Title: A Stray Child
Rating: R
Pairings: Yuffie-Leon, AerithxCloud, eventually LeonxCloud
A/N: Well, the story's turning out good so far. Only one flame so far, though I won't mention any names. That flame does, however, bring me to my next point.
I warned you in the summary. DO NOT READ THIS STORY UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YAOI MEANS. I warned you then, I'm warning you again. This story WAS rated R for a reason. If you don't like that, I don't care what your reasons are. Just please, be on your way, before we both end up hurting each other.
However, I do appreciate those who commented that actually HAD something constructive to say. There's no greater pleasure for a writer than for her story to be enjoyed by others.
Now, on with the story.
-------------------------------------
The road home had been a little more difficult than Leon had thought it would be. He could safely say that he wouldn't have had a chance, had he not done the same thing for Yuffie fairly often as a child, thus making himself used to it. But, of course, there was quite a lot of difference in carrying a six year old girl as opposed to a twenty two year old man. And a rather muscular one at that. But despite such difficulty, he'd managed to jump the ledges without too much trouble.
His immediate thought upon re-entering the Hollow Bastion was to find Aerith. Though generally noncombatant, she did have some knowledge of healing magic, making her the closest thing to a doctor they had.
For now, however, he'd get Cloud to a bed. His wounds were severe, but he could probably be left alone for a few minutes. At least long enough to find Aerith. After all, he'd made it all this way and hadn't bled to death. He could wait a little longer. Besides, it would probably have taken less time than lugging his bleeding form all over the Hollow Bastion looking for her.
His room being the closest, he started in that direction. He could hear Cloud groaning a bit in his sleep, voice muffled by Leon's back. "nn… knew I'd… find you…" and then nothing more.
Leon raised an eyebrow questioningly. Just what was Cloud dreaming about anyway? He didn't think too much on the subject. "Hm. Probably Aerith." He thought aloud, leaving it at that.
He opened the door to his room, stumbling a little as he walked inside, balance thrown off by the heavy load he carried on his back. Leon managed to make it over to the bed, carefully laying Cloud down on the soft mattress. He squirmed a little bit, instinctively trying to get used to the change in position. Within a few moments though, he finally went lax, and just slept.
Leon sat next to him, pulling up his shirt once more, tossing it aside, unheeded. He undid the loose knot he'd tied in the cape (now a makeshift bandage), and pulled it back to check the wound again. He was relieved to see that the bleeding had stopped, but the wounds still had to be treated.
But before he even had a chance to get up, his attention was drawn to loud, quick footsteps down the hall. Safe to say the blood trail Cloud had left behind had been discovered. The footsteps seemed to quicken as they grew near to the door. Leon heard the feet skid a little as they came to a halt, a hand turning the doorknob before it was flung open, a very startled Yuffie staggering in. "Leon, what happened in here?! There's blood all over the hallway and--"
"Yuffie, go get Aerith."
"H-Huh?" She asked, finally regaining her coherency. She looked on the bed next to him, and finally saw who's blood she had really seen. "Is that--"
"Go!"
Seeing the urgency of the situation, and that it probably wasn't the best time to be asking questions, she gave a quick nod, before taking off down the hall again. He returned his gaze once more to the blonde laying on the bed beside him. Well, at least he wouldn't be without help for too much longer. And now, he finally seemed to be waking up again.
Another low groan slipped past cracked lips, and Cloud began squirming again. One hand clutched at the wound in his side, a knee-jerk reaction, followed by a weak yelp of pain.
"Idiot!" Leon grasped the other's wrist, yanking it away. "Don't do that! You'll only make it worse--eh?" He grew silent as he heard Cloud mouthing something. "What is it?"
"… darkness…" he murmured, body going limp against the mattress for a few precious seconds. "… my darkness."
And before Leon even had a chance to decipher the meaning, Cloud threw his head back, letting out an agonizing scream. His body went from being still and relaxed to violently shaking. And Leon, deciding the nightmare had gone on long enough, grabbed Cloud by the shoulders, shaking him. "Cloud! Can you hear me?! Come on, wake up!" But he didn't. Rather, he only continued to sink deeper into his nightmare. His eyes were wide open now, but Leon could tell he wasn't really awake. He wasn't seeing the Leon at all. He was seeing something else, something purely unfathomable. He'd never seen so much emotion in one's eyes.
