Chapter 38
Today was it. The last day on the ship before the last day. Kairi and Leon were in their room, packing everything up.
"Where are we going first?" Kairi had asked Leon, a few hours before.
"We'll go see our grandma. I figure she'd be happy to see us again, and as our only living relative I know of, where else will we stay?"
"Is she on our mom or dads side?" Kairi put a sock in her bag.
"Hah. Our dads. I don't remember much, but I do recall that Grandma once yelled to someone about their death. But…no, I'm not making any sense. I don't remember. I just know she's on Dads side."
"Hey guys! Leon." Phreterik greeted the pair enthusiastically. And then he greeted Leon. Unenthusiastically. "So what are your plans once we get off the ship?"
Kairi stopped her packing momentarily. "We're going to go see my grandma. Then we'll go elsewhere. But she's really far away. So it'll be a while before anything exciting happens."
"Where does she live?" he asked.
Kairi asked Leon, who had refused to talk to Phreterik at the moment, and he told her 'really far away'. Kairi snapped at Leon, and he instantly felt sorry, so he turned around and told Phreterik where she lived.
"Oh that's great! Where I'm going, you would almost have to go through my town to get to your town! My dad has sent our cab driver to pick me up, so we'll go to my house and then you can go to yours! This way, you can travel in style for the first half!" He smiled wholeheartedly at Kairi, hoping she would be thrilled. He knew they were poor, but as two teenagers, they couldn't exactly be rich, especially if their parents died.
"Oh Leon! Did you hear? That would be wonderful! We accept!" Kairi grasped the other sock as if it were a rich treasure.
"Says who?!" Leon interjected. "Thank you for the offer, but we'd much rather be on our own."
"Leon you boob! We do not! You're just jealous I have a friend and Yuffie is stuck back in Traverse Town! You can go on your own if you prefer, or be the horse boy on the carriage and ride on the back. But I'm going with Phreterik."
Leon glared at Kairi and then muttered a quiet 'Fine'. Kairi grinned and stepped into the hall to talk more with Phreterik.
xxxx
A few hours had passed, and while Kairi and Phreterik had moved onto other places on the ship, Leon was still in his room, looking at the broken sword. He really regretted destroying it; it was special to him, but he could always get another. He was really annoyed at Phreterik. He had been so glad to finally get rid of him, when Leon's thrilled joy, he pops an offer that even for him was hard to refuse.
Dinner was over, Kairi's nighttime with the sunset was over, and they were all in bed, everyone ready to sleep. Kairi stayed awake thinking about Phreterik…their time on the ship…Sora…where he was…her training with Leon…and then finally…sleep.
xxxx
"All hands on deck!" the Captain roared out the call and as the sailors and workers went on board, Kairi simply woke up. She stretched and looked out the porthole. There was water, like always, there were birds, a recent addition, and land! Kairi bolted up right, gasping with happiness, and in her haste to leave her hammock, it rolled over, and she and the hammock traded places as to who was on top.
She cried out as her face hit a torso before her rear ended her fall abruptly.
Leon also jolted awake as he felt an attack against his self. He made to jump out of a bed, but the hammocks edges were higher than a bed's would be, so while his feet never made it over the hammock, his torso did, and he too fell out of the hammock, receiving a face plant into the hard wood and a lot more than just one slap.
The pair strode onto the deck while Phreterik joined them. Since the ship was docked, they were allowed to leave whenever.
"Hey Kairi. Look out for a cab with a crest that's got a dog and horse on it. Its green and blue. It's the family crest."
An hour later…
"Hey I see it!"
"Where?"
"There!"
"Where?"
"There!" Kairi pointed next to a large white building.
"Oh! There! Come on! Let's go grab our stuff and leave." Phreterik and Kairi left at Leon's request while he went to go talk to the captain.
"Captain, I want to thank you for the voyage. While certain times weren't pleasant, and neither certain people, the journey was smooth."
"Son, will you tell me who you are? You look so familiar and when we spoke before the trip started I knew I'd seen you before!" He looked desperately at Leon.
"Sir, I am my father's son. My name is Leon Fa'al."
"Kayl Fa'al?! Oh good lord! Leon! I heard about you but I never saw you! I was in your father's squad before he left! It's been so long! I last saw your father about what, nineteen years ago! And the girl is your sister? Ah yes, I see it now. She looks just her mother. Tell me, how are your parents?"
"You never heard?" Leon looked ten years younger, at the sorrow of bringing his parents up.
"Heard what? Oh no…"
"They died. Thirteen years ago."
"Oh. Oh no. I'm so sorry. Kayl dead. How could I have missed that?!"
"He died on the big Heartless attack on that boat. I'm sure you've heard of that."
"They never mentioned who died on it. Half of the best fighters were on it, but I never thought Kayl would be. I'm sorry for your loss."
"Thank you. And I must be going. My ride is here." Leon ended their conversation as Kairi came up behind them.
They left and all three left the ship, heading towards the cabby.
"Hello Aleki! How good it is to see you! How is my father?" Phreterik greeted the cab driver with open arms.
"Well, Master Phreterik, he's quite well, and I'm sure he'll be happy to see you home. Who are your guests?"
"Oh, this is Kairi, and this is Leon. They're going to stay with us for a while until they leave to go elsewhere."
"Splendid. May I take your bags?" Aleki put all the bags up on top of the cab and opened the door. He held out his hand for Kairi to take, and then after closing the door, he climbed up the cab and clicked the two ebony horses into motion.
A/N:: Yuppers. Writer's block is over. Yay! A few more surprises coming up in later chapters, and Lana's next chapter will be posted shortly. Reviews are nice.