Ohh man, finally an update! I apologize for the delay! Moving took up a lot of time, and then right after that there was a family emergency/illness that I needed to deal with, and THEN, literally the night after I'd finally found time to sit down and write, my hard drive crashed and I lost the entire chapter. Jfkojiaofwijea. The frustration of having to rewrite something that you'd already written and were very happy with but you don't remember EXACTLY what you wrote is just… ugh. So yeah, hopefully this came together well in the end. I feel like the draft I lost was better… but oh well. Anyway, that's been my whirlwind of a month!
Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who reviewed/followed/favorited this story in my absence – you guys kept me determined to write even when I was banging my head against the desk about losing all my work. I really do read and appreciate every single review, so thank you!
I made this chapter SUPER long to make up for my delay – 25 pages! Whoa! Hopefully you guys enjoy it :)
"Fear isn't so difficult to understand. After all, weren't we all frightened as children? Nothing has changed since Little Red Riding Hood faced the big bad wolf. What frightens us today is exactly the same sort of thing that frightened us yesterday. It's just a different wolf. This fright complex is rooted in every individual."
― Alfred Hitchcock
Chapter 20: Fear Itself
"Gwarsh Aila, are you okay? You're lookin' kinda pale…"
Aila did her best to hide her panicked expression as her eyes darted to meet Goofy's. "Um, yes, I mean no, uh… I-I'm gonna go lie down," she stuttered, unfastening her seat belt and rushing into the hallway before the boys could ask her any questions. She felt like she was gonna be sick, her head spinning as she hurried into her room. She shut the door behind her and pressed the palms of her hands against it, trying to make sure the door would stay closed as she tried to get her thoughts straight.
"You should have been more careful around Axel and Demyx…" the hooded girl's voice echoed in her mind.
Aila exhaled angrily. "I didn't do anything wrong," she growled back in response. "This was going to happen anyway… Axel already knew where she was. He found her in the game, didn't he?"
"I've told you before… this is not a game."
"I know that! I just…" Aila sank down onto her knees, her forehead resting against the cool metal of the door. "This wasn't my fault… was it?" She got no response. Aila shut her eyes tightly. "Why would he… how could he…?" A sense of dread began to set into her heart. "No… it might just be a coincidence," she said, shaking her head slowly. "We don't know that that's why Twilight Town has shown up… if this isn't exactly like the game, then it could be for any number of reasons, right?" There was still no answer, but Aila's denial train was quickly picking up speed nonetheless. "And even if it is back for the same reasons as in the game, then that just means that Kairi is in Twilight Town now, right?" She sat up straight, punching her right fist into her left hand excitedly. "Right! So Axel hasn't really kidnapped her yet, even if he was planning to! So all I need to do is stop him from actually doing it! I'm sure if I explain to him that he shouldn't do it then he won't… we are friends after all."
"…You trust too easily."
"Oh, what do you know," Aila snapped, standing up and heading over to her bed. There was another thing bothering her, though. Why hadn't she realized that Pete was following them in the Cave of Wonders? There had been plenty of signs, but she still hadn't figured it out. Had she just been so focused on what they were doing that the plot of the game had slipped her mind? "I'm sure that's it," she mumbled, looking out at the stars rushing past her window and suddenly feeling some real exhaustion set in as a result of her Agrabah adventures.
"Be careful, Aila," the hooded girl warned as Aila drifted off to sleep. "You may not know as much as you think you do…"
KHKHKHKHKH
The next few days were pretty uneventful. Aila tried a few times to convince the boys to change course to Twilight Town, hoping that they'd get there in time for her to warn Axel not to kidnap Kairi. Unfortunately, with her unable to tell the boys the real reason she thought they should go there, they didn't understand the urgency of the situation and refused.
"We'll get there eventually," Donald said, "after we finish up on this side of the worlds."
"Why are you so anxious to go there, anyway?" Sora asked.
"Oh, no reason," Aila answered glumly. She was going to have to come up with a Plan B.
Aila decided to distract herself from troubling thoughts about Axel and Pete by inspecting the ship as they journeyed to whatever world was next. She knew that there were a few options of worlds they could hit on this side – The Pride Lands, Halloween Town, and Atlantica. She was excited to see a new world, but she was also a little nervous that Halloween Town would be the next one they visited. As Huey, Dewey, and Louie had found out, she tended to scare easily unless she knew what was coming. Not to mention that Halloween Town seemed so… perpetually dark. It definitely didn't seem like a place she wanted to spend a lot of time in, even if she did like the movie it was based on.
"Ah!" Aila cried, having accidentally burned her finger as she was fiddling with some of the wires for the ship's display mechanism.
"You okay?" She looked up to see Sora walking into the control room.
"Yeah, I wasn't paying attention…" Aila said, sucking on her finger to try and stop it from hurting. She replaced the side panel she'd removed, concealing the wires within.
"What were you working on?" Sora asked, taking his seat in front of the controls.
Aila shrugged. "Eh, I was just trying to familiarize myself with how this ship works… you know, in case anything goes wrong."
"Ah, right, Cid wanted you to be able to fix stuff on here so we wouldn't have stop for repairs as much, huh?"
"Yep." Aila stood up and stretched. "So, how far away from the next world are we, anyway?"
"We should be getting close," Sora said, pressing a few buttons and bringing up the map. "There, see? We should get there in about twenty minutes or so."
"Oh, great!" Aila exclaimed. "Uh, can you tell which world it is?"
Sora shook his head. "We won't know until we get there. Then we can put the information into the map. The worlds have moved around a little since our last journey."
"Right," Aila said absentmindedly, looking out at the stars. "Think we'll run into any more Heartless?"
"I'm pretty sure we hit the bulk of them yesterday," Sora said with a grin. "Should be smooth sailing from here on in."
"Aila!"
Aila gasped.
"What's up?" Sora asked, concerned.
"I… did you hear that?" she asked, flustered.
"Hear what?" Sora asked, looking around for whatever Aila had heard. Aila strained her ears. Had someone called her name? It had been very faint…
"I… guess it was just my imagination…" Aila said slowly. "I'm gonna go uh… wash up before we get to the next world."
"Sure, okay," Sora said, eying her carefully. "Let me know if you're not feeling well or something."
"I'm okay, I… think I just got confused," Aila said with a smile. She made her way to the bathroom and locked the door behind her. She turned on the shower, shaking her head and sighing as she did so. She really needed to stop acting crazy in front of the boys. As tolerant and accepting as they were, she was sure that even they had a point where they'd begin to get a little freaked out by her weird behavior.
