Fun Fact: 95% of this fic is written in a sleep deprived stream of concious between 2:30 and 5:30 in the morning. Sometimes it's written between 6 and 7:30 in the morning.

If only they took blackmail pictures of the Traverse Town folks' faces.

When Cody and his friends slammed open the doors to Cid's shop, the town's defenders had expected to hear about another horror story of their near death space transit adventures. Instead, they had a group of guys sheepishly asking around for the largest possible landing space in the city. Everyone was perplexed. And even when they marched outside to witness the gargantuan ship hovering idly above the town square, they still had mountains of questions that needed to be answered.

There was no way that thing could even remotely fit in town, and they had to painstakingly clear out an open field in what little outskirts there were in the world. It took what seemed like the entire day for them to finally give Bridgette the Go to land. If something like this ever came by again, they certainly wouldn't be able to have the space for another one.

Now, the square was bustling with newcomers at every corner. Nearby businesses had to let swaths of refugees come in and loiter just so there wouldn't be a risk of overcrowding. The poor welcoming committee, Tidus and the newly inducted Katie and Sadie, were being tossed left and right as they scrambled to get everyone's names and info prepped for lodging. During the moments Tidus had time to report back to Leon and the others, he gave them carefully worded hints he was pissed off none of them were bothering to assist. But with how they just stood there, stunned and wide eyed, he doubted they were able to pick any of it up.

"Bridge!"

"Geoff!"

The party boy and the surfer girl ran up to each other tearfully. They embraced right at the center of the square; an almost picturesque and romantic scene that was spoiled by how intensely determined they were to make up for lost makeout session time. Even with the crowding issues, it seemed everyone was able to take the hint and make sure the reunited couple had enough space to themselves. Not out of respect. Out of awkwardness.

"This…is a lot of people," Aerith commented in flat staggerment. Similar comments had been tossed around between her, Yuffie, and Leon throughout this ordeal, but their astonishment prevented any of those statements from evolving further.

"And it's all thanks to us!" The familiar high pitched squeal of a certain rabbit thing pierced through the air.

The three finally snapped out of their dazed funk. The dudes of the hour had approached them, each with faces of glee. Their smiles were crooked, stances were overconfident, and their overall energy practically begged for recognition of their unexpected accomplishment. Even Alakazam, who they assumed would've tried to keep a more coolheaded air, was shyly tilting his head to the side; his eyes lined up in the space between them and nowhere so they'd be ready to pounce at the off chance of any compliments coming their way.

"What did you guys do?" Leon could tell what their game was, but there was still no denying whatever happened must've been big.

"Oh, we landed in this weird world that was imploding on itself," Loudred laughed in response. He reached behind him to give himself a good pat on the back. The self gratitude was completely uncharacteristic of him. The high of the whole affair must've swept his senses away. "They needed a new place to stay, so we thought, 'What better place than Traverse Town?'"

"We saved everyone! Everyone!" Mokona began performing an excited tap dance.

"Uh…guys, it wasn't everyone."

That was the end of their gloatfest. The moment Cody awkwardly butted in with his correction, silence fell.

"We…missed a person. Remember?"

Technically, we missed two…

Yuffie ruffled her brows. It wasn't apparent at first, but Cody had seemed a little off since the moment they arrived. They were used to him being unbearingly cocky, so they were none the wiser when they saw him carrying himself like he always did. But now that things had ground to a halt, she was seeing just how exhausted he looked compared to the others. His smile was hanging on by a thread. Creases had formed all around his cheeks and forehead. Dark circles tainted the slits of his eyes. However long it took for them to get here, he obviously spent none of it resting.

"Hey, um," Al quietly interrupted. "If it's alright, could you tell Tidus to leave a hotel room empty for us? I think it might be a good idea for us to rest for a bit."

Leon opened his mouth but failed to let anything out. Normally, he'd be chiding the four and telling them to get their asses back out there as soon as possible, but even he could tell the mood had shifted dramatically. He was at a complete loss of words and could only rely on a gentle push on the shoulder from Aerith to reign himself back.

