Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Prince's Hope ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

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

A/N: Okay, as a tiny little note to everyonereading this little story, instead of saying, “Thank God”, people in this fic will be saying, “Thank Sephiroth”, and stuff like that…

This fic has been betaed by the one and only HappyDragon, everyone! I'm soooooooo thankful of what she's donewith this and just…. yeah!^^

Well, enough rambling!

Chapter 3

In the City…

Dawn came quietly as the sun slowly began to rise, lighting the world with its magnificent rays. Unfortunately, it also disturbed Riku from his peaceful slumber. The god was reluctant to wake, but some odd sounds only further roused him. Opening a single aquamarine eye, he smiled at the tuft of brown hair tickling his chin. He gently stroked the soft spikes for a few seconds before looking down at the dirt-covered body.

“Sora, time to wake up,” he whispered softly.

There was a small moan from the boy, and a thin arm circled around Riku's waist. His body shifted, and a little moan escaped his mouth. The god chuckled at him and almost reluctantly began to disentangle it from him. Sora raised his arms and leaned back to get the kinks out of his back. He blinked at the god and smiled.

“I feel filthy,” he grinned.

“As do I,” Riku replied.

A chilly wind blew over, causing the boy to shiver. Sora rubbed his arms up and down to warm himself but then quickly stopped. He pressed his hands along the length of his arms before pulling the cloak away from his body and looking down. Riku cocked his head curiously as he witnessed this. Sora looked up at him, shocked.

“My cuts—they are gone!” he cried. “How?”

Riku pushed away the ripped bits of clothing and inspected the skin before him. Sure enough, all cuts and nicks were gone. Even the big gash that had been across his chest was gone. There was no evidence of Sora ever being hurt. Not even a scar.

“Maybe you are a fast healer,” Riku mused.

“Not that fast, though,” the boy mumbled then blushed. He slowly looked up at Riku and smiled. “Thank you for doing that.”

“I did not do anything.”

“Of course you did! You healed me.”

“No, I did not,” Riku insisted, crossing his arms and cocking his head to the side.

Sora's brows knotted together in confusion, but he shook his head, laughing, “You do not need to joke about something like that.”

“What is there to joke about? I have done nothing to your body.”

An awkward silence passed between the two. Sora looked down at himself and wondered if it had all been a dream. But it couldn't be; Riku was still there.

“Yes, well, it's almost time for us to part,” Riku replied, breaking the silence. “You may keep the cloak.” He reached for the knife that had been lying next to them through the night and handed it to Sora. “Here. Now you don't have to complain the next time you find yourself in trouble.”

Sora scoffed and replied, “Hey, last time, I was only caught by surprise. You do not have to worry about me.”

“Are you absolutely positive?”

Sora chuckled a bit as he inspected the blade. As he turned the knife at an angle, the sun glinted off the metal, causing Riku to blink. In the time that the god closed his eyes, Sora leapt forth, pushing the god against the tree and pressing the full weight of his body against his. In seconds, the knife was brought to the god's porcelain throat. Riku chuckled at the predicament he found himself in.

“All right, you have proven your point.”

“That's right!” Sora laughed as he pulled the knife away. “I've always been better with using weapons than hand-to-hand combat.”

Riku smiled and leaned against the tree as he watched Sora put the blade away. It seemed that the boy wasn't one to be underestimated so easily…

He was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard Sora ask, “So where are you headed?”

“The palace,” came his simple reply.

“Why? I don't think you will be able to get inside; everyone would be concentrating on trying to find me.”

“So you finally admit to being the prince?” Riku teased.

Sora opened his mouth a bit, then closed it. He opened it again but still couldn't respond. Riku laughed, then shrugged at him. Sora couldn't help but laugh at the response.

“Riku, you are a very strange person.”

“You have no idea, your majesty…” Riku drifted off. He then bowed his head to the prince and said, “Well, I'd best be going.”

Sora watched him head toward the castle before going in the opposite direction.

Back at the Castle…

Roxas groaned as the sun unpleasantly hit his face. He absolutely did not want to get up only to have a wet shoulder… All Kairi did the day before was cry on him, so he wasn't looking forward to a repeat of that. He wasn't looking forward to a day without his redhead, either.

The door behind him opened softly. Roxas, figuring it was only a servant trying to wake him, threw his sheets over his head and groaned, “I am up. You may go.”

He heard the door close and sighed. He was about to fall back to sleep until he felt another person sitting in the mattress. Before he could turn around and yell at this stranger, an arm wrapped around his waist, pulling him to the warm body of the stranger. He sighed when he felt how familiar the other's torso was, and he tried to snuggle closer to him when he felt soft, languid kisses being pressed upon his neck.

