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-Chapter Twenty Five-
Looking for the Lab
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Cloud's peaceful sleep didn't last for long once he started dreaming. It started out pleasantly enough – he was riding a gleaming black motorcycle through a field of yellow flowers – but soon turned dark, like all of his dreams, and yellow flowers turned to bright lights and cold silver metal.
At the first sign of Cloud's distress, Leon groped around on the floor for his jacket, but then remembered he had left it hanging on one of the chairs at the table. Too tired to get up, he rolled over and draped his arm across Cloud's torso instead. He could feel Cloud's heart racing and scooted closer so he could whisper reassuring words in Cloud's ear in an attempt to calm him before his nightmare escalated to the point of waking the others.
Cloud's heart rate, as well as his breathing, soon settled into a slow steady beat, but as soon as Leon snuggled back into his sleeping bag, the blond started twitching again. Leon returned to his previous position, but quickly started shivering. It was cold in the small house, colder than the library even, and in what had seemed at the time like a reasonable precaution but now seemed like an obvious lack of foresight, Leon had spread out his sleeping bag last night with the opening facing away from Cloud. When he rolled over to comfort the other man, it took the top of the sleeping bag with him, exposing his back and upper torso to the cold night air. He should just get up for his jacket, he told himself, but slipped under Cloud's blanket instead.
Cloud rolled over onto his side, facing Leon, and wrapped his arm around the brunet. "You're cold," he murmured drowsily.
"And you're warm," Leon replied, nestling closer into the heat of Cloud's body, and that's exactly how they found themselves the following morning, still curled up together under the blanket.
Leon opened his eyes to the sight of captivating blue ones gazing back at him and lost himself in their depths, so enthralled by their beauty that it took a few moments for his brain to kick into gear and remind him that he ought to be highly embarrassed by their compromising position. But Cloud didn't seem bothered by it in the least and merely smiled; not his usual smirk that pulled at one corner of his mouth, but a real smile that made his eyes even more bewitching. "Morning," he said.
"Morning," Leon replied, returning Cloud's greeting and his smile. With considerable effort, he tore his gaze from Cloud's. "I'll go put on some coffee."
The smell of coffee gradually roused the others, and one by one they crawled out of their sleeping bags, shivering from the cold and stiff from the night on the hard floor, as well as their previous day's labor. "We shoulda stayed in the goddamn library," Cid grumbled. "At least it had fucking carpet!" But by the time everyone had finished their coffee and a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, they were ready to face another day.
Merlin unloaded the rest of the kitchen supplies from his bag onto the counter and then buried his nose in one of his books. Cid set to work on the design for a device he had come up with to help take out the Heartless. Aerith planned to organize the kitchen first and then tackle the bedroom with Yuffie. Cloud and Leon were sent to look for some bedroom furniture.
They had already made a cursory check of the other houses nearby when they were looking for a place to live, and neither man was eager to go back. Most of the things there had been badly damaged, the mattresses ripped open by Heartless, and the upholstery on the sofas and chairs shredded by mice or other small critters to make their nests in the stuffing. But that wasn't the reason that neither man was eager to return.
Apart from the dirt and the damage, the houses remained exactly as they had been before the fall, macabre memorials to a happier time. Toothbrushes still sat in their cups on the bathroom sink, and closets were still filled with clothing; kitchen cabinets still full of dishes and refrigerators still stocked with food that had long since passed rotten to total desiccation. Only the occupants were missing.
The silent reminders were everywhere: a child's bicycle rusting in the front yard or a half-built house of blocks on the living room floor; an open book on the table in front of a chair and a coffee cup beside it with only a hardened sludge left in the bottom. Dining room tables were still set with dishes, and crusty pots and pans remained on the stove, the food itself long ago carried off by the critters. It must have been dinnertime when their world had been overthrown by the Heartless.
The unintentional intrusion into the private lives of strangers had unsettled both men deeply, and though many of the houses were larger and more suited to their needs, they quickly moved on, relieved when they finally came upon the newer residential section right off the marketplace where the houses were still empty and there were no sad reminders of suddenly disrupted lives.
No, neither man wanted to go back, unwilling to disturb the ghosts from the past or the homes that waited silently for their return, but it was that or the castle, and Leon's limited exploration of the castle hadn't turned up any household furniture at all. Even if they did find anything usable, Aerith would likely reject it as too steeped in darkness, so they hardened their hearts – luckily, something that both men were adept at doing – and returned to the depressing residential area.
