AN- Woohoo! Chapter 3! I'm actually having a lot of fun writing this. Like I said, this story has been on my mind for years and finally feeling confident enough to type it is great. This is technically my first public yaoi story so I'm just playing it by ear on what direction I'll take (though not confident enough yet to attempt smut). Anywho, enjoy and lemme know what you think


"KIBA!" Riku screamed sitting up.

Shaking, the teen held his head from the most terrible nightmare. He needed to save his little brother… He looked around the room, admittedly a little surprised not to see the heartless but also relieved. Carefully, the teen attempted to slide out of the bed; wincing as the sheets snagged his leg. Knowing better than to put his full weight on the right leg, he gripped the sheets until he felt his left foot firmly balanced on the cold hardwood floor. The cold shot through his body like a bolt of lightning. Riku looked around before seeing that the fire had gone out. Ansem probably left to get more firewood.

The heartless could return at any moment, which meant the teen didn't have a lot of time. His shoulders shook as he attempted to push himself up from the awkward bent-over-the-bed position. He grit his teeth hating feeling so weak. Finally with enough effort, the silverette was upright and balanced on his left leg. Now what.

"Damnit…" Riku swore in his mind. There wasn't enough furniture from his bed to the door to lean against and he couldn't very well hop. Only one option came to mind, which the teen really didn't want to resort to for being so pathetic. His knee began to buckle forcing him to the cold floor. It was humiliating for the once proud boy even thinking about crawling to escape. He wasn't some broken animal… well… maybe he was. Riku shook his head. There was no other way. Slowly and painfully he began to drag his bony carcass across the cold floor.

The door was only a few feet away however it felt like miles. He was still slightly feverish and the icy floor burned his recently fixed leg. "Kiba… I'm coming…" Riku kept whispering willing every fiber of his body to keep going. This was all for his brother... At last! Leaning against the cold door, Riku reached up and twisted the handle, so happy it wasn't locked. Pushing the door open the teen pulled him self through only to meet an even harder obstacle.

Stairs.

There was no way he could successfully drag himself down without any further injury. His feeble arms finally gave way under his weight and he just lay in the door way staring downstairs. This was a foolish plan. Even if he did get down the stairs, what was he going to do next? Drag him self to wherever the hell his little brother was being kept through all the snow and avoid all the guards? In his condition? Riku balled his fists before slamming them into the floor with a loud scream of frustration.

Releasing a sigh, he rolled over and stared at the wooden ceiling. He felt so pathetic and helpless. Some time later, he heard the door slam. Oh this was going to be fun… He tried to will his body to move so Ansem wouldn't see him like this. The old house creaked with every step the heartless made making it easy for Riku to track where he was. The teen panicked in embarrassment and actually managed to scramble to his feet. He screamed loudly as he fell against his bed.

The silverette heard Ansem rushing up the stairs. He gripped the sheets tightly attempting to pull him self up. Too late. He heard a soft chuckle right behind him and he realized how bad this position looked bent over the bed.

"Well now…" The heartless purred.

"FINISH THAT SENTENCE AND DIE!" Riku barked. He attempted to flip the tan man off only resulting in sliding off the bed and landing on his leg.

"I leave you alone for an hour and you manage to reinjure your leg and lose another ounce of dignity." Xehanort mused as he scooped the teen in his arms. Riku growled loudly struggling in the man's arms. "Good to see your fight is back."

"It never left! Now put me down!" the boy demanded.

It amused the heartless greatly. The teen was only a few weeks away from becoming a legal adult yet here he was throwing a tantrum like a child in his arms. This new spurt of energy soon faded and Riku settled down; simply crossing his arms. They had a temporary truce but that didn't mean he had to be completely compliant. Ansem smiled gently setting Riku down on the bed before moving down and examining his leg before shaking his head with an tsk.

"Your little stunt has resulted in another fracture. Hold still." Once again Ansem snapped the bones back into place forcing another scream out of Riku's throat. It wasn't as painful as the first time but the heartless squeezed his knee.

"Ow the hell?!" Riku screamed recognizing that Ansem did that on purpose.

"A little reminder not to injure yourself again." He smirked.

Riku dropped his head as Ansem casted another healing spell. A small purr escaped his lips feeling the soothing magic course through his sore leg. It wasn't till the bastard chuckled again when he noticed what he had done.

"SHUT UP!" Riku screamed looking away with a red face.

"I didn't say anything pet. Now then, you are to stay in bed until that leg heals. If you need me, just call in your head and I'll be by your side." Ansem stood and started towards the door.

"Where are you going again?" the silverette asked almost at a tone close to accusatory.

"Well unless you're content with staying in a freezing room, I'm retrieving the firewood I spent all morning collecting then going to make some breakfast. Is that okay master?"

