Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

On a day seemingly like any other, the peaceful life within the world of Radiant Garden continues uninterrupted. The world's residents go about their daily routines, accompanied by the sounds of the water spouting out from the fountains and running through the aqueducts.

Unbeknownst to them, however, is the discussion that is occurring below Radiant Garden's Castle, faintly echoing through the maze-like hallways leading to the sterile coldness that is Ansem's Study. The humming of the study's electrical lamps and the semi-constant beeping of computers are the only things that can be heard after Kairi, one of the Keyblade Wielders who helped save the Worlds, has made a proposal regarding her future.

"Kairi, are you sure about this?"

The silence after Kairi's words is interrupted by Riku's uncertain question. The background noise only serves to make things feel more uncomfortable.

"Yes, Riku. If there are any clues as to Sora's whereabouts, I'm determined to do anything. I don't mind." Kairi replies without looking him in the eye.

"It's not about you minding or not, who knows how long it'll take. I don't want you to lose so much time-"

"It's my decision. He saved me, and now I have to do the same for him-"

"Kairi, we have no idea how long it could take, you could lose days, weeks, months-"

"Riku, really, it's alright-"

"You could lose years!"

After Riku's loud interruption, one of Ansem's students, Ienzo, moves to try and calm both of them down. However, he is quickly dismissed by Even, "We'd only be making it worse, it's not our place."

After a few moments of silence, Riku begins to plead, "In the worst case, where you don't find anything, it'd be around a year of time that you'll have missing from your life-"

"You were gone from the islands just as long!" Kairi suddenly retorts.

A thought crosses Riku's mind. She's right.

Meeting his eyes, Kairi continues, "Every day I thought about you and Sora, who I couldn't even remember the name of at the time! You vanished so suddenly, I thought I did something wrong or something horrible had happened!" The suddenness of her words stuns everyone else into silence.

Her voice, now wobbly, pierces the quiet once more. "Some people even thought you were gone. Every time I mentioned the two of you, I'd get strange looks. I was the only one back home who remembered Sora! I thought something was wrong with me!" She crumples into herself slightly, and begins to sniffle.

"I wish- I wish you at least came back to the Islands for a bit, just so I knew it wasn't all in my head!"

"I... I'm sorry, Kairi, I just- It was too dangerous for me to go back home-"

"I know. I know. Just- let me do this." As she finishes, Kairi turns around, facing away from Riku completely.

"Fine." After a moment, he fixes his gaze on Ienzo and Even. "Take care of her. Don't let her get hurt, please."

Ienzo, slightly stumbling, replies, "O-of course!" When Riku makes his exit, he hears Even's voice. "Ienzo, call for Ansem the Wise, we'll need his expertise. Are you ready to begin preparations, young Kairi?"

While Riku doesn't hear her response, she must've said yes if the noises from nearby machinery are anything to go by. I could've handled that better. Ugh, I'm such an idiot, the boy thinks to himself as he makes his way out through the corridors and into the stairs heading to the central plaza.

Feeling angry, probably at himself, he finds himself looking for a way to get rid of the pent-up energy. He figures some manual labor would get his mind off of things, and so he decides to check in on the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee to see if he can help with anything. Alas, it was late in the day, and all work had already been distributed.

The early winter sun was setting quickly, and it was getting colder by the minute. A quick jog would have to do.

Utterly exhausted after overexerting himself, Riku makes his way to his temporary living space — a quaint little house near Merlin's residence . Only bothering with a quick shower and a snack beforehand , Riku collapses into his bed. While his jog (later turned into a full-on sprint) didn't help distract him from his thoughts, it did tire him out to the point where he fell asleep immediately.

Riku wakes up with a start. Ever since his Mark of Mastery, he hasn't been dreaming much, if at all. But that night, he actually dreamed! Though he finds himself unable to remember anything else aside from the fact that he actually had a dream. Stuck at an impasse, Riku gets out of bed and decides to have an early morning.

I barely ate anything last night, he thinks to himself as his stomach rumbles.

Barely managing to keep his eyes open, he sets about making coffee for himself while snacking on a cereal bar, promising himself that he'd make something more substantial to eat after fully waking up. "Deciding" (grabbing what was closest) on a couple of slices of buttered toast and some nuts, Riku quickly eats his breakfast, eager to get away from the awkward silence of his home.

Riku is greeted by the early morning sun when he exits into the Borough. The Radiant Garden Restoration Committee's efforts bustle with noise in the distance as flowers are replanted, homes rebuilt, and defenses shored up. Though Master Xehanort has been defeated, the people of Radiant Garden have to stay vigilant, with Villain's Vale still looming in the background of their lives like a shadow. Despite the Garden being a Realm of Light, the experiments performed in the past by Ansem the Wise and his disciples have placed this world in a unique position: the Heartless are never too far, and one can never be too safe.

Riku makes his way through the Borough and into Merlin's house, intent on not letting the opportunity go to waste this time.

"Oh! Good morning, Riku!" greets Aerith as she looks up from her planner — its numerous pages no doubt full of jobs and requests for the Committee.

"Good morning," Riku replies, looking around the house and finding some of the Committee's members already inside; namely Leon and Yuffie. The latter quickly runs up to the boy, greeting him and bombarding him with questions, "Hey Riku! What's up? How've you been? You here to help us today?" The fact that it's early in the morning seems to have no effect on her.

"Wh- Morning, Yuffie. I've been alright, I actually came here to ask if there was anything I could do to help," Riku does his best to respond, surprised.

"Nice!" Yuffie excitedly turns to one of the chairs placed at the far end of the house. "Hey, Leon! Tell Riku about the Bailey assignment!" When a grunt is all she gets in response, Yuffie quickly steps back and adds, "On second thought, maybe later."

Watching the scene play out, Aerith warmly interjects, "Hehe, you know Leon doesn't do mornings well." She closes her planner. "Don't worry, Riku, I'll tell you all about it."

"We plan on repairing the walls around the Bailey and blocking off the Ravine Trail. This would cut off another entry point for the remaining Heartless! The job entails guarding and patrolling the area, which would allow the repair workers to do their jobs without being interrupted," she explains.

"Oh, I'd be glad to help. That would eliminate the threat completely, right?" Riku asks.

"Kind of. Some Heartless could still appear from within the depths of the Castle, from the ruins of Hollow Bastion, but Dilan, Aeleus, and the others are skilled enough that these aren't a concern," replies Aerith.

Almost interrupting her, Yuffie frustratedly blurts out, "Ugh! If they're so skilled, why don't they lend us a hand!? We're kinda short-staffed here!" Before she can say anything else, however, Leon once again makes his presence known with a grunt.

"Oops, sorry, Leon..." Yuffie apologizes, "I kinda... forgot you were here."

Aerith chuckles. "Anyway, it'd be you, Yuffie, and Leon doing most of the patrolling, while I take care of any injuries that might happen and support you all from long-range. We had asked the Gullwings to serve as lookouts, but they're a bit hard to reach."

Glad to have something to do, Riku asks with a slight impatience in his tone, "Sounds like a plan, when do we start?"

"At noon, it'll be warmer, and Leon will be, uhh... fully aware...?" Aerith hums, trying not to offend the semi-unconscious Gunblade wielder. "In the meantime, maybe you and Yuffie could get started transporting the materials and doing some warm-ups?"

"Aw yeah, sparring with Riku!" Yuffie sort of whispers to herself with a flourish. "Let's go, come on!"

What did I get myself into now...? Riku thinks to himself. "Alright, alright, but no promises on the sparring."

"Party pooper, parade rainer, killjoy, wet blanket, stick-in-the-mud-"

"I get it, I get it, alright, fine," Riku interrupts, knowing that Yuffie could continue for a long time. "We'll meet you two later."

"Wait, it's cold out; don't forget to bundle up," Aerith warns.

Yuffie, just about ready to leave in her shorts, suddenly stops. "Man, what are you, my mother?"

"Not at all! I just don't want to deal with you when you catch a cold."

"Fine, I'll change."

"Be safe!" Aerith waves and laughs to herself, while Yuffie steps out of the house and Riku closes the door behind the two of them.

"So, where are we headed to?"

"The Moogles'! Cid had them prepare the stuff a couple days ago, it should all be ready," Yuffie explains as she walks backwards, not needing to look where she's going  — she knows this World like the back of her hand, after all. "You're carrying the heavy stuff, while I'll carry the annoying stuff!"

"Annoying stuff...? Hey, wait, what am I, a pack mule?"

"Yup! You sure are!" she laughs. "Anyway, the annoying stuff is whatever's awkwardly packaged and fragile. I have an amazing sense of balance if I do say so myself, so if I carry that, we'll end up with fewer trips, since I can just stack 'em and keep 'em balanced on top of each other!"

"Somehow, I still think that I got the short end of the stick," Riku sighs.

"Come on, keep up the pace! I can already see the crates you're gonna have to carry!" Yuffie exclaims as she runs off, and Riku is left trying to catch up to her.

After showing her Restoration Committee ID Card to one of the Moogles, Yuffie calls Riku over and points at the heaviest looking crate. "Okay, we're all set, now pick that one up!"

"Fine, hold on." Riku moves to pick it up, carefully distributing his weight as to avoid straining his muscles or losing his balance, and successfully lifts it off the ground. "Yuffie, I can't see anything like this."

"That's no problem, just follow my voice or move your head to the side, you'll be fine," she replies, seemingly uncaring, as she lifts another crate. Rather than holding onto it, she places it on top of Riku's already heavy load instead.

"He-Hey! What are you doing!?" Riku protests with a start.

"Relax, silly. Just making the number of trips smaller is all. You can do one more, right?"

"I don't kn-"

"Of course you can!" Yuffie interrupts and places the final crate, looking proud of herself. "My turn now!"

Yuffie grabs a couple of packages, stacking them up high, and, with her arms busy, she kicks some more up, adding to her seemingly unstable tower of mismatched boxes; some of them end up being balanced on her head. "To the Bailey!"

Riku tiredly follows Yuffie, completely oblivious to the various dolly carts also left out by the Moogles.

After a couple of trips back and forth, Riku and Yuffie finish carrying the materials to the Bailey. Seeking a much deserved break, the both of them walk to the Central Square and sit beside one of the new flower planters.

"Man, I'm all stiff," groans Yuffie, cycling through various stretches.

"You don't even want to know how my arms feel right now," Riku replies, following along with her exercise.

"At least it made for good strength and balance training, right?" The girl beams, clearly looking to find the bright side in the endeavor.

"I mean, I guess."

"What do you mean you guess!? Come on Riku, work with me here!" She sighs. After listening to the sounds of the birds and fountains for a while, Yuffie turns to Riku.

"Hey, Riku?"

"Yeah?" he replies, his eyes closed, trying to focus on the nature surrounding him.

"Thanks for helping us out. It means a lot. With Cloud gone and Tifa looking for him, we really are short-staffed."

"Hm? Oh. It's no problem, I understand. I'm happy to help, really." Riku opens his eyes and turns to face the ninja.

Yuffie pauses before speaking up again, "Uh... Listen. I- uh, I heard about Kairi. If you want to go check on how she's doing, I wouldn't mind, you know, waiting. Just know that I know how you feel, I guess, sorta. You can count on the Committee, remember that."

Riku deflates almost immediately. "Word spread that fast, huh? Thanks, Yuffie, I appreciate it. Would you mind waiting here?"

"I just said that I wouldn't mind, dummy! Now get in there! You must be worried," she chirps and cheerfully claps him on the shoulder. "I'll get us some lunch in the meantime!"

Riku gets up and jogs off towards the Castle, casting one last glance to Yuffie as she waves at him with a big smile.

Riku sneakily makes his way back into Ansem's Study, not willing to interact with Ansem the Wise and his disciples more than is strictly necessary. Though a lot of time has passed since the incidents in Castle Oblivion and Data Twilight Town, just being around them still brings him a sense of discomfort — especially Ansem.

Once he finally makes it through the maze-like corridors, he finds Kairi in the exact same room as when he saw her last. However, instead of being awake and aware, she’s lying down completely still on a reclining chair bed with machines monitoring her vitals, eerily reminiscent of a hospital room.

"Looks like they've already begun, huh? They work fast..." Riku thinks aloud as he sits down on a chair next to Kairi.

"Kairi... I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm really sorry for how I acted yesterday. I know we haven't been the closest of friends since I caused the islands to fall to Darkness, and I... I really messed things up..."

Despite being aware that Kairi can't hear him right now, let alone reply to his words, he desperately waits for a response.

"...I know I should've tried to reach out during the time Sora was asleep. I was just... afraid, I guess. I had changed, and you had changed. We've both changed." Riku lets out a sigh before continuing. "At one point, I started thinking that the only reason you remained my friend was because of Sora. But only now, after hearing what you said yesterday, I realized it must've been the same from your point of view, too."

Kairi remains unmoving. The only sound Riku hears in response is the electronic beeping coming from the machine next to her.

"I'm, I'm sorry. I should've been a better friend to you, I could've been a better friend to you." Riku lowers his head in his hands. "I really should've told you all of this while you were still awake."

It's like, without Sora, it all falls apart.

Taking a deep breath, the boy steels himself. "I promise to properly apologize to you once you wake up."

Seconds, then minutes, pass by. Riku finally speaks up again.

"I've been trying to make myself useful while everyone else is trying to find Sora. I've got a job with the Restoration Committee today, actually. I don't know if you've met them. Maybe you did when you were a kid, but I don't know if you remember them. Anyway, one of the members, Yuffie, reminds me of you a lot, from before the islands fell."

Riku lets a small smile light his features before sighing again.

"You used to wear your Heart on your sleeve, and liked pulling my leg quite a lot, just like she's doing now. But at some point, you shut yourself off like I did... I can't believe it's taken me this long to notice. Some friend, huh? I should've been there for you, maybe then you wouldn't feel like you had to bottle up your emotions. I know it probably doesn't mean much coming from me, I really don't follow my own advice. I've been... unfairly distant from you. To be fair, I've been a horrible friend-"

"That's not true."

A thin, quiet voice somewhere from behind him interrupts Riku's ramblings. Startled, he hurriedly turns to look towards its source and-

"Naminé!?"

"You haven't been a horrible friend to her. Even if you think that way, it wasn't something that was completely your fault. The Heartless, the Organization, even Ansem the Wise, they all messed with us and used us," the blonde girl continues with a far-off look on her face.

"I..." Unsure of how to respond, Riku eloquently greets her, "H-Hi, Naminé. Sorry, you're right."

"Hello, Riku." Naminé walks closer and pulls up a nearby chair to sit next to him. "This is a familiar state of affairs, isn't it?"

After a few moments of silence, Riku speaks up again, "It... really is, huh? At least we don't have DiZ breathing down our necks. How- uh, how have you been, Naminé?"

"I've been alright. They've been performing tests on me, to make sure of my compatibility with the Replica I was gifted. I was the last one to be brought back, after all," Naminé answers, her gaze still away from Riku.

"How's that been going?"

"It's okay. No problems so far."

"Um... Where have you been staying?"

"I've been given a room here. I don't really have anywhere else to go."

"Ah... Sorry."

"It's fine."

Despite going through so much together in the year Sora was sleeping, the fact that Naminé heard what he had been saying has made the encounter extremely awkward and difficult to navigate. Silence has settled between the two of them once again.

"Riku, don't you need to go back to the Committee?"

"O-Oh! You're right. I need to apologize to Yuffie for keeping her waiting."

"It was nice seeing you, sorry for barging in on you like that. Can I go to the Square with you?"

Riku turns to Naminé and notices that the only thing she's wearing aside from her usual short white dress is a seemingly second-hand lab coat. Unsure, he asks, "Will you be okay? With the cold, I mean."

"Oh, I'll be fine. I'd really like to get some air."

"Alright."

Before leaving, Riku turns to Kairi and says "I swear I'll come visit again soon." After a brief pause, he faces Naminé. "Ready?"

"Yes. Lead the way, Riku."

Riku and Naminé step into the bright outdoors, the light briefly stunning them. Before they can even get their bearings, a loud voice rushes towards them.

"Jeez! There you are! Way to make a girl wait-" Yuffie complains and then quickly interrupts herself once she notices that Riku is not alone. "Oh! You must be Naminé! I'm Yuffie Kisaragi of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee! Great to meet you!" she chirrups and extends a hand towards Naminé.

"Oh. Yes, I'm Naminé. Pleased to meet you, too." The girl accepts the handshake.

"Man, aren't you cold?" Without waiting for an answer, Yuffie removes her white hooded cloak and hands it to Naminé. "Here, put it on!"

"Oh, ah, thank you? Won't you get cold, though?" replies Naminé, somewhat taken aback.

"You're very welcome! And nah, I won't be needing it. If you haven't heard, Riku owes me a sparring match! You're welcome to watch!" Marching to the beat of her own drum, Yuffie rapidly switches between topics, not even waiting for a response from Riku before settling into a battle stance.

"Um, sure, I'll stay and watch... Is this a Moogle...?" Naminé mumbles to herself while examining the cloak she's now holding.

"Yuffie I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting for so long-"

"No-no-no-no-no. Nuh-uh. Don't care. Sparring time. Consider it payback for waiting if it makes you feel better. Now shut up and get ready!" Yuffie cuts him off, unable to stay in place for too long.

"Alright, alright. No magic, first one to touch the other with their weapon wins?" Riku relents and settles into his own battle stance, summoning his Keyblade.

"Yessir! Naminé'll be our ref!"

"Huh? Okay? What should I do?"

"Just say 'stop' or whatever when I poke Riku or Riku pokes me. Oh, and give us a countdown to start."

"Got it!" affirms Naminé, deciding to take her assignment as referee very seriously. "Ready? Three, two, one... Go!"

Riku immediately jumps into action with a vertical slash, determined to catch Yuffie off-guard as quickly as possible. After all, he did hear from Sora that she was an extremely agile fighter.

"Oh no you don't!" With an amazingly swift reaction time, Yuffie dodges to the side and back-flips away, seeking to create distance between herself and Riku. In a blink, she then sends her Shuriken flying at him. Knowing he's now at an instant disadvantage, Riku clicks his tongue and prepares to block the oncoming blade.

The echo of metal upon metal reverberates throughout the Square, drawing in a small crowd of residents. The Shuriken falls to the ground with a heavy clang once Riku's Keyblade breaks its trajectory.

From the corner of his vision, Riku catches Yuffie dash towards him and turns his block into a quick horizontal slash. Yuffie narrowly avoids it by ducking below him and retrieves her Shuriken. "W-Woah! You almost got me!" she exclaims.

With the purpose of not letting her create distance between them again, Riku throws all of his strength into another slash and forces her to block.

"Ugh! You know you have the strength advantage!" Yuffie squints at him with a pout, as if she's waiting for a response. Clearly not wanting for the match to end too quickly, she trips him up and makes him lose his footing with a nimble sweep at his legs.

Annoyed with an easy victory getting wrestled from his grasp, Riku huffs, "That wasn't very fair."

"Come on, Riku, you know there's no such thing as fair in a fight!"

"This is a sparring match!"

"Same difference, now come on!"

Frustrated, Riku thrusts his Keyblade forwards. Only for Yuffie to leap onto it, then effortlessly hop off and let the momentum carry her to land right behind him. "Oh crap." Riku whips around to block her Shuriken, assuming she would strike his side.

He is met with one of her Kunai pressed against his neck instead.

"Stop!" Naminé speaks up, thus ending the match.

"Yes! I win!" Yuffie jumps and skips around the Square, so absorbed in her own triumph that she loses her balance and falls backwards, right on top of one of the flower beds. "Oof!"

"Oh no!"

"Yuffie..."

Naminé and Riku rush towards the victorious ninja, the boy then offers his hand to help Yuffie up once he reaches her.

"Haha, thanks Riku. You too, Naminé, you make an amazing ref!"

"Oh uh, I really didn't do much, but thank you. Ah, before I forget! Here's your cloak back-"

"Nah, keep it. I'll be fine!"

"Are you su-"

"Yup. Got loads of 'em."

With the brightest smile Riku has ever seen from her, Naminé offers Yuffie a heartfelt "Thank you."

Before any of them can say anything else, however, Naminé's gaze wanders, only to suddenly freeze, as if she's spotted someone. "Sorry, I need to go back to the Castle. It was nice meeting you."

Riku glances towards her and quietly asks, "More tests?"

Naminé nods.

"Goodbye." Naminé offers a small smile, turns away, and begins walking towards the Castle.

"Hey Naminé! You should totally come visit us at the Restoration Committee! We're mostly at Merlin's House!" Yuffie yells out.

Riku nods and adds, "They could probably get you somewhere to stay at, too."

Naminé briefly faces them and shouts back, "I will! Thank you," before disappearing back into the Castle.

"That was fun! Thanks for sparring with me," Yuffie says, once they're both seated on one of the benches in the Central Square.

"Hm? Of course. I did say I would, after all."

"Yeah, but still!" Yuffie moves to lean backwards on the bench before she shoots up straight, remembering something. "Oh! While you were in the castle, Aerith dropped by and gave me some lunch bags. No idea what's in 'em, but it's probably something good!"

"We'll have to thank her later."

"Later is later, food is now, so come on, dig in already!"

After having their lunch, which consisted of simple but energy-boosting food, Riku and Yuffie make their way to the Bailey to do the latter half of their assignment, and meet up with Leon and Aerith.

Yuffie calls out a bit suddenly, "Hey, Riku."

"Yeah?"

"Is something on your mind? I mean, yeah, of course there is, but do you need to talk about it?"

"Why do you ask?"

"The sparring match."

"Huh? What does that have to do with it?"

"It was the reason why you lost. Something heavy is on your mind, and you don't know what to do about it, so it's distracting you. I was told you tend to be a bit of a trash-talker during sparring matches, but I saw none of that. No trash-talking at all! Reminded me too much of Leon."

But before Riku can even process what Yuffie's said, she spots Leon and Aerith and runs off to greet them. "Hey, Leon! Hey, Aerith! Riku and I are here and ready to go! Where do you need us?"

"Just in time. Over here." Leon motions for Riku and Yuffie to move in closer, and points at a narrow chokepoint within the Ravine Trail, not too far away from where the repairs have been taking place. "I need you in the front with me, while Yuffie covers us from the back. Aerith will support us from the walls."

"We figured that if we concentrated our attention on one spot all the Heartless would need to pass through, it would eliminate the need for us to spread out! So we can all watch out for one another," adds Aerith.

"We go in fifteen minutes," Leon says matter-of-factly before walking off. Yuffie immediately goes to trail after him, unwittingly announcing her departure with a sneeze.

"Is Leon alright? He's even quieter than usual," Riku inquires as he approaches Aerith. "Thanks for the lunch, by the way."

"Oh, him? He just feels shy because of the state you saw him in this morning. It was no problem, by the way," she reassures him. "What happened to Yuffie's cloak, also? I heard that sneeze."

"Oh yeah, she gave it to my friend who is staying at the Castle. Her name is Naminé, I don't know if you know her, but she didn't have anything warm of her own."

"That's sweet of her. She was warned about catching a cold, though. Anyway, ready to go?"

"Yeah."

The Heartless within the Ravine Trail don't pose much of a threat. The vast majority of them are picked off by Riku, Leon, and Yuffie, with the occasional spells from Aerith. It seems like the Heartless are at their strongest while being close to Villain's Vale, so the ones that have made it all the way to the choke point are fairly weak.

