Bonus

It's always the same.

The dream starts off the same way it always did…

The cool keys beneath my fingers vibrate to my unseeing eyes, calling them to dance and well, tickle the ivories. Piano playing wasn't something that had come naturally to me; I was more of a fighting kind of guy than someone who could sit down for a long time and just play music.

But after the accident, after what had happened to my eyes, I couldn't fight anymore.

So instead, Kairi got me this.

She got my keyboard and slowly, her fingers intertwined with mine, showed me how to play.

As a result, that girl is the only person I'll ever play with and for. Riku might have hired me to play music at his club but Kairi's the one I'm actually playing it for. Her favorite songs, the lines of music I can no longer read but that she dictated to me personally, are what go through my head as the people come in and dance to her music.

My fingers move slowly over the keys, playing a light and serene song to go with the lack of people drinking.

Tonight, no one's coming. Maybe it's a holiday; since the accident with the glass, I can no longer tell the passage of time. Only when someone reminds me is when I know what date it is.

Every day is the same day. Every night, the same night.

It's almost soothing.

I'll wake up in the morning in the same way, in the same darkness, and wake up to the same light on my face that I can no longer see right.

It's always warm.

I get dressed, usually in something Kairi picked out for me the day before. Being blind, she gets mad whenever I mix clothes together in a weird way. Not like I can see them, but it's something that helps her feel better about the whole situation.

Me being blind is not her fault.

I'm not saying this to be mean. I'm saying that I pushed her out of the way of a chandelier. While I did save her life, the resulting crash ended up with me getting glass in my eyes. The damage was too great for me to recover fully. All I can "see" is light now. I can't see colors. I can't see people. Just light.

I get dressed, I go out with my handy cane, and get some walking in.

Kairi meets me at the same café every day. We get breakfast together and we talk. Mostly we talk about the night before, about us, and about Riku. A few days ago, I think, we talked about us getting together. We decided that maybe, it'd be a good idea, but that for now, it was just easier to stay together as friends.

I've noticed that she's holding my hand more often than before and the knowledge that our relation is slowly growing together, is making me happy.

We get the bar ready for the day. Riku's always there waiting there for us and we discuss what we should do today for the club. I usually get at least one "taste drink and dammit, Sora, don't you empty this bottle again just cause you like cordial" at this point. Kairi tries out a few new recipe ideas and if they're good, we put them on the wall. If they're awful, we put them on the joke wall for drinks to mess with your friends.

It's a good life.

I play the piano with my friends listening on in the background, leaving me alone with my thoughts and with my music. If I'm sad, the songs reflect it: I play soft, gentle, songs that burn through your ears and leave you feeling just a little bit of the loneliness I feel. If I'm happy, the songs sing it out for me: I play loud, jazzy, songs that leave you tapping your feet, dancing the night away until you can't breathe anymore and sit down for a cool drink made by my best friend.

It's always the same.

I still have that same smile on my face.

I'm at peace.

My son, barely up to his mother's waist, toddles in with Kairi one day in the future.

My wife prods him to go "hang out with Daddy" before walking to Riku and planning out the menu with him as she always does.

He comes to me obediently. He sits on my lap after a murmured question if he could and watches, his eyes burning into my fingers as they press the keys slowly enough so that he can pick up the notes.

I feel him lean back into me and his head shift so that he's peering up at me instead of the keys.

His demeanor towards me has changed, ever since a boy at school informed him that dads aren't supposed to be blind. That normal dads don't play piano in a bar because they can't get another job due to their empty eyes. That I was an old, sightless freak that wasn't a good dad because I couldn't see if he was hurt or his expressions when he spoke to me. That a real dad can see his son and lead him, not need him the way I do sometimes when I find myself in a place that I'm not familiar with.

He's become more cautious, more worried about me falling than anything else. Somewhere in his young mind, he got the idea that I'm more fragile than I let on. That I can easily trip and fall down the stairs or something and not even realize it until I hit the ground. I caught him moving furniture the other day, shoving a table to the far side of the wall in order to give me a huge berth to walk in and rolling up rugs so that I wouldn't trip on the corners. Didn't have the heart to tell him that by moving the table and removing the rugs, he ruined my "sight" of the room and made me unsure on where I was going.

His tiny feet wiggle against my calves as he looks up at me.

His voice vibrates inside of my chest as he speaks.

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Can I learn to play, too?"

One day…

My life suddenly stops.

I'm alone in my bed, sleeping off a good night of showing my son how to play and how to dazzle customers and of dancing with Kairi while Riku and my boy cheered me on from the safety of the bar.

And all of a sudden, I feel a small hand grasp mine.

When I open my eyes, I can see.

There's a girl standing beside my bed. There is sorrow in her eyes but a smile still crosses her face when she sees that I'm awake and more or less conscious. Was this a dream? I stare in amazement as she lifts a leather-gloved hand to her chin and presses a finger to her lips.

"Sora, it's time," is all that she says before her hand lifts from my knuckles and she turns around in a flowing sweep of her long, black cloak. Before I can say anything, she draws up the hood and zips up the zipper all the way, turning to look over her shoulder.

Her face is hidden now, almost completely hidden except for her eyes and a pair of red glasses perched on a nose that is covered by the hood.

Without thinking, I find myself getting to my feet and turning to Kairi, gently tucking her in and walking to the girl. She is young, only a teenager, but holds herself strangely, guarding against me even as she motions me to come closer with the same impatient finger that had told me to be quiet earlier.

