Sora was glad to feel himself drifting around. Voluntary sleep was a pleasant feeling that gave him the slightest tingle of his energy coming back to him. It seemed far too short when he opened his eyes, but then he realized he wasn't where he drifted off.

The night sky glittered with stars that either cast their light out in the darkness or streaked across it. He could feel slightly warmed stone behind him, his feet weren't quite touching the ground and bent rather than extended in front of him. He looked around to see he was sitting on a marble bench nestled in a corner of a beautiful mountain garden that was lit by warm lanterns.

Sora knew this place, and he stood. He knew it was a dream, but it would be nice to have something pleasant for once; it helped that he felt completely back to normal for once without a single pain in his head, his hands weren't coated in darkness, and there was no indication that he was ill. He was good ol' Sora again.

Sora smiled at the familiar sight dozing off several feet away. He crept up to the young boy and bent down with a grin, "Heya Ven."

The boy blearily opened his blue eyes, then jumped at the sight of Sora, "WOAH!" While Sora laughed, Ventus turned onto his knees, "Gimme a break Aqu-" he blinked and stopped himself, "Oh, Sora!"

Sora smiled and bowed, "The one and only!"

Ventus grabbed him in a playful headlock and fussed with Sora's brown spikes, "Man, where have you been? Kairi's worried sick about you!"

Sora laughed and shrugged Ventus off, "I said it would be a small trip."

Ventus wagged a finger at him with a mockingly parental tone, "And it's been a few days, mister."

Sora shrugged, "There's a lot to see." He then folded his arms and leaned in towards Ven, "And what was with you almost calling me 'Aqua'?"

Ventus plopped down on the edge of the cliff nearby, "Well, a lot of my dreams are more memories, if that makes sense." Sora sat down next to him as he continued explaining, "This one's the most common; best night of my life." Ventus looked a little more wistful, belying his youthful appearance, "The last night I spent with Terra and Aqua before everything went downhill."

Sora realized he'd hijacked the dream, and apologized, "Oh, I'm sorry this one must mean a lot to you-"

Ventus waved his hand, "It does, it does," he smiled at Sora, "but I see it all the time. It's nice to see you again, what's up?"

And with those words Sora began explaining his adventures so far. Except he quietly noticed his hands blackening in the dream and began hiding them. He left out the danger and the miserable parts and the fact that he was off saving an entire world with so little help it might as well have been single-handedly. He said he'd be gone awhile longer- how long, he didn't know -but he neglected to let Ventus know that he was in any danger. It was best if he wasn't fretting over Sora like he did; Ven tended to become a doting, overprotective parent when it came to Sora.

Ventus nodded, "Hyrule sounds like a neat place, I think I'll go sometime." He stood up, "Maybe now, I can wake up and-"

"Nah, I don't need anyone comin'." Sora quickly said, "If you don't mind, I want Hyrule to myself for awhile."

Ventus sat back down, looking confused but compliant, "Okay then..." He glanced down at Sora's hand, and gasped.

Sora quickly pulled it into his jacket, "I'm fine. I'm fine, Ven." He felt himself growing sick; a nosebleed returned, rust was filling his mouth. Even worse, his arms were getting colder and colder even without the jacket.

Ventus tore off the jacket, not buying what Sora had said, "Sora, what's going on?! You said everything was alright!" Sora stared at his arms, marveling at how before his eyes the black forms became distorted and gangly, his hands stretched and grew. He noticed that lines formed on his arms that looked like geometrical tattoos, and strength that he didn't have began pulsing through them. He choked back a burst of brackish and too dark blood, but it dribbled down his mouth anyways.

Sora's last sight before bolting awake were his own horrid hands leaping at Ventus to choke him, Ven's blue eyes filling with fear, and his own nightmarish face with yellow eyes reflected in them.

Midna jumped up when Sora launched himself into a sitting position, "Jeez, you look like you've seen a poe."

Sora clutched his chest, wheezing. It felt like something was choking HIM. He coughed up blood and curled up as he tried to get himself back to normal. He covered his face, retching with coughs. When the attack left, it left Sora panting. He stared at the ground between his legs, trying to think straight with his pounding head.

He looked around, feeling dread in his stomach. He hoped Ventus was okay. Dream or not that was dangerous... Midna popped into his vision, "Hey, spiky-locks, are you alright?"

