Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.
This is set after KH2 and is in Riku's POV. First OneShot people! No other chapters planed after this one! Let's see how you like it.
Sleepless Night
The Hotel in Traverse Town is weird. It's like Sora, Donald, Goofy, Kairi and I are the only ones that ever stay there, because I never see anyone else. The management is strange too, because the man running the register is always behind a curtain telling us how much he loves art. We don't even have to pay money for Pete's sake, not that I'm complaining, but that is a little bizarre. Other than those few things, there's really noting wrong with the place. The rooms are clean, the beds are soft, and everything's basically alright. My only other complaint would be that there are no sound proof walls keeping your best friend from complaining behind your door about a bad dream. Yes, a bad dream.
Every time Sora has a bad dream, he comes crying to me. I don't know why, but he does, and it's starting to bug me. He has the weirdest dreams too, from potato chips attacking, to, "night of the living ping pong balls." I'm barely listening to him when he tells me his worst nightmares because it's the middle of the night, and I don't really care. I usually end up kicking him out of the room, or falling asleep in the middle of his sentence. There was one time that I didn't do one of those two things though, and I actually listened to what Sora had to say. His nightmare ended up not only keeping him up halve the night, but it kept me up halve the night too.
It started out as a normal night. I was sleeping in the Red Room, and Sora was sleeping in the Green Room, two rooms that had a door in-between them. Sora could get into my room if I was stupid enough to leave that door unlocked, which I was. I'd woken up in the middle of the night, so I was just starting to fall back asleep when I felt a little poke on my leg. Thinking it was just an itch, a moved my legs around a little bit to try to get rid of it. Then I felt it again. What was that? I waved my hand around the spot, but when something grabbed my wrist I opened my eyes. In front of me were two floating blue spheres.
"Whoa," I shot up and scooted over to the other side of the bed, but then realized that it was only Sora. "Sora," I said, "You practically scared me to death." Normally, I would've know that this was Sora, but this was only about the 3rd or 4th time Sora had done this, so I wasn't really used to it. I looked at the clock and since it glowed in the dark, I could see how ungodly this hour was. "Sora, it's 3:00 am. Why are you here?"
Sora looked a little hesitant, but then said, "Kairi wouldn't wake up, Donald got mad at me for walking him up, and Goofy's no help when it comes to this kind of thing, so you're the only one I could turn to.
I stared down at Sora, not knowing at all what he was talking about, "I still don't know why you're here."
"I had a weird dream," Sora said in a small voice.
"That's it?" I said. He nodded. I rubbed my eyes, "I think I have an answer to your problem." I got out of bed and led Sora by the shoulder towards the doorway to his room. I pointed towards one of the paintings on the wall. "You see that picture?"
"Yeah," he said as if he really wanted to take in everything I was going to say. I turned around, closed the door, and locked it. I flopped stomach down onto my bed and I heard a small noise as Sora lightly tapped on the door.0
"Come on, Riku," Sora said, his voice muffled behind the door, "Let me back in."
"Go to sleep Sora," I called, "It was just a dream."
"But Riku, it was weird," Sora said. I heard a sliding noise and a thud, which meant that Sora must've slid down the door into a sitting position, "There was a girl in a white dress and some castle in oblivion. It was freaky."
"Castle in oblivion?" I thought, "What's that supposed to mean?" My eyes almost slipped closed, but then shot open again. I sat up in bed and thought, "Castle in oblivion. No, not in oblivion." My heart started racing and I whispered the thing Sora had been trying to say, "Castle Oblivion." I jumped out of bed and over to the door so that I could unlock it. When I opened the door, I saw Sora sitting on the floor looking up at me with confusion. "What did you say?" I said, looking down at him in awe.
"There was a girl in a white dress and a castle in oblivion?" Sora said. He apparently didn't get why I was so surprised.
I pulled him to his feet, "Tell me everything," I said. I turned him around and motioned for him to sit on the bed, and then I pulled up one of the chairs from the table and sat down in front of him.
"Well, I was in this white place and there was a person in a black robe in front of me. He was saying something about losing and finding."
"What did he look like?" In the dim light I could see that he was trying to remember.
"I couldn't see his face," he said, "I think he was wearing a hood."
"What happened after that?"
"He told me this was some castle from oblivion, or something. After that it's kind of a blur. A few images of heartless, maybe some nobodies," Sora paused. "I remember having to fight some more people in hoods, but they were different than the first one, and it felt kind of stingy."
"Stingy?"
"Well," Sora looked like he didn't know how to say what he needed to, "It's like I felt it every time they hit me."
"You felt it?" I said disbelievingly, "But it was only a dream. How could you feel it?"
"That's what made it so weird," he whispered as if everybody in the Hotel was trying to hear him, "And I didn't only feel the things that hurt. I felt every move I made, when I walked, when I spoke. It almost felt like it really was happening to me."
There was silence until I said, "When did the girl in the white dress come in?"
"A little later." Then he said through a yawn, "She said something about memories and sleeping." He pulled his legs from the floor and onto the bed, "I think I'm going to go to sleep now."
