Hey, Melanie here with my first fanfiction ever! I've read a lot of High School AUs, but almost no medieval ones… so I decided to remedy that! It's unbeta'd, so please forgive any errors. Please no flames, but constructive criticism is welcomed (I really want to do well!).
Warnings: Mild Yaoi (Sora/Riku), possible OOC (I'm not really good with personalities, sorry!)
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Don't really want to, either.
Outside, the day was as cold and bitter as hot chocolate that had been filled with vinegar and left in the fridge for several hours- not that any inhabitants of this world were aware of what a 'fridge' was. Or what vinegar was. Or, really, what hot chocolate was (well, they did, but by another name). Suffice to say, it was a very cold and bitter day.
Inside the palace (a gigantic building that dominated the horizon), it was warmer, if not by much. The prince's room was one of the warmest, but even so he huddled on his bed under a thick layer of blankets, his loyal servant cuddled up next to him in a boneless mess. It was rather peaceful inside the room; just the two boys snuggled together, drifting in that cosy state just on the brink of sleep.
That peace was broken when the room's door slammed open, allowing an irate redhead entry into the room. "Riku!" she shouted, causing the prince to startle awake (the other boy, who could sleep through anything, just moved closer towards him). "You completely missed the banquet! You know, the one announcing our engagement?" The temperamental princess stamped her foot, her hands curling into fists as she glared at him. "The Queen's furious. She was nice enough to agree to let me have at you first, though."
Riku's eyes widened. "Oh, shit, Kairi… I'm sorry… I was just really comfortable here. Sora's nice and warm." He dislodged the other boy and scrambled out of bed, revealing his utter lack of clothing in the process.
"That reminds me," Kairi continued. "We're going to be married in a few months, and we're engaged now. I expect you to be completely faithful to me and me alone, which means ditching the boytoy, got it?" She seemed completely unabashed by Riku's nudity- probably nothing she hadn't seen before, since they had been friends since, well, forever. He didn't understand what she suddenly had against Sora, though- the cute brown-haired boy had always tagged along after them.
Nevertheless, it was easiest just to give in and ignore the orders she gave anyway. "Yes, Kairi, whatever you say," he agreed placidly, tugging a shirt on over his head. "Sora's not my boytoy, though." He loved the other boy, though he'd never say that to the princess (she wouldn't kill him, no, not directly anyway, but he had a feeling an awful lot of bad things would happen to him).
"No," she agreed sweetly, "from now on he's your food tester, though." Kairi fluttered her eyelashes at him in what was most likely supposed to be a provocative manner, which always meant she had something evil planned.
"Wait, what?" Riku protested. "I have a food tester already! You know, that one guy… what's his name again?" Tall, spiky hair, two eyes, kind of looked like a girl… there were way too many people in the palace who matched that description. He'd wondered once if they were all related, but quickly cut that train of thought off when he'd come upon two of the spiky-haired guys making out (didn't mean it might not be true, though, just that he no longer wanted to think about it).
Kairi shrugged. "His name doesn't matter anymore. He's dead. Some of the food at the banquet was poisoned, and Aerith's remedies weren't enough to save him." She didn't really care- he was just a lowly food taster whose name neither of them could remember, and as such did not matter in her world.
"So why does that mean Sora has to replace him?" Riku queried, a pair of knee-high boots adding the final touch to his clothing ensemble de jour (well, de soir, now, since it was a little after sunset). He briefly wondered whether or not to include a cape for the minimal warmth it would provide, but dismissed that notion as too showy.
She smiled at him sweetly- too sweetly, really. Kairi had a face much too sweetly innocent for a girl who lied as much as she did. "Because I was invited to pick the next one in your stead, since you never bothered to show up." She laughed, then, a quick high-pitched giggle. "And I figured that, what with the succession being so hotly debated and all, your next food tester would be likely to die."
Poisons and other implements of murder had run rampant throughout the palace over the past few months as the elderly king weakened and the two older princes fought for control of the throne. Riku didn't really care- he had Sora, and Kairi when she was in one of her rare nice moods. He didn't need a throne to distract him from his friends.
