CHAPTER 1: An All-Consuming Terror

"I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was. Likewise, I never imagined that home might be something I would miss." ― Ransom Riggs

"Leila, I love you, but if you play Kingdom Hearts while I'm sitting here, dying of boredom, I might actually strangle you."

Leila snorted, lifting the case over her shoulder and shaking it at Grey, sitting behind her on the chase. "What, don't want to see the wonderful adventures of Sora, Donald, and Goofy continue?"

"Not when I'm about to die!" There was a light huff—probably Grey flopping back into the fluffy cushions, before he continued. "What do you even like about the game?"

"I think you mean what's not to like." She turned around and held out the case, as if a closer inspection of the colorful characters would make Grey understand where she was coming from. "Just look at it! It's Disney! And anime! And Final Fantasy! All at the same time in one compact game with some of your favorite movies, combined with heart-wrenching plots about existence, memories, and the good-ol'-trope of light versus darkness."

Gray sat up a bit, squinted his eyes at the disc case, then shook his head. "Nope. Can't see it."

"Aw, c'mon man!"

"Sorry, it's just not what I like." Grey shrugged and leaned back in the chase while Leila dramatically flopped down into a nearby bean bag chair. "What I really don't get is your obsession with the freaking fourteen year old that you're controlling."

"What?" Leila grinned at him over her shoulder. At his judgemental glare, she smirked and shrugged. "C'mon, it's a childhood crush. Let me have some fun."

"Really. A childhood crush." Grey deadpanned. He put his chin in his hands and made his voice high-pitched and nasally. "Ooooh it's Sora! Look at my son beat down those bad men! And Riku, mmm, lift me up with those beefy arms! And Kairi, oh my gawd, what a complete cinnamon roll―"

"Shut up, you're such a dick!" Leila picked up a throw pillow and threw it at Grey, the both of them laughing. "Alright, I get the message. I'll keep my crush to myself, alright?"

"Oh, thank god. I don't want to undo years of voice training to get my point across again." Grey patted her shoulder. "I just think that, since you shun me for dating Vanessa, I should have every right to shun you for liking a digital anime boy."

"Excuse you, Sora's only a year or two younger than me. Vanessa's a eighth grader and a weird person in general."

"Sora's way weirder than Vanessa. Plus, Sora will forever be, what, fourteen? Even when you're in your thirties. Me 'n Van only have a three year age difference. We'll age together."

"And you'll deal with her first period with all the dignity in the world."

Grey grumbled, getting up from the chase to browse the small stack of disc cases stacked against the wall. "C'mon, I want to play against you instead of just watching you play Kingdom Hearts 2 for the umpteenth time."

"Fine, fine." She rolled her eyes and put the game cartridge down, giving it a parting glance before going to Grey's side and debating which game they could play. She could play Kingdom Hearts later, when she was alone and didn't have a certain someone judging her.

For now, it was time to have fun with her friend.

She felt calm.

There were no worries, no pressure around her, as she aimlessly floated. Leila breathed deeply, easily, sleep weighing her limbs down as she lazily drew her hands up to her eyes, rubbing the sleep out of them. She yawned, stretching her arms high above her head, blinking to look around her.

Leila froze mid-stretch, eyes as wide as her open mouth. Instead of her familiar, deep orange room and her drab wooden ceiling fan, there was a deep blanket of darkness, stretching out endlessly in front of her. Out of curiosity, she moved her hand in front of her face, seeing familiar tan skin and her leather bracelet.

"What's…?" Her voice echoed around her, filling the void with some warmth, if only for a fleeting second. She twisted around, trying to see if there really was nothing but her and the darkness, only seeing her warm pajamas and the rest of her body, nothing more.

Then she looked up, feeling a bit of tension on her chest lessen as she saw a pinprick of light off in the distance, the center about the size of a dime. It wasn't a pure white, like a lightbulb, or even a warm, sunny yellow, but rather a light purple. Still, it was something other than the endless darkness, and was apparently bright enough for her to see her body… but not the floor?

