Dual Dreams

Sora's PoV

"You know... despite all the journeys we went on, we never did one for just fun," Donald was telling Sora now, as he examined the sword that Master Yen Sid said had said he should try. But with the way his eyes kept darting back towards "Save the Queen", Sora couldn't help thinking that Donald was going to stay with his beloved wand in the end.

"That's a good point!" Goofy chirped, as he scarfed down his hot cocoa and then some chocolate cake as fast as he could—nearly knocking over the pastry that the Master had put on his table in such a decorative way. And Sora wondered if Goofy was trying to get both chocolate flavors in his mouth around the same time. Maybe they tasted good together? "Sora, what do you say to us doing that for your birthday?!"

Sora considered this offer for a moment as he drummed his fingers on his right leg. He was trying to make this birthday perfect, despite some dreams he'd been having lately… and it had been ages since he'd paled around with these buds of his.

Sora nodded his head almost instantly. "Sure! Sounds good to me!" And he let his hand fall atop the other two's, as they yelled out their standard "All-for-one and one-for-all!"

And they boarded the gummi ship for a long journey… but only to be spit out of it before they reached their intended destination, and instead ended up in some strange location.

"So, what's this world we're at this time?" Sora asked as he got to his feet and saw a strange mirror standing before him (wait. Hadn't he done this kind of thing before? And even though he barely touched it with the tips of his fingers, it shattered into a million pieces as if it had never been there to begin with.

Sora could have been wrong about this… but this place was very dream-like to him, and already it was worrying him that he had gotten off track already somehow—as he had during his Mark of Mastery exam—and that it would lead to the trapped girl he didn't know how to feel about, who he was having so many dreams about lately…

They weren't romantic dreams, or anything like that—no, Kairi was the love of Sora's life and always would be—but rather like a poor soul was reaching out to him for help… but he didn't know if he should give it or not, because he also got the sense that she was evil.

And here Sora had partly come on this adventure to try and avoid all of this anguish!

"I don't know," Donald quacked, bringing Sora's thoughts back to the present, as he led them to a sinking bridge that looked more like it belonged in Shinjuku, than in the way this place had just looked: as if it were a part of La Cité des Cloches. "But it reminds me of an animation I once saw!"

"It reminds me... of dreams I've had," Sora said, as he remembered how he'd dreamt about falling through his shattering heart platform, among other things

"Gawrsh," said Goofy, as he pointed out a man and girl, who were suddenly before them. "Why don't we go talk to that man with the nametag 'Cobb'? The last place we went to on our final quest had 'cobs'. It can't be a coincidence!

That seemed like a large leap in logic to Sora, but since Goofy was, perhaps, wiser than any of them, he thought he'd hear him out.

The trio walked over to this Cobb person... and Donald and Goofy received odd looks from the new people on the scene almost immediately. "Who are you?" the woman with the curling brown hair and sharp honey- colored eyes asked Sora and his friends as she seemed to deeply analyze them. "Cobb… are these three part of one of the dream levels?"

"Dream levels?!" both Donald and Goofy choked out at the same time, as they gave each other a look before then sending Sora one—clearly worried that he was falling into the depth again. And their concern for him touched his heart.

"Do ya mean we're too deep in some place, and there's no hope of resurfacin'?" Goofy asked sadly, as he bowed his head and his ears sagged (Sora's heart went out to him).

Meanwhile, Donald was tapping his foot impatiently and muttering something under his breath, that Sora heard—and when the brunet's eyes filled up with wonder and he gasped at the duck's genius, he realized he was right-"I bet this is one of those worlds where they think things happen in the mind and not the heart!"

"…Look... as great as all this is. I got to find Mal- I mean finish this mission," said Cobb.

But his assistant was already looking at the man incredulously as his first words seemed to catch up with her. "Your thinking about your wife is going to jeopardize us all!'

