Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Disney, as you all are aware of.

A/N: Despite being retarded and not fixing its stupid flaw with the alerts and whatnot, I appreciate the feedback some of you left. Don't worry, I checked and made sure to read them and I want to thank you guys. Now, I must state that I will be hinting at an upcoming pairing in this chapter, so please be kind when you realize who it will be. That aside, it's quite an interesting chapter and I thoroughly enjoyed it. So, read, enjoy, and be kind.

Shattered Reverie

Chapter 4

Chasm

It was a gut reaction to lash out with a free arm the moment he felt something hit against the side of his face. With a yelp, Kairi tumbled back against her large bed, the bowl of popcorn sitting in her lap no longer full as its contents sat disastrously all over her.

"Hey! I was just playing!" Kairi whined as she began picking up all the strewn popcorn littering the bed.

Riku touched the area on his face where the single bit of popcorn Kairi had thrown hit him. "Sorry, wasn't expecting that."

"Well, I was trying to get your attention, you were spacing out again," she remarked placing the bowl over on her nightstand.

He didn't doubt the fact that he was spacing out, although it was a very disturbing feeling when he felt a prickle of ice shoot up his spine. "I don't know, I got this bad feeling a second ago."

The burgundy haired teen brought both legs against her chest. "Knowing you, it's probably not just a feeling. Do you think something's wrong?"

It didn't take Riku very long to calculate what, or better yet, who was making him feel uncomfortable. He hadn't seen Sora at all since lunch hour, what with him storming off when he saw the brunet and the older man Marluxia. After he and Kairi had a latte at Café Le Blanc Kairi convinced him to come over and watch a couple of movies to take his mind off of things. Needless to say, the movies did very little to distract Riku's thoughts, but he went along with it to humor one of his friends.

"I don't know, I haven't seen Sora all day. Maybe I'm just being paranoid," he said shaking his head.

Kairi clicked a button on the television remote and the screen quickly changed to black as she rested against one of the many pillows bordering the headboard of her bed. "Why don't you give him a call? It's simple, just call him up and see how he's doing."

Riku nodded limply as he took his cell out and dialed his boyfriend's number. After several long rings his voice mail popped up and Riku quickly closed the gadget in his hand. "He always answers after the first ring, now I know something's wrong."

The blue-eyed girl pursed her lips in thought. "Maybe Selphie or the others know, although they're all probably at that party."

Riku craned his neck and shot Kairi a quizzical look. "Party? What party?"

She wasn't at all offended by the look he was giving her. "Well, if you hung around more often you would know that someone over from Balamb Garden High is throwing a party tonight. He invited a lot of people from the academy, including Hayner since he apparently knows him. Hayner wanted all of us to go along, but I wouldn't be caught dead at a Balamb Garden party."

"You don't think…"

"That they brought Sora along?" Kairi finished for him, clearly reading every thought passing through his head. "That's probably where they all are."

"Oh god, that's the last place Sora should be. I know him, he's more than likely had too much to drink and is now passed out somewhere. I have to go check it out."

Kairi suddenly got up and slipped into a pair of flip-flops by her bedroom door. Riku raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought you said you wouldn't be caught dead at a Balamb Garden party."

She rolled her eyes. "First of all, you don't know where it is. Second, if you're going to go crash it, then I am so there."

Riku zipped up his jacket and walked out the door with Kairi right on his heels.

X

He could hear mumbles all around him, yet he couldn't figure out who was speaking to him. After several long moments the voices became clearer and Larxene's usual tone was easily recognizable against the other whispering sounds.

"Sora! You're awake!"

He blinked a few times, allowing his eyes to adjust to the lack of light in the room. When he was able to see fully again, Sora found himself surrounded by Larxene, Hayner, and Selphie. The shorter brunet girl rested a hand on his shoulder and gave it comforting squeezes as he aroused from his dizzy spell.

"Thank the Faiths you're alright," Larxene blurted out letting her head hang low. "I thought we were going to have to take you to the hospital or something."

"How you feeling?" Selphie asked.

Sora brought a hand to press against his forehead, a dull pain centering itself underneath his fingers. "I'll be fine, I should have stopped after 5 drinks."

