We're back with another chapter finally! Sorry for the delay in posting, but life kinda happened, ya know? Anyways, we hope that you all enjoy this one.

Chapter 4

8 years later

As it seemed like every summer, Roxas was always found to be staring outside. It wasn't that he was bored or had nothing else to do, he just enjoyed the serene look of everything. All at the same time he still felt like there was something else, something he was missing but he couldn't quite explain.

"I've learned so much, yet I feel like I still know nothing at all…" Roxas sighed as he turned and finally headed inside. He knew that he couldn't just sit around on a perfectly good day like today, even if he wanted to. He had other things that he had to attend to… like his lessons.

It really had come as a shock to him, when a year after his first meeting with the witch Lunafreya, to learn that he actually had his own level of magic. He was far from the level Luna and Namine were on, but from what Luna could tell, his parents were in fact minor magic users.

It had been seven years since he found that out, yet there wasn't much else to go on. Luna had been unfortunately unable to locate the files regarding the spell on his wristband, leaving the mystery of his parents to remain just that. But the fact of all of it was that his parents had magic, which meant Roxas did too, and Luna had offered to teach him.

As he was walking towards the front of the house he saw Vantias standing by the front door, looking at Roxas as if he were expecting him. "Something up?" Roxas asked as he came to a stop.

"You're heading out to go to Ms. Luna's house again right?"

"Yeah, another day of training. You should know that right? You're coming with as usual."

"Well… I'd like to. But…" Vanitas trailed off, seemingly annoyed by something.

Roxas stopped in his tracks. "What's up?"

His brother sighed. "Work called me in today… I can't miss another day or I'll be in big trouble. Dad's been on my case too."

"Well maybe you shouldn't have skipped just to see her then."

"I can't help it! I mean, we are together after all. I take the chances that I can get with Namine, especially since her mother is so strict about it."

"I suppose that's true. She is a hard case…"

"Will you at least give her my good wishes then?" Vanitas asked with a red color across his cheeks, as he was clearly embarrassed.

Roxas thought to tease his older brother, but decided against the notion. It's not like that Vanitas was able to see her often anyways. "Sure thing bro."

"Thanks… I just feel so bad. This is our monthly meeting, and I can't make it. AHH!"

"Relax, it'll be fine. Besides, can't you just call her?"

"Yeah, but it's not the same…"

"You don't have to worry. You'll get another chance. Hey at least you're not like you used to be with it," Roxas found himself laughing at his older brother.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I still remember it all you know…"

4 years earlier

12-year-old Roxas was pacing around by the front door, waiting for his dad to be ready. "Come on dad, we're supposed to be there already."

Roxas had found himself growing more excited and curious over the past few years since Luna discovered that he could use magic. He had started to get a good grasp of things, but it was only the simple basics that he had learned so far. Luna said that he had to learn from the bottom before he could get to magic that would be normally learned at the age he was.

But that still made him so impatient. "Ahh, dad!"

"Just one more minute, Roxas!" his father shouted from the other room. "I have an important email to finish, so please just sit down and wait."

"Okay!" Roxas pouted before going to sit on the floor.

At that time Vanitas strolled down the hall, looking at his younger brother with an annoyed look. He didn't say anything though, he just gave his usually annoyed stare as he usually did when he was like that.

"What's up Vani?"

"You know what's up," Vanitas scoffed. "You're going out there again."

"Yeah, so?"

"And you're getting to see Namine again," Vantias replied as he crossed his arms.

"No?" Roxas half asked as he tilted his head. "Ms. Luna is the one who is teaching me, not Namine. She's usually doing something else."

"Well you still get to be there!"

"So? Why do you care?"

Vanitas sighed as he looked away. "It's just…"

"You wanna see her again?"

"What?!" Vanitas stared at his brother. "N-No! It's not like that. I just… uh… just whatever!"

"Why are you turning so red?" Roxas asked curiously before it hit him. "Oh! You like her then."

"I-I never said that! What gives you a dumb idea like that…" Vanitas trailed off and crossed his arms.

"It's written all over your face now!"

"You know," Axel's voice came from behind them. "It really is quite easy to tell, Vanitas."

The raven-haired boy only huffed and turned away from his father and brother.

"Well, we're off now. Take care of things around here while I'm gone. And no parties. Got it memorized?" Axel repeated the same motion that always accompanied that phrase as he gave a smirky grin.

Vanitas only nodded but didn't say another word to them.

"Wow, I wonder what I'll be able to learn today!" Roxas spoke energetically as he and his father started up the winding path again.

"I don't know, guess you'll just have to see when you get there."

