Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

All of my family stood present in Yen Sid’s tower, having gotten the message in a bottle Mickey had sent over detailing the fact that we were needed. From there it had been a quick trip through a Corridor of Darkness to the tower, which meant more practice on being a portable light generator. I was getting pretty good at this by now.  

After we’d brought Xion, Roxas, Naminé, and even Vanitas back into the worlds, Sora, Kairi, and I returning to Destiny Islands had been met with joyful surprise. Everyone had bought the whole kidnapping excuse, as it very neatly explained both Kairi’s second disappearance and why it took so long for Sora and I to come back. Naminé coming to live with us was easy to explain, we just said she was from the mainland, but Branwen? 

Yeahhh, figuring out how to explain Branwen before we revealed ourselves had been…something else, that’s for sure. Especially since in a small island town like this there was only the one hospital and I had very clearly been a single child birth. One born perfectly healthy with a perfectly impossible autopsy scar that sent the entire premises into a panic, but still a single child birth. 

It took way too long before it dawned on us that we really could just admit I was cloned during my captivity, and that’s where Branwen came from. As for why, well, how would we know, what with Kairi and I being prisoners and all? It wasn’t like they’d tell Branwen, not when he was only a tool to them. Besides, Branwen helped break us out with Sora and Naminé, and if anyone had an issue with my twin being a clone I’d punch them in the teeth. 

Happily for us, no one did. Everyone was actually surprisingly welcoming, which was really sweet. And made Branwen burst into tears at one point. I didn’t blame him, not when I was one step away from doing so myself. And as Destiny Islands had a rule that if you were sixteen or older you were eligible to live on your own if something happened to your parents or guardians (or you had to be removed from them) Branwen and Naminé could come join me in my house with no worry. Sure Naminé was fifteen physically but with Branwen and I she wasn’t living alone, now was she?

It wasn’t like there wasn’t plenty of space either; my house had one master bedroom, my bedroom, a guest bedroom, and a large study - which we’d converted into a third bedroom so we’d all have one. 

As for my parents’ room…cleaning out the master bedroom after the events of Kingdom Hearts Two had been heartbreaking, to say the least. We all just kind of avoided it now, some sort of unspoken taboo having us leave it be. 

It was around this time when it dawned on me that I’d completely forgotten to bring up Bequeathing when I’d planned to. Naminé was really excited when I told her she might’ve inherited Kairi’s ability to wield a keyblade the same way Roxas inherited the Kingdom Key from Sora, yet also had his own keyblades unique to himself. Might, because Kairi hadn’t summoned hers yet at the time, but we knew for sure she’d had to have been Bequeathed before she landed on Destiny Islands. 

Sora though? We - by which I mean everyone else - had zero clue on how Sora ended up getting Bequeathed. Kairi we could at least guess was Bequeathed in Radiant Garden when she was little, but Sora? Yeah, there was no way of guessing that his ability to wield a keyblade came as a happy accident of him having hosted Ven’s heart while it healed. 

Heart-to-heart Bequeathing wasn’t exactly a known thing, though I did know it’s how Roxas was able to dual-wield. Normally you can have only one keyblade, period. One keyblade for one heart. But Roxas - Roxas proved that you can, in fact, be double Bequeathed. That if you inherited from two different hearts, that Bequeathing actually stacked. 

Roxas could only wield the Kingdom Key initially because he was Sora’s Nobody. There was no heart to Bequeath to, not yet. But when he’d grown his own heart - a heart that had never been Sora’s - both Sora and Ven passed on their ability to wield a keyblade. Roxas had been hosting Ven the entire time he’d been alive, until he (and by extension Ven) returned to Sora’s heart. It’s why he’d taken on Ven’s appearance instead of Sora’s too, because the heart knows what it looks like and he was carrying Ven at the time. So. 

This then brought up the important question in my mind: can Naminé dual-wield if she’s chosen? Both Kairi and Sora had been Bequeathed at the time of her birth, but Kairi hadn’t yet manifested a keyblade until after Naminé returned to her heart. So I gave it a fifty-fifty shot if she inherited the ability to wield the keyblade in the first place. 

And now we were here, ready for whatever Yen Sid had to tell us. For our Mark of Mastery exam, not that anyone else knew that yet. Aside from Yen Sid anyway but that was a given considering he was the one administering said exam. 

“As a Keyblade Master, Xehanort had a gift like few others.” Yen Sid began, Donald, Mickey, and Goofy lined up beside him. “But such great minds are often plagued by a single great question: what is the essence of the human heart that weakens us, or empowers us? The answer, he believed, would be found in the Keyblade War.”

“What if,” the sorcerer continued, “The challenges of our past were, in fact, a map to the light and darkness that battles within us all?” Yen Sid looked at me, then, waving a hand in my direction. “Light begets darkness, and darkness is drawn to light. This is a well known fact, and yet the very idea of the two being tamed together was something not even considered. To all the great minds and Keyblade Masters, until the moment you summoned a keyblade, light and darkness were forever opposing forces, each destined to fight the other for dominance.” I couldn’t help but give a wry smile at that. “Your existence is unique, and a stark reminder that for all the knowledge we have, there is always something more to learn.”

“As for Xehanort, who knew only the opposing nature of light and darkness, he decided that he had to know the answer of the heart for himself. So he renounced his duties as master and chose the seeker’s life. Since then, in many a guise, he has clashed with the protectors of the light - keyblade wielders like yourselves.” Yen Sid said, before his lips thinned in displeasure. “And mark my words - he will trouble us again.”

“Of course he will.” Kairi sighed. “With Ansem and Xemnas both dead, he was free to be recompleted wherever it was that he lost his heart, right?” She asked rhetorically, before scowling. “Which means he’s out there somewhere, plotting something. Is that why you called us here?”

Yen Sid nodded. “Yes. We must be ready for- wait. How did you come to learn of recompletion?” he asked, and my heart stopped, figuratively speaking.

How did…how did he…?

“You- you already knew?” I asked, floored. Yen Sid nodded gravely. A multitude of emotions built in my chest, the pressure building and building and building-!

“YOU KNEW?!” I screamed, badly startling the man. “YOU KNEW ABOUT RECOMPLETION AND, AND YOU WEREN’T GOING TO TELL US?!?!” He knew. Yen Sid knew, he knew from the start, he never told Sora in Kingdom Hearts Two-

“There was no need for you to-”

“WE WERE FIGHTING THE ORGANIZATION!! WE WERE KILLING THEM!!” I shrieked. “WHY?! Why wouldn’t you have…why wouldn’t you…” Tears started streaming down my face, though whether they were born of frustration or grief I didn’t know. Everyone was staring at me and Yen Sid, just as shocked as I that Yen Sid had apparently already known about recompletion - and more importantly, didn’t bother to tell us about it.

“Gosh, Master Yen Sid. Why didn’t you tell us?” Mickey asked, sounding hurt. “If Riku hadn’t already been told the truth by a human Nobody running from the Organization, why, we never would have known.”

“We wouldn’t- we’d’ve thought they were dead, permanently. We wouldn’t have known they came back, that they were still a danger.” Naminé breathed, aghast.

“Why then?! What reason could you have possibly had?” Branwen demanded.

“You did not need to know-”

“OF COURSE WE NEEDED TO KNOW!” Kairi roared. Yen Sid flinched.

