Thank you so much for all the reviews!
Lunarxshinobi- Well, SOME of my stories are 3 chapters, but I think this one will be a lot more…
KHObsessedEvilgeniusoftheCOCA- Heh, wait and find out…
Fuschica- Duhh! Hmm…now I have to decide on Riku and Kairi's last names…too bad I don't know any Japanese --
Summary- If you don't remember, just click the "back" button. You lazy bastard!
A/N: Rules about not having song lyrics in your FanFic are kinda dumb. I mean, if your FanFic isn't dominated by songs, and you accredit the real author, what's the big deal?
Disclaimer: (Insert usual "I-don't-Own-Kingdom-Hearts-Or-Anything-Really" Speech Here)
Kingdom Hearts: Altering Promises
Chapter 2: Death, Introductions, and a Story
Donald Duck was nothing short of irritated. After all today's events, nobody in the castle could blame him. Hell, some felt just as agitate as he was. In an effort to calm down and pause for thought, he was now wandering through the well-designed halls of Disney Castle.
The best description ever given of Donald was "an adorable lump of fluff and fire." He had the same head and body structure of a regular duck. A large yellow-orange beak sprouted from the lower half of his face, the top half being occupied by two large, sky-blue eyes. He had clothing for this world, a mage's hat curling at the top and a jacket-and-pants combo that were matching dark blue and had a myriad of zippers. He wore an alternative outfit for interstellar travel. This was a blue hat that looked like a beret and a light blue top, no pants. Pants, however, were optional to ducks. His incendiary personality made him one that people were often attempting to appease. Despite this, he was eternally grumpy, but in an adorable way.
Today, he was no different. If anything, he was more angered. Today's plans were ruined. Donald rubbed his temples irritably as he replayed the day for the 400th time.
He had woken up, like any other day. He had gone through his mundane activities of showering, eating, and getting dressed. Walking outside, he had spotted Goofy, still snoozing innocently. He briefly toyed with the idea of awakening him in a… "shocking" manner, but then thought better. He walked over to a very large pair of doors. They were light purple and had a giant King's Symbol on them. Donald cleared his throat, and did the secret knock. One, two, three, pause, one, two, three, four. The door swung open. As he did every day, Donald walked up the red carpet to the King's throne. "Good morning, your Majesty…" he proclaimed, acting as interested in the words as the first day he had spoken them. "It's nice to see you this morn…" he stopped as his gaze fell upon the now-empty throne. "Wha…?" he asked, not even bothering to finish the word. His mind scrambled to try and justify the King's absence. Maybe he's with the Queen! Maybe he's in his study? Maybe he's guarding the Cornerstone of Light! Maybe-
His thought process was cut off as he sensed movement near the throne. As he looked for it's source, a big orange dog had emerged from behind the throne. The King's loyal pet dog, Pluto, held a piece of paper with the King's Symbol on it. Calling Pluto over to him, Donald had taken the letter from Pluto's mouth, opened it, and read silently.
Dear Donald,
Sorry to have left without even sayin' goodbye, but we got a real emergency. It seems like the stars have been blinkin' out, one by one. I've left the castle to investigate. I need you to take Goofy and help me. There is someone out there with a "key"- the key to our survival. Go to Traverse Town and find him for me. Ask Leon, he will point you in the right direction. Good luck!
P.S. Could ya apologize to Minnie for me? Thanks, pal.
The letter concluded with the King's Symbol, confirming that the King wrote this, and this wasn't some prankster's twisted idea of a joke. Donald had read it over twice, just before barreling out of the Throne Room towards the Courtyard, running like his feathery tail was in flames.
He had approached Goofy to find him idly napping. "Wake up, Goofy! This is serious!" Donald had pleaded, but to no avail. Honestly, Goofy…Donald had thought. He pointed a finger to the sky and hollered, sending a bolt of lightning down on Goofy, who awoke with a yelp. Rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes, he turned his attention to the frightened duck before him. "G'morning, Donald," Goofy said cheerfully.
Donald wasted no time with formalities. "We've got a problem, Goofy! But don't tell anyone…"
"Queen Minnie?" Goofy asked, his gaze elsewhere.