Sora looked at his arms, "Fine." He noticed that the black wasn't as bad as it was in the dream; just up to a third of his forearm. It covered his hand completely and from the beginning of his wrist to the end of the darkness it was about as long as his palm. He then blinked. He looked at the torch, noting it was dim embers, and the fire was nothing but cold ash. He lit his lantern and held up his arm.

Before his lantern sputtered out, he caught a glimpse of a line barely formed. He shook the lantern, "No! Come on, you can't be out of oil already!"

"You're freaking out a bunch." Midna scoffed, "Maybe you shouldn't've napped."

Sora sighed. He then stood and waded back into the water, "Well, I guess I gotta get moving." The cold woke him up more, and numbed some of his panic. He was grateful for that as he found a spot to climb back up onto shore with. Cold chased away the fear. Woke him up from that dreary land between waking and sleep.

He looked around, trying to see where to head. He managed to leap around to the northward door he'd passed by earlier, and entered it on a hunch. He used his boomerang to arrange the bridge and walked across easily. The new room was one wind-driven bridge in the center occupied by a monster with four different ways to go. Sora opened the chest to his right and dug out a small key, "Well, this could be useful, I guess."

He changed the bridge and crossed while the monster was trapped on the other side (not neglecting to taunt the thing), and entered a larger room with a large and heavily chained door across the way. He took a step, almost fell off, then glanced down. He quickly realized that the way across didn't have a bridge, nor a bottom. There were bridges to the side, though, that lead upward to a better viewpoint on a cliff, and Sora followed them into another monster encounter that he couldn't avoid.

As the thing vanished into its smoky death, he wondered over how good he'd gotten at monster dispatchment, "Huh, a year or two ago I wouldn't adapt as fast..."

Midna popped out of Sora's shadow as he began using Wendy again to clear the vines for travel, "What were you doing a year or two ago, then?"

Sora climbed on, "None of your business." It would be a little hard to explain all those inter-world hijinks without saying something he shouldn't.

"Why'd you mention it, then?" Midna sighed. Sora shrugged, trying to climb with the shadowy weight of Midna pouting on his shoulder, "You're such a weird kid."

Sora pulled himself up and dusted off his pants, "Not weird, just different." He readied for battle again as another monster charged, "But if you really wanna know," (Donald would kill him for saying some things, he had to be tactful) jab, jump to the side, "a year or two ago my home got destroyed." slash, topple, dead. Sora sheathed his sword, "I got tossed into the fray. You learn quick that way."

He surveyed his surroundings from this higher vantage point while Midna made an interested hum. She invaded his vision moments later, "You're skinny now, probably were even smaller then, how'd you make it?"

Sora put a foot on the wooden railing and observed the jump to the big, important door that he supposedly couldn't get to. He held up his hand and judged it some more (the distance was pretty small, actually) and deliberated on his stupid idea while Midna snapped, "Well? What's your secret? Do you have some kind of almighty power?"

Sora backed up a few feet. He said absently, "Yeah, I do."

Midna looked around, "What are you doing?"

Sora began running.

Midna yelled as she was dragged along with, "KID?! KID WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Sora jumped an incredible distance, and managed to get to the other side- and that door -pretty easily. Except he had to hold onto the edge for dear life for a moment or two; he didn't jump far enough. His legs waved in the air as they tried to get a solid footing somewhere. "M-Midna! MINDA HELP!" Sora yelled as moss made his grip slip around.

"You IDIOT!" the imp replied as she bumped Sora up onto solid ground. Sora rolled onto his back and stayed there a moment. Sora laughed- and choked as he vomited again. Midna waved her arms and ponytail around, "What on earth were you thinking?! Are you insane now?! has that stupid illness of yours gone to your brain?! I need you alive, you know!"

Sora coughed a little, now on his knees. He smiled at her through his suffering as if he was proud of something, "That's my secret. Friends. Teamwork." Minda grew limp for a moment, then went back into Sora's shadow with a frustrated groan. The last thing she needed was lectures on a silly thing like friendship.

When she vanished, Sora held his head. Everything was spinning. He could barely think straight. He threw up a little more. Very softly he laid back down and closed his eyes. Breathe in, breathe out. He needed to think straight if there was anything else ahead. Breathe... Breathe...

Sora chuckled at the thought of his friends, then opened his eyes with a small frown. Gosh, they'd be so worried if they knew, he thought. Then again, he didn't want anyone else getting this little "twilight fever" of his. It was miserable. Best to settle it on his own and then live out his little vacay afterwards and come back saying it was a good time.

