CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
I said goodbye to Aqua, remembering I still had a meet up with Ventus here, and headed back to the square. As if on cue, the blonde Keyblade wielder entered the square and absorbed everything in awe, like a child in a candy store.
"Whoa!" he cried. He scanned the area and his ocean blue eyes fell on me. He smiled and waved. "Hey, Hallie! Looks like you got here before me!"
I walked over to him. "Yeah, but you haven't missed all the fun yet. There's still a bunch of stuff we can do together."
Ventus's smiled widened, and his eyes sparkled with excitement. A large force swooped in front of us.
"TADAAAA!" a voice cried. Ventus and I screamed and jumped back, but my fright quickly turned into annoyance at the sight of Pete. Again. "Wearin' the mask of peace and hope... comes the fearless defender and hero of this town! It is me- Captain Justice!"
"Enough! I'm tired of hearing your stupid entrance speeches!" I cried.
"You know this guy?" Ventus said.
"Yes... sadly."
"My young citizens! Do my hero-senses detect that you got troubles?" Pete said. "Just say the word, and Captain Justice will make all your problems disappear!"
Ventus looked around, confused, then looked up at Pete. "Who, us? Well, I'm just trying to make some friends-" Ventus said, but cut himself off immediately. "Never mind, forget it."
"Don't be intimidated by my magnificence." Pete said, and I had to covered my mouth to refrain from laughing out loud. That didn't stop me from accidentally making farting noises with my hand. Pete shot a glare at me. "Go on and spit it out. Then... remember to vote Captain J."
"Vote?"
"Oh! Well, uh, forget that. How can I help? That's the only reason I'm here."
"Sure it is." I rolled my eyes.
"Might as well play along." Ventus mumbled so only my ears heard. He crossed his arms. "Hm... I know! Tell me about your town. Everything's so festive. Is it always like this?"
"Huh? That's it- nothin' else?" Pete said. "Well, the festivities are on account of the Dream Festival- which is why I made sure there's carnival stuff all over town."
"Unless you shrunk six feet and changed your name to Queen Minnie, I highly doubt that." I crossed my arms.
"Carnival stuff? Like what?" Ventus said.
"Ho ho, you gotta see it for yourself." Pete said. "Wouldn't be much of a dream if I just told ya."
"Right. Thanks."
"And kids, don't you go forgettin'... Captain Justice is the one who solved all your problems. That would be Justice with a J!"
"Uh... sure. Thanks, Captain Justice." Ventus said as I rolled my eyes.
"Aww, phooey! This stinks! Now we can't open the ice cream shop!" a rough, young voice cried.
We turned to see three little ducklings dressed in different colored hats and shirts standing around Queen Minnie and a strange machine.
"Trrrrrouble?! Rescue is on the way!" Pete cried, barreling over to them.
"That Pete..." I grumbled.
"A festival, huh? Maybe I can make some new friends." Ventus said. "And maybe we can find some carnival stuff to do."
I nodded. "Okay. Maybe we should start with helping out those guys. I think all Pete's gonna do is make their situation worse."
We walked over to the ducklings and Minnie.
"Hello, Hallie! I see you have another friend with you." Minnie said.
"Yup. This is Ventus." I said. "Ventus, this is Minnie."
"Nice to meet you." Ventus smiled at the mouse queen.
"Well, if it ain't the last kids Captain Justice saved!" Pete said. "'Fraid you'll have to get in line. I'm working on another catastrophe here for these fellahs- Huey, Dewey, and Louie, my good friends."
"Now, I'd hardly call it a catastrophe." Minnie said.
"But you can't spell it without 'cat'." I said, and Ventus snickered and elbowed my arm.
"All we were tryin' to do was make our own special recipe ice cream." Huey, the red duckling, said.
"And we had a little trouble." Dewey, the blue duckling, said.
"Come on, it's not really that big a deal." Louie, the green duckling, said.
"I'm 100% positive you're the victims of sabotage!" Pete said.
"Not even close! Quit makin' stuff up!" Dewey said.
"It's just the ice cream machine." Louie said.
"Uncle Scrooge left it for us, but we can't figure out how it works 'cause it's so complicated." Huey said.
"Aw, we're sorry, Queen Minnie. We wanted you to be the first to try our special recipe ice cream." Dewey said.
"Oh boys, it was very sweet of you to think of me." Minnie gushed.
"We tried." Louie said, and the three ducklings bowed their heads shamefully.
"Say no more. Leave it to me- one bowl of ice cream comin' right up!" Pete said.
"You're just gonna make a mess. Leave it alone, Pete!" Dewey squawked.
"That's Captain Justice!" Pete stomped his foot, and the three ducklings jumped in surprise. Pete toyed with the machine, but all he managed to do was splatter ice cream across the stage. After a few minutes of nothing positively achieved, he grumbled and pounded on the machine with his giant fists. "This machine is busted. It just needs a good poundin'..."
"It does not!" Minnie protested.
