There were two things Xion hated: rollercoasters and getting soaked.

Yet somehow, on the third beautiful day of the Guardians Festival, there she was on a ride called the "Splash Run" awaiting her doom. She supposed it was better than having to stop every five minutes whenever someone would pull Roxas over, asking for a picture or just to send their condolences regarding his father, but not by much. She sat in a three-seated tube alongside Roxas and Naminé (the latter not wearing her glasses) that slowly rotated as they floated through the predetermined path that sent them uphill into steep descents inevitably getting them drenched.

Xion gulped as she watched one of the trios that had just skidded down the long slope crash into the big pool of water. "Roxas, remind me again why you had to choose a ride like this when you know I don't like getting wet in anything but a bathing suit?"

"Because I know you don't like getting wet in anything but a bathing suit," Roxas answered with a grin. "Besides, it's not like anyone forced you to get on with us."

Xion scoffed but neglected to admit out loud that the only reason she tagged along was because she wasn't going to allow either of those two to be alone for a split second. "Well, I'd rather get on and suffer with you two than just sit and watch from the sidelines."

"I'm a little on the fence about getting drenched myself," Naminé admitted sheepishly. "But I've never been on one of these before, so I can't help but be a little excited, too!"

"That's awesome, Nam," Roxas said like a proud older brother.

"Yeah. Yippy," Xion muttered under her breath with her eyes shifting to the side. She felt her dread return once their tube slowly ascended up the slope. Xion subconsciously clenched her teeth.

"Hey, no worries," Roxas said in a calm voice, offering a hand to Xion. "In case you forgot, we'll be getting soaked right along with you."

Xion gave the tiniest of smiles before accepting his hand in gratitude. He seemed like he always knew what to say. Naminé felt the slightest ping in her chest seeing Roxas take the hand of another girl. Deep down, in the dark corners of her mind, she hoped that would have been an act exclusive between the two of them. Before she could delve further down that rabbit hole, Roxas spoke up.

"We're in this together." Roxas looked Naminé in the eyes, subtly gesturing to Xion before giving her a firm stare. "Right?"

That look of his told her all she needed to know. Naminé realized she wasn't considering Xion and looked at the short-haired raven. Despite her blurry vision, Naminé sensed the anxiety from her trembling figure—an anxiety she was all-too familiar with. Naminé held her fist close to her chest, hesitating to act on what she was deliberating in her head. She glanced up at Roxas and saw a smile that seemed to be encouraging her to do what she felt was right. She wanted to make someone else feel safe the way he made her feel safe.

But what if Xion thought she was weird? What if Xion rejected her? What if Xion started avoiding her? Naminé shook her head of those questions and decided she would muster up the courage.

"X-Xion," Naminé stuttered as she extended her hand. "I know what it's like to be scared. But, um... if it makes you feel any better, j-just remember that I'm with you, too."

Xion felt her lips part. It was the last thing she would've expected from Naminé, but she inwardly admitted that the gesture was sweet of her. Xion sighed before relenting and taking Naminé's hand.

"You two are really sappy, you know that?" Xion said.

"You'll get used to it," Roxas quipped as he took Naminé's hand as well, making her slightly more comfortable with the situation.

Despite rolling her eyes, Xion couldn't help but keep a smile. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. However, the more they edged closer to the top of the slide, her anxiety creeped up on her in the form of a pale face and clattering teeth. Roxas chuckled at all of the facial expressions Xion put on for display.

"Water doesn't bite, you know," Roxas teased.

"Sh-Sh-Sh-Shut up!"

Roxas stole a glance at Naminé, who looked more excited than fearful. He was beginning to admire this adventurous side of her. The anticipation was building with every second. Eventually, they reached the top and were allowed to take in the scope of the festival, not to mention the steep descent.

Xion braced herself. "Roxas," she said.

"Yeah?"

"If I get out of this without having a heart attack, remind me to kill you."

"Yes, ma'am."

Their tube toppled over the edge and went flying down the waterslide. Xion was practically screaming her lungs out while both Roxas and Naminé seemed to have daring smiles, swept up in the moment. The wind blew in their faces, rustling their hair, and sent their adrenaline into high gear. Xion held onto both Roxas and Naminé for dear life as she tried to close her eyes, bracing herself for the contact with the giant pool of water below.

Sure enough, they landed with a big splash.


Kairi had a sparkle in her eye.

As she walked along with a small crowd, she couldn't stop her head from turning every five seconds. As they moved through the spacious interior of a large building that acted as a grand exhibit for many cherished guardians of light in both ancient and recent history, Kairi took in many detailed statues, impressive in their stature, of former wielders of the Kingdom Key as well as banners hanging from the ceilings.

"Guys, isn't this amazing?" Kairi asked her four companions, those being Riku, Amaya, Haru, and...

Sora.

She watched Sora closely. His mind seemed elsewhere as he loosely followed behind the crowd with his hands tied behind the back of his head. This was particularly noticeable as the tour led everyone to a section dedicated to someone Sora was very familiar with.

"And here we have our most recent wielder of the Kingdom Key: Zack Fair," said the female tour guide. "Zack was eighteen when he was recruited into SOLDIER and he first discovered his ability to wield the Kingdom Key when he was twenty-one. For reasons undisclosed to the public, Zack eventually left SOLDIER and embarked on his own training to become a proper Keyblade Master. However, once Sephiroth began terrorizing the worlds, Zack set forth on what would be his destined path in putting an end to Sephiroth's attempt at tyranny. Many lives were saved thanks to his actions. The next chosen wielder, whoever they may end up being, will have a lot to live up to in his absence."

Sora had an eyebrow raised as he studied many of the cherished wielders and guardians that came before him. Comparatively, they looked so heroic and important. When he stopped in front of a sophisticated painting of a previous wielder of the Kingdom Key, Bartz Klauser, he was able to see his own reflection against the polished surface and let his arms rest at his side.

Suddenly, he felt rather small.

Haru looked at PuPu as if the doll had caught her attention. She then noticed Riku who seemed to keep glancing at something. Haru nodded at PuPu in agreement before she looked up at her big sister. "Amaya, can I go look over there?" Haru pointed to a corner of the exhibit as she let go of Amaya's hand.

Amaya looked uncertain for a moment before nodding. "Well, okay. Just make sure you don't stray away too far from us, baby."

"I won't!" Haru scurried off, Amaya making sure to keep a close eye on her.

Meanwhile, Sora stopped in his tracks and looked up at the glorified statue of Zack Fair. He wore his signature grin brimming with a certain confidence Sora envied as he had the Kingdom Key resting across his shoulders. The longer Sora stared, the more he felt his eyebrows furrow. Suddenly, a few images unfamiliar to him whiplashed into his mind and it caught Sora off-guard. He winced and swung his hand to his forehead to repress the minor headache that followed.

Kairi, who had been walking ahead along with Haru, Amaya, and Riku, had already noticed Sora frozen in place. It almost looked as if he were having a staring contest with the statue. Her confusion turned into concern when she saw Sora putting a hand to his forehead, clearly in pain. She quickly caught up to Sora and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" she asked with a sweet smile laced with worry this time around.

"Y-Yeah, no worries," Sora covered, doing his best to retain his normal disposition. But in his mind, he wondered what that image was or where it came from. It was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

Kairi wrapped her arms behind her back and bent over slightly to get a better look at his face. "Are you sure?"

"Positive," Sora answered. "I was just, uh... admiring him. Seems like he was an incredible guy, huh?"

Kairi stood up straight, giving Sora the briefest of glances before following his line of vision. "Yes," she agreed. "From everything I've learned about him today, he actually reminds me of you."

"Me?" Sora pointed at himself with a derpy face.

Kairi giggled at the innocent reaction. "Why are you so surprised? He seemed like the type to wear his heart on his sleeve—like you in a lot of ways."

"Huh." Sora craned his neck upwards to look at the Zack statue in the eyes. Did they really come across as similar? Maybe there was a pattern to the Kingdom Key's choices, after all. "I guess I never looked at it that way before."

Kairi took note of his words. What would make him think about it in the first place unless he and Zack shared some sort of relation? "You also seem like huge dorks."

"Thanks, Kai—wait, hey!"

Kairi put her hand over her lips as she snickered. She then returned to a warm smile. "It's okay. I like huge dorks."

Sora blinked, feeling his cheeks suddenly burn profusely.

"She's not wrong, Sora," Riku said as he and Amaya caught up to them. He came up from behind Sora and trapped him into a headlock. "You're pretty much the biggest dork I know."

"What, like you aren't?" Sora bit back as he shoved Riku away.

Riku smirked. "Me? I'm as cool as they come."

"Riku!" Haru shouted, running towards the four of them with her stubby legs. "Look! I got the Zack Fair action figure that PuPu told me you kept staring at! She said it would make you happy if I gave it to you!"

Riku felt the hairs on his neck stiffen. He thought for sure he was being discreet with his side glances. To make matters worse, Sora, Kairi, and Amaya were giving him the most smug grins they could muster.

"F-For my little cousin," Riku excused. "I thought it'd be a cool souvenir for him."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that," Sora joked, making the girls snicker. Riku grunted.

The others were all about to catch back up with the group before Kairi took ahold of Sora by the shoulder. "Hey," she said gently.

He raised an eyebrow as he turned to face her. "What's up?"

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kairi asked, concern etched on her face.

Sora paused momentarily before brightening up with a smile. "Of course! What makes you ask that?"

Kairi looked into his eyes carefully. He might have been able to put on a convincing show, but something about his eyes made Kairi uncertain of his sincerity. "You just seem a little distracted, that's all. And if you ever need someone to talk to—"

"No worries!" Sora cut off. "I'm totally fine. But thanks for asking. We better catch up to the others, though."

Sora rushed over to Riku and Amaya, making sure not to fall too far behind. Kairi furrowed her brows. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something about him that he wasn't letting on and she had been feeling this way about him ever since they first met. She found him kind of mysterious in his own unassuming sort of way.

But as her sister would tell anyone who asked, Kairi was persistent and she wasn't one to give up easily.

After a few more minutes of touring the area, the group decided to make their exit (though, not before Riku could discreetly purchase the Zack Fair action figure and hide it in his bag of "souvenirs").

"So, where to, guys?" Sora yawned as he stretched his arms once they were greeted with the warm sun.

"I could go for some mochi," Kairi said cheerily before cringing when reminded of the name of her cat.

"That sounds yummy! I want mochi, too!" Haru shouted.

"Well, it's almost afternoon. We don't want to spoil whatever we end up getting for lunch," Amaya trailed off before she began digging through her satchel. "Let's see, where did I put that thing..."

Riku groaned while Kairi and Sora gave polite but weary smiles. "Can you do us a favor and not pull out that dumb schedule?" Riku asked.

Amaya stopped digging through her satchel to look Riku in the eyes. "Excuse me?"

"I'm just saying." Riku shrugged. "This is supposed to be fun, not a field trip."

Amaya placed her hands on her hips. "Well, I don't think a little organization would kill anybody."

Sora and Kairi sighed simultaneously. "Here they go again," Kairi said quiet enough for only Sora to hear as their friends got into yet another spout.

Sora chuckled. "They've always been like this even when we were kids. You kinda get used to it."

"Wanna go for some mochi while this old married couple sort things out with each other?" Kairi asked with a giggle.

"Sounds good to me," Sora answered with a smile.

"Amayaaaaa," Haru whined, tugging on her sister's skirt. "I wanna get mochi!"

"Just one moment, baby," Amaya said as she returned to her argument with Riku.

A frustrated Haru looked at PuPu with her cheeks puffed out. Sora caught the little girl by surprise when he kneeled down and took her by the hand, using his head to gesture her to follow him while also putting a finger to his lips with a wink. Haru gave him an enthusiastic grin once she caught on.

"Can't you just chill for once?" Riku asked. "We don't need a schedule. If we want to get some food, then let's just get some food."

Amaya rolled her eyes. "Look, I get that it probably isn't a big deal to someone like you who lives here, but try to understand where I'm coming from. I don't get to visit Destiny Islands as much as I used to and Haru has only been here a handful of times. We want to be able to see as much of this as we can and make the absolute most of our time here. Right, Haru?" Amaya waited for a high-pitched shriek of agreement but it never came. "Haru?"

