under the burning sun... {{Olette}}

[Sora]

Warmth. More than warmth actually, more like scolding heat baking and frying exposed skin. It was so hot and so bright that Sora had to shield his aqua eyes just so they could adjust when he first stepped out of that geometric gummi ship of his. But hey, at least the drifting sand, the tanned buildings and tents, the colorful handmade carpets were enough to bring back happy (and unhappy) memories. The brunette couldn’t help but grin.

Now where could Aladdin be?

And then the broken worry came rushing back to the forefront of Sora’s racing mind. Aladdin, his stong-willed friend, was among the leaders of this harsh world now. King Triton, the Queen of Hearts… what if Aladdin had attained the same fate? Along with Jasmine and her father, what about them? What if everything was going wrong with this world, one that already had its fair share of crimes and problems already, too? It was always like this… the fear that things were going wrong in each the worlds, and the fear that there was absolutely no way Sora could hold back the darkness, even with his legendary Kingdom Key. The brunette straightened though, inflated with a fierce vigor—no need for pessimism… he’d find a way to extinguish the chaos, eventually.

Hopefully.

Sora smiled as he passed stand after tiny stand of vegetables and fruits, all gleaming with odd perfection, and the brunette couldn’t help but wonder where these people grew such beautiful fruits in the middle of such a harsh, searing desert. With Sora’s stare of wonderment, the shopkeeper greeted him with a nod and a suspicious glare, but Sora was oblivious and only smiled in reply. “Need something?” The brunette shook his head with a firm uh-uh before turning toward the palace, toward Aladdin’s amazing and beautiful home.

As Sora started heading off, the teenager hadn’t so much as took two steps before the shopkeeper yanked on Sora’s hood so violently that the brunette let out a choked gasp. “What’re you—“ Suddenly, Sora saw why the man’s face had turned a crimson shade of red, why the man held that dagger crusted over with blood so close to his face… “THEIF.” The man dumped the fruit hidden in Sora's hood in a panicked rage, and the brunette watched in horror as a mischievious looking monkey leapt away. A monkey that grinned, a money that carried off his own armful of food. It was him who put the fruit there.

“I didn’t! I’m not a thief! Didn’t stea—“ As the man brought down the gleaming dagger, Sora stifled a small gasp and immediately summoned his own weapon, the glittering-with-light Kingdom Key. Before the man could so much as nick Sora’s neck, the spot he was aiming for, the brunette brought up his Keyblade and parried the weapon with definite ease. And that was all it took for the man to yelp, drop his massive knife, and call for help, attracting the attention of shoppers, innocent citizens, and… guards. A lot of guards.

Sora was overwhelmed, and at first he was too stubborn to up and run, but the men were everywhere, all hitting and kicking and slashing. The brunette took out a few, huffing and puffing from the heat, but he held a massive disadvantage to the men who were had spent their whole lives thriving in the unfairly hot desert. It was against Sora’s philosophy, to just run like this… but it was either escape or death. So he ran, hard—so hard and stealthily the guards lost him in minutes. But it was an understatement to say that Sora was exhausted; so the brunette sat there in the dark alley he was hiding in, literally gasping for breath and wishing he had something, anything, to drink.

Yeah. Not so smart—going to the desert without so much as a sip of water to drink. And just great, he was bleeding too...

[xrcrose3x]

Where am I… was the thought that ran through Olette’s mind as she walked down the unfamiliar alley. She did not like this place at all, but she couldn’t help where she ended up. Her hometown, the place where she had been residing not even half an hour ago, became engulfed by an unfamiliar darkness. Heartless of many shapes and sizes tortured the townspeople, causing mayhem in the once peaceful town. While hiding from a group of nobodies that were after her, a dark portal opened in front of her. She stood there for a second before deciding to go through, and into the humid setting she is in now.

Wandering around the dark alleyway, Olette took a sip of her water she was carrying around. Before the chaos occurred, she was shopping with her friends, and she had bought water after complaining for half an hour about how thirsty she was. Now she couldn’t help but wish that her last words to her friends were about how thirsty she was. Was she ever going to see them again? Are they okay? A feeling of selfishness ran through her, as she wished she could have brought her friends along with her to safety.

If only this were considered safety.

Olette was walking along a dark and cold alleyway. Hearing many intelligible noises made her become edgy, while the thoughts of how her friends were now made her upset. Despite her tom-boyish attitude, she wanted nothing more but to cry right now. She was lost, afraid, and sad. Even though no one was there, she decided she needed to stay tough as she made her way down the endless passageway.

While lost in thought, Olette stumbled upon something. Correction, someone. Olette looked down and saw a young boy, about the same age as her, if not older, sitting against the grimy brick wall, groaning in pain and gasping for air. “Oh my gosh, are you okay?” She asked, slight panic evident in her voice. That was a stupid question, of course he wasn’t okay. Hearing how raspy and sharp his breath was, and seeing the sweat pouring down his face, she took out her water bottle and offered it to him, helping him drinking it since he seemed considerably weak. As she scanned the rest of his body she noticed that he was bleeding around his stomach. Looking around at her surroundings, she couldn’t find anything that she could use to apply pressure to his wound. Without thinking twice about it, she ripped some of the bottom of her orange shirt. She slowly lifted up his shirt, with a slight tint of pink growing on her cheeks. Wow… he’s really… muscular. Wait. She was supposed to be helping him, not staring at his abs. She shook her head slightly and covered the wound with the fabric, hoping to stop the bleeding.

