Here's the rewritten chapter two. I'm grateful for everyone who has reviewed, and I hope you are enjoying reading this.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts except for the merchandise.

-A-D-

The Beginning v. I.I

Chapter II: Home and Stories

Sora gulped as he stared at the look on his mother's face, a horrifying look of disbelief that made his heart stop as he contemplated any possible reaction she could have.

"Sora?" she asked, her voice equally as uncertain as his had been ten seconds earlier. "Is it really you?" Gulping thickly, Sora nodded his head, and kept his stinging eyes on his mother. He desperately wanted to move, to come and hug her, to allow himself an excuse to let the tears that were blurring his vision to fall from his face, still flushed from her comments about him and Kairi.

His mother's shoulders crumpled slightly, and he could see fresh tears of happiness beginning to slide down her cheeks as her arms opened slightly, invitingly. Sora bolted to his mom and in under a second he was wrapped lovingly in her arms, his height only exceeding her through his spiky hair.

The tears fell thick and fast as he rubbed his cheek against his mother's shoulder. Her embrace was the softest and most comforting thing he'd experienced since leaving his home the night the islands were destroyed.

"Oh Sora," cooed his mother. "You're home, my baby's home."

"I'm home mom," replied Sora, just as softly, hugging her tighter and letting his nose pick up her smell. "I'm back. I missed you so much."

"I missed you too baby," said his mother, gently kissing his forehead and rubbing his back, rocking him back and forth. Sora felt her hand through his black vest and shirt, and the soothing motion caused a contented sigh to escape his lips. He sniffed, about to rub red eyes.

Sora sniffed again.

"Mom, you're burning the beef," he said.

"Hush," his mother replied, appearing to have not heard him. "Don't say a word. You're ba-"

"Seriously," Sora cut her off looking over her shoulder, "you're burning the beef!" His mother's arms left him an instant later and she turned around and sped back into the kitchen, Sora quickly following her. His mom went one way around the island in the centre of their kitchen and Sora took the longer route, going around it and trying to beat her to the stove. He lost by less than a second and his mother had already grabbed the metal flipper she was using in the wok and was stirring the strips of sirloin around.

"Saved," she said, finishing her stirring. She looked down at her son, and her eyebrows narrowed when she looked at his feet. "Shoes, off!"

Sora groaned and went back to the front door, where he promptly kicked off his shoes and motioned for the others to do the same while in his white socks. "Can't even come home after a year without being harassed to take of my shoes," he muttered darkly, but then he smiled. Some things never changed.

"I heard that Sora," snapped his mother. Sora entered the kitchen again and placed a hand on his mother's shoulder, causing her to look away from the wok to which she had just added vegetables.

"I have some friends with me mom," he said, jerking his head behind him. His mother looked and Sora saw her eyebrows rise. She quickly looked between her son and the person she was looking at and smiled.

"So did both of you hear what I said then?" she asked smugly.

"Mom!" Sora moaned, his face turning a shade of bright red.

"Only teasing Sora," she replied. "How are you Kairi?"

"I'm fine Anne," Kairi said. "How are my mom and dad?"

"They'll be relieved to learn that you're back," Anne said. "And Riku, how are you doing?"

"I'm okay," Riku said, his frame already moving past Sora, Kairi, and Sora's mother Anne to sit down at the small table that was to the left of the kitchen, right next to the window that overlooked the front porch. Anne nodded at him and then looked towards King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy Cricket.

"More friends of yours Sora?" she asked, looking at them quizzically. "Obviously not from Destiny Islands," she added to herself in an audible undertone.

"Oh mom, these are my friends: Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy Cricket," Sora said indicating each one.

"Hello," said Donald.

"Howdy there," said Goofy.

"Jiminy Cricket at your service," greeted Jiminy, sweeping off his top hat as he stood on Goofy's shoulder and bowing.

"And this is King Mickey Mouse and his dog Pluto," Sora finished, standing next to the King. "They're from Disney Castle."

Anne snapped her fingers. "I knew it," she said. "I knew they weren't from this world."

"What?" Riku asked, raising an eyebrow. "You know about other worlds."

"Of course," Anne said, looking at him. "Everyone on Destiny Islands except for the kids knows about the other worlds."

"But they're supposed to be a secret," Goofy said, looking down at his king. "Aren't they your majesty?"

"For the last ten years or so, they mostly have been," King Mickey replied. "But we can talk about all of that later."

"So this is your kitchen Sora?" Goofy asked, moving into it to look at the wok filled with stir-frying beef and vegetables. "It sure is different from the one on the Highwind." Sora took hold of the wok and began to stir the food around.

"Hey you stole the name of the raft!" Riku said suddenly from the table.

"Your Majesty," Anne said, coming up close to the king and whispering in his ear while the others were occupied by Sora and Riku arguing. "Could we not tell them about why we all know about other worlds and why they've been kept secret?"

"They deserve to know," King Mickey said quietly.

"Why?" she asked. The King shifted his head towards them slightly.

"They are wielders," he said. "And your son Sora is the Keyblade's Chosen Master." Anne looked at her son in surprise as he continued to attempt to cook what with Riku badgering him about stealing his name. Kairi was watching him with interest while Donald and Goofy appeared to try to do their best to help Sora.

"So that's why he's been gone all this time," she said softly. She looked back at King Mickey. "How'd he do?"

"All he ever wanted to do was find his friends and bring 'em back home," King Mickey answered. "And look, he found 'em, and brought 'em back safe and sound."

"Then I'm glad," Anne said. "But he is still my son, and I would rather not have him worry about what happened in the past. He still has his whole life ahead of him."

"They will have to be told eventually," King Mickey said in resignation. "But I suppose it can wait until everything has calmed down. Sora and Riku have just won a great victory for the realm of light, I guess there is no need to burden them with shadows of the past now."

"Hey mom," Sora asked quizzically, having Goofy fill up a pot of water, "how come you were cooking enough for two?"

"Because it's easier to cook for more than one person Sora," Anne replied. "And there was always the hope that one day soon you'd walk in through that door, right in time for the dinner you missed last year."

Sora smiled and laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with closed eyes. "Right, that…" But Anne shook her head and merely rubbed his hair affectionately.

"But I never would have imagined you'd bring so many others along," she continued. "So it isn't my fault that there isn't enough ready for them all. You are all staying for dinner of course?"

"I think it would be best to go back home later," Kairi replied, looking down slightly. "Mom and Dad are going to be hopping mad when I get home."

"Same with my folks," said Riku. He laughed. "Besides, I want to see how much better Sora's cooking's gotten. Last time I tried something he made, I thought for sure I had food poisoning."

"Ha ha," Sora said sarcastically. "You just don't want to admit that you're a horrible cook. My cooking was great the last time you ate something I made."

"The last time I ate anything you served I felt as if I needed to call the fire department!" Riku retorted. "My mouth was on fire!"

"That's funny," Goofy said. "Sora never made anything really spicy when he was with us."

"Hey Mom," Sora began, watching as his mother turned back to cooking from where he'd left off. "Don't you want to know where we've been?" Anne's head shook.

"Not right now." she said. "If I start asking you questions about where you've been I'll start getting angry. I don't want to be angry right now, I just want to be happy that you, and Riku, and Kairi are all back home, safe and sound."

"Not exactly sound," Riku muttered loudly enough for Sora but not his mother to hear, looking down at his right side. Sora winced. That was where Xemnas had struck Riku with his aerial blades when the leader of Organization XIII had tried to kill him, Riku blocking the attack first with his Keyblade and then with his body.

While his mother continued cooking their dinner, Sora and Riku went down into the basement and lugged up a few more chairs to place at the kitchen table. There were already four chairs at the table, given the number of times that Riku and Kairi had stayed over in the past for meals that Anne had finally given up and opted to just leave chairs there as place settings for Sora's two best friends. However, throwing three more chairs into the mix was an interesting experience for Sora, requiring thirty minutes of thought and petty arguments and the continual shifting of chairs around the table until it more resembled a game of musical chairs rather than trying to make the small table fit seven and a cricket. Kairi wasn't much help, preferring to sit in the chair that had been hers for years and watch them with a humourous smile on her face, sipping water out of a clear glass and making small suggestions from her position.

By the time they were finished, dinner was ready and being carried across to the table by Anne, Kairi (who had at last left her chair at Sora's pleading that they needed to move it and he would whether she was sitting in it or not), and King Mickey. Sora snatched his chopsticks as his nose took in the scent of beef sirloin, fried broccoli and bell pepper, egg, soy sauce, and lots and lots of rice. He watched Donald's feathered fingers snatch up a fork (as the duck had refused for months to even touch chopsticks) and eye the food greedily.

