Chapter 46: Hundred Acre Wood

-April 17, 2009-

Kassy's POV

I clutched Sora's hand as we gently floated down to the surface of the book. Sora looked around with a frown, "There's nothing here…"

I bit my lip, eyeing our still conjoined hands, before pointing to the bottom right corner of the book's surface, "There's something over there."

Without releasing our hands, causing red to blossom across my cheeks, the brunet pulled me gently along with him. A small tent made of sticks lay flat on the page. A small caption above it read, 'An empty meadow.' I brushed an edge of the tent with my foot, by accident, gasping as it sucked the both of us into the page.

Gently we both landed in an empty meadow with a large log in the middle. A small golden yellow bear with a small and quite short red t-shirt sat on the log, thinking intensely. I bit my clenched fist lightly, eyes wide. Winnie the Pooh was my childhood! This would never cease to surprise me. I held in the squeal, tugging Sora closer to the log.

"Think, think. Think, think." The bear muttered, a hand to his head, the other on his arm.

"Uh... Hi, there. What's wrong?" Sora asked, letting go of my hand.

The loss of contact made me a little disappointed. The golden yellow bear shook his head, "Nothing. Just thinking."

"Oh." Sora frowned.

"I was thinking of how to say goodbye to Pooh." The bear continued.

"Pooh?" My companion questioned.

"Yes?" Pooh glanced at him.

"Wait a second." Sora hopped onto the trunk next to him, "You're Pooh?"

I sat on Pooh's other side. He smiled at each of us, "Yes, I'm Winnie the Pooh. Pooh for short. Who are you?"

Sora grinned, "I'm Sora."

I didn't bother to mask my squeal this time, "I'm Kassy! Short for Kasandra!"

"Oh. Hello, Sora and Kasandra. Have you come to say goodbye to Pooh, too?" He tilted his head.

Sora blinked, "Well, no. Why would we do that? We've only just met."

Pooh frowned, "Because everyone's gone away."

Sora mirrored his expression, "What do you mean?"

The bear sighed, "Well, we all lived here in the Hundred Acre Wood. And we'd take walks together, or play Pooh sticks... And every day, I'd eat some honey. Just one small smackeral would taste very good right now. But now everyone's gone."

I knew this scene off by heart, but I still held my hands to my chest. Experiencing in my current reality, his voice was even more heartbreaking, "How sad!"

He nodded solemnly, "All my friends, and my favourite Hunny Tree too. Everyone must've gone away while I was napping, I think... So, who knows? Maybe I shall end up going away somewhere as well." The bear hopped off of the log and rubbed his head, "But I wonder, how do I say goodbye to myself? Think, think, think. Oh, my tumbly is getting rather rumbly." Sora and I watched him walk away, sharing a look of concern.

After a moment, Sora took my hand once more and dragged me towards the edge of the meadow. In a flash of light, we were back on the surface of the book. In the middle of the left side was a large tree with a single door. Closer inspection revealed a caption above that read, 'An odd sign hangs above this house's door.' With another touch to the tree, we were sucked into the page once more.

On the other side, the two of us landed on a pathway to a large tree with a door. In front of the house was a small log and an even smaller fire. I let go of Sora's hand and rang the doorbell. I heard a knocking sound from inside the house. I motioned for him to follow me into the house.

On the other side of the door, Pooh sat on the floor with a honey pot, "Oh, bother. There's no more honey left. If only the Hunny Tree would visit... Then I could eat my fill. Oh, hello, Sora and Kasandra. Nice to see you again." We watched him waddle out the door.

I walked in front of Sora out the door with a smile. Next to the fire, a great horn owl stood, "Let me guess: You'd like to know what happens next. Unfortunately, some of the pages are missing, so I can't tell you yet. The pages are scattered over many worlds. Would you find them for us?"

The two of us nodded with a smile, "Come on, Sora. We should be getting back to the others." I took his hand like he had mine and led him down the path.

"Oh! Take care of this young girl. She looks like a fine young lady." Both of us turned to Owl in shock, blushing madly. I dropped Sora's hand like fire, sputtering madly. Owl just chuckled and flew off.

"L-Let's get back..." Fearing my own voice, I could only manage a shaky nod.

When we were standing in Merlin's tower once more, I immediately noticed that everyone was gone except for Merlin and Cloud who were huddled together and speaking quietly with very grim expressions.

"W-we're back…?" I mumbled nervously.

I looked at the ceiling as a loud insistent thumping began, followed by loud screaming. I grimaced, "You locked Syvy up there didn't you."

Merlin mirrored my expression, "Circumstances forced hands."

That's when I noticed Elena. I ran over with a look of horror, putting my hands to her cheeks, staring into her empty black irises. Tears gathered in my own, trailing down slowly, "What happened?!"

I vaguely felt Sora gently put his hands on my arms. Cloud spoke up quietly, "I can't say everything but I will say that she tried to tell me something about you and the other girls. But something stopped her and I'm not allowed to know. None of you are supposed to say anything. It could have really bad consequences."

"Kassy…?" I heard Sora whisper quietly after a few moments. I don't know what face I was making, but it did not look like any of them thought it was good.

I let my hands fall from Elena, shrugging off Sora's arms, tears trailing, "We need to talk. Sylvia, Hazel, and Elena. Cloud, whatever you think you know, I'm sorry."

Merlin nodded gravely, "I will send both of you to the training loft. I will put a spell on so we cannot hear anything."

I sniffled, "Thank you." I felt Sora put his hand on my shoulder again. I shrugged it off, shaking, refusing to look at him.

When the girls were situated in the loft, Merlin removed the spell on Elena. With the previous momentum, she was thrown to the ground. She whipped around with a snarl only to pause at the change of scenery. Black receded until the colors we knew were in place once more.

"Tap the button when you are ready to return." He handed me a small black box the size of the middle of my palm with a single red circle on the top. He went back down to the others, putting on the spell.

Elena looked up with a look of guilt and tears ready to spill, "What is happening to me?!"