[/blockquote][/size]

[Sora]

Rasping and gasping, Sora literally could not gain control over his breathing. It felt like his chest was going to erupt into a violent volcano spouting sand and heat. The sweat was pouring, but due to the waterless atmosphere, it was quickly drying. His vision was blurring, his mouth burning. The brunette wanted to cry for help (and he dreaded admitting that to himself), wanted to beg for the aid of Aladdin or any of his friends… but they weren’t here, and calling out for help was suicide. Still yet, what else was he going to do though? Just sit here?

Then Sora heard a voice, young and light and sweet, a voice that was so familiar. The brunette’s eyes blinked once, twice, and then he gave a sickly, weak smile. He recognized the girl with her warm brunette hair and apple green eyes immediately. Olette… What was Olette doing here in a place like this? Suddenly he was offered water, and Sora quickly shifted up to suck the contents of the bottle, not realizing how much and how fast he was drinking, not realizing his hands enclosed on hers as he drank. The water was hot from the temperature of the city, but it felt like a literal heaven, a saving grace. He was slowly gaining control over his breathing, being a little more rested and a lot less thirsty.

Finally, the brunette’s thirst was quenched and he leaned back against the hard alley wall, closing his eyes and stifling a pained whimper as he shifted, trying to avoid moving with such a slash across his stomach. Sora was a little too weak at the moment to conjure up a cure spell, weak both physically and mentally, but Olette helped with that too. It was involuntary, but Sora couldn’t help but let out a soft gasp from the touch of that clean cloth, but he let her dress his wounds anyway, knowing that it would help to stop the gushing blood. Then there was a soft and quiet peace, one that allowed him a little time to recuperate. And he could actually speak now with ease. “Olette… I can’t thank you enough.” There was a delicate pause, and the brunette sighed, leaning up a little to look at the girl, to see how much she’d changed, “I haven’t seen you in forever!”

The brunette let out a soft sigh. Now all he had to do was rest, was to gain back a little energy. When he did that, Sora could use the cure spell to cure his wounds. Plus, there wasn’t a fear of bleeding to death, of dying of thirst. And ultimately, Sora couldn’t help but smile happily at meeting his old friend, a girl that had grown even more… Sora stopped the odd thought, suddenly frowning, before remembering that first question, “What are you doing here?”

[xrcrose3x]

Luckily her first aid was effective. She had never even stopped to realize whom she was tending to, but as the boy lifted his face to look at hers, she recognized who he was. A smile spread across her face as the young Keyblade master thanked her for helping him. “I know! You promised you were going to come back and visit us, and look how long it’s been!” She said, crossing her arms and faking a pout. She knew how busy he was, but she never knew she would run in to him here out of all worlds. Scanning over his built figure, she noticed how much more mature he had become since the last time she had seen him. She wondered if she looked any different to him, she didn’t think so. Sure she may have grown a bit taller, but nevertheless, she didn’t really change. As Olette helped him straighten his posture, the inevitable question came from the other brunette’s lips.

“What are you doing here?”

That caused her heart to sink. She had totally forgotten about her predicament for the past few minutes, and now it seemed to slap her in the face yet again. The sudden sadness in her face must have been evident, but she quickly tried to shake it off, hoping Sora didn’t notice. “Well”, she started. “It all happened so fast that it seems like a blur now”. Knowing he would probably want a further explanation, she tried to piece the story together in her head.

“I was shopping with Hayner and Pence, remember them?” she added with a smile. She sat beside him as she continued. “Suddenly we heard people screaming… like… I don’t even really know how to explain it”. She had to keep reminding herself in her head not to cry. She was too tough to cry, she never even cried in front of Hayner. She would, on occasion to Pence since he was more sympathetic, but Hayner would be one to say, “Toughen up and live with it!”so she learned to resist. “The whole town turned dark, and these… creatures of some sort kept messing with the townspeople. Everyone was running around and it was chaos. I lost sight of Hayner and Pence…” Olette hugged her knees, staring at the wall in front of her instead of looking at the boy’s face. “Then a dark portal opened up and… here I am” she concluded.

Don’t cry, don’t cry, what ever you do, do not cry. She had to keep repeating this in her head. Her eyes burned, not because of the sand blowing around, but from the tears she was trying to hold back. She worried about her friends a lot. She wondered if they were safe like she was. She didn’t want to even think about what it would be like if they had gotten captured.

This was too much for her to take right now. Burying her head in her knees, she let the tears fall freely and unnoticed, while trying to control her shoulders from shaking. It was harder than she thought, and she didn’t want to feel burdensome to Sora by crying right after reuniting. After a few seconds, Olette felt Sora’s arm wrap around her shoulders, pulling her somewhat closer to him. The sobs she had been holding in finally erupted after that. It was like one of those instances where someone would ask if you were okay, and you suddenly started crying. She would not look up at the young boy, feeling very embarrassed. Her eyes were probably swollen, her face tear stained and red, a mess to sum it up.

“I’m sorry” she apologized, after gaining some composure. “That was kind of… uncalled for”. She tried to shift her weight to get out of Sora's arms, hoping she hadn't just made a fool of herself. "What about you? What brought you here?" She added quickly, hoping to change the subject, and hoping she didn't seem selfish.

[Sora]

The brunette flinched, knowing his promise had been a flimsy one, one that hadn’t been properly kept. And he felt shame for it too. “I’m sorry… I’ve kinda been too busy—“ Sora halted that impulsive excuse immediately. Too busy. That was something you should never utter to a good friend, and the brunette knew it… no matter how true and genuine the statement. The brunette rubbed the back of his spiky lochs in strained concentration, trying to find the right words so as not to sound rude to his friend. “Ah… I don’t mean I’ve been too busy for you guys, just been so busy altogether.” Still weak. He hoped she wouldn’t get offended, even though it was the truth.