Sora's stomach growled and he realized just how hungry he was. He caught Donald looking at his offending stomach, and glared at the court magician just as the bowl of fried rice was placed in front of him. Both immediately dived for the bowl and the large metal serving spoon within it when Anne's voice stopped her son in his tracks.

"Sora!" she reprimanded sharply. "We let our guests be served first." She then handed King Mickey the dish filled with stir-fry, glaring at her son. Sora pouted and grumbled under his breath.

"There'll be nothing left if Donald eats first," he muttered. "He eats more than I do."

You have no right to complain, said Roxas angrily. I can smell that food through you, but I can't taste any of it! I couldn't even taste your ice cream!

"Aw, poor, poor Roxas," Sora said.

"What?" Anne asked, looking quizzically at her son.

"Oh," Sora said quickly, "he's my Nobody."

Anne looked for a moment like she was about to ask just what a Nobody was, but then she closed her eyes and looked down with a stern look. "No, no I don't want to know right now. Tell me tomorrow. Oh, and by the way, you're grounded."

Sora's eyes flew open wide as Donald started sniggering, the duck passing the fried rice over to Kairi. "What!?"

"For a week," Anne concluded.

"But Mom!" Sora whined. "It's… wait, what day is it again?"

"Saturday August sixteenth," Riku said, looking down at his watch for the day and weekday and the calendar that hung on the wall for the month.

"We only have just over a week before school starts!" Sora continued. "You can't ground me for the last bit of summer vacation."

"Yes I can," Anne replied sternly.

"Why?"

"Because I'm your mother," said Anne, her tone indicating that the conversation was closed. "Have some stir-fry."

Sora grumbled for a few seconds as he heaped food onto his plate. "Well what if the worlds need me suddenly?"

"I need you," Anne said, her eyes flashing dangerously as her son tried to continue trying to get out of being grounded. "Have you even seen your room since you vanished on me without a trace? It's a disgusting mess! I'm surprised you can even find a path to your bed. That room needs to be cleaned."

Kairi giggled from across the table, just barely able to keep her laughter under control. Sora frowned at her and Riku as he smirked while sitting next to her.

"I wouldn't be so smug," Anne added, her tone losing its harshness and turning instead to becoming pleasant. "After all, your parents are probably going to do much the same to you."

"So don't laugh at me just because I got it first," Sora said threateningly as the smiles slipped off of his friends' faces. He scooped the last bit of fried rice from the bowl onto his plate and looked at it dismally. It was a rather large pile, but Donald's was larger and the duck had already been eating it. His face lost its dismal look when he placed some of the sirloin on the tip of his tongue.

"Mm!" he exclaimed. "This is great. Too bad certain persons can't have any." His eyes and head flicked upwards for a second.

Sora do you want me to kill you? Roxas growled.

"Naminé shares the sentiments that Roxas is giving you Sora," Kairi said. "So you might want to watch your- Naminé shut up!" she suddenly hissed. "No I'm not going to do that!" Sora watched Kairi's face suddenly turn bright crimson and recoil slightly.

"No I don't," she said, forcefully and in a low tone through gritted teeth. "Now you be quiet or I'll start poking fun at you and Roxas."

There's nothing going on between me and Naminé! Roxas said abruptly. We are just very close friends.

"You were a little quick there Roxas," said Sora, his eyes flickering up again.

"Wak!" Donald jabbered in frustration while Riku and King Mickey both chuckled. "I'm trying to eat here! Can't you talk to your Nobodies without flapping your lips?"

Sure I can Donald, Sora thought sarcastically, rolling his eyes at the court magician who was already getting close to finishing his plate of food. Hey, can you actually hear me like this Roxas?

Roger that, came Roxas' reply. But if you mention one word about me and Naminé-

If you mention one word about me and Kairi, Sora returned, placing a glob of fried rice onto his tongue.

Ha! Roxas retorted. What will you do? You have nothing to back up your threat. I however can annoy you for the rest of your natural life. Now let's see… what song do you absolutely hate?

Sora's eyes narrowed slightly. You wouldn't dare.

Not yet anyway, but if you bring up me and Naminé, I might just have to.

Fine, Sora retorted, taking a sip of milk from his glass.

Dinner was quite a different affair that night than it had ever been in Anne's kitchen. Even though the food was excellent, it took fifty minutes for the entire table to get through their meals. It was hindered however by the sheer volume of talk that began soon after Roxas had stopped speaking to Sora and he'd stopped teasing Roxas by mentally describing the flavour of every morsel that entered his mouth.

Much of the talk was centred on Destiny Islands or Disney Castle, with occasional comments from Jiminy Cricket about his own world, Town of Wishes. King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy Cricket had already learned a bit about the islands from the three islanders while they toured Felra city (tactfully keeping silent about the fact that they had been given a tour that afternoon), but there had been little said between them about any of the islands apart from the main one of Felra, so Anne was the one to answer most of their questions concerning Dunash, Straca, and Nova.

Whereas Felra was the largest of the islands and contained the only true city of the world, Dunash was the next closest in size while Straca was the smallest, only barely being beaten in size by the island of Nova. Felra's landmass was the southernmost of the islands, and it continued stretching off southeast, the shores furthest away from their current position by the northwestern shore several days ride away by chocobo, amongst the cliffs and volcanic rock caused by the now extinct volcano and mountains in that area of the island. Major industries on Felra were generally its orchards of fruit and farming fields off to the east of the city, as well as mining various metals and logging from the hills and mountains that continued towards the east of the island, and manufacturing them. Dunash in contrast was mostly prime for ranching, with its area apart from the town covered by chocobo, cockatrice, and cattle ranches. Sora's aunt, uncle, and cousins even owned and ran a chocobo ranch there. Dunash was also the island that majorly handled anything technological. Computers, mp3s, ovens and other technological consumer and industrial goods were made there. Straca's main industry was that of consumer goods from the clay, as well as taking ores and minerals mined out of Nova and manufacturing them. Nova was a mining island, and all four of the main islands had been formed by volcanic activity, whereas the fifth play island appeared to just have risen out of the sea. Common for all the islands was fishing, but only near the shallows or in sight of the islands. A terrible event had happened one day out in the high seas, destroying a fishing fleet that had been owned and operated by Sora's father, and claimed his dad's life.

Dunash and Felra ran somewhat parallel to one another although the way Felra was positioned caused the gap to increase as one went further east; Dunash was to the north and Felra to the south. The play island served as something of a mid-point between them near the northwestern most end of Felra, but it was often avoided by any except for children and Felra lovers seeking the closest paopu tree to their homes, the remainder of which grew on Straca and Nova and Dunash's northern shores. Both Straca and Nova were north of Dunash, their star-shaped landmasses rising far above the seas and plains of the second largest island. Those three islands were the closest together and communicated the most, as walls of cliffs spanned much of Dunash's southern banks to keep it cut off from Felra. It was then odd that Felra, being the island most cut off from the others, should be the capital island rather than Dunash, but heavy hurricane storms tended to come more from the north, and Felra was the most protected island of them, making it the more logical choice from a safety standpoint.

Likewise, King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy told Anne, Riku, and Kairi about Disney Castle, and gave Sora a little more information about it since he'd really only been inside the castle and not outside. In essence, there was a far green country beyond the castle's bounds, with many large towns and smaller villages spreading away from the castle, which acted almost like a central hub with a large modern town around it. Jiminy made mention that his world was rather like that too, except without the castle.

By the time all of this had been talked about and explained amongst them all, it was already getting close to nine in the evening, and the dishes had all been done and put away (mostly by Sora, Riku, and Kairi, as they had been the ones to vanish without a trace for varied amounts of time).

"You sure never told us this much about Destiny Islands Sora," Goofy said, still sitting at the table as Kairi put away her drying towel. "They way you put it, it seemed like your islands were small and boring."

"Well things certainly aren't boring anymore," Anne said before her son could answer. "The three missing teens are back, so that's going to cause a fuss. And since school will be starting up again soon they'll be busy with that, and Sora's going to have to learn tricks from Riku about beating the girls away with a stick," she added, smiling knowingly at Sora. "You've gotten rather handsome since you left."

"Mom," Soar groaned while Donald sniggered. "Stop embarrassing me in front of my friends."

Kairi stifled a yawn.

"And you two should be getting home yourselves," Anne continued sternly, seeing the tired look on the girl's face and knowing that Riku must be as exhausted as well. "Your parents will be worried enough about you."

"Alright, alright," Kairi said submissively. "Come on Riku." Riku started to follow Kairi, but King Mickey stopped them both.

