Lethia's Light
Chapter One : Trouble In Twilight Town
Lethia came running into town at what was probably the worst moment in history. You see, she started off oh k & all, but she was sort of easily excited. Well, she took a look at the dark giant mansion at the edge of town, which was clearly visible from the hill she was on before she'd started running. Part of her was quite eager to find out what went on, but another part of her just wanted to stay away from it. The eager part won, so she started running.
Once she made it to the center of town, however, the streets were quite empty, except for two kids running somewhere. She was curious to know where everyone was, so she stopped them & asked.
"Hey, um... where is everyone?" Lethia said. The two kids just sort of looked at her for a while, until the girl realized she was new to town.
"Oh! You're new here, aren't you?" she said.
"Oh, that would explain it!" the boy said. "See, everyone knows what's going on today—"
"—but since you're new & all—"
"—of course you're not going to know!"
Lethia just stared at them for a while. "Oh… k…"
"They're all at the Sandlot. There's a competition, today! C'mon, let's go!" the girl said. "By the way, my name's Olette. This is Pence."
"Two of our friends are in the competition!" Pence said. He was a highly excited guy.
"Um… kay." Lethia said awkwardly. She was never one for friends or anything. She usually just traveled on her own. Yet, she followed Olette & Pence.
"So… what is this thing?" Lethia said.
"It's Struggle!" Olette replied.
"They're supposed to fight each other & all, but Roxas & Hayner are fighting each other! It's gonna be great!" Pence said. He got real annoying, sometimes.
"Roxas…" Lethia drew out his name long & soft, almost like she remembered or something. She'd never heard the name before, yet it sounded somewhat familiar to her.
Suddenly, a man's voice was booming through the crowds. "& NOW, IT'S ROXAS VERSUS SETZER." In a somewhat less intense voice, he said, "Roxas is the new Town Champion, but Setzer is the ALL AROUND Struggle champion! Now, this is going to be some fight!"
Roxas managed to stay in the competition for some time, & eventually we thought Setzer was sure to win. But he didn't. Roxas became the new champion, but it didn't seem to matter to Lethia too much.
Suddenly, everything went still, everything except Roxas & Lethia. It was real awkward, & Roxas didn't even realize that Lethia could move, too. Instead, Roxas was fixated on a man in a hooded cloak.
"Well, well, well, Roxas. Congratulations!" he said. Lethia jumped.
"Who…?" Roxas was confused.
"It's me, Roxas! It's Axel! Don't… don't you remember?" the man said.
He took off his cloak, & Lethia stared.
Everything in Lethia's mind had stopped, completely. But at the same time, so much was going on. She knew nothing of this man, just that his name was Axel, & yet she'd become completely fascinated with him. & he didn't even know she existed. She seemed fixated on his green eyes & long, spiked red hair, & this childish look on his face. & he must have been 24 or something, because he certainly wasn't Lethia's age. Nonetheless, he acted like a fifteen year old. Still, Lethia was amazed.
"You don't…" he said. Lethia's mind started to work again. He seemed sort of upset, but then he turned pretty angry. "Fine," he said. He sort of ran away, into some alley or something, & Lethia followed him. Roxas passed out or something, because as soon as everyone was able to move & all again, he was on the ground & everyone was around him. Good thing, too, so that nobody could notice Lethia following Axel.
"Axel…" she said, somewhat drawn out & long & soft, just like she did with Roxas. He seemed startled, & turned around.
"Who are you?" he said. Lethia just sort of looked at him, & he said, "I've got no time for people like you…" He threw something at her, something sharp, & she screamed. "Goddamn, why don't you keep your mouth shut!" He appeared right next to her, his hand well over her mouth, & she became silent. Suddenly, her fascination turned into fear. Instantly, a bunch of white creatures started to surround them. "Great," Axel said, & pushed Lethia through the last clearing of the beings surrounding them. Lethia hit her head & fell unconscious, as Axel began to develop an aura of darkness. Before he disappeared, however, he looked back at Lethia & seemed to feel bad. He shook it off & continued on his way, the white monsters following.
"Hey…"
"Hey, wake up!..."
"Is she dead?..."
"No! She's opening her eyes. Hi, Lethia!"
Lethia opened her eyes & found three kids, recognizing two of them, hanging over her as she sat up. Realizing how close they were, she became startled & fell backwards again. The other three backed up & the fourth kid walked over to help her up. Taking his hand, Lethia rubbed her head & stood up. She looked around, & she asked, "What happened?..."
"You passed out," The fourth kid was Roxas. She recognized him.
"Roxas…" she said, long & drawn out. "Where did he go!" She suddenly remembered Axel, & her fear turned back into fascination.
"Where did… who go?" A boy asked. His name was Hayner. Lethia recognized him from the Struggle match.
Roxas seemed a little put back. He'd thought no one else had seen Axel. Realizing this, Lethia quickly said, "oh, nobody. I saw this dog. He was walking, & then I passed out, or something." Lethia glanced at Roxas, & he let go of his breath.
Inside, Lethia was racing. She wanted to know if she would ever see Axel again. Then her mind wandered. She was walking back with the gang when she saw the old mansion again. Then she remembered.