And though Sora really had no idea what was going on here—as per most of his world visits, really—he could understand how the girl could be right. He, after all, had allowed his feelings for Naminé to endanger Donald, Goofy, and himself. And even possibly Naminé herself. So, Ariadne, as Sora would later learn her name was, was right.

But he also understood how love made you do crazy things. Sora wasn't in love with Naminé anymore—and really, he never had been. It had always been Kairi for him. And he'd certainly done more than enough mad things for her—but still.

"No, she won't, Ariadne. I'll make sure she stays in limbo but doesn't pull us into it. And if these guys are really here to help us—sent by Saito—we'll see if they can help out Arthur give the kick to the others with no gravity. Come on!"

So with that, Sora, Donald, and Goofy found themselves following their new friends and getting a bit of a summary of what was going on.

It seemed they'd all been right in assuming they were in some sort of dream thing. And Donald had been correct in thinking that this world dealt moreso in minds, than in hearts.

Some rich man called "Saito", wanted the heir to his rival company to dissolve it. And Cobb, Ariadne, and some others, had been sent here to implant the idea into the heir, Fischer's, head.

They had kidnapped the man... and somehow linked up all of their minds together, to try and access Fischer's subconscious.

But since even in dreams, you were always somewhat aware and would fight to protect yourself and your secrets, they needed to go into the deepest level of Fischer's mind in order to get the idea to hold. But the team needed someone to monitor them on each dream level, so they'd be able to "kick" awake, those who were in much deeper. But in the area where an "Arthur" was on guard, it seemed like he really needed help!

And as the group went back to the level of the dream this "Arthur" was on—the third one, maybe?—Sora found himself wondering why he, Donald, and Goofy were here.

Every world he had gone to during his previous destiny had happened for a reason—Kingdom Hearts had made sure of that—so Sora tried to guess why he was in this sharply decorated hotel space now... as they fought both "dream security" and Heartless.

The only thing he could figure, was if he was meant to find that, perhaps insane, purple-haired-girl from his dreams, and this would somehow lead him there.

But that wasn't important right now! What was important was defeating these Heartless, as always. Sora was surrounded by Soldiers, Neoshadows, and Wizards! And Neoshadows were bad enough on their own... but when you added in Wizards' tough magic and Soldiers headbutting you, it made an already bad day much worse.

And ugh! He felt out of practice in using the Keyblade, too. Maybe he'd spent too much time being lazy with Kairi and Riku lately!

"Graviga!" Donald yelled—in seeming to have noticed that Sora was faltering—and he succeeded in defeating most of the Wizards, thankfully. And Sora just had to give a few of the ones that had been struck by Donald's magic, and that hadn't disappeared yet, one more hit before they were also gone for good.

And later, Sora would be glad Donald had dispatched those Heartless so easily. Because they were some of the most skilled magical users, after all, and magic was connected to the mind... which was where dreams were stored. At least here. So, Sora didn't know what kind of damage they could have created, if Donald hadn't prevented it.

But Goofy wasn't to be upstaged in all of this! When he seemed to note that the tall, dark man in the tux was getting distracted in worrying about Ariadne right now, Goofy defeated all the Heartless around him with a well-placed Goofy Tornado—and also knocked out some "guards"—and then told Arthur in a very intelligent way, "Gawrsh, Mister Arthur... I know ya like Ariadne, and are worried about her for tha' there reason. In fact, it's like my little Maxie with his first crush! There wasn't anythin' he wouldn't do for Roxanne... But if you can't rely on yourself in danger, rely on your friends. Alright?!"

Arthur seemed... a bit uncomfortable with Goofy standing close to him and telling him this, as he blinked his eyes open and closed a few times—what was with some of the worlds' denizens acting so uncertain around Donald and Goofy? Sora didn't get it—but clearly listened to his words. Arthur regained his focus and did a pretty good job of defeating some more Heartless that showed up, just by punching them. Ariadne whistled.

