Disclaimer- i don't own any Kingdom Hearts anything.

A/N- It's a little long, but enjoy!

Chapter 1

It seemed like another normal day. It started off normal. Beep beep beep! The alarm clock went off.

"Mmmm…" Emily groaned. She pressed the snooze button and looked to see what time it was. 7:00 am.

"Uhh…" she grunted. She turned over in bed and mumbled, "Just…five…more…minutes…" There was a knock on her door, but she didn't acknowledge that she heard it. The door burst open.

"Come on, Emily! This is our last weekend of summer vacation! We were going to spend it at the island with everyone, remember? Get up! Mom's making breakfast!" the boy shouted as he pulled his shirt on over his head.

Oh, yea! Emily thought. Today's the day! Dang it, I forgot!

"Okay, okay. Hold your horses, Sora…" mumbled out.

"Well, hurry up!" Sora said impatiently.

"You just wanna get there early so you can see Kairi." Emily said as she pulled herself up. She had recently discovered her older brother's crush on his best girl friend.

"Do not!" Sora shouted as he threw a pair of socks at his sister. Emily was two years younger than he was. Even so, his friends were her friends. She had a special bond with his best friend Riku. When she was little, just barely four years old, she wandered just a little too far out into the ocean. No one noticed except Riku. He dived in and saved her from drowning. Since then he was like a second older brother to her, as she was like a little sister to him.

"Hey! Get out of my room! Mo-o-om!" Emily shouted.

"All right! All right! I'm leaving! Just hurry up, okay?" Sora asked, backing out the door. As he rounded the hallway corner, he remembered something.

Emily had closed her door. He knew better than to intrude, so he called from outside her room, "Hey Emm!"

"Yea? What do you want?" he heard her muffled response.

"Don't forget to ask if you can bring Mom's camera!"

"Why do I gatta do it?" she complained.

"You know as well as I do that Mom doesn't trust me with her stuff! Come on! Please?" he pleaded.

"Fine." she said, opening the door.

They went downstairs together and saw that the rest of the family were sitting at the table, enjoying a plate of pancakes.

"It's about time you two got down here." their father said, folding his newspaper. "I have to go to work early today," he continued. "So I hope you enjoy your last weekend at the island." He got up and kissed Emily and the twins goodbye, waved to Sora and their mother, and he was off.

"The pancakes should still be warm. The twins are going to Auntie's house today, and I'm meeting one of my girl friends so you two will be on your own today. Aunty will be here to get the twins in an hour or so, so don't leave until they're gone." their Mom said, putting her plate in the sink.

"Sure, Mom." Sora said. He elbowed Emily as an indicator for her to ask.

"Before you leave Mom," she said, giving Sora one of her looks. "Can I take your camera to the beach with me? I wanted to take pictures for…the scrap book." she added quickly. Their mom nodded as she kissed the twins, and grabbed her purse before heading out the door.

"So," Sora started, looking at his twin younger brother and sister. "You guys are going to Aunt Marsha's today?". Both of them nodded.

"Aunty got a new puppy! His name is Spot!" Shelby said.

"Yea, and because she's ganna have a baby, Uncle Harold put in a new swing set in the back yard." Mark added.

"Sounds fun." Emily smiled. The twins were already five years old. She couldn't believe it. She remembered when they weren't even born yet. She had always hoped for a younger sister. She never expected she'd get a little sister and a little brother.

Emily and Sora ate breakfast and began getting ready for their trip to the island. Emily put her bathing suit on underneath her clothes, grabbed her mom's camera, and packed a few towels, and her and Sora's wooden swords into a small beach bag. She loved going to the beach. She loved hanging out with all her friends there. Her favorite person was Riku. She knew he saved her from drowning when she was little, but she didn't remember it much. Kari and Selphie were also fun to hang with because they were girls like her. She liked Wakka, but he was too in to sports for her. And then there was Tiddus. She couldn't explain how she felt about him. He was the same age as her, and so far they had been in all their classes together.

