Finally! Gah, I am so lazy. :I Now this has to have be my most favorite chapter of them all to write. ^^ I've decided there will be an epilogue kind of thing next chapter to close it all up. c:

Be warned: Major fluff ahead. :I

Closure

Darkness enveloped Xehanort's body with writhing claws. His face was frozen in a breathless gasp of horror as Riku withdrew the X-blade from his chest, emotionless. Xehanort staggered forward a step, reaching out with a shaking hand towards Riku. The dark tendrils snaked around his arm. Soon he was completely enshrouded with a cloud of shadows. They pulsed around him with a sort of dormant power until they released their grip on him to float off to the now clearing skies and evaporate.

Grey hair transformed into brown locks. Amber eyes slowly closed and reopened to reveal familiar blue ones. A single pink heart imbued with grey and black followed the darkness's trail and disappeared. His knees buckled and he began a quick descent to the ground. Aqua quickly cut in and caught him under his arms, silently crying into his shoulder as she did.

"Terra!"

At the sound of the long lost name, he blinked a few times and straightened up in her arms.

"...Aqua?"

His voice sounded a bit hoarse, as if it had gone unused for years. She tightened her grip around his waist, burying her face in the spot between his shoulder and neck where his brown locks lightly brushed her blue ones.

"I thought I had lost you forever..."

He lifted his arms, his eyes widening slightly as he flexed his fingers slowly. His arms wrapped themselves around her waist and pulled her into him. He took a deep breath in and closed his eyes, both rejoicing in his newfound freedom and taking in her scent. Even if he had been in control of his body before, he still hadn't seen her for over eleven long years. Sure, there had been her armor, but it didn't contain any part of her like his had. And he hadn't been the one talking to it; that was Xemnas.

And his armor... He vaguely recalled meeting a young boy, one he now realized had bore an uncanny resemblance to Vanitas, and challenging him. He hadn't been the one he chose, but he proved himself worthy of the Keyblade. Perhaps not all of him had stayed within Xehanort's control. But now it seemed that all of him was in one piece.

"Aqua..." He rested his chin atop her head gently. His voice was quiet and right next to her ear. "I thought I had lost you too, and it was my fault. I always wished I could look for you and Ven without-"

She pulled away from him suddenly with a fierce look on her face.

"I can't believe you would say that!"

Terra looked at Aqua in confusion, mouth slightly open as he tried to find the right words. He couldn't find any, because he wasn't even sure what he had done wrong in the first place. Well, within their short conversation anyways.

"...what?" he managed out. His confused state considerably lessened Aqua's harsh glare into an angry pout. Why did girls have to be so confusing?

"I can't believe you would say it was your fault and that you were more worried about us than yourself after all you went through! I mean, it's sw- nice and all, and I'm happy you care, but you should have been thinking of yourself, you know-" She was cut off by Terra's laughter. After blinking a few times, she narrowed her sharp blue eyes at him.

"This is funny?" Terra saw her dangerous look and knew better than to keep laughing. He struggled to suppress it, a few chuckles escaping here and there.

"It's just... you're still you, Aqua. Not only do you look the same, but you're you." Aqua frowned at his words. Terra motioned with his hands in front of him in some sort of peace offering.

"I- I don't mean that in a bad way! I'm- I'm glad... you didn't change." She seemed surprised for a moment before smiling softly. Before she could say anything sappy like "I'm glad you didn't change too" or anything, Terra felt the need to give a relieved and somewhat frustrated murmur under his breath.

"Oy, you are such a girl sometimes..." He automatically regretted it when Aqua put her hands on her hips.

"What's that supposed to mean? And what, I'm not a girl sometimes?" Riku, who had been standing by almost idly with the χ-blade in hand, began laughing at their little spat as well. He could see so many similarities between the two and Sora and Kairi.

"You too Riku?" she sighed in resignation. Watching both boys laugh, she couldn't help but eventually give in to it too. When the laughter died down, Aqua turned to Riku.

"What about Sora?" She was genuinely worried and seemed a bit guilty for not attending to him first.

