In which Namine discovers new powers
Roxas finally let go off my hand. It is not throbbing but strangely, it felt like it has never been shook on. Sora and Roxas, with electricity between them, left the hall and once again, I got swept up in the tide of students. But then, I just stood there, petrified. That Roxas left me with a strange feeling in my stomach. Or should I say, gives me butterflies in my stomach. I don't like it at all.
………
That night, I crank up my radio. I love hearing it but I daren't switch it on in the day. Avaron might as well come in and ransack my whole room. But no way am I going to give this up. That is my memento from mom. She gave it to me just before she dies. She says that if I hear it daily, someday, I might just hear her voice. I deduce it as a fairytale when she dies as I knew that the dead cannot be heard by the living. I grew mature too fast when she died but that helps me along as well. Well, just a little.
It blasted out 'Stranger' by Hilary Duff. I immediately change the radio station. That song sounded like Roxas. 'Tomorrow' by Avril Lavigne is being blared out.
And I wanna believe you,
When
you tell me that it'll be ok,
yeah I try to believe you,
But I
don't
When you say that it's gonna be,
It always turns out
to be a different way,
I try to believe you,
Not today, today,
today, today….
I pull out the star shaped pedant and gaze at it. Maybe, this is the kind of luck I need for mom's tale to come true. It twinkles mysteriously against the small lamp light at my desk. I cover it in my hands and brought it to my lips.
"Please, let it be luck in all the bad luck I have been receiving." I put it down on my desk and began my nightly ritual of drawing my definitions on my day.
It begins with gray. Normality is boring so gray it is. It then turned into a darker shade of gray. Feelings of being ignored and rejected. But it has a little silver to it. Yuna is a nice silvery thing. It then turned misty white. Confusion of Sora and Roxas and me. Beside the stretch of misty white, is a little yellow. Sora is my new friend. Then anger as angry blotches of red dotted the page. It's done.
I close the weak light and get to sleep. In the moonlight, the pendant glows thick silver.
………….
"Sora you should have known better than to trust her." Roxas looks out of the balcony at the moon. He is basking in the strange glow as well. "She has it and is lying to you."
Sora leans on the wall of the library, his eyes staring straight ahead. "I know." He replies softly. "But I trust her that she will give it in sometime."
"You know how bad it is if it falls into wrong hands." Roxas clench the railing tightly and unclench. "If they knew she has it, they would harm her."
"I will protect her." Sora said it confidently. Roxas turns around and peered curiously at Sora.
"Why do you like her so much? You aren't that attached with others."
"No, I'm not. I just have… this strange feeling that she ought to know what's happening." Roxas frowned.
"No. We are going to pretend that we are just coming and going and nobody is going to notice what happened. We have discussed this Sora."
Sora looks like he is going to argue but then deflates suddenly. "I know, I know."
"If you don't want to take it from her," Roxas leans forward. "Then I will."
……………
Day is as bright as a shiny golden sun. Not that it is shiny anyway, just… glaring. I woke up punctually for the first time in my life. I gave a little hug of joy to the pendant. Yes! I can finally feel my luck changing.
"Namine… Wakey, wakey!" Without warning, Avaron burst into my room. Without missing a beat,(If she even have a heart) Avaron said, "Well, at least I check on you. So for today's payment…" So my luck isn't changing at all.
"I'll take this!" She swoops down upon the pendant. I haven't even realized that I am displaying it. No, no! I hold on to it tightly.
"Please, take anything else but this!" I implored her. Avaron gave a nasty smile.
"Ahhh, what have we here? How did you get it? I bet the owner is not going to be too please." Her smirk widens at the expression on my face. She then leans towards my ear. "But if, just if, I got it, nobody is going to know, nobody is going to suspect a pale blond who might accidently take it. And," She whispered in my ear. "If it is not going to be mine, you might as well say hello to several years in prison."
I can feel myself shaking with fear. Avaron straightens up with victory in her eyes. How I longed to punch it, squeeze it; make it crumble in my very palms. But I knew that I cannot. "Even if you report me, you will get the blame because I would say…" She strikes a melancholic pose. "Namine, my very own sister, is trying to set me up. I hate to be saying the truth but I must." She puts on a brave face.
My hands trembles as I push the star shaped pendant into her palms. Avaron let it dangle in front of my eyes, daring me to take it back but I managed to control the impulse. She flicks her finger on my forehead. "Ta-ta." She's gone in a flash of yellow. I crumple on my bed and cried.
