Hang Me High Kid

By: FearlessDranzer

Disclaimers – I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the other characters that appear in this fan fiction. The only thing that is mine is this plot.

Chapter One – Of Crowns and Chains

They say that dead men tell no tales!

Except of barges with blood red sails.

Except of dying moons that break

The hearts of lads who lie awake;

And heroes crumbled and betrayed.

Old tales of life; love and hate,

Of time and space, and will, and fate.

Dead Men Tell No Tales

8 Years Earlier

Sora giggled as he sifted through another dust-filled box in the dark attic. He watched his mother put on an old wedding dress and waltz around with an imaginary partner. She started to hum a tune to match her dancing and twirling, making the old ribbons flutter. Sora smiled, he was happy to see his mother forget about his father for once. It had been a long time since he had died, but the pictures on the walls always reminded Sora. Aerith Strife always had a dreamy look on her face when she gazed at the pictures. She would then sigh and tell Sora how much he resembled his father. And that would make her sad.

Ignoring his mother's dancing, he looked through the box again and his blue eyes caught the shine of gold. Unable to help himself, he reached a small hand in and grabbed the necklace. Suddenly his mother was there and she let out a coo of happiness.

"It's beautiful Sora! Where did you find this?" She spoke softly and her eyes sparkled and her cheeks were flushed from all her dancing.

"It was in the box Mommy. Isn't it pretty? I wonder who it used to belong to." He spoke absently and examined the gold with wide childish eyes. It was a thick chain with a delicate crown adorning it.

"It doesn't matter whose it was anymore Sora. Everyone who lived in this house died a long time ago. They're all gone. Anything left came to us when we bought the house. The necklace is rightfully yours sweetie." Aerith's eyes shone brightly and she reached over the box to hug him. Then she took the necklace from his hands and put it around his neck. "There you look so cute!"

Sora ran over to the mirror in the corner of the attic, a beam of sunlight lit up the area. "I'm handsome Mommy! Only girls can be cute! I'm not a girl." Sora complained and crossed his arms in front of his chest huffing. Sora was at that age where he thought every girl had cooties and wasn't worth talking to.

"Oh my! How could I make such an obvious mistake! Bad Mommy!" Aerith laughed and kissed her son on his forehead only to laugh again as he embarrassedly rubbed the mark away.

"Mommy you said everyone left right? But Tidus told me that our house is haunted. How can you have a haunted house if no one's there to haunt it?" Sora asked quizzically.

"Oh Sora, there is no such thing as a haunted house, don't listen to what they say. Anyway how would Tidus know if our house is haunted, does he live here? I wouldn't worry about anything Sora. There are no such things as ghost." Aerith spoke to her son seriously all trace of her former happiness was gone.

Present Day

Sora fingered the crown hanging off his necklace. It was heavy and made of gold but nothing like the kind rappers wore. No, it was more refined, it held a feeling about it that made you feel better than everyone else. Too bad that did not work most of the time for Sora. Sora was always a shy boy and his mother figured he would grow out of it, as he got older, especially with a friend like Tidus. Old habits die-hard and Sora stayed as shy as he had always been. The only extraordinary thing about him was his crown necklace.

A necklace that had always captivated countless others, maybe somewhere in their minds they knew what it really was. Sora had always had a suspicious feeling about the necklace and always wondered to whom it belonged. Which explained why he was at the library, dealing with an extremely hyperactive librarian who definitely did not fit into the setting; or it could be that he just wanted to get out of his house. The house was haunted by the way. He didn't know by whom, all he knew was that they called him the Dead Man. Supposedly, before he was murdered he had said his fateful last words, "Dead Men tell no tales."

Sora had never had any problems before with his house, at least up until a few weeks ago. Doors would open and close on their own and things would move and disappear. He would hear ghostly footsteps and occasionally the odd bump in the night. Then again he had also never believed in the Dead Man before. Now things had changed.

"Oh!" Sora snapped to attention at the high-pitched voice. "Nice necklace! It looks old! Where did you get it? Huh?" Yuffie bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, completely oblivious to how badly Sora wanted to kill her for surprising him out of his thoughts. But because he wanted to seem polite he was refraining from doing so.

"It was in my attic." It was short and sweet and to the point, just how Sora liked it.

