Title: Connection at a Glance
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Settings: Alternate Universe
Characters: Sora, Naminé
Minor: Riku, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, Kairi, Olette
Summary: It couldn't have been. Surely, it was all on their heads. But that all it took - that one moment to prove to them that it was real.
Request details: Write a fic for cherryblossoms24 . deviantart . com / art / SoraNamine-Seasons-Connect-212660567
Reality was truly a peculiar thing, wasn't it? You grew up learning that truth is absolute, that there is only one such thing in existence and it will surely come to light.
No one bothered telling you that it could be 'subjective'. That what you saw from here, you couldn't see from there. And that if you know something in your head - it hardly means anyone else had to believe you.
A certain brown haired teenage boy had to find that out the hard way as he stood there, feet buried in the warm sand and hands clutching onto his yellow surfboard. His two so-called friends were there too, holding their sides and laughing themselves silly, finding what they just heard to be highly entertaining.
"It's true, I tell you!" He insisted through his clenched teeth. "It is!"
The other two stopped laughing for long enough to look at him with varying degrees of disbelief, doubt, and no small amount of amusement.
"Of course it is, Sora." Tidus snickered and moved his board to rest against the other side of his body. "A-heh-we believe you, don't we, Wakka?" The blond asked with a grin as he turned to the older boy who was still snickering heavily.
"Right! Like the monster behind the waterfall, right, Sora?"
"I was four, give me a break already!" He growled and narrowed his eyes at the two.
They in return were serious enough for long enough to make their point clear.
"Well, gee, Sora, if we came and told you that same story, would you have believed us?"
"I would!"
"Reaaaally?"
At the show of doubt, Sora stopped to think it over carefully, only to purse his lips and lower his gaze. The other two exchanged looks before nodding and heading towards the water.
"We're going on ahead."
"Don't mope for too long, you'll miss the waves, man!"
And then he was alone.
Sora kept still and looked up at the clear blue sky, the thoughts running back and forth in his head.
"Would I..." He closed his eyes and ran in his mind what he told them. Well, now that he thought about it... ah, probably not really, he reckoned with a bitter snort and a shake of the head. It didn't change the least bit of the reality he was facing, however, even if it was all on his own.
It's been over a month, any way he sliced it. In fact, the previous night was the thirty second night in a row in which he had the same dream - yes, he counted.
Though in all fairness, it wasn't true it was the same dream. It changed, all the while maintaining the basic concept. Each night, without fail, he'd disappear, fade away from his world and reappear elsewhere. There, he'd meet a girl - the same girl with the exact same platinum blonde hair and delicate, bashful smile. They would spend time together, talk to each other for entire nights, and have the best time Sora had in a good while. It let him relax, unwind, and each night he forgot that he was to wake up and it would all fade away.
It was not always under the same sky as the one above him then. That clear blue sky, that endless ocean hanging above, with the fluffy clouds sailing across it with the sun shining brightly down from so high up. It was warm, and welcoming - nothing like the dark, gloomy sky that was eternally filled with clouds, where the sun was a distant rumor and blue - a myth.
A young girl blossoming into her teens sighed softly as she looked away from the depressing hanging above to look at the avenue she was walking down with her friends. The world she was walking through was nothing like the world of her dreams, she thought with a sigh and pulled her blue cape closer around her to block off the cold breeze.
"But it's sooooo romaaaaantiiiiic!" The brown haired girl walking next to her chirped and clasped her yellow-gloved hands together. "To dream about one guy for over a month... it has to be love!"
"Calm down, Selphie." The black haired Olette mock-sighed. "She said it isn't anyone from around here, didn't you, Naminé?"
The blonde girl in question was silent for a moment before nodding.
"See?"
"It's still romantic and lovely!"
"Right, right..."
No, it wasn't anyone she knew in her waking hours; Naminé thought long and hard about that. His face, his voice, his demeanor; all of them seemed familiar, welcoming, and yet no matter how hard she thought, she couldn't find a proper math in her reality. Not even the twins, Roxas and Ven fit the bill - and theirs were the faces most similar to the one in her dreams...
But alas, not even they were close enough. There was something innately different, just like how the dark skies above were nothing like the endless cerulean of her dreams or the golden grains of sand she could still feel between her toes were nothing like the dark, damp bricks of the pavement.
No, her dreams weren't anything like her waking world. Neither the settings nor the company.
"Daw, I wish I had my own dream-prince!" Selphie chirped and held her hands to her cheeks.
Olette clucked her tongue and held one gloved finger up.
"Dream-Knight, Selphie, not a prince." Olette corrected. "Naminé doesn't like the same fairy-tales as you."