"Maybe I'm going stir crazy," Aila mumbled to herself as she stepped into the warm stream of water. After all, she had been cooped up on this ship for over four days now. Yes, that had to be it.
"AILA!"
Aila yelped, grabbing onto the shower wall to prevent herself from slipping. "Okay, I definitely didn't imagine that."
"Aila, where are you?"
Aila gasped, the voice sounding slightly more clear to her this time. "…Alex?"
"Aila… help me… please…"
"Alex, where are you?!" Aila called, her voice echoing against the shower walls.
"Aila…" The voice quivered. Alex was crying.
"Alex!" Aila leapt out of the shower, grabbing a towel and wrapping it quickly around herself.
"She's not here, Aila," the hooded girl chimed in.
"Well where is she?" Aila asked frantically, the sounds of her sister crying still echoing in her mind.
"I don't know," the girl said softly. "But there is nothing you can do for her here. Continue on your journey. You will find her in time."
"What if she doesn't have time?!" Aila cried, Alex's sobs fading away. "Wait, no, come back!" Aila pleaded, but a few seconds later, all traces of her sister's voice were gone.
"Tread carefully, Aila," the girl warned. "Something isn't right here."
"Alex…" Aila breathed, tears forming in her eyes. "I have to find her."
"We're coming up on the next world!" Sora's voice boomed through the ship's speaker system, making Aila jump. "Prepare for landing in five minutes!"
Aila dressed quickly, towel drying her hair as best she could before racing off to the Control Room. The others were all already there, and she hurriedly took her seat amongst them, trying to push her worry about Alex to the back of her mind for now. The hooded girl was right; there was nothing she could do for her sister here. She needed to focus on finding her, and to do that, she needed to continue travelling around the worlds with the trio… for now, at least.
"What world is it?" Donald asked, squinting into the distance as they approached what looked like an orange sphere. As they got closer, Aila began to make out what looked like a lot of black buildings poking out here and there around the world, and she groaned internally. The pumpkin shape of the sphere was becoming clearer and clearer by the second.
"It looks like Halloween Town!" Sora said excitedly. The boys all began to express their excitement. Clearly this was one of their favorite worlds that they'd visited in the past.
"You're gonna love Halloween Town, Aila!" Goofy assured her. "I wonder what your costume will be?"
"Costume?" Aila asked. She hadn't even considered what her costume might be; she'd been too focused on thinking about how creepy Halloween Town seemed to put any thought into it.
"Yeah! Everyone wears costumes there," Sora grinned. "It's like it's Halloween all the time!"
"Hence the name," Donald said, rolling his eyes. Sora glared at him. Aila giggled, getting slightly excited about seeing what her costume would be despite her dread of getting inevitably scared. Maybe this world wouldn't be so bad… the boys all seemed to like it well enough.
"Okay everyone, prepare for landing!" Sora announced, grabbing the wheel and beginning the landing sequence. The rest of them braced themselves, Aila opting to close her eyes this time to avoid freaking out about Sora's rather reckless landing technique. After a few moments, she felt her skin begin to tingle, as if something was making her hair stand on end, giving her goose bumps. She shivered, closing her eyes a little tighter. Eventually, she felt the ship make a rather bumpy landing and finally come to a stop. With a sigh of relief, she opened her eyes.
"Whoa!" she gasped, looking at her reflection in the ship's window. Her skin was so pale that it was practically white, almost ghostly. Her piercing blue eyes were shining brighter than she'd ever seen them, highlighting dark circles under her eyes. Her inky black hair was now flowing freely rather than bound in her usual ponytail and a rather frayed, blood red cloak was tied around her neck, the hood that was raised up over her head casting eerie shadows on her face. The cloak flowed down around her shoulders, stopping about a foot above her ankles. The bottom of the cloak looked almost like it had been shredded by something very sharp, and underneath it she was wearing a tattered and dirty looking white dress with a corseted, though still flexible, top. Her black, fingerless gloves were now made of tough yet flexible brown leather and were no longer fingerless. Thick, white tights were on her legs, only slightly whiter than the exposed skin of her arms and face, and her Organization boots had transformed into sturdy, brown leather boots that came up to right below her knee. "Little Red Riding Hood…" she whispered.
"Ooh, you look spooky, Aila!" Goofy said happily. Aila turned to look at the boys and yelped, nearly falling out of her chair. They all looked way creepier in real life than they had in the games – it was really quite a shock.
The boys laughed. "If that scared you, then you're gonna be in trouble once we get off the ship," Sora taunted, hopping up and making his way toward the door. Aila took a deep breath and stood up as well, trying to ready herself for the world she was about to step into. She had already seen it in the games, so she knew what to expect… right? Besides, the people on this world seemed nice… well, most of them, anyway.
The moon on this world was enormous, at least ten times bigger than any moon Aila had ever seen before. 'At least that'll keep it from being too dark,' Aila thought with a small smile, feeling slightly reassured about this world already. As soon as Aila stepped out into the moonlight, she felt a warm sensation wash over her. It was kind of similar to the feeling that shot up her arm whenever she summoned her weapon. She looked down at her hands and gasped. Her entire body, at least from what she could tell, was outlined with white light. Her mind flashed back to her very first dream she'd had that had started this whole adventure; her hand had been outlined in white light then, just as her body was now. She turned her hands over, examining them closely. "What the heck…?" she murmured softly, but before she could finish her thought, the light faded and she looked normal once again. Well, normal for Halloween Town standards, that is. The warm feeling remained though, and she could almost swear her heart was beating faster than usual.
"Over here, Aila!" Goofy called. Aila turned to see him waving at her, the boys having made their way over to a scarecrow with a jack-o-lantern for a head. They seemed to have already hidden the ship and appeared not to have noticed anything strange about Aila's first steps onto Halloween Town soil. She furrowed her brow in confusion as she made her way over to them, trying to ignore the unsettling fact that they appeared to have parked in the middle of a cemetery.
"Man, they really do keep this place ready for Halloween at all times, huh?" Sora was saying.
"Yep, it sure does look like Hallowee…" Donald trailed off part way through his sentence as he turned to look at the path leading to the Town Square. "Wha?"
The others followed his gaze to see what looked kind of like… Christmas lights? Orange, creepy looking Christmas lights, but Christmas lights nonetheless.
