Dark Empathy
A Kingdom Hearts Fan-Fiction

Average Read Time: 16 mins

Chapter Two

Pressure. Pressure with exotic pleasure. That was how it felt. The hand held his limp appendage in a firm grasp, while the other hand held his wrists above his head. The fingers that were around his member, gently stroked the tip of the head and down the shaft. A long thumbnail swept across the opening of the head as pre-cum began to slither under the thumb.
Pressure. The pressure was back again as he tried to keep from releasing the load he felt building inside of him. Bastard. Sick bastard. Why was he doing this to him?
A God-forsaken moan escaped from his lips before he could stop himself. The hand was moving down to the base now, pulling and palming up and down the shaft. Despite the fact it was a glorious feeling, his head told him otherwise. He didn't want this. He didn't want this! The fingers moved away from his member abruptly before he could come. The man was doing this on purpose. The scowl that was beginning to move across his lips however, turned into that of shock when he looked the other up in the eyes. Those eyes. They held lust, and murder. The mix of the two blended into what he was now.

His body was suddenly turned around so that his stomach was on the ground, and his back facing the other. He wasn't quite sure what the man was planning on doing, but he twitched in horror when he figured it out. The man was beginning to move himself inside of him.

Ryne awoke with a jolt, and stared into the sudden whiteness of the room. It took a while for his eyes to adjust to the brightness. His brows furrowed in confusion. Why was everything so white? His eyes widened suddenly, as thoughts began flooding into his head. "Oh my God..." He nearly whispered into the air. "I'm dead."

A soft giggle startled him to sit upright then. "You're not dead." A feminine voice said lightly.

Ryne turned his gaze over towards his left where he heard the voice come from. A woman stood there with a tray of food in her hands. She was wearing a pink dress, and had a matching pink ribbon attached to the back of her head. Brown boots adorned her feet as well. Forest green eyes peered at Ryne with interest from beneath parted bangs. She tilted her head to the side some, letting the brown locks fall over her shoulder. "And how are you feeling today?" She asked softly, setting the tray down at the bedside table. It had a couple fruits on it, and what seemed to be oatmeal in a ceramic bowl.

"Like shit." He replied as he started to raise a hand to his head. He stopped in mid motion when he saw the IV hooked into his hand. He stared at it, and then began looking around. Almost all the furniture in the room was white. Dressers, beds, sheets... There were also curtains encasing beds in the room to ensure privacy. However, he was the only person in the room, save for the woman. At least, he thought so judging by the empty, and neatly made beds. Other items including medical equipment and various monitors told him this was a hospital.

He froze and then looked to the woman who was still standing beside him. "What happened to me?"

The woman smiled sadly as she pulled up a chair next to his bed. "You were in a car accident." She said, watching him carefully. It almost looked like she was holding back a relief of tension.

Ryne stared right back at her and decided to ask. "Why do you look so relieved?"

The woman opened her mouth to speak, but the sound of the door opening to the room had caught both of their attention.

An elderly man walked in at that point, dressed in all white. A long white beard hung down the front of his robe and traveled all the way down to his feet, where he had similar white slippers. A long pointed hat sat atop of his head to top off his outfit. The only bit of colour that mildly stood out was his hazel eyes that were shielded behind round spectacles.

He stepped forward and underneath the mat of white beard hair, a small smile broke through. "Ah, I see you've finally decided to wake up." He said.

Ryne's jaw dropped as he stared at the elderly man. Oh my God, Ryne thought to himself, as he noted the others attire. He's a member of the K.K.K.

The man frowned and looked at Ryne a bit irately. "Con found it, for the last time, I am not!" He said crossly. Apparently he could read minds. But Ryne's expression probably gave it away as well that he figured that out.

"I'm just trying to fit in, is all." He continued as he took out a long wooden wand from one of the robes' pockets. Ryne wasn't exactly sure how he was able to conceal that wand without having anyone notice it.

Wait... a wand?

"Shazoo!" The man said as he waved the wand above him with two bony fingers. His outfit had instantly changed into a royal blue instead of white. "It always seems to be the hat." He muttered to himself as he touched the tip of his hat carefully, before he pocketed the wand once more. "Ah well." He now turned to the woman. "You can leave now Aerith. I'll take it from here." He said, smiling again.

Aerith nodded and stood up and off the chair. She made her way toward the door and shut it softly behind her.

The man waited until she was gone before speaking. "Sweet girl, she is." He said as he began to stroke his beard a bit. "Very helpful nurse indeed." He then looked back at Ryne. "Right then. We should do a few checkups on you to see how you're pulling through." He said as he moved toward the bed. As he did so, he pulled out his wand from his pocket.

Ryne backed up against the head of the bed, sitting up a bit straighter. He did not want that thing near him.

The man sighed, and stopped about a foot away from the bed. "Look, I'm not going to turn you into a frog or anything. Levitating things just makes my life easier." He said, obviously having read his mind again. To prove his point, he lifted the wand again and levitated an apple off the food tray that Aerith had left behind. He grabbed the apple in mid-air, and held it in his hand. "See?" He said before taking a bite of the fruit.

