This is my first Kingdom Hearts Fanfic though I do have many more idea's
popping around in my head. This might be a little confusing around the
beginning and it might seem like it's not a Yaoi, but stick with it, it'll
get pretty Yaoi-full in just a few more.
Disclaimer: I don't own, cause if I did Cloud and Leon would shag all the time, as would Sora and Riku. Oh yeah, and Kairi would be dead. ^_^
Leon/Cloud & Riku/Sora
Warnings: Uh, my beta is lazy so it's not beta'd. That's about it, oh yeah, and Yaoi. But I'm sure you already knew that.
Broken Masks By: Trunks lil sis
"Don't you want to know if the rumors are true?" The young ninja asked. "I mean it's another one of us, someone else who survived." She bounced around tall brown haired man who seemingly ignored her. "Leon! What's your problem? A week ago you were more then happy to go look for survivors, now you don't want anything to do with it?"
He shrugged, his Gun Blade resting on his left shoulder. "I've got more important things to do." He leaned down to her level. "Like hunting the heartless. Unless you'd like to wake up to a couple thousand outside our door." He continued to walk down the alleyway towards the secret underground passageway.
"Don't you want to know?" She looked at him with large eyes, not comprehending what was wrong with her friend. The man that had grown from being an acquaintance to a big brother. "I-"
He turned again. "Listen, why don't you and Aerith go check it out. If the rumors turn out somehow to be true, I'll go find her." Yuffie frowned.
"Who said it was a girl?" She asked. Leon looked at her suspiciously. "They say it's Cloud." She spoke quietly and failed to notice the flinch from Leon that vanished as soon as it had appeared. "Now do you see why we need to find him?" He pushed his rage down.
"Like I said, I've got a busy day today, I'll see you later." He walked away from her rather fast, causing her to frown.
"Oh, Leon." She shook her head before running off towards the first district; she had to see Aerith now. Yuffie passed through the first district doors out of breath, and spotted the brown haired girl speaking quietly with Cid.
"Aerith!" She flipped up to the level behind the accessories shop and grabbed onto her friends arm. "Any luck?" She asked, hopeful. Aerith shook her head.
"You two see here," Cid has stepped in. "Leave this subject alone. Cloud would have come and found us if he wanted to see us. He's running around this town for a reason and he'll talk to us when the time is ready." He gave Yuffie a look. "And don't you go tracking him down to force him into something he doesn't want. That fella's always been a sucker for a pretty girl, don't go using it against him." He flipped her black hair. "Give him some time."
"Time is something we do not have the pleasure of." Aerith said. "No matter how many hours Leon spends out there hunting the heartless, they just keep coming. We're lucky they've been contained to the second and third district this long. We're going to be over run some time soon and we'll all be forced to leave."
Yuffie crossed her arms. "But Cloud needs us, we're all he has left of our world." Aerith looked over her shoulder towards the second district doors and sighed. This action did not escape Yuffie's watchful eyes. "And Cloud loves Aerith." The very young woman said.
Aerith blushed. "Cloud and I are friends, nothing more." She said, but her eyes betrayed her. "Anyway, we still need to find Cloud, whether he wishes to be found or not." Yuffie nodded.
Cid rolled his eyes and began to walk away. "You girls be careful, there and more and more heartless around here all the time." Yuffie raised her eyebrows and Aerith nodded. Both girls jumped forward to pull him back.
"Then we need a nice strong man like you." Aerith giggled as she and Yuffie dragged him towards the doors to the second district. "You'll protect us."
"No way!" He planted his heals into the ground but was still dragged. "If and when you do find Cloud I don't want to have my head chopped off by that overly large sword for messing with him." They paid no attention to his ranting. "And then if Cloud doesn't kill me Leon will as soon as he finds out."
His calls and screams went unaided as the three figures disappeared through the dark doors.
Leon swung his Gun Blade at an imaginary foe again. He swung with anger and was off his mark completely, and that was just pissing him off even more. The walls of the underground passageway twinkled lightly with the magic radiating off of them. It was truly the only place the heartless hadn't been at least once.
He swung once more before shaking his head and letting his sword drop to the floor. The sound of metal hitting stone echoed off the walls for several seconds. He seated himself on the floor next to the water and rested his elbows on his knees.
