Chapter 13

"I gave Cloud a heart attack. I gave Cloud a heart attack."

Aerith sighed. "No you didn't, Leon."

"Well you could've fooled me!" the brunet exclaimed, shooting her a glare, before slumping down in his seat and sighing. "I never wanted to wait in a hospital room again."

"I still can't believe Cloud never told you about his heart problem," Christine stated, crossing her arms and scowling. "That boy's getting a talking to."

Daniel sighed and grabbed one of her hands. "Honey…"

"Well, he is!"

"How is that supposed to come up in a conversation, though?" Sora asked innocently. "'Oh, by the way, Squall, I have tacky cards.'"

"Tachycardias," Roxas hissed, elbowing him in the side. "This is no time for jokes!"

The brunet scowled. "Well sorry if I don't get the whole name memorized immediately, Mr. 'I can memorize anything as soon as I hear it!'"

"Boys," Laguna cut in sharply, giving them both a glare. "This is not the time, nor is it the place."

All three Leonhart boys sighed and sunk in their seats. If Laguna was being serious, things must be bad.

"It's really not that serious," Daniel sighed, running a hand through his outrageously spiky hair (and people wondered where Cloud got it from?). "He's got the most common and least life-threatening type of tachycardias. It's called atrial fibrillation, or AF, and it's usually asymptomatic; his episodes are paroxysmal. It was probably just the excitement and stress of graduation. The usual that happens is fainting; he doesn't get chest pains that often."

Laguna, Sora, and Roxas blinked at him for a moment before looking at Leon. The teen sighed. "It means he's got it all the time, but it rarely shows symptoms, and when it does, they usually terminate themselves within seven days. Apparently excitement and stress can cause him to faint or have chest pains."

"…Seriously, how would that come up in conversation?" Sora asked again.

Aerith sighed as well. "I'm not sure how you could bring that up in normal conversation, but he could have at least said something about it to you all." She patted Leon on the hand comfortingly. "I mean, Leon almost had a heart attack himself when I asked Tifa to call an ambulance, and I'm sure Sora and Roxas had a couple of their own from Laguna's driving, after all."

"Yeah, Dad! You tell Leon to take it easy and be all calm on the road, and then you tear ass down the street! You're the one who taught him!" Roxas exclaimed, scowling at their beloved father.

Laguna scowled. "Leon was worried about Cloud!"

"You almost took out that old man trying to cross the road!" Sora argued, scowling as well.

The man growled in frustration, then looked at his eldest son for help. "Leon?"

"Don't look at me, Dad; you almost took out that old man. …I think it was Merlin," Leon added under his breath, sinking down in his seat.

Sora and Roxas heard him, though, and were horrified. "Dad almost ran down Merlin?!"

"That's horrible!"

"And after all he's done for us, too!"

"I can't believe Dad would be that careless!"

Laguna groaned and rested his head in his hands, as the Strife parents laughed good-naturedly. "I just can't win."

Any further speculations of the man's failure to win anything in an argument with his children was brought to a halt as a nurse came into the waiting room, smiling. "He can take visitors now."

Leon watched as Christine and Daniel went into their son's room, quickly followed by Aerith, Sora, and Roxas (though the twins may have been going in to scold him for scaring them), then sighed and looked down at the floor, resting his elbows on his knees. His father sat next to him, arms crossed, and sighed as well, slouching in his seat. They sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the hospital as it ran like it should.

But that couldn't last forever.

"I'd think you'd be the first one in there, Squall."

The teen sighed again, then looked up at his father, frowning. "Why didn't he tell me? I mean, Sora's right—it's not something that would come up in normal conversation—but you'd think that he'd find some way to tell me, right? I mean, I told him about my scar, and… and he didn't trust me with that? It's not even a secret! Apparently everyone knew but Sora, Roxas, and me!"

"I'm sure Yuffie, Paine, and Rikku didn't know," Laguna murmured, only earning himself a glare in return.

