Before we begin I'd just like to apologize for taking so long to get this up. But hey – it's up! Just know that reviews prompt me to write, and writing prompts me to update! So, without further ado, please enjoy a healthy helping of Leon, and to all of you I wish a very late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
-T-M-
Sora had barely taken ten steps away from the collapse site before he realized that not only did he not know how to navigate the maze, but he had no idea how to get back to the residential area. A lot could be said about being unprepared. There Sora was, an idling fish in an area infested with high-level heartless with nothing but an standard mechanic emergency tool kit and his inferior skills with a keyblade.
The door was a strange temptation he didn't expect. No matter what he did it refused to open. Not for lack of trying. The handle didn't turn and the hinges were on the opposite side. Even ramming it with his shoulder had no effect. All that got him was a screaming joint and what could quite possibly become the largest bruise he'd ever get. But most curious of all, any spell the boy attempted to cast bounced right off. The first – fire – had sent him scrambling to get out of the way, and the blizzard to follow had the same effect. The only thing he could be sure of was that whatever the door was hiding had to be important.
After an hour of trying to break it down, Sora admitted that the door wasn't an option and turned his eyes to the wide hole in the ceiling. It seemed his best bet, seeing as he wouldn't be able to avoid the heartless in the maze on his own. But his tool kit wouldn't be able to get him ten feet in the air. Nor could his keyblade. A boy could only jump so high.
Riku can jump that high, he thought to himself, feeling envy begin to well up as it always did in the worst kinds of situations. In fact, he wouldn't need a secondary exit at all. He could just beat back the heartless and be done with it.
Pushing aside the nervous nausea budding in his stomach, Sora tried to keep his mind on the task at hand. That was when he realized he had a pile of rubble at his disposal. Most of which was comprised of metal scraps.
It took all of ten minutes to drag the longest pieces from the wreckage, along with the makeshift metal frame he'd used to keep Lea safe. Figuring a ladder would take too much time, Sora began to pile them together and weld them into place with a few sparse fire spells. (He was glad he'd packed welding wire in his kit.) One hour later it began to roughly resemble a staircase. It was then that Sora cooled it with a weak blizzard spell that took up the last of his mana, whispering a quiet prayer under his breath to whatever God may or may not be listening. The metal warped under the pressure, rippling inward as it stabilized. He stared at his work for a few short seconds – four feet of steel steps made from the beams of the castle – before setting a cautious foot atop the bottom-most step. It held. The second one didn't.
Catching himself with his hands, Sora tried not to scream as a jagged section of metal dragged along his leg. He'd cooled it too quickly – or he hadn't heated it slowly enough. Either way, there was no promise that the rest of the makeshift staircase would hold his weight. But without any other alternatives, Sora carefully extracted the limb and forged on. The fifth step would have given out as well, but before it could snap Sora managed to shift his weight to the next stair.
Thankfully the rest of the structure held. And as Sora reached toward the ceiling, which was now only inches away, he bit back a wince. His shoulder was fighting him. It shouldn't have surprised the mechanic seeing as he'd been ramming it into the door earlier, but the boy couldn't help but wonder why it was complaining as much as it was. Rolling the joint twice experimentally, Sora reached for the edge of the hole in the ceiling, hoping it wouldn't give out while he was lifting himself up. His shoulder complained again, but he ignored it. Taking hold of the edge, Sora lifted himself up on his toes before jumping, swinging his uninjured leg up over the side and bringing himself into what he could assume was a library.
Bookshelves towered over his crumpled form, filled to the brim with what he could only guess to be hundreds of thousands of books. They were all old, leather-bound pieces. Lilo would like this, he thought to himself. It was a silly thought. One that put him in a light haze for a bit. He hadn't thought about Lilo since he'd left.
A light beeping noise filled the room, and Sora glanced down at his pant-leg in surprise. Reaching into the wide pocket at his knee, careful not to move his thigh too much, he pulled out his pocket transponder and flipped it open.
1 new message.
The boy laughed, then hit the symbol for Alpha. But it wasn't Lilo or Riku staring at him through the screen; it was Cid.
"Testing, one, two," the man drawled.
