alternate title: if nomura won't show me my otp's reunion, i will write it myself.

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They closed up the crack in the wall. He noticed that on his first day back in this world.

Not a problem at all, in truth. The underground concourse was a twisting maze of passages, but Roxas knew every nook and cranny of the town like the back of his hand, a mental map imprinted in his memories, both real and false.

He climbed out of the broken cellular door and into the woods surrounding Twilight Town. Things were peaceful now, not a single adversary in sight. Roxas thought of the Heartless he defeated here, harvesting their hearts for the Organization. Of the Dusks he chased in pursuit of stolen photos. Even now, he half-expected something to jump down from a tree or appear from a portal, but nothing of the sort happened. Little Chef had nothing to worry about when foraging anymore.

He arrived at his destination, the place where he was born. Someone - Sora - had opened the gates, but still the Old Mansion seemed ever so cut off from the rest of the world.

The mansion was more lonely than creepy, really. At least in Roxas's opinion.

Just like how you were. Right, Naminé?

He'd pushed her out of his mind when he awoke. There were more urgent things happening, he knew. And even if there weren't, he was no scientist like Zexion - Ienzo now, he supposed - and Ansem the Wise. There was nothing he could do to help them piece her heart together from data, so there was no point in dithering when there was a war to be fought.

But really, he was lying to himself. Rationalizing his unwillingness to face the truth and once again running from the question he really wanted to ask. He was Sora's Nobody when they met, and she was Kairi's. The flush in his cheeks, the sweat on his palms, and the fury when he lost her. Were those things his? Or Sora's?

A week after the final battle, Roxas was finally ready to answer those questions. And he decided… It didn't matter.

Though he did not know it at the time, she'd been there after the world ended in his mind, guided him through the confusion that followed, and, perhaps most importantly, gave him the answers he'd left the Organization to seek. His summer vacation may not have been real, but she was. Meeting her was the only thing about those seven days he knew for sure was real.

Now that she wasn't here in this world, in any world anymore, he missed her.

She told him once that he was never meant to exist, that Nobodies like them were doomed to fade back into darkness. She was wrong on both accounts, but it wasn't a matter of her being wrong or right, not anymore. If his existence was not a mistake, then neither was hers.

And in knowing that…

"It's not fair..."

"Oh, haven't you heard? Life isn't fair."

Roxas nearly jumped out of his skin. Several feet away, Xion threw her head back and laughed.

"Geez, Xion! What was that for?"

"I'm sorry!" she apologized, still giggling. "You were just standing there and zoning out, like a zombie. It isn't like you to daydream, so I couldn't help myself."

Roxas huffed. "I was not daydreaming."

"I know," Xion said bluntly, "You were thinking about Naminé."

Silence. This was the first time the topic of Naminé came up between him and any of his friends.

"Was I?"

"You were staring at her window."

Roxas considered denying it, but there was something determined about the way Xion was looking at him. He sighed. "Caught me, I guess."

Xion took a few steps forward. "Ienzo says they've almost managed to recreate her heart."

"I know," Roxas replied bitterly, "But is that enough? You and I both know a connection was needed. I had Sora, but Naminé..." They lost Kairi. What if they lost Naminé's chance at salvation before it was even possible? Roxas regretted not protesting Sora's departure more than ever.

Dammit, Xemnas.

Xion placed her hand on his shoulder and pressed her forehead against his back. "They're not here anymore," she whispered, "But we are. If neither of them can be the connection Naminé needs to be whole again… we'll just have to suffice won't we?"

Roxas turned around in surprise. "We?"

"Yes. We," Xion said firmly as she crossed her arms and gave him a stern look. "Olette and I are tired of being the only girls in our group."

That made him smile. "Sorry, I was surprised. That's all," Roxas admitted sheepishly, not quite sure how to address this other unspoken matter between them. "I just assumed…"

"Did you assume I didn't want her back because of you?"

