Disclaimer: Bitingly not mine.

A/N: This was originally written as part of a timed ficlet meme, but I went over the time limit. The original brief was this: Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like, turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle, then write a ficlet related to or inspired by each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over.

Parallel Worlds

© Scribbler, December 2008.

Trapped in your world where you're burning in my eyes,

You're like a shadow that never hides.

I'm stuck in parallel worlds, it's something supernatural,

It won't let me go!

It's paranormal, and no one else believes me,

I feel so alone again.

-- From Parallel Worlds by Elliot Minor

"I don't like this world." Kairi drew closer to Riku, and he obligingly moved in front of her until he realised she wanted to stand beside, not behind him. "At all."

The remains hung from the battlements like a macabre pennant. The man had been dead for some time, so his skin had tightened across his face into a hideous rictus and the bloodstains had turned brown, as though he'd run out of gas and rusted there. Riku had only ever been to Hollow Bastion when he was possessed by the Heartless Ansem, but after Sora's stories of twinkling lights and welcoming people he knew the place wasn't supposed to look anything like this. Even Maleficent's evil hadn't pervaded the stones and soil this way – insidious, like a slow-acting poison after years of exposure.

Sora's face registered horror, his hands tightening convulsively into fists, as though he couldn't decide whether or not he should summon his keyblade. He cast around, taking in the pits and craters where battles had taken place and the petrified statue of a wizard holding his staff aloft in some desperate last spell. It was old and encrusted with lichen. "Merlin? But this … this isn't right …"

"Are you sure you put in the right coordinates?" Riku asked.

"You did spill soda all over the Gummi Ship's guidance system," Kairi pointed out, eyes riveted on the line of spikes with things stuck on them – things that had gone green with age and decay. Looking a little green herself she turned away.

Sora swallowed. Riku could see his throat bobbing frantically. "Merlin once said there are so many different worlds, there c-could be variations on ones we already know." His eyes found the spikes and widened. "But that's … oh man, I think m' gonna be sick. This isn't right. It looks like this all happened ages ago, but I was here only a few weeks ago."

"Maybe not here­-here." Riku wasn't too far behind him in the upchuck category, though he hid it better. Slowly, he pressed one hand against Kairi's stomach and hooked other around Sora's shoulder, pulling him back towards the ship. "I think it's time to go."

"Wings on that jacket," Sora muttered, tearing his gaze from the spikes only for it to boomerang back to the body dangling from the battlements. "There are wings on the jacket …"

Something hissed and crawled over the drawbridge using kunai that bit deep into the wood like claws. It pulled its lips back into a snarl stuffed with fangs. Another creature inched vertically down the wall, salivating and staring hard at their necks. It wore what might once have been a pink dress, but the body inside it was only vaguely human – skin too pale, ears and incisors too long and pointed, and eyes too red and cold.

"I think," Kairi said, "we may need stakes instead of keyblades here."

Sora said nothing, but he looked like he was ready to make good on his threat to hurl.

Riku gritted his teeth and moved in front of them both, calling his weaponry to him. He planted his feet and adjusted his stance, knowing Sora would find it hard to fight these enemies if it came down to it. He'd do it if they threatened either of his friends, but it would hurt. Better if Riku himself took away the need for Sora to give himself nightmares. Riku already had enough nightmares of his own, after all. What were a few more? "Get the engine started."

"But -" Kairi protested.

"Now."

"Riku -" Sora began.

"There's nothing we can do here except leave, Sora."

Sora knew that. It didn't make it any easier to accept, though. He stared at the advancing creatures, which had been joined by a third dragging a square-ended sword behind it the way a toddler might drag around a comfort blanket. Riku kept his eyes on that sword, not willing to believe the slack grip. There was ruthless intelligence in the eyes of the creature holding it.

"Sora!"

Sora hustled onto the Gummi Ship with many an anguished glance over his shoulder. Riku followed backwards, relief flooding him when the engines roared into life.

He was halfway up the gangway when the creature with the sword sprang. Riku thumped a fist against the door-closing mechanism, then leaped back out and met the thing in mid-air.

"Riku!" both Kairi and Sora shouted over the whir of the door.

Riku met the creature blade on blade. The power it had was immense, but Riku twisted and slid beneath to deliver a few swift cuts and punches that sent it flying into the other two, which were headed for the ship. It was more luck and good timing than skill, and he knew he couldn't use the same trick twice, so instead he used the momentum to propel himself back through the sliver of hatch still open. The door finished popping shut behind him, slicing off a few flyaway strands of hair. Something clanged against the other side and screamed in frustration.

"Move!" Riku yelled to the cockpit.

Kairi was already on it. Her elbows were stiff as the ship turned and flew away, retracing their steps back to their own world. Riku saw that her shoulders were hunched, but she was keeping it together. Somehow she always did, no matter how much he'd convinced himself she needed protecting like a fairytale princess.

Sora huddled in the corner, shaking his head. He wasn't sobbing or going to pieces – and Riku wouldn't have expected him to. Sora was deceptively strong, just like Kairi. To look at him you'd think 'good guy', 'bubbly teenager' or maybe 'nice but naïve', yet Sora had seen and done things that would have made most normal people wet their pants and hide under the sheets from the shadows in their bedroom. Sora was infinitely tougher than he looked.

This had still shaken him, though. His friends and loved ones were his Achilles heel.

Riku crouched next to him and awkwardly put an arm around his shoulder. He wasn't comfortable with physical contact as a rule, but it was what Sora responded to best.

Sure enough, Sora raised his eyes and murmured, "I know it wasn't them. Not really. It was just … y'know."

"Yeah." As far as Riku was concerned, that was all that needed to be said on the matter, but Sora thought differently.

"It was a shock, I guess."

Riku averted his eyes to stare at a particularly riveting piece of bulkhead. "Sometimes being able to skip between worlds whenever we want is more trouble than its worth."

It was a moment before Sora replied. He leaned into Riku a little, which anyone else would have thought was weird. Regular people were always quick to pigeonhole, and more than once they'd been accused of being a couple, or even a threesome if Kairi was there, just because sometimes they didn't need words to affirm their friendship.

"Mmm," Sora said. "Sometimes. Hey, Riku?"

"Hm?"

"You know as soon as we land Kairi's going to smack you for nearly getting left behind trying to protect us, don't you?"

Riku gave a small, fierce smile. "Yeah."

"And then she'll probably hug you afterwards, even if you try to resist."

"Yeah."

"Okay. Just so you know."

Fin.