When it seemed like he'd finally gotten it back under control, the trio went with Cobb and Ariadne to the next dream level... which seemed to be an icy hill with a hospital at the bottom of it: which was probably where the most vulnerable part of Fischer's mind was at, if Sora had to guess.

Aaaaaaaand Sora and his friends were getting shot at from it. And Sora deflected each one of them with a sigh—as he had Xigbar's arrows during the Keyblade War—as Donald used Thunder magic to try and keep them at bay, and Goofy tried to block them with his shield. Meanwhile, Cobb and Ariadne—and someone named Eames, Sora was learning now—were trying to reach the hospital while they were covered by Sora, Donald, and Goofy, and the snow was only a gentle pat on them, instead of the tornado it could be.

Truthfully? Sora really hated guns and bullets, and he was starting to regret that he'd unwittingly signed up to spend his birthday around them. He had first been introduced to them through Clayton trying to kill the gorillas. And thinking of what would have been unnecessary deaths upon innocents, made Sora think that if it started to get too much for Donald and Goofy… he would jump out into the open, to try and better defend them.

But fortunately, he didn't need to. Cobb, Ariadne, and Eames came back with glowing faces—making it seem like they'd accomplished their task—and all firepower had stopped.

"Alright. You guys go back to the surface, I'm going to look for Sait- Mal." It was Cobb who had said this, of course, as the famous Mal appeared on the scene... somehow having Fischer on her, and stabbing him before everyone's very eyes… Making Sora tear up and almost feel like he was going to be sick. And what was worse, was that Sora got the sense that the girl he was dreaming about was a lot like this, too!

"Are they dead?" Donald whined. And it sounded like he was also about to cry, perhaps in imagining Daisy as the one being stabbed instead of Fischer. As it stood… this trio was just so done with death.

"No. Taken into the deepest part of dreams, where you can forget you're doing that there: limbo. But I can save him and Saito," Cobb explained, just as Sora muttered how Mal looked like the girl he'd been dreaming about, because he seemed unable to stop himself.

And at that, Goofy frowned slightly—as he tried to get his feet out of the snow—and gave Sora a lecture. "Sora… if this is somethin' like one of Xehanort's plots, let us know! …It's always when ya keep info to yourself, that ya become lost!"

And even while Sora tried to focus on the bad right now—as Mal despaired that Cobb had forgotten her and didn't want her anymore, as she turned the tundra to island: to limbo, apparently—he thought his heart might soar, in knowing just how much Donald and Goofy cared about him.

And then everyone was falling into this last dream level, so there was nothing of the ice from before above them and so that they were trapped.

...

The island that Sora, Donald, Goofy, Cobb, Ariadne, and Eames were on, wasn't like Destiny Islands to Sora. It was like if Destiny Islands was... colder—and wasn't a burg of light—and had much darker terrain.

And the place was literally colder, too… The Keyblade wielder knew it was silly to think this—because he'd yet to be near an ice burg, or anything like it—but in his imaginings, Sora thought this must have been what a body of water in the arctic must look like.

The water here was such a white-ish blue, too, and didn't look like it would change at all... and Sora missed seeing water reflect the yellow or pink of the sun.

Ariadne—though she did look angry for her part—didn't start yelling at Cobb for leading them here by being unable to let go of Mal, like Sora thought she would.

Instead, she—and Eames, for he was motioning with his hands for Mal to go to Cobb and talk and work it out—just implored to Mal, "If you're from a part of Cobb that actually loves him... or if you think you can imagine what the real Mal felt for him, please let him go."

Huh. Mal was from a part of Cobb's head that had tried to recreate his loved one? Well, if that didn't remind Sora of his unintentionally creating Xion, he didn't know what did.

But it was like the other story he was in now, too… of- of Alma, Sora had to admit. Because as he understood from his dreams… an entire group of people had been put into her special mind and forced to believe they were in reality. Could that have been happening here, too? Even more than what this group had thought they'd tampered with?

"And you let us go too, Alma... if you're there, and somewhat controlling Mal here."

