This is why SquarEnix and Disney will never give me the rights to this series.
Dark Wings
The Nightmare Begins
Screams filled the air, competing with the roar and crackle of flames that were all too quickly consuming everything they touched. Smoke poured from windows that had been left partially open to let in the cool night air. The smell of burning flesh wound its way through that of charring wood.
A man ran toward him, ranting. Soot covered his face and chest. His eyes were hysterical and he clung to his arm as if he were seeking salvation.
You are his savior. Release him from his prison, Son. Release him from this hell so that he may know the true hell that awaits him.
Where the man touched him, smoke began to rise. He screamed and drew away as his hand suddenly burst into flame. The rest of him soon followed.
He simply walked away.
More came to him. He smiled tightly at how they all sought him out in their desperation. He was their angel.
A shame that they realize this too late…Bless them, my child, so that their souls will forever bleed in recognition of our mercy.
They all fell to the ground at his feet, blood staining the earth. It was a shame that this purging was necessary. If only these sinners had recognized the living god before them. If only…
They are not worthy of the forgiveness you are bestowing upon them, my son. They imprisoned me for years, afraid that their self-perceived greatness would be revealed as the lie that it is. We are this world's future and these creatures must be purged.
A blonde woman approached him. There was something familiar about her blue eyes… Silver flashed along her torso and she fell, crimson spreading below her. With her dying breath, she rolled on to her back.
...And Cloud's face stared blankly up at him.
Riku shot up, wide-awake and gasping for air; He immediately looked beside him and the panic subsided. Cloud lay on his side, still asleep and softly snoring.
Closing his eyes, willing himself to calm down, Riku fell back against his pillow. His heart pounded and his chest felt constricted. He knew he was shaking but could not stop himself.
This was not his first nightmare, far from it. He had been plagued with them nearly his entire life. They had changed after his time in the dark realm but where no less intense. Those hellish dreams had significantly decreased since they had found a way to keep them at bay. ...Or rather, Sora had.
His best friend had been the one to conclude that if Riku did not sleep alone, perhaps the nightmares would stop. The younger boy had forced Riku to move in with him and his mom for a full week. The boys had slept in the same bed and the nightly terrors had lessened greatly.
When they did come, Sora would awaken immediately and was able to calm Riku instantly. He would pull the taller one to him, holding him close without a word. After a few minutes of this, Riku would be able to sleep again.
It had been after this discovery that Riku had been re-introduced to Cloud Strife.
He had crossed paths with the blonde man several times while Riku worked for Maleficent and Cloud was under contract to Hades. There had been a connection between them from the beginning but neither had acted upon it. They had too much going on in their lives to even attempt a relationship.
When they met again a year later, that connection returned, stronger than before and this time, neither denied it. Within a month, they were lovers. After another month's time, it was realized that Riku had not had a single nightmare since he began spending his nights with the blonde.
"Riku…?" mumbled Cloud, voice thick with sleep, "You all right?"
"Yeah," The nearly eighteen-year-old reached over to toy with Cloud's spiked hair. "Go back to sleep."
"Mmm, Cloud shifted, tugging on the other's arm.
Riku grinned and allowed himself to be pulled into the blonde's embrace. He was wrapped again in that warmth that was uniquely Cloud and he truly began to relax. He drifted back into sleep, letting the strange nightmare slip away.
--0—0—
"Spiky keep you up again last night?"
Riku blinked. "What?"
Zack laughed. "Look, I'm sure he's good and all but sleep really is one of those necessary things."
He shot the older man a glare but it lacked any substance. He refocused his attention on the computer and told himself to stay awake. Isolating rouge programs was not the thing to be doing when one only had a combined total of about ten hours of sleep for the previous three nights.
He had that same nightmare three nights in a row now. It had to mean something but for the life of him, he could not figure out what. It was so different from the terrors born of the darkness to which he had grown accustomed. This one was more like the ones from his childhood, the ones that had been so vivid he was nearly convinced they were real.
"Hey, are you and Cloud still going out with us tonight?" Zack asked. The question was followed by a muttered curse. He was trying to de-power the heartless manufactory completely, which was proving to be a great deal more complicated than any one originally thought.
Riku hit a few keys, starting a new chain of decryption. "So far as I know we are."
"Good. Aerith was worried Cloud was going to try to back out."
"Oh, he just likes to complain."
"You think I don't know that?" The raven-haired man lifted his head. "I've been his best friend for how long now?"
"You were also dead for how many of those years?" Riku smirked. "Sora and I have been friends for longer."
Zack snorted, returning his attention to his project. "And you can tell. Creeps me out sometimes how both of you know exactly what the others going to do."
"You and Cloud can do that, too."
"Not like you can. And you are almost as good at anticipating me and Cloud."
The teen bit his lip. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
"No, it's just creepy."
Riku shook his head and turned back to the computer. Three programs were now isolated and after a few more commands would remain so. It was a long tedious process but unfortunately necessary.
As he set the new parameters, he studied the master file names that labeled each of the programs. One was yet another redundant back up for the public safety system that supposedly existed but no one had yet to find. That could be deleted.
The next was a secondary program for the town's defense mechanism. Digging a bit deeper into it, Riku began thinking that he may have finally found the missing component that he had to bypass to get the damn thing to work as well as it did. That would be nice.
The third one was coded differently than the other two. He frowned when he saw it and tried to open it. It was locked down by four pass codes. Now that was interesting.
