Chapter 5: Castle of Dreams

A/N: Hey everyone! The story is finally starting to take off! Lumen is off on her first world and trouble is bound to happen. Will she be able to fight off the Unversed or not?

And yes, Terra was going to pop the question. But now the main problem for him is when he will ask her, or if he'll even get the chance to.

And just for a little heads up, each world Lumen lands on ties in with the other's storylines. For example, in one world, she could be in Terra's storyline and on the next world; she could be in Aqua's. It just depends which storyline world I liked the most. Just a heads up in case any of you get confused down the road.

I also posted a new poll up on my profile, so if anyone of you want to vote, feel free!

Anyway, let's get on with the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts; I just own my oc's.

Enjoy!

/

Lumen was in complete awe as she traveled through the lanes in between. She never thought in a million years that she was would have the chance to travel to different worlds. She wish it would be during a time when the worlds weren't in danger, but she would take what she could get.

Besides, her needs were far less important. The worlds needed to be saved.

She pushed her glider further into the realm.

"Thank goodness this armor keeps me warm, too" she thought.

"I would be freezing to death!"

She let her mind wander as she continued to travel. It was going to be a long trip, so she had to entertain herself somehow.

She thought about what Terra was going to ask her before they were called off to take care of this situation.

She remembered that Terra looked really nervous, which surprised her since Terra never got nervous about anything. It must have been very important then.

"Why would he get nervous about asking me something?" she thought.

"Was it something good? Or bad? 'sigh' sometimes I wish I could read Terra better"

Since she wasn't getting answers with that, she decided to think back about the dream she had this morning. She still didn't understand what those riddles meant. How could broken chains made a whole chain? Or how one heart leads to all hearts?

Was this dream even important? Or was it just some random one she had and shouldn't pay any attention to it?

She shook her head at the last thought.

It had to be important if she was thinking about it now.

Every part of it didn't make any sense. From the riddles to the voice at the end. She never heard that voice before, but she felt like she had. It was like she knew who it belonged to but she just couldn't put a name or face to it.

"Maybe it's someone I know, but I just forgot about them" she thought.

She hung her head.

There really was no good answer for any of these questions.

"This isn't helping" she thought.

"I should just focus on completing this mission and then worry about the crazy dreams I've been having"

With that, she pushed her glider further through the lane.

There were worlds that needed to be saving and flying around wasn't going to fix it.

/

The lane opened up for Lumen and she landed in front of some court yard.

Dismissing her weapon and armor, she looked around to find herself in front of some type of castle. The whole palace was glowing from the inner lights and the moon shining down.

It was truly breath taking.

"Nice place" she said.

She jumped on the ledge of the fountain that stood in the center of the courtyard and walked around the edge.

"I wonder if all of the worlds are going to be like this?" she thought.

"This place puts home to shame. Maybe I can convince dad to do a little redecorating, maybe change the color theme"

She laughed at the thought of her dad remodeling the whole castle just to make it look better. He would look so ridiculous waving his keyblade around and magically transforming everything.

She jumped off the fountain and looked around.

"Now let's see" she muttered.

"If I were an Unversed, what would I look like?"

As if by magic, a blue creature emerged from the ground and scampered around her.

"I guess this would be it" Lumen said.

She took in the Unversed's appearance and decided it was just one of the minor types. Its body was all blue, except for its glowing red eyes. The creature moved back and forth on its feet, clearly showing that it was one of those fast kind.

A few more showed up and surrounded Lumen.

"Fight in a group, huh?" she stated.

She summoned her keyblade and went into a fighting stance.

"This shouldn't be a problem"

The unversed lunged at her, which she quickly dodged with ease. She sliced at one that managed to get rather close while she cast a few thunder spells at the others.

"Offensive magic really isn't my thing, but you take what you can get" she thought.

She was just glad that Aqua pressured her into learning them.

She went to strike the last Unversed in the group, but it dodged her attack and scurried away.

Lumen panicked when she saw it running up the castle steps and into the building.

"Oh no" she muttered.

She quickly ran after it before it could cause any harm to the inhabitants inside.

"Get back here!" she cried.

She sprinted up the steps and ran into the castle.

/

"I hope I don't get in trouble for breaking and entering" she mumbled.

