AN:I'm pretty busy during the week, so I spent all weekend relaxing and writing this. Twelve cups of coffee later and I bring you chapter three! Wooo!

1. Still don't own anything from Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or Disney, ETC. :(

2. Sorry for any misspellings and such! Rated M for language for now.

3. A HUGE THANK YOU to those who reviewed! I was so excited for my first reviews I can't even begin to tell you how happy I wasssss! If other people are happy, I am happy! Took some more time writing this chapter so I really hope you enjoy it! Thank you for reading.

Chapter 3: We Have to Start Somewhere

Traverse Town

The sun had set and it was late now. The stars slowly began to blink into the sky one-by-one on their journey out of the desert. They reached Traverse Town well past midnight, Leon landing the Swift Storm in it's designated landing zone behind headquarters. He was now fully awake after flying through the cool night sky for hours, his mood improving as they approached civilization. Even if it wasn't the beach, it beat the desert. The fact that he had managed to put on a thin white shirt being proof of the improvement of his mood. If he could, he would be naked all of the time.

Their guest had stirred up quite the commotion throughout his crew, he could hear them gossiping about the young man as they worked the deck. What happened to him was still unknown and they would just have to wait until he woke for details, if he was willing to talk. Or If he survived.

Everyone in HQ was woken up as Leon not-so-gracefully burst through the front doors of building announcing his return. Marluxia and Dilan carrying the unconscious blond, and the rest of the crew unloading crates of supplies off of the ship. Yuffie yawned, a hand over her mouth, as she went over to two dark haired girls that came to greet them. Tifa and her younger sister Rinoa. Sora bounced over to them cheerfully. The older of the two patting his brown spikes.

"Tifa! Rinoa!Look what I found!" Sora pointed to Marluxia and Dilan excitedly as they carried the blond down a hall to a bedroom."What are you, a dog?" Tifa laughed at him, though Rinoa stood quietly staring at Leon. Leon chose to not take the chance in looking her way.

"What's going on?" Another girl emerged from down the hallway with a long brown braid held together with a pink bow and a pink matching dress. She rubbed sleep from her eyes.

"Aerith!Leon and Sora found someone in the desert!"Tifa explained. Aerith still looked confused.

"Correction, Sora found him." Leon interjected huffing and leaving to help unload cargo. Not wanting to risk explaining to Rinoa at the moment; he could feel her eyes on him.

"Did you notice what he was wearing?" Rinoa finally spoke to the group around her.

Yuffie turned to the other three girls and Sora.

"Yeah, said his name was Cloud Strife, Prince of Radiant Garden!He's in really bad shape though, can you help him out Aerith?" She nodded in reply, walking off down the hallway to the room Marluxia and Dilan had brought him to.

"Wow! I wonder what happened for him to be out in the Sea of Sand without any guards!"Tifa looked almost as excited as Sora next to her.

"Shouldn't it be more of why was he not in his kingdom to begin with?" Sora asked.

"He's only going to bring us trouble and attention we don't need." They all looked at Rinoa as she walked away in search of Leon.

"Maybe she's right." Yuffie watched her exit and turned back to the two remaining.

"But that's okay, if he does cause any trouble, Leon will just kill Sora." She laughed at the brunette gaping at her. "Just kidding!'

"You're an idiot. I hope you know that Leon."

Leon turned, setting down the crate that was in his hands.

"Radiant Garden is ally to the Southern Region. I don't think I need to be giving you a history lesson Rinoa."

She leaned against the store-room wall next to the exit. How would he escape now?

"It doesn't matter Leon! We have this alter ego for a reason! For you and Yuffie, for everyone. It doesn't seem safe to have him here. What will happen when his people come looking for him and they think we kidnapped him?"

Leon smiled slightly at this, "Blame Sora?" She stared at him harder.

"Fine, you're right. When he wakes up we will get his story. I'll take the damned kid back myself if I have to." He moved to exit the room but she grabbed onto his wrist to stop him. He didn't look down at her as she leaned up and kissed his cheek making him frown and furrow his brows.

