Unique

Summary: Everyone always wondered where Leon came from since he is not from their world. A unique individual indeed. Post KHII.

A/N: I literally was listening to some music from Kingdom Hearts II and this popped into mind. I started it and was not about to stop until I finished! Unfortunately, it was very late, so I was tired by the time I finished. However, I am pleased. I think Leon's character is so awesome! I know in KH he actually IS from Radiant Garden, but this is, of course, a 'what if' story.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story! Yay!

Italics – flashback

Extra A/N: Overall story is from a third POV. First flashback is third POV, while second flashback is Cloud's POV. Although, by reading, it should be pretty obvious.

Enjoy!

The sun had yet to rise in the early morning. The sky had already lightened and the birds had already begun to wake. The stone wall behind his back had small droplets of water clinging to as much of the surface as it could. Despite the morning dew, it was still a pleasant cool that was not too cold as to be uncomfortable.

Grey blue eyes stared out into the Great Maw towards the lone castle that stood far into the massive valley. A sigh escaped him as he wondered when there would be a day without any trouble from the Heartless or Maleficent.

Leon remained where he stood even as the sound of footsteps fell closer. He felt a slight vibration through the stone wall behind him as the newcomer leaned against the wall beside him. Leon didn't even need to look to know who it was. Only two people would disrupt him in moments like these and as far he knew the silver haired psycho preferred harassing Cloud over him. Apparently Leon was too boring for Sephiroth's tastes, even though he did prove himself to be a formidable opponent.

"How long has it been this time?"

It was the inevitable question that always came about upon Cloud's return. Cloud would purposely wait until the dawn to make his presence known and ask every time just how long he'd been away.

Without turning his head, Leon answered. "Two months and a week. I'm surprised, you came back earlier then usual."



Cloud only grunted in response. The two warriors remained silent as the sun finally broke into the sky and the light quickly spread across the land and onto the Great Maw. Sunlight hit the two warriors in the face, warming their skin. As Leon's eyes remained fixed on Maleficent's castle, Cloud's quickly closed out the offending light.

Finally opening and allowing his eyes to adjust, Cloud glanced at the gunblade wielder. Despite all of Cloud's defects, Leon had never in anyway pushed or prodded him for answers. He would speak and converse and be friendly, but he would remain aloof enough as to not get too attached. If anything, Cloud believed Leon to be more of a mystery then he himself. Leon didn't even use his original name for reasons unknown to him or the others.

Sensing eyes on him, Leon slowly turned toward Cloud with his own body language asking him what it is he wanted to ask.

Cloud, who usually would remain silent, decided to speak up for once. "I always did wonder about you."

Raising an eyebrow, Leon asked, "And what exactly do wonder of me?"

Cloud smirked slightly at Leon's words. There was only a few years difference between them, but for some reason Leon always seemed so much older then his 26 years.

Finally turning his head in Leon's direction, he asked, "Why it is you are the way you are? Why you do the things you do? You don't know any of us other then from the years in Radiant Garden and yet you continue this. Why?"

Frowning, Leon knew what Cloud was really saying. "Don't you mean, 'Why do you stay?'"

Giving silence as his answer, Cloud only continued to look Leon's way.

"I stay," Leon started, "because I don't have a home to return to."

Azure eyes widened at the short statement. Cloud never knew this little bit of information. Did the others know? Or are they in the dark as much as he was? Even though he knew he may be pushing it, he had to ask. "How do you know? That your world is gone, I mean."

Leon's eyes turned back toward the Great Maw. He hadn't told anyone the story of when he first arrived. Even though it had been eight years since his arrival, he just never had it in him to tell anyone about it. (1) Feeling Cloud's eyes fixated on him, Leon decided it was time to tell someone. At least this someone wouldn't go and tell everyone he knew.

Taking a deep breath and releasing it, Leon began. "I lived in a place called Balamb Garden when the Heartless arrived. No one had seen such creatures before and there were so many of 

them that they overwhelmed even the greatest armies of my world. No form of technology could stop or slow them down. All was at a loss…"

Stopping for a moment, Leon closed his eyes in memory of the events. "I was the commander. I tried any and everything to fight them off, but it was no use. So many of our forces had already fallen and more kept falling right after them. I was ready and willing to die to protect everyone there. I was about to, too. However, a woman by the name of Edea Kramer, whom I called Matron, changed that."