She peered down one of the hallways to see if there were any guards on post, and was relieved to see no one.

Slowly walking down the hallway, she looked around for the runaway Unversed. She didn't know where it ran off to, but she was going to find out.

Quietly running down the hall, she ran into a couple of other Unversed. They didn't look like the one that ran away, but she knew that they had to be destroyed. She would destroy any Unversed that got in her way.

She simply used her magic rather than physically fight them. She wasn't nearly as strong as Terra was, so she had to rely on her magical abilities more than her physical. It made her seem weak, but it was better than not being good at anything.

She made her way up the stairs and continued searching for the Unversed.

As she went further into the castle, she could hear music playing and hear people chatter.

"Maybe there's a party tonight and that's why no one is on post?" she thought to herself.

"But if that's the case, then there should be guards here to prevent people from crashing in…but then again, I had to get in, so it's probably a good thing"

She shook her head when she realized that she was talking to herself.

"I need to find that Unversed before I go crazy"

She quickly went up another set of stairs and continued searching.

"I hope that Unversed didn't get too far" she said.

"Otherwise, there's going to be problems"

As she was rounding a corner, she bumped into someone and stumbled backwards a little.

"I'm so sorry!" she said.

She looked to see who she bumped into and found a man who appeared to be in him late fifties, dressed up as some sort of Duke.

In other words, someone who worked in this castle.

Lumen paled when she realized that she was probably caught.

"uh-oh" she muttered.

The Duke adjusted his spectacle and looked at Lumen. The Keyblade mistress but her lip when she realized that she was probably going to be kicked out, or worse be arrested for breaking into a castle. She couldn't let that happen. She had worlds to travel and Unversed to destroy.

However, it seemed that the Duke thought differently and smiled kindly at her.

"Oh, are you here for the ball?" he asked.

Lumen blinked.

"The ball?" she repeated.

The Duke nodded.

"Yes. Tonight a ball is being held for the prince to find his future queen" he explained.

"Princesses across the land have come tonight to see if they'll become the new queen. Surely you came here tonight for such an occasion?"

Lumen was at a loss for words.

This man thought that she was a princess and that she was looking to get married?

This was so wrong! She was madly in love with Terra. She wasn't looking to get hitched to some random guy like this.

The Duke seemed oblivious to what she was thinking and continued to smile at her.

"So, young lady, are you here to see the prince?"

Lumen gulped as she thought about what she was going to say. She didn't want to see some spoiled prince, but she didn't want to sound rude about it.

"Um…."

Just then, she spotted the Unversed from before rushing past the Duke and headed into the ballroom. She quickly panicked when she realized that there probably a lot of people and they would get hurt if she didn't destroy the Unversed.

She quickly looked back at the Duke and nodded frantically.

"Yes! I most certainly at here to see the prince!" she said.

She didn't like where this was going, but she had to get rid of the Unversed.

The Duke smiled brightly.

"Wonderful!" he said.

"If you'll just follow me, I'll lead to you the ballroom"

Lumen nodded and slowly followed the Duke to the ballroom.

As she was walking, she kept repeating the same sentence in her head.

"I hope Terra doesn't see this!"

/

There were a lot of people in the ballroom. Most of them were young women, but that was understandable since this party was for the Prince to find his future Queen.

Lumen was sweating bullets as the Duke led her into the ballroom

She didn't want to go to some ball and she most certainly didn't want to meet any Prince. She already had someone in her life and she was very happy with him.

The Duke led her to where the Prince was standing and bowed to him.

"May I present…uh…"

He looked at Lumen, hoping to catch her name.

Lumen gave him an uneasy smile.

"Lumen" she said.

"Princess Lumen" the Duke finished.

Lumen cringed. She wasn't a princess, she was a normal person!

She stepped forward and curtsied to the Prince.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, your Highness" she said.

The Prince just bowed to her and looked away.

Lumen sighed in relief. At least he wasn't interested in her and hoped that she would be his future queen.

She quickly stepped out of the way so other girls could meet the Prince.

She scanned the ballroom for the Unversed. She didn't know where it went, but she knew it was in here. There were no other doors to this room, so it couldn't get away.

As the music played in the background, she couldn't help but sway a little at the beat. It had been ages since she had been to any type of ball or party.

