final room.

It was a bedroom as Leon suspected, decorated in cool and calming shades of blue and once again left with all the lights blazing. One wall of the room was completely taken up with bookshelves and Leon scanned the contents. Mostly classic literature and history books with a few music biographies as well. On a much smaller shelf nearer the bed was a collection of manga, mostly dealing with ninjas by the looks of things. A quick check of the closet and chest of drawers showed neatly folded clothes with no obviously gaps to indicate that Riku had packed an overnight bag before leaving. The desk in front of the window had several photos displayed on the walls nearby. Leon spotted Sora's smiling face in most of them, usually alongside a more serious looking teenager with green eyes and almost silver hair – Riku according to Sora's descriptions. There were also a couple of other teenagers and Leon made a note to ask Sora if he could identify them. He was pretty certain Sora would be able to considering Sora was in most of those photos as well.

As Leon turned to leave the bedroom, something glinted from underneath the glare of the bedside light. Crossing over to the small cabinet, Leon spotted another set of keys, this time also containing a third much smaller key that must be for the mailbox. He picked them up and slid them into his pocket before leaving the apartment, taking a final glance around to check everything else was as he'd found it. Should the police end up getting involved, Leon knew they'd be far from appreciative to find he'd left things disordered.

Once outside the apartment, Leon slid Sora's set of keys into his pocket before jogging back down the stairs. When Leon re-entered the foyer, he made his way immediately over to the mailbox and used the key to collect the large stack of mail inside. A glance at his watch as Leon left the building revealed that the time was a little before six. Seifer would most likely have headed home from the police station by now, so Leon decided to leave visiting the police for tomorrow. With any luck, he might actually have some information for them.

Rather than head all the way back to his office, fighting against the flood of people who were now all returning home, Leon stopped off in a small café to examine the mail over coffee. After a few abortive attempts by the young, female waitress to have a conversation with him, Leon was left alone with his coffee to go through the various letters.

The bulk were clearly junk mail and Leon tossed those casually to one side. There was a postcard displaying a beach scene of Destiny Islands from a Tidus with a mostly illegible message that Sora could hopefully translate. Leon moved that into a new pile and shortly added two handwritten letters with postmarks destroyed by rain. Finally, Leon found a reminder from the local chemists that the film Riku had dropped off for development was now ready for collection. That made him pause as he checked the dates. The letter had been sent the day after Riku had gone missing so the film must have been handed in not long before that. Leon drained the last of his coffee while tapping the note thoughtfully against the table surface. The chemist wasn't far; he could easily stop in on his way back to the office.

Decided on a course of action, Leon rose from his chair and gathered up the handwritten letters and postcard along with the reminder. The rest of the junk mail he left on the table for the waitress to clear in addition to his empty cup. Sliding the collection of papers into the pocket on the inside of his jacket, Leon idly glanced out across the street as he exited the coffee shop.

A young woman with brown hair tied in a long braid was standing directly opposite him, watching him closely. She was wearing a long pink dress with a faded red denim jacket that should have clashed terribly but somehow didn't. Heavy brown boots completed the mish-mash of styles, though Leon was more drawn to her eyes. Even from this distance he could tell they were green. Seeing he had noticed her attention she smiled and raised a single finger to her lips. Frowning, Leon made to step closer to her, but a loud blaring horn reminded him that he had just walked out into a busy street. He hurriedly stepped back, just missing the car that sped past and when he glanced back, the woman was gone.

Leon made it to the chemists without further mishap and silently handed the reminder note to the girl working in the photo lab. She attempted a smile in his direction, but it quickly withered under the force of Leon's glare. The girl hurried away and returned soon with the packet of photos, all but thrusting them into Leon's hands before running away again. Leon took the photos with a quiet snort of amusement before turning to head out of the door, opening the packet to examine the contents as he walked.

The first fifteen or so were pretty much what he'd have expected from a teenager. Several shots of the same group of teenagers that Leon had seen in photo frames scattered about Riku's apartment. There were also more than a few poorly taken photos of various bands performing live, obviously taken with one hand while dancing or being jostled by the rest of the appreciative crowd. It was difficult to really make out anything from those shots, so Leon simply flipped past them.

Then he reached several shots of a cityscape that Leon failed to immediately recognise. It could be part of Traverse Town, closer to the suburbs and away from the central three districts that he was familiar with. The streets were all rain-washed and irritatingly anonymous with their generic chainstores and red-brown bricks. There was a figure in all of them, slightly blurry in some shots due to the fact that the pictures had clearly been taken while moving, but even in the clearer shots it was clear that the subject had no awareness of the photographer. It was a teenaged girl, mostly seen from the back, but with a couple of profile shots as well.

Leon frowned as he examined the photos. There was an obsessive quality to them that could well have explained the mood swings that Sora had noted in his now absent friend. Perhaps Riku had run off to be with this girl, or simply to find out more about her? The first thing to do would be to identify the girl and hopefully she could then lead Leon to Riku. Leon felt what could have been the traces of a smile on his face. Less than twenty-four hours on the job and he had found a promising lead for Sora.

Leon was scanning through a couple of local books filled with photos of the various parts of Traverse Town, looking for somewhere that matched Riku's photos, when Sora came through the door in a frantic burst of energy.

"I got your message! Did you find something? Do you think you know where he is?"

Leon just sat and waited until Sora had run out of questions and breath. Then he gestured the now deflated teen towards an empty chair. "Take a seat."

Sora collapsed into the chair, still sucking in oxygen like it was going out of style and trying to find enough energy to lean forwards enough to continue his interrogation.

Closing the book he had been flipping through, Leon reached for the photos that had caught his interest and spun them across the desk to rest in front of Sora. "These appear to have been taken by Riku shortly before he went missing. Can you identify the girl? It's possible she knows where your friend is."

Blinking, Sora leaned forwards to pick up the photos. He'd barely done more than glance at the first one when a frown appeared on his face. The look of disquiet increased as he flipped through the rest of the photos at increasing speed. "It's not … it can't be."

Intrigued by the reaction, Leon raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

Sora didn't seem to hear him. "I mean … sure it looks like her, but it just can't." Pausing on one photo, Sora raised it up closer to his face before seeming to sag. The pile of photographs fluttered through his fingers to land on the floor. Slowly blinking his eyes, Sora looked across at Leon. "I don't understand," he told the SeeD. "It's just not possible."

"What?" Leon asked. "Do you know who the girl is?"

Sora glanced briefly down at the photos now on the floor by his oversized shoes. "Yeah, but she can't be here."

"Why not?" Leon pressed.

"Because Kairi's dead!" Sora yelled. "She can't be wandering around because she was murdered five years ago! They caught the guy that did it! He gave a full confession."

Leon paused for a moment in shock before recovering. "Perhaps this is a case of mistaken identity. This girl could merely resemble your childhood friend."

Sora shook his head defiantly. "That's what I thought with the first couple of photos, but look at this one." Sora hung off the chair to scrabble amongst the photos on the floor before grabbing the one he was obviously after. "See? You can see Kairi's birthmark. A heart-shaped purple mark just on her shoulder blade. And those earrings she's wearing? Riku and I gave them to her for her twelfth birthday." Sora frowned. "But if she's still alive, why hasn't she got in contact?"

"Perhaps this is what Riku left to discover," Leon thought aloud. He glanced back down at his desk. "Well if we want to know more, we'd better start by finding out just why a man would confessing to killing a girl when he clearly hasn't." Leon caught Sora's gaze. "You know the name of the guy that said he did it?"

Sora nodded. "As if I'd forget," he said. "Cloud Strife."

TBC