“Kairi wants to see you…” came Axel's smooth voice as one of his hands began to reach under the blanket and wander south. Roxas grunted in annoyance for the statement but then moaned when that hand grasped his cock. Meanwhile, Axel continued, “You really should give her a chance, you know? You should forget whatever happened between you as kids. Let bygones be bygones.” Before the blonde could argue, Axel silenced him by rubbing his thumb over the slick head in his grasp. “She's not—” he accented the word with one long stroke “—that bad if—” he did it again “—you get to know her. This little punishment—” Axel made sure to breathe the last word hotly against Roxas's ear as he began a slow, steady rhythm for pumping the little blonde “—will give you a chance to finally bond.”

Axel promptly let go of Roxas's cock and sat up. Panicked that that was all he would get for pleasure, Roxas quickly scrambled to sit up. He pouted when he saw Axel leaving with his tongue flicking out at his fingers.

“Are you going to leave me like this, Axel?” he squeaked. “Finish what you started!”

Axel put his hand under his chin and pretended to think for a few seconds before looking back at the blonde with a wicked gleam in his eye and answering, “No, I don't think I will. I got what I wanted and did what I was supposed to do.”

“Axel, you are a bastard!”

The redhead let out a chuckle. He walked back to Roxas and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. He leaned toward the blonde's ear and whispered, “Fine, then. If I see that you've made progress in getting along with Kairi, then—”

“I get your ass,” Roxas interrupted almost furiously. “You get the satisfaction of seeing me making peace with her, and I get the satisfaction of being responsible for making you unable to walk straight for at least a week.”

Axel shivered in anticipation. He kissed Roxas again, whispering, “I'll be looking forward to it.”

He then stood and quickly walked out the room, hips swaying enticingly. Roxas's eyes remained locked on the redhead's backside until the door closed. He was about to move so he could get ready for the day when he suddenly remembered a certain problem he still had. Cursing the redhead under his breath, he set about relieving himself.

Elsewhere in the Castle…

Riku was grinning at how easy it was to get in the palace. Of course, he had made himself invisible to get past the guards, but he had hoped for… well, he didn't know what he had hoped for. After what had happened with Sora, he had expected more of a challenge from the palace's security…

“Such a shame,” he whispered as he found himself in a throne room.

The room itself was a minor sight to behold, he supposed. Well it was probably grand for mortals—not that he'd ever seen any other mortal throne rooms to compare with this one. So he guessed that they might call it “big”…

The floor was of a whitish smoothed marble-like stone with gray veining, undulating off in erratic directions. It reminded him of the many-rooted undergrowth plants in Marluxia's garden back home.

Turning his attention to the walls, he was most pleased to see that someone was sensible enough to build them out of stone. And not any piddling lightweight bricks, either. These were miniature boulders, roughly hewn into the ragged semblance of blocks. They were stale-colored, but from Riku's innate understanding of his element, he could tell they were in fact granite. They were even held in place by a sturdy composite mortar, some part mud, clay, granite flecks, a little sand, and things he didn't know of, which meant they were not of the soil and thus not important for anything more than coloring.

The ceiling stretched high above his head in an elegant vaulting dome. This was, again, marble in nature, the same kind as the floor although it was perhaps whiter, as humans possessed not the ability to walk up walls, let alone on ceilings. But as long as the surface in question was made of something from the minerals of the land, Riku could walk on it with no hindrances. Hmm, maybe he should try that later just for fun—without being invisible—seeing as this palace presented no other challenges so far.

He frowned. Perhaps Sora was the only worthwhile thing to come out of this place.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the slight movement of something he'd previously overlooked. Turning his full attention to it, he realized that it had escaped his sight before, as it was not mineral based, and thus of no great purpose to him. It was a long hanging red banner that bore the kingdom's seal and the royal family's crest emblazoned in gold embroidery. There were several of these that hung over some areas of the walls. They apparently switched off with marble support pillars.

“Probably just for show . . . or color,” Riku mused aloud, scanning for anything else of interest.

He couldn't help but follow the path made by the red banners, and as he took in more of the foreground, he saw that there was a matching strip of red carpet, which seemed to serve as some kind of path. Hmmm, so maybe it was all meant to lead the viewer's eyes to the front of the room?

It must have, for there stood the only furniture that the godling had witnessed throughout the room. Alone, elevated by a raised landing with a short flight of steps, were not one or two, but four elaborate wooden thrones. The earth deity smiled, eyes aglow with mischievous glee as he scampered over to give the seats further inspection.

Stopping short of the landing, the godling started his scrutiny of the wooden fixtures. The end two were small in size--obviously the princes sat in them. The middle two, being full-sized, would then have been for the King and Queen, the larger of the two being on his left most likely for the former. The chairs were uniform in nature, made of some fragrant wood that smelled faintly of the Head God's floral blankets back home. Rosewood perhaps? Or maybe they were regularly treated with aromatic oils?