Leon opened his eyes and walked towards the edge of the cliff overlooking the flat and lifeless valley. "She was a sorceress and had incredible powers. She used those powers to launch me out of our world and into this one. I was only able to see a blinding light coming from my world before the rift between our worlds closed. I knew, just by that light, I knew that my world was gone."

The wall was a dark grey from water that soaked it. Rain was falling thick from the sky and onto the pavement. Blue grey eyes stared at the wall as if it had just told him that the world had just ended. This world hadn't, but his world had.

Squall was unable to move or even think. One moment, he was fighting for his and everyone's lives, gunblade swinging and clothes soaked with sweat. Now he stood facing a blank wall, immobile and clothes soaked by rainwater.

He didn't know when the tears began, but he could feel the heat running down his face. Now he was attacking the wall with all his might, screaming and yelling at it to fulfill an impossible task.

Clang "Bring me back!" Clang "Bring me-" Clang "-back!" Clang "BRING-"Clang "ME-"Clang "BACK!" Clatter

Dropping his gunblade to the ground, Squall began pounding his fists against the wall. His hands, even though they were gloved, began to bleed from the rough abuse. Not caring about the blood or the pain, Squall continued to pound and scream at the wall.

After a long hour, Squall collapsed against the abused wall, the rain having long since stopped. The tears, however, kept falling, unbidden, down his face. His clothes stuck to his skin, but he could care less. His family, friends, home, world, were gone. Just, gone. So quick and sudden that it didn't even seem real. And now he was what he had always feared. Alone.

"…A few hours later, I finally decided to move. That was when I met all of you and you know the rest." Finishing, Leon remained where he stood, silent.

Cloud had remembered that night. The night a broken man came through the castle doors. He had been a young teenager at the time, but he remembered it none the less.



It had been raining for several hours, on and off, and there were finally signs of it stopping. Cid had been griping about it, saying something about water interfering with progress. Aerith was looking after little Yuffie, who always seemed to get herself into trouble, no matter the situation.

I was surrounded by several other people, but I was unable to place names to the faces. There were so many people living within the castle alone, it was hard to remember them all. Suddenly, a bunch of the adults were running towards the main entry hall. At first, I didn't pay much attention, until the commotion came to me.

A man, perhaps only a few years older then I, had been carried by several men into the library and laid down next to the fire. He had on black leather clothes and a white shirt, but they were soaked. His brown hair was matted to his head and he wasn't moving. That was never a good sign.

Ansem ran into the room, asking what had happened. The only thing they could tell him was that the man was found passed out at the front door of the castle and that he was armed. The other adults carried in a strange object and propped it against the side of the fire place. Looking closer, I noticed it was actually a weapon. It was some kind of hybrid between a sword and a gun.

Ansem looked worriedly at the blade before glancing down at the unconscious man. Kneeling and checking for a pulse, he spoke. "Get some blankets and dry clothes. This young man has been attacked by the Heartless and it looks as if he barely escaped. None the less, he is alive. He is one of the few to have actually survived a Heartless attack."

After getting blankets and dry clothes for our new guest, I watched and listened as Ansem spoke to the other adults. "He is obviously a strong warrior. It seems as though he had been fighting for some time. We should do our best to help him."

I sat close to the fire to make sure it gave off plenty of heat. Others were talking around me as I looked longingly at the weapon resting only a foot away from me. I always wanted to learn how to fight with a real weapon, but all the adults said that I was still too young. Looking at the blade, I slowly crept toward it, arm stretched out to grasp the unique weapon.

"You'll be dead before you touch it."

I was startled so much that I jumped up from my position on the floor. The others were apprehensive to approach since people around here wouldn't wake up and say such a thing. Unfazed, Ansem knelt beside the man.

"Are you alright? You gave everyone here quite a fright when you were found passed out and injured."



"…I'm fine."