"Hey, guys! I'm gonna… um… go!" she said. Lethia was never quite good with words, & she wasn't a very good liar.
"But it's dangerous," Olette said. You could tell she cared.
"I'll be back," Lethia assured them all. "I'll come back before it gets completely dark, I promise!"
It was already sunset, but she ran away anyway. She tried to decide what the best way was to get there. Eventually, she found a wood, & crawled through it. Naturally, it led her to her destination.
The mansion was even creepier close-up than it was far away. She started having some second thoughts, & almost turned back, but she heard noises coming from the wood, so she decided to go onward. Reluctantly, she jumped the gate, & looked at the mansion. It seemed to be staring back at her. She looked up to the upper left window, & thought she saw a girl a little younger than her. Fascinated, & somewhat forgetting her fear of darkness, she ran toward the house.
The door creaked open, & once she stepped inside, it started pouring rain outside. She decided she'd spend the night there, since there was no going back until the rain stopped. She was pretty glad about it, since she wouldn't have to find her way back in the dark.
The inside of the mansion was creepy enough, though. She decided to explore. She was walking up the steps when she heard a sort of wind behind her.
She turned around & thought she saw something dark dash across the room. She convinced herself it was a cat or something, even though she knew it was much too quick & agile for it to be any living creature known to man. Still, she continued onward.
She took a left after the first set of stairs, & was half-way up when she heard a second, stronger wind. But before she could turn around, she heard a voice from behind her. It was a childish voice, but it was an angry one.
"What are you doing here." It wasn't even a question. It was a statement, to let Lethia know someone was there.
Lethia spun around & recognized him immediately as Axel. Simultaneously, she remembered what he'd done to her before, & became afraid once more. She stepped back onto the step behind her, & almost fell. She grabbed hold of the railing, but Axel was making his way toward her.
Lethia cowered on the step, where she ducked her head into her arms & away from Axel. He stopped, looking down at her. He lifted her up harshly by the arm, & looked her in the eye. His face turned from an irritated one to a sort of sympathetic one. Then, he sighed. "C'mon," he said, pulling her. "Let's go."
It took Lethia a little bit to realize that he was abducting her, but once she did, she pulled back & shouted, "No!"
"Geez, keep your mouth quiet!" he said. He pulled harder at her arm & Lethia fell to the ground, scraping her knee on the last step. Then, she started to cry.
Axel, who'd gotten down on his knee, put his arm around Lethia & knew. She was scared. She'd been hiding it since she got there, & she finally let it out. Axel picked her up gently, & carried her into the other room.
Axel set her down on a bed, where she wrapped up her own knee. He started to make his way out the door, when Lethia said, "Wait…"
She really wanted him to wait. There was no way she was going to stay in the mansion all by herself. To her surprise, he stopped at the word. He turned around, & Lethia's fear of him subsided. Instead, she felt a sort of longing. She started to get dizzy, & began to sway. "Don't.. leave me." As if to show the words "leave me" meant she was tired, Lethia fell on the bed, passed out.
The next morning, Lethia woke up comfortably, with the comforter pulled up to her neck, & the curtains pulled away from the window, letting the sun shine brightly into the room. Recalling what happened the previous night, she sat up & saw Axel sitting on a chair across from the bed. "Good, you're up." He said, somewhat calmly.
"You stayed." Lethia blurted out.
"You asked me to?" Axel seemed shocked at her statement, but Lethia was shocked that he actually waited for her. Axel got up & sat on the edge of the bed, & the two looked out the window. It was quite a sight. The sunlight reflected off the drops of water that remained from the downfall. They sat there for a while, watching the sunlight dance across the room, & neither of them really knew what to say. Axel had stayed out of sympathy, & Lethia remained in the state of longing. But sympathy soon turned into care when Lethia lied back down on the bed, pulling her comforter up to her chin, & faced the opposite direction of Axel.
Axel lied down next to her on the bed & rested his hands underneath his head. "Y'know," Axel began, "I'm really not supposed to be here. I could get in a lot of trouble for staying." He said it in a sort of childish voice again, almost in hopes of cheering Lethia up. Realizing he's failing miserably, he sighed.
There was a long pause before either of them spoke up again. However, it was Lethia who decided to spark conversation. "Who are you?" She said. It wasn't very comforting for Axel to hear, & at the words, he got up. He was looking down with his eyes closed. He seemed somewhat annoyed. Lethia looked at him.
"Nobody." Axel replied. After his harsh answer, Axel walked back toward the door.
"Wait," Lethia tried again. Axel stopped, but only for a moment. He kept walking, & shut the door behind him.
Lethia looked at her knee & realized it was completely healed, but she still felt like she couldn't move. In fact, she couldn't move at all. No matter how hard she tried, she had no control of her body whatsoever. She stood up, against her will, & walked over to the window. She stood there, watching, waiting, & saw Roxas running up to the mansion. He stopped, looked up at the window & saw Lethia standing there. Roxas continued on his way, but Lethia still had no control over herself. She backed away from the window.
She got to the center of the room when this wretched noise began pounding in her head. She couldn't take it. She regained control of her body & immediately put her hands to her ears, hoping against hope to block out the awful sound. Failing miserably, she screamed, but before any sound could come out, she was on the ground. & there would be no waking up.
