Skywalkers

14: Assembling the Host

"Long time no see … Cloud."

Leon swallowed hard. He honestly could not tell whether or not Roxas and his unknown companion were a threat. The young man was extremely intimidating, in spite of his baby face and smaller stature. Leon didn't know if it was the black cloak, the great black wings, or something within Roxas himself, in the gravity of his eyes or the power of his voice. But whatever it was, something was surrounding Roxas with a crackling energy, and it made Leon keep the Gunblade ready even as Cloud relaxed his battle stance.

A moment later, however, the effect was ruined by the other Organization member, the tall, skinny one.

"Never fear!" he declared, throwing one elbow on top of Roxas's head and leaning against it like he was a piece of furniture. "The Flurry of Dancing Flames is here!"

Roxas scowled deeply, and the mysterious aura around him evaporated, leaving only a sense of childlike annoyance. "Get off me!" he ordered, flinging his arms upwards at the other man. "I'm not your fricking armrest!"

Cloud laughed, and at the sound, Leon's anxiety finally melted. "Hello, Axel. Good to see you."

"Same here, blondie," Axel replied, striding forward and blatantly ignoring Roxas's grumbles. "Same here." He pushed his hood back, and Leon jumped slightly at the sight of fire-engine red hair, layers of it cascading down over his shoulders. Equally startling green eyes peered at Cloud. "You've put on weight! Just a bit, but enough that I can tell."

Cloud smirked at him. "Home-cooking does that to you. You should try it. You could stand to put on a pound. Or twenty."

"Riiiight," Axel shifted his eyes to Leon, and he suddenly had the urge to run away. Very far away. "The new boyfriend. I heard about him from Riku." He dug an elbow into Cloud's side good-naturedly. "He's cute. Not my type, of course, but a good match for you. Just don't let him fatten you up too much." He grinned suddenly, a rather feral expression. "Course you can always work off the extra calories with exercise, right Cloud-o?"

"All right, that's enough!" Roxas declared. He stomped up to Axel, grabbed him around a wrist, and yanked him away from Cloud. "We don't have time for this. Riku's on his way, and we're all supposed to jump at the same time to mask his print. Which is why I brought you along," he snarled at Axel. "So you can watch the damn path for me!"

"Right, I know," Axel replied sweetly. "You don't have to get that pretty nose so bent out of shape." He leaned down a bit and tapped said nose with a finger.

Roxas swiped angrily at him. When Axel backed off, chuckling quietly, Roxas turned away and grumbled, "I need to get a new boyfriend."

"You've been saying that ever since I met you," Cloud returned with a smile. "And yet you're still together."

Blue eyes shot daggers in Cloud's direction, and Leon couldn't believe how much that little pout resembled the one his brother often wore when he was upset. Riku had said that Roxas reminded him of Sora; for the first time, Leon could see it. That and the mention of Riku being in transit comforted him enough that he stuck the Gunblade in the ground and leaned back on his heels, crossing his arms over his chest, to listen.

"We don't have time for this," Roxas griped, clearly annoyed by the references to his social life. He dug into his cloak and pulled out three tubes, each about the size of a glue stick. Thrusting them at Cloud, he ordered, "Here. Take these."

"What are they?" the taller blond asked as he obeyed.

"Anti-brother programs," Roxas answered with a smile. "Zexion made them."

Cloud paused in his examination of a tube to stare wide-eyed at Roxas. "You're kidding!"

The smile grew wider. "No, I'm not." He turned his head to look over his shoulder and asked Axel, "How much time do we have?"

"About ten minutes," the red-head replied. His eyes watched the screen of his PHS while his gloved fingers tapped restlessly along the sides.

"That should be enough time to explain." Roxas turned back to Cloud, put one hand on a hip, and shifted his weight onto the corresponding foot so as to get more comfortable. "When Riku showed up, he told me everything. How he had broken the program, these new friends of yours, and how the four of you are planning on standing up to Sephiroth. I don't know if you knew this, but Axel and I convinced Demyx a while back to join with us in our stand against the brother program. The three of us have been putting pressure on Zexion to look into a way to counteract it."

"Dem is dating Zex now," Axel put in with a grin. "So it was a lot more pressure than you might expect."

Cloud rolled his eyes a bit at the news. "Demyx and Zexion, you and Roxas. Who's next? Vexen and Marluxia?"

Axel laughed. "Wouldn't surprise me!"

"What else are we supposed to do?" Roxas asked with a shrug. "Xemnas won't let us associate with anyone outside the Organization. We might as well pair up with each other."

"And no one wants to fuck Larxene. She's nuts!"

