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The question was sprung on her and Riku while they were sitting at their paopu tree. It had been almost two weeks since… everything. Sora had, somehow, brought her back from wherever she was, though he explained that it was called “The Final World.” It made sense, considering she had literally died.
She and Riku had been sitting at the tree, discussing Sora, because even though he wasn’t dating Sora like she was, he had went through things she hadn’t, and experienced things with Sora that she hadn’t. As usual, Sora was late. They didn’t mind, because if Sora was on time and not rushing, something was wrong.
They heard him running across the bridge, and turned to face him.
“Do you guys wanna revisit some of the worlds we’ve been to?” Sora sprung the question on them, breathing slightly labored from running.
She looked at Riku, who looked right back at her. While it would be fun, she was still settling into life back on the islands. Not to mention, she had to help Naminé adjust as well, since her father was open to letting her live with them. Naminé was her Other, even if she was in the body of a Replica, and she knew it’d hurt them both if they were away from each other for an extended period of time. Even if Sora hadn’t said anything, she knew he was feeling pain in his heart, doubly so with his Other and Ventus being far from him.
Sora looked up at them nervously. “I mean, you don’t have to, but since Riku brought Naminé back we have the gummiship, and-”
Riku cut him off. “Sora, we haven’t said no. In fact, I’d be happy to go with you.”
Traitor. And now she was on the spot.
“Hmmm… I’m not sure. I mean, I’d love to, but I’d have to talk to Naminé. At the very least, I’d have to let her know that I’d be going. It wouldn’t be fair to her otherwise.” She said. Sora’s face had fallen at her first statement, but he perked back up once she continued. He was such a puppy, she thought.
“Really?!” He looked so happy… and suddenly Kairi had an armful of Sora. She laughed before hugging him back.
“Yeah, Sora.”
-
One conversation and supply-packing later, Kairi and Naminé both returned to the paopu tree. Sora and Riku were already there, bags by them as they talked. As they both walked closer, Sora turned around, a smile on his face, though he seemed to be a bit surprised by Naminé’s presence beside her.
“So, Naminé and I were talking, and we decided that it would be best if she came with us, if you don’t mind, Sora. That way neither of us will hurt from the separation.” Kairi said, with Naminé nodding beside her.
“Oh.. alright! The more friends, the better! Anyways, if we’re all ready to go… I’ve already talked to my mom and Riku talked to his dad, so they’ll know where we’ll be. I assume you’ve talked to your dad?” Kairi nodded at the question. “Then let’s go! Time for an adventure!”
~
The first place they stopped at was Twilight Town. After hearing what Kairi’s reasoning was for bringing Naminé, Sora thought he should probably bring Roxas and Ventus. As much as he’d like for them to repair their own lives, Sora didn’t want to bring everyone else down during their trip with his chronic pain. Many times after everything had settled, Sora was bedridden from his pain. The worst thing was that no one else could really understand, aside from Kairi, though she had only felt it in the time in between Naminé’s rebirth and her arrival to the Islands. There was no conventional medicine for a fractured heart - the doctors couldn’t do anything. In addition, it only worsened when he used his Keyblade, which would most definitely spell trouble if there were roaming Heartless as Sora expected there to be.
In summary, Roxas and Ventus would be joining them.
Twilight Town was surprisingly very close to Destiny Islands, and they got there in just over an hour. When they landed, it was to an especially red sky, meaning that it was evening in the always-sunset city. A look at his gummiphone’s time for Twilight Town confirmed it.
With that, Sora figured that Roxas would most likely be either in the central plaza or atop the clock tower.
It turned out his second guess was correct, if the vague figures on the ledge were anything.
The four of them went and bought a sea-salt ice cream for each of them, and soon walked back to the clock tower.
There were a total of seven people there - Roxas, Xion, Lea, Isa, Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Naminé managed to find room on the ledge, though if even one more person wished to sit there would be no room. While all of them were surprised at the new additions, they were almost immediately roped into conversation.
-
As they were walking down the stairs, Sora subtly (or as subtly as he could be) pulled Roxas aside to convince him to join them.
“Hey, Roxas! Kairi, Naminé, Riku, and I are gonna be revisiting the worlds I went around, and I was wondering if you wanted to come with? Most of them are worlds you haven’t been to, and I want to show you what they’re all like!” Sora said, trying and failing to keep his voice at a normal speaking volume. Roxas’s eyes widened a second, before he regained his composure.
