#I often find myself growing agitated with myself when I repeat stuff in between different projects. same sentence structures or story beats

[llitchilitchi]

tbh I follow a lot of people hoping they will write the exact same fanfic as ive already read them write but slightly to the left this time

this is such an important reminder for any creative person telling stories

i think most of us forget that we often gravitate to the same kind of content, same tropes and AUs and scenarios, especially when we sit down to work on our own stuff and the imposter syndrome kicks in

so thank you for this

[jjonyangdan]

A short and fluffy friends to lovers scenario with keonhee Pls 💖

[ oneus / lee keonhee ] ; fluff | friends to lovers + college au | 1.7k words

↪ he takes you out on a picnic day in the spring and it leads to the unexpected disclosure of hidden feelings for one another.

↪ a/n: thank you for requesting! i hope this meet your expectations? 💚

“This is probably one of the best ideas you’ve come up with yet.”

Spread out on the grassy floor is a snowy-white blanket pinned down by a straw basket and the bottoms of two individuals to prevent it from being dragged away by the currents of the calm wind. Strewn before them are various food items ranging from simple snacks, fruit and sandwiches as well as small cartons of different flavoured milk in order to quench their throats. They sit underneath a towering, blossoming cherry-blossom tree that every so often sprinkles them with its petals as the sunlight slants through its gaps as if asking if it could join the activity as well.

“Huh? What do you mean by that?” Keonhee responds, bemused, before following with an offended scoff. There’s a halfhearted grumble in his tone as he shoots you a look of playful disbelief. He sorts out the placement of the items before him and adds, “My ideas are always the best, just like this one, so I have no idea what you’re going on about. I think I should be given more credit, don’t you think?” Pride douses his voice, satisfied hums vibrating past his curved lips and floating in the air.

“Mhm. Definitely. That’s why I complimented you before,” you return with a smile dancing on your lips before bending forward to pick up a chocolate-chip cookie.  Tearing it open from its plastic wrap, you instantly sink your teeth into its dough and break out into an even wider grin as its flavour pervades your senses. “Thank you, Keonhee. And you even included my favourites here! You’re seriously the best~” As you send adulations his way, you also throw your arms around his lean stature, draping your limbs over his shoulders and resting your weight affectionately on him.

“Yah, (Name), you’re heavy!” he whines, but nonetheless doesn’t move to peel you away from him. “And of course. This is all for you.” The last part is uttered in a soft whisper that escapes your ears.

There’s a soft smile decorating his features at the sight of you nestled against him, one that’s loving but with a frail edge to it that you’re unable to detect with your eyes closed and your head buried into his side. However you can hear him mumble, content phrases about how well everything was panning out, as you sense his movement and listen to the rustle of clothing that is probably him reaching out for a snack himself to nibble on.

Your chest is tickled by a lightness, eyes peeking open to see that he has his head is incredibly near yours. Time seems to freeze for you in that moment, as you shakily pursue his movements with your eyes. It seems his intention is to share a bite of the cookie you’re holding in your other hand that’s hanging between you both. Red brushes your cheeks and you struggle to formulate a collected reaction.

“Y-yah! You’re getting crumbs on me, Keonhee!” you complain, peeling yourself away from him. You allow him to take custody of what remains of the treat, dusting your attire down to rid yourself of the miniscule particles. “You could have just asked if you wanted some or just reached out for another one.” You ruffle your hair as if it’d help cool the heat warming your cheeks. “It’s not even that far, your long limbs could easily reach it!”

“Well, it’s difficult when you’re holding me down like that,” he just as defensively counters with a dash of childishness to his voice. Even so there’s a smile prominent in his voice as he softly adds, “and plus, you looked comfortable. I didn’t want to disturb you.”

As much you want to retaliate with: ‘and you think just suddenly placing your head near mine like that where I can practically feel your breath fanning my cheeks and inhale your faint cologne wouldn’t agitate me in any shape or form?!’, you restrain the urge to do so and deeply exhale. He most likely wouldn’t even understand where you were coming from. These types of interactions were common between you, even if it did make your heart want to burst out of its cage. And you sometimes can’t help but wonder, did he at least remotely feel the same as you? You couldn’t be the only one, right?

Keonhee reaches past you for a drink, fingers curling around a carton and piercing a straw into the designated slot as he takes a long, peaceful sip. You watch him doing so, a faraway look glossing your eyes as you drown in the deep sea of your thoughts. He takes notice, staring back at you curiously. “Do you want some?” His question is faintly muffled by the straw he’s chewing on before he offers the drink to you with a tilt to his head, misinterpreting your stance.

Snapping out of your trance, you sigh before mumbling the standard phrase of gratitude before accepting the carton. As the sweetness of the beverage contacts your papillae on your tongue, you realise something and your (e/c) hues blink quizzically. You steal a glance at him and then back at the drink, repeating this back and forth a couple of times. This eventually catches his attention, as he helps himself to another biscuit.

“What’s wrong? You’re all jittery.”

“I...”

“Hm?”

“Y-your lips…”

“My what?”

Your cheeks still burn as your mind keeps framing the particular scene in your memory. An indirect kiss—yours and Keonhee’s lips sharing the same straw. Usually you’re not one to fret over such details, but ever since you’ve been aware of him everything within you has changed. You’re more sensitive to every little thing he does and it’s annoying, but also joyous—very bittersweet.

“You look like a tomato right now!” he points out.

“Tell me something I don’t know…” you mutter in response, fanning yourself.

He tilts his head. “...Are you perhaps thinking about us sharing the same straw?” Your face grows hotter at his guess and he notices, knowing for certain he’s hit the bullseye. “Really? I never thought you’d be the type to worry about stuff like this,” he remarks. His lips soon tug up into a teasing smirk as he raises a brow at you. “We’ve always shared drinks and food together. Why be bashful about it now?”

You’re quick to defend yourself, an exasperated look crossing your features, “it’s called being in love, Keonhee! Everything to do with that person starts to—” A pause of silence falls between you like a curtain. Your expression freezes in horror, mouth agape. Did you just? No way. You didn’t just inadvertently confess to him, did you?

“Starts to what?” His playful grin widens as he shifts closer to you. “You’re in love with me?”

“I-I…” you stammer, thoughts muddled in your head and impairing your ability to articulate anything.

He giggles, looking at you fondly. “You’re cute.”

“What did you say…?” You blink, staring up at him. As your heart skips in your chest, you feel a sensation caressing your hand and look down to see he has covered it with his larger one.

