For the record, towards the last chapters I was getting really tired, so they might not be as good.

I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Unfortunately.

Or maybe it's a good thing I don't, I'd probably kill all the characters in one game.

Chapter Fourteen: Return To Radiant Gardens

'Sometimes you judge people too quickly; you don't know the whole story'

Sora frowned, sitting in his living room with the others impatiently as he waited for Ven to show up with his father, wondering why the boy was taking so long. He groaned and leaned back, falling onto the cushions of the couch and staring up at the ceiling; there was a sick feeling in his stomach that he recognised to be nerves, if they messed up or got caught… well it wouldn't end well. "Relax Sora, whatever happens, happens, stressing about it won't help anything," despite his words, Sora could sense that Roxas was nervous and he smiled slightly at the other boy.

The phone rang and Sora sat up; before he could move Vanitas was already heading into the other room however, so the brunette merely shot Namine and Demyx a smile before lying back down on the couch, wondering what the phone call was about, trying to listen to the voices in the hallway.

He frowned as he recognised Vanitas' tone to be upset, hoping it wasn't anything too troubling. After a moment's hesitation, he got to his feet and walked over to the hallway, peering in through the door in time to hear Vanitas' final words, "no it's okay, we'll figure something else out, bye," he watched as the raven hung up the phone. To Sora's surprise, his brother didn't put the phone back on its holder, instead dialling a new number and holding the phone once more to his ear, "hey dad? Yeah, I was just wondering if you could do something for me?" There was a pause and Sora leaned in curiously. Whatever the raven had been about to ask for was interrupted however by the sound of a car arriving. Momentarily forgetting Vanitas, Sora ran back into the living room to peer out the window.

He smiled when he saw the familiar blonde head stepping out of the passenger seat, ignoring the fact that this meant that they were now leaving to go against the Organisation. If he started thinking about that, he doubted he'd be able to go through with it all.

Sora sat in between Namine and Demyx, Ven was in the front next to his father and Vanitas had offered to sit in the back, saying that he had a few phone calls to make and it would probably be slightly quieter back there (though honestly, not by much). They set off and Sora leaned back in the car seat, closing his eyes and trying to contain his nerves, 'we haven't even done anything yet, calm down,' he thought to himself fiercely, "Sora, it's goi-"

Sora had an idea what the other boy had been going to say to him, but he it turns out he wouldn't get to have the suspicion confirmed as at that moment, Roxas was cut off by that same pained feeling. It was as though someone had stabbed him in the chest and Sora stiffened, face contorting in pain as he tried not to make any sound and alert the others to what her was feeling.

The pain lanced out, spreading throughout his body and he began to feel somewhat nauseous, "Sora are you okay? You're looking a bit pale?" Sora turned to meet Namine's concerned gaze and after a moment's hesitation he nodded, forcing a smile. She frowned slightly before turning to look back to her sketchpad and Sora turned away, scrunching his eyes up tightly again and wondering why it was lasting so long this time.

Only a few seconds after having that thought the pain began to fade away once more and Sora breathed a sigh of relief. "Shouldn't you tell them about this?" he frowned slightly, "later, I really don't think now is a good time, it can wait," he could sense Roxas' reluctance to remain quiet but after a moment he felt the boy's acceptance.

He ignored the fact that the moments of pain were lasting longer each time they happened.

Halfway to Radiant Gardens Sora heard the sound of his brother's ringtone and he twisted around in his seat to look back at Vanitas as he fished his mobile out of his pocket, "hello? Dad?" there was a pause and as Sora watched, the raven's face turned stormy, "nowhere?" a sigh, "no it's okay, I'll try mum, yeah oka- I'm not saying I love you, you forget, I'm sixteen," a scowl, "goodbye dad," he pulled the phone away from his ear and hung up quickly.

Vanitas called a new number and once more held the phone to his ear, "hi mum, listen, I was wondering if- oh, dad's already explained the issue to you?"

