Summary: As the youngest prince of the Jenovan kingdom, Riku has only three options in life: save the kingdom from disaster, sacrifice himself for his older brother, or rescue a princess from a dragon. With a powerful father keeping the country safe and no real love for his older brothers, Riku embarks on a quest to find, and rescue, a suitable princess. Of course, things don't always go as planned, especially when the one princess who sounds interesting enough to marry is off learning magic… and has left her childhood friend in her place!

Pairings: RxS, some RxK

Warnings: Violence, maybe some language… and yaoi fluff. Yum.

Chapter One

"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations."
— J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

The Jenovan kingdom was a prosperous land. Composed mostly of rolling hills and the occasional river, it was abundant with natural resources. The open setting also made it the center of travel and trade, with people and goods from the various surrounding kingdoms making their way through Jenovan ports. Its capital city, Midgar, floated high above the plains on the magic of Jenova's elite magicians. Under the solid leadership of King Sephiroth and his army, many of problems that plagued neighboring kingdoms, such as dragons and rogue wizards, had been completely eradicated from Jenova. The kingdom was about as well off as a kingdom could be.

Which made things extremely hard for Riku.

As the fourth and youngest prince of the Jenovan kingdom, there were really only three options in life: he could save the kingdom from disaster, sacrifice himself for his older brother, or rescue a princess from a dragon. With no dangerous creatures running about and a palace full for magicians capable of diverting any natural disaster, option one wasn't an option at all for the Jenovan prince. Same for option two, as all of his older brothers were in no need of assistance from their younger sibling. Not that he would have chosen option two anyway; he wasn't particularly fond of his brothers and they had done nothing to warrant him sacrificing himself for their well being.

So the only option left was option three and it was beneficial in more ways than one. Not only would Riku's quest bring fame and honor to Jenova (not that it needed any more fame or honor in the first place) but with no local dragons, it would allow him to journey to faraway lands in search of a princess in need of rescuing.

In fact, the terms of the quest were so good, Riku allowed himself to be picky. There was no need to rescue just any princess when it could mean a speedy return to Midgar. Instead, Riku wandered through the land in search of a dragon with similar taste in women. Strong willed, but still adorable. Intelligent, yet willing to admit mistakes. Capable of both calming words and witty comebacks. As he found out, very few princesses fit even one of those descriptions, much less all of them. After a few months of searching, Riku was almost about to admit defeat and go after the next cry for help when a passing caravan brought him news of Princess Kairi of the Destiny Islands.

A landlocked nation, Jenova did not have much contact with the sea-based Destiny Islands but Riku knew from his cultural and geography lessons that the nation was fairly well-off financially, despite being the smallest of the kingdoms. The traders' stories of the feisty princess, reportedly cast out of the kingdom by her own mother for her unprincess-like behavior, entranced Riku. If ever there was a princess as unhappy with her situation as Riku was with his, Kairi was her.

So he went to the Destiny Islands and spoke with the king there, who quite happily agreed to let Riku go rescue his daughter. There must not have been much interest in the princess so far. The scene was oddly familiar and he was reminded of the eager looks on his brothers' faces when he told them he was leaving for the quest. Another potential benefit: both kingdoms would be happy to be rid of their most troublesome young royals. Lastly, a quick letter to his father would give him the final permission he needed.

The Destiny Islands king gleefully informed him that Kairi had been taken during one of her unsupervised outings and that the dragon had been seen flying back towards the Land of the Dragons. He set off immediately after receiving a response from his own father, traveling over the canyons of the Pride Lands and through the deserts of Agraba until he reached the Land of the Dragons. The strange people who lived in those lands revered and worshiped the dragons that dwelt in the Xiang mountains. Had it not been for their Emperor and his imperial decree that limited outsider access to the mountain, mercenaries from neighboring kingdoms would have surely slain the dragons long ago. Instead, they flourished in the mountains enough to have somewhat overpopulated and spread out to terrorize other kingdoms were their presence was not as well tolerated.

