-1Leon hissed as one of the luckier heartless managed to slash his arm badly enough to rip the leather and cut into his skin. Leon retreated to a part of the castle free of the heartless, clutching his arm.

"Squall!" Yuffie called, and Leon suddenly felt the familiar cooling sensation of a Curaga spell. Leon nodded his thanks to the younger warrior before racing back into the group of Neoshadows and Red Nocturns.

"Blizzaga!" He shouted, his mouth a thin line as one of the Nocturns dissipated. Slashing his sword into a group of Neoshadow, he caught one in the middle, it's soundless scream echoing in his ears as it disintegrated into darkness, it's heart floating from the carcass before it too disappeared. Beside him, Cloud swung his giant sword, easily eliminating three heartless.

Leon lifted his arm to his forehead, using a spell he hadn't summoned in years. "Ultima!"

The large, blackish ball surged over the heartless, looking very similar too a gravija spell, and the heartless instantly burst into darkness, clearing the room.

"Nice work," the blonde, sword wielding man spoke softly, hefting his large sword over his shoulder as he walked forward.

"Yeah, nice one Squall," Yuffie called back, skipping into the dark halls ahead.

"That's Leon," the gunblader muttered angrily, holding his gun blade out before him and following the two other warriors into the dark space ahead of them.

Ever since Sora left, Leon and the others had been reading over Ansem's research, with the help of Tron. Suddenly, around midnight, they had lost contact with the mechanical mainframe, along with Aeris, Tifa, and Cid, who were in the study, practically defenseless if a large group of heartless attacked. Apparently, Leon thought, as he slashed through a stray heartless that Yuffie and Cloud had missed, that was exactly what happened.

Leon picked up his pace, determined not to let his share of the work fall to Yuffie and Cloud. That would be cowardly and prove that Leon wasn't fit to lead the Radiant Garden reconstruction committee. Leon stopped as he reached a turn, quickly going right and heading into a familiar circular room. He grimaced as Xenahort's picture glared at him through the suffocating darkness, hurrying through.

"Tifa! Cid! Aeris!" He heard Yuffie screaming, and he broke into a full run into Tron's room. The lab was empty of Heartless, but Tifa was clutching a badly bleeding arm and Cid's leg was bent at an unnatural angle, a shallow scratch across his chest.

Aeris appeared to be sleeping, but the small pool of blood surrounding her head suggested otherwise.

Cloud and Yuffie appeared to be handling their injured comrades fine, so Leon rushed over to the computer, pressing the power button. Nothing happened.

"Shit!" Leon pounded on the buttons, not caring what he pressed as long as it brought Tron back. Besides being one of their leading researchers, Tron had also become one of the team, a friend almost. To lose Tron would be almost as bad as loosing one of his living companions.

Leon watched as Cloud dropped his buster sword, lifting Aeris into his arms. Yuffie supported a grumbling Cid, giggling and poking him in the stomach, and, freshly healed, Tifa was able to support herself, though she looked fairly weak from blood loss.

Cloud and Leon exchanged a glance and Leon nodded, taking up the lead with his gun blade held in front of them. With Cloud holding Aeris, Yuffie supporting Cid, and Tifa drained of energy, he knew he was their only means of defense.

Leon walked slowly through the maze like passages, the only sound the sound of their breathing echoing down the halls.

Suddenly, there was a flash of silver, and instinctively, Leon brought the glowing Lionhart up in front of him.

CLANG!

The glow of his gun blade illuminated the other figure in the darkness, exposing his startling silver hair and bright green eyes. Leon put all of his weight behind his blade, pushing forward. His opponent stumbled backwards, a frown marring his handsome features.

Leon charged after him, catching the underside of his dark blade and flinging it from it's wielder's hands. Leon changed the direction of his blade, slashing downward diagonally, the sharp clang of metal on metal as his opponent summoned his weapon back into his hand and blocked the speedy attack. Leon pushed forward on his blade, driving his opponent back. He could see the silver haired one's arms shaking under the strain of maintaining the weapon lock, and Leon knew it wouldn't be long until the younger, more inexperienced swordsman gave in.

Instead, the boy caught him by surprise, pulling away and allowing Leon's momentum to carry him forward, the boy dropped to the ground, and rolling away from Leon's strong attack, he kicked Leon's feet out from under him.

