This was kinda inspired by my very own mommy, who takes care of me so much when I have the common cold or flu bug. So I dedicate this to my mom and all other mothers out there (this would've been more appropriate for Mothers Day, huh? Haha, oh well.)


"Sora, honey, it's time to get up."

"Wha…? Idonwanna…"

Sora's mother sighed. "A year and a half of complete chaos and always being alert still hasn't changed you, has it?"

"I kinda spent a year asleep too…" Sora sleepily responded, sitting up in bed. When he was younger, he had always tried to find a way to skip school. Today, however, he seriously did not feel well, but he decided he needed to get up; missing a year of school really was too much.

"Breakfast will be ready in five minutes," Sora's mother said, leaving his room and closing the door. Sora stood up and looked at his reflection in the mirror behind his door. He truly looked like a mess: his hair was sticking out at even wilder angles, his eyes looked slightly swollen, and as he placed the back of his hand against his forehead, he though his skin was on fire.

The day before, a storm had trapped Sora, Riku and Tidus on the Island. They found shelter in wooden shack, but it continued to storm for hours. The boys had gotten bored, and begun a game of Truth or Dare (there was no room for dueling). As luck would have it with Sora, he had been dared to run out to the paopu tree, and risk his butt by jumping into the stormy waters in the pouring rain.

The water wasn't all that rough, and neither the rain nor sea were cold, but Sora was forced to wear wet clothing for the rest of the day, until the rain stopped. By then, the sun had set.

Sighing and regretting his pride against those two teenagers, Sora retreated to his closet and pulled out his school uniform. He put it on and attempted to comb his hair into, at the very least, more respectable spikes.

Looking very groggy, Sora stumbled into the kitchen and sat at the table, where his mother was already sitting. She had set his breakfast plate out for him, but Sora merely ran his fork through the food, with no intentions of eating.

After ten minutes of watching her son simply sit there with food right under his nose and not eating it, Sora's mother stood up. Something was seriously wrong.

"Sora, are you feeling well?" she asked, walking over and placing a hand on his forehead. Her son shook his head.

"Stupid Tidus… I'm never gonna listen to him again…"

"Why don't you dare him to jump off a cliff?"

"I should dare him to meet Sephiroth…"

"Go back upstairs, Sora. A day off wouldn't hurt. Just don't do stupid things again," Sora's mother said, taking Sora's breakfast plate away. She then turned and smiled at him. "Go rest up."

Sora smiled weakly at his mom, then got up and traipsed his way back up the stairs to his bedroom. He changed out of his uniform into more comfortable clothing and flopped back into bed. He had little energy and felt really weak. Sora simply lay on his back, his eyes not really focused on anything but staring at the ceiling.

School was probably starting right about now… and Riku and Kairi were probably wondering where he was. Sora turned his eyes and looked out the window, from which he could see the Island perfectly. Picturing Kairi saying "What a lazy bum", Sora smiled and fell asleep.

¤

Jerking awake suddenly, Sora huddled into his blankets and coughed. It was probably around noon, and the sun was shining uncomfortably into his room. He shivered despite the warm sunlight spilling into his room. Still wrapped in his blanket, Sora got up and headed out of his room, towards the family room, where it was much less bright.

He found his mother curled up in a comfortable chair in the family room, reading a book. She looked up as he walked in and flopped onto the couch.

"Wow, you really don't look well," she said, standing up and kneeling next to the couch. Sora shook his head, and sniffed. Getting the flu in the tropical climate of Destiny Island's was really rare, and Sora resented himself for having such a stroke of bad luck.

His mother sighed, and smiled sadly at her son. "Just stay here, I'll bring you something," she said, straightening up and heading into the kitchen. Sora nodded and curled up on the couch. He sighed, wishing he felt at least a little less worse than this.

His mother walked in with two steaming mugs, a bottle of a strange, green liquid, and a damp cloth. She set the items down on the coffee table. "Sit up," she said, sitting down on the couch beside her son.

Sora had no energy to protest (he hated that green medicine since before he could remember), so he sat back up, still tightly wrapped in his blanket. He reached for the spoon himself, but his mother snatched it, then poured out the medicine.

"Mom, I can do it myself," he said in a groggy voice.

"I know," she said, smirking and holding the spoonful of medicine in front of him. "But you were gone for a year and half, making me miss out on a year and a half of making you even sicker of being so motherly."

Sora snorted, and then covered his mouth as his laugh ended in a painful cough. He lowered his hand as his coughing bout stopped, then closed his eyes and opened his mouth, feeling childish but not overly embarrassed.

He swallowed the bitter, burning green liquid, and quickly took the steaming mug from his mother's hands. He swallowed the hot, herbal tea, and it began to soothe his enflamed throat right away.

"So now we know the Keybearer's weakness: the flu bug," his mother joked. Sora lowered his mug down and gave her a reproachful look. His mother laughed. "I'm kidding, honey. Here, place this on your forehead if you want." She handed him the damp towel.

"Thanks, but I'm fine for now," he said, and took another sip of his tea. His mother gazed at him.

"How did you manage to stay so energetic all this time during your travels?" she asked.

"I had to stay alert, the Heartless and Nobodies were everywhere. It was hard to tell if they were even against you…sometimes they ignored us and attacked each other," Sora said. "Donald and Goofy sometimes forced me to sleep, but even then I woke up really soon."

"Who was the strongest?"

"Huh?" Sora raised an eyebrow at his mother.

"The Heartless or the Nobodies. Who was stronger?"

Sora pondered for a moment, but was lightly surprised his mother was inquiring him about his enemies; he had thought she'd want to stay far from that topic.

"I'd probably say the Nobodies," Sora answered a moment later. "They could actually think. Some Heartless took forever to defeat, though."

