This world has been connected. Tied to the darkness... soon to be completely eclipsed.

There is so very much to learn. You understand so little.

…

Where am I?

you

maybe today maybe tomorrow

HELLO

goodbye

my name is

is my name?

(olleh)

Your Name?

This place is

(oh, hello)

…

With a groan, Leon rubbed his eyes and tried to stand. His mind was on a buzz, and his short term memory was a bit fuzzy. As his eyes adjusted to the bright lights about him, Leon attempted to stand.

Groaning, he rubbed his eyes again. Finally he began to see.

Shaking in the slight cold, the boy looked about his surroundings. He was standing in a large schoolyard, a very advanced, scientific looking school. It was enormous, with many different courtyards around it, and a large circular tower at the top around which spun many metal … things. Around him, teenagers in school uniforms were rushing about to and fro.

Leon was shaking. He couldn't believe what was happening, let alone where he was. Slowly, his bare hand lifted to his face.

No scar.

Confused and frightened, the boy rushed towards the school, passing through the crowds easily. Voices followed him, but he ignored each one, even the voices that seemed to be in his head.

Where are you

où sommes vous?

Where (where are you going) Where?

His heart was beating faster and he slid to a halt. His eyes fell to the marble floor below him. Wide blue eyes met his, a scar free face staring up at him.

"What…?" Clutching his throat, Leon was shocked to hear such a childish voice come from his own mouth. The people around him ignored him, for they only saw him as a small child.

He was a boy. He was a little boy, blinding running about Balamb garden. But he didn't have the scar. From the look of his body, he had just arrived at the garden, having escaped from the destruction of his home, and having lost contact with Yuffie. The young ninja would soon find herself in Wutai, a land that existed far away on the planet Gaia.

As she would be swept through the battles against Shinra and Sephiroth, so would Leon be swept into a battle against a sorceress in the years to come, and only after would the two find each other again. Would he have to live through all the pain all over again?

…

Had the past few years been a dream?

iiya Maboroshi

(no dreammaerd on)

Leon began to cry. The little boy fell to his knees and cried. For the first time in years, he sobbed, his chest shaking and his eyes swelling with tears. Leon wasn't quite sure what made him cry. Curling up, he let himself lie on the floor. But of course, he wasn't Leon just then.

He was Squall.

Footsteps surrounded him, but a smaller, lighter step met his ears.

"Why are you crying?"

Gasping in shock, the boy sat up, tears still running down his pale cheeks.

A little girl stood before him, a bit younger than he was, perhaps nine or ten. She had beautiful dark eyes, and long raven colored hair that fell to her shoulders. A pale dress was all she wore, and the girl ran about barefoot.

Leon's eyes clouded in thought.

This is Rinoa… but I'm not supposed to meet her for another seven years or so. I never knew her as a child.

This is either some strange side effect of this place I'm at… or the real Rinoa is here, with me.

Either idea gave Leon a swelling strength in his heart.

The girl Rinoa stood straight again, looking from side to side. Then she offered Leon her hand. "Come on, we have to go, before they find us!"

Confused, Leon watched as Rinoa took firm hold of his hand and hauled him to his feet.

"Who is looking for us?" He asked quietly, still not quite used to the sound of his voice.

Suddenly, the students and teachers and happy teens around the two began to fade, slowly turning gray before disappearing into the shadows. They had never been there; merely illusions of what had once existed in the school. Or maybe, what still existed in the school; the real school that was far away from the illusion that Leon stood in.

To his delight, Rinoa did not fade away. She tugged on his small hand.

"Hurry!"

The two turned and ran past the computer terminals, up the stairs towards the elevators.

"Who's after us?" Leon repeated curious and in a sort of daze. He felt like he was asleep, dreaming all of this. But that couldn't be true. It felt too real.

All of a sudden, Rinoa slid to a stop, delicately pushing the button on the elevator before pulling Leon after her behind a tall plant. She covered his mouth with her free hand, and turned to look back behind her, to the elevator. Her eyes reflected fear and apprehension, things Leon knew Rinoa would never submit too, young or old. She must've been terribly frightened.

The elevator doors slid open.

2002020202

Once we set through, we might not be able to come back.

We may never see our parents again.

There's no turning back. But this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us!

I'm not afraid of the darkness!

Her brain was throbbing in pain and confusion. Something wet seemed to cover her body, as if she'd rolled through the dew covered grass. Slowly, Mitsuka rolled herself up, looking to her surroundings.