If there was one thing Riku hated more than this man… it was this man patronizing him. The pure sarcasm dripping off the end of that sentence alone could fill a bathtub. A bathtub I'd happily drown him in…

"I heard that." Ansem mocked in his head as he headed downstairs.

Add mental connection to that list of things Riku hated. The teen really didn't want to acknowledge psychological bond the two shared… however it was useful sometimes. Though more often than not it was a pure annoyance to the teenager. He had to be super careful what he thought or else the heartless might exploit him to no end about it.

A few moments later, Ansem reappeared in his room with an arm's full of firewood. He piled it neatly into the fireplace and casted fire to light it. Soon the whole room began to warm up again. Riku sighed comfortably readjusting on the bed to face the red glow. Twenty minutes later, Ansem returned yet again this time with a small plate of breakfast. Scrambled eggs with a piece of toast. Being an athlete, the silverette was used to a large breakfast however he knew his stomach wasn't strong enough yet. He even wondered if this would be too much.

"So, now that you're fully awake, I think its best we devise some sort of plan to escape." Xehanort's Heartless stated as he sat on the edge of the bed carefully; handing Riku the tray.

The keyblade wielder slowly nodded as he took a small bite of the fluffy eggs. Who knew Ansem could actually cook? "There's… a bit of a catch…" Riku said quietly taking a bite out of the bland toast.

"Hmm?"

Riku's eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment, lost in a painful memory, "the law here states when a boy turns 18, they are given two choices. Either join them and become a Handler… or die. And… as you know my birthday is next month… I have… or had a collar which counted down the days. Last time I wore the number was around 60 so I have about 53 days I'm assuming."

"So why not simply join them and just buy your brother? Keep you both safe until you can find a way to escape." Ansem asked as he casually examined the healing injuries on the boy's legs.

"A… A boy tried that once…" Riku stared at his plate as he absentmindedly poked the eggs with his fork. "His name was Tom. He was really nice to me when I first arrived. Taught me everything about this world. Protected me. We… we devised a plan together. When he turned 18, he was going to buy me then we'd work together to raise the money… But…"

Ansem stared at the boy feeling the pain ooze out of Riku's heart. His mouth moved but he couldn't form any words. The heartless placed a hand on the teen's face. Riku flinched, "what are you doing?"

"Shh… just let me see…" Ansem's hand began to glow. "Close your eyes…"

At first the teen resisted not feeling comfortable but he realized it meant he wouldn't have to describe it. Sighing, he reluctantly closed his eyes letting the memories flow…

"Good evening boys and girls. We have called you here tonight to celebrate our newest member of the 1850s Elite: Tom Worthington!" Mr. Crimson announced in a deep booming voice.

Reluctant, forced claps echoed the large arena. Through Riku's eyes, Ansem saw a young man now dressed in a clean Victorian style outfit step out into the middle of the dirt arena. He could feel the fear swelling within Riku seeing his friend dressed as a Handler. The seventeen year old immediately knew something was wrong. Tom then raised a basic cane and pointed it at the ceiling.

"In honor of my inauguration into the Elite, I, Tom Worthington, hereby shed my first blood as a Handler as an example of what is to be expected of me in this role. Bring forth… Jessica Quinton."

A loud gasp erupted in the arena as most of the children had gotten to Tom and his little cousin Jessica. The little seven-year-old blonde girl was dragged out into the middle of the arena by two large men. She was clearly terrified as she struggled and screamed for help. Anyone who tried to stand up and save her had their shock collars activated knocking them unconscious. Riku saw this and remained sitting; his heart was beating like crazy.

H-he… he couldn't… no he wouldn't!

The memory began going fuzzy as Riku was trying to force it go away. He shut his mental eyes. Ansem managed to make a mental avatar of his own as the memory slowed to a freeze. He appeared behind Riku and placed his hands on his shoulders. The boy winced but kept his eyes shut.

"Show me…"

"N-no… I can't… Don't make me…" The silverette shook.

"Its just a memory. If we are to escape I need to see this…" Ansem convinced with an alluring voice.

Riku knew that wasn't really true but he slowly opened his eyes as the memory began play again and Ansem disappeared back into his mind's eye.

"Tommy please don't do this!" Jessica cried loudly.

The other children joined in her cries her age that knew her. The men threw Jessica to the ground at Tom's feet. Jessica shook on the ground, crying her eyes out. She had been told what was going to happen and while at first she didn't believe it, there was this… look in Tom's eyes. They had become so cold… so… evil. Riku watched in horror as Tom used the ball of his new cane to tilt her chin up to face him. She sniffled, desperately searching for a tiny bit of light left within him.