The two finally remembered that the rest of the world existed and noticed that they were missing three heads. Riku frowned. He asked Kairi in the morning if she wanted to spend time with him at the festival that day, which she enthusiastically agreed to. Though, he regretted not clarifying that he meant just the two of them as it didn't take long for Kairi to quickly invite Sora and his cousins to tag along with them just like the day before when those three barged into their one-on-one time. Now, there he was, with the very last girl he wanted to be stuck with while Sora was basically alone with Kairi. They likely had Haru with them, but it didn't stop Riku from furrowing his brows.

"Wait, what happened to Sora and Kairi?" Amaya asked no one in particular.

"Maybe you bored them to death," Riku quipped with a grin.

Amaya glared his way before she began making her way through the crowd. "Complain if you must, but you're helping me find them."

Riku shrugged as he stuffed his hands in his pockets as he followed her. "You and me looking for Sora? Just like old times."


After Sora, Kairi, and Haru finished eating their mochi, the latter of the three was quick to look for the next festival activity to indulge. They eventually came across a playground that acted as a respite for children to play while adults and guardians were allowed to rest at one of the many benches and tables.

Haru, with her boundless energy, took part in everything she could. Sora seemed just as excited as he pushed her as high as he could on the swings, sat with her in his lap as they slid down the slide, and climbed on the monkey bars while making sure his little cousin didn't fall and hurt herself. Kairi watched them from a short distance with a smoothie, watching with amusement and giggling approximately every thirty seconds. Haru was cute enough on her own, but it was especially endearing to see how much fun Sora seemed to be having considering he was easily the oldest running around in the playground. Kairi thought it was adorable the way Sora would hike Haru up onto his shoulders while Haru commanded Sora where to go and he'd happily oblige.

Eventually, Sora needed a break and trucked over to where Kairi was sitting and plopped himself down. Kairi leaned against her fist with a cheeky grin, using her opposite hand to swirl the straw of her halfway gone smoothie.

"All tuckered out?" Kairi asked.

"Even I have my limits," Sora said breathlessly. "That Haru sure is something."

They both watched Haru chatting with a couple of other children around her age. It seemed she was quick to find some new friends. She caught Sora and Kairi's eye and with a toothy grin, she waved at them rapidly before she spoke to her new friends in a way that almost made it look like she was bragging about the both of them.

Kairi giggled. "She's a good girl, though."

Sora nodded. "Yeah. She is."

As time went by, the realization of the situation gradually hit Sora. There he was, sitting alone with Kairi. He glanced over to her and she looked as if she were in deep thought. Sora wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He knew Riku was pining after her and Sora had already encouraged him to do so. Would it really be right to try to go for her now after he already gave Riku the green light?

No, he couldn't. He knew his best friend and it wasn't often Riku liked a girl the same way he liked Kairi. Besides, Sora didn't know how to talk to girls. It would likely end in disaster. But that didn't mean he couldn't at least try being friendly, right?

"So, Kairi—"

"So, Sora—"

After a pregnant pause, the two fell into a light chortle.

"You first," Sora offered.

"I have a proposal."

Sora tilted his head. "What kind of proposal?"

Kairi gave him a wide grin. "We should hang out sometime after the festival ends!"

Sora blinked. Did he hear that right? "I'm sorry, what now?"

"You. Me. An outing with the intention of having fun and getting to know each other better," Kairi answered casually.

Sora looked as if he were trying to calculate quantum physics. Did she just ask him out? A girl that he himself had interest in. A girl he thought was more interested in his best friend than him. Was there a secret camera somewhere he didn't know about?

"You're joking, right?" Sora said without thinking.

Kairi paused at the unexpected response before rolling her eyes and leaning her chin into her palm, averting her eyes. "You know, a simple 'no thank you' would have been perfectly fine."

Sora, realizing she had misconstrued what he meant, waved his hands frantically. "No, no, no! T-That's not what I meant!" He scratched his cheek. He never had much of a way with his words. "It's just, well, uh... it caught me by surprise, that's all," he admitted with an edgy chuckle. "I mean, aren't you and Riku sort of like...? You know..."

Kairi sent him a blank stare and snickered. "What does that have to do with anything? I'm just asking you to hang out. Besides, Riku is my buddy! No worries, he knows we're just friends."

As far as Sora could tell, Riku's feelings for Kairi were still going strong, but Kairi made it sound like whatever he assumed was going on between them was nonexistent. Was that really true? Was it right to accept Kairi's invitation knowing that his best friend was interested in this girl? Especially since he already encouraged Riku to go for it. Then again, he was assuming Kairi's intentions. Maybe it meant nothing and she was simply inviting him to a completely platonic outing.

But why?

"Helloooo?" Sora was knocked out of his thoughts when Kairi lightly tapped him on the forehead with her knuckles. "Destiny Islands to Sora?"

"Oh, sorry," Sora apologized. "I was just, uh... thinking."

"You don't have to think about it so hard. All you have to do is say, 'why yes, Kairi, I would love to hang out sometime after the festival and pick you up around 12 o' clock in the afternoon this Saturday.' Easy peasy!"

Sora chuckled. Maybe he really was overthinking it. The way Kairi asked led him to believe it was more or less a friendly invitation that didn't mean anything. His smile deflated ever so slightly into a melancholic one. Of course she wouldn't ask him out in that way. It would be best for him to keep his hopes low. Still, Sora perked himself back up before she caught onto his shift in demeanor. "Sure, why not?"

Kairi brightened at his answer. "It's a date!"

Despite his prior thoughts, Sora blushed at the word 'date' if only for the implication. "Y-Yeah."

Before Kairi could keep the conversation going, Haru ran over to their table and patted Sora on his thigh before quickly scurrying away. "Tag! You're it!"

"Hey, no fair!" Sora said, pretending to pout.

Haru turned around. "Run, Kairi, before he tags you!"

Kairi giggled as she got up from her seat and hurried over to Haru. Sora slumped his shoulders. "Aww, Kairi. Not you too."

"You heard her," Kairi retorted as she took Haru by the hand and led her back into the playground. "Hurry Haru, before the terrifying tickle monster gets us!"

Sora grinned. "Oh, you asked for it."


"I can't believe we got out of that practically dry," Naminé said as they exited from the venue.

"Me neither," Roxas said. "I've been on that ride a million times and I don't think I've ever come out as dry as I did today."

"I'm so happy for the both of you. Truly," Xion said, her damp hair looking more like a mop as her eyes were completely covered. From her black tank top to her denim shorts to her sneakers, she was soaked. Despite their sympathy, Roxas and Naminé couldn't help but share slight amusement at the sight of her. She moved her hair out of the way, revealing her bitterful eyes.

Roxas chuckled nervously. "Uh, sorry Xion."

Xion shook herself enough to the point where she was damp. "Try saying sorry with my fist in your mouth."

Before Xion could chase after Roxas, the trio heard a familiar voice.

"Well, if it isn't the boyfriend and girlfriend," said a familiar voice that all three recognized belonging to Kairi. They craned their heads to find Sora, Kairi, and Haru approaching, the latter of the three being quick to rush towards her other favorite big cousin, Xion.

Kairi wrapped an arm around Roxas's shoulder. "Tell me, Rox, when are you going to turn Naminé Villiers into Naminé Strife?"

Haru gasped dramatically as her eyes darted back and forth between Roxas and Naminé. "Are you two married?!"

Roxas laughed nervously while Naminé's cheeks burned red. "No, not exactly," Roxas answered.

"Ask them again in about fifteen years," Kairi joked, giving Haru a wink.

Kairi gave her sister a sly look while Naminé only glared at her. "I already regret telling you about that," Naminé mumbled only loud enough for her to hear.

Kairi fell into a fit of giggles before she stopped when noticing the slightest frown on Xion's face.

"Hey, why the long face?" Kairi asked her.

Xion snapped out of it and returned to her usual friendly demeanor. "Oh, uh... it's nothing."

"You competing in the struggle tourney tomorrow, Roxas?" Sora asked, his question aimed at Roxas. The boy paused momentarily as the question was somewhat unexpected.

"I'm not sure if I'm up for it this year."

"You say that every year," Xion noted.

"Exactly." Roxas clicked his tongue and pointed at her.

"Aw, c'mon, Roxas," Sora said. "A little friendly competition couldn't hurt. And I'm sure you and Riku would make the top five rankings easily."

Naminé side-eyed Roxas curiously. Was he really as good of a fighter as everyone seemed to say he was?

Kairi furrowed her eyebrows. "What about you, Sora?"

"Huh?" Sora raised an eyebrow. "What about me?"

"Aren't you competing? Don't make it sound like you couldn't make top five just as easily," Kairi said, her hands on her hips with a look of disapproval.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Haru agreed, nodding her head vigorously. "Top five! Like me!" she added, referring to her age.

Sora rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish smile. "Well, it's just... I've never won a struggle tournament before, I guess. The closest I've ever gotten was seventh place." He chuckled humorlessly. "I could never do as good as Riku. You should've seen it! Last year, he won third place in the—"

"And what does Riku have to do with any of this?" she pressed further, shooting Sora a frown as she placed her hands on her hips and got closer to his face. The look was sharp enough to make Sora shrink with discomfort. "How about you try believing in yourself for once?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Haru seemed to be trying to imitate Kairi as she set her hands on her waist and sent Sora a disapproving scowl. "Believe!"

"Well, uh..."

But before Sora could answer, the collective shriek of girls from behind caught their attention.

"SETZERRRR!"

The group of six turned around to find a man with long silver hair and lavender eyes, faint scars adorning his face. His most notable form of attire was his high-collared black coat draped across his shoulders. Setzer stood in the middle of his adoring public, waving to them in an attempt to look modest while having his champion belt slung over his shoulder.

"One thing I do know is that I wouldn't mind seeing someone knock that guy's ego down a size or two," Sora said, frowning at the display of subtle narcissism oozing from Setzer.

"Tell me about it," Roxas agreed, shaking his head. "But I think you might think too highly of me, Sora. I haven't been training for this like you and Riku."

"To the surprise of no one," said a new voice most recognized belonging to Seifer. They turned to find Seifer approaching along with his cronies, Rai and Fuu in tow.

"Oh, great," Xion droned, rolling her eyes. "It's the absolute last guy I was hoping to see."

"Appreciate the sincerity, Xion," Seifer returned with equal sarcasm before looking at Roxas. "Should've known a sunspot like you weren't one to rise up to an honest challenge."

"It's like you read me like a book," Roxas said with a shrug. "Happy?"

"Not particularly," Seifer answered. "I would've had the pleasure of taking you down in the tournament and show Rufus Shinra you're not worth the trouble for SOLDIER in the first place."

"Oh yeah, Seifer is gonna mop the floor with the competition this year to show how a real man takes care of business, y'know?" Rai said.

"That goes for the rest of your little slacker friends, too," Seifer said, his eyes directed at Sora this time.

Sora frowned. "No hard feelings when I trample you in the tourney, Seifer."

Seifer laughed. "Please. Out of everyone participating, you're probably the most irrelevant, Sora. You keep dreamin' and maybe someday you'll be in the conversation."

Sora was about to retort but realized he didn't have a comeback and painfully kept to himself. Kairi noticed how hurt Sora looked and was quick to march towards Seifer.

"Are you actually capable of being a human being or are you just permanently grating to everyone's ears?" she asked.

Haru took on a similar appearance as Kairi. She didn't appreciate anyone disrespecting her big cousin. "Yeah, yeah, yeah! Gr... grading!"

Seifer ignored Haru and set his focus on Kairi. "You're that chick Riku was with." His eyes darted between Sora and Kairi, not failing to notice how protective of him she seemed. He chuckled. "So, what? Found a new guy to cling to? Guess I shouldn't be surprised. You're just like the rest of 'em."

"Hussy," Fuu stated nonchalantly.

"What the hell did you just call me?" Kairi growled.

"Oh, it's on," Xion said.

Kairi never took being called out of her name lightly. She rolled up her sleeves while Xion cracked her knuckles, both of them ready to rip the hair out of Fuu and give Seifer a run for his munny too, but luckily Sora was able to restrain Kairi while Roxas held back Xion.

"A hussy? Me? For your information, there's nothing going on between Riku and I and my personal life is none of your business. Just who the hell do you think you are? Me and Xion are totally gonna kick your—"

"And who's this?" Seifer asked, ignoring Kairi's threats as his eyes settled on the mysterious blonde, bespectacled girl trying to calm her sister down.

