The celebration lasted days. Terra and Aqua spent the entire time together, confessing their love and finally starting a few dates. Riku was welcomed back as a war hero, and for the first time the uptight worry he had for everyone and his own insecurity had vanished. Lea and Isa made up, once more becoming the best of friends and making up for the lost years. Braig wandered off, deciding to find his own glory.

However, it took the same, long, celebratory time for Sora to recover.

He had been strained beyond any conceivable limit, and nearly died a few times while in intensive care. Kairi was always on the edge of her seat, monitoring his heart in case it stopped.

Which it did. Several times.

But that first day when he opened his eyes again and smiled, everyone knew he was going to be okay. "... sorry... for scaring you guys..."

It took him awhile to walk again, but soon he was wearily moving around the castle. He was swarmed with praise and worship the moment he moved beyond the infirmary. Flocked by admirers and supporters at every step. After all, he was crazy enough to reach out to Kingdom Hearts itself and to channel it with his own will. AND he survived the experience.

Many asked him what it was like, what was Kingdom Hearts, and he calmly answered each question. Some insisted he was now a god to be worshipped, but he calmly denied each claim.

He was just Sora.

Just himself, a mortal boy just like the rest.

King Mickey had even given him the title of Keyblade Master because of his bravery and resourcefulness- not to mention how he suddenly knew much more about the Keyblade than any other master alive thanks to Kingdom Hearts -and his popularity soared from the boy everyone loathed but tolerated to an absolute candidate for future King.

He accepted it all, but only with the saddest look in his eyes, and a smile that never reached them.

Kairi found him one day sitting in the rose garden, the very same bench she had consoled him on at the very beginning of their journeys. He was staring at a blue rose in his hand, looking pensive and... Kairi couldn't believe the mournful look that creeped at the edges of his expression. It was like he was listening to the wind for a sign of truth, or expecting the rose in his hand to leap up and show him some answer.

He glanced up from the rose and smiled- Kairi noted that his eyes still didn't do the same - "Hey Kairi." he patted the bench "Wanna sit with me?"

She followed along, leaning up against him. She still looked troubled, and when he noticed he quietly wrapped an arm around her. For a moment, she closed her eyes and buried her face in his neck, taking note of his light, warm, sea-salty smell. He was so comfortably warm that she wanted to cuddle even closer, but she was already as close as she could be. She murmured "Why aren't you happy?"

Sora blinked, then leaned against her and held her tighter "Hey, I'm happy-"

"Not truly."

Sora chuckled "Oh yeah, can't fool a Princess of Heart..." He took a deep breath and sighed "I dunno... I don't need any of this-"

"You deserve all of this after the garbage you've survived."

"Well..." He looked at his rose again, then picked a white one to go with. He stood, Kairi curiously following his movement as he walked to Ventus's tomb.

He then very calmly laid the two flowers over Ventus's heart "I heard you." He whispered, gingerly patting the flowers and ensuring they would stay on the glass.

"Ven?" Kairi asked.

Sora shook his head, eyes brimming with tears "You, Riku... Mom, dad... Ven, Aqua, Terra... EVERYONE." He leaned against the glass staring at nothing. When Kairi was about to question his description, he explained "Kingdom Hearts is the gathering place of every heart in exsistence, all the connections and memories and feelings of every person that has ever existed. I heard so many people and felt what they felt, but mostly I heard all of you..." A few tears splattered onto the glass "Now that I can process the things you all felt and thought about me... I'm so sorry." He shook lightly as he sobbed "I'm so sorry."

Kairi helped him stand taller "MASTER Sora," she said very firmly, like a parent addressing a child "You are not who you were before, and you have no reason to be obsessed over the past. We can't change any of it, so the only right way through things is looking forward. Look down at the path ahead instead of at your footprints."

Sora blinked, then smiled and wiped away his tears "Yeah, I guess you're right."

He looked at Ventus, still peaceful in death, but there seemed to be more of a smile to his expression now. He then said quietly "By the way... Thank you, Ven."

Kairi grinned "I'm pretty sure he feels the same."

Sora's smile faded, and he rubbed the glass over Ven's face as if to stroke it "But you didn't need to give your life for me, you know that, but you still planned it anyways-"

"HE WHAT?!" Kairi shrieked.

Sora winced a little, then explained "He... Well, we woke him up at the wrong time. I was still hateful and and Aqua and Terra were still gone. He's always been very receptive to others emotions, and... My attitude back then did not help him with his trauma at all. I made him worse. My hatred out balanced you and Riku's compassion by huge amounts. Thanks to that, he became really depressed. I mean REALLY depressed. While I had anger to go with my sorrow, all he had was a bottomless pit of regret. He knew he wasn't who he was all those years ago."

Sora started crying again "All he wanted was to be with his friends again, to turn back time and spend eternity with them just as he was, wipe away all of the gulit and sorrow. So- at somepoint, I really don't know exactly when -he decided that he was going to kill himself."

"How do you know?!" Kairi snapped at him, not wanting to hear such things.

Sora leaned over and held her tight "Kingdom Hearts had memories, thoughts. All of that was poured into me. They're fading now, but I can still remember you, Riku, and Ven. I might remember forever..."

He sighed, and continued "Anyways, he wanted to kill himself, but he wasn't going to do it any old way. He decided he was going to spend his last breath ensuring that I lived longer than he did. He didn't know how he was going to do that, but he was. He wasn't scared- well, he was scared of my reaction -rather, he was welcoming. He figured if he died he would either see Terra and Aqua again or he would only have to wait a little longer for them."

There was silence as Kairi took the news in. If only she had realized he had such secrets. She suddenly felt terrible: she had spent so much time trying to improve Sora's behavior she didn't notice Ven's troubles.

Sora picked up his roses again, deliberately stabbing his hand with the thorns. He said firmly "I'm promising I'll never be that hateful again." He held them out to Kairi "You want to promise him something?"

"Prick myself with a rose and vow whatever?" She asked. Sora nodded "One to hold forever."

She thought for a moment, and left and grabbed a rose of her own- pinkish cream -and grabbed Sora's small bundle "I promise I will try as hard as I can to pay attention to everyone. No one will be left in sadness. Not if I can help it."

It hurt, and it felt a little gross holding the blood-covered roses in her hand, but Kairi knew she was going to hold to this promise. She handed Sora the roses back, summoned a small vase, and replaced the roses inside with some water. She set it down at their feet, and shook Sora's hand while healing it

"Promises we'll keep beyond our dying breath, right?"

Sora nodded, smiling- it still didn't reach his eyes.

This bothered Kairi the rest of the day.

Still so fucking happy thirteen finally got up. Anyways, two more chapters and we're done. Damn, I'm gonna finish today... O_O