FicWad

Perfect Sonnet


Chapter 13 Samhain


Riku stepped through the portal, trying his hardest to ignore the ever present pains racking his body. This day was turning into hell, and when he actually got a good look at where they had ended up he might have actually said that literally. This place was awesome...but definitely creepy in its own right. When Sephiroth said they were going to a Halloween festival he didn't think that they would actually go to the place where it looked like Halloween spawned from.

His eyes widened as he saw countless visions from all of his worst nightmares just walking around and laughing as if nothing was wrong with this scene. Using some of his untapped strength, Riku prodded Sephiroth in the arm. His lover looked down at him with concern. "Seph...there's a guy with an ax in his head over there." As he was saying that the guy glanced over at him, rubbing at his thick skull.

"Yes I know Riku." He said in amusement. With the hand that he wasn't using to support Riku with, Sephiroth gestured around their surroundings. "Welcome to Halloween Town." Eerie music flooded through the air, as he struggled to hobble forward. It really wasn't going all that well though, and pretty soon it was just Sephiroth dragging him along the pavement.

Another round of pain coursed through his head, and it was like he could almost feel someone trying to push their way into his consciousness. He let go of the arm he was clinging to, falling straight to the ground. His fingernails dug into the dirty concrete around the square, just wishing for the pain to stop. "It..." He struggled. "It hurts."

He knew he sounded weak, but he couldn't stop himself. The pain was just getting to him to much, and now that he was away from Sephiroth's touch it only seemed to be getting worse. A hand came to rest on the small of his back, helping him to ground himself. "Get up. You lying around feeling sorry for yourself isn't going to help the pain." Another hand came under his stomach, helping to hoist him to his feet. "Now we're almost there, so you're just going to have to try and bear it."

Slowly nodding, Riku just struggled to place one foot in front of the other. The pains were the only thing he had told Sephiroth about, but they certainly weren't his only ailment. A voice that sounded so familiar, and yet at the same time he couldn't seem to place, kept whispering in his mind that he should give up. That what he had thought earlier was right...no one loved him...no one wanted him. He tried to ignore it, but all he could ever see was Sora raising his keyblade against him, Sephiroth turning his back on him to leave, and that voice would sound more and more true.

"Sephiroth what's going on?" A kind female voice filled his ears, and he fought to raise his head. The voice belonged to a very pretty girl with long brown hair tied into a pony tail, and a long pink dress. She had a gentle face, and even gentler eyes. "Oh Goddess what's wrong with him?" The color drained out of her face as her eyes caught his. Did he really look all that bad?

"His body is being taken over." He heard Sephiroth talking, but he sounded muffled to his failing senses, as if he was speaking through a pillow or something. "I want you to stop it, or at least slow it down." His brain wasn't totally at the level where it could comprehend what Sephiroth meant by his body was being taken over, but he had to feel at least a little comfort at the concern coming through his voice.

That is until he was promptly dropped. He groaned as his face hit the concrete, and through his pain was about to scream at Sephiroth, but it seemed his lover was having fun screaming himself. "What the fuck is he doing here Aerith!?" Riku could only assume Aerith was the girl he had originally seen, but as to who she was being yelled at about he had no idea.

"You didn't really expect me to let her go on her own did you?" At the voice he rose his cracked head from the floor, and through bleary eyes saw ridiculously spiky blond hair, and the bluest eyes he had ever seen.

"I know that it wasn't any of your business Strife." Sephiroth growled. The blond walked over to him then, and placed a hand on his lover's finely sculpted cheekbones.

"You send Aerith a message saying that it's a matter of life and death, and you don't think it's any of my business?" When he saw Sephiroth's eyes soften at the touch, that same devilish voice came back to him. It was telling him that this was the person Sephiroth really cared about. The voice told him that this was his true love, and that he was only being used as a pawn to get him back.

