AN: Just FLUFF. And maybe a bit of emotional stuff lol. xD But those do tend to go hand in hand in life! :D Either next chapter or the one after it, we'll be heading off on our adventure again lol! Just gotta tidy up a few more little things before we get back on the old cosmic trail lol. :D


"SORA, STOP SNOOZING; WE HAD TWINS, WAKE UP AND MEET YOUR OTHER KID!"

"HUUUUH?!"

Kairi dragged Roxas across Traverse Town's First District, right to where Sora had been napping against a stack of big wooden boxes. "When my Heart was freed from your body by Ansem and you turned into a Heartless, it wasn't just ME that made a Nobody - YOU made your own Nobody as well!" Kairi rattled off, beaming and brushing at Roxas's hair. "We made TWO Nobodies, simultaneously! We. Have. TWINS!"

Sora jumped to his feet, staring at Roxas. Then at Kairi. "Could you go a little slower for me here, Kairi? I mean sheesh, I just woke up here..."

Kairi sighed. "Okay, I'll make this simple: Xikira wasn't the only person born when we lost our Hearts. Roxas also came into existence that day too. Xikira is mine, and Roxas is yours. Though, really, they're both ours."

Sora blinked. He scratched at his spikey hair, tilting his head at Roxas. Peering at him more closely than ever. Roxas tilted his head right back.

"Um, nice to meet you, Roxas?" he greeted.

"Nice to meet you...Sora?" Roxas replied.

They sort of kept staring at each other for a minute, after that little exchange.

Kairi waited, watching them both. Is this really it from you guys?!

"Okay, so wait, if he's supposed to be my Nobody then why does he look like Ven?" Sora spoke again, crossing his arms.

"Because Ven was still in your body when it happened, and afterwards, too! Ven never left you - YOU left you!" Kairi exclaimed triumphantly. "The Heart shapes the body, and Ven shaped YOURS, even after it became Roxas here! After your Heart left your body and I turned you back from a Heartless, Ven's Heart stayed in your body - which became Roxas! Get it, Sora?"

"Hehe, you know, Kairi, I thought I might've, but noooow I'm just lost again," Sora admitted, apologetic.

"Well - never mind any of that!" Kairi pressed on. "It doesn't matter how he's here - just that he is! And he's not going anywhere. Is he?"

Roxas looked at her, mouth opening. Then he closed it, ducking his head. "No..."

"Exactly!" Kairi grinned. She gave his hand a squeeze and swung it between them.

"What are you doing that for?" Roxas asked.

Kairi took a deep breath, stepping back from Roxas and letting him go. She firmly placed her hands behind her back. "Sorry. This must all be so confusing - and overwhelming! I'm just so, so excited to know you exist - to get to meet you and have you here with us!"

"You...are?" Roxas said.

"Yes!" Kairi said instantly.

"Why?"

"Because we're family!" Kairi exclaimed.

"Kaaaiiiiriiiii..." Sora groaned out, putting hand to his face. "You've got to let this whole thing go, alright? Even if they did come from us somehow, that doesn't literally mean they're our-"

"Yes it does, shush you!" Kairi said fiercely, raising a hand to him.

Sora shook his head and slumped on the spot. "Well, if you say so, I guess..."

"Roxas, come on!" Kairi said, stepping in to seize the boy's hand again. "We have to introduce you to everybody! No, wait, first we need to get you new clothes - that darn cloak just won't do, not for any son of mine! We're going to get you looking fashionable - but still with some real utility, of course! Pockets and good looks. Not that that's difficult for guys...lucky jerks..."

"Uhhhh..." Roxas looked completely nonplussed as he let himself be dragged along again.

"Kairi, he's not a doll!" Sora called after them. "You can't just play dress-up with him!"

"It's not dress-up; it's getting him out of his cult uniform!" Kairi shouted back, unrelenting. "He's going to have real clothes!"

"Hey, I like wearing this coat!" Roxas spoke up firmly, resisting her now. "I don't want to just get rid of it!"

Kairi paused, mid-dragging-him-across-the-plaza. She turned back to him, looking him in the face. Then she swept him up and down again, narrowing her eyes. Biting her lip. "Well...maybe...you can have both?" she said at last. "New clothes, but you get to keep the coat too. Just the coat. Those gloves and boots and anything else you have on under it have to go, though!"