"Not even the Queen!"
"Daisy?"
"No!" Donald bellowed. "It's top secret!"
"Good morning, ladies!" Goofy called to someone behind Donald.
"What?" Donald asked, as he turned around. There stood two women who looked like the female versions of Donald and the King. The one that looked like Donald was named Daisy. She was Donald's sweetheart, and she had just as much of a temper as the man…er, duck. She wore a golden tiara, light purple eye shadow, and a matching purple, elegant dress. The clothing choice was the only way, using sight only, that one could tell the difference between Donald and Daisy. Queen Minnie was also almost a mirror image of the King, only she had a frilly pink dress, a fancy tiara, and curly lashes, while the King was…well, let's leave it at "differently dressed."
When Donald had seen tem, he had gulped loudly, and let out a nervous laugh. Meanwhile, on the inside, he was making obscene comments on his luck, or lack thereof.
The rest of the morning had all been a blur to him, but Donald remembered the basics. He and Goofy had been sent to find the "key to their survival" as soon as Queen Minnie had gotten a hold of the letter. He was being sent away from home on another mission for the third time this week, and something told Donald this one wouldn't just be a walk in the park.
He sighed. What a day…he thought. And he had been looking forward to eating cheesecake for lunch with the King. Now, Donald was left feeling, to put it simply and cleanly, pissed.
Kairi leaned up against the wall of the Secret Place, hoping the room would serve as a temporary sanctuary from the beings that lurked outside. Thankfully, none had found her…yet.
She collapsed in a heap of exhaustion. She had sharp pains coming from every part of her body, and every time she moved, her corresponding body part howled in protest. She figured maybe she would die crumpled up like this. She figured that was no way to die. She would rather be killed standing up and putting up a fight than in a weak position like that which she was in now. She hoisted herself up and, once again, her body cried for mercy, which was something she just couldn't give.
She glanced down at her newly acquired weapon, and giggled uncontrollably. It was the most feminine thing she had ever seen. It was a blade that was shaped like a key. The key-shaped-blade was yellow and orange in color with flowers sprouting out of it randomly. This thing is adorable and deadly! She giggled quietly.
Then, a sound that she hadn't heard in a while caused her to stop sniggering like a mad woman. Footsteps were headed her way. Though she feared this person may have tried to kill Kairi, she did not have the energy to raise her blade. Instead, she just waited, standing in front of a mysterious door with no keyhole and no doorknob. Who's coming? she wondered. Riku? Sora? She suddenly became excited at the thought of her heroic boyfriend coming to the rescue.
She felt let down when she saw Tidus scamper into the room and stop at the sight of her. Kairi held her hand out in a plea for help. She hobbled over to him as she whispered "Ti…dus…"
Without warning, the door behind her burst open, and darkness flew out of it in long strands, along with a strong wind. Kairi blew towards Tidus. He reached out in an attempt to catch her as she flew, but instead, she disappeared when there should have been a collision. He had effectively absorbed her. Unfortunately, he hadn't braced himself for the rest of the wind He flew backwards and, instead of allowing the wind to carry him out of the Secret Place, he struggled, and ended up crashing head-first into the rock just to the left of the exit, killing both him and Kairi on impact.
Had someone been there, they would have sworn they heard, "Sora…where were you?" whispered before the howling winds drowned out all other sounds.
Squall Leonhart walked along the First District, thinking about a guy he once knew.
Squall, though he insisted on being called Leon to help forget the helpless sap he had been years ago, was about twenty-two years old. His brown hair stretched down to his shoulders, and covered part of his left eye, which was an entrancing dark blue, with neat bangs. He wore a white undershirt with a dark blue overshirt, which was unbuttoned completely. He wore three belts, and skin-tight leather pants. He wielded a sword that fired fireballs. He called it a "Gunblade."
