Hey there all you cool people reading this story! Here's the next chapter of Always to Never. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I most likely never will. Bummer.
"Hey! Looks like we're partners. This is going to be so much fun!" A young girl with short blonde hair bounced excitedly, accidentally spilling some of the water in a cup she was holding.
Another small girl, this one with shoulder-length black hair, shot out a hand to steady the cup. "Careful," she warned, moving her book out of the blast zone.
The blonde girl nodded, carefully placing the water on a desk, next to the book. She stepped back as her companion moved forward, squeezing oil from a dropper. "Um, your name's Rielle, right?"
The dark-haired girl gave another short nod, focusing now on taking notes on the oil's shape in the water.
"I'm Estella! But you can call me Stell." Estella quickly realized she was behind in the worksheet and began scribbling quick observations. "I love science class! Do you?"
Rielle just continued with her experimentation, only later giving her belated answer. "I prefer reading."
"Oh!" Estella moved in to try her hand with the oil and water. "Reading is fun," she commented, as she finished her notes, "But soccer is better."
Rielle shook her head, picking up her book again. "I highly doubt that."
Estella cleaned up the station and sat down next to Rielle in the classroom's designated reading area. "Oh really? Well, I guess you've read more than me, so I'll agree with you. "Hey," she asked as the lunch bell rang. "Would you like to sit with me today?"
Rielle silently weighed her options. Sit alone, or sit with this potential friend. Well, she did want her first day of third grade to go well, so she nodded. "Sure," she agreed, with a rare smile.
Estella grinned back, and skipped to the lunchroom. The girls ended up spending the entire day together. Estella taught Rielle the basics of soccer, and Rielle lent Estella a book. Everything was perfect...
Xerille blinked her eyes open with a slight groan, shaking away the images. Her dreamless sleep had been rudely interrupted by the memories of her past life. Why couldn't she get that out of her head? Why were her memories resurfacing so often? Like I need anything else to worry about...
The teenager sighed and slipped on her black coat and boots. The monochromatic color scheme wasn't too far from what she wore before. Black had always her favorite color to wear. She grabbed the book on her nightstand, and then left the room. It seemed to be still early, since she couldn't see or hear anyone else. Remembering Demyx's tour, she found her way to the kitchen with little trouble. The large room was completely empty, meaning that Xerille could eat her breakfast in peace. Guess I woke up before I was supposed to, she realized. In the silence, she munched on an apple and then idly sat in a barstool, letting her mind wander.
She wondered about her purpose in life... death... Nobody life? She pondered the meaning of the cryptic words said to her during her transformation into a Nobody. She debated the purpose of Organization XIII and thought about its strange members. This life sure was interesting, to say the least. Tossing the apple core into a trash bin, Xerille stood up and started to wander. Before her mind even processed where she was going, she found herself at the doorway to the library. Xerille mentally shrugged and slipped inside. She needed to get a new book anyway.
After much deliberation, Xerille had a small stack of three books on a table. She had already put her old book away, using her fairly good memory to remember where it had been before she took it. With a contented sigh, the young teen plopped onto a couch and opened her first book. No one else was up, anyway. She had glanced at a clock to find that it read 5:37 am. And to think that she went to bed around 2.
I really need to get more sleep, she absently noted. Who knows what I'll be going through soon? She still didn't quite understand Organization XIII. Well, she didn't know really anything about it other than the fact that they were trying to find hearts, they were made up of Nobodies, they tried to kill their new recruits, and their headquarters had a library. That was all Xerille had bothered (or wanted) to find out. Still, she accepted them, if only because the Organization gave her a purpose. A quite noble purpose, if you asked her. She, too, wanted to become whole. Who wouldn't? After losing all she had, this was the only way to regain at least part of her past life.
Her readings were eventually interrupted by a slightly familiar voice. Xerille turned slowly around, coming face-to-face with one of the other members. Axel, she recalled. Number 8.
"Hey there," Sure enough, the eighth member was leaning casually in the doorway to the library. "Apparently," Axel continued sarcastically. "I turned into the Organization's official babysitter overnight." At Xerille's confused expression, he sighed and added, "I'm showing you the ropes in combat today." Xerille simply blinked at the pyromaniac. Axel groaned loudly and turned away. "Meet me in the Gray Area in 20 minutes!" As he walked off, he shook his head, muttering softly to himself, "What a zombie."
Xerille raised her eyebrows at Axel's retreating form, then shook her own head and returned to her reading. She had already dressed and eaten breakfast over an hour ago, so she had time to spare. But maybe... Xerille felt that she owed it to a certain, bubbly Nobody that she said bye to him. After all, he had been so nice yesterday. With a small mental sigh, the girl marked her place in the novel and stood up. Now to find Demyx.
Xerille found him practically dancing in the hallway, one earbud in his ear, one dangling dangerously close to his bowl of ice cream. Xerille couldn't help the teasing smile that crept onto her lips. "Ice cream again?"
Demyx looked up and broke into an enormous grin. "Oh hey there Xerille! And yes, I like ice cream."
The newest member shook her head, playfully rolling her eyes. She was surprised at how much of a reaction she gave to this stranger, this boy she met yesterday. It's almost like... like it was with Estella. She didn't know much about Demyx, but she was pretty sure they would be friends. When Demyx offered her an earbud, she gratefully accepted.
"So," Xerille said, leaning against the wall, listening to Demyx's unsurprisingly upbeat music. "Axel supposed to be 'showing me the ropes today'. Any hints?"
Demyx paused in his sweet snack-eating. "Just don't get him mad."
Xerille gave Demyx a look. "I would assume that went unsaid."
Demyx shook his head, returning again to his sugar. "No, I mean, really! Don't get him mad or he'll blow up. Literally."