It took them most of the day, but once they had found a single bed for Cid and a double one for Aerith and Yuffie, as well as several small dressers and nightstands, Leon suggested they return to the house for Merlin and his magic bag.
"What about us?" Cloud asked.
"Us?"
"Yeah, us. As in you and me. Don't we get a bed too? Or do you like sleeping on the hard floor?"
"Oh … well ... I guess we could look for another couple of single mattresses," Leon said. "There isn't enough room in that corner to fit two whole beds with the frames." There isn't even enough room for just the two mattresses – he added to himself – at least not more than an inch apart.
"Sure," Cloud replied. "As long as you don't mind sleeping in the crack in the middle." Leon shot him a scathing look, but Cloud just laughed. "You know that's where you'll end up as soon as my nightmares start."
"I was cold," Leon growled.
"So wouldn't it be better to just get a full-sized mattress? It'll take up less room than two singles, and you won't have to deal with the crack in the middle."
"Fine," Leon snapped. "We'll look for another double." But he was rather quiet after that and offered very little help in actually looking for that mattress. Haunted by terrifying visions of all the things that could go horribly wrong, he barely responded to any of Cloud's suggestions and merely plodded vacantly after the other man. Sure, they already slept side by side, but being in two separate sleeping bags was a very different thing from sharing an actual bed. And what would the others think of their new sleeping arrangements?
He supposed they could still use their separate sleeping bags on top of the mattress ... yeah, that might work.
Once he had landed on a feasible solution, Leon perked up a bit, but it didn't improve his mood that it was late afternoon by the time they finally found another mattress and got all the furniture back to the house. He had hoped to be off to Traverse Town that afternoon for fresh groceries, but now it would have to wait until morning.
When it was finally time to call it a day, Leon looked for his sleeping bag to roll it out on his side of the bed, but the bed had already been neatly made with sheets and pillows and everything. His sleeping bag, as well as Cloud's, had been fully unzipped and spread out on top, and Cloud was already snuggled comfortably under the covers.
"Did you do this?" Leon whispered. Cloud cast his eyes to the person coming out of the kitchen.
Aerith. Of course.
Leon groaned. She must have done it while he was taking his shower. Or maybe she did it when he was in the kitchen looking for something to eat other than oatmeal or canned stew. He turned to glare at the flower girl.
"Night, Leon." She smiled sweetly. "Sleep tight."
Leon grudgingly crawled under the covers. He would not sleep tight.
But of course, he did.
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He was ready to set out bright and early the following morning but was once again delayed, this time by the debate that broke out over who should go with him.
"I was planning on going alone," Leon said, rubbing at the scar between his brows. "I'm just going to pick up some supplies and make arrangements to have Hollow Bastion added to the delivery route. I'll be back before nightfall. It isn't necessary for anyone to go with me."
"It's too dangerous!" Aerith protested. "You never know what you're going to run into out there. Cloud should go with you."
Cloud and Leon looked at each other and silently reached the same conclusion. "I'm staying," Cloud stated. "You never know what we'll run into here."
"Oh, for heaven's sake." Aerith argued. "We're perfectly capable of defending ourselves – we're not a bunch of helpless damsels!"
"I'll go with you," Yuffie offered. "I need to check on Pinocchio, anyway, to make sure he hasn't gotten himself into trouble without me around to look out for him!"
"He's a helluva lot less likely to have gotten himself into trouble without you around to look out for him!" Cid pointed out.
Merlin pulled his nose out of his tome long enough to decree, "Cloud and Leon are correct that Cloud should remain here while Leon is gone, and Aerith and Yuffie are correct that Leon should not go alone." And so it was decided that Merlin would go.
"Fine." Leon sighed. It would be helpful to have access to his magic bag, even if he wasn't willing to fill it with perishables, but it was bound to take considerably longer with Merlin along. Sure enough, as soon as it had been settled...
"In that case, maybe you could pick up a few more things for the kitchen?" Aerith asked. "I didn't want to pack too much, but we could really use a few more pots and pans and–"
"–some of those little donuts with powdered sugar!" Yuffie added.
