Twilight had crept slowly upon Hollow Bastion – Radiant Garden, his mind reminded him – as Sora landed the single Gummi ship he had on hand on the outskirts of the city's borders, silent and unnoticed, like the fall of a leaf during autumn. He had crept out of the confines of the ship, had stretched, languidly and loudly, exhausted and cramped from his lengthy journey to the bastion, and he had peered about with bright, blue eyes, examining the differences that surrounded him.
At the age of nineteen, Sora had grown into himself. Standing nearly a foot taller than he had when he had last visited the reborn city, he had roughened and matured, and now, dressed in a pair of black jeans and a pressed button-up shirt, all wrapped up in a ruby-red bomber jacket, something so simple he felt almost naked as he walked down the cobblestone streets, he looked like a grown man and not just the naïve child he had been the last he had visited this place. With a tuneless song on his lips and a wide-eyed expression of wonder and appreciation spilled onto his face like wet paint, he secured the ship, not bothering to conceal its form, and shoved his hands into his pockets, walking toward the dim lights of the residential district in the distance.
It had been his decision to travel once more. When he had presented the idea to Riku and Kairi, they had nodded in gentle understanding, had wished him a safe journey, and had told him, with smiles on their lips, that they would wait patiently for him to return. Riku had told him to take as long as he needed, and so he did.
Radiant Garden had been the first place on his list to visit. The memories of this place, of faces and voices, of training long into the night with the smell of leather and sweat and boyhood in the air in a pleasant blend of spices, had brought him back here.
Things've really changed since I was last here, he thought to himself as he walked. The houses were freshly painted and rebuilt, towering above his head and reaching to the pastel painted sky above. Without the threat of the Heartless, the world had been able to lick its wounds clean and heal properly once more; Leon's work had paid off in the end, and Sora smiled warmly as he thumbed the little plastic card that was nestled gently into his pocket, a souvenir from so long ago.
There was only one place that seemed right for him to visit first, judging by the hour of night, and he laughed to himself when he imagined a pair of stormy blue-gray eyes narrowing at him at disturbing the Lion's evening.
Leon's house was a small, quaint place in the corner of the residential district, a white single-story building with a set of windows overlooking the rest of the town from its slightly elevated location, a watchful vigil over what the man had rebuilt over the past years. The front door was a dark, warm shade of brown, a bronze handle and the name "Leonhart" sketched in elegant lettering beside the door, marking who inhabited the house for all to see, glittering in the streetlights.
His feet carried him there without his mind, a familiar path they hadn't forgotten regardless of the years that had grown between him and this place.
Sora approached the house with a sort of detached air to him, as if he had been walking in a sort of half-dream since he had landed in Radiant Garden. Now, however, faced with the crisp white of the house's paneling and the elegant silver trim of the nameplate, he was brought to a cold sense of reality.
What if they'd forgotten him? What if they didn't want anything to do with him now that he wasn't needed as the Keyblade Master and there was no threat he needed to help them defeat?
He shook his head, and laughed quietly, and realized, as he reached out and knocked quickly and briskly on the door, that he was being childish, and he pushed the worries and the thoughts to the back of his mind.
Leon was dressed, simply, in a pair of torn blue jeans that had quite obviously seen better days, a sweater that was almost too large, regardless of his muscular build, something appearing to belong to someone other than the brunette gunblade warrior, and a pair of off-white socks, when he opened the door to the knocking that had pulled him away from the warm reverie of the cup of hot chocolate and the blazing fire he had been warming his sore muscles by. He had squinted through the gloaming that awaited him upon opening the door, eyes adjusting to the change in light swiftly, as a cat's would, and had, slowly, lifted a single, dark brown eyebrow in question and interest.
"Sorry it's so late. I couldn't remember my way here as well as I thought."
Sora smiled at him, twice as bright as he always had, teeth straight and perfect and pearly white against his thin, rosy lips. And Leon let him in the door without a word.