"Saix?" She whispered. A hand grabbed hers. Mitsuka placed her hand on the mystery person's shoulder, trying to discover if it was her brother.

"My lady!" The man leapt to his feet and kneeled, holding Mitsuka's hand in both of his own. His eyes sparkled strangely and rather scarily, as he wiggled his worm like eyebrows.

"Hello, Gai" Mitsuka sighed, trying to free her hand in vain.

"The princess acknowledges me, the humble servant of youth! I am overwhelmed by your youthful beauty!"

A shoe flew through the air and slammed into Gai's beloved bowl cut. "Cut it out, creep!" Sakura's voice reprimanded.

"Where are you?" Mitsuka called as she stood, finally free of Gai's loving yet unwanted caress.

Dark eyes came through the darkness. Mitsuka sighed in relief as her brother stumbled up to her, still rather weak, but alive. She took him into a gentle hug just as Lee flung himself through the air to land in his sensei's arms.

"Gai – sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai – sensei!"

"Lee!"

Kakashi appeared behind them, shaking his head, his own students in tow. Looking about their new surroundings, each one slowly came to the conclusion that they "weren't in Kansas anymore". Sasuke looked to Saix, whose cold glare had softened at the sight of his sister. Sakura retrieved her shoe.

"You have good aim in the dark, Sakura-chan" Mitsuka giggled. Sakura smiled kindly.

"Yes! Yet another sign of Sakura-chan's youthful beauty!" Lee drawled, almost drooling as stars danced in his eyes.

"Can we please settle down and figure out what's going on?" Sasuke rolled his eyes, seemingly the only sane one in the group. Though, finally Kakashi came to the same conclusion, placing his book in his jacket.

I'll have to read more porn later He thought with a devilish smile beneath his mask.

"So, where are we?" The loudmouth Naruto spoke for the first time. Mitsuka stood away from her brother and looked around.

"It looks like we're in total darkness…"

the dark

darkness

ssenkrad

i am afraid of the dark

(afraid)

Dark

kraD

"Whoa" Naruto shivered. "Where are the voices coming from?

Saix looked down to his sister expectantly. Shyly, she turned away.

"You can see what others cannot" He whispered. The jounin ninjas Gai and Kakashi overheard. "What do you see?"

Mitsuka stepped out away from the group as the voices became a bit louder.

I don't like the dark

Mom? Dad?

Can anyone hear me?

"Mitsu-chan?" Sakura whispered apprehensively.

Mitsuka's eyes opened slowly, tentatively. She almost seemed amazed and in awe. "The voices…" Her hand lifted to her heart and her eyes fell to the floor.

"I'm not sure how, but the Midnight came."

"The midnight?" Naruto interrupted. Both Sakura and Sasuke took turns smacking his head.

Mitsuka nodded. "The Midnight. Everything in the universe has a shadow. Depending on where they stand in accordance to the sun, their shadow is different, right?"

No one made a response, not even Naruto. "Now, let's think of that in spiritual terms. Instead of the sun as the big thing in the sky that gives us day, think of the sun as the light of the universe. Depending on where you stand in accordance to the light, you shadow changes."

To her surprise, the boy Sasuke spoke. "The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes."

Mitsuka and Saix shared a look and a small smile.

"That has been said before" Saix whispered. Mitsuka continued.

"Yes, the closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes." Mitsuka turned out to the nothingness and stretched her arms.

"Midnight is the Universe's shadow. Usually, it's locked away from the rest of the universe, because it is so large and thick and strong. It does… strange things.

When Midnight comes, most people fall asleep. They will stay asleep forever until someone wakes them. Only the strongest of will are not put to sleep by the Midnight."

Naruto smirked widely and smugly. "Oh yeah! You hear that!"

"Shut up, dobe" Sasuke sighed.

Mitsuka smiled and continued the explanation. "You hear the voices of the sleeping… all those voices are the people of the universe speaking to you." In awe she closed her eyes. "The most precious and secret things of the universe are being whispered into our ears."

Naruto twitched. "I don't hear nothin" Kakashi sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

Gai sighed and stretched his arms, eyes sparkling. "Oh, can you hear all the youth! The springtime is in full bloom here, young Lee! Can you feel it?"

"Yes, Sensei!"

Saix stepped out into the darkness past Mitsuka.

"I make my journeys alone." He began. Everyone silenced to watch him. "But as of now, I am weak, and I wish no harm to come to my sister. I… suppose we should journey together through this."

The ninjas shared a few looks.

