A/N: Sorry for not updating in a while. I was working on a different story. Enjoy!!

Chapter 10

"We should probably call each other different names since each double has the same." Sye announced.

Heads nodded.

"Alright, I'm Sye, that's Sephiroth," he gestured to his double, "you're Prince, or Prince Ryo," he gestured to the prince and more heads nodded, "my Rowen is Rowen, and the second one will be…"

"Asriel." Sephiroth smiled. "It's his middle name." He blushed.

"Alright, you'll be Asriel. Our Ryo will be Ryo and Seiji is Seiji, then your general Seiji will be General Seiji, or General."

Everyone except Asriel agreed. "I am confused."The manturned to Sephiroth. "What is going on?"

"We all have doubles from another world." Sephiroth smiled as he explained. "They are good people; they are just from another world."

Asriel nodded. "There are two princes as well?" He wondered.

"Yes." Prince Ryo answered.

"How should we go about saving Ryo?" Sye asked looking up to Seiji. "Do we even know where he could be?"

"I have no idea." Seiji sighed and seemed very tired all of a sudden. He sat on the stone table and leaned his elbows on his knees, resting his head in his hands. Seiji was desperately fighting tears.

Sye took steps toward him, but Prince Ryo touched his shoulder lightly and Sye stopped.

The prince walked calmly over to Seiji and put his hands over Seiji's. When Seiji looked up to him, Ryo entwined his fingers with Seiji's, leaning closer to him. He smiled.

"You really love him, don't you?" Ryo asked. Seiji hardened his face and sat up a little straighter.

"With all my heart." He replied, fiercely honest.

"If you never find him here, do you think you would be able to go on living?" Ryo continued.

"No." Seiji answered plainly.

"Now you know how I feel." Ryo whispered softly and they both smiled. Ryo caressed Seiji cheek and tilted his head. "You look and sound exactly like him. Even if your speech is more slanted, you still speak with the same emphasis and passion as he." He smiled. "Any possibility that you are royalty." They both started to laugh.

"Not a chance." Seiji answered.

"Uh!" A fake cough. "My Prince!" A voice shouted from another corridor. Ryo pulled away from Seiji and looked over to her.

"What is it, Flora?" He yelled back calmly.

A short little brown haired girl came running up to him with a book in hand and side bag off her shoulder.

"My prince, I think I have found a way…" She saw the twins of Rowen and Sye and stopped.

"Continue."The princeordered sternly.

"Uh, yes, uh, I may have discovered a way to find the general." She squeaked.

They all perked up and came closer to her.

"How?" Ryo asked patiently.

"Well, sir, the work that Sir Aries was doing before he left was rather accurate except for the disaster part. All of it was based on this one cave in the Heartland. It was supposed to hold dragons inside with mystical powers, Sir. I believe he may have gone there, but…"

"But what?" Sye asked a little on edge.

"He would have needed your power to get in, my Prince." She spoke so softly that only Ryo could hear her properly.

"My power? Why would he need my power?" Ryo repeated.

"It is the only way to supposedly get into the cave and conger up the dragons to do his bidding. And…" Her face contorted, half afraid, half anxious.

"What?" Ryo asked quickly.

"He would need a sacrifice. A very strong person to sacrifice to the dragons."

They all looked at each other.

"Seiji." They mumbled.

"Excuse me, Sir?" She asked suspiciously.

"Nothing." Ryo told her. "I will need a map to this place and a guide if necessary." He insisted.

"I have the map here." She went through her satchel and produced a folded up piece of old parchment. "It is the only one, I'm afraid. With an X on it and everything. It shows a red line from our palace to the place and labels other things like mountains and such."

"How do we know he hasn't made the dragons rise yet?" Seiji asked spitefully.

"General," the little girl continued, "he can not call the dragons until the full moon. It is the only time they will come."

"How far away is the full moon?!" Rowen yelled, not believing the course things had taken.

"Three days, Sir." She answered.

"That will be all, Flora." Ryo shooed her away and she went with a little curtsey. He was still looking at the map. "It shouldn't take too long to get there if we leave now on horseback."

