The Civilian

V

[Colour] eyes fluttered open as you found yourself in complete and utter darkness again. Nervously you let one of your hands reach towards your scalp but stopped before you even got to touch your head. Your [length] hair had gotten in the way, you didn't need to look at yourself in a mirror in order to see a dull [colour] glaring back at you.

This was yet another dream, another nightmare.

Frowning you pushed off of the ground into a sitting position. You were hoping that if you dreamt hard enough, then you would be able to will some lights to turn on in whatever location you were. After what felt like several seconds, you were still in the darkness.

Your nightmares never complied to what you wished for.

Like a playback, you stood up and began to walk in any random direction. There was feeling deep down inside of you making you realize that you had a funny feeling on knowing what was to come. Meanwhile you also felt fear coursing through you at the possibility of not knowing what was going to be happening.

You remembered memories back when you tried telling your mother about the nightmares and how they would end. Each and every time would the woman tell you that they were just bad dreams, none of it was real.

You never pointed out how wrong she was.

Silent echoing of your footsteps transformed into foot steps against metal and that was when you realized that you ended up in the same location as the previous nightmares. You felt cold and felt all the colour in your face drain away.

There was a sensation, like a static shock that ran against your spine. Desperately you wanted to turn around and walk back into the darkness. But you knew that if you did, the nightmare would continue until you decided to continue onward.

"Why are you doing this?" You called into the room filled with Pods and different machines. There was no reply, the person or thing that you knew was on the other metal door, never answered any of your questions.

Instead you would continue forward and up the stairs, each time feeling more difficult than the last. Each time you took it was a sign to stop climbing and to just will the nightmare away, to just wake up. But each time you would ignore that feeling and continue upward.

You wanted to know the reason why you would continue to have these nightmares.

At the top you stood in front of the door and hesitantly went to open it. In shock, you found it to start opening on it's own. You didn't want to move anymore, in all previous nightmares you had to open it, never the other way around.

Small and hesitant steps you entered the strange chamber that was plunged back into the darkness of your nightmare. But you were able to hear breathing - but not the normal type. No it reminded you of being in the hospital as a child and hearing a machine helping the elderly patients breathing.

That was the moment you felt a hot burning feeling behind your eyes, this was not the normal route that your nightmares would take. It reminded you of the worse possible migraine imaginable.

Then you saw her.

You always would see her at the the end of each nightmare.

Long and slender gray-green fingers reached out from the darkness, cupping one of your cheeks as a head escaped from the darkness as well. You saw her eyes again, a green-blue that would always haunt you. There was a strange sickening smile on her face, teeth weren't pearly whites but they weren't stained green either. For a moment you were able to see the slight red near the gums, as if she had been bleeding or ate something.

Silver hair draped over her shoulders, you couldn't help but note that it was her roots was where it was black.

"Mother loves you, my darling [Nickname]..."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blinking slowly, you found yourself kneeling on the platform of the train station, dressed from the clothes you had put on previously the night before. You thought maybe if you slept in the clothes that you wanted to wear that morning you'd save time for when you woke up.

You looked down at your hand to find your duffle bag held on tightly. A frown was placed on your face.

"You're early, [Surname]."

It was the elderly man from before and you looked up to find it to be exactly him. His voice wasn't something that you could forget. He was wearing basically the same thing from the day before, instead you could see that he had more of an curious look in his gaze.

Shakingly, you stood up from your kneeling position and narrowed your eyes slightly. You found auburn locks peaking in the corner of your vision knowing that you hadn't flunked in your visual upkeep.

He had a strange smirk on his face, your eyes were more glued on his eyes though. Hauntingly yellow amber. "Ah, where are my formalities? Xehanort Rosuto, a friend of the family." His smirk widened slightly when he noticed a slight widen in your eyes.

Gently placing your duffle bag down, you crossed your arms. The lights along the Platform slowly found themselves beginning to blink out with the sun beginning to rise over the horizon. "A friend of the family? Of my mother or my father?" You wanted to show the man that you weren't afraid of him, he had to know that you wouldn't be frightened.

Xehanort laced his fingers behind his back and walked around slightly, feigning interest for the approaching train. It was early, 5:03am, he had some twenty some odd minutes to be able to pick at your brain. He was very interested in seeing what was going on in the head of the current Era's greatest Hero's offspring. "Oh, of your father's. He and I worked closely during the last years of the War."

Your mouth had gone dry and you were trying to understand the information that you just heard. It wasn't normal to meet friend of your father's from his time of the war. If you did meet them it was usually through your mother, she seemed to be well acquainted with many of them.

There was something about Xehanort though, you believed his words but you weren't quite sure exactly how friendly he was with your father. "You knew him? How well?"

You were frantic in desiring to know more about your father. You never met him face to face in your life, only through video. Xehanort seemed to have noticed the new look in your eyes, he was quite interested to see how much you knew of him exactly.

"Ah, the basics. He's married to your mother, Cosmos. Very beautiful, I've worked with her as well..." You couldn't help but suddenly feel defensive with him knowing your mother and apparently working with her as well. But when did he work with her? "Ah, possibly one of the most strangest kept secrets of your father,"

You narrowed your eyes and balled up your hands, you didn't think many people knew. "He's from Spira, isn't he? Wonder what people of Gaia and Daybreak would react if they found out their Hero, is from the very country that they shun?"

Slowly, sleepy young adults began to swamp the single platform the train's approachment was blaring in the air that it was beginning to wake everyone who was only 1/4th awake. Your eyes stayed glued on the man with the smirk and the haunting eyes. You wanted to leap after him, you wanted to physically attack this man.

Instead, you saw him one minute and the second that someone passed between the two of you, he was gone.

There was something prodding at the back of your brain, something about Xehanort that you would never forget.

You really wished a single wish as you began to board the train with everyone else, that he didn't have any children or he wouldn't ever procreate. You weren't sure how you'd be able to handle seeing someone with the same colour eyes as his when you got older.

The second that you found yourself situated in your seat, slumber took over and not long after did your fellow sleep deprived strangers do the same.