I should probably stop writing about these two. ... Nah. Their dynamic is too fun to write about. :) (Also, it's been screamed by every person in this fandom, but KINGDOM HEARTS 3! :D)

Anyway, reviews are appreciated but certainly not required. Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy!

"Hey Leon."

Said man glanced down at his current companion, and steely blue met the comparatively lighter hue of the younger's eyes as they stared at each other with a now-mutual curiosity. He and Sora were patrolling the perimeter of Hollow Bastion for Heartless, Nobodies, or any other impending disaster (technically, it was Leon's turn to do so, but the deadly combination of a desire to talk and a syndrome Cid often called "ants in the kid's damn pants" soon had Sora rushing out to join him). It was getting later in the afternoon; the sky around the western horizon had begun to turn a golden-yellow as the sun prepared to set, but neither the boy nor the man fatigued even as they pushed the third hour of their shift. Both were prepared for a battle at any instant, weapons propped up on their shoulders, but for the most part any group of Heartless that popped up were quickly taken out by the security program.

The lack of Heartless, and the exact opposite circumstance of time, left much room for idle conversation, which mostly consisted of Sora expounding his recent misadventures at great length while Leon merely gave an occasional grunt to show that he was actually listening, which was a bit of a surprise even to himself. It amused him slightly to think that a year ago, when the pair was forced to spend time together, they did it at opposite ends of the Traverse Town house, even Sora holding perfectly still in his seat to avoid angering the man who did nothing but lean against the wall and sullenly keep his head down. A year ago, if Sora tried to talk to Leon about anything other than Heartless and weapons, he would have completely brushed the kid off, but then again, he most certainly wasn't the same person a year ago. A lot can happen in just a little over twelve months, after all…

In addition to his ineloquent storytelling, Sora also liked to ask questions at random intervals, ranging from the incredibly irrelevant to the deeply personal to the surprisingly keen and back to the irrelevant. Every question also began the same way—"Hey Leon."

So upon hearing those half-dreaded two words, Leon exhaled and glanced down at his charge, and simply raised his eyebrows, which after quite a bit of time spent around Leon, Sora deduced to mean, "Yeah, what is it, this better be important."

But Sora had also spent enough time around Leon to know that he wouldn't ignore any question the Keyblade Master asked (unless it was genuinely, face-smackingly stupid, in which case Leon would tell him so)—maybe out of a desire to make Sora wiser, or just out of a lack of desire to be pestered with "Hey Leon, hey Leon, Leon, did you hear me?" So Sora went ahead and asked the question that had appeared in his mind and refused to go unasked: "Leon, what's most important to you?"

Silence reigned.

Sora was frightened that perhaps he had made a misstep—Leon had quite the tragic past, so touching on a sensitive topic tended to happen with unfortunate ease, especially for the obtuse boy. Asking an unwanted question usually resulted in Leon either straight-out leaving or just ignoring him for the rest of the time they spent together—Sora didn't want either result; he really liked spending time with an un-hostile Leon, after all.

So he quickly and clumsily backpedaled: "I-I mean, you don't have to answer if you don't want to, I was just wondering and all, and... and... I'm sorry..."

The scarred man still didn't respond, because in all honesty he was still mulling over the question. What was most important to him? A long time ago, he may have been able to answer that question without a second thought, had anyone bothered to ask: Rinoa, my home, my ideals... But now he hesitated. Rinoa was long gone, as he still had to painfully remind himself sometimes, and he may as well have lived on an alien planet for as much as this place resembled his old home. So, in theory, outside of those ideals that he adhered to so vehemently, there should have been nothing that was important to him... But he just as quickly realized that was far, far from the truth.

Leon tuned back into the present as he realized that Sora was still babbling nervously, voice raised at least an octave higher than normal, and held his hand up with a long-suffering half-smile, in a gesture he often used that meant something along the lines of, "Cool it, would you?" Sora quickly quieted, eyes fixed on Leon in a mixture of tentative interest and surprise that he hadn't been chewed out for being nosy.

Realizing that in quieting Sora, he was now expected to actually say something, Leon examined his Gunblade for imaginary smudges, avoiding Sora's unintentionally piercing gaze. "Well... It's very important to me... to have things that are important to me." There was silence, indicating Sora didn't get it, and Leon clarified, "Things... that I fight for. To protect those things. That's what's important to me. You understand?"