"Don't." He clenched his fist and left her alone in the store-room.

Marluxia and Dilan came out of the room as Leon approached. Leon nodding at them as they went to their own room to retire for the night. Aerith sat in a cushioned lounge chair, Tifa at the foot of the bed. The blond looked more at peace now, breathing steady, blankets were pulled across his legs. They had removed his ruined bloody shirt and wrapped his waist with bandages though there was nothing to help the dark bruises covering his body.

"He's alright." Aerith said as Leon entered the room. "He has a cut on his side and is dehydrated of course. I gave him medicine and water and stitched his side up, he should be fine in a day or so."

" Thank you Aerith. Why don't you two get back to sleep, I'll stay."

"Are you sure? You had to fly all the way here and-"

"Aerith, I insist." She smiled and nodded, both getting up and thanking him before they left closing the door quietly behind them. Leon sighed and fell into the lounge chair, leaning back with an arm over his face. He peeked an eye out from under his arm and looked over at the bed. The blond was fast asleep and he could hear his light and even breathing. He stared at him for a moment.

"Cloud huh?" He said quietly and moved his arm back over his eye. He didn't realize how tired he actually was until he had sat in the chair. He was fighting sleep.

"What the hell happened to you?" He said before drifting off to sleep.

He opened his eyes and looked around the room. The sun shone brightly through the long window across from him. Where was this? His eyes scanned the room curiously before they fell on the tall brunette who he remembered instantly.

"Not this guy still."

He sat up only to grimace and clutch at his side, noticing the bandages.

"So it wasn't a dream."

Panic set in now and he realized he had to leave. Roxas and Ventus were out there still, he knew it. Maybe even Aqua, Terra, and Zack. His heart sunk. "Dad."

There wasn't anything he could do for his father now but his brothers and friends needed him. He uncovered himself and quietly got up, bare feet landing softly on the wooden floor, and slowly sneaking to the door in order to not wake up the man asleep in the chair. He reached the door and slowly turned the knob.

"Where do you think you're going?"

His heart leaped out of his chest and he quickly turned, though it was a mistake because it made pain shoot through his side again. The man was standing there with watchful eyes looking him over but no expression other than the slight traces of sleepiness.

"I'm leaving." Cloud turned back to open the door but a hand slammed against it, keeping it shut.

"No, you're not, kid." He took his hand away.

Cloud scoffed, he wasn't a kid!

"Who are you, to tell me what to do?! And for your information I am twenty years old!" The brunette just laughed at him.

"Oh, I couldn't tell. You're a little tall but you look like a baby. Kinda like Sora..." He trailed off in thought for a moment. This was unbelievable. Cloud was no baby!

"You-You're a dick!" Another laugh came from the brunette making Cloud even angrier.

"Let me leave and maybe I wont have you arrested!" He clenched his hands into fists at his sides, trying to give the taller man the angriest look he could muster.

"Alright alright. Calm down there little one." Leon was having too much fun with this.

"Oh fuck off!" Cloud flipped him the middle finger. Leon smiled again, it had to be a new record.

"Okay, I'll quit messing with you. Seriously though, you can't leave. You're still hurt and we want to know what happened. "

"Why? So you can get some ransom for kidnapping me?" Cloud crossed his arms ignoring the pain in his side. Leon looked at him curiously.

"Oh-ho? I'm a kidnapper now? Or maybe we saved your life. Could've left you in the desert. But I'm not going to hurt you,"He paused,"if you don't piss me off that is." Cloud stared at him.

"What a jerk."

"And I'm Leon by the way." He stretched his arms over his head and yawned.

"At least tell me where I am, Leon"

"For a prince, you have terrible manners."

"Please, will you kindly tell me where you have taken me?"He said through clenched teeth.

"That's better-Cloud, right? Now how about you come with me and I'll have Tifa cook you something to eat." He rummaged through a dresser drawer and pulled out a shirt, throwing it to Cloud. "Put that on."