"Uh, yeah. Sure. We'll do that."

With nothing but wordless nods, the four quietly broke off, signaling the start of their own personal mini vacations. Mokona hopped right into Aerith's arms, fully expecting her to escort him to his precious master, Yuuko. Al and Loudred wandered off towards the shopping district, bickering amongst themselves as per usual. And Cody was left walking around idly on his own. He entertained the idea of finding some of the other ex-campers to fool around with, but it just didn't feel right. In the end, none of them really knew him. And he didn't really know any of them. Any hang out that could be had would just result in him fading into the background.

With that in mind, Cody continued walking off towards nowhere in particular. Just him and his thoughts. His horrid, wretched thoughts. Just like that time in the woods.

Just like that time in that cave.

Part of him was hoping he'd bump into one of the Traverse Town citizens. Maybe he would've seen Leon swinging around his Gunblade or Aerith off delivering Mokona to the close but far shop of wishes. But part of him was mostly hoping he'd be lucky enough to be there at just the right time when everything was dead silent except for the trickles of the flowing stream.

And, well, he was.

Cody had arrived at the hidden waterway. He took a seat on the hard ground of rocks and concrete, and began mindlessly flinging pebbles into the makeshift river. The goal was to make them skip; that really cool thing people like to do when they're feeling broody. But each attempt was met with a dull plop and sink.

It was funny. He hated being alone. It always served as a reminder of how sad of a life he was living. But now, he couldn't really bear to face anyone else. No one really wanted him around. Or if they gave him a chance, he'd just find some godawful way to mess it all up. Just like how he messed it up with Bridgette back at the Null Void. Or with Gwen back on the island. Or with Trent.

A stalker. That's what they thought of him.

An annoying tag-along.

A naive kid, so desperate for attention, he'd jump at the first person who'd give him the time of day.

Some weirdo out to steal another dude's girlfriend.

"The whole emo-gloomy schtick so does not suit you."

He didn't even need to turn his head over to know what was happening. The delusion was back. Behind her sarcasm, he could feel she was trying her best to lift up his spirits in her own little way. Would the actual Gwen even do that? He doubted it.

"You're doing that again. For crying out loud, learn to give yourself some kind of credit."

Now that's wishful thinking.

He tossed in yet another pebble and got the same result. A slow sink to the bottom.

"You can't just use any other rock. You need to find the flat ones."

Cody jumped. A ninja had zoomed right in from under his nose. He should've expected one of them to walk in here eventually, but the break from his brainworms was just so abrupt.

"I have been using the flat ones though," Cody replied.

"No, I mean, like, really flat," Yuffie emphasized. She picked up her own stone and effortlessly sent it off skipping cleanly across the bend and all the way to the pavements on the opposite end.

Cody had begun digging into a nearby bed of rocks, hoping to seek out the smoothest stone he could find. Every throw of his produced the same results, and it took until what felt like over three dozen attempts before he finally managed to match Yuffie's length. He rewarded himself with a small fist pump. A win's a win after all.

Yuffie bent over, meeting Cody's eyes. "Well, look at Mr. Mopey here, finally smiling for realsies."

Embarrassed at just how outward his sad fit was, Cody tried to brush her aside. "What do you want, Yuffie?"

"Gonna be frank. I'm hungry, and you look like crap." She grasped his hand. "So I'm taking you somewhere nice."

She ignored all his protests and dragged him along halfway through the city into a district neither he nor his groupies had ever ventured in. The buildings were plastered with almost as much graffiti as there were in the hideout. It didn't exactly look like a seedy side of town, but it did have a peculiar air around it. Cody's demands to know where they were headed were tossed just as easily as his objections to follow. He had no choice but to remain quiet as she led them down a flight of stairs situated below a gaudy bright sign they had ran past much too quickly for him to make out.

