AN: Yaaay, two chapters in one day again! xD I feel great on this Friday night. :D I get so productive when I have snacks, creative brain juices, and just a paycheck again lol! Really lifts the spirits! No. Pun. Intended! Also I got to watch FANTASIA again for this. Which was SOOOO GOOD. :D The great thing about this series is I get to rewatch old Disney classics lol. For research!
End of AN!
Kairi soared out across the landscape of differently colored flowers, bushes, and trees, marveling at it all anew.
She couldn't help it, really.
Purple shrubs, pink trees, ugh! It was all so gorgeous! Like some kind of surreal painting or something! She felt like she was in a painting, almost!
Kairi dove sharply, giddiness in her Heart, gliding down and swooping below the treeline. She landed in the middle of the forest - plunging from light, into a sudden world of surprising darkness.
She blinked around, looking upward. She hadn't realized the tree canopy was so thick. The trees themselves, so close together down here.
A little thud and a dark shape to her left announced the presence of Luxu, coming down to join her.
Luxu looked around, too, then flicked a wrist; a large, shining orb of light burst to life, drifting up above their heads to light up the area.
"Any particular reason we're down here?" Luxu spoke casually. "Did you see something, or sense something, at least?"
Kairi shook her head. "No - I just felt like it," she said, a little defiant. Then she paused, giving a small grin. "Though, that might have been my instincts talking - in which case, I'm still right after all, so..." She stuck out her tongue at the man.
Luxu rolled his eyes, turning away. "Well tell your instincts to be a little more specific about what we're doing here, why don't you. A little elaboration goes a long way."
"Says the most cryptic guy on the face of this or any world."
"Exactly," Luxu responded - and he flashed a little grin of his own now.
"Well..." Kairi started slowly, looking around again. She started forward, raising a hand half-way to her chest.
Had it been her instincts, or just pure and random whim? There was still so much going on inside herself that even she didn't understand...it was hard to sort it all out, to distinguish between it all and...
Kairi's thoughts trailed away, as light began to glow ahead of her. Then, to her left, and her right! Glowing little lights were...gently coming to life around them. They rose up into the air, drifted off of trees, and formed in mid air itself. She stared at them all, wary, but...she didn't feel like they were a threat?
She watched as the glowing lights, in the dozens now, began streaking chaotically this way and that all around the forest, in intricate patterns, creating a lightshow as they left misty, glowing trails behind them. Particles of gold were sent scattering about, showering down on leaves and branches. They were all kinds of colors, these comets of light - primarily greens, reds, orange, purples and pinks, it seemed like...
A purple streak of light flew closely past Kairi's shoulder, then slowed and turned - and Kairi saw it was a miniature, thin, winged- nude woman? The glowing was from her body, the same color as the light - it was so intense that it just obscured most of her features, except for her figure and her swirling tresses of hair. A fairy - like Tinker Bell?
The fairy flew off to a tree. She twirled and slid down a leaf, landed and did a pirouette on a branch, then threw her arms out and tossed her head, sending showers of gold particles onto the world. Then she jumped off and darted away, under a vine, through a bush, and started to spin and flip her way around a bundle of flowers! The flowers began to glow, to bloom and open...releasing seeds...seeds that began to float on sprouts of pulsing white. Another fairy came flying in toward the flowers, and the pair of them did a backflip and sent the seeds scattering out, fast and far through the forest!
Kairi's ears were filled with jingling, chiming noises, faint and small. She frowned, tilting her head. She put a hand to an ear...
Then, slowly, sounds came to fill the air around her, swirling about. It was music! Chiming, dancing music - like the fairies... No, the fairies were dancing along to the music, Kairi realized. She saw it now! As she listened, and watched, she saw their movements conformed to every chime, every singing of a string's chord!
"Either I'm going insane again, or there's music playing from nowhere," Luxu's voice came, nonplussed, turning his head this way and that.
"I think it's them. And it's beautiful..." Kairi breathed. She stepped forward, bringing her hands to her chest.
"Them...?" A pause. "Oh. Great. That's greaaat...Well, they look pretty busy - so why don't we get out of here and find whatever's causing the problem in this world."
"No! Not yet. Maybe they can actually point us in the right direction, or...well, it might be some kind of big taboo to just snub them and walk away from a performance in progress!"
Luxu turned to her, gazing down on her strangely. "Are you making any excuse to stay and watch this prancing troupe of sky-dancing nudists for any particular reason? Is that where she gets it from after all?"
"What?" Kairi said, looking back at the man, confused.
"What?"
Kairi stared harder.
Luxu coughed, then spun around and whistled. "Forget I said anything-"
"Nope - too late! - spill it! What are you even talking about now?"
Luxu raised a hand to run it over his hair, letting out an audible sigh. Then he turned back to face her. "Alright. Whatever. I guess you are her 'mom' or whatever..."