"Uh…" Goofy said, clearly confused. Suddenly, something white and cold whizzed by the group, startling them all. Aila jumped and hid behind Goofy, hoping that him having a shield would come in handy against the many creepy crawlies on this world. Goofy, however, was covering his eyes and shaking fearfully. Aila sweatdropped. Maybe he wasn't the best choice to hide behind.
"Hey, it's Zero!" Sora exclaimed. Goofy and Aila both looked over to see that it was, in fact, Zero, Jack's faithful ghost dog. Aila breathed a sigh of relief. She could handle Zero; he seemed more cute than scary. "How've you been boy?" Sora asked as Zero circled around him. The ghost dog spotted Aila and began circling around her instead, examining her closely.
"Um… hi?" Aila said, a little unsure of herself. Zero gave the boys a questioning look.
"She's with us," Donald assured him, and Zero perked up, barking happily at Aila before flying off toward the Town Square.
"I guess we should follow him," Sora said with a shrug.
"Maybe Jack's over that way?" Goofy suggested as they began to walk into town. "It'll be nice to see him again."
Aila wrapped her cloak tightly around herself, her eyes darting back and forth as she checked all the shadows they passed for anything scary waiting to jump out at them. A plus side of this world was that it seemed like her vision was just permanently better here, probably having something to do with part of her costume being that it made her eyes extra bright, almost like they were glowing. Aila wondered if this was what they looked like to the boys whenever she did her little see-in-the-dark trick.
"Huh…" Donald said slowly as they entered the Town Square, looking around at everything curiously. The orange Christmas lights were everywhere, decorating everything from the walls to the guillotine.
"What that for?" Sora asked, indicating a large, rickety-looking wooden ramp that was curved around the center of the Square. The sound of jingling bells suddenly filled the air, startling the group.
"It's Jack!" Donald said, looking up at the sky. The rest of them looked up as well to see none other than Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, riding in what appeared to be a homemade sleigh pulled by skeleton reindeer. It was a rather horrifying sight, and the word 'Thestral' popped into Aila's head as the skeleton deer landed on the ramp before her, making them all the more creepy in her opinion.
"Sora, Donald, and Goofy!" Jack said emphatically, standing up as his sleigh came to a stop. "Welcome back, and Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas?" Sora asked, clearly puzzled. "Don't you mean Happy Halloween?"
Jack leapt down from his sleigh excitedly, landing in front of the group. "Of course, Halloween greetings from Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King!" he cried, making a scary face and leaping toward the group. The boys shrunk back a little but not as much as Aila, who squeaked and stumbled backwards in fear. Jack looked much more… Skeleton-like in real life, which needless to say was rather startling, even if she was familiar with the character. Her reaction seemed to catch Jack's attention. "Oh, someone new?" Jack said, hopping over to her. Aila did her best not to look too terrified. Jack was a good guy, after all.
"This is our friend Aila," Sora said.
"Well, welcome to Halloween Town, miss Aila!" Jack cried excitedly. "I believe this is your first visit, is it not?"
"Uhhhhh…" Aila said meekly. "Yes?"
"Wonderful!" Jack exclaimed. "We should give you a proper welcome, a grand scare among friends!"
Aila blanched, taking a step behind Sora this time. "Th-that's okay… you don't have to go to the trouble…"
Jack didn't seem to hear her, too busy planning something or another. "Let's see, maybe I could round everyone up, and we could…" He trailed off, his face suddenly falling. He sighed dramatically. "No, no I can't. Forgive me, I'm in a Christmas mood," he bemoaned. Aila sighed in relief. "You see, I'm running the show again this year, but I need Sandy Claws' blessing, so I'm off to Christmas Town!" He gestured emphatically as he spoke, clearly very passionate about his new holiday plans.
Sora gestured for the group to huddle up, and they all did so, minus Jack. "Sandy Claws?" he asked quietly.
"I think he means Santa Claus," Goofy said.
"Hmm, this is… very strange…" Donald said warily.
"Aren't these decorations wonderful?" Jack cried, and they looked over to see him hopping gracefully up onto the Square's fountain. "This year Halloween Town's going to handle Christmas too!"
"Uhh…" Donald began.
"But first!" Jack said, cutting him off. "We have to visit Sally. She's working on something no self respecting Sandy Claws can do without. Come along, I'll show you!" He hopped off in the direction of the Lab, leaving the group standing there to try and figure out what had just happened.
"A Halloween Town Christmas…" Sora pondered aloud.
Aila, Donald, and Goofy all looked around at the "Christmas" decorations Jack had set up: the lit-up guillotine, toys with fangs and bullet holes in them, and the skeleton reindeer/thestral things were just a few of the standout "decorations". The three of them shivered.
"Wanna go check it out?" Sora asked rather excitedly. Donald and Goofy both sighed, and Aila eyed him like he was crazy. Did he actually think this was a good idea?
"C'mon, hurry up you guys!" Jack called from the other side of the Square. Sora looked at the others and shrugged, beginning to follow Jack.
"Um, this is clearly a bad idea, right?" Aila asked Donald and Goofy quietly.
"I'll say," Donald grumbled. "But we'd better follow Sora, I guess…"
The three of them followed Sora and Jack into the Lab rather begrudgingly, not entirely excited about helping the Pumpkin King with his Christmas plans. Lock, Shock, and Barrel were standing in the middle of the room, whispering to one other as they stood around some strange piece of machinery on the floor. Sora, Donald, and Goofy eyed them suspiciously as they entered, but Jack seemed not to notice the troublemakers as he made a beeline for the Doctor.
"Hello, Doctor! Where's Sally?" Jack asked excitedly. Doctor Finklestein was in the middle of prodding his own exposed brain with his finger, much to Aila's disgust. He looked up at Jack in annoyance.
"Can't you see that I'm in the middle of an experiment?" he growled, snapping the top of his skull back into place. He turned his wheelchair around and headed over to the large table in the middle of the room. Lock, Shock, and Barrel picked up the robot-type thing they'd been whispering around and began carrying it over to the table.
"Hey, this is way too heavy," Lock complained.
"Then let's toss it!" Shock suggested.
"You do and you'll be sorry!" the Doctor warned. "Now bring it over here!"
"Heave-ho!" the kids exclaimed, throwing the thing onto the table. The machine began to spark dangerously, and the Doctor covered his face right before the thing exploded in front of him. Everyone gasped, and Sally, who had come in unnoticed by the rest of them a few moments before, sighed and shook her head. Lock, Shock, and Barrel all cackled excitedly.
