Both moons were full, hanging above the few clouds and lighting the ground so brightly that it almost looked like sun had risen already. Buildings and trees cast shadows on the road, dancing in front of two young knight trainees who were returning from their night off.

The trainees reached the castle and greeted the guards who let them enter. They were both cheerful because they had enjoyed themselves in the town of Baron. The castle was their home, but it was nice to get out once in a while.

"Almost there," Kain noted as they turned around the corner.

Cecil was about to comment but froze when he saw someone. The person was clad in dark armor and was holding his helmet in his hands. His hair matched his armor perfectly. He appeared to be looking for something, and as he turned they recognized him as Commander Albert Blackwood, one of their superiors.

The commander walked to them, stopping in front of them as they quickly saluted him. "Good evening, gentlemen, " Commander Blackwood greeted them. "Or rather, good night... May I ask why you're up so late?"

Cecil smiled nervously, thinking that the commander sounded somewhat strange. No, maybe it was just his imagination. Still, the Dark Knight was eyeing them rather suspiciously.

"We had a night off. We're just returning from the city... As we should, considering we're expected to be back at midnight. So, eh..."

The commander looked at them, a half-smile forming on his lips. "It's half past midnight."

The young men glanced at each other, both cursing in their minds. They were late? Impossible... Or, maybe it was not. But, they both knew they should have known better - they were always very careful about being back on time.

"It is?" Kain asked with an innocent smile. "Well, you see... It's my fault. We were playing some games, and didn't notice how quickly time passed. Before I knew it, Cecil was dragging me off, telling me that we were going to be late..."

Cecil interrupted him. "But Kain, wasn't it you who dragged me..."

"Oh, stop that," Commander Blackwood said with a smile, seemingly relieved about something. "No use arguing about it. Now, the question is, do I simply inform your supervisor, or...?"

Kain sighed. "Sir... please don't. I..."

The commander frowned, thinking. "Then again, I might just have use for you two... Yes, what a good idea. Follow me."

The young men both swallowed and looked at each other and then at their superior, not knowing what to do. Then again, they had no choice but to do as ordered, so they just nodded to the Dark Knight, asking no questions. If they could avoid being reported, they'd do whatever the commander wanted.

They followed the dark-haired man to one of the lower levels of Baron Castle, to a place that appeared to be part of the sewers. Kain and Cecil knew there were some old corridors there that weren't used anymore.

They looked around curiously as the commander opened a door, took a torch from the wall, and walked into the darkness. The two knights-in-training had no other option but to follow, even though they couldn't see anything but the torch light ahead of them.

The corridor was narrow, only about five feet wide. It had a few parts where the corridor widened into twenty feet wide room-like spaces; there were old decorative armors and other junk lying around in those areas.

The commander stopped after several long moments and turned. "Here we are. Now, I want you to stand guard right here, in the dark, staying as quiet as possible. Easy enough?"

"Yes, Sir," the young men replied in unison.

"Good. Also, if someone comes... This is important. Under any condition, do not let anyone pass. And I mean no one. Is that understood? If that someone tries by force... Just stop him. No matter who it is."

Cecil nodded and then glanced at his friend. "Sir, we don't have weapons."

The Dark Knight crossed his arms across his chest and thought for a moment. "That's right... But, there's no time to go get any. I guess we'll have to improvise."

He walked back to the nearest room-sized space and stopped by one of the armors. He removed the spear from its side and returned, evaluating the weapon in his hands.

"Good enough. This will have to do, then." He handed the spear to Kain, who took it and studied it carefully. It was old and a little heavy, but he could use it if needed.

"Also..." The commander removed his sword and offered it to the other boy. Cecil blinked and took it, eyes locked on the ornamented handle of the sword. Commander Blackwood's weapon was an old family heirloom sword, admired by many knights around the castle. It was a very valuable weapon, but it was hard to say from the looks that it was also very deadly when in the hands of a skilled fighter like the commander.

"Sir?"

"You are a swordsman, aren't you? If necessary, use that. I have time to get myself another weapon... I hope. Anyway, I'll be going now. Do not leave until I come back. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir!"

