I couldn't help but burst out laughing as Sora smiled and stood slowly to get his precious food. I quickly got up to follow him as we grabbed the tray of mozza sticks and headed towards the little seating area behind the kitchen.

"Okay, you sit with the sticks and I'll grab some drinks, but I swear if they are all gone by the time I get back there will be hell to pay."

I walked to the kitchen, grabbed a few cans of pop from the fridge, and placed them on the counter. I was checking on the pizza before heading back when I heard Sora speak.

"So you and Riku are married eh? It all makes sense now…"

I chuckled as I grabbed the cans off the counter and headed back over to Sora.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Well he always was crazy protective of you and said you were family. I just never knew he meant through marriage."

I sat on the couch next to Sora and gave him a nudge.

"Shut up. I can't help it that we were tortured by the ones who gave us life. But I do wonder what ever happened to those pictures."

I handed Sora his pop, I opened mine and took a sip. Sora had been playing with the tab on his pop can and seemed to be thinking about something.

"Having a hard time thinking of an answer? Jeeze Sora, how many girls did you date?" I joked.

It was his turn to chuckle.

"Well, no surprise, but it was Selphie. I don't just kiss girls I'm not in a relationship with...but if we are getting serious, I suppose it's Kairi."

"Ah…don't know what else I excepted. Seems like it was just yesterday you guys started dating."

"Seems like a lifetime ago at the same time, but in a good way."

I nodded and grabbed a mozza stick. I didn't want to get too comfy on the couch so I sat on the edge ready to make a quick exit for the pizzas.

"You know you don't have to answer seriously, but you did ask the question," Sora said.

"Huh?"

"You're practically sitting on the edge of the couch and you look extremely uncomfortable: like you're about to bolt. I'm guessing it's because there's a secret there."

"Oh, sorry. I was honestly thinking about the pizza burning."

Ding.

"Speaking of which, you stay here, I'm going to go get it."

Happy for the excuse, I got back off the couch. I know I had asked the question, but I had hoped Sora would've gotten distracted enough with my Riku story not to ask me further after I had heard his response. Knowing Kairi was his first real relationship just added insult to injury when thinking about my feelings for Sora. I felt almost embarrassed that I ever even entertained the fact that he and I could be an item. She was his first love. Only a cruel person who would break up that kind of romance.

As I grabbed the oven mitts I heard Sora ask, "So was it Roxas?"

I was a little stunned. It hadn't even crossed my mind that he would be bold enough to just blurt that out.

"Well, I suppose you made a good point. I did ask the question," I said as I opened the oven and took out Sora's pizza. "And you did a pretty good job guessing, but you'd be wrong."

I plated Sora's pizza and went back for mine. I was purposely hoping he lost interest the longer I took but I knew he wouldn't.

"Roxas and I never dated, which I'm pretty sure I told you. If not, I definitely implied it. But I will reiterate: we were never a thing. Only just friends."

"See, you say that, but I don't believe you."

I closed the oven after taking out my pizza and deeply exhaled. He was pressing a sensitive topic and I was trying to keep my emotions in check.

"Why would you say that?"

"Well, it just seems like whenever he gets brought up, you get really uncomfortable."

"It was a time of my life I'm trying to move past. Is that hard to understand?"

I sat beside Sora on the couch as there really wasn't any other spot to sit. I placed our pizzas down and waited for him to say something.

"I can appreciate that there are things that I don't need to know, or I don't have a right to know," he began. "But with everything happening with the Organization, I just need to make sure that if push comes to shove, if Roxas comes around, you won't just run after him and never look back."

"Is this what was bothering you this morning?"

I was deflecting his question because I honestly hadn't even thought of that.

"Well…I guess. Sure, let's go with that."

"No, now you're avoiding the question."

"Oh, so you were avoiding my question?"

"Good God why do we do this all the time?" I huffed.

I was now sitting with my arms crossed completely facing Sora, and he had his hands on his hips. You could tell by our physical stature that we were both in arguing mode, so I took a moment to decompress before I spoke again.