Then of course the really terrible part came. Agonizing pain ripped through his head, and he let out a blood curdling scream. This seemed to get everyone's attention at least. "Shit! Riku." Sephiroth was by him in an instant, and he was hefted bridle style into his arms.

"Riku? That's Sora's Riku?" The blond's voice filtered into his ears, and it only made his head hurt more. A sob escaped his throat, and his pride didn't seem to matter anymore as warm tears rolled down his face.

His body stiffened when Sephiroth laid him on what looked to be the edge of a fountain that was spurting out green glowing water. "Fix him Aerith." Sephiroth's voice held a note of panic that he could honestly say he had never heard before.

"Yes of course. Should I give him something to help him sleep?" She was pulling some sort of powder from a basket she had brought, but Sephiroth's harsh voice stopped her.

"No. He has to remain conscious. If he passes out or goes to sleep it will only make it that much easier for Ansem to take over."

"Ansem!" Both Strife and Aerith exclaimed at once, but then the blond of the two took over. "What the hell is he trying to take over this kid for?" For some reason his body really didn't like that voice, for it sent another spasm through him.

"Cloud be quiet. It's not important right now, and you seem to be upsetting him." Yeah...That was an understatement. Small bony fingers wrapped around his hand, and he glanced into Aerith's eyes, trying hard not to pull away from the contact, which seemed to sear his skin. "Can you tell me where it hurts?"

"Would everywhere be an accurate description?" Seeing the stern look Sephiroth was giving him, he supposed it wasn't. "My head...it feels like it's being ripped in two...and he keeps...he keeps..." Should he tell them about the voices? Did he really want to sound that crazy? As the voices got increasingly louder he realized that he really didn't have a choice. He grabbed at the sides of his head. "Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!" He screamed.

He gasped in surprise when the back of his head was promptly grabbed and dunked rather suddenly in the water of the fountain. His head shook back and forth as he tried to bring it out of the water, but all he accomplished was for the putrid liquid to fill his nostrils. Above him he heard the girl's muffled yelling of. "Sephiroth let him up!"

Riku really could have kissed the girl when her request was granted, and he was let up, gasping for air immediately. His sodden hair stuck to his face, as he practically shook it out like a dog. "You bastard! I could have drown...I could have..." Sephiroth grabbed the wrists that were heading to pound into his chest.

"I did it for your own good. Scream at me if you want, hit me even, but just fight it Riku!" He stared into those green eyes for what seemed like ages, as they pretty much had a stare off. Sephiroth...he'd hate him if he didn't love him so much.

Feeling for the first time a little bit of playfulness enter him, Riku gave his lover a half smirk. "Can I really hit you?"

Sephiroth gave him his own smirk. "If you promise that you'll get better you can beat the shit out of me as much as you want." He was about to kiss him, but then he felt a warm trail slide from his nostrils down to fall onto his lips. His tongue snaked out to touch the substance, and when the bitter coppery taste touched his taste buds he knew it was blood. His eyebrows knitted in worry, and Sephiroth seemed to see that, for he used his thumb to smear the blood on his face in an attempt to wipe it off. "Hey it's okay. It's just a bloody nose." Up until this point he had been kneeling on the fountain, but Sephiroth pushed down on his shoulders so that he was sitting on his butt, and pushed his head down. "Just keep your head lowered and wait for it to stop."

"Aerith can I have one of your hairbands?" The voice he had come to associate with the blond haired guy that Aerith had called Cloud spoke up. "Here Riku I'll tie you hair back so you don't get blood in it." Aw how sweet...at least that was what he would have thought if he didn't dislike the person doing it so much. He could still hear that treacherous voice whispering in his ear about how he was Sephiroth's real love. His body didn't seem to like him either, for as soon as his fingers wrapped in his hair, the pain came back tenfold.

At first he screamed, but then the screaming didn't seem to help, and so he turned his head and retched into the already disgusting water of the fountain. "Don't fucking touch him Cloud." Sephiroth growled out. "You're only making his condition worse."