"All right, enough," Roxas snapped at the red-head over his shoulder. Turning back to Cloud, he continued, "About these programs. I convinced Riku to let Zexion take a look at him. To try to figure out how he had broken down the programming. It took a couple of days, but Zex did it and he made those." Roxas nodded to the tubes in Cloud's hand. "Inject one of those into each of the remaining brothers and it should forcibly remove the program."

"And how," Cloud asked, "am I supposed to get close enough to them to do that?"

Roxas smirked. "That's your problem."

"Yeah, what do you want out of us? A miracle?"

The shorter blond spun on his heel to yell at his boyfriend. "Are you watching for Riku or not?"

"I got it covered, love. Trust me."

Cloud's poor abused lip was receiving another beating as his eyes regarded the tubes once more. In a worried tone, he asked Roxas, "Did Riku tell you he nearly died when he broke the program?"

The other stopped his glaring and turned back to answer. "Yeah, he did. But he had to actually fight to destroy the machines. The toll that battle took on his body was what caused the near-fatal reaction, or at least that's what Zexion concluded. This injection, however, is a counter-program designed to neutralize the existing one. The body won't get involved at all." Roxas shrugged again and added, "Probably." The thought of the other brothers dying didn't seem to upset him in the slightest.

"Roxas …"

"Use them or not, Cloud," he interrupted with a hard edge to his voice. "It's your choice. If it doesn't work, it'll kill them, and if it does, it'll knock them out a bit while the program deactivates. Either way, you'll have enough time to deal with Sephiroth by himself." He waved a hand dismissively. "I've done my part by giving them to you. We need to go now."

"Wait!" Cloud lifted his free hand, and his eyes strayed to the blonde on the ground. "What about Nami-"

"Ah!" Roxas cut him off, thrusting his hand up into Cloud's face and making him step back. "That's right. I forgot." A sly expression slipped onto his young face. "Someone went and kidnapped Marluxia's pet experiment. The Organization is jumping all over looking for her. Axel and I volunteered to come in this direction. So what about it, Ax?" He slid his eyes over to his boyfriend. "You see a girl around here who matches her description?"

At Roxas's question, Axel's grin turned almost evil. His bright green eyes rested pointedly on Kairi. "I see a girl, Rox, but she's got brown hair. Not blonde."

"Right," Roxas replied. "That's that, then." He turned his back on Cloud and began to walk towards the open space of the lawn.

"This was Riku's idea, wasn't it?" Cloud asked softly.

Roxas looked back at him over his shoulder with an innocent expression. "I don't know what you're talking about, Cloud." He smiled sweetly in a way that once again reminded Leon of his little brother. Almost as if he had read Leon's mind, Roxas's eyes shifted. "Sora." When he had the brunet's attention, he continued, "Take care of Oathkeeper for me, okay? She's one of my favorites."

"Forty-five seconds," Axel announced as he joined Roxas in the open area of grass.

"Good luck," Roxas called to Cloud. "Riku and I have done everything we could think of to even the playing field for you, but it'll still be up to you to win." His eyes narrowed a bit, and his face took on that serious expression once more. "Do it, Cloud. End this."

"I will," Cloud answered evenly. Strength radiated from him: his voice, his stance, his face. With all of the worry and unease that had been plaguing his lover for the past several days, Leon had almost forgotten how wonderfully fierce and driven Cloud could be.

"Ten seconds."

Roxas smiled. "Good-bye then. Enjoy your new life."

"Now!"

Two sets of wings stretched out wide and lit up with blue fire. This time, however, when the air split, a silver light poured out, causing Leon to turn away for fear of being blinded. The accompanying cracking noise was near-deafening and rang in Leon's ears long after it had faded away. When he finally felt it safe to turn back, he found Riku striding forward, wings already retracted, towards Sora, Kairi, and the new arrival on the ground.

"Is she awake yet?" he asked as way of a greeting.

"Riku!" Kairi cried as Sora accused, "Where have you been?"

He blinked at them, green eyes innocent. "Didn't Roxas explain?"

"Some of it," Cloud answered, walking up to him. "But not all. That means you get to fill in the blanks."

"All right." He went back to his examination of Naminé. After checking her pulse and laying a hand against her forehead, he lifted his gaze to Cloud and commented, "You know more about healing drugs than I do. Could you take a look at her and see if there's anything you can give her?"

"Sure." Cloud dug his PHS out of his pocket and knelt down. "I should probably teach you this stuff some day," he commented as he began scanning.

Riku frowned. "Yeah. My education was severely lacking in that department. Although I know a ton of ways to hurt people." He accepted the reassuring pat on the shoulder that Cloud gave him and then looked up at Leon as he walked over. "So what did Roxas tell you?"

