I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Hence, fanfiction.
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Hajime mo owari mo iranakatta kimi no me ga tsubuyaita
Donna kioku o sagashitara mune no fukami e todoku no darou
Nagasugita, kimi no iu hibi wa hitoyo no yume no you de
Owaru kotoba shinjirarenai mezame no toki wa mada tooi

Naminé's words are still echoing in my head. I am dreaming, sleeping softly to recover my memories. Suddenly I realize that when I wake up, I won't remember this dream.

I can see Naminé promising to restore the memories she disrupted. In my dream, I'm watching as Marluxia falls to the ground and fades away. It's like everything I just experienced is happening again, in reverse. Naminé is refusing to erase what distorted memories I have left, and the Riku Replica is leaving to seek its place in life. Now the Replica is lying on the ground, its heart broken, and Larxene is laughing at me.

Naminé is confessing to me that she's not the girl I made the promise to. But then, who did I promise to protect? The charm she gave me doesn't look the same, but it's still familiar. I'm talking to Riku now, and it takes me a while to remember that this is the Riku from my memories, the one who lived on Destiny Islands. He's the same as ever; he's not at all like the Riku I fought in this castle.

Vexen is standing in front of a large iron gate, imploring me to ignore my memories. But how am I supposed to know what to do if I don't listen to the memories in my heart? Axel has stepped in and ran a chakram right through Vexen. It's obvious he did so to shut Vexen up, but I wish I had known what he was going to say.

I'm fighting Riku again. We're both holding out the charms that Naminé gave us, but neither of us knows which is real and which is fake. It seems like the only way we can solve the problem is by beating each other into oblivion. Larxene is taunting me, forcing me to spit out the name of the girl who gave me my good luck charm back on the islands. I finally remember- her name is Naminé.

I'm walking down the hallways of the castle, laughing. Donald and Goofy suggested that I might end up forgetting Kairi, and I know for sure that I would never forget her. After all, she's the person most important to me. I hold out the charm she gave me to prove it. I ask them, then, if they might forget the King, and they laugh it off the way I did.

Goofy is telling me about another castle we were once in, as we walk up a flight of stairs. He says I turned into a Heartless there, but Donald and I don't remember it at all. Since Goofy can't even remember the name of the castle, we convince him- and each other- that he's just making it up.

Donald, Goofy and I stand dumbly as a man in a black coat explains to us that we are in Castle Oblivion, where to find is to lose, and to lose is to find. He throws me some cards that he says are made from my memories. I think it's absolutely ridiculous, but each card does indeed bring me to a world I visited before. The first few seem infinitely familiar, but with each passing floor, I recognize the worlds and the people inside less and less.

Now the dream is oddly blank. Nothing is happening; I'm just sort of floating in an empty space. For a while, I wonder why I'm still asleep, and where my dream had previously taken place. I can't remember anything about the place that I was just dreaming of, or any of the people that were there. That blonde-haired girl, and all the people in black coats- they were firmly rooted in my memory a few minutes ago, but now I have no idea who they are. The same goes for that eerie white castle.

I'm on the islands, fighting Riku. We're young, both of us still children, and we're wielding wooden swords. Though we're competing fiercely, we're both laughing along with Kairi, who is watching. Time passes, and suddenly Kairi announces that she wants to see other places. Riku and I agree to go with her, and we all get to work building a raft. A terrible storm hits the island, and I go outside to see that there are strange dark creatures running around. A giant key materializes in my hand, which I use to beat back the creatures. Riku is waiting for me by his infamous tree, and he reaches out a hand to me. I am too late to grab it before Riku is swallowed up by the dark clouds, and disappears. With the giant key, I manage to defeat the enormous monster that emerged from the clouds, and I am plunged into a blank, empty plane as the islands vanish.

I come to in a foreign town, where I meet Leon, Yuffie, Cid, and Aeris. Leon teaches me about those dark creatures, called Heartless. As I look around for Riku and Kairi, I am apprehended by another huge monster, and I dispose of it along with the newly-met Goofy and Donald. They tell me that their King instructed them to find the "Keybearer," which I realize must be me.

