The Road to Dawn
By Ariana Aislinn
Chapter 7: Crystalline Awakening

I know the last chapter was really short, but I decided not to wait before updating again, and this chapter is pretty long! So it evens out. I hope everyone likes it...I know I started the story off by making it all about Riku and Mickey, but this was niggling at the back of my mind. Don't worry, I won't wait too long before jumping back to Riku.

Oh, and one more thing...I know I asked for beta readers, and a couple of you offered. Thank you, and I'll be sure to contact you! It's just that sometimes I get so excited I have to get the chapter up right away. I always read it over two or three times before doing so, or I wouldn't upload it, but some chapters I'm just not sure about so I will need someone to beta for me. I've already done that on a couple. So don't worry, I haven't forgotten you, and I will message you! Oh yes, I almost forgot. Thanks to Perhelediel for beta reading chapter 6 for me!

Standard disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its characters are the property of Square-Enix and Disney, not me.

"Mmm…come on, Mom, just five more minutes."

It felt as if his head were stuffed with cotton balls. His mouth felt gummy, and he was terribly thirsty. He also felt extremely groggy, even more so than usual when he woke up - his mother had always said he took forever to wake up in the mornings - and for some reason he felt cramped. He burrowed his face into his shoulder as sunlight shone on his face. "Mmf. Go 'way."

"Come on, you have to get up. You've definitely slept long enough!"

"Don't wanna. Still tired."

She laughed lightly. "That's what happens sometimes when you sleep too long. Come on now."

Sora's stomach growled suddenly, sounding like a disgruntled bear with a toothache. He grumbled to himself - he realized that he felt too hungry to go back to sleep. He lifted his head and blinked his eyes blearily, then stopped. "What the…?"

He wasn't in a bed. In fact, he wasn't lying down at all. Rubbing his eyes with gloved knuckles, Sora looked around. He was half reclining, half standing in a strange crystalline structure, leaning against the glassy rounded walls. The crystal looked like an enormous flower bud, one of the petals in front of him, looking like frosted glass, curling outward to form a ramp leading down to the floor of the room.

The room itself was strange and unfamiliar…or was it? The floors, the walls, everything was pure white. Even the chair that was the room's sole piece of furniture was white, with a few simple curlicues for decoration. The room's heavy double doors were similarly fashioned. There were one or two white stone vases with sculptured stone flowers - again, white - in the corner, and the light spilling in through the windows had a strange, pearlescent quality to it. Sora felt quite certain he'd never seen this odd room before in his life, yet something about it seemed to cause some sort of echoes to reverberate through his memory.

There was another occupant of the room - a girl standing before him. She looked about Sora's age, and she had straight blonde hair and depthless blue eyes. She was dressed simply, in a plain white shift and sandals. She stood silently, watching him with a sad smile and her hands clasped behind her back. There was something about her that looked vaguely familiar, like the room, but Sora was pretty sure he didn't know her.

"Uh…" Scratching his head with a gloved hand, Sora carefully stepped out onto the ramp and extracted himself from the strange crystal structure. Once his feet were firmly planted on the white stone floor, he examined the girl again. "I…uh…" He couldn't manage to form his words; he wasn't even sure where he should start asking questions. He was utterly confused.

The girl smiled knowingly. "It's all right. Don't worry about it, you don't have to ask. I probably already know everything you're wondering, so I'll just go ahead and give you what answers I can, all right?"

Sora nodded dumbly, and she smiled again, looking mildly amused - but in a pleasant way. There was something gentle about this girl, so that Sora never believed for a moment that she was making fun of him.

"Go ahead and stretch if you like; you're probably pretty cramped. You were in there for a long time."

"How long?" Sora licked his dry lips, trying to work the strange taste out of his mouth. His voice sounded a bit raspy from disuse.

"I'm not precisely sure, but…maybe a few weeks?"

Sora blinked. "Weeks?"

"Er, yes. Possibly seven or eight weeks. I'm sorry I don't have a clearer answer for you, but I haven't been here that whole time. I've come back as often as I could to check on things and maintain the process."

"The process? What process?" Sora put a hand to his temple; his head was beginning to hurt.