"You didn't answer my question!" Leon stared at him for long time before he spoke.

"I'll tell you when I want to tell you. Now come on before you die." Leon reached beside him to open the door, Cloud quickly put the shirt on. Maybe he could make a run for it. Though that thought was soon buried deep deep down when they came down the hallway only to be stared at by a room filled with people.

And they kept staring making Cloud extremely uncomfortable.

"The fuck do you all want? Get back to whatever the hell you were doing." Mostly everyone shrugged and stalked off, still tired and in pajamas.

"Come on blondie."

Cloud threw his hands into the air in a mix of exasperation and anger at the brunette, and followed him head hung in defeat.

"Ouch, my head." She looked up. She was in the dirt behind tall, thick, bushes, her eyes becoming wide with realization.

"Ventus! Roxas!Where are you!"

"Ugh shut upppp." She sighed in relief as the bushes rustled and Roxas crawled through them on his hands and knees followed by Ventus.

"My head is killing me. What happened?" Ventus sat in the dirt in front of her, his head in his hands. Roxas laying on his stomach, face turned to the side.

"I just remember fighting that person-thing- and woosh!We wake up here."

"That's all I remember too." Roxas said looking up at her.

"Stupid Terra and Zack. They could have come with us!Why didn't they just leave when they could." Aqua saw Ventus' shoulders begin to shake slightly and she crawled over, putting her arm around him.

" They had to help Cloud and your father, you know that. It's their duty protecting the kingdom and it was mine to get you out of there. They are all fine Ven." She reached over and ruffled Roxas' hair making the boy grunt. He didn't show it but he was upset too.

"For now we can just hope, and find out where in the world we are."

The three stood brushing themselves off and pushing away the tall bushes to find an exit.

"Do you hear that?" She stopped, a hand held out signally the twins to stop. A rumbling sound could be heard ahead of them.

"Yeah, what is that?" Roxas asked.

"I think it's a-"

Louder rumbling shook the ground suddenly and they quickly made their way out of the bushes only to stop again. A train rolled past them, the last car passing to reveal a large town ahead of them. The ocean sparkled far off on the eastern horizon, the direction the train was headed.

They all looked at each-other wondering the same thing.

"How did we get all the way to Twilight Town?"

"So Cloud, what can I get for ya'?" Cloud looked up from the bar stool he had been placed on(unwillingly), at the excited long-haired girl leaning against the counter in front of him. She was pretty with big eyes and wore a cropped white shirt, suspenders, and black shorts. She had introduced herself as 'Tifa'.

"Why is this place so big?"She laughed at his answer.

"That's not food silly."

He sighed, "Just eggs please."

"Eggs, toast, and ham coming right up!" She twirled around and went into the kitchen.

"Why does no one listen to me?" He wasn't really talking to anyone but Leon answered him anyways, sitting down to his right on another bar stool.

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, didn't you know?"

Cloud glared at him. He liked glaring at him with his angry, angry, blue eyes.

"Whatever."

"These fine young ladies-"

"I'm no lady!" A blond boy with crazy-borderline mullet-hair peeked his head out of the kitchen pointing his spatula at Leon.

"As I was saying, these fine young ladies make excellent food." The blond boy pouted at Leon before going back into the kitchen.

"Tifa, Demyx, and some others cook for us. And this place is 'so big' because we house quite a few people. Well when I'm not out leading a raid there are quite a lot of us here."

Cloud slowly turned to Leon, eyes narrowing.

"Did you say raid ?I'm not sure I heard you correctly."

"You heard me."

Cloud put a finger up about to confront the man when a plate was set down in front of him. It looked delicious, too delicious not to eat. Tifa smiled at him saying, "You're welcome." before going into the kitchen.

"I'm going to eat this because breakfast is important, but then. Oh,ho, ho, then I am asking you a few things!" Cloud waved his fork at Leon's face.

"Put that down before you poke my eye out." Cloud smiled as he put a piece of egg into his mouth.

"Hmm, not a bad idea." He continued eating when Leon answered him with an icy stare.