As it were now, only a Prince on an official quest from a king could enter the mountains, and even then they were warned to keep their slaying to the one dragon that held their intended princess. It took nearly a week for Riku to be granted access to the mountains, which he spent stocking up on supplies and practicing his sword fighting. The only way to kill a dragon was to stab it in the underside of the neck, where the scales were thinly layered. Sharp teeth and fire breathing abilities made this an extremely difficult task, so Riku made sure to buy himself a flame-proof shield and new chain link armor.

Finally, he and his mare, Naminé, were permitted to begin the climb up to the dragon dens. At first they made slow progress; Riku wanted to be especially cautious until he learned what sort of creatures lived among the mountain rocks and Naminé struggled with the uneven paths. But as the days went by, they both became more confident in their surroundings and within a week they had made it to the upper portion of the mountain.

Having compared the account of Kairi's abduction and the records of dragons living on the mountain, Riku was fairly sure the dragon Leon was the one who had captured the princess. Leon was a fairly young dragon, but was in no way inexperienced; the emperor's logs had marked at least a dozen previous knights who had unsuccessfully challenged the dragon. The others had most likely been amateurs and although he knew the fight would be challenging, Riku was confidence enough to not be frightened by their failures.

The records had also given him the approximate location of Leon's caves, so he set off further into the mountains, careful to avoid the dens of other dragons. Leon's den was located on the far side of the mountain range, facing the sea. The view would have been breathtaking, had Riku not been more focused on the upcoming battle.

After a little investigating, he found all the entrances to the caves and marked them on a map. One of the more common mistakes made by amateur knights was to assume dragon dens had only one entrance and exit. Although there was usually one main entrance, a dragon could have as many as ten other smaller exits in which to flee from and surprise an unsuspecting knight.

After finding a small clearing in which to tether Naminé, Riku began his stakeout of the main cave. The larger opening would give him the maximum amount of space to maneuver in the fight. No matter how good the fire-proof shield was, it couldn't protect him from the smoke if he was pinned against a wall under dragon fire.

Then he waited. He learned Leon's hunting patterns (small catches every few days, a major hunting trip every two weeks) and the frequency of visiting dragons (Leon was apparently anti-social, as he had only one visitor in those few weeks). Finally, after many calculations and battle plans, Riku was ready.

The attack was planned for the afternoon, when Leon returned from one of his long hunting trips. The dragon seemed sluggish after those flights and Riku hoped to use his opponent's dulled state to his advantage.

The sun was rising to its highest peak as Riku crouched behind a large rock outside the cave. Only a little while left. He anxiously spun his sword in his hand. From his vantage point, he would be able to see Leon's shadow flying in before the dragon landed, so there was no reason for him to be so jumpy, but nerves won out over logic. A few times he thought he spotted the shadow, but it ended up being a passing cloud or a particularly strong gust blowing over some grass. Each time, he tried to calm himself and went back to waiting.

Finally, the distinctive shape of dragon wings signaled Leon's decent from the sky. Riku had a last few minutes to prepare. He quickly ran through his equipment. Sword, sharpened, in hand. Daggers, also sharpened, in his left sleeve and right boot. Chain mail, under his clothing. Shield-

"Hey, is that your horse tied up down by the bailey?"

Riku spun around quickly, sword posed and ready to charge. The voice was too melodious to be a dragon, who were known to have rough, scratchy voices, but another knight in area posed an equally serious problem. They could be a potential rival (although the mountain guards hadn't said that any other knights were challenging Leon) or after another dragon entirely, or…

Not. The person before him was certainly not a knight. He had no sword, no visible weapon of any kind, and no markings of a magician. In fact, his relaxed posture was entirely out of place amongst the rocks and bones outside the dragon den.

Ignoring the question, Riku snatched the other boy by the arm and pulled him down the hill quickly. The stranger protested, but made no move to try to break free of Riku's grasp; perhaps he was smarter than he seemed, wandering around in dragon territory unprotected.

After a tense minute or so, they had made it a safe enough distance down the hill. The boy snatched his arm away as soon as they stopped, glaring at Riku.

"I hope this means you're going to do something about your horse, now that you've both assaulted and kidnapped me," he said testily, the glare slowly being replaced by a general look of annoyance.

