I have a list of the top places I like to spill my problems and, unfortunately, author notes is among the top three. So I'm going to stop doing that. Just wanted to get it across that I'm really snappy lately and I don't like it when people pile up more work when bugging me to update. Only three people are allowed to do that.

Well, here's the next chapter. I've been drawing everything out for too long, and from now on I'm going to stick to my notes and fit it all in one chapter, even if it ends up being eight or thirty pages.

Rare Coins

Tails

Sora was twiddling his foot a bit in it's joint as his fingers pressed into the paper holder of his muffin, watching Aerith and Cloud watch him. He didn't eat. He couldn't with them just... staring at him like that.

"...Can I help you?" he asked when he'd finally mustered up the courage to do so.

"Well, you could eat," Aerith suggested.

"Um..."

"Why don't you stop staring at him like he has two noses, then?" Riku muttered calmly. He, too, hadn't started. Neither teen liked to be stared at, and no one would like it when the were eating.

"What else would you like us to do, then?" Cloud asked.

Sora absent-mindedly drew his finger down through the air at his side to see if the tension was as thick as it seemed.

"Leave?"

"No."

"Then just stop staring!"

Sora was glaring hard now at something over Riku's shoulder, but the older teen seemed to brush it off with ease.

Aerith sighed as she was resigned to referee another staring match between Cloud and Riku, shaking her head and switching gazes as she instead fixated her eyes onto Sora, who seemed to be bristling in his spot on the bed as he continued to gaze over Riku's shoulder. Raising an eyebrow, Aerith turned her head over her shoulders to look and see what Sora was staring at.

There, in the doorway, were four new people. Yuffie and Goofy stood side-by-side, giggling at Riku and Cloud's antics, while Donald stood indifferently at their heels with his wings crossed and perched over his feathered chest. And there, only half-way across the threshold, was the reason for Sora's attitude himself; King Mickey.

Riku, too, had finally realized what Sora was so riled up about. Breaking away from his stupor ("I win again," Cloud smirked) Riku chose to murmur out of the corner of his mouth, although completely audible to the rest of the room, "Just ignore him."

Mickey sighed dejectedly, obviously put-out by the teens' nature towards him. "C'mon, fellas. What'd I do wrong?"

Riku and Sora simply ignored the mouse, sipping from their glasses of orange juice in favor of responding.

Peering from one set of guarded eyes to the other, Aerith just shook her head at the two and turned back to the new arrivals. "Well, come in then," she said with a small smile. "But you'll need to leave in an hour or two, your majesty. I need to give Riku more salve, and then sleep."

Riku gave a tiny, derisive snort, one that only the two brunettes could hear.

"Don't test me," Aerith warned him quietly.

"Well, we won't be here long," King Mickey was saying reassuringly as he stepped all the way in through the infirmary and towards the bed. Casting the brunet a concerned look when he shrunk down closer to his silver-haired companion, he finished, "I wanted to talk to you guys about that deal, Riku. Y'know, the one I told you about yesterday?"

Sora gave his friend a curious look, which Riku shook off with a shrug of his shoulders. "Whatever."

"It'd be nice if you could look at the person you're talking to," Leon said coldly, giving them a cold glare.

"Oh, they don't need to!" Mickey laughed easily, shaking his head. "But I just wanted to introduce ourselves!"

"We know who you are," Riku grit out, growing impatient. His fists were curling into the bed sheets beneath him in an emotion the king didn't understand at all.

"Well you obviously don't know us," Mickey pointed out, "or else you wouldn't be ignoring us. We aren't bad people!"

They said nothing in return.

"So I'll introduce us!" King Mickey said happily, as if they were eagerly anticipating this. "I'm King Mickey," Riku was rolling his eyes, "this is Yuffie," the ninja winked, "Donald," the duck 'hmph'ed somewhere in their general direction, "Goofy," ("Ahyuck!"), "Cloud..."

Sora finally broke his seal of silence. "Wait a minute... Cloud? Your name is Cloud?"

