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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxSoraxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxI'm the Master of Light and quite a big fright...

Sora turned to listen to Kairi as she replied to what he said. She made a good point. They really hadn’t seen Riku or Xion for a while. He hoped that Riku wasn’t taking his anger out on the girl. He couldn’t really see his best friend doing something like that, so that put his worry at ease. Still, it was curious that the two had been missing for so long. He’d have to ask Ari about it later. It seemed that she liked to hang out with Xion, so maybe she’d know what she was up to. Until then, he’d just have to wonder and hope for the best. He pushed the thoughts aside and listened as Kairi replied to his second comment.

She told him that last year, she’d been asked where he and Riku were. When she told the truth, they thought she was crazy. This made Sora laugh lightly.
”Yeah, they probably think we’re really weird,” he chuckled. ”It really doesn’t matter though. We know we’re not crazy. Besides, I’m glad they think we’re nuts. That means they don’t remember the Heartless, which would be a problem.” If they did know about all the other worlds and such, the world order could be thrown out of whack, and that was the last thing they needed at the time. So it was okay if they were social outcasts as long as they had each other and it kept the universe balanced. As long as he had his friends and they knew what the truth was -- because most of them were part of it -- then he’d be happy. Just like he was now. He found himself watching Jack and Sally dance. His eyes drifted to Kairi again, wondering if he should ask her to dance or save it for the Christmas Ball.

And I'll scare you right out of your PANTS!

I, Jack {Skellington}
The Pumpkin King
&
Sora
The Keyblade Master

Sora smiled down at Kairi as she replied to him. She was right and had stolen the words right out of his thoughts: They had each other. So no matter what happened, they’d always be together. And not just the two of them, but all of their friends. They would always have each other to lean on, regardless of the situation. That was something his adventures had taught him. Before he could say a word to Kairi, however, he saw a shadow looming over them and looked up to see none other than Jack Skellington.

Sally hadn’t replied, so Jack supposed she had to be fine. She was probably just tired. And with good reason, he realized, as he looked up at the clock and saw that it was five minutes to midnight. He gasped lightly and saw that Sora and his friends were still there. He pulled out of his dance and threw a coin to the band, landing it perfectly inside one of the saxophones.
”Sally, I’m afraid we must stop,” he told her. ”Halloween is almost over. We must say good bye to this year’s fiasco before tomorrow begins!” Still holding on to her hand, he pulled her over to Sora, Kairi, and Naminé on the bench.
”Hey Jack, what’s up?” the Keyblade Master asked.
”Halloween’s almost over,” the skeleton replied, pointing up to the clock. Sora looked up at it, appearing slightly surprised. He turned to the red-head next to him.
”No wonder you’re tired,” he commented. He stood up, pulling Kairi with him. He smiled up at Jack. ”So what do we do?”

”It’s nothing much, really,” Jack answered brightly. ”You all celebrate New Year’s, right? Well, it’s just like that except on Halloween! So all we have to do is just have a grand time and make a lot of noise once the clock strikes midnight.”
”That sounds easy, huh?” Sora replied, looking at Kairi. ”Come on, let’s go let everyone else know!” The brunette pulled the girl away, unknowingly pulling Naminé with them. He went around the square, telling everyone it was almost midnight. They were like magical words, as everyone stopped what they were doing and moved to the middle of the square. Once that was taken care of, the three friends joined them. The clock was only about seven seconds from midnight.
”Five… four…” Jack began chanting. All the other townsfolk joined in. ”Three… two… one… HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! Hee hee hee! Ha ha ha!” Creepy laughter and giggling filled the area as the clock chimed twelve times.

((Kind of long, sorry! But this is leading into a time skip, which I got approved by Midnight! So, after a couple people post, we're moving to the day of Christmas Eve! Which, will be a school day, because I've decided that DH is lame and doesn't have Xmas break. But that will help the new people get their characters in before the dance.))

~Thinking of you, wherever you are.

Kairi continued to smile at Sora when suddenly there was a looming shadow over them. The red head tensed for a moment then looked up and relaxed when she saw it was Jack. Sora asked him what was up and the Pumpkin King replied that Halloween was almost over. The skeleton pointed up to the clock and the crimsonette saw that it was five minutes till midnight. Sora turned to her and commented that no wonder she was tired. "Yeah, the Princess nodded in agreement. The brunette stood up, pulling Kairi with him, and Kairi pulling Naminé with her.

The Keybearer asked Jack what they needed to do, and the crimsonette listened as he explained. He said it was like New Year's, saying that all they needed to do was have a grand time and make lots of noise once the clock struck midnight. Sora turned to Kairi telling her that it sounded easy, and that they should go let everyone else know. "Right! Sounds like a good idea," Kairi smiled as Sora led her away, Kairi still holding onto Naminé. They went around the square letting everyone know it was almost midnight. Once the people heard this they headed for the middle of the square, Sora, Kairi, and Naminé then joining them.
The Princess looked up at the clock and saw it was seconds until midnight. Jack began counting down and the citizens joined in. When the clock struck midnight the red head exclaimed, "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! along with everyone else.

