Double Your Stars [KH/FF]

[III] A Warning

     "This is great! Do you know what that means?"

     The burgundy haired girl was talking excitedly, her hands making all kinds of motions to match her words. You followed alongside her, smiling nervously and walking awkwardly. You had thought she was nice and calm before, but now you were just a little spooked at how enthusiastic she had suddenly gotten. 'Does she not have a lot of friends?' you thought. Honestly, someone this excited over a mere coincidence must be some sort of lonely.

     You took a quick moment to look over the girls' uniform while she went on about this and that. Honestly, you didn't really care because so far, when it wasn't about your schedules, she was talking about the school itself and all these historical facts. You'd read plenty in a brochure your parents had given you. No more history would you want to read or hear.

     Now, back to the uniform. A blazer much the same as that of the boys' uniform, only a little shorter, with the crest over the right breast as opposed to the left was buttoned up over a white button down. She also wore the tie that accompanied the uniform and unlike Axel and Zack, had it properly tied and in place. A short, pleated skirt with the same plaid design as the tie hung three inches above the knee. She also wore white socks that were just below the knee and black Mary Janes (of course, if that's what they called them here anyway). Well... This was something you were looking forward to.

     "Since we'll be in all of the same classes, we won't have to worry about different assignments from different teachers, so we can help each other on homework!"

     "Uh huh..."

     "And I can introduce you to all my friends in those classes too!"

     'Well I guess that answers it.' You were currently climbing the staircase of the foyer and were steps away from the second floor. There were two hallways on either the left or right, but there were also two walkways leading to another section of the castle behind you. They framed the foyer below before continuing on with the rest of the ginormous second floor. Never before had you seen so much square footage. The chandeliers were closer here, but still high above. You figured it would be the fourth or fifth floor that might be able to reach them.

     Turning the right corner, you continued walking and only now did you realize how high the ceilings were. You were never good at estimating heights, but you were pretty sure they were over 20 feet high. Every 10 or so yards there was a silver arch that was embedded into the walls and extended towards the ceiling. Every third arch held a golden beam that stretched across it and from these hung seven strings of beautiful blue jewels that grew increasingly longer as it reached the center string which ended with a jewel noticeably larger than all the others.

     Kairi seemed to notice your staring at them and smiled. She turned her gaze upwards as well before lifting her arm an pointing a lithe finger to them.

     "Those are what we call the Guidance Gems. They were installed about, hm, six years ago? The different colors tell us which wing we're in. Since those are blue, that means we're in the Mathematics wing. Normally there's an entire wing for every subject, but if it has a mixed assembly of classes, then the colors on top will tell you if it's farther down the hall than the rest."

    Your eyes widened slightly in wonder at this. To think such simple, lovely objects would be the key to reducing how often you got lost in this place. Yet, here you were thinking they were just another means of flaunting the abundance of riches the owners of this castle had.

     "They're really pretty..." you quietly said.

     "Aren't they? You should see them at night. They shine like stars in a night sky."