Fear, hatred, anger, despair, horror, disgust, sadness, and pain. Pure, ungodly pain. All mixed into one suffocating, disgusting mass.
Cloud's shivering turned to convulsing, and his arm jerked, hand unintentionally striking Leon away. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he let out yet another ear-piercing shriek.
In a desperate attempt to calm him, Leon held him down, hands firmly grasping his wrists, straddling his waist. He didn't bother trying to say anything else to calm him. He was too far gone right now to hear anything. Cloud's body continued to jerk and convulse, to the point where Leon was convinced he'd be thrown off. Somehow he managed to keep his balance, however, and held the other as steady as he could.
He could hear faint footsteps over Cloud's pained screams. They came to a halt abruptly near the bed, and Leon looked up into the almost disbelieving face of Aerith.
"C-Cloud?!"
"There'll be time for that later!" Leon yelled, jerking his head in Cloud's direction. "Can you do something about this? I can't hold him much longer!"
She didn't respond. Aerith could only stare wide-eyed at the hysterical blonde as he bucked and screeched in a futile effort to fling off his 'attacker.' Leon, though growing quite agitated, had expected such a reaction, considering the last time she'd seen Cloud had been at the Coliseum. But this still wasn't the time.
"Aerith! Hurry!"
"R-right… !" She answered quickly, startled out of her trance. Reaching forward with a trembling hand, she lightly touched the blonde's forehead.
"Calm." She said quietly, fingertips glistening with pale light. "To sleep."
Cloud's struggling seemed to gain intensity, as he tried his best to fight the spell. But once he saw it was futile, he finally went limp, and into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.
----------
The hour that passed after that went quickly. Aerith had asked Leon and Yuffie to wait outside while she worked, giving the excuse that she needed the quiet so she could concentrate on healing the wounded swordsman.
He was glad to see Yuffie was considerably less worried, once she knew for certain the blood splattered in the hallways wasn't his own. Now, however, she just seemed confused. That was understandable, so was he. And they'd spent most of the time trying to sort things out.
"Where do you think he came from?"
"Can't say for sure. When we saw him in the Hades Cup, he said he was going to stay behind to look for someone."
"Who?"
"He didn't say. Whatever the case, that was only… what, a week ago? I can't see him making it all the way from there to here in a week, especially without a gummi ship. And for that matter…" He leaned back against the wall, casting a look towards the door. "… just how DID he get here anyway?"
"Well, I guess we'll just have to ask him when he wakes up, right?"
"Whatever."*
"Say Leon…" Yuffie began, sitting down on the floor beside Leon, back against the wall. "Who do you think did this to him?"
"That's anyone's guess." Leon replied, shrugging. "If he came from the Coliseum, hell, anyone could've done it. But my guess is that it's that person he was 'looking for,' or…"
"Or what?" Yuffie looked at him skeptically. "You really don't think that--" The look on Leon's face showed her that yes, in fact, he _was_ thinking 'that.' "Oh, come on, Leon! Hades couldn't have--"
"And why not?" Leon asked. "When I asked Sora about Cloud at the preliminaries, he said that he and Hades had some kind of agreement. Not the sort of guy you'd just walk out of a deal with." But then, he glanced down at her, shaking his head. "Don't look at me like that. I'm just saying it's possible. Either way, if Hades really did this to him, Cloud probably wouldn't have survived. But if not him, than who--"
He was cut off as the door creaked open, Aerith's fatigued face greeting them with a forced smile.
"He's okay now."
"Good." Leon replied, walking towards the door. "Can we expect anymore outbursts like that one?"
"More than likely. The sleep spell I cast ceased the nightmare so he could rest more peacefully… but… well…" She began to wring her hands slightly, eyes downcast. "… it won't last too long. Only a few hours more. Then--"
"Then you'll just have to cast it again, right?" Yuffie chimed, patting the girl's shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, he'll be okay."
"Y-yes, well…" Aerith looked up at Leon. "We probably shouldn't move him until he wakes up. Do you mind if he stays in your room?"
"Fine. " He answered. "It's no big deal. I can just sleep on the floor or something."
