Talking flowers could be horribly rude sometimes and also terribly distracting when she wasn’t exercising some measure of caution in Wonderland. And really, one should always proceed carefully when in Wonderland. So in the end she supposed that it was her fault for getting lost within the overgrown trees and ending up walking through tea cups and hollow forms that could be buildings.
Yes, she was completely and absolutely lost.
Was that truly a surprise?
Brushing her bangs out of her eyes she peered up at the sky, which was a peculiar shade between pink and orange and purple. Maybe even a hint of red. Pretty but–even the sky was distracting!
Oh, maybe she should just ask the flowers where she should be headed.
There was the slightest breeze and she exhaled quietly. Softly. Just a breath in the wind and she took a step forwards before backtracking as someone brushed right past her and she inhaled and exhaled again. No harm done, and she didn’t mind.
A flash of dark fabric caught her eye though and she gazed after it before starting into motion and trailing after the scrap drifting in the breeze. Thin fingers plucked it out of the air and she turned towards the retreating back of the stranger, before taking off after them.
”Excuse me, sir— I think you may have dropped this.”
“Are you a regalia or something…?” The question slipped out before he could catch himself, and he searched her pale flesh curiously for a name.
The adolescent, perhaps realizing that he should help her, hurried to pick up the fallen produce with the hopes that nothing was too bruised from the fall, “Sorry. That’s a strange question.”
And once more with the abrupt questions that, in the end, seemed out of place for such a mundane setting. Crouched on a mostly empty street helping a young adolescent boy pick up groceries was nothing out of the ordinary, after all. But still her interest was helplessly peaked at the word regalia.
Cradling an armful of groceries that had fallen to the ground the blonde sat back on her heels momentarily, gazing at the boy with curiosity alight in her eyes. ”What’s a regalia?” Words that were expected, though she hoped she was not prying too far.
Yukine glanced upwards in surprise. The groceries he’d just bought for Daikoku remained strewn across the relatively empty street.
”Uh, you can see me?”
A strange question, to be sure, but all the same she stooped down and began to pick up fallen items. Best not to ask why, but rather to respond with the truth.
{☆} — If she were to be honest, Stella did not know where to even begin to describe her situation, much less to a young girl such as Namine. Had she been aware of the calamities happening beyond her world despite being confined to these mansion walls? Yet she had undeniably hinted the slightest possibility of being acquainted to the person Stella sought. But now that she thought about it, it was through a strange hooded man that she even stumbled through the forest in the first place — alluding to a person deep in the woods who may be of help to the princess. It was then that the pieces had started to come together in her head…
Had he been referring to Namine all along?
However, the young blond’s innocent inquiry had triggered Stella to look back into her recollections of that dreadful day; the memory of her childhood friend, soon to be crowned as the future king, seizing her hand as they attempted to flee from legions of powerful Heartless that had occupied the palace. Their world had been caught unprepared by the sudden invasion, and the Heartless’ growing numbers easily overwhelmed the Royal Guard. In a last-ditch effort, the prince had made himself decoy to buy Stella precious time to escape, creating a portal leading back to the realm of a light — a skill she never imagined him possessing. Before the corridor came to a close, severing all connections to their world and to him forever, Stella had prayed — hoped that his conscience had been strong enough to resist the darkness from snaring his heart. She had made it her mission to bring him back from the realm of darkness ever since, even if it meant having to forfeit her own heart in the process.
Stella would do everything in her power to save him. And she had dire need of the Keyblade Master’s power to do so.
“…In grave danger. You see,I come from one of many worlds consumed by the darkness.” The maiden responded to Namine simply, staring contemplatively at folded hands before her. “Rumors have circulated of a boy able to liberate worlds from the Heartless utilizing a special key. I seek his aid in order to help restore my world and its denizens back to its former state.”
Before it was too late.
“I have been informed that he was last seen in this small town, however…“ Stella turned to face the younger blonde once again, a pleading countenance visible on her face as she spoke in a voice laced with sincerity. ”Should you have any information to his whereabouts, Namine, I would appreciate it wholeheartedly.”
A case of losing one’s home world, she supposed, albeit it was not so simple and plain as that. There were many worlds that had been consumed by darkness, many tainted and pulled into a deep lull, full of heartless and without any sign of life that had been there before. That was what keyblade masters were generally for, as far as she could understand—purifying the worlds once more, bringing them back to their former prosperity without the burden of darkness and heartless.
It was difficult to tell just how long this young woman, Stella, had been looking for the young man who would be the supposed savior of her world, if it was not too late. Sora, in all of his heroism and for all of his selfless acts, would certainly jump at the chance to help her to the best of his abilities, and she knew that well. Even without the pleading and the clear desperation that was falling upon the woman, he would help her happily and without pause.
For a moment, just a moment, she tried to place herself in the other blonde’s shoes. In her position, in her mind, to understand the deep desire to save her home, a desire strong enough to seek out a stranger who was rumored to be able to help her in her quest. While she was unable to fully understand and sympathize with the woman, there was still remnants of memories and feelings that laid deep within her, of her time in Castle Oblivion, the desperation that she felt. A different kind of desperation, a different kind of desire, but it would all cumulate into a similar thing, she supposed.
And she had always been bad at lying anyways.
Absently rubbing her thumb along the swell of her hand, just beneath the base of her opposite thumb, she gazed at the practical stranger before her. Surely she meant no harm, and only sought aid, and there was no harm in telling her of Sora’s whereabouts—but the problem was truly that she had no idea. There were so many worlds that he could be in, and it was difficult to tell just where he had gone…