“Sure… but why exactly are you asking me? Don't get me wrong, but… wouldn't I just be in your way?” Roxas cut off eye contact for a short moment, before looking just to the side of Sora.
“Yeah, but… to be honest, I don’t want to bring down the group. You know how Naminé is coming with us? Well… that’s because she and Kairi can feel the same pain in their hearts when they are separated, the same pain you, Ventus, and I feel.” Sora looked down solemnly, before waving his arms around in a semblance of panic. “I mean, I assume that you feel it, too… I know it sometimes hurts too much for me to move. I mean, if you don’t, and you don’t want to come you don’t have to! I’m really not trying to force you into this, so don’t feel like you have to!” Sora started rambling. He most likely could have gone on for hours had Roxas not stopped him with a gentle arm on his shoulder.
“Sora, calm down. Don’t jump to conclusions like that.” Roxas gave a reassuring smile before continuing. “I feel the same way, but probably not as much as you. I think my heart only hurts for yours, not the way yours seemingly does for both Ventus and I. I definitely haven’t been rendered immobile by it.”
Roxas removed his shoulder for a split second, in order to give his Other a brief hug. “ Don’t worry, I’ll go with you. I probably won’t be able to leave until the morning, but I’m definitely not going to deny you.” Roxas muttered something under his breath afterwards, too quiet for Sora to hear. His face seemed to get the slightest shade of pink, though that could easily have been Sora’s imagination.
“Are you sure? I mean, i-” Sora started to talk again, but Roxas took initiative and put his hand over Sora’s mouth.
“Nope! Not going to listen to your self-doubts! I’m going with you tomorrow morning.” At that, Roxas smiled at Sora before removing his hand. Sora smiled back. They both stood there for a moment, before Sora remembered that they weren’t originally alone.
“Hey, where’d everybody go?!” Sora looked around, only somewhat frantically.
“Relax. Hey probably got tired of waiting for the both of us to finish our conversation.” At that, some almost imperceivable tension faded from Sora.
“Anyways, the others probably offered their houses to Riku, Kairi, and Naminé. Since they aren’t around to do it, I will. Do you want to stay at my house for the night? It’d be free, and you wouldn’t have to worry about finding me the next morning.” Sora was a bit surprised at the offer - his Other was normally very private, so being invited to his house felt a bit like an honor.
“Yeah, sure! Lead the way!” Roxas laughed at his enthusiasm before following Sora’s instructions.
-
After a bit of texting on the Gummiphone, Sora found out Kairi and Naminé were at Olette’s house, and Riku was at Isa and Lea’s. They all agreed to meet up by the bistro at 0900 Twilight Town Time. TTT wasn’t too different from Destiny Islands Time, so none of the recent arrivals would feel any time-lag. With everything settled, Sora soon fell asleep on Roxas’s spare futon.
-
When he woke up, Sora found it to be 0815 TTT. He wasn’t surprised. He was a fairly late sleeper, at least on the Islands when everyone woke up at 0500. He was most definitely not a morning person.
Despite that, Sora immediately got up and set to cleaning up after himself - he didn’t want to spurn Roxas’s hospitality. He saw a bag that definitely wasn’t his by the door, leading him to believe Roxas had already packed for the trip. Sora left the room to find Roxas already dressed, and making breakfast, though Sora had no idea what it was. Roxas soon noticed him.
“Hey, sleepyhead. I figured we’d eat here, because we both know Scrooge would have us pay extravagant prices since all of us have tons of munny. I already let everyone else know.” At this, Roxas looked a bit sheepish. “I may have taken your Gummiphone in order to copy everyone’s phone numbers onto my own. I hope you don’t mind.”
Sora laughed. His Other was smart, but sometimes worried about some silly things. “It’s no problem! You didn’t have to contact everyone, and yet you did. Thanks. Can I ask, what are you making?” Sora walked closer to Roxas, not knowing what anything was in front of the other boy. Stuff was quite different in Twilight town compared to Destiny Islands.
“Oh! Well, you see, there are these treats here called cinnamon rolls, and usually you put them in a tin in the oven to cook there. But I went to Olette’s house recently, and her mom had put them in a thing called a waffle maker instead, and it just seemed to taste better! So I thought I’d try it, since the previous owner of the house left one here.” Roxas looked at Sora throughout most of the explanation, but still looked back at the waffle maker to make sure everything was going okay. After a few minutes, he pulled the cinnamon roll out and iced it, before repeating the process with another.
