A/N: Read the stuff below, because I will not repeat it. Normally A/N's will appear at the bottom, but this being the first chapter, is special. The name of this fic comes from a song done by Alterbridge, just so you know. This is AU, yaoi, hints of yuri, has an OC, and some people may be a bit OOC.

Disclaimer: I do not own, in any way anything that is offensive to anybody. Just the plotline and my OC, who comes in much later. (If I did, Kingdom Hearts would not be rated E, and there would not be any trace of anybody being straighter than a circle.)

Summary: Living a royal life isn't easy. How did I live without you? Living one while holding high importance, then suddenly having unwanted attention is even harder. Let me help you. Meeting someone you can't stand not being near…that's even worse. …I love you.

Main pairings: AkuRoku, the lone pairing for now.

Warnings: This story has actual plot. If you're looking for pointless sex then look elsewhere. It's a bit sad and very descriptive in this prologue because you need to know what's going on before I start into the story. It's also kind of short, but don't fret; I'm a big believer in long chapters.

---- -o- Burn it Down -o- ----

Prologue: Château le Lobo Noche

Living life in the country Radiant Garden was definitely not easy. Although I suppose I should be happy that I lived there; most other places were in wars with each other, or in Civil wars.

Radiant Garden, happily the mediator in most cases, never knew war, because it was the most powerful country in the world. No one dared threaten this noble country, its royalty or its humble people. It was a quiet, happy sort of place that you always wanted to go on vacation to.

At least, that was the case up until five years ago, when I was fifteen years old.

I was second in line for the throne, my cousin was first. I didn't mind it. But the position was rather hard to keep. My life wasn't torturous, by any means. I had it easier than most. I was always ignorant of everything then; never thinking of others. Of course, I can't say that I'm not selfish now.

Of course, every great nation has its fall. Around my eighth year, there was a disease going around, that I happened to not catch. I never get sick. Even from epidemics of that sort- the sort that knocked out a quarter of Radiant Garden's population, that was at that point, somewhere around 15 billion people.

For nearly six years, that sickness wrought chaos on our land. But about halfway through my fourteenth year, things started to change within the country, the disease all but forgotten. And half a year later, war broke out in the would-be peaceful country of Radiant Garden.

Right about here, at this point, was where my whole world turned upside down. With the war, a sudden draft was called. Many, many people were called to duty. The country turned lifeless, compared to how it used to be.

I didn't know what to do. I was in a numbed state for a few weeks, just getting through them, day by day. But that's when the real trouble started; the invading troops from Hollow Bastion, our neighboring country to the north. Our military was scattered, and our defenses weak. It wasn't long before restrictions were made- things like curfews, no children on the streets, etc.

Justice knows no mercy. Our country had been without any distress for much to long. As the saying goes, 'A caterpillar must emerge from the cocoon, and cope with the hardship that comes with it.'

War causes suffering, sadness, and depression throughout the nations that are fighting. That is one of the many set-backs to human kind; there will always be conflicts, always be fighting, and always, there will be hatred.

But, wherever there is hatred…there is also love. One cannot be without the other. It is as the concept of Light and Darkness is: They balance each other out. I scoffed upon that very notion when I was younger, and very naïve. I didn't think there could be love in this world, not after so much disaster and strife had fallen upon our innocent country.

But, I have never been so happy to admit that I was wrong. Never could I ever forget my journey after Hollow Bastion's troupes invaded our castle and took me away. I could never forget the hardships that brought me to where I am now, in my peaceful solitude.

Never would I willingly forget that love is as strong as hatred, and that it can be found in even the strangest of places, even complete opposites.

In the heart of fire and ice, there is a medium.

-Roxas,

Second heir to the Throne of Radiant Garden