Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anyone affiliated with them. More specifically, I don't own gummi ships, the Heartless, the Nobodies, any of the Organization members, or Radiant Garden, nor do I own anything else Kingdom Hearts related that I forgot to mention. I also do not own Final Fantasy or any of its worlds and characters. In addition, I do not own Disney or any of its worlds or characters. If I did, I wouldn't be going to college. Oh, and if I owned the concept of angels, I'd be God. If I were God, I would claim to own the aforementioned games/companies/characters/ect. because no one corrects God.
Author's Note: I've been reading fan fiction for a while, and have yet to stumble across a premise quite like this. It actually hit me a couple of days ago, and I had to put aside my revisions and continuations of other stories aside for a moment. Now, this story does contain character death, which is very important to the plot. All will be explained. I am perfectly aware that the Kingdom Hearts game does not contain phoenix downs, but not everything is curable with a potion. I set this within Kingdom Hearts because this takes place post-Kingdom Hearts 2, with Heartless and Nobodies and all that good stuff. ALSO, this is my first attempt at a slash fic, but I don't yet know how that'll work out. I have yet to figure out how to make some of the pairings work (for reasons that will be explained later). Most likely the most that will happen is some possible kissing, pining, and maybe some allusions to other activities. Also, if anyone can think of a better title either now or as the story continues, don't hesitate to let me know.
Beta: Shower's Inc.
Pairings (tentative): Zexion/Demyx, Axel/Roxas (??), Cloud/Leon, Cloud/Squall (??), Squall/Seifer (??), past Squall/Rinoa, Selphie/Irvine (??), Cid/Vincent, Zack/Aeris, other pairings to be decided.
Warnings: Male slash (same-sex male relationships!!!), some het. (male-female relationships!!!), character death, blood, gore, language, spoilers for previous Final Fantasy games, spoilers for Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts 2. If you have any problems with any of that, please don't flame me. I warned you. It's your fault if you ignored me.
Inspirations and Dedications: I usually don't do this sort of thing, but I thought 'why not?' First, I would like to mention Cover Me With Starlight. I started reading her fics in December, when she was just starting out. Since then, she has completed two long stories, both of which are totally awesome, and is in the middle of writing several others. One of her newest fics, Through A Mirror Darkly, is one of the best things I have ever read. Her writing has driven me to become a better writer, and I doubt I could have thought of a story of this caliber without her influence. Next, I would like to mention Showers, Inc., another awesome writer. She knows next to nothing about Final Fantasy and has never finished Kingdom Hearts, but I absolutely love her writing and can't wait until the day I find a book written by my favorite 'former study buddy.' She has a superbly twisted mind and I loved helping her come up with even more superbly twisted ideas. Again, her writing has also inspired me to become an even better writer, and her way of thinking has somehow rubbed off on me. I blame many of my ideas for this fic on her. My senior and junior English teacher, Mrs. N., also inspires me because she is one of the most absolutely horrible procrastinators I've ever met. My memory of her motivates me to actually finish my work because I do not want to be that bad of a procrastinator.
I would like to dedicate this story to my dog, yes my dog, Jill, who passed away August 2nd after the discovery of a large softball-sized tumor on her stomach that hadn't been there two weeks before. Why dedicate this story to her? She was my close friend and confidant for over 12 years. She was the absolute best dog in the world, and I love her to pieces. Actually, she's part of the reason this story came to mind. I would also like to dedicate this story to whatever it was I was reading when I thought of this…I think it was The Sorcerer Myde (written by Cover Me With Starlight). In addition, dedications should also go to Mako Red Eyes, who introduced me to the wide world of slash. I had encountered it before, but until I stumbled across her Valenwind stories I tended to avoid it. Now I embrace it (more or less). I would also like to give a nod to TheMadHathor, the source of the phoenix down scene.
Summary: A Heartless attack goes terribly wrong, resulting in the death of one of the members of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee. Truths are revealed, loyalties are tested, and one's betrayal is discovered. Something is coming, and time is quickly ticking away as new enemies descend upon Radiant Garden and allies both old and new are being scouted from other worlds as a search for items necessary for their survival ensues, and the systemic destruction of all Heartless begins.
Guardian of Fate, Angels of Destiny
Chapter One
A Devastating Loss
One rainy night, the members of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee sat around a large table in the middle of Merlin's house poring over blueprints of the Bailey, which had been badly damaged in a Heartless attack. Yuffie and Tifa were out on patrol, but not without much protest from the energetic ninja. Heartless attacks had decreased in frequency and strength ever since the defeat of Xehanort, and the Nobody attacks had completely ceased. All in all, life in Radiant Garden was returning to normal.
