Light-o-philia

It only took a couple looks for Cecil's heart to start beating hard in his chest.

He looked away from the Warrior of Light, embarrased by his reaction. What was he thinking? How could he so easily fall for someone he hadn't even talked to? Although, the warm feeling in his chest didn't feel like the love he was used to. It was more of a rough anxiety, a feeling of wanting to stay next to him and run away at the same time.

The heroes kept arriving, and Firion sat next to each one, explaining everything with a soft, conforting voice. Cecil looked at the way he laid a hand on the newest warrior's shoulder. A short young man who wanted to smile while his eyes looked at everyting and everyone, wary, cautious. When Cecil caught his gaze he smiled and waved.

"What's your name?" asked Firion to the newcomer, and Cecil thought he saw something yellow move behind him.

"Zidane...Zidane Tribal..." he answered, hiding his fear behind a bright smile.

Another man with short brown hair approached Cecil, who looked at the necklace with a lion on his chest. Something Lionheart, was as much as Cecil remembered about him.

"Cecil?" asked the man, and Cecil nodded.

"Lionheart?"

"Squall Lionheart."

"Oh, sorry."

"Don't mind it. Who's the shinning guy over there?" he waved in the direction of the white shrine, where the warrior sat, not even noticing the confused warriors. Just one look at him made Cecil's heart race, and the heavy feeling in his chest return.

"He's the Warrior of Light. He...arrived first."

"The first one? Does that mean he's supposed to be the boss?" asked someone behind Cecil. Cloud, he remembered him because of the pointy yellow hair.

"I don't know. I don't think he really cares for that, or he would be here now."

"What's his name?" asked Squall.

"He doesn't know."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, he just said he didn't remember it, so we just call him Warrior of Light"

"How can one just forget one's name? There must be something he's not telling us there."

Cecil looked at the shrine. There really was something different about the warrior, but he couldn't put a finger on it.

#

After the battle with his brother, Cecil raced towards his friends. As the screeching voices of the glass replicas called out to him, Cecil realized he was afraid of the dark.

The realization washed over him like liquid electricity, and he halted his race.

"Nonsense. I have the crystal. I can't be afraid anymore" he looked to the dancing shadows on the edges of the road, and knew that the darkness he was afraid of haunted him from a place that he couldn't reach, but from which it could escape at any moment. "My friends...have I, failed in some way?"

He took a couple of steps forward, wondering if the darkness still residing in him would forever stain him, like it did to his brother.

He looked to the moon above him, searching for answers on it's white face.

"Do not be afraid of it, Cecil" said a voice to the side, and Cecil found the Warrior of Light sitting on a nearby rock. Although his expression was the same as always, Cecil thought he could see a different emotion in his eyes.

"What do you...?" started Cecil without thinking, and the past feeling of cold nervousness made his heart jump in his chest.

The warrior got up from his place and jumped down to the ground in front of Cecil, then signaled for the paladin to follow him.

Cecil doubted for a moment. There was a certain energy around the warrior that felt like it would be more dangerous to follow him, than to be left alone with the whispering darkness.

The warrior turned back, and extended a hand towards him.

"Come" he said, and Cecil feared the things he hadn't said, but that could be seen in the blue of his eyes.

Cecil gritted his teeth. Enough dittering, he'd second guessed and doubted himself all the way from the start. It was time to take a decision, and bear with the consequences, whatever they may be.

He followed the Warrior, dashing into unknown territory. As he approached his comrade, a smile tugged at his lips. What had all that worrying been for? This was Light, the most loyal to their cause. The chaos followers might have tried to lure him into joining them, but how could they make Light change sides? His title, his name, his body, his very existance was so devoted to fighting for the light side, what would be left of him if he ever...?

Cecil halted, just a couple steps behind Warrior. Finally, and too late, he realized what he'd felt from the warrior since the very first moment.

Light turned around to look at Cecil, with a blue gaze that froze the paladin on the spot.

