Ika's note: I do not own this story. My friend, whom we will call Livited, asked me to publish this story because for various reasons she isn't allowed to put it under her own name. So if anyone comments on it, I will forward the comments to her. Please don't flame - constructive criticism only.
And neither of us own the characters - except Livited owns the OCs.
Chapter 1
New Beginning for a Story left Unfinished
By Livited
Zzzz he slept soundly.
A beautiful island during a sunny afternoon was where children's laughter invades. There, on a small islet, lay a boy on the sand whose adventures seemed firmly done.
Wishing to see the unknown, he and his friends' wishes were granted, but in a strange way were they made. Split apart, he vowed to find his friends and be together again. One of them whose pure heart was stolen, another one turned to darkness for hopes of finding the stolen heart, and the boy who was left with nothing but himself. One would think it would drive someone mad, but this boy had justice and a strong heart to help him find his own light. There, he found his strength. With this strength, he gained allies and helped others find their light. Most importantly, he found and helped his dear friends.
Unfortunately, he also had to say goodbye to his dear friend who had her heart stolen, seeing as how the one who returned from darkness was gone, and he had to search for him. So as the two parted, another journey began for the boy and his two new comrades.
Faced with a castle, the three fighters went inside to face a great threat to their own precious memories. As false hopes became true, some wanted to help, while others purposes' were unknown. Going through it all, the boy stayed true to his heart, even if his truth was false. From that, he was able to find someone who would help make up for what she had started, and so she began to restore the threesomes' memories.
Time passed, their memories were restored, and they met new people and old friends while still headstrong in their journey of their friends.
When found, all the misunderstandings and confusions were cleared, and they finally were able to go home.
Helping that which was nothing, now became whole, and after facing the most greatest of threats in the darkness, light, and the nothing, the boy was finally able to rest, and return to his island home where he may spend the rest of his life in happiness and relaxation.
And so he sleeps.
The wind began to find its way onto the islet, swaying the tropical trees gently forward. The water from the beach slowly moving from his feet back down into the tide, the boy began to drift his eyelids up from his dreamy slumber.
"Hey, Sora. You awake yet?" Riku walked up casually to him as he lifted his hand to wave.
Sora yawned.
"What day is it?" Sora asked, dreary faced and preparing to wince just in case it was Sunday.
Sundays always meant he had to go back to school on Monday, to make up for all the work he missed on the year he went away.
"Saturday."
Sora gave Riku a big teeth-showing grin, going "Cheese" as Riku started to laugh.
Then he began to smash his cheeks with his hands while Riku sat down, still laughing.
"Sora, you're always like this when you wake up: either funny or wise," Riku pulled on one of Sora's spikes of hair.
"But then again, even when you try to be wise, you're not!" He grabbed Sora's cheeks and stretched them out.
Sora slapped him away and stood up.
"Tough talk from someone who's got more homework than me!"
"Tough talk from someone who drew a love confession on a wall." Riku grinned and started laughing.
This startled Sora and put him off guard.
"Wha-? Huh, I- I told you! It's not like" Sora was cut-off by Riku's laughter.
Sora started to blush, but noticed that Riku just shrugged the whole thing off, so he decided to, too.
"So where's Kairi?"Sora wished to know.
"I think she went with Selphieto go watch Tidus and Wakka Blitz," Riku turned to Sora in a questioning way.
"Are King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy still at Disney Castle?" He asked.
"Well, it's their home. Besides, they have a lot to do before they can come visit us again. Since they've been gone from home, it would be nice to let them be with their family and friends some more, don't you think?" Sora answered while yawning.
"Yeah, they should visit us when they think the time is right," Riku laughed while Sora continued to yawn.
"Geez, Sora! What were you dreaming about? Must've been a good dream if you're yawning so much." Riku teased.
Sora paused for a moment and started to get confused.
What was I dreaming about? I'm not sure anymore...
"Wait, I know, you want me to guess? Ok, was it a sci-fi? Maybe you were abducted by aliens? Or maybe your keyblade was stolen..."
It was something important... I think it had something to do with King Mickey and after me, Riku and Kairi were separated again at Kingdom Hearts...
Riku continued with his teasing.
"Maybe it had to do with some Paopu fruit and Kairi..." Riku nudged Sora, but he didn't move.
The wind continued to sway on the islet, but Sora did not sway with the trees, like he always did. He was concentrating, trying to remember what he had lost from Namine now. She had in fact, dug into his memories, and made him forget about Castle Oblivion, but within that section of his memory was something important that she accidentally made him forget.
"Sora?" Riku began to get worried, seeing as how his sarcasm was having no response, and he even mentioned Kairi, which is always given a response..
