As one might expect with large groups of friends, different dynamics between the key bearers began to emerge to anyone observing. Their skill as a fighting unit was growing stronger by the day; as was how the individuals interacted with each other when not training.

Sora, Riku and Kairi were the unshakable trio: always supportive, always loyal and always there for each other. Still, the relationships within the triad were always changing yet remaining the same. Sora and Riku always were and always would be best friends. But Sora and Kairi cared about each other much more than just as friends. Riku and Kairi were also very close and cared for one another but not in the same way.

Of course, little needed to be said about the direction of Rachel and Riku's relationship.

Kairi and Lea were the newest members of the Keyblade club but were getting along fine. Kairi dismissed what Lea had done as Axel completely. She never mentioned it or gave any indication she held it against him. They got along fine and frequently sparred together. To a witness this was rather strange considering the dramatic height difference. But they both found it beneficial. As it was true with all battles, opponents came in all sizes. Kairi found ways of using her height and graceful carriage to her advantage. Even though Lea could be wicked fast, she could easily slip by him if she was paying attention. After fighting often led to talking while catching their breath.

Bryan and Kairi's relationship was a little different. He didn't openly talk about himself much. But Kairi had the calm and trusting personality so that he started spilling before he even knew he was talking. Kairi knew more things about him than most of his other friends would at that stage of the friendship. And Kairi knew anything she told Bryan would be kept safe in a deep fortress and never be betrayed for any reason.

Kairi and Rachel were best friends right off the bat. Their gal pal relationship was obvious from the day they first met. Then they were given the opportunity to train, learn and grow as warriors of Light from and with each other. Kairi loved Sora and Riku as her oldest friends. But there were some things girls just don't want to share with their guy friends. The two girls talked about anything and everything under the sun. It was Kairi who first showed Rachel around the main island on which she lived, not just the little one where kids played. Similarly, Rachel brought her to Radiant Garden as frequently as she could. It helped their friendship to grow closer to one another while showing each other their homes.

Although there was no need, Lea sometimes overcompensated around Sora because of the trouble he caused as Axel. Sora had forgotten all about the events at Castle Oblivion, but Lea had not. Looking back especially he wanted to make up for how the Organization toyed with his heart, what he did, and the only thing he did to stop it was only under orders. Sora obviously never knew this but that didn't mean Lea try.

And Lea had to remind himself sometimes Sora wasn't Roxas. His old friend was gone; rejoined with his Original. He would never be able to see or speak with Roxas again. That knowledge hurt deeply. Roxas was gone and Isa's fate was still uncertain. You're always grateful for the friends you do have, but you still hold special places in your heart for the ones you don't; a place that is theirs and theirs alone.

But that didn't mean that Sora and Lea didn't have a very real friendship of their own. They got along great and were becoming a really good battle team. Along with becoming good friends, Sora wasn't so blind to not notice how Lea would look at him from time to time; perhaps hoping to catch a glimpse of Roxas, to perhaps share one more joke or say a proper goodbye. Sora was also understandably curious to learn more about his Nobody. Not only that, he thought it might make Lea feel better to talk about his old friend. Some of the things Lea told him made some things make clearer sense to Sora; like their tradition of eating sea salt ice cream on the clock tower in the evenings and getting the special stick meant a prize. It clicked. When he met Rachel and Bryan for the first time, Kairi had brought popsicles one evening. His popsicle stick was covered with stars. When he saw that, he felt joyous and at the time he didn't know why. Now it made sense. Roxas was no longer a true, physical person anymore, but that didn't mean slivers of his soul weren't very much alive within Sora. In this sense, Sora wanted to do something to honor that. So one evening Sora invited Lea to the Tower's rooftop where he had a small cooler box of popsicles. The gesture was greatly appreciated and from then on became their thing.

Rachel and Sora were terrible together. Given any amount of time alone they instantly became first graders. That shouldn't have been that big of a surprise. Sora was an easy-going person who knew when to act his age but typically didn't if he didn't have to. And Rachel, despite her powers and unique ways of thinking, was still just a big kid at heart. So together they were pretty much unsupervised grade-schoolers with unlimited tokens at Chuck-E-Cheese. Lea nearly got his feet crushed one time when they went barreling down the hallway, taking turns pushing each other on a wheel-y chair. Another time Riku found Sora lying down inside of a huge cardboard box inside a random side room.

"What are you doing?" Riku asked, looking in on him.

"Thinking. Can't you see this is my thinking box?" Sora tapped on the side where he had written in bold letters, SORA'S THINKING MACHINE.

"Seriously, how old are you?"

"Rachel says, 'there's no point being grown up if you can't act childish sometimes'."

"Sora, I'm saying this as your friend, but you never grew up!"

