Battle of the Mages

"Smile for Me"

Tai...tell my why you always where gloves.

They make up for the shoes I don't wear.

Do you really believe that?

Sora was sitting at the edge of the bed, watching over the sleeping girl. She seemed so peaceful, never once moved from lying on her back - oh, she rolled over, onto her side. Once. Sora drew his breath, and let it out. Her hands rested above the blankets, and he couldn't help but note that she always, always wore gloves. He couldn't remember a time when she didn't. They were short, black, fingerless gloves, but still they were gloves. Not even during the hottest day of summer would she take them off, even when she was stripped down to - no that was Kairi in a swim suit. Tai always wore something on her. It couldn't have been modesty. Elementary kids didn't have that yet. He couldn't help but wonder as he took one hand from the blanket. How small it was, not fully grown yet, but so much promise. He wanted to know why she always hid her hands. Even when she washed the dishes after dinner, she always made it a point to hide them in the wash water whenever he, Riku, or Kairi were around, and put her gloves on straight after she was done washing dishes.

So now he took her hand, ever curious to see what was under wraps. Gently, softly, his fingers probed the inside of the glove, lifting up from the end, and pulled up.

"No..." Tai moaned, pulling her hand away. Sora froze to see what else she would do. Her eyes were closed still, she couldn't have been awake. "No..." she repeated, clawing at the blanket now. Sora tilted his head to the side.

A bad dream?

"No, I said no...please...no...No...!"

No, a terrible dream!

One thing Sora knew, Tai never ever said please. Not once had he heard her, and she'd always refuse. Sora reached out, touched her cheek softly, and she recoiled.

"I didn't...don't..."

"Tai, wake up!" Sora demanded, shaking her shoulder now. "Tai!" Tai's eyes opened with a gasp, and she turned fearfully to look at Sora, his eyes fluttering.

"No, no, I'm sorry!" she screamed, squirming away from him. He let go of her shoulder to let her go, only to watch her fall off the bed.

"Tai, it's just me..." he assured her. For a long time he heard nothing from her, just the shaking of her small, almost frail body. He didn't understand, of course he didn't understand. He wouldn't.

Never had I seen her so scared...

"Tai?"

"What?"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine."

"I'm fine!"

"..."

Sora climbed over the bed, watching Tai curled up in her new corner. She trembled violently, but her tremors began to quell, slowly, but surely, they began to quell.

"Was it a bad dream?" he asked her. He offered his hand, to help her back onto the bed. Tai sat there a little longer, mulling the question over in her mind, and soon decided...she didn't remember the reason or the dream.

"I don't know..." she admitted, taking his hand. He pulled her up in one easy movement, letting her hand go as soon as she was nearly on the bed. He giggled. "What?"

"It's like a slumber party," he said with a smile. She blinked at him.

"A slumber party?"

"Yeah. It's like...When a group of friends get together and hang at someone's house all night."

"Oh."

"Hey, Tai?"

"What?"

"Why do you always wear gloves."

Tai was silent for just a moment. She didn't know, again, and wondered why he kept asking strange questions. "If I answer, will you tell me something?"

"Yeah."

"The gloves make up for the shoes I don't wear," she answered. Sora laughed, knowing the amount of time Tai spent not wearing shoes. It was almost as frequent as the time she spent wearing gloves. What a backwards girl. "Now tell me...What islands?"

"Oh, about that...Well...We met three years ago, on the islands. Destiny Islands, it's called. You floated ashore with Kylie...You had a fever and Kylie found us and had Kairi fix you up. Kairi's my friend, you know, and Kylie's your friend. Right, well, Riku didn't really trust the two of you, because he thought the two of you were potentially dangerous, but he doesn't really know how potentially dangerous he could be!" At this Sora laughed. Tai merely blinked at the humor Sora tried to pass. While Tai didn't laugh, he cleared his throat and continued. "Kylie wanted to get a house for the two of you, but even Kylie was too young to own her own house, so the Mayor, though he didn't like it, truthfully, he sent the two of you to the orphanage."

"What else?"

"Sora! I was on the beach, way past after everybody left! I saw the most amazing thing!" Riku gasped. Sora stared at him, nearly surprised that the serious silver haired boy had suddenly burst into his house without the permission of anybody who lived in the house.

"What?" Sora asked, scrubbing a dish.

"Tai dances on water."

"You sure of this?"

"Who else could dance on water!" Riku snapped. He laughed through his laboured breaths, and pushed his fingers through his hair. "It was amazing..."

"I teased Riku about having a crush on you," Sora admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean after we all met, he always seemed to look out for you, anyway. He got you out of the orphanage whenever he could...Tai are you listening?"

"No," she answered bluntly. She was staring off in to space, it looked like. No, she was staring past Sora's shoulder. Unblinkingly she did, her eyes dull and bored, but concentrating fiercely. Slightly contradictory, but she did.

"What are you staring at?" he asked her.

"Eyes."

"Eyes?"

"Minty colored."

"Minty colored?" Sora turned around to see these "minty colored eyes" but when he did, he saw nothing but the blackness of eternal night. He frowned, returning his gaze to Tai, who had decided to stop listening to have a Staring Contest with the air. "Tai, there are no eyes out there," he said when she didn't stop staring. Tai's clear blue eyes fluttered, and she stared at him.

"What?"

"There are no eyes out there."

"What eyes?"