After a moment or two he stood, and found himself staggering to the door. He grabbed a chain, intending to see if it was rusted enough to break by hand, then saw the grandiose lock connected to it. He pulled out the key he'd gotten with Wendy's help and compared.

He put it in, turned it, and entered at the solemn click.

...

The room smelled dank and rancid, like mold. The rotten wood gave way to untamed grass while water gurgled somewhere. Sora's eyes adjusted, and he walked up to the spring-fed pond. He touched the abnormally thick- but still identifiable as -water and smelled the lingering drops on his fingers, then grimaced, "Eugh, poisoned."

A gigantic plant monster bloomed from the spring and roared at Sora. Sora closed his eyes as the hot breath (and some spit, disgustingly) from the roar blew past him, as well as mist from the spoiled spring. Sora opened his eyes when the plant finished to see an eyeball glaring at him from a stalk that was probably meant to be a tongue nestled in fleshy petals.

Sora had one comment as he held his nose and wiped at the air, "You figure a plant would have better dental habits."

Sora rolled aside as the beast lunged at him, obviously not amused by the comment about its halitosis. He then felt something else- something still big and bloom-like but a little smaller -duck at him and he swayed to avoid another monster head, "Oh! He has a buddy!"

Midna gave her own comment as Sora began dodging more vines and two heads ready to eat him for lunch, "Very astute. Now goodbye I don't want to end up in a plant's digestive juices."

Sora tried swinging his sword while the heads attacked (even learning that there was another smaller head, making twins) but they were a little too fast. Then they got the brilliant idea to stand back and spit water at him. He had no room left for swordplay now.

Sora was now running, trying to formulate some kind of plan. He pulled out Wendy and tried hitting the beast with that, but it was a tickle more than anything, and brought back mists of the water that made Sora cough. He dodged another blow, "Hmm, okay, too fast to really whittle it down like that..." He wiped water off of his face, sputtering, "Nope can't really use this. The thing lives off of this."

He then saw a little bug clinging for dear life on a log in the water. Sora maneuvered to get a better look and grinned, "Hello you little bomb-thing!" The bug squeaked as if it realized what Sora was about to do, but that was all it could do before a boomerang swept it up and right into the plant.

It howled and fell onto the shore with its eye-tongue lolling onto the ground. Sora laughed "Ha! Got you!" He began swinging wildly at it, trying to get the kill in quick before it roused from its stunned state.

"ACK! Aw man..." disappointingly, he had to jump away or become monster snack. And then Sora realized he had no bomb-bugs left.

While he sat there, wondering what he'd have to do, a head scooped him up. He banged against it, "No! No, bad plant-thing! PUT ME DOWN!" He felt a few teeth digging in, maybe drawing blood, but continued yelling and slashing. He was NOT getting eaten before twenty. That'd definitely ruin a lot of things.

Something exploded, and Sora found himself rolling to the ground. He shook his head and looked up at the squeaks that followed the ringing in his ears. "You?!" Sora gasped. The monkey he'd given a good spanking earlier grunted in reply and held up a bomb-bug, then began swinging across.

It took Sora a moment or two to stand again. He bent down, grabbing at the toothy marks at his sides. Sora straightened himself and raised his boomerang, "Wendy, you know what to do!"

The monkey dropped the bomb.

Wendy picked it up and sent it back at the monster.

Sora went in and finally cut off that tongue, getting slimed with blood and spit and it howled and writhed in the process.

Sora smiled- or at least tried to; he was coated in monster fluids that tasted bitter and disgusting and just plain nasty -as light started filtering in as the plant withered, and then finally it exploded into millions of black particles, leaving the spring just as it was ages before the beast made it its lair.

Sora collapsed with a sigh, "Jeez, what a workout..." He covered his mouth and quietly coughed. More than anything he was tired. Bleeding out a bit too, he'd need to take care of that. Sora pulled out some bandages and began wrapping them around himself.

But he felt... good? Something went right. Not to mention adrenaline pounding in his ears was a welcome refreshment. It felt a lot like some of those days with Donald and Goofy when they took down a particularly dangerous foe. The memories he was reminded of were comforting. He couldn't really stop coughing, but it wasn't horrible or hacking. Just like he had a cold. Of course then he wiped up his chin and realized maybe he was gonna pass out some time soon. He downed a potion, deciding it was worth losing a ration now.

