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Knights and Guards	By : TasogareNoRaikou Category: Kingdom Hearts > Slash/Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 1258 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. If I did, the boys wouldn’t be straight. I don't write for money, this is just for fun.

Chapter List
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Knights and Guards

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. If I did, the boys wouldn’t be straight.

Warnings: This is yaoi, and I take full responsibility for all the dirty little fantasies in your head. If you don’t like boys doing naughty things to one another, find something else to read.

Pairings: ???

Plot: Roxas and Riku have been best friends since middle school, right about the time they both found out that they weren’t exactly…normal. Not that anything about Haven City is normal nowadays, not with the Knights and Guards fighting to the death almost every night. Growing up in a city prone to superhero battles has been a way of life the boys have come to embrace; especially now that they’ve found out they’re superheroes too. Let the sweet drama of high school, young love, and learning how to deal with superpowers commence!
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Chapter One: Sunshine and News Crews

Riku glanced over at Roxas, watching the blonde shoving his new books into his backpack. “You remember everything?”
The other boy glanced over at his roommate. “I think so, you remember your charcoals?”
Riku nodded, silver hair swaying with his movements. “Though it’s not like it’s gonna do me any good until the new art school opens up. Going to high school on the West Side for a month is pointless! They should have just waited and let us start school when the new art school on this side of town has its grand opening…”
Roxas laughed, “Yeah, I’m sure that would go over well. Hundreds of freshman wandering around the city in the middle of the day, no school to go to for over a month…”
Riku sighed at the other boy exasperatedly, “Well it’s not our faults that they took so long to finish building the new high school.”
“Just you wait Riku,” Roxas said, slinging his stuffed backpack over his shoulder and patting his friend on the back, “It’ll be worth it.”
The other boy smiled at him and sighed again, gathering various pencils and sketches that were littered around the living room, shoving them all into his bag and sitting down on the arm of the sofa to tie his sneakers. “You bring yours?”
Roxas nodded, smiling to himself. He knew Riku wasn’t talking about his shoes. “Yeah, I have it on me. We’re going to be so far away from the house, I thought it would be a good idea to have them on us.”
The other boy stood up from the couch, walking into the kitchen and grabbing and apple as he replied, “Yeah, I have mine too. I’m sure Skye would approve.”
“You’re definitely making progress,” Roxas said in a deep voice, crossing his arms over his chest, “It’s only a matter of time before your techniques will be perfected, and you’ll be ready for battle.”
Riku laughed at the blonde boy, shaking his head. “He’s probably listening to us right now, don’t piss him off!”
Roxas stuck out his tongue at the other boy, walking past him and to the front door. “Come on, we have to catch the train. We’ll never make it on time if we miss it.”
The taller boy took a bite out of his apple as he followed after his friend, “Well if we didn’t have to travel all the way to the West Side to go to school in the first place, we wouldn’t have to worry about being late now would we?”
Roxas rolled his eyes, “Can’t help it now! Let’s go!”
The two boys stepped outside into the warm spring air, Roxas turning and locking the door to their apartment behind them before catching up to Riku, who was already walking down the street. “Not driving to school is weird.” The silver-headed boy commented, taking another bite out of his apple.
“Are you going to complain the entire way to school?” Roxas asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I could, don’t tempt me.” The other boy replied, grinning at the blonde.
The two boys jogged down the street to the end of the road, turning left and cutting across a few parking lots before hitting the busy streets of the Inner City. A swarm of teenagers were making their way to several stairwells descending into the concrete on either side of a large bridge. Riku tossed his apple core into a gutter and started off down the sidewalk, “Come on, the subway’s gonna be packed.”
Roxas followed after the taller boy, Riku making a path through the crowded sidewalks and glancing over his shoulder now and then to make sure Roxas was following him okay. The blonde was right on his heels, he knew how easily they could get separated from one another in early morning traffic. They darted across the street right before the lights of the crosswalk turned red, and headed down into the underground train system. It was a deafening roar of loud music and people talking as they descended the stairs, Riku reaching back and taking Roxas’ hand. The younger boy latched onto him, allowing Riku to tug him along through the crowd until they were being shuffled through a flood of people, train sirens echoing through the tunnels, warning their passengers to board now or wait fifteen minutes for the next arrival. Riku pushed their way past a group of businessmen and tugged Roxas through the doors of the subway, pressing them against a window right as the doors closed and locked them safely inside.