"You're missing the point, Dad. I told him something intimate about me—forgave him when he got mad at me—and he didn't trust me to know something that could be life-threatening. I mean—"

"Your mother didn't tell me that there was a good chance she'd die if she had the twins," the man cut in, stunning his son into silence. "She knew; the doctors told me she knew. She knew that if she told me, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I wouldn't ask her to abort them, because we both don't believe in that, and by then it was too late anyway. But I wouldn't have wanted her to die, either. So she kept it to herself, and… I'm sort of glad she did.

"It would have caused us both much more stress and could have cost us the twins." He managed a sad smile. "She lived long enough to name them. I'm not sorry I didn't know, and I know she wasn't sorry she didn't tell me. She was always such a sweet thing, taking care of others before herself. Kind of like you."

Leon frowned, crossing his arms as well, before he stood and began walking away, though not in the direction of Cloud's room. "I'm… going to go see Mom," he stated softly, hesitating in his steps. "…If Cloud asks where I am, tell him… Tell him I just had to go think."

"…And?" Laguna asked, raising an eyebrow. "What you said to him after graduation, that you wanted to marry him? Do you still mean that?"

"…I…" The brunet hesitated before nodding slightly. "Yes. I think so." He waited another moment in thought before adding, "Tell him that I'll marry him on my twentieth birthday, in the Kisaragis' garden, if he'll have me."

The man laughed. "You know he'll have you, Squall. He's like a lovesick puppy." He raised an eyebrow. "Just what are you planning, you little scamp?"

Leon smiled sweetly. "I'm depending on you to make him feel badly that he didn't tell me about his 'tacky cards,'" he stated, then began walking again.

-x-x-x-

"OW!" Cloud winced and rubbed his upper arm, looking up at his mother with a wounded expression. "What was that for?!"

"Why didn't Squall know about your AF?" Christine asked icily, placing her fists on her hips. "He thought he gave you a heart attack! You tell me why he didn't know right now or so help me I'll toss you out of bed and give you a spanking you'll never forget!"

"Mom!" The blond blushed brightly. "It never came up! How was I supposed to wiggle that into a conversation, huh? 'Oh, by the way, Leon: I have tachycardias!'"

Daniel frowned and crossed his arms. "I'm sure you could have found a way to mention it to him."

"Yeah, well, it doesn't happen often, so I figured it wouldn't be a problem. …Ever," Cloud replied, feeling more stupid with every word he said.

Aerith gave him a look so exasperated he actually wanted to slam his head into the wall. "He thought he gave you a heart attack when he told you that he wanted to marry you, Cloud."

The blond looked horrified. "What?! But— The stress, I—"

"…Where is Leon?" Sora asked, looking around the room in confusion.

Roxas sighed. "Don't tell me he's still out in the hall having an angst-fest."

"Actually, he went to go visit his mother," Laguna stated, walking into the room and resting a hand on each twin's shoulders. "But we should be going; we promised Merlin we'd be at his house for dinner. Squall shouldn't be long."

"But… he didn't want to see me?" Cloud asked, feeling a bit hurt that his boyfriend had come to see him.

The man raised an eyebrow. "He had to go clear his head, think a bit." He turned to steer his younger boys out of the room. "But he did say that he'd still marry you on his twentieth birthday in the Kisaragis' garden if you'll still have him."

"If I'll still have him?!" the blond repeated, looking appalled that him not having him was even a decision.

"As if Cloud would ever not have him," Sora mumbled, then allowed himself to be steered out of the room.

Roxas stayed back just long enough to exclaim, "You better tell him anything else that may hurt him later while he's feeling nice enough to forgive you!"

"Out!" Laguna barked, and the two boys hurried to follow his orders.

-x-x-x-

"I thought I'd find you here!"

Leon winced slightly, then turned, appearing like a kicked puppy. "Ah… Hey, Yuffie…"

The 'ninja' smiled at him brightly and bounced up beside him, ignoring the appalled glances she was getting from other visitors to the graveyard. "So you're visiting your mom?"

