This is the revised edition of my story Candy Corn.
I'm back with a new one-shot! This story was actually supposed to be posted before Halloween, but as you can see that didn't work out. . . mainly because I lost the journal that I write all my fanfiction in . . . heheheh. Well, I (obviously) found it, revised this story, and made this cute little fic for your enjoyment. ^^ I was insipired to write this when I went on a trip to Virginia around Halloween and my sister and I went to a place called Fear Forest while we were there (perhaps you have heard of it?). Anyway, pairings are Namine/Pence (because they are adorable! ^^), one-sided Namine/Roxas, and slight Kairi/Sora. Now, *gestures to Demyx for disclaimer*
Demyx: Stardust Roses does not own Kingdom Hearts because if she did Axel and I wouldn't have died!
Enjoy the story, :)
CandyCorn !
I don't know how Kairi talked me into going with her to Screamland. I'm not a fan of anything scary–movies, haunted houses, older brothers–and even the name gave me the chills. I hate the feeling of being scared, yet here I stood with my red-head friend. She was practically my opposite in just about everything I was, especially on the topic of scary things. When she and I watched The Shining, for instance, she laughed during the whole movie while I screamed so much I cried.
"Kairi, is it too late to refund my ticket to this place?" I asked. We were nearing the entrance to the first portion of the park, and the whole wait I had been fidgeting restlessly.
"Yes Namine. It was too late as soon as I bought it. See? The sign says no refunds!"
Much to my dismay, she was right.
"Come on," said Kairi, turning me until I faced her. She kept her hands on my shoulders. "It will definitely be fun, and who knows, maybe you'll meet a guy here."
This was typical of Kairi. She would pull me into these crazy events of hers that I didn't want to do, and once I began having doubts she would pull the "maybe you'll meet someone" line. Every time.
"I doubt I'll meet a cute, sweet, funny, interesting guy who shares common interests in a place called Screamland."
"Look Nam, you're setting your standards too high. Instead of all that just settle for someone who's cute and funny."
I yanked away from her grasp. "No, I know what I want."
She looked at me with sad eyes. "I know you do."
Her remark caught me off my guard. Suddenly the only thing on my mind was a tall boy with bright blue eyes that sparkled in the sun and thick, upswept, golden-blonde hair. Roxas.
Kairi unexpectedly pulled me into a hug. She mumbled comforting words in my ear and patted my back gently. I remained in her embrace, Roxas still on my mind, and the depressing break up that split us apart.
-Flashback-
September 19th 2009
I looked up into his eyes, those big and beautiful eyes that trapped me in their pools. I wrapped my arms around his waist and smiled into his shirt. It was a beautiful day to be outside in a place like the park. Couples were walking around holding hands or hugging happily, and I wasn't alone this time. A year to this day, Roxas and I had been dating. That's right, it was our anniversary. And he had been sweet enough to take me to my favorite restaurant, the Twilight Sunrise, which was all the way across town. He even paid for the whole meal and the train tickets, and then we walked to the park. It was just too good to be true.
I felt his hands on my shoulders. It almost felt like he was pushing me away.
"Roxas?" I looked up at him again.
"I'm sorry."
"For what? You've been so great to me this whole evening. Paying for the meal, and the tickets, and riding with me all across town–"
"Namine, we're done." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Done? I couldn't imagine being without Roxas . . .
"But–"
"Look, I don't want to hurt you. Let's just make it easy on both of us and not talk anymore."
"Roxas–" I reached out to him as he eased away from my grasp, but the attempt was to no avail. He wasn't coming back.
"I'm sorry." He didn't even look back once.
I dropped to the ground. This couldn't be happening. No, he would come back in a few minutes, take me into his arms and tell me that he loved me like he used to. Then we'd go sit under the willow by the lake until the sun set.
But the reality was that Roxas wasn't coming back. He was gone.
-End of flashback-
"You'll find someone ten times better than Rox– I mean him."
I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. Even now, after being a year and two months without him, they still reminded me of those minutes that seemed like hours of seemingly endless tears.
"Shh. I promise you will. Now what say we have some fun?" She flashed me her pearly white smile.
"I'll try." I said, giving her my best attempted smile.
I remained close to Kairi the whole time. First we headed through a pitch black maze and every turn we took led to a dead end. There were rooms we had to walk through with strobe lights flashing so rapidly it felt as if I would lose balance. There was one room in which I lost Kairi and was followed by the heat and whir of a chainsaw for about five minutes before the person behind me laughed darkly and left me with my red-head friend. She laughed at me.
