It was still early when I arrived back at the castle and the grey area was practically deserted. Luxord sat alone on one of the sofas mumbling to himself as he shuffled a deck of cards back and forth. I sat down awkwardly opposite, twiddling my thumbs to try and pass the time. After a while Luxord looked up from his cards and turned towards me.
"Care to play a game?" he asked, tossing the cards up and down on his palm. I gave him a brief nod as the cards begun to hover in the air in front of me. "Catch the 0" he said, gesturing to the cards. I fixed my gaze on the card marked with the 0 as they turned round and began to shuffle. When they stopped I reached for the card on the far left, turning it round I gave a sign of relief as the 0 symbol came into view. I played several rounds, each time the cards shuffled quicker and quicker until I struggled to keep up.
I reached out once more; this time for the card in the centre as I turned it round I caught a glimpse of the large X across it. A cold sensation spread from the card and up my arm and my movement became slow. I was still as the stop spell took hold. "It'll wear off before long" I heard Luxord say before he collected the cards together and rested back down once more.
After a while I heard footsteps and Vexen's excitable voice "The heartless truly are remarkable, living things created from nothing but darkness. It's simply fascinating."
The footsteps drew closer behind me, "Hey" Demyx said placing his hand on my shoulder. When I didn't reply he waved his hands in front of my eyes, "uh Xeleste?" He came round the front of the sofa and realised what had happened.
"Luxord" I heard him say "what did you do?"
"We played a little game…. It'll wear off shortly."
"Did it not occur to you that someone with the power of animation, might not react too well to a stop spell!"
Out the corner of my eye I saw Luxord shuffle awkwardly in his seat as Demyx lifted me off of the sofa. He carried me carefully along the corridors and towards my room before placing me gently on my bed. My eyes were frozen towards the ceiling but I felt him clutch my hand as he lay down beside me.
I never thought it'd be possible to fall asleep with your eyes open and your knees frozen in mid-air, but it turns out you can. Despite everything, I was dreaming. I strolled along a busy street a little boy following close behind. He clutched the arm of a large teddy bear which I had made to skip happily alongside him. We stopped at a house, knocking twice on the wooden door knocker. The door was opened by a lady with long brown hair and a kind face. "Back so soon?" she said picking up the little boy and holding him in a tight embrace, pressing him against her flour covered apron. She turned to smile at me "You're just in time for fresh bread." I didn't get to taste the bread, at that moment I was dragged from the dream back to reality.