"That you and he talked and got some other Organization member to make anti-brother programs," Leon answered. "That's about it. We still don't know why Zack and Reno went running off or why they left this girl here."

Riku took a breath before replying, "Okay, I'll start from the beginning then." He settled himself more comfortably on the ground, and Leon took the opportunity to join the rest of them by sitting himself. "When I got back to the fold, I went to see Roxas and explained. He was very happy for me and gladly gave me a blade for Sora." He pointed over to where he had arrived. When Leon followed the line of sight he indicated, he noticed two swords stuck in the ground; Riku had shoved them in before running to Naminé. Next to Riku's black blade was a strange-looking weapon consisting of joined metal rods - three for the hilt, two for the blade - and an odd star-shaped protrusion near the end, blue with yellow tips. Dangling from the hilt was a chain with another smaller star at the end.

"Oathkeeper, right?" Sora asked with a smile.

"That's right," Riku replied, slightly surprised. "It's one of the two that Roxas uses most, so I was really shocked that he would give it up. But once I had described you, Sora, he insisted." He paused to smile at the other young man, his expression full of things that Leon could not read and probably would not have understood in any case.

After a moment, Cloud prompted him by saying, "And then you went to Zexion." He flipped the top of the PHS open, exposing the needle, and pulled up the sleeve of Naminé's dress.

"Yeah," Riku returned, for some reason averting his eyes from the sight of Cloud injecting the blonde girl. "That's part of the reason why I'm so late."

"And the other part … ?"

"Is … well … Nami."

A small smile crept into Cloud's lips. "Uh-huh."

Riku's eyes widened, and his face flushed slightly. "What do you mean 'uh-huh'?"

"Nothing. Do continue."

Green eyes narrowed dangerously for a minute. Leon thought he knew what was going on, but he kept his mouth shut and the moment finally passed. "Well, Roxas sent Axel out to find Zack and Reno while we went to see Zexion. Then, when we were ready to come back, I had this idea. Naminé may not be one of Sephiroth's toys, but she is still a victim and deserves to be saved. So, if Zack and Reno 'kidnapped' her, then Roxas and Axel could 'chase' them and I could jump in as they jumped out. By masking my print, we'll get a few more days to prepare, help Leon and Sora improve, let Cloud and me get even better. You know, that kind of thing." He looked around at them as if demanding support.

"That sounds fine," Leon said, smiling at bit at the obvious relief in Riku's face. "But why did Zack and Reno take off again?"

"So that no one else will be able to tell exactly where they dropped Nami off. They're going to jump to at least four more folds before coming back here, and Roxas and Axel will follow them around. Yes, it's a bit more suspicious for Zack and Reno to come here twice, but the Organization is only interested in Naminé. Roxas and Axel will report back that they didn't find her and that someone else must have taken her."

Cloud gently lifted the unconscious girl and arranged her to lie partly in his lap. "And the upshot of all of this," he commented in response to Riku's explanation, "is that now the Organization is in disarray so Seph won't be able to recruit anyone who might be willing to go against Xemnas's orders."

"Right!" Riku beamed at him, obviously happy to get the other's approval.

"And you get to be Naminé's knight in shining armor."

"What?"

"She's waking up," Kairi announced before Riku could tear Cloud's head off. Without looking, she reached out and smacked Sora who had fallen over laughing at his best friend's embarrassment.

Naminé's eyes were fluttering, and she slowly opened them, revealing pretty blue eyes. After a moment of confusion, they focused on the face above her.

"Cloud?"

"Hey, Nami," Cloud replied, smiling at her. "Welcome to freedom."

"Freedom?" she echoed, not understanding. Her eyes began to move, passing over Sora's and Kairi's faces in non-recognition only to come to a sudden stop at a face she obviously did know. "Riku!" she cried weakly, her fingers coming up to clutch at Cloud's arm.

"It's okay," Cloud soothed her as Riku hung his head in shame. The pain in the young man's face that Leon had momentarily seen clawed at his heart. Obviously Riku had been made to torture more souls than just Cloud.

"It's okay, Nami. Calm down," Cloud continued to say to her, running a hand through her long hair. He turned to the man beside him and ordered, "Riku, show her your eyes."

Riku hesitated but finally complied. Naminé seemed not to understand for a moment, but eventually her frightened face eased into an expression of disbelief. "You … ?" she asked, her voice quiet and timid. "The program … ?"

