KH: This Dreamland

By Syn871

Characters:

Mab

Tai

Nobu

Dreaming of the stars up high

That speak to me in secret sighs

Drifting on a breeze

Only I can feel and hear...

Usually at lunch time, the cafeteria was crowded with loud and bustling students, searching for their friends and sharing the latest gossip. But this lunch on Thursday, it was nearly empty with a few people here and there lounging around. There was a miniature festival or fair going on outside in celebration of Halloween. The lunch ladies had left a while ago and so the building was left unsupervised. With everyone doing their own thing and minding their business, in corner of the room secluded from the rest of the world was a 14-year-old girl scribbling away in a black sketchbook.

Could it be the sacred wind

That's calling me to now begin

To walk into the dark

Carrying the light of tomorrow...?

"Stop moving, will you...?" she murmured to herself as she constantly looked back and forth from her paper to the boy outside the window. Apparently, she was drawing her crush. A long, black-haired boy casually leaned against the brick wall with his backpack next to his feet as he kept conversing with his buddies. Giving in, she slammed her pencil on the table and glared at her drawing so far which showed Owen, her crush, with a headless body.

"Would you care to explain what in the world that is?" came a familiar voice. She looked up and saw a blonde-haired friend of hers who had sat right across from her while dropping his bag on the floor. She grinned at him and laughed.

Without speaking, she slid her sketchbook across the table to him and he grabbed it to look at it closer. Raising an eyebrow at her, he searched the building for the source of her obvious interest. His eyes landed on Owen who was now quietly speaking on his cell phone. Slightly frowning, he looked back and forth from the papers he was holding to the talking Owen. Finally agreeing it was him with a coy smile; he looked back at her and whispered, "No way." With a toothy grin, she nodded vigorously along with a small blush.

Beating of the wings up high

Beyond the earth, beyond the sky

Come on, don't hesitate

Don't look back—we've got to go now...

"Yup, it's him. Oh, isn't he great?! He's just so glamorous!" she said animatedly with hearts in her eyes. Noting a bit of drool on the corner of her mouth, he simply rolled his eyes and handed back her picture-filled book.

But, you have to admit, Owen really is handsome! With those dark, brooding eyes and that dark mob of silky hair. She longed run her hands through it. But she doubted she'd ever have a chance with him. Not ever! Painfully, she returned to her drawing. Who would ever fall in love with a plain-looking girl like her with barely any fashion sense? It's not like she had the money.

"You're usually outside, what're you doing here?" he asked, roughly poking her forehead to get her attention. She didn't answer right then but merely glanced at him and sketched a few lines on her drawing so far as she hummed nonchalantly.

After a moment of ponder, she answered, "Well, supposedly, I'm working on a World Cultures project with my assigned partner but I doubt he's coming..." She paused for a moment to debate whether Owens head was too large or too small. Deciding it was dramatically big, she erased it in embarrassment. "I was gonna go outside with Jen and Rudy but I then I saw Owen and you know how I get when I'm excited. I gotta draw or daydream."

He laughed. He gazed at her with a cheerful grin on his face as she enthusiastically sketched a life-like drawing of her unrequited love. He had known her since sixth grade and still she remained absent-minded, dense, tends to think too much, and maybe a bit slow. He sweat-dropped at the last bit. He noticed her how her sketchbook was decorated by posters, stickers, postcards, drawings, and sketches of Riku from KH. He rolled his eyes to the ceiling. She was obsessed with that fictional emo guy.

"So, how did you find me?" she asked, the sound of lead feverishly brushing against paper echoing throughout the lunchroom.

"I didn't," he answered, resting his chin on his hand. "I came here to eat but the ladies are gone. But I saw you so I came to visit." He then glanced at his friend's crush who was silently staring at the schools comedians perform; clearly knowing he had a girlfriend already. He flicked his eyes at an oblivious girl he called his friend and chuckled to himself.

Hearing his low chuckle, she raised her gaze at him and looked at him as if he grew an extra head. "What's so funny?"

With a smile playing on his lips that said 'I-know-something-you-don't', he just stared back at her, teasing her with that taunting smile. She frowned at him, taken aback.

"What're you trying to say?" she inquired. He simply shook his head and turned his attention back to Owen.

"If it's about Owen already having a girl, I know. I know her and she's real nice to me. I feel bad that I'm crushing on her man." His all-knowing smirk faded away into that of annoyance. "Jen called me a back-stabber and somehow I feel that she's right. And Rudy told me this morning that Owen and his girl broke up. Can you believe it?! This is my chance!" He smacked his forehead at her stupidity.

Turning to look at her, he frowned at her, opposing her grin, and said, "It's not that easy! What if he's still not over it?! You can't just go up to him and ask him out right after his break-up!"

She eyed him with a blank look. "Do you honestly think I'm that stupid and dense?"

He gave her a surprised and questioning look. "Everything you just said," she began, "I know, okay? I have thought about it. Of course I'm not gonna' ask him out now. And besides, I'm way too shy and embarrassed."

Furrowing his eyebrows, he said, "Sorry, it's just that sometimes you're a bit careless." She nodded, fully agreeing. Now he regretted calling her dense and slow. She was actually pretty intelligent and quick-thinking. Just not at times like these. "And I know how much you like him. Although it's more like an obsession with the poor guy," he added the last part. She glared at him with an annoyed pout of her lips.