Xerille frowned. How could someone actually blow up? Wasn't that impossible? Then again, she had lived many impossible things lately...
Demyx smiled. "Remember that, and you're all set! Oh, why are you frowning?"
Xerille shrugged and shook the frown away. "Better?"
Demyx grinned. "Much! Now go, it'll be better if you get it over with. Then you can get back to having fun!"
As she was walking away, Xerille tossed over her shoulder, "I get the feeling you don't like to work."
Her smile grew when the reply was, "You don't know the half of it."
O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O
Axel lazily scanned the Gray Area, looking for his temporary charge. He saw her immediately calmly sitting on a sofa, reading a book. As he walked over, she glanced up and then continued reading.
"You're two minutes late," Xerille said with a perfectly straight face.
Axel smirked. "Fine then, Miss Smarty Pants. If you know it all, what's the square root of pi?"
Xerille didn't even bother looking up. "1.67352489," she recited.
"Seriously?"
Now it was Xerille's turn to smirk. "No."
Axel just chuckled and summoned a portal. "Well then, enough of that. Let's get moving so I can get back to doing absolutely nothing."
Xerille stared at the strange purple swirling thing, finally asking, "Uh, Axel?"
"Yes?" Said nobody stopped before walking through, glancing back at the girl.
"What's that?" Xerille gestured towards the purple thingy, which was moving by itself.
"Oh, this? This is a corridor of darkness... It's how we get around." With a chuckle, he added, "It's perfectly safe. It won't eat you or anything."
Xerille blushed and ran through faster than necessary, desperate to get this over with. She hoped her "lesson" would be over soon... With a sigh, she realized that it hadn't even begun yet. This was going to be a long day.
The two nobodies exited in a weird tunnel system. Xerille looked around at the stone walls and blocky rooms. Where were they?
"This," Axel stated before she could ask, "is Twilight Town."
Xerille cocked her head to the side and commented, "This town looks a lot like tunnels. Are we under it?"
Axel nodded. "Very observant, aren't you? But, we're not here for recon. Hmm..." As he looked around, few black bug-looking creatures appeared out of the ground. "Ah. Fight those," he ordered.
"Shadows," Xerille muttered, recognizing the creatures as Heartless she had tought herself about... And as what caused her to lose her heart. "I- I can't-"
"Just try. Plus, I'll be here to back you up if you get into any real trouble."
Xerille cautiously moved forward, creeping towards the Heartless. Axel was crazy! She didn't have a weapon! And last time she fought these things, she lost. Miserably. She jumped backwards, dodging a Shadow that had jumped forward. "Uh, Axel-" she started, seriously worrying for her safety. Another Heartless jumped towards her and succeeded in clawing her. Out of the corner of her eye, Xerille could see Axel moving forwards, ready to fulfill his promise of keeping her out of too much trouble. Suddenly, however, weapons appeared in Xerille's hands. They were the same silver daggers she had used while fighting Saix... was it only yesterday? She refocused her thoughts on the fight at hand, using her newly found weapons to take revenge on the creatures that stole her heart.
Axel carefully watched the girl's movements. They were clumsy strikes, but they were fast. She had speed, but not agility... yet. It was only her first mission. She would have plenty of time to hone her skills as time passed.
Xerille finished off the last Heartless and turned to face Axel. As she did, her daggers disappeared. Startled, she glanced around wildly, trying to locate them. They quickly reappeared in her hands as she thought about them, then disappeared just as suddenly. Axel laughed a bit at the girl's efforts. "Looks like you already found out how to summon your weapons."
I can, can't I? Xerille asked herself as she made the daggers appear and disappear. This is very cool. As she practiced, more Heartless appeared from the shadows.
"Let's see how well you can use those weapons of yours!" Axel allowed Xerille to move in front of him and fight the creatures on her own. She was doing better already, with more confidence than she had previously. She didn't get hurt that often, but she also wasn't getting many attacks in. Still, she had good fighting potential.
When all of them were destroyed, Xerille made her weapons disappear (which she still was amazed by) and stepped back. "Okay, I killed them. Now what?"
"Now," Axel said, summoning his chakrams. "you fight me."
Axel attacked the girl with high strikes, low strikes, fast attacks, slow attacks, and everything in between. He gave advice to Xerille every time she failed to block and he had to stop his swing before he hurt her. Slowly but surely, the practice did its magic.
"Not bad for a first day," Axel said, standing up and putting his weapons away.
Xerille nodded and put hers away as well. "Thank you," She went back through a dark corridor to the castle, glad that the training was over. Sure, it was kind of fun, but she was exhausted. Despite it being somewhat early, she headed towards the kitchen. She was starving. All that training must have given me an appetite, she thought as she perused the kitchen. Ah, this'll work. After some soup and an orange, Xerille was ready to do something... But she wasn't quite sure what that something was. Reading sounded pretty good to her, so she headed up to her room that still blinded her with its pure whiteness. She settled onto the bed and slipped into her literary world.
Some time later, she heard a few knocks on the door, followed by someone calling her name. Xerille, slightly confused, headed over to allow her visitor in. Demyx burst into the room, saying, "Oh there you are! I was wondering how your first day went."
With a smile, the newer member replied, "Pretty well."
"Okay, cool! Just checkin'. I need to grab some food, wanna come?"
Xerille had already eaten, but she kind of enjoyed being around Demyx. It almost reminded her of the times when she was with Estella. As she quietly followed Demyx to the kitchen, listening to him explain his favorite types of music, she realized what it was.
I, she thought with a true smile, have a friend here.
Yay! Fluffy friendship! :D
Well, I hope you enjoyed. Thanks again to all of my reviewers! ^^
Wanna make my day? Clicky the button right below this and tell me what you thought. Constructive criticism is totally welcome.