Author's note: Hey, guys. Just wanted to let you know a few things. I have some ideas for this little fic, but I'm not exactly sure just where I'm going with it. This can quite literally turn into anything. Also, I'm using the name "Darkray" opposed to "Raymesis" just because I like it more. So, with that out of the way, I hope you enjoy chapter one. Please Read and Review!

In a cave, surrounded by wildlife, hid two of the biggest threats that had ever swept through the glades. They had fled from the rest of society after having been defeated by the Guardian of the Glade of Dreams. Their home, the cave, was about as far away from the rest of the world as it could be. The cave itself was well furnished with a few different alcoves inside where things like beds resided. In the main area of the cave, one of the residents was resting on a couch, lost in thought. Boredom had overtaken him at the moment. The cave around him was silent, except for the drip, drip, drip of the rainwater leaking through from the night before.

The dark figure broke out of his trance - like state. He propped his head up on his hand and winced when he touched a darkened portion of his skin. He gently rubbed the bruise on the side of his head, letting out an exaggerated sigh before another voice completely broke through the silence.

"Are you ever going to fix that damn leak, Darkray?"

Mr. Dark's clone lazily shifted his yellow eyes towards the offender of silence. A careless gaze met an annoyed glare before a response was given.

"Why don't you do it yourself, father? I'm not your fucking servant." Darkray gave Mr. Dark an unimpressed look.

The clone's creator raised an eyebrow, not amused. "Are you not? I was under the impression that I created you just for that purpose."

Darkray looked up at his creator with a smug expression. "Yeah? And what are you going to do if I don't obey you, master?"

Rubbing his temples, Mr. Dark inhaled a deep breath to keep his calm. "I don't much care for your attitude, Darkray. You had better shut your mouth before you make this worse for yourself."

Darkray abruptly stood, making his creator jump in surprise, although he would never admit to it. "Do not tell me what to do! I am entitled to my own free will!"

"Please, boy." Mr. Dark rolled his eyes, "From the moment you came into existence, you didn't have a free will. I created you. You belong to me and you will do as I say." The cloaked being chuckled at his own comment, causing his creation to narrow his eyes.

In a sudden action, the clone rushed his creator, fire in his eyes and fists ready to hit. However, Darkray's eyes widened as his fist never impacted his intended target. Instead, his right hand slammed into the palm of his creator's left hand, which gripped his own tightly.

"Big mistake, Darkray." That was the last thing Darkray heard before a blunt force smashed into his face. He fell onto his back as his creator's hand let go of his fist. After the clone regained his senses, he looked up at Mr. Dark with a shocked look. Mr. Dark only smirked at the boy's now swelling eye.

"Are you going to obey me now?" The creator waited for Darkray to give a submissive response, but raised an eye when this never came.

The clone slightly lifted himself from his laying position on the ground. "G-go fuck yourself, father." He spat out.

Mr. Dark frowned and put a foot on his creation's chest, forcing him back down.

"You are nothing but a slave to do my bidding! You were created for no other purpose than to serve me!" The creator applied pressure to his foot, making it difficult for Darkray to breathe.

"F-father-!" The clone wheezed out, the pressure becoming difficult to bear.

"I'm going to give you ten seconds..." Mr. Dark started, his tone dripping with venom, "To get the hell out of my house. And you had better be back by sundown with an improved attitude. Do you understand me?"

The dark clone nodded his head shakily in response. The creator removed the crushing foot from Darkray's chest and he smirked upon hearing the clone gasp for air.

"One."

Darkray began to internally panic as he struggled to stand, still gasping for air.

"Two"

The clone stumbled out of the cave he called home, desperately trying to get as far away from his creator as he could. Mr. Dark only made it to the count of six before he was no longer audible to Darkray's ears.

XXXX

The hooded clone sat by the edge of a small pond, collecting his thoughts. He looked at his reflection in the pond to examine the damage. "Damn..." he mumbled to himself, "He really did some damage."

His right eye was nearly swollen shut with a small gash directly above it. He gently touched the wound, but winced at the extreme soreness. He pulled his hand away to find that the cut had not completely stopped bleeding as the fingertips of his gloves were tinted with a deep shade of red. He sighed and wiped away the water forming in the irritated eye. Then Darkray looked down in his hoodie to see a foot - sized bruise forming on his chest. He groaned, knowing it would only continue to get darker, matching the color of the bruise on his clone reluctantly looked back at his reflection in the water to examine the bruise. He cringed. It was darker than he remembered.

Darkray felt a hot wave a rage wash over him before an overwhelming feeling of... something he could not describe enveloped him. Something he had not felt before. A dull ache in his chest.

