When the Light Returned, chapter 5: by Phoenix Pinion
She hated him.
He had only been here two days, and he'd ruined everything.
All of her hard work…gone.
It had taken almost a year for her to gain Leon's trust, to become friends with him, to wheedle his past out of him, even to get him to show emotions. She could remember always talking while they were adventuring, telling him this (fond memories of her adventures with Aerith and the group), telling him that (what had happened to her after her world was destroyed), asking him about his past…though he had never answered. He barely spoke more than twenty words throughout their whole journey, but Yuffie finally managed to break him out of his shell.
FLASHBACK
"Oh, you should have seen his face!" Yuffie finishes her tale, bursting out in laughter at the memory. "He looked like he had just tried to eat a burned sewer rat!" The two walk down a forested path that supposedly leads to a certain "Traverse Town". Though Leon had only found the ninja girl, badly wounded and almost dead, about a month ago, the two have already grown to be close comrades. Yuffie's inane chatter fills any silence there might be, and she is amazing in battle. Though Leon hates to admit it even to himself, he had become lonely before he met her, wishing to find anyone from his world that may have survived. Yuffie is a fun, talkative young girl that, oddly, seems to fill the void in his new, wandering lifestyle.
Yuffie looks over at him and is delighted to see a smirk on his face. She very much enjoys the man's company, even though he is very quiet, and she tries hard to entertain him with stories of her past and memories of her world; also, she feels indebted to him because he saved her life, and wants to pay him back whenever she can. "But that's Barret for ya," she giggles, "he's a crazy guy." Strangely enough, she feels no pain or grief as she remembers her teammate. She feels no anger when she thinks of the debris and shrapnel, all which is left of her world. Even though she is not the type of person to dwell on the past, she still surprises herself with the detachment she feels. It's as if Leon makes her forget her pain and fear…
"…I feel as if I know these people personally, even though I've never met them." Leon's sudden, unexpected statement makes Yuffie grin, though on the inside she rejoices. She loves the sound of his rich, deep voice, and always likes to hear him talk. She feels shivers skip down her spine, but suddenly realizes that it's not only because of her happiness.
"Brrr…it's getting cold. And dark," she notices. The sun is dipping slowly below the trees, and early stars are beginning to make their appearance. Though she is amazed by the lovely sunset (The sunsets in my world were never as pretty as these are, she thinks for the tenth time), she also warily draws her shurikens. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Leon draw his gunblade and hold it easily and lightly in his gloved hand. Heartless are more abundant at night, they have both noticed, and they have learned how to prepare accordingly. They walk in silence for several minutes, wanting to get as far as they can before being forced to bed down for the night, and Yuffie is uncomfortable by the quiet. Birds chirping are the only sounds they hear.
"I wonder what this 'Traverse Town' is," she finally says softly, feeling a need to say something. Leon's dark eyes are darting about, looking carefully for any danger (Heartless are almost impossible to see at night), but he shrugs a bit.
"I hear that it's a town for people who have lost their worlds," he answers, his voice so quiet it is almost inaudible. They both know the danger of talking and giving away their position at night, but Leon senses Yuffie's insecurity with silence. He guesses that there was a sort of gruesome silence when her world was destroyed, which explains why she must chat, about something or nothing, constantly. He does not positively know this, however. It's one of the few things she has not mentioned before. "Everyone who loses their world goes there, eventually."
Yuffie nods in understanding. So many worlds are dying that it is no wonder there was such a place. It is so sad to think of such tragedy, but it angers her to think of the anguish Leon must be going through since he lost his friends. "Oh," she finishes, seemingly sealing up the conversation.
After about an hour more of traveling (fighting a few stray Heartless along the way), they finally decide to catch a few hours of sleep, and stray about forty yards off of the little-used path into the thick forest; tonight they will use the ground as a bed, and finish the rest of their meager food supplies. Yuffie hunts for small bits of firewood on the ground as Leon finds a suitably dry and flat patch of land. Soon they have a small, but nonetheless eager, fire burning, and are quietly chewing on the last of their food.
"It's so cold," Yuffie whispers to herself, huddling into a ball in an attempt to warm up. She is used to humid tropical forests and hot deserts, and this certainly is not as temperate as those. Her shivering increases and she scoots as close as she can to the fire without getting burned. It doesn't help much.
Suddenly, something warm and heavy is draped gently over her shoulders; it immediately warms her, and she gasps. Looking behind her in shock, she sees Leon, without his thick fur jacket, smiling at her. "You certainly aren't used to these climates," he says gently, and sits next to her. And, as if that show of – affection? comradeship? – isn't enough, he quietly encircles her waist with his arm. "Are you still cold?"
Hardly daring to move, Yuffie stares at the fire, realizing the enormity of what just happened. Leon, the man who had been cold and unfeeling, barely acknowledging her presence, had just displayed an unbelievable amount of kindness. She can only nod at his question, not trusting her voice if she were to speak. For once, she enjoys the silence as she quietly lays her head on his shoulder. A few hours pass before she falls asleep against Leon's shoulder. Leon stares into the forest, staying awake far into the night, trying to analyze what he had just done and why…
END FLASHBACK
During their journey, they had certainly grown close. Even when Yuffie had met Aerith again, she felt more comradely with Leon than with her. She had just felt awkward with Aerith, even now; Yuffie had seen her die! Yuffie had grieved over her death! And it was the same with Cloud. Leon was the only person with whom she did not feel ill at ease. And now…
Leon was dead. And Yuffie hated Cloud for it.
Of course, Leon had not physically died. His spirit had died…and that was even worse. A shell was all that he was, a hollow body wishing and waiting to die.