"Hey, aren't you the kid that lives in the Dead Man's house?" Yuffie looked at him hard and shook her head making her black-bobbed hair fall into her eyes. "You must have some guts kid or else you're insane." She shrugged and finally handed Sora a map of the library with the Newspaper and Record room circled. Smiling to show his gratitude, he walked down the steps to the circled room. Going to the library for answers was something Sora would never have thought of. The only reason he was there was because he had complained to Tidus about how he wanted to know about the owner of the necklace, and the blond haired boy had suggested searching the Newspaper and Record room in the library.

Sora had been amazed, one because Tidus had made a suggestion that might actually work and two, because Tidus had suggested the library. And here Sora was thinking his friend did not know what a library was.

Passing by a mirror Sora studied his reflection; he was a fairly decent looking boy. Large sky blue eyes glittered brightly from underneath long black eyelashes and cinnamon colored hair spiked up in every direction. It was not like he was gross or overweight; girls just did not seem to be attracted to him and for what reason he could never tell. Because of his lack of girlfriends and contact with the female species in general, Sora remained shy around girls.

"I'm doomed to never have a girlfriend. I'll be taking my mother to the prom this year." Sora sighed sadly and opened the door to the Newspaper and Records room. He wondered if maybe girls didn't like him because he was so shy. A cloud of dust rose as the opening door disturbed it, causing Sora to stop thinking and sneeze.

Hours later Sora still was no closer to finding who the necklace belonged to, infact the town's history was so boring he was sure he had fallen asleep once or twice. The only interesting things were the one or two murders that happened every century. In fact one of those murders happened in his house, but he was too afraid of the Dead Man to read up on his murder.

"The Library will be closing in five minutes." A woman's voice spoke out over the speakers and caught Sora unaware; he dropped the book he was holding in fright. Placed a hand over his heart and sighed, how stupid of him to jump at an announcement. He had been jumpy ever since this morning when he had heard footsteps walking around in his attic. Sora was too tired for any more scares today. Rubbing the crown necklace, Sora unconsciously found himself wishing to meet whoever had owned the necklace before it came to him.

"I just wish I could meet that person. I want to meet them so badly; I don't care what it takes. I just… I just want someone to talk to." Sora wished on the necklace, later he would look back on that moment and realize how childish and hopeless it was. But he was lonely and no one seemed to understand how he felt, or maybe it was just some teenage angst sneaking up on him?

Sora failed to notice the necklace glow for a second that fade back to its gold color.

On his way out, Sora thanked the black haired librarian who was all too happy to squeeze his cheeks and lay a wet kiss on his cheek. Blushing profusely he said his good-byes and ran away from the waving woman. That was one girl he would never go out with, even though that was the first kiss he had ever gotten from a girl. Did it even count; it was only a kiss on the cheek? Oh well, beggars can't be choosers.

Sora looked out at the dark and angry sky and silently wished that he had brought an umbrella. It was really stupid of him to forget, he had lived in this town for almost all his life and he and everyone else there knew about the terrible hurricanes that came up the coast through their small coastal town this time of the year. Rain suddenly poured down with a vengeance and Sora pulled the hood of his sweatshirt over his head holding it down against the fierce wind that tried to take it. Gritting his teeth in annoyance Sora set off at a quick pace, he would probably be home in a few minutes. He set off walking.

Sora twirled around in a tight circle. He hated to admit it, but he was lost. Lost in his own backyard. Lost as he could possibly be, it was disgraceful, he has lived here since he was three and knew the small town inside and out. But now that he decided to take a short cut through the park he realized just how similar all the trees look in the rain. It would have been much easier if it had been the spring; all he would have to do was look for the tree without leaves or buds, the one that signaled the center of the park. In the spring that tree was always the last to get buds, it usually only started to come out of its dead state in the summer. Sadly though it was fall and every tree had leaves that were starting to turn. The only things not dying in the park were the evergreens. Sora sighed and felt like crying as another gust of wind blew fat raindrops on his face. He was just so upset between the Dead Man and the necklace and now getting lost, he just wanted to go to sleep till everything became clearer. He was so certain the library was going to help him. It wasn't like it was just some random necklace, it was found in the most famous house in the county and it was a solid gold charm with a gold chain. The only thing he could think of was that he overlooked something. Sora rubbed his eyes and pouted a little, sticking his lower lip out slightly. Today was so not his day.

