3. Standard Operating Procedures

For the second time that day, Sora was awoken by the phone ringing. This time, however, he couldn't help but to awaken Kairi, as she had fallen asleep on his shoulder. He got up from the couch and answered the phone, praying it wasn't the Air Force calling.

"Hello?"

"Sora, it's Harris." So much for that, Sora thought. The general continued. "We've had a bit of a problem."

"What do you mean?"

"We had to shoot down a Gummi ship that tried to go straight to the surface. We had ordered it to dock with one of our ODN platforms, but it went straight past our sentries. It crashed about ten minutes ago."

Sora groaned. "Am I going to have to go to another crash investigation?"

The general laughed. "No, you'd be hard pressed to get on-site to this one, Sora. It went down in the ocean about forty miles from your house. Divers are recovering the wreckage as we speak."

"Were there Heartless on board?"

"The pilot said he had an attack victim with him. After we told him to dock, we lost communications with him. That's when he tried to get past us. It's likely the same thing that happened this morning."

Sighing, Sora asked, "What are you going to do about it?"

"Well, now it seems that this is not as isolated as we had hoped. We're going to require every ship to dock for inspection. The Marines are going to have to cover our newfound personnel deficit."

"Is there anything I have to do?"

"Not at the moment. We may need you and Kairi later. I'll keep you posted."

Sora gave his affirmative and hung up the phone. He turned to Kairi, who had a worried look on her face.

"What happened?"

"There was another crash. This time it was shot down before it hit the atmosphere."

Growing more worried, Kairi pressed the issue. "Does this mean the Heartless are coming back?"

Sora didn't want to answer truthfully, but he couldn't bring himself to lie. "I hope not, but I think it does."

***

The next morning was unremarkable. The young couple had breakfast on their deck, as usual. Despite the unshakable feeling that a storm was brewing, they were delighted with their breakfast and reveling in the other's company. Around noon, Kairi dragged Sora to the car in order to go grocery shopping. Normally she spared her husband the boredom of getting groceries, but he was the one who knew what kind of spices and other ingredients he needed to make barbecue sauce.

Sora was scanning the shelves for the proper ingredients. He mentally went over his recipes, unsure of which one to use.

"Hey Kairi, do you want a vinegar-based sauce, or should I use the marmalade?"

Kairi looked away in thought. "Well, we had the vinegar one last time, so let's mix it up. I say go with the marmalade."

"Marmalade it is." Sora looked around for the proper jar. Finding it, he put it in their cart along with several kinds of spices and seasonings. A few minutes and two aisles later, they had collected all the ingredients necessary for Sora's barbecue sauce. He licked his lips at the thought of charcoal-grilled ribs smothered in the tangy sauce. He also made a mental note to not let Hayner eat all the ribs before anyone else got a chance to have any. As fun as Hayner could be, he was a one-track mind when food was involved.

From there the couple split up. Sora went to pick up the meat while Kairi gathered drinks and ingredients for appetizers. Twenty minutes later, the couple hauled the cart to the checkout line. While they were waiting, Sora's eyes wandered to the nearby magazine rack. Most of the covers were plastered with pictures of shocked celebrities and phrases like STARTLING BREAK-UP! One cover, however, gave him pause.

The cover was lacking the usual small-text blurbs about the minor articles inside. Instead, there was a picture of a Shadow and the word 'Again?' in small text near the bottom. There was only one copy left. Sora looked at the publication date. It was a weekly news magazine. That crash happened less than thirty-six hours ago. How did that magazine work quickly enough to get this issue out so fast?

Sora tore his gaze away from the publication to help Kairi unload their purchases. He grinned, watching as the items rolled one by one down the conveyor belt onto the scanner platform. Friday night was going to be fun.

When they got home, they found that they had gotten some mail. Not the usual fan mail or attempts to get the star couple to appear at such-and-such a place at a certain time. This mail was in an envelope marked with the seal of the Aegis Federal Government. It was also delivered by an armored truck that was still sitting in the driveway.

The doors on the back of the truck swung open, revealing a handful of guards. They stepped out and spread in a semicircle around Sora and Kairi. A man opened the passenger side door of the cab and handed the letter to Sora, who tore it open and read it alongside Kairi.

