Whoo!! Well, this chappie is up, finally! lol, and even though she's sick, Tragedy managed to edit it! YAY FOR HER!!! 3 as for me... It's my brithday this wednesday!!! I'M SIXTEEN!!! YAY!!! Lol, or not yay, depending on whether u wanna grow up or not (i have peter pan-syndrome).

Hope you like it! xxx

I Need You to Need Me. I'm Begging You to Beg Me.

Mickey watched the prone form of his young friend sadly. Riku hadn't moved an inch since they'd brought him to the lab and Xikru had appeared. Any hopes Mickey had of Xikru making Riku better were dashed when it became apparent the wayward silveret had led Soku, Everent, Leon and Vincent on their own crusade to bring back Sora and now Cloud as Mickey had been informed the blond had been kidnapped right from under their noses.

Shifting in his seat he patted Riku's limp hand and sighed. It seemed the war really would be decided out of his control.

Soku stifled a cry as his footing crumbled and he began to fall head first towards the floor until Everent threw out an arm and caught him around the middle.

"Watch your step, little prince." The elder smirked.

Soku scowled at the smug look and huffed petulantly. Xikru shook his head at the antics and urged them onwards. They'd been traveling for around five hours now. They'd brought no provisions with them as Everent had said the castle wasn't that far away and indeed it wasn't, the reason it was taking so long to get inside was the amount of fussing and sheer damned luck involved in getting into the castle. Their were dark traps everywhere that only Everent could sense so everyone felt like they were walking on eggshells not to mention the abundance of animated shadows that staggered and stalked the woods surrounding the castle.

Everent had explained from the start that if they used any dark or light powers, like either of the keyblades or his own shimmering power, Sephiroth would sense it and they're cover would be blown.

Vincent held up his clawed hand and the group froze as they heard a scuffling near by. Everent cocked his head to the side as the others imitated statues, ears strained painfully to hear the sounds around them. A twig snapped barely a few feet away from them and the dark prince's eyes widened sharply.

"Everyone get under cover!" Everent hissed, an arm flying directly to Soku, pulling the silveret with him behind bushes and against the base of a tree. "Not a sound until I say so!"

Everent pulled back as he felt something nearing. Soku's grip on his shirt tightened. Lifting the head pressed against his chest he saw Soku's face was drawn in fear and tension. He leant his head against the tanned forehead, hands resting possessively on Soku's waist, his eyes holding cobalt depths in an assurance and comfort that could not be spoken.

One of the many twigs and strips of bark that littered the floor snapped underfoot. Soku bit his lip hard, a tiny bead of blood breaking the skin where he chewed on the flesh, that one was much closer, almost on top of them. The princes' tightened their hold on each other. From beyond the shielding brush surrounding them, viridian eyes watched, alive with fire, as dark soldiers patrolled past them. Soku's heart was erratic with thoughts of where their companions could be and fear for their continued hiding. Why couldn't they just go out and attack them? He knew they could take the three soldiers near them.

Yes, we could. Everent's voice sounded in his head, however, that action would alert any other men of our location. I do not think the five of us, even with Xikru's unnatural power, could take the whole of darkness' might.

Soku shivered and the dark prince smirked. You know, it gives me the creeps to hear someone else voice inside my head.

Everent shrugged. My apologies.

You didn't mean that.

No, I didn't.

Soku was about to retaliate when the men left the clearing. They kept oddly still for a while longer, holding their breaths unconsciously until they breathed out with relief. The men had gone.

Emerging from their hiding place Soku nearly jumped out of his skin when Leon leapt down from the tree they'd been hiding in, landing gracefully by their side with a sheepish grin. "Dammit Leon!" Soku scolded, a hand over his chest. The brunet soldier merely chuckled as a red river of cloth descended from the sky to whirl around a space near them, securing itself to a black clothed back and settling around the familiar form of Vincent.

"That was close." The scarlet warrior observed dryly.

"Too close." Xikru murmured as he ascended from beneath the ground, brushing dirt from his shoulders.

Everent folded his arms with a huffed breath. "I guess it's safe to say Sephiroth's expecting us…"

Leon shrugged. "You expected any less?"

