A/N: To be honest, I'm a little disappointed with the numbers on the readership in this story. I kind of think I scared away half the Hourglass fans for making this a Sky/Leon story. :/ Oh well. If you made it this far, you're a real trooper and I commend you! Thanks for sticking it out until the end!
Timeless
Chapter 9: Turn Back
(Sept. 26, 2007 – CTL)
"Sazh, report!" Sky barked into his mobile device.
"We've rounded up everyone we could find," Sazh responded promptly. "The laboratories are being searched top to bottom."
"Anything on the Bahamut?"
"Not yet, sir, but we've managed to locate the room where it likely originated. There's a…" Sazh seemed to trail off. Sky waited expectantly for him to finish, but when he didn't, Sky turned to look at Hojo. The doctor was bound to his desk chair, and other than a bruised throat, he was unharmed. It had taken a great deal of will power, but Sky was going to allow him to live, if only to get the information they needed to stop his creation from destroying the city.
"How do we stop it?" Sky asked Hojo slowly. The doctor merely grinned. "I'm asking you, as one human being to another, as someone who cares about the people of Radiant Garden, how do we stop your monster?" There was a slight falter in Hojo's demeanour, a slight hint of his resolve wavering, but nothing more.
"If you really cared about your people, you would have stepped down like we asked," he muttered. "You put them in danger." Sky resisted the urge to cuss loudly. He took a deep breath and attempted to appeal to Hojo's intelligence.
"I'm sorry we couldn't find a compromise where you could have used your expertise to aid us. I don't know what could have possibly compelled you to summon a Bahamut to attack your own people-"
"It was your tyrannical administration!" Hojo roared suddenly. "I've seen what power can do to a person! I watched as Rufus Shinra and his CEOs plotted to take over Radiant Garden by force, and then I watched as another tyrant, Ansem the Wise, shut us down and cast out the victims of Shinra's megalomaniacal schemes! He banished me and my fellow scientists for following orders! How was that right? I ask you, how was that justified?"
Sky's mouth hung open in shock as Hojo's speech. He honestly had no idea how to even begin addressing that.
"So you see, I was trying to do the people a favour!" Hojo continued ranting. "I was trying to remove you from power before it was too late! Absolute power corrupts absolutely! It was only a matter of time before the Restoration Committee showed their true colours! You were just another Shinra and Ansem waiting to happen!"
"You're insane…" Sky muttered. He had always known that, but he couldn't think of anything else to say. Hojo was certifiably mentally unstable. Sky had always assumed that it was the war that had robbed Hojo of his sanity, but now he could see that Hojo had broken down long ago. "You honestly believe that the Restoration Committee is going to become corrupt?"
"Experience has taught me a great deal."
"Well, what makes you think you're more suitable for the job? What makes you believe that you're above being corrupted?"
Hojo grinned maniacally. "Because we are Righteous! We are TRUE!"
Sky had heard enough. There was no way they were getting any information out of Hojo. Throwing his arms in the air, Sky stormed from the room, unable to stand the sight of Hojo's self-assured smirk, as if the doctor had nothing left to lose and had nothing to offer. Sky walked down the hall, passing by a few of Sazh's men and directing them to the room where Hojo was tied up.
Sky had had enough and he was done with this whole Hojo thing. He was finally ready to move on and let someone else deal with that. Maybe it was just closure, but he really couldn't bring himself to hate the deranged scientist anymore. He just felt sorry for Hojo. And he felt even sorrier for the people who had gotten involved with Hojo, thinking they were making a difference. But Sky didn't have time to worry about any of that. At this point, it didn't matter how the Bahamut had come into existence. He had a battle to fight.
"S…s…s…" Sky paused, hearing a voice behind him. He turned around slowly to find Sazh with one of his guns pointing at Sky's backside.
"…Sazh…" Sky said. "What are you doing?"
"S…Sky…" Sazh's eyes were fluctuating between a desperate, pleading look, and complete neutrality, as if every few seconds, his mind was being wiped clean. The hands holding his gun were shaking. His right thumb moved to cock the hammer back. "B…bind…me…" Sky's eyes widened, recognizing this state right away. He held his hand up. "…Sky…" Sazh's trigger finger was starting to squeeze the trigger. Sky cast the binding spell and a green light washed over Sazh, paralyzing him from the neck down.
Quickly, Sky retrieved the gun from Sazh's hand. "Where is he? Where's Zemus?"
"The mage…" Sazh struggled to regain control over his voice. "The purple mage is down the hall, turn left, third door on the right. I caught him trying to flee from the Bahamut's originating room, and he… he used some kind of magic to suppress my mind."
"I know. You're very strong to have resisted as long as you did." Sky turned a dark look down the empty corridor. Perhaps there were two forms of closure he needed right now.
Taking off down the hall and using the directions Sazh gave him, Sky found himself outside a laboratory he had never seen before. The door was ajar, revealing an expansive room beyond, at least three times bigger than Lab E. The ceiling in this room was completely destroyed. Sunlight from the outside streamed in through the ruins. One might have assumed a cave in, but the way the debris was scattered and the way the edges of the destruction seemed to curve upwards, there was no doubt in Sky's mind that this was the room where the Bahamut had been created, and it must've burst through the roof, straight to the surface.
