Dear Reader,

I have just come off of a Kingdom Hearts III preview binge... Who here as seen "Birth by Sleep"? If you haven't go to youtube NOW and SEE it. It is so freaking amazing and will give you several shock attacks and will more than likely kill all of those with heart problems. I nearly died. Then I started crying. I don't really remember getting home, but I just had to write something.

This fic has so much borrowed stuff to it that I can't even begin my disclaimers so I'll just say,

I don't own what I don't own.

Love to the freaky geezer who looks like a grampified Ansem and hugs to the Roxas-clone and the sweety with the blue hair. I don't need to hug the freaky 'my eyes can change color' man because I'll just end up drooling on him. Hotchayowza.

Here is to Lone-chan because she won't be able to read this until she sees it and she hates spoilers. Irvine, be a dear and watch BBS so that you can read this? Please?

Stay safe
Stay healthy
Sincerely,

Starr Bryte

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The bathroom of the Gummiship Highwind was tiny. Only a shower, a toilet, a towel rack and a sink with a mirror above it. But the shower had warm water and that was all Sora cared about right then. His body ached from head to toe. That last battle had really worn him out. One thousand Heartless in one go. Usually he never kept count, but it was kind of hard not to when surrounded by a full army of them. He winced as the harsh soap trickled into a cut. As battles went this one wasn't that bad. It was rather surprising really. He frowned. That Nobody he fought. What was his name? Demyx. That's it. What Demyx had said confused him. Who's Roxas? He was Sora. He would know if he wasn't. Wouldn't he?

SILENCE TRAITOR

The phantom voice was loud in his head. It made his ears ring and echo the last word over and over. And that word stung. Clapping his hands over his ears he leaned to the side, against the wall. Over and over that word reverberating and his heart aching with pain.

Traitortraitortraitoroxastraitortraitortraitoroxastraitortraitortraitoroxastraitortraitortraitortraitor

"I didn't do anything wrong!" He hissed softly, "I'm not a traitor!" But those accusing eyes refused to leave.

Talk about blank with a capital "B"

The voice was different. Familiar. He heard that voice recently. But it was all muddled in his head. He was tired. So very tired. He needed to take a nap before they reached the next world so he could continue his search for Riku so they could go back to the Islands. The rest could wait until later.

Why?! Why do you have the Keyblade?!

Is it that hard to make a beach?

We're friends, right?

Roxas!

"Stoppit!" He hissed, knocking his head against the wall. Had he hit his head during that battle? Was that why he was hearing things he knew he never heard before with voices that he knew he heard before but hadn't?

To market to market to buy a fat pig, home again home again jiggidy jig

A feminine voice. His mother? No. Olette? No. Kairi? No. A mixture of the three? The sing-song voice sent weird chills down his spine, fingernails raking down his nerves.

To market to market to buy a fat hog, home again home again jiggidy jo-

"STOPPIT!" He cried, cutting the voice off. He shivvered. The water was cold. Donald was going to yell at him for using all the hot water. Turning the faucet off he reached for a towel and wrapped it around his waist. His mother would freak if she could see him now. He was getting skinny. Lack of sleep, worry and only existing on ration bars did that. But he was also muscular. He was growing up. He had to take care of himself. But there was time for that after he found Riku. The rest could wait until later.

Maybe you should be asking... About her...?

Take care of her...

"She's safe..." He muttered, "I know she is. She's on the islands. The islands are safe. She is safe." But the Nobodies were threatening worlds. If they found Destiny Islands. Kairi would be in danger. And he had overheard that stars were beginning to blink out once again. If it happened once it could happen twice. If anything happened to her. If anything happened to her... He didn't know what he would do.

Take care of her...

You... Are the Keyblade of Light...

Only you can stop them Sora...

"What if I don't want to?" He asked the empty room, "What if I don't want to be a hero What if I don't want to save the worlds?" As soon as the murmured words passed his lips he felt a crushing agony in his heart. If he didn't save the worlds then Riku's life was forfeit. Then Kairi's life was forfeit. If he wanted to protect them he had to protect everyone. His missions were so intertwined that there was no separating them even if he wanted to. It was just that simple. But for the first time Sora saw his missions as burdens. He just wanted to find Riku and go home to Kairi. The rest could wait until later.

You can't just turn your back on the Organization!