“Do you remember that I told you I also had something to tell you today?” he dodges your question with one of his own. He has the softest eyes and most tender smile right now, and all of it is on display for your eyes to appreciate.

“H-huh? Yeah, I do.” You nod, briefly recalling the conversation you had on the phone with him. He had called you to see if you were available to join him on a day to the local park where the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, located near your college campus. In addition to wanting to show you the fully bloomed flowers, he had stated he also needed to tell you something important but wouldn’t offer any hints despite your pleas. “Why so suddenly?”

“I like you.” It’s blunt and void of any doubt. He’s very much serious, his eyes peering deeply into your own as his cheeks are painted a shade of shyness and his lips are curled into a soft smile.

“You what…?” All you can manage to respond with is a dumbfounded expression. You take a moment to question your ears, brain and sanity. Did you hear him correctly? Your ears weren’t deceiving you, right? He really did just tell you he liked you back?

“You’re seriously making me repeat myself?” he whines, bashful, but is nevertheless smiling as he reiterates his confession though he knows you must’ve heard him already. “I like you, (Name). Please go out with me.”

“For how long...?”

“A while now. I just struggled to find the right moment.”

“I... I still can’t believe it…”

“Huh? Why not?”

“I don’t know… it’s just…” you trail off, unable to explain your thoughts.

Then there’s a sensation tickling your forehead. It takes a minute to register, but you’re definitely sure he blessed your head with a brief yet sweet kiss.

“How’s that? Can you believe it now?” he asks, smiling endearingly at you.

“Mhm. Maybe a kiss on the lips would do the trick,” you suggest, a mischievous glint in your eye as the confidence within you crawls to the surface.

“Ooo. How assertive of you.” He laughs gently and leans in closer, hand hovering near your shoulder. “You haven’t given me an answer though,” he pouts and sends you a puppy-like stare, “I might grant you your wish depending on what you say~”

You roll your eyes, but smile giddily at him. “I like you as well, Keonhee. A lot. I’d love to go out with you.” Drawing closer, the distance between you is further diminished, your faces are inches apart. “Can I have that kiss now?”

“I didn’t know you could be so needy,” he teases, a whisper against your mouth. “But you’re still cute like this.”

Slowly he closes the remaining space, lips moving smoothly against yours as your eyes flutter shut. His hand behind you grips your shoulder tenderly, his other hand that remains atop yours  drawing soothing circles on the back of your palm. As you both pull away from the sweet connection, he rests his forehead against yours, your eyes reflecting the same attraction you both hold for each other. You can feel the smiles that blooms on your features and underneath the warm weather and pink petals, share another kiss as you mark the beginning of the development of your relationship amid the season of awakening.

[vacantgestures]

Ascendant Recollection :CH 02:

Franchise: Kingdom Hearts

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama

Love Interest: Riku

Rating: Teen

After the destruction of the Destiny Islands, Yukari finds herself dumped into a new world. Now she finds herself with not just a key, bigger list of responsibilities than she’d asked for.

Kingdom Hearts: Ascendant Recollection

Chapter 02

A World Beyond The Sea

If you're ever to take anything away from my story, just know that, getting inhaled by an enormous island eating storm is absolutely not fun.

 Something else that isn't fun? Waking up on a cold slab of concrete. My head pulsed with intense pain. In fact it was probably from that three that hit me on the way up. I blinked a couple of times, before I realized that my vision might as well have been permanently blurred.

 As I lay in an unfamiliar place, trying to recall the last few hours of the evening, I sighed, a bit frustrated as I stared up at the night sky. Spotted with stars, It was nothing in comparison to the spray of twinkling lights that blanketed the night back on Density Islands.

 My home...

 Thinking back, what had happened to it? What had caused that storm? I remember the dream that showed Riku conversing with that figure in the secret place. He'd made some sort of deal and it somehow unleashed... that dark... stuff and I woke up to a storm. But, had that really been a dream? And what did happened to Riku? And Kairi and Sora for that matter? I'd met up with Sora when things got crazy but, my other two close friends had been nowhere in sight. I supposed it was time to get a move on.

  Sitting up I gazed about my surroundings. I sat in the middle of some sort of enormous court yard. Brick walled buildings surrounded me on all sides with twinkling, light decorations flickering gently in the dark. Street lights lit up the world around me with banners draped upon them reading, District 3.

 Carefully, I stood up. Stumbling on my feet, I struggled to make it to the closest wall for support. Had I managed to get some sort of concussion? I blinked back the dizziness and blurred vision as I trudged up the set of stairs that led out of the court yard. At the top, I found a small compartment of houses that led down a pathway towards a pair of large wooden doors.

 Pushing past them, I was met with a darkened alleyway, lined on either sides with town homes. Lit windows kept the darkness away as I made my way out of the narrow passage and into a greater plaza that, had me surrounded by shops, hotels, and big bright neon signs that did little to help my head ache. I gazed up at giant clocktower that hung above my head, reading just a few minutes past ten.

 So far, I was vastly amazed. Everything here was just so... big. Back home, the tallest things we had were the humongous mountains on the mainland that sat lazing against the big puffy clouds that passed by on the horizon every day. Even the trees on the mainland had nothing on the size of the buildings, only growing so high-- often rivaling the size of some of our biggest homes, which were still not as big the shops and hotels around me.

 On my way towards yet another set of doors, I found myself being slammed into. The world went completely sideways as I was forced to catch my balance while, a blubbering man, frantically held onto me for dear life.

 "H-help me! Please!" The guy sobbed aloud, gripping my shoulders tightly. "They! They're coming this way!"

 The man, attempted to hide behind me but, instead dragged me down to the ground with him. I shook him off, and turned to find a group of the little creatures come running in our direction.

 For a second. Panic set in.

  I remembered that I had only defeated them before in my dreams. I'd been in possession of that weapon-- The Keyblade. But now I was defenseless. How was I supposed to protect both this guy and myself?

 I turned back to the man that had been freaking out at my feet as if I was supposed to be able to protect him. But I wasn't really much help either. With one more look at the oncoming enemies, I turned run. "Let's get out of here!" I shouted to the stranger.

 It took him a moment to scramble to his feet. Yet, somehow he managed to trip and fall, crashing right into me once more. I hit the ground hard and everything began to multiply. Pushing myself up, I let go an agitated sigh as I turned to look for the guy. He was there, on the ground, cowering. Now with the creatures hovering over him, he sat there paralyzed with fear, sobbing uncontrollably.

 "What are you doing?" I called out to him, trying to blink the stars out of my eyes. "Get out of here! Run!"