"Right! And in the meantime…" Yuffie gave a little tug on Aerith's arm, jerking her head back to their own rooms down the hall. "It's getting late, and you look exhausted. Wanna get some rest?"
"Yes, that would be good. Thank you, Yuffie." Aerith turned to thank Leon again, but Yuffie didn't give her the chance, dragging her away by the arm.
"Goodnight, Leon!" She called back as she opened the door to her room. "Wake us up if Cloud gets all freaky again, okay? Thanks!" The door slammed shut. Leon raised an eyebrow, briefly wondering how Yuffie could be so optimistic in the face of… well, everything, but shrugged it off. He was too tired to think about it now.
He walked back inside, tossing his coat, soaked in Cloud's blood from earlier, carelessly in a chair near the door. Since the bed was obviously out of the question, his eyes scanned the room for another place to lay down.
Then he remembered the sofa. Well, had to be better than the floor, at any rate.
Flopping down on the old couch, he rolled over on his side, head propped up against the arm rest. He looked out upon the shadowed figure laying in his bed now, at the steady rise and fall of his chest.
He was relieved. While he seriously didn't trust Cloud, after finding out about his previous… affiliations, he didn't wish him dead either. For Aerith's sake, anyway. She would've been inconsolable if Cloud died, after all.
Leon briefly wondered if she still felt the same way about him now, as she had when she was a child. The two had suffered extreme puppy love in the days before the Heartless, and it didn't seem like it had faded even now that they were fully grown.
And then, deciding it was pointless to mull over such things so late at night, he went to sleep.
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I really wasn't pleased with this chapter at first for some reason. X_x But after all the work I did revising it (Which explains the late update), I think it's somewhat post worthy now. I promise, it'll get better.
Thought I owed a bit of fan service to yaoi fans that had to sit through nothing but het for two chapters. ^_^ I think the image of Leon straddling a bloody, screaming, shirtless Cloud was good enough.
Again, I want to thank those of you who reviewed my story. It really means a lot to a writer to be able to connect to people through is or her work, whether you like A Stray Child or don't.
* DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I'VE BEEN WAITING TO SAY THAT??! XD
Rating: R
Pairings: Yuffie-Leon, AerithxCloud, eventually LeonxCloud
A/N: Well, the story's turning out good so far. Only one flame so far, though I won't mention any names. That flame does, however, bring me to my next point.
I warned you in the summary. DO NOT READ THIS STORY UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YAOI MEANS. I warned you then, I'm warning you again. This story WAS rated R for a reason. If you don't like that, I don't care what your reasons are. Just please, be on your way, before we both end up hurting each other.
However, I do appreciate those who commented that actually HAD something constructive to say. There's no greater pleasure for a writer than for her story to be enjoyed by others.
Now, on with the story.
-------------------------------------
The road home had been a little more difficult than Leon had thought it would be. He could safely say that he wouldn't have had a chance, had he not done the same thing for Yuffie fairly often as a child, thus making himself used to it. But, of course, there was quite a lot of difference in carrying a six year old girl as opposed to a twenty two year old man. And a rather muscular one at that. But despite such difficulty, he'd managed to jump the ledges without too much trouble.
His immediate thought upon re-entering the Hollow Bastion was to find Aerith. Though generally noncombatant, she did have some knowledge of healing magic, making her the closest thing to a doctor they had.
For now, however, he'd get Cloud to a bed. His wounds were severe, but he could probably be left alone for a few minutes. At least long enough to find Aerith. After all, he'd made it all this way and hadn't bled to death. He could wait a little longer. Besides, it would probably have taken less time than lugging his bleeding form all over the Hollow Bastion looking for her.
His room being the closest, he started in that direction. He could hear Cloud groaning a bit in his sleep, voice muffled by Leon's back. "nn… knew I'd… find you…" and then nothing more.
Leon raised an eyebrow questioningly. Just what was Cloud dreaming about anyway? He didn't think too much on the subject. "Hm. Probably Aerith." He thought aloud, leaving it at that.
He opened the door to his room, stumbling a little as he walked inside, balance thrown off by the heavy load he carried on his back. Leon managed to make it over to the bed, carefully laying Cloud down on the soft mattress. He squirmed a little bit, instinctively trying to get used to the change in position. Within a few moments though, he finally went lax, and just slept.
