Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Dirge ❯ Death Song ( Chapter 6 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

: Dirge

Pairing: Riku and Cloud

Rating: M

Disclaimer: I don’t own KH, Square Enix does.

Warnings: Yaoi in later chapters, and violence, and bad language.

Music: HIM - Razorblade Kiss

Prompt: Sin


The next few days were indistinguishable from the each other. One day lapsed into the other and Riku found himself wondering if he was with the same people who had killed his father and burned his boat. Cloud was always out, going to God knows where, and leaving Riku back at the house, if one could call it a house. It was more of a broken down structure they happened to live in.

During the times that Cloud was gone Riku was given menial chores to do, like clean Cloud’s sword or sort through various things and estimate their value. It seemed that, as soon as finished one chore, another one presented itself to him.

During his stay Riku slowly became acquainted with the other members of the gang. Squall hated his guts, he was constantly finding fault in everything Riku did. It annoyed the silver-haired youth to no end, but he put up with it only because Cloud would have his hide if he didn’t.

Sora was a year younger than Riku with spiky, bouncy, brown hair and a cheerful disposition. He wasn’t the least bit shy, and Riku found himself spending more and more of his free time with the boy, either talking or, as was usually the case, sparring.

Sparring was something Riku would never get tired of. Sora had found an old rusty bar for Riku to use as a weapon and was constantly nagging at him to play. The sessions were rough, and both boys usually came out with more bruises than when they went in. One day, when Riku questioned Sora as to why he sparred so much, the boy only shook his head and replied, “training.”

Roxas was Sora’s brother, and looked exactly like him except for his lighter hair color. Part of the difference was genetic, and part was from being sun-bleached. Roxas spent more time outside then Riku believed was healthy, and he would often come home with sunburns all over his body. When Riku would ask where he had gone to get such burns, Roxas would only shake his head and reply “Training.” Just like his brother. Neither of the boys would tell Riku any more than that, leaving the silver-haired boy to ponder it on his own.

There were other people in the gang besides Cloud’s immediate “family” but none of them were as close. They would come occasionally to Cloud’s place to talk or spend the night. Often times money or goods would exchange hands, but they would always leave in a day or two. There was no warmth between these people and Cloud. They were distant, nearly strangers. The stark difference between them and the people Riku knew made Cloud’s words about family resonate in Riku’s thoughts, and soon the boy was convinced they were true.

It was on the 8th day of Riku’s stay when his whole perspective of the outside world and Cloud’s gang did a complete 180. Riku woke up in the morning and got out of his make-shift blanket bed in Cloud’s room to do his daily chores when he noticed that Cloud and Squall were still in bed. (Cloud and Squall had to share a bed since there was a shortage of blankets.) Worried that something was wrong, Riku walked over and poked Cloud in the side until he woke up.

“Mmmm…what is it Riku?” Cloud opened his eyes sleepily and yawned. His soft blonde hair flopped down over his eyes, partially obscuring the blue orbs from Riku’s vision.

“Is something wrong? You and the gorilla are usually up by now.”

Cloud merely yawned and waved Riku off with a flick of his wrist. “Go back to bed Riku, today’s Dirge, no one works on Dirge.”

“Dirge?” Riku asked. “What’s Dirge?”

“You’ll see.” Cloud replied. “Now go back to bed.” With that, he pulled the covers back over himself and hid under them so that only part of his hair was peeking out.

Grudgingly Riku obeyed, though he wanted to know more. This was the first time he had heard of outsiders having a holiday. But then again, he didn‘t know much about the outsiders. He‘d only been stranded on the outside for 3 weeks, which, according to Squall, was a long time for an “Innie“, a person from the inside.

Questions fluttered through Riku’s mind like butterflies. He found he couldn’t sleep, and finally he got up, intent on doing something. Finding nothing to do though, Riku dedicated his time to exploring the rest of the house. Though he had lived there for a week, he still hadn’t seen the whole place.

Quietly, so as not to disturb the two slumbering men, Riku crawled out of his bed and moved out of the room. Cloud’s bedroom was connected to the entrance room, the room Riku spent the most time in. Three other rooms branched off from this main room. To the right was Sora and Roxas’s shared room, and next to that was a storage room. But on the oposite side was a closed door that Riku had never been allowed to go in.