Something to do with a letter and Pluto-
"SORA! RIKU!" Kairi began to scream as she was approaching the two with great speed. Selphie was running close behind while holding Tidus' hand, who had a trophy in the other.
Wakka was sulking behind the two, with no trophy at all.
"Hey, you two!" Kairi had stopped in front of Riku and Sora, gasping for breath.
She had snapped Sora from his concentration, and he was back to his laid-back ways, now concentrating on her.
"TIDUS WON THE BLITZ!" Selphie cheered, squeezing Tidus' hand, indicating that he should lift his trophy in victory.
He started to wave the trophy around, but was interrupted by Wakka's yelling.
"HOLD ON A SECOND, MAN!" Wakka began making dust from the sand, he was running so fast.
He tried to tackle Tidus, but Selphie pushed him out of the way, so Wakka slammed into Riku and they both were lying on the ground.
"Hey! Watch where you're going, Wakka!" Riku yelled, but Wakka was too angry at Tidus to listen.
"THAT'S MY TROPHY, MAN!" Wakka started yelling.
Tidus stuck his tongue out. "No it's not! You're too old to win a blitz trophy!"
Wakka got up and started chasing Tidus, who let go of Selphie's hand to run.
Everybody was laughing, ready to hear Wakka's explanation to all this.
"YOU CHEATED, MAN! GREASING MY BLITZ BALL, YOU BETTER HOPE I DON'T CATCH YA!" Wakka slammed into a palm tree, while Tidus tripped on a sand castle.
"IT WAS ALREADY GREASY FROM YOUR OILY HANDS! USING SCENTED LOTION, ARE WE, WAKKA?!" Tidus gave Wakka an evil laugh, while he quickly got up from the sand and started running again.
Everyone was laughing, especially Sora.
Kairi turned to Sora and Riku. "So, what were you two doing?"
"Oh, just talking about you." Riku sneered.
Sora just punched Riku in the arm, smiling and forgetting all about what he was trying to remember.
All about a certain scene after the sealing of the Door To Light.
All about Mickey's dog Pluto and how He, Donald, and Goofy Were chasing him.
All about a certain letter that was never found...
An Unknown Mystery Soon Be Solved.
XDXDXDXD
"CONA, HURRY UP!" Yelled Cona's mom, who was doing the dishwasher downstairs in the kitchen, which was just above Cona's room.
"CONA, MARGARET IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!"
"I'M COMING, MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!" Cona was putting on some last bit of hair spray, as she was putting on the leather motorcycle jacket she borrowed from Hope.
Her white shirt was on under it, and she was making sure that her emblem necklace was on just right. The emblem jingled around her neck a little, the shine from it getting in her clouded light-blue eyes. As she moved from the light, the hair spray made sure her brunette hair stayed in place, since she worked so hard on getting it just the right way. As she dabbed a small bit of blush onto her cheeks, to make sure that people still knew she was a girl, and a little bit of eyeliner, Margaret came into her room.
The room was medium size, compared to Cona's Mom's room, but she loved it just the same. With purple and blue walls, her bed was on the purple wall across the blue wall that held the door. The windows were on the left side of the bed, and the night stand was on the right side. Her bookcase sat on the purple wall that was left of the bed wall. And then her desk, where she works at, is opposite of her bookcase.
"Do I really have to go too?" Margaret was whining as she sat on Cona's bed, her light brown hair that went about an inch below her ears swishing with her every movement.
"Yes! I want to make sure you're reallyover all this. If you don't like everything that's going on, and you're still into all that stuff you're into, then you'll never have to go to another one so long as we both shall live," Cona put her hand up to her heart, smiling while she said that, as if she was swearing.
Then she stared at Margaret's outfit, and her smile soon faded.
"Is that what you're WEARING????" She asked in disgust.
Margaret looked down at her clothes, and then stared at Cona's outfit.
"Oh My God! You're thinking MY clothes are weird! YOU'RE dressing up as a Squeaky leo from a fantasy world!" Margaret was pointing out Cona's hair, which was spiked up at the end, her jacket, which had two red wings sprayed onto the back, and her emblem, which was of a silver lion.
"It's SQUALL LEONHART! And he's from Final Fantasy 8! Gosh, it's like I don't even know you anymore!" Cona sighed, and turned to get her gunblade replica from inside her closet.
Her eyes began to get more clouded from thoughts emerging from her mind.
Margaret walked up to her and put her hand on her shoulder.
"Listen, just 'cuz I don't like any of this anime stuff anymore, doesn't mean we still can't be friends. I'm just... a bit more concerned about how I look now. Ok?"
Cona put her hand on Margaret's hand, and then took both hands off of her shoulder, smiling.
"Oh, sometimes you are so self-centered! I'm just sad that I forgot I'm supposed to say 'It's Leon.' I'm not Squall; I'm the Leon version of Squall from Kingdom Hearts, not the Kingdom Hearts 2 version though." She went into a Leon pose and Margaret started laughing.
"There's the sarcastic fun-loving Margaret I know." Cona started making funny faces and Margaret busted out with laughter.
Then the phone rang.
Cona walked over to the side of the bed, checked the caller ID, and picked up the phone.
"Hello, Pepper McPatty's Pizza Parlor. We meet with all your Charlie Brown needs! How may you help me?" Cona said into the phone in a cheerful way.
"Y'know it's supposed to be 'How may I help you?'. So, how's the Cosplay doing?" It was Aerie.
"Great, thanks for asking! And I would like some beige-orange boots, knee-length socks, beige shorts, a small green top, and a scarf. Maybe a kunai, but that's optional." Cona was still looking at Margaret's outfit, and was sticking her finger in her mouth, pretending to throw up.
"Cona? Why are you asking for a Yuffie outfit?"
"Because Margaret looks like a Ko-Gal." Cona made a very huge sigh, almost dramatic.
"Hey! Don't Define mean in one of your Asianese terms! What's a Ko-Gal?!" Margaret was babbling on as Cona was talking on the phone.
"It means a super trendy girl." Cona was still explaining to Hope about the Margaret situation.
Margaret's jade green eyes got big with sparkles as she touched all of her accessories.
"Really? I'm TRENDY???" She said this with cheerful girlish glee.
"Ugh, and now she's acting all chibi!" Cona whined into the phone.
"But, Cona, I thought you loved chibi's?" Aerie said.
Cona finally convinced Aerie to let Margaret leech off of her clothing and find something that's similar to Yuffie's outfit in Kingdom Hearts.
XDXDXDXD
"Ok, I'm ready! Let's go to an ANIME CONVENTION!!!!!!!!!!!" Cona screamed, all ready in her Leon Cosplay.
"I. Am. Not. HAPPY!" Margaret screamed along side Cona, in Aerie's clothes as Yuffie.
They forced her to dye her light brown hair black, and with her jade green eyes not changing anytime soon (Margaret and color contacts don't mix), she seemed just a bit abnormal. Cona insisted beyond the eyes that she looked cute, but they still weren't Margaret's clothes, and she really just wanted to go home and watch an episode of Kyle XY.
"Oh, come on, Yuffie," Margaret kicked Cona at that remark "We're here to be weird!" Cona ran off and circled a tree in happiness, but really her thoughts were elsewhere.
No, Margaret. I'm not gonna lose you. I don't want the problem of social status to come between us! Still, it's getting to be too much for me! Please don't leave, please! I. I guess I can't do anything to change your mind, can I?
Let's enjoy ourselves one more time, before we drift apart...
Cona turned to the 3 other girls who came out of the van. Hope, Lori, and Aerie.
They were all laughing and dressed up as Square Enix characters.
Aerie was Cloud.
Lori was Aerith.
Hope was Riku.
All 5 of them ready to face the action that is an anime convention.
They were swept up by the people already there. Many had dressed up as well, and they all were going at the speed of light. One false move or glance, and you would be crowd surfing away by the merriment at Shibuya corner, or at an indoor concert of a J-pop band. Being lost, alone, or with friends, everything is glamorous and wonderful, almost a dream. Everyone was taking pictures with Cosplayers, talking with old or new friends, or screaming their lungs out. Neon colors, and extravagant outfits,
Frilly Sailor suits, or frilly Goth maids outfits, no matter what you were wearing, you got noticed at an anime conventions. Always fun.
The five of them went in to get registered for badges, age (if they are eighteen, they can go alone, but under that age you need a parent or guardian) registration, and maps.
The hotel was a five star, one of the best in Virginia State. The Hotel was 6 stories high, and the convention was rented for the weekend (starting on Friday) on 3 of those stories. Except for the halls between the rooms, each room had a chandelier on the ceiling.
The 3rd floor was set-up for an L-Arc-en-Ciel live concert. They were still getting ready, but the whole floor was already jam-packed with people and crew members. The set was farthest from the elevator, so everyone could spread out for the concert. On the 2nd floor, the biggest room was set-up as a shopping district known as Shibuya Corner, where anime merchandise is sold. Shopping districts at anime conventions were where most people go to, and where most people get lost at. Along with Shibuya Corner, on the 2nd floor there was also a pool for those staying at the hotel, and a gaming room for showing off the newest or most classic games in Japan.
Finally, there was the 1st floor, where people were going to register for the anime convention at the main hall. There was also a dining hall for those who were hungry.
The Main hall was where Cona and her group were, to go register and have their Guardian, Aerie's Uncle Shika, sign them up. After all of them got their badges secured, and all of their things neatly organized, Uncle Shika went off to find their room, and left the five girls at the main hall.
