This time I'd like extremely to thank the creators of Karate Kid, though, I don't want to tell you which character is going to be in it. That would ruin the surprise.

When nothing more was happening, Chiyo opened her eyes. "Is it done?" She questioned curiously.

"Not quite," Naminé replied. "That memory you asked me to keep…now there's no connection between it and any of your other memories that you still have. We'll have to create a connection if you ever want to reach it again."

"What memory?" Chiyo asked, having already forgotten it.

"This memory." Naminé smiled as she found the memory in Chiyo's mind and helped her to remember.

The room was dark. Chiyo wasn't sure why she was in a dark room, but she was. She heard a voice coming from outside the room.

"You shoulda seen it Dude. It was awesome. I just turned to Xemnas and said, 'Well you suck.' And the author just let me do it. Y'know, like I said somethin' I wasn't s'posed to, but the author didn't delete it or start over or anything. It was like I was writing my own story."

Then the dark faded back out, and Naminé reappeared. "Now to create a connection. I'll have to give you one to start out with, but you could always change it later. The voice, that's Roxas, my boyfriend."

She had added the "my boyfriend" part to connect the memory to herself, but Chiyo recognized the name. "Is that the same Roxas that shares a body with Nori's friend?"

Naminé was surprised. "Yes…how do you know him?"

"I watched everyone make him leave this morning. He didn't seem too happy about it."

The expression on Naminé's face was suddenly gloomy. "Yeah," she sighed. "They shouldn't have sent him back there. They'll devour him, you know, and knowing these boys, they haven't the slightest clue how to plan an extraction."

"From the Castle That Never Was? That's in the forest, isn't it?"

"Yes…why?"

Chiyo smiled. "There was this old man that raised most of us kids back in Japan," she explained, deciding she wanted to leave the house. She started gathering her things and walked out the door, followed by Naminé, all the way continuing, "He was a good ol' grandpa, but he always tried to keep us from getting in trouble. Like if he ever caught us with chocolate he'd tell us these stories about creatures that lived in the forest and fed on children's blood, but the only thing they liked more was chocolate. They could smell it from miles away, and if they caught a whiff of the combination, they would leave the forest to attack us."

"Do creatures like that actually exist in the forest?" Naminé asked.

"None of us actually know. He talked about a lot of things that supposedly lived in the forest, but I do know for sure that he survived and returned from a quest into the forest, so if anyone would know, it would be him. He'll help us find a way to the castle, and then when Roxas needs our help, we can be there in a snap."

Naminé finally understood why Chiyo had left the house and commented, "Well we need to get to the boys' house quickly and tell them!"

She hurried off, leading the way to their house. When they arrived, she burst through the door announcing, "Hey everybody! Chiyo's got something to tell you."

"You guys went shopping and brought us all some pink tutus," Warren guess blandly.

"No," Naminé replied.

"She set the date and the wedding's tomorrow," came the next guess from Nehemiah.

"Yeah, right," Chiyo laughed sarcastically. "I know who can get us all to the Castle That Never Was."

Everyone listened intently as she explained again. After she told them her idea, they all decided it would be best if they waited for Nori to come back before they left. It was at least an hour before he wandered into the house. They had brought out a video game that slightly resembled playing an electric guitar. At first everyone was having fun and taking turns, but it quickly became apparent that Warren, Dusty, and Chiyo were the best. They took over and stopped letting other people play.

Chiyo and Warren were doing a duo when Nori finally showed up. They knew the words to the song, and everything, so it actually sounded right as they rocked out. He walked right up to Chiyo in the middle of the song and interrupted her.

"Chiyo, there's something I need to tell you," he began. He had practiced saying these two words so many times, but it still was hard for him to do it.

"Not right now," she replied. "I'm a little busy." She immediately returned to singing the song.

