A/N: I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS OR THE MOVIE TIMER!
Sora bolted up on the couch, sweat covering his face. 'What was that weird dream?' he thought as he wiped the sweat from his face.
He tried to think back on it but all that he could remember was it had something to do with black monsters, a magical duck, and something called nobodies.
'Weird. I really need to not eat so much sugar before bed, Roxas always warned me it would eventually catch up to me.'
Not really feeling up to the idea of moving from the warm couch into his bed for the night Sora prepared to fall back asleep, trying to purge the odd yet haunting dream from his mind.
….
….
….
'Dang it' he thought sitting up once more. 'I might as well just turn on the TV.'
He grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. At first the light from the giant screen was blinding but his eyes quickly became adjusted. On the screen was an all to familiar infomercial, one that had been playing for as long as he can remember.
( "We really are soul mates" says a woman sitting on a couch with a man holding her hand. A bar at the bottom of the screen names them as Adriana and Mark McDougal. "I had never even believed in the idea until I met Mark, and now I can't imagine my life without him."
"The Timer really does work" says the man known as Mark. "As soon as our eyes met across the room, both of our timers started to beep. All of our friends were really excited for us." He looks over at the woman lovingly.
The scene changes to a woman in a park reading a book on a picnic basket. Afrisbee comes flying her way and she looks up, as she does the scene freezes and turns black and white. An announcer starts speaking over the still frame.
"Just another soon to be encounter with a stranger, but what if this stranger was 'The One'? How would you know?"
The scene starts again and the woman looks up meeting the eyes of a handsome man. Then something starts to beep. The woman looks down at her wrist to find that it was her Timer. The best way to explain the object would be a digital watch attached to your wrist. It is not help on by a band however, but appears glued to your skin. In actuality it is pierced there, like an earring.
The camera zooms in on the band and the word 'FOUND' can be read with a blue heart on each side. Then the camera switches to the mans wrist where the same word was displayed though his had a red heart on either side.
The scene then cuts to them sitting on the blanket together seemingly in deep conversation. The man's voice returns.
"Take the guesswork out of love. The Timer tells you the exact time you first meet eyes with your true love. It does this by measuring the chemical in your brain that creates the feeling of love. When you meet eyes with someone those chemicals are activated. When this happens it sends out a signal to all other devices in the vicinity. If your soul mate has a Timer as well, both will receive the signals being sent out and start to beep."
Then there are dozens of pictures of various happy couples flashing across the screen.
"Why risk the heartbreak?" The man states. "Know it is real from the moment you meet."
Then he begins to talk rapidly, like an old time auctioneer. "The Timer Inc. is not responsible for who your soul mate is. They are not responsible if you fall in love with any relatives, co-workers, or any close friends who you do not at the moment fell any romantic ties towards. They are not responsible if your soul mate is your worst enemy or someone you dislike."
Finally it cuts to a young couple who appear to be getting married. The woman looks towards the camera, smiles, and says "I have found the love of my life, and you can too.")
The infomercial then begins to replay from the couple sitting on the couch. Sora however is lost in thought. '10 days. Just 10 days until I turn 15 and I can get my timer.'
He slowly drifts off to sleep trying to imagine his soul mate. As he finally doses off a flash of silver hair clouds his vision. One he will not remember when he wakes up.
(PAGE BREAK)
"Are you sure it won't hurt too much?" asks Sora looking at the doctor kneeling in front of him from his position on the couch.
"Well there will be some slight pain, but it will be over in a second. It is just like getting a shot." says the man as he is getting The Timer application device ready.
"Oh come on Sora, it won't be that bad." says a tall boy standing to the left of the couch. "I barely even felt it when they did mine."
"Cloud, you do understand you have the highest pain tolerance of anyone I have ever met, right" asked Sora looking at his older brother.
"You will be fine" says a voice from behind Sora. He turns around to see his dad smiling gently down at him. "I promise."
Sora still didn't feel very convinced.
"Oh don't be such a baby." said a voice to his right. His head whipped around to stare into the eyes of his twin.
"Then why don't you go first Roxas?" The brunette asked. The blonde only shrugged.
"I would" he replied "but someone said that they were finally establishing their place as first born. Something along the lines of 'I was born first so I should get my timer first'."