Riku soon realized that that was a definite understatement. He could feel it...the darkness that is. He could feel it pooling at his stomach, slowly seeping into every one of his veins. "Seph my stomach...There's something wrong." His fingers went to claw at it, as if that would stop the spread.

He was pushed backwards without much of a struggle, and once there Sephiroth's warm hands pushed the hoody he was wearing up. Once it was up though he heard three gasps of surprise. Now more than a little worried, Riku picked his head up, looking down at what they were staring at. Once he saw though, he almost threw up again. The blood in his veins seemed to have been replaced with darkness, and that darkness was slowly traveling up his body, and while doing so drawing something along his stomach and chest. He noticed in horror that it was drawing that symbol that he had seen on the door of the secret place back on Destiny Islands. A heart was being etched into his skin, as black as night.

"Sephiroth what's happening to me?" His voice was hysterical he knew, but at the time so was he. He scrambled to get off of his spot, but a firm hand on his chest stopped him.

He tried to fight it, but then he saw that it was Sephiroth's hand, and his lover looked as shaken up as he felt. "Riku calm down. We'll stop this, just trust us."

Right now he was not feeling complacent though. Right now he didn't just want to put his hands in to people he didn't even know. "But I don't even know them! I'm going to die, or worse, and I don't even know what the hell's happening to me!"

Sephiroth was over him in an instant, and his hands were in his hair, stroking it to ease the pain as he had before. "You know me Riku. You know that I would never let you down. I don't know how to fail." Warm lips were placed on his wet head. "Just trust me." Riku felt himself nod, and the body on top of him retreated. "Aerith stop the spread or his soul will be gone in minutes." Oh yeah...that was comforting.

It seemed to snap her back into action though, for she dug into the bag she had brought, drawing out a clear uncut orb. She began chanting underneath her breath, and she placed a hand onto the marred flesh of his chest. He really wished she wouldn't have though, because as soon as she did ever thing was magnified. The pain intensified, as did the spread of the mark across his body. He lashed around madly, trying to get that hand off of him. "Boys hold him down or I won't be able to complete the ritual."

Cloud's hands pushed down his thrashing feet, while Sephiroth held down his arms, leaning over to pier into his face. "Brat if you don't calm down you'll be wishing for death before Ansem gets through with you."

He tried to do as he was asked, but it was really hard. After all now there were three pairs of hands on him, and Sephiroth's seemed to be the only ones that didn't cause him pain. Riku gritted his jaw, trying his hardest to hold back the shouts of agony that wanted to fly out of his mouth. A thought occurred to him. "Knock me out. You don't even have to hold back...slam my head against the fountain for all I fucking care!"

"I already told you that you have to remain conscious...Now stop being a worthless retch and look at Aerith." He picked his head up to obey, and his eyes widened when he saw tendrils of light spreading out towards him. They latched onto every part of his body, wrapping around his limbs, and flowing into his mouth and eyes. It hurt...but he was so used to pain by this time that it didn't even seem to faze him that much...well anymore than he already was at least. This pain was different, where the one he had been feeling was a stabbing cold, this was more of a burning warmth. It seemed to fill every inch of him with light, and he could feel the darkness being repressed back into whatever corner it crawled out of. Soon even that annoying voice stopped. The light was winning, he could fill it! With a gasp he felt it totally dissipate, and he collapsed in a dead faint onto Sephiroth's lap due to pure exhaustion.
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Riku slowly cracked his eyes open, but then immediately regretted it as it gave him a headache. Though it was nothing like the pain he had just been feeling, and for that he was eternally grateful. No, that pain seemed to be gone, leaving his body just a sore shell of what it once was. The place he had chosen to pass out probably wasn't helping his bodies weariness, and he felt to see that he was still lying on the edge of the fountain. His head seemed to be lying in something comfortable though, and warm, and...pink?

