Day 3 Prompt – Love at First Sight or Opposites Attract

"It's too hot for these things," grouches Vanitus as he tries rolling up his sleeves.

"Don't you start with that!" Queen Minnie warns. She smacks his hands to keep him from further wrinkling his uniform.

"He's got a point, though," Ventus chimes in. "Did we have to visit on the hottest day ever?"

"My clothes are itchy." Sora reaches to scratch his back.

"It's kinda hard to breathe in these," Roxas mumbles as he tugs at his collar.

Sure, the place is beautiful—white brick buildings, decorative walkways, flowers galore—but it seems to be a day the sun decided to scorch all below it.

"It most certainly is not the hottest day ever here, and I demand the four of you sit up straight and stop fidgeting before I create consequences!" the Queen declares. She stands before them in the foyer of Radiant Garden's astounding castle. Hands on hips and frown firmly on her face, she does well with intimidating the four before her. She is, after all, one of the greatest sorceresses in all the worlds.

She takes her time to stare each young man down before speaking again. "Now, I do not want to hear another word of complaint, do you understand? We are here as esteemed guests to a young princess who is not only in a difficult position but who also happens to be a very good friend of mine. You four volunteered to assist, and I would hope you treat this professionally. Am I making myself clear?"

"Yes, your Majesty."

The four-part chorus answer does not seem to rid Queen Minnie's of her doubt, but likely it is the best she will get from the four.

Although this mission was a volunteer endeavor, Roxas and the other three, Ventus, Vanitus, and Sora, all volunteered solely to see a new world. They have been stuck training for quite some time. Their last mission had been almost a year ago, and they were stir-crazy, hoping for something—anything—to break the cycle of boredom.

Not a week earlier, Queen Minnie was the one to come by their training grounds and request their assistance. They were quickly informed of the situation: a young princess, ruler of an old world, recently has been having heartless troubles. Sure, the world had heartless before, but recently the numbers have risen dramatically. The princess requested advice and aid from Queen Minnie. The Queen had been a friend of hers since the princess's parents died from the first unexpected wave of heartless. That wave had been beaten relatively easily, but their have been consequential waves since with each one being worse than the last.

Queen Minnie, of course, would never let the young girl fight this alone. The princess did have some formal training, the Queen informed her four guards, but not nearly enough to withstand the next wave by herself and her struggling army. Therefore, the Queen saw it best to enlist the help of King Mickey's Elite. The four greatest keyblade wielders since Grandmasters Aqua and Terra. Only four of the five are present. The King needed assistance with a smaller struggle in another world. Riku accompanies him to quickly banish the darkness before coming to assist Radiant Garden as well.

All this is fine and grand. Roxas is looking forward to honing his skills with some more difficult heartless found here, but…the uniforms.

The official uniforms they have to wear are the worst. Sure, they look good, but they aren't comfortable. The first time the young men had to wear them for their knighting ceremony, they wore them proudly and were reluctant to take them off. But that was in a cool castle in the evening before a large celebration. It was meant as a grand ceremonial outfit. But meeting a random princess they will hardly see while fighting heartless—why bother? She will end up seeing them sweaty, grimy, and dirty after long fights. What's the point of trying to make an impression now? The four are already the best. No need to emphasize the point.

But one more firm glare from Queen Minnie made Roxas swallow his discomfort. Fine. He will play along like the others.

Finally, the large doors open. Queen Minnie and the four fighters enter the Grand Hall. At the end of the hall is an empty throne.

"She's not even here," Roxas hears Vanitus say under his breath. The death glare the Queen gives him is enough to shut him up. Everyone knows she could cast a spell so vicious, the next week of your life will somehow disappear.

Queen Minnie looks back to the throne. "She will be here momentarily. We are early, after all. She might be in the middle of something."

Roxas tugs at his collar again. Great, he thinks, more time in this thing.

One solid minute of silence passes. Roxas is just reaching up to tug his collar again when the side door to the room bursts open and someone comes rushing in. The person runs to the throne then skids to a stop. The blur of purple and red is a young lady. Her lavender dress is wrinkled and her hair, the color of a fine wine, is pinned up. It's an obvious rush job because several wispy strands fall free from the binding. Her cheeks are pink and her eyes are bright.