He heard Selphie let out a sigh of relief. "We should have stuck around you instead of wandering off, then what happened could have been avoided."

The spiky haired brunet looked at his surroundings quickly and realized they were all inside a dimly lit bedroom somewhere within the house. "It's not your fault, you wanted to go see your friend. I should have been paying more attention, god I'm so stupid."

Larxene let out a laugh. "But now it's the talk of the party! Everyone's talking about how you totally kicked Tidus' ass out there."

The name slid of her tongue and Sora couldn't help but hiss at the sound of it. "Don't mention that asshole. He got what he deserved, but god I wish I could have had a few more seconds with his face."

Hayner let a smile play across his lips. "This is a side of you I haven't seen before. I'm kind of afraid to ask what he could have said to piss you off this much."

Selphie shot Hayner a glare and he swiftly backed off. "He said some awful things Sora, but don't let it get to you. We all know what kind of a person Tidus is. We should be glad he's no longer going to the academy. I'm pretty sure that choice was influenced by Riku's threat last year during finals."

"Riku threatened him?" Sora asked sounding quite interested all of a sudden. "He seriously threatened him?"

The shorter girl laughed. "Oh yeah, he made it perfectly clear that he wasn't to bother you anymore. Although, after Cloud graduated there wasn't much of a reason for him to stay. I heard he broke up with him not long after heading off to college."

Sora scoffed, "Yeah, I remember you telling me about that towards the beginning of the year. I'm just glad Cloud had enough common sense to dump his ass."

There was a knock at the door and all four pairs of eyes directed their attention to the newcomer. A random partygoer entered and related the message he was asked to bring.

"There's someone downstairs looking for Sora."

"It'd better not be Tidus again," he remarked gritting his teeth.

The teen shook his head. "No, he took off. This guy has silver hair, has a girl with him."

The group looked at one another, with three of the faces looking directly at Sora.

"Shit." He said smacking his forehead. There was no way around it. Riku was waiting for him downstairs. After what happened earlier in the day, with him running off, Sora wasn't sure what kind of mood he would be finding the silver haired teen in. He still wasn't completely sure what had been up with Riku's attitude, but he figured it wasn't something of importance.

"Want us to come down with you?" Selphie asked standing up.

He took a look at them all, "If you guys wouldn't mind, I don't want to face him alone."

Larxene chuckled. "Don't tell me you're afraid he's going to be mad at you. So you went to a party, what's the big deal?"

They ignored her as the trio left the room, with Larxene being the last to leave. "Okay, so I guess it's a big deal then."

It wasn't long before the group was walking down the stairs of the large house, with the crowds of people still dancing to the loud music. Even among the dozens of faces within the crowd, it was easy for Sora to spot Riku in the masses. He was sure that Riku would be pissed off, but there was only the look of concern and worry on his face. Not waiting for Sora and the rest to reach the bottom of the stairs, Riku, and Kairi tailing behind, went up to the brunet and embraced him tightly.

"Sora, you okay? You look a bit sick, have you been drinking? Do you need me to help you to the bathroom?" Riku babbled as he held Sora's face in his hands.

The spiky haired youth pulled away with a bit of difficulty. "I'm fine Riku, I just had a bit too much to drink. Don't worry, I'm fine."

Riku could see everyone else standing behind Sora, with Larxene smiling devilishly at him. "Your boyfriend sure can dance."

If it were any other time, Riku would have simply rolled his eyes at her, but this time he couldn't help but retaliate in a not so friendly way. "Larxene, I'm not in the mood for your shit. If you were really Sora's friend you would have kept an eye on him."

The blonde senior blinked in surprise.

"And that goes for the rest of you too," Riku blurted out directing it to Selphie and Hayner. "You should have left Sora behind, he's not in the best condition to be out."

There was a bubbling feeling of anger rising in Sora's chest. "Are you saying I'm not capable of taking care of myself?"

Riku looked down to see a pair of angered looking blue eyes. "No, Sora, that's not what I meant."

"You should have kept an eye on him? You should have left Sora behind? Not in the best condition to be out? If that's not saying "not capable of taking care of himself" then tell me what is Riku?"

