.

۵۵۵۵۵
-Chapter Twenty-
Home, Sweet Traverse Town Home
۵۵۵۵۵

As they were preparing to leave the following morning, Phil and Hercules showed up to wish them a safe journey home. Phil encouraged Cloud and Leon to return for the tournaments as soon as they had fully recovered and suggested that perhaps Vincent would also like to join them. He had already sized up the enigmatic man and decided that he was definitely the type to draw large crowds, especially if he was any good with that badass gun that Phil had spotted on his hip. How the ladies did love a man that could shoot!

The healer also dropped by to check on Leon's shoulder one last time, fussing over it a lot longer than necessary and even going so far as to volunteer her services anytime he cared to come by. It seemed she had developed quite a fondness for the man after tending him for so long, but alas, Leon gave her no indication that her affections were returned, and she departed with a stern warning not to use his arm until it was fully healed.

Once they had completed their goodbyes, they left Cloud's room and headed for the gummi. Since Leon was still out of commission with his arm in a sling, it was decided that Cloud would fly the ship home, and Vincent, man the guns. They both proved more than competent at their appointed tasks, and the trio soon landed back in Traverse Town without any mishaps. They were met by Aerith, Yuffie and Merlin, as well as Cid, who had notified the other three as soon as the ship entered Traverse Town airspace.

Cid gave Vincent a solid clap on the back, and Yuffie tackled the man in a full-bodied hug. "Vinnie," she squealed, "You're alive!" Aerith approached Cloud shyly, searching his eyes with an upturned face as if trying to discern whether the Cloud she knew and loved was still in there, but Cloud turned his face aside to avoid her scrutiny.

"Good to have you back," Merlin said to Leon, watching the five friends' reunion with an approving smile on his face. "You were missed." Leon also watched the others, only minus the smile and with considerably less approval. It wasn't that he begrudged them their happy reunion; it was just that the empty spot in his life that had once been filled by his own companions soured his mood.

"It's good to be back," he responded. "How have things been while I was gone?"

"Oh, we've managed all right. No major problems."

Well of course they had managed all right; how silly of Leon to think that he had been needed. He was glad there hadn't been any major problems, but it didn't do anything to improve his mood. Aerith, perceptive as always, noticed that Leon was being more or less ignored and came over to inquire about his arm. "It's fine," he answered a little too curtly.

"Hmm..." Aerith nodded. "I'll check on it when we get back to the house."

"The coliseum has competent healers," Leon assured her.

"Yes, I'm sure they do," she insisted, "but I'd still like to have a look at it for myself."

"Fine," Leon agreed, knowing it would be easier and less time-consuming to simply let Aerith do as she wished rather than attempt to dissuade her.

The group made their way through First District, creating quite a commotion as the townspeople stared, mostly at Vincent. Ripples of chatter spread out behind them like the wake of a ship as onlookers wondered aloud who the mysterious newcomer was, and why was he wearing Cloud's cape? Leon stared too, only it wasn't at Vincent. He wasn't used to seeing Cloud without his cape and couldn't help noticing how well his SOLDIER uniform fit him. Especially in the hip area...

Once they were back at Leon's house, Aerith examined his shoulder as promised (or threatened, depending upon one's point of view), frowning when she saw the unmistakable mark of the Masamune. "What happened?"

Leon sighed. "Why don't we discuss that later. I'm sure everyone will have questions."

And so it was that they once again found themselves gathered in Leon's living room, just like they had after Cloud first showed up. This time, however, they finally had more answers than questions, and with Vincent himself present rather than only his cape and his claw, the atmosphere in the room was considerably lighter. Some things, however, never changed.

"So what the fuck happened? Where in the hell've ya been?" Cid asked Vincent.

"Well, in Hell, actually," Vincent replied dryly. "Hades was holding me hostage in the Underworld."

"Vincent was just collateral damage," Cloud added. "Sephiroth only intended to capture me; Vincent just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Hades decided to keep him imprisoned in the Underworld as an insurance policy that I would do what he wanted."

"So he threatened to kill Vincent if you didn't kill Hercules?" Aerith asked.

"Basically, though I didn't even remember who Vincent was at that point, much less that he was being held in the Underworld."

