spoilers for kh3 endgame

[keythatconnects]

[Spoilers for KH3]

This was okay. Sora could handle this. The last real thing he had felt was Kairi's hand and then he was gone again. This place between sleep and death wasn't so bad, and just knowing that everyone else was okay was enough for him.

Everything around him was dark but it wasn't scary. He could stay here and be fine with everything because everyone else was safe. He was adjusting to this new existence when he saw a light in the distance. Curious, he went towards it.

That's when he found himself in someone else's dream.

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[canyouhandlethismany]

Welcome back in... Traverse Town? Or in a weird mix of that place and Radiant Garden, Leon's dreamscape didn't seem to make much difference of the two places the man learnt to call home and streets that belonged to one fused with the other city's ones in an awkward yet balanced way. Despite the bizzarre composition, thought, the whole place felt... peaceful. The warrior grew up with nightmares haunting his nights, more than once when they were little he and his 'sisters' found in each other's beds just to have a hand to hold during the night- but now? After making peace with himself, after taking his world back and after finally becoming part of a small group, not only watching from the sidelines- Leon's nights turned peaceful.

"There you are! Me and Aerith have been looking everywhere for you!"

That's how he greeted the young boy, booping with a closed fist on Sora's head as he'd do with Yuffie. Leon wasn't a lucid dreamer, after all, and what a moment before was 'find the ninja' in his brain was immediately associated to Sora instead- and while it felt a bit off, he still didn't seem to realize that nothing around them was real.

"You can't run away whenever she wants you to help Merlin cleaning the house-"

Because Merlin's house wasn't basically cleaning itself, right? Again, just a dream...

[keythatconnects]

At least this is familiar, though not exactly the way he remembers either place. He knew Traverse Town was one of the Sleeping Worlds, but this isn't exactly like that. He takes a moment to look over his hands before a familiar voice pulls his attention.

"Leon!" he says, grinning. He hadn't realized how much he missed his friend. "Uh... cleaning?"

[fowllanguage]

Sora finds himself on the deck of what looks like an old and much-repaired but ultimately sturdy fishing boat in the middle of a vast, starry void not unlike gummi space. It chugs along merrily, stars floating by at a leisurely pace and the occasional shimmering school of fish swimming past with little regard for where the waterline 'should' be.

A familiar duck is visible through the cabin's window, singing wordlessly and tunelessly to himself in a raspy voice as he spins the wheel back and forth. He doesn't seem to have noticed Sora yet.

[keythatconnects]

At first, Sora just enjoys the peach of the scene. The sky is calm and the boat has charm. "Huh?" he asks, as he checks out the fish 'swimming' by. "Whoooa."

Then as his eyes are following the school, that's when he gets a view of the inside of the boat and sees his friend there.

"Donald!" he exclaims before moving to get into the cabin.

[canyouhandlethismany]

The man crosses his arms, looking slightly amused by the boy's reaction- oh how things have changed since their first encounter. Leon didn't smile back then, he was angry because he hadn't been deemed worthy by the keyblade but a kid was apparently good enough (in hindsight it made perfect sense, his heart was everything but clear back in the days) and now he was just... so glad to see him again. Wait, why was he? Sora lived with them, he was his partner for the daily patrols and- this made no sense!

"Yes, cleaning-" he replied to shake the feeling that something was off "You're an adult now, you can't keep hiding when there's something boring to do."

Still, the sensation that things weren't as they were supposed to be still lingered as he studied the kid in front of him. Wasn't he a bit too tall? When Leon dreamt about Sora he always appeared as the fourteen years old he met in Traverse Town, his figure now was unfamiliar and different.

"... Sora?" The main finally seemed to acknowledge his existance as something more than 'Yuffie's replacement' "You look... different."

And he wasn't the only one. It had been only a couple of years since they last saw each other but the gunblade wielder abandoned his excessive use of belts and his hair were a bit longer, now tied in a low ponytail (Cid commented how 'he really looked like his father' more than once but Leon barely remembered Laguna anyway.).

"You're... taller."

[keythatconnects]

Sora was going to chalk all of this up to 'crazy dream logic,' but he did like how Leon called him an adult. It made him puff out his chest in pride and grin at his friend.

"Well, yeah," he pointed out. "I'm sixteen now. That does tend to happen."

But was he still 'sixteen' really? Did age and time mean anything in a realm like this while he was lost among other people's dreams and hearts?