A/N: Oh. My. God.

That's all I have to say. I could ramble on about... how sorry I am for not updating in a YEAR- but I won't. Because it has many reasons- WHICH are not important to you guys xD

I can only hope that you're still with me. AND for the record- I am IN THE GAME again! Totally!

Please forgive me for the... awkwardness and emoness of this chapter. Remember, I haven't written anything in over 11 months!! Oo

Reviews are HIGHLY appreciated- even though I probably don't deserve them at all.


Healing

Chapter Seven

"Rage"

-

There was a fire indeed.

And a massive one at that.

By the time Leon and Cloud had managed to get themselves torn away from one another and conquered the ten-about steps leading to the hallway, the smoke had already settled in the lower parts of the stairwell. Black, thick smoke welling out from a source that Leon reckoned couldn't be anything but the kitchen.

The kitchen? What the...?

It was in the middle of the night, and as far as he knew, Aerith had been the only one up when he went upstairs, and she wasn't exactly known to burn suff, much less let it burn long enough to create such a massive wall of dark, foul smelling smoke.

As they moved down and into the blackness, he even started feeling the heat tearing in his nostrils, making his eyes water and his throat itch like crazy. This coulnd't be just small cooking-fire. No hotplate in any world out there would ever be able to create a full-blown fire this fast. Let alone one that escalated like this.

Then what had caused it?

He didn't need to think long to come up with an answer.

Magic.

The only thing that could cause such an event would be magic, Leon though as he leaped down the final steps and landed on the first floor, boots slamming fiercly into the squeaking wood beneath them. This fire had to be created with the help of magic.

But the question was, who or what could have done something like this?

Oh well, it wasn't a time to ponder. They would, he reckoned, figure that out soon enough.

Covering his face with the sleeve of his arm, the gunblader reached out behind him and placed his palm on Cloud's chest. "Stay here!" He outed sternly, voice muffled by the fabric covering his mouth.

He knew the command was ridicolous even before it had fully left him, and the rough shove he recieved in return was the answer he'd known he'd get.

Cloud wasn't gonna sit back and watch Leon put out a fire, and the brunet knew it was useless to start an argument, even if they both knew Cloud shouldn't be doing anything remotely stressfull at the moment, due to his condition. Absolutely useless. The swordsman was just as stubborn as Leon, if not worse.

With this in mind, the brunet let the thought of protecting Cloud from danger leave him, and letting the blond do as he wished, he got his limbs in motion and sprinted for the kitchen. Before he got there however, he was stopped abruptly by something crashing into his abandomen, and judging by the suprised yelp coming from below, the "something" he had bumped into was none other than Yuffie Kisaragi.

"Leon!" She yelled, her voice reflecting the panic he felt himself. "What's going on?!"

"Yuffie!" He barked back, using the arm that wasn't covering his face, to push her out of the way, "get Merlin! There is a fire!"

He knew he was stating the obvious, but right then he was too concerned about the current situation to care.

Yuffie however, must have picked up on it, cause as she passed him she gave a sarcastic snort, loud enough for him to hear over the cracking of burning wood.

"No shit!"

-

Everything happened extremely fast from there, and later Leon found he couldn't even remember anything from the fifteen-thereabout minutes he and Cloud spent on locating the fire (which was, for the record, not located anywhere near the stove, but on the opposite wall from it in the kitchen), and trying to put it out.

They had tried casting every spell they thought would work on it, but nothing seemed to affect it, something which just added certainity to Leon's theory. This wasn't a natural fire. Not by far.

Where the heck was Merlin?!

After a good ten minutes, it became evident to Leon that it was nothing they could do to stop the raging inferno, and that the wisest move they could make at that point was retreating to somewhere safe. He stepped back a little and started scouting for Cloud, whom he knew was in there with him somewhere.

"Cloud!" He yelled, his voice hoarse from inhaling smoke. "Cloud! We gotta get out of here!"

"Leon!" An equally rough voice replied, indicating where the blond was located, "where are you?!"

Moving towards the source of the sound, Leon blinked furisouly, trying to ease the burning sensation in his eyes. "I'm here!" He almost tripped over a fallen chair, "where are you?!"

"I'm- ahh-!" Came the breathless reply.

And he saw him.

The gunblader wasn't sure of when or how it happened but sometime during their exhasperating fight with the flames, Cloud had apparently dropped to the ground, proably to avoid deirect contact with the scolding, dark breath of heat. He was supporting himself on his arms, his nails diggin into the old, splintered material beneath him, a pained look grazing his features. He was heaving for his breath, neck bowed, his nose almost touching the floor.

Leon was about to rush over, when something came crashing down from above, missing him only by a few inches. Through the darkness of the room he saw Cloud's crouched body on the other side of the fallen object, which he now identified as a broken rafter.

"CLOUD!"

The scream, possibly coming from himself, filled his ears, and black dots started to appear infront of his eyes.

All of a sudden, his vision shrinked completely and again the gruesome image of Cloud's limp figure on the ground came rusing to his mind.

"Stay awake!"

Instead of the demolished kitchen, he now saw an outdoor scene. A scene that had been hunting him every night for the past couple of weeks.