He snapped out of his thought process as he tripped over an object in the alley behind Huey, Dewey, and Louie's Item Shop. Four legs were sprawled across the alley. A brunette teen lay comfortably across a taller, silver-haired youth, who seemed to be about the same age. The scene was, for lack of a better description, cute. Serenely cute. In any other place, they would have been thought of as a couple of alcoholics who just had a one night fling together, and were now passed out from one too many tequilas. However, Leon had lived in this town long enough to know better.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the latest in technology- the Verismo 2680 flip-camera-cell phone. Pressing and holding the number four, a phone number registered in speed dial. It had the title "Aerith," and then it gave a lengthy series of digits separated by dashes and parentheses. The phone on the other end rang twice before somebody said "hello?" The voice acted normal, yet if one listened really closely, they could catch an undertone of the kind of frenzy thirteen-year-old girls get when they have had about fifteen Mountain Dews.
"Hey, Aerith?" Leon asked.
"No,thisisn'tAerith. Aerithisrighthere, though. Wannatalktoher? Huh? Huh? OK, butfirst, youhaftaguesswhothisis! Goahead, guess!"
Leon sighed. This wasn't good for his head, as a migraine threatened to burst inside his brain. "Yuffie, lay off the chocolates, and give the phone to Aerith."
"…Fine…" Yuffie sulked.
"Leon heard rustling, then a more calmed, gentle voice spoke. "Yes?"
Leon smiled. "Aerith? We've got two more. They're a couple of-holy…" He stopped as he noticed what they were carrying, loosely holding in their comatose hands.
"What?" Aerith inquired.
"Th-these boys are t-two Keyblade masters!"
"…Two?"
"Yeah…" he peered down at the two, cuddled up with each other. Leon smiled as he thought back to that one fateful day back in Twilight Town…
"…Leon?" The voice on the other end finally spoke, confusion coursing through its tone. "Are you feeling all right?"
"Well, no, but that's only because I got a migraine because of Yuffie."
Aerith laughed. "OK…"
"Anyways, could you come help me pick up the bodies? I'm in the alley behind the Item Shop."
"Okay, be right there! Bye!" Click! Aerith had hung up, no doubt smiling sweetly at nobody in particular.
Leon put away his camera-flip-cell phone, staring at the boys and sighing. "Keyblade masters, eh?" he asked the boys, obviously not expecting them to respond. "Lucky bastards…" He leaned against the wall, waiting for Aerith, his mind wandering back to a place called Twilight Town.
Riku calmly sat on his Island with Sora and Kairi. It was just your average 9 PM on these islands. They sat on a paopu tree, Sora animatedly talking with Kairi about the latest gossip on the islands, while Riku half-listened to what they said.
They stopped talking, and stared in the general direction of where Riku was looking. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kairi slowly turn to a million particles, then, as if she were dust in the midst of a desert windstorm, she vanished. Riku gulped and closed his eyes, a tear falling out of his left one. He knew that he would be next. This would be the end of him.
But, all of a sudden, he felt a hand grab his, a warm body pressed up to his. Soaking up the new comfort, his body didn't notice as he slowly faded to dust, just as he had feared. He didn't notice that the next thing that was spoken, those three words, would be the last Riku would hear before he was banished into the darkness.
Sora leaned into him and whispered, "Let's vanish together."
"Come on, you lazy bum, wake up!" A cheerful voice greeted Riku as he awoke from his slumber. Blinking a couple of times, he looked up to see his favorite brunette standing over him. Now sporting a look of concern, the youthful adolescent asked Riku, "Are you OK?" Riku lazily nodded in response. The boy giggled.
"Those creatures that attacked you were after your heart. They fear it because you wield the Keyblade."
Riku slowly got to his feet, then walked over and embraced the young boy. "I'm so glad you're okay…Sora."
"Sora?" 'Sora' asked, his voice becoming deeper by the second. "Um…who are you talking about? My n…name is Squa…uh, Leon." He quickly corrected himself.
"What?" Riku looked at him and, to his utter shock and chagrin, he found himself cuddling with a guy he didn't know in his early twenties. "Uh…hi?" Riku said awkwardly.
"Hi…" Leon responded slowly. As Riku looked into the man's eyes, as his aquamarine met this Leon's dark blue, he noticed the man's eyes were clouded with confusion. There was a question on his mind, and even though Riku knew very well what that question was, even Riku himself wasn't entirely sure of the answer.
