Chapter 8: The Return Home
Roxas, Adventure, Horror, and Fantasy went into the cave, away from the Storm Rider. Inside the cave was this glowing and spinning vortex. Coming out of the shadows was the Page Master.
"Well done, boy," said the Page Master.
As Adventure, Horror, and Fantasy bowed, Roxas clenched his fists.
"You," he said, "you're the one who did this to me!"
"Watch what you say," said Fantasy, "he's the Page Master!"
"I know who he is!" Roxas flung up his arms as he ranted on. "He put me through so much agony! I was nearly torn to shreds by a nasty beast, made a slave by a bunch of stinking pirates, and eaten! Got that? Eaten, by a big ugly Heartless! I've been tossed, squashed, and frightened beyond reason! I'm so pissed off right now."
"I understand," said the Page Master calmly. "Yet, how did you feel when you faced all of the obstacles?"
"I don't know," said Roxas with a groan. "I just want this to be over!"
"Look," the Page Master said, pointing to the vortex.
The first image in the vortex was the Beast, snarling and growling. The Beast morphed back into a human.
"You faced the deepest of evils," the man said softly.
The imaged morphed into Gepetto holding a harpoon.
"You looked Monstro right in the eye, boy," he said before morphing into Captain Barbosa and that nasty monkey.
"You've had nerves to take a stand," he said. Barbosa faded and the huge Storm Rider appeared, flapping its wings.
"What was that about?" asked Roxas.
"Think, boy, think!" said the Page Master. "If I had not sent you into the worlds of the pages, you would never learn to conquer your fears!"
"I guess you're right." Roxas shrugged. "Can I... uh.. we go home now?"
"Yes, come see the path you need to take to get back." The Page Master guided Roxas to the portal within the vortex.
"That's me!" said Roxas. He saw himself at the bottom of the vortex, lying unconscious on the floor.
"Go," said the Page Master, "and remember, the adventure starts with the turn of a page!"
Roxas, Horror, Fantasy, and Adventure jumped into the vortex. Everything was spinning as they were transported back to the normal world. Suddenly Roxas found himself lying on the floor with three books and library card scattered at his side. He got up and picked up the card and books as the strange librarian appeared.
"I see that you found yourself some books," the librarian wrapped in red bandages said, "but you can only check out two." He was about to take the horror book from the stack in Roxas's arms.
"Oh, I promised to take all three of them," said Roxas, suddenly sounding very weird.
"Okay," said the librarian, "just this once."
"Thanks," said Roxas. With the books gathered in his arms, he ran for the exit.
The storm had cleared up when Roxas left the library. On his way home, he saw the ramps where Seifer's gang had teased him earlier. Feeling the urge, Roxas picked up speed on his skateboard and jumped the ramp. At the end of the jump, he rolled his skateboard with a sigh of relief. Another fear conquered.
Later that night, Roxas decided to just sleep in his new treehouse with the books at his side. However, as he slept, the books came to life as they did in the worlds of the pages.
"Can we have some light?" asked Adventure.
"No problem," said Fantasy, lighting the lantern with her wand.
"He actually took all three of us," said Horror, "this is awesome!"
"You know," said Adventure, "I really would like a kiss."
As the scene went dark, there was a smack of a kiss and Adventure gagged.
"Not from you!" he shouted. "I meant from her!"
Complete!
Note: Yeah, it turned out very short, and it was rather dumb. Hey, someone had to make fun of the Page Master with the Kingdom Hearts cast. The characters fitted well with the places where I put them.
