"I'm not going outside."
"Why not?"
"It's scary! I could die. Do you know what it's like out there?"
I rolled my eyes at her.
"Don't you think you're being a bit melodramatic?"
"No! You can never be too careful, you know."
I had no idea keeping her cooped up in a castle for a year or two would turn her into an agoraphobe.
Okay, maybe it made sense.
But it still annoyed me endlessly.
"Nami! You have to come outside sometime! What happened to the beach? To sea salt ice cream? To friends?" I asked. I tried to keep the desperation out of my voice, but I could tell a bit leaked out anyway.
"You're my friend," she stated, as if that would make it better.
"I'm the only one who bothers to come here. Maybe if you went outside you'd make other friends!"
"Pssh. Who needs friends anyway?"
I scowled. She was worse than any little sister.
"Alright, that's it. I'm coming in there."
"No, don-!"
I put my elbow into the door and shoved it open, forcing sunlight onto her face. She hissed.
"For god's sake, you're not a vampire!"
She covered her eyes with her hands. They looked almost florescent in the sunlight, and were tinted with an unhealthy shade of blue.
"Says who?" She still covered her face with her hands, but I could hear her smirk in her voice.
"Says me."
"Well maybe you're wrong."
"Maybe I'm not."
"Whatever. Can you please close the door? I'm getting bits of sunlight behind my eyelids."
I rolled my eyes again- quite the sensation today- and kicked the door shut with my foot.
"Happy now?"
"Yep." She took her hands away from her face. I was stunned.
She was naturally petite, but this was way overboard. She was gaunt, her bones stretching against her pale skin. I could see veins all over her skin, mostly blue. When I put my hand to her cheek she was cold, so cold it almost burned. Her breathing was shallow, too quick. She'd grown at least two inches and her dress billowed around her like a five-year-old trying on her mother's clothes. She was still beautiful, but sickly. Her wonderful, deep blue eyes had sunken a bit back in her head and had lost their natural sparkle. Her once-luscious blonde hair now lay flat and lank on her head. It was horrifying.
"Namine…" My voice sounded very small, like a mouse, but it reverberated around the empty house like a yodeler on a mountain. She hung her head in shame.
"I'm sorry. But I just can't go out there. I'd fall to pieces."
That certainly looked true enough. She'd be no match for Twilight Town's hustle-and-bustle crowds.
But we didn't have to go in a crowd…
"Namine," her head snapped at attention at her name, "when was the last time you saw the sunset?"
She sighed. Her eyes glazed, as if her spirit was Elsewhere.
"A long time ago… I can't even remember what the right colors were. That's why I stopped drawing."
I perked up at the chance. She needed to get outside, whether she wanted to or not.
"How would you like to come with me to see it? I know a hill a little out of the way. No one goes there anymore. It's perfect for watching the sunset."
She hesitated for a moment.
"I… I can't. It's all the way out there," she pointed to the door. "It's scary."
The fear in her eyes made me realize this was a real problem. She looked like a five-year-old who was just told Daddy wasn't coming back. Scared. Lost. Not cowardice; just pure can't.
I took her face in my hands- despite her growth, I was still taller- and leaned down and kissed her forehead.
"Nami, you have to come out. The world just hasn't been the same without you," I whispered.
She looked up at me. Her lower lip was quivering.
"I'm sorry, Riku…" she whimpered.
"Please?" I pled. "I won't let you waste away in here."
Suddenly, she drew back. Her lank blonde hair swept into her face, so I couldn't see her expression, and she was muttering "No, no," over and over again, shaking her head. She backed up against the wall and sank to the ground. She hid her face in her hands again. I thought she was crying, but I couldn't tell.
After a few minute's silence, I whispered "Namine?" Like before, her name seemed to echo around the vacant, somewhat-eerie house. Her head shot up and in her eyes fired an unexpected and uncharacteristic fury.
"Too late. I've already wasted away."
She got up and ran to what I assumed to be her room, and locked the door.