Summary: A tale of a Prince and Lord, their Love and Jealousy, their Victories and Failures and most of all, their Tragedies. All captured within the Painting.

After a strange occurence where the lords and ladies of Destiny Island were all killed off, their children had to step in to take control. Now these Lords are trying their very best to run the country at their young ages, all the while trying to balance their more than over complicated love lives.

Such is the case of Prince Axel Destiny. At the age of 11, Axel for the first time, sees Roxas and from the very moment he sees him, he falls for him, in love, lust or just infatuation, maybe even all three. At the age of 14, Axel talks to Roxas for the first time and is more taken by the boy then before. Finally at 17, when Axel sees Roxas at the Annual Masquerade Ball, Axel is perfectly sure just how much he wants Roxas. And from there begins the story of Axel's pursuit of Roxas.

Pairings of Focus: AxelxRoxas & ZackxKadaj

Pairings on the Side: RikuxSora, LeonxCloud, ZexionxDemyx & XigbarxTidus

Warnings: Alternative Universe, Slash & Language. (Can/Will be added to.)

Author's Notes: I blame Sergeant General's Warning by Dualism and Carmine Complex by The BirdFox Hybrid Project for this. If there fics hadn't been so ridiculously funny and GOOD, I would ot have had the urge to write my own Kingdom Hearts fic...Especially after I had declared that I wouldn't write my own KH fic...Anyways, the idea for this fic struck me...not sure how, but it did and then it was all, "ZOMG! I CAN TOTALLY IMAGINE CLOUD AND LEON AS LORDS!!" And so I have begun to write my everyone'sanaristocrat!kingdomhearts fic.

I blame the Xigbar/Tidus on Carmine Complex too...Really, I love that pairing. xD Even if it is odd...And one last thing, I will sort out their ages at the bottom of the fic because I have a pretty good idea you're going to be going, "huh?" afterwards. And I tried to make this funny but I think I am cursed as some sort of emo, angst, drama writer. CURSED. So, just ignore my attempts at funny...maybe this part just had to be...unfunny...:shrugs:

Lastly, review please, because reviews just make me happy. As they do for every author.

Edit: I'm splitting this fic into three Volumes, where each Volume will focus on two specific pairings and the other four pairings will just happen in the background with very little detail. I want to do this so I can give equal attention to all the pairings and make it interesting. Everyone's story is going to be different, focusing on different aspects of their lives.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. Those belong to Square Enix and the Walt Disney Company. I'm simply borrowing the characters so don't sue me. Please.

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The Lords of Destiny, Volume I: In the Painting

c. 00 – Shades of Grey

1703: Twilight Town, Destiny Island

The child was left on the doorstep, wrapped in a soft, blue blanket, lying in a small wooden basket. The night was soundless, immersed in an unsettling darkness, that seemed to envelope the figure who had placed the child on the doorsteps. The figure stood for a moment, watching over the infant, as if leaving the child was more difficult than it made it seem.

There was a long pause, a wait, perhaps even a yearning from the figure to pick the infant up and take it back home but it never happened. Instead, the figure bent down, placed an old, tattered book within the child's warm blanket and left, never looking back.

The child stirred, there was something wet on its cheek. A soft moan and it was asleep again, silver hair shimmering in the night.

---

Sephiroth felt disgusted. It wasn't his usual sort of disgusted feeling; the one he got whenever he glanced at anyone and everyone, it was the sort that he got when he saw his younger brother, Kadaj, trying to flirt with the stable boy who was so obviously not homosexual. Sickening.

The fact of the matter was he'd just seen his parents, people he barely got along with, with their tongues shoved down each others throat and no matter how many times someone told he was older now and needed to be mature, no child would ever get used to seeing their parents stripping each other off. He felt like retching, so he ran out of the castle, not looking back. Not even giving his brother a second glance even though he was sulking in a corner after being rejected, again. He didn't even bother saddling his horse. He just galloped off. Into the sunset…except there was no sunset. Nonetheless, nothing was going to stop Sephiroth.

Until he found himself riding through Twilight Town's streets, filled with merchants and peasants busy with their work. They kept curtsying and bowing their head as Sephiroth rode past and it angered him, not because he wasn't used to it but because he had never quite enjoyed the disregard he got from the people at times.

He nodded whenever he could; making sure to seem polite, people seemed to have a misconception that he was a cold, arrogant bastard. He needed to change that…

The nauseous feeling in his stomach had all but dissipated when he saw him. Sephiroth was suddenly struck with an odd sensation, a mix of curiosity and revulsion. A child sat crying the doorsteps of the local orphanage and had yet to be taken inside. Ten o'clock in the morning and the child had been neglected, left to suffer in the heat of the early morning sun.