"I have of list of hardware supplies I need," Cid stated, pulling a piece of paper from his pocket. "And a computer. I need a goddamn computer! How the hell am I supposed to keep track of everything around here without a computer?!"
"The queen might be able to hook us up with a computer," Merlin said, and turned to Leon. "I need to make a quick stop by Disney Castle while we're in the neighborhood. You don't mind, do you?" He didn't wait for an answer.
"Do you think Queen Minnie might have some extra flower seeds she could spare?" Aerith asked.
"I'll certainly ask, my dear," Merlin said fondly. Anything for the flower girl. Leon rolled his eyes.
"Oh, and some of that lemon cream cake from the cafe!" Yuffie cried. "And those peanut butter candies! What?" she added when Cid guffawed. "I'm going through withdrawal here!"
Leon rubbed furiously at his brow. This was going to take a lot longer than he had planned. He turned to Cloud. "What about you? I know you need some things."
"Well..." Cloud replied hesitantly, afraid of pushing Leon over the edge, "if it's not too much trouble, you could pick up the stuff I left at the Coliseum..."
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Thankfully, everything went smoothly, especially after Merlin agreed to let Leon drop him off at Disney Castle while Leon took care of business in Traverse Town, and they were back in Hollow Bastion late that afternoon with all of the requested items, as well as a shipload of fresh produce and an agreement with the delivery service to be added to their weekly route.
"Several of the residents expressed an interest in moving to Hollow Bastion," Leon added, "so I made arrangements with Mayor Geppetto to be added to the Refugee Relocation Program. And I put the word out that we're open for business if anyone wants to open a shop here." Everyone nodded in approval. More people and some shops would be a welcome addition.
Merlin started pulling everyone's goodies from his bag and handing them out. Aerith put the requested pots and pans in the kitchen and then got out her garden plots. They would need some redesigning in order to incorporate the abundant assortment of seeds in neatly labeled packets so graciously gifted by Minnie. There were even a dozen packets of vegetable seeds. Aerith didn't have any experience with growing vegetables, but she would do her best to make Leon happy.
Cid looked over his new hardware supplies and then started unpacking and setting up the new computer. It was better than he could have wished for, all state of the art with a very large monitor. He was like a kid in a candy shop!
Speaking of which...
Yuffie ripped open the bag of donuts and started stuffing them in her mouth as fast as she could, one after the other.
"How the hell can you even taste those if you just swallow them whole?" Cid asked.
"Rrrstlldwscshush!" she answered, crumbs falling from her mouth.
"Yuffie!" Aerith cried. "You're getting powdered sugar all over the floor!"
Leon went into the kitchen to put away his groceries – and to get away from the chaos in the living room. He was so looking forward to something other than canned stew for dinner! Cloud followed him and picked up an unusual orange fruit from the counter. "What's this?"
"It's called a mango," Leon answered. "Came from some tropical world that was recently added to the route."
Cloud washed it off and attempted to slice it in half, but encountered a large pit in the middle. He rotated the fruit and tried again, again hitting the hard seed in the middle. "How the hell are you supposed to cut the thing?" he asked.
"I don't know," Leon admitted. "I've never had one either."
Cloud picked up the foreign fruit once again and proceeded to slice off small strips, separating the juicy flesh from the seed the best he could. He stuck a strip in his mouth and scraped the flesh off the tough skin with his teeth. "It's really good," he said, juice running down his chin. "Messy, but good."
Leon came over and picked up one of the slices, following Cloud's lead in using his teeth to scrape off the flesh. "Mmm, sweet," he nodded in agreement, and the two of them stood over the sink, sucking on slices of mango. The only thing sweeter, Leon thought, watching the juice trickle down to Cloud's throat, would be licking it off.
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While Leon and Merlin had been gone, the others had rearranged their living spaces. Aerith and Yuffie had finished cleaning the small bedroom and moved in all of their things, and Cid had moved into the corner that they had vacated. They then relocated Cloud and Leon's mattress to Cid's old corner, freeing up their previous spot next to the kitchen for the new computer.
The new arrangement was more efficient, Leon had to admit, but he eyed the bookshelf they had placed alongside his and Cloud's bed warily. It was true that it gave them more privacy, but he wasn't sure that was a good thing.
With their new home set up to accommodate too many people in too small a space as comfortably as possible, everyone turned to their self-appointed projects the following day.
