It had been three months since Sora and Riku had returned to Destiny Islands. Twelve weeks had passed since the day they passed through the Door to Light and fallen out of the sky. And it had been ninety one nights ago that Sora's horrible nightmares had begun.

Falling, they always started with that horrible falling sensation. Into darkness, maybe? Some sort of shadowy abyss? Or maybe he was falling into the light with his arms over his face. Sora could never tell. But the horrors that followed the fall were never the same. He was never sure what to wait for. Some nights he was being eaten alive by thousands of Heartless. Other nights he was fighting Xemnas and the flashing red lights. Sometimes nothing at all would happen – Sora would just stand and wait for the nightmare to begin, but no monsters of the darkness would come. Apart from those nights, which were few and far between, the dreams always ended with Sora's demise. His head would fall off or he would fade into darkness or find himself impaled on some pointy object. He would watch his lower torso fly away into the darkness or he would feel his head crack open. It was sickening.

But the very worst dream, to Sora, was the only dream that was the same every time he had it. It was also the only dream in which he didn't die.

In the dream he was standing in a long, white corridor with white pillars lining the walls. In his dreams he was usually in a very dark place, so when he found himself in the long, white corridor it always blinded him at first. In the dream he had a sense of urgency – he needed to be somewhere, to find something and find it quick smart. He needed to reach the door at the end of the corridor. But every time, every single time, Riku stood in the way.

Riku wore the strange blue and red suit he had worn while under Ansem's control. He was only fifteen in the dream – never older, never younger. He always yelled tormenting insults at Sora and he always advanced upon him menacingly. But always he brandished his keyblade at Sora, and he never failed to pick a fight.

Sora was used to fighting Riku – as kids they were forever having fist fights and sparring matches. However, this fight was different. Sora found it so unnerving because it wasn't a sparring match. The muscular boy held nothing back, pulled every dirty trick he knew and always glared at him with absolute hatred. Riku wanted him dead.

The fight itself was never too hard, but the ending seconds were always more terrifying for Sora than all of his other nightmares combined. Always, he blocked a crunching blow, dodged to the side and saw an opening. Diving in quickly, he felt his keyblade strike flesh and he always tried to pull back, but the momentum of the blow was just too strong and he couldn't. His Keyblade always managed to make contact with the side of the other boy's head, producing a sickening crunch.

Watching his best friend sink to the floor was always enough to make Sora wake up screaming.

"Riku …"

-x-

Sora often woke up screaming and tonight was no different.

By the time the bedroom door was thrown open Sora was on the floor, thrashing about wildly and screaming. Strong hands grabbed at his shoulders and shook him roughly. At first this made Sora thrash even harder than before, eventually causing both bodies to fall onto the floor in a tangled heap, but eventually he slumped over and opened his eyes wearily.

"… What…?" He muttered, gazing about the room "Another one?"

He looked up to spot the terrified face of a seventeen year old Riku. His long, silver hair was all over the place from sleeping on the couch and his jade eyes were bloodshot. He was kneeling on the floor next to Sora, gripping his shoulders roughly. Riku sighed and visibly relaxed, letting go of Sora.

"Yeah. Another one." He sat back, leaning on the side of Sora's bed.

Sora sat up slowly, shakily. In the moonlight he was very pale. "And I thought I was over them, too."

Riku ran his hand through his messy silver hair. "Want some water?"

Sora shook his head as he leaned against the bed next to Riku, wrapping his arms around his knees and drawing them close into his chest, resting his chin on his knees. His wide eyes stared off into the darkness blankly. Riku shuddered when he saw just how flat those eyes were compared to how they usually glittered with life.

"When will they stop, Riku?" He asked quietly, not moving his gaze.

Riku sighed and tried to smile at the hunched boy. "Soon." He said, attempting to sound confident.

Sora's head turned slowly and he looked over at Riku, eyes welling with tears. Neither of them said a word. But slowly, Riku reached over and placed an arm around Sora's shaking shoulders, pulling the smaller body in close to his. They sat like that for the rest of the night, in total silence, neither of them moving an inch. When dawn finally peeked through the curtained windows, Sora's face was stained with dry tears.

-x-

When they had first returned to Destiny Islands, Sora's parents weren't concerned about the nightmares. They figured that it was just his way of dealing with the traumatic things he had been through on his adventure. But when two months had passed and the nightmares had increased in intensity and frequency they began to worry. And finally, desperation had led them to Riku. They knew that Riku had also been through much of what Sora had. They thought that maybe he could help the boy get over his nightmares.

Riku had taken to sleeping on the couch in the Osment house a few weeks prior. It wasn't every night that he ended up running into Sora's room, but every morning at breakfast Sora had deep shadows under his eyes and a sour disposition.

During the day it was an entirely different story. Sora talked, Sora smiled, Sora laughed. He looked like a boy who had been on a very long holiday and was delighted to be home again. Riku, while a little tired and grumpy at times, was also fairly cheerful during the day. More cheerful than he had been since he was a child. Life was good.

When Sora's nightmares first began he had sought out Riku. At first Riku also dismissed the dreams as post traumatic stress, nothing more. But when Sora began to talk about a long, white corridor with pillars, and of killing Riku, he began to get a nagging suspicion that something wasn't right. It was this suspicion that led him to accept the Osment's offer of sleeping on the couch.

