Title: Nightmare
Author: Page of Cups
Pairing: Cloud Strife/Riku
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Rating: K+ or PG (Choose your own Rating System poison)
Theme: 8. Our Own World

Disclaimer: I so don't own Kingdom Hearts it isn't even funny. Sometimes I do in my hallucinations, but I have problems, so that doesn't count.

Author's Note: I know it's been awhile but...Okay, so I really do feel bad about it, but it isn't really my fault. Life has been terribly in my way, especially the holiday season. I feel like today is my first day to really sit down and breathe in over a month and I had to travel home, unpack, and do laundry today, so put that together. Anyway, I'm really sorry and I promise I'll be better. Like, I'll update once a month or something...

...And yes, more 100 Steps is coming. I haven't abandoned it. I just tend to get busier and busier the older I get and taking care of a household plus school isn't easy. I'm very sorry.

The darkness engulfed him, compressing his lungs to a painful degree. Everything around him was dark, black—an endless void of nothingness that threatened to consume his sanity and being. He tried to breathe, relax, do anything, anything to control the wildly rising panic that rushed through his system. He needed to relax. Needed to do something to stave off the consuming fear that made his heart thump, thump, thump erratically against his ribcage. His limbs were shaking now, his throat tight. His eyes stung. He reached out for something, anything to grab hold to, to keep from falling. His throat closed farther. His stomach rolled over. The bile rose into his mouth, saliva sickeningly salty—the taste of his own hopelessness. He reached out again, blindly groping in the dark, thrashing for a firm grasp on what he hoped would be reality.

He tried to scream when the pressure first descended onto his back, but his throat was so raw, so tight his mouth stretched open, soundless. He struggled against the weight, kicking, thrashing, clawing, pulling at anything his hands could grip. This couldn't happen, not again, not in this horrible void of darkness, separated from the light. He couldn't lose Sora. Was Kairi okay? And Cloud...Cloud was so far away and he was being swallowed back into the dark, dragged down into it, suffocating as the weight wrapped around his body and encased him.

"Riku," a voice called out from the darkness. "Riku, calm down. S'okay."

The worlds were muffled in this void of darkness, space, and time. They were slurred, soft, hard to make out, but Riku vaguely registered them. He calmed slightly, but then the weight pressed against him again. He tried to tug away, weaker than before, grunting from the strain.

"Riku, s'okay. Juss a dream. You're okay."

It was this second time the voice sounded that Riku realized it was Cloud's voice and he calmed again as the weight lightly tugged him and then the pressure eased. His eyelids fluttered. He pressed back against the weight this time as he surveyed the darkened void and then he started to focus—to make out the strange shapes in the dark he hadn't registered before. Shadows stretched across the walls and the floor, threatening to drag him back into the void, but an existence of shadows meant the existence of light. He struggled to turn his head. As his eyes fell on an open window, he registered the soft scent of salt water mingled in the warm, breezy night air. The sound of rolling waves could be heard in the quiet of the night. His ragged breathing stabilized as something that felt like a nose pressed against his cheek and an awkward kiss touched his jaw before Cloud's head made an audible thump back onto his pillow.

"Bad dream?" Cloud muttered.

Riku shrugged. "Sorry I woke you."

"S'okay. You all right?"

Riku nodded and rolled over in bed. He pressed his forehead against Cloud's, gripped Cloud's bare shoulders, and sighed. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"You sure?"

Riku made a sound of affirmation in the back of his throat and lightly nodded. "Yeah. I'm just...I don't know. Shaken up, I guess."

"Bad dreams tend to do that. S'there anything I can do?"

"Tell me something good." Cloud snorted a laugh. Riku pulled back a little, loosening his grip on Cloud's shoulders. He pouted. "Don't laugh at me."

"I'm not laughing at you."

"Then why did you laugh?"

"Cause the first thing I thought was Leon is several worlds away right now, but I don't think that's what you wanted to hear."

Riku snickered and rested against his pillow again, touching his forehead to Cloud's. "Well, no, but it made me feel better anyway."

"Well, good."

"Tell me something else."

"Something else good?"

"No, something horrible." Riku rolled his eyes. "Yes, something good."

"I love you."

"I said something good, Cloud."

"Don't be a brat; I'm comforting you here."

"You're half-asleep."

"I was workin' hard today! Gimme a break."

"Wouldn't have to work so hard if you'd have bought a house without holes in the roof. Or with all the window panes in tact. Or without an ass backwards plumbing system."

"Oh, come on. Do I really have to hear about that right now? I'm sorry, okay?"

Riku chuckled. "I know, but harassing you is making me feel better, too."

"Good. You feel better. Now go back to bed. I have to get up early tomorrow if I'm going to get anywhere on the third floor windows before it gets really hot out."

"Stop your bitching. You were the one who wanted to stay on Destiny Islands because you liked it so much, and I told you not to buy this crappy house, but did you listen? No."

Cloud sighed. He opened his eyes and stared at Riku. "Feel better now?"

"Tell me you love me again."

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

"Can I sleep now?"

Riku tugged one of Cloud's spikes and nodded. "Yes, crybaby."

"Thank you." Cloud shut his eyes again and pulled Riku's body closer to him. "Wake me if you have any more nightmares."

Riku smiled. "I will."

"Love you."

"I love you, too."

He was in no rush to get back to sleep where even years later and long after he banished Ansem (he could never get used to thinking Xehanort's Heartless) he still found himself sucked into that void, closed behind the door of darkness, and lost to the world of light forever. Instead, Riku stayed awake, safe beneath Cloud's arm draped across his waist. He studied the contours of Cloud's face, listened to the ocean waves, allowed his mind to wander to what lay ahead tomorrow, but not once did he allow his mind to drift back. It didn't have to. This room, this bed was a safe place, and along as Riku could see the starlight from the bedroom window, he knew he wouldn't be going back again even if his dreams sometimes disagreed.

Naturally, Cloud fixing their run-down, dilapidated house was a whole other nightmare, but right now that was a whole nighttime away.

Once again, I am very sorry about the long duration between my writings, but it'll probably be going that way for awhile as I don't foresee a break in my busy schedule any time soon. I've very, very sorry, but I hope you enjoyed this little piece and I hope everyone had a happy holiday.

With love,

Jenna