"Listen. You said you don't wat to push me, and it's going to take time for me to feel comfortable talking to you about this. I feel almost like I'm ratting on your brother or something when you ask me for the dirty details about Roxas, and that's not okay. If you want unity between you and I, you've got it as long as you stop with this whole 'attack me to get answers' bologna. If you want honesty, then just like I'd expect you to go after Kairi if she was in danger, you can expect I'd go after Roxas. The main difference between our scenarios is that I would look back. I would make sure you're okay before I did any crazy shit. As creepy as it sounds, you're my number one right now, okay?"

I reached out and grabbed his hand at this point, which seemed to throw him off guard and caused his tough exterior to crack a little.

"Besides, I'm rather logical if you haven't noticed. Everyone keeps saying our bond will save the worlds, so why would I run after anyone if it put you at risk? Staying with you could very well mean they will be saved anyway. No need to be so worried about me hoping on board with some other dude okay?"

I smiled and squeezed his hand to indicate I was joking. He smiled in response and squeezed back.

"Okay. I can accept that as answer."

"Good! Now, your turn to come clean about what the hell was up your ass this morning. Because honestly I thought you were going to feed me to the dragons and I had no idea why."

I grabbed a piece of my pizza with my free hand as I asked the question.

"Honestly I had bad dreams about you and Roxas all night. I really just got it in my head that with all this Organization nonsense you'd turn dark or something and peace out."

I choked on my pizza.

"Seriously, turn dark?" I managed to say when my coughing fit ended. "Bro, I've wandered in the darkness, I've done my time there, and I'm never going back. I'm all for saving worlds, not ending them. Brightest heart bullshit, remember? Can't let that go to waste."

Sora grabbed his pizza and took a bite. He responded with a full moth of food.

"Give yourself some credit. You're not totally awful."

"Okay, first of all, ew. Chew and swallow. Second, you're a big talker about self confidence with no support for yourself there. Was it not just five minutes ago that you said I was going to go galivanting off into the darkness with someone I haven't been on good terms with for years and leave you all b our lonesome?"

"Maybe…"

"So, shut up."

Sora put his pizza down and took mine from my hands. I protested, but he just responded by grabbing my now free hand and telling me to look at him.

"Let's promise something to each other, right now."

I looked at him like he was crazy for a moment, then rolled my eyes.

"Okay, what's the promise?"

"No matter how bad things get, and no matter who we see along the way, we will always come back to each other, and support each other when it's needed. So that means no leaving until it's been okayed by the other, no hurting secrets, good food to help us remember what happiness is…"

"So you want me to agree to keep cooking for you?"

"Shhhhhh, you're ruining the emotional vibe here. Just, promise that we stick together through all of this as partners okay? I know it's going to be hard with all this doubt nonsense, so can we just give the other the benefit of the doubt until we discuss things? And we support the other's decisions and feelings all the time?"

"I mean, I have no issue with this, but isn't that what friends just do?"

"So, we're friends now? Even with my sometimes perma-preppy attitude?"

Sora had a large smile on his face and I chuckled.

"Yes, I suppose, as long as you're willing to admit to me, but lie to the rest of the world, that my heart is kinda pure. I have a reputation to uphold here."

It was his turn to laugh as he nodded. He broke our grasp and held out a pinky. I followed suit and we locked fingers.

"Okay! I think mushy bonding time needs to come to an end," I joked. "Let's watch some movies since I don't think we can mentally handle playing Mario Party and ruining this friendship we have just affirmed, and I want to eat my damn pizza."

"Sounds like a plan to me!"

We decided on a few movies we would try to watch as we entered a food coma. First on the list was Inception, then The Greatest Showman, then the Avengers. I had never seen Inception, and Sora had never seen The Greatest Showman, so we figured this was a good trade off so that if we didn't make it to the last movie no one got upset. I thoroughly enjoyed Inception, and had a really hard time calming myself, trying not to ask a million questions about "Is this real life?" when it was done (poor Sora). He was just as bad during The Greatest Showman.

"Why is he singing now? What are they doing? Why are they afraid to be together? Why can't she take a hint?"

He was firing off questions so quickly that it got to a point where I had to stop.

"Listen mi amigo, I was quiet so we could watch your movie and I could understand it, but the more you talk the less I want to answer and the more you miss. Please hold your questions until the end," I stated.