Sky stepped into the room, eyes scanning for the purple mage with the haunting white eyes. He heard a scuffle from the back corner and instinctively aimed his Keyblade at the sound. A few chunks of drywall collapsed, giving up the act of being a wall. Sky groaned. Where the hell had the evil wizard gone?
Drop the Keyblade…
Sky stopped moving, his consciousness slipping away. He lowered his arm, the Way to Dawn slipping from his hands.
Tell your people to evacuate immediately. Tell them you didn't find a thing down here.
Sky reached into his pocket for his phone, but paused. His mind was slipping in and out of focus.
"…No…" he whispered. Zemus emerged from the shadows of the corner, his cold eyes burning a glare on Sky.
"Call your people off!" he demanded, his hand glowing with magic. As Sky became aware of the heavy weight pushing his consciousness down, it became easier to avoid the crush and regain control over certain parts of his body. Zemus was nowhere near as powerful as Maleficent had once been – he wasn't even as strong as the version of Zemus that Sky had to deal with in his timeline. His mind control magic was full of loop holes and weaknesses.
Sky began subconsciously pushing back on Zemus' spell, pushing it right back into the mage's mind. "No… Not this time, Zemus. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me…" In one final push, Sky had successfully reversed the spell and turned it on Zemus. Now the puppet was the puppeteer. Zemus could only control one mind at a time, so now that his magic was being used to control his own mind, there was no chance of him escaping his own spell unless someone from the outside commanded him to cease the spell. For the moment, he was powerless.
Sky smirked, feeling proud of himself for finding a solution to this problem that didn't involve maiming or killing someone. "How did you summon a Bahamut?"
There a brief pause before Zemus began talking completely against his will, his eyes devoid of life. "We've been doing research into creating an artificial heart for years. The war with Maleficent was the perfect excuse to send operatives to Halloween Town to steal Dr. Finklestein's data concerning his work on artificial hearts. We refined his work and were ready to begin testing, but we didn't want to use human test subjects until we were sure, so we tested it on a lesser creature."
"But why a Bahamut? Why not a Chocobo or something less destructive?"
"We needed to show your regime how serious we were. Would you have cowered in fear from a 7-foot tall Chocobo?"
Sky rolled his eyes. "So how do we stop the Bahamut?"
"Its heart is its weakness. It's unstable. A well-aimed blow will shatter the magic used to bring it back in the first place."
"Nice. That's all I need to know." Sky closed his eyes and lifted the Binding spell from Sazh. He pulled out his phone and called him. "Sazh, how you feeling?"
"Much better, sir. Did you apprehend the mage?"
"Well, it's kinda like he apprehended himself. You may want to come collect him. I'm heading to the surface to fight the Bahamut."
"Roger that." Sky closed his phone and replaced it in his pocket. Things were finally starting to look up. One last problem to solve and he'd be home free. Holding his hand up, he created a Door to Light to take him to the surface where Leon and the others were waiting for him.
oOoOo
Leon and the rest of the Restoration Committee flew after the Bahamut at fast speeds, closing the distance between them within moments. Yuffie, being the swiftest of the group, reached the creature first, and threw her large shuriken at the Bahamut. Her weapon ricocheted off the beast's back and fell towards the city. Yuffie made a noise of frustration and chased after her discarded weapon.
Aeris was the second to reach the Bahamut. She cast Stop on the beast, slowing it down for only a few seconds, but giving Tifa and Leon a chance to catch up. Tifa latched onto the beast's head and drove her fist straight to its skull, but she let out a sharp yelp of pain, withdrawing her injured fist.
"It's like it's made of diamond!" she cried, shaking out her sore hand. Leon fired a shot at the creature's face with his Revolver, but the bullet rebounded and winked out of existence. Trying again, he drove the blade edge of his Gunblade right between the Bahamut's eyes, but the blade barely left a scratch.
The Bahamut let out a roar of annoyance and swatted at Tifa and Leon. Aeris quickly cast a Protega shield around them to protect them from the car-sized hand that tried to strike them. She then cast Bind. A green ripple of light enveloped the creature but faded a moment later, leaving the creature barely fazed. Yuffie was back in action again, winding up to throw her shuriken. Her body became a black and tan blur as she began rapidly spinning in circles, gaining momentum before she let the shuriken go. The force of the blow caused the dragon-like creature to stagger backwards a moment. There was a dull scratch on its shoulder where the shuriken had impacted. The Bahamut let out a tremendous roar.
"Uh…" Yuffie paled, backing away slightly. "Wrong move?" The Bahamut appeared to be taking a deep breath before releasing a powerful and massive ball of fire from its mouth, aimed directly at the little ninja. Yuffie cast Protega on herself and shielded her eyes from the blinding light. Suddenly, a Door to Light formed right in front of her, and Sky emerged, already donning the silver and black Final Form version of his outfit and wielding two Keyblades. He used his Keyblades to deflect the fireball back at the Bahamut.
"You okay?" Sky called over his shoulder to Yuffie. The ninja nodded, in awe of Sky's luminosity. Sky grinned and turned to the rest of their group. "Go for the heart! The Bahamut's heart is unstable!"