With the new computer up and working, Cid put the final touches on his new defense system, and with the hardware supplies from Traverse Town, he began the actual assembly and installation of the devices themselves.
Armed with the garden tools from the shed, the seeds from Minnie, and Yuffie's help, Aerith set about turning her garden graphs into reality. As soon as the sun was up, she was in the backyard with a shovel, turning the soil and setting up a compost pile in the back corner for all of Leon's forthcoming vegetable scraps.
Merlin turned to his own two personal tools: Leon and Cloud. "It's time to start looking for Ansem's lab," he stated.
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"I'm not even sure where to start," Leon said once they were standing in front of the main castle entrance. "I've only been all the way to the top of the castle once, right after we got here, and I didn't have time to check anything out. Aerith and Yuffie were with me, and we were in a hurry to find Sora."
"Right." Cloud nodded. "Well, in my experience, evil laboratories are usually buried deep underground. That waterway under the castle might be a good place to start."
Once they reached the level below, they traveled via large bubbles into the passageways beneath the castle. Unfortunately, after spending a couple of hours pressing switches that opened gates into other areas, then backtracking when they came to a dead end to look for other switches to open other gates, they had found nothing of interest other than a passageway leading to the back of the castle that had been blocked by large chunks of rubble.
"Well, I guess that's out," Leon said.
"Hmm," Cloud agreed. "So I guess we try the castle itself. Maybe there's a way down from there."
Cloud followed as Leon made his way through the castle gate to the secret passageway in the library that led to the lift stops and the rest of the castle. When they came to the first lift stop, Leon navigated it easily enough, as well as the second, checking each floor as they went. They found the main kitchen and rooms for the staff, a dining room, a conference room, and a separate wing for guests, but no way down. When they returned to the lift stops to continue upward, Leon activated the wrong portal, and they ended up back where they started.
They turned around and retraced their way back to where they had been, but from that point on, things went from bad to worse. The lifts never took you where you thought they would, and Leon ended up leading them in circles; confident he was selecting the correct lift to take them to some area they could clearly see, only to end up somewhere else entirely.
The whole castle was confusing, with its hidden areas and secret passages, and the lift stop system was like one big stupid maze. It was impossible to tell where you were or even where you had been, much less where you wanted to go, and twice, Leon had gotten on the same lift that took them all the way back to the front gate. And of course, you couldn't just get back on that same lift to return to where you had been – oh no, you had to go all the way back through the castle – and Leon was getting angrier and more frustrated with every step he took as they climbed the castle for the third time.
All the while Cloud followed behind without saying a word, smiling to himself. He was thoroughly enjoying Leon's little display of temper – as well as Leon's lovely ass – and feeling somewhat relieved to learn that the perfect Mr. Leonhart wasn't infallible after all. Cloud began to get a little concerned, however, when Leon started muttering to himself about confusing castles and demented designers, and when the man started to get on the wrong lift for the third time, necessitating a fourth trip back through the castle, Cloud pulled him back and blocked his path. "Leon," he chuckled, "you really have no sense of direction."
"There's nothing wrong with my sense of direction." Leon growled. "What the fuck is it with these sadistic castle designers? Is there something wrong with elevators? Or stairs?" When Cloud didn't answer, but just continued to smirk at him with a quiet look of amusement, Leon finally snapped. "I suppose you think you can do better? Fine, be my guest!"
So Cloud took the lead, and things went much smoother from that point on, proving that Cloud could indeed do better. Though it was true that Leon was quite competent at finding his way outdoors where there were landmarks and stars to navigate by, he got turned around when faced with indoor spaces where everything looked the same, and by the time they reached the lift to the Castle Chapel, he was ready to concede Cloud's clear superiority. No wonder Cloud's friends had made him their leader back on Gaia.
"I just wish I'd had you with me in the Tomb of the Unknown King," he muttered to himself.
"So, how did you manage to find your way all the way up here when you were looking for Sora." Cloud asked as they rode the lift up.
Leon hung his head and looked at Cloud through the hair hanging in his eyes. "Well, you know Yuffie," he said, "always running on ahead..."
"Ah." Cloud laughed. "So you followed Yuffie."
When the lift reached its destination, Leon stepped off and started down a hallway to the right, ignoring the large, heavy door in front of them. Cloud walked straight to it. "What's this?" he asked, pressing his hand to the door.
