Chapter 2: In which Riku and Namine find a new home

"At least you remembered to use the door this time," Namine laughed, sending a glance up at Riku.

He hunched his shoulders, and shifted the bag that was slung over his back. The bag really only contained their new clothes—the ones they weren't wearing, of course—along with a smaller sack that contained Riku's munny. He still had somewhere close to a hundred thousand, even after buying over a week's worth of clothes for all four of them. Namine had a smaller bag Kairi'd given her, which held all of her sketchbooks and pencils.

Sora and Kairi hadn't been too upset about them deciding not to stay on Destiny Islands in favor of moving to Hollow Bastion. Well, Kairi'd been upset—and rightly so. Namine had been on the fence about the move, too, but it just felt right to be going with Riku. Kairi's father had been a lot easier to convince than Kairi, at least. In fact, he'd been the one to finally get Kairi to warm up to the idea.

"People you love have to move on sometimes," he'd said, with a good natured chuckle. "There's nothing you can do but let them go. Besides, from the sounds of it, it's not like you won't be seeing her again."

Namine smiled fondly at the memory. Kairi's father really was a good man.

Riku sighed on the step to Aerith's door, his free hand raised to knock. He hesitated for a long moment.

"Hmm?" Namine sent quizzical look at him.

"Nervous," he mumbled. There was an uneasy smile on his face. "What if she says no?"

"She won't."

"Maybe it's too much to ask…"

"Riku."

He lowered his hand. Namine sighed and knocked instead. Riku about jumped out of his skin, but he didn't say anything. The door was thrown open, and before either of them could say anything, Aerith had pulled Riku into a hug.

"Thank goodness you're okay!" she exclaimed.

Riku went pale. "Oh," was all he said.

Namine laughed nervously, once she'd thought about it. Riku'd been in Hollow Bastion when she'd been kidnapped by Organization 13 about three days ago. Obviously he'd departed from there, and probably worried everyone in the process. He hadn't returned since then.

Aerith let go of Riku, then immediately hugged Namine, too.

"S-sorry I didn't stop by," Riku stammered. He coughed nervously. "I- I forgot. Sorry."

"Oh don't fret over it," Aerith told him. "The important bit is that you're okay now and everyone can stop worrying! Come on in, come on in—" She stepped aside and waved them inside, pausing only after she'd shut the door. "Ah… what's with the bags?"

"Is tha' Riku 'n Namine?" Cid called. He was in the kitchen, from the sounds of it.

"Did they bring Sora? Or Kairi?" Cloud asked, stepping out into the living room.

"Do I need'ta make more sandwiches?" Cid called.

Aerith grimaced about being interrupted before her question could be answered, but she said nothing.

"Sora and Kairi stayed home—on Destiny Islands," Namine explained. "They're both okay."

"Do you want to talk to them?" Riku said. He shifted uncomfortably. The color still hadn't returned to his cheeks.

"Eventually, it might be nice, but you don't have to go get them right now or anything," Tifa said. She pushed past Cloud and plopped down on one of the couches. "How are you two doing, huh? Get everything sorted out?"

Riku nodded. "It, uh-"

"Yeah," Namine said.

Riku sent her a look.

"We did get everything sorted, and we're doing okay," Namine said, to further clarify. "It's… y'know… What happened is a long story and I'd… I'd rather not…"

…talk about being Rewritten.

Riku's eyes narrowed as he looked at her, but finally he looked away. He didn't say anything more on the matter. Namine studied him a moment, trying to discern his thoughts. She came up with nothing. Oh well.

There's also the nightmares to consider… Namine thought, with a small sigh. She sent a sideways look at Aerith. She'd promised Aerith a while ago that if the nightmares became more of a problem, she'd tell. But… no. They weren't a problem. They were just nightmares.

I hope.

"The bags?" Aerith repeated.

"Ah… well…" Riku shifted from foot to foot. "We- we were-" He coughed. "Can we… move in?"

Aerith blanched. "Uh—" she began, but didn't finish.

Namine could almost feel the dread wash over Riku. His shoulders sagged and he let out a frustrated little breath—it was almost too quiet to hear, and she might not have heard it if she hadn't known what it sounded like.

"No no! It's fine!" Aerith said, quickly. "It's fine. I don't mind if you do, I just. It. There's…"

"It's not like we don't have the room," Cid called. "People can share! This house is huge, Aerith. Practically what it was made for!"

"I was just trying to figure out who would share," Aerith finished, sounding a little upset that she'd been interrupted, again. Namine didn't blame her.

"Me and Cloud can share," Tifa said.

"It's not like we're staying much longer anyway," Cloud added. "Probably."

"Me and Riku can share," Namine said. Riku looked over at her, startled, but after a second more his features fell to consideration, then agreement. He nodded.

Aerith hummed to herself as she considered it, and before long, she was nodding as well. "Yes it… That'll work. That will work. Someone will have to drag a cot up to the other spare room, though—"

"Not me!" Cid yelled. Not that he exactly needed to, given how close the kitchen was to the living room. "I shouldn' be liftin' things, 'n I definitely shouldn' be draggin' cots up the stairs."

"I wasn't asking you to, Cid," Aerith assured him. "I'll ask Leon when he and Yuffie get back from rounds…"

"Am I not here?" Cloud asked, a touch of humor to his tone.

"Wh- oh! Right." Aerith laughed, nervously. "Would you mind, Cloud?"