"Well, this is… unexpected," Sora mumbled, "Because they seem to have everything under control now."

Kairi let out a sigh of relief as she read further into the letter. "At least it doesn't go into effect until Sunday. That gives us three more days to do whatever we want."

"Like the barbecue."

Tilting her head, Kairi allowed a grin to slowly creep across her face. "Yes… among other things." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before sauntering to the front door. Sora simply stood there, wondering what she meant by that. The guards surrounding him rolled their eyes. Only this couple could talk about that during a crisis like this. Is that what was meant by 'blinded by love'?

Once inside, Sora found Kairi putting the purchased items in their pantry. He began putting the ingredients for the sauce all on one shelf and the ingredients for appetizers on another. Chips here, drinks on the floor (right under the plastic plates and cups), and bags of ice in the bottom shelf of the freezer.

While Sora was busy trying to fit all four bags of ice on the small freezer shelf, Kairi tapped him on the shoulder.

"We can't let Hayner mix alcohol with anything again. Remember last time? With the melted Sea-Salt Ice Cream and red food coloring?"

Sora had to choke down laughter. "Yeah, I do! How long did it take Olette to convince him that he wasn't a vampire with a weird sense of taste?"

"Two and a half hours."

This time, Sora couldn't restrain himself. He burst out laughing, his face surrounded by bags of ice. The mere memory of Hayner trying to 'feed' on Pence and Tidus was already enough to make him giggle. The thought of an irritated Olette attempting to knock some sense back into him made it impossible to hold back the laughter.

Though Kairi also took a certain pleasure in that particular memory, she still had the job of being Sora's better half, a job she took quite seriously. She pulled him out of the freezer and knocked him once on the top of his head with her fist. "Seriously, Sora. We can't let him. Who knows what stupid thing he'll do next time?"

Sora shrugged. "Oh, I dunno. But it might be fun to find out."

He was rewarded with another quick rap to the head, which he attempted to block. He was unsuccessful, mainly due to laughter at his own suggestion. "Alright! Alright! Jeez, Kairi. You'd think I was planning to tie him to a palm tree upside down or something."

"You'd do that, you know."

"I would not!"

"Would too."

"Would not!"

"Would too!"

"I would never do that to him."

Kairi looked directly back into Sora's eyes, her arms crossed, a stubborn pout on her face. Seeing the resolute determination on her face, Sora backed down. There was no arguing with a pose like that. However, it was very familiar.

"You look like Olette."

Kairi smiled, letting her intimidating pose relax. "It's what she does whenever Hayner gets out of line. She's been using it for years, so I thought I'd give it a try." She giggled. "It works like a charm!"

Wrapping his arm around her waist, Sora drew her closer. "It does. How could I ever argue with that face?"

She giggled as he nuzzled her cheek. "You couldn't." She pushed his head in front of her and snaked her arms around his neck. "At least, I hope you couldn't."

"Oh, I wouldn't dare."

Their lips met. With that instant, all of their worries fled. The Heartless, the Gummi ship crashes, the new standard procedures, the official activation letter, the prospect of a drunken Hayner; all vanished in the perfection of their love. It alone was their lifeline through the recent trying years. It was their drive, their hope, and their joy. When Sora and Kairi were together like this, the world disappeared.

***

Sundown found Olette leaning on the railing of her balcony, staring into the distance. The few moments of twilight before the dusk were her favorite. It reminded her of her home; a home that had long ago fallen to unstoppable forces of darkness.

Whenever she had time, she would come out here and just remember. Anything could trigger a memory. Sirens in the distance reminded her of the time Pence had broken his leg when he fell off of the tram in Tram Common. Normally, he would have only suffered scrapes and bruises, but he had managed to fall at the exact time the tram was going over the only bridge on its route. The ambulance could barely navigate the tight spaces of Tram Common. The paramedics had to push the thirteen-year-old Pence up out of the alley and through the archway to get him into the vehicle.

Or the sailboat leaving the docks down below. Her fourteenth birthday party had been at the beach. The concession vendor had given everyone free pretzels in honor of the special day. When her parents told her it was time to open presents, they led everyone to the docks, where a sailboat was waiting to take them on a pleasure cruise for the rest of the day. She had opened presents nearly a half of a mile from shore. Everyone got to swim around the boat for hours.

