Hey! sorry it took so long to update but uhh... you know i really don't have an excuse other than i was lazy... so chapter time!!!!!

After Cloud had left with his tamer, probably to learn obedience so he could understand what was going on, Squall left to go find Shadow. He thought to himself… about Shadow, about himself, about the place he was in. 'This place… why is it so different? I almost want to be here… it is the only place where I know what is expected of me, I know exactly how to act, and I know how to please the people around me. I know I am wanted here. I know I am needed. The people here respect me, even if they can't show it. Shadow, and Shadow… I know I am loved, even if it is quiet twisted at the way he must show it. But why? How is it possible that I kept myself alive all this time? Why do they want me here? It makes no logical sense… I don't understand.'

By this time Squall had arrived at his master's chambers. He called Shadow his master in privet… when no one could hear. Because Squall believed that Shadow was his master, even if he was forced to obey another. Only under Shadow's hand could he be tamed, only under Shadow's hand would he listen. 'And that' Squall vowed, 'is my way of living. I shall not listen to anyone else. That is why I am here. That is why they want me here. For their own sick amusement, but it matters not, I shall play this game, and win. I keep myself alive by living off these truths. Now I understand.'

Squall walked through the doors only to see his master awaiting his arrival. "You were a bit later than I expected."

"I found a distraction," Squall said simply

"So it seems…" Shadow trailed off as he looked over his pet. "You are 100?"

"Yes"

Shadow narrowed his eyes, "Even that sore on your right arm?"

Squall frowned… how had he known? Shadow was always able to pick up these details even if Squall himself did not want him to know, and sometimes… even if Squall did not know himself.

"It doesn't matter." He said curtly.

"Oh, but it does!"

"Shadow…" Squall's voice held a warning tone that was not easily made out.

"Well let me just fix that up for ya, huh?" Shadow slipped into an easy talking language, and sometimes even slag when he either extremely relaxed, which was not the case, or wanted Squall to let him do something for him.

Squall almost grumbled under his breath but caught himself just in time as Shadow motioned to the bed. He sat down, his master shortly following.

Shadow rolled up Squall's sleeve, examining a fairly large purplish black bruise. He applied gentle pressure, darkness rapping around his fingers and entering into its victim. Squall shuddered; it was always so cold when Shadow put the darkness into his body. The bruise vanished with the darkness in a matter of seconds.

Shadow's hands continued to travel upward under Squall's sleeve until he could go no farther, and decided to remove his shirt. Shadow pushed Squall down onto the silky sheets of a higher-ranking guard carelessly tossing the plain black T-shirt to the floor beside the bed. Shadow's lips soon continued where the fingers had left, traveling to the face he admired so much.

Squall's eyes fluttered closed as he gave a small part of him to his master… allowing the progression of things as Shadow saw fit. Normally things like things like this would have progressed differently with struggling, spectators, and a lot of blood involved. But in privet, one would guess that the two really did love each other. But Squall knew the only reason for this, to not wear him out before his test. To Shadow, it was just another chance to show he was superior. To Squall, his colleagues, and to some extent, although professionally hidden with utmost care, The Master.

Lips brushed over one another in seconds of passion until Shadow pulled away and started his way down the incredibly defined torso marred with scars. Squall's skin flushed with passion as he consumed the light kisses and touches given to him. Shadow stopped and brought his face to eye level with Squall's and smiled. A true smile… a rare experience. A hope filled expression all that rested in that smile. His eyes showed the pain and hope, they all rested on Squall, as if his only hope rested in that one being. Squall understood… an unspoken vow that he would… he would.

Test Chamber

Squall stood behind the door that he would enter. Ready and waiting, like a solider preparing for the battle ahead. Wrists chained together, tightly with no room to move. Both of his arms were basically immobile to do any damage. Two guards stood behind him ready to give him a shove to go where he needed to be. He wouldn't need it, but they would anyways. It was their job after all.

Obedience worked in the ways of a point system. One could get a total of 500 points. The system itself was rather unfair but no one said it had to be now did they? Only half of the points earned were from the actual test of obedience, strength, agility and dexterity. The other half, the highest-ranking person who was judging would award the contestant as they saw fit. Whether it be from good looks, respect, or just a natural way of impressing the judge. Although, one was pretty much screwed over if the judge had something personal against them. The Master however, would rarely have anything specific against a person, but would be extremely harsh for no reason other than his amusement to see someone fail.

The contestants would be asked to do extremely unnecessary but amusing things. It ranged from singing to holding oneself across a gap by their hands and feet and then supporting guards as they walked across the body with all the armor on to doing something incredibly humiliating based on personal information attained for that prisoner. The range from what a person had to do was infinite and one could never predict what one had to do.