"Huh?" Yuffie asked. "If you didn't even know who Vincent was or that he was in danger, why would you kill Hercules in order to save him?"

"During one of my, uh, sessions with Hojo, he planted the suggestion in my subconscious that something very bad would happen if I didn't fulfill my contract. Vincent's cape was the trigger."

"Hojo?" Cid said. "What was that motherfucker doing in the Underworld? I thought he was dead!"

"Wait, wait, wait," Yuffie exclaimed. "I still don't get it! Start at the beginning! What happened after you and Vinnie fell into that black hole back on Gaia?"

"We didn't fall," Cloud corrected. "We were pulled in by Sephiroth. But the story starts long before that..."

Everyone settled into their seats in anticipation.

"You were right about Hades and Maleficent working together," Cloud said, addressing Leon, "though Hades was secretly working towards his own goal. But I'll let Vincent tell that part of the story," he added turning to the others in the room. "He's the one who pieced it together."

Voice still rusty from long disuse, Vincent cleared his throat as everyone in the room turned their attention to him. "As Cloud said, he was their true target. I was merely an added bonus. When I awoke, having lost consciousness from traveling through the Corridors of Darkness, I found myself locked in a cell. Cloud was–" Vincent abruptly stopped and looked at the other man.

"I was back in one of Hojo's tanks," Cloud admitted. "They knew I would never agree to take part in Hades' schemes, so Hojo took measures to insure I would be more compliant to Sephiroth's will. He injected me with more Jenova cells – 'S' cells from Sephiroth, to be exact – and subjected me to more Mako treatments" – Dark Mako from the Underworld, he left unsaid. "That's why my memory was such a mess. That's why Sephiroth was able to make me sign that contract with Hades."

"So why didn't you just Chaos their motherfucking asses?" Cid asked Vincent.

"Though Chaos was not hindered by the same force that rendered Cloud and I powerless in the Underworld, Hojo had foreseen that possibility and fortified my cell with a suppression field that blocked my ability to transform. After that, they were so occupied with Cloud, I was basically forgotten. That proved to my advantage, however, as they often spoke freely in front of me. That's how I was able to piece things together."

"So Cloud said that Hades and Maleficent were working together?" Leon asked.

Vincent nodded. "Hades, along with a number of other villains from other worlds, was helping Maleficent in her quest to capture the Princesses of Heart, though for what purpose, I do not know. Nor do I know why he agreed to help her; he hates Maleficent almost as much as he hates Hercules. I think he didn't dare cross her due to her control of the Heartless. She made a serious mistake, however, when she inadvertently hooked him up with Hojo."

Cid scratched at the stubble on his chin. "How the hell did Maleficent know Hojo?"

"She learned of his existence in Nibelheim."

"Wha...? What was Maleficent doing in Nibelheim?" Yuffie asked.

"Looking for the missing pages of Ansem's report?" Aerith guessed. "They got scattered to many different worlds."

Odd, Leon thought, how puppies and papers – reports and torn pages – got scattered around on other worlds, but people all seemed to end up in Traverse Town, sooner or later. Even Cloud, the only person they knew for certain hadn't come here straight off, had ended up here eventually; he just took a slight detour along the way. Were there others as well, lost in some dark portal limbo?

"Exactly," Vincent confirmed Aerith's astute-as-ever hunch. "And her search led her directly to the Shinra Mansion; evidently, she has quite the nose for evil." He met Cid, Aerith and Yuffie each in turn, eye to eye, before adding more solemnly, "It was Maleficent who led the Heartless to our world."

"Why, that fucking bitch," Cid exclaimed.

"She didn't find anything pertaining to Ansem or his reports," Vincent continued, "but she did find Hojo's research notes on the Jenova project. She must have figured that even if Hojo didn't know anything about Ansem or the Heartless, anyone that depraved must know plenty about the Darkness. Desiring to question him directly, she sought his whereabouts. After learning of his death, she headed straight for the Underworld, correctly surmising that's where she would find him, and ordered Hades to summon him.

