Without shadow, nothing : Chapter XII
Disclaimer: If it were for the time we spend in the heads of these boys, they would be ours already. But nu-uh, it's still Square Enix calling the shots. The song is Breaking Benjamin's Hopeless. (Yes, Breaking Benjamin, again. Blame Anae.)
Beta: Azrax (We're still trying to find new ways to express our gratitude. And we fail.)
A/N (Anae): "Welcome to the game." Indeed. Leon, you should little by little start to understand where you're sticking your nose in... Btw, I hope our Aerith is alright for you. I played with her on this chapter, and she started to live her own life.
Hope you don't mind that little thing though, since this is still continuing. Hope to see you again, and don't forget to tell us you're there!
A/N (QttQ): Okay, time for some explanations - or at least an attempt at explaining. We actually thought this through, you guys, honest! It just isn't very easy bringing people back from the Great Beyond.
Also, have some Tifa! Anae plays the best one I've encountered so far, so this is a real treat if you ask me!
Again, thankyou to everyone for following us this far on this road. I hope you'll be there in the future, too. C:
Chapter XII: Welcome to the game
Here I lie forever,
sorrow still remains.
Will the water pull me down and wash it all away?
Welcome to the game.
Leon stared at the beautiful woman in front of him. As soon as she had spoken her name, he could understand the way Cloud had acted. Tifa's and Yuffie's words made sense as well. He could strongly recall Cloud's words from their previous quarrels. That Aerith was dead, that her death was somehow his fault.
But now this woman told him that she was Aerith.
The gunblader eyed her warily, thoughts racing. She seemed far too alive for a lifeless corpse.
Maybe because nothing seemed real anymore - and Leon's mind was occupied with processing how this all was supposed to be possible, trying to find any hints of how it would make sense - he didn't think of what he was about to say.
Leon had never been the most eloquent person. He preferred to speak his mind, to tell the truth of his thoughts, so he had a bad tendency to be too blunt sometimes. This, this was one of those times.
"I thought you were dead."
If every single pair of eyes in the room hadn't been on him before, they sure were now. He could almost hear the unspoken question on their lips, and somehow it interested him what looks they were giving. He hadn't meant to be that blunt, to tell them that he knew things about Cloud. Things that the silent fighter preferred to keep to himself.
However, what was done, was done. So he met the surprised green eyes of the woman.
She did not speak for a while. Leon could feel himself growing agitated. Sure, he could feel the aura of kindness and pureness Aerith spread around, but something in the way she looked at him made Leon feel uneasy. It felt like Aerith could see right through him, could see the truth of his relationship with Cloud, could see right into his soul.
It truly distressed him.
The kind woman might've noticed it, since the smile returned to her face before she stepped back, shrugging.
"I used to be, yes." She eyed Leon, green eyes looking straight through him. "But as you see, I'm alive. Like I told Cloud, none of us knows the reason."
Her gaze wandered to her lifted palm.
"And we all want to know why." The hand was squeezed into a fist as she lifted her head, eyes filled with determination and belief. "And we will find the answer."
Leon had no answer to that. He was taken aback by the strength Aerith had. It wasn't same strength Tifa had; Tifa seemed perfectly capable of taking care of herself, whereas Aerith seemed far more fragile. Yet, this strength of hers was no less than Tifa's. It was coming from somewhere inside her. She believed in her words, and she'd make them come true - no matter what.
The moment, like every other, passed. Soon she was back to her smiling, kind self. That was when Cid decided it was time to take his leave.
"'lright, time t' get back to work. Gotta build more than a few houses." Without any further explanations, he walked out of the door, leaving Leon alone with the girls.
"Yuffie." Aerith spoke softly, getting the unusually quiet ninja's attention. "Could you help Cid a bit? I'm sure he'd appreciate a helping hand."
"Sure!" Yuffie happily answered. Leon could tell that even if Aerith's request had brought her cheerfulness back, it was still far from usual. Everyone had a lot on their mind - both memories and worries - and Yuffie was no exception. "Call me if you need me!" She chirped before exiting. "Cid, wait!" She shrieked, and Leon found himself with two women he barely knew.
Without a word, the women started doing their tasks. Aerith left the room and moved to a smaller one in order to change some sheets, and Tifa went to wash the dishes.
