Thank-yous: to Riilustra - Your Sweetest SIN and SorenDevin for reviewing.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise.

Enjoy the read.

XXV. Home
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Ven couldn't agree more to the saying "home is where the heart is".

The Skylers household had seen many hilarious and unfortunate occurrences, and the presence of Roxas and Sora only made things wilder. Despite that, Ven had to admit that he felt cosy and comfortable. Never would he trade the feeling with anything else.

In the midst of his reminiscence, his mind homed in on this particular event he was sure he wouldn't forget.

"Mom, is breakfast ready?"

"I can't find my lunch box…"

"Can I have two hundred munny to buy snacks?"

"Huh? We have no milk. Mom, can I—"

"Roxas! Sora!" Mrs. Skylers finally snapped. The kitchen was spacious enough for five, but with the children running around the effective working space had been quartered from its original size. "Please, just sit down for now, okay? We'll sort things out one by one."

Terrified, Roxas and Sora complied and seated themselves at the table. Their silence made Mr. Skylers, who just entered the dining room, wonder. When he asked, Ven explained everything; many of his sentences were punctuated by his mother's grunts of approval.

"But mom knows everything," Sora pouted. "She knows where things are and can always find them for us."

"Son, she's been awake since five o'clock, you see," the father reasoned. "Ventus and I will help you today. Let your mother do housework peacefully."

"But we—"

"Try to give her a break."

Having run out of retort, Sora nodded in defeat. Like it or not, he would have to turn to his father and Ven for matters unrelated to housework the rest of the day so as to ease the mother's mind.

That night, just before dinner, Roxas and Sora came strolling down the stairs while calling for their mother, their expressions slightly uneasy. It was evident that they were looking for something whose whereabouts they thought only she knew.

However, upon seeing Ven and the father in the living room, they stopped. They remembered what they had been told earlier this morning: they were to consult them. "Let your mother do housework peacefully," their father had said.

Roxas approached Mr. Skylers who smiled because it was the first time in ages the twins asked him for help. However, that smile would soon be wiped off of his face…

… for Roxas said, "Dad, where's mom? We need to find something."

Ven burst into laughter seeing his father's wide-eyed, incredulous expression.

He could only miss those moments now that everybody else was in the hospital, watching over Roxas who was down with fever. He learned that home and house were two different things; it was the family, the people, who made a house, a home.

That night, he prayed that Roxas would recover soon, and for them all to return home to reintroduce liveliness and happiness to this house, thereby making it a home again.