Soon enough, all of the cinnamon rolls had been made, and were ready to be eaten. Roxas and Sora both sat at Roxas’s small table, and began to eat.
~
Kairi and Naminé both got to the bistro at around 0850. They had left Olette’s house early so as to not get lost - it was the first time either of them really had the chance to walk around the town. Despite that, they found a map on Kairi’s Gummiphone after searching for one, and so they knew where they were going. They made it there, and saw Riku sitting at one of the outdoor tables, doing something on his Gummiphone. He looked up when he heard the footsteps, and smiled at them both before getting up and walking towards them.
“Hey. So now we just have to wait for Sora and probably Roxas.” Riku said, voice trailing a bit when thinking of Roxas. Naminé lightly swatted him on the head with her hand.
“Hey now! You be nice to Roxas! I thought you had gotten past your grudge with him.” Naminé scolded.
“I have! It’s just that… Roxas hasn’t. I’m still pretty sure he hates me, and for good reason.” Riku trailed off once again, undoubtedly getting caught in self loathing before Naminé kicked his shin.
“Ow! Hey, what was that for?” Riku held his abused shin while Naminé grinned triumphantly.
Kairi couldn’t hold her laughter in anymore. Both Riku and Naminé looked at her.
“ I-I’m sorry, but you guys-” She burst into another fit before managing to calm down. “E-Even though Naminé and I are legally sisters, you two just acted in such a sibling manner… I…” She laughed a bit more. Naminé and Riku both looked at her for a second, before joining in as well.
After everyone had calmed down, they sat at the table Riku previously occupied. They didn’t have to wait long before Roxas came on his skateboard, Sora running after him with a bag.
“Hey Kairi, Naminé.” Roxas said, looking at each in turn, before looking directly at Riku. “Hey, old man.” Riku spluttered, trying to regain control of his vocal chords while both of the girls giggled. Sora caught up, out of breath despite being extremely athletic. He immediately shoved the bag into Roxas’s hands.
“Just because you have a skateboard does not mean I have to carry your luggage! What do you have in here, bricks!?” Sora almost-yelled, keeping his volume down enough to where he didn’t awake any of the residents.
“Yeah, a few. Need to make sure I don’t become unnaturally old if I come into contact with Riku.” Roxas said, before opening his bag, and actually pulling out a brick. “Works to beat off Heartless, too, when a stick just isn’t quite enough. It’s kind of like a ranged weapon.” At that, Roxas brought his arm back and Riku flinched. Roxas let out a short laugh before putting the unthrown brick back in his bag.
“Nah. If I actually hurt you, Riku, Sora would be upset. So no physical harm will come to you from me. As long as you don’t attack me, we’ll be good.” Roxas glared for a second, but stopped soon after of his own accord.
Kairi took advantage of the lull in conversation, and walked over to Sora for a hug and a quick peck on the lips. She then turned to the rest of the group.
“Alrighty! So, now that we’re all here, are we ready to go?” After a wave of nods, she looked at Sora. “Well, it’s your decision where we go next.”
At that, Sora looked around a bit nervously. “I’d like to go to the Land of Departure, and see if Ventus would like to join us.” He averted his gaze afterwards, as if he was ashamed of wanting to invite someone who had spent over a decade in his heart. Kairi gave him a side hug, looking at the other group members to see if anyone would dare to go against his request.
It wasn’t like it was a hard request. The Land of Departure may have been farther from Twilight Town than the Destiny Islands, but it wasn’t outrageously far - it was only three or four hours away, tops. While she didn’t think her friends would say no, she wanted to make sure.
After a few affirmations, they made their way to the Gummiship to leave.
-
They made it to the Land of Departure at about 1230 TTT, which meant it was 1630 in Land of Departure Time. It seemed to be the group’s lucky day, as Sora’s flying was even better than usual, and the three residents were outside when the Gummiship landed.
When they got out, Aqua immediately walked to greet them, before inviting them inside. She quickly made some tea for everyone, and sat down. Her face was solemn.
“Is something wrong? Did King Mickey or Yen Sid send you?” She asked. Everyone quickly shook their heads, though Sora was the only one who spoke up.
“Nothing like that, honest! It’s just that we were going to tour some of the worlds I visited, and wanted to see if Ventus would like to come.”
“I told you Sora, call me Ven!” said boy popped from the hallway, holding… some sort of cat? Kairi had no idea. All she knew was that it looked fluffy, and her instinctive brain got up, walked over to Ven, and immediately started petting the creature.