For whatever reasons, he always seemed to make her smile. Sometimes he would even make her blush. When it was just them together she would get butterflies in her stomach. She would always make some excuse for it. Like she had eaten something funny, or she was blushing because she was over heated. She couldn't like him. She had known him too long. Plus there was the possibility that he wouldn't like her the same way back. She shook her head off the subject and ran downstairs.

"Bye Aunt Marsha!" Sora was calling out the front door. How long was I in my room? Emily thought.

"Jeez, it took you long enough." Sora said. "Come on let's go!" He practically ran out the door.

"Hey!" Emily called. "Wait for me!" Emily ran down the stairs, locked the front door behind her, and ran after Sora.

Sora was about fifty feet in front of her. She ran as fast as she could while in flip flops and carrying a heavy beach bag.

"Wait…for…me…" she huffed.

"Hey!" she heard a familiar voice from behind her. She stopped and turned around and immediately she felt her cheeks heat up.

"Hey," she said. "Tiddus. What…are...you…doing…here?" she panted out. Tiddus looked at her and smiled. Emily moved her eyes to the ground.

"Need some help?" he asked, not really giving her a choice as he took her bag for her.

Emily pushed her medium length, messy brown hair behind her ear.

"Thanks." she said, softly.

"No problem." Tiddus answered. They began walking towards the dock, where Sora was waiting. He stood there, arms crossed behind his head, and said, "What took you so long, slow poke?" Emily glared at him, then stuck her tongue out. Sora did the same.

"Hey, Sora." Tiddus waved.

"Hey yourself, kid. What are you doing here? We were just on our way." Sora said.

"They sent me to see what was taking you two so long!" Tiddus said.

"We had to see Shelby and Mark off." Emily explained.

"I see." said Tiddus. "Mind if I take a boat ride with you guys?" Emily and Sora shook their heads.

It was an uncomfortable ride for Emily. She didn't say anything because she was afraid of getting a case of the butterflies and feeling embarrassed. Sora broke the silence though.

"Why so quiet? Usually you two don't ever shut up!" Emily shifted her gaze. She gave Sora a look that said, 'Please don't make it anymore uncomfortable than it has to be!'. So Sora stayed quiet the rest of the boat ride.

Upon arrival to the island, Emily saw Wakka, Selphie, Riku, and of course Kairi sitting on the extended palm tree. She saw Sora's expression of disappointment when she saw Riku sitting next to Kairi with his arm around her shoulder. Emily hopped out of the boat and ran up to her friends.

Kairi jumped off the tree and went to hug Emily and then proceeded to Sora who looked as uncomfortable as ever around her.

"Hey kid!" Riku said, giving Emily a noogie. Laughing, Emily pushed his hand off her head and hugged him.

"Long time no see!" she said.

"Exactly what I was thinking." Riku said, as he lifted her off the ground and swung her around.

Riku put a laughing, and slightly dizzy Emily down. She staggered around until she regained normal balance. Still laughing she looked around and saw Tiddus meeting her gaze. He looked away, with a slightly hurt look on his face. While Sora, Riku, and Kairi went off to talk about one of their crazy schemes, Emily went over to Tiddus.

He was skulking on one of the many low hanging palm trees.

"Hey," Emily said, smiling. "Wanna tell me what's wrong?" Tiddus looked away. "Awe came on." Emily continued. "Please?" she said, pulling one of her puppy dog faces. Tiddus gave in.

"Okay, okay. How can I say no to that face?" he said. "It's just…just that…well…I" he staggered out.

"Come on," Emily said. "Out with it!" she crossed her arms.

"It's just that I---" but Tiddus was cut off by Sora.

"Hey Emm!" he called. Emily smacked her forehead.