"Not really." The dark haired prince sighed. "We need to be very careful from now on. Come on, I know a back way into the castle."

Xikru's eyes snapped to Everent with interest. "Really?"

The prince ducked his head with a sheepish motion. "Not exactly done it or even thought of trying but it may be our only way into the castle. If Sephiroth knows we're here then there is no way we're getting in through the front gate."

They nodded and set off in agreement, slipping through trees like ghosts, using Everent's dark powers as their guide to save them from the soldiers they knew were searching for them, they came ever closer to the castle. When the tree line ended, they hung to the last few boughs to shield them from view as they took in the sight before them.

"Sephiroth's in there…" Vincent stated, his voice tainted with an indescribable emotion, lips tight with distaste.

"With Cloud." Leon added, mimicking Vincent's expression with his brow creased in hatred.

"And Sora." Xikru finished, his arms folded in a business-like manner.

There was a narrow canal leading to the castle, a curved roof growing up and over the waterway the closer to the castle it got. The towering castle looked impressive but it was also worn to the point of half being collapsed. Some walls were missing or had crumbled and the pieces of which lay like giant stepping stones down the slanted cliff side separating the castle ruins from the water. The stone was dark and gave the castle a gothic feel, added to by the gargoyles that had survived the weather and who knows what else that had been thrown at the impressive creation.

"What happened to it?" Soku asked Leon, curiously tugging on Leon's sleeve to get the elder man's attention.

Leon sighed and put a secure hand on Soku's shoulder. "Let's just say, this isn't the first time the war between Light and Dark has been brought to this world. When we thought the war was won before, we'd infiltrated Sephiroth's castle and destroyed it… or so we thought. Sephiroth has always been able to move the location of the castle. And from what Everent said about the extensive basements, it would appear we barely scratched the surface the last time, though I did have the unfortunate opportunity to see what was probably only the first room of many in which Sephiroth did his… experiments." Leon shuddered.

Vincent turned to the group. "It would appear the only way we're getting into the castle is by boat." He pointed to the edge of the forest where the brickwork of the waterway began, a short way from a canal where a few ancient looking boats were moored. "I can see a few down there. We'd better hurry, time is essential here."

As they began to go to the boats, Soku gripped Vincent's arm. The dark haired man stopped and raised an eyebrow at the prince of Light making Soku shift under the heavy gaze, "Vincent, are you sure? A-about coming with us… I mean. I mean, you're a dad now… what if you die? Shelke will be all alone and your daughter will grow up without a dad…"

The group watched Vincent closely and Soku's described situation seemed to draw from the mysterious man an emotion to the stoic face, his eyes wide with fear and shock, his jaw slack with silence but it was all they need see to know Vincent hadn't even considered that possibility. After a moment, Vincent took a deep, calming breath and shook his head. "I can't let that happen… but I swore a promise to Cloud and Shelke and every one of our old friends… I promised them I'd not let anything happen to Cloud and I have, I can't let things get worse." His face set with resolve and pursed his lips at Soku as though the little teen was his mother scolding him for a bad thing. "I have to do this."

Soku nodded slowly, a gentle smile spreading over his face. "Okay. I'm sure Shelke would be proud."

Vincent said nothing but beneath the tall collar of his red cloak he was smiling back as they descended to the boats moored loosely to the waterway's edge. Jumping into the closest Vincent and Leon began to row at the back while Xikru took up the front leaving the two princes' with nothing to do. Sitting in silence in the middle of the small boat, Vincent cut the mooring line with a flick of his sharp, clawed hand and the two elder men began to row the boat while Xikru took up steering from the front.

Everent turned to Soku as they began to move, "When all of this is over… where will that leave us?" He whispered so as not to let the others here but other than the steady dripping of water in the hollow tunnel there was no noise; the men in the boat had little else to listen to.

Soku blinked as if confused. "You think that when this is done with, it will change things? Between us, I mean."

The dark haired male squirmed under the blue eyes he loved so much. "I dunno…" He coughed then straightened. "I don't want it to… but, what I am and what you are… we're so worldly different and even though we profess to love each other, that's not going to fix everything. I… I don't want to make trouble for you." He let out a bitter laugh, "I mean, look at what I've done without even really doing anything!"