Suddenly like a lighthouse standing on a cliff, his house came into view. Lights were blazing in every window, making it look like the house was on fire. Sora frowned and looked at his house closer, it made no sense that all the lights would be on. His mother was most likely still at work so she couldn't have turned them on.

Studying his house further he almost missed the movement he saw out of the corner of his eye. Startled, he looked at his bedroom and saw something move and the sway of the curtains.

A crack rang out across the lawn and Sora jumped as the wind tore a branch off a tree. Admitting to himself that he was probably safer in the house, he gathering his courage wrenched open the large iron gates at the foot of the property and ran to the front door. After searching in his pockets for a few seconds, Sora finally found the house key and opened the front door. Throwing open the door he fell to the floor in a sigh and heap of wet clothing. Unfortunately, the rain was still coming into the house so he reached up and slammed the front door closed. The ringing noise after the slam disturbed the silence and Sora suddenly felt afraid again.

Cautiously, Sora removed his shoes, rain-soaked socks, and sweatshirt and rolled the bottoms of his pants up to his knees so they wouldn't drip on his mothers prized wooden floors. He spotted a basket of clean laundry set at the foot of the stairs. Aerith only did that when she didn't have enough time in the morning to bring the clean clothes upstairs. For once Sora was glad his mother didn't have enough time in the day to do the things she needed to, it also meant Sora wouldn't have to go upstairs into his bedroom where he had seen something in the window. He would just have to spend the night on the couch. Changing into some clean pajama pants Sora felt slightly more comfortable. After a second's thought he decided to change his shirt too. He lifted the shirt up and suddenly and draft blew through the room making him shiver. Or maybe he wouldn't change his shirt.

Sora slipped some socks on his feet and padded over the cold floor to the kitchen. It suddenly seemed darker to Sora and he realized some of the lights that were on before were off. With a shiver Sora wondered if it was the Dead Man and he quickened his pace. But that was foolish thinking, his mother had told him time and time again when he was younger that the house wasn't haunted.

Bustling about the kitchen took Sora's mind off things as he warmed up the dinner his mom had left for him and put some water in a kettle to make hot chocolate. But all too soon the only thing that was left to do was to wait for everything to be ready and the topic of the Dead Man came back to Sora. With a sigh, he tried to push the Dead Man from his mind and focus on something happier. He looked around his kitchen and shivered at how big it was. In fact it was too big for two people to live in it. Before his father had died though, Aerith had always dreamed of having a big family, but she said no one could replace Cloud for her now that he was gone. To Sora the only thing left in the house were broken dreams and memories.

At least the house was warm and gracious looking. Pictures were everywhere on the walls. Aerith wanted to remember everything that happened to her so there were pictures dating from her childhood to a few weeks ago. The kettle started whistling so Sora turned the knob on the stove and poured the boiling water into a mug with the hot chocolate mix already in it. He checked the soup and it was bubbling too so he poured himself a bowlful and left the heat on low to keep it warm, just incase he wanted some more.

On whim Sora grabbed a pad of paper and a pen, while he ate his dinner he tried to write down everything he already knew about the necklace. It didn't take long, he knew next to nothing about it. The only things he was certain of was where it had be found and that if you took a magnifying glass to the left side of the crown there were the initials R.H. You think that would make it easy to find the owner, but he hadn't found anything at all about a family with a last name that matched the initials. There were a few people with a first name of R, the one that stuck out to Sora the most was a girl who had living in the house in the nineteen twenties. For some reason it struck him as a girl's necklace. Slowly his attention drifted as he wondered whom the initials R.H. belonged to. He found himself drawing crowns and rewriting the initials R.H. all over his paper.

Sora woke up with a start. When had he fallen asleep? When had he gotten in his bedroom? Wait, Sora could answer that, he vaguely remembered his mother coming home and helping him into his bed. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and pulled the blankets up to his chin. A glance at the clock told him it was a little after midnight. Stretching his back to work out the kinks, Sora frowned when he realized how cold it was in the room. The fan wasn't on though. Suddenly a gust of wind blew against his throat and he froze in shock as he felt a hand touch his neck lightly. A scream died in his throat and his eyes grew large. Who or what was touching him? He gripped the blankets tightly, embedding nail marks into his palms. There was a laugh next to him and Sora squeezed his eyes shut counting to ten before he opened them again. Upon opening his eyes he found himself staring into a pair of sea green eyes. Sora opened his mouth to scream but there was a hand blocking his mouth and the green eyes looked panicked.