“I…I can admit now, in light of what took place, that withholding this information was a mistake.” Yen Sid said, though the glares from my family didn’t let up. “I apologize for the presumption. I felt you didn’t need to worry, and I would tell you once it was done, just as I have now.”

“That was stupid.” Donald - Donald! - said, scowling himself. Yen Sid winced.

“As I said, I can admit to my error. Though, this Nobody you speak of…there was yet another human Nobody? Yet more who kept their human form, beyond the members of the Organization?” he asked, sounding alarmed. Goofy nodded.

“There sure was. Riku passed along what he said to him, ah-hyuck.” he explained, and then Yen Sid turned his disbelieving gaze to me. I wiped my face clear before answering.

“I was seven at the time, and he was desperate. The Organization was hunting him for what he knew, and worse, they knew where he’d been split heart from body. Knew where he’d recomplete when they killed him, so they could finish the job.” I lied shamelessly. “He was desperate enough at that point to keep the truth from dying with him that he spilled all of it to me, the little boy who happened to run into him where he was catching his breath.”

“I don’t think he was thinking straight at that point. He didn’t even elaborate on what Heartless or Nobodies were, just gave me the name for the former and a barebones explanation for the latter: that people thought since Nobodies had lost their hearts they weren’t able to feel emotion, even though that wasn’t true. That their bodies knew something was wrong and would grow their missing hearts back.” I continued. “Like I said, he was desperate. And it turned out to be a good thing, both because I remembered and because I never saw him again. Not even when we left the islands and were combing through the worlds looking for the Organization’s base.” I added, before looking sad, shifting my voice to a mournful tone. “I think they got him, in the end. Killed him, to keep the secret.”

A heavy silence hung over the group. My friends and family had known, sort of, from the implications that we never did find the one who told me, but now it was stated flat out for everyone to hear. Not that they would have known the Nobody in question had never existed in the first place - ironic, I know, considering what everyone had believed about them - but still.

Even better, when the rest of the Organization brought up their ignorance on the matter I could and would absolutely blame Xemnas and Xigbar. They’d already kept one important secret from them, after all; what was one more? Especially since this was involved with keeping said secret from them. Of course they hadn’t involved them, not with this. And when Xemnas and Xigbar rightfully insisted this had never happened? No one would believe them. No one. Not when Occam’s razor was on my side. After all, how else could I, a teenager from an ignorant world, have come to learn of this? It wasn’t like ‘I know because in my previous life this universe was a video game series I loved and I brought that knowledge here with me when I was reborn’ was even on the table. 

“I see…” Yen Sid mused. “We should be grateful, then, for the information he gave. Tell me, what was his name?” he asked, and uh. Uhhhh.

“I don’t know. He never told me, not before he took off. Repeated that he was being hunted, and he couldn’t stay too long.” I said, making it up on the spot. Yen Sid nodded; it did make sense, after all.

“Back to the topic at hand - now that Xehanort is a complete person again, we must be ready for whatever he has planned next. Which is why you, Sora and Riku, are to be tested for the mark of a true Keyblade Master.” Yen Sid decided.

“Hey, what about us?” Branwen complained. “Kairi and I have keyblades too, same with the guys back in Twilight Town! Shouldn't we be taking this test too?”

“While that is true, it is also a fact that Riku and Sora have had their keyblades the longest. They have enough experience to be tested for mastery; I’m afraid the rest of you do not. Especially not Kairi, who has had hers the shortest of you all.” Yen Sid pointed out.

I blinked. Wait. Did, did no one actually ever mention Vanitas was one of the keyblade wielders living in Twilight Town in front of the Disney group? No? That…was probably for the best actually, the last thing we needed was them flipping their lid about Vanitas. 

“Aww.” Branwen sighed, accepting Yen Sid’s reasoning. “Yeah, okay. I guess that makes sense.” 

“Don’t feel bad, I’ve only had mine since the Battle of a Thousand Heartless. Nowhere near long enough for mastery.” Kairi said with a sheepish chuckle.

“Yeah, when you hit Xigbar right in the face with it!” Branwen chortled. “That was amazing.”

“I wish I’d been able to see it.” I said mournfully. I’d heard all about Kairi unintentionally summoning her keyblade for the first time when swinging her staff at Xigbar’s face when he’d taunted my friends about my kidnapping, sure, but it wasn’t the same as being able to see it myself.

Oh well. I’d just have to be content with imagining it.

“Now, usually it takes years of training under a true Keyblade Master in order to achieve mastery, but then usually keyblade wielders aren’t thrown immediately into saving the worlds either. Twice over, even.” Yen Sid acknowledged. “Even though the four of you are self-taught keyblade wielders - an impressive feat, might I add - you have grown leaps and bounds faster than other wielders with your experience.”

“Heehee, of course we have!” Sora beamed, putting both hands behind his head in a relaxed, carefree position. “Riku and I will pass your test with flying colors, you’ll see!”

Yen Sid nodded in acknowledgement. “Good. If we are ever to strike down Xehanort, we need the individuals King Mickey spoke of in the letter he wrote to you. We must lead them out of sorrow and slumber, and back to our world.”

“Yeah. More keyblade wielders is always a good thing. Plus, we can’t just leave Mickey’s friends to suffer.” I said, crossing my arms. Rather than a ridiculously cryptic letter about the people sleeping in Sora’s heart, the letter Mickey sent this time was about his three missing friends. He still didn’t know about the whole Ven-healing-in-Sora’s-heart thing, no one did and I had no way of telling them, but they had a lead and wanted our help. Turns out Mickey’s connection with Aqua had flared up momentarily back when we were in the Realm of Darkness, who knew? Not enough to find her, but enough to know she was there.

“Agreed. We need to save them.” Naminé nodded.

“Yeah. I still need to thank Terra for giving me - and Branwen by extension - the chance for the keyblade to choose us in the first place.” I said. 

“Indeed. First, we shall start with Ventus.” Yen Sid said. “In order to rescue him from the darkness in which he sleeps, we must first target the worlds that were restored to the Realm of Light when Ansem was defeated, and yet remain in slumber. The sleeping keyholes of these seven worlds must be found and unlocked, in order to bring them back into the light. Doing so will bestow upon you two a great power, which will be needed in the time to come.”

“As you know, every world is walled off from the next, preventing travel between them.” the Keyblade Master continued. “In the past, you could bridge these gaps because the walls were broken, or because you could open special Lanes with your keyblades. But your new goal, these sleeping keyholes, are harder to reach. These worlds, which never returned completely, still sleep, cut off from all outside channels. Not even the Heartless can enter.”

“Worlds were sleeping when they fell?” Naminé asked curiously. Yen Sid nodded.

“Yes. Within darkness lies sleep, and so in darkness they slumbered.” he said, which, wasn’t really helpful out of context, if Naminé’s frown was of any indication.

“Sleep is a form of darkness, that’s what he’s saying.” I stepped in to clarify. Naminé made a little ‘oh’ sound of comprehension before nodding.

“Yes. And it is in this darkness of sleep that the danger in these worlds lies.” Yen Sid said, before casting an illusory projection of a Nightmare Meow Wow with a wave of his hand.

“Aww, that’s cute.” Kairi couldn’t help but interject.