The two finally parted from their uncomfortable embrace, and Riku got introduced to two women. One was named Aerith. She was a benevolent-looking woman who Riku guessed was somewhere around Leon's age. She had forest green eyes, and brown hair neatly put in a pink boy and also a rat's tail. Normally, Riku thought rat's tails were ugly, but they seemed to fit her perfectly. She wore a long, pink dress, buttoned along the front. She had a blue belt tied around her waist. Aerith spoke calmly, quietly, and amiably. Judging by how she looked at Riku with respect, he could tell the two of them were going to be like brother and sister.
The second girl was named Yuffie. She had brown eyes and black shoulder-length hair with bangs covering parts of her forehead. She wore a green top with a yellow scarf and tan cargo shorts that didn't leave much to the imagination. Yuffie was nice but, to put it bluntly, she was more annoying than Selphie when fed a whole packet of gummy bears (which was, indeed, scary.) Once the two were introduced, she started talking extremely rapidly. She said a lot of things, but Riku caught a grand total of eight words. Somehow, she had gotten from how cool Riku looked, to past relationships, to her favorite color, to beavers in less than thirty seconds. To make matters worse, she eventually stopped talking and stared at him as if he was expected to answer a question she had asked him. As he slowly turned read, his head whirled around the room, desperately looking for help from Aerith and Leon. Unfortunately, the two were too busy snickering at Riku's expense.
Finally, Leon helped him. "She asked what your name was."
"Ah…" Riku sighed, relieved. "My name is Riku Semehikari." He stuck his hand out, motioning for SOMEONE to take it.
Leon grabbed it first. He shook forcefully, but also, in it's own weird way, gently. "Squall Leonhart. But please call me Leon."
Yuffie bounded up to Riku afterwards and slightly yanked his hand towards her, causing Riku to stumble forwards. She shook with gentle pressure on the hand, but with rapid up-and-down movements. "Yuffie Kisaragi, at your service," she said cheerfully.
Aerith calmly walked up and took his hand. Shaking it gently, she said, "Aerith Gainsborough."
After a moment of silence, Leon turned to the two girls. "Aerith, would you mind running down to the item's shop and going grocery shopping?" He handed her a list with random items on it. Aerith looked at him quizzically.
"I thought we agreed to get it done tomorrow."
"Yes, well…better to do it now and get it over with, right?" Leon asked, winking subtly to Aerith. Taking a moment as the Universal "Trust Me, Just Leave" Sign registered, she eventually gave a knowing "Oh…" Her eyes darted from Riku to Leon, then finally coming to rest on the only other girl in the room. "Yuffie…would you mind coming with me? The Heartless are absolutely rampant."
"Um…not at all?" The response sounded more like a poorly-worded question than a response, but Aerith accepted it. She grabbed Yuffie's hand and, as they walked away, they began whispering excitedly to one another.
Once they were out of earshot, Leon turned around and peered at Riku, examining his posture. Judging by how he presented himself, Leon considered Riku to be kind of self0absorbed. He seemed to be cold to strangers, but warm to his friends (very warm to some, as Leon had just discovered.)
Meanwhile, Riku was examining the room around him. Seeing how suitcases were scattered across the room, with articles of clothing strewn every which way, Riku guessed they were in a hotel. The room had dark yellow walls with green borders all around them. There was one green bed. At first, Riku thought that Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith slept in the same bed. However, the door to the next room held a sign that said "Yuffie and Aerith's Room…No boys or Heartless allowed." Obviously, they had multiple rooms.
"Hey," Leon started , captivating the boy's attention. "About earlier…"
Riku lost his cool. He turned pink and sputtered, "Oh, well, erm…sorry…about that…he, he…ehh…"
"It's cool. So, who's Sora?" Leon asked, a smirk upon his face, while he raised an eyebrow inquisitively.
"Oh! Um…just a friend…" Riku said lamely.
"Just a friend? Just THIS friend?" Leon moved, revealing a boy with cinnamon spiky hair laying unconscious on the Green bed. He had been laying next to Riku.
