Loving Darkness, Cloud/Leon, PG
Title: Loving Darkness Author: dogmatix Rating/Warnings: mild swearing Summary: No problem will ever leave you where you found it. Prompt: Kingdom Hearts - Cloud/Leon - Escaping the darkness changes everyone somehow A/N: A-argh, I think I remembered the prompt slightly wonky, or confused it a bit or something. >.>; U-um, hope it's still okay?
Loving Darkness
He stumbled down the shadowed hallway, leaning heavily against the stone wall. His harsh, panting breath alternated with a blanketing whine to fill his ears. Shoving himself upright again, Cloud Strife closed aching eyes and forced rubbery legs to carry him forward.
This was probably a bad idea. But then, he'd always been too stubborn for his own good. Cloud might not have been good at much, but he could out-stubborn a mountain, his mom had always said. The world spun around him and he lurched sideways, impacting not against cold stone but with warm leather.
"What- Cloud?"
"Leon." He'd had his goodbyes all in order, so that Leon wouldn't worry when he left. Now they escaped him like frightened birds, slipping away on the wind. "L-Leon."
"Infirmary," Leon declared. Cloud could barely hear him over the whine in his ears.
"No!" Cloud yelped, gripping Leon's jacket in panicked fingers. "No, doctors, no more." His head ached.
"Your eyes..."
Shit. Shit shit shit. "It's him. Me. I'm him." He knew he was babbling but he couldn't seem to stop. "S-sephiroth. I fought him. Won. Only now he's me."
"Cloud, you're not making any sense." Leon knew about his aversion to doctors, but the blond could tell that he was about two seconds from being dragged to the infirmary, willing or not. It probably didn't help that his eyes were dragon-slit and glowing fiercely.
"They can't help," he panted, holding his legs under him through sheer stubborn. "He always said he was my Darkness and- and he was right-"
"You-"
Cloud gripped the leather under his fingers with a desperate strength. "I w-won. I broke- broke the blanance- a-and," sobbing, he forced it out, "h-he loved me. I didn't know. After everything, he loved me." Cloud let his head fall forward onto Leon's chest, struck again by the unexpectedness of waking up mostly himself. "And now I'm him."
"But you say you won..?" Leon frowned, pulling Cloud out of the public hallway and helping him sit on something soft - a bed.
He felt too hot to be healthy, and the world kept swimming in and out of focus as Darkness and Light roiled inside him, trying to balance again. "Only means the- the balance broke. Dun' mean I beat 'im," Cloud slurred. He wanted to explain it better - the fragile balance between Light and Dark that he'd shattered, that would have killed the both of them if Sephiroth hadn't allowed himself to roll under.
That only meant that Cloud had a fighting chance though. He'd have to find the balance all over again. And hope he didn't end up with a wing again.
Right now he wasn't really worrying about the wing as much as keeping his heart beating, and the Darkness, even maleable and non-malevolant, was still nearly overwhelming in its presence as it pressed in against him, seeking entry, forcing pathways open though sheer weight.
Steady hands settled on his back, holding him steady. "What can I do?"
A tangle of emotions stopped Cloud's throat, and he buried his face in the familiar fluffy collar. "Be here." And he let the Darkness in.
**************
It was morning when he woke, sunlight slanting into the room. He was a mess, blond hair sticking to him in sweat-dried strands. Stiff tear-tracks traced down his cheeks and he felt grungy. Everything ached.
Beneath him Leon slept on, equally tired after an exhausting night of pain and change.
Okay, so the whole saying goodbye thing hadn't panned out, but Cloud couldn't say he was sorry.
Looking down, he sighed in defeat. It was going to be a bitch re-learning how to fight with tentacles though.