Leon held an arm out, flipping over it to stop himself from falling and landing on his feet gracefully. His opponent's eyes widened, but with a grunt he leapt nimbly to his feet, only stumbling slightly.

Leon charged again, knocking the blade from his hand with enough force to send the boy to hi knees. Before he could summon the weapon to his side, Leon swung his gun blade, pointing it directly at the boy's neck.

Leon watched the panting boy as he stared up at Leon with defiant eyes. Behind him, the stranger's blade landed against the hard stone floor with a loud, echoing clang.

"Who are you?" Leon asked, watching the boy carefully. The boy lifted his head, bringing his head closer to the blade, until a small amount of blood dripped down from a cut he had caused.

"You people destroyed my home, kidnapped Sora, and hurt Kairi and you have the audacity to ask me my name." The young man hissed, glaring up at Leon with desperate yet determined eyes. Leon could see the spirit in those eyes, along with the confidence.

He had to be lying! No one could kidnap Sora, the brat had grown a lot stronger. What would he be, sixteen now? Then again, Sora had grown a lot weaker after his year long coma, and just as he had regained his strength, he had returned home, where there were no bad guys to fight.

"That blade, it's a keyblade!" Yuffie shouted, pointing at it in shock. If that was a keyblade, than was this boy the friend Sora had been searching for? What was his name, Riku?

Leon carefully withdrew his blade, kneeling next to the tired boy. "We're friends of Sora and Kairi," Leon said, hooking his gun blade through his belt loop and putting both his hands where the younger one could see him.

"You're just trying to trick me!" Riku yelled, leaping to his feet and running towards his keyblade. Leon grabbed the boy by the arm, pushing him to the ground and pinning him there.

"Riku, listen to me!" He yelled, absentmindedly using the name Sora had told him.

"You know my name! Before, you were asking! You're trying to get me on your side to make me hurt Sora and Kairi! I won't do it! Never again!" Leon held the struggling boy down, his heart wrenching when he remembered what the silver haired boy was talking about.

He could remember Sora coming back to him, practically in tears about how Riku had betrayed him and Kairi, and how he wanted to kill Sora.

"Calm down Riku," a sweet, soothing voice said, and Riku calmed slowly, looking up at Aeris as she climbed out of Cloud's arms, unsteadily making her way towards Riku.

"We won't hurt you, I promise," she told him, staring at Leon, a silent message in her eyes. Leon slid off the younger teen, tensed to lunge if he tried to attack Aeris.

"That's what everyone says," Riku muttered, looking up at Aeris with glowing green eyes.

"Look at us, Riku. We're hurt, just like you. The heartless hurt us to. They took away a lot of people we loved, just like they did for you." Aeris reached forward, tangling a hand in Riku's mussed silver hair.

Riku looked around, taking in Cid's leg and blood stained shirt, Tifa's weariness, and Cloud's missing weapon.

"You were the people with Sora when I came to Traverse Town, weren't you?" Riku asked, his eyes widening. Aeris nodded, stroking the boy's hair.

"The heartless just came," Riku explained. "Before we could do anything, the islands were covered in them. There were too many. People were screaming as the heartless just killed them. Sora, Kairi, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, and I managed to get to the play island…" He trailed off, looking up at Aeris.

"Go on," she encouraged.

"They were waiting," he continued.

"Who?" Aeris asked, her voice tinged with concerned.

"Nobodies. Dusks, and the people. They were waiting for us, and we were out numbered. Then one of them shot a dart full of something at Sora, and Kairi ran in front of him. It hit her in the chest and she fell to the ground like a rag doll. Sora thought she was dead, and he lunged at them, and they caught him in a cage. All I remember after that is grabbing Kairi and summoning a path, and then we ended up here."

A tear slipped from Riku's eyes, followed by another one, before they increased in number, falling down his cheeks and landing on the stone floor, each drop making a small splash and dieing the floor a slightly darker color.

"And where's Kairi?" Aeris asked. Riku lifted a shaky arm and pointed around the corner. Leaving Cid leaning against the wall, Yuffie raced around the corner, coming back carrying an unconscious teenage girl with red hair. Her skin was so pale it almost glowed in the darkness, and she was shivering uncontrollably, a yellow, sleeveless jacket wrapped around her shoulders.

