Dai: It's been awhile since I updated. But I guess it doesn't matter, really.

Serge: You're being awfully bitter today.

Dai: I know. I'm sorry. Anyway—story time. Ugh. Did that sound as corny as it felt?

Serge: Yeah.

Dai: Figures.

Disclaimer: Um, yeh.

l…l

Enthraille: The Orphan's Story

Chapter Four

There was a crackle of electricity by the far end of the room. "Ansem?"

A shrouded figure looked up from the books strewn over his desk, ancient pages open to mystical diagrams and writings. "Larxene," he greeted the blonde Spirit who approached him. "What are you here for now? I haven't laid out any orders just yet."

"We found out that a few counterfeit Spirits were wandering through the woods near Aidran just the other day," she explained. "I went to Middel to search for them and ran into an interesting little boy who seemed to recognize my cloak. He wouldn't talk straight, but in the end I found someone I think you're going to be very interested in." She tossed something that sounded thinly metallic against the desk.

Ansem inspected the pendant curiously. "The Enthraille coat of arms," he remarked, turning it over so that it glinted silver-blue in the dim light. His lips curved in an amused smile. "Looks like the prince has left his castle at last. Where on earth could he be going?"

"From the look of it, he's gathering information," Larxene surmised. "Princes don't usually end up in Traverse Town just for the hell of it."

Nodding, Ansem slipped the royal pendant into a drawer. "If that's the case, he's more than likely going to cross the sea, either to Kianus for the Centaur manuscripts or Kushinda to seek counsel with the Faeries. Be a dear and let Zexion know, won't you?"

Smirking, Larxene bowed and vanished in a soft electric sizzle.

l…l

"Spies?" Sora interrupted as he and Riku prepared for departure.

"We all use them," Riku replied matter-of-factly. "Daguta, Kushinda, Luana—and especially Serre. Enthrailles aren't particularly trusting. Besides, we need to keep tabs in order to prevent tyranny, bigheaded politicians, bastards on the throne, you know, that sort of thing." He glanced briefly at their cloaks, then discarded them in favor of dark brown shrouds.

"What did he say?"

"He didn't know much, but he knows the address of a certain wizard in Niro." Riku paused at Sora's glance, shaking his head. "The one who holds the Scrolls is an Enthraille," he explained. "We typically refer to him as the wise man. Besides, this wizard is an old friend of my family's." He picked up his bag, shoving in a tunic he'd bought when he collected supplies for them. "Niro is a Troll town—a little rough around the edges, but not a bad place for a wizard to be at hand."

Sora nodded, and they started downstairs. Riku paid the clerk, stopping briefly to ask directions, and grimaced at the news that it was a five-day walk to Niro. "Is there a stable nearby?"

"Yes, sir. It's still about two days on horseback unless you want to kill the poor thing," she told him serviceably. "But the stable is down the street to your right, next to the bar." She halted abruptly, seeing the glint of silver under Riku's shroud. "Sir, you wouldn't happen to be an Enthraille, would you?"

Riku shot her a level look. "And if I was?"

"I advise that you stay out of Luana. Nasty murders have been cropping up, and all the victims have had hair with a silver sheen, if you catch my drift," the clerk warned him.

A flash darted across Riku's eye. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Wait a minute," Sora said as they left the hotel. "Luana? Where's that? You're confusing me with all these places!"

"It's quite simple, actually," Riku told him. "The Enthrailles are in Serre, the Huminals are in Disney, the Elves share Luana with the Pixies, the Faeries are in Kushinda, the Centaurs are in Kianus, the Dwarves are in Daguta, the humans are in Medentine, and the Trolls are everywhere."

Sora grabbed his head to keep it from spinning. "Disana—Lushinus—? That doesn't help me!"

But since Riku didn't reply, he hurried to catch up and left the subject alone.

l…l

"It's funny because Centaurs don't understand geography," Riku was explaining later, having just pulled off what was supposed to be a humorous joke.

Sora had collapsed against the neck of his horse, his head throbbing in the attempt to process this along with all the other tidbits. "Could we talk about something generic?" he moaned, his voice muffled by the horse's mane.

