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Riku looked around the room, wondering how he'd ended up in the space he was currently standing in. He remembered dropping into Sora's dream when he'd woken up to him having a nightmare but where was this? Deciding to see if he could figure out where he was, he pulled out his gummiphone to use as a flashlight while he began to make his way through the room he was in search of an exit. As he made his way through the room, he could hear a scratching sound and couldn't help but wonder where it was coming from. Was Sora having a nightmare about rats or something? The deeper in he went, the louder the scratching got. Whatever it was that was making the scratching sound, he was getting closer to it. With his next step, he felt something squish under his bare foot and jumped back quickly, shining the light from his gummiphone onto whatever he had stepped in to reveal the mangled form of a Nightmare with claw-like gashes across what was left of it with pieces strewn around as if to lead him onwards. He followed along the trail of Nightmare pieces, the light of his gummiphone revealing more and more pieces as the scratching sound got louder along with strange smeared bloody handprints at irregular intervals. At that point, he still had no clue where Sora was or what this nightmare was about. He needed to find Sora soon and get him out of this.
The amount of effort it was taking to keep from stepping into another squishy pile of Nightmare guts was rising and he really wished he’d asked Aqua to teach him a spell to light his path. He looked over the tools Ienzo had programmed into the gummiphone, noting a flashlight and letting out a relieved sigh as he tapped the button for it. The bright light of the flashlight made the scene in front of him so much worse though as he looked around at the brightly colored blood of the mauled Nightmares splattered across the walls and floor. The scene both made him sick and made his mouth water as his memory conjured up the familiar taste of blood. The growl of his stomach felt like a betrayal of who he used to be but now to him it was just another part of him that had changed from protecting the person most important to him, just like the scars on his wrist and hip, another reminder of how much he would give up for Sora. The scratching sound was almost deafening in the echoing room, only interrupted by the sound of something cracking and a strange splashing noise while the scent of blood grew stronger with every step closer to the noise. He found himself in front of a door that was slightly ajar with a low red light leaking out from underneath. The trail of handprints and Nightmare pieces had led the way to the door with more colorful prints staining the dark wood of the door. He took a second to compose himself before slowly pushing the door open. The room was stained with the multicolored blood of the Nightmares that had been torn apart by the dark figure kneeling in the center of the room over the warm body of a Necho Cat. The figure turned to look at Riku and even though the figure’s eyes were a strikingly glowing yellow and their whole body was a pitch black with smoke-like wisps flowing off of them, he knew exactly who he was staring at.
“Sora, what’s going on?” Riku asked as he took another step into the room, closing the door behind him.
Sora let out a defensive hiss as he moved backwards, seemingly trying to keep as much distance between him and Riku as possible. It was as if he was trying to avoid his friend, trying to avoid being seen by him like that. Riku held his hands up to show he wasn’t going to hurt him while he slowly moved towards him. He wanted to make it clear that even though he was confused and had no idea what was going on, he wanted to help him. Even though he looked like a Heartless, this was still the same Sora he loved with all his heart and always wanted to protect.
“It’s just me Sora, I’m not gonna hurt you.” Riku explained soothingly while he continued to move closer to his friend. “I just wanna help you.”
Sora let out a confused sound as his back hit the wall and he quickly looked around for a way out. Riku could see that he was looking for a way out and decided he needed to make a move quickly. He jumped and wrapped his arms around the Heartless-esque form of his best friend, holding him close while he whispered in his ear.
“It’s okay Sora, I’ve got you.” Riku whispered while he held his friend close.
Riku could feel Sora freeze in his arms while he rocked him softly to soothe him. All he wanted was to make sure he was safe and after all the long nights he’d spent holding the smaller boy close in the middle of the night when either of them had nightmares, he knew that even in his strange state Sora could remember him. He could hear his friend letting out a quiet purring sound after a few long minutes spent rocking soothingly and pulled away to see what was going on. Sora seemed to pout as he watched the other keyblade wielder pull away, not waiting for him to settle in before tackling him with a hug. Riku let out a confused shout as he fell backwards onto the floor, sighing once he had settled in on the floor with his catlike friend purring on top of him. He couldn’t help but smile as he ran his fingers through Sora’s hair while his friend nuzzled his neck. The stickiness of the colorful Nightmare blood was something he didn’t want to get used to and Riku carefully sat up.