"Imbeciles! Now my experiment is ruined!" the Doctor bellowed after them. The kids just continued to laugh as they ran past Sally and out of the room.
"Sally!" Jack said, walking up to the girl excitedly. "Did you finish it? I wanna show my good friends!"
"I'm sorry, Jack. I…" Sally hesitated. "I need a little bit more time."
"Oh," Jack said, his disappointment evident. He brightened up after a moment, placing a boney hand on Sally's shoulder. "Well, that's all right. Just as long as it's ready for Christmas!" He began to make his way out of the room, already onto the next thing.
"But… Jack…" Sally began, but her protests fell on deaf ears.
"I'd best be off!" Jack announced from the door. "I've gotta go get Sandy Claws right away!" He looked at the boys and waved. "Wonderful to see you again! And nice to meet you, Aila. I do hope you all enjoy your stay. Goodbye for now!"
"Go get Santa Claus...?" Sora mused, putting his finger to his chin.
"Please, Sora," Sally said desperately, "I'm afraid something terrible will happen if Jack goes through with this."
"You can say that again," Donald grumbled.
"Uh, Sora?" Goofy said. Sora had a dreamy expression on his face, clearly imagining meeting Santa Claus and not at all listening to what Sally had said. Donald shook his head and sighed exasperatedly.
"Are those strange looking fellows in the Town Square with you?" Jack asked, walking back into the Lab.
"Huh?" Sora asked, snapping out of his daydreaming. "What 'fellows'?"
"You know, the ones who wanted to spoil Halloween AND Christmas?" Jack said, gesturing emphatically. "What are they called again... Heartless?"
"They're definitely not with us! But we can get rid of them for you," Sora said, indicating himself, Donald, Goofy, and Aila. He then got very excited. "And then, we can go see Santa!" Donald tapped his foot in annoyance and glared at Sora. Sora jumped as he caught Donald's eye. "But first, the Heartless!" he corrected quickly.
Aila giggled. She would be lying if she said she wasn't excited at the prospect of meeting Santa too. It was admirable that Sora was able to keep such an innocent attitude about something like meeting Santa even though he had to deal with so much hardship on his adventures. It was a good quality, one that Aila wasn't sure she'd be able to emulate if she were in his shoes.
The four of them ran out into the Square with Jack hopping along behind them. Much to Aila's chagrin, there were Wight Knights, Heartless that looked like some sort of creepy skeleton zombie/mummy thing, crawling all over the place. The Mayor was standing on the other side of the Square, frantically shouting into a megaphone in an effort to talk some sense into the Heartless.
"Now hear this, you... you things!" he cried. "Leave Halloween Town at once, by order of the mayor!" Naturally, the Heartless didn't listen to him in the slightest, so he decided to go to Plan B: calling for help. "Jack! Where are you?! I'm only an elected official- I can't handle this by myself!" Jack hurried over to the Mayor, who looked extremely relieved to see him. "Jack!"
"We're on it," Sora assured the Mayor, he, Donald, and Goofy all summoning their weapons and preparing to fight.
Aila followed their lead, summoning her staff in a flash of blinding white light. "Whoa!" she gasped, a warm feeling much more powerful than usual shooting up her arm. Her heartbeat picked up, and her body suddenly felt somehow lighter. Her cloak billowed out around her as if it had been hit by some sort of invisible wind. "What...?"
"Heads up, Aila!" Sora called, and Aila looked up to see a Wight Knight practically right on top of her. It swiped its claws at her head and she dodged to the left to evade it. Or at least, that's what she had been attempting to do, but somehow she found that she had moved so quickly that she had ended up completely behind the Wight Knight instead on just next to it.
"…What… just happened?" she stuttered, feeling a little disoriented. The Heartless seemed just as confused as she was, looking back and forth between the spot she'd just been and where she'd ended up. The warm, powerful feeling inside her surged, and before she could question what had just occurred any further, she felt a strong sense of calm wash over her.
"Hang on, Aila…" the hooded girl began, but before Aila could even respond, she was rushing toward the Wight Knight, brandishing her weapon threateningly.
She hit the Heartless square in the face and it vanished almost immediately, fading away in a wisp of smoke. "Wow," Aila whispered. Her heart was pumping blood through her veins at such a rate that she felt more powerful than she'd ever been. She looked at a group of Wight Knights nearby, a smile spreading across her face.
"Aila…" the hooded girl began again, but Aila wasn't listening. In the blink of an eye, she was racing toward the Knights with unimaginable speed. It was almost as if her body was acting before her brain could tell it too, and she'd taken out the entire group before she could even really comprehend what moves she'd made.
She leapt to another Knight nearby, then another, then another, taking each out with a single, powerful hit. She was moving so fast that she could barely see where she was going, her heart beating faster and louder with each passing second, until all she could hear was it pounding in her ears. It felt as if her heart would burst out of her chest, or explode right there inside of her, and soon the warm feeling in her veins had evolved to an intensity more akin to scalding fire rather than just being pleasantly warm, burning her from the inside out as red hot blood rushed through her body.
"You have to stop, Aila," the hooded girl commanded frantically. It was hard for Aila to hear her over the sound of her own heart. "Stop!"
"I can't!" Aila cried breathlessly, her eyes beginning to water as the wind rushed by her, her feet taking her to her next target without her consent. She was terrified. This was true fear.
"Yes you can. You are in control here – don't forget that!"
Aila gritted her teeth and dug her feet into the ground, doing her best to try and stop her momentum. It half worked, but being halfway between stopping and going wasn't exactly a good thing either. She was sent tumbling forward, rolling head over heels until she slammed into a wall on the edge of the Square, which finally brought her to a painful stop. Her vision swam and her entire body ached – she felt like she couldn't move at all. The blurry form of Sora appeared above her a few moments later. It looked like he was saying something, but she couldn't hear him over the pounding of her heart. Was he saying her name?
Sora turned and held up his Keyblade, defending against two Heartless that seemed to be trying almost desperately to get to Aila.
"Breathe, Aila," the hooded girl coaxed. "Just breathe… calm your heart…"
Aila did as she was told, taking deep breaths and trying her best to use the techniques she'd honed when she'd been with the Organization to slow her heart rate. She could feel it working after a few moments, and before long her hearing began to come back and her vision began to clear. The boys were all fighting off Heartless around her; it seemed the power of her heartbeat had made them almost rabid. They calmed down as her heart did, though, and soon nearly all of them had been taken care of by the boys. Sora knelt down next to her as the others finished off the last few Knights.