"Good." Commander Blackwood nodded. "Be on your guard. Ah, one more thing. If someone asks, you will not tell why you're here. Just tell that you have an order to do so, and that is all. Don't tell who gave you the order, or why."

With that, he turned and left. Cecil and Kain watched the torchlight fade as the commander turned around the corner. Soon, they heard the door close in the distance, and then it was dark.

They spent a minute or two in silence. The only sounds they could hear were their own breathing. It was almost completely dark in the corridor; there was very little light coming in from a crevice in the wall further away.

Cecil took a deep breath. "What do you think is going on?" He asked. "We're not even supposed to say who ordered us here and why. That's just strange."

"Yeah," Kain agreed. "Noticed anything out of ordinary when we returned to the castle?"

The white-haired boy shook his head. "Not really..."

Kain put the spear against the wall and closed his eyes for a moment. He couldn't think of any reason why the commander wanted them here, other than as a punishment for being half an hour late. But punishing them for something like that wasn't Commander Blackwood's job - rather, he would be expected to report to the boys' supervisor and let him handle it.

"Wait," Cecil said all of a sudden. "I think... There might've been a few more guards around the castle area than usual. But why, that I don't know... They didn't pay any attention to us, so I ignored them... Until now."

Kain opened his eyes and looked at his friend, barely able to see him in the darkness; there was only a dark shape that resembled Cecil next to him. "Hmm?"

"Also, the commander appeared to be looking around," Cecil continued. "Maybe they're after someone."

"Could be."

"It's still strange," Cecil mumbled, staring into the darkness. "If that's the case, why didn't he tell us about it?"

"No idea. He seemed to be in a hurry though." Kain shrugged. "Oh well. No use worrying about it. We'll just do what he ordered and that's it. I don't need to know the reason why I'm here, not right now, anyway. We can always ask later. Come on, let's sit down over there."

They sat down by the left-side wall. There was a sound of water dripping somewhere far away; it sounded like it was on the other side of the wall. Other than that, it was totally quiet. The silence was almost uncomfortable.

"Kain?" Cecil whispered. "This silence... It makes me nervous."

"Me too."

Cecil moved closer to his friend until he could barely see Kain's figure in the darkness. He sighed, closed his eyes and tried to shake off the unpleasant feeling. Kain felt around until he found Cecil's hand. He patted it, leaving his hand there so he could feel where the other was sitting.

They tolerated the silence for a little longer until Kain shifted his position and looked around in the dark corridor. "I wonder what this corridor is... I don't ever remember being here. I thought we had explored most of the castle when we were younger."

"Let's see... " Cecil gave it a little thought. "If I'm correct, this is one of those underground corridors that lead outside Baron Castle. Some old escape tunnel, perhaps? These corridors are so long forgotten that no one even remembers why they are here. The other end is blocked, I think."

Kain laughed a bit. "Just some useless old corridor, huh."

They sat there for half an hour, quietly telling jokes to each other. If someone tried to come here, they would hear the sound of the door. Also, if someone had figured out a way to get past the block on the other end of the corridor, they would hear the person's footsteps the very second he or she entered the place. Meanwhile, the possible intruder would have hard time hearing them since they were sitting near the floor and whispering.

Kain shook his head. Time seemed to pass slowly. Or maybe it didn't pass at all; this whole place seemed to be outside of time.

Just my imagination, he decided and searched around until he found his friend's hand again. He stroked it softly, then stopped when he noticed something. "Cecil, you're shivering. Are you cold?"

"Now that you mention it, yes," the other boy replied quietly.

Kain wrapped his arms around his friend and moved closer until he was right next to him. He rubbed his friend's shoulders gently, then put his other hand down on Cecil's waist and continued massaging his body.

"Kain..." Cecil giggled, almost blushing. "Stop that."

"What? It'll make you warm."

"Sure, but I wouldn't want Commander Blackwood walking in on us only to see you... um..."

"Do what I did three months ago in that survival practice?" Kain asked, amused.

Cecil smiled. "Exactly."

"Who said I'm going to do that?" Kain asked. "Except, well, it doesn't sound like a bad idea. Lie down?" Kain grinned mischievously.

