Oni's Grace

Part 1: Reality

Chapter 1A: A day with Grace.

I was walking to the bus on yet another boring school day. Today my thoughts wandered to Kingdom Hearts, as usual, and I started daydreaming about Namine. She's probably the best girl character in the game, even though she doesn't fight, but her unwillingness to fight is probably why I like her the best. She and Roxas make a great couple, but every time I think about her I feel sad. Whatever. The bus pulls up and I walk on and sit in the third seat on the right, as always, next to my friend Katy. She takes out her Ipod and we listen to music the whole way to school. When we got to Rockwell High School, we went to our lockers and got our books. We talked to Jasmine and Lily until it was time for class. I went to English with Jas and we were learning about haikus. Then math, then gym, then science. Nothing really important. We went to lunch and we all sat in the same spot as usual.

"Hey Grace?" asked Lily

"Yeah Lily?" I said

"How did you just do that?"

"Do what?"

"Change your hair. It was black, like usual, but it turned blue and your eyes turned from blue to green."

"You must be imagining things." I said, because things like that could never happen. We continued talking about little stuff and making each other laugh until the bell rang. We gathered our stuff and headed to our classes. I went to History with Lily and the whole time she was peeking from behind her auburn hair at me, her violet eyes boring little holes into my skull. I tried to ignore her. History was a fascinating thing to learn about. We were learning about the Middle Ages, where people were lucky to reach past their 10th birthday. Meanwhile in Mexico and South America the Mayans and Aztecs had already invented toilets. I had already learned this, though. My thoughts drifted to the fanfiction I had read yesterday. Then they turned to what Lily had had said earlier. What if she was right? What if my hair and eyes had changed for a tiny moment? Maybe it was like, I don't know. I forgot, I usually forget things when weird ideas come to me. Maybe Lily was just seeing things. The bell rang and I gathered my things and went to my favorite subject, art. I had this perfect picture in my mind today, Namine sitting on a little bench under a window with the sun shining on her with colored pencils scattered around her. She's drawing a picture in her sketchbook of the same scene, and that Namine is drawing the same thing and on and on, until the last really visible picture. Kairi will be sitting on the bench under the window. I have art for this hour, but since next hour is study hall, I just stay in here and draw. My friends tease me, telling me I have Xion' looks, but Namine's drawing skills. Whatever. I'm halfway dome with the pencil sketch when the bell rings for the end of the day. I'm a slow drawer, but my pictures are really detailed. I put my sketchbook in my backpack and get on the bus with Katy. We sit and talk until I reach my stop and I walk home. My mom greets from her desk calling out that I can have an apple for my snack. Yum, apples. I grabbed my apple and climbed the stairs to my room to do my homework- ugg, math- and look up fanfiction. I found one, Riku and Mai. I read that until my dad came home and it was time for dinner. Then I ran back upstairs and read some more. By the end of the day I was done with more than half. The next day was Saturday; my parents both had to work that day. My mom is an author, but on the weekends she works at burger king for some extra money. My dad is a cop; in fact he's the chief of police in my city. So when I woke there was no one here. I got up, made myself breakfast and read more, when I went to bed the night before all I could think about was that story. My imagination sometimes runs away without me. I had finished Riku and Mai and most of Ikari, when my Katy called. She wanted to have a sleepover that night, and I said I could come. I packed up my bags and went upstairs to read more. I was done with all that Immani Faith had written for Riku and Mai 2, I guess I'm a really fast reader, and went downstairs to grab my stuff to go to Katy's when the phone rang again.

"Hey Grace?" it was Lily.

"Yeah?" I asked

"Uh, Katy told me to call you. We got in a crash on the way over; she's going to the hospital because her arm got cut up pretty bad. Can you come to the hospital?" she asked urgently

"Ohmygod!" I gushed out, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, oh, can you call Jas too? Get here fast, the doctors don't know if she'll make it." Lily's voice was getting heavier, like she just got injected with pain meds.

"Alright, Bye." I hung up and grabbed my purse to stuff things in. I shoveled my wallet, a few books, my sketchbook, and a bunch of color pencils in. I scribbled a note to my parents and put it on the table. Be back soon, at hospital, Lily and Katy got in crash, I have the car, back by 10. Grace. I yanked the keys off the table and ran to the car. I sped to the hospital, picking up Jas on the way. When we got into the lobby I went to the gift shop and grabbed a stuffed panda off the shelf and bought it. The nurse showed us to the room that Lily and Katy were sharing. Katy's usually beautiful dark face was deathly pale and Lily had a bandage around her head with a big red spot. I took Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows out of my bag. I handed it to Lily and she smiled; this was the book she had been begging me to bring to the next sleepover so she could borrow it. I put the stuffed panda on the little table that was next to Katy. Katy's eyes fluttered ever so slightly and she shifted.

