Disclaimer: I don't own these characters; they belong to Square Enix/Disney.
AN: This is gonna be a slight multi-chapter and there is a kind of other CloudLeon I've got kind of in the works on my laptop, but its on hiatus till I can figure out how I want it to work
Chapter 1
"…Such a beautiful creature you are, Leonhart…but…" the man shivered as a dark chuckle rumbled from deep within the core of his throat as his tongue lapped at the edge of the blade in his hands, "…Such beautiful things are meant and tend to become marred and marked by the things of this world…Sorry my beautiful thing…but…it is for the best…
Stormy eyes stared in utter fear; he couldn't spit back some horrid words of hate for the man since the man had assured that no such thing could happen, the captor had full control of the situation even to the way the man's body moved, in just the way he wanted the man to move. Fear had been filling and welling behind those storm cloud like eyes as they could see the rolling thunder looming down into the stormy clouds of grey with a look of contempt that they were going to combine and connect as a flick the man's wrist left the man's world spinning as gagged sounds of muffled agony ripped through his throat only to be swallowed, forcefully by rough, chapped, raw lips.
"…You're mine forever, Leonhart…don't forget that…"a contemptuous smirk graced the presence of the blond figure looming over the quiet man's face, "…I, Seifer Almsay…own you…forever…"
Something crashed outside as a brunet's chocolate locks flashed away from the dangling position they had held moments before as a look of utter shock graced the man's face that was becoming dotted in a cold sweat. Dishes found themselves broken in the kitchen sink and the unknown feeling of a wet, red trickle was starting to fish about in the soapy dish water as the sound of pounding feet, one set sounded like the individual was trying to escape with a cheerful sound of outwitting the other set following with its steps. While the other set pounded about like an angry child that was set on revenge for some sort of nasty prank or trick pulled on them; it was the same old thing, Yuffie had found some reason, or at least a new way of annoying to pissing off the salty sea Air Captain. It had become an all too familiar thing, but the look of blood running from a spot on the man at the sink's wrist was something new.
"…Leon…Leon…" a quiet, calming voice amidst the sounds of a squealing girls voice as it was being drowned out by a slur of swears and vulgarity, seemed to speak to the man as she placed a hand upon his arm, "…Leon, are you alright? You look pale…"
It took a few moments for the man to realize he was being spoken to until the sound of a brash voice called out, "Hey Leon…Aerith is talking to you and you're just standing there like a deer in the headlights…snap out of it, Leonhart."
Brunet locks of braids and curls turned towards the brash blond, "Cloud…that wasn't called for…" she turned her gaze upon the man known as Leon again, "…Leon, is something wrong?"
Everything was wrong, all of his thoughts, his sleep, his dreams, even the nightmares he had been having since coming to this World after the destruction of his own and having to leave all he knew behind in order to save himself from what had been chasing him until the end of his World's destruction and had cost him everything. The thing that had lead the destruction of everything he had held close to him had been the same to leave a mark that was forever permanent and visible then any other scar upon him.
"…I…I…I just need some air…" Leon didn't into account the trickle of blood he was leaving behind as he left the kitchen, the house and headed out into a place of seclusion, I need some escape from that nightmare or else I'll never be able to move on with my life…Seifer isn't in my life anymore…I'm here…and…
"…Heh…I'm living in fear of something that isn't existent anymore…" the man leaned his head back against the wall of the Bailey as he pounded the uninjured fist against the brick inlay wall, "So why the Hell am I still letting it get to me!?"
The foot stomping stopped as quickly as it had begun as a pouting raven haired young Ninja sat in the Living Room watching television while the salty Air Captain grumbled and complained while clicking away on the keyboard that monitored the restoring town's security of the perimeters of the town. But something replaced the quiet in the home as the quiet brunet gasped quietly to herself as she began cleaning up the red trickled mess that had dotted itself against the woman's countertop; she couldn't bring herself to warn the others that someone, preferably Leon, might have cut himself on one of the dishes and was now bleeding out somewhere. Unfortunately for her, the blond from before that had snapped the stormy eyed brunet from whatever daze he was in; he had picked up on her quiet reactions as he left without another word.
In an attempt to find the brunet before he bleed out and died off somewhere within Hollow Bastion; If he thinks he's going to get out of the Restoration work by letting himself die from lack of blood because he was stupid; he's sadly mistaken…
"Cloud…?" the young brunet woman turned around with the bloodstained washcloth in her hands only to find the blond missing, "Yuffie, did you see where Cloud went?"
With a soft shrug of her shoulders the Ninja seemed unaware of where the man gone off to, "Beats me…that guy leaves and enters this place almost like an actual Ninja…even without the cool moves that I have," she beamed with a sense of self gratification as she smugly snuggled down in the sofa to watch the television, "Besides, he's not my responsibility; Leon is…that guy may not be related to me by blood, but I worry about that guy at times…sometimes I think the only reason he puts up with me is because I guess I remind him of someone of his past…I guess."