"Hey, hey! No screaming. What ever you do don't scream. I won't hurt you I promise. If I move my hand will you be quiet?" Sora nodded and the person removed their hand from his mouth. Sora's lips tingled lightly.

"What are you doing in my house?" Sora slid himself up on his pillows so he was sitting upright. He felt next to him on he night table for some kind of weapon he could use. The only thing his hand closed on was a pen, he didn't know how he could defend himself with a pen but he gripped it as tightly as he could anyway.

"Whoa, calm down. I should be asking you that. You're the one in my bedroom." Upon closer examination Sora realized he was talking to a boy around his age with white hair and beautiful eyes. He was tall and Sora could see some muscle definition underneath his sweatshirt. The boy had a smirk on his face.

Sora started to blush and stammer. "W-what are y-y-you talking about? I've lived here for f-fourteen years now."

"I didn't mean it like that. I know you've been here for fourteen years but you are sleeping in my bedroom."

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean this used to be my bedroom, I was just joking with you though." He sat down at the edge of the bed and Sora notice that he was glowing softly, he wrote it off as a trick of the light though.

"Who are you? What are you doing in my house? What are you talking about?" Sora launched questions at him one right after the other.

The boy raised his hands, "Whoa, slow down. My name is Riku Heart Jenova. I told you why I was here and you know what I'm talking about. By the way you're wearing my necklace."

Sora covered the necklace with his hands and looked at Riku warily. "If it was yours why aren't the initials on it R.H.J.?"

Riku ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "That's because I don't like my last name, it reminds me of my family."

"Anyway, this can't be your necklace. No one has lived in this house for almost twenty-five years. And you don't look twenty-five." Sora crossed his arms over his chest.

Riku laughed. "You're right. I'm not twenty-five I'm only eighteen. I lived here twenty-five years ago though."

Sora looked at him with a strange look on his face. "How could you have lived here twenty-five years ago if you're eighteen right now?"

"Because I'm not living anymore."

Sora moved his mouth open and closed trying to say something but couldn't think of anything. Finally he said, "Next you're going to tell me you're the Dead Man."

"As a matter of fact— ".

Sora cut him off. "Get out of my house right now."

"Wait! No, didn't you hear me? This is rightfully my house." Riku crossed his arms over his chest. "I will not leave."

"I'll scream and than my mother will call the police. Then they will come and get you." Sora took a deep threatening breath and opened his mouth to scream.

"You're going to look pretty stupid when your mother comes in and sees you screaming at nothing."

"What are you talking about?" Sora narrowed his eyes suspiciously and started to pout. Riku smiled at him.

"I'm a ghost and you're the only one who can see me. And you're the only one that can see me because you're wearing my necklace." Riku spoke like a person would speak to a child using a condescending manner.

"That's it, I'm calling the police."

"No, please just let me prove it to you. In the attic there is a box with information and newspaper clippings. It's a box my father put together and it will answer all of your questions and you won't doubt what I'm saying." Riku placed his hand on Sora's leg taking a hold on the blankets so that Sora couldn't move.

"The only thing you're proving to me is that I talking to a crazy." Sora spoke dryly and stared at Riku with a hard gaze.

"Alright, but please just let me show it to you."

"I'm sure I would have found this box before, I mean, I've lived here for so long; it seems a little weird that I never found any box with newspaper clippings about you." Sora trailed off as he tried to remember finding any weird boxes in the attic.

"Of course you've never found it. My father hid it. There's another little storage area in the attic that's hidden by the giant mirror."

"I know that mirror." Sora paused for a second as he weighed his choices mentally. If this guy was telling the truth about being a ghost he was going to look very stupid if he called his mother and she saw nothing. On the other hand if he was lying, well Sora didn't want to think about that. With a sigh Sora nodded. "All right I'll let you show me this box but nothing funny and if you're lying to me you're going to regret it."

"Good… but can I ask you one question first?"

Sora's only answer was a nod as he got out of his bed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Where did you get that necklace?"

Sora clutched at the necklace under his shirt and turned to look at Riku slowly. "I found it." He said quickly and Riku nodded; Sora could tell he was still curious about it.

"Alright. I'll show where the box is. By the way what is your name? I didn't catch it."

"That's because I never said it." Sora replied grumpily.

"You don't have to be so mean. Besides I know you're name, you're Sora Strife. I just wanted to hear you say it Mr. Grumpy."