She sighed. "I'm not doing this very well, am I? I suppose first I'd better introduce myself."

"So…we haven't met before."

"Oh, we have. You don't remember. Don't worry about it, you're not supposed to remember. I'm…well, my name is Naminé. That's really about all there is to know about me, except that I can alter memories."

Sora took a step backward. "Uh…did you alter my memories? Is that why I don't know who you are or how I got here?" He frantically searched his mind, establishing the essentials. My name's Sora. I'm the Keyblade master. I travel with my friends, Donald and Goofy. We're looking for King Mickey and Riku. And…I have a promise to keep.

She nodded. "Yes, but don't worry. I've just put them right again. You should have all your memories back now - the important ones, anyway."

"But, uh…how do you know which memories are important?" Sora looked at her doubtfully.

She smiled sadly again. "Oh, all of them, except the ones of me. Me and this castle."

He blinked. "We're in a castle?"

"Yes. Castle Oblivion. It's a long story, and you don't really need to know all of it…just that I've put things right again. I hope."

Sora walked over to the chair and flopped down, swinging his oversized shoes. "So why are the memories of you not important?"

Naminé sighed and walked over to stand next to him, leaning against the wall. "Mostly because they were drawn over the memories that were important. Just to be sure, tell me - what is your most important memory?"

My promise. There was a cord around Sora's neck, holding a pendant of some sort that was safely tucked underneath his shirt. He pulled it out to look at it. The leather cord was fastened to a star shape made of white shells - thalassa shells, he remembered. They were supposed to ensure good luck and a safe journey. At the top of the star, a smiley face was drawn. "It's this," he said slowly. "I have to return this lucky charm." He smiled suddenly. "I promised Kairi I'd bring it back."

Naminé nodded with satisfaction, but the sad smile remained. "Yes."

"But…" Sora clasped his hand around the charm. "What do you mean, my memories were 'drawn over'?"

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Don't worry about it." She walked toward the door. "We should go; your friends will be waking up soon."

"Oh yeah, Donald and Goofy!" Sora hopped down from the chair, his large shoes making soft squeaking noises as he hurried after Naminé.

The hallway beyond the double doors looked almost exactly like the room - pure white, with a few scattered stone vases. Naminé led him into another room that looked the same as well. It had no furniture, but there were two of the crystalline structures. Inside them rested Donald and Goofy, apparently sleeping soundly. Sora turned to Naminé. "So…how do we get them free?"

"Like this." She walked over to the crystal that held Donald and put her hand against the clear glass for a moment. When she took her hand away, a frosted silhouette of her palm appeared on the crystal. Slowly it grew and spread, and as it did the crystal flower bud unfurled, the petals reaching down to become the same ramp of frosted white that Sora had used to exit his own sleeping chamber. Donald's eyes blinked open, and he let out a soft, confused quack. He stumbled forward, tripping over the ramp. His arms flapped frantically in the air before he fell over, sliding down the ramp and coming to a stop against Sora's shoes. Sora couldn't help but laugh.

"What's the big idea!" Donald grumbled. He raised himself up on one elbow, rested his chin in his hand, and tapped the floor irritably with his other hand.

Sora grinned. "Morning, Donald. Sleep well?"

Donald merely muttered something unintelligible as he scrambled to his feet. Naminé went over to the other pod and opened it. Before long, Goofy was standing in the middle of the room, blinking in placid confusion. "Uh…hi, Sora! Heya, Donald! What's up, fellers?"

Sora grinned again. "Not much, just trying to sort things out. You doing okay, Goofy?"

"Sure am!" He turned to Naminé. "Hey, who're you?" He held out his hand to shake hers. "I'm Goofy!"

Naminé giggled softly, taking his hand and shaking it. "Hello, Goofy. I'm glad to see you're well."

Donald walked over to them, frowning thoughtfully. "What's going on, anyway?"

"It's a long story," Sora said hurriedly. "I don't even know most of it myself. But we've lost a few weeks while we've been here, sleeping. I guess we lost our memory and had to have it put back, somehow. But everything's all right now, isn't it, Naminé?" He turned to her.

