A/N: This takes place in the Burning Heart universe, about 14 years before the events of Birth By Sleep. Xehanort has traveled the dark path, but he's not the evil man we see in the games yet. Terra, Aqua, and Ventus aren't in the picture at this point.

OOOOOO

"You're cheating."

"No, I am not."

"You HAVE to be."

"I assure you, Eraqus, that I am in no way cheating at this game."

"Then you must be at least bending the rules somehow. There is no way that that can be a legal move."

"Just accept that you're a terrible chess player; it will make things easier."

Eraqus chose not to dignify that with an answer. "Where did you find this game anyway?"

"On one of the larger worlds. Apparently it is quite popular there, with multiple variations of it, as well as people that play it for a living."

"Playing games for a living?"

Xehanort shrugged. "Why do you find that strange?"

"Perhaps because it is?"

"Ah, I forget that you have not seen the things I have, seeing as you practically never leave the Land of Departure. Oh, and check."

"What! Already?"

"Ah temper, temper, Eraqus. You don't want to wake Master Limahl, don't you."

"Oh, don't mind me. I find the two of you quite amusing to listen to."

"Are you alright, Master Limahl?" Eraqus asked with concern. "Do you need anything?"

The elderly keyblade master relaxed into his chair and waved him off. "I am fine, Eraqus. Return to your game."

"Yes, Eraqus," Xehanort said with a smirk. "Return to your game. The one that you are losing."

"Because you keep bending the rules."

"This reminds me of when we were boys. Do you remember, Eraqus? Every time you started to lose at a game, it was 'Master Limahl, Xehanort is cheating again.' Sounds familiar, doesn't it?"

Eraqus moved one of his rooks to protect his king. "Yes, you always did have an unfair advantage over me, seeing that you are eight years older."

"An unfair advantage is one the other guys has. Oh, and check again."

"You would say that... Wait, what?"

"Would you like to forfeit, Eraqus?"

"Are you saying that I am a quitter, Xehanort?"

"No more than you're calling me a cheater."

Eraqus chose to ignore that. "If I was so annoying to you when we were children, why did you spend so much time with me?"

"Because Master Limahl would take you off my hands if he saw you starting to annoy me."

Eraqus looked over to the side where Master Limahl was reclining in a comfortable chair by the roaring fireplace. "Is that true?"

Master Limahl gave him a tired smile and nestled down under the heavy down quilt that he was covered up with. "It is."

"Why did either one of you never say anything to me?"

"You were a small child, Eraqus. The one time Xehanort told you to leave him alone, you ran to me in tears. We didn't want to see you upset, so I just kept an eye on you and led you off for time with me if I saw you pestering him too much."

"I never noticed." Eraqus said quietly.

Xehanort smirked. "Now why doesn't that surprise me?"

"Hey!" Eraqus protested as he let his aura slip, which caused the pieces on the chess board to rattle slightly.

"I can do that too, you know." Xehanort said easily as he let a small potion of his own power loose from its normal tight controls. The window glass shivered.

"Boys!" came Master Limahl's voice from over by the fireplace.

Though they were grown men, Xehanort and Eraqus both blushed and hunched down in their chairs like scolded children. "Sorry, Master," they said in unison.

Master Limahl chuckled. "I still can make you react." he said to himself as he settled down and closed his eyes. Within a few seconds, he was snoring softly, and Eraqus and Xehanort eyed each other from across the chess board.

"This means war." Eraqus said quietly, not wanting to disturb the frail man sleeping in the chair by the fireplace.

"I welcome it." Xehanort said just as quietly.

Eraqus eyed the board for a moment, and then he calmly sacrificed his knight to take out the bishop that was threatening his king. "Your move."

"Very clever." Xehanort said with a slow nod, and for a few minutes, the room was silent save for the crackling of the fire, Master Limahl's snores, and the soft clacking of the chess pieces against the wooden board.

It was Xehanort that broke the silence. "How has he been really?" he asked, nodding in Master Limahl's direction.

Eraqus sighed softly. "Not well. He says that he feels fine, but I know better. His appetite has been steadily diminishing over the past few months, and his hands shake constantly now. He sleeps nearly 20 hours a day as well. I fear that it won't be long until..." Eraqus couldn't finish the sentence.

"I noticed that you have him buried under that blanket. If he cold often?"

"All the time. If I don't keep him covered, he shivers constantly. He hasn't admitted it to me, but I know that his joints are also bothering him, especially his finger and arm joints."

"From years of swinging a keyblade, I imagine."

"I assume so. He says he's fine, insists it, actually, but he didn't protest when I carried him in here earlier."

Xehanort looked alarmed. "Has he fallen?"

"Twice. Last week he fell trying to get out of bed. He insisted that he simply stood up too fast, but I know that that wasn't the case. And just the other day he fell down the main staircase."

"Good lord!" Master Limahl shifted and mumbled something, so Xehanort lowered his voice. "Was he hurt?"

Eraqus swallowed a lump in his throat and nodded. "It took four curagas to heal his broken hip and leg. You know how we used to joke that he was incapable of crying?"

Xehanort nodded. "Did he...?"