"Like the Dwarven stock market?" Riku offered, cracking up even as he spoke. "It was a disaster. No one could conduct business for ten years, and they had to rely on the Elves, so you can imagine—"

There was a weak groan from Sora's motionless form.

Riku finally relented, smirking. While Sora was fun to torture, it was getting late. He reared in his horse, looking up at the sky as the first few stars twinkled hesitantly in the wake of the vanishing sun. "We should probably turn in."

As Sora regarded the darkening sky, he remembered something. "Riku, back in Traverse Town—why was it so dark all day?"

"Because Middel is the town where nobody knows what time it is," Riku replied, dismounting and pulling out their supplies. "The entire town is stuck in eternal night. That's why they have so many hotels."

Sora frowned. "How's that possible?"

"Well, about a thousand years ago, this witch—"

"Never mind!"

Laughing, Riku turned to look up at the sky just as the full moon rose above them. He looked at it, a silver disc suspended in the world of darkness around it, with a subtle hint of yearning. "Firewood," he said suddenly. "Sora, we need firewood. I'll set up—you go get some, okay?"

The brown-haired boy, having dismounted and set out a few things, looked up at him plaintively. But for some reason he knew it would be better if he didn't argue, so he muttered his acquiescence and wandered off in the general direction of the moon.

Muttering incoherently to himself, Sora picked his way through the trees, seizing up the logs that weren't dirt-covered or damp. He halted abruptly as he heard a rustle nearby, recalling vividly his conversation with Riku about the Heartless. "Riku?" he called out faintly. "Riku, is that you?"

But there was no response, and Sora had the feeling that the darkness was watching him again. The darkness transformed harmless trees and bushes into sinister phantoms in dark cloaks, and Sora could almost hear a faint rasping that seemed to come from the earth itself. "Riku?" he called again, swallowing hard.

By now he'd almost lost his composure, so Sora decided that was enough firewood for the time being. He wandered through the trees, trying to remember the way back to where Riku was making camp. His ears pricked hopefully, trying to pick up a horse's nicker or the rustle of preparations.

The trees opened out onto a cliff, at the top of which stood a prominent boulder. Sora squinted, seeing something curled up on the large rock. He stepped closer carefully, and finally picked up the image of a white cobra with its hood spread out, silhouetted by the glimmering moon. Picking up the vibrations from the boy's steps, the cobra turned luminous eyes on him and froze. For a moment neither of them moved, unblinking green eyes locked with increasingly terrified blue. Then Sora screamed.

Firewood crashing to the ground, the brown-haired boy ran wildly through the forest, feeling the twigs whipping against his face as he broke through them. "Riku!" was his repeated shout, his voice shrilling with terror. The ground passed swiftly under his feet, stopping only when he tripped and landed against something that felt suspiciously like a horse's rump.

A frightened neigh rang out and Sora poised to run again, but he suddenly found himself locked in Riku's embrace. "Sora, what happened?" Riku asked him, relaxing once he was certain the younger boy wouldn't go tearing into the forest again.

"The firewood—darkness—Heartless—and then a sn-snake, and—Riku, why don't you have a shirt on?" Sora asked suddenly, realizing just then exactly what kind of flesh he was pressed up against.

"You caught me at a bad time," Riku explained with a hint of embarrassment in his tone. "I was about to take a bath."

Sora leapt away from him with a shriek.

"I've got pants on! Good grief, Sora." Riku turned away to hide the sudden flush that threatened to crawl up his face.

There was an awkward pause. "So…you don't like snakes," Riku said finally, a strange emotion in his voice.

"They kinda scare me," Sora admitted, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "It wouldn't be so bad if it were daytime. And a cobra—those things are poisonous…" He shivered, trying to keep from imagining what might have happened if he'd been attacked.

Riku nodded, his eyes distant. "You're all right now, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"Good. I'll go back and get the firewood."

"Okay."

