Blue: I had submitted this story a while back...Like, in December. But I removed it because it didn't get a whole lot of attention and...For some reason, I got really paranoid about it. But I'm putting it back up again since I've been thinking about going back to work on it again a lot lately. HOWEVER, just like last time, I might end up removing it again. It all depends on my mood later. XD I don't know why, but this is the only story that does that to me. Now that I think about it, I have a few problems with this story. Mostly my idealistic tendicies. But they end up in just about all of my stories, so I should probably just get over it. Anyway...enjoy it while it's up for however long that may be.

Alanis

By Courtney "Blue" Timmons

Chapter 1: Zei, Keelee, and Prospective Friends

“Good morning!” Zei shouted as she sat upright in her bed, her purple hair that went just past her shoulders flying forward. It was as though Zei had never been asleep in the first place, she woke up so promptly. Zei opened her emerald green eyes and looked around the hut. There was no one. A feeling of complete disappointment overcame her. “I see. So she’s not home again today.” Zei said in a monotone. She lay back down in the bed and pulled the cover over her.

Zei was a sorceress in training. She was thirteen going on fourteen. Just a month before her fourteenth birthday, her mother, a very talented sorceress, had left their home and the fortress it was located in. Zei didn’t say anything as she watched her mother leave. She was foolish enough to expect her to come right back. Her mother’s been gone for five straight days.

Each day, Zei woke up hoping to find her mother who would greet her morning with open arms and warm kisses. But instead, she got nothing.

It was especially hard for her to handle since there was no one her age, or even around her age, living in the fortress of Seadan, for the young girl to talk to. Everyone was older than forty. How she ended up in such a place was a mystery to her. And Zei wasn’t the type of girl who liked being alone either. Though she also didn’t like anything getting to her.

“I wish mama was here.” Zei whined. She sat up in her bed again and looked at her little feet under the cover. “If only I could use magic to figure out where she went. But I’m still no good. At this rate, I’ll never be as good of a sorceress as mama.”

Zei brought herself to climb out of bed and get dressed. She walked over to the window and opened it. She looked out into the orange scenery; the sky, the dirt, the buildings, etc. Zei perched her head on the window sill and sighed. “So boring. I’m sure that if I remain optimistic though, mama is bound to come home soon, right? Right. What’s five days matter anyway?”

Zei looked down. She noticed something coming out from behind her building, blowing in the eastern bound wind. It looked like pale blue fabric with golden lace, probably from a gown. Out of curiosity, Zei climbed out of the window and made her way behind the hut. She gasped when she saw a young girl, looking to be about her age, with fair skin and long pale blue hair. She was wearing the pale blue gown with the golden lace. She was unconscious and propped against the side of the hut.

“Who is she?” Zei looked around. “I hope she’s not dead and someone just needed a place to ditch her.” Zei looked back at the girl propped against her home. She knelt down and picked up a stick. Zei poked the girl in the side. She began to stir. “Phew! She’s alive.” Zei should’ve taken that as a hint to cease the poking. But no. She kept poking the girl.

Even though she was unconscious, the looks the girl made were as a sign she was getting rather irritated. Then, without warning, the girl’s eyes shot open and she shot to her feet. “STOP IT YOU LITTLE TWERP!”

Zei fell backwards from the surprise. She looked up at the girl. She had pale violet eyes which were now cringed with anger. The girl was also pretty frail in stature. Zei smiled with embarrassment. “Oh. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” The girl repeated. “Sorry she says! That was incredibly rude of you! Just poking away at me!”

“Sorry.” Zei apologized again. She stood up and brushed off her skirt. “I was just a bit curious. You were just laying against my hut after all.”

“Then stop being so curious you little twit.” The girl snapped.

“I couldn’t help it. You were propped against my home.”

The girl was about to say something else, but she bit down on it. “I guess I’m sorry for that much.”

“I’ve never seen you around here before. What’s your name?” Zei asked.

“My name?” Asked the girl. “My name…Do I have a name?”

“Sure you do. Everyone has a name. Mine is Zei.”

“That’s a stupid name and I didn’t ask for it!” The girl snapped again.

“I was just trying to help.” Zei said shyly. She couldn’t believe her first interaction with someone her age would turn out like this. “Don’t you know your name?”

“No.” The girl admitted. “I don’t even know how I got here.”

Zei only stared at the girl. The girl caught her gaze and snapped again. Zei apologized. “I can’t believe you don’t have a name…I know! I’ll call you Keelee.”

“Keelee?” The girl repeated. “Why?”

“My mom named my sister that, but she died shortly before I was born. So, you’re the sister I’ve never met!”

Keelee grimaced. “It sounds a lot better than Zei, I’ll give you that. But I’m not staying here. I have to go home…Wherever that is.”

