So I promised that you'd get this chapter by at least wednesday, and I've delivered it exactly on wednesday. So at least I get this chapter out by the end of November. So since this story has been delving into the depressing whenever it can, I felt that we needed to lighten the mood a little. As famous painter Bob Ross said (you can tell I've been watching him on Twitch), you need the darkness in order to show the light. Our characters are still waiting on the good times, but there's no reason they can't make some themselves while they're at it.


Chapter 55

Birthday Bash

A blindfolded Luna quickly worked her way through each spell thrown at her by Neuge, with the whooshing of each spell being her only indication of where to dodge. She heard two spells cast in quick succession and arched backwards. The feeling of hot and cold soared over her and she wasted no time at all in returning to a running position.

"That's enough for today. I have to say, you and Sora are really impressing me. Ever since you came back, you've been taking this a lot more seriously," she heard Neuge's voice say. Luna undid her blindfold and swung it around with her finger a few times before throwing it to Neuge.

"We have to be ready for whatever comes, right? Besides, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would find using a blindfold to be so natural," Luna said.

"You get used to it, just like a great many things in life. They say change can be scary but I find it beautiful. Nothing like analyzing stock market trends in the newspaper every morning… that was a joke, that's incredibly boring," Neuge said.

"Hey, my dad used to do that all the time!" Luna defended.

"Really?"

"No, he would agree with you, but my principle doesn't think so. Whenever I got in detention with Astra for skipping school, we served it by doing desk jobs. I think he owned shares in a company and was always checking them in the newspaper to see if he could sell them for more munny. My dad told me that owning shares is a riskier gamble than winning the lottery, not that I've done either."
"Let's hope it stays that way. My advice? If you ever find yourself in a casino on the other side of the universe, never use the slot machines. They suck you in and don't let you out," Neuge said.

"Then how are you here?"

"How am I-" Neuge sighed as Luna began laughing. "That was a horrible joke. Get out of here."

"Yes ma'am," Luna said with a grin, only to be stopped after taking a mere four steps.

"You don't happen to know a good hairdresser in town, do you?" Neuge asked.

Luna sighed. For a second, she thought Neuge would have stopped her to tell her happy birthday, but maybe she had to forgotten. She was sure that she had told Neuge that last week so it couldn't have just been the case of Neuge having not known.

"Well, Tifa does mine and Kairi's hair so you can ask her," Luna answered.

"Thanks. Okay, you can go now," was all Neuge said. Once again, Luna had been expecting something more but all she got was Neuge hurrying out of the room before Luna could bring up anything.

My sixteenthbirthday, huh?

Luna had got out of bed earlier than usual this morning expecting cuddles and wishes. Instead, she had failed to see Sora, Riku and Kairi at all and the entire restoration committee were treating her as they normally would. She didn't know if she was just being spoilt and expecting too much but even Neuge had rushed them straight into their training and had stopped Luna from asking any questions, stating that she was in a hurry to go somewhere after. Knowing Neuge, that either involved drinking or, at least from what she had hinted at by her question, getting her hair done.

Using her detective instincts, Luna would have suggested the latter. There wouldn't have been a reason for Neuge to have asked her about a hairdresser if not for the fact that there was some kind of special occasion. Neuge probably didn't know it, but her words had given away her intentions. Luna had a pretty good idea why she was acting so strange and why Sora, Riku and Kairi hadn't been at breakfast that morning, and she would do her best to act surprised when the time came.

But first, she had somewhere else to go. From the heart-throbbing excitement of dodging magic to delving into the inner recesses of her mind to confront the questions that she had been afraid to ask of herself.

Stepping up to David Xanatos' door had never been easy for her. This was her third time now and the thought of talking about her personal life so freely hadn't seemed any weirder the third time than it had the first. She knew that she would probably become more comfortable with opening up as her sessions went by but having to go through what she was thinking when not even she understood what she was thinking half the time was probably something that she would never find ordinary.

