Catherine Grande-Dracula and Roxas Archer were talking to a young African-American woman whom they'd never met before.
"I'm gonna give you these, okay?" she said. "These sweets are called Star Fragments."
She handed them the bottle of candy. Catherine realized quickly that it was something that even Vampires could eat and became excited.
"They will taste better if you share them, alright?" she said.
Catherine and Roxas nodded and the woman ran off, leaving them with a series of unanswered questions. They sat down and poured the Star Fragments onto a cloth as Roxas began to evenly separate them.
"Who do you think that lady was?" Catherine asked. "She was wearing some strange clothes. I never saw her before. Maybe she was an Earthling. And she even had these "Star Fragments". It's amazing!"
"That's not all!" Roxas said. "These things can be eaten!"
But aren't they just candies? he thought.
"Here," Roxas said, handing Catherine one of the cloths. "Here's your half."
"Thanks," Catherine smiled, taking the cloth.
Roxas took his half and waited for Catherine to eat hers. She just stared at them, smiling her signature smile. Roxas gave her a look.
"Aren't you gonna eat them?" he asked.
Catherine shook her head.
"Nah," she answered. "I'm gonna save them for later."
Roxas rolled his eyes.
"Is that so?" he asked, eating a large handful of his.
Catherine looked at him, shocked.
"Wha?" she gasped. "Ahh! That's not fair. You're already eating them?!"
"You say it's not fair, but…" he chuckled. "This is my share after all."
Catherine became very curious, but she refused to give in.
"How do they taste?!" she asked. "What's the flavor?"
Roxas chewed and swallowed the candies so he could speak. He really didn't think too much of them. They tasted like any sugary treat to him. He decided that it would be fun to mess with Catherine.
"Not telling," he smirked.
"Why?!" Catherine whined.
Roxas chuckled evilly.
"You wanna know so bad," he teased. "Then just try one already."
"Okay…" Catherine said, nervous.
She took one of the Star Fragments and put it in her mouth. A confused Roxas waited for her opinion, thinking she would have the same thoughts as him. Catherine, however, beamed brightly.
"It's so sweet!" she squealed. "They taste like stars! Yummy!"
Huh? Roxas thought. Star-flavored? No matter what she thinks about it, it's just sugar…
"It's amazing, Roxy!" she beamed. "Really awesome! I can't believe stars taste like this!"
Catherine became really excited.
"Uwa~" she squealed. "I'll treasure every piece of these forever!"
Roxas just gave in and told her what she wanted to hear.
"You're right…" he said. "Those are really valuable, Kitty Cat."
"Yeah!" Catherine beamed.
-POINTLESS SCENE TRANSITION-
(The Next Day)
Catherine approached Roxas, tears in her eyes and her Star Fragments in her hand. Roxas smiled awkwardly at her before realizing what had happened.
"Are those the candies from yesterday?" he asked.
"I slept with them in my pocket…" Catherine wept. "And when I woke up from naptime, they were all stuck into one big ball! Waah!"
They melted because of… body heat? he thought. Maybe… Vampires don't have… heat…
"So you really didn't eat them right away…" Roxas replied. "Guess there's no other way to get them back but to break them…"
"And that nice Earthling went through so much trouble to get them…" Catherine cried. "I'll go find other ones."
Roxas looked at her, shocked at that.
"Huh?" he gasped.
Catherine nodded, certain of her decisions.
"I'm gonna go and look for more," she said. "Who knows. Maybe I'll find some."
"W-Wait a minute!" Roxas snapped. "Where will you go looking for something that you know nothing about and might not even be on Maotune?!"
Catherine looked at him, upset that he didn't agree with her choice.
"It's better to try and fail than never try at all," she snapped. "That's what Hana told me."
"Don't just go do something so pointless!" Roxas scoffed.
Catherine calmed down, unable to be angry with Roxas, and began crying again.
"I'm sure I could find some…" Catherine sniffled.
Roxas gave her a look before sighing in defeat.
"Okay, fine then," he said. "I'll go with you."
"Eh?" Catherine asked, confused.
She then smiled, glad that she wouldn't be alone.
"Thanks a bunch, Roxy!" she said.
Roxas rolled his eyes.
"You want the same thing, right?" he asked. "If that's the case, maybe we should look at the candy stores… I've never seen sweets like this before… I mean, are they really on sale? How much would these cost us…"
Catherine gave him a confused look.
"Huh?" she asked. "What are you talking about, Roxas? Star Fragments? There's no way we'll find them in stores. They must be somewhere like high in the mountains, deep in the forest or a cave. Places like those where they'd definitely fallen."
Roxas looked at her with confusion. Catherine seemed excited about this "adventure". Almost TOO excited for his liking.
"Are you sure something like this would be on Maotune?" he asked. "The real thing I mean."
"Huh?" Catherine asked, confused. "The "real thing"?"
Roxas rolled his eyes.
"…Anyways, let's go looking for them in the Twilight Town Forest, hm?" he offered.
"Okay," Catherine smiled.
And thus, they went on an adventure in search of Star Fragments. Catherine had grabbed a net from their hangout and was ready to go.
"The shooting stars we saw recently were on the other side of the forest~" Catherine said, swinging the net. "Maybe some Star Fragments have fallen."
"…Cat," Roxas said. "What's with the net?"
Catherine beamed brightly.
"I'll get a lot of them this way!" she answered. "We're gonna find a bunch, Roxy! We'll share them, too! Let's give some to Hayner, Pence, and Olette, too!"
Roxas smiled at Catherine's determination.
So, you're gonna go through with this until the end, huh? he thought.
"Okay then," Roxas said.
"Alright!" Catherine cheered, excited.
