Chapter twenty, OH MY GOD!

Also known as my repentance. :P

But holy hell, I'm actually here! I'll probably saying this like every ten chapters, but I seriously did not think I'd ever reach this point with this story. It's . . . euphoric. Feels good!

So, this chapter is also very short. I felt that, after the absolute monster that was the last one, everyone could use a breather. Which is kinda why this is getting updated so quickly.

So here you go. :)

Also, thanks to all your encouraging reviews. It does this girl's heart well.

Love you! X3

Obligatory Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Catharsis

"And remember, don't let your focus break for anything!"

I listened to Donald's instruction from afar, eyes never leaving the virtual practice dummy sitting innocuously about fifteen feet away from me. Hands clasped firmly on Dawnstar's hilt, I took a deep breath and focused magic into the blade, only this time, I slowly, carefully separated the coil of energy into several individual strands that jolted and twitched within my mental grip. Every erratic thread ached to fly off on it's own, wild and untamed, but my hold was like iron and I refused to give it quarter. Breathing out, I opened my eyes and watched as small, incandescent yellow sparks flashed along the edges of my Keyblade.

"Okay, now hold it," I heard Donald say, filtering the words in subconsciously as I struggled to maintain the threads. The sparks wavered fitfully, and I gritted my teeth as I fought to keep them steady.

"Now!" Donald cried.

Quickly, I pointed Dawnstar towards the sky, releasing the copious energy within as a six writhing cords of electricity lanced down from the darkening sky and struck the ground around the dummy in instantaneous succession. One hit the dummy, which lit up like a bulb for a brief second before fading back to normal. The sky returned to normal as the spell ended, and I rested Dawnstar on my shoulder as I allowed a pleased smile to cross my lips.

"So? Good enough yet?" I asked, tapping Dawnstar up and down as I waited for the duck's verdict.

"Hm . . ." Donald hummed, hand pressed to the underside of his bill, "You still need to work on your control, but you're getting better."

"What?!" I asked in disbelief. Pointing the dummy, I shouted, "But I did have it under control! I even hit the dummy!"

"But some of them almost went off in the other direction," Donald said, crossing his arms and giving me a flat look.

I groaned as I let arm fall back to my side, Dawnstar's tip lightly grazing the ground as I insisted, "Ugh, it was just 'almost'. I still had it under control."

"But you almost lost control, too," Donald stated, refusing to bend, "And that's bad news in a fight!"

Silence fell between us as we stared each other down, neither side relinquishing their argument. Then I gave the duck a wily smirk and, quicker than Donald could react, I twitched Dawnstar up so the tip just barely poked through the feathers coating Donald's arm, grazing the skin. There was a flicker as several thin threads of twitchy golden light arced up and down the length of the Keyblade, and then the excess electricity transferred over with a loud, satisfying zap!

"WAAACK!" Donald yelped, hopping away from me as he frantically patted at his arm to alleviate the sting. Bracing Dawnstar against my shoulder again, I covered my mouth with my free hand to stifle the laugh that bubbled up from within, feeling mirth as Donald continued to blow on the spot I'd zapped him at. Childish? Yes. Gratifying? Oh, so very much.

He sent a biting look my way, steam practically coming out of his ears as he waved his arms over his head and shouted, "What was that for?!"
His cross indignation only made it harder to keep my laughter back, and unbidden chuckles finally managed to work their way out as I failed to keep them contained. Donald's eyes narrowed angrily, obviously not very pleased with my unrepentant display.

Then his eyes flashed deviously, and suddenly the arm holding his staff was lashing out like a snake, the very tip tapping lightly against the skin of my arm. A spurt of electricity ran around the head of the staff before shooting off the tip, and I felt the muscles in my arm involuntarily contract as a sharp, stinging pain lanced up my arm.

Zap!

"OUCH!" I yelled as I reflexively jerked away, shaking my arm out in an effort to relax the muscles and relieve the pain. This time it was Donald's turn to laugh, giggling almost maniacally as he doubled over in hysterics.

"Yeah, yeah, funny funny ha-ha," I muttered venomously, glaring. Okay, so maybe I kind of deserved that, but I sure as hell wasn't going to be the first to admit it.

"What are you guys doing?"

I glanced over to see that Sora had paused in his own magic practice to stare at us, eyebrow quirked in puzzlement but smiling in amusement all the same. I stared right back, tone flat as I said, "Practicing."

"Uh huh," he replied in disbelief, leaning on his Keyblade as if it were a cane, "Sure."

