A/N: So this was requested by a Guest... Sort of. ^_^;;; They requested a prompt of one of Riku's training sequences, and as it sort of lined up with an idea I'd been playing with for ages, this story started... and derailed. It was linked in my head, so the prompt sort of happened?

Anyway, it's four chapters long and somewhat sad. Let me know what you think, and if you would like to read any stories involving my Silver Lights, Turquoise Nights AU characters- and that includes stories about Sora or Roxas or Ventus- you let me know! I love prompts. I really do.

"The Truth" - Chapter 1

Riku was cold. He was graceful, calculating, tall, and extremely unapproachable.

At least, that's how the students of West Midgar High saw him.

Riku walked through the halls, silver hair loose and shoulder length, his nose in a book. Where he walked, students moved quickly out of his way; there was a kind of feline grace to his movements, and it seemed to awaken their normally-dormant instincts. It helped, as well, that his arms were about as thick around as their necks.

The silver-haired teen was on his way to the library. He'd been at this school for a record two weeks, something unheard of for him (he wondered if his family's hunter had given up or gotten temporarily lost), and realized that his attitude up until this point had essentially ruined all chances he may have had at making friends. The other students were afraid of him; Riku had purposefully come off as unapproachable and cold, as he always had. He'd assumed that if he was ever in a school long enough to make friends that he'd just turn the attitude down, but it quickly became apparent that this was not the case. He'd attempted a simple hello to a blonde boy in his science class, and with a flinch the other teen had picked up his things and moved three seats away.

Riku sighed, closing the book; he'd been re-reading the same line for the past five minutes. It troubled him that it had taken nearly ten years to learn that if you're an ass on the first day of school, people are going to assumed you're always an ass. That should have been extremely obvious... Then again, he'd had little chances to learn from experience.

A sudden commotion from the cafeteria as he passed it- it was lunch hour after all- made him pause, taking a few steps back. A large group of students were eagerly shouting as they pushed past one another, trying to get through the cafeteria doors to the outside fields as quickly as they could. "Fields" was a generous term; there was next to no vegetation in Midgar. Any vegetation that did manage to grow quickly turned black from the very noxious air within the city; Riku wondered how he and his family, or anyone for that matter, had retained any illusion of health at all.

Curiosity got the better of the teen, and he quickly put the book away as he navigated the halls to a very unused pair of doors leading to the same field; there was no use trying to get through the crowd, and while this path took him slightly out of the way, it was better than getting stuck in a crowd of students who were somewhat terrified of you.

The field itself consisted mostly of dirt and a few hopeful, mostly withered trees. False grass had been planted to make a football field, though somehow even the false grass looked dismal. The sky, as usual, was blotted out; this particular school was located near the slums of Midgar, on the West side, and they were therefore located under the massive second layer of the upper-class Midgar. That may have been why it'd taken so long for the Crescent family to need to relocate.

At the very center of the field was the object of the student body's excitement: a very tall, attractive teen was facing a second teen, who looked like he was surrounded. The first had long brown hair styled so that it flipped over and to his right; the teen he was addressing, at the very center of the crowd, was smaller and thinner but no less attractive. He had blonde hair that was far shorter, and often wore tank tops and baggy pants. Riku recognized the first- his name was Vayne, a young male who was at the head of West Midgar High's popular crowd. He was one of the cruelest examples of a popular kid that Riku had ever seen, though his cruelty usually came out in the form of words and vocal insults. They were no less deadly, but Vayne refused to fight his own battles, leaving any physical fighting to his lackeys. Unfortunately, Riku had quickly learned that Vayne was the son or nephew or something of the school Principal. In other words, he was never in trouble, and fighting against Vayne was considered the same as signing your own expulsion papers.

Suddenly, Riku recognized the boy in the middle of the crowd: Vaan, a teen from Riku's English class. The teen had seemed very friendly, at the center of his own personal crowd of friends. He'd stood up against other, lesser bullies to protect the less-able student populace, but it seemed that Vayne had some dirt on the blonde teen. As Riku got closer, he was able to pick up on their conversation.

"...know the truth about you," Vayne was drawling in a bored tone of voice. His eyes were anything but bored; cruel excitement flickered in them. "It would be a shame for the social ladder to find out about your... Sickness."

Vaan said nothing, to Riku's mounting curiousity; he flexed his hands, gritting his teeth, but he didn't look away from Vayne. His expression was clear; he wanted nothing more than to hit this cocky, asshole teen in the face, and that he knew he couldn't. Vayne, clearly, could read the other teen's face just as easily.

"You could come and start hanging out with me," Vayne offered, looking at his nails.

"Vaan," another teen snarled from the crowd. Riku glanced over, but he didn't recognize this teen; he wore a somewhat puffy shirt, and his hair was very well groomed. He had a light stubble- he must have been a senior, or a very well-developed underclassman- and his expression was stormy. "Don't let him control you! It doesn't matter!"

"Oh, but it does!" Vayne laughed, throwing his head back. His entire body was at ease, his cocky attitude practically leaking from every pore. "It matters very much to Vaan- can't you see that, Balthier?"

