CHAINED TOGETHER

Wher-…

Where am I?

A boy wondered as he opened his deep blue eyes amidst the yawning blackness. He felt weightless and unmoving. Frozen, with shadows blanketing him. Sora blinked and gradually looked around, slowly, as if within dense water. His tired gaze only slid over more unbreakable darkness.

One sky, one destiny. You are tied to so many, Keybearer.

Who-

Sora became a bit more alert as he heard (and…felt?) a voice fill the void as well as his very being with words. Powerful speech that pulsed against his skin. The boy attempted to turn and scan the area, only able to move sluggishly.

So many that you will never forget, and that will never forget you.

He still attempted to find something in the blackness, the source of the voice. However, he halted as he caught sight of something, recognition entering his eyes; in the distance, there was girl, with red hair past her shoulders, unconsciously sitting against an invisible wall, wrapped in chains, as well as a boy with white hair, also not awake, in the same position nearby.

Kairi…Riku…

Sora recognized, shock entering his face. He reached hand towards the faraway two and started to run towards them. Still, each step, each movement, it was all so slow. Time seemed endless, but the darkness seemed too thick to even move through.

Far too many scattered memories that sit, without a heart to remember…

Now, Sora stopped and looked over his shoulder, seeing more people, who were lined up, heads lowered and eyes closed. A boy that looked similar to him, but with spiky, blond hair. A girl with short black hair. Another girl with blond hair tucked over her shoulder.

The shadows started to become impossible to move in. Sora felt his limbs start to freeze up.

Wha-what?

Always connected. Always chained together.

A sharp slit of darkness slid up to Sora's face, and his wide, blue eyes followed it. No, he couldn't even flex his fingers or twitch a muscle. Suddenly, he felt a sliver of pain against his cheek and felt a wet drop slowly slide down his cheek. His eyes then flickered over to the blond boy, watching as a similar, horizontal cut appeared on his cheek, with crimson blood dripping down his face.

Always intertwined. Always shackled.

Sora glanced back at the red-haired girl and white-haired boy, only able to watch as diagonal cut was made on the girl's cheek. When he looked back at the blonde and black haired girls, the same cut was made on their faces.

Countless bonds. Countless memories!

Now, he saw more people appear; by Kairi was a woman with short blue hair and eyes peacefully closed; by Riku, he saw a dark-skinned man with silky white hair, another man like that but with spiky white hair, a man with the same hair only with a bit of a lighter shade skin, an aged man with a bald head a small beard, and a young, light-skinned man with spiky, brown hair (Sora only managed to recognize the first three men as Ansem, Xemnas and Xehanort. The rest he didn't know); Lastly, by his own side, he saw two boys, one was another with spiky, blonde hair and the other looked like Sora, only with black hair.

Each and every memory.

Gaze shifting back over to Riku and the group around him, he then watched as a diagonal cut was made on the cheek of brown-haired man as a horizontal cut was made on the cheek of the old man. To Sora's horror, he watched as both cuts appeared on Xehanort's face, then Ansem and Xemnas, and Riku's as well. In panic, Sora looked over at Kairi, seeing a cut being made on the blue haired girl's cheek, which appeared on Kairi's face, then the blonde girl's, Namine, and the black-haired girl's. When the boy looked back at the blond-haired boy that was beside the black-haired one, he watched a diagonal cut appear the former's cheek, and then he felt it cross over his current cut. He ignored the pain for a moment as he saw it also on the black-haired boy's face, and the other blond-haired boy, who had the same cuts as Sora.

All shackled together.

Now, chilling terror gripped Sora's innards. Suddenly, more cuts were being made by sharp shadows. These cuts then spread to the others as if by a chain reaction. It didn't take long, for everyone's faces to be covered in slashes, with blood dripping down their skin messily. Sora cried out for his friends, for those he didn't know, for everyone. He felt his own wet, warm blood pour from his stinging wounds, blinding his eyes and slipping into his mouth, choking him. He coughed and continued to scream. His words. His voice. His movements. Everything was lost in the darkness. Red was filling his sight and his throat, engulfing him. Sora, losing breath, sputtered the names of his friends, hand outstretched as he lost himself, covered in crimson.

"Kairi! Riku!" his voice desperately tore through the air. Sora panted with sweat dripping down the side of his face. He then paused and opened his blue eyes wide in realization.

Sora was sitting in his bed, with the moonlight outside his window glowing upon the beach shore. His heart was pounding, and he quickly put a hand to his cheek, feeling only smooth, untouched skin. Elsewhere, he heard a concerned voice in another part of the house calling for him worriedly. The boy wordlessly slid out onto his bare feet and wiped the sweat off his brow. He sighed, closing his eyes, and let his pulse slow down to a rhythmic beat.

One sky. One destiny.