"Okay, just one more question and then I'll stop. Why is this whole love story relevant between the trapeze artist and that rich guy? I thought you said it was all about the circus dude?"

I had stopped the movie right when Anne and Phillip were about to have their love song.

"Well it is about P.T. Barnum, but this is just a little extra something. It shows some of the shit that was happening at the time. I will say that it would be a good movie even without it, but it kind of ties Phillip into the story for later on. Besides, this next song is flipping fantastic and my celebrity husband rocks his singing skills so shut up and enjoy it."

I reached for the remote as Sora managed to sneak in one more question.

"You're really into music, aren't you?"

I fiddled with trying to find the play button as I answered.

"How can you not be? It transports you to a new place, it let's you convey so many feelings without overcomplicating the scenario, it wraps around you and let's you live in a little bubble of awesomeness for a few minutes. It's like, the greatest thing ever. So shhhhh, because this song is amazing."

Sora's POV

I was watching Yumi more than I was watching the movie. She was so into it, and I really had no idea what was happening. When I heard her reaction to my questions though, I decided I should try and give the movie my undivided attention. The song that the duo sang was actually pretty good. The lyrics were relatable, the acrobatics were great, and I got to grasp some of the things Yumi was saying about music. I was pretty enveloped in the scene as I felt like I was surrounded by the melody. I watched the rest of the musical with the same kind of dedication and I found I really liked it.

When it was all said and done, I got up with our dishes and brought them all to the kitchen as Yumi changed the movie. On my way back to the couch I snuck a long gaze at her to just take in the moment. She was squatting before the DVD player and swearing as she was trying to get the disc out. She had on a pair of white and black flannel pajama shorts and a long-sleeved blue shirt, and her hair was down and a bit wavy. Before I could count my stare as creepy, she stood up and I caught a glimpse of the scar on her leg from the bamboo earlier.

"Can I be the one who takes the injury next time? I'm tired of seeing you hurt," I joked as she came back to the couch.

"Nope. I'm not sure if you noticed but I freaked out when you were on the floor earlier so can you imagine if it was like, blood I was seeing coming out of you? We'd be screwed."

She flopped on the couch and kicked her feet up on my lap. I took the opportunity to grab her leg and start inspecting the scar.

"Uh this was not an invitation to start feeling up my calves!" she exclaimed as I was looking.

"Oh hush. You act like I've never inspected your wounds. If you won't let me get hurt, I'm going to analyze your booboos like a freaking M.D. until I am satisfied."

She huffed and laid back on the couch. Her scar looked pretty deep, but it did look like she had casted a cure on herself. At least she was getting smarter about using her magic for healing.

"How are you going to be able to keep a pinky promise to me about seeing this mission out if you're getting all injured missy?"

"Sorry mom, I'll be more careful next time I fall off a dragon's back."

"Darn tootin!"

She laughed and I put her leg down. I grabbed a nearby blanket and draped it over her body before the opening trailers ended.

"There. Now you won't catch a cold. I felt the goosebumps on your legs."

"Ugh it's a curse. I get too hot if I sleep in pants but until I'm in bed I always freeze. Thanks."

I smiled at her as the opening scene for the movie played.

Before I knew it, I must have dozed off because I woke up to the sounds of crashing on the movie. I looked over at Yumi and she was fast asleep with her head resting on the arm of the couch. I snuck out from underneath her and turned off the film. I turned back to Yumi and she was curled in a little ball underneath the blanket. I couldn't blame her for falling into such a deep sleep: she had worked her ass off and went through some pretty serious leg trauma. I was honestly surprised she lasted so long.

I walked back over to her and decided I would put her in bed. It would definitely be more comfortable than the couch, and I could man the ship while she rested. I put my arms underneath her knees and back and began to lift her. As I pulled her up, she turned and snuggled into my shoulder. I smiled at her sleeping form and carried her down the little hallway to her room. I placed her on the bed and managed to move the covers around her so that she was tucked in for a peaceful sleep. Assuming she would be good for the evening I turned to head out when I heard a noise come from her.

"Hmm…..Sora…he's too good for me…."

