"Yield?"
It was sunset, the sun painting the sky above Hollow Bastion a beautiful purple and gold, and two people living there couldn't care less.
Leon lay on his back in The Great Maw, Cloud on top of him, the blonde straddling one of his legs, one knee digging into Leon's hip, the other pinning one of the brunette's wrists to the ground by his side. Leon's other hand, clutching his Gunblade, was grasped by one of Cloud's hands, and pulled across his torso, pinned against his ribs, while Cloud's other hand was holding his Buster sword right against Leon's neck.
"Yield?" Cloud repeated.
The brunette felt the hand pinned against the ground start to tingle and go numb and he sighed, the hand pinned against his ribs dropping his Gunblade in a sign of defeat, the hilt falling the last few inches to the stone ground and letting out a quiet clunk.
Smirking, Cloud rose his sword a little higher and twirled it a little, before plunging it back down, at Leon's neck. The brunette didn't flinch or struggle. A tiny cut appeared on Leon's neck, right next to where Cloud's Buster sword stood, halfway impaled into the stone beside Leon's head.
"Trusting aren't you?" Cloud hummed, a smug smirk on his face as he shifted his weight purely onto the knee digging into Leon's hip, the brunette quickly yanking his hand out from under he blonde's other knee, letting out a quiet grunt at the pain of a good seventy kilos of muscle and ego digging into his hip, before Cloud placed his other knee back onto the ground again and evened out his weight.
"I know you won't kill me," Leon smirked. "Aerith would be quite upset." he stated, yanking his other gloved hand out of Cloud's grasp, removing his Gunblade from digging into his ribs on the ground. "Guilt, and all that."
The blonde waved a hand in the air nonchalantly, still straddling one of the brunette's legs, his sword impaled in the ground beside Leon's neck. "I've been thinking about that. If I told Aerith you died from alcohol-poisoning, she won't be as upset."
Leon let out a snort. "Right. Alcohol-poisoning causes one's insides to explode out of your chest and your head to remove itself."
Cloud waved his hand again. "A mere technicality."
Raising a hand, Leon flicked the back of his finger against the blade of the sword only just pressing against his neck, a metallic 'twang' ringing through the air. Cloud understood the movement and rose a hand, yanking the sword out of the rock and standing up, stepping away from the brunette and shouldering the gleaming blade.
Leon made a movement to get up, but the moment he shifted his back, pain shot through his body and he quickly and stiffly lay back down, teeth gritted slightly. Slipped disk. Oh, goodie.
Downing an Elixir with as little movement possible, Leon felt the disk in his back snap back into place, and his numerous flesh-wounds heal. Standing up and hooking his Gunblade on his hip, Leon glanced at Cloud, who had already healed himself and was slowly massaging at his left arm, his Buster sword in it's sheath on his back.
Turning, the brunette started walking for the Crystal Fissure, hearing the quiet thumps of Cloud's footsteps follow behind him, and the musical tinkle of the blonde's belt-buckles and earring.
The two men entered Merlin's house just as it was starting to get dark, the brunette continuing into the house and to his room, while the blonde walked into the bathroom for a quick shower.
Leon walked back into the living-room a few minutes later, wearing clean clothes, and a book in hand. He walked over to Cid, asking if there was anything he could do, the older man sitting in front of the computer, as always. Cid just waved a hand at him and told him to 'get his leather-clad ass out of his way or he'd find a cattle-prod stuck up it'.
A while later, the living-room was filled with life; casserole and rice placed in bowls on the coffee-table in the centre of the room, everyone sitting in couches around it.
Yuffie and Sora were stuffing their faces, Aerith and Tifa talking animatedly, Merlin was turning his rice into little white animals that trotted around in the air, and Cid was whacking Yuffie over the head with his fork when the ninja tried to eat his food.
Leon sat in one of the recliners, tapping his fork against his lip, reading his book silently, his bowl of food placed on a towel in his lap, gloves in his pockets. He heard a soft creak of floorboards and he glanced up, to see Cloud standing in the archway of the kitchen, watching them all, a small frown on his face.
After a moment, Aerith came over to the blonde swordsman and offered him a place beside her, and he just shook his head, saying something that Leon couldn't quite hear.
Aerith seemed mildly taken aback, but a warm smile came across her face after a moment, and she cupped the back of Cloud's head, letting him lean down, before she placed a kiss on the blonde's forehead. Stroking Cloud's cheek as he opened his eyes and straitened up, the pretty flower girl smiled at him.
"Good luck," she murmured.
Nodding hesitantly, Cloud turned away and walked past Leon and out the front door without a glance back.
Wandering back to her seat, Aerith sank into her cushions and brought her bowl of dinner to her lap again. She hoped Cloud would win this time, instead of being beaten physically and mentally.
Looking up when there was a loud cry from Sora, claiming Yuffie took his bowl, the pretty flower girl noticed that Leon's chair was empty.
Walking up the stairs of the borough, Cloud ignored the tinkle of his belts and trinkets, his hands in his pockets as he turned the corner and walked purposefully toward the grates leading to the bailey. The moon was only just starting to raise. It was a beautiful night.
Raising a hand to push the grates open, Cloud paused, his fingertips against the cold metal. Turning his head minutely, he looked over his shoulder.
Leon stood a few metres behind him, hands in his pockets, stormy eyes fixed on Cloud, a frown on his face.
The blonde looked back in front of him, his fingers slowly curling around the rusted metal metal of the grate. Pursing his lips slightly, Leon understood.
Cloud was going to fight Sephiroth.
He was going to risk his life again to destroy his darkness; risk his life again to fight a near-impossible foe. If he failed, he could die.
Cloud heard Leon's footsteps slowly advancing on him, and he just stared blankly through the metal grate, his fingers of his left arm curling tighter around the sharp, rusted metal, while his right arm hung at his side. What was he going to get, he wondered. A 'good luck'? 'Don't worry, you'll win'? 'Don't you dare die on me'?
Warm, smooth, unhindered fingers curled around Cloud's wrist and the blonde felt all of those statements and more get transmitted through that simple act, Leon's fingers slowly enveloping Cloud's wrist, the blonde's pulse beating slowly against the brunette's thumb.
The two men stood there for a time, neither one moving away, neither one trying to count the minutes, neither one saying a word.
Finally, there was a bang of Merlin's door slamming open forcefully beneath them and Cloud swept the grates open with a loud scrape, looking over his shoulder at Leon.
Both men just looked at each other; blue eyes glowing in the dark, stormy, blue-grey eyes darkening. Finally, Cloud looked back in front of him and walked into the tunnel that went to the bailey, Leon's fingers, slack, grazing across the blonde's wrist before falling to his side, the blonde disappearing into the pitch dark tunnel.
"Cloud!" Tifa cried, running up the stairs and past Leon, her hair flying out behind her. "Cloud!" She disappeared into the tunnel too, and the grates swung closed.
Grey eyes slowly lowered themselves to the ground, and Leon turned and walked back to Merlin's house, slipping his hand back into his pocket.
((TBC. No idea what to say except enjoy, and I'm running slow on the fifth-last chapter because of groping difficulties and torchwood distractions. Read and Review, please!))