AN: Short little chapter for ya here (the shortest one that'll be appearing in this story anyways)! Yea, it does have a kind of dark or dreary name to it, but don't worry! I got hyper while writing so I put some comic relief in! ^-^ This is pretty even with Sora and Riku's side of the story, just trying to be fair! :P
Disclaimers: Guess what! I kno I'v been saying that I don't own Kingdom Hearts or stuff like that, but I own a copy of the Kingdom Hearts game! Does that count? O never mind again, but I created a new character sorta thinginy to keep Mariha and Natia company.. OMG!! I almost forgot! Actually I did forget! I made up Naomi too! So that's 4 pplz now, and that'll be all for the rest of the story I think. Well, on with the show!
Nightmare in the Dead Forest
"Simba!" Nala ran over to him, "Are you ok?"
"Yea," replied Simba.
"What happened?" asked Nala.
"It was Scar," said Simba, "He used the darkness to get revenge on me, but he failed again. The gone for good now, thanks to Sora of course."
Sora smiled and blushed a bit in embarrassment.
"Well, I did have a lot of help from you guys," he said.
They all went into the cave in Pride Rock to be greeted by roaring cheers from the lionesses. After everything quieted down, Simba walked over to Sora.
"Sora, you have our greatest thanks in helping to defeat the growing evil here," he said. The lionesses created a cheerful uproar again. Simba continued as soon as it was quiet, "You are welcome to come back to our home and ask us anything if you need help. I'm just sorry you weren't able to save your friend."
"Thank you Simba," said Sora, "And don't worry about Riku, at least I got to talk to him."
Simba smiled. "But unfortunately I won't be able to come along with you on your journey any longer. I'm needed here."
"That's ok, I understand," replied Sora.
Suddenly, a shout came from the entrance of the cave.
"Hello? Hey! Guess who's back!"
Sora turned to see who the new comers were. He looked down at a very strange duo: a mere cat riding on top of a warthog.
"Timone! Pumba!" Simba called back and trotted over to them.
"Simba you're back!" exclaimed the mere cat.
"Ya, but where have you two been?" asked Simba.
"Well, we went back to our little jungle for a little 'R&R'. You know, for a little vacation from the busy Pride Lands," replied the mere cat coolly. He spoke so quickly that Sora had a hard time understanding him.
"O ya! I almost forgot," Simba said turning to Sora, "Guys, this is Sora, and Sora, these two are Timone and Pumba. There good friends of mine."
He pointed out that the mere cat was Timone and the warthog was Pumba.
"Pleased to make you acquaintance," said Pumba, bowing a little so that Timone fell off his head.
"You too," replied Sora.
"Hey!" said Simba, "I have an idea! Why don't you two go with Sora in my place?"
"That's a great idea," agreed Sora.
"Whow, whow, whow," exclaimed Timone and crossed his hands into a "T" shape, "Time out. Where exactly are you going?"
"There going to save his friend," replied Simba.
"Ok, a little more specific," said Timone.
"Well, we go to all kinds of worlds," said Sora, "And we defeat the heartless and seal the Keyhole."
"Keyhole? Heartless? You've lost me kid," said Timone, "But I guess we could get away for a little adventure, Pumba?"
"O yeah!" Pumba replied, "But will there be food?"
"Huh?" said Sora but Simba laughed.
"Well Pumba, there's no guarantee that they'll be a whole lot of food but," Simba told them, "You will be able to beat up some bad guys."
"OH YEAH!" shouted Timone and Pumba together then broke into what seemed like some sort of victory dance.
"I'm in!" said Timone.
"Me too!" chimed in Pumba.
"Great! Well then, we leave fist thing tomorrow morning," said Sora. He walked deeper into the cave as Timone and Pumba followed beside Simba.
"He doesn't mean like, first thing in the morning does he?" asked Timone a little worriedly, "You know, like FIRST THING?"
