Broken Masks

Chapter Ten: I'll give you my heart.

Authors notes: It only gets more confusion from here.

Chapter Ten: I'll Give You My Heart

"I think this place is a metaphor of some sort." The questioning voice drew from a bright eyed, blond currently perched on another's lap. "I mean," He smiled lightly. "That's the best I can come up with."

The brunet whom he was sitting on tapped his nose. "And I suppose you've been thinking a long time, right. Cloud?"

Cloud nodded. "We have been here a while." He leaned forward to wrap his arms around Leon's neck and rested his chin on the taller man's shoulder. "Hours and hours."

His theory was rather simple, at least to him. Cloud felt he might only confuse Leon if he shared. He found he easily understood complicated matters without an explanation as to why. The knowledge just seemed to come to him, and any attempt to share this with others left nothing but confusion.

This hill, perched in a valley was much like the earlier void. It was never changing; sunny with a bright blue sky and the slightest cool breeze. The same yellow birds flew past them ever so often and the path trailing over hill had never been walked upon. The only explanation to this was a void. A much different void than the one he had been in before, but nonetheless a void.

Then again, maybe void wasn't the right word. Void implied nothingness. While there were no people and no change, there was life. He and Leon were existing. He wasn't dying, and he was certain he wasn't already dead. In fact, he felt alive for the first time in his collective memory. He could breathe easily, feel a warmth in his chest and … there was something else. There was a calm, serenity like feeling. He was balanced finally.

"We're being cleansed. Clothes aren't necessary."

Leon shifted, digging his toes into the cool grass. "So," He was unsure of how to approach the question. He tried again. "So, you think we're sharing a soul now?"

Seriousness fell over them. Cloud turned mature and heavy eyes on him. "That is my gut feeling. It's highly improbable and almost impossible, but it fits. It would be the only explanation for what I'm feeling." He posed the ending question. "How does on explain feeling his partner's love?" Leon shined. "I mean really feel the love? It's hard to describe, but I feel everything you do in your heart. I know all your secrets, all your desires and aspirations or hopes. I know who you love, despise and who really gets under your skin. I can feel what makes you mushy and what really touches your heart. I know you."

It was extremely disturbing for both parties. Leon felt almost as if Cloud was intruding.

"And it isn't just your heart, you know. I have all your memories." Cloud's face darkened considerably and Leon drew his arms over him quickly. He knew immediately which memories were surfacing frequently. He knew which were hurting Cloud deeply.

They were content to merely sit on the grassy hill and hold each other while memories shifted around. No words were necessary. No words would be appropriate.

"I wish I could feel your heart," Leon broke the tension with, and this earned him a soft and caring smile from Cloud.

"Silly." Cloud pressed a soft kiss onto equally soft lips. "You have my heart."

They were breathing exactly the same, Leon realized. Every breath, the duration of the hold and the exhale were all perfectly aligned. Cloud had to be right. They had to be sharing the same soul--the same essence.

"I know I do." His hand pressed down on Cloud's head, running through silky strands. "You have mine, too."

"No, no," Cloud shook himself free of Leon's tight grip. "You have my heart." His hand pressed over Leon's chest. It shook a bit until Leon's own hand rested over it. "My heart."

"What?"

Cloud lifted himself from Leon's lap and folded his arms over his chest. "There are things in my past, Squall, that I don't ever want to come up. Things that hurt me, and will surely hurt you. People, experiences and," His face puckered. "Sour deals have turned me jaded, if you will. My past is less than immaculate, and it's coming back around."

Leon folded his feet underneath him. "When do you plan on telling me about your past?"

"Now if you want," He said, shrugging.

Leon nodded, rising to join Cloud on the edge of the hill's slope. "Now."

"I don't know what happened to me when the world began to die," He began, "But it was something different. I became lost, but not like the others." He paused in frustration. It was hard for him to acquire the right words. Describing indescribable feelings was a heavy task. "I can't say much, but something happened, and I fell into the darkness."