She's beautiful.

"I'm so sorry," she says to Queen Minnie. "I was training and I lost track of time until the girls told me—"

The Queen is already approaching her, arms out. "Don't you worry one bit. It's wonderful to see you."

The red head immediately hugs the Queen. It's a long, firm hug, one that usually happens when old friends greet one another after a long time apart, driven by familiarity and love.

"I've missed you."

Roxas overhears this phrase said to the Queen, one he isn't sure he should have, but somehow it makes him sad because it's said with such earnestness.

Queen Minnie pulls back and holds the young lady's face between her hands. Her back is to the boys behind her so Roxas can't see what expression she has, but it makes the girl smile, a smile filled with fondness.

Finally, Queen Minnie steps back. She holds out an arm and gestures to the four behind her. "Princess Kairi, I am honored to introduce you to the four best and brightest King Mickey and I have to offer."

Princess Kairi's smile is a bright one as she moves forward to greet them individually. She starts on one end with Ventus. Ventus stands up straighter and looks quite confident when Kairi steps before him.

"Hello, and what is your name?" the princess asks.

"Ventus, your highness. You can call me Ven," Ventus says.

"And you can call me Kairi," Kairi says. She holds out her hand. "No need to bow."

"Kairi it is then." Ventus shakes her hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Ven."

Kairi steps one over and extends her hand to Vanitus. "And you are?"

"Vanitus is my name." He shakes her hand. "So you were training? You any good? You look to slim to be any good."

The look Queen Minnie gives him could freeze lava, but the princess just shrugs. "Go ahead, underestimate me. I dare you."

Vanitus smirks. He crosses his arms and says, "We'll just see how good you think you are."

Kairi shakes her head but has a similar grin on her face.

And then suddenly she is in front of Roxas, and he isn't sure how to speak anymore. Her eyes are so bright. Her smile is so welcoming. Her face is so pretty.

"Hi," is what ends up coming out of his mouth. "I'm Roxas," he quickly adds, reaching for her hand. Her grip is stronger than he expected. He has a sneaking suspicion Vanitus is, in fact, underestimating her.

"Roxas." He likes how his name sounds when she speaks it. Kairi tilts her head and the smile fades some. Roxas's heart beats faster as he wonders what about him makes her question him. Then she shakes her head, shaking off whatever thought she had. "I'm sorry, Roxas. It's just, I had the feeling I've seen you before. Have we met?"

Definitely not. Roxas would have remembered her. "No, sorry. But I'm happy to become a familiar face."

Kairi laughs. He got her to laugh. Yes. "I'll definitely want you to stick around."

Roxas knows the smile on his face would be mocked by his teammates because Roxas hardly ever smiles this big, but at the moment, with the princess smiling back at him like that, he can't find it in himself to care.

And then she's moving on to the last one. Sora. Roxas watches their exchange and recognizes that goofy grin of his. Only this time there's a little something…different. No—a little something extra. He seems extra happy as the princess shakes his hand and says his name. His cheeks are tinged pink and he looks sheepish almost.

Wait a minute.

Roxas glances back at Ventus and Vanitus. Their faces are equally plastered with grins and interest in their eyes. No doubt the same look Roxas had on his face a moment ago.

Oh.

Oh no.

Kairi has finished greeting Sora and has moved back to Queen Minnie's side. "I'm not surprised these are your best. They all seem great."

The Queen nods. "They are more than happy to help."

Kairi addresses the boys when she says, "I look forward to working with each of you."

Yeah, Roxas thinks almost grimly, no doubt we all are too. He isn't the only one experiencing love at first sight…but…but maybe—maybe—he will be the one to follow through with it.

This will be an interesting few months.

See, this one I had a whole story arc in mind. Sorry if the story suffers because of it because it seems like a lot of setting up. Perhaps I'll give attention to that high school au I had in last chapter instead. Not sure, but I'm having fun with this week! Happy Day 3, everybody!