The Island or islands of Timh Ortons was a relatively unknown one. Of course, anybody who was anybody knew exactly where those cream filled sweets came from. They came from Timh Ortons, and its hard working inhabitants.
This world was very different from the others. Since the so-called defeat of the Heartless, the worlds had been connected, and people had began to use Gummi Ships as a regular mode of transportation. The island's trade was often used as an example for the word 'slavery'. Day in and day out the workers worked tirelessly, dealing with cranky customers. Demanding masters, and equally stressed coworkers. They were paid next to nothing. Room and board, and that was it. Then, after a long day by the soup vats and timbit-powdering-machines, they would retire to the smaller islands where they lived.
"Yo! Candace-chan, wait up!" the blonde beauty in question turned around to find the boy she commonly referred to as 'the Wank-Job' coming up to the docks where the small boats waited for them, "I'll ride with you."
Candace was hesitant at first, but she'd never pass up on a chance spend time alone with the boy. Not that she had much of a choice, anyways. Before she even got a chance to answer, he had climbed into the boat, and was untying it from the dock.
She sighed.
"Long day at work, eh?" he asked.
"You're telling me," she replied as their little boat began to float its way automatically to the island, as if pulled by an underwater rope, "Master is such a wench. She made me do the soup vats for four hours. I must have gotten a sunburn!"
"Ah, don't worry about it, Candace-chan," he laughed, "Maybe then you won't be so pale! Like a ghost!"
Candace glowered at him, and wondered how in the world she could find this boy the least bit attractive. She promptly bopped him on the head with her fist.
"Oww, what was that for?"
"What do you think, Wank-job?" she shot, "It's not my fault I'm so white!"
He stared at her for a moment, as if thinking. Although Candace knew that couldn't be what he was doing. One required a certain amount of brain cells to think, and she was positive that number was at least three times the amount that he had Then, suddenly, he reached across the boat and gave her a mighty shove. Caught off guard, she toppled backwards, and flew into the water with a mighty splash.
"DAVE!" she screamed, but it came out as a gurgle-type sound. Not that he could have heard it; he was too busy laughing his ass off. She splashed around in the water, trying to grab onto the boat as it continued to float towards the island.
Miserable, she managed to pull herself back into the craft and sat down on her seat, dripping wet.
The Wank-Job wiped a tear out of his eye and looked at her, "Oh man, you should see yourself! You look like a—"
"Drowned rat, I know, I know," she huffed. This wasn't the first time it had happened, and every time it did, she was always a drowned rat.
Regardless, she was more than regreting her decision to let him in the boat in the first place. She really, really wanted to push him out of the boat, but he would probably just pull her in with him. Wouldn't that be fun. So she settled on sitting perfectly still, as far away from as she could get, staring towards the island.
"Oh, Candace-chan, I'm sorry," he apologized, and moved to her side of the boat, "It's just…you're so cute when you're wet!" he pinched her cheek and she glared.
Fortunately, they had reached the island, and she immediately bolted from the boat towards her residence.
"See you tomorrow, Candace-chan!" he called from behind her.
Once she was safely inside, she made sure that none of her roommates were home, and began to peel her sticky wet uniform off. It was going to be dreadful the next morning, getting it dry. She knew it would still be mildly damp by the next day, and since she only had one, she'd have to wear it. She gave a frustrated groan and stomped up the stairs to her room to find some dry clothes.
Once she was dressed and had her uniform drying outside on the clothesline, she went to find her secret stash. She listened carefully for any sign of her roommates. After finding that they still weren't home, she went into her closet.
Her fingers felt along the creases of wood that made up the floor until she came to the loose floorboard. Under it was where she kept her worldly possessions. A locket, a CD, her diary, and of course…
Her stash of manga.
Manga was a forbidden luxury on the Islands of Timh Ortons. They told stories of far away places, where people were happy, and girls rode on wands. Where dreams came true, and love prevailed. The Timh Ortons Gods didn't like their workers consuming their precious time with such wistful thoughts, so the volumes were banned years ago.
But there was always the underground.
Manga, of course, could not be produced on Timh Ortons. But every third Thursday of the month was Delivery Day. This was when the materials for the sweets they made were brought in. Coffee beans and lemon sauce, bread dough and the like. They came on big, transport truck-like Gummi Ships. The workers would carry the many boxes into their working stations, and empty the contents there. And sometimes, the people who brought the coffee beans and lemon sauce smuggled manga in for the poor workers.
Candace-chan, although she wouldn't like to admit it, was addicted to this manga. She loved to stay up late at night, when her roommates who were all good Timh Ortons drones were asleep and read them under her covers. Over and over again, she would flip through the worn pages, letting the tales flash in front of her eyes.
And tomorrow was Delivery Day. She had asked for the fifth volume of the manga called Tsubasa from the cute delivery boy. He promised he would get it for her, so she wanted to catch up on the story.
Locking her door securely, she closed her window and curled up in her bed with the book. She sighed as she threw herself into the story, wishing that she were Sakura, and her knight in shining armour would come save her from this wretched place.
Candace fell asleep that night, manga hugged tightly to her chest, and her dreams filled with a silver haired prince that she knew, when she woke up, she would never meet. She dreamt often of this boy, but managed not to think much of it when she awoke.
And it was always like that. Until that night when she awoke to a bright light outside her window…
