*Whistles slowly and dramatically* Here we are guys… I have decided to write that epilogue I was thinking about, but we have reached the final chapter… Let's do this.

I know I mentioned before that Naminé has been my least favorite character in this story, but I really enjoyed writing her in this chapter. All characters have their highs and lows, I suppose.

Thank you Lucerious and Salix Aurea for reviewing chapter twenty- four! Both of your reviews were fabulous, and I can't tell you how much they made me smile and encouraged me to finally finish this. Again, thank you so much! I hope you enjoy the ending.

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Room

The morning of their last day at the lakehouse dawned abnormally early. Roxas awoke to find the stars had not yet faded from the lightening sky. But when he rolled over to look at his friends, he saw that he was not even the first one awake. Sora, of course, was still snoring away, but Riku was already dressed, stoking the still-glowing embers of last night's campfire. And he heard the door to the cabin swing shut as he sat up.

Roxas got to his feet, immediately moving to help Axel carry over the pots, pans, and raised grate from the house. They were going to attempt cooking breakfast over the fire. But Axel shot him a sidelong glance as they walked over.

Very softly, he murmured, "You know, it's not too late to back out."

Roxas tried to be subtle as he shook his head. "No. I have to do this."

Axel nodded back. But they were too inconspicuous. Riku was watching them closely, clearly aware that they were up to something. But he didn't ask them anything outright as the three boys set about making breakfast. Slowly, their friends came back to life around them, roused by the smell, the sound, or the movement. Soon they were all seated around the fire once more, kicking off their last day together.

It did not go over Roxas's head that Sora was still skirting nervously around him, but he didn't draw attention to it. After all, he had a secret of his own now.

A secret that was not brought to light until breakfast was nearly over. As they all started settling back, Naminé set down her plate with something akin to a sigh. "Last day…"

They were all more than a little melancholy. This had been a wonderful vacation, but they'd all learned that they couldn't run away from their problems forever.

"It was nice while it lasted," said Fuu, and her voice had a serene edge to it none of them had ever heard from her before. "I'm never going to forget this week."

"It's not over yet," Axel said, smirking at them all. "Roxas and I have got a little adventure planned for today."

Kairi clapped her hands together gleefully. "Oh, good! I was starting to worry today would just be another day, slipping by while we all waited for it to end…"

"Deep," Sora praised teasingly, but there remained a note of something else in his voice. Roxas carefully avoided his twin's eyes.

In fact, Roxas could feel more than one pair of eyes on him. He kept his gaze fixed on the task in front of him as they all set about cleaning up the campsite, making the cabin look as tidy as possible and packing up their own belongings. Whatever Axel and Roxas were plotting, they all got the feeling it would take up most of their last day.

When at last everything appeared to be in order, they piled their bags by the front door, and Axel led them out to the forest surrounding the cabin. They'd explored a bit of it throughout the week, but this time Axel directed them toward a well-worn dirt path, which they followed until the lake was well out of sight.

Kairi whistled appreciatively, trying to take it all in. "Wow. We never went this far… Where does it come out?"

"The nearest city," Axel answered vaguely.

Naminé was starting to eye them both suspiciously. And Sora and Riku had drifted to the back of the group. Even Roxas was starting to get a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He waged a mental battle, doing his best to convince himself that this trip wasn't some passive aggressive way to get back at his brother.

No, he thought firmly. I'm doing this for me. If I'm ever going to move on with my life, I have to confront this.

The forest started to thin a little at a time. Slowly, they began to spot odd items left out here from people on this side of things. Old brick formations, molding t-shirts, and a broken-down car that had been sitting outside so long it looked rusted inside and out. And then the forest ended very abruptly, and they were standing on pavement.

They seemed to have come out on the backside of a city. Tall, albeit run-down, buildings rose up around them, shrouding the way forward in shadow. The kids who lived in the midst of Twilight Town liked to think they were tough city kids, but Roxas figured this place would make even Hayner uneasy.

"Where are we?" Fuu had put her jacket back on just for this outing. Now she wrapped her sleeves around herself, a familiar protective gesture.

Sora's face had paled, but his jaw was firmly set. Just another reminder that his brother was tougher than he thought. And his voice was sharp when he answered. "Hollow Bastion. Roxas, what are we doing?"

All of their friends, excluding Axel, stiffened at this revelation. Naminé was watching him carefully, but there was nothing judgmental or disapproving in her stare. She simply looked thoughtful. Perhaps she'd make a better therapist than he'd thought. But he tried not to linger on her. Roxas turned to his brother.

"We're going back, Sora. You don't have to come, but this is something I have to do."

Sora scoffed, exasperated. "Like I could make you do this alone."