The legs of the thrones were carved to look like thorny vines that sprouted out of the ground and twined upward until they opened into a blossoming Rosebud seat. The arms were made to look like extended leaves coming off the support vines, and the backs were over-exaggerated petals stemming from the blooming seat. Still, the wood was fine-grained in nature, dark in color, and heavily padded on the arms, back, and seat. Here, too, was the rose motif, as they were stitched all over the surface of the padding.

“So,” He began to point at the middle chairs. “Daddy, Mommy…” His finger pointed at the chair next to the father's and stopped. Grrr, was Sora the older or the younger brother? Knowing the attention the King was paying him for running off, he had to be the older. That meant he sat by his father. “Okie, Sora and…” His finger went to the last seat, but then his brow furrowed as he tried to remember the name of the brother. Finally, he came up with, “…The other Sora!” With that, he beamed as he moved over to the far left, which became the far right as he turned around.

Riku smiled when he sat in the small chair next to the large chair; by all of the spirited energy he felt, he could sense that it was definitely the chair that Sora used during his princely days. It was nice and cushiony. Riku imagined that Sora would have tried bouncing on the seat when no one was looking… But Riku could also tell that there had been pressure weighing on the boy throughout his life. There was still that spunkiness that he had seen, though, so he felt content.

Riku moved over to the large chair and wrinkled his nose. All he could sense was that it belonged to someone who was just a hard-ass. Of course, this hard-ass still cared for others and took a lot of pride in himself. And took pride in teaching his sons to be like him. It was still sort of unpleasant.

Shaking his head, Riku turned to the medium-sized chair. The energy signature around it was very faint. Even so, Riku could still sense all the feelings within it. It was full of love and caring and a sort of joy in life that he only rarely ever saw or felt. Riku found that he enjoyed the warmth found in this chair and was almost reluctant to turn to the last one.

This last one seemed to be a mix of all three chairs. There was definitely pressure on this one, but it was a different kind from Sora's. Stress was a bit clear, as well as some fierce pride and determination. But the love that he saw from the chair before was present, and he could sense a touch of mischief. Riku smiled at this seat.

He inspected the chairs a bit more before he grew bored with the room, as it didn't provide much else for entertainment, and walked out of the throne room. He wandered aimlessly along until he heard a familiar voice speaking behind a door. He went through it and found the boy he recognized as Sora's twin there. The boy was standing in front of a painting of the runaway prince.

Riku walked until he was next to the boy and studied the painting with him. He found that he didn't like it; Sora's pose and overall attitude seemed entirely different from the boy he had left earlier. Sora stood, what Riku thought to be, painfully erect, brandishing the most insipid and un-genuine smile he'd ever seen. Had he not been staring at this painting, the Earth God would have been hard pressed to even believe that the child was capable of such a look. And the princely debauchery—er, make that `finery' that he was clothed in did nothing to compliment either his energetic nature, or trim physique.

The only reasoning he could see for this travesty not being ripped from the wall, or swallowed by it—which was tempting him fiercely in its own right—was that the viewer's attention would not be primarily on the posture or clothes. No, even in this unnatural stance, the prince's eyes were still captivating. But what he suspected the mortals would gawk at was the silvery shining Keyblade held aloft in Sora's right hand. Actually it was only semi-aloft, his left arm was rigidly against his side, the right hand resting over his heart, not clasping but pressing flat and holding firm the grip and guard of the blade to his breast.

Looking at the face, Riku noticed that the eyes did not have that certain sparkle that he remembered seeing on the boy; they seemed to be trying to look stern, proud…not lively. Riku knew that if he'd known Sora better, he could find even more flaws to the painting. He found it surprising that he could tell this much about the boy from spending just one night and the first few minutes of a morning in his company.

The god was interrupted from his musings when he heard Sora's brother give a sigh. It was then that Riku really looked at the boy. He looked just like Sora, save for the hair. His presence was entirely different, though. He seemed very responsible. Smart, too. Maybe smarter than Sora. This boy was definitely the owner of that last chair.

The boy let out another sigh.

“Despite what logic is telling me, Sora,” the boy mused, “I actually believe that you are now better off out there on your own. You are free, just as you should be. Make sure you take care of yourself…”

A slight creaking sound interrupted the moment, and footsteps soon followed. The redheaded princess from the night before last stood between Roxas and Riku. The prince turned to her and bowed.

“Good morning, Princess Kairi.”

“Good morning, Roxas.”

The two stayed silent. Riku watched the two quietly as he sat on the ground and crossed his legs; being invisible could get boring, but when it came to eavesdropping, it was the best! He looked intently at the girl and was fairly perplexed. She seemed to be one who was always dreaming. But right now, she was extremely worried, in a way that could get her extremely depressed. She also seemed somewhat fragile. Riku couldn't tell what he thought of her.

