Hikari sat on the bench of her balcony with a clear view of the island, huddled underneath her large blanket and taking small sips of her medicinal tea. Her eyelids were growing heavy as she felt her consciousness slip away. All of a sudden, she felt a hand on her shoulder shaking her gently.

"Hikari, you can't fall asleep here!" Selpihie said, worriedly.

Hikari groaned in protest but slowly sat up and allowed Selphie to help her back into her room and into her bed.

"Honestly. Auntie sent me up here to check on you. I thought you'd be in bed by now."

"I wasn't tired at first," Hikari protested weakly. "And sitting on the balcony usually helps."

"It helped a little too much," Selphie placed her hand on Hikari's forehead before breathing a sigh of relief. "Good, you don't have a fever."

Hikari snorted. "I'm not as weak as you think I am."

Selphie giggled. "You can tell me that when you can run for five seconds without passing out."

Hikari was just about to tell her that she'd done just that earlier but then something caught her eye outside the doors that led to her balcony.

"What's that?" She asked even as she felt a strong pull in her chest and a single thought entered her mind.

Sora.

She knew without a doubt that he was heading towards the island.

Her previous fatigue forgotten, she got out of bed and made a mad dash out of her room, down the staircase, and out the door before Selphie could even move to stop her.

Where had her sudden burst of strength come from? She thought as she rowed her canoe quickly across to the island. It was like she'd never been sick.

She reached the island ready for anything but certainly not expecting what she'd found. Strange, little, black creatures with glowing yellow eyes. One tried to jump at her but she dodged just in time. Still, she was surrounded without a weapon.

Her resolve faltered for a moment as she realized what she'd gotten herself into. Where was Sora?

Then, of course, he appeared, almost out of nowhere. He held a wooden sword in his hand that seemed to have no effect on the creatures as he tried to hit them. Finally, he reached out and grabbed her hand yelling, "This isn't getting any better. We have to find Riku! Come on!"

And they took off running into the seaside shack and up the stairs. They only had to walk a few more steps before they saw him standing in the darkness with his back to them.

"Where's Kairi?" Sora yelled. "I thought she was with you!"

"The door has opened."

"What?"

"The door has opened, Sora! Now we can go to the outside world!"

"What are you talking about? We've gotta find Kairi!"

" Kairi's coming with us! Once we step 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!"

Finally, he turned around and his eyes widened when he saw Hikari standing behind Sora. "Hikari?" He asked hesitantly.

Hikari stood absolutely still, pale faced and nervously watching the shadows around them. How did they know where those weird creatures were hiding? They could come out at any second!

Riku stepped closer to her, moving past Sora as though he no longer existed. He grabbed Hikari's hand and said softly, "It's okay, I'll protect you."

She wanted too believe him, she really did but something told her it would be best not to.

She saw the the darkness surround him as his grip on her hand tightened. "Please, Hikari. Come with me."

He'd said them. The words she'd been longing to hear. Come with me, Hikari. Let's go on a journey to new worlds. She gazed into his eyes longingly, begging him to understand, as she pulled her hand roughly out of his.

His eyes widened briefly before he disappeared altogether into the darkness.

And then the darkness tried to swallow them too. She knew Sora was fighting it so she tried too. But it was useless.

That is until the voice from her dream echoed in her head and she felt the weight of the "Keyblade" in her hand. Then the darkness disappeared entirely and she and Sora were back on the island both holding Keyblades and staring at each other with wide eyes.

Hikari's Keyblade was almost exactly like Sora's except the hilt was silver and the blade was gold. "So, you've been having the dreams too?"

"Yeah. . . "

"And the thoughts?"

"Uh-huh. . . "

"Huh."

They stared at each other for only a few more seconds in shock before Sora finally said, "Somehow, I don't think we have much time. We need to find Kairi."

"I know."

They hurried and fought their way down the island to the strange door in front of the secret cave and finally making it to where Sora, Riku, and Kairi had once played as children. And there stood Kairi, alone, in front of the place where the other strange door stood.

She turned around and softly said, "Sora. . . Hikari. . . "

And then the door opened and complete chaos was released.

The next thing they knew, a strong wind was blowing them back out of the cave. They both managed to hold their ground but when they both tried to grab a hold of Kairi, she seemed to fly right through them.

The wind proved too strong for them as well and the two of them were blown out of the cave.

They found themselves on a small strip of land that appeared to be all that was left of their original islands. But they hardly had the time to think of this as they both looked up to find the creature of their most recent dreams.

Sora summoned his Keyblade and glanced at Hikari. "You alright? Think you can keep up?"

"Try me," she grinned as se summoned her own. "I'm not the same weak, little girl anymore. I've got your back."

And then they took on Darkside.

"I'll take the right hand, you take the left," Sora yelled, already striking.

"Got it," she replied.

Finally, they defeated him and he was drawn into the vortex-like void in the sky. They each grabbed onto something and tried to hold their ground but it was no use.

Again, they gazed at each other with wide eyes.

"What the heck's going on?" Hikari yelled.

"I don't know! Grab my hand, I'm losing my grip."

She was too but she knew that wherever the two of them ended, she didn't want to be alone. She took his hand with as strong a hold as she could manage just before they let go and were pulled into the strange void.

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