Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in any of the Final Fantasy games, nor do I profit from using them; all rights belong to Square Enix.

Author's Note: So, this is my first Alternate Universe fanfic, and I'm actually including characters from other Final Fantasy games, like III (VI), VII, VIII, X, X-2, and XII. They may or may not play huge parts, but you will definitely see them. Also, it's revamped chapter by chapter starting 05/08/10.

WARNING: This is yaoi, male and male pairing. It's about Zack and Cloud (though in the beginning it seems as if it's Squall x Cloud, it's NOT). And there will be smut in later chapters. This is rated M for a reason.

What They Leave Behind

Chapter 1

Late Night Adventures

Cloud toed into the entryway, stopping long enough to close the door without making a sound, and stole on down the hall. He peered into the office as he crept on by it despite the fact that the lights were on—one could never be too careful when it came down to being grounded for the rest of your life—and then tiptoed toward the living room. That light was on.

Sucking in a deep breath and calming his nerves, he leaned his back against the hallway wall and ever so carefully edged to the living room doorway. No voices, that could either mean Mom was beyond words in her anger at his recklessness or she had forgotten to turn off the lights before she went to bed. The closer and closer he got, the more he felt at ease. She couldn't just sit there like a statue for hours on end. She had to—

"GOT YA!"

Cloud jumped, his heart stuck in his throat, as far away from the booming voice as he could, staring wide-eyed at the senior bellowing from behind him. For a moment, no words would come to mind.

"Sneaking around like you're a spy! What're you doing out so late? Don't you have a bedtime or something?" Zack Fair, one of his brother's moronic best friend, questioned, laughing like a madman.

Seifer Almasy, another one of his brother's jock friends, came up behind Zack, grinning. "Did you see the look on his face? Hey, kid, you sure you didn't piss in your pants?"

At the insult, Cloud's anger flared. He straightened himself up against the wall. "Shut up," he growled, turning away, only to run into Basch.

"Where were you?"

Great, behind him were clowns bent on humiliating him (at least this time Rikku wasn't here with a video camera…or was she?), and before him was a protective big brother bent on interrogating him.

He shrugged one shoulder and tried to side step around him.

Basch easily blocked his way. "You don't normally stay out this late. Where were you?"

Cloud looked at his feet. "Where's Mom?"

"She's still out with the Loires."

Damn, I wouldn't have had to sneak around like that and get caught by none other than Mr. Zack Fair and Dumbass Seifer Almasy if I'd known Mom was out with Mr. and Mrs. Loire.

"I'm tired; I'm going to bed," Cloud said firmly, trying to push Basch out of the way.

Zack and Seifer retreated back into the kitchen, and Cloud could hear them sifting through the refrigerator as if they lived there.

"Are you drunk, Cloud?" Basch held him still by putting both hands on his shoulders and studied him.

"I'm not drunk."

Basch narrowed his eyes and squeezed Cloud's shoulders tightly. "You can tell me; I won't tell Mom."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "I'd rather Mom know than you," he muttered.

Basch frowned. "Did you get high?"

Cloud brushed his brother's hands off and backed away. "I'm not frickin' high, okay? I'm not drunk. I just lost track of time at Squall and Lu's house, and that's it." Kinda, anyway. Only a half-lie.

"What were you doing at Lu's house?"

"Argh!" Cloud rolled his eyes and pouted. "Nothing. Nothing at all. Playing video games or something."

"Or something? You weren't…you know with her?"

"Basch!"

"I'm just asking! I need to know, I need to make sure you're okay."

"I'm okay. I wasn't having sex with her, I wasn't doing drugs—"

"Hey, Basch!" Zack called from the kitchen. "Leave the kid alone, for God's sake! If he is drunk or high, let him pass out already!"

Basch sighed. "If something was wrong, you'd tell me, right, Cloud?"

No. "Of course."

Basch nodded, only slightly appeased. "All right; get some sleep. 'Night."

" 'Night." Finally.

Basch returned to the living room, and Cloud gratefully thundered up the stairs to his room. That was worse than getting caught by Mom!

Sighing, Cloud shrugged out of his jacket and crawled into bed, too tired to undress anymore. He yawned and curled up underneath the covers. It was a long day—too long of a day. He closed his eyes and immediately fell into a sleep plagued with nightmares.

/ - / - / - / - / - /

The morning couldn't have come sooner. Sun streaked into the half-covered windows and burned into Cloud's eyes. Moaning, he turned over and buried his face in the pillow. School started too early.

"Cloud! Cloud! Get up, Cloud!" Mom's morning chant drifted up the stairs.

It was so normal that Cloud could almost ignore it. He burrowed deeper into the pillow, tightening his sheets around him, and was about to fall back asleep when someone yanked all the sheets off his bed. "Get up, sleepy-head."

