Author's Notes…

As usual, a special thanks to hesteen to beta-ing for me. And thanks to the readers who are still sticking with the story! You guys are awesome, and I appreciate you so much!


Buried in the Ice

Chapter Seven:

All Along, It Was a Fever

Riku was smiling, sprawled on his stomach on Sora's bed, their lit textbook spread out before them. Sora was at his side, and their shoulders were touching. Sora had just cracked a joke, the reason for one of Riku's rare smiles, and both were in an incredibly good mood. So good, in fact, that Sora's skin was practically humming from it.

"That was the stupidest joke I've ever heard, Sora. And I've been alive for a long time."

There it was. The secret Riku had divulged to Sora only very recently. The one about what he really was—or the gist of it. Even Riku didn't know the name for his species. He just knew what he did to survive, and the long years he'd spent with his maker, Ethoran. He'd been miserable for centuries—until Sora.

The details on that were still a little foggy. Sora knew that Riku had been drawn to his "light," whatever that was, and wanting to be closer to it, had glamoured himself as a kid around Sora's age. That way, he wouldn't freak Sora out, he'd explained. They'd be able to grow up together, become close.

"Like best friends?" Sora had asked.

Riku had only given the barest of nods, averting his eyes.

Sora mused on that. Riku's response was similar to what he was feeling lately. Sora wanted to be more than best friends. As much as Sora tried to fight it, the feeling was there. Hell, he hadn't even known his sexual orientation leaned toward boys until seeing Riku everyday had started eliciting strange, fluttery feelings in his chest and elsewhere. Even then, it hadn't been a coming out crisis. Being attracted to Riku was as natural as breathing.

And over time, those pangs of arousal had deepened. It wasn't just lust—it grew into more. He felt completely comfortable around Riku. He wanted Riku to know all his secrets. He loved the way Riku moved, so fluidly, with a grace that Sora would never manage. He loved it when Riku played the violin, and how Sora could spend hours listening to him.

He loved—

Loved…

Sora flipped onto his back, causing Riku to raise his eyebrows in question. He lifted his mechanical pencil to poke Sora in the nose, and Sora brushed it away with a mock angry face.

"Hey, quit it."

"What's up, goof?" Riku pushed his bangs out of his eyes.

"Um… can we talk about something?" The words were shy. Sora wasn't accustomed to being even remotely shy—he'd always prided himself on being the exact opposite, actually—but Riku did this to him continuously. Caused him to explore new things.

Riku set his pencil down.

Taking that as encouragement, Sora slowly, hesitantly, drew his fingers up Riku's forearm to where the shirt of his uniform was rolled up to his elbow. His throat tight, he traced the soft, pale skin, not daring to look up. What if he'd been horribly wrong and had completely misread Riku's actions toward him? Mistaken them as mutual attraction when they were nothing more than strictly platonic?

It was possible. He'd been wrong about things before.

But anything was possible. And who hadn't been wrong at some point in their life?

"Riku…" Sora swallowed. His pulse was thudding at his throat. He tried not to let it distract him too much. "I'm… um…"

His best friend was being so, so quiet.

Several moments passed. Sora couldn't seem to get the words out. Finally, after the quiet grew too agonizing, Sora squeezed his eyes shut, leaned up, and pressed his lips to Riku's in a gentle, but firm kiss.

When he drew back, his eyes still shut, Riku followed him. Sora gasped as warm lips pressed to his own, and Riku's fingers slid into his hair, curling around the back of his head. Before Sora could adjust to the fact that he was being kissed by Riku, Riku's tongue probed between his lips, and then Sora was making a soft, deep noise in his throat, and the world narrowed down to the body sliding half on top of his.

Sora wrapped his hand over the back of Riku's hip, pulling him closer. Their tongues tangled with a wet suckle and a firm slide, and Riku settled more closely on top of Sora. One of his arms curled over where the top of his head rested on the bed. The other touched his stomach, sliding beneath his shirt to stroke the tanned flesh of Sora's tummy. Sora arched at that, hissing a little bit, as it both tickled and made his stomach tighten into thousands of delicious knots.