A few seconds passed before the princess spoke, “He will be back, soon.”

Roxas raised a brow. “How are you able to tell, Milady?”

“A strong feeling I have… I know it in my heart…”

“If you are going on the fantasy in which he loves you, you are wrong…”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Oh, do not be stupid, Kairi. You know he does not wish to come back; he even told you, himself, that he does not want to marry you. When will you get it through your thick head?”

Riku raised his eyes at the blonde. He didn't quite expect that sort of response from Sora's brother. He felt that something was about to happen between the two, so he stood to be ready for the coming commotion.

The princess remained silent. Small tears filled her eyes, and her shoulders shook. She turned to try to hide them. Riku circled the girl until he could see her face. She was gently biting her lip.

“I don't care about the marriage at this point,” she whispered. “I'm more worried about Sora. He is one of my dearest friends, and I don't like to think that something terrible has happened to him. I just don't know what to do…”

“Yes, well, crying about it won't get you anywhere.”

“It's better than what you're doing: nothing! Nothing except letting him go!”

“It's something he needs to do!”

Riku looked over at Roxas to see him red-faced and panting. This was obviously an old, sore issue that the brothers had talked to death long before that fated night. Riku could feel the anger and distress rolling off the blonde in waves. There was a fierce loyalty behind those sky-blue eyes, and a rage that one so close to his brother refuse to see reason.

Glancing back at the princess, she too was in an emotional state. But the emotions there were dark and brooding. Yes, she was worried about her friend, but there was a sickly certain darkness that seemed to be there as well, in its beginning stages. Riku mused that it would be one that Xemnas would be interested in looking into, given the chance. But really, Kairi truly believed she had a chance with the older prince and perhaps thought that if he came home he would “come to his senses” and love her like he was supposed to. There was an echoing deviousness to her aura, as if she wasn't above manipulating Sora's heart or emotions to get what she wanted, though she would probably be very subtle about it, so subtle that perhaps even she was unaware of what she was doing. Once this twin returned she would do everything in her power to make him “see reason” and marry her, regardless of what the other's heart wanted.

Silence reigned. Riku decided to stay with the two.

In the City…

Sora was close to the gates. With every step he took, his feet felt lighter. He could see the gatekeeper ahead, but he took his time getting to the man; the next few seconds he had left to get to the gate were going to be the last he would spend in his city, after all.

“There he is!” a voice yelled. “And can you see it? He has my knife! The one I described to you!”

Hearing that, Sora stopped to see who it was who had apparently stolen a knife. It didn't take long, though; he was suddenly grabbed from behind and remembered that the dagger he had was stolen.

A boy about Sora's age with shimmering silver-blue hair stood before him. Just by seeing this boy, Sora knew who was holding him.

“Hello, Zexion and Lexaeus,” he greeted.

“See?!” yelled the accusing voice. Sora looked off to the side to see one of his assaulters from the night before. The man looked pissed as he continued to yell, “If he knows your names, then he must be a witch!”

“You fool, it is not valid proof of witchcraft; we are well-known throughout the kingdom,” hissed Zexion.

The man blushed. Then he shook his head, snatched the knife from Sora's side, and searched the boy's pockets until he produced the moneybag.

“Just as I said!” he snarled. “He has my knife and the bag of gold. He also had a friend with him who attacked us! A boy with eyes of the sea and hair of the moon!”

Lexaeus, the one holding on Sora, began to chuckle deeply. “That's impossible; only gods have silver hair.”

“But we saw him! And he's definitely a witch; he was able to manipulate the earth! He buried us to our knees!”

Sora felt panic rising within him. “That's not true!” he cried. “I never had anyone with me last night! And the money… I found it on the ground! Same with the knife!”

“You lying brat!” the fool yelled.

Zexion gave Lexaeus a look that clearly stated that he thought the man was crazy. He signaled for his larger friend to let the boy go. Sora let out a small sigh of relief and quickly tried to get away. However, he stopped when a strong hand clapped on his shoulder. He froze as Zexion leaned into his body.

“Your money, boy,” he said, looking very bored.

He set the moneybag into Sora's hand and bowed his head. He suddenly pulled back with a start, a strange look on his face. He leaned toward Sora again and tipped back with wide eyes.

“He has the scent of the prince about him!” he quietly gasped to Lexaeus. He looked accusingly at Sora. “What have you done to his highness?”

Sora closed his eyes and looked down. He considered lying, but he knew that Lexaeus would catch him in the act. He sighed. He was so close. So close!

“I am Sora,” he mumbled, turning his head in shame.

