The air was dark and dank with the putrid smell of the deceased; mist curling for the pure intent of choking.
"Are you CRAZY?" a voice roared. The astonished question was met with silence. "You haven't fulfilled your end of the deal yet—" the voice hissed, but was cut off by an even interruption.
"Neither have you."
There was more silence; it stretched and strained until the air was thick with violent tension.
"Now you listen here, you spiky-headed MORON! I need you to stop thinking and get your apathetic ass back out there and destroy Wonder Boy. Are we clear?"
"…I'm leaving."
The space the two occupied erupted in blue flames, accompanied by a frustrated scream. "No one, NO ONE, walks out on a deal with the Lord of the Dead! You hear me?"
There was no verbal answer, only the soft sound of retreating footsteps. A low growl slipped from the more outspoken of the two as he irately clenched his fingers, long nails cutting into palms.
"I'll show you…I'll show you what happens when you mess with me. No one walks away from me, no one backs out until the agreement has been fulfilled…"
The small cavern filled with light, and with the blinding luminosity came the balancing shadows. Shadows with hooked claws and bared fangs, twisted in cruel punishment and dripping with poison. Shadows that howled with the thrill of the hunt and the promise of fresh meat. Shadows that raced along the walls and peeled away to twist around their newest victim.
Hades' vindictive laughter echoed through the dark and empty tunnels, melting with the sudden screams that burst forth. The pained cries rose in volume as something more excruciating than cloth ripped and tore. Bones -under too much stress- finally snapped and gave out, causing the prey to let out a bark of agony.
Then suddenly the shadows cackled with glee and rushed out of the room as if wind down the length of the tunnels, and the tortured was left alone in complete silence.
Briefly he tried to drag himself across the rough stone, but let out a high-pitched cry at the effort and stilled. He lay at the base of the throne of hell, unable to keep in the weak whine.
And then there was another brilliant flash of light, before all was silent and dark once more.
"So Squall, how was your day?" Yuffie chirped brightly, hands fidgeting behind her back as she leaned forward inquisitively.
They didn't exactly have 'day' or 'night' in Traverse Town, as 'day' was maybe a little less pitch black and a little warmer than 'pretty cold', but as usual Leon kept his corrections and technicalities to himself. It wasn't like it would've helped anyways; Yuffie said whatever she pleased…take his name for instance.
And so he merely stared at her blankly, one eyebrow quirked in annoyance. "That's Leon, for the last time." She continued to smile as if the statement wasn't made at all. He stared back for a few moments before sighing and rolled his eyes. "My day was fine, not very productive though."
"Oh, I'm sorry," she commented dutifully. Leon went back to cleaning his gunblade, pretending not to notice how the ninja plopped down on his bed beside him. She kicked out her legs, swinging them back and forth, as if waiting for something. He knew what she was waiting for, he could tell by the way her eyes darted around –mostly to look at him then away- but he went on ignoring her in favor of his prized weapon.
She let out a sigh.
He ignored it.
She waited for a moment and let out another.
He slowly pushed the specialized bullets into their proper places.
She started humming and watched him intently.
Cid snorted in some cross between amusement and annoyance, going out onto the balcony for a cigarette.
Leon thought about asking where Aerith was, but decided to be nice to Yuffie this once; else she'd probably explode from suppressing whatever news she had.
"Oh, my apologies," he muttered, already not really paying attention to whatever she was about to go on and on about, "how was your day Yuffie?"
She bounced off the bed quicker than he could follow and, with more energy than he expected from someone who spent the entire day working, launched into an overexcited description of her day "It was superawesomethanks, I killed tonsandtons of heartless—"
"Yuffie," Aerith giggled as she entered the red hotel room, flower basket in hand, "if you keep speaking so quickly then I doubt Leon will be able to understand you."
"An-y-ways," Yuffie drawled, switching her gaze from Aerith back to Leon. "I kept the citizens safe like you wanted. Oh, and we got a few new residents today. A bunch of little toys. But it's so weird because they talk and move and everything! The moogles are taking care of them for the time being, so they said we don't need to worry about them."
Leon nodded along to Yuffie's ramble.
"But anyways~ the part that I was mostly excited to tell you about! While I was out totally destroying those heartless I saw this weird looking dog over in the third district! He was real vicious too!"
