It was a hard days ride to reach her, or at least one of her many secret places. Axel didn't know of anyone else. Anyone else who could do what Riku would ask of her and also know the truth of why. A God asking to stop someone's dreams—stop Sora from forever being plagued with dreams he could make no sense of. Or an itch to find 'Ku, which Axel imagined he'd have regardless. Dreams or no.

Tracing her down had not been an easy task, she was a rumor, a whisper, a shadow and nothing more—she who was never meant to exist. Axel bit down his bile, the churning in his stomach ceaseless. It had taken a month to find even this. He had committed himself to back alley trades, information for information, or deeds needed carried out but he had found her.

Riku rode behind him, mounted on his brown Chocobo easily keeping pace with his white foul. The God had not questioned his judgment, for there were things in this world that only a nobody could know, and for the support of his decision Axel was grateful. She was everything they needed. A spell caster, a powerful one, but she was also a mad woman. Driven to madness by the same stead that drove Axel.

He reared at the last crags he could see for miles, of a lonely water hole. Riku dismounted with Axel, mirroring him when he tied the chocobos off. Axel consulted his makeshift map, held it up, squinting in the brightness of last light. He pointed due east, through what appeared to be endless hot white sand, and ocean.

"Best to leave the chocobos. She doesn't like beasts." Even they had what she could not.

For a moment Riku hesitated, wary, as he had even right to be, but Axel did not know such things as fear. "How much father?"

"We should arrive just after sundown." Riku nodded, appeased, he patted his Chocobo on the neck. She had been a gift from Sora, to celebrate a birthday with no exact date. The birds were something ugly to look at, even the ones with brightly colored feathers, but they were fast and sturdy and loyal beasts. They had carried Riku and Axel for most of the day and did not look worn at all.

Axel rubbed his own mounts neck. No. They should not take them foreword. She would take a disliking to them for sure, and see them killed then near her.

Together, they trudged through the sand, Riku putting up no fuss. He looked tired, but then again in all this time Sora had not come to his bed. Not since the dream that spoke of the rune. It must have been difficult for Riku to sleep when he spent all night waiting up just to see if Sora would come.

The sun disappeared like a lamp being extinguished, leaving them with the push and pull of rolling waves, the sound of shifting sand and silence. The stars came out one but one, twisting about them, casting them in an almost darkness. Even Axel could say that it was beautiful, the endlessness of beach and sky and sea. Them viewing what was there even if even when they were absent.

"Well, this has turned into quite the romantic evening." Riku commented and Axel snorted the joke tickling him for a brief second.

"There," Axel exclaimed, finally, he had began to worry.

"Sea shells?" Riku's face puckered in uncertainty.

"It's a path. Look." Each shell was painstakingly pushed into the sand and then transfixed with magic. Big shells, small shells, varying colors and types laid out in a swirl up the beach. It was a very clear pattern, hard to notice, but it was not for those who were not looking.

"Why sea shells?"

"She thinks they're pretty. Always has."

"Always has?"

Axel shrugged at the question and kept walking and there at the end of the path was her hut. Built on a stilts that borrowed deep into the sand as to not get washed away. It was almost pitifully small with smoke billowing out the chimney. Its boards were dark and worn. Charms dangled out of the front. Axel recognized some of them. Spells to hide her. Ward off those who would harm her. Protect her from the elements. Then there were some even Axel did not know. Riku gazed with pure interest in them, and something flickered beneath his cool mask.

Then she was standing in the open doorway, gazing down upon them. Still a tiny thing, as pale as the moon behind her, with the same short black cropped hair. Her face was expressionless, as she tilted her head to one side. "Axel," her voice meek, but in the silence it was clear.

"Hello, Xion." The redhead called up to her conjuring up a smile. She turned away from them and walked back through the door, leaving it wide open. It was as good an invitation as they were going to get. Riku caught his arm when he made to move, holding him still as he thought out his words.

"You know each other?"

Axel shook him off. "Yes, once we were even close." In a way, but that would not settle Riku.

"Another wife of yours?"

"You're hilarious. You know that? No, we were never romantic." The thought made him shiver. "Now come on, you don't want her to think were being rude guests."