"Does something trouble you?" Asked a soft voice. Leon didn't so much as turn. He knew immediately it was the old magician Merlin, his house residing directly over the passageway. Lately the man had been visiting Leon more often then not.
"No." He picked himself off the floor to greet the man properly. "What can I do for you?" As much as the man annoyed him, he had done so much to help them, asking nothing in return. In fact without the old wizard they would never have been able to occupy the small house. The protection charms being the only thing keeping the heartless out.
"Now don't lie. Lying only makes things worse, I believe Pinocchio is a fine example of that." Leon said nothing. "What bothers you?" The old man asked again.
"No disrespect, but it doesn't concern you." Leon said quietly, hopping the magician would take the hint.
"No such luck." The man replied, making Leon wonder if he had read his mind. "Now why don't you sit next to me and tell me who is on your mind." He lowered himself to the floor and patted the stone next to him.
"A friend might be alive." Leon answered, not moving from his spot.
Merlin stroked his beard. "And you should be happy, but there is something more is there not?"
Leon nodded. "I have known this friend for many years, and competed with him for just as long. He has always chosen to be alone, train alone, never experience love or joy. He's a hard man to befriend and it took me many years to develop something with him."
"Yes?"
"And I feel as if he has betrayed me."
Merlin nodded. "By winning the love of someone you love." Leon told himself he should not have been surprised. The old magician always seemed to know everything. "But there is still something more."
"The rumors say he has been in Transverse town for a few days." Leon now sat beside him. "But he has not sought any of us out. As if our friendship means nothing." Leon sighed. "I know we've all changed, but I had hoped the very few friendships I have, would have held up."
Merlin sat silent for a moment before he stood with a soft groan. "This is something I wish I could help you with, but it is something you must discover on your own." He turned to wall back towards the passageway to his house. "Things will change in a very short time. And nothing is as it seems."
Leon climbed to his own feet, confused. He turned sharply to the entrance of the underground passageway when he heard a man screaming. He quickly identified the voice as belonging to Cid. He picked up his Gun Blade and sprinted towards the alleyway.
He sweat dropped when he spotted Cid being dragged from the Dalmatian house towards his own location. "Leon!" Cid locked eyes with the much younger man. "Help me!!!" Leon was tempted for just a second to turn around and run back to the old man. Anything was better then hearing the veteran pilot screaming like a young girl.
When Yuffie spotted Leon she let go of Cid's arm and bounced over to her other favorite male. "What were you doing?" Leon asked distrustfully. "And why is he screaming, you'll attract the heartless." Leon looked around, as if him mentioning them would cause an attack.
"We were coming to look for you, and Aerith and I decided to bring Cid along because he hardly ever leaves the first district." Yuffie said convincingly. Cid opened his mouth to say something, but Aerith stepped on his foot as hard as she could and shot him a warning glare.
"You were investigating the rumors, weren't you?" Leon asked her.
She bit her lip and gave him an awkward smile. "Uh, no?" She said. He shook his head and leaned against the wall.
"I told you, you could do whatever you wanted to. I'm not going to stop you, but try to be a bit more careful. The heartless have gotten stronger in the past few weeks. I've got a feeling it has to do with Sora. I believe that the closer he gets to sealing the keyholes, the strong the heartless become."
Cid nodded. "The last Gummi Block I installed was the path to a couple worlds crawling with heartless. I'm not talking about the ones we have here, I'm talking about things nightmares are made of."
"I thought the ones here were nightmares." Yuffie supplied.
"No," Cid said, a dark look on his features. "These heartless were different, the very root of evil." The man looked towards Leon. "And I've got a feeling our problems are about to get worse."
"What do you mean?" Leon asked, they certainly didn't need any more problems. The ones they had were disastrous.
"A couple of my scouts reported in a day ago that a few big things were running around. They weren't heartless, but they had the same dark feeling. I'm talking about head honchos. These things controlled the heartless."
Leon looked disturbed. "Would you happen to know where they're running around, so I can go play with them?" He had a murderous tint to his eyes.
"No I don't." Cid shot back angrily. "And if I did I wouldn't tell you. These new things are beyond anything you can think of. They're strong, fast and most of all intelligent. They'd chew you up and spit you out in a few seconds. We'd be attending your funeral if you took them on now." Cid tried to stress his point. Besides Leon being a friend, they needed the man. Leon was really the only one strong enough to take on the heartless day after day and keep them in check.