"What about here?" asked Leon, pointing to a specific area on a blueprint. "This area has been completely demolished, there's no way to completely fix it. It's dangerous, someday a portion of that unsupported stone is going to come down, taking someone with it."
Cid frowned. "We might be able to get to it in a month, but what we really need to worry about is its proximity to—" Cid's sentence was cut off as the door to Merlin's house was flung open, and a drenched and bloody Yuffie was left standing in the doorway.
"Heartless! Tons of 'em!" she yelled. Merlin's house erupted into a flurry of motion as Leon, a leather-clad brunette with a scar marring his face, grabbed his gunblade Revolver. Cloud, a short blonde-haired swordsman, grabbed his Buster Sword while Cid retrieved his spear from the corner of the room. Aerith ran to fetch her staff from beside the bookcase, and Merlin began to dig out potions, hi-potions, and phoenix downs, frantically handing them out to the various warriors. He was to stay behind and secure the house.
The five fighters ran towards the Bailey, where the Heartless were appearing. Leon stood on the top of the Bailey, kicking out at a Soldier Heartless as it leapt at him, sending it plowing into a Fat Body. Cid sent a Shadow Heartless flying into the air, narrowly missing Aerith as she spun her staff dangerously and sent spells flying around the area. Yuffie was recklessly diving down from the rooftops and sending the Heartless flying. Cloud was plowing down the Heartless with merciless efficiency while Tifa was below the Bailey on solid ground, relentlessly punching the Heartless into nothing.
Leon balanced at the edge of the Bailey, coldly knocking aside any Heartless that got too close. He was cold, wet, and wanted to go back to Merlin's as soon as possible. They all did. He had just sent a Fat Body careening off the Bailey when he saw a familiar figure approaching him, decimating the Heartless as it advanced. He glanced over, and then glanced over again, frowning. The figure paused in its destruction of Heartless to bend over and pick up one skittering around on the ground. His eyes widened in realization as the figure then threw the creature at him.
It soared through the air to hit him hard in the chest. He stumbled back, losing his grip on his gunblade as he fought to pry the Shadow Heartless away from him. He stumbled back another pace, and suddenly he felt the ground around him began to crumble. His eyes widened in horror and the last thing he saw as his feet left solid ground and he began to plummet to the ground hundreds of feet below him was a twisted version of a familiar smile, and a malicious glint in familiar eyes. Someone shrieked his name as the Heartless, still clinging to his chest, chattered and fought to release his heart from its prison.
The last thing Leon felt was a sudden, horrible pain before his world plunged into darkness.
"Leon!!!" Cloud turned his head as he heard a female voice cry out. Yuffie stood near the Bailey where Leon had been standing just seconds before. She turned to yell at him, tears streaming down her face.
"Cloud! It's Leon!!"
Cloud blinked as the Heartless they had been fighting suddenly retreated, fleeing into the shadows. He dismissed it from his mind and ran over to where Leon had last been seen.
Yuffie was quickly sliding down the rubble, rocks, and gravel, quickly falling as she slid. Aerith and Tifa were huddled around something on the ground below, but his vision was hindered due to the heavily falling rain. Cid ran up beside him.
"What's wrong?" he demanded.
Cloud shook his head and they both began to scramble down the rubble to join the others on the ground. As they descended, they could see and hear Aerith screaming over the sound of the rain, frantically waving a feather over something sprawled out on the ground below.
Cloud paled as the implications washed over him.
"Work! Work, you damn feather, work!!" Aerith cried, uncharacteristically cursing as she waved it around hysterically.
The two men landed on the ground heavily, running over to the trio. Tifa had turned away from the scene and was angrily punching a wall, while Yuffie simply cried.
"Kid, what happened?" Cid demanded gruffly. Yuffie turned to him, sniffling, a mixture of tears and raindrops falling down her face.
"I-I saw it. Leon was a-attacked by a Sh-Shadow Heartless. Th-the ground gave out b-beneath him. H-he lost h-his balance and-and," she let out a wild sob, "he f-fell. It was t-tearing at his heart b-but he landed before it could get it. Tifa r-ran over and killed it. A-Aerith s-says his heart isn't beating, and he isn't b-breathing!!" she wailed.
The two men's faces paled and ran over to where Aerith was leaning over Leon's body. His long brunette hair framed his abnormally pale face, which contrasted with the white fur collar of his black leather jacket. His face was peaceful; he appeared to be simply asleep.
"Leon…" Cloud breathed, a tear slowly making its way down his face. Cid stood stock-still, barely breathing.
"Damn it! Damn it all to hell!" he suddenly roared, and angrily kicked at a nearby chunk of stone.
