Well, I'm back again! With a sequel, which I know for a fact the majority of you wanted. Whether this is the SUBJECT you wanted it about, I'm not all that sure, but it's how I went, so I hope you enjoy it!

This chapp might be a little iffy because A.) It's the first chapp, and I SUCK when it comes to the first chapter to ANYTHING. I'm not sure why. (shrugs). And B.) I'm totally winging it, I have no game to go on. So it just feels a little weird to not go on Youtube to see what worlds or dialogue I'm working with next xD.

Well, either way, here's the start to the sequel. Read, review, and enjoy! :D

"...So now you get it? That's why we need them."

Riku nodded. "Yes Your Majesty, I understand that part, but...Why Sora and the others? Can't we just individually seek them out?"

King Mickey shook his head. "I'm afraid that might not work. You've gotta remember that these guys will have no clue what a Gatekeeper is, and I doubt they'll listen to anyone but a fellow Gatekeeper. So that means we need Kiera. ...And we both know there's only one person that'll convince her to do it."

Riku sighed. "But Your Majesty, they haven't –"

"I know."

"They'll be at each other's throats."

He laughed. "Riku, they were before!"

"But..."

"If all else fails, we have mature ways to handle their fights. But in the meantime, this threat is NOT going away, the Heartless are multiplying, and we need the others. ...None of us are fully complete without them. Just like Sora and Kiera aren't while they've been apart. Sending them on another quest can only prove good for us all, I'm sure of it," the King declared confidently.

Riku looked down at the plan they'd drawn out, shaking his head. "First you summon me to your realm instead of Sora, and now we're sending him out with Kiera again. ...He's gonna want to kill me."

The King laughed at that one before pausing and calling out, "Yes, you can both go with them, so come on in here!".

Riku sweatdropped as the doors flung open and Goofy and Donald bounded into the room. They stood at stiff attention by the King's sides, and he smiled. "At ease, boys."

"You're really letting us go?" Goofy asked hopefully.

"If I didn't, who would keep the peace?" King Mickey replied, making them all nod in agreement. "That's true..."

"Welp, I guess it's settled, then!"

Riku, Donald, and Goofy stood at attention and saluted, nodding once. "RIGHT, YOUR MAJESTY!"

As they left the room, Riku looked at Donald and Goofy skeptically. "...Are you two sure you know what you're signing up for?"

The two exchanged a look before shrugging. "If we could handle them before..."

"No doubt we can handle 'em again!" Goofy finished, and Donald nodded. They all just looked at each other before sighing and drooping a little. "...This is gonna be a long quest, isn't it, Donald?"

"Probably so!"

LATER...

Sora sighed, staring down at the Algebra textbook as if it were a foreign language. "...I still don't really get this...I think Kiera's was a little easier than this..."

He winced after mentioning her, and instinctively glanced at the clock, then the calendar. Not that it was very helpful, he was very aware of what day and time it was. And how long it'd been since he'd seen her.

His temple throbbed as he realized he'd been leaning forward a little, causing the pencil's lead to break. "Crap." As he searched for a better pencil, not feeling like fighting with a pencil sharpener, he wondered what she was doing.

Well, I know what she's NOT doing – what she hasn't been doing since she first left. Coming back.

Sora couldn't help but feel mad every time he thought about it. Generally, he was a really forgiving person, sure. But since she'd been gone, he just didn't feel right. He felt kind of like half of him was missing, and he didn't like it. So he chose to be mad instead of admitting he felt a little sad.

It seemed to work just fine for him. Kairi, too. She claimed she had an off feeling about Kiera from the start, but Sora had a hunch that she just wanted to get to know Kiera better. So she chose to be mad, too. At least Riku and Kairi were back, and they were all together again. It felt good for things to be back to normal.

He perked up after hearing his front door being flung open. "O-Oh, hi, is Sora here?" Kairi asked excitedly, breathing heavily. "Oh, hi Kairi! He's upstairs."

"Thanks!"

