Chapter 1: The Dream…

Ventus stared up at the endless blue sky. The open oceans daunting him to take a swim while the lush green grass bended in rhythm with the blowing wind. This dream, it was so close to him, realistic in a sense, but yet so far. It was all too familiar to him. The taste of the ocean salt, the smell of the green grass, and the sound of the fresh breeze were all working together in harmony. He smiled when he heard the ocean waves stirring on the pale beach sand. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed something shining… Walking over to the object, he noticed that it was a necklace. The necklace was a beauty, an amazing combination of gold and silver, with a small key-shaped attachment to at the tip. With excitement he yelled, "AWESOME!!!"

"VENTUS," screamed the teacher, "WERE YOU SLEEPING IN MY CLASS AGAIN?!"

Ventus looked around, as usual, he was in his classroom. What was unusual about the scene was that he was standing on his desk tugging on ??? bracelet. Upon noticing what had actually happened, he sighed for he knew what was awaiting him.

"Errr…I guess?" replied Ventus in a quiet voice.

"GO RUN 10 LAPS AROUND THE FIELD TO WAKE YOURSELF UP!!!!" screamed the teacher.

With the speed of a mouse running from a cat, Ventus ran out onto the field. The whole class looked out the window and laughed like a crowd of hyenas. In fact, the class had gone so wild that the other classes beside Ven's classroom had all stopped working and were laughing along. It took about 10 whole minutes until all the teachers could calm down the students. All of the students had laughed, all of them, except for Novia.

After the ten laps, Ventus climbed up back to his classroom, exhausted. By now it was break time and he slumped back into his seat. Ventus was an average kid in his school. His grades were okay, his athletic abilities were a bit behind the others, and he could get by the most classes without sleeping. Yet lately, that didn't seem to be the case. Although he was quite certain that he was paying attention in class, he always ended up in this…dream as he calls it. He sighed, not knowing how he falls asleep and missing out class was already quite troublesome, but now due to his weird dreams, he's become the joke of the school. His teachers have asked his parents to take him to a mental doctor but so far all the doctors have said that he's mentally healthy. Not knowing what else to do he placed his head on his table.

"Hey look guys! Ventus the sloth fell asleep again!" shouted a student.

Ventus looked up, it was his rival at school, Aurum Argentum, or as most people called him, Double A. Aurum was the class president of Ven's class and had always been the pride of the school. Although known for having a bad temper, he was also known to do community service and was always a gentleman around the ladies. His athletic abilities were very impressive, for he was currently holding the status of being the fastest runner in the whole school. Though despite all these good traits though, towards Ventus, he was a complete bully.

"Shut up and go away!" moaned the tired boy as he turned to look out the window of the classroom. Suddenly, he felt a tug on his shirt and before he knew it, Aurum and grabbed Ventus out of his seat.

"Don't you know it's impolite to turn away from the person you're talking to?" mocked Aurum in a slow tone to emphasize the sloth joke that he had used earlier. The whole class roared with laughter. Suddenly the door to the classroom opened.

"Aurum! Are you teasing Ventus again?" shouted Novia in an angry tone.

"Ehh?! But Novia sweet heart, we're just making sure that Ventus the sloth doesn't fall asleep again," replied Aurum while trying to hold in his laughter.

"For the last time, I'm not your girlfriend, date, or whatever you call a girl that's close to you. Come on Ventus, you got to pull yourself together…" Novia stopped in the middle of her sentence as Ventus arose from his table.

"AURUM! I'LL GET YOU FOR CALLING ME A SLOTH!" shouted Ventus at the top of his lungs. With this battle cry, he began Aurum across the classroom.

"Can't catch me slothy boy!" teased Aurum as the two whipped around the room. By now, the whole class was laughing at the two of them while Novia stared with disbelief at what she seemed to have started. Suddenly out of nowhere, Ventus tripped over the trash can and crashed into the door. This caused Aurum to stop running and the whole class burst out with a mocking laugh at Ventus's stupidity. ??? sighed, being a childhood friend of Ventus, this was embarrassing for her. She slowly walked over to Ventus and helped him brush himself off.

"Awww…come on Novia don't help that loser, you're spoiling him." Aurum teasingly whined.

"Quiet Aurum, I'll help the people that I want to help and it's none of your business," replied Novia in an angry tone. In a much friendly voice however, she said to Ventus, "So, what's the number count of that dream you've been having now? Was it dream number one hundred yet?"

"Yeah, I think it has been. By the way, thanks Novia" sighed Ventus in a soft tone. Whenever he had one of those dreams, no one seemed to take notice of it other than Novia. She seemed to be the only person that took an interest in his strange fictional affairs.

"So Ventus, mind telling me about what you saw on the way home today? I'll treat you to a drink!" replied his childhood friend.

"Sure I guess that would be okay…" Raising his head up a bit, he smiled. Novia was a great friend. They had both known each other since elementary school and ever since her family moved to the apartment across the street from each other, the two of them had been hanging out together. Of course no one bothered them about it for Novia always talked about her interests when hanging around her group of friends.

------After School------

Ventus stared around. He was standing at the school gates waiting for Novia. The two had decided to meet up afterschool near the gates though Novia seemed to be late. He didn't blame her of course. Novia was really popular at school, a diamond to all the male students. Being her childhood friend, Ventus often found himself being treated to a dinner and to find out later that he was to introduce someone to her. Of course, Ventus didn't really mind, he had known Novia for a long time now and didn't really take any interest in her. Being the curious person that he was, he has asked if Novia liked anyone and only got a short and simple "I rejected them all" reply from her. Looking down at his watch, he noticed that it was almost four.

"I wonder what's taking her so long," he said as he moved towards the school. Suddenly out of nowhere, a soccer ball flew in his direction. Ventus shut his eyes.

"WATCH OUT!" cried out a student on the soccer team. Suddenly all was quite. Ventus opened his eyes slowly. Time had stopped around him.

"What's…What's going on?!" he screamed in a panic while searching for his answer. He walked around in the silence. It was strange, everything had stopped. The leaves were no longer rustling and the birds had stopped chirping. Every member of the soccer team stood there as if they were life sized dummies set up as a prank. Then, out of the left corner of his eye, he saw something moving.

"Wait!" he yelled as he chased after the moving object, uncertain if it was friend or foe. The object had dashed out of the school gates and was headed for the direction of his home. He chased the object as fast as he could while slowly covering up the distance between them. After chasing the mysterious animal across half the way home the strange black creature stopped in motion. To his amazement, it was nothing but a squirrel, but upon closer examination, the squirrel was different it was holding something.

"Hey little guy, did the time stop on you also?" he asked in a scared voice. This whole time freeze thing was beginning to get on his nerves and he certainly did not want to be alone for this. To his surprise, the squirrel, as if responding to his voice, suddenly started go glow in a harmonious angelic light. Ventus covered his eyes, clearly this light was too bright for him, but as soon as the light disappeared he could hear sounds again. He was now a few blocks away from school and really confused. He looked down at where the squirrel was standing but saw nothing except for a shining object.

"I wonder what this is," said Ventus as he bent down to pick it up, "it sure looks familiar." Suddenly he gasped. The object that lay in front of him was definitely the same thing he saw in his dreams. It was the exact same gold and silver necklace with a key-shaped attachment. "I must be having my dream again" he thought as he pinched himself to make sure. Nope, this was the real world and he had found something that he had thought would only exist in his dreams. Picking up the necklace and storing it inside his pocket he walked back home. Novia would just have to come find him at the usual spot later if she wanted to hear about his dream. Perhaps she would know what he should do with his latest discovery. With this thought in mind, he walked home slowly.