They climbed the ladder leading up, one by one. Inside it was very clean and simple—a round table in the middle of the room, a fireplace with a large pot boiling over the flames, and a wash of unavoidable sand. It was dark; save the light from the fireplace and on the back wall, almost unnoticeable, there was a curtain. Hiding, Axel guessed, her wares. All the things she created for lost men. Xion held the keys to anyone's heart.

The girl was sitting, quiet and small, peaking up at them with unblemished curiosity.

"It'd been a long time," Axel said, motioning Riku to sit with him, their chairs scuffing against the wood floor. She said nothing. "I'm sorry that I've never come to visit." It had been two hundred years since his banishment, and all that time he had not wanted to think of her. She was the last of the Organizations number but technically the first nobody.

"You need something," she whispered, barely murmuring, but Axel had always been able to hear her. She wore dark robes, ones that fitted and had a similar style to their old uniform. Back when they had been on the same side.

"Yes," it was Riku who spoke, Axel should have told him, should have said stay quiet. Xion's eyes filtered over him as if she had just realized he was even there.

"Your lover?"

"Gods no," Axel exclaimed, "this," oh how was he meant to explain, to either of them. "Is Riku, forth son of Sephiroth." Riku was alarmed that Axel would reveal him so casually, but did well to contain himself.

Nothing. She said nothing to that, but those eyes, bright blue, piercing as they appraised Riku and all of this worth.

Eventually she said. "A God. Here?" Xion leaned foreword, her face lit strangely by the fire. "Do you know of me? Do you know what I am?" Riku shook his head nervously. "I am a well kept secret. Unlike you, you were paraded around like you were meant to exist." She seethed with a hard hatred. "What is it Riku, half-god, that you would wish from me?"

Riku's face crumpled like a page from the books he loved so much. He had never been called by what he was. Axel put a hand on his shoulder to steady him. It sounded like an insult, but to her, it was just the way it was.

"I need something to stop someone from dreaming of me."

"Prophetic dreams?" A grin, a glance, a knowing.

The God swallowed. "Yes."

"Ah," she was enjoying herself. Axel could tell, she would not be talking so much if she did not think their encounter fun. "A Keyblade master?" Those eyes wide, brimming, as she shared looks with them both.

"Yes." He said again, there was no use to him to lie.

"I would require payment."

"I could give you back your heart." Riku said and Axel grimaced when Xion retracted like a broken child scorned by her father. "I'm sorry," desperate the man turned towards Axel, eyes pleading for his aid. However, Riku had already spoken up, Xion would chose to help or turn them away upon her own will. Axel's input would do nothing to change that. "I assumed you were part of the Organization."

"You assumed that I had a heart!" Venomous, words spat at a confused man. She slammed her hands on the table. "I was created by the most desperate of men. Pieces of dead Keyblade masters—pieced together. They needed one, you see. I was to be a vessel. A puppet. Only—it didn't work. I was made. I breathe. I live. I feel, but I will always be heartless. I cannot summon a Keyblade, no matter how many of them are gifted to me." She whimpered. Riku just stared not at Xion but at Axel. "A puppet. A puppet." She whispered. "All I have are desperate men. Those are the only ones who seek me."

Riku was at an obvious loss, he said as coolly as he could manage. "Surely, there is something that you want."

"That we could provide." Axel chimed in, earning an elbow from Riku.

Xion considered this, "Half-God. I should like three strands of your hair."

"Done." Axel dug his fingers into the man's shoulder, how could he agree so easily? Did he not know what holds she could create with human hair?

Giddy, she bounced away; pulling the curtain back only enough for her to enter and the contents remain a mystery. She soon returned with a small object, and eagerly handed it to Riku.

"A dream catcher?" It was small, but ornate. Brown but laced with white spring in a complex web, at the end were three silver charms. A star. A moon. And a sun.

"He shall have no dreams. None good. None bad. None prophetic." Her voice was like a laugh, twinkling and happy.

Axel watched Riku close his hand around it, it was what they needed and now they could go without worry. Relief and dread showed clearly in the pull of his mouth, the tightness of brow.

Xion's eyes glittered, catching the light. "It pleases you?"

"Yes." He pulled three strands of dyed hair from his head. Xion hurriedly took them and threw them into the pot above her fire, fishing them out when they were washed clean. The silver distinguishable even from a distance.

"Pretty, pretty."