"Can you move?" he asked softly. Aila attempted to sit up and winced, sucking air in through her teeth. Sora held his Keyblade above her. "Heal," he muttered, and the comforting magic engulfed Aila, immediately taking away some of her pain. She sighed in relief.
"Here, take this too," Sora said, holding out a Hi-Potion to her as he helped her into a sitting position. Aila thanked him and took it, sipping it gratefully.
"That was incredible!" Jack exclaimed, rushing up to her. "Say, would you be able to do that again? For the Christmas show?"
"Uh… what?" Aila asked hoarsely, confused.
"You looked like you were shining, and you were going so fast, it was like a streak of light! It just screams Christmas, don't you agree?" Aila struggled to find an answer. A streak of light?
"I don't know if we'll be here that long, Jack," Sora interjected, coming to Aila's aid. "I think you should plan on something else for the show."
"Aw," Jack pouted. "Well, if you say so." He sighed, crossing his arms and looking back to where the Heartless had been. "How is Sandy Claws supposed to relax with all this going on?" He snapped his boney fingers excitedly. "That's it, fellows! Sandy Claws needs bodyguards. Are you up for the task?"
"Us?" Donald squawked, sounding skeptical as he and Goofy walked over to join the group, the last of the Heartless having been dealt with.
"Yeah!" Sora replied excitedly. Donald put his hands on his hips and tapped his foot at Sora once again, clearly not appreciating his excitement over this whole plan.
"Well, that's that then!" Jack said. "All right, bodyguards! Christmas Town is this way! The doorway is in the woods just past the graveyard!" And with that, he hopped off in the direction of the woods.
"Gwarsh, are you all right, Aila?" Goofy asked, kneeling down next to Aila.
She finished off the potion and bit her lip. "I… think so…"
"So, uh, what happened?" Sora asked, furrowing his brow. Aila shrugged. She honestly had no idea.
"Some sort of magic?" Donald asked, examining her closely. He picked up her staff, which she'd dropped next to her, and looked at it. "Hm… where did you say you got this again?"
"It just… appeared one day," Aila said, brushing some hair out of her face. "…when I needed it."
"Do you think it caused this?" Sora asked Donald.
"I'm not sure… the King might know something about it," Donald said, handing the weapon back to Aila carefully. "For now, just… try not to push yourself too much, okay?"
"'Kay," Aila said with a nod. She allowed her weapon to fade away and looked up at the gigantic Halloween Town moon warily. She definitely wanted to finish up this world's storyline as soon as humanly possible.
"Hurry up, gang!" Jack called, waving at them from the gates leading to the graveyard. Aila stood up, slightly wobbly.
"I'm good," she said when the boys attempted to help her. She smiled. "Come on, let's go see Santa."
"Yes!" Sora cheered, and they all hurried to catch up with Jack.
Jack led them through the graveyard and into the woods beyond, bounding ahead of the group in his hurry to get to Christmas Town.
"Y'know," Goofy said quietly as they walked, "Jack may have said he wants to be Santa, but uh, I'm not so sure that's a good idea. It's hard for me to even imagine a Christmas with Jack as Santa…"
"Aw, I'm sure it'll be fine," Sora said, clearly only half listening as he eagerly followed Jack.
Donald looked at Sora seriously. "I know you're excited to see Santa, but I have a bad feeling about this too, like Sally," he said, crossing his arms.
"You guys are just being paranoid!" Sora said with a wave of his hand. "Come on, Jack's up here!" He hurried off ahead of them, and Donald and Goofy both sighed.
Aila smiled. "Don't worry, I'm sure it'll all work out in the end," she said, clasping her hands behind her back. "Besides, if Santa's on board with everything then it won't be too bad, right?"
"I dunno…" Donald said, unconvinced.
"Over here!" Jack called, waving the three of them over. Aila, Donald, and Goofy all hurried to catch up to him and Sora. They found themselves in the middle of a circle of trees, each of which had a picture on its trunk representing a different holiday: a heart for Valentines Day, an egg for Easter, and so on and so forth. Each picture had what appeared to be a handle worked into the right side of the design, and if you looked closely, you could see what appeared to be hinges on the left side of each.
"They're doors," Sora said in awe.
"Yes!" Jack exclaimed happily. "Aren't they mysterious? Just looking at them makes my bones tingle! But here, this is the one I wanted to show you." He ushered them all up to the tree with the Christmas Tree door on it. "Here it is! The door to Christmas Town!" Jack began to pace back and forth in front of the tree, gesturing dramatically. "The spooks of Halloween can get so tiresome year after year. I wanted something new. And I found this!" Sora leaned in closer as Jack continued. "Beyond this door is a world filled with wonders the likes of which you've never seen! At first I couldn't believe my eyes; everything was so fresh and exciting!"
"C'mon! Just open it!" Sora interrupted impatiently, practically bouncing with excitement. Jack smiled and opened the door, gesturing for Sora to enter. Before anyone could stop him, Sora ran full speed at the door and jumped into it without a moment's hesitation.
"Sora, wait!" Donald called as he, Goofy, and Aila all ran up to the door. They stopped and peered inside curiously. There was no sign of Sora, only darkness. Aila could feel a cold breeze coming from inside the tree, and she shivered lightly.
"Well, I guess we'd better follow him," Goofy said with a shrug. He and Donald exchanged a glance, and then they both grabbed one of Aila's arms.
"Hey, what…?" Aila began.
"One," Donald said, taking a step back and crouching down.
"Two," Goofy said, doing the same.
"H-hang on a sec-!" Aila stuttered, realizing what was about to happen.
"Three!" the two boys shouted together, and with that they jumped into the tree, pulling Aila along with them. The darkness broke into what appeared to be a blue vortex a few moments later, and they all screamed as they fell into it. Flurries of snow whizzed past them, and Aila could swear she could hear the sound of jingling bells all around them. After a few seconds of this, they began to approach a white light, and before they knew it they were being flung out into the cold winter air.
"Ahhh!" Aila, Donald, and Goofy cried before coming to a crash landing on top of Sora, who'd landed on the snowy ground mere moments before.
Aila shook her head and stumbled to her feet as quickly as possible, not wanting to let the cold snow soak into her clothes. She felt more normal here, much to her relief; her heart felt like it was back to a normal rhythm, and she didn't feel as light or anxious as she had in Halloween Town. She took a second to find her footing and then looked up, taking in her surroundings. "Whoa," she breathed.
