A/N: A very, very late Christmas giftfic for the wonderful ReflectTheLight (from defiantArt). I know it's not what you were expecting, but I hope you enjoy this piece! :) I tried to work with flashbacks. Not sure if I succeeded at that. XD

"You know, sometimes I wonder which one of us is going to follow Master Lumina's footsteps and teach some brats what it takes to be a Master," Eraqus mused, as he laid back into the soft grass.

"Tch. That's definitely going to be you. I've got better things to do."

The dark-haired teen turned his head to look at his best friend. "Like what?"

Xehanort didn't reply immediately, as if he wanted to choose his words carefully and weigh them, before voicing them. "I don't know. Don't you want to see more of the worlds's mysteries once you've become a Master?"

Eraqus frowned. "What do you mean?"

"...Nothing. Forget what I said."

Eraqus said nothing, trying to hide his disappointment It was weird, really, how Xehanort had become so...mysterious lately. Sometimes Eraqus wasn't sure when he was being serious and when not. Could it be that he was hiding something from him?

The first thing Eraqus saw when he woke up in the middle of the night, were Master Lumina's striking, grey-blue eyes and her pale face that was framed by lilac locks. Had she woken him up at this ungodly hour? Why in the world...?

"Xehanort is missing. Do you know where he is?" she asked earnestly.

It took Eraqus a moment to realize what she'd asked him, because he was too busy with feeling embarrassed and covering himself fully. Of all the days that he'd decided to sleep nearly naked...

"Wait, what?"

Master Lumina let out an impatient sigh. "Xehanort, silver-haired pupil, taller than you, gone. I'm afraid he's not in this world anymore."

That was all it took for Eraqus to be fully awake now. "Huh... How?"

Then again, shouldn't he have seen this coming? Xehanort had been acting weird for a little while now. Still, this didn't make any sense!

Eraqus shook his head when he spotted the silver-haired young man leafing through one of the thickest books he'd seen so far. He shouldn't have been surprised. After all, he'd been doing this for days on end now. Needless to say, Eraqus never missed an opportunity to tease his friend about his nerdy ways.

"Are you reading stuff again? Who are you trying to impress this time? Some cute girl?"

"No, you," Xehanort replied sarcastically, without missing a beat.

For a moment, it was silent, but then... "Am I supposed to take this in the sexual way?"

Xehanort growled something under his breath and threw a pen to his friend, aiming for his head.

"Hey wait a minute... Why are you reading a book about the technique behind teleportation? We're not required to know that, right?" Eraqus asked, when he read the book's cover.

"Curiosity," was the short explanation.

Eraqus couldn't bring himself to believe him this time. He had lied more than enough.

Could it be that...

Had Xehanort fled, just up and vanished into the night? Had he left this world without even bothering to say goodbye to him and his Master?

More importantly, was he supposed to go after him to bring him back when he meant so little to Xehanort?