"Good afternoon, Luna. Happy birthday," Xanatos said with a smile as soon as he opened the door.

"Oh, thank goodness. I was starting to think that everyone had forgotten it was my birthday or something. I was training with Neuge just before I came here and she didn't even mention it. I have a feeling I know why but I have to pretend to act surprised when it happens," Luna said.

"I'm sure you'll be able to pull of something convincing. Come in, it's rather cold out there, isn't it?" Xanatos said.

"That's February for you, though it seems weird to think that it might not even be my birthday in Alexander," Luna said. She accepted his kind gesture and walked in, taking a look around the house as they made their way to his office.

When Colette had told Luna and Kairi of how impressive Xanatos' house was to her own when she had been there on her date, Luna hadn't quite believed it. Colette's home was what Luna considered the model example of a home, with everything in it that needed to be there and not much else. When she had first come to Xanatos' home and saw the luxury high-end furniture he had purchased, it seemed excessive but at the same time just about right for a man who owned a huge enterprise and had been primarily responsible for the rebirthing of Radiant Garden as it was today.

There was a glass divide separating the overall living room from the office in a corner of the room. Luna took her seat in the same spot she always did on the couch and rested one of her arms on the armrest next to her.

"So how has your week been?" Xanatos started their conversation of casually, as they always did.

"I mean, I'm feeling better than I felt two weeks ago, so my mood's definitely improving, though that may just be because my birthday had been coming up. I've tried to stay positive, I really have. For Sora. I've been doing some meditation a lot recently, and I can think a lot more clearly… but Sora probably needs it more," Luna answered.

"I've noticed something during our talks, Luna. We're talking right now, you and me, yet you always find a way of bringing Sora into the conversation," Xanatos said.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, not at all. You care for him, it's only natural. Still, you do seem more… apprehensive about talking about yourself as opposed to others," Xanatos said.

"I'm… kind of bad about talking about myself, I suppose? I don't know. I guess it's the case where the lives of others are more interesting than my own. It's why I look reading so much. I've always found it easier to put myself into the shoes of those I'm reading about than my own," Luna explained.

"Well, you're definitely talking about yourself now. The more you talked about it, the bigger the smile on your face got. Perhaps we should stick with books then for this session. Tell me, what components do you think make a good story?"

"Oh, there definitely has to be emotion in there. It has to make me feel something. Horror, surprise, sadness, happiness, everything. My friend Astra has told me that I'm an emotional person anyway so I think it's easy for me to do that. I'm also a big fan of plot twists, but they need to make sense and not come out of nowhere. Like, you don't even know how many crime novels I've read where it turns out that the detective on the case was the one who did it. That's just lazy and insulting. I know some authors who love to abuse the unreliable narrator device. Sure it works in some cases but in crime novels, then they're just trying to play clever. I really don't think it has any place."

"Then I suppose you've considered writing your own crime novels? If so, I want to be the first to read them," Xanatos offered with a light-hearted chuckle.

"You know, I've never really thought about what I'd have liked to if I was still living my life in Alexander. If none of this had ever happened then I probably would become an author. Who knows, maybe during my travels I can start writing about something, like chronicling my adventures or maybe even the restoration of this town—of course, I'd have to use different names but I don't think it would feel fake. The people reading it who are here now would understand that it's about them, no doubt."

"Indeed, it's hard not to read something and not think 'oh, it's me'. Even so, I don't take displeasure in it at all, even when it's something not particularly nice about me. Back on my world, my corporation had a lot of people opposing it purely because they didn't like the idea of big businesses. What they did then was go to one of the newspapers and ask to write a column, sometimes being so obvious as to use my name and sometimes making up another name entirely but with a lot of similarities to my likeness. I couldn't help but smile either way because at least I was troubling someone so much that they felt the need to write about it."

"And then you proceeded to sue them and smile even more?" Luna asked with a smile.

