"There's someone in the fifth district," Not-Riku said as he approached. "Her name is Rhyme. She may be in danger of the dream eaters, so you should go check on her."
"Huh?" Sora cocked his head. "Fifth district?"
"Go through the mail box," he said, pointing to it. "It will take you through the mail room to the other side of town."
"No way! There's another side?"
"Yup. You'll probably like it better than here. Practice fighting with your dream eaters. They'll help make your fights easier too. Be sure to take good care of them. And tell Riku he absolutely needs to bond with his dream eaters. They'll help make him stronger and make his life a lot easier."
"Got it," he nodded to confirm. "As soon as I see him, I'll make sure to tell him!"
Not-Riku grimaced. Oh shoot, that's right…
"Alright, let's go!" Sora declared, and turned about to head for the mailbox.
Not-Riku waved to him in good spirits. "Good luck, Sora."
But Sora stopped. He turned to not-Riku. "You're not coming with me?"
"Huh?" He stared, taken aback by the question. "No." he confirmed. "I just wanted to give you the dream eaters so you could fight."
"Wait," He gaped. "You're just giving them to me?"
"Well, yeah. You need the power ups. And help fighting all the dream eaters."
"But you made them! And played with them," he looked at them worriedly. "I just thought you were making it so we could fight together. Aren't they your friends?"
Not-Riku froze. Oh s-. He was expecting "protest" from taking them, but he hadn't expected him to say it quite like that. Sora was extremely passionate about this, and if he wasn't careful, he may come off as cruel or cold to him. He had to be careful of what he said, and still make him understand.
… And then it occurred to him he had completely forgotten to tell Sora the "backstory" he had come up with to explain why he was doing this. Welp, two birds with one stone, he supposed.
"I want them to go where I know they'll be happy." He finally said. "And where they can do the most good. You need the help to fight off the nightmares, and they'll be happy with other dream eaters. I only made them to make sure you had help with fighting in the first place. The sleeping worlds need to be awoken, and this is the best way I can help."
Sora was quiet as he looked at them. And then he looked at not-Riku. "I... guess..." And then he looked at the dream eaters again. "But don't you need help against the nightmares too?"
"I'll be fine on my own," he said. "I can just run if I need to. But the worlds need saving, and you and Riku need as much help as you can get. This will work out for everyone in the end."
And then Sora looked at not-Riku with something akin to awe. "Wow, you're… a really nice person!"
...Wait-
"You gave me all this stuff, and helped with my dream eaters and fighting, to help save the worlds? That's amazing!" He gushed excitedly. "You're such a good person!"
Oh no. "Uh, thanks!" He brought up a smile quickly even as he internally panicked. Shoot, that did sound too "noble", didn't it? Abort, abort, abort! "Erm, I mean it's not that amazing. I just played with them a while. You're the one that needs to fight, so I'm just... helping. So the worlds can be saved, and I can… live."
"I'm glad you came to help! It's nice to have such good friends!" He insisted. "What's your name? I don't think I ever got it."
Not-Riku was quiet. He had been very careful to try to keep the conversation going, so as not to have his name brought up. But of course this was Sora, so he'd ask eventually.
"I'd… rather not give it," he finally said. "It feels wrong to hear my name when I look like this." He lifted a black-gloved hand to look at it. "Honestly I'd rather you call me "Riku", because it feels less weird. And if I was someone else, I'd rather hear their name. Does that make sense?"
"Hmmmm basically," Sora frowned in thought. "You want to wait until you get your body back before I say your real name?"
"Yeah."
Then Sora got quiet. He squinted as he searched his face. Not-Riku tried not to squirm, but didn't notice how he was very slowly, and incrementally leaning away from him. Especially as pinched his chin, and looked at him back and forth. "...I don't buy it." He finally said. "I know you from somewhere, don't I?"
"...huh?"
"That's really why you're being so nice to me." He pointed to him emphatically. "And why you don't wanna give your real name. You're helping me cheat on my test somehow, aren't you?"
"What?" He balked. "No! No, that's not… how would I help you cheat?"
"I dunno. But I can't think of any other reason you'd do all this for me." He laced his hands behind his head. "Give me stuff, be super nice, but not want me to even know your name? It's kind of suspicious, don't you think?" He asked, but he showed his pearly whites in a grin.
