Shion was standing in a doorway, for a minute unsure of where he was. Before him was a room, and in the room there was a bed swathed in white. There was a shape underneath the cloth, Shion could make out the shape of a face… and the shape of a crown.

Beside the bed his mother was kneeling, sobbing, holding her chest as if it would burst apart otherwise. She looked torn, at wether or not to reach out and try to touch the figure in the bed. Her hand shaking in mid-air like a pale fluttering bird.

Shion reached out for her.

"Shion,"

Shion turned. He was positive it had been Nezumi's voice behind him. When he looked, a flick of black hair was disappearing down the hall.

Shion glanced back at his mother and clenched a fist.

"I'm sorry…" He murmured, and then he ran after Nezumi.

Shion made it to the end of the hall at a sprint, worried he would have missed him, but when he got there his saw a hand sweeping behind another corner.

"Nezumi!" Shion called and ran after him again.

This time, when Shion reached the end of the hall, he recognized where he was.

He was standing at the top of the hall that held his bedroom, the large wood doors cracked open at the end of it. When Shion arrived there, he saw a flash of something through the crack in the door and he ran towards them, throwing them open.

There he was. Nezumi, sitting on the balcony with his hair blowing in the wind from outside. He wasn't looking at Shion, he was sitting sideways on the balcony rail, his head turned towards the horizon as sunlight fell over his skin.

Shion let out a breath.

"Nezumi," Shion took a step forward.

Nezumi turned, his face smiling when he saw him. He held out his hand.

"Come on," He said, beckoning Shion with a curl of his fingers, and then he leaped from the balcony.

"Nezumi," Shion shouted so loud his voice broke as he tore forward, and threw himself against the balcony rail, looking down.

But Nezumi was there, standing untouched on the ground below.

Only, it wasn't the ground. It was a sort of white openness that stretched on forever, full of nothing. But Nezumi was standing there, looking up at him and reaching out his arm, calling him forward.

"Come on!" He said again, his voice alight and brilliant, "Jump!"

Shion's eyes widened in surprise.

He looked out again, at the blankness that stretched into the horizon, and squinted. He couldn't see anything, nothing, for miles. He looked back at Nezumi.

Nezumi smiled at him, "What are you waiting for? Don't worry, I'm here to catch you."

And at that, Shion felt a slow grin spread over his face.

"I'm coming!" Shion shouted, and he moved to throw himself over the balcony, but something caught his foot.

Shion blinked and looked back. Around his leg there was suddenly a cuff. Locked like a clamp, it lead away from him with a heavy iron chain.

Shion followed it with his eyes, where it passed between his bedroom doors, and at the moment he looked at them the doors blew open as if by a gust of wind.

Beyond them was a plaza, day lit and full of people.

Shion's chest clenched.

"No," He jerked harshly towards the balcony again, and pain shot up his leg. "I know that place, I'm alone there."

"Shion?"

Shion turned his head.

Nezumi was still there, looking up at him in confusion, but something was different. It took Shion a moment to notice.

The space between them, the endless white, was stretching; a gap yawning open and the white dipping and dripping into it like thick liquid pouring into a crack.

"No," Shion jerked wildly against his chain. "Nezumi!"

Nezumi was reaching out for him, but all the whiteness between the two of them was falling away into a void. Shion's heart was beating in his throat, so hard that it hurt.

"Go!" Shion screamed, "leave me here, and run. Before…"

But it was too late.

"Shion!" Nezumi was shouting, still reaching for him, as he fell.

"Nezumi!" Shion shot up.

He was blind in the dark, and his breath was coming too fast, making him dizzy. He felt something jolt beside him.

"Shion? What's going on?" Nezumi's voice, instantly panicked, broke through the dark. Shion heard it like cold water washing over a burn and his hands scrambled blindly to touch him, to know that he was real.

Shion felt the cloth of Nezumi's shirt slide beneath his finger and he fisted it, dragging it to him until he felt himself buried in the crook of Nezumi neck. Shion inhaled.

"Nezumi," He breathed, and wrapped his arms around him, holding himself against Nezumi's thin frame. "You're here."