Leila spun around, managing to flip with near-casual ease so that the light was beneath her feet. Her hair was lifted by an invisible breeze, slowly rising above her head, her clothing rustling and bunching up around her. She reached down, pulling her loose t-shirt down to, blushing as she realized that she was in her pajamas.

As Leila looked around the void, she noticed it steadily growing brighter, and looked down at the light. She barely had time to yelp and cover her eyes before a brilliant flash nearly blinded her. Her bare feet hit something solid, and cold, and she stumbled as gravity took effect, falling to the floor.

Lowering her arms, she drew herself up and looked around, still seeing the dark void. She was standing on a beautiful glass pane, mainly colored a deep purple with gold, star-shaped pieces scattered throughout. She took a few steps back from the center, making out a full-body portrait of… herself featured in the center. Curly black hair framed her face, violet eyes unseeing as she stared at the sky. She didn't recognize the outfit: a deep green sweatshirt jacket with short sleeves, black shorts, and a pair of red-white converse. Above her portrait's right shoulder was a white crescent moon, and in the opposite corner was a yellow sun.

Leila shook her head as she examined the pane. "I've been playing way to much Kingdom Hearts…" Sure, the game meant a lot to her, having helped her through some tough spots in her life, but to dream about it?

Well, she'd always wanted to dream about meeting her favorite video game characters. Apparently, it was finally giving her what she'd always wanted.

"This is probably based on the prologues for both games… so, I just have to try and make it to the end, right?" Leila murmured. The lack of sound unnerved her, and she suddenly wished for there to be some sort of soundtrack accompanying her.

"Leeeiiilaaa…" She froze as a guttural, scratchy voice echoed around her. The glass pane beneath her seemed to dull, the bright and vibrant colors fading until they were nearly grayscale, only a tint of their original color remaining.

"Who's there?" Leila called out, jumping as a skittering noise came from behind her. A laugh echoed in the empty space, going from a deep chuckle to a high-pitched, manic cackle that forced her to cover her ears. She hunched over and screwed her eyes shut, as if that would help block out the terrible noise. "Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut the hell up!"

The laughter stopped. Leila opened one eye, then the other, stunned at the sudden shift. She lowered her hands and stood straight, her breaths echoing in the silence.

"Leeeiiilaaa…" This time Leila grit her teeth, slowly turning as she tried to find the source. "You know what you did wrong."

"I haven't done anything." Leila called out. "Well, not yet, at least. I mean, this is just a dream where some dumb voice taunts me because it can. I'm probably stressing out over my APs, so my brain decided to make me feel worse by giving me a anxiety-filled lucid dream.'"

The voice chuckled again. "Idiot."

"Coward." She rebutted, spinning around and seeing a flash of yellow in the corner of her eye. "Y'know, if I think really hard, I think I can just make you show up."

The voice started up its terrible laughter once more. "No you can't. You're a blind fool, hiding away from what's really happening around you. You actually think this is a dream?"

"What else could it be?"

"Oh, I don't know. How about—" The skittering noise came from behind her, and Leila spun, tense and ready to fight. Her jaw dropped as she realized she was nose to nose with a completely black, humanoid creature with glowing yellow eyes, and a too-wide grin full of razor-sharp teeth. "Reality?"

Leila screamed, shoving at the creature and backing away. The creature rolled, doing an odd somersault of sorts and pushing itself up onto its hands and knees. It crouched, wisps of darkness peeled off of its body, twitching spastically as its finger-like claws clicked against the glass pane. It grinned at her, twitching its head left, right, left, almost like it was working out a kink. It laughed maniacally, tilting its upper body back until it was standing, albeit hunched.

Its head jerked back, yellow eyes glowing against pitch-black skin as it stumbled closer, like it wasn't used to walking. "Oh, poor little Leila. Scared of your own shadow?"

"What the hell are you?" Leila took a step back for each inch it drew closer until her heel nearly slipped off the edge of the pane. She looked back at the endless void around her, then back at the… the creature, nearly choking on her tongue when she saw that it had drawn closer.

