Tortured By Light
Series: Kingdom Hearts
Categories: AU-ish, Angst, Violence, Yaoi, Adventure, Etc.
Warnings: Dark, Violence, Riku-Torture, Gore, Ansem x Riku, Sora + Riku, Yaoi, Ansem is Dark and twisted.
Summary: Ansem has stolen or rather copied Riku's physical appearance and the two battle against each other in the dark side of Kingdom Hearts; a new dimension of worlds. Sora searches for his friend, but will he ever find Riku, and will they ever be able to seal the true doors of light?
Disclaimer: Squaresoft characters are not mine, nor are Cocoa Cola products…
Author's Note: Here's the sequel I promised ^_^ Sorry it took so long. I hope you all like it.
IMPORTANT NOTE: You need to have read my first fic "Bound by Darkness" in order for this fic to make any sense.
Chapter 1: Dark Angel
Riku stared at himself in a dark mirror, but the image that stared back at him seemed unfamiliar yet strangely intimate. All around him red streaks of lightning clawed at the gray sky in rage as if to tear the very heavens apart. The reflection in the mirror suddenly gave Riku a cruel smirk and its hair faded from a vibrant silver to a frosty white. The eyes were no longer the color of emerald waters; they now burned of an angry amber and Riku shuddered slightly at the image mocking him.
"Who are you?" Riku whispered although he already knew the answer.
"I'm coming for you my dearest Riku, You can't escape me; we share the same heart."
"Ansem!" Riku snarled the name out like a curse.
"Every beat that escapes your chest calls out to me and draws me near, the faster you run, the more clearly I can hear you."
"No!" Riku screamed and backed away from the mirror but he wasn't fast enough. Just as he moved a hand shot out from the mirror. A million shards of black glass cut through the air and many sliced into Riku's flesh. The hand that reached for him tore right through his chest and firmly gripped the bloody heart that beat like a violent drum.
Riku watched in horror as Ansem pulled his heart out of his chest; veins and arteries tried futilely to cling to the precious organ but snapped one by one nonetheless.
"This belongs to me as well my lovely." Ansem finished his statement by holding up Riku's still pumping heart and running his tongue over it slowly and then giving it a delicate kiss.
Riku screamed in what could only be described as sheer horror until the world seemed to shatter all around him and something dark bound him into a sort of gentle submission.
"Riku! Riku! Snap out of it!" demanded a voice. A sudden slap to the cheek and Riku suddenly convulsed into the real world, he was now safely far away from the nightmare realm which seemed so often to claim him nowadays.
"Your nightmares are getting worse aren't they?"
"I'm sorry Sephiroth. Ansem, he's, I know he's somehow responsible for them."
"Just calm down, I don't blame you."
Riku hoisted himself to an upright position and watched Sephiroth get up to check on the fire that had been made to warm their campsite. Riku wasn't sure exactly how much time had passed since that eventful day when Ansem split from him while copying his physical body type. He had managed to escape that time but had passed out shortly afterwards only to wake in the arms of what could only be described as a dark divine beauty. Sephiroth was his name; he refused to talk much about his past but assured Riku that he meant him no harm and that he too was also looking for the true door of light. Riku had a hard time trusting Sephiroth but had decided that he stood a better chance of surviving the strange new world with the help of the silver haired man.
"Here, drink this." Sephiroth offered Riku small flask of glowing green liquid.
"What is it?" asked Riku as he arched an eyebrow out of suspicion.
"Listen kid, if I wanted to kill you, I would have done it already so stop looking at me funny and drink it unless you'd rather I force it down your throat."
Riku gave a loud "hmph" as he accepted the flask and drank it.
Much to Riku's surprise, the liquid actually tasted good, sort of like 'Mountain Dew' soda.
"It's a mild elixir and should help you to feel better. After all, I'm tired of carrying you around everywhere."
"I never asked you to."
"Oh so you wouldn't have minded if I had left you alone in the dark, vulnerable to any dark beast that happened to wander by with dinner on its mind eh?"