When Sora asked her the question, his own face morphed into confusion with a slight twist of fear at her own saddened expression; he stared apprehensively at her as she began to explain, preparing himself for more bad news.

Sora nodded, smiling lightly at the thought of the gentle Pence and the headstrong Hayner, “Of course I remember them!” And then—and then the bad part of the tale came. Mental images came flooding back to the brunette, images of fierce heartless ravaging a once beautiful and serene town, images of people’s hearts being violently ripped away from their bodies and souls. That was what happened to Twilight Town, and the thought of it sent a ripple of shivers cascading up and down Sora’s torso. This shiver, oddly, made him forget about his painful wound that still lay unhealed and raw.

Olette was crying, tears rolling, and that picked at Sora’s conscious. Immediately and impulsively, he wrapped his arm gently around the girl’s shoulders, pulling her close in an attempt to comfort her. “What are you apologizing for?” The brunette said gently, attempting a small smile. “You’ve seen me cry before… and you barely knew my name back then.” Of course, those spontaneous, dripping tears were odd, as if the sad emotions he'd felt weren’t connected to his memory, to his heart, but to someone else’s. That was beside the point though. “I would be upset too, more than upset…”

The brunette sighed, letting the other slip out of his arms hesitantly before wrapping his arms around his knees tightly. “Um… Bad things have been happening. Really bad things.” The brunette paused, yet again trying to find the right words to explain the situation. “It’s crazy, what’s happening. Chaos in the form of darkness is attacking the worlds, and things are going insane. Leaders of worlds, for instance, are literally going insane. And the Keyblade-- it’s still not enough. I’ve been travelling from world to world to try and stop all of this, but nothing… is working.” The words all came out in a splutter, except for the last statement. His expression dimmed, eyes revealing a hurt and broken, deep blue hue. Then came the worst part of his situation. “Riku, my best friend, is gone. I have no idea where he could be. I’m afraid he's…” The sentence was left unfinished, broken and fragmented.

The wetness was silent and brief, two tears rolling down Sora’s cheeks before he could stop them. With an impulsive jerk at the realization that he was crying, he slapped his face onto his two clothed knees and rubbed his cheeks. As if that wasn’t awkward and obvious, but the effect was quirky and comical. And the brunette sat there a while as if in shy hiding, before raising his blushed face, but when he did, he was smiling and laughing nervously, embarrassed. At least the tense seriousness of the conversation had died down. Kinda. “I don’t know where that came from. Again.”

Sora sucked in some air before speaking again, “Olette, don't give up hope! I’ve seen worlds that were attacked by waves and waves of heartless, then weirdly, things gone back to normal again. Twilight Town might not be finished; it might've just gone through a tough battle. Besides, do you really think Hayner would let himself get beaten just like that? He’s too tough, and if toughness won’t work, then Pence can get them out through smarts, right?” His light-hearted, cheerful tone masked the worry and fear he felt, but the brunette was trying his best to cheer Olette up. He smiled and looked down at her, watched her bright green eyes for a good reaction. Hopefully, his cheer was working.

[xrcrose3x]

As Olette listened to the other brunette beside her, she looked over and saw his broken expression. She never thought she’d see someone so strong look so fragile. They both did have something in common though; they both were worried about their friends. To her surprise, two small tears fell from Sora’s delicate face. She remembered the time when this happened in Twilight Town, but she never really knew the reason. As he put his head down, Olette moved in front of him and wrapped her arms around him, hoping to deliver some comfort. The two faced each other, both with slight color to their cheeks, as Olette let out a small giggle and let go, hearing about how Hayner wouldn’t let them take him down easy. Which was true, Hayner wouldn’t go down without a fight, and Pence always had smart tactics that could get them out of any situation. She looked up at him and smiled, reassuring him that his pep talk worked.

Now she felt like it was her turn to give some words of reassurance to Sora. “You’re one of the strongest people I know, Sora”, she started, staring into his deep-sea blue eyes. “If anyone can help all the worlds it’d be you,” she added with a smile. “You’ve done it before, this time there is just one extra obstacle that you have to take. So don’t lose hope Just yet. I know, it may be easier said than done, but… I believe in you”.

She knew that probably didn’t mean that much. There are tons of people out there who support him, who would probably say the exact same words. She was just the girl from Twilight Town. Nothing more, nothing less.

She shook the thought quickly out of her head and looked back over at the boy. “Maybe we should head somewhere else so you can rest easier”, she offered. She stood, brushing the sand off of her clothes. “I’ll help you, don’t worry”. Instructing Sora to put his arm over her shoulders, she slowly lifted him up with all the strength in her. After a few minutes of awkward positioning, she finally was situated to where she could help him walk. After taking a few steps, she felt Sora’s weight shift upon her more. I really should have thought this through better she thought with a sigh. Olette was never the strongest person, but she wanted to help him. Slowly making their way out of the alleyway, a small monkey ran in front of her path, making a silly face at the two. Olette found it kind of cute and funny, but Sora seemed to take offense to it. As Sora tried to make his way out of Olette’s grasp, she felt his feet intertwine with her own, causing them both to collapse on the hard ground.

Olette let out a soft groan of pain, while slowly opening her eyes. Not only did her head hurt, but she also felt an odd weight against her, making it hard to breathe. As her eyes got situated to the lighting again, she noticed that Sora had fallen on top of her. Olette could feel the blood boiling under her skin, as she looked to the side and saw the familiar monkey, laughing at their clumsiness. After a few seconds of ridicule, the monkey ran away, leaving the two alone once again in the dark alley.

...That stupid monkey.