“They may be cute, yes, but do not be deceived. These beings are known as Dream Eaters, of which there are two kinds: Nightmares such as this one, which devour happy dreams, and benevolent Spirits, which consume the nightmares.” he finished, the projection of a regular Meow Wow appearing beside its Nightmare counterpart - one even mimicking the adorable antics of the real thing to boot. “The Dream Eaters will guide you, just as the Heartless once guided you, to the keyholes you seek at the heart of each world.”

“Sounds simple enough.” I mused. “What’s the catch? I thought nothing could reach the sleeping worlds as they are.”

“One dream is connected to another, which means we must choose in which sleeping world you will begin. I will return you to the time where Destiny Islands was soon to be swallowed by the darkness and plunged into sleep.”

“Wait, time travel?!” Kairi yelped.

“Indeed. Another reason why only Sora and Riku can take this test: not only were they present at the time when Destiny Islands fell, but to unlock the ability to time travel, you must have at some point been reduced to just a heart.” Yen Sid explained.

“Like when Sora turned into a Heartless, or when Ansem yeeted me into the Realm of Darkness.” I said in a tone of realization I didn’t actually feel. Yen Sid nodded, though he did look briefly confused at the word ‘yeet’.

“Exactly. And while you, Kairi, can do the same, as you were both present when Destiny Islands fell and journeyed within Sora as just a heart, you are far too inexperienced to take this exam.” Yen Sid told her, to which she nodded. “While this prerequisite means anyone who has lost their heart and became a Heartless or even a Nobody can time travel, actually doing so is far from easy. This is why I will be aiding the two of you into returning to that point in time.” Yen Sid explained. 

“Once dreams take you you must let them guide you to the other sleeping worlds. As there are seven pure lights, there are seven sleeping keyholes.” Uh, I don’t think it works that way? But, whatever, seven is seven and I guess that’ll always be associated with pure light here, like how it is with luck back on Earth - at least in my culture anyway. “Unlocking these will both grant you new powers, and free the worlds from their wakelessness.”

“Sounds like a win-win to me.” Sora said, to which Yen Sid nodded.

“Yes. Complete this task, and return here safely, and I will name you both…true masters.” the man promised. 

Return here safely…yeah, I’d make sure we both did. There would be no drowning in the abyss of sleep for Sora - not if I had anything to say about it. And considering just how much I’d changed over the past…holy frick, has it really only been less than two years since Kingdom Hearts One started? Almost a year in Hollow Bastion from late summer to spring while Sora, Donald, and Goofy were combing the cosmos for Mickey and I, then Sora recovered near the end of summer and Kingdom Hearts Two started - which only went on for two months, surprisingly. Then again we were chasing the Organization, not hunting for a needle in a haystack. Two needles in dozens of haystacks, actually. No wonder it took them so long to find me. 

Sheesh. A little over a year of insanity, give or take. It felt like so much longer. And considering what all I’ve changed, mostly for the better, I’d say I had a great track record in preventing predestined problems.

“These worlds have still been sleeping for about half a year now, right? That should be enough time for us to wake them up again.” I mused.

“You have more time than you think; in the sleeping worlds, real time does not flow.” Yen Sid explained. “Unless one restores the world by waking it from its slumber, it will stay locked in a dream forever.”

“Eesh.” Branwen commented.

“Then, how will we get back to the present when we’re done?” I asked.

“Because the sleeping worlds will only awaken after now, when the last world has been freed from slumber, you will ride it out of the Realm of Darkness and into the present time.” Yen Sid informed me, and yeah, that made sense.

“Be warned, though: these sleeping worlds have been dreaming ever since the moment they fell. And as these dreams are of the past, you might encounter familiar faces - people you know who were not present when the world fell. But these shades are but figments of the dream, no more. Nor will your actions in the dream affect the actual events that came to pass.” Yen Sid cautioned. “Now, come hither. I have prepared the spell to send you two into the past; all that is left to do is to cast it.”

“Sounds good to me.” I said, before looking over at my brother. “Let’s get going, then.”

“Right behind you!” Sora cheered, the two of us heading over to Yen Sid as he rose from the chair at his desk. I took a deep breath; I knew what was going to happen from here, the trap they had waiting for us. Xehanort would mark Sora on our way in, maybe I could get him to ditch the jacket with the sigil? Or was it the shirt? Either way it was a moot point if the thing couldn’t even be taken off, which wouldn't surprise me given that the thing was a tracking device.

Right. Here goes nothing. Zero hour 2.0, here we-

“Wait!” Donald squawked, stopping us in our tracks. “Let me teach you some magic real quick before you go. You should be able to handle third-level spells by now, plus I uh, I learned Water magic after we got back.” He admitted. I couldn’t help it; I laughed. 

“Of course we’ll learn.” I said brightly. Sora nodded eagerly. Yen Sid looked between us and Donald, before sighing, an almost…indulgent, look on his face??

“Very well. Once you have learned the spells, we may begin your exam.” He said solemnly, and that was all the sign we needed to immediately bolt over to Donald. And not just us - Kairi, Branwen, and Naminé too. We’d been working with Naminé to catch her up on magic to where we were; she might not be ready for third-level spells yet but this was still an important lesson. 

“Okay, now listen up! Third-level spells are more complicated than they look like, they’re not as simple as the step up from first to second. So, this is what you do…”

Chapter Text

Sora and I stood, looking out at the night skies from the shores of the Play Island, on the night of our doomed sleepover. “Well, here we are I guess.” I said, looking around. “Do we just, wait then…?”

“I guess.” Sora said, sitting down on the sands, before he gasped and threw himself back to his feet. “Wait! If this is right before Destiny Islands fell, then your parents are still alive! We can go save them, before they-!”

“No.”

“They, what?” Sora asked, bewildered at my monotone answer. “Why not?!”

“We can’t. Not without causing a time paradox.” I explained. “If we didn’t know what happened to them we could have gotten around it by rescuing them, but since we, since we do…acting on that knowledge to erase it happening in the first place would mean we wouldn’t know to save them, and so we wouldn’t, which would just put us right back at square one again.” I clenched my fists, tears dripping from stinging eyes as my own guilt and grief clawed at me. “What a crappy birthday present.” 

“Oh…” We fell into silence, then, neither of us knowing what to say. Unlike in my previous life, where I was born on the fourth of December, I was a late summer baby now. I’d had my birthday not all that long before our sleepover, actually. How ironic that in my life before I’d complained endlessly about wishing my birthday landed earlier in the year so the present-getting was more spread out instead of being all crammed into December, and now it was. Just in a way I never would have wanted. 

I sighed, sitting down on the sand and patting the space beside me. “Come on. Let’s sit down, things got absolutely wild from what little I was able to see from my house.” I said. Sora sat, before looking over at me curiously.

“I never did get to see anything. It was from when you opened the door to try to see if we could escape, right?” he asked, and I nodded. “What was it like?”

“Well, I only got to see for a second, but…it was chaotic, for one. Heartless everywhere, the skies darker than anything I’d ever seen. People running and screaming like we did even as they were chased by the Heartless.” I said. Most of the people who’d been on the ‘still missing’ list Kairi had mentioned reappeared after we’d defeated Xemnas, their stolen hearts freed by us whacking Heartless with our keyblades and destroying the artificial Kingdom Hearts keeping them from returning to their bodies. But…not all of them. 