"Not as if we know what we're doing anyway" Naruto muttered. The group seemed to agree. Mitsuka smiled happily and ran to Sakura, taking the girl's hand.

"All of us, together, can make it, I think" She whispered. Sakura flushed. No one had held her hand in a long time, not since Ino…

Mitsuka felt the drop in Sakura's heart. Smiling sweetly and sincerely, she bent down to look at Sakura's face. "Hey, Sakura-chan?" The girl looked up. "Can we be friends? You know… girls have got to stick together"

Sakura hadn't had a girl as a friend since long before she'd become a ninja. Shyly, she returned the tight hold Mitsuka had on her hand. Her heart began to rise.

"O – Okay"

Mitsuka grinned, and looked up to her brother. "I think we're ready" She looked to everyone, and no one disagreed. "Let's go!"

The eight of them began to walk.

020202020200

Still hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one.

Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers.

Riku was alone.

It was just like the day on the Destiny Islands. When he fell into the dark, everything disappeared, and when he woke up, he was alone. But this time, he knew vaguely what he was and where he was headed, and he would not fall into darkness again.

Slowly, he stood and decided to find out where he was.

It was a large, rather empty field, full of wheat and tall crabgrass. It almost made him sneeze, though he had no known allergies. Rubbing his nose, Riku began to step through the grass.

It was a rather boring place. The sky was bland and blue, no sounds of crickets or animals around, only the sound of Riku's footsteps. The boy sighed.

A loud crack of metal broke the silence as Riku twitched. His foot had slammed into the side of some metal thing hiding in the tall grass. Groaning and grimacing, the boy shoved the grass aside to look at the strange metal thing in the middle of nowhere.

It was a whale. A small metal whale a bit bigger than his head, with a large white metal piece stretching from his back, it had with a small cloud decoration at the top. A speaker sat on its white mouth, and its eyes were curved with a smile.

"Hello sir, may – crack - I take your order?"

Riku stared unblinkingly. It was a drive thru whale, for restaurants and the like. Standing to full height, Riku looked about him. There was no restaurant. Not even a bench. Just a strange whale in the middle of nowhere.

"Uh… come again?"

The whale made a cracking sound. "May I take your order sir?"

Riku thought for a second. Then, with a shrug, he gave it a try.

"Uh… a cheeseburger special, with a small water. No ice." He murmured.

The whale's metal attachment with the little cloud began to bounce up and down while a little jingle began to play. Du dudu du!

"$12.13, sever your leg, sir."

Riku blinked.

"Wait a minute, what?"

"Sever your leg please. It's the greatest day."

Riku was about to gag. A talking whale was asking him to sever his leg for a cheeseburger special? And it was the greatest day?

"Okay, you want me to sever my leg for a burger and it's the greatest day?"

The whale crackled, and played the little jingle again. Du dudu du, du du du!

"Please drive around to the seventh window."

"What window?!"

Riku kicked the stupid machine, confused and irritated. And here he had thought he'd get some food. Riku then mentally kicked himself for thinking an invisible restaurant would feed him a cheeseburger special.

"Sever your leg please, sir?"

Riku growled at the machine and almost pulled out his Way to the Dawn, but decided the thing wasn't worth it.

With a grumble, the boy stalked away, towards the end of the large field.

Behind him, a heartless appeared at the whale. It began to sniff it silently as Riku stalked away.

"Sever your leg please sir"

The heartless looked around, then back to the whale. Taking hold of its other arm, the creature snapped it off and offered it to the whale. The whale's white mouth slid open, and with a chomp it swallowed the legless heartless in a second. Suddenly, it broke free from the ground, a rocket coming out of the bottom. Riku heard the sound and in surprise, turned back around.

The drive thru whale began to fly towards the sky.

Du dudu du, du du du!

The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade.

That's why they'll keep coming after you no matter what.

010101010011001

Hey there readers!

Okay, for anyone who's ever been to the website home star runner, then you might recognize the little joke with Riku. If you don't go to home star runner dot com and look at the Drive Thru video! It's hilarious!

Mainly, my friend and I wrote the last part as an inside joke. But hey.

I'm sorry this part is small, but I'll do better next time, I promise!

SULHADAHNE

FROM MY FRIENDS:

Eyy yo readers, this is laura… the writers owner.

Hope ya like the little Riku dream… yeahh it's really… umm… interesting!! to say the least Anywho… just popped in to say hi!

Peace,

Laura

Hi.

From Katie

My friends suck. okay not really