Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Kingdom Hearts: A New Threat ❯ The Dream ( Chapter 12 )

Chapter 12:

Riku wasn't very comfortable where he slept. He was curled up in another over-stuffed chair in Iona's room, not too far from the one Kairi and Sora were cozily occupying. After Iona fell asleep the night before, he fully meant to go back to his room to get some sleep, or stay up and think about his life some more, but he had the overwhelming feeling that he should stay close-by. He wanted to put his blindfold back on, at least, but Iona still had it. Riku sighed as he finally gave up trying to stay asleep. It wasn't only the chair that caused his insomnia, but it was also his mind racing with jumbled thoughts. He couldn't even figure out what they were. Suddenly, Iona started muttering and tossing in her bed. Riku stood and carefully moved over to her bedside. She was breathing heavy and was sweating, but was also shivering and clinging to her duvet. Riku froze; what should he do? Before he could decide, he heard her mumble something.

“Please,” she said as tears fell from her closed eyes, “help me.”

“I-Iona?” Riku said, slowly reaching out to touch her shoulder.

Before he could even get close, she stopped squirming and screamed out loud. Riku was so shocked he jumped back a few feet. Kairi yelped and clung to Sora as he leapt off his chair.

“What's wrong? Why is she screaming?” Sora yelled.

“I don't know!” Riku yelled.

“Well…do something!” Kairi said, holding tighter to Sora, who was now awkwardly holding her as well.

Riku looked back and forth between his two best friends and the screaming girl on the bed. In a split second decision, he leapt on her bed and held her close to him.

“IONA!” he said loudly as he tried to keep her from thrashing. “WAKE UP! YOU'RE DREAMING!”

Iona's screamed ceased moments after and she opened her eyes and looked up at Riku. After looking deep in his bright blue eyes, she wrapped her arms around him and began sobbing into his chest.

“Iona,” Kairi said sadly as she released Sora and went to the large bed. She situated herself next to Riku and Iona and took Iona out of Riku's arms and hugged her tightly. “Shh, Iona, you're ok now; it was just a nightmare…wait. What are you wearing?”

Iona pulled away from Kairi and looked down at herself. Her green eyes widened when she saw herself wearing the clothes from her nightmare and not her pajamas. How did that happen?

“I-I don't know,” she stuttered as started trying to pull down her top…again.

“What? What about your clothes?” Sora asked nosily.

“Sora!”

“What? I just wanted to know, Kairi.”

Kairi rolled her eyes then looked back to Iona, “Do you want me to get your other clothes for you?”

Iona nodded, “They should be in that wardrobe over there.”

She pointed to a tall mahogany wardrobe across the room, inadvertently showing Riku, Sora, and Kairi her purple fish-net arm bad. Their eyes widened and Iona quickly hid herself under her duvet. Kairi climbed warily out of the bed and went to get Iona's other clothes. Only there was one problem when she opened the wardrobe.

Iona's standard overall shorts and purple t-shirt were gone.

“What in the world?” she said aloud as she raked through the many pairs of orange shorts, black t-shirts and turquoise tank tops.

“What's wrong?” Riku asked.

“Her clothes; they're gone!” Kairi said, turning around, giving up her pointless search. “The only ones here are…well…not hers!”

“That doesn't make any sense!” Sora said.

“Yes it does,” Iona said quietly. The others looked at her, confused looks on their faces. Iona sighed and climbed out of bed revealing her full outfit from her nightmare, boots and all. They gasped and their eyes widened. Iona was blushing madly but she spoke up nevertheless. “In the nightmare I just had…this is what I was wearing. You see, there was this voice…I don't know who it was, but they were talking to me. They said it was time for a change…and something about a door needing to be closed once and for all…and then these Heartless appeared--”

“Did you have to fight a huge shadow creature?” Sora asked, causing Riku and Kairi to give him funny looks.

Iona, however, knew exactly what he was talking about.

“And then I was swallowed by Darkness,” she said, nodding.

“I had a dream like that once,” Sora said, “almost two years ago now.”

“The dream you had when you first had the Keyblade, Sora?” Kairi asked.

Sora must've told her.

No one ever told Riku.

“What dream?” Riku asked a bit angrily.

Iona turned to him, “Well, when I fell asleep, I--”

“Riku it's not important,” Sora cut her off. “Now let's get back to bed…and maybe in our own rooms.”

“No,” Riku said, “I wanna know about this dream.”

“Tomorrow, ok? I'm tired!” Sora brushed it off, walking out the door.

Kairi gave both Riku and Iona an apologetic look and went after Sora. Riku, angry that he wasn't being told anything, began to storm out.

“Riku wait!”

Riku stopped and turned to Iona who was jogging across the room to him.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“To my room to get some sleep,” he answered simply.

It was an obvious lie.

“O-Ok,” Iona said timidly, “but if you want, I'll tell you about the dream.”

Riku looked down at the small brunette who was staring at her shoes. He was furious with Sora for not telling him about this dream, and was in no mood to be near…well…anybody! But it was either Iona's offer to share her nightmare with him, the tone of voice she talked to him with, or the outfit she was currently wearing that he based his decision on.

“Ok,” he said, walking across the room to the chair Sora and Kairi had been in next to Iona's bed and sitting down.

“Ok,” Iona said, ignoring the harsh tone he used and walking over to her bed. She sat on the edge of the bed facing Riku. She crossed her arms over her stomach to hide her exposed flesh. She sighed, “Well, when I fell asleep, I was falling through darkness…”

“Then,” Iona began to summarize fifteen minutes later, “the Darkness sucked me in and that's when I woke up screaming.”

Riku couldn't believe his ears; that was a very intense, very strange dream! And the fact that two people have had it…weird. Riku, who had been glaring down at the floor, looked up at the small girl across from him. He noticed a tear roll down her cheek. Without even realizing it, he reached out and wiped her tear away. It startled her, and she jumped a bit, then stared at him with a mixture of shock and confusion in her eyes.

“You must be a great fighter,” he said quietly. “If you weren't, you wouldn't've defeated that…thing.”

“Wh-What do you think it was?” she asked, trying to ignore his hand, which was still cupping her face.

“I don't know,” he said honestly, “but from your description it sounded like a Darkside Heartless or an Anti-Heartless…but the smile is something new…maybe those Duplicate things. Either way, you'll be a great fighter when we get out there.”

“Out where?”

“To other Worlds…to fight the Duplicates and Maleficent.”

“Oh,” Iona said, her eyes lowering to the floor.

She couldn't help but think of the people of Amethyst Valley who she'd never see again. Another tear fell from her eyes, and Riku wiped this one away as well.

“Please don't cry,” he said quietly, “I promise we'll get them back.”

“How? They're all gone,” she inquired quietly, looking up at him.

“When my home disappeared,” he explained, “a lot of people disappeared with it. But when my World was restored, they all came back, and it was like it never happened.”

“You think that'll happen with my home?”

Riku nodded. When Iona lowered her eyes again, Riku did something totally unexpected; he got out of his chair, kneeled in front of her, and hugged her. Without thinking about it, she hugged him tightly and let her tears fall freely. Riku felt incredibly awkward, having never been in a position like this before, but he felt as if he really should be comforting this girl he barely knows. After a few minutes, Iona's sobs ceased, and Riku noticed her breathing was deep and even; she had fallen asleep. Riku carefully maneuvered her under her covers, her hair fanned across her down pillows. He watched her for a little while…just to make sure she wasn't having another nightmare, of course. When he figured she was ok, Riku sat back in the chair and eventually fell asleep.