 Sadly, even in my attempts to snap him out of his moment of terror, he would not budge. Instead, he stayed there as the creatures went in for the attack, and proceeded to claw out the poor man's heart. I watched as the creatures danced in delight at the retrieval of the prize before the man's body was consumed, only to be replaced by another little black creature.

 Feeling a bit frantic, I found myself nearly frozen to my spot. My body suddenly felt like lead. It had to be from the prospect of death now becoming a harsh reality. I managed to stammer out of few words as the creatures lurched toward me. I felt my heart dive into my stomach, and shut my eyes waiting for the worst.

 "Yukari!" I heard a voice call out.

 Somehow melting away the fear, the familiar voice shook the terror away. My eyes shot towards the sound of the voice, and watched as the new comer had entered the scene.

 "Sora!" I exclaimed delighted to see he was safe.

 And it appeared that he was more than that, as he ran towards the monsters, brandishing what looked to be the same weapon I'd received. Although his held a different appearance, sporting a yellow boxed hand guard that connected to a long silvery shaft. The little prongs at the end, opened up into a true key look, that housed the emblem of a crown.

 Sora wasted no time in dispatching the group of little black shadows. And much like in the dream each and every one of them disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. Once he'd taken care of the things, he approached me, as I was still sitting a bit stunned on the ground.

 "You alright?" He asked, extending a hand for me to taken.

 I took it, using his weight to support my unsteady balance whilst simultaneously glancing around to ensure no more of those things would be likely to jump us. "Yeah." I answered. "Thanks... You really saved me from.. whatever those thing were."

 "Heartless."

 "What?"

 "They're called Heartless." Sora repeated.

 I looked at Sora suspiciously. "How do you..."

 "After I woke up here, I ran into a bunch of them myself." He explained. "A guy named Cid, saved me. He told me I might be able to find you, Riku, and Kairi here as well. So, I went out looking. But so far, I've only found you and of course… more Heartless."

 I gazed down at the Keyblade in his hands. I wasn't sure if I should press the issue, or not. But given the circumstances maybe it could wait. "So, are you saying, Kairi and Riku, were there when... it happened?" I asked.

 Sora nodded quietly. A distracted look in his eyes offered more than his words. "...Yeah. I saw them." Was really all he intended to say.

 "Did... something bad, happen?" I asked.

 But Sora ignored my question, bringing up a new subject. "I've got to get you to safety. Wouldn't want to get jumped before we're prepared. Maybe Cid can help us out with that."

 I watched as he pushed open the doors to "District One," as implied by the sign hanging above. I wondered what had happened that I had missed. Sora's hiding the possibility of bad news didn't sit right with me, but it was better to let him figure things out before forcing him to talk.

 Following close behind, I glanced around at how much brighter this district was compared to the last two. More buildings, more shops and more lights. It was distinctively homier than the last, but lacked... people. I had to wonder where everyone was. I suppose the threat of those... Heartless, was quite serious, this night.

 "So, do you know where this... place we're in, is?" I decided to ask, sparking up another conversation. "I mean, it seems like we finally got off the Island."

 "I was told this place is called Traverse Town." Sora responded, stopping near the guard rail that sat before a plaza spotted with lights.

 I gazed around at three enormous doors that seemed to serve as entry ways to other possible areas around the town. "But we didn't even have to use the raft." I recalled. From the dreams I'd been having I guess I wasn't too surprised about that. "I highly doubted it would have worked anyways."

 I caught Sora look at me from the corner of my eye, but I refused to meet his gaze.

 "All of this is crazy..." I went on. "Storms and monsters... what's even going on? Things were so... dull before. Everything's just happening all at once and…"

 My words began to trails away as I went to look at Sora. But my gaze found the face of a newcomer who stood just a few feet away from us. Sora noticed and turned to investigate where my attention had landed.

 The man standing before us had shaggy, long dark brown hair that went past his shoulders. His facial features seemed soft, rugged and unfriendly all at the same time, as he held it together with a scar that ran the length of his face, between his nose. Adorned with black jeans and a tucked in t shirt beneath his matching jacket, I wanted very much to say something to this guy about his many belts that hung around his waist.

 "They know you're here." The guy mumbled. It wasn’t until that moment of him speaking that I realized his weapon. It looked like a mix of a gun and-- Okay, get this. His weapon with a flippin' sword stuffed into a gun.

 I suppose I couldn't offer too many jokes. Sora was running around with an novelty sized key.

 "And they'll keep coming, so long as you wield the Keyblade." The man continued.

 I raised a brow. I didn't have my weapon out and on display. "But--"

 "Stand back, little girl. This is between me and your friend here."

 Offended, I frowned, muttering a quieted, "Rude..." under my breath.

 Sora himself, already had a sort of sour look on his face as he gazed over his silvery Keyblade. Sending, testy glances at the guy, I worried about the decision he was about to make. "There's no way you gonna get this." He sneered. To which, he hastily got into a stance, indicating he was ready to fight off another nuisance if he had to. I also figured it was partly to seem intimidating.

 "If that's really how you wanna do this," The man scoffed, readying his gun blade... thing. "Then let's go, kid."

 "Now Sora..." I said, trying to allow him a chance to think rationally. "Think about this for a--"

 “Aaaagh!!”

 Sora leapt at the guy, screaming his battle cry. The man, didn't even let him get much of a chance as he shot a burning hot, ball of fire in his direction. Sora narrowly rolled out of the way, and the ball of fire, continued to come careening right at me.

 I launched myself out of danger, cursing Sora's rash decision. I made it to safety in time to watch him jump the guard rail that hung over the plaza, only to be immediately chased into the open area by the man.

 I watched on feverishly, as they fought, Sora almost always just missing a deadly blow. He was taking more hits that he was dishing out. It didn't take long for his movements to become sluggish and clumsy.

 "Behind you!" I cried out.

 Sora had stopped moving for just a second to catch his breath. But it was clear, at that moment, the man was simply toying with. Another burst of fire shot towards Sora who looked up when he'd heard my voice. Just barely, he scrambled out of harm’s way, only to be met with the man's blade that nearly sliced through his neck.

 Sora blocked in time, going on to throw up the man's guard. Gripping his Key with two hands, he prepared himself to run the guy through it seemed. His face was beaded with sweat and worn with exhaustion. Sora was at his limit. This wasn't just some brawl on the beach like we had been used to. The was the cruel reality of the outside world. And in the last few hours of being here, Sora most likely had more time to experience that than myself.