“Do not even try to pull that one on me, boy,” Zexion snapped. “It is well known that my family was blessed with a godly union generations back.” He flicked back a lock of his silver-tinted blue hair. “Even now, the decedents of that pair bear heavenly gifts, and mine is a sense of smell that no other mortal has. Couple that with my instincts and training as a hunter, and there is not a scent in the kingdom that I do not know. Your scent is entirely different from our prince's, but I am able to tell that you have spent quite some time with him very recently. Now tell us, where is Prince Sora? What did you do to him after he flew from the castle?! Are you the reason we cannot find him?!” Zexion's eyes were hard and dangerous, not to mention that his raised voice was steadily drawing the attention of every passerby.

Sora's eyes were wide with panic and confusion. He struggled when Lexaeus grabbed him again. His assaulter from the night before began to silently cheer at Sora's new predicament. Sora almost felt tears come to his eyes as he looked at Zexion.

“Please tell me you are only joking, Zexion! We've known each other our whole lives. My nickname for you is Sexy Zexy!” He turned his head back to the silent knight and whispered, “Lex, I've kept some very big secrets for you! Like your secret crush on Zexy!”

Lexaeus brightly blushed as Zexion suddenly slapped Sora. Sora's head jerked to the side, but then he slowly brought it back to face the silvery-haired boy, who had moved so that they were nose to nose of each other.

“Now I'm convinced you are a witch and have taken our beloved prince hostage! Where is he?”

“Zexion, I am not a wi—” Sora couldn't finish the sentence as Lexaeus had quickly head butted him. His body sagged as he was collected into the silent knight's arms. Darkness came shortly after.

Back in the Castle…

Riku had spent his day being bored as he followed Roxas around… Roxas had been following Kairi around all day for some punishment or other, so nothing really happened. Riku barely paid attention to Kairi, though; she was always staring sadly out windows unless she was needed for something. Riku found himself inspecting all the rooms the two entered.

To Riku's disappointment, the palace didn't have much for entertainment.

At sunset, he finally grew tired of the prince and princess, so he decided to search for the king. But just as he was leaving them, the king burst into the room, seeming to be mad about something. Roxas and Kairi bowed before the now pacing man.

“Your majesty, what's wrong?” Kairi asked.

The king stopped long enough to stare at her, then sighed and rubbed at his temples.

“I have been told that we have a witch in the dungeon,” he said slowly. “We have reason to believe that he and an accomplice have Sora.”

Kairi gasped. Riku looked over at Roxas to see those blue eyes growing wide. The godling looked back when the king sighed again.

“However, despite the powers of our best clerics, this witch isn't responding to our interrogation. Only once did he try to escape, yelling that he was Sora. Now he's given up on speaking.”

Riku perked up a bit. A witch that said he was Sora? Maybe there was more entertainment in the palace than he thought…

“So what will you do with the witch?” Kairi asked innocently.

“Burn him in the temple. He is an abomination, a shame to our great Riku. He's useless to us, anyway, if he is not going to speak.”

“And what of the accomplice?” the princess asked.

“Hopefully, he will come to us when he hears of this one being burned.” The king glared at his son a bit before looking at the princess. “Well, I only came to let you know that we have a lead.”

He bowed his head and promptly left. Kairi turned to Roxas.

“You must be feeling guilty,” she said in a quiet voice. There was a smugness there, a smugness that Riku found vaguely off-putting.

Roxas, who had been quiet during the king's appearance, snapped, “How would you know how I feel?”

Kairi frowned at the outburst. Roxas rolled his eyes and left the room. Riku followed closely behind, intrigued by the boy.

The prince ran through the palace, deep to the bottom. He stopped in front of the door to the dungeon, which was being watched by several guards.

Roxas stood tall before them and said in a commanding voice, “I need to see the witch.”

The guards looked amongst one another before one stepped forth.

“I'm sorry, my prince, but we cannot permit you to pass for fear that this witch may cast a spell on you.”

“If he has been properly bound, there won't be any problems. I'll make sure he tells us where my brother is.”

“My prince, we cannot take any risks,” the guard argued.

Roxas continued to argue with the guards. Riku chuckled a bit at poor Roxas's predicament before going through the door.

It was damp and dirty in there. Riku was glad that he wasn't in a solid form. It was very quiet, as well, even though the cells were packed with many criminals. Riku found himself walking up to the bars to inspect them. Most were raggedy and scarred. They all looked like they were a rowdy bunch, but something seemed to be scaring them all into hiding in the furthest corners of their cells.

Riku looked on in each cell until he reached one that didn't seem to have as many men. He looked inside and saw a familiar brown head.

“Sora?” he breathed, shocked by what he saw.

Sora was lying on the ground, facing the wall of his cell, with his arms and legs tied behind him. He looked battered and bruised all over, and Riku found himself wondering if there were any broken bones.

He went through the bars and checked the boy. Sora was sleeping, or so it seemed since he was blindfolded. Riku began to feel the boy. He winced at all the scratches and bruises that he found. Thankfully, no broken bones were to be felt.

