Chapter 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts/Final Fantasy VII.
A/N: I've been having these weird dreams lately, to quote Sora, so I've decided to pull a Mary Shelly and put the weird ones that I can remember into fanfiction form mixed with other brief ideas that I come up with when awake (but the most cracked up stuff will probably be from my dreams). And I ask of you, please don't tell me what my dreams mean, because a lot has happened while I had some of these dreams. Thanks. And hope you enjoy!!
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Roxas entered the room of Castle Oblivion, clutching the letter in his hand. It had said that Xemnas had organized an obstacle race that would be held that day, and the winner would receive a "mystery prize" of some sort. He sighed and stuffed the half crumpled note in his pocket, looking around. At first he thought that the course was just for the members of Organization XIII, for the majority of them were there as well, but in a corner, he noticed a man with a red cape and headband wrapped around his black hair stare ahead into the crowd. Roxas walked over to him.
"Who are you?" Roxas asked him.
The man didn't respond at first, as if he was wondering what to say. Roxas was just about to walk away before the man answered, "Vincent."
"I'm Roxas," Roxas said. "So . . . where you invited for this thing, too?"
Vincent gave a brief nod. "Yeah."
"Is there anyone else with you?"
"No."
"Oh."
There was silence between them, along with the rest of the room, until Xemnas, the superior of the Organization himself entered the room.
"Is everyone here?" he asked. "Wait, where's number VIII?"
"He's on a personal mission," Roxas said, remembering what Axel had told him.
"I'm going to find my grandfather," he had said the night before.
"You're a Nobody, you don't have a grandfather," Roxas had told him.
"Before I became a Nobody, I had one," Axel insisted as he slung a packed duffle bag over his left shoulder, a distant look in his eyes.
"When will you be back?"
"I don't know. After I find him, I guess."
"Axel?"
"Yeah, Roxas?"
Roxas threw his arms around him in a hug, pressing his head against his chest. "I . . . . Good luck."
Axel smiled and returned the hug. "Thanks, Roxy."
Roxas remembered the warmth of Axel's body as he broke out of the memory and turned his attention back to the Superior.
"Really? Hmm. well we can go on without him, it probably won't affect anything much," Xemnas decided. "Anyway, I have called you all here to participate in an obstacle race. The winner will receive a rather . . . 'unique' prize. The course will be through all of the other worlds. The rules are as follows; there are no rules, but if you could keep the killing to a minimum, that would be much appreciated. Nobodies are in short supply, what with this Sora brat running around with his feel-good speeches of self-esteem and motivation, protecting citizens, donating to charities. . . ."
The participants stood there in silence as Xemnas had his hair-pulling moment. After a few minutes of ranting, he composed himself and continued on with his intended speech. "And that's pretty much it. Oh, and there's only one path through all of the worlds that will bring you to the finish. Whoever finishes it first, wins. On your mark, get set . . . ."
He threw his hand out and a portal of darkness appeared in the wall. "GO!"
Demyx went through first, followed by the others, until only Roxas and Vincent remained, as Xemnas had taken off to who-knows-where, probably at the end of the course.
"I guess we should get going," Roxas said.
"Mmph," was Vincent's reply before he walked to the portal, stepping through it like it was no big deal and that he'd done this everyday. Roxas followed him into it, ending up in what looked like . . .
"A giant whale," Vincent mused, briefly taking in his surroundings. "Interesting."
"Well, he did say all the worlds," Roxas said. He turned his head to the side and -
"Look out!" he shouted as he jumped in front of the older man, right before he ran Oathkeeper through a sudden shadow heartless, destroying it.
"And that was?" Vincent asked.
"A shadow heartless," Roxas replied. They're pretty low rank, but still."
"I see."
"So," Roxas began as they continued on their way. "Are you from around here?"
"No," Vincent said. "I'm not."
Judging by the stoic tone of his voice, Roxas decided that the conversation was over, and he walked along silently, slaying the occasional heartless, wondering about Axel and how his journey was going, and when he would be back.
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A/N: Yeah, a short chapter. I'm not going to lie either, all the chapters will probably be short (or not, it's not concrete yet), but there'll probably be a lot of chapters. It's gonna turn out more for "WTF"ness later anyways (believe me, it will).