Nori actually smiled when he heard that. Sure it annoyed him when she ignored him, but that was something she would normally do. That's what he liked about her because every other girl in the world tried to hang off of him constantly and go skinny dipping. She had a life outside of him, was more interested in beating him at some contest than cuddling, and it took him eight years to get a kiss from her…well, story eight years. In real life, it was only one and a half, but she never kissed him in real life. Only in the story.

He sat down on the couch, contently watching her finally enjoying herself again. When the song was over, he announced, "Let's duel Chiyo. I want to beat you."

She laughed. "You'll never beat me at this Nori. You know you have no coordination."

"Ah, but I've been practicing for a whole year."

Warren added in a hush, "One song. He can beat anyone in the world at that song, but it's the only song he can play."

"Hey!" Nori complained.

"I know…I know, don't tell the company your secrets."

"That's not what I meant!"

"Whatever," Chiyo interrupted. "What's this song you can play?"

Nori flipped through the songs on the screen until he found the one he was looking for. "That one," he announced, selecting it.

Chiyo frowned at the title. "I've never even heard of it."

Vash recognized the song and mentioned mostly for himself, "That song came out a week after Chiyo died."

Nehemiah noted, "Well Nori's been absolutely obsessed with it since the second version of the game came out with that song on it. He played it nonstop for 36 hours…I hope that has nothing to do with Chiyo."

"Nope," Nori said just as it was about to start, "just like the song."

Then the song started. Chiyo could keep up for the first while, but yeah, it turned out to be too hard for her, so she just watched Nori make a fool of himself. He kind of looked like an idiot trying to rock out, especially since his hair was still light blue.

At the beginning, the whole song was just guitar, so Dusty curiously leaned over to Warren and whispered, "What's everybody's problem with this song? It rocks."

"For now," Warren replied casually, still leaning back on the couch. "Just wait until the guy starts singing about monkeys, dragons, ice cream, and underwear. It's really unbelievably random."

Nori made it halfway through the song. Chiyo had long given up on playing anything, and she just stood there laughing at Nori, trying to figure out what made him like the song so much. He had just gotten to the line that went, Stop playing Mission Impossible with the guys in your bed. Instead let's have a water gun fight at night with pink underwear on our heads, when Warren snuck up behind him and pulled his pants down.

Nori dropped the controller—which made the guitar moan and die—and grabbed at his pants embarrassedly, demanding, "What was that for?"

"Because you were being an immature jerk, show off," Warren replied, "and it's funny."

"Whatever," was all Nori could think of to say back as he pulled his pants back up.

"Plus, we were only playing the game while we were waiting for you to show up again. Now that you're finally here, Chiyo has something to tell you."

Curiously, Nori looked at Chiyo in expectation. She had broken out laughing when Warren pulled his pants down and was trying to pull herself together again when he said she had something to tell Nori. She could tell by the look on Nori's face that he was expecting something a little different from a visit to Mr. Miyagi. For a second, Chiyo remained silent as she tried to come up with an easy way to tell him nothing she had to say was about him.

With a sigh, she gave up and just explained, "Naminé and I got to talking, and when I found out Roxas is in the middle of the forest, I realized Mr. Miyagi could help us find him when it comes time to get Roxas out. Everyone else thinks it's a good idea too. They said if we leave now we could make it home before dark."

"Right," Nori agreed, slightly depressed sounding, "Mr. Miyagi…Roxas. Yeah, we'll go help him." He turned off the video games and walked glumly back toward the door. Everyone else realized he was leaving for Japan and went to follow. When Nori reached the door, he looked back for a second to ask, "He still lives in the same place, doesn't he Vash?"

"As far as I know," Vash replied, "He always has."

Nori waited at the door and watched everyone file out in front of him. He fell into line at the end, locking the door and mumbling, "God, I'm still not allowed to be in Japan."

Everyone looked to Nori in shock except Vash—Vash was the only one who knew. Vash looked around at all the stunned faces and glared at Nori, saying, "I thought I told you to tell them."

Suddenly, added to the surprise was a bit of expectation. More than surprised that Nori couldn't go, they were shocked he wouldn't tell them, and now all were ready for the explanation.