In a matter of seconds, Sephiroth had jumped off his horse and ran off in the direction of the child, the child that was crying and calling out for help. His feet pounded against the ground and he raced up the steps that led to the doorway. The child continued to cry and upon arriving to its side Sephiroth, bent down immediately, picked it out of its wooden basket and cradled it. The child's cries stifled slightly and sparkling turquoise eyes looked up at him, suddenly enraptured.

Sephiroth didn't know what to say to the child but something tugged inside of him, something that said he needed to give the child a home. A small smile left his lips and the child stopped crying altogether, staring up at him. Sephiroth ran a hand over its' silvery hair and for a few moments nothing but the child existed. Nothing but its startling eyes and its tiny hands clutching at the fabric wrapped around its body.

He gave the child a small squeeze and looked down at the wooden basket, his eyes catching something. A tattered, green book, one that looked a lot like something he would find in his father's library. He bent down and picked it up; the rough cover of the book felt foreign upon his hands. No, his father's books were always smooth.

Wisps of his hair blew into his eyes and he thanked God that he had had the time to tie up most of it before he set off out of the house. He rather hated windy days.

Swallowing, Sephiroth placed the child back in the basket and picked the basket up. The little infant started back, eyes dropping somewhat. It yawned, hands finally letting go of the blue blanket and sighed contently. Seemed it had only just wanted some attention.

Can I take you…?

And suddenly Sephiroth could see no future without the little child within it and so he set off down the stairs, silver hair floating on the tails of some wind. His knee length boots crunched against the pebbles on the steps but Sephiroth continued onwards, feeling other strange emotions. He could sense eyes on him but he ignored them, walking forwards to his horse. He got to the beast and took it by its reins, beginning his walk back to the castle.

Something made his stomach feel nauseous again and he felt a soft twinge in his heart. Feet stepping forward, Sephiroth hardly kept his eyes off the child, looking it over, taking in its delicate features. It looked cute, adorable, easily breakable.

Maybe that was why he wanted it so much. He didn't want those eyes to break, he didn't want those hands to grow rough and he certainly didn't want that heart to fall into darkness. No, Sephiroth wanted it to be happy, forever and ever. He wanted the child to have a home; he wanted it to have parents. In fact, maybe he could, quite possibly, be its father. He didn't see why not. He was 22, men his age had children that were two or three. It was perfectly plausible.

The eyes on him doubled, but he seemed to automatically ignore him, as if they weren't even there and it was just him and the little child. The delicate, fragile little child.

I wonder what Kadaj will say…

---

"…Let me get this straight…you, you heard that little kid crying, ran over to it because it enthralled you and brought it home to take it in as your own son…?" said Kadaj, a look Sephiroth couldn't quite place on his pale face.

"That about sums it up," Sephiroth replied, his hand softly petting the little boy, whose name, according to the book that had been placed with him, was Riku.

"…" Sephiroth didn't quite realize that his brother had said nothing in return and instead was giving him a Do I even know you look.

It was common knowledge that Sephiroth had refused to marry because he refused to have any children of his own, mainly because women didn't interest him in the least. Actually, nothing interested him other than making sure his brother was safe and breathing and now this child.

"Seph, are you okay?" his brother asked, laying a hand on his shoulder, a look of concern in his eyes. Sephiroth almost choked on the air he was breathing; trying to make sure he was really seeing his brother with a concerned look on his face.

It was also common knowledge that Kadaj could care less about anyone but himself. On top of which, he rarely ever showed any concern or worry for anyone, at all. A prime example of this would be Sephiroth's 'incident' with the chocobos, the tray of caviar and the pair of pants. Even then, the most scarring incident of Sephiroth's life, Kadaj had barely given Sephiroth a second glance and now, now he was holding his shoulder trying to make sure Sephiroth wanted a child.

"I'm fine…are you?" Sephiroth quickly asked, placing a hand against his brother's forehead. "You don't have a fever but, that look in your eyes is…Maybe you should go see the doctor?"

"Seph! I'm fine! You're the one who wants to raise a child at fucking 22!" Kadaj growled, slapping away Sephiroth's hand.

"But you'—" Sephiroth began only to have his brother shove some cloth that tasted something like raspberries and fish over his mouth. Sephiroth immediately spat it out, almost gagging on the taste that had filled his mouth. "What was that?!"