The surrounding landscape was covered freshly fallen snow as far as the eye could see, including the hillside they were currently on. There was a little town nestled down at the base of the hilly landscape, filled with bright red buildings that were all covered in Christmas lights. Aila caught the scent of gingerbread wafting up from the little town, and she could hear a light tinkling of Christmas music in the air. The stars twinkled like happy little Christmas lights in the sky, and the (normal sized) moon bathed the land in a cool, clear light. 'Magical' was the only word she could think of to describe this place.
Sora struggled to push Donald and Goofy off of himself and then looked down at the town as well. "Cooool!" he breathed.
Donald shook his head and followed Sora's gaze. "Wow!" he gasped, inching forward to the edge of the hill to get a better look. He looked around eagerly. "So where's Santa?" he asked, and Aila could hear a hint of excitement in his voice. Clearly his opinion of the 'go see Santa' plan had changed.
"In his workshop!" Jack replied, pointing toward the town. The Pumpkin King had had a much easier landing than the others; clearly he'd done this a few times before. He walked to the edge of the hill and turned back to look at the group. "Shall we?" He, Sora, and Donald all hurried down the hill toward the town, talking eagerly about how cool this world was and how excited they were to see Santa.
"Uh…" Goofy said, casting a worried look back at the tree leading to Halloween Town.
"Everything okay?" Aila asked.
"Well…" Goofy said, hesitating as he looked at his friends making their way down the hill. He shook his head. "Nah, never mind."
Aila smiled. "Like I said, it'll all work out. Trust me."
"Maybe you're right…" Goofy said thoughtfully.
"Careful, Aila…" the hooded girl chimed in. "Don't reveal too much of what you know…"
Aila waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, shush," she mumbled.
"Did you say something?" Goofy asked.
"What? Oh I said… slush! Look at all this slush!" Aila said, kicking at some of the snow. "Uh, so, come on, we'd better catch up to the others!"
"Yeah, that wasn't suspicious," the hooded girl said sarcastically as Aila began to hurry down the hill. Aila just bit her cheek and glared at the snow in front of her.
"Ahyuck! C'mon Aila, you'll never catch 'em like that!" Goofy called. He had decided to use his shield as a makeshift sled, and he laughed as he zoomed past Aila and sped down the hill.
"Hey, no fair!" Aila laughed, running after him. "…Can I go next?!"
KHKHKHKH
"Huh, this snow seems softer than the snow in The Land of Dragons was," Sora mused as they reached the bottom of the hill, picking up a little bit of snow in his hands. They were right outside the candy cane archway that led into the town, and Aila couldn't help but stare at how gorgeous Christmas Town was up close.
"It was pretty icy there," Donald agreed, heading over to try and help Goofy, who'd managed to crash into a snow bank nearby.
Aila examined some of the snow closely. It was very soft, and it had that perfect amount of stickiness about it that would make it very easy to build a snowman. Or even…
"Hey, Sora," she asked innocently. "Your world is tropical, right?"
"Yeah," Sora said, raising an eyebrow.
"So do you have snow there?"
"No, we don't. The first time I saw it was in The Land of Dragons."
Aila smirked, gathering a bit of snow between her hands as sneakily as possible. "Hm. So then, have you ever had a snowball fight?"
Sora scratched his cheek. "Um… I don't – ack!" A snowball hit him square in the chest, and Aila giggled, brushing the powder of her gloved hands.
"Well, now you have!" she sang. Sora grinned and grabbed some snow in his hand, throwing it at her face in retaliation. Of course, he had never made a snowball before, so he ended up just throwing a bunch of loose powder at Aila instead of an actual snowball. Aila sputtered, shaking the snow from her hair. "No no, you gotta make a ball, like this," she said with a laugh, showing him how to form a snowball.
"Ooh, ooh! Let me try!" Jack exclaimed, quickly joining in to make a few snowballs of his own.
"Like this?" Sora asked, holding up his newly formed snowball for Aila to inspect.
"Yep, that looks go—" Aila began before being cut off by the very snowball she'd been looking at hitting her in the face.
"Ha! One to one," Sora said with a cheeky grin.
"Me too, me too!" Jack said excitedly, throwing a snowball in the direction of Sora and Aila. The two of them ducked out of the way just in time, and the snowball hit Donald instead.
"Wha?!" he squawked, caught off guard. He glared at Jack, an evil smile spreading across his face as he bent down to gather some snow of his own. "I'll show you…"
"Snowball fight!" Aila called, and everyone started pelting one another with snow. She hurried out of the line of fire to make a small fort for herself to hide behind; this wasn't her first snowball fight, after all.
"Ahyuck! Good idea!" Goofy said, sliding in next to her and planting his shield in the snow next to her fort to add a bit more cover for them. He laughed and continued to throw snowballs at the others as fast as he could.
"Oooh, what's this?" Jack asked, appearing on the other side of her.
Aila giggled. Hearing Jack say 'what's this' up close and in person was rather funny to her. "It's a fort! To keep us safe while we make more snowballs."
"Fascinating!" Jack said. "You've made a little hill! And it's doing a marvelous job of blocking their ammo."
"Yep, that's the point," Aila said, lobbing a few snowballs at Sora and Donald.
"Hey, is that allowed?" Sora called, throwing snowballs at the little fort in an attempt to… possibly knock it down, but the added snow from the snowballs only made it bigger.
"Sure it is!" Aila said, peeking over the top of the fort at him. "All's fair in love and war!"
"Two against three, huh?" Donald said, teaming up with Sora. "Come on, Sora, let's build a fort too!"
After a few minutes, everyone was quite thoroughly soaked.
"Um, I don't think we were really dressed for this," Aila said, feeling like in hindsight it may not have been the smartest idea to start a snowball fight without proper snow attire. She was getting pretty cold.
"Don't give up now!" Jack cried dramatically. "Team Pumpkin King must be victorious! Hurry, let's make more – " Jack was cut off mid thought by a bunch of present and toy themed Heartless suddenly popping up in the middle of their snowball battlefield. The group gasped.
"Here too?" Sora groaned, summoning his Keyblade.
"Oh, why are they always ruining our fun?!" Jack lamented dramatically. "En garde, loyal bodyguards!"
The boys sprung into action, but Aila hung back, hesitant to get into another fight after what had happened in the previous one. She summoned her weapon tentatively. It was back to feeling normal, the warmth that ran up her arm no longer overwhelming, but she still wasn't exactly jumping at the chance to get into a physical altercation just yet. She decided that maybe this would be a good time to work on some magic instead; magic would be safe, right?