"Already taken care of." Riku tossed aside an empty Megalixer with his free hand, motioning to the boy lying on the ground next to him. Apparently Riku had dragged him over during the moment of privacy he gave the two. He was no longer Vanitas, but all Sora. Instead of being wounded, he just seemed extremely exhausted even while unconscious.

"But what of Vanitas?" Aqua was serious once again.

"I think Xion took care of that." He looked at his friend and gave a tiny smile.

"I-is she ok?" Roxas limped over with his arm around Naminé's shoulders for support. Donald, Goofy, and Mickey were close behind them.

"Is Xion ok?" he demanded, pulling out of Naminé's grasp, still clutching his stomach a little.

"...I don't know." Riku closed his eyes in regret, fingers tightening around the hilt of the X-blade. Roxas tried to bite back stinging tears without much success. Naminé kneeled by his side comfortingly as he clenched a hand against the ground and leaned over in pain.

"I... I lost them... again..."

xxx

Xion felt the world shift around her, the air becoming normal and daylight falling on her face between her bangs. She breathed in the sweet scent of flowers, wrinkling her nose as something tickled it. Her hand automatically flew to her face but instead was caught immediately by whatever was in front of her. She suddenly realized she was still wrapped in the arms of whoever had saved her. She almost didn't want to open her eyes, because she was afraid her savior might disappear and the moment would end. But curiosity won her over in the end, and she opened her eyes to search for those of her savior. Her eyes first found the edges of a black coat and then trailed up to the skin it covered. She saw flashes of familiar dark violet and crimson.

"Axel!" she whispered joyously, gripping him tightly and searching for emerald eyes with wet ones. She could feel him shift ever so slightly. His jade eyes fluttered open slowly, looking down at Xion.

"...Xion?" His voice was soft for once, sounding exhausted.

"...Xion..." he breathed out, finding the strength to pull her closer.

"You saved me again, Axel..." she whispered into his chest.

"What are talking about?" he questioned. Her words had been quiet, but Axel had keen hearing. Xion pushed away slightly to be able to look up at him easily.

"You saved me, Axel. From the darkness back there. I pushed Ventus's darkness back into his heart, but it cast me away instead..." Xion shuddered at the thought of being lost in perpetual darkness. It was difficult to do with Axel's warmth radiating off his body.

"Well... I thought you saved me. So I guess now we're even." That famous smirk of his fell lightly on his lips. Xion shook her head.

"We aren't 'even' though... Even if we both saved each other in a way, you still saved Roxas and I, and Sora." Xion smiled back at him with determination written on her face.

"You're not going to let that go, are you? Well, I guess I'll have to find some way for you to repay me if you won't let it go." Axel shrugged casually while Xion became thoughtful once again.

"But how did we save each other...?"

Axel took a hand from her waist to point at her heart.

"Even if things change, we'll never be apart-"

"...as long as we remember each other," she finished softly, recalling that day, smiling a bit at the memory as well as Axel's uncanny ability to answer questions so vaguely. Roxas had wondered what would happen if they had all run off together. She thought perhaps that was his way of asking if they would even want to run away with him at all.

Xion was pulled from the memories by Axel's hand in front of her face. A tiny lavender flower was pressed between his fingers as he rotated his wrist to examine it curiously. Xion watched the flower in interest as well.

"Aster tataricus..." Axel murmured, emerald eyes still fixed on the soft petals. His eyes looked past the flower for a moment to see Xion's quizzical look.

"Forget-me-not." He grinned slightly, opening his palm to pass her the flower. She brought a hand up to gently take it in her own palm. Her thumb pressed into the leaf gingerly as she stroked its dainty petals.

"...Beautiful, isn't it?" he murmured serenely, jaded eyes wandering from the flower to her face, waiting for her response. Xion opened her mouth to agree but found Axel watching her with such a strange, peaceful gaze it made her hesitate.

"...Yes." He continued to be quiet for a few moments before suddenly reverting back to the mischievous and upbeat Axel familiar to her.

"Hey Xion," he called playfully, letting the same smirk play on his lips, making a smile tug at the corners of her mouth at his cheerfulness.

"Yes, Axel?" she called back, watching his emerald eyes.

"I think I've decided how you can pay me back."