"Wh-What is this..." The clone's voice cracked and he choked back a sudden sob. So many emotions and feelings consumed him, seemingly coming out of nowhere. He could feel the tears start to form in his eyes, which he immediately began rubbing away, only further irritating his black eye. But before he could focus in on the unfamiliar feelings, something caught his attention. Someone behind him in the water's reflection. Before he could react, he was shoved into the water before him, coughing as he resurfaced.

Darkray looked at the figure before him, eyes widening at the familiar face. He had light skin with golden locks of hair, much in contrast to his own colors.

"Rayman." The clone coughed out.

"And just what are you doing here?!" His golden lookalike exclaimed.

Darkray rolled his eyes. "Swimming, apparently." He turned his head to hide his swollen eye and bruise, not wanting to show his nemesis any sign of weakness. Deep down, he knew he just didn't want Rayman to ask about the cause of the injuries.

"Well, you're going to have to leave." Rayman stated.

Darkray have a simple yet cold reply. "No."

Rayman grabbed his darker clone by his hoodie and pulled him up to face level, causing Darkray to flinch at the sudden action.

"I told you to leave and I mean it! You don't belong... here..." Rayman trailed off, tilting his head slightly in curiosity. "What...happened to your eye?" Darkray shoved the blonde, causing him to release his hoodie.

"It's nothing. Just leave me the fuck alone." Darkray turned away from the questioning blonde. He stared at his reflection in the water, hoping the golden haired boy would actually listen to him. The overwhelming emotions slowly returned, and the dark clone bit his lip to keep himself from being completely consumed by these feelings of... no, he still couldn't put his finger on just what these feelings were.

Rayman stared at his evil clone's back, feeling more than a little awkward. He expected Darkray to at least put up a little bit of a fight. His normally evil enemy seemed... withdrawn. The blonde pondered on what could make his clone act so different and was especially curious about the wounds. Rayman decided to take a less... abrasive approach this time, hoping to uncover some answers. His expression softened and he began walking towards his clone.

Why won't he just leave? Darkray internally questioned. He closed his eyes, trying to pull himself together. The clone was so lost in his own thoughts that he didn't notice the blonde slowly walking towards him. Darkray jumped when Rayman put a hand on his shoulder, and he whirled around, pulling back a fist, ready to fight anything that the blonde could throw at him. But he froze upon seeing the face looking back at him

The expression Rayman was giving him was one he had never seen from the guardian before. Well, at least not directed towards him. He didn't know what it was, but he was sure it wasn't aggressive.

"W-Why are you looking at me like that?!" Darkray shouted, dropping his fist. Rayman took another step forward, and unsure of his true intentions, Darkray took a step back. Enough to slip off the edge of the pond and fall backwards. He expected to fall into the cool water once again, but was surprised when he felt a hand grab his own, pulling him back up.

"Careful there! Ya almost fell." Rayman gave him a small, genuine smile.

Darkray's eyes widened and he jerked his hand away once he had regained his balance. "Don't touch me!" He started to storm off, but was stopped by an abrupt tug on his hood.

"Just where do ya think you're going?" The blonde questioned, not amused by the other's attitude. The clone turned to the blonde, but instead of the angry expression the guardian expected, Darkray's expression was of genuine contemplation.

"Hmm... Well... I guess I'll go h-home, if that's okay with you, O' Guardian." Underneath the sarcastic tone, Darkray's stutter on 'home' didn't go unnoticed. Rayman gave his clone a glare before finally responding.

"Are ya sure ya don't want to, I dunno... talk about anything?" The blonde's eyes looked everywhere except for at his clone, and when he finally met the other's gaze, he was met with a look of disbelief. Rayman scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Talk... to you? About what?! I'm not talking to any fucking goody-goody about anything!" Darkray's glare was a warning to back off, but the blonde's stubbornness kept him from retreating.

"You seem, well... bothered by... something. I think that getting it off your chest could help." Rayman gave the clone a half smile.

Darkray took in a deep breath before responding. "Unbelievable. Truly unbelievable, Rayman. I get that you're really fucking nosey, but don't just pretend like you care in hopes that I'll tell you my 'deep and dark' secrets."

"Secrets?" Rayman asked. "Just what are you hiding?"

Darkray faltered at Rayman's question, but quickly regained his composure. "What's it to you?" The dark clone crossed his arms. "It's none of your business."

Rayman rolled his eyes. "Well, maybe you have plans to cause trouble in the glades, in which case it is my business. But something tells me that's not the problem. I suppose it really isn't any of my business, but like you said." The blonde smirked. "I'm nosey. But seriously, Darkray. Sometimes it helps to talk things out, and I'm here to listen."

