Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Dirge ❯ Setup ( Chapter 24 )

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

Pairing: CloudXRiku!

Rating: M

Warnings: Yaoi , and violence, and bad language, lots of language. And Rape, which will not be included in the fanfiction version. You must read the media miner one (when I get it up) to read the rape scene.

Music: Mizerable: Gackt

Prompt: Sin


Dirge: Chapter 24
Setup

It took another couple days before Riku was well enough to even stand up, let alone do anything. While he was bedridden, Demyx and Wakka took care of him, with the addition of a tribe girl every few hours. Apparently, there were not very many men in the tribe, let alone some with silver hair. The girls found him attractive, and they would take any opportunity they could get to come and stare.

At least, that was what Demyx told him. Riku wasn’t sure if that was all true, or if the blonde was simply trying to make him feel better. In any event, Riku found out a lot of information during those days.

Apparently, he had drifted miles downriver, carried by the current of the North river. He was now in the plains, far north of the main city and the Outside. Riku had originally come from a small city to the west, so the thought of there being people who didn’t live in cities was foreign and strange to him. His world consisted of the Inside and Out, but never any farther than that. The North Para Plains, the place he currently resided in, were beyond his limited experience.

And the people were even more bizarre. They didn’t use the technology that Riku was used to having even on the Outside. Generators, hover carts, trains, even guns were foreign to these people. They lived off the bow and knife, hunting the animals on the plains for their needs and harvesting berries and nuts for food. The tribe worked together for the good of the whole, and no one went hungry or unattended to.

Riku may not have known about these people, but they sure knew of him, or at least, where he came from. The village had taken in refugees from the Outside before. In fact, Demyx was one. He had come from the same Outside city Riku had been living the last few months of his life in. He’d escaped years ago, setting himself adrift on a makeshift raft in an attempt to escape the pain of the Outside. What he found was unity, and love among the people of the Plains.

But as good as everything was out on the Plains, Riku found a deep longing in his heart to go back to Cloud and the others. Wakka and Demyx didn’t understand his strange obsession with getting back, but neither did they hinder it. According to them, it would be a long journey back for him. The river’s current was too strong to try to sail using a boat with no motor, so he’d have to walk, and to do that, he’d have to be healthy.

Wakka was very insistent on that. He would not let Riku move much, instead he forced the boy t sit, eat, and heal. After a while Riku gained so much nervous energy he felt like he would explode if he didn’t do something.

“You can come fishing with me if you want.” Demyx offered one morning. “You can stretch your legs; maybe get a little more information about where you’re at.”

Riku had only agreed absently, just to get out of the tent and into the sunlight. But when he had finally ventured out, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

The Plains were a vast expanse of just open grassland, broken only by an occasional tree and the riverbank. The sun glinted off the tall wild grass, making it shine a brilliant golden amber color that shifted with every breeze. If Riku hadn’t been in pain, he would have climbed the nearest tree to look out over the ocean of grass.
“It’s beautiful…” he stated as he followed Demyx down some nearly hidden paths toward the river. “I’ve never seen anything like this…”

“Few people have.” Demyx chuckled. “There are no cities up there until you reach the Ocean. The only people that even see this place come on the merchant boats, and they don’t stop along the riverbank because of lions and stuff.”

“Lions?”

“Large meat eaters, big teeth, lots of hair.” Demyx replied. “But you don’t need to worry about them, they rarely attack humans. Not that the merchants know that. They think we’re all savages out here, never even stop to say hello.”

When they made it to the riverbank, Demyx set up his pole and laid down against a rock. Riku sat down nearby and looked out across the river. The water here was a clearer, healthier looking blue, unpolluted by the cities waste.

“It’s so beautiful out here…” Riku commented. He reached down into the water, letting the cool liquid flow across his fingers.

“It is isn’t it?” Demyx replied, beaming and shifting his position a little. “You sure you want to leave this stuff out here and go back to the Outside? We’ll take care of you you know.”

Riku looked down and removed his hand from the water. The ground suddenly seemed very interesting to him. “Well, you see, I have to go back. I can’t just leave them.”

Demyx sighed and stretched out slightly over his rock. “Why not? I did, and I’m a hell of a lot happier out here. It still takes work to survive, but you don’t have to watch your back and act like a thief. The people here are honest, and they care about each other. Where are you going to find that on the Outside?”

Riku thought about that. What Demyx said was true, the Outside was tough, and there were few people who cared about anyone.

But in that respect, he was also wrong. Riku had found a home on the Outside, with people he cared about, who have and would help him when he was in trouble. People who cared about him, if no one else, at least Cloud.

“I want to go back…,” he whispered to himself.

Demyx looked over at him, a small smile on his lips. “Yeah, I know you do.”

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Pain shot up Cloud’s arm when his fist connected with the wall next to Seifer’s head. But he didn’t care. He could focus on was giving the kid as much hell as he could. The boy looked up at him fearfully, clutching weakly at the hand around his neck.

“I…I didn’t do anything!” Seifer choked. His eyes were bright with fear and his whole body was trembling as Cloud held him against the wall.

The older male leaned in, so that his face was barely above Seifer’s. “I don’t want your excuses…” Cloud breathed. Seifer flinched and closed his eyes, waiting for the pain he knew he’d feel. When it didn’t come he opened his eyes slowly.

“You go back to your little friend Tidus and tell him this is going to end. I’m sick of him and his little posse out there playing gang, and it’s about time I showed him his place.”

Seifer nodded slowly, too terrified to say anything.

“Oh, and tell him this, he’s going to pay for what he did to Riku, and he’s going to pay tenfold.”

Seifer gulped. “But-”

Cloud tightened his grip on Seifer’s throat and slammed his head back into the wall, making the younger boy see stars. “Understood?”

Seifer choked out a weak “yes” before Cloud dropped him to the ground.

“Now get the hell out of my sight before I kick your ass.” Cloud growled, reaching for his sword. Seifer didn’t hesitate, he simply scrambled away.

Cloud angrily reached into this pocket to grab the pack of cigarettes he’d gotten from Naminé, but when he pulled it out, he found only one of the addictive little sticks in the pack. Sighing, he shoved it in his mouth and lit up, taking a slow drag off it.

Squall watched from his perch atop one of the buildings behind Cloud. A small smile was on his face. “Just according to plan…” he murmured.
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
SO CLOSE TO THE END!

I stayed up late last night, I couldn’t sleep. Because….I had the whole ending of this story playing out in my mind. Eventually I just got up, and wrote down the whole last chapters in a nearby notebook. Now that it’s daytime, I’m writing up everything on the comp.

Soooooo….the end is near! Be happy as I write the tragic, angst, beautiful ending I have in mind. You are all going to hate me, but hey, it’s my story, and it’s labeled angst, so if you aren’t prepared for that…well…why are you reading this?

Love you all, please drop a review.

-Koji