"He won't be alone." Kairi had recovered from her shock. "We'll all be with you."

"Lead the way," said Riku.

The group walked deeper into the city, a steeliness about them now. Luckily for him, Axel and Demyx had made quite a few trips into the city during their stays at the cabin over the years. Roxas had described what he remembered, and Axel had taken in all the little details. A part of him was still skeptical that they would ever find the place. But before he knew it, they had stopped before an eerily familiar hotel. Axel raised an eyebrow at him for confirmation and he nodded, his throat dry.

"What are the chances?" the redhead murmured to himself. "Do you have any idea how many times Dem and I walked past this place?"

But no one answered him. If possible, the place was even more run-down than he remembered. He'd been young at the time, but the memories he did have were vivid. The hotel was crouched between two other, equally depressing buildings. The old stone façade was dirty, only marked as a hotel by the flickering 'Vacancy' sign above the dark front window. Without it, the place could have easily been just another tawdry bar or hostel in the midst of Hollow Bastion. Definitely not a place for children.

The seven of them glanced around at each other before moving forward as a group. The older man sitting behind the desk looked a little blind sighted by the sight of so many teenagers in his lobby. His pale eyes lingered especially on Naminé. Even dressed down as she was for this walk, there was something about the way she carried herself that made her look a little too upper-class for this place. The concierge hadn't aged well in the decade that had passed—his bones seemed to nearly poke out from under the sickly pallor of his skin, and there were dark circles under his eyes—but Roxas was surprised to note that he did remember the man. And he wasn't nearly as intimidating now that they were about the same height.

They'd been suspended in silence for more than a minute. Finally, the man cleared his throat, likely to kick them out. But before the words could make it out of his mouth, Naminé strode forward with a flip of her hair that left him speechless once more. Her smile was nearly blinding in the dim lighting of the hotel.

He shook her outstretched hand in a bit of a daze. (Vaguely, Roxas wondered how long it had been since the concierge had last slept.) "Hello. I'm Naminé Grace. This is my friend Roxas." She used her other hand to grab his arm and drag him to the front of the group, without so much as a glance back. "You might remember him and his brother Sora? About ten years ago, they watched while their mother murdered their father in one of your hotel rooms?"

Naminé's tone was nothing but pleasant, but the man's face had paled even further. In the back of the group, Riku had ducked his head to hide his smirk. "Whoa, look, miss, I already settled that mess. I'm not legally responsible for any of that."

"Oh, we know. But I'm sure you feel bad, all the same." Her overly-pleasant tone left no room for debate. "We'd like to see the room, please."

His mouth hung open for a moment, flustered. "Uh… I mean, I can't just…"

"Is anyone staying in it?" Naminé took an innocent look around, as if she wasn't aware that this place was hurting for business.

"Well, no…"

"There's no problem, then." She smiled at Roxas.

"First floor, second room down from the ice machine," he supplied. Naminé didn't meet his eyes again, but he wondered when exactly she'd guessed the purpose of this outing. He supposed confronting your past demons like this was right up her alley.

The concierge seemed to be out of arguments. He fumbled for the right set of keys in his drawer and then rose from his seat in a lurching movement. The seven teenagers followed him down the hallway, where the lighting was only slightly better. Sora's eyes swept from side to side, taking everything in. Roxas wondered if he also remembered the peeling wallpaper and musty carpeting.

The butterflies in his stomach had increased their activity. His heart was beating harder than ever. The sound of the key clicking into the lock was abnormally loud in his ears. The man let the door to the hotel room swing inward but remained in the hallway himself.

"Just don't mess anything up," he said gruffly before trudging back to the front desk.

Naminé had been in the lead up to this point, but she made no move to be the first inside. She took a step back and nodded to Roxas. This was his personal growth quest, after all. So, with a deep breath, he stepped forward.

It was… a hotel room. An old room in a dump of a hotel, but a generic hotel room all the same. Two beds, separated by a tiny table. The same carpeting and tacky wallpaper from the hallway. If he looked, really looked, he still had vivid memories of cowering behind the far bed by the window. His friends were standing in the very doorway his father had come charging through all those years ago. He could practically see Sora and himself lounging on the beds, as they'd whiled away so many hours those three weeks.

But at the same time… he felt distinctly empty. Even the butterflies in his stomach had settled down. He didn't have to put any extra effort into slowing his heartbeat or calming his breathing. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting. His mother wasn't going to be waiting for him in here. Obviously, the blood had been cleaned from the walls. Countless other customers had stayed in this room since that day, likely unaware of the tragedy that had occurred here.

"Roxas?" Kairi asked when the silence had stretched on "Are you okay?"