Shortly after the clock chimed Kairi heard someone shout her and Sora's name. She turned and saw Xion walking up to them, Riku a little bit behind her. The Princess smiled at the sight of them, glad that the friends she hadn't seen in a while turned up. Xion smiled at the her and asked her if she had had fun. "Hey Xion!" Kairi grinned and replied, "I had so much fun! There were few bumps today, but all round it was a very good day! How about you? I wish we could have spent more time together." Riku then reached them and asked if they were going home soon. Kairi giggled then said, "Well hello to you too Riku."

We pray for our sorrows to end, and hope that our hearts will blend.~

~Thinking of you, wherever you are.

After Sora greeted Xion and Riku he turned to Jack and told him they needed to get going. The Pumpkin King smiled sadly, but agreed. He thanked them for everything and asked if he'd see them next year. Sora told him he definitely would. "Bye Jack! Bye Zero! Bye Sally! Kairi waved, "It was so nice meeting all of you! Thank you for showing us a good time!" And with that the crimsonette followed Sora and the others to Guillotine Gate where they all boarded the Gummi Ship and headed back home to Destiny Islands.

~

Weeks went by and most everything stayed the same, though to Kairi everything seemed a little better since she and Sora were together. The alarm clock on the beside table went off. The Princess stuck her hand out from underneath her blankets, felt for the clock, found it, and hit the snooze button. "Just ten more minutes..." the red head mumbled sleepily. She got the ten, and then the alarm went off again. "Okay, okay! I'm up!" the crimsonette exclaimed as she jumped reluctantly out of bed and smacked the clock. "Why do we have to go to school on Christmas Eve anyw-" the Princess cut herself off. That's right. It was Christmas Eve, which meant the Christmas Ball was tonight! As if she needed anymore reminding, the beautiful dress she and her mother had made for the occasion was hanging on the hook on her door. "Yay! It's Christmas Eve!" Kairi let out an extremely excited, girly squeal that was quite unlike herself, all tiredness completely gone now. The crimsonette grabbed her school uniform from her closet and headed for the bathroom for a nice hot shower.

Once the Princess had finished blow drying her hair she headed downstairs for some quick breakfast with her parents. She finished her cereal and ran back upstairs to brush her teeth and grab her books. Half way down the stairs the red head heard a knock at the door. "I'll get it! the crimsonette called to her parents as she finished running down the stairs, "Bye Mom! By Dad! Love you!" "Love you too! Have a good day at school!" her parents shouted back.
Kairi stopped at the front door before opening it, trying to contain her excitement. She took a deep breath and opened the door, her eyes falling on just the person she expected to see. "Good morning Sora!" the Princess smiled, hoping she didn't seem overly excited.

We pray for our sorrows to end, and hope that our hearts will blend.~

Marluxia, The Graceful Assassin....

Marluxia woke up on the dark, now empty streets of Halloween Town. His head hurt, and he remembered the nights before. Mostly, he had sat around, flirting with what few girls there were, showing his 'talent' with flowers, and mostly partying. But he couldn't stay.
"Where will I go..." Marluxia mumbled to himself. "NOT back to the Organization, that's for sure." He looked around. "Well, I liked that one place, Twilight Town. Or..." he started, having a better idea. "I wonder if a schoolboy outfit would work." he smiled, and created a portal to Destiny Islands.

He got a lot of odd looks, but that suited him juuuuuust fine. He liked that. "Now, where did they go..." he looked for a big school. That would be it. He muttered, and signed in the office. Nobody, for some reason, questioned anything, and printed up a schedule, and gave him an odd outfit that they said wear during school. So, this was it. He couldn't start yet, it seemed to be some sort of 'break.' He hung around for the rest of the day, hoping to see Sora or them, just to see the look on their faces.

When he left the office he saw some people were in formal-ish outfits handing out pieces of paper for some sort of event. "Would you like one?" a man asked him. "Sure, whatever." he grabbed it, and handed the guy some munny. He didn't know how much it was, but he gave about 8000, so he got the ticket and the man hurriedly pocketed the extra. "Now what....." he mumbled, and sat down on a concrete half-wall

....And Schoolboy.

Darkness. Forever falling into darkness. It’s cool, soothing, even. Why would anyone ever want to leave the darkness? Well, it wasn’t really his choice. It just kinda happened. Had boy, was he pissed that it did. He was floating there, minding his own business… well, did he even have business at that time? No, he supposed not. But then there was a light, a blinding light that pulled him out. What… in… the… worlds…?