"I'm allowed to be mean because I'm having a weird dream where a 'ghost' is in my house trying to convince me that I'm wearing his necklace and that there is a mysterious box in a secret room in my attic and that I'm sleeping in his bedroom. I think I'm allowed to be just the tiniest bit annoyed." Sora opened the door fast so it wouldn't squeak so his mother wouldn't hear it; then he walked slowly to the attic door at the end of the hallway.

"A dream. You think this is a dream? Well I have news for you. You're going to be in one hell of a shock when you wake up in the morning and the box is there." Riku snorted and spoke with a nasty tone that just made Sora more annoyed.

"You're the one who's going to be in for the shock." Sora walked up the attic stairs and weaved his way through all the musty boxes that were piled haphazardly everywhere. A cloud of dust rose as Sora walked and he waved a hand in front of his face to dissipate the cloud. He failed to notice that unlike him, his companion did not leave any footprints in the dust. He just seemed to glide over the floor. Sora muttered to himself about how he was going to wake up soon and realize this was all just some sort of fanatical dream. Sora grabbed the edge of the mirror and gave it a yank. It didn't even budge.

"Oh well I can't move it. Too bad, guess I should go back to bed." Sora turned to leave but to his surprise Riku pushed past him and pulled the mirror out of the way all by himself. "How in the hell did you do that? For one you're a ghost and second I couldn't even get that thing to budge." Sora stared at him, a little surprised, he wasn't sure if his face showed as much surprise as he felt.

"I may be a ghost but I think the easier way to describe it is like being invisible, only you can see me. And let's just say that when I was alive I was very athletic." Riku talked to Sora with his back turned and he ran his hand along the wooded walls. There was no sign of a door.

"How come I'm only meeting you now? I mean you've been here for what thirty years and I've never found the house to be haunted until a few days ago." Sora didn't even seem to notice the way Riku ran his hands over the wall.

Suddenly there was a creaking noise and Sora stiffened, hoping it wasn't another one of the Dead Man's hauntings. In his fright Sora forgot about the question he had asked Riku. "Relax it's just the lock's moving. It has been about thirty years since this thing was last opened." A panel of wood slid over and Riku used that as a handle to slide the door open and gestured for Sora to go in first.

"How do I know you're not going to lock me in there?" Sora said suspiciously, to which Riku's only answer was to sigh and walk into the secret room.

"Will you please get in here now? And stop being so afraid of everything." Riku called out to Sora who had starting making plans to kill Riku under his breath. It seemed to escape him that he couldn't kill Riku because Riku was already dead. "My father used this as sort of an office and a place to escape his cares. My brother and I weren't allowed in but when he wasn't home we used to sneak in here and play with all his models and stuff. He used to keep all sorts of little mementos in here. You know like certificates and crap. Most of them were my brother's, but some were mine." Riku's voice trailed away and Sora knew Riku was just talking to remind himself he really was dead and so was the rest of his family. Sora almost felt sorry for him than.

Sora looked around with an expression of awe on his face even though there was a thick layer of dust on everything, the room felt so new and mysterious to him. Everything in the room held an air of enigma, there was a mahogany desk facing the west wall overlooking a small dirty window. Scattered all over the desk were pens and paper with words scribbled randomly on them. Taped to the walls were cards Riku's father must have once received, there were birthday cards and thank you cards and all types of cards. On whim Sora randomly opened one card that had a picture of a rose lying on a table on the cover. Sora stared at the cover hard, something about it disturbed him; maybe it was the fact that it was such a good drawing done in crayon like a young child had done it or maybe it was just touching something that had been very personal to a person now dead. Ignoring his uneasiness Sora read the inside of the card, it was an apology letter and it was from a boy named Riku. All it said in it was an 'I'm sorry' and 'Riku'.

Riku closed the card gently so that Sora would stop looking at it. "I made that for him a week before I died. It was an apology for just making his life so hard, you know for just being a teenager." Riku wrote it off as just an apology letter but Sora could see the sheen of water in his eyes as he turned away. Sora was almost certain that the letter meant more to Riku than he let on. But out of respect and privacy Sora chose not to pester Riku about it. Instead he let his eyes drift all around the room and to occasionally rest on an object that Riku would tell him about. The room was full of models of airplanes and buildings and even dinosaurs. Riku said he was amazed they all hadn't rotted away over the years.