Kadaj's eyes turned into slits and he looked at down at Sephiroth, "I'm fine. You on the other hand, YOU are not fine! You want to raise a kid! After you told everyone you didn't want to be married or ever have children! What is going on?!"

Sephiroth blinked and sighed, "Kadaj, the kid was…I'm not sure, calling to me? I, the minute I heard it crying I had this urge to protect it from everything and anything. I'm going to raise it, whether you agree with it or not."

Kadaj said nothing, just looked at Sephiroth, and Sephiroth could tell Kadaj didn't know what to say, not in this situation. This was probably too odd for even Kadaj to spit back a witty retort. Sephiroth turned his head around and looked at Riku, who was smiling, playing with a piece of cloth he had given him once he had brought the boy home.

"So…he's my nephew?"

Sephiroth's eyes widened and his head whipped back to Kadaj. There was a defeated look on his face, no, more a look of acceptance and his hand reached out and stroked Riku's foot gently. Sephiroth couldn't help but smile, "Yeah, your nephew. You'd better not screw him up."

Kadaj smirked, "I make no guarantees."

---

"Sephiroth you're not even married, you can't keep this child!" His father roared but Sephiroth hardly cared. His father had hardly cared for him, leaving Kadaj with a few emotional issues, issues he was still trying to overcome. Sephiroth had no pleasant feelings when it came to his father, and so as the man roared Sephiroth stood, quietly, ignoring all of it.

"Society will mock us! You will bring disrespect to our family and its' name! Can you, just once, think of anyone but yourself!?" He spat, fist colliding with the desk he stood behind. His face was a dark shade of red and he looked like he was fuming.

Sephiroth finally said something, "Father, I will keep that child whether your and your society approves of it or not. And never, tell me that I bring shame upon this family! I am not the one who abandons his family and comes back months later! I am not the one who has turned my own son into an introverted, depressed psychopath! SO FUCK OFF!"

His father's eyes narrowed and he was about to begin once more, but Sephiroth didn't bother to stay. He spun around and stormed out of the room, making sure to hit the expensive vase that sat by the door as he left. His angry footsteps thundered against the castle's walls, and he felt a burning rage consume him.

He went straight to his chambers, where he found Kadaj playing with Riku. He steadied himself, grasping his anger so that he would not scare Riku. Kadaj said nothing but continued to play with Riku. He smiled at the boy and sat down with a heavy sigh into a chair beside the fireplace.

"What did he say?"

"What I thought he would say."

"Hmmm."

And a silence followed where the only noise in the room came from Riku. His gurgling and laughing allowed Sephiroth to calm down.

"I may have to leave Twilight…"

Kadaj didn't say anything for a while, "You're going to run away?"

"No, but father may try to hurt Riku or something. I can't let him." Sephiroth replied, hand sliding through his hair, a disgruntled sigh escaping his lips.

"Can I come?" Kadaj asked and Sephiroth didn't feel surprised. Kadaj had always pined for father's love and no matter what he did he had never acquired it. Eventually he deemed himself unworthy and stopped trying. He had given up and the only thing that ever made Sephiroth think that Kadaj was still there was his habit of flirting with the stable boys, whom he had grown attached to, especially the one, Zack Fair or something.

Sephiroth swallowed, "Of course."

---

Sephiroth's hands moved over the book, feeling the rough cover underneath his fingers. He had read only the first page of the book so far, it had revealed Riku's name and gender, along with a selection of other statistics on the boy.

He flipped it open, eyes meeting the yellowish tinge of the book's pages. Sephiroth flipped over the statistics and came to a page with a date written in the upper left hand corner. His eyes scanned it over, and began to skim the content that followed. It seemed the book was more a diary and the pages were filled with entries on specific days.

Sephiroth began to read the first one

September 15th, 1702

He was born today. Soft and small and special. Helena really adores him, says he's absolutely adorable. I'm not sure where I stand. I'm excited, that's for sure. I'm a father now, but the responsibilities of raising a child are much too great for me and currently, with my finical state, all together dreadful. But I love him, I adore him and most of all I adore Helena. I know she will raise him the best she can and will make sure he is a good boy, a well-mannered boy.

Although fear of the future dwells in my heart, I think that somehow, with Helena by my side, I will be over to overcome everything for our son. For our Riku.

Seth Goodhimer

Sephiroth closed the diary, not wanting to read the rest of the history, not wanting to know why Seth Goodhimer, Riku's father, abandoned him. And Sephiroth had a feeling the diary would somehow justify it, humanize Riku's parents and Sephiroth didn't want to humanize them. He didn't want to forgive them for abandoning Riku, he wanted to be selfish and he wanted Riku for his own.

