disclaimer: i wish i owned everything but alas i do not


you are the one nobody likes, you are the plague that was brought here by rats
i like to hunt you, lets fight; watching you fade out and never come back


The sunlight was harsh, even filtered through the trees as it was. Daytime was always hard for him. Shading his face with his hand, Riku carefully picked his way through the overgrowth, eyes lacking their usual brilliance.

He was hungry. God, but he was hungry. He hadn't eaten for a good few days and it showed in his slumped shoulders and his sluggish movement. He had learned to stay alert at times like this, to watch and listen for anything that could offer him sustenance.

"Just keep moving," he muttered to himself, even as he slowed and slumped against a tree, exhausted. Keep moving, repeated like a mantra through his head. These parts of the forest were dangerous for people like him.

He blinked, gazing up at the treetops, wondering why it was getting so hard to breathe. At least it's getting dark, he mused.

It was high noon when Riku passed out.

oOoOo

It was to the quiet sounds of rustling and murmurs that he awoke.

Slightly cracking open one eye, he apprehensively took in the group of three people that surrounded him. They paid him little attention though, too caught up in surveying the forest around them.

His vision was swimming. It was nauseating. He let his eye fall shut again.

"-one of them?"

"It's daytime. He would have burned to a crisp already if he were."

"I suppose."

Riku kept his face trained still and passive. From what he had saw, his company was well-armed and ready to take down one of his kind, and he hadn't been planning on getting killed anytime soon. Maybe it was best to just wait it out. They'd leave him be if he was patient enough, surely.

When a hand suddenly gripped his arm and violently shook him, he figured that idea was moot.

"Oh, quit that. You're going to give him whiplash."

"You have any better ideas?"

The hand was removed and Riku felt someone crouch in front of him. "Hey," a voice murmured. "Are you alright?"

He blinked his eyes open again, peering into an impossibly blue pair. Maybe if he played dumb, he'd have a better chance of escaping with his life. "Huh?"

The boy in front of him grinned, appearing proud of himself. "Are you alright? We found you passed out here. This forest is kind of our territory, so we wanted to make sure nothing happened to you."

Riku narrowed his eyes, once again glancing at the group around them. They had all turned their attention to him when he had spoken, curious, if not slightly wary. "What do you mean?"

The boy opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a clearing of a throat and a hand clamped on his shoulder.

"What Sora here is trying to say," a too-tall redhead said with a tight smile, "is that the forest just isn't the safest place to be for the common folk."

"I see," Riku said slowly, eyeing the red giant of a man who seemed to be sizing up Riku as well.

The air in the forest clearing was thick with tension, only broken when Sora spoke up again. "So...you're okay, right? You aren't hurt? You seem kind of pale."

Riku put on a convincing smile, moving to stand up. He didn't feel quite so bad now that the sun had gone down, though his hunger was still ripe, and being surrounded by so many people was distracting at the least. But when he got on his feet, black spots bloomed across his vision and he swayed, only managing to stay upright due to the arm that wrapped around his waist.

"Woah, careful...are you sure you're alright?"

Riku grimaced. "I'm just a bit hungry, I suppose," he answered, figuring it was a safe enough thing to say.

Sora looked at him anxiously, and then at the skinny red-haired man. "Axel, why don't we bring him with us?"

So Axel seemed to be the leader, Riku noted. He'd have to keep a closer eye on the man.

Axel's stubby excuses of eyebrows furrowed as he frowned. "You know that's not up to me, man." Sora opened his mouth to protest before Axel continued, "But aw, what the hell, it's not going to hurt anyone. Sure, let's take him back to the fort."

Sora cheered, tightening his hold around Riku's waist as the group began picking their way through the now dark forest. The silver haired man remained silent, having a good idea exactly where it was they were taking him.

"I think that's a piss poor idea," a stony-faced blonde grumbled from somewhere behind him. Riku recognized the voice as the one who had been shaking him earlier.

"You think all ideas that aren't your own are, to be fair," Axel said, looking back with a bright grin. "Don't be such a negative-nancy, Roxy."

The blonde snorted derisively. "Don't call me that."

After that, the only sounds that filled the air for a long time were the crunching of their feet on the ground and the bugs in the forest.

"What's your name, anyway?"

There was a beat of silence. "Riku," he said after deeming it safe enough to answer.

"Riku," the brunette beside him repeated, nodding. "It's a nice name. I'm Sora, if you didn't already know. The skinny guy with the wacky hair is Axel, and the blonde is my brother, Roxas."

"Is there any reason all of you are carrying around crossbows?" he asked, referring to the weapons strapped to each of their backs.

It was Axel that responded. "Like I said earlier, the forest isn't the safest place to be hanging out. Got that memorized?"

"What makes it so dangerous?" he asked, glancing at Axel. The man gave him a tight-lipped smile and said nothing.

oOoOo

As the moon rose higher in the sky, the trees surrounding them started to open up and the grass flattened into something resembling a pathway. The ground sloped upwards, and over the horizon Riku could see the sharp points of a wooden fence. Smaller, sharper barricades littered the hill around them. As they got closer, the top of a stone building came into sight.

"What is this place?" Riku asked, deciding to play dumb for just a while longer.

"Home sweet home," Axel murmured, leading them through the thick wooden fence enclosing the fort. It was bigger than Riku expected. but considering who exactly it was he knew he was dealing with, he wasn't all that surprised. "Welcome to Fort Dusk."

Still leaning against Sora, they climbed the stairs leading to the large metal door. Axel pulled it open with effort, gesturing them inside. Inside, the main chamber of the fort was surprisingly bland. There were racks of weapons - more crossbows, silver hatchets, daggers, swords - and corridors leading out of the round room. A winding staircase led to an open level above them, and a few people peered down over the ledge at them.

Axel was already heading through one of the hallways. "I'll go tell the big guy about our little friend here," he called over his shoulder.

Roxas sighed next to them. "I'll go with him - I wouldn't put it past that bonehead to forget what he's doing on his way upstairs."

"I heard that, sunshine."

"You were supposed to," the blonde grumbled, even as color crawled across his face, before he trudged after the other.

Left standing alone in silence, Sora looked over at Riku. "So, I guess we should try to find something for you to eat now, right?"

The taller man blinked, confused for a moment. "Oh," he said, thinking fast. "I'm not that hungry, actually."

"But earlier you said-"

"Sora!" Startled, they both turned to look at the girl hurrying towards them. "You're back! You guys took your time. I was starting to get worried." She glared at Sora, who sheepishly rubbed at his neck.

"Aw, gee, Kairi, sorry about tha-"

"Who's he?" She cut him off, turning a somewhat intimidating look on Riku.

"If you had let me finish," Sora muttered good-naturedly, "this is Riku. We found him passed out in the forest."

"Why did you bring him here?"

Riku resisted the urge to snap at her. He understood why she didn't trust him, though. It was hard to trust anybody these days. Still, that didn't make him like the way she was looking at him. The brunette might have been too oblivious to see the dark look the girl was giving him, but Riku wasn't. He glared back at her until she turned her back with a huff, stalking away from them.

"Oh, ignore her." Sora said after she was out of hearing range. "Kairi's not very keen on newcomers, see. Kind of comes with the territory."

"Territory?" Riku asked, already knowing what the answer would be.

Sora grinned, a gleam in his eyes. "We're known as Reapers. We're vampire hunters."


a/n: title is subject to change
i had skyrim's dawnguard in mind when writing this, so imagine the fort looks like fort dawnguard. also i know the fort name and stuff is stupid sorry ahahha;;

if it isn't clear, yes, riku is a vampire :o