Author's Note: Here's Part Two of the Awakenings. I just ended up keeping Ren and Zephyr's Awakenings separate instead of interchanging between both. I didn't want anyone to get confused.

I'm just gonna warn you guys now that it may be awhile before I update again. I'm also working on Re: Kingdom Hearts (my other fanfic) and one of my friends lent me their copy of American McGee's Alice, so I'm going to be working on those (I'm so excited :}). But hopefully you guys won't have to wait for too long!

Don't have much more to say but enjoy and please review!

Chapter Four: Destati

Ren's Dream

Ren opened his eye and saw that he was no longer in his bedroom. He was standing on top of a lit platform made of glass. He could see pictures of people that were around his age—two boys and a girl—and head shots of a duck and a dog. The picture was a head shot, and Ren saw that she had short, red-brown hair and blue eyes. One of the pictures of the boys was a head shot, too—this boy had long, spikey silver hair and piercing green eyes.

The picture of the other boy was full body, and Ren could see all of the boy's features. The boy had brown hair that was spiked in every direction. His eyes were closed. He was wearing a red jumpsuit with a short-sleeved and hooded black, navy blue, and white over shirt that was left open. He wore a crown necklace, oversized yellow shoes, and was holding a key-shaped sword.

Wait, Ren thought. Is that…Uncle Sora? It can't be… Ren never got to finish that thought, because three objects appeared out of the darkness: a sword, a staff, and a shield.

As each object appeared, a voice called out in the darkness. "Power sleeps within you, but if you give it form, it will give you strength. Choose well."

The voice sounded familiar to him, but he couldn't quite put a name to it.

He walked around and examined each object that was floating in front of him. He ended up settling on the shield. He liked swords a lot, considering his favorite thing in the world was his wooden sword, but he knew that he would really be able to protect people better with a shield. All the objects disappeared.

After a moment, the shield reappeared in Ren's hand in a sparkle of light. It was only after he had gotten used to the shield in his grip did black creatures appear from the darkness.

This startled Ren. The only thing he believed he knew about the creatures was that they needed to be attack. He mainly thought this because one of the creatures took the effort of attempting to scratch him. He threw the shield at each one, catching it just in time to block an attack, and dodged every time one of the creatures that attempted to scratch him.

When the last yellow-eyed creature was gone, white creatures appeared just off of the edge of the platform. Ren never noticed them watching him fight the black creatures. They seemed to be studying him.

Ren could tell that these creatures were different than the ones he just defeated. He braced himself for an attack. The white creatures walked on to the platform and went after him.

Ren used the same technique he used on the black creatures on these guys, but with some difficulty. There were times he had to jump just to land a hit in them. The rest of the time he dodged and blocked. He even used an ability called Reverse that conveniently was at his disposal. Once the last of them were disposed of, a door appeared. The familiar voice from earlier spoke again.

"Be careful," it said. "Beyond that door lies a completely different world. But don't be afraid."

Ren walked towards the door, ready to continue on. He heard the voice whisper in his ear "Don't stop walking…" He turned the handle, and walked through.

On the other side of the door, Ren noticed that there were several more platforms he had to walk up to get to the next door. The platforms were just like the first one he had been on, except that they were different colors—green, red and light blue. On his way to the top, he fought groups of white and black creatures. When he finally made it to the top platform, he walked through the door.

There was only one platform in this next area. A light shone on the platform, and Ren walked up to it.

He heard rustling behind him. Ren turned around quickly. At the moment, he saw a dark figure that had hands, feet, and other human appendages, just like he did. But it transformed itself into a giant creature. It bore the same insignia on itself like the white creatures. The difference was that it was light and dark blue with some shades of grey, and had tentacles coming out of its head.

Ren slowly backed away, and then turned to run. Realizing at the last moment that he really had nowhere to run, he turned back around to face the monster.

At the start of the battle, the monster had bound Ren's hands and feet. He struggled to break himself free. The monster had disappeared momentarily, but then came back, ready to hit Ren. Just as the creature's fist was about to make contact, he flipped himself around so that he could hit it away with the shield. That did some damage, but it came back towards him, grabbing of hold of Ren and throwing him in the air. Ren thought quickly. He flipped the shield in front of him, put his feet on it, and landed on top of its head with enough force to do damage and to knock the creature out. When it fell off of the platform, Ren took that time to re-coop.