"You don't have any faith?" Leon asked, he had been counting on Cid of all people.
"I have faith that you would be dead in a second. Think about the people who need you. You aren't the keyblade master and we can't afford to lose you."
Yuffie looked between the two men. "We got a lead on Cloud." She said. It might not have been the best thing to change the subject to, but I was something to distract Leon.
"So the rumors are true? He's here?" Leon asked. He did not have a strong urge to see the man, but he wanted to know if Cloud was alive at least.
Aerith shrugged. "We don't know if he's here, but we know he's alive. We spoke with someone who was at the Coliseum about a week ago. They said he was fighting in the tournament. Other then that, we don't have an idea where he is."
Leon noticed the way she spoke about him and felt his heart drop. "Are you going to go look for him there?" He asked, and wanted to scold himself for hoping she would say no.
"No, he's not there anymore. The man we met said he left right after a fight with Sora." Leon looked more intently at her when she said that. "It was a close match by report, but Sora came out the victor and Cloud left."
"We can still go look if you want." Yuffie volunteered. Unlike Aerith she had seen Leon's face when they had mentioned Cloud again. She knew he desperately wanted to see his friend again-whether he knew it or not. And her heart sunk again as she realized how much Cloud meant to Leon, even if the older man couldn't admit it.
"No, it's just as well." Leon said. "If he wants to see us, he can come and find us. We're not hard to find, in fact everyone one seems to know who we are." Leon stated, happy with his response.
"Well, I'm going to head back to the first district." Cid said, preparing to leave while he could. He hated to think of what Yuffie and Aerith would do to him if Leon left first.
Leon reached out to stop the man. "Hold on a second." The brown haired man reached into his back pocket and pulled out a flattened roll of paper. "I'd like you to install this into my ship, when you get the chance." He handed the man the paper. "And if this gets out to anyone, I'll have your hide." He threw a threatening glare to Cid, just for extra measure.
"Uh, sure." He retreated back to the first district, fingering the blueprints, wondering what they were for. "I'll catch the three of you later." He gave a wave before he was gone.
"I'm going patrolling again." Leon went to turn when Aerith grabbed his arm. Her strong yet gentle touch sent a shiver down his spine.
"I would consider it a personal favor if you would make an attempt to find Cloud." Her eyes pleaded with him and he felt his heart break even further. "I desperately need to speak with him." And Leon could never deny the woman anything.
"I will when I get some spare time." It was his own sort of promise, but she took it nonetheless.
There was suddenly a weird sound that Leon recognized all to well. He spun on his heals, Gun Blade out. The three humans readied themselves for the battle as wave after wave of heartless appeared.
"Yuffie, Aerith, get out of here, I'll hold them off." Leon commanded. Yuffie shook her head, as she looked around them.
"There are too many." She concluded.
"And the paths are all blocked." Aerith observed. And it was true. The doors to the second district and the Dalmatian house were blocked, as well as the secret entrance to the underground cavern. And he couldn't risk exposing it anyway.
In a matter of seconds they were in battle. Leon ripped through the heartless with little effort at first. But they soon began to over take him with their sheer numbers. He was quiet strong, stronger then a normal man, but against dozens and dozens of enemies he stood little chance of surviving.
Yuffie and Aerith stood back to back as they held off the heartless attacking them. Each protecting each other, and putting up a fairly good fight. Leon fought his way over to them as a bright idea sprung into his mind.
"Yuffie, up!" He shouted pointing to the balconies to the hotel. She got the meaning in just a few seconds and was jumping up there soon after. Leon scooped Aerith up into his arms and pushed off the ground as hard as possible.
Leon and Aerith looked around as winged heartless began to appear, compensating for their height. "Follow me!" Leon called, running from balcony to balcony. He stopped in front of the door to the red room and gave it a quick shove. He, Yuffie, and Aerith toppled in, slamming the door seconds later.
They lay on the floor for a few seconds until they were sure the heartless weren't going to attempt to break in. "That was-interesting." Yuffie supplied, climbing to her feet.
"Mind telling me what you're doing in my room?" Asked a new voice. Yuffie looked at the figure in the bed with wide eyes. Aerith gasped and covered her mouth in shock. And Leon moved to the right slightly so he could see the figure fully.