“Yeah…that makes sense…” Sora said, before looking up at me. “You know, when Donald, Goofy, and I went after Ansem to restore the worlds, one of the places where we fought was on Destiny Islands. And, and right before we did, the seas drained away, the sky turning darker than I’d ever seen it before, leaving the islands floating in darkness.” I nodded; that sounded like zero hour. “Do…do you think we’ll see that here?”

I blinked. “That’s a good question. We’ll have to be careful of any Heartless popping up here, too. At least we’re separate from the main island, this late at night nobody else would be here to see us fighting with our keyblades and magic.”

“Good point.” Sora agreed, before returning his attention to the deceptively peaceful waves. Waves reflecting starlight that would soon vanish. “Do you think we have to do something in particular? I mean, normally we’d just get booted offworld, right? How exactly are we supposed to ‘ride the world into sleep’?” he questioned, which. Err.

“I…don’t actually have a clue.” I admitted, before getting up from the sand. “You’ve gotta be right though - there’s gotta be something we need to do to get into the Realm of Sleep instead.”

“Maybe…do you think there’ll be a keyhole here too?” Sora wondered. “A sleeping one, I mean. Do we have to open that?”

“That’s better than nothing.” I said, before looking around. “Hmm. Where do you think a keyhole like that would be?” There was something nagging in my memory, something about Ursula and a storm, but beyond that there was nothing.

“Hey, maybe these keyholes are the same thing as the regular keyholes! Maybe we just need to find Destiny Islands’s and go from there!” Sora suggested. I blinked.

“I think you’re right. I think…well, keyholes are at the heart of a world, right?” I asked, and Sora nodded. “So they’ve got to be in some place of significance. Plus, we were dropped off here on the Play Island of all places - it’s gotta be somewhere around here.”

“Right! Let’s split up and give a holler when we find it!” Sora said, before bolting off across the sand before I could stop him.

“Wai-! Ohh, never mind.” I groaned. As for the keyhole…wasn’t it in the Secret Place? I think? If we didn’t find it soon we’d be battling Heartless for it, and I really didn’t want to know what would happen if we tried to use the keyhole to get into the dreams of the sleeping worlds while a Heartless was actively going for it.

It didn’t take more than a few minutes to get to the Secret Place from where I was - the Play Island was big, but not that big. I didn’t see a keyhole in here, but maybe if I brought out Midnight Blue it would react? I summoned my keyblade, and sure enough, the shine of a keyhole appeared, glimmering with light.

“SORA! I FOUND IT!!” I shouted, before deciding to just go outside and find him anyway. Luckily for me Sora must’ve been nearby because he almost plowed right into me as I stepped out the entrance.

“Whoa! Oh wow, that was quick. Great job, Riku!” Sora cheered, and a wave of embarrassment flooded over me. It was hardly a great job when I was cheating after all.

The ground abruptly shook beneath us, the ocean waves beginning to churn and froth as though in reply. “Hurry.” I said, raising my keyblade, the Kingdom Key quickly joining Midnight Blue. “I don’t have any idea what we’re doing but whatever it is we need to do it fast, before the Heartless get here.”

“Right!” Sora nodded, before focusing uneasily on the keyhole. “I locked these before, I…I don’t know how to do anything else.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.” I winced. “Maybe this isn’t the right way to go about it.”

“Hey, wait a minute. I never met people from the islands or even the mainland in Traverse Town, so unless they either didn’t make it through or missed and landed on other worlds like you did they wouldn’t have been ejected by Corridors of Darkness, right?” Sora brought up, to which I gave him a confused look, not sure where he was going with this. “But everyone who didn’t is still here - they must have gone with the world into sleep, and when Destiny Islands was restored woke up with it! We can do the same thing to get in there, I’m sure of it!”

“That sounds a lot more plausible.” I said with no small amount of relief, dematerializing Midnight Blue. “Let’s go hide somewhere then, so we can try and ride it out as peacefully as possible. Maybe in the giant tree actually, no one ever looks up.” 

“Good idea.” Sora nodded. The two of us bolted as fast as our legs could carry us away from the Secret Place and to the largest tree on the island, scaling it far more easily than we’d ever been able to before. We climbed until we reached where the great tree split off into a massive branch that resembled a smaller tree growing off the side. A smaller tree in whose branches we chose to hide. 

“This should do it. We’re close enough to the trunk to still be on thicker branches and high enough that it should be able to keep us out of the way of the Heartless long enough for the- the world to fall.” Sora said, stumbling over the fact. I nodded, unsure of what to say. At least until a strikingly loud BOOM of thunder made the two of us jump, the quakes shaking the branches we were sitting on as a storm began to pick up. Sora and I leaned forward to better keep our balance on our branches, just…waiting. Waiting to see if this worked.

I was nervous as all heck, but not for the reason anyone would think I was. I already knew our test was about to go pear-shaped, and using both canon Riku’s experience and what fragmented knowledge of the Realm of Sleep existed in my previous life I had already made plans of my own to combat it, at least to the best of my ability. 

See, the Realm of Sleep is utterly screwy and more than a little scary when you’re looking at it in reality. The place is made up of layers upon layers of dreams, with the abyss being at the very bottom and the worlds’ at the top. Which is why the Organization needed a sigil to track where in the dream layers Sora was and we needed the sleeping keyholes to keep us moving parallel to our current layer, from world dream to world dream. If they succeeded in knocking us off-course we’d end up wandering deeper off on dream adventures elsewhere with no idea we’d left the actual worlds behind. It was scary. And the Organization was counting on that. 

Except, I knew what the worlds’ dreams looked like. If we went off-course I would know about it immediately, but in order to do anything about it I had to make sure Sora and I were in the same dream layer. After all, Sora had no way of telling if we were in a world dream or not. If I was stuck a layer beneath him and he got lost I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it because I’d be taken along for the ride with him. 

So, to recap: stay in the worlds’ dreams with Sora, get us back on course if we went somewhere canon Sora and Riku didn’t, and then screw over the second sleep thing by any means possible, up to and including screaming Sora awake. Which should theoretically work for me since canon Riku had been this close to waking Sora up with three people in his heart, two of which were understandably depressed, whereas here only Ven was left and he was chill. I should be able to do this. I could do this. I had to. 

As for after, given Xigbar’s complaining that second sleep thing was very delicate and I highly doubted they could do it twice. Then when we were awake we either run the frick away or I go straight to Where Nothing Gathers to keep them from Norting Sora until they ran out of time. Because that was the thing, they were on a time limit they were keeping under wraps. And I knew that.

I didn’t need to beat them; in the words of Doctor Strange, they just had to lose. 

“You know…I thought it was longer than this.” Sora spoke up quietly, watching the Heartless swarming along the shores of the Play Island. “They found the keyhole almost immediately.”

“Hopefully that wasn’t our fault…” I muttered. “We did leave a trail right to the thing after all.”

Sora winced. “Yeah, but…I don’t think so. There’s nothing that says the Heartless can’t arrive close to a…ohhh that feels…” he swayed, falling forward and gripping the tree branch with all his might. “Maybe coming up here was a bad idea…”

“Nah…’s easy.” I slurred out, sleepiness tugging at the edges of my mind. My eyelids drooped, exhaustion pressing in on my mind like a leaden blanket, and I-

A flash of red blurred past my eyes, banishing all sleep from my mind as my little brother plummeted off the branch he’d been clinging onto. 

“SORA!!” I shouted, horrified. Stupid, stupid, I might be used to sleeping on tree branches but Sora wasn’t!