"We need to get back to Merlin's," Cloud spoke quietly, stepping past the rest of them. He gently helped Cid, wrapping an arm around the older man's waist and helping him to limp along.

"Come on Riku, let's go," Aeris stood, stumbling, only for Tifa to catch her. "Take it easy," she whispered to her friend, helping the woman in a similar fashion to Cloud.

"Can you walk?" Leon asked the boy, pressing his hands into his thighs and pushing himself to his feet.

"Yeah," Riku muttered, stumbling to his feet. To the boy's credit, he made it a few feet before his eyes closed and his legs gave out. Leon caught the younger male, scooping him up into his arms.

He used to think that everyone had to take care of themselves, but spending time around other people showed him that people depend on other people survive. Riku wouldn't be able to manage on his own now, so Leon would support him, just like Yuffie and the others had supported him.

The walk back to Merlin's was silent, each person focusing the entirety of their energy to looking for heartless. It seemed that the monsters had retreated for the time being, so the trip to Merlin's house was fairly uneventful. By the time Leon had gotten through the door, Yuffie was already placing Kairi on Merlin's bed and wrapping the thick covers around her.

"There's no room for him here," Tifa spoke, motioning to the exhausted boy in Leon's arms. Leon nodded, sighing. Each member of the Restoration Committee had their own rooms at a house in the center of town.

Leon nodded, shifting the boy in his arms.

"What's wrong with the girl?" He asked, staring at Kairi. Her eyes, were open, but they had turned golden, the exact shade of heartless eyes.

"It appears to be a poison," Merlin explained, leaning over the girl. "It seemed they meant to infect Sora with some sort of concentrated essence, but it hit Kairi instead. Obviously, it's not fatal if they needed Sora alive, but this is troublesome. I'll have to consult my books." Merlin wandered away, and Leon looked from the shivering girl lying down on the bed to the sleeping young man in his arms.

"I guess he'll have to spend the night with me," Leon told the others, heading out the door, and walking down the path that led to the downtown.

"Uhhh, did anyone get the license plate number of that truck?" Riku asked, his voice hoarse. Leon almost grinned at the boy's analogy, before the boy brought a hand up to his face, falling out of Leon's arms and toppling down onto the cobblestone street.

Leon hurriedly pulled Riku's face out of his hair, grimacing as the boy emptied his stomach. Suddenly, Riku looked up at him, and Leon let go of his hair, backing away in shock.

Riku's eyes were a pure golden color.

"Fuck," Leon cursed, as heartless popped into existence around them.

His hand traveled to his hip, only to find the Lionhart missing. "Looking for this," a laughing voice whispered, and Leon looked up sharply, only to find a hooded figure standing in front of him.

Leon grabbed Riku, pulling the boy behind him. The kid was trembling in his grasp, his eyes wide and the pupils contracted to a pinpoint.

"Give me the kid and I'll let you live," the girl promised, her voice oddly familiar.

"No don't!" A voice shouted, and Yuna, Rikku, and Paine flew in front of him, separating him from the hooded woman.

"Run!" Rikku shouted, before something shot out from the hooded figure's arm, hitting the blonde pixie in the stomach and slamming her into a wall.

"Urghh," the little thief moaned, falling unconscious.

Paine and Yuna gasped, lunging at the woman. She raised her arms to ward off the angry pixies, and Paine grabbed the large gun blade, swinging it in Leon's direction. Leon caught it in a surprised hand, watching as the woman struck Paine with a delicate, long fingered, hand, sending her into the wall besides Rikku.

"I don't feel so hot," the boy behind him whispered, and Leon averted his gaze from the hooded figure for a split second, catching the red hot blush that had spread over Riku's features. The boy's trembling increased, until he could barely hold himself up, sagging against Leon.

"What have you done?" Leon asked.

"Nothing we can't undo, if you give us the dark child," the woman replied. Leon summoned a blizzaga spell, glaring at the woman.

"I see you won't take the easy path then," she whispered, lifting her arm.

"That's one of them," Riku whispered from behind him, his arms, wrapping around Leon, holding him close. Leon could feel the heat radiating from Riku's skin.

"We have to run," he continued, and before Leon could stop the sick younger boy, strands of silky cool darkness appeared around them, a portal.

Then everything went black, as the two of them left Radiant Gardens, heading in a direction unknown to anyone.