Cloud pretty much devoured his plate in less than a minute and downed an entire glass of water before he realized Leon hadn't eaten anything.

"Why didn't you eat anything?"

"I'm not a big breakfast person."

"But you just said-"

"Alright! Let's go see Aerith." He stood up and yelled to the kitchen, "Thanks ladies!"

"No problem Leon." Demyx said poking his head around the door to the kitchen again and waving goodbye to them with his spatula.

Cloud followed Leon back down another hall. His bare feet cold on the wooden floors.

"What was that you said about leading, and oh I don't know..."he trailed off,"raids and such?" He stopped, turning to look at Cloud.

"Is their something wrong with your eyes?"

"Huh?What do you mean?"

"Well you keep squinting at me."

"You-you...argh!" Clouds hands flew into the air yet again making his side throb. He has to quit doing that.

"I what?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing."

"Okay, if it's nothing come on then. You're holding us up." Leon laughed to himself; he could practically feel the frustration coming from behind him.

They reached the area Leon said was the 'infirmary' but was just a room filled with medical supplies and a few cots. Aerith sat at the desk in the corner reading a book, something medical. She looked up, Cloud staring at her with his mouth open.

"She's beautiful."

"Stop gawking and introduce yourself. What are you, five?" Leon pushed him forward making Aerith giggle and Cloud's face turn red. She stood up and held her hand out as Cloud composed himself.

"Hello, my name is Aerith Gainsborough.I'm the medic around here, the one who patched you up last night." Cloud took her hand and kissed it looking at Leon as he rolled his eyes beside him.

"Why thank you my fine lady."He bowed."Prince Cloud Strife of Radiant Garden. The pleasure is all mine."

"More like princess."

Aerith erupted into giggles and Cloud turned sharply to the man beside him.

"What?"

"I don't like you."

"Boo hoo, I'm crying. Wait, sorry, that's you because you're the baby." Cloud turned red but slowly turned, fists tight, back to Aerith and smiled.

"Really, you saved my life."

"Oh no, I just did what I always do. Leon and Sora are the real ones to thank, if they didn't find you in the desert you would have died." Cloud felt his eye twitch.

"Oh is that so?" He said laughing.

"Can you change his bandages please?" She nodded.

"Come sit Cloud, and take your shirt off."Cloud blushed but did so. He swear he saw Leon laughing at him from the corner.

Her hands were gentle as she unwrapped the bandages revealing a large red stitched line down Cloud's abdomen along with more bruises. Leon watched as the girl worked cleaning his wound carefully and putting ointment and clean bandages on him.

"You're lucky it wasn't as deep as it seemed. Still needed stitches though."She finished wrapping the bandages." The bruises will go away on their own, but be careful not to rip the stitches out."Cloud nodded putting his shirt back on.

"Thank you Aerith."

"Let's go lover boy."

"That's a new one." Cloud smiled and waved politely to Aeirth as he followed Leon out of the infirmary.

"Am I your captive or what? You all treat me rather well if I am. Then again if you wanted a ransom you would need me in good health. I can assure you that you would never get one though."

"No, you aren't a prisoner and I don't want a ransom. But I don't want to be blamed for your death either. But why would I not get one?" Cloud was surprised he finally answered a question.

"What?"

"Why would I never get a ransom if I asked?"

"There's no one and nothing for me to go back to." Leon saw the new expression on the blond. Sadness.

"You know I'm a bandit. I could ask for one if I really wanted."He said stopping and making Cloud almost run into him.

"So that's what you meant. Okay, I feel oddly insecure and unsafe now."

"Don't be so quick to judge things you don't know."

"What do you mean?"

"Another time perhaps."Leon started down the hallway again.

"Now I'm curious. I want to know."

"I'm not telling you."

"Yes."

"No."

"Fine, I'm judging you until then. Maybe not that sweet Aerith, but definitely you."

"Do what you want. But if you want me to take you home I want to know what happened."

Cloud huffed and followed. He was beginning to feel like a baby duck following around its mother.