~*~
Mariha was in a strange place. Was this a dream? It wasn't somewhere she had ever been before, so how did she know this place existed? She found herself standing on the dry, rocky surface of the top of a cliff. The cliff's edge was behind her a few meters back and it dropped straight down into a bottomless abyss. There was a high ledge on which a great evil darkness sat.
Mariha looked up at the darkness that seemed to be ever moving, changing it's shape every second. Finally, it formed a type of heartless she had never seen before. It didn't take notice in her and instead seemed to be talking to someone below it. Mariha couldn't see who it was at first, then, the picture became clear, it was Riku.
Riku lay on his uncomfortable blanket he had attempted to roll into a sort of sleeping bag. Despite his uncomfort, he had been having a nice, peaceful sleep but something had awoken him.
Probably just the wind or something, he thought and turned to go back to sleep.
"No Riku!"
He sat upright. What was that? He looked over to Mariha who was tossing and turning in her sleep.
"Mariha? What's the matter?" said Riku and shook her gently, "Wake-up."
"Come back!" she said still asleep.
"What? I'm right here now wake-up!" said Riku with more urgency in his voice and he shook her a bit harder.
Then Mariha's eyes burst open and she stared at Riku in surprise.
"Hey? What happened?" Riku asked.
"You're here!" she said in disbelief.
"Yea, why wouldn't I be?" he replied, puzzled.
"Oh, it was just a dream..." she said looking away. It was so real, she thought to herself. And felt a shiver eek down her spin.
She's afraid, thought Riku, She never used to be like this.
"Riku?" he heard I little voice say, "We're getting out of this together right?"
Riku looked at her, even more puzzled, "Yea, I've told you that before."
"You promise you won't leave without me?" she asked.
She looked up at Riku, awaiting his response and he smiled.
"Promise."
Mariha smiled back.
"Hey we should really get back to sleep," said Riku.
"Yea, you're right," she replied and lay back down. She seemed to be back to normal.
She closed her eyes and fell asleep. Riku sat beside her against a tree trunk to make sure she wouldn't go crazy on him again. He watched her, for some reason not being able to fall asleep himself, when suddenly an image flashed before his eyes. It only stayed for the slightest second and he flinched at the sudden snap of it. But he shrugged and thought nothing of it. Then, his head tiled back and he began to doze.
~*~
"Bye! Thanks again! Bye!" Sora called back as he waved to Simba, Nala and the other lionesses that watched Sora and his companions leave from the top of Pride Rock.
"Sora! Hurry up!" yelled Donald.
"Ya, ya," sighed Sora. He waved one last time to the pack and turned to catch up with Donald and Goofy.
They all piled into the gummi ship Sora sat quietly and stared at the gummi block Simba had given him just before they left.
"Here, it may help you on you're journey home," he had said, "I found it one day in the Pride Lands and kept it, what do you know, it was still where I had left it after our world re-appeared.
Sora tossed the gummi block into the air and caught it in his fist. Riku, I promised to help you, he thought, so here I come!
Then a distressing thought crossed his mind. "Donald!" he said.
"What," replied Donald.
"I promised Riku that I'd be ready to open that door to Kingdom Hearts in six days," he explained.
"So?" said Donald.
"So, didn't you say that every minute here could be a day in Kingdom Hearts?" Sora asked, "Six days for him might have already passed!"
"Um..." Donald was speechless.
"Maybe the times were synchronized when King Mickey used up the last portal," suggested Goofy.
"Come one Goofy! That's stupid!" replied Donald. The a thought crossed his mind, "I know! Maybe the times were synchronized when King Mickey used up the last portal!"
"Gwarsh," said Goofy, "Why didn't I think of that?"
Sora just frowned at them and gave them a wow-you-guys-really-are-clueless look.
"Well I hope your right," he said finally, "Because we'll just have to go by our time, there's no way we would've been able to get to Destiny Islands in six minutes, we still don't even know where it is!"
"Yea," agreed Donald and Goofy together.
