Chapter 11 - IMPORTANT NEWS

Chapter 11 – The Dream

Drake walked through the portal Axel had conjured, reappearing in a grey and white room, with a painting of a heart-shaped moon in a pitch-black sky on one of the walls. She slowly walked up to the painting, trying to see what media was used to create it. As she walked up, the Moon seemed shrink within its frame. Confused, she gently rested a finger against it. Cold glass. She gasped.

This isn’t a painting, she realized. It’s a window!

Why was the moon shaped like a heart? Weren’t they supposed to be circular? Like pie?

“Yes. Kingdom Hearts.”

She yipped, spun around and threw a fist at the speaker. Her nerves were fried from all these surprises.

Her fist was caught in a black-gloved hand larger than her own, leading to a black-sleeved arm, to a head with black dreadlocks, a masculine face with sideburns and blue eyes.

“I see you’ve been taught in self-defense. It looks like you had a good teacher as well.” Xaldin commented.

Drake gave a shaky laugh. “S-sorry about that.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you can defend yourself.” Xaldin said, releasing her fist. “Although, it’s normally not a good thing to attack your master.”

Drake blushed from embarrassment.

“I don’t want the superior to think I’m soft for sparing a weakling, so you’ll have to prove you’re worth the name ‘Organization XIII’. And you will have to follow ALL the rules” Xaldin threw her a pile of black-and-white fabric. “First, you will no longer wear those clothes. You may be a subordinate, but you need a uniform coat. And then there’s clothing underneath. The shirt you have now is fine, but we request you wear plain black pants and uniform boots.”

Drake unfolded the coat, flat from years of nonuse. “Yes sir.”

“Good girl. I expect you not to give anyone here trouble.”

Not sure I can promise THAT… Drake thought.

“Starting now, you will respond to Number –III, understood?”

Drake slipped an arm through the insides of one of the sleeves. “Number –III? Are there other subordinates?”

“No, there are not. But because you’ve been assigned to me, you are the lower form of my number, which is III.” Xaldin explained.

Drake pulled her hair from under the coat. “So, if say, Roxas had a subordinate, their number would be –XIII?”

“That is correct.”

Drake zipped up the coat and took a good first look at herself in a nearby mirror. The coat was similar to the members, but with a few differences. It had white circling the ends of the sleeves, around her hips, and a large symbol covering her entire back. “It looks like it fits.”

“That’s good. We don’t have anymore in other sizes.” Xaldin walked up to her. “You will do whatever I tell you to, or what the other members tell you. You serve us all, until we reach our goal.”

Drake looked up at him. “Goal, sir?”

“Nothing that concerns you for now.” Xaldin said firmly. “Get some rest. You have much work to do tomorrow.”

“Yes sir…” Drake nodded. She looked at the big, comfortable-looking bed, and then turned back to Xaldin. “Sir, my sleeping quarters would be…?

He pointed to her right. There was a brown futon mattress resting on the floor in the corner of the room with a blue blanket and pillow. Drake grimaced in her mind. She had slept on a futon mattress before, and… well… it wasn’t exactly a pleasant night.

“Sleep well.” Xaldin said from behind her. “It might be your last good night for a while. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some paper work to look over for tomorrow.” He left the room via portal.

Drake stretched across her mattress, resting on her back. She stared at the blank, white ceiling. Hmm… she thought to herself. Maybe Leon-Kun was right. Maybe it was a bad idea to leave home. ‘You should just stay here, great things come to you’. she imitated Leon’s voice in her head. She imagined what he would say if he saw her now. She groaned. Aw, look at the mess you’ve gotten yourself into Drake!. You can’t talk your way out of this…

Talking to yourself is never a good sign.[/i]

“Can’t you go bug someone else for a while?” Drake groaned.

Foolish little girl. You should know, after fourteen years together, that we’re inseparable.[/i]

“Technically I’ve known you for about six years… Just shut up for a while.”

After about twenty-five restless minutes, Drake yawned and curled up under the blanket. The mattress was like sleeping on a rock, and the blanket was light enough to be a sheet. The pillow was a bit lumpy, but it was better to sleep on that then just the mattress. She yawned again as her eyelids grew heavy, then succumbed to sleep…

000ooo000

“So, Sora, where’s it like where you’re from?” Drake asked the boy she was walking with. He was slightly shorter than her, with brown hair spiking in all directions, blue eyes, tan skin tone, and mostly black outfit (Drake: Shoot me I’m not describing his insane-but-awesome outfit. You all know it.).

“Well, everyone lives in a small town by a beach, and there’s an island where I hang out with Riku, Kairi, and my other friends.” Sora explained.

“Wow, sounds beautiful. I’ve never been to a beach before, hope I’ll be able to see it someday.” Drake said, sat on a nearby wall and looked at the sky.

“I hope so too.” Sora smiled, sitting next to her. “It’s one of the most beautiful places ever.”

“What’s the island like?”

“There’s a big tree in the center of the island, and a tree house built on it. There’s also an obstacle course, a waterfall, and a bridge to smaller island next to it with a Paopu tree.”

“What’s a Paopu tree?”

“A tree that grows Paopu fruit, obviously.”

“Oh, well, we don’t have Paopu fruit in Hollow Bastion.”

“Radiant Garden.” Leon reminded her as he walked past them, keeping his eyes on the report he was holding.

“Right, sorry.” Drake scratched the back of her head. “Still getting used to the new name.”

“Don’t you mean old name?” Sora pointed out, laughing.

“Hey, Sora,” Drake asked after laughing, “Wanna head down to the Crystal Fissure?”

“Why there?”

“I wanna get some crystals for something. Plus Tifa and I meet there everyday around this time.” She turned to him and winked playfully. “Lets see how well the key bearer can fight against Team Dynamite!”

Sora raised an eyebrow. “Team Dynamite…?”

“Still working on the name…” She sighed.

“Last one there’s a rotten egg!” Drake shouted, running past her.

“Hey, that was a cheap trick!” She shouted, chasing him. He laughed and ran faster.

000ooo000

“Wake up! You have work to do.”

Drake was awakened by the rough voice from yesterday, but didn’t open her eyes. She rolled over, her back to the speaker.

“UP!” He shouted again, kicking her in the back. The sharp pain forced her eyes open, and she rolled off the mattress.

“Ow!” She rubbed her now sore back.

“Rise and shine, -III.” Xaldin barked

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