"It would be best if we all got together to give your parents the story," he said. "That way, everyone knows what's been goin' on with the three of you. Could we all meet here tomorrow Anne?"

"Sure," Anne replied. "I have Sundays off anyway, and Janet's off tomorrow and Seymour never works weekends. I'm sure Rekun and Riley will be able to keep the store closed tomorrow too."

"Then it's decided," King Mickey said. "We meet here tomorrow and tell your parents what has happened since last summer."

Sora watched as Kairi and Riku made ready to leave, Goofy and King Mickey electing to go along with them to explain a little bit to their parents and ensure them that they will have a full explanation tomorrow.

"Mom," he asked without thinking, "can I walk home with them?" Kairi and Riku looked quizzically at Sora for a second. Riku's eyes darted to Kairi for a fraction of a second before he smiled the slightest of smiles and shook his head.

"Sora I'm not going to run off and nobody is going to kidnap Kairi again on our way home," Riku said humourously. "I think we'll be fine with King Mickey and Goofy, and Pluto," he added, looking at the King's dog, who barked.

"I'd still rather be sure that you both got back home safely," Sora said, looking away and folding his arms. "After all, I did spend ages looking for the both of you."

"Alright Sora," said Anne. Sora looked at her in disbelief.

"Ser-seriously?" he asked. "I thought I was grounded?"

"If you keep bringing that up I won't let you go," replied Anne, her voice gaining a warning growl.

"Never mind," Sora said, his sock feet already carrying him towards his shoes at the door. Anne's laughter followed him as he frantically put his shoes on and opened the door.

"C'mon fellers," said Goofy, leaving first. "Let's get going, ahyuk!" The others nodded and followed Goofy out, pausing as Sora closed both doors behind him.

The streets were bathed in the soft orange light of the streetlamps as they strolled through the quiet nighttime city. Crickets chirped around them, adding to the sounds of their shoes that scraped against the cobblestones. Quite often their eyes would stray upwards to the skies when they were not immediately underneath a light, and since there was no moon that night, the sky was a black velvet blanket filled with a thousand tiny holes of white.

"Look at all the stars," said King Mickey, his voice contented and awed.

"They're beautiful," Kairi said, stopping and looking up at them. Sora stopped next to her and gazed at the stars as well, remembering his adventures amongst them. To see all those stars, all those restored worlds, it made his heart grow warm and he felt proud of himself for bringing back such a lovely sight.

But eventually their eyes had to be drawn back to the ground beneath them as they casually made their way towards Kairi's house first, since it was the closest to Sora's of the two. They rounded a bend onto Kairi's street and Sora noticed that Kairi's pace was slowing, as if she wanted to postpone the inevitable for as long as possible.

It couldn't last though, and eventually they reached her house and the three friends went up to the door while King Mickey and Goofy hung back to give them a moment. Kairi's slender hand reached out and grasped the handle of the white screen door and pulled it open to leave her standing in front of the door, the colour of which matched her auburn hair.

Sora watched as Kairi took a deep breath and her straying hand went away from the doorknob, choosing a different tactic than Sora had. The sound of the doorbell ran through his ears as she pushed the button. For a few moments the three of them waited with baited breath as the only sound in their ears was the echo of the doorbell. Kairi shifted anxiously and Sora scratched the back of his neck.

Then they heard footsteps on the other side of the door and the clicking of the lock as it slid out of its position. The three of them froze as the door opened and a woman almost stepped out. Her green eyes and rosy face were partially illuminated by the light in front of the house, and her brown hair was done up in a slightly loose knot on the back of her head. She was wearing a lime green tank top and a pair of white jeans.

The woman froze as stiffly as they did, and her eyes swiftly swerved between the three youth in front of her, finally resting on the girl that stood directly before her. "Kairi?" she asked quietly, frightfully even.

Kairi gave a sob and flung her arms around the woman, who embraced the girl as tightly as possible as both noses sniffled. "I'm home mom," Kairi whispered, audible even to King Mickey and Goofy as they stood further away. Kairi's mother's green eyes opened slightly as she stroked her daughter's auburn hair with one hand, and she looked over Sora and Riku from past Kairi's shoulder.

"You're back Kairi," she said softly, "you're all back, you're home."

"Janet?" a male voice called from inside the house. "Who is at the door?" The man stepped out and became rooted to the spot as his eyes fell upon his wife embracing the redheaded princess who was their adoptive daughter. He appeared a little sterner than Sora remembered, with a protruding chin, sweeping blonde bangs and hard grey eyes. His back seemed to be a little straighter than one's back normally is, as if the man were not slouching in the slightest, and he easily stood a head and a half taller than Sora, making him just a few inches taller than Riku.

Janet and Kairi broke out of the hug, and Kairi looked hopefully at her father. "Dad," she said quietly, "I'm home." He stared at Kairi for a few seconds, and Sora wondered just what it was that he would do, his face completely deadpan. And then his straight back crumpled and his grey eyes melted, and a slightly surprised Kairi was within his arms.

"My girl is home," he said. "Oh Kairi, I'm so sorry I haven't been here for you."

"It's okay daddy," Kairi sniffled. "You're here now, that's what matters." Kairi's father smiled through closed eyes as he hugged the smaller frame of his daughter tightly.

"You rarely ever call me 'daddy'," he said quietly. "Not even when you turned six."

"You'll always be my daddy," returned Kairi. "As long as you hug me like this, I don't care how little you see or talk to me, because now I know just how much you care for me."

"How could you ever think I didn't care?" her father asked, his voice revealing that he was a little hurt. "I'll always love and care about my little princess."

"Funny," Riku whispered to Sora, leaning down towards his friend, "'cause she really is one."

"Hm?" her father said, his eyes opening and taking in the sight of Sora and Riku standing there for the first time. He slowly withdrew from the hug with Kairi and surveyed them carefully. "So you're back too then."

"Yes sir," Sora said and nodded, unable to explain to himself why his voice had suddenly become shaky, or why he'd addressed Kairi's father Seymour as 'sir'.

He's the mayor right? Roxas inquired. Would that be enough of a reason to call him that?

Maybe…

Seymour's eyes surveyed him alone for half a second before he chuckled. "What's that Sora? Sir? Since when have you ever called me that? Unless maybe you-" he froze and quickly looked at Kairi before turning back to Sora with eyes narrowed to a degree that caused Sora to take a tentative step back.

"What have you been doing with my daughter, boy?"

"Daddy…" Kairi groaned quietly, looking away.

"Aw, Sora hasn't been doing anything with Kairi," said Goofy, now coming up onto the porch with King Mickey as it appeared that the tearful reunion was over. Pluto stayed by the road. "In fact, Sora's spent a lot of the last year trying to find Kairi, ahyuk!"

Janet and Seymour looked curiously at the anthropomorphic dog and mouse for a second. "Who are you?" Janet asked.

"Name's Goofy," said Goofy, extending a hand.

"And I'm King Mickey Mouse," Mickey added, shaking hands after Goofy. "Ruler of Disney Castle."

"A king?" Seymour asked, surprised. He looked at Kairi suspiciously. "I didn't know that you were important enough to warrant a king from another world to look for you."

"She most definitely is that important," Sora said before he could stop himself. Seymour eyed Sora with a look that made Sora regret his words.

"She is?" he asked, not averting his eyes from the boy. Sora fumbled slightly on his feet and began rubbing the back of his head.

"Well yeah," Sora began stuttering. "I mean, Kairi-"

"Is the princess of Radiant Garden," Riku finished for Sora before the Keyblade Master could dig himself a deeper hole in Kairi's father's books.

"Why don't we discuss this inside?" Janet asked, moving to the side and motioning for them to enter the house as her husband gaped at his daughter for a few seconds, Kairi smiling sheepishly at him and shrugging slightly.

"That won't be necessary," said King Mickey. "We're actually all meeting at Sora's house tomorrow to explain the whole thing."

"Oh," Seymour said, looking at King Mickey again. "Well, in that case, we'll be there then." He placed a hand on Kairi's shoulder and tugged slightly. "Come on in Kairi, it's getting a little nippy out here." Kairi glanced at her friends and then at her father.

"Can I have a second dad?" she asked. Her father's eyes stole around for a second before returning to Kairi. He sighed and nodded his head before turning back into the house with his wife.

Kairi turned towards her friends and her arms came around Riku in a hug. Sora felt his face begin to grow warmer as he watched Riku hugging Kairi back. But the hug only lasted for a few seconds as Kairi whispered something to Riku before she turned to him and her arms had wrapped around his back. The warmth in Sora's cheeks rose only slightly, but he tenderly placed his arms around Kairi and squeezed back slightly.