"O-Oh, um... h-hello," Naminé greeted, feeling Seifer's somewhat expressionless gaze intimidating.

Seifer approached her, making Naminé shrink. "You new to the island?"

Xion and Kairi, who eventually broke free of Sora and Roxas, stood protectively in front of the blonde. Haru, wanting to be tough like the big kids, joined them as well.

"Don't even give him the time of day, Naminé," Xion said.

"You better keep your paws off my sister," Kairi threatened with a menacing glare.

"Yeah, yeah! Paws off!" Haru added as she stuck her tongue out at Seifer.

"It's pretty rude to ignore others, don't you think?" Seifer said. "I just wanted to introduce myself."

Kairi and Xion eventually backed off, albeit only slightly, while Haru only imitated whatever Kairi did. They kept their arms crossed and fists attached to their hips waiting for a moment to jump on Seifer if he did anything inappropriate to Naminé. Seifer also didn't fail to notice Roxas giving him a discernible glower from behind Naminé, as if he wasn't comfortable with Seifer speaking to Naminé either. Seifer smirked—he reveled in any moment to get under Roxas's skin.

"So, Naminé, is it?" Seifer said. "We ain't never met before, right?"

"What a lovely first impression," Xion droned, rolling her eyes.

"Be quiet," Seifer growled.

Naminé adjusted her glasses. "N-No, I don't believe we have, um... m-my name is Naminé. I, um, hope we can get along, Seifer."

Seifer's lips parted while a faint blush spread across his nose. He cleared his throat. "Yeah, sure."

Kairi and Xion shared a look of surprise before they both gave Seifer knowing grins.

"The hell're you two lookin' at?" Seifer growled.

"Is that how you talk to girls?" Kairi asked.

"Seems like he's got a type," Xion teased.

"I-It's been a while, okay?" Seifer stuttered.

Kairi snuck over to Roxas and placed her hands on his shoulders. "Sorry, but she's basically already taken. Looks like you're out of luck."

Xion was about to retort with a follow up, but once she realized what Kairi was suggesting, she didn't want to add more to it and kept to herself.

Naminé felt her blush deepen with Kairi's claim but she didn't go out of her way to deny it. She peered behind her to see what kind of face Roxas was making. He seemed relatively unbothered. That was, until their eyes met and he suddenly looked away, as if he went into deep thought about something. Naminé wasn't sure what to make of that. Xion took mental note of the brief interaction from the side as well. Both her and Naminé studied Roxas carefully, wondering what was going through his head.

Of all things, all Roxas could think of was Snow.

"Because if you don't, and I see you're trying to get involved with Naminé in a way I don't like, there's going to be a problem. You don't want a problem. Not with me. Understood?"

"Taken, huh?" Seifer put a hand to his chin. His eyes went up to Roxas. "It wouldn't happen to be this guy, would it?"

Roxas narrowed his eyes. "So what if it was?"

Seifer closed his eyes while putting on a cocky smirk. "You know, it's a shame I don't mess with taken women. Otherwise, I'd have to show Naminé here who's really worth her time in the struggle tournament when she sees me take you down."

"In ten minutes flat, y'know!" Rai felt the need to add. Roxas only rolled his eyes.

"Instant annihilation," the stone-faced Fuu added.

"But oh, that's right, you're too much of a chicken wuss to compete," Seifer continued. "Guess it works out for the best, then."

"You wish," Sora said. "Roxas would mop the floor with you."

"Oh yeah? Then how come he won't prove it, y'know?" Rai asked.

"'Cause he's afraid of proving me right," Seifer answered, his eyes set on Roxas the entire time. At first, Roxas didn't acknowledge him as Seifer and his entourage began to walk past them. But they stopped in their tracks with his next words.

"Wait, Seifer," Roxas said. Seifer turned his head halfway.

"Got somethin' to say?"

"Yeah, I do," Roxas said. "For the record, Naminé isn't my girlfriend. So, don't let little old me stop you from talking to her."

While it was technically true, Naminé felt her heart drop at hearing him verbalize the truth in such a nonchalant way. It almost sounded as if he didn't want to give off that impression. She didn't say anything and kept to herself. She didn't like that she had suddenly become the center of the attention. If she could have her way, she would have gone invisible if she could.

"Um, what?" Kairi said with a disapproving tone while Xion internally sighed with relief.

"Boooooooo!" Haru added.

"But she's my friend," Roxas continued. "And I'm not going to just let anyone have the chance to hurt her. You hear?"

Seifer scoffed. "I don't know what you take me for, but that's not in my code. I don't hurt people unless they deserve it."

"Then why act like such a jerk all the time?" Sora asked in an accusatory tone.

"Call it what you want. The way I see it, I'm only being as tough as I need to be to keep things in order around here. If it means I have to get a little rough from time to time, then so be it."

"That's a pretty way of justifying it," Roxas said. "But you definitely go a bit overkill sometimes. So, I'm not sure how much I trust that. Whatever the case, I need to make sure you won't do anything that'll hurt Naminé." He smiled. "So, maybe if we meet in the tournament, I can give you a preview of what'll happen."

Everyone in their circle either smiled excitedly or stared at him in shock.

"All right!" Sora said, fist pumping.

Seifer smirked. "About time. How about we make it even more interesting?"

Seifer began approaching Roxas. "Interesting, how?" Roxas asked, raising an eyebrow.

"If we face each other in the tournament, and in the event that I mop the floor with you, you'll have to sign up for SOLDIER along with me." Seifer extended his hand. "Deal?"

All eyes were on Roxas. He wouldn't possibly take a gamble like that, would he? Seifer was no slouch when it came to combat. He had even been the reigning champion of last year's struggle tournament before Setzer claimed the glory for himself instead.

But to the surprise of everyone, with a confident grin, Roxas took his hand. "Deal."

Seifer's smirk went from confident to almost malicious, as if his prey were caught in some kind of trap. "Guess I'll see you in the ring."

"I guess you will."

Seifer gave Roxas's hand a good squeeze before unraveling his fingers, the both of them locked into a staring contest.

"Okay, are we done here?" Xion asked impatiently as she tapped her foot. "Good. Now go back to the nineties where you came from."

Seifer chose not to entertain her with a remark and left with his friends.

"Roxas, are you sure about this?" Xion asked once Seifer was out of the picture. "I mean, is this really worth throwing your whole life away to SOLDIER?

"What, no confidence in me?" Roxas asked in a teasing voice. "Don't worry. I've got it under control. As long as you guys root for me."

Roxas turned to face Naminé with a bright smile, fully expecting a smile in return only to realize he would get a slight frown and an aversion to eye contact instead. It was only then that Roxas realized he might have done something wrong.

"Well, Roxas, I'll be rooting for you!" Sora said before tying his hands behind his head.

Kairi cleared her throat and crossed her arms. "Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked, her question aimed at Sora.

Sora tilted his head. "Ummm...?"

Kairi shook her head but kept her grin. "Did we not already discuss that you would be competing in the tournament, too? You should give yourself a bit more credit than that!"

"Yeah, yeah! More credit!"

Sora gave an embarrassed smile and rubbed the back of his head. "Gee, you really think I've got a shot?"

"Of course," Kairi said. "Haru and I will be rooting for you! Right, Haru?"

"Uh huh! Uh huh!" Haru nodded. "PuPu, too!"

"Besides, you always seem busy with that training you're always occupied with," Kairi continued. "Who's to say you won't put Seifer and Roxas in their place?"

"Oh, I see how it is," Roxas said. "Plotting my downfall already, huh Kai?"

Kairi playfully stuck her tongue out at him. Haru did the same.

Sora took her words into deep consideration. Sure, he was competing, but he figured he was mostly doing it for fun. He didn't have any real expectations that he would actually do well. What happened to his competitive spirit? That zest for outwitting his opponents? He had spent so much time comparing himself to Riku that he started to subconsciously deem himself unfit to rise to the challenge.

His status as the chosen one might have played a part in that as well.

Kairi was right. He didn't need to sell himself short. With a newfound resolve, he gave Kairi an appreciative smile. "You know what, Kairi? You're right. Who's to say I won't go out there and kick some tail?"

"That's the spirit!" Kairi cheered.

"Good luck out there, Roxas," Sora said, turning to face him. "But if we end up going against each other, don't expect me to pull my punches!"

Roxas put on a lopsided grin. "I'd be disappointed if you did."

While Kairi went back to teasing Sora, Roxas tried to maintain his casual demeanor while discreetly keeping Naminé in the view of his peripheral. Was it just him or was she deliberately avoiding eye contact with him? She wasn't standing as close and while she had her arms tied behind her back, her shoulders looked stiff.

Xion quietly studied both of them.


Donald walked alongside Goofy, his nephews, and Daisy. He had his arms crossed as he scoured the area for any spiky-haired teenagers—made only more difficult that more than half of the island's population were spiky-haired teenagers. Clearly, none of them were the one they were searching for. Donald was never a big fan of crowds seeing as he much preferred his peace and quiet; he would have been even grumpier if Daisy hadn't been there to at least make it less insufferable. Goofy and the others seemed to be in much higher spirits as they watched the surrounding scenery in awe, pointing at all of the cool rides and interesting attractions.

"Aww, I can't believe it," Donald said. He stopped in his tracks and tapped his webbed foot as his hawk-like eyes scanned the area. "How come we hafta get put on some babysitting mission?" He had more than enough time babysitting Huey, Dewey, and Louie as it already was.

"Garwsh, I wouldn't call it babysittin'," Goofy said in between licks. "We gotta be shore to tell Sora to come to the clocktower after the festival while the king is busy lookin' fer a cure fer that there geosti... er... geostinagatory, huh?"

"That's geostigma, ya big palooka!" Donald argued. "Bah, who asked you, anyway?"

"Aww, cheer up, Unca Donald!" Dewey said.

"Yeah, lighten up," Huey interjected.

Donald sent them an annoyed gaze. Daisy hooked her arm with his and giggled. "What's so funny?" Donald asked.

"Oh, Donald. Don't be such a grouch," Daisy said. "Look on the bright side for a change. At least we get to spend some time together as a family at one of the most beautiful worlds in the galaxy. The Guardian Festival is only once a year, so we should enjoy this time while we have it."

"I hate festivals," Donald muttered under his breath. Daisy shot him a disapproving look.

"Look, everybody!" Louie said, pointing at one of the many contraptions. It looked like three wacky chairs lined up together ready to shoot at three bowls laid out in front of them. Above them was a banner that read 'Ice Cream Beat' as well as a disclaimer that anyone who participates in this game had a chance of winning their own free ice cream cone. It looked like some sort of device that shot out ice cream. "It's just like the one back home."

"Free ice cream? I could go for some of that," Dewey said.

"Me too!" Hewey said in agreement.

"Me three," Louie added.

"Sorry, boys," said the man running the attraction. "You have to be a certain age to hop onto this little baby. The goal is to get a certain amount of ice cream cones or else you'll get dumped into this here tank, yes siree."

The man pulled away a sheet that was hiding a large fish tank underneath the devices.

"We can handle a little water. Right, fellas?" Huey asked his brothers, both of them nodding.

"Sorry. Rules are rules," the man reaffirmed.

The boys all hung their heads low before glancing at each other as a simultaneous lightning bulb popped over each of their heads.

"Hey, Unca Donald!" Dewey said.

"Could you win us free ice cream?" Louie asked.

"We've been good today," Hewey added.

"No way!" Donald denied, using his arms to emphasize his point further. "We don't have time. Goofy and I are on an important mission."

"Aww, please, Unca Donald?" all three of them pleaded, fluttering their eyes for good measure.

"I SAID NO," Donald shouted.

"Donald," Daisy said in her usual reprimanding tone as she wagged her finger at him. "You need to get ahold of yourself. We understand that you're technically on duty, but what kind of uncle are you to just ignore the wants of his nephews on a day when they're supposed to be having the time of their life? His Majesty said we're allowed to relax and aren't in such a rush that you can't stop for a moment and win your boys some ice cream."

Donald looked guilty and winced at her words. "But Daisy..."

Daisy crossed her arms and tapped her high-heeled webbed foot. Next to her, the boys were still giving him toothy smiles with innocent eyes.

Donald sighed as he dragged himself over to the man in charge of the attraction and paid him two-hundred munny. Daisy put on a pleased and satisfied smile while the boys all high-fived each other.