Not-Riku grimaced. He knew if he flat out refused to give his name Sora would argue, but he wasn't expecting this assumption. Even if Sora wasn't the brightest bulb all the time, even he got suspicious of really obvious ploys.
He was swaying his head slightly as he looked at him. "Let's see, you're definitely not Donald. He would never be this nice. Goofy doesn't talk like that. Maybe you're Riku just trying to pull a fast one on me?" He mused thoughtfully.
It seemed Sora had taken this idea to heart. Well, not-Riku had tried not to go this route, but looked like he had no choice.
"We've never met," he said, and he could feel his heart sinking as he said it. He looked at the ground, and the dream eaters, and their shoes. Anywhere that gave him an excuse not to look him in the eye. "I just knew about you from… from Riku's memories. The truth is I… I might be the reason there's so many dream eaters around in the first place."
Sora's arms and smile dropped in surprise. "You? How come?"
"Joshua said it might have something to do with my dreams." He finally confessed. "I thought that wasn't the case at first, but they just keep coming, and even you were struggling with fighting them. So I helped with your dream eaters and everything else to try make up for it."
"Who's Joshua?"
"You'll meet him later."
"But I don't get it; why didn't you just say all that in the first place?"
"Because I knew you would offer to help." He said. "You're so nice to everyone, it's only natural you would. I was trying to avoid that route." … crap that came out wrong. "I mean, I didn't…"
Shoot, he didn't want to say it out loud.
"But, the dream eaters are after you," Sora argued. "You need these guys more than me," he indicated the spirits. "Shouldn't we at least stick together, to help each other?"
Yup, here was the start. He laughed self deprecatingly. "I'm not really much help to you."
"But you are! You told me about the dream eaters and about flow motion! That's definitely something that helps me out."
'Only because I somehow messed up what was supposed to happen. You would have heard about them anyway,' He thought dryly, but couldn't say that out loud.
"And besides, no one can face all these things by themselves. What if something happens to you, or the dream eaters come after you?"
"...If you take out the big one, it may help stop the wave."
"Perfect!" He said easily. "Then you can come with me until I take it out!"
An adventure. With Sora. Fighting heartle- erm, dream eaters, saving the world and being best friends. Sounded like a blast.
Until he messed things up somehow, woke up, and had to deal with reality.
'...I can't do this,' Not-Riku realized. 'I can't put myself through this again. I need to wake up.'
Ugh, he'd never get any sleep.
When not-Riku didn't answer, Sora frowned a little worriedly. He was still looking down, and had been avoiding looking right at Sora for a while. It was a little concerning. "You're really determined to be on your own, huh? You know, Riku was actually like that for a while," he said idly. "He kept pushing people away, and didn't want to accept any help. But we're friends now, right? Shouldn't we at least try to help each other?"
But not-Riku wasn't listening to him- or at least, not taking his words to heart. 'Why am I not waking up?' His hands flexed nervously. 'Why can't I feel my eyes like normal?'
"I doubt they hold so much power as to keep you in sleep."
'No, no, that's just a trick, it's not-'
"The man in the black coat is right about one thing-"
'Nothing they say can be trusted! Dreams aren't real, fictional stories aren't real.'
The dream eaters were milling about, looking around the plaza curiously in the silence. Sora could see not-Riku twitching and fidgeting restlessly.
And the clouds of darkness seeping from his hands.
He balked, stepping closer. "Hey, hey, hold on! I didn't mean to make you feel bad! I was just saying how things used to be! If you're struggling with the darkness too, I'll help! I mean, I don't know how it works, but," He gripped his own chest. "I'm sure we'll figure it out!"
'Wake up, wake up, I gotta wake up!'
"You are just like Riku!"
It wasn't true. None of it was true, none of it was real!
Sora wasn't real.
Not-Riku finally gave up, and let everything in his mind fall. The darkness exploded, plumes of black and shadow flaring from his body with a gust of wind. And Sora shouted out, as the dream eaters screeched.
This was exactly why he didn't want to see Sora, even in a dream.
Despite his best efforts, he knew something would go wrong.