When the Light Returned, Chapter Fourteen

Disclaimer – I own nothing except the story idea, don't sue please

"So…Leon's leaving." The banana Cloud had been eating hovered at his mouth, but never entered, as he heard these words.

After long moments of silence, he finally replied: "What?" Aerith glanced at him as she gently tended to one of her droopier Hibiscus, propped it up against her mirror and gave it a generous dose of water. After that, she looked at her lover again, the banana still suspended near his mouth, and couldn't help but giggle despite the serious subject.

"It's true. He told me last night that once we're sure the defense mechanism works, he's going to leave here and go adventuring."

With that, Cloud snorted, unable to hold in his composure. "He doesn't know how good he has it here," he laughed. "Adventuring of any sort's just not what it's cracked up to be."

As he spoke those words, his mind involuntarily thought back to some of his own adventuring he had done. The scars adorning his body and how he received them flashed through his mind, and he grimaced, taking an extra-big bite of the banana and finishing it. Aerith instinctively knew what he thought about with such regret, and she neared the bed to sit next to him. As she rolled up one sleeve of his shirt and comfortingly massaged one wrist, Cloud rested his head on her shoulder and sighed out his love.

"I think he's just tired of life here," she whispered into his ear. "There isn't much for him here – I'm yours, Yuffie's…well, Yuffie, and there's really no one else to socialize with and nothing else to do. He's restless."

"I suppose you're right," he replied. "Still, I want to go talk to him about it…"

As he started to rise, Aerith grabbed his hand. "Kiss me first?" He hesitated for a moment, staring at her pleading eyes and the pout on her face, then grinned to himself.

"Oh, I'll do a lot more than kiss you…" With a devilish growl, he pinned her to the bed, and she squealed in delight…

It was twenty-five or so minutes later, and Cloud was relaxed and slightly smirking as he walked down the corridor to Leon's room. He still wasn't sure he completely understood why Leon wanted to leave. After all, Leon had good friends here who would do practically anything for him, a good home, and food to eat every night. What else was there?

He would just have to find out. Reaching the door to Leon's room, he knocked softly and called, "Hey man, it's Cloud. Can I come in?"

Moments later, a muffled voice floated through the door. "Sure. Don't mind the mess."

Cloud immediately noticed what Leon meant when he found he could only crack the door open just enough to squeeze inside. Clothes, trinkets, paper, anything that he could think of, were strewn all over the floor and bed, and they obstructed the door's path as well. Poking a head in and squinting, trying to find the floor underneath all of Leon's possessions, he finally found a big enough square to leap to so that he was actually inside of the room. Leon sat on the only area of his bed that was not occupied with clothes, and he smiled at his friend. Cloud lightly laughed back. "Man…you have a lot of shit."

"I know," Leon sighed. "I don't even know where I got it all. I'm trying to sort out all of the really imperative things so I can take those with me tomorrow." Long moments of silence passed, and Leon suddenly looked anxiously up at the man. "Er…Aerith did tell you, right?"

"Yeah, she did. I just wanted to talk to you about it before you make up your mind."

Now it was Leon's turn to laugh. "I already have. But talk away, I'll listen."

Pursing his fingers, Cloud leaned against Leon's dresser, the closest thing to his square, and asked, "Why do you want to leave us? You have a lot of good things going for you here. You have Yuffie, Aerith and I, who are basically like a family. Yuffie especially. You have safety, good food, and fun. Why go?"

His eyes watched as Leon's hand paused in its sorting of clothes. Staring down at the ground, Leon opened his mouth, then shut it, then finally figured out what to say. "It isn't that I'm not grateful or appreciative of those things. I enjoy everyone's company and we've had some good times in the past six months. It's just that…I think you already know why I have to leave all of that for a while…"

Cloud did know, and he understood as well. Leon was a wanderer, Cloud could see that easily. After all, from what he knew about Leon's past, he was a drifter who never stayed in one place for very long and traveled all over his world to defeat evil. If Cloud had not met Aerith or found out she was alive, he would be the same. Leon had stayed here for almost two years now, and he had not found a woman to keep him tied down, to make him want to stay. Yes, Cloud understood completely.

"Yeah, I know. Just…be careful. Not everyone out there is as amazing as we are." His grin made Leon roll his eyes.

"Hey, I don't need your cheesy advice! I already know. But…thanks anyway." At that point, his face turned thoughtful, and he mused, "You know, you really have changed since you first got here. I'm glad you found a place you could settle down and be civil at for once."

Cloud grinned at the light jab; in earlier years, he would have taken much offense to teasing such as that. Now he had lightened up to only take it at face value. "Yeah, me too. I hope you find a place like that too. Because, well…it's pretty awesome."

Leon smiled, and looked at the floor. "…Thanks for talking to me."

"No problem, man…good luck clearing up all this shit."

Both men were smiling as Cloud waded through the messy room and gently shut the door behind him.

To Be Continued

Author's Notes – Arg! Yet again, I've expanded one single idea into an entire chapter. I kind of thought the idea of Cloud talking to Leon would be cute. I wanted to make it the start of a chapter, then end it with something entirely different. But it wouldn't have worked at all if I wanted to do that with what I had written (this chapter), so you guys get an extra chapter just dragging things out until the end. Yay!

There should be, barring any lapses of sanity from me, two more chapters left of this story. Hopefully it will all be finished in two chapters and all loose ends will be tied up. But no promises…I might decide to be stupid and drag it out some more.

Again, the next chapter will be uploaded tomorrow. Thanks, and until then, PP