A church bell brought back floods of memories of sitting on top of the clock tower eating Sea-Salt Ice Cream. She couldn't pick out individual memories; they all blended together into one blurry mess. Was the time Hayner dropped his ice cream onto someone's head before or after the time Pence threw the world's best paper airplane all the way to the sandlot? Nobody could ever tell for certain.

She heard Hayner open the sliding glass door behind her. There was another noise, too. Was that quiet clinking noise the sound of glass on glass? She turned around to see him pouring two glasses of white wine. That was odd. He was sweet, sure, but this was totally unlike him. Jokingly, she asked, "What's the occasion?"

Hayner smiled and handed her a glass. "It's a celebration. We've been together for exactly fifteen hundred days."

She took a sip and giggled. "I didn't know you could count that high."

Hanging his head, Hayner sighed in exasperation. "Why does everyone do that? I can count to a billion if I wanted to."

"Aw, I do it because I love you. You know that."

He turned to her and smiled as the two clinked glasses. The sunset's rays reflected off of the clear liquid, making it sparkle and shine. The simple fermentation of grapes turned into liquid gold. Olette held her glass up to the horizon. "Reminds you of home, doesn't it?"

"It does." Hayner sipped a small mouthful of wine. "But if there's one thing I'll never get used to, it's the sun actually moving in the sky. Is it even supposed to do that?"

Olette smiled and nodded in agreement. "And don't forget night. It's a miracle we Twilight Towners don't go insane whenever night falls. We're so used to daylight. Night just seems… unnatural."

"It is. I say we blame Sora."

Cocking her head, Olette suddenly found herself worried that Hayner and Sora had recently had a falling out. "Why? Did he do something wrong?"

She instantly knew nothing had happened, because there it was. That devious smile of his. "No, it's just that he's often blamed for things. That and he's not here to defend himself."

Olette rolled her eyes. That was pretty typical Hayner. The off-the-wall humor made her laugh, though. Maybe it was because she never saw it coming. It kept a little spice in their life. She never knew what would bring her some laughs.

"Alright, so we blame Sora. How do we prove it's him?"

Hayner looked back at her, the devious smile still on his face. "Prove?"

***

When the phone rang again, Sora found himself happy that the caller had chosen a decent hour to interrupt them. The sun had only just sunk below the horizon, and he and Kairi had just finished a light dinner. Though he normally dreaded answering the government agencies-only phone, he was merely happy that they hadn't called while he was sleeping.

"Sora speaking."

The voice on the other end of the line was unfamiliar to him. It identified itself as General Harris's second-in-command. It also identified itself as a she after Sora incorrectly assumed that the general's right-hand man was indeed a man, much to Sora's chagrin. He mentally reprimanded himself for the assumption. How had the voice not tipped him off? Maybe he was more exhausted than he had figured.

"So, uh, anyway, ma'am… what can I do for you?"

"We need you to confirm that you got our letter. It's of the utmost importance that you understand its contents."

"Yes, Kairi and I read the letter. We'll be ready for action on Sunday. When did you get such a staff shortage?"

"General Harris is unveiling his most recent project tomorrow. A lot of his staff was transferred to supervise the launch, so our security is… patchy at best. Bear in mind, sir, it's just a precaution. We don't expect any disturbances."

"Well, don't worry. Kairi and I will both be ready to deploy." He hung up the phone. "No, you never expect any 'disturbances'. That's when something comes up and smacks you in the face."

A/N: Kinda slow and shorter than the first two, but the story begins to pick up next chapter. I promise, things are going to get fun really fast.

Also, there has been some confusion as to how this relates to my other fic. These two are in separate universes. This is not a sequel, but that doesn't rule out the possibility of a sequel eventually being written. That, however, is a long shot.

Finally, I want to thank all my reviewers. Redeeming Endeavor, VergilTheart, IConcurVehemently… three really awesome people. I wish I had time to reply individually, but I'm just too busy. I can only manage about 2500 words in four days as it is. Maybe as time frees up over the next two weeks I'll be able to reply. See everyone in a few days!