Seeing no other way out of this hole he'd somehow dug himself into, Roxas gave one slow reluctant nod. And he was rewarded with a flick on his forehead.

"Ow!"

"I see becoming your own person has made you a little egotistical," Xion said. She sounded amused, but there was a flicker of pain in her eyes. "I don't want to lie to you anymore, Roxas, so I'll be honest with you. It does hurt, but you're my friend and I want you to be happy. Naminé is a good person, I think I can say that for sure now, and she deserves to be happy too."

"Xion…"

She spun around, holding her hands behind her back. "For your sakes, I can can handle a little hurt. I made up my mind about this a long time ago. If she wants what you want, don't think twice on my account, okay?" she said with nary a trace of hesitance and with her head held high. "I want Naminé to come back. Sora isn't the only one who owes her their thanks."

Roxas sighed, not realizing how much her blessing mattered to him until he had it. "Thank you, Xion."

She grinned over her shoulder, a smile meant to show strength in the midst of sorrow. "Don't stay out too long. Isa is making dinner today. You know what he's like when people are late."

Roxas smiled back, equal parts gratitude and sorrow. "I wouldn't dream of it."

He watched Xion walk off into the woods, taking with her a future that could of been. There was a sense of loss in it. Roxas knew things wouldn't have been able to stay the same between them after everything. Too much has changed since they lost each other. They've changed.

It was with a heavy heart that Roxas finally pushed open the mansion's front doors. He knew his friends had visited this place in search of a way to bring him back. Some of the footprints on the dusty floors leading to the library must be theirs, but the dust in hallway leading to Naminé's room was as undisturbed as a blanket of freshly fallen snow.

Naminé's door was locked, a problem that wasn't a problem for Roxas at all. Taking a deep breath to calm himself might have been a mistake when he broke into coughs, but he opened the door and looked inside.

Her white room was completely untouched by the flow of time. Her drawings lay scattered about on the floor and on her table or were hanging on the walls with not a trace of dust inside. Tracing his steps from his last day in the other Twilight Town, Roxas went to the wall opposite the chair he'd come to think of as Naminé's.

The drawing of him and Sora was still there, as was the one of him escaping the Dark City. Roxas placed a hand on the wall, brushing the edge of the second. Now that he remembered everything… these drawings stirred emotions from within him that were very different from those he'd initially felt.

Roxas wondered how Naminé knew of that moment. She did call herself a witch with powers over Sora's memories and those around him, didn't she? She knew him, or at least knew of him long before he knew anything about her.

He lowered his arm. Or perhaps not. There was a far-off memory from his days in the Organization that he'd forgotten until now. A memory of collapsing after a mission in Agrabah the day he found out someone in Castle Oblivion had been "terminated."

A breeze stirred, making the curtains flutter gently. Roxas tried to imagine what it was like for Naminé, to look out from that window at the outside world knowing she would never be a part of it.

There was so much he wanted to talk to her about.

"I want to meet you again," Roxas said to the empty room, "Like we promised."


Maybe one of these days he'll get on a Gummi Ship and go on an adventure. Maybe one of these days he'll want to wake up not knowing what the day had in store for him. But for now, what Roxas wanted was to know exactly what he'll be doing when he woke up in the morning. A little stability - true stability - for once would do him some good.

Axel thought he and Xion were crazy for wanting to go to school of all things, but really… how else will Roxas finally get to have the summer vacation he always wanted?

The memories DiZ gave him of life as an ordinary boy in Twilight Town painted him as a responsible and hardworking student. Not as studious as Olette, but far more so than Hayner. Roxas found it surprisingly easy to slip into routines he never actually had. Organization XIII had instilled a strong sense of discipline and work ethic into him if nothing else.

(Which kind of disappointed Hayner. He thought Roxas would be "cooler than this.")