Riku edged by Sora’s room and peeked in. The twins were fast asleep, and Sora was snoring loud enough to cover any noise Riku might accidentally make. Confident that he wouldn’t be seen or hears, the silver-haired teen stalked off to the unexplored room and cracked the door open.

The inside was completely empty except for a rusty metal staircase that led up to the roof. Intrigued, Riku made his way over to the staircase and inspected it. It looked pretty rickety, and Riku doubted that it could hold his weight. But, driven by curiosity, he found himself climbing the stairs before he could really think about it. They held, and Riku made his way up the stairs to the top of the roof.

The sky outside was overcast, it looked dark and bleak, as if the sky itself were mourning. It fit Riku’s mood perfectly. Ever since he had been stuck on the outside he’d been miserable. The only time he wasn’t was in the brief moments when he’d spar with Sora, or when he was asleep. Other than those precious few moments though, Riku felt as lost and alone as was possible for a boy his age.

As Riku stared up at the sky his ears began to catch a low, haunting melody. At first what he was searing didn’t register, it was unlike anything he had ever heard before, but the longer he listened the more he could make out of it. Within a few moments he was able to hear whole words.

(Don’t try to think of some logical translation for the following text, because there is none. I’ll write it in Latin as soon as I learn Latin so…yeah. Don’t try to even pronounce it, just imagine ok?)

Dono mersha e unae. Tienda fersha tresto shaa. Tono berta casae ti. Dono mersha e unea.

(Long will live the silent dead. Heaven take them in. Move inside the walls at last. Long will live the silent dead.)

Riku sat down on top of the roof and looked out over the other buildings. He couldn’t tell where the song was coming from, but it was gradually picking up volume. Soon it was loud enough to hear clearly. A whole myriad of voices making a low, sad, haunting melody. It sounded like something one would hear at a funeral. It was mesmerizing, and soon Riku felt his eyes closing and his head slowly bobbing with the sound of the music.

“Enjoying yourself?”

The trance was broken at Cloud’s voice. Riku jumped, and almost fell flat on his face. Whirling around, he found Cloud peeking up through the hole in the roof, smiling contentedly at Riku.

“What’s that music?” Riku asked, calm now that he knew it was Cloud behind him.

“The Dirge.” Cloud replied. “It’s a song honoring the dead. Once a month we have a day for the dead out here. Though it hardly seems enough. People drop out here like flies. Dirge is the only day we have a month to take a day off from surviving to rest.”

“So it’s a holiday? A holiday for remembering the dead?” Riku asked.

Cloud shook his head sadly. “Dirge is no holiday. It just happens to be the day that the monks from the church inside the city come to take the bodies of the dead away. They pile them up on a cart and take them inside the gates to a furnace where they are burned to fuel the transport systems inside the city.”

A look of pure horror crossed Riku’s face as he stared at Cloud in disbelief. “Th-that’s horrible! Why don’t you do something about that??”

Cloud shrugged, shaking his head yet again. “What can we do? Out here we use what land we have to survive. We don’t have room for graveyards. And without some sort of graveyard the bodies would pile up, bringing disease and more filth to the area. Dirge is the one thing that the inner cities do for the outsiders. Other than that, we’re screwed.”

“You’re wrong! They…they don’t do stuff like that! It…it’s inhuman!”

“They do do it Riku. Many people here dream of dying, just so they can get inside the gates. It was Axel’s dream you know. He wanted inside those gates more than anyone I ever knew. But he can’t even get there in death, he died on the outside.”

“But he did something to get out here. He and everyone else out here did something wrong. That’s why they’re out here, as punishment!”

Cloud’s fist clenched lightly as he pulled himself up through the roof. He walked over to Riku and sat behind him before gently pulling the silver-haired teen back into his lap.

“W-what are you doing?: Riku cried in alarm. He tried to pull away from Cloud, but the older man held him in place and rolled up Riku’s sleeve. There, tattooed to his bicep, was a barcode.

“See this?” Cloud asked quietly. Riku looked up at Cloud, then down to his arm. He nodded silently. “This,” Cloud continued. “Is proof that you were born an Innie. It’s how the government keeps track of the population. I have one too.” Cloud rolled up his own sleeve to show the barcode tattooed there. His was similar to Riku’s, but there was one major difference. Cloud’s had a large black line running through it horizontally. “See that line?” he asked Riku. Riku nodded again. “That shows that I was sentenced out here for life. I was kicked out of the inner city. The color, black, means I was being punished for rape.”