It was only after Riku had disappeared into the forest that Sora thought it was odd that the prince had known he dropped the firewood. But this fact soon left his mind when Riku returned and cooked a large fish, which made for a satisfying meal until a bear attacked, scaring Sora into dragging them both into hiding. They only returned when Riku realized the bear was stealing the fish, and this came too late to save it. The horses regarded this unenthusiastically, exchanging glances as if to say, "I always get the idiots."

Riku fed the horses while Sora changed, and then turned to regard the cold river water. It would be a chilling experience to try to bathe now. "I'll do it tomorrow," he told the slightly suspicious Sora. The brown-haired boy yawned and, forgetting his suspicion, curled up in the tent they'd pitched before eating. Riku slid in beside him, unwittingly making the younger boy vastly more at ease.

l…l

Destira flitted before his eyes as he walked toward it, his feet suspended in the air above the water. He paused, thinking this odd, and looked down for a moment. But there was nothing particularly odd about floating a foot above the water, so he continued walking and suddenly pitched down—

Sora's eyes popped open as he was jarred awake by the faint dream. He'd been slipping in and out of awareness for the past few hours, and the falling dreams were getting to be very frustrating. But this fact became insignificant in the scheme of things when he realized something a moment later.

Sometime during the night, Riku had ended up spooning the younger boy, his arm draped over Sora's waist. Sora waited, frozen, and tried to imagine a way to move Riku without waking him. If he did wake up, Sora would be caught in a position that he didn't want to be in, and that…that would just be a lot of unnecessary embarrassment. He was just considering going back to sleep and worrying about it in the morning when he heard Riku murmur something incoherent that sounded oddly like Sora's name.

"What?" he asked, turning slightly. But Riku was obviously still asleep, so the brown-haired boy turned back, trying not to imagine what Riku was dreaming.

The sound was repeated. "Ludra…" Riku mumbled. He jerked suddenly, pulling away from Sora. "The baby…stay away…from…"

"Riku?" Sora turned over completely, watching the silver brows furrow as Riku jerked again, his body spasming. His arm shot out suddenly, his fist grazing Sora's temple, and he suddenly began to thrash violently. "Riku!" Sora repeated, holding up his arms to ward off any other blows in his direction.

"Get…hands off…my son…!" Riku managed in a louder voice, his movements taking on new purpose in a specific area to his left.

"Riku! Stop it! Wake up!" Sora shouted, trying to seize Riku's arms. This failed, so he dove past the blows and locked his arms around Riku's torso, still yelling in the vain attempt to be heard.

The thrashing stopped after a few moments and Riku relaxed, his arms falling back harmlessly. "Nnnngghhh…" he groaned, his eyes opening once and then closing again.

Even though he seemed to have gone back to normal, Sora didn't let go of the Enthraille. It was his intention to—he had several dilemmas involved with being so close to Riku—but he nodded off to sleep before he did so, a peaceful half-smile on his face.

Early the next morning, Riku woke up and wondered why Sora's arms were locked around his chest in a death grip.

l…l

"Riku, I swear, if you don't shut up…!" Sora told him venomously that afternoon as they rode toward Niro. The younger boy's cheeks were still flaming, and Riku intended to keep them that way.

"Oh? Just what'll you do if I don't shut up?"

"I'll whack you with a stick."

"What kind?"

Sora let out a scream of fury and, seizing a branch from a nearby tree, used it to pummel the silver-haired boy into submission. In the middle of this, the horses spontaneously decided to punish their idiot riders and performed calculated maneuvers that ended with Riku rolling into a cave and Sora suspended from a tree. This done, they glanced at each other with expressions that seemed to say, "Mission Accomplished," and rode off in the general direction of Middel.

"When I get ahold of you I'm going to—!" But the horses didn't hear what Sora was going to do to them because the branch dipped jarringly and he gasped in terror. He looked on in defeat as the horses disappeared into the surrounding shrubbery. "Riku?"

There was a dull thud. "Ugh."

Sora swiveled uncomfortably and watched as Riku emerged, rubbing his forehead and grimacing. "Riku, the horses—guahh!" he yelled abruptly as the branch dipped and he plummeted.