"How are we supposed to do that?" Tifa asked as she flew closer to hear Sky. "Its scales are made of an impenetrable material." Sky thought about it for a moment. His eyes caught a glimmer of imperfection on the Bahamut's shoulder where Yuffie had just struck him.
"Leon, time to put those Light lessons to good use," Sky said. "Combine your Renzokuken technique with a Fire spell and your Gunblade should be able to slice through that crack in the Bahamut's hide." Leon's eyebrows shot into his bangs.
"How do you know for sure?" he questioned.
"I don't. But I have faith in you." Sky took Leon's hand, gave it a comforting squeeze, and echoed some words he had said only a few days earlier. "You can do whatever you like with your Light if you just focus." A ghost of a smile appeared on Leon's lips as he recalled those words. "I'll be right behind you."
"We'll distract it!" Yuffie offered brightly.
"Then I can unlock the heart and send it back to wherever it came from!" Sky added.
"Right," Leon murmured. They all turned to face the Bahamut. Now would have been an opportune moment to toss off a catchy one-liner, something witty to diffuse the situation, but the Bahamut had chosen that exact moment turn its body and whip its tail at the group. They all made varying degrees of alarmed noises as they dodged the beast's tail. After a moment of stunned silence, Sky let out an abrupt laugh.
"Why are we just floating here, staring?" he exclaimed, his eyes brighter than ever. "Let's fucking end this!"
The group burst into action.
Tifa, Yuffie, and Aeris began swooping around the Bahamut's face, drawing its focus to them. As soon as the Bahamut was following them with its eyes, Sky and Leon flew at the crack in its shoulder. Leon was already charging up his magic for his Renzokuken attack, and just as it was ready to go, he pulled at the Light in his heart, bathing his Gunblade in a golden fiery glow. His entire form was surrounded by flames and energy, and the flickering light was distraction enough for the Bahamut to stop swatting at the women fluttering in front of it. It made a noise of rage and turned its claws on Leon.
"Shit!" Sky cursed, realising that their plan was on the verge of failing. He quickly cast a barrier around Leon to protect him just as the Bahamut's hand collided with the barrier. "Hurry, Leon!" Leon sprinted forward, driving his Gunblade into the mark on the Bahamut's shoulder where Yuffie's shuriken had just barely pierced. The intensity of the heat coursing off the blade sliced right through the dragon's hide, straight into its core. The Bahamut let out a monstrous roar. As soon as Leon removed his blade from the wound, Sky plunged his Keyblade in and unlocked the beast's heart. It cried out, flailing about.
The Restoration Committee backed away a safe distance as the Bahamut crackled with raw deteriorating magic, the mana holding it together dissipating rather quickly. Within seconds, the dragon's form began to fade, wisps of it floating away heavenward, until all that remained was a broken shard of a crystallized heart. And a moment after that, it was gone completely. Leon gave a satisfied sigh, relieved it was over.
"Thank god…" he whispered. His eyes landed on Sky. "What about Hojo and the rest of the Righteous Hearts?"
"Taken care of," Sky answered promptly. Leon shot him a worried look. "No one was harmed," Sky added as an afterthought to calm whatever worries were going through Leon's head. "It was all rather civil, actually."
"That's…" Leon couldn't decide between being shocked or pleased to hear the news. "That's good." He decided he'd save the praise for later. "What should we do with Lucrecia?"
"Everything she told us was true. The Righteous Hearts had a mage who controlled her mind and forced her to upload the virus. I say we let her go."
"Sounds fair to me."
Around the city, people were emerging from various hiding places, hesitantly, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Once they were certain the danger had passed, they began returning to their homes, thoughts of riots and protesting long forgotten in wake of the disaster that had just occurred. The chemical was gone from their systems and their anger subsided. Sky and the rest of the Restoration Committee landed on the ground in the downtown core, ready to help anyone harmed in the attack.
After doing a quick overhead assessment of the city, Leon came to the conclusion that only a few commercial office buildings were damaged. There didn't appear to be any serious injuries. Most of the injuries that any of the civilians had received were due to clumsiness of the people trying to escape the initial danger. He was just about to fly up to a rooftop of a damaged building when suddenly, three angry-looking fairies appeared in his sights.
"Where is it?" Rikku demanded, folding her arms and frowning deeply. Her tiny frown looked almost comical on a face as small as hers. "Where's the amulet?"
"What amulet?" Leon asked. Rikku let out a huff.
"Don't play dumb!" she screeched. "We wanted that pretty gold amulet around the creature's neck! Now where is it?" Leon turned his attention to the debris where the Bahamut had breathed its final breath. There was no amulet amongst the rubble. It must've been tied to the beast's existence and vanished when the Bahamut did.
"Uh… Sorry. It was destroyed with the Bahamut." Rikku let out a tiny gasp while Paine and Yuna merely groaned in disappointment.
"You jerk!" Rikku cried, kicking the side of Leon's head with a surprisingly strong leg. Leon let out a yelp. Paine snapped her fingers, and the fairy magic keeping the Restoration Committee afloat vanished, letting them drop three feet to the ground. Unprepared, Yuffie, Leon, and Tifa landed on their asses while Aeris managed to catch herself in time.