Sora furrowed his brows thoughtfully, wondering what could be going on that had her all worked up. Only one thing. Well, maybe two, but he knew it wasn't because Kiera was here. So that leaves...

Sure enough, she bounded up the stairs and into his room, holding up a rolled-up message. "Sora! A letter came from the King!"

He practically flew out of his chair, eyes wide. "The King?"

Kairi nodded quickly, breathing heavy. "Yeah!" She handed it to him and he unrolled it. He was just about to read it when they heard his door fling open again. "Is Sora here?" Riku asked in a rush.

Sora sweatdropped as they heard his mom sigh heavily. "Up in his room, Riku. Kairi's up there, too."

"Right." Sora had barely had enough time to read his name at the top of the letter when Riku was in his room, grinning. "Hey! Great news!"

"Yeah, we've got good news, too," Kairi replied with a smile. "The King sent a letter."

"I know, I can probably tell you the gist of what it says."

Curious, Sora set the letter down on his bed. "What's up?"

Riku cleared his throat. "Well...We're all going on another quest."

"When you say all..."

"I mean you, me, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi."

"Me?" Kairi repeated at the same time Sora blurted "Whaaaat?". They exchanged a look before looking at Riku with confusion. "All of us?"

"Together?"

"Doing what?"

"Well, in a nutshell, we've got some people to find. Other Gatekeepers."

"There're more of them?" Sora wondered, less than thrilled at the thought. Riku laughed anxiously. "Oh, right. Before we set out to find them, though, you kinda have a bit of a side-quest of your own."

"Please don't tell me..."

"We need Kiera."

"...I was afraid you'd say that," he said dully, glancing at his calendar again. Kairi looked a bit unenthused herself. "...Is that absolutely necessary? I mean, we haven't –"

"I tried to convince the King otherwise, but he insisted we needed her. After he explained it and I thought about it for a while, I had to agree. Who the hell else could convince complete strangers to come along for the ride besides someone that was in the same boat as them not too long ago?"

"Actually, it WAS pretty long ago," Kairi commented.

Sora sighed, but soon brightened and flashed a grin. "Hey, look on the bright side! Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?"

"...Yeah," they agreed with sweatdrops. "It sure does."

They then heard his door being flung open downstairs yet again, and his mom shouted "WHO IS IT?" from the kitchen, her tone laced with annoyance.

"Du-oh, sorry to bother ya, ma'am, but is Sora here?"

Sora brightened even more, and Riku and Kairi exchanged a grin. He ran down the stairs to see Donald and Goofy standing in the doorway. "Donald! Goofy!"

"SORA!" they greeted, running and practically tackling him. They laughed and hugged. "I haven't seen you in so long!"

"We've been so busy!"

"But we're back now," Goofy pointed out cheerfully as they helped Sora up. Donald nodded just as cheerfully. "Yeah! We're comin' with ya to get Kiera!"

Sora drooped all over again, but quickly recovered. Kairi and Riku sweatdropped as he managed to get out through a rather fake smile, "Kieraaaa. Right, we get to see Kiera again. She's, uh...She's really tagging along again. ...Greeeaat!"

"...Riku?"

"Yeah, Kairi."

"This isn't gonna end well...Is it."

"Doesn't look that way."

MEANWHILE...

"Alright, Mrs. Rosen, I hear ya loud and clear. Next Thursday, two o'clock. Yes ma'am. Yes ma'am. See you then. Alright, have a nice night." She hung up the phone, wondering why a seventy-five-year-old woman would call in the middle of the night to reschedule.

And why the hell she'd call the ER section. Kiera shook her head and wrote it down on a sticky note, and the phone was ringing again before she had even put the pen down.

"Saint Francis Bartlett, this is the Emergency Room."

"Yeah, um, I'd like a large pepperoni with crazy bread and a large Mountain Dew, aaand –"

"We don't sell pizza. We sell syringes, sterilized needles, IV drips, tweezers, and other objects of questionable legality."

"Um..."

"This is an ER, not a pizza joint."

