Takes place between Team Spirit and Bachelor/Bachelorette

Closing his eyes, Telary furiously flaps a large towel against the flames engulfing the wooden practice dummy. Unfortunately, he's not quite quick enough to prevent the fire's spread to the next dummy in the row. The continuing conflagration prompts a terrified screech from the wizard, and for a moment he seems completely at a loss.

Luckily, Sora manages to keep a level head. He holds up the Keyblade, leveling its tip at a space between the burning dummies. "Blizzaga!"

The spell flies from his mystical weapon, spreading wide enough to capture both of the fires. And, simultaneously cover the wizard in a layer of frost.

"Uh, oops," the Keybearer apologizes, rushing up to his older friend. He quickly grabs the towel out of Tel's shivering fingers, throwing it over his shoulders instead. "Guess that got a little out of hand."

"N-n-no," Telary argues, shaking his head. Of course, that could just be a result of all the shivering. "Y-you did some good, quick th-thinking there, Sora. This whole s-session has been about improving your magic, right?"

"True." Sora smiles, clapping his friend on the shoulder. "That's good. I keep getting into situations where, looking back, a little magic would have been pretty useful. But I just keep going with what I'm used to. I need to get out of the habit."

"You sound," the wizard says, frowning slightly, "like you're getting ready for something big to go down again."

The Keybearer frowns himself. "Do I? I'm really not thinking that way. Or I guess I'm hoping. But then I remember that I can hardly leave Destiny Islands without some bad guy showing up to start stuff." He sighs, turning away from his friend and walking a few feet. "Or, y'know, my own friends."

Telary winces, immediately catching the boy's drift. Yes, Azlyn had screwed up royally those few weeks ago in Olympus. She'd confided in him several times that nightmare scenarios still occasionally found themselves playing through her head. And that's not even mentioning the coldness towards her that Kairi has developed.

"Sorry," Sora apologizes, snapping Telary from his thoughts. "I don't mean to talk bad about your future wife like that. I know she didn't really mean the whole 'selling my soul' thing, and she gave up the entire fortune she loved so much for me, and after Riku it would be a really crappy thing to not show her the same forgiveness."

"Your feelings are your own, Sora," the wizard says, cautiously approaching the younger man. He puts a hand on his shoulder. "Work through them as fast or a slow as you like."

"Thanks," the Keybearer says, turning quickly and giving Tel a hug. "How did you get so good at giving advice?"

He shrugs. "Not sure. Heck, I'm not sure I even am good at it."

Sora shakes his head, grinning as he pulls out of the embrace. "Trust me, you are. Even when you don't know what to say, you say the right thing."

"S-stop," the wizard stammers, blushing furiously. "I just try to help people, if I can. Besides, you and Azlyn have always done most of the heavy lifting. The least I can do is cheerlead." He shake his head, accompanied by a wave that's as if he's sweeping the whole subject away. "Anyway, now that your training's been going on for an hour it's time for, um, mine."

Sora nods enthusiastically. Working together, the two quickly put away the smoldering training dummies, and pull out the special equipment that they'll need for this next phase.

"I can't believe that this is how you listen to your music," Sora remarks, examining the record player like a researcher with some piece of ancient history. Noticing the black record already resting on the player, he picks it up and gives that a thorough examination too.

"We have CDs," Telary assures the Keybearer, rolling his eyes. He quickly snatches up the record and places it back in its proper setting. "But King Mickey is adamant that this is the best way to listen to dance music. Then again, he also writes a lot of letters when we have two dozen perfectly good telephones in the castle." He shrugs. "Anyway, I pulled this out from one of the storage rooms. It had a note on it, but I've never heard of anybody named Oswald in the castle, so I figured he wouldn't be coming around to get upset about it."

"I gotta say, Tel," Sora says with a chuckle as the wizard tries to figure out the record player, "this, uh, request of yours was kind of unexpected. I mean, I've seen you dance before. Maybe you remember the night you and your soon-to-be wife first expressed your feelings? There was that whole ball thing, I'm pretty sure you defiled the castle library…"

"That was a fluke, Sora," Telary argues, finally comprehending how to make the old music player work. "And it's been a while, and there's going to be a lot more dances at the wedding than there was then, so…" Finally, he manages to get a tune from the machine. A classic, slow tempo jazz song floats through the air.

"Never thought I'd be in this position," Sora mutters, shaking his head as he approaches Telary. He gives the wizard an expectant look. "Well, aren't you gonna start this?"

"Um, okay," Telary replies, nodding. After a moment, he frowns. "So, how exactly do I start…?"

"I'm not just gonna stand here forever," the Keybearer answers with a playful grin. As ridiculous as all this is, he really is enjoying it. In fact, the sheer absurdity is only serving to enhance the experience. "You have to lead, Tel. Offer me your hand."