Though Sora had had a few experimental kisses in his lifetime, it was nothing compared to Riku. Riku's lifetime, after all, was infinitely longer, and he had more experience behind his lips than Sora could dare to dream of ever achieving. Being on the other end of it was amazing, though, and so Sora let himself relish it instead of envying it too much.

Riku knew how to draw out every sigh Sora was capable of making. He knew all the sensitive places of Sora's mouth and tongue. His fingers, where they stroked Sora's side, over his ribs, knew just the right amount of pressure that rode the thin line between still ticklish and pleasant. Being under his hands was completely—completely—

"I love you," Sora gasped as the kiss broke.

Riku rubbed his thumb over Sora's kissed-bruised lips. "I love you, too… so much… you know that, don't you?"

Happiness filled Sora so completely that he wanted to do something ridiculous like go sing about hearts and rainbows out in the streets. He hadn't known—well, he had, but hearing it was so different from just assuming, from thinking that maybe, just maybe, Riku returned his feelings. But he did. They loved each other.

He had never been so blissfully ecstatic in his entire life.

But it wasn't destined to last.

"Squall, stop! Just stop! I'm sick of fighting with you! That's all we do anymore!"

"Well, what do you want me to do, Sora?!"

"I don't know! Okay?! I don't know!"

"I can't stop what I'm doing if you don't even know what it is you want me to stop! You do realize that, don't you?"

"Stop talking to me like I'm an idiot, for starters!"

"Hm."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"It means I'm sick of this, too."

"What do you have to be sick about? You're the one who closes himself off, who never opens up to me, who—Squall! Oh, my God! Squall, look o—"

Red and white lights… flashing over and over and over again… and it was so, so cold in the snow…

Sora stared weakly across the expanse of the yard he was in. There was the car, crumpled up against the tree Squall had hit. His husband was slumped against the steering wheel. As Sora watched, his vision very blurry, Squall started coming to. He lifted his head. Crimson soaked his face. There was a deep cut across the bridge of his nose. The other man looked around in a panic, searching, searching desperately for—

"Sora!"

When Sora woke from his memories, he was screaming. It was an awful, bloodcurdling sound, and he couldn't make it stop. His arm was thrust in the air before him, and he was struggling with someone. That someone needed to let him go, he had to get to Squall, he had to see if he was okay, he—

"Stop it, get off me, get off me!" he yelled. The sheets flew around him as he made a mad dodge for the edge of the bed.

"Sora, get a hold of yourself! It's okay! I'm here!"

"I NEED SQUALL! LET GO OF ME! SQUALL!" Sora's voice was quickly growing hoarse from the volume of his screams. "SQUALL!"

"Sora!"

"SQUALL! SQUALL!"

"Sora!" Hands gripped his face, jerked it around. Familiar gray eyes bore hard into his own. The only thing different about that face was the scar tissue between the eyes. Sora went quiet, his struggles stilling, his breath ragged, his throat burning.

Squall lowered his hands to Sora's shoulders. "You were dreaming. It was just a bad dream. I'm right here." He rubbed them, alternating the motion with squeezes, ones meant to be gentle and calming. His expression was a little awkward, like he wasn't used to comforting Sora. He wasn't. Sora couldn't remember the last time he had.

But it meant more than anything that he was trying.

"You were… passed out on the steering wheel… you were bleeding so heavily…" Sora touched Squall's forehead, and his husband didn't pull away.

"You really do remember…" Squall breathed.

"Y-Yeah…" Sora nodded uncertainly. "But… how did we get in bed?"

"I, uh…" Squall cleared his throat. "I woke up. We were both passed out on the floor. I'm really… not sure how we got there. But I moved us to the bed. We've been asleep for awhile."

"Squall…" Sora whispered. "I'm—I'm…" God, his eyes were burning. He had to blink hard and look away. "I'm sorry—about the accident, about our fight—"

"Shh, don't." The other man kissed Sora's forehead, cradling the back of his neck and pulling him forward. Sora was met with Squall's warm shoulder, and he closed his eyes, instantly sinking into him. "Just don't."