Axel stood and Riku followed suit. "Thank you Xion." And he bowed to her. She was the mess, the one face of all those that he had murdered. He couldn't stand to look at her anymore, she who was more unnatural then even him. It made him feel disgusted to know that he had had a hand in her creation.

Riku tucked away his item and then he too bowed, lower then Axel had. "You will always have my gratitude."

Xion smiled up at them, eerily, with mischief in the curve of her mouth. "Do you wish to know what I dream of you half-god?"

Riku shook his head, "thank you, but no."

She moved around the edge of the table, inching closer and closer. "What about what I see of that boy? The prince? Brown haired, blue-eyed beauty?"

Riku was stunned; he was tight with anticipation, with want. "If you wish to tell me."

"For a price."

"Name it."

"One sea-shell from the above shore."

"No!" Axel yelled this time interfering, it was a trick, a trap, or even a truth but it would do them no good. To know what become of ones self, or the ones that they loved—it would only bring hurt.

"You have so many plans the two of you." She glanced at Axel, full of mirth. "So many paths. So many choices."

"Goodbye Xion." Axel pushed out the door and they fell together off the balcony that belonged to a hut that seemingly disappeared. They laid in the sand huffing.

Riku threw a fistful of sand at him, "How could you not tell me what she was?"

"If I did that," he was doing a poor job of dodging his attack, "you never would have agreed to come here."

Riku steamed in silence, the night sky beautiful. "Do you know what she wanted with my hair?"

"No," he said, but Axel was a good liar. "I cannot even fathom."

~.~

It was a bad day for this; they had chose a bad day. The court was full, brimming with peasants who had problems they wished to personally address to the King. Even as crowded as it was Riku could appreciate the beauty of this room. Gorgeously bright windows lining each wall, large and ornate, cut into little diamonds all pieced together in a sky-ward point. They had been tinted yellow, this room blooming with sunshine even on rare rainy days. Full of light was the place where the people left their hopes.

Above the windows the ceiling went up and up Riku would've had to crane his neck to see it fully, and the floor was a pearl marble so polished Riku could almost see his reflection. He tried his hardest not to look down, not to catch his own gaze lest uncertainty catch him unawares and send him from the room.

There were dozens of lords and ladies making use of the Kings good graces. Informing him of his lands, their arrival based upon business but they cluttered around him as if he would drop favors by accident. They were a distraction as he admired their fashions, male and female parties in their best summer attire. A wave of soft easy breezing silk, hues ranging from blues and greens and grays. Simple jewelry—a gold chain, a single-strand band. Every patron a steady golden brown for surely their houses opened to the sea. Their eyes they rimmed with white chalk that spread down to their cheeks and up to their forehead, lips a lustrous pink. Riku particularly liked the chains the women tied into their braids. The men spiked their hair away from their faces, imitating their princes.

Though both princes were betrothed, still they got flirtatious looks and a bit more. It gnarled in Riku all those that won Sora's attention—even if momentarily.

The boys wore their crowns, simple bands like their fathers, a right they adorned only here. Sora looked every bit the part of a prince. He was handsome, and honest, and so very kind. Today, he wore a short-sleeved tunic, green like crystal, and lavishly embroidered. Never had Riku seen him wear anything so luxurious; never had he been so reminded that Sora would be King.

In the end Riku was thankful for the long line of peasants, also dressed in their best, because Sora did not see him right away. Did not see him at all, in fact, until it was his turn to go next. Riku chose to focus on the King and not his two sons though all looked at him with confusion that bore family resemblance.

Riku knelt before them, bowing his head, looking himself straight in the face—judging the brown-haired imposter he saw there.

"My King." He began, as they had practiced. Axel said it didn't really matter what memory they forged. He insisted they would let him go no matter what story they spun of his past; what he was to seemingly re-call. An old life that he wished to return to—what King would deny him that? To Riku, it mattered. To Sora it would matter. The boy who always wished Riku would remember. Re-gain some semblance of his old life. Understanding, but not fully, that this would be his rightful place. Honor would dictate he return to it, or keep quiet about it forever.

