A/N: So, show of hands, who else has too many books, cartoons, and video games to distract themselves with? I've got three AP classes; the work load is psychotic. But I'll live.
I don't want any Dream Drop Distance spoilers, okay? I haven't had time to beat it yet.
So sorry I missed Zemyx day. I planned to write something for it, but I never got time. I missed Akuroku day this year, too :(
Yes you do recognize those lines there. I know they're Sora's, but I think they work better for Riku's current situation.
Crimson leaves fell through the air, fluttering down and circling chestnut. Silver stood out drastically against the warm heated colors in the sunset. A voice sliced the air like the crisp crunching of the leaves beneath silver. Another voice fluttered out on the breeze to chestnut, gently pushing along falling leaves. A brilliant smile flashed. Laughter crackled like the stepped on leaves and whipped around silver as the wind picked up.
Riku awoke with a jerk in his third period class. He groaned softly and rubbed his eyes, realizing he'd fallen asleep in the middle of a lecture. Thankfully the teacher didn't seem to have noticed, but it was a minor comfort to the silveret at the moment. A fourth dream, and he was more confused now then ever. He'd have to ask someone for help, he decided as he tried to figure out what exactly he'd missed during his nap.
Since it was obvious Sora was the chestnut color in the dreams, asking the spikey-haired one for advice probably wasn't the best plan at the moment. Riku figured this was a close-friends-only problem, meaning Kairi was the next on his list. As the bell rang, he made his way out into the hallway to find her, knowing they both had a free period next.
"Kairi!" he called out across the hall as soon as he caught sight of her dark red hair in the crowd.
"Riku?" she responded nervously. Whatever was on her mind that morning must've still been troubling her, he realized.
"I need some help. C'mon, let's go up," he said softly, gesturing to the roof. Kairi nodded silently and let him lead her to the rickety, rusting metal ladder bolted to the back of the school building. Students weren't supposed to be up there, but that'd never stopped him before. It was the only place they could have total privacy, anyway.
"What's the matter, Riku?" Kairi asked hesitantly once they'd reached the top, sitting down delicately on her back pack. Riku dropped his own bag far more unceremoniously and sat on the roof in front of it, leaning against it as he spoke.
"I've been having these weird dreams lately…" he began hesitantly, not sure how to describe just how troubling the dreams were.
"How so?" Kairi gently urged.
"Well, I'm detached, watching what's going on but not being a part of it. During the dreams I sort of feel like…like, is any of this for real, or not?"
"Why wouldn't it feel real, Riku? I mean, it is a dream, they usually seem normal until you wake up."
"Well, like I said I'm detached, but nothing's really the way it's supposed to be. Instead of people, I just see colors. I know they're people because they have voices, but even those are all messed up. I can see them moving somehow, but it's not like they actually look like anything. It doesn't make any sense…"
"It's dream logic," Kairi explained gently. Riku nodded. "Do they happen every time you sleep?"
"Not quite, but they only started recently. It's almost like…"
"Almost like what, Riku?" Kairi asked. He could tell she was looking at him intensely now, trying to understand. He hadn't met her eyes once throughout the entire conversation.
"A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory," he answered quietly, more to himself.
"They feel familiar?" she supplied. He nodded again. "How many have you had now?"
"I had my fourth one last period," Riku admitted, finally meeting her eye, if only for a second. She sighed disapprovingly at his sleeping location. The corner of Riku's mouth twitched with a smile at the redhead's motherly attitude. He'd be getting a lecture later.
"How long have they been going on?" was all she asked for now.
"Since the first day of school. I woke up from one that morning."
"Are they all exactly the same?"
"No," he shook his head, "the settings are all different, every time, but the voices are always like that, always there. And the colors of the people are always the same. Silver and chestnut."
"It's you and Sora?" Kairi guessed timidly. Riku met her eye again for a longer period of time before looking away yet again with a nod. "They bother you, worry you," she assessed.
"I feel…I feel crazy," he admitted, his gaze far from hers now. "I just, I wanna line the pieces up, figure out what's wrong with me."
"Nothing's wrong with you, Riku," she insisted quickly. "Weird dreams are totally normal. It's just the brain's way of trying to tell you something about yourself, maybe something you can't or haven't realized on your own yet. A subconscious drive, for instance."
"I have subconscious drives about Sora's voice? That sounds pretty gay, Kairi," Riku muttered.
"It doesn't just have to be sexual drives, Riku," Kairi deadpanned. "I can look into the dreams for you, if you really want," she added in a much friendlier tone.