"I…" Nori began unsurely. "I…you guys know I get in trouble with CrawFish a lot. Sure, you prolly all thought it was just because I'm not the most respectful of all citizens, but it's really kinda more. Back when I lived in Japan, I…I made a big mess…with him, and kinda, sort of…tried to assassinate him, more than just being rude and joking around."

All was quiet for a while as people registered the thought. After a second, Warren put an arm around Nori's shoulder and approvingly asked, "All right! How did it go?"

"That would be why I never told you guys," Nori answered, shrugging out from under Warren's arm. He smiled embarrassedly and put one arm behind his head like anime people do sometimes. "It didn't work…at all. Tia had to come rescue us, and for some of us…it was too late. I guess that's why I want to save her so much, 'cuz I owe her one."

"Right," Vash added when the silence picked up again, "but you're older now. It'll work better this time. Let's go get you a disguise so we can all make it to Miyagi-osan's before midnight." This time, Vash grabbed Nori by the shoulders and walked off toward some clothing store in the general direction of Japan. Confused, everyone followed the two friends silently.

It didn't take long for the group to get where Vash was going. He didn't wait for any input from other people. He just went to the back of the room, grabbed a couple things and threw them to Nori. Nori caught them, slightly surprised as Vash said, "Put it on, and make it quick."

Following orders, Nori changed into the clothes Vash had given him. When he came back out of the changing room, he looked down at the outfit Vash had put him in, complaining. It was dark brown robe with a tie thing, and these annoying wooden platform like sandals that you had to wear with special Japanese socks.

Raising his arms to the side, Nori asked, "A samurai?"

Vash smiled and turned to leave the store. "No one will recognize you."

Following him, Nori rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Right. At least when Tiara dressed me up she didn't give me uncomfortable clothes and wooden shoes," he complained, taking off one of the shoes and throwing it at Vash.

Vash caught the shoe. "These shoes are definitely better for throwing at enemies, though," Vash mocked, reminding Nori of the last battle he fought.

"I hate you," Nori finished, taking his shoe back and walking out the door.

Chiyo just laughed when she saw him—along with the new, stick on tattoo of a Japanese word pasted to the corner of his forehead. Warren looked away as if he were embarrassed by his friend's new outfit. Becca was excited by it.

She ran up to Nori and examined him like I had when I first saw him exclaiming, "Ooh, a samurai! Can you really use the katana?"

"Of course!" Nori agreed certainly with a hint of joking in his voice. He reached to the sheath that was strapped to his waist, grabbed the handle, and pulled, questioning, "What samurai couldn't?"

Becca just laughed.

Realizing something had gone wrong along the way, Nori looked to where the katana should have been in his hand and saw just a tiny little dagger. Offended, he glanced down to the now empty sheath and then glared up at Vash.

"Why don't I get a real one?" He demanded.

Vash smiled and started walking away again as he replied, "You'd kill someone."

"Well, that's kinda the point. How am I supposed to defend myself with this?"

"No, I meant by accident."

Nori crossed his arms with a pouty look on his face. "If I had a katana right now, I'd kill you with it."

"You'd kill yourself first."

A second later, Becca came running up, announcing, "Vash, Vash I got you donuts!"

Beginning to drool a little, Vash stared in awe at the donut and began to reach toward it. In the last second, Chiyo jumped between the two of them, grabbing the donut from Becca and mocking, "Stop being such a suck up."

Vash's eyes suddenly grew very large with his pupils shrinking really small. He dropped his arms to his sides, and his mouth fell open. It was a common anime reaction representing shock that somewhat said, "That's not fair!" If he had been any more frustrated by Chiyo stealing his donut, his whole body would have shrunk down to about knee-high, with his head taking up half of his height, and tears pouring from his eyes. Becca too would have looked somewhat similar if she had the over exaggerated emotions of an anime character.

"I'm not being a suck up!" She insisted.

