Title. Give Me Up
Part. one
Part title.  The Fated Twist
Authour. ~sushisama~ (sushivice@netscape.net)
Warnings.  Nothing in this part, just a few curse words.
Disclaimer.  Owned by Square and Disney, not by me.
Notes.  It's been awhile, hasn't it?  Damn, I'm lazy.  So much stuff has been happening, can't be helped.  My novel series, school, writer's block...  I finally worked out all the details to this fic, just there are some parts I really don't want to write.  Like this part, and the next one, but they're needed, so it can't be helped.  I'll try to get the next part up as soon as I can, I promise (though, that doesn't mean much from me).

/ / = thoughts     [ ] = dreams     ( ) = flashbacks
::*~~*::

            Midori was silent as he finished packing his one bag.  All he needed was just a change of clothes and a few personal items, like the necklace his mother gave him before she died, a dagger given to him by his brother, and a ring that Kairi had given to him.  He took a long look at the ring and decided to not take it, setting it on his dresser as he closed the bag.
            "Midori," a soft voice called from the door.
            "Don't even bother, Kairi," the prince said flatly, removing his clothes to exchange them for travel wear.
            The thin girl walked into the room, laying a warm hand on Midori's cold shoulder.  "Midori... please, understand...  He... I..."  She shook her head.  "I don't know what I was thinking...!"
            "How many times?" the silver-haired teen asked, not turning around.
            "...several.  We've been together for seven or eight months..."
            "I see."  He found a yellow sleeveless in one of his drawers and put it on.  He began to look for some pants as he said, "That's a long time not to know what you were thinking."
            "Midori..."
            "Why do you sound so sorry?"  He turned around to face her, a pair of puffy blue pants in his hand.  "Are you sorry that you did it?  Or sorry you were caught?"  He narrowed his eyebrows.  "Were you just going to keep fucking him, even after we were married?"
            Kairi stared at the floor, not sure how to answer.  "I... still love you, Midori..."  She shifted nervously from one foot to another.  "But... you never did anything like that to me.  You never even tried.  I mean, the most we got to..."  She looked up.  "What do you want me to do?  I'll stop seeing him, but I know that won't be enough for you.  Do you want me to...?"  She stepped up to him so that she was within an inch of his body.  She rubbed his chest lightly, looking unsure of herself as she did it.
            "I can... do that thing you like, as much as you want..."  She trailed her way down, her knees starting to bend so she could kneel in front of him.  "Even if I don't like it, the sacrifice is worth it..."  She reached for Midori's exposed member, but he just grabbed her hand and pulled her up to face him.
            "I could get a whore to do it, and it would probably would be better," he hissed to her.  He roughly pushed her back, but not with enough force to put her on the ground.  "I don't want you to touch me again."
            He quickly put the pants on as Kairi just stared at him in disbelief.  How could any guy turn down such an offer...?  Especially when she knew how much he liked it...
            "You belong to my brother now.  I won't interfere."  He picked up his bag and made his way to the door past the stunned red-head.  "Just like I hope you won't interfere with me."
            "No... of course not..." she whispered sullenly.
            Midori stopped at the doorway and, without turning around, said, "Kairi... I still love you with everything in me.  But this is something I can't forget.  You think that by just doing one action over and over again, you're going to earn my trust back?"
            "I know... you're not a person that believes in second chances..."
            "Exactly."
            "Good-bye, Midori."
            "Good-bye, Kairi.  Please, tell my father that I love him."
            "What about Ansem...?"
            "I can't forgive him.  And I don't care if I don't see him, or this kingdom, ever again."
            With that he walked out of the room, out of the palace, out of the life of royalty.  It was the last time he'd see them hopefully.  He had no intent on returning, especially now.  He wished the best to the kingdom and title he was leaving, and made his way towards the harbour.

(a/n... ha!  Thought I was going to end it again, didn't you?  I won't be so mean this time.  I promise.  There is more to this chapter.  I just felt like being spontaneously evil.  Hieh.  Go me.)