He was wary at first, but as they made it past the final step, his eyes began trailing off like he was a kid in a candy store. What was hidden down below was some sort of restaurant theme park hybrid that was reflective of the noisy sign they had run under earlier. Patrons happily lapped up the most mouthwatering junk food he'd ever seen while they hooted and hollered along to the talent show occurring at the center stage. Surrounding everything else, colorful arcade cabinets—an impressive chronicle of game development from countless galaxies—were lined up in seemingly endless rows, and the cheers from passengers of various miniature thrill rides echoed about. He was still mesmerized as Yuffie forced him to their seats. She sent the feline waiter off with a vague order of "the usual", and grinned expectantly at the awestruck lad.

"Pretty cool, huh? We're in the entertainment district if you couldn't tell. All the artists in the worlds all gathered in one place and made the coolest hangout ever. You haven't had real fun until you're spent a day at The Golden Saucer." She stretched her arms out excitedly. "We all come here to relax every now and then. Well, except Leon. He hates this place."

Cody choked out a small chuckle. "So this place is okay enough for Cid and Gema, but not Leon?"

"Right? What a loser."

The two shared another round of laughter before stern silence soon fell upon them. Yuffie had brought him here for a reason. It was time to shift gears.

"Alright, I won't beat the bush." She rested her elbows on the table and sat her head atop her hands. "What's got you down?"

Cody blinked. "What? N-nothing. Nothing's got me down. I'm fine."

"Doesn't sound like it. Or look like it. Seriously, dude. You look like garbage."

"I mean it. Everything's okay."

"Something happened in another world. What's up?"

Cody relented. She wasn't going to stop pushing this anytime soon. "Yeah." He slumped against the seat, his back skidding down ever so slightly. "Found two friends from my world. Well, an acquaintance and…" What the hell even was his and Trent's relationship now?

"Bad meeting then? Anything you want to talk about?"

"...Hey." He stared up at the ceiling. "I want you to be honest with me. What was your first impression of me?"

She bit her lip. "Wellllll…"

"A dweeb, right?" He looked over at her guilty face. "Your words exactly."

"Well, you got me," she shrugged.

"I just…" Cody slunk himself further. "I know it probably doesn't matter almost a whole month in, but this was a mistake. Why did the Keyblade choose me?"

"Well you're right that we're way too far in for you to be worrying about this now," she sighed. "It chose you because it saw something in you."

"But what?!" He straightened himself back into a normal sitting position and smacked his palms on to the table. "Look," he moved one palm over his eyes. "I gotta come clear here.

"One of those friends I'm looking for? I had a massive crush on her. Made a fool of myself and tried to hook up with her, annoyed the heck out of her, said and did some things I really shouldn't have. Got the hint way too late.

"Like, yeah, I helped her and her boyfriend hook up…" He momentarily thought about bringing up how big of a red flag said boyfriend wound up being, but that wasn't important right now. "But she wasn't my friend. She'd probably kick me in the nuts if she knew I called her my friend.

"And look at me now. I'm just flying across the galaxy trying to save someone who'll probably scowl at me when I see her again. I don't even think this is stalking? What is this even? I'm just playing hero here, right?

"It's like, my whole life, I was looking for this chance to make a name for myself. I don't actually care about saving anything. I just want all the perks of it. This thing is supposed to pick people 'pure of heart' or whatever, right? Then why did it pick someone like me?"

…

The waiter returned with a monstrously massive bucket of fries. He placed it down on the center of the table and drizzled a plethora of condiments over everything before slipping off. The still beating heat mixed the aroma of the freshly cut spices and the medley of juices and grease into a hypnotizing aroma. This thing was an artery clog waiting to happen, but damn if it wouldn't be the most satisfying health hazard one could suffer through.

Yuffie let out a loud "Finally!" and threw her hands barbarically into the bucket. The intense heat didn't seem to faze her at all as she stuffed her cheeks silly with entire fistfuls of fries. One could scarcely believe that someone as petite as her was even capable of consuming even a fraction of this "meal", yet this wouldn't even be the first time for her.

Cody sat there stunned and stone faced. He wasn't sure if he was annoyed or relieved that this bucket of fat had halted this entire conversation. Either way, his stomach was begging and pleading the moment he had laid eyes on it. He'd barely eaten since he'd left the Void, and seeing Yuffie the way she was now, he was confident he'd turn into a similar feral state in seconds. He carefully reached into the bucket for a clump only to have the entire thing rudley pulled away from under his nose.