"…Speaking of tall, dark, and brooding…where is he?"
Again with the shrugging, "Mumbled something about needing some air…"
"…D-Damn…" Leon was beginning to feel woozy as he walked towards what he thought was home, but he couldn't tell through the haze in his train of thoughts as he bumped in against the wall, "…I guess I should've attended to you sooner rather then later…"
Stormy eyes stared down to the not too steady, but still flowing wound on his wrist as he half heartedly chuckled at the sight; half of it was from the fact that it wasn't the first time he had sliced himself on something in the sink, but it was also from his mind going hazy. He hadn't lost that much blood, but he was starting to feel a little woozy and hazy which made it a little more laughable in a way as he slid down along the wall, eyes were fighting to stay open as his laughter became more and more halfhearted.
"Are you just going to sit here and let yourself bleed to death, Leonhart?" where had he had heard that line before in that same tone of voice, "Leon…Leon…Hey…Wake up, if you sleep here you'll get attacked by Heartless and what would Yuffie say if you were to be killed by Heartless?"
When had his name become Leon all of a sudden and when had the squared off, brash blond face that had been there speaking to him change to a softer faced blond that was now lifting him up off his feet and towards the house?
"Heh…Yuffie is going to have a field day with you…" the voice sounded distant in the fading man's ears as Leon finally succumbed to unconsciousness as the voice seemed to become further and further away in distance as the voice carried him closer to the house.
"Squall!" the man turned about to answer the call of the voice that later latched around him with strong arms, lifting the man up off his feet, "How are you doing?"
A soft blush but a quiet chuckling smile came on the man's face; he knew those arms, but the voice was too happy to be the one in his life he had grown attached but as he looked over his shoulder to see the chiseled face of the short styled blond hair style upon the man's head as the man began to simply laugh at the man holding him. They had been a happy pair, or so they appeared to the world to be a happy pair, but around the others; they hid their feelings from one another and acted as if they were mortal enemies. Playing off that they were mortal enemies had grown to a dark level, especially the night that the "mortal enemies" took their act too far and the "mortal enemy" had made sure to take it to the level it needed to be and it had been taken too far.
Marked.
That's what he was…
…And that's how they had left one another
Never to speak to one another
"…Leon, Leon…Leon…come on, Leon, you got to wake up…"
Mmnh…go away…
"Leon, wake up or else I'm going to do something you won't like…"
You do it…and so help me, you'll find yourself in a world of hurt
"Yuffie, just let him rest and come about on his own…he lost an amount of blood that is going to keep him out cold for a while…"
Finally…a voice of reasoning…
"…You guys can leave, I'll watch him…"
"You sure, Cloud?"
"…Yeah."
Why are they leaving him to watch over me? I'm fine…I just need some rest…Mmnh…why does my wrist itch?
"Hey, hey, hey," fingers started prying away the unconscious fingers that were scratching at the bandage as they started swatting at the fingers now, "Don't do that or else you'll make it worse…"
"It's my wrist and I'll scratch it if I want, damn it," Leon grumbled as he started swatting the hand out of the way, but it wasn't enough effort as another hand grabbed the swatting hand, "L-Let go of me!"
The stormy grey eyes started crack open only to find a pair of soft blue eyes staring into the stormy grey, "I'll let go as soon as you learn to stop scratching your wrist."
"Cloud?" a pair of soft green eyes that were framed by the bouncy brunette locks of the young woman from before, "Are things alright up here?"
Once again, those blue eyes flashed back at the stormy grey; they flashed a glimpse of something that could calm those roaring storms in the stormy grey eyes, none of the flashes of thunder and lightening he had seen in a blond he had once known and thought loved him. No, these soft blue eyes carried sadness in them as well, they were like soft pools of tide pools that have hidden within them creatures that were the personification of the man's own inner fears and worries, things that darkened his steps and scared him in within the depths of his worst nightmares. Leon felt calmed as he felt his face grow hot and red, but was unaware of it as it seemed to blind the blond as well to the fact that the man was blushing, but the sound of the blonde's voice and the look of his eyes back to the brunet seemed to shatter the image.
"Leon was scratching at the bandage, there isn't much else to it…" the blond pulled away as he headed for the bedroom door, "I'm going off to the Bailey to keep an eye out on things…let Yuffie know Leon is awake…she'll want to know what's become of the man…"
Just as the door had opened with a creak, it closed with just a sound as all that was left with anyone's line of vision was the small streak of blond spikes and a fleeting waver of the fabric about the man's waist as he disappeared downstairs and to the Bailey without another word to anyone; a typical sign that something was bugging him but he never made it known to the world by waving it in people's faces that he was a soul last and just scrambling to keep his own sanity together. In the matter of Leon, he was just trying to avoid overall from jumping the man who was half conscious to the world around him after leaving a trail of blood drops that would've lead any Heartless to him and the condition he had been in made him an easy target.