"Hey, maybe we should go to Hollow Bastion and ask Cid about that gummi block," suggested Goofy.
"Ok, lets go then," said Sora with a nod.
"Watch where you're going Goofy!" yelled Donald as a crater barely missed colliding with their ship.
"Oh right!" replied Goofy.
Sora laughed as Donald suddenly had to take steer of the ship while Goofy tried to free himself from his hat, which had engulfed his head. They weren't a Riku or Kairi, but they were still his friends. He grinned goofily and laughed even harder as Donald wrestled with the steering wheel while Goofy kept hitting buttons and pushing leavers blindly because his hat was covering his eyes. Finally, Sora freed Goofy and Donald settled down.
But the commotion started up again as Donald and Goofy argued over which direction was faster.
"O bother," sigh Sora. He shook his head hopelessly. This is going to be a long trip, he thought and ducked as Donald's staff took a swipe at Goofy.
~*~
Riku had been sitting half asleep in a daze against that tree beside Mariha. He couldn't fall completely thought his eyes felt as heavy as boulders.
I'll never be able to sleep here, he thought. He could feel it now. Ansem was watching them, lurking in the shadows of this dead forest. It sent shivers down his back he never really liked ghost stories.
Then he heard a whimper by his side again. Mariha started shifting around uncomfortable.
"Mariha?" Riku said, he didn't know what to do other than wake her. She's dreaming again, he thought, It's got to be him, Ansem is causing this!
"Mariha, wake-up," he said again and put his hand on her shoulder.
The instant his had touched her, Mariha stopped moving around and stopped muttering in her sleep. The fear that covered her face moments ago disappeared and she looked as if she had been sleeping soundly all this time.
Ok, what just happened, thought Riku. But he shrugged; maybe it wasn't another dream after all.
Riku went back to leaning on his tree and sat with his eyes closed. He was thinking, but not about nothing in particular. Just thinking the random thoughts that popped into his head. He began to unconsciously fiddle with something on his wrist. He opened his eyes to see what it was; the bracelet Mariha had made him.
O yea, he thought, I almost forgot that I was wearing it.
He raised his arm to his face to get a better look at it. He gazed in wonder for a moment, then put his arm back down, closed his eyes and finally fell asleep.
Mariha was in the same frightening dream. The bottomless cliff behind her, the evil darkness above, and Riku ahead. All she could do was watch helplessly, she knew what was going to happen, but she couldn't seem to move. The darkness debated with Riku about something but Mariha was too far away to hear their words. Then, the evil noticed Mariha watching and smiled cruelly. Mariha couldn't really see a smile, but she could feel it. Riku looked in distress over to Mariha, then to the darkness.
"No!" he yelled and ran toward Mariha. The darkness shot a thin, long pointed needle that seemed to be made out of the same stuff Natia's dagger was composed of.
"Please wake-up!" she yelled at herself and fell to her knees, eyes clamped shut.
"No, I know what's going to happen," she said in horror.
Then something forced her to look up at Riku just as the deadly needle was about to hit him; pierce him in the back, through his heart. He had run to her to save her. That shot was meant for her. He was saving her life, by giving his.
She remembered the horrifying scene she was forced to witness before. She watched, thought she wished she didn't, Riku run over to her like he was doing now. She ran toward him as well, but just before she reached his arms, the shot struck him, pierced him right through his heart. His eye then went blank but from his momentum of running, he toppled over Mariha who caught him. The long needlepoint disintegrated. She put him down and turned him over. His eyes were closed, Mariha couldn't find his heartbeat, and he wasn't breathing. He was dead, dead in her arms.
She didn't want to see it again, but her eyes wouldn't close. He was so close, so was the shot, it was only an inch away from his unprotected back...
"Mariha?" someone called.
The scene froze in place the dark shot only centimeters away from Riku.
"Mariha," said the voice again. It wasn't a sound that Mariha head with her ears, but it seemed to come from all directions, filling up her head with its powerful echo.