Ignoring the affronted glare 'Cloud' gave him, Sora rounded on Leon. "Then who the Hell are you, 'Sunshine'?"

"That's quite enough," Aerith spoke gently, ignoring it as Riku choked on the mouthful of oatmeal he was eating with his quiet chuckles and as Yuffie clutched at her stomach, howling in laughter. King Mickey covered his eyes with large gloved hand and kept the other on his hip as his back hunched over in his laughter. Cloud was smirking in Leon's direction, while Mr. Sunshine himself glared daggers at bewildered-looking Sora.

"What?" Sora blinked. "What'd I say?"

"Sora, just shut up," Riku sighed, shaking his head as he resigned himself back to his stoic nature. Sora fell into place behind him, lowering his gaze to the tray on his lap as he, too, began to eat.

"...I thought you wanted to keep 'em healthy, Aerith?"

"I do."

"Then... why is he eating a chocolate chip muffin?"

"Because he looks like a chocolate lover!" Aerith gushed, patting the boy on the head. The brunet bristled under her touch, pouting, and Riku snorted quietly to himself.

"Well, this is Leon," Aerith said as she picked up Mickey's previous train of thought, motioning towards said man.

"Lovely," Riku bit out sarcastically. "Now are you done?"

"Not yet!" King Mickey pointed out, quite cheerfully considering Riku's rude manner. "We still need to ask you fellas a few questions, first!"

"Before you decide on our sentence?" Riku finished for him, unnecessarily in Mickey's eyes. "Why not just get it over with and throw us in jail?"

"Aw, we wouldn't do that to you fellas!"

"We wouldn't?" Donald asked numbly.

"Shucks, no! They're too young!"

"Then what are you going to do? Call our parents?" Riku snorted derisively, shaking his head.

"Well, no, we weren't planning on it," Mickey admitted. He fixed Riku with his beady eyes and said, "But it might help. Are they in the town somewhere?"

"I doubt it," Donald cut in. "The guards swept the place; they didn't find anyone else living there."

"Well, they have to have parents!" Yuffie huffed. "They need to be out there somewhere! Why don't ya just ask?"

"I thought you tried the questions already?" Cloud rose an eyebrow at her. "He wouldn't answer, remember?"

"Don't you just love it how they talk about us as if we weren't here?" Riku asked his friend conversationally, munching on his toast while Sora busied himself with his brown sugar drenched oatmeal.

"You're welcome to join in on the conversation ay time," Aerith reminded him placidly. "You just choose not to."

Riku hummed thoughtfully, resting his chin on an open palm and fixing her with a smug expression on his face. "But that would involve us answering your questions, wouldn't it?"

"Hm. Why yes, it would."

Sora regarded them with a weary expression on his face, giving up on his food for the time being as he watched the two exchange falsely-sweet words. It seemed Riku wasn't the only one who liked to keep up a sarcastic conversation. His fingers played by his side absent-mindedly as he stared hard at his lap, refusing to look up. He could feel several sets of eyes searing into him; their gazes burned deeply into his head, leaving behind a nervousness that wouldn't leave him alone. Instead it settled in his gut, making his mind twist and his blood boil and flush faster in his veins.

Cold fingers brushed against his hands, curling and clasping.

His blue eyes looked up uncertainly to see Riku watching him with one concerned eye as he kept up his conversation with the brunette, his head tilted to the side slightly. He squeezed Sora's hand gently, reassuringly.

Everything will be fine.

Smiling a bit, Sora turned his hand over and squeezed back, just as faint but with his own resolve.

I know.

Which he didn't.

"So... about your parents."

The brunet blinked. He was dimly aware of the fact that the conversation being held had already circled back to the beginning, and now Aerith was taking up a new stand.

"What about them?" Riku asked coolly. He squeezed Sora's hand again, a little more firmly, a silent order to remain quiet. Sora did so gladly, although inwardly peeved that Riku thought he even needed a warning.

"Where are they?" Aerith pressed. "Are they in trouble financially? Did they have you steal?"