[Sora]

Just one extra obstacle—Yeah, if only it were that easy, but the brunette nodded to Olette’s words of cheer and wisdom. Hope. Hope was Sora’s only chance now, just as it had been in the past. Sora couldn’t give up no matter how hard the fight, no matter what he had to do to achieve peace and happiness for the worlds and his friends again.

Finally, the brunette smiled softly down at Olette, eyes full of thanks and full of faith. Who would have thought that somebody who’d gone through so much was so willing to cheer another up, and the brunette felt a twinge of guilt at this. Compared to Olette, his past experience with the piercingly black chaos that was leaking through the universe and controlling the worlds wasn’t all that bad. Still, for a person who knew the situation, to know the danger this overpowered darkness posed… ‘I believe in you’ was a lot more believable. “Olette, thanks.” That phrase, however simple and quick, meant more to him than she could ever know, though his cerulean eyes shown with clear thanks.

Suddenly, Olette began to help Sora up. “Are you sure? I can just stay here… and rest, regain my energy. You don’t have to lift—“ But she did it anyway. Sora frowned, but did as he was told, a little unsure. Maybe he should tell Olette about how he was being chased by all the guards in the city for thievery (did an apple really warrant such a chase?) before she was seen with him, before they stepped out into the bright, crowded streets of Agrabah. Yeah, that would probably be a good idea. “Hey… Olette? Um—Y’know the reason why I’m cut? Why I was breathing so hard—“

Sora heard a giggle, soft and innocent, and he turned toward the source of such humor. A hopping, foolish monkey was directly in front of them, as if teasing them—And wait, it was the monkey. “You! You’re that stupid monkey that got me chased and slashed by all those crazy guards!” He didn’t mean to shout nor take that quick and painful step forward, but he did and it brought on a lot of unwanted attention. His legs tangled with Olette, they fell. Hard. “Crap!” The brunette groaned and got up slightly, pushing skinned hands against sandy, dirty stone… Only to find himself lying on top of Olette. On top of her! “Ah! Sorry Olette. That probably wasn’t my brightest move.”

People had started to gossip, whispering and chatting behind private hands, casting widened, suspicious, even dirty looks at the exposed pair. This whispering soon turned to actual shouts, shouts for help, and then the guards came galloping to the attack. So much commotion, so much happening in so little time. “Them again—Olette run!!” Quickly (and painfully), Sora rolled of Olette and summoned his Kingdom Key. With a quick flourish of his legendary blade, he cast a cure spell that healed his wound, pulling and creating skin to cover the exposed red flesh. Albeit, the cure spell was still weakly cast due to his low energy and the messiness of the spellcasting, and the pain, for the most part, still seared like burning flames with sudden movements-- but that didn’t stop the brunette from hopping up, Keyblade still clamped in one fist, and grabbing Olette’s hand to help her up and to try to get her to flee like their lives depended on it.

“C’mon! I won’t be able to fight this many.” Sora gasped as he turned, watching in annoyance and anger as guards upon guards started pouring in and catching up to them. Sora sighed harshly, thinking that Aladdin had way too many freakin’ guards. “We have to go!”

[xrcrose3x]

Everything became a blur. Her eyesight was hazy, but she could hear the echo of the local townspeople talking about the two. The noise was enough to make the brunette's migraine worse. They probably thought they were two crazy kids driven by hormones when that wasn’t the case at all. While trying to pull herself together, Olette felt the trickle of her blood run down the side of her face. She slowly put a hand to her supposed wound and saw the red liquid on the tips of her fingers, wondering if she really had hit her head that hard.

The sound of her inner thoughts was soon interrupted, while the sound of many guards came closer to the two. She suddenly felt Sora quickly pull her up, causing her to be dizzy for a few seconds. Looking around nervously, she saw the guard’s shining swords, which looked like they had been recently sharpened. Her eyes widened in fear as she felt a yank to her arm, as the brunette boy started running. She felt as if she were having an out of body experience as she put one foot in front of the other trying to keep up with him. The two ran for what seemed like forever, causing the young girl’s chest to burn. As her energy began to run low, she felt her legs wobble, causing her to fall to her knees. As Sora's hand left hers, she hoped that he would keep running without her. After a few seconds, she felt the hands of a guard grab her and pull her off the ground. A tinge of guilt hit her as she noticed that one of the other guards had Sora’s hands behind his back. As Sora tried to struggle, it seemed that the guard’s strength was no match for his own.

As the guards dragged the two to the palace, Olette didn’t feel like she could face Sora now. “If I hadn’t wanted to have help him out so much, we wouldn’t be in this mess”, she thought. “If I didn’t fall down back there, we could have made it to safety. This is all my fault”. She wondered if he was mad at her. Of course she didn’t do it on purpose, but she has had an overwhelming day. Her friends were captured, now she was too.

Olette snapped out of her thoughts as she hit the hard floor of the palace. All this falling was really taking a toll on her head, which she could hear throbbing. The mix of this and her guilt made her seem emotionally numb on the outside. As she sat up, she saw two people in front of her. One was a man with black hair, who was oddly dressed in normal attire rather than a royal outfit. The woman beside him was dressed in fancy blue fabric, with long flowing hair set in a braid. She wondered what sort of punishment they would give her. But as she examined their faces closely, she noticed that they didn’t seem angry at all. The young woman in front of her offered her hand to help Olette up. She looked at it for a while before slowly taking it.

[/left][/blockquote]

[Sora]

The brunette had yanked his friend’s arm so fiercely and in such a panic, Sora didn’t even notice the streams of blood pouring out of a wound on Olette’s head, a wound caused by him. Sora just went on yanking and finally running, breathing quick warnings behind him like “C’mon, Olette” and “We need to get away”. His side was stinging like piercing daggers, and his breathing was becoming too ragged again. And he was so thirsty again; he needed anything to drink, anything that would quench his thirst. But Sora kept running, ignoring the exhaustion and pain and thirst. The guards… they were so incredibly close, so close to catching and murdering them.