"But—"

"Don't."

Squall…


Ventus stared into the depths of the fire Terra had made for them. Terra himself was long gone, out into the cold, and Ventus had no idea when he would be back. So he stood there, just before the hearth, a frown shadowing his brow, his thoughts lost in the flickering, yellow flames.

Terra… He had never thought he'd see such disgust on Terra's face before. Bad enough to take a wife, after their vows. But to have her bear children… twins, at that… It was unthinkable. Ventus knew this. Of course, he did. He understood Terra's reaction. He would have had the same if it had been reversed, if it had been Terra, had he married Aqua.

But the thought of living in a world without his sons… their golden smiles…

He swallowed, realizing his lashes were wet. He couldn't remember the last time he'd cried. When Terra had found him, all those centuries ago? He'd had a lot to cry about then. Everything had been so difficult, and then Terra had saved him, and things had gotten better for a time, until Ventus found out the truth. That Terra's life was bound to Ethoran's, and so would Ventus'.

"If you know what's good for you…" Ventus could still hear Terra's whisper in the quiet of his mind. "Run now…"

Ventus' mouth formed the words he had said in return, though not a sound was uttered into the stillness of the room. "But I love you."

"You don't know what love is."

"I do, I do!" Ventus had tugged on Terra's arm, desperate to make the other man understand. "How can you say that?"

"Because you're just a boy. You need to experience the world. You need to realize that this twisted, dark thing between us isn't love. It's your light that I'm drawn to."

"So? I'm drawn to you, too!"

"You're drawn to what my powers make you feel." Terra's fingertip ghosted down the curve of his cheek. "The allure of the predator. You're just my prey, Ven."

And then later, years and years later, as Terra held Aqua's limp, unmoving form, "This is how our kind loves, Ven. Do you see?" He lifted his hand, and in its palm was a swirling ball of golden light. "This is our food. This is how we survive. It's in our nature to seduce you, to take this from you. And what's left is just a shell of yourself."

Ventus' hands fisted. "Is that what I am? A shell of myself?"

"Can't you feel it? That you're cold?"

To this day, he still felt it. Ventus touched over his heart now, digging his fingers in. It still beat beneath his palm, but it was sluggish. The fervor of human life had left it long ago. All that was left was the certainty that he was buried in ice, trapped there, able to glimpse the light from behind its marble encasing, but too frozen to break free and take it back again.

Besides…

Should he take it back, it would mean ending Terra's life.

That was the only way to get your light back. Taking it from the heart of the creature that had eaten it.


Sora watched Squall shave the shadow of his beard from Sora's perch on the toilet seat. His husband worked in silence, occasionally tapping his razor against the sink's edge to clear hairs and shaving cream. Squall paid him no mind, focused wholly on his task.

After the fifth click of the razor on porcelain, Sora spoke up. "We should leave."

"Leave?" Squall raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah… Leave here." Sora got to his feet. "Leave this place behind, move somewhere else."

The older man gave him an odd look. "We can't just pack up and leave."

"Why not?"

"We own this house, for one…"

Sora waved a hand. "Who cares about that?"

"Me?" Squall finished with his shaving and rinsed his face before cleaning out the sink and turning to the shorter man. "What's this about?" He wrapped his arms around Sora's waist and pulled him close.

The blood. Sora licked his lips. "It's not safe here."

"Not safe here?" Squall echoed.

"Yeah…" Once again, anxiety swirled in Sora's chest at the thought of telling Squall what was happening. He still believed that Squall would attribute his "tall tales" to his brain injury. Not that Sora could blame him—far from it. But it didn't make it any easier, holding this knowledge to himself.

Squall was his husband. They had never kept secrets from one another… only the one about Riku.