"Awe jeez…" Emily said. "Hold that thought." She got up and went to her brother. When she was out of earshot Tiddus said, "I like you. But what does it matter." he looked at the sand. He saw a stick and drew a heart in the sand. Then he got up and walked toward the secret cave.

"What do you want?" Emily whined to Sora.

"Where's the camera? We should start taking pictures. Oh and get this!" Sora then went on to explain that he, Riku, and Kairi were building a raft to try and sail to other worlds. When he was finished he asked if Emily wanted to join them. Emily rolled her eyes. "Sure. Just as long as we're home before dinner I guess. Can I go back to talk to Tiddus? I think he wanted to tell me something important." Emily could feel her cheeks going red, so she looked away. The last thing she wanted was for Sora to know about her secret crush. Sora gave her a funny look.

"I see." he said slyly. He went into his famous crossed arms behind head pose as he said, "And does little Emily have a crush on this said 'Tiddus'?"

"Shut up! Leave me alone! You're always so mean!" Emily shouted as tears welled up in her eyes, but she didn't care. To her, it felt like whenever the opportunity came up to make fun of her, Sora took it.

"Can't you ever be the nice, understanding big brother?!" she shouted, half crying. Sora stood there. He realized that he had taken it too far this time.

"Sometimes I wish you were more like Riku! As a matter of fact, I wish you would just---just disappear!" She ran off.

"What did you say Sora?" Kairi asked, coming to see what all the commotion was about. Riku was right behind her. Sora turned around to them. "Do you think I'm a bad older brother?" he asked. Kairi took his hand and said, "No, I don't. But if you want to be the best big brother you should go talk to her. You know, apologize." Riku nodded.

"Hey, man," Riku said. "If you think I should back off a little with her, just say the word. I couldn't help but overhear what she said. The whole island probably heard her." he gave a slight chuckle.

Emily ran crying to the secret cave. She knew it would be quiet in there, and it would help her get her mind off things. She knew Sora wasn't being that mean, but everything just came out at once. She couldn't handle all the mixed emotions she was going through. It just all came out at once and she had taken it out on Sora. Great. She thought. He's ganna hate me now. What a great way to end our summer.

She walked around the corner and saw Tiddus looking at the pictures that everyone had drawn over the years on the walls. He looked up at her, a little startled. He blushed and said, "I didn't her you come in. Hey, what's wrong?" he had noticed the tears flowing down Emily's face. Emily collapsed to the ground, and put her hands on her face. She let it all come out. She sobbed uncontrollably.

"Hey," Tiddus said, sitting next to her (hesitant as whether or not to put his hand on her shoulder). "It's okay. What's the matter?" He finally decided to put his hand on her back. He gently ran it up and down, trying to relax her a bit.

"Emm?" Sora called from the cave entrance. He knew she'd be in there, because that's where he told her to go if she needed some peace and quiet. Plus his mother's camera laying at the cave entrance was a big help too. He shifted his eyes to see Emily kneeling on the ground crying, with Tiddus massaging her back. Tiddus looked up and immediately took his hand off Emily. Sora went and sat on the other side of his sister. She looked up at him, eyes still full of tears.

"I---I'm…s---sorry." she sobbed.

"You're sorry? For what?" he asked, a little confused.

"I---I…t---took it all ou---out on y---you." she stuttered out. Sora smiled at his sister.

"It's me who should be apologizing. I shouldn't have made fun of you for---" he paused looking at Tiddus. "well," he continued. " you know why. Come on. You can help me gather supplies for the raft. But first, I don't think we've had a proper island duel yet. We've gatta have one the last summer weekend here." Emily smiled, her crying starting to subside. "Okay." She got up, wiping her eyes.

"You're next, Tiddus!" she said. Tiddus smiled, then went red. "Sure."

As they exited the cave, Riku and Kairi were waiting.

"You okay, kid?" Riku asked. Emily nodded, putting her hair behind her ears. After helping the others with gathering supplies (and taking many goofy pictures for the scrap book), she and Sora battled, just as he promised.

