Chapter 7

Cloud and Leon's eyes fly to Sora's face. "That's Riku?" Cloud exclaims.

"Yeah…I'd know him anywhere."

"You never mentioned he was a halfling, Sora. That's a lot more dangerous."

"I didn't know! He never told me, I thought he was human. The other demons treated him like a human." His eyebrows furrow, "Maybe…"

"Other demons? What all have you been leaving out?"

"There were...two other full demons that occasionally came to Riku's house. They were his friends, I thought that was why he didn't care that they were demons. But, now…looking back, some things that happened could be seen as a little weird. I just never thought he was part demon."

"Oh Sora," Cloud sighs, "This won't end well."

"But, I don't have to worry about him dying before I get to see him again. He should live a long life too!"

"Dying, no. Being killed, yes."

Sora's gaze darts back to the center stage. "No," he shakes his head, "I won't let them kill him."

"He's not supposed to exist," Leon says curtly.

"But he does and they shouldn't kill him for that."

"Sora!" Leon grabs for him as he flies towards the center of the crowd.

The throng is too thick for him to get as close as he'd like and he's forced to land near the edge and force his way through the crowd. It's tough going with all of the energized crowd trying to get a look. When he pushes close to the front, there are guards keeping the crowd back and he can see Riku handcuffed and surrounded by higher ranked seraphs.

Despite the situation, he can't help but smile. Riku looks exactly as he remembers, long silver hair, cool emerald gaze, and he still has the same air of confidence, even if he does look a bit nervous right now. His resolve hardens, there's no way he deserves to die for existing, if Riku didn't exist, he wouldn't be alive right now. There would have been no one to save him from those hell hounds. Sora would save Riku either way, but this is the perfect repayment for when Riku saved his own life.

He squints at the stage, if he could just get to Riku and get the handcuffs off, he's sure he can buy at least a bit of time for Riku to escape through one of the portals. Now's his only chance before they do something irreversible.

Sora slips past the guards and hops onto the edge of the stage, trying to make his way to Riku without being seen. But, when eyes in the crowd start to turn to him, he gives up on stealth and rushes the center, drawing the guard's attention to himself.

"What do you think you're doing?" The seraph named Seymour questions.

"You can't kill him when he hasn't done anything!"

"He exists."

"So? Let him go."

He chuckles in amusement, "If you think I would let him go because a lowly seraph like you said so, you'd be wrong."

"I won't let you kill him."

"Then you may gladly die with him." He nods to the other guards.

"Sora!"

He glances up and Riku's desperately trying to tell him something with his eyes, but the only emotion he can sense is panic. He realizes it was a warning when two guards take each one of his arms and begin dragging him towards Riku.

Sora looks up and can see the matching expressions of shock on both Cloud and Leon's faces as he's forced to his knees in front of Riku. They risked so much to rescue him and for what? For him to put himself right back in the line of fire. Knowing he's about to die, he can't help but feel guilty about it.

I tried, Sora thinks resignedly. Even if he failed, at least he tried to return the favor to the silver haired male. He turns to Riku and throws his arms around him to the jeers of the crowd, at least they were able to see each other again. That's a small blessing. Sora's braced for pain, so it takes him by surprise when everything goes dark and instead of being stabbed, he's encased in something warm.

He only has a second to hear the crowd's shocked gasp before the stage is gone from below him and he's falling, still holding tightly to Riku. They land with a thud and he rolls free, able to see now that it was Riku's wings holding him in place. He never even knew Riku had wings.

Sora reaches for Riku to bring him back to consciousness, but finds himself flung across the room. That's when he looks around and realizes they're in Riku's living room and Axel is giving him a furious look while trying to remove Riku's handcuffs.

"Riku! Hey man, wake up! Roxas? A little help here."

"What do you want me to do?" He questions from the couch.

"I don't know! But, don't just sit there and watch!"

"S-sora?"

Axel looks down in surprise, "Yeah, the little traitor is here."

"I'm not a traitor!"

"Oh yeah? Here he is in handcuffs, nearly unconscious and coincidentally look who's back."

"Leave him alone, Axel. You know he wouldn't do something like that," Roxas interrupts.

"Maybe not intentionally."

"He...didn't...do anything," Riku groans out. Sora looks back over and sees Riku struggling to sit up now that Axel's managed to get the handcuffs off. He also gets a good look at Riku's wings, they're a pale grey closer to his back, gradually growing shades darker towards the ends and even larger than his own. He's never seen grey wings before, then again he's also never seen a halfling either.

"What the hell happened, Riku?"

"I told you someone was following me. It turned out to be seraphs. They captured me after work a few days ago."

"Well...I told you to keep low!"

"I wasn't doing anything, Axel," Riku says in annoyance. "I have no idea how they found me."

His eyes slide to Sora, "I have a clue."

"No! I wouldn't put Riku in danger like that! Plus, he never even told me he wasn't human," he glares at Riku accusingly.

"Sorry," he lets out a light laugh. "It was easier this way and now you can see why. I wanted to stay alive." He lets out a groan, "Anyway, Axel help me to my room, taking both of us through the dark portals took a lot of energy plus they haven't fed me in days."

"I'll help you!" Sora cuts in, but Riku waves him away.

"No, it's fine. You rest, Axel will."