"Did I hear my name?" Rachel popped her head into the room.

Sora got up on his knees to see over the edge. "Riku says I'm too old to be playing in boxes."

"Where did you get that?"

"What?"

"That box, where did you get it?"

"Why? Is it yours?"

"No, where did you find it?"

"In the next room, why?"

"Were there more?"

"Yeah, a whole lot."

"Wanna make a box fort?"

"YES!"

Riku rolled his eyes after Sora bolted passed him. An hour later they'd built a box palace with a drawbridge that actually worked and claimed only the noble of heart and virtuous of soul were permitted to enter.

Bryan and Lea formed the bachelor coalition; as they were the only ones of the team without a sweetheart. But that was ok, that just left them each free to be the others wingman if the need ever arose. Bryan's relationship with Lea was probably the most mature (although possibly a close tie with Riku). They liked their silliness and having fun but didn't need it to stay interested in what the other had to say. Bryan also had the opportunity to grown and learn about himself with Lea. It was easily forgotten sometimes that, while still considered a young man, Lea was the oldest of all of them by about eight to ten years. Age and a whole different set of experiences provided him with unique perspectives about a lot. They each helped nudge the other out of their comfort zones to meet new people, try new things and visit new places.

It was on Lea's insistence Bryan visited his first club. Not at all the rowdy party-hardy nightclub sort of set up (like what most people think of when they hear 'club', Radiant Garden wasn't exactly the place for that sort of thing) but certainly a place for the young to gather and socialize with music and good company. Bryan had never been to any place like it before. The nearest comparison for him was the Benbow Inn, but there he already knew Jim, B.E.N and Jim's mom and got to ease himself into knowing the regulars. Not to mention the atmosphere was totally different. Lea saw this as a potential problem when Bryan made no attempt to interact with anybody. Bryan wasn't the shy type but rarely initiated conversation or interaction in a place he was unfamiliar with. Winging it with new people when on a mission was totally different than in a social setting. It wasn't until Lea gave him a nudge to use the drum set on stage when the band took a break did Bryan relax. And Lea thought it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen when he pointed out several girls were eyeing him afterward. Bryan liked the subtle attention but had no idea how to proceed and not be an awkward mess at the same time. Between snorts and wheezes of subdued laughter Lea promised they'd keep coming back until Bryan could smooth-talk any girl who smiled his way without freezing with awkwardness.

As it was shaping out, the friendship between Lea and Rachel was becoming the most dynamic. For example:

After the incident with the cream cheese and flour, several more summer camp capers were put in play between Lea and Rachel. The day after the flour bucket, Lea put crushed pinecones in the seat cushion on the chair he saw Rachel use the previous morning, assuming correctly she had a seat she'd designated as her own.

Of course her retaliation solidified in his mind the Master was in fact the spawn of Satan and the young empress of all evil just waiting to come of age and claim her throne. The next morning Lea discovered Rachel had gotten into his room that night and…it was almost too horrible to admit. She'd put several wax strips on his lower legs then bailed. Come the next morning, there was only one way to get them off. How could girls do that to themselves! Willingly! Were they all secretly masochists for the sake of beauty?!

At breakfast, Lea was (understandably) the last to show up. Dang that hurt. Once he got to the kitchen, Lea marched straight to Rachel. Oh she had a lot of nerve to munch her cinnamon bun so casually after what she'd done. He had the attention of everybody in the room. They probably suspected this was because of another prank and were waiting to see what happened.

Lea came up behind Rachel and put a hand on each shoulder; a lot like giving somebody a massage but a lot harder than necessary. With his face very close to hers he whispered in a low growl of promise,

"This means war."

Rachel turned her head toward him.

"Bring it on, cookie-puss, 'cuz I ain't scared of you."

"Oh you will be. Rest assured you will be."

So Lea and Rachel had officially declared war on each other. This had all the potential of spiraling out of control quickly. Lea left the kitchen (not before swiping the apple muffin Rachel was going to eat). He didn't look back. Good thing too. Rachel was glaring at him something awful for having stolen part of her breakfast. After a second she composed herself and finished her bun in silence. The other four eyed her quietly, wondering how she could keep so calm and collect after the theft of food. Probably keeping herself more occupied with planning her next move.

Nobody else dared say anything. All they could do is hope and pray nobody got caught in the crossfire. From then on, everyone had to check under every mat, behind every door and tread carefully whenever the two were around each other.

But despite the growing intensity of the prank war, the two were becoming fast friends. It was strange to observe how they kept their feelings as friends separate from exacting revenge for a prank. They'd talk and hang out like they'd known each other for years then, within hours, one would place a hand buzzer on the back of the others neck or an ice cube down the back of the others shirt.