Sora started to lie down but then I said, "No, you can't sleep."
"Why not?" he said crossing his arms.
I gave an exasperated sigh, "Just stay here, and don't go to sleep." I left the room, but could've sworn I heard Sora plopping down onto the bed. I went to the room three, the room where Kairi was, and opened the door. There she was, sleeping in a yellow bed that had creases in it, probably from when Sora had tried to wake her up. I put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a little shake, "Kairi," I said. She didn't move, "Kairi," I shook her a little harder but she still wouldn't wake up, "Come on Kairi." She sure was a heavy sleeper. Sora was right when he said Kairi wouldn't wake up. After a few more tries at waking her up, I finally got Kairi to open her eyes.
"Riku," she said looking up at me, "Why are you here?" Now I knew how Sora felt, because that was the exact same tone I'd used on him when he'd come into my room.
"Kairi, Sora's starting to remember Castle Oblivion," I said.
"Sora what?" Kairi sat up and started rubbing her eyes.
"He's remembering Castle Oblivion."
"How do you know that?" Kairi sounded like she didn't believe me.
"He came into my room and told me that he had a bad dream, and…"
"Wait, Sora came into your room to tell you he had a bad dream?"
"Kairi you're missing the point. The dream was about Castle Oblivion."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm positive. He even mentioned Naminé." I paused. "Oh. Maybe we could talk to her. She's bound to know why all of this is happening to Sora.
"Okay," Kairi pulled the covers back and jumped out of bed. She grabbed her shoes and started tying and zipping them, "I'll have to find her though."
"You have to findher? Isn't she with you?"
"She likes to go on walks around town every once in a while. Don't worry. I'll find her." She stood up, "But what are we going to do about Sora? He might remember more about Castle Oblivion if he goes back to sleep."
"I've got that covered. Just find Naminé so we can go back to sleep."
"Okay, I'll be back," Kairi left the room and I hurried back down the hallway to Sora's room. Like I thought, Sora had gone back to sleep. "Sora, it's time to wake up." I said, pulling back the covers on the bed. Sora opened his eyes and sat up, supporting himself with the backs of his elbows.
"What?" he said, sleepily.
"You can't go back to sleep, and I'm here to make sure you don't."
"Riku, will you just go away?" Sora flopped back down in the bed, a look of irritation crossing his face. "I really want to go to sleep right now."
"Sorry Sora, but I can't let you do that." I grabbed his arms and pulled him into a sitting position at the edge of the bed.
"If I really have to stay up, can I at least have some coffee or something?"
A small laugh escaped me, "Sora, if I ever give you coffee again, it'll be de-caf. You remember what happened the last time I let you have some, don't you?"
"Actually, I don't," Sora said, "Come to think of it, I barely remember anything from that day." I wasn't surprised. Sora only has to take one sip of espresso before he's bouncing off the walls, and that day was no different. Like an idiot, I gave Sora some coffee after he started complaining about being tired. I learned the hard way that that was a bad idea. Sure he was way better at destroying heartless afterwards, but after we were done, the trip to the next world was painful. So painful, that I'm not going to go into the details. Basically, there was a lot of fast talking, running around in circles, and jumping up and down, and then a lot of sleeping five hours later. We couldn't wake him up until the next morning.
"Well, whether you remember it or not," I said, not wanting there to be a repeat of that day, "You're not getting any coffee."
Sora grumbled something before saying, "Why do I have to stay up anyway?"
I didn't know how to answer this. What was I supposed to say? I could just imagine myself saying, "Sorry Sora. I can't let you sleep because about a year ago you traveled to a castle and a witch named Naminé erased it from your memory, so if you go back to sleep you'll probably start to remember it. Sorry" Right. Knowing Sora, if I said that he'd probably want to go to sleep even more out of curiosity. He's just like that.
"Sora, you can't go to sleep because…" I was interrupted by a slight grunting noise from Sora. I looked a little more closely at him and realized that he'd fallen asleep sitting right there. As if to make it all the worse, he was even snoring.
"Come on Sora. Look alive," I said, shaking Sora awake.
"How can I?" Sora slurred, "You're forcing me to… um… forcing me to…"
As Sora continued to say, "forcing me to," and, "um," I thought, "Man, he's thick when he hasn't had any sleep." I tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Sora, I think what you're looking for is, 'stay awake.'"
"Oh yeah," Sora said, "I'm being forced to not sleep."
I groaned, "Sora, I swear you're going to drive me insane before this night is over."
"I wouldn't be doing that if you'd just let me go to sleep." That was actually very tempting, but if I let Sora go to sleep, and he dreamed about Castle Oblivion again, and then Kairi found out, she'd be really mad at me.
"Sora, I'm not letting you go to sleep." The night went on with Sora trying to persuade me to let him sleep, and me telling him time and time again that he couldn't. Finally Sora stopped talking, and there was silence. I thought he'd fallen asleep again and was about to try and wake him up when he muttered something. "What?" I said.
"What's with your hair?" he said, looking up at me.
"My hair?" I was caught slightly off guard.
