A/N: Update! This chapter is now beta'd. Thank you, Senjuina.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 4. Return and Reverse

Riku pulled the door open and it made a loud creaky sound, revealing the chamber. It wasn't any better than the corridor had been. The whitette walked warily, curiously looking around the room. There were layers of dust and pieces of wood covered the floor. Noticing the bloodstains made Riku shake his head. 'I won't turn back,' he reassured himself. He tried not to hurt himself but of course he had to fell because of dim the light and a fallen chair. He cursed, but as he was getting up, his eyes caught a glimpse of paintings on the wall.

There were three of them, one bigger than the others. The first portrayed a young man with tanned skin and long silver hair. He looked very stoic with his half-closed eyes. He smiled slightly, yet he seemed arrogant. Riku continued to the next one.

It was more prestige than the first one and instead of a young man there was a much older, crookbacked person portrayed in the painting. The man was bald except for thin eyebrows and a curled, silver goatee and he had tanned skin, just like the man in the first painting. He was painted to have a mischievous smirk on his lips. The man was also holding a book. "Lord Xehanort, I suppose", Riku said, looking then at the last one.

The third painting was the most damaged one; it was ripped very badly. It had been a picture of a tanned, silver-haired man just like the two others. He narrowed his eyes, running his fingertips over the fabric. The only undamaged part of the painting was a pair of golden eyes. The painter had put a lot of work into capturing the gleam in them. Looking at the eyes gave Riku cold vibes.

"Odd", he told himself, leaving the paintings alone. He shook his head and continued his search for whatever was kept hidden in here. And suddenly, he saw a light bluish glow from the back of the chamber. In front of the large windows, there was a night stand, a pedestal, and on that stand was a glass case. Riku held his breath. Inside the glass case was a rose, a beautiful glowing rose. It couldn't be just any rose, and Riku understood it. An ordinary rose wouldn't glow like that. Approaching the rose, his curiosity grew more. He carefully lifted the glass case and placed it on the floor. The rose's glow got stronger, like calling Riku to touch it. The whitette startled upon suddenly hearing an angry growl and then a silent clack as the Beast placed the glass case back over the rose.

The Beast glared at him. "Why did you come here?!" he yelled, enraged. Riku shuddered, retreating from the monster that was now standing between Riku and the rose.

"I didn't mean any harm", the whitette said to defend himself. "I was just curious, so…"

"I warned you to never come here!" Ansem cried out, sharp teeth clearly visible as he growled. "Don't you insolent brat even realize what you could have done?!"

Riku didn't even have a chance to answer before the Beast roared again. "Get out!"

The whitette didn't have to be told twice. He was already running through the corridor when he heard sounds of rampage from the chamber. Riku didn't remember when he had ever been this scared.

Saïx was with Axel and Demyx at the entrance hall. His plain smile fell as he noticed how Riku's panicked state. And he knew his brother never panicked like that. Yes, sometimes he was upset or worried about their father or scared out of hell by Marluxia's endless flirting, but this was different. "Riku…?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

The whitette ran past him and straight towards the door. "Promise or no promise", he mumbled, opening the door. "I can't stay here another minute…! Saïx, let's leave! Now!"

The blunette nodded, making Demyx look first at Axel, then at Saïx.

"But… you can't leave us!" the water boy whined, but Riku had already run out of the castle. Saïx gave an annoyed sigh and began running back to their room to get what they had brought with them. Riku might be an idiot if he ran outside in winter, but that idiot was also his brother. And if Riku left the castle, so would he. But as the blunette grabbed his coat from the bed, the door of their room made a strange clack. He tried to open it but nothing helped. It was locked from the outside, where Zexion gave a slight smile.

"You two shouldn't wander so much," he whispered.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Riku had no idea that Saïx couldn't follow him. Zero neighed when it saw the whitette. Luna instead whinnied nervously. "Sorry, girl", Riku told the mare, leading Zero to the gate. "Saïx will come and get you."