One time Kairi found them watching old movies in one of the Tower rooms that not only frequently changed what was inside it but also where it could be found (it had been enchanted by a past student ages ago to take on the needs of those around it and appear in random places. Only the door thought it was funny and would sometimes move to another floor while you were in it (until Master Yen Sid spelled it that it couldn't move while someone was inside it)). This time it was like a rec room. It was odd the first time the friends found one of the convenience rooms and it had a considerable amount of technology in it. It was the last thing they'd expected in a Tower of magic. But, as it was magic it could accommodate anything for its inhabitants.

Kairi slipped into the room where Lea and Rachel were watching an old black and white movie. The lights were off. She could only just make her way to the couch without tripping over anything. The princess stood behind the couch and observed what her friends were doing in silence. They both were lounging on the sofa. Lea held a huge bowl of popcorn (heavily buttered judging by the smell) with his feet up on the coffee table. He'd tilt the bowl Rachel's way if she made a move that she wanted some. A big bottle of soda was on the table with two glass cups next to it.

The film was supposed to be a horror story. But the acting was so horrible it was funny. They frequently commented on just how bad it was but didn't stop watching. They were in agreement that only the one actor of the whole cast could actually act.

"What're you watching?" Kairi finally asked.

Her timing couldn't be more perfect. At the same time she spoke, the film had led up to a big startle scene, where a sudden movement on screen, climactic music and the actress screaming and Kairi speaking all lined up, scaring the living daylights, comatose daylights, dead daylights and undead daylight out of both of them. Popcorn went everywhere.

"How long have you been there!"

"Why did you do that!"

"Geesh!"

Lea and Rachel slumped back on the couch, catching their breath and recovering from the adrenaline blitz. They'd worry about the popcorn later.

"So what is this?"

"It's called The House on Haunted Hill." Lea had slumped heavily on the couch, intently focused on getting his blood pressure back to normal.

Kairi sat on the back of the couch for the remainder of the film. It was indeed a terrible movie with bad acting and pot holes you could drop a tractor into. But, like Rachel and Lea, she couldn't stop watching. Lea refused to share any popcorn with her. It was her fault most of it spilled in the first place.

"Good night, doctor. Good night, Annabelle. The crime you two planned was indeed perfect. Only the victim is alive and the murderers are not. It's a pity you didn't know when you started your game of murder…that I was playing too."

The actor who played Mr. Loren was the favorite of the whole show. He'd just used a fake skeleton on puppeteer strings to back his murderess wife into a vat of acid. The movie ended with the other characters finally breaking into the locked cellar where Mr. Loren gave his final speech and departed. Then the crazy guy came forward, looking warily into the bubbling vat.

"Now they're nine. They'll be more, many more." *sounds of footsteps and chains rattling* "They'll be coming for me now. And then they'll come for you!"

And the movie ended.

"What the heck was that!"

"That can't be it."

"That's the end?"

"So all that spooky stuff was just the two of them trying to kill that guy?"

Rachel had been cleaning up the popcorn magically as they talked about how the movie ended.

"Was the house not actually haunted?"

"The crazy guy seemed to think so."

"But he's crazy and paranoid, of course he's going to think so."

"But why couldn't there be a nefarious plot and the supernatural? That would really make it interesting."

"Totally. They just played this place up as a house of horror with a reputation for murder and everything was set up."

There was a pause.

"Want to watch another one?" Lea asked.

"Yes!" Rachel and Kairi said together.

Rachel picked up another bag of popcorn that was on the corner of the table and a big wire-mesh bowl that had been propped up against the side.

"Ooooh! More popcorn! But what's that for?" Kairi asked, indicating the mesh.

"Watch! Watch this, this is great!"

Rachel poured the popcorn seeds into the big glass bowl and covered it with the mesh. Lea picked up the bowl in his right hand and held it up. His hand glowed orange. His hand almost appeared translucent with only shadows of bone showing through his skin. A few seconds later the first kernel popped. Then another, and another. The mesh was to catch any kernels that went flying when they popped. When the last kernel popped, Rachel handed Lea the bottle of melted butter that had also been left on the table. He held onto the bowl with his left hand while his right hand warmed the butter before drizzling it over the treat.

"That was the most practical use of magic I have ever seen." Kairi said, in awe of the redneck-style brilliance.

"Thank you."

Rachel got the next movie set up while Kairi used a bit of magic to get another glass. Kairi refilled all their drinks.

"Ok, Stretch," Rachel said to Lea. "Scoot."

"Excuse me?"

"If you're going to hold the popcorn you'll have to sit in the middle."

"Classic old movies, popcorn, drinks and two beautiful ladies at my side? I can think of a lot worse ways to spend an evening."