So, ummm... Here's a small one-shot for after KH2, but before KH3. Or 3D. Don't know if its only a side-story yet, but I don't think it is. (Is it...? Could it possibly be...? THE FINAL INSTALLMENT OF KINGDOM HEARTS?) Its basically showing I'm alive, and I'm really working on The Price of Freedom.

Sometimes, I have nightmares. Or maybe they're dreams, I'm not sure. They normally have Roxas and Axel, or people that look like them. I figured out they weren't really Roxas or Axel sometimes when someone who looked like Saix came in. He called the Roxas look-a-like "Ven" and the Axel "Lea." In turn, Lea called the Saix look-a-like "Isa." I was always seeing through Ven's eyes, watching what he was watching.

At times, Ven seemed more downcast. When that happened, he was Roxas, but when he was happier and more upbeat, he was Ven. It was strange, too; I knew what they were saying, but I couldn't hear them. It was like my own mind was supplying the conversation. Sometimes, when Axel was actually Axel, my mind was a whirlwind of confusion. The few times when Axel was Lea, my mind was again a storm of confused thoughts, but they weren't as bad. They were strange thoughts, like about people named "Terra," "Aqua," and some boy in a mask.

Ventus sometimes met Terra and Aqua. Aqua almost looked like an older, blue-and-short-haired version of Kairi. Terra was strange. Despite all of the darkness I felt from him at times, Ven never seemed scared of him. A brief thought flew through my head – And I knew it was mine because I could actually hear my voice – that this Terra looked familiar somehow. It hit me in the waking world later when I joined Kairi and Riku in a game of volleyball. Terra looked like a brown-haired, gray-blue-eyed Riku when Riku was Xemnas.

Even stranger dreams came with that discovery. The kind where all we felt was rage and bitterness. Ven was inside his own heart, battling his evil side. His evil side who looked a lot like me.

Vanitas was his name. The only difference between me and him was he had jet-black hair and gleaming golden eyes. According to Ven, Vanitas was the boy in the mask. During their fight, Ven's body was on autopilot, attacking everyone and everything around him. Aqua was calling his name and blocking his attacks, never once attempting to hit him. Finally, Ven won the battle, but not the war.

Even after her friend attacked her, Aqua still protected Ven. Ven's heart had shattered as a result of light and dark sides colliding and being pressed into one body. After picking up his body at Yen Sid's tower, Ven had unconsciously opened a portal into another world. Aqua stepped though it and her eyes watered at the destruction. It seemed like a small portion of the world has been torn off, and the chains connecting the buildings were floating in zero-gravity. Ven seemed to see all of this through half-lidded eyes. Aqua set him down on a chair and the last Ven saw was Aqua walking out from the newly-made white room.

Now I know what the small pink bubble was that I saw when I around five. And now I wonder… how can I carry so many hearts? Ven was a Keyblade wielder, training to be a Keyblade Master. Kairi was a Princess of Heart. How could I hold two important hearts, besides my own? When I released Kairi's heart and I became a Heartless, what happened to Ven's heart? What will happen to Ven?

Terrifying pictures flooded my head as I asked all these questions. What scared me the most, though, was when Ven, Terra, and Aqua was replaced by me, Riku, and Kairi. The moment I woke up, I went out to the island and sat on the Paopu tree. My hands held my head as I waited for Riku and Kairi. It felt like hours before they came, and I almost cried with relief, because I had thought something similar had already started happening. Riku was the first to notice something, so he came to the tree, a silver eyebrow cocked and Kairi following. I launched myself at them, hugging the both and telling them "I love you" and "You guys are my best friends." When Riku asked what was wrong, normally sharp teal eyes softened and he hugged my crying self and a confused-but-still-sentimental Kairi. He whispered, "Nothing can separate us."

"Us" was a nice word. It meant forever, and connection. It meant no matter where we really were, we wouldn't forget each other. "Us" wasn't a word Riku used lightly. It was a word that he used when he meant we were supposed to stay together, and kept that promise. "Us" meant that he intended for us to be best friends forever. It was a word he used only for me and Kairi and him. We looked at each other, their figures blurred through my salty tears. Someday, maybe Ven, Terra, and Aqua will become an "Us." Or maybe they already were, and they'll meet up together. Maybe they were like me, Riku, and Kairi, where we'll always be connected by our hearts. I smiled crookedly and there was a small voice in the back of my head. It kind of sounds like my voice. It's light and happy, even though it sounds like it's been weathered by sorrow. It seems to smile and chuckle softly. My smile grows to a grin and the voice grins with me.

"Sora…" the voice starts, "Thank you. We'll be waiting."

Basically, its just since Ven's heart is still stuck in Sora (because of Roxas, and the end of KH2, and all that jazz), I figured that Sora would be made aware of Ven's presence, and since Ven actually has a body now in the form of Roxas, they'd be able to communicate. Like, Ven's heart isn't completely disabled now, and all of Ven's memories and thoughts, along with Roxas, would kind of go through Sora's head as dreams. (Did you guys see what I did with the paragraphs?)

And also, if anyone has any questions about the Kingdom Hearts games, I've played them all and connected everything. So, if you guys are confused on the series itself, you can ask a question, and I'll answer it. Well, to the best of my ability.