Set during: Dearly Beloved (Chapter 43)

Summary: Christmas 2009 Short 3 - Sora goes home, but not everything is the same as it used to be.

The day was slowly fading away as Sora and the others made their way across to the mainland. It had been over a year since Sora had been home now, and after all this adventuring it was about time he got to see everybody again.

Alex had left just a short time ago, and they'd spent a few minutes following his departure (which was also that of Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Axel) sitting down on their famous paopu tree and discussing things which came to mind. The trio hadn't done that in months. It was about time they had done so. But now it was getting later, and it was time to retreat back to their beds… and, more importantly, their homes.

It was Kairi's boat that docked first, and she walked on with a slightly less confident stride now that she found herself on that ground. Riku appeared on the beach next, and then Sora finally stepped onto his homeland, looked around, and burst into a giant smile.

"These streets… those houses…" he muttered. "I remember all this!"

Kairi gave a small smile back to him. "It's been a while, Sora, but not that long. There's a lot that's stayed the same." Suddenly that smile began to fade. "…And a lot that's change-"

"I can't wait to go see mom again!" the caramel-haired one announced, cutting her off, and started running up the path. The only girl in the group gave Riku a disconcerted look, before heading off behind him, and while it took a few seconds for him to adjust to the sun, he followed sure enough.

Sora could only remember one time when he'd run like this – back on that long, endless road with Donald and Goofy, when they had run out of things to do and chasing the king's shorthaired mutt became the only viable option. Sure, the dog had disappeared after that, but the idea was still there. Everything was over; the only thing Sora had to do now was try to remember where his house was, and that was where he was headed.

He cut through an alleyway and finally arrived outside his home… but all was not as he'd remembered. The windows were all closed and the lights turned off which, this late in the day, just didn't happen. When he walked up to the door it was locked tight, which it had never been before now.

The Keyblade was about to appear in his hand when Kairi stopped him.

"Sora…"

He looked back at her. "I don't understand. What's going on?" he asked, thoroughly unaware of the situation. His face only showed a mild confusion.

Kairi approached the door and then ran her fingers down the frame. "I told you just now. There's a lot that's changed here."

"Like, my mom upping security a bit more?" The boy stared at her. "Why are you wearing that sad face?"

"Sora." Her tone was sharper, but not quite.

"But-"

I think you'd better listen to her, said a weak, but grim voice. Roxas.

The redhead took a quiet step forward. "When… when the islands were restored a year ago… I went to check up on your house. I was told that… that when you closed the door, everybody would go back to where they were meant to be. But-" Her breath hitched a little. Sora motioned for her to continue silently. "…When I opened the door… I searched everywhere, but the house was empty. There was no-one there."

Sora found himself looking down at the dirt path. No-one there… Wait, that couldn't be right. When he'd gone out to the islands, his mom had still been there, hadn't she? While he'd sneaked out the window to the boats, she'd been there cooking dinner. That… that'd been the last time he'd ever heard her voice.

Riku stirred uncomfortably next to them. "I… I've gotta check on my parents, if that's okay…" he mumbled.

"Oh? Okay." Sora looked up at him, taking in his stance. "That's fine. I… hmmm…" The flowers lining the path somehow became a lot more interesting to him than they had ever been, grabbing his attention and keeping hold of it for the next moment or two. Riku departed quickly, hair in his eyes, while Kairi still stood there.

She weaved her fingers together behind her back. "I'm so sorry…"

"…It's fine, I guess." She stared at him in total shock. Sora simply looked back at her. "I've met a lot of people who've lost somebody close to them. They mope around a lot. People tell them off for it. If you dwell on the past, you tend to make mistakes. I don't want to be that kind of person."

"Sora, it's fine for you to be upset. Your mother's gone. We don't know what happened to her." She shook her head. "It's perfectly alright to cry."

There was a pause, and then she drew him into a small hug. His arms lay at his sides for a second, as he tried to think of what to do, but then eventually wrapped around her. They stayed there like that for a short while, and then as she tried to draw back, he tightened his grip on her, pulling her back in.

He mumbled something in her ear. "I don't understand it sometimes. How you and Riku always come before my mom. I think I always thought she'd be okay and, by the time I woke up in Twilight Town, I guess I was just… used to not having her around anymore." He bit his lip. "I didn't ever think she'd…"

She was silent, simply stroking his back as he spoke, absorbing every word he said. Once he'd finished, she was finally able to let go, and she saw his face – reddened, his blue eyes glossy in the low light.

"It's not an appropriate time, but…" She held out a hand. "Would you like to have dinner at my house tonight?"

Tapping his fingers against his side, Sora nodded. "Should I bring Riku over? I haven't seen him in a while either – er, if it's okay with you."

"It's fine."

And so it was that evening that Sora found himself eating some of Kairi's famous stew with Riku. They'd had it several times before this mess had started, and it seemed that said mess had not altered her skills in anyway, which was probably a good thing. Not that Sora knew much about that; he couldn't remember eating anything in the last mo- year, and so ended up eating quite a bit.

