-where the sea meets the sky-

"See you soon." Kairi pressed the handmade ornament into Sora's hand, the subtle finality of the sentiment hitting her in the way she knew it would. Maybe this is the way it will always be. With that charm, he'd carry a piece of her wherever he may go. It had to be good enough.

"Hold on! I'm not leaving this second!" Sora caught her by the arm before she could slip away, freezing the two of them in the burning sand. He let her go instantly and threw his hand back behind his head with a wide, overdone grin. Riku leaned against the sloped palm tree with his arms folded across his chest and observed the entire scene, beat by beat, completely forgotten by the players.

Each time the dream played out, her expression, the way it had shifted when she thought he wasn't looking, became clearer. And yet, how much of the dream was truly his memory? Sifting through her subconscious unfailingly left him awake in the night, unreasonably frightened and wrought with guilt.

"I had no choice." He whispered to the stars.

The skylights he had recently installed in the Gummy Ship made each compact room feel infinite. Billions upon billions of lights representing the many places he would never see gleamed down upon him, encouraging him, fortifying him. He wondered what the sky looked like where she was.

Here on the SS Smile-Like-You-Mean-It, it was perpetually nighttime. Each new land functioned on an entirely different schedule, one which Sora would have to adapt to again soon. He sat up, guestimating how long he had slept, he never could tell after a dream. The auto engine gurgled and churned in the cockpit and Sora felt that slow, hovering pace which had soothed him to sleep over the past few tumultuous years.

"How many times have I been here with you staring out at the same stars?"

Her heart speaks to him. He reaches back. Always reaching, yet it's always just out of his grasp.

Or, was it? It was also entirely likely that he was imagining these things in his pathetic little obsession, fabricating a conversation he wanted to have, inventing a love that didn't belong to him.

"I've always belonged to you..." The stars whispered in response.

Sora was torn between drawing her in and tuning her out, knowing neither would satisfy him. The most vivid memories raced through his mind. It was a good, sweet sound, as much it hurt to hear.

"...but you left."

"I never wanted to leave you," he was quick to reply, "Not ever. All I ever wanted…" His arm flew to his brow as tears escaped his large, swollen eyes. Suddenly homesick, he yearned for his stolen childhood. Most of all, however, he ached for his friends, for all the people connected to him that missed their homes and their innocence. It was unbidden, unabashed, and utterly unlike him. "You are everything- everything."

He longed for the tiresome weekdays, racing home after school to change and then immediately meeting back up on the play island to do absolutely nothing. He missed the feel of the cool night air on the sea as he would row Kairi and himself to shore because one of their ores had been broken again. He had never experienced better weather.

"But you also deserve... everything."

"My heart chose yours."

He knew that. Or, at least he thought he did. He couldn't be certain whether or not he was talking to himself. He had no right to monopolize her affections. Lately, however, she was there frequently in the twinkling of the stars.

"Sora? Are you okay?" Goofy stood hunched in the door frame rubbing the corner of his droopy eye with a knuckle.

"I'm fine, Goofy, you can go back to sleep." Sora faced the wall, away from the peering eyes of dogs and stars, and fell back on the bed.

"Aww, Sora." Goofy sighed, waiting. Sora stayed silent and still, suddenly made of stone, there would be no moving him tonight. "If you need to talk, you know we're always here for ya. No pressure or anything."

"Thanks, Goof," said Sora with a sniffle.

It was always that way between the three of them. Sora was at least glad they never pressed, unless it was a life or death situation. Unlike Riku and Kairi, who could easily get him to admit to the deepest darkest depths of his soul simply by asking how his day was.

They would find peace. Hopefully. Maybe. It felt like a fleeting concept, unimportant or uninteresting to the rest of the universe.

"Sora?"

"Yes, Goofy?"

"It will be alright. You just gotta trust your heart and…"

"…let it guide me. Yes. Thank you, Goofy."

"Sora…" Goofy whispered, conflicted. "Whatever you're feeling down about, I sure do hope ya feel better. I'm sorry I'm not much help to ya..."

"It's okay, Goof, really." Sora sat up, feeling the look Goofy was giving him on the back of his head. He couldn't stand it when Goofy looked at him like that. "You're one of my best friends and you're always there to help. And you're right, I do have to trust in my heart and believe things will turn out okay." Sora looked Goofy in the eye and gave the sincerest smile he could muster. "Or else what can you believe?" Sora was convinced of his own advice, not that it always helped. Goofy looked up at a corner of the room and scratched his brow.

"You can believe in each other." Goofy held his finger in the air as if a lightbulb had appeared over his head. "I believe in you, Sora. I believe you're going to be just fine."

"Thank you Goofy." Sora wiped a stray tear from his cheek and chuckled. "I believe in you too. And thank you, I really think I needed to hear that."

"Anytime, A-hyuck! Get some sleep now, Sora." And with that, the dog disappeared back into the hallway. "Pleasant dreams!"

He still had his youth. Losing a year of his life had made Sora obsess over the passage of time, and he was in no mood to grow up. He shouldn't lament visiting the worlds, it was the most exciting thing one could hope to do with their life. At least he wasn't asleep. He didn't need sleep.

But then, there was the darkness; the danger, the dread, the ever-present threat to the ones he loved that demanded his maturity time and time again.

"Oh, Sora?"

A different, yet familiar voice now whispered. Its dry, raspy cadence drilled a hole in his heart and sent a chill down his spine.

"Vanitas." Sora himself had only met him once, back in Monstropolis not two days ago, but he had awoken something from deep within that Sora didn't know he possessed, nor did he understand at all.

"I know what's in your heart, Sora."

The voice taunted, filling his ears with a clashing white noise, increasing in frequency the more he resisted.

"Leave me alone," he thought, "I'll deal with you another day. I'm not afraid of you."

"You should be."

Sora squeezed his eyes shut, desperately willing his mind to drown out the nightmare.

"Because, as I said, Sora, I know what's in your heart."

He was falling backward into the bottomless abyss, a weight on his chest forcing him down as he tried with his whole being to swim his way back up. He knew if he let go, there would be no end to the descent, no return from the darkness.

Sora forced his eyes open wide and straight to the stars, silently begging them for guidance.

[Hear me. Please. I'm sorry. {I love you.} I need you.]

"And unlike you, you miserable little fool,"

Deafening silence abruptly drowned out the cacophony. Sora prayed it was over, his pounding heartbeat the only remaining sound until finally, he felt himself drifting off again to sleep.

"I have nothing I can't bear to lose."