I heard a muted groan from where I was high up in the tree, Sora rolling over onto his back with the most hilariously dumbfounded expression I’d ever seen in my life. Heh. He was fine. Good. My eyelids fluttered as darkness swirled around us, our homeworld beginning its descent into darkness.

“Heartless….must’ve gotten through the keyhole then.” I murmured, keeping an eye on Sora where he lay on the dirt. My head lolled limply to one side, exhaustion pulling at my limbs, and I squinted at the familiar figure I saw standing by the Secret Place. Squinted, and then widened my eyes in panic, because that was potato sack Ansem bending over Sora- wait he was looking up HE WAS LOOKING UP-!!

“This world,” Ansem spoke, the winds carrying the words up to my ears even as darkness engulfed my mind, “Has been connected.”

~*~

I blinked, staring dumbly at the bright, noon day sky from where I was draped over a branch, much like how I’d slept in Hollow Bastion on several occasions. Were we, did it work? Were we in the dreams of Destiny Islands?

Wait, Sora-!

“Sora!” I jumped down, tucking into a roll to bleed off momentum before rushing over to where my brother was laying flat on his back. “Are you alright?! You fell from really high up, I was worried!”

“I’m alright. I didn’t see any Heartless, I think they must’ve gotten to the keyhole at that point.” Sora reassured me, before sitting upright. “So…wanna bet Destiny Islands’s keyhole is now a sleeping one?”

“That’s a sucker’s bet.” I chuckled, before reaching out a hand and helping Sora up from the ground. From there the two of us walked casually towards the Secret Place, only for half a dozen Nightmare Meow Wows to show up, bristling angrily at our presence. 

“Well, that confirms it.” I said, Sora and I summoning our keyblades to hand before charging at the Nightmares. Which, well. Didn’t really stand much of a chance between the two of us, not when there were only six of them. Once the Nightmare Meow Wows had been mopped up, Sora and I entered the Secret Place, standing before the keyhole we had found not even half an hour before. I think. Depends on how long we’d been asleep.

“You ready?” Sora asked me, to which I gave him an answering grin. 

“Always.” I said, before we pointed both our keyblades at the keyhole. Twin beams of light shot out from the top of our weapons, slotting perfectly into the keyhole. The space behind it shattered like so much glass, revealing a void of light the keyhole floated within. A strange line of rhombuses appeared, moving along the inner edge in a circle like a loading screen as light began shining out from the keyhole itself. Brightness overtook my eyes, and then I knew only white.

~*~

“Mmnng…” Blearily, my eyes blinked open, before I closed them again. So tired…I…

THUD!

I blinked, now flat on my back on the ground. Just staring sightlessly above me, unable to compute what just happened.

“Hahahaha! It’s your turn!” Sora giggled, and I groaned, a wave of embarrassment rushing through me as I sat up, holding the back of my head where it had collided painfully with the ground. 

“I’m fine, thanks for asking.” I said dryly, before casting a healing spell. “Cure.” Thankfully I was still with Sora, I’d managed to stay out of his dreams and in the worlds’ with him. Step one complete - whew. “Alright, do you know where we are?” I continued, getting to my feet before looking curiously around at our surroundings. 

“No, I just woke up right before you hit the ground.” Sora said, before snickering at me. I just stuck my tongue out at him maturely before it fully registered to my brain what was proudly displayed over his shirt. Ah, crap. The Recusant’s Sigil. Something I had to find an excuse to get rid of as soon as I could.

“Wait a minute - this is Traverse Town!” Sora exclaimed, pointing away from the balcony we’d woken up on and to the town square proper. “And what’s up with our clothes?!”

I couldn’t help but laugh at him, to which my little brother pouted. “Rikuuu, I’m serious.” he whined, examining his new look. “Must be more of Yen Sid’s magic.”

“Maybe.” I said seriously, giving my own clothes a once-over to confirm that they were in fact what Riku had been wearing in Dream Drop Distance before shooting Sora a discomfited look. “But we didn’t arrive at Destiny Islands with a completely new outfit. Just the clothes we’d been wearing that day in the past, before we’d changed into our pajamas for the night.” Sora nodded, letting out a thoughtful hum. “And besides, don’t you think Yen Sid would have told us ahead of time if he was going to give us new clothing? Or heck, even done it before sending us off?”

“I guess…” Sora said uneasily. “Not much we can do about it now, though - I’d rather not run through the town naked, thank you very much.” he added cheekily. I rolled my eyes.

“Hardy har.” That’s when a thought struck me, and I turned my back to Sora. “Hey, hey, is there anything weird on my back? Like a symbol or something?”

“Nooo…? Why do you ask?” Sora frowned. I turned back around, mind scrambling for an excuse.

“Nothing. Just couldn’t see is all, and besides, you’ve got one on you.” I managed. 

“That’s true.” my little brother said, before turning around himself. “Anything else on me?”

“Nope, just that weird X thing on your shirt.” I confirmed. Satisfied, Sora turned back around, a teasing glint in his eye. Uh oh. 

“Heh, I guess we’re both wearing letters now.” He said, hands behind his head, and I choked, before falling into a helpless giggle fit. Smiling, Sora stepped up and gave me a one-armed hug, before returning his attention to the world we found ourselves in. 

“Wonder what Traverse Town is doing here. I mean, it’s a place of refuge for anyone who’s lost their world, right? So what’s it doing here?”

“I mean, didn’t you say Traverse Town disappeared when all the worlds were restored?” I asked, to which Sora nodded. “Maybe it ended up here since it was no longer needed, sleeping until it is.” I theorized.

“That sounds about right.” Sora said, before hopping down from the balcony. I was quick to follow, happy to let my little brother lead while I craned my neck every which way to take in the sights. I’d never gotten to see the iconic Traverse Town before it disappeared, and you bet I was taking the opportunity to do so now. I felt like a kid in a candy store actually, walking around in a place so iconic in fiction.

Really, you’d think I’d get used to this, having been running around the Kingdom Hearts universe for as long as I have, but apparently not. 

And of course, that’s when a certain someone appeared out of nowhere, startling the crap out of Sora and I: Joshua, the guy in charge of the Reaper’s Game from The World Ends With You.

Yes, I’d had a bit of a hyperfixation with that game once upon a time and no you cannot judge me.

“Woooow. And here I thought I’d seen it all. But you, you’re a weird one, that’s for sure.” Joshua said, looking directly at me.

“Uhhh…” I…didn’t really know how to respond to that.

“Riku’s not weird!” Sora protested, crossing his arms as he glared at Joshua for the remark, who for his part just shrugged it off, not even bothered.

“Yeah he is. He’s not supposed to be here, after all.” Joshua told him, making my heart jump, before meeting my eyes with his. Eyes that seemed to pierce into my very soul, for all that they looked like a normal human’s eyes. “Even you have to know you don’t fit quite right, not here. It’s almost like you’re a piece of one puzzle shoved into another, in a place where it aaaalmost fits. Not even your name sits perfectly on your shoulders - right, Riku?”

I flinched. That…was honestly way too accurate for my or Sora’s comfort, if the twin uneasy looks on our faces had anything to say about it.

“Don’t worry though, it doesn’t matter to me.” Joshua said, waving it off dismissively, which…what? “I just…needed to see. But you’re alright, so, I’ll have to see you around.”

