Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or its characters. All belongs to their respective owners, but this story is mine.

Note: Sora and Kairi are 17, so it would make sense for Riku to be 18. I may involve other characters in this fic, but I'm not sure just yet. I guess I'll just see how it comes out at the end of this chapter. I also may include the lyrics of the following song in one of the chapters when necessary.

Inspired by Three Days Grace – Time of Dying

Princess Io

One: Our Promise

All he could see were the remains of a battle. Blood was painted upon the ground; diverse keyblades lay scattered…and Heartless that hadn't disintegrated into Darkness again lay dead.

Sora's shoes crunched loudly against the broken and split earth, and all he could see was red. Gazing at his hands, black blood began sweeping out of uncut wounds.

"You who knows nothing understands nothing…" A voice echoed around him.

"Huh?" He turned quickly, recognizing the same-cloaked figure he saw several years ago. And the voice, it sounded so…familiar.

Sora's eyes instantly widened at the mysterious sight before him. His surroundings changed and he was back in Castle Oblivion. It was still pure white and just how he had left it, but something wasn't quite right about this place.

He wandered aimlessly up the large fleet of stairs. First floor…second floor…third… After a long time of climbing, Sora successfully reached the thirteenth floor, the top of Castle Oblivion.

As Sora approached the pair of white doors, he felt an impulse in his mind. It told him not to go inside; to turn away. Shaking his head, he opened the doors and was met with the most horrifying sight he had ever seen.

A familiar figure impaled by a keyblade. She was pinned forcefully to the white walls, underneath a sitting podium that belonged to an organization member. Her dull eyes no longer shined with beauty and were wide open, vacant. The girl was someone Sora may have known, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Until he looked closer and recognized something.

This girl…

This young woman, was none other than…

The one he cherished, and loved more than his very own life.

A girl who was precious to him…

This, was Kairi, stabbed and gored violently by the one thing that has vowed to protect her. But instead it murdered her like any other Heartless it slayed before the next. His eyes widened in disbelief, unable to grasp the situation at one time.

As Sora got a closer look, Kairi was crying when she died, her warm tears still fresh upon her pale face. Her mouth was slightly agape with a path of blood seeping deliciously down her cheek and dripping onto the pure tile.

"No, this…can't be…" Sora took hesitant steps backwards, the realization sinking into his consciousness.

"Sora…you promised…to p-protect…me." A voice wept.

In an instant, the floor began vibrating underneath Sora's feet. The tile now stained in crimson blood had suddenly shattered and Sora was falling into the Darkness once more.

"KAIRI!" Sora reached out to her, wanting to wake up from this hideous nightmare. But to no avail, she was too far from his reach.

The last thing he saw was the one number he never wanted to be carved into her…

The unlucky number thirteen.

--

"NO!" Snapping awake quickly, seventeen-year-old Sora awoke from his deep slumber. It was the middle of the night, the sound of the soft rain answering his cry.

Looking around his vacant room, Sora closed his eyes. "It was only…a nightmare…just a figment of my imagination…" Wiping his sweaty forehead, Sora got out of bed and stretched his aching muscles. He couldn't believe such visions existed within any human beings nightmares.

Then again…that's the point of a nightmare; it's true purpose it to reveal one's fears and exploit them to the highest level. It's torture, something difficult to escape; the only means to survive is to wake up in the real world once more, if the bearer is willing.

The teenager yawned, royally messing up his spiky hair even more, then trudged over to his cell phone. As he was checking for missed calls, one special one came up a few minutes before waking up. One from Riku, and one from Kairi had shone first on his list.

Kairi…

Unable to sleep, Sora did the next best thing to pass the time: call Riku and Kairi back. He assumed they would be 'awake' enough to have some sort of conversation. Dialing up Riku's numbers, Sora paced his room, thinking about how he was going to explain his "dream" to his best friend.

"Hello?" a rough voice asked on the other line.

"Riku?" Sora said, sitting on his messy daybed.

"What the hell? Explain to me why you're calling me at friggin' three in the morning?"

"Well…I, uh…kinda…sorta—"

"I am hanging up in two seconds if you don't spit it out! Whaddya want?"

A sigh.

"I…had a nightmare."

"Congratulations Sora. You had a nightmare. Now goodnight."

"Wait!"

