Chapter Six: Castle of Dreams-Side story
(A/N: Ok, this was originally gonna be something else, but I have a fun idea. The next chapter will be up in just a few days.)
James and Aqua were moments away from departing the world when the Grand Duke approached the two, "Pardon me, but the bride wishes to speak to you." He tells James. He raises an eyebrow, but walks towards Cinderella.
She smiles as he approaches her, "I can't thank you enough for saving me from that monster." She says.
James smiles, "It was a pleasure. I'm always happy to help." He tells her.
She looks at him for a bit before speaking again, "We've met before, haven't we?" She asks him.
James looks away, "That was a long time ago, Princess. I'd rather not look back on those times." He then looks back to her, "But yes. I kept the Heartless at bay in your home and village some time ago."
Cinderella smiled again, "Well then I truly do owe you my deepest thanks. Please, won't you attend the wedding? You'd be an honored guest. And of course, your friend there is welcome as well."
James smiles, "Honestly, we probably shouldn't. But I can't help wondering about what Fairy Godmother told Aqua about darkness and light." He thinks to himself before bowing, "We would be honored. I'll inform her at once."
"WHAT!?" Aqua said, "This isn't the time! Ven is still out there! We have to find him!"
James waves her off, "We told Terra about it, he'll be on the lookout for him. We deserve this! Besides, how are we supposed to refuse the invite without risking the World Order?"
Aqua prepared to counter when she stopped. "We uh…. We could… um…" She fumbled before sighing in defeat, "Ok, but we are NOT making a habit of this!"
James nods, "You got a deal."
Before long, the wedding ceremony was underway and James and Aqua were once again at the palace. This time, as honored guests for the wedding between Cinderella and the Prince. Aqua fidgeted, "Should we really be doing this? Don't we have other places to be right now?" She asks.
James laughs, "Aqua, moments of peaceful joy such as this don't happen often in our line of work. We deserve to enjoy them when they come around. That said…" He then stands in front of her and offers her his hand with a bow, "My lady, may I have this dance?"
Aqua giggles, but decides to humor him with a curtsey as she takes his hand, "It'd be an honor, good sir." She says jokingly, as they begin to dance.
After their dance, Aqua was asked to dance by a Noble man, and James wasn't about to let her take no for an answer. With her attention diverted, James walked outside and let out a sigh of exasperation, "Not with light." He mumbles, "What a joke."
Suddenly, he hears a voice, "My, my. You truly do hate the darkness, don't you?" James recognizes the Fairy Godmother as she materializes in front of him with a worried gaze.
He shakes his head, "No. Funny, isn't it? Despite everything the darkness took from me…" He paused slightly, "My home. My friends. Skuld… Chirithy… All of them gone because of what the Darkness did. But I don't hate it." He then allowed a single tear run down his cheek, "I'm terrified of it." His voice shaky.
Fairy Godmother placed her hand on his shoulder, "My dear boy. Fearing the darkness only calls it into your heart. I understand you've experienced terrible things-you don't need magic to see that- but you mustn't linger on the past. If you don't, it may very well consume you." She then left him with a smile.
Aqua emerged from the ballroom and gripped James' ear, "There you are!" She shouts, yanking his ear, "Next time, you let me decide who I dance with alright?! You have any idea what he-…" She stops her rant to notice a single tear stream on his face and let go of his ear, "Are you ok?" She asked.
James sniffled and wiped his face, "Yeah. Just had a flashback. Those are a thing with Keyblade Wielders. Let's go ahead and get moving."
Aqua nodded, "Okay." But her eyes held concern, "Jim… What happened to you before you arrived? And how could it be so horrible that it still haunts you like this?" She thought. Aqua looked to James, "Oh! I forgot to mention! Jaq mentioned that he knew Ven!" James smiled, "Then that means we're hot on his trail! Let's get a move on!" They both don their armors, mount their gliders, and set off for the next world.
(That's it for this chapter! Lemme know if you want more mini-chapters like this one after each world. I don't really have any more small ones like this planned, but if you guys decide you want them, I'll include them. In any case, I apologize that this is so late, but the next update will be early. Read and Review!)
