Summary: For years, Squall's been trying to get home while figuring out what's going on in this town-world he landed in. Then these people from Gaia showed up. And there's this kid with a big key. One kid with one big key. As he starts to learn the true meaning of darkness, his old relationships, and how the worlds were created, Squall loses his grip on one reality and starts to adapt to a new one. But what does he want? M/M, Cloud/Leon, deconstruction, satire, tragicomedy, Deconstruction fic
A/N: FF characters weren't in KH3, and this fic happened. M/M (Cloud/Leon, Cleon) relationship is prominently featured, but this is not what I would consider a romance. Their relationship doesn't necessarily drive the story forward, but you can't ignore it. WARNING: Zero target audience (but y'all should come along for the ride anyway)
Trigger Warnings: Suicidal ideation, themes on toxic relationships that includes sex, references to past torture, and character death
Content Details: Characters are from OG FF VII and VIII games, borrowed details from FF VII AC since they're supposed to be that age in KH (ex: Cloud is 23), borrowed Cloud's nopes from Remake, Main relationship is M/M, tonal shifts, emotional rollercoaster, no active KH magic happens (i.e fire, ice, and healing magic and whatnot), tire kicking suspension of disbelief, major plot points will differ but the setting and characters are canon, events are derived from canon, canon divergence/AU, Aerith is not from OG FFVII. I could argue she is from KH, but to not argue, she's OOC.
I truly enjoyed writing this. I hope you enjoy reading it.
Chapter 1: The Brood Off
Brooooooooooooody. That's right, thirteen O's, each one elongated for emphasis. Leaning back against a brick wall the way that Leon Leonhart had just a few days ago. This new guy with big, spiky blond hair and achingly beautiful teal-blue eyes, wearing a black cape over a black fitted tank top, black gloves, and black cargo pants, crossing his arms in the exact same way in the exact same place. Or at least Leon thought it was the same place. The gray stucco and brown brick wall under a purple-blue sky looked like every other one.
Leon, an unintentional alias, because what exactly possessed him to say that the beginning of his last name was his first when he met those stupid talking animals- no, like weird talking animals, like what the hell had he stepped into this time, it had never gotten to the point of fake talking animals before, had it?
"Gosh darn it to heck," Leon said. "Freak. Frick. Fudge."
Oh and he couldn't curse out loud.
"Mister Leon?" a guffaw of a voice said.
Leon put his hands into his jacket pockets, looked down and walked in the opposite direction of the voice. Those things had tried to talk to him about darkness? Lightness? Heartless? Some big key fitting into all the keyholes. This broke the basic rules of shapes. And keys. And holes. Fuck this place.
He walked to the end of a cobblestone street. A dead end. All the streets ended at a dead end. Or a circle, with no way out of town. Was this a town? Did he walk this way a hundred times? A thousand? How much time had passed? Months? Years? Nine years, he counted. Nine. Or more? The absence of a sun created one endless night. It could have been one day for all he knew. Maybe he fell into another time compressor spell and it broke backwards somehow. How, how, how was he going to get back home?
"Leon," a boy's voice said from behind. Leon tapped the street with his shoe, picked at lint in his jacket pockets, thought frantically about anything else that he could do to avoid having to turn around.
"We've been chasing you around town everywhere," said a playdough animal snout on a string body wearing clothes. It had oval googly eyes, for eyes.
"Were you now?" Leon said. "What do you want?"
"Aw, phooey," said a toddler-sized white duck, which had arms and hands instead of wings. Wearing a shirt but no pants, the duck warped his voice by speaking through his quacks. "Look who's in a bad mood. Cheer up, Leon. Turn that frown upside down."
"We eat duck in my world," Leon said, and the duck gulped. "Roasted."
"Come on, Leon," a kid with spiky brown hair said. Dressed like a pirate wearing shorts, the kid had been here for only a few days and was so very enthusiastic about the task at hand. "How do you fight against the darkness?"
"You're the one with a key, snowflake." Leon pointed to a key, the size of a sword, in the kid's hand. "It's always dark. Go wave that around."
"You mean, at those?" The kid pointed at three black creatures with yellow eyes, all which had two arms, two legs, and an oversized head with antennas. They purred before they jumped and snapped.
"Those things come out of nowhere. No, we went over this. Each time you start getting rid of them, more end up-"
"They're the Heartless that took over my home." Sora gripped his large key with both hands and held it above his head like an ax. "I need to protect this world."
"Whatever," Leon said. "Let them multiply and divide so we're covered in them, kid."
"Hey, I am not a kid. Did anybody ever tell you that you're kind of a jerk, Leon?" The kid turned towards Leon. "You want to go?"
"Do you listen to anything I say?" Leon sighed. "I'm a commander. Or I was, before being dragged into this- whatever this is. Why would I want to fight you?"
"To spar, maybe?" The kid shrugged. "Wouldn't it be cool to spar?"
"No, you are wielding a giant key."
"Come on, Leon, I just want to learn how to fight from you. You look so cool."
"Are you finished? I want to be."
"Wait," the kid said. "Promise not to be mad?"
"What did you do now?"