"Is it recording?" Lilo asked, coming into the shot beside him.
Cid scoffed. "The light's on, ain't it?"
"Hey – you said you guys would wait!" Kairi called from somewhere in the background. She slid into screen with a big grin. "Hi, Sora!"
Riku settled in beside her, offering not even the weakest of waves. His expression was blank, but it was obvious that he was not happy with Sora. Suddenly his decision to forgo a goodbye didn't seem too great.
"You better be alive, you hear? If you've gotten y'rself skewered out there I'm removing you from the honors list!"
"Guys – we've already gotten off topic!" Lilo complained.
"Oh, right..." Kairi nudged Riku and mouthed, "Stop frowning."
Lilo grinned, waving someone off camera over. "3, 2, 1..."
Kida stepped into frame and laced her fingers with her girlfriend's just as everyone shouted, "Merry Christmas!"
It had completely slipped his mind.
"We're hoping you reach this in time," Kairi announced with a big grin. "We figure the transfer time is sixty hours, so we're doing this two days in advance. But since we don't know the time zone for Radiant Garden–"
"Radiant Garden? He's on Hollow Bastion," Lilo commented.
Kairi looked physically uneasy as Cid fixed her with a curious look. "Right – Hollow Bastion. Sorry. Anyway, we don't know the time zone for Hollow Bastion so this could reach you at any time."
"And we have a gift for you," Lilo cut in enthusiastically. "Right, Cid?"
Tearing his eyes away from Kairi, Cid turned back to the camera, though his half-grimace half-grin wasn't up to par. "Yup. And you better be happy, hear? You're not getting it for a while – and by a while I mean a while – but you'll know it when you see it."
Nudging Riku again, Kairi whispered something Sora didn't catch. And when she received no response the girl's face pinched into a frown and she jammed her elbow between the man's ribs.
He squealed.
Sora grinned.
"Merry Christmas," the man grumbled, looking completely put-out.
"Jeez," Kairi groaned quietly, staring up at Riku. "You can be mad at him, but don't be mad at him!"
Then Riku made a face that Sora figured was worth skipping the goodbye. (Not that he'd ever tell Riku that.)
"Isn't there a time limit on these things?" Lilo advertised humorously, snapping everyone's attentions back to the screen.
"That's right!" Cid announced with a grin. "Enough of Kairi and Riku's lovey-dovey time," the man joked, much to the pair's utter embarrassment. "We're not telling who, but in a week's time you'll be getting a little guest! In the meantime keep-"
The distinct sound of a door being forced open caught Sora by surprise. Slamming the transponder shut, he shoved the device into his pocket before rolling onto his stomach. Pushing himself onto his hands, he ignored the flaring pain in his leg as he propelled himself along the floor, away from the gaping hole and towards a bookshelf. He managed to settle himself behind it before the noise stopped. That's when he thought to himself, 'Wait – why am I hiding?'
Peering out around the bookshelf, he saw nothing but books. Whoever it was hadn't rounded the corner yet. But the distinct sounds of footsteps floated through the room like a loud ticking clock in the middle of the night – a sound Sora personally found soothing. "Hello?" he called.
The sound stopped.
Sora's heart dropped into his stomach. 'Is it a heartless?' "Who's there?"
"Sora?!"
The boy felt like laughing. It was Leon! "That's my name!" he complained, grabbing on to the side of the bookshelf and pulling himself to his feet. When his leg complained he shifted his weight to the other foot. "I was asking who you were, thank you very much!"
"Where are you in the room? Center? Near the staircase?"
Glancing around him, only to find all sides blocked by shelves, Sora shrugged. "Near a bookcase."
There was a short pause, then a great rumbling noise. "Marco," the man called unexpectedly.
'Ah, this game,' the boy thought to himself fondly. Grinning, Sora slid back down the bookcase to sit on the floor. Finding himself comfortable enough, he replied eagerly, "Fish!" The mechanic suddenly recalled fond memories of days on the beach playing Marco-Fish with the others.
His response was met with silence.
"Marco?" the man tried again nearly a minute later, voice tinged in disbelief.
"Fish!" Sora replied eagerly.