Aerith looks over at the repair workers, who signal that they're all done for the day. With a nod, she then casts three Thundaga spells in a row. Once the familiar resounding signal reaches Riku, Leon and Yuffie's ears (perhaps too successfully), the group knows they're good to go back home — just as they have done numerous times before.

"Good job today, everyone! Let me see..." Aerith moves to inspect her friends for any injuries when they meet up. "Not even a scrape on Leon, and- Wow, Yuffie! No scrapes on you either!"

"Hehe, I'm awesome, I know." Yuffie peacocks a little and proudly itches her nose.

"Hm... Oh, Riku, you've got a nasty bruise on your arm, let me help you," Aerith points out while already casting Cure.

"I didn't even notice. Thank you, Aerith."

"It's no problem, but please take care of yourself."

"Aw, come on, lay off him, he's probably tired from the butt-kicking I gave him earlier!" Yuffie pipes up when she hears the exchange. "Enough fooling around. We completed the first day of our assignment so we've gotta celebrate right? Right?"

"Celebrate as in...?" Riku asks, carefully.

"Food, duh! Come on over after you get the dirt off of you."

"Okay, okay. I'll see you all then."

Aerith and Yuffie wave goodbye to Riku, while Leon nods in acknowledgement. For now, the group part ways.

The celebration was a simple affair. Leon had brought over some food while Aerith made tea. Yuffie brought one of her favorite snacks to share, but she was the only one who could actually eat them (they appeared to be a type of extremely hard bean). Even Cid dropped by to greet everyone, but couldn't stay for long; explaining that he was busy getting some files from Ansem the Wise's computer.

Riku's newly established routine continued with very few deviations for the next few weeks. He'd wake up and have breakfast, head on over to the Committee to see if they had any jobs for him, pass the time with said jobs or stay with Kairi and sometimes Naminé until noon, meet up with everyone for the Bailey Assignment, and then head home. Though actually, there was a shift in his routine once. At some point, Yuffie ended up catching a cold and couldn't participate in the Assignment for about a week. Riku found this out after being woken up by his Gummiphone at 4 in the morning, the notifications going off nonstop due to Yuffie sending him barely coherent messages consisting of "ughhgghgh," "rikuuuhelp meee," or "ifeel like.im stew." She had insisted he exchange numbers with everyone in the Committee, but since they mostly conducted their meetings in person, his Gummiphone notifications quickly turned into daily status report messages from Aerith and the barely coherent ones from Yuffie. Leon seemed to barely use the thing.

Eventually, Yuffie got better, and everything returned to how it had been. Until Riku heard several knocks on his door one night.

About to go to bed, Riku heads to open his door. Thinking maybe it was one of the Committee members, he's instead greeted by Naminé.

"N-Naminé? What are y- Wait hold on, it's cold. Come in, we'll talk inside."

Naminé nods and steps inside. She seems shaken, not even looking him in the eye.

"I think I have some tea Aerith gave me? I'll make you some, give me one second." Riku ushers her to sit on his couch and hands her a blanket, then speeds off to get the tea kettle ready. A few minutes later, he returns with two cups of tea in hand and gives one to Naminé. "I don't remember what it's called, but apparently it's supposed to calm you down or help you sleep or something. Anyway, did something happen? What's wrong?"

Naminé sits still, unmoving, for a few seconds, then grabs her tea cup. She takes a couple of sips and tries to calm herself down with a few deep breaths. "I just. I just couldn't stay in there anymore. It was like being in Castle Oblivion or the Old Mansion again. Especially with DiZ- I mean- Ansem the Wise and his apprentices there."

Riku's stomach drops, "Trust me, I understand. The Castle, it makes me uncomfortable too. I know they regret what they've done, but still. Especially with Ansem the Wise, he was horrible to you."

Naminé goes quiet again, then asks, "Is that why you stay here?"

"Yeah, actually. The Castle building itself also just makes me... Feel bad."

"Because of what you did when it was Hollow Bastion?"

"Yeah..."

"I understand."

The two of them sit in silence as they finish their tea.

"So... What do you plan on doing next, Naminé?"

"I don't know. I don't even know how I managed to find you, really. I only caught glimpses of you and the others when I went outside, I never stayed out much, and I was too afraid to keep my promise to Yuffie..."

"It's okay, she won't mind. You can still go, you know?"

"I guess so..." Naminé trails off, as if mulling something over. "Hey, Riku?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you have room for one more in here? I think. No, I know that I'd rather stay there than in the Castle."

"Wh- Of course I do, you're welcome to stay here until you figure out what you want to do. Come on, you can take the bed, I'm pretty sure I have a futon somewhere... Or I could stay on the couch..."

"No, no, I'll take the futon or the couch, it's okay."

"Naminé, I insist. You look exhausted, please, take the bed."

"Okay, okay. But can I ask you a favor?"

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Could you take the futon instead of the couch? I'd like to... See what a sleepover feels like. Like the ones you used to have with Sora and Kairi."

"Oh! Um. Sure, yeah. Is that all? You sure you don't need anything else?"

"I'm sure."

Riku and Naminé got onto the futon and the bed, respectively. Noticing that Naminé had nothing to change into, Riku told her that she could probably borrow clothes from Yuffie or Aerith. It wasn't much of a genuine sleepover like the ones he had as a kid, especially considering that one of them was exhausted and rattled, but the two of them decide to stay awake for a little bit longer regardless.

"I mean, seriously, was a lab coat the best thing they could give you? It's winter."

"I don't think it even crossed their minds, really. Maybe they thought my Replica body couldn't feel it? But it can, and it is cold."

"Aren't they supposed to be smart? Considering they're scientists and all?"

"I don't think Di- Ansem. Ansem knows much about Nobodies."

The room falls silent after Naminé's last remark. Riku assumes her to be asleep, so he shifts to lay on his side and prepares to drift off as well.

The silence is interrupted with a quiet "Thank you, Riku."

"Of course. 'Night, Naminé."

"Goodnight."

Chapter Text

The sun rises again on the World of Radiant Garden, its rays hitting Riku's face and waking him up. It takes him a while to register his surroundings, as he realizes he's not on his bed, but rather on his futon. He runs his hand over his face in an attempt to wake himself up fully, and he wonders if Naminé is still asleep. The thought is interrupted by her soft snoring.

Well, someone's exhausted.

Not wanting to wake her, he quickly grabs his day clothes and makes his way out of his room, changing in the bathroom. After washing his face and teeth, he goes to the combined kitchen-living room area and checks the clock, which reads 08:11, a bit later than what he's used to waking up around.

He puts a kettle full of water on the stove-top for coffee, and while he waits for it to heat up, he quietly goes back into his room again and opens up a journal he keeps stored on his bedside table. He opens it up, and quickly writes down the day's date, as well as "NO DREAMS." After he's done, he puts it back in his place and grabs his Gummiphone which he forgot by his futon, double-checking that his alarms remain off so as not to wake Naminé.

Back in the kitchen area, he sees steam come out of the kettle and takes it off the stove top before the kettle gets the chance to go off.

As he's putting the kettle back in its place on the now unlit stove top after he's finished making his coffee, the silence is interrupted by last night's surprise guest.

“You... drink your coffee black?” murmurs an extremely groggy Naminé.

“Ah! Naminé! Good morning!” replies Riku, startled by her. She could give Yuffie a run for her munny and probably win, too.

“Good morning... Can I have some?” she says, practically stumbling towards the countertop.

"Yeah, sure, but it's the instant kind. Sugar's in there," Riku points out a mason jar, "and there's milk in the fridge," ending his statement by handing Naminé a mug after putting a couple spoon's worth of coffee in it.

Riku struggles to stifle a chuckle as he sees Naminé pour in an obscene amount of sugar into her mug, enough to fill a third with it, and milk filling up another third, water making up whatever space is left.

Almost as if she senses the question coming her way, she tells Riku, "All everyone drinks... in the Castle is this... really bad..." Naminé interrupts her own sentence by taking a sip of her 'coffee' "really bad coffee. With powdered milk and... some sort of sweetener, it tastes disgusting, so whenever they give me some" another sip, "I just try to cover up the taste as much as I can." Lucidity returns to her with every sip.

But as she wakes up fully, she gasps a bit and blurts out, "Oh! Thank you for the coffee, Riku! And for letting me stay."

With a small laugh, he tells her, "No problem, it looked like you needed it," not specifying what he's referring to.

"Also, I don't really drink my coffee black; I actually think it tastes disgusting, but it's the only thing that wakes me up in the morning. I... like to drink it with cream, and also sugar, but not nearly as much as you," Riku continues, before downing his entire cup in one gulp, gripping the counter as if he were trying not to throw it back up.

With a clear noise of disgust, however, he tells Naminé, "I do think that whatever they had you drink at the Castle would make me throw up. That sounds disgusting." which prompts a quiet giggle from Naminé.

Walking around the kitchen, Riku says, "I don't have much food in here, but help yourself to anything. I usually eat cereal, but I think I have some eggs in the fridge-"

"You don't. I saw while grabbing the milk," Naminé interrupts.

"Oh. I guess I just have cereal then. I'll go grocery shopping after checking in with the Committee," Riku replies, already grabbing and pouring the remaining cereal into two bowls.

"Right..." Naminé mumbles as she begins to eat her serving, the conversation fizzling out into uncomfortable silence.

After breakfast, Naminé heads off to do her own morning routine, while Riku does the dishes. After finishing, he feels a buzz in his right-hand pocket, prompting him to check his Gummiphone. A message from Aerith.

<HealingWind85> Good morning! I just wanted to let you know that Cid managed to set up our computer with some of Ansem's data. It might be a bit of a stretch, but maybe something in there could help us with our search for Sora. You should drop by later! :-)

<mnirilidimbfis> I'll definitely go check it out. Thank you, Aerith.

<HealingWind85> No problem!

<HealingWind85> Also, since I suspect they've already dragged you into it, the reason Leon wants to stop Yuffie from freerunning is because she let a loose ceiling tile slip, which almost fell on his head. We haven't gotten any noise complaints (trust me, I checked), so don't worry yourself about it.

<mnirilidimbfis> Oh, classic Leon-Yuffie squabble?

<HealingWind85> Classic Leon-Yuffie squabble.

<greatestninja> riku can u convince leon to let me freerun again. i mean i do it anyway but he gets on my case about it and its suuuuper annoying >:(

<mnirilidimbfis> Why do you think *me* talking to him would help?

<greatestninja> i dunno maybe cause u both give “serious business only” auras. except i KNOW ur a goof

<mnirilidimbfis> Is that supposed to be a compliment?

<mnirilidimbfis> Also, no promises.

<greatestninja> ill teach u some moves

<mnirilidimbfis> Fine, I'll try.

<SLH> If you see Yuffie running on top of buildings, stop her

<SLH> We've gotten several noise complaints

<mnirilidimbfis> I'll be sure to do so next time I see her.

<mnirilidimbfis> Actually, wouldn't it be better if you let her do it? The more you tell her not to, the more she'll want to do it. Maybe she could avoid certain times, like when people are sleeping.

<SLH> Hm

<SLH> Maybe that could work

<SLH> But still stop her

<mnirilidimbfis> I'll do my best, but, you know how she is.

Hopeful, Riku goes through his morning exercises faster than usual.

Riku heads to Merlin's House to meet up with the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee with a hesitant Naminé in tow, who is currently wearing one of Riku's jackets due to the cold, Yuffie's Moogle cloak sitting forgotten somewhere inside the Castle.

Knocking on the door, the duo is ushered inside by a smiling Aerith.

"Glad you could make it, Riku!" Aerith addresses Riku and then turns to look beside him. "Oh! And you must be Naminé! I'm Aerith; it's nice to meet you!"

"Oh-um... Hello, Aerith, it's nice to meet you too."

Aerith motions for the pair to sit down and claps her hands together before speaking up once more, slowly wandering around the place as she does so. "So! As I told you this morning, Riku, Cid's got some data from Ansem on our computer that we're hoping to decode. None of us are computer whizzes-" Aerith stops abruptly and turns to look at Riku and Naminé. "Cid doesn't count; he's only good with- um... what'd he say it was..." She trails off, tapping her chin with her index finger.

Trying to help, Riku offers "hardware as opposed to software?"

Aerith excitedly snaps back into position, slamming her right fist onto her open palm, then pointing at Riku. "Hardware! Yes! Anyway, as I was saying, Cid isn't that good with 'software', so we need all the help we can get. We're currently waiting on-"

Aerith is interrupted once more, this time not by her own doing but by the front door suddenly, and loudly, opening. From it springs forth a haggard-looking Yuffie and an annoyed Leon follows behind.

Not even registering the guests' presence, Yuffie shouts, "Aerith! Help me! Leon isn't letting me do anything- Oh! Hi Riku, hi Naminé!" instantly forgetting her 'woes', she happily greets the two. "It's great to see you! Especially you, Naminé, it's been a while!"

"Hey, Yuffie." Says Riku, already used to the ninja's tempo.

"...Hello, Yuffie," Naminé adds, a bit later. Yuffie's sudden entrance had stunned her into silence.

Leon, already having made his way inside while Yuffie greeted everyone, leans on the wall near the computer, and settles in with a barely noticeable wave to Riku and Naminé. "You're Naminé, then? Call me Leon."

"Nice meeting you."

Aerith clears her throat, calling attention to herself again, and continues her earlier sentence, "...waiting on those two."

"Waiting on who what now?" Replies Yuffie, completely out of the loop.

"Don't worry about it." Smiles Aerith

Riku turns to Yuffie and explains, "Aerith was telling Naminé and me about the data you guys have on the computer."

Yuffie blinks.

Riku adds, desperately, "You know, from Ansem?"

"Ohhh... Oh! That!" exclaims Yuffie.

"Good! Now we're all back on track!" Aerith resumes her explanation: "As I was saying, we'll need all the help we can get. Getting into the data is already hard, but even if we do, we only know some of the terminology Ansem uses." Looking at Riku and Naminé, she continues, "I was hoping you two could help us make sense of it once we get there."

"Me?" Naminé asks, confused.

"Well, I don't claim to know everything that happened during Sora's last disappearance, but you and Riku worked together, right? And you both have special connections to Sora, don't you?" Aerith looks Naminé in the eyes and adds, "We need all the help we can get."

Yuffie, somewhat angrily, complains, "I mean, yeah, we do! Because we need to do regular Committee stuff as well since those guys up in their Castle won't help us-"

"Yuffie," Leon warns.

"Yeah, yeah." Yuffie dismisses him.

Naminé quietly speaks up, "Could I... have some time to think about it? I mean- I'd love to help, but I don't know how much I *can*. I'm also not much of a fighter..." she trails off, unsure of herself.

"Just you being here is enough, Naminé," Aerith reassures.

"Yeah! You can come over, like, every day!" Yuffie exclaims with a wide smile.

"Aerith is right." Riku turns to look at Naminé and reaffirms, "We... couldn't have brought Sora back without you, and I'd really appreciate your help."

Surprised, Naminé nods to herself and says, "Okay. But... I'd still need time."

"As much as you need," Aerith replies, putting a hand on Naminé's shoulder. "Now! Before any attempts-"

Yuffie interjects, "Let's eat!”

Aerith brings out five cups of tea as Leon helps her serve some snacks. He claims that the reason he helps with this task is that only he knows where the snacks are, as Yuffie would eat them all if she knew their hiding place, and Aerith would either reveal their location to her or join in as well.

Sweet and savory foods are poured into bowls and then distributed evenly on the table. Snacks like checkered cookies, thumbprint cookies, and chocolate chip cookies, as well as chips and several types of finger sandwiches.

The group discusses how everyone's been, and Yuffie regales Naminé with a heavily dramatized re-telling of how Leon followed her and "nagged" all day, as Aerith sighs and has Naminé pick between different tea bags, explaining to her the different kinds of flavors.

Yuffie makes a show of nicking food from the same bowl Leon picks from, as he tries to not seem annoyed. Riku and Naminé try to stifle their laughs, while Aerith seems completely unbothered by it, already used to the ninja's antics.

After clearing the dishes, the group settles around the computer. Two chairs are moved to the desk, where Riku is currently seated, with Aerith right beside him. Yuffie is standing behind them, looking over at the screen, while Naminé is seated alone on the couch, with Leon keeping her silent company, standing in between her and Yuffie.

"Password protection already!?" Yuffie complains from behind Riku.

"Try... 'Kingdom Hearts'?" Aerith suggests.

"In all lowercase, all together, or...?" Riku questions.

"All of them, I suppose," Aerith replies.

"Hold on." Leon interrupts the two and says, "You'll just waste time like that. Try the Seven Hearts."

"Like... just 'the Seven Hearts'?" Yuffie asks.

"Yuffie- No- Their names. 'Alice, Snow White, Jasmine-'." Leon replies, shaking his head.

"Wait, those are the Original Seven Hearts, shouldn't we try the New Seven Hearts?" Aerith says.

"But in what order? Y'know, like, alphabetical... or..." Yuffie trails off, leaning to the side.

"There's no point, we only know four of the New Seven Hearts, and the Seven Lights wouldn't be possible either, since Ansem couldn't have known all of them at the time. Let's try the Original Seven Hearts." Riku speaks up, "Could anyone write them down so we can go crossing out failed attempts?"

"I'll do it." Naminé grabs a nearby pencil and paper and begins noting down the different possibilities.

"The Original Seven Hearts are 'Alice, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, Kairi, and Snow White, in alphabetical order." Leon supplies, while Naminé nods along.

After a moment, Leon speaks up once again: "But would Ansem really use the same password for different things? The Original Seven Hearts also were the password for the DTD..."

"From the time I worked with him, he really didn't seem all too concerned about passwords. I mean, one of them was an ice cream flavor. It won't hurt to try that one as well." Riku informs Leon with a weary look on his face.

"Huh. I see. We should try 'Sora, Donald, Goofy' as well."

"Oh yeah! Didn't something change to that after the defenses went all haywire and Sora, like, fixed everything somehow?" Yuffie says as she begins to once again pay attention.

Leon nods.

"He's always helped us, so now we have to help him!" Aerith turns around to face everyone, and she and Yuffie pump their fists into the air.

Of course, that is something he would do. Riku thinks to himself with a small smile.

"Okay, it's done," Naminé informs everyone and holds the list up for everyone to see.

"Thank you, Naminé! Could you dictate them to us and cross them off as you go?" Aerith replies.

"Okay." Naminé nods, "'Alice, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, Kairi, Snow White.' Proper capitalization."

"Alice... Aurora... Belle... Cinderella... Jasmine... Kairi... Snow White" Riku hits enter, but instead of either granting or denying them access, the program redirects him to yet another password screen.

"Ugh! How many passwords does he need!?" Yuffie complains.

"Looks like he wasn't always so unconcerned with them. Uh... I'll check how many there are..." Riku types random characters into the password screen, and proceeds until he's taken to a screen that says "PASSWORDS INCORRECT. REDIRECTING" and is sent back to the beginning of the process. He sighs, "Looks like six passwords total."

"How many different variations of the names is that!?" Yuffie exclaims, dramatically grabbing onto her hair.

"Hold on. Riku, try typing a bunch of letters again." Aerith supplies, completely focused on the task.

"Alright," Riku does as Aerith requests.

Aerith squints and looks at the computer screen, bringing her index finger to the asterisks shown on the input area, and begins to count: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve... I think there can only be twelve characters in this one; could you double-check the other input screens, Riku?"

"Uh, yeah, hold on..." Riku mouths the number of characters he's allowed to input on each screen until he's redirected back to the beginning: "It's twelve on all of them."

"Uh... does that mean anything?" Yuffie states, out of the loop.

Riku turns to look behind him and says, "The password can't be the Original Seven Hearts. At least, not all seven of them. It can only be six names."

"So everything that I..." Naminé mumbles to herself, slumping.

"Naminé, it's okay! We just have to try again!" Aerith tries to reassure the girl.

"I'm... partially to blame, I didn't think to double-check-" Riku begins to say but is interrupted by Yuffie.

"Nuh-uh! No thinking like that allowed! We just need to remove one name, right? So... which one?" Yuffie says, placing her hand on Riku's shoulder, supporting him.

"Sorry. You're right, Yuffie." Riku shakes his head, takes a moment to think, and says, "We can keep the list Naminé made; we just need to cross out Kairi's name. She's the only outlier in there, since she's also the only Keyblade Wielder in there."

"Oooh! Okay, Wise Guy over here has got it all figured out." Yuffie teases, noogying Riku, who quickly escapes her grasp.

"She's also the only one from Radiant Garden; it tracks. Let's go with Riku's idea." Leon picks up the list of names from Naminé and begins crossing out Kairi's name himself, wanting to give the girl a break. "It should be done."

"Second attempt, here we go!" Yuffie says, and she motions towards Naminé. "Miss Naminé, the floor is yours."

With a small chuckle, Naminé begins dictating the names again: "'Alice, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, Snow White'. Proper capitalization."

"Nothing," Riku says.

"Okay, try 'Alice, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, Snow White'. All lowercase."

"Back to the beginning."

"Next is ”'Alice, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, Snow White'. All uppercase."

"Ugh. Try... 'Jasmine, Snow White, Alice, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella'... All caps this time," Yuffie says with a groan, having taken over dictating duty for Naminé, who is now sitting beside Riku.

"Still nothing, what a surprise," Riku says, sighing.

"How come we have to do all the work? Where's Cid? Or even Ansem?" Yuffie complains, letting the arm she's using to hold up the list to her face drop to the side as she's completely taken over the couch.

Leon looks up from his leaning position and opens his eyes. "Cid's not here because you're too loud, it ticks him off, and he can't concentrate. And Ansem is too busy, you know that."

With another groan, Yuffie continues, "Try...'Jasmine, Alice-'"

"How about we call it for today, everyone? The sun has already set." Aerith says as she goes to turn up the house's heating.

Riku's spine immediately straightens. "Crap! I needed to buy food today!"

"Don't worry. I packed you some food for you to take with you and some for Naminé, of course."

Two relieved voices are heard saying, "Oh. Thank you, Aerith." Riku and Naminé, who turn to each other and laugh.

"Thank you for everything today, Aerith, Leon, Yuffie." Riku says.

Aerith and Yuffie reassure Riku that it's no problem, while Leon nods with a smile.

"We better get going," Naminé says, getting up from her seat.

Aerith shakes her head no, saying, "Not without cozier clothes, you're not! Yuffie, grab anything you can give Naminé. Leon, do not let them leave. I'll be right back."

Yuffie makes an exaggerated saluting motion and speeds off to who-knows-where, while Naminé and Riku stand in place, dumbfounded.

"Aerith is the one who knows how to delegate." Leon explains, "Give them a bit, and then you can leave." Despite the low stakes, Leon takes his 'order' very seriously.

Around ten minutes later, Aerith and Yuffie come back with a cross-body bag and a backpack, respectively, both noticeably filled to the brim.

"I dunno if you'd wear the kind of stuff I wear, so I mostly packed things like socks, tights, gloves, and some simple shorts and tank tops for you to wear inside... Oh! And a lot of shoes, 'cause I think we have similar sizes, and mine are mostly adjustable anyway, so if they're a bit bigger, you can always, y'know, adjust them." Yuffie rambles as she hands over the backpack to Naminé, who picks it up with effort.

