Real Hope versus False Hope

I'm very sorry that it has been so extremely long since my last update. My excuse is probably stupid, but my English teacher told me she didn't think I had any writing ability save for a few "glimpses" and so I lost any inspiration to write anything for awhile. I'm sorry about that…here's the next chapter…Please Read and Review.

"Leon…your old world…you were set up weren't you?" Aerith asked early the next morning.

Leon looked away. He hated thinking one of his friends had betrayed him, and he hated to think of what that friend had done since his disappearance. "Aerith I really don't want to talk about this—"

"But you have to Leon. You don't know the exact condition of your world. Really, the letter from Riona could have been a trap to get you to return."

"It wasn't," Leon said. He was sure the letter was really from Riona, there were some things he simply knew.

"My point is Leon some might not be thrilled your back and you don't know what condition you'll be in when you make it to your world."

"What are you saying Aerith?"

"You need a disguise and I can give you one. It will last until you want it removed or until three people from your world recognize you. Is that alright?"

Leon considered saying no. He had long envisioned his triumphant return to Garden and his world. In this dream everyone was pleased to see him, Rinoa would jump into his arms, and all would be well. However, Leon had to face the facts. That dream wasn't a reality. At least one person had tried to kill him before, who was to say they wouldn't try again?

Leon sighed, "Fine. Aerith do your best to make me unrecognizable."

Aerith smiled and pulled out her rod. She did a fancy twirl and pointed it at Leon, completely transforming his appearance.

"Ready to go Kairi?" Sora asked the next morning while he stretched in the central square as they waited for Leon.

"Yep, how about you Sora?"

"Of course I am!" The teenager exclaimed, the excitement obvious in his voice.

"Good. We're leaving in ten minutes," Leon said behind the pair.

Sora started to turn around to face Leon, "Finally! Geesh Leon, I was thinking you would nev—" Sora forgot what he was saying when he saw the man standing behind him.

In front of Sora was a man with short red hair and dark green eyes. He had a similar build to Leon, but was a few inches taller, probably around 6'1". He had the same voice as Leon though. There was also no trademark scar across his face.

"Do you like it?" Aerith asked as she came up from behind who Sora thought, but wasn't sure, was Leon.

"Le-Leon?!" Sora yelled.

Leon rolled his eyes as Sora ran up to him to get a closer look.

"Sora, it's me alright!" Leon exclaimed with annoyance once Sora had pulled on his cheeks.

"Wow Aerith you really did a good job!" Sora said with pure awe to the woman.

"Thanks Sora! Kairi what do you think?"

"It's hard to believe that that's Leon."

"Well, that is the point. It might not be good for people to recognize him until he's ready, so you guys have to keep his real identity a secret okay?"

"Right!" Sora and Kairi both said and nodded.

A gruff voice rang out in the morning air, "So this is it kid. I never thought seven years ago it would take you so long to leave us."

"I'll always remember how much you helped Cid," Leon said. He wasn't making eye contact with the older man. He had been dreading all the goodbyes that he knew would be coming, even though he hoped they wouldn't.

"It was no problem, but I do require a payback."

Leon gave Cid a skeptical expression, he wasn't expecting Cid to want something back at the last second. "What?"

"Keep yourself, Sora, and Kairi safe. All our efforts on you would be wasted if you died now."

Leon nodded to confirm that he would.

"Let's go," Leon commanded Sora and Kairi. The latter two eagerly ran for the point to teleport to the trans-universal gummi ship while Leon walked with a more deliberate pace. He didn't know if he would ever see Radiant Garden again, therefore he was trying to remember as much of it as possible.

Suddenly, Leon felt a pair of hands on his shoulder. He turned around to see who it was only to hear a pair of feet gracefully land in the direction he had been in before he turned.

Leon sighed. Without looking over he said, "Yuffie."

Yuffie asked while Leon turned to face her, "Trying to sneak away without saying goodbye?"

Leon shrugged, "I hate goodbyes."

"A painful goodbye is better than no goodbye at all."

Leon felt some of his former cynicism return, "Why?"

Yuffie blinked. She hadn't expected Leon to turn the tables around on to her. After a moment of consideration she said, "It gives the people involved a sense of closure."

"That's all it is though, a sense. It isn't something real and even if you get to say goodbye sometimes it isn't enough."

"You weren't always like this Leon," Yuffie said quietly. "You changed once you remembered who you were. Maybe you were better off without your memories."

"No Yuffie. I was living a false life when I first came here. These memories are the real me, the façade I wore when I first arrived to hide my pain was not my real self. I was always pessimistic, Rinoa got me to change though…"

Yuffie's face broke into her usual grin, "Tell her hi for me will you?"

"I will," Leon said.

"Take care Leon of your world, Sora, Kairi…and yourself."

"I will," Leon said again.

"I'll miss you," Yuffie whispered under her breath. Leon didn't hear for he had already turned around and was steadily walking towards the teleport point.

"Leon! Wait!"

Leon turned his head while he once again rolled his eyes. Am I ever going to get to leave? His annoyance disappeared when he saw it was Aerith running after him.