The night started in silence. Riku had twitched several times in his seat as Kairi had brought out the pot and dished out the dinner. Her foster parents were apparently out, to give the three as much room as they needed. However, the majority of the tension broke when Sora had started talking. He talked about all the different places he'd been and the people he'd met. About all the things he'd done while looking for them.

It was almost haunting how Sora was able to distract himself from his mother's… disappearance, so easily. Whether he was doing it all on purpose or it was just part of his personality that they hadn't seen, they couldn't tell, because Sora's voice was full of wonderment and happiness.

That was why Kairi had joined in, discussing all of the things they had missed back at home. Like the start of high school, tests, homework, the mini-blitzball tournament Wakka and Tidus had set up in the park (reputedly 'a land-dweller edition for the toughest of the tough, ja?'), Selphie's new hobby this week, and other things. Sora's face lit up the way it always did when something new and interesting came up.

The spiky-haired brunet kept noticing Riku's reluctance to join in. Maybe he just didn't want to talk about where he'd been and what he'd done… Either he was embarrassed about it, or it didn't make good conversation material. It didn't matter by the end of the meal, when he finally launched into a playful argument with Sora about whether smaller Heartless fighting in numbers or larger Heartless fighting on their own were more annoying.

In contrast to their noisy eating, they parted quietly, Sora heading back to his house alone. It wasn't the first time he'd stayed out late, but it was the first time his mother wasn't going to be shouting at him for it…

He climbed in through the open window to his room – somehow, opening the door would just be a bit creepy – and turned the light on. His stuff was all over the place, nearly just the way he'd left it. The wooden boat and dolls that had previously been hanging up by the wardrobe were now on the floor, wrecked. He gave them a knowing look, before gathering the various bits and pieces off the carpet and shoving them in an empty drawer. His alarm clock had fallen too, and stopped.

You okay there? Roxas asked, and Sora jumped, before he remembered that the Nobody was actually in his head.

He slumped down onto the bed. "Yeah… I'll be fine."

You were blabbing during dinner.

"That's because I always blab during dinner," he replied, lying back. "Do you think Alex knew about this?"

A pause. I don't think he would've told you if he did.

Sora rolled over and imagined Roxas sitting next to him: a burst of dirty-blond hair, with blue eyes and pale skin, in a small white jacket and two-tone grey jeans. He would be crossing his legs and looking up distantly – or at least, he did in Sora's head. The boy had no idea how his Nobody acted. "Why'd you think that?"

The imaginary Roxas turned his head, and it was almost like the two faces really were staring at one another, until the voice kicked in. Because of two possible reasons. The first reason is he cares about continuity and getting things to play out the way they were meant to. You finding out about your mother from anybody other than Kairi, or earlier, could screw up the plot.

"I'm pretty sure he's achieved that with Axel anyway," was Sora's response. "He told Axel he didn't have to sacrifice himself… and if he hadn't said that, he would've faded away. Just like the others."

…Yeah. Roxas' voice was hushed and sad in tone. It was a few moments before he continued.

Getting back to what we were talking about... The second reason is he cares about you, and the way you're feeling. There was a sigh, and the imaginary Roxas tapped his fingers on the duvet. From what I saw, he didn't seem to want to get on your bad side. Maybe he just didn't want to say it because he knew it'd upset you.

But personally? I don't think he knew anyway.

"…Neither do I, to be honest." Sora got back up and searched through his things. All his clothes were messy, and quite a few had holes in. Looked like he'd be sleeping in his current outfit for tonight. He switched the light off again, and wandered back to the bed, pulling off the blue sheets and lying down lengthways this time.

He closed the window and locked it, before settling down to sleep… or trying. The moonlight was bothering him. Sure, it was a very real moon as an object in the night sky as opposed to a form constructed of thousands of metaphysical hearts ripped from the chests of real human beings (or as real as things got around here), but it still disturbed him.

Eventually, he just rolled over onto his front as best as he could in the narrow bed (it was too small for him, and he'd even pulled his knees up) and dragged the covers over his head in an attempt to block it all out.

It seemed he'd forgotten about the curtains.

It only felt like it had been a minute or two when he woke up the next morning, but the sun was already quite high in the sky, and the room was filled with light. Stretching, he reached out to open the curtains-

-and then recalled that not doing that had been the source of his troubles last night. Whacking himself in the head with a proclamation of 'd'oi', he slipped out of bed and carried himself down to the kitchen, having momentarily forgotten the revelation of last night.

Said revelation decided it would be best to smack him in the face. The entire house was empty except for him, and most parts of it were covered in dust. The windows were locked, making his room the only naturally lit place in the building. It was no wonder he skipped breakfast and headed out immediately.

Today's target was the islet where everything had fallen apart. He rowed across the water as fast as he could, docking quietly. He couldn't remember this place being so deserted before in his entire life. