Interlude 1 : Of Dreams and Reality

Summary: Sora met Roxas in dream.

X

'Where am I…?'

His sky blue eyes opened.

He looked ahead of him, seeing nothing but darkness. It was a weird sensation of perceiving into the void of nothingness, yet feeling and knowing that he was there. He felt his limbs, as for his hands that reach out and tried at least in hopes of finding something tangible.

Still, Sora found nothing.

In any other situation, he would find himself frightened and lost. But now he didn't really find a reason to be scared.

He only felt himself floating, and it wasn't that bad.

'I must be dreaming…'

'Hmm, you're a little brighter than I had thought…' A voice came out of nowhere.

Sora whipped his head around, searching for the source of the voice, yet his eyes only met the darkness.

'Who are you?' He paused for a while before speaking again. 'Wait, I know you…'

There was a light chuckle. 'Take a good guess then.'

'Roxas?' Sora urged.

A moment of silence ensued, before a soft 'hnn' was answered along with the bright light that suddenly shoved itself onto Sora, and he was forced to cover his eyes.

X

When Sora opened his eyes and let his arms down from shielding the light, he saw the dark environment had disappeared, and was covered with whiteness instead.

A few paces away in front of him stood another boy. It was a boy with blond hair and blue eyes, someone who resembled Sora himself.

"So it's really you, Roxas." Sora said as he quickly took a step closer to the boy until he was standing directly in front of the other. Sora noticed that he was slightly shorter than him.

"So you came." Roxas spoke calmly to his other.

"I…came?" Sora asked, pointing at himself, with wide eyes.

The other nodded. "This is my place; you're here, so that means you came."

"Is this a dream?"

"Your dream…but then again, it's my place."

Sora crossed his arms over his chest and looked up, brows knitting slightly, obviously in deep speculation.

Roxas's chuckle pulled Sora out of his thoughts. "Don't get too carried away. You'll get back to your own world eventually, when you wake up."

The brunet uncrossed his arms from his chest and looked down at the tile floor momentarily. "Right. I was with Riku." Then he looked around. "But why am I here?"

"The answer is yours, I don't know about it."

Sora's eyes settled on the taller boy. "Maybe…I just want to meet you, Roxas."

A warm smile graced Roxas's feature, making Sora felt lighter. "Yeah, I want to meet you too."

At that, both of them only smiled and laughed lightly at each other.

"So you live here?" Sora asked as he looked around.

"Sometimes yes, and sometimes no." Roxas suddenly got up and beckoned to the shorter boy. "Come here, I'll show you."

Sora nodded enthusiastically and obediently followed.

Another white light engulfed them.

When Sora opened his eyes this time, he was in another place, again washed in whiteness, but obviously a room.

It looked like a room of some kind with drawings and sketches all around. Then the brunet realized that it appeared exactly like one of the rooms in the Haunted Mansion at Twilight Town.

"Is this Namine's room?" Sora asked, he didn't know why he knew; he just did.

Everything was white. There was a window, but it only led to more whiteness in the outside world. There was a long white table in the middle of the room. Pictures and sketchy drawings were randomly plastered on the wall, as well as some scattered on the floor and the long table in the center of the room. Sketch books and coloring tools were all around. In fact, the room had some resemblance to a nursery.

Roxas's nod confirmed his question. "She's not here now."

Sora raised an eyebrow with wide eyes. "Why not?"

"You're not with Kairi now."

"Oh…yeah." The brunette trailed off. "But tomorrow I'll meet her, so you can see Namine too."

With that, Roxas shook his head slowly. "You don't have to say that, it's not like it's your responsibility to do it."

"Huh? Why? Roxas, it's not like-"

"No, Sora. It's not what you think." The blond cut him off. "I just haven't known Namine for very long, I mean, really, I barely know her. The only reason I feel good towards her is only because I'm your…nobody." The last word came out as a barely audible whisper, but Roxas kept on. "And Namine is Kairi's nobody, that's why I feel like I'm close to her, in the way that you're close to Kairi. Hearts are connected, aren't they?"

Silence reigned, while Sora fidgeted slightly and Roxas knew that the boy somehow didn't really get what he had said but he didn't want to push the topic. Instead, he kept his pace around the room, studying and observing the pictures.

"Are these all Namine's? Of things she's seen?" Again, Sora spoke like he knew Namine, and in fact, he did.

Roxas nodded.

"Hmm…" Blue eyes settled on a drawing he suddenly took interest in.

It was a drawing of a boy with silver hair standing in front of a huge round egg-like contraption which held the brown-haired boy inside. It was a sketchy picture, no hints or emotions were drawn on either boys' faces, but Sora could tell that the silver-haired boy in the drawing was staring, or rather intently watching the boy in the contraption, which was obviously…him.

And another boy…

"Riku was there when I was sleeping!?" Sora whipped his head to Roxas, his sky blue eyes widened than ever before.

The blond made an amused voice in his throat, mostly because of Sora's face. His other had a knack of showing so much on his facial expression, especially lately

"Yeah, and complaining about you being a slacker, taking a nap like a child-"

"Ha-hey! I wasn't-"

"-while he told you to protect Kairi."

"…oh…" Sora's gaze dropped.

"I bet he was pretty surprised or even shocked when he found out that you were not back at the Island with Kairi. I mean, that was his last wish to you, as far as I know from Namine."

"I couldn't just go home to Kairi without Riku. I mean, I did take Riku's words to heart, but…I was sure Kairi was safe." Sora explained.

"I see."

Sora's eyes moved on to another similar drawing.

This time it was a drawing of a man in black cloak, with hood covering his face, but obviously watching him sleeping in the contraption, it gave Sora the parallel impression of the earlier picture.

He frowned, grabbing the picture in his hand and held it up for Roxas to see. "Is this…Riku too?"

"Yes, him again."

Sora's frown deepened, to the point of sternness.

The blond raised his brow. "Am I incorrect if I say that you look angry?"

The brunet glared to the side, putting the picture back down on the table, and lingering on it.

"Riku never told me. So he'd been here all along while I was asleep!" Sora paused for a moment, thinking, then continued. "Oh right, they told me that Riku was in the Castle of Oblivion. So he found me when I was asleep and ran away when I woke up!" Sora groaned crossly. "When I see him again, I'm gonna tell him off good!"

"Good, he deserves it." Roxas crossed his chest with a puff then uncrossed it. "Wait, you remember what happened to you in Castle of Oblivion?"

Blinking, Sora shrugged. "Why wouldn't I?" Another pause, then, "ha-hey, but I didn't recall anything earlier when I woke up, so why I am remembering now?"

The Nobody shrugged, mirroring his other's gesture. "Because this is in your dream?"

"Probably." Sora's shoulders sagged vaguely. "I hope I still remember when I wake up." He held up a fisted hand determinedly.

"Probably not. I'm afraid you won't recall any events in Castle of Oblivion when you wake up."

"Ah!? So Riku is going to get away with it," the boy said almost exasperatedly.

"Didn't he tell you he didn't want you to see him after he'd turned into Xehanort's Heartless form?" Roxas looked away. "That was in front of my eyes."

The brunet sensed the tension in his other's voice. Riku had explained to him what had happened between him and Roxas when he tried to wake Sora. His mind momentarily shifted from anger at his friend to concern for his other.

Being manipulated into a programmed-world could be quite painful once knowing that one's existence didn't really exist.

For a while, Sora had thought that Roxas would probably would sink into gloominess, but he didn't. The blond boy tilted his head back up, smiling.

A smile that said he was okay.

"You're lucky, Sora. Your summer will never be over. You've got friends back there." Roxas eyes shifted to the side and cast on the floor. "Riku would give everything to get you back."

"…Hey." The brunet rubbed the back of his neck with a lopsided grin. "You've also got the same kind of friend who did everything to get you back too."

It took Roxas a while to speak the name out, although he knew at once of who Sora was referring to. "Axel?"

"Yeahhh." Sora grinned, closing his eyes, and leaned against the white table. "You know. Besides breaking into the programmed-world that Diz created to get to you, he also kidnapped Kairi to use her against me, in hopes of turning me into Heartless once more, you know what I mean."