Squall personally hated obedience the most; he believed it was boring and uneventful. Doing incredibly stupid and humiliating things for others to enjoy was not at the top of his list for fun. Most people who judged him for obedience wanted to see if his "reputation" was correct so he usually fought, and then they made him do incredibly stupid things to, as they say, "put him in his place". They could take that phrase and shove it up their ass for he cared. The Master though, it would be interesting anyway.

The doors open and the guards did their jobs, as expected. He stumbled for a few steps before standing his ground and raised his head. He looked around to see the chamber he was in exactly a year ago. That was the endurance test that was simple, just stay alive and awake for an hour and you won. That had been fairly simple for Squall, used to that type of treatment. The walls were twenty feet high for no chance of escape. He looked at his audience and noticed that it was mostly higher-ranking guards with a few slaves that he recognized as long-term servants.

His gaze lifted to meet The Masters' apathetic expression. The Master wore a long cloak and a hood to cover his face from unwanted spectators. Squall had seen that hood down before and immediately wished that he hadn't. The guy was just too creepy. With silver hair down to his knees and amber eyes the guy was anything but average. 'That is so not normal'… Squall thought with some humor.

He then shifted to the man standing in the middle with an arrogant and proud expression on his face. Shadow wore one of his best outfits for the showing of his pet.

"Come" Short and simple, it was what was expected. Squall did as he was told and stood next to his tamer, facing The Master with an emotionless face.

"Master," Shadow rose his voice for showing purposes, "I present to you for the second year in a row, my project and pet, prisoner Squall Leonhart." At this statement Squall did a kneeling bow to The Master with practiced ease.

"Rise." The command was said with such authority Squall wanted to flip him off, he never did have great respect for arrogant bastards. Squall did as he was told and faced him with perfect discipline.

"Shadow," The Master continued, "This is your pet's second year correct? Do you feel that he would be able to stand against my generals?"

"With ease sire." Shadow answered.

"Do you believe he would listen to my generals?" He asked

"No sire." Shadow answered with perfect calmness, but Squall could feel the pride Shadow was feeling inside with the next question.

"Why not? Surely he is obedient by now." The Master sounded almost amused

"Yes, obedient to me sire, and to you. But he would not be obedient to people weaker than himself." This sent the court into an outraged roar. They quieted immediately when they saw The Master open his mouth to speak again.

"All of them?" He sounded very amused at this point.

"I am quiet confident in my pet's abilities, depending on the circumstances… I believe so." The Master actually sounded slightly surprised after this comment.

"Well then… let us find out then shall we?" The Master made a motion with his hand and a few guards came forward to unlock Squall's chains. "What conditions do you speak of?"

"Either he has a weapon and they have a weapon, or neither do. And they come in respectable numbers, no more than three at a time." Shadow continued on for a little while explaining what he had in mind, while Squall stealthily looked around for Cloud and Dragshire. He found Cloud sitting in his tamer's lap and the said tamer whispering information softly into the blonde's ear. Cloud himself was looking directly at him with an unreadable expression. Good, the kid was learning. He couldn't place a finger on it, but Cloud reminded him of someone. How could he forget whom? He must remember! The memories were starting to fade, being locked in this prison.

Shadow finished explaining and Squall had not caught a thing he said. He remained calm when he remembered Shadow told him what he was planning before at his chambers. The guards would come out be twos or threes, he would have a weapon, no restraints, and it would go on until he passed out, which would then lead to death, or he defeated all of them. This was of course if things went as Shadow had planned, and they had.

The Master made another motion with his hand and guards brought forth a case filled with weapons. "Choose wisely Squall, it may be the last things you do. Only one weapon, no back ups. Win at any cost, get a perfect score and you win. Easy right?" The Master laughed at his own sarcastic joke. "There are 75 generals, they will come out in threes, and you will fight in 25 rounds with no breaks. I will assign the other points accordingly. This test will consist only of fighting skills. Do you understand?"

"Yes sire." Squall looked at the range of weapons in front of him. They had practically everything he could have imagined besides things like a flamethrower. He choose his personal favorite, the gunblade, which he noted was fully loaded.

"Any words Shadow, or better yet, last words?" A small chuckle again sounded from The Master.

"I do have confidence in my pets abilities." Shadow stated. "But I will say this: win at any cost, and I do mean ANY cost." With that Shadow turned and jumped up to where The Master was sitting in a lowered platform, bowed to The Master, and sat down beside him.

Squall knew of coarse, what he meant by that statement. Shadow was referring to a newfound power only acquirable to Squall in a desperate state. It was quite effective in killing everyone near him besides Shadow and himself. They had debated earlier whether he should use such technique in his test if possible. Squall assumed that he said some things to The Master that, if proven wrong, could hurt his reputation.