"Yeah, it's weird. I mean, it's long, and you're a boy. Plus it's gray. What's with that? You're what? 16?"
"It is not gray. It's silver," I said, crossing my arms. What was he trying to get at?
"That still doesn't explain why it's so long. What's it supposed to be? Some kind of girl magnet?"
"Sora. Shut up," I said, "And for your information, it is," but I must've blushed or something, because Sora got a mischievous grin on his face.
"Oh, someone's sensitive about their long gray hair."
"Sora," I said, trying to stay calm, "I'm warning you. I'll hit you so hard that you actually do go to sleep." I would've hit him earlier if I hadn't known he was halve asleep. He probably wasn't even going to remember this conversation. Hastily, I looked over at the clock on the wall. 3:45. What was taking Kairi so long? I waited a little longer, but when it got to be 4:00, I couldn't take anymore of Sora's begging to be let to go to sleep, small muttering, whining, and teasing about my hair. I turned to him. "Stand up," I said. He stood. "Now come with me." Sora's eyes were barely open as he followed me down the hallway and out of the Hotel, but I had to take him with me to make sure he didn't sleep. With Sora still following me, I went out into the center of the 2nd district and called, "Hey, Kairi." I heard footsteps before Kairi emerged from the 3rd district.
"Impatient, are we?" she said, walking over to me. I glared at her.
"You'd be impatient too if you just spent an hour with him," I pointed over at Sora, "He's killing me."
"It looks like he's the one that just got killed." I looked over at Sora. He may have been standing, but he definitely wasn't awake. His eyes weren't even open.
"He's just tired," I said, "And he's been driving me crazy. Have you found Naminé yet?"
"Yeah," Kairi said, "I was just on my way to tell you that she said it's okay."
"It's okay? Are you sure?"
"'It was only a dream. It's probably not going to happen again.' Those were her exact words."
"Well, Sora's going to be happy." I put my fingers in front of Sora's face and started snapping, "Hey, Sora. Wake up." He blinked and looked up at Kairi and me.
"Huh? What?" he said, his speech slow and groggy from being up so late.
"You can go to sleep now," I said. At first I don't think what I'd said registered with him, but then his eyes widened.
"Really?" he said as if he thought I was pulling his leg.
"Yep." Sora didn't waste any time. He abandoned Kairi and me and sprung up the stairs and into the Hotel before either of us could say anything to him. "Wow," I said, "For someone who claims to be as tired as he is, he sure can run fast."
I started to follow after him when Kairi said, "Naminé." I turned back around. There was Naminé, shining in the moonlight and walking towards us. She had a ghostly look about her since she didn't really have a physical form.
"Hi," she said, "Kairi, I thought about what you told me, and I think I know why Sora had that dream." She got into a thinking position. "When I left to go on my walk I passed Sora's room and thought I felt something stir up in his memories. I just didn't think it was anything, but now that I think about it, my passing him might have uncovered some of the things I erased."
"So he had a dream about Castle Oblivion because you passed him?" I said.
"Yeah, but I won't let it happen again. If I ever go on another walk, I'll make sure not to pass him." She put her hand on Kairi's shoulder and then said, "Do you need anything else?"
"No, that's okay," Kairi said.
"Okay, bye then." Blue light appeared around Naminé and she merged back into Kairi.
"Kairi," I said with a sigh, "I don't know about you, but I'm going to bed." We walked back to the Hotel, and when we looked in on Sora he was out like a light. Kairi and I said goodnight to each other and I went back to my room. As I crawled under the covers exhaustion took over. I closed my eyes, and was soon sleeping.
In the morning, it seemed that Sora didn't remember any of the details from the previous night, and that he just remembered that I'd kept him from sleeping, because he kept saying, "Riku, I'm going to get you for last night, you just wait." I wasn't so sure though, because he kept glancing in my direction, mainly at my hair, and then bursting into small fits of laughter. I was positive he remembered though, when he came up to me on our way out of the Hotel and said, "Riku, your hair really is weird." That was it. This time, he wasn't halve asleep, and he knew what he was saying. I hit him on the shoulder, hard, but even though I knew it must've hurt, Sora just grinned. "Really, it is." He ran ahead, his laughter still ringing in my ears. I knew I never would get went on inside that kids head.
A few days after Sora's little nightmare, we stayed in the Hotel again, and like last time, Sora had the Green Room, and I had the Red Room. It had only been a few hours since we'd all gone to sleep when I heard a small scratching noise at the door.
"Riku," I heard Sora's voice and rattling noises, "I had a bad dream." The rattling noises continued, and Sora kept complaining behind the door, but I barely heard him. I'd remembered what had happened the last time we'd been here, and I was prepared. The rattling noises were the sounds of Sora trying to open the door I'd remembered to lock.
"Silence," I thought, "It's nice." I closed my eyes, and soon both Sora and the rattling noises were lost to dreams.
The End
That was my first OneShot. Hm. So this is what it feels like to have completed one. It feels pretty good! This is The Mangosity saying, if you're using a floppy disk try not to drop it. It usually doesn't work after that.