"I changed my mind. As older brother I demand you go first." Sora said crossing his arms and sticking his nose in the air in an obviously joking matter.
"Fine, fine." said Roxas lightly punching his brother in the arm. "But if I get my match first you can't complain, after all I will have had my timer longer."
"Only by like 3 minutes though!" Sora quickly retorted.
"Still, I will have gotten it first." The blonde said.
"Deal." says the brunette.
"So who am I putting the first one on?" asks the doctor, who now has the device ready and in his hand.
"Me" states Roxas as he holds out his left arm.
"Alright" says the doctor as he places the device on Roxas' arm. "One the count of three. One. Two. Three." and then there is the sound of a small nail gun going off and Roxas lets out a grunt of pain.
Then the doctor takes away the device and on Roxas' wrist is his Timer.
At first the screen is blank then it starts to flash for a second before the word 'WAITING' pops up on the screen. Everyone in the room lets out a sigh of relief.
"Thank God it doesn't say 'SEARCHING'. I can't even imagine not knowing that my one is out there." says Sora.
"You dumb ass." Says Roxas looking away from his wrist. "You know that 'SEARCHING' only means that they don't have a Timer yet."
"Nuh-uh!" The brunette retorts. "If your Soul Mate dies the Timer says searching. Or if they get it removed."
"Sora." says Cloud. "The idea that someone would remove their Timer is preposterous and only a select few do that. As for your Soul Mate dying... well I highly doubt that would be that case. The worst case scenario could be that your Soul Mate is younger than you or has decided not to get one."
"Okay now" says the doctor already to put the timer on Sora. "Hold out your left arm boy."
"That was fast." utters Sora as he tentatively holds out his arm.
"I didn't have to assemble the machine this time, only put a new Timer on."
"Oh okay." says Sora as the device is placed on his arm.
"On the count of three. One. Two. Three." and once again there is the sound of a small nail gun going off. This time however Sora lets out a loud yelp and nearly hops out of his seat.
"You lied!" He yells at everyone in the vicinity. "That really hurt!"
"You'll be fine." says his father.
"Don't whine." scoffs Cloud.
"You are such a baby" retorts Roxas.
"Meanies..." Sora mumbles under his breath all the while looking at the flashing Timer on his arm. Unlike Roxas' whose only took a second, Sora's took a bit more time. Then eventually it settled on one word.
'WAITING'
Sora let out a sigh of relief. Now he only had to find his Soul Mate. It couldn't be that hard.
(PAGE BREAK)
Three days later something huge happened.
No Sora did not find his Soul Mate, that would make his life to easy, but someone else did.
"I can't believe it!" ranted Sora. "It has only been three days and you have already found him! It would have been even sooner if we hadn't gotten them on a Friday night, and he hadn't been sick yesterday!"
"You make it sound like it's a good thing." huffs Roxas.
"Of course it is a good thing you numbskull! You have found the love of your life! Do you know how long it took Clouds Time to go off?"
"Yes, of course I know. I was there when he came home after it happened remember? Not to mention he is our brother and I should know something like the day my brother found his Soul Mate." stated Roxas nonchalantly.
"And how long did it take? Sora asked again.
"Really? Sora th-"
"How. Long. Did. It. Take?"
Roxas muttered under his breath.
"I can't hear you. Can you say that again?" asked Sora.
Roxas spoke again but his words were still to quite to be heard.
"Louder please." said Sora placing his hands on his hips.
Once again Roxas' mumblings could not be understood.
"Speak up Roxas!" Yelled Sora
"One year and two months!" Shouted Roxas.
"Exactly! You should be over the moon that you found him so soon!"
"But Sora it's HIM!" whined Roxas.
"So what? I mean he is not that bad! Everyone already knew he liked you!"
"Oh yes, I can so feel the love he gives off at my very presence." Roxas says dejectedly.
"He flirts with you everyday Roxas."
"Yeah along with half of the school population."
"But you are the only one he flirts with on a constant basis." Sora says obviously proud of that piece of information. It was true though. Roxas was the only person Axel constantly flirted with.
"That's because he likes to pick on me, nothing more."
"Oh come on Roxas! After your Timer tells you that he is your Soul Mate you still think that all that flirting had no meaning behind it!"