Aros. That was his name. That was about all he could cling to, a name, and some fragments of the past. He knew what he was, he just didn’t understand why he had to be here. He was darkness, he knew from what memory he had. He recalled other things, like being in a world that had a beach, which happened to be the same one he was in now. This was the Destiny Islands. So… Why was he here? Oh, that was right. He was here. The one he came from. That was one thing he knew all too well. Sora was the reason he was here, and he was the reason he was pulled from the darkness.

Aros’s hand slowly reached up to his chest. He rested it there, waiting. No heartbeat. He scoffed, though he wasn’t surprised. He was just the darkness; why would he have a heart. But he’d get one. He was sure of that. This morning Aros was sitting up on a cliff on the Destiny Islands, a pretty good distance from everyone else. He’d been there since he’d been created, all the way back when Roxas for some reason or another was separated from Sora. There’d been far too much light in the boy’s heart, and that forced the darkness out.
”But I’m not just any darkness,” he smirked to himself. ”If I was, then I’d just be gone. Poof. But I’m more than that. I’m a person… I can be whole. All I have to do is get my heart. Too bad that Key-brat has it. Hmph, well, I guess I’ll just have to solve that little problem…” His voice trailed off as a paper flyer came floating up to the cliff from the wind. It wrapped itself around his ankle, so the ravenette bent over and picked it up. Christmas Eve Ball tonight! it read. He smirked. Oh, this was going to be fun.

((Everyone, say hi to my evil character! ^^))

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxSoraxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxFinally back!!! I can rest up, hang with my friends and...

Sora just nodded when Kairi told him that she was excited and had practically flown out the door. He hadn’t really noticed that since he’d been freaking out about the tickets. But now that he thought about it, she did answer the door rather quickly, and she seemed extra happy, more so than usual. He was fine with that, though, because he was happy too. He kept his hand in hers, fitting his fingers through hers to lock their hands together.
”Well, at least when school’s over today, that’ll be it for a week,” he said, trying to make it seem not so bad. ”I was thinking that maybe after the dance tonight… we could go to Christmas Town? I’m sure you’d like to meet Santa Claus.” He remembered them talking about it back on Halloween night, the night when they’d become a couple. He still thought that it would be a good idea and that she would enjoy it, so he was all for going after the ball.

Soon, the pair were at school. No one was really there yet, so it looked like they were early after all. Sora now felt kind of stupid for rushing so much. There were people dressed nicely handing out flyers for the dance, so he didn’t take one since he’d already bought a ticket. He looked around for someone he knew, and found someone. But it wasn’t really who he was expecting. He froze up when he saw Marluxia, stifling a growl and disguising it as a cough.
”What’s he doing here!?” he snarled under his breath. Kairi probably heard him, but that was all. ”C’mon, let’s go.” He wasn’t about to go over and talk to him. From the looks of it, he was now going to go to school with them. How wonderful. He pulled Kairi along to the front entrance, hoping the pink-haired man wouldn’t turn around and notice them, or even if he did, at least not talk to them. They had sour feelings towards each other, and he really didn’t want the day of the ball to be ruined by someone trying to kill him.

((Last line=irony!))

GO TO SCHOOL!?!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxSoraxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxFinally back!!! I can rest up, hang with my friends and...

Sora pulled Kairi along into the school, but once they entered she stopped. She asked him if they could find a private place to talk until school started, which sounded great to him. He looked up at a nearby clock to see that they were still really early, so he nodded.
”Yeah, come on. We can go to the courtyard,” he replied happily. The courtyard was very popular during lunch, but in the mornings most students just hung out at the front of the school, too tired to go anywhere else. He kept a hold of her hand and guided her down the hallways, in no real hurry this time. The halls weren’t deserted, but there were considerably few students in them. Mostly they passed teachers who were making last minute trips to the copy machine or heading to the teacher’s lounge for some coffee.

Sora and Kairi reached the doors that opened to the courtyard and the brunette led her out. There was a small fountain in the middle of the courtyard, and it was open to view the ocean a couple miles away. He smiled and pulled Kairi towards one of the walls, where he leaned up against it. He really didn’t mind where she wanted to go. If she wanted to go somewhere else, he’d go. He just wanted to be with her.
”So… what should we talk about?” he asked. ”Hm… Hey, do you know how Naminé is? I really haven’t seen much of her since… well, you know.” He grinned weakly. He knew how Riku was, though. Oh boy. He’d known Riku to get mad before, but he was purposely keeping his distance from him now. He’d caught sight of his expression in class and such, and it was not pretty. If looks could kill, he and Roxas would be slaughtered by now. Thank the King looks couldn’t kill.

GO TO SCHOOL!?!