Uh...I don't own Linkin Park?
Chapter 7: The Lottery Effect
The day came to an abrupt close when Frank and Edward left, leaving a Trading Spaces legacy behind them—NO HOMEWORK! SHOCK! Blank called Sora and Freda agreed to drive them all to Pizza Hut to discuss things not-Trading- Spaces-like. Of course, the first thing Freda asked when Blank slid into the front seat was:
"WHAT COLOR ARE YOU PAINTING OUR LIVING ROOM?!"
"We're not allowed to know, Mom!" Sora shouted. "Leave them alone."
"As always, the mediator," Kyle chuckled lightly. "Some things never change, eh, Sora?"
"Says the Riku lookalike," Sora murmured under her breath. She was getting used to thinking of herself as a girl. She smiled at Kyle as he slid, quite close, into the seat next to her.
"So, Sora, how's school going?"
"Um...I would've figured Blank would tell you, since we're, ya know, in the same grade and all..."
Truth is, Blank hadn't gotten around to school life that night.
Sora hadn't a clue even what school she supposedly attended, or what it was like.
"Yes, you would think so," he chuckled, putting an arm around her shoulder casually, as if it was nothing. Sora's stomach fluttered. Why? Why? Why? Her back stiffened against the seat, the fluttering turning to an all-out attack on her stomach muscles.
"Kyle, get your hand off her," Blank said, not turning to look. "I've told you before, Sora doesn't like to be touched like when she was little." At this, she did glance back. "Some things do change."
Kyle obliged his sister. "Jeez, B, you'd think I was groping her or somethin'."
"Kyle!" Freda warned.
"Sorry, Missus J, just trying to keep the mood light," he laughed. "We're supposed to be friends, and I can't even remember the last time we talked, Sora. Blank's right, though. Something's different about you. Not something bad, just something...different."
"Try the black clothes," Freda said. "Or the missing eyelashes."
"I never did see you after what happened to your dad," Kyle said, his aqua eyes lamenting. "Hey, Missus J, we're supposed to be meeting with Al and Renee, right?"
"Yeah."
"All right, it'll be good to see the little squirt," Kyle grinned and leaned back against the seat as Freda pulled to a stop at a red light. She took a right-on-red and continued toward a sign in the distance. "Hey, Sora, you never answered my question. Still have the scar?"
"Of-of course," Sora said, and rolled up her sleeve to reveal a long, thin white line, shaped quite accurately like an "X" from the pages of a book. Sora found it hard to believe that this was an accidental mark and that it was the product of Kyle's sharp fingernails.
The harsh sound of drums and yelling met Sora's terrified ears for a moment. Freda had turned on the radio, apparently chagrined at finding it on the station it was. So, inevitably, it must mean it was "Sora's" favorite music.
"Linkin Park. Crawling. You like that music?" Kyle grinned. "Awesome writer, artist, and great taste in music? You're no eight-year-old, Sora."
Not knowing whether to take it as a compliment or not, Sora nodded and smiled back. Freda sighed and turned back the knob to the station.
"One of my favorite songs..."
Something inside me That pulls beneath the surface
Consuming, Confusing
It's like a self-control I fear is never-ending Controlling I can't see What's inside myself again My walls are closing in I felt this way before
Some strange, garbled word sounded in the car, a powerful, vibrating sound that Sora could not recognize. It was haunting...and yet it was beautiful. Especially the way Kyle sang it with such conviction.
Crawling in my skin
These wounds they will not heal Fear is how I fall Confusing what is real Crawling in my skin These wounds they will not heal Fear is how I fall Confusing what is real
Sora did not know it then, but as Freda shut the car off, cutting the sad, slow, strangely melodic song off, he had just been given an answer. An answer that he would need to return, should he want it.
Insanity and organized chaos, an oxymoron if I ever heard one before, controlled this universe and many others.
Why else would they create a show called Survivor?
The inside of Pizza Hut, however, was tinkling with the floating tune of a piano. Sora was immediately bored with it, of course, but the colors of the area caught his newly artistic eye. It was like a big piece of art in every direction, from the pale glow of the haloes of lights to the way they reflected off the deep green leather seats. Even the waitress was pleasing to the eye, as she spoke to them with a faintly Southern accent.
"Hello, welcome to Pizza Hut, table for four?"
"Yes'm," Kyle bowed lightly at the waist. "Might I say, you've lovely eyes."
"My husband thinks so, too," she said, her tone a little more cool. "Right this way, please, an' mind your heads, this little light's hit a couple a peeps today."