Sora gawked a moment before turning away to look somewhere else. Her case of amnesia definitely had to be severe. If only somebody could fix that.

"Tai?"

"Again?"

"Why don't you ever smile?"

"I smile."

"You giggle, but never smile."

"Honestly, Sora, do you really think I would know these things?"

"No, I guess not...But try, anyway."

Tai blinked. He wanted a smile. Not so hard...Tai parted her lips, and attempted a smile by baring her teeth...but there was no such luck in a smile. Sora shook his head, a natural smile parting his lips. Her attempt was scary.

"No, try this...Cheeeese!" he said, smiling widely. Tai attempted the same feat, but failed at the effort. Sora's jaw dropped. "Could it be?" he gasped.

"Could what be?"

"You don't know how to smile!"

"It could."

"No! You come with me! I refuse to allow your smileless face go on like this!" he proclaimed to the skies. He took Tai's gloved had, the one he tried to peek at earlier, and raced out of the hotel room.

Outside he searched for those creatures that they had encountered before. He knew Tai took pleasure in fighting, it gave her absolute joy! If only he could recreate that for her, maybe he could get her to smile. Smiling was an unconscious effort, no matter what anybody said about it. Even if it was subconscious, he would get that girl to smile!

"Yoo hoo! Come out, little buggers!" Sora called into the air, hoping to get at least some response.

"I'm not a little bugger," said a recently familiar voice. Sora blinked, turning left to see the minty eyed Goldie Locks floating right beside him.

"Ah!" he screamed, stumbling backwards. The girl giggled, her eyes squinting with pleasure.

"Oh, slow, slow reaction time, you," she teased, sticking her tongue out. Sora bit his lip, ready to deny being scared. "Ooh! Ooh! Are you looking for the Heartless? Yeah, they're not here yet," she said with a light shrug. "They will be, yes they will be, soon, soon, soon!" Her eyes rolled around in such and animated fashion as her smiling lips spoke. Sora found it quite amusing, but he said nothing. "They should be here, in about...Ooh! Now!"

Sora blinked, watching as hordes of what the girl called "Heartless" appeared all around him. They were all just the same from his island, no different, and possibly just as weak. He grinned, turning around to face Tai.

"Hey, Tai, we - Tai?" He furrowed his brow. Tai was frozen in one spot, her face expressionless like it normally was. She was stopped in mid step, one arm stretched out in front of her from when Sora tugged her along. She wasn't moving! "Tai?"

"Ooh..." the floating girl cooed, hovering in the air stomach down. She examined the Tai statue and poked at her, watching her rock back and forth, and finally setting. "Yep, yep, I've seen this before. The Heartless have her, yes they do! Took her heart, they did, are you willing to get it back?" Suddenly the minty eyes were on him, looking deeply into his soul. At first, Sora was quite surprised. Then, as he eyes became solid and resolute, he nodded. The girl smiled, biting her lip through locks of golden hair. "I'll look forward to it," she breathed, and disappeared in a flash of light and smoke.

Sora gripped his giant key in his hands, the one that seemed to appear whenever he needed it. He stared at these "Heartless", wishing for his friend's heart back...Well, he wasn't sure what exactly the girl was saying to him. They took her heart. He wasn't sure what that meant. Either way, he rushed forward and, even though his fighting skills weren't as flashy as the younger Water Mage, his sloppy skills did the job well enough to cause damage and cause a drastic drop in Heartless.

He swirled his key around in a flashy array of silver and gold confetti light. Though he was only able to tackle one at a time, occasionally he hit more than just one, and in about three hits they exploded into clouds of dark mist. He whacked, stabbed, spun, and hit - in that order - the Heartless creatures that opposed him out right. When finally they were all gone, Sora huffed, wiping his forehead from any sweat, and returned to Tai.

"Tai, I - Tai?" Sora's mouth dropped. She hadn't come back to life. "Maybe if I wait a bit," he decided. Tick, tock, tick. "TAI!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, grabbing both her shoulders. "Not you, too, I can't lose you, too!" he cried awkwardly. Giggles laughed behind him, and he spun around to see that same golden locked girl that kept stalking him ever since he got there. "What do you want?" he snapped at her. She raised an eyebrow.

"Ooh, touchy," she said, and giggled again. "Looks like the only Heartless you didn't kill got away with little Taichi's heart, it did."

"Where is it, I'll hunt it down until my last life has whittled away," Sora growled with such a burning fury, the girl was nearly caught off guard from her thought process. What a determined boy he was.

"Impossible!" she chimed.

"What!" Sora snapped impulsively. The girl grinned, placing a finger to her lips, as if it were a secret.

"I cast Stop on her," she said. Sora let his mouth drop.

Wait, what was "Stop"?

"A magic spell," she said, reading his thoughts, but not purposely. She just happened to catch that single thought. "It's a Time Spell. Normally Mages can't use it, because they're elemental, only Wizards can, but someone taught me how," she explained. Her hand waved over Tai, and nearly instantly, Tai became animated again, at least as much as she was as not a statue. But soon after, the girl disappeared.

"As you were saying?" Tai asked, eyeing Sora as if nothing had ever happened. Sora looked at her, then smiled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I guess I can't right now," he admitted, looking away. He sighed, then shoved his hands in his pockets. "Let's go for a walk," he decided, and before she answered, he walked.

I told you she held her breath when she fought.