Cloud kneeled next to Leon's body, and moved to touch him.
"No! No! Don't touch him!" Aerith suddenly screamed. Cloud froze in surprise at her outburst.
"Thunder!" A crack of lightening emerged from her outstretched hand and hit Leon's body, which jerked with the impact. She bent down to check his heartbeat again.
"Thunder! Thunder! Thunder!" Three bolts of lightening hit his spasming body in quick succession. She bent down to check his heartbeat once again, and screamed in frustration.
"Thundara! Thundara! THUNDAGA!" she screamed, wildly casting the spells. She checked his heartbeat again before bursting out in renewed sobs, clutching Leon's head to her chest tightly.
Cloud clenched the hilt of his sword tightly, his face showing his grief. Yuffie had slumped to the nearby ground and Tifa and Cid were holding each other up as they sobbed.
Cloud turned from the picture Aerith and Leon painted to face the other members of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee. He looked at them, the sadness clearly shining in his eyes. His voice was thick as he uttered his next words.
"He's dead."
It was a solemn group that entered Merlin's house almost an hour later. Merlin turned, a smile shining on his face that quickly slid away when he saw the grief-stricken looks on their faces.
"My dear, what's happened?"
Silence rang from the group, and then Yuffie began to sob loudly while tears slowly trickled down Tifa and Aerith's faces. Cid entered, a familiar weapon slung over his shoulder and Cloud followed behind him, gently cradling Leon's lifeless body.
Merlin quickly pushed everything cluttering his table to the ground and Cloud tenderly placed Leon on it, stroking a lock of brunette hair out of the other's blue-tinged face. He looked up at Merlin, and the old wizard's heart twisted at the look of utter grief and loss etching the younger man's face.
"W-we sh-should take him to his home world," Yuffie sniffed. "H-he mentioned a f-field, a field of flowers once. He s-said that if he ev-ever died, that's wh-where he wanted to be buried."
Tifa shook her head. "He should be buried here; his home world is overrun with heartless, it's beyond saving, just like ours. It's why he never went back; we wouldn't survive one minute there."
"And what's to say he'll stay buried here?" demanded Cid. "You know what people are like; he's a legend and hordes of souvenir hunters will descend and desecrate his grave! There'd be nothing left of him in a year! Anything buried with him would be stolen and become a damned trophy!"
Merlin nodded solemnly. "As much as I hate to admit it, both Tifa and Cid are correct."
"But then what do we do?" cried Yuffie.
"We compromise."
All heads turned to a sad-looking Aerith.
"We cremate his body, then scatter his ashes on his home world over the field. We can have an empty casket funeral, and claim he became a Heartless."
The room erupted into yells of disbelief.
"Quiet! Quiet!" yelled Merlin. "Unfortunately, Aerith's right. Cremation is the only way. We will have to deceive the public as to what really happened."
Heads grudgingly nodded around the room, except for one.
"What do you say, Cloud?" asked Tifa.
There was no response.
"…Cloud?"
He stood next to Leon, gently tracing his face with his hand. "…Do it."
The rest of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee gathered around the table, looking at Leon.
"I-I'm sorry, Leon," sobbed Yuffie. "I used to be such a pain, pestering you and messing with your gunblade. I'm sorry for not calling you Leon; I don't even remember what your original name used to be anymore. I'm sorry for losing your original lion pendant; I didn't mean to lose it, honest! I never said anything 'cause I knew you'd be mad because I'd stolen an' lost it, but I just wanted to look at it, but I was too scared to tell you and it was one of the last things you had left of your home world. I know you got a copy of it made, but I know it wasn't the same. I'm so sorry! I-I loved you, Leon; you were like my big brother! I'm so sorry!" Yuffie ran out of the room in tears.
Each person filed up past Leon's body, saying their goodbyes until only Cloud and Aerith were left in the room.
With a teary smile, Aerith leaned over Leon's body, softly whispering something into his ear before leaving the room as well.
As soon as her footsteps faded away, Cloud slumped over Leon's body, tears streaming down his face. "I-I never had the nerve to tell you this, Leon, but the first time I saw you, you took all the breath right out of me. You were so beautiful, standing in the hot sun outside of the Coliseum gates. I wanted to approach you, but I couldn't. I-I fell in love with you that day. When we met in the castle library months later, I fell in love with you all over again. I admired everything about you, but I was afraid you'd reject me. I-I'd made up my mind, to tell you tonight, but then—" he broke off.
He took a shaky breath, and leaned over to whisper into the other's ear. "I-I love you, Leon."
He lightly brushed his lips against the other man's, and then abruptly stood up. He grabbed his Buster Sword and strode out into the night, the door slamming shut behind him.