Alma was the girl that Sora had been seeing in his dreams—or so he thought; the audio was sometimes hard to hear—and he was starting to gather that she had some sort of the same manipulative powers as Naminé…

And lo and behold, Alma made an appearance through Mal. And while Sora thought that she might look at him angrily, for destroying her plans—or at least try to—she actually seemed uncertain at first. But after she didn't seem to know what to do with herself, she then looked mad... and then had Mal come flying Sora's way as she did... but Sora had still seen the look that had said it all. "Alma- no, Clancy. I think that's the name you prefer? I can help you!"

But it was too late. The violet-haired-girl—purple. Oh, how that made Sora think of his love, Kairi—was already gone (and Sora could only hope she'd found her Donavan, Perry, Miss Sayee, or even Shari. Hadn't he dreamed of them, too?), and Sora was now in some sort of building with his friends, that was being torn apart.

Eames and Ariadne had at least found Fischer, it seemed, and Eames attempted to jump out of the building to wake up—or Sora presumed—and take Eames with him, but he missed his hand as he was going out of the building. Any of the rest of them would have to jump out with Fischer soon, then… if Cobb ever got over his guilt at seeing "Mal's ghost" here, so they could join Eames.

"Cobb!" Ariadne begged with more desperation in her voice than Sora had ever heard from anyone before. "We managed to do what we set out to! Let's get out of here! Now! You can see your kids again! Think about them! Because if you don't act now, you'll be trapped here forever!"

Sora was about to step in and tell Cobb to take it from him: it wasn't a good thing to chase dreams, but before he could Donald was quacking and ruining the moment! "Who's Alma, Sora? Another girl who you like?"

"No. She's not, Donald," Sora said deadpan, while Goofy laughed, despite everything. "She's a girl who's trying to hurt us, I think. Jeez! I have my head in the game, alright?"

And just as Sora and Donald were arguing, Cobb seemed to arrive at the point Sora and Ariadne (and Donald and Goofy, of course) had wanted him to, without any more help from them... which was good, because maybe this meant it would finally sink into him—it was himself deciding all this—and he could let go of all the pain. Hopefully…

"You're not her. You're not Mal. You're the best I could come up with, but with all the facets of her... I couldn't even come close. You're a poor imitation, and I'm sorry that I made you this and you can't be more than that… But I'll leave this poor imitation behind to see our real kids, if I got any of Mal right in you… that should make you happy."

Mal's face then was only upset for a second, Sora thought, before it gave way to happiness before she disappeared.

And if they had been in a tornado before, they certainly were in one now as the "creator of this world" vanished.

"Cobb," Ariadne said surprisingly brokenly, as Sora had thought that Cobb had finally arrived at the right place. But Ariadne was motioning to Sora, Donald, and Goofy that they should say something to him, too, so maybe not... "You have to come now."

"I- I will," he promised, as he knelt at the ground where Mal had just been. And with that, Sora was starting to doubt his intentions, too.

"Are you sure?" both Donald and Goofy demanded at the same time, as they stepped closer to him.

"I- I promise!" Cobb said with much more urgency this time, as he held up a dreidel. How peculiar... "I have my totem."

And Ariadne nodded with a small smile, kicked Fischer out of the building, and purposefully fell backwards out of the stories high skyscraper herself.

And Sora, Donald, and Goofy—in assuming she had a better idea on how to escape this dream than they did—followed suit.

The trio came out of the last dream—limbo—first, and then they were at the snowy hospital… the hotel… and finally on that highway once more.

But though Sora, Donald, Goofy saw the rest of the group getting pulled up even higher than that, they didn't move that way themselves. So Sora could only hope that the team would be okay...

And then- then Sora, Goofy, and Donald were somehow in the office of someone who seemed to hate his job? Which should have been fine, but...

"I have a bad feeling about this, guys..." Sora muttered, as an equally scared Donald and Goofy put reassuring hands upon Sora's shoulders.

And somewhere out there, a "manipulative girl" laughed.