"You should see the expression on your face, Nami!"
"It's not funny!"
"Come on, it isn't even scary yet."
Hm. I thought it was.
We continued throughout the black maze, and I ran into the walls so many times that I was sure I would be see bruises once I was in the light. Kairi seemed to be enjoying herself. She laughed every time I ran into a wall, and at one point in the maze she got a guy's number. The guy sported a gory mask and torn suspenders and a button-down shirt as he stood at the end of a dead end basking in strobe lights. He unveiled his spiky brown hair and bright blue eyes that bore a striking resemblance to someone else's. He grinned at her and fished out a pen and a scrap of paper from his pocket, scribbled something down, and handed it to her.
"His name is Sora Yanahara. Hey, he was pretty cute!"
"Good for you Kai."
We left Sora to his scaring business back to the halls to be devoured by darkness once again. Finally, after what seemed like ages, I spotted a patch of blue light at the end of a long hall. I snatched Kairi's wrist and ran immediately to the exit as fast as I could. I was so close to the end of the black pit of hell. I could almost taste the chill of the October air . . .
"Oh my God!" I screamed. A figure leapt out just before I could reach the exit. I shoved it aside and got out of there.
I heard laughter. I looked over my shoulder to see Kairi folded over and clutching her sides. "What?" I asked.
"You! You're hilarious Namine!" She pushed up the sleeves of her black Gryffindor hoodie and balanced her arms on her knees as she laughed harder and harder. I myself couldn't help but chuckle. Now that I look back, it was pretty funny. Even the masked figure who scared me buckled over in laughter. He pulled off his mask to breathe better. He had his long silver hair pulled into a ponytail, and his pale skin appeared to glow in the moonlight.
"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you that much!" he said.
"Don't worry about it. She's fine." said Kairi.
After we left the guy and our chuckles died down, I noticed just how creepy the woods surrounding us was. Mist floated around us and all throughout the trees giving it a typical horror movie look. And above that it was dead silent.
"Isn't this creepy Nam?" She was grinning from ear to ear. Her excitement was clearly building the further we walked.
"Yes, it's very creepy. Much too creepy for my liking."
"Aw come on. Suck it up." Kairi playfully punched my shoulder.
I shot her a glare and walked ahead of her.
She grabbed my arm. Tightly. Too tight.
"Kairi, let go. That hurts!"
"What?" I looked over at her pale hands, neither of which were on my arm. I stopped walking. With a shudder, I dared to look behind my shoulder to see what was clutching my arm. "Aaah!" I ran as fast as I could, ripping my arm from the grasp of the person with the gruesome bloodied scars on his face. His eyes were mismatched–one a pale grey, the other a strange neon green, and his clothing had been covered in blood. As I ran, my sneaker caught on a root sticking up from the ground and I found myself rushing face-first to the packed-down soil on the trail. I felt a sting in my right hand. I lifted it up to get a better look at it in the pale moonlight. Blood was seeping from the center of my palm. Not the fake kind of blood. The sight made me want to throw up, and my mouth felt as if I was tasting the irony tinge of the red substance.
"Hey! Are you okay?" An unfamiliar voice.
"Namine!" Kairi.
"B-b-b-blood!" My own shaky voice.
The person who scared me crouched down beside me. He lifted me into a sitting position and held out my hand so he could look at it..
"Oh. Oh jeez. That doesn't look good at all." His voice was soft, low, sounding like he actually cared. I jerked out of his grasp.
"Hey, it's ok. Look." He removed the contacts and rubbed the some of the makeup off. His eyes were a dark brown. A completely normal color. And his face was normal too. Just a normal round face with big brown eyes, and a worried look. "See?" I nodded. Kairi crouched next to the guy and took a look at my bloodied hand as well.
"Do you think you could help her with that? I don't do well at all when I see blood." she said, looking like she was about to gag.
"Of course. Come on, I'll take you out to the front and help you with this. What are your names?"
"I'm Kairi, and this is my friend Namine." She helped me up. Her eyes avoided my hand.
"Namine, that's a pretty name." He smiled at her. "I'm Pence. You two can follow me through the shortcut to the front."
"Um, actually, I don't want to sound like a total jerk Namine, but I kinda want to see the rest of the trail . . ."
