Shadows of a Dream: Final Mix
Chapter Twenty-Seven – What's This?
The smell of freshly baked bread was what roused Kairi from her peaceful slumber. It had been the best sleep she had in a while. She didn't really like to think of herself as a high maintenance girl, but she never really realized how much she adored being guaranteed a shower, having a soft bed to sleep in, and having more than one set of clothes to wear. Luckily, magic seemed to be on their side and their clothes rare seemed to get too dirty or smelly. She didn't want to complain about small things like though. If only because she knew that Sora wasn't really impressed with girls who focused on their looks so much. He outwardly admitted that one of his pet peeves was listening to a girl complain about her appearance, especially when there was nothing really wrong with her. Still, that didn't stop her from mentally wishing that they had a gummi ship to travel on with a shower or something.
Her stomach let out a rumble and she felt her cheeks burn a bit, realizing that Sora's hands were resting there. She heard him chuckle, and only then realized that he was awake already. He rolled her around so that they were facing each other and Sora leaned down, giving her a small kiss before saying, "Good morning."
She hummed a bit and said, "It really is, isn't it? We didn't have to fight anything yesterday, we had a comfortable bed, we probably won't have to fight anything today and-"
"We did a bit of exploring yesterday," he interrupted with a wink, a sly grin appearing on his face.
Kairi blushed and smacked him gently before muttering, "Since you're going to be like that, never again." She giggled at Sora's pout, petting his hair like he was a dog. She stopped as her stomach rumbled violently again, causing him to laugh. Sora took his arms from around her and rolled out of the bed, stretching as he stood up. He didn't bother putting on most parts of his costume again, instead sticking with just the pants and a black t-shirt that had been underneath his jacket.
Looking back at Kairi, who was still lying down lazily, now with the covers thrown off of her thanks to his movements, he grinned impishly and said, "You sure you it's never again? I'd beg to differ from the way you're just laying there dressed like that."
Kairi looked down at herself and let out a blush before sitting up and fixing her very inappropriate looking dress that had gone much too far down and up at the exact same time. She wrapped her cloak around herself, looking extremely uncomfortable.
His expression softened as he moved over and hugged her while saying, "We'll see if Mrs. Claus maybe knows where we can get something that covers you a bit more, okay? I'm sorry if I've been making you uncomfortable."
She smiled at his honesty and said, "It's okay. You're my boyfriend, I'd probably be insulted if you didn't want to jump me when I'm parading around in something that doesn't know if it's a dress or a shirt that I'm pretty much falling out of."
He laughed and was about to say something else when there was a soft knock at the door. He opened it to see a short, plump woman with white hair pulled back into a bun, large glasses, and a friendly smile standing before them.
"Oh good, I thought I heard you awake," she said in a warm voice. "It is good to see you so well Sora, we didn't get to chat much last time, and this lovely young lady must be Kairi."
"Hello Mrs. Claus," Sora replied, "we were actually coming down to see you. Kairi's costume from Halloween Town isn't exactly... appropriate to be wandering around in the snow with and—"
"Oh yes I can certainly help with that," she eagerly interrupted as she stepped into the room. She reminded Sora of Flora, one of the three fairies from Aurora's world. She walked around Kairi, who refused to take off the cloak.
"Come now dear," the old woman said. "Oh, I suppose I should actually introduce myself to you, shouldn't I? I'm Mrs. Claus. Once I fix you up some new clothes we'll go down and have a bite to eat."
Kairi still looked a bit unsure and shy, so Mrs. Claus turned to Sora and said, "Perhaps I can show her what I mean by changing clothes with you, Sora dear? We don't want you to frighten the elves by being a vampire, now do we?"
Sora chuckled a bit and said, "Donald tried to fix it last time, but it just made us look like some type of Halloween-Christmas hybrid."
"Yes, well I have Christmas Magic, it's different," she said excitedly as she walked around Sora, eying him. "Yes, yes, I know just the thing. Would you like me to change your clothes?"
"Why not?" Sora said enthusiastically. How many people could say that they actually wore clothes made by the wife of Santa Claus?
Mrs. Claus made a quick motion with her hand, and Sora's clothes began to glow a bit. Kairi covered her eyes, and when she looked back he was wearing a warm, green jacket with white trimming around the collar, the bottom and the bottom of the sleeves, with golden buttons going down the front. His pants were a darker green and trimmed with white. His skin was back to normal, his fangs were gone, and he had a green Santa hat on his head. It was close to what Donald had done, but a little more Christmas-y and a little less frightening.
