In case you were wondering; yes, there were two chapter uploaded at once. The going up was too long for one chapter, so I split it into two. So, if you've skipped straight to this chapter it'd be best if you went back and read the previous one.

Chapter 12 (Part B)

Leon was tired. He shouldn't be, he'd slept for long enough, but he felt more tired now than ever. The cloud in his mind was thicker, hiding away so many things that seemed so unimportant. Breathing was harder, as if a great weight prevented his lungs expanding properly. A chill ran through his body as a breeze kissed his skin, and he felt a bead of sweat run down the side of his face. He was not well, and yet he couldn't find it in himself to particularly care.

His eyes slid open and he was greeted by grass, lots of grass, not to mention a few flowers. Turning his head, he looked up to the sky above. Stars winked through a broken glass roof, and he realised that something was odd about this, but he didn't motivate himself to work out what.

"You're awake again. You're a pretty poor knight if you keep falling asleep."

Leon blinked and looked down at his chest, to where his wife rested her head against his shoulder, her hand resting against his own. The first thing that his mind registered was that this was probably the source of his breathing difficulty. The second was that his right glove had been removed.

Rinoa's attention remained fixed on his hand, her thumb making small movements and even his foggy mind only took a second, well, maybe two, to realise what her thumb ran along; his wedding ring.

"You hid it away." Rinoa's voice was soft, more like her old self then he'd heard for a long time. "Was I a bad sorceress, a bad wife?"

Leon shook his head. "No…I…me…bad." Other words should have gone into the sentence, but the words slipped away from his mind, leaving him with only a few key words.

"Are you ashamed of me?" Her tone took on a sharp edge.

Again he shook his head. "No…I…." He trailed off, giving up, not sure if it was really worth the energy; he was just too tired. He closed his eyes again.

He felt the pressure on his chest lessen slightly, but breathing was still so difficult. He vaguely heard the faint clink as the two wedding rings clashed. Rinoa's fingers intertwined with his own.

"I'm wearing mine. It's not on the chain any more. A pair again. Husband and wife. Sorceress and Knight."

The words washed over him, half lost. He just wanted to go slip back into sleep, even if it meant not waking up again.

(&)

The echoes were growing increasingly vivid, remaining in place for longer the few seconds, individual situations triumphing over others for minutes at a time, a different moment in every room they passed. The sounds drifted into the hallway where they were drowned out by other fragments they encountered. The faces were clear, Cloud even recognised a few of them, and he could tell the echoes apart now.

They varied from moments of the fall of Radiant Garden, when the passageway was filled with corpses, their sightless eyes staring up at the ceiling, to moments that he was sure took place long before his birth. Every now and then a stray 'person' would cross their path. Cloud vividly remembered the image of a young girl, clutching a doll. What disturbed him was that, unlike the other echoes, the girl didn't seem to look through him, but at him. Then she looked round, as if she'd been called, and faded back to her own time.

The echoes weren't always replayed where they originally took place – or that was Cloud's guess. He wasn't an expert, but he was pretty sure that important meetings were rarely held in the hallways with people half in and half out of the walls. He also doubted that parties were held in the broom closets, at least not the kind with bands.

Most were just everyday activities, through every now and then they'd come across something that was disturbing, interesting, amusing, or, judging from the colour Tifa had just turned, embarrassing.

Tifa extracted her head from a doorway, quickly closing the door behind her, her face an interesting shade of red. "I wouldn't go in there."

Irvine grinned, raising an eyebrow.

Cloud glanced back at Aerith; the flower girl still looked pale. A couple of floors back they had passed an abandoned bedroom. Something inside must have caught her eye and she looked inside briefly before slamming the door, blood drained from her face. She didn't say what she had seen.

"How many floors do we have left?" Tifa's face still sported a red tinge, much to Irvine's apparent amusement.

"I'd say about three floors. What did yer think Quisty?"

"Two floors," she corrected, and turned back to those behind her. "Is everyone alright?"

Cloud gave a curt nod, mirrored by a hesitant one from Aerith and a 'sure' from Tifa. A couple of 'people echoes' passed them by, allowing Cloud to catch a hint of their conversation.

…Well I think it's romantic. If she wants him, then let her.

It's not a Radiant Garden sweetest couple competition...