Roxas shook his head from where he was pressed against Riku’s chest, the other boy laughing at him softly. “You alright?”
“Stupid transit system.” The blonde muttered, words muffled by Riku’s hoodie.
The older boy grinned, shaking an all-knowing finger at Roxas. “I told you so.”
The passengers of the train eventually shifted enough that Roxas and Riku could both comfortably stand with their backs pressed against one of the large windows, the boys watching the neon lights of the subway slowly fade away as they exited the Inner City tunnels and made their way through underground Downtown. After another twenty minutes or so, the train grinded to a halt at the end of the line, and Riku once again took Roxas’ hand, guiding the boy through the masses until they were ascending the stairs of the subway tunnels to street level. Roxas sighed in relief, breathing in fresh air and looking around. It was a bit less crowded on the streets here, out of the Inner City, but the Downtown area was still fairly busy. “Do you know which way from here?” Riku asked, Roxas taking a step forward and searching for anything that looked familiar.
“The map said to take the main street towards West Side, along the border between Downtown and the outskirts leading west.”
Riku turned, surveying the area, “And this place is supposed to be pretty big, right?”
Roxas nodded, “It’s the only one big enough that could house all of us for a month while the other high school is being finished.”
“Right…” Riku said softly, pulling his phone out of his pocket and checking the time, “We have about thirty minutes to find this place.”
Roxas pointed towards a large green sign labeled Main Street, “Let’s go that way, that’s heading west, right?”
“Yeah, that’s definitely west,” Riku said with a grin, nodding towards a topless corvette with several scantily clad girls riding in the back, rubbing suntan lotion on one another. “Follow the beach babes.”
“This is why we never come to the West Side,” Roxas said, walking beside Riku down the sidewalks of Main Street, “I hate rich people.”
Riku laughed, shoving Roxas’ shoulder playfully as they continued down the street. Eventually they came to a large gate-like wall, the street running directly through the mouth of the gate and out of Downtown, to West Side. “Well, here goes nothing.” Riku said dramatically, walking across the border and glancing back at Roxas, who was following him with an amused look across his face.
“What were you expecting?” Roxas asked quizzically, “Instant death from West Side exposure?”
“Something like that.” Riku said, shrugging. “People from East Side always make a big deal about coming over here. Other than the obvious inconveniences, I don’t really get what the fuss is about.”
“Yeah, me neither.” Roxas said, “Other than the fact that West Side is completely useless in most aspects. It’s the oldest part of Haven City, there’s nothing extraordinary about it or anything fun to do from what I’ve heard. People say there’s absolutely no reason to go to West Side unless you’re crossing through it to get to the ocean, and I never really think about going to the beach, you know? It’s just too far out of the way.”
Riku nodded, waving his hand dismissively, “And besides, gas is way too expensive to have to drive from the East Side, through Inner City, through Downtown, across West Side, and then to the beaches on the West Coast.”
Roxas nodded in agreement. “Inconvenient.”
The two boys walked in silence for a moment, before they both looked over at one another.
“I want to go to the beach now.” Riku said pathetically.
“Me too!” Roxas said with a whine, punching the air. “Stupid rich people and their stupid fancy cars, and fancy condos, and money…”
“Well maybe we’ll go to the beach someday after school.” Riku said with a shrug. “I mean, we’re going to be coming all the way over here for school. We might as well do some exploring.”
Roxas smiled, looking off across the tops of buildings slowly descending towards the ocean lying on the horizon to the west. “Yeah, that would be nice…if we get the time to.”
“Yeah.” Riku said, chuckling softly. “You mean if Skye gives us the time to goof off long enough to go to the ocean anyway.” The two boys laughed at one another, grinning back and forth, before something caught Riku’s attention. “Would you look at that?”
Riku looked in the direction his roommate had pointed, instantly raising a hand to rub at his right temple gingerly. “Oh god, we should have stayed home today…”
The high school had appeared from between two broken-down office buildings, surrounded by an overgrown lawn of plush green grass and several flag poles. Students were gathered around the building in large groups, teachers trying to keep order as they sorted through the new arrivals. A banner hung across one side of the entrance to the school, Welcome, Freshman from East Side!, in big, glittery, bold letters. The banner looked like it had been set on fire at the edges, and had food thrown at it, and someone had the wonderful artistic notion to draw a very large rendition of someone’s privates all across the word Freshman.
