A/N: Firstly, this was inspired by commercial previews I'd seen for Coraline (I totally want to see that movie, despite how strange it looks!!). I'd written less than ten percent of it before yesterday. Then, thanks to rolliepollie44's inspiration, haha, I managed to finish it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters. =/


Picture Perfect


My friends and I were investigating the myths of Twilight town, and that included that the old mansion was haunted. The other myths had all proven false, so it was only a matter of proving this was fake too.

No one believed in ghosts; I mean, really. But as we faced the black gate outside the old thing, I felt a tiny, inexplicable fear. Once we were inside, we split up; Pence and Olette went looking around the ground floor, and Hayner and I searched the upstairs. Looking around, twisted statues and the odd paintings on the wall increased my peculiar fear. Irrational fear: there was nothing to be afraid of, no ghosts.

As I reached the end of the hallway I was assigned to investigate, the door at the end of it, which I was standing in front of, opened. I hadn't touched it. The door opened on its own. No, something on the other side of the door had opened it. It was a ghost. No, it looked like it was a living girl.

Behind the door, everything was white. Bright, white walls illuminated with white light were the background. The foreground was a girl around the same height as me, who had beautiful, blonde hair that was straight until it curled gorgeously at the end over her shimmering, white dress. I would never forget this image.

"Um, guys," I called over my shoulder. "There's someone here."

I heard Hayner's laughing distantly.

They wouldn't believe me.

I turned back to the girl nervously, clearing my throat.

A light smile, all mine, lit up her face. "Hi," she spoke up, "My name is Namine."

I felt like I had met her before. Maybe it had only been in a dream.

"I'm Roxas," was all I managed.

Namine asked me to go into the room with her. Once inside, I noticed there was a table, the same color as everything else, sitting in the exact center of the room. It was littered with crayons of all different colors, a lot of other drawing utensils, and stacks of drawing paper. There were pictures, not photographs, all along each wall. I also noticed there were a few on the floor and even the ceiling.

I glanced at some of the pictures for a few seconds. Then, Namine asked me to look at a certain one. The picture was the farthest possible from the door to this room, which was now closed.

It was a pretty simple picture. It looked like two blondes sitting on a hill by a lone tree, holding hands, watching the sun set under a blue sky that looked as bright as day. It looked like a little kid had drawn it.

I nodded at it and turned back to the girl.

"Would you like to see it closer?" she asked blankly. I wouldn't know until much later that my answer to this would mean everything to Namine.

"What do you mean?" I asked. She was a little peculiar.

"Would you?" she repeated. Apparently, Namine wanted me to be the one to give the first answer.

Namine was definitely peculiar. But she was pretty. And ... interesting.

"Okay."

The light smile once again formed on her two lips and she took my hand in hers.


Suddenly, we were there. We were in it. The picture, I mean.

I was sitting next to Namine. We were sitting.. on the hill. We were sitting.. under the tree.

But everything was different. However, it was still.. beautiful.

The grass. It was not emerald. It wasn't deep or dark. It was soft, in color. It felt a little cold, and like it was synthetic, between my fingers.

The sky above and beyond and beside us looked like one flat color, a ceiling and walls.

In the tree, I couldn't see any singular leaves; there was what only looked like a mass of green. The brown bark looked soft like the grass.

The other green hills, the ones in the distance, rolled together, like normal hills, and rolled against the sky. And the sun, leaning against the sky, sat on the hills.

The sun was a prefect, yellow circle. Rays extending from it alternated from long to short, from yellow to orange to red.

Namine and I sat, two blondes, hand-in-hand; we were little less than strangers. Together, we watched the sun slide slowly down the sky's back wall, behind the hills.

The sun hadn't been made of light but only color.

The sky remained the same tint of blue, without its sun. This was strange, but it was still some kind of wonderful.

With a small popping sound, an apple, and I hadn't noticed any before, fell from the tree and Namine caught it expertly. It was glossy and nearly spherical. Namine dared me to take a bite; it tasted sweet, like candy, delicious, but not how an apple is supposed to taste.

Namine laughed slightly. She threw the apple, and it made it easily to the sky above the hills. It broke through the sky like it was paper, forming a cloud in the hole it made.

Namine caught another apple as it fell. Then, she put it within the set of ten fingers that had been intertwined. ...


When we were back in the white room, the picture had changed. There were clouds in its sky and a red heart formed where the blondes' hands met. ...


In the days following, I would sneak through the woods, to a nearly abandoned mansion, to climb a fence and a staircase leading to a white room with a beautiful girl.

It had always seemed so worth it.

Namine and I visited all different pictures. However, we mostly went to the same on: the picture with the soft grass, the flat skies, the candy apples.

One time, Namine told me she loved me. I didn't know, but I thought I might. I said I loved her back. I wasn't sure, though.

She sort of became my girlfriend. It was more complicated than that.


Then, one fateful day, Namine told me everything.


Another, later day, I sat at what was the usual spot for my group of friends.

I had fallen into a dreamless sleep and come awake. At that point, it was only myself and Pence. Pence was looking through photographs.

I decided then that I would confide in him.

"She's got this world where everything's better but it's all wrong."

I wanted to tell him--it didn't have to be him, it could have been anyone else--so much more. There was so much troubling me, so much I didn't understand.

"Sure she does, Roxas."

My friends still didn't believe me.


Another visit to our favorite picture, we lay on our backs, together, on top of the hill, hand-in-hand, boyfriend and girlfriend. Roxas and Namine.

We were looking up into the highest of skies, the ceiling sky; I believe some people call it heaven.

Somehow, the sky was orange today, and ribbons of pink danced in it. Namine said she'd heard about it, and I don't know who from. She called it pretty. She called it twilight. ...

Somehow there were clouds up there. Few were gray, most were white. The two of us were looking for shapes in them.

At the same time, we both pointed out a cloud that, ironically enough, looked like a heart.

"I wish I had a heart," I sighed. Neither of us had hearts; this was something she had told me.

We were called "nobodies." Yes, that was a real boost to the self-esteem.. not.

I rolled over and looked at my girl. "What is it you want, Namine?"

Namine turned her head and gazed into my eyes.

She said, "What else is there to want?" Then, I believe she whispered, "Everything is perfect."

Somehow, that felt like the saddest thing I'd ever heard.