Blood. Splatters all over the hard, stony surface beneath Cloud's body. Slowly running away from him, pumped further and further from his veins with every heartbeat. His life leaving him right before Leon's eyes.

The gunblader felt his breath hitch, and without realizing, he clutched his chest.

Leon could see it all now. Again.

The vibrant red smeared accross Cloud's abandomen. A sickening contrast to the deathly paleness of his skin. The helpless look on the blond's face as his back started arching, the fluttering of his eyeleashes, the desperate plea for help in his azure eyes.

"Cloud!"

All of a sudden, his body started trembling, and for some reason, his weight was suddenly too heavy for his legs to carry. He fell to his knees, and with something akin to a whimper, he slouched forward and buried his face in his hands.

Leon

"No!" He didn't even notice that the sound emitted from himself. He was too far away, too lost in the horrible world of remembrance- and all he recognized was the pained, terrified expression lingering within that cerulean stare. He was gonna lose Cloud! Cloud was gonna die! Right there, in his arms, and there was nothing he could do to prevent it. He felt like a little child again, completely lacking control of the situation.

Alone, powerless and scared. Scared to death of losing the one thing that-

"Leon!"

"No, no, no, no, no...." It became a mantra, the rythm of the words strangely soothing as he repeated them over and over while rocking back and forth.

"LEON!"

The scene suddenly buzzed before his eyes, disheveled, and he realized someone was there with him, in the midst of the smoke. Someone was at his side, pulling at him, yelling something about an explosion in his ear.

What? An explosion?

In the last second, he managed to snap out of it, only in time to see Yuffie's terrified face only centimeters from his own. He opened his mouth to ask her what the fuck she was talking about-

-but he didn't even manage to open his mouth before she practically tackled him off his feet.

Everything was a blurr from there on. The feeling off hot glass colliding with his skull, breaking at the harsh contact, sending a shower of shards down his neck. Yuffie's arms around him, her cheek against his chest, and her fingers clawing at the back of his shirt.

Somewhere behind him he heard a deep rumble, followed by a highpitched tune, and then- he heard no more. His vision went black for a split second- a giant wave of heat slammed against their bodies and all of a sudden, some invisible force grabbed ahold of them and flung them forwards with a speed he'd never in is life experienced.

A few moments later, he found himself sprawled on the ground outside the cottage, half of Yuffie's body covering his. There was a throbbing pain in the back of his head and the air had been knocked out of him, so his lungs were hurting with every intake of breath. When he lifted his head he realised they had been jumping through a window, hitting it with such a force that not only the glass, but parts of the frame broke, leaving a gaping, sharp-edged hole in the wall.

With a small gasp, he tried to sit up, causing the knocked out ninja on top of him to stir faintly, a soft groan leaving her lips.

"Ugh..." She slid off him, shaking her head. Her hair was tousled, and her gaze seemed unfocused, confused. "Squally?"

"Leon." The gunblader shot in automatically, his eyes still fixed on the broken window, from which smoke was swirling up into the dark, starry sky. Leon watched it for a couple of seconds, his mind blank. Then, realization dawned upon him, and the blood froze in his veins.

There had been an explosion!

"CLOUD!"

The small girl by his side let out a heaving sigh. "Whaaa-"

Leon got to his feet even before Yuffie could even blink.

"Cloud! He was in there!" Leon was practically screaming hysterically now, the pain in his head completely forgotten.

"Leon, I-"

"-we have to go back inside! He might be hurt!"

He twirled on his heel he started running towards the entrance of the cottage.

"Leon!" Yuffie was running after him, "Leon! WAIT!"

He didn't listen, he just kept moving. He had to find Cloud. Make sure he was safe! However, before he could get that far, something hard hit him in the back.

"LEON!"

He spun around. "WHAT?!"

His eyes locked with tired sapphire ones, and in a flash, everything around him dissolved. He froze on the spot, his arms falling limply to his sides. He could do nothing but stare at the face before him, blinking dumbly, not able to move a muscle.

Cloud's face and hair was covered in ash, making the color of his eyes seem even brighter than usual, and his clothing was torn and burnt several places, giving Leon small glimpses of his skin through the shredded fabric.

Suddenly, his throat felt impossibly swollen and his hands started trembling swiftly.

"How..?" He managed to croak out before his voice cracked. How could the blond be outside with them? Leon had seen him on the floor, just before Yuffie came for him! There was no possible way that he could have escaped without the brunet noticing. Was there?

The blond soldier sported something between a grimace and a smile, before shrugging. "I'm faster than you think Leonheart."

The comment made Leon raise a brow even though he was still in shock.

"Apparently."

A short answer. But inside, his heart was dancing.


A/N: TO BE CONTINUED! SOON! I had the whole damned thing written down... and I lost it when my computer crashed. So, I have to create a somewhat alternate ending- BUT this is a work in progress. And soon enough, I will be back in business!

Heh... also, I'm sure I wasn't the only one who noticed all the: "LEON!" "CLOUD!" "YUFFIE!" "CLOUD!" "LEON!" "CLOUD" "CLOUD" "YUFFIE" "LEON!!!"

/N: Now..