He wanted a coat, or at least some of this clothing back. He was no longer uncomfortable in the presence of Leon, but he was beginning to feel a chill. The temperature had not changed, because that would have been impossible, but his dark past was less than warm. It was now reflecting back on his body.

"When I woke up, in the coliseum, I knew things. There were voices in my head. Not talking to me, but they were just there. They talked about Ansem, and his plan, and my purpose. I knew I couldn't let Ansem win, so I began my own plan. That's when I remembered you, and that's when I made my contract with Hades."

Leon ran his hands up and down Cloud's arms, trying to warm the cooling man. "What's the connection? What was your deal with Hades?"

"Hades is a driven God." Cloud laughed at his own statement. But it was almost forced and he leaned backwards for support. "I don't know what he saw in me, but he was driven forward. It might have been by lust or by power, but he never made his intentions very vocal. I understood the look in his eyes, but all he ever told me was he has uses for me. He needed me--wanted me, and me alone."

"Wait wait," Leon interrupted. "I heard a rumor your deal involved Hercules."

"That was the first. Hades wanted a deal between us involving Hercules, and a contract involving me."

Leon wanted to know more than ever. "What did you get out of the contract?"

When Cloud laughed again it was real, hinted with irony. "Sora told me Riku was the one who had my soul removed in order to prevent Ansem being able to use me. Similarly I took my own drastic measures, and Riku's were not needed." Cloud turned slowly and leaned forward to press his ear over Leon's chest. "Hades got me, if he gave me his Godly powers for one task. A private task that I would not divulge to him, and one that would have no restrictions so long as his powers allowed it."

The heart beneath his ear beat rhythmically, and strongly. Cloud smiled at the steady beat. "You want to know what I did with those powers, right?" Leon nodded. "I removed my heart."

Leon choked.

"And I gave it to you."

The brunet landed backwards, on the grass with a dazed expression. "You did what?"

"It was my safety net. If I gave my heart to you and Ansem was to acquire my body he wouldn't be able to use me. He couldn't take my heart, because it wouldn't exist in my body. I hid my heart in the one place I knew it would be safe. In the one person I knew I could trust. You. I gave you what made my heart so powerful and so withstanding" Cloud raised an eyebrow. "And then Riku became entirely too involved. I hadn't divulged my heart swapping secret to anyone, and he believed I was still available to Ansem. He took his own safety precautions and removed my soul. Without a soul or heart my body didn't stand a chance. Without one I could prolong death, but without either I was marked."

"So when I say you have my heart," He began.

"You mean I literally do," Leon finished. He sat, astounded at the information he had just been given. "So you've been running all this time. From the heartless, from Maleficent. Ansem, Riku and Hades. Everyone."

"Especially Hades," Cloud pointed out. "We had a contract, written nearly in blood. I belong to him and he won't stop chasing me until the end."

Leon shook in amazement. "Your heart and my soul."

Suddenly Leon remembered that conversation they had so long ago. Back when Cloud had come to the Town for the first time. Cloud had told him right out that his heart belonged to another, then quite literally, only Leon hadn't realized it. Cloud had dropped hints along the way that Leon was the holder but he hadn't paid attention.

Cloud confirmed. "We're connected. We're meant to be. You're hiding my heart inside of yours, and you've given me half your soul. We have pieces of each other deep within us."

Slowly Leon began to laugh. His body shook and he found it difficult to breath. He threw himself backwards on the grass to lay fully down. His laugh was deep and rich, his arms open and inviting. Cloud found himself burrowed in them moments later. "I can deal with it," He told Cloud with a genuine smile. "We're rather complicated, don't you think?"

"Just wait," Cloud pressed himself into Leon's side. "If you think this is complicated, you just wait." His words were a clear indication he knew something more than what he had shared, but Leon felt this wasn't the time to push for anything else. He had Cloud in his arms and in his heart, and that was enough for the moment.

"So, how're we going to get out of here?"