Then he felt a violent jerk on his hand, a jerk that took his friend’s hand away from his. In the confusion, Sora whirled around and nearly lost his own precious balance too, but somehow held it. “Olette! You okay?” Sora gasped, immediately bending down beside her. The thought to run and save himself didn’t even bubble and spring through his racing mind. There was no way he’d leave Olette behind, no matter what.

And no. No! A guard that had kept on their tail the entire time was grabbing her, sure to torture and chop her to pieces just for the fun of it. That was the harsh and unusual, but typical, law here. “Let her go! She didn’t do anything!” But she helped and ran. That was the worst part, Sora had been the cause of her helping and running. He could have just as easily left her… but he didn’t know for sure if they’d capture her or not, what with her exotic looks and clothing (at least to Agrabah). Still yet, there was hardly time to think. Save Olette; that was now his ultimate and most important goal.

The brunette swiped and struck with his glinting Keyblade, creating a shower of lit glitter and golden sparks. The guard staggered, but others approached like swarming cockroaches, all aiming to destroy Sora and put an end to his crimes. “Give up” one would hiss, and then another would yell “Stinking thief”; of course, this was all in between frightened and wounded yelps (caused by Sora, of course). Sora was faring pretty darn well for a kid that had a splitting stomach with a side of dehydration and exhaustion. Still, after a while, he could no longer struggle. With a sickening thud, Sora fell to his knees, sand digging into his legs as guards pushed and shoved him. He felt so sick, like he was going to throw up, but his mouth was so dry and his throat so scorched that he didn’t know if that was even possible.

Things were starting to blur into blobs of fuzzy nothingness. The mish mash of colors looked like a drab abstract painting-- And there was a numbness about him now, a dizzy light-headedness that the brunette couldn’t control. He was about to pass out. Sora didn’t exactly know what was going on, how long it had been since his body gave up on him and he fell, but he could feel dragging and pulling, no mercy from fine rocks and debris, and then finally… a cold hard floor. Smooth. Bright gold rather than dirty tan. Sparkling cleanliness. Where was he? Where was Olette?

Sora looked up, his vision clearing somewhat. First he saw Aladdin, a look of horrified shock morphing into fear and anger controlling his expressions, along with Jasmine, who shared Aladdin’s shocked face at first but eventually her features turned soft and worried, hurrying forth to help them.

Jasmine, with all of her strangely wild grace, offered a friendly hand to a brunette girl beside Sora. It took him a moment to register that it was his beloved friend, the one he was starting to fear had been taken away from him. Olette.

“Sora! Are you okay?” Aladdin rushed to Sora’s aid, sporting his typical but comfortable looking attire. Suddenly, the dark haired boy brandished a goblet of sparkling water, helping Sora to drink. The brunette sucked it down gratefully, appreciating Aladdin's aid which consisted of him tipping water into the teenager's dry mouth/ “You need some help, some rest.” Aladdin paused, then stood and whirled around to face the guards. “This is ridiculous!”

“Aladdin! Jasmine! I was looking for you...” A smile molded Sora’s face, knowing safety had befallen at last, but his voice and his smile was weak. Sora, though extremely exhausted, was now fully conscious, no longer frightfully thirsty or horribly hot. He turned, frowning, to look at Olette, to see the fresh blood pouring from a wound on the side of her head. “Olette! You’re bleeding…” Without a second’s thought, the brunette jumped to his feet and whirled around, Keyblade bursting into his hand as he did so. He faced the guards, who suddenly shrunk from his wrath. They knew they had messed up from the expressions on Aladdin’s and Jasmine’s faces, knew they shouldn’t have deliberately picked out and prosecuted the weird looking outsiders. “I’ll shove this Keyblade into your head and see how you like it!” Of course, the brunette didn’t realize the fact that the wound was his fault nor the fact that he was vastly out of his league. Within a second, he was staggering. Balance was even hard to accomplish. He fell back down... hard.

OoC:// Junky, badly written reply. Sorry. D: Hopefully it's okay?
And ohwow. xD I'm not a good Aladdin.

[xrcrose3x]

Olette jumped back a bit, startled by the brunette’s sudden movement as he brought forth his Keyblade. Upon hearing his threat to shove his blade down their head, Olette slowly put a hand on Sora’s shoulder in hopes to calm him down. To her surprise however, the boy fell back down to the ground. “Sora!” she exclaimed as she knelt down to his level. “Are you okay?” To be honest, he looked about the same as he did when she first saw him, except dirtier. Sure, while being dragged to the palace, they both got covered in sand, but his breathing was labored once again, and his wound showed fresh blood emerging to its surface.

Olette looked down at her own appearance. She was covered in sand, her shirt was ripped at the bottom from tending to Sora’s wound, and she noticed a few drops of blood on her shirt from where her head had been bleeding. Placing a hand to her forehead once again, she noticed that it had never really stopped completely. A small sigh escaped from her lips as she looked down at the boy in front of her. “We need to help him!” she said; looking up at the two adults in front of her, slight panic evident in her voice. “No.” Aladdin replied, helping Olette up. “Jasmine will help tend to your head and clean you up while I help out Sora”. Olette simply nodded while Jasmine took her upstairs. Although she didn’t know these people, she knew that if they were friends of Sora’s then they wouldn’t be bad people.