"We're talking about Namine. What about her...?" Kairi said shrewdly, planting hands on her hips.
"Okay, it's like this: I'm ninety-nine percent sure she's gay - that last one percent being reserved for the possibility that she bats for both teams, if you know what I-"
It honestly took Kairi a second to register what the man was saying. But when she had- "WHAT?!"
"Ow..." Luxu said blandly, backing away and shoving a finger in an ear. "You know what, I think I actually do prefer hanging out with Namine better; she's a hell of a lot quieter, as far as teenaged girls go. Not so bad, really..."
"Shut up and tell me more about my gay daughter!"
"Is that a, 'I'm so happy I could scream' tone, or a 'I'm so pissed off I could scream' sort of voice? It's honestly hard to tell."
"Wait, why would I be mad?" Kairi said, baffled.
Luxu sighed. He raised a hand, giving a flourishing gesture. "I don't know what kind of paradise your little islands are, but out in these worlds, there's this thing where people hate each other for being different, and we call that-"
"I know what discrimination and bigotry are," Kairi interjected, serious and firm. "The islands aren't perfect. But it was our earlier tribes and clans that had issues with those from other islands for...having issues with people who loved or lived differently than how they thought was right - so my island, at least, has always been really great about that, historically. It's been law and right for over a century now!"
"Yeah, but there's still no accounting for individuals, is there?"
"No - true - but I'm not one of them. Never."
"That's great! Okay! Awesome. Glad we cleared that up, then!" Luxu said quickly, giving a winning smile and a double thumbs up. "Just had to be sure and all...for her sake."
"So what's the deal? Give me all the details," Kairi demanded.
"Well, I'm pretty sure her big, shining gay Heart is set on a certain redhead with a flower motif - and I'm also pretty sure Namine herself doesn't even realize what she's feeling or experiencing. She didn't even have a proper human body until a few days ago or whatever, so that just compounded it. And now...well, I wasn't too thrilled with having to leave her at Lauriam's place while I came to find you - no offense. It's just that I swear to all the various worlds' gods, there is a fifty-fifty chance I return home to find out she somehow discovered a way to get herself pregnant by another girl. You travel the worlds like I have, there's all kinds of magic and sciency ways of accomplishing that, you know - I mean shit, people get creative-"
"Okay, too much information, but I get it!" Kairi giggled, brushing at her hair and shaking a head of flushing cheeks. "You don't need to paint me a picture!"
"Sorry."
"Just - go on. About Namine."
"Well, that's pretty much it?" Luxu said, shrugging.
"What about Strelitzia? How do you think she feels about it? Does she know, or-"
"Last I talked to Lauriam, seems like she has similar feelings in return - not sure whether they've told each other about their own feelings, though, Namine and Strelitzia," Luxu went on. "Teenager shit is way too complicated for me, let me tell you..."
"Well, maybe you-" Kairi began.
Her words were drowned out by a loud screeching noise, and the sounds of crashing, breaking trees.
A wide, purple spiraling stream of energy waves was ripping through the forest, blowing trees apart and slicing them in half. It left a wide trail of open ground across the forest floor. The waves of energy also rippled over the fairies, disrupting their dances and sending them flipping wildly about! Two of them fell into a pond with a splash, while the others were sent slamming into the broken trees and branches!
The massive wave continued on - sweeping Kairi away with it as well!
She was blown off her feet, tossed high into the air, slamming through branches and brush before she could even-
Luxu suddenly was there, catching her in his arms and sliding backwards in the air - and then, across the dirt. He bent his knees and came to a halt. He straightened up and immediately set her down again. "You okay?" he spoke quickly.
Kairi moved her arms and legs tentatively. She groaned, putting a hand to her head where it had smacked against a thick tree branch. "Mostly." She cast a quick Cure on herself, gasping in relief as the throbbing pain dulled significantly.
"Good. Stay here."
"Please one-shot that thing," Kairi agreed swiftly.
Luxu vanished in a flicker of air - reappearing high in the air, above and behind the latest Nightmare.
Kairi craned her neck to examine the creature, fixing her eyes onto it intently.
It was actually a lot like the fairies of the forest, themselves, she found. A tall, shimmering, nude female humanoid figure, of purples and blacks, and magenta and orange colors, in swirling patterns down its body - arms, legs, torso to waistline. It had big, round red eyes, and magenta and pink tendrils hanging down from its head like thick locks of hair. It also had six big, long butterfly wings, sharp and pointed on the ends. Its arms ended in long, narrow cannon barrels.
Kairi sighed internally. WHY were these things always so pretty? At least she had two comforts to compensate for the necessary, evil deed: one, its threat to this world and its people was going to be ended soon; and two...
You are SO going to be MINE!
Luxu thrust out a hand, a swirling magic circle of red in front of it. A moment later and an identical, large circle appeared on both the ground below and in the sky above the Nightmare. Bolts of lightning flew down and up from them, connecting them to each other - trapping the monster. The circles glowed, and a huge pillar of energy shot up between them, becoming a solid beam.