"I'm a bit confused still." Asriel spoke up. "Does this other Prince Ryo have powers as well?"

"Deep inside, probably." Sephiroth answered. "We are so similar, even down to our scars. I believe that he does have the power, it is just buried in his soul. It is probably the same with us all. Any strength or skill one has that the other doesn't is probably there, just buried inside of ourselves."

They all agreed.

"We must get going though. He might be torturing them, the devil!" Ryo snapped and headed out the door.

"Where are you going?!" A voice shouted to him and Ryo turned back quickly. Sye and Rowen quickly hid behind the stone table when they saw the crown on the old man's head.

"He must be the king." Sye noticed and Rowen nodded.

"I have to leave the palace for a few days." Ryo replied to his father.

"I am days away from dying and you want to leave me?!" The old man hollered.

"You have plenty of servants to care for you, Father! This task must be taken care of." Ryo growled.

"Don't you raise your voice to me! I forbid you from leaving!" He was a shorter man, but not by much; an inch shorter than Ryo perhaps, not much of a noticeable difference. His hair was gray and he didn't have all his teeth and even though he did stand up straight, he still seemed sick. "What could be more important than me?!"

"My love!" He yelled back. "The one I love is far more important than you, Father!"

"Who is she?" He wondered, now a bit more happy, his eyes seeming to come ot life again.

"He." Ryo corrected, and his father's face fell drastically. "And it doesn't matter. I will inherit the crown and he will be by my side. I must go fetch him now though. I will be taking my horses."

"You do not dare leave me!" The old man yelled.

"I am leaving." Ryo warned, his voice dark and angered.

"If you walk out that door right now, you will forfeit the crown!"

There was a long moment of silence and Ryo just turned and left. Everyone was shocked except Seiji.

Ryo would give up a throne for me. He thought and smiled. God I love him so much.

Seiji, Rowen, Asriel, Sye, and Sephiroth all left quickly after Ryo, who still had the map.

The old man was left there alone.

"My son." He whispered. "My only son and no wife." He walked back to his room and collapsed onto his bed. "My son." He cried.

Ryo opened his eyes and groaned. He was on a floor of hard dirt and wet hay.

"Ryo." A familiar voice whispered.

Ryo looked up, painfully turning his head, and he saw Seiji.

"My love." He whispered and Seiji seemed shocked, then happy.

"Yes." He smiled. It was almost completely black in the small cell, Ryo realized he was in. Three of his walls were bars and his cage attached to Seiji's by one wall. He crawled on all fours up to Seiji and reached through the bars, grabbing his neck, and pulling him closer. They kissed and Seiji was again shocked, but only tense for a moment. When they parted Seiji was smiling.

"Oh, Seiji, where are we? Where's Sye and Rowen?"

"Who?" Seiji asked and frowned.

"Our friends." Ryo furrowed his brow, as if Seiji should know this. "What happened after that red-haired asshole grabbed me? Are the others okay?"

"What are you talking about, my Prince? Did Aries come after you as well?!" Seiji asked, hatefully.

"Prince?" Ryo snapped. "I'm no prince."

"Yes, you are. You are Prince Ryo Fay Soma, soon to be king."

"No, I'm just plain Ryo Sanada. I don't have parents; they're dead."

"No, the king is still living." Seiji argued. Ryo backed away from him.

"You're not my Seiji." Ryo gasped.

"No, he isn't!" Aries laughed evilly.

"You bastard!" Ryo shouted. "Where the fuck am I?"

"In a different dimension from your own!" He laughed from the front of Ryo's cage. "I would have captured his prince, but it was too hard. He has so much protection."

"You foul beast!" Seiji shouted ,standing up. "Don't you dare speak ill of the prince! Who is this, if he is not the prince?" He pointed to Ryo.

"That is Ryo. He still is your prince, only from a different world where he wasn't born royalty. He's just a normal teenager." Aries laughed. "You, my friend." He pointed to Ryo. "You will help me unleash a horrible terror onto this world and help me rule over everything."

"I will do no such thing!" Ryo retorted.