In only two days, walls around Leon's heart were torn down, built up, and destroyed again. Yuffie had watched it all from afar, watched the man whom she thought could never cry, never despair, never die. She had cried to herself in the safety of her room, cursing Cloud's name for coming back. Everything was fine without you, she had cried, nobody wanted to see you again!
Sure, she had really liked the guy when her world was still intact. She had a crush of sorts on him, even though he seemed troubled. She taught herself to go on without his sarcastic mannerism and handsome body when she had barely escaped the destruction of her world. It had taken awhile to accept the fact that he would never come back, but once she had, she didn't dwell on it…but she knew that Aerith had.
FLASHBACK
"Yuffie, did he ever mention me? Cloud, I mean." Laying on their backs and staring at the uniquely starless sky, Aerith and Yuffie quietly talk. Though usually Yuffie converses with Leon at night, she is with Aerith tonight, and they have been discussing various subjects. Now, they have moved on to Cloud as a subject of conversation.
Folding her arms behind her head and resting it on them, the ninja girl ponders the question. She keeps her eyes trained on the dark blue sky as she answers. "Sometimes he did. When we fought different enemies, he would sometimes say things, like, 'This is for Aerith!' And when we talked about Sephiroth, he would always mention you and how he would avenge you. I think he sometimes had nightmares about your death too, but if he did he never mentioned it." Yuffie feels a chill skip down her spine as she mentions Aerith's death. She had always felt awkward talking to her. She had died, for goodness sakes! It makes her feel as if she is talking to a ghost.
"Oh…so, Cloud…did he love me?" Aerith's voice begins to waver, and Yuffie knows how close to tears the girl is. She still had not yet accepted his death. Yuffie sighs in despair.
"Aerith, what does it matter if he loved you or not? He's…he's dead. He isn't just going to walk through the door tomorrow! You shouldn't dwell on the past. There's someone who loves you right now and is alive. Why don't you think about him instead?" Of course, they both knew about whom she talked about: Leon.
I love her, Yuffie, more than anyone I've ever loved before. His words penetrate Yuffie's mind, and she suddenly feels very cold, though the temperature is warm. Aerith's sobs are the only things that can be heard in the silence. "But I don't love him," she cries. "Not like Cloud."
END FLASHBACK
When she had heard that, Yuffie had just wanted to scream, get over him, Aerith! He won't come back! But he had, and Leon was dying because of it.
It was as though Aerith had undergone a total emotion change when she had seen Cloud. She ignored Leon's silent plea for answers in his tearful eyes, or maybe didn't notice them because of her sickening love for the man, who had supposedly come back from the dead. Yuffie never heard exactly how Cloud had survived the destruction of their world, and how he had managed to find them in Hollow Bastion, but she didn't really want to hear. She just wanted him to leave. But she knew that she would never get her wish for that. At least, not while Aerith was with him…
When Cloud had explained what had happened to him while he was gone, he showed his scars of when he had attempted suicide, first tracing his right and left wrist, then unwinding his red scarf and tilting his chin upwards. Yuffie felt like slapping him: Don't give Leon any ideas, moron! her mind screamed, and she wanted to retch at the sugary-sweet sight of Aerith sobbing desperately into Cloud's shoulder, fingering his scars as he grimly embraced her. Leon simply stared blankly from the doorway. His eyes had never shown such intensity before – shining with unshed, desperate tears, flames of despair and a sort of bleak rage kindled like a large brown fireplace inside of them. However, even as that thought crossed her mind, the fires in his eyes were doused with the waters of anguish and sheer dread as Cloud nuzzled Aerith's neck. And as his lips claimed hers, Leon flinched as if he had been physically slapped, and quickly walked out of the room.
That was one of the more painful memories of the past two days for Yuffie: seeing Leon slowly break down at the sight of his first and only love shamelessly shunning him. Aerith had not spoken one word to her or him since Cloud had returned; it was as though they were in their own little world together. More than once Yuffie had barely restrained herself from slapping one of them. Don't you see his anguish? She cried to herself. Can't you see his pain?
He had not even left his room for almost a day now. Yuffie didn't even think that he had eaten at all since Cloud had come back. She had taken it upon herself to fix him a small bowl of soup (If he dies from this, it's not going to be from starving himself, she thought grimly), and now she headed to his room, slowly and with dragging steps; Leon's depression was rubbing off onto her. As well as making him eat, she planned to have a long talk with him about Aerith and Cloud, and see if she could help him through it. His door was shut tightly, but unlocked, so she gently opened it and began to walk inside.
"Leon…I made you some…Leon! Oh my God!" She screamed in panic; the bowl fell unheeded from her hands and broke hard on the glass floor as her feet carried her yelling into the room…
Leon was dead. And Yuffie hated Cloud for it.
~To Be Continued
Author's Notes – Oh, no! What does the last sentence mean? What's wrong with Leon? To be honest, I don't know either. I will be just as surprised as you guys when this ends…so if you review, then help me by making suggestions! I will try to use them if you do. Thank you!
This chapter is a trip, I know. I am very tired right now. yawns And I'm sick. I'm kinda on a DayQuil high right now. It shows, 'cause this chapter sucks! I just know I'm gonna get flamed for this piece of crap! I'm sorry for posting it and making y'all suffer through it. And I am also sorry that it took me so long to type it.
Anyway, I'll try real hard to get the next chapter up as soon as I can. I'm going to need some reviews, though, possibly with suggestions for my next chapter, before I begin to write again. So hey! Don't be shy! Review! I'm gonna need it for this next chapter. ^_^ I Thank all of you for your awesomeness because you read this! Bye! ~PP