“Oh!” Zei exclaimed raising her hand. “Stay with me, until you get your memory back anyway.”

“My memory’s not gone though.”

“Not remembering your name or where you live doesn’t count as memory loss?” Zei asked with a tiny hint of sarcasm.

Keelee thought about it for a minute. She cringed when she realized she was beat.

*

Zei sat at the dining table in the middle of the hut with a large smile on her face as she sat and watched Keelee enjoy a bowl of soup. Keelee, on the other hand, was staring back at Zei with irritation as she sipped the soup from her spoon. The only sounds being made within the hut were coming from Keelee tapping the spoon against the inside of the bowl and sipping the soup from the spoon. Zei only smiled the entire time.

Finally, Keelee dropped the spoon in the bowl and said to Zei, “Cut it out!”

“What?” Zei asked. She was truly confused.

“Get that goofy smile off of your face. How am I supposed to eat with you staring at me like that?” Keelee rose from her seat and threw her hands to her small hips.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that…It’s been so long since I’ve had someone else in the hut to talk to.” Zei confessed.

Keelee didn’t care for that explanation one bit. “Then please talk rather than stare.” Keelee walked away from the table and over to Zei’s bed. She flopped down on it. “Goodness, I’ve been here for almost a week and you’re driving me crazy.”

Zei stood from her seat. She began rolling her hands as she slowly made her way to the bed as well. “I’m sorry. I really am.” Zei apologized again.

“Whatever.” Keelee said. Her pale violet eyes fixed themselves on the ceiling.

Zei continued rolling her hands. It was in her timid nature to have nothing to say in situations such as these. “Um, do you remember anything yet?”

“Not a thing.” Keelee told her, sitting up. She looked at the troubled Zei. Keelee breathed through her nose. “It’s been a week. Maybe there’s nothing for me to remember.”

“Don’t say that.” Zei quickly said. “You didn’t just pop up out of thin air.”

Keelee shrugged. “Maybe I did. There’s no reason for me to exist.”

Zei gasped with disbelief. Keelee jumped slightly and her pale eyes shot in Zei’s direction. “How can you say that?”

“What?”

Zei fought back a glare and instead, tried to look as considerate and sincere as she could. “How can you say ‘there’s no reason for you to exist’ when clearly there is?”

Keelee rolled her eyes. “Okay…I’ll bite. I obviously have a reason for existing, considering I’m actually here and don’t remember squat about myself, my life, or even how I got here.” With that, she rolled onto her side, her back to Zei and her eyes glaring at the wall.

“Exactly!” Zei appeared to have brightened and clapped her hands together. Keelee scoffed to herself. “Because you’re here, you have a reason for existing. You may not know it right now, but that’s okay. You’ll figure it out one day…”

All while Zei continued her little speech that Keelee was utterly disgusted by, Keelee synched her lips and exaggerated facial expressions, mocking Zei without facing her.

“Everyone has a reason to exist, Keelee!” Zei continued to speak. “Be it to become someone’s companion, or to even become the greatest sorceress the world has ever seen. Sure, life gives us our ups and downs, but if you continue to let things get bad, then you’ll never find your reason for existing.”

Keelee suddenly rolled over on the bed to face Zei, silencing the girl. Keelee’s movements didn’t stop there either. She then proceeded to rise from the bed and place her feet on the floor, bringing herself to stand before Zei. Zei took a step back. Her mouth gaped as she stared ahead of her at Keelee. Though Keelee was a thin and frail looking figure, she was taller than Zei by at least a good two inches. Keelee’s eyes didn’t seem pleased. To Zei, they were forever stuck in annoyed mode.

Keelee folded her arms over her small chest and said with a sense of bitterness in a low, threatening tone, “Listen, you bubble-head. I don’t know why I’m here. I don’t know how I got here. I have no memory of anything, but I’m not a total moron like you.”

Zei’s eyes widened at being called a ‘moron.’ She’d never been called that before. She’d heard her mother say it a few times in her presence to neighbors and they always laughed about it afterward. Now, she’d heard it in a negative context for the first time in her life. She’d realized for the first time that she truly had no idea what the word even meant.

“You say I have a reason for existing, huh?” Keelee continued. “Perhaps was that reason to be brought here out of thin air to be dumbed down by some purple-headed idiot who continues to gawk at me and prattle on about senseless nonsense that doesn’t have any kind of effect on me what-so-ever?”

Zei couldn’t comprehend what was going on. She’d never known anyone her own age. Keelee was her chance at making friends with someone she could relate to. So why did Keelee’s words sting so much? Why did they hurt?

Keelee let out an annoyed huff. She looked around the hut. “This place is so dark and depressing…I’m amazed you can keep your sanity here. Living alone. Hm. You told me you lived here with your mother, right?” Keelee put her eyes back on Zei who was looking down at the floor as if she were in a state of complete shock. “So, Zei, where is this mother of yours? Did she run away to get away from an annoying little pain in the butt such as yourself? Or did she kill herself in some secluded area outside of Seadan?”