Donald slouched in the seat and gripped the handles, preparing himself for the worst. The man leaned on the chair. "All right, sir, all you have to do is produce a score of two thousand and two-hundred."

Donald felt his pupils dilate. "Wak!?" he quacked. "That's ridiculous!"

"Donald," Daisy warned.

Donald grumbled under his breath. "Goofy, get over here and help me out with this stupid thing!"

Goofy scratched his head before taking the seat next to Donald. After they were both strapped in, it was time for the game to begin. When the man pressed a button, they could hear a rendition of "It's a Small World" playing from the speaker. Donald and Goofy began shooting snow cones from their devices into their respective bowls, each stacking on each other as they went along.

Once Donald got a better feel for the controls, he was able to ease his frustration a bit and have a little fun. "This'll be a piece of cake!"

"A-hyuk, yeah, this ain't so bad once you get the hang of it."

Daisy and the boys cheered the both of them on as Donald and Goofy increased their scores and continued pelting ice cream cones into the bowls until they were stacked so high in the air that they couldn't even see the top of it anymore.

After about five minutes, time was up and Donald wiped his hands with a smug grin on his face. "How was that?"

"Hmm, well..." the man said as he looked at the scoreboard. "Looks like the two of you combined were able to produce two thousand one hundred ninety-nine points. I guess you lose."

"What?!" Donald stomped. Huey, Dewey, and Louie were disappointed and Daisy hugged all three of them comfortingly. "This game is rigged!"

"Garwsh..." Goofy scratched his cheek with confusion.

"Sorry, but it looks like you two are gonna have to take a dip," the man said, grappling onto a lever and pulling it up. Donald and Goofy felt their chairs rumble and vibrate almost aggressively before they were shot up into the air like cannon balls. The man in charge of the game, Daisy, and the boys watched as Donald and Goofy were sent all the way across the festival.

"WAAAK!" Donald quacked.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-HA-HA-HA-HOOOEY..."

Daisy glared at the man in charge expectantly, waiting for an explanation. The man scratched his head before he read the disclaimers on the level more carefully.

"Oops," he said. "Guess I was supposed to pull the lever down if I wanted them to fall into the tank."


Amaya was promptly tapping her foot with her gummi phone attached to her ear. She sat at a table shaded by an umbrella along with Riku, both with iced drinks at their disposal.

When Amaya got the voicemail message, she hung up and buried her face into her hands. "I don't believe it. Neither of them picked up. Again. Like, I just don't understand! How can he be so careless? What if Haru gets lost in a crowd? Or if they take her to the water park and she slips and twists her ankle? The one day I decided not to bring my first aid kit. Can you believe that? At least I think I did well in teaching her about stranger danger... but Haru is such a friendly little thing she might not even remember. And what would Mom think? Do you think she'd send me off to boarding school? Oh, I am going to give Sora a piece of my mind! I think it's incredibly irresponsible to up and leave without my permission—"

She cut herself off when a crumpled up piece of paper smacked her against the forehead, the culprit being none other than the person sitting across from her. After giving him a curious but frustrated stare, she unraveled the paper to find a series of tally marks.

"And... this is supposed to be?" she asked.

"The amount of times you've called Sora," Riku answered. "We're at approximately thirty-four times in the past ten minutes. You think that's a new record?"

Amaya glared at him before crumpling the paper back into a ball and tossing it back to him, effectively hitting him square on his own forehead. "Riku, please. Can't you see I'm freaking out here? I have no clue if my little sister or my doofus cousin are okay. Could use a little emotional support!"

"Here we go again," Riku said with a sigh. "Need I remind you we're at the Guardian Festival, not a haunted house? You and I both know that Sora would jump off a cliff before he let anything bad happen to Haru."

"It's not that I disagree, but... how come Sora or Kairi aren't answering? What if they're in some kind of trouble?"

"They probably just have their phones turned off. Maybe they want to actually enjoy themselves for once? Don't make things a bigger deal than they need to be. Then again, this is you we're talking about."

Amaya pouted. "Well, you certainly seem awfully calm."

Riku leaned back in his chair and slung his arm over the back of it. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, there's only the fact that the girl you seem to be pining for is practically by herself with someone else."

Riku sighed. "Didn't we already go through this yesterday? I told you: Sora and I would never let a girl come between us. Now, would you just drop that already?"

Amaya studied him for a few moments before deciding to drop the issue. She wasn't in the mood to argue, and quite frankly, she didn't care. Not until she knew those three were safe and sound—so that she could kill them, of course.

As if her prayers were heard and answered, she heard a familiar voice.

"Heeeeey! Rikuuuu! Amayaaaa!"

The voice clearly belonged to Sora and when she turned around, she saw him, Kairi, and Haru all racing towards them. Once they all reached the table, Sora performed a quick victory pose.

"Heh heh, I win!"

"No fair!" Haru pouted.

"You snooze you lose," Sora teased. "Besides, you were the one who challenged me to a race."

"You should let the girls win, Sora!" Haru accused. "Haven't you ever heard of ladies first?!"

"Yeah, be more of a gentleman, Sora," Kairi joked, a teasing smirk directed at Sora. "Maybe he really isn't boyfriend material after all, Haru."

Riku felt his ears perk at the sound of that. He wasn't sure how he felt about the look Kairi was giving Sora either—it seemed lighthearted and innocent on the outside, but he couldn't help but detect a flirty undertone to it. Maybe he was overthinking.

"W-What?" Sora asked incredulously. "I didn't mean to—"

"Excuse me!" Amaya interrupted, marching towards Sora and forcefully grabbing his attention. "Just what kind of stunt was that? Running off like that. And with Haru, of all people! Where the heck were you three? Why didn't you answer any of my calls? You better have a good explanation for this. We were worried sick about you!"

"Correction," Riku interjected. "She was worried sick about you. I, on the other hand, played my role as the voice of reason."

Riku kept his mouth shut after the deafening glare Amaya sent him that nonverbally communicated to him that he had best kept his mouth shut.

Sora rubbed the back of his head. "Oh... sorry, Amaya. We just figured we'd grab some mochi while you and Riku cooled down and figured we'd turn off our phones."

Kairi sheepishly put up a single finger. "I'll take the blame for that last one."

"I guess we should've let guys know first," Sora added.

"You guess?" Amaya asked incredulously.

"Amaya, please don't yell at Sora," she said in a pleading voice as she held onto PuPu tight. "He didn't do nothing bad. And I was a good girl. Promise!"

Amaya gave Haru a look and suddenly her frustration dissipated with a sigh as she kneeled down to level with her little sister. "I know you were." Amaya then began physically examining Haru for bruises or scrapes. "But you didn't get hurt, right?"

"Amayaaaa," Haru whined.

"Sorry! You can never be too careful," Amaya said with a slight giggle.

Riku was leaning against his palm, watching Amaya being her usual naggy self with indifference. His eyes traveled up to find Sora and Kairi having their own side conversation that was completely inaudible from his perspective due to all of the chatter and hustle and bustle of the large crowds surrounding them. Since when did those two get so cozy?

"So, Sora," Riku said, raising his voice a bit to catch his friend's attention. "What did you guys end up doing?"

"Oh, tons of stuff," Sora answered. "First we went to grab some mochi, then we went on the Magic Carousel, and then we took Haru to the playground. It's too bad we didn't bring you guys with us. We had a ton of fun."

"Sora is really good with kids," Kairi added. "Riku, you should've seen his face when he went on the slide with Haru. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought he was a big kid himself."

Riku smirked. "He's always been like that. This guy is just a five-year-old trapped in a sixteen-year-old's body."

"Hey!" Sora said defensively. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hee hee! It means that I think you'll be a wonderful father someday." Kairi gave an encouraging smile to go along with her explanation.

Sora felt his lips part at the answer. He decided he would let the 'kid' comment go. He could make an exception for Kairi. "Gee, you think so?"

Riku wasn't expecting that. She called him a kid, but there was something about the way she looked at him that didn't sit right with him.

Sora pulled out his gummi phone. "Hey, why don't we take a picture?"

Riku rolled his eyes. "What is it with you and your obsession with taking pictures now?"

"Hey, nothing wrong with capturing the moment," Sora said. He thought about how he would have to leave Destiny Islands soon and potentially go into battle. "It may not seem like much right now, but these memories—the times we get to laugh, smile, and have fun together... they'll always be special to us in our hearts. They'll get us through the toughest days. So, I wanna be able to look back on a day like today and cherish it."

Kairi looked at Sora through her peripheral view, admiring the thoughtful and mature response. Despite his self-esteem issues, he always seemed to stay true to himself. Amaya, as much as she hated to admit it, thought it was a sweet way of looking at things as well.

Riku chuckled as he stood up from the table. "You never change, do you? Always the sap."

"Say that again," Sora threatened lightheartedly.

"Oooh, ooh! Can I take the picture?!" Haru asked, raising her hand like a student in class.

"Sure!" Sora offered.

"Yay!" Haru cheered. Sora picked her up and perched her on the table, handing her his phone. After instructing Haru on which button to press, he quickly ran back and got into position with the others. He stood in the middle of Amaya and Kairi, the former to his left with the latter to his right, setting his arms around their shoulders. Riku stood next to Amaya on the far left and set his own arm around her, though he didn't fail to spare a quick glance at Sora and Kairi.

"Okie dokie!" Haru said. "PuPu says everyone make a silly face!"

Amaya sighed. "I think your 'funny face special' is becoming a bad influence on her, Sora."

"Aww, come on, Amaya. It's not our fault you don't have a sense of humor anymore," he joked. Riku burst into laughter when Amaya gaped at her cousin for his comment. He could never get enough of Amaya bashing. Even Kairi started snickering as she held a closed fist to her face.

"W-Wha—I do, too!" Amaya said defensively.

"Well, now's your chance to prove it," Sora teased. "Hit it, Haru!"

Haru giggled. "Saaaay chocobo!"

The final result produced an image of Riku sporting his usual cocky grin with his arm wrapped around Amaya's shoulder, Kairi still snickering while Sora gave the camera the goofiest, most over the top grin he could muster as he snuck bunny ear fingers behind Amaya's head whose right cheek was puffed out in frustration.

"Okay!" Haru said. "Now PuPu says just Riku and Amaya!"

The two in question were both caught by surprise at the request.

"Us?" Amaya inquired.

"Yeah!" Haru nodded her head vigorously. "Don't be shy!"

Riku and Amaya exchanged a brief look. They both weren't sure why Haru, or rather, PuPu, would suggest a picture of just the two of them. Wasn't that something couples did? Not to mention the fact that they attempted to go down that road before and—

They both didn't want to think about that disaster.

The thought made Amaya blush ever so slightly and mess with a few strands of her hair while Riku simply cleared his throat.

"That shouldn't be a problem," Riku stated.

"R-Right, right, no problem at all," Amaya said.

Sora and Kairi happily stood to the side while Riku and Amaya tried figuring out the proper pose. They both were unsure what to do at first until Haru kept pressing for them to get closer and closer to each other. Eventually, she had Riku place his hand on her back and Amaya lean into him a bit closer, both with uncertain but content smiles.

When she liked what she saw, Haru smiled. "Okay, saaay—"

"Yeah, we know the drill," Riku interrupted.

With that, the picture was taken and produced a lovely result. Haru showed Sora and Kairi the picture and they both seemed to share approval.

"So, what's the verdict?" Sora asked in a teasing voice as he wrapped his hands behind his head.

"Mmm hm, mmm hm!" Kairi nodded as she held a finger to her chin. "They do look awfully good together."

"Something you guys would like to share with the rest of the class?" Riku asked, unable to hear their side conversation.

"Nothing!" Sora and Kairi covered.

"PuPu says now it's Sora and Kairi's turn!" Haru announced.

Sora swallowed a lump in his throat. "W-Wait... like, just us?"

"Uh huh!" Haru answered.

"But that's, uh—"

"I'm game!" Kairi said, effectively cutting Sora off as she grabbed him by the hand and practically dragged him to the spot where Riku and Amaya once stood. Sora froze, unsure of what he was supposed to do. How was he supposed to pose? Was he to put his arm around her shoulders? Maybe place his hand on her back like Riku did with Amaya? Kairi seemed like a fun-loving person, so maybe going for something goofy similar to their group shot was the way to go?

