Traverse Town II: Welcome Home

"Hey, hey, Leon, I just remembered something!" Sora exclaimed suddenly, glancing over from his post of shooting down Heartless ships.

Leon was busy clinging to his seat with a white-knuckle grip. 'How is this ship staying together? How are we not dead!?'

Cloud hadn't really given the physical damage of the gummi ship any justice. It was outrageous. It was nearly coming apart at the seams! But they'd had no choice if they wanted to get back to Traverse Town, so they'd gone inside, sat down, and prepared themselves for the most nerve-wracking ride of their lives.

It seemed this did not pertain to the Keyblade wielder.

"You said that Aerith was your older sister, but what about Yuffie and Cid?"

Leon raised an eyebrow as Cloud stiffened, then turned to raise an eyebrow at him. When the blond merely shrugged it off, he turned his attention back to the teen. "Yuffie and Cid?" He frowned. He had tried to ignore the fact that Sora had asked the question in the first place, but now that he thought about it… "I suppose Yuffie is like the mischievous little sister in our family. Even when she's helping me defeat Heartless, she still tries to pull pranks on me."

Sora snorted. "I can see why, you grump."

"What did you just say!?" the other brunet snapped back, scowling. "Fine! I just won't talk anymore!"

"No, no! I wanna hear what you think Cid is!" the teen whined, turning to look over his shoulder at him.

After a loud bang and the entire ship trembling, Leon panicked. "Okay, I'll tell you, just keep shooting!"

"…Okay!" The Keyblade wielder smiled brightly and went back to shooting.

The older brunet felt his eye twitch. Sometimes he liked the kid, but other times he just wanted to grab him and shake him. "…Cid."

"Yeah! What do you consider Cid to be?" Sora asked, though carefully kept his eyes on the Heartless ships. "Is he like a father-figure?"

"Oh, God, no." Leon sighed and rubbed his temple gently, frowning. "…Cid… Cid's like that uncle that your parents never like you hanging around, because they think he's a bad influence. He curses like every other word and he smokes like an old engine." He paused. "…But he is really smart. I mean, he made all of the gummi ships you saw at the gummi port. And he's always finding ways to make them better—stronger lasers, faster engines, stuff like that." The brunet frowned and reached up to idly play with his hair. "But he doesn't smoke when he does that. Combustible fluids, and all that."

"Huh." Sora frowned thoughtfully. "I never heard him cuss."

The gunblader snorted. "Of course you didn't. Aerith made him tone it down around kids. And you look like you're about, what, twelve?"

The teen looked offended. "I'm fourteen!"

"You look like a prepubescent pain in the ass that we have to baby-sit," Cloud muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Hey!" Sora looked hurt.

Leon was also offended, so he turned and punched him in the arm. "Cloud! You jerk! That was so uncalled for!"

The blond rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm a mean jerk. Totally."

"You bastard." The gunblader growled, then moved his aim higher.

Sora blinked as he heard a crack, then turned his attention away from the Heartless ships momentarily to look back at them. He frowned when he found Cloud bent over, cupping his nose as blood trickled between his fingers onto the floor. Leon looked rather smug, smirking and slouching in his seat with his arms crossed. And, despite the fact that Cloud had sort of hurt his feelings, he still felt the need to see if he was okay. "…Cloud? Do you need a potion?"

"Fushmeckrefmshpmf!"

Donald narrowed his eyes as Traverse Town came into sight. "I have a feeling this isn't gonna be the last time Cloud gets a broken nose on the gummi ship."

-x-x-x-

Traverse Town was a sight for sore eyes. Leon had never thought he'd be so glad to see it. And he was—glad to see it, that is, but he realized one of the reasons he maybe didn't miss it so much when he heard a war cry.

"LEOOOOOOOOOOOON!"

"Ooph!"