-POINTLESS SCENE TRANSITION-
(Twilight Town Forest)
Catherine and Roxas spent hours searching together. They were mostly focused until Catherine went to catch a Xanadu-Bellied Butterfly. After Catherine was able to focus on the mission at hand, she began to lose hope.
"Oh, man…" she sighed. "We haven't found anything so far…"
"We just keep finding the same things," Roxas sighed. "Our search won't end well…"
Catherine's signature smile and happy-go-lucky aura was gone and replaced with a frown and sadness.
"…Yeah," she replied, disappointed.
Roxas noticed the change in her and decided to cheer her up the best he could.
"But you know what?" he said. "Maybe if we find something else, we could count it as "Star Fragments"."
"Huh?" Catherine asked, confused.
Roxas smiled at her.
"Look up there," he said, pointing at the night sky. "Just look at the stars."
"Huh?" Catherine replied, looking up.
"See what they have in common?" Roxas asked.
"Uhh…" Catherine answered. "Not really…"
Roxas nodded and smiled.
"Exactly," he said. "There's so many of them out there, but each one shines differently. Maybe it's the same for Star Fragments. There are different kinds on every planet. Whether it's as candy or something else, we still would've seen something we've never seen before, right?"
Catherine looked at him for a moment, taking everything in, before she smiled her signature bright smile.
"You're right," she said, beaming. "That may be so! I wouldn't have thought of that. You're awesome, Roxas!"
Roxas blushed and chuckled.
"Then let's go look for other treasures–" Roxas suggested.
Catherine, however, was no longer listening. She was looking off in the distance at something that Roxas failed to see. He thought she might've heard something with her super-hearing and became concerned.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
Catherine rubbed her eyes, which were sensitive to light.
"I thought I saw something," she answered. "It was shining and I saw it out of the corner of my eye…"
"A light?" Roxas snorted. "Maybe you just imagined it."
Catherine shook her head.
"No," she replied. "I know I saw something. My eyes wouldn't be sore if I didn't."
Catherine looked around and pointed out a light in the darkness.
"Look!" she said. "Over there! Let's go, Rox!"
Catherine ran off, swinging her net about, as a worried Roxas ran after her.
"Cat, wait!" he cried. "Don't go running off alone! Hana would kill me if you were harmed!"
Roxas was able to catch up and they peaked out of the bushes to see something they'd never seen before. Around the lake the darkness was punctuated with small glimmers of light, so much so that Catherine and Roxas thought it looked enchanted.
They imagined that they had discovered a lair of a great magician. They stole past the bushes and left their hiding place. As they ran toward them, they took off into the air and Catherine felt like she was dancing inside a Fest of Generosity Tree.
"R-Roxas…" Catherine said. "What are these things?"
Roxas shrugged.
"I dunno," he answered, trying to get an answer himself.
…Glowing bugs? Roxas thought. I think I saw these in one of my picture books…
"Ah!" Catherine squealed. "Could these be Star Fragments?"
"Eh?" Roxas asked, confused.
"I mean, they sparkle like the real ones!" Catherine said, beaming. "They're so pretty!"
This caused Roxas to smile.
"Maybe they could be," he answered.
"Yup!" Catherine replied, smiling.
Roxas waited for Catherine to do something, but all she did was drop her net.
"…Aren't you gonna catch them?" he asked. "You wanted Star Fragments, right?"
"Un… hmm…" Catherine smiled. "…No, because the fragments here are so beautiful. So let's make this our own secret place and come back here."
She took Roxas's hand in her own. He shivered at how cold the hand was, but still smiled.
"Sure," he answered.
Someday… Catherine thought. Let's go find real Star Fragments.
-POINTLESS SCENE TRANSITION-
(Several Months Later)
Catherine and Roxas had found the real Star Fragments they went looking for months ago and were sharing them while watching the sunset together.
"It's so Nostalgic~" Catherine smiled. "These Star Fragments. We went looking for them before school started up, didn't we?"
"Yeah, we did," Roxas replied. "By the way, where did you get them?"
Catherine tossed a few into her mouth.
"I got them from Lea," she answered. "Apparently, they're a popular candy in Radiant Garden and from another planet after all."
Roxas snorted.
"…And you thought they were REAL stars," he said.
Catherine stuck her tongue out before she replied.
"…It's odd, y'know," she said. "Now that we know about Star Fragments."
Roxas snorted again.
"You mean the Gummi Blocks?" he asked.
"Yeah," Catherine nodded. "Master Sora said he never would've thought of them as something that could be eaten. And now we're using the Gummi Ship AND Corridors of Darkness to travel to other planets. It makes me wonder what we would've thought about this months ago."
"…Who knows," Roxas smirked. "In your case, you probably would've gotten overly-excited and crashed the Gummi Ship somewhere."
Catherine laughed nervously, which went unnoticed by Roxas. Little did he know that she had already done that.
"Say, Roxy," Catherine said, getting up from her chair. "There's still some time left before King Mickey comes, right?"
"Hm?" Roxas replied. "Yeah. Why?"
"Because," Catherine smiled. "I wanna see our Star Fragments again!"
She grabbed Roxas by his hand and pulled him up from the ground.
"Hey," he snapped. "Don't pull me!"
"To the place where we found them before," she smiled.
"Right now?" Roxas asked, confused.
"Come on," she said, beaming. "It'll be fun! We might not come back to Twilight Town for a LONG while. That's why I wanna see them again. Together… with you."
Roxas looked shocked before he smiled at that.
"Really?" he asked. "You remember the place?"
"Yes," Catherine smiled.
"Then I'll race you there," Roxas chuckled.
"Honestly, Roxas," Catherine giggled. "You're always the same as ever."
Still, however, Catherine and Roxas raced to their secret place together.