"SORA!" Riku shouted as he dashed towards the boy, wrapping him into a tight hug. A tear slid down his cheeks. "Thank God…I thought I had lost you…"
Leon coughed politely. Riku spun around. Catching Leon's smug expression, he jokingly yelled, "Shut up!"
"Hey, I didn't say anything," Leon smiled.
Riku was still redder than a ripe tomato as his gaze fell upon the floorboards beneath his feet. "Hey," Leon sat next to him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, "not like I'm one to judge…"
Riku looked at him curiously, tears of joy still threatening to escape his hypnotizing eyes. "You're gay?" he asked.
Leon smiled nonchalantly. "I guess it's story time…" Riku looked on while Leon told his tale of romance and heartbreak.
Once upon a sunny time, Leon had lived with Aerith, Yuffie, and some other man named Cid in a town called Hollow Bastion. The world was peaceful, people dwelled in one neighborhood, and went to the marketplace if they needed anything at all. And there was eternal light in this town, and the people would bask in it's glory. They used the peace it offered to make astonishing technological prowess. They made items that would make the townsfolk back on Destiny Island fall to the ground and worship as if it were a God.
One of the things they achieved was a rocket, which they called a Gummi Ship. It was composed of Gummi, which was an abundant material found throughout the galaxy. They used these Gummi Ships to explore as far as they could. They were usually limited by invisible walls that once stood between planets, cutting off any hopes of traveling to said new worlds. However there was one exception- Twilight Town. By some odd occurrence (miracle? Maybe.), the wall between the two had vanished long ago. Twilight Town was only about two hours away by average-speed Gummi Ships, so people often used it as a vacation spot.
One fateful morning Leon (who then went by Squall), and Aerith both decide they need a vacation. They decided that Twilight Town was the ideal place for a getaway. The rest of the gang blatantly refused to come (for this reason or that), so it was just Aerith and Squall that went.
They boarded the plane, and took their seats. Gummi ships were a lot like miniature airplanes. They could seat anywhere between one and three-hundred and sixty four, depending on how large your ship was. This was one of the larger models, seating about three hundred. Squall and Aerith took their seats as the captain and flight attendants prepared for take-off.
Two hours later, they all de-boarded the plane. Aerith and Leon were one of the first to hop off. Once off, Aerith stretched her hands out as far as they could go and yawned, while Leon scratched the back of his neck, looking around.
The town was nice. As suggested in the name, even though it was noon, the sky showed all of its colors in eternal sunset. The orange hue in the sky reflected onto the buildings, people, and planet itself, giving everything it's a very light-colored look. The light reflected off the windows of all the red brick buildings, the sparse shops, and this one teenager's hideout. People passed through the place gleefully, skipping along to do this or that.
That's where Squall first saw him.
He was standing in line at the candy shop, which also served as a kind of supermarket. He was dressed in a dark outfit that Squall could not begin to describe. It consisted of a blood red skin-tight top with a matching cape, which was ragged on its edges. He wore armor on one of his shoulders, leaving the other one bare. He dressed in blue pants, with metal bands around his ankles. Brown boots covered his feet, while blue gloves sheltered his hands from the outside world. He had blonde hair put up in wild spikes, giving him a roughish look. The man looked over at Squall, and Squall got a look into his eyes. They were blue, like Squall's, only a lighter blue, like the ocean, and not like a dark lake, like Squall's were.
Squall quickly looked away, embarrassed that he had been caught staring at this total stranger who probably didn't like him back. Still, Squall felt compelled to get to know this guy a little bit better. This curiosity heightened when the man smiled warmly, and, after getting two cups of coffee from the store, he walked over. "Oh shit, Aerith, he's coming this way, what the hell do I do?"
Aerith blushed slightly. She had never heard Leo- erm, Squall, curse like that before. At first, she didn't know what he was talking about, until she locked eyes with a blonde who was coming their way. "Oh! He, he, he…" she chuckled malevolently.