"Thanks for the warning," Sora said, ducking a little lower to miss the light. So the atmosphere was a little less classy and a little more family, so what? They were a family, sort of.
"So, Sora, what college are you planning on?"
"Um—"
"Hetchinton or something of that sort," Freda waved Kyle's questioning off. "It doesn't really matter at the moment, she's still a junior. What I want to know is when she's gonna start on that English paper."
"Erm..."
"Tomorrow night," Blank said. "After the TS people leave. We're gonna work on it together, right, Sora?"
"Er...right, Blank."
"What about a major?"
"Art."
"Would you like to come see my race this Saturday?"
"Wha-What?" Sora blinked. Where had that come from?
"Kyle! I told you not to just spring it on her like that!" Blank punched him in the arm.
"Are you ready to order?" the waitress had returned.
"Yes, two pizzas, one cheese, on pepperoni, and an order of breadsticks," Freda said. No one argued. Even Sora couldn't argue. Perhaps it was meant to be that way.
"It'll be ready in a few."
"Thank you," Blank said.
"So, how about it, Sora?" Kyle leaned in from the opposite side. His leg brushed against hers under the table. Sora pulled back her legs, but leaned in on the table. "Watch me race?"
"Sure," Sora said. "Why not?"
***
"Kairi..." I began. But I couldn't say anything more. It was like a bit of plastic had lodged itself in my throat, and I was trying my best to make it come out.
"No, Terra," he said. "Don't feel that way. This is all my fault." His foot shuffled languidly against the stony ground, then lashed out against a stalagmite, snapping it from the base.
"I'm the seventh princess, whoever she is," Kairi stated calmly. "Aren't I, Terra."
"Yes."
"And our world—this world—is some kind of game."
"Kingdom Hearts."
"And you're not from this world, are you, Terra. Somehow, you've been switched with someone else. Am I right?"
"His name was Sora," I said, smiling at her, feeling the tug of the rain outside in my own eyes. "You and he were in love, so very much in love. But..."
I stopped short and glanced at Riku.
"You're very precious to all of us, Kairi," Riku said. "Probably more than you can imagine. When you first came to the island, I don't think there was a person there who could say you weren't special. Somehow, I knew that this was to be. Everything just fell into place, like some big puzzle. I met this girl...an older girl, and a boy.
"They told me why I kept seeing everything in that kind of view. How I knew everything that was going to happen, how I came to be so bored with everything. I found out from the girl that she lived in the world that the true Keyblade Master lived. That somehow, the dimensions became crossed at their birth, that they were supposed to be born the other way around.
"I am an Anomaly, a person who can sense the way a timeline truly should go. I could sense the game behind our lives, controlling every movement, every sound and word we spoke. We're trapped here, Kairi, and only Sora and I knew it. Sora was so weak, though, so much so that he couldn't sense the game. He only knew that things weren't right.
"I met with that girl and boy and we decided together we would right things. Then, when it started up, I realized just how much I'd changed everything. Terra...you don't realize the magnitude of this change at all, just because you already knew what was going on. Sora's senses are blocked, because he's back where he belongs. But you should be able to sense everything.
"I'm sorry." Riku refused to face them. "I'm so sorry I brought either of you into this."
Terra set her jaw and stepped toward him. She spun him around to face her and let him have it.
"I don't care who the hell you think you are," she snarled. "But you will not take that sort of blame on yourself. Blank helped you, did she not?"
He nodded.
"Then stop stabbing yourself over the past and help everybody face the future. Feeling sorry for yourself isn't going to get any of us anywhere."
The Heartless chose that moment to appear from under the ground. Little black monsters, shaped like wingless flies, ready to fight with their little claws. Terra's eyes grew to the size of beach balls.
"We can't fight them, can we?" Terra whispered, her voice hoarse.
"Nope," Riku said, grimly backing toward the howling mouth of the cave.
"Th-then where do we go?" Kairi asked, her back to the wall.
"Outside."
"Into the storm?!"
"Into the storm," Riku said. He kicked the makeshift door out and they ran out, straight into the rain, wind, and apparent hurricane.
Terra looked up. The black and violet orb that she knew so well from the game hung in the sky, like some doomsday rock ready to strike. The Heartless sprung from the ground on either side of them.
"Like I promised!" The disembodied voice had returned. "She will be safe, little Anomaly. No worries." The voice stopped, and so did Kairi. A new wind, warm and comforting, whipped around her, taking her away.