"But-"

"Nope, you stay," Axel shoots Roxas a look and he rolls his eyes, but gets up, grabbing Sora's arm, and dragging him to the kitchen.

"He's so obedient now," Riku teases, letting Axel get an arm around his waist to help him to his feet.

"Yeah right, getting him to do anything is a fight."

"...Still a wild card?"

"Yes and it drives me insane!"

"I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"Shut up. I can trust myself."

"I'm sure he trusts himself too."

Axel tosses him roughly on the bed rather than bother responding.

"Oww...fuck you."

"So what the hell happened?"

Riku gets comfortable in his pillows, "They only kept me alive, so they could keep asking me questions, how did I survive this long, who were my parents, what was I doing on Earth?"

"What'd you tell them?"

"That I had demon help, but I don't know who my parents are, so how could I give them that information? They were disgusted to find out I had been left at an orphanage on Earth rather than killed."

"Told you not to mess around with seraphs."

"It's not like I did it on purpose...will they come here?"

"Well you said you never felt watched at home, so likely they don't know who you are or where you live, the only way they might find you is if they could trace Sora. We should kick him out just to be safe."

"No!"

"I knew you'd say that."

"He got in front of me and tried to save me, there's no way I'm kicking him out."

"Well, I hope we don't all end up regretting that," Axel mutters on his way out.

~~~~~
Sora's anxious, he wants to talk to Riku again. Roxas was clearly distracting him from going to check on the other boy, but it's been three years! Axel's been with him all that time, he wants to see Riku too! He makes a stuttered step to slide out of the kitchen and Roxas' eyes fixate on him. "Don't even think about it."

"Why can't I see him?"

"Why does Axel keep so many secrets?"

"I don't know?"

"Exactly, so just stay here. I'm pretty sure there'll be plenty of time for you to see him later. What are you gonna do anyway?"

"Huh? About what?"

"Well, if they kidnapped him and you rescued him, they're not going to welcome you with open arms, are they?"

"No…"

"And we already know you can't stay here because you lose energy."

"I'll just wait for things to die down then go back."

Roxas raises an eyebrow, "You really think that's going to work?"

"I was imprisoned for two years when I got back and once Cloud and Leon rescued me, no one noticed or cared. They had pretty much forgotten."

"Something tells me this might be more serious, but you know better than me...I guess."

"No, he doesn't know anything," Axel interrupts, coming back into the kitchen. "He's a naive little seraph that's going to get himself and us killed."

"I saved his life!"

"So you think. But, if Riku managed to get both of you away, he probably could have gotten himself away before they killed him."

"O-oh?"

"So you've really just put an even bigger target on his back and made everything worse."

"Axel, give him a break. He didn't know, he was just trying to help."

"That 'help' is going to ruin everything! What if Riku ends up dead because of this?"

"They were already coming after him, you think they wouldn't keep trying even if he had escaped by himself?"

"I don't know!" Axel yells in frustration, "But he's not helping!"

Sora's gaze flicks between the two demons, he knew Axel wasn't very fond of him, but he hadn't been this overly aggressive about since the first time they'd met. It's not even his fault Riku ended up captured. No one other than Cloud and Leon knew where he'd been those few months and nobody knew that Riku was a halfling.

"Don't listen to him, Sora." His eyes flick back to Roxas. "He's just angry that whatever plan he has brewing isn't going in his favor." Roxas shoots a scathing look at Axel, "It's not about you at all, his carefully hidden secrets aren't doing so well."

Axel levels a neutral look at the blonde, "We're leaving."

"I think I want to stay and catch up with Sora, you go."

"Unfortunately, you don't have a choice." The redhead reaches out and snags Roxas by the arm before tossing him into the recently summoned portal. With final words of 'Don't leave the house,' he steps in after the blonde and vanishes, leaving Sora alone in the silence of the house.

Carefully hidden secrets…? Sora mulls over Roxas' words as he heads towards Riku's room. There's nothing forcing him to stay away now. Making his way to the back, he notices that almost nothing has changed in the three years he's been gone. Other than a few new decorations, it barely looks like anytime has passed at all.

He cracks open the door to spy Riku sleeping soundly, the waning light of the day casting shadows over his features coupled with the knowledge of what he is now makes him look even more mysterious than when they first met.

Easing the door shut, he crosses the floor and wavers between taking a seat in the chair or curling up next to Riku. He's not sure if Riku wants him there, he'd disappeared to his room with barely a word of acknowledgement to him.

"You can lay down if you want." Blue eyes look down in surprise to see Riku gazing back at him evenly. "Hurry up and make up your mind, I'm tired."

"Sorry, I tried not to make much noise."

Riku snorts quietly, "You couldn't be silent if your life depended on it."

Sora gazes back silently into tired emerald eyes. There's so much he wants to say and so much he wants to ask, but it'll all have to wait. He slides climbs into the bed next to Riku and turns to face him, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he murmurs tiredly. "Things happen."

"Yeah, but-"

"Shh...you can't stay if you're going to talk. Riku grasps one of Sora's hands within his own and lets his eyes fall shut. "We'll have all the time we need later."

He knows that isn't true, but nods anyway, squeezing their joined hands, and letting his eyes once again memorize Riku's features. For this moment, he can pretend that things will turn out okay.