"You will, whether you like it or not!" He turned to Seiji. "And you will be my sacrifice to the dragons he will unleash." Aries laughed again. "And you will both die, because all that power going through you will kill you and he is the bait!" Aries' cackling laugh filled the dark cave as he disappeared from sight.

A lone candle sat on the opposite wall lighting up almost nothing of the long corridor of rock and dirt.

Seiji sat angrily back down and he made eye contact with Ryo who was crying softly. Both of their attitudes lightened as they looked at each other.

"You are not my Seiji then." He sighed. "I hope he at least survives this."

"You love him, obviously." Seiji whispered.

"And the other me doesn't love you?" Ryo asked turning to him.

"He does… I suppose." Seiji whispered.

"Are you royalty too?"

"No. I'm a general to his army."

"So the rules say you guys can't be together?" Ryo nodded, talking to himself for a moment. "That sucks. Seiji and I hid our love for each other from other people, then we decided that we didn't care. I am the leader of my school -so to speak- and anyone that goes against me gets hurt and hurt bad, so no one dares to say anything about us being together. Why should it be any different for you?" Seiji ogled him. "Make love every night. Kiss when you part. Yell, 'I love you' across the room to each other. This adventure has only made me want to be closer to Seiji than ever. Talk to the other me, and make him understand that you shouldn't be stopped from loving because of some dumb rule."

Seiji laughed. "I wish you were he. You seem so much more open than he is."

"Maybe he's just afraid." Ryo whispered softly now. "I was afraid before, but then I…" His voice became stronger. "Then Seiji knocked some sense into me, and its been sex and love with us ever since. You know what!? I'm positive Seiji is fine. He's probably on his way over here to save me as we speak! God I love that guy."

Seiji smiled. "I wish I could be that sure."

"Hey!" Ryo yelled. "If I know me, then I know him, right? When he finds out where we are, he'll come to save us. What kind of a leader would he be if he didn't? He has an army and he's afraid to come here? No way!"

"His father, the King, will not allow him to leave. He has been forbidden to leave the palace for a time, because his father is dying, and he wants his son to be there when it happens."

"You think that's going to stop him?" Ryo asked.

"He will be denied the throne if he goes against his father's wishes." Seiji insisted.

"My question stands." Ryo told him and just stared right at him. Seiji was speechless.

Would he give up his throne… for me?! He thought about it for a while and remained undecided.

Sye laughed a he rode on his seventeen-hand-high black stallion.

"I know this is supposed to be a serious adventure to save our friends, but I can't help but have fun." He smiled when Seiji glared at him gravely. "I haven't been riding in ages. I think this will be my next sport!"

Rowen looked over to Sye, and couldn't help but laugh himself.

"You're an idiot." He told him.

"Yes, but an idiot that is having fun!" He pointed out. Rowen shook his head disdainfully, and still laughing. Everyone seemed fine as they rode on their fine, purebred stallions. All of them full grown large horses that went quite fast up the mountain trail.

"To get to this cave," Prince Ryo started, looking at the map as he rode, "we have to go over this mountain, over a long old rope bridge to another mountain, up that one and through a long deserted trade cavern, then we are half way there."

"Half way?!" Rowen groaned. "How much farther after that?"

"Another day's travel after that." Ryo answered.

"Why haven't you people invented cars and highways?" Rowen complained to himself.

"Cars? High-ways? What are these things you speak of?" Sephiroth asked riding next to Sye.

"Faster ways of getting to places. Highways are long flat plains that cars travel on and you can go seventy miles in one hour." Sye answered.

"That is physically impossible." Sephiroth replied.

"It's true. We don't need horses to travel anymore. Everything is done with machines and we can travel into space."

"Space?" Sephiroth repeated. Sye pointed up to the sky, where the moon could vaguely be seen behind a cloud, even during the dyalight.

"That planet there -well, actually it's a moon, but we call itthe Moon. We have been on the Moon." He smiled as Sephiroth gaped at him.

"Unbelievable." He sighed.

"True." Sye nodded.

"What about illnesses? How do you cure pains in your head?" Sephiroth snapped, excited now.

"Headaches?" Sye asked. "We have pills to get rid of those. We have pills for almost every kind of pain in your body."

