Pairings: Riku/Sora, more pairings later?

Warnings: AU, I guess spoilers or something for people who haven't seen all the way through the end of the game, medieval stuff, possibilities of violence and bloodshed and sexiness

Author's Comments: Eh...still took longer than I expected. D:

However for good news :D

Hopefully it won't take as long as I am actually working on it like I'm supposed to, I do have another chapter and a half done. My plan is to finish writing up the rest of the story before I post it up. That way there won't be such long waits between. Well...as long as no more writer's blocks hit me anyway.

Princely Garbs 30

Cloud was lost. Cloud was completely taken by the darkness, or at least that's how it felt to him anyway. His last memory was of looking down at Sephiroth through blurred vision, before the darkness seemed to invade his body. That feeling of being eaten by the darkness from the inside out…he really hated the feeling.

For a moment, he thought all hope was lost, at least until he saw the small trail of light breaking through the darkness in front of him. He waited for a moment, expecting something else to happen. When nothing else followed, Cloud took the initiative and started walking beginning to follow the trial. It was not like he had the time to sit and wait on things to solve themselves. He needed to get back to the others. They needed to defeat Sephiroth.

There was no end in sight and when he looked back behind him, he saw nothing of the trail he'd followed only seeing the darkness that had swallowed it up. What was guiding him, it was obvious that it was not giving him the choice to turn back. He continued following the trial hoping that soon he would reach his destination.

Riku was glad that both Sora and Roxas were too absorbed in healing Axel to notice that Leon had completely changed. He was even almost glad that Cloud wasn't conscious to see it. Leon was like a different person when his full power was awakened. Though others like Yuffie had heard Leon's true name, they didn't know the significance of it. Even Riku wasn't sure about Leon…no Squall's origin.

The name "Squall the Lion," seemed to fit him. He moved with the prow and grace of a full grown lion, his sword held ready reminding him of bared fangs dripping with saliva ready to bite. Leon's blue eyes were glaring intently at Sephiroth like a predator towards its prey.

"You are a very angry little cub," Sephiroth said looking and sounding calm despite being pushed by Leon's renewed energy.

"Say what you want," Leon growled out, the slash between his eyes seeming to glow as he started to attack, planning on not giving Sephiroth the time to react. "You will go down today." Auron was back in it as well, keeping up now that he had regained some of his baring, though the visible amount of sand left inside the hour glass left Riku worried.

As the last of Squall's powers slipped from his grip, Riku fell forwards on his knees panting, exhausted from giving Squall his powers all at once. He wondered if there was more to it as he saw the misty dark cloud swirling around his hands. No, the darkness should be done from him now, right? What he was looking at had to be all in his mind.

"Riku!" Riku glanced over at Sora, seeing the younger one kneeling beside him with worried eyes and pouty lips, his hand being clutched warmly. "Are you ok?" Riku started to pull his hand away, to hide them in hopes that Sora hadn't seen the dark mist but when he looked down, the mist wasn't there. Instead he was left with the heated feeling of Sora's hand on his, the same hand belonging to the most important person in the world to him.

"I'm fine," Riku said feeling the warmth on his cheeks from the blush he knew had to be visible. "What about you? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Sora said looking at Riku almost appearing to be a little embarrassed himself. "I'm tired but I can't rest until Sephiroth has been defeated."

"Well if Leon can keep it up, he might be defeated faster than we think."

"He seems different," Sora said looking towards Leon with a curious look on his face. "I've never seen a sword like that before. How did he get it?" His eyes flickered to Riku's, the older boy having to look away at the suddenness of it, instead looking over to where Leon was engaged in close combat with Sephiroth, gun blade glowing brightly. Riku frowned wanting to tell him but feeling that it was for Leon himself to say. Considering who's past it was, Leon would be the most vulnerable to its memories.

"Auron, watch out!" The yell of the younger prince alerted Riku as he turned quickly, to see Auron had fallen to his knees. His body was partly faded, Sephiroth standing over him bringing the sword down. Leon scowled moving fast and pushing Sephiroth back with his gun blade becoming more like an angry lion trying to protect his own.