She nodded, clasping her hands behind her back. "Yes, it should be. There are a few things I should tell you, but I'll let you get your bearings. Oh! You'll need some food, too."

"Oh, good. I'm starving!"

Something stirred in the hood of Sora's jacket. Jiminy Cricket poked his head up, blinking sleepily. He jumped down to the floor, rummaging in his coat pockets. "Hi, everyone! One moment, I always feel I have to check my journal whenever I'm not sure what's going on. That's one reason I keep them."

Naminé seemed to tense for a moment, peering down at the small, talking bug. She relaxed as he opened a book and started flipping through it, consulting the scrawled writing.

"Well, everything seems to be in order here…I've recorded how you defeated Ansem and how we found Pluto on that meadow path. But I can't quite remember what happened after that…let me check my next journal." Jiminy fumbled with another book, then started flipping through it. "Huh…will you look at that!"

"What?" Sora peered down at him.

"Look! Every page is blank. I suppose I haven't written anything in it yet. How could I have forgotten to write about how we got to this place though, wherever it is? I never forget these things." He frowned in consternation, taking a second look at the book. "Wait! What's that?" He flipped to the last page. "There's something written here… 'Thank Naminé.'"

Goofy blinked. "Uh…gawrsh, who's Naminé?"

Donald nodded. "And what are we supposed to thank her for?"

Sora waved a hand at the girl, who was looking a little unsure. "This is Naminé. And I'm guessing we need to thank you for restoring our memories…don't we?" He turned to her, folding his arms across his chest and smiling.

"Well…I suppose so." Naminé smiled a little bit back. "So…um, you're welcome. Just a moment, I'd better get you some breakfast!" She hurried off through the double doors, not looking back.

Donald scratched his head. "What's with her?"

Sora frowned, watching the double doors slowly swing closed. "I don't know. She's been acting like that since I woke up a little while ago."

"Gawrsh, you think she's scared of us for some reason?"

"I don't think so." Sora shook his head. "She seems to feel almost…guilty, maybe?" He shrugged. "I don't know. But she seems nice, doesn't she?"

"I guess so. But I'd really like to know what's going on," Donald sighed.

"Well, here's what she told me - when we came to this castle, Castle Oblivion, we lost our memories somehow. She had to put us in these crystal things for a few weeks to restore them. She said something about…drawing over our old memories, but I'm not really sure what she meant. In any case, she said she's put it right again, so we should be okay now."

"I don't know about you, but I'm not sure how okay I feel when I can't remember how we got here!"

Sora grinned, patting the duck on the back. "Don't worry, Donald, I'm sure everything will be all right! I'm just a bit worried that we've lost so much time, but last I remember, we really weren't sure where to go or what to do next, anyway. So I guess it's okay." He glanced down at the lucky charm again. "Although I'm sure Kairi's worried about me, since I haven't come back yet. And we still don't know where Riku and the king are…"

Goofy scratched his head. "Gawrsh, there's somethin' I remember, but I don't' remember what it was…"

"How you can you remember it if you don't remember it? That's stupid," Donald grumbled at him. "You big palooka!"

"Nope, I definitely remember it. I said something when we walked into this castle."

Sora leaned forward. "You remember something about the castle, Goofy? What?"

"Uh…not sure. But I definitely remember it, yup!" Goofy grinned. "We were in this entrance hall thingummy, and we were talkin' about why we came inside the castle."

Donald frowned thoughtfully. "Why did we come here, anyway?"

Sora blinked. "I remember…something. There was a crossroads…and a man in black. I wonder who he was?"

"I seem to remember more than one person wearing black," Jiminy mused, "but I'm really not sure. Why can't I remember?"

Sora smiled. "It's because our memories got drawn over."

"But that doesn't mean anything!" Donald burst out grumpily.

"Yes, it does." The doors opened again as Naminé returned, carrying a heavy tray of food. Sora hurried to help her. Together they carried it over to a long white table with four chairs at it. Sora blinked; he was sure that table hadn't been there before.

"Uh…well then, what's it mean?" Goofy ambled over to the table, sniffing the tray appreciatively. There was something hot on it that smelled good.

