A/N: I do not own the characters in this story.
This has been sitting in my head for a while so I am finally going to start it while still updating some of my other stories.
Roxas let out a tired sigh, shifting slightly in his now uncomfortable saddle, wiping the sweat from his forehead and looking up at the giant volcano surrounded by a lush forest in front of him. It took a three days ride to get to the volcano before him that held the last of magical creatures in the world, but more importantly the last dragon to exist. It was this place that no human dared to enter, but with the recent poor harvest due in his kingdom they needed the help of the kingdom on the other side of this forest. The king's one and only request was to slay the dragon that protected these lands so they could build a trade route through it allowing the trade market to flourish not only between the two kingdoms, but the other kingdoms that are separated by a month's worth of travel to go around the forest. Their kingdom had never wanted anything to do with destroying the forest and had seen the other kingdoms try and fail losing hundreds of men in the process to the dragon that protected it. His fraternal twin brother Sora left two weeks ago to try and negotiate with the dragon instead of attacking like the rest of the kingdoms, but there had been no word from his brother leaving him to think that the negotiations hadn't worked. He hoped that Riku and Sora were alive somehow, but doubted it. His grip tightened on the reigns as he thought about his brother being dead. He had warned Sora not to go, but his brother just gave him that stupid optimistic smile he always did and said that he would be okay with Riku watching his back. Sora had said that dragons were kind and wise creatures when not being threatened, that they were guardians not murders. Now his brother was probably dead and it was his fault for not doing a better job of trying to convince him not to go. His blue eyes were narrowed, a frown plagued his face as he got of his horse tying the reigns to the branch of a nearby fallen tree. Pulling his sword from its sheath, and shield from his back, he made his way into the forest to seek out the dragon.
The forest went quiet the moment his foot stepped past the invisible barrier that separated the 'magical' forest from the normal one. He could feel the eyes of the creatures, the very forest itself watch him as he made his way towards the volcano where the dragon most likely lived. He remembered reading stories of the ancient times when humans were scared of these magical creatures and now these once feared creatures were hiding from him. There was also a time when the two worlds worked together, during a great time of peace. That was, however, ruined by the greed and envy of humanity. It led to the hundred year war almost wiping out every living and breathing creature on the planet, Technology versus Magic. Technology won leaving only the smallest traces of magic left in the world. The forest he was in was the last place magic existed protected by the last dragon for over a thousand years. The dragon that was able to destroy the technology that killed the rest of its kind and send humanity back to the beginning. He didn't know what he would do against this dragon. He knew he would probably die like his brother did, but it was worth a try. He wasn't a powerful fighter like his older brother Cloud. He wasn't smart like his identical twin Ventus. He wasn't loved by everyone like his fraternal twin Sora. If one of them was to die it should have been him, so if he died trying to help his kingdom then so be it.
"You lost human?" a deep voice asked interrupting his thoughts. Roxas spun quickly around, sword drawn and shield up expecting to see some terrible monster. To his surprise it was a tall man in a black robe with red spiked hair and bright green eyes. He almost let his guard down, but remembered that these magical creatures had human like forms that they would use to blend in or trick. The man's green eyes widened in surprise when Roxas turned around. Roxas' blue eyes narrowed and muscles tensed as the man, no creature, before him took a step forward.
"Take another step forward and I will kill you." Roxas threatened.
"Kill me?" the creature sighed sadly. "I do not wish to fight you. Please leave this forest. You don't belong here."
"And if I refuse?" Roxas asked watching the creature closely. It didn't seem like it was going to attack, but he had never encountered a magical creature before so he had no idea what to expect. All he knew about these creatures was about what he read about them in books, but unless he knew what kind of powers the one before him had, he needed to proceed cautiously.
"I will remove you by force." the creature stated. Green eyes captured blue for a brief moment before the creature quickly looked away. "Why are you here?"
"My brother came to negotiate with the dragon that protects this forest, but hasn't returned."
"So you have come to slay the dragon?" the creature asked looking up sadly before letting out a tired sigh. "What if your brother wasn't killed by the dragon?"
"Considering he was here to negotiate with the dragon it is a safe assumption."
"Do you have any proof?"
"No," Roxas admitted. "But the dragon has destroyed armies that have tried to attack this forest."
"Armies that attacked yes," the creature answered with bitterness towards the word attacked. "But never those that didn't mean this forest or residents harm." That was when the light bulb in Roxas' head went off. There was a reason why this creature came out of hiding while the rest still remained in the shadows.