“What are you- aaaand he’s gone.” I sighed, Joshua having completely vanished in a flash of pale red light, because of course he did.

“What was up with that guy? It was almost like he knew about you.” Sora said, clearly rattled by the situation. I nodded slowly.

“More like at least some part of it. Like with Hades.” I offered.

“Yeah. That’s gotta be it.” Sora said, though whether it was more to reassure himself than me I didn’t know. That’s when a flash of orange caught my eye, and I looked up to see none other than Neku. 

“Hey look over there! There’s someone else here!” Sora shouted, having spotted the same thing I did. He ran up to Neku, who only turned to look at him irritably.

“Stop shouting. Honestly, talk about noise.” Neku sighed as I caught up to where he and Sora were standing.

“He is noisy.” I agreed with a smirk, to which Sora shouted in mock protest.

“Sora and Riku, right?” Neku continued, ignoring our antics.

“You know our names?” Sora asked, startled. Neku simply grabbed his left hand in lieu of answering, flipping it over to check his palm for a red countdown. One that neither of us had.

“Looks like you’re not a Player.” he mused, before looking over at me. I just raised both hands, displaying clear skin free of numbers. “You too.”

“A player?” Sora questioned. Neku just looked exasperated.

“C’mon, keep up. In the Game.” he said, holding up the palm of his own left hand where the signature red countdown sat. “Players get marked with the time limit. And this game, I can’t afford to lose.” Neku said, raising his head to look the two of us in the eye. “I need my Game Partner.”

“Uhh, I don’t know anything about any game, but we could help!” Sora said, putting his hands on the back of his head before grinning at Neku.

“What? Time out - do you trust every total stranger you meet?” Neku asked incredulously, to which I snorted.

“Hardly. But we can’t just sit by and do nothing.” I said. Neku just stared at me before shaking his head.

“Look, the two of you, you’re no good. Neither of you are Players, and my pact’s with someone else.” Neku said, though without the context half of what he said wouldn’t make any sense. Not that it seemed to bother my little brother any. 

“Alright, so we can’t be partners. But we can help you look for your friend.” Sora suggested. A friend who, I was starting to realize, should be in the same dream as Neku. There was no splitting of Traverse Town, not with me outside with Sora. Was he actually not baiting us into a trap, then, or did the Organization just take his partner hostage?

“You know what, fine. Just keep up.” Neku decided, before sprinting away. Sora and I both shot each other startled looks before racing after him.

“Wait up!”

~*~

“Hey, we didn’t catch your name.” Sora said as soon as we’d caught up with Neku. Before he could even say anything in response Nightmare Meow Wows and even a single Nightmare Komori Bat poofed in out of nowhere, Neku sliding easily into a fighting stance as he took in the new enemies.

“Dream Eaters!”

“That’s a weird name.”

“The enemies, not him, Sora!” I groaned, Midnight Blue out and ready. My brother just made an embarrassed noise before summoning his own keyblade. A burst of light heralded Neku bringing out his own weapon - a cute, adorable Necho Cat whose existence I swear was tailored exactly for him. The Dream Eater raced forward, spinning around to smack its music note tail into the face of a Nightmare Meow Wow before taking off into an alley, the incensed Nightmare running right after it.

“Don’t let ‘em surround us! Let’s split up!” Neku called, before racing after his own Dream Eater. He skidded to a stop right in front of the alley, turning back to face us.  “Oh, and - it’s Neku. Neku Sakuraba. You asked.” he said, clarifying at Sora’s bewildered expression.

“Neku Sakuraba…that’s a mouthful!” Sora chirped, only to yelp as I whacked him upside the head.

“Stop being rude!” I hissed. Neku just let out a small chuckle before chasing after his Dream Eater.

“You take the ones on the left, I take the ones on the right?” Sora asked, leveling the Kingdom Key at the angry Nightmares.

“Sounds like a plan to me!” I agreed, before lunging right at a startled evil Meow Wow before it could so much as blink, ramming Midnight Blue onto its back as hard as I could swing it. It did not appreciate this, growling at me angrily, and I just hit it harder. 

Once the last of the Nightmares were taken care of, Sora and I met back up with Neku, whose Necho Cat was still out and about prancing around. I could practically hear the Spirit Dream Eater theme playing in my mind, the little guy was just so cute. And even better, soon we’d get to have them too!

“So this thing, it’s a Dream Eater too? One of the Spirit ones, right?” Sora asked, getting down on his knees to examine the Necho Cat more closely.

“Yeah. If I’m gonna survive the Game, I’m gonna need some extra help.” Neku confirmed, before quirking his lips up in a smile. “Think you could control them?”

“Control them?” I questioned. “Like training a dog?”

“Something like that.” Neku confirmed, before handing over some random bits and bobs of materials. “Alright, I’ll walk you through how to do it. First, you pick up the scraps of nightmares the Nightmare Dream Eaters leave behind when they’re defeated, then you put them together into the shape you want the Spirit to take form.”

Sora and I both just stared at him. After a few seconds Neku just groaned, facepalming.

“Just put them together randomly if you must, you’ll know you did it right when a Spirit pops up.” he said, and without further ado, I looked down and squished all the materials in my hands together. Evidently the ones I’d ended up with completed a recipe, and I looked excitedly at the flash of light that heralded the arrival of a Dream Eater, with none other than a Frootz Cat dropping out of it. A Necho Cat, but with froot.

“You, are SO CUTE.” I gushed. The Frootz Cat happily frolicked around my legs, turning its head to look at me with its adorably triangular pinkish-purple eyes. That had to do with dispositions, right? The shape and color? Except, I couldn’t remember a thing about them, soooo…that was out. Oh well. Probably wasn’t too important here in reality. Probably.

It was kind of funny, actually, when you thought about it. Frootz Cat was one of the three Dream Eaters that could only be obtained by scanning an AR card. Something that couldn’t be found naturally in the game, at least in the original version, but rather came inexplicably from the outside. 

Like me. 

“Aren’t they the best?” Sora agreed, laughing as his newly created Meow Wow nearly bowled him over in its excitement, sporting the yellow, rounded D-pad shaped eyes I remember seeing from the game tutorial on the things. The default disposition, if you will.

“Huh. I’ve never seen a Necho Cat like that bef- hold on, why is it called a Frootz Cat?” Wait, Neku knew what it was called? Like with keyblades and boss-class Heartless? “Well, it’s whatever I guess.” Neku decided, giving my baby a dubious look. 

“Hiyo little Frootz Cat.” I said quietly, squishing its cute little face together and completely ignoring whatever it was Neku had just said. “You’re the cutest, yes you are.”

“Can you guys stop getting distracted by the Dream Eaters now?” Neku asked, looking completely done with the both of us. “I know they’re cute and all but we’ve got things to do.”

“Alright, alright.” I relented. “Let’s go.”

“Finally.” Neku grumbled. He led us through winding alleyways, eventually coming out into a square courtyard in the town proper.

Here we go.

“I brought you Sora and Riku! We had a bargain!” Neku shouted out.

“Wait what?” Sora gaped. “What are you-?” Footsteps echoed across the floor, Sora shutting up as the cloaked form of none other than Young Xehanort appeared, albeit with the hood up and so indistinguishable from any other in the same getup.

“Who are you?!” I demanded. Young Xehanort actually took off his hood at this point, and then we abruptly had bigger problems to deal with as the guy charged right for us. 