"What's that one quote you love to hear in your games? I am thou, thou art I?" It slowly stretched its arms out, suppressing its twitches as it stalked her. "Though, I don't think you're all that happy to hear it from me."

"Shut up." She said, for lack of anything better. She glanced to the left, where there was more space to move around, and subtly angled her body to run. "Why are you even here? You keep saying that I've done something, but you haven't told me what."

"See, the more you say 'I don't know,' the more you're telling me you're really that stupid." It pointed a clawed finger at its head, now less than three feet away. "Think really, really hard. What happened before you came here?"

Leila bolted to the left, only to be immediately grabbed by the shadow creature and thrown to the floor. It hissed, showing off sharp rows of teeth. Yelling, Leila used one hand to shove at its chest while the other kept its head away from her throat. It growled, scratching at her arms and face before getting close enough to grab Leila's throat and squeeze. Panic gripped Leila, and she stopped trying to push the creature away in favor of scratching at its hands, struggling to breathe, make a sound, something.

"Since you are being such a pain, I'll enlighten you." It leaned closer to her, tightening its grip further and cutting off her airway entirely. "You aren't meant to be here. You were never supposed to make it this far, and you know it."

Leila kicked and bucked wildly with all her energy to throw it off. Thoughts awash with panic, she couldn't even begin to 'remember' what had happened before arriving at the pane. She didn't know what it was talking about, and at this point, all she wanted was to wake up in her bed, safe and sound.

"You disgust me. Just disappear, like the rest of your world." It hissed, somehow picking her up off the ground and slamming her into the pane. Despite the lack of distance and strength the hit should've had, the glass beneath her shattered. As she began to fall, the creature let go of her neck, and watched with gleaming, joy-filled eyes as she plummeted.

She wasn't even able to cough, just watch in horror as the pane disappeared into a myriad of shards, and the creature blended into darkness. Her throat throbbed in time with her racing pulse, and she felt tears fall from her eyes as the black void surrounding her shifted into a deep navy blue, speckled with pinpricks of white.

"I'm sorry," She whispered, right before her back collided with something solid, and she was thrown back into darkness.

Consciousness came back in bits and pieces.

First was hearing, the somewhat measured sound of her breathing expanded to more domestic sounds—plates clicking together, a door creaking open, a high-pitched hiss that roars to life, only to die down not five seconds later.

Next came feeling, which slammed into her with the force of a freight train. Her skin felt like it had been methodically ripped off, left to dry in front of a fireplace, sprinkled with salt and chalk, and then sewed back on about five times too tight. An all-consuming ache had settled deep into her bones, and the absolute last thing she wanted to do, now or ever, was move.

Then came thought, with the stunning realization that she had gone through, essentially, an acid trip and had no clue where she was. Leila let out a pained hiss as her body protested even the smallest movement, and she collapsed back onto the bed. Gritting her teeth and doing her best to ignore just how badly her… everything hurt, Leila looked around the room she was in.

She was currently lying on a well-worn couch, a thick quilt tucked tightly around her. There was a large, but outdated TV directly across from her, currently turned off. Faint sunlight filtered in through a set of windows in front of her. While she couldn't look behind the couch or above her head, she could make out various kitschy knick-knacks lining the walls: seashells, sand dollars, and starfish were strung up, filling the spaces between thumb-tacked polaroids and child-made drawings. She couldn't make out any fine details, being so far away and having just woken up, but she could make out that most of them had two or three figures, or were scenic shots of a beach.

Gritting her teeth, Leila did her best to push herself up until she was sitting, the quilt falling into her lap. She shivered as the cool air brushed against her skin and did her best to massage the soreness from her arms.

"Oh!" Leila jumped and turned her head too fast to the right, hissing as her neck made a disconcerting crrk and a new pain flared to life. Through squinted eyes, Leila watched as a somewhat pudgy woman with curlers in her hair approached her, gently placing her hand on Leila's forehead. "...Good, the fever broke."

"Fever?" Leila winced at the sound of her voice, croaky and brittle from god knows what.

