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Key of the Twilight

--Key of the Twilight, Yuki Kajiura (.hack//SIGN OST1)

Leon sighed as he stepped into one of the Coliseum's practice arenas. The sun was shining, though Leon suspected that the degree of sunshine had little to do with an actual sun and more to do with the design and location of the arena. And, yet again, he was doing something fairly stupid to bail Cloud out of trouble.

Even as children, it had been the same way - Cloud would do something stupid and Leon would save him, fix it, or generally smooth everything over. This was no different, Leon assumed, only even more stupid than usual and certainly more dangerous. But Cloud had never had a very good concept of 'danger' and tended to agree to whatever would get him out of a bind, if he even wanted out of the bind. Sometimes, Leon knew, Cloud did not.

Stretching, Leon double-checked that he was alone in the arena. As part of his participation in the upcoming tournament, he'd asked that he not be attacked by heartless. In turn, he'd been told that heartless only appeared where they were allowed to appear and that practice arenas were safe. Mostly.

Cloud had changed, Leon knew, in the nine years they'd been apart. Cloud had... Or perhaps Cloud had not changed so much as grown into his habit for getting into bad situations and finally managed to tangle himself in a web of hopeless darkness. There were no paths left to him - he had finally just sold his soul.

And for what, Leon wondered as he arced his gunblade through the warm air. For what?

There was a crackle of magic in the air and Leon wheeled about, looking for what he assumed was an inevitable swarm of heartless. He knew better than to trust demons, after all, when it came to trivial things such as safety.

Instead, there were feathers.

Sephiroth confused Leon, because Sephiroth had not existed in Hollow Bastion. Or at least, Sephiroth had not existed as Sephiroth in Hollow Bastion. Leon was unsure of exactly what world Sephiroth had come from, but he knew that the dark creature was attached to Cloud now, that they'd somehow intertwined in such a way that Cloud would never be rid of him.

"Squall..."

"Leon," Leon corrected. It made sense that Sephiroth would call him by that antiquated name, since Cloud still did.

"Leon," Sephiroth echoed. "I see you've signed up to fight in the next tournament."

Leon frowned.

"Perhaps you would allow me the honor of a spar?"

There was only one right answer, of course, and Leon nodded before stepping back and assuming a fighting stance. He knew that Sephiroth was a fierce fighter, much like Cloud was becoming. And oddly, Cloud could keep Sephiroth at bay yet still be defeated almost at random. It made little sense, unless there was some unwritten rule that Cloud and Sephiroth could not defeat the other and were locked into an eternal battle...

He was unable to keep pondering as Sephiroth made the first move. Between guarding against the sweeping strokes of Sephiroth's sword and an unrelenting barrage of magic, Leon had to stay on the defensive. He was less concerned about striking than he was with just surviving. There had been a note that any injuries obtained in the arenas were temporary, but he really didn't want to test that through experience.

The battle didn't feel like a spar, anyway. It felt like a test.

Dodging, Leon felt himself backed against a column. In front of him, Sephiroth smiled a soft, frightening smile.

A little unsure just what happened next, there was a bit of blackness and then Leon opened his eyes, surprised not to feel the pain that he thought he should be feeling.

"Leon?" The hint of concern in Sephiroth's voice was more disconcerting than the fact that he was sprawled out pretty much on Sephiroth's lap.

"I'm okay," Leon managed as he did his best to scoot away quickly. He was a little dizzy, but he assumed that was normal for his sudden movement.

"I know you are," Sephiroth said. He smirked. "But I did hit you pretty hard."

"I noticed," Leon replied flatly as he got to his feet. Sitting down again sure seemed like a good idea, but he didn't want to admit defeat just yet.

"Shall we go find Cloud?" Sephiroth questioned, standing as well and taking the two or three steps to leave him beside Leon, looking down at him in a way that did not make Leon feel particularly safe.

