Title: You Slay Me
Author: Digimon Empress Yaten (de yaten)
Notes: Written for kh_request. Nothing really to warn for.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or its characters. I don't claim to own them.
Riku had been running for an awfully, awfully long time. From what, at least this time, he wasn't sure - although he knew the who that sent the what very intimately. Or as intimately as he could know a Nobody spawned from his best friend's brush with his own Keyblade. Roxas was probably just as tired of their little back-and-forth running and fighting battle 'game' as Riku was, but there was no mercy or stopping, on either of their accounts. Riku would capture Roxas, and then Namine could restore Sora's heart. Sora would stop the Organization, the Worlds would be saved, and everything Riku helped make wrong would be made right.
... Somehow.
He sighed and assessed his current situation. He had stumbled into yet another World while fleeing a particularly fierce Samurai Nobody - it had looked primitive, at least compared to the more human-like Roxas, but it turned out to be an excellent tracker, and Riku had been forced to open a portal to the Darkness to escape it more than once.
This particular portal led him... here. Wherever here was, anyway. He glanced around him, squinting from the mid-morning sun. The land was unfamiliar - he hadn't been here before, that much he knew. But it reminded him of the places he used to read about before bed - vast fields of grass and flowers, wooded forests here and there, and a very small, very far away castle dotting the skyline. A storybook world, with kings and queens, knights and wizards, and an abundance of ragged, smelly peasants...
Speaking of smelly peasants... Riku sniffed at his clothes and grimaced. He was wearing plain black shirt and pants he bought in Twilight Town - something simple to wear when the Organization's stolen uniform would draw too much attention. He was glad to be wearing something that would let him blend in with the crowd, and was much more comfortable than the coat, but... well. Let's just say comfortable didn't exactly mean clean or pleasant at the moment.
He sighed, and began walking. There was bound to be a lake, or river, or maybe even a town nearby, and he could wash his clothes then. Maybe even get a bite to eat, if it was safe enough. He didn't know if the Samurai Roxas sent after him would be able to find the place, but he didn't want to endanger the populace by sending a Nobody to their unsuspecting village - nor did he want to deal with the guilt of trashing yet another World.
He walked for some time - a few hours, not too long, since the sun was still high in the sky when he thought to check. He supposed he should've been marveling at the natural beauty of the place, but his sore feet and assaulted nose had other thoughts. Like, how for such a natural world, there were very few water sources - he had only come across swamps so far in his trek, and he hadn't even seen the smallest sign that there was a village this far out. And how the ground had too many bumps, too many rocks, too many insects to avoid stepping on. Even the lush scenery was getting to be a bore - a giant field, lovely same-as-the-last patch wildflowers, expanses of green forests, giant waterfalls... oh.
Giant waterfalls were a good thing, actually, but it took Riku's exhausted mind a few moments to process that fact. He sighed, relieved, when the water streaming down into a small lake appeared to be clear, drinkable, and (most importantly) just fine for bathing in. The lake didn't look deep - there was a giant boulder in the middle, with a few rocks jutting out from the surface. But it was sure to be deep enough for a bath, and good for washing his clothes.
His feet, still sore and aching, protested when he sprint towards the water - and immediately skidded to a halt.
There was already someone in the water. No - there was already something in the water. The rocks Riku thought he saw earlier were nothing of the sort, unless rocks had acquired the magical ability to move, turn around and -- oh. Definitely not rocks.
A dragon! he thought, cursing his awful luck and the beast's awful timing. Riku summoned his sword, preparing to strike - he would aim for an arm or leg, if he could help it. He didn't exactly want to add "medieval dragon" to his list of casualties - he just wanted to take a bath!
To his surprise, the dragon didn't simply attack him – he positioned himself low in the water, and gave a warning.
"Hold your ground, knight!"
Riku grit his teeth and swung his blade in the air, a similar warning. "Leave me alone!"
"Leave you alone? You're the one trying to kill me!" The dragon reared back, and Riku braced himself for whatever attack might come barreling his way -- but the creature only took flight, massive wings narrowly missing Riku as the dragon flew into a nearby cave.
He really didn't want to fight...? Riku slowly lowered his sword. Dragons, he thought, were supposed to be fire-breathing monsters, bent on destruction and death and sheep-eating. That was the way Maleficent - a dragon at heart, really - had been, even though Riku didn't recognize it until far too late. (And, to Riku's knowledge, she never ate sheep.) But this one seemed reluctant to fight - he seemed to actually avoid the battle…
Well.
It wasn't like Riku had much else to do. (Except take a bath, but the lake appeared to be the only nearby water source, and if he didn't do something about it, his brain would be nagging him about the possibility of the dragon being a pervert and watching him wash.)
