Part One

Sora sat alone atop the Twilight Town Clock Tower. From his vantage point, he could see the train as it traveled down the long and winding tracks. Peering over the side of the ledge, he could just make out the citizens going about their daily lives. Sora let out a sigh as he leaned back a bit, turning his gaze toward the sky. He could still feel the blade cutting through his skin. Yet.. Yet it wasn't him..

"Roxas.." Sora muttered. "I.. I'm sorry.."

"Sorry for what?"

"GAHHH!"

Sora leapt to his feet, stumbling slightly as he spun around. Roxas held up his hands up defensively.

"Whoa hey! It's me!"

Sora relaxed a bit but did place a hand over his thumping heart as he tried to calm down. He soon took a seat once more, Roxas soon doing the same.

"Sora, you've been really quiet lately.. Is.. Everything okay?"

Sora turned to look at him as he stiffened a bit. He opened his mouth to speak but turned away instead.

"Sora?"

Sora clenched his eyes shut. It had been nearly a week since he had his first dream and each time, he was force to see the people who had captured him.. Forced to hear them speaking of a curse and how they needed to spill his blood to fix it..

'No.. Not my blood..'

That was the worst of it all. The fact that they would need to spill Roxas's blood in order to-.

"Sora, what's wrong?"

Roxas's words cut through Sora's thoughts like a knife and he spun to look at him as his vision began to blur. It was only when he closed his eyes that Sora felt the tears beginning to slip down his cheeks.

"Hey.. C'mon.. It's okay.. Whatever's going on, I won't be mad." Roxas assured him gently.

Sora could feel his throat go tight as he fought back a whimper.

"I.. I-it's.."

Roxas looked at him with growing concern as he patiently waited for his friend to speak. However, Sora let out a sigh as he turned away.

"I.. I-I can't.." he muttered.

"What?"

"It's.. I-it's too.. I just can't.."

Roxas looked at him with even more concern as he gently placed a hand on his shoulder, causing Sora to stiffen.

"Sora, it's ok-"

"No it's NOT!" Sora nearly shouted, catching Roxas off guard.

Sora turned away as he fought back a whimper. Before Roxas could speak again, he was interrupted as Sora's Gummi Phone began to buzz. Sora quickly scrubbed at his face to clear away the tears before taking out his phone to answer it.

"H-hello?"

"Sora, glad we could reach you." Riku said from the other end.

"W-what's wrong?" said Sora.

"We've been called to investigate another world," replied Riku. "Yen Sid had mentioned there being something.. Odd about this world though.."

"Odd? Odd how?" said Roxas, looking over Sora's shoulder.

"He said the world has been experiencing a different type of relenting Darkness."

As the words left Riku's mouth, Sora was suddenly hit by a splitting headache as images of the dreams he had experienced once again flashed through his mind. No.. Not dreams..

"Sora?"

Sora opened his eyes and looked up.

"I-I'm fine.." he said. "We'll be there soon."

With that, Sora abruptly ended the call and turned to look at Roxas, shocked to see the look of concern on his friend's features.

"Sora, if you want to take a break from this. I can go and-"

"No!" Sora nearly shouted. In a much calmer tone he said, "No, i-it's fine. I just.. It'll be fine."

Roxas gave him a confused look. Roxas wanted to know what was going on but before he could speak, Sora spoke up.

"C'mon, the others are waiting.."

Without another word, Sora stood up and quickly left the Tower.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The journey to the unknown world was mostly silent as everyone was lost in their own thoughts. Sora sat in his seat near the back of the ship. He could feel exhaustion beginning to take hold as he sat with his head resting in his hand. Sora could feel his eyelids drooping as his mind relented to the inevitable need for sleep. He soon closed his eyes as his body completely relaxed in his seat.

He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep, but he began to stir as a soft voice called out to him. Sora opened his eyes and was shocked and confused to find he was surrounded by a dense and overwhelmingly dark forest.

"W-wha?"

Sora sat up as he looked around. What was going on? Where were the others? It was then that he heard the voice again. It sounded like someone was calling for him, but it seemed far away.

"Hello?"

As the voice came again, Sora instantly recognized it.

"Roxas!"

He took off into the direction of the voice, heading deeper and deeper into the forest. As he heard it again, it seemed to be coming from a different direction. He sprinted through the underbrush when he tripped! On what, he couldn't be sure but as he looked up, he was shocked to find he was in the middle of what seemed to be a town or village. His eyes grew wide in horror as he saw his blonde counterpart having been bound and gagged. All around him, he could see silhouettes of what he soon realized were the people from his nightmares.

Roxas thrashed about, trying to get free but found he couldn't move. He tried to call for help but could only let out muffled cries of protest. Then, to Sora's horror.. One of the figures brought down the knife to slit Roxas's throat.

/-/-/-/-/-/

Sora screamed as he clambered to feet, the images vanishing from sight. His breathing was ragged as he looked about frantically, finding he was once again back in the Gummi Ship. Riku and the others were at his side.

"Sora! Sora, what happened?"

Sora however didn't remain on his feet for long and he collapsed to his knees as he openly began to sob.

Author's Note: I know I said I might delete this story, but I keep getting hit by inspiration.. It's hard to just ignore the urges to write what comes to mind no matter how much I try to.. Leave a review I guess..