The Hero of Knowing

When you dream, how do you know which world you visited is the real one? Is the dream real and the life you live really the dream? If life is all seen through your own eyes, how can you tell if you're really awake? I can't tell anymore, which reality I truly live in. I can't tell anyone that though, I'm too scared of what they'll do with me. What will become of me. I'm not crazy, I know it. Or maybe I am. Or maybe, I'm always dreaming, and I don't belong to any reality.

I open my eyes staring at the ceiling of my jail cell, "How long have I been here now? Two, maybe three months? What was the question, how long ago was it that the visions started? About that time, too. Yes, yes. About that time."

I turn my gaze to the ebony haired woman in the lab coat. She stares sternly at me behind thin glasses. She pushes her glasses up with her palm slightly as she sighs, "And these delusions? Can you tell me what you see again, Sora?"

I sigh, "Why? So you can keep telling the other doctors I'm crazy?"

I snicker, "Sweetheart, you have no idea who I am, do you?"

She doesn't miss a beat, "You're Sora Hikemi, sixteen-years-old. You were put under out care a few months ago when you suddenly started falling ill to delusions. You've also taken on a persona that you've named Vanitas."

I laugh, looking back at the ceiling, "I created him, huh? No, no, it wasn't me. I'm just who he wants to become."

I start muttering to myself, "He wants to become a part of me so the war can be continued. It has to be continued, the world needs to end so it can begin again, begin right. Begin, begin right this time. Make it right this time. I have to find him, I have to-"

"Sora!"

I wince, looking back at her with a tired gaze, "What?"

"Tell me about Vanitas," she says, "Tell me what it is he wants you to do?"

I twist my hands, pulling lightly against the restraints keeping me to my bed, "He wants.. To finish what he started."

"What who started?" she asks, "What does he want to finish?"

I shrug, looking back at the ceiling, "You're not really listening, you don't really want to help me. You just want to keep me here."

She sets her clipboard aside, "I do want to help you, Sora. You're suffering from a form of delusion personality disorder. It's nothing to be ashamed of. We need to break the delusion and get rid of this persona you've created. Once you're cured, you can go home. But you have to help us. You have to understand that this, where you are now, this is the real reality. That other place, that battlefield you talk about, that doesn't exist. Vanitas doesn't exist."

I close my eyes, "When they come for you, I won't save you. Because you won't believe me. Oh, but you'll believe me when it's far too late to matter."

"Who's coming for me, Sora?" she asks.

I open my eyes and look back at her. I smile, "The Heart Snatchers. I can see it. They're going to rip your heart out of your chest, and you're going to watch them eat it as you lie dying."

She suddenly looks very angry and she stands, grabbing her clipboard, "Death threats are not a good way to get released."

I shrug again, looking back to the ceiling, "They'll be here in three days. One way or another, I'm getting out of here, and the war will continue."

She storms out and slams the cell door behind her. I laugh, "I'm coming for you, Ventus. And when I find you, I'm going to make you pay for what you did to me! The war will continue, the world will fall! It has to be made anew! It's the only way, the world is still broken from then. I will fix it, I will make the world begin again, just like I was supposed to then. Three days.. Three days.. Heheheh.. I'm coming.. I'm coming.. Heheheheheh.."

I pull against the restraints again, twisting my wrists and curling and uncurling my fingers. I finally slip my hands free and sit up, smiling wide. I scoot up and unlatch the restraints at my ankles. I turn, sitting on the bed with my feet hanging off, barely touching the floor. I giggle, "Three days, three days. Two days, one day. Who can tell when? I can, I lied. Heheheheheh! The Heart Snatchers are coming. They'll be here tonight. Heheheh, it's time to go, Sora, time to go. We have to go. Time to find Ventus."

I move and stand on the bed, pushing at the window, trying to open it. A doctor comes into the room, "Hey! How did you get out of your restraints?!"

I jump behind the bed, then flip it, throwing it at the doctor. It lands on him and he yelps. I run over and jump over the bed, getting to the door that's now unlocked. I leave the room and look around, just two halls, right and left. If I go right, they'll apprehend me. Left it is. I turn and run down the hall to the left. As I run, I can see every move I can possibly make and which ones will get me caught. Sora, go right, there's a door at the end of the hall, there won't be doctors down that way. You can leave, the door is unlocked. I obey Vanitas's instructions and make my escape of the institution.