Sora, Roxas, Kairi, and Namine all dozed against the wall besides the bridge wrapped under Auron's massive red coat. With the exception of Sora they were sleeping quietly. Sora however was too lost in his own thoughts to fall asleep, thinking of everything that had just happened to him in the last several hours.

"Will you be alright?"

Sora looked up quietly at Zack's concerned face, and nodded. "You look worse."

Zack smiled and shrugged, he'd taken a real beating when the bearers had been sucked away, his face was bruised and parts of his armor had been slashed through to reveal still healing gashes and more bruises.

"Cid says we'll be back in Hollow Bastion in a few hours, and then we can put all this behind us." Zack paused for a moment, and then smiled warmly. "You did good; all of you."

Sora smiled and nodded looking at Kairi as she slept on his shoulder; he supposed that they had done a good job. After all they'd beaten Xehanort hadn't they? He looked the other way at Roxas, frowning as he remembered watching Kadaj die and wondering about Rikku's death as well. A lot of people had lost their lives, what if they'd been better prepared for their roles as the keybearers, could they have stopped the bloodshed? He supposed not, after all, bearers or not they had all just been normal kids until all this had happened. He looked around the bridge, Tifa and Cloud were fast asleep up against the observation glass, Tifa was actually worse off than Zack though she didn't look it, he had a lot more injuries but none of them were as critical as hers. Zack, Leon and Cloud had finally been able to cast a basic healing spell on her wounds but she needed more intensive care than any of them could give her.

Leon was leaning against the glass near the pair and looking out over the landscape below the airship. He'd been quiet since Sora had told them about their father's presence in Traverse Town. It was a little disconcerting how distant Leon had become when he'd heard about Auron and seen the red coat, their father had worn the coat all the time when he wasn't around the house or at the beach with the boys. Both Sora and Leon had fallen asleep with the coat wrapped around them and Sora's earliest memories of his father were being held closely and swathed in the coat's massive folds. He supposed that Leon still felt resentful about their father leaving, or it could be that he didn't get the chance to see him, Sora was unsure. He hoped that Leon would alright though; he didn't want to think of his brother remaining this quiet and removed for too long.

Zack had moved off and was standing up on the bridge with Cid, Sora couldn't hear what they were talking about but he assumed from the laughter that they were joking about some private joke they shared. Sora looked around for Riku, frowning when he couldn't see him; he thought of going to look for him, but decided against it he didn't want to move from his spot and risk waking everyone else up. Besides him Roxas shifted, leaning over and falling against him. Sora half expected a camera to click but of course no one was really paying attention, he yawned, sighing quietly before he leaned over against Roxas' head and finally drifted off to sleep himself.

"Sora, hey Sora wake up!"

Sora blinked blearily and looked up at Roxas, his vision cleared and he realized that he was alone against the bulkhead swathed in his father's coat. He wondered sleepily when the others had gotten up, and why he hadn't woken up with them.

"We're back?"

Roxas nodded, helping him to his feet. "You slept like a rock."

Sora smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I guess I was tired."

"We all were." Riku said, sticking his head out of the hatch besides them.

Sora frowned. "Where have you been?"

"I was down in the hold," he smirked, "lots of room to vent down there."

Neither Roxas nor Sora said anything; they simply followed Riku to the boarding deck where Cid had just lowered the ramp and was walking down with the others, Cloud was carrying Tifa who looked very pale as she held onto his armor weakly. At the bottom of the ramp, the King and the rest of the expected crowd waited for them. The King smiled and clasped Cid's arm when he reached the bottom of the ramp.

"You did it Cid, your insane plan worked. Now I think we should tell you something."

Cid looked apprehensive at this, mostly because the solemn tone taken by the King. Sora looked over to where the King's eyes had turned and saw Yuna and Aerith standing there smiling. They moved aside and Sora felt Roxas nearly fall over as Rikku leapt out from between her cousins and jumped into her father's arms. Cid for his part did fall over with Rikku wrapped in his arms.

He stared in stunned silence at her, his mouth agape as she grinned. "Hi Dad, I missed you."

Cid looked up at Ansem who smiled calmly. "As far as we can tell those killed by the Heartless after the heart was unlocked have returned to us, they simply woke up in their beds."

Aerith and Yuna had joined Cid now and he had his arms wrapped around all three of them, sobbing uncontrollably speechless. When Rikku was finally able to calm him she looked up at Roxas, smiling in a manner all too familiar.

"Roxas I think we have something to finish." She said impishly.

Roxas opened his mouth, but Namine stopped him, clasping his hand tightly and obviously.

"He's taken."

Rikku frowned, though she didn't look upset. "No fair, stealing him when I wasn't looking."

Namine merely smiled at Rikku who sighed resignedly. "Well good for both of you then." She finally said.

The other Riku, Sora already knew this was going to be a headache, had moved down to Sephiroth who had put a hand on his shoulder and was actually smiling, though just barely. Sora realized why Riku must look so relieved, Kadaj was back too. His heart swelled with warmth, he was glad Riku hadn't lost his cousin after all, remembering what Kairi had said about Riku's ability to cope. Cloud, Zack, and Tifa were all off to one side where Merlin was tending to the latter twos' wounds while Cloud stood quietly besides Tifa who was already looking better under Merlin's careful eye.