"Speaking of which, Just where the hell are we?"
"We're not far from a village; I'm taking you there so I can get you some proper treatment. You may not have realized it but you're suffering some severe blood loss. Granted you've recuperated some on your own, but when I first found you, it was as if you had half of your blood drained from you somehow."
Riku starred off blankly into the fire and watched quietly as the flames danced and flickered.
"Well, I've got some business that I need to attend to so I'll trust you to stay here and not go wandering off anywhere."
Riku nodded and was vaguely aware that Sephiroth had vanished into the darkness. His thoughts now turned to Ansem, no doubt the monster was hunting him down at this very moment and with two deadly keyblades nonetheless. Then he thought about Sora, the boy he so desperately wished to return to. Tears slid softly down his face and he wondered if he would ever see that bright smile ever again. Sora was like the sky, bright even in the darkness, free spirited, without boundaries as to what he could do when he put his mind to it. Riku smiled at the thought, yes Sora was his sky, Sora was like an endless blanket of love that hovered over him, even while he was bound by darkness. However, the sudden ache of hopelessness that clenched his heart caused him to doubt and he conjured up his keyblade and slowly aimed it at his heart.
"Perhaps if I die, then there can be an end to this. My heart beats for Ansem as it does for me, if I break it then surely I can drag him into death with me. Sora will be free and safe, and Ansem will be gone for good." Riku pulled the keyblade closer until he could feel its point press firmly against his chest.
"I don't want to die, but I should, shouldn't I? I don't deserve to live, not after all that I've done!" Riku cried as he recalled his alliance with Ansem, his betrayal against Sora, when Ansem raped him repeatedly, his inability to save Mickey, and his inability to stop Ansem, everything he did was wrong. "I'm worthless! Dirty! Pathetic! Damn Me!" Riku stood up weakly on his feet as if this was the moment in which he would find eternal dark peace but he suddenly dropped his keyblade and it disintegrated as soon as it touched the ground.
"What's wrong with me? Why am I thinking these things? Sora would never forgive me if I gave up! I have to be strong; I have to make Ansem pay for what he did! Argh!!! DAMN IT!" Riku paced around the campsite in an attempt to vent out all the frustration that had built up inside of him but soon found himself wandering into the darkness. Riku hadn't paid much attention to where he was going until his feet stepped in what he hoped was water. A pale light, perhaps a magical conjuration, illuminated the area to reveal a small pond surrounded by illuminated fungi-like vegetation. Beneath the shallow surface of the water, small blind creatures with transparent bodies swam around frantically as if in fear of the soft light. Riku's attention was drawn to the fact that in each creature he could make out the rapid beating of the creatures' primitive hearts.
"So even in this darkness, you're frail little hearts are your own." said Riku softly to himself. A sudden harsh splash caught Riku's attention suddenly and he looked out towards the other side of the pond. It appeared to be Sephiroth but he had his back to Riku. The man stood waist deep in the cool water and he doused himself with another small bucket of water. Long silver locks clung to slick moist skin and disappeared below the water's surface and on one side, a great ebony wing of dark feathers stretched out and then coiled back to fold neatly over the owner's back. Riku gulped at the sight, the man was absolutely gorgeous and he could feel his cheeks begin to flush. Sephiroth didn't so much as turn as he called out knowingly to Riku.
"How long are you going to stand there? If you came to take a bath feel free to join me, otherwise scat, I don't like it when people stare at me."
"uh, Sorry bout that. It's just, you're wing?"
"Let's just say it's a reminder."
"A reminder for what?"
"None of your business."
"Hmph! Whatever."
Riku still wasn't sure if Sephiroth was good or bad, but he couldn't deny how good a bath sounded right now. Riku stripped himself of his clothes and walked hesitantly to the water's edge.
"What's taking you so long?"
"It's nothing! It's just that… erm… well."
"Spit it out!"
"There are weird things living in the water!"
"What?"
"Look, fish and crabs are one thing, but these things are kinda alien looking."