After a few seconds, the Nightmare's shrieks filled the air- and then stopped.
Luxu let his hand fall. The magic circles vanished, the beam fading.
The Nightmare was gone - only large, floating Dream Pieces left behind in its place.
Kairi looked around herself, spotting glowing streaks of light rocketing off into the dark distance of the forest - the fairies were getting the heck out of dodge. And she couldn't blame them. Though, she would have liked to have been able to talk to them, check if they were okay or not. Maybe offer a Healing spell or two... But she guessed if they were well enough to fly off like that, they didn't exactly need it...? She hoped so, anyways.
She sighed and flew up to Luxu - well, to the Dream Pieces, let's be real here!
Kairi smiled as she took them in hand, beginning the merging...
The new Spirit burst to life in smoke and crystal shards! Tall, winged, and very womanly! They - or maybe she, really? - was a pleasant light red coloration, for the most part (main body and wings), with the spiral patterns on the arms and legs, and torso and stomach being a darker shade, that melted gradually into dark orange colors on the ends. Her cannon weapons were purple and blue hues, distinguishing them from the rest of her. Her hair was the same - shades of purple at the roots, down into deep blues at the ends. She had slitted, narrow yellow eyes, like all the Spirits seemed to.
"What are you naming this one?" Luxu asked, a humorous note to his voice. "I've got a few suggestions, but they're probably way too inappropriate for a princess's ears."
"Okay, that's just gross, thank you for keeping that to yourself," Kairi responded, rolling her eyes and feigning a puking noise. "I'll think of a perfect name for her, of course!"
"Of course."
"Well, let's see, she's a fairy type, so...what's a good fairy name...?"
"S-" Luxu started to say.
"I'll stab you if it's something disgusting or degrading!" Kairi interjected fiercely.
"Spectra," Luxu finished, innocent and calm.
"Spectra? Where did you get that from...?"
"She looms over her enemies like a specter of death?" Luxu offered up with a shrug.
Kairi gazed at him intensely for a moment. Then she nodded. "Sure. You tried really hard, so I'll go with it - as a gesture of good faith," she replied, teasing. "And you are the one doing a lot of the work now, so you should have some say in their naming rights."
"Thanks - Kairi. I'm weeping for joy here."
"Do you want me to change her name then?" Kairi said, glowering.
Luxu laughed, shaking his head. "I don't care either way."
"I really don't see whatever Namine did, you know. Why would she like choosing you to spend time with?" Kairi spoke. "You're so cynical and wishy-washy. Like god, loosen up, have some fun - get invested, think positive for once!"
Luxu's mouth twisted into a scowl. He looked away with a sigh. "I'm still asking myself the same question, you know. No clue why she even latched onto me. Some newborn, desperate need for attention - probably all it was, at first. Because you're right: I'm not the most encouraging, supportive guy. I don't do positive attitude."
"Well, start doing it!"
Luxu glanced back at her sharply. Then he let a breath go. He ran a hand over his hair, sighing again deeply. "I am trying...believe it or not. You try living thousands of years, then get back to me on the subject. See how well you can really keep up this attitude of yours. If you could even find it in yourself again...after so goddamn long..."
Kairi sighed, looking down. She grasped at her arm, frowning. "I'm sorry. You're right about that: I can't even imagine what it must be like. And even I can't say if I'd even stay the same person at Heart. I'd like to think I'd never lose what I value most - what I love - and how and who I am in my core. But...people do change. And even I'm not immune to that." She took in a breath, looking up at the man. "If you need help with trying...you do have a lot of people around you who could help you out, you know. I- I mean- Master Aqua's gone...but Terra doesn't seem to hate your guts too much, and then there's other adults, like at Radiant Garden, or-"
"I know, I know," Luxu cut across, slow and quiet, raising a hand. "Already met and talked to a few people before now - but...the past few months I've kind of let it fall to the wayside, anyways. I guess a millennia of being a reclusive loner is too ingrained in me for my own good. But I'll...try to claw my way out of the habit again, let's say. Okay? Once we're back out there, and everything's all hunk dory...I'll look some people up again. Start something. I don't know what. Maybe a game night, or a chess club? Who knows."
"Okay," Kairi said simply, giving her best smile to the man. "That sounds like a nice plan."
"Yeah..."
Kairi looked up to the clouds and purple and orange sky above, of fading light...
"There's still no Keyhole," she remarked, frowning now again with some real worry.
"Hey, you wanted to be the big hero and save the worlds - so, we keep going till we make that happen, right?" Luxu said, amused.
Kairi nodded, screwing up her face in determination. "Right! Come on, Spectra!" she told her new companion firmly.
She blasted off across the open sky again, keeping her eyes and ears open for anything amiss.