The Master did not seem fazed by this statement however, and had no noticeable expression beneath the hood he was wearing. He then made a motion with his hand, and Squall got into a defensive stance. The door opposite him opened and out stepped three very muscular guards. Squall assumed that these guards must be the generals.

One attacked outright and he easily deflected the other's swipe with his gunblade, then Squall swung downward and created a fairly large gash on the other's side. The two others attacked together in an outright charge. Squall dodged this by jumping back and holding his sword diagonally in front of him. He swung his sword in an upward arc taking both generals out. Three down, 72 to go, Squall groaned in his head, this will be too long for my liking.

23 battles latter Squall was on his knees, panting harshly. The last three generals walked into the arena weapons raised. Squall raised his own weapon and fired three bullets, his last three bullets. Two of the bullets hit their targets and they were down for the count, their bodies falling to the ground were others lay heavily wounded. The last general dodged the bullet with just a nick. Damn, I'm about to collapse. He charged and stabbed his dagger into Squall's lower stomach. Squall let out a cry of pain, and the general tossed Squall across the room, letting go of his dagger.

Squall flew across the test chamber and landed with yet another cry of pain. Who? The general advanced to finish him off.

The Master smirked under his hood, and Shadow looked on with an impassive expression. Inside, however, Shadow was having a panic attack. Sora… his name is Sora. Get up Squall! The Master turned and smirked to Shadow.

"It seems that your pet lost" One could practically hear the sick amusement held in his voice.

"It's not over yet My Lord," Shadow responded. Remember!

Squall opened his eyes slowly, painfully. He sat up and put most of his weight on his elbows. The general approached with smugness, believing he had won. The general stepped on Squall's stomach, and put a bit of pressure on, causing Squall to collapse on the ground yet again, bleeding heavily.

"Oh, Shadow, I believe it is." The Master let out an arrogant laugh at seeing the prisoner suffer. How he longed for these moments.

Squall looked up, into the general's eyes. He then glanced pasted him and saw Cloud. The look he gave him… it reminded him of…

"Sora…" Squall spoke softly. The general looked at him curiously. "What the hell are you muttering?"

"Sora," he repeated a little louder. The general looked down at him and sneered, "Your done, you little ass. No one is coming to save you."

Squall felt a fury that was not his own. All he could think of was that boy, and the times spent with him. He vowed to give his life for him, and fully intended to keep that promise. The rage he felt was of a child's past, that pain and suffering turning into power.

"SORA!" Squall screamed it this time. He felt his body temperature rise. His eyes began to glow a bright shade of white, almost pure. His hair, drenched from sweat, dried and started blowing in a nonexistent breeze. His mind clouded over as he saw pictures of the said boy in his head, moving in a rapid pace.

The power within Squall rose and filled his body, until it was about to explode. The general, now greatly panicked, removed his foot from the other's chest and started to back away. When Squall rose without using leverage of his arms or legs he turned around and ran toward the door trying to save his own life. The pure white power exploded from an outstretched hand of Squall, and immediately killed the general, who let out a cry before vanishing into nothing.

The Master rose from his seat alarmed, while Shadow merely stood with appeared laziness. Pure white wings that were shaped like the wings of dragons exploded from Squall's back in a burst of light.

"Squall," Shadow spoke with calmness, "calm down."

Immediately the wings vanished, Squall was lowered to the ground a bit slower, and finally the glowing in his eyes dimmed. The light fully dispersed, there stood a shaken Squall, with a dagger in his stomach panting slightly. The dagger was roughly jerked from the said stomach and dropped to the ground.

"Well," The Master finally spoke, seeming to calm down, "I do suppose you pass. Shadow, see to your pet's needs. You are both dismissed. This examination is over." The Master then turned and walked away leaving the audience in a stunned silence.

Shadow jumped down from the ledge and walked over to a now clasped Squall, and helped him sit up.

"You did well, my pet." Shadow looked at the other with a gentle expression.

"I… had almost forgotten…" Squall choked out with irregular breathing.

"Shh," Shadow spoke comforting, "Come, and let's get you cleaned up." Shadow continued as he led Squall out of the arena, "I saw you look at that new kid. Is he a friend?" The older spoke trying to keep Squall distracted.

"Sort of." Squall grounded out through grit teeth.

"Then he will wish to see you. We have to make sure you can speak with him when he comes by." By this time the two had left the arena and Shadow picked the younger male up into his arms and walked to the infirmary.

Shadow kicked the door open, seeing how he had his hands full, and set Squall down on his feet with an arm around him to help steady him. They moved over to an empty bed, and then helped the brunet into it.

Yuna, hearing the noise, hurried over to where they were and gasped. "Oh my, you look terrible!" She then hurried into the back room to get some healing utensils. She came back out and immediately set to work healing Squall's wounds. She used what little white magic she was allowed to and closed some of the deeper wounds.