"Hey, do you think Hallie and I could give it a shot?" Ventus said.
"No, if Captain Justice can't fix it, there ain't nothin' youse kids can do." Pete said.
"You can't say that if we don't even get a chance to try." I said as Ventus and I walked over to the machine.
"Yeah! And better you guys than him." Huey said. He wobbled up to us and handed me an instruction pamphlet. "Here ya go. These are the directions for the machine."
I opened the pamphlet, and Ventus leaned in close over my shoulder so we could read the instructions.
"Seems simple enough." Ventus said. His warm breath tickled the back of my neck.
"If you think it's so easy, why don't you try it out first?" I said, slapping the instructions against his chest and smirking.
"Okay." Ventus reached up and grabbed the instructions, momentarily holding onto my fingers. I slipped them out from his touch and turned away, hoping no one would notice the heat rising to my cheeks.
Ventus sat inside the machine and music began to play. Huey, Dewey, and Louie stood on the stage with empty ice cream cones. As the music played, one of them clapped to the beat, and Ventus had to point to the right duck at the right time and shoot ice cream at their cones according in replicated beat. Once it was finished, giant ice cream stacks wobbled in their cones, and they fed their ice cream recipe to Minnie.
"Mmm, how yummy. What a wonderful treat!" Minnie said, rubbing her stomach. "I don't think I've ever had such delicious ice cream. Thank you, Ventus and Hallie."
"Way to go, Ven!" Huey cried.
"Hooray for Hallie!" Dewey cheered.
"Yippee for both!" Louie chimed. He turned to the ice cream machine. "I see... We had to push this thingamajig the other way."
"Hey, I just got an idea! We could let our customers make up their own favorite flavors of ice cream!"
"Not with that machine!" Pete chuckled. The three duckling brothers scurried away from the machine, and Pete walked up to it with an evil look in his eye. "Well... Them kids mighta got it to work this one time, but junk like that needs to get junked!"
"Don't you dare, Pete!" Minnie cried, and Ventus and I struck our battle stances just in case we had to resort to fighting the giant cat.
"Fine. But Captain Justice will return!" Pete turned around and ran down the alley.
I shook my head. "Once a coward, always a coward." I said.
"His name is Pete, but he calls himself Captain Justice? Why's that?" Ventus said.
"I bet he's just callin' himself Captain Justice 'cause he wants to win the Million Dreams Award." Dewey said.
"What's the Million Dreams Award?" Ventus said, and I rolled my eyes at having to hear the explanation a third time.
"That's one of the Dream Festival events. Everyone votes for who they think is the town's most exemplary citizen." Minnie said.
"Oh, so that's what he meant by 'vote'."
"And if ya win the award, ya get a really cool prize!" Louie said.
"Oh, it's just a small token, nothing elaborate." Minnie said. "The event is supposed to help us appreciate how much we all look out for each other every day. That's the spirit of the award."
"Pete just wants to get his grubby hands on the prize." Huey said.
"And he knows that nobody's gonna vote for him if he puts his own name on the ballot!" Dewey said.
"But nobody's fooled!" Louie said.
"Yeah!" his brother cried, and the three ducklings burst into giggles.
Ventus smiled softly at the three brothers. "Wish somebody was looking out for me."
I scoffed at the blonde and knocked him upside the head.
"Ow! What was that for?" Ventus said, rubbing his head.
"Don't talk like that, Ventus! You've got friends all over the worlds who care about you! I don't ever want to hear another negative word from you! Don't you know how much Terra and Aqua care about you? How much I care about you?"
Ventus's expression softened, and I bit my bottom lip to keep myself from talking any further.
"Well, it's true." I mumbled.
Ventus smiled and slung his arm over my shoulders. "You're right. I'm sorry. I promise; no more sad talk. Only smiles!"
I smiled and looked forward as citizens gathered together around the stage.
"Who do you think is gonna win this year's Million Dreams Award?" Horace the cow said.
"Boy oh boy! I hope it's who I voted for!" Chip said.
"Me too!" Dale chimed.
"Now that we got so much business at the shop, maybe we'll be number one!" Huey said.
"Wow, Unca Scrooge sure would be proud of us if we actually won!" Dewey said.
"Yeah, an I bet Unca Donald would be pretty surprised, too." Louie said.
"Donald?" I gasped, and I turned my head to the ducklings, but they continued in their conversations. The citizens around me were drowned out by the faces of my friends. The arm hanging around my shoulders suddenly felt so familiar...
"Hello, everyone, and thank you for waiting." Minnie announced as she and Daisy walked to the front of the stage. "Now, it's time to begin the main event of our Dream Festival- the Million Dreams Award presentation."
"Heh! Just skip to the part where you say my name. This is a shoo-in!" I heard Pete chuckle behind me. I rolled my eyes.
"Oh, my! It looks like this winner received many votes from the citizens!" Minnie cried. "The winner of the Million Dreams Award goes to..."
