Darkness was all around him, surrounding him in the deepest shade of black. The colour laid on so thick you couldn't tell if your eyes were opened or closed. Roxas surveyed the area despite his lack of sight. He flinched as a light hit him in the eyes. The unexpected brightness sent spots into his vision. Roxas blinked a few times, trying to stop the spots from dancing in his eyes. He turned back to the light, allowing his eyes adjust. White and black specks sprinkled before him. They fizzed around in the air, causing a scratching sound to ring in Roxas' ears.
The static veil started to dissipate, blots of colour coming through the salt and pepper dots. Roxas stared as more colour swam through the black and white spots. The scratching sounds became less audible as his breathing became heavier. He felt if he didn't make a conscious effort to breathe, he might forget. Roxas forced himself to inhale and exhale, his breathing matching the flickering of the dots. Only a few splashes of white and black specks remained on the static canvas and eventually they disappeared to. He let out one last breath, the sound amplifying in the space around. Roxas closed his eyes closed his eyes for a brief second, opened them and then stared ahead. He was ready to watch the image play out in front of him.
A brunet boy was sitting on the ground, his back pressed against the wall behind him and his head hanging low. Roxas couldn't see his face, but knew who this boy was. He'd seen him before in other dreams, but still knew very little about him. The boy in front of him let out a muffled groan. His head tossing back into the wall, pressing his brown spikes against the bricks. Roxas could hear a bell chiming from somewhere; the sound took his mind off the boy for a moment. He searched for the source of the sound, finding a bright orange dog skipping down the alleyway. It stopped right in front of the brunet boy, padding over to him. The dog sniffed at the boy's face a few times before its long tongue stretched out over his face. The boy groaned again, shifting around with jerky movements. His blue eyes fluttered open.
"Where am I?" he mumbled, dazed darting from one place to the next.
The static jumped into Roxas' vision again, causing him to serval times. His eyes had gone funny from the sudden brightness of the white and black specks. He faced the static again, his eyes now taking on the glow with no difficulty. A new image began to take shape and Roxas waited for it to appear.
The brunet boy from earlier was back. Roxas watched him as the boy ran forward, forcing to large doors open with a mighty push. He kept running, not letting the effort of opening the door slow him down at all. The boy stopped when he reached a railing, laying his hands down on the stone bricks that it consisted of. He propped himself up just a little bit, staring down at the things below him. A look of horror light up in the boy's blue eyes as he gazed downward. Roxas craned his neck, wanting to see what the boy saw himself. It was at this time that Roxas wondered for the first where he was exactly. He tried to look down at his hands or feet, but all he saw were stone bricks. The boy's voice called Roxas' attention back towards him.
"What happened to my home? My island?" he shouted, his voice layered with frantic undertones. "Riku! Kai_!"
The boy's last word was cut off, muffled by the scratchy sounds of static that took over again. Black and white specks twinkled before Roxas for a moment before taking him somewhere new.
He was with the brunet boy again. The boy glanced around himself, twisting around with sharp pulls of his torso. Roxas could see how terrified he was by looking into his eyes. Something dark covered the light of the boy's eyes. A dark figure with piercing yellow orbs as eyes manifested itself behind him, causing the boy to stare at it with those terrified eyes. This dark figure showed no resemblance to the dark figure Roxas had seen at the candy shop. It was smaller and had little antennas poking out of its head. It bounced around on the spot, flailing its arms and legs about. Much like the figure shrouded in white that Roxas had intercepted at the mansion, but nowhere near as gracefully. More small dark figures appeared near the brunet boy. Roxas found himself wanting to reach out and help the boy, but he had no idea where his physical body was. The boy backed away from the dark figures, not taking his eyes off him. Roxas observed the boy's condition. His chest was rising and falling at a very fast rate which quickened each time. He heard the boy's breath coming out in wispy pants, heavy and laboured. Roxas thought he might be sporting the same symptoms if he were in the boy's exact position. He found it unbearable to watch, wanting to reach out to the terrified boy. A wall of static hit Roxas' vision, leaving him confused.
He stared at the flickering pixels, hurting from somewhere he didn't know. His physical body still lost to him. If Roxas knew where his physical body were, he imagined his mouth would be ajar and his eyes protruding from their sockets.