The scent of strawberries assaulted Sora's sense of smell in the proximity between himself and Kairi, and he was dimly aware that Kairi was sighing contentedly in his arms as her head rested against his neck and shoulder. He could barely register the fact that she hadn't done this with Riku, or that the hug was lasting a lot longer than the one she'd given his other best friend. The next thing he knew, there was a soft voice whispering in his ear.

"Thank you for coming for me again," Kairi whispered.

"I couldn't just leave you there Kairi," Sora replied, slightly unsure of his words. "What kind of best friend would I be if I didn't come to help you?" Kairi drew back from the hug and looked into his eyes for a second, a smile on her face.

"The lazy kind, that's what," she answered with a slight giggle.

"Hey I-!" began Sora, but he froze suddenly as something soft, warm, and slightly moist briefly touched his cheek. It took him a second to realize that Kairi had just kissed him.

Sora looked at Kairi in amazement, but all she did was blush and avoid his eyes. "I'll see you all tomorrow. Goodnight Riku, Your Majesty, Goofy, Sora."

"'Night Kai," said Riku, smirking as Kairi quickly went through her doorway.

"Goodnight," Sora said softly just before the door closed.

Goodnight Naminé, Roxas sighed within Sora's mind. The Keyblade Master took a tentative towards the closed doorway as it locked behind Kairi, and his shoulders sagged slightly. He wished that Kairi were still in his arms. His fingers unconsciously came up to touch the spot where Kairi had kissed him.

"Smooth Sora," Riku said, shaking his head and withdrawing down the porch. Sora turned around sharply and hotly pursued his best friend.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"If you don't know, then I'm not going to tell you," Riku answered simply.

"Hey come on Riku," Sora continued. He didn't understand what Riku's comment was all about, or why it seemed so uncalled for. What was Riku getting at, making a remark like that?

"Never mind," the older youth said, shrugging his shoulders. "I'll see you tomorrow Sora."

"So you'll make it home alright then Riku?" Goofy asked.

"Mickey will be coming with me," Riku said, looking at both Goofy and the King, "and we all know that the real reason Sora came out was to spend a little more time with Kairi."

Sora glared at Riku but kept his mouth shut. He wouldn't dare try to deny it now that Kairi was out of earshot.

Those girls have us bad, don't they? Roxas asked as Sora made his way back home with Goofy. Sora shook his head.

You have never been more right Roxas, he thought. He touched his cheek again and felt both sides of his face growing red. Kairi's face swam before his eyes and he felt his knees nearly go numb.

Pull it together man, Roxas quickly quipped. We still need to get home. Sora shook his head quickly to evict Kairi from his mind for a moment.

Sora and Goofy were silent for a little while as they walked down the streets, lit only by the light from the streetlamps and the stars that glittered above them. There was a kind of peace that stole through the air that Sora hadn't noticed before, a peace and a feeling that everything was alright. But Sora didn't really pay attention at first, his thoughts delved too far inwards.

"Sora?" Goofy asked suddenly. Sora stopped and turned to look at his friend.

"Huh? What is it Goofy?"

"Why the long face Sora?" Goofy asked. "You are back home after all, and we got Kairi, Riku, and the king back safely, so what's wrong?" Sora looked at Goofy in confusion and tilted and scratched his head for a second.

"That's actually a good question Goofy," he said after a few seconds. "I don't know. Something Riku said I think." From Sora's hood, Jiminy Cricket popped out and onto his shoulder.

"I don't know why anything Riku said to you back there would make you upset Sora," said Jiminy.

"It wasn't what he said," Sora replied, looking down slightly, "it was the way he said it."

"Huh?" Goofy asked.

"I think… I think he knows that I like Kairi," Sora replied. "But, ah, how am I supposed to know if she feels the same way? I mean, the- the… kiss she just gave me could have been nothing more than a thank you for rescuing me kiss."

Why would she give you a thank you kiss? Roxas asked.

"I don't know Roxas," Sora said aloud. "She's a princess. Maybe she figured it was in the princess code to give your rescuer a kiss or something."

Jiminy sighed. "Well, that's something that I think you'll have to figure out on your own Sora."

"But no worries Sora," said Goofy as the anthropomorph came up to stand beside him, "even if you don't know now, I'm sure that you'll find the answer you're looking for if you try talking to her." Goofy glanced around quickly before leaning in next to Sora's ear. "And if you want my personal opinion, I think she does like you Sora."

Sora looked at his friend in shock. "You- you do?"

"Well sure!" said Goofy, now starting to walk towards Sora's house again. "I mean, she did leave the islands to come looking for you didn't she? Just like we've spent so much time looking for her an' Riku. And she did kiss you after all, even if was just to thank you."

Maybe Goofy's right, Roxas muttered in the back of Sora's mind.

"Just keep smilin' Sora," Goofy continued, "and everything will work out as it always has." Sora paused for half a second before a smile crept back onto his face. Goofy was right. He was home, and Riku and Kairi were back with him. The universe was saved, and despite his uncertainties about his romantic inclination towards the auburn-haired princess, there was nothing he could do about it but wait and see how Kairi herself felt.

When Sora arrived at his home again his mom ordered him to stay in the living room for a few minutes and then he watched for a moment as she directed Goofy to the downstairs guest room where Donald already was. He strangely had no thoughts going through his mind, and Roxas was only audibly wondering why his mother would have asked him to stay instead of sending him to his room.

The reason became apparent when Anne returned upstairs and came over to her son to give him a tight hug that lasted until Sora felt the weariness in his limbs and forced his way away from his mother and to his room. He didn't want to leave her embrace as much as he hadn't wanted Kairi to leave his arms earlier. He truly felt glad to be home, just him and his mother together; her hands softly cradling his head and shoulders. It had to end though with a kiss on his forehead and a whispered goodnight as he went upstairs to his room.

He didn't understand what his mother had been talking about when she said that it was a mess. He was able to navigate a path to his bed even while being half asleep. He did have to make a rather confined high jump and was forced to glide for a second though, so maybe there was a little merit in his mom's statement. He watched for a moment as Jiminy Cricket emerged from his hood and jumped onto a pillow that for whatever reason Sora couldn't remember had been lying on the floor. But he decided to worry about that later as, yawning widely, he got into pajamas that he found were now more than a little tight. He bid Jiminy and Roxas goodnight, and turned his head into his pillow and drifted off to sleep.

-A-D-

Even as Sora was returning to his house with Goofy and Jiminy Cricket, Riku was still standing outside of his own house, looking at it with anxious fear. King Mickey and Pluto stood beside him, silent and supportive. Riku's heart was tightening and his doubts slowly increased as he stared at his home.

"I don't know if I can do this Mickey," he said, the only one to call the monarch by just his first name.

"Riku?"

"I gave into the darkness. I put my friends in danger. I fought with Sora over Kairi. I tried to kill them! My best friends! How can I face my parents after all I did?" Riku turned and looked at King Mickey. The mouse looked sympathetically at him.

"I know you've done some awful things Riku," King Mickey said, "but sometimes we have to take a step back to look on how far we've come. Since facing Sora and Kairi again, and knowing that they both forgive you for what you did, how do you feel about your friends?"

Riku was silent for a few seconds before a smile crept onto his face from underneath his aqua eyes. "That they're both love-struck saps who care too much for their best friend."

King Mickey laughed. "Exactly Riku. They both love you as they do, and despite all you did the love of your friendship still shines through and overcomes the darkness you brought. If your friends can forgive you, why not your parents?" Pluto barked encouragingly.

Riku was quiet for another second before he spoke again. "You're right Mickey." Without another word he started going up the walk that led to his front door. He opened the screen door and checked the front door, locked. Smiling, he pulled his house key out of the back pocket of his jeans and fitted it into the lock on the painted-white door. It worked the mechanisms with satisfying metallic noises before the door was unlocked and his key was back in his pocket.

As he opened the door, he let out a call. "Mom? Dad? I'm home." Several seconds passed by before he heard the rushing of footsteps. His mother's face appeared from the kitchen and his father looked in from the living room. Both of them appeared stunned by his sudden reappearance in their lives.

Riku gulped, unsure of their faces. His heart was clenching in fear and suspense, and he found that tears he hadn't shed in years were starting to well up in his eyes. He hadn't thought that seeing his mother's face again would make him so emotional. But he refused to let them fall, the aqua eyes he had gained from his father constantly switching back and forth between the two pairs of eyes that studied his face.

