An hour passed. Almost all of the spectators had left. All but one or two of the vendors had dissipated, and the arena was silent once more. Topaz was still sitting on her bench, editing and adding more to the contents of her notebook. Finally, she looked up and realized with a shock that the sun was on its way down! She gathered her things and headed for the world exit, satisfied with the day's events. She was still a little mystified by that boy, Sora, but she had a strong feeling that she would learn more about him later.
Topaz had passed through the lobby and was about to leave through the giant gates when she spotted something. Instantly, her stomach knotted up. There was Cloud Strife himself, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, looking right at her. His icy blue eyes evaporated all of her courage.
She started to panic. How many other people were there here? Three? Four? She was practically alone with her secret crush! And he's staring at me! What am I gonna do? I need to make the most of this. I should say something. But what can I say that won't make me look like some idiot stalker? I don't even know him!
Desperately, Topaz fell upon the one plan that never failed. She continued to walk toward the gates, looking straight ahead. Just before she reached out to open the great wooden doors, she shot Cloud a fearless, feminine look. Topaz knew perfectly well that her eyes were her greatest assets. They were bright gold with flecks of ivory, the color of...well, topaz. The two were locked in a silent gaze for just a moment, long enough for Cloud to really notice her, and then Topaz pushed open the gates and left.
Waiting there was her spaceship, the Snow Raven. It shone blue-white in the waning sun, giving off the frozen appearance that gave it its name. This ship had belonged to Topaz's parents, before...Topaz shook the thought from her head. "The past is past," she said aloud, "and there's nothing I can do."
She pushed down on a plate of metal on the side of the ship. The plate popped open to reveal a tiny keyboard. Topaz used the keyboard to type a six-digit number, which caused something in the ship to whir and click, thus unlocking the door. She lowered the metal plate back down and disappeared inside the Snow Raven.
Topaz stumbled past old furniture and piles of notebooks to the control panel. She tapped a few buttons and heard the satisfying rumble of the ship's engines. Before she took off, however, she typed something on the Snow Raven's large internal computer.
A screen popped up from nowhere. Pictured on it was a girl's face. The girl was pretty, but a fake kind of pretty, obviously enhanced by tubs and tubs of makeup. She had pin-straight blonde hair and muddy-colored eyes. Topaz said into a microphone, "Snow Raven to Cassiopeia, do you copy?"
"Hey, you! What's up?" The blonde girl sounded as ditzy as she looked. Topaz rolled her eyes. "Nika. Do you copy?"
"Yeah, sure, 10-4 good buddy and all that stuff. So what's up?"
Topaz sighed with exasperation. "Nika, I need you to tell me if you've ever heard of a boy named Sora." Nika laughed. "Hey, who hasn't? He's, like, totally famous. Keyblade Master and Chosen One and all that stuff. So what about him?"
"Tell me where I can find him."
Nika pretended to think. Finally she said, "Well, like, I dunno. Let's ask Dee!" With that, the screen switched to a small Heartless with long antennae and yellow eyes. Topaz screamed. "Nika! There's a Shadow in your ship!" "Well, duh," came Nika's voice. "There are lots of shadows and all that stuff in my ship. The lighting's kind of lame in here."
"No, I mean a Heartless Shadow! Kill it, Nika! Kill it!"
Nika's face came back on the screen. "I'm not gonna kill it, silly billy! That's my new pet. I named her Dee. Isn't she cute?" Topaz shouted into the microphone, "Nika, those things are responsible for our world's destruction! They killed our family. Don't you know that?"
"Like, whatever. You're so paranoid."
"You know what? I'll find Sora myself!" Topaz pushed another button and the screen vanished. "I swear," grumbled Topaz, "I can't believe I'm blood related to her."
At long last, the Snow Raven was ready for takeoff. Topaz punched buttons and pulled levers. Eventually, the ship's engines became louder. Topaz raised the shields and set the ship on an auto-piloted route to Deep Jungle. The whole ship hummed with the power of the engines. Topaz pushed a big, green, square button and the Snow Raven lifted into the air and sped out of sight.
The auto-pilot route was slow, so the ship did not reach its destination until the early hours of the next morning. Topaz awoke from a thin sleep when the ship touched down onto the green vegetation of Deep Jungle. She smiled and recited a phrase her mother had used often: "Another sunrise, another day/to live my life in every way." Mom...I wonder if you're still living your life at all...
Topaz ate breakfast and dressed in the animal skin she always wore when visiting Deep Jungle. The sun wasn't even up when Topaz left her ship behind in search of the local clan of gorillas.
