Vow of Amber

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters. I don't even own some of them because other people have a tendency to help me out quite a bit. Go figure.

A/N: Hey people! How have ya'll been? Sorry it's taken me so long to write anything down, but I've been quite busy with school and such. Hopefully from now on this story will flow on a normal basis, but I can only promise that I will try my best. I hope you like this chapter; it's more of an "open your eyes" type thing, rather then anything else. Thanks to all my reviews! You guys rock REALLY hard! One last thing - I'm sorry if it's a little different. I tried to have a character make an appearance, but it didn't work out so well.

Song suggestion: "Pinch Me" by Barenaked Ladies. You can find it on their greatest hits CD.

Chapter Two: Island Dreams…

The only alarm clock no one could ever turn off; the one that has a quiet vow to get you up at the sometime of day, everyday, no matter what. It was the one in her head, placed there naturally by sticking to the same schedule every school day. That was the very thing that woke Lei up. You already know what it is, especially if you have to do that very same thing. This teen hated school quite a bit, and this was one of many reasons. Waking up on Saturdays to find that it's only six o'clock can get annoying. In other words, none really blamed her.

However annoying waking up may have been, having a headache that pulsated wasn't of much assistance. Neither did the fact that she didn't have any idea where she was. She estimated that one hour she had been awake, quietly and patiently staring at the rising sun. Don't get Lei wrong, she loved the beauty of the scene. In all truths, that's probably what kept her there, on the edge of the sands, watching the waves come in and out. Waiting for someone to come up and say a simple "hi" or even something like "what the heck are you doing here?" was getting extremely mind-numbing. Were there even people here?

No longer content with sitting and watching the sunrise, she stood up. Turning to face the place she had been forced to reside, she first noticed that there really wasn't any sign of civilization. However disappointing it may have been, Lei's facial expression didn't change. The youthful apathetic face had been pasted there for that whole one hour. It didn't undergo any change for any emotion in the least. It was, of course, complete disbelief and utter denial. In her mind, she was just waiting to wake up; to have Zane or Lilly yell at her for skipping class again.

She sat down again, pretending to be pleased with the sight of nothing but palm and coconut trees. The longer she waited to wake up, the more the situation became obscenely genuine. Once again she stood up; this time, without the apathetic face of before, but a newly crafted deeply saddened frown. Carefully not observing her surroundings, she walked slowly to one of those many palm trees. She sat against the small tree and forced herself to close her eyes. Sleep came almost instantly afterwards.

A harsh voice that was on the verge of being to low to understand was the new, fast acting alarm clock. It, you guessed it, was a voice she had never heard before. Even if, for a split second, it seemed roughly recallable, the feeling was easily shaken off. On the other hand, Lei's ears no longer picked up the waves. Nor did her nose detect the smell of an ocean of any sort or type. If fact, if she tried hard enough, it almost seemed like she was again at Twilight Town; maybe it was the appealing golden color she could see before she even opened her eyes. Maybe the five senses were fooling her.

Reality hit her like a ton of bricks, to put it bluntly. Now she could hear the rustle of her classmates walking around the classroom and…the teacher. That's why the voice had been recognizable. She did it, again. Falling asleep in class only could answer up to two break dentations. The first thing she felt on herself was the drool that had accumulated while in that deep sleep. As her head lifted itself, she saw her brother's face bearing down on her. Pasted on it was a least favorite of Lei's, a scorn that was many, many, many times worse than anything "Mr. Fake hair" could come up with.

Before anything else could be made out in her sleepy state of mind, the bell rang at its normal hourly time. Suddenly, she picked up her small, black backpack and stuffed the notebook that she had ridiculously drooled on in it. She felt like an idiot. Today was note day in that class, and she hadn't taken a single one of the all important study helpers. She smiled at her brother with a grin that seemed to say the words that hadn't quite made it out of her lips. She hadn't the time to get the air. Turning to the teacher that sat at his desk, she pointed to the door of the classroom.

"I'm sorry," she said meekly while she walked passed her brother, her destination the fifteen minute waiting room across the hall. That's what she called it, anyway. She already knew that Zane held the blue slip that she needed to stay in dentition, but the math teacher that kept the "problem" kids wouldn't stop her from going to where she's got to go. That thought was almost laughable.

