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۵۵۵۵۵
-Chapter Twenty Two-
Hollow Bastion Bound
۵۵۵۵۵

The sound of someone knocking on the front door woke Cloud the following morning, and he groaned in annoyance. Someone was always knocking on Leon's door, looking for Leon, needing Leon for something. It seemed that someone was always wanting something from Leon.

Cloud pulled the covers over his head and buried it back in the pillow – Leon's pillow. It still smelled like Leon, and Cloud had been having the most wonderful dream, and oh dear; it seemed that he wanted something from Leon as well.

"Cloud, wake up," he heard, just as he was drifting back into his delightful dream. It was Aerith, and she was shaking him. "You have to wake up Leon."

He peeked out irritably from under the covers. His body might be resistant to alcohol, but it wasn't completely immune to hangovers. Of course that might have something to do with the fact that he had to drink enough to kill a fully grown behemoth in order to get a buzz. "Aerith," he grumbled. "Can't you see I'm trying to sleep? You go wake up Leon."

"We can't." He heard another female voice giggle nervously. Yuffie.

"What do you mean, you can't?" Cloud asked, sitting up on the sofa and rubbing his eyes as a wave of worry washed over him. Was something wrong with Leon? Oh god, had he killed him with tequila?

"Because," Aerith said with a schoolgirl blush, tittering just as badly as Yuffie.

"Leon likes to sleep in the nude," Yuffie finished for her.

"What are you talking about?" Cloud asked, blushing at the mere thought. "I've never seen Leon sleep in the nude."

"That's because whenever you were around, Leon was usually sleeping on the couch," Aerith politely pointed out.

"Because you were sleeping in his bed. Remember, Blondie?" Yuffie pointed out, not so politely.

"Well, I put him to bed last night – fully clothed," Cloud said, burrowing back down in the couch now that he knew there was no big emergency.

"Well, he isn't fully clothed now," Aerith giggled. "Go see for yourself."

Go see for himself? A naked Leon? That was rather tempting... Cloud stopped himself from contemplating that too deeply in front of the two women who were watching him closely and tried to concentrate instead on figuring out what they were up to. He knew these two, especially Aerith. It was always the nice ones you had to watch out for ... or was that the innocent ones? ... or the quiet ones? ... oh whatever.

"So what would you do if I wasn't here?" he asked smugly, scoring a point.

"Cloud," Aerith sighed impatiently, "if you weren't here, Leon wouldn't have gotten drunk last night, and he would have already been up and dressed hours ago."

Okay, so maybe it was Aerith's point after all.

"So go wake him," she demanded.

"Fine," Cloud snapped, throwing off the covers and stomping towards Leon's room, stopping when he reached the door. "Wait ... why am I waking Leon?"

"Because Merlin wants to see him right away," she explained. "Sora got in early this morning."

"Oh." Cloud nodded. He knocked softly on Leon's door. When there was no response, he opened the door, immediately shutting it again. Oh, boy. They weren't kidding.

The girls exchanged knowing looks and burst into another fit of giggles. Cloud raised his hand and knocked again, loudly this time, then yelled for good measure. "Leon, wake up."

"Cloud. We could have done that," Aerith said. "Actually, we already did, and it didn't work. So just go in there and wake him up." She gave him a little shove, and Cloud stumbled into the door.

"What's the big deal, anyway?" Yuffie wanted to know. "You're both guys."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks for pointing that out."

"You're not afraid of Leon, are you?"

Cloud glared at Yuffie, muttering something under his breath that sounded decidedly derogatory as he quietly let himself into the room like a condemned man facing the gallows. Yuffie had no idea. He was terrified of what lay before him.

Sometime during the night, Leon had indeed removed the rest of his clothing, which was now lying in a very un-Leon-like pile on the floor, and Leon himself was sprawled diagonally across the bed, face down and snoring so softly it sounded like he was purring. His right arm was stretched out to the side, and the other one was hanging off the bed, his left leg folded outward at a right angle. He had kicked off all of the covers except for a very thin, practically see-through sheet which was clinging precariously to the sensuous swell of firm flesh.