Something in Zei’s head snapped. “I’m sorry!” She screamed.

Keelee raised a very thin pale blue eyebrow.

Zei began rubbing her eyes before the rapidly falling tears could even make it from her face. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you!” She sniveled. “I just, I just….” The girl began shaking. She lowered her hands from her glassy, tear filled emerald colored eyes giving Keelee a clear view of them. “I’ll never bother you again!”

Keelee didn’t move an inch in response to Zei turning quickly on her heels and rushing out of the front door of the hut, leaving the door wide open and letting it sway as the wind blew.

Keelee huffed and placed her hands on her hips. “What an idiot, running off as if she’s giving me her own home.”

“Hee hee! You’re such an idiot ___!”

Keelee’s eyes shot wide open. She spun around and looked around the hut. “Who’s there?”

“Hey! Don’t call me names!”

Keelee put her hands to her head. “Am…Am I hearing things?” Keelee gasped when the hut suddenly began to change before her eyes. The dark, dismal walls of Zei’s hut transformed to a sky at sunset, a garden full of purple flowers, and stone columns that reached for the sky. Keelee was astounded as she looked around. There was no sign that she had been in the hut before.

“W-What is this?” She asked herself, questioning whether or not she was losing her mind.

“Well that’s what you called her, isn’t it?”

Keelee’s head quickly turned to look over her shoulder. Her whole body soon followed. Along a stone path that snaked through the garden aligned with the stone columns, two people stood as though they were discussing something.

One was a grown woman with emerald green eyes that revealed a hint of playfulness in her personality. Her face was triangular and her skin almost tan. Her hair was a dark violet that was long and curly. She was dressed in indigo robes that complimented her figure.

The woman was looking down at a little girl, maybe less than six-years-old. The girl had pale blue hair and light purple eyes. She was thin for a child and was dressed in a light blue gown with golden lace at the cuffs of her sleeves and the gown's hemline. Keelee felt this girl bore a striking resemblance to someone…

“I didn’t call her that!” The little girl defended. “I was just making sure she was aware of it.”

The woman laughed. “Silly, silly little ____. You’ll never make friends with her that way.”

Keelee’s eyes widened. She put a finger in her ear in an attempt to clear it. “What was that blank? W—was that my name?”

“I don’t need friends!” Protested the child. “I’m superior to her and I can say whatever I what to her whenever I want.”

The woman laughed. “Deary me, you say you don’t need friends, hm? I can prove that you’ll need her one day. You know how?”

The little girl grew curious. “How?”

The woman chuckled lightly to herself. “It’s simple really. Do you know what your reason for existing is, ____?”

“There goes the blank again,” Keelee said to herself. “It must be my name…But…that question. Reminds me of that bubble head.”

“To grow up, be beautiful, and rule the kingdom! That’s my reason for existing!” The girl declared with the utmost pride and confidence.

The woman laughed once more. “No, no. Well, if you don’t know what your reason for existing is, then you can never really be friends with ___, now can you?”

“Another blank?” Keelee winced. “Was that my name or someone else’s?”

The woman raised a finger and poked the little girl lightly on the nose. “Figure out your reason for existing my dear. And maybe, just maybe, ___ will help you.”

“Help me what?” Keelee asked the air.

Keelee jumped. Her new surroundings were suddenly vanishing before her eyes from the sky down to the ground. Keelee gasped. She turned back to the two females she’d been watching before. They hadn’t disappeared yet, but they were flickering, similar to mirages. “Wait!” She screamed to them. “Tell me my name!” She decided to run to them. Perhaps if she could reach them, she could get her name. But everything was vanishing so quickly and she didn’t seem to be getting any closer to them.

BAM! Keelee stumbled back and fell onto her butt after running straight into the wall of Zei’s hut. She groaned and put a hand to her face. “T—That was great…”

Lowering her hand, Keelee looked around the hut. It was exactly the same as it had been before her little hallucination just then. Zei had also not returned. Keelee sighed and leaned forward into her own lap. “So…I just remembered something. After a week of nothing, I’ve remembered something.” Keelee went quiet. A small chuckle escaped her mouth. Then a tear fell from her eye as she began to laugh quietly to herself. “I’m so happy…I actually did have a life.”

Keelee had to have been sitting on the floor for at least ten minutes. She didn’t know why she had just left herself sitting there. Perhaps she was too overcome with relief from this revelation. Perhaps she was too confused to bring herself to move. Or…Or maybe she had been hoping Zei would come running back through that door so she’d have someone to share this new information with.

It was probably the last one.

Zei never did come running back through that door.

