CHAPTER SEVEN

I woke up alone. I slowly opened my eyes, but they were still heavy with sleep and they drooped close again. I forced them to open.

"Hallie!" Ventus's face appeared in my sideways view.

"Whoa!" I cried and quickly sat up straight. "Ventus!"

"Today's the day! The day we get to train together!"

"How could I forget? You've reminded me at least a thousand times in the past two days."

"Not only that, but tomorrow, Terra and Aqua get to test to become Keyblade Masters!"

"Oh..." I said. The day that Aqua would become a Keyblade Master. Of course, I couldn't tell him that. "That's great. I guess that means training will be twice as intense, huh?"

"Yeah! Especially when you're up against me!" Ventus said, putting on a determined expression. "Come on, get up!"

Ventus ran out of the room and closed the door. I rolled my eyes and swung my legs over the side of the bed. I touched the crown hanging from my neck.

"No wonder his heart found you, Sora." I said quietly. I chuckled. "You two are quite alike."


I left my room and headed outside, meeting up with my friends.

"Be sure not to hurt Ven too badly." Terra said.

"Hey, what's that mean?!" Ventus said. Terra chuckled and ruffled his friend's spikes.

"Have fun training, you two." Aqua said. "Terra and I will be getting ready for our test."

"Right." I said. "Good luck to you guys. I hope you do well."

Aqua and Terra smiled at us and left.

"You ready?!" Ventus said, summoning Wayward Wind.

I chuckled and summoned Ultima Weapon. "Just promise you won't complain when you lose."

"All right, Ms. Keyblade Master. Let's see what you got!" Ventus's battle stance was a lot more playful than others; he bounced from side to side and twirled his backwards Keyblade.

I smiled and we charged at each other. Ventus shifted his body and slashed his Keyblade, but I blocked it and slashed it up and away. Ventus spun and slashed, but I jumped back and our Keyblades connected. We pushed away at the same time, and I swung my leg up in a high round kick. Ventus cried out and sprang out of the way.

"Hey, you almost hit me!" Ventus said.

"But I didn't!" I cried. I paused as a horrible pain ignited in my heart. This day is filled with unpleasant déjà vu.

I shook my head and lunged, but Ventus parried. He pushed me back and slammed down his Keyblade, but I rolled out of the way. I swung up hard, and our connecting Keyblades created loud clangs that made my heart throb. Ventus grunted as he lunged with several consecutive swings, but I jumped and dodged. Wayward Wind began to glow white and Ventus hurtled it towards me. I gasped and thrust my hands out, creating a Barrier around me. Wayward Wind flopped to the ground, but seconds later reappeared in Ventus's hand again as he charged at me. He jumped and slammed his Keyblade down, but I swiped my Keyblade hard to the right and he stumbled off to the side.

"I'm just... I'm just going easy on you!" Ventus panted and struck his battle stance again.

I smiled as Ventus charged at me. He slashed his Keyblade, and I jumped back and blocked it, and we stood paused in with our connected Keyblades. I took my arm and slammed it against the flat side of Wayward Wind's blade. Ventus cried out as his Keyblade flew out of his hand by my arm's force. As It spiraled in the air, I jumped up and grabbed its handle. I lunged and pointed both sets of teeth at Ventus's chest. He gulped and his hands flew up in a sign of surrender.

"You never go easy on your opponent." I said. "You attack with all you've got and use the element of surprise to your advantage. Do something they wouldn't expect."

As if on cue, Ventus's ocean blue eyes glanced at the ground. He quickly swiped his leg against the ground, but I jumped up in the air like his leg was a jump rope. Ventus grinned and lunged. His arms wrapped around my waist and we both tumbled to the ground. Both Keyblades fell out of my hands and disappeared. I landed on my back and Ventus fell full force on my stomach, and I choked out a painful "OOF!". Fingers dug into my side, and when I sucked in a breath, it came out in a burst of laughter.

"Ventus!" I giggled.

"You didn't expect this, did you?" Ventus smiled as he tickled my sides.

"Sto-op!" Tears streamed down my cheeks from laughing. My eyes opened, and I caught a glimpse of his ocean blue eyes. They shimmered with delight, as if the entire night sky were held within his irises. More tears rushed down my face, and my laughter quickly turned into sobs.

Ventus's face fell and he removed his hands from me. "Hallie? Are you okay?" He quickly rolled off of me and I sat up.

"Yeah... I'm fine." I whimpered and dried my soaked face with my hands. "I'm sorry."

"Are you thinking about your friends?" Ventus said.

I nodded, and more hot tears pooled in my eyes. I sniffled and wiped my eyes. Ventus reached out his hand and helped me up.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad." Ventus bowed his head.

I chuckled. "It's not your fault." I said. "But it looks like you beat me."

Ventus looked up and smiled. "Does that mean I could become a Master soon, like you?"

I shrugged and smiled. "Maybe." I said. It was better than saying "No, and you probably wouldn't for at least twelve years". Another tear slipped down my cheek. I reached up to wipe it away, but my hand brushed against another. I looked up at Ventus as his thumb softly glided over my cheek and wiped away my tear.

"You'll find your friends again." Ventus smiled. "I promise."

I chuckled and smiled. I rested my hand over his as his thumb continued to stroke my cheek.

"Ven! Hallie!" Ventus's hand retreated back to his side as Aqua and Terra approached us. "How was training?"

"It was great!" Ventus said. "I beat Hallie!"

Aqua and Terra's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "That's great, Ven!" Aqua said.

I smiled and nodded in agreement. My cheek felt cold and my heart grew sore with every beat.


"Psst!" a voice hissed from the other side of the door. "Hallie!"