The registration booth was at the top of the stairs, so the girls went down until they got to the middle of the steps.
Margaret stepped aside and leaned on the railing.
"What are you guys doing?" She asked.
The four other girls scrambled into a line, With Lori first, and then Aerie, Hope, and Cona, going left to right. All of their bags were left with Uncle Shika, and their money was inside their purses which were left to Margaret.
"We've been practicing this dance ever since we heard about this convention!" Cheered Aerie, who was stretching in her position in line.
"And since you were too busy playing with our other classmates after school and during weekends, we didn't figure you would want to dance with us." Hope said, with a bored look on her face as she turned to face Margaret.
"Besides," Lori went over to her bag and picked up a radio sound system with a CD inside, "You did say that you were giving up anime for good. Anyone would assume that you would complain if we put you in our routine." She pressed Play and got in her position in line.
"LET'S GO!!!!" They all screamed as the music came on.
The Numa Numa began to play as the girls started to dance.
They criss-crossed, slid, had jazz hands, and there was even a somersault by Laurie. It was well-done, organized, and people even clapped when they were done. They couldn't do an encore, because the music stopped and they were too tired to do the routine again. All of them did the wave, and then bowed.
Waving their hands away, the girls left feeling good and laughing all the way to the bottom of the stairs, Margaret carrying their bags right behind them and chuckling a little as well. When they reached the bottom, they all spread out on the couch that was next to the elevator, and pulled out the map, received from the registration booth, to plan out what they were going to do, without getting lost.
After some questions and confusions, which were mainly because most of them didn't know how to read a map, they all decided to split up with cell phones in hand.
Hope and Margaret wanted to watch the L-Arc-en-Ciel concert, but since Cona, Aerie, and Lori didn't like that band, the 3 decided to go get something to eat on the first floor. After promising to meet up at Shibuya Corner, The two groups parted.
Cona hurried to the dining hall because she smelled hot dogs and ribs, with Aerie and Lori slowly walking behind. By the time the two reached the line for the buffet, Cona was already sitting down at a table, chatting away with some Cosplayers who were dressed up as characters from Pokemon. The Cosplayers seemed to be enjoying the conversation well enough, although Cona was laughing her butt of at how funny she thought them dressing up as Pikachu and Ash was, especially when the Pikachu was taller than the Ash. Aerie and Lori skipped over the ribs and hot dogs and all of the red meat that was in the buffet and went straight to the salad.
"But, Lori, you love ribs and hamburgers! Why are you skipping those too?" Asked Aerie.
"Because, I see how you always pretend to gag whenever we eat at the cafeteria in school, and don't think I never see those looks you give me and Cona and Hope when we eat our lunches." Lori picked up a cucumber with her hands, threw it in the air, and caught it with her mouth.
"Ta-dah!"
Aerie began to laugh. "If you notice my disgusted face all the time and still ignore it, then why are you still picking salad over meat?" Aerie tried to do the same trick as Lori, but the cucumber ended up on the floor and she sneezed when she lifted her head too high.
"Ha! You're so clumsy sometimes, Aerie! The other reason is because you make me feel fat when you're eating your vegetarian meals and I'm eating 10 pounds of rib meat!" As Lori said that, Aerie stretched her face out.
"Ooooh! Don't you dare say that you feel FAT of all things! I mean," Aerie nudged Lori in the stomach, "You weigh less than Margaret! If you think you're fat, then that's just plain insulting ME!" Aerie nudged Lori in the stomach again.
Lori giggled when Aerie turned from nudging to tickling her stomach.
"Hee, hee. Well, I'm just not hungry right now," Aerie gave her a stern look, "And no, I'm NOT being anorexic, I just ate a really big breakfast." Lori said in confidence, and Aerie softened her look.
"On the bright side," Lori pointed to Cona and Aerie looked, "At least you're not trying to forget you're problems."
Cona was still talking to the Pokemon crew, chatting at 500 words per second. She was trembling at how fast she was talking. Nobody could tell that she was breaking apart on the inside, but Lori and Aerie were two of her best friends; they knew when something was up.
"You said over the phone yesterday that you knew something about why she's been so bummed lately. Care to spill?" Lori asked Aerie.
"Well... Yeah, I know why she's bummed. But it's a long story. Why don't we go to that couch near registration and talk?" Aerie suggested.
"Sure. Hey, CONA!!!" Lori yelled.
"YEAH!?" Cona called back, holding the Pokemon crew with a cliff-hanger on a story she was telling them.
"We're gonna go eat on the couch near registration since you seem so into your Pokemon crew." Lori waved at them, and they all waved back.
"OK! I'll come get you when I'm done eating! Got your cell?" After Cona asked, Lori smacked her left pocket of her pink dress, indicating where her cell phone was.