But soon, with no one making a move, the wetness in his eyes had grown too much to see straight, and Riku dipped his head to wipe the tears away. As soon as he broke eye contact his mother blazed ten feet past his father and swept her son up in a hug. Riku was caught off-guard by the move, but didn't mind as his arms moved away from his face and grasped his mother by the shoulders and drew the woman closer. His shoulders sagged and shook, and he didn't care anymore that he truly was crying now. Another set of arms wrapped around him and Riku finally opened his eyes to look past his mother's silver hair at his father's face. Both of them had their eyes open and were smiling at him, his mom stroking his cheek with a soft hand.

He was home.

-A-D-

Sora awoke the next morning at a time he normally wouldn't have even considered for the summer, or even any regular Sunday for that matter. Leaping up from his bed in a great bound, Sora was the ultimate of poise and grace dignifying him as the Keyblade Master when he tripped over a book that had lain concealed underneath a pair of jeans that were now too small, and slammed his face into the closed wooden door of his room. Sora's eyes watered from the pain as his face slid down the door's frame, and he fumed internally because now he was wide awake, and would be unable to go back to sleep after just realizing now what the time actually was.

It's your fault that I'm awake now you klutz! Roxas said, his tone indicating that he had just been awoken and was now in a foul mood.

Sorry, sorry, man Roxas you sure can be a grouch in the morning. Sora replied, squeezing his watering eyes shut and rubbing his face. He got up and went downstairs groaning and moaning about being up at seven-thirty.

Donald was sitting at the table, a pancake in his bill, with only a couple left on his plate. His mother was her chair in a light pink housecoat, drinking a cup of coffee, and Jiminy was eating a piece of toast. Goofy was rubbing his stomach and complimenting Anne on her cooking. Sora smiled as he looked down at his plate, three slices of bacon, two moderately sized pancakes with whipped cream on top, and two scrambled eggs. He swiftly devoured his breakfast, a sudden ravenous hunger engulfing him. As Sora drained his glass of orange juice, his mother addressed him for the first time this morning.

"If I'd known that you were this hungry, I would have made saved another pancake from Donald," she chuckled, shaking her head. Then her voice shifted and Sora looked anxiously at his mother. "Now, since you're back home and everything, perhaps you'd be able to tell me where you've been all this time?"

Sora gulped as he saw the small smile she wore slip away while saying each word. He knew that this would come, but he still wouldn't like explaining everything to his mother.

"However," she said, lightening up a little while she sipped her coffee. "I suppose you could wait until everyone has arrived." She nodded her head towards the stairs after glancing at the clock. "Go upstairs and change. They'll be here in fifteen minutes."

Sora groaned. "Why is everyone coming over at eight? Why can't we save this until nine?"

"Because you were gone long enough that we felt that eight would be an appropriate time to begin explaining everything," Anne replied.

"Eight is an appropriate time for sleeping," Sora muttered under his breath as he stalked up the stairs.

You said it.

Exactly fifteen minutes later Sora had showered and changed back into his black adventuring outfit made for him by Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, minus his shoes, and calmly walked down the stairs. He even felt confident enough by now to tackle almost any question about his adventures that someone could throw at him. Then just as he was about to step into the living room, with his mother already on the couched dressed in a blue t-shirt and beige pair of shorts, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," he duly declared as he heavily stepped towards the door. He took a long look at it before he opened the wooden door behind the screen. Sora sighed as he pulled the door open.

He could smell Kairi just before he even saw her. The scent of strawberries was too pleasant in the morning for it to belong to anyone else. Sora smiled as he opened up the white screen door for her.

"Morning Sora," she said brightly, standing in the doorway with Seymour and Janet.

"Morning Kairi," he replied, blushing very slightly and pretending, like Kairi appeared to be doing, that the kiss last night had never existed. "Morning Seymour, Janet."

"Good morning Sora," Janet said, smiling at him and rumpling his spiky hair affectionately with a hand. "So everything wasn't a dream last night then? You really are back."

"Yep," Sora said, swatting her hand away. She'd been running her hand through his hairstyle for years.

Seymour chuckled slightly. "Well, are you going to invite us in, or would you rather explain to me everything you've been doing with my daughter out here?" Sora froze for a second and laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his head.

"Would you like to come in?" he asked, stepping aside. Seymour laughed slightly and shook his head before he entered and removed his shoes.

"Anne?" he asked. "Anne where are you so that we can deal with where this scruffy son of yours who might want to date my daughter sometime soon has been?"

"Dad!" Kairi whined, her face turning a colour to match her hair, "Sora and I are just friends!"

"In here Seymour," Anne laughed in the living room. "They'll explain everything in here."

Seymour passed by Sora and Janet did as well, once more smiling and ruffling Sora's hair as she went past. He tried to fight her off, but it was no use as she had come and gone too quickly for Sora to dodge it. Kairi giggled at his antics at trying to protect his hairstyle and Sora frowned at her.

"I'd forgotten how annoying that was Kairi," he said.

"What?" Kairi asked in shock. "You'd forgotten how annoying one of my mother's habits with you had been after only a year and a month of it not happening?"

It's because he hit his head too many times when bumping it with Heartless, Roxas sniggered.

"Naminé agrees with whatever he just said," Kairi said, looking at Sora quizzically. Sora rolled his eyes.

"Yeah sure, looks like they can talk to each other when we're together Kairi," he said.

"Well that's good," another voice said, "then you won't have to ferry messages across about how much they love each other."

Shut up Riku! Roxas yelled as Sora's eyes encompassed his other best friend's arrival with his father Rekun, his mother Riley, and King Mickey and Pluto. Rekun was still half a head taller than Riku was, which made him very tall compared to Sora, and his aqua eyes clearly smiled from behind blonde locks when they fell upon Sora. Riley was Riku's current height down to the last hair on her silver-clad head, but that would likely soon change as her son was destined to eclipsed her.

"You look just like your father did when he was your age Sora," Rekun said, coming up first and giving him a pat on the shoulder. Sora smiled and placed his hand over the older man's and nodded appreciatively. Riku's father had been his dad's best friend and partner in his dad's fishing business, before that was destroyed by the accident out at sea which Sora would not speak about. Rekun had given him the details when he had asked at the age of ten, and it only served to build up Sora's respect for his departed father and make him proud whenever someone compared him favourably to Macellry, or Mac as he was often called.

Rekun, Riley, and King Mickey moved past them into the living room, where Sora, Riku, and Kairi could hear the adults greeting each other before waiting patiently for the three youth to arrive in the room.

Sora sighed and looked at his friends. "Well, you guys ready?"

"I don't think we'll ever be ready to tell our parents about what we did," Riku said quietly. "But, let's do it. Whether they believe it or not, we know it happened."

"If it happens again," Kairi sighed, "I'm going with both of you."

Sora frowned at Kairi again and shook his head quickly. "No you aren't."

"What?" Kairi asked heatedly, rounding on him. "You told me before that I couldn't come when you went off to fight Ansem and bring Riku back because it was too dangerous. Don't give me that excuse again!"

"But it is too dangerous," Sora said, not budging an inch. "You'd be safer-"

Kairi cut him off. "Where? Here on the islands? Axel came to kidnap me just after school got out so that the Organization could use me to get to you. If anything starts happening again and you both get dragged into it the safest place I'll be is right next to you."

"I don't like it Sora but she does have a good point," Riku said.

"What about all the Heartless?" Sora asked. "Are you sure you want to willingly place yourself in that kind of a place?"

"Willingly no," Kairi said. "I'd rather there not be anything more but if there is-"

"We're waiting Sora…" Anne called from the living room.

"Coming mom," Sora answered before looking at Kairi. "We'll finish talking about this later."

Sora's living room was a perfect square. A little back from the center, towards the kitchen it had a cream coloured couch half facing the large window that displayed Anne's flower gardens, and half facing the spherevision set. There was also a brown coffee table in front of said couch, a standing lamp behind an armchair in one corner, and several beanbags of different colours in front of the SV. On the couch sat all of their parents. King Mickey sat in the armchair, looking quite comfortable; while on two of the five beanbags sat Donald and Goofy (both looking a quite patient). Pluto was splayed on the floor underneath the coffee table, sleeping. Jiminy Cricket was on the floor in front of the beanbags with his journal in front of him. It was separated into two different volumes (one for each journey) and a scrapbook. Both volumes and the scrapbook, which was considerably larger due to the size of the photos, were in his customary books bound with blue leather with a three-pronged golden crown embossed on the front. Jiminy had been able to rewrite the entries of the first journey from their collective memories over the many boring nights they had had when travelling from place to place aboard the Highwind. King Mickey noticed their entrance and signalled them to sit in the three remaining beanbags. Sora sighed and shook his head as he, Riku, and Kairi sat down.

