So, yet another chapter. Cool! I'm liking this pace.
I only own Laura and this story.
Locks of straight, blonde hair caught him out of his trance.
He hesitated; he hadn't expected her to be out and about at two in the morning, especially considering her overwhelming series of events. Any normal person would have embraced the familiar comfort of sleep; it would've been the only familiar feeling she could have possibly had at that point. Yet there she was, alone, seemingly unable to sleep through the night.
She sat on the large white railing dividing the balcony hallway from the lush green courtyard below. He chuckled at the fact that she wasn't in nightclothes, reminding him of himself. She even still wore her peculiar but attractive orange shoes that so strangely matched the persimmon dress Kairi had donated to her. The clear moonlight reflected upon her hair. He hadn't really paid attention to her appearance in the days before, but appreciated the look of her almost platinum blonde hair and how the moon accented it into an angelic glow.
But that feeling. It was the same feeling as two of the same ends of a magnet. They were not meant to be close to each other, and that's the force he felt each time he was even in the same ten foot proximity of her. What the King had guessed about her had suprised him, but that could've been a probable explanation as to why he felt that way. Darkness still lingered around him. He couldn't help it, but it was never a large enough amount radiated that could ever pose as a threat to anyone around him. That must've been the explanation for his feelings...
It seemed to Riku that she had either not noticed him yet, which was probable since he had been walking in the shadowed half of the balcony-hallway, or she had simply decided not to bother him on his walk. He assumed the reason to be the first that came to mind, and he slowly continued his path toward the balcony. He stopped in his tracks behind her in the shadows.
"Can't sleep either, huh?" Her statement was followed by a short silence. He gulped. For some reason, he almost felt as if he was being caught sneaking about.
"I'm just restless." He shoved his hands into his pockets and turned his body toward her back. He felt like walking toward her but it was like something held him back. She began gently swinging her legs back and forth over the ledge.
"Does it happen a lot?" he looked down toward the ground, shuffling his foot once against the ground.
"Yeah."
"At least I'll have some company out here. I didn't think anyone else would be up." Hesitant, he warily walked his way over towards her. He carefully leaned onto the thick white railing beside her to her right. She looked up toward the night sky.
"I couldn't really get a grasp of what space travel's really like since I was so agitated on the gummiship - that's what it's called, right?" He looked up toward the stars as well, and nodded. His silvery hair reflected the moon's light ever so perfectly. Laura studied how silvery his hair really was from the corner of her eye, making sure he didn't notice.
"It's pretty fun once you get the hang of it. There are a lot of rules and other tips you have to remember, but it's fun." she gave a small, short "hm", and stopped swinging her legs.
"You sure can see a lot of stars from here. The fact that orbs of bright burning substances hang suspended in space amazes me." he looked toward her with a concerned look.
"That's what you think they are?"
"Well, yeah, that's what we're taught in school. A star is a massive, luminous ball of plasma held together by gravity." She recited the definition she'd once seen in her textbook. Her memory sometimes surprised her. He shook his head with a smile on his face.
"Every 'star' you see in the sky is actually another world, Laura. Every one of them." she gave a small laugh and gave him a look.
"What? That's impossible and makes no sense. Why would they shine so brightly?" he did not reply. Instead, he took her arm and placed her hand over her heart.
"That's why. It's the light in peoples' hearts that make the heart of their world shine." her cheeks turned a pale shade of pink, but she brushed it off once he retracted his hand. She laughed with a hint of disbelief.
"Hah... In their hearts, huh?" her mind drew back to her conversation with the King.
"You see, Laura, I find it that the power of light brought you to Sora, Riku and Kairi. It saw in their hearts that you could trust them!" Laura fell back into the chair, her face blank from complete confusion. She was so far gone from their ramblings about hearts, the light, the darkness, heartless, nobodies and some organization that the room around her began to spin.
"Sometimes when a world begins to fade to darkness, the light will find people who hadn't given into the darkness, and offer them a different path." Sora nodded towards Riku.
"Yeah! That's what had happened with Kairi and I. We found our way to different worlds." Riku flinched slightly at Sora's comment. He knew it wasn't Sora's fault to have been slightly ignorant towards his best friend.
"So you're saying that I have some sorta connection with the light, am I right? And this light energy chose me out of my world?" Mickey smiled and gave a quick nod.
"Yup! You're absolutely right." she covered her eyes with her hands and slumped down the chair so that half of her back stayed onto the seat, her legs supporting her, bent. Riku watched in amusement. He had expected the usual stiff candidate to save a world, yet it was almost as if the news had physically caused her body to melt.
"But why? Why me? I'm just some girl! I can't swing a sword, or keyblade, or whatever, or fight, or kill heartless or nothings-" sora corrected her.
"Nobodies." one of her hands extended toward Sora as if to display how unlikely a candidate she thought she was.
"-Nobodies, or anything like that! So why me?" Mickey tread over towards her, pushing her knees so that she sat up straight. This wasn't the end result since she slumped her back forward, resting on her knees via her elbows. Sora and Riku decided to 'intervene' in this situation.
"I bet you've got some hidden moves or something in you somewhere! Like some crazy kung-fu moves, like Mu- laaaa - er, some movie i saw." he decided to hold his tongue about other words for now. Riku nudged his best friend with a mischievous grin.
"Yeah, I mean look at Sora - without the Keyblade, he might was well be a sitting duck."
"Hey! Seriously! This is my dignity on the line! I'm the Keyblade masta." Riku laughed, leaning on his friend's head for support. Sora truly resented his best friend's height advantage.
