Current chronology: Call of Duty, Blackmail, Qualifications, Exposed, Clean, Demand, Officer Down. Chapters not posted here can be found on my LJ (more info in my profile).
Disclaimer: dood, fanfiction. Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, and the characters and universes therein are the property of Disney and Square Enix. I receive no remuneration for this work; it is a parody and as such utilizes the Fair Use clause of the Copyright Act.
Call of Duty: Officer Down
"I'm riding with him," Leon says again firmly, eyes hard on the medic. The man quickly concedes this time because they need to get moving and it's clear there's no changing his mind.
"Cloud, can you hear me?" Leon asks once he's seated up by the head of the gurney, mostly out of the medic's way. He brushes blood-wet strands of blond hair out from before Cloud's closed eyes with a faintly trembling hand, thumb stroking his forehead tenderly through the tape holding his head to the board and not caring at all what the EMTs might be thinking of the intimate gesture or the way he's looking at him. He has only one priority, and it's the same as theirs. He has much more at stake than keeping up appearances right now.
"En route to Mercy, ETA three minutes. Patient is a twenty-eight year old male...motorcycle hit and run...ninety over sixty, pulse...perature ninety-sev...mild head trauma, broken r...possible punctured lung..."
The voice fades in and out of Leon's head, as does the siren's scream and the motion of the ambulance and everything, because he really only has the capacity to concentrate on the wet, labored sound of Cloud breathing, the way his eyelids struggle to open, the limpness of Cloud's cold fingers in his own.
This can't be happening.
"Hang in there, Cloud."
They're at the hospital three minutes later, as predicted. Leon's usually on top of things—he has to be—but he doesn't remember the radio call or being at the scene at all now, or even any of the ride over, and he only stands there numbly when they hold him back and wheel Cloud into a sterile hall where he can't follow.
"Relationship to the patient, sir?" a nurse asks from right beside him, startling him because he didn't even notice her approach. "...Sir?" she prompts again when he doesn't respond right away.
His relationship with Cloud...
It's hard to define. They may be commander and subordinate at work, but they're friends off duty, and lovers in private—equal partners in just about everything now. They've never talked about it, but he doesn't see himself being with anybody else, ever, and he knows Cloud shares that same sentiment. It's difficult to wrap that all up into one simple statement, though, especially through the shock of their current situation and the wake-up call he's been given.
"He's...my life," Leon murmurs finally, staring down the empty hall after them.