Quistis didn't seem convinced by Aerith's nod, but turned back anyway. "We should be at the top soon," she threw back as an encouragement. So they moved on in silence, passing open doorways while catching snippets of conversations.

Guess what! I'm gonna be adopted!

Aerith paused at a crossroad, eyes routed down the side passage. Shifting to see her face, Cloud could see her eyes go round, a soft smile spreading across her face. He followed her line of sight. Before them were two women, one he had no memory of but he was surprised to see that he knew the other very well.

"Matron?" Tifa's voiced caused Irvine and Quistis to stop and retrace their steps. Cloud watched as Aerith walked towards the women, her eyes far away. He'd never seen her like this before, but then for her this wasn't Matron, this was her mother.

She was a lot younger then he remembered – obviously this was before Aerith's birth – and she was beautiful. He remembered that she was, but he'd always suspected that his mind had forgotten her flaws, and enhanced her assets. She stood talking to her friend, who held a small bundle in her arms, both of their expressions serious. Quistis brushed past him, following the flower girl, and Cloud trailed behind her. As they drew closer, the women's faces split into a smile and they relaxed into an easy conversation.

Matron looked down at the bundle and it didn't take long for Cloud to realise that it was a baby.

…proud father then? Aerith's mother said while her real life daughter stood beside her, leaning in to get a closer look at her long dead mother.

I can barely keep him away. He's always hovering or playing, always with that ridiculous grin on his face Despite the other woman's words, there was no force behind them I think he'd take him to work if I let him

Aerith's smile widened and she giggled, looking up at Quistis.

That doesn't surprise me

"Took the words out of my mouth," Quistis muttered, both her and Aerith looked down at the baby, while the echo's conversation continued on about the overly proud father.

After a moment Aerith spoke again. "He was a cute baby."

Quistis nodded and Aerith straightened, looking back to her mother. Quistis reached out to her. "We need to go."

Aerith nodded, but before she left, she leaned forward, her lips brushing through the echo-mother's cheek. "Goodbye mother."

Cloud turned to see Irvine behind him, the cowboy's own eyes rooted to 'Matron', nostalgia shining through, and Cloud passed him by.

When he reached the crossroad again, he caught a glimpse of something through an open doorway. He hesitated before taking a closer look; it was hard to resist curiosity. The room held a boy and a girl, younger then Sora was, and it took a second to realise that the boy was Squall, which must mean that the girl was Rinoa.

Squall stood before Rinoa, who sat on the ground looking up at him. Squall extended his hand and Rinoa's eyes went wide at something Squall had said, before a smile split her face. Her hand settled in Squall's, and the two disappeared. Cloud took a step away from the door and heard the others reach the crossway. It was a little snippet, a small gesture, but Cloud could not help but feel as if he'd seen a very significant moment in their lives.

(&)

Kairi's feet touched the ground on the other side of the final block. She glanced around, echoes running down the large hallway and out of sight. At least these seemed innocent enough. She wiped her hands on her dress, remembering the 'blood incident'.

She pushed that thought away and her eyes finally settled on the far end of the corridor. Up those stairs and through that door was the Sorceress, or so they thought anyway. With no more than a wooden, half broken door between them and a keyblade to protect her, she wasn't really sure she wanted the woman to be on the other side. Of course she did, Kairi scolded herself. Otherwise, what was the point in crawling all the way up here? Everything would have been for nothing. Besides, the sooner they found her, the sooner this would all be over. Still, didn't stop her from feeling more than a little jumpy.

Opening the panel she slipped in the card for the final time and punched in the code. Something moved to her right and her head snapped to the side. There, a little red-haired girl sat, swinging her legs in mid-air. She assumed that in the girl's own time, she was sitting on a table or a high chair, but it hadn't appeared with the girl, unlike the small blue ball she was throwing at a non-existent wall. It was quite a strange image; a young child, sitting on nothing while throwing a ball at thin air, to have it hit nothing before bouncing back at her, all the while humming a happy tune to herself. But it wasn't quite as strange as the knowledge that she wasn't looking at any young girl, she was looking at herself.