“Oh, hey Kairi. This is Chirithy. Want to hold them?” Ven said, hold Chirithy slightly out, easy to grab but also easy to return the the safety of his arms. Kairi took him up on the offer and grabbed the catlike creature, before softly petting and cuddling them.
“Anyways, I’d be happy to come! To be honest, once you came I felt the best I have in a while.” He rubbed his neck, before continuing. “If that’s okay with you, Aqua. I know we’re still getting settled in. If you need me here, I’ll stay.” At that, Kairi saw Sora droop a little. Without any delay, she set Chirithy in his lap. Chirithy immediately cuddled up into Sora, and he couldn’t resist a small smile.
“Of course! I’m glad to see you going out with friends.” Aqua had never felt like a mother more in that moment. It seemed Sora was the only one other than her to pick up on Aqua’s change.
“But if you all are going to travel, it wouldn’t be good to get caught in time-lag. We have plenty of spare rooms, you all can definitely stay the night. I was just about ready to get started on dinner.” Aqua continued. Everyone wholeheartedly agreed; Kairi didn’t know about the rest, but she definitely did not want to detract from the visit if she was time-lagged.
“Alright then! Terra, if you don’t mind, could you show them the rooms while I prepare dinner?” Aqua said, bringing attention to the brunet that had somehow gone unnoticed by everyone.
“Sure.” At that, Terra walked to the door, turning back as if to tell them to follow.
-
After dinner, everyone went to bed as early as possible in order to stave off the time-lag. Sora and Kairi had ended up sharing a room, and Kairi had never felt happier to fall asleep with her boyfriend right beside her.
-
Morning came, and with it everyone got ready to leave. Sora had told them all which worlds he definitely wanted them to visit; the first being the Kingdom of Corona. He had talked about it excitedly over the table the night before.
They loaded up into the Gummiship and departed at 0800 LoDT. They arrived at the Kingdom of Corona at 1200 KoCT. They had landed just by the bridge that separated the countryside from the main city.
Sora talked about his adventure the entire way across. Soon enough, they made it to a central plaza, where it seemed a festival was taking place. The Coronan citizens were upbeat, and there were many people dancing in the central area. Seeing this, Sora immediately grabbed Kairi and pulled her into the fray. She soon picked up on how the dancing worked, and was laughing with Sora. She looked back to where the rest of them were, and she saw Ventus offer his hand out to Naminé, though he looked a bit hesitant when doing so. Naminé accepted it, and they both joined the dancing as well. Kairi had gotten close enough to Roxas and Riku to see Riku look hesitantly at Roxas.
Roxas stared back at him. “Absolutely not.” He said, before walking off to view what the vendors had. Riku looked dejected for some reason, and Kairi couldn’t help but laugh at the sad look on his face. Riku looked like a puppy that lost its mom.
-
They stayed in the plaza for most of the day. It turned out the celebration was for Rapunzel and Eugene’s engagement. After hearing that, Sora grabbed Riku and Kairi and ran to the castle, leaving Roxas, Naminé, and Ventus to try and keep up with him.
Sora ran up to the gate, and he was recognized and let in. After asking the whereabouts of Rapunzel and Eugene, he speed-walked towards the garden (he justified it by saying it was rude to run in a castle, though Kairi was sure he had done that as well.) They opened the doors to see Rapunzel and Eugene sitting underneath a tree, relaxing. At hearing the doors open, Rapunzel looked up, and got up once she saw that it was Sora. She ran towards him and grabbed him in a bear hug, and Kairi was quite sure she heard his bones crack.
Sora hugged back, before getting pulled into a noogie by Eugene.
“Hey, what’re you doing here? And who’re you’re friends?” At that, Sora introduced everyone. They walked through the garden and talked for a while, Rapunzel and Eugene telling them of Sora’s less-than-stellar moments in the Kingdom of Corona, and Riku and Kairi traded back with childhood stories. Sora was growing redder in the face by the second. Kairi pulled him into a hug, before continuing to walk with her hand in his.
Once the sun began to set, Rapunzel immediately offered to let them stay in the castle for the night. No one disagreed. After being introduced to Rapunzel’s personal handmaiden and best friend Cassandra, they set to getting settled in their rooms. Sora and Kairi once again shared a room, and Kairi fell into peaceful sleep with her boyfriend by her side.