Leon opened his mouth to say that Cloud was really never hard to find, it just required thinking like Cloud, which wasn't pleasant but sometimes necessary. But he didn't actually get to say anything, because for some reason absolutely unbeknownst to him, Sephiroth kissed him.

Too stunned to even pull away, Leon simply froze, feeling the warmth of Sephiroth's mouth for a moment before slowly kissing him back. It had to be a trick, he assumed, and likely a cruel one. But it didn't feel particularly wrong, except that it did.

"We should probably find Cloud," Leon mumbled once Sephiroth pulled away. He didn't dare look up into the green eyes he knew were watching his every move.

Sephiroth didn't say anything, instead vanishing as quickly as he'd originally appeared. A few feathers fluttered to the ground in his wake, but Leon didn't bother watching where they landed. Instead, he only thought about finding his friend to see what craziness was afoot.

He found Cloud in twilight.

The dusky arena was further proof that Leon was correct in his assumption of time being determined individually by arena, unless he'd somehow spent more than a few minutes walking the distance of the Coliseum after being unconscious more than a few minutes.

The blond was perched on top of a half-crumbled column, gazing up at the sky as if it still had stars in it instead of only being a hazy purple.

Cloud turned when Leon stepped through the barrier, almost smiling as he hopped down and walked over.

"Would you like to spar?" Cloud asked. He looked a little nervous.

And that was when Leon knew that definitely, something strange was afoot.

"I've sparred," Leon replied, frowning. "Sephiroth..."

"Sephiroth found you."

"Yeah," Leon admitted. "He... wanted to spar."

There was a crackle behind him and Leon froze.

"Is Leon telling you that I don't play fair?" Sephiroth questioned, chuckling.

"Not yet," Cloud replied, frowning. "He's not up for a spar, though, so you must've done something to him."

"I'll spar," Leon said quickly, drawing his gunblade. "I'll spar."

He was not expecting the ferocity with which Cloud lunged at him. Either Cloud was farther along the path to darkness than he'd though, or Cloud was just letting out all the stops because they technically couldn't be injured. Not permanently. He jumped back, parrying and then attacking.

Metal met metal repeatedly as they both raced around the arena, each attempting to use the terrain to their advantage.

Finally, Cloud jumped into the air just in time for Leon to swing upwards and catch a piece of the blond's armor, slamming him to the ground. By the time he'd rolled onto his back and opened his eyes, Leon had the tip of his gunblade at Cloud's throat.

Behind him, there was muffled applause as Sephiroth brought his gloved hands together.

"That was unexpected," he said as Leon put his gunblade away and reached down to offer Cloud a hand. "But amusing."

"Glad you were amused," Leon replied flatly. He pulled Cloud to his feet and slowly let go of Cloud's hand once he realized what he'd done. He'd put himself directly between the two of them - and they were both smiling.

"I suppose that settles it," Cloud said after a tense moment. He shrugged, and started walking towards the edge of the arena.

"Were you expecting a different result?" Sephiroth questioned, walking after him and leaving Leon standing there, somewhat confused. Had they...

He wasn't sure why he headed after them, or what he thought was going to happen, but the second Leon caught up with the two other fighters was the second he realized he was in trouble.

It was Sephiroth who grabbed him, and Cloud, too, a second later. Before Leon could move, he heard a sharp prickle and felt distinctly like he was being pulled inside out. He closed his eyes until the sensation stopped and his feet felt like they were on a flat surface again. And then he was just clinging onto Sephiroth, who took that as a sign to kiss him again.

Right around when Sephiroth's hand latched onto his ass, Leon realized something - Cloud had a big mouth sometimes. Cloud had to have mentioned that aside from always bailing him out of trouble, that Leon tended to drag him to bed if only to keep him from doing anything else overly stupid. It had simply always made sense at the time, when adrenaline had been racing.