The last one she went to was for her 15th birthday party.

/

People were cheering as Lumen entered the ballroom. Today was her birthday and everyone in The Land of Departure came to celebrate it.

Eraqus went all out as he made sure that today was perfect for his daughter's special day. She was all that he had left, so he wanted to spoil her to the best of his abilities.

Lumen smiled nervously as people congratulated her and wished her a Happy Birthday.

She was happy that so many people cared about her and wished her well, but it was a little too much for her. She really didn't know these people and she just wanted to spend the day with her closest friends and family.

As the party continued, she found herself leaning against the wall. She didn't mind the party, but she just didn't like having people look at her as if she were some trophy that needed to be shown off.

She fiddled with her simple cream colored dress and watched as everyone had a good time. This was her birthday party, but she would rather that everyone had fun instead of it being just her. She wasn't that selfish.

She swayed a little at the music and just continued to hide from everyone.

"Having fun?"

Lumen jumped at the voice and turned to see Terra standing next to her.

He laughed a little at her surprised look.

"Oh, h-hi, Terra" she said.

Terra smirked and leaned against the wall next to her.

"You enjoying yourself?" he asked.

Lumen blushed and nodded.

"Y-yeah" she said.

"My father really went all out this year. I think everyone came just to celebrate my birthday"

"Then why are you hiding over here?" Terra asked.

"It's your birthday, so you should have fun"

Lumen blushed as she looked at the ground.

"It's not that I'm bored or anything" she said.

"It's just that…"

She looked at the crowd that was dancing out on the dance floor.

"I just want to be the center of attention" she finished.

"I mean, yeah it's my birthday and all, but I don't want to be passed around as if I'm some rare keyblade or something. Why spend my time with people that I don't really know when I could spend it with people who know and care about me?"

She fiddled with her dress a bit more.

"Although, I would like to dance" she mumbled.

Terra looked at her for a second before he held his hand out to her.

"Come with me" he said.

Lumen looked up at him in confusion, but took his hand anyway. She trusted him, so she shouldn't be afraid.

Terra closed his larger hand over her smaller one and lead her towards the balcony and away from the party. The cool night air felt good against her skin. The stars were shining brightly tonight and seemed to twinkle in the sky.

Terra let her go when they reached the center of the balcony and bowed to her.

"May I have this dance?" he asked.

Lumen looked surprised for a second but giggled soon after.

"I'd love to" she said.

She grasped Terra's hand and placed her other hand on his shoulder. She blushed when he wrapped his arm around her waist and held her close. She felt safe and warm in his grasp.

The two of them slowly dance to the music that was playing inside.

Lumen enjoyed being so close to Terra. He was the only person in this world who could make her smile so easily. Ever since they met when they were children, they were always together.

She leaned her head against his shoulder and just enjoyed the peace and tranquility that only the night could provide.

Terra placed his head on top of hers and just closed his eyes.

They felt like they were the only two people left in this world and nothing could tear them apart.

Lumen hugged Terra close and buried her face in his chest.

"I love you, Terra" she said softly.

Terra hugged her as well and kissed the crown of her head.

"I love you too, Lumen"

The two of them stayed out on the balcony until the party died down.

This was the greatest gift that Terra could have ever given her.

Being with her was all that she wanted in life.

/

Lumen smiled fondly at the memory. Even though the party was a little over the top for her, she enjoyed just being with Terra.

Those were the moments that she cherished the most.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed two people entering the ballroom. One was a young woman wearing a beautiful white dress and the person next to her was none other than…

"Terra?" she breathed.

Sure enough, she saw her boyfriend escorting the young woman to the ballroom and bowed to her as she left.

Lumen was at a loss of words. She never expected to see him so soon. She thought it would be a while since they were off defeating the Unversed and yet, here he was on the first world that she landed on.

She smiled and quickly headed towards him.

"Terra!"

Terra spun around and was shocked to see her.

"Lumen?"

Lumen smiled brightly when she approached him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I could say the same for you" Terra said as he hugged her back.

Lumen stepped back and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I was here to get rid of a few Unversed" she said.

"And you?"

"Same thing" Terra said.

