"Kairi?"
It was just soft enough that I probably could have ignored it. In fact, if I were smart I would have ignored it. Of the week I'd had, I'd gotten maybe eight hours of sleep, and that's pushing it. But the voice was soft, which was already a red alarm that something was up — Sora's voice was characteristically loud and boisterous, even when he was half asleep.
Sitting up, I looked to the door. Sora had already begun weaving his way around the mess of my bedroom towards my bed. He clutched his shirt in front of him. "Kairi," he said again. "I'm sorry for waking you up," he muttered, "but I, uh, I had a bad dream."
I moved to one side of my bed and allowed Sora to sit beside me. He automatically pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs. He buried his face in his knees.
"I used to go to Roxas," he told me, "but, you know, he's living with Xion now. I haven't had one in ages, honestly, but I woke up and I couldn't — I couldn't breathe and you're my best friend before anything else —"
"Sora," I interrupted. He lifted his head just enough for me to see his blue eyes, wide and watery. "Sora, it's okay," I murmured. I patted my pillow beside me. "Come on, you can sleep with me tonight."
He paused. I watched him as I lied back down. He very rigidly leaned back, his hands still clutching his shirt. When his head hit the pillow, I pulled him into my arms. "Sora, you're okay," I whispered. "Whatever it was, it wasn't real."
He nodded slightly, his eyes shutting slowly. "I usually go to Roxas," he repeated, "or Riku, but I haven't had one in months. I thought… I thought they were gone. I really hoped they were gone," he said, his voice breaking.
"Can you tell me what it was about?" I asked him gently. My hand stroked his hair slowly, the other hand holding onto his hand tightly. He released a shaky breath, opening his eyes to look into mind fearfully. "You don't have to, Sora," I murmured.
"I was… I was with you two," he said. "I was with you and Riku. We were on a beach and Riku was sitting on a tree, and you and I were next to him on the sand. We were little kids. Riku said he wanted to get off of the island. Then it was dark, and there were these… monsters, I guess — they were everywhere. And the island started to disappear. I couldn't find you or Riku and then I woke up because the monsters got to me."
"Have they always been like that?"
He looked at me with his big blue eyes and I saw his answer in them. "They're all like that. You and me and Riku, we're always separated. Roxas is in them too, and Axel. The monsters are always there, too. And there are different monsters sometimes — big white ones…."
I looked at him and offered him a smile. "Whatever your dreams are about, they aren't real," I told him honestly. "We're not separated, you and me, and Riku's only gone for tonight. They're just bad dreams."
He shook his head almost violently. "They're not," he said. "Everything is so vivid in them — they feel like memories," he said, his voice nearly whispering.
I only nodded, not saying a word to the brunette who was clearly distressed. He shook faintly in my arms. I held him as he calmed down and, eventually, he fell asleep once more.
a/n: don't you just love next life fics? tell me how you feel about them on tumblr ;) im user nort-nort. comments and crits are always appreciated u3u