"Nuh uh," Yuffie wagged her finger disapprovingly. "None for you yet."

"Yuffie, come on. I'm starving."

"Not until you say you're the Keybearer."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'm the Keybearer."

"That's the best you've got? Do it again."

"I'm the Keybearer."

"Louder."

"I'm the Keybearer!"

"Louder!"

"I'm the Keybearer!"

"Louder like you mean it!"

"For crying out loud, I'M THE FREAKING KEYBEARER!"

"Now that's more like it!"

She slapped the bucket far across the table where it wound landing neatly onto Cody's lap. He yelped. The heat was still too much. He violently slammed the near burning container back onto the tabletop, but his hands still wound up falling victim to the seething metal surface. It didn't matter though. Not while his stomach was still busy trying to break free. With his tarnished hands, he scooped up fries in quick succession and chomped them down like an assembly line.

"...You know," Yuffie started. "After you guys left that first time around, Leon, Aeri, and I had a bit of a gameplan meeting. It kind of turned into a Cody dunkfest though." She giggled. "But during all that, Aerith said some things. And I'm starting to agree.

"I don't think the Keyblade goes and looks at things all black and white. Good people can do bad things and bad people can do good. If it went looking for absolutes, suddenly, we'd end up with no Keybearer at all."

"Yeah, but in that case, everyone might as well get one, right?" He rolled his eyes. "What's the point then? An even scale just means I'm a nobody."

He started reaching for another fry, but was swatted off by Yuffie's outstretched hand. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Gonna hammer it in you until you understand," she huffed. "Everyone makes mistakes. Some small, some big. What matters is how you carry on afterwards. That's what it saw in you. Look past your dumb horny teenager crap and…well..." She grinned encouragingly. "There's a whole ship of refugees here because of you. I think that speaks for itself."

"I guess…" He resumed his chair sink, still not quite convinced.

"You were the one who forced us to save Pichu, weren't you?"

Cody jumped straight back up in his seat. His three companions, Al, Loudred, and Mokona, had strolled over to the table seemingly out of nowhere.

"We had an entire yelling match back at the guild place over it, remember?" Al said gruffly. "I wouldn't say you managed to convince me back then, but…it was the right thing to do."

"Yeah, yeah!" Mokona yipped cheerily. "And remember when we all kicked that flying lizard thing's butt after that meanie, Seth, kicked us out at Smash Stadium?"

True, he thought to himself. He even remembered saving Cloud's life at the skin of his teeth.

"And even Rin and Sonic thought you were pretty convincing with how they trusted you to save Shiemi and Amy," Loudred added.

Cody stared at his lap. His friends were trying their best—and doing quite well to be fair—to hype up his list of heroics. But there was still something in him that was pushing him down. Something that was convincing him that no matter how much good he did, he didn't deserve any of the praise simply because it was him who did it.

"What are you three doing here?" He asked.

"Sorry," Yuffie shrugged. "You looked down in the dumps, so I planted them here. At this point, they definitely know you better than I do after all."

"We waited here for over an hour," Al sighed in exasperation.

"Well, at least the kid had fun in the meantime," Loudred responded positively while Mokona began raving about all the arcade tickets he'd racked up.

Even with how depressed he was, Cody couldn't help but smile. Yuffie made the right call. After everything the four had been through, he'd grown accustomed to their antics. Calmed by it even. In his head, he still thought of himself as an outsider who belonged nowhere, but…

When he was with these guys, he felt a soft lingering in his heart that felt at home. Like maybe there really was a place for him out there.

"Hey," Yuffie directed his attention back at her. "If that Gwen girl really hates you like you think she does, rescue her first and let her punch you in the gut. Part ways and never speak to her ever again if you have to. But…" She smiled warmly with the same sense of friendliness and camaraderie that Cody got from his crew. "...Just focus on saving her. Because you're the Keybearer. And even if you weren't, you'd probably try to save her anyway."