"Well, you know about that guy who showed up today? I tried to introduce myself, but he didn't say anything. I kind of got to talking to him about my Keyblade and the Heartless. He seems kind of scary, that guy, but kind of cool. He didn't say much when I was talking to him."
"Why would I be mad about that?"
"I might have told him it would help out a lot if he went around beating Heartless up."
"Why would you do that?"
"Well, you and Cid, Yuffie and Aerith. You guys aren't helping me with these Heartless. You probably could have gotten rid of all of them by now even without me, but you're just standing around or in the hotel or a shop."
"Listen, kid," Leon said.
"No, Leon, you listen to me," the kid said. "Please, just once."
Leon sighed. "What is it?"
"These Heartless are after my heart."
"Didn't Aerith say that they're after darkness?"
"All hearts have darkness."
"So they're after everybody. How do we know they don't want lungs? Everyone has those."
"They want my Keyblade. They're coming after me to get it."
"Then you are a special snowflake."
"Why doesn't anybody listen to me?" Sora said.
"Gosh, we do, Sora," said the not-dog dog.
"I'm just…tired today." Leon plopped down in the middle of the street and rested his elbows on his knees. He thought about lying down right there, giving up, and accepting whatever happened to him as a moody puddle on the ground, but he was an adult, damn it. Adults don't do that. "I'm tired."
"I'm tired, too. And I miss my friends, Kairi and Riku," Sora's voice cracked. "What if-What if something happened to them?"
"I'm sure they're alright." Leon closed his eyes, hoping his lie wouldn't show.
"Have you seen anybody from your world yet, Leon? Here, I mean."
Leon imagined his girlfriend nine years older, moving on with someone else whispering into her ear, her hair tickling his nose. His breath, his lips so close to hers. It would be for the best, wouldn't it?
"No, it's gone."
"What if that happened to my world?"
"I really don't know."
"What if I don't see my friends Kairi and Riku again?"
"You're the Keyblade Master. If anybody can save them, you can."
"You're not making fun of me again, are you, Leon?"
"No." Leon opened his eyes and looked up at the kid. "I'm not."
"You look like you really need a hug. Do you want one?" the kid said. Leon shook his head. "I'm sorry, Leon. I'm sorry I asked you about your world."
Leon searched for ways in his mind to not break down. Was he alive? Was this a dream? He bit his knuckle to make sure it hurt. The kid was new, Leon had been here for so long, and they had to coexist. The kid couldn't see him fall apart. He couldn't see him with bloody knuckles.
"Hello?" said the broody guy from before, standing at the beginning of this dead-end street. He walked towards the group. "I'm looking for… people."
"Hi there, the name's Goofy," said the dog, aptly. "You're probably looking for us."
"Cloud," this guy said.
"Why do you keep bringing up clouds, mister?" the kid said. "There aren't any here. No clouds, no sun, but look, the stars sure are pretty, aren't they?"
"My name. It's Cloud. Cloud Strife."
"Ohhh, that makes a lot more sense, but why didn't you say that I got your name all wrong before?"
"You were talking," said Cloud. "A lot."
"I'm Sora." The kid reached out for a handshake, and Cloud stared at the kid's hand.
"I know," Cloud said. "We met."
"Oh." Sora pointed at the duck. "Well, this is Donald, and that's Leon sitting on the ground."
"Leon." Cloud looked down at Leon. "Donald, Goofy, Sora."
"Welcome to heck," Leon said.
"Heck," Cloud said.
"Forget it. Did you meet the others?"
"The people, the mog, in the square," Cloud said. "They're…
"Not real," Leon said.
"What do you mean they're not real?" Sora said. The duck and dog looked at each other.
"I meant, have you met Yuffie, she's real," Leon said. "And-"
"Yuffie?" Cloud said. "Yuffie Kisaragi? She here?"
"I don't know her last name. But Yuffie's the only Yuffie I know. Unless that's a common name in your world."
"My world." Cloud reached out to help Leon up, but Leon pushed himself up off the street. "Think you can take me to see her?"
"Follow me, Cloud. I know where she is," Sora said, skipping away. "By the way, did you beat up any Heartless yet?"
"Nope." Cloud followed Sora.
"Not you, too. Come on, guys." Sora spun around and put his hands behind his head. He stopped smiling and stared at Cloud, which made everyone else stare as well. "Whoa, that's your sword?"
A sword, about a foot wide and taller than the guy carrying it, hung on his back at an angle, swaying slightly as he walked.
"Yup," Cloud said, walking ahead, leading the group, even though he didn't know the way. "There a Cid here?"
"There's one in town." Leon said. "Cid's a common name so he might not be who you're looking for."
"It's right around the corner, Cloud." Sora pointed ahead. "We're staying at a hotel. Isn't that neat?"
With orange glowing windows and three neon blue and yellow signs spelling out 'Hotel,' the hotel spanned the longest edge of the largest of three squares in this town-world. Night with no moon cast darkness over the three-story hotel made of brown brick and gray stucco. Stone streetlights lit steps that led into a sunk-in square in front of the hotel. Standing on the ledge of a short stone wall overlooking the square and holding her hands behind her back, Yuffie was looking up at a starry sky.
