The room was quiet for the most part. The fire place crackled with warm, glowing life. The night air outside was calm and serene.

Submerged deeply in your book, you didn't notice the sound of the front door's knob turning, or the muffled footsteps that entered. You only looked up as a shadow cast itself down on you. Your eyes met those of bright cyan blue. The blue that captured your thoughts and hastened the beat of your heart.

You gasped in surprise and tumbled backwards out of your chair, your book arcing into a perfect landing on your stomach. Coming out of the daze you were in, you heard laughing at your feet. You looked up, blushing slightly.

"Did I scare you?" the spiky haired brunette chuckled as he held out his hand to you.

"Not at all," you said as you took his hand. He hoisted you to your feet, still smiling.

"Shouldn't let your guard down like that," the boy said. He took more notice to you as you straightened up. "Wow, you've grown. Must have hit a late growth spurt."

You smiled lightly at the humor. "I guess. I haven't noticed." You picked up your book and set it down by a blue envelope. "Oh, there's a letter for you."

"Alright! Let me read it–" Sora exclaimed, as he reached for it. You extended your arm out, blocking his way.

"Nope. Not now. You're late, and Merlin needs to talk to you," you scolded.

"That's why you called me here?" Sora asked, disappointed. You simply nodded your head. He sighed and followed you as you made your way out of the door.

As you exited, you caught sight of a white duck dressed as a mage, and a black dog holding a shield. You greeting Donald and Goofy with a smile and they followed behind you and Sora.

Walking down the street, you couldn't help but remember the first time you had met the trio. It had been on this street about three years ago; not long after Radiant Garden had been restored. Heartless had cornered you on your way home, and Sora had come and cut them all down. Ever since then, you had felt a strong attachment to Sora. Though you only saw him on his rare visits to Radiant Garden, you held special feelings for the Keyblade Master.

But, you knew he had Kairi. And before recently, you were okay with that. But lately, you had been having dreams of Sora. Silly ones for the most part, but they made your heart ache. You wanted to tell him how you felt, so you found a way to tell him. But you were waiting for the right moment.

"How are Kairi and Riku?" you asked, trying to make conversation. Sora glanced over to you.

"They're fine. They're back on the island," he said.

"That's good," you replied. Silence fell once again, except for the few sighs from Donald. The silence wasn't long-lived, however. You quickly came up to Merlin's house.

You knocked twice, and the door was quickly swung open.

"You're late!" came Yuffie's voice. The black-haired ninja grabbed Sora and pulled him inside. You followed, as well as Goofy and Donald. You sat over by Aerith and Cid, as Sora, Donald, and Goofy sat with Merlin, Leon, and Yuffie. You heard the beginning of the conversation, which started about the castle and the evil that once lurked in it. Aerith quickly distracted you with a simple question . . .

"So?" she said.

"What?" you asked, slightly confused. For such a simple question, you had no idea what she was talking about.

"So have you told–" she started, but cut off when she noticed Sora looking toward your small group. You looked at him and he grinned widely, sending a light blush to your cheeks. You smiled back and he turned back to the conversation.

"What were you saying?" you said, turning back to Aerith.

"Never mind, I'll ask later," she said. You waited quietly, only catching a few words of the conversation.

"Hallow Bastion... Heartless gathering... Maleficent return to..." but your mind began to wonder to the dreams that you had been having. The one that came the clearest was of you, standing in front of Sora, as each of you confessed your true feelings, your love for each other. You let out a dreamy sigh, and Aerith looked at you. She smiled at your 'lost-in-thought' expression, knowing what you were thinking about.

You felt a hand on your shoulder and you looked up to see Sora.

"We're going to the castle. We think there might be something going on there," he said.

"Okay," you said, standing up. "Let's go."

"Not you," Leon said as he picked up his gunblade. "You're not meant to go on these kinds of missions."

"Oh, that's not true," you said, trying to convince him.

"And what can you do to help?" Leon said, making you shiver when he looked at you.

"I... can... stand watch?" you said, accidentally making it into a question. You cringed at how pathetic you sounded.

"Nice try," Leon answered, turning to the door.

"Don't worry, we'll be back soon," Sora said, grinning once again at you. "Promise you'll wait for me?"

You were taken aback by his question. You knew he only said it to keep you safe, but your mind kept wanting to think it more.

"I'll always wait for you, Sora," you said. He smiled and turned to the door, following Leon out. Yuffie winked to you and Donald and Goofy only snickered. You sighed, hoping that you didn't make yourself sound stupid. You waited a few moments after the door closed and let out a frustrated sigh.

"It's okay," Aerith said, trying to calm you. You walked to the door and pulled on the handle.

"I'm following them, Aerith," you informed her. She looked at you in surprise.

"What?" was all that she could say.

"Who knows how long it will be 'til I see him again. I want to spend as much time as I can with him."

"Are you going to tell him? About how you feel?"

"Yes, but at the right time. And I don't care if he doesn't feel the same. I will feel better knowing that he knows," you said, quickly turning and running out the door. You didn't want to talk anymore.

Aerith turned to Cid, concern in her voice. "She doesn't know, does she? She doesn't know how he feels."

It didn't take long for you to catch up to the group. You kept your distance, not wanting to be turned away. You quietly followed them through the bailey, and to the entrance of the castle. You heard a noise behind you, but the night wouldn't let you see anything but shadows. Shadows that seemed to move. You began to grow nervous, and made your way closer to the group. You slipped in behind them as they entered the castle.