Quickly, the whitette pulled the gate open and climbed on the steed's back. Zero let out a loud, almost cheery neigh when it began to gallop to the forest, away from the castle. Not very far away from the castle, Riku's escape got a dangerous twist when he noticed a pack of wolves following them, howling while they were still hidden behind the trees. They had smelled Zero's still open wounds and became aware of an easy prey. Zero panicked, reeling up to its back hinds when the wolves started to surround them. Riku gritted his teeth, trying to steer Zero away from the pack, but it was a useless effort. The steed was uncontrollable and accidentally caused Riku to fall from its back. The wolves were more interested in the horse than him, but that didn't mean Riku would leave Zero behind. The whitette grabbed a large stick from the ground and swung it against the wolves. He hit one of them over the head, making it snarl viciously at him.

"We're. Not. Your. Dinner!" Riku yelled, hitting another wolf which was trying to sink its teeth into Zero. The pack regrouped too soon after every successful hit, giving the whitette no time to recover. To make it even worse, Zero's reins got tangled with some branches and Riku couldn't remove them at the moment. The whitette huffed. There were too many wolves to fight with. "Can't you just give me a break?!"

The wolves growled at Riku's words, taking them as a challenge. They attacked with more power and pushed the whitette into the snow. Riku pressed his eyes closed, thinking that would be his end, but for some reason the wolves didn't kill him. They started to growl, like protecting their catch. Riku's eyes opened wide as he heard a loud, familiar roar. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the Beast. He was the last Riku thought of to come for him. The Beast attacked the pack, and Riku watched. He hadn't seen anything like it in his entire short life, and he was horrified. Blood flew and the growls of the wolves turned to yelps. Soon the pack retreated back to the woods, leaving the Beast standing there, bloody and tired. It panted and let out a loud sigh of relief when it saw Riku wasn't hurt before it collapsed into the snow, blacking out. Riku quickly removed Zero's reins from the tree branches, ready to continue his escape. But he hesitated.

Riku held his breath, turning to look back at the unconscious Beast. "Ansem…?"

Zero neighed as a sign to get away before the wolves came back. Riku gave the horse a slight smile.

"He saved us. I can't leave him here. We're going back."

-o-o-o-o-o-

The fireplace was lit immediately when Riku got back to the castle with Ansem. Axel, Demyx, Luxord and Xaldin helped him as well as they could, being truly relieved that they had gotten the boy back unhurt. The Beast instead had been unconscious when they had returned, but soon the bedlam around them awakened him. He sat on the armchair, pissed off because of the all useless fussing. He hadn't gotten any serious wounds while fighting, but the ones he had gotten were annoying as hell. Especially the bleeding one on his right arm.

"Don't lick it", Riku scolded with a frown as he noticed Ansem licking the wound. "It can lead to an infection. Let me clean it."

Ansem reluctantly gave his hand to Riku, growling slightly. Saïx, who had been released from their room, stood further behind the whitette, a stoic smile on his lips. He had exchanged only a couple of words with his brother, nothing more. Riku was more worried about Ansem than about him at the moment and for some reason it made Saïx a little jealous. Riku dipped a towel in a basin full of steaming hot water. Ansem glared at the boy suspiciously as Riku tried to bring the towel to the wound.

"This might hurt a bit", Riku warned, gaining a depreciatory snort from the Beast. As the soft fabric touched the wound, Ansem pulled his hand back straight away and roared.

"A bit?!" he yelled. "That hurt more than getting it!"

Riku frowned. "It wouldn't hurt as much if you'd just hold still."

"Hold still?! How do you think I could hold still if you're hurting me?!" Ansem cried out, causing his servants to retreat a few more steps from the raging Beast. "And if you hadn't run away, this wouldn't have even happened!"

"If you hadn't frightened me, I wouldn't have run away in the first place!" the whitette yelled back.

"Well, you weren't supposed to enter the West Wing! Didn't you understand one simple rule?!" Ansem hissed through his teeth. Riku grimaced, dipping the towel in the basin again.

"Well, you should learn to control yourself", he said apologetically, glaring at the Beast. "Now, please. Hold still."

Ansem hid his aggravation and ache, looking away from the boy when Riku pressed the damp towel to the wound again to clean it. He didn't complain anymore, which made it even more amusing for Xemnas. He chuckled slightly, seeing how great an advantage their guest had over his brother.

Riku smiled slightly. "And by the way", he started quietly, "thanks for saving me… Ansem."

The Beast glanced at the boy, surprised. "You're… welcome. Riku."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

In the village, everyone was sleeping peacefully. Well, almost everyone. The inn which was always full of noisy people was empty, dark and quiet. But the backroom of the inn was lightened up by a candle and it wasn't so quiet there, after all. Marluxia sat with Larxene and Xigbar on one side of a table.