Vanitas followed them outside and looked towards them leaving. To his surprise, Roxas turned back and glanced his way and waved at him while smiling widely. Vanitas only locked eyes with him for a second but didn't do anything else.

"Stupid…" he muttered under his breath as he went back inside and closed the door to the house.

Present Day

"Yeah…" Roxas continued. "At least you're not as sensitive anymore, haha."

"Sure, I guess so. Whatever, just get going already or you'll be late," Vanitas abruptly replied.

"I'll be sure to tell Namine you love her," Roxas said, teasing slightly.

With reddened cheeks, Vantias puffed them out. "Yeah, thanks."

Roxas turned and started walking up the familiar winding path once again. It wasn't a long walk to the center of the forest, at least not now. But it was still enough time to think. So many thoughts crept through his mind as he went. What would he learn today? How long would he be there this time? Was he really making any progress? Would he be okay by myself this time?

That last one was unexpected. That fact just entered into his mind. He was traveling by himself there for the first time today. It was a strange feeling, but only because he was not used to it. He was sure things would be fine. After all, he was already 16 and he knew magic now.

"Yeah, I'm sure things'll be fine."

As he said that, he felt that emptiness in the pit of his stomach form again. He still couldn't figure out what it was. He had asked Luna many times, but she didn't have an answer for him either. Or, if she did, she concealed it from him. But far be it from him to suspect her of such things. That feeling had been like that for as long as he could remember. But it caused him to think even more.

"Just wish that I knew what it was…"

"Wish you knew what?" a female voice appeared out of nowhere.

Startled, Roxas bolted his head up to find the source of the voice. To his surprise, Luna was standing right in front of him as if awaiting his arrival. He was surprised that he had already journeyed the full length, but since he had been lost in his own head, he had not been keeping track anyways of where he was.

"Oh, it's just you Miss Luna."

"Is something the matter?"

"No, it's just I didn't expect for you to meet me out here."

"Ah yes. I sensed you coming, alone this time. So I figured it would be best for me to meet you here to lead you in."

"Oh, okay then," Roxas uttered faintly, but the uneasiness soon lifted and was replaced by a sense of anticipation. "So, what are we gonna do today?"

Luna snickered. "You're impatient as always. Don't fret, you'll see once we're there. Come now."

When the training had commenced, Roxas felt tired as usual. Though, he wasn't as exhausted as he usually had been, which made him think that maybe he was getting better. Mental exhaustion had begun to take over after he had finally stopped. He sighed deeply as he flopped onto the couch, letting out a long exhale. As he lay there, he could feel some of his muscles beginning to ache. It seemed he had worked harder than he thought.

Eventually Luna came back into the room with a cold glass of water. She held it out to him and sat across in her chair. "You did good in this session, Roxas."

"Thanks," Roxas said in between his sips of water.

"You are free to go after you finish up."

"Huh? But don't we usually go for much longer?"

"Yes, but I have some other work I need to attend to. Besides, I think you showed you're getting better too. So enjoy the rest of your day," Luna replied.

"Oh! Thank you Ms. Luna!" Roxas said happily.

"Yes," she said before standing up. "I just only hope that it is enough…"

Her words at the end were soft, Roxas barely even caught what she had said. But before he could try and ask, she walked off into the next room. Not knowing what she was talking about, he shrugged and went back to enjoying his water.

After he finished he left the glass on the table and started to head on out of the house. On his way there, Namine came down the hall and he stopped to face her. "Hey Namine."

"Hi, Roxas."

"Sorry, Vani wasn't able to come today, you know work and all."

"I figured as much. But I was going to call him later anyways," Namine replied as she laced her fingers together.

"But you know, he still loves you and stuff. He kinda wanted me to tell you that."

Namine laughed lightly. "Thank you, Roxas."

"So did your lessons go well today?" she continued.

"Yeah, I think so. She said that I was getting better, and even let me off early."

"Wow that's great! But it's strange for mother to not keep you for the full time. She doesn't even let me off early."

"Oh, yeah, she said there was something that she had to do. So I don't know."

"Strange, she didn't mention anything to me about it…" Namime trailed off deep in thought.

"Anyways!" she started back up after only a few seconds. "You're still a long way from catching me though," she teased.

"Yeah yeah, I know. I'll be there before too long though. Maybe…"

Roxas shifted slightly, not sure what else to talk about in the moment. He wanted to stay, but he also didn't want to feel too awkward either. It was such a pain.

Namine suddenly shouted.

"What's wrong?" Roxas worriedly asked.

"I just remembered… mother wanted me to go to the greenhouse and work with the plants in there. That was a few hours ago. Oh no… she's gonna kill me."

"Well let's hope not. You need some help with it while I'm here?" Roxas offered.