"You're the dragon?" Roxas asked even though he knew the answer to his question. He had expected to find a large lizard with wings, horns and spikes spewing fire not the 'man' before him. He knew that magical creatures could take human forms, but he did not expect a dragon being able to take a human form.
"If I said yes would you try and kill me?" the dragon asked with sad green eyes. This questions took Roxas by surprise as much as the sad look on the dragon's face. He had heard so many terrible things about the dragon that protected this place, but the dragon that stood before him wasn't as he had been described. He shook his head trying to put everything aside and think of his brother.
"Did you kill my brother, Prince Sora?" Roxas asked not really sure he wanted to know the answer.
"Would you believe me if I said no?" the dragon answered with a sad smile.
"Probably not." Roxas replied trying to ignore the fact that the dragon before him looked sad every time his green eyes looked towards him.
"That's what I thought." the dragon replied with a chuckle that held no humor. "It seems that we have no choice but to fight. Are you sure this is what you want? Last chance. Leave and no harm will come of you."
"Answer one question for me first before I make my decision." Roxas said. "If you didn't kill my brother, then where has he been for two weeks?" Before the dragon could answer, Sora came running out of the bushes standing in front of the dragon with his arms out. Riku emerged from the bushes moments later, his azure eyes looking between the two brothers.
"Roxas stop!" Sora shouted with a determined look on his face.
"Sora?" Roxas replied lowering his shield and sword in relief that his brother was alive. That relief was suddenly turned to anger that his brother didn't bother to send a letter with a messenger bird letting everyone know that he was okay. "Why the hell didn't you send a letter? We thought you were dead!"
"I'm sorry," Sora replied with a sheepish smile. "I kind of forgot."
"Sora..." Roxas sighed heavily pinching the top of the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Your stupidity never ceases to amazing me. What really baffles me is that you, Riku, didn't send a letter."
"There were some complications." Riku replied looking to Sora.
"That was my fault." Sora laughed as if everything was better.
"Why am I not surprised?" Roxas replied rolling his eyes as he put his sword and shield away.
"I kind of..." Sora started putting his two index fingers together and looking down. "...left the cage open after feeding the messenger bird."
"Of course you did." Roxas groaned. "So how is negotiating going?"
"Complicated." Sora sighed. "But Axel..." He turned to look behind him, but the dragon was no longer there. He looked around confused as to where the dragon could have disappeared to. "I wonder is someone else has entered the forest."
"Let's go back to my horse." Roxas sighed. "You can send a letter back to the castle so Ventus and Cloud know you are alive. Tell me about the negotiations." He started to lead the way back to his horse with Riku and Sora following close behind.
"We asked about having a road through the forest." Sora explained with a sigh. "But Axel said he didn't want that many humans constantly running through his forest because it would be too hard for him to monitor and the magical creatures of this forest would feel threatened and no longer safe."
"Did you offer for our soldiers to monitor the road?" Roxas suggested hoping that the negotiations were almost finished.
"We did." Riku chimed in. "He said it was still too many humans in his forest. We have been trying to negotiate having guards at both ends only allowing a certain amount of people through at a time."
"Is he considering that option?" Roxas asked with a tired sigh.
"Not really." Sora admitted. "I don't blame him either. Humans killed his entire species and tried to constantly kill him for protecting the one place magical creatures can live peacefully. I honestly think it is a bad idea to have a road running through this forest."
"We don't have a choice Sora." Roxas stated turning around to face his brother. "Our people are going to die of starvation if we don't get help."
"But there is another way." Sora beamed. "There are magical creatures that have powers over plants to make them grow. If we can convince Axel that we mean them no harm, maybe he can get some of these creatures to help us in return."
"You really think he is going to go for that?" Roxas retorted throwing his hands up in the air before turning back around and proceeding forward. "You said yourself that he doesn't want humans in his forest because the magical creatures are scared of us. You think they are going to leave the safety of this forest to help the humans they are so scared of?"
"It is a better idea than having humans constantly running through the forest." Sora countered. "Besides, you really think the kingdom of Scelus will keep to the terms we negotiated with Axel? They have been trying to kill Axel for years and have failed. There is a reason they asked us to slay Axel and not just negotiate. Why they haven't tried to negotiate?"
"Maybe we should have Ventus come and do the negotiating." Roxas suggested as they finally returned to his horse where the messenger bird sat in its cage.
"I can do it, Roxas." Sora pouted crossing his arms across his chest.
"I hope you can." Roxas sighed. "For our people's sake. Now send the letter." Sora nodded as he took out a quill, ink and paper to start writing a letter to Cloud and Ventus.
A/N: I hope you liked it. Please let me know what you think so far.