Chapter Four. Trials.

Yuffie lay on her bed and closed her eyes. So much had happened in such a short amount of time and everything was beginning to snowball. Where would the harm from the shadows end? When would her friends be safe?

Sighing, Yuffie turned her mind to Leon. It was plain to her that something deep and almost buried was haunting the sullen warrior, but Leon was so hidden inside himself that she could not reach him at all. This hurt a lot, perhaps more than anything else; the fact that one of her friends was closing himself away from the world, and for no apparent reason.

In the black midnight during the last few weeks, Yuffie had heard moans and soft crying from next door, in Leon's room. Being insatiably curious as she was, the inquisitive ninja had taken to listening at the wall that adjoined hers and Leon's rooms. What she heard did not clear her puzzlement; instead it only confused her all the more.

No Seifer…Please, not Rinoa…

Who was Seifer? And Rinoa?

Oh god, she's dying…Don't let her die Seifer, I love her so much…Do you really hate me so?

Was Rinoa his lover? His wife? He wore a ring on his marriage finger…

You know I can't love you…Please, if you love me…God, I do love you…

The cries tore into Yuffie like knives. She hated hearing Leon in so much pain. Locked deep inside her soul was a growing love for the troubled fighter and denying it only made it stronger. She ached to go to him, and comfort him; fight away his nightmares, but she could tell if he knew of her eavesdropping, he would withdraw completely. And then she had gone and blurted it out, harshly and without thought. He now knew that she was aware of his anguish, how long would it be before he moved on, unable to cope with her intrusion?

She wracked her mind for any solutions, to even one of her many problems. The dawn held no answers. Leon was probably going to leave, now that he knew his private battles were no longer private. Riku was in bad shape and he might not even live. Sora and Aeris were lost from the world. Kairi was suffering in the silence of unreturned love. Cloud; Cloud was going to pieces and they looked to her to help him.

'Fuck.' She muttered. 'Leon's going to go postal? What about me? Hah, I'm expected to hold everything together and I'm almost the youngest one here. And, I am talking to myself. Great.'

Rolling onto her side Yuffie fought back tears and squeezed her eyes shut. Cloud was always the one who lead them. He was the one who brought clarity and decisiveness in a problem; now he was not there. His body walked and talked, but his soul was somewhere else, searching all the worlds for Aeris, his love. And she was not to be found. Yuffie knew that as long as Aeris was lost and flying with the shadows, Cloud would be just an empty shell. They would not have their golden haired leader back until Aeris was returned to him. Feeling the devastating loss that Cloud must be feeling, Yuffie lost her battle with tears and smothered her sobs in the softness of her pillow. Everything fell to her now, and she didn't know if she could cope.

xxx

Swirling shadows engulfed Cloud. He fought the grasping darkness and had almost pulled himself back into his mind when he felt a presence next to him in the void. Aeris. Cloud let go completely and fell headfirst into the shadow world. He could vaguely hear Leon calling his name fearfully, but the sensation of Aeris' closeness was too strong. Releasing his hold on the world of light, Cloud felt himself become enveloped in the shadows. He sighed and gave himself to the spirit of his love.

Suddenly his face felt wet. Wait, felt? He could not feel. The feeling of Aeris began to grow less and he grasped wildly for the traces of her spirit, before losing his anchor in the dark and beginning to float back into the world of light. The wetness on his cheeks became real and his eyes flew open. Leon was sitting over him, holding him tightly in his arms. The damp on Cloud's cheeks was the first tears that Leon had shed since Rinoa's death.

Leon shuddered with the force of his emotions. The sobs forced themselves out of his throat and they felt like they would never stop. Everything he had kept bottled up since Rinoa's death came out in the massive flood of rage and pain. What he had seen when he pushed open the door to Cloud's small room, shocked him to his core.

Cloud was laying on the bed the same as he was when Leon left him the day before, just one horrifying detail was different. Cloud was fading, literally. His body was growing fuzzy around the edges and his form was gradually darkening and taking on the look of an insubstantial shadow. Cloud was being lost to the darkness.

For only the second time in his life, Leon was at a complete loss as for what to do. His instincts as a fighter were no use and the sixth sense that had aided him through tough times, deserted him. He pulled Cloud into his arms and prayed to whatever gods could hear him, tears streaming unheeded down his face. it didn't matter to him that he was letting out years of pain and anger, all that mattered was the torture of being so close to losing another friend so soon after what happened to Riku.

When Cloud's eyes opened and he looked unfocusedly into Leon's face, Leon abandoned all pretence at control and sobbed into Cloud's silky yellow hair. He didn't know why Cloud had suddenly lost his ethereal feel but he raised his eyes to heaven and thanked whatever gods had answered his frantic prayers. In Cloud's return to the real world, Leon felt an inexplicable weight begin to slip from his burdened shoulders; a weight that had endured the long years without Rinoa.

xxx

Cloud blinked in the delicate glowing light of dawn. His time in the darkness was only a few hours in the real world, but in the shadows, time almost stood still. His eyes were accustomed to the shade and gloom of the shadow country, and even the barely there dawns blush was brighter than his eyes could handle this soon after the eternal dusk. he could not believe that the world had not aged by a millennia since he surrendered to the shadow.

As his heart slowly seeped back into his body, Cloud noticed that he was cradled tightly the strong arms of Leon. With a monumental effort, Cloud lifted his leaden arms and managed to entwine them loosely in Leon's. He squeezed Leon briefly before his strength gave out and his arms fell away. His head fell back and he found himself staring, dazed, into Leon's storm-gray, and now watery, eyes. With the very last of his will power he whispered into Leon's ear, 'Thank you.'

For that morning at least, the darkness faded from the streets of Traverse Town, banished by the momentary light of Leon and Cloud's combined souls.

xxx