"There, that should hold up until you have time to heal by yourself." She said with a wide smile. "Take good care of him Lord Shadow." She said with a bow and left the room.

Shadow looked down at his semi-conscious pet and gave him a small smile. "Would you like to rest here or in my room pet?"

"Yours" Squall stated with a yawn. Yes, he was still in great pain, but now, he was more tired than anything.

"Very well," Shadow picked the prisoner up off the bed and headed toward his chambers.

With Cloud

"Dragshire?" spoke a very shaken Cloud

"Hm?" Came the bored response

"What the hell happened?" A semi-dazed Cloud turned and faced his tamer in the hallway.

"We will have to ask him when we get there." Responded a bored guard.

"But is that, you know, normal?" Cloud knew, after all, that the prisoner was powerful. Everyone had said so, but what the hell? He knew the guards here had a supernatural power, that's how they became guards, but prisoners too? That couldn't be normal. Right?

"For prisoners… I've never seen it before, but perhaps that is why he had not broken after two long years. Well, just ask him, we are here."

Squall awoke to knocking at the door.

"I shall assume that is your friend?" Spoke a very amused Shadow

"Acquaintance" Came the curt reply.

A short chuckle followed. "If you say so." Shadow opened the door. "Dragshire!" Shadow continued with fake emotions, "What a pleasant surprise."

"I do hope not that much of a surprise, Squall did invite us." Came the, yet again, fake emotional reply. Cloud stood off to the side, silent.

"Please come in." At this Squall sat up quickly, not wanting to seem vulnerable for a previous tamer. He looked up to see a grinning Dragshire.

"What a performance!" He exclaimed, "And quite a surprising one as well."

"I would hope so" Squall responded with a blank expression.

"Explanations later," Shadow cut in, "Dragshire, I have something of interest to show you…" Shadow led the lower rank tamer out of the room.

"How did you do that?" Cloud spoke immediately after the other two had left.

"Memories…" Came the soft reply. "Never forget what it's like outside these walls. It can save your life." Cloud wasn't quite sure what the other meant by such a statement, but he took it to heart.

"You look trashed." Cloud stated rather bluntly

What is with this guy and me wanting to laugh? Squall thought as he glanced over at him with a blank expression. Maybe it's because he reminds me so much of him…

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I always say something stupid don't I?" Cloud responded to the look with a small laugh.

They sat in a comfortable silence until the two guards re-entered the room making idle chat. Something Shadow said caught Squall's attention.

"I am sure I can lend him out for a day or two to help you out. I know how long it's been since you've had a pet. The one thing I am concerned about, however, is getting him listening to you." Shadow stopped and looked at Squall.

"Well I would merely be asking a favor of him, I'm sure he would like to see his friend more often, right?" Dragshire countered.

"Alright," Shadow said giving in, "But it's his decision."

"Splendid," Dragshire said with a smile, "Then I shall await an answer at breakfast tomorrow. Come Cloud. I hope to see you soon Squall, goodbye!" With that they turned and left the room, the door shutting behind them.

"Giving up on me already?" Squall asked with some hidden sarcasm.

Shadow chuckled at the comment before explaining. "No, no, nothing of the sort. Dragshire wishes for you to help with the boy's training."

Squall looked up in surprise. "I know Squall, that is how I reacted as well. But he is rather impressed with your performance. That is what he said anyway. I told him it was your decision."

"Is that even allowed?" Squall asked with some skepticism.

"We shall ask The Master tomorrow, before breakfast. Dragshire, apparently, has already set up the appointment with The Master for permission." Shadow answered with eyes narrowed.

"What do you think Shadow? Should I accept?" Squall asked the older male.

"I do believe it would be a good experience, yes. But you should not if you are planning to disobey or rebel in some other foolish manner." Shadow answered with some force.

Squall thought about it for a little while. He didn't understand, why on earth would Dragshire want help with training someone. He is famous for always knowing what to do. Then that's not it. He stated to himself, I suppose I shall find out tomorrow.

"Lie down Squall," He spoke more gently, "And get some rest. You do not have to decide until tomorrow."

Squall did as he was told, and closed his eyes. It was pretty late already, and he was tired from the exam. He felt the other climb into the bed beside him, and rap him in a warm embrace. With questions plaguing his mind, Squall fell asleep fairly quickly in Shadows arms.

"If only you could be mine, and only mine." Shadow whispered into Squall's neck softly, and then, he too, fell asleep with thoughts of what the next day would bring.

Well that's it I hoped you enjoyed it! Thank you all so much for your reviews this is my first somewhat good fic and it really means a lot to me so thanks again!!!! make the author happy and get her but moving just push the little go button right bellow the silly face!