He pulled the small body against his and took off the bindings. An audible moan came from the boy, and Riku slowly smiled. He rocked back and forth, gently stroking the soft brown hair.

Sora almost panicked when he felt those hands over him. He wanted to scream and try to fight, but he knew that he didn't have a chance. He decided to stay quiet—maybe they wouldn't punish him if he cooperated for a bit?

He almost stiffened when he felt the ropes and blindfold being untied and sighed from the relief it brought. He relaxed into the soft caressing that soon followed. He then felt someone pull his gag off.

The first words that came to his mouth were, “Riku, is that you?” He had no clue why the name of his midnight savior had come to his mind. Maybe because it seemed as much a miracle then as now with this stranger...

“Yes, it is,” came that familiar voice that he was now grateful to hear.

Sora's eyes fluttered open, and he slightly turned his head to the side to see the silver-headed god. He smiled at the aquamarine eyes that met his. They were full of such concern… and a deep gravity, as one caring for a departing love, a loved one he just might have feared to never see again. For some reason, he found himself wanting to make them shine with happiness.

Riku slightly smiled at his friend. He pulled his shivering body to his own and felt the boy give a relaxed sigh. Sora let out a groan, as the movement was irritating his wounds. Riku backed off, giving him an apologetic smile. Sora weakly smiled back and let Riku continue to rock him.

“Riku, what are you doing here?” the boy asked after a few seconds of comfort.

“I came to see the supposed witch,” Riku answered quietly.

“Oh, really? I thought you came to break someone out,” Sora chuckled.

“I might.” His eyes twinkled. “It depends on the severity of your crime.”

Sora pulled away from him in surprise. Why would Riku ever help him from a place like this? Better yet, how would he be able to get out? True, he'd proven that he was a fair match when unarmed, but what could the boy do against metal bars? And how had he gotten in anyway? The knights didn't let just any commoner or peasant wander in from off the streets. Too many assassinations start that way. Sora wondered if maybe Riku did have a valuable trick or two up his sleeves that would allow them to flee this place. Thinking on it, he grinned. Maybe Riku could help get him out of the kingdom.

But, was it really okay for him to leave?

Shaking off the surprise, Sora explained what had happened. Riku looked at him when he finished and quietly whispered as he stroked the soft head, “I'm going to get you out of here.”

Sora looked up at him and sighed, “No, don't do it. It's too risky…”

“But I know, for certain, that your god wouldn't want you to be punished for something you didn't do, Sora!”

Sora smiled sweetly at Riku's insistence. He carefully pushed back a strand of silver hair from the porcelain face and cupped the soft cheek. He brought Riku's face toward his and brushed his lips against his, shocking Riku.

The god had never had this action done to him before. It was very new to him. He enjoyed it, though—so much so that he forced his lips even harder against Sora's. Sora gasped at this, but it soon became a moan. Riku suddenly found himself plundering the boy's mouth with his tongue, bringing out more delightful sounds from him. The sounds excited him, and Riku felt like he needed to press himself more firmly against the boy. It was interesting how little jolts of energy seemed to ripple outward from where their lips met, running through the length of his body.

He wanted to wrap his arms around Sora and did so without a second thought, urged on by the encouraging sigh he received. Then he found that the brunet's hand had slid over his shoulders, and stray fingers were curling into his starlit hair. The action—what had it been called by his brother, a kiss? —with their mouths grew more involved and wet as he tried to shift so he could taste more of the mortal below him.

Below him? Ooooh, he'd managed to pin his companion to the floor. He had been working purely on instinct and on how he remembered his brother doing it with his lovers. Those had been some interesting sessions he'd secretly spied on, to say the least.

The sound of metal rapping against metal brought the two back to reality. Riku panicked and became invisible, and quick as a flash, he bound and gagged Sora as best he could without hurting the boy. Luckily, he did it just before the light of a lantern shined upon them. One of the guards from outside was there, violently shaking the lantern in his hand.

“What are you doing in there?” called the guard in a frightened voice.

Sora let out what he hoped to be a sleepy moan. This caused the knight to slightly jump. Finally, the knight began to walk away briskly.

Riku let out a sigh of relief when the knight was gone. He set about untying the prince again. Sora blinked at him curiously.

“He didn't see you?” he asked.

“No. Thank Sephiroth,” Riku answered.

Sora nodded and blushed, remembering their kiss. His fingers gently reached up to touch his lips. Suddenly, he gasped as he remembered something else. He slapped Riku's leg. Then he sat up and smacked the boy upside his head.

“You fool!” he hissed. “That was my first kiss!”

“It was my first one, as well,” the god responded with a shrug. “What's so wrong about it?”

“I was saving mine for my soul mate!”

