A/N: So sorry about the long wait but when you have exams and assignments on top of a killer writer's block, that tends to happen. Assuming you didn't label something with my pen-name and then brutally mutilate it, thank you for being so patient.

Warnings: Flashbacks

Chapter Two

Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light.
Everyone loved the light.
Then people began to fight over it.
They wanted to keep it for themselves.
And darkness was born in their hearts.
The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts.
It covered everything, and the world disappeared.
But small fragments of light survived…in the hearts of children.
-Kingdom Hearts I

XXX

Cid tightened his grip on the small boy in his arms as the castle gates clanged shut behind them. The road was wet and slippery as he slowly made his way to where an old grey car was parked a small distance away from the looming structure, careful not to slip or drop Squall. He shivered slightly as a cold face pressed against his neck, small whimpers emitting from the anguished boy. He smiled sadly, adjusting his hold so that he could pull out the keys and unlock the door before opening it, gently sliding Squall into the seat and buckling him in. With a final look at the castle Cid sighed and slipped into the driver's seat, quickly starting the car and driving off.

From the corner of his eye he observed the small child sitting dully in the seat next to him, those silver eyes staring lifelessly at the dash board. He shook his head, closing his eyes briefly before signalling a right turn. The affectionate little boy he knew had disappeared, retreating deeply within Squall's mind. It left a quiet, brooding child with eyes dulled by a pain no person should ever bear.

He exhaled quietly before fixing a wide grin onto his face and turning to Squall. "Hey Squally, how's about we go bother Aerith and her folks for a nice dinner?"

Squall nodded complacently. Cid sighed. Maybe Aerith could bring back the little boy he was so fond of.

XXX

What the hell was that?!

Trudging back up to the castle Cloud scowled, fingers flexing at his sides. He narrowed his eyes in thought as Leon's words and expression echoed across his mind, trying to pick up something from his memories that he failed to observe at the time. A frown marred his face as he looked skywards. There was not a lot to work with and he'd never been adept at reading people; that was more Tifa's forte. The absolute fear in those low, rasping pleas kept circling around him and he felt like he was missing something important. Curiosity slowly uncurled itself from deep within his mind, stretching and perking its ears much like a cat. A long finger tapped his chin, a sigh drifting in the cool night air; Leon had never had nightmares at Merlin's. They'd been forced to share the floor by the computer so he'd have definitely known if Leon had so much as twitched in his sleep. The castle was where they started…so maybe that was where whatever it was happened?

Life, Cloud had long since concluded, was like a jigsaw puzzle. The pieces were all connected yet separate in their own way. The edges of each piece marked by an event or perhaps a thought or feeling. Like a jigsaw's picture, to understand a person's life, you needed all the pieces to see it clearly. To understand Leon, Cloud needed to see those first pieces, the ones whose edges were marked with the beginning of the Heartless Invasion as opposed to those marked by the end of it.

The world which Radiant Garden resided on was dominated by the beautiful city. The misty mountains which surrounded it hosted communities, formed centuries ago by refugees from Radiant Garden during a period known as the Terror, which seldom exceeded five thousand unlike the great city which easily boasted a population of seventy thousand. Cloud's home was one of those provinces. As a child, whispers of illicit experiments in the castle and shadowy creatures stalking the city's nightlife had crept through his sleepy little town, fascinating and repelling him. Then just before his fifteenth birthday shadows had swarmed the town and he'd fallen into darkness.

Cloud leant against the castle gates, scowling thoughtfully at the stone path. Leon's eyes had seemed lighter in that moment, a lighter shade of grey-no, they were silver, honest –emotions surging and clashing, clamouring to be seen- pained…pure. Fear and a deeply ingrained hurt had dominated his eyes as tears shimmered over the other emotions, threatening to fall. His entire expression had been open, easily readable. His expression was one of terror.

Cloud frowned darkly. Normally Leon's expression was impossible to read, the brunet rarely exhibited emotions; the few times his expression had softened had been for Sora. His eyes, a darkened silver with swirls of dark blue intermingling, were normally…empty. Cloud twitched at the familiarity of that gaze, a perfect reflection of his own blue eyes. Eyes empty because dark things had somehow managed to edge their way into his heart, hurting and slowly killing him. Sephiroth. Sephiroth have given him his empty eyes but what or who had done the same to Leon? Had darkness seeped into the brunet's heart as it made his eyes so painfully empty? Somehow, despite the close group of friends constantly surrounding him that he clearly cared for, despite the resolute fervour he put into rebuilding Radiant Garden, Leon always seemed so lonely and empty-eyed. Cloud couldn't understand it; the man was a walking contradiction, full of purpose and surrounded by loved ones yet so lost, life meaningless, lonely. Much like him. He thought ruefully, a bitter smile twisting his lips.

He wished he knew just what had hurt the other man.

He wished he could understand Squall Leonhart.

And as hypocritical as it was, he wished those silver eyes would come to life.

XXX

Wide green eyes narrowed as tiny pink lips pouted as Squall meekly accepted her suggestion.

"Nooo Squall." Aerith cried, her sweetly musical, childish voice high in agitation, tugging his wrist gently. "Don't just say yes 'cause I want to. Do you want to?"

Squall looked at the floor, his silver eyes dulled and hollow within his heart shaped face.

Tugging at her pigtails, Aerith felt like crying. "Squaaaall! Come ooon! What you wanna do? Come on Squall. At least smile for me!"

Squall blinked rapidly as moisture flooded his eyes. "Aer-Aeri…"

"Squall…ah! Are you okay? I didn't do a bad thing did I?"