Kairi giggled and said, "You look adorable!"
Sora blushed bashfully and said, "Wouldn't you rather be wearing something like this?"
Kairi nodded eagerly and turned to Mrs. Claus and said, "If I still can, I would love for you to change my clothes please."
"Of course dear, but I need you to take off the cloak so that I can see what kind of size you are," Mrs. Claus said encouragingly.
Kairi turned red as she removed her cloak, but if Mrs. Claus had an opinion of her attire, she didn't say a word about it. Instead she just eyed Kairi for a moment before waving her hand, changing the clothes.
Kairi looked down at herself and let out a giggle. She matched Sora almost, wearing a jacket almost like his except that it was a bit longer, and it was pink. Likewise, her dark pink pants were a little differently styled than his, and her hat was pink as well.
"How's that dear?" the old woman asked.
"Thank you so much," she said happily as she spun around. She looked up at Sora, giggled happily and threw her arms around his neck.
Mrs. Claus laughed and said, "Now come, you poor things must be starving. You're both quite skinny and I bet you don't eat as you should." She motioned for them to follow her, and Kairi clasped Sora's hand tightly before following the friendly old lady down the stairs, taking in the quaint house more than the day before. She had been so self-conscious at the time, and now that she knew that she could actually move without exposing herself to the world she seemed so excited about everything.
"This place is so cute," she said happily as she took a seat at the wooden table. Everything was decorated like a Christmas fanatics dream, but it was all still done tastefully, somehow.
"Here, try this. It's my special French toast. I do hope neither of you are allergic to cinnamon," she placed the plates stacked full of food in front of them. "Oh, and this is maple syrup. I know you don't have it on Destiny Islands. Yes dear (she had seen Kairi about to ask a question), I do know where you're from. I am Santa's wife, you know. I'll go get you some milk to drink. There's nothing like milk with any sort of baked good." She quickly scurried off again, leaving the two teenagers in a stunned silence.
"Wow," Kairi mumbled, "she's so nice."
"Of course she is," Sora agreed happily as he poured a bit of the maple syrup on his breakfast. On Destiny Islands they tended to use different types of fruit sauces on everything like oranges, pineapples, coconuts, or other tropical fruits. He took one bite of the cinnamon French toast in the maple syrup and a stunned look passed over his face.
"What's wrong? Is it that bad?" Kairi asked him when she saw his face.
"These are amazing!" Sora cried out happily as he dug into them. "We have to get some of this maple syrup for home!" Seeing her boyfriend happily eating, she too picked up her fork and began eating the breakfast given to her. She was learning not to be nearly as picky as she was before, and she usually took Sora's cue on most foods. If he wouldn't go near it, then she usually would either. The only time she did once was with this fish dinner that she thought looked delicious but he was skeptical of it. The food poisoning later on proved to her that maybe she should listen more.
"You're right!" she said happily, her hungry stomach agreeing with her statement.
"I'm glad you like it," Mrs. Claus said as she came back in the room. "Santa is over in the work shop and wanted to know if you two wanted to help him with some of the toys."
"Already?" Sora asked in surprise. "Christmas is months away though, right?" He looked around at Kairi, hoping that they hadn't lost track of time that much.
"Oh no, no," she said with a laugh. "It's only the end of June. We work all year round, it just gets much busier towards the fall."
"What do you think Iri?" he questioned the girl, who looked up away from her delicious breakfast with a rather stunned look. She hadn't been paying attention at all. Sora laughed at this and said, "Want to go work in Santa's workshop later?"
'We really should be going,' Roxas pointed out, although Sora could feel his Nobody's want to stay.
'It's just one day,' Sora replied mentally. 'I think we need just a day of fun.'
'You got your fun yesterday.' What he was referring to was not lost on Sora, who could hear the teasing in his voice.
'Shut up. Technically it was you and Naminé too,' Sora pointed out. His Nobody went silent and he turned his attention back to Kairi, who had nodded her head with excitement and ended up getting a bit of syrup on her nose. Sora laughed and reached over to her, poking her nose gently to take it off. She giggled a bit and tapped his shin with her foot.
Mrs. Claus watched them with a smile and shook her head while muttering to herself. "Young love, always so sweet, and at the same time unpredictable. I predict these two going far together."
VVVVVV
Santa's workshop was bustling and full of life. The wrapping machines were pushed aside for when they would be in use later on, but for now it was full of elves working on toys. Some were checking the machines, some were hammering some things together and others were designing things. It was all a productive cycle, and Sora wasn't quite sure if he wanted to disrupt it.