"...Oh. Nevermind."

Kiera rolled her eyes as they hung up, shaking her head as she continued to aimlessly scribble on some scratch paper. Then she looked down and realized it looked suspiciously like Sora's crown necklace.

"...Dammit," she muttered, scratching it out furiously before sighing and glancing at the clock: two in the morning. She looked at the calendar: May fourteenth. "Could be worse," Cheryl commented as she continued to sort through patients' files, looking for a certain one as if her life depended on it.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. It could be Christmas. We're packed on Christmas."

"People shootin' each other for the last piece of fruitcake?"

"Naw, Kiera, that's horrible! ...Usually it's the last steak or fighting over the last toys on the shelves Christmas Eve. Lots of 'em were Tickle Me Elmos a couple years ago," she replied casually as she found the file, slammed the cabinet shut, and practically ran down the hall to find the doctor she'd been sent on an errand for.

Kiera laughed to herself before looking back down at the work she'd brought with her. Schoolwork, that is. She'd been homeschooled ever since she came back, not exactly looking forward to the daydreaming she'd do in class along with the stares she'd get during and inbetween.

According to Morgan, people had officially dubbed her Houdini. Fantastic. Either way, thanks to being homeschooled (or self-schooled, rather), she was still in the same grade she would have been without being kidnapped.

Thankfully.

Although, maybe it didn't really matter now. She didn't exactly have very many school friends now, did she?

Kiera looked at the clock yet again, desperate to find something else to do besides her schoolwork, and sighed in relief when she saw she only had fifteen minutes left on her shift. "Oh thank God! Biology, you can wait until...until...well, screw you," she muttered, putting her books back in her bag.

Unfortunately, she couldn't just say "Oh, it'll take me fifteen minutes to get outta these scrubs, I should just go take care of that NOW." Nope, she had to wait until her fifteen minutes were up to even think about heading for the women's locker rooms.

So she sat there enjoying the normal ambiance of the ER: kids screaming every now and then, monitors beeping, gurneys being wheeled by, phones ringing, etcetera. And she didn't get a single call.

So maybe Kiera should have seen it coming when fourteen minutes had passed and someone walked in rather awkwardly. Almost as if they were trying not to move the right side of their body at all.

"Um, sir. Sir. SIR!" she shouted, waving to get his attention. His eyes widened even more, and he made his way over to her. "Oh, thank God. I need to see a doctor RIGHT NOW."

"What's wrong, sir?" she asked distractedly, getting the pen out from behind her ear and snatching the usual papers patients had to fill out.

She glanced up from the clipboard she'd put them on when he didn't respond. He looked around almost suspiciously before whispering, "There's a fucking spider stuck in my ear."

"...What?" she asked with a sweatdrop.

"THERE'S A GODDAMN FUCKING SPIDER STUCK IN MY EAR, LADY! YOU DEAF?" he screeched, sounding almost hysterical.

Kiera glanced at the papers before nodding and leading the way. "...I'll fill these out. I'll get you some help right away, alright?"

"Thank you. Um, please hurry, it's been scratching around for an hour now!"

"Why didn't you come sooner if there's a goddamn spider in your ear?" Kiera couldn't help but wonder. "Be-CAUSE, I was down four-wheelin' by the River. ...Um, Wolf River, that is. It took me an hour just to realize why I couldn't hear as good in one ear once I was done."

"Oh," she said simply, wondering if her wince had been noticeable when he'd mentioned the Wolf River. Thanks a bunch, Dad, you really DO still have an effect on me.

Kiera sighed and ran for the receptionist desk after noticing every single patient's room filled with at least one doctor and assistant. "Well, crap, they're all busy on this wing. Hold on, I've got a quicker way," she said distractedly, pressing a button on the phone before picking it up off the hook.

"We need a doctor to the lobby right away – there's a man needing immediate medical attention," she practically shouted into the phone.

The man waddled over to the other side of the reception desk, looking rather anxious. Judging by the twitching he was doing at fifteen-second intervals, the spider was more antsy than he was.