"What's up Aerith?"

"You almost forgot this!" Aerith exclaimed as she pulled out a small knife from her jacket. "I found this in the boot you wore when you first arrived here, remember?"

Leon smiled a little. He carefully took the knife out of Aerith's hands and studied it. Engraved on the side was the word Lion. He then held the knife up into the direct sunlight and watched the lettering change so it read Heart. The knife had always been a reminder of Rinoa and the way she had impacted his life in such a jagged and messy way. The knife also reminded him of the pain of life without her and the dullness of his life when he forgot her, his own ray of sunlight. He remembered how she always brightened up his life, like how the sun brightened the dull coloring of the knife.

"Thank you Aerith," Leon said seriously, still staring at the knife.

"I really will miss you." Leon looked up from the knife and to his surprise he saw small teardrops in Aerith's eyes.

Without even thinking he grabbed at the chain on his neck where he kept three rings. One was the ring Yuffie had stolen, one was a carbon copy of the ring with Griffin on it that Zell had made years before—Rinoa had the real one—, and the third ring was one from Ellone. On it was a miniature lion. He pulled the third ring off and placed it into one of Aerith's hands.

"Someone very special gave me this ring when I was a little kid," Leon began to explain. He was looking past Aerith and not making eye contact. "She meant everything to me, but she had to go away for a while. When she left she gave me this ring and told me the miniature lion, although small, had plenty of courage and would watch over me. She said the lion's name changed for every owner, matching who they wanted to give them protection. For this girl it was Laguna, for me it was Ellone, and Aerith, now the ring is yours and the miniature lion's name is whatever name you want."

Aerith gave Leon a small smile. "I'll always remember you Leon, but I'll always know who you are meant to be and for that, I'm naming the lion Squall Leonhart. Good luck Squall, and be careful."

Leon finally made eye contact with her, "You too Aerith. I'll be listening for you if you ever need me." Once again he glanced away, "Really, thank you for reminding me that I'm Squall Leonhart and for everything else you've done for not just me, but everyone."

Aerith reached out her hand and Leon briefly grabbed it. The gesture was not much and did not consist of as much touching as the night before, but it was enough for the two. It was a way of saying goodbye to each other.

After a short second of eye contact, Aerith turned and walked back to the ravine where Cloud had disappeared from. Leon turned as well and walked to the teleport circle where he finally departed Radiant Garden and made his way onto the gummi ship.

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"Remember where we found Bahumut, that tiny island hidden in the middle of the ocean? I think that's where they're all hiding," Irvine said while Selphie sat on his lap at breakfast one morning.

"How could they manage to fly there though? I mean, we only managed to get to it on the Ragnarok, that big bulky thing could never manage to get there."

"I bet Nida could manage it somehow. Though if they had you, I know that's where they would be. Your talent could easily have flown them there."

"Not really. If I was there I would be too busy standing in the corner of the classroom missing you."

"No you wouldn't be, because I would be there. I'll never leave you Selphie," Irvine said with a small smile.

Selphie returned the smile as she leaned her head up to reach Irvine's lips. Their mouths collided and the two forgot where they were, to them, it was like they were 17 again, back when everything was good in the world.

"I'm eating here you know," Zell said, interrupting the pair.

"Well then leave. You're a mood killer Zell," Irvine said with his smug grin.

"Man, you two were never so lovey-dovey when Rinoa was awake."

Irvine's grin fell of his face and Selphie stood up. She walked over to an empty seat by the table with a guilty expression across her features.

"You know exactly why that is Zell," Quistis said harshly as she strode into the room. "We're all still young, let us enjoy the few moments we can without immature comments."

"Are you saying we should enjoy the moments where Rinoa is inexplicably in a coma?"

"By no means. What I'm saying Zell, is we can't all be worried about Rinoa right now, more worry would drive us all insane. We saw Squall try to leave us because of worry all those years ago, we can't have that happen again with anyone else in these dangerous times.

"But we can't act like nothing is wrong!"

"We're not Zell. Quistis and I are trying to figure out how to heal Rinoa as much as we can, it's just that as far as we can tell, it's up to Rinoa as to when she wakes up," Selphie said.

"You guys have to be missing something!" Zell exclaimed. He slammed his fist on the table so it shook all the plates and silverware. He said under his breath, "Squall wouldn't give up so easily." Then Zell left the room.

"Did he make a reference to Squall just now?" Irvine asked, the shock evident in his voice.

"I think he did," Quistis said. Surprise was also in her voice.

"That's a first," Selphie added. After a brief pause Selphie asked Quistis, "Hey Quistis where do you think Balamb Garden is?"

"I'm suspecting it's hidden in Esthar. You know the rules that Laguna installed don't you?"

Irvine and Selphie both nodded solemnly. "Nobody goes in, nobody goes out. Nobody from the outside can even see it, despite whether or not they've been there before," Irvine said.

"Yes. We haven't been able to locate Balamb since Esthar disappeared so my bet is that it's there."

"Let's just hope Laguna's plan for safety worked," Selphie said with a slight sigh, voicing the hope of the others on the ship, except one's.