"The closer you get to light, the greater your darkness becomes."
A teenager springs out of bed. The room echoes with heavy breathing. The teen runs his hand through his spikey brown hair.
"What was that dream all about?" He asks himself.
He glances over at the clock blaring 4:00 A.M.
"Great, so much for sleep." He sighs and wipes the sweat from his brow.
"Sora! You're up early."
Sora shrugs as he manipulates eggs with a spatula.
"Mom, do I seem different to you?"
An older woman sits in the white, wooden chair. The surrounding kitchen is small with blue tiles surrounded by worn white walls.
"No. Why would you say that?"
"I don't know. I just keep having these dreams. Then I wake up at 4."
"Well looking on the bright side, at least you don't need an alarm."
An alarm blares from Sora's upstairs room. He groans as he places eggs on separate plates. He sets them on the table on his way upstairs.
As Sora proceeds upstairs, he hears loud beeping. Sora rushes to the window. He sees Riku in a beat up Sedan.
"Come on, Sora!" Riku waves.
He grabs his bookbag and rushes downstairs.
"Love you, Mom."
"Have fun at college," she beams.
Riku taps on the steering wheel. His car is unable to move due to the slow pace of traffic. Snoring interrupts Riku's focus on traffic. He pushes on the horn and Sora jumps up.
"You get sleep?" Riku laughs.
Sora groans. "I had another dream."
"Me too." Riku edges the car an inch.
"What do you think they mean?"
Riku rolls his eyes. "It means we need to lay off old pizza as a diet."
"I mean seriously. The closer I come to light the greater my darkness becomes, what is that supposed to mean?"
"You actually remember what's said?"
"You mean you don't?"
Riku shrugs. "Nobody talks. It's just me..."
Sora looks over. "It's just you..."
"Nothing. Forget about it."
"I mean, do you even remember High School? I remember we were on the island and next thing I know I'm in my senior year."
"Sora...I said forget about it, ok? It doesn't matter. You need to focus on college anyway. It's your first year and trust me, they're going to fuck you with General Courses. Especially Math."
Sora leans his head against the window. "Fuck me. At least Kairi's in my classes."
"Speaking of that. Did you..."
"Give me time, ok?"
"Tell me you're going to take her on a date."
"Riku..."
"I'll stop this car if you don't."
"I..."
Riku stops moving with the rest of traffic. Horns blare loudly behind him.
"There are people behind us!" Sora turns around to see a middle finger and a flow of cars going around him.
Sora shouts, "Fine! Tonight!"
"You promise?"
"Yes, just go!"
The sedan lurches forward. The silver haired man smirks. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"
Sora walks out of a classroom into the parking lot of the campus with green trees and an awning students walk through. A red head teen sits on the bench talking with a friend of her's. Sora takes a deep breath and walks toward Kairi. He feels a finger tap on his shoulder.
"Dude!"
Sora looks back to see a dirty blonde shorter than himself. "Tidus?"
"It's been forever!" Tidus embraces Sora in a hug. Sora awkwardly returns the gesture. "You alright, man?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just didn't get a lot of sleep."
"I know, man. College is fucking me sideways. I barely got any homework done before 3 am."
"You were playing League, weren't you?" Sora asks.
"Priorities, man. Well I gotta head to class. See you around."
"Yeah." Sora laughs. He turns around and bumps right into Kairi. "Oh God, I'm really sorry!"
She looks up at him and hugs him tightly. "Sora!"
He blushes and hugs her back. She backs up looking up at him.
"It's been forever!"
"Yeah, it has. Sorry I didn't see you in class."
She shrugs. "It's a big room. So um, what you up to?"
"Well um...I..." he laughs rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry."
She giggles. "It's ok. I think I might need help with homework tonight. Would you mind helping me?"
"Yeah and um...maybe we can get some food first."
"I'd love that." Kairi smiles.
The skies sparkle with stars. Some gradually disappear from the sky while everyone else knows no differently.
Sora and Kairi are at her apartment's back porch facing the sea. They both sit in a swing set, Sora's arm wrapped around Kairi's shoulders.
"Hey, Sora?"
"Hm?" He looks down at her.
"Remember the island? When we built a raft?"
Sora leans back and stares out into the sea. "Yeah, I think so. It was me, you and Riku."
"Yeah, we were going to sail to other worlds." She giggles.
"Do you remember what happened after that, Kai?"
Her face changes from a smile to a solemn expression. "You know, I can't really remember. I assume we just went back home."
"You mean nothing weird happened?"
"Well, I am a single mom."
Sora raises his eye brows. "What?"
She giggles. "I'm kidding, jeez. I gotta find a man for that first."
Sora smiles. "Don't I count?"
"You haven't asked me the question."
Sora gently clasps her jaw and turns her as he leans in for a kiss. "Well it's way too early for marriage."
She giggles and kisses him back. "Then take a step back."
He takes a breath. "Will you be my amazing, beautiful girlfriend?"
She smirks and traces her finger nails along his jaw line. "On one condition."
"What's that?"
"If I can be sexy too." She pulls him into a kiss, reaching down for his pants.