After about eight twitches, Kiera sighed in exasperation and opened up the Internet. "You know what? Sir, I'll get it outta your ear. Gimme juuuust a second."

"What're you going to do?" he asked anxiously.

"Google it, of course. Works just as well as a doctor's visit half the time, if you look at all the answers and figure out which one's the most common," she explained distractedly as she typed in "how to get a spider out of your ear". Because simply typing in "spider in ear" would get WAY too many images she didn't want on her browser.

After a few moments, she nodded and dove under the desk for the First-Aid Kit. "Alright, this is gonna be reaaal easy." She grabbed some cotton balls out of the kit, and after making sure no one was looking, summoned some Jack Daniels.

"OKAY!" she said with slight panting, not feeling very up to getting a spider out of someone's ear.

"Is that Jack Daniels for me, or the spider?" he asked with a smirk, although it was obvious he really needed it.

Kiera smiled. "Tell ya what, if this works, you can have what's left. Okay, all I'm gonna do is pour some alcohol down your ear. Either the spider'll scurry out and THEN we kill it, or it drowns and I pluck it out. If it drowns, I gotta say, it won't be pleasant. If you've felt any pain so far, it'll get worse, and if you haven't, well...I'd brace myself. Are you ready?"

He started to nod, but then he clasped his ear and managed to hiss through gritted teeth, "Yeeaaahhh."

Kiera nodded before popping the top off the bottle of liquor and pouring some down his ear. For a few moments, nothing happened; neither of them moved, and apparently the spider didn't either. Then, out of nowhere, the man let out a groan before twitching again. "It's drowning, it's most definitely drowning!" he practically screamed.

She made a face as he continued to twitch and make his own weird faces, and finally, he relaxed. "I...I think it's dead."

She nodded, summoning a thick pair of tweezers from behind her back. "Alright, I need ya to hold still while I pluck it out. Lean against the counter if you want, it'll make it easier for you."

He did just that, tilting his invaded ear up toward the sky. "Hurry, it's sliding, it's sliding!" he called out frantically, and she practically jabbed the tweezers into his ear. After some careful prodding, the tweezers latched onto a rather thick leg. Kiera pulled it out with a miserable face as the leg started twitching a little, and both her and the man screamed once she pulled the giant spider out and it started furiously trying to escape the tweezers.

"OHMIGOD, KILL IT SORA, KILL IT!" she shouted as the spider fell to the floor and scurried around. She and the man tried to stomp it out, and she was the one to squash it with one of the nurse's shoes she was required to wear; finally, they were useful for something. "Phew...!"

"What's a 'Sora'?" the guy asked, scratching the top of his head in confusion. She looked at him funny, summoning some water from behind the trash can she had dumped what was left of the spider into. "Huh?"

"You were shoutin' for a 'Sora' ta kill it earlier."

She flushed, shaking her head at herself. In her defense, that thing had been big enough to be a Heartless. "Just a, uh, friend of mine. Slip of the tongue, that's all."

He shrugged, and she held up the water and cotton balls. "Now to drown out that alcohol and dab it up. After that, I'll get you to a doctor for some meds in case you get an ear infection. Sound good?"

He nodded, and she poured some water down his ear. He made a weird noise, followed up by a weird face. "That feels so...so funky."

She couldn't help but giggle a little at that, making the water disappear behind her back before grabbing the cotton balls and dabbing what parts of his ear she could get to. "Lemme know once it's feeling dry."

"Right."

After talking about Memphis football versus Ole Miss football for a while, a doctor finally ran over. "I heard a man needed immediate medical attention!"

They both sweatdropped. "The key word being 'immediate'," the man replied, hissing in pain a little; it seemed the spider had bitten him a couple times. Kiera, lucky to have a job in the first place, for once kept her mouth shut.

"I can take it from here," the doctor told her, moving to grab some cotton balls and pulling an ear light out of his coat pocket. The man shook his head when Kiera stepped aside, throwing away the cotton balls she'd used. "If you don't mind, I think I'd rather this little lady take care of me. She's done a good job so far."