"This must be urgent, Marluxia", a girl with brown hair and a pink dress said, sitting across the table and filing her nails. "You should know that I don't usually leave the islands on such short notice."

"We know that, Kairi", Larxene noted dryly. "But we promise to make it worth your while."

"Your offer sounds interesting, indeed", the brunette girl hummed. "Well?"

Marluxia snapped his fingers as a signal for Xigbar. The older threw a bag of coins onto the table, grinning. The girl called Kairi chuckled slyly and nodded. "I'm listening."

Marluxia gave a smile. "The one I want to and will marry... He needs a little persuading."

"Yeah!" Xigbar whooped, taking a gulp of his beer. "Marly got totally ditched by that weirdo!"

Larxene slapped Xigbar hard, making the other almost choke. Kairi raised an eyebrow, looking suspiciously at the three. "I can't help you with that. I run an asylum, not a love clinic."

"Now you got me wrong", Marluxia said a bit too calmly. "You know what kind of boy Riku is. You two were childhood friends."

Kairi nodded. "Riku is a wise boy."

"That's correct", Marluxia hummed. "But his father is, how would I put it nicely, not so wise. He's a complete lunatic. Just yesterday he was telling us about a horrible Beast!"

"Ansem is harmless", Kairi told. "Old and crazy, but harmless."

"You're correct again, Kairi. But my little Riku would do anything for his father", the pinkette told. "Or for his brother. And through them, I'll get the boy. He'll be like melted wax in my hands."

"So you want me to declare the great Ansem the Wise insane?" Kairi asked. "Or that son of his, Saïx?"

"Both of them", Marluxia replied with a smirk. "You know Riku would do anything to save them from such a poor fate."

"Even marry him!" Xigbar laughed, pointing at Marluxia. Larxene was already strangling the man when Kairi giggled.

"What's so funny, brat?" Larxene spat, letting go of Xigbar and turning accusingly towards the girl. "Didn't Marluxia make himself clear?!"

Kairi gave a cold chuckle. "It's not that, blondie", the brunette said with a tone that didn't belong to a little girl. It was a voice of someone who spends their days with psychos and madmen in a closed island. "The plan is just completely scandalous. And I love it! This will be the easiest job of my whole career!"

As Marluxia planned his bright future with Riku, on the other side of village the latter's father, Ansem the Wise, awoke from a terrible nightmare. He sweated like a little piglet, panting heavily. "What a dream", he sighed, looking around his room. Everything seemed normal, but something didn't feel quite right.

"Riku…? Saïx…?" No answer. His nightmare started to feel more real than it should. He ran through the house, but neither of his sons were there. Ansem held his head. It wasn't a dream. He had really lost both his sons to monsters no one believed in. He cursed, remembering he had been studying maps of the area before falling asleep on his desk after leaving the inn. Frustrated he hadn't left to help Riku and Saïx already, he now packed his bag full of maps and other papers along with many other things, getting ready to leave.

"If no one else helps me", he mumbled angrily. "I'll save my sons myself!"

Ansem slammed the door closed behind him and began to trudge through the piles of snow towards the dark forest. Just a moment later, a carriage arrived in his yard. Marluxia with his two loyal friends went inside the house, displeased after finding it empty. Xigbar gave a sigh.

"They're not here", he yawned. "Huh. I guess your plan isn't going to work."

Marluxia gave him a scary smirk. "Well then. You'll stay here until any of them comes back", he said. "And you'll rapport me at the instant when that happens!"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Saïx had soon left Riku with Ansem. He didn't know why he was annoyed. Was it jealousy or over protectiveness? Things were getting complicated. The blunette sighed, walking through the corridor. The shadow lingered on behind him.

"Why are you wandering here this late?" Xemnas asked.

"Why wouldn't I?" Saïx replied bluntly. "And why are you following me?"

"Two questions", the shadow hummed. "I should be flattered."

The blunette snorted, ignoring the fact he hadn't got answers to his questions. Xemnas chuckled as Saïx finally glared at him. "What do you want?" the blunette hissed.

"To talk", Xemnas hummed. "How do you like it in here?"

