Carolyn's Comments:
Mood: Calm
Mia sat on the side of her bed. Her heart was troubled as she thought about the moral dilemma she had on her hands.
"Cedric must be mad at me," She thought sadly. "I was so cold to him..." She got up and walked into the hallway. "What should I do? Cedric is my friend, and I don't want to hurt him. But I can't pretend that I care about him that way. It's not fair to Riku, and it's not fair to Cedric either."
At that moment, Carolyn came sprinting down the hallway. Katie was riding on her back and yanking on her hair to steer. Carolyn was screaming and trying to throw Katie off. Caitlin was chasing them and shouting at them.
"DAMN IT CAROLYN!" Caitlin screamed. "I CAN'T PULL HER OFF UNLESS YOU STOP!"
"THAT'S EASY FOR YOU TO SAY!!" Carolyn shrieked.
The three best friends sprinted past her. Mia sighed. "Those three are lucky. They don't have this kind of stuff to deal with. Katie seems to be enjoying herself...of course that doesn't take much..."
Suddenly Mia found herself face-to-face with someone else walking down the hallway. Cedric's eyes widened in surprise when he saw her.
"OH CRAP!" Mia thought frantically, "WHADDAL I DO?! WHADDAL I DO?!"
"Hi." Cedric said flatly. Then he continued to walk past her as if he hadn't even seen her.
"'Hi?!'" Mia thought in shock, "That's it?!" She turned around nervously. "Where are you going?" She asked out loud.
Cedric answered without even turning to face her. "Raphael wanted to show me how the preparations for the ceremony are coming. I haven't had a moment to come see yet, so I'm doing that now." He continued to walk forward without another word to her.
"What's going on?" Mia thought frowning, "Is he too embarrassed to even mention last night?" She sighed and shook her head. "Man, he confuses me so much."
Raphael nodded as Cassius and Marcus slid a large metal urn into place. "That's perfect." He turned towards Riku, Sora, and Cedric. "The preparations for the ceremony are coming along well."
They stood in a large hall. The walls were decked in pictures of different stars and constellations. There was a long red carpet leading from the entrance to the room, up to the base of the large urn. The sides of the carpet were lined with large torches. The area around the urn was large and circular. The urn itself rested on a platform a few feet off the ground. Behind the urn, was a large, black, pulsing orb sticking out of the wall. It looked partially broken.
"Where'd all this detail come from?" Riku asked in awe as he surveyed the room.
"What exactly happens at the ceremony?" Sora asked.
Raphael shrugged. "Well, to put it simply, it goes like this. The three Pure-Hearts enter from there." He pointed at the entrance to the room. "Everyone else is to already be assembled in the room. The three of them go up on the platform and surround the urn. The urn will have a sacred fire burning in it on the day of the actual ceremony. The three of them will say the mystical chant that will reveal the wound in the middle of the seal," He nodded towards the orb in the wall, "Then the three Keyblade-Masters, that's you, will use the keyblades to begin sealing the break in the seal. The Pure-Hearts will then drain their energy simultaneously to aid in the repair of the seal. And then its over and the ceremony is finished." Raphael said all this as if it should be obvious.
"We have to drain all our energy?!" Riku yelled.
"Yes. You'll all feel a little tired afterwards, but its nothing a little sleep won't fix."
"But that means we'll be defenseless!" Cedric cried. "If someone attacked us, we'd be annihilated!"
Tira came up to them. "Calm down. Who's going to attack you while you're here? All the people here are skilled warriors, and they'll all be guarding you. No one will be able to get within a mile of you. You'll all be fine."
After clearing up a few more things with Raphael and hammering out the details of what they were required to do at the ceremony, the three boys turned to leave the room. But Cedric stopped when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned and saw Tira staring at him. She was blushing slightly.
"What?" He asked.
"Can..." She stammered, "Can you teach me to fence?"
Cedric hadn't been expecting that. "F-Fence? But you don't need to know do you? You're a sorceress..."
"I've wanted to learn for a long time," Tira explained, "And I figured I should ask since you won't be here very long."
"Yes...but..." Cedric stammered.
"May I have your answer?" Tira asked. "Please teach me how to fence."
"Tira!" Raphael snapped, "Don't be so rude!"
"I wasn't asking YOU, brother." Tira said coolly. But her cheeks were still red from blushing slightly. "Cedric, what is your answer?"
Cedric was quiet for moment as he thought. He recalled what Cronos had said about letting go of Mia. Maybe giving Tira fencing lessons, would take his mind off her. "A-Alright. If you really want to learn how to fence, I suppose I could teach you."
Tira's eyes brightened. "Great! How about I meet you later tonight at the balcony overlooking Interspace, for my first lesson?"
"Okay..."
"Thanks!" Tira said brightly. "I'll see you there later then. Bye!" She turned and hurried off.
Raphael sighed. "Forgive Tira. She's wanted to learn how to sword fight for a long time. But I never have enough time to teach her."
Cedric sighed. "Great." He thought. "What did I just get myself into?"
