"What interests me is the sense of the darkness that we carry

Within

us, the darkness that's akin to one of the principal subjects of the sublime - terror."

-Anish Kapoor

Roxas opens his eyes to smears of bright red.

He blinks them, and it becomes smears of bright red and gold.

One last blink and he's standing before a red-painted wooden door with gold accents and a large skull in the center.

A glance behind himself later and he sees he's on the pirate ship in Neverland.

"That's right…" He whispers; remembering the completed mission from not long ago. "I had to help Tinkerbell here."

He approaches the door; opening it with a cautious push before blinking his eyes once more.

Everything is a blur; he can faintly make out the oaken, rich scenery and what appears to be the silhouette of a male holding a female in the back of the room.

"Riku! Wait!" He hears someone call—the voice sounding so familiar and yet not…

Just then, a dark figure similar in image to a heartless with piercing yellow eyes invades his vision. In his sight, the figure is perfectly crisp; perfectly horrid. The blur of a supposed background cascades into ghastly, twisted smudges, and he opens his mouth to scream—only to choke.

The figure radiates darkness from all areas; black smokey vines flow almost sinisterly about it's body, it's head tilted curiously (or perhaps demonically), and… those eyes. Those never-ending pools of yellow moonlight beckon mischief and seduction in their looming wake.

He can't find the strength to look away.

The background ripples as cracks begin to form where it's mouth is supposed to be. There's a slicing, then a snapping noise as it's jaw slowly begins to drop. Purplish black ooze seeps out of zigzagged lines that have formed, then down the figure's chin. The ripples reverse suddenly when it snaps it's mouth open and lets out a wicked gurgle. The dark matter drips from a pointed row of black, shark-like teeth and the figure's mouth stretches into a grin that would make the Cheshire Cat itself jealous.

Somewhere in a corner of his mind, he had compared the image to a Jack-o-Lantern.

"What…" Roxas gags, eyes uncomfortably dry from his own seemingly infinite stare. "…what in the world ARE you?"

It sputters a disgustingly gargled laugh. "Not I." It burbles in a voice dark and obscured by what is unmistakably unholy. "We…" It churrs; ooze leaking from it's lips as a dripping black tongue comes foreword to run over razor-edged fangs. "…are one."

The figure makes a swallowing noise, then a throaty burp that one can compare to the feeling of bile bubbling in their throat.

But what bubbled out was much, much worse.

Blood begins to flood and froth in it's mouth before pouring in a crimson waterfall down it's chin. It's teeth clamp together sharply—a complete puzzle of black triangles—and the pouring slows to gentle streams.

Roxas is horrified. His stomach churns and his body pleads to double over and empty whatever may be in it… but he's frozen; he can barely breathe, let alone throw up.

The figure's teeth part again to lap the blood, and the waterfall froths from it's lips once more, only to cease completely shortly after.

Roxas swallows back the bile and lump in his throat to speak, "What does that mean…?"

The figure's eyes glint.

Roxas' throat tightens harshly.

Then, it's right hand—dark, half-clenched, smog breathing, and terrifying—reaches out. Talon-like nails brush delicately, almost loving, over the Nobody's cheek while it stokes it's thumb over Roxas' lips.

The yellow is becoming blue.

Before he can blink the dark figure transitions from the chilling sight it was to the boy in red he saw in his dreams and visions. The background begins to fade to a pure, glowing white while firefly-like lights dance about them. In the meantime, words have abandoned Roxas, for he can only stare at this—what he's heard people describe as an angel—that stands before him.

The boy is naked, the evil grin and blood from before have faded; his eyes are baggy and dark as if sleep had either forgotten or outdone him—sea-blue orbs fogged-over and angry as if exhaustion had long since taken over.

"It means you're half of the whole." He smirks and the thumb on Roxas' lips press between them, touching the Nobody's teeth gently. "You want to be whole don't you?"

"Yes." Roxas whispers; lost in enchantment.

The boy grins, flashing serrated teeth. "They say things are not what they seem. Keep that in mind… you may find your path to wholeness because of it. But I'll make sure you don't forget it either." He moves his hand to cup Roxas' cheek—his other hand running through Roxas' hair—before leaning in for a delicate kiss.

The Nobody's eyes flutter shut as he tries his best to kiss back while still in shock. He parts his lips; feeling the horrendous nightmare begin to dissipate as he takes the initiative to glide his tongue into the other's mouth.

Then he tastes iron.

Snapping his eyes open, Roxas sees everything is back to the twisting, obscured abyss with the Heartless look-a-like on the end of his kiss instead of the angel.

Before he can pull away, black razor teeth sink into his tongue as clawed fingers grip violently at blond spikes; crushing mouths together in a passionate and dominating matter.

Roxas' screams are muffled and barely audible as the taste of blood—be it from the figure's mouth or his tongue, he can't tell—fills his throat and practically chokes him. He's dizzy and as the world begins to spin out of control he hears the voices of both the figure and the boy simultaneously tell him,

"All is not what is appears to be."

He gasps for air before shooting up in bed with a frightened yelp. Some rapid panting and a frantic glance around the room later, he realizes it was just a dream.

No. A nightmare.

He feels something warm dribble past his lips and down his chin. He thickly swallows liquid iron before touching the drip and examining it.

Blood.

Not a second later, Roxas realizes he had bitten his tongue in his sleep… that is, until he looks at the wound in the mirror; seeing it looks more like that of a shark bite.

MHC: Lame ending is lame…

I really do get a kick out of dream!Sora. So many possibilities… so little patience…

Anywho, this is a fic similar to Have I Gotten Your Attention Now? but with much darker themes and—HELLZ YEAH—Anti-Sora. (The world is in dire need of more Anti-SoraXRoxas… *tear*)

I actually started writing this before Attention but put it off to the side for a couple days. It takes place after the second-to-last Neverland mission in 358/2 Days—but it's really more or so a flashback to when Sora first meets Anti-Sora in KH. Yes I know that it's not totally accurate but bear with me, bro.

This is pretty much the beta so I'll be revisiting often to make changes or fix mistakes. Hope you liked it!

Slightly inspired by the anime Ergo Proxy.