"Did you stay up all night again?" Zane asked, walking with her across the hall, now half accepting that she was truly sorry. He could see by his sister's actions and expressions that she wouldn't have done it on purpose. She usually wasn't like this, you have to understand. It's more likely to be run over by the train in the middle of school then her be apologetic for anything she does wrong. Question: where's the train?

Lei watched as Zane stopped and pulled out a piece of gum out of his pocket. The gum was the type she liked most; she knew by the small blue and black label. Almost as if under a trance, he handed the gum to her. She smiled, this time a pure one of unity to her brother. Although it was strange and completely unusual for him to be nice to her, they seem to think a like. So odd, in fact, that she often said that it would take the train running him over to show an ounce of rule leverage. Question: where's the train?

"I had a nightmare…," she continued to walk, not wanting to be late because of second bell. She took the small stick of gum Zane handed to her, carefully placing it into her mouth before she could get caught by the math teacher running break dentition.

Lei took a seat at one of the many wooden desks at the back of the small room that were older than (she made jokes about this all the time) the class they were in. She frowned and looked up at the teacher, who was trying to give her a look of anger. However, it fazed none of the students, because even when she was happy about something, that look was almost the same. You see, it was from many, many long years of giving that stare at people. She was twice as old as the desks…almost three. The same old bun was put into her black hair, and the same old flowery shirts and pants were being worn.

The staring contest was over almost two seconds after the competitors acknowledged its existence. Lei looked away first, but only because the teacher was about to turn to another student that had staid in because of a test they she hadn't finished. It was the blonde Roxas. He wasn't quite Lei's friend, but they weren't enemies, either. Many times had she seen him on the clock tower with his friends when she wasn't there. He was looking up at the teacher, asking a few questions.

To the teen's direct left was a friend of her bother and her, Lilly – better known as Phoenix. Her smirk was in place of a laugh, as if laughing about what Lei, without a doubt, was sitting at that very desk for. The only reason she didn't take the time to laugh, of course, was she would have found herself in even more trouble if she would've "spoken without permission".

Becoming bored within those fifteen minutes, naturally Lei began to think about the nightmare that had kept her awake the night before. In all truths, she had that nightmare many times in the past. There were many different endings to that vary same dream. In fact, every time she had it, something was changed or twisted in a way to make it worse. Sometime ago, she did her best to try to explain the nightmare to her brother. He refused to listen, though; always to busy to hear her out. Some excuse was always the cause. Incredibly soon, Lei found herself making excuses not to ask him or even tell him about it.

Going back to the island dream she had while asleep in class, which was an angelic dream compared to the black coated man dream, she hadn't had it before. Believe it or not, it was true. Her mind drew a blank when she tried to figure out why or what would make her mind think about an island. Maybe it was a subconscious life lesson, though. She kept thinking about how bad she has it here; well, at least she's not completely alone.

Sometime after school, she rested in her small room. She knew, of course, that she was lucky that she even had a room to call her own. Clothes and old school papers were placed carelessly on the floor, but the clutter didn't seem to bother anyone in the orphanage enough to actually get her to pick them up. The walls were purple, which she loved. Her small bed was placed next to a window, where she left the blinds open to the point where you could see just enough of the light from outside to notice it.

Lei had placed herself in a resting position on the small bed, lying comfortingly on her stomach. Placed on her face was a look of deep thought. She had been home, or at least what she called home, for about two hours. Yet, she still wore her blue and white school uniform. The teen placed her arms around the two large pillows that were in simple white pillow covers. Past the newly washed covers, she could feel the tattered stuffing of the pillows, however she was more then used to it. A yawn escaped from her mouth, and the expression once again changed into one of tiredness.

Brown eyes took one last glance at the clouds that were building up. A few quiet seconds after, they closed. In doing so, their master finally went into a dreamless state of sleep; serene and restful. It was true that Lei hadn't done that very thing in quite sometime. It was because the mind cluttered with nightmares. Luck so had it that it would let her have one more rest before it took her into the adventure. Oh yes, fate would have its way with her, Zane, and Phoenix.