Hesitantly, the wizard holds up his hand. Sora gives him a gracious nod, taking it with a silly grin. Following what he remembers of the proper procedure, Telary pulls the younger boy closer. After a moment of blushing hesitation, he puts his free hand on Sora's waist. Well, he tries to.

"Whoa there buddy!" Sora declares, trying his hardest to not burst into hysterics. "Hike that hand up a little, will ya? I mean, pft, what kind of, ha, what kind, teehee, what kind of girl do you take me for?"

"Oh, ha ha!" His cheeks growing more furious red, almost to the point of matching his hair, the wizard adjusts his grip. "This is a fine time for jokes, Sora!"

"Hey, I'm just getting into character!" Sora says, frowning in mock-defensiveness. "Do you think Azlyn would let that kinda thing pass without a joke?"

"I think," Telary replies, "that if anything, she'd try and push my hand lower! Now can we just get on with the real lesson?"

Sora roll his eyes, another small giggle escaping his lips. "Okay, so we're in position. Now, all you have to do is move. To the beat, if you can manage it. Just decide where you want to go, and then go there. I'll watch you for clues, then follow."

With another deep breath, Telary begins to follow the younger man's instructions. He steps forward, only off the beat by maybe a half-second, then left, then back, and right. A full square, just as he knows he's been taught before. But a long time ago, maybe six years? Anyway, he's a bit rusty. For a full minute, he and Sora just repeat their square-patterned steps.

"Don't feel afraid to change things up," Sora says after a while. "This is getting kinda boring. Hey, why don't you twirl me!"

"Um, uh…" the wizard stammers. In his head, he can just picture pulling Sora back in too hard, the pair of them slamming together and falling over each other. Talk about embarrassing! "I don't know."

"You just imagined the worst-case scenario, didn't you?" Sora shoots back with a knowing look. "Calm down, man. It isn't rocket science. Which, I think I should remind you, you do know how to do!" Grinning, the Keybearer begins to chant, "Do it, do it, do it, do it!"

"Fine!" Rolling his eyes, Telary begins the twirling maneuver, watching Sora to make sure everything goes smoothly. The wizard steps back, keeping his arm steady to put some distance between him and his partner. Then, taking a deep breath, he pulls the Keybearer back in, twisting his wrist to give him some spin. Before he knows it, the twirl is over, and the boys briefly break contact, shifting their grips back to normal. Seamlessly, they start moving in a box-step again.

"That was pretty good!" Sora declares, bumping Telary with his shoulder. The movement awkwardly puts the pair in contact at a few more points than that, but both are too pleased to even notice. "See Tel, you just have to relax man. Then, even if things go wrong, you can't be embarrassed!"

"He's exactly right, Tel."

The new voice startles the rooms occupants, who yelp and quickly leap apart. Turning to the door, they see Azlyn standing there with a smirk on her face.

"Oh, don't stop on my account," the knight says, amusement positively dripping from every word. She saunters closer to the boys, grinning ear-to-ear. "I'm just enjoying the show."

"We were j-just practicing dancing," Telary stammers, quickly slapping the needle off of the spinning record. The music cuts out immediately. "Just trying to, y'know, get it perfect for the wedding…"

"Y'know," Azlyn says with a sigh, placing a hand on her chest and looking dramatically away, "you hear all kinds of horror stories about the groom running off with your maid of honor, but you never think it'll happen to you."

"Man of honor!" Sora quickly corrects, pridefully puffing out his chest. "And you know me, Az. I just can't resist those redheads!"

"Can we just…" Telary sighs, quickly realizing that the only way out of this is a complete subject change. "Anyway, did you want something, Azlyn?"

The knight shakes her head, still quite obviously amused. "No. I just heard that music while I was passing by. Wanted to see what was up."

"Well, as you can see everything is normal!" Telary says, crossing his arms. "Now, if you don't mind, I think it's time we were moving on to…"

Azlyn smirks. "The foxtrot?"

"Tango?" Sora chimes in with a giggle.

"Magnet spells," Telary replies with clenched teeth.

"Well then I'm out!" Azlyn declares, backing away to the door. "Have a good time. Just not too good!" Before the boys can offer any admonishment, the knight is out the door and down the corridor.

"Sorry about that," Tel apologizes, quickly moving to push the record player out of the way so magic study can begin again. "Uh, so…"

"We're really done?" Sora asks, an oddly playful twinkle in his eye. "The dance is over?"

"Um, yes," the wizard replies, heading back towards the Keybearer. Still awkward and distracted, he runs straight into the younger boy's outstretched hand. Stopping hurriedly, he curiously eyes the appendage. "Uh, what are you doing?"

"Well," Sora says, trying and failing to fight back a smirk, "if the dance is over, then you really should do it formally."

"Which means…?" Telary rolls his eyes, already anticipating a ridiculous answer

"Well, it's traditional to kiss your partner's…"

Groaning, Telary bats Sora's hand away. "Oh, just knock it off! Now, the thing about Magnet spells is…"