"Don't tell me you're nervous," Kairi said, giving him a sly grin.

"Huh? Me?" Sora chuckled nervously. "'Course not!"

Kairi giggled. He was transparent as always. "Stop overthinking. It's not a good look for you. You're cuter when you smile!"

"Yeah, you're right, I shouldn't overthink so mu—wait, what?"

Instead of repeating herself, Kairi was quick to wrap her arms around his shoulders and stood slightly on her toes so that her face was next to his. Sora was caught off-guard, but at the same time, it seemed like something she would do.

"Hurry, Haru! Take the picture!" Kairi said.

"Ha ha, okay!" Haru said, sticking out her tongue in concentration as she lined up the frame.

Sora looked over to Kairi. She felt his gaze and gave him a sweet smile. "Ready?" she asked.

"Y-Yeah," Sora said with a chuckle.

Riku folded his arms while he watched the scene unfold. He felt Amaya's eyes digging holes into the side of his neck, but he didn't acknowledge her.

Sora wasn't sure where to put his hands, but he was able to manage an embarrassed smile with his right eye closed while Kairi smiled confidently at the camera.

"Saaaay chocobo!"

Instantly after the picture was taken, Sora heard a faint cry of agony in the short distance above.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-HA-HA-HA-HOOOEY..."

Sora looked up to find Donald and Goofy well on their way towards hitting the ground face first. Even worse, it looked like they were going to land right on top of Kairi while she didn't seem to be aware.

"Watch out, Kairi!" Sora cried as he gently shoved Kairi out of the way closer to Amaya. Sora was just about to make a run for it. "Wh-Whoa… Whoaaaa!"

But he was too late.

Donald and Goofy came crashing down right on top of his back with a hard thud just as he was about to make a run for it. The timing was impeccable and a small amount of people looked in their direction. Both Donald and Goofy's eyes were rolling as they tried to catch up with the daze they were in. When the both of them came to, they realized just who it was they had fallen on top of.

"Sora!" they said.

"Are you okay?" Kairi asked as Donald and Goofy rolled off of Sora and she and Amaya helped him to his feet.

Donald shook his headache away as he dusted off his clothes. "Yeah, don't worry about us at all..."

"I'm okay," Sora answered. Despite him saying this, Amaya put her hand to his cheeks and inspected his neck and face for bruises before Sora brushed her off. "What are you two doing here?" he asked once he realized who the culprits were.

"Gawrsh, just so happens we were just lookin' for you," Goofy answered. "Guess it was lucky we dropped in on ya, a-hyuk!"

Sora tilted his head to the side. "Why me?"

"What do you think?" Donald asked with frustration. "Because you're the cho—"

Before Donald could say any further, Goofy was quick to put a hand over his bill. That didn't stop Kairi from giving him a suspicious glance. "Uh, Donald, I think that's s'posed to be a secret," Goofy said.

"What kind of secret?" Kairi asked, turning to Sora with a face that was seemingly innocent. He couldn't help but feel like she was being more interrogative than she was letting on.

"Uhh, nothing important," Sora said with a nervous chuckle.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Amaya added, equally anxious. Of course, this only added to Kairi's curiosity.

"This is Donald. He's a court magician of Disney Castle. And this is Goofy, the captain of the royal knights. They're... friends of mine?" Sora side-eyed Donald. "Well, kind of."

"Oh, well... it's nice to meet you," Kairi greeted.

"Likewise," Goofy said in a friendly voice. They greeted Amaya and Riku as well, both of whom they were already familiar with.

Kairi felt the gears in her head turning. A court magician and a royal knight? Despite their appearances, it would seem that they both were in high authority. But what would they be doing looking for Sora?

"Could you excuse us for a moment?" Sora asked.

Before Kairi could protest, Sora and Goofy dragged Donald to a more secure location where there were hopefully no eavesdroppers.

Kairi resisted her urge to follow them herself. What was with all of the secrecy?

Once they reached a more secluded area, Goofy let go of Donald's beak. "GET OFFA ME," the anthropomorphic duck shouted.

"Hey, could you keep it down?" Sora asked. "Try to remember that me being the..." he looked around before continuing, "...the you-know-what is supposed to be a secret."

Donald sighed. He assumed all of Sora's friends already knew. "You can't keep it secret forever."

"Yeah, I know," Sora admitted dreadfully. "I just need more time to figure things out. What are you guys doing here, anyway? Were you really looking for me?"

"Uh huh," Goofy said. "We're on orders from the king to let ya know to come to the ol' clock tower at Daybreak Town after the festival."

"Okay...?" Sora said. "How come I couldn't just get a call from someone?"

"Well, the king also told us to stick with ya since we knew you'd be at this here festival today. He thought it would be a good idea to have somebody around to look after ya startin' after this here festival."

"And keep you out of trouble," Donald added.

Sora frowned. "Wait a second, I didn't ask for anyone's protection. I can take care of myself just fine."

"As if we wanna be stuck babysitting you!" Donald argued back. "But too bad. Unlike you, we follow orders. So, get used to it."

"Hey, I do too follow orders," Sora countered before crossing his arms and averting his eyes. "I just... get sidetracked sometimes."

Goofy chuckled while Donald rolled his eyes.

"This isn't fair," Sora continued. "No one even came to me to ask how I feel about this."

"We're telling you now, aren't we?" Donald said.

"Garwsh, I'm shore the king woulda said somethin' to ya if he could," Goofy said. "But he's been real busy questin' the worlds. Sorry we couldn't call ya sooner, but I guess we just kinda dropped in on ya instead, a-hyuk!"

"At least we're not whining about it," Donald said, tapping his foot impatiently.

"How long is this supposed to go on for?" Sora asked.

"Until you can be trusted to take care of things yourself," Donald answered.

Sora slumped his shoulders. It just proved that the higher ups had no faith in him. He was still being treated like a kid to the point where they felt the need to give him chaperones. Sure, he ditched a few classes from time to time, but he liked to believe he learned his lesson since then, right?

"Well, I guess I don't have much of a choice," Sora said, the disappointment in his voice apparent.

"You better be ready after this festival and make sure you don't slow us down," Donald said as he made his way back Daisy and his nephews. "C'mon, Goofy."

"Hey, shouldn't I be the one saying that to you?" Sora shouted. He sighed. Goofy patted Sora on the shoulder reassuringly before he strode happily back to his friends.

Once Sora returned, Kairi, Amaya, Riku, and Haru all turned to give him their attention. Sora put on an embarrassed smile as he scratched his cheek.

"So, uh, long story short, they had to tell me something kinda important," Sora said.

While Riku and Amaya gave each other knowing looks, Kairi tilted her head curiously. "What was it?" she asked.

"It was nothing important." Sora laughed nervously.

Kairi furrowed her eyebrows. "But you just said—"

"Okay, let's get moving!" Sora was quick to say. "There's still a ton of stuff we haven't tried out yet. I still need to beat Riku's high score in Blaster Blaze."

"It's good to have dreams, even if they won't come true," Riku teased.

While the rest of them followed Sora and Riku, Kairi paused momentarily before catching up.


Axel walked through the backstage halls with a twinkle in his eyes. He loved seeing all of the behind the scenes machinations that, while seemingly independent of each other, worked together as a harmonious unit to bring the stage to life. When Yuna Toriyama called and asked him to come visit her backstage with a proposition for him, he jumped at the opportunity. If he and his bandmates were lucky, she might offer them a chance to open up for them.

"All right, guys," Axel said alongside his bandmates, Saïx and Larxene, as they stopped before the room Yuna told him to come to. He slicked his hair back. "Whatever this is all about, you just let me do the talkin'. Time to turn the charm on."

Larxene crossed her arms. "And just what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Axel snaked a reassuring arm around his girlfriend. "Come on, babe, you know I only got eyes for you."

"Yeah? Tell that to the bimbo whose legs those same eyes were locked on outside the theater a few hours ago," Larxene bit back with a vengeance.

"C-Come on! Lookin' is free, right?" Axel countered.

"That aside, I wouldn't say you have a way with words, Axel," Saïx said.

"Have a little little faith in me, Sai. I'm a regular wordsmith. I got this," Axel said with a grin. He patted him on the back. "And if I don't, that's why you're here!"

Saïx rolled his eyes. "Flattered."

"And what about me?" Larxene asked, tapping her foot.

Axel scoffed as he wrapped his hand around her waist and pulled her in closer. "Isn't it obvious? To make sure I don't hafta worry about any asshats hittin' on you while I'm not around to give 'em a black eye."

Larxene gave a smirk. "That's the right answer."

Saïx cleared his throat, quick to change the topic before he became the third wheel he never wanted to be. "I would implore that you two focus on the task at hand."

"Naturally," Axel said with unwavering confidence. He knocked on the door and received an answer from a tall man with a shaved head and sunglasses to go with his blue suit and black tie. "Hey, big guy, we're friends of Yuna. She went to our school and shit. Mind moving to the side?"

The man, presumably Yuna's bodyguard, merely lifted an eyebrow.

Saïx groaned. "Yes, quite the wordsmith, indeed."

"It's okay, Rude," Yuna spoke up from behind. Rude moved out of the way to reveal Yuna sitting in a chair with Rikku and Paine by her side. "They're friends of mine."

Axel gave Rude a cocky sneer as he and his friends made their way inside. "Step aside, baldy."

It was only after Axel stopped taunting Rude when he noticed Yuna's ankle being bandaged up by a nurse.

"Hey, what happened, kiddo?" Axel asked.

"Dress rehearsal," Paine answered on Yuna's behalf. "She ended up twisting her ankle."

"Yeah, and the doc says Yunny can't perform tonight," Rikku added with a pout. "Our set has a lot of choreography that could potentially damage her ankle even more than it already is."

"Aw, man," Axel said, crossing his arms. "That's a real bummer. Sorry to hear that, kid."

"You have our condolences," Saïx said.

"Walk it off," Larxene deadpanned, earning her a scowl from Saïx.

"Pleasant as always," Paine grumbled under her breath loud enough for only Yuna and Rikku to hear.

"A-Anyways," Yuna stuttered, not wanting any drama to start in her room.

"So, what're you gonna do?" Axel asked.

Yuna and her friends exchanged a few looks before returning their attention to Axel. "Well, I supposed that brings us to why I called you here," Yuna said. "I'm sorry this is on such short notice, but I know you and the Melodious Nocturnes have been making a name for yourselves. Do you think it would be possible for you to take over for us?"

While Larxene gasped and Saïx furrowed his eyebrows with confusion, Axel's grew wide as saucers before a big grin spread across his face.


Roxas was sure he was getting the cold shoulder.

After he, Xion, and Naminé went their separate ways from Sora, Haru, and Kairi so that the latter three could ride the "Pirate Ship" (seeing as to how Xion refused to get on any more rides for the day), the trio decided to grab some ice cream. Roxas and Xion were walking a few steps ahead of Naminé, who seemed content to wander behind them with her arms tied behind her back as her eyes explored the scenery.

Roxas had a hard time paying attention to whatever Xion seemed to be talking about when he noticed how Naminé seemed much less enthusiastic than before. Ever since their encounter with Seifer, while she maintained her pleasant and polite demeanor, he couldn't shake the fact that she seemed to be keeping her distance and would only respond with one-word or short answers when addressed. Was he crazy or was she actively withdrawing from the conversation?

In the middle of her babbling, Xion noticed Roxas's state of inattentiveness, his eyes darting back to Naminé every so often. She decided to switch up her topic mid-sentence to throw him for a loop.

"...and that's when we had a pretty hot makeout session in your bedroom. I hope you don't mind the white stains on your sheets when he had to—"

"Wait, what?" Roxas asked incredulously when Xion's voice cut through his thoughts.

"Got your attention?" Xion asked, her frustrated eyes betraying the lopsided grin on her lips. "Geez. Of course I'd need to say something like that to get you to listen to me."

"Sorry, I just thought you had a secret boyfriend I didn't know about for a second there and didn't want to pop a blood vessel."

Xion gave him a sly look. "What, would that bother you?"

"Maybe a little," Roxas said, his look equally sly.

Xion cleared her throat and turned her head the other way to make sure he didn't notice her flushed cheeks before returning to look at him with a toothy grin, resting her elbow against his shoulder. "Well, don't worry. I'm saving myself for marriage, after all."

"As long as I approve of the groom."