Roxas's face scrunched up in deep contemplation. "So...I'm not getting rid of the coat?"

"No..." Kairi said slowly. "It can be a- compromise. See? It means we both give a little, and we both get what we want."

"Okay," Roxas agreed, relief on his face now. "I think I can do that."

"Great! Let's go, now!"

Kairi was feeling pretty pleased with herself for this one.

It was right out of her own dad's playbook.

The best guide she could have!

She led Roxas through Traverse Town, straight to Second District's vast clothing shop! Where they shopped the heck out of the place. After many minutes, aisles, and piles of discarded clothes, Kairi helped Roxas to assemble an outfit they were both happy with. Roxas had mostly just wanted to wear black - to go with his coat. To be a familiar color, at least, Kairi assumed. What he ended up with was a nice pair of black cargo pants with many deep pockets, a nicer, sporty black vest over a black shirt, and black shoes. Oh, Kairi had argued for putting some other colors in there too, but in the end she'd acquiesced to Roxas's wishes.

All in all, she really was happy with it. He looked snazzy. Though...

"I don't get how Xikira can like wearing weird stuff like this," Roxas muttered, tugging at his clothes and shifting on his feet. "It just feels strange..." He sighed and threw his coat over a shoulder.

"Xikira wears things other than the black coat?"

"Yeah. I guess she...gets that from you?" Roxas said hesitantly.

Kairi smiled at him. "I guess so! You'll get used to it - promise."

"I hope so," Roxas replied. He stared down at himself, then glanced at her. Uncertain.

"What?" Kairi said.

"Uh...look, this is all- nice? But I need to get back to the castle," Roxas went on, more firmly. "I need to get back to my missions. I need to explain to everybody that this is just a big- misunderstanding, and I-"

"Roxas."

"What?"

"Come here." She went to sit on a nearby bench, beckoning him over. Roxas came to join her, after a moment. She turned to him and grabbed his hands, gazing into his eyes. "You have to know that none of that is right. That Organization, those people, the way you're treated, how you're threatened with death if you try to leave - it's all SICK and WRONG and you NEVER have to go back to it. Xikira and her friends knew it, and they wanted out, and they did it! Well, Xikira chose to go back, but only to try to get another one of her friends out too. Anyways, you...Roxas...you're here, you're out, and you're going to stay out!"

"Why?" he said, looking overwhelmed again. And maybe even angry, too. It was the glint in his eyes, the way his lips pressed.

"Well, for one, because if you were listening to those guys back in Castle Oblivion, they have a kill-you-on-sight policy - you can't go back, unless you want to die." Kairi sighed. "And for another..." She pulled Roxas forward to hug him again, stroking his hair like her dad used to do for her... "Because you deserve to be here. Because you deserve to live, free and normal, like anyone else in the worlds. Xikira and her friends wanted that, and they fought for it! But even the people like you who haven't...maybe quite realized it yet...maybe haven't decided to fight for it yet...well, there are people who will fight for it for you. I will, Roxas. Sora will. We all will. For you!"

Roxas pulled free of her grasp, turning away and putting his hands in his lap. He blew a long breath, dropping his head. "Xikira said...we were family too. She said...you and Sora were like parents to us. And she said...well, a lot of other things too."

"She seems like a smart girl."

"Yeah. She knows a lot - she always has. Way more than I do," Roxas laughed softly. "And she's tried to share it with me. But...I don't really get most of it."

"You will," Kairi said earnestly. "We'll help you. And you'll see, Roxas. You'll see that you are better off out here than trapped in that Organization!"

"I suppose..." Roxas trailed off. He curled his hands into fists, then let them go. "I suppose if Xikira thinks this is something we should be doing - leaving the Organization, spending time with you and Sora, and...whatever all this is, out here - then I'll go along with it. I'll stay with you guys. She's always known more than me, like I said. And she talked about...wanting to do a lot of things in her life. School, and festivals, and- beaches? So, if she thinks we should be doing all of that stuff, I'll follow her on this one."

Kairi hugged him again, slow and careful. "That's right - listen to your sister. She definitely has the right idea about things! This is how life is supposed to be, Roxas - for you, and for her! Being in that Organization is wrong."