"Sora," Kairi interrupted, "he didn't mean it in any bad way. He came all the way down here because he knew something was wrong. Don't get angry with him."

The brunet looked over at Kairi and let out a sigh. "Sorry, but I'm getting tired of feeling like I need to be watched. I don't need anyone looking out for me, I'm perfectly fine on my own."

"Not with those dreams of yours and whatnot," Kairi said, not realizing that it would have been better if she kept her mouth shut.

Selphie, Hayner, and Larxene looked over at Riku with the brunet girl voicing their obvious question. "What's Kairi talking about? Is Sora having bad dreams or something?"

The look of anger found its way across Sora's features once more. "You told Kairi? Riku, why did you do that? I don't want them knowing!"

"Sora!" Riku bellowed out placing both hands on his shoulders. "What's the problem if our FRIENDS know about what's going on? It's been bothering me, I couldn't keep it from her."

The brunet shrugged the hands off violently. "Bothering you? So, you were lying when you said you were with me of your own free will?"

Riku wasn't sure if it was frustration or anger welling up inside him. "Don't twist my words around, I never said that."

"How can I when you made it so incredibly clear?"

Sora scoffed and walked past Riku, his shoulder brushing against the taller teen rather roughly.

"Sora!" He called out, but the words couldn't seem to pierce the sounds of the music in the background.

"Let him go," Kairi said when Riku took a step in the teen's direction. "Arguing with him now won't solve anything."

"This is your fault."

The burgundy haired girl gave him a sketchy look. "My fault?"

"If you kept your mouth shut he wouldn't have gotten all pissed off."

"Two seconds ago you were yelling at Sora asking him what the big deal was if we knew about his nightmares! Don't start blaming me for whatever you said."

Riku turned his back to the group standing at the base of the stairs. "Just leave me alone, I don't want to talk about it anymore."

With that said, Riku took off, not caring that he was Kairi's only ride home.

She was left standing at the bottom of the stairs with her eyes tearing up. "I didn't do anything wrong."

Larxene walked towards Kairi and placed an arm around her. "He knows that Kairi, he's just upset right now. He'll come around, he always does."

Kairi dabbed at her face and smiled at Larxene. "Yeah, you're right, I know Riku. It'll blow over by Monday. I just wish those two could get it through their heads that we're not some kind of monster. We're just worried about them, am I not right?"

Selphie nodded and placed another arm around her slightly taller friend. "You are. But, the way things are headed I think it's better if we just leave them alone. The more we pry, the more irritated they'll get. Whatever's going on is probably something none of us can understand. So, let's just give them space."

"I'll try," Kairi said brushing away some of her bangs, "but don't think I'll simply be all smiles knowing our friends are upset."

"You'll just have to try a bit harder then," Larxene added placing a quick peck against her temple. It shouldn't have meant absolutely anything, but a fuzzy and warm feeling passed through Kairi the instant Larxene's lips touched her skin. For a few seconds all her frustrations eased. But she shook her head at the thought as her friends offered her a smile.

"If you guys wouldn't mind, I kind of lost my ride home. Mind giving me a lift back to my place?"

Hayner nodded, having heard their conversation from the stairs. "You guys head out to the car," he said throwing Selphie his keys, "I'll be out in a second, I just have to let my friend know we're taking off."

And so, the group left the crowded and music-ridden house, escaping into the much quieter and darkened streets. The quartet got into the car, with Larxene and Kairi in the back. They drove off, with the ride being quite uneventful. Every so often though, Kairi would find herself looking in Larxene's direction, with the blonde senior offering her a smile.

X

Sora ended up storming out of the house with his feet carrying him as fast as they could. He wanted nothing more than to leave the current atmosphere, and more precisely, without Riku wandering behind him. He walked out into the darkened streets, the air slightly cool and licking at his exposed arms. There was a small group of students around his age, perhaps a bit older with lit cigarettes in their hands. As he walked past them, a head of blonde hair stood out and Sora felt that same bubbling anger well up. Soon enough, he was shooting Tidus a dirty glare with the blonde offering his own. That's when he realized that Tidus was surround by several of his friends, while Sora was on his own. For a brief second that anger turned into panic at the thought that they could quite possibly turn on him. The panic grew the second Tidus smirked maliciously in his direction.