Leon sat next to him, pulling up his shirt once more, tossing it aside, unheeded. He undid the loose knot he'd tied in the cape (now a makeshift bandage), and pulled it back to check the wound again. He was relieved to see that the bleeding had stopped, but the wounds still had to be treated.
But before he even had a chance to get up, his attention was drawn to loud, quick footsteps down the hall. Safe to say the blood trail Cloud had left behind had been discovered. The footsteps seemed to quicken as they grew near to the door. Leon heard the feet skid a little as they came to a halt, a hand turning the doorknob before it was flung open, a very startled Yuffie staggering in. "Leon, what happened in here?! There's blood all over the hallway and--"
"Yuffie, go get Aerith."
"H-Huh?" She asked, finally regaining her coherency. She looked on the bed next to him, and finally saw who's blood she had really seen. "Is that--"
"Go!"
Seeing the urgency of the situation, and that it probably wasn't the best time to be asking questions, she gave a quick nod, before taking off down the hall again. He returned his gaze once more to the blonde laying on the bed beside him. Well, at least he wouldn't be without help for too much longer. And now, he finally seemed to be waking up again.
Another low groan slipped past cracked lips, and Cloud began squirming again. One hand clutched at the wound in his side, a knee-jerk reaction, followed by a weak yelp of pain.
"Idiot!" Leon grasped the other's wrist, yanking it away. "Don't do that! You'll only make it worse--eh?" He grew silent as he heard Cloud mouthing something. "What is it?"
"… darkness…" he murmured, body going limp against the mattress for a few precious seconds. "… my darkness."
And before Leon even had a chance to decipher the meaning, Cloud threw his head back, letting out an agonizing scream. His body went from being still and relaxed to violently shaking. And Leon, deciding the nightmare had gone on long enough, grabbed Cloud by the shoulders, shaking him. "Cloud! Can you hear me?! Come on, wake up!" But he didn't. Rather, he only continued to sink deeper into his nightmare. His eyes were wide open now, but Leon could tell he wasn't really awake. He wasn't seeing the Leon at all. He was seeing something else, something purely unfathomable. He'd never seen so much emotion in one's eyes.
Fear, hatred, anger, despair, horror, disgust, sadness, and pain. Pure, ungodly pain. All mixed into one suffocating, disgusting mass.
Cloud's shivering turned to convulsing, and his arm jerked, hand unintentionally striking Leon away. His eyes rolled back in his head, and he let out yet another ear-piercing shriek.
In a desperate attempt to calm him, Leon held him down, hands firmly grasping his wrists, straddling his waist. He didn't bother trying to say anything else to calm him. He was too far gone right now to hear anything. Cloud's body continued to jerk and convulse, to the point where Leon was convinced he'd be thrown off. Somehow he managed to keep his balance, however, and held the other as steady as he could.
He could hear faint footsteps over Cloud's pained screams. They came to a halt abruptly near the bed, and Leon looked up into the almost disbelieving face of Aerith.
"C-Cloud?!"
"There'll be time for that later!" Leon yelled, jerking his head in Cloud's direction. "Can you do something about this? I can't hold him much longer!"
She didn't respond. Aerith could only stare wide-eyed at the hysterical blonde as he bucked and screeched in a futile effort to fling off his 'attacker.' Leon, though growing quite agitated, had expected such a reaction, considering the last time she'd seen Cloud had been at the Coliseum. But this still wasn't the time.
"Aerith! Hurry!"
"R-right… !" She answered quickly, startled out of her trance. Reaching forward with a trembling hand, she lightly touched the blonde's forehead.
"Calm." She said quietly, fingertips glistening with pale light. "To sleep."
Cloud's struggling seemed to gain intensity, as he tried his best to fight the spell. But once he saw it was futile, he finally went limp, and into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.
----------
The hour that passed after that went quickly. Aerith had asked Leon and Yuffie to wait outside while she worked, giving the excuse that she needed the quiet so she could concentrate on healing the wounded swordsman.
He was glad to see Yuffie was considerably less worried, once she knew for certain the blood splattered in the hallways wasn't his own. Now, however, she just seemed confused. That was understandable, so was he. And they'd spent most of the time trying to sort things out.