"Hojo's answers proved unproductive, however, and Maleficent left in a snit, but before Hades could cast Hojo back into the Well of Damned Souls, Hojo convinced him that he could create an army of superior Heartless by using the souls of the damned, Dark Mako from the corrupted Lifestream of the Underworld, and Jenova cells harvested from Sephiroth. Eager to destroy Maleficent and take over control of the Heartless for himself, Hades agreed to bring Sephiroth from Gaia's Lifestream and set Hojo up in a lab in the Underworld.

"What Hojo failed to mention, however," Vincent explained, "was that the Jenova cells in Sephiroth's body were actually a specialized form of Jenova, having merged with Sephiroth's own cells while he was still in Lucrecia's womb, and that injecting the Heartless with these specialized 'S' cells would enable Sephiroth, rather than Hades, to control them. It seems that Hojo's goal was to resurrect his son and assist him in becoming God of the universe. What Hojo himself hoped to get out of it, I can't image. Sephiroth has never felt anything but disdain for his father."

"So how did you get dragged into it?" Aerith asked Cloud. "Why did they need you?"

"In exchange for bringing Sephiroth to the Underworld and restoring his body, Hades wanted him to get rid of Hercules – not only because he despised him so much, but because Hercules kept an eye on him for his father. Obviously, Hades didn't want word of what they were up to reaching Zeus. But Sephiroth refused to put himself in the middle of a feud between the two gods, which is where I came in," Cloud said bitterly: "Sephiroth wanted someone to do his dirty work for him."

"Cloud spent the next few months alternating between additional treatments in the lab and fighting in the Coliseum," Vincent resumed. "Though Hercules was off on some quest for some other god, Hades thought it would be a good idea for Cloud to establish himself in the tournaments in preparation for Hercules' eventual return.

"In the meantime, based on what he had learned from the pages of Ansem's report that Hades had in his possession, and from studying the Heartless that Hades kept on hand for the tournaments, Hojo began his experiments. He created several inferior prototypes before eventually refining the process that resulted in the Heartless that you, I understand, refer to as 'Blue Flames'."

"So... your wing was a result of the Mako?" Aerith asked, once again turning to Cloud.

"A reasonable guess," he answered, "but wrong. I too assumed at first that it was a mutation caused by the Mako and Jenova cells, but it turned out to be a 'gift' from Hades, at Sephiroth's request. It was also Sephiroth who wrapped my sword with bandages as a reminder that I was broken. Bastard has a sick sense of humor."

"And they gave you Vincent's cape to keep you in line," Yuffie reiterated.

"Right. Wearing it triggered a deep sense of unease, but not wearing it was even worse. Still, even though I knew something terrible would happen if I failed to kill Hercules, when he finally did return and Hades told me I would have to kill Sora to get to him, well, I just couldn't do it. He was just a kid!"

"And that's when the fucker sicced his mutant pit bull on ya."

Cloud nodded. "And you already know that part of the story from Sora."

"But what happened after Sephiroth carried you off?" Aerith asked. "And how did you end up here?"

"Sephiroth brought him back to the lab," Vincent said quietly. "I thought he was dead."

"I understand I was pretty close to it," Cloud acknowledged, "but Hojo pumped me full of Mako and Jenova cells that knit my bones back together and repaired my inner organs. It also erased my memory of the Underworld and the coliseum." He paused a moment, a frown on his face. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I suppose I owe him and Sephiroth my life."

"You don't owe them shit!" Aerith exclaimed, then clamped her hand over her mouth as soon as she realized what had come out of it. Maybe she shouldn't be hanging around with Cid so much! "It was Hojo and Sephiroth's fault you were even there to begin with!"

"Yeah, I guess. Still, I wouldn't be here now if not for them."

"But why would Sephiroth save you just so he could kill you again?" Yuffie asked.

"Exactly." Cloud snorted.

"Huh? Exactly what? That doesn't make any sense!"

"It does to Sephiroth. You think he would let someone else destroy his favorite plaything? That pleasure is reserved for him alone."

Leon shifted against the wall, uncomfortable with the dark implications in the turn the conversation had taken. "So why did he bring you here?"

"I don't... I'm not certain. I think it was to hide me from Hades."

"So he hides you in some random town in order to to protect you from Hades, then slices you up with the Masamune and leaves you to die." Leon pinched the bridge of his nose; it was his turn to be incredulous at the words about to come out of his mouth: "Sorry, but I'm with Yuffie on this one. That doesn't make any sense."