"Fuck," Sora whispered when he heard the footsteps behind him.

"Oh boy are you going to get it!"

"That's what he gets for fighting, but he's a lost cause after all."

"He totally deserves it though."

Sora gritted his teeth and forced the voices to the back of his mind. The sounds of footsteps were overwhelming as it was, so listening to their taunts wasn't helping. Everything around him stopped the moment he felt a hand grab a hold of his shoulder. He closed his eyes, expecting pain, but when it didn't come, he couldn't help but look behind him. Dressed in the same outfit he had seen him earlier that afternoon, Marluxia stood tall with both violet eyes studying Sora's features.

"Marluxia?"

The older man smiled. "Didn't think I would run into you out here."

Sora looked past him and noticed that Tidus and his friends had backed off, knowing well enough that messing with Marluxia wasn't in their best interest. The blonde offered him another dirty glare before disappearing down the street.

"Friends of yours?"

Sora's attention snapped back and he felt a stifling laugh escape him. "No, just someone I would rather not see again."

He felt a hand travel up his shoulder and onto his face. Slowly, the warm fingers touched the scrape Tidus managed to give him during their brief squabble. Sora thanked the Faiths that it was dark for he could feel his cheeks go red.

"Ow," he blurted softly.

"I didn't see you with this earlier today. You don't look like the fighting type, so you either fell or perhaps I'm completely wrong."

Sora waited until the hand was removed before he spoke. "It's a long story, but I would rather not talk about it out here. I kind of have to get home."

Marluxia shrugged, "It's a Friday night, I don't have much else going on. I wouldn't mind hearing about it."

The brunet shook his head. "I don't think it's a good idea. That and I have a long walk ahead of me, so, if you don't mind."

"Why don't I just give you a ride? Can I at least do that?"

Sora kindly refused the offer. "Thanks, but I don't want to trouble you."

"I would feel bad letting you walk at this hour. I don't live far from here, why don't you come over for a while?"

Sora was finding it hard to look away from Marluxia, but he found himself staring and liking the idea of spending a bit more time with the older man. "I figured you would be living close to the academy, what with you teaching there and all."

Maluxia chuckled. "I don't blame you for assuming that, but it's way beyond my price range. Remember, I'm only a college student, so I don't have the money to blow on some fancy apartment"

Sora nodded rather dumbly. "Makes sense."

Marluxia began walking, with Sora right at his side. He still felt a bit woozy from the alcohol, but not enough to keep from carrying on a decent and comprehensible conversation. "So, what brings you out at this hour?"

The older brunet shrugged, "To you it will sound really weird, but ever since I've arrived here I can't help but take a walk during the night. You see, where I come from, we never have night."

Sora felt his eyes go wide. "Oh, that's right! You're from Twilight Town, I totally forgot about the phenomena that keep the skies from growing dark. I've read about it, but I've actually never gone there."

Marluxia chuckled. "Well, if you remember from what I told you earlier about the size of my college, it's not a very big place. It's because of the strange phenomena that our island even has business. We have visitors from all over the world coming year-round. Keeps us alive you could say."

"But still, you've never seen the night sky?"

He shook his head, "This will be my third night looking at it. It's amazing. Of course, I've seen it on T.V. but it's not anywhere near as amazing in real life."

They continued down the street, until Marluxia pointed to a pair of duplex apartments across the street. "I live on the left side. My neighbor is this crazy old lady with all these cats. I had a hard time moving in because they wouldn't get out of my way when I was bringing my stuff inside."

"I bet she'd love my cat Figaro. He's such a lazy brat, I think I've been spoiling him way to much."

Marluxia led Sora across the street and to the front door of his apartment. He brought his set of keys out and unlocked the door. He motioned for Sora to enter and soon enough, the room was flooded by artificial light. It was a sea of boxes littering every inch of space, with the living room sporting a surprisingly empty couch. Not anywhere near as luxurious as his own, but comfortable nonetheless, Sora was glad he was sitting down. It reminded him of his own predicament the previous year when he was struggling with all his belongings and the murderous boxes littering his now clean condo. While Sora dwelled on those memories, Marluxia walked into the small kitchen and pried through the refrigerator.

