Chapter 13:

Left Behind

Ventus stared in awe at the islands as their ship pulled in. He hadn't stepped foot on the islands in nearly fifteen years. Sora stared out at the islands too, he tried to imagine what Ventus could be feeling. He remembered how it felt to return to the islands with Kairi and Riku not so long ago, it had been so...relieving.

Now he felt nothing and wondered if that was okay.

Shouldn't he feel something?

"Sora!" he turned at the sound of Kairi's voice. She waved at them from the beach. "You did it!"

He forced a smile, knowing that he normally would have done the real thing.

The others must have heard the shouting and the ship's engine and came running out to the beach. The King, Ansem, and his mom.

They docked and for a while the group on the beach simply stared at Ventus, while the group on the ship stared at his mom. Then his mother's eyes drifted over to Aqua with a look of surprise.

Aqua laughed, breaking the silence, "your mom really does look like me!"

"Mom..." Ventus stared at her, trying to recognize anything about her.

"Ventus!" She ran forward and took the man into her arms. At first he stood rigid in shock, but then accepted her embrace and pulled her closer.

Even Riku and Cloud struggled to hold back tears. A son should never be away from his mother for so long.

She reached up and held his face in her hands. "You're all grown up now, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I guess," Ventus laughed.

"Miku," the King addressed the woman after some time, "would you like to let your son enter his home?"

She broke off, smiling happily. "Yes, we still have what was meant to be your room, Ventus."

The two groups converged on the beach and headed towards Sora's home. No one chatted along the way, they didn't need to. The joy radiated from each and every one of them and filled the silence.

Everyone except Sora.

He was angry. His brother, his long lost brother was home! He should be happy, he should be jumping for joy, but all he could do was be angry that he couldn't. He didn't even know why.

Then he remembered what Ansem had said before, that the light he fell through could have made him lose his emotions. He decided to bring it up once they arrived at his house.

The ten of them scrambled to find seating for all of them around the table. Once they finally all got situated, some sitting on boxes, Riku laughed. "It is really creepy how much you two look alike."

Both Aqua and Miku wore short blue hair with bright blue eyes, same body type, same everything except that Miku was obviously twenty-odd years older.

"Seeing as this was not the time we wanted to re-awaken you, how are you feeling, Ventus?" Ansem asked before Sora could speak up.

"Oh, I feel great!" He turned to Sora, "and it's all thanks to Sora!"

Sora opened his mouth to tell him that he had plenty of help from his friends but when he spoke, his thoughts suddenly turned for the darker. "That's wonderful that you feel so amazing on my suffering."

Ventus blinked. Everyone stared at Sora.

"Sorry, I meant to say that I think what you said before is happening," Sora muttered, "about emotions and stuff."

"Seems so," Ansem muttered.

"Emotions?" Ventus asked.

"The reason we had to return your heart early was because Sora fell through this light thing that steals emotions." Riku filled him in, "Kinda corny, huh?"

"To you," Sora snapped.

"Then how do we fix this?" Ventus asked.

"Ansem has a theory that if Ventus builds his heart up enough then he won't need Roxas anymore," the King started, "Then he could transfer Roxas back to Sora, reversing the effects."

"The problem is," Ansem continued, "If something similar happens to Ventus, then we're out of luck."

"So then just send some bodyguards with him wherever he goes." Cloud offered.

"Aqua?" Ventus turned to his old friend. "Care to be my bodyguard?"

"Of course," Aqua answered.

"Good," the King started, "Riku, Cloud, I want you two to stay on the islands to watch Sora, who knows what the effects could become and it would be best for you to stay with him."

A/n: Sorry, this chapter kinda sucks :/ I meant to have it finish on friday but my weekend ended up being a lot more busy than I thought.