Naminé reached down to one of the chairs and picked up a sketchbook that lay upon it. "This is what it means." She flipped to a page showing an image of a large, foreboding castle. "This is Castle Oblivion. It's not just a drawing of it, but a memory of the place. When I draw, I create and shift memories around. I drew over your old memories of home and your friends. Then, when you went to sleep in the crystals, I put everything back."

Sora looked up at her, blinking in confusion. His eyes held no blame in them, only curiosity. "But…why did you do that?"

Naminé sighed. "They made me. But…no, that's not really it. I did it because I wanted to. Because I believed…if I could give you new memories, maybe I could be in them. I could be part of someone's life. I could be someone's friend."

Sora laughed lightly, surprising her. "That's not how you make friends! Goodness, Naminé, if you want to be friends, of course I'll be friends with you! There's no need to draw a picture of a memory. Being friends means that you decide to make new memories, not write over old ones. All you've gotta do is ask."

Goofy nodded. "That's right! We love makin' new friends, and if Sora's your friend, he'll stick by you no matter what!"

"Mostly because he likes to show off for girls, though," Donald muttered.

Sora whirled on him. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

They all turned as Naminé began to laugh. She began by giggling, but very soon tears of mirth were rolling down her face, and her sides shook as peals of laughter filled the room. The cold, white stone seemed to warm and brighten a little with the sound. Soon Sora and the others were laughing too.

Finally Naminé recovered, wiping her streaming eyes. "We'd better eat before it gets cold." She sat in her chair, tucking the sketchbook underneath it, and began to hand out plates. She then began to fill glasses from a pitcher of what looked like fresh lemonade.

They soon tucked into the food, Jiminy sitting next to Naminé's plate as she offered him occasional bits that he pointed out as looking interesting. She looked fascinated by the creature, and they talked together about the types of food as they ate.

"Roast beef with cream sauce," she said in response to Jiminy's latest question. "Do you want to try some? I got it from a very good restaurant in Gateway."

"No thanks, miss! I'm more partial to the salad greens there. I've never seen so many kinds of lettuce!"

Naminé giggled as Sora cocked his head curiously at her, finishing a mouthful of herb bread. "What's Gateway?"

"Oh, that's a town not too far from here. There isn't much in this countryside, just rolling hills and meadows almost as far as the eye can see. But about a day's walk from here is the seashore, and Gateway is a port town nestled alongside the little harbor there."

"Do you go there often, then? Is that where you were when you said you couldn't be here all the time?" Sora tore off another hunk of bread.

Naminé shook her head. "No, I go there sometimes, but usually when I leave, they come to take me with them. They always have things for me to do for them. I usually live here, and most of them are gone now, but they come back to check on me every now and then. And one of them is almost always in or around the town, so it isn't as if I could escape that way, even with all the ships coming and going."

Sora's eyes softened with sympathy. "You're a prisoner, then?"

She shrugged. "More or less. But not exactly - I mean, it's not as if I'd have anywhere else to go anyway."

"I know! We could take you with us!" He grinned. Donald started to protest, but Goofy was nodding happily.

Naminé smiled, shaking her head. "No. Thank you, but…they'd come looking for me, and you don't need any more trouble from them than you've already got. It's a miracle I've managed to keep them from finding out that you're still here in the first place. They've mostly abandoned the castle now, or I wouldn't have been able to do it at all. Besides, I'm fine here. They leave me alone a lot of the time, and they don't treat me too badly, mostly. I'd just be in the way if I came with you. You have promises to keep after all, don't you?"

Sora nodded slowly. "Yes…but I still feel bad, leaving you here like this."

"Don't feel bad. Just knowing that you'd be willing to take me along if you could makes me very happy." She looked uncertain for a moment. "But…did you mean that, about being friends?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I?" Donald and Goofy nodded their emphatic agreement.

"Well, because…you don't know me, and all you know is what I told you, that I drew over your memories. I would think…well, that you wouldn't like me after you knew that."

