Hand in Hand

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square-Enix and Disney.

Pre-story note: Is this more of drama or comedy? Whootiver…

Chapter IV: In and Out of Reality

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The next moment that Sora felt some life felt like a century.

"Hey, you lazy bum! Wake up!"

"… Kairi?" he thought, still in the dark void, it seemed. His new desire to open his eyes fought with his desire to let himself linger in nothingness for a few more moments…

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For a moment there, Sora thought he was in the Islands again, and that Kairi was in her 'sunny Destiny Islands' get-up. But when his eyes focused again… he found himself in his hotel room in Traverse Town. And that a normally-clothed Kairi, seated on the edge of his bed, was poking him with her finger. And that Riku was, as usual, leaning against the wall through the whole scene.

"Oh, Sora, you're alive! For a moment there, me and Riku thought you were dead," Kairi said jokingly.

Sora sat up quickly, looking around the room, then looking at his hands to see if he's real or not. Or if he left behind him those ethereal silhouettes whenever he moved.

What the hell? A dream?... he thought. Looking over to Kairi and Riku, who were having a conversation of their own, he noted that they didn't act like they were engulfed in the Dark Abyss or anything like that.

"Heheh… nice going, Sora. Now I owe Kairi ten bucks because you were still alive," Riku said, flipping his hair. The silver-haired boy then noticed that he was kind of disoriented. "Hey, Sora, you all right?"

Kairi looked over curiously at him. "Yeah. Did you have a nightmare or something?"

"Uh… yeah… I guess… but I don't remember any of it right now," Sora lied. Still, flashes of Tidus, Wakka and Selphie on the Islands, the three weapons, and Darkside appeared before his eyes every second or so.

Riku got off the wall and stretched. "Well, you better get dressed, Sora. And we have to get to the set before…"

"Hey, you guys… did we do anything last night?" he suddenly asked.

Kairi and Riku looked at each other with weird looks on their faces. "Uh… we ate at Tifa's 7th Heaven?" Kairi answered uneasily.

Sora reminded himself of the events he thought had happened. "Uh… and did we go out for a walk after we ate?"

"No. We were gonna, but it was raining outside and Kairi didn't wanna catch a cold… so we went back inside and waited until the grown-ups drove us home," Riku replied. "Honestly, Sora, I hope nobody spiked your drink or something."

"Yeah, Sora, that must have been one nasty nightmare you had," Kairi said, standing up from his bed. "Anyways, like Riku was saying a moment ago, ya gotta get dressed now. You know how the director-dude is when he's angry. And he's kinda strict about skeds…"

"We'll wait for you at the lobby, Sora." With that, Riku and Kairi exited from the room.

Sora, as he stood up and got out of his pajamas, pondered on this weird thing he's experiencing…

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Well… that was just… strange. Is this yet another dream? I am sick of dreaming. I wanna go back to reality again.

How could Riku and Kairi not remember anything from last night?! I was so sure that everything was real… I mean, that everything I saw happened. I'm not sure right now if anything's real. What's with the Heartless? And that dark place I was into?

Maybe it was just a dream. Maybe I should just let it go… because it was a dream, nothing real. Just my mind playing tricks on me.

No! No! That DID happen! Don't pretend that it didn't!

And that scene back in the Island… Tidus, Wakka and Selphie, as far as I can remember, are very real people. What were they doing there? What's with the questions they asked me?

Destiny Island… I've always wanted to come home again there… I'd have to admit, seeing it like that, all ghostly and stuff… still made me miss it.

Darkside and those Heartless. What did they want from me? And the door? I know Kingdom Hearts is full of doors and keys and stuff… but, it's gonna be crazy if that script would come true. I wish something would make sense right about now.

I'm so screwed.

Maybe I'll talk to Riku about it later. He's the one who wrote the story, after all.

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"Hey, Riku, can I talk to you for a moment?" Sora asked, the moment the director told them to have a break.

"Hm? Yeah, sure, Sora," said Riku, who was sucking on a lollipop at that time. Sora dragged him to a corner of the set.

"So, what's up?"

"Uh… okay, here goes…" Sora began, squinting, holding his forehead, twiddling his fingers, generally doing the things nervous people do. Riku raised an eyebrow as he watched Sora fumble for the words to say. "You know, I had a nightmare last night."

Riku, lollipop still in mouth, nodded while giving him a ridiculous look. "Yeah, you told us that this morning. But you've forgotten all about it."

"No, I haven't. The thing is, it had something to do with KH. You know… the story. The one you wrote?"