The silveret scowled and gripped Everent's arm firmly, "Don't you dare think that any of this is your fault!" Whispering, secrecy and some semblance of privacy completely forgotten Soku spoke clearly and directly, eyes ablaze with passion and sincerity as he bore his gaze into Everent's. "I won't let you take all the blame for what that bastard has done! It's all his fault and you will bare none of his shame!" Soku's eyes creased as they welled with his conviction. "I-I… I love y-you… nothing will ever change that and nothing else matters… do you understand me?!"

Everent stared back at the face of pure adoration and love that leaned into his, his own mouth slack, eyebrows raised in shock and surprise. Then his expression softened and he closed the distance between them, pressing his lips against Soku's soft ones in a chaste kiss Soku was lost in and missed when Everent broke. "I like that…" He wiped away a stray tear from Soku's cheek with the pad of his thumb. "I like that a lot. And I love you too… more than I can say…"

Leon shot a look to Vincent, his eyes dancing with mirth but the gunman remained ever impassive to the scene that had played out before them. Xikru glanced over the cuddling princes' and met Leon's gaze with a knowing nod.

Everent looked up at them unashamedly and completely unembarrassed with the little prince snuggled happily on his chest and content to stay there. "We should be arriving to a small opening in the ceiling soon, it should be just up ahead. It'll open up into one of the still stable rooms in the kitchens. Only about a third of the castle is still in use, the kitchens were abandoned after the first wave of damage done to the castle about seventy years ago. I don't think they'll be a pretty sight…"

Xikru laughed. "I think we can stand the sight of a dirty kitchen."

The dark prince flinched. "If that were all… no. They'll be a few corpses at least, the kitchens were hit with nerve gas bombs when the light side had all but given up hope almost a century ago, they pulled out all the stops to try and irradiate the darkness. Not that I can blame them, we had grown to unbelievable numbers."

Soku frowned. "Nerve gas?"

Leon winced, smoothly avoiding the question. "Is there no other way in?"

"Of course," Everent smirked, half of his face in the shadows cast by the dim light of the waterway, "But we were going for surprise attack, right? Unless you feel like battling you're way through the hordes of evil that abide here to find Sephiroth has vanished with Cloud and Sora because he knew we were coming?" Leon and Vincent glanced at each other before Leon sighed and Vincent frowned.

"Through the kitchen's it is." Vincent murmured with a displeased look to the ceiling.

Cloud watched as he was lead to the depths of the castle, Sora had stopped following a while back though Sephiroth hadn't told him to. The blond worried if the Prince's Consort of light was okay. When they came to a set of double doors, the king of darkness pushed them open and suddenly they were in a long room.

It was made of dark stone like the rest of the castle but it was so dimly lit Cloud couldn't see much but he could make out what looked to be incubators, upright and lining the room all the way down. Most had lights on inside them, filled with water with something dwelling within the blueish depths. Cloud's insides churned as, in morbid fascination, he drew away from Sephiroth, the elder man not stopping him, and walked up to the nearest incubator.

Within the liquid he saw the naked form of a little girl no older than four, how hair dark blonde floating around her softly on feathered spikes almost like a perm. She had her hands gently held together, pressed in on her, fingers against her chin with her legs folded and tucked upwards in a fetal position but the wires and cathodes attached to her on her temple, chest, wrists and ankles prevented much movement. Cloud covered his mouth in horror and staggered to the next one. It held a young teen of about fourteen with light purple hair, parted to the left and falling over his right eye heavily with a few short strands at the front angled upwards.

The blond doctor shuddered and fought the urge to wretch. This was a farm. A human farm. A dark human farm. These were children grown for the sole purpose of death and destruction, paving the way for darkness and enveloping all worlds in it by orders of their master.

At the thought of Sephiroth Cloud whirled around to find the dark king stood directly behind him, a purely evil smirk on his face.

"W-what are these?!" Cloud gasped, though he already knew. He'd heard the rumours around the soldiers that Sephiroth was the creator of the Children of Dark. He hadn't believed it at first but with the evidence staring him blatantly in the face… he felt the urge to throw up. "You… you're a monster!"