 The man spun, effortlessly, out the way as he kicked Sora in the back. Sora stumbled on his feet, trying to keep his balanced, but the man had the upper hand. He wasn't worn out like Sora had been. With the butt of his sword, he slammed the hunk of metal right into Sora's temple and almost immediately, Sora dropped his weapon.

 "Sora!" I shouted, leaping over the guard rail, bounding over towards him.

 I watched as his body collapsed, hitting the ground harder than what sounded safe.

 Conveniently enough for me, the fact that I decided to start running like a psycho, caused the dizziness to resurface. Dropping to my knees, I crouched over Sora's body and latched onto his shoulders. Gently I tried to shake him awake but he was out cold. His head rolled around on his shoulders as a small groan sounded from his lips.

 With a bit of a sigh of relief, I let my mind rest easy knowing that he was alright.

 "Step aside little girl." The voice of the man throttled in my ears.

 Looking over my shoulder, I watched as he came closer to the two of us. I was seeing double at this point but I fought through the wave of nausea that came with it.

 "I'm not moving." I said, squeezing Sora's shoulders tightly.

 The man, let go a sigh, as she threw his weapon onto his shoulder. "I don't have time for you. Make this easy and move out of the way."

 For a split second I thought back to the dream I'd had just earlier that evening. The Keyblade that formed in my hand when I needed it most. That voice that spoke to me saying I had some power within me, that was beginning to awaken. For a moment, I did hesitate. This was all so new. Things were just happening so fast. But I wasn't about to let to creep have Sora without a fight.

 Shakily, I got to my feet. I tried to control myself as the dizziness attempted to prevent me from steeling my nerves. Cautiously, I held out my hand in hopes to summon the Keyblade as I did before. I didn't know if there was a specific way to do it. Yet all the same I found myself concentrating on thoughts of protecting Sora, getting back to Riku and Kairi and just staying alive.

 And somehow that worked.

 Within seconds the Keyblade materialized in my possession, weighing heavily down on my right arm as I gripped it after it had appeared. I swung it once, twistingly before aiming it at the man before me, who'd then stopped to, gaze at my Keyblade.

 "Another one?" The man said, as though he couldn’t believe his bothersome luck.

 "Just tell me what you want." I demanded. But at the same time, I wavered. The spinning world around me forced me to shut my eyes. Clamping a hand against my head, I garnered a sympathetic response from the Stanger.

 "Kid-- Hey, you alright? Hey!"

 But it had been too late.

 The world had turned upside down all at once as I felt myself tumbling towards the ground. The sound my blade clanging loudly as it made contact, left a horrible ringing in my ears. When I hit the stone tiling, the world didn't stop spinning. It was like everything continued on as I felt myself passing through what seemed to be memories all around me. They mixed and blurred together. The cacophony of voices swirling around my head didn't help the dizziness, but I could just barely hear the sound of faint hissing, coming out over it all.

 "Get up." A voice tore through dream.

 My eyes opened abruptly. Glancing around I found myself in a whole different location. The room around me was bathed in sea of deep emerald greens. The ceiling, the floor-- all of it looking somewhat lavish or fancy, in design. I noticed that I was been lying comfortably in a bed that was not my own. I easily discounted that this whole crazy night might have been a dream, when I noticed Sora snoozing in an arm chair at the foot of the bed. His head hung on his neck, while drool began to slide down the corner of his mouth.

 "Oh good." The voice from before spook. "You're awake. How's your head?? Looks like you got yourself a concussion somehow."

 I wasn't sure how I hadn’t seen her before but, a girl stood at the bedside. She seemed pretty young, sporting short, dark brown hair and eyes. She wore a cropped tank top with belt straps and khaki colored shorts. Fish nets sat on her arms beneath big orange gloves that matched her ankle boots which housed long, thigh high socks.

 As loud as her outfit was, I was surprised I hadn't noticed her when I opened my eyes.

 "Uh... It's fine." I said, almost forgetting that she'd asked a question. I lifted my hand to my head, and felt some bandages wrapped around the circumference of my noggin. I suppose it was as bad as I thought.

 "Squall didn't even touch you, so I guess he got a little worried when you just passed out on the spot. We couldn't figure out how you got banged up without him even laying a finger on you."

 "Uh... well, that might have actually be the tree that hit me on my way here." I confessed sheepishly.

 "The what?"

 "The name's Leon." The man with the scar promptly corrected the girl, not allowing me a chance to respond. He had also seemingly appeared in the room. His edgy brooding look was almost difficult to notice.

 Well when you get hit hard enough...

 Ignoring the man, the girl shrugged and moved to Sora. "Hey, wake up, ya lazy bum!" The girl shouted, kicking at the arm chair.

 The impressive jolt, woke Sora from his slumber. Upon sleepily opening his eyes, his gaze met with the girl, who'd been kneeling over him. "Gimmie... a break... Kairi..."

 "Kairi?" The girl, inquired annoyed. "The name's Yuffie! Wake up, Nerd!!"

 Again she shoved the chair and Sora jolted awake. Shouting expletives.

 "Yeah... I think you might had hit this one too hard." The girl said rolling her eyes.

 Sora's attention immediately landed on the man, calling himself Leon and stood from his seat, ready to fight once again. "You!! You're the one that attacked me out of nowhere! What's your problem?"

  "While I am inclined agree that arguing on that notion would seem appropriate at any other time," I said, drawing Sora's attention to me. "I think, it wasn't without reason."

 Sora quickly looked me over before he realized the bandage on my head.

 "Did he beat you up too?" He asked, concerned.

 "Tree." Was all I said before he nodded understandingly.

 "You alright?" He attempted to confirm.

 "Wait, seriously.... How on earth did you get into a fight with a tree?" The girl, now known as Yuffie, asked.

 "Enough." The man's voice cut through each of our words as we all averted out attention toward him. "We've got more pressing matters at hand. And it's got to do with the two of you, both wielding the Keyblade."

 "Both?" Sora asked, his eyes catching mine.

 "I can summon one too." I shrugged.

 "Wait... then why didn't you tell me?"

 "It doesn’t matter." The guy said. "Both of you seem to be the chosen wielders of the blade. Initially the plan was to get it from you so we could conceal you hearts from the Heartless. I didn't think you'd come on your own of course, but I was willing to do what I needed to get you to come along."

 "Even if that meant beating up a kid?" I noted. "Sounds like the mindset of bully to me."