"No no, I'll be fine. Besides, I'm supposed to do it myself anyways. She would notice the difference in what was done anyways."

"If you say so. Well, I won't hold you up then. I'll see you the next time then," Roxas said as he walked off towards the exit.

"Kay, bye! Be careful!" Namine's voice echoed behind him.

He didn't look back, only kept walking forward until he got to the wall. Since he had been training under Luna, she had recently entrusted him to be able to enter into her domain on his own using his magic. He was still amazed at how it worked too as he stopped to think about it, which he did every once in a while.

'This barrier can only be accessed through my magic and Namine's. But now, yours as well. Only our magic circuits can unlock this pathway. Even if someone else knows the incantation, it won't work. Remember that well.'

That's what she had told him just a few months ago. This was only the third time he's had access to be able to do it. He changed a few words, and then suddenly the barrier opened up to the forest on the other side. He stepped through quickly and right when he exited, the barrier faded away behind him.

"Well, what to do now?" he pondered aloud as he looked around him.

The sun was still up in the bright, blue sky a bit more since he was leaving slightly earlier than usual. He didn't feel like going straight home, but wasn't really sure of anything else that he could do by himself. He took out his phone to look at the time. It was only a few minutes past 6 now.

He thought hard about something to do when he finally had an idea. "I'll go down to the beach to swim. Relieve some tension from the training. Yeah!"

He began to trek down opposite of his house towards the lower area of the town since there was a path through the forest which led there. It was way faster than having to go all the way around, despite there being some steep drop offs along the way, Unknown to his father, he had traversed that way many times, so he knew it almost like the back of his hand.

He was about halfway down there when he felt a buzz in his pocket. He pulled out his phone to see a message from his brother Sora.

'Hey when you get free, we were going down to the

beach to just have some fun for the rest of the day.

Dad said it was fine. Vani said we're going with or

without you, so hopefully you're able to come.'

Roxas couldn't help but laugh. He clicked on Sora's icon and clicked the call button before putting the phone to his ear. In just a moment he heard an answer from the other line.

"Hey Sora."

"Yo! Roxas, what's up? Aren't you still training?"

"Nah, Ms. Luna let me go early today. So I can totally head down to the beach, plus I could use a good swim after training."

"Awesome! Well I still gotta wait for Vani to get off of work, but meet us down there and we will try to be over as soon as we can,"

"All right, can do. See you later:"

After he hung up, he picked up his pace and headed down to the shore front as quickly as he could. When he got down there, he saw that it was empty, and no one was actually there today as of yet. He didn't mind though as he stared out to the open sea. It all looked so tranquil and peaceful with the waves gently rolling in against the now setting sun. The ocean breeze caressed his face as he took in the aroma of the saltwater.

Though in the corner of his eye, he thought he noticed something. A small bit of splashing just a little ways out into the waters. Curious, Roxas kicked off his shoes and pulled off his socks as he got closer to the water. There he saw it again… something splashing out in the water… and he couldn't tell what it was.

Feeling the cool water rush against his legs he waded into the water until he was deep enough to start swimming. He got out farther until he thought he was in an area where he could dive under to soak up his entire body. He took in a deep breath and slowly lowered himself into the water.

Roxas began to quickly scan all around the area, but he never saw anything. Though, it was getting difficult to see since there was only about an hour left of daylight.

"I could have sworn that I saw something…" he thought to himself. "Maybe it was just a couple small fish after all."

He poked his head back up for air, deciding that he was just going to relax in the water for a little while until his brothers arrived. He leaned back against the watery surface and held his legs out slightly under the water and floated peacefully.

"This really does feel nice after all that training…" he admitted aloud.

Then, he felt something brush against his legs slightly. He suddenly jerked his legs down as he stayed floating there. His breathing increased as he began to worry. Should he go back under once again? It was probably nothing though, just like a few minutes ago.

Just as he tried to begin relaxing, something bumped his feet again.

"Okay this is ridiculous! All I wanna do is relax," he huffed with an irritated voice.

He plummeted his head under the water to try and see what was down there now. Before he even had time to think, his heart skipped a beat. What was in front of him right now allowed so many questions to form in his mind. Was there a mirror down here below the water? Surely not. But what else could explain…

The thing, or rather person, in front of him wore the same face as he did. It was like he was looking directly at himself, which admittedly was weirding him out. He and the other boy both stared into each other's deep, blue eyes. Finally, Roxas broke away and noticed something else. Something that was not normal by any means. His eyes darted back and forth.

Not only did this boy look like him, but he also had… a tail!

There we go! What a reveal right? We hope that you all liked that chapter and what it involved. Thank you all once again for the follows and favorites on the story. We appreciate the support, and we will see you all back here with the next update!