"Ah, I guess you don't know what happened." The woman gave her a kind, yet sad, smile. "Stay here for a bit, I'll make us a drink. Sit back, get comfortable! I'd rather you don't strain yourself so soon."

Leila slowly moved so that she was propped against the couch, doing her best to keep the quilt on her as she did. The pain in her neck was slowly fading, but she was still careful as she looked to where the woman had gone. To her right was a small kitchen with a gas stove, an island counter, a fridge, and a microwave. At the moment, the woman had grabbed two beach-themed mugs from a cabinet. "Do you like anything with your tea?"

"Uh… Honey?" Leila coughed, feeling like her throat had been covered in a layer of sandpaper. Forcing her way through the pain, she spoke again. "What… happened?"

"Well, by all means, last night was normal for us. My son and I went to bed relatively early, but I woke up at some ungodly hour to hear a window opening, only to see him running like a mad man towards the Play Island." The woman paused her story to pour steaming water from a nearby kettle into the mugs. In one, she poured a large amount of sugar, while the other she poured some honey into. She stirred both thoroughly and then made her way back to the couch.

"My son, Sora, was the one that found you." The woman said as she held out the mug with tea and honey for Leila. "I don't know what he did, but when I finally got my shoes on and chased him down, I found the both of you on the shoreline. You were both soaking wet, and Sora was trying to shake you awake. When you didn't wake up, Sora helped me carry you back to our home."

Leila hummed, picking up the cup and taking a slow sip. It was surprisingly sweet, and it soothed her throat. "And, here is… where, exactly?"

"We're on the Fate Isles, on the smallest island, Destiny. Do you know where that is?"

Leila shook her head. "Doesn't sound close to home, I can tell you that."

"Do you at least know how you wound up in the ocean?"

Leila frowned and did her best to think back. "I… think I was in my room? I was up late working on something, I went to bed, and then…"

Then darkness, a stained glass platform, a shadowy figure, "You aren't meant to be here."

"…Then I woke up here. I don't even remember hitting the water."

The woman hummed. "I'm no doctor, but maybe the shock from everything that happened caused you to forget?"

"It's a better theory than anything that I have." Leila finished her tea, placing the mug back on the table. "I'm sorry for intruding, if that's any consolation."

"You're hardly intruding, dear." The woman stood and took Leila's mug, heading towards the kitchen. "You were hurt, and though my boy was dumb and gave me a heart attack, jumping from his window like that, I'm glad that we found you before something worse happened."

"His window?"

"Oh, don't worry. He jumped to a nearby palm tree, climbed down, and then ran off. I swear, he can be a regular monkey, and his friends certainly don't discourage his behavior." Leila heard the woman chuckle lightly, the ceramic clicking together as she put the mugs in the sink. "He's grounded until further notice."

"What!" Leila jumped and hastily looked over her shoulder, mouth dropping open as she saw a small boy standing at the base of a staircase. "But I helped!"

"And gave me a heart attack, running off like that without telling me why." The woman came back from the kitchen with a wooden spoon in hand, pointing it at him with a small pout. "Besides, you were up way past your bedtime, mister, and we both know that you're not allowed out of the house after dark without me."

Leila watched the interaction numbly, distantly aware that her jaw had dropped. Though he wasn't wearing his most-recognizable outfit, and his hair was more of a bird's nest than its usual, spiky style, she immediately recognized him.

Standing at the base of the stairs was Sora from Kingdom Hearts, the game series she knew like the back of her hand.

AN: So... hello. This is my first foray into the Kingdom Hearts fandom (though I've been a part of it for a while), and I've been working on this fic and my OC for a long time now, probably well over a year or two at this point. It's not completed, not by any stretch of the imagination, but my goal is to complete this story. Not half-ass it, not abandon it, but complete it.

I've never posted an OC story before, let alone a self insert OC, but I'm gonna try and do my best with this! I hope I've made this intro chapter interesting enough to get you all invested, hopefully, and that you'll stick around to see what happens next! Thank you all for reading!