"Riku seems to have started to like it", the blunette said, remembering his brother smiling so sweetly just a couple of minutes ago. And yet that smile wasn't meant for him.

"Does that bother you?"

Saïx shrugged. "Perhaps."

"Where are you going?"

"Nowhere, really", the blunette said with a smirk, wanting to add that leaving wasn't an option, after all. "But if you really have so much free time that you can stalk me, maybe you could show me around, too?"

The shadow stopped following the blunette for a moment. He was surprised Saïx had actually asked him to be with him, even if just indirectly and meaning it as an insult. It made him somewhat happy. "Sure."

There wasn't really a reason why Xemnas led Saïx to the art gallery. It was a big, spacious room and its walls were full of paintings of different sizes. Most of them were portraits.

"Impressive collection", Saïx had to admit even though he didn't like art very much.

"Lady spend most of her days in here", Xemnas told. "She also liked to paint."

The blunette raised an eyebrow. "Lady?"

"Late lord Xehanort's wife", the shadow corrected. "She was an artist."

Saïx gave a smile, curiously looking over the room. "Are any of her paintings here?"

Xemnas was silent for a moment. "…No. There are only three in this castle. The rest of them were moved after her death. But someday, I might show them to you."

"You think I'll stay here that long?" Saïx snarled.

Xemnas hummed at the question. "Yes. You would have already left if you didn't like my company."

"Don't expect too much. You're still annoying."

"Because you can't read me?"the shadow asked sarcastically.

"Yes. But I can smell you", Saïx said suddenly, seeing as it was somehow related to the situation.

"Excuse me?"

"I can smell you. Do I have to spell it?"

"No, I just didn't think that it's even possible."

Saïx smiled slightly. Xemnas sounded so delighted. It made Saïx look at the shadow more carefully, but still, he couldn't see any human features. "That's not your true form, is it?" It wasn't really a question, but in any case Xemnas made a sound of denial.

"You think too much", the shadow said, yet he didn't sound very convincing after that sudden statement.

"Maybe so", the blunette stated with a faint smile. "But I believe… there is more than meets the eye. I don't care how weird it might sound now, I want to see the real you. No matter how annoying you might be now."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The next day came with one great difference; Riku wasn't afraid of being in the castle anymore. He was more than relieved of that. He walked around the garden with Zero and Luna. After the recent wolf attack Zero's injuries had been taken care of by the servants and the steed was getting better. It was one of the things that made the whitette even happier. Luna poked his back with her snout, wanting attention from the boy. Riku patted Luna, smiling.

"It's alright, girl", he hummed. "We'll be staying here for a while."

Ansem looked down at the boy from the balcony, gaining smiles from Axel and Demyx.

"What… are you thinking, Master?" Axel asked politely.

Ansem gave a slight growl. "I've just… I've never felt this way before…"

Demyx, who was out even though he was afraid of freezing up, looked at the Beast, confused. "Is it a bad kind of feeling or…?"

"It makes me feel warm", Ansem said, pressing his bandaged hand against his chest. "Here."

Axel gave a chuckle. The man who was considered a Heartless was getting feelings for a disobedient kid. "That's what they call love", the flame man hummed. Ansem looked at his two servants.

"You think… it might be love?"

"I don't think so", Zexion snorted, stepping out onto the balcony from an open door. "It may be compassion, or even gratitude, but definitely not love. No. Such a thing doesn't exist."

Demyx gave a frown. "Zexy! Love does exist!" he insisted. "I know it does!"

Zexion laughed dryly. "You know it?" he snarled. "You who hasn't even kissed anyone before. Stop it. Such foolishness belongs to fairytales. Master…"

"Shut it, Zexion", the Beast growled in a commanding but not angry tone. "I don't know whether it is love or not. I just want… to do something special for him. But what?"

"There are a few things like flowers and chocolates and," Axel named, a grin on his lips, "promises you don't intend or have to keep."

"No, Ax!" Demyx noted with a pout. "It's Riku, not some girl. It has to be something that he likes!"

Ansem frowned. "I don't know him that well."

Axel and Demyx looked at each other, smiling widely. Zexion rolled his eyes as the water boy jerked Ansem's sleeve.

"May I suggest something…?"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Riku followed Ansem through the many corridors of the castle. "Seriously, where are you taking me?" the whitette asked curiously. Ansem stayed silent, just grinning at Riku's endless questions.