"I'm not a ruthless dictator, Luna. The columns were usually put on the opinion section, you know, the section no one really reads. There would be no reason to sue them."

"Right, those things wouldn't really put much of a dent in your reputation, would they?" Luna nodded before moving on to something in regards to herself. It was her therapy session after all and she was sure Xanatos didn't want to talk too much about his own personal history at the moment. "In all honest, I'm scared. When I was in Tron's world, there was this moment when nothing made sense. I couldn't tell reality and fiction apart. Now, that's obviously not normal, but what I really worry about is when it starts to become a detriment to Sora and the others. There was one point when… I don't know exactly how it happened but one moment I was throwing stones into the lake and the next I was drowning in that lake without any recollection of how I got in there. There was also a moment in another world, where I fell into the river of my own volition that time, but I saw my parents… they were ghostly and pale but it was definitely them. Whatever is happening to me right now… what if it's slowly destroying me. I mean… seeing things that aren't really there and random gaps in my memory? That can't be good."

Xanatos scratched his chin before looking around on his table. Eventually he found what he was looking for—a small flashlight hiding behind a recently unwrapped present box. Now that she thought about it, Luna had remembered Colette telling her that she had brought him a present of some kind after their third date. That date had, according to Colette, coincided with the death of Xanatos' wife and son.

"I'm going to be honest here, I'm not quite sure what's wrong with you but as you say, those things can't really be a good sign. Back in my world we had the technology for scanning a person's brain. CT and MRI equipment. If we had them here, I would have instantly recommended that you be scanned. However since we don't have the technology in place yet, I'm going to at least try something else. You don't mind if I shine this light into your eyes for a minute, do you?"

"Sure, go ahead," Luna said. She was told to close her left eye and immediately felt the annoying sensation of the light's warmth in her eye. She obeyed Xanatos' instructions and followed the direction in which the light moved before alternating with her other eye. She eased back into her seat as soon as Xanatos told her that they were done and asked, "So, did you find anything out?"

"Your eyesight... it's peculiar. Do you know how we see light?" Xanatos asked.

"Er, sorry, I wasn't very good at physics…" Luna admitted. "But what's peculiar?"

"Maybe it was just my imagination, but I'll say it anyway. We have something called persistence of vision. Generally, the average eye can only respond to moving light at a maximum speed of about a twenty-fourth or so of a second. Anything above that and the light starts to blur. In other words, the eyes can only detect light at relatively slow speeds. Now when I moved my flashlight, your eye movement seemed to follow it incredibly easily. Did you notice when I started moving the flashlight in a quick zig zag pattern?"

"You did? I mean, sure I followed it up and down but by quickly you mean…"

"Like this." Xanatos made a sharp and quick invisible Z in the air with his index finger to demonstrate his point.

"I… I don't think so…? I don't know, I'm sorry," Luna said quickly. She was frightened to even hear what Xanatos was going to say about her eyesight and while he had stressed that it could have possibly been his imagination, Luna was more than willing to guess that the Heartless side of her had something to do with it. "All I really want to do now is go on some fun simple adventures with everyone. I just want to forget about everything. Abraxas, Moira's Crescent, KRONOS, all of it. All it's done is caused nothing but pain to everyone, especially Sora. He used the word 'war' to describe what is happening now but I'm not so sure. In wars, people die on both sides. I'm not so much worried about them as I am keeping my friends safe."

"I admire your resilience in the situation, Luna. It's important you remain that beacon of light in these dark times for you and your friends. When I see Sora, I can't help but think that he looks like he's already been defeated. I'm sure if there's anyone to keep his flame flickering, it will be you," Xanatos said.

"Thank you, Mr. Xanatos. I really don't know what I would do right now if I didn't have someone to talk to about this. That's the truth," Luna said with a small smile of appreciation.

"Enough of the formalities, Luna. It's David and I won't have it any other way," David extended his arm out for a handshake.