I blushed as I walked out of her room. True or not, I was a little embarrassed to think that she may be dreaming of me, and that she thought I was too good for her. She was wrong of course, as it was the other way around, but I wouldn't read too far into it.

I grabbed a few blankets, brushed my teeth, and headed into the cockpit. I got comfortable in the captain's chair and watched a few stars fly by. We would be in Neverland in a few hours so I eventually let myself doze off again as I waited for the ship to tell me we were there.

Yumi's POV

DREAM SEQUENCE

I was sitting in the garden at the old mansion in Twilight Town, mindlessly tending to the flowers that filled the area. I really didn't know how I got here, or why dream me thought this was the place to be, but I was calm and comfortable so I really didn't mind.

"Yumi, it's so nice to see you again," a woman's voice said from behind me.

I spun around to see my infamous friend in white.

"Namine. It's nice to see you too."

My heart stung a little seeing her. She was a good friend, and I did owe her a lot with everything she had done for Riku, Sora, and I. But I also knew she was the reason Roxas and I had hit a rough patch, and I was still trying to work through that.

"Would you mind coming with me?" she asked as she pointed towards the door.

I nodded and followed her into the mansion. We walked into the foyer and she began to ascend the stairs. I knew we were headed to the white room, so I let my eyes wander as we walked upstairs. The mansion was clean from all the dust and grime gone since I had been there with "DiZ." It seemed odd that I would dream this, but I knew there must have been a hidden meaning to it. With Namine being here, there was no doubt in my mind that this was more than a dream: it was a vision.

We entered the white room and Namine motioned for me to sit in the chair at the head of the table closest to the door. I took her silent suggestion and sat, and she took a chair to my left.

"So, what have you been up to?" I tried to ask casually.

I mean really, how do you ask "What the hell are you doing in my dream, still alive?" in a polite way.

"I've been doing some great things actually. Being a whole person of my own," she responded.

I made a quizzical face and she gigged.

"I know you must have a lot of questions for me, so please, ask."

"Uh…..seriously?"

She nodded.

"Alright….what do you mean you've become your own person?"

"I...don't really know how it happened, but I'm sure you've seen it. All who were, and are still, connected to the Organization, have come back to life. We've been given a chance to live our own lives, free of our somebodies. It's been quite the few months."

"Months? So you've been around for awhile now?"

She nodded.

"And…you're all back? Even if you merged with your somebody?"

"Yes. All of us…even Roxas. And he's alright," she answered.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Are you two somewhere together?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"No. Roxas and I share a common mission, but we agreed it wouldn't make sense for us to be together. It's too dangerous."

"Why?"

She frowned.

"We're still working out the details. We know someone has brought the Organization back, and wants to use them for some ultimate purpose. We assume it's for Kingdom Hearts, but we aren't sure. While he is out looking for answers I'm in hiding, trying to find out what we can do to stop the Organization. That's when I found out you and Sora are on the case, and thought we should talk. Can you tell me what you know?"

I shifted in my seat. She really didn't answer my question, but I knew it would be in my best interest to tell her what I knew.

"Honestly, we are in the same position you are in. I don't know much. One night I was with Riku, Kairi, and Sora, and the heartless came to our island. We were defending ourselves when the Organization abducted Riku and Kairi. Now Sora and I are trying to find them and we keep running into members as we visit worlds to relock them. We've gathered that they are working together and that there is some ultimate plan where they need Sora and I, but there's also this prophecy where we share some stellar bond…"

She perked up when I mentioned the prophecy so I stopped.

"Is this the prophecy from Yen Sid?" she asked.

I nodded in response.

"This could make my research so much easier. Has the bond been working?"

Again, I nodded.

"Yumi, this is amazing. We may not have all the pieces, but this is a huge step forward in my research. I fear though, that you know what this means when the time comes."

"….what?"

"The end of the prophecy. When it discusses the sacrifice. Do you know what it will be?"

I paused.

"It said in the book that it will be an 'ultimate sacrifice.' I assume it will mean giving up something I can't live without. Whether that be my purity or my life in the world of light. I know it won't be easy, but I'll do it to save the world."

She pursed her lips.

