A/N: This is un-beta'd because I don't really think it needs it. Besides, I have Kacey locked away in my basement currently working on something I've sent her so… you'll just have to wait and see what that is!

This is… well… it's sad. What can I say… I'm a bitchbag!

Disclaimer: All characters and places belong to Square Enix and/or Disney. No infringement intended, no profit made.

Please, read and enjoy.

The Betrayed.

"Yet each man kills the thing he loves

By each let this be heard

Some do it with a bitter look

Some with a flattering word

The coward does it with a kiss

The brave man with a sword."

-Oscar Wilde

The wolf's head earring sat on the wooden table in front of Leon, who was seated patiently for his lover to come home. Cloud was due any minute. The house was quiet and only the ticking clock could be heard in the kitchen as the fridge buzzed on and off and the pilot light in the boiler clicked and ignited. Leon had always enjoyed silence, but this was different.

He noticed the rhythmic splash from the dripping tap over the sink, the creak from the wooden stairs as the heating expanded the wood and the distant whirr of the computer in the other room as it powered down. It was odd how noisy it could get when one was quiet.

Leon needed something, anything to distract him from the thoughts in his head. He was remembering and reliving and everything was in pristine Technicolor. His fingers clenched as his jaw bit down. He would not break, not yet.

The leather of the Gunblader's trousers creaked as he shifted his weight in the chair, his back stiff from sitting all evening. Leon looked at his hands resting on the worn wood of the table. They were perfectly still, the calloused edge of his thumb rubbing along the grain. He had no idea how his hands were so steady.

The door creaking open was so loud in the quiet; Leon looked up to see Cloud enter their house.

"Hey." Cloud greeted casually as he closed the door, hoisting his sword from his back and placing it in the corner of the room where it always sat. "What are you still doing up?" He enquired, strolling over to the seated man and bending to place a kiss on his cheek. He froze when Leon pulled away.

"Leon?" He asked confusion evident.

Leon's cold, arctic gaze slid from his neatly folded hands up to Cloud's baffled face. He knew damned well how his frigid glare effected people and he hoped that within Cloud's swirling emotions he would find that he had wounded him with it.

Bingo.

"What's wrong?" Cloud asked swallowing thickly, obviously hurt and confused as to why Leon was looking at him like he wanted to kill him.

Leon wondered whether Cloud had an inkling that Leon knew. It might explain the nervous look on his younger lover's face. It might explain the guilt that was beginning to creep in around the edges of his features.

"I want an honest answer." Leon grated; his voice dark and syrupy with anger.

Cloud's brows creased with confusion and he took a step back.

"What?"

Leon continued to glare his hatred and disappointment for a few more seconds, hoping the time would fill Cloud with fear and anticipation. It didn't really matter what Cloud said now, Leon had seen it all with his own eyes anyway. He just hoped Cloud had enough respect for him to be honest.

"Where were you tonight?"

There it was… the recognition in Cloud's eyes.

Cloud knew that Leon knew. There was no more pretence, no more lying.

There were moments that could have been hours of silence that followed. Leon could feel every passing second drag itself over his skin while Cloud felt his insides drop away.

Leon's hard and unforgiving eyes never left Cloud's face, never ceased in their intensity. He wanted Cloud to know there would be no getting out of this one. There would be no forgiveness.

"Leon, you don't understand." Cloud tried to reason, sick of just standing there, defenceless.

"What? What don't I understand?" Leon snarled like a tiger suddenly let loose, his face furious and wild. He stood so quickly he tipped his chair over, the clatter deafening in the silence.

Cloud stared back defiantly; he would not take this lying down. Leon was his, was always meant to be his. He wouldn't let him walk away.

"You knew about Sephiroth, you knew he would be in my life…"

"I didn't know you'd be fucking him though did I?" Leon shouted, interrupting whatever pathetic thing Cloud had been about to say. "You didn't tell me that bit."

The silence was dreadful and Leon felt sick with the words he had just said. To say them aloud…

He had to fight down bile.

"Do you think for one second, I would have let you in if I'd known you still be sucking Sephiroth's dick every now and again?" The Gunblader spat.

Cloud was speechless; there was nothing he could say to that. How did he explain what it was like to try and fight against his very own dark self? How could he tell Leon that when it came to Sephiroth, he could never resist him no matter how much it sickened him? How could he expect Leon to be all right with that?

"You know…" Leon sniffed, his eyes bright with betrayal and angry salted tears. "I may have been able to try and understand… maybe… I'll never get it, not truly, but… I could have tried." Leon confessed, his eyes staring hard daggers at Cloud, hoping every second burned him.

It might have given us a chance.

"It's the lying I can't forgive." A hot tear finally rolled free and slid down the defeated Gunblader's cheek, dripping from his chin. He fucking hated that he couldn't hold them back any longer. He had lasted this long, why not a few more minutes until Cloud was out of his life for good? Why couldn't he give himself that much? He cut his eyes away; not wanting Cloud to see him so weak when all he wanted to do was stand there and tell Cloud to get lost. Why was that so hard? He was so pathetic, maybe that was why Cloud had returned to Sephiroth?

Leon gazed back up, his heart and his anger broken. He couldn't bear to look at Cloud's beautiful face; his eyes flicked just to the right, and saw in Cloud's left ear, his own earring. His earring that he had given Cloud, as a sign, as a token… it hadn't been much. It wasn't a ring or a fancy ceremony but to Leon it had meant something.

"You lied to me Cloud, and you did it knowing that it would kill me if I found out."

"Leon… it's not what…"

"You're the only person I've ever trusted!" There was no explanation or excuse that Cloud could come up with to make up for that. Leon reached down and picked up the wolf's head earring off the table and held it out for Cloud to take.

"Get out." He said simply, hating the sparks that still ignited in his flesh when Cloud's skin made contact with his as Cloud took the piece of jewellery from his lover.

"I don't ever what to see you again."

There was nothing more to be said as Leon turned and wearily climbed the stairs to their bedroom, now his bedroom.

Cloud left a few moments after, picking up his sword from the corner of the room where it always used to sit.

A/N: Oh good God I'm such a bitch! Why do I enjoy writing these so much more than anything else?

I could spend a goodly amount of time pondering that question, but for now I'll just say, I hope you enjoyed.

Please feel free to drop me a line and tell me what you think, good or bad.

Much love.x.x.x.