He jumped up, just realizing that he was lying in the girl who had helped him's lap. She didn't seem all that startled to see that he was awake, or over the fact that he was sleeping in her lap for that matter either. "Oh you're awake?...I'm surprised you didn't sleep longer." She extended her palm. "I'm Aerith by the way. We didn't really get properly introduced with you screaming in pain the whole time and all." Riku couldn't help but grin. He had just met this girl, but he immediately liked her.

He grabbed the outstretched hand. "I'm Riku." He brought his hand back to rub at the back of his head, looking slightly away. "Thanks for you know...saving my life or whatever."

She smiled and nodded. "It was no problem. I was happy to help." Aerith raised an eyebrow. "I was surprised though, truthfully I've never seen Sephiroth that chaotic in my entire life." Oh yeah...Sephiroth.

"Where is he by the way?" He searched through the hazy town, but didn't catch a sight of his silver hair. For some reason he seemed to be able to see a lot better through the darkness than he ever had been able to before.

As he was searching he heard Aerith's slightly irritated voice. "He went to talk to Cloud." What was she so upset about?

He turned back towards her. "Who is this Cloud person?...Is he like your boyfriend?" Aerith's cheeks tinged pink, and she quickly looked away.

"It's complicated...but you don't need to worry about that." She gave him a gentle smile. "I'm gonna go get Sephiroth. I'm sure he'll want to see you now that he's awake." Riku got up to follow her, but she laid a hand on his thigh. "You still look really pale Riku. Why don't you stay here and try to get a little strength back." Knowing that she was absolutely right, he just nodded and watched her walk further into the square and towards what looked to be a graveyard.

Once she was gone, he rubbed at his temples. His entire body was completely exhausted, and all he really wanted to do was lie down and sleep. He was still confused about why that had all happened in the first place. Ansem...that was the person he had confused with Sephiroth when he shot his lover in the face. That was the person who had been trying to take over his body. This was all too weird to even be real. It made his head hurt even more just thinking about it.

Riku didn't get a chance to think about it all that much, because soon, to his amazement, Sephiroth came flying out of the graveyard towards him. He shook his head in disbelief...that was just fucking weird. Sephiroth didn't seem to realize the phenomenon of him flying though, for when he landed he immediately got down to business. "What's wrong with your eyes." Now that question confused him, because up until now he hadn't even looked him in the eyes. Then he realized that Aerith must have said something to Sephiroth about it. Though this also partly weirded him out, because he had no idea what was wrong with his eyes.

He opened his mouth to just that to Sephiroth, but stopped at the look of pure furry he receiving. "What's wrong?...What happened to my eyes?" He gasped in both surprise and pain when out of the blue Sephiroth's hand lurched out, wiping itself around his throat.

"You're not Riku." He clawed at the squeezing hand, not really getting a chance to reply. "Give him back...Give him back to me right now!"

"Sephiroth stop!" He heard Aerith yell, but he couldn't really see that clearly because spots were now started to come into his vision. An unmistakable ball of dark energy whizzed through the air, striking Sephiroth in the hand that was holding onto his neck, and he knew for certain that it wasn't Aerith who had shot it.

The blast caused Sephiroth to let go, and when he did Riku fell forward rubbing at his sore neck while leaning against the person who had just tried to kill him's chest. "You're a bastard Seph...What the fuck did you do that for? Are simple hellos just not good enough for you anymore or something?"

Sephiroth had been cradling his hurt hand, but when he heard that he wrapped both arms around his body, pulling him further into his chest. "Riku...I never thought I'd be so happy to hear that sarcastic mouth of yours."

"If you're so goddamn happy to see him then why the fuck did you try to choke him?" A valid question. One he was about to ask himself before Cloud read his mind. Riku pushed away from the comfort of Sephiroth's chest, looking to him for an answer to that question.

