Silver Linings

Chapter 31: "You're Home."

A/N: This is the epilogue of Silver Linings - the splashy, happy ending of Kingdom Hearts II. It's been a bumpy, LONG ride, but I think it was worth it, don't you?

DISCLAIMER, for old times' sake: I don't own anything about this crossover. Nothing at all. Kingdom Hearts and its vibrant World are property of Square Enix and Disney Interactive (shared in some ratio I can't even comprehend), and BlazBlue and its established harmony are the property of Arc System Works. I'm not affiliated with any of those groups, of course, and I make no money from this fan work. Squeenix and Arc, please don't terminate me or cleanse this story in the fires of destruction. Fans, please don't post any part of this story anywhere else without getting permission from all applicable parties.

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Destiny Islands...

Everyone: Time to celebrate!

Lambda stepped through the portal, shivering somewhat from the unexpectedly strong Darkness she had to walk through, and found herself on a picturesque beach at sunrise. A group of people was nearby, made up of everyone from the final battle except Sora and Riku. Lambda called out to them, "Hey, everyone! You won't believe what just happened! I just got a Keyblade and fixed the Time Breaks in time to stop the apocalypse!"

Goofy's reply went straight to the point. "Cool beans!"

Donald mumbled halfheartedly, "Yeah, what he said." Lambda thought he was just jealous that everyone else got a Keyblade first.

Mickey cheered, "Thank goodness! That's a huge relief!"

Roxas asked, "What the heck is a Time Break? What apocalypse?"

Lambda quickly replied, "It doesn't matter anymore; they won't happen again. I'll tell you more later."

Xion asked, "Can I see your Keyblade?"

Lambda summoned Elysium and held it out for inspection, producing a brief swirl of rectangular, green motes of energy around her hand where the weapon appeared. "This is my Keyblade, Elysium.Cool, huh? I'm no good at using it, though."

Kairi asked in a less-cheerful manner, "Do you know where Sora is?"

Lambda replied, "No, but my attempt to go to where Riku is led me here, so I bet they're on their way here as we speak. He and Sora got left behind, but I'm sure they've beaten whatever the problem was keeping them busy by now."

Speak of the heroes... *SPLASH!* A shining blue streak of Light crashed into the sea behind Lambda's head, creating an impressive splash. A few seconds later, Sora and then Riku surfaced from underwater. Sora's trademark spiky hair remained in place despite the thorough soaking, leaving no doubts that he was indeed home.

He was looking the wrong way, however, so Kairi took it on herself to call out, "Sora! Riku!" This got the boys scrambling back to shore with silly grins on their faces. Kairi ran to meet them at the shore, but she was outpaced by everyone else, as usual.

Donald and Goofy glomped Sora into the surf, once again failing to take Goofy's weight into account. Sora squeezed them both tight.

Mickey ran up to Riku, who swung the tiny king around in the air and pulled him into an extremely sappy hug. Lambda ran to join that group; she and Riku swung Mickey's whole body up and down with a vigorous handshake.

Roxas and Xion sat on the sand and grinned at the scene, but mostly at each other. Between the happy reunion and the beach trip, the only thing that could make this better would be Axel showing up with Sea Salt Ice Cream for everyone.

Drat, Xion thought to herself. Axel didn't show up. Well, holding hands on the beach was good enough for now. But maybe... Xion leaned in and pecked Roxas on the cheek, catching him completely by surprise while he was distracted by Sora's antics. This immediately took his focus off Sora petting Goofy's nose...and he returned the kiss! Score!

In general, much joyous laughter was had by all.

As for Kairi, she approached the dog-and-duck pile for her long-awaited turn to welcome Sora home. Sora looked up at her beaming smile, and for an instant he saw Namine, too. He grinned, "We're back!"

Kairi corrected, "You're home!" She held out a hand to help Sora get up from the pile.

Sora broke eye contact to fumble in his pockets for a moment - he had a promise to keep! "Yeah..." When he grasped Kairi's hand, he also passed her a small object. Between their hands was Kairi's homemade seashell charm. "...And I brought it back, just like I promised."

Kairi giggled for a moment. "How did you not break that thing? But... I'm really glad you kept it safe, Sora."

Sora stood up. "Me, too. It's all over now, though."

Kairi just laughed again. "What are you talking about? For me - and for us - this is just the beginning." She leaned in and boldly kissed her lovable, spiky-haired doofus right on the mouth. "Now c'mon, you lazy bum. We've got a whole life together to catch up on!" And no, Kairi wasn't going to wait for Sora to get the hint any more.

A short distance away, Lambda, Riku, and Mickey watched the other half of the reunion. Lambda asked Riku, "So, Riku, what happened back at the World That Never Was?"

Riku rolled his eyes. "It was Xemnas again. He just wouldn't take a hint. We had to slay a couple more dragons, cut up a few buildings, and block a bunch of lasers." Saying this description was an understatement would be an understatement in itself, but Riku was in a good enough mood to joke about it now. If he ever felt like angsting over how close he came to death, and how many times, he'd do it later.