"And then I got roped into escorting that woman named Cinderella. It seems the Unversed are drawn to her"

Lumen looked at Cinderella as she danced with the Prince. She was glad that the prince found someone and seemed happy to be with her.

She looked at Cinderella and sensed light coming from her. It wasn't like the type of light she sensed whenever she was near Terra or Aqua. It seemed brighter…more pure.

"I sense something about her" she admitted.

"But what it is, I don't know"

She sighed and looked up at Terra.

"So how have your journeys been?" she asked.

Terra looked a little torn about something, but quickly masked them behind a smile. He didn't want to tell her what he had done on the last few worlds.

"I've been good" he said.

"But I'm glad to see that you're ok"

Lumen smiled.

However, that smile vanished when she spotted the Unversed from before. It was crawling up the walls and headed to the upper floor.

"Oh no" she said.

"What's wrong?"' Terra asked.

Lumen bit her lip and looked at Terra.

"I was chasing an Unversed from before and I finally found it" she said.

"But there's a slight problem"

Terra raised an eyebrow.

"Like what?"

Lumen pointed towards the upper level, where something strange was happening. They could see darkness forming around the area.

This wasn't good at all.

"I need to get rid of it before it hurts these people" Lumen said.

"But I don't know how to get up there"

Terra gave her a serious look.

"I'll handle it"

He quickly went up to the Grand Duke.

"Tell me. How do I get up there?" he asked, pointing towards the upper floor.

The Grand Duke sputtered a little at the sudden demand, but complied.

"Well, there's a passage beneath the foyer staircase" he said.

Terra nodded.

"Thanks" he said.

He turned to Lumen.

"Let's go"

The two of them quickly left the ballroom and headed for the foyer.

/

"This is what I get for getting too carried away with things" Lumen moaned.

Terra gave her a reassuring smile as they headed for the secret passage.

"Don't be so hard on yourself" he said.

"We don't know how the Unversed think, so it's only natural that you wouldn't know that this would happen"

Lumen gave him a weak smile.

"I know, but it doesn't help that I let one get away" she said.

"I just know things are going to get bad really fast"

They headed towards the passage and ran through the doors. The hallways were dimly lit, so it was hard to see in front of them.

"Why do castles have to have dark hallways?" Lumen asked.

Terra just chuckled a little as they ran.

"Don't know, but we don't have time to talk about this castle's fashion senses"

They quickly ran for the opening that lead them to the upper floor.

The unversed scurried around, trying to look for another place to run for.

Lumen summoned her keyblade and pointed it towards the Unversed.

"Looks like it's the end of the line for you" she said.

The Unversed twitched for a second before it suddenly transformed. It grew larger and morphed into something entirely different. When it finished transforming, it turned into a giant conductor like Unversed with musical instruments floating around it.

Lumen's keyblade faltered as she saw this.

"Or not" she said.

The Unversed waved its conducting stick around and set an explosive underneath her.

"Lumen!" Terra cried.

He quickly grabbed her and jumped off the ledge before the explosion went off.

Lumen gave him a grateful smile when he set her down.

"Sorry about that" she said.

Terra just shook his head and pointed his keyblade at the Unversed.

"Down here!"

The Unversed turned around and jumped to the ground.

Everyone at the Ball panicked and ran for the entrance. The Grand Duke panicked and called for the guards.

"Guards! Guards! Ooh, where could they be?"

Lumen looked at him.

"We'll take care of this" she said.

"Just get everyone out of here"

The Grand Duke nodded and quickly escorted Cinderella and the Prince to safety while Terra and Lumen faced the Unversed.

"This Unversed really isn't playing my kind of song" Lumen joked.

Terra snorted.

"That's got to be the weakest come back line that I've ever heard" he said.

Lumen shrugged innocently.

"What can I say? I guess actions speak louder than words"

The Unversed summoned up its musical instruments and had them floating around the room.

"I'll get rid of those instruments if you distract this thing" Lumen said.

"Just make sure you save some of the fighting for me"

Terra smirked.

"Can't promise you on that" he said.

They quickly split up and separated the Unversed from its instruments.

Lumen smiled darkly when she had the instruments right where she wanted them.

"Now let's play my kind of song"

She jumped out of the way when a trumpet lunged itself at her and dove to the ground when the violin swung itself around.