…It's true.

In the end, he really was the Keybearer.

"You hear that? Now's not the time for you to act all gloomy," Loudred heartily trapped Cody into a headlock, and proceeded to playfully ruffle his hair. "Look at where we're at! Hurry up and stuff yourself silly so we can force Al to go on a coaster."

"No, no, NO, we are not doing that!"

The two Pokemon launched into their typical back-and-forth bickering, freeing Cody from Loudred's arms. Al was mouthing off as he usually did; a trait of his that had once felt so antagonizing, but now seemed almost affectionate. Loudred was being his usual cheerful and good natured self despite the ribbing. It was something about him that Cody appreciated. He was like a constant he could always rely on even when things went wrong. And Mokona was loudly boasting about his arcade ventures, urging the two to accompany him to the prize corner. Cody wasn't sure what to make of the creature at first, but now he had the same attachment to him as one would to a younger brother. And then there was Yuffie. And Aerith and Cid, Dejiko, Puchiko, and Gema. All the new people he'd met and befriended in all these different worlds. Heck, even Leon. To think barely even a month ago, all he had was himself. Maybe the tiny shred of doubt within him that insisted he didn't deserve any of this would never truly go away, but he had them all here with him now, and couldn't be more grateful.

The rest of the night, and the day afterward in fact, were some of the rowdiest moments he'd had in recent memory. The four and Yuffie, and even Aerith during the second day, explored every inch of the Golden Saucer, riding every ride twice, stuffing themselves with unfathomable ounces of greasy heart attack fuel, and sampling as many arcade screens as they could before their eyes started growing numb. They clapped and laughed along to each act that took on the park's stage. Cody even had the pleasure of witnessing his friends' gawking faces when Harold and Leshawna made surprise appearances as a beatboxing duo. All the pent up anxieties that had built inside him ages before he made his first steps in this journey were slowly washing away. And in the corner of his mind he could sense that faint ghost of a voice—her voice—cheering him on.

After two whole painstaking days, the situation at Traverse Town's town square had finally settled. Every new resident had been given a proper living quarters. Most had found themselves new houses and flats. Some had to take permanent residence in hotel rooms. Some had chosen to stay in the ship to help refurbish it into yet another apartment complex. Whatever path they wound up in, the absolute headache involved in registering each and every one of them was over.

Tidus sat collapsed on a bench, legs spread, and arms sprawled lazily behind. He was so out of it, he could barely bring himself to nudge off the equally sleep deprived Katie and Sadie who had decided to treat his legs as headrests. He groggily aimed his eyes across the square where Leon was looking over three of the new residents. This entire ordeal, that douche did the absolute bare minimum to assist, and Tidus couldn't help but hope his vengeful glare could land a punch on him all on its own. Then again, Leon at least had to have enough sense to bring in three new helpers into the Welcoming Committee. He could only hope that those three new recruits would help bring the load off of him, especially with how much more crowded the town was growing day after day.

Unknown to Tidus, Leon was in his own separate state of ire. He had been warned in advance about two of the new residents and the poor behavior they had displayed in the initial world they had landed on. Rather than simply plopping them straight into probation, he figured their presence would be better spent doing community service. But as he stared at Duncan and Courtney, both seated angrily in front of him with eyes of defiance, he realized that was better said than done. He knew both their types too well. Duncan was the kind of teenage boy who would do the exact opposite of what anyone at least five years older than him suggested just because he could. And Courtney was the kind of girl who would find even the tiniest flaw within every order just so she could slowly usurp her way to the top by showing how much smarter she was.

It was like staring at a pair of mirrors, and he hated just how much Aerith and Cid were making fun of him about it yesterday.

"Well, I'm glad it was useful at least," Courtney mumbled begrudgingly while she played around with the remains of her Gummi necklace, all charred up after its role as an engine kickstarter.

"I can just get you a new one, babe," Duncan replied, earning himself yet another disapproving look from Leon. He knew exactly what Duncan meant by that.

