Leon walked through the Bailey, Gunblade hanging from his hip, hands in his pockets. The moon was gleaming, high above Hollow Bastion, stars and worlds twinkling around it. It was at least four am, Leon guessed.

Cloud had been staying at Merlin's for a week now. It was like he'd never left. He'd appear and disappear, but he would always be in the same bed near the end of the hall eventually.

Pushing the door of Merlin's house open, Leon walked through the forest of cushions and couches, before walking down the hallway to his bedroom, at the end of the hall.

Unhooking his Gunblade, Leon placed his hand on the doorknob of his room, but paused.

Floating sideways, storm grey-blue eyes surveyed the closed door standing there, just a few inches away from Leon's shoulder. No sound emanated from behind that door, no smell, no taste; but Leon felt the need to open it to see if the occupant; Cloud, was alright.

Placing his Gunblade against his own door, Leon turned to Cloud's and placed his hand on the doorknob. He didn't know why but he had a feeling that Cloud might need him, but, he guessed, he might as well see if the blonde was all right, anyway.

Turning the doorknob gently, no squeak, no sound giving him away, Leon let the door open half-way, and he let his eyes adjust to the pitch-blackness.

Lying on the bed in the centre of the sparse room was Cloud, his body turned on his side, facing Leon, the highest arm just placed so it lay, slightly stretched out, the palm placed flat on the blade of his Buster, which lay parallel, in front of him on the mattress, the other arm pulled against his chest, the hand against his face, fingers curled gently and shielding his eyes from any light that entered the room.

Leon had learnt that Cloud always slept like that. One hand covering his eyes, the other against his sword.

He never moved while he slept, and if he did, he was either in pain, or having another nightmare. Stormy eyes staring at the blonde's ribcage, Leon counted twelve seconds between every breath Cloud took. Each breath was hardly a breath at all. His ribs only elevated a millimetre or so, then went back down again.

There was a quiet scratching sound, and Leon watched as the hand placed on the blade of the Buster slowly curled it's fingers, Cloud's nails scratching lightly at the sharpened metal.

The brunette smiled a little. Cloud knew he was there, even when he was unconscious.

Turning away, Leon went to close the door, but, at that moment, Cloud twitched. It wasn't an outrageous movement, merely a slight tug of his leg than anything else, but, it caused the brunette to pause and look back at him.

The hand against the Buster sword tightened into a fist and Cloud grimaced, pushing his nose into pillow, the fingers shielding his eyes twitching sharply. Leon watched, his hand on the doorknob, wondering briefly if he should wake the blonde up or leave him to wake up on his own.

Finally, Leon just leant his shoulder against the doorway and watched the blonde battle against his nightmares, dark shadows that only he could see, and only he could stop. Cloud twitched occasionally. Sometimes his shoulder, maybe his neck, his hand, or even maybe his leg. The blonde let in a shuddering gasp, his throat raspy and tight. Leon crossed his arms, eyes intent as he watched.

"... I didn't mean it..." Cloud whispered, sounding more like a beaten child than the toned adult he was; his voice tiny and shaking, tremors flitting through his body, the simple, loose black shirt and shorts he wore, not hiding his shaking from stormy eyes.

Leon did nothing.

"I didn't mean to kill everyone..."

This upset whisper caught the brunette's attention, straitening a little in the doorway.

"I killed them all. I didn't mean it."

The sleeping male let out a dry sob, the only one of it's kind that Leon had ever heard come from him, the brunette moving away from the doorway to take a step into the dark room, his arms falling by his sides.

"All of them. Dead. Aeris, Yuffie, Cid..." Cloud let out a breathy, mirthless chuckle. "It's my fault..." His breathing had quickened from twelve seconds between breaths, to four seconds.

The brunette stood over Cloud's bed, arms hanging by his sides, before he rose a hand a let it hover over the blonde's shoulder. Leon sighed and gently placed his fingertips to the blonde's neck, feeling for a pulse.

The blonde's pulse was always hard to find if he was calm. Like his breathing, it would be slow, and so weak that it was hard to notice. But, Cloud was so upset, Leon found it easily.

Instead of the record of three beats a minute, which impressed Leon to no bounds, there was hardly a pause of a second before there was another heartbeat. Cloud was practically in cardiac arrest, compared to any other 'normal' person.

There was a quiet, breathy laugh from the blonde. "It's my fault..." he whispered.

The Gunblade-wielder had heard enough. "No one is dead, Strife." he said in a quiet, but firm voice. He didn't want to wake the other, incase Cloud forgot where he was and attacked him –it had happened once before–, and hoped the blonde would listen to him and sort out his nightmare for himself.

There was silence from the sleeper, and Leon wondered if he should repeat himself, slowly removing his fingers from the blonde's neck. Cloud's hand which was clenched into a fist on the blade of his sword loosened only slightly, but the brunette caught the movement.

"No one, you hear me?" Leon continued, slipping his hands into his pockets, eyes still fixed on Cloud's fist, which loosened a little more. "It's not your fault."

"... It's not my fault...?" Cloud murmured, his voice quiet and confused, his hand finally lying flat against the blade of the Buster sword, relaxed.

"Lots of things are your fault, Strife," Leon smirked, staring down at the sleeping blonde, happy that the shadows in Cloud's dreams were no longer chasing him. "But, killing everyone isn't one of them."

The tiniest of smiles flickered across Cloud's face, and Leon turned away, walking back to the door, ready for some sleep himself. Cloud no longer needed him, so, he could sleep. Mission accomplished.

Behind Cloud's fingers, his eyes fluttered open. Leon didn't notice the glint of blue between the blonde's fingers which followed his movements, but, he was too tired to care, anyway. Closing the door behind him, Leon walked into his room, pulled off his shirt and pants, changing into a pair of loose shorts, before he plopped himself onto his bed, and promptly fell fast asleep.

In Cloud's room, the blonde was having slightly more difficulty sleeping. His mind was just filled with that deep, warm voice that had whispered things he couldn't remember and made the pictures and feelings of horror flee, and helped him pull away from the darkness.

He didn't care that Leon had been in his room. He was too confused to care. Who's voice did he hear in his dream? Why was it there?

Blue glinted again from between Cloud's fingers, flickering in the direction of the door in the pitch-black room, the blue lowered again, before disappearing completely.

He'd think about it in the morning.

((TBC. Okay. I lied. This is going to be updated sort-of-daily, since I'm writing the chapters faster than I expected. I'm already on the seventh one. This chapter is just a reason for me to write Cloud sleeping in the position he's described. I've wanted to write about it for a while. Hope you liked it, and the next chapter will be up in a day or so. Maybe. If I haven't jinxed it. Again, please read and review.))