Donald crossed his arms, thumbing in my direction, "She started it."

"And I'll finish it," I said with a cocky smile, resting Dawnstar against my shoulder (having displaced it in the scuffle from five seconds ago) while placing my other hand against my hip, "With my new lightning trick."

Donald scoffed, "If you can control it."

I waved a dismissive hand at him, "Hey, I'm not worried. Besides, I'm pretty sure I'll get way better if I have an actual moving target," I gave him a telling look, smirking almost dangerously and leaving no room for argument as to who I was referring to.

Donald was all to happy to accept the challenge, tapping his staff against his open palm as he dared, "Bring it!"

Sora, looking between the two of us and realizing we were serious, held up his free hand, asking, "Uh, can I leave first?"

"Nah, we need a ref!" I said, glancing his way with a scheming glint in my eye, "You don't mind, do you, Sora?"

Sora eyes flashed to where the exit would have otherwise been, "Uh-"

Donald cut him off, nodding, "Yeah, you can tell us whose the better magician!"

"But-"

"Ah, I knew you wouldn't mind!" I said, smiling wickedly, "Really, you're such a good friend."

Sora's shoulders sagged, "I hate you . . ."

But then, the ground beneath my feet gave a sudden and violent lurch that sent all three of us stumbling to the left, and the illusion around us crackled and shifted between arena and training room and back again before stabilizing itself. Catching myself and now on high alert, I looked to the other two, "What was that?"

"I don't know!" Sora replied, face white and filled with worry.

"Let's get to the cockpit!" Donald shouted, already running for the door.

I had only taken one step to follow when the room (no, I realized, the entire ship) lurched again, even more violently than before and throwing us all unceremoniously to the floor. The sparse arena we were in jolted and blurred into indistinct lines of black and white static when it abruptly shut down with a dry crack, drenching the room in a darkness so deep I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. A few seconds of breathless silence followed, rife with anticipation, when a low hum echoed throughout the ship and a few dim lights recessed into the walls flickered on, casting the room with a muted orange glow. It wasn't the brightest, and much of the room was still cast in shadow, making it seem far smaller and more menacing than was normal. But at least I could see where I was in relation to other things, and where the others were too.

Sora was back on his feet in an instant, running over to the door and pressing the switch on the side in order to open it.

It remained sealed.

"Come on, come on . . ." Sora whispered as he pressed the switch over and over again with no success, the rapid clicking sounding impossibly loud in the silent room.

Coming over to his side, I leaned down and dug the tips of my fingers into the small crevice beneath the door before trying to lift the door up myself, grunting as my muscles heaved with exertion. Unsurprisingly, the door did not budge.

With a sharp exhale, I let go and stood back up, frowning, "Well . . . shit."

Donald, seeing that the door was not working, turned and ran to the control booth and began to fiddle with the buttons in frantic haste. The orange bulb overhead bathed the tubular receptacle with light, unquestionably the brightest spot in the room right now, and the control panel still hummed with life currently present nowhere else. I cast an uneasy glance at the shadows that ringed the training room, the dark gloom and weak lighting feeling far to horror-esque for my taste.

"Donald to Engineering!" he squawked, tapping the microphone, "Engineering, come in!"

There was a blurb of sharp, warbling static, and we held in an apprehensive breath as we waited for what felt like an eternity, but in reality could have been no more than a few seconds. Then, for just a brief moment, a small, high-pitched voice broke through the haze, ". . . -onald!- . . ."

Bolstered by this, Donald hit the button and replied, "Chip, can you hear me? What's going on?"

Static. Then, clearer this time, "-arely! Something hi- . . . of the ship! We'r- . . . fix . . . now!"

Another, deeper voice interjected, though Dale's words were still harshly butchered by the static, "We'll fi- . . . thing in a jiff- . . . sit tight!"

The static reached a fever pitch as it escalated to a frenetic jumble of broken and distorted relays, when it fizzled once and then shut down completely. Silence fell over us, thick and uneasy, when Sora finally spoke in an effort to lighten the mood, "Well . . . at least Chip and Dale are on it. They'll fix things in no time!"

"Yeah, but exactly how long is 'no time'? We don't know how badly the ship's been damaged, though I can hazard a guess that's not just a little scratch," I stated, being my usual pessimistic self. Crossing my arms, I added, "And what about Mari and Goofy?"

"I'm sure they're fine," Sora said, "I mean, it wasn't like it shook us up too bad!"

"The back-up generator's on too!" Donald added, "So we're not completely without power."

