Sora laughed as his mother continued doing her motherly things: peppering him with kisses, saying silly variants of "I love you", smiling her dazzling smile while he laughed. He was sixteen, too old for these little things, but he loved every second of it.
"I'm so proud of you, my little sky." She laughed, hugging him close and kissing his head "You've grown so much."
"Of course I have!" He replied with a huge grin. It faltered when he thought he saw a flash of gold, but then grew when he heard a voice, familliar, but distant. "Glad to see you so happy."
Sora backed away from his mother, seeing Ventus in the distance. "VEN!" He grabbed his mores hand "Mom! You gotta meet this guy-" he faltered when she vanished. "Mom...?"
He turned to find Ventus watching him from afar, then he walked away. "No! wait! VEN! VENTUS I'M SORRY!" Sora called after "I'm so sorry! I forgive you!" Ventus didn't stop, but Sora heard him say
"Thank you, but you gotta get up now. Tell them I said hi-"
Sora woke up, sitting bolt upright in surprise.
"Woah! Did you have a nightmare or something?!" He turned to find Kairi sitting across from him. Her outfit had changed: a strapless sun dress that was pink at the bodice then faded to yellow at the hem, white sleeves much like Aqua's only they ended at her elbow, a set of yellow stockings added an illusion that her dress was longer. She asked again "You okay?"
Sora blinked, then said "Yeah, just a stupid dream."
"From the sound of it, it wasn't that stupid." Aqua noted.
Sora noticed that they were in the Highwind, and asked "Where we going?"
Aqua only responded with a question of her own "What was the dream about?"
Sora thought, trying to cling to the images of the dream. He suddenly couldn't remember his mother's face, and there was something about Ventus...
"Damn, I can't recall, sorry."
Aqua shrugged "It's okay, but from what I can tell it was a nice one that just ended very abruptly."
Sora nodded "Yeah..." He held up his hand and stroked his cheek, suddenly remembering his mother doing the same at some point in the dream. He teared up "Maybe too happy."
Aqua shrugged "Well, at least you had a break."
"Yeah. At least I did." He sighed, then Aqua said "We're here anyways."
They entered a courtyard, the night sky full of stars and the castle gleaming in front of them. There was a warm glow and the echo of merriment from within.
"I guess they're having another ball."
"Oh! This is where you met Cinderella, right?" Kairi asked enthusiastically.
Sora looked around "Well-"
"Yeah, this is the place." Aqua said with a smile "I just figured we'd start our search here. It... Sorta worked last time. I mean, I did find them eventually."
Kairi shrugged.
Sora then folded his hands behind his head "Well, I don't think Riku would head here anyways-" he paused at the look Aqua was giving him. He hastily lowered them, not wanting to stir up bad feelings "but there might be trouble with Organization XIII, so we should still hang around and see."
Aqua nodded, "Besides, I do have a friend I would like to check up on- where's Kairi?" They both scanned the courtyard quickly, finding Kairi already heading inside. She paused atop the steps, waving them over "Well come on! We could find something in here!"
Sora smiled weakly "Good grief Kairi! Warn us when you run off next time!" He jogged over with Aqua, and the three headed into the castle.
There wasn't much activity in the large entryway, just some guards. They paid no mind to the new arrivals, waving them in with small bows without words. They walked up the stairs, but Aqua paused at one point on the railing.
"Everything okay-"
"He held this..." She said softly, rubbing the banister and obviously thinking of someone close. She teared up, sighing "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea-"
"We're here, no changing that." Kairi said "Besides, you still have an old friend to meet." she continued on, leaving Sora and Aqua as if she expected them to follow.
Aqua nodded solemnly, but pulled out her Wayfinder and stared at it forlornly. Sora felt Ven's still around his neck, suddenly noting the weight it held. He shrugged "Come on, we gotta make sure Kairi keeps outta trouble."
They entered the ballroom, easily blending into the crowd while they politely asked for Kairi. Although the asking wasn't long, as Sora heard Kairi laughing from the other end of the court. She was talking with a woman about Aqua's age in a silver dress with a platinum tiara placed firmly in her tied back blond hair. Kairi saw Sora and Aqua, then waved them over.
The woman blinked in surprise at Aqua's arrival, then smiled "Oh it's you! how long has it been, my friend?"
Aqua smiled, bowing lightly "A good while, Cinderella."
Cinderella smiled "Yes. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever get the chance to thank you properly miss... Um..." She laughed "I never even got your name!"
Aqua smiled wide and sincere "It's Master Aqua, but just Aqua, please. Thank you for thanking me."
As Aqua and Cinderella babbled like old friends, Kairi held out her hand to Sora "Wanna dance?"
Sora stared uncomfortably at it "Um, we're kinda here for-"
"It's a ball too, dummy." She said playfully. She then wrapped him up in a dancing position, and began gliding him along with her "Besides, we can keep an eye out while we dance, right?" Sora stumbled lightly, but picked up ball-dancing quite quickly "You're really good." He told Kairi.
"I think you've forgotten, Sora," Kairi said with a light laugh as the dance called for partners to switch "I'm a princess."
They twirled their separate ways, Sora forlornly watching Kairi vanish into the crowd with another young man. Not that he didn't like the young lady he was dancing with right now, just he really preferred dancing with Kairi.
Kairi, meanwhile, didn't really mind. After dealing with so much garbage the past several days, this was just the break she needed. A chance to truly let worries fade away for the moment. Anyone in a black cloak with a hood pulled over would be really easy to spot anyways.
Partners switched again, and she found herself in the arms of a older man in black. His fiery red hair was slicked back, and his green eyes stood out starkly against the plain white mask. It covered the rest of his face, though, which made her a little uncomfortable.
"So, enjoying things?" She asked with a slight lilt of uncertainty as he twirled her in time with the music.
"Sure, but I find these frightfully dull."
Kairi blinked, stiffening in horror at recognizing the voice-
The man then calmly put his hand over her mouth and began twirling her away without anyone's notice, all as if it was still their dance. "Ah ah ah, Princess. Not a peep from you."
Sora, across the room, took note of this. He craned his neck to make sure Kairi never let this sight. Being a boy who had never learned any ball dances, he wasn't sure if this was bad or good-
"Excuse me, but I believe I'M your partner." The girl in his arms said testily.
Sora shook his head, and broke away from the dance "Sorry, but I think my girlfriend's getting kidnapped. Lovely dancing with you, bye!"
He rushed off, but stopped when he heard cries of frustration, then loss. He quickly went back to the girl and held her hands "I'm sure there is a lovely guy waiting for someone like you, but I'm not him." And he ran off again to try and follow Kairi and her mysterious kidnapper.
Red hair... Red hair, where have I seen that before? He sighed to himself frustratedly.
sorry this one took so long! I had a little case of writers block in how this was going to play out.