"You never really said what the other worlds were like, Sora," his mother stated.

"Well, there were a lot."

"Tell me about that one pirate… Sparrow?"

"Captain Jack Sparrow, mom."

"Was he actually a nice man? I never thought pirates could be friendly."

"Well, he was nice enough. He's a little too flamboyant in my opinion, though …" he remarked, remembering his overuse of body language as he spoke. Sora allowed himself smile. "He tried to take the Keyblade from me."

"He did?"

"He's a pirate, mom. They take whatever they want or like."

"Did he attack you to try and get it?"

"No. He asked for it, and I handed it to him."

His mother gave him a confused look. "Then why do you still have it?"

"He's not a Keybearer, so when he took hold of it, it came back to me."

"Oh, that's right."

"Being on a pirate ship was really tiring, though. Well, mostly when you're working to move the ship, not held prisoner below."

"He made you a prisoner too?"

"No, no, Captain Hook kept me prisoner, not Captain Sparrow."

"Now many pirate ships were you on?!"

"Two. Well, three if you count the Interceptor at Port Royal, but the Black Pearl was there too."

"Captain Hook worked with Maleficent, didn't he?"

"Yeah, Riku told me he did. Neverland was really fun, though, after we took over Captain Hook's ship."

"You captained a ship?"

"Nah, I left it to Peter. I was having too much fun flying."

She chuckled. "You were younger then, weren't you? I bet you were having the time of your life flying around."

"Yeah… I really want to go back and take Kairi. It has to be soon, though."

"Why?"

"Neverland is for kids, and the only adults are villains. So sorry, mom, guess you won't learn to fly," he said, smirking at her.

She smiled back. "What about you turning into a mermaid?"

"Merman, mom… Ariel was a mermaid…"

"No, from what Donald told me you were half a dolphin. He said you had a fin on butt-"

"Hey, the fin has its uses!" Sora heatedly replied.

"Oh, like what?"

"I used it to scare Donald once when he was floating on the surface… I made him think a shark was about to approach him."

"Ah, how useful."

Sora took another sip of his tea, which was progressively making him feel less tired.

"Were you scared, Sora?"

"About what?"

"About everything. If you were ever going to come home, if you were ever going to find your friends, if your journey would ever end."

"There were a lot of low points. When Riku took the Keyblade, I was scared. Then when Riku tried to…uh…"

"Putting it simply, kill you?"

"Well, yeah…it's not like he was himself at the time, but anyways, I was really scared. Donald and Goofy had left me also, so when Riku tried to…do that, I thought I was a goner. Then the Keyhole in Hollow Bastion wouldn't close, and I had to free Kairi's heart…"

"I still can't believe you did that, but I'm not surprised."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, sweetie."

"This past year was probably worse. When I had thought Kairi was safe, she gets kidnapped, then I hear rumors about Riku, that he had been defeated, and that Ansem wasn't really Ansem… I thought it would never end…"

"But it's not completely over, is it?"

Sora stared at the tea in his mug. He had never bothered to ponder his fears: he had been much too busy anticipating the future. Now, though, he was sitting here, not completely healthy at the moment but nonetheless unhurt, and… doing nothing. Now, however, he had the time to think, actually sit down and think, to ponder what could become of him, and to be scared.

His mother spoke again. "The Keyblade is still with you."

Almost subconsciously, Sora raised his right hand in front of him, and summoned the Keyblade. His mother showed no reaction, even though she had only ever seen the weapon once or twice before, when her son had first shown it to him. Both gazed it the curious weapon, its silver blade catching the small amount of light that came from one of the windows in the room. Yes, the Keyblade was definitely still with him.

"As long as it's with me, the journey isn't over," Sora voiced allowed, to no one in particular.

His mother shifted closer to her son. Sora dismissed the Keyblade and lowered his hand. They both gazed at one another, and a moment later, Sora found himself in his mothers arms. She held her son close to her and stroked his brown spikes.

She knew that her son would leave again, and this time, may never come back. Yet here was her fifteen-year-old boy, soon to be sixteen, who had taken on many challenges that adults would be terrified of, or would have failed at. She would definitely miss him, but this time, would not be scared for him, nor worried, because Sora was so capable to care for himself, that he had the ability to help handful of others as well.

"Sora, I am so proud of you," she said. "You never give up, and for that you will always achieve what you want, what you aspire for. You have a strong heart that will never be lost, no matter how much the Heartless or the Nobodies try to take it. You're journey will end one day, and it will end in the way you want it to be."

Sora listened to his mother's words, and shut his eyes tightly to keep his tears in, but smiled. His friends had always praised his mother, though at the time, he thought it was because of her delicious cooking (especially her home-baked cookies; they were a favorite of his classmates). Now he realized why; she was a special woman, one who probably had the same strength as he did, and if put up to the challenges he dealt with, would have probably surpassed them all as well.

They sat there for a few moments, holding each other, and then his mother released him. She took his cheeks into her hands, and placed a kiss on his forehead.

"Feeling better?"

Sora nodded. "Thanks."

His mother smiled at her, then got up and headed towards the kitchen. "I'll make you some soup for dinner. Your dad should be home soon. After that you can head off to bed if you want to."

Sora nodded again as he watched his mother leave. Before she was gone from the room, though, he called back out to her. "Hey, mom?"

His mother stopped at the doorway and turned to face him. "Yes, sweetie?"

Sora smiled back at her. "I love you."

A fifteen-year-old boy is rarely ever caught saying those words to his mother, and rarely says them at all. His mother smiled at her son, and at his uniqueness, maturity and courage. She was proud to be his mother, and earn his love as his mother.

"I love you too, Sora."


Hope I didn't make him a mama's boy, if I did that was not my intention.

Thanks for reading, reviews would be greatly appreciated )