"You know, I always wondered why the people before us left some many personal things in the house."

"Oh that's because it was sort of a tradition in the house to leave the original furniture and to leave something of your own stay behind when you moved or died. But in my families case there was no one else to take all the crap after we all died." Riku spoke nonchalantly as if speaking of the weather.

Finally, slightly disturbed by Riku, Sora let his eyes rest on the object he wanted to see the most. It was a large cardboard box shoved in the corner with the words 'Sephiroth and Riku' scribbled on its side.

"That's the box I was telling you about." Sora knelt down on the dusty floor and pulled the box out of the corner and towards him. He lifted the flaps and stared down at the box in surprise.

Sora had been expecting a little dingy shoebox full of newspaper clippings but in the box were pictures of Riku and another boy all the way from preschool to twelfth grade. Gingerly, Sora lifted out a picture of the other boy and stared at it quizzically. It was a photograph of a boy who looked very similar to Riku. The boy in the picture had the same white hair and a face that Riku had, but beyond that there was no similarity. Where Riku had short hair that only reached his shoulder and was layered, the other boy had long pin straight hair that was thick and fell into his eyes and seemed to trail down his back. His shoulders were broader than Riku's and he had a very severe look about him. But his eyes were the worst part for Sora; they were cold, golden colored eyes that seemed to haunt him even when he looked away from the steely gaze.

Riku looked over at what Sora was holding and froze. "Who is this?" Sora whispered.

Riku shook his head. "He's no one important."

Sora slammed his hand onto the ground and looked Riku in the eye. "Tell me who this is."

Defeated, Riku let out a sigh and his shoulders sagged. "That's my older brother."

"Is he your twin?"

"No, no we're a few months apart but we were in the same grade in school. He was always so perfect. I hated him."

Sora shivered and looked at Riku again, trying to see him from a different perspective. He didn't want to see him as Ghost Riku but as the Living Riku who hated his brother. "What was his name?"

"Sephiroth Jenova." Riku spat the words out as if they left a bad taste in his mouth.

"That name sounds kind of familiar, in fact he looks kind of familiar too…" Sora trailed off as he tried to remember where he had seen that face before. The answer was in the back of Sora's mind and as hard as he tried to remember it he couldn't. The answer was just out of his grasp.

"Well of course. His name is on almost every single record at Destiny Cove High School." Riku snarled in disgust.

"Now that you mention it, I think I have seen his name on the school records before. Did you have any records?" Sora asked ignoring Riku's nasty tone.

"Yeah." Riku said quietly.

Sora nodded. "So where are these newspaper clippings?" He asked in an attempt to change the conversation. He didn't want to deal with Riku's annoyance at his older brother.

Riku nodded as if he too were relieved to get off that topic. Riku lifted out all the photos and a few trophies and certificates. He let out a sound of happiness as he reached the bottom of the box and pulled out a few ratty looking old clippings. He went through the pile putting the ones that weren't important back in the box. When he was done going through the pile he handed them to Sora and motioned that he should read them.

Sora struggling in the darkness to make out a few words before Riku noticed and switched a lamp on, with the lights on Sora finally noticed all the cobwebs everywhere.

With a shiver he leaned over the papers and starting skimming through the first one when he stopped and looked it back over.

Local Teen Mysteriously Killed, Police Suspect Brother

Local teenager, Riku Heart Jenova, of the prestigious Jenova family was murdered last week in his home on October 31. At just 17 he had yet to graduate high school but has left a huge impact on this small town. After his parents came home late Friday night from a Halloween party they found their son dead in the bathroom with large gashes all over his body. He was hanging from the ceiling and died from asphyxiation. T he brother, Sephiroth Jenova, is the main suspect in the murder since his parents came home to find him crying next to his brother's body with a bloody knife. There were bloody handprints on the walls and blood smears on the floor indicating a struggle. Oddest of all though was a message that was found on the mirror written in blood. What was said in the message has yet to be released.

Sora looked at the clipping uneasily and than looked at the picture that accompanied the article, there was no questioning it, the Riku in the paper was the same Riku standing in front of him. Even though the photo was in black and white it appeared to Sora in such clarity that he fancied he could see the white of Riku's hair and the sea green of his shining eyes.

"Your brother killed you?" Sora asked in monotone. Suddenly the house felt much colder to him and he was chilled to the bone with fright. All he could do was whisper. "Is it the Dead Man? Is he here?" A cold chill always signaled the Dead Man.