"Why not?" Sora shrugged. "You put things right again, and you're obviously sorry about it. So what's the problem?" He smiled. "I'll tell you what. I do have a promise to keep, and we have other friends to find, but we can still be friends. I'll make sure to come back and see you sometime! I might even be able to introduce you to my other friends - I'm sure you'd like them! You and Kairi might get along…"

A strange look came across Naminé's face as he mentioned Kairi. "…Maybe. I…would like to meet her someday."

"Yeah!" Sora continued. "And once we find Riku and the king…"

"Oh!" said Goofy. "That's it! That's why we came here."

"What?" asked Donald.

"We came to this castle because the king was here! Yup!" Goofy looked very pleased with himself.

"Well, of course we were looking for them, but what makes you think they'd be way out here? That's crazy!" Donald made a face. "They were behind the door to darkness! How are they supposed to get out of there? So unless there's a way to the realm of darkness from this castle, that doesn't make any sense."

"…Wait." Sora sat up straighter. "It does make sense! I remember now. It's all I remember - everything after that first hallway is a blank - but I remember us talking about that when we first entered the castle. We all had a strange feeling that Riku and the king were here." He frowned. "But if that's true…why didn't we find them?" He glanced at Naminé. "We didn't, did we? Was that just our memory playing tricks on us?"

She shook her head. "You didn't find them here, no. But your memory isn't playing tricks on you, either. They were here."

"What!" the three shouted in unison.

"But…why didn't we see them, then? We've been looking all over for them!" Sora stared at his slowly cooling food. "How could we have possibly missed them, if they were here? I don't get it."

Naminé sighed. "This place is confusing even to me sometimes. You arrived before they did. In fact, you and your friends were never even in the same part of the castle at any time. I'm not really sure of all that happened, but…I think Riku appeared in the basement."

"Gawrsh, this place has a basement?"

"And what floor are we on, if that's true?" Donald frowned.

"The thirteenth floor. But don't worry, I can take us directly to the first floor when you're ready to leave." Naminé smiled. "It took you a long time to battle your way to the top, but we can get down much more quickly now."

Sora put a hand to his head. "Now I'm all confused; my head is spinning." He shrugged and started in on his meal again. "I just don't get it," he mumbled with his mouth full.

Naminé laced her fingers together. "I'll see if I can explain, but I don't really understand, myself. All I know is that…I was asked to meet with Riku. I could help him fight the darkness, but only by erasing his memories in order to seal his heart. He chose to keep his memories and continue fighting the darkness without help. That's really all I know." She smiled. "But he came to see you."

"What do you mean?"

"While you were asleep. He saw you, and I explained what had happened."

Sora looked downcast. "But he didn't stay? After all the searching we've done?"

Naminé shrugged. "It took a long time to fix your memory, and he has his own quest. But now that you're awake, it's probably time that you went to find him. I know he's waiting for you now."

Sora couldn't help but feel encouraged, as disappointed as he was to have come so close to finding his friend, yet missing him again. After all, if what Naminé said was true, then Riku was, if not entirely himself, at least fighting to keep the darkness from taking over again. And…it sounded as if they were still friends. Sora smiled. As much as he missed Kairi, as much as his promise to her burned inside his heart, he had to admit that he really would like to see Riku again, too. He really did miss his friend. Both of them were counting on him. He looked up, nodding decisively. "Well then, we've got to go after him as soon as possible!"

"What about the king?" asked Donald, frowning. "I thought you said our friends were here. Does that mean the king too?"

"Gawrsh, I hope so. After all, Riku and King Mickey were both shut behind the door! If Riku escaped, I sure hope the king did too."

Naminé shrugged. "I don't actually know about your king; when I talked with Riku, he was alone. But from what I heard, it sounded as if someone was traveling through the castle with him, helping him. I wouldn't be surprised if it was your king."

Goofy grinned, looking encouraged. Donald still seemed doubtful, but he smiled waveringly. "Well…I guess there's only one way to find out!"

"Naminé, where did Riku go?" Sora scraped the plate with his fork, polishing off the last drippings of meat and sauce.

"I'm not really sure. But if you want to leave this place, the only way to go is east, toward the sea. From Gateway you can probably get wherever you need to go."