"Where do you think he came from?"
"Can't say for sure. When we saw him in the Hades Cup, he said he was going to stay behind to look for someone."
"Who?"
"He didn't say. Whatever the case, that was only… what, a week ago? I can't see him making it all the way from there to here in a week, especially without a gummi ship. And for that matter…" He leaned back against the wall, casting a look towards the door. "… just how DID he get here anyway?"
"Well, I guess we'll just have to ask him when he wakes up, right?"
"Whatever."*
"Say Leon…" Yuffie began, sitting down on the floor beside Leon, back against the wall. "Who do you think did this to him?"
"That's anyone's guess." Leon replied, shrugging. "If he came from the Coliseum, hell, anyone could've done it. But my guess is that it's that person he was 'looking for,' or…"
"Or what?" Yuffie looked at him skeptically. "You really don't think that--" The look on Leon's face showed her that yes, in fact, he _was_ thinking 'that.' "Oh, come on, Leon! Hades couldn't have--"
"And why not?" Leon asked. "When I asked Sora about Cloud at the preliminaries, he said that he and Hades had some kind of agreement. Not the sort of guy you'd just walk out of a deal with." But then, he glanced down at her, shaking his head. "Don't look at me like that. I'm just saying it's possible. Either way, if Hades really did this to him, Cloud probably wouldn't have survived. But if not him, than who--"
He was cut off as the door creaked open, Aerith's fatigued face greeting them with a forced smile.
"He's okay now."
"Good." Leon replied, walking towards the door. "Can we expect anymore outbursts like that one?"
"More than likely. The sleep spell I cast ceased the nightmare so he could rest more peacefully… but… well…" She began to wring her hands slightly, eyes downcast. "… it won't last too long. Only a few hours more. Then--"
"Then you'll just have to cast it again, right?" Yuffie chimed, patting the girl's shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, he'll be okay."
"Y-yes, well…" Aerith looked up at Leon. "We probably shouldn't move him until he wakes up. Do you mind if he stays in your room?"
"Fine. " He answered. "It's no big deal. I can just sleep on the floor or something."
"Right! And in the meantime…" Yuffie gave a little tug on Aerith's arm, jerking her head back to their own rooms down the hall. "It's getting late, and you look exhausted. Wanna get some rest?"
"Yes, that would be good. Thank you, Yuffie." Aerith turned to thank Leon again, but Yuffie didn't give her the chance, dragging her away by the arm.
"Goodnight, Leon!" She called back as she opened the door to her room. "Wake us up if Cloud gets all freaky again, okay? Thanks!" The door slammed shut. Leon raised an eyebrow, briefly wondering how Yuffie could be so optimistic in the face of… well, everything, but shrugged it off. He was too tired to think about it now.
He walked back inside, tossing his coat, soaked in Cloud's blood from earlier, carelessly in a chair near the door. Since the bed was obviously out of the question, his eyes scanned the room for another place to lay down.
Then he remembered the sofa. Well, had to be better than the floor, at any rate.
Flopping down on the old couch, he rolled over on his side, head propped up against the arm rest. He looked out upon the shadowed figure laying in his bed now, at the steady rise and fall of his chest.
He was relieved. While he seriously didn't trust Cloud, after finding out about his previous… affiliations, he didn't wish him dead either. For Aerith's sake, anyway. She would've been inconsolable if Cloud died, after all.
Leon briefly wondered if she still felt the same way about him now, as she had when she was a child. The two had suffered extreme puppy love in the days before the Heartless, and it didn't seem like it had faded even now that they were fully grown.
And then, deciding it was pointless to mull over such things so late at night, he went to sleep.
----------------------------------------------
I really wasn't pleased with this chapter at first for some reason. X_x But after all the work I did revising it (Which explains the late update), I think it's somewhat post worthy now. I promise, it'll get better.
Thought I owed a bit of fan service to yaoi fans that had to sit through nothing but het for two chapters. ^_^ I think the image of Leon straddling a bloody, screaming, shirtless Cloud was good enough.
Again, I want to thank those of you who reviewed my story. It really means a lot to a writer to be able to connect to people through is or her work, whether you like A Stray Child or don't.
* DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I'VE BEEN WAITING TO SAY THAT??! XD