"Yes!" The blonde screams now close to tears.
"Wait." Says Sora, putting his hand on Roxas' shoulder. "You already love him don't you? You didn't need the Timer to tell you that at all did you?"
Roxas looks at his twin with tears in his eyes.
"Isn't this great? My Soul Mate is a perverted flirt who probably will only see me as a challenge. What will happen when I am not a challenge any longer Sora?" asks Sora close to breaking.
"Oh Roxas." whispers Sora pulling him into a hug. "Don't you see. Your Soul Mate will always love you, no matter what. You never were, nor will you ever be just a challenge to him."
"Promise?" asks the blonde into his brothers shirt.
"Promise" replies the brunette. He can only hope that he is right.
(PAGE BREAK)
And he is right. Not even a week after the incident all of the misunderstandings between Axel and Roxas had been cleared up. If you were to look at the two now you would never have known that one of them had such insecurities at the beginning.
Sora however has started to feel a little sorry for himself.
Twins share everything right?
So how come Roxas has his Soul Mate already but not Sora? Why is the only thing that does not apply to that rule is finding love?
"Don't worry." says Cloud who is sitting by him on the couch. "It won't be long now."
Sora can only hope.
(PAGE BREAK)
It has been 4 months since he got his Timer and he still has not found his Soul Mate.
'It's okay.' thinks Sora. 'It took Cloud a little over a year to find Leon. Then again Leon was a transfer student... Well that doesn't matter. My Soul Mate will come along soon enough.'
(PAGE BREAK)
1 year.
1 whole year since he received his timer and it still read 'WAITING'.
Well Sora was tired of waiting.
Do you know what happened last month?
Cloud got married.
To his Soul Mate.
And Sora still had no one.
He looked down at the Timer on his wrist.
"Why won't you change!" he yells at it.
It does not respond.
He drops his head and groans.
(PAGE BREAK)
2 years.
2 very long years,
2 agonizing years.
2 GOD DAMN YEARS!
Sora was past feeling sorry for himself.
He was just mad now.
'This guy better be worth it!' he says to himself. 'Because I have waited to darn long for him to be anything but perfect!'
(PAGE BREAK)
2 years and 6 months.
That stupid Timer had been on his wrist for 2 years and 6 months.
Sora wants to cry.
He is past being angry at the offending piece of machinery. He just wants it to say 'FOUND'.
Is that to much to ask?
Sora doesn't think so.
Just about everyone else he knows has found their Soul Mate.
Cloud and Leon.
Roxas and Axel.
Hayner and Seifer.
Pence and Olette.
Namine and the new kid Devon.
Selphie and Tiddus.
Even Kairi found her Soul Mate in the boy who worked at the coffee shop named Andrew.
But not him.
Never him.
The only other two in the group who don't technically have Soul Mates are Demyx and Zexion and that is only because Demyx refuses to get a timer.
(PAGE BREAK)
Scratch that.
5 days later Demyx was talked into getting a Timer by Zexion.
From what Sora could gather from the crying boy on his bed the conversation leading up to Demyx getting the Timer had been like this...
"Demyx, you should get a Timer." says Zexion.
"For the last time no."
"But it is sci-"
"I know that it has been proven that it works, but I want to find love on my own you know? Don't you remember all those old love songs I showed you? The ones about love and stumbling around to find it?"
"Yes but I don't see wh-"
"I want to be a musician! I want to feel all of those emotions!" Demyx said passionately.
"You can still do that with a Timer." retorts Zexion.
"No because I will always know exactly where we are going right from the beginning. I will know right away if we are Soul Mates. I want to figure it out for myself."
Then Zexion had pulled out his trump card.
"You are just scared that you won't find your true love."
"Wait. What?" Demyx asked outraged.
"Well from what you showed me all of the best love songs are about true love. In other words, they are about someones Soul Mate. If you can't find your Soul Mate you can't write the best love song of all time. So instead of finding out if your love is the real thing with the Timer, you can just say it is because you have nothing to disprove it."
"That's not true!"
"Then prove it."
"I will!"
And then they headed straight to a nearby clinic to have Demyx get a Timer.
Lo and behold as soon as it went on Demyx looked at Zexion as if to tell him 'I told you so.' Yet when they locked eyes both of their timers started to beep.
