It's so cold...
What was that soft brush against my cheek? Something snapped beneath weight. A twig? Warmth pressed against my side. I graciously snuggled against it like a kitten would their mother's belly. Warmth faded as a growling rumble breathed against my ear. Strange...

Life prickled through my limbs, my entire right side numb, as I shifted uncomfortably. I was lying on something very cold and very hard, like granite against my cheek. I pulled my arm out from under me. A hammer was being beat against my temple, driving me insane, I just knew it – there was so way that my head could hurt this much without it. Groaning, I blinked past the sleep in my eyes to take in my surroundings.

No wonder my "bed" for the night had been so uncomfortable; I was lying on a slab floor. The coarse floor left an etched pattern on the skin of my cheek. Gargoyle statues haunted the room. Horns of Aries curling round their bat-like ears as their gaping mouths were bared threateningly. Soulless eyes burned into my skull as I tore my own away from their intimidating forms to look back around. They may be just statues, but that didn't make them any less scary to me.

An icicle chandelier, hanging overhead at the very apex of the ceiling, was the single solitary light source. Though it was a welcoming contrast to the very room for which it lit, the light was still ghostly. Phantom light. Like the full moon on a storming night.

A pair of spiral staircases led to both the left and right ends of the room, hugging the walls, each curling up to a shrouded hallway. Crimson tapestries hung from the stairways' balconies, bordered with black symbolic roses and vines. In the centre of each tapestry was a flat black...heart?

Pushing past my slight dizziness, I gathered up my feet, holding my head against my palm. The air was so musky it made my head spin; leaving a bad taste on my tongue. Unruly knots of blond hair curled around my face, adding to my growing annoyance.

"'Bout time you got up," I swear I jumped five feet into the air. I swerved around, back to the beginning of the stairs. There, slouched over himself as he sat upon the stairs, was a young man.

Shadows cast from his spiky brown hair hung over his face. Eyes hidden, he seemed to be staring at his own booted feet, completely ignoring my presence. From what I could gather from his appearance, I would have said that he was some sort of miner. Then again, no amount of rock and soil could mark someone's skin like that. Scars and bruises decorated what little I could see of his arms, neck and legs. Some scars were fainter than others, but they all seemed the same in one way. Equally spaced out, five scars would run parallel to each other - like a wild cat scratch.

I swallowed past the harsh lump of pity in my throat as I imagined the pain these many scars would have caused when first made.

"You can stare all you want," I flinched back at the low harshness of his voice, "I don't need your pity!"
Before I could even think of a reply, he was up and started his way towards me. Breathing weakly, for each step he took forward, I took one back. Fear clutched at my heart as I was backed up against a marble pillar.
"Are you scared of me?" he almost sounded smug, his mouth twisting into a cruel smirk. All I did was nod. I really was scared.
But why was he taking pleasure in that?

He asked a question of his own, one I was not expecting. "Are you more afraid of me...or the Heartless?" with that question passing by his lips, the gleam of his cruel smile vanished. He was being utterly serious with me now.

"Th-the Heartless..." I could not help the quacking in my voice. Images of those men dying before my eyes...why won't they go away?

"I see." I caught a slight glimpse of cerulean through his curtain of brunette bangs. Something stirred in my heart, my fear melting as I was captivated by something so simple as his eyes.

Just as easily as the spell on my limbs was cast, it was broken as soon as those deep warming eyes were hidden beneath shadow once again.

"You have a dept to pay," he said as he brushed his fingers across my cheek. My stomach twisted but I could not help how that soft, gentle touch made me feel so safe and warm. "A life was saved last night, now it is under my control. You owe me that very life," he breathed against my ear. The awareness that he was drawing his lips closer and closer to my own grew, "and I shall use it as I see fit."
Just a breath's length away now, I would just have to tilt my head back to make our lips touch. "You are my prisoner - my slave – until I say otherwise..."
He caught his breath, as if had burned him. He drew back sharply, a hiss escaping him.

What had I been thinking? I had completely forgotten my fear and had wanted to kiss him!

I could feel the blood rush to my face, colouring my cheeks, as I jerked my head to the side to hide my embarrassment. All was silent as I tried to catch up my mind with his words. What had he said? 'Slave'?
"A slave?" I asked, head hanging in shame.
"Yes. You shall do what I tell you to do, when I tell you to do it."
I bit my lip.

"Follow me." I followed after him like the hopeless slave I was.

Each room was more depressing, dank and darker than the one before. Cobwebbed corners. Dusty ripped curtains. The floors were no better...
"I expect the tables to be cleaned, spotless, before every meal," the muscles of his back flexed tensely as he stormed ahead of me, never checking to see if I was keeping pace with him. "you will attend such meals if I say so. If not, you take into intuition that you should eat in the kitchen."
He waited for my recognition. I was to be formal and not dote when addressing him.
"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now, that is all the rooms that shall concern you," he continued off down the chapel-like hall after the dining room was closed. I trailed after him until my straying eyes honed in on a mahogany pair of doors. A single golden heart knocker, similar to the one from the tapestries, clung five feet from the floor upon the door. He had yet to tell me about that room.