Yep, there it was, in all its glory: Leon's magnificent ass. Rapture was only a threadbare sheet away.

Cloud knew he was in big trouble, and it was getting bigger by the second.

"Leon," he attempted, but it was barely more than a squeak. He stepped closer, intending to shake Leon's shoulder, but all he could do was stare down at Leon's beautiful back; Leon even made shoulder blades sexy. Cloud's gaze traveled the line of Leon's spine down to where it began to deepen and then disappeared beneath the sheet.

Then Leon started to stretch – a very feline stretch, slow and sensual – and Cloud stood transfixed, unable to tear his eyes away from the mesmerizing slide of muscles along Leon's beautiful body: arms pushing up over his head and legs pressing down; back arching, thighs flexing; the upward lift of his hips and the downward slide of the sheet...

Shit.

Cloud quickly grabbed the blanket from where it had fallen on the floor and threw it over Leon just as he rolled over onto his back, but it was in vain, for he promptly kicked it off again. However, the sheet had somehow managed to remain in place, tangled lovingly around Leon's lower body as if loath to let go, and Cloud could certainly see why. Leon's body was so very fine.

The sheet was still preserving his modesty, though not by much, barely covering his genitals like the gentle caress of a lover. At its edge was the subtlest hint of chestnut, just a promise, really, hardly more than a shadow, a tease, and the feathery line of fine, downy hair that began just slightly above his navel and became progressively heavier below beckoned the eyes onward to the promised land beyond. His left leg was also partially covered by the sheet, but his right leg – now the one bent to the side – was not, exposing a creamy thigh that begged for kisses.

He was absolutely stunning, from his well-toned chest to his sculpted abdominals and the hard, flat plane of his stomach; even littered with the scars of battle, Leon's body was so beautiful it took Cloud's breath away. His hipbones looked almost fragile, a surprisingly delicate touch on his otherwise strong body, and his nipples were a warm shade of brown – like coffee with a little cream, just the way Cloud liked it. His arms were stretched out over his head, one thrown over his eyes as if attempting to block out the world, and the other one lying across his pillow, revealing the soft tufts of hair in the hollows. It touched Cloud in a way he would never have expected and couldn't begin to explain.

It felt so intensely intimate, leaving the hardened warrior unguarded and vulnerable, exposing him more thoroughly than the expanse of bare flesh; though he was lying there almost entirely uncovered, it was the wisps of soft chestnut in the pit of his arms that laid him bare.

It made Cloud feel guilty for intruding on something so personal, so once again he retrieved the blanket from the floor and covered the sleeping man. He leaned over him and quietly called his name.

Leon stirred, kicked off the blanket again, and groaned. Then he slowly opened his eyes, and Cloud found himself staring into deep, dreamy grey. He sucked in a breath, but it failed to save him from falling, hard, head over heels.

۵۵۵۵۵

"Cloud?" Leon rubbed his eyes. He attempted to sit up, groaned again, clutched his head in his hands, and then fell back to the bed, groaning once more for good measure. He reached for Cloud's arm, grabbing it like a lifeline as if that might keep him from drowning in the violently roiling sea of morning-after misery.

"Oh god, how much did I drink last night?"

"I'd say the more relevant question is what did you drink last night," Cloud replied, helpful and smug.

"Oh god," Leon groaned again, because it actually seemed to help a little, at least momentarily. "Did I? ... Was I? ... No, on second thought, don't tell me. It might make me throw up."

"Tequila is a strange and wondrous thing," Cloud informed him, "but also a bit, um ... Well, let's just say that you should never drink tequila if you're not with friends. Trusted friends," he added sagely, and then snorted, not so sagely ... "preferably, trusted friends who aren't also drinking tequila."

That was one of the things Leon loved the most about Cloud: Good advice at opportune times.

The brunet groaned yet again and then lapsed into a sullen silence. The blond, however, seemed to be in a downright chatty mood this morning and far too cheerful for Leon's currently dismal outlook on life. He sat down on the edge of Leon's bed and continued to educate his hungover friend on the ways of tequila.