Jasmine opened the door to her grand bedroom, leaving Olette in the doorway staring in amazement. There were cloths of many colors and textures draping along the walls, making the room look vibrant and lively. Olette felt Jasmine lead her into the grand room, and into a nearby door, opening to a bathroom. “I thought you would want to take a bath to get all of that sand off,” she said sweetly. Olette stared at the tub full with warm water wondering how Jasmine could have read her mind.“Yeah… thanks” she replied slowly while closing the door behind her.

After bathing, Olette felt better for the most part. There was still the slight throbbing sensation in her head, but it wasn’t as bad as before. Upon opening the door connecting the bathroom to the bedroom, Olette saw Jasmine laying out three outfits on her bed. They all looked like her own but in different colors. One was yellow, the other was red, and then an orange one. “Pick one you like” Jasmine said, turning to face her. Olette walked over and picked the orange outfit, having help from Jasmine to put it on. “You look so adorable!” she squealed after Olette had finished dressing herself. As she looked down at herself, she noticed her stomach was fully visible now, which was something that made her slightly uncomfortable. Olette was snapped out of her thoughts as Jasmine excitedly took her back to the bathroom.

She watched as Jasmine opened numerous cabinets with any sort of product you could imagine, until she found some medicine. "This should help with your headache. It seems like you cleaned it already". Olette took the pills from the tanned woman's hands and analyzed them before taking them. To her surprise it seemed like moments later the remaining pain was starting to fade away. "Thank you" Olette replied softly. Jasmine nodded at her comment and took out a brush, carefully managing to the brunette's hair.

After what seemed like hours of doing Olette’s hair, Jasmine finally lead Olette back to where Sora and Aladdin were. A small smile spread across Olette’s face as she noticed Sora looked better than he had before. He had also gotten a change in wardrobe too. Maybe running into the guards that brought them here wasn’t such a bad thing after all. They had gotten the help they needed, and hopefully a place to stay while they settled what was going on with their worlds.

OoC:// eh, I'm not sure I made that great of a Jasmine but oh well.

[Sora]

Ouch— That was more than embarrassing. The brunette cringed and huffed, still managing to give the death glares of all death glares to the few guards that had dragged Olette and him up here. Oddly, despite Sora’s fallen form, they still looked intimidated. Whether by the brunette or by the prince and princess, Sora didn’t really know.

“I’m fine.” Sora muttered, a little miffed at feeling so weak and pathetic. Then he heard Olette, the soft but horrified sigh escape her lips. The brunette, as if by instinct, immediately looked down and saw the problem. Blood was pouring yet again from the same wound, reopened due to dangerous strain he had put on his body and the ineffective, hurried cure spell he had casted. The crimson red had even stained his hands, making them sticky and hot, when he'd grabbed at his side as he fell. “Ah—This is ridiculous.” The brunette sounded disgusted with the wound… because what kind of strong person got injured so frequently and easily? It was insane; he was supposed to be strong enough to take on the creeping darkness that infiltrated each world, yet he wasn’t even capable of avoiding a thieving monkey and a load of crazy, idiotic guards. Yeah—Sora was definitely annoyed.

Then Jasmine and Aladdin started to separate them, to clean them up and treat them like the beloved guest they were meant to be. But this idea immediately upset the brunette. He didn’t want to get taken away from Olette. “H-hold on just a minute—“ Aladdin snorted with amusement and started to drag the brunette, still managing to be somewhat gentle and helpful while leading. “We just got here.” Sora moped, as he took one last glance over his shoulder at Olette as she was lead up a beautiful and golden flight of steps. Sora, he really didn’t like this. “Exactly, and that’s why you need to get cleaned up. Don’t want you bleeding all over the place, now do we?” Sora hunched his shoulders, still annoyed, but nodded. He knew that Aladdin was only trying to help. Still…

“I’ve never been in your palace…” Sora muttered, taking a curious survey of his surroundings while hold his literally splitting side, trying to stay upright and balanced. The blood had begun to drip in-between his fingers. “It’s a really nice place.” The brunette nodded, gradually losing his annoyed attitude for something more predominant in his personality-- curiosity. Aladdin smiled and nodded, leading him down a long hallway, open, curved windows on the right revealing a beautiful, cloudless (but typically hot) sky. Aladdin then sighed, exasperated, rubbing the back of his head after a small pause. “You act so casual, yet you’re gushing blood. Gosh, you’re even getting pale.” The brunette then frowned, looking down. Maybe he should attempt another cure spell; it would be weak, but it would help to seal the wound… somewhat. And so he summoned his Keyblade and lifted it with a quick swipe, feeling a small bit of relief as the green, magical leaves floated down and soaked into his body. Still yet, he was so tired. A spell couldn't cure exhaustion.

Eventually, he was lead into a room filled with pools of hot springs, oils and perfumes drifting to give the steamy air a spicy scent, where he bathed (seeing all the blood finally stripped off his body and floating in thick tendrils through the water was pretty mortifying to the brunette, a slight slap into reality of how dangerously he had bled), and his wounds wrapped. Finally, he was able to go to bed. Of course, Aladdin nearly had to force him to rest. “You’ll get to see Olette tomorrow, don’t worry.” Despite this… Sora still worried.

The night, overall, was a very short one. Sleep took over the brunette almost immediately, exhaustion eating up what little energy was left. And then he awoke with a jolt, a sudden surge into a sitting position with the sudden realization that he wasn’t at home, wasn’t at Destiny Islands. The curved open window blew an oddly cool breeze into the room, one that lacked humidity and was cool and crisp. The sky was cloudless and stained with indigo and purple. Stars, with all their shining glory, could still be seen twinkling through the clear sky. Dawn. And then there was all this golden and royal scenery… Wait—he was at Agrabah! And then the surge of memories—“Olette!” Sora whirled the few sheets of rich fabric away from him and left his guest room without another thought. He needed to see Olette. Sora was not willing to get separated from her. Not another friend.