Cloud shook his head. "Again, I don't know for certain, but I don't think that killing me was his intention. I think I must have woken up unexpectedly and attempted to fight him."

The next few minutes passed in silence as everyone mulled over all of the new information, searching for still unanswered questions. It was Leon who found the first one. "So the Blue Flame Heartless followed you here from the lab?"

"Followed Sephiroth," Cloud corrected. "Though I think that was also unintentional. I think that was when he first realized he could control them."

"Hades was furious when he found out," Vincent added, "but his anger over losing Cloud was even greater. He was finally beginning to realize the extent of Hojo's betrayal – that the Heartless had never been his to control, and that Hojo and Sephiroth had been following their own agenda from the start with no intention of furthering his. The only ace he still held to force Sephiroth, and therefore Hojo, to do his bidding was Cloud. When he lost Cloud, he lost that advantage."

"So what happened after you went back to the coliseum?" Aerith asked Leon. "How did you get injured? And how did you find Vincent?"

After Leon finished recounting the basic events that had transpired during his last visit to the coliseum – from their fight against Sephiroth in the Platinum Match to going into the Underworld with Hercules to look for Cloud and finding Vincent – Aerith then turned to Cloud. "And what happened after you followed Sephiroth out of the arena in the Platinum Match? How did you end up back in the Underworld?"

"I remember chasing him through the Corridors of Darkness to a lot of other worlds, fighting unceasingly..." Cloud clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. "I almost had the son of a bitch too, but then he led me back to the Underworld where he knew he would have the advantage. It was a mistake, though, because Hades, thrilled to have me back in his clutches, had Hojo stick me back in a tank. Again." Cloud sighed.

"Hades and Sephiroth argued furiously," Vincent added, "and Sephiroth disappeared for several days. When he returned, they fought again and, in a fit of rage, Hades dragged Cloud from his tank and tore the wing from his back, symbolically ripping up their contract. That's when Leon and Hercules showed up.

"In revenge, I assume, Sephiroth switched off the power to my cell, as well as to the containment cells holding the Heartless in the corridor outside, then opened a portal and disappeared. The Heartless must have followed him, as their cells were empty when we left the Underworld." Vincent then told them of Hojo's demise and Hercules taking Hades to Mt Olympus, concluding his account with his destruction of the lab.

"So Hojo's back in the pit of the dead, Hades is getting his balls squeezed by Zeus, and Sephiroth and the Blue Flames are who the fuck knows where." Cid summed up.

"And Vincent and Cloud are back with us where they belong!" Aerith added cheerfully, clapping her hands.

But Cloud frowned. Cid had put his finger directly on the question that had been nagging at him since leaving the Underworld.

Where the hell was Sephiroth?

۵۵۵۵۵

Once the serious subject matter had been dealt with, talk turned to lighter topics, most of them at Cloud's expense. The five friends spoke of the past – the one they all shared – and Leon found it a bitter irony that of all the people in his home, he was the only one who didn't belong.

No one thought it was particularly strange when Leon didn't join in; Leon never joined in. If anything, the fact that he was leaning against his usual spot on the wall was a reassurance that all was well with Leon. Cloud too was quiet, as well as Vincent, but there was nothing out of the ordinary about that either, and the remaining three members of the group were more than capable of carrying the party.

Cid told the 'Let's Mosey' story for the hundredth time – getting a laugh, or at least a smile, out of everyone for the hundredth time – and Aerith told the tale of how she had met Cloud, which no one had heard before; only Tifa and Barrett knew that one. She joked about her flower bed being a magnet for good-looking men, as Cloud had not been the first, but the third person to fall through the dilapidated roof of the church.

Yuffie told the story of how they had found Vincent sleeping in a coffin in the basement of Shinra Mansion, and Vincent retaliated by telling the story of Yuffie stealing their Materia. Talk then turned, as all such sessions inevitably did, to the infamous Wall Market story. It just never got old.

Cloud took it all in good-natured stride, putting on his bravest face, though it was colored with a telling blush. He made it through the part about acquiring the dress and the wig, and even the tiara, but when Aerith got to the part about the lacy panties, he coughed and excused himself to the kitchen for a glass of water.