"Not at all." Cloud moved to open one of the doors by the stairs. Storage.

Aerith nodded. "Riku, you'll probably have to help—"

"I can do it." Tifa got to her feet. "The two of us got the other cot up the stairs just fine the other day—I'm sure we can manage this one."

"Right," Aerith said. "I suppose that's for the better, in hindsight, Riku. Your shoulder…"

Namine watched as Cloud and Tifa wrestled a cot out of the storage room, maneuvering it to the stairs with little argument. Tifa's strength easily matched Cloud's, and they were nearly the same height, so they made maneuvering the cot look easy. That, or the cot was just meant to be moved around. Namine's attention was drawn back to the current conversation when Riku asked:

"So… why is your house so big, Aerith?"

Aerith considered the question a moment, grimacing.

"Jus' give 'em the short version!" Cid told her, poking his head out into the living room.

Aerith nodded. "My mother ran a sort of healing business," she explained. "Not that… business is probably the right word, considering she very rarely accepted pay. And there used to be a hospital here, when the city was bigger, but—"

"The short version!" Cid interrupted.

"Right, right!" Aerith waved her hand dismissively in his direction, and sighed a little. "She needed more room to hold all the patients, so she bought this house."

"But if the city had a hospital…" Riku began.

"See, Cid, they were curious," Aerith said. Her tone carried no more than mild exasperation. "Not everyone could afford hospital bills, Riku, and most people didn't see the point in troubling doctors with minor cuts or headaches. Plus, in emergencies, sometimes we were closer."

"I guess that makes sense," Riku said.

Namine nodded, assuring them all that it made sense to her, too.

"So if you two are movin' in, does that mean tha' rebellion o' yours is over?" Cid asked.

"Yeah," Riku said.

Namine waited for him to go into further explanation, only to realize that he didn't intend to. Though… there wasn't much further to say on the matter—not of the Rebellion anyway. The Organization was dead. The whole thing ended on that.

And I don't think he's too keen on mentioning me being Rewritten… Namine thought. She was grateful for that. She wasn't keen on mentioning it either.

"You really don't mind if we're staying?" Riku pressed. "I mean, it is long term and—"

Aerith didn't let him finish. "It's fine," she assured him. "I promise you, you're always welcome here. Oh! That's right, you'll need sheets for that cot. Excuse me." She headed up the stairs. Cloud and Tifa had clearly managed to get the cot up there without an issue, considering they were nowhere in sight and Namine didn't hear Aerith say anything to them when she reached the top of the stairs.

"I have'teh ask, though," Cid said, leaning his shoulder against the wall. "Why is it yeh don't wanna stay on Destiny Islands?"

"It's boring," Riku answered.

"Ah."

Cid didn't even press the matter further.

"Yeh want sandwiches?" he asked.

"No thank you," Namine said. "We had a big breakfast—well. I don't want one. Riku…?"

He shook his head. "Nah."

She elbowed him.

"Thanks, though," he added, sparing a second to send an annoyed look at her.

"Uh-huh." Cid ducked back into the kitchen.

"See, I said it'd be okay," Namine said, quietly. She nudged Riku again, gentler this time, and beamed up at him. He smiled back, though he honestly looked like he couldn't quite believe this was happening.

"Alright!" Aerith came down the stairs again. "The room's all set up! It's the one you're usually in, Riku. Do you need help carrying anything? Have any other bags?"

Riku and Namine both shook their heads. Riku hefted the bag over his shoulder.

"This is all we got."

The room ended up being set up much like Kairi's room, back on Destiny Islands. Or, the beds were in the same places, anyway. The big bed, or, the real bed, was on the right, and the cot on the left. The dresser was up against the remaining wall, under a small window. It was the only dresser. Namine was glad that neither she nor Riku had a lot of clothes.

"Which half of the dresser do you want?" she asked, starting to unpack their clothes. Riku could've done it, she supposed, but she figured she'd save him the embarrassment of having to handle her underwear.

"I- I don't-"

"Oh, you should have the top half, since you're so tall. Duh!"

"Namine I don't care."

"Neither do I. You're getting the top half."

"Oh. Okay."

There was a pause.

"Where do you want your sketchbooks?"

"They can sit on the dresser—I'll take care of it when I'm done here."

"Right."

Another pause.

"Which bed do you want?"

Namine took a second to consider.

"Never mind," Riku said, before she could answer. "I'll take the cot."

"You don't have to—"

"It's fine."

There wasn't any talking him out of it, Namine knew, so she decided not to bother. Not that the decision immediately quashed her annoyance. Even if it was a little thing, about the beds, he did this with other things too. Go out of his way to ensure her comfort, or safety, while at the expense of his own. The thought of the other things frustrated her much more than the beds did.

She sighed.

"You excited?" she asked Riku. She looked up from folding one of his shirts to look at him.

He nodded. "Yeah! Yeah." He nodded again. He was sitting on the cot—his bed—leaning against the wall with his hands behind his head. There was a grin on his face. "I mean… I knew it was gonna happen something like this. I did. I just… still funny to have it happen."

Namine nodded and grinned back at him. She loved watching him talk about this. How he lit up. There was something about Hollow Bastion that was just so good for him. Something about this house…

"You don't mind, right?" he asked her. "I know you wanted to stay with Kairi—"

"I want to stay with you just as much," she assured him.

He grinned even wider.