Watch me

SILENCE TRAITOR

"Ow!" His head hurt. Shaking his head to clear it he looked up and met his gaze in the mirror. The lights on his wet hair made it almost look metallicly blonde. He blinked and suddenly the almost-stranger in his mirror was-

He choked and stumbled back, knocking into the towel rack. He slapped a hand over his mouth to cover a hysterical sob. The person in the mirror stared back at him sightlessly, a vague look of pained horror on his face. His eyes. Sora's eyes staring back at him. His skin was blue-grey and his lips parted in surprise. His eyes. Sora's eyes stared at him accusingly.The armor he wore was cracked and crumbling. Frozen. A hand wearing a heavy gauntlet reached towards him.

Talk about blank with a capital "B"

Don't you remember?

Thank Namine... I won't forget...

You were a mistake.

Never supposed to exist.

It's my right!

I want to know

I have the right to know

You don't have a right to know.

You don't even have a right to be.

No one would miss me.

That's not true!

I would...

Red hair, wild and untamed. Tatooes and screaming witch-fire eyes. Crazed. Empty. Obsessed. Posessed. A familiar crooked grin.

This man speak nonsense!

A darkened room, the only light coming from the open door that lead to the hallway. Two figures covered in shadow. They were talking but there was no sound. He squinted, trying to see their faces. The taller one grinned, backing the shorter up against the wall. The taller one leaned his arm against the wall and leaned closer. The shorter one put his hand on the other's chest. Suddenly they were kissing. The taller one wrapping his arms around the other and holding that person close. Burying his face in his neck. The shorter one tilted his head to the side and turned slightly to the light baring accusing eyes. Familiar eyes. Sora's eyes. Accusing and glaring burning holes into him with their dull, resigned anger.

Let's meet again... In the next life...

Yeah... I'll be waiting...

Silly... Just because you have a next life-

...You make me feel that way too...

Why?! Why do you have the Keyblade?!

Shut up!

Sora covered his eyes and scooted backwards until he hit the wall, but he could still see that achingly familiar face in the mirror, frozen and still, so still, staring at him. Blank eyes. Familiar eyes. Sora's eyes with pained desperation. Trying to make him understand. Trying to relay a message.

Something so simple... The memory beyond... Something so natural... Everything is coming back to me... The true-

Where's Sora?

"Here I am..." He whispered.

His voice used to be there all the time... And now it's gone...

"Here I am..." He repeated.

Can you feel Sora?

"Here I am..."

My heart belongs to me!

Sora..?

You're lucky...

Look's like my summer vacation...

Is over...

You should give some of that hatred to Sora, he's far to nice for his own good.

At last the Keyblade's Chosen One.

Who are you talking to?

Me?

Or Sora?

I am a servant of the world.

And if I'm a servant... Well...

That must make you a tool...

Please! A name!

I'm Roxas.

Alright, Roxas... But can you give me HIS name?

You are no longer needed.

What is your name..?

...Sora...

SORA

SORAXORAXSRAXSOAXSORXSORASAXOROXASORAXORAXSRAXSOAXSORXSORASORAX

ROXAS

...Roxas...

The new you...

You won't dissappear!

You'll be whole again!

He needs you Roxas!

Sora needs you!

Help him!

"Help me..." Sora whispered, rocking, "Kairi... Riku... Help me..."

I am a servant of the world.

That must make you a tool.

Sora...

The whisper in his head was so soft. So faint. So familiar. It called to him from far away. The frozen reflection in his mirror stared at him. Begging him for help. So far away. Too far away. Far, far too late to help. The ice blue lips moved. The mouth forming words it no longer had the ability to make. Slowly. Carefully. Drawn by something more than fear. Drawn by pity or horror or sorrow. Sora watched as that familiar mouth with that familiar chin with that familiar face with that familiar head with those familiar eyes and ears and throat and hair. He watched as that familiar person that wasn't him spoke and he whispered them softly to himself making them catch and echo in the chill, damp air of the bathroom.

"...Birth... By... Sleep..."

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In her cage that never was in the castle that never was in the city that never was in the world that never was Kairi fought back a scream as her reflection on the pure white walls changed. A girl. In cracked and damaged armor. Clutching what could only be a keyblade in one hand. Familiar face smuged with dirt. Horror and fear in her eyes. Familiar eyes. Familiar face. Familiar body. Familiar lips parted in fear and horror and desperate sadness. She stared at Kairi with aching hope and formed a single word with those familiar lips.

"...Fate..."