"Sora! Kairi!" Santa called out with a wave from where he was, giving approval to some new toys. They both walked over to him and he beamed at them while saying, "Your clothes look much better than those other ones."
"I'm sure Jack would beg to differ," Sora replied with a laugh.
"Oh, I'm sure he'll be over in his suit soon," Santa replied dryly. "He likes doing that. Kairi my dear, you look lovely."
Kairi flushed a bit and muttered a thank you. She grabbed Sora's arm and beamed at Santa as she asked, "Can we really help out here?"
"Of course," he told her. "You'll be working with the group experimenting on new types of toys and designing the prototypes. Just follow Howard here and he'll explain what to. Now go have some fun."
A small elf walked over to them and said, "Come on, we have all the fun around here. We have some really cool things on the go." Sora had thought that they were going to go over to the two or three elves who seemed to be designing quietly on the other side of the room, but instead they were leg to a large room that was loud with bangs, explosions and yells of laughter. Elves were rushing everywhere chasing toys, running from toys, running to put out fires and so on. It was pure chaos willed with laughter.
"Sora," Kairi suddenly whispered in awe. He looked around at her as she eagerly pointed towards where they seemed to be making some sort of dolls.
He chuckled at her a bit, remembering how, when they were twelve, she had still had a doll similar to that in her room that she later admitted she wanted to keep, but Riku had ended up ruining it. It was a long story involving hot chocolate, a seagull, an electric outlet and the cranky neighbour down the street. She had been deemed to hold to have a doll by that age, so it was never replaced.
"Go on," Sora said while gently pushing at her lower back to move her forward. "See what's so experimental about those dolls."
She giggled excitedly and went over to see exactly what they were doing. That left Sora alone to look around the room. It wasn't an item, but rather one of the elves that caught his attention. She was sitting in the corner, away from all the hustle and bustle, and working on something. Sora noticed that she was using a chisel, hammer and other things rather than the more high-end tools and computers that many others were using. Sora noticed that there was a large basket of sparkling gemstones beside her, as well as many wood shavings.
He curiously walked over to her and stared at what she was making. There were several finished boxes in front of her, all elaborately decorated. Now that he was closer, he saw all the paint, glue, drills and small welding objects around her. He knelt down and looked at the nearest finished box, eying it to make sure that it was dry before carefully picking it up, not wanting to break something that he knew she put so much work into.
It was a small, round box made of a polished wood. There was a floral pattern carved into it, a few patches of silver and gold painted here and there. The little lock in the front was gold with a tiny golden key beside it, and the hinges were the same colour of gold. A few small, green gemstones were placed securely in the wood, giving the entire thing a beautiful finish. He could hear that the little elf had stopped working, but she hadn't protested him touching the box so he carefully opened it. A cheerful, quiet tune started playing from it, and Sora had to smile. It was truly an amazing creation, and he knew that the little elf had made all of them herself. The one in his hand wasn't exactly what he'd call a perfect music box though, but he was sure that it would be to some people.
The little elf had to admit, she was curious about why he was interested in her music boxes, instead of lost in all of the exciting, experimental toys. She blushed a bit when he looked at her, knowing that she had been staring, and was slightly surprised when he asked, "Did you make all these? I don't see how this is experimental."
"Yes, I did" she answered. "They move things in here when they become less popular, to experiment if they're worth making here or just getting from other places." She chuckled a bit at the odd expression on Sora's face and asked, "You didn't really think that we made brand-named Barbies here, did you?"
"Well," Sora admitted sheepishly, "kinda."
"You're part right. We make certain things here," she explained, "but I'll let you ponder what those are. My music boxes are experimental now because nobody really wants them. They all want DVDs and iPods and holo-visions. I've always loved making music boxes though."
Sora knelt down next to her, looking at them all. He smiled a bit and said, "I think they look really nice."
The little elf looked pleased at the compliment when she noticed something in his eyes. It was a thoughtful look, and as she watched his eyes slide over to the girl that he had come with, she smiled and said, "But there are a few things you'd like to change."
He blushed with embarrassment and said, "Well, a bit, but what I have in my mind is a bit extravagant to get made here."
"Well, who would it be for?" she asked, even though she already knew the answer.
Sora turned a bit, smiling warmly as he watched Kairi helping one of the elves prying rocket ships out of a wall. He looked back at the elf, who had a knowing look on her face. "Her, but I think you already knew that." Sora looked back at Kairi. "I feel so horrible about missing her sixteenth birthday because we've been traveling and lost track of time. I guess I don't want just a normal present for her. 1I want to give her something special. I'll probably end up forgetting."