"I'm sorry to say that all I have right now is a bunch of bottled water and soda, haven't had the time to go shopping for actual groceries."

Sora shook a hand at him. "Don't worry about it, I'm far from thirsty, believe me."

Marluxia maneuvered his way around the boxes and sat on the other end of the couch with a can of diet Coke in hand. He took a sip, with Sora feeling the familiar nausea in his throat.

"You okay?"

Sora smiled. "Yeah fine, nothing I can't get over."

"Looks like someone got carried away with the drinks."

The shorter brunet smirked. "That obvious?"

Marluxia took another sip of his coke. "I've had my share of parties, believe me, I'm well informed and know all the details. But, I kind of outgrew those things. And with me trying to get my teaching degree, it left me with little time to actually go out."

Sora placed an elbow against the couch, with his hand supporting the back of his head. "I'm amazed that you're only 21 and you've gotten this far. It usually takes years to get those kinds of credentials."

The violet-eyed man tapped a few fingers against his leg. "Well, it's what I want to do. When you have a passion for something, it's pretty easy to get absorbed into it."

"I don't think I could be a teacher, I have a hard time with myself," Sora joked, his finger twisting around a spike of hair.

Marluxia gazed over the sea of boxes. "It kind of sucks that you aren't in any of Mr. Vayne's classes."

Sora looked over at him. "Why do you say that?"

The older man smiled. "Well, you seem to be a pretty cool and collected guy. That and you're the first one that made an effort to talk to me. The way I see it, you've become my first friend here. That is, if you consider us friends."

For the second time that night, Sora felt his cheeks go red. Yet, he didn't feel guilty knowing that he already had a significant other. More than likely due to the fact that he was still quite angry with the silver haired senior.

"Of course we're friends."

Marluxia seemed to beam at Sora's words. "If you say so."

Sora used the following space of silence to look around his surroundings. Aside from the many boxes littering every little inch of space, Maluxia seemed to already set out photographs and paintings against the bare white walls. One thing he definitely noticed were all the gardens imprisoned in the pictures.

"You definitely seem to like flowers."

Sora was surprised by Maluxia's laugh. "I know it seems weird for a guy to be interested in flowers, but I love them."

The brunet shook his head furiously. "Oh no, I wasn't thinking anything like that. Did you take the pictures yourself?"

"Sure did," the older brunet said taking another sip of his drink. "The ones closer to the front door are some of my favorites. I took them right before I left Twilight Town."

The comforting atmosphere was interrupted when someone's phone began to ring.

"Can't be mine," Marluxia said, "I haven't had it installed."

Sora dug into his pocket and located his cell phone. He eyed the name of the person calling and slipped the device back into its shadowed resting place. Marluxia followed Sora's actions with his eyes and brought them up to meet a pair of furrowed brows.

"Not going to answer it?"

"Don't feel like it. I think he needs to sit on what he said for the rest of the weekend."

A flicker of interest passed through the taller man's eyes. "And by "he" you mean?"

Sora turned with his cheeks slightly pink. "Riku, my boyfriend."

Marluxia didn't seem at all surprised to find out that Sora's significant other was male. "Oh, did you guys have a fight?"

Sora clicked his tongue. "I don't know what to call it, maybe it was a fight. He just went ahead and told someone something he shouldn't have. Now everyone's looking at me like I'm some fragile thing that can't do anything on his own."

"Maybe he said something because he was just worried about you," Marluxia commented, placing his can on the carpeted floor. "I wouldn't blame him if he did it based on something like that."

The spiky brunet rolled his eyes. "That's exactly what they said, but they don't have any clue as to what I'm going through. So I don't need any of them to be worrying about me, I'll beat it on my own."

Marluxia felt that whatever was bothering Sora was obviously painful for him to get so riled up. But, not wanting to further aggravate the 17-year-old teen, he simply turned the conversation in another direction.

"If you ever want to talk during school, you can always find me during lunch hour. I'm only at the academy for two days of the week, but I'll be there."

Sora appreciated the offer. "Thanks, I'll definitely keep it in mind."

