"I can do it," the childish voice protested, a determined glint in the azure eyes of its owner.
"No, don't. You could get hurt." Out came her repeated rebuttal.
"I'll be fine." He smiled a reassuring smile, the kind that went straight to your heart and melted it to mush.
"Are you sure?" She asked. "Promise you'll be okay?" If he said so, it was a sure thing. He'd keep himself safe, he'd keep his promise. It was his nature.
"Promise! I'll always be!" He laughed, smiling. He regarded her, shaking his head and grinning wider. "Don't even worry! Nothing dangerous ever happens here! You know that!"
"Don't you think bad stuff happens sometimes?" She asked him, looking out the window into an everlasting world of blue, white and yellow. This world was so secure, a safe haven of tranquility in a universe that held such darkness and chaos. The two came hand and hand, that dreadful pair. They ripped apart the peace, taking in the light. They turned hearts in their favor, or for those strong few like Sora, turned their world upside-down, seeing that they never saw a day without facing the brutal fight.
"Yeah, I guess. But I'll make sure I'll be okay! And you will be too! I promise!" He sounded so sure, so ready. And, worse of all, he sealed the impossible vow with his honest smile, that beacon of hope, his childish faith. It stabbed her heart and sent her on a roller coaster ride through the darkest portions of her mind. Why did she always do this to herself?
She took a deep breath. Coaxing her mind back into the character of a younger incarnate of herself. She needed to improve on her acting. She had to fool herself. Had to lose herself in her lies until she believed them.
"Okay." She agreed, grounded firmly once more within this world of her own creation.
Sora could handle this. He made the steep climb up the ladder, chancing a fall or a splinter or two for her.
He appeared smaller than usual as he hauled himself up the ladder. The world was too big for them, but they liked it that way. She hoped it would never become small. She thought of her doll house. A miniature world she controlled. She moved the dolls about the house, her young mind weaving their stories together.
"Naminé?" Her favorite doll called from the highest pinnacle of the universe. His spiky head almost brushed the ceiling.
"Yes?" She shouted up. Could he even hear her from his lofty perch?
"Come up!" His eyes were huge. "It's amazing!"
She climbed carefully, afraid of falling. When she had nearly reached the top, a small hand was reaching out to her. She took it and he helped her up.
The top of the world. The bunk-bed. Her blue orbs danced around the room. Would you look at that? From up in the white sky everything was in miniature.
"Wow," she mumbled.
"Yeah," Sora returned.
"Let's get the stars up!" She exclaimed. Sora extracted from his pocket a sheet of glow-in-the-dark star stickers. In the daylight, they appeared to be a pale green color, but in the night they would glow brightly.
They took turns putting up stars. When the job was done, they laid back and basked in their accomplishment. They danced and flew between the stars, carried on the wings of their dreams. That was the way of the islands. You flew past the ocean, in the sky, to great lands, coming back once you'd had your fill of the world you hoped was out there. It was an ideal place. Simple villians, simple problems. The real world beyond was such a hard fall for those who had dreamed those dreams of adventure. But, they still fly, if theirs are the hearts of true dreamers.
"That group of stars looks like a heart." Sora pointed at the formation of stars, willing her to see it. She thought she could almost make out the shape.
"That it does."
She closed her eyes, letting them flutter open again a moment later. Her world of dreams closed as her hands stopped their motion.
Naminé closed her notebook, willing the white sky with green stars and the two figures watching to leave her mind. They lingered there, a default image. Ready to strike the moment she stopped thinking. She looked at the bland ceiling, white and stately, wishing she had some glow-in-the-dark stars to light her white night.