Leon locked eyes with the man. The first thing he observed was the man happened to be his old time friend, Cloud. The second being that his shirt and buckles had been removed and replaced with white gauze. The white bandages were also slowly turning red with blood.
Disclaimer: I don't own, cause if I did Cloud and Leon would shag all the time, as would Sora and Riku. Oh yeah, and Kairi would be dead. ^_^
Leon/Cloud & Riku/Sora
Warnings: Uh, my beta is lazy so it's not beta'd. That's about it, oh yeah, and Yaoi. But I'm sure you already knew that.
Broken Masks By: Trunks lil sis
"Don't you want to know if the rumors are true?" The young ninja asked. "I mean it's another one of us, someone else who survived." She bounced around tall brown haired man who seemingly ignored her. "Leon! What's your problem? A week ago you were more then happy to go look for survivors, now you don't want anything to do with it?"
He shrugged, his Gun Blade resting on his left shoulder. "I've got more important things to do." He leaned down to her level. "Like hunting the heartless. Unless you'd like to wake up to a couple thousand outside our door." He continued to walk down the alleyway towards the secret underground passageway.
"Don't you want to know?" She looked at him with large eyes, not comprehending what was wrong with her friend. The man that had grown from being an acquaintance to a big brother. "I-"
He turned again. "Listen, why don't you and Aerith go check it out. If the rumors turn out somehow to be true, I'll go find her." Yuffie frowned.
"Who said it was a girl?" She asked. Leon looked at her suspiciously. "They say it's Cloud." She spoke quietly and failed to notice the flinch from Leon that vanished as soon as it had appeared. "Now do you see why we need to find him?" He pushed his rage down.
"Like I said, I've got a busy day today, I'll see you later." He walked away from her rather fast, causing her to frown.
"Oh, Leon." She shook her head before running off towards the first district; she had to see Aerith now. Yuffie passed through the first district doors out of breath, and spotted the brown haired girl speaking quietly with Cid.
"Aerith!" She flipped up to the level behind the accessories shop and grabbed onto her friends arm. "Any luck?" She asked, hopeful. Aerith shook her head.
"You two see here," Cid has stepped in. "Leave this subject alone. Cloud would have come and found us if he wanted to see us. He's running around this town for a reason and he'll talk to us when the time is ready." He gave Yuffie a look. "And don't you go tracking him down to force him into something he doesn't want. That fella's always been a sucker for a pretty girl, don't go using it against him." He flipped her black hair. "Give him some time."
"Time is something we do not have the pleasure of." Aerith said. "No matter how many hours Leon spends out there hunting the heartless, they just keep coming. We're lucky they've been contained to the second and third district this long. We're going to be over run some time soon and we'll all be forced to leave."
Yuffie crossed her arms. "But Cloud needs us, we're all he has left of our world." Aerith looked over her shoulder towards the second district doors and sighed. This action did not escape Yuffie's watchful eyes. "And Cloud loves Aerith." The very young woman said.
Aerith blushed. "Cloud and I are friends, nothing more." She said, but her eyes betrayed her. "Anyway, we still need to find Cloud, whether he wishes to be found or not." Yuffie nodded.
Cid rolled his eyes and began to walk away. "You girls be careful, there and more and more heartless around here all the time." Yuffie raised her eyebrows and Aerith nodded. Both girls jumped forward to pull him back.
"Then we need a nice strong man like you." Aerith giggled as she and Yuffie dragged him towards the doors to the second district. "You'll protect us."
"No way!" He planted his heals into the ground but was still dragged. "If and when you do find Cloud I don't want to have my head chopped off by that overly large sword for messing with him." They paid no attention to his ranting. "And then if Cloud doesn't kill me Leon will as soon as he finds out."
His calls and screams went unaided as the three figures disappeared through the dark doors.
Leon swung his Gun Blade at an imaginary foe again. He swung with anger and was off his mark completely, and that was just pissing him off even more. The walls of the underground passageway twinkled lightly with the magic radiating off of them. It was truly the only place the heartless hadn't been at least once.
He swung once more before shaking his head and letting his sword drop to the floor. The sound of metal hitting stone echoed off the walls for several seconds. He seated himself on the floor next to the water and rested his elbows on his knees.
"Does something trouble you?" Asked a soft voice. Leon didn't so much as turn. He knew immediately it was the old magician Merlin, his house residing directly over the passageway. Lately the man had been visiting Leon more often then not.