"You sound willing to make the sacrifice, but are you sure you'll be able to do it? Will your loved one let you?"

Before I could even consider her response, the door to the room opened. I turned to my right to see none other than Roxas walking in.

"There are my two favourite ladies," he said with a smile.

I looked from his face to Namine's and saw the soft glow on her face when she caught his eye. Again, my heart stung, but it also swelled at the same time. To see how they were so in love with each other reminded me that he wasn't mine to pine after, and I was becoming more and more okay with it. Plus, they were just so damn cute together.

"Is it time already?" Namine asked him.

"Yup. Poor ol' Sora is roaming around in an early 19th century New York of all places. I think it's time we bring her to him."

"I'm assuming you're talking about me," I interjected. "And you can blame me for his whereabouts. We watched a movie that was located there so I guess he's still thinking about it."

Roxas laughed.

"Well I'm glad you two had fun this evening," he joked as he wiggled his eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes and stood from my chair.

"Alright lover boy, just because you are seeing your girlfriend doesn't mean you get to pretend the rest of the world is in love and coupled up. Boys and girls can be just friends without feelings. Now take me to where I have to go as I'm assuming it's important."

I walked over towards him and stopped before I got all the way there. I turned around to face the girl still at the table.

"Namine, thanks for this talk. I'm glad to see we aren't the only ones trying to figure this out. Feel free to pop by any time and we can compare notes. I'll make sure I'm ready when the time comes for whatever I have to do, I promise."

I stopped to take a quick peek at Roxas before turning back to her.

"I'll, uh, give you two a moment."

With the pair blushing and no longer making eye contact I walked out the door and took a deep breath. I was coming to terms with her and Roxas being together. I attributed part of it coming from Sora's pestering and another to me understanding how annoying I must have been to be pining after some dude who was already taken. I was young, I was in love, and I was getting over it. Roxas would always be special to me, but it was time I stopped letting him control my feelings.

Roxas walked out of the room as my thought process came to an end. He motioned for me to follow as we headed towards the other side of the mansion.

"So, Namine said you guys had a good talk," he started.

"Yeah, we did. Compared some conspiracy theories, talked about life, all that jazz."

"No talks about boys or anything?"

I laughed.

"Are you asking if we gossiped about you? Because we didn't."

"No you dingus. I was checking to see if she said anything about Sora."

I snorted.

"No, she did not. Nothing that didn't pertain to the things I'm sure she told you about. Why are you so obsessive over the idea of he and I together?"

"I don't know. Think about how cute it would be. You travel the worlds and then end up together. A crime fighting power couple."

I broke into an audible laugh.

"Whatever dude. He's with Princess Kairi so like, forget that. I am a single badass chick with a Sora sidekick and that's okay by me."

We walked into the library and began our descent down the stairs into DiZ's lab.

"Listen, for what it's worth, I clearly think you two would make a cute couple. And you have my blessing."

I stopped halfway down the stairs when Roxas said that. He made it to the bottom and turned around to look at me. I was frozen at his words, but quickly regained my composure and resumed my descent.

"What?"

"Listen," I said as I walked passed him, "it's cute that you think I need your blessing, or that you're trying to get me a hook up or whatever. But at the end of the day you broke my heart, so I hold your opinions at arms length. You'll always be my homie, but I still got shit to work out with you and until that's been taken care of, back off my feelings."

His expression dropped and he followed after me. We walked into the room with the teleporter to the digital Twilight Town, and Roxas sat at DiZ's computer. He began typing and I looked around the room in silence as he did so. Everything looked the same as before, yet different. Almost like someone was actively using the room and had tidied and reorganized everything.

"You know I didn't want to hurt you. I was a dumb kid, and you know I cared about you a lot," he eventually said to me.

Never once did his eyes leave the screen, so I took my time calculating my response. What was I supposed to say, "Yeah, no worries, you're forgiven?" I think not my friend. I was surprised I had even voiced my feelings to him, but there was no turning back from it now and I knew I'd have to discuss this with him at some point.

"We'll discuss this some other time," I eventually said.

He sighed.

"You know I could just haunt your dreams forever to make you talk to me about it…."