Don't fear,

You'll be safe from now on

Morning sky watching over all...

Almost out of nowhere, the bell rang, signaling the end of the first lunch hour. At the sound of it, she yelped and jumped, causing her to flail her arms like a dork, losing her balance, and in the end, gravity prevailed. She fell on her back with a thud with him watching the whole thing. He burst out laughing. He could imagine gravity in human form doing a victory dance.

Like the loyal companion he is, he stood from his seat and helped her up. He laughed when she had swirls in her eyes. She grinned embarrassedly and picked up her backpack as he sighed at her absent-mindedness.

She laughed nervously and nodded. "So, I'll see you?"

He grinned his toothy smile and nodded, "Yeah, tomorrow."

"Hey, hurry it up! Let's go!" The duo's attention snapped to the door and saw two girls waving at her to hurry it up. She waved back at enthusiastically jogged over to them and they left, leaving him with her sketchbook. He smirked evilly to himself and flipped through it.

"Interesting...," he whispered to himself. It was mostly filled with Riku, fantasy creatures, video game characters, Gaara, Owen, her girl friends, Naruto, Neji, her sisters, Riku, fairies, Owen, Orlando Bloom, her brothers, Sasuke, and did he mention Riku? And Owen? He laughed quietly to himself. He knew she tended to fall in love with guys who aren't even real. He found it odd she liked somebody solid like Owen.

Contentedly, he put it in his back pack and left for class. He'd give it to her tomorrow.

Deep inside so silently

My heart must beat

Deep inside of me

Memories flickering and shimmering on

Endlessly...

That night, she lay on her back, staring at her room's blue ceiling in her sleeping attire. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if Kingdom Hearts were real...?" she muttered to herself. "With Riku and the beaches of Destiny Islands... And with cute school uniforms... I would've loved to meet Cloud..." She laughed giddily and rolled to her side and grabbed her mp3 player from the night stand, and putting it on, she began surfing through the list of songs. Finally finding her preferred song, she clicked it and it began to play just as she left it the night before as her eyelids drooped closed.

Keeping close to the path,

Morning sky watching over all...

He turned off the TV and, with his hands behind his head; he laid back and gazed at the ceiling with a soft frown. Bored out of his mind, he absent-mindedly reached down and picked up his friend's sketchbook she had left behind.

One by one, he slowly journeyed through the smudged pages of creative and emotional drawing. The first one was like the opening curtain of a play which had her name in fancy letters. He continued turning the pages, once in a while pausing to stare at one. Then he came across a sketch of Riku himself staring straight at the viewer. There was something in his eyes that he couldn't quite put his finger on but it sort of resembled anger, frustration, maybe? Tilting his head to the side, he imagined it must be loneliness, confusion, or maybe they—he—were, was just... lost.

He turned the page and found himself staring at a young girl floating in mid-air. He eyed the background whereas it was just black and empty and her hair flowed like she was sleeping underwater. But the way she just floated like she had nothing worry about made him think.

Moving over endless mountains up so high

Walking to the light

Your heart will see the path

And you will find the way

Just wait and see...

"You really get the mood of your art, don't you...?" he murmured to himself. Sighing, he closed it, and setting it on the floor; he turned over and fell into a dreamless sleep although he never noticed his fingers slightly touching the sketchbook.

"But how can you still smile when you know your parents fight every night...?" he whispered, mostly to himself. But he knew her pain, not having parents giving you the attention you deserve. Sure her parents were there but yet they weren't there, you know? And his were long gone so it was kind of the same thing. At least she had her other seven brothers and sisters. His younger sister couldn't even talk yet.

He closed his eyes and what he saw was intoxicating. Grinning smugly, he shifted into a more comfortable position. A figure on fire was standing right in front of him and motioning for him to follow. But he shook his head. I'm tired... Sure, he might be on fire but it didn't burn him at all. All you could see was a black figurine of a boy smiling.

I want to go on an adventure, but... the stranger waved harder for him to follow, ignoring what he was saying. ...I feel as if I'm needed here... the fiery figure frowned and dissolved into silver dust and it was blown away by a sudden burst of wind. Later... He opened his eyes to find his aunt waving her hand in front of his face. He laughed.

A very small, but still visible, smile spread across her lips as the lyrics captivated her wild and running imagination. An image of a lone beach with a soft breeze playfully tugging on the palm trees as the water tide flowed with ease against the white sand... Laughter ringing in her own ears as she leaned against the window of a shop beside her friends... Swimming along with sea turtles in the sea where the waters fade from jade to blue and the feeling of fishes nibbling on your toes...

But it doesn't matter. That wasn't reality. She hated it, more than anything else in the world. She despised the word. Reality. More than anything, she wanted leave everything else behind and just dream. And worry about nothing. To be undisturbed and sleep for eternity. No, she didn't want death, but really just desired an immortal abyss to herself where anything and everything is possible. And just dream endlessly in a carefree bliss. Where she could dive into the deepest wonders of her own sea of mystery. Her own oblivion, living between the truth and the lies.

Moving over endless sky, so high

Tomorrow

We'll follow, when in doubt

Your promises today

Just wait and see...

And who knows, maybe—just maybe—she'll get what she always dreamed of... What she always wanted and her heart truly desired... And if she didn't, she wouldn't care, she still had a lot to do anyway. She had her friends with, didn't she...?