"Can…can I have a-a hug?"

Squall found his arms full with his best friend, the tiny girl hugging him fiercely and cooing reassurances as he buried his head in her shoulder, gulping down breaths as he clutched back.

XXX

Aerith looked around Merlin's small living area in dismay, thankful the wizard had gone off to a mountain village therefore unable to see the mess his home was in; bottles were scattered across the floor, one bottle lay across the table, spilling an amber liquid across the surface which dripped onto the floor intermittently.

That the room positively reeked of alcohol didn't help matters.

Sprawled out, half under the bed for some unknown reason was a leather-clad figure, brunet hair spilling over the floor around him. Aerith felt her eyes widened in astonishment, hurrying over and shaking his shoulder. "Leon?!"

Leon moaned softly, burying his head in his arms. "Too noishy."

She frowned sharply, prying his arms away and awkwardly dragging him out from beneath the bed and pulling him up onto it, arranging him in a sitting position leaning against the head board. Pressing a hand across his forehead she scowled lightly. "Honestly, drinking, laying on the floor…you'll wind up sick. Leon, what were you thinking?!"

"Hurtssh."

Aerith stilled at the simple word, memories of its previous use flooding her, hands falling to her side as her eyes widened in understanding. "Leon…you…had an episode today?"

He nodded limply, red-tinged eyes peering up at her. "Xeh-ha, Xena…that guy…the parlour…that knife Aeri. It won't sshtop." He whimpered, curling into himself. "Why won't it sshtop? I-I dun wanna to hurt anymo'." He looked up at her piteously, eyes wide and watery. "Aeri, can…can I have a h-hug?"

"Oh Leon…" She slid onto the bed beside him, wrapping her arms securely around his shaking form. "It'll get better, I promise, it'll get better."

He looked down, choking softly on his breath as tears slipped down over his face. She cooed quietly at him, pulling him into a hug, her own eyes glimmering with unshed tears as Leon quietly cried himself to sleep.

XXX

"Looky Squall!" She pointed a small finger to where a white cat sat preening on top of the fence. "Kitty!" She spun around suddenly, leaning in close as she peered at him intently. "Squall, did you know if you sees a white kitty on your birthy-day, one day you'll met your prince and fell in love?"

Squall's mouth hung open, indignation filling his eyes. "I'm a boy! Boys don't fell in love wit princes! They love princesses!"

Aerith pouted, her expression crestfallen as she puffed out her cheeks. "Awww. Your prince would look so cute." She smiled brightly at the image her mind concocted of her and her best friend with princes, and held out a hand. "We'll find our princes together won't we Squall?"

"But I'm a-" He broke off sighing at her wide eyed look of hope. Smiling fondly at her he slipped his hand into hers and nodded. "Yea, we'll find princes."

XXX

Aerith sighed unhappily as Leon tossed about in his sleep, hopelessly tangling himself in the sheets. Rising from her seat near the fire she quietly went over and carefully untangled him, tucking the blankets more firmly around him, gently brushing his hair away from his face before retreating back to her seat. Resting her chin on a palm she watched as he began to toss and turn again. She sighed again as small cries emitted from the sleeping man, wishing she could do more. Leon had once said that being there was more than enough. Being there wasn't enough. She now contradicted, a bitter smile forming on her lips. If it was, Leon wouldn't be in such a state.

If being there was enough, Leon would've healed and Squall would've been back.

She could remember the child who'd been called Squall. He'd been an affectionate albeit overly shy little boy, hiding his face in his father's leg or clinging to her hand whenever they were out. The two of them had lived on the same street and played together since they were in diapers. He'd been taken to the castle by a distant cousin shortly after his parents' deaths. They'd been about six then and Aerith didn't seen him again until she was nine. He'd been so different then; where she'd expected her shy and sweet little friend, a withdrawn and lifeless boy stood, meekly agreeing to whatever she said the rare times he acknowledged the world outside his mind. As a child Aerith hadn't been able to cope with it and had often grown hysterical. When they were forced to flee to Traverse Town, shortly after Squall's fourteenth birthday, she'd finally learnt. In a hollow voice Squall had told her just what had occurred at the castle as he watched their world, swept in darkness, slowly recede as the gummi ship sped through inter-space.

I just wish you could be happy…Squall.

XXX

Yuffie sneezed as Tifa blew the dust off of the thin folder they'd found wedged tightly between two thick books whose titles prominently announced them to be in depth discussions on various weed killers. No wonder no one touched them. Yuffie thought irritably as she sniffled, waving a hand in front of her face to clear the dust. Who wants to read a book that thick about weed killers? Actually who'd want to read anything about weed killers? Actually, who'd want to write it? What a waste of paper. It could've been written to write about the Great Ninja Yuffie. Poor paper.

Tifa eyed her with amusement as the younger girl grumbled and catalogued the books before peeking at the cover of the folder. Tifa frowned when she found it blank. "Odd." She murmured, flipping it open. Scanning the front page, she found an essay and quickly scanned the introduction. "Oh!"

"Tifa? What ya find?" Yuffie leaned over her arm peering at the folder. "Oh." She echoed in surprise. "It's one of Ansem's reports. I never saw this one. Better read it Tifa, might have something the others will want to know about."

X

To prove this hypothesis I've selected a young child whose heart I shall extensively study...

Tifa and Yuffie raised their eyes from the tattered notes, exchanging identical looks of mingling realisation and horror.

"Oh my god." Tifa rasped. "That bastard was sicker than we thought."

TBC

Sooooorry for the long wait! Afor such a short piece! This isn't my best piece of work but anymore and I'll kill my poor brain.