Kiera and the doctor exchanged a look, and finally, the doctor shrugged. "If you insist. While she finishes up, I'll go fill out a prescription for your ear. ...Just what was wrong with your ear, exactly?"

"There was a spider in it," the other two said simultaneously. "Oh, alrighty. Um, Missss...Sage," he said after a moment, reading her name tag.

"Yes, Doctor Holbrooke?"

"How'd you treat him?"

"She treated me great – she got me some Jack Daniels," the man replied with a laugh. The doctor clicked his tongue and looked to Kiera, obviously not getting the joke.

Kiera resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I did what Google told me, sir. Poured some alcohol in his ear and plucked the spider out. Then I poured some water down it to level out the alcohol, and NOW I'm dabbing it dry with the cotton wads."

Doctor Holbrooke nodded. "Ah, good. Very good. Where's the spider now?"

"What's not on my shoe is in the trash," she replied distractedly, dabbing his ear. "I think you've got it all," he said as the doctor wrote something down on his prescription pad and walked down the hall. "I'll be back shortly," he threw over his shoulder.

Kiera and the man poked their heads from behind the corner, waiting until he was out of sight before she handed him the liquor. He handed it back to her. "Here, I doubt you can drink on the job, take a swig 'fore he gets back."

She bit her lip before sighing and taking it. "Dammit, I think I earned it, don't judge me," she said defensively – mainly to herself – before tilting it to her mouth and downing a swig. He laughed as she shook herself quickly upon swallowing it, making a weird face. "First drink, kid?"

She nodded. "Yeah," she choked out, blinking. "How was it?"

"S-Smoooooth," she muttered, summoning some water while he was busy with the bottle of Jack Daniels. "Well, consider this your first Liquor Lesson – never down whiskey in that big a gulp," he said with a laugh. Kiera nodded, gulping down some water. "Lesson learned."

Once Dr. Holbrooke came back, she sighed tiredly. "Well, sir, my shift's over, so..." He nodded, waving her off as he handed the man his prescription. "Yes, yes, go on, get going."

"Have a nice night."

"Mm."

Kiera's temple throbbed, but she just shook her head as she grabbed her jacket and bag. The man waved goodbye to her. "Thanks for all your help, ma'am!"

She smiled. "My momma's the ma'am. I'm just Kiera."

"Jackson."

"Well, Jackson, wear earplugs next time, alright?"

"Will do," he said with another laugh. Kiera smiled to herself as she headed for the women's locker room.

Once inside, she practically flew out of her sky blue scrubs, kicking off her nurse's shoes and making a face at the spider guts all over her left one. She made the shoes and scrubs disappear, and with a little bit of luck, they'd actually ended up in the wastebasket like she intended.

She slipped on her newly-summoned Hot Topic jeans – black patchwork skinny jeans – and her old blue "OM NOM NOM" tee. Yeah, thanks to summoning, she could just look online for clothes and summon them right to her closet.

Although, she felt like she was stealing when she did that, so she only did that for birthdays, Christmas, Morgan's Hanukah presents, and on days when she was low on cash, food, AND clothes.

Kiera left her hair in the loose ponytail, not feeling like dealing with it. It was windy and about to storm outside anyways, so it would end up in her face and she'd be swatting it away like a moron.

After making her stuff disappear (and already making a mental checklist of all the rooms it could end up in besides her room like she'd wanted), she headed for the main exit. She was heading for the bus stop when a car swerved up in front of her. "Hey, hop in, I've got candy," a low voice said ominously.

Kiera sweatdropped. "Max, that only works so many times."

"...Dammit. A guy's gotta try."

She laughed and hopped into the passenger's seat, looking at him funny as he pulled off. "You do know what time it is, right?"

"Yeah, two forty in the morning. Time for Kiera's shift to end. That's why I came to pick her up."

"I could always drive myself," she muttered.