"You're supposed to be KING?!" Everyone in the room yelled simultaneously. Except for Leon who sat further away next to a dark haired girl he said was Rinoa.

They called everyone Leon said was of enough importance to the common room filled with old couches, chairs, bookshelves, and tables with maps scattered on them. Leon taking Cloud around and introducing him to some of the members of his crew and of course, by Clouds request, to go get his boots because his feet were cold.

A short brunette boy with blue eyes like his own took a liking to him instantly and introduced himself as 'Sora, the hero who saved you!' and showing off his pretend muscles. It made Cloud laugh, he was like his brothers in a way, but that made his heart sink at the thought.

There were a few others in the room too: Yuffie much to his surprise being Leon's sister, Marluxia with weird pink hair, Dilan who stood by him not saying a word, the hyper Demyx, his quiet best friend named Zexion, and of course Tifa and Aerith.

Now they had all gathered around him in the common room as he told them what he could remember.

"Yeah, It happened during my coronation party."

"Who would ruin a party?!" Demyx shouted beside him, his legs crossed on the couch.

"Yeah what a waste!" Sora rocked forward and backward on the ground in front of him.

"Demyx, Sora, shut up." Leon said, the two boys complied and sat to listen to the rest of the story.

" Well these people did-no not people. I don't know what they were, but they weren't human. They moved too fast. " Leon seemed to take interest in this.

"What did they look like?" He looked up and met Leon's eyes.

"From what I could see, they wore these long, black-hooded cloaks, and had some awful looking swords. Some must have been fire Magicians too. They broke through all the cities defenses so quickly and easily and set fire to everything. I don't know where they came from or who they were. They stormed the castle. My friends Zack and Terra found me in the halls when I was looking for my brothers. I never found them but Zack and Terra fought those things off and helped me escape but not before they...then they..."

This was hard to explain and he didn't know why he was telling it to the strangers he just met and were most likely bandits like Leon had said. It seemed better than having it bottled up inside. He was surprised as he felt a tear fall down his cheek, quickly wiping it away. Kings and princes had no need to cry. Everyone sat patiently exchanging sympathetic looks.

Yuffie placed a reassuring hand on his knee from her spot on the ground, looking back to her brother with a worried expression filling her eyes. Leon looked down at his sister and then up to Cloud. A slightly different shine to his blue-grey eyes than usual, but what, Cloud couldn't really tell.

"I didn't want to leave but Zack and Terra convinced me I had to. They were right as always."He laughed a little. They were always right, just like his father.

"We came up to the courtyard at the front gates, Terra and Zack trying to find an opening through all the chaos. Then all of the black figures stopped suddenly to look at what I guessed was their leader. He had my father on his knees at the front of castle. He said something like 'Those unwilling to let the darkness thrive in their hearts are weak. Those unwilling to seek knowledge through darkness are weak. Those unwilling to accept darkness are weak and will become nothing but darkness themselves.' My father saw me then and smiled before he was beheaded. He wasn't afraid, I could see his bravery in his eyes." More tears fell, lighting his electric blue eyes up even more. He wiped at them angrily, Yuffie squeezing his knee a little tighter. Leon had leaned forward with his elbows on his knees listening intently.

"That is so awful Cloud." Aerith said from her chair. Face wet with tears.

He smiled at her and sat up a little straighter before continuing.

"I made it out miraculously, only thanks to my friends. We headed to the desert in hopes to lose them. A Decanus caught up to us had this strange black Tri-Sailor. I had never seen one like it before. Anyways, I was surrounded while Terra and Zack were fighting and I did my best without a weapon, but they kept throwing punches and kicks before one cut my side," he lifted his shirt to show the bandages,"then Terra stabbed it and told me to run. That's what I did. I ran that whole night. My adrenaline eventually gave out and I was so thirsty and bleeding and the next thing I know I woke up on your Tri-Sailor, Leon." Cloud looked up at him. There was definitely something different in his eyes.

"And now here I am."

They all looked at Cloud and then to Leon who was sitting with his elbows on his knees still in thought.

