Slightly earlier post considering I missed a week :D
Chapter 9: Strange Case Of Déjà Vu
"Tyler, Ariel. I'll be out for a little while." Tyler's mom announced from the doorway of the room the two girls were in. It was somewhat dim since the sky had darkened from the storm.
"Okay." Tyler responded, hearing the front door open and shut a little while later. She got up to make sure it was locked. Ariel shook her head.
"Your OCD." she laughed.
"Oh hush. Suppose she hadn't locked it and… and… some deranged guy came in with a wolf?" she asked.
They both got quiet. It was meant to be a joke, but there was something oddly serious about the statement. A clap of thunder made Tyler scream and dive to the ground. Both girls laughed once she recovered.
"Oh wow. Amazing. That was great!" Ariel said, doubled over with laughter.
The room they were in was once a garage and the glass that covered the opening was old. The wind outside picked up and blew through the cracks of the door.
"Okay, this is getting a little creepy. I want your mom to come back." Ariel said. Tyler nodded in agreement just as there was a knock at the front door.
Ariel and Tyler stared at the doorway, not daring to move towards the living room. Another knock came, louder this time.
"I'll go look okay?" Ariel said, leaving the room.
"Wait no!" Tyler said, running to follow. Ariel was already peering through the peephole when Tyler got to her. She turned around slowly.
"Um… no one's there." she said. "So, maybe it was the wind. A branch or something. Let's just go watch a movie."
Tyler hesitantly left the room. Passing by the window, she could have sworn she saw a very large dog sitting just on the other side.
"My imagination. It was my imagination. It was nothing." Tyler chanted to herself and went to find a movie for her and her best friend to watch.
Zexion could have had a heart attack with all that was happening at once. If Axel got killed by the light…
"Come on. Don't wanna 'get consumed by darkness.'" Axel said in a mocking voice.
"I do not sound like that." Zexion said, after getting through the hole. It was brighter now, only not blinding.
"Really? Did you hear yourself just now?" Axel teased.
"I will strangle you if you do not just keep walking." Zexion threatened. "Can't you not see anyway?" he snapped.
"I'll blame your outburst on hormones." Axel said smugly. "And actually, it's not as bright anymore. Kind of normal. Weird."
"Well good. The imaginary light won't kill you before I get to." Zexion said, walking forward. Axel smiled and followed after him.
Ariel walked slowly down a corridor that was pure white in color. She gently ran her hand along the wall, assuring that it was real. It looked far too clean to be real.
Maybe it was an asylum? All white walls. But why would she be there.
Her head jerked toward the sight of a red blur at the end of the hall. She suddenly had the urge to run, the feeling that she absolutely had to catch up to whatever- whoever it was.
She ran, faster than she ever remembered running. She ran to the end of the corridor and into a solid figure.
"Rex, what are you doing running around like that?" It was Axel. He held his hand out to help the girl up. Ariel took it and stood up, brushing herself off.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. Axel laughed.
"Me? You came outta thin air, babe."
Ariel felt her heart flutter when Axel said that.
"I.. uh… well…" the girl said, backing away. Axel reached his hand out to her.
"Come on." he said with a smile.
"I… I think I should go… um…"
The taller male grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer gently. He turned and led her down the corridor. Ariel didn't know what to say or do at the moment but she didn't feel threatened by Axel. Eventually curiosity got the better of her.
"Where are we anyway?" she asked finally. Axel stopped walking and looked back at her with his eyebrow furrowed. He tipped his head just slightly and answered with just as much confusion in his voice as his face portrayed.
"We're at home, Rex…"
Sora found himself back in The World That Never Was. He didn't know whether or not he should go back to the Castle.
He had been going in circles to find Riku, but he never once tried again with the Castle that he disappeared from. Something told him that wherever his friend was, that wasn't it.
He had also attempted to look for Kairi again and he doubted she'd be there. Sora refused to think the worst of where his friends were, but now he was getting desperate. Fear drove him away from the Castle as if some unknown truth would be hidden inside. He hated the feeling.
'It's time I try to overcome all of this.' Sora said in his head. 'If things are bad, I have to accept them. Simple as that.'