"As long as you don't get jealous of the groom." Xion teasingly poked on him on the chest. As she did this, she spared a halfway glance back at Naminé to see if she was paying attention.

Sure enough, she was. Naminé seemed to overhear their banter and her eyes dashed back and forth between them like a tennis ball. When she caught wind of Xion's glance, she made herself look inconspicuous as she set her eyes on the ground.

Xion could hardly believe it. Was Naminé jealous? She grinned, almost nefariously as if she were a mustache-twirling villainess, before she returned to a innocuously friendly smile when she returned her attention to Roxas. She felt like she just stood her ground against Naminé without having to be confrontational about it. It also gave weight to her suspicions of Naminé; she was certain she harbored at least some feelings for Roxas at this point. But Xion had the upper hand that she and Roxas had known each other for years and their flirtatious banter was nothing new or out of the ordinary. That was something she could confidently say that Naminé and Roxas didn't have.

All three of them stopped when Roxas got a call on his gummi phone. "Hang on a minute, I think I should take this," Roxas said, before answering. "Noct?"

"Roxas," Noctis said on the other end. "Heard you signed up for the struggle tournament."

"You did?"

"Well, it's not like half of the festival isn't buzzing about it," Noctis said tiredly. "Gonna take a wild guess and say that means you ended up coming to the festival, after all."

"That wild guess would be correct. So, what's up?" Roxas asked as he began walking, the girls following him as he did.

"Remember when I told you we need to talk? I think this would be a pretty good time to do it while we're in the same place."

"And ruin a perfectly good afternoon?" Roxas said dreadfully. He sighed. "Fine, I guess. Where are you?"

"I'm—"

"Oof!" Roxas said as his shoulder bumped into the shoulder of another, both of them dropping their gummi phones in the process. He was just about to apologize to the stranger before he recognized that spiky black mane. He seemed to be accompanied by his three companions, Ignis, Prompto, and Gladiolus. "So, you can teleport too?"

"Actually, yeah," Noctis answered nonchalantly. Roxas noticed Noctis had some sort of folder in his hands.

"Yo, Roxas!" Prompto greeted. "Good luck in the struggle tourney tomorrow, my dude."

"Thanks, Prompto."

"What I didn't realize was that you were holdin' out on us in the babe department." He eyed Naminé and Xion as he said this, giving them suggestive looks. When Roxas realized, he stepped in front of them.

"Anyway," Roxas said, returning his attention to Noctis. "You wanted to talk?"

"Sure," Noctis said as he picked up both of their gummi phones, handing one to Roxas. "Might be a good idea to find somewhere private."

Roxas raised an eyebrow but didn't argue. "Lead the way." He looked back to the girls. "You guys mind waiting here for a second?"

Xion crossed her arms and cocked her hip to the side. "What's with the secrecy? Don't trust us?"

"Trust me, it's better this way," Noctis interjected.

Roxas shrugged. Naminé and Xion both wordlessly decided to do as told and stayed behind.

"It'll be real quick, I promise," Roxas said.

As Noctis led Roxas to a more isolated area (which was admittedly difficult due to the bustle of the crowd), he signaled his entourage to follow them and act as lookouts for paparazzi and fans wanting a picture or autograph from either one of them.

"You guys go on ahead," Prompto said as he was about to stride towards Xion and Naminé, but his plans were foiled when the composed and collected Ignis pinched him by the ear and dragged him along with the rest of them. "Aww, Iggy! C'mon, man."

Xion and Naminé watched in amusement as he was dragged away by Ignis before the air between them shifted drastically. They both didn't spare each other so much as a glance, they just stood there as if the other didn't exist—Xion with her arms crossed and Naminé hugging her arm with stiff shoulders. The only audible noises between them were Xion clearing her throat and the bottom of Naminé's shoes lightly scraping against the dirt road.

After finally finding a secluded area near a railing that separated the beach from the festival, Noctis leaned his forearms against the railing, letting the wind play with his hair. The others kept their distance and were only there to act as lookouts for paparazzi or fans that would surely ask the prince of Lucis and the son of Cloud Strife for an autograph or picture. Roxas leaned against the railing along with him, giving Noctis a curious look.

"So, what's the big deal?" Roxas asked. "Don't tell me you're just gonna spit emo poetry on me."

Noctis scoffed. "Sorry, it's just hard not to get entranced by this place sometimes."

Roxas looked out to the ocean. "Guess I'm just desensitized."

"Well, everyone wants new scenery eventually. But with what I'm about to show you, maybe you'll appreciate this place a little more," Noctis said cryptically.

"Seriously, what are you talking about?"

Noctis hesitated, as if he were worried with how Roxas would take the news, but decided he didn't want to waste his time either. Noctis showed Roxas the folder he had been holding the whole time and handed it to him. "When I heard you were here, I had my people pick this up for me. You should take a look at it."

Roxas pushed himself away from the railing and raised an eyebrow before taking the folder. When he opened it, the first page he read had to do with Shinra. "What is this?"

Noctis didn't answer. Instead, allowed Roxas to scan and skim through the documents at his own pace. As he expected, Roxas's gaze grew more curious and intense the more he flipped through the pages. His eyebrows furrowed as his eyes scanned the contents faster with each passing second.

"While looking for a cure for the growing crisis of geostigma, Shinra went through the process of... illegal human experimentation on victims of geostigma?" Roxas read carefully. "Led by Professor Hojo, over five hundred victims died during the experiments premature of their life expectancy."

"These experiments were top secret, only known by the most elite in the company," Noctis clarified. "Anyone who wasn't supposed to find out about them were silenced—forever, by Sephiroth. Seems like he was a mercenary for them at the time."

"Sephiroth?" Roxas asked. "But I thought—"

"He betrayed them," Noctis said, answering the question he knew Roxas would ask. He pointed to the folder. "It's all in there. The last page... is the one you might wanna brace yourself for."

Roxas paused for a moment, unsure if he wanted to proceed judging by the look Noctis was giving him, but he decided to push through. He learned many things about Shinra he never knew but wasn't entirely surprised by. There were already plenty of rumors of their shady underground practices. He finally reached the last page where it displayed a list of all the victims with their pictures next to them. Most names he didn't recognize until his eyes landed on one in particular that caught his attention.

Aerith Gainsborough.

"Mom?"

Noctis sighed. "Yeah. I heard about it from my dad. She was your real mom, right?" Roxas didn't answer his question. "Sorry."

Roxas was able to maintain his composure. "It's okay," he was finally able to say in response to Noctis.

Noctis lifted an eyebrow. "You're taking this better than I expected."

Roxas rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. "Well, I dunno if this sounds a little cold but... I want to be angry, I really do, but it's hard to see her as anything but a stranger, even if she is my mother."

"Nah, I get that," Noctis said, shaking his head.

"But still, this is my mother and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little curious to have gotten to know more about her." His grip tightened around the folder. "And to know that I was robbed of that not by bad luck but by some jackasses in a greedy corporation does kinda get under my skin."

"If I had to guess, Aerith being experimented on is probably what led to Zack and your old man leaving the company," Noctis theorized. "The original idea must've been to send Sephiroth after them, but he turned his back on Shinra too and became an even bigger threat."

Roxas studied Noctis cautiously. "Where did you even get this?"

Noctis shrugged. "All I can say is that this was all recorded by a man who used to work very closely with the people of Shinra. He's embarrassed to ever have been associated with them and would love nothing more than to shut the entire operation down, but he's been blackmailed by them to keep his mouth shut or else... and not a lot of people seem to get that kind of luxury," Noctis answered, checking out their surroundings to make sure there wasn't anyone else listening. "He saw the both of us talking to Rufus back during the dinner party and asked me to hand this to you later that night behind closed doors. He asked to remain anonymous."

Did that mean this person was someone who attended the dinner party? Roxas felt like he just entered a secret agent conspiracy thriller. "Not that I don't appreciate this, Noct, but what exactly am I supposed to do with this information? Is this the part where you tell me your name is Agent K and you've come to recruit me?"

"I just thought you'd want to know," Noctis said. "Shinra is gonna keep coming after you and each offer is probably gonna sound even sweeter than the last. But now you know who they really are." He narrowed his eyes. "Don't let it happen."

Roxas nodded. "Thanks for looking out for me, Noct. Seriously, it means a lot."

Noctis yawned as he stretched his limbs. "Don't sweat it. Just make sure you don't let anyone else see those files. Put them in a safe place when you get home."

Roxas gave a mock salute. "Aye-aye, captain. I'll see you around."

After Noctis gave him a lazy wave as he left with his entourage, Roxas stared at the folder with a myriad of questions whirling around in his mind, before tucking it under the pit of his arm and walking back to his friends with a mixed expression lingering on his face.

Meanwhile, Naminé and Xion seemed to be in the same predicament they were in earlier—not a word uttered between them. Xion was fanning herself to alleviate some of the atrocious heat while Naminé silently cursed to herself for not having brought her sketchbook today.

"So, uh..." Xion said, clearing her throat. "How have you been liking the Destiny Islands weather?"

Naminé blinked. "O-O-Oh, um... it's... it's nice."

"Yeah..."

Neither could find a way to push the conversation forward, but thankfully Roxas returned in the nick of time to save them from their awkward exchange.

"Did I miss anything?" Roxas asked.

"Yeah, you just missed the discovery of extraterrestrial life forms and the zombie apocalypse in the matter of the past five minutes," Xion said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Roxas smirked. "Clearly."

"So, what was that all about?" Xion asked. "What's with the folder?"

Roxas's casual demeanor shifted into something downtrodden before he began walking off. "It's complicated. A story for another day."

"You know I'm just gonna bug you about it later, right?" Xion said as she hurried next to his side.

"I'd be worried you really did get replaced by an alien if you didn't."

Just like before, Naminé kept her distance as she trailed behind them both, her thoughts safe and secure in the trappings of her own mind. It was back to square one and Roxas wished he knew how to change that.

Xion looked towards the sky and noticed the bright blues had slowly been fluctuating into soft purples and oranges. It seemed the evening was beginning to settle in. "So, where to now?" she asked.

He was moments from answering before his gummi phone rang again. He decided to pick up once he saw the caller I.D flash Axel's name.

"Yeah?" Roxas greeted.

"What are you doin' right now?"

"Well, we were just about to—"

"Yeah, that's awesome. Anyways! You gotta come to the Yuna Toriyama concert tonight! Drop your plans, okay?"

"Uh, sure. But why?"

"Legendary stuff, man! Legendary. Be sure to have your camera ready!"

Before Roxas could ask anymore questions, Axel hung up. Roxas shook his head, feeling that he would never be able to understand his eccentric best friend.

"Lea?" Xion asked.

"Lea," Roxas confirmed.

"Figures," Xion said, scoffing. "Should I be afraid to ask what he wanted?"

"Surprisingly, no," Roxas answered. "But it looks like we've been summoned to a most luxurious Yuna Toriyama concert."

"Weren't we gonna go to that anyways?"

Roxas shrugged. "Well, apparently legendary stuff is in store for us now."

"Hm." Xion crossed her arms. "That moron better not be up to anything."

Through his peripheral view, Roxas studied the quiet and reserved Naminé. As much as he wanted to talk to her and sort out whatever it was he did to upset her, he would have preferred to do it when it was just the two of them. Though, he wasn't quite sure why he wanted it to be private. He would have called Xion out in front of their entire group of friends if she ever did the same thing. Maybe it was because he knew Naminé wouldn't appreciate being put on the spot in the same manner.

Roxas stopped walking, making the others stop as well as he turned halfway to get a better look at Naminé. She looked up at him with parted lips.

"Y-Yes?" she asked.

"You've been acting a little quiet, even more than usual," Roxas said with a humorless chuckle. "Not sure if a concert will really be your thing, so if you're tired it's okay if you want to go home."

Naminé looked back and forth between him and Xion. "Oh, um, is it that you want me to go home? It's completely fine if you do."

"W-What?" Roxas stammered. "No, of course not. I was just, uh... I mean, if you want to come that'd be awesome, too."

Normally, the last thing of interest to Naminé would be attending a loud, overbearing concert of all things. However, the situation she was in didn't exactly qualify as normal. "No, I'm fine. I can tag along."

Xion's eyes widened. Was she crazy or did Naminé spare her the briefest of glances when she said that? She was able to maintain a friendly-looking appearance, but if she could have had her way, Xion would have sent an icy glare the blonde's way.