"What?" Nezumi sounded nervous and baffled, but his arms wrapped around Shion in return, rubbing his back and smoothing his hair. "Shion what happened?"

"I'm sorry," Shion nuzzled into Nezumi's throat. "It was a dream."

Nezumi let out a breath. "What about?"

Shion's fingers curled into the back of Nezumi's shirt.

"I don't want to lose you," Shion whispered, his voice low. "Nezumi, you're the only thing…"

Nezumi sucked in a breath to cut him off, "Shion…"

"I just can't." Shion held him tighter.

Nezumi turned into Shion, nuzzling his hair. "I'm here…" he said, his voice barely a breath against Shion's skin.

Shion clutched him tighter.

He knew he had no right to ask for it, but he couldn't help but notice… Nezumi words only ever existed in the present. He never talked about the future. It was as if everything ahead of them was blank.

Shion breathed in the steam of dinner, feeling the heat cut through the cold night air behind the ruined shack and sighing. He glanced at the sky.

Nezumi had warned him he wasn't going to be home for dinner tonight. In fact he had told Shion that it would probably be best if he didn't wait up for him at all, and something about the way Nezumi had said it made Shion's stomach twist.

He missed Nezumi. Already, and with a painfulness that he couldn't explain.

Shion shook his head. He tried to focus on ladling out some stew from the old tin pot. He sat down on a low box and blew lightly on it and then took a sip, shuddering when the harsh heat slithered it's way into his stomach.

The truth was Shion had been thinking a lot lately.

He'd been thinking about his childhood, and about the kingdom, his mother and Rikiga. Worse, he'd thought mostly about the future. His future. And he just didn't know anymore what that was.

He used to tell himself not to worry. Nezumi had made it clear that they had a deadline, and Shion didn't want to waste the present worrying about how long it would last. But that was before….

Shion sighed.

That was before so many things.

Shion's stomach twisted and he suddenly had a hard time eating.

He wanted to see Nezumi, so badly in that moment it made him breathless, and he didn't know what to do.

"Your majesty?"

Shion looked up.

It was just about the last thing he expected, though maybe it shouldn't have been, too see one of the castle knights standing before him– with a scantily clad woman hanging– awkwardly– from his arm.

Shion stood and stumbled back. "What are you doing here?"

The knight held up one hand in surrender– the other being engaged with the woman that was trying to get his attention by sucking his fingers.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you. I just felt kinda weird being at the tavern when I saw your guy there and we were just looking for somewhere to– ya know…" the knight stammered.

Shion held up a hand to stop him.

"Slow down," Shion complained, "What tavern, and what do you mean 'my guy'?"

The knight shook his head, "Look, in my defense I didn't know he was one of the dancers. And it just felt weird, ya know? I don't mean to insult you– I mean, you like what you like–,"

Shion waved his hands around to stop him.

"What are you talking about?" Shion demanded.

The knight went pale, "Oh… umm… I…. I feel like I might have misunderstood something…."

Shion crossed his arms over his chest. "Why don't you try to explain."

Nezumi sighed as he finally sat down back stage. That had already been his second dance that night, and he was exhausted. Who knew it would be so difficult? Or that Sal would make him keep it up all night.

Nezumi picked up a cup of water and started to sip at it, slowly sighing.

"Ratty, you've got one more coming up," Sal called from the other side of backstage, standing before a few of the female dancers. Nezumi rolled his eyes.

"Are you kidding me?" He asked. "I just–,"

"Don't whine, Ratty," Sal leered at him. "I only get you for one night, so please let me make the most of it."

Nezumi glared.

"'right then, everybody shimmy your 'innies back on that stage."

Nezumi gripped his cup a little too tightly for a moment before throwing it back and standing up.

He was really going to have to kill Sal for this.

When him and a handful of other dancers stepped out from behind the curtain, the crowd roared drunkenly and it took a lot for Nezumi not to sneer in disgust. He took a deep breath through his nose.