"No," Riku said calmly.

"Do you even... have any parents?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

A heavy sigh as Aerith shook her head, frowning. "Please, Riku. This is important!"

"Important for what?" Riku asked. His icy green eyes were narrowed slightly in annoyance, and were now growing slightly unfocused before he set them sharp again. His body was slightly more hunched then before as exhaustion nagged at his spent body. Sora subtly leaned in closer, offering Riku something to lean in against to take some of the weight off himself, which he did more then gratefully.

"Look, fellas. We like to be patient, but you aren't giving us anything here!" Mickey sighed in exasperation. "So I'll put it simply for you. You have two options. Well, either option we'll have to wait until Riku's all better, and I don't know how long that will take. But the first option is something like house arrest. You can't go to jail when you two are so young, but we can keep you both locked up in this castle."

"For how long?" Riku inquired.

"Well, the same number of years you've been stealing. Seven."

Riku winced and Sora drew in a sharp breath by his side.

"When you're both eighteen, you'll go to a real jail to serve out the rest of your sentence," Mickey said grimly. "But your second option will last you only three years."

The teens' attention perked back up, and their undivided attention now lie on the king. As did everyone else's.

"Like I said, it would only be for three years!" King Mickey assured them hurriedly, as if afraid he'd lose their attention once again. "You wouldn't be locked up in one room, but, of course, you couldn't go running around outside whenever you wanted. And you'd have to get some good schoolin' from one of the professors around here, and we'd all watch out after you, and you need to follow our rules, and..."

"Just spit it out already!" Riku snapped, impatience growing due to his exhaustion, although it didn't stop several people in the room from sending him a reproachable look.

King Mickey didn't seem to mind. "Well, for three years... you two would work for us. And be servants at this castle."

And Sora's jaw promptly dropped several inches, as did the size of Riku's eyes, as they sat their, numb with shock. Both tried to comprehend what was just offered to them, although neither wanted to believe it. It was just too much...

"You don't have to decide now!" Mickey assured them in a rush, waving a gloved hand as he took in their bewildered expressions. "I mean, Aerith said Riku won't be better for at least another month, so you don't have to decide for a while. But it'd be nice if you could tell us now so, ya know, we could get ready..."

It was obvious that neither boy was taking in any words being spoken to them. They simply sat there, dumb-founded. It was Sora who, after a long moment of silence, broke through it.

"Wh-what do you mean?" he choked out. "Like, being one of those people I saw? Those guys wearing the white shirts and ties?"

"Yup! Those are the ones!"

"And you want us to clean and take orders from you?"

"Er, yes?"

"...are you kidding me?"

"Umm... no?"

And Riku chose this moment to say, "That's bull shit!"

"Riku!" Aerith snapped. "Don't use that kind of language, please!"

Riku didn't listen to her. "Those are our options?" he hissed. "They're practically the same!"

"So you want to stay in one room for the next seven years of your life?" Leon asked coolly.

"No," Riku said flatly. "But do you expect us to start serving you for three years?"

"Not unless you choose the other option," Cloud remarked quietly. "You've been breaking the law for seven years. Did you expect us to go easy on you?"

"C'mon, guys, the second option ain't so bad!" Yuffie laughed. "It's only three years! How bad could it be?"

"You're just saying that so you can order us to stand still so you can braid our hair," Sora quipped randomly.

Riku blinked. "Sora... what the Hell?"

"I dunno," Yuffie shrugged. Then she laughed sheepishly. "But Sora was right."

"Yuffie, shut up," Leon growled under his breath.

"Well, you don't have to decide for a while..." King Mickey began. But he was cut off, again, by a new voice.

"Your majesty?"

Everyone turned to the doorway to see a tall and lanky god standing there, only slightly shorter then Goofy, with an outfit that matched the afore-mentioned captain only without the badge. "Your majesty, Captain Goofy and Donald are needed in the courtyard."

"Now what happened?" Donald grumbled.