"Alright… thank you, David," Luna said, shaking his hand before looking at the clock on the wall. She hadn't even realized it, but twenty minutes had gone by in a flash. "You know, Kairi's always said she's had it rough trying to keep up with Sora and Riku in her training. I'm having a rough job just trying to keep the group together. Sora and Riku, they don't always agree with each other, not since I fell into the Realm of Darkness anyway. Kairi told me that she could see the cracks starting to form between them but it's still solid as far as she knows. They have different ways of doing things but I think Sora might be starting to think Riku is right."

"And what do you think?" David asked.

"I think it reeks of paranoia. If we keep thinking that there's no one we can trust then how are we supposed to keep the worlds safe? There's a shadow around every corner and I don't think that's something we can change, but I don't think we should be making up shadows either where there are none. I want to help Sora in any way I can, but I'm afraid of his and Riku's friendship worsening as a result of that, unless I could convince Riku but if Kairi couldn't do it, I don't know what hopes I have." Luna said.

"Well, this may sound cliché but time heals all wounds or so they say. Spend some time together. I'm sure you and Kairi will be able to figure something out to help them," David advised. Luna nodded at the sound advice and burst out a smile full of confidence.

"I'd certainly like more time but we never seem to have enough. I'll figure something out anyway. I mean, we'll figure something out," Luna corrected before standing up. "And with that said, I think it's about time I get going. After that training, I feel like I burned off all those breakfast calories and now I'm just famished again."

"It is about that time, isn't it? Tell you what. How about I make some lunch for the both of us? It'll save you some munny and I can make some mean sandwiches. I believe that's the lingo you kids use nowadays," David suggested with a chuckle at the end.

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to-"

"Be a burden? Of course not. This house is way too big for me to live alone in it anyway," Xanatos said. He moved quickly and opened the office door to let Luna out from the tense atmosphere of what felt almost like interrogation and into something more warm and domestic. It was as if she had just crossed the boundaries between two different worlds.

"Then please go ahead and make them as kind as humanly possible, sir," Luna said and added in a bow before laughing at her own joke.


It was approaching evening when Luna finally encountered Kairi and Riku. Before she could say anything to them, she was ushered onward to Merlin's house by them all the while unable to keep the smiles of their face. Having a good guess at what was happening, Luna simply allowed herself to be dragged along for the ride. Of course, even when knowing that a surprise was coming, it still hadn't prepared her for how much effort had been put in the surprise and so her gasp and the grin and tears that followed was entirely genuine as soon as Merlin's dark living room sprang to life as soon as they entered.

"TA-DA!" Sora yelled with his arms stretched out followed by a loud exclamation of "Happy Birthday, Luna!" from everyone there. Aerith, Yuffie, Tifa, Cloud, Leon, Rinoa, Cid, Merlin, Palom and Porom, Chip and Dale, Donald, Goofy, Max and Mickey, Terra, Aqua, Ven, Xion, Roxas, Lea, Namine, Colette and Stephanie… yep, they were all there, Luna counted with a big smile on her face. She was honestly surprised that they were all even able to fit in this room.

Above them was a sparkling birthday banner with the number sixteen glowing brightly. Candles floated in the air without, as far as she knew, any invisible wires or contraptions behind them and there were tables that were piled with food and a red and white polka dot patterned cake similar to dress she was wearing right now.

"I figured this was why I couldn't find anyone today but I never expected this. I love every single one of you!" Luna cried though it slowly withered into a gasp.

"Luna, don't cry, today's not the day for that," Aqua said, walking up to her and placing a hand around her, pulling her in closely for a hug while holding onto the balloon (for all of them had one) in her hand.

"I know but… it's just that I've never had anything like this before. It always used to be my family and Astra. This is just so big," Luna tried to put into words. She allowed Aqua to wipe away the tears from her face and smiled as Stephanie also walked up to her and hugged her waist.