"Now then," Mickey began, much to the parents' anxiety. "I believe we should start at the beginning, with Sora, Kairi, and Riku here last summer, before all this started." Sora looked up and saw their parents nodding in agreement, all of them knowing that it was around that time when all of the craziness started. Even Donald and Goofy looked at each other, as they had only heard the story once. King Mickey then looked expectantly at the trio. "Well?" he asked. Riku sighed, it was clear to him that he should be the one to start.

"Well," he began, it all started when I got it into my head to build a raft…"

The three told them practically everything about what happened before Sora awoke in Traverse Town. About Sora's dream, the raft, Riku's desire to see other worlds, the Door, Mysterious Man, everything except for Sora's drawing and Kairi joking about both her and Sora taking the raft together. At first, while Donald, Goofy, and Mickey were fascinated and listening attentively, the parents were only mildly interested, while Seymour watched Sora with narrowed eyes. Their attention however was captured when Sora began explaining about the Mysterious Man in the brown cloak, who coincidentally turned out to be Xehanort's Heartless (but they weren't about to tell their parents that yet). They pressed Sora and he told them all he could remember. Sora then told them about when he came back to the island during the storm the Heartless had appeared, and about Riku opening his heart to the darkness. He told them of the island's destruction, the Keyblade's appearance, Kairi vanishing, and fighting the Darkside.

It was here that the four parents in the room were completely enthralled in the story, as Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy gave them a retelling of their first journey, with many needed explanations on Heartless, side comments from Riku and the King, and many readings from Jiminy's journal, until they finally got to the part with Ansem's defeat, the reformation of the islands, and leaving Kairi behind so Sora and the others could search for Riku and the King. By the end Kairi and Anne were beaming at Sora with admiration and pride.

"And then the last thing I remember before waking up," Sora stated foolishly with a puzzled look on his face, "is a big brown castle. I have no idea what it is." He said apologetically. He looked at Donald and Goofy, neither of them seemed to know what that place was either. Riku however, showed sudden interest.

"That's Castle Oblivion," he explained, looking directly at Sora. "The Organization was doing experiments on memory there. I had to fight my way through the basement levels and combat the darkness in my heart while we were separated. I wondered at first what you were doing there, but now I know." He turned to Kairi, and the girl looked at him curiously before looking around her to see if someone else was around.

"What?" she asked, noticing that every eye was now on her.

"I think I can answer what Riku's talking about."

A transparent girl suddenly faded into existence in front of Kairi's beanbag, to the surprise and horror of the adults there. To Sora and the others, it was just another commonplace occurrence of mystery that barely fazed them. The girl stood at Kairi's exact height and her eyes were the very same shade of indigo as the auburn-haired girl behind her. She was dressed in a strapped white sundress that ended near the top of her thighs; and her shoulder-length white-blonde hair curled upwards slightly around the front of her right shoulder-blade.

Kairi smiled. "So," she began, "you can come out of my head too?" She then turned her head to look at Sora. "Sora, do you think Roxas can do this too?" Sora shrugged.

"Possibly, want to try buddy?"

Here goes nothing, came the reply from the now familiar voice in his head. Slowly, Roxas faded in also being a transparent figure, standing next to Naminé. They looked at each other and grinned before they hugged in greeting. Sora cleared his throat, breaking up the two Nobodies from their hug as it lasted a little too long for it to just be a 'hello, good to see you' embrace.

"So," he began with a small smirk on his face, "what were you saying about knowing why we were in Castle Oblivion and what happened to us?"

Before Naminé could answer, their parents suddenly snapped out of the petrified state they had been in since Naminé appeared before everyone. "There are ghosts in my house!" Anne started shrieking. Riku's mother fainted, his father nearly threw up, Kairi's mother gripped her husband's arm and her father could barely ask the one question the five of them were terrified of asking.

"Who- who- who are- are you?" he finally managed to squeak out. Naminé placed her hand over her "heart".

"My name is Naminé…" she began. Roxas pumped his fist.

"And I'm Roxas." He finished. They both bowed before their "parents".

Sora let out a sigh of relief, wiped his brow and glanced at Donald, Goofy, Jiminy, and the King. None of who were truly surprised.

"So," he began again, "about Castle Oblivion Naminé." She put her finger to her chin, and then looked down sadly.

"Oh right… you really don't remember do you?"

Sora frowned. "Remember what?" Naminé sat down on the floor just in front of Kairi's legs and the girl shifted them so that her Nobody could rest her transparent back against the beanbag. Roxas sat down in an equal position in front of Sora.

"There was something I explained to you, and something you said back," Naminé answered. "Something we figured out about memories. Even though the chains of memories within our hearts can be rearranged and broken, the links will still be there. All it takes is the return of one memory, and then we'll remember another memory, and then another and then another, in a chain."

"Um… okay," Sora said, cocking his head to one side and rubbing it. Naminé leaned off the beanbag and crawled a little bit closer to Sora before extending her right pinkie finger towards him.

"A pinky swear?" Sora said, looking at Naminé in confusion before reaching out his own pinkie and wrapping it around the girl's spectral one. He looked sheepishly at Naminé for a moment before he gasped and recoiled, his hands clutching his head.

"Sora?" Anne asked anxiously, rising from her seat on the overburdened couch.

"Sora!" Goofy cried suddenly as he, Donald, and Jiminy Cricket all began grasping their heads in pain, "What's goin' on?"

Sora wasn't quite sure himself, he was in too much pain to answer. His head was giving him the most painful headache he'd ever had, even more painful than being hit that one time by Saïx's claymore. Images kept flowing past his mind, too quickly for him to grasp them and identify what they were in a confusing blur. Kairi placed a hand comfortingly on his shoulder and looked at Naminé in concern.

Roxas though apparently knew what was happening to him. "He's regaining his memories," he said.

"Like he said," Naminé added, "the memories were lost, but not forgotten."

"What?" Rekun asked.

No one answered him, and after a minute the pain in Sora's head subsided and he, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy were all sweating and breathing heavily. Sora slowly turned his head to look at Donald and smiled. "Who was the one who took forever to notice that I became a Heartless and kept clobbering me?"

Donald frowned. "Why'd you have to go and bring that up?"

Sora laughed and looked at Naminé instead. "Thank you Naminé. Thank you for giving me my real memories back, and for having me remember what happened to us in Castle Oblivion. Now we can become friends for real like we promised."

Naminé smiled and nodded her head. "Of course."

"I just have one question before we start telling everyone about what we just remembered," Sora said, folding his arms and looking at the blonde female Nobody as she went back to resting against Kairi's beanbag. "How many times did Larxene insult me behind my back?"

"Huh?"

"You know," Sora said, rolling his eyes. "Call me stupid, an idiot, a baby, that sort of thing."

"Oh," Naminé answered after realizing what he meant. She smiled and shook her head. "You don't want to know how many times."

Sora nodded. "Fair enough."

"So…" Seymour began, reminding them that their parents were still in the room and looking at them with blank expressions, "what and what and what?"

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy explained about their arrival in Castle Oblivion, the appearance of the man in the black hooded cloak who had lured them there, and the ways of travelling through the castle's floors, dealing with cards, as well as the cryptic messages left to them by Marluxia and Axel.

"To lose is to find," Jiminy quoted, "and to find is to lose."

"When true memories awaken you may no longer be who you are," said Sora, remembering what Axel had said to him after first testing him. "I can't believe I had actually already met Axel, or that I believed him!"

"What?" Kairi asked, looking at Sora. Sora looked away, and he, Donald, and Goofy continued to explain about continuing through the floors of Castle Oblivion, each floor having been created from cards made out of his memories of the worlds he had visited on his first journey. But as they journeyed higher up the floors and they had slowly been forgetting things about their previous journey, Sora started to relate how he had been having memories return to him, memories about another girl who had played on the islands with him, Riku, and Kairi.

His mother looked at him quizzically. "But, there never was another girl," she said, "unless you count Selphie."

"It wasn't Selphie," Sora said, shaking his head. "The girl I started to remember was Naminé." Kairi looked sharply at her Nobody.

"You?" she asked.

Naminé nodded her head sadly. "Yes," she answered. "It was all part of Marluxia's and Larxene's plan to overthrow Organization XIII."

"What plan?" Riley asked. "And what is Organization XIII?"

"We'll get to that and them later," Riku said. "But the people in black cloaks that Sora had been meeting in Castle Oblivion were members of the Organization."

"The next one we met," Sora continued, his voice shaking slightly as he restrained his anger and frustration, "was Larxene."

"The only girl in the Organization," Roxas said.

"She fought with me, Donald, and Goofy," added Sora without skipping a beat, "and a star-shaped good luck charm came out from one of my pockets and she got me to remember Naminé's name. After that she told me that Naminé wanted to see me and that she was being held in Castle Oblivion by the bad guys, who she told us she was one of. I was so angry at her."