"Last time we ever help you guys!" Yuna hissed, making a face at them before flying away with her companions.
"Ha, ha, Leon got bitch-kicked by a fairy," Sky laughed as he joined his friends on the ground. Leon scowled as he pulled himself to his feet and dusted off his pants. "What amulet were those girls talking about anyway?"
"How should I know?" Leon muttered. "They're treasure-hunting opportunists. They probably saw something shiny and just had to have it." He rubbed out the spot on his temple where Rikku had kicked him. "How can such a tiny thing kick so hard?" Sky snorted behind his hands. "Shut up, Sora."
"Make me, Squall!" Sky stuck his tongue at the older brunette.
"Oh, you two are so cute!" Yuffie giggled. "Let me know when the wedding is, 'kay?" Sky and Leon abruptly began blushing and babbling excuses. "Whoa, guys, I was just kidding. Unless… OH!" Yuffie's eyes lit up with a newfound knowledge. "Are you two…?" She made an awkward gesture with her hands. "Y'know…"
"Yuffie, please!" Leon groaned, trying to hide his flushed face with his hand.
"Oh my god, you are! Since when?"
"Leon, you dirty old man!" Tifa exclaimed happily, clapping Leon over the shoulder and nearly knocking him off his feet. "I didn't know you liked 'em young."
"Sky's not young!" Leon protested. "He's only four years younger than me!"
"Yeah, but Sora is, what, ten years younger? Eleven?"
"He's not Sora!"
"Coulda fooled me."
"You guys…" That came out as more of a desperate plea than an angry retort.
"Cradle-robber!" Yuffie laughed, hanging onto Leon's hand like a three-year-old. "Cradle-robber! Cougar!"
"Cougars are women," Tifa corrected.
"Alright, that's enough…" Aeris finally spoke up, chiding Yuffie and Tifa gently. "Leave them be." She began shooing them away. "C'mon, we've got more restoration efforts to work on." One by one, the ladies wandered away, leaving Sky and Leon alone.
For a few minutes, there was a quiet avoidance of eyes and shuffling. Just as it was about to get beyond awkward, Sky broke the silence by giggling like a moron.
"Cradle-robber, eh? Never thought of it like that."
"It's not like that…" Leon grumbled, making a mental note to strangle Yuffie the next chance he got. "I mean… when you were a teenager, I guess I thought you were adorable, but I…"
"I'm kidding. Relax."
"I…" Leon paused mid-ramble and blinked. "Oh…" The corners of his mouth turned up, bordering on a foolish grin. "But… seriously, though…" He looked at Sky, finding it hard to grasp the words to explain the emotions swimming through his heart and making him feel weak in the knees. "Sora, the way he is right now, was never the one I had feelings for." He took a step closer to Sky. "It's always been you, the person you became."
A smile slowly crept onto Sky's face. Without another word, he pulled Leon into a kiss. His hands dove into the other's hair, intensifying the kiss, like electric sparks coursing through their bodies, or like a fire burning out of control. It was a relief to finally have this, to claim his lips, but at the same time, it wasn't enough at all. Sky drew back, somewhat breathless.
"My offer still stands," he whispered. Leon made a confused face. "About if we made it through the battle…"
"Ah…" Leon's eyes sparked with excitement. Sky smirked devilishly, shrugging casually.
"A promise is a promise, after all."
Leon nipped affectionately at Sky's bottom lip. "Your place or mine?"
(May 29, 2008 – ATL)
Sora let out a heavy sigh as he walked into his room, flicking on the light switch as he passed through the doorway. It had been a long day and he was ready to collapse in bed. However, his ears picked up the distinct sound of a soft groan coming from his bed, making him tense up.
"Riku?" he said quietly to the mass of blankets shifting around on the bed. "Are you awake?" Eventually, a mop of silver hair emerged from the blankets. Riku did not look pleased about having the lights turned on. "Oh, sorry!" Sora quickly flicked the lights off and felt his way over to the bed to sit down so he could take his shoes off. "When did you get back?"
"This afternoon," Riku answered in a tired voice. "Today's mission went faster than we expected, so I came home early." Sora smiled warmly at the word 'home'. It may not have been Destiny Island and it may not have been an actual house they were living in, but they had made the best of their poor situation, this tiny dormitory room in Disney Castle's barracks. This room had become their home because of the many happy memories they had shared together, especially the ones from the past month.
Sora listened as Riku shifted in the bed and crawled up behind the brunette, lacing his arms around Sora. "I wish we could stay like this forever…" Riku whispered in Sora's ear. Sora smiled wider, his heart full of love. He turned around so he could embrace Riku properly and plant a kiss on his lips.
"Me too…" he whispered back. They sat together in the darkness, holding each other, pretending for just one moment that they weren't fighting a war that couldn't be won. The outside world didn't matter. Sora closed his eyes, his hands gently smoothing out the small hairs on the back of Riku's neck. This was perfect. He really did want this to last forever. But he knew it couldn't. "You've got a mission tomorrow?"
