Zexion rose from his seat and made his way toward the window of Kairi's hospital room, "Here, let me fix something." He spoke just loud enough so Kairi could possibly hear him. He adjusted the blinds hanging from the window so that the sun wasn't shining directly on her face. As much as he enjoyed seeing the sunlight reflect off of her auburn hair, he had decided she could get better rest with it not shining in her eyes. Zexion sat back down, pushing his chair closer to Kairi's bedside.

Watching the steady rise and fall of Kairi's chest, he gave her a half smile, "It's nice not seeing you hooked up to that respirator anymore; it didn't suit you." Zexion propped his arm up on the bed laid his head on his hand, resting fairly close to Kairi's face. Closing his eyes, he held his breath for a moment and just listened. She wasn't quite snoring, but her nostrils whistled with every inhale. This made Zexion chuckle, getting more comfortable leaning onto the bed. He opened his eyes, continuing to watch her, and spoke softly, "You know those fairytales, where the prince kisses the sleeping princess, and she wakes up so they can both go live happily ever after?"

Zexion paused for a moment, almost expecting Kairi to respond to his creepy question. He breathed a chuckle, blushing, "Sometimes I wish they were true… that something as simple as a kiss could wake you up." His face grew even redder as he let out a sigh.

"She can hear you speak to her… it helps, I know it helps."

Zexion recalled Kairi's mother's words fondly from a little over a month ago.

"You should tell her how you feel sometime."

He glanced over to the bedside table where the old photo he had left behind stayed, propped up against a skinny vase with only two flowers. He noticed they'd been replaced fairly recently. What used to be a fairly large vase full of yellow wild-flowers, was now a couple carnations; one bright pink, and one white. They were beautiful, he wondered for a moment who could have been the one to leave them behind. Brushing one of the petals lightly with the tip of his middle finger, the flowers bobbed slightly, dancing with the dust particles that were floating in the visible sunlight.

Pink carnations…

Smiling, he remembered reading something in the flower shop the last time he had gone there to buy Kairi more flowers.

Believed to be the first color of carnation, grown from the tears of Mother Mary… a symbol of a Mother's undying love...

It was clear now that Amalthea had to have been the one to leave the flowers; a small token of her mother's love to leave behind for when she couldn't be here. Why would Amalthea leave two different colors, though?

White… for good luck… and-

Zexion's eyes wandered back over to Kairi's face, his cheeks burning red as he laughed out loud to himself. He laced his fingers through Kairi's, holding onto her hand from both sides, tears welling in his eyes. He wasn't sure if the tears were from the laughter, or because his heart ached for this girl so bad it threatened to break him. As Zexion closed his eyes, letting the tears go, he leaned down, pressing his forehead gently against Kairi's. Clasping her hand tightly, he brought it close to his chest. Remembering Amalthea's words, he took in a sharp breath and held it for a moment, his heart pounding.

"Can you feel that…?" He whispered, "Although these past couple months have been some of the most scariest of my life, and trust me, I have lived through some scary things… I am so glad I got to live for them."

Zexion knew if he didn't get all of this off his chest now, he might never get the chance. He squeezed Kairi's hand tighter, "I know your last memories of me aren't the best, I have been a really shitty friend to you…" He spoke through clenched teeth, hiding his sobs with laughter, "But I swear to god… when you wake up, I will spend every day of my life making it up to you. Fate brought us back into each other's lives for a reason…" Zexion began to shake, but his voice remained steady.

"You breathed a life back into me that day on the bridge… when I felt so empty and alone… you had no reason to jump after me… no reason to let me stay with you and your family… no reason to run after me that night… but you did… you've made every effort to stay with me, someone who hasn't done anything to deserve your friendship…" His tears rolled down his cheeks and fell onto her's, "You're so kind, when people like me don't deserve it… I can hear you now, telling me not to blame Roxas for his actions… and to forgive myself. And I'm trying, I'm trying so hard…" Smiling, he got even quieter, "I'm trying to change… and I hope that when you wake up, you'll be proud of me and the person I've become…"

Zexion, laughing through his tears, "If there's a reason my heart continues to beat, after all the trouble I went to to make it stop… it's for you… My heart still beats for you, Kairi…"

Admitting this outloud must have sounded ridiculous. If anyone had been in the room with them, Zexion would have died of embarrassment. Regardless, it was something that needed to be said.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Zexion lifted his head slowly, keeping Kairi's hand pressed up against his chest with one hand, and combing his fingers through her hair with the other. He listened closely, as the heart monitor on the other side of the bed began to sync with the beating rhythm in his chest. Not taking his eyes off of Kairi's face, his smile widening. The sapphire eyes that he had no idea how much he had missed, until they were staring up at him with bewilderment.

"Z… Zexion…?"

White carnations,

A symbol of good luck, and a pure kind of love.

A/N: Y'all needed a happy chapter. There's been way too much sadness going on for 26 chapters. As much as I wanted to drag this out, I can do it while giving ya'll some hope after 8 years.

IT HAS OCCURRED TO ME THAT WRITING THIS FANFICTION HAS TAKEN ME ALMOST ABOUT AS LONG AS WE WAITED FOR KHIII HOW FUCKING CRAZY IS THAT?

I promise, I'm going to wrap this up soon, but hang tight, shit ain't over yet.