Reaching out, Sephiroth turned Riku's head to face Cloud. "Look at his eyes. They're Ansem's eyes." In surprise, he immediately ripped his head away, and leaned over to pier into the fountain. The water lapped against the sides, blurring his reflection slightly, but he could still see. His normally aqua eyes were gone, only to be replaced by ones that were a dark amber honey color. He knew those eyes. To his horror he saw himself lying on a lake, with those eyes staring down at him as they kissed him.

His hand flew up to his mouth in astonishment, and he really thought that he might faint again. Sephiroth's arms were on his shoulders, obviously trying to steady him. "Holy fucking shit...I...I slept with him." Nails dug into his shoulders as the arms around stiffened.

"You slept with Ansem?" He heard Aerith ask, and looked the other way, wanting nothing more than to avoid that question. Why the hell had he opened his big mouth anyways? That had been the last thing he had ever wanted to say out loud.

To his surprise Sephiroth defended his chastity. "It was only an illusion. He never slept with my cousin in real life." Cousin? "He just used Riku so that he could get inside his body."

He heard Cloud scoff. "Well obviously." Riku felt his cheeks tint at that. He was almost 100% sure that Sephiroth hadn't meant the getting inside him comment in that aspect.

"Shut up Cloud. He's had a hard day and you're not helping." That was for damn sure. Riku pulled his sweatshirt tighter around himself as he leaned further into Sephiroth's arms.

He just wanted this whole day to be over with. "Seph I'm tired...I just wanna go home." The body behind him once more stiffened.

"We can't Riku, or rather you can't. It's not safe for you there tonight. Ansem controls everything there, and he'll find some way to manipulate that witch to get what he wants."

Riku nodded, and then peeled the arms that were wrapped around him off. Taking a shaky step, he slowly got to his feet. "I'm gonna go find somewhere to lay down then." He glanced around at his surroundings. "Maybe like a pumpkin patch or something."

As he walked past Cloud, he saw the blond smirk at him. "I don't think you'll have to settle for a pumpkin patch. There's an inn right over their if you have any munny." Riku felt in his pockets, knowing before he even did that there wouldn't be anything in there. He hadn't even dressed himself, let alone bothered to think about his currency problems.

As if sensing his distress Sephiroth immediately spoke up from his place beside Aerith at the fountain. "Don't stress yourself out Outlander, I have the munny. All four of us are going to be staying here tonight." He got up to join him, but Aerith's hand on his wrist stopped him.

"That reminds me. Riku's not better." Sephiroth glanced over to him, and then back to the girl.

"He looks better...Maybe a little haggard, but it's not like he's losing it like he was before." Riku crossed his arms and glared. It wasn't bad enough that they were talking about him like he wasn't even there, but now they were insulting him.

He waved his hand to get their attention, and saw two pairs of green eyes turn to him. "Yeah thanks...Listen you could actually tell me this instead of that bastard there." Sephiroth's raised an eyebrow at the obvious insult. "How could you call me haggard?" To that his lover simply just shook his head, and turned back to the conversation.

"So what's wrong with him?" How could they simply just go back to ignoring him. Now with Sephiroth it was expected, because he was an asshole by heart, but he at least expected some respect from Aerith.

"I only postponed the possession. To get rid of it completely you have to sever the connection between their minds, and the only way to do that is to destroy Ansem." His heart sank. So he was still fucked then? "I don't know what set this off, but if anything like that happens again I don't think I'll be able to stop it."

Riku gulped. He knew exactly what had caused it. He could still remember ever hateful word Sephiroth had said to him right before he almost left. He could still remember the pain in his heart as he thought about yet another person about to leave him. Sephiroth glanced over to him, catching his eye and talking to Aerith at the same moment. "Don't worry it won't." He knees went weak at that. Had Sephiroth just said that he wasn't going to leave him? Riku stumbled, so much in fact that Cloud had to grab him around the waist to keep him up.

"Can you not walk or something?" Cloud led him over to a post, and he leaned against it, glaring the entire time. He didn't like the blond, and he could tell that he certainly didn't like him. He suddenly remembered just who this was to Sephiroth, and he liked him even less.