"I remember getting drunk on tequila one time back in Midgar – of course, that was back in the days before I had been given Mako treatments; I was just a naive kid straight out of the mountains – but anyway, some of the guys decided it would be a real laugh to get me smashed. According to what they told me the following day, my body remained awake for hours after my brain had already checked out for the night and, apparently, kept right along partying without me. I didn't remember a thing." He stared off into space for a moment and then snorted again. "Still don't."

And this had been Cloud's choice of beverage for their little drinking contest? Leon was going to kill him. Just as soon as he could move without his head exploding. He really didn't feel like having to clean brains off the walls at the moment.

Cloud patted him on the arm. "Well, at least you seemed to be having a good time on the dance floor."

"The dance floor?" Leon whimpered, slinking further into the mattress. "What was I doing on the dance floor? I can't dance."

"On the contrary, I'd say you can dance quite well. Everyone else seemed to think so too."

Everyone else? Leon groaned for the umpteenth time and reached for the covers to pull them up over his head, which was when he realized that he wasn't actually in the possession of a whole lot of covers. In fact, his brain processed slowly, he was ninety-nine percent naked. On his bed. In front of Cloud.

Well, at least the one percent that was still covered was a very critical one percent.

And that was when Leon realized that he was in imminent danger of losing that last one percent as well because his morning wood was doing it's damnedest to push it off.

Leon quickly untangled the sheet from around his legs and covered himself as he rolled over onto his side, which turned out to be a very bad idea, because his stomach was slow to follow, and once it finally did, kept right on rolling all the way up to his mouth. Leon swallowed hard to force it back down as little lights began to dance around in his otherwise black vision, and his head renewed its vigorous pounding as an army of little tequila demons marched their way across his brain. He wondered how long it had taken them to journey all the way from his mouth, where they had obviously camped out overnight.

Leon comforted himself yet again with his newfound best friend, the groan. The only way this could possibly get any worse was if Cloud told him that he had danced last night in front of the whole town with Cloud.

"So, um," Cloud began.

Oh god no, please don't say it–

"Aerith says you have to get up. Merlin needs to see you right away."

Whew. No, wait, that wasn't good either. That meant he had to get up. "What?"

"You have to go see Merlin."

That's what he was afraid Cloud had said. "Why?"

"Sora got in this morning."

۵۵۵۵۵

After taking a shower and brushing his teeth, twice – once before and once after his shower – downing a potion, his usual two cups of coffee and a small bowl of oatmeal, Leon was as ready to go as he was likely to be for the day – just as soon as he brushed his teeth again after eating. The damn tequila demons that had camped out in his mouth overnight had obviously not hauled their trash out with them when they left.

Merlin, however, had gotten tired of waiting, and when Leon returned to the living room, the wizard was already sitting there with Aerith, Yuffie and Cloud. Leon greeted the wizard and sat down in his chair. "Where's Sora?"

"Hundred Acre Wood," Merlin answered. "He wanted to introduce Kairi to Pooh and company."

Aerith clapped her hands in delight."He found Kairi!"

Merlin nodded. "Along with the other Princesses of Heart, as well as Riku and Maleficent, in Hollow Bastion."

"Kairi is a Princess of Heart?" Aerith asked.

"She is indeed," Merlin confirmed.

"What were the Princesses doing in Hollow Bastion?" Leon asked.

"According to Sora, they needed the Princesses to complete the keyhole and unlock the door to the realm of darkness," Merlin explained. "Unfortunately, as soon as Sora freed the princesses' hearts and completed the keyhole, the world was overrun with Heartless, and they had to flee before he was able to seal it. But I'll let him fill you in on the details."

Yuffie decided to go check on Vincent and Cid in the meantime to make sure they were still alive, and since it was already close to noon, the others decided to go with her and get some lunch at the cafe since nobody felt like cooking. When they reached First District, they found it already filled with people and the banquet tables once again filled with platters of food. As most of the adults had been far more interested the previous night in the free booze, and the children had been far too excited to eat, there was a lot of food leftover. Word had gone out that the cafe would be serving it throughout the day for anyone who wished to partake, and it looked like everyone in town had decided to take them up on the offer. It seemed that nobody else felt like cooking, either.