CRACK

The seventeen year old shut his eyes and looked away as Tom's cane swung up and caught Jessica in the jaw. She screamed loudly as she rolled onto her back. Blood poured from her mouth. Riku felt sick as he aversely opened his eyes again. Cries and screams filled the air as Tom proceeded to repeatedly beat his once-cousin to a pulp. Even Ansem felt a little sick watching. Finally, Riku couldn't stand it anymore. He stood to his feet and shouted loudly for Tom to stop.

Strangely his Handler didn't punish him for this. The blonde boy with hazel eyes turned his head and stared directly at his friend. Jessica cried as attempted to drag herself away seeing her cousin was distracted. Without breaking his gaze, Tom drew a hidden saber from his cane with a cruel smirk.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!" Riku screamed as he drew Way to Dawn and attempted to lunge at the eighteen year old.

Electricity shot through Riku's wrist from his weapon inhibitor bracelet. He fell down the stairs of the bleachers; just managing to catch himself on the wall separating the arena and its audience. The pain soon forced him to drop his blade. Tom simply laughed before walking up to the little blonde girl and plunging his saber into Jessica's leg. The little girl screamed louder than ever before shattering Riku's heart. He wasn't strong enough to save her.

He willed his body to stand but as soon as he did his Handler finally activated the Taser in his collar knocking him unconscious. The last thing Riku heard was the order for the girl to be thrown off the mountain as he slipped into darkness…

Riku slowly opened his now watery eyes. It wasn't fair. She was so young and he couldn't do anything to save her. Ansem's features seemed to have softened. He could have almost sworn he felt the teen's pain in his own chest. This world had broken his vessel, body and mind. Tears began rolling down Riku's pale cheeks.

"I don't want to become that… I… I don't want to hurt Kiba…" He sobbed.

The heartless soon found his thumb was moving on its own, gently wiping away the tears that tarnished his usually proud face. "I won't let that happen, you hear me? I won't let them take you from me." For a moment they remained still like that until Ansem coughed and drew his hand away. "So we have less than 60 days to escape."

Planning was probably the best idea for right now to keep his mind off that gruesome memory. Riku slowly nodded before adding, "There's only one way out. Mr. Crimson has a machine that allows you to exit this world and go anywhere you want. And you can buy a ticket to use this machine."

"Or I could simply open a portal and get all of us out." the heartless pointed out.

"No!" Riku protested. "Niether Kiba or I would survive that. We'd both be turned into heartless. And you can't leave without me. Not completely."

Ansem frowned knowing it was true but was curious what sort of machine this was, "How much are these tickets?"

Riku went quiet for a moment. "Its… one million per person. So we'd need at least 3 million. They figure if you've earned that much money then the greed has taken over and you won't want to tell anyone about this world. I have a feeling there's another catch but I've never met anyone who's gone through it."

"I see. And how do we raise that munny?"

A deep sigh. "The… only way Handlers can make munny… is by betting on their champions… in the arena."

"Well that should be easy, you're one of the best fighters I've ever seen." The heartless complimented.

"I don't want to fight other children though!" Riku protested. "Most of them are unwillingly and the fight doesn't end until one is beaten unconscious! Why do you think I was in that cell?! I was branded as a useless Champion because I always refused to fight! Besides my Handlers would have never used the money to buy my brother and I a ticket out of here…"

A thought suddenly crossed Riku's mind. One that hadn't occurred to him before, "how did you buy me? And this house?"

"The previous owner conveniently 'died' and decided to leave me all of his possessions including what munny he had." Ansem smiled.

The teenager rolled his eyes, "what about his slaves?"

"He didn't have any."

That line alone told Riku, Ansem sought out someone who was between children and axed them off before taking their place. He didn't like it now that he was living in a stolen house… but all the same he was still grateful to be out of that jail cell.

"How much munny do you have left?"

"Enough to get us by for the next few weeks. The Handler had about 10,000. I managed to buy you for 500."

"What?! That's it?!" Riku exclaimed. He knew he was the lower end on the market… but not that low.

The heartless let out a deep amused chuckle, "You could be considered a cheap whore at that rate. Too bad I haven't got my munny's worth."

Riku slapped the bastard with all the force he could muster in his weakened arms. It only caused him to laugh more, which caused the boy to pout and cross his arms annoyed. If Ansem had said that a few months ago, he would have pummeled his ass into the ground. He HATED being bed ridden. The laughing soon stopped and the two silverette went back to planning. With less than two months to go before his 18th birthday they estimated it probably be a few more days of bed rest until the bones were completely healed in his leg.

And then two weeks of hard training. Ansem had calculated they would probably have five train sessions a day: two hours long with a half an hour break in between. And then making sure Riku got at least eight hours of sleep to keep healthy. The teenager still resented the idea of fighting the other children but the older man managed to convince him, using Kiba against him. Reluctantly Riku agreed to the plan; he just hoped it would work. The clock was ticking.


AN- I promise more action next chapter! Please review, really helps me keep going. Thanks to everyone who's fav'd the story too 3