"WHAT?!"

"It was…about Kairi…and Castle Oblivion…"

"And that's a nightmare how?" Riku felt suddenly bored. How could anything involving Sora thinking about Kairi be a nightmare? Such foolishness.

"Look…it's hard to explain alright?" Sora was starting to get frustrated.

"Please do explain my dear retarded patient. As your therapist, I get highly paid to hear you complain and pour out all of your emotions." A sarcastic remark emitted from Riku's lips. Sora could feel him smirking as if he won a game of sword fighting.

Clearing his throat, Sora continued. "It was like the same way I left it, but I saw a war that looked it had been going for decades…at least what was left of it. I saw different keyblades scattered among the ground and some Heartless that hadn't returned to Darkness after being slain. They were bleeding….that's really not normal Riku."

Sora finished explaining his vision, and Riku had knitted his eyebrows together, trying to make sense of his best friend's visions. "Hmm…that does sound far beyond strange. But, I wouldn't ponder on it, not in the middle of the night when we both need sleep. Sora, I'll try to interpret it more, but for now, grab yourself a Vanilla Coke or something and then hit the sack."

Riku's suggestion sounded really good to Sora, and with that he complied obediently. "Thanks man. Sorry for waking you up out of nowhere. I mean, I didn't want to talk to Kairi about how I may have even killed her you know?"

"Yeah, no problem. That's what friends are for, to annoy them and wake 'em up in the middle of the night when we're all trying to catch some Z's."

"Alright Riku. G'night."

"Night Sora."

Click.

Beep!

Beep!

Beep!

Beep!

Groaning, Sora tossed and turned, trying to shut out the disturbing noise. Opening the door, Sora's mother, Isis quietly observed her son and how littered his room became since he came back.

Resisting the urge to scold her teenage son, she opted for an alternate solution. "Sora, get up, we'll be late for Riku and Kairi's wedding!" Isis prepared herself by side stepping out of the way for her son's rampaging behavior to commence.

By the end of his mother's statement, Sora had gotten up as quick as lightning and fallen out of bed. He had fallen against his carpeted floor quite hard, there was definitely a bruise somewhere on Sora's lower back, but he didn't care. "WHAT?! Kairi's not getting married to that jerk! I—" The keyblade wielder declared sleepily, waving a fist in the air with emphasis.

Shaking her head and amused, Isis leaned against the doorframe before calling out to her son again. "Sora, c'mon kiddo. Up, you have chores to do, then come down for breakfast." At that, she left, calmly closing her son's door.

Rubbing his eyes, Sora stretched his knotted muscles and yawned. "…Okay mom." He mumbled, scratching his stomach out of habit. He slowly untangled himself out of his sheets and blanket to prepare for a brand new day. After that nightmare last night, he barely grasped any sleep, but managed to have a couple hours. Until that nightmare came back…

Yawning once more, he went over to his drawers and pulled out a new pair of boxers, a t-shirt and pants. "Shower…" He thought, his lethargic legs leading him to his bathroom. He stripped himself of his black pajamas and stepped into the tub. Lazily turning the knob, Sora was unexpectedly met with freezing water at impossible temperatures beating on his skin without mercy.

"SH—"

--

"—IT!"

A cry of anger echoed through the Hakuyo household. Isis shook her head and winced at the high-pitched cursing of Sora from upstairs. She forgot to warn him about the plumbing this morning, instead she laughed to herself. "Well, guess that's one way of waking up your son of only seventeen years…" Isis continued cooking eggs and bacon on the pan while she gazed out the kitchen window.

An irritated (and wet) Sora stalked down the stairs with a checkered towel wrapped around his lower waist. "Mom! What the hell is—" He started, droplets of water falling from the tips of his hair and onto the evergreen carpet. Sora stopped when he noticed he and his mother weren't alone.

"G-good…morning…Sora." A familiar voice, said from the table. Sora turned and met cerulean eyes that matched his own. Kairi was here, and he was half naked and screaming from the top of his lungs.

Way awkward moment shall we say?

"Ah!" Kairi squeaked, instinctively covering her eyes with her hands.

Blushing a mad crimson, Sora could feel his ears burning from humiliation. "Crap!" He thought, rushing back up the stairs to clothe himself. He couldn't believe that he practically exposed himself in front of his best friend. And Kairi no less! What more could make his day go worse?