Within seconds, the platform turned upside down. As if by instinct, Ren jammed the shield's bottom corner into the platform as he slid to the edge. The monster let go of the platform, breaking the shield loose and causing Ren to fall. As he was falling, it conjured up a giant ball of darkness, and threw it at Ren. He flipped around and threw the shield like a Frisbee through the dark ball. This caused an explosion, and both of them fell back to the platform with a thud.

Ren was the first one up. He picked up the shield and began whacking the monster in the head. This did the trick, and it was done for.

Yeah, he thought. Take that!

But victory was short lived. The creature, as it was disappearing, began to emit darkness from its form, swallowing Ren up. He struggled through the darkness, unable to breathe.

It wasn't until he felt a hand grab his wrist and pull him out that he actually woke up.

xxx

Zephyr's Dream

Zephyr didn't know how he got there. One minute he was looking up at the ceiling in his bedroom, barely keeping his eyes open. The next minute he was staring into the darkness. He was surprised to be able to see at all, but then he looked down at his feet, and saw that he was standing on a lit platform. On the platform, there were different colored stars—one blue, one green, and one orange.

Those look like Aqua's Wayfinder! He thought. He had seen it many times. She usually pulled it out when she was remembering something.

Above each Wayfinder, an object was suspended in midair. Above the blue one, there was a staff. A sword was above the orange Wayfinder, and a shield was above the green one. Zephyr figured that he had to choose one, so he walked up to each one and examined each. He immediately was drawn to the staff. He took it in his hands, and smiled.

I think this one is perfect, he thought.

"You've gained the right to fight," a voice called in the distance. Zephyr could have sworn he heard it somewhere before. The sword and shield disappeared, leaving him with only the staff and no time to change his mind.

Black creatures with yellow eyes and slender, white creatures appeared. Zephyr was startled at first, but the wheels in his head began to click.

So I have to fight these things, he thought. He held on to the staff tightly and began to swing. As long as the black creatures weren't hiding in the ground, they were very easy to dispose of. A couple of times he had to dodge out of the way of one of their attacks, or was scratched by one of them, but he stood his ground and they were gone.

The white creatures were more difficult to get rid of. They seemed to be much smarter than the black creatures. Sometimes they would dodge an attack by jumping in the air and remained suspended. Zephyr took this time to strategize, remembering when they would jump in the air. Then he attacked. A few blocks and dodges later, the white creatures were gone.

"That takes care of that," he said. He felt pretty good about himself. Bring it on! He thought.

Someone must have heard him, because in that moment, the platform began to shatter. There was nowhere for Zephyr to go but down.

Zephyr was afraid that he would be falling forever. He wanted it to end and be back in his room. It wasn't long before another platform was shining up at him, giving him some relief from falling. On the platform, he could see a picture of a boy in a white and black shirt wearing khaki pants and armored shoes. He was also wearing armor, and Zephyr could see the shape of a boxed heart that was strapped to the boy's chest. Zephyr immediately recognized who this was.

"Ven?" He was shocked, and he didn't know why. He righted himself, and landed softly on the platform feet first.

He walked around. He saw a door that was just opposite of where he was standing, and walked toward it. He went to turn the handle and open the door, but it vanished. Zephyr turned around, and a new enemy appeared.

These creatures were different from the ones he had fought earlier. They were very much like the shadow-like creatures he had disposed of; the only difference was that these ones were blue and had red eyes. Zephyr went to work getting rid of these guys. He studied them, hoping to see if they had a trick to fighting them. It turned out that there wasn't. They fought just like the shadow-like creatures. He struck them with the staff, and one by one, they disappeared.

When the last one was gone, the door reappeared. A small chest also appeared out of nowhere. Zephyr quickly opened the chest, took the Potion that lay in it, and ran for the door before it disappeared. He turned the door, and ran inside.