On the other hand, Roxas smiled. He was just relieved Naminé didn't seem to hate him enough to not hang out with him anymore. "Great."

"Yeah, totally," Xion mumbled.

"Welp, we better get a move on," Roxas said, taking the lead as usual while the others followed him. Though they notably kept a healthy distance from the other.

Naminé wasn't sure how to feel. On one hand, she didn't really have any interest in going and she was starting to wish she had stayed home for the day. But she couldn't say she was comfortable leaving Roxas alone with Xion either. She couldn't decipher how Xion felt about Roxas, but she did know she wasn't comfortable with their overly flirtatious behavior.

Despite this, she decided she would power through.


Dusk had settled when practically everyone in attendance gathered together outdoors in front of a large stage, theatrical in its size, equipped with lights, microphones, and oversized amps. Despite the amount of people in attendance, there was still just enough space for people to dance due to a lack of chairs.

Among those surplus amount of attendees were Sora, Riku, Kairi, Haru, and Amaya. While waiting for the show to start, Sora was endlessly amused watching a restless Kairi practically jump up and down.

"Ohmigosh! Ohmigosh! Ohmigosh!" Kairi squealed. "I have been waiting for this moment for my entire life! I'm so excited! Aren't you guys excited?!"

"I'm excited!" Haru said, jumping up and down right next to Kairi.

"That's because you're a woman of culture, Haru!" Kairi said as she picked up Haru and spun her in the air, sending Haru into a frenzy of giggles. "The rest of you could learn something from her! Why aren't you excited?!"

Sora chuckled while Riku maintained an amused grin while shaking his head. "Well, we kinda go to school with her," Sora reminded her. "We've known her way before she was ever famous. But it's still fun to see how successful she's gotten."

"We're also not fourteen-year-old tweens," Riku added. "No offense."

Kairi gasped at the jab while covering Haru's ears protectively, as if Riku had said something taboo. "You take that back!"

Amaya rolled her eyes. "Ignore him. I'm actually pretty pumped myself! Though, I will admit I haven't heard too much of her music, but I do love her song, '1,000 Words,' quite a bit."

"Oh my god, I love that song! Like, how does she come up with such relatable lyrics?" Kairi shrieked. She pointed at Sora and Riku accusingly. "You two, on the other hand, need better taste."

"Yeah, yeah! Better taste!" Haru repeated, mimicking Kairi's stance.

"We're dudes," Riku deadpanned.

Sora raised an eyebrow. "Speaking of dudes, has anyone seen Axel and Roxas?"

"Now that you mention it..." Kairi trailed off, scouting the crowd in search of her sister and Xion. "I hope they made it on time."

As if on cue, Sora's phone rang. He fished it out from his back pocket and noticed Roxas's name was on the caller I.D. "Huh. Guess his ears were burning."

Amaya folded her arms disapprovingly. "Oh, so now you turn your phone on?"

Sora groaned. "Gimme a break, okay?" Amaya rolled her eyes as Sora answered his phone. "Hey, we were just wondering where you guys were."

"Look about twenty feet to your... uh, back."

Sora turned around to find Roxas waving at him from a few rows back. Sure enough, he had Naminé and Xion with him, the former only offering a shy smile while the latter waved right alongside Roxas.

"It's about time!" Sora teased, putting Roxas on speaker for the others to hear. When Kairi and the others noticed Roxas, Kairi was quick to huddle up next to Sora and speak loudly into his gummi phone.

"Hey, Rox!"

Roxas chuckled. "Hey, Kai. I had a feeling you'd be pretty excited for this one."

"Aww, you know me so well," Kairi said. "You better be taking good care of my sister, you hear?"

A few rows back, Roxas detached his ear from his phone and spared a brief glance at Naminé. She still seemed to be in her own world. "Uh, I'll... get back to you on that one."

"Axel isn't with you?" Sora asked.

"No, I was actually calling to see if he was with you, but now I can see that he isn't. But he told me to be here. Get this: we're in for something legendary."

Sora and Kairi spared a mutual look of concern. Axel's definition of 'legendary' could quite possibly have been disastrous for the rest of them. "Should we be worried?" Sora asked.

"I was hoping you'd tell me," Roxas said regretfully. "All I know is that he told me to have my camera ready."

Amaya sighed. "Please don't tell me that idiot is going to get himself into more trouble. Is he planning to sneak on stage and moon the audience or something?"

Riku pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's actually amazing how I wouldn't put that past him."

Before the conversation could continue, the lights dimmed, sending the crowd into a roaring frenzy. Patience had been wearing thin and it seemed like the show was finally getting started. Kairi practically dropped the conversation entirely and screamed her lungs out along with everyone else.

The excitement in the air dwindled a bit when a promoter in a suit and tie entered the stage, looking a bit nervous with the news he knew he had to deliver. The crowd practically dropped silent when their beloved Yuna Toriyama wasn't anywhere in sight. He tapped the microphone that stood before him. "Um, hello? Is this thing on?"

Nothing was heard except for a few crickets and a distant cough. The man felt their expectant eyes locked onto him and he chuckled nervously as he tugged the collar of his shirt.

"Um, ladies and gentlemen, I am here to regretfully inform you all that Yuna Toriyama has injured her ankle and she, as well as her fellow Gullwings, will be unable to perform tonight."

After a pause of awkward silence, the boos and hisses came in thresholds. The promoter winced but would be lying if he said he was surprised by the reaction. Amid the crowd, while all of them expressed some form of concern, Kairi was clearly the most affected by the news as she felt her heart shatter into shards of despair and anguish she had never been privy to before.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she cried, raising her arms dramatically and trapping Amaya into a hug as she cried into her shoulders.

Amaya was caught a little off-guard but she returned the hug while patting her friend on the back of her head. "There, there..."

"Y-Yes, I understand how you all must feel," he continued. "However! We do have another act to put on a show for you all."

The crowd perked up to that information.

"They were appointed by Ms. Toriyama herself and are close friends of hers. They've been making a name for themselves after their last independently produced sophomore EP, 'Savage Nymphs,' as well as touring across multiple worlds, lighting up local venues and clubs. So please, without further adieu, give a warm welcome to the Melodious Noctuuuuurnes!"

"Wait, what?" Kairi said as she detached herself from Amaya as her ears perked up at the sound of that band name, her crocodile tears dried in an instant. Not only Kairi, but all of whom were associated with the members of that band were caught by surprise at the sound of that name.

"Did he seriously...?" Riku trailed off.

Roxas exchanged an incredulous look with Xion and he quickly understood what Axel meant about making sure to have his camera ready. He quickly pulled it out and started recording.

Indeed, their suspicions were confirmed as the promoter scurried offstage and the shadows of five painfully familiar silhouettes gradually elevated from underneath the stage, each in their own dramatic pose. When the lights turned on, they saw Axel wearing his signature smirk brimming with overconfidence as he held his electric guitar, Demyx situated on the left side of the stage with his sitar in hand, Saïx standing in contemplation behind his keyboard, the stoic and stern-looking Lexaeus with his eyes shut as he sat behind his drum set, and Larxene in the middle of them all as she claimed the microphone as her own.

The group of friends practically all had their jaws dropped. "No way..." Sora said.

"You guys ready to party?!" Larxene asked into the mic.

The crowd response was an underwhelming one. There was a light shrill of agreement but there wasn't as much enthusiasm in the air as Axel was hoping for. Those who happened to be friends of the members of the Melodious Nocturnes were a bit uncomfortable with the lack of enthusiasm as well.

Larxene noticeably shrunk a little at the lack of response and cleared her throat. "W-Well, strap your seatbelts in because we're gonna take y'all for a ride!"

"Woo hoo!" Kairi cheered. Despite her own disappointment at being unable to watch Yuna live, she would do her best to support her friends. However, it seemed her spirit was far from contagious as her voice practically echoed. Roxas was a bit unsure if he should have kept recording with his gummi phone.

Larxene anxiously chewed her bottom lip, looking back at Axel with eyes asking if she should continue. Axel simply nodded to her with resolve in his eyes, as if he were trying to assure her they were fine. Larxene returned the look and set her eyes back on the crowd.

"Hit it!"

Lexaeus kicked it off with the beat and the rest of the band fell in line with their own instruments. The song gave off the impression of a hard rock song with a bit of pop infused into it. Larxene began wildly shaking her head and grapsed the mic once again, singing into it with a strong but wavering voice. It was extremely subtle, and most might not have noticed it, but Axel could tell that his girlfriend's confidence seemed to have been shot at the lackluster response at their arrival.

And who could blame them? The fact of the matter was that they were all expecting Yuna Toriyama, one of the top pop stars in the music industry who was famous across countless globes. It didn't compare to a relatively unknown local band like the Melodious Nocturnes that were just beginning to form a bit of steam, and considering a good portion of the attendants to the Destiny Islands Guardian Festival had traveled from many different worlds, they were likely unfamiliar with their brand or never heard of them entirely.

The notable members in the crowd cringed. Not because the music was bad, but because of the severe lack of movement in the crowd. No one seemed to be excited or were dancing at all. At most, there were a few head bops and toe tappers.

"This isn't looking too good," Xion said only loud enough for Roxas to hear. Roxas only regretfully mummed in agreement.

Even Naminé felt sorry for them. Awkward situations were a recipe for anxiety for her, even if she wasn't at the forefront of the attention. She desperately hoped things would turn around for them at some point, but it never came. A full minute into the song and one might have thought the crowd were watching a broadway show and were merely exuding the proper etiquette. But it was certainly not the expected etiquette for a live rock performance.

Sora and his bunch overheard a few opinions of the nameless faces surrounding them.

"How long is this song gonna go on for?"

"Aww, this is kind of a bummer. I was really excited to see Yuna in the flesh."

"I mean, I've heard worse and all, but..."

Eventually, a number of people started to leave the area with their friends or significant others who were hoping to watch their idol perform. This left a cause for concern. As the crowd began thinning out, Roxas, Naminé, and Xion had just enough room to catch up to the rest of them.

Kairi turned around to her friends. "Guys, shouldn't we do something?"

Haru nodded vigorously. "Yeah, yeah!"

Riku set a hand on his hip. "What exactly are we supposed to do? Glue their feet to the ground?"

"Well, we have to think of something!" Kairi countered.

Roxas turned around to face Naminé and Xion. "Any ideas?" he asked them both.

Naminé put a thumb to her chin while Xion crossed her arms and tapped her foot, both trying to come up with something. Anything. But it seemed as if everyone's minds went blank.

"Look, I hate to be the Debbie Downer here," said Riku, "but it's not like we can just make them change their minds."

"Hmmmm," Sora hummed. "Maybe we don't have to!"

Before anyone could ask what he meant, Sora galloped onto the scene and performed a few spins, leaving his friends baffled.

"Um, I'm sorry, what exactly is the plan here?" Xion asked, breaking the silence among them.

However, Sora seemed to be in his own world and continued dancing to the rhythm of the beat. To the surprise of Kairi, he was actually a really good dancer. Haru was quick to join in on the fun, though her brand of dancing seemed to be more along the lines of jumping up and down erratically.

Eventually, heads began to turn and a lot of people who were leaving stopped to look at Sora. Kairi noticed some people seemed to approve and began cheering him on. It was then when Kairi understood what Sora was doing. The more attention Sora received, the more people started coming back to watch him, and slowly but surely others began joining in on the fun.

"C'mon, don't just stand there, you guys!" Sora said. "Join in!"

Kairi couldn't stop herself from smiling even if she wanted to. To see someone be themselves so unapologetically was refreshing, and clearly, she wasn't alone in finding it attractive as more and more people began coming back. Kairi was quick to rush over to Sora and join him, dancing with Sora in what seemed like complete sync.

Riku's jaw dropped. It seemed like such a simple-minded and naive plan. All they had to do was dance to get others to enjoy themselves? He also wasn't a huge fan of the way Sora took Kairi by the hand and twirled her around with his usual goofy grin on his face, the redhead herself laughing all the while.

Back on the stage, Larxene didn't stop singing as she squinted to see what was going on out in the crowd. From her perspective, it looked as if they were about to disperse before something caught their attention and a lot of people formed a small crowd around it. The next thing she knew, a small portion of the crowd began dancing and a majority of people stopped leaving and returned to see what the fuss was about. Larxene wasn't sure what was happening, and judging by the looks on the faces of her bandmates, neither did they. But what she did know was that it gave her the drive to put more of her usual passion into her voice.