"We're without enough that we can't open the door," I said, rapping my knuckles against the steel, bracelet jingling around my wrist. Neither Donald or Sora said anything, and I leaned back and sighed, "So, what do we do?"

"There's not a lot we can do until Chip and Dale find a way to fix whatever's gone wrong with the ship," Sora said somberly. Looking the door over, finger pressed against his chin, he said, "I guess we could try opening the doors by hand, but . . ."

"It's a little on the heavy side," I cut in, "We'll probably just end up hurting ourselves."

With a groan, Donald slid down the wall and flopped onto his rear, "Aw, phooey."

Time passed after that. How much exactly I could not know, what with the definite lack of clocks, but to me it felt like way too much. Sora and I had tried to get the door working again, but with our engineering skills being less than sub-par, we didn't get very far in that endeavor. Donald, in the meantime, had tried to get communications up and running again, but he, too, failed miserably.

Eventually, it became an indisputable fact that all we could do was wait. And wait we did.

For a long time.

I fingered the bracelet around my wrist, running my fingers over the plate and trying to take my mind off of just how dark and cold it was in here. Dimly, I realized that sitting with my back pressed up against a chilly metal wall probably wasn't helping matters, but alas, I felt too lethargic to move. Sometimes, the lights would flicker overhead, while other times, I would occasionally hear the eerie groan of creaking metal, the sound far away and ghostlike in the silence.

The dark was starting to weigh on all of us, I could tell. Several times, we'd tried to strike up conversation, but we'd quickly lapse back into silence as we became caught up in our own thoughts. It was like the stillness didn't want to be broken, so it would find ways of dissuading us from talking. In the back of my mind, I wondered if that was a bad thing.

Too distract himself, Sora had taken to messing around with the console, providing a soft whir of background noise to listen to while Donald had chosen a simpler method of passing the time; he fell asleep. I remained within my own mind, choosing instead to let the time roll over me like water as I meandered from one train of thought to the next. Strangely, after a time, the steady thrum of beeps and clicks began to form a steady beat in my mind, though whether I was imagining it or not could be debated with equal merit. Eventually, that beat began to form a familiar tune I'd heard a long time ago, back in simpler, more innocent days. It awoke a feeling of nostalgia in me, as well as a longing for a time well beyond my reach. Caught up as I was in those memories, I felt myself start to . . . fade out of my current now, distancing myself from the real and immersing myself in the illusory. Disjointed as I was from reality right then, I guess I shouldn't have been too surprised that I forgot that there were other people in the room with me, but I'd still kick myself for it later.

But right then, all I was aware of was the tune playing in my head. And, against my better judgment, I opened my mouth and started to sing, "Life's to short to even care at all, oh. I'm losing my mind, losing my mind, losing con-trol, oh, oh. These fishes in the sea, they're staring at me, oh oh, oh, oh oh, oh! A wet world aches for a beat of a drum, oh . . ."

Leaning my head back against the wall, I closed my eyes and let the music take me, "If I could find, a way, to see this straight, I'd run a-way, to some fortune that I, I! Should have found, by now! I'm waiting for this, cough syrup, to come down, come down . . ."

"Life's to short to even care at all, oh, oh. I'm coming up now, coming up now out of the, blue, oh oh, oh oh," I carried on, oblivious to all, "These zombies in the park, they're looking for my heart! Oh oh, oh, oh oh. A dark world aches for the splash of the sun, oh, oh . . ."

"If I could find a way, to see this straight, I'd run a-way, to some fortune that I, I! Should have found, by now," voice rising higher, stronger, I sang on, "And so I run now to the things they said could restore me! Restore life, the way it should be! I'm waiting for this cough syrup to come down . . ."

"Life's too short to even care at all, oh oh. I'm losing my mind, losing my mind, losing control . . ." I fell into a brief lull of silence, allowing the music to play out in full inside my head before carrying on, my voice soft and slow, "If I could find a way, to see this straight, I'd run away . . ."

Then my voice rose once more, strong and fast, "To some fortune that I, I! Should have found, by now! And so I run now to the things they said could restore me! Restore life the way it should be! I'm waiting for this cough syrup! To come down!"

"One more spoon of cough syrup now, whoa," I sang softly as the music began to fade, "One more spoon of cough syrup now, whoa . . . oh."

As soon as my song ended, the quiet returned, only this time it felt lighter than it had before. Freer. With a contented sigh, I opened my eyes . . .

And felt my limbs freeze and my cheeks heat up when I saw two pairs of eyes staring at me with open wonder. Oh, fuck-!

