a/n: Kessie-Louise, I love long reviews! They're so much fun to read. And yes, they were in Castle Oblivion. Also yeah, I couldn't think of what battle everyone would face lol in Castle Oblivion. It won't end with a, "This was all dream" though I promise. XD

Yes, the title of the chapter is a reference to a Lady Gaga song.

xo, hanasinspring

part thirteen: i wanna take a ride on your gummiship

"Whatever you say, Wheely Boy."

"I told you guys not to call me that!"

"Wheely Boy, Wheely Boy, Wheely Boy."

"You shouldn't eat stuff from off the floor, Sora."

"Aww, but Xion it'll be a waste if I don't."

"Tilt your head to the side, Riku. Yeah, like that."

"Naminé, do you think I can still beat Roxas with only my heelys?"

"If you do, I'll give you 50 dollars."

"Riku!"

"I can be the cameraman."

"Not you too, Axel."

Kairi wasn't sure which conversation she should keep up with. That was the problem with eating lunch in a big friend group: There was no possible way to be a part of all conversations at once. Instead, she focused on finishing her pizza. She scrunched up her nose when she saw Sora take a huge bite out of his paopu pizza. Something told her it was worse than pineapple on pizza. Riku sat next to her and Sora sat next to him. Their table was the smallest with only three chairs. Everyone else was sitting at the big table. Riku's pizza was a little less gross, but still gross nonetheless. There were olives and mushrooms of all things on his pizza. She didn't understand how he could say that it tasted good. It wasn't that she was a picky eater, she just happened to not like olives or mushrooms.

She took a sip of her mocha. Axel told her she'd be jittery all day if she drank coffee around noon but Kairi didn't care. Well, maybe she shouldn't. They were leaving Traverse Town right after lunch. If there was one thing Kairi hated it was long bus rides. At least Axel would be there. He'd be in a world of trouble once they got back to Radiant Garden. Actually, they'd both be in a world of trouble considering the teleporting door.

Kairi wondered if her room would be the same. Did the dimension hopping mess with it? Did Grandma clean it? She still had so many questions about this whole debacle and maybe she would never fully understand it and that was fine. It wouldn't hurt to write her adventures down though. Everything about it was so wild there was no way people would believe it.

She checked the notes app on her phone.

June 4th

Don't give Sora any more paopu soda.

June 11th

Whatever Riku says is wrong. I totally beat him during that struggle match.

June 15th

Axel won't shut up about this stupid horror game. I need sleep.

July 8th

Naminé made me some lava cake. :)

August 17th

Xion and I explored the gutters last night. We were ghost hunting.

Kairi lifted an eyebrow at that last note. She vaguely remembered stumbling through the dark while holding onto Xion for dear life. They didn't find anything from what she could remember, but when they got back Naminé decided it was a good idea to tell them a horror story just to freak them out.

She'd miss Naminé and Xion. Not that she wouldn't miss the boys, but it was different. Kairi didn't have female friends back home. Sure, she had Axel, but that wasn't the same. There was no time to cry about it.

What was school like in Twilight Town? Hm. It had to be different from Radiant Garden. Not too different, but different enough. Naminé offered to show her around the school at one point, but Kairi had declined since she didn't exactly want to think about school during the summer. Now she wished she had taken her up on that offer.

Kairi finished her pizza before anybody else. Despite her earlier musings about whether or not she should drink the rest of her mocha, she wanted to chug it all down. The only thing that sucked about drinking mocha was the bottles were too small for her liking.

"Kairi, watch this!" Sora said as he tried to shove his entire piece of pizza down his throat.

Her eyes widened in horror as she and Riku said simultaneously, "Sora, you're going to choke!"

He took no heed of their warning. Kairi laughed nervously, already standing up in case Sora actually choked on his pizza. Riku placed a hand on Sora's shoulder as his friend scarfed down the rest of the pizza.

Somehow Sora got the whole thing down without dying. He smiled triumphantly.

"That was dangerous," she admonished.

"You really are like a child sometimes," Riku added.

"Wha? Guys! That was literally my biggest achievement and I let you watch it for free."

Riku and Kairi shook their heads. Riku went back to eating his pizza while Kairi eyed her mocha, still debating on whether she should chug it or not.

Grandma's warm hand met Kairi's shoulder. Kairi turned around, looking into blue eyes so similar to her own.

"We need to talk, dear."

Kairi nodded.

The breeze felt nice. Nicer than she anticipated.

"Do you want to go home with me?"

"Well yeah, of course, Grandma."

"Let me finish, Kairi," she said. Her eyes moved about as they stood near Traverse Town's fountain. "Or would you rather stay the rest of the year in Twilight Town with Naminé?"

"Grandma, I don't understand. You hardly know Naminé. I mean, I still don't understand why you let me stay in the first place."

"It's a long story."

"Everyone says that Grandma. Just tell me. I've waited this long."

"Alright, alright," Grandma said as sat down on the edge of the water fountain. "Ansem and I have been good friends even before you were born, Kairi. Not to mention, they've decided he's not going to prison now considering the solidity of our dimension. Funny how everyone's tune changes at the drop of a hat. Anyway…

"You and Naminé played together as children. In fact, you were inseparable. It was like you two were sisters. This dimension thing has been going on for what now, centuries? It started out slowly, but now it's over. For good. Ansem and I didn't want to keep you girls apart but as other cities and towns became unstable we had no choice. I knew something terrible would happen to Radiant Garden this summer and then there was a happy accident: You found Merlin's door. The heartless wouldn't attack Twilight Town. Not yet. I decided it was best to let you hide out with Naminé. Then everything started to go wrong and well, the rest is history. And now we're here."