"Yeah, if your car hadn't gotten towed," he said before laughing at her expression. "How'd you know about that?"

"Because you ranted about it for about three hours."

"...Oh."

"So who was driving, you or your mom?"

"Meeee," she admitted with a huff.

"So who am I not gonna ever let drive my car?"

"Meee again."

"Very good! Man, if I had a cookie, I'd give it to you as a reward."

Kiera made a face. "Ugh, don't mention food to me. I just got a spider out of a guy's ear." Max turned to look at her once they reached a red light, hazel eyes widening just a little. Him and his spider phobia, I don't get it. I mean, they're gross, sure, but... "...Come again?"

SEVEN MINUTES LATER...

"...Well, damn, sounds like work wasn't so boring," he said with a chuckle. Kiera grinned. "It never is. I mean, sure, none of the doctors even know my name, but we know everything about them. It's the beauty of being a receptionist; people tell ya all kinds of stuff, makes the day go by a little faster. Plus, I know about a bazillion new medical techniques. ...I also happen to know that I should never eat my lunch at work, because you never know what the hell you're gonna see, and odds are it'll come back up," she rambled (like she always did after long shifts at work, which was most likely why Max let her keep going).

She was about to go on, but then she realized she was home. He unlocked the car doors, and she hopped out, heading for her door. "Jeez, how the hell do you have so much energy?" he wondered with a yawn.

"Trust me, Max, I've been on a worse sleep schedule."

"Like when you were gone for all those months?"

She winced before turning to look at him, smiling. "Yeah, like then. But hey, that was forever ago."

"Yeah, but now you're leaving again."

She shrugged. "For, like, two weeks. C'moooon, I gotta go."

"Yeah, I'm sure your life just DEPENDS on going to Disney World," he replied with an eyeroll. She huffed defensively. "HEY. I'm going to Florida to see my family, not Disney World. ...I'll just...most likely...END UP in Disney, is all."

Max sweatdropped. "...I'm sure THAT'S not according to plan."

"Aw, c'mon, stop nagging me!"

"Someone has to," he said with a grin. She grinned back. "Alright, point taken." The wind picked up, ruffling their auburn and dirty blonde hair. "Well, there Kiera goes...Inside...About to leave tomorrow...Not gonna see Max or Morgan for a good couple weeks...Probably longer, knowing her...Unless she falls and breaks her neck, then she'll come home quicker...Which she's bound to do...Break her neck, that is..." He then sighed dramatically, making her raise her eyebrows at him.

"Break my neck."

"Yeah, break your neck. You're bound to do it."

"Max, you moron, if I break my neck, I can't very well hop the next plane outta there."

He opened his mouth to protest before drooping. "Shit, you're right..."

She laughed and shook her head, and he brightened suddenly. "Guess in that case, you better gimme a proper goodbye."

Proper goodbye...Well, that's one way to put it. Never heard that one before.

Kiera grinned before striking a Shakespearian Pose. "I bid thee farewell, O' Maximus Moronus." He rolled his eyes, smirking as he grabbed the hand she currently had outstretched dramatically towards him. "Aww, wouldya look at that. Kiera's bluuu-shing."

Now THAT I've heard before, but not from you.

Before she could defend her alleged blush, he was leaning in, and so she moved a little closer – "KIERAAAA, ARE YOU HOME YET?" her mom called out suddenly, making them both jump and look towards her front door.

Kiera smiled apologetically. "Duty calls." Max pouted slightly, crossing his arms. "You so planned that."

She rolled her eyes, kissing his cheek before stomping through her front door. "WHADDAYA WANT NOW?" she demanded to know, thunder rumbling outside as if to emphasize her question.

She heard the distinct sound of Max laughing at her expense as he left, and her temple throbbed. Why does everyone always laugh at poor, little ole me?

Mom was sitting on the couch, staring intently down at the coffee table. Kiera sweatdropped before walking over and bending slightly to look, hands on her knees. "What's that?"