Now Sora sat amongst velveteen pillows and dark storm-blue throw covers in the corner of Leon's couch, his hands wrapped around a black ceramic mug of the hot chocolate he had missed since his departure. There was silence between them, and the crackle of the fire, warm and comforting, made Sora feel as if he were in a new world far, far away, that this room was the only place in existence in all of Radiant Garden.
"So, how have things been going here? It looks like everything's starting to get back under control." Sora started, watching as the hot chocolate spiraled about in the cup, the melted white film of marshmallow on the top sticking to the black rim of the mug and leaving a white streak on the ceramic. Leon shifted, leather sliding against cloth as he moved on the chair he had sat in across from the couch, closer to the fire, and the movement brought Sora's eyes to him.
He was visibly older than before, aged and roughed and war-torn with a battle he fought on the inside as much as a battle he fought on the outside, but there was a sort of contentment to his eyes that had not been there before, a gentle glow like a fire burning inside that had kindled to life after so many years of smoldering beneath regret. Sora smiled at him, brightly, and Leon smiled back, a faint gesture that still seemed so foreign yet came easier, smoother than before.
"We've made progress. Without the Heartless around it's easier to rebuild." The phrase "because there's nothing to tear it down again" was left floating on his lips like moisture in winter, left unsaid regardless of its truth.
Silence again. It was awkward, meeting someone you never thought you'd see again, facing him and his changes and his differences spread out before you in masks and mirrors and reflections of the past and what you thought you knew, but never really did. He was glad to be back, to see Leon again, but it was awkward, difficult; he was at a loss for words.
He said the first thing that came to mind.
"It's good to see you again." Sora offered, not sure what else he was supposed to say. His eyes danced around Leon's living room as he spoke, taking in photographs, chairs, cushions, and the gunblade that hung against the wall, fresh and glittering and well kempt, with a sort of deep admiration and enthrallment. Leon's house did not look much different than he had when Sora had first been here: there were more photographs, some of people he did not recognize, some from long, long ago, and there were more chairs, but the room remained the same clean, comforting chamber it had always been in Sora's memories. He smiled, grateful things had not changed too much.
"You, too."
They were talking, greeting each other, and reacquainting themselves: numb, pointless pleasantries that were customary to two friends who have not seen each other in a long, long time.
Sora was watching the fire dance before him, admiring the lick of flames and the precise, perfect ballad of the red, and orange, and gold lights against the wall, wondering what he wanted to say to the man who sat across from him, watching him with a cold, professional eye.
"You've changed." Leon was the first to break the silence. His voice was rougher, calmer than Sora remembered it. He glanced up, and locked eyes with Leon, and nodded, slowly. Yes, he had. That was why he came back, he thought, although he was not sure if that was really why. He had changed, and wanted to see the worlds through a new set of eyes, from a new height.
He did not say that to Leon. Instead he smiled, a straightened smile, as if the four years he had spent growing and maturing to replace the year he had lost while in slumber had flattened the lopsided, childish grin he had once bore like an iron over wrinkled cloth. A flicker of admiration, open on Leon's previously icy features, danced through Leon's eyes. Sora did not notice it.
"So have you, you know. You can't just say I've changed – you're actually greeting me like a normal person." He jibed, a lighthearted kindness to his teasing words. Leon offered him the faintest of grins: it was then that Sora realized he had missed far too much of the man in the time he had been away.
"What are you doing back?" Leon asked. Sora did not answer immediately: there were too many reasons. He wanted to travel again. He had become antsy remaining in Destiny Islands, living a normal life, and, having tasted the other worlds, he had grown a desire to move, a want to see the places and the people he had left behind.
"I wanted to see everyone again. It's been too long." Leon watched him closely, observing him as one would a child who has just uttered words far too intelligent for its age, before he nodded, slowly, in understanding.
They sat for some time in companionable, awkward silence, the kind of silence, Sora thought, that he and Riku had shared when they had met again after so long, before Leon rose to his feet, and looked over at Sora, that faint, feline grin of his curled onto his lips. Sora couldn't help but smile back.