Frowning, Ansem continued his interrogation. "I don't believe you, but I won't force anything out of you. Where you attacked?"

"Yes." The man, who had yet to say his name or even open his eyes, responded.

"I see. Well, let's take it slow. Tell me your name."

The man opened his mouth, but then shut it. He glanced warily around at the amount of people in the room before settling his gaze on Ansem. I finally got a good look at his eyes. They looked blue, yet grey at the same time. Unique weapon, unique clothes, unique scar, unique eyes. Where did this guy come from?

After several moments of silence, he finally answered. "Leon. My name is Leon."

The memory of their first meeting was still fresh in Cloud's mind as he stared at the back of Leon's head. He knew that Leon had yet to tell anyone else his tale, for he had explained in such detail, as if he had been waiting for the day to say all of it to one person and one person only. It was obvious to Cloud that Leon wouldn't be retelling his story anytime soon.

But, he had to ask. "Do you plan on telling the others?"

Leaning his head back and looking straight up into the sky, Leon breathed out a heavy sigh. "No. I'd rather let someone else tell them. Once is enough for me."

With the smirk placed back on his face, Cloud felt confident in being able to read Leon enough to know what he'll say. Although, it will take many more years to figure out what it is that he thinks about all the time. That just might remain a mystery.

Cloud glanced at the gunblade attached to Leon's hip. He remembered that Leon let him hold the unusual weapon only a handful of times, but it still gave off an aura of power and control, something that came off of the wielder as well.

His eyes flicked back up to the back of Leon's head. Cloud just remembered something, yet had never bothered to really ask until now. It wasn't a very important question, but something he had always wanted to know.

"You never did tell anyone your real name."

Those unique eyes remained out of sight as Leon spoke. "It's not really important to know it."

Huffing slightly, Cloud continued. "True. However, I have noticed that you sometimes don't respond to it. That could get you and others killed."

"It's not that I don't respond to it by recognition, I just choose not to." Even though Cloud couldn't see it, he knew there was an arrogant smirk on Leon's face.

Thinking for a moment, Cloud decided to use a different tactic. "What if you're in a crowd and you're not the only Leon in it? Leon is a semi-common name, you know. It could cause a huge mess from an originally simple problem."

Silence.

As the silence remained, Cloud knew he had him. Curiosity always made his mind work just a little faster. He watched as Leon turned back towards him with a smirk in place.

"What's synonym for storm?"

Blinking, Cloud was unsure what Leon was getting at.

"What? How's that relevant?"

The smirk was getting a cocky edge to it. "Answer this and you'll get your answer."

Looking past Leon, Cloud thought momentarily before answering.

"Typhoon."

"That's one."

"Gale."

"And another."

"Tempest."

"Most people forget that one."

"Tell me where this is going?" Cloud was fed up with Leon's little game.

"Impatient as always. Just one more and I'll stop." Leon's voice and turned into one that a parent would use when chastising a child for being naughty.

At the end of his rope, Cloud burst out with, "Dammit, Squall!"

"That's the one." Smiling, Leon turned and began walking back toward the inner city of Radiant Garden.

"What? Wait, what does that mea-"

"It means exactly that." Without any others words to go by, Cloud stood silent and watched Leon's trek back into town.

A realization came to Cloud and his eyes brightened just a bit. Walking leisurely to town, azure eyes glance once again at the dawn.

"Squall, eh? Now that's unique."

(1) – Okay, the reason it is eight years instead of nine is because if you think about it, Squall must have aged at sometime during FFVIII. In KHII, Leon is 26 and in FFVIII, Squall started out as 17. So, yeah! I'm not making much sense, am I? Who cares!

Ending A/N: There it is! Hope you enjoyed it because I had fun writing it. I know that Cloud seems a little OOC, but I had the Cloud from FFVII in mind when I did this. But, it works, right? I had some fun with the ending, as well. I was literally looking up different synonyms for storm and these, I thought, were the best ones. And, yes, squall was in there. It was actually the second one down on the list! XD

Any who, you may now do as you please! Review or not, I'm still happy that you took the time to read my story. - Isleia