We all shifted excitedly as the anticipation in the air intensified.
"Hallie!"
I gasped, which was soon drowned out by the cheers of the citizens.
"Me?" I said dumbfoundedly.
"Way to go, Hallie!" Ventus cried. He pushed me towards the stage. "Go on!"
I walked up to the stage, each step adding to the wide grin growing on my face. I stepped up to Queen Minnie and Daisy.
"Whaddya mean?! There's gotta be a mistake! Everybody voted for Captain Justice. I made sure!" A few gasps rippled in the crowd as Pete stomped up to the stage and approached us. He turned to the audience. "Now, go on! Tell her!"
The crowd remained silent as they all glared at Pete.
"Um... I think the people have spoken." I said, placing my hands on my hips and making sure Queen Minnie and Daisy were behind me, just in case this cat decided to bring its claws out.
Pete growled. "Better try the other one!" Pete disappeared behind stage, then emerged a few seconds later in his Captain Dark costume. "The rogue racer, Captain Dark!"
"Stop it, Pete. You're just embarrassing yourself." I said.
"We counted the votes very carefully. Hallie won." Minnie said. She scowled. "Oh, Pete, I think you tried to do something good, but you were doing it for the wrong reasons, and you went about it the wrong way. Still, a couple of citizens must have thought you had goodness in you, because you actually got a few votes. They knew you were looking out for them."
"Big whoop! I don't need their lousy votes. Just cough up my prize!" Pete said. He reached out his hand towards Minnie, and I struck my battle stance. He stopped mid-reach.
"Pete! They voted for you because they believe in you and care about you. How could you look down on that?!" Minnie scolded. "I've tried to forgive a lot of things you've done, but this is too much! Now you've finally crossed the line!"
"Like that matters to me. Besides what are you gonna do about it?"
"Ha! I'm going to let you cool off for a while. Guards!"
A group of walking broomsticks walked up to the stage and carried a flailing Pete off the stage.
"Hey! Let me go! Put me down!" Pete protested.
I couldn't contain my giggles as the giant cat was dragged away by the broomstick guards. It reached the ears of the other citizens, and soon they were laughing as well.
"Now then, shall we continue the ceremony?" Minnie said as the laughter died down. "Hallie, you've been so kind to so many here at the Dream Festival. So now, I hereby present to you the Million Dreams Award as a token of how much you matter to us! Congratulations!"
"Three cheers for Hallie!" Ventus cried, pumping his fist in the air.
The other citizens broke out in applause.
"Thanks." I gushed, blushing openly.
"And as an extra treat, we've created something special- an ice cream flavor just for you!" Minnie said. She held in her hands a scoop of blue ice cream in a small, flat bowl, decorated with heart-shaped strawberries. Chocolate mouse ears poked out of the top along with three gummy Keyblades, one on each side and one sticking out on top in front of a crown gummy wedged between the chocolate ears. "Dreamy Destiny ice cream!"
"Oh my, I wish I had my own ice cream flavor!" Horace said.
"What's it taste like?" Chip said.
"Go on, try it!" Dale said.
I glanced at Minnie, and she nodded her approval. I smiled and brought a scoop of the treat to my lips. The flavor exploded in my mouth. I gasped as images flowed in my mind. I saw the sunset on Destiny Islands and the paopu tree that extended out in the ocean. I saw me, Sora, Riku, and Kairi sitting together on the tree. I could here their voices in my ears and their laughter overfill my heart. Sora's smile flowed in my mind, and I pictured him leaning in to give me a goodnight kiss.
"Well, what do you think, Hallie?" Minnie said, snapping me out of my reverie.
I blinked my eyes several times and wiped away the tears that pooled in them. I looked down at the ice cream treat and smiled.
"It's wonderful." I smiled. "It tastes like home."
Minnie giggled. "We're all very glad you're enjoying it! Congratulations again, Hallie!"
The crowd erupted in applause louder than ever before. I scanned the crowds, and when my eyes fell on Ventus, a wide smile formed on his face. He shot me a thumbs up, his ocean blue eyes glimmering in the sun. I felt as if nothing could possibly go wrong.
I spoke too soon. A jarring pain stabbed through my heart. My Dreamy Destiny ice cream treat fell out of my hands and hit the ground, splattering ice cream, fruit, and glass bowl pieces everywhere. The crowd collectively gasped as I clutched my chest.
"Hallie!" Ventus ran up the stage towards me.
I noticed something smoky in my bottom peripheral, and I looked down to see darkness curling from the cords on my arm. I uttered a choked grunt as another jolt of pain sliced through my heart, and my knees collapsed. Arms wrapped around me and held me close to the body connecting to them. The pain overwhelmed my body as darkness clouded my thoughts.
"Hallie! What's going on?! Answer me!" Ventus's shouts grew muffled in my ears, as if I were several feet underwater. The pain reached every corner of my body, and I slumped against his chest as unconsciousness enveloped me.
