Chapter Text
It was rare that Sora would dream, and even rarer that he would drown within the first few seconds. There was a storm, and Riku was there but then he disappeared under the water. The dream moved quickly, with Kairi appearing the next second, the two of them laughing at something or other. Suddenly he was falling, falling, falling onto a green stained glass pillar with the image of a girl holding an apple.
The silence was thick and heavy as Sora looked around, trying to get a bearing on his surroundings, when my voice echoed in his mind, the only sound in the deafening abyss,”So much to do… so little time… take your time… the door is still shut… now step forward. Can you do it?” As he did, his steps did not echo.
Three ornate pedestals shone into existence befire his eyes, each carrying an item “Power sleeps within you” a pedestal carrying a shimmering stone “if you give it form” A wand cloaked in an ever changing light “it will give you strength.” A sword much more real than the ones on the play island “Choose well.”
Sora first picked up the stone, the feeling of protection, of a constant presence, washed over him “The power of creation. Kindness to those in need. A friend to light up dark times.” He felt the impression of a hand on his head, messing with his carefully styled hair, it disappeared when he reached to stop it, but not before he caught a glimpse of black hair. “Is this the power you seek?”
He thought about it for a moment before putting the stone down and walking towards the wand. I suppose he wished to see the other options. A smart boy. He picked it up, turning it over in his hands and feeling a sense of familiarity, a sense of safety “The power of infusion. Strength from within. A power of wonder and ruin.” A smile appeared in his mind, framed by familiar blonde hair, bright and warm as a shooting star and gone just as quickly. “Is this the power you seek?”
Once more he thought about it, but ultimately shook his head and walked over to the sword, turning it over in his hands, briefly shocked by the weight it held despite knowing it was a real blade. Or as real as it could be in a dream anyways. “The power of weapons. Courage to fight for your beliefs. A sword of destruction and protection.” I showed him visions of himself crouched over a figure he couldn’t make out, shaking their still form to wake them up, then slicing through a building and rushing towards the distance, and finally a key, bright and shining at the night sky as a heart shaped moon bathed his surroundings in a cold light. “Is this the power you seek?”
Sora thought longer than he had the previous two times, no doubt debating the familiar and the safe versus the grand and dangerous, before nodding his head confidently, a bright smile on his face. His path was chosen.
The sword vanished from his hand as the glass pillar shattered beneath him, sending him falling into the void before landing on another pillar. This one blue, the image of a girl in an elegant dress displayed.
Shadows erupted from the ground as he fought with the sword he was now holding, cutting them down where they stood.
Steps reaching towards the heavens branched out from the edge of the pillar, and he ran forward eagerly, not realizing the steps vanishing after him. He found himself on yet another pillar, pink and no discernible features aside from silhouettes on the three girls. This one with a door in the middle, grand and heavy. He opened it after a bit of struggle and found himself in a familiar environment with familiar faces, my voice returning, this time hopefully a bit more warm and friendly. It’s always hard to tell with humans. “First, tell me more about yourself.”
He tried saying hello to the tallest of his friends, a relaxed individual never found too far from his favorite ball, but found himself unable to speak. “What do you want outta life?”
When his friend spoke no sound disturbed the dream around him. Rather, his voice echoed in Sora’s mind, empty, like a puppet on strings.
Sora thought for a moment before answering hesitantly, now able to speak freely,”To broaden my horizons.”
Once the words left his mouth he lost his ability to speak once more as his friend said,”To broaden your horizons huh?”
Sora got the sense that the conversation was over and turned to his other friends, walking towards the boy he went to school with, always asking to train together. Once again finding himself unable to speak he was faced with the question,”What are you so afraid of?” Devoid of the usual energy and excitement that usually came with his voice.
He seemed unsure, but he remembered the answer he gave whenever the question came up in real life,”Being different.”
His response was familiar yet hollow, the same thing he said the first time Sora said that,”Being different? Is that really so scary?”
The silence grew the longer Sora was here, voices never making a sound and the usual ambiance of the waves missing, so he turned to the final of his friends. The one who was always making some trinket or other, and a hopeless romantic. The final question echoed throughout his mind, the only question he had no trouble responding to instantly,”What’s most important to you?”
He smiled brightly despite the silence now clawing away at his mind as a restless shadow begged for freedom. “Friendship.”
Her voice was not her own as she said,”Is friendship such a big deal?”
He could hear a distant echo of my voice once more, silent as ever. “You want to broaden your horizons. You’re afraid of being different. You want friendship.” I paused for a moment, thinking his answers over before speaking softly but firmly.