It was odd, Sephiroth felt a connection with the boy that was completely unexplained and incredibly strong. Sephiroth had never wanted children, finding them a bit annoying but this boy was different. There was something to him that was different.

---

The carriage was ready. Sephiroth was ready. He would finally leave the castle, the horrible castle with its horrible memories. He was taking Kadaj with him and obviously Riku. Kadaj had become rather attached to the kid, and spent a good chunk of his time playing with the boy.

Sephiroth didn't mind, he was in fact happy that Kadaj was finding another way to handle his emotions and Riku seemed to keep him in a happy state of mind. Sephiroth himself was very fond of the boy and he really couldn't see life without the boy now. The concept escaped him.

He walked out of the castle for the last time, not looking back and making it straight for the carriage that was waiting for him. He was going to go to his mentor Xemnas in Oblivion City and stay there and until he could make arrangements of his own. Upon arriving at the carriage, Kadaj was standing by it, smiling at Zack, who looked upset. Sephiroth couldn't help but wonder if Kadaj had somehow grown on the stable boys…

"So, you're just leaving?" Zack asked his voice somewhat melancholy.

"Yeah," Kadaj sighed, "I can come visit you though..." Sephiroth could almost hear the plea in Kadaj's voice that Zack would be happy to have him visit.

And that's when Zack's face lit up, "Really?! That'd be great. We're going to miss you, Kadja, even if you were always advancing on some of us..." Zack attempted to laugh here but the sound had an odd quality to it.

Kadaj looked surprised but then smirked, "Of course you are, and I bet you'll even miss the advances."

Zack rolled his eyes but gave Kadaj a smile. "Have a safe trip."

Kadaj smiled, "Thanks." He leaned forward and placed a small kiss on Zack's cheek, quickly climbing into the carriage. Zack's face went crimson in colour and when he spotted Sephiroth he ran off toward the stables.

Well my brother certainly knows how to get around…Sephiroth thought as he got into the carriage to find Kadaj fidgeting with the sleeve of his shirt.

Kadaj was extremely hard to place personality wise. He was intelligent, sarcastic but due father's negligence he had low self-esteem which he covered up by trying at act cocky and narcissistic. On top of which, he had horrible anger management problems. If someone really ticked him off, he'd probably attempt to kill them…That's what worried Sephiroth most, the anger problems. He kept everything to himself, never allowing himself to vent out until something small and insignificant made him blow up.

He looked up at him, it was a quick glance to see what Sephiroth was doing but Sephiroth made sure he saw his smirk. "What was that Kadaj?"

"Shut-up Seph!" he muttered, blushing. Riku was sleeping in a basket beside him and Sephiroth picked him up. The carriage began to move forwards and so began the journey to Oblivion City and to a new life.

---

1708: Oblivion City, Destiny Island

Sephiroth watched as Riku, now seven, chased after Prince Axel trying to dump a glassful of water on him. Axel hated water, more than anything, and it was greatly amusing to see the chase. Demyx, Riku's other friend was laughing off to the side, cheering Riku on, and with each cheer Axel screamed at him 'Traitor!'

It had been five years since Sephiroth had come to Oblivion City and since then he had gotten a job with the help of Xemnas, and now taught swordplay to the nobles and royalty. Sephiroth had always excelled at swordplay so he didn't mind the job, in fact he enjoyed it.

Things were better now that he wasn't living with his parents. Better for him but more so for Kadaj who had changed over the years; he had become more reserved but less volatile. He had more control, and even if this control came with a bit of keeping to himself, Sephiroth liked it.

Riku had grown up better then Sephiroth could have imagined but had a small trust issue and therefore refused to be friends with anyone but Axel and Demyx unless the two boys said that it'd be okay to play with the kids. Sephiroth was still trying to figure out how this had come about. He was, however, very fond of Kadaj and would spend hours following him around. Kadaj didn't mind. Sephiroth felt like everything was perfect. His brother was getting better at handling himself and Riku was growing up splendidly.

As for Kadaj, he had acquired the friendship of the Crown Prince after saving the boy's life from a possible fall from the top of the castle tower. The two got along well but Sepiroth had noticed that Kadaj no longer flirted with any of the boys. Upon further investigation, Sephiroth had learned that Kadaj couldn't quite forget Zack.