"Even though you may not have your parents anymore, you're not alone, Luna. Me, Aqua, everyone here, we're all behind you. I guess in a way, we're basically family now," Mickey said with a warm smile.

"We're… family?" Luna asked.

"He's right. A little sappy, sure, but we each have our own wacky personalities that complement one another. Sure we may disagree with each other from time to time but what family doesn't?" Terra agreed.

"You guys… if you're trying to stop sis from crying, you're not helping," Stephanie said, holding onto Luna even more tightly than before. It was true—Luna felt like she was about to drop to the floor and cry her heart out.

"Thanks everyone, you're awesome," Luna said before changing her tone completely. "Now let's have ourselves a PAR-TAY!"

And so the evening festivities commenced, with Luna getting her party girl personality on, which was rather awkward seeing as how she hadn't been very in tune with it to begin with. It didn't matter though. She just wanted to let loose and have fun. At one point she had run up to Rinoa and had whispered something into her ear, only for them to both snicker upon their agreed idea. As the party music—provided skilfully, it may be added, by the magical mops that were playing with musical instruments—continued on, Luna had made an attempt to drag Sora into dancing with her.

"Luna, I'm not too good at-"

"Neither am I, now dance with me!" Luna yelled atop the music. Even so, Sora continued to resist her advances, at least until she told him that it was the greatest birthday present he could give her anyway.

"I- you know what, fine. But if I embarrass you, don't say I didn't tell you so," Sora eventually caved in with a sly smile. Luna returned it before intertwining his warm hands in hers. She felt her heart beat increase rapidly for some reason, but pushed it off as nerves and took him to where Rinoa and Leon were already dancing.

The way Luna pictured it in her mind, she and Sora must have been dancing like a bunch of happy elves without a care in the world to those around them. Luna lead the dance by hopping from left to right and tapping her feet with her hands placed on her hips. Sora, rather followed her movements, albeit awkwardly at first, and tried to keep up with the rather energetic Luna. Seeing though that he was failing to keep up, Luna jumped back to him and placed her hands on his shoulders. She was about to spin them both around, but Sora did something that took her completely by surprise. He put his hands on her waist and lifted her up, spinning her around before setting on her back on the ground.

"Sora!" Luna exclaimed rather breathlessly.

"I'm just full of surprises, aren't I?" Sora said. Later, Luna would eventually find out that Sora had just seen Leon pick Rinoa up and imitated that, but even then, he was surprised he had even dared to try it. For now, Sora focused on interlocking their fingers together before hopping from left to right.

"Oh dear, you're making me dizzy!" Luna said as he added in rotating spins into their hops. Sora laughed but ignored her pleas and continued on anyway. It wasn't as if Luna really wanted him to stop anyway. She wouldn't tell him but she would choose to do it all day if she could.

The instruments soon stopped playing and Luna found herself laughing into Sora's shoulder. Her heart was still racing and she was breathing heavily as if she had just run a marathon. When she looked up, Sora also seemed to be in a similar condition.

"I told you to stop. I ate just before this. What if I threw up on you?" Luna said though the intonation of her words betrayed to Sora that she definitely hadn't wanted to stop.

"Well, if you did warn me that you were about to throw up, I suppose I could always have just given you to Leon. I'm sure he wouldn't mind the switch," Sora said with a cheeky grin and wink. "Good thing you haven't eaten the cake yet. What are you looking at Cid?"

"Heh. Well, in any case, Sora's about right," Cid said, managing to avoid Sora's question altogether. "Les' get everyone gathered around."

Luna reluctantly parted from Sora and made her way over to the table where she was met with another surprise when Riku sneaked a party hat onto her head.

"You've got to do these things in style, birthday girl," he said to her with a smile.

"Thanks, which reminds me, I think I need a new adventure look. I've always wanted to fight Heartless with a Stetson on my head. They shall fear the almighty Stetson! What do you think, Riku?" Luna asked.