"Yeah…" Riku replied, reluctant to break the spell just yet. "Port Royal. One of the survivors is coming with me." Sora perked up. Out of all the worlds he'd travelled, Port Royal was one of his favourites.
"Is there any way I can convince you to let me go in your place?" Sora asked with a wicked grin. "And I mean any way." Riku's lips twisted into a sneaky smirk.
"I was given a direct order by King Mickey himself. So no, there's nothing you can do to make me change my mind." Sora resisted the urge to make a ridiculous pout. That wasn't his thing.
"C'mon, pleeeease? I just want to make sure they're okay!"
"Then you should've asked Mickey for the mission."
"I did, and he said no."
"Well, there you go."
"Ugh! You're insufferable!"
"And you're acting like a whiney brat." Riku pecked Sora's nose playfully. "What difference does it make? You'll find out their answer when I get back." Sora sighed.
"I guess so…" There was a heavy feeling in his heart, something he couldn't quite shake, something he couldn't comprehend, but it left him feeling just a little worried. Instead of trying to figure it out, he allowed his heart to do the leading, and right now, his heart was telling him to kiss Riku, so he did. Their kiss was a slow, passionate one, conveying the apprehension that Sora felt. Riku pulled back just far enough so he could see Sora's eyes. In an unspoken way, they told each other how much they loved each other. They rarely ever used words to say so. They were beyond simple words. With one tender smile, Riku calmed Sora's soul and silenced his anxiety. For one shining moment, Sora believed that everything would be okay.
And then Riku tossed Sora on the bed and assaulted his lips once more. Everything would be more than okay. For one shining moment.
(Sept. 26, 2007 – CTL)
In a loud thud, Sky had Leon pinned to his bedroom door, his lips claiming Leon's in a heated kiss. His hands dove into Leon's hair, tangling and smoothing out the tresses all at once. Leon's hands gripped Sky's waist, pulling their hips together. He abandoned Sky's lips and began laying wet kisses down the Keyblade Master's neck. Their actions were frenzied and erratic. Basic instincts had kicked in, lust filling their senses, and a great urgency for intimate contact. It had been too long for both of them.
With hands still gripping Sky's hips, Leon used the leverage to reverse their positions, pushing Sky against the door. His hands left Sky's hips and stripped both of them of their shirts. Their lips came back together, hot and open-mouthed. Sky's hands were racing to get Leon's belt buckle undone. He paused their make-out session to curse quietly.
"Why do you wear, like, a million belts?" he hissed. Leon chuckled in a low voice.
"To keep eager perverts like you out," he responded. After nearly a minute of watching Sky struggle with the numerous amounts of belts around his waist, Leon took pity on the younger man and undid the last two. Sky let out a laugh and planted a kiss on Leon's stomach just above his waistband before tugging the offending article of clothing off. As they broke away from the door, Leon was already making short work of Sky's pants and boxers.
Somewhere along the way, they collapsed on Sky's bed, their lips rarely breaking contact. Hands roamed freely, exploring bare skin, touching, feeling, and learning their way around. Sky had the upper-hand at first, hovering above Leon's body, trailing quick kisses lower and lower until he came to his prize. Leon writhed in pleasure as Sky took him in his mouth. Yes, it certainly had been far too long since anyone had touched Leon like that. He was almost worried that he wouldn't be able to hang on much longer.
Just before Leon hit his point of no return, Sky abandoned his current task and began kissing Leon's lips. The older man took it as his cue to flip their positions, thrusting his hips against Sky's. Their breaths came in laboured and they made all kinds of noises, heavy grunts, soft sighs, husky moans. Sky held Leon tightly against his body, desperately clawing at the other's back. Not wanting to be on the bottom for an extended period of time, he flipped Leon onto the bed beneath. His lips claimed Leon's hungrily as he thought of a compromise to the age-old question of who got to be top and who would be bottom.
Taking a deep breath, Sky straddled Leon's hips and carefully slid down, groaning at the pressure and heat invading his body. Leon let out a cry of pleasure, sitting up and bracing his back against the headboard so he could hold Sky closer. They stilled for only a moment as Sky adjusted to Leon's size. He thought about making a joke about how he'd never had something that large before, but then Leon hit a certain spot deep inside, and all thoughts were erased from Sky's brain, replaced by a fuzzy warm feeling instead. He was a little out of practise, but after a few slow thrusts, he began picking up the pace.
They moved together, hands gripping each other, as if their very existence depended on holding the person in front of them. Lips clashed and fought for dominance. Their rhythm increased, the air grew hotter, their kiss became wild, and thoughts turned to mush. This love-making session wasn't about drawing things out or prolonging the end. They understood that there would be other times to do that, to learn each other's secrets and tells, to explore flesh to see which parts incited what noises. Right now, it was just about passion, raw hungry lust. It was about releasing all their pent-up tension and emotion that they had been clinging to for years.
Sky cried out as he hit his orgasm, his fingers tightening their grip within Leon's long brown hair. His vision seemed blinded by white light as his breath hitched. He kept moving his hips, his body shivering in bliss as Leon join him in ecstasy, burying his face against the hollow space between Sky's neck and shoulder. For many minutes, they sat there breathing heavily and trying to get control over their racing hearts. Their thought process was slow to return.