Roxas rubbed at his temple, asking with a groan, “We’re going to be miserable for a month, aren’t we?”
“Yup.” Riku replied, matter-o-factly. “Completely.”
They walked off towards the front of the school, side by side. High school was definitely not the worst thing that would ever happen to them. It wouldn’t even come close. It was almost laughable that they were complaining about high school, trying to play into the illusion that they were just normal everyday high school freshman, complaining about the normal, ordinary life of being a normal, average teenager. Normal…no, that didn’t even begin to come close to the life Riku and Roxas had. Abnormal, paranormal, supernatural, these could all come close… But no, normal didn’t come anywhere near it.
-x-x-x-
By the time the first bell had rung Roxas and Riku had been shoved in a classroom with a group of other freshman. Some of the other teenagers they would be going to school with once the East Side high school was completed, but the majority of the students in the class were West Side kids. An invisible rift seemed to form in the middle of the classroom, the West Side students sitting on the left and the East Side students grouped together on the right. They sat there in moderate silence, glancing over at the other side of the classroom, whispering amongst themselves. The teacher didn’t show up until about 10 minutes before the next bell rang, fanning herself and muttering about the hierarchy of the school. The students didn’t introduce themselves or try to make friends. They kept their distance, and kept their mouths shut.
As the students flooded into the halls to change classes Riku pulled out his class schedule, “Okay, so it’s art class for me next. Where are you off to?”
“Literature,” Roxas replied, “I think I saw the library when we were coming in, and there was a wing down that way with some more classrooms.”
“Okay, well just keep your phone on vibrate and I’ll text you when I can. It doesn’t seem like the teachers here are even going to try to teach us, let alone give a crap if we’re texting in the middle of class.”
“Yeah,” Roxas replied, “This isn’t exactly what I was expecting.”
Riku smiled at him, “It’ll be okay. I’ll see you at lunch.”
“Okay, see you later Riku.” Roxas replied, watching his friend walk off down the hallway for a moment before turning and making his way back towards the library he had seen before. Students slowly filtered into classrooms, until Roxas could hear his footsteps echoing on the linoleum as he walked past an endless corridor of doors. Finally he found the library, pushing open one of the double-doors and making his way inside, looking around for anyone who might be able to direct him to the right place. There was a librarian at a large round counter in the middle of the library, talking to a boy with red hair, who was chatting and laughing with her while gesturing to a pile of books she was checking out for him.
Roxas approached the pair quietly, the librarian tending to the checkout without noticing him and the red-headed boy looking up with bright cat-green eyes. “Yo, you lost freshman?”
“Is it that easy to tell?” Roxas asked, smiling uneasily, the older boy laughing and talking a step over to him.
“What class you looking for?”
“Advanced Literature…” Roxas replied, handing the boy his class schedule when he extended his hand.
“Advanced Lit huh?” the boy said, surprise in his voice. “I’m a senior and I’m just now taking that class. What’d you do, sleep with a teacher?”
The librarian laughed then tutted softly, swatting at the red-head. “Don’t tease him like that. Can’t you tell he’s from East Side?”
The senior glanced back at Roxas. “An East Sider huh? Never seen one before. Thought you’d look fancier somehow.”
Roxas blinked, taken back by the boy’s open nature. “Sorry to disappoint? I didn’t know I was supposed to dress to impress when attending school on the West Side.”
The older boy grinned at him. “So you’re not afraid to bark back? That’s good. It’ll keep your ass from getting kicked around here.” He picked up his books and waved goodbye to the librarian. “Come on then, I’ll take you to class.”
Roxas took his schedule back from the red-head then followed after him, the older boy kicking open a door and expertly maneuvering his pile of books to avoid a group of girls who were running down the halls laughing. “Get to the gym ladies! The coach isn’t in the mood today!”
“Sorry Axel!” a girl called back at him, her and her companions laughing and continuing to run off through the halls.
“Cheerleaders.” He muttered, shaking his head, Roxas smiling in amusement and following after the other boy. The senior led him to a door, motioning for him to go in ahead of him, Roxas stepping past him and opening the door, laughter greeting his ears. Axel stepped past him and walked up to the teacher’s desk, planting his pile of books on one side and exchanging words with the woman for a moment before motioning for Roxas to follow him to a group of desks that were jumbled together in the back of the room. Two boys instantly greeted Axel, and a girl looked up at him and rolled her eyes when he walked past. “Hey guys, found one of the new kids from East Side. Check it out.” He motioned towards Roxas in a very showy manner, bowing slightly.