Lumen laughed at the sight. These puny little things thought that they could beat her.

"Now it's my turn" she said.

She ran forward and jumped on top of the drum set. The trumpet saw her and quickly went to attack her, only to have Lumen flip out of the way at the last second and hit the drum instead. Lumen slid down the trumpet and used her keyblade to hook itself into the violin's strings. She used all the strength that she carried in herself and swung the violin around until it hit the wall.

She landed on the ground and saw all the instruments mixed together in a tangled up pile.

"I think it's time we bring this to a wrap" she said.

She took out the white ribbon she tied in her hair and cast a spell on it to make it grow larger. She flung it like a whip and had all the instruments wrapped up in her magically enhanced ribbon.

Lumen smirked darkly and tugged on the ribbon, causing the vice grip that they were in to grow tighter. She pulled tighter and tighter until the point where the instruments couldn't take it anymore and exploded.

Lumen smiled as she readjusted her ribbon.

"That's more like it" she said.

"Now I just need to help out Terra"

She quickly ran to where Terra was and went into battle. She used some of her more powerful defensive spells since the thing had the tendency to throw its conducting stick around like a boomerang.

Terra used his physical strength to push the Unversed back while Lumen attacked it with her magic. While she wasn't good with offensive magic, she was good at combining them with her defensive magic. Whenever the Unversed tried to attack, she would put up a shield that would give off electricity everything the Unversed would hit it. Or she would cast reflective spells on Terra and herself so that the Unversed would get hit instead of them.

The two of them continued to team up as they fought.

After a while, the Unversed had enough of this and went into Berserk mode on them. It swung its conductor stick around like crazy and tried to hit them.

Lumen dodged most of them and had to jump away whenever it got to close to hitting her. She fell to the floor when it tried to cut her head off and rolled out of the way when it slammed it to the ground.

She quickly moved out of the way as it flung the stick like a boomerang and had it flying all over the place.

Terra panicked when he saw it aim for Lumen's blind spot.

"Lumen!"

He quickly rushed forward and pushed her out of the way just as it collided with his side.

He skidded to the ground and cringed at the pain.

"Terra!" Lumen cried.

She turned around and glared at the Unversed.

"Nobody gets away with hurting my boyfriend!" she declared.

She clasped her hands in a praying like manner and chanted and spell. Chains shot out from her keyblade and wrapped themselves around the Unversed. It struggled to get away from it, but the chains but burn it with its light.

Lumen knew that she wasn't supposed to use this spell, but she just couldn't let an Unversed get away with harming her boyfriend. It she had the power to stop this, then she was going to use it.

Terra quickly got up on his feet and sliced the Unversed in half.

The creature of darkness dropped its conductor stick and slowly eroded away into tiny particles.

Lumen wiped the sweat that formed on her forehead. That took a lot out of her. But then again, she never fought with an Unversed like that before.

Terra went up to her when the fight was over.

"You alright?" he asked.

Lumen smiled a little and nodded.

"I have a few scratches here and there, but nothing that a simple cure spell won't handle"

Terra smiled with relief before her frowned.

"You used that spell again" he said.

Lumen sighed, knowing that she was going to get a lecture.

"I know. And I know I wasn't supposed to use it. But you were hurt. I wanted to protect you"

Terra placed a hand on her shoulder.

"My life isn't as important as yours" he said.

"Master Eraqus said to never use your powers. So when he says that, it must be very important"

Lumen blushed a little, knowing that Terra was just looking out for her.

"I'll try not to use them next time" she said.

Terra smiled. He loved it when he won their little arguments.

The Grand Duke went up to them when the fight was over.

"Thank you. You saved us all" he said.

He looked around the ballroom sadly.

"The guests were just starting to enjoy themselves"

Terra smiled.

"Well don't give up just yet" he said.

Lumen nodded.

"What matters is that no one got hurt"

She smirked as she saw Cinderella and the Prince.

"Besides, not all was lost here"

The Grand Duke looked at the couple, and cried for joy. It seemed that maybe they did find a queen after all.

Lumen smiled softly. Seeing Cinderella and the Prince together reminded her of Terra and herself. Both of them were in love and nothing could tear them apart.