A bit shocked, Kairi peeked through her hands for a certain brunette. She let out a deep breath she had been holding and then stared intently at the floor, suddenly finding interest in the clean carpet. Kairi clenched her hands together, unable to know what to do in a situation like this. As embarrassed as Sora, Kairi's blush hadn't faltered, still proudly showing how flush her face truly was.

"You know, it could've been worse." A deep voice told her. Kairi nodded in agreement before realizing what the voice had just explained to her. Turning around from her seat at the table, she saw a tall figure in the space of the opened door. His large smirk and jade eyes twinkled with mischief.

"Riku! How—"

"The door was unlocked. Morning Mrs. Hakuyo. Sora's obviously not ready for school, so I guess we can chill for a while before we have to go." Riku offered, casually slipping into a wooden chair and hanging the strap of his backpack on the back.

Isis finally finished cooking and served the scrumptious food onto the plates. As she approached the table, Sora came rushing down the stairs, still half dressed. His tie hung around his neck in an odd fashion and his belt hadn't been clipped in yet. Sora's colorless dress shirt wasn't tucked in and unbuttoned, revealing his white tank top underneath.

Kairi still hadn't lifted her head from its current position, in fear of looking up at the wrong time. "You can look at Sora now Kairi. He's not naked anymore." Riku chuckled in the young woman's ear. She stiffened and her face blushed back to its original shade of crimson.

"Cut it out Riku!" Sora stuttered, still flushed from earlier as he grabbed at seat.

"Hey, not my fault you decided to expose yourself in front of Kairi and your own mother. I mean, sure, your mother has seen you that way since you've been born and—" Riku teased, leaning back and placing his hands behind his head. He smirked that confident grin just to tick his best friend off even more that morning.

"Now boys…" Sora's mother started, pouring glasses of orange juice as the two young teens bickered, and Kairi remained speechless. "Let's put this all behind us and just enjoy a wonderful breakfast among great company."

Sora mumbled incoherent threats toward the silver-haired Riku, all the while shoveling rice and eggs in his mouth. Kairi quietly sipped her orange juice and the whispered a quick sorry toward Sora across the table. He nodded in response and then continued eating his mouthwatering food.

Glancing at the clock, Riku placed his fork in its rightful place before standing up. "8:45 guys. We have to move. Don't wanna be late!" He swung his backpack around his left shoulder before thanking Mrs. Hakuyo for the hospitality and breakfast she humbly offered.

Kairi followed suit and gave Sora's mother a hug off gratitude. Sora kissed his mom on the cheek and slipped on his shoes before closing the door behind him. "Later mom!"

--

"Any idea what's going to happen if we get another call from the King soon?" Riku randomly asked, writing on his notebook while the professor was lecturing. Sora looked over from surprise and then at his own notes.

"I don't know. But whatever it is, my mom will literally obliterate me if I have to leave again. She already grounded me for when we left three years ago. I'm afraid of what she'll do now…" He doodled crowns and small Heartless on the margins of his sheet of paper. Riku winced at Sora's explanation, but he couldn't help and agree by his blunt statement.

"Yeah…my parents weren't too happy about that either. Luckily we didn't get retained, otherwise I would've seriously been castrated…" Riku leaned his chin on his hand, suddenly uninterested in the subject of toad anatomy.

Out of nowhere, a strange black circle had emerged from Sora's chest, causing the boy to drop his pencil and hold in a shriek of pain. He hastily fell out of his seat, clutching his heart and sweating from the strain being inflicted on one particular spot in his chest.

"The pain…So…much…"

"Sora?" Riku said with urgency, going to his side and calling out to the professor.

"We need a doctor in here! Now!"

Riku looked about the room, seeing the students in the classroom join in a huge crowd to see what was going on with his best friend. The professor had left quickly to contact a nearby hospital. Riku creased his eyebrows in wonderment, and then saw a familiar symbol in the sky manifested within the clouds.

A familiar shape of a mouse was drawn in the heavens. "King Mickey?"

Whatever it was, probably had to do with Sora's sudden outburst. Hopefully, the King knew what was going on and could tell Riku just how to solve it before it was too late.

A word from the author…

Thanks again for reading! Hope you review and leave a critique or comments/suggestions.