“'Soul mate'?” Riku had an adorably confused expression on his face.

Sora found himself about to yell but then caught himself. Instead, he sighed, “Forget it. At least I had the chance to experience one before… you know…”

Riku frowned as they were getting back to their dilemma. He quickly took the boy's arm and started to pull him through the bars. Sora was shocked to see the god's body moving through solid metal and began to panic when his arm was going through, as well. He wrenched his arm free, wincing at the pain the action brought.

“Stop, Riku, it's all right,” he whimpered. “This will be my punishment for trying to defy Riku… For not wanting to marry Kairi.”

“The punishment does not fit the crime! And why would I—uh, I mean he—why would he ever punish someone who wanted to follow his own heart? Does Riku not value freedom above all things? Does the Earth God not want to explore the mysteries of his domain? There are so many wondrous things in this world, be they made by man or god. So why should I sit forever in one spot!? I've found that I rather love this damned world! And since when have The Gods cared for the matching of mortals? You—we—could all marry pigs as far as they're concerned, as long as you're—we're— all happy and healthy... And praying, Riku likes a good praying—er prayer.”

Sora smiled and cupped Riku's face.

“You are sweet, Riku, very sweet. But this is the reality of the situation. I want you to go back to wherever you come from and forget about me. I don't want to see you get hurt.”

“Sora—“

“I am not asking you to do it, Riku. Now, go.”

Sora then moved to the back of his cell and lay down, facing the wall. Riku glared at him.

“Fine, if you want to die, then I won't stop you! And I certainly won't help you escape this kingdom, which you tried so hard to leave from!”

With a huff, he quickly left the dungeon, not even bothering to bind him again.

In the morning in Roxas' room…

Roxas awoke when someone sat in his bed again. He turned away from the weight and grumbled, “Not this time, Axel. I'm not in the mood.”

“I'm not Axel…”

Roxas' eyes opened wide, and he jumped out of bed in shock.

“What the hell are you doing here, Kairi?” he demanded.

“Calm down, Roxas, I only wanted to talk to you.”

Roxas looked out his window. The kingdom was still dark. He looked back at the redhead as though she was crazy. She seemed determined.

Sighing, the prince sat back in bed.

“What's wrong?” he asked.

Kairi gave him a thankful smile before asking, “How is the burning performed?”

It took Roxas a few seconds to remember about the witch in the dungeon. He looked at Kairi with one sleepy eye and answered, “I have no clue. We haven't had any witch problems in the kingdom since I was a baby, and I've never cared all that much to ask.”

“Really?” She tilted her head to the side. “You've never been even a little bit curious about it?”

“No. The only things I really know are that witches don't attack people wielding fire (or so I'm told), and that their magic does not work if you keep a safe distance from them.”

Kairi had a thoughtful look on her face. “Really?” she mused. “I'd like to see it.”

“You probably will,” Roxas yawned, turning in the bed. “Hell, they'll probably have you hold the torch since you're betrothed to be our next queen. I'm not going, though.”

“Why not? It should be interesting!”

“Why should I go? He is of no use to me now if he's going to die. And my father will be there, as well, so it won't really matter. Besides…” The blonde's eyes flicked down to look at his sheets as he whispered, “Axel's not here…”

He heard Kairi giving a light chuckle, “That's right. He's going to be out on the streets searching for…” Her voice trailed off. Roxas looked back at her and gave her an irritated look. Kairi shook her head and looked at Roxas. “You shouldn't be so childish on the matter.”

Roxas laid his head on his pillow and pouted. “I'm not being childish; I'm sulking.”

Kairi began to giggle at him as she got off the bed and left the room. Roxas grumbled in his pillow, glad that she was gone.

In the dungeon…

“Aah!” Sora cried as he felt ice-cold water being poured over his body.

He didn't understand what was going on as many people crowded around him then tied and gagged him, causing him to grunt in pain. He shook his head when he faced the lot of them. Some of them were conversing amongst each other.

“I can't wait until he's dead,” someone whispered.

“The sooner, the better,” another hissed.

“Someone cover his eyes before he uses them against us!”

And once again, Sora found himself blind to the world. It didn't make much of a difference, though, for he was then led out of the dungeon.

With every footstep he made, Sora was aware of the pounding of his heart. He began to wish that he had allowed Riku to take him away. He didn't know what to expect, though. He did know how the faces he would see would be like. They would be full of anger, fear, and anxiety.

He felt ashamed for leaving his home. Silently, he prayed to his god that he would be forgiven.

Soon, he was stopped. He heard the hushed voices of various people. The blindfold came off, and his head was forced down.

“Keep your head like that, you heathen,” one of the guards whispered in his ear.

He did as he was told, his still-wet hair creating a curtain over his face. Looking at the ground, he knew he was at the temple. Only minutes away from death. Two knights held each of his arms and walked forward. They stopped in front of a tall, wooden pillar, where he was quickly tied up to. Twigs and hay were thrown at his feet.