"Don't you say a word," I snapped when I saw Sora open his mouth.

The boy raised an eyebrow, "Why? I was just gonna say you're really-"

"Stop it!" I cut in again, for once thankful for the darkness since it did an admirable job of covering up my reddening cheeks.

Donald, who I guess had woken up somewhere in the midst of my performance (god, why had I been so stupid?), asked, "Why don't you like singing in front of people?"

"Yeah, you're a good singer!" Sora insisted, much to my mortification.

I pressed my forehead against my knees, "It's not a talent I like advertising, alright? Can we just leave it at that?"

A somewhat awkward silence did follow after that, when Sora finally asked, "So . . . where'd you learn the song?"

"That's not exactly 'leaving it', Sora," I said, looking up to give him a deadpan stare. Then, I sighed and acceded to his inquiry, voice soft as I ran my fingers over the links of my bracelet, "My mom used to sing it a lot when I was little. A long time ago."

"She did?" Donald asked, and a newfound curiosity appeared in his eyes.

"Yeah . . ." I answered, nodding.

Sora, elbows braced against the panel and head resting in his hand, unconsciously leaned forward as his curiosity overcame his restraint, "What's your mom like?"

"Huh?" I questioned.

"Your mom," he repeated, "I was just wondering what she's like. You . . . never really talk about her."

"Ha, well, I guess that's true," I admitted, eyes falling back to the bracelet. My mom . . . aside from the moment she left, I'd never really taken the time to think back to the days before that. It was just too . . . painful, I guess. Would it be bad if I talked about it now? I could remain silent, if I so chose. They couldn't force me to talk about something I didn't want to talk about. But . . . why exactly should I hide the simpler things. I didn't have to delve into the painstaking and grueling details about the more recent past, but . . . the little things should be alright. Right?

My rumination was cut short when I heard Sora ask, "Hikari?"

Blinking, I sat upright and exhaled, "Right, well, I guess a can talk a little about it. I mean, what I remember."

Both Donald and Sora were immediately attentive, eager to know more, and I couldn't help but smile at their childlike enthusiasm. So, slowly at first but then more energetically as we continued, I began to recount stories, little traditions I remembered from long ago. Like how we used to go to lunch every Friday afternoon at a cute little cafe close to mom's work, or how we'd walk around town for hours before stopping to get ice-cream at a little parlor before heading home. Little things . . . baking cookies, reading books that would change as we both grew older, practicing swordplay (my mom was quite the devotee of the sport), and just listening to her sing. My mom had never had the shy streak I had, and loved singing openly, for all to hear. Whether it was before an audience of two or twenty or two hundred, it had never mattered to her.

Relieving these memories was something I had done in the past, seldom though it was. Most days, I didn't want to dwell on it, because the remembrance of those times that seemed so far away had always been an experience of many different, conflicting sentiments; longing for those days again, bitterness that they'd been stolen, anger over the fact that I was never given a reason why, and finally-and most surprisingly-hope that maybe one day those days would return. Hope I always thought was naive and foolish, because there was never a guarantee that they would return.

But . . . actually speaking them aloud, hearing the words from my own lips, was . . . different, to say the least. And talking about them made me realize; memories like these . . . most would cast them away and discard them without a second thought, taking them for granted in light of the assumption that they would happen again soon. It made my own suddenly seem far more precious to me now than they ever had before. Twice, I nearly stumbled over my words as a particular memory would make my throat tighten, chest constricting almost painfully as my heart thudded within the suddenly stiff confines, and I would have to quickly lower my head so the two in front of me couldn't see the water pearling in the corners of my eyes. Neither memory were of great report or special prominence; one was a memory of my mom singing me to sleep while the other was of a time she comforted me after scraping my knee in a fall. But something about the sweet, simple nature of their existence, coupled by the fact that I had once taken such things for granted as well . . . it made my heart hurt.

But it wasn't a bad sort of hurt. Not at all.

It was cathartic. It felt good.

"What about your dad?" Sora asked at one point, and Donald nodded, intrigued to learn the answer.

I sighed, running my hand through my hair as I said, "I, um . . . never really knew him. Like, ever. The only things I really know are the things my mom told me, like how I get my swordsmanship skills from him, or when I'd get angry, how I'd do this weird squint with my eyebrows."

"Oh, you do do that when you get mad," Donald commented.

"But other than that . . ." I said, ignoring the duck, "I don't know."

"Oh . . ." Sora mumbled, awkwardly rubbing the back of his head, "Sorry."