"Look, you don't have to do all that work just for-"
"It's fine," she insisted, cutting off his protests. "I have a project for my online psychology class revolving around dream research anyway. I can kill two birds with one stone."
Riku looked up at her from his place for a long moment, seeing the stubborn resolve in her purple-blue eyes. He sighed and looked away again, a small smile gracing his lips as he shrugged.
"If you must," he let out as the lunch bell rang.
"C'mon, let's go pester Sora," Kairi grinned, standing up and bending down to offer him a hand, and perhaps to keep him from accidentally getting a full glance of what was under her uniform skirt. As if he would try to look. He smirked slightly and accepted the hand.
"I henceforth claim this location in the name of Organization XIII!" Demyx proclaimed loudly as the last of their group took their seats.
"Yay verily," Riku called sarcastically, swiping a fry from Sora's plate. The brunet playfully shoved him in retaliation.
"What if it rains, Demyx?" Zexion asked in a sigh as he ate around another one of his massive books.
"Or snows," Demyx himself mused.
"Snows?" Sora asked, face screwed up in confusion. "What's snow like?" Five pairs of eyebrows raised in shock at this. "What?" Sora asked self-consciously.
"Destiny Islands are tropical islands, so we've never had any snow here," Riku defended his best friend.
"Well that's definitely a problem. We gotta get you dudes some snow fast!"
"Speaking of problems, what's up with them?" Larxene gestured to Hayner Pence and Olette with her thumb. Olette sat separated from the rest of the group by a few feet and kept her back to the boys. Hayner kept sending her pained, confused looks, oblivious to everyone else excluding Pence, at whom he looked pleadingly for advice. Pence seemed to have no idea what to do.
"Are you ok, Hayner?" Kairi asked gently. The blond blinked and looked around for a moment, as if he couldn't tell who'd spoken.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah, it's fine…Hey, wait a sec, where's Roxas?" he asked, looking around.
"Home," Larxene sighed. "He's been so sick lately. I had to leave Axel in charge of him," she added bitterly. Axel was apparently a poor nurse.
"Aw, so they're going to miss out on my story!" Sora whined, pulling out the short story he'd been told to bring. Hayner sat confused about Roxas's absence, now ignored by the others once again.
"So you did get it," Larxene noted, taking the paper from him. "Alright, I'll give it to our writer to fix it up and put it into script form for us."
"Writer?" Namine spoke up softly, looking up from her ever present sketch pad.
"We didn't assign any roles yet," Kairi gently added in.
"Fine, let's do that. We need a leader first off," Larxene noted. "Marluxia's the oldest here, and he's going to major in Drama later," she added in.
"Is that a nomination?" Zexion asked sarcastically.
"I accept," Marluxia answered for her. "We'll need a writer, some sort of a costume and make up team, hopefully music,"
"Dibs!" Demyx shouted, jumping up and knocking over his bottled water, nearly splashing a now glaring Zexion.
"Very well," Marluxia noted, glancing at Demyx as he did some sort of happy dance before Zexion punched him in the knee. "Moving on, we'll also need special effects and set designers, not to mention camera people."
"Well, starting from the top, Zexion can be the writer," Larxene offered. "He's always reading anyway."
"Yeah, Zexy'll make a great writer," Demyx agreed wholeheartedly. Zexion seemed to give only half of his consent to the idea.
"I can do make up," Larxene continued.
"I know how to sew, so I can make costumes," Kairi offered.
"And my sister can design the sets and costumes for us," Larxene added in quickly. Riku was beginning to think she was the mother figure of the Hallow Bastian students only because of how bossy she was.
"Axel would love to do special effects," Demyx noted, looking over at his friend's empty place.
"Fine," Larxene shrugged, even though it wasn't her choice, technically, if Marluxia was in charge now.
"We need at least three people to build our sets," Marluxia added in offhandedly. "Hayner and Pence can do it with Roxas," he decided.
"I wanna help with the camera!" Sora declared.
"Fine, Olette can be on camera with you. And Riku, I'll make you in charge of how our money is spent. We don't exactly have the biggest budget, so we'll be counting on you to-"
"So what about parts?" Demyx interrupted. "Who gets to actually be in the movie?"
"We all will be, so Zexion, you better make sure you have thirteen characters," Larxene bossed, handing him Sora's paper as the bell ended their lunch period.
"As though I'll have time to write in our madhouse," Riku heard the short book-lover grumble.
"Hey, if you want a quiet place to be, you can come to my house this weekend," he offered. Zexion looked up at him curiously for a moment before nodding thankfully.
"I think I will. Thank you."