LeKHfangirl: fear not. SoKai will be showing up again in the next few chapters. They're my otp too. Riku will be getting in a few more appearances later in this story. But since this fic is mainly about world building before the main story of the Acolytes of Chaos saga kicks into gear, I wanted to focus on the day to day stuff in the Daybreak Coalition. Rest assured, I haven't forgotten about the original trio. I'm just giving everyone else some time in the limelight before the story really kicks off.

The chapter title here is a reference to the episode Nightmares and Daydreams from Avatar: The Last Airbender. No, there will not be any sleep-deprivation-induced hallucinations in this chapter.

Episode 20: Nightmares and Homework:

Twilight Town – Lea, Namine, Roxas, and Xion's House:

August 20, 2015

"So what are you guys going to do for the summer homework?" Olette asked as the group at around the living room and dining area of the house. Lea was off visiting Queen Elsa in Arendelle, leaving the three teenagers in the house to themselves. Since they only had two more weeks until school started, they'd decided to get their summer homework done today. Hayner was reluctant to actually do the homework since he, Pence, and Olette were starting their senior year, Roxas, Xion, and Namine had never actually been to school, so Olette and Pence convinced Hayner to help pitch in so the three soon-to-be Freshmen would impress the teachers.

"We could always do the seven wonders of Twilight Town," Pence commented. Roxas burst out laughing at that.

"That's exactly what we did in the simulated Twilight Town," he chuckled. "And all of the rumors were completely bogus." At that Pence immediately started pumping Roxas dry for information on what the "Seven Wonders" were like in the digital metropolis. The older teen was disappointed with how simple the mysteries were explained, but eventually they came up with the idea of comparing the real and simulated town for their independent study.

Pence and Olette went over to the usual spot to gather Pence's notes on the real Twilight Town's Seven Wonders, while Roxas started writing down what he remembered from his digital prison. Namine offered to do sketches to help illustrate the project, while Xion shyly admitted that she didn't feel she had anything to contribute to the paper, only for Roxas to assign her the task of combining everything together on the computer. With a plethora of information to choose from, the seven teens finished their assignment just in time to order a few pizzas for dinner.

While everyone ate, Roxas pulled out his inter-planetary communicator Aqua had given him so he could contact Radiant Garden. After the meeting in the Land of Departure the previous week, Roxas, Xion, and Lea ultimately decided that they didn't want to keep wielding the Keyblade. While their blades were still bonded to them, they politely declined membership in the new Order of the Keyblade. Aqua was perfectly understanding of their reason for leaving the group, and the former Organization members promised to help out whenever they were needed.

She'd given them each long-range communicators so she could quickly get in touch with them in an emergency, and Roxas was using his to call Ansem the Wise and ask about what information had been made public by the Coalition. Although it would take a while for him to really forgive the ruler of Radiant Garden for what he'd been put through, he wasn't angry anymore since Ansem had at least admitted that he was wrong.

A few hours later, Roxas was sound asleep in his bed when he was woken up by a knock at the door. Curious, he groggily rubbed his eyes as he got up and walked over to find out who had woken him up. He opened the door to find Xion standing there nervously. She was wearing long white pajama pants with blue polka dots and a black long-sleeved shirt. Her cheeks looked wet, as if she'd been crying recently.

"Xion, what is it?" he asked with a yawn, concerned about why she'd been crying. He hated when she was upset. It made him want to find whatever was making her cry and do whatever he could to stop it.

"It's nothing," she answered nervously after a long pause. "I'm sorry I woke you up." She turned to head back to her room when Roxas grabbed her arm. Something's definitely wrong, he thought to himself as he noticed the tears welling up in her eyes.

"Xion…" he said. "What's wrong?" For a moment, she hesitated. Then she took a deep breath and answered.

"I had a nightmare," she replied. "I keep dreaming we were fighting at the clock tower again. Only this time… you were the one that died." The tears finally started flowing as Roxas pulled her in for a hug. Seeing her so upset made his heart hurt.

"It's okay," he said quietly as he led her into his room and shut the door so they wouldn't wake Lea and Namine. "Xion, I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. It's all in the past." But despite his words, Roxas knew he wasn't the only one having those dreams. While they'd all adjusted to being alive again pretty easily, they'd still died. Coming back to life wasn't going to automatically fix all the trauma that came with being reduced to disembodied voices in Sora's head. After a few minutes, Xion had finished crying and they resumed talking.

"I keep having it every night," she explained. "Some nights I die all over again, and other times I end up killing you." Roxas rubbed her back as he held her in his arms.

"It's okay," he reassured her. "We're both here right now. That's all that matters. Everything that happened that day is all in the past." For the next few minutes they just sat there in silence.

"Can I sleep in your room?" she asked after a while. "I can sleep on the floor if you want, I just don't want to be alone tonight."

"Xion, I'm not going to make you sleep on the floor," Roxas replied as he got out of bed and gestured for her to get in. While he got several extra pillows out of his closet, Xion protested that she didn't want to kick him out of his own bed. While Roxas laid the pillows down on the floor, they soon came to a compromise. A few minutes later, the two former Organization members were crammed onto Roxas' bed so that if Xion had any more nightmares, he could give her a supporting hug as soon as she woke up.

Two hours later, Xion bolted upright in her bed from the same dream. After taking a minute to dry her eyes and catch her breath, she leaned back on the bed and pulled Roxas in for a hug. His eyes slowly opened and he pulled her in closer to comfort her. He couldn't help but blush as they drifted off to sleep. After regaining his memories of Xion, he'd realized that he liked Xion the way Sora liked Kairi. But he was nervous about telling Xion. They'd only come back a few weeks ago, and he thought that with all their transitioning, it was too soon for him to say anything. And while in hindsight they'd had their romantic-sounding moments in the past, he was afraid she wouldn't feel the same way. But that was another dilemma for another time. As he cradled Xion in his arms, all he could think about was comforting her against the nightmares.

The little scene at the end is a reference to a really great piece of Rokushi fanart I found on deviantart depicting the two of them lying in a bed together (covered up. I don't want anyone reading this getting any twisted mental images) hugging and figured Xion sleeping in Roxas' bed because she was having nightmares of her death in Days was the best way to reference that. Besides, the idea of the two of them having a bit of trauma over their deaths made sense, and they'll talk about it more when they go to the Organization support group meeting.

Xion's dream of killing Roxas is a reference to the plot of the amazing KH fanfic Remember The Tides and its sequels.

Next chapter: Vanitas makes his first appearance in public and is genuinely surprised by how the people of the Daybreak Coalition react to him.