"Yeah." He smiled a little. "I broke it." But a moment later, his smile slipped, and his eyes dropped. Some of his hair fell forward to cover part of his face as he said quietly, "I'm really sorry. You know, about the stuff I did. I don't know if you can forgive me, but I wanted to apologize anyway …" He trailed off when she reached out and touched his hand with her own. Surprised, Riku looked up directly into her smiling face. She didn't say anything, but they could all see her answer nonetheless.

"Here, Riku," Cloud said, easing Naminé out of his arms and into the other man's. "You support her for a minute. I want to talk to Leon. Why don't you introduce her to Sora and Kairi?" As he stood, he smirked a bit at the sight of Riku's dazed expression. Leon rose as well when Cloud waved at him, and together they moved a small distance away.

"So who exactly is Naminé?" Leon asked him once they were out of earshot. "Roxas called her someone's pet experiment."

"Marluxia's. He's an Organization member too."

"I gathered."

Cloud nodded and continued to explain, "Naminé is the lone survivor from a fold of telepaths. Marluxia found her and made it his personal goal to figure out how telepathy works. He's been studying her for years." His blue eyes slipped back to the weary blonde who now had her head on Riku's shoulder as Sora and Kairi talked to her. "The poor girl has been drugged for most of that time. More than likely to keep her powers suppressed. Apparently she spent more time asleep than awake."

Leon blinked a bit but let the idea of telepaths actually existing slide right off of him. After all, he had nanomachines in his head that messed with his memory and was dating a winged man who had once been able to jump dimensions. A telepath should be commonplace after such things.

"Apparently?" he asked, referring to Cloud's final comment.

Cloud returned his attention to him as he answered, "I don't know much personally about the Organization's activities. The information I did get came from Reno who got it from Axel since the two of them are good friends. Reno told me about Naminé. I saw her a few times, but I've never spoken to her before today. Although I did get tortured in front of her once so Marluxia could monitor her response to another's pain."

Wincing, Leon gathered his lover into his arms. He still had trouble hearing any reference to Cloud's painful past. The blond himself seemed to have gotten over most of it, the only exception being the occasional bout of self-hate or feelings of unworthiness. But Leon couldn't stop the surges of protectiveness and mild pangs of guilt that attacked him whenever he thought of someone hurting his Cloud, even if it had been long before the two had met. It made him want to hold the blond close to his heart and keep him there until the world fell apart around them.

Cloud seemed to realize that this embrace was for Leon's benefit, not his, for he allowed himself to be held, laying his head down on Leon's shoulder. "Wonder what Riku did to her," he murmured to himself after a moment.

"You don't know?"

"No. I don't think I want to know either."

Leon shut his eyes briefly, internally agreeing with that sentiment. Riku's pain had been so clear. Pain, however, had not been the only emotion to cross that young face. Smirking a little, Leon commented, "But he has a crush on her?"

Cloud chuckled against his shoulder, answering the question before his voice did. "Oh yeah. Like I said, we could see the real him behind the machines. He's got it bad."

"What about her?"

"Who knows? You saw how she reacted to him."

"And yet you played matchmaker." He couldn't stop the grin that took over his lips. Of all the people in the world to try to get a young couple together …

Cloud obviously realized this as well, for he commented, "For what it's worth, sure. That's about the extent of my plotting, though. They'll have to do the rest themselves."

"Or let Sora and Kairi do it for them."

"Let's not tell them. Riku will thank us."

"Good idea." He tightened his grip a little and shifted his weight onto the other foot. After a breath, he said, "All right, let me see if I have this all straight. Once Zack and Reno come back, we'll be six against four, and three of those four might be able to be neutralized if we can somehow get those programs into them." Cloud stiffened a bit, so Leon added, "If you decide to use them, that is. We also have two noncombatants, one of whom needs to be kept hidden so that our enemies don't go reporting back that she's here and bringing the entire Organization onto my front lawn. We all have weapons now, so that problem is solved. We need to work out a strategy, but we should wait until Zack and Reno show up to do that and you should probably decide on those tubes by then as well." He shrugged Cloud's head off of his shoulder and captured it with a hand. "Did I forget anything?"

"Don't think so." He paused for a moment, considering, and then added with a small smirk, "Yes actually, you did. You forgot the part where you kiss me until Sora yells at us to take it inside."

Leon laughed. "But not in the kitchen."

"But not in the kitchen," Cloud agreed. His hands were suddenly at the back of Leon's head, pulling him in. The tiniest hint of green flickered at him.

Leon hesitated for only a moment. "You know, I must really love you to put up with all of this shit."

Cloud didn't even blink. "Leon, you were straight before you met me. I think you love me enough that I can pile twice as much shit on you and you'll still stick with me." His hands pulled again, this time harder.

"I think you're right," Leon replied. And he stopped fighting.