Midna flew out of his shadow, "That's what I was looking for!" Sora watched her grab a black piece of carved and fractured stone from the air. The hairs on his neck stood up, and for a second he thought he recognized what Riku told him was the scent of darkness. He even got a different taste in his mouth, like he forgot to brush his teeth before bed and his mouth filled with that sickly morning breath taste.

Midna showed it off to him, "Good work, spiky, good work! This is a fused shadow, one of three pieces." She stowed it away with her magic and a sigh, "Those other stupid Light Spirits probably have the other two."

Sora nodded, "Not bad, then. Just need to get on their good side."

"Nah, not that easy," Midna floated over and made a dark square that lapsed into a jagged, geometrical black thing with rigid cyan lines and circles that seemed to try and suck away the air. "They probably sealed them off somewhere like the piece we nabbed here." she continued.

Sora hesitantly approached the darkness, deducing on his own it was a portal. And that it was related to Midna's realm, the twilight, "Is that safe?"

"Well I'm taking you back to the spring the fast way." Midna's ponytail flipped his face up like he was being silly. When Sora continued to have a doubting look, she added, "This won't make you worse." Sora still didn't seem to want to go through it, and Midna impatiently grabbed his wrist, "Come on!"

Sora felt himself getting ripped apart into tiny little squares of matter. His stomach rose into his chest in the most unpleasant way, and he wondered if it was possible to throw up if you were racing along as one-dimensional shadows flying through some sort of railing or pipework. And then he felt his feet on solid ground, followed by his shins, his knees, his thighs, his waist, piling on top of each other like building blocks with a settling feeling that could only be likened to your spine shuddering.

And then Sora blinked in the dappled sunlight of Faron Woods once more. He shook his head, "Midna!"

"Valiant Sora..."

Sora's head snapped up. That voice was very clearly not Midna, "Do not think Hyrule is now saved from the spread of twilight. Leave these woods and go west to the lands protected by the spirit Eldin... And know that now those lands lie cloaked in twilight, a dark realm covered by the clouds of dusk."

Sora nodded at the bodiless light spirit, and turned to head on his way. One more warning rang in the air, "Your body will get worse. It will deteriorate and die within those lands. Be prepared..."

Sora hesitated a moment, turning back. Faron had nothing else to say, apparently, because only bird calls met his ears. Sora sighed, "Thank you for being vague." He sat down by the spring and splashed water on his face, "I guess I could at least get a bath."

Midna popped out of his shadow, "Well, searching will at least be easier now that we know we need to go west."

Sora nodded and stood, "Yeah, I'm sure it shouldn't be too far..." He mused aloud as he walked west (Donald and Goofy had taught him excellent directional ability), "Then again that was a pretty big field... How far does Eldin control, anyways? I mean, if there's four Light spirits they control four regions. Are they all equally big or does one have more than the rest? That seems a little unfair..."

He paused, realizing he had walked out of the woods into a huge section of the very field he was talking about. The western sky was filled with an aurora of orange, yellow, black, and the occasional green, doming over what must have been Hyrule in twilight. Sora nodded, "Interesting. So that's what it looks like from our side." He then saw the length between, "Hmm, not bad."

Midna appeared on his shoulder as he began jogging along the path, "Not bad?! That's gonna take forever!" Sora rolled his eyes as the imp whined the whole way, complaining about the monsters, the sun, Sora's silent treatment, anything, really. She rambled and rambled on with complaint.

Sora continued ignoring her by commenting, "I wonder if we'll find those Ordon kids..."

"Who cares?" Midna sighed, "We didn't see a sign of them in Faron."

Sora, meanwhile, was tromping to a slower pace as the light dimmed, "Hold on it's only been a few... hours..." He stopped at the sight of a black wall that seemed to be sucking any luminosity away.

Midna floated out, her form getting slightly more corporeal, "Ahh, yes, hello sweet twilight." She floated right up to the black, "I can get you in, if you wanna go ahead and courageously die trying to save a place you've barely live in."

Sora watched her go in with a ripple that exposed all kinds of sienna designs. He walked up to it, stopping before he touched it, "M-Midna! Hey! You know I can't- AHHH!" Sora was dragged in by Midna's ponytail, a glowing orange hand vanishing and only leaving echoes of his startled cries.

Blehhhhh finally done with dungeon writing for now. Let me just say if it isn't obvious from the writing I really didn't enjoy having to cover a dungeon in writing (even if I skipped around!) In some news I have all 3 hours and 24 minutes of Twilight Symphony so I got some good music to write this with!

And no, I can't have a fic without Ven appearing for at least a cameo