"Marco!"
"Fish!"
"It's Polo, goddammit! You reply 'Polo!'" the man shouted. There was short sound of shoes scuffing, more walking, and then another great rumble.
"What are you doing?"
Leon groaned. "I'm unlocking the bookshelves. Marco."
"You're what now?" Sora asked in his own tone of disbelief, not quite following. As an afterthought he added, "Fish."
"Why do you keep saying fish?" Leon demanded just as another great rumble sounded.
Adjusting himself against the bookcase, Sora fixed his eyes on the ceiling. "Because that's what you say after the other guy says 'Marco.' It's a water game here, too, right? Where you find the other person?"
"Well, here you say 'polo,'" the man grumbled.
Sora watched in awe as the bookshelf to his right moved on its own, only to reveal Leon in all his glory with an expression of annoyed disbelief. "So that's what you meant by unlocking the bookshelves."
"What happened to your leg?"
Glancing down at said appendage, Sora tried not to wince upon seeing the blood seeping through the fabric of his pants and dribbling on to the floor. "Long story," he laughed noncommittally. Endorphins were rushing through him, numbing the pain and making him feel unusually happy. Grabbing hold of his shirt sleeve, he yanked at it until it tore from the seam, allowing him to tie it around his leg.
Leon watched this process with a mixture of mild surprise and confusion. "Do you need any help?"
"Depends. Are you willing to carry me to town?"
The man's mouth quirked up minutely. "Only if you promise not to tell anyone."
"Done," the boy replied, taking hold of the bookshelf once more and dragging himself upright. "Once we hit the city we can probably just turn you into a crutch or something. You know – save us some masculinity for the road."
Leon almost looked like he was going to laugh. "Right," he drawled, advancing toward Sora before kneeling in front of him, offering his back. As they maneuvered, the man commented, "You're not going to bleed out on our way back, are you? Walking from the battlefield back to town with a corpse on my back isn't on my bucket list."
"Don't worry," Sora replied easily. "I mean, there's always a chance, but if you run we should make it with time to spare."
"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" he asked, being careful not to lose his balance as he stood.
"It's not every day I get a piggy-back from the resident hard-ass."
"Has Yuffie been telling you things?"
"No," Sora droned sarcastically. "Of course not." He didn't bother to mention that it had been Aerith, not Yuffie, who had given him a rundown on their "uptight, secretly nervous leader" who managed to pull through the oddest situations by just... hitting things. Sora still couldn't believe that, while Leon was very serious and seemed to know what he was doing, the man essentially depended on luck.
And he apparently had very good luck.
"So how did you get the bookshelves to move, anyway?" the boy asked as Leon began their journey through the library.
Shrugging the boy higher up on his back, the man grunted. "There's a book combination. Just match 'em up. It was originally for emergency lock-down so that enemies couldn't get at our training regimen tables and records, which are held at the back of the library."
"Where did you get the missing books?"
"Well, they're usually mixed up in the shelves, and you have to unscramble them. But I guess this system is a bit old. All I really had to do was kick the right shelf and it moved."
Sora's eyebrow rose. "You know, on the Islands we have this saying about using up luck."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing, really," the mechanic replied. "It's just that maybe you should stop depending on luck. You might run out."
Leon scoffed. "Almost every civilian I once knew is dead, my world is under siege by heartless, and I've recently developed an allergy to strawberries. How am I lucky?"
Contemplating the man's words, Sora made a non-committal noise. "You don't mind if I wait to answer that, do you? I mean, that's a pretty hard line to follow."
"Take your time," the leader replied blandly.
-T-M-
As they hit the city, true to their agreement, Sora had been let off Leon's back, and the boy used his companion as a crutch. It didn't take long for them to reach residential area four, which was on the edge of the city closest to the castle. But as Sora's front door opened wide the pair became privy to a most entertaining scene.
"They must be spaced evenly – see? Balance is key to these sots of aesthetics."
"What? You just pile them on! Like this, see?"
"No, no, no – that's all wrong! They're all in a clump – it's unsightly!"
Yuffie and Merlin were arguing over how to decorate a Christmas tree.