"Oh, really?" Chiyo asked. "You've been here for a shorter time than I have, and you've already bought him donuts three times!"

"Yeah, but…the first time was a bribe just so he would bring me here. And I was only trying to be nice, and…there just happened to be this old man across the street who was giving them away for free."

"Right," Chiyo agreed sarcastically, looking over to the abandoned other side of the street. "And where is this old man now? I don't see him."

"Well of course not!" Becca exclaimed, "He's gone now!"

"How convenient." Chiyo turned around to face Vash. "You want the donut?"

He nodded vigorously and grabbed at Chiyo's hand. She pulled away quickly questioning, "What will you give me for it?"

A hint of anger flashed across his face as he started chasing her around in circles the whole way to Japan. Of course that was the sort of thing that would usually make Nori laugh, but he was so embarrassed by the way he was dressed and the fact that he didn't get a real katana. He didn't even lose all his blush lines or the bright shade of red he'd turned until they were around a block away from Miyagi-osan's house. He only got to be not embarrassed for a short while, though.

Miyagi-osan's door was always open. Anyone could come in whenever they wanted, given the normal Japanese condition, that they take their shoes off at the door. Nori, Chiyo, and Vash didn't even have to think twice about it. Becca and Naminé almost forgot, but knew enough about Japanese culture to remember when they saw the other three do it. Dusty and Warren didn't take off their shoes.

They had taken one step further than the entryway when Nori noticed them and whispered, "You guys."

An older man, who sat at a desk facing the wall, continued for Nori, "Children have no respect for Miyagi house. Please take off shoes." As soon as Dusty and Warren returned to the entryway and removed their shoes, he stood up from the desk. He walked over to them, folded one hand over the other, and bowed to them in greeting. Everyone returned the gesture—some of them better than others.

Vash, Chiyo, and Nori all added, "Miyagi-osan," in turn.

Mr. Miyagi lifted Nori's head up before he had finished bowing and tapped him on the forehead where the tattoo was. "I thought I told you Naruto boys not come back." He suddenly went off ranting in Japanese. Vash and Chiyo broke out laughing because of what Mr. Miyagi was saying.

Nori got a shocked look on his face and took a step backwards saying, "Miyagi-osan…I'm not from Naruto."

Miyagi stopped in the middle of a sentence and switched back to English. "That voice sound like Kyoko-kun. You Takeshi? You look very different. Leaving Japan not good for you boy." He wandered away like he was searching for something muttering, "Blue hair." A moment later he returned and stuffed a fortune cookie into Nori's hands.

Looking at it curiously, Nori wondered, "A fortune cookie? Is that supposed to fix me Osan?"

"No…" Miyagi replied, "You remind me, though. Last time you here, you left it."

"You're giving me a year old fortune cookie?"

Once again Mr. Miyagi walked away to the living room where he sat down on a mat on the floor. There were several mats on the floor surrounding a low coffee table. It was where he customarily entertained guests. Knowing this, the three who had been to his house before, followed him to the living room, and everyone else followed them.

When everyone was comfortably seated around the table, Miyagi began pouring tea in several glasses as he asked, "So why you here Kyoko-kun? And make it quick. I leave for fish in…ten minute."

"Well, actually," Nori explained, "it was Chiyo's idea."

Miyagi looked to the blonde next to Nori and said, "I thought that was you. I glad you still alive."

"Thank you Miyagi-osan," Chiyo began. "In fact, we're here because we need your help…getting through the forest."

When he heard that, Miyagi stopped in mid-sip. "The forest you say? This better not be prank or childish game…Kyoko-kun."

Nori looked down with a guilty smile on his face. That was usually something he would do just for fun. Mr. Miyagi knew him much too well…but this time, that wasn't the case. It was a serious matter.

Vash realized that Nori would never get the entire story out, so he divulged, "It's not a joke this time Miyagi-osan. Queen Dalma asked him to do something, and at the end of it she ended up in captivity. He feels like he should take responsibility for it, so for the last few days we've been trying everything we can think of to find her."