Later, the sky bloomed scarlet and citrus pink, and the sun rose. Topaz watched it rise from her vantage point on a sandstone cliff. She inhaled the soft, sweet jungle air and glanced at the ground below, where the gorilla clan had gathered. The big, gentle beasts seemed to be gathering food or something. Topaz intently watched the leader of the clan, a big silverback called Kerchak. She wrote in her notebook, Kerchak lifted his head skyward and sniffed the air. The world, his world, smelled of sunrise and awakening. He could not detect any sign of Sabor, the great wildcat who terrorized the clan of gorillas.
Topaz's pen stopped moving. Where was Sabor? On her last few visits, Topaz hadn't once come across the fierce cat. Could someone have finally killed him...?
Topaz hugged her knees tight to her body. The sky had almost been cleansed of the sunrise's stains; all that remained was a rim of red on the horizon. Topaz's thoughts began to drift. Life is funny, she thought. Sometimes it has a plot, and there's so much happening that you just want to stop and catch your breath. Other times, it's so slow and lifeless, you can't wait to start doing something...
Simian screams scraped into the air. The grating sound made Topaz jump, and she accidentally dropped her pen off the cliff in the process. She crawled to the cliff's edge and looked down, not sure of what she might find. The gorilla clan was being attacked, but not by Sabor. The clan was being attacked by Heartless.
The Heartless resembled mechanical blue monkeys. "Powerwilds," whispered Topaz. They were currently twittering excitedly and bullying every gorilla that could not sufficiently defend itself. Kerchak was in a rage. He pummeled every Powerwild he could, but even that was not enough. There were dozens of them now, and they were closing in fast. Topaz was thinking of trying to help the terrified gorillas when she heard a cry.
The cry was fearsome and undoubtedly human. Suddenly, three figures erupted from the brush. Topaz gasped. It was the Team Sora trio from the Colosseum! Topaz could hardly contain her glee. The boy she was looking for was right there in front of her, in a real life-or-death fight! It was too good to be true.
Sora wasted no time, dashing into the fray with his two comrades. He swung his Keyblade up and to the side, taking out two Powerwilds and injuring a third. The dog-creature with the shield threw himself forward, shield in front, and body-slammed a whole group of Heartless. The weird duck waved a dangerous-looking wand, and enormous plumes of fire lashed out. The battle did not last long, and soon every Powerwild had been slain.
The gorillas fled the scene. Team Sora, however, remained to poke around the surrounding shrubbery. The duck picked up Topaz's pen. "What's this?" he squawked. Sora looked over. "Uh...I dunno. It looks like a pen." The dog-freak examined it closely. "Who would've lost their pen here...?"
"It's mine," called Topaz from her rocky perch. She scrambled, barefoot, down the cliff side and finally stood on the ground before Sora and friends. The three warriors seemed startled, and had drawn their weapons to attack. Topaz raised her hands reassuringly. "Whoa there," she laughed. "I'm not dangerous. No need to attack." She pointed at the pen. "I think you have something of mine."
Sora looked blank, then snatched the pen from the astonished dog-thing. "Here," he said with a smile. "Sora," cried the duck, "why are you even talking to her? She could be a Heartless!" "Donald!" Sora snapped. "Stop being so..."
"It's quite all right," said Topaz. "I can see why you wouldn't trust a wild-looking stranger like me. You can't be too careful. But trust me, I'm no Heartless." Sora handed Topaz the pen, the tips of his fingers brushing against her hand. Sora had the most fiery blue eyes Topaz had ever seen, and, well, he was sort of cute. In a puppy-dog way, at least.
"Thanks," said Topaz. "My name is..."
"Topaz!" Something very small hopped out from Sora's pocket. It took Topaz a moment to realize what it was. "Jiminy Cricket! You're alive!" Jiminy hopped onto Topaz's outstretched hand. "So far, anyway," he laughed. "Gepetto and his son made it out okay, too. You won't believe what we've been through in the past months!" Jiminy turned to Team Sora. "Topaz, these are my friends Sora, Goofy and Donald. Sora, Goofy, Donald...this is Topaz, my apprentice from back home. By the way, are you still writing, Topaz?"
"You bet. I would never give up working with words. Actually, I'm currently recording the actions of these three." Topaz gestured at Goofy, Donald, and Sora. "Maybe you could tell me some things...?" Donald cut in sharply. "Sorry, but we have work to do." "Maybe some other time," said Goofy apologetically. "Well, you heard 'em," said Jiminy. "I guess we gotta split." Sora grinned and shook Topaz's hand. "It was great meeting you, Topaz. I hope we really get to sit down and talk one day. Till then...bye."
The band of heroes said farewell and evaporated into the dense jungle. Topaz explored the cliff and its nearby bamboo grove for a while more, and when night started to fall, she retreated into her ship to write. "The days go by so quickly," she said to the gossamer twilight sky. "I guess it's good I'm here to write them down."