"It's a surprise", the Beast told with a smirk when they arrived at a large pair of white doors. "But I want you to close your eyes first."

"Are you kidding me?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Ansem asked with a grin, snarling a bit. "Just close them. And no peeking."

Riku closed his eyes suspiciously. The Beast waved his paw in front of the boy's closed eyes, just to make sure Riku really didn't see anything. When he was sure Riku was temporarily blind, he opened the doors, leading the boy into the room.

"Remember to keep your eyes closed", Ansem said, opening the curtains of the room. Riku pressed his eyes shut more tightly when he was able to see the sunlight through his eyelids.

"Can I open my eyes now?" Riku asked.

"Yes."

The whitette had to blink a couple times to get used to the light again, but when he did he was able to look around the room. His heart skipped a beat when he noticed where he was. It was a high room, full of books. Bookshelves, piles of books, so many books he couldn't believe his eyes. He gasped for air.

"This can't be real", he whispered, making Ansem smile.

"You like it?" the Beast asked.

Riku looked straight at him, smiling so widely, so happily, it made Ansem feel weird. "I love it", Riku uttered. "It's more than perfect. I couldn't even imagine a place like this!"

"It's yours, then", Ansem said with a happy smile. Riku's eyes widened, unable to even form words. Ansem laughed a bit to Riku's speechlessness. "But I have something else for you, too", he told, handing Riku a necklace with some kind of key.

"It's beautiful" Riku said, looking at the weirdly shaped key. It was black and red, its teeth forming the outline of a heart.

"It's called a Key of Heart", Ansem told with a faint smile. "I don't know where it belongs, so it's yours to keep."

"A Key of Heart", the whitette repeated, blue eyes shining gratefully. "Thank you…"

-o-o-o-o-o-

The servants were more than happy to notice how in just a few days, Riku had begun to enjoy the company of their always so grumpy master. The whitette had coaxed Ansem out of the castle. The Master wasn't really an outdoor person, especially not during winter. It was always too cold in his opinion, but that was a lame excuse for someone who had thick fur. It was Riku's idea to go out to feed birds. He said it would make the castle feel more homelike to him, considering that back at the village he had had chickens to take care of.

"I… I don't really like birds", Ansem mumbled when the whitette put a small pile of seeds on his paws. "And animals don't like me, either."

Riku smiled. "Just wait and see", he said, making a trail of seeds to Ansem's paws on the snow. A small bird flew there, eating first from the trail but flying then to Ansem's paw to eat from the pile. The Beast gave a surprised, gentle smile. Riku answered to the smile with a chuckle, touching Ansem's hand when he stood up before running to hide behind a tree. He smiled, ashamed, touching the key hanging on his necklace. There's something sweet and almost kind, he thought with a sigh. But he was mean and he was coarse and we fought. He looked back at Ansem, just to see the Beast covered with birds. Riku couldn't help but chuckle a bit. And now he's dear and so unsure. I wonder why I didn't see it there before.

Ansem didn't know what to do with the birds. He glared in the direction Riku run off to a moment ago, merely to see the whitette chuckling at him. It didn't anger him, no. It was that weird feeling at his chest again. He glanced this way, I thought I saw, he sighed, unsurely happy. And when we touched, he didn't shudder at my paw. Ansem shook his head, catching a sight of Riku looking back at him. No, it can't be, I'll just ignore. But then he's never looked at me that way before.

Riku held his breath, hiding again. "This is not like me", he mumbled. "This is just so…" …new and a bit alarming. Who'd have ever thought that this could be? True that he's no Prince Charming. But there's something in him that I simply didn't see…!

Ansem let out a loud snarl when Riku threw a snowball at him, scaring the birds away. The whitette laughed when the Beast, instead of getting mad, made a snowball to meet the challenge. Inside the castle, Axel, Demyx, Xaldin and Luxord looked at them curiously from the kitchen's window.

"Well who'd have thought", Axel hummed with a grin.

"Or who'd have known", Demyx continued.

Luxord took a sip of tea. "Well who indeed."

"And who'd have guessed they'd come together almost on their own", the flame man chanted.

"It's so peculiar", Xaldin said.

"We'll wait and see", the paper man chuckled. "A few days more…"

"There may be something there that wasn't there before…"