"It's Riku!" said Mariha, "I'm dreaming, he's trying to wake me."
Suddenly she felt something on her shoulder. She looked at it but nothing was there. Then, everything disappeared. It all vanished before her eyes. She found herself in a place with no visible walls, ceiling or floor. It was just like the one the evil Riku had brought her to only instead of darkness it was light. No a blinding white light, but a shinning light that had no describable colour to it.
Then, a little winged creature flew around from behind Mariha and nuzzled her on the cheek affectionately. The creature had a long, slender body; almost like a snake's but instead of scales it was covered in pure white feathers. It's wings reminded Mariha of an angels only instead of white like the rest of the creatures body, it was tined with the lightest shade of pink. Its head was rounded with a little point of a nose. On its forehead was a backwards 'S' shape that was the same colour as its wings. Altogether, the length of it was only as long as three quarters of one of Mariha's arms.
"Hello," she said to the playful critter and stroked it under the chin, "Who are you?"
The creature made a happy squeak when Mariha pet it then flew in circles around her. Then it flew up high above her and stretched it's wings out as far apart as it could. Light burst from the little flying creature and Mariha needed to shield her eyes from its strong rays, but she thought she had heard a voice.
"My gift to you; it's name it Alee, it's a creature of pure light, to come to the one with the purest of hearts," it said in her head, "It will help you if you are in need. For you will be the one to restore the light of Kingdom Hearts as Mariha. I bid thee farewell now."
The light Alee emitted then died down and she could see it do a happy little summersault in the air, causing a single feather to flutter down into Mariha's hands.
"Wait!" she said, "Tell me more! I don't understand. How am I supposed to release the light? I don't even really know what it is!"
"You will learn in good time," the disembodied voice replied. Mariha awoke.
AN: See! Almost completely pointless up until where Alee comes in XD but pay attention cuz in the end of the story, everything that doesn't seem to make sense to you now will further on. Yea, I have a habit of making a lot of past events be very significant at the ending! R&R please, mostly just to kno someone's reading this, even if it's just "I read this" Thankies!
Disclaimers: Guess what! I kno I'v been saying that I don't own Kingdom Hearts or stuff like that, but I own a copy of the Kingdom Hearts game! Does that count? O never mind again, but I created a new character sorta thinginy to keep Mariha and Natia company.. OMG!! I almost forgot! Actually I did forget! I made up Naomi too! So that's 4 pplz now, and that'll be all for the rest of the story I think. Well, on with the show!
Nightmare in the Dead Forest
"Simba!" Nala ran over to him, "Are you ok?"
"Yea," replied Simba.
"What happened?" asked Nala.
"It was Scar," said Simba, "He used the darkness to get revenge on me, but he failed again. The gone for good now, thanks to Sora of course."
Sora smiled and blushed a bit in embarrassment.
"Well, I did have a lot of help from you guys," he said.
They all went into the cave in Pride Rock to be greeted by roaring cheers from the lionesses. After everything quieted down, Simba walked over to Sora.
"Sora, you have our greatest thanks in helping to defeat the growing evil here," he said. The lionesses created a cheerful uproar again. Simba continued as soon as it was quiet, "You are welcome to come back to our home and ask us anything if you need help. I'm just sorry you weren't able to save your friend."
"Thank you Simba," said Sora, "And don't worry about Riku, at least I got to talk to him."
Simba smiled. "But unfortunately I won't be able to come along with you on your journey any longer. I'm needed here."
"That's ok, I understand," replied Sora.
Suddenly, a shout came from the entrance of the cave.
"Hello? Hey! Guess who's back!"
Sora turned to see who the new comers were. He looked down at a very strange duo: a mere cat riding on top of a warthog.
"Timone! Pumba!" Simba called back and trotted over to them.
"Simba you're back!" exclaimed the mere cat.
"Ya, but where have you two been?" asked Simba.