"Leon." Yuffie said eyes shining as if she were going to cry.

He stood up and placed a hand on his sisters head before looking at the blond."Cloud, I think it would be best for you to stay here for a while."

"But Leon-"Rinoa said leaning forwards suddenly.

"Rinoa,"he said sharply, "Sometimes there are more important things than covering ones own tracks."

"What? Covering his?It's not just your life on the line!"She scoffed.

"Don't you fucking dare talk back to me." He narrowed his eyes menacingly and turned to her; now burning with anger. She stood and stormed off slamming the common room door behind her.

"It's okay Leon. I'll leave. I need to find my friends and my brothers anyways. They're out there I know it." Cloud went to stand but was pushed back down, the pain in his side searing. Cloud gritted his teeth and held his side. He looked up at Leon angrily. Everyone watched their leader.

"You will stay here. Shit... And If I see you even try to leave I'll just fucking kill you myself!"

"Leon sto-" Yuffie stood and put a hand on her brothers arm only to have it rudely shaken off. She frowned. Aerith took this as her queue and stood and ushered Cloud out of the room, everyone else following behind.

Yuffie stood alone in the room with her brother. He turned to her as the door shut and she punched him in the face making him stumble back a bit. He held his face in his hand looking at the ground.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! He just told us his story and that's how you're going to act. We protect people from danger, not threaten their lives!" Her shoulders began to tremble, her hands in fists.

"Not this kind of danger Yuffie." He was quiet now.

"I heard every word he said too. I was there with you that night. It doesn't matter which kind of danger. When Cid died and you, me, and Sora, formed Desolo, we formed it for people like us. For people with nothing. Cloud isn't any better off than us now. If there is a chance his friends or brothers are alive he should take it." Tears were slowly falling from her brown eyes.

"If he leaves they may find him...or us."

"You mean they would find you?What would Mom and Dad think?" She said before leaving him alone in the room.

Leon slumped to the floor, one hand in his long brown hair, and the other pulling his pendant from under his shirt. He turned it in his hand, tracing the lion. It was something that always soothed him when he was younger.

"Dad, what do I do?"

"Ow, Zack are you okay?"

"Yeah I think so. My head hurts."

"Mine too. What the hell happened?"

"The hell if I know, I don't even know where we are."

Terra reached his hand out, grabbing a handful of sand, letting the white granules slip through his non-gloved fingers. He looked up and saw the teal ocean water sparkling in front of them.

"We're dead." Zack smacked him on his head.

"That hurt!"

"If we were dead it wouldn't hurt. Point proven."

"Let's just find out where we are. If those four are dead, I may as well have died too." Terra stood, shaking sand out of his brown hair and clothes and putting his keyblade in its respectable spot at his side.

"Don't talk like that."

"Do you guys need help?" Zack clambered to his feet, grabbing his sword and pointing forwards.

"Depends." Terra came to stand beside his friend.

"Where are we and who are you?"Zack asked.

"This is the Destiny Islands. I live here." Terra glanced at Zack.

"My name's Riku." The boy held his hand out and Zack sheathed his sword to shake it, Terra doing the same.

"Sorry for that. Just a little wary after what happened to us."

"It takes three days of travel, at a minimum, to get here from Radiant Garden." Terra said beside him.

The silver haired boy look confused.

"Why don't you come back to town with me? Maybe you can find some answers there. I don't think the ocean is going to give you any."

Zack and Terra looked at each-other before nodding.

"We have to start somewhere."

DUN DUN DUNNNNN!

Oh my gosh you are probably so confused while I am here knowing everything that is supposed to happen. Well MOST of what is supposed to happen. I'm working with a few things. I just want to say it now but I wont. No no no spoiling, bad!

Man what is with Leon and his mood swings though. Oh wait, I made him into this monster! I am a terrible person! I'll explain more on how Leon and Yuffie met Cid and Sora later on too. Now is not ze time for zat.

Stay tuned for chapter four and always a big THANK YOU for reading!