A rough beat started from a drummer on the side of the stage and Nezumi started to move his hips in time. He could already feel one of the female dancers swaying into him, a little too closely, and running her hands over his bare chest.

Nezumi shoved down his discomfort and wrapped an arm around her silk covered waist– like he was supposed to– and she grinned at him, shimmying down so that she was rubbing a thinly covered warmth against Nezumi's leg. Her lace covered breast wound up in his hand. Nezumi felt a nauseous twist in his stomach.

And as miserable luck would have it, it was at that moment he heard the sound of the tavern door being pulled open.

Nezumi looked up, a passing glance at the newcomer that he hoped would distract him.

It did.

It took him a moment of blank astonishment for the image in front of him to sink in. Shion, standing in the doorway of the tavern, staring at him with a look of shock and pain– like someone at thrown something sharp through his chest.

Nezumi felt his eyes widened as his stomach dropped. His mouth silently formed Shion's name.

Then Shion's eyes narrowed at him, a sudden fire burning in them before he turned around in a storm and walked out.

Nezumi wasn't totally aware of his movement as he surged forward, dropping the girl and jumping off the stage to tear through the cluttered tables.

There were shouts of protest but Nezumi ignored them. He just ran.

"'Ey Ratty! what do you think your–,"

The tavern door slammed in Sal's face.

"Shion!" Nezumi shouted as he ran. Shion was still a good three feet ahead of him as he tore down the street. "Shion wait!"

Shion spun around, and the pain in his face made Nezumi stop walking.

"This is what you've been hiding from me?" Shion demanded. "That you spend your nights touching other people in the way that only you have ever touched me?"

Nezumi was silent. It wasn't true… but…

Something dark entered Nezumi's mind in that moment. One of his worst impulses. The one that had kept him alone for all this time. For such a long time.

If he didn't say anything, if he let Shion believe it was true, then Shion would leave him– and all of this confusion, all of this attachment, would be over. Nezumi wouldn't have to be the one to go, and he'd no longer have to fight this war not to leave.

A deep sorrow spread over Shion's face at Nezumi's silence, and it seemed to swallow up all the light in Shion's eyes.

Something in Nezumi broke at the sight of it.

"Say something," Shion whispered, and Nezumi could hear the tears he was fighting. "Say SOMETHING!"

Nezumi flinched.

Shion let out something between a huff and a sob and turned around to continue walking. Nezumi found himself drawn after him, struggling with himself.

"Shion…"

Shion shook his head without turning around.

"Shion…"

"Stop saying my name like that." Shion hissed, "If you have something to say, just say it."

Nezumi swallowed. He was trying… but his throat was so tight.

They walked the rest of the way to the basement room in silence and when they got there– standing outside of it– Shion turned on him.

"I'm not going inside with you like this," he said sharply, folding his arms around himself like he was cold. "Either you start giving me some kind of explanation, or…" Shion trailed off, shaking his head. "I don't know."

Nezumi felt something cold rise up in him at Shion's attempt at an ultimatum, and his rebellious side reared it's head.

"What explanation do I owe you?" Nezumi scoffed, his voice hard. "Who are you to demand that from me?"

Shion looked up him. His face full of blank disbelief and hurt. Then he closed his eyes, clearly fighting off tears.

"aaaaaAAAAGGGGH!" Shion turned and kicked hard against the one standing wall at the side of the ruined shack.

"Fine," He growled, and he stormed toward the cellar doors.

"Shion–,"

"You didn't want to talk remember?" Shion spat back at him, "So shut up!"

Shion flung open the doors and clamored down inside. Nezumi moved after him and was crouched at the top of the stairs when Shion turned around to block him.

"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

Nezumi glared, "This place is mine, if you want to be here fine, but you can't lock me out."

Shion bore his teeth and opened his mouth as if to shout at him when suddenly there was the sound of something cracking.

Shion's eyes shifted over Nezumi's shoulder and widened. "Look out!"

Shion's hands gripped Nezumi's arm and yanked him harshly, sending both of them tumbling down into the cellar as something large and heavy fell, crashing over the opening and the stairs– blocking the way out.