Lambda nodded. "Nice work! While you were gone, I fixed that mess with the Time Breaks, got a Keyblade, broke my control protocol as well as Nu's, and we beat Relius Clover!" Lambda brandished Elysium to demonstrate.

Riku grinned. "You've been busy, then! Wait, does this mean you won't have to call me Master anymore?"

Lambda shrugged. "Technically, yes, but I think I should anyway...since only you could have been the Keyblade Master who passed this on to me. Speaking of which, I need to train with this thing. I'd just embarrass you if I tried to swing it around as I am now." She demonstrated by swinging away from Riku, but she overbalanced and stumbled sideways. "...See? I also didn't get to use the speech I had written up for just such an occasion, but things happened really fast. Plus, referring to myself as an object, even a really cool object like 'the Light of dawn', would've contradicted the point I was trying to make anyway."

Riku chuckled at the display. "I see. I'm not much of a Keyblade Master myself, though; I've had the Keyblade for what, an hour longer than you? For now, let's just enjoy life, or something."

Lambda squeezed up next to Riku and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "'Or something' sounds good."

Kairi ran up to them. "Oh, yeah! We need to get you and Xion some new clothes! I heard from Namine that none of you have changed clothes in a whole year, which is...just gross. Don't worry, though; I'll find you both some cute new outfits! Namine gets a pass because she doesn't really have a body, but for you, it's mandatory. You can't just walk around in nothing but that bodysuit all the time."

"Do as you will with my girlfriend; I bow to your girly wisdom," Riku intoned as he did an overly-dramatic bow. When Kairi got all assertive like this, it was best to just go along with it. Riku would normally stay out of the goofy antics, but so many people were into it right now that it was infectious.

"Will this be enough munny?" Roxas asked, dumping a truly ridiculous sum of munny out of his pockets. Even Mickey was impressed. Roxas sheepishly rubbed his neck. "That's...more than I thought I had. I think I got half of Sora's munny, on top of what I earned on missions. But I didn't have this much in the virtual Twilight Town...I knew Riku was a thief!"

Sora called out, "Hey, not cool, Roxas! I had to beat a lot of Heartless for that munny!"

"Well, what would you have spent it on, besides gifts for the girls?" Riku asked.

"Well, obviously I would...um...er..." Sora trailed off. He really didn't need to buy much of anything from a store. He slumped over in defeat. "Darn. Now the score's 17 to 12."

"Do you even have shops for clothes on the Islands?" Donald asked.

Goofy added, "All the shops I've seen on other worlds just sell Potions and stuff."

Kairi replied, "Of course we have a market, but no one sells Potions; no one needs them. We're pretty isolated from other worlds here on the Destiny Islands. We'll head out after we say goodbye to the King and his friends."

"Is this...goodbye?" Darn it, Sora was about to cry again!

Goofy hastily appeased, "No way! We'll come back and visit real soon!"

Donald nodded enthusiastically.

Mickey added, "I can send letters, too! Besides, if any trouble crops up, the worlds may need your help again. Guarding the balance of Light and Darkness is the duty of every Keyblade wielder."

Sora cheered up. "Okay, then! We'll be waiting! ...Wait, where did we park the Gummi Ship?"

Donald replied after some thought, "Wak! It's back at Radiant Garden! Nuts. Now what do we do?"

"Did somebody say 'nuts'? Where?" Right on cue, Dale's squeaky voice blared from a loudspeaker as the Falcon descended from above. It looked like the chipmunks had done another impressive tune-up; there were a lot more wings and weapons on the new version of the Gummi Ship.

"Not that kind, you dummy! Hang on, Your Majesty! It's your favorite Gummi engineers, Chip..."

"...And Dale!"

"...Here to give you a lift!"

Mickey grinned as he revealed, "I thought this would happen, so I sent a letter to Chip and Dale before Lambda showed up!"

Goofy scratched his ear with an embarrassed chuckle; he and Donald would never have thought of that, and they hadn't even noticed Mickey writing the letter. "A-hyuck! That's why he's the King, after all!"

The Falcon Peak landed on the other side of the beach, which spared the heroes from the sand that got sprayed everywhere by the high-end Gummi Ship's maneuvering thrusters. A glowing circle formed on the sand to teleport passengers aboard.

Mickey turned and waved at the residents of Destiny Islands. "See ya real soon, fellas!" He dashed over and jumped into the teleporter before the Falcon Peak even finished landing.

"Gawrsh, I'll miss you guys!" Goofy wiped his misty eyes before loping into the teleporter.

"Goofy, wait up! I-I didn't get to say goodbye enough! GOODBYE, SORA!" Donald speed-waddled after his fellow retainer, crying more tears than Sora had ever seen from him.

Everyone still on the beach waved at the ship (including Namine, who manifested herself just for this gesture) as it rose upward, then blasted off into a Keyhole-shaped portal in the sky.

"...So, what's for lunch?" Riku asked, changing the topic. "I've eaten literally nothing but a few ice cream bars since Ansem possessed me, and I think we've all earned a celebratory feast. All in favor?"