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In the land of Dragons, on a snow covered mountainside, Riku fell to his knees, clutching his head. He could smell the darkness rising. He could smell the light rising to meet it. He could feel something change. Something twist. Something break. He could feel something there. Closer, closer. There. Staring at him. Looking up the light reflected off of the snow into his eyes, blinding him. And in the whiteness he saw a familiar shape. A dark haired shape in battle dented armor. Helmet tucked under one arm, Keyblade held in the other. A familiar shape. A familiar face. And those eyes. Those eyes. Sora's eyes. Those familiar eyes staring at him, tensing. Changing. Darkness growing and familiar blue eyes changing. A color he only saw in the eyes of his enemy. Light and Darkness mixed poured through his senses. An abomination. Something that shouldn't exist but did. Something that existed because he existed. Familiar lips. Familiar anger and sorrow and determination and pain filled those familiar features. The familiar lips moved and Riku didn't have to guess at the words they formed for they already existed within him.

"...Vengence..."

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In a white room in an abandoned mansion in a town forever cast in twilight Namine suddenly grabbed her sketchbook. Her fingers burned. Her hands tingled. Her arms twitched. Her mind screamed. She scrabbled for a pencil and feverishly drew what her senses shreiked at her. She tried to follow what she was drawing. A man. Two men. Side by side. One old. The other young. Dark skin. Yellow eyes. Familiar. Familiar and terrifying. A familiar coat. A familiar power. A familiar smirk. Crazed and horrifying. And the other. Armored. Familiar. She tried to control the drawing. Pushing her powers to the limit. She had to know. She had to.

"...Who are you..." She whispered, "...Show me your face..." But her control was ripped from her and a helmet obscured the figures features. But achingly familiar they were. So familiar. So strange. Familiar and horrifying and-

"No..." Namine whispered, "Please no..." The man grinned crazily up at her, his companion faithfully at his side. The familiar grin. The familiar eyes. And she could almost hear a familiar voice.

It is too late...

It has already begun...

And the Memory Witch cursed her powers for as she drew her powers pulled at the threads of fate and began a new pattern to the tapestry of time. What was done could not be undone for it had already been done. Even though her tears smeared the lead and made the figures undistinguishable there was no taking it back.

Because the pencils Namine used didn't have erasers.

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Mickey clutched at his heart as the Keyblade in his hand flashed gold and pulsed with energy. Shaking his head he opened a door and quickly stepped through it. Immediately voices raised in a cacophony of screams overwhelmed him. Each voice shrieking to be heard. Each word stinging like acid and burning like fire.

Birth by sleep

A sealed tale of truth

A fate that occurs not by chance

The fate of all is inevitable

Each of their fates

Each of their fates

Inevitable

Unchangeable

The fate of all

Birth by sleep

The fate of all

Pass through and gather together

Gather together

Pass through

The fate of all

Inevitable

Birth by sleep

A new story awaits the awakening

Birth by sleep

Inevitable

"... We are running out of time..." He murmured and began to run, struggling to out run that one horrible thought, knowing that horrible thought would catch up when he was unaware. And no matter how fast her ran, eventually it did.

We are running out of time... If we haven't run out of time already...

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"-Ra? Sora? You okay in there?"

Goofy's voice through the door. Sora twitched and groaned. His body felt like one enormous bruise and there was a sharp pain in his leg. Looking down her groaned again. When he had fallen he had cut his leg. It wasn't bad, but bad enough to bleed and be generally annoying. A cure spell easily cured it.

"I'll be out in a minute..." He called groggily.

"It better be more than a minute!" Donald yelled, "You've been in there for over an hour!" Adjusting his towel Sora rolled his eyes and caught himself in the mirror. He shivvered. The frozen boy was gone. So was the angry boy. All that was left was Sora. But the Sora in the mirror seemed... different somehow. Nothing so easily noticeable, but it bothered Sora.

"SO-RA!"

"Coming, coming!" He yelled back opening the door. He brushed past their worried faces, knowing that they knew him well enough to tell when something was wrong. He grabbed his clothes from his cubby-hole near the cockpit and made his way back to the head.

"Let's just get to the next world, we still need to find Riku..." And just like that Sora shoved it out of his mind. All that mattered was Riku, the rest could wait until later...

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How can I pretend that I don't see
What you hide so carelessly?
I saw her bleed
You heard me breathe
And I froze inside myself and turned away

I must be dreaming

We all live
We all die
But that does not begin to justify
You

It's not what it seems
It's not what I think
God, I must be dreaming

It's only in my mind
Not what I realize
God, I must be dreaming

Somehow I just know I've got to tell someone
Tell them what I know you've done
I fear you
But spoken fears can come true

We all live
We all die
But that does not begin to justify
You

It's not what it seems
It's not what I think
God, I must be dreaming
It's only in my mind
Not what I realize
God, I must be dreaming

I must be dreaming