Author's Note: Chapter Three!! Hooray! This is a new personal record for timely updates – three. . Anyway, once again, I'd like to thank my reviewers. You guys make my days sunshiney!
"Bluumberry"- Teehee! . yes...much of Sora's destiny will remain a secret for now. In a slight way Leon is a "bad guy", although I prefer the term "antagonist." I say "slight" because he is indeed an antagonist in that he makes it difficult for our protagonist to reach his goals, but I assure you his intentions are in no way evil. As for Riku's condition, that goes along with Sora's destiny, and his own as well. Also, I don't think Riku (he, Sora, Leon, Cloud, and many others have taken over my brain for the time being) would let me punish Sora in any other way than THAT way ....not that I'd want to...
"Um1"- I'm very, very flattered. Thank you very much! ::blushes::
"Hushed Blaze"- I'm glad you enjoy my fic! And yes, Leon is the commodore. I believe that was mentioned, although indirectly.
"Ravyn-09"- Glad you like it! Thank you!"evilgoddess1990"- Thank you! I love you too! This is my favorite fic so far so I'm glad it's so well loved!
"Super Sara Moon"- Don't worry about Riku...he's okay. I would never do anything to really hurt him...I love him far too much!! Thank you for the review by the way!
On to Chapter Three of HoD!! (teehee...that rhymes!)
Chapter Three: Silence
Riku's eyes wandered over the young man in front of him, whose bright blue eyes were wide with awe, making him look very young. Riku sensed the brunette's heart slowing, felt his anxieties flee. There was an odd familiarity about the boy, something Riku couldn't quite put his finger on. This intrigued him greatly.
But what intrigued him even more was the feeling he knew they both felt, though the boyish stowaway most likely felt it more strongly. Riku knew the boy was confused by it, but Riku recognized it easily. It was the Touch of Fate. He'd known it before. Twelve years ago to be exact. Twelve years ago, on the night he became captain of the Mistress.
Riku stepped forward, one eyebrow rising slightly as the boy continued gawking.
"What's your name?" he asked as he stopped right before the brunette, who was a good four inches shorter than him. The boy looked up at him as if pulled out of a trance.
"Huh?...oh, um...Sora."
Riku's mind played with the word. Sora...it suited the boy, who Riku didn't know what to do with. He knew very well what Leon had meant back in the cabin, when he had given Riku permission to punish the stowaway, but warning Riku to keep him out of the way. Leon had given Riku the honor of killing the boy. But that was no longer a possibility, not now that Riku had felt Fortuna's fingers weaving her spells in the air between Sora and himself. Spells that weren't to be ignored. Even now he could see the sorrowful golden eyes of that spectre that which haunted his dreams, claiming to be his Lost Fate.
"Sora?" he murmured, turning on one heel, "Follow me." He took several steps, listening for a second gait to fall in behind his, but it did not come. Turning once again, he saw the boy standing in the same spot as he was before, an expression of utter confusion on his face.
"A-aren't you...but I'm a...stowaway?" Sora sputtered.
"And hungry, no doubt." Riku replied. "Come, we'll find you some food."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Sora finished chewing his fourth slice of bread and leaned back in his chair. The captain, whose name he still did not know, sat across from him. They were in a surprisingly lavish dining room, which connected to a small parlor, and a room Sora assumed was the captain's bedchamber. He studied the captain more closely than he had previously. There was no possibility that he was more than a year older than Sora, which put the silver-haired one at about eighteen. And he was captain of a grand ship? Sora wondered how this had been achieved.
"Finished?" The captain's clear voice called. It was almost enchantingly so.
Sora nodded, somewhat embarrassed by the plethora of emptied plates in front of him, especially since the captain hadn't touched a single crumb. He narrowed his eyes at the older man, searching his delicately formed face suspiciously.
"You never told me your name." Sora accused.
The captain looked mildly surprised. "You never asked," he replied. "My name is Riku."
