I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything. I want to get back into writing more fanfic's. Eventually I will. I have a ton of ideas that I can't wait to write. I hope everyone enjoys.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

The Hours Before Dawn

Sora woke up in a cold sweat. His breathing was labored and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. It was still very dark outside. There was no trace of light poking from behind the curtains. Looking over to the left the clock on the bed side read three thirty in the morning. Breathing deep and exhaling a few times he managed to slow his breathing and his heart rate. It was times like these that he hated sleeping. Sleeping always had this way of leaking nightmares into his once happier dreams. Of course sleeping in general was a sore subject for Sora. Twice now he had fallen into a sleep of which both times his friends had to help wake him from. He sighed deeply and put his arm over his eyes as he lay there in a moment of weakness. There were too many things that had gone extremely wrong in the past two years. Had that much time passed by already?

His heart ached and he could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. The longing of a time long gone preserved only in memory consumed his mind. When not only he but, Riku and Kairi were much happier. Sometimes Sora would sit and think about everything that had transpired. Thinking hard and trying to figure out what he had missed. Were there any red flags? Was there something going on behind the scenes that he could have easily missed only because he wasn't looking for it in the first place? If he had seen it would there have been any thing he could have done to stop it or to fix what ever was broken? The nightmare had brought these nagging thoughts to the surface. It was a dream of when Riku had been over taken by Ansem the seeker of darkness. Of when Riku had seemed so distant and cold. Where Kairi's unresponsive lifeless body had been slouched next to Riku and then in the cabin in one of the lower area's of the jolly roger. Then just laying there on the floor in hollow bastion almost in what seemed like a death state. His chest tightened and a choked sob escaped his lips. Both of his journey's and even his keyblade test had almost seemed like more than he could bear.

Sora always put a smile on his face around others. It was his only way of not breaking down. Donald and Goofy were the responsible parties of this facade of smiles. They had always preached about keeping a smile on your face. So even when Sora felt like nothing more than crying his eyes out he smiled. First it was only to please his new friends but, over time it was something he adopted as a way to hide his true feelings. The more upset he felt the more he smiled and tried to act like nothing was wrong. So far he believed it was working and that it was fooling everyone. Even when Yen Sid had brought up his recent failures of loosing the abilities to awaken a sleeping heart and having almost been lost to the darkness he almost broke down right there but, in the end he just shrugged it off and said "whatever, it happens all the time" making sure to strike a confident pose and smile. He was really disappointed in himself for having failed the exam.

Although, he would never by choice show that to anyone. He didn't even want to share his disappointment with Riku. Who was the one person Sora almost always had confided his most deepest secrets and feelings. Sora felt that if he told Riku it would just over shadow Riku's triumph. He didn't want to make Riku feel bad. Sora believed that without a shadow of a doubt Riku deserved the title of Keyblade Master. A small but sad laugh cut through the silence. How ironic it had all been. At the start of the Exam Sora had been so sure that Riku and him would both become Masters. Where Riku himself doubted even his own worthiness to even wield a keyblade again let alone become a Master. When everything was all said and done Riku had become a Master and Sora had not. It was then that the memories began to flood his mind. All of those hellish memories of the exam. His failure. Like a raging storm chaoticly thrashing against his sanity. Sora rolled over and stuffed his face into his blanket. Hot wet tears made their way down his face. After a while everything faded to black and he fell asleep.