GuardianSaiyoko: This is for Lev and Cyrus.
001:Alone
Kairi closed her eyes and held on tight to the boys on either side of her. On her right Sora's soft spikes brushed her shoulder and when he sighed deeply her hair fluttered; Riku leaned into her knee on her left and chuckled to himself softly. The sun was warm on her skin, she knew the contours of the paopu tree beneath her, she was perfectly content listening to the sounds of her friend's breathing. She was happy. "I love you guys…"
But when she opened her eyes they were gone, and it wasn't saltspray from the nearby waves on her face but tear tracks.
002: Before
Sora spun in a delighted circle and flopped down beside him, laughing. Riku grinned lazily and flicked sand at his friend. "We'll always be friends, huh, Riku?"
"Yeah."
003: Clothing
Before, Sora always slept in sleep shorts. Now…Kairi doesn't think she's seen him take those clothes off once since he came back. She knows he showers with the Keyblade in one hand, wanting that measure of protection, and his clothes are like a second skin to him now. Late at night he burrows in on himself and grips either the fabric or their hands. He even swims in that outfit now and he won't let anyone else wash it.
004: Depend
Before this, Riku always thought that he was the strongest because he could stand on his own. It almost cost him everything and now he's glad he has them to depend on.
005: Everything
At first Sora was surprised, but then he figured it made sense. Everything was brighter than before, now.
006: Forever
"Friends forever," Sora says, and it's strange because she expected him to shout it into the sea and sky, but instead he whispers it low and deep in his throat and his eyes go a slightly darker blue as he painstakingly splits the paopu fruit into three pieces. It doesn't matter, though, and she looks up as they all bit in at once at where the sky blends seamlessly with the sea and the horizon is a slim line of setting sun between the two.
007: Gullible
"Hey, Sora, the word gullible is written on the ceiling."
"…where?"
"Riku, that's mean!"
"Hey, I don't see it! Where is it?"
008: Hurt
When Kairi woke in the middle of the night, the tent was cold and empty. She looked out the door and drew back when she saw Sora grasping his Keyblade in one hand and tracing where she knew the scar on his chest to be with the other. When Riku approached him, Sora whirled around and flung himself into the other boy's embrace, sobbing silently. Riku's words are broken, halting, but sincere even as Way to the Dawn flashes into existence at Sora's sudden movement.
"I won't ever hurt you again."
009: Injustice
It isn't fair, she thinks, huddled in Riku's overlarge shirt in the corner of the gummi ship. She and Sora have lost the year which Riku spent alone; and she flinches as Riku starts awake, eyes wide and Way to the Dawn singing through the air, and Ultima Weapon singing to meet it with a resounding clash. The boys stare at each other a moment, check on her almost at the exact same time, then settle back against each other and drift off again, Riku much slower to sleep than Sora.
It's the third time that night.
The fourth time, she catches herself with her own rose keyblade in her hand.
010: Journey
He's almost surprised that they want to go with him, after the last journey. But this time, they'll stay together, and when it's over they'll all go home together.
011: Kitten
Sometimes Sora reminds her of a kitten, when he's feeling playful and wants to wrestle her or Riku, too innocent to understand why she always gently tells him no and Riku always reluctantly tells him yes. Sometimes he reminds her of a cat, sprawled out snoozing in the sun. And sometimes he reminds her of a lion, when she catches him summoning his Keyblade and practicing with it with a cool feline grace.
012: Loyal
Riku finds he is jealous of Sora again; Donald and Goofy would (have) followed Sora to hell and back again, but the emotion has barely had time to start before Mickey flies into his arms laughing and Riku belatedly remembers that he too has someone who will (has) followed him to hell and back.
Then Sora smiles at him, and Kairi laughs, and he realizes that- they'd all walk in together.
013: Mine
Sora asked Leon why he'd never seen him without his gunblade. Leon replied that while Sora had the luxury of summoning his weapon out of thin air with a thought his responded much better to a hand always on the hilt. "Mine," he told him, "always feels real," and Sora wonders how he knows.
014: Never
They used to spar out on the paopu island, him and Riku, with their little wooden swords, and sometimes Tidus and Wakka and even Selphie would join in. Now when they spar on the island it's with real weapons and the other three stay clear as the Keyblades sing against each other, and it's Kairi who now joins in and completes the dance, the roses sometimes singing loudest of all. Sometimes Chip and Dale will pick them up and they'll go the castle and he and Riku and Kairi and Donald and Goofy and Mickey all spar together, and there's a strange camaraderie in the singing blades and shield and staff. It will never be the same again, and he's not so sure anymore whether he wants it to be.