 "Regardless." Yuffie sighed heavily. "You guys were running around completely oblivious to how dangerous of a threat you posed for yourselves. The Heartless can seek you out via the Keyblade."

 "Meaning, we don't have lot of time, before they make their presence known." Leon went on. "This place is infested. They're crawling around everywhere. It's crazy to even think that the keyblade chose you two—Kids, of all people."

 "Rude..." I interjected.

 "Why don't you start making sense" Said demanded. His tone held plenty of frustration in it. "Maybe explain what’s really going on around here."

 "Well, okay." Yuffie said, taking a deep. From that, I could tell she was about to give us a very condensed version of a story we might well need the full details to. "We're pressing for time so... here goes. So you know that, there are worlds outside of your own. But the thing is, they've been a super-secret up until this point. And that's all thanks to the Heartless who've been shaking thing up. They're kind of making a grand mess of things."

 "The Heartless." I said. I was pretty sure Sora said it to me before, but.. "Those are the creatures that keep chasing us around. But what are they really?"

 "Those without hearts." Leon confirmed. "The Darkness in peoples' hearts is what attracts them. See that you don't fall prey, for there is Darkness within every heart."

 "We've learned that a man named Ansem was studying those creatures a while backs." Yuffie continued. "He recorded all he knew about them in a compiled report-- like their behavior and stuff. Sadly we don't know a whole lot about those nasty buggers, but we do know that we could probably learn more about them form the reports."

 "Well maybe... you could show it to us, if it’s not too much trouble?" I suggested.

 “That’s… the thing." Yuffie frowned. "We can't."

 "Because...?" Sora chimed in.

 "Because." Yuffie emphasized. "We don't have 'em all. We've got like a few pages with us, but the rest of them are all scattered about the place-- maybe even across the worlds. Getting them back is a real pain."

 "So for now... you’re saying the only real defense we have against the Heartless that we currently can be sure of is the Keyblade." I supplied.

 "Exactly!" Yuffie nodded, slapping a fist into her palm and pointing at me as a big grinned danced onto her face.

 "The Heartless, tend to greatly fear the Keyblade." Leon spoke out. "Even as this is the case, they'll continue to seek you out."

 "Well... neither of us asked for this." Sora said. "Is there no way to return it or--"

 "Obviously not?" Yuffie answered matter o' factly. "Who are you going to give it back to? The Keyblade chooses it's master, and it looks like you two are the new lucky owners! It's yours for good."

 "Okay, hold on." I said. This was all coming at me pretty fast. In a matter of just a few hours so much has happened. Now, I'm being force fed a ton of info-- and the ‘too long didn't read’ version at that. "Can we back track for a second? You're saying that we didn't know about other worlds until now because those Heartless are taking over, right? So then what about us? What happened to our island?? Last we saw of it, it was being pulled apart. Sora, you said, you were looking for Kairi and Riku. Where are they?"

 Leon and Yuffie stood there with pursed lips and I listed off my many questions.

 "Just because we've got Keyblades, that automatically makes us official monster slayers? Not even any trainers? At least have us be better informed before we get thrown back into it. I hardly know how to use this... Keyblade thing."

 "The fact that you're sitting here, right now, possibly means that you're world is gone." Leon finally said. "Mayhaps, it's been consumed by the Darkness whenever the Heartless came. I'm sorry to break it to you, and I don't know how to say it any easier, but you probably won't be seeing you friends, family or world any time soon."

 "Leon--" Yuffie's voice was soft.

 "No." But Leon's was firm. "This is the reality of their situation. There is no sugar coating it."

 I pressed my lips tightly together. I found myself looking at that really, nice rug as I tried to find some composure. I hated that my gut feelings tended to turned out right. But I wouldn't allow myself to believe that earlier today, really was the last day that I would see the ocean.

 I looked up at the two strangers, as they both stared at me expectantly. I could read their expressions perfectly. They were sympathetic, but they really were counting on both of us being on board. I looked over at Sora. He looked pretty deep in thought too. But This Leon dude was right. We didn't really have a whole lot of options anyways. We were now, two fifteen year old kids without a home and nothing to our name except our new, very priceless looking weapons.

 I let go a sigh, attempting to get my decision out, before a loud explosion sounded right within the room. That awful ringing caused my brain to vibrate around in my skull as the world started to double around me. Leon readied his weapon, barking orders around the room.

 "Yuffie, get a move on! You two are with me. Let's go!" He shouted, as he tore through the mini horde of creatures that entered the room.

 I hastily, but carefully got out of bed, which had still managed to be a mistake. Sora who had already summoned Key was nearly out the hole int he wall when he noticed.

 "Yukari, can you manage?" He asked.

 Hesitantly, I summoned my Key. Somehow it felt more heavy than I was used too. I suppose a toy wooden sword was nothing compared to this.

 "I'm good." I said, shaking the stars out of my eyes. I had to be at least 90% right now. Any less meant... turning into one of those Heartless which, was not an option.

 Sora nodded, leading the way out of what I realized was the room of a hotel. We had then, found ourselves in a fancy looking back alley lined with hotel balconies. Leaping over the side we were met with tons of creatures that spotted the length of the alley. Following the man's lead, the two of us hacked and slashed our ways through the enemy horde with surprising ease. I had initially thought, they would have been tougher to deal with, but the little creatures exploded upon impact of the Keyblade, making contact with their black bodies.

 "Where did he go?" Sora shouted, when we'd entered the Second District through a side door of the alley.

 The Heartless quickly closed in behind us, right as we slammed the door. Even still, more lay ahead. The court yard was swarming with the things dancing about, and chasing after people who, let's be honest, should have known better to stay inside.

 "Who cares, let's just keep moving!" I cried out moving ahead of Sora.

 I dashed through another creature that had been chewing on some guys leg. Free of his assailant he clumsily scrambled to his feet and thanked me frantically.

 "Get out of here." I told him. "Make sure you tell everyone else to find safety."

 The guy nodded running off as we continued to free others in need of help. But there was no real point. With one defeated, more spawned in its place. It was as if there was no end to these guys.

 "Let's get out of here." Sora shouted to me, ducking into the alley that led to the last district.

 I followed behind. Once through the door, we were immediately met with the sounds of screaming.

 "Save meee!!" A panicked voice, cried out, resonating around the walls of the district three courtyard.

 "Fight, Goofy!!" A familiar voice screeched, angrily at the first.

 For second I could have sworn, I'd heard that voice somewhere before. As we ran into the square I looked all about myself but saw… nothing. That was until we looked up and noticed the two.. animal people fighting for their lives on the tiny space of a balcony above our heads.