"This is wonderful." Kairi whispered to Sora who nodded agreement. If those killed by the Heartless were back then everyone killed during the battle, or anywhere else for that matter, could go home to their families and loved ones. He felt very proud suddenly, to have been a part of what enabled them to come home. He touched his father's coat quietly, silently thanking his father for showing them the way to save everyone. Leon and Rinoa were standing at the base of the ramp to one side wrapped in each other's arms kissing passionately.

Sora heard Leon speaking quietly. "I told you I'd come back, nothing could keep me from you."

Rinoa just nodded and leaned against him, closing her eyes as he ran his hand through her long black hair. Then Madame Mim pushed her way through the crowd and eyed Namine and Kairi for a moment with an appraising stare before smiling and spreading her arms wide. The girls ran to her and she wrapped them up in a massive hug, smiling up at Sora and Roxas, there were tears in her eyes.

"Thank you boys, you're both coming over tonight for a dinner you'll never forget."

Roxas and Sora exchanged glances before smiling at her. "Sure," they said in unison.

"Oh thank you Roxas, that's very kind of you."

The dinner had certainly been amazing, Mim had unashamedly used magic to have the kitchen assist her in her cooking endeavors while the four of them had sat around watching spellbound as she conducted the entire kitchen in what was practically a ballet. Now for whatever reason, she was back to acting the part of an old withered grandmother, Roxas wasn't sure why she continued to throw up the façade when everyone present knew she was quite capable of bustling around like something half…well he supposed half her age would be somewhere in the hundreds, so maybe a quarter her age. Though knowing that she was faking her elderly problems hadn't stopped him from helping to do the dishes since she hadn't felt inclined to cast magic on the kitchen yet again. She seemed to agree with Merlin and Maleficent on one thing, magic was not to be used to solve all menial tasks. To do so could bring trouble so sparingly was the operative word.

Not that such chidings really mattered for Roxas given his continuous failure to do so much as conjure hot air. Now though it didn't bother him nearly as much as it had, after all they'd won so there was no need for him to cast fireballs or call lighting from the sky. All that was past, passing the latest dish on to Mim he looked at his hand curiously. In all honesty, he hadn't even tried to call forth his keyblades since Auron had taken them back to the surface. Could he even still do it? He doubted it; he doubted very much that they'd have kept their weapons after sealing the heart. It would make sense to still bear a key when there was nothing left to wield it against.

Looking up he realized Mim was smiling at him gently. "I wouldn't fret dear; you will have it when and if you need it. That's how these things work."

Roxas nodded, feeling very silly suddenly. Was he really that easy to read? Or was Mim just…well Mim; he decided it was the latter and went back to washing the latest dish. She eyed him fondly for a moment before leaning over and whispering conspiratorially.

"Have you slept with Namine yet?"

Roxas turned bright red. "I-I mean, I uh…"

Mim cackled with delight. "Oh I didn't think you had, but you're quite adorable when you're red like that. I hope Namine gets to see that from time to time."

He continued to look at her, scandalized that she'd even suggest such a thing. His mind started conjuring images of Namine without her clothes on and his face turned redder, Mim clucked in amusement.

"Oh you dirty boy. I can see that you know."

He felt utterly helpless; Mim laughed, and waved him away. "Shoo, I'll finish up the rest; you're too much fun to resist and if you stay here I'm afraid I won't be able to help myself."

Roxas made a hasty exit from the kitchen then, leaving the old woman chuckling to herself, he went into the living room where the others were playing a game of cards.

Namine looked up and smiled at him. "She was teasing you wasn't she."

Roxas didn't know what to say so he didn't say anything, taking a seat besides Namine, she was winning and her next hand was another winner.

"Wow."

She smiled, "oh don't give it away Roxas."

Kairi giggled. "I would say its luck but I don't think you would leave it up to luck."

Namine continued to smile as she laid down her hand. "I'm just very good with the cards."

Sora threw up his hands. "Alright that's it; I am going to beat you if it kills me."

Everyone laughed as another hand was dealt, this time including Roxas, he doubted Sora would ever beat Namine. Sora had a tendency to lose these kinds of games, he was far too eager to compete in them though. At least he had fun, Roxas always over thought everything and ended up losing because of that. Maybe though, just maybe, he could win a hand or two.

"That was a lot of fun." Namine whispered, nuzzling against Roxas gently.

He snorted, putting an arm around her, kissing her forehead. "You could have been nice to him."

She giggled. "But it was more fun to watch him lose twelve games in a row wasn't it?"

Roxas shook his head, yes; it had been funny to watch Sora lose repeatedly over and over again. He was too stubborn for his own good sometimes, he'd just kept trying and each time Namine had beaten him he'd gone for another round.

"Sometimes I think he got all the willpower in the family."

Namine snorted, closing her eyes as she leaned against him. "You have plenty of that Roxas, you just don't know it."

She shivered, Roxas pulled the sheets up around both of them, and she shook her head. "No, it isn't cold, something just feels very wrong."

"One of your drawings?" Roxas asked nervously.

"No…it's not like that, I haven't had any dreams beyond this point yet, nothing prophetic at least. It's just a feeling of unease, like something is going to happen tonight."

Roxas thought of what Mim had asked him in the kitchen and turned red, Namine blinked and looked at him, propping herself up on her elbows.

"What?"

"N-nothing."

She smiled, leaning forwards and kissing him. "I hope it's nothing about me, I don't want you to have nothing about anyone else."

Roxas didn't say anything as he pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her, taking both their minds off her fears. He didn't take it any further than kissing, but for him that was enough, and Namine didn't want it any other way either.