"The fires caused one of the balcony's to collapse, sir," he paused to shoot the two teens on the bed an accusing look, "and we need help to move it..."

"All right, all right, we're coming," Donald quacked. "C'mon, Goofy. Don't see why they need our help, though..."

And with that, the three left. An awkward silence filled the room in their absence, and no one seemed to be willing to carry on their previous conversation.

"Well... it's time to give Riku more salve," Aerith said gently. "So, Sora, why don't you go with Cloud and Leon for a while?"

"No way!" Sora protested, sinking closer to Riku, who winced as the mattress shifted beneath them. "They'll maul me!"

"We will not," Cloud said, running his fingers through his hair as he got up from the chair he was sitting on.

"Will too!" Sora insisted stubbornly, clamping his hands around Riku's forearm to show he wouldn't budge an inch.

Riku groaned in pain as Sora's grip tightened. "Sora, let go... that hurts."

"Don't worry, they won't," Aerith informed him gently, giving him a kind smile. "You can come back some time in the afternoon, all right? I need to give you a check-up, too. See what kind of injuries you have."

"Shouldn't you do that first?" King Mickey asked.

"I don't see any blood, and no signs of broken bones from the way he moves," Aerith told the mouse. "Just scratches and bruises, which I'll heal later. But now, Riku needs rest."

Sora still looked doubtful, and he didn't relinquish his hold on Riku's arm, despite his friend's pointed glare.

"Yuffie can go with you," Aerith said, pulling out her last bribe. "Don't worry, she'll annoy them enough so that they'll leave you alone."

After an encouraging nudge from the older teen, Sora sighed and finally let his friend go. With a soft, "Fine," he slid his legs over the side of the bed and let his feet plop to the floor before straightening himself up again. He turned on his heel and gave Riku a questioning look. At the nod of approval, Sora inched himself away from the bed.

And jumped slightly when, out of nowhere, Yuffie appeared at his side, slinging an arm over his shoulders and pulling him close to her side.

"Wow, you're really light!" she observed as she easily pulled him from the bed and jauntily skipped to the door, the poor brunet struggling to keep up.

"How did I end up having to follow those two?" Cloud muttered dryly as he and Leon slowly followed the two as both Sora and Yuffie whipped out of sight.

"So that I won't have to suffer all by myself," Leon retorted quietly, obviously not too happy as the rest of his day was planned out painfully in front of his mind. And he wasn't looking forward to it.

Riku remained quiet as he listened to Yuffie's bubbly voice chatter away at his unresponsive friend, and the echoing footfalls of their two reluctant guardians. It took at least a minute before Yuffie's voice was finally drowned out by a thick silence, one that they stayed in for several long moments. Long moments in which Riku never looked up to regard who was left, and kept his eyes glued to the spot where he'd last seen Sora's eyes.

Eyes that trusted him.

Eyes that would follow him.

Eyes that told Riku that the decision was his and his alone. That Sora wouldn't help in making the choice, giving it to Riku who wasn't so sure that he wanted to decide.

How could he keep his energetic friend locked away, wasting the last years of his childhood before it gave away to an adult life?

But how could he subject them to a life of serving their enemies?

Neither decision seemed fair. And he didn't want to choose.

I can't do this.

"I'm... going to get some more medicine," Aerith informed him quietly. "I've run out. I'll be back in a little while. I may have to make more."

See if I care.

The soft patter of her small feet resounded throughout the room which was otherwise filled with a stiff silence. Riku remained in his half-sitting position, because he knew that if he moved the burns in his back would automatically start to sear with pain once again, and every gash in his body would start to bleed with a burning pain once again. So he remained upright, his eyelids weighing a ton as he forced himself to blink in an automatic rhythm.

He was alone now.

Wait... am I?

The duck and dog... Sora, Cloud, Leon, and Yuffie...

Oh no.

Aerith just left... which means...

Slowly, cautiously, filled with a strong sense of foreboding, Riku turned his head, His silver bangs draped over his face and hung heavily over his eyes, but he could still see.