Demyx and Zexion had both looked down to find the word 'FOUND' staring back at them. Demyx had promptly fled the clinic and came running to Sora.
"And now I don't know what to do!" cried Demyx.
"You know Roxas was in just as bad of shape as you when he found out his Soul Mate was Axel." Sora said.
"No way. Those two are so perfect for each other, not like me and Zexion!"
"And why aren't you and Zexion perfect for each other exactly?" Sora questioned.
"He is going to end up hating me! I mean he is so calm, cool and collected and I'm... well me! I didn't even want to get the stupid thing because I was afraid of this!" The boy sobbed out.
"Wait. You were afraid of this?"
"Of course I was! I mean I knew I liked him, maybe even loved him, but I could just brush it off because I was never positive I was his Soul Mate! Now I can't ignore it, and I am so worried I am going to mess it all up!"
"Demyx listen to me." said Sora sternly getting the boy to look up at him. "Zexion is head over heals madly in love with you, anyone with eyes can see it. If he has put up with you since 7th grade I very highly doubt he is just going to stop now. He. Is. In. Love. With. You. Do you get it now? He will never leave you!"
"Really?"
"Yes really. Now why don't you go to his house and let him know how you feel? I can't imagine what he is thinking with you just running out like that."
Time seemed to freeze.
"Oh my god!" Demyx shreiked. "He probably thinks I hate him! I need to go right now and tell him that I love him. Oh god do I love him Sora." He jumped out of bed and gave the brunette a bone crushing hug.
"Wish me luck" yelled Demyx as he raced out of Sora's room.
And the brunette did.
One of the deserved a happy end.
(PAGE BREAK)
It has been 3 years since Sora first received his timer.
Actually 3 years and 12 days, but he wasn't counting.
Why would he count?
It's not like he is still waiting desperately for the thing to go off still.
Oh but who was he fooling.
He was still waiting.
And hoping.
And wishing.
And Praying.
And the Timer still remained silent.
'Maybe' he thought 'I will never know.'
(PAGE BREAK)
It was the first day of a new semester of college.
A normal day bay all pretenses.
The sun was still shining.
The sky was still blue.
And it had been 3 years 2 months and 11 days since he had received his Timer.
And then as he was walking into his Freshman Seminar, which he had opted to take his second semester, he saw a group of people standing by the door to the classroom next to his. One of which has his back turned and he had a head of silver hair.
Wait. Silver hair?
There were only two people he had ever heard of having silver hair and they were father and son. So that would mean...?
"Riku?" Sora asked loudly causing the boy with silver hair to stiffen.
"Sora?" asked the boy turning around.
Their eyes met for the first time since they were twelve.
Sora's heart sped up looking into those aqua-green eyes again after about 6 years.
Then he heard it, piercing through the silence.
It was a loud beeping.
He could never mistake the sound.
It was a Timer going off.
And it was close.
Daring hope he looked down at his own wrist he looked down.
A single word was displayed.
'FOUND'
Well damn.
(PAGE BREAK)
Needless to say Sora did what he felt was best in the situation.
He ran like hell.
He was confused.
Conflicted.
Bewildered.
Confounded.
Perplexed.
He was scared SHITLESS!
Here was a boy he had not seen for about 6 years and now that boy was his Soul Mate?
The boy he had played with on the beach when they were younger?
The boy who would always pick him first for his team when they played Blitzball?
The boy who he had eaten so many Sea-Salt Ice-creams with?
The boy who had been his best friend in the whole world?
The boy who said he would write when he moved but never did?
The boy he had worried about when he had not receive any letters?
The boy he tried to forget because he obviously didn't care?
The boy who had moved back and never bothered to get in contact with him?
And what was worst was he was the boy Sora had always loved, but had always been to scared to tell.
And now he was Sora's Soul Mate.
Why him out of all of the boys in the world?
Why, oh why, was it Riku?
But then again it had always been Riku.
It was Riku who had made him happy when he had been sad.
It was Riku who he had always told every single one of his secrets too, even the ones he could not tell Roxas.
It had had been Riku who made him blush more than anyone else even at only 12 years old.
It had been Riku who he dreamed about sharing a Papou fruit with.