Leon placed his hand on Cloud's arm to pull him back. "That's just the chapel. I've already explored it; there's nothing much there."
"Nothing much there? Isn't that where Sora fought Maleficent?"
Leon sighed. "It's ... dark."
"Nothing I haven't faced before." Cloud scoffed and pushed open the door. Leon reluctantly followed, joining the other man in the middle of the room. Cloud was staring at the scorch marks on the walls and the claw marks on the floor. "Right. She turned into a dragon ... I had forgotten that." He shook his head. "That Sora is a lucky kid."
"That door over there leads to the Grand Hall," Leon pointed out. "That's where the Princesses of Heart were held, and the keyhole is beyond that. I'm sure there's no way down from there."
"Still, I'd like to check it out while we're here if it's okay with you."
Leon acquiesced, but the area was as he had said, so they made their way back through the chapel and headed down the hallway to explore the rest of the floor. The hall led to a separate wing on the left at the back of the castle, a door on the opposite side of the hall, and a turret at the end. They opened the door on the left and entered into a private suite.
There were a couple of large rooms, one with a massive stone fireplace and floor to ceiling windows with French doors in the middle that led out onto a balcony overlooking the surrounding mountains. The second room was slightly smaller, but just as elegant, with a another wall of windows and a walk-in closet. A luxurious bathroom with a large sunken tub, and a kitchenette with a small built-in booth completed the suite.
"You think this was Ansem's living quarters?" Leon wondered aloud.
"Sure looks that way." Cloud nodded in agreement. Though the rooms were currently empty, they were certainly fit for a king. "I wonder what happened to the furniture."
"Maybe Maleficent didn't like Ansem's décor?"
Cloud snorted. "Not gloomy enough for her tastes. Still, you have to wonder why she would have bothered to move it. I don't think she spent any time time in here; there's no taint from her presence. Probably didn't like all the light from those windows, either."
"Well, I do," Leon said. "Maybe I'll move up here when I can find the time. Some space away from the others would be nice."
"Yeah, that little house is far too small for all of us."
"You could come too," Leon added. "There's more than enough room here for both of us."
A smile brightened Cloud's face. "I'd like that."
They left the suite and opened the door on the opposite side of the hall, which turned out to be a large storage room crammed full of furnishings. There was a regal bedroom suite, some tables and chairs and lamps, and some decorative items such as paintings and rugs. "Well, that solves that mystery," Cloud said, "at least as to the where if not the why."
"At least she didn't burn it," Leon added.
They closed the door and entered the small turret, which housed only a winding set of stairs leading up and down. The stairs up led to a rooftop deck with a commanding view of the entire area surrounding the castle and a sitting area with some patio furniture and the remains of a container garden.
They made their way back down the stairs to the bottom where they found three doors. The first door opened into a short hallway that led to a secret entrance into the main part of the castle near the library. The second one led to a long hallway that ended at a private, hidden exit from the castle, fairly close the side exit they had found that led to the bailey, and the third led down a longer flight of stairs to an area beneath the back of the castle. The entrance to this area was also blocked with debris. Another dead end.
"Bingo," Cloud said. "This leads to the same place as the other impassable passage in the waterway."
"Right," Leon agreed. If Cloud said it led to the same place, who was he to argue?
"What about that path around the outside of the castle?" Cloud asked as they climbed the stairs back to the exit. "It leads to the rear of the castle, right?"
"Yes, but it's blocked too."
"And you're sure there's no way around it?"
Leon nodded. "I'm sure. It will require heavy equipment to clear it. Fortunately, there's a crane over there already. Unfortunately, it doesn't work. We can take a look if you want."
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt – not that I doubt you."
They searched high and low for a way past the mountain of rubble, but the path was well and truly blocked. There was no going around it or through it, nor over or under. They checked the crane and found it a complete wreck as well. It had obviously been used to destroy the path, and then it too had been destroyed. Three paths, all leading to the same place, and all three deliberately blocked. Sabotage. Someone had done a very thorough job of making sure no one got in.
The day had been one of dead ends. Though they were confident they had determined the location of the lab, they were no closer to actually reaching it. The easiest way to access the area would be from outside if Cid could get the crane in working order; it would be too difficult to unblock the passages beneath the castle itself without further compromising the stability of the structure above.
They returned to the house to report their disappointing findings to Merlin.