The rest of the party watched as something collided with the scarred man and sent him flying backward to land on his back, though he looked annoyed more than stunned. It appeared as if he'd expected this to happen, just… not as soon as it had. Then again, he had described Yuffie as his mischievous little sister.

Leon sighed. "Hello, Yuffie."

She nuzzled his chest and hugged him tightly. "Oh, Leon, we missed you so much! Destroying Heartless has been so boring! There's no one to play pranks on except Cid, and he's no fun to prank!"

"Yeah, that's a shame," he grunted, sitting up. After a few seconds of inner-debate, he struggled to his feet, and he knew that had been the right decision because then Yuffie was hooking her legs around him. "Jeez, you little monkey."

He saw a flash of red, and he realized he was lucky to see even that when he saw that Cloud had disappeared. He really didn't know what to think of it, but decided it was best not to mention anything; Cloud obviously didn't want to be around them here.

Sighing, he pointed to the red puddle of fabric on the ground. "Sora, could you pick that up for me, please?" He would have mended it on the ship, except he didn't have red thread and he was sort of busy white-knuckling his armrests.

Sora turned in surprise, then picked up the red cloak, looking confused. But he seemed to sense Cloud's discomfort as well, so he chose not to comment on it.

Yuffie decided to get the gunblader's attention back on her. "So! You gotta tell me what all happened! Anything exciting happen!? Where'd you go!? Who'd you meet!?"

"Yuffie, I will tape your mouth shut," Leon warned, but he began walking. "I think we should at least say hello to Aerith and Cid."

"Aw, you just suck the fun out of everything, you fun-sucker!" the ninja whined, uncoiling herself from his body to stand next to him. She turned to the other three and waved happily. "Hi, guys!"

Sora smiled back at her. "Hi, Yuffie."

"Hello," Donald and Goofy replied.

Turning her attention back to the gunblader, Yuffie smiled and placed her hands behind her head. "So, since you've been gone, Aerith and I have been going through Ansem's reports—"

"Ha."

"…So it was mostly Aerith, but I helped!" she exclaimed, frowning. "He kept repeating himself and using really big words!"

Leon rolled his eyes, then shoved his hands in his pocket. "So where's Aerith?"

"Oh! She's in the waterway, training a little! You know how she got a little bit out of practice reading all of those reports, so—"

"Ah, yeah." He waved a hand to keep her from explaining. "I see. Well, we'll go talk to Aerith and you… can go tell Cid to look at our gummi ship and see if he can fix it."

Yuffie frowned at him in confusion. "Huh? Why? What's wrong with it?"

The brunet sighed. "Um… Go take a look at it, and you'll be able to see it." Glancing back at his companions, he jerked his head to get them to come. "Let's go see Aerith."

"Ansem's the one that made all of those reports about the Heartless, right?" Sora asked, trotting after him obediently. "The one you and Yuffie told me about? I thought his reports got scattered across the worlds!"

"They did," Leon replied, shrugging a little. "Except, before you came, I'd been going around different worlds bringing refugees here and bringing back all of the reports I could find. …I probably should have kept a better eye out in Wonderland and Deep Jungle…" He waved that thought off quickly, though; both Wonderland and Deep Jungle had been locked. Everything was okay there.

Once reaching the waterway, the older brunet was a little ashamed to say that he had made a very… unmanly noise. In his defense, he hadn't expected Aerith's staff to come swinging around at his head when he tapped her on the shoulder. She apparently didn't believe that her skills had stayed as good as they had and was still a little tense to make up for her rustiness.

Her rustiness had given him a lump on the head. And it really hurt.

Aerith gasped and covered her mouth in shock, then knelt in front of him. "Oh, Leon, I'm so sorry! I didn't think it was you—"

Sighing, Leon waved it away. "I'll take a potion later if the ache gets too bad. Don't worry; I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? I hit you pretty hard." She hovered over him for a few more minutes, taking in his ripped and stained clothes, then glanced up at Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Gasping in horror, she stood, then began ushering them all out. "Ugh! All of you need food and rest! I've got some soup warming on the stove; there should be enough for everyone. We'll get you some food and then you'll go directly to bed!"