"I'll say it to you again. You two are going to behave yourselves."

"Alright, we get it already," Duncan rolled his eyes. "Christ, who snitched on us?"

Red, the tiny demon who was sitting timidly at the center of the cafe table between the two teens, sweated profusely.

"I mean it," Leon grumbled. "Look, you're lucky we don't exactly have things like cops or jails around. Just work with me here."

"So you're telling me this place is Anarchy Town and everyone's just going around acting like a bunch of scrubs?"

"Yes, Duncan," Courtney sighed. "That's what normal, civilized people do."

"After all these weeks, you're really expecting me to take that seriously coming out of your mouth?" Duncan seemed especially unimpressed.

Shut up already. Leon looked like he was just seconds away from storming off and leaving. "You two are going to help out around town, and that's the end of it."

"Yeah! You can start by taking care of Red while we're away."

The typical group of four trotted leisurely into the scene. For once, Leon was relieved to have them interrupting his work. Red meanwhile was balking over Cody's statement.

"Wh-what do you mean? I need to find my master, stat!"

"Look, kid," Loudred knelt over to him with a soft (for his volume standards) voice. "You saw how dangerous things are out there. We need you to stay put here."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, bud. You can't just volunteer us for this," Duncan interrupted.

"Why now?" Al shrugged. "It's what you guys were basically doing back in the Void."

While the others began their game of persuasion and dissuasion, Leon silently signaled Cody away from the party of headaches. With everything that had gone down during Cody's little vacation, this was the first real time he had to talk to Leon face-to-face. He'd mostly been relying on message relays until now. And to be honest, that's what he preferred. Facing Leon alone still gave him the same level of anxiety that fighting against an enormous boss-type Heartless would.

"So you guys found another one of the Seven Hearts?" The man asked.

Cody winced in advance. "Uh…yeah. We couldn't rescue her in time though."

Leon made a disgruntled click of his tongue. So used to his put downs, Cody was expecting disparaging comments and was bracing for the worst. But in the end, all that happened was a quick subject change.

"Not much luck on our end either," he sighed. "Cid and I have fixed up at least a quarter of that journal already, but all we can make out of it are a bunch of cryptic numbers and symbols we know nothing about."

Some silence fizzled in between the two. It was expected things wouldn't go their way immediately, but the lack of solid progress was really weighing down on them. But even so, there was one new piece to the mystery that Cody was able to bring.

"In the world where Shiemi got kidnapped," he started. "This woman appeared. I think her name was Maleficent?"

Leon nodded. "So you're saying that's who we're facing here?"

"Looks like it. I can't figure out exactly what she's trying to do, but it sounds like she has an entire team of people helping her out. There were two girls fighting us when we met her, and she tried to convince someone from True Cross Academy to join her. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if that Eggman guy back at Green Hill Zone was with her too."

"So this is a large multiworld operation then," Leon grinded his teeth. "Can't say I didn't expect this, but hearing it now's really putting things into perspective."

"Maybe it's not large large," Cody responded with reluctant hope. "Maybe it's just a small circle?"

"Even so, this just means they've got enough hands to do a lot of damage at once. Don't let your guard down, alright?"

Cody nodded. "Yeah."

…

It was just like the last time the two had spoken. A general exchange of information and then a suffocating quiet break. Everytime he was around Leon, it was like being tied up in all directions making sure he was secure and tightened enough to not mess up and make a complete fool of himself. Leon had already seen him at his worst, and unlike his friends, he wasn't the kind of guy to let that sort of sight go. In fact, it was a wonder if he'd let it go in the event Cody did in fact save the day. But at that moment…

"Keep your chin up." The phrase was so surprising coming out of him, Cody was convinced he had imagined it. "Don't let the little things get you down. You and your team are doing a good job."

Cody's mouth nearly broke with how far it was stretching. Did he just hear all that? Out of Leon?!

All he could do in response was stammer in shock as his mind flew in all directions trying to figure out a proper response. In a way, it was worse than the awkward silences they were used to. Leon almost regretted being nice for once with how big of a deal the boy was making out of this. By the time he heard the familiar trickles of "nyos", "nyus", and "gemas" singing off from nearby, he was practically calling to them to hurry their asses over and snap Cody back to normal.