"Your business is with me right now," Leon said darkly, keeping his heated blue eyes on the platinum haired male as he stood over Auron protectively. "Leave him out of this."

"If you wish to die so quickly…then that is fine," Sephiroth drawled, reminding Riku of a purring cat. Slowly he turned his body, his grace even greater than Leon's, which was probably why he was able to move so fast, running and colliding his overly long sword with Leon's making the other have to take a step back from the sudden force appearing in front of him.

Though it was probably from Sephiroth's more advanced skills with the sword, Riku could tell that Leon's tiredness did play a part in it. Leon was breathing hard, blood dripping to the floor from the few wounds he'd received. Despite his strength and speed from earlier, he was starting to wear down. The anger and frustration from before, the true source of his power was draining and seeping away.

Yet, Sephiroth stood there relaxed and breathing easily. He had that smirk on his lips which seemed to stretch even more as he saw Leon swaying in front of him, staring and yet becoming unfocused.

"I thought I would receive more of a challenge…but it appears I was wrong. Perhaps you are ready for a cat nap," Sephiroth said grinning as he spoke the words. "Or perhaps you are not determined enough to save your precious partner."

At the mention of Cloud, Leon looked over at the blond, seeing the prone figure lying there on the ground next to an equally comatose Axel. Seeing the figure there, helpless, unmoving, almost appearing dead seemed to renew the fire inside him, the glow and length of his gun blade that had started to revert back to its original form swelling with life as he gripped it in his hand.

"We should help him," Riku said clenching his hands at his side. He might be weaponless but he could still use his fist. He'd heard of people that used just their hands and feet to fight, even being able to attack people with swords with no problems. Granted he probably didn't have the speed for it himself, but he couldn't just stand there like a dummy and do nothing.

"I believe you have more important things to worry about."

That voice...

The two boys turned quickly at the deep, masculine voice before their eyes widened and they moved into defensive stances quickly.

"How…why…are you here?" Sora yelled out, the keyblade appearing in his hand with a quick wisp of light. "Xemnas!"

"I will obtain true darkness," Xemnas said staring at them with such a calm and cool expression, not looking much worse for wear than the last time they had seen him back in the antechamber. "Only then will the world truly understand how weak it truly is." No...could this mean that the others were defeated? What about Mickey and Donald and Goofy? What about the Organization members that had turned to help them to escape? What about those still under the influence of Xemnas's darkness?

"Then you'll have to go through us first!" Riku yelled out clenching his hands.

"Riku, here!" Riku looked over at Roxas seeing the keyblade being tossed at him and reached out catching it, surprised at the fact that it didn't disappear from his hand.

"Are you sure?" Riku asked looking at Roxas questioningly.

"I'm sure. I can handle myself," Roxas said in return and held of his hand, another keyblade appearing there. "Just take Xemnas out before it's too late."

"Hmm...this will be fun," Xemnas said grinning as he moved into his own fighting pose, looking all too intrigued by the two boys. "Who's first?"

He was getting tired of the constant walking, of seeing nothing but the darkness and the light trail that was leading him on. It was starting to make him feel disoriented, not sure if he was going forwards or backwards or if time has passed or stood still. It made him at times feel like he would go insane. The only thing that kept him going was the thought that he wanted to see others again. Cloud didn't want to stay here forever. He wanted to help the others fight Sephiroth. He wanted to see Leon…

Leon….guys…hold on, I'm coming…I just need to figure out how to get out of here.

As if the mental words of encouragement to himself were the key, or maybe his yearning to see Leon again, the light before him stretched out eating away the darkness so fast that he closed his eyes which had become adjusted to the darkness. When he opened his eyes again, what he saw amazed him. He was inside of Kingdom Hearts…not the way it was now all broken and desolate but the way it had been before, bright and bustling with life.

Cloud was in the garden surrounded by the glow of the sunlight around him. It was warm…and comforting making him feel relaxed despite the fact that he didn't know what was going on. How had he gotten here? This wasn't real right? But how was it that he could feel the sunlight and smell the flowers?

"Here you are!" A familiar voice said from behind him making him turn around quickly. He felt his chest tighten, felt the lump in his throat and his heart racing as he stared at the man in front of him.

"Y-You're highness! King Tsunami!"