"Well that was sudden. Err, sure, I guess it might look good on you," Riku said.

"What about me, Riku? Would you buy one for me?" Xion asked in a rather flirtatious tone. Riku blushed and looked the other way, evoking a quiet shared giggle among Xion, Kairi and Namine.

"Aw, you guys leave Riku alone. It's not his fault he's just starting to go through puberty," Yuffie said.

"Can we please not talk about this?" Sora said before saying, "Besides Riku reached puberty when he was twelve. Remember Malie Haukea in our-"

"Let's… not make this worse for ourselves, Sora," Riku intervened through gritted teeth. "We don't want to talk about your crushes now, do we?"

"Crushes? On who?" Kairi enquired with a slightly jealous tone in her voice that she had failed to conceal.

"I plead the fifth. Cake. Luna, please save us all now!" Sora said. Luna nodded and was about to happily cut into the cake to spare hearing any other 'crushes' that she didn't need to hear about when yet another intervention happened. This time it came from the front door.

"So sorry I'm late. I didn't know what to wear so I just decided to go with this," Neuge said, inducing a silence within the group who could only look on in shock. "What? Is there something wrong with it? It's ugly, isn't it? Darn it, I knew I should have gone with the softer one."

"No, it's just… wow!" was all Luna could say. Neuge had completely overdressed for the occasion, but not in a bad way. She wore a green sequin dress that seemed to shimmer and reflect light along with the candles in the room. Even more unusual of her, she had a hair completely done in up in a beehive style with two chopsticks sticking out and pointing in opposite directions.

"Wow is right. You look amazing Neuge. I knew that hairstyle would great on you. And that dress. Now I think I'm underdressed," Aerith said gazing in amazement at this new creature in front of them. Luna couldn't fault her for dressing as if she were on a date either. From what Sora had told her, Neuge's social awkwardness was well justified given what had happened to her over the years.

"Neuge, you look beautiful," Luna complimented. It felt strange to be encouraging someone who had stressed when they first started that their relationship was strictly a teacher-student one, but it still felt like the right course of action.

"I feel stupid. But this night isn't about me, it's about you. Happy Birthday, Luna," Neuge said before hurrying towards her. She placed something rather cold and firm into Luna's hands and stepped back, seeming to struggle between a smile and apprehension which only managed to combine and form a lopsided smile. Looking down, Luna eyes grew wide at the sight of the knife that Neuge had given her.

Recognising the weapon, Sora looked up at Neuge. "But that's your-"

"My tantō, yes. My second master wielded it before me, and now I'm giving it to you. It's for self-defence only. It's what you will only ever be. Use it to protect yourself like it once protected me. Protect yourself… and your friends," Neuge said.

"I will. Thank you," Luna said before placing the short blade on the table. She turned around and gave Neuge a hug. Neuge either had no idea what a hug was or her years in isolation had left her in complete survivalist mode because she had attempted to push Luna away as a reaction, but seeing that the girl possessed no threat, relaxed and awkward patted Luna's head as if she were a pet. Luna eventually let go and looked at the cake before looking back at Neuge. "Here. You can blow out the candles along with me."

"I- I couldn't. This is your-"

"Oh phooey, come over here." Luna guided Neuge to the front of the crowd and kept hold of her hand while looking at the lit candles on the cake.

"Be sure to make your wish, not that I really believe that stuff works," Lea said. Before her dance with Sora, Luna had seen him making not so subtle moves towards Aqua with Roxas and Xion watching in the background and trying hard not to laugh. Judging from his moodiness, his attempts had failed… badly.

"Mine will," Luna answered him before looking around her. "Not that I need to make it. I already have it. A family."

"Not me, sista. You're all on your own," Neuge said.

"Aw, come on, Neuge. Don't exclude yourself from our Stetson wearing family. Now on the count of three, we blow. One. Two. Three!"