Seeing Naminé's reaction to the weight of the backpack, Riku offers his hand and holds the backpack himself by the top strap.

"Thank you so much, Yuffie. I promise I'll take good care of them, so I can retu-“ Naminé attempts to say but is interrupted.

"Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah. No way. You're keeping these. Honestly, some of them are a tiny bit too small for me; they'd be more comfortable to you anyway!" Yuffie says with her hands on her hips.

"I... Thank you, Yuffie."

Aerith steps up with her bag and says, "I packed you some coats and jackets, as well as some skirts, shirts, and dresses." handing the bag directly to Riku to hold. "I also brought down this coat and this scarf." giving Naminé a light blue coat, woolen on the inside, as well as a light pink knitted infinity scarf. "You should wear these on your way back."

"Thank you so much, Aerith," Naminé says as she puts on the scarf and coat.

"Of course! And before you say anything, these are yours to keep, too." Aerith replies.

Naminé chuckles, then turns to Riku. "I can carry the bag, it's okay." Riku hands it over, and she puts on the cross-body bag.

Ready to leave, the duo say goodbye to the Committee, but not before getting a hug from Yuffie, who makes them promise to come back soon.

Riku and Naminé step out into a light snowfall. The snowflakes slowly fall, melting before they can accumulate on the ground.

After walking for a bit, Naminé suddenly stops and looks up at the cloudy night sky. She extends her arms outward, palms facing up, and feels the snowflakes melt on her hands. Inhaling deeply, she looks at how her breathing becomes visible in the cold temperature.

Riku, having noticed that she stopped walking with him, stops and looks at the sky as well.

A few moments later, he hears Naminé walk up towards him, "Sorry. This is... the first time I... Actually feel the snow."

Right... She never left the Old Mansion back in Twilight Town...

"It's okay. What do you think?" Riku asks as he slightly quirks his head to the right.

"It's very pretty. I like it."

"Me too. We don't really get snow in Destiny Islands." Riku continues, "I remember when I was very little, Sora's mom took Sora and me someplace further inland, and we saw snow for the first time."

The two continue walking, while Naminé listens to Riku.

"I remember he got so excited about it that the day after it snowed, he ran out to see it and slipped on some of the ice that had formed." Riku shakes his head with a smile, "I laughed at him, but when I went after him, I also fell."

Naminé laughs, "I'll make sure to watch out for ice, then. If it snows more."

"It'll snow more, I think." Riku says as he looks around, "According to Yuffie, they usually already have a pile-up of snow on the ground around this time of year."

"I hope I get to see it."

Riku and Naminé walk in silence for a few more minutes, until the girl speaks up again.

"Hey, Riku?"

"Yeah"

"Your friends, they're very nice."

"I- Yeah...”

The first thing Riku does once they're back home is turn the heating on.

Naminé speeds off into the bathroom to take a hot shower, feeling the effects of standing in the cold for so long. She uses this as an opportunity to change into the clothes that Yuffie and Aerith gave her, settling on a long peach-colored button skirt with tights underneath and a white button-up blouse.

After stepping out from the bathroom, she sees Riku has already heated up the food Aerith gave them—a savory potato, cheese, and onion pie.

The pair eat in companionable silence as Riku gives the list of password combinations a second look and Naminé watches the snow fall.

The weeks pass, and the number of remaining name combinations grows smaller and smaller. Riku hasn't been letting the list out of his sight, and the repeated failures have only made him more irritated. Not to mention the utter lack of dreams he's been having. He's hardly had any time to visit Kairi at the Castle as well.

Naminé, for her part, has only grown more hesitant about the idea of going outside. Sometimes even staying behind when Riku goes to see the Committee. One of those times being today.

The moment Riku arrives at Merlin's house, he's whisked away by Yuffie and the others to help on a Committee job. The snow has begun to pile up, and the people of Radiant Garden need help to clear it out, especially from the roofs.

Even Riku would admit it to be an extremely dull job. The use of magic is completely banned due to how it could react to the snow.

"Come on, even I know that Blizzard or Fire magic could be bad, but couldn't, y'know, Aerith cast an Aero spell or something?" Yuffie groans as she lazily moves her snow roof rake.

"I don't like this job either, but I don't think creating a miniature blizzard would be a good idea," Aerith responds, clearly putting more effort into it than Yuffie.

Yuffie stops, confused. "When did I say to cast Blizzard? I said Aero-"

Aerith sighs, but lets out a giggle nonetheless: "No, I mean 'a blizzard' not the spell."

"Oh." Yuffie continues to rake the roof, distractedly, and accidentally covers Leon in snow. "Oh my gosh, Leon I'm so sorry! Please forgive me-"

Leon doesn't even move, standing there completely dumbfounded, until Aerith and Yuffie run to him to help him get the snow off. Afterward, he goes inside to change and warm himself up for a bit.

Riku, who has completely tuned them out to try and get his work done faster continues until he's completely cleared out his designated patch of roofs.

"Woah! Way to go, Riku! You work fast!" exclaims Yuffie, walking up to Riku from behind, deciding to shove her icy-cold hands onto the nape of his neck.

Riku yells "Yuffie!" with an irritated sigh, he says, under his breath, "Maybe you should, too."

"What?" Yuffie blinks.

"I said, maybe you should work fast, too," Riku says, agitated, moving onto Yuffie's section of roofs to clear them out for her.

"I- Wait, I can do it!" Yuffie trails behind him.

Ignoring her, Riku continues, "We could've been done by now, and I- we could be working on the data right now."

"I just thought some air would be good for us-"

Riku inhales and looks like he's about to retaliate until Aerith interrupts him: "This is about Sora, isn't it?"

"When is it not about Sora!? This always happens, but this time, I don't even know where he is!" Riku breathes heavily, trying to calm himself down. "I- I'm really sorry. I'm sorry, Yuffie. I'm sorry, Aerith. I'm sorry for snapping at you. I... need to go home."

Without waiting for a response, Riku leaves.

After practically running home, Riku is taken aback to enter and see everything in pitch darkness. Used to seeing Naminé sitting on the couch and drawing, or staring out the window, he calls out, worried, "Naminé...? Hello?"

"Riku...? Is it just you?" A quiet voice sounds out from somewhere, muffled behind something.

"Yeah? It's just me." He replies as he steps further inside.

The bathroom door opens, and Naminé steps out from within, cold and crying. Not knowing what to do, Riku steps towards her and holds his hand out. Instead of taking it, Naminé hugs him.

"Oh, thank goodness," she says.

"What happened? Why are you so cold?"

"I-I heard some knocking, so... I went to-to check it out. It was someone from the Castle, one of the apprentices... I-I don't know who. I d-didn't want them to know I was h-here so... I hid in the bathroom, because there were no windows. I don't know. I got scared." Naminé explains, crying and sniffling.

"Why-What-... Do you know what they wanted?" Riku asks as he pulls back from the hug, his hands settling on Naminé's shoulders.

"I... when I came here for the f-first time, I snuck out. I think they might need me for m-more tests. I don't want to go back..." Naminé sobs.

"You won't have to. We'll talk to them, you don't have to hide anymore."

"I..." Naminé looks up at Riku for the first time since he arrived.

"Is... Is this why you've been so hesitant to go outside?"

"Yeah..."

Riku sighs. "Naminé, you can't live like this."

"I... You're right. There's so much I want to experience... More things, like the snow."

"Next time they knock on the door, I'll answer, and we can talk to them, okay?"

Naminé nods with resolve, "Okay.”

Before going to sleep, Riku checks his Gummiphone.

<HealingWind85> I hope you're doing alright.

<HealingWind85> If you need to talk about anything, we're here for you. You can count on us.

<HealingWind85> I know you're going through a lot, Sora is your best friend, after all, so please, take care of yourself. :-)

<greatestninja> riku im so sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<greatestninja> i shouldve noticed u were annoyed im so sorry

<greatestninja> i didnt mean to make u think that i dont care about the data thing or whatever im really sorry!!!

He contemplates typing out apologies to Aerith and Yuffie, but decides against it, wanting to apologize to them in person.

The next day, Riku is about to head outside when he hears someone knock on the door. Naminé immediately stiffens in fear, and Riku tenses up. He gives her a thumbs up, and she nods, then he opens the door.

It's Ve- Even. Of course.

He knows he shouldn't judge them too harshly for their time as nobodies in the Organization, but his memories of being “tested” in Castle Oblivion always come to mind when talking to certain apprentices. There's no doubt it's the same, or worse, for Naminé.

Riku greets him, "Hello, Even-"

"There you are, Naminé!" The scientist completely ignores him, addressing Naminé exclusively, "We need you back at the Castle for more replica body tests." He steps inside and says, "You've given us a lot of grief with this little 'excursion' of yours. Come along now-"

"Even. Hello." Riku grabs him by the wrist briefly and releases him.

"Oh, hello, young Riku. I was just escorting Naminé here to-"

"She hasn't even said anything to you; you're not escorting anyone." Riku cuts him off and places himself in between Even and Naminé.

"I..." Naminé stammers.

"Hm? Yes?"

Naminé takes a deep breath and says, "I'm not going back for more tests."

"Why wouldn't you? Of course you are."

Naminé's volume rises; her fists are clenched. "I'm not going back for more tests! I don't want to!"

"But we're about to find a breakthrough! Your replica body could be perfect."

"I..." Naminé steps away from Even but retains her resolve: "I don't want it to be perfect! If what- If what it takes is constant testing, I don't want it!"

"Oh, come now, silly child, surely you can see the appeal in perfection?"

"I don't care about perfection. I want to- I want to feel the snow on my hands again, hear the waterways at night, step in some muddy snow and almost fall, talk to, talk to my f-friends about tea flavors. I want to be outside!"

"Naminé -"

Before Even can say anything else, someone rounds the corner and interrupts him: "Even, surely the tests aren't urgent anymore, are they?"

It's Ansem the Wise.

Before he can even say anything, Naminé looks at him dead in the eyes and says, "I'm not going back."

Ansem looks away. "And we're not going to force you..." turning to face Even, he continues, "Right, Even?"

"I- yes! My apologies. I got carried away." Even stammers out.

Naminé looks at him, neither accepting nor rejecting his apology.

"Right! Well, I'll... head back, then," Even says as he leaves.

As Even's steps grow more and more distant, Ansem speaks up: "Naminé... it seems I have failed you a third time. I am deeply, truly, sorry."

Naminé blinks, not expecting an apology, of all things.

"You were held prisoner at Castle Oblivion and used for your powers; I knew of your existence, yet I did not help you until Sora and Riku forced my hand." Ansem continues, being unable to look at Naminé's face, "And then I did the same to you. I used you and Riku for your powers, and I did not let you leave the Old Mansion, holding you prisoner once again." The scientist sounds deeply ashamed. "And now, one of my own apprentices is doing the same to you, holding you against your will, something that happened due to my negligence. I cannot allow my apprentices to get carried away again. I am sorry."

"I-"

Ansem interrupts Naminé. "You don't have to accept my apology. You may even deny it. I robbed you of your chance to experience being alive once, and I do not want to do it again. You are a child—a powerful child, yes, but a child nonetheless. A child who should be doing things children do. So, please, go out and see the Worlds."

"I-I'm not doing it for you..." Naminé says.

"I know... And you do not have to." Ansem closes his eyes. "I have imposed upon you two for far too long, I shall take my leave. Please, enjoy your day."

Ansem the Wise leaves as fast as he arrived, and Riku finally moves again, to close the door. Immediately afterward, Naminé begins to cry and hugs him from the side.

"Naminé!? Are you-?"

"No, no. I'm... I'm really happy. Thank you, Riku."

"Me? I hardly did anything..."

"No... You were here, and that's a lot. Thank you."

"I appreciate it, but that was all you, Naminé." Riku says as he returns the hug.

After Naminé manages to calm herself down, Riku gets ready to leave again. The sun has already set, so he hurries off to Merlin's to properly apologize to Aerith and Yuffie.

His jog slows down to a walk as he sees them leaving Merlin's alongside Leon, and he calls out to them, "Aerith! Yuffie!"

Aerith turns to look at him, then mouths something to Leon and gives him a thumbs up as he leaves. "Riku! Hello."

"Yuffie."

"Riku!"

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry!"

Yuffie and Riku stare at each other, startled by the fact that they said the exact same thing. Yuffie begins to speak, but Riku makes a 'stop' motion with his hand and begins, "No- wait- I'm sorry, you didn't do anything wrong. I just, I've been having bad days, and I snapped. It wasn't anything personal, I promise." He finishes with a smile.

Yuffie stands still.

Crap. Did I make it worse?

And then she runs towards him and traps him in a hug. "You had me worried, dummy!"

"I'm sorry-"

"No! You've already apologized; don't do it more! Just let! Me! Hug! You!"

Without saying anything, Aerith also joins in on the hug.

"Thank you, guys. You're all incredible friends." Riku says as he hugs them just a little bit harder.

After the trio split from the hug, Riku asks, "So... I know you guys just locked up, but could I go in and work on the list?"

"All by yourself?" Aerith questions him.

"Yeah. I'll be fine, I just want to get some combinations in." Riku reassures them.

"Alrighty then. Here you go." Aerith replies as she hands over the key.

"Keep us posted!" Yuffie says

"I will, I promise," Riku replies.

The three look at each other, unsure of how to say goodbye, until they settle in for another hug.

Riku enters Merlin's, the house already being chilly from the heating being off for just short of a half hour. As he turns it on again, he settles onto the desk chair and props up the list beside the monitor. After his sixth attempt, he checks his Gummiphone.

<greatestninja> riku

<greatestninja> what attempt r u on

<greatestninja> like... 12728934th?

<mnirilidimbfis> 6th.

<greatestninja> i see......... interesting number......

<greatestninja> which one now

<mnirilidimbfis> 7th.

<greatestninja> oooooooo lucky number!

<HealingWind85> Let me know when you lock up!

<mnirilidimbfis> I will.

<mnirilidimbfis> What should I do with the key?

<HealingWind85> Don't worry about it. :-) You can put it outside beneath the closest flower pot.

<mnirilidimbfis> Okay. Thanks.

<SLH> Snacks are in the chest with the padlock

<SLH> The code is 41269

<mnirilidimbfis> Thank you.

<mnirilidimbfis> All that effort just to hide some snacks.

<SLH> Theres a false bottom. Use a knife or something to pry it upwards

<SLH> Yes

<mnirilidimbfis> There's a what?

He grabs some insanely hidden wafer cookies and gets back to the computer. Some more attempts wouldn't hurt.

The seconds turn into minutes, and the minutes turn into an hour. And then the hour turns into hours, several hours.

Riku only has one name combination left. He clumsily types it in and triple-checks it. With a yawn, he hits enter and is sent to the next screen.

"PASSWORDS INCORRECT. REDIRECTING”

Riku closes his eyes.

And falls asleep on the desk.

Darkness.

Blue lights.

Moving blue lights.

I'm dreaming...

White lights surround him.

The World That Never Was...? No, I can't see...

The ground is humid, and it feels like asphalt, but he can't see anything.

<greatestninja> riku

<greatestninja> riku

<greatestninja> riku

<greatestninja> riku riku riku

<greatestninja> rikuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

<greatestninja> hello????

<HealingWind85> Hey Riku! It's getting kind of late, how are you doing?

<HealingWind85> Riku?

Riku wakes up.

It takes him a while to take in his surroundings. He hears voices, and he feels a weight on him.

A coat...?

Before he fully readjusts, someone speaks up.

"Well, good morning, Sleeping Beauty!"

It's Yuffie.

I... I really fell asleep on the desk, didn't I...

"Good afternoon, Riku!" Aerith says as she approaches him.

"Ugh... it's already past noon...? Wait. The password!" Riku sits up straight and looks at the monitor.

"PASSWORDS INCORRECT. REDIRECTING"

Someone else speaks up, "Was that the last one?" Naminé's here.

Riku clutches at his head, gripping his hair with both hands, "Yes..." He slumps down and says, "I... don't know what to do."

"Well... I was just telling Naminé about snowball fights..." Yuffie says

"What...?"

"You know! When you pack snow into balls and throw them at each other?"

"Yes, I know what snowball fights are, but-"

"I was thinking we could all have a big snowball fight! Some air could do you good, right...? And you have to stretch out of that horrible posture you were in all night!" The ninja says with a flourish.

"I... Yeah, some air would be good." Riku steps up and notices the coat that was draped on top of him was Naminé's. He hands it to her and follows everyone outside.

Yuffie and Aerith teach Naminé and Riku how to make snowballs and forts as Leon watches. With their guards down, Leon, of all people, packs a snowball and throws it at Yuffie.

"Oh! It's on!"

It is war.

Yuffie packs snowballs so tightly that they land on her targets (Leon, most of the time) as if they were rocks thrown at them. It doesn't help that Aerith enables her, casting Blizzard on one of them to turn them into total ice, in order to get revenge on Leon, who had struck Aerith in the face with a snowball before.

The locals take it easier on Riku and Naminé at first, however, who don't quite yet know how to pack snowballs. Their snowballs, when thrown, fall apart midair.

After a few attempts, Riku manages to hit Leon with one, as Naminé hits Yuffie with a snowball as well.

They stop taking it easy on them after that.

After a particularly nasty snowball manages to hit Riku, he steps out, stating that he's too tired, which Yuffie takes as an excuse.

"Sure. You're just jealous of my skills." Yuffie taunts

"Whatever, I'll just watch you guys," Riku replies

"Aw, boo!-" Yuffie is interrupted by Aerith throwing a snowball at the side of her head.

"Aerith!" Yuffie protests, but her only response is a laugh.

"Yuffie, there's an even number of players now. We can form a team." Leon speaks up.

"And what makes you think that I would accept a partnership with you?"

Deadpan, Leon says, "I hide the snacks in the locked chest by the window. We win, and I tell you the password to the lock."

Yuffie blinks. Then she jumps and settles into a battle-ready stance beside Leon, clueless as to the false bottom that awaits her inside the chest, even if she does get the password.

"Okay, Naminé, you're with me! Riku, can you be the referee?" Aerith says, walking to stand beside Naminé.

"Sure, what are the rules?" Riku asks

"Um... The first one to 'knock-out', which means hit someone with a snowball three times, the enemy team wins. Right?" Naminé says, uncertain.

"Right!" Aerith nods.

And so the battles begin. Team Naminé and Aerith wins, which ends up with Yuffie asking for the best two out of three matches. Which turns into the best three out of five. Which then turns into the best six out of eleven.

Though Yuffie is extremely agile and can dodge snowballs with ease, Naminé has the uncanny ability to sneak up behind her. While Aerith and Leon are evenly matched, at least, after Riku tells her to stop casting Blizzard on the snowballs.

Yuffie's about to ask for more matches, as team Yuffie and Leon is currently one win behind, until Riku tells her, "Yuffie. It's getting dark. I'm cold, and you're probably freezing." which stops her right in her tracks.

Everyone says their farewells, with Riku particularly eager to go home just to take a hot bath. Aerith and Yuffie hug Naminé goodbye, and she catches up to Riku.

"Today was really fun... Reminded me of that day at the beach, with everyone..." Naminé reminisces

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I'd like to do it with you and everyone else some time, too." She says as she nods to herself.

"...Me too.”

After getting out of the bath, Riku sits down at the kitchen counter and writes down everything he can remember from the dream he had the night before. With the Seven Hearts being a dead end, he begins to write down any ideas for sets of six things he can come up with, but stops, realizing he's not getting anywhere.

Ugh, I can't just brute-force it, but I really don't want to have to ask Ansem; maybe I could get someone from the Committee to-

His thoughts are interrupted by Naminé pulling up a chair beside him. She turns to face him and says, "I... I think I'm ready to help everyone now."

Riku, confused, tilts his head to the side and says, "But you've already been helping us."

"No, I haven't. At least not as much as I could. I've been too scared to."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm surprised you didn't think of it sooner... Back when we were with Ansem... When I couldn't leave... I was bored a lot, so, I followed him around." Naminé hesitates, grasping her hands together, afraid to continue.

"What is it, Naminé? You can say it."

Steeling herself, Naminé continues, "We... We have to go back. To Twilight Town. To the Old Mansion. There has to be something there that can help us.”

Chapter Text

"... You... Want to go back to the Old Mansion? Are you sure about this, Naminé?" Riku asks as soon as he regains his composure. He's still sitting at the kitchen island with his journal open, he closes it to give Naminé his full attention and watches as she sits on the stool next to his.

After sitting down, Naminé replies, "Yes, I'm sure. Ansem- well- DiZ, at the time, didn't really allow me to explore the mansion much, I could only sneak out when you were around, so I'd like to look it over." With a reassuring smile, she begins to go over her plan, turning to her left to fully look at Riku, "You know the Old Mansion pretty well, but I don't, so maybe something will catch my attention. Could you be my guide, please? For Sora?"

"Naminé... even if it weren't for Sora, I'd help you." Riku says as he places a hand on her shoulder "We're friends. That place is full of bad memories, for me and for you, we can be there for each other."

Naminé smiles, and nods, "Thank you, Riku."

Riku energetically gets up, reinvigorated by Naminé's plan. "Right! I'll be your guide, and you'll be our fresh eyes, I'm sure that together we'll be able to find something." Riku stretches and stifles a yawn, despite his newfound energy.

Naminé watches Riku re-adjust his makeshift sleeping area on the couch by one of the windows, shifting around pillows and sheets, and complaining about the lack of insulation. He steps back to examine his work, nods, and turns around.

"Would you like some tea or something before I go to sleep?" He asks, stifling yet another yawn.

"No, thank you" she giggles, "I can see you’re quite tired already, I’ll make it myself."

"Alright, you know where everything is now, don’t worry about keeping me up," Riku replies, lying down on the couch and slightly tucking himself in. He pauses to say, "Goodnight, Naminé."

"Goodnight, Riku," Naminé says as she grabs the chamomile tea she’s grown so fond of over the past month and begins to heat some water in the kettle.

Riku usually joins her in this routine, except during nights when he’s particularly tired. Most of the time she sees him while he’s asleep, he looks very restless. Last night was one of those nights, she remembers seeing him hurriedly grab his journal as soon as he woke up, only to stiffly look at it for a couple of minutes, its pages remaining blank.

Naminé remembers to lift the kettle before it starts whistling, and finishes making her tea. She keeps having flashes of her time in the Old Mansion but does her best to push them away, at least for now. It wouldn’t do her any good to stress herself out right before falling asleep. She doesn’t have to be afraid anymore, Riku will be with her the whole time.

As she’s putting everything away, she notices that Riku’s sleep doesn’t look fitful tonight.

 Naminé, who usually sleeps in, at least compared to Riku, wakes up to noises; rustling, and the sound of zippers being opened and closed. Curious, she changes from her pajamas into her day clothes and opens the door to the living area. She discovers the source of the noise; it’s Riku, and he's packing a bundle of clothes and other things into several bags.

"G’mornin’, Riku," Naminé says as she groggily stifles a yawn.

"Oh! Good morning Naminé! Sorry, did I wake you?" he replies, his smile bordering on a guilty-looking grimace.

"No, no, not at all, don’t worry." Naminé begins to make herself some coffee, or ‘her sugar monstrosity’, as Riku dubbed it. "What are you doing?"