 A single Heartless had them pinned down, but there was nothing we could do to help them.

 "I'm trying!" One of them shouted. This one looked like a sort of black bloodhound, but with the characteristics of a human. He charged towards the Heartless, a bigger one than I'd seen up until now, in attempts to knock it down. But the thing effortlessly swatted the dog out of its, way, sending the dog flying over the side of the balcony.

 Sora and I inched forwards with anticipation, as we watched.

 "Thunder!" The other voice belonging to a white duck... man?! who went barreling after the Heartless.

 Instantly I recognized him from the dream, which would then prove, the dream wasn't exactly that.

 "Maybe we should get up there and help them?" I suggested, glancing over at Sora who's eyes were strained on the pair. His features had been knotted into something of painful anticipation, like he couldn’t bear to watch, but he didn't want to look away.

 "Ah... I don't think we'll need to be doing that." He said, carefully stepping back. "Seems like they're coming to us."

 "Wah--?"

 "aaaaauUAAAHAAAHHHHH!!!"

 The sound of screaming, closing in, caught my attention as I realized, with great displeasure, that the two were now rocketing right in our direction.

 Sora and I both moved to escape their trajectory, but found it to be a fruitless effort, as the bodies of the two newcomers collided with ours, sending us all right into the cool pavement.

 I can say with unwavering confidence, from the bottom of the pile of bodies, this was not a wonderful place to be.

 "Keys!!" The two shouted in unison upon, I assume, the sight of both of our weapons that had been flung across the court yard.

 But their revelation was short lived as an incredible rumbling, shook the ground beneath us. This was then promptly followed by, walls spring up around the yard, and blocking off all of the exits, preventing escape.

 "What happening?" Sora asked aloud, to no one in particular.

 His question was quickly answered when a barrage of armored parts came crashing down out of the night sky. All around us, the pieces fell-- an armored helmet, clawed gauntlets, boots and a torso. The enormous clang of metal rattled my insides an shook my vision. It was great wakeup call but it did little to help my head ache.

 At first the pieces stayed in their places, unmoving. The silence of the night managed to come back, as the ringing subsided.

 "Uhh..." Sora's voice permeated the quiet. "So, who are you guys, again?"

 "Ah!" The dog, who was comfortably on top of our pile, grinned wide. "The names, Goofy, and this here is Donald!"

 "Are you freaking kidding me right now??" I asked, irritated, from the bottom of the heap.

 At the sound of my voice, the ground began to shake. The parts of armor began to rattle as they slowly lifted themselves from the ground, and began hovering before encircling us at dangerous speed.

 "I don't want to sound too urgent." Agitation, was quite prevalent in my voice. "But may this is the best time to get, off??"

 It was in that moment that the boys scrambled to their feet. Sora and I made a grab for our weapons before the four of us huddled together, back to back as the parts, violently encircling us, closed in. The wind from the vortex it was creating, throwing my hair every which way. I clenched the my Keyblade tightly in my hand, hoping this wasn’t the night of my death.

 "Thundaga!!" The duck man, shouted.

 For a second, the world around us darkened before the temperature rose, significantly. From the sky, an impressively sized vein of lightning, came down and struck the armor, without managing to hit us. This threw the monster out of its attack. sending it flying across the length of the court yard. Seemingly dazed, buy only momentarily, the thing twitched and flinched as it stumbled and floated its way to its feet until all of the parts were in their respective places to form a sort of "body."

 "Let's beat him together!" The dog shouted, charging towards the thing with nothing but a shield.

 "Attaaack!!" The duck screeched, flailing his magic staff around, while blast what appeared to be magic spells.

 Sora and I exchanged brief glances of blatant awe struck before following the two into battle. I gripped my blade tightly running into danger. My eyes made contact with the torso, section of the thing and noticed a sort of heart design of red and black, with a X mark running through it. Interestingly enough I realized some of the different, little heartless I'd seen, had those on them as well-- the little buggers with the knight helmets seemed like underlings to this guy?

 I narrowly missed the swiping of both the clawed hands as I threw myself to the ground. Rolling back to my feet, I continued to barrel towards the thing. Of course, this was all while it was coming right at me.

 "Hey!!" I shouted towards the duck. "Can you hit it again!! With that lightning?"

 The duck, having caught my attention furrowed his brow. "I'll need some time!"

 I nodded before I turned to find Sora had paired up with the dog to take down the feet. They were making great progress until they got kicked back and sent flying. I watched with bated breath as the armored boots both came careening in my direction. Skidding to a stop, I hoped to get out of the way in time before they rammed into me.

 Unfortunately for me, I took the blow, being thrown back even closer to the massive armor. Stumbling to my feet, I narrowly avoided being crushed to death. I rolled desperately for my life, slashing at the armor as I did so. Aggressively, I threw my blade through one of the boots and it exploded in a grand fit of dark smoke. Sadly, I wouldn't have time to avoid the other foot that had come rocketing right towards me.

 But it seemed I wouldn’t have to, as the dog, who called himself Goofy leapt in front of me with his shield braced for impact. Impressively the foot imploded before the dog threw his shield at an on-coming claw.

 "Move it!" He shouted, ducking for cover himself.

 He didn't need to tell me twice.

 I dove to the ground right as my head would have been taken off. The wind the claw picked up threw my hair across my face, and into my eyes. I watched as is made preparations for a round trip.

 "Get up!" Sora shouted, as he yanked me up by the shoulder.

 I hadn't even notice that Goofy had already been back on his feet, with his shield in hand.

 "Get ready!!" I heard the duck shouting from across the court yard. He'd come charging our way, with his staff risen over head. "Back me up, Goofy! You two, be ready to finish him off!"

 "Right!" Sora and I exclaimed.

 "THUNDAGAAAA!!" The duck shouted, once more.

 Again, the atmosphere around us dipped before a vein of lightning, larger and more expansive ripped through the air. It targeted only the enormous body of floating parts, ripping the claws to pieces and severely damaging the body and head. Both of the remaining pieces clattered loudly to the ground. Goofy flung his shield at the helmet, while Sora and I rushed in after to deliver the finishing blow.

 Together, we tore through the twitching torso piece with our blades. The thing shuddered violently before exploding into bits of shrapnel and Darkness that clouded the air.

 The boys cheered at the sight of the creature’s demise, while I watched as a shimmering pink, heart floated up into the sky before vanishing into the stars.

  "So, you guys were looking for us?" Sora inquired.