That caught Leon's attention. He looked up from his gunblade and eyed her, mind working. "Are you sure it wasn't Goofy? Sora could've been passing through for supplies."
"Of course I'm sure!" She stomped her foot to prove her point, hands on her hips. "Now that I think about it, it almost looked like a wolf! All dark gray and ferocious, ripping apart the heartless left and right!" She mimicked the beast animatedly, snapping her jaws at some invisible enemy.
Aerith worriedly looked over to their leader, who was lost deep in possible explanations, then looked back over to the excited ninja as she set her basket on the table and leaned her staff against it. "Yuffie, I want you to keep your distance from the animal you saw today, okay? He could be very dangerous."
"Aw, Aerith," she whined, "but I could train him to be a ninja dog. We had them all the time in Wutai."
"Hey girly, you leave that poor beast alone, ya hear me?" Cid snapped, closing the balcony door behind him, reentering the hotel room to join his young charges.
Aerith hid a smile behind her hand. "Is your concern for the animal or Yuffie?"
The mechanic scowled. "M'not sure yet," He turned to leave –probably back to his shop- thumbing his nose and commanding over his shoulder, "make sure ya'll get some sleep, you gotta be in perfect condition to protect my town."
Right after the sound of Cid's footsteps ceased to echo through the empty hall outside their door Leon stood, shouldering his gunblade. "I'll be back later, I'm going to make one more round for the night." He looked back at the two, eyes softening ever so slightly at Aerith's mothering look. "Remember to lock up behind me."
"Be careful," the gentle girl pleaded, and he nodded once before he was gone as well, boots echoing softly.
"You're really worried about that wolf, huh?" Yuffie asked, flopping back into Leon's bed (something she knew would irritate him).
"Yes, I am," she admitted, sitting next to the ninja. "It's rare for an animal to appear out of nowhere, you know that. People show up when their world has been destroyed, but the only animals here are heartless. There's a reason that wolf showed up here, and it can't be good."
Yuffie turned thoughtful. "Watching it…I could tell there was something off about it. Something beyond animalist instinct; it was killing the heartless like it was its job." She looked up at Aerith with suddenly imploring eyes."Do you think…does Leon know? That it's different?"
"Yes, I think he figured it out." She smiled softly down at the shorter girl, gently combing her fingers through the black hair.
Yuffie grinned back, relaxing a little under Aerith's ministrations. After a few minutes the ninja mumbled sleepily, "When do you think Cloud's going to come back?"
"I don't know, but I'm sure he's fine. He'll come back whenever he's ready."
Yuffie 'hmm'ed and snuggled into Leon's blankets. "I miss him."
"We all do."
Leon prowled the ever-dark streets of the small town that had become a good enough home. And it was because this was his home for now, because he was one of the few able, that he did everything he could to keep it safe.
He took care of the few stray heartless around the hotel first, taking extra care to clear out the alley behind it, before moving on to the area in front of the gizmo shop.
There weren't too many heartless this evening, but the lion didn't give it any thought, simply focusing on the task at hand. But as he moved along his normal route the absence of heartless swarms started to concern him. In all the time he'd spent here, ever since arriving, there had never been this few of the black creatures.
Warily he straightened from his fighter's stance, troubled gaze sweeping the silent area. Cautiously he made his way up the stairs and around the front of the shops –closed now that it was after nine and usually teaming with heartless— to the door that would take him back to the first district.
The area seemed safe and quiet as well, the only movement coming from the dim light of the scattered light poles and the outline of Cid in his workshop. Leon frowned slightly and gripped his gunblade more securely. Something was up, of that much he was certain.
Keeping his senses alert he jogged down the stairs to the courtyard, the one that collected new arrivals. It was empty as well, so Leon figured if the eerie silence and lack of enemies had anything to do with a new resident: he would've seen or heard them by now, and he doubted it was those toys Yuffie was prattling on about.
He turned to face the large doors leading to the last district, the third district. What ever was causing this anomaly, if anything, would most likely be there. Readjusting his grip he strode forward, pushing through the doors quietly and scanned the borough before him.
Nothing moved, not a sound. And then...there! He heard something out of place. He moved softly to the right and up the stairs. And there at the top in the narrow corridor was something, a gray blur, a quick smudge of dark color that was unmistakably taking out the heartless.