"Packing for our…" he struggles, forcing some article of clothing into whatever space he thinks is left in the bag he’s currently fighting, "Twilight Town trip." Riku somehow gets the shirt to fit inside. "I know I’m getting way ahead of myself, but I wanted us to have time to say goodbye to the Committee."

"Um… but isn’t it a bit early?" Naminé asks, tilting her head to the right, and sitting down with her coffee.

"I have to account for Gummi Ship travel time" he explains, proudly examining his work; 2 duffel bags filled to the brim.

She has a small realization, "Oh right, you can’t make Corridors of Darkness anymore."

"Yeah, I can’t. Maybe I could, again, with enough training." Riku says, clenching his fists, "Anyway, even if I could, I wouldn’t want to risk over-using them."

"That’s true. I don’t know if I can still make them..." Naminé’s sentence drifts off, until she continues, "But. I’ve never been on a Gummi Ship, so I’d love to go along with your plan." She smiles.

"Oh, you’ve never been on a Gummi Ship before? Don’t worry, I don’t pull off any stunts like Sora does." Riku promises, with a fond smile on his face. "Anyway, we should get your stuff packed. Remember, Twilight Town is very warm this time of year."

"Oh right! I remember now! Thank you for reminding me, I had completely forgotten." Naminé replies as she moves to get up off the kitchen island stool. "I still have the bags Aerith and Yuffie gave me, they wouldn’t let me return them, so I can use those to pack."

"I’ll help you out," Riku says as he catches up to her on their way back to the bedroom.

"Hehe, thank you, Riku." Naminé replies, happy to see her friend in a good mood. 

 "You’re leaving!?" Yuffie questions, so loudly that Naminé is sure that half the inhabitants of Radiant Garden could hear. "How come you’re just now telling me?" The ninja directs her barrage of questions towards Riku.

"No, no, we just planned this last night, I wasn’t hiding it from you," Riku raises both his hands in a placating gesture.

It’s not even midday yet, but Naminé and Riku are saying their farewells at Merlin’s house. As usual, Cid is absent, but Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie are all there. Leon stands off to the side as always, but Naminé now understands that it’s not because he doesn’t like them, but because he simply is that way.

"Sorry, Yuffie, I proposed it last night," Naminé explains.

Yuffie’s, albeit exaggerated, concerned glare softens as she looks at Naminé, "Oh! Well if it’s your plan, Naminé, then go for it! I’m sure the both of you can find some sort of clues together!" she says as she clasps their hands together with a smile.

With her back turned towards the group, Aerith interrupts as she looks for something, "Well, if you’re going to another world, Naminé, you’re going to need..." she turns around to unveil something, "Your very own Gummiphone!"

The Gummiphone is a simple creamy off-white color, with a Moogle charm dangling off it. "We all pitched in for it, here you go, Naminé" Aerith says as she hands it to her.

"Wow, I… I don’t know what to say. Thank you so much!" Naminé beams.

As Yuffie and Aerith lean in to hug Naminé, Leon tells her; "We input all our contact information in it already, so if you need anything, just let one of us know" and pats Naminé on the shoulder.

"Yeah! You just need Riku’s contact info, and you’re set." Yuffie says as she and Aerith pull away from the hug.

"Even if you’re going to be with each other, you should still have it just in case" Aerith reasons.

Riku opens up his own Gummiphone, a sleek black one, unadorned "They’re right, we can do that right now, and we’ll be on our way-"

"Now where do you think you’re going, mister? You two need a proper meal before you leave, and I happen to be almost done with it" Aerith interrupts, making her way over to the oven.

"Yeah, come on guys! Sit down and eat with us, we’ve got plenty to share!" Yuffie exclaims as she begins to drag two more chairs near their table.

"Wow, everyone, thank you so much! Let’s stay for lunch, Riku." Naminé says, tempted by the delicious smell coming over from the kitchen, Riku doesn’t even try to fight her when she lightly pulls him towards one of the chairs Yuffie set up.

Meanwhile, Leon wordlessly begins to help Aerith serve everyone a portion of lasagna, as Aerith promises that there’s enough for everyone to have a second helping. 

 As the pair leaves Merlin’s house, stomachs full and Gummiphone set up, Riku asks, "Naminé, do you mind if I go visit Kairi before we head off to Twilight Town?"

"No, I don’t mind at all. I wanted to visit her, too." Naminé replies.

"We’ll go together, then," Riku says as they make their way to the corridors beneath Radiant Garden’s Castle.

Getting to Kairi’s room is easy, the cold, sterile room and its machinery are now familiar to the two, though there’s a lot less of it now than when Kairi’s journey began. While it’s still sad to see her asleep for so long, Naminé hopes that her plan results in Kairi not having to be in her comatose state for much longer.

Riku says his goodbyes to Kairi and as he does, he gently clasps Kairi’s hand, hoping that some of his words get through to her.

"Okay, I’m ready." Riku directs his gaze towards Naminé, "Do you want to head to the Gummi ship now or-"

"I think I’ll stay a bit longer, could you bring it around, please?" Naminé interrupts, sliding her chair closer to Kairi’s bed.

"Oh, okay. Are you going to be alright on your own?" Riku hesitates as he stands up.

"I’ll be okay, I can just send you a message now, too." Naminé reassures with a smile, "Just message me once you’re here"

"Okay, I’ll only be a couple of minutes," Riku says, worriedly reassuring Naminé. "See you in a bit, Naminé. I’ll pass by the house and get our things, too, so don’t worry about that."

A few seconds full of silence pass by, and Naminé begins to speak to Kairi.

"Kairi... I know we haven’t gotten to speak much, but I understand you more than you know." The young girl begins to hold Kairi's hand as she leans towards it, cold, sterile lighting filtered by her soft golden hair.

She continues, "I know what it feels like to be left behind, to be used. Riku does too, even if he doesn’t like talking about it, I know. But he’s always been capable of fighting back, while you and I, even though we try our best, feel hopeless sometimes." Her grip on Kairi's hand strengthens.

"But it… It doesn’t have to be. I know Sora isn’t here right now but, you can always depend on your friends, Riku’s talked to me about how he feels like he’s wronged you, but I think if you two could just talk, you’d realize how much you two care for each other... And... When you wake up... I’d like to be your friend, too..."

Just as Naminé finishes talking, she hears someone walk into the room; one of the apprentices, Ze- Ienzo. Just as he’s about to say something, Naminé is startled by the buzzing of her Gummiphone; it’s Riku. 

<mnirilidimbfis> Hey, Naminé, the Gummi ship is ready. Just walk out the back and I’ll pick you up. 

<seawavenami> I’m on my way

 Naminé, politely but quickly, excuses herself from the room and makes her way back outside. She doesn’t see anything at first but feels the wind pick up around her as the Gummi ship finally makes its appearance. She watches as Riku carefully lands it and opens one of its doors to walk up to her.

"Are you ready for your first trip on a Gummi ship?" Riku asks.

"I’m… I’m a bit nervous but, I think I’ll be fine, especially if it’s you driving and not Sora."

Riku laughs. 

Their journey on the Gummi ship goes well. Riku is great at fending off any Heartless that approach them without moving excessively, so Naminé gets to stare and wonder at all the stars and Worlds they pass on the way to Twilight Town. Naminé can’t help but notice how familiar this all is to Riku, but she does catch him staring off into a couple of worlds now and then. 

 By the time they arrive at Twilight Town, the shadows from the perpetual setting sun have given the Old Mansion an eerie and dark quality to it. The unsettling silence is only broken by their footsteps and the odd cry from the nearby crows.

"Hm. That’s weird." Riku remarks.

Naminé moves closer to him, despite it being late Summer in Twilight Town, she can feel a chill, "What is?"

"It looks like someone locked the gates to the Old Mansion again, it used to be open ever since Sora woke up last year, remember?" Riku wordlessly removes his jacket and gives it to Naminé.

While putting on the jacket, Naminé says, "Oh, you’re right, that is weird."

"Stand back, I’m going to unlock it," Riku summons his Keyblade. He takes his usual stance, but instead of bringing his left hand down as he usually would, he brings it up to his Keyblade hand, thrusts the Keyblade forward, turns it, and finally, unlocks the gates.

"Ready to go inside? I brought us some flashlights, they should be in my jacket pockets" Riku moves inside the formerly gated off front garden.

Naminé shifts nervously, checking the pockets for the flashlights. After she finds them, she hands one over to Riku. "Ready."

The doors into the Mansion aren’t locked, so getting the rest of the way in is relatively easy. Once inside, the only thing keeping them company is the dust motes in the air. The Mansion looks even worse than before; it’s dirtier, more furniture is broken, and the air is incredibly musty.

Sensing her unease, Riku gently holds Naminé’s wrist and leads her further inside the foyer. "Some of your old drawings might still be in the White Room, would you like to go pick them up?"

"Oh... Yeah, I’d like to..." Naminé nervously replies.

The pair begin to make their way up the stairs, until…

"Who’s there!?" Someone calls out.

Naminé yelps and hides behind Riku, while he shines his flashlight at the intruder.

"...Roxas?" Riku asks, seeing none other than the blond Keyblade wielder shielding his eyes from the beam of his flashlight.

"Riku!? What are you doing here? Can you get your annoying flashlight off of my face, please?" Roxas complains with a huff.

"Oh, sorry." Riku apologizes.

Naminé steps out from behind Riku, "Hello, Roxas. Riku and I came here to look for clues to see if we can help out Sora."

"Naminé! You’re here too!" Roxas quickly walks up the stairs to greet her, completely brushing Riku off, who only slumps his shoulders in mild annoyance. "How can I help out?"

Taken aback by his forwardness, Naminé starts; "Oh... Um... Before anything, Riku and I were headed to the White Room to see if I could find any of my old drawings, then-"

Before Naminé can continue, Roxas interrupts her, "Actually, I came here a few months ago with Xion and Axel to see if we could find anything, too, but we couldn’t." Roxas blinks, remembering something, "We did find your drawings, though, and we took them home with us before they could get water-damaged or something. I think they’re in a folder in Xion’s room."

"Oh that’s so nice of you Roxas, thank you" Naminé beams.

"No sweat. Why don’t you, and Riku I guess, come on over and stay the night so we can give you back your drawings? You’ve gotta be tired, Naminé." Roxas says, walking down the stairs, leading the way outside the Old Mansion.

"That’d be great, thank you, Roxas," Naminé follows behind.

Once they’re outside, Riku catches up and clears his throat, "So, I’m guessing you’re the one who locked the gates?"

"Yeah, I hate this place" Roxas bluntly replies.

After a bit of silence, Naminé overhears Riku say; "... Me too." 

Roxas leads them to one of Twilight Town’s many town homes. A three-floored exposed brick affair, which looks a little bit more run-down than the adjacent homes, but not unloved. "Saïx got this for us, his way of making amends, he said." Roxas explains, "I live here with Xion and Axel, Saïx has a room too, but he barely uses it, anyway, come on in. I think Axel is probably working or something."

"I’m back! Naminé and Riku are here!" He shouts into the home.

Rapid thumping is heard from upstairs until Xion emerges from the stairs into the entrance way, "Riku! Naminé! It’s so great to see you!" she hugs Naminé and Riku in turn.

The pair agrees with Xion, remarking how good it is to see both her and Roxas in non-dire circumstances. They make small talk until they hear someone yawn extremely loudly, and turn to see Lea.

"Hey, kids," he says, somewhat sleepy.

"Oh, hello-" Naminé begins to say but is interrupted by Roxas.

"Axel, I thought you were at work" Roxas remarks, annoyed.

"Nah, I’m on holiday" Lea replies.

"Ugh, seriously? This is your fourth holiday in a row."

"Hey, a 9–5 is demanding work, you know."

Fed up, Roxas raises his tone, "The only 9–5 you do are the 9–5 hours you spend napping on the couch!"

While Roxas continues to argue with Lea, Xion steps closer to Naminé and Riku with a conspiratorial grin and says, "Saïx is the real breadwinner in this house, don’t listen to Axel." she finishes off the sentence with a giggle.

"I heard that," Lea says.

"Oops!" Xion decides to play dumb.

"Aaaanyway, what do you two need here in Twilight Town?" Lea asks.

Riku explains the situation to Lea, and he nods. "Well, as Roxas said, of course you can stay the night, but you’re welcome to stay longer. I know this place needs a little TLC, but hey, we’ve got the space for the both of you."

"Really? Thanks, Lea." Riku says.

"But! You’ve gotta follow house rules." Lea’s tone turns serious.

"House rules?" Naminé hears Roxas and Xion giggle.

"Yup." Lea begins to say, as if checking off items off of an imaginary to-do list. "Bedtime is at eight PM, breakfast is at six AM, no ice cream unless you’ve done the chores I’ll assign you, and no Gummiphones at the table."

By now, Roxas and Xion are cackling. Xion says, "Axel, if those were the house rules, we’d have to kick you out."

"Nah, you can’t do that. I’m the man of the house, I’m the person in charge of you two" Lea replies, smiling.

"More like the clown of the house," Roxas teases.

"Okay, okay, quit making fun of me. As the clown of the house, I get to decide who bunks with who." Lea says, smiling at Roxas conspiratorially, "Roxas, you’re with Riku."

"What!?" Roxas complains, indignant.

Lea points at both of the girls, "Xion and Naminé, you’re together."

"Yay!" Xion exclaims, raising her hand to give her a high-five. Naminé stares at her, confused for a second, until she remembers and completes the gesture.

"Okay, you guys can complain or celebrate your room assignments after dinner. Come on, I’ll order some pizza." Lea says, making his way over to the landline phone.

 Isa arrives in the town home as the group is already scarfing down the cheap mozzarella pizzas Lea ordered. A bit taken aback, he greets his guests and grabs himself a slice, which he then takes up to his room, citing Lea’s loudness as the reason for his departure.

They pass the time watching some random episode of a serial drama on the living room CRT until Naminé begins to get sleepy, which is when everyone decides to turn in for the night. To Roxas’ dismay, his requests to have Riku bunk with Lea or Isa are rejected as Lea laughs in his face. 

 "Hey, Naminé, follow me, this way!" Xion happily leads the way to her room.

Once inside, Naminé notices that the furniture in Xion’s room seems as well-loved as every other object in the house, and the house itself. Her sheets and curtains are mostly black, like her wardrobe, but the lack of color in that department is more than made up for by Xion’s collection of seashells and plushies. The seashells dot the window frame of her bay window, desk, and edges of her bookshelf. The plushies, a mix of animals and people, have all but completely taken over her bed, not even her pillow is visible.

Xion heads over to her desk, opens up one of the drawers, and pulls out a purple folder. "Here you go!” she hands it over. "Open it!"

Naminé opens it up, curious, to find all of her old drawings, lovingly preserved. "Oh, Xion, thank you so much!" Naminé accepts the folder, almost tearing up.

Xion carefully gives Naminé a hug and holds her as she calms down, extremely happy to have helped out someone who she wishes to be better friends with.

"You should thank Roxas too, he also helped out, it was a group effort," Xion says, dragging out a mattress from below her bed. "Here, you can take my bed and I’ll sleep on the mattress."

Naminé starts, "No, no, I couldn’t possibly-"

"Really, I don’t mind at all. Maybe we could just switch off every night, how does that sound?"

"Yeah… Yeah! I’d like that." Naminé agrees.

As Naminé sinks into Xion’s mountain of plushies, she hears her Gummiphone go off from the bedside table. 

<mnirilidimbfis> I think Roxas hates me.

<seawavenami> That can’t be true

<mnirilidimbfis> He just went to sleep. I had to set everything up on my own.

<seawavenami> Maybe you just need to talk to him

<mnirilidimbfis> Trust me, I tried. He wouldn’t reply.

<seawavenami> But he was so nice to me earlier, even with all that’s happened

<mnirilidimbfis> That’s the thing. You had no choice but to stay with DiZ, while I did.

<seawavenami> Did you, though?

<mnirilidimbfis> ...

<mnirilidimbfis> Crap, I woke Roxas up. Goodnight, Naminé.

<seawavenami> Goodnight Riku

 "Goodnight, Xion." Naminé says as she turns off her Gummiphone for the night.

"G’night, Naminé!" Replies a slightly muffled Xion. Some of the plushies have fallen onto her, but she doesn’t seem to care. 

 The next day, Xion tells everyone that Naminé doesn’t have any clothing of her own choosing, so they all pool some Munny together to take her clothes shopping. Lea divides them into two teams:
Team Isa; which consists of Isa, Xion, and Naminé.
And Team Lea; consisting of Lea, Roxas, and Riku.

Team Isa will take Naminé shopping, while team Lea prepares a surprise.

After a full breakfast, both teams depart to opposite ends of Market Street. 

 Xion, posed as to give her teammates a pep talk, begins; "Okay team, together we have ei-"

"Don’t worry about the Munny, I’ll pitch in for anything our Munny pool can’t cover" Isa interrupts.

"But Saïx, you already placed Munny in the pool, right?" Xion asks.

"Yes, but if I told Lea I had this Munny, he would simply ask for it." Isa replies. Gravely.

"Ohhh. Smart idea! I should probably do that too..."

"Smart indeed," Isa says.

As the trio is about to enter one of the many clothing stores on Market Street, they run into Olette, who seems to be doing some shopping of her own.

"Olette! Hey!" Xion calls out to her.

It takes her a second, but she finds the source of the voice calling out to her and runs over, "Hi, Xion! Hello Isa! And..."

"Hello, my name is Naminé" Naminé lightly waves to her.

"Naminé! Hello! I’ve heard so much about you! I’m Olette, it’s so good to finally meet you." Olette says as she gives Naminé a hug. "So, what are you three doing?"

"Naminé doesn’t really have many clothes of her own, so we’re going to help her pick out some! It’s like how when you met me for the first time" Xion explains.

"Oh yeah, I remember. I’d love to tag along. What do you say, Naminé?" Olette asks.

"Oh, uh… Sure" She says with a small smile.

"Great!" 

 The team immediately notices Naminé’s preference for dresses and skirts, so they know which stores to head in.

Isa watches as Olette leads Naminé and Xion into various stores as they all pick out clothes together, the majority of which are dresses. Xion gathers them up and clears a dressing room for Naminé, as Olette eggs Naminé on to “model” her new clothes for them.

Naminé agrees, reluctant at first, but ends up having tons of fun in the end. Xion makes Isa act as a judge, but the only rating he gives is a small approving smile.

Pass through skirts of various lengths and end up picking out some circle skirts, wrap skirts, and a single tulip skirt. Dresses, predictably, are the majority of their haul, with various sundresses, a couple of shirt and mini dresses, some skater dresses, and a blouson dress. Of course, they also purchase different tops and jackets that Naminé can mix and match with.

Something they almost forgot among all the skirts and dresses was shopping for footwear, which Isa gently reminded them of. So, aside from sandals, Naminé now owns a couple of sneakers and a nice pair of boots.

Olette also pitches in gifting her various accessories, such as some hair scrunchies, hair clips, and a headband. 

 Meanwhile, Roxas leads Team Lea into some sort of sports shop, where various skateboards, bicycles, roller skates, and scooters are on display alongside equipment for Struggle Battles.

Inside, they find Hayner and Pence, looking at said equipment, seemingly mid-debate.

Roxas calls out to them; "Yo, Hayner! Pence!"

"Hey, it’s Roxas!" Hayner calls out in reply, but before he approaches, he seriously looks at Pence and says, "We continue this later."

Pence rolls his eyes and joins the group.

"Hey Roxas, your skateboard break again or something?" Pence asks with a grin.

"Will you stop with that? No, it didn’t. I’m here to buy something for a friend." Roxas replies, with a small grumble.

"Who, him?" Hayner points at Riku.

"No, not him. Another friend, her name is Naminé, I need something good for beginners." Roxas answers.

"So you’re not gonna introduce us to the tall guy?" Hayner questions.

"Uh, yeah, I already introduced him, his name is Axel." Roxas points behind him with his thumb, pointedly ignoring the other ‘tall guy’ beside him.

"Dude, we already know Lea. I mean the other one." Pence says.

Riku lets out a deep sigh and realizes that Roxas is never going to introduce him properly, so he decides to do so himself. "I’m Riku, I’m visiting Twilight Town with Naminé."

Pence stretches out his hand in greeting, "Nice to meet you, Riku."

"Yeah, same here, I’m Hayner." He points to himself with his thumb, and then cocks his head to the right “And that’s Pence.”

"Nice to meet you guys" Riku shakes Pence’s hand.

"Let’s not get sidetracked, we were looking for something for Naminé" Roxas says, somewhat irritated.

"Fine, fine" Pence concedes, "You said something good for beginners, right? But what? A skateboard, a bicycle, or..." he trails off.

"Uh." Roxas expertly replies.

"A scooter should work." Riku pitches in.

"What?" Roxas asks.

"A scooter. A skateboard would make her nervous, and roller skates have a steep learning curve. A bicycle would be too bulky for us to transport, so, a scooter." Riku explains.

"And to Riku goes the award! Let’s find us some scooters." Hayner walks further into the store.

They end up picking out a large but foldable sky-blue scooter. While Lea pays for it, Roxas spots Riku looking at a set of rollerblades, which he promptly picks up and buys for himself.

Team Lea’s mission has been a success. 

<mnirilidimbfis> We’re done on our end, come meet us at the Sand Lot when you’re ready.

<seawavenami> On our way!

 Wearing one of her new sundresses, Naminé and her newfound friends head over to the Sand Lot as Riku instructed them to.

he sees Roxas sitting on a step with his foot on a skateboard while he holds on to a purple bicycle with similar patterns to the skateboard. Riku’s sitting on a nearby step as well, putting on what appears to be a pair of rollerblades. There’s a sky-blue scooter nearby. Lea is there as well, along with two boys she doesn’t recognize.

"Hello, everyone." Naminé says, shyly.

"Oh, Naminé, you’re here!" Roxas turns and gets up to face her.

The two teams recount their successful missions to each other, and Hayner and Pence introduce themselves to Naminé, and Olette to Riku.

"So, yeah. Riku said this would fit you best." Roxas points to the scooter.

"Oh, thank you so much, everyone!" Naminé beams.

Riku approaches her and asks, "Do you want to try it? I know you’ve never done this before, but neither have I. I bought myself a pair of rollerblades so you wouldn’t be the only one just starting out."

"Yes! I’d love to." Naminé smiles.

"We can help you out, too. I swung by our house and picked up Xion, and I’s gear." Roxas says.

"Oooh I’d love to help, I just started out, too!" Xion runs towards her bicycle.

Naminé very carefully steps onto her scooter, gripping the handlebars a little too hard. She pushes off with her right foot... and... Almost falls to the left.

Roxas and the others give her some tips and follow her closely so she isn’t afraid of falling until she gains enough confidence to do a full lap around the Sand Lot all by herself. As soon as she pulls it off, everyone erupts into cheers.

A few more laps later, everyone pointedly looks at Riku, who has his rollerblades on but still hasn’t gotten off the steps.

"What, you’re not gonna do anything?" Roxas taunts.

"Okay, fine, I’ll stand up." Riku flawlessly and effortlessly goes from a sitting position to a standing position. He gives Roxas a cocky smile and lifts one of his feet, balancing on only one foot.