He wanted to scream. He wanted the brunet boy to come back or at least have some affirmation that he was okay. The static began to fade away and Roxas could see the boy again. He felt relief coming from an unknown place, as he stared at the boy's back.
"Who are you?" the boy asked. Roxas thought the boy was talking to him for a moment. He would have replied if the clicking of footsteps behind hadn't cut him off. A tall man strode past Roxas, coming to stop in front of the brunet boy. He didn't get a chance to see the man's face and only caught sight of the long brown hair that flowed behind the man.
"They'll come at you out of nowhere, as long as you continue to wield the keyblade" the man murmured, lifting his arm up to point at something with his glove clad hand. Roxas followed the direction of the man's extended arm, noticing the large key like object in the brunet boy's hands. It was identical to the one Roxas had been handling earlier today. He tried to study the object the man had called a keyblade, but the images jumped once again.
Roxas was still with the boy in the new image, but they were in a completely different area this time. He could see more stone bricks around them which started to be a recurring theme in this place. The boy was suddenly rushing towards Roxas, a look of desperation on his face. He searched the vicinity, wondering what had caused such a reaction in the boy. Roxas spotted two figures in the sky, falling downwards. He quickly realised that their trajectory would land them straight on top of the boy. Roxas had the urge to push him out of the way, but with his physical body still missing, such an effort was lost on him. He'd never felt so helpless before. The two figures plummeted down on the brunet boy, forcing the boy to lay out flat on the stone bricks. Roxas studied the figures that landed on the boy. They appeared to be a duck and a dog, but much larger. The duck and dog had a cartoonish look to them, flaunting massive eyes and opposable appendages.
Static flashed in front of him again, taking Roxas to another place again. He saw the cartoony dog that had landed on top of the boy.
"Hey, why don't you come with us? We can go to other worlds on our vessel" the dog exclaimed. It had a sort of hillbilly accent to its voice and sounded like it was trying to fight a battle with oncoming hiccups. The dog appeared to be talking to the brunet boy, its huge eyes staring at him.
"Sora, go with them" a male's voice called out. The boy turned, looking over at the tall man Roxas had seen in a previous image. This time Roxas got a good view of his face. The first thing that caught his attention was the long scar that stretched across the man's nose. It stood out against his pale skin and blue eyes, burning a bright red colour. "Especially if you want to find your friends" the man added on. A petite girl next to him nodded her approval, her short black hair swishing back and forth.
"Donald Duck" the duck introduced himself, calling Sora's attention back to them. Donald stretched a feathered hand out toward Sora.
"The name's Goofy" the dog laughed, placing his hand atop Donald's. Sora smiled at the two, throwing his own hand on top of the pile.
"I'm Sora. I'll go with you, guys" the boy told them.
Another new image flicked into Roxas' vison. Sora sat on a bed with the keyblade strewn across his lap, his fingertips brushing against the golden handle of the object. He stared at the ground, but his were not focused on the surface.
"The heartless have great fear of the keyblade" a male's voice said, but the owner of the voice was not seen. Something seemed familiar about the voice, but Roxas couldn't put his finger on it.
The image jumped to another again. For the first time Roxas couldn't see Sora at all. He briefly wondered where he was. Roxas stared at the person before him, curiosity taking hold of him as he looked the lady over. Her long brown hair came over her shoulders in plaits, a bigger longer plait running down her back. The ends of her red ribbon stuck out on each side of her head. She stared ahead, a kind light in her green eyes. Her eyes seemed to stare through Roxas rather than at him. He soon realised that was impossible as his physical body was still missing.
"That's right. The keyblade" she murmured in a soft voice.
It skipped to another image again. Sora was in this image, filling Roxas with a sense of familiarity that he hadn't felt in the last image. Roxas hadn't realised how attached he'd become to the boy until he had disappeared. Sora lifted the keyblade over his head, staring into the reflective metal of the blade.
"So, this is the key" he sighed, his blue eyes drifting over it.
Another flash and a new image came to Roxas again. He saw Sora in this image too. The keyblade held in his hands. Sora swung the object forward, keeping it in line with his arm. After a moment a beam of light filtered out of the end of the large key, cutting through the air. The light shone through a large keyhole, filling it with light.
"But the boy has become a problem. He found one of the keyholes" a man's voice grunted, annoyance in his tone.