Ch. 4: Traveling Through the

Great Beyond

Soon Ookami was traveling through the darkness of what he thought was space. But Ookami didn't care. He had just lost his friends and the love of his life. All he could thing about was them and all the great memories he shared with him. He wished that he could see their faces one last time. Then he remembered about the pictures in his wallet. He reached in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet.

The first picture he opened to was from his 8th grade dance, it was a picture of him, Mune, and Chikyuu, the trio. They were all dressed up. He then closed his eyes and began remembering about one of the most dramatic nights of his life.

* * *

Ookami opened his eyes and next thing he knew, he was reliving that night. He was at his house with Chikyuu, who was wearing his white button-up shirt, black pants, and black shoes. His hair was parted of to the sides and he was wearing some cologne that he borrowed from his dad. Ookami's mom got a few pictures of them all dressed up and then they headed out to his mom's car.

Ookami and Chikyuu talked the whole trip with Ookami's mom dropping in every once in a while to make a comment or make a joke that related to the random topics they brought up. Ookami got out his phone (which was still pretty new) to check the time. It was 7:45; the dance would start in 15 minutes. Just as he put is phone away, his mom pulled into the line to the drop off.

After waiting behind about three limousines, about five cars, and a lifted truck, they were finally able to get out of the car. So they waved good bye to Ookami's mom and opened the door to reveal to all of his fellow classmates who was in the car. As soon as he was out, he looked for someone he knew, but he saw no one.

He and Ookami then walked towards the entrance so they would be one of the first people to see the decorated cafeteria. As the got there they saw Futokutei, a girl from Ookami's first period class. She was wearing a red dress that made Ookami go, "Wow," in the back of his head.

"Hey Futokutei, you look nice tonight," said Ookami as he approached her.

"Wow Ookami, you ain't looking half bad yourself." This made Ookami blush a little, but Futokutei didn't notice.

"Thanks Futokutei, have fun in there," said Ookami. Just then the school's principle came out and announced that everyone could start heading in. So Ookami and Chikyuu headed in and handed their tickets to one of the teachers who was chaperoning the dance and then started to head for the cafeteria.

As soon as he was in he saw the cafeteria in a whole new way, all the lunch tables were gone, trees were put up to give the illusion of a park, and there was a DJ on the stage who just started playing the first song. This to Ookami's dismay was a hip hop song, which Ookami wasn't a big fan of at first.

"Hey Ookami, lets split up and find Mune," said Chikyuu.

"That's a great idea! And when one of us finds her, we'll find the other okay?"

"Okay, sounds like a plan," said Chikyuu and he then walked away in search of their friend.

Okay, I should go check by the door in case she hasn't come in yet, Ookami thought as he walked back towards the door he came in a few seconds ago. He waited for a few minutes and then he started looking through the crowd of people. He saw a lot of people he knew from his classes, but no Mune.

"Ookami!" he heard someone shout over the music. He swung around and looked, he didn't see anyone. So he turned back around and continued walking.

"OO-KA-MI!" he heard someone say. Then someone turned him around. Ookami's jaw dropped. It was Mune. She was wearing a light blue dress that had a noticeable band around the waist that was the same color. As he stood there his heart stopped a few times because he was in disbelief that Mune was so beautiful in that dress. Ookami snapped back into reality before Mune noticed the look on his face.

"Wow Mune, you look beautiful," Ookami managed to say. She blushed a little.

"Thanks, you clean up pretty well yourself," Ookami's heart skipped a beat from hearing a complement from someone he liked at the time. "Hey, where's Chikyuu?"

"Oh, we split up to try look for you," Ookami replied. "We should go find him so he's not looking all over for no reason."

"Yeah, good idea," said Mune. With that they set off through the dancing crowd in search of Chikyuu. Mune was in front of Ookami, and the whole time, all he could think of is how beautiful she was. But he had to stop imagining him and Mune being together so he could find Chikyuu.

"Ookami, you're tall, try to look over the crowd and find him," said Mune.

"Good idea." With that he stood up slightly higher then what he already was and looked over the dancing crowd. He saw Chikyuu all the way where Ookami meet Mune moments ago. "Figures, he's right where we just were," Ookami chuckled.

"Yeah, of course," Mune chuckled. Then they headed back through the crowd to meet the third member of their little trio. As they walked through the crowd, they passed Ja-ku, Mune's crush. He was wearing a full white shout complete with a white fedora. He was also with one of his friends who were dressed the same way.

As soon as they were out of Ja-ku's hearing range, Mune turned to Ookami. "Did you see him? He looked great!"

"Okay Mune, stop drooling," Ookami said trying to not show that he was slightly jealous. "Hey, let's go see Chikyuu."

"But…." before she could finish Ookami grabbed her arm and dragged her to Chikyuu.

"Hey Chikyuu," Ookami said, "Found her." Just as he said that, Chikyuu turned around and had the same expression Ookami had when he first saw Mune.

"Wow…. Mune… you look…. Wow," Chikyuu said with a loss of words. Ookami knew Chikyuu was having the same thoughts Ookami was having earlier because Ookami knew that Chikyuu like Mune too. But this never brought up any arguments between them.

Just then a slow song came on; this made Ookami's heart sink for two reasons: the first reason was that he didn't know how to dance at all, the second reason was because he had no one to dance with, and he really wanted to dance with Mune. But Ookami, not being one of the bravest people when asking a girl out, could get up the courage to ask her to dance, and judging by the look on Chikyuu's face, neither could he.