"Dude, I thought you never did anything like this before." Roxas huffs.

"That’s right. I did do ballet as a kid though, So I think some of those skills translated into this" Riku replies as he carefully puts his foot down.

"Okay, sure, whatever, cool, now try actually moving." Roxas says.

Riku carefully does a lap around the Sand Lot, almost losing his balance a couple of times, but not quite enough to fall. Everyone cheers but Roxas, who was anticipating that he would fall.

The group stays in the Sand Lot until it’s time for dinner. 

Time goes by rather quickly as Riku and Naminé settle down into the Twilight Town group’s daily routines. The re-exploration of the Old Mansion is always put off by Roxas for whatever reason, though. Riku doesn’t ask why since he doesn’t want to cause trouble, especially because of Roxas’ uneasy relationship with him, but once three weeks have passed, Riku reaches a breaking point with Roxas’ excuses. 

Before Roxas gets the chance to make it to his bed, Riku grabs him by the wrist, "I need to talk to you about something."

"Let me go."

"Why are you always putting off our visits to the Old Mansion?"

"I said, let me go." Roxas struggles against Riku’s grip.

"This isn’t for me, it’s for Sora."

"I know it’s for Sora, but you won’t find anything in there." Roxas' tone begins to rise.

"How do you know that?"

"I just do. Now let me go" Roxas tugs.

Riku, tired of not being listened to, begins to raise his tone as well, "We have to make sure. You’re a Keyblade Wielder just like I am, you can’t just neglect your duty-"

"Duty!?" Roxas breaks free of Riku’s grasp. "Uh, just to remind you. I didn’t choose any of this. I know people think I’m strong or whatever, but I don’t care. I want to help Sora, but I don’t want anything to do with Keyblades anymore. He’s my other, I have a connection with him, you know how empty it feels without him!?"

I do, more than you will ever know.

"He’s always sacrificing himself for some greater good, he never takes care of himself. All of this happened because some old man was obsessed with Kingdom Hearts and the χ-blade. I want to help Sora, but I’m not going back there."

"Fine. But you can’t just ignore the fact that you’re a Keyblade Wielder forever."

"Yes I can, it’s been working perfectly so far."

"It won’t last!" Riku clenches his fists.

"Fine, then. If you don’t understand me when I try to talk to you, then we settle this."

Chapter Text

Roxas’ room is a relaxing space to be in. While a bit messy, it’s clear that a lot of care has gone into putting it all together. The game console with a small TV in the corner, the bookshelf littered with books and video games, his sticker-covered desk, and his messy bed are all tied together by the warm lighting provided by a string of fairy lights.

Tonight, Roxas’ room is not a relaxing space to be in. The once comfortable dim lighting only exaggerates the angry look on Roxas’ face, and Riku feels like the room’s shadows are closing in on him.

“We settle this? How?” Riku asks, incredulously.

“We settle this. With Keyblades, since you like them so much.”

Before Riku can get a word in, Roxas opens the door and steps into the hallway. “Meet me at the Sand Lot. I won’t wait forever.”

What does he think he’s doing? He’s obviously provoking me, but why? I have to go, though. I need to show him how important saving Sora is, no matter what it takes… And I need his help.

Riku attempts to follow Roxas’ trail but loses him as he locks the door behind him. Riku huffs and quietly summons his Keyblade, unlocking the door and making his way to the Sand Lot.

Despite Twilight Town’s perpetual twilight, one can notice how late it is by seeing how the shadows grow and cover the town. Sunlight only manages to hit the topmost part of the Clock Tower, the rest of the town lit up only by dim streetlamps.

The way to the Sand Lot is full of twists and turns, but Riku finally reaches it.

“There you are, I thought you’d be a no-show,” Roxas says, leaning against the wall, his two Keyblades already summoned.

“Sorry, but someone locked the door on the way out.”

“Gee, I wonder who that could’ve been.”

There are countless Struggle posters laid out on the walls of the nearby homes, with the banner and stage for the event visible off to the side. Despite the festive atmosphere, the air in the Sand Lot is tense.

Riku is only met by silence from Roxas after their brief exchange, so he moves to summon his Keyblade, only to be stopped as Roxas throws one of his Keyblades, Oblivion, his way.

“I want a rematch.” He says.

“What are you talking about?” Riku tests Oblivion in his hand.

“You know what I’m talking about. That time at The World That Never Was, when you waited for me at Memory’s Skyscraper. You cheated.”

“Is this what this whole thing has been about?” Riku shakes his head in disbelief.

“Sure, if you believe that.” Roxas shrugs and settles into his fighting stance, bending his knees and holding Oathkeeper with both of his hands. “No magic, and don’t worry about making noise. Me and Hayner practice here for our Struggle matches all the time, and nobody cares.”

“Ready?”

“I didn’t agree to—”

Roxas lunges at him with an overhead strike, and Riku just barely manages to block it on shaking feet. He digs his feet into the ground and pushes away with all his strength. “Fine! Have it your way!” Sparks fly as Oblivion knocks away Oathkeeper.

Roxas recovers from Riku’s show of strength, but not fast enough. When he moves to attack, Riku spins to his left and thrusts Oblivion forward, landing a hit and making Roxas recoil backward.

Angered, Roxas runs at Riku and swings Oathkeeper repeatedly at him. Riku manages to block some of these unpredictable hits, but not all of them, leaving him winded.

In the heat of the moment, Riku almost draws upon his dark magic but holds himself back. This a strictly martial duel.

Riku recalls his spar against Yuffie and attempts to sweep at Roxas’s feet. Roxas sees through him, however, and jumps back at the last second.

“I thought I said no cheating.”

“By that you meant no magic, didn’t you?”

“Heh, I guess I don’t have to worry about fighting dirty.”

Roxas runs at him once more, low this time, which Riku is already prepared for. But instead of attacking him with his Keyblade, Roxas sweeps at the ground, kicking up sand. It was a feint, and now Riku’s got sand in his eyes.

Roxas laughs, “Now it’s exactly like last time.”

Riku stops trying to bat away the sand, closes his eyes, and listens.

Step, step, step. Roxas is circling him, looking for an opening.

He won’t find one; I’m used to fighting like this.

Roxas finally moves to strike, but Riku catches onto his jacket with Oblivion and moves to pin him down. He brushes away the sand from his eyes, revealing a jacket pinned to the ground, Oathkeeper beside it… But no Roxas.

As soon as Riku realizes this, he hears Roxas re-summon Oathkeeper and holds it near Riku’s side.

“I win.” He says with a cocky smile. “How’s that for neglecting my Keyblade?”

Riku puts his left hand up and silently loosens his grip on Oblivion, carefully handing it back to Roxas.

“That move, by the way, I learned from practicing for Struggle matches with Hayner.” Roxas continues.

“Ugh, sorry, Roxas.” Riku concedes, “It’s like I got possessed by Master Yen Sid or something.”

“Maybe that Keyblade Master title comes with that sort of attitude.”

“I’d hope not.”

“Then you better keep it that way, don’t get all annoying like that.”

After some light teasing, Roxas’s face turns serious.

“Something’s up with you. Your movements were off. I know your Keyblade is much heavier than Oblivion, so what was up with you being so slow?”

Riku opens his mouth to respond but isn’t able to come up with any answers.

“You’re exhausted, man. Have you seen yourself?” Roxas walks up to one of the benches at the Sand Lot and motions for Riku to follow. “You need to rest. Figured I’d beat some sense into you after you blew up at me talking about ‘duty’ or whatever.”

Riku groans. “Stop reminding me,” he says as he sits down beside Roxas. “But I can’t rest now, not with Sora missing.”

“Yeah, you can,” Roxas says as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“I really can’t. I need to go check out the Old Mansion.”

“Would you stop insisting with that? It’s related to Ansem, yeah? So just let Axel and Saix look it over.”

“I don’t want to shirk my responsibility to—”

“Ugh, stop being so annoying when I’m trying to be nice to you. You’re not ‘shirking responsibilities,’ you’re resting! Let those two do it, especially Axel, so he does something for once.”

Riku considers Roxas’s proposition. “Are you sure they’d accept?”

“Yeah, of course. Everyone wants to help Sora, even them. Plus, they’ve got history with Ansem, while the only thing we have is bad memories.” Roxas says as he pats Riku on the shoulder.

“True enough.”

“Plus, you and Naminé should do normal people things for once.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll do ‘normal people things.’ But stop treating me like you want to snap my wrist again.”

“Only if you stop getting on my nerves with all that Keyblade talk.” Roxas outstretches his hand.

“Deal.” Riku firmly clasps his hand with Roxas to seal the deal, only for him to turn it into an impromptu arm-wrestling match, which Riku loses.

“Haha! You actually fell for it!” Roxas cackles.

“Oh, shut up,” Riku says as he holds his arm in mild pain.

“Let’s go back, it's super late.”

“Alright. But actually help me set up my mattress this time.”

“No promises.” Roxas chuckles and breaks into a jog back home.

The next morning, the group of six gathers for breakfast in the too-small kitchen. Everyone helps themselves to whatever is ready to eat from the kitchen cabinets, while Isa offers to make warm drinks for everyone. The group of teens claims the kitchen table as Lea and Isa stand around the kitchen.

The quiet murmur of conversation and the clinking of spoons against ceramic mugs is interrupted by a tired Roxas. “Hey, Axel?” he asks.

Lea leans against the wall, crosses his arms, and faces Roxas. “What’s up, Roxas?”

“You think you and Saïx could check out the Old Mansion for Naminé and Riku by yourselves?”

“Sure. You don’t wanna go back there, yeah?”

“Pretty much.”

“Very well. Lea and I will look into the Old Mansion.” Isa adds as he hands Roxas and Riku a cup of coffee each.

“Awesome, thanks.”

Roxas turns to his left to look at Riku. “See? Told you it’d be easy.”

“Yeah, looks like you were right.” Riku speaks up. “Thank you, guys.”

“It’s no big deal, kid,” Lea replies as Isa nods.

“Naminé! We won’t have to go back to that old musty place!” Xion cheers, hugging her friend.

“Oh! Um, yes! We won’t!” Naminé says as Xion’s hug shakes her back and forth.

“We should celebrate! Naminé, have you ever done karaoke?”

“No, but I know what it is.”

“Would you like to go? We can invite Hayner, Pence, and Olette to come with us after they’re done with school.”

“I’d love that.”

“Alright, I’m all done with my breakfast,” Xion says as she gets up and picks up her now empty bowl of fruit cereal. “Do you want to watch more of that mermaid show with me, Naminé?”

“Sure.” Naminé follows behind, putting her empty plate in the sink alongside Xion.

After a beat of silence, Riku asks, “Oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask. What are you guys doing about school?”

“Skipping it,” Roxas replies, flatly.

Isa sighs and explains, “What Roxas means is that he and Xion are waiting until they turn eighteen so they can do an intensive schooling program. We planned to have them enroll in Twilight Town’s high school, but there was no guarantee they would be in the same grade as their friends.”

“Yeah, they could be thrown in some random year depending on their exam scores. But the accelerated school we’re looking at covers it all in just two years. It’s gonna be hard, but at least Isa and I can join ‘em for it since we never finished.” Lea chimes in.

Riku hums, pondering something. “I might have to look into that since I pretty much dropped out. I never went back to school after the Islands fell, but I think my town is too small to have a program like that.”

“You could always do it here,” Roxas says.

Riku blinks. “Hm… I could, you’re right. I do turn seventeen this year, so I wouldn’t have to wait much more anyway.”

“What, are you not gonna wait for us?”

“Well, it all depends on what happens with…” Riku trails off with a sad look on his face.

The awkward silence is interrupted by Lea. “Why don’t you two go and join the girls in the living room?”

“Yeah! Let’s go, Riku.” Roxas gets up, thankful for the excuse to leave the awkward silence behind.

Riku wordlessly follows him.

While Roxas messages Hayner, Pence, and Olette to meet them at Twilight Karaoke after school, Naminé and Riku put on some warmer clothes to prepare for Twilight Town’s early autumn. When Xion doesn’t do the same, Naminé asks her why, only to get a flimsy response.

“I don’t really get cold.”

“Are you sure you won’t need a jacket?”

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry!”

Xion leads the way to today’s designated meeting spot, while a bit further behind, Roxas approaches Riku.

“Seriously, don’t worry about Xion. We… don’t think her Replica body can feel cold, or warm for that matter.”

“What? Is the body defective? We should—”

“No, no. She’ll be fine; we’ve been in contact with Zexion and the others. Mine also has some issues, like I can’t control my own strength, especially when I’m mad. But from what you told us, I think the reason Vexen was so bent on having Naminé stay was so he could make our bodies perfect.”

Riku tenses. “Oh… Well, I’m sorry, but—”

“You don’t have to be sorry; we don’t want her to stay there either. We’re fine just like this.” Roxas taps Riku on the back.

After a moment, he asks, “Have you noticed anything like that with Naminé, though?”

Riku thinks, “It’s like, I don’t notice her enough. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, I get what you mean.” Roxas says, “Well, whatever, we’re all here now, so who cares? Now come on, hurry up!” He yells out as he catches up to Xion and Naminé.”

The group meets up with Hayner, Pence, and Olette in front of Twilight Karaoke. After chatting for a bit, Hayner immediately takes charge and gets them a room inside the venue. “Quit yappin’ and follow me.” He says as he motions with his hand.

“Okay, so who is gonna kick this off?” Pence asks as he sits down on the room’s couch.

Olette stands up and hurries to grab the mic. “Me, duh! I’ve been practicing.”

“You’re not the only one, but sure, go ahead!” Xion smiles.

Olette picks out a song with the television’s remote control and turns her back to it, seemingly not needing the lyrics at all. She strikes a pose as soon as the first beat sounds out and begins to dance and sing;

“Hey, hey, you, you!
I don’t like your girlfriend.
Hey, hey, you, you!
I think you need a new one.
Hey, hey, you, you!
I could be your girlfriend.”

She continues to dance her choreography and belts out the lyrics, and once everyone is familiar with the chorus, most of them chime in as well. Naminé sings along under her breath while Riku claps along with the beat.

As the song reaches its end, the room erupts into cheers. Olette does a mock curtsy, slightly out of breath.

“Thank you, thank you,” she pants, sitting back down on the couch and drinking some juice.

Pence gravely looks at Hayner. “You know what must be done,” he says cryptically.

“I know. C’mon, Pence.”

Hayner and Pence both pick out a song together, moving through the user interface incredibly quickly as if through muscle memory.

The opening guitar riff sounds out, and they begin;

“It’s just one of those days when you don’t wanna wake up,
Everything is—”

“Hey! You’ve already done this one before!” Roxas yells out over the volume of the song.

“No—I mean yes, but Riku and Naminé haven’t seen it!” Pence yells back.

The nonsensical argument continues over the backing track, and Naminé can’t help but giggle.

“Come on, this is like, the millionth time you sing this!” Olette says, recovered.

Hayner replies, frustrated, “Shut up! It’s a good song! Come on, Pence.”

Pence nods, and they continue their song after being interrupted. Clearly practiced and choreographed, Riku and Naminé can’t help but also be impressed, even though the others complain about seeing them sing this song countless times before.

Riku, Naminé, and Xion clap once they’re done, but they’re only met with sarcastic slow claps from Roxas and Olette.

Roxas huffs. “Well, Xion and I have something actually new to show you guys.”

“Yeah! Let’s go, Roxas.”

Hayner and Pence grumble about not getting as many cheers as Olette did as they sit back down until Roxas tells them to shut up as he and Xion’s song starts.

Xion starts singing by herself, Roxas clapping along and looking at her, until they reach the chorus and they both start singing passionately;

“I bleed it out.
Digging deeper just to throw it away
I bleed it out.
Digging deeper just to throw it away
I bleed it out.
Digging deeper just to throw it away
Just to throw it away, just to throw it away.
I bleed it out.”

Roxas then continues singing, and they trade back and forth after each chorus. They’ve clearly practiced, and they urge the others to join in on the chorus and manage to get everyone to join in, including Riku, who sings a lot louder than anyone would’ve thought.

They strike a pose once the song is done, standing back-to-back, mirroring each other, and the room erupts into cheers once more.

“That was awesome, guys!” Pence cheers.

“Yeah!” Olette agrees.

“Good job, you two, though I could barely hear you over this guy,” Hayner says as he points at Riku.

“My bad.” He laughs.

Xion sits back down. “Naminé, Riku, you two should sing too.”

“I don’t know that many songs, though…” Naminé sighs.

“It’s okay! We can all pick out a song for you if you want.”

“Let me think about it. Riku, would you mind going first?”

“Not at all.” He says as Roxas hands him the remote.

He scrolls for a while and goes through different tabs until he finally finds a song. He doesn’t turn away from the screen completely, but he does try his best to face the others.

It’s a somber song, and Riku slips up with the lyrics sometimes, having to look back and forth between the TV screen and his friends until he reaches a certain part where the guitars start rising up in volume;

“Red, yellow, sunflower, orange, ultramarine, hydrangea
Red, yellow, sunflower, orange, ultramarine, hydrangea
Swimming alone in the deep darkness
Until I can meet you.”

Riku confidently finishes the song, his friends clapping and cheering for him.

“Wow, didn’t think you had it in you to sing a song like that. I’m guessing it means something to you?” Roxas’ mocking turns into a genuine question.

“It did. But now it means something else.” Riku trails off into silence.

After a beat, Xion says, “It’s Naminé’s turn now!”

“I… I don’t know, maybe you guys should continue without me.”

“No, no… Are you afraid to sing alone?”

“Yes…”

“Then I’ll pick something easy we can all sing together! Would that be okay with you, Naminé?”

Naminé hums, considering, “…Yes. I’d like that.”

“Alright, come on everybody, get up!”

The group huddles together as Xion scrolls through the list of songs and finds one she considers easy to sing.

Xion starts off with others following her lead; she turns to Naminé and grasps her hand, encouraging her and handing her the microphone. Riku stays beside her the whole time as well. Naminé sees all of her friends singing and dancing along with the song and works up enough courage to join in partway;

“Do the D.A.N.C.E.
Stick to the B.E.A.T.
Just easy as A.B.C.”

While initially stiff as a board, she eventually joins in, dancing with the others.

When the song finishes, everyone turns to her, smiling.

Xion yells in excitement, “You did it, Naminé!” as she grabs her by the shoulders and shakes her.

“I… I did! Thank you! That was very fun!”

As the weeks go by, Xion and Roxas introduce the two to their ice cream ritual up on the Clock Tower, and Naminé and Riku continue to practice with their recently acquired scooter and rollerblades. It doesn’t take long before Riku can begin to do tricks while moving instead of being stationary. He and Roxas begin to get competitive over who can do laps around the Tram Common the fastest and even race in the Tunnelway. Roxas wins most of the time, but Riku begins to catch up to him in skill and even manages to win a few times.

Naminé, however, doesn’t care much for showing off and instead leisurely rides about the town with either Xion, Olette, or both. Her balance gets better and better bit by bit until Xion gets her a basket for the scooter, which she uses to carry around her sketchpad and a few crayons. Olette tells her about the Seven Wonders of Twilight Town, and she decides to draw those locations in her sketchpad, alongside anything else that catches her eye.

Hayner runs up to the group during one of the times when they’re all taking a break together, posters in hand.

“Guys! Hey, guys!” he yells as he runs towards them, out of breath.

“What’s up, Hayner?” Roxas asks.

“Oh, you already know what’s up.” Hayner says as he unfolds the posters. “Just got some of these to hang up; check it.”

The word ‘STRUGGLE’ is prominently displayed on the posters, alongside a brief description of the event and its rules.

“We have to enter.” He says.

Roxas looks at the posters questioningly. “They’re doing another one so soon?”

“Yeah, but it’s definitely not as big as the one they do during the summer.”

“I want to sign up!” Xion says as she approaches the two on her bicycle. “Riku, you should sign up, too!” She calls out.

“Sign up for what?” Riku asks as he removes his rollerblades.

“The Struggle Tournament! You know the rules, right?”

“Remind me.”

“Two people fight to remove as many Struggle Orbs from their opponent’s velcro straps with their Struggle Bats. Whoever has the most Orbs at the end of the sixty seconds they give you wins.” Xion explains without even having to look at the rules listed on the poster.

“Oh yeah, I remember. Sure, I’ll participate.”

“Thanks! The more people we have, the higher our odds of winning.”

“And our odds of having to fight each other,” Hayner adds.

“Right.” Roxas nods, pointedly looking at Riku.

Riku shrugs back at him and asks, “Naminé, do you want to participate, too?”

“I’ll be okay cheering you all on; I really don’t want to get hit by a Struggle Bat.”

“Noted, and understood.” Hayner says, “Roxas here hits like a truck.”

“I do not!” Roxas huffs in response.

“Alright, sure, you don’t—” Hayner’s Gummiphone buzzes. “Crap! That’s my boss; gotta go, guys! See ya at the Struggle Tournament!” he says as he runs off.

The day of the Struggle Tournament arrives.

“Dude, look, no Seifer, Fuu, or Raijin,” Hayner says to Roxas in lieu of a greeting. He’s accompanied by Pence and Olette.

“Well, yeah. He’s still on his ‘Warrior’s Journey,’ remember?” Pence reminds everyone.

“Anyway, it looks like it’ll be an easy win for you guys!” Olette adds with a smile.

Roxas looks around and sees the four other contestants, a few of which haven’t even competed in a Struggle Tournament before. “Looks like.” After a pause, Roxas says, “Y’know, this kinda makes me miss those three.”

“Ew, don’t even say that.” Olette recoils.

“Yeah, the competition will be worth it with Riku here, too.” Xion chimes in. “Come on, let’s go put our names in.”

Xion leads the way as the group writes their names into scraps of paper, which are then blindly drawn out of a box to form the bracket. It looks like nobody will be fighting each other until the semi-finals if they manage to clear out their opponents.

Hayner, Xion, and Roxas win their matches with relative ease, leaving Riku to go up last.

Naminé walks up to him before he can make it onto the stage. “Good luck, Riku.”

“Thank you, Naminé.”

As Riku steps up onto the stage, he hears his friends cheer for him. But what was supposed to be a relatively easy win almost turns into an embarrassing loss for Riku when he has to accommodate for almost reflexively using magic to dodge a strike. Said mistake costs him most of his Struggle Orbs, but he manages to get ahead by relentlessly following after his opponent, who desperately underestimated him after his blunder.

As he sits back down beside Naminé after his win, Roxas joins him and says, “Good job, idiot.”

"Oh, shut up. I can’t be the only one who’s done that. I’ve seen how you dodge; you use magic too, don’t you?”

“You shut up.”

The boys’ petty argument is interrupted by Naminé bursting into a fit of giggles.

“What’s so funny?” Roxas asks.

“Nothing, nothing.” She says, still giggling. “Oh! The next match is about to start!”

The first match of the semi-finals begins: Hayner versus Xion.

Xion concentrates while Hayner’s attempts to trash-talk her into attacking him sloppily fail, and she easily wins the match with precise strikes. All in all, more time was spent taunting than actually fighting.

“Good job, Hayner.” Roxas claps him on the back.

“Keep your sarcasm to yourself,” he protests.

“Riku, Roxas, your turn.” Xion says, sitting down.

“Good luck!” Naminé cheers.