"Knock it off! Why don't you go hide in some darkness or something?"
"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you, Mr. Sun?" the three teens' laughter was cut short by the King's clearing of his throat.
"Laura, we're just not sure of what you're capable of. It's a coincidence that my master saw ya comin', since I was originally going to write to Sora and Riku to meet him anyway." Laura blinked, not sure of what to say. Her creative river of thought had already run dry.
'This King has someone higher than him? What IS this place?'
Sora and Riku exchanged more serious looks. Riku knew, in a way, what their King was talking about.
Laura retracted her hand from her heart. It was odd that she was believing every bit of what would've otherwise been hogwash that came out of these peoples' mouths. It was all so different from what she'd thought to be common knowledge in her world. Space, galaxies, planets, other countries, traveling by plane, foreign people, trade between countries, even other cities. Was that all not true?
"Every heart radiates light at some point in their life." she turned to him, concerned.
"What do you mean, at some point? Queen Minnie told me that every heart has at least a little bit of light in it, no matter what." he quietly exhaled nasally, turning himself to face the shadows of the wall behind them. He crossed his arms, not responding. After a few seconds, she sighed, once again looking up at the sky.
"I didn't mean for that to be offensive. You know," she began, sliding herself swiftly around the railing and down to the ground, "you have a lot more to you than meets the eye. Am I right?"
He shot her a half-embarrassed look, which turned to a surprised one once she began to walk towards his original destination, the balcony. He once again hesitated, feeling the heavy feeling in his chest, but decided to ignore it for longer and follow her.
"I suppose. I feel that you're the same way."
"So why're you following me, anyway? I thought of you to be the silent, 'leave-me-alone' type."
"Maybe I'm a different person tonight." His conscience shook his head. Why was he saying this? It was totally out of character.
'I'm not flirty...'
"Oh, that's cool, then." he was taken slightly aback when she brushed off his move. "Me too. I never go for walks this early in the morning, but then again, when have I ever been on another world?" Riku smirked. It seemed to her that she wasn't actually the helpless, ditzy girl he had thought of her as before. They both looked out toward the night sky on their way to the balcony.
"So, what do you think? It's not so bad on other worlds, is it?" Laura scratched her knuckles, fidgeting.
"Until about a week ago, I'd never given the idea of other worlds much thought. But this world makes me feel much different. It's full of life and full of something that just makes me feel refreshed."
"That's how most people feel inside Disney Castle. It's full of light."
"Light, huh?"
"Yeah." Laura halted, looking toward her palms facing her. Riku, a few feet in front of her, noticed she had stopped and turned to face her.
"What's wrong?"
"The King and Queen of this castle told me that I'm full of light, but I can't see any light in me at all... Only the moonlight reflecting off of me." he gave her a smirk, walking over toward her. One thing he noticed the most about her was her inability to make eye contact, almost ever. Riku pointed toward his heart, and she looked up, observing his hand.
"It's all in here. When the time comes, you'll see it. And when you do," he turned around to once again embark on their destination, "I'll see what you're capable of." Laura ran up to catch up to him, matching his pace. She resented his long legs compared to her shorter ones, but it wasn't much of a problem for her to keep up.
"Oh, really? Well, I'd like to see what you Keyblade warriors are all about, anyway!" The silver-haired boy laughed at her novice determination. He knew very well that she would not last even five seconds against him.
"Yeah, yeah." There was a long pause of silence as they walked on and reached the balcony at the end of the hallway. He watched Laura's satifaction of the view from the balcony. She walked calmly over toward the curved railing, leaning onto it via her arms. He joined her to her right.
"So you say that your world was full of darkness. How's that?"
Talking about the darkness made him feel safe and reassured. It was the cause of all of his pain yet it seemed so comforting. To what extent did he hate the darkness, though? It easily corrupts those who desire it, but at some times he felt in complete control of the power he once wielded. It picked him up, giving him the strength to continue forward. But her...
He scrunched his nose slightly at an itch. He could feel a different feeling coming off of her. In its own way it was warm and inviting, wishing to comfort his confused mind. It called to him during their stay at his own house, while she slept peacefully in his guest room. He desired the feeling, yet when his emotions stirred it repulsed him, driving him back with her glorious aura. It wished for him to stay close yet it repulsed him with all of its might. Could such infinite planes of power possess such conflicted judgements?
Laura shifted slightly, her white nightgown rolling in the warm wind.
"Nothing was ever what it seemed. A happy neighborhood was overrun by thieves and murder. My high school full of creepy teachers and guys who only thought about sex," Riku blushed slightly,looking away at trees in the distance, "girls who were always jealous, family who-"
She caught herself, holding her tongue. Another pause ensued and Riku became slightly concerned.
"A family who...?" Laura turned her back toward the balcony, walking off rather quickly and stiffly. This suprised Riku, since she'd been so casual before then. Something had either seriously spooked her, or she had been hiding something from him.
"Hey, wait!" She did not answer, but she simply quickened herself to a running pace. He darted after her, afraid she'd get lost in the large maze-like castle.
"Why can't you just calm down and talk to me?" he shouted towards her extremely elusive figure. She hadn't been this nimble on the island. The drawback that the sand gave to his own pace back on the islands came to his mind, but she couldn't have suffered from it this much.
He stopped in his tracks, almost doubled over panting once he realised that she hadn't been in he hall he'd followed her into. It made no sense. At first she did not seem to be in much shape compared to the shape Riku and Sora were in, but this elusive chase more than proved him wrong.
'Now she's gone... What do I do?'