For the first time in this lifetime, I no longer need my cane to follow her.

She leads me like a shadow throughout my house, walking through the halls and down the stairs as she had been through them a thousand times before. Her footsteps are silent, though the boots she wears should be making a hell of a loud noise against our creaky floorboards.

Her words puzzle me, bothering me.

It's time.

My name.

The child knows my name, but did not speak Kairi's.

I follow her through the front door and outside of my small house, the streets slowly fade away from sand and cobblestones to cement and pot holes.

The girl does not stop, only shoving her hands beneath her arms as she continues. Her footsteps are silent here, too.

Finally, after leading me down a long street and into a small alley, she turns around and nods to me.

Not knowing what else to do, I bow back and straighten up when her shoulders shake with laughter. There's amusement in the pair of dark brown eyes peering up at me from beneath the glasses, though I'm not sure why.

"You're… you're not Xion, are you?" I ask softly.

She shakes her head no but I swear I can see the smallest bit of a smile beneath her hood.

"Is that what I look like, Sora?" She questions with a chuckle, though it is more annoyed than amused. She sighs and shakes her head, lifting her hand and wiggling the gloved fingers within slowly, as if unsure of their existence. "Honestly… that design has been repeated enough without me taking it…" She murmurs quietly, more to herself than me.

I lean back and hear the soft clink of a chain against my hip.

I look down and see that I am no longer in my thirties.

I am fourteen again, dressed in my infamous red outfit with the crown-chain on my waist and the big yellow clown shoes to match.

The girl gives that strange smile again and shakes her head.

"Sora…" She murmurs softly before giving a deep bow. "Thank you…"

I blink at her, startled. What had I done for this girl to give me that kind of gesture? I'd never met her, not even throughout the thousands of lifetimes I had lived and suffered in. Suddenly, her head lifts and that same sorrow is back in her eyes and she straightens up.

"I am the one who has given you the lifetimes," The girl says coldly, her voice suddenly taking on an icy tone that's a harsh contrast to the sadness in her expression. Just as quickly as the emotion had come, it fades into nothing but contempt and aloofness that seems to protect her more than it does hurt me. "And now it is time for you to go back."

"Back… to what?" I stammer out.

She smiles again.

"To your home. I only took you out so I could get an answer," She replies, giving me a shrug. "How many lives have you suffered, only to get what you wanted in the end?"

The question sinks in and finally, I understand what she's telling me.

I suddenly see red.

"You did this… so you can find your own answer? You've been tormenting me just so you can get something?!" I demand in rage, seeing the thousands of times that Kairi has died in my head, the thousands of times that Riku and I had been in pain, the countless times I'd been forced to see my children disappear, and the times I'd waken up in my bed, all alone, knowing that everything I'd suffered through was for nothing.

And this little girl, this slip of a girl dressed in black, was the freak that did this to me?!

I charge forward, my Keyblade suddenly flashing into existence in my hand, ready to tear the head off the heartless girl that had done this to me. But the moment I got close to her, the moment that the metal touches the cotton hood, she flickers into nothing and reappears behind me. I skid to a stop, panting in disbelief as she raises her hands.

"This is my story," The girl states calmly as she points a finger at me. "If I wanted, I could be the god in this and you wouldn't be able to stop me."

With that, a wooden blade, a katana, appears in her hand.

I tense up, ready to fight this psycho and take back my final life without her so called "help." I know now that all my misfortune is caused by her, by her writing on a page and dictating what pain I'd be in.

The sword drops from her hands and she turns away.

"Is… is that all you've got?!" I demand.

She nods curtly.

"Yes…" Her voice is tinged with darkness, with deep sorrow and rage as she turns to look at me. That same smile appears in her eyes as she chuckles. They turn to gold, just as they would if she was addicted to the drug I'd been on while I was Vanitas. "I'm afraid I have no strength, unlike you, Sora… thank you…"

I blink in surprise as the wooden sword on the ground suddenly flashes gold and blue. I look up to see the girl leaving the Sandlot, her silent footsteps only broken by the jangle of a chain on her waist.

"Wait!" I call out.

She turns and I see the face of Kairi looking back at me, full of amusement and misery as her eyes flicker back to the Keyblade now lying on the ground.

"Did you find your answer?" I demand, picking up the blade and swinging it into her direction. The demonic wing's eye stares at her as she looks at me, her true expression hidden by her cloak. She laughs softly and I hear her mutter about how nice it would be to be a hero.

But her only reply is a smile before she fades back into darkness.

"Yes... Thank you… for giving me my answer…"

I wake up in my bed, fourteen years old.

Today, it's Kairi's birthday.

Today is the day we finish the raft for sure!

I grin up at the sunshine and jump out of bed, raring up and excited for finally getting off the island and onto a new world.

The heart may be weak. And sometimes it may even give in. But I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out.

You're wrong. I know now, without a doubt, Kingdom Hearts... is light.

~ Sora, Kingdom Hearts 1

My answer? It's alright to be sad. It's alright to be in pain. Life isn't darkness and it isn't light. It just is, most of the time. Thank you for the memories and I'll pray for the chance to make some more. My heart is with you... and as long as I can keep fighting against the darkness inside of me... I'll never give up. Until next time.

~ ForbiddenKHFan216

PS: God, I write myself so emo. DX