"Grace?" she asked me. I smiled weakly.

"I'm here Katy." I barley whispered. I felt one of those thoughts, the ones that I couldn't remember, but I ignored it.

"Tell me about Recira." She murmured. Katy was like my little sister; she was two years younger than me and had a fascination with elves. Recira was a character that we created when I was in 8th grade and she was in 6th. I used to come up with little stories about her that I told Katy. We hadn't talked about her in months. I smiled and started talking.

"Recira ran through the forest on her swift Elvin legs. She stopped at the weeping maple and sucked in its sweet fragrance. She sighed and continued running. The Nals were close on her trail; she might not escape this time. 'They are so slow!' she silently laughed to herself. They were loud too; she could hear them even at this distance. She looked down at the bundle in her arms. The sad panda. She smiled down at it and kept running. She decided to take the trail that her mother had shown her months before. Suddenly a trap was thrown over her head and she was tangled in it. The Nals laughed at her. 'Stupid girl! The earl will pay plenty for two things that were never meant to exist.' Suddenly-" I was cut off by a doctor coming in he motioned for us to follow him, and I did.

"Girls, she's not going to make it." The doctor whispered. "Do her parents know what happened?" I shook my head.

"I left a message on all their answering machines, but…" I trailed off.

"I see. She is in a great deal of pain. I think that she was waiting for you guys. Please, can you guys ease her into death as best you can?" he asked us. We nodded and walked back into the room. I sat on the edge of her bed and continued her story, stroking her hair like I would with my cousin when she was sick.

"Suddenly the net was cut by another girl, Olivia, the other girl that wasn't supposed to exist. Recira smiled and they fought together, killing and scaring away the Nals. Recira turned to Olivia. 'Olivia, I bestow on you the title of Recira. To be carried down until everyone can coexist peacefully.' Olivia had a tear in her eye and hugged Andraste, who was now Anne, the girl who was born in a mountainous home, who danced in the rain, who dreamed of leaving. Olivia nodded and took the amulet from Anne. 'Be safe, Andraste.' Anne said. She held a tighter grip on the baby panda and ran into the sunset, her time was up, but Andraste would protect them. And the next Andraste would protect them. And the one after her. She ran and ran, until she got to her old home, where she kept the panda and taught her daughter to dance in the rain, to dream." I finished and Katy opened her eyes fully. I smiled at her and felt a tear escape.

"I'll miss you." she said as she closed her eyes for a final time and her heart monitor reported that her heartbeats were fainter. I leaned down to her ear.

"Run Recira. Do good wherever you go. Learn. Live." I whispered. The monitor beeped long and high pitched. My tears fell faster and thicker. I closed my eyes and a sob escaped my lips. I had no idea what was going on around me, all I could feel was the tears streaking down my face. I finally cleared my vision long enough to see my friends' faces. Lily looked like she was in shock, her eyes were dry and her mouth was open. Jas was silent, the most silent she ever was in her whole life. There were tears streaking down her face. I held Katy's hand. It was still warm. Her face was fixed into a sad smile and her eyes were lightly closed. No one would ever see her dark brown irises again. Suddenly the heart monitor picked up a faint beep. Then another, and another. Katy's eyes fluttered and she smiled.

"You didn't think you'd get rid of me that easily, did you?" she asked. My jaw just about hit the floor and I hugged her.

"Hey, she just came back from the dead, give her some air!" Lily said laughing. I just smiled and handed Katy the panda.

"I'm gonna name it-" I cut her off

"Sad, right?" I asked her. She had about a hundred pandas. All named sad.

"Nope. Happy." she smiled as I rolled my eyes.

Chapter 1B: Attack.

I watched silently as I tracked the Heartless car racing down the street. It swerved and smashed into another car. Oh no! That's Grace's friends! I had to keep her safe, but this was far from it. Diz had told me that if she went into a depression or shock she'd be awoken and die. Or something like that. I followed them to the hospital invisibly. I could only save her after she dies. Grace was so sad when Katy died, I almost turned visible. I lifted my keyblade and hit Katy's heart with light, forcing it back to earth. I watched as she ran as that character that she and Grace had created back to earth. I inwardly chuckled and shook my head. I almost laughed when Grace hugged her almost back to death. I sighed as I ran my hand through my blonde hair. Diz said that she'd wake up soon. I could hardly wait. Namine would be so happy now if she were alive. I opened a portal and watched silently.