"Impressive." Sephiroth nodded. "And what forms of entertainment do you have with all of this technology?"

"Nothing you would like." Sye laughed. "All our new entertainment is music, video games, computers, internet, cards, stuff like that. We watch people get hurt in sports and games, wrestling…" He paused. "Nothing that interesting."

"I have never heard most of those words before, but it sounds fascinating."

"I suppose." Sye shrugged. "We just take what we have for granted, I guess."

"We've been traveling for a few hours now." Asriel noted. "May we stop to eat something?" He wondered.

Ryo sighed. "If we must." He halted his horse when they came to a flatter area of the trail. They all dismounted and opened their saddlebag like things. Everyone carried a satchel and a saddlebag over their horses shoulder blades. The horses were beautiful, but different than horses from their world. These horses had red eyes and cloven hooves, but were otherwise the same. There wasn't a saddle on the horses either, they only used blankets under them as they rode.

Ryo had gotten them all the food they would need for three days. Ryo himself only took a small piece of bread and started nibbling on it. Seiji ate an apple, while he stood next to Ryo. They exchanged no words or glances, they just stood there and watched Sephiroth and Rowen sit together, while Asriel just sat near them listening to their talk about their worlds in contrast.

Sye leaned against a tree away from them all, but on the edge of the path. He crossed his ankles as Ryo came up to him and they started to associate. He stood in front of Sye, a polite distance away.

The horses were all tied to a tree next to Sye, eating the bark off the tree instead of the grass below it.

Things went on like this for a while, until Sye caught a glimpse of something shining from the rays of the sun. It was a reflection of metal on the opposite side of the clearing. Sye saw it was an arrow head and he gasped; it was aimed for Ryo.

"Shit!" He yelled and they all looked at him. The arrow was released. Sye grabbed Ryo and spun him against the tree just in time. The arrow hit Sye through his back and they all gasped as it impaled him.

"Sye!" Rowen yelled as he collapsed against Ryo.

Asriel and Sephiroth pulled swords from their saddlebags and prepared to fight.

Several warriors in armor jumped out of the forest and attacked them. The horses were riled up and when a warrior got close to them, they kicked him across the road sprawling.

Seiji saw a sword gleam from Ryo's saddled bag as well, so he drew it and started to help Asriel and Sephiroth fight. He became quite good at it quickly, considering he had never used a sword before in his entire life.

Ryo sat frightened with Sye on the ground. Sye refused to lie down though, he stayed sitting and gasping. The arrow had impaled him, but missed his lung. He knew that, he could feel both of his lungs still able to expand completely.

When the warriors started to lose they retreated, but no one went after them. Rowen ran over to Sye quickly and fell down beside him.

"Sye!" He gasped.

"Don't touch it!" Sye yelled trying to catch his breath.

"You saved my life." Ryo whispered to him.

"You're no different than our Ryo and I would do the same for him." Sye clenched his teeth in pain.

"Can you not heal him, my Prince?" Asriel asked. It obviously hurt him to see either form of Sye in pain.

"I could if this were only an arrow wound." Ryo replied frowning. He gently touched the head of the arrow. He lifted the bit of blood from his fingers and smelled it. "Definitely poison." He sighed. "Whoever they were, this arrow was meant for me and even though I can not heal myself I suppose they were just trying to be sure it would get the job done." He paused. "I'm sorry, Sye." He whispered.

"What a way to go?" Sye groaned resignedly.

"Can you at least take it out and heal the arrow wound? He'll live longer. Maybe we can find a cure for him." Seiji snapped, he scowled.

"It would just be prolonging his pain." Ryo whispered to Seiji. "I will not do that to him."

Rowen grabbed Ryo by his necklaces and pulled their faces inches apart. He was scowling hatefully.

"I don't give a shit if you're a fucking prince, if you can help Sye at all right now, do it! He's not going to die! I won't let him! As long as he survives long enough to leave this world, then he can still be saved by our doctors!" Rowen released Ryo and he sat back, then moved calmly back to Sye. "You're not going to die." He whispered gently, soothing Sye's hair away from his face as he tried to convince himself of the same thing.

A/N: Please review.