"You'd better!" Riku shouted. He sighed and turned to Terra, his silver hair drenched. He looked like a really cute little puppy. "Looks like this is it, Terra. This is goodbye, for now."
"Don't give in, Riku," she said. "Don't give in to the darkness."
KEYBLADE...KEYBLADE...
Terra didn't know whether to run, cry, or laugh at the sound of the voice, the same one who had promised to keep Kairi. It shouted over the din of the rain and wind, flying over everything. It was in her head, yet dominated everything else.
"Ri-Riku! I don't know what to do! How do I fight—"
"You'll learn later," he grabbed her arm, just like before. "I'm not going anywhere. I don't care about the stupid story anymore. This isn't Kingdom Hearts any more. This is our story, and we'll tell it like we want to tell it." He grinned.
"You mean it?" Terra grinned. She was rudely interrupted by a deep scratch on her arm, as the Heartless drew back to attack again. Blood streamed down her arm as she struck her own stance.
"You're too open," Riku said. "Put your foot closer in, bend your knees."
"Like this?"
"Yeah. Now, hit it!"
The Keyblade firmly in her grip, she swung down as if she were trying to hit a really big rat with a baseball bat. Despite the unorthodox use of the Keyblade, the Heartless blew to pieces, sending green orbs in every direction. Terra always wondered what it would be like to pick one of these things up.
She scooped one up and watched it dissolve right into her flesh. In a quick flash of bluish light, her previous scratch was all but gone. Still in awe, she stood there dumbly for a moment.
"Terra, your right!"
She swiped the ground to her right. The Heartless littered more green orbs. Terra scooped another couple in her hands, then turned back to Riku.
"Do we just wait for Darkside or what?"
"We wait for her. Until then, we fight."
LIGHTBLADE...LIGHTBLADE...
"What? Lady, wha'chu talkin'?" Terra shouted to nothing. Well, actually, she was speaking to the disembodied voice, who had just spoken up again.
Instead of answering, the light dumped a very simple white katana, complete with a pommel with a little key chain, into Riku's shocked arms. Terra blinked. Riku shook the rain out of his eyes. The Heartless pounced, and made both of them forget anything about the story.
*** -_- I couldn't help giving him a weapon. Riku, unable to defend himself? Cha, right!
Chapter 7: The Lottery Effect
The day came to an abrupt close when Frank and Edward left, leaving a Trading Spaces legacy behind them—NO HOMEWORK! SHOCK! Blank called Sora and Freda agreed to drive them all to Pizza Hut to discuss things not-Trading- Spaces-like. Of course, the first thing Freda asked when Blank slid into the front seat was:
"WHAT COLOR ARE YOU PAINTING OUR LIVING ROOM?!"
"We're not allowed to know, Mom!" Sora shouted. "Leave them alone."
"As always, the mediator," Kyle chuckled lightly. "Some things never change, eh, Sora?"
"Says the Riku lookalike," Sora murmured under her breath. She was getting used to thinking of herself as a girl. She smiled at Kyle as he slid, quite close, into the seat next to her.
"So, Sora, how's school going?"
"Um...I would've figured Blank would tell you, since we're, ya know, in the same grade and all..."
Truth is, Blank hadn't gotten around to school life that night.
Sora hadn't a clue even what school she supposedly attended, or what it was like.
"Yes, you would think so," he chuckled, putting an arm around her shoulder casually, as if it was nothing. Sora's stomach fluttered. Why? Why? Why? Her back stiffened against the seat, the fluttering turning to an all-out attack on her stomach muscles.
"Kyle, get your hand off her," Blank said, not turning to look. "I've told you before, Sora doesn't like to be touched like when she was little." At this, she did glance back. "Some things do change."
Kyle obliged his sister. "Jeez, B, you'd think I was groping her or somethin'."
"Kyle!" Freda warned.
"Sorry, Missus J, just trying to keep the mood light," he laughed. "We're supposed to be friends, and I can't even remember the last time we talked, Sora. Blank's right, though. Something's different about you. Not something bad, just something...different."
"Try the black clothes," Freda said. "Or the missing eyelashes."
"I never did see you after what happened to your dad," Kyle said, his aqua eyes lamenting. "Hey, Missus J, we're supposed to be meeting with Al and Renee, right?"
"Yeah."
"All right, it'll be good to see the little squirt," Kyle grinned and leaned back against the seat as Freda pulled to a stop at a red light. She took a right-on-red and continued toward a sign in the distance. "Hey, Sora, you never answered my question. Still have the scar?"