I shrugged, "It doesn't really bother me that much. I mean, sure, I wonder who he is and what he's like from time to time, but I had my mom, and that was enough for me."

Leaning back against the wall and shivering as the cool metal pressed against my bare skin, I said soberly, "Though lately, I've been wondering if I really knew her as well as I thought I did. All this stuff with Heartless and Nobodies and knowing she's somehow involved in it . . . it makes a girl wonder, you know?"

Sora and Donald shared a quick look before turning back to me, when Sora said, "Hey, don't worry about it. Like I said, we'll help you figure this out."

"Yeah! We said we would, after all," Donald added, smiling.

I allowed myself a smile, "Hm. I guess you did, huh?"

Sitting up, I gave a pointed look Sora's way, saying, "You know, I just realized something. You know all this stuff about me, but I don't know that much about you."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Sora asked, tilting his head to one side.

"I mean what your life used to be like before all this," I explained, "On the islands with Riku and Kairi. Care to tell me some stories about them? It's only fair."

"Oh, right," Sora said, looking down to his hands. After a moment of silence, he idly scratched the side of his nose and let out an awkward chuckle, "You know, I'm not sure where to start. There's a lot of memories I have, and there's so much I could tell you it would take days to say it all!"

"Just talk about your favorites then," I urged, "The ones that make you happiest."

"My favorites? Well . . ." Sora went on to go into many detailed reiterations of his life. All the days he spent on the little island off the coast (in his own words, he practically lived there), competing and getting into trouble with his best friend Riku as Kairi would cheer both of them on from afar. Compounded onto this, I also got to learn a little more about Riku and Kairi, both of whom were clearly very dear to Sora. Who they were, what they were like, what drove them on; information that all culminated into a small, but solid understanding of the characters who played a strange yet crucial role in the story I'd found myself in. Many times, Sora would trail off as his eyes clouded over with memory, face full of nothing but tender fondness for the people closest to his heart. There was one particular instance where he was telling the story of how he and his friends had planned on building a raft to go out and see the world when he his words suddenly became hitched and he choked up, having to take a moment to recompose himself before continuing. At Donald's concerned probing, Sora merely waved him off and smiled, but there was a gleam in his eyes that I both saw and understood. It was then I knew not to worry.

This was Sora's own catharsis. Something he no doubt needed as well.

"-and then Wakka dropped the ball into the ocean, and we never found it again. To this day, Whilhelm is still floating out there somewhere, lost in the great blue beyond," Sora finished with a smile.

I chuckled, "My, how tragic."

"It was," Sora said, face one of utter seriousness, "Tidus and Selphie were both very upset."

He held the expression for a moment before it dissolved into one of mirthful laughter, one Donald and I had no problem joining into. Once everyone settled down, I glanced at Donald, "And what about you, Donald? Any interesting stories to tell us?"

"Um, well . . ." Donald stalled as he rubbed the back of his head.

Grinning mischievously, Sora leaned forward and supplied, "What about Daisy?"

"Wack!" Donald yelled, jumping to his feet and looking, for lack of a better word, embarrassed, "Sora, be quiet!"

"Who's Daisy?" I asked, interested in both the name and Donald's reaction to it.

"Donald's girlfriend," Sora said simply, still smiling.

My eyes widened, "Really?"

"Mhm!" Sora nodded, smiling impishly even though Donald looked ready to punch us both in the face.

"Oh, do tell," I said, looking the inflamed duck's way with a devious smirk.

Donald huffed and crossed his arms, "I don't have to say anything!"

"Aw, come on Donald," Sora pleaded, though the teasing smile was a dead giveaway to his real feelings.

"Yeah, don't be a spoilsport," I added, waving a rebuking finger at him, "Everyone has to add at least one story to this circle, no exceptions."

Donald turned away from us, "Hmph! No."

"Stubborn duck . . ." I grumbled, when I caught Sora's eye. A same, strange wavelength seemed to flow between us, and I looked back at Donald as Sora quietly rose from his seat.

"Well, if you want to be that way, then I guess there's only one thing we can do," I stated as Sora began to creep closer to the oblivious duck, "Punishment."

"Punishment?" Donald asked, and he whirled around as his muscles tensed in preparation for an attack.

But then, right as Sora was about to dive-tackle the duck to the ground, another rumble shook the hull of the ship, the floor vibrating beneath my hands as if it had come alive. I cast the two a startled look, feeling trepidation over what could possibly be happening now. Then, much to my heart's elation and my eyes' pain, illumination suddenly flooded the training room as the real lights turned back on. Blinking back tears, I stood up as I heard the familiar, distant growl of the engines, and I smiled when I realized what had just happened.