"But—" Sora began, frowning in confusion, but she was already moving them toward the hotel. "…Okay…"

Leon sighed and watched them go, then winced as the older girl suddenly turned and pinned him with a glare. Then he hurriedly got to his feet and made his way after them.

Let it never be said that girls wearing pink can't be scary.

-x-x-x-

Despite how much they didn't want to eat and would rather talk, having a home-cooked meal was actually rather nice. Especially since Aerith seemed to have an endless amount of soup and they got as much as they wanted.

But, eventually, Aerith did get around to asking, "So, did you find any Keyholes?"

"We found two," Sora replied around a mouth of potato. "And the Keyblade locked them automatically."

"Good, good."

Seeing that Aerith wasn't going to explain—she was too busy bustling around, making sure they had enough soup and apple cider and bread—Leon swallowed the bread in his mouth. "Every world has a Keyhole. Each one leads to the heart of that particular world." More to himself than the others, he added, "There must be one in this town as well…"

"What do you mean?" Sora asked, and Aerith patiently chided for him to not speak with his mouth full.

When he nodded in acquiescence, she smiled at him. "It was in Ansem's report. Apparently, the Heartless enter through the Keyhole and do something to the world's core."

The teen seemed more confused by this if anything. "So what happens to the world?"

Aerith sighed. "In the end, it… disappears."

Leon hurriedly leaned back, which was decidedly lucky for him, as Sora and Goofy both spit out their soup and Donald spit out the cider he'd been drinking. If he hadn't moved, he would have been covered with dinner.

"Whaaaat!"

"That's why your key is so important," the gunblader added.

Aerith nodded. "Please lock the Keyholes, Sora. You're the only one who can."

The teen looked hesitant at that. "I don't know…"

Leon sighed. "Seeing other worlds would probably serve you well."

"Yeah!" Donald agreed.

Goofy smiled at him. "We gotta find your friends! And King Mickey!"

Sora tilted his head, then nodded. "Yeah. You're right!"

"Well, all of you are going to bed!" Aerith stated cheerfully. "So we'll talk about this more in the morning if you have any questions!"

"Aw…" Sora, Donald, and Goofy stood and went to leave, then looked back at Leon in confusion.

Leon scowled. "My bedtime isn't until eleven-thirty, thank you very much!"

"Eleven o'clock on the dot," his 'elder sister' corrected, still smiling, but the slight narrow of her eyes didn't go unnoticed.

"…Still not the same bedtime as them," he mumbled, resting his chin on his hand and looking away petulantly. "Hey, leave the gummis we found. I'll go take them by Cid and see what he'll do." He ducked slightly just in time to dodge the gummis as they bounced onto the table. "…Thanks."

Aerith waited until they were gone before giggling softly. "I see they're rubbing off on you. That was dangerously close to a pout."

"It was not," the gunblader exclaimed, blushing a little as he glared at her, before he sighed and stood. "Whatever. I wanted to talk to you about someone."

At this, she turned toward him, having been in the act of taking the others' bowls to the sink. "Yes, Leon?"

"…We met this guy, in the Coliseum," Leon began, frowning, as he looked down at the cloak he'd pulled onto his lap. "His name's Cloud. He said he knew Vincent, and that this is his." He jumped as he heard a crash and looked up quickly to find that his friend had dropped the bowls she'd been holding and was currently staring at him. "Aerith? Is something—"

"…Vincent and Cloud are… alive?" she asked hopefully, and the man had a sudden sinking feeling that she and Cloud had been close. Very close. …Close like Cloud wanted to be with him. "Are they okay? Did you see Vincent?"

"Well, I didn't see Vincent, but Cloud said he'd kill him if he gave his cloak back with rips in it," the gunblader replied slowly, brows furrowing together. "So I assume he'd be okay if he could kill Cloud. …Cloud's actually somewhere around here… Yuffie came and he just disappeared…" He blinked as the healer rushed past him, grabbing her staff on the way. "Aerith?"