"God…" Sky whispered, finally regaining motor control. "That was intense…" Leon was still having trouble summoning words, looking quite dazed. "You alive in there…?"
"Hmm…" Leon murmured. He pulled his face away from Sky's shoulder and planted a chaste kiss on the younger man's lips, a striking contrast to the lustful kisses they had just shared. "I love you, Sora…" Mad little butterflies fluttered in Sky's stomach. There Leon goes, saying his real name and the 'L' word in one sentence. It was enough to make Sky feel like a puddle of goo.
"I love you too, Squall," he replied, nuzzling Leon's cheek. It was the first time he had said those words with Leon's real name tacked on and they rolled nicely off his tongue. But the tough-guy persona of his decided it was too cheesy to repeat ever again for a long time to come. He chuckled at his internal musings, earning an odd look from Leon. Catching the look, Sky attempted to explain the inner workings of his brain. "Oh, it's nothing, I just, uh… I'm not used to saying 'I love you'. So… uh…" Well, so much for explaining himself.
Leon grinned and nipped at Sky's nose. "It's okay. It's been a long while, so I'm not used to it either. But… I guess there's not much point in killing the meaning of it, right? It should be obvious from now on."
"Yeah…" Sky smirked. "See, this is what I love about you. You get me. Even the incredibly awkward parts of me that I like to pretend don't exist." They lay there a while longer in silence, holding each other close, not moving since they had reached their climaxes. Sky's fingers tracing shapes out on Leon's arms as he hummed contently. This was perfect. Everything was perfect.
"To be honest…" Leon whispered, breaking the silence. "I was kinda nervous about doing this… with you." Sky looked surprised.
"Why?" After a beat, Leon made a comical grimace. He looked like he was regretting saying anything. "C'mon, what were you nervous about?"
"I…" Leon cracked a small smile. "I thought you might…" He leaned his forehead against Sky's chest to hide the amusement on his face. "I thought you would call me 'Riku' while we were…" It took a beat for Sky to realise what Leon had just said, and then another beat for the actual meaning behind the words to sink in, at which point he burst into laughter.
"Why would I call you that?" he laughed, drawing Leon's face away from his chest so he could see his face properly. Leon was grinning slyly.
"You don't remember calling me 'Riku' a few nights ago? You were really drunk…"
"I did? Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Sky could barely speak through the laughter. "Oh god, how awkward!" Leon joined him in the mirth. "Jeez, is there any way I can make it up to you?" Leon cocked an eyebrow suggestively. Sky read its meaning easily. "Ah. So. Ready for round two?" Now everything was perfect. And it was only getting better.
(June 12, 2013 – ATL)
The sounds of footsteps filled the hallways of Disney Castle. Sora was heading to the throne room where the secret staircase to the Cornerstone of Light was located. Today was the big day, the day when everything would change. He was going to travel backwards through time to hopefully erase the entire war from existence. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't nervous, but at this point, what other choice did he have?
Sora pushed open the grand doors leading into the throne room and walked through, his façade conveying the very epitome of bravery. In the throne room, the last remnants of their commanding officers were waiting, along with some of the highest ranked soldiers in the army. King Mickey was standing by the staircase. Sora squared his shoulders and walked between the neatly arrange ranks, his head held high. He couldn't let anyone see the fear in his heart.
"Well, this is it," King Mickey said as Sora drew near. "Are you ready?" Sora said nothing but he nodded. Mickey took a deep breath. "I want to express my sincerest gratitude. You're doing the universe a huge service." Sora swallowed thickly. It almost sounded like King Mickey was sending Sora off to his death.
"Right…" he muttered. He cast a glance over his shoulder. Cid, Merlin, Yen Sid, and Donald were standing on one side of the crowd. Sora looked at the other side of the crowd, spotting friends of his spread throughout, including Hayner, Aladdin, and Robin Hood. All these people were depending on him to save them and the ones they had lost.
"We believe in you, Sora," Hayner said, stepping forward, holding his arm up. Sora managed a weak grin, bumping his forearm against Hayner's. The Twilight Town native had come a long way from being the spunky teenager to growing up into a battle-hardened soldier who had seen his fair share of death during his time with the Disney army.
"Thanks, man," Sora whispered. "I'll change everything. I promi-" He was interrupted by a loud and abrupt whistling noise. Hayner gasped and stumbled a few steps, his hands slowly moving to cover a spot on his chest where a bloodstain was gradually spreading. Sora's eyes widened in shock. Hayner looked down slowly after a beat, staring at the bullet wound in his chest, before he finally succumbed and collapsed. Another whistle noise sounded off, but this time, Sora and all the assembled soldiers had managed to cast Protega on themselves. A magic bullet harmlessly impacted on Sora's shield. The soldiers began scrambling as Sora dropped to the floor, checking on Hayner.
"Heartless Snipers!" someone shouted as the soldiers broke rank and rushed to the doorway. Alarms began wailing and claymore defence drones materialized from pillars of light. But Sora heard none of this. He was cradling Hayner's lifeless body. Even after witnessing massacres on a planetary scale, he still found himself reeling in shock. One minute, Hayner was alive, giving Sora the courage to do what he had to do, and the next minute, Hayner was just another casualty, dead in Sora's arms.
