Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Left Behind ❯ Chapter 2

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

Chapter 2

Cloud had followed Sephiroth to this barren little world with a single oasis. Of course, the man was probably long gone because he always managed to stay a few steps ahead of Cloud, but he may have left some clues as to where he was going. “Geez, this place is depressing. What could Sephiroth find interesting here?” he said softly. He entered the oasis and saw a flyer lying on the ground. He picked it up and glanced curiously at it. “Tournament at Xanthus arena. A prize worthy of the greatest king will be awarded to the winner: the legendary Master of the keyblade. Wait, ‘Master of the keyblade?’ Sora’s here?”

Cloud checked the date on the flyer and cursed. He had thirty minutes to register for this tournament and he still had a ways to go. Taking off at a full run, Cloud reached the castle with five minutes to spare. He hurried to the throne room to register and cursed again. There had to be over a hundred people still in line.

“I don’t have time for this,” muttered Cloud, pulling his sword. “Get out of my way, or I cut you where you stand. I will be entering this tournament.”

The smart ones immediately backed away from the blonde. The few who didn’t, well, they didn’t exactly have time to protest. Slashing through the more stubborn opponents, Cloud left them lying bloody on the floor and stalked towards the king. “I wish to enter the tournament.”

“Eager, are we?” purred Xanthus delightedly. As he’d predicted, the very mention of Sora as the prize made for a very crowded tournament. It was too bad that he would be keeping his prize, wasn't it? Xanthus was the opponent for the final match, and no one had ever beaten him in combat. “In that case, your name, contestant?”

“Cloud Strife,” said Cloud curtly.

“Well, Cloud, preliminaries start in ten minutes. Good luck,” said Xanthus, handing him a letter with his royal seal on it. “Go through those doors, down the stairs, and down the hall to get to the arena. Don’t die too quickly. You’re too cute for that.”

“I don’t intend to. I plan on winning this tournament,” snapped Cloud, stalking to the door Xanthus indicated. Making his way to the arena, Cloud eyed the cages with disgust. “I can’t believe Sora ended up in this place. Why haven’t his friends saved him, yet?”

Cloud entered the arena and stopped short. This place was absolutely huge, especially considering it was all underground. It was also packed to the ceiling, spectators in every available seat and some even standing. Apparently, the prospect of winning Sora appealed to quite a few folks.

Sora sat listlessly in his cage, feeling weak from hunger and sore from the jolts of pain that seemed to be a constant with him these days. He'd been in this cage for at least three days with one meager meal a day, and he was beginning to despair that he would ever get to leave. He was almost to the point of giving in to Xanthus' demands just to get out of this place.

Sora didn't even look up when someone unlocked the cage. The teen didn't so much as blink as the servant reached in and pulled Sora out of his prison, knowing that this was the end for him. He'd tried so hard to ignore the shouts and cheers ringing from the arena, but Sora just couldn't block the sound out. Now here he was being pushed into the bathing pool to be made presentable to the tournament's champion.

Sage briskly washed Sora's hair and slim body, firmly ignoring the subtle fear and helplessness radiating from the teen. He couldn't afford to sympathise with the pets. He quickly rinsed off the brunette and pulled the boy from the pool, wrapping Sora in a towel while he selected a suitable attire. Finally choosing a pair of shorts and a vest, Sage dried and dressed the listless teen, nodding in satisfaction at the provocative picture Sora presented.

A loud ringing sound alerted Sage of the time. Pulling Sora behind him, he hurried to the arena. The final match was about to begin and Sora's presence was required.

Cloud soared through the preliminaries and all the way through the semi-finals. Now he was preparing for his final match, and he was going up against Xanthus himself. As the countdown to the final match started, Cloud saw a man leading Sora to some seats placed right outside the arena. He almost choked in shock when he saw the boy.

Sora was now seventeen and had always been a cute kid with that spiky brown hair and big blue eyes, but now he was downright gorgeous. He’d grown a few inches and filled out some more, giving him a slender, toned look. And those clothes! Sora was wearing a pair of tight leather shorts that barely covered the curves of his ass and a black leather vest and nothing else but the collar.

The only thing that truly marred the picture of sexy provocation was the dull lifelessness in those usually expressive blue eyes. Sora stared straight ahead and didn’t pay any attention to his surroundings whatsoever. He didn’t even seem to recognise Cloud.

“Start!” shouted the announcer, startling Cloud out of his reverie just in time for him to leap back to avoid the sword swinging towards his neck.

Xanthus was incredibly fast, swinging his sword at a rate Cloud found difficult to parry. Cloud finally found opening when Xanthus lunged toward his chest by dropping to the ground and rolling behind the king, bringing his sword up and pressing it against Xanthus’ neck. Xanthus bowed his head and dropped his sword, silently admitting his defeat.

“The winner of the tournament is Cloud Strife!” shouted the announcer, barely loud enough to be heard over the excited roar of the crowd.

Xanthus growled at losing his prized pet and stalked off the arena floor. Storming towards Sora, he grabbed the boy’s arm and pulled Sora over to where Cloud was standing. “Cloud, this is your prize- the legendary Master of the Keyblade.”

“For how long?” asked Cloud quietly, staring uneasily at the way Sora just stared at him blankly. What had this man done to Sora to make the usually vibrant boy so lifeless?

“The collar is spelled to remain on his neck for one year after ownership transfer. After that, you’ll have to find another way to keep him. The collar can only be removed by me before the mandatory year is up, but I won’t be removing it, so don't even bother asking. If you don’t want the boy, I’ll keep him here and award him to the next winner. If you do decide to keep the boy, you must take his virginity to assume ownership, otherwise, he will be unable to leave the castle without excruciating pain. Once ownership is transferred, he must obey your orders, or again, excruciating pain,” said Xanthus calmly. “Do you intend to keep him?”