The girl who had rolled her eyes at the senior before leaned in and tugged at the edge of Roxas’ shirt, the blonde looking down at her questioningly. “I thought they were supposed to dress all fancy and be throwing their weight around and stuff. Shouldn’t they have taken over the school by now or something? It’s already second period you know.”
“My prediction was an all-out war at lunch time.” A dirty-blonde boy said, nudging Axel as the red-head sat down on a desk beside him. “What do you think, Ax?”
“I don’t know, this one seems normal enough.” The older boy replied, smiling over at Roxas teasingly.
The younger boy barely noticed him, too preoccupied with the girl inspecting the threadwork of his shirt. “Cotton. Simple cotton. How disappointing.”
The boy sighed, “Once again, if I had known that wearing normal clothes to high school would be so disappointing…”
“It’s not you, it’s her,” another boy replied, Roxas glancing over at him and noticing his rosy-pink hair. “Larxene has these radical ideas that East Side is into high fashion. I keep trying to tell her it’s Inner City that has high fashion as all the rise, but East Side is still too new to be fashionable quite yet.”
“Marl, you break my heart. Me? Radical?” The girl said dramatically, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder. “You hurt me, right here.” She said, pressing her hand to her chest.
“You’ll get over it darling, just like they all do.” The boy replied, making a kissy face at her, the blonde girl rolling her eyes and releasing Roxas’ shirt. “Regardless. East Siders being here in West Side sure is making the beginning of junior year start out grand, don’t you think?”
“Don’t forget some of us are seniors this year.” Axel piped up, grinning.
“Yeah, lucky break,” the dirty-blonde at his side replied. “Just means you’ll get to go to college before us, while we’re stuck in high school for another year before our scholarships kick in.”
“Scholarships?” Roxas asked, the four turning to look at him.
“The art school being built in East Side, it’s a high school and college combined.” The dirty blonde replied, looking over at Roxas, “They were offering scholarships to gifted kids from West Side. There was a huge enrollment ordeal right around the new year when they selected certain kids who were gifted in the arts to receive scholarships to the new school. We just happen to be three of the kids who got in.”
“I’m going in as a fashion design major,” Larxene said, pressing her fingers delicately to her chest. “Marluxia is going in for theatre,” the pink haired boy nodded, “And Demyx is going in to the music program there.”
The dirty-blonde boy nodded, playing an air-guitar for a moment with a grin. “They love my dancing fingers.”
“They love your cute butt too.” Marluxia said, Larxene squawking out a laugh.
“That guy was not checking out my ass, Marl!”
The older boy pursed his lips and looked away, “Honey, you can be in denial all you want, but do not insult my gaydar. That man wanted you.” When Demyx tried to speak Marluxia held up a hand, “You have talent, that’s for sure, but he did want you. That’s all I’m saying.”
Axel patted his friend on the back. “Don’t worry Demyx. They know better than to go after your cute little tushie. Lawsuits and all that.”
“It’s nice to know that my ass is cute.” The dirty blonde said sarcastically. “Thank you, for that wonderful revelation.”
Roxas laughed, the group of friends turning to look at him. “I’m sorry! It’s just, I thought that West Side was a bunch of tough, angry kids. I’m glad I was wrong.”
“Yeah, I guess that makes two of us.” Axel replied, meeting eyes with Roxas. “And here we thought East Siders were going to be a bunch of stuck up, snobbish pricks thinking they were better than us.” He grinned at the blonde. “But you seem alright.”
“Here, come sit with us,” Larxene motioned, moving over to sit by Marluxia and allowing Roxas into the circle.
The five settled down and talked for a while, discussing the differences between the schools and what they had heard about the new art school on the East Side. The bell rang in the middle of their conversation about the indoor greenhouse that was supposedly one of the highlights of the new college’s features. “It’s for one of the hybrid flower gardening projects to bring plant life back into the city.” Roxas explained, “The art department is supposed to have explicit access to the greenhouse for sketching and painting. I’m really excited about it.”
“It’s so cool that you’re in the art department and you also excel in literature.” Demyx said, “You could total be a famous author someday, or a manga artist.”
“And you could be a famous rock star in a really cool band!” Roxas replied, the other boy laughing.
“Don’t get his hopes up,” Axel chided at Roxas teasingly, “He already thinks he’s a rock star. You should hear him singing in the shower.”