“Rape?!?” Riku squeaked. Quickly he tried to scoot away from Cloud, but the older man held him in place with one arm.

“Don’t go running away just yet, I haven’t finished my story.” Cloud said. He cleared his through before continuing. “ I was prosecuted falsely. I never raped anyone. The girl I got involved with happened to be the daughter of a big-time merchant. One night, we carried thing a little too far and she became pregnant. She panicked when her father questioned her and blamed me for raping her. Her father became outraged and had me arrested. I never even had a proper trial, he just paid the judge off to sentence me. So I got sentenced out here, without deserving it.”

Riku was silently studying his shoes. He couldn’t help but notice how much shinier, how much newer his were compared to Cloud’s. Cloud’s boots were falling apart, small rips and tears lined the sturdy leather and part of the sole was coming loose on the one. In comparison, Riku’s shoes looked brand new, with only a little bit of dirt on them and frayed shoelaces.

Taking Riku’s silent study of his shoes as an invitation to continue, Cloud began to speak again.

“I’m not the only one to be sentenced out here for crimes I didn’t commit. Squall too was charged for murder. He was framed, but no one cared. They just wanted a scapegoat. Meanwhile the real murderer walks around free inside the city walls, with cash in his pocket and new clothes on his back.”

“What about Sora and Roxas?” Riku asked, slightly scared to hear the answer. Who could believe those two boys could commit any kind of crime?

“They’ve never been inside.” Cloud responded. “They have no barcodes, the committed no crime other than being born. Because of the high population inside the cities they were taken from their mother at birth and given to the Houses to take care of. When they reached a certain age, the Houses exploited them for money.”

Riku gulped. He was already sick to his stomach, he felt like he was going to barf. “So you mean…they were…”

“They were sold for sex. The same thing Ansem was going to do to you if I hadn’t bought you off him. Zack, the man that took me into the gang, my predecessor, bought Sora and Roxas off of Ansem, just like I bought you. Only they had already lived in the House for most of their lives.”

“….And….And the boy that died on the boat?”

“Axel was born out here. Both of his parents were outsiders. Axel grew up out here learning how to survive on the streets. Zack took him in after his father got killed on a raid. His mother died when he was young from a sexually transmitted disease from working in the House.”

Cloud couldn’t see from the position he was in, but tears were leaking out of Riku’s eyes in streams. He felt sick, as if he were going to throw up. The things Cloud had said to him were hard to swallow, he had always looked on the outsiders as bad people, as criminals who deserved their punishment. Never once had he considered that they might be innocent. Or that they were treated so badly. Truth be told, he had always seen them as less than human.

The melody that he had found so soothing just a few minutes ago took on an ugly appearance. It terrified him, it was an embodiment of evil and death. Once again sickness overtook his stomach and he gagged, trying to keep himself from throwing up.

Cloud’s strong arms snaked their way around his stomach, and Riku allowed them to drag him back against Cloud’s chest. He curled up there, letting the warmth of Cloud’s body and the sound of his heart drown out the surrounding atmosphere. The song slowly dwindled out of his hearing, and the hypnotic beat of Cloud’s heart took over, lulling him into a half-sleep filled with nightmares and memories of home. But home didn’t look so grand anymore, it was pale, with strange shadows and meanings he hadn’t seen before. Riku’s memories scared him, and his thoughts kept returning to Cloud and Sora and Roxas and even Squall. It was as if that week with them suddenly meant more than his whole 16 years on the inside.

“Riku…Riku wake up. It’s almost noon.”

Slowly Riku opened his eyes. They were sticky from tears and dirt and didn’t want to open at first, but when they did, he found he was looking at Cloud’s shirt.

“Wake up sleepy head. Today may be Dirge, but we still have to eat. I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.” Cloud’s large warm hand rubbed against Riku’s scalp, brushing the silvery hair in a weird direction, causing it to fall into the teen’s eyes.

“I’m up…” Riku mumbled. He didn’t really feel like eating, but Cloud insisted they get up, so he did. He followed the older man as if he were on auto-pilot for the rest of the day. When he finally went to bed, he fell asleep immediately and slept silently, without any dreams.