Happy chapter 50 everyone! We've come so far since the first chapter so I just wanted to take the time to say thank you! Thank you for reviewing! Thank you for favorite-ing! Thank you for following! And above all, THANK YOU FOR READING! I've been having a lot of fun writing this one and I hope it shines through in the story itself. I love how onboard some of you guys are with EphemerxAnora, despite it being a canonxOC ship. I love how you guys never really point out that I occasionally flub some words and could probably use a beta. This story is one of my longest in a variety of ways, so knowing that it's loved is a wonderful feeling.

I think this was one of the first chapters I started to plan when I knew we were going to the beach for the summer. I had about 519 words written beforehand, now it's at 1,383. A bit short, maybe, but it gets its job done.

Are you ready?

For chapter 50 and beyond, thank you so MUCH for reading!

Another night, another reminder in his mid sleep of what Skuld had told him. No surprise that he was having a hard time getting to sleep with all the thoughts running through his head. When he did sleep, it was only for a few hours at most before he woke up again, greeted by darkness and his own thoughts.

"Skuld, I hate you." Ephemer grumbled into the darkness.

"Still awake?" Lauriam questioned. Ephemer was actually surprised that the older kid was still awake; Lauriam was reading a book, it seemed, using a small book light with a brightness so dim that you wouldn't have noticed it at first.

"Yeah..." Ephemer admitted, turning his body around so he could get a better look at Lauriam. If he craned his neck in the right direction, he could just barely see that Brain and Ventus were fast asleep. Ven in particular was holding on to his teddy bear for dear life, occasionally making movements that indicated he was having a bad dream. Ephemer would have gone to shake him awake, but chose to be selfish and continued to lie in bed. Maybe it was the reason why Lauriam was still awake- to comfort Ven if he suddenly woke up.

"Any particular reason?" the older boy inquired, not even looking up at Ephemer.

"Skuld tried to get under my skin during the Star Festival." he grumbled. He moved himself so he could stare up at the ceiling. "I think it worked."

"Well I would suppose so," Lauriam lightly chuckled, "It's been a whole week since then."

"Don't remind me." Ephemer groaned, throwing his blankets over his head. "I just want to sleep. So exhausted, but all I do is think about..."

Ephemer suddenly stopped. Was he really going to just out and tell Lauriam about Anora? No way. This was his problem, Lauriam wouldn't understand.

"Think about…?" Lauriam curiously questioned since Ephemer had cut himself off.

"Never mind." came the sullen dismissal. "I'm just gonna try going back to sleep. Good night."

"It's actually good morning," the older boy chuckled. "But yes, see you when the sun rises."

Ephemer gave a small noise of disheartened agreement before rolling over and trying to drift back to sleep.

. . .

The sun was so bright that it was almost blinding. Ephemer tried to shade his eyes with his hand, but it didn't seem to do much good. Why did the sun seem so much brighter the closer you got to shore? Slowly, eventually, his eyes started to adjust to the light. He still had to squint, and when he did, he started to notice a figure at the shoreline.

They stood there with their hands behind their back, their gaze staring out to the ocean beyond. Ephemer tilted his head slightly to the side. Did he recognize them? Curious, he moved closer to the figure. As he moved toward them, he realized that they were wearing a short, baby blue dress and their hair -cut into a short, stylish bob- was colored a lovely shade of strawberry pink.

"Anora?"

He was answered with a little hum. Ephemer frowned. He moved closer to get a better look at his friend's face. It was the same Anora face as usual; her expression seemed a bit blank, but it also held a certain dream-like quality to it. Something about it seemed incredibly… tempting? That didn't seem right. But still, Ephemer felt compelled to do… something. Something that only kept nagging him the longer he tried to study her.

When she finally spoke, it almost shocked him. "Êtes-vous prêts? Do you know what that means?"

Ephemer blinked for a moment. "Huh? Y-yeah." he stammered. "They tell us what it means at the first fencing practice of the year. It means 'are you ready?'"

Anora tilted her head in thought, humming a little. "Êtes-vous prêts." She turned to Ephemer and smiled. "Are you ready?"

Ephemer's heart skipped a beat. He didn't know what she was asking; yet, at the same time, he knew exactly what it was.

"Ready… for what?" he questioned- his voice shaking in doing so.

Anora giggled, stepping closer to him. She gently took his shoulders as she pressed their foreheads together. As she carefully ran her hands down his arms, sending a wave of goosebumps at the touch, Anora tilted her chin so their lips were mere centimeters away.

"Are you ready?" Anora once more repeated, this time far softer. It was a tone Ephemer had never heard from her before, and it was one that he really, really wanted to hear again. The young man released a sigh that almost bordered on a moan.

"Yeah… I'm ready." he found himself admitting just before pressing their lips together.

. . .

Ephemer catapulted out of his sleep with a sharp inhale. Quickly, he turned to where Lauriam was sleeping and prayed the older kid had gone to sleep. A sigh escaped Ephemer's lips as he realized that was the case. Good. He didn't want Lauriam to ask why he had woken up so suddenly, and why his adrenaline was mocking him at the moment. He then glanced out the window- another sigh left him when he could see the sun start to rise over the horizon.

Exhausted, Ephemer flopped back on his back and stared up at the ceiling. He closed his eyes for a moment- a faint imagine of his dream coming back to him.

"Good Ub Iwerks," he mumbled to himself, "Am I really in love with Anora?"

He did not go back to sleep after a dream like that. Instead, Ephemer started to get ready for the day. He thought about Anora the entire time. Obviously, his sleeping mind had known something that he did not up until now. Now that he was actually aware of it, the thought just wouldn't leave him. Did he actually love Anora? There was no way. He didn't know anything about her, and what he did know wasn't much.

When he and the other boys went out to the beach, and the girls were already out there, Ephemer's heart skipped a beat seeing Anora by the shoreline. Unlike the dream, Anora looked to be beachcombing. That only slightly helped; not that he believed dreams were a wish your heart made, or anything. His body made the decision to walk over to her before his mind knew what it was doing. Was it obvious that he was shaking? Maybe it wasn't obvious. And if it was, he really hoped no one noticed.

"What are you looking for?" he asked her, the curiosity in his voice genuine. Anora looked up at him, smiled, and got up to show him the shell she had found. With a proud flourish, she presented to him a teardrop shaped seashell, the color was a pink that became a muted yellow toward the end.

"Wow, it's pretty." Ephemer noted, his face flushing as he scratched the back of his head. Anora eagerly nodded her head in agreement. Ephemer's heart soared.

It was then that it finally dawned on him. He did love her. He loved her curiosity, her eyes, and pretty much everything else he knew about her up until that point. There was no stopping it now- Ephemer was in love with Anora.

"H-hey Anora….?" the boy then tried to say, taking his hands into Anora's. "I… I'm glad we're friends."

Anora's eyes widened for a moment before easily going into a bright smile. Ephemer felt a part of him relax as well, putting on a smile to match hers.

But he couldn't tell her. Not yet. What if Anora didn't feel the same way? What if he confessed and it ruined their friendship? He couldn't lose her. The fear he had when Skuld had hurt herself only seemed to intensify if he thought about losing Anora. It wasn't the same, he knew that, but just the thought…

"Do you mind if I join you?" he offered. Anora grinned as she happily nodded her head. She handed him her sand bucket, indicating that she wanted him to hold it as they resumed beachcombing. Ephemer gave a smile before proceeding to pretend as if nothing was different between them.

Turns out, he was not quite ready yet.