"Oh." Ryne looked away now, feeling a bit foolish. However, questions began to flood into his head causing him to look back at the old man. "Who are you?" Was his first blurted question.

"Well, I'm Merlin my dear boy. Magician extraordinaire! As well as a professional doctor." He paused for a moment, and raised his eyes a bit to the ceiling. "I think." He scratched the side of his head a bit. That wasn't too comforting. The man noted Ryne's sudden nervousness then, and he couldn't help but smile.

Ryne stared at him carefully, looking Merlin up and down. Well that explained the outfit, and the wand. But that still didn't explain why he was here in the first place. "What happened to me?" He repeated the question he had asked Aerith moments before.

Merlin's smile faltered and he became more serious now. "You were in a car accident." He stated.

"I've got that much, but what else happened to me?"

Merlin sighed and stroked his beard absent mindly. "You were in a coma Ryne." He said looking off ahead of him.

Ryne felt a sick churning in the pit of his stomach at that point. "A coma...?" He repeated staring at Merlin with full attention now. He cringed before daring to ask another question. "For how long?"

Merlin continued to keep his gaze away from Ryne as he spoke. "A good several weeks. Twenty-three days to be exact." He began. "We were afraid you might not come back at all." He said with sadness underlying his tone. "The neurological damage done to your brain was severe. Severe enough to make you not come back at all." He said the last part softly as he turned to the side. "There was only a very small chance of you coming back..."

Ryne's mouth had opened a bit in sheer shock. He felt about ready to hurl, and just by letting the information sink into his head he felt about ready to cry. He cringed and lowered his gaze to the floor. "How much of a small chance...?"

Merlin turned around and shook his head. "It was very small. That's all you should need to know."

Ryne's gaze flicked up in anger and he glared at the older man. "Look, I'm alive now, aren't I?" He practically shouted at him. "What does it matter if I am now? For Christ's sake, just tell me the God damn number!" He felt his hands tremble on the bed from clenching them so tightly into fists.

Merlin looked at Ryne fully now. He stared at him for a long time without saying a word. It seemed ages before he finally spoke. "Five percent." He muttered slowly.

Ryne's breath caught in his chest at that point. Five percent...? Five percent? Good lord. He couldn't speak. He couldn't move. He felt as though he were frozen in time. Like he was to think that one and only thought over and over again.

Merlin brought him back into reality when he levitated a stethoscope into the air and brought it to his hand. He had taken it off a table full of medical equipment and supplies. "I'm just going to check some things to make sure your body is working properly." He said softly. He was trying to change the topic so Ryne could take his mind off of what he'd just been told.

For the next half hour, Merlin checked various parts of his body, such as his breathing, heart rate, reflexes, and other things. Throughout the whole procedure, Ryne sat silent and unmoving. He was immobile but he wasn't completely oblivious. He had found out the numerous injuries he had, that he hadn't noticed before.

There was a thick bandage wrapped around his head, and his lower chest. There were bandages on the few minor cuts and gauze tightly wound around the flesh where there were much larger wounds. He hadn't exactly broken anything. Just sprained a few ribs where the bandage around his chest was. There were an awful lot of cuts though. He wanted to ask why he had so many, but he really didn't want anymore disturbing news today. So he had kept to himself.

Merlin had soon left him and headed out of the room to let Ryne rest up. Ryne wasn't quite sure how much sleep he would honestly get within the next few days he spent in the hospital by himself. Instead of sleeping, and in hopes of avoiding any nightmares, he simply lay there and tried to calm himself back into a serene state. It was all he could do to try and pass the time he held by himself there.

The sound of footsteps echoing down the hall near his doorway was what got his attention after a few good hours of doing absolutely nothing that morning. He couldn't have slept at all. He hadn't had any nightmares. He wouldn't succumb himself to falling asleep anyway. Assuming it was just Merlin or Aerith coming up to check on him, he lay back on the bed and shut his eyes once more.

"Ryne?" The familiar voice came, as the door opened and the young man peered his head around the corner of the door.

Ryne's eyes opened instantly, and he turned his head to look at the door. "Riku...?" He called slowly, and then saw his brother's form standing there and watching him. It was Deja Vu all over again. It was just like old times. The memories of Riku coming into his room in the mornings rushed back to him. He felt tears well up inside of him as he started to sit up.

"Jesus." Riku muttered softly, and quickly hurried to Ryne's bed, and embraced him tightly. His arms wrapped around his brothers' backside, and pressed his forehead into the crook of Rynes' neck. "I thought... I thought you were. They told me you probably wouldn't..." He began to speak nonsense in a shaky voice, unable to finish his sentences.

Ryne felt pain in his chest from how Riku was hugging him, but he didn't care. He just wanted to have Riku hold him. He just wanted to sit there, and hug him back. It was only a few moments before he felt the tears drip onto his bare shoulder. He hesitated before he let go of Riku to look him in the eye. He was crying.

