Don't Close Your Eyes

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts isn't miyeeen!

Chapter II: Awaken

"His eyes…" Aerith said softly, amidst Yuffie's confusion and panic in trying to revive the unconscious boy lying on the bed.

All throughout the process, Riku's eyes had been open, only the whites showing. It had been disturbing looking at him because it was as if he was possessed, or blind. Now, his eyelids moved, ever so slowly, shutting his eyes closed.

Then, he breathed deeply. And his eyes opened widely and suddenly. As if he had awoken from a terrible nightmare. He was gasping hard, as if he had just been rescued from drowning.

Aerith smiled in relief. "You're awake…"

Blurs of colors appeared before his eyes. Voices were all mixed up inside his head, but he knew that they were from walking, breathing, living people around him.

"I'm awake…" he thought to himself happily.

The first specific thing he saw was the smiling face of a woman with long, brown hair and was wearing a pink dress. "You're awake," she had mumbled to herself happily, loud enough for him to hear. He was still too tired to smile back, but he felt comforted by the woman's face.

That is, until her face fell. She noticed something. The girl with the black hair who was rejoicing behind her stopped too. "Aerith, is there something wrong?" the girl asked.

Aerith looked at Riku's face again. She shook her head in denial but said, "I… I'm not sure, Yuffie. Get Cloud over here. He'll know."

Yuffie bolted towards the kitchen at Aerith's command. Cloud was there, watching Sora and Kairi stare at their already finished bowls of soup. "Uh… what are they doing?" asked Yuffie.

"They won't sleep until they know that Riku's going to be alright," Cloud replied. "So, what's wrong?"

Yuffie shook her head. "Uh… Aerith wanted you to go there… Seems that something might be wrong," she explained, trailing off when she noticed that Sora and Kairi's faces fell.

"What? What's wrong with Riku?" Sora asked, worry etched over his face.

"I'm not sure! Riku just woke up, you know. But you can't go there yet!" she yelled before the two hopped up to their feet. Turning to Cloud, she whispered, "I dunno what Aerith thinks is wrong, but she told me you would know. Let's go. Sounds dead serious."

Riku felt his weakest at those moments. Aerith was wiping his face with a warm towel, but still, he felt no heat. Only drowning coldness. He tried to speak, ask the woman what she found was wrong with him, but no other sound than his teeth chattering came from his mouth.

A few moments later, through his half-closed eyelids, Riku saw a red-caped man with spiky blonde hair enter the room with the girl called Yuffie. He approached Aerith, mumbling a few words. They talked for a while in low tones. Later, Cloud turned to Riku and crouched a bit so their faces met.

Riku bowed down, discomforted. But the man didn't stop staring. "Riku… look at me," he said in a commanding tone.

Surprised that this unfamiliar man knew his name, Riku looked up. Once their faces met again, the man's gaze locked on to his eyes. What the hell is this guy doing? A voice in his mind annoyingly piped up. Oh no… there's something wrong, isn't there?

The man finally stood up and shook his head. Aerith, in a small voice, asked, "Cloud? Was I right?"

Sadly, he nodded. "Yeah. His eyes are definitely glowing…"

Yuffie gasped. "So, that means…"

"Yeah…"

Yuffie bit her lower lip and walked out of the room. Cloud walked over to a corner of a room, shaking his head. Aerith sighed and held her forehead sadly.

What's going on? I wish they'd just make sense… Riku was already screaming in the depths of his mind, but all he could do in the tangible world was cough. Aerith rushed to him and rubbed his back.

"Riku… All you could do for now is rest…" she said in her comforting voice. At the sound of her words, part of him wanted to sleep already, but the stubborn part of him wouldn't sleep until he knew what was wrong.

"What… what's..wr…" was all he could say in his state.

She smiled sadly at him. "We'll tell you when you're strong enough to remember it. I don't think you'll remember anything happening at this moment… I can promise you though… Sora and Kairi wouldn't know it first than you. Now, rest."

Sora and Kairi are here? He had managed to ask himself before the room slowly faded to black, and he felt himself slumbering and forgetting the not-so-distant past.

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Author's notes: Oh Hyne, I suck at descriptive writing… sighs Practice until you die, I guess.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter because I didn't. (Kyaah) What's wrong with Riku? Maybe you'd have a few cloos if you've played and remembered FF7. That's it. Leave a review, if desired or able!

05-27-04: Like my other KH fic, this was finished since April, but I didn't have the will power to post it. Sorry!