"Hiya there!"

Damn it.

Riku sighed, not in the mood to talk to his chipper enemy at the moment. He said nothing just looked over the mouse's head and focused on the creamy wall there that was besmirched by a circular clock, rounded by a polished cherry wood; the pale face seemed to be sneering at him as the hands slowly ticked away the time, a slow rhythm that never rolled by any slower then this.

"...Is it really so bad to just look at me?"

It was the apprehension, the hurt, in the voice that, more then anything, finally made Riku look the mouse in the eyes.

Mickey smiled at him, but it was a sad one, a sympathetic one. "You don't want to make this decision on your own, do you?" he asked quietly.

Riku just shrugged in response, resigned to carrying on a conversation.

"Well... what do you think?" King Mickey asked. Even though he sat on a chair, he still had to look up at the silver-haired boy, which he did in order to meet his eyes. "What do you want?"

"To get out of here," Riku responded immediately, not bothering to hesitate. In his opinion, the question was one the mouse should have already known the answer.

"Are you sure about that?"

This was something Riku had not expected. "Of course I am," the human replied. "Why would I want to be stuck here?"

"Weren't you stuck out there, too?" Mickey asked quietly. "You were stuck out on the streets, and you stole just to eat. But what I don't get it why you didn't go to anyone for help... Someone would have helped you, Riku. This whole mess could have been stopped before it got out of hand! And now look where you are!"

"I'm fine---"

"No, you aren't! Riku, you almost died less then a day ago! You could have died! And you still can if you won't take our help!"

"I won't die!" Riku hissed. "Injuries like this can never kill me!"

"No, but the disease that you carry can!"

Riku stopped, his mouth agape as if he were prepared to say something else. He blinked a few times at the king, who was regarding him with angry eyes. Misunderstanding eyes. "Disease?" he echoed quietly. "What disease?"

The mouse sighed. "I guess Aerith didn't tell you..." he muttered quietly. "When she was trying to heal you... with magic... she couldn't. And she ran a few tests."

"Tests? Tests for what?"

"Let me finished!" Mickey insisted. When Riku closed his mouth., his eyes taking on a more curious glint then an angry one, he continued. "When a cure spell is used on you, it goes to the brain. It will increase the number of white blood cells that the brain sends out, and it sorta speeds up your natural healing rate. Or maybe it freezes it? I dunno, but the magic's like an extra spurt of white blood cells that heals what's in the body that shouldn't be there. Like bruises, broken bones, cuts..."

"Then what's that have to do with me?" Riku interrupted. "Why can't I get healed like that?"

"Because," Mickey said, "of the disease. It blocks the pathway the magic goes through and it won't let the magic affect your brain, so the magic can't spread."

"Well... that I get, I guess," Riku muttered. His uneasiness of talking to the mouse was slowly dispersing itself as it gave way to his natural and strong sense of curiosity. "But where'd this disease come from?"

King Mickey shrugged. "Aerith's still a bit iffy about it, but she says that the man cause of the disease is a ton of stress. Stress from emotions, stress from pain... and from what I've heard, you had more then your share of both."

Riku's eyes floated back down the hands gently folded on his lap, brows furrowing in thought. A disease? He really had that?

"Which is why---even though I really don't have a say---I think you should stick with the three-year-deal, instead of jail," King Mickey said quietly. "It isn't as bad as it seems, Riku. Just three years of doing chores. You and Sora could have off on weekends, you'd have real food, education... And at the end of three years, you're free to go."

"Yeah, right back to the beginning," Riku snorted. "And what are we supposed to do once we get out, huh? Where can we go then? Right back to you, of course."

"You didn't let me finish!" King Mickey exclaimed. "At the end of those three years, I would add up the pension a normal servant would get after three years, and it would be yours. In a safe banking account, of course, not in coin. But you'd have three years of work and enough money to get yourselves started. And not only that... but whatever forced you to get out on those streets, it would go away."

"No, it really wouldn't," Riku muttered bitterly. "No matter how many years I spent here, it won't go away."