"But my necklace. Did you do something to it?" Kairi asked.

"Oh that?" Her grandma laughed. "A woman named Aqua actually put a charm on your necklace. She did it to keep you safe."

"I don't remember any of that."

"You were just a child, Kairi." A pause. "What do you choose, Kairi? Do you want to stay in Twilight Town or Radiant Garden?"

When Xion told Kairi and Naminé to meet her at the gates in Traverse Town, Kairi wasn't sure what to expect.

Xion held up a pair of keys. Kairi was about to ask her if she'd gotten her permit or something until she noticed they were gummiship keys.

A smile formed on Naminé's face. "You didn't."

"I did."

Kairi raised an eyebrow as she looked at her friends. "Are those Donald's keys to the gummiship?"

"Yup and it's about time us girls go for a joyride." Xion and Naminé exchanged looks as Kairi made sure no one was around.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Her eyes glittered with adventure. All three girls laughed before heading out to the gummiship.

"How pissed do you think Donald's gonna be when he sees his gummiship gone?" Kairi asked as she sat down in one of the gummiship chairs.

"He'll blame the boys." Naminé giggled. "There's no way he'll think we did it."

Xion revved up the engine. Right before blast off, all three girls saw the boys shouting and waving their hands at them. Kairi couldn't keep it in anymore. She doubled over in laughter, wishing she could take a picture of the boys' faces. It'd be too blurry if she did that now.

While they were speeding, Kairi found that Xion was actually a pretty decent driver.

"My grandma says I need to make a choice."

"Really?" Xion asked, her eyes focused on the, er, 'road'. "About what?"

"If I should stay in Twilight Town for the year or go back home to Radiant Garden."

"What did you choose?" Naminé busied herself with drawing. "It must be hard trying to decide since you don't have much time left."

"Yeah." Kairi sighed. "Honestly, I don't know what I'll choose."

"But if you do stay," Xion said. "All three of us could have a year-long sleepover. I mean, we haven't gotten sick of each other yet."

All three girls laughed.

They came back after an hour and somehow didn't get in trouble. The boys looked none too happy with them though.

"Wanna race?" Ventus said as he popped his Heelys out.

"There's no way you're gonna win this time." Kairi wasn't sure where he got it, but Roxas pulled a skateboard out and readied himself. He looked at her. "Mind being the referee?"

"I don't mind. On my mark. Ready, set, go!" Maybe they should've discussed the rules beforehand.

Kairi doesn't know how he did it, but Ven won by two seconds. She tried her best not to laugh seeing Roxas seethe with anger.

"How? How are you able to beat me on Heelys of all things?" Roxas threw down his skateboard. "You're cheating. There's no way you didn't cheat."

"Someone's a sore loser." Ventus stuck out his tongue.

"Let's try not to get into a fist fight on the last day before summer vacation ends," Kairi said. Both boys looked at her and nodded before summoning key-shaped blades. She wasn't sure how she did it, but she outstretched her hand and her own weapon appeared.

If they weren't going to listen to her then she might as well join them.

Noel and Serah later scolded all three of them for playing with their weapons carelessly.

"This is it, kid," Axel said as both he and Kairi stared at the train station.

"You ready to go home?" she asked, jabbing Axel in the stomach.

"You ready to make a decision?"

She winced. "Ouch."

Axel chuckled before boarding the train. Kairi turned back to see the residents of Traverse Town bade her and her group of her friends (plus Grandma) goodbye. There were a lot of laughing and teary-eyed confessions. Sora mentioned he accumulated a year's worth of candy in case of an apocalypse. Xion talked about her love for some good gossip which was noticeably less of a surprise than Sora's confession. Ventus almost revealed his trick to how he's always defeated Roxas in racing. Almost. Roxas liked to make stick houses out of all of his ice cream sticks. Riku confessed to pretending to be a ghost around the town at night. Naminé tackled a kid in first grade after he ruined one of her pictures. Axel had a habit of setting things on fire. And Kairi? Well …

"I used to eat flowers."

Dead silence.

"Guys, listen, there are edible flowers out there. I swear."

"So that's what happened to the flower crown I gave you," Naminé said.

"Wait, you remember when we were kids?"

"Yep."

"You two knew each other as kids?" Sora stood up in his seat. "That actually explains a lot."

"Naminé told me stories about you two," Xion said as she munched on a sandwich she'd packed before they got on the train. "Not gonna lie, I was a little jealous. It made me wish I'd been around longer so that all three of us could've been friends."

Roxas stared out the window. "Guys, we're almost there."

"Define there," Axel said.

The train stopped. Kairi looked out the window to see Twilight Town. She chewed on the bottom half of her lip. Kairi had to make her decision now rather than later.

It was going to be hard without Grandma and Axel, but Naminé didn't really have anyone. Ansem wasn't going to live in Twilight Town. He'd stay in Radiant Garden based on all the articles she'd read. And sure, Xion would be there for Naminé, but she also had a home to go to and she was sure her guardian would make her go home sometimes instead of staying with Naminé 24/7.

"I'm going to stay in Twilight Town for the year."

The End