"Kain!" The other boy laughed, shoving his friend firmly but gently, not so hard that the blond boy would have actually moved. Kain just wrapped his arm better around the white-haired boy, drawing him so close that Cecil was almost sitting on his lap.

The younger boy nuzzled him slightly and sighed contentedly. The stone walls made the corridor quite cold, and being close to someone helped. Of course, being close to Kain was starting to have another effect on him as well, and he had hard time keeping himself calm.

He was about to say something but froze as he heard a distant sound.

"Kain," he whispered. "Did you hear that? Someone just opened the door. Very quietly, but still did."

"I heard it." The other boy reached out to take a hold of his friend's arm and dragged him up to his feet while he grabbed the spear that was still leaning against the wall. "Move to the other side of the corridor," he whispered. "Let's stay out of sight until whoever it is comes this far. Not that one could see too well in here, but still."

Cecil patted the back of Kain's hand to let him know he agreed, and withdrew to the other side of the corridor. And then they waited.

A minute or two passed, and then they could see dim lantern light farther away in the corridor. The holder of the light was heading their way.

They waited until holder of the lamp was close enough and let their eyes adjust to the light. When the person came closer they could see it was a middle-aged man with blond hair. The man wasn't wearing an armor, but his cloak had the Baronian Dark Knight crest on it.

They stayed still until the man holding the lantern was ten feet away, and then stepped out of the shadows, surprising him. That gave them the advantage and Cecil used it.

"Greetings, Sir," he said, trying to sound official. "May I ask what you are doing here?"

The man blinked, startled. His eyes scanned the two young men, and he took some time before replying. His expression turned cold as he finally spoke. "Knight trainees, aren't you? What are you doing here?"

"You didn't answer my question, Sir," Cecil said, ignoring the inquiry. "I just asked you..."

"You are in no position to ask me anything," the man interrupted. "Don't you recognize me? I'm one of the higher-ranking officers here!"

Kain took a step closer to get a better look at the man. Indeed, they did know who this was. It was Commander Clay, one of high-ranking officers in the Red Wings. It didn't matter; Commander Blackwood had given them the order not to let anyone pass.

"Yes, we know who you are," Kain replied to the commander. "I'm sorry that we have to ask questions. I also have to inform you that you cannot go any further."

The commander frowned, displeased. "I am a superior officer. I asked what you are doing here, and I expect to get an answer."

"We can't answer that," Kain said. "Now, please turn back."

"What is this, some kind of a game?" Commander Clay asked, obviously annoyed. "Fine then. I am ordering you to get out of my way. Any objections?"

Cecil raised his sword, holding it in front of him. "Yes. We can't allow you to pass."

The commander glared at him. "Are you disobeying orders?"

"No, we are only following the ones given to us earlier," Kain answered, standing next to his friend and holding the spear so that the man could see it.

"And who exactly gave you these orders?" Clay asked.

Kain shook his head. "We can't tell you, Sir. And we cannot let you pass, either." He blocked the narrow corridor with the spear, looking determined.

"I am ordering you..." Commander Clay started.

"Feel free to make a report," Cecil said, trying to sound as calm as he could. "But if you try to pass, we will have to stop you by force."

The commander gave it some thought and apparently decided that he didn't feel like fighting two agile young men in a narrow corridor. "Fine then. You will be hearing about this later."

The white-haired boy shrugged. "So be it. Sir."

"I will make a report!" The man snapped at them and turned around on his heels, striding off. The faint light of the lantern faded as he walked away from them, until it finally died. They heard the footsteps fading as well and finally the sound of the door opening and closing.

"What was that all about?" Kain wondered when the silence fell around them again. "We sure pissed him off..."

"Think he'll make a report?" Cecil asked, finally lowering the sword.

"If he does, we will tell the whole truth." Kain shrugged. "I'm sure Commander Blackwood will back us up. There's something going on, and whatever it is, it must be the reason why we couldn't tell Commander Clay why we are here."

"True," his friend replied. "Let's not worry about it. Better stay alert for now though. He might decide to come back."

They stood there in silence. Several minutes passed but nothing happened. Finally they relaxed, put their weapons down on the floor and sat down again, ready to jump up any minute if there was need for it.