Sora nodded, chewing his bottom lip thoughtfully. "Like what kind of things?"

A bit exasperated that even his (in his opinion) painfully personal response didn't satisfy the boy, Leon sighed evasively, "It's hard to explain..."

"Well," Sora smiled cheerfully, "I know what you mean. You wanna know what's important to me?"

Leon glanced about the postern quickly, confirming to see that it was as lacking in danger as it had been the past six times they wandered in here, before shrugging noncommittally.

Sora grinned at him and abruptly plopped down next to the small wall surrounding the postern, leaning against it casually and gesturing for Leon to sit with him. Deciding a quick break (probably) wasn't going to hurt anyone, he did, laying his Gunblade next to him and looking at Sora expectantly.

The boy dug around in the large pouches attached to his pants, throwing some strange objects out of the way (bottles of strangely colored liquids, handfuls of keychains, a ball of jewelry all knotted together) before finally pulling out a large stack of small, thick papers. He spread them out on the ground in front of them, and Leon quickly realized that they were photographs, dozens of them, of strange people and creatures he had never seen before. Sora was often present in the photos, and Donald and Goofy.

There was a picture of a smiling skeleton standing next to a female-looking doll figure, Sora and a mermaid, pottery with faces, a group consisting of a large bulky man, a satyr, and what looked strangely like Cloud, and there was a picture of Yuffie...

"What are these?" Leon inquired, genuinely curious, examining a picture of a pirate holding Sora's Keyblade (when did he meet a pirate...?), the boy grinning back at the pirate teasingly.

"These are all my friends," Sora replied simply, picking up one picture and smiling at it, "What I fight for. You understand?"

Leon ignored the question (Sora knew the answer anyway) and leaned over Sora's shoulder, peering at the picture the boy had smiled so fondly at. His steely eyes promptly widened ever so slightly.

It was... him. Leon. Back in the Traverse Town house. Standing against a backdrop of gaudy wallpaper, with a brightly grinning Sora next to him. He himself had no smile to show (in fact, he very vaguely remembered only turning just in time to see the flash of Yuffie's camera), but surprisingly enough, even to himself, he didn't really look... angry or sad. He just looked at peace, in a time he remembered rarely feeling peaceful at all.

Sora in the present beamed at the scarred man. "That's you."

Leon sighed thoughtfully through his nose, choosing for once to ignore Sora's pointing-out-of-the-obviousness. "Yeah. Yeah, it is me."

With that, the pair scooped up the rest of the photographs and jammed them back into Sora's pocket, before once more throwing their weapons over their shoulders and heading out to continue their patrol. In short order, Sora resumed his rambling, the focus now being all the people in his photographs, and Leon nodded and "hmm"ed, right up until they arrived back at Merlin's house for the end of their shift.

The scarred man stood outside with Sora for a moment while the boy took off his over-sized shoes and shook out the sand he always seemed to think he'd still find, leaning against the door, deep in thought.

"Sora."

The boy glanced up from fiddling with his shoelaces. "Yeah?"

The steely eyed man thought back to that picture that had surprised him so much. "Sometimes I forget about the things that are most important. … Thank you for reminding me."

Astonished that Leon was talking to him about something other than Heartless and weapon cleaning twice in a single day, Sora was frozen for a length of time, still sitting on the ground with his legs splayed in front of him. "… O-Oh! You're welcome! You're really welcome!" He allowed himself a cheerful laugh at this exciting (at least in his mind) situation.

Leon coughed awkwardly, folding his arms, beginning to turn towards the door to open it. "And, um… Just know that… I'll fight… for you, too."

Knowing Sora was going to reply with something too sincere and probably face-smackingly stupid, he quickly followed the admittedly heartfelt comment with, "Now hurry and get your shoes on and come inside. Donald and Goofy are probably waiting for you, and you should help Aerith with dinner, and it's been entirely too long since you cleaned your Keyblade; it's the weapon of prophecy, you need to take better care of it…" Leon continued with his ongoing to-do list for Sora as he opened the door and entered without looking back at the hero.

Sora remained where he sat for a moment longer, still slightly baffled, but allowing a warm smile to glue itself to his face as he quietly whispered his not-so-stupid response. "… Thank you too, Leon."

Squall Leonheart didn't have to turn to know Sora was grinning at him from ear to ear, and Sora didn't have to face his friend to know that, small and barely visible to the naked eye as it was, Leon was smiling back.