"Well, we went back to our little jungle for a little 'R&R'. You know, for a little vacation from the busy Pride Lands," replied the mere cat coolly. He spoke so quickly that Sora had a hard time understanding him.
"O ya! I almost forgot," Simba said turning to Sora, "Guys, this is Sora, and Sora, these two are Timone and Pumba. There good friends of mine."
He pointed out that the mere cat was Timone and the warthog was Pumba.
"Pleased to make you acquaintance," said Pumba, bowing a little so that Timone fell off his head.
"You too," replied Sora.
"Hey!" said Simba, "I have an idea! Why don't you two go with Sora in my place?"
"That's a great idea," agreed Sora.
"Whow, whow, whow," exclaimed Timone and crossed his hands into a "T" shape, "Time out. Where exactly are you going?"
"There going to save his friend," replied Simba.
"Ok, a little more specific," said Timone.
"Well, we go to all kinds of worlds," said Sora, "And we defeat the heartless and seal the Keyhole."
"Keyhole? Heartless? You've lost me kid," said Timone, "But I guess we could get away for a little adventure, Pumba?"
"O yeah!" Pumba replied, "But will there be food?"
"Huh?" said Sora but Simba laughed.
"Well Pumba, there's no guarantee that they'll be a whole lot of food but," Simba told them, "You will be able to beat up some bad guys."
"OH YEAH!" shouted Timone and Pumba together then broke into what seemed like some sort of victory dance.
"I'm in!" said Timone.
"Me too!" chimed in Pumba.
"Great! Well then, we leave fist thing tomorrow morning," said Sora. He walked deeper into the cave as Timone and Pumba followed beside Simba.
"He doesn't mean like, first thing in the morning does he?" asked Timone a little worriedly, "You know, like FIRST THING?"
~*~
Mariha was in a strange place. Was this a dream? It wasn't somewhere she had ever been before, so how did she know this place existed? She found herself standing on the dry, rocky surface of the top of a cliff. The cliff's edge was behind her a few meters back and it dropped straight down into a bottomless abyss. There was a high ledge on which a great evil darkness sat.
Mariha looked up at the darkness that seemed to be ever moving, changing it's shape every second. Finally, it formed a type of heartless she had never seen before. It didn't take notice in her and instead seemed to be talking to someone below it. Mariha couldn't see who it was at first, then, the picture became clear, it was Riku.
Riku lay on his uncomfortable blanket he had attempted to roll into a sort of sleeping bag. Despite his uncomfort, he had been having a nice, peaceful sleep but something had awoken him.
Probably just the wind or something, he thought and turned to go back to sleep.
"No Riku!"
He sat upright. What was that? He looked over to Mariha who was tossing and turning in her sleep.
"Mariha? What's the matter?" said Riku and shook her gently, "Wake-up."
"Come back!" she said still asleep.
"What? I'm right here now wake-up!" said Riku with more urgency in his voice and he shook her a bit harder.
Then Mariha's eyes burst open and she stared at Riku in surprise.
"Hey? What happened?" Riku asked.
"You're here!" she said in disbelief.
"Yea, why wouldn't I be?" he replied, puzzled.
"Oh, it was just a dream..." she said looking away. It was so real, she thought to herself. And felt a shiver eek down her spin.
She's afraid, thought Riku, She never used to be like this.
"Riku?" he heard I little voice say, "We're getting out of this together right?"
Riku looked at her, even more puzzled, "Yea, I've told you that before."
"You promise you won't leave without me?" she asked.
She looked up at Riku, awaiting his response and he smiled.
"Promise."
Mariha smiled back.
"Hey we should really get back to sleep," said Riku.
"Yea, you're right," she replied and lay back down. She seemed to be back to normal.
She closed her eyes and fell asleep. Riku sat beside her against a tree trunk to make sure she wouldn't go crazy on him again. He watched her, for some reason not being able to fall asleep himself, when suddenly an image flashed before his eyes. It only stayed for the slightest second and he flinched at the sudden snap of it. But he shrugged and thought nothing of it. Then, his head tiled back and he began to doze.