"Ever since the darkness," Miyagi muttered to himself in understanding.

"We just sent two of his friends into the forest because one of them used to live there, in hopes that they might find her there, but so far, nothing really seems to be working, so Chiyo suggested we be prepared for this to not work as well. We need you to help us get his friends back."

"I see. This may take more than ten minute. Fish can wait 'til tomorrow. First thing you need: chocolate bars." He got up to go searching through more drawers for his chocolate, but halfway there he stopped. "No, first thing you need: balance. Second thing you need: chocolate bars."

The group of friends left Mr. Miyagi's house, pockets and arms overflowing with useful tools and information. He had maps of the forest and lists of creatures, each designed to find a different weakness in trespassers, and each with a different weakness themselves. Only one could be easily diverted by Three Musketeer bars. He also told of an invisible road upon which the traveler is protected from every harm, but to follow this road you had to decode a series of complicated riddles taking you each step of the way. This road was also as narrow as six inches at certain times with hundred foot cliffs on either side.

He had suggested, "You be better just throw chocolate bar to strange creature and walk in forest."

With all the helpful things Mr. Miyagi had given the group, they would still have to work out the plan themselves. After all, the exact order that the forest attacks is based upon the personal weaknesses of the explorers. It starts with something they might be able to defeat, and worsens until it has discovered their phobia and they can no longer continue. They would have a lot to plan out still, beginning with each of their personal flaws.

The trip home was fairly uneventful because everyone was so busy thinking about those things, but as the group was getting close to Kairi's house to drop off the girls for the night, darkness returned. Many people were gathered along the street they were on for an evening market, so the darkness easily caused turmoil. A customer would shoplift a bit and be met by a now murderous shop keeper. Two girls could want the same shirt, but there was only one left, and a whole fist fight would emerge.

Dusty scooted a little closer to Warren, knowing he had the ability to protect the group of friends with his awesome firepower, as she whispered surprised, "What just happened?"

Warren snapped at her and then turned to fling fire at someone who's screaming was starting to get on his nerves.

Nori instantly grabbed Warren from behind, calling, "Vash! Help!"

Vash wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but because he was effected by the dark as well, he had no problem elbowing Warren in the gut. Dusty gasped slightly as Warren slumped backwards into Nori's arms. Nori shot a glare up at Vash. That was not how he'd wanted to calm Warren down because it was hard enough to piece him back together when he wasn't holding a grudge. It worked, though, so Nori didn't want to agitate Vash too.

He dragged Warren toward the edge of the road, quietly answering Dusty's question, "It's the darkness. It throws the whole world into chaos."

"But why did it just appear so suddenly?" Becca wondered.

Nori kept dragging Warren, all the way off the road and behind a bunch of shrubs. "It either means something terrible's happened to Tia, or it means CrawFish is coming."

"Huh?" They both asked, neither yet familiar with the lobster's code name.

"That means stop talking and hide," Chiyo whispered harshly, jumping behind the bushes with Nori.

Warren moaned and ordered, "Let go of me." Nori just covered Warren's mouth and kept dragging.

A moment later, Nori stopped when he heard a familiar voice thunder, "Silence!" through the market. He also heard a couple girls nearby whispering, "My God…it's the King. Lionel…What shall we do?"

Nori fell to the ground so the bushes would completely cover him, noting quietly to Dusty and Becca, "It's him; he's here…for you two," at the same time as Lionel began pacing through the crowd demanding, "Where is that boy? I know he's here. I just saw him." He stopped at a random person, glared into his frightened eyes, and continued, "Oh is that what it is? You would dare hide him from me? How could you possibly want to protect him after what he did to your Queen?" He seemed to spit the word "queen."

A wave of muttering flowed across the crowd. "What boy?" "We're not hiding anyone." "Has something happened to Tia?" "Who would dare hurt our queen?"

Lionel gestured to a creature that could change its form to match Nori and continued, "Perhaps you recognize this face."