Before Leon had the time to feel very out of the place, Tifa started to talk.
"Leon Leonhart, right?"
"Yeah." He confirmed, stepping closer to the sink, feeling awkward standing alone in the middle of the room.
A short silence expanded between the two of them before Tifa spoke. They were barely acquaintances, neither really comfortable with the other's presence. It wasn't that they didn't have respect towards each other; they were both aware of each other's fighting skills, but the truth was, when it came to Cloud, neither of them knew where they were standing.
"So." Tifa started, putting some dishes aside as she glanced at Leon over her shoulder. "You're staying here with us?"
Leon was taken aback by Tifa's straightness. Then again, Yuffie had once said that she would never cross with Tifa, especially if she was angry, so maybe he should've expected this.
The brunette pondered the question for a while. He didn't really have any place to stay, the town was still under construction and there weren't many rebuilt houses available. And he didn't mind the idea of staying close to Cloud.
"I guess." He answered. "If you'll let me."
She snorted, giving the gunblader a small smile.
"We don't have much space, but I'm sure we'll manage somehow."
Tifa put the washed dishes away and turned to fully face Leon. She eyed her thoroughly, a lot like Aerith had before. Under her gaze, Leon didn't feel comfortable, but wary instead of distressed, like he had felt with Aerith. He could feel Tifa trying to see through him, but not managing. At least not yet.
Tifa, however, caught him off guard easily. Far easier than Leon had expected, but then again, he had never expected a woman to be so serious and straight forward about a thing like this.
"How did you get Cloud out of the Colisseum?"
Leon stared at Tifa for a good while, his mind racing once again, wondering how he was supposed to answer. Telling about his relationship with Cloud wasn't an option. And he truly didn't want to explain his promise to be Cloud's shadow to anyone.
Looking at Tifa's deep brown eyes, the gunblader came to understand that not answering wasn't an option either. Same came to lying - he bet that she could see through his lies easily. After all, Leon wasn't much of a liar and she had spent years with Cloud, practicing that certain skill.
"I vowed that I would help him." Leon answered. He could say she hadn't given up because of the way Tifa acted, Leon could tell that she deeply cared of Cloud. That she hadn't given up, that she wanted to shelter and protect him.
That wish wasn't very far from Leon's own.
Before Tifa could ask anything else, Leon excused himself and left the building. As the gunblader eyed the sunless sky, noticing how the dark clouds were gathering, he drew a deep breath. Then he set on to his task of finding Cloud.
It took him quite a while to accomplish that. He strolled around the streets and dark alleys, but the blonde was nowhere to be found. In the end, he decided to climb onto a roof to try and see if it'd be easier to spot the fighter from above. It wasn't hard to climb to a rooftop, but it was harder to find a roof safe enough to stand on without having to fear it crashing down.
He was surprised to find the blonde. Not from the narrow alleys, but from the rooftop.
As Leon worked his way towards the right spot, he had to wonder why. High places seemed to attract Cloud. Usually there was a reason behind such an act, but Leon had no idea what it could be. He made a note to ask the blonde about it someday.
When he reached the roof, he stopped in his tracks just to look at the blonde. Cloud was sitting on the rooftop - one of his legs
was hoisted to his chest, the other was resting on the tiles. He was certain that Cloud was aware of his presence, but the blonde did not show it in any way.
At first, Leon had to ponder whether to go to the man or not - he wasn't sure if his presence would be welcome since Cloud obviously had a lot on his mind. Leon personally didn't know if he'd been able to hold it together as well as Cloud did. It wasn't every day that you found out that the one whose death you blamed on yourself was alive again, for a reason unknown. And the little he knew about the blonde warrior's past combined to that . . .
Leon had seen men breaking down from less.
So when Cloud rested his temple on his knee, sighing, Leon did what felt natural to him. Without a word, he closed the distance between them and sat down next to the blonde. He didn't sit too close - he didn't want to smother Cloud - he simply wanted the blonde to know that he was there.
Quietly, only the wind and the darkening sky as their witnesses, Leon reached out and gently rubbed Cloud's back. He was mindful to avoid the wing - he didn't want to remind the brooding blonde of its existence.
Neither man said a word, neither even glanced at each other. But they were both still there. And that was what mattered.
The dark clouds in the sky, however, told them that a storm was coming.