The fight drifted into the Town Square, Aila following along as she tried to find a good place to do some magic practice. She spotted a snow bank over near one of the little houses lining the Square and climbed up onto it, trying to get a better view of what was going on. The main Heartless seemed to be Toy Soldiers (which were exactly what they sounded like, except in jack-in-the-boxes for added 'fun'), Driller Moles (which looked very much like soldier toys gone wrong), and Icy Cubes (which were literally cubes of ice surrounding little blue Heartless). Aila focused in on the Icy Cubes. Water conducted electricity, so… maybe this would be a good time to try out Thunder again.
Aila raised her staff, remembering her less than encouraging failed attempt at this spell back in the Cave of Wonders. "Okay, feel the electricity, Aila…" she mumbled. "What does electricity feel like… uh… sparky…? Hot? …Electrocutey?" Nothing was happening.
"You're thinking too much again!" Sora called to her.
Aila bit her lip and took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind and just let the magic happen. "Okay okay… electricity… feels like… light? Sure, it feels like light…" A sensation similar to the one she'd felt when she'd summoned her weapon, though more tingly and prickly, ran from her heart down her arm to the tips of her fingers. "Well, here goes… Thunder!" Lightning exploded above the Icy Cube she was aiming at, nicking it in the side of its head. The Icy Cube collapsed into the snow, trying to shake off the hit. "Thunder!" Aila cried again, and the Icy Cube was hit with a second blast. A direct hit. This time, it faded away for good.
"You got it!" Sora cheered, flashing her a thumbs up before going back to fighting the three Heartless he was currently taking on at once. Aila beamed.
She continued to use her newly acquired Thunder spell for the duration of the fight, and by the time all the Heartless had been defeated, she was pretty confident in her new skill.
"All right!" she laughed, leaping off of the snow bank in celebration. "I finally have an offensive spell that isn't super weak!"
"You haven't done that spell before, have you?" Donald asked curiously.
Aila shook her head. "No. Why?"
Donald put a finger to his chin. "Hm. That was pretty powerful for your first try… seemed almost like a Thundara to me…"
"Really?" Aila asked excitedly. "Cool!"
"These Heartless are quite a pain in my spine," Jack groaned, crossing his arms grumpily.
"Christmas is in big trouble," Donald said with a frown.
"Gwarsh, we can't let anything bad happen to Christmas," Goofy fretted.
"That's where Sandy Claws lives," Jack said, pointing to the largest building in town. It was beautiful, with a red and gold exterior and candy cane pillars. There was a jolly green wreath on a gingerbread-looking door, and Christmas lights lined the entire building. The whole thing just screamed Christmas. "Maybe he'll know what to do."
"Come on!" Sora shouted excitedly, running off toward the building.
"Wait for me!" Donald called just as eagerly, running after him. The group hurried through the door as fast as they could, all of them anxious to get out of the cold.
The moment they stepped into the house, they instantly felt better. The inside of Santa's house was cozy and warm, with the smell of fresh baked cookies wafting through the air. A fire was crackling somewhere in the background, and little elves were bustling around all over the place, all of them hard at work to get ready for the fast approaching holiday. None of the elves seemed to take any notice of the visitors as they hurried in and out of doors leading to various parts of the house and workshop. The group hurried down the short entry hall and looked into a room on their left. They all gasped in delight. There in a comfy looking armchair by the fire was Santa Claus himself, carefully going through each name on his naughty and nice list for the year.
Santa looked up at the group and smiled. "Well, hello everyone. Did you come to see if you're on my 'nice' list?" Sora hurried over to him, the rest of the group following close behind. "Your name?" Santa asked kindly.
"Um, Sora, sir," Sora stuttered nervously.
"Let's see… Sora…" Santa said, scanning his list. "Of the Destiny Islands?"
"Uh huh!" Sora said excitedly.
"Here you are," Santa said, looking up at a very eager Sora. He hesitated. "Well, according to my list, Sora… seven years ago you told everyone you did not believe in Santa Claus. Oh, that is unfortunate."
Sora put his hands up to his temples exasperatedly. "Wha?!"
"How about Donald and Goofy?" Donald asked. Santa checked his list, and then smiled, nodding at the duck and winking at Goofy. "Oh boy!" Donald exclaimed, jumping into the air in his excitement.
"And what about you, my dear?" Santa asked Aila kindly.
"Oh, well…" Aila said, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. She glanced at Sora, who looked like he was contemplating pulling his hair out in his distress. "…I think I'm probably in the same boat as Sora… Oh! But maybe you could see if my sister's name is there? Alex Aggazzotti?"
Santa looked at his list carefully. "Let's see… nine years old, yes? Older siblings are Aila and Danny?"
"That's right!" Aila said, her heart fluttering at the idea that Santa actually knew who they were.
Santa smiled, his eyes twinkling. "Ah yes, she's here. She's been quite good."
"Awesome!" Aila laughed, clasping her hands together in front of her chest excitedly. "I can't wait to tell her!"
"That would make you Aila then, I suppose?" Santa asked. Aila nodded excitedly.
"Am I on your list too, by any chance?" Jack asked, waving at Santa from the back of the group. "It's me, Jack!"
"Jack Skellington?!" Santa asked, clearly baffled by the fact that The Pumpkin King was in his living room. Before their conversation could continue, they heard a loud crash! Santa dropped his list in surprise, and the rest of them jumped. Everyone looked over to the door in the back right corner of the room. Santa sighed, annoyed, and stood up. "What sort of trouble did you bring this time?" he huffed, marching toward the door.
Sora raised an eyebrow at Jack. "This time?"
"It's a long story," Jack said with a sheepish grin.
A number of little elves ran out of the workshop as Santa opened the door, all of them in a panic.
"What was that?! Did something break?!" one of them squeaked.
"We don't have time for any setbacks!" another cried frantically.
"There's still so much work to do!" yet another bemoaned.
"Calm down everyone, calm down," Santa said. "I'll go and see what happened."
"Oh, thank you Santa, thank you!" the elves cheered.
"Why don't they just go check themselves?" Donald mumbled.
"They scare easily," Santa said quietly, walking into the workshop.
"Oh?" Jack said, perking up. The elves seemed to notice the group of people in scary costumes for the first time as Jack spoke, and they yelped in fear.
"Monsters, monsters!" they cried, running for cover.
"Wait, we're not – !" Sora began, but the elves were all out of the room before he could finish. He sighed.