"Well do you know if there's anything you can do about it?"

"Call me back when you know."

"Okay thanks, bye."

Sora frowned and considered asking him what the phone calls were all about when Demyx tapped him. He turned towards the blonde and raised his eyebrows in question, the blonde merely grinned, "do you wanna play I-Spy?"

Ventus sat quietly in the front seat, glancing occasionally at his father and the people in the back seats. He wondered if the others had noticed that he hadn't said a word for the entire trip so far, but they all seemed somewhat preoccupied figuring out ways to deal with their nerves from the situation. Namine was drawing, resolutely ignoring how quickly they were getting to Radiant Gardens and only being distracted from her work once to talk to Sora (something about being pale? Namine's already kind of pale, was she talking about getting a tan or something?), Vanitas was on his phone, while Demyx and Sora had both taken up a game of I-Spy. Ven was somewhat tempted to join in on their game, but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to.

So instead, he simply leant back into his chair and gazed out the front windscreen of the car, eyes drifting close as he tried to empty his mind. He hadn't slept well last night, panic over the trip they would soon be making, coupled with the fact that he would be actually meeting his father for the first time (because no, screaming at someone through a closed door does not count as meeting them) led to a night of restless tossing and turning and groaning and sighing and jamming pillows over heads.

It would be best to simply try to relax, getting stressed over what was going to happen wouldn't help…

Ventus opened his eyes groggily, blinking and looking around with confusion before realising that he had been awoken by the stopping of the car. It took him a few more seconds for him to realise he had been asleep in the first place.

He turned back to the others only to see that both Namine and Demyx had already gotten out of the car, Sora was shifting along the seat, following Demyx and Vanitas was currently awkwardly attempting to clamber over the back seat. Ventus was pleased he had been awake to see that obviously humiliating moment for the raven, made all the better when he accidentally lost his balance, falling forwards with an undignified yelp.

What a lovely thing to wake up to.

Ven watched for a few moments more before turning to open his door, he paused when he felt Cloud tap his shoulder, "I want to talk to you," he stated and Ven froze.

He waited until the others were out of the car before speaking, "I'll be picking you all up tomorrow, around midday?" Ven nodded, hoping that this was all that Cloud wanted to talk about, "before you go I want to tell you something."

Apparently not.

Ventus sighed and reluctantly turned to listen to him, "what?" he asked, not bothering to disguise his irritation. Cloud frowned slightly at the boy's tone before sighing, "I know you don't want to listen to me, so I'll be quick," Ven looked over the other man's shoulder to see Vanitas telling the other's something. Apparently it was bad news, they were all looking rather distressed, he momentarily worried about what it could be before his father began to speak once more and he returned his attention to him.

"When I met your mother all those years ago I had a dream of being an author. Of course, in the end that dream never became a reality, it's all very well to write about things, but unless you're genuinely passionate about your story, it's hard to become successful with it and for some reason, I just couldn't get passionate about it. I guess I wasn't destined to be a writer," he shrugged in a seemingly uncaring manner, but Ventus could see how much it pained him to admit to this, "At the time though, I was still eager and hopeful, travelling the world for inspiration. Then I met your mother, she was an amazing woman, even then, I was instantly drawn in by her and we got talking. I told her of my dreams and she encouraged me, saying that she was sure I would make a great author."

He smiled slightly, "I won't lie; I was childishly pleased to hear her say that. In my time there we became close and… a lot of things happened I suppose. It ended up being time for me to leave, Tifa had been unwell recently and I had asked her if she wanted me to stay and care for her, I didn't mind postponing my trip a little for her, it would make things more difficult, but I was worried. She insisted she was fine though so I left, ensuring she had my contact so that we could still keep in touch. And we did, for many years."

