The last one! The last prom chapter! \(^o^)/ This one had a final word count of 2,946 words, with about 806 words beforehand. I finished most of the writing on this chapter April 30. The only bit I didn't have finished was the crowning for King and Queen, because I wanted other opinions on it. I finally finished the chapter May 1, despite saying that I was going to keep the options open for a bit longer.

That being said, whoever voted for Ven and Nin to be the formal king and queen… thank you so much. You made the best choice before it was even revealed that Nin absolutely detested formals. xD

I think I'm going to take a break after chapter 32. I deserve it after this super long arc.

Thank you for reading!

Compared to the heat inside the gym, the cool spring air outside was like a slap to the face. Anora immediately shivered as they walked outside. The water in her plastic cup swished and threatened to spill over at the sudden movement. Ephemer gave her a worried look, but was afraid to touch her.

"Are you too cold now?" he carefully asked. "I can give you my jacket if you want it."

But Anora shook her head- it only served to worry him more.

The two found a park bench by the gym and decided to sit down. They both took the opposite ends, almost refusing to look at each other. An uncomfortable silence started to fill between them. It hurt even more when they both wanted to say something, but were unsure of what to say in regards to the situation.

"I told you not to fall in love when you saw me all dressed up." Ephemer finally teased- hoping to break the tension. "Now the gym's going to be too cold when we go back in!"

All Anora could do was give an exasperated shake of her head. He was taking this a lot better than she thought he would. She had enough embarrassment to be red for days. Of course, now that they were out of the heat of the gym, even she could admit that whatever had happened seemed almost silly. Ridiculous, even. Falling in love with your friend during a slow song only happened in movies. Real love took time, and there was still so much that she and Ephemer didn't know about each other. This wasn't real love, it was adrenaline.

Ephemer, on the other hand, was thinking a bit differently on the matter. Sure, he could agree he didn't know much about Anora (in fact, he knew less about her than she knew about him), but he definitely wanted to. Was that love? He wasn't much of an expert in that department; his last commitment lasted three months, and it was not something he liked to talk about. But for Anora…?

With a wistful sigh, the boy started to fondly remark, "Hey Ano-"

"There you two are!"

Both teens blinked in confusion for a moment before turning to the source of the voice. Turns out it was Skuld, with Ventus not far behind her, as the two came over to the bench. Ephemer almost immediately stood up; a small frown on his face as he studied the other two carefully.

"Were you guys looking for us?" he asked once they were close enough.

"You kinda disappeared out of nowhere." Ven agreed with a small nod of his head.

"Besides," Skuld added- a small smirk appearing on her face once she glanced at Anora, "Someone has to make sure you don't get suspended for making out on school grounds."

For a moment, Ephemer raised an eyebrow at his friend before a cheeky grin crossed his lips. "It's too early in our relationship to start making out." he insisted with a callous flick of his wrist. "Especially not in public- you know how rude that is?"

Skuld snorted. "Right." she bemused. "Sure, casanova, I know the effect you have on women when you wear a suit."

"What can I say? It's a gift!"

Anora and Ventus gave each other an equally worried glance. Whatever this line of conversation was, it didn't seem like something you would lightly joke about.

"Either way," Skuld then said, "Are you two going to come back inside sometime soon? It's getting close to the King and Queen announcement."

"When are they going to announce the King and Queen?" Ven yawned. He tried to hide it with the back of his hand, but didn't do a very good job at it.

"Tired?" Skuld mused with a half smile.

"Yeah, actually." the boy agreed. "You know a lot of people- I can't keep up."

"You talk as if you didn't go hard for the Electric Slide when it came on."

"I think he did better with the Cupid Shuffle." Ephemer thoughtfully chimed in. "It looked like you got so into it that you totally forgot that the rest of us existed."

Ventus nervously chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. "So glad you guys chose to forget that I knew the dance for that K-pop song..."

"How did you know that?" Skuld questioned with a neat raise of her eyebrow.

Ven started to blush as he admitted, "Someone I knew before coming here. She had a whole K-pop and anime phase for awhile."

Ephemer gave a cheeky little grin before deciding, "Sounds like Skuld in the good ol' days."

"Oh shut up!" said girl retorted as she lightly hit Ephemer on the back of the head. The older boy gave a small whine in protest and mock hurt, leading the four of them into a happy laughter.

"Ephemer! Anora!" a new voice called out to the group. The four of them turned their heads to see a duo come up to them. Anora noticed the fedora on the boy first before recognizing Pyra a few steps behind him.

"Hey Brain." Ephemer greeted with a smile. "How's your night going?"

Brain gave a satisfied little snort before saying, "Pretty well, if I had to guess." He looked over at Pyra, winked, then said, "What do you think Pyra? Fun night so far?"