The booze, however, was entirely gone, and it was soon discovered that Cid was the reason why.

Merlin, Aerith and Leon went on to the square to secure a table while Yuffie and Cloud went to check on Vincent and Cid. Vincent turned out to still be very much alive, having partaken of the booze in moderation, but Cid was just barely conscious. Once they had succeeded in waking him up, he opened a small cabinet beside the bed and pulled out one of numerous bottles he had absconded with the night before. "Just a wee bit of the hair of the dog that bit me!" he said and downed a generous shot. When Cloud quirked a brow in amusement at Cid's smuggled stash, Cid replied, "What? It was my goddamn birthday!"

Cloud was just glad that Leon hadn't come with them or he would surely have seized Cid's contraband. "Well, I won't tell Leon if you don't," he said.

By the time they finally made their way to the square, Merlin and Leon were already seated at one of the tables with their plates, and Aerith was in the banquet line with Sora and Kairi. Once all of them had served themselves and taken a seat, Sora told them about his adventures in Hollow Bastion, about losing the keyblade to Riku and then getting it back, about fighting Riku and Maleficent and how she had turned into a dragon, and Riku had been possessed by Ansem. He told them about finding Kairi and how he had unlocked his heart to free hers and turned into a Heartless, but then Kairi had saved him.

"It's funny," he added, "when we first landed in Hollow Bastion, I felt like I knew the place. Turns out, it was because Kairi's heart was within me all along. Hollow Bastion is her home world."

"So the darkness is flowing from that keyhole," Leon stated.

Sora nodded. "I need to go back and seal it, but I don't know how I'll be able to get there. The routes are swarming with Heartless now, even more than before."

"Then you need to go around them," Cid said and directed Sora where to find the Navi-gummi he would need in order to do that. "I stashed it there after we arrived here." He shook his head. "Never thought it would be a damn kid who needed it."

Merlin had sat quietly while Sora recounted his tale, but once he was done, Merlin addressed the group at the table. "As soon as the young keyblade master has succeeded in sealing the keyhole, I propose that we relocate to Hollow Bastion."

"You want us all to move to Hollow Bastion?" Yuffie asked.

"There's bound to be a treasure trove of information there on the Heartless that could aid us in our battle against them," Merlin explained, then turned his attention to Vincent. "Perhaps we might be able to learn something there of Organization XIII as well."

"That's true," Vincent agreed. "Hollow Bastion does seem to be the origin of Organization XIII as well as the Heartless, though they are no longer there. I was planning to leave again in the morning to investigate another rumor I recently heard regarding their current location."

"What exactly is this organization?" Leon asked, looking somewhat annoyed. He didn't like being left out of the loop. "And what's their goal?"

"Many of the members were scientists working with Ansem," Merlin answered. "The only thing we know for certain is that they are somehow connected to the appearance of the Heartless, but as to their true purpose, we still can't say."

"Well, I say a nice long nap is in order," Cid declared, pushing himself back from the table and departing for home. Then Sora left with Kairi to look for Cid's gummi block, and Cloud took off with Vincent. Yuffie went for a second plate.

Merlin turned to Leon. "Sorry for not keeping you informed," he apologized, having noticed Leon's disgruntled look, "but I didn't want to burden you after you returned from the coliseum injured; you already have too much on your plate. I meant to tell you once your arm was better, but I've had so much on my mind, I honestly forgot. Besides, I didn't want you taking it upon yourself to go flying off to look for Organization XVIII; I need you here. It's just lucky for us you found Vincent when you did and brought him back with you."

"Lucky indeed," Leon mumbled, wondering where Cloud had gone off to with the other man.

Once Yuffie had finally finished eating, Aerith and Merlin concurred with Cid that a nap was indeed an excellent idea, and the three of them headed for Third District.

Finding himself alone and at loose ends, Leon decided to visit the Dalmatians – Sora had just found nine more puppies – and that was where Cloud found him later that afternoon, curled up on the sofa covered in puppies. They made a quick run through Second District to clear it of Heartless and then climbed to roof of the Gizmo Shop.