Sora blinked slowly. He'd heard that name before. He just knew he had. After a few moments of memory searching, Sora pouted. He hated not being able to remember things, and today that seemed to be a rather large problem.
"Why are you here?" Riku asked. There was no malice in his voice, only genuine curiosity.
"Why does anyone stow themselves away on a ship?" Sora answered as he shrugged.
"Various reasons. I've seen many stowaways in my years as a captain."
"Years?" Sora asked. Surely Riku wasn't old enough to have been captain for more than a year! He was barely old enough to be a captain in general.
Riku grunted indifferently in reply, turning his head to the side as his aquamarine eyes clouded over. This left Sora swimming in even more confusion. There were several minutes of awkward silence.
"You still have not answered me." Riku murmured as his brooding suddenly stopped, which left Sora shocked for a moment.
"Oh, um...well I guess I'm here because I wanted to escape.
"Escape. I figured as much. I suppose you're what many refer to as a 'street-rat' then?"
"I suppose so." Sora hesitated before speaking again. "Why are you here? Why are you a pirate?" Sora had ventured a not-so-wild guess at the Mistress being a pirate-ship.
There was silence again, so Sora continued. "What made you want to do this, Riku?" he used the name tentatively, as if improper use would break it.
After another, intensely silent moment, Riku replied.
"I'm looking for something." His tone was firm and final, indicating that no further questions would be asked, and if they were they would go unanswered. But Riku's questions were not over. "What do you wish to escape from?"
"Everything. The streets. The cold. The cruelty. All of it. I never realized how much I needed to get away from everything until yesterday evening when..." Sora trailed off, uncertain if he still had an audience.
"When...?" Riku probed, erasing Sora's doubts.
"When I met Oriel."
Riku looked at Sora in shock, but said nothing. Had the brunette really met Oriel? It was possible, but unlikely. The boy didn't seem to realize the significance of the name he'd spoken. Perhaps Oriel was a popular name these days? No one spoke of meeting her, unless she was met along with the person being spoken too. And even then it was not spoken of lightly. Silence was best when matters concerned Oriel.
Riku dismissed these thoughts quickly, unwilling to think of such things at the present moment. "Well, I suppose you'll need a place to sleep."
Sora stared up at him in utter disbelief.
"Huh?" he asked.
"You do wish to stay aboard do you not? Or would you rather I slit your throat and throw your body to the seas?" Riku said this with the tiniest glimmer of a smile. "You may sleep in the parlor. I believe there is a trunk of bed linens there. We will meet again tomorrow night. Until then you may do as you please. The crew knows you are not to be harmed. Just stay clear of my chamber, and all will go smoothly."
As Riku spoke Sora felt that same sharp pain and draining that he had in the first of his strange dreams, only now it had moved to his inner left thigh. Doubling over, he nodded his agreement weakly, and looked up at Riku with painful eyes. The elder's expression was bewildered, but his eyes harbored something Sora couldn't quite recognize. He briefly entertained the thought that, perhaps, Riku had felt something odd as well. Sora let out a shuddering breath as the pain in his leg faded.
"You..." Riku's voice wavered very slightly as he uttered that one syllable. "You should probably get some sleep now. Until tomorrow." He turned and walked into his bedchamber, still a little phased. He knew what Sora had felt just then, for he'd felt something as well. While he knew Sora had felt a draining, he himself had felt something fill him with warmth. A warmth that he'd felt fill him once before. A warmth he would never forget. It was clear to him now. Sora was the One.
Riku removed his boots and cape, discarding them carelessly. He grabbed a thin strip of black silk and tied it about his eyes. Dawn was coming, and with her prying rays came anguish. Riku climbed into his large bed, hoping to sleep a while before sunrise.
As he slipped into the welcoming embrace of slumber, those golden eyes returned to him. They did not speak to him as they usually did, but pierced him with their silent questions. Questions he understood clearly.
"I am lost. Where are you?"