The blonde let out a soft chuckle. "He never told me that."

Yet again, the two boys found in each others' eyes that they'd been encountered the same fate, same kind of friend, but neither of them voiced it out.

"Riku was right after all, about me, changing my mind when I met you." Roxas said.

Sora recalled the time that Riku told him about the fight with Roxas. Riku didn't exactly get into detail, but Sora got the point that Roxas was not happy about him being a part of somebody else, or to be exact, being a Nobody; hell, no one would. The brunet had already caught the hint that Roxas could hate him, if not now, then he used too.

"You hate me." It wasn't a question, rather a statement which came out quite frankly.

Roxas extended his hands out to the side, a rare gesture of him. "Because everyone, mostly Riku, come running around, calling me Sora."

"I understand how it feels." Sora remarked, eyes cast on the white floor.

"Hey, I only used to…hate you." Roxas took a seat, clasping his hands above the table, then glanced out the window which led to nothing but white abyss. "I kind of wanted to meet you too."

"I know. When I came to my senses, and was about to wake up in that Haunted Mansion, I heard your voice." Revealed Sora, as he stepped closer to the sitting boy. "Roxas."

The blond boy looked up at him.

Reaching out, Sora placed his hand on the his shoulder firmly. Roxas only looked questioningly at the hand, then to the owner of it.

"You know what, people said we're one, but someone…like Axel or Riku saw us as two completely different people even when they said we're both alike and different. I kind of think that we're two different people too. Like now, us, talking in front of each other." Sora spoke softly as he let his other hand drift above his heart. "And…I felt lots of emotions that I thought weren't from me; they were from you."

Roxas only listened, feeling Sora would continue.

"I felt sad when Axel faded away, and when I parted with Hayner, Pence, and Olette, I cried. It was you that cried through me. Moreover, they felt like they'd met me before, when in fact, it was you that they'd met. The world that Diz created reflected the real world of Twilight Town."

"It's just a reflection. The real Hayner, Pence, and Olette don't even know Roxas." The blond retorted, but not with any emotion. "I'm afraid it was only me with the imagination of them."

"You got it wrong, Roxas." Sora forced slightly on the blond shoulder and the said Nobody looked up at him again. "They met you, they knew about you, or at least they felt it in their hearts. Why else would they felt like they'd known me for long? It wasn't Sora, it was Roxas." Sora let out a huff and crossed his arms. "That would explain why Hayner was so grumpy the first day when I woke up, it was because it was the day you were…away. They too felt sad about you, in me, leaving. They felt you through me. The real them resonated the world that Diz put you in. World was not artificial, it mirrored the real thing. Your feelings are not artificial, they're real."

Roxas stared at the brunet for a long while, letting the words sink in. He didn't think that his other could go along with explaining such logic. Then again, when it came to Sora, he always had to think again. Finally, he closed his eyes, smiling. "Thanks. Now I remember, Axel did shed tears too." His last sentence came out inaudibly like he was talking to himself.

"What?"

"Nothing." When he slowly opened his blue eyes again, he found Sora's face had changed into another expression. He was sure Sora hadn't heard his earlier whisper, so what was it that made the Keyblade wielder sad now?

"I'm sorry, Roxas."

"Huh? Why do you have to?"

Sora went quiet for a while, eyes trailing back to the sketches that were scattered just about everywhere. Naturally, he found the sketch of two people in black cloaks: they were without a doubt Roxas and Axel.

"He's your best friend. And he's…gone because he gave all of his power in wiping the Nobodies out for me."

"Hmm." Roxas's eye's slid close half closed as he took Sora's earlier words into his own. "Wrong…" For a few minutes of seeing Sora's face washed in confusion, he revealed. "Right, he's my best friend, and true, he's gone because he saved you, but you don't have to apologize." Finally, Roxas gave off a smile. "He did what he wanted to, and…I still get to see him around."

The last statement made Sora's jaw fall open.

"I didn't see him, I mean..." Roxas's voice dropped to a lower level. "But I still hear his voice, I feel him around sometimes."

Sora raised his brow excitedly. "So he's not gone."