"I'm sure after a few years here, you'll be fine!" King Mickey laughed, seeming to take on a lighter tone of voice now that Riku wasn't back to snapping at him.

"It's... not what you think it is," Riku murmured quietly. But after seeing the mouse's smile start to frown, he could foresee another conversation that would undoubtedly lead to question the teen did not want to answer. "So... three years, huh?"

"Yup! Ha ha!"

"Any way we could shorten that?"

King Mickey's brows furrowed slightly. "To what?"

"Two."

"Hmm..." King Mickey hummed thoughtfully. "I dunno... after all, you are thieves, no matter what the age. I dunno if I should allow that..."

"Then I'll make a deal with you." Riku smirked. "By the end of two years, I'll tell you what's kept us out on the streets for so long."

Mickey laughed. "And what makes you think I want to know, hm?"

"I can see it in your eyes," Riku said smugly. "You're curious, aren't you?"

Mickey laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess I am. Almost as curious as you, hm?"

"What makes you think I'm curious?" Riku asked quizzically.

"The fact that you stopped glaring at me when I started to talk about things you didn't know."

Riku mentally cursed himself.

"So, you trust me now?" King Mickey asked.

"Nope," Riku replied easily, shifting a bit to straighten himself before his arms fell asleep completely, wincing as he did so. "In fact, I hate your guts."

A pause. And then, to the teen's surprise, a laugh. "I can live with that, pal!" the mouse said gaily.

"I'm not your 'pal'," Riku said stubbornly, slowly sinking back into his rude mannerisms.

"Who knows? You might be after two years." And then, before Riku could snap back with an insult, he stuck out his hand. "So two years, and you'll tell me your secret. Deal?"

Riku eyed his hand wearily. Second doubts nagged at his hearts, telling him to stop and bop the mouse on the head, steal every bit of money he found in the castle, get Sora, and run like Hell. But the other part of his mind realized he no longer had a choice in the matter.

And for once, the prayer he didn't realize he'd always been making was answered.

He took King Mickey's hand in his firmly, shaking once with the mouse king who smiled at him, a truly genuine smile.

And Riku felt some of the weight he'd been carrying for so many years sidle off of his heart, and suddenly, the pain from his scarred body was minimized. Even if it was just a bit.

Something caught his eye, a small movement as the door creaked open. He watched as Aerith entered the wall, looking at their clasped hands with a look of approval.

And Riku dropped Mickey's hand like a hot brick.

"What took you so long?" he asked, raising an eyebrow as she sat down a lucid green bottle on the bedside table, as well as a small white box and several fresh, bright white hand towels.

"I had to get a few more needles," she said calmly. "We were out. And I have to make up some more salve."

"Wait... needles?" Riku said slowly, apprehensions interlacing his words. "What for?"

"Well," she said sweetly, "you have a few broken bones in your arm. And the only way to get salve on them is to inject it right into the bone. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

"Ummm... I'm gonna go now," King Mickey said hesitantly, slowly sliding out of his chair and backing away, eyeing Riku's paling face with sympathy. "When should I tell Leon and Cloud to bring Sora back?"

"Around five, would be good."

"Okay. Oh, and Aerith?"

"Yes?"

"Should I tell the staff to ignore the screams coming from the infirmary/"

"That'd be wonderful! Thank you."

"Ha ha, no problem!"

And still chuckling a bit, King Mickey left the infirmary, leaving behind a very-much frightened Riku as the nurse moved in on his left arm.

It didn't take longer then five minutes for the screaming to start.

Heads

"Are you done yet?"

"Not yet, Sora."

"...how about now?"

"No, Sora. Not yet. Just hold on."

"But it feels funny!"

"That's the magic spreading, Sora. It'll only take a minute more."

"Nrrrrgh..."

Sora had returned to the infirmary fifteen minutes ago, much to Riku's relief, unmarred. Although he did have a slight head ache from Yuffie yapping at him the whole day. King Mickey had come with him, and Yuffie had chosen to run off and hang out with her friends in favor of staying with everyone else. Cloud and Leon were also there, sitting on chairs by the wall with King Mickey.