After a while, Keelee finally decided to stand up. She swept off her gown and made her way over to the window. She saw the sun was already setting. She turned to the door of the hut. It was still open and no one had come through it.

He conscience was finally catching up to her. This thing had totally come out of left field and it had come way too late. Maybe the memory was at fault for this.

*

Zei had run a good distance from her hut. She had ran at least halfway through the entire fortress, adults attempted to stop her but she didn’t hear them. She just kept going.

After some time, she had realized where she had been going. She had run to the fortress storage house where many of the residents kept their weapons when they weren’t venturing outside of the fortress. She snuck in undetected, not that anyone was guarding it. She walked to the far back of the storage house and retrieved something that had been under lock and key which she unlocked easily (after three attempts) using a spell her mother had taught her. She took this item, left a small note inside the compartment it had been kept and hurried out.

After that, she had gone to sit on the highest hill in the fortress and just cried to herself for what was more than likely hours. What Keelee had said to her hurt and she couldn’t understand why. How could she think she could make friends with someone for the first time in her life? She’d never had a friend before, at least not one her own age. It was most certainly not an easy thing to do. Zei was finally fed up with being alone. She’d said it herself that nothing would change unless she took the initiative to do it herself.

By the time the sun was setting, she was trekking back through the fortress to the main entrance. She was nearly there and was hugging the item she’d taken from the storage house close to herself. Aside from that, she had taken a few other things. Things she would need.

Zei's emerald eyes widened when she arrived at the main entrance of the fortress. She paused in her tracks. “W-What’re you doing here?” She stuttered.

Keelee glared at her. The girl was standing before her, authoritatively with her arms folded over her chest, blocking her way. “I was waiting for you, idiot.”

Zei blinked to express her confusion. “Wha?”

Keelee waved her hand to dismiss any assumptions that Zei may have had. “Don’t ask how I knew what you were planning. I’m not entirely sure about it myself but…” Keelee paused. She unfolded her arms to reveal she was holding something indigo. She unfolded it to reveal it was a pointed hat, like a witch’s hat. “I figured you couldn’t go anywhere without this.”

Zei gasped. She gently lowered her supplies and scurried over to Keelee. Keelee handed her the hat which she took with much admiration in her eyes. “It’s my mother’s hat! How’d you find it?”

“It wasn’t that well hidden.” Keelee said rather bluntly. “You keep it under your pillow.”

Zei smiled at Keelee, her cheeks pink with gratitude. “Thank you Keelee! I couldn’t imagine leaving home without it.”

Keelee smiled slightly. It was brief smile that instantly turned into a straight line. “So you really are leaving, huh? And you planned on leaving me here, is that it?”

Zei was taken aback. Her eyes began shifting back and forth as though she were looking for a way to answer. “Well, I…”

“How could you try to abandon a poor, helpless, young, beautiful girl like myself with no recollection of her life beforehand in this great, foreign fortress?” Keelee exaggerated.

Zei flinched. “B-But Keelee, Seadan is a very safe place that only the residents know about. When outside of it, it appears invisible and you can’t track anyone here even with magic….”

“Blah, blah, blah! So where are we going?”

Zei’s jaw dropped. “No, Keelee! You should stay here. The adults have told me stories about how dangerous it is outside of Seadan!”

Keelee’s eyes narrowed on her. “Which makes it so much better for a sorceress in training to go out on her own? May as well take the amnesiac with you. After all, she’s so much smarter than you.”

“B-But Keelee…”

“Shut up!” Keelee snatched the hat from Zei. Zei was dumbstruck by the action but had no time to respond with Keelee shoving the hat atop her head. Zei stumbled before catching her balance. She looked up at Keelee who was smiling again. “I can’t let a friend prospect go off on her own without me there to help.”

Zei was utterly confused by this sudden change in Keelee. She was just starting to think that Keelee would never like her. But she had to admit, she liked Keelee when she was smiling at her. She couldn’t help but smile back. “Okay! Let’s get going!”

Keelee watched Zei as she began to collect up her supplies that she had put down before. As she watched her, a few things ran through Keelee’s mind; “That memory before…It happened soon after Zei ran out on me…”

“Okay!” Zei cheered after getting her things together. “I’m ready to go!”

Keelee threw on a broad grin. “Then let’s get going, shall we!”

“Maybe she is what will trigger my memory. It’ll be best to use her while I can.”

Blue: Yeah, I know it's a short chapter. They all are except for maybe two. Yes, I know there's not a whole lot of detail. Personally, I find too much detail to be unneccessary and boring and personally, I hate writing it. So, if you wanna read more, have any predictions or just wanna comment, then review. If there are no reviews, that'll be my cue to remove this story from the site. I need to know that someone is actually interested in finding out how this story goes, don't think of me demanding reviews as a way to fuel my ego. It's more of a survey type of deal than anything else.