Stephen wakes with a start, breathing heavily. He glances around in the dark a few times before realizing he's not in an abandoned building or falling through a portal - he's in his room. He sighs, rubs his face. It's been a long time since he's had that dream. He used to have it all the time after coming to this town, and now with the boss' scheme nearly complete, he's having it more and more. He reaches over and turns the lamp on. His old eyes squint at the clock under the lamp and sees it's 1:43. He sighs, glances over at the tattered journal resting on his nightstand. It's too early to do anything, and those old pages don't have any more useful information. Not until he returns home.
Images from his dream replay in his mind, and he feels guilty for the umpteenth time in his life. He shouldn't have interrupted that spell; he should've known the faceless man was their friend. The activation is coming up, but he's not sure what they'll find on the other side. Those two girls counted on him, trusted him to find help on this side and return with an army.
But thanks to him, there might not even be anything to return to. He lays back down, closes his eyes, and rubs his face. "Vanellope. Kairi," he whispers. "I'm so sorry."
"Candy?"
He looks up from polishing the pure white kart to see her walking towards him in a simple blue dress with frosted adornments. She still looks radiant to him - but the look on her face makes him nervous. "Is everything alright, my love?" he says, getting to his feet and taking her hands.
The soft breeze blows her pale blue, white-streaked hair away from her face, the sunlight makes her dark blue eyes sparkle. She opens her mouth, but after a few failed tries at speech manages to breathe, "I have something to tell you."
"Yes, what is it?"
Again, she can't find the words to say, and instead breathes a chuckle and stares at the ground.
"Frostine, you know you can tell me anything," Candy says, holding both her hands in one of his while rubbing her pale cheek with his thumb.
She looks back up at him and whispers, "I'm pregnant."
He opens his eyes to a darkened room. His room. In the castle in Sugar Rush. Blinking a couple of times, he lifts a hand to his head. Who was that in his dream? "Frostine?" He'd never heard the name before.
And yet, it seems so familiar to him, makes his heart flutter and his cheeks warm.
Vanellope stirs right next to him. He turns his head to see her, but then she curls up, exhales, and settles back into a deep sleep. He smiles. Coming back from hanging out with Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun at Tapper's, she insisted that she sleep next to him tonight, to "make you feel better, Puffy-Pants." He chuckles at her nickname for him, reaching out and brushing black hair out of her face. My little vanilla bean.
His hand falters. "Vanilla bean?" How'd he come up with that nickname? He shrugs it off, retracting his hand and turning his head to stare up at the ceiling. Unlike the fungeon and the rest of the castle, his ceiling is pale cotton-candy blue. He used to find comfort staring up at the unique color before drifting off to sleep. He gazes at it now, replaying the dream with the woman -
The woman. Frostine. Her hair was the same exact color as his ceiling. Is this how she felt familiar? Her white-streaked, cotton-candy hair flowing in the wind as she tells him she's pregnant?
Candy's eyes widen. If Frostine said she was pregnant, and if he called her "my love," then that made her Vanellope's mother. But in his backstory, her mother died shortly after she was born. He has no memories of his wife other than she died. He must've just had a livid dream. Yes, that's it. He shifts onto his side, curling up and blankly staring at the wall. He probably had one too many root beers at Tapper's and had a livid dream because of it.
But why does his heart flutter every time he thinks of her?
"Kairi!"
She shoots up in bed, that scream echoing in her head. That was the scariest dream she's had so far. She wants to go to Sugar Rush to talk to Vanellope about it - but when she left her game earlier, she saw the raven-haired girl with her father and friends going into Tapper's. Not wanting to disturb them, she went back inside her own game, chatting with Belle and Aurora a little before returning to her room. Even though the game says she's from Destiny Islands, her room's in Hollow Bastion.
The images from her nightmare swirl around in her mind. She would feel better talking to someone about it - but who else is there to turn to? Vanellope's the only one who knows she has bizarre dreams. Maybe a glass of water would help. Huffing, she slides off her bed and steps out of her room. She heads down hall after hall and turns into the kitchen.