They waved good-bye and soon Lori and Aerie were lying on the couch again, shoes off and plates on their tummies.
"So, as I was saying, spill your beans." Lori popped some green in her mouth.
Aerie sighed, took a sip of coke, and looked up at the chandelier on the ceiling.
"Remember when Hope and Margaret got into that fight?" Aerie began.
"Yeah, I was amazed that the fight was over a mix-up Cona had." Lori replied, then snagging Aerie's coke and sipping it.
"It was amazing. So amazing, that Cona didn't even know the whole story until it was too late. I mean, she knew that Margaret and Hope had a big fight, but she didn't know it was about how they both gave her completely opposite advice on her family feud," Aerie took a bite of her Parmesan and tomato salad, chewed for a few seconds, and then swallowed. "By the time she got the whole situation straight, the damage was already done. Margaret gave up our anime passion, and refused to go back, so long as Hope was into it."
"Hold it, back up there. What family feud?" Lori finished her salad already, and was putting a stick of gum in her mouth.
"Oh, that's right! You were in New York that weekend," Aerie smacked Lori's hand away when she tried to steal her coke again.
"So you couldn't have known. Well, Cona's Mom and Dad, as you know, are divorced, so she lives with her Mom. She never plans on going back to her Dad, because we all live near her Mom. That's what she tells everyone, but it's not the real reason." When Aerie turned her head to face Lori, she hadn't noticed just how close Lori's face was from hers.
Lori was anxious to hear more.
"The real reason was... because her Dad abused her. While you were at New York, on Friday Cona went to Nevada where her Dad lives. She had been abused before, but this time it was much worse, and she refused to keep quiet. She kicked him and ran to the neighbor's house, telling them what happened. They let her call her mom, who went to pick her up as soon as she heard the news. The whole incident started a huge commotion with her family ties. While her mother's side thinks her Dad is scum, her Dad's side thinks Cona is making the whole thing up. She had to go to court because her Dad was suing Cona and her mom. Apparently, Cona's stronger with her leg than we thought; she kicked him in the nuts, and caused her dad some problems."
Aerie and Lori smiled and slapped hands.
"Go, Cona!" They both said.
"Well, she made her testimony, and her mom said that was all she had to do, she was going to take care of the rest. When Cona told Margaret this, Margaret said that her mom was right and that she did enough to stand up for herself, and people our age shouldn't have to deal with so much drama. Seemed like good advice, but when she told Hope, she said that Cona should finish what she started, if she wants it all to stop for good, she has to make the final blow. Well, they both got into a big argument on what would be best for Cona, and after a lot of yelling and nasty cussing, Margaret gave up anime. When Cona finally figured it all out, she tried to re-piece Hope and Margaret's relationship, but they were too stubborn to let her. Now that Margaret has started to get into other things, Cona has started to feel like she and Margaret are kinda drifting apart. Normally, people always face that, and they move on. But Cona has known Margaret for so long, I'm not really sure she wants to let go yet."
Lori sighed and put her face in her hands.
"Lori?" Aerie put her hand on the back of Lori's head, wondering if she was crying.
She wasn't.
"OH MY GOD! I WAS GONE FOR 1 WEEKEND, AND I COMPLETELY MISS EVERYTHING!" Lori screamed at the top of her lungs.
Aerie was little startled by this, but saw that Lori was just giving some comical relief with the situation. She laughed.
"Still," Aerie scooted closer to Lori, with a depressed look on her face. "I can't believe she never told us about her Dad. I wonder why?"
Lori closed her eyes to concentrate, and then opened them up.
"It was because of our personalities. You know how strong-headed Hope is, I think Cona worried that Hope might have done something a bit drastic with this info. Margaret's a leader figure, so she might have totally controlled the situation, telling her what she had to do and exactly how she had to do them. With me, I probably would have given her my blunt opinion, without thinking of whether or not I might hurt her feelings. That's what I normally do." Lori started laughing at her own downfalls.
Aerie stared at Lori patiently, and watched as Lori stared back.
"Yeah?" Lori said, dumbfounded.
"Well, what about me?" Aerie asked.
"What about you?" Lori asked, looking like she still didn't know what she was talking about.
"Stop confusing me! Aren't you going to- oh, never mind. Forget it." Aerie picked up all the trash and went to throw them away.
Heh, I fooled her good Lori thought to herself.
Sorry, Aerie. I can't say about you, because I can't figure out why Cona didn't come to you. To me, you don't have any flaws for Cona to be worried about.
Aerie rushed back from the trash can near the bathrooms that were just left of the couch. She was rushing because Cona was coming, and she had to warn Lori before Cona reached her.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Aerie asked in-between her deep breathes.