However, it seemed something could tear this new couple apart. The clock struck midnight and chimed throughout the castle.

Cinderella panicked and quickly bid the prince farewell before running off.

"This isn't good" Terra said.

"She has until midnight before the spell is broken on her"

Lumen looked up at him in confusion.

"Spell?" she asked.

Terra shook his head.

"It's a long story" he said.

"But she needs to get out of here fast"

Lumen watched as the Gran Duke ran after her, hoping to stop her from leaving.

"Mademoiselle! Senorita!" he cried.

Lumen watched as Cinderella tried to get away. It seemed that she obviously didn't want the prince to see something.

She bit her lip when she realized what she was about to do.

She quickly sprinted out of the ballroom and quickly ran after her.

"Lumen!" Terra cried.

Lumen looked over her shoulder and smiled at him.

"I'll be fine!" she called out.

"Stay out of trouble while you're traveling"

She blew him a kiss and quickly ran off.

The Grand Duke was about to grab Cinderella's hand before Lumen cast a minor shield spell around the young woman. The Grand Duke slammed face first into it and fell to the floor.

Lumen quickly grabbed Cinderella's hand and lead her towards the castle entrance.

"This way!" she said.

As they were running down the steps, Cinderella dropped one of her glass slippers.

The young princess gasped and went to go back for it.

"Oh no!"

Lumen quickly pulled her away.

"We don't have time!" she cried.

As they were running, Lumen spotted Aqua entering the castle.

"Aqua?"

The keyblade master looked surprised to see her best friend here and dragging someone with her no less.

"Lumen?" she asked.

"What are you doing?"

Lumen shook her head.

"No time to explain" she said.

"I'll see you around"

She ran past her friend and headed through the long castle hallways and out of the castle.

/

When they made into the forest, the two of them stopped running. Lumen checked to see if anyone followed them and was glad that they were safe.

"All clear"

She turned around and was shocked to see Cinderella in rags rather than her dress. The young woman bowed her head shamefully.

"I'm so sorry" she said.

"I was having so much fun that I lost track of time"

Lumen gave her a gentle smile.

"There's no need to aplologize" she said.

"You had fun. And that's all that matters"

Cinderella smiled softly at her.

"I just wish I had something to remember this wonderful night"

Lumen pondered over this and tried to figure out what she could use to help the poor thing out. She notice something glittering on the ground and realized that Cinderella still had one of her glass slippers on.

"You do have something" she said.

She pointed to the glass slipper.

"That can be your keep sake"

Cinderella gasped when she saw the slipper and quickly took it off. She held it close to her heart and treated it as if it were the most sacred item in the world.

"Thank you so much" she said.

"How can I ever repay you?"

Lumen just shook her head.

"Just don't lose that slipper and we'll call it even" she said.

Cinderella smiled.

"Of course"

"Thank you, um…"

"Lumen"

Cinderella nodded.

"Thank you, Lumen. You're an angel"

Lumen blushed at being called an angel and just waved it off.

"A-anyway, will you be fine returning home from here?"

Cinderella nodded.

"Yes. I should"

"Then you better hurry then. Those guards were persistent and they'll probably search here soon"

Cinderella nodded and pocketed her slipper.

"Thank you again, Lumen" she said.

"Until then, take care"

She quickly hurried off and headed back to her home.

Lumen sighed with relief.

"Glad that's over with" she said.

"But at least she had fun"

She smiled over the nights events. So much had happened on her first visit to other worlds. She was able to go to a ball, meet a princess, fight a tough Unversed, and most of all get to see Terra.

She placed a hand over her heart.

Even if she didn't have any item to remember this night, the memories she created would last forever.

"I don't need any materialistic things to make me happy" she said to herself.

"Just the memories themselves are more than enough"

And that's what she hoped Cinderella learned from this night as she left for another world.

Even if she didn't have a beautiful dress or have a glass slipper. Just the memories themselves would be the greatest treasure she could ever have.

/

A/N: and there you go. Lumen visited her first world and she was able to see Terra again! I know the fighting scene sucked, but like I've said before, fighting scenes are not my specialty.

I hoped you guys liked this and are looking forward to which storyline I pick for the next world!

Please review and tell me what you think!

Ja ne!'