Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Prince's Hope ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

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

A/N: Well, this is my first fanfic for Kingdom Hearts on this site. There's not really much to say for this…

But anyway, I'm hoping that you all will enjoy this fic. So, here it is.

Prince's Hope

Chapter 1

Silently, he slipped through the dark castle. He was surprised at how few guards there were and how easy it was to pass them. But he couldn't let that thought distract him. He had to leave—immediately. He couldn't stand being there any longer than he had.

He was about to turn the corner and head to the entrance when one hand clamped over his mouth and another around his waist. He thrashed around until he was suddenly turned around and was face-to-face with his twin, Prince Roxas, who was dressed in a long night robe. Sora let out a quiet sigh of relief as his brother smiled.

“Sora,” Roxas smirked, gently pulling on his brother's brown hair, “you may be the older of us, but you are definitely the dumber one.”

“What's that suppose to mean?” Sora snapped.

“Just take a look.”

Sora pressed himself against the wall and looked around the corner. Almost all of the castle guards were right at the entrance. No wondered he never encountered any. He gave a defeated sigh.

“I cannot believe Father actually—“

“After your declaration from yesterday, what did you expect?” Roxas interrupted. He gave him a sympathetic look as he gave his brother a once-over. Sora looked ridiculous in the old, raggedy servant's clothes. But it seemed to fit with the wild hair on the brunette's head. Roxas sighed, scratching his own blonde locks. “Are you sure you are going through with this, brother?” he asked. “We can speak with father and—”

“I am through `speaking' with him,” Sora growled with venom laced in the words.

With a sigh, Roxas whispered, “Come with me.”

As they walked down the vast halls of the castle that were mostly filled with paintings of past rulers, Sora reflected on the events that had led to this night…

Being the first-born son in his family, Sora was betrothed to a princess from a neighboring land. The little princess would often visit him in their families' hopes that they would fall in love. While Sora found himself as rather good friends with the princess, he never felt romantically about her. And as Sora grew older, the pressures of marriage got worse until at the age of fifteen, when he was considered a man in his palace, he had had enough. He told his father that he did not want to be married. This led to several fights until finally, just the other night, he had told his father he would flee the kingdom if they didn't cancel the future wedding. The king never did. And so, this was the night Sora had planned to take action. Unfortunately, his plans were ruined because his brother and the guards were in the way.

“Are you going to tell father?” Sora suddenly asked.

Roxas stared at him from the corner of his eye before asking, “Are you absolutely sure you really want to do this?”

“Of course! I told father I would. I just…” Sora stared at his moving feet before facing his brother. “I cannot marry Kairi! I cannot marry someone I don't love!”

Roxas nodded, accepting the statement.

As they continued, Sora felt envious of his brother; because he was born as the younger of the two, Roxas wasn't betrothed to anyone. This gave him more freedom. The freedom to love whomever he chose, no matter who frowned upon him. And he had found love in the form of a knight named Axel, who had spiked red hair and piercing green eyes, while Sora had yet to find his love.

“Roxas, where are you taking me?” Sora finally asked, not wanting to think any more about his problems.

“Out—through the servants' quarters.”

Sora's eyes softened. “Roxas…” He was glad he was close to his brother.

“Hush, now; we are almost there.”

After a few more minutes, they reached their destination. It was a dull chamber with a few flowerpots scattered about. There was a simple door at one end of the room, and a few windows letting in light from the moon and stars. Roxas turned to his brother.

“At the end of the room, there is a secret trap door,” he instructed. “Use it to get to the underground tunnels. When you reach the surface, you will find Axel there with his horse. He will help you get as far as the heart of the kingdom. From there, you'll be on your own.”

“Oh, Roxas…” Sora became teary-eyed and embraced his beloved brother.

Roxas returned it and reached in his robes for a small bag. He gave it to Sora, and at the brunette's confused face, he explained, “Did you even think about bringing any money with you?”

Sora blushed. He hadn't. He had only thought about leaving the castle. Bringing the essentials had slipped his mind.

Roxas sighed at his absent-minded brother. He then set his hands on the brunette's shoulders and looked him straight in the eye.

“You know father will try to hunt you down, Sora.”

“I don't care! If anything else, I am making a statement.”

Roxas grinned. “Ten gold pieces say you will be dragged back here tomorrow morning.”

Sora's face became very sad. “Ten gold pieces say I will never see you again.”

They embraced, once more, before Roxas turned his back.

“Just leave before I change my mind.”

Suddenly, a torch was lit. On the far end of the hall was a girl with red hair and midnight blue eyes.

“And where do you think you are going, Sora?” the girl asked as she walked toward them.

“Leaving,” Sora replied. “Sorry, Kairi, but I cannot marry you.”

“And why not?” she asked, stepping closer. “Sora, we were meant to be together!”

“Maybe as friends, but not as lovers.”

Sora ran to give her a farewell hug, but Kairi pulled away. Both boys could see her free hand clench into a fist. With eyebrows knotted, she screamed, “Guards! Guards! The prince is escaping!”

In a flash, Roxas was on the girl, knocking down the torch and covering her mouth. But by then, the castle seemed to come alive. In the distance, they could hear guards starting to come.

“Go, Sora!” Roxas yelled as he wrestled the girl to the ground.

Sora nodded and scampered through the servants' quarters, paying no attention to the now waking servants.

“Stop him!” he heard Kairi screech loud enough to blow away his ears.

“Pay her no heed. Leave him be!” Roxas bellowed.

Sora was able to reach the trap door. He ran as quick as lightening through the dark, rat-filled tunnel until he got to a ladder. He used it to get up to the surface and immediately spotted Axel right next to him on the back of a black steed.