He sighed, and - blade still in hand, though lowered - made his way up a small rocky hill into the cave.
"Uh," he said, peering into the dark. "Dragon?" He took a few steps in, still gripping his weapon. "If you don't want to fight, then neither do I. Look," he said, letting his weapon disappear, "I'm not here to--"
"Are you a knight?" The sound was amplified against the walls, and Riku couldn't tell just where it was coming from.
"Well, I... yeah, I guess? But it depends on what you mean by knight..." He squinted, trying to make out the dragon's form in the darkness. "Do you want to talk, or...? And where are you, anyw--ah!"
Riku almost lost his footing, then, when the dragon appeared suddenly right in front of his face out of the gloom.
"I haven't had a good conversation in years!" The dragon said - cheerfully, Riku noted, which was rarely a word he applied to giant beasts. "You start, then." "Sooo..." Riku faltered when it occurred to him that he had no idea what to talk about with a who-knows-how-old dragon. Especially in a dark cave in the middle of who-knows-where in who-knows-what World. "You... uh. You like the water, dragon?"
"My name," the dragon said, with deliberate slowness, "is Draco, not dragon.
"Sorry about that," Riku said, nodding and taking a moment to sit cross-legged on the ground. His feet were still sore from the hours of walking and - unless something went horribly, horribly wrong here and Draco was just tricking him - he should be able to take a rest. "I'm Riku, by the way."
Draco followed Riku's example and seemed to settle comfortably on the ground - or as comfortable as the somewhat damp cave floor could be, anyway.
"Tell me, knight, Riku - do you follow the Old Code?"
"The Old Code?" Riku shook his head and lightly shrugged. "Sorry, I haven't heard of it."
Draco didn't seem surprised. "Knights today aren't what they used to be. But once... once they were admirable. Back when they held themselves to the code." Draco glanced at Riku. "Would you like to hear it? Maybe you'll learn something from the old ways."
Riku said nothing (why protest?) and the dragon continued.
"A knight is sworn to valor. His heart knows only virtue. His blade defends the helpless. His might upholds the weak. His word speaks only truth, and his wrath undoes the wicked."
"And what if a knight's heart is a little less than virtuous? If he's got a... bad heart?"
"There's no such thing as a bad heart," Draco said, not missing a beat. "Only a tainted one. Hearts can be fixed, if the one holding it is willing to make the right sacrifices to heal the wounds."
"What would a dragon know about hearts?" Riku's voice was soft, but he couldn't hide the snap in them.
Draco snorted, a bit of smoke billowing from his snout. "More than you think, apparently. A dragon comes to know many things when he lives as long as I have. Knowledge of the heart is merely one of them." He looked up, then. "And what of your heart, Riku? Has someone stolen it?" Draco took on a strange look, and Riku could've sworn he was grinning. "A young maid, perhaps?"
Riku cringed inwardly. He wasn't used to that sort of talk, the teasing about girls and kissing and sex - well, except from Sora, but... that was a long time ago. And he didn't exactly feel like spilling his entire life story, mistakes and all, to the dragon, however friendly he seemed. "No, no maids." He sighed, placing one palm flat on his chest. "I've just - I've made some bad choices in the past, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to fix them."
"Ah," Draco said, his clawed-hand resting on his own chest. "Bad choices... I know something about those as well. Would you like to talk about it?"
Riku smirked, just a little. The idea of telling a dragon about his problems was a bit much, even for Riku. "What are you, a therapist or something?"
Draco gave a look that Riku could only describe as that of a puppy curiously tilting his head - if there existed a puppy that was also a several ton, scaly-skinned, fire-breathing dragon with a love for singing. The strangeness of the gesture brought an unfamiliar twist, as least as of late, to Riku's lips - he almost laughed. Almost. He didn't know if dragons, or Draco in particular, would understand his sense of humor, rusty as it was.
Draco either didn't notice or didn't care, and continued, "I've heard of many titles you humans give yourselves, but never therapist..." Draco paused, considering. "Is it something good?"
Riku's chuckle was a short one, more of a chuckle, at first. Clipped, raw - like he had just woken up and used his voice for the first time. And then, either because the floodgates of non-laughter in Riku's life were finally opened, or because he was fairly sleep deprived and hungry and feeling a bit insane, Riku laughed. Really, he laughed. Hard, gut-wrenching, clutching-his-sides laughter that, when he tried to stop, take deep breaths, calm down - only made him laugh harder and more helplessly than before.
He tried to explain to Draco in gasping breaths, or at least apologize for his seemingly out-of-nowhere outburst... but failed, miserably, and fell forward against his knees, shaking.
Draco, perplexed, simply stared as his new-maybe-friend.
"Was it something I said?"