With a deep breath, Sora headed to the Castle with a hint of hesitation. He refused to look back this time.
Axel watched the back of Zexion's head as he walked along, lagging a bit. All the light was making him tired.
"It seems as though just on the other side of the dark portal, there are light portals." Zexion said.
"Yeah, and we're just as lost as we were in there. Do we need to rip a hole in the walls here too?" the redhead asked rhetorically, catching up to Zexion.
"Perhaps." Zexion responded, turning to look at Axel expectantly. Axel blinked back, slightly unnerved by the other's random full attention.
"What?" he asked. Zexion's face suddenly went way more blank than it had been before.
'Shit, did I blank out something he said?' Axel thought to himself.
"You're the one that could see the lights to create the opening in the dark portal so I expect you to be able to do the same here." Zexion said with a bite.
"Oh! See, I don't see anything here." Axel looked around a few times to make sure and nodded. "Yep, nothing. Maybe I can only see light."
Zexion rolled his eyes and summoned his Lexicon. He flipped through the pages and stopped somewhere in the middle of the book. His eyes darted across the page as he read whatever was written there and began to chant.
Axel shifted his feet, beginning to feel uncomfortable.
"Hey, are you putting a spell on me? Because that's a little harsh. I mean, the least you could do is warn me or something." he said, kicking at the ground idly. Zexion completely ignored him, never once breaking the chant.
Suddenly, everything around them shattered which startled Zexion into ending his chant and Axel to fall backwards. Shards of light started to rain down on them.
"Oops." Zexion whispered. Axel moved into the duck and cover position.
"What the hell did you do?" he yelled. Zexion concealed himself in the shadows and glancing over at Axel, blanketed him as well.
"I did a releasing spell… but I tried to turn it to work on us. And here we are." he responded, shrugging. If the shadows hadn't stopped him from being burned at the moment, he would have kicked Zexion in the throat.
"You could have killed-" Axel suddenly stopped talking as the light shower ended, leaving them in a darkened cave like area.
"Where are we?" Zexion asked in wonder, removing the shadows.
"You tell me!" Axel shouted, making an echo.
"Is someone there?" a voice called out.
The two boys looked at each other and quickly retreated into a darker corner of the room.
"Great, now we are going to look like criminals thanks to you." Zexion whispered.
"Me? You put as here!" Axel said in a shout/whisper mix.
"I thought of no such place!" Zexion shout/whispered back.
Soon, the two were arguing, paying no attention to the fact that someone had walked up to their hiding place.
"Is everything all right? What are you doing back here?" the man asked, causing the two boys to jump back.
"Um…" Axel started, stepping away from the wall. "I'm… lost?" he said. Zexion shook his head next to him.
"You're lost? In a parking garage?" the man asked with uncertainty.
"Parking gara- oh! Yes! Ahaha. Lost in this parking garage. Is this Earth?" he asked casually. The man got a peculiar look on his face and backed away.
"Is this a joke?" he asked.
"No sir. We are in pursuit of a world called "Earth." We are not sure if we have the right location." Zexion added, not bothering with an introduction.
"…I'm calling the cops." the man said, pulling out his cell phone.
"The what?" Axel asked.
"It's a nice group of people that will tell you if you're on Earth or not." the man said with a smile and turned around. Axel smiled back.
"Oh. Thanks then."
Axel turned to Zexion who was eyeing the man's back suspiciously.
"I think we should get away." Zexion said.
"Why?" Axel asked, "He's going to help us."
"I think he'd be able to tell us if this is Earth or not. I have some theories but we need to go. Now." Zexion said, grabbing the taller man's arm. Axel didn't question it any further and just went along with him. They walked silently until the man was out of sight.
"Hey! Where'd you two go?" he yelled.
Axel and Zexion simultaneously began to run without thinking about it. They got to an opening in the parking garage and stopped abruptly. Zexion ran into Axel who had gotten there a second before him before noticing why he stopped.
Everything looked… different.
The way the pathways were arranged. Grass and trees were everywhere. Buildings as far as the eye could see.
"Zexion…. I think we've found it."