"It appears that way, doesn't it?" he replied, face slowly fading into a small smile. "I was just telling her about graduation, and about all of our plans."

"Like how you're going to marry Cloud and make a bunch of beautiful babies?!"

The older teen blinked at her for a moment. "…I don't know about the 'beautiful babies' part. But yeah, I was telling her about marrying Cloud, college plans, the Book Bin."

Yuffie waltzed over to him and made herself comfortable on his lap. "Hey, ya know what you should do after you get your degree?"

"What's that?" Leon asked, leaning his chin on her shoulder to look at his mother's headstone.

"Well, you're going to have all of that free time, so I figured you could write a book!"

The brunet blinked for a few seconds, mulling over the suggestion, before smiling again. "And what would that book be about, Yuffie?"

Yuffie jumped to her feet and, pacing, began outlining the story. "It would be about the Great Ninja Yuffie and her sidekick Squall going out into the world and kicking monster butt!" she cried, pumping her fist into the air. "Picture this! The world is dark and covered with evil monsters and ghosties and the people need help! So who better to save them then the Great Ninja Yuffie?! She has to go along using her ninja powers to purify the churches in each providence, providing guiding light and hope to the people of the land and banishing evil beasties for good!"

Leon sighed and rested his chin in his hand, raising an eyebrow in amusement at his best friend's excitement. "Oh dear."

"Yes!" she exclaimed, spinning toward him and pointing at him enthusiastically. "And during the beginning of her travels she meets the adorable lion-boy Squall! But no—she doesn't just meet him! She saves him from evil pervert rapists!"

"…I don't like the way this is going."

"Yeah, yeah! And so he pledges his allegiance to her and joins her on his travels, and he has these awesome claws that come from his fingernails, like Lady Deathstrike from X-men! So then they go around purifying and cleansing, and then they meet this pervert wolf-man who decides he's smitten with Squall and kidnaps him to make him his mate, even if he has to rape him!"

"Um…" The brunet glanced around at the disapproving glares they were being given, then grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the cemetery. "Why don't you finish telling me while we walk to Merlin's?"

"Yeah, and we'll call the wolf-man Cloud!"

Leon let out an indignant squawk. "That is not how he acts at all!"

-x-x-x-

Sora and Roxas blinked for a few moments, as if not sure what to make of things, before the brunet scowled and crossed his arms. "No good can come of this."

"Leon and Yuffie conspiring is never good," Roxas agreed, nodding. "Especially when Yuffie looks that happy and Leon looks that enlightened."

"It's like when they planned our surprise birthday party all over again!" Sora exclaimed in horror, then quickly moved to vacate the room. "Run away, run away!"

Laguna raised an eyebrow, frowning. "Um…?"

"I concur! Escape! Every man for himself!" the blond Leonhart added, only a step behind his older twin.

"…Hmm…" He looked toward where his son and his friend were speaking to each other in hushed tones, then walked over to them. "What are you two plotting?"

Leon looked up at him innocently (almost too innocently…). "Plotting? What would we be plotting?" He looked at Yuffie, frowning. "Are we plotting anything, Yuffie?"

"Of course not!" The ninja looked appalled that he would suggest such a thing. "Why would we plot anything without involving Zack or Rikku?"

"…I don't like the way this conversation is going," Laguna stated, then turned to escape the room as well. "Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes."

"Ah… Dad?" The brunet grimaced. "What did Merlin make?"

Laguna frowned. "It… looked like some sort of soup. He said it was a recipe he picked up in Traverse Town."

"Ew! Don't they put like this nasty smelling fish into their soups?!" Yuffie asked, nose wrinkling in disgust. "And that gross smelling cheese? It's like, the world's nastiest smelling soup!?"

"…I may have seen a fish head, yes," he answered, nodding. Both newly graduated teens groaned loudly. The man scowled. "Oh, come on. Some of his nasty looking dishes actually tasted good!"

"Dad! I have never heard of any soup that you would put cheese in!" Leon exclaimed, frowning.

"…You can feed it to Shiva if you really don't like it."