The Upside-down (Norminah)

A Fateful Meeting

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"Nala, if you smack me in the face with your giant behind tail one more time..."

"Well you shouldn't be walking so close to my behind, your sassiness. Haha!"

Nala and I have been wandering this darkness for what seems like eternity and it's starting to irritate me. She seems fine with it, which makes sense, seeing as she's originally from here. I was hoping for more of a change in scenery by now. But no...it's never ending darkness.

I still have that strong feeling that we're not the only ones here. In fact, the more we walk, the stronger that feeling gets. I'm sure Nala has the same feeling. She continues to look behind her every now and then. I'm not all that worried though. As long as I have her beside me, I'll always feel safe.

As we continued walking, I started feeling more energized. I had no idea what was happening. Then I looked down at my necklace and it was glowing much brighter than usual. Nala looked at me with much concern as I met her gaze.

"Oh my goodness it's happening!"

"Nala what's happen-"

Before I can finish my question, she bolted the opposite way of where we were walking, giggling excitedly with every stride. When I tried to go after her, the amount of energy coursing through my body became so intense, it brought me to my knees. My whole body started glowing.

What is happening to me!?

That was all I could think while trying to keep my body under control...until I heard something that stopped me in my tracks.

...it was a heart beat...

A very strong heart beat. But somehow I could tell it wasn't mine. Though my body was overwhelmed with energy, my heart continued to beat at its normal pace. This heart beat was faster, more clear. Then I heard a groan. I could tell the sound belonged to a female. She sounds just as weak as me.

"There is someone else here," I said to myself.

Determined to find her, I sprinted in the direction Nala ran. The more I ran, the faster I got. Eventually I was running at what seemed like the speed of light. Then all of a sudden, my body collided with something...more like someone...

(Listen to: "Telemiscommunications-Instrumental" by Imogen Heap)

I silently gasped as I held the person up to keep them from falling. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was her...the woman from my vision. She was just as beautiful as I thought.

"Oh mon dieu," she warily whispered. She looked just as awestruck as me. Did she know who I was? No no no...that would be too much of a coincidence. "Tu es la femme de mon rêve."

"I was in your dreams too!?" Wait...she just spoke in a tongue I've never heard, and somehow I understood what she said? I've never heard another language spoken besides my own.

"Y-you can understand me?" Now she looked even more scared. I quickly realized I was still holding her, so I gracefully let her down and sat in front of her on my knees, taking in every detail of her. Gosh, she was so beautiful. From her flawless, midnight chocolate skin tone, to the softness of her deep brown orbs. I didn't realize I was staring that intently until she touched my cheek and smiled, her mouth slightly a gape, most likely from astonishment.

As soon as her hand met my cheek, I instantly melted in her touch, remembering the exact feeling from my vision. As I continued to look into her eyes, there was a small tear that escaped and started cascading down her cheek. I adoringly smiled and gently wiped it away with my thumb, running it softly across her cheek bone.

"You're just as beautiful as I envisioned," she said as if she were in a trance. I couldn't help but blush at her words.

"You are too," I replied, "sorry for staring so much. It's just...I didn't expect to run into you like this." I nervously chuckled while ducking my head down. She brought her index finger to my chin to bring my gaze to hers.

"I think we had to meet this way," she said, "and I'm glad we did. How did you even know I was here?"

"Well the minute Nala and I entered our doorway, I felt like we weren't the only ones here. I would always look back to make sure I wasn't going crazy but all there was was more darkness. But Nala sensed it too. And after a while, the feeling grew so strong I couldn't ignore it anymore. So I ran looking for you."

Her widening eyes told me that she must've went through the same thing I did.

"Did the same thing happen to you?" I asked her.

"Yes actually," she began, "Lealia and I sensed what you sensed when we came here as well. It got so strong to the point where I couldn't physically move anymore. It wasn't really a painful feeling. More like...a built up amount of energy..."

"So it was your groans I heard...your energy I felt..."

Her eyes went from confusion and shock, to love and softness. From then on, all we did was look into one another's eyes, just memorizing everything. In that moment, it felt like no words had to be said, we understood all that had just transpired. Because we were deeply connected by fate, we could feel when one was in trouble. We could read each other's mind, feel each other's emotions, everything.

"Oh gosh," she suddenly said, breaking me out of my trance, "I completely forgot, I was trying to find my Lealia. When everything started happening, she ran off with so much excitement. I don't know what got into her." She softly giggled.

"Nala did the same thing." I replied with a small laugh. "I'm guessing Lealia is to you what Nala is to me," I took a shot and guessed that whoever Lealia was must've been the creature she was connected to from here like Nala is to me.

"Yes she is," she said with a smile of gratitude, "she's the most beautiful nine tailed fox you'll ever meet. When she was little, she was the size of my palm; very timid and shy, which she still is, and she was as brown as the soil. Being fully grown, she now has pure white fur, ice blue eyes, and elegance that not even I possess yet."

"She sounds lovely. I feel like Nala would really like her," I replied, remembering how Nala seemed to be naturally attracted to creatures who's nature was opposite of hers.

"What's your Nala like?" She asked curiously.

"She's very...interesting to say the least," I began with a giggle, "when I found her she was the smallest little lion cub I've ever seen. She had these cute little butterfly wings and was very cuddly. Now she's a full grown lioness. Large, angelic wings, a snow white mane, piercing reddish-pink eyes, and the pure heart of a child."

The brown beauty smiled at me adoringly as I continued to go on about how Nala was a big help to my people back home. She said Lealia had the same significance where she came from. In her kingdom, Lealia, evidently, was the strong force leading their army. I've heard rumors of the land she hailed from; how their people were ruthless and blood hungry. But being here with her now...makes it seem like those rumors and horror stories were false.

"We should probably look for them," I said, helping her up.

"I agree," she replied, "as fearless as Lealia is, she gets frantic when her and I are a part for a long period of time."

"I understand. Nala's the same way...oh I'm so sorry I never asked you what your name was."

"Normani," she answered, "Normani Videl." She then took my hand, using her thumb to caress my knuckles. "And what's yours?"

"Dinah," I replied bashfully, "Dinah Ata."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you, Dinah Ata of Tonga."

"It's definitely nice to meet you, Normani Videl of Francia."

Intertwining our fingers, we walked hand in hand to find our guardians.

This darkness doesn't seem so dark anymore...

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