He followed by eyeing the time on his cell phone, which was currently reading a bit past ten. It wasn't horribly late, but it hit him when he remembered his long walk home. "If you don't mind, I'm going to take off. I have to get back home and I need to get a head start."

"I'll give you a lift, I won't let you walk at this hour," Marluxia firmly placed out. "If something happens to you it'll be on my conscious later on."

Sora shrugged and looked away. "Thanks."

After a bit of careful maneuvering around the boxes, the two were once again standing underneath the starry black skies. Marluxia led Sora over to a small Toyota and opened the door for him.

"Sorry if it's messy in here too, just got the damn thing when I arrived."

The brunet didn't seem to mind. "It's okay."

As they drove off, unbeknownst to them, a pair of blue eyes watched the vehicle leave from the sidewalk. With both hands in his pockets, and a smirk caressing his split lips, Tidus gave the car one last look before heading off.

X

There were stacks upon stacks of papers and boxes sitting in the empty room. How long they sat there were beyond her now, for she didn't seem to care to look through any of the old files. Yet she continued standing at the door, her side resting against the entrance to the room. Perhaps, it was still hitting Brahne that her daughter, Beatrix, was no longer alive.

"What happened for you to do what you did?" The aging woman whispered as she placed a chubby hand against her face. "I don't know whether to feel grief, or anger."

Brahne was never aware of Beatrix' dirty works, nor of how truly despicable she truly was. When she saw her only daughter's face flashing across the entire capital, her heart sank. It was even harder attending the court trial not long after her arrest, although she worked very hard to conceal herself among the crowds. Seeing Sora there seemed to make the entire ordeal that much harder. It was true that she wasn't fond of the boy, knowing that he wasn't biologically Beatrix', but she still couldn't help but feel sorry for the poor kid. After her death, all of Beatrix' belongings were handed over to her and they soon accumulated within the empty room of her high story condominium. She forced herself to look through them, but there was a nauseating feeling in her stomach the moment she stepped into the crowded room that forced her away. Looking at it now, how it remained unchanged for the past seven months or so, made Brahne realize that sooner or later, she would have to look through it all.

"I guess it's now or never," she muttered taking a step inside. She could hear the yipping of her dogs, Zorn and Thorn in one of the hallways. They were more than likely wondering what was keeping their owner from them. The two pampered papillons were spoiled rotten after all. Brahne managed to find an empty spot on the bed and took an ordinary looking box into her lap. Taking a deep breath to push the nausea away, Brahne removed the lid and began leafing through Beatrix' belongings.

"Old pay stubs, receipts, credit card payments," she listed as she dug around. The plump woman continued for an hour or so, eventually stopping when she happened upon a locked jewelry box she herself bought for Beatrix' 18th birthday.

"Oh my, I thought she threw this away," Brahne said looking at the cherry tree polished box. Engraved with small pearls along the border, the woman tried prying the lid off but managed nothing in the end. Huffing in frustration, Brahne set it aside and looked through some of the nearby stacks for the key.

"She wouldn't have kept it if she didn't have the key for it."

Zorn and Thorn eventually found their way into the room and began sniffing around the papers on the floor. Brahne shooed them away, but they seemed pretty interested in their search. When one of the towers of boxes was nudged by Thorn, the monument came tumbling down and scared the dogs away. Cursing at them, Brahne got to her feet with a bit of difficulty and began setting the boxes back up. But it seemed like the Faiths were on her side that night, for she found a glittering silver key in between several of the folders. Finding the jewelry box and setting in her lap, Brahne was intent on opening it when a cold and unsettling feeling caressed her shoulders. She felt like she was spying, prying into something she knew wasn't hers. Then again, Beatrix was no longer there, and that was enough of a justification for her to open it. Turning the key one full time, the lid flew open to reveal a series of crumpled papers. She took a hold of them and leafed through the papers with her plump blue face growing to a pale color the more she looked.

"It's not possible…" her voice died out, with Zorn and Thorn's barking the only thing to pierce through the muted atmosphere.

tbc

A/N: Be kind everyone. Hope you liked! Reviews are met with lots of appreciation. As for the ending, well, it's just something I have cooking in my head. Writing the little fight between Sora and Riku felt so…harsh to me, but it's necessary. Until next time everyone!