"Don't go easy on me just cause I'm a girl!" she shouted, getting into the stance that she had learned from Riku.

"Oh, don't worry." Sora said, laughing. "Bring it on!" he shouted, and the duel commenced.

Emily had learned everything she knew from Riku's random training sessions, and from watching Sora and Riku battle it out. She was very good at handling her sword, and she knew how to block. Even so, Sora was much stronger than she was, so naturally he won. After knocking her sword from her hands, he knocked her down, and had her pinned.

"Surrender!" he shouted.

"Never!" she laughed.

"The face the wrath of I, Sora the greatest swordsman ever to be born!" he dropped his sword and tickled Emily until she couldn't breath.

"Hey Sora! Don't kill her!" Riku called, tying the planks of wood together to form the raft. Sora rolled over laughing.

"Okay. Not today anyway." Emily was still lying on the ground laughing.

"Are you still up to the challenge of fighting me?" It was Tiddus. He walked over and kneeled down on his knees next to Emily, who was still breathless form laughing. Tiddus offered her his hand. Emily gladly took it.

After calming down, Emily ran over to her sword and picked it up.

"Same goes for you Tiddus." She said, getting into stance once more.

"What?" Tiddus asked.

"No going easy on me 'cuz I'm a girl."

"Okay then. Let's see what you got!" Tiddus yelled. Emily ran forward, ready to swing a chain of combination attacks she had learned from Riku. Tiddus easily deflected her, giving a fake yawn. Emily ran forward again, from behind. Tiddus deflected her attack again.

"Is that all you got?" he asked. "Come on! Give it your all!"

"I haven't seen you take a single swing yet!" Emily taunted.

"You asked for it!" he said, lunging toward her. In a matter of seconds he had hit her sword out of her hands and had her on the ground, pinned under his sword.

"You're not allowed to kill her either Tiddus." Riku called out. He was now working on the sail of the raft.

"Huh?" Tiddus turned around. He wished he hadn't. Emily took the opportunity to roll over. She was now on top of him, using his sword for her advantage. After several moments of struggling, Tiddus gave up.

"All right! You win!" he was laughing.

"That's what I like to hear!" Emily said, taking his sword off of him, and offering her hand to help him up.

"I'll win next time. Riku won't be there to distract me!" Tiddus stuck his tongue out. Emily laughed.

Just then, a bright flash, and a familiar camera sound startled Emily. Sora was laughing.

"Sora! What did you do?!" Emily ran over to her brother. Laughing he said, "I took a picture, that's all!"

"Oh yea! Gimme that thing!" Emily yelled. Sora handed it to her. She then proceeded to take everyone's picture. She took individual pictures first, then she moved onto group photos. As the sun had begun to set, she called everyone to the beach.

"Can everyone stand in front of the sun, yea like that! I hafta get a shot of everyone together! Okay! On three, say…destiny! One…two…three!"

"Destiny-y-y-y!" everyone said.

"Great! Thanks!" Emily said.

"Hey," Riku said. "You didn't get any pictures of you, except for the one that Sora took. Want me to take some of you with everyone?"

Emily smiled and gave the camera to Riku. After taking a picture of herself with Wakka, Selphie, and Kairi, she found Tiddus. The familiar feeling of butterflies returned to her.

"Hey umm….Tiddus." Emily nervously fiddled with her fingers.

"Yea?" Tiddus said, standing up from sitting on the edge of the dock.

"Wanna take a picture of us together? I mean so I have a good one besides the one that Sora took…" she rambled. Tiddus smiled.

"Ha ha sure." They stood together, giving each other bunny ears. Riku laughed as he took the photo.

"Hey!" Tiddus said. "Want me to take one of you and Riku?"

"Sure!" Emily said. Emily grabbed onto one of Riku's arms, and he lifted her off the ground. Tiddus took the picture.

"Gosh Riku! How did you get so strong?" Emily asked after being put down.