"I'll be out looking for Cloud! Be sure to go to bed on time! I'll stay with Cid and Yuffie at the shop!" Aerith called over her shoulder, before she disappeared outside.

Leon blinked after her in confusion, then sighed and stood to go get the broom to sweep up the broken dishes. He had a feeling that he was in for a bunch of heartache. Aerith hadn't looked that happy since he'd started bringing Ansem's reports back with him, and even then, it hadn't been nearly as happy. She and Cloud must have been very close. Well, he had two hours until he had to go to bed; he might as well clean up the kitchen and start mending Vincent's cloak.

-x-x-x-

Cloud didn't like to be surprised a lot, but when he found himself slammed back into a wall with a pole over his throat sort of pissed him off. Well, it pissed him off until he saw the angry healer pinning him there. Then he felt very, very small.

Aerith glared at him. "Cloud Strife. You come back here after nine years of being missing and you don't even come and say 'hello?!'"

"I-I-I didn't—"

"And then you just leave Leon with Vincent's cloak to mend it-! What if Cid sees it?! He was distraught when Vincent didn't follow us-! Where is Vincent, anyway!?"

Wincing, the blond eased the staff away from his throat and moved away from the wall. "Well, he's… he's back at the Coliseum."

"CLOUD STRIFE!!!!"

Cloud grunted as he was suddenly slammed into the ground. "Ow!"

Yuffie growled and stomped on his head, digging it into the ground, before hopping off of him and turning to glare at him. "I smell Leon's cologne on you! Why?! He wouldn't let you use it!" She narrowed her eyes at him, then gasped in horror. "Oh. My. God. Aerith!" Turning to the brunette, she whined. "Cloud's been molesting Leon!"

"How do you do that?!" the swordsman exclaimed, glaring at her. He yelped as this only earned him a whack on the head from his friend's staff. "Ow!"

Aerith glared at him with an even greater fury. "How dare you! Did you just forget about all of us? And then you just go after Leon!"

"I'm sorry, I just thought—" Cloud began, only to be cut off by the ninja.

"HYAA!" And there was a roundhouse kick to the face. Yuffie was more than just a little pissed. "If I have to get him to open up again, I'm gonna kill ya!"

"That's not even the half of it!" Aerith pointed at his still body angrily. "He's seen Vincent!"

The ninja gasped in horror. "He saw him and he didn't send him here?!"

"Vincent thinks all of you were swallowed by the Heartless!" the blond exclaimed, struggling to his feet. "He swears he saw them swallow the ship up! I figured he was right! I thought you were dead too!"

The two girls narrowed their eyes at him before nodding. "Alright."

He sighed in relief and rested his hands on his knees, then looked up at them, frowning. "Squall hasn't seemed to withdraw. In fact, Sora seems to be doing a good job of making him open up. I just poke fun at him when I know I can. Touch him when I know he won't flip out."

"Those last two don't exist if you intend for anything romantic," Yuffie retorted, scowling. "He has to invite you to touch him and you can only tease him in response to him teasing you. And you have to call him Leon, or else he gets mad and won't let you get close! I've tried everything to get him to like me! Do you know how long it took me to learn?! Three years!"

"Ah… Really?" The blond looked decidedly concerned. "So then I've been ruining my own chances?"

"You're lucky he hasn't punched you in the nose!" The younger girl blinked for a moment when swordsman just stared at her, then gasped. "He has punched you in the nose!"

"Only three times…"

"…Yuffie, come on. He deserves all of the trouble he gets into," Aerith stated, grabbing her arm to lead her away. "Let him work through the mess he made."

Cloud watched them groan, then sighed and covered his face. 'Shitdamnfuckhell—Aw, man!'

An apology was in order. …He really sucked at making those…