"Come on." He gestured lightly with his hand, soft footsteps padding over wood, the silent prowl of a deadly feline, and stopped before the door, pulling on faded, black combat boots without a word of explanation. Sora paused, frozen, not sure what to do, before climbing to his feet as well. He sat the mug of hot chocolate upon the coffee table, and the ceramic clicked against the glass surface like wind chimes tinkling in an autumn breeze, before coming to stand beside Leon, curiosity clearly evident upon his face.
"Where are we going?" He asked, and Leon shook his head, and pulled on his panther-black, leather jacket that hung beside the door. White fur tickled along his cheek and chin, framing his face in snow that clung to his skin when he turned his head, and Sora observed it with interest, admiring the sharp contrast of Leon's tanned flesh to the pallid white of the trim.
"For a walk." And he opened the door, a gust of chill night air washing over them like water, and started his way down the cobblestone streets, the steady click-click-click of his boots familiar and welcomed in Sora's ears, sending a shiver of nostalgia through his chest and stomach. He shut the door with a soft thud behind him, jogging lightly to catch up with his elder companion, and fell into step with his larger strides, walking beside him with his hands shoved into his pockets and a blank expression set onto his face.
They walked in companionable silence, Sora admiring the growth and development of the city, Leon silently prideful of his work the way a lion would be silently prideful of its land, pointing out the little changes, the small, significant differences that had been made. They walked from one side to the other, it felt like, through the Marketplace and around the residential district and back up stone stairs and stone balconies, past metal equipment that had been put to rest now that the reconstruction was complete.
Sora had not realized where they were going until they walked out onto the bailey's balcony and a cool, silver wash of moonlight and starlight glittered on the cobblestones beneath their feet. Leon paced to the edge, did not turn back to ensure that Sora was behind him, and leaned against the railing that overlooked the expanse of the castle in the distance, his elbows propped upon the stone and his face tilted toward the sky, his hair falling past his ears and down his shoulders, tangled into the fur of his coat.
"It's nice. You guys have done a lot since I was last here."
Leon nodded, but said nothing more. Without looking over his shoulder he gestured toward the retired Keyblade Master, and Sora drew himself up to his side, leaning against the balcony and gazing out toward the castles and cliffs in the distance. From here, he could see where the construct had stopped, where the Restoration Committee had yet to reach, but the sight cleared of Heartless and Nobodies, unlike the last he had seen it, was strikingly beautiful. Overhead, the pale glow of moonlight lit the faint blue hue of the stones and made them glow like the daylight sky, the metal of the gates and railings that crept down into the valley and the castle that stood erect, a single warrior remaining as a testament to a long ended battle, glittering like jewels below them.
"It's beautiful." Again Leon did not respond, but, this time, Sora had not anticipated a response. From the corner of his eye he could see the calm, serene visage of his elder companion, his smile soft and aged beyond its right to be aged, his eyes the familiar dark storm-cloud blue they had always been. Around his neck the lion pendant glittered, silver metal to match the silver moonlight. Sora admired it, as he always had when he was not focusing on learning from the warrior beside him, and thought of lions and warriors and battles they did not need to fight any longer.
"It's not finished, but we're moving there. Soon we'll start rebuilding what we can of the valley." He spoke watching the stars overhead, as if he were talking to Sora yet was not at the same time, and Sora watched him, admiring his strength, his posture, his will. "We have a long way to go, but we've come a long way since we first started." He turned to face Sora then, his eyes watching the smaller man, peering through him, and Sora suddenly felt fourteen again, standing on the street corner in a new world, faced with things and people and ideas he had never been faced with before, and he felt young, and fresh, and like he could do something for someone once more.
"I'll stick around for a while and do what I can to help. I feel like I owe it to everyone, and getting the time to catch up with Cid and Yuffie and everyone else will be nice." His grin was slightly lopsided as he spoke, and there was excitement beneath his calm, deepened voice, and Leon smiled at him, and nodded gently.
"We could always use the help."
They stood side-by-side, forearms touching as they leaned against the railing, a mutual companionship between them, a lopsided grin on Sora's face, and watched the moonlight spill around them and light up Leon's kingdom in the faint chill of an autumn night.