Chapter Text
Riku awoke with a jolt. Breath heavy, he slowly sat up to take in his surroundings. Recognizing the streets of Quadratum, he felt his shoulders relax and took a calming breath. He had been here many times before, and much like a broken record, the world around him replayed the same scenes during every single visit. He pointed up towards the intimidating 104 building, and as if on cue, lightning flashed behind it. An empathetic sigh left Riku’s lips.
The silverette stood up and stretched his long, purple and pink hued wings. Golden star shapes dappled the wings’ surface, the streetlamps’ light causing them to shimmer like glitter. Taking to the skies, he headed off towards the top of the tower to find tonight’s culprits.
Ever since Sora had returned home, the poor brunet had been plagued with reoccurring nightmares about his time in Quadratum. His time in the “un-reality” as Ansem had come to call it had been anything but pleasant. It was understandable why Sora’s mind struggled to let go of those memories, and why he never dared to let anyone know he wasn’t okay. Luckily for the brunet, Riku was somehow brought into these nightmares every time they occurred to deal with them on his behalf. He knew of Sora’s pain, and he could help. The silverette did not know how or why it was happening, but was glad he was able to for Sora’s sake.
Riku glanced down at the city’s strees below him. He watched as hazy illusions replayed events from Sora’s memories in Quadratum. An illusion Sora ran quickly down the street, followed by two individuals Riku recognized; the redheaded and raven haired guys that had helped the two time and time again while they fought to return from the un-reality. Another illusion Sora anxiously faced down a giant robotic contraption. Yet another was atop the 104 building, facing down Yozora. Riku watched as these memories faded in and out of existence, and quickened his pace. He didn’t want Sora to suffer any longer.
Riku landed on top of the building to a familiar scene. A solidified, dream version of Sora was lying on the ground, darkness aggressively swirling around his body. Riku summoned his keyblade, and as if on cue, the darkness refocused its attention to the silverette and rushed towards him. The wisps of dark energy quickly took form during their pursuit, taking on the form of Nightmare Aura Lions and Keeba Tigers. If there was anything a Nightmare wanted more than to terrorize those deep in slumber, it was to destroy their despised Spirit counterparts. Bracing himself, Riku dove into battle.
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The clash between the opposing forces was short lived; the Nightmares never stood a chance against Riku. Driving his keyblade through the last one, it let out an angry hiss before dissipating into a Dream Eater core. The silverette picked up the four cores, giving them a once-over. Dream Eaters were manifested using a wide variety of dream figments and fragments, and when compiled together formed dream cores. Darkness swirled around the cores, threatening to spring back to life once they had regained their strength. Riku wasn’t going to give them that chance.
The silverette opened his mouth to reveal fanged teeth, and aggressively sank them into the first core. Darkness poured out of it like thick, sticky syrup, as black as the night sky. There was only one way to destroy a dream eater— it was as the name implied. Finishing off the first, he quickly moved onto the second to get the job done and over with. Silently, Riku wished the darkness didn’t taste so sickly sweet and heavy. It was overwhelming.
After finishing off the last core, Riku turned to face the dream version of Sora to watch him slowly fade away. The world around him slowly began to fade as well as the nightmare no longer was able to maintain itself with its warriors vanquished. Sora would be sleeping peacefully now. The silverette smiled, darkness streaked from each corner of his mouth.
“Sweet dreams, Sora.”
In an instant, the dream was nothing more than a fleeting memory.