“Hey! That wasn’t the deal!” Neku snapped, jumping in front of us and blocking Young Xehanort’s way, arms outstretched in a clear ‘you shall not pass’ stance. “You said you wouldn’t hurt them!”

“Neku no! They’re too dangerous!” Sora shouted, even as I took action and swung Midnight Blue at Young Xehanort’s head. Unfortunately for me it bounced off a Reflega and then I was too preoccupied dealing with the rebounded explosion going off in my face to do anything else. By the time it cleared both Neku and Young Xehanort were gone, Sora running around in a panic trying to find them.

“Riku - that guy, he took Neku!”

“He what?” I asked, because that was new. “Nuggets, we’ve gotta find him. Which way did they go?”

“This way!” Sora said, before taking off, this time turning onto a road proper. We ran down the street, frantically trying to locate both Neku and Young Xehanort.

“Neku! Where are you?” I shouted.

“Nekuuuuu! Where’d you go?” Sora added his voice to mine, the two of us calling as we ran. 

But nobody came.

“This isn’t going anywhere. They must’ve split off from here somewhere.” I said, gritting my teeth at the idea of Neku, or anyone really, being at the mercy of the Organization - or lack of it. I would know, their hospitality sucked.

“Then what do we do now?” Sora asked, before something on a street connecting to ours caught his eye. “Hey, that’s new!” he said, before taking off running.

“Sora wait up!” I shouted, dashing after him. To my surprise we came to a stop in front of the Dream Eater coliseum thing, in front of which stood none other than Rhyme. Not the partner Neku was looking for, but the fact that Beat didn’t seem to be anywhere around here either didn’t bode well.

“Hey, um, any chance you’re Neku’s partner?” Sora asked, stepping forward to address Rhyme, who turned around with a noise of confusion.

“Huh? Umm…I’m not really sure. All I know is that my name is Rhyme.” she admitted. 

“You lost your memory?” I asked. Rhyme nodded.

“Yeah. But don’t worry, it’s no big deal!” she said, waving it off dismissively while I gaped like a fish. To call lost memory no big deal-?! “You know what they always say - sometimes memories just need a little help getting out.”

“Huh. At least you remember that much.” Sora commented. Rhyme looked surprised, before smiling.

“Hey, you’re right! I don’t know who or where I heard it from, but it was definitely before I lost my memory!” she beamed.

“That’s good at least. Hopefully the rest come back.” I said uneasily.

“Yeah. Hey, we’re looking for a friend of ours, a guy by the name of Neku, with really spiky orange hair.” Sora said, and Rhyme giggled.

“As spiky as yours?” she asked, to which Sora could only laugh sheepishly.

“Yeah, something like that.” he said. “Anyway, he got kidnapped, and we’re trying to find him. You should come with us - maybe we might find something along the way to help jog your memory!”

“That and, you know, hopefully prevent a second kidnapping incident.” I added, Sora’s eyes widening at the idea that hadn’t even occurred to him.

“Alright, I’ll come along!” Rhyme nodded. “Just lead the way.”

“Right.” Sora said, before whirling around and racing back in the direction we’d come, Rhyme and I hot on his heels. This was a dead end; wherever we were searching next, it certainly wouldn’t be here. Neku wasn’t at the coliseum from what I remember, just something about a giant tree and a Nightmare Dream Eater boss? 

Blergh. I could really use a refresher on everything right now.

~*~

After running through what felt like all of Traverse Town, we had to call a break. Rhyme was exhausted, panting heavily, and we took a minute to sit down on the bridge leading into the block ahead of us, Frootz Cat and Meow Wow nuzzling Rhyme in an attempt to comfort her.

“Wait, up there! It’s Neku!” Sora shouted, pointing up to the top of one of the buildings. I helped Rhyme to her feet before we took off again, the three of us - no, make that five, forgot about Meow Wow and Frootz Cat for a second - making the leap to the glass roof of what was apparently a greenhouse Neku stood on top of, gazing dispassionately out into the part of the city we’d come from. “Neku! We’ve been looking for you!”

“You…what?” Neku asked, bewildered at the admission. “I tricked you, both of you! That guy in the black coat, he said he could send me home - me and my partner - but I had to bring you guys to him first.”

“You wouldn’t be the first person they’ve tricked, or the last.” I said reassuringly. “Besides, you protected us when it counted, right? You didn’t actually mean us any harm. You were just…” Desperate. 

“I…no, I didn’t. I’m sorry.” Neku apologized. Sora and I smiled; that was enough for us.

“Oh yeah, this over here is Rhyme, we met her while we were looking for you. Is she your game partner?” Sora asked, gesturing to the girl in question. Neku shook his head.

“No. Sorry. I’m teamed up with someone else.” he explained, before a sudden noise caught all of our attention as Rhyme vanished in a glow of pale red light. “Hey- what-?!”

“Rhyme!” Sora and I called out in unison, staring at the spot where she disappeared with no small amount of concern. Neku growled, before something caught his eye given the fact that he started racing across the glass rooftop, and oh look, there was Young Xehanort. Neku jumped him, furious for being deceived, but the teenager simply threw out his hand to cast a Reflect powerful enough to send Neku flying.

“Neku!” I shouted, running over to peer over the edge of the building, looking frantically for the other teen.

“Riku we’ve got company!” Sora warned, and I whirled back around to see a gigantic Nightmare Dream Eater (Hockomonkey) plop out of a cloud of darkness above Young Xehanort’s head. Good to confirm boss-class enemies still had that same instinctive knowing as to what their names were. But more importantly-

“Thundaga!”

“Firaga!” Sora and I cast, sending the spells after a fleeing Young Xehanort - and he was fleeing, almost using Hockomonkey as a shield as he rushed into the Corridor like his butt was on fire. And then it actually was on fire, courtesy of my little brother. Why he didn’t actually even try dodging like every other person we’d taken a potshot at going through a Corridor of Darkness, I didn’t know, but I chalked it up to him still being a teenager at this point. 

“Deal with this thing first, find Neku after. He’s probably okay and this thing needs to die before it hurts someone!” Sora decided, Kingdom Key in hand. I held out my own, summoning Midnight Blue into my grip.

“Right behind you.” I said, before Hockomonkey charged, swiping its arms back and forth as it tried to strike us with its giant claws. Not being idiots Sora and I ducked under the wild attacks, Frootz Cat jumping in to start pounding the Nightmare in the side. Hockomonkey roared, pounding its chest like the ape it resembled, shattering the glass roof and sending us tumbling into the greenhouse proper. And there was the tree I remembered!

I ran forward, swinging Midnight Blue into the giant block that made up the entire torso of the creature, and then I was doing a double-take in shock as Sora riding Meow Wow started bouncing around like a mad ping-pong ball, sending the Nightmare staggering with each hit.

Right, Dream Eater skills. What was Frootz Cat’s again? Wait nevermind that figure it out when we’re not fighting for our lives!

While the two of us were unused to fighting beside our new Dream Eaters specifically, it really was just the same as when we’d been moving in a bigger party during Kingdom Hearts Two. Just with cute little pets we needed to direct rather than other humans.

Not to be outdone by my little brother and his Dream Eater, I rushed forward in unison with Frootz Cat and together we slammed our attack down onto the thing’s foot as hard as we could, Hockomonkey abruptly flipping up into a handstand before kicking out in time to catch Sora and Meow Wow with a heavy blow, knocking the two apart to bounce painfully off the ground.