 He and I, along with a Leon, Yuffie, the animal duo and a new girl, stood in the middle of the first district. Surrounded by lights, and other dwellers of this world.

 The new girl, who had introduced herself to me as Aerith, wore a kind smile. She'd been dressed in a light pink button down dress and heavy brown boots. Silver bangles covered her wrist. Her long, light brown hair was tucked into a braid. At that moment, she had been checking my head wound whilst casting what seemed to be multiple, very light doses of healing magic at it. I wasn't going to insist she stopped, because it was definitely getting rid of whatever concussion I had.

 "These two had apparently been sent out to find you, at the request of their king." Leon clarified. "I supposes its only remarkable that there is two of you, but nonetheless, you seem to be prime suspects."

 "Request of your king?" I echoed, thinking back to the letter, the duck man had been reading. I wondered if it was pertinent that I shared the fact that I could see things like that through dreams-- events of people and places and what not. But, I don't know how useful it would be. They'd probably just find that creepy and invasive.

 "You should come with us, on our vessel!" The dog appointed. "We'll be traveling around the multiverse, taking down Heartless together like we just did."

 "We couldn't do it properly without a few Keyblade wielders." The duck egged on.

 "But, what about our friends?" Sora looked to me, with a hopeless expression on his face. "We still haven't found them and we don't even know if they're ok."

 I bit my lip as I stared him. I kindly thanked Aerith, and moved closer to Sora placing a hand on his shoulder. "You said, you looked everywhere in this town." Maybe... they aren't here? Maybe they ended up, somewhere else."

 "She could be right." Leon stated. "This isn't the only world out here, beyond yours. If you go with these guys, you’re bound to find them."

 Sora's frown failed to dissipate even at that bit of confirmation.

 "But, you won't be coming with us, looking like that." The duck insisted.

 "What's wrong with the way we look?" I asked, furrowing my brow.

 "Your faces--"

 "E-excuse me?" I put my hands on my hips. If he was trying to say we had to look like animal hybrids to get into their crew, they had another thing coming.

 "The frowns, you too have." He clarified. "Our ship runs on smiles. If you guys come with us looking like that, we'll exploded before we make it off world."

 I couldn’t tell if this was an exaggeration or not.

 "You guys need to be happy!" The dog agreed. "We'll help you find your friends along the way-- no problem. We'll all be in this together."

 For a moment, Sora face’s was knotted only with concern. I felt like it had been partially my fault for calling out the fact that our island couldn't have possible survived what happened to it. Even still, he'd been really weird about not telling whatever he omitted when I asked about Kairi and Riku.

 I looked back at the duo and forced a grin, for Sora's and Riku and Kairi’s sake. I wanted to find them and ensure their safety more than anything. But, if all the worlds were being taken over by the Heartless, then a reunion would be short lived. "I'll take up, you guys' offer if a smile's all you need."

 Sora looked up at me, curiously.

 "We're gonna find them." I told him. "Together-- and with their help."

 "And we'll still be helping you guys out too!" Yuffie exclaimed.

 I looked over everyone. All genuine, warm smiles across their faces as each of them nodded. Our situation may have seemed hopeless but we definitely weren't alone.

 "Yeah." Sora finally agreed. A big toothy grin, grew across his lips. “We’ll go with you guys."

 The duck nodded, satisfied, as he held out his hand. "Donald Duck." He introduced himself.

 "The name's Goofy." Declared the dog, slapping his hand onto Donald’s.

 They looked to us expectantly waiting to join them.

 "Yukari." I said, placing my hand in next.

 "And I'm Sora."

  After our little huddle we said our goodbyes. The crew each lent us an impressive lump sum of potion's which would help us out with small ailments along our journey. They gave us a bit of money to start, bid us a safe trip, insisted we come back if we found anything useful or needed anything, and sent us off on our way.

 This of course, transitioned into getting to see the vessel that Goofy mentioned prior.

 On the outside, it looked like a little toy made of blocks for giants. On the inside, would be the homiest, space ship I'd ever had the pleasure to grace my presence with. A quick tour around the ship allowed me the chance to learn that it included, four dormitory rooms. A small men's and women's shower, a kitchen that housed enough room to fit that max number of occupants, a lounge room that Donald corrected as the briefing room, as well as a cockpit where'd we be spending the majority of the flights, prepping for world visits.

 "Welcome to our ship!" Goofy announced.

 "Get some rest if you need it." Donald suggested. "Who knows when we'll come up, on our next world. Best be prepared for bigger encounters."

  "And don't even think about touching this and that like you own the place!" Went a very angry, very squeaky, and very tiny voice.

 Our quartet, looked down to find the smallest, cutest, little chipmunks I'd ever seen. Both of them skittered around our feet, as they attempt to hold our attention due to their size.

 "All day I slave away at getting this vessel spotless and ship-shape! So don't try and trash the place, first chance ya get." One of them spat.

　

I knelt over and picked them up in the palms of my hand. Both of them were dressed in little, yellow aprons. A pocket emblazoned with a cog sat in full view. One of them had droopy eyes and big red nose, and double buck, gapped teeth, while the other eyed me suspiciously, sniffing at my gloves with its little black nose.

 "These two are Chip and Dale." Donald informed, as he headed away from our growing party. "They're the ones responsible for the maintenance of the gummi ship."

　

"Howdy! I'm Dale!" The red nosed one greeted with a soft smile.

　

"And you two, take off your shoes when you go into that cockpit!" The one I presumed to be chip, hollered, before they boys leapt out of my hands and scurried off. But not before Chip could get in his final, nag. "I won't have ya dirtying it up!"

 "Just make sure to refuel and get some rest." Goofy reminded. "You can join us in the cockpit when you’re ready"

 Sora and I nodded as Goofy left us alone near the entrance of the ship. I looked to Sora, who'd been gazing around in complete awe. I had to say this place was amazing, but at the same time, I felt like the rest, Donald and Goofy mentioned, seemed like a welcoming treat after everything we'd endured tonight.

 "I guess, I'll go check out the rooms." I said. "Wanna come with or--"

 "Sure." Sora nodded.

 Together we wandered around until we found the dorms. The first one I found, I decided to claim, plopping myself right into the bed. It wasn't super comfy, but it was still a place to lie my head when things calmed down, I suppose.

 The room itself was pretty sweet too. An expansive wall made completely of sealed, air tight glass that showed the stars and things of space that zoomed by. Everything was simplistic. A small locker like closet a desk and chair, and a bed.

 I looked up to find, Sora had been gazing out at the view of space. His face on the verge of drooping.