"It's from lifting little kids like you all day!" Riku laughed, ruffling Emily's hair.

"Here's your camera Emm." Tiddus said, handing the camera over.

"Thanks! Only one person left! Hey Sora-face! Come here!" Emily shouted. Sora came running with Kairi.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I still need a picture of you and me!" Emily handed the camera to Riku.

Sora lifted Emily onto his shoulders. Slightly surprised, Emily yelled.

"Jeez! Warn me or somethin' the next time you're ganna do that!"

"Whatever. Just smile!" Sora said. After the picture was taken, Emily jumped down and took the camera from Riku.

"Hey. It's getting late." Riku said, looking at the sun set. It was getting dark.

"Make sure to bring whatever you want to bring along tomorrow. We may not be able to return. We don't know what's out there. We may not ever see our parents again." Emily rolled her eyes. Another one of Riku's silly dreams.

"See you guys tomorrow. Come on Emm. We should be getting home. Mom's probably worried sick." Sora said, heading toward the little boat.

As they were rowing back, Sora suddenly got a serious look on his face. Obviously thinking out loud he said, "Was it really a dream? It was all so real…"

"Sora? What are you talking about?" Emily inquired.

"Hmm? Oh. It's nothing, really. Just…a dream…I think…" he trailed off.

"Wanna tell me about it?" Emily asked. Sora told her about how he had landed on some strange platform surrounded by darkness. How he had been asked to choose a weapon and forsake one. He even explained the strange looking creatures with antennas.

"It was just a dream Sora." Emily said. "You shouldn't get so paranoid about it."

"Yea…" Sora said, distracted.

8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8

"I was starting to get worried about you two!" Mom was shouting when they entered their house.

"Oooo! You guys are in trouble!" Mark sniggered along with Shelby.

"No. They're not in trouble. They still got home before dark. Just barely. Dinner's on the table." their mom pointed to the kitchen. Sora and Emily exchanged glances saying, 'that was close!'.

After dinner, Emily asked if she could go to bed early. She wanted to load and print the pictures she had taken.

"Sure sweety." her mom said. "Good night!"

"Night hun." her dad said with an air kiss.

"Good night sister!" the twins shouted from the main room.

"Night!" Emily called as she ran up the stairs. She wanted to take a shower before bed, but it was currently occupied by Sora. She decided to upload the pictures first. After connecting the camera to the computer, the pictures flashed across the screen. Riku, Sora and Kairi, Wakka and Selphie, Tiddus, Emily and Tiddus, Emily and Riku, Emily and Sora. She resized the images and turned on the printer. After inserting the special photo paper, she pressed the print button.

After the gentle hum of the printer subsided, Emily heard a knock on her door.

"Who is it?" she called.

"Sora. Can I come in?"

"That depends." Emily started. "Why do you want to come in? Are you going to do something…oh I don't know--- evil?"

"No, I wasn't planning to do something evil…for now anyways.." Sora said in an annoyed voice.

"Enter." Emily said, looking at the pictures, which were still warm.

"I just wanted to say that I really am sorry for today. I suppose I really wasn't acting like the big brother I should act like. I just wanted you to know that you can talk to me about, well stuff you know? I can be serious sometimes you know." he half laughed. Emily looked down at the photos. She looked at the one of her and Sora together.

"I'm sorry too." she said. "I shouldn't have said I wanted you to disappear. You really are a good big brother you know. Riku's great, but you're special. I wouldn't want to replace you with him. I just thought I should tell you that." Sora nodded.

"Well," he said as he grabbed the door. "G'night."

"Night." Emily said.

She grabbed her stuff and went into the bathroom to take a nice hot shower. Only, she didn't exactly get what she wished for.

"Sora!" she screamed. "You used all the hot water! I'm ganna kill you! Ahh!"

A/N- what did you think? good? bad? if you have suggestions i will gladly take them!!