"No." He picked himself off the floor to greet the man properly. "What can I do for you?" As much as the man annoyed him, he had done so much to help them, asking nothing in return. In fact without the old wizard they would never have been able to occupy the small house. The protection charms being the only thing keeping the heartless out.
"Now don't lie. Lying only makes things worse, I believe Pinocchio is a fine example of that." Leon said nothing. "What bothers you?" The old man asked again.
"No disrespect, but it doesn't concern you." Leon said quietly, hopping the magician would take the hint.
"No such luck." The man replied, making Leon wonder if he had read his mind. "Now why don't you sit next to me and tell me who is on your mind." He lowered himself to the floor and patted the stone next to him.
"A friend might be alive." Leon answered, not moving from his spot.
Merlin stroked his beard. "And you should be happy, but there is something more is there not?"
Leon nodded. "I have known this friend for many years, and competed with him for just as long. He has always chosen to be alone, train alone, never experience love or joy. He's a hard man to befriend and it took me many years to develop something with him."
"Yes?"
"And I feel as if he has betrayed me."
Merlin nodded. "By winning the love of someone you love." Leon told himself he should not have been surprised. The old magician always seemed to know everything. "But there is still something more."
"The rumors say he has been in Transverse town for a few days." Leon now sat beside him. "But he has not sought any of us out. As if our friendship means nothing." Leon sighed. "I know we've all changed, but I had hoped the very few friendships I have, would have held up."
Merlin sat silent for a moment before he stood with a soft groan. "This is something I wish I could help you with, but it is something you must discover on your own." He turned to wall back towards the passageway to his house. "Things will change in a very short time. And nothing is as it seems."
Leon climbed to his own feet, confused. He turned sharply to the entrance of the underground passageway when he heard a man screaming. He quickly identified the voice as belonging to Cid. He picked up his Gun Blade and sprinted towards the alleyway.
He sweat dropped when he spotted Cid being dragged from the Dalmatian house towards his own location. "Leon!" Cid locked eyes with the much younger man. "Help me!!!" Leon was tempted for just a second to turn around and run back to the old man. Anything was better then hearing the veteran pilot screaming like a young girl.
When Yuffie spotted Leon she let go of Cid's arm and bounced over to her other favorite male. "What were you doing?" Leon asked distrustfully. "And why is he screaming, you'll attract the heartless." Leon looked around, as if him mentioning them would cause an attack.
"We were coming to look for you, and Aerith and I decided to bring Cid along because he hardly ever leaves the first district." Yuffie said convincingly. Cid opened his mouth to say something, but Aerith stepped on his foot as hard as she could and shot him a warning glare.
"You were investigating the rumors, weren't you?" Leon asked her.
She bit her lip and gave him an awkward smile. "Uh, no?" She said. He shook his head and leaned against the wall.
"I told you, you could do whatever you wanted to. I'm not going to stop you, but try to be a bit more careful. The heartless have gotten stronger in the past few weeks. I've got a feeling it has to do with Sora. I believe that the closer he gets to sealing the keyholes, the strong the heartless become."
Cid nodded. "The last Gummi Block I installed was the path to a couple worlds crawling with heartless. I'm not talking about the ones we have here, I'm talking about things nightmares are made of."
"I thought the ones here were nightmares." Yuffie supplied.
"No," Cid said, a dark look on his features. "These heartless were different, the very root of evil." The man looked towards Leon. "And I've got a feeling our problems are about to get worse."
"What do you mean?" Leon asked, they certainly didn't need any more problems. The ones they had were disastrous.
"A couple of my scouts reported in a day ago that a few big things were running around. They weren't heartless, but they had the same dark feeling. I'm talking about head honchos. These things controlled the heartless."
Leon looked disturbed. "Would you happen to know where they're running around, so I can go play with them?" He had a murderous tint to his eyes.
"No I don't." Cid shot back angrily. "And if I did I wouldn't tell you. These new things are beyond anything you can think of. They're strong, fast and most of all intelligent. They'd chew you up and spit you out in a few seconds. We'd be attending your funeral if you took them on now." Cid tried to stress his point. Besides Leon being a friend, they needed the man. Leon was really the only one strong enough to take on the heartless day after day and keep them in check.
"You don't have any faith?" Leon asked, he had been counting on Cid of all people.