Sora sat cross-legged on the bed next to Riku's as Aerith's hands gently cupped the sides of his head, her green magic seeping into his skull and spreading throughout his body, making him grow a faint green color that made Riku snigger and Sora pout.

And then, several complaints from the brunet later, Aerith finally pulled back. The green aura gently diminished into nothingness. Sora's cuts were melded over with fresh, pink skin, and his bruises had faded into tiny molts of dark colors before they shrank into nothing. The aches in his bones receded as well, and Sora stretched a bit, hearing them give a small crack as they relieved the tension settled in his back.

"That feels better," he murmured gratefully. "Thanks."

"No problem," Aerith responded, pulling back. She shook her hands out slightly and, looking at the brunet's curious face, said, "Just getting the circulation back to them. Casting magic isn't easy."

Sora nodded, and looked over at his friend who hadn't uttered a single peep since the brunet had arrived. He was hunched over and studying the two scrolls of parchment sitting on his legs.

"What are those, anyway?" Sora asked. "You must've read them at least three times by now..."

"They're called contracts, Sora," Riku replied absent-mindedly, gently running a finger under each line as he read them, so as to not misunderstand a single word.

"C'mon, Riku! Do you really have that little faith in me?" King Mickey asked as Riku continued to read the second contract for the fourth time.

"Yes," Riku responded automatically, reaching the last paragraph before the single line with an X at the left side of it.

Leon snorted. "We don't have all day, kid."

"Don't call me kid," Riku said moodily, although there wasn't much bite to it. He'd just been woken up by Sora jumping on his bed out of nowhere, and he wanted to go back to sleep. Unfortunately, Aerith was doing his other arm after this. And he wanted to postpone that as long as possible.

"Umm... Riku?"

"Yeah?"

"Which option did you choose?"

Aware that every eye was on him now, Riku just shrugged, not in the mood to explain. "Ask the rat."

"For that, you're the one telling him," Mickey huffed.

"C'mon, Riku!" Sora whined, getting up from his bed to crawl over to Riku's. Leaning his hands onto the mattress and locking his elbows, Sora arched himself over the bed to read what was on the paper. "How can you even understand this stuff? Is it even in English?"

"And this, Sora, is the reason why you're not reading it over," Riku muttered before sighing. Leafing one of them up into his fingers, he handed it to Sora. "Here. You sign that one."

"What am I signing, though?" Sora asked, taking the offered contract and tilting his head to look at it from a different angle, as if to decipher it from this new point of view. "What's the deal?"

Riku sighed, watching Sora as he now held it between thumb and forefinger, holding it up to the light. "Don't worry about it, Sora. Just sign and I'll tell you about it later."

"No," Sora replied stubbornly, still peering at his contract. "I want to know."

Rolling his eyes, Riku flipped back the first page to the second, where the line for his signature resided. "Whatever," he said easily. "I'll tell you tonight, Sora. I don't want to explain it now."

And all of a sudden, a hand plopped down onto the paper, blocking Riku's view. Slightly annoyed, and self-conscious of the fact that everyone was staring. the silver-haired teen looked up. "Yes?"

"It's just a simple question!" Sora pouted, stubborn cerulean eyes boring down into Riku's sea green ones. "Seven years or three?"

"Neither," Riku said simply.

"Neither?" Aerith echoed. Looking over at her king, she asked in a skeptic voice, "Your Majesty?"

"Riku's right," Mickey assured her. "Me and him made a deal! And instead of three years, it's two!"

"So I guess we're taking the second option then, hm?" Sora asked Riku glumly, a bitter smile on his face.

"Would you rather be locked up for seven years?" Riku asked, surprised.

"Nah," his brunet friend replied. "Just feels like we're choosing the lesser of the two evils."

"That's because we are," Riku stated, calmly plucking Sora's hand away from his paper. "Now let's just get this over with."