015: Over
They didn't go straight back to the islands. Riku didn't want to face everyone yet and, to be honest, neither did Riku. Sora had been forgotten for a year, but what were they going to tell Riku's parents?
They stayed at Merlin's house, only to discover that there they had more mothers and sisters and well-meaning older brothers than they cared to count.
016: Privacy
They couldn't stand to sleep in their own homes anymore. To be able to hold each other and know that were all alive and real and whole was much more important now than privacy; and they sleep in the Seaside Shack, tumbled in a heap and race each other to the ocean each morning.
017: Quail
Sora quails at the sight of ants, Riku is afraid of the dark, and Kairi can't stand to be alone. They seem like stupid childish fears to anyone else, but these were their own personal hells and when they come back to haunt them all they can do is hold each other's hands a little tighter and maybe summon the Keyblades and let them all sing against and with each other.
018: Rest
Sora's dreams always take him to the Final Rest, and when they ask him in amusement why he is such a violent sleeper he refuses to answer and is silently thankful that do not harm them is indelibly etched into his soul. Otherwise he's afraid of where his Keyblade might end up in his dreams late at night.
019: Steal
Crouched miserably under the overhang and watching the rain sheet down, Sora wishes he hadn't admitted to Yuffie that they didn't have any food left. He's fairly certain Cid's going to be pissed about this later.
He's also much too hungry to care.
020: Treat
"Throw a penny in, Sora, and make a wish!"
"All right, um, I wish I had a penny!" flick "Wait…dammit."
Sigh. "This is the last time we all spend the day here."
"Hey, but this place is our 'special treat'!"
"…"
"…You're so friggin' weird, Sora."
021: Understanding
Sometimes Riku has to leave Sora to talk to Donald and Goofy, and Kairi to speak with Minnie and Daisy, and sit with comfortable silence beside the King because the mouse was the only one who was there and who understands.
022: Verify
They share everything now, split the cost on food and drink and get three straws and it doesn't even matter if they like the drink, and it's a strange but strong friendship born of love and hardship and having come through it all together in the end…and somehow the way it's so easy to divide costs and responsibilities and blame makes everything bearable and verifies the fact they're all together again.
023: Winter
It never snowed on the islands, and so Sora's first snow was in Traverse Town. Yuffie laughed so hard at the expression on his face as he made his first snow angel that Aeris had to pound on the younger girl's back to get her to breathe again.
Later that night, there was a set of interlocking snow angels in front of the inn, Sora making two because Leon refused to make one so Sora made one for him.
024: Xenophobia
Sora could deal with being part fish, he'd spent probably just as much time in water as on land anyway living on the Destiny Islands. Halloween Town just felt like, well, Halloween. He could even deal with being a lion; it was fun and he didn't think he'd ever forget the bizarre sensation of wind through his fur, plus no one objected to him stretching out in a sunny spot for a bit of a nap. Well, no one except Donald, anyway.
For some reason, he was the most bothered by Jafar calling him a street rat.
025: Years
Years later they still sneak off to sleep in the Seashore Shack with a stolen nightlight and a now-battered blanket a motherly Aeris gave them. There's always that hairsbreadth space between them where they can still feel the presence of the others and it's still not unusual to reach out and make sure that they're still there.
026: Zen
Sora sighs in deep contentment as he sprawls on Merlin's couch with Kairi scrunched up beside him and Riku laying along the top, one arm dangling down, Yuffie and Cid and Tifa and Cloud and Aeris all scattered about the floor and Merlin grumbling to himself on the bed and Leon sleeping lightly back against the door guarding them all. They can have their nightmares here, they won't be the only ones, and Sora's scar and Cloud's wing and Leon's fading memory of angel wings are nothing important here. Sometimes Donald and Goofy and Mickey stay too, and it's crowded but it's a comfortable sort of crowded, quiet conversation late at night and soft chuckles and lazing around in the morning until sharing cups of hot tea that wake everyone up
.owari
GuardianSaiyoko: Lev and Cyrus are my two best friends and I'd do anything for them. I'm moving across the country tomorrow and I can't express how much I'll miss them. I love you two.