Roxas nodded, raising his head to look her in the eye. And he smiled. "I guess...we'll see, huh?"

"We will."

"Besides, like you said - it's not like I've got a choice now, do I?" Roxas said ruefully. "If they'd really just destroy me if they saw me again..."

"That's right."

"But...I don't think even Axel would. They said-"

"Axel?" Kairi's thoughts flashed back to her Castle Oblivion battles. To her specific encounter with that man. Evil frisbee guy!

"He's my best friend," Roxas stated.

"W-well, they said Axel was meant to find you, and bring you back to the Organization. Roxas, best friend or not, you know it can't be for anything good, don't you? If he does find you, if he takes you back to them...they might just destroy you anyways."

"He wouldn't do it. He's my friend!" Roxas said, and oh, now he was angry.

"Not even if they threatened to destroy him too?" Kairi said, holding his gaze.

"He wouldn't," Roxas said stubbornly. "I know Axel. You don't." Even as he said it, though, Kairi saw a flicker of doubt. Uncertainty. Worry...

"I hope you're right," Kairi said. "But I've seen how best friends can turn into people you never imagined - how they can do things to you that you never thought they would. And I'm telling you...that if he tries it, we'll be there to stop him."

Roxas's anger left him. He hunched over with a sigh. "Even if the Organization is like that, even if...Axel's different, alright? He's not like that. Like Xikira's different. Like...I'm different. I know it..." he whispered.

"I'm sorry." Kairi paused. "Maybe, if you really care so much about him, if he comes calling, we can try and convince him to join us too?" she offered hopefully.

Roxas straightened up quickly, looking at her in surprise. "You'd really do that for him?"

"For you," Kairi corrected softly. "I would. We don't lose anything by trying, do we?" And besides, it had taken them multiple attempts to reach Riku's dumb ass. She could extend one for Axel (and not just because he was a total hottie).

"Thank you," Roxas said quietly. He gave another sigh. "Man, this is just...it's crazy. It's all - I'm not sure how to handle it. I don't know what to think about it, even..."

"Well, you have us, if you ever need to talk about it. About anything."

Roxas glanced at her sideways. "Xikira said something like that to me before, too. She said if I ever had questions about anything, I could just ask her."

"That was nice of her."

"Yeah..." Roxas stood, striding away from her. He put on his coat, and to Kairi's eyes, it seemed like the clothes he had on already just sort of...stopped existing? It was like he only had the coat on now, again.

Huh...it must be some kind of magic. Neat...


The next couple of days in Traverse Town passed Ventus by pretty quickly, all things considered.

He spent these days with his friends - with Aqua. With Aerith, and Tifa, and the rest of the regular crew, too.

He made something of a routine. Going to see people, getting in some sparring, going to the café for meals and drinks.

It didn't really get any less weird to see Roxas around, now - especially not when they weren't expecting to bump into each other.

But...they both sorta tried to just deal with it anyways.

Besides, it wasn't like it was Roxas's fault he looked the way he did - in fact, it was Ven's fault!

Though, Kairi had thrown around a theory the past few days that the reason Roxas still looked like Ven, even after Ven's Heart was gone from Sora's body now, was because it was how Roxas saw himself in life. His own self-image, set in stone after all these weeks of living.

Ven thought that made as much sense as anything else about...all of this.

Anyways, he had other things on his mind lately. More...things.

The past five or six nights, every night, he had these dreams now.

That town of purple buildings, a fountain square, that clocktower over it all, those beautiful hills of flowers surrounding the town...

And those friends Aqua had told him about...

But in Ven's dreams, they were a lot younger. Well, he could only really remember Lauriam. Couldn't remember any yellow-haired girl named "Elrena." But he remembered other people, too, now...

A boy with dark hair, with a hat. A girl with long black hair and orange eyes. And another boy who had messy silver hair. And then there was...a girl. Dark skin, curly black hair. Though, for some reason, that girl was a lot more elusive than the rest, in Ven's memories. More...hazy...

And then there were the outright nightmares.

Fighting Heartless, and other dark monsters he'd never seen before. Battling a humanoid figure shrouded in darkness - pure darkness itself...

A dark warehouse, waiting, watching...

