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Disclaimer:I own a spork!... Actually, I don't.
Chapter Four: Dream come True
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(A/N: Third Person) "Okay," Hamtaro announced to the gathered crowd of murmuring hamsters, "We are going to look for Panda. Boss, Howdy and Stan can look in the acorn grove by the church. Oxnard, Cappy, Maxwell, Dexter and I will look in the apple orchard by Panda's house. Pashmina, Penelope, Sandy, Bijou and Keona can look around this area. Meet back in a half-hour!" He finished loudly.
The hamsters broke away into their respective groups and talked uneasily to eachother. Keona was about to set off after the girls when something very suddenly held her back. She looked around. All he hamsters were near the doorway. She realized that whatever was holding her back wasn't physical; it was her heart. Her heart was very clearly saying "Stop. DO NOT go anywhere."
Keona blinked. Why would she stay here? What could there be gained by remaining in the clubhouse? She knew not why, but she decided to stay. Thinking quickly, she pretended to hang in the back, unnoticed by the others. At lasy, the Ham-Hams had all filed out the door and had begun to proceed down the dark, musty tunnel. She looked around. She was completely alone.
What was there to do now? Her heart had always led her rightly before, but she had no idea what she should do. However, almost immidiately, her question was answered.
"Keona!... Keona! Over here!" A voice called to her from somewhere nearby, but where? She looked around frantically; nobody.
"Up here!" Cried the voice urgently. Very slowly, Keona looked up. There was Panda, in his secret entrance, leaning in and calling to her. "P-Panda! W...what are you doing here? They all went out to look-"
"I know," he interrupted quietly. "I had to make them think I was in trouble. But look-" He gestured behind him, outside in the quiet forest. "I need you to come up here. There's something I have to show you."
Keona was shocked, but went without question. She ran over to the ladder and climbed. When she reached the top, she lingered, gazing into Panda's eyes. "Panda..." she whispered. "I... I'm so s-" He reached out a paw and silenced her. Shaking his head, he said, "Later." Keona looked up at him with- could it be?... yes - fear. Panda was amazed. "Are you afraid?" His tone was not mocking, but concerned.
"Please, let me apologize... I..." Her guilt was tormenting her, Panda could tell. She wasn't afraid of Panda, but of the concept of him hating her. Panda bit his lip. "You don't need to worry about it, Keona! I shouldn't have done what I did... no hard feelings, okay?" He smiled kindly. Then he took her paw in his and pulled her up into the shining light. She didn't look around, but continued looking at Panda.
She clasped his paw in both of hers and whispered, "What is it about you, Panda? You seem so familiar, almost like an extension of my very dreams..." He smiled at her and she nearly collapsed. She was in love with him. Neither of them moved for a few seconds. Suddenly, Panda freed his hand from Keona's grasped and, with it, gestured toward a small clearing in the forest. She looked and almost fainted.
Set up in the clearing were dozens of materials and paints, wood pieces, nails, glue... every imaginable material for the building of a miniature world. After rushing over and searching through the collection, she looked questioningly at Panda, who merely smiled. Suddenly it dawned on her.
"P-Panda? It was you? All those years ago?" Panda didn't reply. Instead, he said quietly, "Could you go get your locket? I'd like to see it." She darted back inside without question and was back in thirty seconds, with the golden necklace clutched in her paw.
He silently beckoned to her, and she followed him to a tree on the far side of the materials. Leaning against it was a golden circular frame, much like Keona's locket. Picking it up, he looked to her once more. Keona was getting tense.
He held it up next to her locket and Keona almost dropped it. Inside Panda's frame was a picture of a girl about twelve with a hamster in her hand. The hamster was Panda and the girl was the same as in Keona's picture, Mina.
The hamsters fell into eachothers arms. They were reunited at last. "I've missed you so much... I've been wandering the city for two years..." Panda looked shocked. "You have? All alone? Oh no..." he looked seriously concerned.
She smiled, the tears falling freely down her face. "No, I was okay. I had lots of adventures... buit where have you been all these years? What happened with the owl?"
Panda's face was clouded by the unnerving memory. "When you fell, I tried to follow, but the owl wasn't going to lose both of us. I could only get away when the owl landed me in her nest and was preparing to eat me. As quick as possible, I jumped out. When I hit the ground, I tried hard not to pass out. I ran as quick as I could, hid behind a tree. That part's blurry, I was almost unconscious. Somehow I got away. Then Mimi found me. She's my owner now. She's had me for the last two years. Luckily, I was able to hang on to my picture, just as you were," he finished, holding up his picture slightly.
"Panda," she sobbed, hugging him tightly. "I can't believe what happened, it's made my nightmares unbearable. And-" Panda shushed her again.
"That's not what's important now. We're together! And as for these," He smiled, pointing at the materials, "When I saw your locket the other night, I remembered. I also remembered how you told me once that your dream was to design and build your own city, your own world."
Keona stared at him in disbelief. "You remember...? Even after all those years?" Panda nodded and she collapsed into sobbing again.
"People always made fun of me. They thought it was a stupid dream, that I could never do it," she whimpered. Panda looked sadder than ever, but at the same time joyous. "I know. But it's not stupid to want to create a world all your own... more people have that dream than you think. Besides, this-" he added, glancing at the clearing, "Is only the beginning. I've become something of a carpenter and it would mean more than anything to me if I could help you build it."
Keona gave him a very genuine smile and murmured, "Of course! You are my best friend, and I could never deny you what you want." "What about what you want?" Panda said quietly, avoiding her gaze. Did Keona love him? He didn't know.
Keona gently lifted his face so they were gazing into each other's eyes. "Panda, haven't you figured it out yet? You mean the world to me. I... I love you!" Then, throwing caution to the wind, she kissed him passionately on his lips. Surprised, Panda broke away. "You do? I don't know what to say... except that... I love you too! I always have. When you left, my life was worthless, but now- now, I'm truly happy again! I missed you so much, and Keona, I love you!"
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Three months later, Keona and Panda called a meeting among the Ham-Hams. "We have something to show all of you," smiled Keona. "Panda and I have been working on this for the past three months, and now it's finished." Panda took hold of a rope attached to a crimson curtain he had fashioned the day before. With a flourish, he pulled it.
Behind the curtain lay a gorgeous shining city, cars speeding along the highway and at the same time paused in stillness for an eternity. Trees towered over plastic people, and buildings creatively designed filled spaces in between the redwoods. The hamsters let out a simultaneous gasp as they took in the percieved beauty.
The city was small enough to keep in the club house, but big enough to walk among the buildings and lights. As the Ham-Hams examined it excitedly, Keona and Panda hugged passionately and retreated to watch the reaction to Keona's world. She laid her head on Panda's shoulder as they watched. They were together at last, forevermore. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~