"Sora, I'm the Dead Man."

"You can't be, dead men tell no tales and you're certainly telling me one. The Dead Man doesn't exist." Sora told himself reassuringly but he knew it wasn't true. Deep in his heart he wondered if Riku was telling the truth, but he couldn't accept that.

"He killed me. In this very house and in the bathroom we both shared. He slaughtered me." Riku said but he wasn't looking at Sora straight in the eye, he was gazing off out the dirty window. He certainly couldn't see out the dirty window so Sora was certain he was just staring off at nothing. Sora figured he was just upset over hearing about his murder again.

"I can't believe he killed you. I can't believe he did that. What a horrible thing to do!" Sora rubbed at his eyes because they were threatening to water.

"I thought you didn't believe I was a ghost and that I was dead." Riku said with a smug look on his face but the look was hollow and held no real emotions.

"Well so long as I'm dreaming, I thought I would play along."

"You're such a goofball Sora. And to top it off you're a terrible liar. I know you know this is real. There's no way it couldn't be."

Sora glared at him and pouted, sticking his lower lip out. "But aren't you upset that your own brother killed you?"

"He was a sick bastard. I hate him."

"That's terrible. I'm an only child—"

"I know." Riku cut in.

Sora shot him a suspicious and annoyed look but chose to ignore him. "As I was saying, I'm an only child and I always wanted a brother or sister. My mother always wanted a large family too. I just can't believe your own brother would kill you. Why would he do that?"

"I don't know. Why don't you go ask him?"

"Maybe I will."

"Have fun but that might be a little hard."

"Why?" Sora asked.

"Because he died in jail almost thirty years ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Sora replied quietly looking at his hands.

"Don't be, I'm not." For a second they shared an awkward moment.

"Wait, you never answered my question from before, about why I'm only meeting you now."

"I was hoping you had forgotten." Riku said with a grimace. "The only reason I showed up now is because it's the thirtieth anniversary of my death and I want you to do something for me."

"What could I possibly do for you?" Sora asked incredulously.

"I'm tired of being dead. I was hoping maybe you could help me move on. You know like in all the movies, I can't find peace within myself." Riku's ghostly glowing cheeks darkened with a blush as he spoke.

"You want me to help you find peace? I can't do that for you. That's something you have to do for yourself. I'm sorry but I can't help you with that." Sora moved to put the clippings back in the box when Riku grabbed his arm.

"Please." Riku pleaded and Sora looked into Riku's eyes and saw only utter hopelessness. "I need you to help me."

"Alright what can I do for you?" Riku let go of Sora's arm and Sora put the clippings back on his lap. He rubbed his arm where Riku had grabbed him. The arm suddenly felt as if he had put it in a pail of freezing water.

Riku smiled gratefully at him and Sora felt as if he was melting under his gaze and he had to look away. "I want you to read over these clippings for me and just tell me if something seems off to you. O.K.?" Sora nodded he perfectly understood.

"Before I do that I have some more questions alright?"

Riku nodded and sat down across from Sora. "Shoot."

"You said before twice that you were the Dead Man, were you just playing with me?"

"Me? I would never play with you Sora. I really am the Dead Man."

Sora cracked his knuckles nervously as he tried to absorb this information. "So, you're the guy all the little kids sing that rhyme about?"

"You mean the one about how dead men tell no tales and about how the hearts of lads who lie awake break? Yeah, that very one."

"Why would they say that about you? How did you become the Dead Man? Why did you haunt me?" Sora started firing off questions almost too fast for Riku to answer.

"I don't understand why they sing that about me. I become the Dead Man after someone made up that terrible poem about me. They only made it because I haunted anyone who tried to live in this house. But after you and your mother moved in I gave up on haunting. I haunted you for your attention because I needed to talk to you and the only way I could do that was if you believed in me. Although you always did believe in the Dead Man, you just didn't know it." Riku smirked back at Sora in an infuriating but cute way as he rambled on.

"Wait so you don't have a single clue why they sing that? And I do not believe in the Dead Man." Sora snorted and crossed his arms to prove his point.

"I told you that you were a terrible liar, why didn't you believe me? You believed in the Dead Man ever since Tidus sang that rhyme to you in the front yard."

Slowly Sora felt his stomach drop out and he froze. "How do you know that? How do you know so much about me?"