Tears streamed in fine lines down Riku's face, as he watched his brother in silence. His hands were still wrapped around his back, unable to let go. Ryne felt them tremble on his backside. Riku eventually took one of those hands away from his back, and brought it up to brush a piece of the platinum hair that had fallen in his eyes. He cleared his throat a bit, before his gaze wavered off to the side a bit. "I was so scared... that I was going to lose you again." He said softly.

Ryne could feel tears stream down his face now as well. "I know. I can't believe..." He couldn't finish his sentence now either. His voice was becoming shaky now like Riku's had before.

"I was so scared for you Ryne." He said watching him carefully. "After I saw you go through the window, I knew that there would be something awful that happened to you."

Ryne shifted his head from the gaze that had followed the others to the floor, and looked at him in the eyes now. "What?"

Riku blinked. "You mean, you don't remember?"

Ryne glanced down a moment to think. He tried thinking back to the last thing he remembered and felt. It was glass. He cringed, and looked at Riku again. "I sort of do... What happened after I went through the window?"

"After the car skidded off the side of the road it hit the hydro pole, and that's probably what sent you through the window from impact. There was so much force on the pole that it bent over and landed on the ground. You were only a few feet away from where the pole landed." Riku shook his head. "You don't know how lucky you are Ryne. That pole could have crushed you."

"Yeah, well my head wasn't so lucky now was it." He muttered in a low tone.

Riku frowned a little, running fingers down his face again to wipe away the tears, trying to hide the evidence of his empathy towards his brother. "No... You're right. The rocks your head hit in the ditch were what brought you into this hospital. But you're strong. I knew you'd come through." He whispered softly, and gently placed a kiss on his forehead before leaning back again.

A kiss? That was different. He knew his brother cared about him, but he really didn't know he cared for him so much as to kiss him. It wasn't that he didn't like it. In fact... a little part of him wanted him to desperately him again. Perhaps on his lips, or maybe something more. He stopped his thoughts right there, when he noticed that Riku was silent and was watching him after he had kissed his forehead. He stared at him, and quickly tried to come up with something so that he wouldn't see him begin to flush. "So if I went out the window, how come you didn't?" He asked quickly. It actually hadn't turned out to be a bad question. Something he probably would have asked sooner or later. "You weren't wearing a seatbelt either."

"I had a death grip on the door handle." Riku answered lightly. "But I let go as soon as I saw you go through the window." He stopped, and suddenly started to raise his shirt.

Ryne blinked in surprise and straightened up on the bed a bit. What hell was Riku doing? First a kiss, now he was taking his shirt off? "What... what are you doing?" He asked as he began to stare at the muscled flesh that was being exposed to him. He stared at Riku's abdomen and worked his eyes up his figure slowly. But his gaze had stopped at the top of his stomach. He knew why he was lifting his shirt. He was showing him a mark on his chest that had started to scab up. It wasn't too big. It almost looked like a knife wound. But it was angled in an awkward position.

"After I let go of the handle, the impact had already happened. But the pole was just starting to fall. The wires above had snapped off from the other poles, and one of the live wires hit the front window of the car. It had fallen with a few bits of metal and had landed right on top of me. A shard of glass went through my chest." He said, and pulled his shirt back down, and leaned into the back of the chair beside the bed. Ryne had to keep himself from whining in protest when he saw that the flesh of his body was hidden once more. "So aside from getting electrocuted and the shard stuck in me, I was pretty well safe."

Ryne nodded his head, having looked away from Riku for the moment. He paused remembering who else was in the car with them. "What about Leon and Sora? What happened to them?"

A scowl formed on Riku's lips as he glared off. His nails had dug into Ryne's back as soon as he mentioned those two.

Ryne winced in pain, and shifted uncomfortably on the bed.

Riku stopped applying pressure onto his back, when he realized that he had hurt Ryne in the process of his anger. "Sorry..." He muttered softly, and moved his hand away from his back now. "Leon and Sora. They had air bags. So they weren't harmed at all." He said, and then he suddenly began to smirk. "But that shitheads car is demolished now." He said referring to Leon.

Ryne raised his brows. He had noted some tension between the two before, but he didn't know it was this bad. He honestly had no idea what his grudges were against Leon in the first place. He let out a small sigh, and he looked off again, trying to think of anything else he needed clarified. That about summed it all up. But there was just one last thing he needed to know. One of the most important questions he had to ask. He looked at Riku again, distress attached in his gaze.

"When can I go home?"

Riku slowly started to smile, and he embraced his brother once more. This time he was careful to be gentle and to not hurt him any further. "Right now. That's why I'm here. Aerith called me a few days ago, when you first woke up. She said I couldn't see you until today, because he was still doing some checkups on your body. That's why he kept you for a bit to make sure you were alright. He says you're fine, and that you can go now."

Ryne smiled and turned his head away from Riku. Thank God. He couldn't stand to be in this place another minute. He just wanted to go to his own house, his own room. His own bed... He needed to also get his mind off of the past events, and what had all happened within the past month.

Riku started to stand up now, and looked at Ryne with a gentle look. Tears were threatening to pour down again his face again. "Let's go home." He whispered softly.

Those last few words that Riku spoke were like heaven to his ears. And he wouldn't want to have it any other way.

(Go to Chapter Three)

© Stravik, 2006