 "Sora?" I called him away from his thoughts.

 He looked at me, with a changed expression that masked whatever he was feeling. I suppose I wouldn't try to bring up what had been really been bothering him. Didn't want to explode the ship just yet.

 "If you get scared, you can sleep in my room." I teased.

 Sora grinned a bit, as he joined me at the bed side. Rolling his eyes he sat down. "You think they're okay?" He asked, in a quiet voice.

 For a moment, I wasn't sure what I should have said, but I had no way of knowing the truth. "I do." I said, smiling softly at him.

 "But the Island is--"

 "Who cares about that right now." I stopped him. "What matters is that you and I are together. We're safe. And as long as we stick together, and work with Donald and Goofy, we'll find the others."

 "Do you really believe that?" He asked.

 "Why not?" I shrugged. "Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense not to hope."

 For a second, Sora’s face went dark. I could see in his eyes that something had been bothering him.

 "What is it?" I asked.

 He stayed quiet a moment longer before deciding to respond. "I... I mean, back before we got to Traverse Town... I met him in the storm-- on the Island before you came." He twisted his mouth a bit, before continuing. I guess he was still trying to make sense of what he was about to say. "Riku said... He wasn't afraid of the darkness." Sora continued. "Do you think he meant, THE Darkness? The one that has to do with the Heartless?"

 I frowned at this revelation. But what could I say? I hadn't been there when it happened, I couldn't even be sure of the context. I shook my head, trying to put it out of both of our thoughts.

 "I don't think we should worry about that yet." I supplied, for both of our peace of mind. "We'll ask Riku what he meant when we find him."

 Sora nodded quietly. "Yeah..." He agreed. "When we find him-- Him and Kairi. And then maybe they'll join us."

 "Quite an idea! It wouldn't hurt grow the group." A voice chirped, startling both Sora and I.

 Looking down at the floor, we found a smartly dressed cricket standing proudly at our feet. In a tail coat an top hat, a wide grin spread across his tiny face as he did a gentleman’s bow. "How do you do?"

 "Ooookay, I guess privacy is out the window." I said under mind breath, staring wide eyed at the little bug.

 "Whoa.." Sora awed. "You're so small. What are you doing here?"

 "Jiminy Cricket's the name!" He introduced. "I couldn't help but over hear your discussion. You say you've lost your world, eh? Well the same thing's happened to mine. So I've taken up residence with the crew and have been sent out to record the goings on for the journey ahead at the request of the King."

 "Ahh.." I tried not to be rude and inquire why he'd been eaves dropping. "Sorry to hear about your world. Glad you made it out okay."

 "But of course!" The cricket supplied, jumping onto Sora's knee from the floor.

 "I’m, Sora and this is Yukari." Sora greeted. "Nice to meet you. I'm guessing you'll be pretty busy with all that writing."

 "Oh, of course! Feel free to suggest anything I might miss."

 "Yeah, sure." Sora turned to me, as he got to his feet. The cricket, Jiminy leapt on to his shoulder as if to hitch a ride. "I'm gonna head to the cockpit with the others. You comin'?"

 "Uhh... I think I'll catch a quick nap." I said, eyeing Jiminy. "Wake me up when we're ready for landing."

 Sora nodded before he headed out of the room, closing the door behind him.

 Once alone, I sighed, lying back in the bed. I found myself gazing out at the stars that flew by. Sora's words about Riku hadn't left me. Closing my eyes I hoped that maybe it wasn't something that was cause for concern, but the dreams would ultimately correct that notion.

 I was taken to a scene where a communion of conveniently shadowed figures stood around a sort of magical table that projected an image of... Sora Donald Goofy and I, back when we'd pledged our party-ship in Traverse Town. Now feeling very watched, I floated closer, attempting to grasp the going's on.

 Within the dark room, low lit by green flames, I gathered that there had been about six shapes, conversing with each other.

 "The little brats, took down that Heartless!" One of the voices raged. "Who would've thought?"

 "Such is the power of the Keyblade." Went another voice. "Their powers aren't their own."

 "Why not just turn them into a Heartless and be done with them." A woman's voice happily chimed in. "Solve to problem, quick and easy."

 "Those brats' friends, are the king's lackey's. Swoogle me eyes! Their all bilge rats by the looks of them." Spoke another.

 "You're know prize, yourself." Went yet another.

 "Shut up!!"

 "Enough!" A final voice boomed from the shadows. Her voice was the only one to be matched with a face, as she stepped into the little light that danced about the room.

 Looking into her yellow eyes, her blacked pupils gazed evilly at the image of our party on the table. Draped in high collared robes of black and violet, her green skin and horned cowl, complimented the cunning expression that waltzed onto her black stained lips. "The Keyblade has already chosen these two. But will it be they who conquers the Darkness, or perhaps will it swallow them? Either way, we shall watch them closely, as they could pose to be useful. Especially the girl."

 Her grin grew wider, and in that moment, it looked as though she had made direct eye contact with my ghostly form, sat across the room. But, before I could take much stalk in the idea, I was thrown into another scene.

 Dizzying colors of blue, spun around my vision until I found myself in the strangest, place I'd ever seen. Blue cliffs, rose up around me, ushering heaps of rising... water falls defying gravity in every means possible. Water shot towards the heavens as if this place existed in reverse. What was more, was the chunks of rock, floating through the air. Completely awe struck, I almost hadn't noticed a figure of blue and yellowed, curled up atop one of them.

 Urgently I found myself reaching out to them. My heart raced at the sight of their waking face, a mess of confusion and fear.

 "Riku!!" I shouted.

 But of course he couldn't hear me. All the same, he sat forth, gazing about himself as if looking for the source of the voice.

 "Where... where am I?" He asked, the silence.

 I tried again to call out for him, but was met with no sign of him being able to hear me. My heart, lurched into my gut when I felt myself being pulled away from the scene. The world around me began to darken, and Riku’s image began to blur.

　

"W-wait! I'm not ready yet!" I cried out to no one. But that didn’t matter. The darkness around me quickly took over. Tendrils of black, smoke and ooze, shot out from the darkness. A hissing sounded in my ears, flooding my body with immediate terror. The pitch black face with yellow eyes and red mangled teeth appeared from within the darkness.　

　

"Sleeeeeep!!" the thing hissed, coming at me with alarming speed.

 I screamed, trying to fight the thing and get away, but realized, I had woken up, back in my dorm upon the ship. Breathing heavily, I checked myself before realizing my face was drenched with tears.　

To Be Continued

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