"Because I am! Why? How am I staring at you?" Lori said, in a defensive, yet confused manner.
"You're smiling." Aerie said, while smiling back.
Aerie touched her cheeks, and just then noticed that they were high enough to be near her eyes. She didn't even know that she was smiling at Aerie, but with her, it just seemed to be a natural thing.
"Yeah," she said.
"It's because I just am."
Riku was sitting and Sora was leaning on the tree on the smaller islet where the Paopu fruit was.
"Nothing's changed."
"Nope. Nothing ever will."
"What a small world."
"But, part of one that's much bigger."
A familiar scene where two best friends summarized in small words what they feel, being back home.
"Hey, Riku." Sora turned to Riku.
"Hm?"
"What do you think it was, the Door to Light?" Sora asked.
Riku chuckled a little, then jumped down from the tree, so Sora stopped leaning. Then Riku pointed to Sora's chest. Sora pointed back, trying to make sure what Riku was pointing at.
"This?"
"Yeah. It's always closer than you think." Riku smiled earnestly at Sora.
And Sora smiled back.
"SORA! RIKU!"
Kairi was running towards them, with something in her hands. When she reached them, she was gasping for air. The expression on her face made the two worry something was wrong.
"Look." She said, and then held up what was in her hand.
XDXDXDXD
"Hey, Hope! Let go, you're hurting my hand!" Margaret was screaming as Hope was pulling her by the wrist, dragging her to the fountain so they could get a better place to sit at the concert.
"Stop complaining! I might have agreed with Cona to be nice to you, but she's not here now, is she?" Hope made gave Margaret an evil, villain smile.
"Let GO! Let go! Let go!" Margaret tried to pull away, put Hope's grip just tightened.
"Oh, calm down, Drama Queen. I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm just being the responsible one and making sure you we don't get separated, so stop PULLING and I'll stop SQUEEZING YOUR HAND! Which, by the way, is getting sweaty!" Hope started yelling, because the concert started just as they reached the fountain.
Hope let go of Margaret's hand, and sat down. Margaret, rubbing her hand gently, also sat down next to her.
"So, still loving L-Arc-en-Ciel I see? I thought Japanese music was overrated?" Hope said sarcastically, with a sneer.
"Hmpf. One who wishes to be at peace with ones self must stay content with diversity, and keep an open mind on all topics." Margaret said, with a sneer of her own.
"First off: you totally got that off from somewhere, maybe the TV again? And second: when you gave up anime, you kinda closed you open mind to a huge aspect of diverse life, and with that, you're being a hypocritical brat." Hope then crossed her arms and looked away with a huff.
"I'm sure you don't even know what hypocritical means! Say smaller words that match your brain! Hey, are you listening? HEY! UGH!" Margaret crossed her arms and looked away in a huff too.
Even though you got a TINY point with my being a LITTLE hypocritical. Thought Margaret.
They listened to the song until it slowly faded out.
The band introduced the next song, and as they started to play, the silence was broken.
"So, Cona's been sort of down lately, hasn't she?" Margaret said.
"Maybe it's because you've guilt tripped her with isolation after she made a decision and just so happened as to choose MY advice over YOURS." Hope said, with fierce anger.
"NO, maybe it's because you decided to get involved with something that didn't concern you, and then picked a fight with me, and then actually told people what it was about!" Margaret's anger began to boil up too.
"WHAT, you expect me to lie to people and tell them it's nothing, and by the time it becomes a rumor ranging from 6th graders to even the TEACHERS, it will be something totally made up!?" Hope changed from anger to fury.
"Please, you KNEW that Cona would think it was her fault that we were fighting, and since I was the one who completely isolated you and our common interest, she would think that I was mad at HER or something. You KNEW that I would look like the bad guy here if you told the truth, so don't try to sweeten it!" Margaret yelled.
They both stood up, facing each other. The music was too loud for anyone in the crowd to notice, but they looked like they were about to pounce like a tiger with its prey.
"And yet you never thought to actually look at it that way! Instead of being worried about what everyone thinks about YOU, you should be concerned about how Cona feels with your decisions and how she thinks your either mad at her or that the whole situation is her fault! STOP BEING SELFISH AND START THINKING ABOUT HER! At least I was thinking about that at the time! I might have just went ahead and called you out anyway, but at least I'm WORRIED ABOUT HER! A TRUE FRIEND WOULD BE WORRIED WHEN THEIR FRIEND IS SAD, AND EVEN MORE WORRIED WHEN IT'S THEIR FAULT!" Hope yelled at the top of her lungs.
Silence...
All sorts of heads turned towards the two girls, and even the music stopped, along with the band. The quiet was vicious as questioning expressions stared down at them, threatening to bite their heads off if they didn't leave right then and there. Whether or not the people there would have really done it wasn't really a consideration as Margaret and Hope slowly backed away, into the elevator. As the elevator went down, Margaret and Hope heard a lot of chatter on the concert floor, but then heard the band calm them down and soon they started playing the song again.