"So what do you think about Merlin's proposal?" Cloud asked after settling down next to the other man in their usual spot on the ledge.

Leon shrugged.

"Everybody seems pretty excited, especially Aerith." Cloud chuckled. "She's already plotting out her flower garden."

Right." Leon nodded. "A world with sunshine."

Leon still hadn't answered his question, so Cloud tried again. "And you, Leon? How do you feel about it?"

How did he feel about it?

He wanted to go with them, at least some part of him did – the part he kept locked away – but he knew that he didn't belong. Ever since they had returned from the Underworld, things had changed between him and the others, between him and Cloud, even if it was only within himself that change had taken place.

The small family of friends from Gaia had a history together; the battles fought side by side, the stories they shared. They had their world in common, and if that world returned, they would all go back to it. They might even miss him for a moment, but that wouldn't stop them from leaving. They had each other. Leon didn't belong in their world.

And what of his world? What if Balamb Garden returned tomorrow – could Leon go home?

No Leon didn't belong there anymore either. Balamb Garden had been Squall's world, and Squall had died along with it.

Leon supposed he belonged right where he was as much as he belonged anywhere, in Traverse Town, the place of Leon's birth, and there he would stay. It was a blessing really, that they would all be leaving, and Leon would be saved from himself. He was already in too deep with his feelings for the others, for Aerith and Yuffie, even Cid. And Cloud ... how had he let that happen? It was better to stop this now rather than wait to be torn apart later.

Leon didn't say anything for a long time, and when he finally did, Cloud didn't like his response. "Somebody needs to stay and protect Traverse Town."

"Traverse Town no longer needs your protection; they do." Cloud argued. "There aren't even that many Heartless here anymore now that the Blue Flames are gone."

Leon shook his head. "They'll have you to protect them."

"Well, that's the thing..." Cloud took a deep breath. "I'm leaving in the morning with Vincent. He's agreed to drop me off at the coliseum."

Well at least that finally garnered a reaction. Leon glared at him. "So you're just going to let them fly off to the world where this whole thing started while you hide out at the coliseum?"

"I'm not hiding out," Cloud growled. "I'm waiting for Sephiroth."

"Call it whatever you like. They're your friends; you protect them!"

"I am protecting them by going to the coliseum! And I thought they were your friends too."

"And what makes you so sure that Sephiroth will show up at the coliseum? What if he shows up in Hollow Bastion instead?"

"He'll show up wherever I am. That's why I have to stay behind – so he won't show up in Hollow Bastion."

Leon rubbed his face. He was too tired to fight Cloud tonight; they could talk about it tomorrow after a good night's sleep and clearer heads.

No, they couldn't talk about it tomorrow, he realized – Cloud was leaving in the morning. Well, there was no point in discussing it further anyway; Cloud's mind was obviously already made up, and so was his.

"Whatever," he said, hoisting himself to his feet. "Let's just go home."

Cloud was upset at the unexpected turn of events, and he didn't like leaving for the coliseum being at odds with Leon, but there really was no more to be said. "Fine," he agreed. "But I'm afraid we'll have to take the stairs."

۵۵۵۵۵

By the time Leon got up the following morning, Cloud was already gone, and Sora departed soon after Cid finished installing the Navi-gummi on his ship, leaving Kairi under Leon's protection.

It quickly became apparent to everyone that the young girl, like everyone else, had developed a crush on Leon. He maintained his distance – which wasn't easy to do since she had taken to following him everywhere, even hanging out in the waterway to watch him work out – and he managed to thwart her attempts at conversation, but he couldn't very well tell her to get lost when he was supposed to be protecting her.

Still, he hadn't been able to forget the strange visions he had seen during his feverish dreams at the coliseum, especially the vision of Selphie with her friends on a beach, so one day in the waterway, he broke down and asked her about it.

"She's my best friend!" Kairi exclaimed. "Well, one of my best friends, along with Sora and Riku, of course."

"What's her last name?" Leon asked.

"Tilmitt. Why?"

"Can you describe her?"