"Of-of course," Sora said, and rolled up her sleeve to reveal a long, thin white line, shaped quite accurately like an "X" from the pages of a book. Sora found it hard to believe that this was an accidental mark and that it was the product of Kyle's sharp fingernails.
The harsh sound of drums and yelling met Sora's terrified ears for a moment. Freda had turned on the radio, apparently chagrined at finding it on the station it was. So, inevitably, it must mean it was "Sora's" favorite music.
"Linkin Park. Crawling. You like that music?" Kyle grinned. "Awesome writer, artist, and great taste in music? You're no eight-year-old, Sora."
Not knowing whether to take it as a compliment or not, Sora nodded and smiled back. Freda sighed and turned back the knob to the station.
"One of my favorite songs..."
Something inside me That pulls beneath the surface
Consuming, Confusing
It's like a self-control I fear is never-ending Controlling I can't see What's inside myself again My walls are closing in I felt this way before
Some strange, garbled word sounded in the car, a powerful, vibrating sound that Sora could not recognize. It was haunting...and yet it was beautiful. Especially the way Kyle sang it with such conviction.
Crawling in my skin
These wounds they will not heal Fear is how I fall Confusing what is real Crawling in my skin These wounds they will not heal Fear is how I fall Confusing what is real
Sora did not know it then, but as Freda shut the car off, cutting the sad, slow, strangely melodic song off, he had just been given an answer. An answer that he would need to return, should he want it.
Insanity and organized chaos, an oxymoron if I ever heard one before, controlled this universe and many others.
Why else would they create a show called Survivor?
The inside of Pizza Hut, however, was tinkling with the floating tune of a piano. Sora was immediately bored with it, of course, but the colors of the area caught his newly artistic eye. It was like a big piece of art in every direction, from the pale glow of the haloes of lights to the way they reflected off the deep green leather seats. Even the waitress was pleasing to the eye, as she spoke to them with a faintly Southern accent.
"Hello, welcome to Pizza Hut, table for four?"
"Yes'm," Kyle bowed lightly at the waist. "Might I say, you've lovely eyes."
"My husband thinks so, too," she said, her tone a little more cool. "Right this way, please, an' mind your heads, this little light's hit a couple a peeps today."
"Thanks for the warning," Sora said, ducking a little lower to miss the light. So the atmosphere was a little less classy and a little more family, so what? They were a family, sort of.
"So, Sora, what college are you planning on?"
"Um—"
"Hetchinton or something of that sort," Freda waved Kyle's questioning off. "It doesn't really matter at the moment, she's still a junior. What I want to know is when she's gonna start on that English paper."
"Erm..."
"Tomorrow night," Blank said. "After the TS people leave. We're gonna work on it together, right, Sora?"
"Er...right, Blank."
"What about a major?"
"Art."
"Would you like to come see my race this Saturday?"
"Wha-What?" Sora blinked. Where had that come from?
"Kyle! I told you not to just spring it on her like that!" Blank punched him in the arm.
"Are you ready to order?" the waitress had returned.
"Yes, two pizzas, one cheese, on pepperoni, and an order of breadsticks," Freda said. No one argued. Even Sora couldn't argue. Perhaps it was meant to be that way.
"It'll be ready in a few."
"Thank you," Blank said.
"So, how about it, Sora?" Kyle leaned in from the opposite side. His leg brushed against hers under the table. Sora pulled back her legs, but leaned in on the table. "Watch me race?"
"Sure," Sora said. "Why not?"
***
"Kairi..." I began. But I couldn't say anything more. It was like a bit of plastic had lodged itself in my throat, and I was trying my best to make it come out.
"No, Terra," he said. "Don't feel that way. This is all my fault." His foot shuffled languidly against the stony ground, then lashed out against a stalagmite, snapping it from the base.
"I'm the seventh princess, whoever she is," Kairi stated calmly. "Aren't I, Terra."
"Yes."
"And our world—this world—is some kind of game."
"Kingdom Hearts."
"And you're not from this world, are you, Terra. Somehow, you've been switched with someone else. Am I right?"
"His name was Sora," I said, smiling at her, feeling the tug of the rain outside in my own eyes. "You and he were in love, so very much in love. But..."
I stopped short and glanced at Riku.
"You're very precious to all of us, Kairi," Riku said. "Probably more than you can imagine. When you first came to the island, I don't think there was a person there who could say you weren't special. Somehow, I knew that this was to be. Everything just fell into place, like some big puzzle. I met this girl...an older girl, and a boy.