"Well, that was... Interesting, huh?" Hope leaned onto the railing behind her sighing, and then taking in deep breathes to calm herself down.
Margaret was standing still, looking very uncomfortable as she stared at the floor in silence.
"Hey, c'mon. It wasn't that bad, Margaret. At least the rest of the girls won't know it was us." Hope said in confidence, trying to cheer Margaret up just a little, because she found the silence far too awkward to stand.
Still, Margaret continued to stare at the floor, not moving her feet or hands, just standing there in the silence.
"But, man! Can't wait to tell everyone when we get back to school! 'Dudes, we caused a commotion at Anime USA, where most of the time you need a mike just to talk to the person next to you!' yeah?" Hope started laughing, trying her hardest to bring some comic relief to the situation.
Yet Margaret still stood stiff and staring at the floor, but then her eyelids shut.
"Oh, come ON, Margaret! Just because a few hundred people heard us yelling doesn't mean they think we're weird, or something. And besides, even if they do think we're weird, so what? Most of the population thinks we're weird just going to this anime convention, right? And even if you're supposedly not into this stuff anymore, at least none of your new friends will know about it, I mean, they wouldn't be caught dead around here..." Hope started to babble because she was getting so uncomfortable with the silence, and she started fidgeting with her fingers and switching her weight from her left leg to her right.
Then she noticed that Margaret bent down, sat down on the floor, and continued to keep her eyelids firmly shut.
"G-girl? What's wrong?" Hope said, a little shaky with concern.
There was still the overwhelming silence that was so unappealing to Hope, but she ignored it as she stared down at Margaret.
Hope bent down next to her.
Finally, Margaret opened her eyes, looked straight at Hope for the longest time, looked back at the floor, and then she put her face in her hands.
And she started to cry.
Hope was completely surprised to see Margaret like that. She had seen Margaret in many ways: pissed, relaxed, bored, and even happy. All of these expressions she saw at school, but never before in her lifein or out of school, had she ever seen MARGARET cry! This was mainly because of Margaret's honor with her leader-like personality. It just seemed like leaders tried their hardest to never show weakness in the heat of battle, and that combined with Margaret's stubbornness makes a really strong ego. Hope tried to comfort her somehow: putting her arm around her, saying it'll be ok, she even tried to pull back Margaret's hair, but it just seemed too awkward. Margaret just slapped her hands away and kept crying.
Then, of course, some people tried to get on the elevator.
"Hey, could you guys take the next one?" Hope said, noticing the people were staring at Margaret.
However, people still continued to board the elevator, stepping over Margaret's and Hope's things, and still chatting away. Most of them were adults in suits, but there were some who were from the convention, and even a select few who were Cosplayers. Yet, all of them were ignoring Margaret and Hope, while continuing to talk as if nothing was happening.
"Um, y'all? Didn't you hear me? Could ya please get out and take the next one" Someone dropped their bag on Margaret's toe, and then pushed Hope into the railing. "HEY! AM I NOT BEIN' CLEAR HERE?! GET OFF THE ELEVATOR NOW!" Hope yelled, loud enough for people to stop talking and stare at her, but not loud enough to care or do anything about it.
In fact, some of them even made fun of her right in front of her face.
"Oh my, what a very loud girl!"
"Honestly, what a waste it would be to go and leave to get another elevator when this one is just fine."
"Well, with red heads it's all about the rage and short fuses they have. Their sense is blinded by anger."
Hope just stood up and looked at them in disbelief. She couldn't figure out why they thought she couldn't hear them, they were right there in front of her. She could see they were talking, they could see she saw they were talking. So why were they talking to other people and not going ahead and telling her what they were thinking.
"Oh my GOD! Are you seriously that whacked as to not know, I CAN HEAR YOU? If you got something to say, say it TO MY FACE." Hope said, in a deep and low voice.
The adults just stared at her, but continued to ignore her.
Wrong move, you snobs! Hope thought, and then she walked over to the buttons where people choose which floor they want to go to, and slammed on the open button. A few seconds later, the door opened on the 2nd floor.
"Hey, did the elevator stop?"
"What's going on?"
"This isn't our floor!"
Ignoring all the chit-chat, Hope grabbed the bags of the guys who were talking about her, and she threw them out the door. Shocked, the guys went in front of the door, and then turned to face Hope.
"What did you do that for!?"
"Hey, just because you have some issues, don't take it out on us!"
Then the guy who made the first comment went straight up to her, and cussed her out.