"I got you!" Riku called up to him, running forward and holding out his arms. The prince was for some reason imagining a very romantic scene in which he caught the younger boy flawlessly, thus ensuring his undying devotion for the next eternity.

However, Sora broke through that little reverie when he sat up and spat out leaves and dirt. "Thanks a bunch, Riku."

Riku rubbed the back of his head, groaning. "Not my fault you can't aim where you fall."

It was at this point that Sora—who had, oddly enough, also been fantasizing about what might happen if Riku caught him—recalled that the prince had been acting in a way that he found odd. While he'd been too focused on deterring it earlier, now it occurred to him that he could very well be in the presence of someone romantically interested. "I've been noticing something kinda weird," he began awkwardly, standing. "Riku, are you, um, interested in…guys…?"

"What?" Riku blinked. "Ah—no, no way!" he said suddenly, forcing a laugh. "I can tell a homophobe at fifty yards, and homophobes are fun."

"I'm not a homophobe!"

"You're not?" Riku asked, placing a finger under Sora's chin and tilting his face upward.

Sora pulled away, trying unsuccessfully to ignore Riku's laughter. "Cut it out!"

"I'm all set up, anyway," Riku replied then. "Dmitri's arranged for me to marry a Faerie, once she becomes a noblewoman. Her name's Namine."

"Oh," Sora said in a slightly thick voice. A sudden feeling of disappointment settled over him, but he couldn't imagine why. He was most definitely not attracted to Riku—not one little bit.

"Anyway, we'd better start off for Niro, horses or no hors—" Riku stopped short as a blade whizzed by him and stuck in the tree trunk behind him, a silver strand clinging to it. "And someone's trying to kill me."

"Get behind me!" Sora shouted, whipping out his wooden sword.

Riku raised an eyebrow and looked about to say something.

"Do you have a better idea?" the younger boy cut him off sharply. Riku apparently didn't, because he complied. Emboldened by his new authority, Sora glared into the brush. "Come out and face me, you coward!"

There was a rustle nearby him. "I'm afraid cowardice and camouflage are two entirely different concepts, boy," came a girl's voice. Sora reacted just in time and a blade quivered on the wood, having nearly hit him in the face. He trembled at the thought of what might have happened to him, and began to have second thoughts. "Riku, I think now would be a good time to run for it." Silence. "Riku?" Sora repeated, turning abruptly to face the empty brush behind him. "He's already gone and left me!" he exclaimed angrily. "Why that son of a—!"

This commentary ended in a sudden cry of pain as one of the blades bit through the flesh of his upper arm. Sora stumbled back against the tree, biting his lip against the pain. Blood squeezed between his fingers and he felt a sudden cold sensation along his arm. Realizing that the knife might be poisoned, he seized the handle and pulled.

A dark-haired girl emerged from the forest even as Sora winced sharply and the metal landed solidly on the ground. "I might not be able to get your friend yet, boy, but I can certainly slow him down by killing you," she said then, raising a katana.

There was a sharp sound behind her, almost like a hiss, and she turned abruptly with a shout. This became a scream in the next minute when she ran toward the trees and collapsed, convulsing uncontrollably.

"Sora!" Riku called, rushing toward him. His shirt was missing again, but Sora stopped paying attention when he grabbed the katana and slashed at the ground where the girl had been standing. "Sora, is it bad?" he asked, kneeling beside the wounded boy.

"Not very," Sora managed through gritted teeth. "I don't think she hit anything vital."

"Damn her," Riku muttered, spitting to the side. "…awful, too," he added in a voice almost too low for Sora to hear.

"What happened to her?"

"It was a white cobra," Riku explained, tying one of his cloths around Sora's arm.

The younger boy reacted violently.

"No, I chased it off. It got her, though. The venom isn't poisonous most of the time, but it's very painful. She'll wake up in a few hours."

Sora examined the bandage critically. "Are you going to, uh…?" he added, gesturing to the girl and drawing a finger across his neck.

"Not yet," Riku told him, even though his eyes were murderous. Sora breathed a sigh of relief. "I want to know who she's working for and why she attacked us. If she's a threat, we'll have to get rid of her somehow."