"Not really, I guess." Roxas let off a chuckle, easing the earlier tension in the air. "Axel's always stubborn of leaving, he always have been."

The brunet grinned at that, never once before had he seen Roxas with such face. Roxas's face contained of sheer amusement, which was indicative of talking about Axel, Sora noted.

"So, he's still here."

"Everytime you're with Riku."

"Huh?" Sora's eyes turned from happy grin to those of confusion. "Wait, every time I'm with Riku? How? It's not like Riku is…Axel's Nobody!" Sora raised his voice, his tone half-urgent and half-questioning.

"Yeah, he's not." The Nobody said with a smirk, still amused with Sora's expression. "Everybody remembered who they were before they were turned into Nobodies. Axel is not Riku's nobody, but Axel did tell me that Riku is like a reflection."

Sora's eyebrow went higher, if possible. "Reflection?"

"Yeah, Namine and I reflected Kairi and you, same goes with Axel."

"That's because Axel is your best friend," Sora hit his fist into his open palm.

Roxas nodded. "Something like that. What I'm trying to say is that there are always things we don't know of, things that are left un-answered. So…why I'm able to feel Axel when you're with Riku is one of those. We will never know."

The brunet frowned hard, eyes traveling left and right, thinking. Then he crossed his chest with a puff. "I've heard that before, somewhere."

"Don't worry, Axel's in me, and I'm in you. Metaphorically speaking, we're together." Roxas said, almost jokingly.

"Okaaay? You're in me, Axel's in you. So you're both in me." The boy scratched his head. "Back then, Kairi's heart was also in me."

"Namine also hinted that half of Riku's heart was also with you, which is why his heart wasn't completely lost to darkness." Roxas tapped a finger over Sora's heart.

"Huh!? Riku too!? Then I've become such a huge container!"

"You've got a big heart you can't even imagine."

Sora looked to the side, and scratched his forehead again. "Well, at least I hope what you said about Riku is true. If he's in me, then he won't be able to go anywhere far or into the darkness again."

"Sora, Riku is still in the dark."

The brunet snapped his head at the remark.

"But you need not worry about that, because you are the light. Light and darkness are drawn together, like you and Riku. You two won't be separated." The blond amended.

"….?"

"You can be his light."

Sora looked at the other for a long while, before he nodded firmly, eyes shining with determination.

'Sora…'

"Yeah?"

"What?" Roxas raised his eyebrow.

"You just called me." The brunet clarified.

"I didn't." Roxas shrugged and looked up the ceiling in a quick thought. "Oh, he's calling you."

It took Sora a moment to realize who Roxas was referring to. "Riku?"

The other nodded then he looked to the side for another long while before speaking. "Sora, tell him I'm…I didn't really…uh…." The nobody rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, something he'd reluctantly picked up from Sora. "…well, uh…that I didn't hate him. It's just that….I was so angry. I don't want him to get the wrong impression, because he thinks that you are me, and that worries him."

The brunet grinned contentedly and nodded. "Sure!"

"Guess this is it then." The Nobody concluded.

With that, everything around Sora started to fade into another void of color.

"Wait!" Sora raised his voice almost in alarm, he wanted to get to Roxas who was fading, but his feet were nailed to the spot. All he could do was to reach out to his Nobody "Roxas! Will I see you again!?"

A warm smile played across Roxas's features as he tipped his eye closed and the smile grew wider. He said something. But it was too late for Sora to hear, everything had already faded.

X

'Sora…'

'Roxas, where are you?'

'Sora, wake up.'

'Nnnng, Rox-"

"Wake up already, Sora!"

'Wha-'

Thump.

Blue eyes blinked open. He expected to see another white, but instead, he saw silver and green above him.

"Riku?" The boy trailed off, and blinked more when finding the vision of his best friend upside down.

"Get up already, we're going to be late." The silver-haired boy snapped, with a small hint of frustration.

It took a moment for Sora to realize that he was on the floor, of Riku's bedroom, his legs still dangling up on Riku's bed. It was dawned on him that his best friend had just thrown him off of the bed. He got up suddenly, rubbing the back of his pained neck and complained. "Why'd you have to do that? Couldn't you just call?"