Squall's eyes widened as he realized what this meant. Squall whirled around, and screamed, "WOMAN, IF YOU FUCK THIS UP FOR ME, SO HELP ME GOD, I WILL…"
"Well now," a low voice cooed behind him, "and here I thought you looked polite."
Squall swiveled back around to find himself face-to-face with the object of his desire. Squall blushed furiously, and apologized quietly to him.
The blonde laughed. "It's okay, might want to apologize to her, though," he motioned over to Aerith, who beamed at the sudden attention, though just as quickly as she had received it, it was taken away. The blonde turned back around to face Squall. "Coffee?" he asked, motioning with his hand for Squall to take the extra cup in his hand.
Squall's heart pounded a drum solo against his ribcage as he took the cup. Their fingers brushed against each other's, and Squall soon felt himself fighting a blush that threatened to creep up his neck and overtake his face, though he soon found himself surrendering to said blush.
Cloud had noticed this, and smirked smugly to himself. "I'm Cloud," he stuck his hand out politely.
"Nice to meet ya, Cloud. I'm Squall." Squall took his hand, and felt a flurry of excitement coarse through his whole body.
"Squall…that's a pretty name." Squall blushed again.
"Thanks. I like your name better, though."
Squall felt self-satisfied when he saw that Cloud's face turned a little bit red after he had said this. Both boys grinned goofily, lost in each other's eyes. They were snapped out of their trance by Aerith whistling a tune that sounded disturbingly like the chant, "Squall and Cloud, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then co…"
"AERITH…dearest," Squall began, " why don't you go and, err…get Cloud a sandwich from the deli?"
Aerith raised an eyebrow curiously, but soon answered her own questions. She giggled, then said, "Okay," and, with a whisper of "you two play nice now," which was met with Squall muttering almost-silent curses at her, she turned on her heel and left.
Squall turned back to Cloud. Cloud studied him curiously. "You aren't from around here, are you?"
Squall looked at him funny. How could he have known that I was a foreigner? he thought. Squall decided to voice this question.
Cloud laughed quietly, and responded. "Three things- one, you just got off a Gummi Ship that was just leaving. Two, you're wearing an 'I Hollow Bastion' shirt. Finally, very few of the residents here in Twilight Town are this beautiful." Cloud continued casually as he brought his hand up to Squall's cheek, feeling him, as if to see if he felt as perfect as he looked, which, judging by his soft smile, apparently, he was.
Squall turned a little more red, then giggled adorably. "I guess you were one of the lucky exceptions to this rule?" Squall grinned eagerly, anxious to see if his attempt to emulate the smoothness of Cloud's last statement had worked.
Cloud laughed appreciatively. "Yeah. This one boy named Sephiroth and I are about all there is as far as pretty goes around these parts."
Squall's brow furrowed jealously. "Sephiroth?" Damn it, he thought to himself, I didn't know I would have to put up with competition.
Cloud smiled warmly, catching Squall's not-so-subtle resentment. "Don't worry. Sephiroth is an asshole. You're basically the best around here."
The rest of the afternoon, they spent leaning against a curved wall of a building, watching as the skateboarders tried to skate around them, but occasionally. They talked vivaciously about everything, from their lives to their childhoods to their favorite things. Apparently, Cloud had grown up in a rough neighborhood called Midgar. Some group led by a guy named Kadaj would harass him and his friends on a daily basis. He only really had four friends, and their names were Tifa, Barrett, Jesse, and another boy he would not mention. He said the other two died long ago, but the first two were out there somewhere. Now, Cloud lived in an apartment here by himself, working at the local weapons shop, and participating in the annual Struggle competition. This was a sport where two competitors beat each other up with blue plastic cylindrical "weapons". From their little talk, Squall also learned that Cloud loved puppies and flowers and fighting and most Jackie Chan movies, but Cloud hated disgustingly colorful things, preppy girls, and people who were cocky but weren't as big as they spoke of themselves as.
Aerith had come back at the beginning, but had ended up giving them time to get to know each other a little more, and instead she conversed with the mother of a girl named Olette, who was off playing with two friends, one who was plump and dark-haired, the other being, tall, lean, strong, and a dirty-blonde.