"You're the one who saved Santa from Oogie, right?"
"Yeah, that's right," he said as he looked back down at her. "Well, with the help of my friends."
She grinned broadly and said, "Then don't you worry. Can you look at me for a second?"
"Oh, you don't have to," Sora assured her quickly. "I mean, yes, I do appreciate it, but we're traveling a lot and-"
"Shhh," she instructed, and Sora instantly went silent. She continued to stare directly into his eyes for a few moments, and just as he was started to get uncomfortable to the point of squirming, she blinked, smiled and said, "I know the perfect music box to make. I know exactly what you want."
"You really don't have to," Sora told her. "What I was picturing would be difficult because it's not wood-"
"I know," she said. "I work with metal all the time too. It's no problem."
"And we're traveling a lot-"
"Then I'll wait to send it when you're back home," she insisted. "You saved Santa, and what you want is a present for someone you love. You have a good heart and I want to make it."
He smiled at her and said, "Well, thank you then. How do you know what I was thinking though?"
"You want it elegant and beautiful like it's made for a princess, but at the same time simple like your lives when you were younger. Right?" She giggled as his eyebrows shot up with amazement. "We hear and see things when the wish of a gift is pure and worthy. It's like a real example of karma. You wish good things for others, and the good things will come to them and you."
She jumped off of her stool and quickly got a small box, moving them in front of Sora. She smiled and said, "Oh, I'm Gemma by the way. Yes I know, Gemma loving music boxes and gemstones, kinda like fate when I was named. And you're Sora, right?"
"Yes," he admitted, staring with surprise as she opened the box to display gemstones that seemed to shine and sparkle much more than the ones in the basket. The little elf, Gemma, watched as he suddenly reached in and picked out a blue stone that seemed to shimmer different colours. She reached out, took it from his hand and said, "A lapis. I love these stones. Lets see..." she trailed off and picked out a similar but much lighter stone, "...how about a blue opal? These are really rare. Hmmm, and some small dark sapphires and white diamonds for accents."
Sora's eyes widened and he said, "That is automatically worth more than my house, I'm pretty sure."
"Is it worth more than her?" Gemma asked.
"No way," Sor answered instantly. "I don't think there's anything in existence that is worth more than she is. Not to me."
"That's why I'm willing to make something worth so much," she said. "A lot of the stones I use are fake, but these ones are real. You have a really good heart, and honest intentions, so I'm going to make the gift you want for her."
Sora smiled softly as he watched Kairi dance with one of the little elves. Looking back at Gemma, he smiled and said, "Thank you. You don't know how much it means to me."
"Not as much as she means to you."
He thought about this for a moment before saying, "No, you're right. It still means a lot though."
The little elf smiled. If she could be honest, she knew that all of the boxes that she created eventually went unnoticed and uncared for, but she had a feeling that Kairi was going to love and cherish this gift for a long time, and that's all the little elf wanted, for someone to appreciate and love her work instead of just throwing it away.
VVVVVV
It was snowing lightly again, and many of the elves were happily playing and frolicking in the snow, while others were ice skating and dancing to the Christmas music that poured out of the nearby speakers.
Sora and Kairi had decided to forgo the ice-skating, since neither knew how to do it and neither wanted to break a bone or anything. Instead, they laughed, danced, threw snowballs and otherwise enjoyed the snow in their warm clothes. It was a lot like Sora had imagined when he saw Jack and Sally dancing, but it was still different. Instead of holding hands, spinning around and laughing, Kairi had her arms wrapped around his middle, her body pressed close to his, as they twisted and laughed.
Sora let out a surprised 'oof' as Kairi suddenly decided to actually jump on him. His hands instantly went under his thighs to keep her up, but he ended up slipping on some ice and falling into the snow bank behind him.
Her laughter echoed through his ears as she pushed herself up so that she was sitting on his stomach, and he stared at her with a slightly stunned expression as the remainder of the snow fell around them. After a moment, his surprise went away and his hands grabbed a hold of her sides, fingers flexing and causing her to break into laughter while trying to get away from the tickling fingers. Sora rolled them over so that she was the one in the snow and he was the one on top of her so that she couldn't get away.
Kairi giggled hysterically and said, "Stop Sora! Stop!"
"What was that?" he asked playfully. "Don't stop?"