~*~
"Bye! Thanks again! Bye!" Sora called back as he waved to Simba, Nala and the other lionesses that watched Sora and his companions leave from the top of Pride Rock.
"Sora! Hurry up!" yelled Donald.
"Ya, ya," sighed Sora. He waved one last time to the pack and turned to catch up with Donald and Goofy.
They all piled into the gummi ship Sora sat quietly and stared at the gummi block Simba had given him just before they left.
"Here, it may help you on you're journey home," he had said, "I found it one day in the Pride Lands and kept it, what do you know, it was still where I had left it after our world re-appeared.
Sora tossed the gummi block into the air and caught it in his fist. Riku, I promised to help you, he thought, so here I come!
Then a distressing thought crossed his mind. "Donald!" he said.
"What," replied Donald.
"I promised Riku that I'd be ready to open that door to Kingdom Hearts in six days," he explained.
"So?" said Donald.
"So, didn't you say that every minute here could be a day in Kingdom Hearts?" Sora asked, "Six days for him might have already passed!"
"Um..." Donald was speechless.
"Maybe the times were synchronized when King Mickey used up the last portal," suggested Goofy.
"Come one Goofy! That's stupid!" replied Donald. The a thought crossed his mind, "I know! Maybe the times were synchronized when King Mickey used up the last portal!"
"Gwarsh," said Goofy, "Why didn't I think of that?"
Sora just frowned at them and gave them a wow-you-guys-really-are-clueless look.
"Well I hope your right," he said finally, "Because we'll just have to go by our time, there's no way we would've been able to get to Destiny Islands in six minutes, we still don't even know where it is!"
"Yea," agreed Donald and Goofy together.
"Hey, maybe we should go to Hollow Bastion and ask Cid about that gummi block," suggested Goofy.
"Ok, lets go then," said Sora with a nod.
"Watch where you're going Goofy!" yelled Donald as a crater barely missed colliding with their ship.
"Oh right!" replied Goofy.
Sora laughed as Donald suddenly had to take steer of the ship while Goofy tried to free himself from his hat, which had engulfed his head. They weren't a Riku or Kairi, but they were still his friends. He grinned goofily and laughed even harder as Donald wrestled with the steering wheel while Goofy kept hitting buttons and pushing leavers blindly because his hat was covering his eyes. Finally, Sora freed Goofy and Donald settled down.
But the commotion started up again as Donald and Goofy argued over which direction was faster.
"O bother," sigh Sora. He shook his head hopelessly. This is going to be a long trip, he thought and ducked as Donald's staff took a swipe at Goofy.
~*~
Riku had been sitting half asleep in a daze against that tree beside Mariha. He couldn't fall completely thought his eyes felt as heavy as boulders.
I'll never be able to sleep here, he thought. He could feel it now. Ansem was watching them, lurking in the shadows of this dead forest. It sent shivers down his back he never really liked ghost stories.
Then he heard a whimper by his side again. Mariha started shifting around uncomfortable.
"Mariha?" Riku said, he didn't know what to do other than wake her. She's dreaming again, he thought, It's got to be him, Ansem is causing this!
"Mariha, wake-up," he said again and put his hand on her shoulder.
The instant his had touched her, Mariha stopped moving around and stopped muttering in her sleep. The fear that covered her face moments ago disappeared and she looked as if she had been sleeping soundly all this time.
Ok, what just happened, thought Riku. But he shrugged; maybe it wasn't another dream after all.
Riku went back to leaning on his tree and sat with his eyes closed. He was thinking, but not about nothing in particular. Just thinking the random thoughts that popped into his head. He began to unconsciously fiddle with something on his wrist. He opened his eyes to see what it was; the bracelet Mariha had made him.
O yea, he thought, I almost forgot that I was wearing it.