Ten hands raised, including those of Namine and three Islanders whom Sora hadn't seen in a whole year. The other Destiny Islands trio was running towards them from the docks. Tidus called out, "Hey, Sora and Riku are back!"

Wakka added, "And we get food, too? Best. Day. EVER!"

Selphie demanded, "You HAVE to tell us all about your super-romantic adventures over lunch! The burgers are on me, so now you owe me!"

Riku laughed and nodded. "Sure, why not? But my adventures will scare your pants off!"

"Joke's on you!" Kairi and Selphie shot back simultaneously. After all, short dresses were "in" this year.

Everyone laughed and ran to the extra boats the other trio had towed with them.

"Wait, we don't have a boat," Roxas mentioned, indicating himself and Xion.

"That's no problem! Hold on tight!" Xion summoned her Sonic Blade weapon set and flew across the sea to the main island, dragging Roxas by one hand.

"He is one lucky guy," Tidus groaned as he rowed his boat. "I wish I had a cool girlfriend like that."

"Naw, mon. I'd probably get airsick," Wakka drawled.

Selphie was too busy rowing her boat to add anything; she didn't have muscles to spare like the others.

And so a grand adventure came to a close. Inside Kairi's heart, Namine shut her sketchbook, having finished a drawing of a beautiful sunrise over the beach.

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Meanwhile, in Twilight Town...

"...Gah, I feel like shit. Where am I? More importantly, why am I not dead? Ragna would've made goddamn sure I wasn't part of his happy ending... Whoa, lucky break! That doll was good for something after all! Watch out, kids, I'm coming for payback! Prepare for pain! Misery! DESPAIR! Kyahahaha! AH-HAHAHAHA!"

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Final Author's Notes (this section is longer than usual):

It's finally over...but many dangers still lurk in the Darkness.

The basis of a third installment to the Time Break Saga is already rattling around in my head, but don't expect it to be written any time soon. If you get an alert email for a new story from me called "Asleep at Dawn", that'll be the one that makes this a trilogy.

The next installment would follow the new potential Keyblade warriors - Lambda, Kairi, and Xion (and Lea, of course) - as they train with their new powers and find unique roles for themselves. I'll need to make up most of the "Training Worlds" (the "temporally flexible space" created by Merlin and the fairies) from scratch, though, so it would definitely be even slower to update. Feel free to PM me with suggestions for worlds you would like to see!

This story has changed and metamorphosed quite a lot from where I first thought it would go. Remember back when I said Silver Linings would be a collection of loosely-connected one-shots? Heck, remember back when my username was "mysteriousguy898"? There's a reason I'm calling myself The Unplanner now. However, I think this project has improved my overall writing ability.

The original reason I started writing this, back in Dark Clouds, was to find Riku a girlfriend. He's part of a setting and interpersonal role that make him uniquely suited to crossover pairings.

Then I realized I'd made a crossover of two of the most insanely complicated plots in video game history, so I started trying to figure out and reverse-engineer all the nuts and bolts of Light, Darkness, magic, Observation, and Phenomena Intervention. I think I did pretty well in that regard, although I often ended up turning Riku and Lambda into talking heads.

While I was rehashing canon events from Riku's perspective, I got to thinking about significant changes Lambda could make to the plot. A lot of reviewers also wanted to see that. It became one of the few facets of Lambda's character that stayed consistent; she tended to shift her tone a lot because I take so long between updates, but that chaos turned out to be perfect for her role. Relius Clover even commented on it in the final confrontation.

Relius' explanation of the "database" Lambda has was somewhat cryptic...because he's Relius. Being creepy and cryptic is basically his hobby. For clarification: that database, which shows up as italicized text at the start of each section and when new terms and names are introduced, is a connection to the true Kingdom Hearts that Lambda formed when she first fell into the Realm of Darkness. That connection is also the reason she's somewhat overpowered as an Observer. Lambda would learn more about this in "Asleep at Dawn".

Blue Skies is still lying dormant on my profile, waiting for suggestions.

Thank you all for sticking with me for years as this saga chugged along at about a chapter per month. In fact, this project has taken so long that I think I need to roll some credits:

Extra special thanks to my brother, who goes by The Mighty Gyarapie, for constantly needling me until I updated. Without you, this story would have drowned in the Darkness years ago.

Titano Man XIII: the PM conversations we've had were loads of fun. Thank you for helping me get my thoughts in order, too!

Dragdownintotheabyss: thank you for sending me PMs when I stalled for months on end to snap me out of my procrastinating funk.

A reviewer by the name of That Mysterious Reader helped me come up with the design for Lambda's Keyblade (and its name, Elysium) a while ago. They also contributed several ideas to Blue Skies. I haven't heard from them in a long time, though, unless they've changed their username like I did. If you're out there somewhere reading this, thank you for your help.

And of course, thank you to everyone who read this story! Thank you all for favoriting, following, reviewing, and even lurking! It makes me really happy every time I get an alert that says "[Username] is following Silver Linings".

Let's meet again in the next fic!