"Whoa!" Sora says, jumping back so as not to bump into her. "Sorry about that, Kairi."
"It's okay." She nudges past Sora to get inside the kitchen.
He notices she has a worried look on her face, and he frowns. "Hey, uh, are you doing okay?" he says, stepping back inside.
"Yeah, why?" Kairi focuses on getting the glass from the cupboard and water from the dispenser on the fridge.
Sora rubs the back of his head. "You just seem a bit...anxious."
That word brings back images from her dream, making her tense for a second. "I've just had a lot on my mind." She takes a long sip from her glass before turning to face him.
He always thought of Kairi as happy, cheerful, carefree - the look he saw in her blue eyes is anything but. He's never seen her this serious - except for that one time last month. "Is this about you not wanting to be the damsel-in-distress?" he asks. "'Cause we can always find a way to-"
"It's not that," she snaps, whirling around. She frowns. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out like that."
Sora walks over to her, and she looks away. "C'mon, Kairi," he says, laying a hand on her shoulder "You can talk to me."
How can he understand? she thinks. He's the hero; he's never been in a helpless situation.
He sighs through his nose when she remains silent, eyes averted. He squeezes her shoulder before letting go. "Well, if you ever wanna talk to someone, I'm always here for you." He turns and walks to the door.
"Someone wanted to kill me."
He whirls around and freezes, a look of shock on his face. Kairi's solemn gaze meets his. "In my dream, I was with my grandma, running away from someone. I can't remember the details, but I remember the person chasing us saying he wanted to kill us. My grandma pulled me along behind her as we ran over to someone wearing armor holding a strange gun in their hands. They shot into open space, and a portal appeared. The guy chasing us grabbed my wrist, keeping me from going with my grandma, but she fought him. He let me go, and I just ran to the portal. I turned around to wait for my grandma, but the guy had her pinned to the ground, holding something over her head. The armor-guy grabbed my arm and pulled me through the portal when she screamed my name. Then I woke up."
Neither say a word. Sora blinks a couple times before breathing, "What kind of...who-"
"I've been trying to figure that out," Kairi interrupts, staring at her water. "I wanted to talk to Vanellope about it, but..."
"You talk to Vanellope a lot." Sora's blue eyes widen in realization. "Do you ever talk about to her about dreams?"
She hesitates before nodding. "Mmhmm."
"How often do-"
He shuts his mouth and they both freeze when they hear that familiar boing boing. "Hoo hoo hoo hoo!" Tigger bounces into the kitchen. "There you are, Sora!" he says with a lisp. He tackles the boy to the ground and cheerfully growls. "Whatcha doin', ol' chum?"
"Being a lazy bum," Kairi says with a smirk.
Sora grins at seeing Kairi back to her old self - sort of. He folds his hands behind his head. "I'm just chillin'."
"Without your good friend Tigger?" The tiger presses his huge, pink nose to Sora's.
Kairi finishes her water. "I'll leave you two friends, then," she says, stepping around them.
"Aw, dontcha wanna play, too?" Tigger turns to her, his mouth turned down in a frown, his eyes big and watery.
"Yeah, c'mon, Kairi," Sora adds. "This'll take your mind off that bad dream you had."
She turns away from them, allows her smile to fall. "Not this time, but maybe tomorrow?"
"Sure! Hoo hoo hoo!"
She feels Sora watching her as she steps into the hallway and walks away from the kitchen. She thinks it's sweet of him to care, but she doesn't want him involved in this. She and Vanellope want to figure this out on their own.
Besides, how would he handle knowing the armored guy in her dream looked like a brown-haired Xehanort?
A/N: Hope you guys like it so far! Hannah will come back in the next chapter to say goodbye to the arcadians - but don't worry, the story's not over yet. Hannah's too important a character, and the plot's just starting to thicken.
Last chapter's phrase was kinda tricky, and I'm sorry about that. It was "racer and ruler." This chapter's phrase should be easier: it's the name of someone from Candy Land. Good luck, and happy reading! :)
Oh, and Happy Halloween!