"What...what are you?" asked Cecil. All around them, the darkness suddenly parted to reveal itself in thousands of shadows that shrieked and howled, trying to get away from the warrior.

"Once, I was you."

Warrior closed the distance between them, and kissed Cecil on the lips.

A feeling of 'radiance' filled Cecil to the tips of his fingers. He couldn't describe it any other way, this was hot, living light flowing from their joined lips. It made his heart race and his hands tremble, pushing him into an ecstasy so pure, it terrified him.

Cecil pushed Warrior away, screaming as much in horror as in ecstasy.

"Stop! Stop!" he tripped and fell backwards on the ground. "What is this?!"

Warrior knelt beside him.

"Do you trully not know?" he asked, pushing a lock of hair off Cecil's face. The palading hadn't expected his superior's hands to be so warm, or to have such a familiar touch.

"Light..." the word fell from his lips. It tasted like...

Warrior kissed him again and again, sending more energy through Cecil's body and making him dizzy. He felt tears falling from his face as he realized that the light washed through him, cleansing, purifying him. But then, what would be left of himself?

Before Cecil knew what was happening, both their armors had been discarded.

"You say, you once were me. Does that mean...the darkness..." wondered Cecil, as Warrior's lips trailed his neck.

"Yes" Cecil passed his hands through Warrior's hair, reveling in the softbess and smell of it; which reminded him of past days watching the rising sun. "From the moment we met, I saw in you the same whispering darkness I once held in myself" Warrior's hands trailed Cecil's heated skind, making him moan.

Everything about the warrior had such a distinctly -inhuman- feeling, that as he was touched, Cecil still felt the need to be on edge, to pull away. But the pleasure confused him, made his thoughts blurr into one another with every kiss, and every bite.

The intoxicating thrill that shot through him as their skins touched stopped him from thinking about anything but how warrior's eyes seemed to be made of the bluest light.

"I'm scared" said Cecil. He felt exposed, ashamed of the thriving darkness inside himself that the other could so clearly see.

"I know. That is why I'm here" Warrior's eyes held Cecil's gaze, even as the paladin felt -something- sliding near him on the ground. Warrior kissed Cecil's neck before speaking again, and his voice echoed in Cecil's head "As you approach the light, your own darkness grows heavier, stronger." on the edge of his vision, Cecil saw the shifting shadows crawling around them like thousands of black snakes.

"No...No..."

Warrior touched Cecil's lips with the tip of his fingers to silence him, but hearing the hissing shadows so close horrified the paladin even more. He clung to Warrior's heated body like a lifeline.

"But, if your darkness can overcome you, if you cannot look at it in the eyes and grin as the taste of despair drips into your mouth...Then you are not worthy of the light"

"Are you...are you here to tempt me then?" tears choked Cecil as he spoke.

"There is no temptation that does not come from the heart" Warrior held Cecil hard against him "But maybe, we have met to be each other's temptation"

Cecil gritted his teet as Warrior entered him. The fear had not left him for one moment. But among the crawling darkness, there was nowhere safer than in the arms of the purest vessel of light.

"L-light..." moaned Cecil, and wrapped his legs around the warrior's waist to push him deeper. Warrior thrusted harder, faster, both of them losing themselves in the rythm.

As he approached the edge, Cecil realized that laying with him, eyes closed and panting, Warrior looked more human than ever. Perhaps the yearning to get his humanity back was Light's temptation?

In that moment, Cecil understood, and feared the decision he had taken in less than a heartbeat.

He would not let them both fall.

Cecil arched and pulled Warrior into a kiss as he reached his climax. Warrior moaned against his lips, and Cecil felt his release within him.

They fell together on the ground. The shadows had left.

Cecil caressed Warrior's hair.

"I know, the light is my destiny. But for now, I must wait in the shade. Let me serve as a bridge between them"

"Is that truly what you desire?"

"As long as I know you'll be at the end of the road, I can wait for the end of our war. The worlds need us now, as we are"