He tried to find a reason why it wouldn't be okay for the two men to keep taking his clothing off, but the longer it took him to come up with one, the more belts fell to the floor and the more untied his boots became. Cloud kissed him next, but in-between Leon did get to see that they were in a bedroom of sorts.

Leon trusted Cloud, to a certain degree. He didn't think either man was after his heart, so technically he didn't have any reasons not to continue, not to start to undress Cloud or press the erection he hadn't quite noticed he was getting against the soft warm leather of Sephiroth's gloved hand.

Sephiroth was the one to pull him onto the bed, followed quickly by Cloud who kissed him and pushed him back, reminding him of the many dark nights when they'd done this sort of thing before, together, breathing ragged and bodies desperate. He reached down to touch Cloud, momentarily so lost in Cloud's body and the slick tip of Cloud's erection as he stroked his thumb over it that he forgot about Sephiroth watching them with his cool green eyes.

Only when a hand joined his did he remember that they weren't alone. And when Sephiroth touched Leon again, slowly dragging leather up his erection, Leon didn't really mind. Cloud was moaning above him, obviously wanting more. Leon wasn't sure how they were supposed to do things, so he was inwardly grateful when Sephiroth pulled Cloud up and kissed the blond, leaving him to slip to the side and watch for a moment.

Leon, quite honestly, would have been content to watch them, too, but instead once Sephiroth had positioned Cloud up a bit farther on the bed, he turned to Leon and pulled Leon up onto his knees. Nodding, Leon moved the few inches so that he could lean down and take the tip of Cloud's erection in his mouth. Cloud moaned, reaching for a handful of Leon's hair and also Sephiroth's hand. Leon smirked at the reaction, glad that Cloud was as sensitive as ever.

What he hadn't noticed was the hand-off. Cloud had passed Sephiroth a tube of lubricant, which Leon realized when a slick finger began to trace his opening. He tried not to stop what he was doing with his tongue to Cloud, but he couldn't hold in a soft moan.

Sephiroth chuckled behind him before pushing that finger in past tight muscle. Leon tried to relax as best he could while still sucking on Cloud and working with his free hand what he couldn't get into his mouth. He almost lost it completely, however, when Sephiroth reached around to start stroking him. Leon hadn't realized how hard he was until he was touched. He moaned around Cloud's erection, losing himself for a moment, thankful for Sephiroth pressing a second finger into him.

He was fairly sure he was supposed to be doing something that wasn't what he was doing, but it was unimportant as he continued to suck on Cloud, listening to the blond's moans. Leon gasped when Sephiroth drew back. He felt the thick tip of Sephiroth's cock pressed against him and he held his breath until Sephiroth began to penetrate him. Cloud tugged on his hair, reminding Leon that he was supposed to be doing something.

Distracted and trying not to be distracted, Leon tried to remember the easiest way to make Cloud come and went for it. He was rewarded with a sharp cry and mouthful of hot seed, which he swallowed quickly before gasping for breath, moaning as Sephiroth thrust deeper into him, harder, making him nearly fall onto Cloud.

A moment later, Cloud was holding him, kissing him as Sephiroth kept touching him and thrusting into him. Leon had thought he was supposed to be getting Cloud out of a stupid situation, but this wasn't stupid at all - it was blissful. Leon gave himself over, letting the two move him and touch him until he came, somehow managing to coat Cloud's stomach along with his own. He'd been pressed up, almost onto Sephiroth's lap... Sephiroth moved faster and harder, coming not long after Leon had finally stopped shaking from his own orgasm.

Leon ended up laying between the two of them, tired and finally making sense of their spars, and of everything else, except what he was supposed to do next. Fight, he supposed, in the tournaments and spend the evenings sharing a bed. It wasn't bad - though somewhere, at some time - Leon knew - he'd be saving Cloud. That was how it happened.

Cloud draped an arm over him and pulled their bodies tight.

Leon decided to worry about it later and enjoy the present, at least for a little while.