He returned just as the story was wrapping up to raucous laughter over Don Corneo choosing Cloud over the other two actual women and glanced at Leon to gauge his reaction, but the man was no longer leaning against the wall. He immediately looked at the rack by the door only to find Leon's gunblade also missing. "Where's Leon?" he asked.

Everyone looked up and glanced around in surprise; not even Vincent had noticed the man slip out. Cloud fastened on his armor and picked up his sword. Vincent also stood up. "I'll go with you."

Cloud shook his head. "I think it would be better if I went alone." When Aerith started to protest, he stopped her with a rationale that even she couldn't argue against; it was true. "I'll have a better chance of finding him if I go by myself." Though it was obvious from the continued look of concern on her face that her fears were not assuaged, she nodded in consent; most likely, it was only an even greater concern for Leon being out there alone without the use of his fighting arm that kept her from protesting further. "I'll be fine," Cloud added more gently. "And so will Leon." Aerith returned a hesitant smile, grateful for his attempted reassurance.

Cloud checked all the usual places that Leon liked to hang out – the Waterway, the Dalmatian's house and the Gizmo Shop – but he wasn't at any of them. So he was hiding then, from Cloud as well, and didn't wish to be found. Still Cloud continued to search, checking the hotel, as well as the cafe and the rest of First District, even though he didn't expect to find Leon there, which he didn't. Out of ideas, he decided to recheck the previous locations in the hope that Leon had retreated to one of them once he thought the coast was clear. Cloud wouldn't put it past him to have been tracking Cloud's movement.

His plan, however, proved just as unproductive as his first run through town, and Cloud reluctantly headed back to the house. He dreaded facing Aerith empty-handed and was more than a little annoyed at having been outfoxed by the other man.

But just as he entered Third District, he was struck by an intuitive hunch. Remembering that Sora had once mentioned something about a secret doorway into Second District, Cloud jumped up to the balcony of the house across from Leon's. He located a small passageway and climbed through it, emerging on a rooftop in the neighboring district, and there he found Leon. He was lying on his back gazing up at the stars, left arm under his head and right arm, still in its sling, folded against his chest. Cloud walked over and stretched out beside him.

They remained that way for a long time, neither one of them speaking or even acknowledging the other's presence until Leon abruptly sat up and wrapped his good arm around his knees, his back to Cloud. "Go back to your friends," he said. It wasn't said with anger or resentment, nor even self pity; it was simply a quiet directive.

"And what if I prefer my present company?" Cloud answered.

Leon looked over his shoulder in surprise, a look that quickly turned to disbelief. The transition was barely perceptible, merely a subtle tightening around his eyes, yet it rendered an entirely different expression.

Cloud couldn't understand how anyone could think that Leon had an expressionless face; the man had more variations of a scowl alone than the local Ice Cream Shoppe had flavors. "You're my friend too, you know."

Leon's expression transitioned again, but this time the change took place solely within his eyes. "Go home, Cloud" he said, his voice still low but edged now with anger.

"I can't, Leon, or have you forgotten that I lost my world too."

In one swift movement, Leon jumped to his feet and ran toward the edge of the roof, but Cloud caught up to him before he could leap onto the next rooftop. He grabbed him by his good arm to pull him back, but Leon spun around, wresting his arm from Cloud's grip, and threw a powerful left hook, courtesy of Zell. Cloud ducked, but even his lightning-fast reflexes weren't fast enough, and the punch that had been aimed at his jaw landed squarely on his cheek instead. Before Cloud had time to recover from the staggering blow, Leon immediately followed with a well-placed sweep of his leg, also courtesy of Zell, to the back of Cloud's knees, knocking his legs out from under him and sending him crashing down hard on his ass.

Before Cloud regained his senses, Leon had already jumped to the adjacent roof, then down into Second District and disappeared into the Traverse Town night.

۵۵۵۵۵

Still reluctant to return to the house, Cloud remained on the roof for another hour, partly because some small part of him held onto the hope that Leon would come back, but mostly because he didn't want to have to face Aerith; he didn't want to have to confess that he had failed in his mission to bring Leon home, and he really didn't want to have to explain the bruise on his cheek. No, it was better to let her hope that he had found the other man and the two of them were chilling with the Dalmatians. By the time he finally did return, the house was quiet and dark save for the small lamp left burning – by Aerith, no doubt. He was just thankful that Aerith herself hadn't waited up.