The brown-haired boy looked understandably nervous.

l…l

Bound and gagged, the girl awoke later that afternoon when Riku had put Sora to bed in the tent, having decided they couldn't go any farther that day. In addition, Riku didn't want the younger boy around if anything messy had to happen, so he and the girl were far removed from the campsite.

He pulled away the gag. "Who were you meant to attack?" he demanded of the dark-haired girl, pointing the katana at her.

"I don't have to tell you anything! If you're found with blood on your hands, you—"

"Look behind you." Riku gestured to the water below the boulder upon which they were precariously perched. "Hear the rushing sound not too far away? That's a waterfall. If anything's left of your body after that, no one will be able to find much evidence on it. So I suggest you start talking."

The girl's brown eyes narrowed, but she sighed in defeat. "Fine. I'm Yuffie. I'm with the CEE."

The Coalition for Enthraille Extermination, Riku thought to himself. "That explains it. The prejudiced group of merciless killers."

"We're not merciless!" Yuffie replied sharply. "We go after the rogues like you. The ones who put innocent people's lives on the line."

"Look, I'm doing the best I can to save the victims right now," Riku told her in a dark voice. "If you wouldn't mind not bothering me, I think we'd all be much happier in the long run."

"Enthrailles are dangerous," Yuffie added. "You of all people should know that, being one yourself. You ought to know what's going on."

"Enlighten me."

"Riku?" came Sora's voice sleepily from behind them. His blue eyes widened as he caught sight of the katana in Riku's hand. "Riku, you're not going to kill her, are you?"

There was a hesitation as Riku looked from Sora to Yuffie, and back to Sora. "No." He turned to Yuffie, slicing through the ropes with the katana and tossing the weapon at her feet. "Get out of here, and tell the CEE not to get involved or I'm going to be very angry with them."

Yuffie stood, glaring at him. "You Enthrailles are creatures of evil," she told him, seizing the katana. "It would be better if you just didn't exist!" she shouted, rushing at him.

Riku seized her by the wrists, expertly bending the blade away from him. "Fine then. As Enthrailles, we know how to swim. You better hope you do too." Yuffie's heels scraped along the rock briefly, but then she disappeared into the turbulent waters.

"Riku!" Sora shouted, running forward. "But—she—!"

"She'll probably be fine," Riku stated darkly. "Enthrailles swim exceedingly well, so the CEE members have to be able to swim if they're going to catch their prey. She'll be back soon enough, if she's not as bright as the rest." He sighed, glancing back at the other boy with a sad smile on his face. "The Enthrailles have reasons not to be trustful of others, and she's one of them. Come on." He started back toward the campsite.

"But—what was she talking about? Creatures of evil?"

Riku shook his head. "She just doesn't like me."

Sora had the distinct impression that Riku was withholding something, but it was obviously a subject that the prince didn't want to broach. He obediently followed the prince to the tent.

l…l

Riku's eyes glinted softly in the moonlight as he stood watch. Sora was busily sleeping, unaware that the older boy had ever left his side, but Riku was far too worried about an unwanted visitor to sleep. He heard a rustle beside him and noted the coral snake slithering nearby. For a few moments he moved his fingers along the ground to create the subtle vibrations that would indicate his presence, and the snake changed its course to a place away from the tent.

There was a louder rustle that could come from no snake. Riku waited carefully until he was certain of an exact location and lashed out, seizing the right arm of his assailant. He pulled her to him and trapped her arms. "You again?" he said to Yuffie in a disgusted voice.

"Yes, me again," she replied over her shoulder in a tone no less disdainful. "The CEE sent me back because I've got the wrong guy. You're not the one the wise man is dealing with."

"Oh, good," Riku replied sarcastically. "I could've told you that."

"I wouldn't have believed you."

"So are you here to apologize?"

"No. I'm here to tell you that you've got a friend in mortal danger." Yuffie jiggled the jewel-like glass in her hand. "There was poison in the knives I threw at you, and it kills in four days. So you might want to take this antidote to that kid before anything nasty happens."