……….
I feel vulnerable as I go to school without the pendant hidden in my pocket. But the lingering feeling is still there and so is the static feeling. "Whoah!" I nearly got swept by the sea of students as they race to the school gate to greet their prince (Blueks) Roxas. I smiled when I see Sora beside him and decided to help him escape the crowd. The tears are still fresh on my face but I wipe them away. Nobody is going to see me weak, not even Sora.
He greeted me with a sunny smile that made me shy. I slip my way pass the tiny gaps and grab his wrist."C'mon! Let's go!"
But that is only an illusion. I am still standing at a far corner of the school front, wishing that he and I are alone and our friendship is not so complicated. The crowd eventually disperse at the first bell rang. I sighed. Guess that Sora doesn't remember me. Sigh… I decided to quickly go to class before Ven is hot on my heels.
…………..
"Today, we are going to look at some inspirational quotes. Read the handouts and make sure to know what it is trying to say. Read in between the lines. Start now." Tifa-sensei began handing out some papers.
Life
is not measured by
the number of breaths we take,
but by the
moments
that take our breath away.
Hmm. Life? Life is complicated enough to live in but measuring it? It is measured by the time out heart starts beating to the time it stops. No brain science.
When the
character of a man is not clear to you,
look at his friends.
Friends? I look around the room. Since I have no friends, nobody is going to notice my attitude. They assume. They always do. But it is inaccurate. Look at Avaron. She has the most beautiful, kindest hearts to be her friends but then, she's no better than them. Certainly inaccurate.
There is no telling how many miles you have to run while chasing a dream.
Infinity miles? It is unattainable now. Forever probably.
"Namine!" Electricity runs down my spine. "Can you tell the class your views on the first quote?"
The first one? My mind whirled and my brain ticks. As if by magic, I began to explain thoroughly on the quote. I myself am very surprised, not knowing that I had been storing all the information in my brain during class as I did not bother to listen. Literature is my worst subject. It seems that something unlocks it, making me able to exploit it to the maximum. I'm learning unconsciously.
"… and that is why the quote is so." Tifa-sensei gave a secret smile and continued on the lesson.
…………..
Yuna sat beside me during break time. I decided to remain passive as I can feel people whispering about what happened in class. We sat in the darkest corner of the cafeteria and eat our sandwiches. She is the only person who seems unaffected by my performance in the class.
But besides that, everything else is the same. Olette got Pence making goo-goo eyes at her, Hiromi is parading around putting people down with Asami in front of her. But something is not different. Roxas comes towards me without anybody around him, hanging onto every word. He is alone.
"Namine, right? I want to talk to you."
………………
"Where is the pendant?" His demanding tone caught me off guard. I remembered the incident and my eyes began to water. But I held them back.
"Not with me." I replied noting his panicky look.
"Who took it?"
"Avaron, but don't tell her that I said it." I do not want to spend my life in jail.
He sighs exasperatedly and combs his fingers through his hair. I look around me. We are in a secluded area indoors. I hope his fans didn't blast in it any moment as it is cramped. I do not want to become a tuna in a can.
"How did you get rid of them do fast?" Curiosity wins.
"I just make myself disappear. Easy." He grins in a way that makes my heart throb. He looks like a nice person for a moment and not the charismatic god that I knew so well.
"Well," I feel that I have to apologize. "I'm sorry that I never return it. It is just that…I feel that I should not part with it." For my own selfish reasons, I added mentally.
"How so?" He becomes curious.
"Like a connection like…" I remembered the feeling. "Like a lingering, static feeling."
"Oh?" His eyebrows rose. "Interesting." I felt that I'm being tested for something.
"Yes." I decided to leave him. I do not like to leak out so much information to a stranger. As I made my leave, He calls out to me.
"By the way, do you have any interest?"
"Art." That answer made him greatly disturbed.
…………….
That night, I curled into my bed and thought about what happened. But there's something hard underneath the sheets. I pulled it out. The star shaped pendant glinted mysteriously at me.
………….
Hey peepz. There's a poll on whether sora or roxas should be with Namine. This might affect the story so vote!
Karin Ochibi-chan: I can update fast. It is just a matter of the com. My sibs and if im inspired. Besides that, Thanks 4 the reviews.
Animelover09: Well, I love any evil ideas u can give me:) I'm not that experience in writing bad about ppl so yeah. Thx 4 the reviews!:)