Aerith was just handing Riku the fountain pen she'd fetched from her desk on the other side of the room when Sora noticed it. His eyes narrowed in suspicion as his gaze flew from one contract to the other. "Hold up... Riku, are these the exact same?"

"The exact same, Sora," Riku said in a monotonous voice. His pen just touched the parchment when his friend said something else.

"Then why is yours longer?"

Brws furrowed, Riku pretended to study them both for a few moments longer, silently thankful that the others had started their own conversations and weren't piercing holes into their minds with their stares. "No they aren't, Sora. You're just imagining things."

"No I'm not!" Sora snapped! "Look! Mine reaches down half of the second page, but yours is a full two pages!"

"Stop being paranoid," RIku chuckled. "Besides, why does it matter?"

"What else is in yours?" Sora asked, eyes narrowed. "There's no way you shortened down three years to two without doing something extra, and it's in there. Tell me!"

"No, Sora! Don't worry about it!"

"Well I am!"

Everyone was staring at them again.

And quite frankly, Riku didn't give a damn.

"Sora, it's nothing to make a fuss about! Just sign the damn paper!"

"Why? Why won't you tell me what you did?"

"Trust me, it's fine!"

"What did you do?"

Seeing that this was getting nowhere, and a moment of quick thinking later, Riku said in the calmest voice that he could muster, "Sora, give me your paper."

Sora blinked. "Why?"

"So I can write you name for you." Riku smirked, waving the pen idly in his fingers in a taunting manner. "With the chicken scratch you write in, it just might turn out looking more like 'Dave' or something."

"It would not!" Sora puffed, lower lip jutting out.

Riku laughed. "Yes it would! Your hand-writing is atrocious, Sora." And he started another round of laughter.

With another huff if indignation, Sora's hand snapped out, curling around the end of the pen and yanking it from Riku's grasp. "I can write fine!" he declared. And then, in the neatest writing that he could use, he scrawled his name on the bold line that trailed from the X and streaked the page.

Smirking in triumph, Sora showed it to his friend, who looked just as smug. "See, I can write my name just fine?"

"Yup, you sure proved me wrong," Riku said light-heartedly, plucking the pen from the brunet's hand and quickly scribbling his name in narrow, slanted cursive on his own contract. "You wrote your name nice and legible on the dotted line. Good job."

Sora was just about to agree when it hit him.

"Hey... wait a minute! You tricked me!"

"Ha ha ha h---OOF! GAH! Sora! Get oooooff!"

But the only thing on the brunet's agenda was sweet, sweet revenge as he poked and prodded every inch of skin he could see of Riku's stomach, making the teen squirm beneath him as he tried to hold in his laughter, which proved quite impossible for the other people in the room as they, too joined in on the laughter.

But Riku and Sora didn't pay attention to them. For racing deep beneath their smile, behind their pristine eyes, was a rift that seemed to be cracking along the thin line that separated their trusts.

Because Riku was keeping things from Sora.

Because they were tricking each other with their lies.

Because they were plastering masks on their faces to play puppets for their puppet masters as they laughed at them, the sound noisy and uproarious to their ears as their souls tried to cover up the sound, trying desperately to get to the other and hold on before it was too late.

But it was too late. It was just too late.

And the rift began to crack another inch. Their eyes met, and for once... neither knew what the other was thinking.

Because they were scared.

Because somewhere in their minds lurked a thing that the other didn't know about, and that neither understood.

And it was scratching, crawling, and biting it's way through the rift and into their hearts as it clawed out a new path, one that, for the next two years, they were to take.

And would take utterly alone.

End

This is the last part of truly in-depth plot you'll see for several more chapters. Because I'm going to be focusing on light-hearted fun, which is supposedly one of the main genres of this story.

I hope you all liked it... I enjoyed writing it, and it only took me a day. Which surprised me a lot... usually I work on and off on a chapter for weeks before finally posting. So... surprise?

Please review! It didn't take too long for this chapter to come out! And it's long!