"To another world?" quacked Donald.

"Maybe. When Riku left, the barriers were up. But now…" She shrugged. "I'm really not sure. Strange things have been going on."

Sora scratched his head. "But uh…if the barriers were up, Riku couldn't have left this world, right?"

"Um…not necessarily. As I said, I don't really understand it. But there may have been a way. There were cracks in the barrier of some sort. For all I know, the cracks may have widened in the past few weeks. If the barriers aren't down entirely, they probably will be soon."

Sora sighed. "I just don't get it. It's way too confusing for me!" He grinned. "But if there's a way to find Riku, we'll find it, no problem!"

Goofy nodded. "That's the spirit, Sora!"

"So, are we going to Gateway then?"

"Guess so, Donald." Sora stood, putting out his hand, and Jiminy hopped into it, then scrambled up his arm and into his jacket hood again. "So everyone, are we ready to leave?"

The others nodded, their sparkling clean plates bearing testimony to the fact that the meal was definitely over. Naminé stood as the others did. "I'll take you the first floor, and you can be on your way."

Sora turned to her, rubbing the back of his head. "Uh… Naminé, I feel like there's something I should say, but I don't know what. I feel bad for some reason."

She smiled again, that same sad smile as before. "Don't feel that way. You have no reason to. I'm just happy that we're friends, even though you don't really know me."

Sora grinned. "Yeah, of course!" He nodded.

Naminé left the dishes on the table, assuring them that she would come back and clean up later. She walked them to the double doors and led them out into the hall, where they faced down a long, spiraling staircase. "All right, just a moment." She pulled a strange-looking card seemingly from nowhere. It was rectangular, but the top was cut into a jagged shape, almost like a stylized crown. Looking down at the stairs spiraling away into darkness, she flung the card into their depths. There was a flash some distance away. "All right, let's go." She put her foot onto the first step and vanished.

The others gasped, but after they recovered from their shock, Sora stepped forward. "I guess it's okay…" Shrugging, he put his own foot out onto the stairway. There was another flash and a moment of vertigo, and then he caught his balance, finding himself standing next to Naminé. A moment later Goofy and Donald joined them.

"There's the exit," Naminé said, waving to some heavy, wooden double doors, the only splash of color in the white hallway. "As I said, just walk along the path to the east for about a day, maybe a little less, and you'll find Gateway. Good luck, Sora…Donald, Goofy, Jiminy. I'm sure you'll find your friends soon."

Goofy and Donald shook Naminé's hand vigorously and headed toward the door. Sora hung back for a moment. "So…you met Riku, you said? Did he…look well?"

"As well as anyone, I'd say. I don't particularly know him, but…he seemed nice." She smiled.

Sora grinned. "I'll tell him you said hello, if you want. Okay?"

"Hmm." Naminé shrugged, then grinned back. "You do that, then! Take care, Sora!"

He clasped her hand warmly, then turned and joined the others at the doors, pushing them open. Sunlit fields greeted him, underneath a bright blue sky. He waved to Naminé. "Bye, then! See you again soon!"

Naminé went to stand in the doorway as they walked down the path. She waved good bye as they looked back one last time, and then she simply stood there, watching, until they were completely out of sight.

There you go, longest chapter yet! Things could start branching off in a lot of different directions now. Also, it might be time to start speculating about pairings! We shall see. Expect to start seeing more characters, too. Also, while I have a general direction for the story in mind, it might be fun to tell me what you'd like to see. Nothing too specific - just things like certain characters, locations, possible overall situations. I can't guarantee anything, but you can always ask. And as always, please tell me what you think! I take all suggestions and criticism seriously, and positive reviews absolutely make my day too, of course. I write for three reasons - to have fun doing it, to provide something my readers will enjoy, and to practice my writing skills. So let me know how I'm doing on the latter two!

I have some ideas for my next chapter, so it won't be too long in coming. Possibly tomorrow sometime. I'm going to be awfully busy over the next few days, so don't panic if I'm a day or two late in uploading the next couple chapters, but for all we know I'll just forgo sleep and get them up anyway. :P