Giving his best death glare, he opened his mouth to respond, but was beat to the punch. "He's fine Cloud. Now let's get to the hotel." Sephiroth walked swiftly past them, grabbing onto his wrist as he did so. Riku stumbled after him, trying his best to keep up as they headed for the sign that read Tower of Terror. Oh yeah...that's where he wanted to spend the night.

They got to the front desk, where, to Riku's immense disgust, the person working at the front desk's eye kept falling out as he wrote down their reservations. "So how many rooms will it be?"

"Four." Cloud chimed in, and Riku immediately sighed in disappointment. The last thing he wanted was to sleep away from Sephiroth tonight.

"Three." Riku glanced at Sephiroth, who had spoken up as if there were going to be no repercussions.

"Three?" Cloud sounded shocked, if not a little repulsed. "Who the hell are you planning on sharing a room with?"

Sephiroth just stared at those blazing blue eyes as if the thought never had even occurred to him to be intimidated. "Riku obviously." Jealousy flared in those sapphire depths.

"Riku!?" He spluttered. "You're not about to tell me that you're actually sleeping with the kid?" His fists clenched at his side, and Riku felt his cheeks warm up.

"Cloud..." Aerith tried, obviously as embarrassed as Riku was to where this conversation was going. Now he could fight this, but he was just too fucking tired, so instead he simply grabbed the munny out of Sephiroth's hand and slammed it on the clerk's desk.

"We'll take three rooms." He then turned to Cloud. "Your jealousy's out of control Cloud...Do try to reel it in before it bites somebody." He gave the blond a smirk. "Sephiroth just wants to make sure I don't have another fit. Nothing to overreact about."

Ten minutes later found Riku pressed up against the door in their room, mouth firmly connected to Sephiroth's...Nothing to overreact about indeed. Flushed, he did his best to kiss back, and whined in annoyance when Sephiroth pulled away. "You do weird things to me." Riku tilted his head to the side, as his lover pet his hair.

"What do you mean?" He asked, smiling. Sephiroth immediately leaned back in kissing at his neck. His hands wrapped around his waist, lifting him up and carrying him over to the dingy table. Once Riku was placed on top of it, he pulled away. He turned to their bed.

"You should probably get to sleep. You look like the walking dead." Oh. So apparently he was going to completely ignore his question. But it's not as if he could make him answer though, so Riku let it go.

Hopping off the table, he went over to stand next to their supposed bed. "You have got to be kidding me." The thing was broken on one end so that it slumped, and the sheets looked like they hadn't been washed in...well, forever. He pictured his enormous bed back at Hollow Bastion, and almost whined in disappointment. "I can't sleep on that! It definitely has something living in it."

Sephiroth scoffed as he slipped his coat off. "Fine. Then go sleep out in that pumpkin patch you seemed to be raving about earlier." Just clothed in his pants, he slipped into the bed. Whining in his throat, Riku stomped over to the bed, stopping to pull the hoody over his head as he did so.

Before it was even off he felt Sephiroth's hand on his chest. "It's not gone." Fearing what that meant, he pulled the sweatshirt all the way off and glanced down to his chest. The mark...the mark that had been etched into his skin had stayed even after the assault on his body had left. Riku stood there stunned, but he didn't protest when he was pulled into the bed. "Are you alright?"

To his shame, he felt tears coming to his eyes as he shook his head. "No...No I'm not fucking alright." He turned then, burying his head in Sephiroth's bare chest. "What's going on Sephiroth? I don't get any of this...I'm scared, and confused, and I just want it all to be over."

"Sshh Sshh..." He soothed. "It'll be alright. Just go to sleep right now, and when you wake up I'll tell you everything." Riku nodded against that chest, sobs still raking his overly exhausted body. Sephiroth held him until his crying stopped, and he fell asleep nestled against his body...Tomorrow he would learn everything.
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