Riku took a second to catch his breath and calm his nerves before turning abruptly. His sudden movement startled the other and Riku used the moment of shock to take a good look at his companion. Deep blue eyes were widened in surprise, framed by a chaotic array of spiky brown hair. He was a young man, probably only a little younger than Riku himself. The splashes of color on his clothing said that he was some sort of nobleman, or at least dressed as one. Certainly not the kind of man Riku would expect to find around a dragon's den.

"Are you going to answer me or are you just going to stare?" Having apparently gotten over his surprise, the brunet had taken on a more relaxed pose, arms crossed as he eyed Riku skeptically.

'No doubt questioning my manners… or my intelligence.'

Riku bowed gracefully, as he might have done to an important guest at his father's banquets. For whatever reason, this person had been wandering around dragon infested mountains and was still alive… he was either crafty enough to have slipped by unnoticed or strong enough to hold his own. Either way, Riku decided it was best to play it safe and use flattery.

"My apologies for the kidnapping. I was not sure if you were aware how close you were to a dragon's den. One's safety must come before curiosity you know, so I felt assured that you would be able to forgive my rudeness once I had a chance to explain." He smiled the dazzling smile that would have had the ladies of the court gasping and the men chuckling enviously.

But he didn't expect it to have such an effect on this man. The brunet was obviously flustered, very unlike a nobly raised person who would have been used to such flattering speech. Of course, it wasn't uncommon for people to impersonate nobles. Riku was debating how to contact the mountain guards about a possible intruder when a piece of paper was thrust roughly into his hands.

"Yes, well, that's nice of you and all but I knew what I was getting into. You think anyone is stupid enough to walk into a dragon's den without knowing it? There were bones lying around everywhere!" He threw his arms up dramatically as he turned from Riku, apparently trying to hid a growing blush. "Anyway, that's a map of all the dragon's caves with princesses, so you can find whoever you're looking for and get out of here."

Riku flipped the paper open experimentally. It was a hand-drawn map, well done and extremely detailed, even listing the multiple entrances to each cave as well as what dragon and princess resided there. But it was missing something. One dragon wasn't listed…

"Hey, where can I find the dragon Leon and his captive, Princess Kairi?"

As Riku expected, the man froze. During the time Riku had been looking over the map, he had made it through the rocks and was nearly out of sight.

"Kairi doesn't need to be rescued."

Riku was taken aback. He grappled a second for an answer, before blurting, "What?" and realizing that it wasn't the most dignified answer. He cleared his throat before trying again. "Of course she needs to be rescued. She's a princess, trapped by a dragon."

The brunet had started back towards him with a purposeful stride. "And what are you, some knight who's going to save her?"

Riku didn't let himself rise to the mocking tone. "Perhaps I am."

The mysterious man had made it back around and stopped a few feet from Riku. "Well, like I said, Kairi doesn't need saving. Didn't you wonder why no other knights had been here for her before you?"

Riku had, in fact, wondered that briefly but it was no doubt the tales of her rebellious nature that had driven other knights to avoid rescuing her. And the fact that she had been taken by a particularly dangerous dragon.

This man was starting to get in Riku's way. "Why I'm here is unimportant. I have an official letter of access," he said, growing more and more annoyed but struggling to keep a controlled tone, "to challenge the dragon Leon to a battle for Princess Kairi. If you have any information relevant to my imperial quest, I demand that you tell me."

Riku tried to throw a bit of his kingly tone in. If he was right, and the man wasn't really a noble but was only pretending to be one, then he would know to not disobey a direct command from his superior.

It seemed to work. "She's not here," the other admitted reluctantly. "And she won't be back anytime soon. Don't think of going looking for her either."

Riku had had enough. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

The brunet smiled. "Oh, I'm Sora, captive of the dragon Leon. Kairi's replacement, if you will. And that," he smirked, gesturing up to the sky, "would be Leon."

So yeah, what fun it is to be snowed in with no internet or electricity. Not much else to do but write and that's what I did. Just a fun little piece I'll be working on when I get writer's block for CID... or get snowed in without my forensics books. Future chapters will be longer, this was more of a prologue that I didn't feel like labeling a prologue. Yeah.

Still, reviews would be very nice and helpful as strive to always better my writing! And they just make me happy. Spread the love people!

And if anyone is wondering, the title is a quote from The Hobbit.