A/N: Originally written for LJ's KH Drabble community, challenge [274]: Sleep.
His mind was in a fog. His thoughts were extraordinarily slow, too. That probably had something to do with the dull thudding of his skull, like someone had hit him badly with a hammer… whatever that was…
Every movement was a rush of light, and yet, they were mixed with intense colors and the swishing of unrecognizable sounds, as he kept gaining and losing consciousness. It was a process that kept repeating itself, because he was still, somehow, very weak. This made everything that he perceived look mysterious, as though he was in a dream state.
Maybe he was.
And that was when the voices began, sometimes barely a teasing whisper, sometimes easy for him to recognize. It was like they were playing a game with him; Guess Who Said What?
It had started with fragments of sentences. "…looks so pale… Can't be good."
However, as time passed, the boy was able to catch more of what was said. Strangely enough, everything that was said seemed to be about him. Before he could figure out why that was, or where he was in the first place, everything went black again…
Why was he surrounded by some reddish light? It felt warm on his eyes… as if the sun was shining through his eyelids…
"So what do we do when he wakes up? Tell him the truth?" A solemn, somewhat deep voice then asked, from which he now knew that it belonged to a brunet young man.
Oh, great, this thought crossed the back of Ven's mind, as he realized something; he was having that dream again.
"No, we can't do that. Didn't you see how he reacted when you started asking him personal questions?"
This time, it had been Aqua's voice, gentle, but laced with worry.
That was when the Master would cut in. "Aqua is right. Sometimes, it is better to let some things be left unsaid. This boy should never find out the truth about his identity… Must be kept a secret…"
Secret. That one word seemed to echo through his head, but ten times harder. It felt like the cracking of a whip on bare skin.
With a start, he shot up, his cerulean eyes widened in fear. He was surrounded by darkness, and for a moment, he couldn't see where he was. When his eyes were finally adjusted to the darkness, some things in his surroundings took a familiar shape; a desk, a wardrobe, a chair that was full of his own clothes... Ven realized that he was in his own bedroom, safe.
He wiped some sweat from his forehead, before trying to untangle himself from his sheets.
It was strange, really. Ever since he had been out of his coma, he'd been having this dream over and over again. It made the spiky-haired boy wonder what it could mean. Was it just a random dream, or could there be more to it?
Perhaps this had happened for real, but he couldn't remember it anymore for some unknown reason.
But that didn't make any sense, because that would mean that Aqua, Terra and even Master Eraqus were lying to him. About what, he wasn't too sure, except that it had something to do with his identity…
Well, that could still be anything.
Ven knew that none of them had been aware that he'd heard their conversation… if the conversation had ever happened at all, thinking that he'd been asleep. He'd been a witness to something that he had never been supposed to hear, something that should have stayed a dark secret…