He turned off the light and settled down on the couch, but couldn't sleep, his thoughts consumed not by Sephiroth for once, but by Leon. It was well after midnight when he finally heard the other man slip quietly into the house and go into the kitchen. He returned moments later with a large glass of water and just stood there.

There was no sound or movement from the sofa, but Leon knew that Cloud was awake. "Did I wake you?"

Cloud sat up and shook his head. "I wasn't asleep."

Leon glanced at Cloud and then looked away in shame; even in the dim light from the streetlight outside, the nasty bruise on his cheek was plain to see. He stared off toward the hallway that offered escape to his room and the easy way out, but he could feel the other man's eyes on his. When he finally mustered the courage to meet that gaze, he found no recrimination in Cloud's softly shining eyes. Leon winced. "Sorry," he mumbled. "You didn't deserve that."

Cloud chuckled softly. "Oh, I probably did, for one thing or another."

"No." Leon shook his head. "You didn't."

Cloud shrugged, making light of the situation. "I've had worse."

"Well, if it's any consolation," Leon said, making his own attempt at levity, "I'm sure Aerith will have my hide in the morning."

"It'll be gone by morning," Cloud replied, his tone taking on a more serious tenor. "Aerith will never know."

Leon looked at the bruise more closely, and yes, he could see that it was already fading to yellow around the edges. With a sigh, he walked right past his usual chair and sat on the sofa beside Cloud, nursing the glass of water in his hand for several minutes before realizing that Cloud might be thirsty too and offering the glass to him. Cloud accepted it and took a long drink before handing it back. Not even pausing to consider that it had just touched the other man's lips, Leon finished it off and then set the empty glass on the table. He removed his arm from the sling and gave it a gentle stretch before folding his hands in his lap. A prolonged silence followed, but just as Cloud was beginning to suspect that the other man had fallen asleep, Leon mumbled, "I didn't save anyone."

"You saved me," Cloud replied. "Twice. And Vincent."

"Hercules saved you and Vincent," Leon countered.

Cloud shook his head. "Hercules is a nice guy, but you and I both know that without you, he would never have even found us. And I don't recall Hercules being here in Traverse Town the first time you saved me."

"Whatever." Leon shrugged. "I wasn't talking about you."

"Oh. So I don't count."

"Of course you count." Leon frowned. "That's not what I meant. It's just... I was talking about my companions from my world. I didn't save a single one."

"And you think I did? I know how lucky I am to be surrounded by my friends," Cloud replied, "but none of them are here due to any heroic act on my part. Cid's the one who saved Aerith and Yuffie, and he would've saved Vincent too if he hadn't been dragged into the Underworld on account of me. Cid's the hero here, not me."

"At least you were there." Leon argued. "I traveled with my friends all the way to the future to fight an evil sorceress, but I couldn't find my way back. Everyone else made it back; I was the only one who didn't. What kind of leader is that? I got lost in time compression and couldn't do a damn thing but watch as my world fell to the Heartless. They all died, Cloud, and I wasn't even there to help them!"

"You don't know that. Maybe they ended up somewhere else, just like we did. And even if they did die, what do you think you could have done if you had been there? Die with them? Has it ever occurred to you that if they had followed you, their leader, they might be here with you now?"

"Well I guess I'll never know, Leon said bitterly. "I only know that I should have been there with them, even if it was only to die with them."

"Well I was there, and I didn't save anyone either."

"A couple of real world-class heroes we are," Leon scoffed. "No wonder the keyblade chose Sora."

Cloud snorted.

Another silence followed as both men retreated into their own heads to dwell on their failures, but when Leon seemed to be falling deeper and deeper into despair, Cloud attempted to pull him back. Resorting to the tactic he had used so many nights before as they sat together on top of the Gizmo Shop, he asked Leon a question. "So what exactly happened in time compression?"

Leon hung his head and rubbed his scar. "It's a long story. And confusing. I wouldn't even know where to start."

"At the beginning?" Cloud suggested. "I have time."

"Time." Leon sighed. "I've read everything I can get my hands on regarding the nature of time, and I still can't wrap my head around it."