"What are you doing?" Leon demanded brashly, startling the pair.
Yuffie and Merlin whirled around, eyes wide with surprise. "Leon!" The woman gasped. "And Sora! What are you doing here?"
"I'm pretty sure I live here," the mechanic joked, glancing between the pair's guilty faces, then to the tree.
Leon, not having seen the boy's expression, snapped, "Yuffie, Merlin, you realize what you've done is breaking and entering, and by the laws of Hollow Bastion-"
"We haven't broken anything," Merlin defending. His beard seemed to puff up as he said this. "In fact, I teleported us straight into the room along with the tree. I assure you, nothing was broken."
It was then that a door squeaked open politely and an enraged Ienzo stepped into the room with a an expression of Hell over easy. "If you would all kindly quiet down that would be fantastic. It may have escaped your attention that it is six in the morning. Due to the ungodly hour I must ask you to keep it down and allow the world to remain comatose for just a bit longer."
Yuffie giggled. "Sorry - we didn't mean to wake you!" she whispered apologetically.
The shorter man's expression was venomous at best. "There's no point in whispering; I'm already awake. But you would do well to keep whispering, lest you accidentally wake the entire street with your talk of breaking and entering, wizards that teleport large objects into your living room without asking, and the degree to which you broadcast your general lack of forethought."
It was at that very moment that Sora began to doubt his interest in Ienzo.
"Goodnight," the man bid them all tersely, turning on his heel and closing the door politely behind him.
Leon shuffled, nudging Sora toward the bathroom. "Let's get you cleaned up. You two-" He pointed to Yuffie and Merlin. "Kindly clear out. And please take the tree with you."
Yuffie's lower lip trembled once.
"Actually," Sora chimed in, "I like the tree. Could you leave it?"
The woman's answering grin was bright enough to light up the room. "Of course!" she exclaimed quietly.
Merlin grinned widely, snapped his fingers, and the pair disappeared in a billow of smoke.
Leon fixed Sora with a look.
"What?" the boy defended. "I like Christmas."
"I should bring you to Christmas Town some time." Placing his hand more firmly against the mechanic's side, Leon guided the boy to the bathroom. "Do you have a first aid kit?"
"Yeah," Sora confirmed as he was physically directed to lean against the sink. Patting the counter he informed the man, "It's under here. Behind the bleach." Moving both hands to the counter, the boy hefted himself up with his arms until he could sit beside the sink, knocking a tube of toothpaste to the floor in the process. Reaching gingerly into his pocket he pulled out his pack of cigarettes. He placed one at his lips without lighting it before he returned the pack.
Seeing this, the older man leaned down and tossed the tube up to Sora. "Catch," he warned him belatedly as the boy fumbled not to drop it. Turning to the cabinet, he opened it wide. There, much to his surprise, was a full array of cleaning supplies. "You're pretty well stocked for someone who's recently moved in."
"My mom's a nurse. That stuff goes with me where I go, whether I like it or not."
"Ah," Leon confirmed quietly. Motioning to the cigarette with a nod as he brought up the first aid kit, he asked, "How old were you when you started?"
Sora shrugged. "Seventeen."
"That's illegal."
"Not on my world." Growing tired of talking around the cigarette, Sora nabbed it quickly with one hand before heaving a sigh and tossing the tube of toothpaste into the sink. He tried not to hiss when Leon rolled up his pant let, revealing the bloodied strip of fabric that wrapped around the wound.
Leon winced as he removed the cloth and the damage was put in full view. "This looks pretty bad."
Leaning forward, Sora peeked at the cut. "It's not too bad."
"'Not too bad?' It's six inches long," the man snapped incredulously.
"I've had worse. Just clean me up, okay?"" At the man's blank look Sora had to bite back an off remark. "You do know how to clean a wound, right?"
"Not with this kind of kit, no."
"Leon?"
"Yes?"
"That's a universal first aid kid. It was originally native to Radiant Garden."
"Well, I've never had to use one before."
"You've never used a universal first aid kit," Sora repeated, not quite believing his ears.
"I've never used a first aid kit," the man clarified.