            Midori slammed back another drink, crashing the glass onto the bar, almost shattering it.  He was on his fifth one, and planned on drinking as many as he could before passing out.  As much as he wanted to get to the ship, he also wanted to drown his sorrows in alcohol, something he had been known for doing before.
            "Do you want another drink?" the bar-tender timidly asked.  His voice sounded like a teenager's... Midori had yet to really look at anyone since he had stepped foot into the seedy bar.  He didn't feel like looking at anyone, including this new kid that served great drinks, but had confidence problems when it came to talking to customers.
            "Do you have something stronger?" Midori asked in a low voice.
            "Well, yeah... but I have some unusual stuff, too, if you want to try that instead..."
            Midori looked up at the kid for the first time that night, his eyebrow raised.  He noticed that he was about the prince's age, with wild, spiked brunette hair that stood inches off his head.  His eyes were a rich blue that seemed full of hope, but had a hint of underlying pain.  He wore a simple white shirt with a hooded wind-breaker over it, a large silver necklace with a crown on it hanging from his neck.
            "What do you have?"
            "Have you ever tried a Fated Twist?"
            "A what?"
            The kid smiled.  "It's my specialty."  He pulled out a large glass, a star-shaped fruit, and three or four bottles of liquor.  "It's not all that strong, but it's nice, nonetheless..."
            "Okay, I'm game.  What goes into it?"
            "Just a few liquors, nothing too strong."  He poured the liquors in the metal cup as he spoke.  He then ripped open the fruit into five pieces, draining the plant of its tangy-smelling juices into the mix.  Midori eyed him strangely as he did all this.
            "Isn't that a... damn it, what's it called?"
            "A Paopu fruit."  He picked up and covered the cup with a lid and shook it vigorously, mixing all the flavours together.  "Legend has it that if you share a Paopu fruit with someone, your fates become entwined with theirs."  The bar-tender picked up a different glass and poured the contents from the mixing vessel into it.  He topped it all of with a little umbrella and handed it to Midori.
            Midori looked down at the drink, as though contemplating it.  The kid looked worried, concerned that Midori was disappointed in the drink.
            "What's wrong?"
            "I feel lonely drinking it by myself..." was Midori's response.  He looked up at the kid.  "What's your name?"
            "Me?  Umm... my name is Sora."
            "Well, Sora," Midori said, leaning forward a bit, "my name is Mi--"  Midori stopped, Sora blinking, clueless.  Giving his name would not be the best, would it?  After all, he was about to run away...  What was it his mother wanted to name him?  Oh, yeah...  "--Riku.  My name is Riku."  He coughed nervously, hoping the bar-tender was thick-headed enough to believe him.  "Now that we're acquainted--" he held up his drink "--would you like to share this with me?"
            Sora was obviously taken aback by the offer.  "Um... I-I don't know..."
            Riku gave a sort of Cheshire grin to the bar-keep.  "Superstitious, are we?" 
            "Actually, I am..."  Sora frowned as though he were being made fun of.
            "Well, let me prove your tradition wrong."  He shot back half of the drink, careful not to slam it down like he had with the other drinks, in fear of spilling its contents.  He offered the glass to Sora, the grin still on his face.  "Drink up."
            Sora hesitated before reaching out for it with a nervous hand.  He took it but regarded it for a moment, as though he had just been told to swallow acid.
            "What's wrong?"  Riku's voice was beginning to slur from all the alcohol.
            "I don't normally drink, but... oh well, I guess..."  And with that, he shot back the drink, placing the glass on the table, his cheeks sucking in at the sour taste from the fruit.
            "You look like a fish," Riku noted through fits of giggles.
            "Hey, that's not nice..."  Sora pouted.
            The door opened violently as though it were about to be ripped off its hinges.  Further commotion started, catching Riku's attention.  He turned his head towards the noise, spying men dressed in royal clothing going around, checking everyone for who they were before moving on to the next person.  Riku turned his attention to Sora again before double-taking, realizing who they were.
            "Oh, fuck."
            "What?"
            "Those are palace guards..."
            "So?"
            "Kairi must've..." he muttered under his breath.  He turned his attention back to Sora.  "Get me out of here.  Now."
            "Now?"
            "Now."
            Sora nodded.  "All right, come with me."  He exited out from behind the bar into a back room as Riku followed him.  The room was nothing more than a storage closet, but what stood out was the wooden panel on the floor, the one that the bar-tender was now opening.
            "Get in," he commanded, holding it open for the prince.
            "Where does it go?"
            "Sewer system all around town."