"So... how were you able to travel to the future? Did you have some sort of time machine?

"No. But Ultimecia did – of a sort...

"My adopted sister, Ellone, had the ability to send her consciousness into the past, and because of that ability, she was held captive in a research facility in Esthar by a scientist who hoped to create a device that could replicate that ability. Though Dr Odine succeeded in creating the device, he never actually constructed it, but somewhere along the line, somebody did. It was through the use of that device that Ultimecia was able to send her consciousness into the past and possess other sorceresses, thereby amassing enough power to compress time. Once it began, we were able to use time compression itself to jump to the future."

"But how did you know she was trying to compress time in the first place?"

"Well, that's where it gets complicated...

"After we defeated Ultimecia and time began to unwind, we were supposed to return to the present by focusing on where we wanted to go; our bonds of friendship were supposed to guide us. We agreed beforehand to meet back at the orphanage where we had all grown up. Well, all of us except–"

Where I want to go... Who I want to be with...

He had made it back to the orphanage – to where he wanted to go – but at the wrong time. A time when Rinoa hadn't been part of their group. An accident? Or deliberate on a subconscious level?

"Except?" Cloud prompted.

"Except our client. She didn't join our group until many years later."

"Rinoa... the one with the gender-challenged dog."

"Right. Angelola." Leon chuckled.

"Anyway, I made it back to the orphanage, but at the wrong time; I ended up there in the past when we lived there as children, even saw myself there as a young boy. While I was there, I spoke to our matron, Edea. She didn't know anything about Ultimecia and Time Compression, or Garden and SeeD; she learned about them from me – the me from the future. That's how she knew to create Garden, and why I was sent there, because she knew that I and the other children from the orphanage would be the ones to defeat the evil sorceress in the future. That's how she learned that Ultimecia was trying to compress time."

Cloud frowned. "So... Edea created Garden to fight an evil sorceress from the future because she learned about it from you, a Seed from the future, and if you hadn't traveled back in time and talked to Edea, Garden would never have existed in the first place, and you wouldn't have been a Seed who traveled to the future to defeat the evil sorceress and then ended up back in the past to tell Edea! Wow, that is confusing."

Leon nodded. "And by being in the same place at two different times, I think I must have created some sort of time loop. And furthermore..." Leon hung his head. "...Ultimecia followed me. A sorceress has to pass on her powers before she can die, but there was no one in Ultimecia's time to pass her powers to, so she followed me through time compression to the past and passed her powers to Edea."

The minutes passed. but no further explanation seemed imminent from Leon.

"So what happened then?" Cloud pressed him. "How did you return to the present?"

"I didn't. When I realized my mistake, I tried to return to the right time, but I ended up trapped in time compression instead."

"What was it like?" Cloud asked. "Time compression?"

It was not a pleasant memory, but Leon forced himself to answer; he owed Cloud at least that much in payment for the unjustified bruise on his face. "I found myself lost on a barren island, a wasteland... I walked and walked and walked, but no matter the direction, I always ended up on the edge of an abyss, surrounded by an endless void. And everything was all mixed up – the past, the present, the future... I saw terrible, confusing visions... It was awful."

Strange visions of the past, the present and the future, all mixed up? Yeah, Cloud could relate to that. "And that's when you saw your world fall to the Heartless?" he asked.

Leon nodded.

"So how do you know it wasn't a vision from the future?"

"I don't, really. But I ended up here, so my world must have fallen. And time has progressed normally since I've been here, so I'm obviously no longer stuck in time compression."

"Not here, but maybe you're still stuck in time compression back on your world."

"Like an alternate timeline?"

"Right."

"Well, it doesn't really matter, does it?" Leon frowned. "Even if that were true, I'd have no idea how to return to my own time, my own world."

"Click your heels together three times and say 'There's no place like home?"

Loen laughed. Yuffie had rented a movie several months back called The Wizard of Oz that both men had found unbearably tedious. "Yes, but I don't seem to be in the possession of any ruby red slippers," he pointed out.

"You could ask Fairy Godmother..." Cloud suggested.

Leon shot a murderous look at the other man.