Cloud shrugged. "I'm sure an opportunity will present itself soon." Then he paused and frowned. His eyes slid shut and he clung to Leon. "Don't let me go," He begged. "In the end--at the end of it all, don't let me go. Just hold onto me, until the very end."

Leon turned frightened eyes on the sky line, but still promised.

He was ready to leave. Yes, Sora was done floating, and done thinking and done feeling sorry for himself. He had spent what felt like years going over his conversation with Cloud.

It had taken a while, but he had gotten himself in check.

It had been his frustration talking to Cloud earlier. It had been his stupidity arguing with his friend. And now he wanted the hell out of the black void.

He was going to get his Keyblade back. He was going to get Cloud's soul back and then he was going to kick some butt. No more playing around and no more Mr. Nice Guy. He was going to train, master the Keyblade and go after Maleficent, and then Ansem if necessary. If Riku stood in his way then so be it. He'd take Riku out if there wasn't any other way. Not to say he didn't love Riku, but it was a deadline of sorts. It was time for him to grow a backbone. It was time for him to grow up.

Now that he had his priorities in order, he really had to figure how to get out. Cloud had somehow managed. Cloud had simply disappeared. Sora wasn't completely sure if his friend had passed away, or if he had woken up, but Sora knew he wasn't there any longer.

Above all else he was tired, and he just wanted to go home. He promised himself a long bath and a long nap after he finished with the heartless. And he was assuring himself strongly he would win. With Leon by his side, and Goofey and Donald, Ansem didn't stand a chance.

He wanted his damned Keyblade.

He wanted out.

He hit the ground--hard.

Leon groaned as he worked the sharp pain out of his neck and the back of his head. Apparently when he had collapsed in Merlin's hut the floor had been anything but kind to him. The girls had tried to move him, and had only successfully dropped him back on his head. So now he was recovering with an ice pack and a soothing hand.

Next to him Cloud was pressed against the headboard of the bed with the blanket drawn tightly against and around his body. In his shaking hands he held a cup of warm tea.

Leon worried for him. Towards the end of their stay on the hill Cloud had become withdrawn. He seemed terrified of something, and in return Leon felt his chest become painfully tight. The blond obviously knew something, and while Leon hadn't wanted to know before, now he had a craving for the information. He wanted to know what was upsetting Cloud so much.

"You guys are leaving soon?" Yuffie asked, giving the men their desired distance. She was still unsure about the both of them, and was very much confused over the past hour.

It had been an hour, Aerith had confirmed, since Leon had promptly fainted. An hour where both men had literally died. Neither had been breathing, and neither certainly had heartbeats. She and Aerith had wept over their bodies until mysteriously, an hour after their deaths both had awoken at exactly the same time. It had been truly frightening. And Yuffie still hadn't been able to gain an explanation of what had happened from either man.

"Yes." Leon nursed his head in an attempt to sooth his headache. "Cloud and I need to get as far away as possible. This town is no longer safe without Merlin here, and we will be pursued. We would endanger the town by staying." Leon ventured a look to Cloud and frowned at the withdrawn man. "Can you girls give us a couple minutes alone?"

Yuffie nodded almost immediately in understanding, but Aerith seemed hesitant to leave them again, for what reason Leon didn't have the patience to determine. Finally Aerith departed with Yuffie and the men were left alone, the Godmother having seemingly disappeared earlier.

"I don't want you to come with me," Cloud told Leon in a very hushed voice.

"Don't be a stupid, I won't let you go without me." Leon moved the ice pack around, trying to numb a new part of his neck. "Don't even try and pull that self-sacrificing crap on me. What went on wherever we were was the real thing. What I feel for you, and what I know you feel for me is more than real. We're nothing without each other. The sooner you understand that, the better."

Cloud held a steady gaze on him for a while before taking a sip from his hot tea and nodding. "I just want you to understand--" He swallowed hard. "Hades will do terrible things to both of us if he ever catches up. He'll make you regret being born. He'll surely be coming, and we can't outrun him forever. I can't beat him, and you can't beat a God, either."