"Listen is now really the time to fight about it? No. It's not. For all I know Sora could be dreaming about my Zac Efron and I'm missing it because we are squabbling over something that takes time to heal. So shush and take me to my potential hubby."

"Whatever, you just wanna make out with my somebody…."

Cue a mad blush on my face.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

With that, Roxas punched in a final key and a beaming light to our right came on.

"Alright, the portal is ready. Shall we?" Roxas asked.

"Is this how you always travel in the dream world?" I asked back as we headed towards the light.

"Naw, I just figured this would freak you out less," he joked as we stepped into the light.

Everything around us turned into a blinding white light and before I knew it we were standing in front of P.T. Barnum's Museum.

"He's in there just kind of roaming around. You should check on him. He's been mumbling to himself for awhile."

"Okay, sure. Not really sure what I'm supposed to say or do here but we will figure it out I suppose."

Roxas gave me a shove in the direction of the doors and I rolled my eyes. Apparently he wasn't going to tell me why I had to be here, but I just figured I should go along with it to appease everyone.

"Go, you'll know when you're in there. And I meant what I said. I think you would be awesome with him. You deserve to be happy, and so does he. But if he messes up as bad as I did I will murder him."

"Okay dad. Thanks for the advice," I joked as I was walking towards the door.

I looked over my shoulder and smiled at Roxas as I said it. With a quick salute I turned back towards the doors and headed in to see Sora.

When I walked into the building I took a moment to look around. Sora must have a very vivid imagination because the room looked exactly like it did in the movie. I worked my way into the center ring and caught a glimpse of spiky brown hair in the rafters.

"Sora, is that you?" I asked towards the sky.

As quickly as I called, the boy jumped from the rafters and slid down a rope to meet me in the center ring.

"Hey! I was wondering where you were," he said breathlessly to me as he touched the ground.

"Why? What's wrong? Are you okay?" I rambled as I looked him over.

He looked fine. No cuts, no bruises, no visible trauma.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" he responded.

'What am I supposed to say here? Your nobody sent me?'

Sora was still looking at me expectantly, so I quickly made up a response.

"Well whenever we need the other it's because we are in trouble, so I just assumed…" I trailed off.

He laughed and let go of the rope he cascaded from.

"Can't I want to be with you even when things are going well?"

I blushed and shrugged.

"Come with me, I want to show you something," he said as he grabbed my hand.

Before I could protest, he pulled me toward him, letting go of my hand and wrapping his arm around my waist, and reached out with his other hand towards the rope he came down on. With one swift tug on the rope we were moving back up towards the rafters. I quickly swung my arms around his shoulders as I feared falling, and his grip on me tightened.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't dream of letting you go," he whispered in my ear.

I got goosebumps all over. I don't know if it was the proximity to and boldness of dream Sora, or the fact that we were speeding up into the heavens on a flimsy rope, or something else I couldn't even wrap my mind around at the moment. I think Sora could sense my shift in mood because I heard him lightly chuckle. Before I could call him out on it, we swung around and landed on a rafter.

"Well that was terrifying," I joked.

"We've done worse. Don't pretend you didn't have fun."

I turned to give him a snotty response and realized the position we were still in. My arms around his neck, his arm around my waist, our faces awfully close to each other…

I immediately dropped my arms and took a step back. Dream or not, I wasn't going to cross a line.

"What did you want to show me?" I asked, hoping to bridge the awkward tension I created.

"Wha? Oh right, come this way."

Again, he grabbed my hand, and I let him. It was his dream, I needed to let him take charge so that he didn't know I knew what was happening. In the same sense, I really had to think about what Sora thought I would do in his dream. I really needed to think about how he thought I would act.

I followed him around a few sandbags and props for a few moments. I really had no idea where we were going, or how Sora had come up with this elaborate dream where we were weaving through circus props, but I followed him without fear. It was his dream so he must have a sense of things, and if it turned into a nightmare I would take care of it.

"Okay stop. I need you to close your eyes," he said as he halted.

I was confused as I had no idea what was happening, but I obliged. I felt hands covering my eyes, and I was being led to where I'm assuming this surprise was.

"Ready?" Sora asked a few moments later.

I nodded.

"Okay. One…Two…Three."