For the first time since Anora knew her, Pyra refused to say. As Brain's smirk only continued to grow, a bit of light glimmered against his face revealing a bright red lipstick mark on his lips.

Before anyone could stop him, Ven naively asked, "Are you wearing lipstick?"

For a moment, Brain gave Ventus a weird look before wiping his mouth off. When he saw the lipstick stain on the back of his hand, he gave a small laugh to himself.

"Oh, that's not mine." the older boy mused. "I must have borrowed it from someone else."

"Wh-" Ven started to asked before Skuld elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow!" he then retorted instead. "What was that for?"

It was Skuld's sharp expression that made Ven realize that he might have overstepped somewhere. He didn't know what he had said, but he was coming to know that he shouldn't have said it. Brain found it incredibly hilarious.

"Would you four like to come back inside with us?" the intelligent teen asked. "I hear they're going to announce the King and Queen soon."

"I am getting hungry." Ephemer agreed with a small nod. He turned to the others before asking, "What do you guys think? Ready to head back in?"

Skuld, Ventus, and Anora all looked at each other, shrugged, then looked back at Ephemer and Brain with a nod. With that being decided, the six of them started to head back inside. After Anora stood up to walk with everyone, she moved over to Pyra and gave her a quizzical look. The older girl only blushed before taking a tight hold of Anora's arm.

"Nin was right." Pyra hissed just loud enough for only Anora to hear. "He is a lady killer."

. . .

The gym seemed a lot more crowded than it was at the beginning of the night. Trying to make sure the microphone was working was Mr. Snoops.

"Attention!" the muscular teacher said into the mic. "Can I have everyone's attention please!"

Everyone in the gym came to an eventual hush, allowing Mr. Snoops to go on with his announcement.

"As you all know," he said to them all, "It's now that time to crown this year's spring formal King and Queen!"

A modest applause followed. At the same time, a student that had been placed on the ballot counting committee walked up to Mr. Snoops and handed him a small envelope. Mr. Snoops thanked the student before turning his attention back to the crowd.

"In my hands, I now hold the all important envelope of truth!" he declared, snickering a bit at his humor. "So, without further ado..." The gym teacher pulled out a small multi-use pocket knife to open the envelope. He pulled out a small card with the winning results and read the names listed. With a grin he announced, "And the King and Queen of this year's formal is..." (he paused here for dramatic effect, not that anyone really wanted him to) "Ventus Hikari and Ninjitsa Edo!"

"Hey, congrats buddy!" Ephemer happily cheered to the younger boy. Ven didn't react- every inch of him frozen in surprise. Meanwhile, the very loud, very angered screech of Nin demanded, "ARE YOU SHITTING ME?!" rang throughout the gym, causing a few background snickers. Anora had to fight back her laughter at the revelation.

"I assume they're a friend of yours?" Skuld questioned, noticing Anora's lack of tact. She nodded, still trying to hold back her amusement.

Everything in Ventus had froze in place. He didn't quite register as Ephemer ushered him up to Mr. Snoops. He didn't even notice Nin as the disgruntled teen adamantly denied the tiara Mr. Snoops was trying to place on her. Instead, Ven stared down at the crowd- his face paling as he was just now realizing how many students were at the formal. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Vanitas stare right back at him. When Mr. Snoops put the king's crown on Ven, the boy could almost see Vanitas over him instead, squeezing him to an inch of his life.

It was because of Nin that there wasn't a slow dance between the two of them. So Ven numbly walked back to his friends as other students started to dance again. His senses slowly started to come back him as Ephemer gave him a hearty pat on the back. If he had been a bit more coherent, he would have realized that Skuld was genuinely smiling at him for the first time since they met.

"You ready to go now, your highness?" Skuld teased.

"Yes please." came the small, bashful answer. Apparently, Skuld thought that Ven's catatonia was the result of exhaustion and not because he hated being in the spotlight- literally and figuratively.

"We'll catch you guys later!" Skuld said as she waved Ephemer and Anora goodbye. The two waved her and Ventus away before Ephemer turned to Anora.

"What about you?" he then asked. His grin was wide and filled with joy. "Are you ready to head back too?"

But Anora shook her head. She gestured to the dance floor, indicating that she wanted to dance again. The King and Queen crowning really gave her a second wind, it seemed.

"Promise not to faint on me again?"

Anora gave him a bright, wide smile that he absolutely adored before she took his hands and led him back out to the dance floor.

. . .

Ava was actually surprised that Ephemer had stayed so late. Normally, the boy could only go on for a good two hours before deciding he didn't like crowds. This year he stayed for a good five hours before escorting his friend, Anora, back to her dorm. Ava hugged herself as a small gush of wind brushed past her; she could still remember how small he was when she first met him.

A sharp pinch from behind caused Ava to immediately whip around to exclaim, "Gula!"