“Now Axel, don’t crush his artistic, free spirit.” Marluxia said, propping a hand on his hip. “You know Demyx can sing better than you at karaoke.”
“Burned!” the dirty blonde said with a laugh, pointing at Axel and sticking out his tongue.
Larxene rolled her eyes, something Roxas was quickly noticing to be her reply to most things, the blonde girl catching his eyes and smiling at him. “So, did you take the train all the way to West Side by yourself?”
“No, my roommate came with me,” the boy replied, “He said he was going to meet me for lunch.” The blonde pulled his phone out of his pocket, noticing the missed texts and quickly reading through them. “Actually, I think I left my lunch money in my backpack at my desk, I’ll see you guys after lunch.”
“Okay Roxas! But you have to sit with us tomorrow and tell us more about East Side!” Demyx called, waving after him as the boy trotted off back towards the classroom. He waved goodbye, catching Axel’s eyes as he glanced over his shoulder, the red-head nodding his farewell. Roxas smiled back, the older boy’s expression contagious, then turned and walked down another hallway and out of sight. He continued towards the classroom, darting inside and closing the door behind him, dialing Riku’s number and pressing the phone to his ear as he walked to his desk and retrieved his backpack, then made his way to the other side of the room, propping open a window and slipping outside. He shut the window behind him quietly, shuffling through the long, tall weed-filled grass as Riku’s voice echoed on the other side of the phone.
“About time you answered, where were you?”
“Getting to know our classmates,” the blonde replied, “Where are you now?”
“At the back of the high school, near the blue office building,” Roxas looked up, noticing the building to the west was a faded blue color and starting towards it, “I knew something like this would happen, we haven’t gone a day without Skye pulling us out for something…”
Roxas spotted Riku hunkered down in the grass in the shadows cast between the school and the office building, the two boys hanging up their phones almost simultaneously as they greeted one another. “Where does he want us to meet him? He knows we’re on the West Side.”
“Downtown,” Riku replied, beginning to walk towards the blue office building, Roxas following after him, “He said that Venom and Katt were already there. The Knights are trying to start trouble again.”
“Who’s trying to start something?” Roxas asked, ducking into the empty parking structure at the base of the office building, watching as his friend started to strip.
“Steel Fist is there, and some other girl. Skye said she must be new.”
Roxas let his backpack slip from his shoulders, stripping off his shirt and shrugging out of his pants, glancing over at Riku who was in much the same state. “You think we can just leave our stuff here?”
Riku nodded. “I’ve been watching, no one’s going to come digging around this old site. It’s completely abandoned.”
Roxas nodded, exhaling slowly, reaching up and untying the strip of platinum cloth tied around his upper arm. As he moved it seemed to stretch and shimmer, the fabric shining and reflecting everything around it like a mirror. He took the strip of cloth and tied it over his eyes, knotting it behind his head and allowing his heartbeat to elevate as he drew out his powers. The cloth shifted and changed, molding to his face, adapting to his powers and expanding to wrap around his neck and shoulders, dripping down his back like liquid, swirling across his chest and around waist and down his legs and arms. He felt the mask settle, and opened his eyes, lifting his arms to check his gloves and tapping his boots against the concrete to make sure they fit just right. “Worked pretty good this time. How’s yours feel?”
Riku glanced up at him, his long silver hair was now bright white and tied back in a braid, a pitch black mask covering his face and hiding his bright blue eyes, dark shadows moving around him to form a hooded cloak about his shoulders.
“The mask is great, but I still feel too exposed without a cloak of some kind.” His voice was deeper, one of the traits of the mask’s disguise. It was meant to hide their true identities, and it did a damn good job of it. If Roxas hadn’t seen Riku with his mask on and off before, he never would have made the connection. The boy took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, feeling his energies fluctuate within him, his suit beginning to glow a dim blue color as he pulled everything to his center in preparation for the upcoming fight. His heart swelled with energy, the air moving around him despite the lack of wind, Roxas catching a glimpse of his hair, now bright blue. “You actually think they’ll let us do something this time?”
“You mean actually let us fight?” Roxas asked, looking over at his friend. “Well, you never know. Be prepared, just in case.”
Riku walked over to him, clasping him on the shoulder. “I am glad to have you with me, Spectre.”
Roxas clasped Riku’s shoulder in turn, “And I, you, Raven.”