"'Ku?" The King leaned foreword in his throne, as did his sons, especially Sora. It had been months since Sora's last dream. Autumn was almost upon them now, Riku had been right, Sora no longer frequented his bed. He heard the prince had posted a guard outside his door, and he specifically requested for it to never be Axel. Nor did this boy bother him about spending more time together; he allowed them to grow distant, harboring his confessions. Riku missed him, missed him stupidly and all consumingly, but he respected his right to want to stay away.

"I-" he tasted the words in his mouth before he said them. Flicking his eyes up to meet Sora's, he was so confused and concerned it broke Riku's heart. "I remember who I am."

The hush was almost instantaneous, the court knew of his sudden appearance, his closeness with Sora. All eyes turned to him, but all Riku could do was watch Sora as he kneeled before him. Not before Roxas. Or the court. Or even the King. He was on his knees for Sora, surrendering al the apology he could not voice. He would've have kneeled before him for an eternity if it would atone for this.

Sora's mouth parted in a short gasp that held in him, his eyes staying locked with Riku's.

"Ah," the King said, nodding. "Who are you?"

"My name in Ukir Lucrecia, your grace. I was born in Sandstone village," a wealthy province. "My father is a book keep, and he is very sick," a lie. All lies. Riku looked back to the floor, maybe he shouldn't have said it all, but he would for all the nights he had rehearsed it. Trying to make it true, make it real. "My mother died when I was very young. I left him and made the journey here to ask you to spare a health potion for his recovery. Nothing else was working, and I had heard of Yuna and her curing abilities. The rest you know. I was overtaken by bandits and stolen from me were my memories."

Riku breathed a pause, and they waited.

"I am grateful for everything that you have given me. I have no way to repay your generosity, but I must know what became of my father, he is all the family that I have left. If he has passed I must take up his business and mourn him in my home."

Sora spoke, his voice riddled with emotions he was not meant to have. "'Ku? You wish to leave." Their eyes met again for a moment that spanned forever, though Sora had spent all this time avoiding him the boy loved him still.

"Yes," he said like a plea. The answer didn't sound like it should, absolute.

"Of course you are permitted to return to you family, with my blessing and should your father still live a potion he shall have along with the knowledge that his son is, and will always be, an honored guest." Riku felt the tide in him, and without his permission, it began to wash him away completely.

"The tutor position with also always be open to you, should you wish to return here, Ukir."

"Thank you, Sire." Sora said nothing but his silence was loud enough.

Axel moved to join him, his boots clack, clack, clacking amidst the gossipers, and threw himself down. This was the next part, the harder part. Riku had insisted that he just stay, stay with Roxas, but the red head would not hear of it. He said 'the only one retrieving my heart, is me." Stubborn fool. So they created a second fable, one so false to the boys beside their father.

"My King," Axel began in earnest, his voice gravel, the words barked and not said. Riku laid a hand on his shoulder, reminding him and amping up their act. Axel, the most excellent actor of all, took that hand and kissed it. Riku could practically feel Roxas bristle, each intake of breath a stab at the sight before him.

"Axel?" The King questioned, thoroughly confused now.

"Sire, I love this man, if he is to go I wish to follow."

Axel was very convincing, even as he pushed his forehead into the floor, but that, Riku knew, was for Roxas. Forgive me, it screamed. Forgive me, as he was bathed in a dimming yellowing light, another day coming to close. He was poured in a golden mold, red hair and green eyes twinged with it. They both would mourn this day; Riku knew he would for the eternity he had left in the world.

King Squalls face contorted, puzzlement. Testaments of love. It was not something that he had to grant. Riku could feel all eyes on him.

"'Ku…my apologies, Ukir. Is this true?"

"Yes, " Riku was distraught under the weight of all his lies, and he let it show. Sora looked away from the pair of them scoffing as true emotions rose in Riku; for a moment—it was like they switched places. Riku honest about his feelings, Sora closed off to all that would wound him. Sora was not bathed in the light of the setting sun; instead he hid in the shadow his father cast. "Yes. Axel and I…I love him. I," Riku looked sharply to Axel, "told him not to do this!"

"You don't get to decide what I do with my heart, without you, I am meaningless." Those were words for Roxas and even in their act they did not stick to Riku quite right. "I must go with you."

"Why?" It was Roxas who spoke, broken and angry and confused. "Why must you go? You took an oath, you can't just retract it."

Axel stared up at him, lost, there he could not explain. Later he could not explain.