Riku and Roxas step up to the stage for the second match of the semi-finals.

“You know, you should quit while you’re ahead. Wouldn’t want you to make another mistake while on stage.” Roxas seems to have a similar technique to Hayner: taunting. It doesn’t work, however, as Riku silently settles into a fighting stance.

Riku and Roxas strike each other back and forth, both tied neck and neck in Struggle Orb amounts.

Roxas sweeps at his feet, and Riku seems to fall down until he curls his knees to his chest and suddenly shifts all his weight forward, getting up off the floor in one quick movement and striking at Roxas as he does so.

Noticing Roxas’ surprise at the move, he taunts, “Come on, Roxas. Giving up already?”

Roxas angrily strikes back at him, but not fast enough, as Riku manages to knock down the last of his Struggle Orbs, earning him a perfect win.

“Oh, come on!” Roxas complains.

“Looks like I win this one,” Riku says, with a small chuckle.

Roxas steps off the stage as Riku awaits his opponent for the finals, Xion.

In the benches, he’s met by a slow-clapping Hayner. “Wow. Good job, Roxas. That was one of the worst matches I’ve ever seen.”

“I don’t want to hear that from you.” Roxas sits down with a huff.

Meanwhile, Xion cheerfully steps up to the stage, ready to face Riku head-on.

“Don’t hold back, Riku.” She says with a mischievous smile.

“I won’t.”

Xion wipes the floor with him. Unlike Roxas, the way she wields her Struggle Bat isn’t at all similar to the way she wields her Keyblade, so Riku has no idea what to expect. In a few quick but strong movements, she’s already knocked off over half of his Struggle Orbs, and by the time Riku adapts to her unfamiliar fighting style, the sixty seconds are already up.

Riku couldn’t have held back, even if he wanted to. She all but knew she was going to win from the beginning.

The crowd erupts into cheers at her skillful display, and Riku can’t help but clap for her as well.

“Great job, Riku!” she says, earnestly, and helps him stand up off the floor.

The winner’s ceremony is a quick affair. She’s given a Champion’s Belt and a bundle of prize Munny, which she lifts up, and the crowd erupts into cheers once more.

Once the ceremony is done, she quickly runs off the stage and gives the belt to Naminé as a memento of her time here in Twilight Town, and says, “I hope you can participate next time. I’ll train you!”

“Thank you. I’ll do my best.” Naminé replies with an honest smile.

Much later on, as Riku's headed to sleep in Roxas’ room, his Gummiphone buzzes.

Chapter Text

From her seat in the Gummiship, Naminé stares in amazement at the lights in the distance, at all the different Worlds. Riku gives her a brief description of the ones he’s heard about or knows, but she’s too distracted by their beauty to truly pay attention.

The only thing that’s managed to snap her back to paying attention are the sudden shifts in music genres provided by the portable CD players that her friends back at Twilight Town gifted to them. One example being an abrupt switch from Roxas’s ska to Xion’s industrial metal, which prompted a belly laugh from her and a chuckle from Riku.

“…-miné.”

She’s fully leaning to the side now, twisting her body to see a World that caught her eye. It’s very far away, but its lilac glow flaunts the presence of a strong Light within.

“Naminé.”

Riku’s calling out to her from right beside her.

“Oh! Sorry, Riku, I got distracted.” She apologizes. “What is it?”

“I just wanted to tell you that we’re almost there.” He says as he lifts up his right hand from the Gummiship’s steering wheel and points. “See that World over there? The one with the golden and blue glow?”

Naminé squints and looks around until she finally finds it. It’s growing closer.

“Yes, I see it.”

“That’s the Land of the Departure; we should be there in about fifteen minutes.” Riku explains.

Naminé shuts off her portable CD player and asks, “Have you ever been there?”

“No, I haven’t. Well, I haven’t been there properly.”

“What do you mean?”

Riku grimaces. “We’ve both been there, actually. It’s Castle Oblivion’s original form.”

“What!?” Naminé says, shocked and afraid.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing like what it used to be. We won’t have to worry about maze-like floors.” He reassures.

“Oh…”

“Apparently, it was given that form to seal something away by Aqua.” Riku picks at his own brain.

“It won’t turn into Castle Oblivion again, right?”

“No, I’m sure. We can ask Aqua about it together if it’ll make you feel better.”

“Yes, please.”

After a few minutes of silence, Riku begins to carefully land in the Land of Departure. Ventus runs down the castle stairs excitedly, orange leaves crunching under his every step, as Terra and Aqua trail behind him with smiles on their faces.

Their easygoing expressions assuage Naminé’s fears.

The pair step out into the Land of Departure’s grassy fields, enveloped by distant mountain peaks and blanketed by a sea of stars in the night sky. The trees shift with the breeze, causing leaves of different orange hues to drift in the wind.

“Thank you so much for coming, Riku.” Aqua says, with a smile on her face. She turns to look down at Naminé, “You too, Naminé.”

“O-Of course, Master Aqua.” Riku says, nervously, which causes Aqua to fall into a fit of giggles.

“Please, you don’t have to be so formal. This goes for you too, Naminé. I may be a Keyblade Master, but I’m still just myself, just Aqua.”

“Or else we’d also have to call Riku ‘Master Riku.’” Ventus says, chiming into the conversation.

Naminé freezes for just a moment. It’s jarring seeing someone look so much like Roxas and yet be so unlike him. Ventus is all easy smiles, while with Roxas, you had to work much harder to get a genuine smile out of him.

Before Naminé even gets the chance to address Ventus, he says, “Please, call me Ven.” Almost as if reading her mind.

“Okay, Ven. It’s nice to see you again; we didn’t get to talk much at the beach.”

“Same here!” He adds with a smile.

Terra, who had been hanging out in the background, finally steps forward: “Nice to see you again, Riku. I’m so proud to see how far you’ve come as a Keyblade Wielder.”

Riku blushes from the praise and tries to brush it aside. “It’s thanks to you I can even wield one to begin with.”

“But your strength, that’s all yours. I didn’t teach you anything.”

“Y-yeah well. It wasn’t without its missteps.”

“Riku, I think you should just accept the compliment.” Ventus says.

Riku blushes even further, and Naminé giggles before letting out a yawn. Aqua watches over the scene before her fondly.

Aqua hums. “Well, we should get you two settled.”

“Yeah! We have plenty of space, so you two can even get your own rooms!” Ven cheers.

“Did you two need anything to eat?” Terra wonders.

“No, we ate something on our way here.” Naminé answers with a small smile.

“Awesome! Can I show them where their rooms are?” Ventus asks.

“Of course. I’ll carry their stuff.” Terra offers, already making his way into the Gummiship to grab Riku and Naminé’s bags.

Riku flusters as Naminé looks back around at Terra. “Please, we can carry it ourse—”

“Nonsense, you two are our guests. Terra and I will take your bags to your rooms; you two just enjoy your time here.” Aqua placates Riku and Naminé with a small smile.

Ventus runs back towards the steps. “Come on, follow me!” he calls out while gesturing excitedly.

Riku and Naminé rush after him, but Naminé notices an unfamiliar Keyblade impaled into the ground that has three charms hanging from it, with flowers placed where it meets the earth. She trails off for a second, wondering to whom it belongs, but quickly catches up to Riku and Ventus.

As soon as they step inside the castle, Ventus yells, “Chirithy! We have guests!” But he gets no reply, save for the light breeze coming in through the half-open door.

Riku and Naminé turn to look at each other, confused. Noticing their confusion, Ventus explains, “Chirithy is uh… A friend! They’re really shy, though, even around Terra and Aqua, so they might not come out much.

“A friend? Are they also a Keyblade Wielder?” Naminé inquires.

Ventus laughs, “No, no. They’re less than a meter tall, so I don’t think they could wield one if they wanted to.” He gestures the mentioned height as he talks, “They look sort of like, a plushie actually.”

Naminé clasps her hands together. “Oh! I would love to meet them!”

“Hopefully they’ll at least say ‘hi’…” Ventus turns around and crosses his palms on the back of his head as he walks up a flight of stairs past a grand hall and up into a hallway. “Here are your rooms!” he says as he points at the left side of the hallway.

“R-really!? These seem quite large.” Naminé says, incredulous.

“They’re all yours!” Ventus says cheerfully. “Oh! Except the one on the end of the hallway, that one’s mine.”

“I’ll take this one, then.” Riku says, gesturing at the one closest to the stairs, leaving Naminé with the one in the middle.

“Great! Naminé, your room is across from Terra’s, while Riku’s is across from Aqua’s. If you two need anything, just ask them!” Ventus explains.

Riku looks around the hall one final time. “Thanks, Ven.”

“No problem!”

Riku hears a pair of distant footsteps grow closer and closer; it’s Aqua and Terra.

Terra removes one of Riku’s bags from his shoulders and asks, “Did you already show them their rooms, Ven?”

“Yeah!” He nods.

Riku and Naminé hurriedly open the doors to their respective rooms so the two can put down their bags somewhere.

Terra and Aqua help Riku and Naminé unpack, respectively, while Ventus darts between the two rooms, helping as much as he can. After an hour of hard work helping them get settled, Aqua points out the time, causing everyone to hurriedly get into bed.

Naminé gets into bed and unsuccessfully tries to fall asleep. The spaciousness of the room makes her feel uneasy, unused to having her own space. She stares at the ceiling for a bit before grabbing her Gummiphone from the bedside table.

<seawavenami> Riku are you still awake?
<mnirilidimbfis> Yeah. Is something wrong?
<seawavenami> I’m just not used to how having a room this big to myself haha
<seawavenami> It’s… A bit lonely
<mnirilidimbfis> Hold on.

Naminé hears a couple of knocks from the wall behind her.

<mnirilidimbfis> Did you hear me?
<mnirilidimbfis> I’m right here.

She smiles and inches backwards on her bed, raising her right fist and sending out three knocks in reply. Knowing that Riku is right there on the other side of the wall makes her feel much better.

<seawavenami> I heard you :)
<seawavenami> Thank you Riku
<mnirilidimbfis> Of course. If you need anything, just knock.
<seawavenami> Ok! I’m going to go try and sleep now
<seawavenami> Goodnight Riku
<mnirilidimbfis> Goodnight, Naminé.

The following day, Aqua serves everyone a late breakfast. Quickly deciding on something easy but filling, she prepares both savory and sweet pancakes for everyone while shooing Riku away from the kitchen, who only wanted to help.

Meanwhile, Terra explains how the coffeemaker works to Naminé and stops her from making her usual ‘sugar monstrosity’ by giving her some cream to sweeten it up.

Ventus sets the table and helps move things from the kitchen to their dining room.

Once everyone is seated, Aqua opens the conversation by asking, “Riku, Naminé, would you like to join us for our morning Keyblade exercises after we finish eating? This may be our break month from venturing into the Realm of Darkness, but we can’t afford to get too comfortable without our Keyblades.”

Namine takes a sip of her coffee. “Um… I don’t have a Keyblade.”

“That’s okay, we have a bunch of wooden ones you can use!” Ventus says as he chews his food, making his sentence only semi-understandable. Terra, while chuckling, bumps him in the leg for this.

“I…” She trails off.

Riku gives her a reassuring nod.

“Sure… I could give it a try.”

Ventus cheers while Aqua and Terra smile.

The group finish their food and make their way out to the gardens.

The sun’s rays break through the autumn breeze, making it feel warmer than what it actually is. The group of five settle underneath a nice patch of sunlight in order to do their exercises. Naminé scrambles, not knowing where to stand, until Terra directs her to stand in between him and Ventus, with Aqua and Riku in front of them.

Terra hands Naminé a Keyblade carved out of wood; it’s a bit lumpy, but she can tell a lot of care was put into it.

Aqua turns to face the group and focuses in on Naminé, thinking. After a moment, she opens her mouth. “Naminé, would you mind settling into a fighting stance for me?”

Naminé, flustered, crouches a bit and settles into a fighting stance similar to that of Kairi’s, Xion’s, and… Sora’s.

Aqua gives her a knowing smile. “Try swinging your ‘Keyblade’ downwards.”

Naminé does as Aqua requested and almost falls backwards when trying to return to her starting position. She looks embarrassed.

Aqua moves towards her and helps her readjust herself. “Here, why don’t you try something similar to my stance? Your swings will be lighter and won’t hit quite as hard, but it’ll be much easier to keep your balance.” Aqua says as she positions Naminé into a stance similar to her own. “Why don’t you try again? Just follow my movements.” Aqua demonstrates a quick downward strike.

Naminé tries again and this time succeeds, prompting clapping from the rest of the group.

“Great!” Aqua smiles. “Let’s continue like this, then.” Aqua trades places with Terra so she can be beside Naminé.

Naminé nods. “O-okay!”

The group continue their exercises until Naminé looks noticeably worn-out.

Aqua casts a glance towards Naminé. “Alright, time for a break, everyone!”

Naminé sits down on the grassy field, clutching her wooden Keyblade while out of breath. “Sorry, everyone.”

“What are you apologizing for, Naminé? You did great! We usually take a break around here anyway.” Ventus cheers her up, sitting down beside her.

Aqua nods, “Ven’s right. This is your first time doing these types of exercises, so don’t overexert yourself.” She says as she settles down on the grass too. “You’re free to stop whenever you want. We’re not forcing you to participate, so feel free to just watch us as well.”

Terra sits down nearby as well. “We usually spar after our breaks; you can spar with Ven if you want to, too.”

“I… I think I’ll pass.” Naminé says, still out of breath. “I don’t think fighting is for me.”

“That’s okay!” Ventus reassures while lying down completely on the floor. The rest join him, even Riku, as they gaze up into the clouds.

After a while, Ventus quickly lifts up one of his legs and lowers it to gain momentum, swiftly sitting up. “Alright, I wanna see the two Keyblade Masters duel!”

Aqua giggles and joins Ventus. “Of course you’d say something like that.” She turns to Riku, who’s still lying down. “Riku, would you join me?”

Riku opens one of his eyes. “Sure.” He slowly stands up and stretches his hand out to Naminé, helping her stand up. Terra does the same for Aqua and Ventus.

“Do you guys have any rules for sparring? Like, no magic or something like that?” Riku asks.

“Not really. We just fight until one of us taps out.” Aqua replies.

“Yeah! So you can go all out!” Ventus says, excited.

Terra coughs.

Ventus glances back at Terra. “Well, you can use magic, but don’t get too crazy.” He adds.

“Understood.” Riku smiles. “Naminé, would you like to be my referee again?”

“Yes, of course.” Naminé says as she moves to sit under a nearby tree’s shade, the sun’s been annoyingly getting in her eyes, making her unable to see. Terra and Ventus join her.

Aqua bows and summons her Keyblade, and Riku quickly copies her. They walk a few paces apart and stand ready for Naminé’s signal.

“You got this, Aqua!” Ventus cheers.

Terra laughs and says to Naminé, “You know, I actually don’t know who to cheer for.”

“Really?” Naminé looks at him.

“Yeah. Aqua’s my friend, but I’m also the one who bequeathed Riku with the ability to wield a Keyblade…” He trails off for a bit. “If… If Xehanort hadn’t done what he did to us, it would’ve been an honor to train him. Even though he was never my student, I feel like I should cheer for him.” Terra says, his gaze distant.

“I see…” Naminé nods and thinks. “I’ll… I’ll cheer for Riku, and you could cheer for both of them; that way, they both have two people cheering for them.”

Terra chuckles. “I think I’ll do just that.”

“Naminé, are you ready?” Aqua calls out.

“Oh! Yes!” Naminé nods and raises her voice. “Three, two, one… Go!” She yells.

And they’re off.

Seeing them spar with their magic is absolutely captivating to Naminé; she’s never seen anything quite like it. Aqua’s swift strikes are hypnotic, full of dazzling lights and icy blue sparkles. She’s not even sure if she’s even physically wielding the Keyblade; it seems to move on its own, spinning up and down, meeting Riku’s blows every time. And while she’s seen Riku fight before, that was nothing compared to what she’s seeing now; both Light and Darkness, in perfect balance, are projected from his Keyblade, enveloping it in a purple glow, and somehow, despite wielding such a heavy Keyblade, he manages to fight almost just as gracefully as Aqua.

After a particularly swift set of blows from Aqua, a rainbow of lights envelops her, and she fires off an orb of light towards Riku, who quickly dodges it, phasing in and out of a shadowy glow.

“Nicely done, Riku!” Aqua compliments.

Ventus claps. “Get him, Aqua!”

Naminé briefly turns to look at Terra only to see him utterly fascinated by Riku’s fighting style. He’s completely silent.

Riku closes in, trying to pressure Aqua with his strength, forcing her to fire off a Thundaga to make him back away, placing him at a disadvantage. Aqua’s magical prowess makes her a much better long-distance fighter than Riku, who hasn’t been using many spells in the match.

“That was too close…” Riku says to himself.

They both spin and twirl, dodging each other’s magical attacks, until Riku closes in on Aqua once more, something she was apparently counting on as she blocks with her barrier and sends him flying backwards. She continues retaliating with spell after spell until she casts a particularly devastating Firaga.

“Riku!” Naminé fidgets worriedly.

Riku seems to be down for the count, Naminé counting on him to tap out, until he grips his Keyblade with both of his hands and fires off a Firaga of his own; however, unlike Aqua’s, its flame is slow-moving and purple until it suddenly splits off into several quick flames that home in on her.

Naminé hears Ventus gasp beside her.

Aqua doesn’t block.

Aqua doesn’t dodge.

Aqua recovers from the blow, but she looks rattled. Her once graceful attacks now seem… panicked. Afraid. She quickly counterattacks Riku, but it’s like she’s moving automatically. As if she wasn’t entirely in the present.

Her strikes hit much harder now. Riku attempts to block with his own barrier and get some distance, but she immediately bounces back and casts Blizzaga after Blizzaga.

Riku can’t avoid all of them.

“I’m tapping out.” He says, tired.

But Aqua continues fighting as if she didn’t hear anything. Riku quickly blocks her swings, unable to conjure up his barrier anymore.

Naminé panics and looks around to Terra and Ventus, but they’re both completely immobile. “Stop!” She screams. But Aqua doesn’t stop.

Naminé quickly gets up and runs into the fray, frantically pulling at Aqua to get her to stop. “I said stop!” She yells once more.

Aqua stops.

Riku collapses onto the ground.

Aqua gasps and quickly puts away her Keyblade. “Riku! I-I’m sorry! Are you alright!? I don’t know what happened. I—”

“’M fine.” Riku coughs out.

Terra and Ventus run over to the group. “Aqua! R-Riku!” Ventus says. “Are you both okay?”

Terra carefully crouches down, summons his Keyblade, and casts Curaga on Riku. As vines and petals envelop Riku, Terra helps him get up, unable to look him in the eyes.

Riku looks around him. Naminé is worriedly staring at him, but… The others, there’s something in their eyes. Aqua and Ventus look at him differently now, almost as if they were afraid of him. And Terra, who healed him, isn’t looking at him at all.

“I… I think I’m gonna go and rest in my room…” Riku turns around and walks back into the castle with his head down.

“Riku, wait!” Naminé follows him, but not before looking behind her and seeing Aqua collapse onto the ground, sobbing.

Riku is much faster than Naminé, and he makes it into his room and locks it before she can follow him inside. She frantically knocks at the door. “Riku, please! Let me in.” She pleads.

She continues knocking but gets no response. All she can hear are light sniffles coming from inside. Naminé worriedly looks at the door, sits on the cold floor with her back against it, and takes out her Gummiphone.

<seawavenami> Riku
<seawavenami> Riku please talk to me
<mnirilidimbfis> I’m here.

Naminé lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

<seawavenami> What happened back there?
<mnirilidimbfis> I used Darkness.
<mnirilidimbfis> I shouldn’t have.
<mnirilidimbfis> I think I scared them.
<mnirilidimbfis> It’s all my fault.
<seawavenami> But it’s not
<seawavenami> You couldn’t have know that she would react like that

Riku doesn’t reply for a while.

<mnirilidimbfis> Do I even deserve the title of Keyblade Master?
<seawavenami> What do you mean?
<mnirilidimbfis> I scare my friends with how I fight.
<mnirilidimbfis> Is someone who used to be entrenched by Darkness even deserving to wield a Keyblade?
<mnirilidimbfis> I can’t even find Sora. What good am I?
<seawavenami> Riku you don’t mean that
<seawavenami> You control darkness
<seawavenami> It doesn’t control you anymore and it never will ever again
<seawavenami> Remember that time at Castle Oblivion?

Naminé hears shuffling from inside the room. Footsteps grow closer and closer to her, and she hears Riku slide down onto the floor on the other side of the door.

<mnirilidimbfis> I remember.

“Good.” Naminé says and closes her eyes. “It’s your own strength, nobody else’s.”

<mnirilidimbfis> What am I going to say to them? They’re afraid of me now.

“People are afraid of things they don’t understand… I used to be so afraid all the time, until I started talking to you and everyone else. I have friends now, and that makes everything not seem that scary anymore, because my friends have always been there for me and explained things that I didn’t understand.” Naminé reassures Riku. “I’m sure that if you explain to them how you can wield both Light and Darkness, they won’t be afraid anymore.”

<mnirilidimbfis> You’re right.

“Riku, your use of Darkness makes you unique, it makes you strong, it makes you ‘you’… I… I know I’m rambling, but you are deserving of your Keyblade; you’ve done so much good with it, you’re a real Keyblade Master…” Naminé takes a deep breath. “Also… you’re doing your best to find Sora. Don’t be so harsh on yourself, Riku…”

Naminé is met with silence.

She softly knocks on the door twice.

She hears three knocks in reply and smiles.

<mnirilidimbfis> Thank you, Naminé.

“I’m just saying the truth, Riku; you don’t have to thank me.”

The two sit in silence for a bit, until Naminé hears Riku’s stomach growl from the other side of the door. “Do you want me to get you something to eat?”

<mnirilidimbfis> Only if you can.

“Of course I can, Riku; that’s what friends are for.”

<mnirilidimbfis> Thanks, Naminé.

“I’ll be right back.” Naminé gets up off the floor and makes her way down the stairs.

Before Naminé can get to the kitchen, she encounters Aqua, Terra, and Ventus. The three of them are quietly sitting in the dining room, with sad and worried looks on their faces. Ventus perks up a bit when he sees Naminé and greets her. “Hey, Naminé. Is Riku okay?”

“He’s… He’ll be okay.” She says, somewhat cold and protective of her friend. “I’m just passing through to grab some food for him. So if you’ll excuse me—”

“W-Wait, Naminé.” Aqua softly calls out to her. “I feel awful for what happened. So I… I put some muffins in the oven for him. I wanted to apologize with, with something at least. Would you mind waiting with us until they’re done?”

“…Okay.” Naminé says as she sits down on the seat furthest from everyone. She gives each of them a quick glance. Aqua looks guilty, switching from staring at nothing to checking the clock on the wall. Ventus looks afraid, rocking back and forth slightly. Terra… Terra looks different.

Naminé sighs. “What happened back there?” She asks.

Aqua intertwines her hands together. “I… We’re familiar with the spell Riku used. There was a boy with a mask who—”

“Vanitas.” Ventus interrupts, unusually serious.

Aqua looks at Ventus until he nods, urging her to go on. “There was this boy, Vanitas. We still don’t quite know what he was, but when he would attack us, he would use that spell; he would use Dark Firaga.”