The power was back!

"Alright, Chip and Dale did it!" Donald shouted in delight, jumping up and down.

"I told you they would!" Sora reminded us, grinning from ear to ear.

"Sure took their time, though," I quipped teasingly, though I didn't bother hiding my relieved smile, "Now let's get out of here and see how our resident goofballs are holding up!"

"Yeah!/Right!" Both shouted in tandem, spirits having risen dramatically since the power's return.

"Also!" I added briskly, pointing to them, "One word about my singing to anyone, and I will break you in half! Now let's go!"

I turned on my heel and headed for the door, smirking in amusement as I heard the simultaneous and troubled 'Uh . . .' sound off behind me.

{******}

By the time we opened the hatch to the cockpit and clambered inside, it was to be greeted by a sight of Goofy trying to steer the ship as Mari cleaned away what looked to be a pack of cards. Glancing our way, she waved and cheerily greeted, "Hey Hikari! Was that a cool blackout or what?"

"I wouldn't call it 'cool', exactly," I replied. Cocking an eyebrow, I asked, "What are you doing, anyway?"

She smiled and held up the pack, "Me and Goofy played cards while we were stuck up here. It was lots of fun!"

"Where did you get cards?" I asked, genuinely perplexed.

"From the ship," was her simple and vague reply. Sticking the deck in her bag, she made no attempt to elaborate what she meant, and I realized that she wasn't about to offer me a real explanation.

"Hey fellas'!" Goofy called out, waving before abruptly bringing said hand back to the steering wheel as the ship began to tilt lopsidedly to the left, "Whoa!"

Donald flew forward, motioning for Goofy to move as he took control, "I got it!"

Sora then took his own seat, flicking on the intercom system and asking, "Chip, Dale? You there?"

"We hear you Sora, loud and clear!" came Chip's voice, free of any static, "Is the ship working?"

"It's a bit wobbly, but it's holding. What exactly happened?" Sora asked.

"It seems the ship got hit by a stray asteroid. It didn't do any real damage, though the force was able to knock out the power cell until we were able to recircuit the system. Still, you should take it in for repairs!" Chip informed us.

"Yeah, there's a biiig scratch on the side of your ship right that ain't lookin' too good!" Dale added.

"Got it," Sora said. Then, gratefully, he added, "Thanks you guys!"

"No problem Sora!" Dale said.

"Fly safe!" Chip said, and then the intercom fell silent.

"So we need to land?" I asked, bracing my hand against the panel and leaning over Sora to try and read the little hologram he'd pulled up. With no success, but whose keeping track of that?

"Yeah," Sora replied, nodding, "But where too?"

"How 'bout Hollow Bastion?" Goofy supplied, "We're close to it, and Cid can get us fixed up real quick!"

"That sounds like a good idea," Sora said, "Plus, it'd be good to see how everybody's doing after that last attack."

"So, Hollow Bastion?" Donald asked, flicking a few switches.

Sora nodded, "Yep! Let's head out!"

"Yippee!" Mari cried, "Hollow Bastion, full steam ahead!"

"Well, it's good to see your still in usual form," I remarked.

"As always!" she replied, grinning.

I rolled my eyes, but smiled nonetheless. Well, this certainly was an interesting way to go back to the second world I'd ever visited, all banged up and broken. All the same, I couldn't help but feel excited to see how everyone was doing. Wow, I never though I'd ever be excited to see anyone. But, there I was. Eager eyes watching the stars flit by as we zoomed to our next destination, and with a heart feeling lighter than it ever had before.

{******}

In a lone corner of reality tucked away in darkness, a lone, cloaked figure sat on it's knees, shadowed eyes tracing the glass beneath it with unseen patterns as it softly hummed a familiar tune. A tune that echoed for eternity in the quiet dark around it.

Whoop-de-doo!

A bit more on the feely side of things, but we need those chapters every once in a while. :)

I keep forgetting Chip and Dale aren't actually on the ship, too, so from now on, I'm just going to keep it vague. Neither either-or. Also, is there a Castaway reference in there? Hurr durr. (I don't own that either, pleasedon'tsueme)

Anyway, off to Hollow Bastion we gooooo!

Also, holy shiet, I'm going to Universal Studios in like 3 days, guys! I can't wait! 8D 8D 8D

Song: Cough Syrup - Young the Giant

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