How many times was this going to happen? Riku was tired. Beyond tired. He had no clue how many times he was going to relive these horrible few moments. Hearing Sora's barely suppressed screams as Xemnas ripped his heart out, followed by the taunting laughter of the Nobody and his damnable clone knocking him back.

For the millionth time, he stood. For the millionth time he charged with dark auras and blood flying off of his hands, and a hoarse scream running from his lips. For the millionth time he heard that frantic and agonized wail: "RIKU! RIKU PLEASE!" For the millionth time he was knocked back, maybe swallowing a tooth or its fragment.

He got up again only to have his chest greeted by the sting of a blade running him straight through.

Riku prayed he would wake up now. Kingdom Hearts maybe he would finally wake himself up from this bout of horror.

Instead he was now clashing blades with Sora. This was always the worst. Because, no matter how many times he reminded himself that this was all just a horrible nightmare and Sora would never do this, it always felt too real. Way too real, having felt the sting of the Kingdom Key at least once before.

Riku pulled back, retreating and ignoring Sora yelling at him to give in to the light. In fact, he rolled his eyes. He'd heard all these speeches before with Ansem. He turned around just in time to grab Sora's Keyblade and hold him back from dealing a coup de grace.

As flippant as Riku was about the whole fight, it hurt to see his best friend snarling in his face. Those blue eyes trained on him with hatred and his voice yelling in outrage. Sadly there was only two outcomes; keep on fighting until he finally awoke, or die and go through it all again.

He'd gotten Sora on the ground, both of them injured beyond belief. Riku had blood pouring down his eyes, was pretty sure his non-dominant arm was useless, and decently aware of pulverized ribs. Sora wasn't exactly in better shape, but Riku didn't want to dwell on that. He hesitated on the final blow anyways, caught off by the pain his friend was in.

Which gave Kairi more than enough time to bring her Keyblade in a choke-hold around him from behind. Riku was mad at himself for getting tripped up as Kairi- while small and not the best example of strength -dragged him away. Riku could feel his vision fading and he coughed.

He was able to see Lea grinning like a toddler with new toys when he lit him up, though.

Riku awoke, silently shooting into a sitting position. His eyes snapped open and were teary already with a track or two down his cheeks. He closed them and took a struggling breath to calm down. He looked over the room he shared at the Mysterious Tower.

Sora was sprawled on a couch, returned home safe and sound after his solo training. His neck was bent at what seemed to be an incredibly painful angle, and his arms and legs were flopped everywhere, but otherwise he snored away with a blissful smile.

Kairi was curled up like a cat on the sole bed of the room, smiling as well. Her hair- splashed across her face -swayed back and forth with her content breaths.

Riku sighed and covered his face. He figured Sora would have a heart attack if he ever found out about these nightmares. Kairi already knew, and tended to worry, but at least listen to Riku's desire for the subject to be left alone and didn't bring it up much. He began crying a little as he smiled.

At least he'd always have them both, right?

And here is an incredibly rare fic I wrote up and posted on tumblr first rather than here. Inspired by the lovely ramflega.