"Seph, it's hard to forget him…and I promised I'd go back to meet him…just the once, Seph. I want to go back, say hi. See if he's grown…" and his voice had become a whisper by the end, one that pleaded with Sephiroth. Sephiroth let him go back home and Kadaj stayed there for a week. When he came back he looked more upset than he had before and had spent days in his room, barely eating. He had refused to tell Sephiroth anything and soon enough work had consumed Sephiroth and he let Kadaj solve his emotions out on his own.

His relationship with Riku was good and to Riku he was the perfect Dad, the perfect father, and Sephiroth hoped that it would always remain this way. That he could forever hear Riku calling him father with his lovely turquoise eyes smiling up at him, having faith in him.

---

1712: Hollow Bastion, Destiny Island

The bodies were everywhere. How could it have happened? How could they have both died? It had been nine years since Kadaj and himself had seen his parents and now when he'd finally come to see them again, he'd found his parents bodies lying on the ground, lips blue and faces purple. His eyes scanned the other bodies too. The bodies of most of the lords and ladies of Destiny Island were scatted across the floor, their children sobbing quietly by their sides.

Sephiroth felt nothing but Kadaj had sunk to his knees in front of father and grabbed him by his coat, shaking him. First slowly but his vigor strengthened and he shook the body harder as if it would come back to life by doing so.

Sephiroth grabbed him and pulled him back into his arms. "Kadaj, I'm sorry."

And then he felt the tears against his shirt. Warm, wet tears, streaking down Kadaj's face, seeping into his vest, right through to his shirt. Sephiroth hugged him and let the boy cry.

Every one of the lords and ladies was dead, somehow poisoned by the food that they had eaten. Rufus Shinra, the General of the Destiny Island Army had been sent by the King Tseng to see if the catastrophe was murder or not. He spent a good few days looking into the spectacle, finding hardly any proof he could use to find a murderer or blame anyone.

Sephiroth let Kadaj cry and his eyes looked at the rest of the kids who had suddenly lost their parents, leaving them in the positions of taking care of their lordships.

A hand suddenly pressed against his shoulder and Sephiroth looked behind him to see the owner of the hand. It was Riku and his face was fallen, he looked like he would cry too. "Grandpa and Grandma are…they're dead right…?"

Sephiroth looked at him and wrapped an arm around him, squeezing him tightly, telling both him and Kadaj that everything would be okay, that one day everyone had to die and that his parent's day had come. Maybe a bit too early.

---

The King had declared that due to the sudden deaths of all the lords and ladies, their children, if over the age of sixteen, would take charge of the cities and lordships that were their parent's responsibilities. Sephiroth found himself moving back into Twilight Castle, back into his room. This time his son Riku coming with him. Sephiroth got the distinct feeling Kadaj didn't want to come back home but didn't question Kadaj.

There could have been a number of reasons but Sephiroth was pretty sure it was a boy named Zack Fair. But still, he said nothing. It was hard enough getting Riku to leave Oblivion City to go to Twilight Town.

"But my friends, father, I don't want to leave them!" he cried.

"I'm sorry Riku, we need to leave. My parents have both passed on. Twilight Town needs a new lord, and according to law, that's me," Sephiroth replied, maintaining a calm voice with his son.

"I don't want to go! I'll have to leave Axel and Demyx! I don't even know anyone in Twilight!" he argued, landing with a huff on top of the bed Sephiroth was packing his things on.

"We live but an afternoon's carriage ride from Oblivion City. I promise you, you can visit them whenever you wish and I am sure the King won't mind if you stayed over some nights but Riku, you must understand that I have a duty to take care of Twilight Town," Sephiroth barely managed to say, having trouble maintaining his calm. "Be mature, Riku."

Riku started up at him and sighed in defeat. "Fine…" he mumbled, "I'm going to go see Kadaj." With that he left Sephiroth to pack alone. They ended up leaving to go back to Twilight that evening. Sephiroth still had to arrange for the funerals of his parents. Kadaj fell asleep in the carriage and Riku spent the ride sitting quietly, starring out the window.

Sephiroth looked over both of them and thought to himself that he could afford to lose anything but the two of them. However difficult the two may have been.

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Author's Notes: Okay, so to let you all know Sephiroth is 22 at the beginning of the fic and 30 at the end, Kadaj is 11 and is 21 at the end and Riku is 11 by the end of the fic. This is set in the earlier years of the story and I wanted to focus on Riku's past a bit even if this story's main objective is Axel/Roxas...I hope you guys enjoyed and review please! If you have any questions about the Lordships/Cities, just ask me and I'll clear up your confusions.

Last Updated: 19/10/2007