"Yo, nyo," Dejiko waved laxly.

"Are you three done yet?" There was a vague tinge of desperation in Leon's voice.

"Well, duh, nyo!"

"Uh," Cody gleaned nervously. "With what?"

"Ship,nyu," Puchiko replied in her typical deadpan manner.

With their ship? Oh no.

"It's fine," Leon brushed off the boy's panic. "Cid's been teaching them well."

"Yup, gema!" Gema happily bobbed around in the air. "We just did basic maintenance and upgraded some stuff. You guys should be able to fly farther with less fuel, and avoid getting sucked into another 'void' thingy, gema!"

"And you can thank moi, nyo," Dejiko stood boastfully. "Is there anything a princess can't do, nyo?"

"You nearly blew up their thrusters (gema) (nyu)," her guardian and sister grumbled.

"Who asked you, nyo?!"

"Thanks, you three," Cody smiled sincerely.

He turned his head back to the cafe exterior where his friends were. It seemed Duncan and Courtney had finally given in to their request. Despite their obvious looks of annoyance, Duncan was already casually mouthing his grievances to Red while Courtney carefully patted the little fella's head. Even if they claimed they weren't willing, they'd probably fall naturally into their role in no time. With that, the team's to-do list was all checked out, and it was safe to say their mini vacation had come to a close.

Cody quickly mouthed good-byes to Leon and the others. However, as he began to part, he remembered something Yuffie had told him last night. She was more than eager to list out all the shit flinging Leon had done towards Cody behind his back, and she cheekily offered to give him some fresh ammo for defense. In the end, things had seemingly smoothed out between him and Leon. There was no need to aim his shot at this point.

But what a waste it would be if he didn't!

"One more thing!" Cody shouted back towards Leon who was already making his way out of the square himself. "You better quit talking smack about me behind my back, Squall."

Leon tripped over his own feet.

Far off in another world where waterfalls draped in empty echoes and an ominous castle towered over nothing, Trent lounged around the darkened halls with a face of contempt. He was so determined to never return, yet not only was he back, it was all out of his accord.

That vexing witch, Maleficent, had spent an exhausting amount of time doing what she did best; drawling on and on about darkness and potential and other annoying shit. He wouldn't like to admit it, but he'd almost grown accustomed to it. It was like the ongoing efforts of a persistent saleswoman slowly creeping into him.

"So what did that little stunt of yours prove?" She seemed almost delighted at how much his act had blown up on itself.

After watching her pace back and forth with that sickening glee of hers time and time again, he could barely stomach the fact that he'd gotten so used to it. She was no longer a source of anger but a plain ticking clock; something that was monotonous as it was inevitable.

"You wish to bring her back to her senses, do you not? Look where normal means got you. I think it's quite obvious where your best option lies.

"Now…"

She held out her hand.

"You came back for a reason, yes?"

He knew it then and he knew it now. This aggravating woman had known he would join her from the start. He argued against it, ran away, and made every excuse possible to deny it. But now, he was almost wondering why he hadn't given in much earlier.

He reached out to her palm. Was there reluctance? Was there resignation? Was this a revelation? Was this really what he thought was best?

Who knows?

…

…

…

…Far off from the confines of the castle, the rushing streams of uncertain origin continued to pour into the endless pond.

A new figure had entered the world. He timidly tiptoed around the perimeter, double checking and then triple checking to make sure that those creatures who had attacked him and kidnapped his friend were nowhere to be found. The fur of his long floppy ears and tail furrowed around with each step.

He took a deep breath. The coast was clear. With his glove tightened around the rims of the large ringlet he held and his eyes burning with determination, the black and white cabbit clad in blue rushed on forward towards the strange castle.

Fun Fact: There's exactly 5 fanfics listed under Di Gi Charat on Ao3. One of them is a link to an AMV and one of them is this. I'm sorry Di Gi Charat fans.