“This is not the full truth. You yet hide behind the safety of shallowness. But it is ok for now to remain hidden.” Sora looked scolded despite my voice holding no emotions. “Your adventure begins at midday. Keep a steady pace and you’ll come through just fine.”
Sora could suddenly feel a tension in the air, building steadily with each passing second, like waiting for a bubble to pop. Yet my voice remained calm and unfeeling as I spoke to him,”The day you will open the door is both far off and very near.”
He was blinded as he found himself back on the glass pillars with more stairs reaching for the heavens. He climbed, cutting down more and more shadows until he reached seemingly the final pillar, gold with a brown haired girl, and my voice returned. “The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes.”
Behind him his shadow stretched across the entire platform and jumped, finally popping the bubble and growing as he heard my voice, calming and warm. I was trying to comfort him, though it was difficult to say whether it worked. “But don’t be afraid.”
The shadow was twisted and had a head that was mangled by its own hair, towering above Sora who was still paralyzed with fear “And don’t forget..”
His instincts finally kicked in as he tried running, but quickly found himself on the edge of the platform with nowhere to go and nothing to do but fight.
The shadow plunged a fist into the ground and summoned the smaller shadows as Sora hit its hand with all his might. It stood up, shooting lasers at him from the large hole in its chest, which he quickly deflected and sent back at it, causing it to start glowing and time to slow for a second before it stood back up and Sora found himself weaponless.
He started sinking into a puddle of darkness and he heard my voice, shaking and distant because I was fading “-But don’t be afraid.” Darkness started covering him with terrifying speed “You hold the mightiest weapon of all.” He fought and fought as hard as he could but couldn’t escape the gravity of the darkness “So don’t forget:” he turned around, face to face with his shadow, and accepted his fate. “You are the one who will open the door.”
Good luck my child.
***
The sun shined as Sora opened his eyes, grateful for the change in scenery so he could go back to sleep. As he tried to do so however, he was jumpscared by one of his oldest friends staring down at him and laughing. “Whoa! Give me a break Kairi.”
She walked over to the ocean still smiling smugly “Sora you lazy bum. I knew that I’d find you snoozing down here.” Sora put his hands up, still shaken by his dream but struggling to explain why, even to himself.
“No! This huge, black THING swallowed me up! I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t- Ow!”
He was interrupted by Kairi smacking his head and leaning over to him, mock concern and playfulness dancing in her eyes,”Are you still dreaming?”
He stopped to think about what just happened, the choices, the itchy silence, the creepy puppets of his friends. It all felt so real… “It wasn’t a dream! Or was it? I don’t know.”
He looked out to the ocean as if it had all the answers, nothing in the dream had looked anything like the island he was so used to. “What was that place? So bizarre…” he muttered, mostly to himself.
“Yeah, sure.” Kairi said, signaling her disinterest in his silly dreams.
Kairi was from another island, maybe she had seen something like that place? “Say, Kairi, what was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up?” He knew it was a long shot but maybe…
“I told you already, I don’t remember. We moved when I was like four, even Naminé doesn’t have any memories of it, and she was even more attached to it then I was.” He remembered when they first arrived, it took Naminé weeks to just be around the other kids when they played let alone join in. It had been the night after their hometown was destroyed. Although his dad had mentioned some restoration efforts.
“Do you ever wanna go back? Maybe help rebuild?”
She hummed in thought, though he knew from Roxas her family had already considered it. “Well, I’m happy here.”
Given how much he heard Kairi had fought to go, he was a bit skeptical,”Really…”
If she noticed his sarcasm she didn’t draw attention to it as she said wistfully,”But you know… I wouldn’t mind going to see it. Especially once they’re done rebuilding.”
Sora got excited at that, wanting to see the place two of his closest friends were from. “I’d like to see it too. Along with any other islands out there! I want to see ‘em all!”
A voice called out behind them, his best friend since… well he didn’t really know when they met, Riku was just always there. “Hey! Aren’t you guys forgetting about me? So, I guess I’m the only one working on the raft.” He was holding a log which he promptly tossed onto Sora unfairly and without warning. Definitely the only reason he fell as soon as he tried to catch it.
He walked over to Kairi, mischief in his eyes,”And you’re just as lazy as he is!”
Kairi laughed bashfully, and shrugged,”So you noticed. Ok we’ll finish it together!” Riku sat down right as Kairi challenged them to a race, to both of their mock annoyances. “Ready? Go!” As soon as she said that the three were off, Sora and Riku in the front, and Kairi in the back laughing despite knowing she won’t catch up.
Maybe the dream was just a dream after all. It was a weird one, that’s for sure, but as long as his friends were with him, Sora didn’t mind having weird dreams every once in a while.