Once he was through the door, Zephyr found himself on another platform. He looked down to see who's picture was on it this time, and notice two boys on this platform. He recognized Ven as one of them, who was holding a key-like weapon now, but he was confused as to who the other boy was. He looked remarkably like Zephyr's father. The only difference was that this boy's hair was jet black. He was also wore a black and red suit that had a navy blue, cape-like dressing that was belted on at the waist. He, too, was holding a key-like weapon, but it looked dark and menacing.

Wonder who that is, he thought. And why he looks like dad.

He looked back up, into the darkness surrounding him. There was a small light shining just above where he was standing. He looked right into it, and closed his eyes. Please take me back to my room, he wished. He wasn't sure why he was there in the first place. He had so many questions now, because of all the things he had seen. Why is all of this happening? This is just a dream, right?

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard something shuffle behind. He opened his eyes, hoping he would be in his room. He was disappointed to see that he wasn't, and turned around to see what had made that sound.

He gaped at the creature that was now in front of him. More like the person in front of him. Zephyr really couldn't tell what exactly was in front of him, but he knew that he didn't look like that.

The being in front of Zephyr looked exactly like him, as if he was standing in front of a mirror. But this reflection was not him, and he knew it. He knew for a fact that he didn't have red eyes and that he didn't have blue skin, or was wearing dark blue clothes. It was not him.

The being was in a fighting stance, with a staff in hand. Zephyr knew what was coming, and knew it was futile to try to run. There was nowhere to run. He summoned the staff to aid him, and took up a fighting stance as well. And then, he attacked.

The imitation mimicked Zephyr's every move. Whenever he went to throw the staff at the creature, it would block the attack, and then do the same. Its attack would hit him. But Zephyr, unlike his imitation, was a fast learner. Whenever this happened again, he blocked or dodged out of the way.

As he was fighting it, Zephyr noticed that whenever he didn't think he was going to ever hit it, or thought that the battle was never going to end, the imitation got stronger.

So it feeds off of negative energy, or negative thoughts, Zephyr thought, the wheels in his head clicking in place. Then I'll just have to think happy thoughts. I'm gonna win AND I'll be back in my bedroom when it's over.

Zephyr immediately noticed a difference in his enemy. It seemed that positive thinking was making it weaker. "I might actually have a shot!" he said.

He took advantage of the moment and swung with all of his might, getting three or four really good hits in. The fifth time he tried, the imitation dodged and did a counterattack. It made contact, knocking Zephyr back. Its victory didn't last that long. While he was still in the air, Zephyr did a backflip and landed on his feet, weapon ready. He ran at it, dodging its attack, quickly hitting it back. He attempted a small combo, which did the job just fine. The imitation surprised him with raid of strikes, which consisted of it flying through the air repeatedly. Zephyr was able to dodge several of these, but was hit by the last three times it flew by.

Zephyr's left arm was cut by these last few attacks. He pulled out the Potion he had obtained earlier, uncorked the bottle, and downed it. He felt its effects immediately, and the cut was gone. There was no sign that he had been hurt with the exception of the slit in his sleeve and the blood that had stained it.

Zephyr turned right in time to block his imitation's next attack. He rolled right behind it, and strung a series of combos, hoping to bring the creature to its knees.

This did the trick. Zephyr jumped out of the being's way, and watched as it fell. He allowed himself to jump in the air and let out a whoop. But his smile disappeared when he saw darkness emitting from his imitation. It looked up at him, and leaped. It grabbed a hold of him, allowing them both to be consumed by the darkness. Zephyr struggled, not willing to go down. It seemed that the creature wasn't planning on going down without a fight, because its hold on Zephyr grew stronger. But he never gave in.

As the darkness was enveloping them, Zephyr heard the mysterious voice calling out to him. "But don't be afraid," it said. "You hold one of the mightiest weapons of all. So don't forget—"

Zephyr was completely engulfed by the darkness. The creature had a small victory of its own. He closed his eyes, knowing that no matter what, he could no longer see what was in front of him.

He opened eyes anyway and sat straight up. He was breathing really hard. He looked over at his clock. It read 2:30 AM. He lay back down and closed his eyes, hoping for a better dream, hoping that everything that just happened was just that—a dream.

The last thing he heard when he was engulfed in the darkness, before he had woken up, was that mysterious voice. It had said…

"You will be one of the chosen ones to open the door."