He raised his arm to his face to get a better look at it. He gazed in wonder for a moment, then put his arm back down, closed his eyes and finally fell asleep.
Mariha was in the same frightening dream. The bottomless cliff behind her, the evil darkness above, and Riku ahead. All she could do was watch helplessly, she knew what was going to happen, but she couldn't seem to move. The darkness debated with Riku about something but Mariha was too far away to hear their words. Then, the evil noticed Mariha watching and smiled cruelly. Mariha couldn't really see a smile, but she could feel it. Riku looked in distress over to Mariha, then to the darkness.
"No!" he yelled and ran toward Mariha. The darkness shot a thin, long pointed needle that seemed to be made out of the same stuff Natia's dagger was composed of.
"Please wake-up!" she yelled at herself and fell to her knees, eyes clamped shut.
"No, I know what's going to happen," she said in horror.
Then something forced her to look up at Riku just as the deadly needle was about to hit him; pierce him in the back, through his heart. He had run to her to save her. That shot was meant for her. He was saving her life, by giving his.
She remembered the horrifying scene she was forced to witness before. She watched, thought she wished she didn't, Riku run over to her like he was doing now. She ran toward him as well, but just before she reached his arms, the shot struck him, pierced him right through his heart. His eye then went blank but from his momentum of running, he toppled over Mariha who caught him. The long needlepoint disintegrated. She put him down and turned him over. His eyes were closed, Mariha couldn't find his heartbeat, and he wasn't breathing. He was dead, dead in her arms.
She didn't want to see it again, but her eyes wouldn't close. He was so close, so was the shot, it was only an inch away from his unprotected back...
"Mariha?" someone called.
The scene froze in place the dark shot only centimeters away from Riku.
"Mariha," said the voice again. It wasn't a sound that Mariha head with her ears, but it seemed to come from all directions, filling up her head with its powerful echo.
"It's Riku!" said Mariha, "I'm dreaming, he's trying to wake me."
Suddenly she felt something on her shoulder. She looked at it but nothing was there. Then, everything disappeared. It all vanished before her eyes. She found herself in a place with no visible walls, ceiling or floor. It was just like the one the evil Riku had brought her to only instead of darkness it was light. No a blinding white light, but a shinning light that had no describable colour to it.
Then, a little winged creature flew around from behind Mariha and nuzzled her on the cheek affectionately. The creature had a long, slender body; almost like a snake's but instead of scales it was covered in pure white feathers. It's wings reminded Mariha of an angels only instead of white like the rest of the creatures body, it was tined with the lightest shade of pink. Its head was rounded with a little point of a nose. On its forehead was a backwards 'S' shape that was the same colour as its wings. Altogether, the length of it was only as long as three quarters of one of Mariha's arms.
"Hello," she said to the playful critter and stroked it under the chin, "Who are you?"
The creature made a happy squeak when Mariha pet it then flew in circles around her. Then it flew up high above her and stretched it's wings out as far apart as it could. Light burst from the little flying creature and Mariha needed to shield her eyes from its strong rays, but she thought she had heard a voice.
"My gift to you; it's name it Alee, it's a creature of pure light, to come to the one with the purest of hearts," it said in her head, "It will help you if you are in need. For you will be the one to restore the light of Kingdom Hearts as Mariha. I bid thee farewell now."
The light Alee emitted then died down and she could see it do a happy little summersault in the air, causing a single feather to flutter down into Mariha's hands.
"Wait!" she said, "Tell me more! I don't understand. How am I supposed to release the light? I don't even really know what it is!"
"You will learn in good time," the disembodied voice replied. Mariha awoke.
AN: See! Almost completely pointless up until where Alee comes in XD but pay attention cuz in the end of the story, everything that doesn't seem to make sense to you now will further on. Yea, I have a habit of making a lot of past events be very significant at the ending! R&R please, mostly just to kno someone's reading this, even if it's just "I read this" Thankies!