"Go ahead. I'll meet you at the car." Kairi hugged me tightly and thanked me numerous times before running off into the misty forest.
Pence ripped a piece of cloth from his already torn shirt. "May I see your hand?" I nodded. He held it as gently as he could and wrapped the cloth around the bleeding cut. "You need to keep pressure on it to stop the bleeding." I nodded again and held the cloth in my other hand.
"Thank you." I said.
"You're quite welcome. It's the least I could do after scaring you like that." he said while smiling sheepishly. He pulled out a small bag of candy corn from one pocket. "Would you like some?" My mother's voice suddenly popped into my head saying not to accept candy from strangers, but I ignored this because for some reason I trusted this guy.
He also pulled out a small flashlight and led me backwards toward the Black Pit of Hell, waving to the silver haired teen as he passed. He walked to the left of the main trail, easily finding a much smaller and less noticeable path. Pence seemed to know just where he was going as he wove through trees on the barely lit path, and for that I was thankful. I couldn't bear getting lost in this place.
"Watch your step. The path gets a bit complicated up ahead." he said in his low, soft voice. I extended my unharmed hand.
"Take it. Knowing my clumsiness I'll probably trip anyway." He slid his hand into mine. It was soft and warm and very comforting.
As we walked, I didn't even notice the complicated path. All I concentrated on was keeping myself close to Pence so that I wouldn't trip. Up ahead, I noticed a wooden bridge on the path. I froze on the spot as soon as I head the familiar sound of water lapping and flowing downstream quickly, and I wondered how deep it could possibly be. Bridges were also not a strong point of mine. I had a fear that they would collapse as I was crossing them. Pence noticed that I had stopped and he turned around and looked at me.
"I–I can't. I can't cross it. I have a fear of bridges." I felt my shoulders begin to tremble.
"Just close your eyes and let me lead you. Don't pay any attention to anything but my voice and my hand holding yours."
"Okay, I'll try." He smiled fondly at me and began to talk to me in a comforting tone.
"So Namine, what is your full name?"
"Namine Dianne Koboyashi." I felt him tug on my good hand. I placed a foot on the first wooden board, and then the next. All I did was concentrate on his voice, just like he instructed.
"That's a beautiful name."
"Thank you. What's yours?"
"Pence Ian Remesy. What school do you go to?"
"Southbrook High."
"Me too! No wonder you seemed familiar to me." I could hear the smile in his voice. I was actually pretty happy that I found out we went to the same school. Pence was a pretty nice guy, going through all this trouble just for my stupid accident. Even helping wimpy, scaredy-cat little me cross this bridge.
"Pence, what kind of music do you like?" I voiced as I stepped on yet another wooden board. But I wasn't afraid because I could still feel his warm hand in mine.
"Mostly rock," he replied.
"What's your favorite band?"
"Hands down, Fall Out Boy." Turns out that we were already finding common interests. "Just a few more steps, Namine, and you'll be over." I felt relieved at this news, not that I minded hearing Pence's voice, but the thought of water underneath me was beginning to slowly creep back into my mind. I felt the familiar sense of returning to sturdy, solid land. As I opened my eyes, I saw my black Converse on soil and relief swept over my body followed by a wave of happiness.
"I did it! Pence, I did it! Thank you!" I threw my arms around him, caught up in the moment. He didn't seem to mind, he actually wrapped his arms around me and hugged me back. I soon pulled back though, I still didn't really know the guy yet. "Sorry." I felt my cheeks heating.
"It's okay. It was actually pretty . . . nice." I noticed a blush had also spread on his face.
"I thought so too."
I found myself hugging Pence Remesy once again under the moonlight.
"Hey girl, you look pretty happy." said Kairi. She opened the door to the driver's side of her car and took a seat.
"That's because I am." I knew I was smiling and blushing.
"Any particular reason?" A nosy smile crept upon her lips.
"Let's just say that you were right." I held a small slip of paper between my index and middle fingers with a name and number written on it.
"When am I not?" We began laughing as she pulled out of the parking lot and down the winding roads back to our homes, and I couldn't help but think that maybe there really was someone else that could make me feel as great as Roxas did, and his name was Pence Remesy.
A/N: The Black Pit of Hell actually happened. My sister kept laughing at me every time I ran into the stupid wall. =_=
Thanks for reading!