"Uh...sir," I said tentatively. He froze mid-step. "What about that room?"
He turned his head stiffly in the direction of my gesture.
"That room is none of your concern." His tone told me that that was the end of the conversation.
"Y-yes, sir."
"This way. I'll show you to your room."
Wha-?" My room? But I thought-"
"That you'd sleep on the floor like a dog? Would you prefer that?" he asked sharply. Tears stung at the corners of my eyes.
"I- No...sir."
"Then follow me." I did so, no more questions asked.

It took less than five minutes to reach my appointed room. I surely did not think that this room would be any cleaner than the others. If the very door was covered in dust and grime, I fret as to what state I would find the room in.
"I expect you to be dressed suitably and to have your room cleaned by the time I sit down for dinner." He turned to leave me to my work.
"Wait!" I bit my lip. Never raise your voice to him. "Uh, sorry..."
There was no doubt in the way he held himself that he was annoyed with my continuous interruptions.
"What is it?" he asked, hair hanging over his eyes still as he denied me the courtesy of looking at me.
"May I ask – if it is not too much to do so – that I...ask for your name?" he raised an eyebrow to me, I could tell as I saw his head twitch over in my direction. "What is your name, sir?"
He obviously did not expect me to ask such a simple question for he finally looked up to me.
Once again I was stunned by the warm familiarity of those cerulean eyes. They made my tense stance slump. Cerulean. Just like my brother...

But there was no doubt that they were not my brother's eyes alone. I could see so much more experience, hurt, in those eyes compared to my brother's. These eyes were hard, closed off, having seen things no other his age had. They were as reserved as he himself.
"...ra."

I was snapped back into the time at hand as he blinked at me, his dark fan of lashes cutting off his hold on me. I cleared my throat.
"Um...pardon?"

I was surprised that he didn't harden up when I asked again. "Sora. That is my name."
"Sora..." I tested the way his name felt passing through my lips. His eyes were so warm and soft now, as if happiness was seeping into his very veins and stirring deep within him. Vast, everlasting as the sky. I could almost feel the warm embrace as I looked into them.

He turned back, taking away the eyes of my brother and shrouding them beneath his brunette locks.
"If you need anything, my servants will attend you." Sora said through gritted teeth, the tension in his jaw pronounce, "I will see you at dinner."
"Sora..." but he was too far gone for my whisper to have been heard. I swept my fingers across the brass doorknob of my room, slipping inside as I pulled the door open.

I tenderly traced my fingers across the wall, searching for a switch of some kind. The light of the moon seeping through the torn-curtain window was only enough to cast a light hue against the floor. Finally, I found a notch in the wall.

Warm radiance filled the once dark room, stinging my eyes for a moment as they tried to adjust to the world around them. It...wasn't as bad as I thought. A midnight blue canopy double bed lay against the right wall, opposite the oriel windowed wall. The starlight gossamer curtains draped over the bed on either side, hiding the head of the bed. A rose emblem etched the footboard. Cobwebs and dust were scare. Crossing the carpet floor, the lone mahogany Victorian wardrobe drew my eye. 'I expect you to be dressed suitably...'. That's what Sora had said, I must obey. However, what would be suitable in his eyes?

Opening the doors to the room-height wardrobe, I brushed my hand along the hanging gowns and dresses. What a selection. Where did all these lovely dresses come from? They were certainly not meant for a "servant". From silk to cashmere, these were not meant to drape upon unworthy shoulders. Humble to my master, I chose the most modest of them all.

The beige sundress now adorned my body. The black omen bodice clung to my sides and waist, pressing my chest forward while leaving the dress's skirt to fan out like a flower petal as I swayed in front of the mirror. Showing my curves not too modestly yet not too pronounce either. I was thankful. There was hardly anything to "show off", and I would look like a flat stick if I had chosen any of the other gowns that hung lifelessly in my wardrobe.

I sighed heavily as I brushed my fingers along my blushing cheeks, why was I thinking so much of Sora? He was so...grotesque. I should not have acted the way I did. Groaning, I saw the blush glow in the mirror as I thought about how close I had been to kissing him. I had been so drawn to him - so warm, it felt so right. So easy.

I needed to have him kiss me at that moment, his eyes caressing my face. In that moment, with his cerulean eyes holding my own brown eyes in place, I had felt so safe. Why was he so harsh when his eyes were so soft?

Because he's hiding something, I could tell at least that much. Soft and open one moment, hard and glazed over, protected, his eyes were the next. My saviour was hiding something; something close to his heart.

All those scars, mauling his body. What had he been through? What had he lived through to scar him in such a way? All these questions, running through my mind, they were never going to be answered!
Brushing my hair back away from my eyes quickly, I gazed across the room. My room now. Now, the tattered curtains were lying in the trash. The walls were dusted of cobwebs. The bed was made; my own dress was smothered amongst the others in my new wardrobe. Happy that everything in this room was to standard, I rushed out the door, swinging the door shut and raced down the hall to the kitchen.