A gasp of "Nori" came from some girl in the bunch.

"Anime Kid," the bartender mumbled, surprised. Everyone was surpised to learn Nori was the culprit. He took a deep breath and buried his face in his hands. That wasn't true. It was an accident, he thought, wishing he could explain it to all of them.

A guy who lived a few houses from the friends mentioned, "He left town this morning. I haven't seen him back yet."

"Actually," Short Stuff corrected, "they came back into the city not too long ago."

"As I said," Lionel interrupted, "I saw him in this very marketplace. That means someone must be hiding him. The question is," he grabbed a dark haired girl from the crowd and held his claw against her throat, "who is it?"

The crowd went silent. Nori gritted his teeth in frustration. Not fair.

Chiyo looked to him and hissed, "Nori!" as if she were saying, "well aren't you going to do something?"

"I know," Nori grumbled back. He would have gotten to it eventually. After a couple seconds to build up some courage, Nori clenched his fists and charged out of the bushes announcing, "No one. Nobody was hiding me."

Lionel smiled evilly and let the girl go. "Oh there you are Nori…or should I say Kyoko Takeshi."

"Ooh," Nori mocked, "you found out all three of my names. Is that supposed to scare me?"

"No, but what should scare you is: because of that, I've discovered what you call me…CrawFish."

A smile spread across Nori's face as he embarrassedly reached a hand behind his head. "Yeah, we always figured you wouldn't like that too much."

"Actually, it's proven quite handy. After hearing you say it once, I listened to every conversation in the last month with that word in it. You've helped me to finally realize what this city really thinks of me. I think I'll just vaporize the whole place right now. That ought to teach you people."

Nori's heart skipped a beat, and he took a shocked step back, shaking his head. "That's not fair."

Lionel opened his cloak threateningly and reached toward something. "No! Stop it," Nori insisted, grabbing Lionel's arm. Lionel flung him off and a couple feet away.

Someone in the crowd called out, "What makes you think you can save us?"

"Queen Dalma was the only one who could save us from this, but, thanks to you, that won't be possible," another pointed out.

Once again, Nori was unable to think of something to say, but Warren hopped up in his place, flinging a ball of fire at the person in the crowd and shouting, "Don't mock my friends!"

Kairi shot up a second later to try to keep Warren under control.

"It was an accident," Nori explained. "Tia confronted him…of her own accord, and now our queen is in captivity because she wouldn't let me die…but you know what I learned from it? I learned she wants us to live, and not just us as a collective, but each and every one of us matters to her. And that is why we need to stick together." Nori had gone into a really motivational speech, and started gesturing to go along with it. An unusually large gesture accompanied the next phrase, "So we can live…so we can bring her—what was that?"

He randomly turned around and looked to the girl who had been in Lionel's possession. Between her hands she held a small ball of blue light that she was staring at in awe. It had come from Nori's hand. He looked to his left hand and saw another one forming. After a moment of amazed elation, Nori turned back to Lionel.

Shouting, "Take that," Nori threw the ball at Lionel.

It caused absolutely no harm at all, simply served to make Lionel more angry. The lobster let out a sort of roar and growled, "You have light."

Nori smiled gleefully. "Now nothing matters because you can't stop me anymore."

"You think that light gives you some sort of power?" Lionel demanded, slightly humored.

"Of course I do," Nori insisted, stomping him foot and slamming fist down in unison. Suddenly, a column of light surrounded Nori all the way from the ground to the seventh level of heaven. Nori just looked up in wonder.

Shading his eyes from the brightness, Lionel questioned, "How is this going to stop me?"

"Light will always triumph over darkness," Nori insisted. "I'm like a sunrise over the African Desert. If you want your darkness, you'll have to go hide under a rock, or better yet, go back to the bottom of the ocean where lobster's come from."

"Even with your beaming personality, I could easily wipe you off the face of this world."