The other teen, Balthier, quickly removed himself from the crowd to stand next to Vaan. He lifted his chin defiantly.

"I'm not letting you own anyone," he snarled. "Anything is better than being a prisoner- you know that Vaan!" He directed the last piece almost desperately to the teen beside him, but the smaller blonde wasn't looking at him anymore. His gaze was cast toward the grass, and his fists were clenched. From Riku's vantage point, he could see clearly that Vaan's arms were shaking.

"He knows," Vayne drawled, "that no one will come to his rescue. No one would stand beside someone like him... Except for me." Vayne cocked his head, grinning almost like a predator, and Riku suddenly realized what dirt Vayne had to have on Vaan. The teen was clearly terrified that if this truth came out, all of his friends would leave him. For someone like Vaan, always at the center of school life and friends, that would be traumatic- and Riku had picked up on the school's atmosphere. There was little doubt, in his mind, that Vaan was right- and that Vayne had no real intention of revealing the truth. Once he had, having Vaan under his thumb would mean literally nothing.

Riku strode across the field, pushing past students as he did so. His blood was pounding, his ears filled with a strange roaring sound; he hated school drama. He hated secrets, and lies, and social standards. But most of all, he absolutely, furiously detested someone who sought to have control over another human being.

"Vayne," he called over, dropping his backpack as he reached Vaan's side. "You're a sack of shit."

Vayne, as well as every other student on the field, seemed struck dumb by Riku's intervention. He had to admit, it did seem strange- since day one, Riku had been pushing every student around him away. He even had the vaguest recollection of outright ignoring Vaan when the blonde repeatedly tried to befriend him, and felt a shred of guilt bloom in his stomach. It was, of course, for their own safety... But he still regretted it, now that he knew better.

"I... Beg your pardon?"

"You're a lying sack of shit," Riku said, loudly enough for the entire field to hear but with enough drawling boredom to ruffle Vayne further. "I'm calling your bluff. You won't reveal it."

"Oh really?" Vayne seemed flabbergasted, his expression one of complete and utter disbelief. "Are you assuming I wouldn't stoop so low?"

"On the contrary," Riku said, crossing his arms, his turquoise eyes trained on Vayne's brown voice lowered, so that only Vayne, Vaan, and Balthier could hear him. "You'd stoop so low the rats would be appalled. No, Vayne, I'm calling your bluff because Vaan's worth would be nothing if you did reveal the truth."

Outright surprise flashed across Vayne's face, so clear that Vaan sucked in a burst of breath.

"Well," Vayne said after a moment, looking Riku up and down thoughtfully. "Interesting."

"You..." Vaan's face turned red. "You weren't going to tell?"

"No," Vayne said after a moment. "I wasn't."

Riku's eyes narrowed; he didn't like the way Vayne had said that, and suddenly realized that he may have exacerbated things. Vaan and Balthier seemed to realize the same thing, because out of the corner of his eye, Riku saw them both turn pale.

"Oh don't go looking at me like that," he said, smiling benignly. It was the cheesiest, most false smile Riku had ever seen. "I'm not going to tell. Right now." He looked directly at Riku, his expression turning cloudy and curious. "You, Mr. Crescent, are on my shit list now. Be aware of that."

"I really, really could not care any less," Riku said with a half laugh. "Your royalty means nothing to me, Vayne. You're just another grain of sand in the shit-stain that is Midgar."

A spasm of fury crossed the other teen's face, and with a twist of his heel, he turned and stalked off. The repertoire of students that usually groveled at his feet hurried after him, shooting dirty looks at Vayne's retreating back.

"Now he's really going to spread it around," Vaan said softly. As the students dispersed, save for Vaan's most loyal friends, all of which were now rushing over, the teen fell quietly to his knees. "What am I going to do?"

"Not panic," Riku said grimly. Vaan didn't look at him; his expression was that of a person on death row.

"This is your fault," Balthier snarled, and Riku snorted.

"It was either I come over here and stop Vaan from becoming his pet dog, or Vaan lived in fear that any minute Vayne would reveal the truth."

At that point, Vaan's friends appeared. Most were looking at Riku with varying levels of fury and disgust.

"Way to go, pretty boy," a girl with blonde pigtails snapped. "You made this worst than ever. No secret was worth Vayne's wrath."

"Right, and what was Vaan facing before?" Riku shot back, and she flushed, unable to answer.

"How are things any better than they were before?" Balthier seemed the only one who actually knew what secret Vayne was referencing. Riku hesitated, before kneeling down in front of Vaan.

"This is your choice," he said gravely, "but your best bet now is to just out it yourself."

Vaan looked ready to argue, but he saw the truth in Riku's eyes. He must have also realized that Riku knew, and the teen put his hands over his face, groaning softly.

"Vaan, if you don't spread the truth, I can promise you that what Vayne has in store for you is the last thing you want to be a part of. Worst than social pariah-status."

"How do you know?" Vaan half-sobbed.

"I've seen that look before." Riku's voice was dark. "I know that look, and I know the intent behind it. Just trust me. None of it is good."