"Yuffie," Cloud said.
Yuffie turned around. "Cloud?"
Cloud walked towards her with longer strides than what he used during the group's walk there and Yuffie ran to him until they embraced.
"Oh, you oaf." Yuffie pushed Cloud away. "What are you doing in this awful place?"
"You had us all worried. You alright?"
"Don't 'you alright' me. Did you do something stupid to end up here?"
"Nope."
"Cloud Strife," Yuffie said. "I'll make a straw doll and jinxx you if you're lying."
"I'm not. I came looking for you and Cid. I ended up in that woods in Wutai, where we all met you, remember? It got dark all the sudden and I woke up here. You know anything about this place?"
"It's pieces of worlds that went dark all glued back together," Sora said.
"What kind of place is that?" Cloud turned to Leon. "You live here?"
"I'm not from here if that's what you're asking." Leon said.
"Leon's world is gone," Sora said. "Mine…I…"
"You two are from different worlds," Cloud said.
"We are," Sora said. "I'm from Destiny Island."
"Your world's an island floating in space?" Leon said.
"No," Sora said. "It's surrounded by water. I mean, that's what makes an island an island."
"We have islands," Cloud said, "surrounded by water. On our world. One of them's probably called Destiny Island."
"We look alike. Why do we think we're from different worlds?" Leon said.
"Well, gosh, you all are, aren't you?" the dog said. "Leon, you're from earth. Cloud and Yuffie, you're from Gaia, and Sora's from Destiny Island."
"Well, golly gee gosh, Goofy, that's so awfully neat-o." Yuffie reached for a spiky metal boomerang that hung behind her back. "Thing is, I never told you I was from Gaia."
"I did." A woman in a knee-length pink sundress and work boots stood at the hotel's front door. "It was me who told them."
Cloud stared as the woman tilted her head and waved. Not looking away from her, Cloud turned his face towards Yuffie. "Do you…do you see her, too?"
"Wait, Cloud, I wanted to tell you," Yuffie said. "I need to tell you…she…"
Cloud looked at Yuffie now. "No. Yuffie. You got to tell me, do you see her, too?"
"Yeah."
"You sure?"
Yuffie nodded.
Cloud ran to the woman and embraced her while she stood still under his arms.
"Aerith," Cloud said, holding her. "It's you. I…You're here."
"It is me, Cloud," Aerith said. "This world needs you."
"This world?" Cloud let her go and stepped back.
"The Heartless are after our hearts."
"That…doesn't matter." Cloud held her hand and squeezed it. "You're here."
"This world is full of darkness. Sora has a Keyblade to fill it with light."
"Darkness?" Cloud said, turning towards the kid. "Sora?"
"Do you think you can help him?"
"Aerith." Cloud grabbed her shoulders, but stopped short of shaking her. "Are you alright? You'll be alright. I'll make sure you're alright. Please… just…"
"Of course I'm alright, Cloud." Aerith smiled. "I'm with you now."
"But… Aerith…" Cloud looked down. "Have you… seen Zach? Is he here, too?"
Yuffie opened her mouth to say something but didn't.
"No matter how far away we are, our hearts will bring us together again. So I'm sure we'll see him soon. Let's go inside, Cloud. I have so much that I want to tell you." Aerith led Cloud through the front doors into the hotel, and the doors clunked close behind them.
"She his long-lost love or something?" Leon said. "Why didn't you tell me that you knew each other?"
"What do you mean?" Yuffie stared at the hotel doors. "Cloud just got here. You don't know him, do you? We're from different worlds?"
"I meant you and Aerith," Leon said. "I was staying away from her, too, but you never said you knew her."
"I really don't want to talk about this right now, Squall," Yuffie said. "Or Leon, or whoever you are. I'm going to go let Cid know that Cloud's here."
A bell rang and Yuffie hopped down steps into the square and went out of sight under a tunnel. After the twelfth strike, at noon or midnight, Leon figured it was time to sleep. The kid stared at the hotel doors and the two talking animals looked at each other.
"Let's turn in for the night," Leon said.
"I got to go get more Heartless," Sora said.
"When's the last time you slept?" Leon said.
"Don't worry about me, Leon." Sora gripped his key with both his hands. "I sleep with both eyes open. I'm strong. I can do this."
Leon sighed. "Try going after something bigger. It's brutal to go after things that are that small."
"Go after the big one. Skip the small fries. Got it." And Sora scampered off. The duck and dog followed, and the trio's footsteps echoed into the night until all Leon could hear were buzzing street lamps which flooded corners with their green-yellow light.
Leon was once again alone.
He missed, what did he miss exactly? He missed home. He missed his girlfriend. He missed the sun. And the sea. And plants. He missed, he missed, he missed, but none of that mattered now. He counted the stone streetlights and then the gray stone steps and then the clothing items across the street in the window displays. Shirt, hat, shoes, pants. No one ever stopped to look. Empty. This place was empty.
But what about other worlds? Gaia? Destiny Island? Away, outside of this god awful place. That was weird, this was all weird, because Leon never mentioned anything about earth to the dog or anyone here before.
Right?