"Not if all of us stand behind him," Kairi stated, having brought Warren over to the light to help calm him down. The whole town watched as the light radiating from Nori's body spread to encompass his two friends. With a new sense of hope, the townsfolk gradually filed into the column of light, and it continued to grow to cover them all.

Blind and defeated, Lionel would have to leave, but he mentioned as he left, "So you can put up a bigger fight than I thought, but you can't protect the whole world. I'm sure your friends in Japan would love it if I paid them a visit."

"No! You wouldn't dare! I'll light the whole world!"

"Do it," Lionel invited mysteriously.

Nori closed his eyes, concentrating very hard to be sure it would work. When he felt enough energy had built up inside, he did the same thing as last time—stomped and pounded his fist. At first, he didn't think it had worked because all the light flooded back in towards him, but a second later, a giant burst of light filled the sky as far as they could see. It only lasted for a moment, though, before the light disappeared, and Nori collapsed weakly to the ground. Vash knelt immediately by his side.

"That wiped him out," Lionel mocked, "inexperienced child." He sounded a little insecure, though. After all, no one had ever been able to produce light right in front of him.

Warren stood protectively in front of Nori and warned, "I'll fight you."

Lionel turned away from the crowd of people. "I'm leaving, but take this as a warning. The mercy ends here. Next time I hear someone even mention the name Tia Dalma, you're all dead." He snapped his fingers and faded into the darkness.

I was wandering around the shack we were locked in. Either it was Tia Dalma's shack, or it was a complete replica because it certainly looked like it. I had found a pile of jewelry and was fingering through it when I heard a small popping noise. Looking over to where the sound had come from, I saw the guard boy suddenly reappear against the same wall he had disappeared from.

I smiled at him slightly, wondering, "Won't you get in trouble for being gone?"

He didn't answer. He simply coughed a few times and collapsed to the floor, beginning to shiver. I knew that was a bad sign, so I took him into the bedroom and laid him under the covers of the bed. I had my hand on his forehead, feeling his temperature rise, when he came back to consciousness a moment later. Within a second, however, he bit my hand, and I pulled back in pain.

"Ow!" I cried. "You vicious boy. I was only trying to help."

He cowered away slightly, as if he were a dog laying his ears back in apology, muttering a small, "Sorry."

I cocked my head to the side, wondering why he'd reacted that way. "I'm not mad. It just hurts, and I wanna know why you did it."

"Nothing…I…I th-thought I was still in my story for a second," he replied nervously.

"Lionel would be pretty mad if he found that out, wouldn't he?"

"Well, it's your fault! You're the one who broke the necklace," he accused, fading off at the end when he realized he'd started to yell.

I thought back to the day before when I'd accidentally tripped over one of the various objects strewn across the floor. Flailingly, I grabbed toward him to catch my balance, but missed him, instead grabbing the necklace. It ripped apart, and I still fell to the floor. He had stared at me, seeming to be very frightened, for a long time after it broke. Now I understood.

I smiled.

Uncertain as to what the smile meant, he timidly asked, "What?"

"You remind me of someone," I answered.

His eyes lit up slightly as he sat up and questioned, "Really? Your voice is familiar too."

"That's neat!" I exclaimed. "We could really get along."

"No," the boy sighed. "It's why I did that." He pointed to my hand.

I looked down to my hand that was still bleeding from where he'd punctured the skin. I reminded him of someone bad in his story that he'd want to bite. Could it really be? His wrists were bleeding too, I realized…and the hat, and the attitude. Instinctly, I reached toward his bleeding wrists. He whined and pulled away fearfully. Knowing that it was the same person I was thinking of, I pulled off the beanie hat he'd been wearing, revealing a set of soft black ears.

"Hallom!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms around him in a hug.

He winced and then tried to push me off of him. "Oka-ay," he stumbled out, "you know me."

I backed off, quickly remembering that he wasn't much of the touchy feely sort, and commenting, "I just always wanted to hug you."

He nodded slightly, confused as to why I knew him already, but for some reason, the question I was expecting didn't come. Hallom just sat there, staring at his hands.