When Sora finally came to his senses, the room was in chaos. Somehow, the Heartless had managed to break through their defences and their numbers were overwhelming. Sora carefully placed Hayner's body on the ground and he stood up straight, summoning Way To Dawn to his hands. His blood boiled with thoughts of revenge and anger. He was prepared to kill every last Heartless beast in the building.
As the first flood of enemies broke through the doorway, Sora was at the front of the line, plunging his Keyblade into the Heartless. He sliced and cut his way through, clearing a path for his allies to break through and attack the ones pushing in from the back. Somewhere, he heard a voice calling for him, telling him to get out of the battle and to fall back to the throne room, but he ignored this voice. It was more important, in his mind, to deal with this invasion.
Once a path was cleared, the other soldiers took the fight to the corridors, but despite the slight break in the enemy ranks, the Heartless were still dealing heavier casualties than the forces of Light. This was a losing battle and everyone knew it. Out of the corner of Sora's eye, he saw the wizard Merlin get taken down. Further down the hall, Aladdin was pinned to a wall and slain. Robin Hood wasn't quick enough with his arrows and he was killed. Sora couldn't focus. All his allies were dying and there wasn't anything he could do to stop it.
"The King has fallen!" cried a soldier. "King Mickey has fallen in battle!" Sora froze upon hearing that, dropping his guard for just a moment, his blood running cold. King Mickey was dead. And along with him, the dream of peace was dying faster than Sora could have ever imagined. They may not have always seen eye to eye, but Sora never wished him dead.
In his moment of weakness, an armoured Heartless soldier made a dive at him with its sword drawn, but was knocked out by Cid. "Get your head in the fight, kid!" he called, batting another Heartless aside. Sora snapped out of his morbid reverie and resumed fighting. "We can't hold them back anymore! Fall back to the Cornerstone room!" Sora nodded and dismissed his Keyblade so he could move faster. As he ran, he released a powerful Blizzana spell to freeze the enemies around them. The only allies left alive besides Sora were Cid and Yen Sid. They jumped down the flight of stairs and into the secret chamber.
Pushing through the doors leading to the room that housed the Cornerstone of Light, Sora quickly shut them behind them and spelled it with a Protega shield to give them some breathing time. Cid flew over to the computer that had been set up in the room, dropping his staff with a resounding clatter, and he began typing up some code. Catching on quickly to what Cid was up to, Yen Sid abandoned his position by the door and began performing some magic next to the Cornerstone.
"What the fuck are you two doing?" Sora demanded, still breathing heavily but anticipating more action, poised in front of the door with his Keyblade at the ready.
"We're opening the Door to the Past," Yen Sid answered easily, as if it were a normal thing to be bending the space-time continuum. Sora's eyes widened.
"Now? We don't have time for that! We're fucked if we don't beat back these Heartless!"
"We're already fucked, kid!" Cid snapped, not breaking eye-contact with his monitor, even as it flickered in and out of power. "This is our last chance to make a difference!" Huffing in frustration and stress, Sora turned away from his two remaining companions and cast another Protega spell over the failing one.
"Well hurry up! I'll hold them back as long as possible!"
Yen Sid concentrated deeply, his eyes closed and his arms raised, compelling the Cornerstone of Light to lend him strength, using the residual energy from the last Door to the Past to aid in recreating a path. Meanwhile, Cid was typing up a storm on his computer, performing calculations on the fly, sending instructions to the empty archway to start generating power and form a temporal field. When Yen Sid felt a Door to Light forming, he pulled back on it, inverting it and turning it into a Door to the Past.
There was a sudden bright light exploding from the spot the Door formed on, blinding everyone in the room for a few seconds. When the light died down, they stared in awe at the sheer brilliance and luminosity bleeding out of the newly-formed Doorway. One step beyond that threshold would take someone backwards in time, but to what point and what destination was unclear.
"Send a probe through," Yen Sid told Cid.
"No time, the Heartless are right outside our hiding spot!" Cid called, bringing up an initial diagnosis of the Door to determine if it was safe to step through at all. "It looks good! Sora, you've got a green light to go!" The entrance to the room shook as something heavy slammed into the door, sending tiny splinters flying across the room.
"I can't leave now, the Heartless are breaking through!" Sora shouted, his arms shaking with adrenaline.
"We can handle them! Now go before it's too late!"
"I'm not leaving you two to die!" Cid groaned in annoyance at Sora's chivalry while Yen Sid patiently approached the young man.
"Sora…" he said slowly, hoping his words would be heeded. "This mission holds precedence over all else. I'm afraid this timeline is doomed, but if you go back and change things, you can erase all this!"
"There's no guarantee of that!" Sora cried, trying to keep the fear from his voice while his eyes remained trained on the door. "What if it doesn't work? I can't let the castle be overrun or I'll never get another shot at this! I'm staying and fighting until the end!" There was pounding coming from the other side, an endless array of Heartless demons just dying to get their hands on Sora, to snuff out the last protector of Light.
