The weight of darkness crushed upon him as he awoke.  Actually, it
wasn't completely dark, and he could tell that as his eyes slowly adjusted
to the dim light of his dying makeshift torch, but in the first few
moments, waking was like going from a darkness to a lesser darkness.  One
thing completed the mood of the scene, turning it into one of the most
uncomfortable situations one could awaken to.  In his unconsciousness, he
had used up less air then he would otherwise have, but considering that he
was trapped in a enclosed chamber hundreds of feet below the ruins of the
madman Kefka's tower, the difference was noticeable.  Oh, and there was
also a strange, itching feeling coming from his right hand.

	The former problems were troublesome and would have to be dealt
with soon, but Leon ignored them in favor of the latter one.  Although the
silvery light of the chemicals on the stone piece he had used for a torch
still gave off light, it was noticably diminished from when he had first
entered.  However, the light had to prove enough as his hand was an
immediate concern far outpassing the others.  Holding his palm near the
light, he closely examined it to be sure that all bleeding had stopped.
As nothing could be seen under this light, he rubbed the fingers of his
left hand over the itch on his right, only to feel no scar.  He
immediately wondered whether he had imagined cutting himself with the
strange claw but dropped that idea in favor of getting to somewhere with
air and light.  The claw was one last hesitation, but in the need for a
weapon and the unlikely prospect of getting another chance to search for
one, he picked it up carefully, and stuck it into an empty sheath at his
waist before climbing up the rope he had left.  The stone torch, he left
behind as its light was so dim as to be of no more use.  His photographic
memory would have to serve in getting him out.

------

	It took another two hours for him to escape, and by that time, the
air in the tunnels had gotten nearly unbreathably thin.  Towards the end
however, a slow breeze had begun blowing into the tunnels, giving him the
strength to continue as well as the pathway to the entrance.  Sunlight
was pouring through the crack, glaringly bright after the long hours of
complete darkness.  

	For the next few moments, Leon sat by the opening of the crack, to
allow his eyes to adjust to the illumination, or at least he would have if
a foot had not come into an abrupt and immediate contact with his stomach,
slamming him back into the darkness of the corridor once again.  The blow
forced him to his knees, gasping for air, an attempt that proved to be
unsuccessful as he was still in the depths of the tunnels.  In the
glaring brightness before him, he heard the slow gliss of steel on leather
as his opponent unsheathed his katana.  A dark blur slowly advanced
towards him, sword held ready for use in the enclosed space of the
collapsed hall.  Standing above his defeated foe, the ninja screamed as he
plunged his sword downwards, and fell heavily to the ground as a leg-sweep
knocked his legs to the ground.  Leon rolled as he stood up further from
the opening the he had been before.  His lungs still burned from the lack
of air, but survival was foremost upon his mind.  The outsider, for that
was what it was, seemed startled but recovered with an alacrity that
revealed his good training, if not his inexperience.  Cloaked in the
shadows, he rushed forward, the elite silent killer once more.  His
sandaled feet carried him forward, ready to strike, as he was struck by a
small object.  

	The small vial shattered on contact, spilling its contents upon
the assassin.  In the blink of an eye, the faceless killer burst into
flame as the chemicals violently reacted with his armour.  Leon
sidestepped the walking fireball as it flew by, momentum carrying it
safely past, as he collapsed onto his knees once again and drew in a deep
breath.  Grabbing that particular vial had been a touch of luck as he had
fumbled for anything through his bag.  A scream of agony echoed from where
the man had fallen, a piercing cry as he was charred alive.  Slowly, the
unpleasant odor of burning human flesh drifted down the hall, as the
screams slowly faded away.  Leon drew in the smell as he panted for
breath but could not find any touch of remorse for the death.  Conscious
wasn't important, survival was, and he was the best at what he did.

------

	The other two members of the trio noticed him as he emerged from
the hole, but this time, Leon was ready.  Rolling to one side, he managed
to avoid the barrage of tack stars as he leap clear of the hole.  The
newfound-claw ready, he lunged below the closer Outsider's slash as he
responded, the single blade cutting through the ninja's armour like a hot
knife through butter as it disemboweled the hapless swordsman.  Leon was
not done though.  As his claw sent sprays of blood into the air, he spun
behind the dark clad one, using the body as a shield from the other.  

	Either the two had not liked each other very much, or they were
not used to cooperative fighting, or both, as another flurry of stars
flashed in the sunlight, luckily embedding themselves in the dying man.

	While muttering obscene comments about amateurs under his breath,
Leon snatched one of the embedded stars from the human pincushion, sending
it back to its owner with a far greater accuracy then the ninja had ever
seen.  He failed to be impressed of course, but that was mostly due to the
fact that his head lolled to one side of his sliced neck, connected only
marginally as the body fell over.  

	Mind still alert for any signs of another attack, Leon grabbed the
katana from the side of the slain man, wishing that he had knives instead.
His eyes glimpsed about the rubble for any signs of further opposition and
was not disappointed.  A flash of metal attracted his attention to one
side, as a tack star ripped through his shoulder with a glancing blow,
rendering that arm useless at his side.  Ignoring the pain of the wound
with difficulty, he looked in the direction of the attack to find a triad
carefully advancing, obviously more skilled then the one he had just
slaughtered.  He raised his sword and leaped at them, hoping to entangle
them among each others' weapons, but the assault was hopeless as two of
them kept him occupied while the third moved in for a clean blow.  Dazzling
the first pair for a moment with a flurry of strokes, blindly hurled his
sword upwards to block the last blow, deflecting it as it clove through
his sword.  Retreating from the trio, he clasped his last remaining
weapon, the claw, tightly in his right hand as blood slowly trickled down
his left.  Deciding to end the charade at last, the first assassin lunged
forward the katana flashing in the sunlight as Leon parried it into his
already wounded arm.  The slick sheen on the blade had to be poison by the
way it spread agony through his limbs, forcing him upon the ground.  Where
he had before been strong enough to trip the Outsider in the corridor, the
multiple battles and the poison stole the energy from his legs, reducing
his kick to little more then a feeble batter upon his triumphant foe.  The
cowled one held the blade lightly, ready to remove the heart from his
prey.  Above Leon, the blade flashed as it descended, as a red haze fell
over everything about.  For a moment, it looked as if the victor was
screaming, but darkness overcame him as for the second time in a day,
Leon's consciousness left.