"They told me why I kept seeing everything in that kind of view. How I knew everything that was going to happen, how I came to be so bored with everything. I found out from the girl that she lived in the world that the true Keyblade Master lived. That somehow, the dimensions became crossed at their birth, that they were supposed to be born the other way around.
"I am an Anomaly, a person who can sense the way a timeline truly should go. I could sense the game behind our lives, controlling every movement, every sound and word we spoke. We're trapped here, Kairi, and only Sora and I knew it. Sora was so weak, though, so much so that he couldn't sense the game. He only knew that things weren't right.
"I met with that girl and boy and we decided together we would right things. Then, when it started up, I realized just how much I'd changed everything. Terra...you don't realize the magnitude of this change at all, just because you already knew what was going on. Sora's senses are blocked, because he's back where he belongs. But you should be able to sense everything.
"I'm sorry." Riku refused to face them. "I'm so sorry I brought either of you into this."
Terra set her jaw and stepped toward him. She spun him around to face her and let him have it.
"I don't care who the hell you think you are," she snarled. "But you will not take that sort of blame on yourself. Blank helped you, did she not?"
He nodded.
"Then stop stabbing yourself over the past and help everybody face the future. Feeling sorry for yourself isn't going to get any of us anywhere."
The Heartless chose that moment to appear from under the ground. Little black monsters, shaped like wingless flies, ready to fight with their little claws. Terra's eyes grew to the size of beach balls.
"We can't fight them, can we?" Terra whispered, her voice hoarse.
"Nope," Riku said, grimly backing toward the howling mouth of the cave.
"Th-then where do we go?" Kairi asked, her back to the wall.
"Outside."
"Into the storm?!"
"Into the storm," Riku said. He kicked the makeshift door out and they ran out, straight into the rain, wind, and apparent hurricane.
Terra looked up. The black and violet orb that she knew so well from the game hung in the sky, like some doomsday rock ready to strike. The Heartless sprung from the ground on either side of them.
"Like I promised!" The disembodied voice had returned. "She will be safe, little Anomaly. No worries." The voice stopped, and so did Kairi. A new wind, warm and comforting, whipped around her, taking her away.
"You'd better!" Riku shouted. He sighed and turned to Terra, his silver hair drenched. He looked like a really cute little puppy. "Looks like this is it, Terra. This is goodbye, for now."
"Don't give in, Riku," she said. "Don't give in to the darkness."
KEYBLADE...KEYBLADE...
Terra didn't know whether to run, cry, or laugh at the sound of the voice, the same one who had promised to keep Kairi. It shouted over the din of the rain and wind, flying over everything. It was in her head, yet dominated everything else.
"Ri-Riku! I don't know what to do! How do I fight—"
"You'll learn later," he grabbed her arm, just like before. "I'm not going anywhere. I don't care about the stupid story anymore. This isn't Kingdom Hearts any more. This is our story, and we'll tell it like we want to tell it." He grinned.
"You mean it?" Terra grinned. She was rudely interrupted by a deep scratch on her arm, as the Heartless drew back to attack again. Blood streamed down her arm as she struck her own stance.
"You're too open," Riku said. "Put your foot closer in, bend your knees."
"Like this?"
"Yeah. Now, hit it!"
The Keyblade firmly in her grip, she swung down as if she were trying to hit a really big rat with a baseball bat. Despite the unorthodox use of the Keyblade, the Heartless blew to pieces, sending green orbs in every direction. Terra always wondered what it would be like to pick one of these things up.
She scooped one up and watched it dissolve right into her flesh. In a quick flash of bluish light, her previous scratch was all but gone. Still in awe, she stood there dumbly for a moment.
"Terra, your right!"
She swiped the ground to her right. The Heartless littered more green orbs. Terra scooped another couple in her hands, then turned back to Riku.
"Do we just wait for Darkside or what?"
"We wait for her. Until then, we fight."
LIGHTBLADE...LIGHTBLADE...
"What? Lady, wha'chu talkin'?" Terra shouted to nothing. Well, actually, she was speaking to the disembodied voice, who had just spoken up again.
Instead of answering, the light dumped a very simple white katana, complete with a pommel with a little key chain, into Riku's shocked arms. Terra blinked. Riku shook the rain out of his eyes. The Heartless pounced, and made both of them forget anything about the story.
*** -_- I couldn't help giving him a weapon. Riku, unable to defend himself? Cha, right!