“Yes, I do,” said Cloud softly, stroking a hand through Sora’s spiky hair. “He’s too worthy a prize to pass up.” He thought of all Sora had done for him and just hoped that the boy would forgive him for what he had to do tonight. He also vowed to destroy this horrible creature in front of him for destroying such an essential part of Sora.

“Then Makili will show you to your room,” said Xanthus with a tight smile. He turned and stalked off, leaving Cloud and Sora to follow the black haired servant girl.

“This way, sir,” Makili said softly, keeping her head bowed to hide the huge grin on her face. She was silently cheering that the king had lost and poor Sora had been gifted to this kind young man. She had a feeling that the blonde knew Sora and would get the boy to safety.

Leaving Cloud and Sora in the room prepared for the champion of the tournament, Makili hurried to her quarters to tell her sisters the good news. They would all be overjoyed. It had just torn at their hearts to see Sora slowly lose the vibrant quality that had been so inherent in his nature. He had fought far harder than the other pets, almost dying twice from the massive amount of pain inflicted through the collar. Now, though, he seemed broken. Makili just hoped that the blonde man would be able to help Sora return to normal.

“Sora, can you hear me?” asked Cloud softly, gently stroking the boy’s hair away from his face. “What happened to you? Where’s Riku and Kairi?” That got a reaction.

Sora jerked at the names, anger forming in the lifeless blue eyes, until he was glaring at Cloud. Hearing his friends’ names pulled him from his internal retreat, his haven to escape the torment. “They left me behind. They went through the door and sealed it shut so that I couldn’t escape. How could they do that to me?”

“I’m almost positive they didn’t do it on purpose,” said Cloud assuredly. “Riku would never deliberately abandon you. He may have thought you had already gone through the door, and didn’t realise that you hadn’t until it was too late.”

“But it’s been so long, and they haven’t tried to save me, either,” said Sora stubbornly. He suddenly sighed and bowed his head. “Maybe it’s better they didn’t come back here. Xanthus would have just killed them, anyway.” Sora looked up at Cloud, and it finally sank in just to whom he was talking. “What are you doing here? How did you get here?”

“I was following Sephiroth,” said Cloud quietly. “I’m sure he was here, but I don't know if he still is. I just arrived today. He could be anywhere by now.”

“Oh, yeah, he’s probably gone by now,” said Sora. “He betrayed Xanthus by helping me escape once. Of course, he probably did it because he wanted your attention focused on him, rather than helping me.”

“Sephiroth helped you?” asked Cloud incredulously.

“Yeah, when Xanthus sent his monsters after us, he grabbed me and teleported me out of the castle. Then he disappeared again, and I haven't seen him since. That’s it,” said Sora, shrugging his shoulders lightly.

Cloud didn’t know what to say about Sephiroth’s uncharacteristic actions. The man was evil, so what did he have to gain by helping Sora? Filing that thought away in the back of his mind, Cloud turned his attention back to the present.

“Sora, you do realise what has to happen tonight, right?” asked Cloud hesitantly. “Xanthus said that the only way you’ll be allowed to leave the castle is if I assume ownership of you, and to do that, I have to take your virginity.”

“We have to have sex before I can even leave this place?” asked Sora incredulously.

“Yes, there’s no other choice,” said Cloud softly, feeling like he was betraying Sora by even suggesting the notion.

Sora saw the misery on Cloud’s face and sighed. “Cloud, it’s not your fault. You aren’t betraying me in any way. In fact, I’m glad you’re here.”

“But this is something you should be doing with the one you love,” said Cloud miserably.

Sora smiled softly and placed his hands on Cloud’s cheeks. “In a way, I am. I may not be in love with you, but I do love you, Cloud. You’ve become my friend, and right now, that’s enough.” Leaning up on his toes, Sora pressed his lips against Cloud’s.

“Are you sure this is the place, King Mickey?” asked Leon, climbing out of the gummi ship and scanning the landscape. “There’s not that many places that Xanthus could hide Sora.”

“I’m sure, Leon. Riku said that it was a barren wasteland with a single oasis,” said Mickey confidently. “I don’t know how they ended up here in the first place. That door should never have opened up here.”

“Let’s just find Sora and leave. This place is creepy,” said Leon quietly.

They headed towards the oasis, watching their surrounding warily, and saw several flyers littering the ground. Leon bent down to pick one up and gasped. “King Mickey, it may already be too late. Sora is the prize for winning this tournament, but it started three hours ago.”

“We’d better hurry then, Leon,” said Mickey urgently.

They ran the rest of the way but found the castle completely closed off to all visitors. “Damn, now we’ll have to find another way into the castle,” growled Leon, wanting nothing more than to take the castle apart piece by piece for what its king had done to Sora.

Circling the castle carefully, they finally a little bolthole towards the rear of the castle. Leon and Mickey climbed through the hole and crept silently down the hall. Hearing voices at the end of the hall, they sneaked towards the source and carefully listened in.

“I can’t believe I lost my prize to that little upstart. Now he gets to deflower my beautiful little virgin,” raged Xanthus, pacing across the floor of the throne room. “The wielder of the keyblade was supposed to be mine.”

“I’m going to kill him,” whispered Leon angrily, starting forward to do just that. Unfortunately, though, King Mickey grabbed his belt and shook his head firmly.

“We need to find Sora first,” said Mickey, pulling Leon away from the door. “We’ll search each room if we have to.” Leon reluctantly nodded and followed the king up the stairs.