"Poison?" Riku's blood ran cold, and he tightened his grip on her. Now that he thought of it, Sora had been acting oddly exhausted and listless earlier. He had attributed it to the wound in Sora's arm, but he hadn't lost a lot of blood and it was odd for him to be acting so lifeless. "If you've poisoned him once, why should I trust you with this?"

"If you don't, he'll die. That's a promise."

"I'm surprised the CEE isn't letting you go for bungling this."

"We don't care how many Enthrailles die as a result of our operations. We're better off with none of you."

"So you've said. But he isn't an Enthraille—he's a human. All I have to do is get word to the king of Disney and CEE is finished. You know how Disney feels about other casualties." Riku reached for the antidote, only to have Yuffie move it out of his reach.

"If you're going to tell King Mickey, you might as well let the death take its course," she stated flatly.

"Give it to me and I won't breathe a word."

"I can't trust you."

"Welcome to my world." Riku shoved her away and held out a hand. "There. Now I'm unarmed. Give it here."

Yuffie smirked. "Take it." She threw down the glass so that it shattered against the ground. "Whoops, how silly of me. Either way, it's all yours, so don't go tattling to the king, Enthraille." With that, she was gone, darting amongst the trees.

"Damn her," Riku muttered, rushing to where she'd dropped the antidote. He bent briefly and swept a drop onto his finger to taste. "From the Ruatsu flower, north of Disney," he murmured. "Ironic."

l…l

Sora wandered aimlessly through the woods, his eyes dull and his motions strangely lifeless. He wondered vaguely why this was so, why did he feel so weak—and where was Riku? Had he gone to get firewood? Or no, he'd gone to find the wise man. Or perhaps he'd gone to Destira to see Nanny about something. Yes, that was it.

Like a plastic world, the features of the forest were sharply defined but childishly constructed. The brown-haired boy continued through until he reached the beach where Kairi danced playfully around a crab, neither harming it nor being harmed. "Thalassa shells," she seemed to be saying as she dangled the necklace above the crab's reaching claws. Riku was beside her, laughing, and oddly seeming to fit right into the world of Dest…of Destina…of…?

"Come on, Sora," he called. "Get over here. We still have a match to finish, you know."

Sora had the unmistakable feeling that something wasn't right—almost as if he had stepped into a world where he did not belong, where different circumstances were at play. Nonetheless, he ran toward the two of them as a source of familiarity—but then the darkness was there again, that pulsing being now spherical like some blackened sun in the sky. Kairi vanished with a scream and Riku…the darkness…

"Ow!" Sora shouted suddenly, opening his eyes to the sun-splashed tent. He sat up, glancing down at his arm where a bandage was tied around his wrist. "Ow, ow, ow," he murmured, grimacing at the strangely magnified pain.

"You okay?" Riku asked, opening the flap to look in.

"Yeah," Sora told him, pressing against his wrist to stop the pain. "Ow. What happened?"

"That girl came back," Riku explained. "Apparently she got the wrong guy, so she gave me an antidote to stop the poison in you."

Sora nodded vaguely, remembering the sense of cold in his arm. "Riku, I had this dream—I don't know, it seemed so…odd."

Riku smirked. "You think you've got nightmares," he murmured softly. "Did anyone die?"

"Well, no—yeah—kinda…" Sora trailed off, trying to verbalize the sense of loss he'd felt when that terrible thing happened to Riku.

"You're not making any sense." Riku stood, letting the flap fall back. "Get dressed. We're going to Niro today, since Dumb and Dumber finally decided to get hungry and trot back."

Outside, one of the horses shot Riku a hateful look as if to say, "At least I'm not the one responsible for the food shortage."

"But Riku!" Sora called after him, even though Riku was already out of earshot. He sighed, feeling oddly helpless and that some larger situation was about to spin wildly out of control.

l…l

Dai: Bwahaha! The dreams! I almost forgot about those.

Serge: You haven't read this since, what, September? You don't remember anything.

Dai: Point for you, but I still remember a few things.

Serge: Like what?

Dai: …um…

Serge: Wow, today is blah.

Dai: Yeah really.