Squall decided, eventually, that he was thirsty. He excused himself from their conversation, and went to get a quick drink in the local bar. There was nobody else in there, except for a completely blasted blonde who, Squall had to admit, was kind of cute. He sat down on a stool, and asked the bartender for a glass of champagne. "I have to get me some courage," he smiled politely.
"For what?" the bartender asked
"Well…promise you won't judge me?" the bartender and the blonde nodded interestedly. "Okay, well, there's this really cute guy outside that I need to ask out. He's standing outside now, probably expecting me to come back with a martini."
The drunken blonde looked out the doorway, which was made of glass. "Well, I think ya better hurry (hic) up n' ask 'im. 'E seems to like that brown-haired purty lady." He staggered in his seat as he slurred his words.
Squall looked frantically at the doorway. Sure enough, Aerith was talking with Cloud excitedly alone. The two were giggling as if they were in love.
Shit, Squall thought as he chugged down his champagne, then hurried out the door. I don't want to lose him already! "Hey!" The bartender called after him, "you never paid!"
Squall through a fistful of munny behind him as he barreled out the door without thinking twice. "Keep the change!" he yelled over his shoulder. He turned around, and to his shock and horror…
Cloud and Aerith were gone.
Squall ran out of the bar, and looked around frantically for the two. There was no sign of either. Squall sat down, tears falling from his eyes. He had fallen for this guy the first time he had seen him, and yet he failed in getting him.
Squall slowly rose to his feet, wiping his face clean of his tears, and began searching for the two. He searched all day, asking random people on the street if they had seen the couple. They had either answered "no" or "yeah, just a little while ago." The latter started to become more and more common as the day wore on.
Finally, he saw a familiar pink dress silhouetted down a long, dusty path. Squall chased after the dress, Aerith's dress, at full speed. Arriving at his destination, he placed a firm hand on Aerith's shoulder and asked, "Aerith, where have you been?"
Aerith spun around, and was delighted to see him. "Leon!" she ran up and hugged him.
"Where's Cloud?" he asked, being somewhat apathetic to the fact that she had been cutely overjoyed to see him.
"Well, I don't know. He kind of left after a while of you being in the bar, and when I went to look for him, I got lost."
"Oh…" Squall said, disappointed. He started to wonder about something, and soon curiosity bested him. "Aerith?" he asked. "What were you talking about with him?"
Aerith turned red. "Oh! Well, um…he…promised…I mean, uh, I promised I wouldn't tell."
"Okay…" Squall said, trying his best to remain calm. "Now tell me this…was it about me?"
"…Yes."
Squall smiled. Maybe Cloud hadn't forgotten him and fell for Aerith after all.
"And then what happened?" Riku asked.
Leon chuckled. "Well, I'll give you the short version. I never saw him again. Seven days after that, Hollow Bastion was destroyed by the Heartless. I was helpless in the fight against them. We all made it to Traverse Town, except for Tifa, bless her soul. I became stronger and stronger through countless bouts with the Heartless. I changed my name to Leon to forget Squall, forget the man that stood helpless while the Heartless destroyed everything he knew and loved."
Riku was silent, then scoffed. "Damn. I would have been better off just dying on Destiny Islands, huh?"
Leon laughed. "Pretty much. So, I guess the moral of the story is, if you love something, don't let it slip away from you. Take the opportunity to fall in love by the horns."
Riku sighed. "Easier said than done. After all, I don't know how he…"
"Mmpfh." Sora groaned as he came back into consciousness.
"Sora!" Riku yelled. Sora clamped his hands to his ears.
"Oww…Ri-kuuu! I have a headache…" Sora complained.
Riku apologized, "Heh. Sorry! I'm just so glad you're awake…"
"Riku…" Sora began, noticing his surroundings. "Where are we?"
Leon stepped forward. "You're Sora right?" Sora nodded. Leon smiled and turned to Riku. "Sora…Riku…Welcome…to Traverse Town."
So, if I continued at this point, I'm assuming the chapter would be twenty to thirty pages long, so I'm going to make Traverse Town two chapters. Please Review! Thank ya!