They followed Santa into the workshop, looking around carefully to try and find the source of the disturbance. Someone was scurrying around somewhere inside, that was for sure, but it was hard to pinpoint their location. Aila felt like she could hear people whispering somewhere nearby; she wracked her brain trying to remember who the intruders were. She was pretty sure it was Lock, Shock, and Barrel, but… she felt like she was forgetting something.
"Who's there?" Santa shouted, having made his way to the bottom of a ramp leading to the upper level of the factory.
"Busted!" three little voices cried from the top of the ramp, and Aila sighed in relief. She was right, it was them. Her slip up with Pete in Agrabah must have just gotten her paranoid.
Barrel broke a window near the ceiling by throwing a hook through it, and he, Lock, and Shock jumped through it to make their escape.
Jack gasped. "It's Lock, Shock, and Barrel!"
"Not those three…" Santa sighed.
"I assure you, they're not with us," Jack said quickly.
"Well, whatever the case, they've been quite naughty," Santa grumbled. He glared at Jack. "Catch them and bring them back here. They're going to get a lecture."
Had anyone else been making that threat, Aila would have laughed. But she had a feeling that a lecture from Santa Claus would probably be something even the naughtiest child wouldn't want to be subjected to.
"Uh… Mr. Claws?" Jack asked nervously as Santa began making his way toward another door on the far side of the room. "I wanted to talk to you about Christmas first…"
"It'll have to wait," Santa insisted. "I need to see how things are progressing in my workshop."
"I thought this was his workshop…" Aila whispered.
"Maybe he's got more than one?" Goofy guessed.
"Of course he does. How else would he make enough toys for everyone?" Sora said. He looked over to Jack. "C'mon, Jack, let's catch those little pranksters!"
Jack looked over at him glumly. "Oh, all right then…" he sighed half-heartedly.
They hurried outside to try and catch the troublemakers, Aila wrapping her cloak tightly around herself and wishing they could stay inside with the warm, cozy fire for just a little longer.
"Over here!" Donald called, examining some footprints in the fresh snow. "This could be from them…"
"Yeah, but there's only one set of prints," Sora said skeptically. "Or… at least it looks like one set…" He knelt down next to the tracks to get a closer look. "…It looks like someone's bare feet, but… like someone with four legs with bare feet…?"
"It's them," Aila said confidently. The boys all looked at her questioningly, and she sweatdropped. "I mean… it's… probably them?"
"Aha! They were likely riding in that infernal bathtub of theirs," Jack said with a nod. "It would probably make tracks like that."
"Okay then, let's follow them," Sora said determinedly. Aila pulled her hood down low over her face to try and hide her embarrassment at her slip up. She was really getting bad about not watching her tongue around the guys; if she wasn't careful, her secret wouldn't be a secret much longer.
They followed the tracks all the way up to the tree that led back to Halloween Town.
"Hmm… Donald said, putting a hand to his chin. "Do you think they might have set a trap for us?"
"Maybe…" Sora said. "But we can't just do nothing. We'll just have to be careful."
They made their way through the portal in the tree (the vortex that took them back to Halloween Town was at least ten times more horrifying than the one that took them to Christmas Town) and continued to follow the footprints through the woods. Aila immediately felt different again on this world; her heart rate picked up, she felt lighter, and that same warm, powerful feeling from before flowed through her. She frowned and bit her lip. She was going to have to be careful about fighting here.
The group eventually found themselves back at the graveyard, which Aila was starting to think of as the central point of this entire world.
"Looks like they go this way," Goofy said, following the footprints over to a gate on the side of the cemetery.
"Fantastic! The sooner we catch them, the sooner Sandy Claws will give me his blessing. Onward, bodyguards!" Jack exclaimed, marching dramatically through the gates.
"The sooner we catch them, the sooner we can see if Santa will give us some cookies," Donald whispered to Aila with a grin. She giggled, and they all started following Jack through the gates. The hairs on Aila's neck suddenly prickled, and she slowed, looking around nervously. She had the unsettling feeling that someone was watching her…
"Aila…"
Aila stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes going wide. "Alex?" she whispered. The boys continued on without her, having not noticed that she'd stopped following them. Aila was suddenly alone.
"Aila!"
"Alex!" Aila cried, and she took off running toward the woods. The voice wasn't in her head anymore. It was coming from nearby. She was here. Alex was here.
"Aila, wait," the hooded girl chimed in. "This could be a trap…"
"I don't care," Aila panted, running as fast as she could through the trees, her sister's voice calling out to her from somewhere deep in the forest.
"You need to think about this," the girl urged. "Something isn't right here… You need to stop…"
"Shut up," Aila growled, trying to ignore the girl's voice.
"Stop running."
"SHUT UP!"
"You're walking into a trap!"
"NO I'M NOT!" Aila bellowed. "And even if I am, I don't care! I need to find her! Alex!" She was feeling almost unreasonably angry. How dare the hooded girl try to stop her from finding her sister! Her anger spurred her forward and she ran even faster, her feet moving quicker than she even knew they could.
Aila came to a clearing and vaguely realized that she had wandered very far off the path. No matter; she would figure out how to get back to town later. Dead leaves covered the floor, and the trees were casting eerie shadows all around her, the bright light of the moon fractured as it shone down through scraggly branches. She slowed to a stop in the middle of the clearing, breathing hard and straining her ears to hear her sister's voice. "Alex?" she called, trying to figure out which direction to go. "Alex, where are you?!"
"Aila…" Alex's voice sounded suddenly dreamy, as if she were talking in her sleep. It was coming from somewhere on Aila's right. "Aila… help me…"
Aila turned toward the voice. It seemed to be coming from one of the darkest parts of the woods. "Alex…"
"Aila, stop!" the hooded girl commanded, sounding very frustrated. Aila ignored her, taking a step toward her sister's voice.
"Aila… please… Aila…" Alex called, her voice echoing through the trees.
Aila took a few more steps forward, starting to build up speed again. "Alex… I'm here… I'm – !" A white blur sped into her line of vision, and Aila gasped, stumbling backwards in surprise. She blinked a few times to try and register what she was seeing, and her mouth fell open. "No way…"
There, standing in the middle of her path and looking her dead in the eye, was a large, white wolf.
That's it for now! I had originally wanted to get this chapter up on Halloween… but it still works for the winter holidays, sooo oh well.
Anyway, please leave a review to let me know what you think! I'm gonna try to get back to my once a week updating schedule now that things have calmed down.
Thanks for reading!
~FP