Tip. Tip. Tip.
Sora ran around a corner and then another, turned right and then left at intersections, and skidded to a halt in front of a gilded door, staring and frowning at the long corridor of more endless and massive doors. There was probably a gazillion more corridors like this one too. “How am I going to find her...?” The brunette glanced around and then exhaled, a little nervous, because he had suddenly thought about his own room. Aladdin would come and get him when the sun rose… but Sora wouldn’t be there, and why? He didn’t know how to get back to that one room in that one long corridor of doors, at all.

Sora was hopelessly lost.

[xrcrose3x]

Upon going to see Sora and Aladdin with Jasmine, Aladdin made his way out of another large room. “I told Sora to rest. He was looking really pale from all the blood he had lost before”. Even though Olette was assured that Sora was okay she was still worried. This was the second time his would had re-opened. “Olette you should probably get some rest as well” Aladdin turned to face her. It seemed right at the mention of sleeping a wave of exhaustion overcame her body. All the running and heat exhaustion was put to the back of her mind before, leaving Sora as her top priority. But now that he was at ease, she was finally able to think of herself. “Yeah… I guess I will” she replied, looking around at the countless rooms ahead of her. Jasmine noticed this and led her to a room down at the end of the hall.

Olette. Olette!

The faint voice of someone calling out to her grew louder and louder. Her vision cleared to see that it was Hayner and Pence walking in her direction. She slowly stood up, running in their direction. “Hayner! Pence! Over here!” she called out excitedly, waving her arms in the air. Once they reached her, the looks on their faces still seemed confused. As she reached to touch her two friends, they both faded into the darkness surrounding her. Olette looked around, terrified and alone; she was in a place that was pitch black with no way out. Screaming names of anyone she could think of, Olette tried to find a way out of this desolate place, but no one was there to hear her cries for help.

Olette sat up in a cold sweat. She looked around at her surroundings, noticing that she was still in Agrabah in the room Jasmine had put her in. Tossing the covers over, Olette quietly got out of bed and went to the large window in her room. Staring at the stars always seemed to calm Olette’s nerves when she was in Twilight Town, but right now she couldn’t shake off the feeling of being alone. If it weren’t for her running into Sora she would still be out there on the streets of Agrabah. With the thought of Sora, she wondered if he was still sleeping or not. She walked out of her room and out in the hallway. Staring down at the long corridor ahead of her, she forgot which room was his. All the doors were closed and the designs on them were exactly the same. Olette decided that she was not going to open every single door and look inside them; if Sora were resting then she wouldn’t disturb him. Instead, she decided she would explore the palace so she would know her way around better.

Olette noticed there was a stairway at the end of the hall, looping up to another corridor with a balcony at the end of the hallway. The view of the stars was beautiful from the looks of it. As Olette made her way outside to the balcony, she wrapped her hands around her now bare arms. The outfit that Jasmine had picked earlier was probably not intended to wear at night. To her surprise, Olette saw Sora standing against the balcony railing looking up at the midnight sky. A sense of relief fell over her that she had found him. “Sora, are you feeling okay now?” she asked looking him over. He seemed to be in better shape than before. Without thinking twice, Olette threw her arms around the brunette in front of her. “I was worried about you. You seemed to be in terrible shape”. She made sure her hold around Sora’s abdomen was not very tight, in case it could hurt him. “But thank you, for everything”.

[Sora]

Sora bit his lip, surveying his surroundings frantically as if his life was in some sort of grave danger. What if he got lost and they never found him and he was going to starve and—
Wait. Maybe that was too melodramatic, but the brunette couldn’t help but shudder because of the trouble he knew this would all cause. Hopefully, once the sun had risen, he could find a servant that knew the way around the castle and could take him to where he needed to be. Not to mention, maybe he won’t get as much grief now that he was wearing something more typical of this world. Baggy and cool, it was a pretty comfortable outfit, though it was oddly fancier than Aladdin’s garments could ever hope to be, being made with a rich, cream colored fabric.

Sora sighed, long and hard and slowly. So what now? He could travel further into the depths of the palace, but that probably wasn’t a good idea, and trying to find his room would be just the same as exploring, he would more than likely get even more lost. And then the brunette paused, caught sight of the beautiful sky still shaded with clear purple and smeared with a deep and beautiful pink, the light and all of its glory arriving near the horizon. The golden and white stars are what drew the brunette close though, enthralling and pulling him to a small balcony. The sky was so calming. Reaching out both elbows, he leaned against the railing, looking up at the clear sky that hovered over the sleeping city.

The stars seemed to reawaken more nostalgia. Each star blinking out one by one, snuffed out by the ravenous heartless who stole the worlds’ hearts. A rapid couple of heartbeats signaled Sora’s thoughts, that soon the darkness would overtake the worlds’ hearts yet again. The brunette shuddered, remembering the man who had ran in Traverse Town, he had toppled over from exhaustion and had his heart ripped by a load of predatory shadows. This seemed like such a long time ago, a long time before he had even met Olette. He didn’t want it, prayed for it, to not have this situation turn out like his first journey, where countless people were murdered by the heartless.

At the sound of a light voice, soft and sweet, Sora's reverie was broken and he whirled around, but he settled immediately. Oh—it was only Olette. Wait, Olette! The brunette immediately grinned, so happy to see her, “Hey! I was looking for you and I… Um—got a little lost. But yeah, I’m alright. I wasn’t that bad off, just a little thirsty and tired... And how about you? Are you okay?” The teenager nodded before rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, a little embarrassed by the fact that he’d actually gotten lost. But his sheepishness turned to slight embarrassment at Olette’s tight hug, but after a second or so returned it, pulling her close and sighing. And he wouldn’t let her go, not until the crimson in his cheeks faded. “You shouldn’t thank me… I’m the one who got you in this mess, got you in so much trouble.” Sora’s voice had quieted, obviously a little angry with himself. “I hate how you got hurt because of me.”