He spent a few more minutes fiddling with it but nothing happened. Thanks to his time merged with Xehanort, or rather his Heartless, nearly all of the apprentice's memories were imprinted to his own mind. If this was one of his, Riku should have been able to figure it out.
Riku glanced toward the doorway. Leon was approaching. That meant they were done for the day. He turned back to the computer. "We're being sprung."
"Huh?" Zack looked up and a moment later Leon came through the entryway. "I wish I knew how you do that, kid."
The teen shrugged. He really did not know how he was able to sense other people so easily. It was yet another side effect of the darkness that he had randomly picked up and kept.
"I'm officially logging my resignation, Leon." Zack sat up with a groan. "This thing is a freakin' nightmare."
"I warned you it would be." Leon replied easily.
Riku had gone back to the mysterious program file, his attention oddly focused on it. The isolation program finished its run on the other two but it struggled with this one. Everything about this was peculiar.
"Riku…"
He blinked and faced the other two.
"You ready to go?" Leon asked.
"Uh, yeah," Riku glanced back at the screen. The system would close itself once it was finished. Tomorrow he would work on figuring out what the unknown program was. He stood. "Let's go."
--0—0—
"Why do I keep letting you drag me on these double dates?" Cloud complained, tossing his jacket on to the back of the sofa.
Riku automatically picked it up and hung it on the coat hook along with his. "Why can't you figure out how to hang your coat?"
Cloud turned and sighed. "Sorry, I'm just…"
"You're usual wonderful self after dinner with Zack." Riku finished for him with a small smile.
"I'd be fine with it if he didn't insist on picking on me the entire time." The blonde stepped forward, meeting up with Riku and slipping his arms around him.
"But that's what best friends do." The younger man smirked, leaning his head in to nip at the shorter man's ear. "It isn't any worse than when Sora and I get together."
Cloud made a soft noise as Riku continued with his ear. The blonde's fingers pushed up the back of the other's shirt to caress the teen's pale skin. "I suppose…"
Riku pulled away, taking Cloud's hand and leading him down the hall to their bedroom. Once there, he lightly pushed the older man toward the bed. He grinned with intent as Cloud turned to look at him.
The blonde smirked as Riku stalked forward. The younger one shoved him back onto the mattress and instantly, Riku was straddling his thighs. Holding down both of Cloud's hands, he looked down upon him.
Riku leaned in, meeting Cloud's lips with his own with a near frantic need. Once tired of that, he moved on to cheek, jaw, and neck. He released one hand so that he could shove Cloud's shirt up, spreading his fingers across the man's solid chest.
Cloud's now free hand came up to clutch at Riku's hip. In response, the teen rolled those hips and sighed into the blonde's neck. This made Cloud moan, leaning up to begin working off his shirt.
Riku pulled away, helping him remove the unwanted piece of clothing. Then they divested Riku of his. The moment this was done, Riku was hunched back over devouring his lover's chest. Cloud threw his head back, both hands gripping Riku's narrow hips and urging them forward.
It was a familiar dance that never lost its thrill. Cloud still could not believe the things Riku could do with his tongue. It never took long for the blonde to need more substantial contact once the younger got started. Somehow, Riku always knew exactly what the other wanted and when.
They broke apart once again, stripping one another of the rest of their interfering clothing. Riku had gotten quite adept at removing Cloud's pants while keeping the man in place. Cloud likewise undid the fastenings of Riku's easily, the silvered one lifting himself up just long enough for the clothes to be removed.
The young man had moved his way down, attending to Cloud's current needs. He held both hands to his lover's lower abdomen as his mouth easily worked at Cloud's erection. For Riku, the feeling of skin pressed against skin was as real as it got. He could always judge where Cloud was at by how the muscles beneath that smooth, delectable skin moved.
…And right now, the older man was on the verge of losing control.
Riku let up his efforts, sliding up and moaning at the blonde's hands moving forward along his hips. He leaned down, pressing his hips against the other. Cloud groaned and rose up enough to meet him in a searing kiss.
They switched positions, Riku now on his back. Cloud's hand worked its way down the silvered one's chest, hipbone, and lower. While Cloud was a glutton for Riku's tongue, Riku could be brought to the very edge of bliss just by Cloud tracing warm fingertips over every stretch of available skin.
Riku arched up, moaning steadily. Cloud paused and at Riku's glare, smirked. They never actually spoke during sex but they had mastered the art of silent communication.
Waiting a moment longer, Cloud held onto Riku's thigh as he reached for some lubrication from the nightstand. He moved back enough to position the younger man correctly and quickly applied the oil to himself. Once this was accomplished, he reached out his hand and Riku laced their fingers together just as their bodies joined.
Riku moaned and gasped, his grip on Cloud's hand tightening as his sense of self faded in a haze of pleasure. Their clasped hands did not separate, even after they each found completion in their frantic movements. Cloud collapsed against his chest and they waited contently for each other's breath to settle into a more natural rhythm.
Cloud squeezed Riku's fingers, shifting to move up and next to the silvered teen. Lying on his side, pressed against the slightly larger body, Cloud traced Riku's jaw with his free hand. "I love you."
Riku turned, sliding down as Cloud fell onto his back. The younger one lifted his head to give the blonde a deep kiss. Then he settled beside him, head pillowed on Cloud's chest. "I love you."
After a few minutes, Cloud was asleep and Riku listened to his steady heartbeat. Between that and their entwined fingers, Riku felt a peculiar reassurance. Eventually, he managed to fall asleep.
Maybe tonight he would not have the nightmare.
So what do we think? This will be much darker than my usual and in no way fits with my normal universe/other works.