"If you don't go now, then it truly will be the end of all things!" Yen Sid insisted, his voice growing bolder. "Your sense of duty is misplaced."
"Then one of you two do it! I'm needed here and now!"
"For god's sake, kid!" Cid yelled, getting out of his chair in a sudden swift movement. "We're too old for this shit! You're the chosen one! You're the one who has to do this! We got your back covered!"
"I'm staying here! If I'm going to die, then it will be in a manner of my choosing, and I fucking choose this! So fuck off and let me fight!" Everything about Sora's tone and stance made it clear he had no intention of going through with his mission. For whatever reason, he felt his place was in the here and the now. Cid and Yen Sid glanced at each other and an unspoken agreement was made between the two elder men.
Another slam on the door indicated that the Heartless were moments away from getting in and unleashing hell upon the unfortunate ones inside, and it was during that momentary distraction that Cid grabbed Sora under the arms, hooking his staff across Sora's chest to prevent the young man from escaping.
"What the fuck?" Sora roared, struggling instantly to break free. "Let me go, asshole!"
"Bind!" Yen Sid cast the Binding spell on Sora, paralyzing him from the neck down. "I'm sorry, Sora. You're our last chance for peace. You have to survive this ordeal, Keyblade Master." He nodded at Cid, who dragged a cursing, angry Sora towards the Door to the Past.
"You fuckers!" he screamed, clenching his teeth. "Don't do this! I can fight!"
"You'll be arriving in 2005," Cid explained, briefing Sora on his mission, ignoring the hateful things he was spewing. "You'll either arrive in Traverse Town or Disney Castle. Find your past self and bring him to the Castle immediately. If we're going to survive the first strike, we need a massive army."
"I know the fucking mission!" Sora hissed. "Let me go already! Just let me clear the castle of Heartless!"
"It's too late for that!" They were less than a foot from the Door now, close enough that Cid could toss Sora through, which he prepared to do. For the briefest of moments, staring into the heart of the Doorway, the anger drained out of Sora until all that was left was sheer terror of the unknown beyond the Door.
"What if it doesn't work?" he cried, his voice betraying his feelings of dread. "Where will I go? I've got nothing left to come back to!"
"Keep faith, kid," Cid said softly, losing his gruffness and feeling a similar fear creeping up on him. "Good luck." Without another word, he pushed Sora through the Door. The last thing Sora saw before the blinding light took him was the sight of his Protega shield failing and the doors flying open, Heartless soldiers swarming inside and opening fire while Yen Sid and Cid leapt into the fray.
"Nooo!" he screamed. And then, there was nothing but a white void.
He was falling, falling through time and space, his essence flooding with a weird sort of contentment, as if the last few minutes of his life didn't happen. As he fell faster, he could feel his heart growing warmer and his fear lessened. The last thing he sensed before losing consciousness was a cool breeze on his skin, the smell of salty ocean water hitting his nostrils, the sound of waves mixed with rushing wind roaring in his ears, and the hazy red glow of a sunrise.
His body impacted on the ocean surface of a strange new world and he sank, unable to move or swim, asleep and drowning. Somewhere from the surface, a hand latched onto his and pulled him up, brought him to the shore, forcing air into his lungs. Waking up, he was filled with panic, still unable to breathe. He rolled over, the Bind spell having worn off by now, and coughed up water, his throat burning, the contentment and warmth disappearing in a flash as he cursed as much as his lungs would allow.
"Where am I?" he asked once he caught his breath.
One of his saviours kneeled beside him and said, "You're on Destiny Island." As Sora sat up, scratching the back of his drenched head, his eyes were met with the sight of a pair of matching blue eyes, watching him carefully, shock written all over the other's face. And all Sora could think was, 'It worked! It actually fucking worked!' Hope soared in his heart. He was back on his home, the home he thought was gone for good. There before him was a younger version of himself, carefree and innocent, still living a blissfully ignorant life to the horrors that awaited him in however many years they had left. Which brought Sora to his next question.
"What year is it?" he asked quickly.
"Excuse me?"
"The year! What year is it?" The force it took to say that much caused Sora to start coughing again, trying to get the leftover water out of his airways.
"2006! It's 2006!" The hope that had just conquered Sora's heart quickly diminished, leaving behind the scorn and jadedness he always felt. He was a year too late. Maleficent would have already started building her army by now, eliminating the element of time and surprise right off the bat.
"Shit…" He collapsed backwards, feeling his strength leaving him and the urge to sleep beckoning him. "It's supposed to be 2005…" But maybe it could still be salvaged. As he slipped back into an unconscious state, he thought, 'There's still time. I can still save everyone…'
I can still turn back the hourglass…
…
~End
A/N: And there you have it! Done! I guess you could say, with the way this ended, this is almost like a prequel to Hourglass. So now that you've read this, if you haven't read Hourglass yet, go do so! :D Anyway, thank you to all of you who made it this far and a special thanks to those of you who took the time to leave a review. Much appreciated! A big thanks to my beta-readers, Mutantpenguins, ILoveToDrum, and EternalDreamer! Without you guys, I'd be missing a ton of commas. :D I got one last Post-Hourglass fic coming your way. Check my profile for it! Until next time!