The First Day
His senses came back to him in bits and pieces. His face, cold, wet. Cheek pressed against something hard and rough. Water dripping nearby. His hands, cold and wet
Feeling began returning to the rest of his body and he shivered. His every muscle and bone ached. An orange light glowed faintly through his eyelids and as he opened them he saw street lamps reflected in a puddle beneath him. He pushed himself slowly to his knees, paused until the world stopped turning, then got to his feet. He looked down at his, thankfully, fully visible hands.
"Still all here. But..."
He lifted his head and found himself surrounded by lights of every colour. The orange street lamps stood beneath neon signs, white headlights shone from stationary cars, and what seemed like hundreds of blindingly bright TV screens were set high into the buildings that surrounded him. A curved building in the distance bore the number 104 in glaring red.
"...where is here?"
He'd seen places similar to this in San Fransokyo, but nowhere so empty. Nowhere so silent. The faint electrical hum of street lamps and luminous signs was the only sound.
He stood in the middle of a wide road. No, a bunch of roads, some kind of crossing? He put his hands to his mouth to call out, then thought better of it. The last time he'd done that Yozora had almost ended him.
Yozora... The last thing he remembered was him dissolving before his eyes, a blast of light, blue sky and clouds, and then nothing. He didn't know how he had ended up here, or how much time had passed. All he knew was he was exhausted and aching from that battle, too tired to try and figure out where he was right now. He was shivering and wasn't sure how much longer he could stay standing.
"Guess I should find somewhere to rest..."
He turned to look down each of the roads, picked one at random and started walking, hoping to find an open door somewhere.
Day 2
He'd eventually given up on finding an open door and used his Keyblade to unlock a building that seemed to be some kind of furniture shop. A quick look around to see if anyone was there, and then he collapsed onto a couch, thankful he'd found a place to sleep.
He woke late the next morning to bright sunlight streaming through the large storefront windows. He was much less sore now and no longer exhausted. He was, however, starving.
"OK food first, then I'll figure out where the hell I am..."
He left the way he had come in and stepped out onto the wide road lined with stores and towering office blocks. The buildings seemed even taller in the daylight, but the streets were just as empty.
Day 5
Still no sign of life in this city, and no sign of anything familiar.
He'd started counting the days, but without knowing how long it had been between his fight with Yozora and waking up here, he had no idea how long he had truly been gone. He couldn't tell if there had been hours, days, or even weeks between that fight and when he arrived here. He didn't even know how much time had passed since he disappeared from his world and when he met Yozora. All he remembered was a sensation of floating. Floating in between... he wasn't sure what. It was as though he hadn't existed for a long time. As though he had been dispersed through the air, and slowly condensed back into himself. And then he'd woken up under the stars.
All he knew now was that it had been five days since he found himself in the middle of the crossing and that he had no idea how long he had been away from home.
He would run through streets and across rooftops for hours every day, searching until his legs were ready to give out. But still nothing. He seemed to have been going in circles. He'd ended up back at that crossing unintentionally twice now, even though he was sure he had never turned back towards it. Maybe he should start making a map...
On the bright side, he thought, in terms of surviving he could have ended up somewhere much worse. He'd had no trouble finding stores with freezers full of food, and fancy apartment buildings with electricity, water, and unlockable doors. He hated feeling like a thief and felt awful at the idea that he might be invading someone's home, but if the city was as empty as it seemed then he didn't really have much choice. It wasn't like there was anyone around to pay or ask permission from.
He wouldn't have had any munny to pay them with anyway. It seemed that apart from his clothes and Keyblade nothing else had followed him here, except for Kairi's charm.
Day 21
Three weeks... Three weeks since he'd heard another human's voice. Three weeks since he'd seen another person's face, other than the strange ones that peered down at him from posters and billboards scattered across the city and its buildings. He couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched.
He was sure now that he wasn't going in circles. The maps he'd been drawing on stolen notepads from stationery stores were crude, but if they were even vaguely correct he was certain that there was no edge to the city. If he walked for long enough he would always end up back where he started, and it took less than a day to run that full distance.
He'd promised them he would come back safe... he had to find a way back. He'd search every inch of this place if he had to. There had to be a way back somewhere.
There had to be...