The rhythm of the ball was interrupted when it hit the 'wall' oddly and bounced off in a completely different direction. Echo-Kairi leapt off her seat and ran after it as fast as her little legs could carry her. She was so absorbed in the ball that she didn't notice a man appear in her path until she dashed straight into his legs. She fell backwards onto her backside. The older man, seeing the girl, kneeled down to offer her a hand. He had long dark hair, tied back from his kind face.

Sorry, young lady; didn't see you there. You alright?

'Kairi' nodded and sprung back up, peering round the man, her face falling slightly.

Were you looking for this? He held up the bright blue ball to her, causing her to beam back up at him. She took the ball from him with an enthusiastic thank you.

You're welcome princess, but I think your grandmother is looking for you in the library.

Little Kairi nodded before running down the hallway and through a wall. The man watched her from a moment before straightening and turning back the other way. Rinoa – there you are!

Kairi's heart skipped a beat and she spun around, keyblade appearing in her hand, before she remembered that it would be an echo, not the real sorceress. She relaxed slightly, and the keyblade vanished again.

'Rinoa' walked towards the 'man', looking much she had on Destiny Island, though maybe a little younger. She paid Kairi no attention, and she allowed herself to relax completely.

The long haired man continued. You had us all worried.

I'm sorry.

Kairi's eyes drifted past her to a boy following in Rinoa's wake. He looked familiar. Whoever it was, he was attractive. As she took in his clothing realisation hit her and her jaw nearly dropped; it was Leon, or Squall, whatever name she should refer to him by.

She giggled; he was different, not unrecognisably so, but still very different. The scar was missing from his face and, combined with his features being softer in his young teenage years, it gave him a fresh look. The most noticeable difference was his stature. She didn't know Leon well at all, but somehow she'd assumed that he'd always been a muscular person. The echo in front of her now, however, was a mere slip of his adult self. He was leaner, more toned, and clearly lacked the additional years of wielding a gunblade that the Leon she had met had acquired. But then, if he was wielding the weapon at this point, she had no doubt he was a lot stronger then he looked. However, the Squall in front of her was more to her personal tastes; when compared to himself in the future, he looked almost… cute, but the age gap may have helped more than a little in this regard.

No worries, but you should get back to Merlin before he blows up the castle trying to find you.

Rinoa grinned Yes sir but before running off she turned back round to her friend, Thank you Squall.

The boy's lips twitched. You're welcome and he watched the girl go, something mixed in with the seriousness in his eyes.

So, the older echo began, You found Rinoa.

The boy turned to him, Obviously

The man's smiled widened at the answer and Kairi noted the familiarity between the two of them, an ease that hinted that they knew each other very well.

Genesis is still looking for her in the library, of course, he may just have got distracted along the way. He's probably standing there reciting scenes from-

Is this going anywhere?

Of course; my point is that you found out she was missing an hour ago and you've already brought her back.

The boy shrugged a shoulder. It wasn't difficult

The older man was now grinning so widely that Kairi was surprised that it didn't split his face in half. But you were the only one who could find her. Everyone else is still looking.

There was a moment of silence in which Squall simply gave another half-shrug. He looked up at the other man, his attitude suddenly becoming very suspicious. What are you scheming? His words lacked any malice or real annoyance.

The man's eyes widened with 'innocence'. Me? Scheming?

"That's Leon isn't it?" Kairi jumped a foot into the air, and whipped round to see Sora smiling apologetically.

"Who's the other man?"

Kairi looked back at the man as they echo continued to play out.

I don't scheme.

"Don't know."

Sora turned to Yuffie who shrugged and stepped past them. "Come on, the entrance hall for the ballroom is just down this corridor. We'll wait for the others there." She quickly made her way forward, more eager to help her friend then watching random snippets of the past. Sora quickly followed. Kairi gave one final look back at the two men, who were now walking away.

That's not scheming, that's planning.

She turned and followed her childhood friend, missing how the echo changed. How the man fell lifeless to the ground, blood pooling round him, and how Squall, older now, sat wide eyed and staring at the corpse, one small word tumbling from his lips.

End of Chapter 11

Traaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaumatised Sora! :grin: Well, we only have a couple of chapters left now, not long to go at all.

By the way, I would love feedback on this chapter(s) from all you guys because there was a lot of stuff in this chapter that was kinda new ground for me and was quite tricky to get right. I'd love to know what worked and what didn't, to know if this was just boring to you guys or not.