It had been almost two years since Riku had seen Castle Oblivion, but the events that had taken place at that castle still sent shivers up his spine. He remembered everything that he had seen and done at Castle Oblivion, and Naminé had shared with him her experiences at the castle while they were taking care of Sora with DiZ in Twilight Town. In this way Riku had a rough idea of what Sora had encountered.

Naminé had told Riku all about how she was being held captive by the Organization and was forced to tear apart Sora's memories of Kairi – the girl Sora was supposedly in love with. She had described how she had replaced Sora's memories of Kairi with false memories of herself, and she had recounted Sora's fits of anger when he learned that Naminé was in trouble.

But Sora didn't remember a thing. As far as he was concerned, Donald, Goofy, Jiminy and himself had just sent Kairi back to Destiny Islands and were just setting out on a new journey to re-locate Riku and King Mickey, when suddenly he found himself waking up in a pod with no idea of how he got there. And it didn't seem to bother him at all.

As Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy didn't remember Castle Oblivion, Naminé was a part of Kairi again and the entire Organization and DiZ were dead, Riku knew that the only one who had been there and remembered it other than himself was King Mickey, but he was far away and Riku couldn't reach him. Or could he?

Riku was beginning to worry. Why was Sora dreaming about Castle Oblivion? And was it causing these horrific nightmares? But the thing that worried him the most was the Riku in Sora's dreams. The aggressive boy waving about his keyblade and wearing the Heartless outfit. The one that Sora killed every time. As soon as Sora had described him Riku knew who he was. It had to be the Replica.

Riku hadn't needed Naminé to tell him of the Replica. He knew very well what it was.

It hardly mattered anymore, because Riku himself had killed it. Riku had watched it die, even shared a tender moment with it, and he had always assumed that that was the end of the matter. It seemed that he was wrong. Somehow, Sora knew about the Replica. Even if it was an unconscious knowledge or not, Sora knew something that he wasn't supposed to know and it was driving him mad.

At first, Riku tried to shrug it off as a mere coincidence. He himself had worn that very suit while attempting to kill Sora when they had fought in Hollow Bastion. And Sora did know a little bit about Naminé. After all, he had met the girl in passing, even if he didn't recognise her. But after several nights of waking up to Sora's tortured screams he knew that he had to do something.

It was late on a Saturday afternoon at the start of the school holidays when Riku finally sat down at his desk with a pen and paper. After pausing to think for several minutes, he lowered his pen and began to write.

Dear Mickey, He wrote. How are you? I hope everything at Disney Castle is running smoothly.

I'm writing this to you because there's something that has been really bothering me lately. For the last few months Sora has been having these terrible nightmares. It's wearing him down so much and we're all really worried. However, he's also been dreaming about Castle Oblivion.

Riku paused again, trying to sort out the mess in his head.

You and I both know that Sora slept in that pod for a year so Naminé could restore his true memories and erase the memories of Castle Oblivion, but for some reason Sora has been dreaming about fighting the Replica of me. I've asked him about it again and again. He doesn't remember anything else of Castle Oblivion or of the four members he met while he was there. He doesn't even remember anything about Naminé. All he knows is the 'dream' he keeps having about fighting, and killing, the Replica. What about Donald Goofy and Jiminy? Are they remembering bits and pieces of Castle Oblivion too?

I haven't told him about the Replica or of Castle Oblivion. As far as he knows I'm worried that he is suppressing urges to kill me. I'm not sure if he should be told about that castle. He doesn't seem at all curious how he got into the pod in the first place. Silly, scatterbrained Sora.

Normally I wouldn't bother you with this. You're a busy mouse and you have a kingdom to run. But I'm really worried about Sora. Everyone on Destiny Island is. The lack of sleep is beginning to affect his health. If you could spare a few thoughts on the matter I would be eternally grateful.

Your friend, Riku.

Riku sat back and stretched, scanning through his letter again. It was rushed, but he felt that it got the point across. He honestly didn't know if Mickey would even respond, but he knew he had to try.

He reached across the desk to grab at an empty glass bottle. Carefully, he rolled up the letter and shoved it down the neck of the bottle, making sure to cork it firmly. Tightly grasping the bottle he stood up, stretched again and left the room. Calling out a brief farewell to his parents, he strode from the house and made his way to the beach, walking quickly. When he reached the shore, he glanced out to the open ocean.

He didn't know if it was the only way to contact Mickey. But he could no longer use corridors of darkness to travel, he couldn't summon the Door to Light on will and Sora's gummiship was still sitting in Twilight Town where he had left it. And if Kairi could send a message in a bottle from the realm of light to Sora, who was in the realm of darkness, Riku felt pretty confident that his little message would make it to the world of the Disney Castle. Even though he wasn't sure if there was an ocean anywhere near it.

Pushing all doubt out of his mind, Riku waded out into the shallows and gently placed the bottle in the water. Giving it a slight nudge, the bottle was caught in the current and slowly pulled out to sea. Riku watched the bobbing figure for a long time, as it slowly got smaller and smaller until it eventually disappeared from sight.

With a slight sigh Riku turned and made his way back to the dry sand. He hoped, for Sora's sake, that Mickey would respond soon.

-x-

Fangirl's Ramble: This fic will have a total of seven chapters, all at least double the size of this one. I'll upload a new chapter every few days, or if I get bored. :3

Enjoy and review!