Before Xion could react, Axel's hand flew to her face and pulled her lips to his. She could actually feel the smirk on her lips, and how strange it was for it not to be her own. For a moment she was surprised and left Axel hanging in expectation with emerald eyes closed. Then she slid her hands over his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck as she kissed him back, letting her fingers get caught in his tangle of fiery hair. Both his hands cradled her face delicately and stroked their fingers against her soft skin. His smirk faded into a soft, normal smile, and her lips curved up to match his. She managed a deep breath before coming back into the passionate kiss with sapphire eyes closed, the sharp scent of cinnamon and flowers lingering in her nose and lungs. Vaguely Xion thought she heard someone talking, or rather yelling, but she was too immersed in Axel's kiss and touch to take much notice. Perhaps Axel had heard it too but chose to ignore it, because he simply pulled her closer as he ran his long fingers through her raven hair. It seemed to last for an eternity, but eventually they had to tear apart from each other with chests heaving.

"Axel... how exactly did we save each other?" Xion spoke quietly, opening her eyes for them to be locked with Axel's.

"Hm..." Axel seemed to be debating with himself on whether to tell her his thoughts or not, and she could tell it was mainly because he enjoyed keeping her guessing.

"You know that your heart was inside me, right?"

His light breath puffed against her cheek. Xion felt a blush creep over her cheeks and looked down a bit sheepishly.

"Mmhmm..."

"Well, I think you just returned the favor for me. Not to mention that perhaps..." He tilted her chin up with a single finger so she looked into his eyes again. "...you might have rubbed off on me a lot during all that time."

"While I was inside you?" Her voice seemed tiny and quiet even to her when compared to Axel's confident one.

"I think it started before that." His smirk came back and pressed against the corner of her mouth and her cheek gently.

"I'll be just fine without a heart- I got to have one again for a while, thanks to you," he whispered in her ear.

"You still have it," she whispered back.

xxx

There was a bright flash of light in a planter a ways away from them. Roxas looked up in its direction, pushing himself from the ground slowly. Riku walked over to it cautiously with Roxas following behind him as fast as he could. Riku peered through the flowers and saw streaks of black through their stalks.

"Xion!"

He let the X-blade dematerialize and ran to help her but stopped a few feet from the edge of the planter. Roxas pushed back his pain to run to where Riku had.

"Xion...? Xion!" As he neared he could see spikes of red sticking out of the flowers. "Axel!" Roxas looked ready to jump into the bed of flowers and onto his friends happily, but Riku stopped him with an arm without even turning around. Roxas looked past Riku's arm to find what he gesturing to with his other hand.

"Umm..." Roxas flushed at the sight and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. His hand dropped to his side as he turned to Riku. "I think... I'm gonna go, er, over there. I'll talk to them when they're... done..."

He turned and quickly walked a few steps away, leaving Riku to stand there alone. Naminé came behind him and set a dainty hand on his shoulder. He flinched slightly at the gentle touch, but he recognized it as Naminé's.

"Riku..." she started quietly but trailed off. He chuckled sadly to himself. He brought a hand up to lightly brush her fingers with his and let them set there.

"It seems that every girl I like gets her heart taken by another guy. Literally." He wanted to smack himself in the forehead for making the joke but instead just laughed quietly.

"There's someone out there for you, Riku. You just... haven't found her yet."

Riku sighed and took his hand from on top of Naminé's.

"Yeah, that's what they all say, huh?"

"I know you will." She stood on the tips of her toes and kissed him on the cheek lightly. "You're a great guy, Riku. I know you'll find someone perfect for you."

The smallest blush spread where she had kissed him. He turned to her with a small smile. "Thanks, Naminé."

Naminé nodded as she smiled softly and walked back to where Roxas stood by Sora alongside Donald, Goofy, and Mickey, throwing a last glance over her shoulder before turning away.

I hope you people can be happy enough with that. x) And the whole aster tataricus thing, if you don't know- In Japanese floriography, Xion means forget-me-not or remembrance, which was one of the reasons Nomura liked the name.

On a side note, writing a kissing scene is fun but takes a while, you know? XD Poor Roxas. And even more poor Riku. ;3;

So yeah. Your reviews and support are much appreciated. c: Final chapter coming up soon. :'c