“Axel, Kairi found out!”

“I know; the whole city probably does by now with her screaming.”

Axel quickly took Sora's hand and helped him on the horse. With Sora's arms secured around his waist, Axel rode off through the night. It seemed like only seconds after when they reached their destination. It was in the outskirts of the kingdom with old, simple, stone buildings. Both boys dismounted the horse. Axel turned and looked at his prince straight in the eyes.

“Will you be all right, your highness?”

“Yes, I will be fine,” Sora droned, rolling his eyes.

“Really? Have you thought about shelter for the night? Because I know you'll never be able to lose the others if you keep going tonight.”

The prince opened and closed his mouth. The knight sighed and ran a hand through his red spikes. He pointed off in the distance. “If you go about five miles that way, you'll see a bakery. The people there will take care of you.”

“You guys have everything planned out for me!” Sora pouted. “Am I really that predictable?”

“Yes, you are. We know how much you don't think things completely through.”

Sora let out a small chuckle. “Worry-warts…” He smiled at his friend. “Thank you so much, Axel.”

“Tis my pleasure, my prince,” Axel whispered, brushing his lips against Sora's. [1]

Finally, the two bowed, and the prince watched the knight ride back to the castle. With a heavy sigh, he went off in search of the bakery.

Back in the Castle…

Kairi was able to bite Roxas's hand and escape from his grasp just minutes after Sora left. The servants from the next room were trying to rip them apart from each other. Finally, one grabbed Kairi around the waist and pulled her as far away from Roxas as possible.

“The prince! He's escaped!” the princess screeched, kicking and screaming.

“Hush, you stupid wench!” Roxas hissed.

“Why did you let him go, Roxas? He has obviously gone delirious with that talk of not loving.”

“You know he has always been like this, Kairi.”

“Enough!” a voice boomed.

Roxas could feel his blood run cold as he looked up at the glaring eyes of his father. He scrambled to make himself presentable before the king and the few guards that were behind him. The servant that had the redheaded princess quickly let her go. The redheaded princess looked back at the servant, annoyed, then looked back at the king.

“Your majesty, Prince Sora—” the girl started.

“I know, I know, Kairi; your voice is enough to stir the gods,” the king growled with a wave of his hand. He then turned to his second-born. “Why did you help with his escape, Roxas?”

The prince almost winced at the king's tone. It was dark and threatening with the man's anger. But he stood tall before the older man and took a deep breath.

“He needed to be set free,” Roxas simply replied.

Massaging his temple, the king sighed. “Clearly, you are the stupid one,” he muttered. Turning from his son, he ordered, “Meet me on the morrow in my chambers. We shall discuss your punishment, then. Now, both of you, off to bed.”

The two nodded their heads and bowed before leaving for their rooms.

On top of the Castle…

The Earth God, Riku, had been watching everything that was going on in the castle from one of the towers. He had been there since he heard a mortal girl screeching, “Guards! Guards! The prince is escaping!” all the way from the Realm of Gods. His curiosity got the better of him, so Riku just had to race down there from his home. That reason and because his brother, Sephiroth, had “asked” him to go to the mortal world and kill the wench who caused the commotion. To say that Riku's brother was furious about being woken from his deep slumber was an understatement. Riku only laughed at him when he got the order; he was used to the Head God's anger.

When he went to the castle, he found out that the scream came from the palace of the kingdom that contained his temple. Once he reached the castle, he had arrived in time to see a boy come from the ground and leave with another boy on a horse. He also saw the blonde prince fighting the princess of another kingdom through the large windows of the castle.

The events in his kingdom made Riku think of how much fun it must have been to be part of that excitement. His mischievous side was quickly taking effect as he turn back and flew to the heavens. He snuck into the Gods' Mansion and went to his brother's room. Inside, he found the Head God completely buried underneath hundreds of sheets made of flower petals. Riku reveled in the sweet aroma before shaking the large lump in the center of the bed.

“Sephiroth, wake up!” he whispered, excitedly.

A groan came from the lump before a head full of long, silvery hair poked out from the sheets and small, emerald orbs stared back at him.

“Oh, it's you,” Sephiroth grunted. “Is it done?”

“No, brother.” Sephiroth sat up and stared, amazed that his brother had failed to complete such a simple mission. Riku only smiled. “I want to go to the mortal world!”

Now Sephiroth knew something was definitely wrong with his brother. He set a calloused hand to the younger god's head before asking with disgust, “Why would you want to go there?”

“Sephiroth, you know I have always wanted to go! Please! In my domain, there is a runaway prince who just ran away from his palace! The tension is high! It's the perfect time for me to go.”

The elder god wrinkled his nose. “And that is why you couldn't kill the wench who woke me up?”

“Brother, she was the instigator of the events going on in the mortal world! If I killed her now, well, where would all the fun be? You see, the prince left because he was betrothed to this wench, so if she's gone, he may go back and then things would calm down. I promise, brother, that if you let me go, just this once, I will kill that wench after I've had my fun and never ask to go back.”

Sephiroth let out a loud yawn before crawling back in to his cocoon of blankets.

“As long as she dies sometime soon, I suppose you may go.”

“Yes!” Riku cried and ran to his room to prepare for the next day.

1: This fic will not have any Axel/Sora! This is just a form of respect from inferior to superior in this universe.

A/N: Yeah… Sorry if I've made Riku kind of childish… He actually seems more like Sora, right now… I'll fix that later… Mwa ha ha… Also, I actually really like Kairi… For now, it may seem like I'm bashing her, but that'll change… hopefully…