“And?” Naminé inquires.

“It just… When Riku cast it, his battle stance was already so similar to his that I chalked it up to coincidence, but when he cast it, I—something happened to me. I thought I was fighting Vanitas, and that everything was going to come crashing down on us again.” Aqua explains, her voice somewhat trembly. “I know, I know, it’s not an excuse, but that’s what happened. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize to me; it’s Riku who you need to apologize to.”

“I know, I was just about to go up to his room and apologize to him in person once the muffins were done.”

“I don’t think that’d be a good idea right now; he wasn’t doing so well.”

Aqua somehow looks even more guilty.

Naminé, feeling bad, takes out a small sketchpad from one of her pockets. “You can write him a note if you want; I’ll take it to him.”

“Oh! That’d be great, thank you, Naminé.” Aqua finally smiles again as Naminé sits closer to her.

As Aqua writes her message, Naminé’s curiosity finally gets the better of her, and she asks. “Um… By the way… I saw a Keyblade with three charms when Riku and I first arrived. Whose is it?”

At first, nobody answers.

“It’s our old Master’s.” Terra speaks up. “He- I-… He’s no longer with us.”

“Oh… I’ll be sure to pay my respects sometime.”

“Thanks.”

A few moments of silence pass.

“It’s done.” Aqua says. “I still want to properly apologize to him, but please, take this to him.” She hands the small sketchpad back to Naminé.

Naminé pockets it without looking at the message. “Don’t worry, you’ll get the chance to. I just don’t think it’ll be today.”

“That’s… That’s okay.” Aqua accepts. “The… The muffins must be done by now, but they still need to cool. I could take them up once they’re finished cooling, or, wait, you could just take the pan with you and tell him to let them cool.”

“I can do that.” Naminé nods.

“Okay!” Aqua tries her best to smile. “Follow me, Naminé.”

Before Naminé can make it all the way up the flight of stairs, someone calls out to her. “Wait!”

It’s Terra.

Naminé turns around and asks. “What is it, Terra?”

“The spell Riku used today, Dark Firaga, I know it too. I used it once in one of our missions into the Realm of Darkness recently, and it really scared Aqua and Ven. They’re… Not used to Darkness like we are, so please, don’t be too hard on them.” Terra pleads.

“It’s okay, Terra. I won’t.” She smiles.

“Thanks.”

As Naminé continues her journey up the stairs, she notices rain falling from one of the windows.

Riku sits on his bed in the slight darkness of the setting sun, unsure of what to do with himself as he waits for Naminé. Just as he’s mentally preparing himself to quietly step out and quickly grab something to eat, he hears knocking at his door.

“Riku? Are you there?” Naminé asks, somewhat muffled by the door.

Riku opens his mouth to reply, but only a creaky noise comes out. He still can’t speak. He takes out his Gummiphone instead.

<mnirilidimbfis> I’m here.

“I brought you some food, but it still has to cool down a bit before you can eat it. Aqua made you chocolate-chip muffins.”

Riku’s stomach growls in protest, and he can hear Naminé giggle from the other side of the door.

“I also have a note from her.”

Riku hears paper rip and sees a note slide in from under the door, he turns the lights on in his room to read it.

Riku
I’m so sorry for what happened. Your Dark Firaga reminded me a lot of one of the people Terra, Ven, and I had to fight. This isn’t the first time something like this happens to me, so please don’t think that it was your fault. Terra has used the same spell in the past, which has made me react similarly, but this was the first time I’ve seen the spell in a spar. I’m truly sorry for hurting you. I should have warned you about the fear that I still have of Darkness, but I got so excited to spar with another Keyblade Master, especially one that uses Light and Darkness in balance, that I chose not to so I could see how you truly fight. I now realize how great my mistake was. I hope my mistakes haven’t made you feel less welcome in our home. I promise you that Ven and I aren’t scared of you. The truth is, all three of us admire your strength and determination. You’re a true Keyblade Master; I’m honored I get to share the title with someone like you. I hope I get to apologize to you in person tomorrow.
-Aqua

Riku tears up as he reads the note and wipes his eyes, which still feel somewhat heavy from crying earlier.

Naminé knocks. “Riku, are you okay?”

<mnirilidimbfis> I’m OK.
<mnirilidimbfis> Thank you for bringing me the note, and tell Aqua I say that everything’s OK.

“I will. But don’t thank me for bringing you anything yet; I still haven’t given you your food. Could you let me in?” Naminé asks.

In lieu of an answer, Riku opens the door and offers Naminé a small wave. She smiles in return.

“Here you go. Six chocolate-chip muffins straight from the oven.” She says as she hands over the now cooled pan.

“Can’t eat all this.” Riku softly mumbles. “Have some, too.”

“Oh. Thank you.”

“Take three.”

“No, these are for you, so I’ll only take two.”

Riku looks at Naminé’s determined face and relents. He nods.

The two eat in companionable silence, sitting on Riku’s bed.

Riku clears his throat. “Thanks for everything, Naminé.”

“It’s no problem.” She replies. He’s still looking at her somewhat awkwardly, so she asks. “Would you like a hug?”

Riku blushes and nods.

Naminé carefully wraps her arms around him and gives him a hug. It takes him a while, but he eventually returns it. “Thanks.” He mumbles.

She stays with Riku until the sun finishes setting.

After saying goodnight to Riku, who decided to call it early that day, Naminé settles down at one of the windows to watch the rain fall on the World of the Land of Departure. Wanting to draw the scenery, she takes out her sketchpad and begins sketching out the mountains in the distance.

She’s so focused on this task that she doesn’t hear Ventus walk towards her. “Oh, cool! You can draw!” He says.

Naminé jumps a little bit. “Y-Yeah.”

“Do you, uh, mind if I sit with you?”

“I don’t.”

“Cool!” Ventus sits across from her. “Naminé, I’m sorry about today—”

Naminé quickly turns to a new page in her sketchpad and abruptly asks, “What does Chirithy look like?”

“Huh?”

“Your friend, Chirithy, what do they look like?”

“Um… Well, they’re like a cat. Light gray and… Very round, their ears are a bit droopy… Oh! And they’ve got stripes; they’re darker gray. They also have a pouch and…” Ventus continues describing Chirithy until Naminé draws them several times, updating her sketches when necessary.

“Like this?” She turns the sketchpad around.

“Oh wow! Yeah! Just like that!”

“They’re really cute.”

Naminé turns to a new page yet again and begins sketching something more elaborate this time. Ventus tries to peek, but Naminé turns away the sketchpad every time. Giving up, he watches the rain.

After a few minutes, Naminé rips out two pieces of paper, one containing the initial sketches of Chirithy and the new one that she’s been working on. “Sorry, I don’t have my crayons on me, but here you go. This is for you and your friend.” She says with a smile.

Ventus grabs the papers and gasps. “W-Wow, Naminé, this is amazing!” He beams, looking at the second sketch. It’s a sketch of him and Chirithy together. “Thank you so much.”

“It’s no problem.” She smiles. “Also, Ven, you don’t have to apologize to me. If you feel like you have to apologize to anyone, it should be Riku.”

“Yeah… You’re right.”

Naminé stays sketching by the window and chatting with Ventus until she lets out a yawn. She bids him goodnight and goes to her room to prepare to go to sleep.

Still worried about Riku, she takes out her Gummiphone in order to send him a text message but realizes that it would wake him up if he’s already asleep. Instead, she softly knocks twice on the wall.

To her surprise, she receives multiple knocks back, almost as if Riku were playing a little song.

Relieved that he seems to be feeling better, she goes to sleep.

The next morning goes by with no sign of Riku. Naminé knocks at his door and messages him but receives no reply. She worriedly relays this to the group at breakfast before they conclude that he must be sleeping in. They go through their morning routine as always, with Naminé watching and Riku noticeably absent.

They find Riku sitting in the kitchen after Terra and Ventus finish a sparring round. “Congratulations on your win, Terra.” He says while eating a hastily prepared sandwich.

“Uh, thank you, Riku.” Terra hastily replies.

Naminé jogs towards him. “Riku!”

“Hey, Naminé.”

“Aw, I can’t believe Riku saw me lose through the window.” Ventus complains. “It’s good to see you, though.”

Aqua doesn’t move from the kitchen entryway. “Riku… I’m… I’m glad to see you feeling better.”

Riku smiles, trying to reassure her. “It’s good to see everyone. You too, Aqua. I… I got your note, by the way. Thank you.”

Aqua sits across from him and begins, “Riku, I’m really sorry for yesterday; I hope you can forgive me.”

“It’s okay, Aqua. I understand. Darkness has hurt all of us in one way or another.”

“I know, but I’m sick of being afraid of it.”

Terra joins the conversation. “Our old Master, he absolutely despised Darkness. He never told us why, exactly. When teaching us, he completely forbade us from calling on it, and the only use of Darkness we’ve ever seen came from me when I lost control of myself, or from… Them…”

Aqua and Ventus nod. “While we still wouldn’t use it, we would like to get used to it. Your control of it and your use of it in tandem with Light—it’s… Unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.” Aqua continues. “Could you please continue to train with us?”

“Um… Thank you so much… I’d love to continue training with you, if you’d have me.”

“Of course!” Ventus replies.

After a moment of silence, Terra looks at Aqua, then Ventus, and then finally, Riku. “Riku, I actually have a request for you.”

“What is it?”

Terra sits down beside Aqua. “I would like you to teach me to control Darkness. I can use it, too, but only when I lose control of my emotions.”

“I… Me, teach you!?” Riku exclaims, shocked.

“Yeah.” Terra nods.

“It… I’ll do my best, Terra.”

“Thanks, Riku.”

After a moment of consideration, Riku replies. “We can start tomorrow; I’m still not feeling my best.”

“Oh no. Do you need another Curaga?” Aqua asks, feeling guilty.

“No, no, it’s not that. I just need another day, is all.”

“Okay, but let me know if you need anything.” Aqua says.

That day, Naminé gets to see the group’s usual routine.

Terra continues to train outside, pushing himself right up until the sun sets, with admirable dedication.

Meanwhile, Aqua pores over books about Darkness and the Realm of Darkness in her Master’s old Study with Ventus. She highlights and underlines passages in the books and sometimes dictates stuff to Ventus for him to write down. After a while, Ventus disappears, claiming that he’s going to look for Chirithy, but Naminé suspects this to be an excuse.

She and Riku end up helping in his place, as Riku asks questions of his own to Aqua about the Realm of Darkness. He seems exceedingly curious about their Keyblade Armor as well.

As Aqua retells her voyage in the Realm of Darkness to Riku, Naminé sketches what she imagines it to look like.

The following morning, after the group eats breakfast together, they all make their way to their usual training spot. The group does their usual warm-ups as Naminé watches from beneath the shade of a nearby tree.

“Okay, Riku, it’s time for you to go into ‘Master Riku mode’!” Ventus says.

Riku laughs out of embarrassment.

“Ven, don’t tease him so much; he’s here to help us.” Aqua replies, hand on her hip.

“Okay, uh…” Riku scratches the back of his head, looking around at his eager ‘students.’ He takes a deep breath and begins his ‘lesson.’ “Darkness, actually, is a lot like other elemental magic; it’s just a lot harder to control. It grows stronger from our emotions, especially ones like anger.”

Terra looks off to the side.

“But that doesn’t mean that we can’t use it without feeling those emotions. Darkness can also be used to protect those you hold dear; you just have to turn it into your own strength, and that’s where control comes in.”

Naminé smiles, hearing those familiar words again.

“The Heartless will make you feel like your Darkness doesn’t belong to you, that it belongs to them and they can control you through it, but that’s not true. You just need to remind yourself what it is you’re fighting for, and soon you’ll be able to control it.”

Riku is met with silence. He coughs, “At least… That’s what I think.”

Terra nods. “Yeah, that makes sense. Whenever I used Darkness, I always felt like I was ‘borrowing’ it.”

“I have a question.” Aqua looks at Riku. “Does combining Darkness with other elements, like Light or Fire, make it easier to control?”

“Absolutely.” Riku replies, gaining confidence. “Light and Darkness may be total opposites, but they’re actually not that difficult to use in tandem. Even if you just use a tiny bit of Light in one of your attacks, it’ll make it much easier to control.”

Riku seems to be enjoying his explanations now. “The same goes for other elements. Even something barely noticeable, like just incorporating a small Aero into your attack.”

“Interesting… I’ll have to pay close attention if you ever spar with one of us again.”

“Of course.” Riku smiles. “I can do a small demonstration with Dark Firaga right now if everyone is comfortable with it. It’s the most simple spell I know.”

The three Wielders nod.

“Okay.” Riku summons his Keyblade and grasps it with both hands; its tip is enveloped in a purple glow, and he casts Dark Firaga once more. Aiming at one of the nearby dummies, a slow-moving purple flame bursts into several fast flames that home in on the dummy; the impact makes the dummy spin a couple of times.

Aqua and Ventus flinch a bit but quickly recover. “Riku, can you just cast it a bunch of times so we associate that spell with you instead?” Ventus says.

Riku chuckles. “I can try, but it’d wear me out.”

“How’d you get the flames to be so bright?” Terra asks, pensive.

Riku pokes at his brain for an answer but finds none. “I… I don’t know; for me it’s always been like this. Is yours darker?”

“Yeah, almost black, actually. I… don’t think I could cast it at will right now.” Terra clenches his fist.

“That’s alright. Do you think you could cast it if you made the Firaga part of it stronger?” Riku counters.

“I… can try.” Terra steps forward and directs his gaze towards the dummy. His posture is exactly the same as Riku’s, causing Riku to raise an eyebrow. The flame, however, is much different. It’s still much darker than Riku’s and doesn’t split into several smaller flames.

Terra, now crouching on the ground and out of breath, says, “Back when… Back when we were battling the Unversed… It always dazed them… I think it can blind.”

Riku, worried, asks. “Are you alright, Terra?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. I think I made the flame too strong. I’ll get the hang of it.” He smiles. “Like this, I can cast it whenever I want, not just when I’m angry.”

“I’m glad.” Riku moves to help him get up, and Terra takes his hand.

“Thanks, Riku.”

“It’s no problem.”

“No, really. Thank you so much.” Aqua chimes in.

“Yeah! You’re awesome, Riku!” Ventus says.

Riku doesn’t know what to do under so much praise; he mutters a quick. “You’re welcome.”

Naminé smiles from the distance and draws them all in her sketchpad.

Days of training with everyone turn into weeks, which then turn into a month. Aqua and Ventus slowly but surely lose their fear of Darkness with Riku’s help, while Terra slowly gains mastery of it, making it his. While he still struggles with controlling it, it’s nowhere near as difficult as it used to be.

Naminé, meanwhile, learns about the history of the Land of Departure from Aqua, even managing to ask her by herself how it came to be briefly known as Castle Oblivion. Aqua reassures her that Castle Oblivion will never return if she can help it. Lifting a weight off of Naminé’s shoulders she didn’t even realize she’d been carrying.

Naminé also tries to look for Chirithy with Ventus to no success; it seems that they really are that shy. Ventus looks at her apologetically, reassuring her that they’re just shy in general, but Naminé understands. Instead, she leaves a little note for them, saying ‘Hello.’ The next day, the note is gone.

One day, right before he goes to bed, Aqua walks up to Riku. “Riku?”

“Yeah?”

“Would you like to join us in our next expedition into the Realm of Darkness?” She asks.

“Oh! Uh, sure.” Riku replies, hesitant.

“Don’t worry, Naminé won’t be alone; Ventus is thinking of tagging out for the next expedition now that you’re here.” Aqua reassures him.

Riku chuckles. “You read me like a book. If that’s the case, I’d be honored to tag along.”

“Perfect!” Aqua says, clapping her hands together. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, then.”

“Alright, goodnight, Aqua.”

“Goodnight!”

Chapter Text

Riku wakes up to the sun hitting his face; he must’ve forgotten to close the curtains last night. The sun’s warm rays feel very comforting on a chilly morning such as this one. So much so that he struggles to get out of bed and face the literal cold reality of the day. After stretching, he bids his cozy bundle of bedsheets goodbye and quickly gets dressed.

Today, he’ll be returning to the Realm of Darkness, alongside Aqua and Terra.

The thought of going there doesn’t fill him with much comfort. He’s not particularly excited to return to the place he was briefly trapped in when he was younger, but this time he isn’t alone. And, maybe, he’ll find out something related to Sora’s current whereabouts.

Hopefully.

He finds Aqua and Terra in the dining room as usual. The two of them have shown themselves to be early risers, just like Riku. The pair sit beside each other, each of them slightly drowsy from the cold. One of the things Riku has learned in his visit to the Land of Departure is that its vast halls and open spaces don’t really lend themselves to being warmed up by any kind of heating, so he’s always having to stave off its perpetual chill.

Terra notices him first. “Good morning, Riku.” He says.

“Good morning, you two.” Riku replies, yawning.

Aqua offers him a sympathetic smile. “Terra made some coffee if you’d like some.”

Riku mutters a quick “Thanks.” As he slowly makes his way into the neighboring kitchen, he goes through the motions of making himself some breakfast. Once he’s done, he steps back into the dining room and sits across from Aqua and Terra.

He quickly eats his self-indulgent breakfast: a pair of buttered toasts with plenty of sugar sprinkled on top. Alongside the healthier protein bars he’s taken from Terra. Not knowing when he’d be able to return from the expedition into the Realm of Darkness, he wanted to spoil himself a bit.

Speaking of said expedition, Aqua clears her throat and leans closer to him. “Riku, you’ll still be coming with Terra and me into the Realm of Darkness today, right?”

Riku takes a sip of his coffee. “Of course.”

Aqua clasps her hands together, a weary smile on her face. “Alright. I know you’ve already been there a handful of times, but let me go over what we know just in case.” She takes a deep breath, preparing herself. “So, there are various types of Worlds out there, but for my explanation, I’ll only be talking about the three most important ones to us right now.”

Aqua holds up her index finger. “First, there are the Realms of Light, like your home World; Destiny Islands.” She adds her middle finger. “Then there are the Realms Between; the Land of Departure is one of those.” And finally, her ring finger “And lastly, the Realm of Darkness.”

She continues. “By being in a Realm Between, our expeditions into the Realm of Darkness and back are made much easier than if we were in a Realm of Light. Since the Land of Departure is closer to the Realm of Darkness, we can actually create portals to go there by manipulating the Lanes Between.”

“You can create portals?” Riku asks, incredulous.

“Yes, they’re similar to the ones you were able to create; we still need protection from our Keyblade Armor to go through them, but the process of creating them is different. I… wouldn’t know how to teach you, I’m sorry.” Aqua replies with an apologetic look on her face.

Terra, who has been silently listening the whole time, adds, “Me neither. I’m sorry, Riku.”

“That’s… okay.” Riku nods, somewhat disappointed. “Please, continue.”

“Once we portal into the Realm of Darkness, we can’t predict where it is we’ll arrive at. In my time there, the Realm constantly changed and shifted depending on where I was or what I was doing, so no expedition is ever the same.” She adds, gravely. “However, our destination is. In order to easily leave the Realm of Darkness, we have to follow the Light. If we follow it, we’ll eventually cross into a World that’s at the border of the Realm of Darkness and the Realms Between. I haven’t been able to explore it much, but it’s that shoreline where I… Where I fell to Darkness… The beach you fought me in…” Aqua trails off.

“It’s okay, Aqua. I know how it feels.” Riku reassures.

“Sadly, we all do.” Terra says as he places a comforting hand on Aqua’s shoulder.
Aqua takes another deep breath. “Thank you, you two.” She gives both of them a small smile and continues her explanation. “Once… Once we arrive at that shoreline, we can portal back using the Lanes Between into the Land of Departure. So, essentially, once we arrive in the Realm of Darkness, we search for fallen Worlds, and if we can’t find any, we make our way to the shoreline.”

“Have you found any fallen Worlds?” Riku asks, curious.

“No. Which is a good thing, but, without any fallen Worlds, we haven’t been able to get any hints towards Sora’s whereabouts.” Aqua frowns. “We’ve also made attempts at mapping out the Realm of Darkness, in case anyone gets… Trapped in there again, but we haven’t been able to arrive at anything other than ‘Follow the Light and hope for the best’.” She says, frustrated. “I want to make it so nobody ever has to go through what I went through ever again, but I think mapping an ever-shifting World is an impossible task.”

Riku leans forward, pensive. “What about making a record of the Heartless there?”

“We’ve actually been working on that recently, but we haven’t made much progress.” Terra replies, then turns to look at Aqua. “Aqua, you have the reports in your room, right?”

“Yes. Though only my entries on the Shadows and Neoshadows are complete.” Aqua says while leaning on the table with her elbow, her blue hair covering part of her face.

“Were you guys able to learn anything?” Riku inquires.

“Yes, actually.” Terra chimes in.

“Oh?”

“You know when Shadows slip into the ground, slithering past any of your attacks?” Terra says while dragging the palm of his hand across the table, similar to how a Shadow would move while in the state he’s referring to.

“Ugh, yeah. They’re impossible to reach that way.”

“You can actually pull them out of that state by casting Water magic. Aqua showed it to me a while back.” Terra says with a smile on his face. “After a little experimenting, we found out the same thing works on Neoshadows.”

“That’s amazing!” Riku exclaims. “They won’t be able to overwhelm us with their sheer numbers now that we know their weakness.”

“Thank you, Riku.” Aqua says with a genuine smile on her face.

The trio continue their discussion, trading information on what they know about certain Heartless, until Naminé and Ventus finally arrive at the dining room, stomachs rumbling and sleepy looks on their faces.

After catching up with Ventus and Naminé, the group of three gets ready for their expedition into the Realm of Darkness. Voices echo in the spacious throne room.

“If you three aren’t back in over a week, I’ll come to your rescue!” Ventus smiles.

“Thanks, Ven.” Terra replies as he pats him on the head, messing up his hair slightly.

“Don’t forget I can always call the group back at Twilight Town for help.” Naminé reminds, somewhat anxiously.

“I won’t, but I don’t think Roxas would ever let me live it down if I ended up needing him to rescue me.” Riku smirks as he jokes. “But I promise to be careful.” He says while looking her in the eyes.

Naminé smiles back.

“Everyone got their food and water?” Terra asks.

Aqua and Riku nod.

“I don’t know when we’ll be back, but you two take care of yourselves as well.” Aqua says as she activates her Keyblade Armor, Light and metal enveloping her form. Terra follows her lead and activates his own. She summons her Keyblade and carefully opens a portal into the Realm of Darkness. Where it will place them, nobody knows.

Aqua briefly looks back at the Land of Departure and grips her Keyblade, hard. After a beat, she makes her way through the portal, her cape billowing.

Terra gives one last wave to Ventus and Naminé before he, too, steps through the portal.

Riku feels somewhat out of place without Keyblade Armor of his own, but he follows the pair nonetheless. Not before promising to be back and giving Naminé a reassuring smile.

And they’re gone.

With a sudden jolt, Ventus moves closer to Naminé. “So! What would you like to do while we wait for them to come back, Naminé?”

“I… I don’t know. I was going to grab something to eat for lunch, actually. But after that, I have no idea.” Naminé replies as she wanders into the kitchen.