Because I hated silence, I started the conversation again with, "My friend isn't very nice to you, is she?"

"Which one are you talking about?" He muttered.

"Your author…Katie Hunt."

His ears laid back, his eyes narrowed, and I thought I heard a small growl come up from his throat. He tried to ask, "You know her," but it turned out to be more of an angry demand.

"Yeah, she's a friend of mine, you know, 'cuz I'm an author too. We started exchanging stories a little while ago, and that's how come I know about you," I explained.

He quietly nodded, still just fidgeting with his hands. After a second, I added, "I get mad at her every time she's being mean to you."

"Your voice," he began and then stopped. A second later came, "just makes me wanna…" He kept pausing like he really didn't want to say it, but he eventually got it out. Squeezing the air with his hands, he finished, "Kill something."

I covered my mouth with one hand, finally figuring out exactly how he recognized me. "The snake," I muttered embarrassedly, "I'm sorry. Would you prefer if I talked like this?" I questioned getting a really goofy, fake, deep voice that sounded kind of like the voice Mulan had when she was first trying to convince everyone she was a man.

He didn't laugh, but he did look away and roll his eyes.

Deciding I'd be British for a little while, I explained in my best accent, "It's just…I used ta joke with Katie 'bout how much I liked ye and that she should put me in 'er story so that I could steal ye from Tally. So she put me in yer story…only she made me the evil, creepy snake lady. I didn't really e're wanna torture ye."

A moment later, when the silence returned, I asked, "That necklace kept ye here? Like the same way Writers' Block keeps people from der stories." He nodded, looking back at his hands folded in his lap. I took my necklace off and dangled it in front of his face. "Here. Take mine, so ye won't have to go back to yer story just yet…and so ye won't get inta any trouble wit' dat lobster guy."

"No," he insisted urgently. "There'll be more trouble if he catches you without one."

"But I'm not a character; I'm an author. I can't go to any stories anyways."

"Th-then why do you have one in the first place?"

I shrugged. "Standard procedure…If we're gonna be askin' questions like dat, ye better tell me what ye're doin' 'ere, werkin' fer Lionel 's'posed ta frolickin' 'bout wit all dem other good chaps in Fiction-land."

Hallom was silent for a long time before he finally responded, "First of all…just because you changed your voice doesn't mean that you have to pretend no one ever taught you to speak English." He smiled, having said his daring sentence for the day.

I smiled back. "I can do proper British just as well."

"It's—it's not my fault—or like I really…wanna be here."

"You know you actually may have to complete a sentence to tell me this story?" I asked to loosen things up a bit when he stopped talking again.

He looked back to his hands with a sigh. "He…he just chooses random people…anybody."

"Lionel?" I probed. "To be his guards?"

Hallom nodded. "It's—It's not a punishment…or a privilege…It's just…unfortunate."

"How long is it for?" I wondered after a second.

"A year."

A whole year, I thought, that's a long time to go without writing about someone. Another silence came over the two of us for a while until we heard Tia Dalma call out, "'Eh Lass, come see dis."

I rushed over to where she was, looking out a window in the shack at the darkness that had covered the countryside. More important than that, however, was a small column of light that had appeared many, many miles away. It extended upwards into the heavens, shrinking and growing. After a second—actually the exact moment that Hallom made it to the window to look too—the light exploded, filling the sky with a blinding white color. We all shaded our eyes and looked away for a second. When we dared open them again, everything was back to dark.

Tia Dalma noted, "Nori's foun' it…da light, bu' e'en I cain't make light righ' in front o' Lionel like 'e did."

I smiled, very wide. I had created a hero! After indulging in my ecstasy for a while, I slipped the necklace over Hallom's head when he wasn't paying attention.

He looked to me in shock but didn't say anything.

I smiled particularly to him to make him know everything was all right. "Keep it for a couple days. Heal up nice and good, and by then we'll have broken out of here and you won't need one anymore."