“Oh no you don’t! Cura!” I snarled, throwing the healing spell at Sora before jumping up to slam my keyblade onto the top of the boss class Nightmare’s head. Hockomonkey started wigging out in response, constantly retracting its arms and legs into its boxy body before shooting them back out again at high velocity like some kind of demented jack in the box. 

“Riku I think you made it mad!” Sora said uneasily.

“Then we just have to hit it harder!” I shouted back. The thing flipping out like this meant it was on its last legs, right? It had to be; with a sweep of my arm, I directed Frootz Cat to tackle one of its arms, which I used as a ramp to run up and stab my keyblade where neck met collarbone, firing off a light Skyward Strike into the ground - err, flesh - for good measure.

I could hear Sora flurry-rushing the thing from below me even as Hockomonkey roared out in pain, and I guess that was more than it could handle, as it dissolved into fragments of light, dropping me to land feet first on the ground as the surface I'd been on disappeared beneath me.

“You alright there, Riku?” Sora asked, and I nodded.

“Yeah, just fine.” I replied, before looking around. “Seems like Y- that Organization guy took off. We should look for Neku now that it’s safe.” I said, tripping over Young Xehanort’s name as I quickly corrected myself. Besides us not having any way to know what the guy’s name was in the first place, ‘Young Xehanort’ was more of a title than anything else, to distinguish him from his older selves. Blurting that out out of seemingly nowhere would be bad.

“Right.” Sora agreed, the two of us exiting the greenhouse before splitting off in search of our friend. He didn’t exactly have access to Cure magic, I don’t think, and being launched off the roof of a building hurt - I knew that from unfortunate experience. “Hey Riku, I found him!” Sora shouted, waving me over. I followed, only to find the sight of a very grumpy and very wet Neku.

“Looks like he fell in the pond.” Sora said, giggling, and Neku shot him a glare.

“Very funny.” he grumbled. 

“Here, let me dry you off.” I said, tossing a weak Aero at him. He gave me a grateful smile before a crystal the shape of a sun appeared out of nowhere, depositing Joshua with a flash of light into existence. The same light that had taken Rhyme away not long before. 

“You again?” Sora asked, even as a wry look crossed Neku’s face at the sight of Joshua.

“Joshua.” he greeted.

“Hello Neku. How long the days without you have felt.” Joshua replied, before looking over at Sora and I. “See? I told you I’d see you around.

“You know them?” Neku asked. Joshua shrugged.

“Sort of. We met briefly when they first got here.” he explained.

“Right…” Neku sighed, before turning to us. “This is Joshua. He’s a…friend of mine. He’s alright, if a little odd.” No kidding. But then again, as the one running the Reaper’s Game, that kind of came with the job description I guess.

“More than alright - see for yourself.” Joshua said, before the crystal flashed three times in sequence, dropping Rhyme, Beat, and Shiki into the world!

“Shiki!” 

“Neku!”

“Rhyme!”

“Beat!” 

The four Players of the Reaper’s Game quickly ran over to each other, checking their partners over to make sure they were okay.

“Where were you guys? I couldn’t find you anywhere!” Neku burst out.

“That’s because that hooded guy kidnapped them.” Joshua said nonchalantly, and what?! “Not sure why he went so out of his way to be subtle about it - well, mostly - but that guy really wanted the two of you.” He added, directing this at my brother and I. 

“Yeah. That was weird.” I said, for lack of anything better to say.

“Anyway…I know you guys were theorizing about this Traverse Town, but you were a little off the mark. While this world still appears when someone out there is in need of shelter, just like the original, it’s a bit different. And while I’ll spare you the details, just know that right now, this world is made up of my dreams.” Joshua said. 

“Your dreams…?” Sora murmured. Joshua nodded.

“That’s right. That’s why you’re here, too - I dreamed you up. Or rather, dreamed you here. I needed your help, you see.” he said, before his crystal thing lit up again as it swallowed up the four Players in bursts of pale red light, disappearing once its job was done. “In their world, something happened that brought their existence to an end. To keep them from fading altogether, I gathered up the very last remnants of their dreams and looked for a place to give them refuge.” Joshua explained, before turning to look out over Traverse Town. “It was then that this world appeared to answer my call, and Rhyme’s dreams allowed us to reach it.”

“Rhyme’s? Why Rhyme’s?” I asked curiously. Joshua shrugged. 

“Let’s just say her dreams are special.” Joshua said. That’s right, they were her entry fee for the Reaper’s Game; did that have something to do with it? “Here in this world, I thought they might have a chance - that the pieces of their dreams could make them whole again. Imagine my surprise when I realized dreams take bodily form in this world.”

“Wait, whole again? How?” Sora asked, disbelief written all over his face. I didn’t blame him, that wasn’t normally how things worked. But in this case…

“Well, when I arrived here, and saw how dreams took form in this world, it struck me that by linking their dream pieces back together, maybe I could make them exist again. Maybe I could give them another chance. And for that, I needed you two.” Joshua said. “By ourselves, we’re no one. It’s when other people look at us and see someone - that’s the moment we each start to exist.”

“I’d beg to differ on that,” I said, memories of that void between death and rebirth, that darkness between realities coming to mind. A darkness where I’d existed all alone - at least until I’d been forced out into this universe. “But I can see where you’re coming from.”

“Maybe, maybe not. But in their case, all Neku, Shiki, Beat, and Rhyme needed was for someone to see them, connect with them. And from there, link them together, so they existed again.” Joshua shrugged. “And hey, in thanks for your help, I’ll help you too - that thing you’re looking for, it’s right here.” he added, jabbing a thumb over at one of the buildings beside us, where the glimmering keyhole traced into existence, hovering just in front of the windowed wall.

“Joshua…first with Riku, now with these guys, and even the keyhole…just, who are you? What are you?” Sora asked, looking more than a little overwhelmed. Joshua only chuckled in response, an amused smile on his face. 

“Let’s say…a friend.” he said, before white feathered wings sprouted from his back. “Ha, you don’t even look surprised!” Joshua added, shooting me a grin, which honestly startled me because no, I hadn’t been. But shouldn’t that not have been important to him? 

Whether it was or not, I would never know, as Joshua’s wings carried him up and away, flying into the night sky. And as he flew, his body grew more and more translucent, until he faded away from view, disappearing without a sound.

“Right…that was…right.” I said, taking a deep breath. “Let’s just unlock this thing and go.”

“Agreed.” Sora said, shuddering a little before raising the Kingdom Key to point at the sleeping keyhole. “Should we both do this at the same time? There’s seven sleeping keyholes, and we’re both supposed to unlock seven so we’re probably supposed to do it together? Plus I don’t wanna accidentally end up split from you, not with that Organization guy running around. And where there’s one I’m sure there are more.” Sora added, before frowning. “Still not sure how they’re even here, but…still. Better safe than sorry.” he decided, echoing the words said by my family a lifetime ago.

“Better safe than sorry.” I agreed, before summoning Midnight Blue. “Ready? On three. One, two, three!”

A pair of thin beams of light entered the keyhole, the thing unlocking in the same cool explosion of glass to reveal the void of light as before. Once again, a searing brightness flooded out of the keyhole, blinding me with its light, and then I lost consciousness.