Six days after visiting the Old Mansion found Roxas sitting outside the bistro doing his homework under the world's perpetual sunset. It was sheer chance that he decided to stretch in his chair when he did, and sheer chance that he looked up just in time to see something very unusual in the sky above.

Was that a Gummi Ship?

A very familiar one, too.

Homework forgotten, Roxas scrambled for his phone, wondering if he missed something in his concentration. A press of a button here and a little scrolling there revealed a few unread messages, but nothing that would explain the presence of Sora's Gummi Ship in Twilight Town.

Roxas slumped in his chair, letting the hand holding the Gummiphone fall limp in disappointment. Maybe he imagined the ship. Not a day passed where Roxas couldn't feel the hole Sora left behind.

The Gummiphone vibrated. It was a message from Hayner.

Study break! (Finally) Let's meet up at the Usual Spot! Olette brought the ice cream.

A break sounded like a wonderful idea. All this studying had to be getting to him, and he'd been sitting for far too long. As someone who was used to constant physical activity, the longer route would be a nice opportunity to stretch his legs.

Station Heights was less crowded than the neighborhood square, but nonetheless, Roxas nearly bumped into a boy who could not have been older than seven, calling for his friends to slow down and wait up. Knowing the path to the back alley was just up ahead, he turned the corner and looked up at the top of the sloped street.

And then time seemed to stop.

Blonde hair. Blue eyes. White dress.

It was day 361 all over again.

As far as appearances went, she hasn't changed since the last time he saw her. The canvas bag was new, but everything from the curl of her hair on her shoulder to the pale blue sandals on her feet was the same.

But…

Whenever Roxas imagined the next time they would be able to meet, he thought she'd be happy. Reality, it seems, was something quite different. There was something guarded about the way Naminé was looking at him now. Not quite… Not quite afraid, but certainly weary.

Someone bumped into her. She stumbled off to the side, breaking eye contact with him in the process.

Roxas reacted at once.

He only meant to break her fall, but as soon as he took her hand, the maelstrom of emotion threatening to drown him where he stood came crashing down. Roxas didn't care that they were in the middle of a public street. He didn't care that there were people who could see. He didn't care that he was supposed to be on his way to the Usual Spot because Naminé was here.

Not letting another minute go to waste, Roxas pulled her into his arms and he never, ever wanted to let go.

She stiffened. For a moment, he feared she didn't feel quite as passionately for this moment as he did, but only for a moment. Naminé threw her arms around his neck and back, nuzzling into the crook of his neck and pressing herself closer against him as she began to cry. Her soft sobs were enough to make her entire body quiver. She felt so small and fragile in his arms, and he wondered how he never noticed her vulnerability before.

She once told him he was never meant to exist. It was simply the truth as she knew it. In understanding that, in understanding her, it made it easier to see the hurt she's been carrying since long before they met.

Because right here, right now, the poised and confident girl whom he met in the fake Twilight Town melted away to reveal the lonely girl she'd kept so carefully hidden from him all this time. This was a side of Naminé he did not know, a side that knew a kind of loneliness he did not.

And that was okay. Naminé was Naminé.

Pressing his cheek against her head, he ran his fingers through her hair as though that would make the steadily growing lump in his throat go away. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I should have been there when you woke up. I swear I'll protect you from now on if you would let me.

In the end, it felt like she was the one comforting him. Roxas was always taking things from her wasn't he? Answers, comfort, solace. He started off on the wrong foot when all he wanted was to give her the things she'd given him, but he'll do better. He will do better if she would be willing to give him the chance.

She was the one who pulled away from their embrace first. Roxas did as she bid, despite wanting to cling to her for another instant, but she did not go far. There was a wet spot on his shoulder and, still holding onto his jacket with one hand, the girl in white wiped her eyes with the other.

Naminé, as it turned out, was not a pretty crier. Yet, the moment she smiled a smile that reached her red, puffy eyes, there were twice as many stars in the sky.

"Looks like we meet again," she said, reaching up to wipe away his tear, "Like we promised."