After a while, Cecil switched his position a couple of times and then stood up and walked around a little. His friend got up as well, looking at him.

"You nervous or something?" Kain asked.

"Nah," Cecil replied. "Just... still cold."

The blond dragoon trainee smiled. "Let's see if you're cold soon..." He pressed his friend against the wall and kissed him.

Cecil didn't resist; rather, he wrapped his arms around Kain's neck and kissed back eagerly. He shivered a little when Kain's hand wandered slowly down his body, stopping on his crotch momentarily before moving up and then behind him, finally stopping on his waist. As his friend pressed tightly against him, he realized that Kain was as hard as he was.

Kain slipped his free hand between them, moving over the other boy's private parts teasingly. Cecil reacted by wrapping one leg around his friend's lower body while leaning on the wall. His lips were captured in another kiss and he was starting to lose himself to Kain's caresses when something broke the atmosphere all of a sudden.

"Kain... the door!" Cecil mumbled, alarmed.

"Darn." The older boy let go of him, grabbed the spear and turned. Cecil followed the example, trying to catch his breath. He knew his face was all flushed, and he prayed that whoever had come in would not notice - or that he would have time to calm down before whoever it was would get this far.

The person who had entered the corridor reached them a few minutes later; it was Commander Blackwood. He handed Cecil a lantern while holding a torch in his other hand. "Well? Any trouble here?"

"All clear, Sir," Kain replied. "Except that Commander Clay was here only about ten minutes ago, but, as ordered, we didn't let him pass."

"I know," Commander Blackwood said. "Anyway, you are free to go now."

Cecil returned the sword to its owner who nodded to him as he took it. The boy hesitated a bit and then said, "Sir, if I may ask... Why did you want us down here?"

"Well, I guess I owe you that much." The commander smiled. "We, that is, the Knight Captain and I, suspected that someone was smuggling some... ah, illegal items into the castle. We have been trying to find the person guilty of this, but it's quite hard when you can't tell anyone that you're being suspicious about something. Anyway, we finally got a hint that something might happen tonight, so we were on guard. When I saw you... Well, first I had to make sure you weren't doing anything illegal. Not that I would think that you would ever break the rules, of course."

"And then?" Cecil inquired.

"Seeing that you were telling the truth about being late... Since I had the opportunity, I recruited you two to help us. And that you sure did. We caught Commander Clay outside just a moment ago."

Kain smiled slightly. "That explains a lot, Sir."

"I'd guess so. Well. I am going to make a report that says that you volunteered to help us with this," the commander said smiling. "Good work."

"Sir, you don't have to..." Cecil started.

Commander Blackwood folded his arms, smiling widely. "But I will anyway. Go get some sleep now. Dismissed!"

"Yes, Sir!" The boys saluted. Then they left, happy to have the lantern to light the way in the dark corridor.

They walked to the end of the corridor in no hurry, left the lantern by the door and headed to where the knight trainees lived. The moons were still high up on the sky, making the walls cast long shadows on the ground.

"Kain," Cecil whispered. "Do you think he noticed that we're... uh..."

"I don't think so. Got a problem?" The other boy asked, grinning.

"Well..." Cecil replied with an innocent grin.

"Say, aren't Raim and Jonad out of the castle on some training mission?"

Cecil thought briefly of his roommates. "Yeah, why?"

"That means your room is empty. Mind if I sleep with you there? I could take care of the little problem you have, too... With one condition."

"Sure," Cecil said. "...What condition?"

"You stay quiet."

Cecil smirked. "I can put my hand over my mouth. And, if we go to that, maybe I can take care of the little problem you have... The same condition applies to you too, though."

Kain grinned. "It's a deal."

Author's notes:

Aa, the things you start writing at 5.30 AM... But hey, I couldn't sleep, so might as well write pr0n. Except that this fic has no real pr0n, but that's beside the point.

That means, I started writing this early one morning, and finished later. Heh. Just a random old idea which wouldn't leave me alone. Anyway. There is a reference to another FF4 fic we have on Knights' Quarters, called "Survival Practice". If you haven't read that, well, Kain was... keeping Cecil warm there. Yep.

- Elmina (May, 2003)