“Oh, right! Lunch! Uh… I don’t know how to cook; I think I’m just gonna grab some snacks.” Ventus says as he follows Naminé into the kitchen in order to audibly scavenge through the cabinets. “Cool, we’ve got potato chips!” He holds up his findings triumphantly. “Do you want some, Naminé?”

“No, thank you… I think I’m going to try and cook something for myself.” Naminé declines Ventus’s offer as she too scours through the kitchen cabinets. “Found some spaghetti… Should be easy enough; I think I remember how to make some…” She says more to herself than to Ventus.

“Ooh, spaghetti!” Ventus exclaims as he raids the fridge for butter and mayonnaise, stopping only to grab four loaves of bread.

“What are you… Um… Making…?” Naminé asks as she puts water on the stovetop to boil, somewhat intimidated by Ventus’s kitchen shenanigans.

“Sandwiches.” He simply replies as he spreads butter and mayonnaise on the loaves of bread and then hurriedly puts the potato chips on top. “Don’t tell Aqua I ate this, by the way.” He finishes preparing his ‘lunch’ by placing the bread on top of the potato chips and pressing down to a satisfying ‘crunch.’

“I won’t,” Naminé chuckles.

“Wan’ shome?” Ventus asks with his mouth full.

“No, I think that’d make me sick.” Naminé places her hand on her stomach, feeling as if she has to protect it from what Ventus has made for himself.

The water is finally brought to a boil, and Naminé delicately places the spaghetti in the pot.

“You’re not gonna snap them in half?” Ventus looks over Naminé’s shoulder as she cooks.

“Why would I?” Naminé looks back at him, a bit taken aback.

“Just curious. Terra always does, and it drives Aqua crazy. It’s really funny.” Ventus chuckles as he thinks back on that particular memory. Naminé joins him.

Once her spaghetti is done boiling, she decides to go the easy route and just add cheese and butter to it. She and Ventus eat together as he tells her even more silly stories.

The Realm of Darkness is eerily still, as always. Save for the pulsing veins of light in the walls, there is no movement. No wind, no noise, no smell, nothing.

The group gets their bearings, looking around at the maze-like passageways below and above them. It takes Riku a bit longer to adjust to the new environment, startling when Aqua places a hand on his shoulder, asking if he’s alright.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” He replies, summoning his Keyblade after he sees Aqua and Terra do the same.

“Do you sense anything, Aqua?” Terra asks, his words slightly muffled by his Keyblade Armor.

Aqua stands still for a few moments, sensing the changes around her. She shakes her head. “No. I don’t think any Worlds have fallen in the month we were away.” She walks forward, examining the pulsating veins. “The pulse is weak; we’re far away from the border.” She says.

Riku feels out of his depth already. “What do you mean?”

“See these veins?” Aqua rests her armored hand on one of them. “They pulsate faster the closer we are to the Light.”

“I see.” Riku nods.

“It’ll probably take us a few hours to get out; we should hurry.” Aqua begins to lead the way forwards until she turns around and directs her gaze towards Riku; he can see her resolve through her armor’s visor. “Remember, Riku, time flows differently in here. The deeper you are, the more disconnected you are from the other Realms. We could have already been gone for hours or a fraction of a second; I can never tell.”

“Alright, let’s get going then.” Riku hurries behind her, Terra quietly bringing up the rear.

After a few minutes, the trio of Keyblade Wielders encounter their first major bump in the road: Heartless.

“Careful. I see some Flame Cores, Water Cores, and some Flutterings.” Aqua says as she gets into a battle-ready stance. “Sneaking past them in our Keyblade Armor is out of the question, so we have no choice but to fight.” She turns towards Riku. “Riku, you cover Terra and I with spells. The Flame Cores are weak to Water and Blizzard, while the Water Cores are weak to Fire.” She orders.

Riku protests. “But I can fight close range—”

“Let us protect you.” Terra counters.

Riku takes a deep breath and nods, accepting his role.

“I’m approaching them, Terra, with me.” Aqua commands.

It’s bizarre seeing her like this, Riku thinks to himself. But at the same time, it’s understandable. The once patient and kind Keyblade Master is firm and commanding in the Realm of Darkness, adopting a rigidity necessary to take charge in such an unforgiving World.

Aqua runs in and casts a Thundara spell, alerting the Heartless to her presence but dazing them, especially the Flutterings. Terra follows her and begins relentlessly attacking them with slow but hard-hitting swings. Aqua’s fighting style is still as graceful as ever, but she’s moving with a fluidity that Riku’s never seen in their spars. Riku can only describe her movements as elegant yet efficient. Terra, meanwhile, is all strength and power; he finishes off what Aqua begins, and slowly but surely the Heartless decrease in number. It’s fascinating to watch two Keyblade Wielders with opposite ways of wielding their Keyblades be in perfect harmony with each other.

“Riku, now!” Aqua calls out to him as the Water Cores start summoning their shields and the Flame Cores begin to blitz all over the place.

“I’m on it!” He replies as he casts Firaga in quick succession; the flames make short work of the Water Cores’s shields, letting Aqua and Terra quickly finish them off. Knowing that that’s taken care of, Riku quickly focuses in on the Fire Cores, casting homing Waterga spells on them, their speed not enough to outrun his magic.

The elemental cores have been defeated, but the Flutterings remain. “They’re about to touch the ground!” Terra warns.

Wanting to feel more useful, Riku runs in and fires off a massive Thundaza, defeating them in one fell swoop, or so he thinks. The Grand Magic spell takes it out of him, though, and in his panting state he’s unable to dodge the sole remaining Fluttering that’s spinning his way towards him. Before it can hit him, however, Aqua finishes it off with a flick of her Keyblade.

“Riku! Be more careful!” She yells before quickly asking. “Are you alright?”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine.” Riku replies, somewhat shaken.

Aqua stands still, as if considering something. “Riku, trade places with me. I’ll cover you and Terra.”

“What? But I—”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Aqua reassures. “You’re better at close-range combat; that’s a fact. Let me handle the spellcasting. I… misjudged the situation.”

“O-Oh, alright.” Riku nods as Aqua walks away, leading the way once more.

Terra walks up to him and explains, “Sorry, Aqua can get overprotective like that when we’re here. It’s happened with Ven before.”

“That’s alright, I understand.” Riku replies.

Days pass in the Land of Departure, and Naminé can’t help but worry. She tries to busy herself by following Ventus around, hoping that his calm demeanor would rub off on her, but it doesn’t work. She’s just as worried as ever.

Naminé watches from the castle’s steps as Ventus goes through his morning exercises and notices that he’s obviously slacking off; she giggles to herself about it instead of calling him out, though.

Ventus groans. “Ugh. It’s not the same by myself. And it’s so cold!” He complains as he puts away his Keyblade and jogs towards Naminé.

“Are you done for the day?” Naminé asks.

“Yeah, it’s just… I can’t focus when I’m training by myself.” Ventus explains. “Thanks for keeping me company, though.”

“It’s no problem.” Naminé says as she stands up from sitting on the cold stone steps. “What… were you thinking of doing?”

“Hmm…” Ventus thinks as he tilts to the side and suddenly snaps back upright. “We could play Command Board; it’s a board game.”

“Oh! I’d love to play it.” Naminé replies excitedly. “You do have all the pieces, right?”

“Sure do! Come on, follow me!” Ventus beckons.

He leads the way through the empty halls until they finally arrive at his room. “I think last time I saw it, it was under my bed…” He trails off as he lies on the ground to check. “Yup! Found it!”

Before Naminé can say anything, Ventus is speeding off towards the dining room. “Come on, this way!” He shouts, already halfway across the hallway.

Naminé has to jog to catch up to him. By the time she makes it to the dining room, Ventus has already set up everything: the board, the dice, the pieces, and the cards. She sits down across from him, ready to play as he explains the rules.

Riku has been wandering the Realm of Darkness, picking off Heartless here and there, with Aqua and Terra for what feels like hours. They’re definitely close to their destination, though. The veins are pulsating much faster, and he can see a Light off in the distance.

“Alright everyone, let’s take a ten-minute break.” Aqua says as she removes her helmet and grabs her water bottle to take a few sips from it.

“Now? Aren’t we getting close?” Riku asks, leaning against the rock wall.

“Exactly, there could be something waiting for us at the shoreline.” Aqua explains. “We should take this chance to rest.”

Terra takes out a few protein bars and tosses them to Riku and Aqua as he bites into his own. “We’ve had encounters with Demon Towers there before.”

Riku nods. “I get it, so have I.” He carefully chews his protein bar before asking. “Have you guys figured out any of its weaknesses?”

“No, sadly.” Aqua looks down, regretfully. “We just need to be careful.”

“It’s okay; hopefully we can pick off a few of the Shadows with Water spells like you two showed me earlier.” Riku replies.

“Yeah, hopefully.” Aqua smiles somewhat haggardly.

The three continue to eat in silence. However, as opposed to earlier, there’s actually some movement in the Realm of Darkness. A large Light glows off in the distance, and Riku swears he can feel a light breeze and hear the distant call of the waves. Riku stands up and has a closer look at the World around him, and it feels familiar. He concludes that the Realm of Darkness must not shift that much when in close proximity to the Light.

However, the brightest Light can often cast the deepest, most painful Darkness.

Riku blinks, and he feels like he’s lost his footing; it feels like he’s falling into quicksand. He can hear Aqua and Terra call out to him, but he can’t see them, not anymore.

He’s falling.

He opens his eyes, and at first, he can’t see anything. He can only hear distant laughter and rolling waves. It… It sounds familiar. It sounds like Sora. “Sora! It’s me, Riku! Can you hear me!?” He desperately calls out, but the laughter only grows more distant.

He feels people calling out to him, but he so desperately wants to chase after Sora.

So he does.

Suddenly, he can see again. It’s blurry and hazy, but he’s back home. He’s back at Destiny Islands. “This… This shouldn’t be possible; the Islands haven’t fallen to Darkness, Aqua would’ve known.” He mumbles to himself.

He hears that echoing laughter once more, and he chases it through the once familiar island he used to play on with Sora and Kairi. He chases it up to the Paopu fruit tree, but the wooden bridge grows longer and longer. “Sora!” He yells but gets no reply.

He thinks he can see his silhouette at the end of the bridge, so he continues running and running. He summons his Keyblade and casts Blizzara at the bridge, creating a long, thin strip of ice, which Riku uses to propel himself forward. It works.

Riku catches up to Sora, but.

It wasn’t really his voice that was laughing. A Neoshadow stands in his place.

Riku flies into a fit of rage and despair. It’s like the Realm of Darkness read his mind for his most desired wish, just to rip it away from him. Riku conjures up all his anger into a dangerous Dark Firaga and incinerates the Neoshadow.

He’s exhausted.

He let his emotions get the better of him.

He’s falling again.

But he doesn’t fall for long; he feels himself getting pulled up off the ground by two sets of hands.

It’s Aqua and Terra; they saved him.

They look weary.

“What… What happened?” He asks, dazed and confused.

“You fell into a Corridor of Darkness, and a Demon Tower ambushed us… I’m sorry we couldn’t get to you faster.” Aqua says with guilt in her voice.

“But, but you still saved me. Thank you.” Riku replies, his voice trembling a bit.

“Did you see anything?” Terra grabs Riku’s water bottle and offers it to him.

Riku grabs it and takes a few sips. “I thought I heard Sora… But it was just a Neoshadow.” He sniffles.

“I’m sorry, Riku. The Realm of Darkness can be very cruel once it knows what you want.” Aqua places a comforting hand on Riku’s shoulder. “It’s made all of us see something at least once, so please don’t feel so bad.”

“I… I won’t.” Riku sobs lightly as Aqua and Terra pull him into a hug.

“Come on, let’s get out of here.” Terra offers with a smile.

Riku nods and follows Terra’s lead as they finally make it to the shoreline.

“Let’s go home.” Aqua says as she opens the Lanes Between.

It’s been almost a week since Riku, Aqua, and Terra have been gone, and Naminé is worried sick. It’s become part of her daily routine to sit on the cold floor of the throne room every late afternoon while attempting to draw as she waits for any sign of her friends. Ventus joins her every now and then, pacing back and forth impatiently.

Just as she’s about to give up on waiting for the day, she sees a small shimmer of Light grow larger and larger behind the main throne. “They’re back!” Ventus cheers.

And sure enough, three battle-weary Keyblade Wielders step out from the Lanes Between. She immediately runs towards them. “Welcome back!” She says as she resists the urge to give all three of them a hug.

She notices Riku’s depressed expression and zeroes in on him; “How, how did it go?”

“I… We didn’t find anything… The Realm of Darkness tricked me instead.” Riku replies, too ashamed of himself to look her in the eyes.

Aqua and Terra deactivate their Keyblade Armor as they finish greeting Ventus, who insisted on giving each of them a hug. Terra playfully messes up his hair as usual, causing Aqua to huff and smooth it back. Aqua looks away from their lively reunion as she overhears Riku. “Remember what I told you, Riku. The Realm of Darkness has tricked all of us; please don’t be so hard on yourself.”

“I… Yeah…” He replies noncommittally.

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” Namine worriedly asks.

“Later, I’m a bit tired right now.” Riku says as he begins to make his way back to his room.

Naminé hesitates to follow him, also wanting to check on Aqua and Terra. She looks back at the two.

“We’ll be okay, Naminé. We’re probably going to head to bed early, too. Go check on him if you need to.” Aqua encourages her while Terra gives her a thumbs-up.

Naminé nods gratefully and makes her way to Riku’s room.

Naminé knocks on his door and is let in by a drained-looking Riku. His room is enveloped in darkness, the lights are off, and he’s in his sleepwear.

“What happened in there?” Naminé asks as she sits down on his bed.

And so Riku tells her. He tells her about how he was sucked into a Corridor of Darkness. How he thought he could hear Sora’s signature laughter in the distance. How he chased and chased after it only to be met by a Neoshadow. And how he failed Aqua and Terra as they had to fend off a Demon Tower by themselves.

Naminé quietly listens to him until he starts berating himself. “Riku, it’s not like that.” She counters.

“I just… I just miss him so much, Naminé.” Riku says as he leans forward, clutching his head with his hands.

“I know.” Naminé places a soothing hand on his back.

The two stay there, not saying much of anything, until Riku starts falling asleep.

When Naminé wakes up the next morning, she finds Riku, Aqua, and Terra working on Aqua’s Heartless reports. She quietly joins them, listening as they recount their previous encounters with the Heartless. She finds that Riku isn’t feeling as gloomy as he was yesterday. He’s focused and precise when explaining that Earth Cores are weak to magic.

“That’s all the Elemental Cores that we know of so far recorded!” Aqua says as she finishes writing down their notes into her report. “You’ve got great observational skills during battle, Riku.” Aqua praises.

“Oh, thanks.” He replies, somewhat awkwardly.

“It’s true.” Terra affirms with a smile.

As Riku scrambles to accept the compliments, Ventus announces his presence in the dining room with a long yawn. “G’mornin’. Can’t believe you guys are awake so early after the expedition.”

“Well, you’re coming with us on the next one.” Aqua tells him. News that he doesn’t receive so well, as he groans as soon as he hears it.

“Relax, we aren’t going back so soon; we’re gonna rest a couple of days.” Terra chuckles.

“Yeah, I need to check on the Wayfinders outside to make sure the rain didn’t damage them.” Aqua explains.

“Wayfinders?” Riku perks up a bit.

“Yeah. They’re charms I made for all of us out of metal and stained glass; you probably saw them outside. We’ve placed them on our Master’s memorial. I know you usually make them out of Thalassa shells, but… I couldn’t find any here, of course.” Aqua rambles eagerly.

“Oh, those!” Riku says with recognition on his face. “I could bring you some Thalassa shells next time I visit, if you’d like.”

“That’d be wonderful, thank you, Riku.” Aqua beams. She gets up from her seat at the table and begins making her way outside. “Well, I better get started.”

“Can I come with you?” Riku asks.

“Of course! You can come too if you want, Naminé.” She replies while looking at the young girl who had been following the conversation with interest.

Naminé smiles.

“Just let me get some supplies from my room first; I’ll meet you outside.” Aqua promises.

“Here we are.” Aqua says, while looking at her Master’s memorial, a somber smile on her face. She kneels on the ground and offers a prayer. Naminé and Riku follow her example. “Thank you, you two.” She trails off for a second before turning back to face the memorial. “Please excuse me, Master.” She says as she removes the Wayfinders and places them on a blanket on the ground.

“Taking care of them is fairly simple; I just need to apply a coating of this chemical.” She says while holding up a simple small bottle. “While avoiding the stained glass.”

Aqua takes out a thin brush and dips it in the substance and begins to spread it over the Wayfinders’s metallic outlines. A little bit gets on the stained glass, but she just wipes it off with a small piece of cloth. “Now, I just need to wait a bit, and then I flip them over and repeat the process!”

“How often do you do this, Aqua?” Naminé asks.

Aqua thinks. “About once every two months, it’s not that bad.”

“They’re very beautiful.” Riku says.

“Thank you.” Aqua smiles. “I could make you two some day… What color would you want them to be?”

Riku takes a moment to consider his answer. “Well, my favorite color growing up was yellow, so yellow probably.” He answers. “What about you, Naminé?” He turns to face his friend.

“White… As a base, and then I’d like to be able to add splashes of different colors to it.” Naminé replies.

“Oh, wow, Naminé, that’s a wonderful idea. I’m pretty sure I can pull that off… You’d be the one to add the colors, of course.” Aqua can already picture the end result in her mind.

“Thanks.” Naminé says somewhat shyly. After a moment, she asks Riku “Out of curiosity, what do you think the others would like?”

“Well… Sora’s would have to be red, and Kairi’s would be pink or lilac.”

“I could do alternating colors, or I could try my hand at making a gradient…” Aqua says, deep in thought.

“How much Munny do you wanna bet that Roxas would want his to be black and white?” Riku jokes as he looks at Naminé.

Naminé chuckles. “Well, if we’re going to talk about everyone in Twilight Town, then I think Sora and Lea are going to have to fight for that red Wayfinder.”

“They’ll have to learn to share, then. I can’t invent new colors for them to use.” Aqua joins in, laughing as she flips over the Wayfinders and applies the chemical on the other side.

The three continue talking until the Wayfinders dry completely, and Aqua places them back on the memorial. As she does so, Terra and Ventus come walking down the nearby stairs.

“Hey, everyone. I’m here to check if Ventus has been slacking or not.” Terra says, summoning his Keyblade.

“Uh oh.” Naminé says at a volume only Riku can hear, and he lets out a soft laugh.

Terra and Ventus spar, and Terra wipes the floor with him. He’s clearly been slacking. “Okay, Ven, no more skipping out on expeditions. Next time, I’m staying behind with Naminé.

“Aw, man.” Ventus complains.

“Come on, Ven, it won’t be so bad; we have Riku with us.” Aqua tells him.

“I know, I just liked hanging out with Naminé.” He grumbles.

“I’ll still be here when you come back.” Naminé reassures him.

“Okay! That’s a promise!” He says, and Naminé nods.

The rest of the month passes quickly. The expeditions into the Realm of Darkness each take roughly a little less than a week, but they only feel like less than a day for those in the Realm of Darkness.

Someone always stays behind with Naminé, though. She really appreciates the gesture; it’d be really lonely in the Land of Departure without that.
The second expedition she spends with Terra, who actually ends up drawing alongside her, sketching out whatever new wood carving projects he wants to work on. While he’s much quieter than Ventus, Naminé really appreciates having someone to talk to about drawing. He even shows her how he’s made some of the furniture in Ventus’s room or some of the decorations she spotted on the shelves of the dining room.

The third expedition, she spends with Aqua. And she quickly learns that Aqua bakes when she’s stressed. She’s the one who worries the most while the others are gone, but Naminé keeps her company no matter how much she frets. As an effort to calm her down, she asks if she could teach her some recipes, and she does. Naminé ends up learning how to bake several types of cookies, muffins, and cakes, as well as some pastries.

And, finally, she spends the fourth expedition with Riku.

Naminé walks up to Riku, bundled up in one of her sweaters. Winter came early, and it snowed the night before, chilling the entire castle to an uncomfortable degree.

“Do you want to try your hand at another snowball fight?” He asks her jokingly as he looks out the window.

Naminé quickly shakes her head no, knowing that they’d never be able to warm themselves back up in the castle.

“Thought so.”

After a moment, Riku says. “Naminé, I’m… I’m thinking of going and checking on the Islands; would you come with me?”

“Sure, I don’t mind. It’s… Not like I have anywhere to go but follow you anyway.” She says self-deprecatingly.

“That’s not true; I could take you back to Twilight Town if you wanted.” Riku reassures her.

“I… Thank you, Riku. Sorry about that.” Naminé apologizes, slightly ashamed of her outburst. “What’s making you want to go back to Destiny Islands anyway?” She asks.

“It’s what I told you before, how I saw the Islands in the Realm of Darkness. I know they haven’t fallen, but I’m still worried. I want to check, and… I don’t want to go alone.” Riku clenches his fists at his sides.

“Let’s go together, then.” Naminé says.

“Thank you.” Riku offers her a small smile.

The day after Aqua, Terra, and Ventus return from their expedition, Riku informs them of his decision to go and check on Destiny Islands.

Aqua understands his decision immediately, as does Terra.

“But Chirithy will be so lonely here without anyone keeping them company during expeditions…” Ventus protests.

“We haven’t even seen them, though.” Riku replies.

“They’re just shy, but they’re here.” Ventus swears.

“Come on, Ven, they can’t stay here forever; besides, they’re always welcome to visit, right?” Aqua says.

“Yeah…” Ventus nods.

“Let me guess, you’ve already packed?” Terra puts a hand on his hip.

“We’re not done, but yes.” Naminé confirms Terra’s guess.

“Let us help you with your stuff when you’re done, then.” Terra smiles.

“Thank you.” Riku says, then ducks out of the dining room to finish packing his things.

Once he and Naminé are finished, they’re ready to say their goodbyes. The sun is already setting, the light reflecting off of the Gummi Ship. Aqua and Terra have already helped them move their bags inside it.

“Thank you two so much for coming.” Aqua says, giving each of them a hug, crunching on the snow as she walks towards them.

“Thank you so much for having us. I’m sorry for messing up earli—”

“Shush.” Aqua interrupts Riku. “I just wasn’t used to the usage of Darkness, and you were caught off guard by the Realm of Darkness’s tricks; don’t apologize, and don’t beat yourself up about it.” She says, sternly.

“I… Alright.” He smiles.

“Promise to keep in touch, alright? We’ll message you.” Terra walks up to the two and places one hand on each of their shoulders.

“We will!” Naminé promises.

“You two have to come back so we can all play Command Board together. We’ll… make some, uh… changes to it so five people can play, so come back, okay?”

Riku chuckles. “We promise, Ven.”

The group finishes saying their goodbyes, and Riku and Naminé climb aboard the Gummi Ship.

“This’ll be another long trip, so feel free to sleep if you want to. Also, it’ll be summer when we get to Destiny Islands, so you won’t need your coat.” Riku says as he presses several different buttons inside the Gummi Ship.

“Okay.” Naminé replies and reclines her seat backwards, still able to see through the window, but before leaning back, she waves goodbye from the window as the figures of Aqua, Terra, and Ventus grow smaller and smaller.