That ended up being the catalyst in changing the atmosphere. Once Larxene began singing with confidence, the crowd lost themselves in the music. The difference was night and day.

Naminé was left with mixed feelings. While she was happy to see people starting to enjoy themselves and warm up to the song, she only hoped that no one was expecting her to start busting moves. Dancing alone with Roxas in the privacy of her kitchen was one thing, especially considering how terrible she was, but dancing in the middle of a bunch of strangers was something Naminé hadn't the courage to do quite yet.

Xion, on the other hand, relished in the shift in the air and began moving to the rhythm of the music. She was definitely no slouch in the dance department and could hold her own against even Sora and Kairi. Naminé furrowed her brows. Now she could dance, too? In Naminé's humble opinion, she thought Xion's dancing could have afforded to be a tad more modest. She wondered if Roxas noticed the way Xion swayed her hips almost provocatively the way she did. Either way, she did not approve.

Xion sent Roxas a cheeky grin. "You just gonna stand there?" she challenged.

Roxas chuckled while motioning to his gummi phone that he was still using to record. "Can't you see I'm trying to win an Oscar here?"

Xion rolled her eyes but kept a smile as she tugged at his free hand and dragged him closer to her. "Multitask!"

It didn't seem to take Roxas much convincing and he began dancing along with Xion. While he wasn't as good as Xion, he had the bare minimum of rhythm to earn him a pass. All the while, he was able to keep his phone focused on the Melodious Nocturnes.

Suddenly, Naminé felt like she was alone—abandoned in a sea of extroverts while she meekly stood by herself with stiffened shoulders, feeling as though she somehow didn't belong. Deep down, it hurt her to see Roxas dancing with Xion like that. Perhaps she was being selfish, but she had hoped that would have been their thing. An inside joke between just the two of them and that made it special. Yet here he was, dancing with another girl while Naminé was probably the last thing on his mind.

Naminé wordlessly excused herself and gently pushed her way through the now bustling crowd, desperately trying to find a safe spot where she didn't feel like her personal space was being violated at all times.

Roxas was laughing as he turned around, and for whatever reason, he fully expected to spot Naminé giggling to herself as she watched from a short distance, and he would surely coax her into joining them in an attempt to let her hair down a bit. She would inevitably resist, of course, her shyness still needing a few barriers to be broken down, but with a little persuasion, he would find a way for her to have fun.

But she was gone.

"Naminé?"

Xion stopped dancing once she noticed Roxas's mind was elsewhere. She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "You okay?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," Roxas answered. "But I think I should look for Naminé and make sure she's all right. Do you mind holding this for me and keep recording?"

Without waiting for a response, Roxas handed her his phone. "Uhhh—"

"Awesome!" Roxas cut off as he started pushing his way through the crowd. "Thanks, Xi! You rock!"

Xion blinked. What the hell just happened? He was right there in the palm of her hand, completely entranced, and with a snap of a finger it all goes to smoke. It was only then that she realized Naminé really was gone and put two and two together. With a grumpy pout, Xion assumed her new role and continued filming the performance. "Good to know," she mumbled bitterly to herself.

Riku stood in the midst of the crowd with his arms crossed and simply watched the performance in a very stoic manner. To say that he was a bit miffed was an understatement. While he was glad to see the Melodious Nocturnes bask in the glory and see people enjoying themselves, that was all it took? He couldn't claim to comprehend.

The only thing that made it worse was having to bear witness to Sora and Kairi smiling and laughing with each other like two giddy schoolgirls, their moment only interrupted by Haru coming between them. Neither minded and Sora was happy to hike Haru up onto his shoulders to get a better look at the performance.

Riku scoffed. "Nothing like a little bandwagoning to get people invested, huh?" When he received no response, he looked over to find a cheerful-looking Amaya dancing to the music. When he stopped his eyes from trailing to areas that would have led to... inappropriate thoughts, he was able to look at her with disgust instead. "Wow. And here I am thinking you were better than this."

"Oh, please. It's just some harmless dancing. Why are you being so moody? You should really try to lighten up every once and awhile, Riku. And that's coming from me."

"Are you kidding? This is the definition of 'following the crowd.' Not sure if I want to be a part of it."

"I admit it's a little superficial," Amaya admitted with a chortle. "But hey, sometimes people need a bit of a push and if you have someone willing to take the lead, they'll be more comfortable. Sora has always been like that. He seems to have a way of touching people and bringing them together."

Riku narrowed his eyes at the words and carefully studied Sora and Kairi a short distance ahead. He hated hearing her say that, mostly because she was right. Sora always seemed to find a way to touch people in a way Riku always struggled with.

Amaya gave him a pointed stare. "Don't tell me you're jealous."

Riku raised an eyebrow. "Do I look jealous to you?"

Amaya raised her finger in a matter-of-fact kind of way. "Well—"

"Don't answer that."

Amaya gave him a coy smirk. "It's either that or someone is still a little shy about their dance moves."

"Tch. No."

Amaya giggled and settled into a sigh. "You never change, do you?"

"Funny, I was just about to tell you the same thing."

The performance finally ended with a loud strike of a guitar chord from Axel and the crowd roared with praise and adulation. It was a complete turnaround for the Melodious Nocturnes and the bandmates gave each other looks of pride and accomplishment. Even Larxene looked uncharacteristically happy and sent Axel a look, though he only returned a cocky grin as if he expected nothing less.

"That was just the beginning, people!" Larxene said into the microphone. "Are we ready to rock all night?!"

This time, the crowd responded with cheers, hoops, and hollars.


Roxas ran through the much more barren roads of the Guardian Festival. It was a lot easier to navigate considering most had either gone home or was at the concert, leaving only a few stragglers out in the main area. Roxas panted as his eyes scanned every which way in search of his bespectacled blonde friend while hoping she didn't get herself lost or into any trouble. He felt himself well with slight panic before he finally caught sight of her.

Under the light of a streetlamp, she sat on a bench with her posture straight and her hands folded in her lap. Relief washed over Roxas as he slowly settled back into walking speed. Though, considering this was the first time he and Naminé would be alone all day, he wasn't sure how this was going to go.

Naminé seemed to be distracted by something to her left before his voice cut through to her.

"Hey."

Naminé looked over, slightly surprised, and found Roxas giving a cautious smile.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Y... Yes?"

"Very convincing performance."

"Why, thank you. I spent all morning practicing that one."

Roxas gave a slight grin before sobering up and clearing his throat. "Is it cool if I sit here?"

Naminé found the will to smile softly and gestured to the open spot next to her. "It's not like you had to ask."

"Well, there's a few reasons why I did," Roxas said as he took a seat on the opposite end of the bench. "For starters, you ditching us just now without letting us know where you were going."

She gave a pouty face. "I'm sorry if I worried you. I didn't plan to go far, it's just that the concert environment is not really my scene."

"Then why'd you come along?"

Naminé opened her mouth to answer before realizing what the answer truly was and it had to do with a certain raven with short hair. "I don't know."

A moment of silence passed between the two before Roxas decided to break it. "Look, I uh... I can't shake the feeling you've been mad at me all afternoon. If I did something to bother you or if you're not having fun anymore—"

"No, that's not it," she swiftly denied. Sitting by herself had given her time to think. True, she was upset at the fact that Roxas seemed so adamant to convince Seifer they weren't together when there seemed to be no good reason for it. It felt like an indirect rejection only magnified by Roxas's sudden aloofness to her ever since they first came to the festival and his closeness with Xion. But she supposed there was no point in being upset over something that was an indisputable fact. While she may have felt there was the possibility of some sort of spark between them, she and Roxas weren't together and perhaps it was unfair of her to set those expectations on him. Besides, she said it herself that she didn't want to cause a rift between Roxas and his friends, so what else was she expecting?

Still, she felt the need to distance herself from him if only to preserve her feelings. The last thing she needed was to suffer through another heartache after what went down with Tidus and she felt like she needed to guard herself. Maybe she was moving into things quicker than necessary.

"Then what's with the cold shoulder today?" Roxas asked, breaking her from her inner monologue.

Naminé wanted to say that she could ask him the very same thing, but she held her tongue. "I guess I was just confused about a few things."

"Confused?"

She gave an embarrassed smile and waved him off. "It's nothing."

"It's always 'nothing,' isn't it?"

She frowned. "Like you're one to talk."

Roxas chuckled nervously. "Got me there, I guess." He sighed. He wanted to keep pressing her but decided to leave it as it was. "I just want you to know that it's okay if you haven't been feeling this festival. If you're not enjoying yourself anymore, it's okay. I don't want you to force yourself."

She shook her head. "I'm not. Honestly, this is probably the most fun I've had in a really, really long time."

Roxas smiled. "Is that right?"

She returned the smile with a nod. "I think I just need to keep my distance from the loud music, is all."

"No, no, yeah. I can respect that." Roxas rubbed the back of his head. "So, uh... does this mean you'll be coming tomorrow too?"

"There's no way I'm going to miss seeing what you've got in the struggle tournament. I expect nothing less than first place."

"No pressure, right?"

"Well, if you're as 'talented' as everyone says, you should have no issues."

Roxas chuckled. He felt like he could relax a little. For the first time that day, things felt somewhat normal between the both of them again.

"Easier said than done."

Memories of Tension


It feels like it's been years when it's only been like five months omg T_T

There's a thicc chapter for you guys. Now here's the real question: can I keep this AN under 1,000 words? Find out next time on dbz.

So, for starters, I just want to say to anyone not in my personal circle that I'm sorry it took me so long to update this chapter. A lot, and I do want to stress, a lot has happened since the last update. Most notably, my mom ended up passing away back in November after she had been struggling with bladder cancer for six years. I think that played a big part in my own writer's block and lack of will or energy to write much in general. But don't worry, I'm okay now! Of course, I still think about her everyday but I've had time to heal. But there's literally not a day where I don't think about her. Not a single one. And I've had a lot of love and support throughout literally the most difficult time in my life, namely SummonerDagger88, BlissfulNightRain, and SoraxKairi7. Love y'all from the bottom of my heart T_T

I've also had some time to venture into other things like zines and social media. If anyone would like, feel free to follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, or Discord! I'll put my users on my profile.

Okay, I'm gonna be honest. This chapter was a nightmare for me to write. Not only that, but I think it's my personal least favorite chapter so far and I pray it stays that way. While writer's block I do think played an issue with it, I also just didn't really enjoy writing this chapter but it also set up some things that were necessary and I felt like I had to do them here. I didn't really have another place for it in my outline. But I really hope this chapter doesn't disappoint you guys! My biggest fear is that my lack of enthusiasm for this chapter doesn't reflect in the quality of the chapter itself. A beta of mine assured me it doesn't, but I hope it's the same for you guys as well.

Speaking of which, big shoutout to Lady Selan who has been kind enough to provide me with a little extra help in beta reading! Not only is she amazingly helpful but she's become a friend as well.

Okay, let's see... as for trivia with this chapter, some of you might have caught it but Seifer's crush on Nam is meant to be a reference to his crush on Kairi in the KH2 manga. The part with Sora dancing during the Melodious Nocturnes' performance was a moment I've had in mind for a long time now and it was inspired by the dancing minigame in Corona in KH3. The part where Haru takes a picture of Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Amaya is a reference to a commission that BlissfulNightRain got from Crezz Star, the same one who drew a MOY RokuNami commission for me! Also, the part where Sora and Kairi take a picture is another reference to a SoKai drawing BlissfulNightRain drew for me as well. Go check out her DeviantArt to see it if you haven't! Same name ;)

I think it's pretty obvious that the way Donald and Goofy fell on top of Sora was a direct reference to how they meet in KH1. And I think that's it for now? I might be missing a few things but let me know if you spot any more in a review!

Okay, I better start wrapping this up lol so, what did you guys think? Please leave your thoughts in a review! Like I said, I'm not very confident in this chapter but please feel free to give me your brutally honest opinions and I'd gladly take them all into deep consideration going forward. Take care!

OH! And also tell me what you guys thought about ReMind while you're at it?

OHx2! I almost forgot, there's a new MOY art in the cover photo by AmyHayaNora! Follow her on Tumblr, she's amazing :D