"They're blind Riku, they're not gonna see you if that's the problem." Sephiroth's voice dripped with sarcasm, after all, Riku was acting like a prissy little girl.
"Shut up!"
"Either get in or stay dirty, but don't stand there naked while complaining about a few blind fish in the water."
At that moment Sephiroth turned to face Riku out of an odd need to let the boy clearly know just how irritated he was. However, Riku freaked when Sephiroth's piercing eyes met his and he instinctively leapt into the water out of a need for modesty.
"Oh for Bahamut's sake!" muttered Sephiroth as he turned back around to continue his bath. Meanwhile Riku tried not to think of the strange alien fish that he knew were swimming all around him as he carefully paced around in the pound.
Sephiroth was immersed in his own thoughts as Riku explored the pond. He still wasn't sure why he had decided to save the boy, perhaps it was the boy's startling resemblance towards him, maybe it was the lack of anything better to do, or maybe it was simply a basic need to help someone in need. Sephiroth shook his head, so many weird things had been happening lately, the heartless demons were becoming harder to kill and much more aggressive while he too was having his own strange dreams. Ever since he had picked the boy named Riku up, Sephiroth could sense something evil was amiss.
Sephiroth was woken from his ponderings by the sudden series of loud splashes. Sephiroth turned to see Riku struggling against something in the water; apparently all of his walking around had woken something up. Sephiroth reached for Masamune as he made his way quickly to where Riku fought a losing battle against what appeared to be some sort of gross, octopus-like heartless demon.
"Riku!"
Riku couldn't cry out to answer Sephiroth since he was continuously being jerked into the water by the huge tentacles that had bound him. Each time he came to the surface, he coughed up water and sputtered helplessly as his lungs burned for air.
Sephiroth charged to huge demon and in one stroke managed to kill the beast. Sephiroth then grabbed the unconscious Riku and hauled him to the shore of the pond. Sephiroth immediately began to use mouth to mouth resuscitation in an attempt to revive Riku. After a few seconds, Sephiroth succeeded and was met with furious green eyes and an attempted slap to the face which he managed to catch before being struck.
"I believe a 'thank-you' is in order."
"Don't you dare touch me!"
"Tch, Relax you idiot, what did you think I was doing?"
Riku looked up at Sephiroth who was leaning over him, both of them were nude and soaking wet, could things get any more suggestive?
"Get off of me!" cried Riku angrily as he struggled to get up only to have a firm hand planted on his chest as he was pushed down onto his back.
"I said 'Calm Down' Riku, I'm not gonna try and screw you if that's what you're crazed mind is thinking."
"I've heard that one before!"
"You stupid little ingrate. If I wanted you, believe me I'd have you, but I've already got someone who I love in that way, and there's no way that I'd ever be unfaithful to him."
Sephiroth gave Riku a light smack on the face before getting up to go put his clothes back on. Riku followed shortly after, not quite sure how to respond but relieved and for once hopeful that maybe he had found a true ally after all.
"Riku?"
"What?"
"I like you, but I want to make one thing perfectly clear, I can't help you if you don't let me. Tomorrow we break camp and head towards the Village of Mobi to get you fixed up and buy supplies. I also have a friend there who can perhaps provide some aid. A real arrogant, overly dramatic, basket case, I'm sure you two will get along. Anyway, let's get some sleep; we've got a long walk ahead of us."
Riku actually chanced a somewhat conniving smile at Sephiroth before nodding his head in agreement and considering to himself, "I suppose that's twice now, you've saved me, and all I can do is look for ulterior motives. I hope you can forgive me, you truly are a dark angel."
To Be Continued…
Author's Notes: Well it's a start, since I have nothing to really base this off of, be prepared for a whole lot of artistic liberties. Hee Hee ^_^ Oh yeah, and expect more final fantasy characters.
P.S. I attended my first anime convention! Whoo Hoo! I got to go to Jacon 2003 in Orlando and the theme was "Villains" Rock on ^_~