"A puzzle," she slurred in that slow way of hers. "It's not comin' along all that great."

"What's it supposed to be?"

"A, um...I'm not sure. It's supposed to be in the shape of a cat, and it looks like there's cats INSIDE the cat shape, but...It's not comin' along all that great," she repeated with a decisive nod.

Kiera sweatdropped again; it was currently in the shape of either a giant sushi roll or a giant sideways egg.

"Umm...Well, it LOOKS beautiful, Momma," she said with a pat on her shoulder as she headed for the kitchen for something to eat. Obviously the spider-in-ear situation wasn't as gross once she realized how starving she was.

"Now remember, I'm gonna be gone starting tomorrow –"

"YOU'RE LEAVING WITH THAT BOY AGAIN?" she wailed, already starting to sniffle. Kiera sighed. "Momma, no, I'm –"

"'Cause if you are, you might as well just elope and never come back. You were gone for FOREVER!"

She couldn't help but flush at the thought. "Momma, I'm not eloping with anyone, firstly. And secondly, I've already told you, I'm goin' to visit grandmomma and them down in Florida. Remember?"

After a few moments, Momma nodded. "...Right...Right, sorry, I forgot..." Kiera sighed with relief, having been momentarily afraid she'd developed Alzheimer's or something, but her relief was short-lived.

"Say...How is he? That boy of yours?"

"Oh, Max? Momma, he's not my –"

"Naw, I mean that other one. The one who stole my beercan, and you ran off with him? Duh."

Kiera froze, gripping the cabinet door extra hard for a split second before speaking. "...I dunno how he is, Momma. I haven't seen him in almost two years, remember?"

"...Why?"

"Well, because...he's...far away and...Well, goddammit, every time I leave the house you freak out!" she accused as if this were all her fault. Which...maybe partially it was her mom's fault, but she knew good and well she had no one to blame but herself.

Kiera glanced at the tidy house, and grabbed some OJ that wasn't out of date from the full couldn't leave now that she had things going so good. Could she? No, that's right, she couldn't, case closed, end of story, goodbye.

"Oh. ...Sorry. Well, anyway, could you go get me some –"

"Beat ya to it," Kiera said triumphantly as she left the kitchen with a Pop-Tart and her orange juice, summoning some beer into her mom's hand. Finally, it lands where it's meant to!

Mom's eyes widened, and she giggled as she popped the cap off her beloved beer bottle. "I still dunno how you do it."

"Magic, momma. Magic."

Kiera grinned and shook her head as she went up the stairs. She showered, dried her hair, and slipped into a baggy t-shirt. She opened the window to her right, not bothering with the one on her left as she plopped into her bed. She closed her eyes, but didn't immediately fall asleep like she had hoped.

Instead, she found herself thinking about Sora and the others. She...HAD promised she'd visit. But...it was so far away. She wasn't even sure she could teleport that far, for crying out loud! And besides...the more time she spent with them – with him –, the less she'd want to leave.

I have a job...I'm on top of school again...Morgan's my best friend still...Momma's a little better...I can't leave. Not now. And that's that.

No sooner had Kiera nodded decisively to herself when there was a giant THUD against her window, followed by a rather familiar groan.

Her face fell into a rather miserable-looking expression, and she squeezed her eyes shut tighter in denial. "...Oh God. No. No. NONONONO –"

"KIERA, OPEN THE WINDOW, IT'S POURING OUT HERE!" Sora hissed-slash-shouted over the wind and rain. Kiera's eyes snapped open, and she poked her head over the side of her bed to peer at her window as one last desperate attempt to convince herself she'd imagined it.

There he was, standing on the roof and rubbing his face woefully as water dripped off him. Goofy and Donald were with him, and they brightened once they saw her. "KIERA!" they greeted.

Sora continued to rub his face, almost as if it were a way to avoid eye contact.

Kiera just sighed and opened her window, moving out of the way just in time as they dove inside, bringing wind, rain, and a couple of leaves from the tree near the roof inside with them.

"...Hiya, guys."