Eraqus nodded again. "He did. It was just a few tears and a distressed whine when I hit him with the first curaga, but it was more than I'd ever seen out of him before. I carried him up to bed afterwards, and I haven't let him walk anywhere since. He hasn't protested much."

"Is that why you called for me to come back?"

"Yes, I thought that the two of you might want to see each other one last time before..." Eraqus blinked and wiped at his eyes. "He keeps pestering me to get an apprentice soon."

"Maybe he doesn't want you to be alone here."

"I'm certain that you're right. He once told me that his heart led him straight to me, and that when the time came, my heart would lead me as well, but so far it hasn't happened."

"That's because you never leave here."

"What would you have me do, Xehanort? I don't dare leave him alone in the condition that he is in."

"I would be more than happy to stay with him while you go offworld. I care about him too, Eraqus."

"I don't want to leave him right now. What if he... what if he gets hurt while I'm away?"

Xehanort knew that Eraqus had only just stopped himself from saying something entirely different, and he had no answer.

"Will you two quit worrying about me?" Master Limahl mumbled sleepily. "I am fine."

"How much did you hear?" Eraqus asked.

"Enough, now will you finish your game? I think dinner should be done soon."

Feeling like they had just been scolded, Xehanort and Eraqus looked at each other and grinned sheepishly despite their worry and returned their attention to the chess board.

"You're still bending the rules, aren't you Xehanort?"

"Haven't we been through this already?"

"I don't care. I believe what I said."

"Says the one who is losing. Besides, I'm sure our carrying on is bothering Master Limahl."

"Oh no, I find listening to your banter quite soothing actually."

Eraqus and Xehanort looked at each other in disbelief.

"Soothing?" Eraqus asked.

"Us?" Xehanort added.

"Is this the same man that used to scold us for being too loud?"

Master Limahl chuckled. "One day, when you have your own apprentices, you will understand."

"I don't want any apprentices, thank you. Eraqus was enough child for me."

"I pity any apprentice of yours, Xehanort. You'd turn them into your ice cream fetcher."

"I only did that once."

"And I was grounded for a week because of it."

"Why are you complaining? I was grounded for a month AND had to scrub the front hall by hand."

"At least you didn't get a spanking." Eraqus said with a slight blush.

"Oh, so he DID spank you. I had thought that he had, but I wasn't sure."

"And it wouldn't have happened, if you hadn't have sent me offworld alone when I was eleven."

"Nor would it have happened if you hadn't been a gullible fool and done it. I had said that as a way to get you to quit pestering me for a few minutes; I didn't expect you to actually do it."

"Which is why only Eraqus was brought over my knees." Master Limahl added as his eyes closed a second time.

"See? Even Master Limahl admits it."

Eraqus growled and moved a pawn. "Your move." he ground out.

Xehanort smirked; he had won that round. He eyed the board for a moment, and then he carefully shifted his queen into position. "Checkmate." he said smugly.

"What? How the -?"

"I am just that good, Eraqus."

"Yes," Xehanort smirked at Eraqus' apparent admission of his skills. "That good at twisting the rules around, that is."

"Why you little -!"

"Boys!"

"Sorry, Master Limahl." they said in unison again.

"It's just a game."

"Yes, Master."

"He is entirely too good at doing that." Xehanort grumbled.

"I wonder if we'll be able to do that with our apprentices?"

"Correction, you wonder if you'll be able to do that with your apprentices. I'll be the crazy uncle that visits with weird gifts from other worlds and gets them hopped up on sugar before leaving you to deal with them alone."

"You had better not, or I will track you down and dump them off on you."

"And then I will simply take them back home and leave as quickly as I can."

"Ah, but I won't be there. I'll be on a beach somewhere relaxing in the sun while you deal with their sugar high."

"Beaches are overrated."

"Says the one who grew up on a tropical island. To us temperate climate natives, they are paradise."

"Then I will gleefully laugh at your sunburn while your pupils run in shrieking circles around you, since there are only a few tropical worlds out there, and I know where all of them are."

"That's what healing spells are for, and I will simply visit the Destiny Islands, because I know that you never want to return there."

Xehanort narrowed his eyes. "That's playing dirty."

"How do you enjoy having your own tactic used against you?"

"Sometimes, Eraqus, you make me want to tear my hair out."

"Oh my, don't do that, because you won't have much left soon as it is anyway."

"I am not bald!"

"Not yet anyway. Master Limahl may have gone completely gray, but at least he has all of his, and he's 83 years old."

Xehanort ran a hand down his thinning hair and growled. "That was low, Eraqus, even for you."

"What's that supposed to mean?'

"Exactly what it sounded like."

"Masters?" came a voice from the door, and they turned to see the cook standing there. "Dinner is ready."

"We'll be there shortly." Eraqus said. Once the man – one of only two servants in the entire castle, with the other being a maid – was gone, he stood up from his chair. "For that last one, Xehanort, you can carry Master Limahl to the dining room."

Xehanort stood also. "I hope, Eraqus, that any apprentices that you get drive you to pulling your own hair out."

"At least I have hair to lose!" Eraqus cackled as he walked out of the library in the direction of the dining room.

"Oh, shut up!"

OOOOOO

Mood whiplash for the win.