Sora fell silent, brooding, and Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy took up the story. "We went on through the next floor," Goofy said, "and after that we found someone we had been searching for: Riku."

"Huh?" Riku asked. "I never met you guys in Castle Oblivion."

"It never was you Riku," Donald said.

"That's right," continued Jiminy. "It was a replica of you created by Vexen. Your replica continued picking fights with us and said some pretty awful things to Sora, and kept saying that the only thing that mattered to you was protecting Naminé, even from us."

"I'm having just about enough of how much Organization XIII toyed with you Sora," Riku grumbled.

"All the same," Jiminy said, "we thought it really was you, and that you'd just forgotten how close friends you and Sora were."

Riku looked up painfully at Sora, but both their eyes were averted from each other. "How could you ever think that I'd forget about our friendship Sora?"

"Well," Sora muttered, "you kinda did when you were working with Maleficent."

"Don't be so hard on Riku Sora!" Donald said.

"Yeah," Goofy added. "It was that old witch who tricked Riku into thinking that it was you who had forgotten about your friendship after all."

Sora was quite for a second. "Right… sorry Riku."

"Forget about it Sora," Riku said, nodding his head sympathetically.

"But even if it really had been you," Sora continued, his voice shaking with poorly restrained sadness, "you still could have forgotten."

"How can you think that?" Riku asked.

"Because I," Sora said, still struggling. "I was the one who forgot about the person who I care most for."

"It isn't your fault that that happened," Naminé said quickly before anyone could interrupt. "I was the one who did it to you Sora. I was the one who made you think that it was me you cared most for."

"We made our way up through the remaining floors of Castle Oblivion," Jiminy said immediately after Naminé to cut short the interruptions that would cause Sora to answer questions he knew the boy was still figuring out himself, giving him just a little more time to learn what was in his heart. "We met Vexen, a scientist and master of blizzard magic, who gave us a card to a town that he told us was crafted from memories from the other side of his heart. We sure didn't know what it meant at the time, but we do now."

"What do you mean?" Anne asked. "Memories from the other side of his heart?"

"The world was Twilight Town," Sora answered, looking at Roxas. Roxas whipped around.

"Twilight Town?" he asked. "Did you meet-?"

"No," Sora answered. "The only ones we met in that world were Heartless until we reached that old locked-up mansion. I knew that I'd never been to Twilight Town before, but now that I know that it was where you were from, I understand why I felt as if it was familiar to me. Then Vexen appeared and posed a question before me. 'Your feelings about this place or your memories of Naminé, which is the more real I wonder?' I answered that it was Naminé and that my feelings for Twilight Town was just another one of his tricks. He said that if I remained bound by the chain of memories within my heart that I should throw it away, that I wasn't a Keyblade Master. Vexen then said some stuff about his Riku, and we didn't know that he meant that the Riku we'd been encountering was his replica. I was so confused and angry, that I fought with him, and beat him. Even on his knees, Vexen said that if I continued to bind myself to the false memories I had that Marluxia's hold on me would tighten, and I'd end up becoming his pawn. But then Axel showed up and killed Vexen to keep him from talking."

"He killed him?" Roxas asked, stunned.

"'You can be nothing instead of just being a Nobody,' were his words," Sora answered. He shuddered and shook his head. "It was horrible to watch him fade away. But after we got out of Twilight Town we met up with Riku's replica again, and found that we both had good-luck charms supposedly given to us by Naminé, that we both had the same memory of promising to protect her."

"Both memories were fake Sora," Naminé said sadly. "You never promised me anything."

"I know that Naminé," Sora answered. "But at the time they were real to me. Riku and I fought again, and the charm he had turned into another card, Destiny Islands. I said some pretty bad things to Donald and Goofy, and you too Jiminy, and I'm still sorry about that. I was… obsessed with the promise I had remembered making to Naminé, and obsessed with the thought of finding her."

"It was at this time that Axel showed me his true feelings," Naminé said, "and let me escape. I met Sora, and the figment of myself in Sora's memory in Destiny Islands and told him that I had never existed in his heart, or anyone's, or anywhere. I had never been on Destiny Islands, and I wasn't the one he cared most for."

"Wait," Kairi said slowly, looking at both Sora and Naminé in confusion. "Where was I in all of this? Shouldn't you have been remembering me, Riku, and Naminé instead of just you, Riku, and Naminé?"

Sora and Naminé both looked away from Kairi in shame. Naminé spoke first. "I had removed the chains that bound you to Sora's memory Kairi," she said quietly, "and in so doing, made Sora consciously forget about you. But when I asked Sora to bring back his true memories, I asked him to think one more time about who it was that was most important to him. He looked at the good-luck charm that he thought that I had given him, and it turned back into what it truly was, the charm that you had given him. In confusion Sora had looked at the false memory of me and-"

"Naminé!" Sora said, still looking away.

"I'm sorry Sora, but it has to be said. It turned into-"

"Me," Kairi interrupted, looking at Sora. "I'm the one who is most important to you Sora, aren't I? That's why-?"

"Yes," Sora said quietly, still looking away.

"That's why there's that drawing in the Secret Place," Kairi murmured. Sora whipped around and looked into Kairi's eyes in horror.

"You saw that?" he squeaked.

"You still need to see what I added," Kairi replied, blushing and nodding.

"After Sora and I got out of the twelfth floor's room," Jiminy quickly said, "we still couldn't remember Kairi's name, but we remembered her face. We talked to you Naminé, before we encountered and fought against Vexen's Riku Replica one last time. Sora beat him again, and still thinking that he really was Riku, went to help him when he was down. But Riku struck out against Sora and prepared to finish him."

"Until I called for him to stop," Naminé said. "That broke the fake heart in Vexen's replica and turned him into a lifeless puppet. Then Larxene showed up and told Sora about my power over memories, and that all of both his and Riku's memories about me were completely fake. But Sora persisted that the even though the memory of the promise he'd made to me was fake, that the promise to protect me was real to him, and he insisted on protecting me from Larxene, tired and beat-up though he was."

"And then we showed up!" Goofy said. "And together we protected both Sora and Naminé and brought down Larxene. Naminé then told us everything about how she had been forced by Marluxia to manipulate Sora's and our memories or else she'd be left alone in Castle Oblivion."

"I had been alone since I came into being," said Naminé. "I couldn't bear the thought of being by myself again."

"But we agreed to help Naminé and take down Marluxia," Goofy said. "And so we went up to the thirteenth floor, and when we found Marluxia he was already in a fight with Axel."

"Axel found out that Marluxia and Larxene had planned on making Sora into Naminé's puppet," Jiminy said. "Then, using both Naminé and Sora, they would overthrow the Organization."

"Marluxia had kidnapped me and was using me as a human shield," Naminé said. "Axel was willing to go through me to get to Marluxia, but I know that he would never have let the fire he used touch a hair on my head. His quarrel was with Marluxia and Marluxia alone. Still, when Sora, Donald, and Goofy arrived Marluxia vanished, and I can only expect that you lot beat Axel."

"Yeah," Donald answered for Sora, who still wasn't speaking and was looking at Kairi just as she continued to look at him, "but he didn't fade away like Larxene did. He got away in a dark portal."

"And then we went and beat Marluxia with help from Riku's replica," Goofy said. "And after that Naminé gave Sora the choice to return our memories to the way they were, making us forget all about Castle Oblivion, or keep our muddled memories."

"And I said to make me like I was," Sora spoke after his time of silence. "It was nothing against you Naminé, but I wanted to remember Kairi and all my other friends."

"You wanted to remember the person most important to you," Kairi said, looking away shyly.

"And then Naminé had us go to sleep for a year in flower-shaped pods while she worked on rearranging our memories," Jiminy said.

They were all silent for a few minutes before realizing that it was time for lunch. Seymour said that he'd go out and get lunch for everyone, and Rekun agreed to go with him. The group broke apart into different small groupings, the three mothers going over to the table and beginning to talk to each other. Eventually Sora and Kairi found that they were the only ones still in the living room, but neither of them would look at the other.

Sora sighed and kept his eyes directed to his feet. His heart was pounding in his chest. He knew exactly what it was he was feeling, and knew exactly what his adventure story to find his two friends had managed to turn into. It was a love story between him and Kairi, and sooner or later he'd have to fess up and tell her face to face that he did love her, and not keep beating around the bush and saying so in more words than the three little ones everyone longed to hear.

But he was afraid. What was it that Kairi had mentioned that she'd added to their drawing in the Secret Place? What if Kairi didn't feel the same way? All the signs told him that she did, but he could help but be afraid that she didn't. He was surprised that the thought of not knowing for sure that Kairi did like him that way was scaring him more than the prospect of facing death did. Kairi scared him more than the thought of Sephiroth, a man whose name sent icy shivers down his spine, did.