"Okay, maybe not," Cloud conceded, throwing up his hands in self defense. Besides, he didn't really want Leon to return to his world. As Cloud mulled over the unexpected amount of information that Leon had given him, another question occured to him. "Why did Ultimecia even want to compress time, anyway?"

"World domination?" Leon answered. "Nobody really knew, but the general consensus was that she wanted to compress time because she would be the only one capable of existing in such a world, essentially making her a god. But why would anyone want to be the god of a world with no one else in it? God of what?" Leon shook his head. "I just don't buy it.

"Others thought she was trying to change her fate; that she knew from recorded history that a Seed from the past would travel to the future to kill her, and she wanted to change that fate, but that doesn't make any sense either. It was through time compression that we were able to travel to the future and kill her; all she had to do to stop it was not to initiate time compression to begin with.

"I think she must have had some other reason..."

"Like?"

"Like … maybe she was trying to change her fate, but not for the reason people believed. She already had the ability to send her consciousness into the past and possess other sorceresses, so why did she need to compress time? But what if she wanted to jump to a different time physically, like I did, like she did when she followed me to the past. Like the Heartless..."

"The Heartless? What did the Heartless have to do with it?"

"When we were in the future, there were monsters in Ultimecia's castle that we had never seen before, but I know now they were Heartless. They must have followed me too. Or followed Ultimecia, who followed me – same difference. It's my fault that my world fell; I'm the one who led them there."

"You can't blame yourself for that," Cloud pointed out. "The Heartless would have found your world anyway, sooner or later. And how do you know they didn't follow your friends?"

Leon frowned. "To the present?"

"Right. If they had followed you to the past, wouldn't you have seen them while you were growing up?"

"Unless I created another alternate timeline."

Cloud shrugged. "Maybe."

Leon's mind was reeling. What Cloud was suggesting was a possibility he had never considered before; he had been too convinced of his own guilt to even imagine any other explanation. Could the Heartless really have followed his friends instead? And if they had, did that mean that his world had indeed fallen in the future?

No, it was too far-fetched, too unbelievable. It was much more likely that they had followed Ultimecia and him.

Wasn't it?

Was it truly any more far-fetched than a sorceress from the future compressing time, or an alien virus traveling on a planet to infect other worlds? More unbelievable than orphan children trained in a military academy or super soldiers filled with Mako and alien cells, both with the ability to summon astral beings, either through their minds or through stones of crystallized Mako? Was it any more unbelievable than shadows that stole peoples' hearts or a kid with a keyblade who was their only hope against them?

And even if it were true, even if he was still stuck in time compression back on his world, a time when his world had not yet fallen to the Heartless, how could he go back? He jumped up from the couch. "I have to go see Merlin!"

"Leon, it's almost three in the morning. Maybe you should try to get some sleep and talk to Merlin tomorrow."

"Right. Yeah, right."

Leon carried the empty glass to the kitchen and then carried himself to bed, but he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep.

۵۵۵۵۵

As expected, Leon was unable to sleep and waited impatiently for the morning to reach a sufficiently suitable hour to visit the wizard. He finally crawled out of bed an hour earlier than usual and downed his two cups of much-needed coffee while the rest of household, including Cloud, was still sleeping. Leon quietly crept to the couch to inspect the bruise on the blond's cheek and found it entirely gone, as Cloud had assured him it would be, then crept from the house and made his way to Merlin's. Merlin listened intently, nodding accordingly, but proved to be no more helpful than he had been the other ninety-nine times Leon had sought his advice on the matter.

So Leon decided to simply put the whole crazy idea behind him, choosing instead to throw himself back into his duties. Besides, he had spent the last eight years in Traverse Town believing it was all his fault, and he wasn't so readily willing to relinquish his guilt. Cloud resumed his residency on Leon's couch, and life in Traverse Town once again returned to some semblance of normalcy.

Vincent wasn't around very much. Despite the fact he had spent thirty years in a coffin in the basement of Shinra Mansion in an attempt to atone for his sins, he was unable to stay in one place for too long. When he was in town, he was either crashed out on a cot in Cid's gummi garage or holed up with Merlin. Then he would take off again in the one-man gummi that Cid had helped him build.

Rumor had it that he was off on a secret mission for the wizard scouting out some mysterious organization...