Was this the wolf Yuffie had seen?
Another shadow heartless turned into smoke and drifted away. The animal stopped moving and crouched low, a deep guttural sound coming from its throat as it watched the remaining heartless. It stood perfectly still, eyes trained on the yellow floating creature, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike (Leon assumed, as the beast was facing away from him).
Now that Leon could see it properly, he noted that it was definitely a wolf, just like Yuffie had said. Its lean body was covered in dark grey fur, slightly matted, and its legs were very long and skeletal like. Suddenly it sprung, moving forward much quicker than any awkward heartless could manage. It moved closer to the cobbled wall and jumped, using the wall as a means of leverage, long paws kicking off the surface to leap at the panicking heartless and snatched it out of the air. Its teeth crushed through the small creature just as it landed easily back on the ground.
The wolf stood for a moment, seeming to search the area for more enemies before turning to observe Leon. The gunblader was a little taken aback; had the wolf sensed he was there the entire time? Then again, animals were good at sensing that kind of thing.
But he was distracted from such thoughts as he finally got a good look at its face. Its eyes…that's what floored Leon. They were of the strangest, and clearest, shade of blue he'd ever seen, for an animal or human alike. They weren't the typical washed out blue, but rather a shade of ethereal cerulean. And somehow he sensed in them an understanding, humanistic quality.
And so the two stood, observing and sizing each other up. Leon started shifting forward, as if to take a step, but the wolf tensed at the intended movement. It lowered its head, ears pressed back in a warning. Leon kept their gazes locked, taking a deliberate step further. The wolf shrank down slightly, shifting back as it growled low, not necessarily in aggression, but wariness.
The wolf watched him uneasily, keeping its unnerving stare on him as it turned to leave. It was then that Leon noticed that its hind leg had a pretty good-sized gash in it. The blood was drying dark and clotting at the site of injury, and as it started to walk away from him he noted that it was favoring that leg. It probably had more injuries, but who was he to worry about a wild animal? That was something the girls would do. Wild animals didn't want anyone to interfere. He knew what that was like.
He watched as the wolf trotted down the stairs and sent him one last curious glance before disappearing around the corner to the right. Leon waited a moment before following. The only thing at the end of the alley was that door with the glowing flame on it, but the wolf was nowhere to be seen.
The lion shrugged, he wasn't one to obsess over something so silly and poke his nose where it didn't belong. At least he had figured out who was killing all the heartless. Which only made him wonder why the wolf seemed to be going to such great lengths to eradicate all the heartless anyways.
He sighed and idly rubbed at the scar stretching over the bridge of his nose. "Those girls are rubbing off on me," he muttered and turned, gunblade slung over his shoulder casually. He ambled away from the mysterious magician's door and toward the stairs that would take him directly to the second district, completely unaware of the bright blue gaze that watched his departure intently.
All was quiet as he made his way back to the hotel, and he enjoyed the rare calm. It wasn't often that heartless weren't jumping at him every step of the way. He guessed that he had the wolf to thank for that. But he stopped that train of thought, else he'd start wondering all sorts of things; like where it had come from, why it ended up here, and so on. It was very late and those were the sorts of questions he could think about tomorrow, after he got some sleep.
He trudged up more stairs and around the raised walkway that lead to the hotel, thinking that it would be nice to get their own place one of these days. Munny dropped by the heartless could only take them so far though. Shouldering open the main door he found his assigned room easily enough, the red standing out in the dim light. Ramming the key in the lock he swung the door open and stepped in, locking it firmly behind him. He turned to face his sparse room and stopped, sighing lightly.
The girls were curled up in his bed, fast asleep…again. He shook his head and let them continue on, looking peaceful in their momentary bliss. He didn't have the heart to interrupt the easy sleep that eluded them more often than not. He quietly shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it onto the back of a chair, leaning his gunblade against the wall next to the balcony, always within easy reach. Running a hand through his hair he weighed his options and chose the couch instead of taking the bed in the green room, adjacent to his own.
'I can better keep them safe this way,' he tried to reason with himself, flipping off the light and dropping heavily into the crimson couch. He scooted down a little to get more comfortable and sighed in something close to exhaustion and momentary contentment, slowly letting the tension leak from his muscles.
Life wasn't easy there, but at least he wasn't alone, at least he had those he could protect.