The youngest of the headmasters only offered her an innocent smile. Ava could feel her face flush in realizing just how close he was to her.

"I enjoy it when history repeats." he then said, slinking an arm around her waist.

Ava blinked, letting out a confused, "What?"

At first, Gula only smirked. Then he carefully placed a finger under her chin and guided her to look in a certain direction. It took Ava a moment to realize what he was making her look at, and when she did, her knees started to weaken a little.

Gula had brought her attention back to Ephemer and Anora; the two were a bit further than before, but Ava could still see their happy smiles. It had been a long time since she'd seen Ephemer that happy.

"Makes you kinda jealous, doesn't it?" Gula then mused, leading her attention back to him. "So youthful, so innocent..."

Despite knowing full well when Gula was trying to make a pass at her, Ava shook her head.

"I'm not jealous." she told him. "I'm happy for them, for him."

"Oh really?" Gula entertained, now moving closer to her. Ava gave a small giggle as she mirrored him.

"Really." she agreed before the two shared a loving embrace.

. . .

"And that's when I tell Skuld," Ephemer laughed, "That's when I tell her, 'maybe you should have left the lights on!' and she got so mad, I thought she was going to murder me!"

The duo went into a loud, happy uproar of laughter at his story. Anora had to stop walking for a moment because she had almost forgotten how to breathe. They couldn't stop laughing for a solid five minutes- it took another three for them to settle down completely without a random bubble of laughter here and there.

When they had finally settled down, they look at each other and smiled. In the light of the quarter moon, they almost forgot that they had just spent five hours at the formal. Their minds forgetting the night's earlier events but their hearts were still yearning for more. A small sigh escaped from both of their lips; now it was only them in the stillness of the night. They didn't have to hear teachers telling them to stand a respectful distance away from each other, or go to talk to a friend they hadn't seen in awhile. It was just them, alone, and it felt nice.

But Ephemer started to frown.

"Formals and stuff always ruin the way we see others." he thoughtfully told Anora. "Everyone's all dressed up, some of us are still stressed by schoolwork or from preparing everything, and by the end of the night everyone is so exhausted that they usually can't sleep."

Anora gave him a very quizzical look. But something had sparked deep within the boy, something he couldn't quite name.

"Right now, if I had my way, I wouldn't share you with anyone else." he mused, stepping a bit closer to her. "I'd sneak up to your dorm and just stay with you all night. I don't know what we'd do, but after the formal I'd do anything just to know you more."

Still a bit confused, Anora softly said, "But you can't..."

"No." he agreed. "I can't."

Not without getting caught...

"But it is funny," he said to her with a teasing wag of his finger. "Skuld knows I've got a thing for a well applied smokey eyeshadow. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she's trying to set us up."

Anora raised an eyebrow at him; what an… oddly specific detail. And a super random one at that. He seemed to have noticed this and only proceeded to shrug it off.

"I'll probably start talking like this after the play too, just so you know." he went on. He almost sounded like he was talking to himself more than her. "Skuld can attest to that. So don't take anything I say to heart, okay? We're friends- nothing is going to change that."

A small part of Anora ached when he said that. She didn't know what, but she easily dismissed it. Ephemer also partially regretted saying it the moment it came out of his mouth. The boy bit his lip in thought. He didn't want to leave her yet- it felt like there was still something else they needed to do.

"Let's audition for the play together." he then suggested, almost blurting it out as he said so. He didn't quite expect for Anora's eyes to widen in surprise.

"I have never..." she started to say, but she couldn't quite finish her thought. Ephemer already knew what she was trying to say, though.

"Been up on stage before?"

Anora gave a small nod of agreement.

"That's why we'll do it together!" Ephemer told her, taking her hands into his. "It'll be fun- promise!"

Anora continued to look down as she thought it over. She looked up at him and looked Ephemer directly in the eye for the third time that night. Unconsciously, the two drifted closer to each other. And when they were just close enough for their foreheads to touch, Anora pulled away.

"Tomorrow, right? At the gym?" she asked. Ephemer blinked for a moment- his brain trying to come back from a moment that didn't happen.

"Y-yeah." he agreed. "I think the auditions start around 10.30."

Anora gave a small nod. Looking back him she said, "Good night." and started to walk to rest of the way to the dorms.

"Good night." Ephemer agreed. He stood where he was, like a deer in headlights, as he watched her leave.

When Anora entered her room, she lightly shut the door behind her, and immediately flopped herself on her bed. For the longest time she stared up at the ceiling. She knew that the moment she closed her eyes, she would have been asleep- so, to delay the inevitable, she pulled herself back up again to pick up Chirithy. Anora gently stroked the toy in thought. In the back of her mind, she knew that if it could talk, it would ask her how her night went. She gave it a smile as she imagined her answer back.

Tonight had been perfect.