            Riku took a hesitant moment, thinking of what to do once he went in, where he would go. If it were to the sewers, then...  It went to the docks, next to his boat!  How perfect...  He jumped down the passage right as someone was knocking down the door.  Sora only had a split second to get in, and once he was, he held the panel shut from the other side as the guards from on top were trying to get in.  On the floor of the room they had just landed in was a metal peg that Sora grabbed with one hand, the other still on the panel, and slid it through two iron loops, one on the panel, one beside on the ceiling.
            "They'll just cut through the wood, you know," Riku commented as he looked around the room.  There was rum everywhere, not to mention many gold and silver trinkets.  Riku couldn't help but wonder where all this had come from.
            "They'll try to, anyway," Sora said confidently.  Riku turned to him to give him a cynical look.  "It looks wooden on top so no one will think much of it, just that it's a cellar."  He flicked the panel and it made a dull sound, as if hitting metal.  "But it's iron underneath so non one can get it."
            "And it's to hide all of this?" Riku asked, eyeing all the treasure again.
            "This is all pirates' work.  We either hide it for them, or," Sora grinned, "we get it from their boats after they get caught."
            Riku regarded him with a cocked eyebrow.  "You're a lot more guilty than you let on, aren't you?"
            Sora kept smiling instead of actually replying.  He made his way through the dimly lit room to another passage in the floor.  Through it was the way to the sewer system, which the two dredged through reluctantly.
            After a good distance, Sora finally asked, "Is there anywhere specific we need to go?"
            "The pal--"  Riku stopped in mid-sentence.  No, that wasn't where he wanted to go; he never wanted to go there again.  But, couldn't he get to the docks from here, like he originally planned?  "I'd planned on leaving the island today.  My ship is on the docks..."
            "That's easy enough," Sora chirped, taking a left.  "Why were they after you?"
            "Does it matter?"
            "Well, maybe it does..."
            "It doesn't."
            "Um, okay..."
            The rest of the venture through the waterways went in silence.  Even when they had gotten to the docks, not a word had been spoken.  Riku spotted his ship and went to it quickly, anxious to get off the island.  He was about to untie the boat when he remembered about Sora.
            "Well, I guess this is goodbye," he said as he turned to regard the bar-tender.
            "Yeah, I guess so," replied Sora.  He blushed a little before he continued: "Though, I thought..."  He hesitated.
            "Thought what?"
            "After the Paopu drink... that's we'd... our..."
            "Our fates would be entwined?" Riku finished.
            "Yeah..."  Sora's face turned a deeper red.  "I guess I am a bit too superstitious, huh...?"
            "It's all right."  Riku looked at his ship as he though, before he turned back to Sora.  "Do you want to come with me?"
            Sora looked up at him with big eyes, always pleading.  "Really?"
            Before Riku could answer, though, another voice called out.  "Midori."  The two boys turned at the same time to be faced with the visage of the eldest prince.
            Sora stood dumbfounded at the sight before him.  "Prince Ansem...?"  He turned to Riku then.  He felt slightly stupid for not noticing it, but everyone knew what Ansem looked like.  Not everyone knew what the younger's appearance was.  He stared at Riku before he shakingly asked, "Prince Midori...?"
            Riku ignored him as he regarded the other royal member.  "What do you want?"  His voice had an unsettling edge that made Sora cringe.
            Ansem, however, seemed unfazed.  "Kairi told me that you were leaving."
            "Figures."
            "Are you intent on going, then?"
            "I have been for years."
            "Well, that might be so, but what about your duties?"
            "You deal with them, Your Majesty."  Riku turned back to untying his boat.  "I'm done with everyone, especially you and Kairi."  He threw the rope into the waters.  He regarded his elder once again.  "So, this is good-bye, dear brother."  He went up the plank before he turned around to look straight at Sora.  "Are you coming?"
            Sora looked around, confused, thinking maybe he was talking to someone else.  He looked back at Riku then pointed at himself before mouthing, 'Me?'
            "Yes, you, who else?  I'm stuck with you now, so get your ass up here."
            Sora nodded quickly before he practically ran up, joining Riku on the deck.
            Ansem watched Sora with scrutiny.  "Who is this play toy?"
            "Toy?"
            "This 'toy' is a new friend, Ansem."
            Ansem shrugged.  "Whatever, suit yourself.  I'll see you when you get bored."  With that, he turned around and walked away.
            Sora watched the retreating prince.  When the figure was completely out of sight, he turned to Riku and asked, "You're the prince...?"
            "Not anymore," was Riku's simple reply.
            "Why would want to leave?"
            Riku did not answer for several moments, before he said, "Let's get going."

This part of the fic is horribly rushed, I know.  But, as I said, I really didn't feel like writing it, and it was a real pain to finish.  The next part will be the same, but hopefully it won't be as difficult to write because I have it pretty much outlined.
I'll do shout-outs to reviewers next time.  There are too many for me to do right now...  So, read and review.