Riku nodded again. "Does this have something to do with Leon?"

"NO! Uh… it had Heartless and princesses and Tidus, Wakka and Selphie and creepy Darkside thingy with Medusa-like hair in it… And I was falling in the sky… and some voice in my head made me choose a weapon in this dark room… and I think you and Kairi were attacked by ants!" Sora ranted.

Riku looked at him with a funny, confused look. "Uh… Sora? I think someone really spiked your drink last night. You're talking crazy, man."

Sora looked up at him irritably.

"Besides, that can't be the story that I wrote… Sure, there were Heartless and Darkside in it… but I don't… remember that scene you're talking about. It's just a mixed-up dream, Sora… let it go," Riku said, shrugging.

"Wai-wai-wait. Darkside's really in the movie?" Sora asked.

"Uh… yeah? Oh, right, that's one of the scenes at the end, you know, the one with Ansem in it… oh, and sometime when I get sucked in the darkness and you try to find Kairi but, well, you didn't. What, you haven't read the story before?" Riku asked, narrowing his eyes at him.

Sora scratched the back of his head. "Eh… hehheh… It was kinda long, ya know."

"Hmn. Anyways, like I said, a crazy dream. Let it go." With that, Riku, with a confused Sora following behind, walked towards where the people were in the set.

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Yeah, Riku wrote the whole thing, not changing our names at all.

Back in Destiny Island, where my family and Kairi and Riku really live, Riku already had this weird thing for writing stories. Then, he'd always let me and Kairi read them, but I never really get what he's doing. He uses these big words and everything. And those plots… whoo, confusing. But Kairi enjoyed them a lot. I guess that's what kept Riku going.

Then, he posted his weirdest story yet—Kingdom Hearts—on the 'net. Everybody who'd come across it told him that it was great, even though the concept of having it with Disney characters was strange. Besides, a child-actor with a fetish for writing was bound to receive good feedback.

Then it happened. A very successful movie director came across it. Became interested in making it a movie….

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That evening, after the shootings were over, Sora chose to go to the Hotel all by himself.

He took another path, of course. The one where he turns to this alleyway in which the walls were full of graffiti.

He reached the very large image of the symbol of the Heartless. Touching it, he realized that it wasn't spray-painted or anything. Was as if it was part of the wall.

This world has been connected too, you know.

"Heya, Sora. Whatcha doing?"

He turned around and saw Yuffie standing behind him.

"Whoa, that's one large graffiti. Did you do it? That's bad, you know!" Yuffie said, examining the graffiti for herself. "Pretty cool though. Hey! That's the Heartless symbol right? Cool!"

"Uh… Yuffie? I didn't do this one. Probably a crazed fan did," Sora replied. "So, what's up?"

"Hmm? Oh, you know, I saw you going out alone and I didn't want that. So, you wanna walk with me?" she asked.

"Eh… I'm actually fine on my own…" Sora noticed Yuffie glare at him. "but, why not!" he added hurriedly.

"Okay! You can come with me! I was gonna drink a milkshake over there at that place!" she pointed out excitedly at a nearby ice cream parlor. Before Sora could deny the invitation, Yuffie was already dragging him to the place.

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It was a bad idea to have ice cream with Yuffie. She likes it extra sugary.

The sugar crash I experienced after that was nasty.

Worse of all, when we were walking back to our hotel, a bunch of thugs somehow had us cornered. I can't remember, I was so drowsy at that time.

I remember Yuffie shouting at them fearlessly; she even kicked one of them in the nuts to show them how dangerous it was to pick on her.

But I also do remember one of them throwing something hard on my head. I also remember getting unconscious after that…

Not to worry though. Yuffie's actually a great martial artist. She'll get us out of this mess. I'll be awake and safe in no time.

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This was another hard chapter to write… I think I've confused myself, too… *sobs* And I'm basically not satisfied with how I ended it…. Okay, I'll admit it, this was a horrible, horrible chapter. -_-' You know the drill, right?

1) Riku wrote KH in this story, as mentioned above. What, you ask, a 15 year old had the brains and creativity to write that kind of story? I don't make much of an effort to make this story realistic folks, as you may have noticed.

2) In the movie, supposedly, the 'Dive Into The Heart' scene wasn't included. That was what Riku was telling Sora somewhere in this chapter…

3) I hope this isn't as confusing to read as it is to write. I really really had a hard time weaving this chapter.

Okay! Stay tuned for the next chapter! Please review. Your suggestions and comments keep mah brain sparkin' with all sorts of ideas!