Darkray let out a sarcastic laugh. "Oh, that's rich, Rayman. Yeah, I'm just going to sit down and tell my enemy all of my problems."

"Why not? It might help ya feel better. It usually helps me feel better to talk out my problems." Rayman sat down, gesturing for Darkray to sit in front of him.

Darkray rolled his eyes and sat down in front of Rayman, visibly uncomfortable. "Well, I'm sure you don't go call up Admiral Razorbeard to confess all of your problems to. So why should I tell you anything?"

Rayman frowned, shifting awkwardly in his seat at the thought. "That's different."

"It's not different at all." Retorted Darkray.

Rayman, becoming evidently annoyed, raised his voice. "Robots don't have feelings!"

Darkray raised an eyebrow. "So, what? Are you trying to say that you actually care about my feelings?"

"I never said that." The blonde paused, becoming distracted. "I'm sorry, but I've just got to know what caused all these injuries. Your eye looks especially bad." Rayman reached out to touch said eye, but only managed to have his hand slapped away by his darker clone.

"I hit it on something, okay?!" Darkray realized how cliché that story was, but he honestly couldn't think of a better explanation.

Rayman glared at him suspiciously. "I don't take you for the clumsy type. How about you tell me what actually happened?"

Darkray began to internally panic and shouted before he had a chance to filter his words. "Fine, Rayman! Someone fucking hit me! Happy now?!" The purple haired boy's expression changed to one of shock after he realized what he had just admitted.

The blonde's own expression changed to akin to pity, and Darkray loathed it. "Who hit you, Darkray?"

"Just... got into a fight... it's not a big deal." At this point, Darkray refused to make eye contact, and Rayman knew instantly that he was lying.

"Darkray..." Rayman started, but before he could get more than a name out, he was interrupted.

"Just stop! Please! I don't want to talk about it! Isn't knowing what I've already told you enough?!" Darkray knew that the information he provided was, in fact, not enough to satisfy the blonde, but he wanted more than anything to drop the topic entirely. Rayman sensed this and let out a sigh of defeat. He had pushed his darker clone far enough for the day and he knew he was lucky that Darkray told him anything at all.

"Alright... I'll let this go. For now. But if ya ever need to talk, I'm here to listen. Although, this doesn't mean I'll go any easier on ya if ya decide to get into mischief. I still have a job to do." The guardian paused and looked around at his surroundings, taking in a breath of the fresh air." Ya know, I'm pretty surprised that you found this little place, to be honest. It's pretty hidden. This place is like my own private... oasis. Kinda like my getaway when I just need time to myself. You're welcome to come here too if you need to be alone. Or if you want to talk to me. On most days I'm usually here at around noon."

"Thanks, but I think I'll pass. I thought that you wanted me to get out anyway." Darkray's expression was less than amused.

"I was too quick to assume that you were up to no good. I suppose even villains need time to themselves, and trust me, I understand needing alone time." Rayman sent a smile Darkray's way, which caused him to cringe at the lighter being. The blonde stood up and offered a hand to assist his darker clone up. Darkray looked up at Rayman and shook is head before standing up by himself.

"Contrary to what you may believe, I do not need your help, Rayman. I can take care of myself." The darker clone deadpanned.

Rayman raised an eyebrow. "Who said I was trying to help you?"

Darkray rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. It's in your nature, guardian. A weakness that is nearly impossible to overlook."

"I don't think of it as a weakness, Darkray." Rayman gave his clone with a thoughtful smile which made the darker boy feel uncomfortable.

The clone looked up at the sky, noting the time of day. "I should probably, um... go home. Father will be wanting me back soon... and he'd kill me if he knew I was 'chilling out' with the likes of you." Darkray's confident and arrogant attitude seemed to vanish when he talked about his creator, which aroused suspicion in the guardian. Rayman wanted more than anything to dig deeper into the subject, but decided that it would be better to just leave it alone.

"Perhaps I'll see ya around, Darkray." Rayman stated, hopefulness in his eyes.

Darkray gave the guardian a sour look before responding. "Sure, Rayman. Whatever." The clone turned around and walked the path back from whence he came.

Rayman watched Darkray until he could no longer see him. The blonde furrowed his brows in thought. He's a lot different from last time we met... I really wonder what could possibly be on his mind.

Rayman broke from his thoughts. He looked up at the setting sun and decided that it would be best for him to go as well. With that decision, the blonde began walking back to his home, leaving his private location vacant.