The two boys held their breaths for a moment, feeling the ground beneath them sway, and then suddenly they were no longer in the parking garage, they were at the top of the office building, the sun high in the afternoon sky. “Let’s make this quick!” Raven said, running off towards the edge of the roof and jumping across to the next, Spectre following suit.
The two boys, jumping from roof to roof, make it back to main street in no more than a few minutes, Spectre instantly picking up on the energy signatures of two of their comrades. Raven seemed to have noticed it as well, the taller boy drawing his cloak around him. “Do you feel that?”
Spectre nodded, clenching his fist, blue energy swirling around his wrist. “I’ve never felt that before, I think Skye was right. The Knights have someone new.”
They jumped between two office buildings, nimbly making their way to the top of a twenty-story business, the roof as wide as a city block. Venom was there, kneeling against the roof and flipping through the pages of an old leather-bound book while quickly mixing a couple of vials together from the pouches tied around his waist. “Where’s Katt?” Raven asked, kneeling down beside the other boy. This hair was a dark platinum color mixed with green, his mask and suit matching colors. “She is off fighting with Steel Fist. The other one hasn’t moved. I think she’s supposed to be keeping an eye on me until the other Knights get here.”
Spectre walked up to Raven’s side, the boy motioning to the other side of the roof. “Is that her?”
Venom nodded, continuing to mix his vials. “Yeah, another alien I think. She’s been flying around like it’s nothing.”
“Flying?” Raven asked, intrigued. Flying was something he had been trying to master lately, but hadn’t been able to make it flow as naturally as he would have liked. Spectre watched him for a moment, then asked with a grin, “Should we go say hello.”
Raven looked over at him, “Skye wouldn’t like it.”
“Skye isn’t here.” Venom said, looking up at the other two boys. “If you’re itching to show off your abilities do it before he shows up.”
“What do you think, Spectre?” Raven asked, looking over at the younger boy. “Wanna have some fun before the cavalry gets here?”
The blue-haired boy smiled, black ooze beginning to pool around his feet, stretching out across the roof of the building, a hazy blue-black fog rising up out of the sticky tar-like substance and creating a thickness in the air. Raven sunk into the shadows of the fog, moving across the roof of the building unseen, the girl at the other end watching the fog approaching her with a surprised look on her face.
She was levitating off of the roof about two feet, her long golden-yellow hair flowing around her in a series of braids, green and blue beads woven throughout her tresses. At the approach of the fog she rose about three yards up, hovering over the darkness and lifting her hands, golden light encircling her frame out of nowhere. Yup, Spectre thought to himself, there was definitely something alien about her. Her movements were natural, racial in nature. She had been flying since she was old enough to walk.
He watched as his friend rose up out of the shadows that had formed behind her, taking to the air as well, his cloak flaring out around him like large black wings as shadows swept out from the darkness to wrap around the unsuspecting girl.
The girl noticed at the last minute, throwing her arms up and casting golden-yellow beams of light through the shadows, back-flipping mid-air away from Raven and turning her back to Venom and Spectre, allowing the other boys the opportunity to move forward as well. Venom darted ahead, tossing a strange glowing vial at the girl, it struck her leg and exploded in a cloud of green smoke. The girl fell down with a yelp of surprise and landed in a puddle of black ooze, Spectre quickly waving his arms to wrap the girl in ropes of black tar and bind her against the roof. The new Knight opened her mouth to call for help, but Spectre cast tar over her face, silencing her. Her gaze darted between the boys, uncertainty in her eyes, but nothing that showed fear. Spectre, intrigued, knelt down beside the girl. He watched her for a moment, Raven and Venom walking up to join him, the three boys watching the girl with curiosity.
“Surely that isn’t the end of it.” Venom said, tossing a vial from hand to hand playfully. “I thought the Knights were recruiting powerful allies these days.”
“Oh, I’m sure there’s more to her than she’s letting on.” Spectre said, the girl watching him with soft green eyes. She was wearing yellow, but no mask across her face, another sure sign that she wasn’t human. Aliens tended not to feel the need to hide their identities, because there was no one on this planet that their enemies could use against them. She made a small sound, almost like a laugh, then looked upwards into the sky. Spectre followed her gaze, instantly noticing that the sunny sky was turning black with thick rain clouds. He smiled, looking up at Raven and Venom. “They’re here.”
“Withdraw.” A voice echoed, deep and menacing, lightning cracking overhead.