"I can do better than that!" Kairi replied, pulling a small wallet from her pocket and handing Leon a photo of a group of kids on the beach: A slightly younger Kairi, Sora and Riku. The boy with red hair, spinning a ball on his finger. The blond kid with the stick.

And Selphie. The bright yellow outfit, the flipped auburn hair.

Leon stared at the photo, thoughts racing. "How old are you, Kairi?" he finally asked.

"Fourteen, same as Sora."

"And Selphie? Was she the same age as well?"

"She was a few months younger, but we were in the same grade at school. She showed up on Destiny Island a few months after I did."

"And how long ago did was that?"

"Well, let's see... it was nine years ago when I arrived on Destiny Island, and Selphie showed up about six months after that. Neither one of us could remember where we had come from, so I guess it was only natural that we instantly bonded. We had a lot in common."

"So Selphie arrived on Destiny Island eight and a half years ago." Leon had arrived in Traverse Town eight and a half years ago... He added up the numbers.

When he got lost in time compression and ended up back at the orphanage, he had been five years old at that time. It was shortly before he was sent to Garden, and Ellone had just disappeared – he had been looking for her at the time – so he would have been five years and two, maybe three months old. Selphie was month and a half older than him, plus the eight and a half years since his world had fallen... That would make her almost fourteen now. A few months younger than Kairi.

He had definitely created a time loop. Even if his world had fallen in the future as Cloud had suggested, he had been in time compression when it happened, and he had connected that time to the orphanage in the past.

So did that mean that his vision of Seifer was real too, that there was a fifteen-year-old Seifer with a blue foam bat on some other world? And the others... were they somewhere out there as well, fourteen, fifteen years old?

And what about Squall? Was there a fourteen-year-old version of himself out there?

۵۵۵۵۵

Leon retreated further and further into the shadows and showed no interest in the activities going on around him as the others prepared for the move to Hollow Bastion. With each passing day, they grew more and more excited by the possibilities the new world might bring.

They sorted through their possessions, packing only necessities and those things they simply couldn't bear to leave behind – which weren't many since most everything important to them had already been left behind. Space was limited on the gummi ship, and since they were unsure of what they would find once they got there, most of the room was reserved for basics such as household goods, food and medical supplies.

Though Sora had reported that there were plenty of provisions in the castle, Sora was only fourteen years old, and no one quite trusted his appraisal of things such as bed linens and cookware, and as for what sort of food they could expect to find ... well, the castle had last been in Maleficent's possession, and nobody wanted to think too deeply about what they might find in the witch's larder.

Cid had his hands full getting the gummi ship ready, upgrading it, with Geppetto's help, with the very best shields, lasers, and navigation blocks he could get his hands on. He tried to talk his elderly friend into coming with them, but Pinocchio had become close friends with the boy who always hung out in First District, and Geppetto didn't have the heart to tear them apart, especially not now when Pinocchio was finally on his way to becoming a real boy. He decided to stay in Traverse Town and run for Mayor in the upcoming election, which he won unanimously except for one vote – undoubtedly the mayor's own vote. The defeated mayor left in disgrace and was never heard from again.

Vincent came and went, and Cloud was still at the coliseum. After Leon refused Aerith's request to go get him, she succeeded in getting Vincent to attempt to bring him back, but he returned the next day with only Cloud's promise that he would join them at a later date.

Aerith began to suspect that Leon wasn't planning on coming with them either, and when she finally confronted him, she received only an obstinate stare and crossed arms in reply. Knowing it was useless, she didn't even attempt to argue, and went straight to Merlin instead.

No one knew how the wizard managed to convince him, but Leon packed his bag that night.

Everything was ready to go, the gummi ship loaded with as much as it could carry and Merlin's bag stuffed to the brim. They were just waiting for Sora's return with the news that he had sealed the keyhole, but as the days passed with no word, Merlin grew more and more impatient and worried. He finally decided that they should just go ahead and leave, so the five of them boarded the gummi the following morning and set their sights for Hollow Bastion.

A/N: I will continue to update this on ffnet, but I am also posting on Ao3 now as well. Just wanted to let you know in case anyone would prefer to read the story over there.