"I called ten times, and you only tossed and turned at ten times that I called." Riku pulled the sheet and folded it neatly on the bed, half-ignoring the boy on the floor but after he finished folding the sheet, he eyed at his friend. "Roxas?"

The brunet looked up, attention caught by the name. He scrambled himself up right, though still on the floor and nodded excitedly. "Yeah! I met him! I can't believe it, I thought it was a dream, but yet it felt so real. We talked! And…" His blue eyes turned angry suddenly at Riku and the other was taken aback slightly by the sudden change. "And you…!"

Quiet ensued.

The standing boy let his eyebrow's quirk. "And I…what?"

The sitting boy left his mouth hanging open, no words coming out. Finally, he shook his head. "What was I going to say…?"

Riku could use another snap for his friend was dragging a time and they were going to be late. But his nuisance was forgotten upon seeing the look on the brunet's face.

Sora appeared lost for a moment, then he looked up at his friend. "There was something I wanted to tell you…or more like scold at you…because I was so angry." He paused and continued. "…But I can't remember now."

"Good. I'm lucky then." Riku smirked while Sora made an angry and frustrated sound in his throat, followed by a sulk.

"Well at least, there's one thing that's clear in my mind. Roxas told me to tell you to that he didn't hate you, it was just that he was angry, you know."

Riku's eyes traveled everywhere but on the boy. "I see."

Sora couldn't be too sure, but he thought he saw a brief negative look on Riku's face. Although most of the time he couldn't really grasp the emotions that Riku hid, he always believed in those little signs on his friend's features.

Riku was feeling guilty.

Before Sora could say anything, Riku spoke first. "Sora."

"Yeah?"

"Do me a favor." The silver-haired boy spoke while focusing on smoothing the bed sheets, but Sora could tell his mind was obviously elsewhere since the bed was perfectly smoothed long time ago.

"What favor?"

"Go to the sea with Hayner, Pence, and Olette sometimes. Okay?" This time, his eyes landed back at the brunet.

"Uh…yeah…sure…why not?" The blue-eyed boy trailed off, not catching the reason. "We'll go together."

Riku shook his head softly. "Just the four of you." His oceanic green eyes seemed to be far off again. "The three of them planned to go with…Roxas. They worked hard to earn enough munny for the train tickets, but never made it."

Sora was quiet for a long while before he detected the reason behind it. "…because you stopped them?"

Another long pause which followed by Riku's nod.

The brunet got up from the floor that he'd been occupying for too long. His hand landed on his friend's shoulder, giving it a firm grip, like he had to Roxas in his dream.

Riku looked at the hand and to its owner questioningly but had to laugh inside at his best friend and his nobody identical reactions.

"Don't make it like it was your fault. You were trying to bring me back, that's all." Sora's voice was as firm as his grip.

The silver-haired boy only has his eyebrow raised.

The brunet boy took his hand off and reached into his pocket until he fished out a small rounded object, a colored crystal, and held it between his fingers. He made his way to the window where light bathed in and leveled the crystal between his eyes' range and the sun's rays. The orb glowed with multi-colored beauty.

"This is Roxas's, I should have return it to him." The boy said as he bounced back turning to face his friend, grinning widely. "If you feel that bad about stopping them back then, then you can pay for their train tickets, and mine too. We'll go together."

The taller boys sighed; hence Sora didn't miss the small smile that tugged his lips.

"Fine, fine. But first…we have to go to school and we're so late, Sora."

"Urg."

X

Note: If anyone read KH manga (can be found in KH Ultimania website), you'll see in KHII when Roxas and his friends planned to go to the beach. Riku who was the one watching over Roxas, had made a call via public phone to Diz and Diz told him no, Roxas must not get out of the area, don't invest your emotion in 'that.' And readers can tell Riku wasn't so happy with that. I really like that part. Hey, and later (in game) he even made the train appear for Roxas who anxiously waited for it! Man, some people viewed that Roxas and Riku hate each other's guts, but in my opinion, Riku kinda liked Roxas (because he's Sora of course!) and Roxas didn't really hate him, he was just angry.