With their Gummi ship, we travel to all kinds of different worlds, learning more about the Heartless as we go. We discover that the Heartless aim to capture the heart of each world they infest, so I seal the Keyholes of every world with my Keyblade.

Along the way, I see Riku several times. He's changed, though. He's become much more cruel and thoughtless than the Riku I knew, and he seems to enjoy taunting and hurting me. When we meet on a pirate ship, he reveals to me that he's found Kairi, and that he can use the power of darkness. He tells me that Kairi lost her heart, and that he's doing whatever it takes to get it back. He then scoffs and observes that I haven't been as devoted to her as he has.

Finally we end up at Hollow Bastion, the original home of Leon and the gang. Riku is here, along with Maleficent, who has been controlling the Heartless. I watch, powerless, as Riku is consumed by the darkness in him. First, it just seems like he's an entirely different person. Then it becomes apparent that that's just the case; his body has been taken over by Ansem. He tells me that Kairi's heart is inside me, and that he will have to take my heart to get it back. He fights me with a Keyblade that he says has the power to unlock people's hearts, but he loses. Knowing what must be done, I plunge his Keyblade into my own heart, freeing Kairi's as well. In the form of a Heartless, I catch up to her, and she helps me regain my heart and human form.

His plan to unlock the final Keyhole with the Seven Princesses foiled, Riku vanishes into the Dark Depths. Donald, Goofy and I follow him in the Gummi ship to a world that is comprised of the remains of all the worlds that were lost to the darkness. Inside are all kinds of vile Heartless, but we battle our way through and find ourselves at a large door. The door leads us back to Destiny Islands, where we find Riku. But he is no longer Riku, as his physical form gives way to Ansem's.

After a long and grueling battle, in which Ansem uses all the dark power he can summon to try to defeat us, we finally get the better of the Seeker of Darkness. His last wish is for Kingdom Hearts to bestow upon him even more darkness, but instead it pierces him with light. Donald, Goofy and I rush to close the door to darkness, but we cannot do it alone. It is only when King Mickey and Riku- the real Riku- help us from the other side that we are able to seal the door. As it closes, I promise to Riku that I'll protect Kairi in the last few seconds that I can see his face.

The dream has gone blank again, like it was at the beginning. No, the last time this happened was not the beginning of my dream, but I can't remember any fragment of the first part of my dream. I am forced to conclude that my dream is fading from me even as I experience it, and when I wake up, I won't know any of it.

My eyes are opening, but I am not fully awake. Through a translucent kind of wall, I can barely make out a head of short blonde hair that spikes in all directions, a white shirt, and black and tan pants. I'm aware that I had a lengthy dream, but I remember nothing of it. The walls fold down, so that I can see him more clearly, though I'm still in a state of semi-consciousness. Faintly, I hear the words "It looks like my summer vacation's… over," and the figure in front of me seems to disappear.

I am finally awake, and I step out of the large pod that it seems I'd been sleeping in. I can't recall any dream I might have had, so I assume that my sleep was dreamless. As I look down at myself, I realize I must have been sleeping for a very long time, since I've well outgrown my clothes. However, I don't remember when I went to sleep, or why. Donald and Goofy are just as clueless. Jiminy's journal is no more helpful, as it only says two words: "Thank Naminé."

Who Naminé is, or what we should thank her for, we have no idea. But for now, we put that mystery aside and head out to see how the post-Ansem world is.

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I think this is one of my favorites, out of all ten that I wrote. It's also the longest. If the dream thing confuses you, then it probably helps to know that in the first half of the dream, he's reliving his memories in reverse, and in the second half, they go in order.

Lyric translation-
Your eyes whispered "We don't need beginnings or endings."
What kind of memories do I have to search for that will reach deep into my heart?
The days that you said were too long seemed like a dream that lasted just one night.
I can't believe it is coming to an end; it's too early to wake up.