Leon held up a finger. "I have a theory on this."

Cloud was all ears.

"Ansem, Maleficent and the Gods are all connected in a symbiotic circle of sorts. If one of them falters the others are sure to go in due time. Hades normally isn't half as powerful as he is right now, and that's because he's feeding off the heartless and Maleficent. When Sora defeats her Hades' powers will drop of significantly, making it possible for Hercules to take him out."

"Wait!" Cloud shot forward, interrupting. "Hades mentioned something like that while we were drawing up the contract. He has a habit of talking to himself, and I've found it best to let those like him speak their mind. He's fully aware of the power Sora has. He's confident Sora is going to take out Maleficent sometime in the near future, and he said I would prevent him losing his power."

"That's his angle."

Cloud didn't want to think of how Hades would go about that process. He had obviously misjudged how far Hades was willing to go to secure his power. He hadn't seen this coming, and he had almost been taken advantage of.

"We have to go far away. If we're going to attempt to outrun a God and out time Ansem we're going to have to go far away."

"I know a place." Leon removed the ice pack from the back of his head. "What about getting your soul back?"

Cloud offered his tea to Leon, which the man gratefully accepted. "For the time being I see no danger for either us in sharing a soul. This, while rare, has been happening for nearly a millennia. Your soul would not have split if it were not able to accommodate the both of us. However I understand how imposed upon you are feeling, as your secrets have been thrust into my own mind. My own soul cannot exist without a body forever, but it will be sustained for the time being. So long as Ansem does not fall into possession of it we should be able to reverse this whole process."

"And what if? What if Ansem gets your soul without your body or heart?"

"That is when we should probably worry." His eyes felt to his blade resting against the footboard of the bed. He had longed for the sword and was happy to see it back in his possession. "My soul will never be enough for him to take form in this world, but it will give him enough power to break out of his dark prison. He will be able to possess another, and he certainly will know where to find me."

"This just gets worse and worse."

"Not so," The blond said, hiding a small grin. "My soul is safe for the moment."

Leon raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that? It's just floating around, ready to be devoured by a maniac."

"It isn't just floating around. It's perfectly safe and perfectly protected. I was worried for a moment but I have faith in Sora, and I know he won't let the void swallow him or my soul."

Climbing to his feet Leon handed Cloud his tea back and frowned. "You've managed to confuse me again." Cloud shrugged as if to say 'I can't help that'. Then he decided to help the brunet.

"Riku stole my soul, and Sora came into possession of it. When we met in the void he told me he had lost it, but that really isn't possible. If he had it with him before the void, he had it with him in. I have a strong hunch my soul is hiding inside his body, waiting for me. It is naturally drawn to power and those who wield power for the light side." Cloud shrugged again. "That would account for how Riku was able to hold onto my soul without destroying it. Light and Dark mix and he was once the primary Keyblade master."

"You've got pieces of yourself all over the place."

Cloud nodded. "Yes, but they're all in people I love and people I trust. They will keep me safe, at least until I'm able to keep myself safe."

Leon settled his hands on either side of Cloud's face and he smiled gently. "I love you." He leaned forward and pressed a kiss onto the top of Cloud's head. "I will always love you." Leon leaned forward onto the bed to wrap his arms around Cloud's slender form. The bed creaked over the added weight but Leon paid the sound no mind and only drew his love deeper into his embrace.

Cloud bit down on his lip and allowed Leon to encase him. Leon would need this comfort if he hoped to survive the coming war. Leon needed it to regain his strength.

How did one outsmart destiny? Cloud wasn't exactly sure, but he was taking all available steps to prevent the coming. Sending his heart away and losing his soul had all been defiance of destiny, he was sure, but defiance intended he wasn't so sure. Whether he was changing his fate or not, he certainly wasn't making anything easy. He wouldn't leave the man he loved until the very end, and even then he'd go fighting. He'd go in the end, but it would be a fight, no matter what. He owed it to Squall to fight.

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