When Darkness Turns to Light

Falling Up the Rabbit Hole

She looked at Sora, who was undoubtedly confused. Donald and Goofy, both of who had given up attempting to lick their own elbows, looked at each other as if asking one another what Hikari meant. The girl closed her eyes, wondering silently why the King had entrusted this group, and raised her arm. Opening her eyes, she said, "Watch," and reluctantly stuck out her tongue.

It had been released to a normal length, at which she paused, but then slithered from her mouth like a snake. One would compare the length to her tongue being on a taffy puller. Her tongue continued to stretch until the tip went to the other side of her arm and touched her elbow.

Members of the Kingdom Gummi gawked, going rigid.

Having expected that response, Hikari retracted her tongue with no sign of embarrassment, and waited for them to say something as she leaned back into her seat. Sora was the first to recover. "Is that normal on your world, too?"

". . . no, very few people have it, actually. An extreme few." She turned her chair to face the space in front of the ship. In the distance, there was a sphere checkered in shades of red and a prominent white castle. There also seemed to be an intricate maze of hedges. "We're almost there. Buckle up."

"Already?" Donald asked, raising himself in his seat to better see outside.

"What do you mean 'already,' it's been hours . . . more than half a day," replied Hikari, buckling herself in. She took the ship off of auto-pilot and took hold of the steers. Akamaru backed himself inside his cubby.

Goofy found his buckle and looked over at the duck, who was still trying to see the world in front of them. "Uh, Donald, ya might wanna buckle your seatbelt. 'Safety first!'" He dropped his voice and cupped the side of his mouth, leaning as far as the strap of his belt allowed him. "And, Hikari's landings can get rough."

"Heard that!" the girl snapped; Donald nodded behind her and buckled himself in. "And it's the descent that gets rough, finding a place to land-I've never landed a scratch on this Gummi, unlike Donald."

"Wak! This Gummi! First one doesn't exist anymore, thanks to y-Waaaaaak!"

Everyone screamed-except Hikari-as she purposely made the Gummi roll over.

[{X♥X}]

The Gummi landed onto a high mesa of green grass, which overlooked the interlocked hedges that had been spotted in the distance. Also was the white castle, with tall towers looking like rooks and bishops of a chess game around the main body.

Not far from where the group exited the Gummi was a teen girl at fifteen, Hikari's age, who sat on a stool in front of a canvas propped onto an easel. A pale hand stroked a paint brush against that canvas, forming a picture that from far away looked abstract.

She was a light brunette, with her hair parted on the right and pulled from her forehead by a yellow barrette. That section of hair was tied into a loose braid, while the rest of her hair fell over her back down to her rear and shoulders. She wore a pink robe whose sleeves ended near the wrist, but pink fishnet covered the rest of her arm. Those fishnets were also apparent at her collar bone, under a purple kimono beneath the robe, and beneath grey capris, stopping just above her ankles. She also wore wooden sandals.

On the canvas, there was a thick woman with her black hair tied into a bun. She wore a crown atop those locks, and she wore a dress with a high white collar. One sleeve was red, the other was black. Alternating colors, half of the bodice was black and the other was red. The same went for the skirt of her dress, which parted over diagonal lines of black and yellow meeting in the center.

Also on the painting was a being with five stacked heads; three were black, two were red and alternated colors, but all of them had yellow eyes and a crinkled smile. Its mid-section was red, and separated from a black chest by a yellow line; crinkled arms leading into red and black shoulders held juggling sticks striped with a dark and light purple. The creature also seemed to have double-jointed legs, as the knees bent away from each other on the same leg.