"So you're trying to kill Sora," Riku said flatly, "is that it."
"Oh, of course not!" she responded cheerfully, still with that fake smile plastered across her features. "But there's really no better way to make sure you stay completely faithful to me than to remove any competition, is there? And, of course, I won't be killing your little boytoy. I've got nothing to do with it." And with a final giggle, the princess turned on her heel and swept out of the room, leaving a horrified Riku behind.
Pellucid pools of lapis lazuli opened then, staring up at the prince with a sort of puppylike adoration. Riku returned to the bed and allowed his winsome little lover to curl up against him.
"I'm sorry," the prince whispered softly.
Sora smiled at him (he was so adorable when he did that, with his sapphire orbs all crinkled up at the corners and his soft pink lips curved so tenderly) and brought a hand up to stroke the other boy's cheek. "Don't be, Riku," he murmured. "Kairi's right. She's going to be your mate- I should never have gotten involved with you to begin with."
"Don't say that," Riku protested, "you're one of the best things that ever happened to me! And it's going to be my fault you die…"
"No," Sora replied, shaking his head. "I knew… I always knew I'd wind up like this eventually… Kairi… she wouldn't like me being closer to you than she is." He left unsaid that the manipulative little vixen would have him killed in a way that left her free from any implication. "It's okay, Riku… at least I got to be with you for the short time it lasted."
Unable to resist the beautiful cerulean eyes of his lover, Riku bent his head down, bringing his lips to rest upon those of the other boy. Sora purred softly and kissed back, wrapping an arm around his prince's waist to draw them closer together.
When they broke apart at last, Riku was startled to find tears slipping down his lover's cheeks. "Sora? Are you… okay?" It was a foolish question, he knew only moments after it left his lips, because he'd just gotten a death sentence and what sane person would be okay after that?
"I'm fine, Riku," Sora assured him, allowing the other boy to lick the tears away with a gentle pink tongue. "I'm only a servant, after all- we're expendable."
"Not you, not to me," Riku growled. "Damn it, Sora… I think I love you. I don't want you to leave me!" Now he was doing his best not to cry as well, not to picture his lover's tiny body resting cold in a casket, still forevermore.
"I have to, Riku," Sora said calmly- how had he already accepted his fate? "Kairi is your mate, not me, and she has made her opinion clear on this subject. Just…" his voice broke then, cracked ever so slightly as the tears resumed, "when I do go… leave me a lock of silver from your hair."
The strange silvery sheen of his hair was what had drawn Sora to the prince in the first place. It was something the boy had always been fascinated by, loving to run his slender fingers through it. It only made sense for him to ask this, or so Riku told himself.
"I will, Sora, promise." Although he wouldn't, not if he could help it, because he had no intention of just sitting there and watching Sora die. Yes, his mother the Queen had gone along with Kairi's plot of making Sora the new food tester, but surely he could substitute another? There was that one boy, the disfigured assassin who always wore a mask… He looked like Sora, didn't he? They could have been twins. Or maybe one of the short blond ones- Riku could dye their hair and sacrifice them in Sora's stead.
"No, Riku," Sora said firmly, as if he could tell what he was thinking (and maybe he could, at that- they'd known each other long enough, and the brunet's mother was rumoured to possess strange psychic abilities). "Don't kill anyone for my sake." He shook his head, soft chestnut spikes falling into his face as he gazed placidly into Riku's eyes. "I would never forgive you for doing something like that."
"I can't just let you die!" Riku burst out, knowing that he needed Sora's forgiveness for getting him into this (although he didn't know why, the other boy was just a servant) and knowing that Sora knew this and would use it against him.
"You're going to have to." And those, it seemed, were Sora's final words on the subject, for he effectively ended their conversation by covering Riku's mouth with his own.
Please review. I want to know what you think of the story so far and any suggestions on how to improve my writing would be welcomed!