"You're looking like you've seen a ghost," the previous king of Kingdom Hearts said laughing before he grinned at him. "Now what did I tell you guys about calling me king. We're friends, aren't we?"

"Ah...yes your high...I mean...Tsunami."

"That's better. I can never get Auron to quit being so formal. He's so stubborn," the king said grinning in that way that reminded Cloud of the young prince Sora. "So, what's got you all jumpy? I didn't scare you did I? You were kind of spacing out here for a moment."

"It's not that," Cloud said clearing his throat and looking away to hold back tears not wanting to alert his king. This was a sick joke if it was an illusion. Maybe he should just pinch himself and wake up now so he wouldn't have suffer for it later.

"Hey, I was planning on sneaking out later. Do you want to join me?"

"Huh?" Cloud's eyes went wide at that before he found himself giving the king an admonishing look. "But, your highness-"

"Aw but it'll be fun!" The king gave him the puppy dog eyes, the same eyes that Cloud found he couldn't avoid even if he wanted to. His king…was a sneaky one. He'd no doubt taught Cloud that trick as well since Sora was good at getting him like that. Chances are, even Roxas was probably good at it too. Hmm now that he thought about it, he'd be attack two to one with that face. Would he be able to take it?

"Fine," Cloud said giving a sigh as he gave in, even dropping his head a bit. "But just for a little while."

"Really?" The king's eyes went wide before he grinned and walked over slapping Cloud on the back almost toppling him over. You wouldn't know how strong the king really was just by looking at him. But then again, to be able to handle a kingdom this large, control the power of light, and wield a keyblade, he had to be strong. "Thank you, Cloud. You're the best!" Turning, the king started to walk off, looking way too perky. "Let's go before Auron finds out."

"Even if your wish comes true,"a voice said in the darkness, Cloud's body instinctively tensing up and reaching to hold the hilt of his sword as he looked around for where the voice had come. The king didn't seem to respond to it, probably not hearing it though the voice seemed to echo more in Cloud's head than having been spoken out loud. "Even if your wish comes true," the voice continued again, "You may not like what you get."

There was a shadow moving within the bushes of the garden. He felt his muscles tightening up and the sound of his hand gripping the leather wrapped around his sword's hilt reaching his ears. His heart was beating fast wondering, knowing that even though the darkness couldn't get into the palace, regular humans could. He saw it then, the glowing yellow eyes staring at him from between the bushes, saw the snout of the wolf poking its nose out as the golden eyes stared at him. For some reason, he knew he wasn't in danger, he knew that this wolf, this creature was somehow watching over him, maybe even a part of him.

"Is something wrong, Cloud?" Cloud looked over to see his king and majesty standing looking back at him with a worried look on his face. Shaking his head quickly, he gave a small smile of encouragement, a quick glance showing him the wolf was gone now.

"Not at all, your majesty," Cloud said then paused seeing the look the king gave him before he almost rolling his eyes. "Tsunami. But we better get going before Auron finds out."

"Good good," the king said giving a laugh. "I told you, it's fine to call me without all those formal titles. We'll just use that sort of name for when I have to be all formal and stuff."

"You're really alot like your brother, sir."

"Yes!" Tsunami said stretching his arms up into the air starting up at the sky and smiling. "You know you really don't have to call me sir. It makes me feel all...old. Besides...Zack was a far better king than I was." There was a small, sad smile after those words.

"I know…but it's…"

Important?

It made him feel like everything would be ok. That the king would stay alive forever…that he didn't get killed. Maybe Cloud could stay here forever…

But then…Leon…

No, he had to get back. He couldn't stay here as much as he might want to. He couldn't live in a world knowing that in truth the king was dead. But the longer he stayed here, the more it felt like maybe this was real and what had happened was a dream. He wished…he could keep everyone important to him alive.

"Coming, Cloud?"

Cloud looked up from where he'd been zoning out and smiled again at the king before he started to walk towards him again, giving a nod of his head. "Coming, your maj...um...Tsunami."

TBC…

Happy late New Merry Thanks Gimmee Year and possibly Valentine's day by the time I get this story out! And I guess it did...muhahahahahahahaha!