Faded into Darkness
By DarkArk
Disclaimer – All characters settings present in the PS2 game Kingdom Hearts 2 are registered trademarks and copyright of Disney and Square Enix.
Pairings – Leon/Axel
It was raining – perhaps Radiant Garden was crying along with him. Perhaps it felt his pain, like its own heart was bleeding out the pain and sorrow he felt in his own. Then again, this world had no real heart. Just his imagination, that someone – other than himself – cared about all that had been lost.
Nobody
-nobody cared, nobody wanted to care about a whirling, dancing fire that had captivated him from the very beginning. Drew him to the hearth so he could feel the burning heat of the flames, feel the warmth and hunger of the –
Now the fire was gone, doused, smothered by enemies and he felt cold. There was no fire left – neither in the world, nor within him. Rain pattered down on the harsh grey stone around him, splattering uselessly against rock. Lightning flashed, and then thunder rumbled in the distance, making the fine hairs on the back of his neck rise up. The scar between his eyes ached as it always did before a storm of savage proportions arrived.
The wind picked up, whirling around and through the bailey's cold stone corridor. He stared out and over the Heartless Scar, the thunder churning in the distance, lightning reflections glaring up at him from the crystal gorge.
He was leaning over the stone outlook, out in the wind and weather, balanced only on his forearms. He wondered how far he'd have to fall to end it all now. How far would it take to do more than just break a few bones?
Rivets of rain rolled down his chilled skin, over the leather bands, soaking into his gloves and dripping into the abyss below from the very tips of his fingers. His skin felt almost numb from the rain and cold; not that he minded. His shirt clung to his skin in a clammy embrace, like the touch of the dead.
Leon shivered, staring out into the storm. The darkness, the rain… he preferred this to the light and celebrations going on inside Merlin's home. The war against Organization XIII had been won by Sora, Donald and Goofy – with no small amount of help from Riku and Kairi, he was told.
Good for them.
He'd sent his best at the time, wondering. All the Organization? Including…?
He'd put the dangerous thoughts out of his head, thinking everything would be okay. After all he had more than he'd dreamed for in a very long time. Hollow Bastion, friends, a purpose… much more than he had a right to have, not since his failure to protect his birth place.
His left hand still clenched the soggy letter emblazoned with the wing, a key to a further future, a life he'd never dreamed. He could have it all back, even her. She was alive…
Yet somehow, while he watched the flames as they circled and danced around him, he'd lost some vital part of himself to that wildfire. The very part he was expected to give her, was no longer his to give away.
It was gone, faded into darkness like the inferno, remaining faithful even into death.
The flames faltered, the blaze died, the fire burnt out.
"Cheer up, man. C-H-E-E-R U-P. Got it memorized?"
How many times had he drawn strength to keep looking forward from it? How much of the fire had he stolen? Maybe, in the end, it was his leeching of Axel's strength that had lead to the Nobody's death.
"How can I?" Leon stared out into the storm, his voice whipped away by the wind and rain and drowned out by thunder. Bitterly, he watched the lightning flash down. Closer, closer. Maybe it would hit him… put him out of his misery.
"How can I go on?"
"Despair… bitterness… it's all food for those Heartless. Unless you fancy gettin' around as a little black critter, I'd give cheerin' up a good long think."
How often had he been told that? Lose your heart, become a Heartless. A Nobody would be running around too, a fate that Axel had said to never wish on anyone. No one deserved to live without a heart.
In the end, what was he to do?
Lightning struck the rock nearby, the smell of burning reaching his nose before being quickly whisked away.
Never again could he watch the fire, fascinated by its deadly dance. Never again would he see its fool of a wielder, never…
Ax…
He remembered strangely tentative lips brushing his own, in this very place. He remembered the warm breath on his skin, green eyes catching his own and holding them captive… he remembered watching, again, awed by Fire himself as the taller man tilted his chin and gently pressed his own lips to Leon's…
Ax?
He remembered the Nobody running fingers through his hair, he remembered every aching detail…
Never again could that happen.
He reassured himself that the wetness on his cheeks was only rain, that he only grieved for his friend and ally.
Lightning struck the thatched roof of the worker's hut nearby, fire igniting for a moment, then flickering out and dying, fading away into blackened smoke.
Axel.
Leon stared at the fire for a moment, pushing himself up off the wall of the overlook. He walked slowly over to the dying fire, the orange embers glowering fiercely from their hotbed. The winged letter was folded and placed into his pocket, the ink slightly smeared but still readable.
His raging inferno would want him to live to defy the remaining Heartless – out of spite, that would have been what the fire had done. The fire would want him to live on, past the dead embers. Even if it was so hard…
"I know you can do it. Ain't called the sleepin' lion because you nap all day, right? Or am I gonna have to kick your ass to prove my point?"
He turned away from the fire and walked up towards the Precinct, back towards the study where he'd complete the restoration of Radiant Garden, letter folded securely in his back pocket.
… Alone.