"No!" she screamed with a laugh. She pushed with all her might, but he wouldn't budge. Despite her squirming from his ticking fingers, she managed to move her arms to the back of Sora's head and pulled his face towards hers, kissing him deeply. She waited until she felt Sora returning the heated kiss, his hands stopping their movements and settling on her lower back, and then she pushed with all of her might, flipping them over again. "I win."
Sora stared at her, wide eyed before grinning a bit and saying, "I have the feeling that you pushed me behind this snow bank on purpose."
"Baby, you're not the only one who just wants to push someone behind a tree or a building, or in this case a snow bank, and have their way with them," Kairi replied slyly as she moved to kiss him again.
"You know," Sora said in between quick kisses, "you might have to get off before I seriously consider doing inappropriate things to you when there's a bunch of innocent little elves just on the other side of this hill."
Kairi backed away a bit and stared at him for a moment before moving off of him and helping him get off of the ground. Sora was curious about what she planned to do as she took his hand in her own and started heading towards the thick, pine forest. He quickly realized that she had no clue where she was going, and that her only goal was to get into a place that was thick with trees and hard to see. Then she turned around and kissed him again. Just like in the alleyway, his hands began to wonder before they began playing with the golden buttons on her pink jacket.
"Are you sure?" he asked skeptically when he managed to pull away for a moment.
"Not for actual...you know...umm…intercourse," she muttered, staring up at him through her dark eyelashes, "but we don't know when we'll ever get the chance to be in such a peaceful place so yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm sure."
That was all the answer Sora needed.
VVVVVV
Santa was talking to Jack when Kairi came running back through the snow, Sora running after her a moment later. The two watched with amusement as Sora caught up to Kairi, grabbed her around the waist and twirling around, her laughter echoing around them.
"Where have you guys been? We thought you left without saying goodbye," Jack said to them as they came over.
"Playing in the snow," Sora said, "and we ended up getting a little lost in the woods, but it's all good." It technically wasn't a lie, they had gotten a little lost coming out of the woods, and in a certain sense, they had definitely been 'playing' but Sora didn't feel like explaining anything else to Father Christmas and the King of Halloween. Of course, all the little elves running through the snow were sweating and with bright red cheeks, so they had come into the town running so that no one would get suspicious.
"We wouldn't leave without saying goodbye," Kairi said, an appalled look on her face.
"Yes, nothing to get back on the naughty list, right?" Santa said with a knowing smirk. Kairi blushed violently and stuttered, but as she caught the confused look on Santa's face at her reaction, she realized that the old man wasn't implying anything. He was referring to not being on a list because they hadn't believed in him at one point of time, and he assumed neither wanted to get off of the nice list. His eyes looked from her to Sora with confusion, before blushing with embarrassment and excusing himself, saying that he needed to check on Rudolph and hurried off.
Kairi groaned and covered her face with her hands, knowing that she had given them away with her assumptions. Of course Santa wasn't thinking anything dirty, and now the poor old man was embarrassed because of her.
"I hate my life sometimes," Kairi muttered as she moved to Sora to hide in his shirt.
Sora chuckled at her and said, "You know what they say about assuming."
She glared up at him and muttered, "I'm assuming that you won't continue that sentence, otherwise you can assume that there won't be anymore of anything again."
"What sentence?" he asked quickly, causing her to laugh.
"Well, I don't know what that was all about," Jack said suddenly, "but are you going to be staying any longer?"
"We can't," Sora admitted. "There are a lot of places that are in trouble, Jack. We'll try to stop by again if we can."
Jack nodded his head and said, "You both be careful. I know bad, and I have a feeling that something badder than bad is coming...and it's coming soon."
Author's Note
Yes, I know I should have wrote 'something worse than bad…' but it's speech so I'm allowed to do it like that.
So I imagine you all are in the middle of playing Birth By Sleep. I know I am. Well actually I'm at the very very end of Terra's game and he was the first one I chose. I got through fighting some of the final bosses but the last one is kicking my ass. Methinks I need more cures in my deck.
Not gonna lie, I feel so bad for him while playing this. Kinda like I felt bad for Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars 3, knowing what was going to happen to him. Actually, now that I think about it, those two story lines are pretty close, with just a few basic plot differences. It's sad.
You know what? I bet in like…KH3, whenever that comes out (probably not before the end of the world), Sora's going to use the x-blade or something. It's so weird seeing it written like 'x-blade' but pronounced differently. Screw you Square Enix. Can't make things normal.
Sorry or the late update. Again, next chapter, almost the opposite of this one. Thank you to everyone who reviewed!
Krystal Lily Potter
