[02] Chi

2 am, where do I begin?

I was only half awake, that state where I was aware of the world around me but still within the realm of sleep.

Crying off my face again.

A very weird lintel to be laying in.

Silent sounds of-

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

I groaned,

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Turned over,

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Pulled my pillow over my head,

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

And finally hurled the phone-turned-alarm across the room.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Sighing heavily but effectively roused from dreamland, I reluctantly sat up. The throwing of the innocent device turned out to be worse than if I had just silenced the thing. It continued it's tirade of beeps as I stood before stretching, the satisfying POP of my tired joints helping to wake me further.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BE-

Finally silencing the infernal noise, I allowed my soft music to resume. After lightly setting the phone back on my desk, a sort of apology for launching it across the room so early in the morning, I looked around my room to survey the remaining damage. I left the window as it was, open and allowing a cooling breeze in. The window glass had been swept up, broken radio bits swept up, as well as a lamp that I had knocked over last night while cleaning was swept up, all into a triple bagged garbage bag that I was still worried would rip and cut the poor garbage man's hands.

Not letting yesterday's unrealistic events disrupt my daily routine, I went straight to my kitchen to start my first cup of coffee for the day. Textbooks, notebooks, and stray papers littered my small table, left out from my rush to finish my assignments at 2 am and then not even remotely put away due to my exhausted state. As my coffee brewed, I began said clean up, sliding my necessary books and notebooks into the messenger bag that had been lying discarded in a chair.

After sampling my coffee-flavoured sugar-milk, I made my way back to the bedroom to finish preparing for the day. The September humidity of central Arkansas called for nothing more than a pair of black shorts and one of my favourite fandom tanks, also black. With my purple dyed hair tied back, flip-flops in need of replacing on feet, coffee in hand, and bag tossed over shoulder, I head for class.

-+-X-+-

Back-to-back art classes over, I was done for the morning. And before I headed to my lone afternoon class and work study, it was time for lunch. I took a not-frequently-travelled route to my favourite on-campus site, which was, believe it or not, a coffee and bagel cafe. I slipped in my world-blocking earbuds and pressed the button that was second best at helping me escape the cramped reality of college life.

You make me feel invincible, earthquake powerful, just like a tidal wave...

Lip syncing along to my newest obsession, I made my way to the hazelnut vanilla coffee calling my name in the distance. I hadn't thought about the events from last night all of today, probably thanks to my packed schedule of art, art, art history, and some more art thrown in. But now my mind had time to wander.

You're my titanium, fight song, raise it up...

I just didn't wonder what I should be wondering. And that in itself made me wonder if this was really real or not. I knew logic in dreams was kind of thrown out the window, which would be the logical explanation of why I wasn't freaked out (as much as I should be) that characters from my favourite video game were walking around my world right now.

Last night had to have been an exhaustion-induced dream. The window broke from a freakishly strong wind. The giant Heartless was just a dark storm cloud passing by. I freaked out, bumped into the radio, and promptly fell unconscious and dreamed up the appearance of the two fictional boys. Then I awoke when my frail old neighbor nearly broke down the door.

Who can stop me tonight? I'm hard wired!

In my distracted state, I managed to trip on a crack in the sidewalk, which wasn't all that unusual for me, actually. I stumbled without falling, but still held out my hand to catch my balance. And as if the world was trying to spite me, I stared down at a pair of familiar, oversized shoes. I blinked, disbelief clear and thoughts muddled. I slowly looked up, not quite ready to see that my dream wasn't just a dream.

I first met teal-green eyes, staring hard with furrowed brows in a look of annoyance. I looked to the side, blue eyes in a stark contrast of an expression. Possibly-real Sora seemed to be trying to say something, but the music blasting into both my eardrums rendered me unable to understand. Probably-real Riku crossed his arms, his sudden impatience very apparent. I pulled my earbuds out, immediately bombarded with conversation.

"Hey, do you remember us from last night? We fought that Heartless that attacked you and really messed up your room. I'm glad to see you're alright. I never thought we'd meet again! Is this a school in this world? Do you-" Sora's barrage was cut off by a friendly shout.

"Belle~!" A high-pitched female voice called, its short owner trotting down the road toward us. My first thought was that I need to hide the boys standing before me. Then I realized, if this was just more hallucinations, it wouldn't matter. I turned, a half-forced smile emerging on my face.

"Ashley, hey!" I greeted, feigning cheeriness as I internally freaked out about my overactive imagination. My short friend, Ashley, reached where I stood, panting for breath as if she had just sprinted across the campus. Once she recovered enough breath, she punched my arm.

"You were going to go to lunch without me again, weren't you!" The small girl shouted accusingly while I rubbed my arm.

"No..." I laughed nervously, I really was about to go to lunch alone, something that had been a usual thing for me before.

"Belle, you can't do that anymore! You have me now!" The small girl pouted, crossing her arms to show her disappointment in my introverted ways.

"Your name is Belle? I know a Belle! She's from another world, though." Sora chimed in, causing a sinking in my stomach and an audible smack much like that of a facepalm. Ashley leaned around me to look at the two boys still standing behind me, affirming my fear that I wasn't just imagining right now and last night.

"Who are they?"

-+-X-+-

Song Lyric Credit (in order of usage): The Lonely - Christina Perri; Feel Invincible - Skillet

Chapter 2 here by popular demand! Sorry for the wait! ^^;;;

(I honestly really have no idea where this is going to go. Let's adventure together, shall we?)