Fighting back a disappointed sigh, Sora took hold of his leg and set it up on the counter. "I'll walk you through it, then. First thing you want to do with something like this is to elevate it. After that you take a cotton ball, soak it in hydrogen peroxide, and gently dab at the wound to clean it."
"Right," the man mumbled, opening up the kid and staring blanking inside. "Now which of these hydrogen peroxide?"
"Brown bottle," the boy informed him. "It should be on the left. Balls of cotton are in the packed marked 'disinfectant supplies.' You want to stopper the bottle with the cotton and tip it for about a second."
"Why can't you do this?" Leon asked, shakily doing as he was told, only to spill a few drops of hydrogen peroxide across his lap. He tried again with better results. "I usually just kill things. First aid isn't exactly on my radar."
"You're doing it because I can't reach my shin."
"Reassuring."
Sora grinned. "And because I trust you."
Leon tilted his head just enough to peer up at the boy, his expression betrayed smug confusion. "Really?"
The mechanic felt much like a deer in headlights. He fought to remain level-headed as the strange look the older man had fixed him with sent strange tingles up his leg and spine. He decided at that very moment that attractive people should not look confused the way Leon did. It just wasn't fair. "Well, yeah," he admitted after a few seconds of awkward sitting on his part. "You did just save my life, after all. That's got to count for something. It you hadn't stopped in the library who knows what would have happened?"
Leon was looking all too comfortable as he began to dab around the wound harshly, earning a hiss.
"Gently," Sora reminded the man. His tense expression eased when the man complied. "Good. Now, I need you to look into the cut. Is it clean or are there any jagged areas?"
Peering into the wound, Leon shrugged his vest into a more comfortable position. "Clean."
"Okay - just dab at it, then. If there were layers we would have had to pour Hydrogen Peroxide directly into the wound." He paused. "You might want to remember that."
It took ten minutes to finish cleaning and bandaging Sora's leg. Most of that time was spent re-wrapping gauze. But Leon eventually got the pressure right and escorted Sora to bed. "You're sure you'll be okay?"
"Leon, it's five in the morning. What sort of trouble could I possibly get into?"
The man's deadpan expression was priceless.
It wasn't until after Leon had left and Sora settled into bed that Ienzo spoke. "How did you get injured?"
Sora jumped in surprise, not having expected the man on the bottom bunk to be awake. "House call. There was a collapse. I was careless, that's all."
"Careless enough to have Leon carry you back?"
The boy grinned. "Never mind that - there's something I want you to help me with tomorrow."
"Why did you ask Leon?" Ienzo scoffed.
"Why would I ask Leon?"
"Never mind."
"No, seriously - why?"
"Don't worry about it. Now what did you want my help with?"
Sora was quiet for a long time, confusion plain on his face. Eventually he decided to give up on getting an answer out of the man and simply replied, "There's this door in the castle that doesn't open. I was wondering if you could help me with it."
"Fine," Ienzo replied without much preamble. "Tomorrow's our day off, anyway. I haven't got anything to do."
"Why not? Tomorrow's Christmas Eve."
"That changes nothing."
"Great," Sora announced grandly, trying to get rid of the sinking feeling Ienzo's words gave him. Then, feeling brave, he added, "It's a date, then."
The older man's frown could almost be felt from the top bunk. "Sora, you should already be aware that-"
"Hey, I've had a long morning. Give me this one victory, okay?"
They were quiet for a long while before Ienzo approached the door, having pulled on the rest of his clothes. "Sleep well," he bid quietly before leaving.
-T-M-
Special End Note: A note from me to my editor, Dawn of Chaos, about a stage I went through while working on the layout.
10/4/2012
Hello, my pretty! Dealing with a Leon-heaval. AKA: Now that I have Leon's character down I'm writing him into the layout a bit more. And... I kind of forgot I was writing at one point and actually thought I was Leon. Yeah... I know that's a good sign, but it was kinda weird. Awesome, you know, to live in the world of The Mechanic, but still a bit weird.
I don't know when the next chapter is going to be up because my life has suddenly gotten busy. It's mostly done, but you never know. Hopefully it'll be finished soon.
-Besieged Infection