“You’re covered in blood, we need to get you cleaned up.” he explained when he saw the confused look on his friend’s face. “Is there a bathroom in this dream?”
Sora tilted his head in confusion before leading the way towards the doorway. While watching the strangely animalistic way his friend was moving, he could finally understand where all the bloody handprints on the floor had come from. He followed behind his friend, using his gummiphone as a flashlight again while he kept close behind to make sure he didn’t lose track of him. Sora stopped in front of a seemingly random door along the hallway, making sure Riku was still following behind him before opening the door and bolting inside the room. While the older boy watched, his friend jumped into the large porcelain bathtub in the center of the room and peeked out over the lip like a cat would. Riku couldn’t help but smile as he watched his friend and he shook his head in amusement before looking around for a lightswitch. The lights were the same shade of red as the ones from the room he’d found Sora in, making the colorful blood covering his friend seem even more jarringly strange. Riku let out a sigh as he watched Sora trying to pull his shirt off before closing the door to keep any rogue Nightmares wandering around out on his way over to help get him unstuck.
“You have to take your coat off first.” Riku explained as he guided his friend’s arms through the sleeves of his short sleeved jacket.
He coaxed the bloodstained black and blue clothes off his friend, folding them neatly as he set them aside before turning on the water to draw him a bath. This whole situation felt strange to Riku while he watched the Heartless form of his friend reach over the other side of the tub before returning with a red demon themed rubber duck. He watched Sora splash in the water while the tub filled up, rolling up the pant legs of his pajama pants before sitting on the corner of the tub for a better angle at being able to start cleaning the blood off his friend. Sora let out a huff as he felt hands start moving through his hair, closing his eyes and letting out a quiet purring sound while Riku started working to wash the blood off his friend’s body. The water turned a strange color as more and more blood was washed off the smaller boy.
“What happened to make you like this tonight?” Riku asked while he continued to focus on washing all of the sticky remnants of Nightmares off his friend.
Sora seemed to pout as he swatted at his friend’s hand before starting to blow bubbles in the murky water. Riku watched the boy in the tub pout before working his fingers a little harder into Sora’s hair to make sure it was fully cleaned.
“We’re gonna need to talk about this when we wake up.” he mumbled while listening to the purring sound his friend was making.
Riku could feel his tie to the dream loosening and knew it wouldn’t be long now until they both woke up. He smiled while he watched the Heartless form Sora start to drift off as he relaxed in the warm water of the bath while Riku continued to wash the blood off his friend. After he finally finished washing all the colorful mess off the other keyblade wielder, he reached into the water to pull the plug from the drain to allow the murky bath water to flow out of the tub. He could hear Sora let out a grumpy sound and reached over to pat his head while he waited for the dirty water to finish draining. Once the tub was empty, he turned the water back on to rinse his friend off with clean water before refilling the tub with warm water. Sora purred quietly while he settled into the warm water and closed his eyes again. As the tub finished filling and he turned off the water, Riku felt his tie to the dream fall apart and accepted his return to the waking realm.
“Riku?” Sora asked quietly while he reached for his friend’s hand tiredly.
Riku reached for the outstretched hand and gripped it tightly, confirming in his half asleep daze that this was the Sora he was used to and not the same one from the dream realm. “I’m here Sora.”
The shorter keyblade wielder let out a relieved sigh before rolling over to hug his friend. “I just had the weirdest dream.”
“We can talk about it in the morning. Think you can get a little more sleep?” Riku asked while opening his eyes, able to hear the exhaustion in the other boy’s voice. As much as he wanted to ask him what that whole dream was about and why he looked like a Heartless, he couldn’t bring himself to keep his tired friend awake any longer than he needed to be.
“I think so....” Sora mumbled before letting out a loud yawn. “Goodnight Riku.”
“Goodnight Sora.” Riku whispered as he pressed a soft kiss to the other boy’s forehead. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Sora managed to mumble as he drifted back off to sleep.
Riku ran his fingers through his friend’s soft hair to help guide him into a peaceful sleep before closing his own eyes again. Whatever questions he had, they could definitely wait until morning.