To your surprise, the castle was well lit. Torches lined the wall, lighting the hallways with a warm glow. You had a feeling that none of the others had lit the torches so quickly. Someone else had to be here.

The group stopped to converse, and you waited in silence. You could see Sora looking up at Leon with admiration as the man spoke. You smiled to yourself, watching the boy. The group started again, and turned the corner. You began to follow, when you felt long, cold fingers wrap around your ankle. You looked back to see a black being rise out of the ground. Its cold, amber eyes staring emotionlessly at you. A Heartless.

You held in your scream, not wanting the others to hear you. You kicked at the monster's head, hitting it between the eyes. It let go and you took off running. You turned down the hallway the others had went, but didn't see them. Instead, you saw three shadowy hallways. You began to panic as you looked back and saw three of the Heartless running at you.

Without hesitating, you quickly ran to the left hallway. You didn't see the group, but kept running. You couldn't turn back now. Those Heartless would take you. You quickly grabbed a torch and threw it as hard as you could at the Heartless. They seemed to hesitate as it flew by them, and that gave you enough time to earn some distance. Then, Heartless seemed to be appearing at the side of you and they too gave chase. You ran as fast as you could, but you were starting to tire. You could hear them gaining on you. You could feel the coldness that surrounded them.

You gasped as you fell to the ground. Quickly turning over, you watched the Heartless lunge at you. Then... you heard a loud whistle. The Heartless disappeared into thin air. You began to catch your breath as you sat up. You looked around, slightly confused. But you didn't care. The Heartless were gone. You stood up, clutching your chest as your heart pounded wildly.

You continued down the hallway and came to an open room. You entered and looked around. There was nothing. You sat against the wall, in the shadows, hoping nothing would see you.

You had lost Sora and the others, and weren't exactly sure on how to get back. But you couldn't really worry. You couldn't really even think. You were still too out of breath.

There was a flash of green, and a woman in black appeared in the middle of the room. She held a staff with a green orb resting on the top. You tensed up, but she didn't seem to notice you. She was watching the door to the right.

And, as if on cue, Sora and the others ran in. They stopped at the sight of Maleficent, staring her down.

"So it's true," Sora exclaimed. "You have returned."

Maleficent merely laughed. It was a bone-chilling laugh. She looked right to the boy and said, "And you have come to vanquish me, once and for all?" Then she laughed again.

"Enough!" Leon yelled, as he raised his gunblade and fired at her. She merely disappeared in a flash of green. Yuffie threw her shuriken up at a ledge. You watched the weapon fly at the reappearing witch. You had to admit that you were quite impressed with the ninja's skills.

Maleficent knocked the pointed star to the side and began to throw spells at the fighters. Donald retaliated with his own spells. Goofy reflected the glowing orbs with his shield. Yuffie made her way to retrieve her shuriken, while Leon covered her. Sora made his way up to the ledge and struck Maleficent several times.

"Yeah, Sora!" you cheered. But Maleficent only seemed to become enraged. She threw Sora back. He landed close to you, the Keyblade flying out of his hands.

"Sora!" you yelled, running for him. He struggled to get up, as the others were being struck down. You ran to him, helping him to his feet.

"Sora! Are you okay?!"

", what are you doing here?!" Sora yelled, grabbing your shoulders. "You were supposed to stay at Merlin's!"

"I wanted to be with you because I didn't know how long it would be before I got to see you!"

Your body suddenly went numb. You looked at Sora, but couldn't manage to say anything. Pain erupted from between your shoulder blades, but you were unable to scream. You fell forward into Sora's arms. Tears began to roll down your face from the pain.

"!!" Sora yelled. You had been hit by one of Maleficent's attacks. A stronger spell that was meant to hit Sora. But she was now being distracted by the others.

He knelt down on the floor, still holding you. "!!" He was upset. He was... crying.

There was so much pain. Incredible pain that you couldn't bare. But, even with the horrible pain, all you could do was smile. Being held by Sora, by the one you loved; looking up into his face; seeing so much emotion from him, emotion for you... That made you the happiest in the world. You couldn't tell him you loved him. You couldn't say anything.

"," he said through tears, "you're going to be okay. I know you will. You're strong." You closed your eyes, letting more tears slide down your face.

"Please, say something," he pleaded. You knew then... you knew how he truly felt about you. You looked up at him. You wanted to say it. You wanted to tell him that you loved him, but you couldn't. You only hoped that you could after you...

You shook your head, letting him know you couldn't say anything. You closed your eyes to the pain that shook through your body. You let out your breath, your last that you could hold. With your last breath came, "Sora..."

Sora pushed open the door to the now dark house. The fire place that had once been full of life had turned to nothing, not even burning cinders. He held in his breath as he looked around the room.

lay at Merlin's... her lifeless body...

He couldn't save her, and he couldn't vanquish Maleficent. She had disappeared in a flash of retreat.

He walked over to the table, and stared at it, lost in his thoughts. Through a wave of anger, he threw his fists onto the table, knocking the book to the floor. He picked it up, looking at it sadly, then set it back. That's when he saw the blue envelope. He picked it up, and slowly opened it.

'Sora,

How are you? I know that's a dumb way to begin a letter like this... but who said I was good at writing letters.

If you're reading this, then you're probably leaving or I've given you this and run away.

First of all, I want to thank you for saving me. You know, the first time we met. It has been wonderful being friends with you. You've shown me excitement and emotions I've never felt before.

Please know that no matter how long it takes for you to come and visit, I'll always wait for you.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, well...

Sora, I love you.

'

"... I love you, too."