Raven turned to look over his shoulder, coming face to face with a tall, broad shouldered boy masked in red and black. “It’s about time you Knights showed up.” He said with a smirk, the other boy raising an eyebrow at him from behind his mask. “We’ve been waiting.”
“Black Lightning!” a girl’s voice called, a figure jumping across to the roof from an adjacent building and landing beside the newly arrived Knight. This girl was wearing black and brown leather, long black hair flowing down her shoulders, a black mask tied across her face.
“What were you doing leaving Pixie by herself?” he said to the other girl, Raven taking the opportunity to escape from the menacing Knight, melding into the shadows and reappearing at Spectre’s side.
Venom stepped in front of the boys, pulling Spectre to his feet and pushing them backwards. “We cannot go up against them without the others here. Release the girl in case we need to make a run for it.”
Spectre called back his powers, the black fog and thick ooze spread across the roof slowly retreating back to his feet before disappearing completely. The girl he had trapped got back to her feet, dusting herself off and wiping her face with her hands. “That felt slimy! Gross…”
“I told you she was fine.” The other girl said to the tall Knight, the boy’s red and black eyes watching the two girls with mild concern.
“Steel, I told you to stay with her. What if she had not been fine.”
“Black, I’m fine. Really. Steel said that she needed to take care of something with the Guard…”
The Knight looked over at the three members of the Guard that were standing nearby, then back to Steel. “You stopped for them?”
“No,” the girl replied, “Katt was here with that boy there in the middle. They were raiding the chemical storage at the pharmaceutical company five blocks from here. Police were everywhere, and the news crews of course.”
“Chemicals?” Black asked, “What chemicals?”
“Some of this I think,” Pixie replied, reaching down to wipe some green slime off of her leg, “It stings a little, but I think my regenerative abilities are stopping it from doing what it’s actually supposed to be doing.”
“That looks like acid!” Steel said, taking Pixie’s arm and bringing her hand closer so she could take a closer look. “See how it is bubbling against your skin? If your skin were more like mine that green stuff would be burning right through to the bone…”
“Oh, I see. So this is very bad for them to have then?” the blonde girl asked her companions, “Should we retrieve the rest from them?”
“It could seriously hurt one of us, or a civilian,” Steel said, looking up at Black.
Black Lightning sighed, looking over at the Guard while asking his fellow Knight, “Where is Katt now.”
“I’m sure she’ll be back soon.” The girl said, flipping her long dark hair over her shoulder. “I didn’t hit her hard enough for her to be knocked out for very long.”
“I don’t like this,” Venom whispered, Spectre leaning to listen to the boy’s whispering, “I’m not going to be any good fighting against Black, he’s too strong a melee fighter for me to handle. And you two…” he glanced over at Spectre, then past him to Raven. “You two have not been approved by Skye to fight against the Knights by yourselves. As it stands, if the three of them come after us it will be one-on-one…”
“I’m sure we could handle it,” Raven replied to the boy, eyeing the Knights standing across from them, “If we have to fight them, what other option do we have?”
Black stepped forward, drawing the boy’s attention, directing his words to the new Guards. “We’ve never fought before, but from what I can see Skye has taught you well. It’s the middle of the day, and I would prefer for our altercation to not cause more of a commotion than it already has.” The dark clouds overhead stopped rumbling, and the sound of police sirens were clearly audible from the streets down below. “I would rather not fight with you now, but we can’t allow dangerous chemicals to be left in the hands of children…”
“Children?” Venom screeched, pulling several small orbs from his packs and holding them between his fingers, “Do you have any idea of the technique behind what it takes to create-”
“Enough!” an angry voice called, a figure slamming down onto the roof, cracks forming in the cement, a girl with a large broadsword taking a step towards the Knights. “You have no say over what we can and cannot do, Black Lightning of the Burnished Knights.”
Venom, still seething, advanced forward to the girl’s side. “Of all the nerve, calling me a child…”
“I know. I heard.” She said, grinning down at him. “They have no idea of what you are capable of, Venom. Let it go for now.”
The boy glowered at Black, shuffling the small orbs in his hands. “Should we wait for Skye?”
“No,” the girl replied, “he said that the police are getting too involved. We need to go before we draw any more attention.”