With a resounding slap, Cloud was sent to the floor, his cheek aching with a stabbing pain where Sephiroth had struck him. He didn't even get a chance to breathe before Sephiroth was on him, mako-green eyes swirling with lust, darkness alive with desire. Cloud squirmed, pushing against the hard chest that had him pinned, gasping for air and in unwilling submission as Sephiroth began his ministrations. Actions Cloud knew too well, the soft, gentle touches accompanied by nails that tore through his skin, the teeth that bit like an animal, but the tongue that soothed the pain with hot licks…

Clothing was removed in the haze of Cloud's mind as the blond survived the only way he knew how: by shutting himself off from everything and anything. He could feel the pain but it was dulled and all he could do was lay limply like a doll as Sephiroth did as he pleased, that dark king unknowingly pushing Cloud through his breaking point.

From that moment onwards, Cloud would obey. He would obey Sephiroth's every command and he would not leave the king. He would give himself over, as much of himself as he could but he knew deep down that Leon would always own his heart. He was doing this to save Leon.

Cloud was crying but Sephiroth paid no mind, the soft cries only being interrupted once by a shrieking scream as the dark king tore into Cloud, ripping Cloud asunder in many more ways than one. His heart locked away and hid from the world as he faced his fate, Cloud clenched his fists in his final defiance, a refusal to let Sephiroth satisfy his unbidden arousal as the elder began to pump him relentlessly.

Sephiroth frowned at the defiance but shrugged it off, releasing Cloud's member and thrusting in and out hard to satisfy his own needs.

The pain was immense; Cloud had only ever felt it before when Sephiroth had tried to discipline him before he'd run away. He knew what was expected of him and this 'therapy' was a way of making sure he behaved. He knew it didn't take very long but it felt like it stretched on forever and as he lay there on the floor, his body shaking in pain and abuse, his lips firmly sealed, tears leaking down his face, all he could think of was the soft, gentle face of Leon and promised himself he'd never let Sephiroth hurt him. This was all for Leon, he couldn't screw up.

He almost laughed at the unintended pun. Sometimes laughing was the only way to stay sane.

Sora rubbed his eyes hard. He'd regained control of his body, for a little while at least.

He'd been practicing and each time he defied that darkness within him, each time he regained a little more control for a little longer. He grinned and turned a dark, clawed hand he knew was his over before him, recalling the time when he'd had all of that power currently present and Riku had been obsessed with using it for sexual acts. Though, Sora had to admit, Riku had been onto a good idea…

Buggar, Sora thought, as the darkness swallowed him again, his consciousness being roughly pushed down into an empty crevice of his heart, the only place the darkness couldn't touch, and the evil half took control again.

Riku…, Sora thought sadly with a mental sigh, I know you can feel this pain…

He knew Riku could feel it because he couldn't anymore. The only reason he'd been able to start taking back control was because the pain of his light being inside the darkness, tearing away at his soul and mind, had gone a little while ago.

Sora… I'm coming….

Sora mentally jolted, shocked at the reply. He probed his mind out to sense if the darkness within him had heard it to but it was happily scrabbling about trying to find Sephiroth again, merging through walls like dark mist to reappear on the other side.

The brunet's consciousness smiled, I know you are Riku. I know you are. He looked through his eyes as the darkness entered the basement room where it sensed Sephiroth was and Sora gasped, no noise, however, was made by the dark form. But, Riku… I fear if you don't get here soon… Cloud will be lost…

Sora gasped again at the scene before him and tried to shut it off but the dark entity wouldn't move, it had no understanding of such things. It only knew its master was in the room therefore that's where it should be. So it stayed to the shadows, dark skin like night merging to the wall as if he were part of the architecture, headlight eyes watching the display with an expressionless face as Sora cried out for Cloud's pain, his energy spent from taking control before so all he could do was watch.

Riku, hurry!

Yay! Hope you liked the chappie, we'll get the next one up as soon as possible. My birthday party was yesterday nd the day before (most people slept over cos it was so late) we all dressed up nd played loasdsa games nd my cake was HUGE! lol, sounds like a lil kiddies party but it wasn't. Not by any stretch of the imaginiaton! Lol, i'll shut up now

Akaiba and TragedyInTheMaking xxx