Naminé pursed her lips, only to gasp once a new voice, belonging to the fourth girl in the group, was heard. She had forgotten she was there...
"Must be nice..." Kairi hummed and pushed a lock of crimson behind her ear. "To have someone just for you like that."
Blue eyes widened and pale lips parted.
"You believe me?" The girl asked and reached to hold onto her friend's arm.
"Do you... Riku?" Sora asked loudly, hand clutching onto his best friend's arm.
The older teen kept on a neutral expression as he looked down at the tanned hand holding onto him, and Sora withdrew it the next moment with an awkward growl. This gave Riku a moment in which he studied Sora's face before turning to look out at the waves.
"I believe you when you say you dreamed of this girl for over a month. It's rare, but not impossible, way I see it."
"And the rest of it?" Sora asked and looked at Riku from behind the relative comfort of his frontal spikes.
"The rest of it..." Riku hummed and looked back at Sora. "That she's real?"
A moment of silence later, a mass of brown spikes shook as Sora nodded his head. Riku nodded back and turned to look idly at his own surfboard.
"Well... that's a bit hard to digest, I'll be honest. I can't say I heard of anyone really getting their 'dream girl'."
Sora hunched his shoulders, but Riku wasn't even done.
"Besides, it hasn't snowed in like the past thirty years, Sora. You're asking me if a girl you went on a date with over snowy hills and white streets is real."
Sora pursed his lips.
"When you put it like that, it... does sound kind of unlikely..."
"Aah." Riku confirmed and dug his board in the sand as he reached to tie his hair into a ponytail.
"About as much as someone dreaming about a girl for over a month in a row."
Blue eyes widened as Sora stared at Riku, but before he could stutter for too long -
"What's her name?" The silveret asked as he took hold of his board under one arm while the other hand rested on his hip. "She's too abstract right now, let's make her realer for me too. What's her name?"
"He did tell you his name, didn't he? I mean... he has a name, right?" Kairi asked with the gentlest touch of a tease past a gentle frown, all the while letting Naminé hold onto her hands.
The blonde stuttered for a moment before turning to look at the pair of hands between her own.
"Of course he does, and he did... on the second night..."
Kairi smiled warmly at that. "Well, how about it? What is it?"
Naminé pursed her lips. To say it out loud... it would be the first time in her waking hours.
"So-" She pursed her lips and gulped before looking up at Kairi with a delicate blush decorating her cheeks.
"Sora."
"Naminé."
Sora uttered and looked away, his face flushed.
Riku let that slide and nodded instead.
"Sounds like a pretty name." He smiled reassuringly and reached to ruffle Sora's hair. He then began walking, leaving the brunet on his own.
"Hope you get to meet her for real one day. And then introduce her to us."
"That's sure to stop their teasing." Kairi smiled and reached to tap Naminé on the nose with one finger.
"So stop crying over it, alright? I'm sure Sora would much rather you smiled, don't you think?"
Naminé nodded and wiped her eyes.
"Thanks, Kairi."
The redhead nodded before turning to follow their friends who were already a bit ahead.
"Sure thing. 's what friends are for, right?"
Now alone, Naminé smiled gently and reached to hold onto her bag's straps with both her hands. She had every intention of following her friends before the snow got any worse, but then she felt it - a hot, moist gust of wind that blew her hair over her shoulders.
She looked back at where it came from and found him standing there, in his blue tank-top and black-yellow swimming trunks, his Mouse-marked surfboard at his side.
He was staring back at her in her light blue coat and deeper blue cloak, and had to admit her blue and white pompom hat was cute adorable. On her bad was the yellow start-fruit she told him about, and for a brief moment he had to wonder how much it had to do with the fruit that grew down the beach.
Ah, so that's what that person looked like, face to face...
Oh, but wait - weren't they supposed to be awake?
That thought was pushed out of the way as the wind picked up again, and Sora had to shield his eyes with a hand from the frosty wind. When all he felt was the familiar ocean breeze again, he lowered his hand but all he saw around him was the beach he knew since childhood. It was the same as always, save a stinging, chilly sensation that made him look down at his open palm.
It was the first time he's seen a real snowflake before.
Naminé apologized time and again as she ran to catch up her friends, and refused to answer no matter how many times they asked her what was wrong. It was the snow that painted her cheeks red; it was the wind that made her cry and her nose to run; and she was clutching her hands together for warmth.
They didn't need to know of the sea-shell she found discarded on the floor where he stood, or the still-warm green leaf that looked so much like the one on her bag's decoration.
Neither ever spoke of the matter to anyone since, simply enough because there wasn't much of a need.
They saw each other, for a split second, in one brief glance. They needn't anyone else's reassurance to know it didn't get realer than that.