Just then two of Mune's friends came up to her. "Mune," one of them said, "do you want us to ask Ja-ku if he wants to dance with you?"

"OF COURSE!" Mune shouted, and then she had a love struck look on her face.

"Come on Chikyuu," Ookami said slightly disappointed, "let's go get some punch…"

"Yeah," Chikyuu said also slightly disappointed, "good idea…." So they headed towards the punch bowls and got something to drink. They then walked over towards a bunch of chairs they had set up. They sat down a few seats from each other but didn't speak to each other. Ookami was thinking about how pathetic he was.

Why can't you do this Ookami? He thought to himself. You've been in at least three fights between now and 6th grade and you never backed down, but you can't even ask the girl you like to dance with you! There's something wrong there!

Ookami quickly look up as force of habit. Ever since he was jumped by some kid on the way to school, he always had to know what was going on around him. The first place he looked was where Chikyuu was, he was still sitting there, probably thinking the same thing Ookami was just thinking. Then he looked towards the group of dancing people, he saw a few couples dancing, which made his heart sink even lower. So he quickly looked away. But what he saw was almost as bad as seeing the happy couples dancing. Mune was crying.

"Chikyuu," Ookami said as he moved over and nudged him, "Mune's' crying, we should go see what's wrong." Chikyuu looked over to where Mune was and was as shocked as Ookami was. Chikyuu then nodded in agreement with Ookami and they got up and walked towards their crying friend.

Ookami looked over to one of Mune's friends and asked what happened. She walked up to Ookami and Chikyuu and pulled them away from where Mune was.

"We walked up to Ja-ku and said, 'Mune wants to dance with you, will you dance with her?' Then he looked at us, laughed and said, 'Yeah right!' and then continued to laugh." This immediately triggered something in Ookami. Hearing this news sparked the darkness that was deep down inside of him. But he tried his best to hold back his anger.

Go, go destroy him! said the voice in his head.

No! It wouldn't be worth it!

Don't you want revenge? He just hurt the girl that you would do anything to be with! Are you just going to let him get away with that?

As much I want to get revenge, it wouldn't be worth getting kicked out of the dance.

But you have nothing to lose! You're not brave enough to ask her dance! So what's the point in staying here? All you're going to do is mope around while you see all these other people having a great time! Do it! Show him the power you have deep down!

NO! Get out of my head!

I can't Ookami, because I AM YOU! I will always be here, lurking deep within your heart!

I said GO AWAY! Ookami shouted in his mind, still shaking from his rage. Ookami was quickly back into reality. Mune was still sobbing a little, and Chikyuu was sitting in the group of chairs from earlier. Ookami then tried to muster up some courage to ask Mune to dance with him, but he just couldn't do it.

Just then, Heizen came up to Mune. Heizen was another one of Mune's crushes. He then asked Mune to dance with him during the last slow song, she agreed, which made Ookami's heart drop even lower. He then said something to Mune and walked away. Mune then walked over to Ookami and told him what Heizen said.

Ookami forced a smile on his face so he could hide is true feelings. Then he remembered that he wanted to get a picture of the trio before they left, so he grabbed Chikyuu and got him to get into the picture.

"Let's hurry up before the last slow song comes on," said Mune. Ookami could tell she was ready to dance with Heizen. So they got the picture and Mune rushed back into the cafeteria, just in time for the last slow dance of the night. Mune rushed over to Heizen and the slow song began.

Why can't that be me? Ookami thought to himself. He then looked over towards Chikyuu. Ookami could tell that Chikyuu was thinking the same thing. Then he turned his attention back to Mune. She looked happier than ever. Ookami felt lonelier then ever he wished the song would end, but it seemed endless.

Finally the song ended, Ookami and Chikyuu walked over to Mune who was grinning ear to ear. Then they walked out together and waited for their rides to arrive.

* * *

A tear ran down Ookami's face for the first time in ages at the thought of losing his friends. Ookami wipe it off of his face and turned to the next picture in his wallet, a picture of him and Heiwa during their one year anniversary. Seeing this picture brought back the memory of when he first asked her out.

This brought Ookami to full fledged crying. Now he realized that he had lost his friends, family and the love of his life. They were all gone forever, never to be seen again. But from this sorrow came anger. He then summons his blade.

"You're the one who caused this, aren't you? You're the reason why those things attacked! Why?" Ookami was shouting. "Why did you come to my world? You ruined my life and took the people I love away from me!" He threw the blade across the strange ship, sat back down and continued grieving over his loss.

It's useless to go on…. I've lost everything I hold close to me. I have nothing to fight for….. Ookami looked out the window and saw what looked like another world. Well at least I know there are more worlds out there… A light then went off in his head. If there are other worlds… then couldn't they be in danger from those creatures too? What if their plan is to destroy all of the worlds?

Ookami looked over towards the Keyblade. "Did you choose me to stop those creatures?" Maybe I can stop other worlds from being destroyed… If I have this power, I should use it. He looked over towards his wallet he dropped on the ground; it was opened to his two pictures. I might not have been able to save you, but I can't let other worlds be destroyed because I'm grieving over you. Plus that's what you'd want me to do isn't it?

When he said that, Ookami felt like she was watching over him. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out Heiwa's necklace. Just seeing it gave him a little extra strength to go on. He knew that Heiwa would want him to embrace this new power.

"Okay, it's settled. I'm going to defend these worlds!" Ookami summoned his blade to his hand and slashed the air a few times. "I'm doing this for you and my friends." Ookami then yawned, "I hope I have time to get some sleep." He sat back down and tried to get comfortable to get some much needed rest.