But, Sora thought suddenly, maybe if I… tell a version of the truth… he'll believe me…

"I knew this guy…" He pulled away, bracing his hands to either side of Squall's waist against the sink. He had to tilt his head back to look up at the much taller brunet. When Squall only raised an eyebrow, Sora sighed, hesitating. Maybe this was a bad idea… but how else was he going to get Squall to abandon their home?

"I knew this guy," he began again. "We were best friends from, like… forever ago. Since we were kids. I forget the exact age—"

"Sora."

Right. Squall hated beating around the bush.

Sora got straight to the point. "He's a little crazy." As Squall's eyes first widened and then narrowed, Sora plowed forward, wanting to get his story out before Squall could twenty-question him. "Like, really crazy. I managed to get away from him—moved after we graduated high school. Around the time I met you, actually."

With another sigh, this one deeper, Sora whirled away, pushing his hands into his hair. He recognized the gesture as Squall's. The two had rubbed off on one another throughout the course of their marriage, which was normal and touching, telling Sora even more that he needed to get out of here if he wanted to save everything he had with Squall—before Riku tore it to pieces. And he would, one way or another. He had that power—too much power…

Sora shivered. "Anyway. Um. He… found me again. He drugged me the other night—I think he used my memory loss to his advantage…"

"What?" Squall exploded. He gripped Sora's shoulder and forced the shorter man to face him.

"Yeah." Sora grinned sheepishly, but as the fury in Squall's eyes continued to mount, Sora wilted. "He's stalking me again. I don't know how he found me, but—whoa. Where are you going?"

Squall didn't pause as he stormed from the bathroom. "To call the cops."

It was Sora's turn to explode. "What?! Squall, no—you can't!" Oh, God, Squall was only asking to get his ass handed to him!

Sora rushed after him, grabbing his elbow. Squall, the stronger of the two, ripped away. His arms flew out to either side of him as his eyes blazed down at Sora.

"Why the hell not?! Some psycho is threatening my baby—"

"Threatening? No, no—he's harmless—" Pffft, Sora thought.

"HARMLESS? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR GODDAMN MIND? HE DRUGGED YOU!"

Shit. Squall was losing it.

Sora gripped his hands. They were standing in the middle of their bedroom now, and Sora was afraid their neighbors might call the police if their yelling continued, thinking it was a domestic fight. "Okay! He's not harmless! And that's exactly why we should just go! The guy is, like—…" Sora released him, throwing up his hands. Great. He should have just kept his mouth shut.

But then you'd still be in danger, logic tried to reason with him.

Fuck logic! Squall was going ballistic!

"Just listen to me, okay?! Riku is the last person we want to call the cops on!"

"What the fuck, Sora!"

"I'm serious!" Sora pleaded. "He's got friends in high places! He'll—I don't know, okay?! I just know that sending cops after him won't end well! For either of us!"

"So, what, I'm supposed to just—let some psychopath keep fucking with you?"

Sora had never seen Squall look so pissed. It was both sexy and scary, a dizzying sensation Sora had never experienced before. He wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. His loins said jump Squall. His brain said try to calm him the fuck down before he did something remarkably stupid, like going after Riku personally and getting himself killed.

"No!" Sora shook his head. "We're supposed to… vanish again!"

"If he found you once, don't you think he'll find you again? And the last thing I'm going to do is run from some chump! You're my husband! This is our house, our home! We have friends here! So common sense dictates that we call the fucking cops and get a restraining order!"

"With what proof?!" Sora fired back. "We can't say he drugged me! How are we going to prove that?!"

Squall was on the move again, and this time, he brushed Sora off all the way into the kitchen. Sora stared in astonishment as Squall shrugged into his bomber jacket, grabbed his keys, and slipped into the garage from the kitchen. For a moment, all Sora could do was stand helplessly in the doorway, gaping after his husband.

"Stay here," Squall demanded.

"Squall!" Sora yelled. "You don't even know Riku's last name—you don't even know what he looks like!"

But Squall wouldn't answer him. A minute later, the garage door opened, and Squall's BMW reversed and was out of sight.

Sora kicked the doorframe.

God damn it!