Thankfully, it was the King who spoke next. "Though those things are true I will relieve you of your vow. Your cause is just, I will allow your pardon, you will be a knight no longer, but know once you leave, you may only return as a guest."

Axel nodded, solemn but seemingly grateful, and Riku, in the event of being pleased, threw his arms around the redhead. Riku knew now that they could leave, go to practice dark magic somewhere they would not be instantly killed for the attempt, Everyone would even wish them well.

Except Sora, Riku looked at him from over Axel's shoulder and made a choice. Riku would tell him one truth.

~.~

It took three days to settle the affairs of the castles two departures. Three days to pack, for Yuna to create a health potion, for his father to un-knight Axel and Sora saw none of it. He heard bits and pieces from Roxas who couldn't seem to get a straight answer out of Axel.

His father hired a new tutor right away and Sora didn't even have to see him in class. Sora daydreamed instead or skipped entirely. He knew what trading ships sailed between Hope and Chance islands. He knew the various boarders surrounding his castle. He knew the colors of each house; he knew the names of the lords and ladies of the Kingdom. He knew every large farming village and what they produced. He knew how to balance munny, how to read and comment upon classical literature, music, and art. He knew how to plan a battle, how to delegate tactics, and even give orders. He had been taught all ready how to be King.

Taught what it was like to have a real friend. What it was like to want to be in love.

Sora stood in front of his target, breathing like a madman. Last night, like all nights, he had been unable to sleep for fear of being woken by the guard and lead back to bed. Before, he had not known why he had woken in 'Ku's bed. Foolishly he had thought that maybe 'Ku came to him in the night and stole Sora from his bed. An impossible thought. No, it was not so, Sora slept and walked to bother 'Ku even in the dead of night, and 'Ku simply made room for him.

This morning, like all mornings, he could be found practicing drills on dummies that had done him no harm.

Three days of sleepless nights, of pointless lessons, or avoiding everyone and now they were leaving. 'Ku and Axel both under the lie that they were in love. They were to go. Why? Sora wracked his brain for the hundredth time.

Sora longed for 'Ku, felt him in every breath, every movement. The want of him and the anger that 'Ku was going to leave. Every time Sora had this thought, he was submerged with guilt. "Ku's father was very sick, and if he wasn't, he was gone. All that time spent not remembering. All those smiles. All those games. All those happy memories, over taken with where he was supposed to be. The family in his charge.

What was he supposed to say? All the words in him were. Don't go. Stay here. He couldn't face 'Ku like that. How could he even look him in the eye?

Wiping the sweat from his brow Sora retracted he weapon, his muscles aching in their restlessness. From this constant awake. Soon, they would depart. It was a sore in him, a gaping would he had no idea how to treat, so he let the pain of it swallow him. Selfish thoughts rose in him, how could he just let him go? Sora swallowed roughly and set his shoulders, making his way back to his bedchambers.

He didn't want to see 'Ku a final time. Even the thought of it churned in him. No one would go—nothing would change if Sora could do anything about it but time did not yield to his broken heart.

The farewell ceremony, he imagined, was in full swing. It was no secret that him and 'Ku had been close. His absence would be noted and pondered upon. Most of all by 'Ku. Sora wondered if he would look back as he rode away. He wondered if the man would write him, or maybe even visit. Questions he wanted to ask, but couldn't bare if the answers were no.

'Ku had another life, one that Sora was never meant to be a part of just as 'Ku had dropped into his life. He'd been there for not even a year and Sora felt like he'd known him forever, and then losing him for an equivalent amount of time.

Sora swung the door open to his chambers exhaling, then inhaling quickly in a gasp that almost chocked him. 'Ku was sitting in the middle of the room, His hair loose over his riding leathers.

Frantically and without thought Sora yelled. "I will not say goodbye!" His hand gripping the handle of his door so tightly the white of his knuckles shown. He could run, but it would be useless 'Ku had been faster in every race or game of tag. Memoires flowed through him, a tangle, a dance, of last times. There were so many things that would never happen again. Maybe he would run after all. Why would 'Ku bother to chase him? Why would he bother to be here?