"You've lived in my house for how long? A ghost gets bored sometimes and you and your mother are very interesting. Especially you. I enjoy watching you." Riku spoke boldly like he was proud that he spied on Sora and his mother.

Sora shivered. "That's kind of disturbing…"

"You know from the day we're born we start to decay."

Sora looked at Riku for a long moment. "Ok, moving on. If I'm the only one who can see you because I wear this necklace, than why couldn't I see you before?"

Riku shrugged. "Because I didn't want you to."

"I thought dreams weren't so logical. But if they aren't why does this one make so much sense? I mean every time I ask a question, I always get a perfectly logical answer." Sora snorted again and his voice rose in decibel with every word.

"Sora I think you should get back to bed."

"Nonsense! I'm still sleeping, like I told you this is all a dream!"

Riku raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Someone's a little cranky."

"How could I fall asleep with you in my house anyway?" Sora pouted again and crossed his arms over his chest in annoyance.

"What do you think I'm going to rape you or something? Newsflash Sora, I'm a ghost. Besides I don't like little boys." Riku said it with such hatred in his voice that Sora flinched.

In his heart Sora couldn't help but feel as if Riku's words had cut him in half. What was Sora thinking anyway? Why would Riku like a little boy like him anyway? Riku was so mysterious and jaded and Sora was just… a daydreaming-never-had-a-date-in-his-life boy. Sora let his eyes slip down to the floor and suddenly he did feel really tired. He fought to keep his eyes open but it was like he was swimming in a pool of haziness and couldn't see anything. A roaring noise started up in his ears and he tried to say one more thing before his eyes closed. His mouth wouldn't work and in his struggle he reached out for Riku's hand, but his own went right through.

"But I could touch you before!" Sora gasped out and Riku looked incredibly sad as his face swam in Sora's vision. Sora's heart wrenched and he didn't know if it was because he couldn't touch Riku or because Riku seemed so sad. Suddenly the crown necklace that hung around Sora's neck began to grow. Faintly at first but than it grew stronger, it grew so strong that Riku had to cover his eyes with his arm.

Riku gave a little wave to Sora before Sora felt himself being pulled away from the other boy and being thrust into the dark.

"And quote the Raven 'Nevermore'." Riku whispered.

Sora woke up with a start and rubbed his eyes to get the last of sleep's hold out of his system. "What the hell was up with that dream? Mom must have put something funny in the soup last night." Sora got up to change his clothes and head down the stairs for breakfast before he went to school. As he walked past the attic door his eyes strayed to it and he had the strangest urge to see those newspaper clippings and to prove if his dream was really just a dream.

"For the love of God, I can't believe I'm doing this. It was just a dream there are no hot ghost named Riku and there is no such thing as the Dead Man." Sora grumbled to himself; annoyed that he was actually going to search for this mysterious box again.

Sora climbed the stairs and stopped dead, gaping. The mirror had moved from its original position and there were footsteps in the dust leading up to it. One set of footsteps to be precise. He ran his hands around the wood just like Riku had the other night and jumped back surprised when he heard the locks clicking, just like they had done last night. The door slid open and he almost fell over backwards as he saw the room from his dream in real life. Letting out a whimper, he fell to his knees; he didn't know whether he was going crazy or he really had met a ghost last night. Sora shakily dragged himself over to the box in the corner and opened it. When he saw the disturbed dust and the picture of Sephiroth he had to stop himself from being sick right there.

Sora scrambled to his feet and ran down the stairs refusing to stop and talk to his mother who just sighed as he ran by her, barely stopping to grab his backpack. Aerith shook her head to herself; "That boy looks like he just saw a ghost."

Sora didn't stop running until he was within a block of the school. He whipped a faint sheen of sweat off his face and he sighed. His legs wobbled beneath him and he had to sit down for a few minutes. Which was fine, he was early for school anyway. A shadow fell over him and Sora looked up in surprise, he squinted his eyes against the sun to try and see who was standing over him.

"Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost?" The figure bent over and all Sora could do was stare in shock and faint. He slumped over on the curb and just closed his eyes.

End - Of Crown and Chains

Arty – All right the next chapter is called Honesty's Curse. So please read and review! By the way this is a five-chapter story with the fifth chapter being the epilogue.

Edit – I went over this chapter again, after someone dropped a line about some errors. I hope this helps clear a few things up.