He heard someone step forth, and he stole a glance up to see that it was one of the temple's monks, who was carrying a torch.

“Presenting Princess Kairi of the Light Kingdom!” the man announced. He looked up again and saw Kairi slowly making her way from a crowd of monks and knights, who were armed with their bows and arrows. The monk in front gave her the torch and then continued, “On behalf of the king and our own fair kingdom, the princess shall light the fire that will burn this witch, in honor of the Great Riku!”

Cheers could be heard throughout the temple, but they seemed all too distant to Sora. He only listened to Kairi's steadily approaching footsteps. When he was sure that she was only a short distance away, he raised his head to look upon the face of his friend. He captured the girl's eyes with his own, smiling through the gag and making sure to crinkle the edges of his eyes in a way that Kairi loved.

Kairi let out a shrill scream and dropped the torch in her hand. The fire began to quickly burn the hay. The princess looked down and tried to stomp it out. When that became useless, she went straight for Sora and his ropes.

Fearing that Sora had cast some sort of spell, the monks in the crowd sprang forth and pulled Kairi back. Several others ran up as near to Sora as they could safely get and used a wooden beam to hit him over the head.

“What are you doing, you fools?” Kairi yelled. “It is Sora!”

“The princess has been bewitched!” someone howled.

Quickly, the monks began to chant, in hopes of breaking whatever hold this infernal wretch had on the fair maiden. They called out to their god, the very god they wished to appease by removing the foul creature from the earth before it could further blight the land.

Still others were at work trying to beat Sora senseless, though the fire made that difficult for them to accomplish. They reasoned to themselves that it was good for the witch to feel such agony in his final minutes. One among them called for the others to stop when the danger outweighed the gain, and they instead offered up pleas to Riku that the vile thing might burn quickly with no further incident.

As said before, Riku liked a good praying, and what these people were doing was enough to turn even the most apathetic god's head.

Riku glared down at the scene from the ceiling. He had been watching the whole affair since dawn. He had originally gone there to grouse over Sora, but when the preparations for the burning were being made, he decided to look. And now, seeing what they were doing to the one who invaded his thoughts, he decided to intervene.

He cast his hand forth, and thick vines began to pull themselves from underneath the temple's stones. They moved as though they were dancing snakes in their approach to the pillar. The air seemed to thin as all of the temple's occupants gasped. Even the ones who were trying to pull Kairi away stopped to observe the strange plants, the vines crawling up the pillar and pulling on the rope. It snapped, and Sora's body fell forward, into the vines' embrace.

Riku commanded his loyal plants to bring the boy to him. The leafy tendrils slithered across the floor, holding the prince high in the air. They gently placed him in the angry god's arms and moved around the pair.

Riku brushed the matted hair off Sora's face. He pulled the limp body close to his and cradled the boy's head on his chest, using his fingers to comb the hair. The god frowned as he found a strange lump in the midst of all the brown. The boy still hadn't healed from the wounds of his torture.

Angered further, Riku looked down on the people in the temple. His ire only peaked when he saw several knights coming in and drawing their bows at him. In response, Riku waved a hand, and his vines swooped down to slap the bows away.

The entire room gasped in shock. Then, a commotion started going on in back of the group. Whispers of, “No, your majesty, don't!” began floating about until the king stepped forth, coming into view. He glared at the god dangerously.

“Where is my son?” he demanded, infuriated.

Riku glared back at the king with his attention. Then he addressed his attention to the entire room.

“I am Riku, the god of earth,” he announced. “I am the very god you worship.” After a pregnant pause, Riku continued, “I am displeased with your actions, for you barely gave this boy a chance to defend himself—he is, in fact, your precious Prince Sora, who ran away a few nights ago.”

Murmurs exploded through the crowd. Wisps of how he must be a god with his silver hair and of how he must be faking it with his witch powers made their way to Riku's ears. His anger grew, but he only kept his eyes on the king.

Kairi broke free from the monks who still had her. She stepped toward the god with determination glittering through her midnight blue eyes.

“We are incredibly sorry for this, your godliness. It was a misunderstanding! Please, give him back!” she pleaded.

Aquamarine eyes turned to her, and Riku sneered, “Too late! You were already offering him to me. Therefore, I will take him.”

“But Great Riku! He is the prince—my fiancé!”

“He ran away for a reason,” Riku snapped.

Riku quickly descended from his perch, gingerly carrying Sora in his arms. He then strolled into the pond of the temple, continuing to ignore Kairi's pleas.

A/N: Nothing to say… Tee hee! Please review!

P.S. If anyone out there can't wait another month to read the next chapter of this fic, please go to fanfiction.net. My penname there is New Light.