"Please, come here." 'Ku stood, his voice struck in Sora, he sounded strained. Sora was appeased, almost sickly comforted by 'Ku's hurt, and could do nothing else but stumble toward him leaving the door to swing closed behind him. They stood so close as if there were no boundaries. Sora tried to swallow the rush in him.

'Ku reached up and pulled a small package out of his vest. He didn't have to each far to offer the thing to Sora. It was simply wrapped in sheets of parchment tied by a thin blue string. The boy took it carefully, looking mostly into the aquamarine eyes that had not left his face.

"A going away present. Don't open it until after." After he was gone.

Sora shoved the parcel into 'Ku's chest. "Why do you have to go?" Hot tears burned in his eyes.

'Ku held the package and stood firmly. "I," he started, his voice so full that Sora overflowed with guilt. "I cannot tutor your children." He eyes gazed upon Sora with a sweet despair.

"What?" Sora was confused; his father was sick and dying somewhere.

"I cannot tutor your children," 'Ku repeated, bending toward Sora with every word until his hair, quite long now, brushed Sora's shoulders. "Or your grandchildren. I cannot watch you get married, or go to bed every night know you hold another."

"Why not?" Sora was enraptured, dizzy, the world a swirling mess outside this one moment of clarity.

'Ku exhaled briefly. A laugh. Quiet and small, but still at Sora's expense. Sora made to hit him but 'Ku caught his hand and held it, surely feeling the wild race of his pulse. That, unexpectedly, matched with 'Ku's. "Because I am in love with you."

He wanted to do nothing else but kiss him.

Sora pushed his face into 'Ku's unable to keep the yearning in him at bay. He kissed 'Ku and 'Ku kissed him back. Sora threaded his hands into 'Ku's hair as the man wound strong arms around his waist. He felt like his nose was being crushed, he felt the awkward way in which he breathed, he felt the hot like there were coals in his stomach. Sora could not kiss him enough, he tried to fit a lifetime of kisses into just one moment pressing himself so close as to feel every part of this man, in another life, his man.

They were out of breath when they pulled away. 'Ku's breath tickling his ear as they clung to each other. "I love you," like a breaking in 'Ku. "I love you. I love you." Sora rejoiced and ached with the confession, and squeezed a little tighter. 'Ku said it and said it, but Sora could see his love in the unsure crease of his brow, hear it in the way his breath simply hitched when Sora so much as moved, felt it in the steady beat of his heart.

Sora was filled with happiness; he tried to take in as much of it as he could so he may remember it forever.

"You'll come back, wont you?" Sora leaned back just enough to see 'Ku's face.

The man gritted his teeth and finally said. "No," and it shattered in Sora. "I cannot come back."

"Sure you can! Its only a few days journey!"

'Ku held his face, bring a heat that thoroughly hushed Sora. Being held was so natural and unnatural. "Its not as simple as all that."

Sora pressed foreword and kissed him softly as 'Ku's fingers tangled tightly at the back of his head. "I love you too, that's all."

"That's all, he says." 'Ku was laughing, the bridges of their noses lined up, and Sora was laughing too, but there merriment quieted as 'Ku whispered. "I have to go," and still they stood looking nowhere but at each other.

After a long while, to long to only be minutes, they pulled away, the separation was not an easy one. 'Ku held out his gift and Sora took it, quickly lifting his crown necklace over his head and then placing it down around 'Ku's neck. "This way," he touched the pendant at 'Ku's breast, "I'll always be with you."

'Ku bore down on him a flurry of kisses. "Never forget. Please. My heart will always and forever belong to you."

"And mine to you."

The rest was a blur of events Sora would have rather erased. 'Ku walking out of his sight and Sora couldn't even manage to look behind him; he shut his eyes ignoring the sudden chill he felt.

When he opened them he noticed the brown on his fingertips, which he wiped on his trousers, he would wash away the dye as he had last time, and forget about what it could mean a second time. The man he loved, loved him back. Sora sat on the edge of his bed, defeated by his own emotions and carefully unwrapped the present he'd been left.

A dream catcher, it was beautiful. Underneath, on the wrapping, 'Ku had written—my dearest Sora. In dreams is where we shall meet. I love you—'Ku. Sora placed the gift above his headboard his chest tight. He adored the gift, but to him the secret message was far more precious.

When he was married with children. When he was King, he could pull out this note and admire it. He would always have this memory.

And Sora wept.