That was when he suddenly picked up the sound of the auburn-haired princess of Radiant Garden moving on her beanbag, moving closer to him! "Sora…" she said quietly.

Almost dreading what he would see, Sora turned around to look at her. "Ye-yeah Kairi?" Her eyes were averted from his own, same as he was doing, but he was able occasionally to see them flicking up to try and make contact.

"I- I want you to know," she said, her words sounding a little strained, a little flustered, and coming from a very uncertain tongue, "that I forgive you for forgetting about me."

"Huh?" Sora asked, looking into her eyes for the first time.

"Truthfully," Kairi continued, breaking eye contact before both of them lost themselves in it, "when Naminé was working on your memories I mostly forgot about you too. I couldn't remember your face or your name, and I felt terrible about it. Sora, I care- I care a lot about you too."

Sora's eyes sought hers, and when they finally caught them something in his heart caught fire. He opened his mouth to speak, but quickly found it blocked by Kairi's finger.

"I don't need to hear it now," she said, "because we both know it in our hearts that we do. Can you wait until the moment is right Sora? I want it to be special."

Sora smiled at her and nodded. "Okay Kairi." She smiled back and lightly kissed his cheek again, the same spot her lips had graced it the previous night.

"Thanks Sora," she said. They were both silent for a few seconds.

"Do you think that it's obvious?" Sora asked. Kairi giggled slightly.

"After all you did I think we were both stupid to not realize it until it was finally looked at under a microscope," she said. Sora smiled again and quickly shifted over as Kairi suddenly plopped herself down on his beanbag next to him.

"What are you doing Kai?" he asked.

Kairi blew a small tuft of her hair out of her eyes. "Sitting next to you silly. What's it look like?"

"Well I-"

"Do you not want me to sit with you Sora?" Kairi asked, resting her head on his shoulder. Sora blushed and looked around desperately for a second, trying to figure out what to do. He inhaled and smiled, and wrapped his right arm around Kairi's waist and brought her closer.

"I just wanted you a little closer Kairi," he said, answering the flickering glance she sent his way. Kairi nestled herself a little bit closer into his side while her head still rested on his shoulder.

"I'm grounded for a week too," Kairi said in a quiet voice. "So let's see how long we can keep this hug up for shall we? I think the one we had in that castle was much too short."

Sora laughed. "Yeah, I do too. Hey, I know something we can do while we wait for yours and Riku's dad to get back with the food."

Kairi removed her head from his shoulder and looked curiously at him. "What?"

"We can bug Roxas and Naminé," Sora answered. Kairi laughed deviously.

Oh Roxas, Sora thought. Whatchya doing?

Just hanging out with Naminé in the basement, why?

Ah, hanging out huh?

Yes… why do you ask?

Are you really hanging out, or are you making out with Naminé?

What?! Sora– no I'm not making out with Naminé! And what did I tell you about poking fun at my feelings for her?

Sora sent Roxas the mental equivalent of laughing at him. "I think that I just made Roxas both angry and embarrassed," he laughed, turning to Kairi. She was smiling smugly herself, probably enjoying in tormenting her own Nobody.

That does it! Roxas said. I love you, you love me, we are one big family…

Sora's eyes widened exponentially and he nearly screamed audibly. NO! Roxas don't—please stop! I swear I won't make another comment again! Just please, please stop!

Sora received a feeling of warning in Roxas' coming reply. Alright fine, I will. But if you make one more remark like that again I won't stop.

"Sora what's wrong?" Kairi asked concernedly. "You're white as a sheet."

Sora growled slightly and looked shakily at Kairi. "Roxas started to sing songs from Barney at me," he answered. Kairi winced.

The door opened and closed with a sudden slam, immediately followed by Seymour's voice. "We're back! And we've got burgers and fries for everyone!"

"Sweet!" Sora said. "Fast food! I'm dying for something greasy that wants to kill me." He was about to get up, then remembered that he was still holding Kairi close and that her arm had snaked around his torso. He looked at her, smiled again, and stayed sitting on the beanbag. Riku came into view from the front hall carrying a brown paper bag that was full of the stuff and saw the two of them sitting in that position. He smirked and made his way as directly to them as he could.

"So does this mean that you two are finally together?" he asked, dropping himself onto the beanbag formerly sat upon by Kairi and placing the bag of food between them.

"I don't know Riku," Sora answered with a laugh, "but Kairi doesn't seem to want to let go." Kairi let go of him and playfully pushed Sora over while her hands went to grab a burger from the bag.

"Did I hear something about my son finally going out with the girl he's had his eyes on for years?" Anne asked mischievously, coming into sight of the living room from the dining area. Behind her came Janet and Riley, both of them smiling and giggling at Sora and Kairi like they were teenagers themselves.

"Mom!" Sora moaned, getting back up with a scarlet face.

"About time!" Donald said, coming into the room from upstairs. Sora was about to grumble at him too when the court magician suddenly continued. "I'm starving." King Mickey, Goofy, and Jiminy entered from outside with Rekun and Seymour, and Naminé and Roxas both came up from the basement, giving Sora and Kairi glares once they spotted the duo still sharing the beanbag.

Seymour sighed and took a long look at Sora as the boy anxiously grabbed a burger and fries from the bag Riku brought in. After close to ten seconds of surveying him he began to grumble. "If you're going to be seeing my daughter Sora," he said at length, "there are a few rules that must be observed."

"Dad we aren't going out yet," Kairi said, starting to blush. "We just—we know that we're probably going to be seeing a lot more of each other than before, sometimes it might even be just the two of us together."

"Dating or not yet," Seymour said, waving off Kairi's comments, "I don't want any funny business, and I want Kairi home by ten every night. And I do hope you remember that you're grounded for the rest of the week Kairi."

Kairi grimaced. "Yes dad, I remember." She bit into her burger and looked at Naminé as she and Roxas sat down next to each other on Riku's other side, though it did look somewhat funny since the beanbag didn't deform in any way. "Aren't you going to have any Naminé?"

Naminé folded her arms and glared at Kairi.

"Oh that's right," Sora said in a teasing voice, "you and Roxas can't actually eat can you?"

"One of these days I'm going to kill you Sora," Roxas muttered darkly. "Or I'll find a way to become able to eat."

-A-D-

Their lunch was swiftly devoured, and soon afterwards Riku told his tale of adventuring through Castle Oblivion's basement floors and about his conflicts with Ansem, and the darkness within his own heart and the Organization members that he encountered. He explained how he met Naminé and a man named DiZ, and how he agreed to help them while Naminé worked on returning Sora's memories to the way they were, and how he had meant to give Sora a piece of his mind for not staying on the islands to take care of Kairi when the brunette woke up, but in the end, wasn't able to. So Riku used the opportunity to vent at Sora right there, while the boy and Kairi simply smiled at him through it all until Riku was forced to laugh.

He spoke of how he fought and captured Roxas, succumbing to the darkness within his heart in order to do it. Roxas then took it up, telling of his days in the virtual Twilight Town and the dreams he had been having while Sora's most recent memories were being returned to the way they had been. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy Cricket then began to speak, and told the parents everything from the time they awoke in the mansion in the real Twilight Town until the defeat of Xemnas. Kairi, Riku, Roxas, and King Mickey added in points here and there as they were needed, and by the time the clock had struck three-thirty in the afternoon Sora was confident that both he and his mother understood just about everything that had happened while he was away.

There had been several instances in which the now semi-confirmed romance between Sora and Kairi became painfully obvious to both parties and the telling of stories resembled something more akin to Sora relating everything to Kairi only instead of everyone else who was in the room. But none of the others truly cared that the two teenagers were too engrossed in each other to pay all that much attention to the others in the room. Seymour grumbled slightly that he was getting too close to his little girl, but Janet easily shushed him by reminding him that he wasn't much different with each of his girlfriends when they were younger before they had gotten together.

The time reached four-thirty in the afternoon before everyone had left Sora's house, Sora showing a little bit of nerve in front of Seymour by giving Kairi a goodbye kiss on the cheek, to which both of them blushed and Kairi giggled at while their mothers cooed behind their backs. King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, and Jiminy left too, as the King had called the previous night for a gummi ship to come and pick them up.

And it was as Riku had been leaving, taking a last look at Sora and Kairi, and to a lesser extent Roxas and Naminé, together, that he began to wonder if he'd ever be able to find a girl to love.

-A-D-

(Looks at checklist) Re-write chapter two… check!

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May the Grace of the Valar Protect You

Shire Folk