"I have faith that you would be dead in a second. Think about the people who need you. You aren't the keyblade master and we can't afford to lose you."
Yuffie looked between the two men. "We got a lead on Cloud." She said. It might not have been the best thing to change the subject to, but I was something to distract Leon.
"So the rumors are true? He's here?" Leon asked. He did not have a strong urge to see the man, but he wanted to know if Cloud was alive at least.
Aerith shrugged. "We don't know if he's here, but we know he's alive. We spoke with someone who was at the Coliseum about a week ago. They said he was fighting in the tournament. Other then that, we don't have an idea where he is."
Leon noticed the way she spoke about him and felt his heart drop. "Are you going to go look for him there?" He asked, and wanted to scold himself for hoping she would say no.
"No, he's not there anymore. The man we met said he left right after a fight with Sora." Leon looked more intently at her when she said that. "It was a close match by report, but Sora came out the victor and Cloud left."
"We can still go look if you want." Yuffie volunteered. Unlike Aerith she had seen Leon's face when they had mentioned Cloud again. She knew he desperately wanted to see his friend again-whether he knew it or not. And her heart sunk again as she realized how much Cloud meant to Leon, even if the older man couldn't admit it.
"No, it's just as well." Leon said. "If he wants to see us, he can come and find us. We're not hard to find, in fact everyone one seems to know who we are." Leon stated, happy with his response.
"Well, I'm going to head back to the first district." Cid said, preparing to leave while he could. He hated to think of what Yuffie and Aerith would do to him if Leon left first.
Leon reached out to stop the man. "Hold on a second." The brown haired man reached into his back pocket and pulled out a flattened roll of paper. "I'd like you to install this into my ship, when you get the chance." He handed the man the paper. "And if this gets out to anyone, I'll have your hide." He threw a threatening glare to Cid, just for extra measure.
"Uh, sure." He retreated back to the first district, fingering the blueprints, wondering what they were for. "I'll catch the three of you later." He gave a wave before he was gone.
"I'm going patrolling again." Leon went to turn when Aerith grabbed his arm. Her strong yet gentle touch sent a shiver down his spine.
"I would consider it a personal favor if you would make an attempt to find Cloud." Her eyes pleaded with him and he felt his heart break even further. "I desperately need to speak with him." And Leon could never deny the woman anything.
"I will when I get some spare time." It was his own sort of promise, but she took it nonetheless.
There was suddenly a weird sound that Leon recognized all to well. He spun on his heals, Gun Blade out. The three humans readied themselves for the battle as wave after wave of heartless appeared.
"Yuffie, Aerith, get out of here, I'll hold them off." Leon commanded. Yuffie shook her head, as she looked around them.
"There are too many." She concluded.
"And the paths are all blocked." Aerith observed. And it was true. The doors to the second district and the Dalmatian house were blocked, as well as the secret entrance to the underground cavern. And he couldn't risk exposing it anyway.
In a matter of seconds they were in battle. Leon ripped through the heartless with little effort at first. But they soon began to over take him with their sheer numbers. He was quiet strong, stronger then a normal man, but against dozens and dozens of enemies he stood little chance of surviving.
Yuffie and Aerith stood back to back as they held off the heartless attacking them. Each protecting each other, and putting up a fairly good fight. Leon fought his way over to them as a bright idea sprung into his mind.
"Yuffie, up!" He shouted pointing to the balconies to the hotel. She got the meaning in just a few seconds and was jumping up there soon after. Leon scooped Aerith up into his arms and pushed off the ground as hard as possible.
Leon and Aerith looked around as winged heartless began to appear, compensating for their height. "Follow me!" Leon called, running from balcony to balcony. He stopped in front of the door to the red room and gave it a quick shove. He, Yuffie, and Aerith toppled in, slamming the door seconds later.
They lay on the floor for a few seconds until they were sure the heartless weren't going to attempt to break in. "That was-interesting." Yuffie supplied, climbing to her feet.
"Mind telling me what you're doing in my room?" Asked a new voice. Yuffie looked at the figure in the bed with wide eyes. Aerith gasped and covered her mouth in shock. And Leon moved to the right slightly so he could see the figure fully.
Leon locked eyes with the man. The first thing he observed was the man happened to be his old time friend, Cloud. The second being that his shirt and buckles had been removed and replaced with white gauze. The white bandages were also slowly turning red with blood.