“Fine. We’ll settle this later.” Venom said, gritting his teeth and drawing back his arm, tossing two of the small orbs together towards the Knights, then turning to run back towards the other side of the roof. Katt followed after him, Spectre and Raven hot on their heels as the small glass orbs exploded against the top of the building, shaking its frame and busting out the top windows. The gust of burning air and hot ash that followed propelled them off of the rooftop and onto the nearest building, the Guards taking off at a run and disappearing into the city. They bound along, keeping track of one another as they ran, jumping from shopping mall to parking garage, through the busy streets, until finally they had made enough distance that they stopped running and gathered together in the shadows of a tall corporate tower.
The older girl looked between Venom and the two new Guards, sighing heavily and slamming the tip of her broadsword into the ground. “Well, that could have gone over a bit more smoothly.”
“Steel did a number on you this time, huh Katt?” Raven asked, motioning to the girl’s shredded armor. Her spiked breastplate and shoulders were bent in several places, large chunks of black leather missing from her back and side.
The girl stretched out her arms, cracking her knuckles and twisting to pop her back. “She has some new infusions, ones she hasn’t used before. They packed a punch, that’s for sure.” Her dark ruby-red hair was short and feathered, styled into a fohawk, her eyes bright red behind her dark mask. “Did you get everything you needed?”
Venom nodded, “I have enough to last me a while, anyway.”
“Good,” she replied, “Let’s head back then. Skye will be waiting to hear from us.” She looked over at Spectre and Raven. “And as for you two, I felt you using your powers when I was on my way back. Don’t think that Skye won’t know about it too.”
Raven grinned sheepishly, “Yeah, we figured as much.”
“Maybe now he will realize we’re ready to fight for real,” Spectre said, sharing his friend’s excitement, “With the new recruits in the Knights, the Shadow Guard will need all of their fighters at the ready…”
“That is for Skye to decide, not you.” Katt replied, cutting him with her gaze. “You boys so easily forget that this is not a game. This is life or death. The Knights you toyed around with today didn’t fight back. Do not doubt that the next time you meet them, they will.”
Spectre and Raven exchanged a glance, both nodding at her words. “Sorry Katt,” Raven and Spectre replied in unison, the girl looking between the two boys then retrieving her sword, laying it across her shoulders and turning her attention back to Venom. The green-hued Guard was sorting through his supplies, putting vials and bombs back where they should be.
“And you.” She said, directing her glare at her companion. “Try not to let them piss you off so easily. You’re supposed to be setting a good example you know.”
“Yes ma’am,” Venom drawled sarcastically, Katt rolling her eyes at the boy as they walked off together, quickly fading out of site as they made their way back to the Guards’ lair to the north.
Spectre and Raven stood there together for a long time, until finally Spectre let out a breath and reached over, nudging his friend. “Let’s go back. School’s fixing to let out.”
“Right,” Raven replied, “Time to return to the real world.”
Spectre laughed at him as they took off, the two boys racing across the rooftops of the city, returning to the parking garage from before to gather their things. They unmasked, changing clothes and grabbing their backpacks before making their way back to the school grounds before anyone noticed they had been gone. Final period was still going on, they had only been away for a couple of hours. They waited in the hallway side by side against a series of lockers for the bell to ring signifying the end of school, then as students flooded the hallway they made their way casually outside. Roxas tossed his backpack down against the grass, sitting down on the lawn outside the building near the entrance to the high school, picking at some clover absently. Riku sat down beside him, taking a moment to rest and watching the other students file out of the school.
“Some day, huh?”
“Yeah,” Roxas replied. “Sadly, it was about what I had expected.”
Riku laughed, hanging his head as he said, “Yeah. About what I expected too.”
The two boys sat together for a long while, taking comfort in one another’s presence, then finally the younger boy got to his feet. “Let’s go home.”
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Featured in this chapter:

The Shadow Guards:
Roxas - Spectre
Riku - Raven
Zexion - Venom
Paine - Katt
??? - White Skye

The Burnished Knights:
Zack - Black Lightning
Tifa - Steel Fist
Rikku - Pixie

Freshman year at a high school they were never supposed to go to in the first place might be a bit more exciting than Roxas had expected, what with making new friends on the West Side, fighting the Knights in the middle of the day, and trying to convince their fearless leader Skye he and Riku are ready to fight…
But as soon as the fighting really begins, Roxas will be in for a rude awakening, for fighting for your life with thousands of people watching on LIVE TV isn’t exactly the publicity that someone who’s trying to hide their identity from the world needs…or the stress of realizing you might be fighting on the wrong side…

More next time, in Chapter Two of Knights and Guards!
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Knights and Guards