Ven frowned, confused, then Cloud turned his gaze to him, "nearly six years after all this I hadn't been able to come back for a visit. She kept insisting it was fine, I felt awful about it, but I didn't really have any time to come back, my writing career was falling to pieces before my very eyes. I was selfish, I should have made the time to come back," he sighed, shaking his head slightly, "anyway, nearly six years after all of this, I gave her another call, something I did regularly, nothing special. But she sounded distressed on the phone, I realised something was wrong and I asked her to tell me, to let me know if there anything I could do. In the end, I found out. It turns out that she had realised she was pregnant a week before my departure, but had decided not to tell me."

Ven stared at him in surprise; surely he couldn't expect him to believe that? Apparently Cloud didn't because he elaborates, "apparently she hadn't wanted me to know, worried that I would put my dream on hold for her," he paused at this and Ven saw a shadow fall over the man's face, "I don't understand why she thought I wouldn't be more than happy to do that, especially for her," he muttered before going on to speak louder, "when I called her that time, it had been only a few weeks after Roxas' disappearance. When I found out I had a son, well… two sons really, and one of them was missing, I came straight away, but… there was nothing for me to do. I couldn't find Roxas, I had no idea where he had gone, and you Ven, well, you didn't want to have anything to do with me," he sighed bitterly, "which I can completely understand."

Ven was silent; he had no idea how to react to this, whether or not to believe him. For years he had blamed Cloud for being a bad father, but if this was true then… maybe he wasn't as bad as he had thought?

Before he could say anything though, his door was opened; Ven turned to see Sora standing there, a worried look on his face, "Ven, there's a… uh, problem," the blonde frowned, "okay, coming," he got out of the car and Sora stepped back, turning and running back over to the others.

Ven hesitated before closing the door, he turned to the man sitting in the driver's seat and he saw the way he was slouched over, the way his hair rose up erratically despite the man's best attempts to comb it. He saw how very human he was, and how easy it would be for him to make mistakes, to not realise things, to be gullible. And he wondered if maybe Cloud really wasn't at fault.

"Thanks for the trip," the man nodded and started up the car, driving away. Ven watched him go, a small, thoughtful frown on his face before he opened his mouth and whispered.

"Thanks dad."

"What's the problem?" Ven asked, standing with the others, arms crossed; Demyx turned to him, "the place we were meant to be staying had some kind of receptionist issue, it turns out they double booked some of the rooms, including ours," Ven stared at him in disbelief, "but that means…"

"That we don't actually have anywhere to stay for the night," Vanitas finished for him. "So what? Are we going to sleep on the street?" Vanitas frowned at Sora, "I'm sure we'll figure something out," he told the brunette. This was when Namine spoke up.

"Well, if we have no other options… that is to say, if there's absolutely nothing else to be done, then I guess I might be able to help," the four boys stared at her and she flushed slightly, "only if it's necessary," she insisted and Ven swallowed, "yeah, we'll try and see if we can get somewhere to stay for the night without out that first."

Vanitas groaned, "Well, I guess we better go into town."

"Radiant Gardens is so hot during the middle of the day," Demyx complained, fanning his face uselessly with one hand. Ventus smirked at him, "I guess you could say it's absolutely… radiant," there was the expected chorus of groans and 'that wasn't even funny Ven' and 'I swear to all that is good and holy if you make another joke like that I will murder you in your sleep Ventus' (no points for guessing who that last one was from).

They hadn't been able to find anywhere and frankly, Ventus was on the verge of simply giving in and asking Namine to manipulate some people's memories for them.

He didn't necessarily agree with it, it was basically like stealing and it made him feel awful even considering it. But they needed a place to stay; they couldn't go to the Organisation's base until sunrise since that was when they'd be able to take the most advantage of Sora's power over light.

They needed somewhere proper to rest, tomorrow would be strenuous enough without the added pressure of lack of sleep.

"What are you guys doing back here so soon?"

Ven started at the surprisingly familiar voice, he turned to see a tall girl with short, dark hair and a questioning look on her face.

Looks like they may have just found their solution.

"Hello, Aya."

Yeah, idk, I'm tired.