Finally, the brunette thought it safe to let her go and see his face, to see the his sunny but unblushing face. He didn’t know what had come over him. Gently, he unwrapped his arms from her waist and let them fall to his sides, and then he turned around to peer at the brightening sky, to see the sun peeking over the horizon at last. “You'll get to go home soon Olette, don’t worry. Your friends… they’re okay. They’re strong.”

[xrcrose3x]

Olette could hear the guilt in his voice. She waited for the boy to let her go before trying to comfort him some. “Sora…” she started, looking into his ocean blue eyes. “I didn’t get hurt because of you. I made my own stupid mistakes, like trying to carry you, and we ended up getting caught. So if it’s anyone’s fault someone got hurt, it should be mine”. She was pretty sure if she had thought things out before doing them that they wouldn’t have been in the situation they were in. Seeing Sora in so much pain took a slight toll to her.

It didn’t take as much as one as his next statement did. She would go home soon? Olette remembered the nightmare that she had just had about Hayner and Pence, making a shiver run down her spine. To her own surprise, she didn’t really want to go back anytime soon. Sure, she missed her friends, but something about being here with Sora made her feel safe and secure. Hayner and Pence would always watch out for her, but there was just something different when she was around Sora that she couldn’t really grasp at the moment. Of course, she wasn’t going to admit to Sora that she didn’t mind staying longer, but she kind of wondered if she was in his way. The worlds were in danger, but he was here watching out for her instead of carrying out the duties of a Keyblade master.

This was all too much to think about for one morning. Resting her elbows on the balcony, she watched the sun rise from the distant sand dunes. The colors of pink and yellow illuminated the sky, sending a cooling breeze before the harsh heat would arrive. “It’s so beautiful out here isn’t it?” she asked in amazement. It’d only be a matter of time before Aladdin and Jasmine awoke and would notice that Sora and Olette were not in their rooms. She wondered how they would react.

She thought too soon. Seconds later she saw Aladdin and Jasmine rushing down the halls, opening every door and surveying the rooms before closing them and going to the next. Although it was out of concern for the two brunettes, Olette couldn’t help but laugh at the looks on their faces. Her noise must have been audible to the two adults, for as they turned their heads they saw the both of them at the doorway of the balcony. “We were worried sick!” Jasmine exclaimed while making her way to the two. “I knew if we found one we’d find the other” Aladdin replied, “Sora was constantly worrying me about seeing her yesterday, so I knew that’s where he’d probably be”. Olette couldn’t help but turn a light shade of pink at the older man’s statement. She knew he was probably joking around or over exaggerating.

[Sora]

Sora shook his head, forever too stubborn to let Olette take the blame. But then the brunette perked at a new thought, a resentful but still joking thought. The stupid monkey is the real one at fault. “Actually, maybe it’s not either of our faults. I think it’s that stupid monkey’s fault for stealing the fruit in the first place, and then teasing us later when we were struggling, tipping the guards off to where we were.” He laughed light-heartedly, but still felt a twinge of anger at the thought of how that devious little creature forced him to take the blame. Suddenly, Sora wondered. Olette had never questioned Sora’s innocence, had not even bothered to ask why the guards chased them so. She was concerned for his welfare only, it seems, and that made the brunette’s sunny cheeks turn, yet again, a pale pink from embarrassment. He couldn’t help but cast his blue gaze down toward the railings, unable to face the girl right beside him. Why was he so nervous around her so much here lately anyway?

“Yeah. It’s amazing.” The brunette nodded. He was so focused on trying to act normal though, trying to hide the pink blush on his cheeks, that he didn’t even notice Aladdin’s and Jasmine’s presence, so when Olette laughed, Sora looked up immediately, expecting her to have seen his very obvious, red cheeks. Luckily, it was just his two friends, and he couldn’t help but grin broadly at the sight of them, the goofy way they rushed from door to door as if their pants were flickering with flames and burning their rumps. “Looking for somebody?” Sora called out in good-natured sarcasm. When they came over though, Aladdin announced how worried Sora had been for the welfare of Olette. The brunette’s vanishing blush returned, pink and obvious. Of course. Why did Aladdin have to mention that anyway? He grumbled and looked away, but still held that outgoing, but faint, smile of his. Sora didn’t say yes or no to confirm the truth of Aladdin’s words. He simply smiled and glanced away.

Aladdin’s and Jasmine’s face suddenly grew serious, almost frighteningly so. Sora didn’t like the look of it, and it spurred up a natural curiosity. “What? What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen the ghost of Jafar…” Their faces only darkened, and at that… Sora’s stomach dropped. Oh no, not again.

“We’re so glad you guys've come, because we need help. We were aiming to tell you yesterday, but after seeing your conditions, we decided today was the day. Things… haven’t been going very smoothly around here.” Aladdin attempted a small yet nervous chuckle, rubbed the back of his head uncertainly after the dreaded sentence was finally uttered. It gave new meaning to Aladdin’s and Jasmine’s frantic searches. There was a reason for their panic. Jasmine shook her head, giving an exasperated sigh as she did so, and said, “Not very smoothly? That’s downplaying this situation. We’re in trouble.” Sora glanced briefly over to Olette, frowning heavily. This wasn’t good… at all.

“Jafar's returned.”

OoC:// Junky reply. D: And it took long enough too. Sorry about that Olette.[/size]