He turned back to look at his friends. And he could see his own numbness reflected back to him in Sora's eyes. For a moment, he didn't answer.

"What is it?" Axel prompted. He looked a little nervous, as if he was having second thoughts about encouraging this trip.

But Roxas shook his head. "It's just a room…"

He wondered if that sounded crazy, but none of his friends looked even a little confused. If anything, a look of understanding had settled over all of them. He wondered if this lesson had only been a mystery to him. It seemed so simple now.

Life went on. And if you chose to linger on the dark points, it went on without you.

…

They were all quiet as they left the hotel. Naminé smiled sweetly at the concierge as they handed back his key, and he didn't ask any more questions. They only stopped once they were back out on the main street.

"Not much of an adventure," Kairi commented at last, if only to break the silence.

Sora nudged her with a smile. "Hey, we were having a deep moment, there."

"Eh, it wasn't that deep," Roxas contradicted with a smile of his own. He did feel like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, though.

"The car is coming back for us around dinnertime. It'll take us a while to get back through the woods… We should probably get going so we can eat early," Axel said.

It was only during their walk back through the city that Roxas truly took note of how run-down Hollow Bastion was. It might have made him nervous if he hadn't been traveling in such a large group. The only other teenagers they saw moved in groups of two or three at the most. They all gave Roxas and his friends appraising looks before clearly deciding against approaching them. They'd made it back to the trail in what felt like half the time.

It was only once they were picking their way back through the forest that Naminé said quietly, "Guys… This is it, isn't it?"

They all slowed their steps a bit. Kairi looked at her imploringly. "You'll keep in touch, won't you? No matter where your modeling adventures take you?"

"Of course!" Naminé smiled at her. "You all have my number."

"Still," said Fuu. "It'll be weird not seeing you guys all the time."

"But you'll see the three of us every day at school," Sora reminded her. "…Right?" he added when Fuu remained silent.

"Actually, um…" The group came to a full stop. "I meant to say something sooner, but… I've decided I'm going to spend my senior year living with my dad. He lives in another school district, so…"

"Wow, Fuu," said Roxas, surprised. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "I've given it a lot of thought. I could use some time away from Seifer and our moms. I think I need to focus on me for a bit."

Naminé smiled at her encouragingly. She went so far as to step forward and take the other girl's hand. "I think that sounds great, Fuu."

They started back on their way. There was something about knowing this would be their last trip together… They were all walking a little more closely together as the forest began to thin again.

It was all well and good that they agreed to stay in touch now. But Roxas had to wonder how long that would last, without any actual contact. Riku wasn't exactly the sentimental type. And he couldn't see any childhood friendship standing up to Naminé's ambition.

But he didn't voice any of those concerns. Not today. Today he was going to spend time and laugh with his friends. And that was all.

…

Their early dinner came and went much too quickly. At last the time had come for them all to lug their belongings back down the winding road so the limo could pick them up. But Axel stopped to take one last look back at the cabin. Everyone else stopped to stare with him. Roxas got the feeling the oldest member of their group was letting go of more than one thing with the end of this trip.

"It's not really goodbye for you," Kairi said with a little laugh. "Aunt Myda would probably let you come back and visit whenever."

Somewhere along the way this week, they'd all taken to calling her 'Aunt' Myda. Axel smiled back at them all, a little melancholy, a little sheepish. Something about his eyes made them all instantly aware that Fuu hadn't been the only one holding onto a secret.

"Already planned," he confirmed. "I've decided to take the next year off. Myda's agreed to let me stay with her, whether my parents like it or not, while I sort through some things."

"So you'll be far away too," Sora said with dismay.

"Just a phone call away," Riku reminded him with a little smile. And then he turned to Axel. "Good luck, man."

Axel sent him a familiar cheeky smile back. "You too."

"Well, let's get this show on the road then!" Kairi cheered, determined to end this trip with as much enthusiasm as she'd started it.

"This show has been on the road for a week," Sora laughed.

"So let's take it home," she shot back gaily.

They were in surprisingly high spirits as they walked back. In less than a week, Sora, Kairi, and Roxas would be headed back to Twilight Academy. Phones or no phones, it felt like the other four would be flung to the far corners of the galaxy. But that could be dealt with when it came. For now, Roxas was planning to enjoy their company, engage in their laughter, and revel in all the lessons they had learned from each other. In the morning, they would face whatever the future might bring.

The End

Review please!

I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Holy crap, guys... We've made it. There's still an epilogue to post before this story can be marked as Complete, but for all intents and purposes… This story has reached its conclusion. There was a time when I didn't think this day would ever come. All the same… I'd be lying if I said I wasn't even a little sad. Eh, I'll save my big, sappy author's note for the end of the epilogue.