Chapter One: Returning Nightmares.
Nothing's like before. The words reverberated in his mind. In the space of one sentence things had changed irrevocably. His best friend might now be gone forever.
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The street lamps created soft isolated pools of light in the drifting fog that blanketed Traverse Town. The voices of the few people who braved the cloying mist were muffled whispers to the ears of those warm in their houses. Yuffie giggled at the sound of some unfortunate, bumping into the wall of her house.
'Hey Cloud,' she sniggered. 'What's the bet that Leon just walked into our wall? I'll take ten munny that he did, he always had a shit sense of direction.'
'No bet,' grinned Cloud. 'Here's the poor lost lamb himself. And what's this? He's sporting a lovely looking lump on his head.' At that Yuffie collapsed with laughter.
'Good look there Leon, are you starting a new fashion? Or are you playing unicorns again?'
With his customary scowl Leon glared at the hysterical ninja. 'For your information you little brat, I was in the process of killing three heartless at the time. So cut me a break why don't you. I don't see you on patrol at night ever, maybe our own Braveheart is scared of the dark…'
Yuffie's eyes widened and her laughter stopped abruptly. 'Leon, you absolute bastard! You promised you'd never tell!'
And with a shriek of rage she launched herself in a flying tackle at the startled fighter. She hit him in the knees and they went down in a tangle of limbs, Yuffie flailing wildly as Leon struggled to protect his head.
They both suddenly stopped as they noticed Cloud was not joining in the fun, or even laughing at their antics. Leon suddenly realized that Cloud had not been aware of the return of the heartless. He easily picked Yuffie up and tossed her gently onto the sofa before striding over to Cloud and sitting down next to him.
Cloud's blue eyes stared blankly at the wall and he seemed oblivious to Leon shaking his arm and trying to get his attention. It had been six months since the heartless had come and stolen away two of Cloud's friends, and the news of their return to the streets of Traverse Town seemed to have shocked him beyond reason.
One of those taken by the heartless was Sora, the keyblade master who saved the worlds from Ansem, and the other was the beautiful woman who was Cloud's love and life, Aeris. No one could understand why it was those two who were taken and Cloud had become obsessed with discovering the heartless' plan for the two captives. In the six months since, no one had even been able to discover where the heartless were coming from, let alone their motives and plans.
Leon's eyes narrowed as he stared at the unresponsive Cloud. They had become firm friends in the days after Sora defeated the shadows and it hurt him to see his friend in such a state. He pulled Cloud roughly to his feet and started to lead him to his bedroom. Yuffie quickly grabbed his other arm and together they shuffled slowly up the hallway.
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The plaster of the wall crunched and a puff of dust flew into the air. Leon shook the loose powder off his black leather glove and glowered at the crumbling dent in his wall. He had thought that Cloud was finally beginning to regain reason after almost losing his mind trying to find Aeris, but the return of the heartless seemed to have thrown him into an almost catatonic state.
Thinking again of the glazed, hopeless look in Cloud's eyes, Leon let out a curse and slammed his fist into the wall even harder than before. The resulting bang prompted a peeved shout from the next room over, 'Leon, shut the hell up you psycho! Can't you control your fucken temper for five minutes?'
Swallowing another curse, Leon grabbed his sword, Lionheart and stormed out of his room. He needed a release for his building tension and the only way he knew to calm himself down was battle training. The small courtyard out the back of the house he now shared with Yuffie, Cloud and Riku, had been converted into an arena for training and it was Leon's sanctuary from the outside world.
Whirling his sword in a complicated series of figure eights, Leon lost himself in the spinning, glinting steel. The sword wove intricate patterns in the air and Leon slowly fell into a trance as he danced with his deadly weapon. The cares of his life gradually shed from his shoulders and the hours passed like seconds in the shining dance of the gunblade.
Leon was finally ripped from his dream when Yuffie burst into the courtyard, out of breath, and nearly in tears. 'Leon oh god, please come! It's Riku, he's not home and it's almost dawn. He hasn't called or anything. I need you to come and help me look for him.'
Sheathing his gunblade expertly, Leon quickly joined Yuffie as she ran towards the front door. He thought briefly of Cloud in his room, alone and just as quickly discarded the thought. His anger at Cloud had still not completely gone and in the back of his mind was the faint desire to get back at Cloud for being such a burden. He hated himself for his petty feelings, but he still ran out of the door half a step behind Yuffie in the search for Riku.
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Riku lay on his back staring at the night sky. His pupils dilated hugely and to him the sky was filled with shattered star-shine. Like looking into a broken mirror. He didn't feel the chill of the fog on his bare arms, nor did he feel the jagged broken cobblestones of the alleyway pressing into his back, he could not feel anything the way he was.
After Sora had conquered the shadows and Riku had helped close the door to Kingdom Hearts from the inside, the two friends were apart for what seemed like forever. Sora had eventually found his way into the locked world of Kingdom Hearts, but not before the shadows had twisted Riku's sanity and affected his mind. Riku had begun to depend on Sora after the horror of being locked in the shadows, he had started to come back from his haunted existence in the darkness.
Then Sora was taken by the heartless. Riku's sanity began to spiral out of control and he had turned to the only thing that offered him any release from reality, the dark embrace of cocaine. The drugs gave Riku a world of clockwork dreams and unreality that took away the all-consuming pain of Sora's absence. His life was now lived as a slave to his insanity.
The stars began to dance in front of Riku's eyes and the moon smiled down on him from a sea of black silk. The fog caressed his hands and he smiled back at the friendly moon, with her halo of stars.
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Yuffie frantically ran out of the house into the fog-shrouded street. She stared wildly round and turned to Leon, tears streaming down her cheeks.
'I haven't heard from Riku since yesterday morning. He always comes back at night. The darkness brings back memories for him. Something must be wrong. Shit, what are we going to do? What if he's hurt…'
Leon grabbed her shoulders and shook her once. 'Snap out of it.' he snarled. 'I'm worried about Riku too. We just have to go to all his haunts. I know where he's most likely to be, so just shut the fuck up and follow me. We're going to get Kairi and then we will find Riku.'
Staring at Leon with wide shocked eyes, Yuffie stopped crying. She lowered her gaze and stared at the ground, hurt by Leon's harsh words. She turned abruptly and started following the wall of the house in the direction of Kairi's house. Leon mentally kicked himself for being so cruel, but he had no idea what to say or do to mend the growing rift between himself and the ninja girl.
The fog grew thicker, and dense clouds obscured the bright full moon.
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