The Air Captain looked up from the keyboard the moment the door shut and the raven haired Ninja, Yuffie turned off the T.V. as the feminine brunette was being trailed by the masculine brunet, "Care explain the spiky haired one's change in mood all of a sudden, Aerith?"
"…He's always been hard to pin down in his moods, but this time…I sensed something new within him, hesitation of some sort with a mild twinge of worry of being assured of something…"
Yuffie looked at the woman with a gaze that would have made Gary Coleman want to jump up and slap the woman, "What are you talking about, Aerith? Cloud has always been that way…or is this something else…like, as if something has set him off that he is just going to keep buried away till either one of us beats it out of him?"
"Its not that…I just can't…really trace it…" she twirled her fingers about her brunette locks as she looked out the small garden window that had a small view of the Bailey, "…I've never seen him this tense before…"
"Come on, Squall, give me one last chance to make it up to you!" the voice was frantic this time as a flurry of hands, tears, and words as well as good majority of items find themselves mixed in amongst the flurry, "I've told you how sorry I am for ever doing this…to you…"
Hands reached out to cup the brunet's face as they wrenched away in fear while hands slapped, scratched and clawed at the gentle hand's attempting to wipe away the staining sin on the man's face, "D-Don't touch me! Don't you ever touch me again!"
"SQUALL!"
That would be the last time the ever time would see one another and it would be the last time their planet would ever exist; just a few short moments after all of the chaos, Squall had vanished off on a plane away from the cursed Planet for another life to start a new from all he had known and from the Hell that had now marred his face. Even in the back of his mind, he could see the grieving face of the one he had dared to call mortal enemy and even lover.
Even when he had seen Cloud's eyes locked on his own, those two times he had bothered to stare him straight in the eye, hesitate on speaking or answering; he could see that same scared blond from back then. Seifer back then had been filled with such fear of hurting or losing the brunet to the feeling of messing up the only thing that felt right, the two would fight and occasionally break up but even after a time, they would kiss and make up. Leon didn't want that with someone else. He didn't want to have to repeat those same mistakes. Once they fight and break up, that would be that, there would be no taking the other back; end of story.
But, was that what he really wanted now?
"…Cloud?" Leon hesitated on calling out the blonde's name out of fear that the man would see him, stare him like a deer lost in the headlights of an oncoming car and then sprint off before he could further speak to him, "Aerith said you would be out here…and…she's kind of worried about you…"
A sound of annoyance that seemed slurred with something of a nervous sound, "Just because I came back once, just once from a fight against Sephiroth with a wound that looked deep to almost life threatening…" his words faded out as he nervously chuckled, laughing as he shook his head, "…I told her, I just needed some air."
"Or was it because you needed to get out away from the freak in the bed…" Leon blushed at his own words as he started chuckling at the posturing Cloud had taken upon hearing those words; the man looked like he was preparing to hack up the contents of his stomach or at least looked like he was laughing so hard that he was hunched over, "…S-Sorry…that came out wrong…"
"J-Just…Just d-don't speak right now…"Cloud was trying to stifle back a laugh that was about to break the sounds in the echoing quiet Bailey, Geez, does this guy only or always think with his libido or is he just full of Freudian slips today? But…
Cloud looked over his shoulder amidst hiding his laughter to find Leon was a bright shade of red, it was the red you would see woven and weaved through that one rarely beautiful sunsets, …Gaia…why does he have to look some damn fuckable and cute at the same time when he says those silly little things?!
"…I…I…I think I should get back to the house before the others wonder where I am…" Leon's blush was merely a twinge now as he began the walk back to the house, but something stopped him as he felt fingers intertwining with his own from underneath while the palm attached to them gently pressed in against the cut on the man's hand, "…C-Cloud?"
The man had found his way against Leon's back as his other hand slipped down around the man's waist, swimming his fingers along the length of the fabric white top of Leon's stomach and chest as his nose nuzzled into the base of Leon's brunette locks, "…Didn't I say to not speak…?" fingers grazed up and across the fabric which brought out a soft but delicious sounding groaning moan and at the same time, gasp from Leon as he felt the man's fingernails digging into the flesh between his intertwined fingers, "…How about we put that little slip of the tongue of yours to the test…shall we?"
Softly, Leon whimpered to himself as he fought off the old memories of the first time Seifer had ever made his first moves on the man, but the same one's had been the one's that had lead to the nightmarish nightmares that raided his dreams at night, "…I…I…I don't know if I can do this, Cloud…I…I…I like you…but I don't know if I like you that way…"
With that…
…It was over for the time being