He was a tall man, about 5 inches taller than Hope, with sleek and shiny short raven-black hair parted on far left side. His misty green eyes seemed very unusual, not so much from the eye color Hair color match-up, but from the bags that were under his eyes, and at such a young age. He didn't seem older than maybe 25, at best. He seemed to have worry lines on his forehead already, and has lost too much weight, maybe from pulling all-nighters? Maybe he was dealing with a phenomenal amount of stress, yet he seemed to find comfort in making fun of teenagers, apparently, with his attitude towards Hope. And Hope wasn't very happy with his attitude.
So she attacked him.
She punched him straight in the gut, and then drop-kicked him onto the floor. She finished it up with grabbing him by the collar and pushed him out the door. Afterwards, when he was trying to stand, he stared at her with a shaky look, and spit.
Yet, she wasn't done. She had a few colorful words for him.
"" Hope screamed at the top of her lungs.
(Due to the mild language in this paragraph, it has been made unreadable, and to make a note, this fan fiction is rated PG)
As soon as she said that, the others quickly began to walk off the elevator, leaving only Hope and Margaret inside. They all started walking away as fast as they could, some shivering from being startled so much, others running on the fuel of fear.
One thing was for certain: They all thought she was crazy. The guy that she attacked was still lying there, staring at her, and continued to do so as the elevator door began to close, separating him from Hope. A girl who, from his point of view, was completely nuts and had seemed to attack him for no reason. Yet nobody dared to do anything about it, because the other adults in suits just walked away, leaving him startled in bewilderment.
As the man got up and wiped his pants clean, he noticed that he wasn't actually hurt that badly.
He realized that he was talking nasty about some teenage girl he didn't even know just because she got a little anger, and then wanted to crack his head when she heard him. Then he became extremely embarrassed by the fact he was pretty much beat up by a teenager. So embarrassed, in fact, that he collected his things, checked the time, and skipped his meeting to go home.
Hope turned to look at Margaret, who was looking at her with the same expression as the man she attacked. Hope noticed this, as well as the fact that Margaret was shaking a little by the uproar, and so she sat next to her, and began to talk.
"So, you ok?" Hope asked.
"Um, yeah. A little scared of you, maybe, but I'll be fine." Margaret said very softly, scooting somewhat away from Hope.
Hope laughed at Margaret's attempt to get away from her, when they were clearly on an elevator that would force them to be with each other, seeing as how the elevator was about 6 x 6 in diameter.
"Well, gee. I guess I can't blame you. I did say some colorful things to that dude. I just sorta snapped." Hope rubbed the back of her head and looked away.
"Oh, really? Maybe it was like when we were fighting at the L-Arc-en-Ciel concert." Margaret looked away too, seeming a little hurt.
"No," Hope looked at Margaret in a stern way, "With you, I meant it. With the weirdo-jerk guy, I just did it to let off some steam. Plus, he was just hitting me when I was already down, from you." Hope was stilling looking at Margaret.
Margaret put her face in her hands, and sighed.
"You were right. About everything. I was just being selfish with Cona." Margaret sighed one more time, and then looked up to face Hope.
"Oh, go tell Father about it, why don't cha?" Hope said, turning away from Margaret, knowing if she looked at her, she would want to console her.
Father- an orange cat, Chiyo-chan's father, that talks, in Azumanga Diaoh.
"Or better yet, how about you tell Cona what you just said." Hope turned back to Margaret, who had just understood what Hope was trying to tell her.
"Do you think Cona would forgive me?" Margaret just instantly burst into tears, weeping while she said that.
"Do you really think Cona is that type of person to hold a grudge?" Hope was smiling in a peaceful manner, raising an eyebrow in question.
"No." Margaret smiled in-between deep breaths, after she stopped crying.
"Yeah, not like THE GRUDGE." Margaret started to make this awkward noise, tilting her head and opening her mouth really wide.
Margaret laughed really hard at Hope's imitation of The Grudge.
"Look." Kairi said, and then held up what was in her hand.
It was a message in a bottle, with the stamp of the King of Disney Castle.
"The King?!" Sora grabbed the bottle from Kairi's hands, and pulls out the piece of paper.
Riku and Kairi both crowded around Sora as he opened the letter to read. As Sora's eyes went to look upon the piece of paper, everything surrounding the three began to stop. Tropical trees stopped swaying, the ocean waves disappeared, and there was no breeze on the peaceful islet that was a part of Destiny Islands, where the breeze always appeared during that time. Kairi and Riku looked at Sora, astonished expressions on their faces. The one who was the most shock was Sora himself: eyes round and small, eyebrows firmly put in a raised position, and mouth in a small but expressive 0 shape.
He was the most silent of them as well, not seeming to believe the ridiculous fact that was on plain paper, in a bottle.
All that was in the bottle was a blank sheet of paper, with nothing written on it whatsoever.