Cloud lifted his head off the pillow and glared at his mother. She grinned in return. "Just in case you didn't know, the sun has to wake up before he shines!"

"I'm not shining at all today," Cloud moaned, reaching for the blanket. Mom tossed it on the chair in the corner, still smiling, and left the room. A similar growl to his own sounded from Basch's room, and a few minutes after Mom passed by, Zack came blindly fumbling down the hall towards the bathroom, trailed by Seifer and Basch.

"I call the bathroom first!"

"I was in here first, dumbass." A door slammed shut. Pounding ensued.

Basch entered Cloud's room. "I'm using your bathroom."

Cloud leaned back in bed. "Hand me my blanket first."

Basch tossed the blanket at Cloud and went into the bathroom. Before shutting the door, he said, "I'll wake you up when I'm done."

At school, Cloud met up with Squall and Lu, both of whom looked fresh and pristine as they sat underneath the oak tree in front of their high school plaque. They clearly fared better than he had.

"You look like shit," Squall told him as he sat down next to him.

"It was too late to take a shower by the time I got up." Cloud ran his fingers through his oily blond hair and yawned. "I should have told my mom I was sick."

"It's close enough to the truth, anyway," Lu chimed in. "Did your mom catch you?"

"Nope, but Basch did."

"At least he won't ground you."

"He's worse. Hey, is that Rinoa?"

Squall and Lu both turned their heads to get a better look at what Cloud pointed at. Getting out of a shiny silver Porsche, the brunette flipped her hair and waved at her friends across the parking lot. Cloud had never particularly like Rinoa, ever since that one particular unfortunate event in Squall's life, but he hadn't seen in her a while and she looked…well…different.

Squall could point her out in any crowd. "Yeah, that's her. She looks the same to me."

"She layered her hair and put highlights in," Lu explained. "And she's wearing too thick of eyeliner. It doesn't look very good on her."

"I can't tell the difference."

Cloud shrugged. He didn't want to point out to either of them that Rinoa was very attractive in her new look, so he looked away with a sliver of disappointment sinking into the pit of his stomach.

"You have track practice today after school?" asked Lu.

"As always."

"You're ditching, though, right?" Squall asked, lifting a finely shaped eyebrow. It wasn't so much that he wanted to know if Cloud was ditching than it was if he was going to see Squall off.

At that thought, fear coursed through him—just for a second. It seemed as if everything got suddenly darker, as if someone had pulled a blanket over him, but it passed too quickly and Cloud found his breath again. "Of course." I'm going to be spend as much time with you as possible before you are taken away, Cloud vowed silently. Before I never see you again.

Lulu rose to her feet in one fluid motion and put a hand on Cloud's shoulder. "You look like you've just lost something," she pointed out.

Cloud wanted to point out that he did, but the bell sounded right when the words were ready to be uttered, and Squall cut them off. "We'd better get going."

He edged toward the looming gray buildings, but stopped when Lu and Cloud just stood there. "What?"

"I think Cloud's saying he'd rather skip school all together today."

Cloud looked up at Lulu, his blue eyes wide. "That's not it." But it certainly sounded good. The two hours they'd planned on seeing each other after school suddenly felt too short. Even a day felt too short. It wasn't nearly enough time to explain to Squall…everything…everything he felt for him, all his plans. A flutter rose in his stomach, and he quickly turned to Squall. "Let's do it."

"Well, I need to request that the registrar send my transcript to—"

Lulu waved her hand. "I'll do it for you. You guys have fun."

Cloud and Squall both looked at her. "You're not coming?"

"I live…lived…with Squall enough to last me a lifetime. I'll say goodbye later."

Cloud, however, loved Lu in that moment. It was amazing what girls knew. "Thanks, Lu."

"What, I've a test later on, okay? Now, go on, get out of my sight," she told them, turning and heading towards school.

As they walked off campus in a peaceful silence, Cloud didn't think about Basch, how Basch would flip out and send all his popular little buddies on a search to find him when he didn't show up at his car after school. He didn't think about that or how his mother would react when Basch promptly informed her. All he cared about was that he had a whole day to tell Squall he loved him.

/ - / - / - / - / - /

Author's Note Again: omg, it's too short and it wasn't supposed to end here, but the last sentence is a great way to end a chapter.

Please, please, review. I want to know what people think, I want to know what can make my story better, and I want to know of any mistakes (whether it's grammatical, or out-of-character-ness, or unoriginality, or whatever).

Also, this relationship with Squall is extremely important for later on, so it is necessary to put into full detail. Don't worry, Squall's moving, so that's going to be the end of it, anyway…