That girl with the orange hair, with that fuzzy little creature following after her...

And then Ventus would...

Well, in the here and now, he'd wake up in a cold sweat, shaking all over. Tears running down his face.

He did his best to hide it from the others, to not trouble anybody with it.

But then the day came when he couldn't anymore.

Because they came to Traverse Town, after a week.

Ven was sitting outside the cafe, at a table all to himself, when a dark portal sprang to life in the middle of First District.

He jumped to his feet immediately, drawing his Keyblade and racing forward.

Waiting. Ready for anything.

Except-

Two figures in black coats - one of whom Ven immediately recognized.

"Ugh...!" he grunted, hand going to his head as pain burst there. He stumbled backwards, dropping his weapon. It vanished away before it hit the ground.

"Ventus...?" came a soft voice of disbelief. Of joy. "Ven!"

There were hands grasping at Ven, clinging to him. And this pain...not just in his head, but his Heart now...

Ven shoved out at the figure, turning away. "I...I...argh..."

"Hey, why not try giving him some space to breathe?" a woman's voice rang out, snorting. "He looks ready to explode - good job with the ambush! Pfft, and they say I have zero sense of tact..."

"I'm sorry..." came that soft voice again. That man's voice that was...familiar in some way, yet so different...

Ven knew. He knew. And he couldn't face it. He couldn't...how could he...? How could he just-

He let his arms fall away, and he breathed. The pain receded. He turned slowly, and looked at the man before him.

Blue eyes. Long, pink hair. The same face. The same...everything...

Except older, and wearing a black coat...

That was right, they'd been part of the Organization, hadn't they? Like Xikira. But they'd all planned to leave it together, escape...

Escape together...

"L-Lauriam," Ven whispered at last.

Relief. A smile, on that face. And then...tears. "Yes...Ven - you remember?"

"I- s-some...some things..." Ven said tightly. "Just...that we were friends, and we were on the same world, and we trained together, and- we fought- Heartless and other dark beings. And...and..."

Lauriam slowly raised his hands, showing his palms. It was strange, to Ven. Why would he be doing that to Ven? When Ven was the one who... "Does the name...S-Strelitzia...mean anything to you right now?" he whispered out, shaking.

Ven sucked in a breath, and his eyes began to burn. Hot, stinging tears fell down his own face as he fell to his knees. His arms hung uselessly, and he bowed his head to the man. "D-Do what our friends stopped you from doing before...f-for her..." he choked out. "Nobody to stop you this time...right?"

"Um, I'm standing right here - and I would totally stop him!" the woman said sharply, almost offended. Elrena, she had to be...

Ven glanced up to see Lauriam stepping in closer. Approaching him. When Lauriam reached him, the man dropped to a knee, and then he reached out to put a hand on Ven's shoulder. It felt weird. Strange. Last Ven knew, this man before him had been a boy his own age...

"If I'm remembering it right, we've been through this before already," Lauriam's voice came, quiet and...amused? "We established already that none of us could ever truly blame you. And we established that it was never you who committed the act. It was the darkness, using you. That dark figure. We all fought it together, before we escaped our world's destruction. And when we did, do you remember what the last thing I said to you was, Ventus?"

Ven gasped, looking up at the man. Into that kind, gentle expression. That smile... "'I c-can't...lose you too, Ven...'" The words came forth from somewhere in his Heart. A place not even conscious memory could quite reach...yet.

"That's exactly right," Lauriam said softly. "And I meant it - then, and now. All I feel toward you, here and now, is overwhelming relief and joy...that we've been reunited again. Because you are my friend, Ven...forever and always. And because I know that my sister, my dear Strelitzia...wouldn't let me live a day with such hate and anger in my Heart. It would be a disservice to you, and to her memory...if I wasn't the kind, loving person she remembered me as."

Ven sniffled, wiping at his eyes with shaking, pale hands. Then, suddenly, he found himself being pulled forward into a hug.

That just made him start crying all over again, honestly.

"Ummm...sooooo...yeaaah," came Elrena's awkward tones. "While you two are hugging it out here, I'm just going to go...somewhere else. Meet the locals! Yes! That's it! And- track down the Princess of Heart and all her little friends - and wait for Xikira to show her worrisome little ass! Yeah: byyyyeeee!"