I looked to the door as Ventus threw it open.

"I should really put a lock on my door." I said. "You like to barge in here a lot."

"Come on, Hallie! There's a meteor shower going on right now!"

"A meteor shower?"

"Yeah! Let's go, before we miss it!"

I nodded and jumped off my bed. We ran out of the castle and down through the training grounds. We stopped in the area where my friends first found me and we looked up at the sky.

"Look!" Ventus cried and pointed up in the sky. I craned my head up and watched in awe as the sky was ablaze with meteors zipping across the sky, drawing short lines of light.

"Wow." I breathed. "This is so cool."

We sat down at the edge of the cliff and looked up at the stars as they rained. Ventus leaned back and laid on the ground with his hands resting behind his head.

"Why does this seem so... familiar?" Ventus mumbled. I glanced down at him. He stared up at the sky, completely entranced. I remained silent, for I didn't know the exact answer to it, but I assumed it had something to do with Sora.

Ventus closed his eyes, and I smiled to myself when I heard him quietly snoring. I looked down at his peaceful face. I pictured seeing the same face in the Chamber of Waking, and it made my heart ache. I shook away the thoughts as I heard footsteps approaching us. I looked up and saw Aqua walking towards us. I held my finger over my mouth and pointing at Ven as he napped. Aqua chuckled quietly. Ventus woke up and sat upright. He yawned and stretched out his arms before he flopped back down to the ground and saw Aqua hovering over him in his upside-down view.

"Whoa!" the boy cried as he lurched upright. He rolled over onto his knees and looked up at Aqua as she and I laughed. "Gimme a break, guys!"

"Ven, you hopeless sleepyhead." Aqua said. "You know, you should've at least brought a blanket. I won't be held responsible for you two getting a cold."

Ventus bowed his head. "...Did I dream that place up?" he said quietly. "It really felt like I'd been there before, looking up at the stars..."

He cringed as Aqua rustled his blonde spikes. "'Cept you've always live here with us." she said.

"Yeah... I know."

"Did you come out here to look at the meteor shower?" I said to Aqua. She nodded and sat beside me.

"Hey, Aqua?" Ventus said after a brief pause. Aqua grunted in response. "You ever wonder what stars are? Where light comes from?"

Aqua tapped her finger against her chin. "Well, they say..."

"...That every star up there is another world." Terra finished the sentence as he approached us.

"Huh?" Ventus said.

"Are you here to join us, too?" I said.

Terra nodded and walked over to us. "Hard to believe there are so many worlds out there besides our own. The light is their hearts, and it's shining down on us like a million lanterns."

Ventus raised his eyebrow. "What? I don't get it."

"I guess you could say they're just like you, Ven."

"What does that mean?" Ventus stood up and walked towards Terra.

"You'll find out some day, I'm sure." Terra said.

"But I wanna know now!"

"You're too young to know now."

"Quit treating me like a kid!"

Aqua giggled in her palm, attracting the attention of the bickering Keyblade wielders.

"Hey, what're you laughing at?" Terra said.

"I can't help it. You two would make the weirdest brothers." Aqua said before she burst into laughter again. Terra and Aqua glanced at each other in confusion before they joined in. I stared at each of their smiling faces and felt a warmth spread in my heart.

The four of us sat side by side- Aqua, me, Ventus, and Terra- and gazed up at the shimmering sky. I smiled to myself and closed my eyes as I imagined the gentle rush of waves from Destiny Islands.

"Oh, yeah!" Aqua cried, and I snapped out of my reverie. She stood up and stepped away from the cliff to face the three of us. "Terra, you and I have our Mark of Mastery exams tomorrow."

Aqua reached into her pocket and pulled out four glass stars, Wayfinders, with strings attached to them. She beamed as she presented them.

"I made us all good luck charms." she said. Terra stood up and Aqua tossed an orange Wayfinder to him.

"Wow." Ventus said in awe.

"Catch." Aqua said as she tossed a green Wayfinder to Ventus.

"I get one too?!" Ventus said with a big smile as he held up his charm by the string.

Aqua nodded. She walked over to me and handed me a charm.

"I made one for you, too." Aqua said.

"Really?" I said in surprise. I looked down at the red Wayfinder. "It's beautiful, Aqua."

Aqua flashed me a smile of gratitude. "Somewhere out there, there's this tree with star-shaped fruit, and the fruit represents an unbreakable connection. So as long as you and your friends carry good luck charms shaped like it, nothing can ever drive you apart. You will always find your way back to each other." Aqua explained. I pictured that same fruit tree that curved over the ocean surrounding Destiny Islands; the one whose trunk my friends and I always found to be a comfortable seat. "Technically, I think you're supposed to make them from seashells, but I did the best with what I had."

"Boy, sometimes you are such a girl." Terra said, ruining the heartfelt moment.

"Hey, what do you mean 'sometimes'?!" Aqua snapped.

"So... this isn't a real good luck charm?" Ventus asked sadly.

"Well, that's yet to be seen. But I did work a little magic on it."

"Really? What?"

Aqua smiled and held her blue Wayfinder up to the sky. "An unbreakable connection."

I looked down at my Wayfinder and squeezed it in my hand.

I can't believe she made this for me. I've only been around for a few days. And yet... what she was saying, I knew it to be true. We are all connected together through ties that could never be replaced or lost. I would see to that.

"Hey, we're gonna head back." Terra called.

"Yeah, me too." Ventus said with a yawn. "I'm beat. I want to make sure I'm all rested up for tomorrow! You coming, Hallie?"

"Yeah." I said. I clutched my Wayfinder in my hand as Terra, Ventus and I walked down the pathway, rejoined a few moments later by Aqua.