Midnight

Leon opened his eyes, to his surprise he had managed to fall asleep despite his earlier nap. Looking out the broken window he saw it was now pitch black and the moon was high in the sky. Rubbing his eyes he stood up and opened the door. Stopping in the frame he arched his back; sleeping on the floor probably wasn't the wisest thing to do.

As he stretched he heard a soft, whooshing noise. It reminded him of magic portals and when he looked towards the courtyard he was correct.

He ducked down behind the wall grabbing his gunblade. From the portal a hooded figure stepped out and looked around. He couldn't see their face but he could tell it was a woman from the figure and ensemble. She wore a tight fitting black mini dress which went across the top of the breasts. Attached were long, flowy sleeves and a dark blue belt went across the waist; a katana swung from her hip. On her feet were knee high boots which were colour co-ordinated with the dress. Her cloak was long and a very dark blue.

Is she from the organisation? Leon thought observing her cloak

But just as he thought that, a few Heartless came out of the portal behind her. She ignored them and let them go about their business. Leon had to resist every urge to destroy them all and ruin his hiding place. He was far too curious about the stranger and wanted to see what she was up to.

He watched her for a while just observing her surroundings. She only moved from her spot when she saw the Missing and Memorial wall. Walking over to it she eyed all the Missing posters first. Leon saw her hesitate slightly and the flyer which belonged to Rinoa. Then as she moved along she entered the Memory side. She placed her finger over the names as she read them but when she reached a certain brick she clenched her hand into a fist. Leon raised an eyebrow his heart beating ferociously. The brick she had stop at belonged to "Squall Leonhart".

The woman stood staring at it for a while until soon Leon heard a soft sob. His eyes opened wide and he knelt a little higher. He noticed in the dim lamplight that her whole body was shaking. And then her cries turned louder. He watched as she moved her free hand to her face and her cries became muffled. Then her legs buckled and she kneeled at the bottom of the wall her hand grazed as it slid down the wall. She leant against the wall and shook her head viscously. But then just as Leon was about to go to her she stood and ran back into the portal. It was now as her back shone towards the light that he noticed on her cloak was a pair of white wings resembling those on his own jacket. He started to breath deeply and then watched as the portal began to close. He kept looking back and forth from wall to portal and then in a moment of impulse he ran towards it and threw himself into the dark abyss.

X X X

"Morning everyone!" Sora sang cheerfully as he entered Merlin's house, he looked around at all the sad faces "What wrong?"

It was then when everyone stirred; they looked at him and smiled.

"Morning Sora," Aerith sighed "When did you get here?"

Sora stepped back in surprise.

"Don't worry about them," Paine fluttered over to his side "They've been like this all morning"

Aerith, Yuffie, Merlin, Cid and Cloud were sitting in complete silence. Yuffie was staring out the window, Merlin was using magic to make a pot of tea, Cid just sat on his computer fingering the keyboard and Cloud was leaning against the wall, but then Sora didn't really think he was acting different. He looked over to Aerith who was sitting at Merlin's table timidly munching on a chocolate biscuit.

"Why? What's going on?"

"Today's the three year anniversary of when the Heartless invaded and Radiant Garden was destroyed," Yuffie said still lingering out the window.

"Oh…I'm sorry," Sora said lowering his head slightly

Yuffie turned around and smiled,

"Don't worry, we'll be ok, this day is just hard on all of us,"

"Where's Leon?"

"Oh, he's probably sitting in his hotel room staring at the ceiling…or going around destroying every Heartless in sight," Merlin remarked as he poured himself a cup of the hot drink "Although this day is hard on each of us he has two reasons to be sad"

"Taday was Rinoa's birthday," Cid explained circling on his chair.

"Umm…Rinoa? The girl with black hair?" Sora asked

"Yes, we were celebrating her birthday when they attacked," Aerith started her story "None of us were prepared. It's strange everyone was happy before they came but it seemed every smile Rinoa gave was forced. Leon…well he was Squall back then, kept asking her what was wrong but she just stroke his arm and said it was the classic 'Birthday Blues' people sometimes get. But she was only twenty-four. Usually people get them when they're turning forty or so. So everybody carried on as normal as possible, then just after she blew out the candles on her cake the ground began to shake and from the direction of the castle millions of Heartless flooded…" she stuttered as if difficult to go on. Noticing her trouble Cloud carried on,

"We all fought as much as we could. Some people lost their lives while others got seriously injured. Some of us had learned portal spells and we open a few but most of us were in such a hurry we didn't set a destination and they ended up anywhere. Rinoa's a sorceress and she used her powers to destroy a good few hundred. But they kept on coming. Soon we had to give up. Everyone who could, entered the portals. But a few of us stayed behind to help any others…Rinoa, Squall and myself ran all around Radiant Garden and she opened portals to safe locations sending them through. Then when we were sure there was no one left we started to make our way through, she managed to open a portal and I ran through first…that was the last time I saw her,"

"Squall arrived in Traverse Town alone and forever called himself Leon," Yuffie continued now "He'd decided the name Squall was sacred and was shunned because he couldn't protect Rinoa"

"What happened to her?" Sora asked interested deeply in the story

"We don't know he hasn't told a single soul and if we ask he walks away as if he didn't hear us…I don't think anyone will ever know what happened that day between them…"

X X X

"Ahh!"

"Are you hurt?" He knew she was getting weaker every time she cast a spell. She had fallen to the floor in exhaustion.

"I'm fine, just need to rest a bit!"

Squall leant down to pick her up but had to stop as countless numbers of heartless appeared on the horizon. He moved in front of her drawing his gunblade vowing to protect her with all his life.

"Leave; it's me they want and you know it!"

He squatted by her side holding her left hand; rubbing his thumb over the diamond ring and wedding band next to it. He shook his head,

"Don't be stupid, I'm not leaving you and I never will"

"You'll die if you don't go now, the portal's about to close!"

Once again he went to pick her up.

"No, you have to leave me here. They'll just keep on following you,"

"Stop it! I'm not leaving you! If we die, we die together!"

He watched as she turned her head away. She looked at the portal closely. With each second that passed it became smaller and smaller. She sighed deeply.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not going to let you die because of me,"

With that she lifted her hands and with a powerful magic she threw him toward the portal. He yelled as he was forced to enter it. He looked back as his wife. She was now unconscious on the floor and the heartless were covering her body.

No matter how much he struggled he couldn't free himself. He watched her open her eyes and lift her head. She went to say something but it was too late and the heartless had covered her completely and the portal was gone.

But he still heard her scream,

"SQUALL!!"