It was Riku who was his first crush.
Riku was the boy he could never forget.
(PAGE BREAK)
"So..."
"So..."
"Where do we go from here?" Sora asked looking up from his cup of coffee to stare at Riku. It turns out the boy is still able to catch up to Sora even after all these years. He had convinced the younger brunette to have coffee with him.
Sora was regretting it terribly because it was just so... awkward. He had no idea what to say or what to do.
"Well I guess we catch up. What have you been doing for the last 6 years?"
"You would know if you had sent me that letter you promised." Sora bit out not even thinking about it.
Immediately he began to mentally beat himself up. Why did he have to be so stupid as to bring that up? He was such an idiot!
"What do you mean?" asked the silver haired man. "I sent you a letter, it was you who never sent me one back."
"Don't lie. I waited for that letter for weeks. I checked that mailbox everyday, and it never came!"
"I wouldn't lie about this! I sent it! Sora Strife, 12568 Oak road, Destiny Islands 21679. I still have your address memorized! Want to know why? It was because I rewrote the envelope alone 26 times to make sure it looked perfect!"
Sora just sat there in shock.
"12566."
"What?" asked Riku still riled up.
"It was all my fault after all." Sora said almost in a daze.
"Okay now I really am confused. So you admit to not answering my letter?"
"No. The address. You know how horrible my handwriting is. My address was 12566, but with my sloppy handwriting it probably looked like 12568. I gave you the wrong address. It really is all my fault."
Then it got completely quiet for about 30 seconds until Riku made a sound.
Now of all the things Sora had expected to leave Riku's lips, laughter was not one of them.
Sora didn't know how to react to that response.
Shouldn't he be yelling at him for messing up something so important?
"Really?" asked Riku through his laughter.
"Really what?" Sora asked shyly.
"Have I really waited so long for an answer that would never come?" he asked while still laughing
"Have I really waited so long for a letter that would never come? Sora said back not really seeing the humor. He had really waited for that letter, and he just found out it never came because of his mistake.
It was a crushing horrible feeling.
Buy once again Riku did something unexpected.
"You know that is just like you." Riku said calming down a bit.
"What is that supposed to mean?" asked Sora indignantly, not liking where this was going.
"You always mess up the important things."
"I do not!"
"What about my 8th birthday party?"
"Well that ti-"
"And the time when we were 10 at the carnival?"
"That clown had it co-"
"And that time when I gave you the Papou to give to Kairi and you lost it?"
"I did that one on puropse!" Sora practically yelled back.
At that Riku looked surprised.
"What?" The silver haired boy asked.
"Well you wanted me to give it to her, but I didn't like her. I decided if I ever want to share one I wanted to share it with..." said Sora dropping his head and hiding his eyes from view.
"With who Sora?" Asked Riku, leaning in closer to Sora over the table.
"..."
"Sora?" the boy prodded.
"You" whispered the brunette.
"I can't hear you Sora."
"Yes you can Riku! I said you okay! It has always been you okay?" Sora said trying to keep his voice even, yet failing miserably.
"No. Not okay." Said Riku.
At this Sora lifted his head in shock, only to see Riku's face barely inches from his own.
"Wha-"
"If you have loved me all this time, that means we have wasted all these years without each other. I don't know about you but I hate the idea of missing even one minute of my time with you, and we are not even talking minutes, we are talking years here."
"Does that mean y-"
And once again the brunette did not get to finish. This time however it was for a completely different reason.
Was Riku cutting him off?
Well yes... but he was also kissing him.
For the first time.
In a crowded coffee shop.
In front of a window.
In the busiest part of the city.
But none of that mattered, because that kiss made him realize something.
He hadn't been waiting for some long lost letter.
He hadn't been waiting for his Timer to go off.
He hadn't been waiting for some faceless, nameless, Soul Mate.
He had been waiting for this.
He had been waiting for him.
He had been waiting for Riku.
And it had been worth it.
(PAGE BREAK)
In the end there was one thing Sora was certain of.
Even if he or Riku had never gotten timers.
Even if they had never met when they were younger.
Even if they had been born thousands of miles apart.
They would have found each other.
Because they were Soul Mates, and they didn't need a Timer to tell them that they had found each other.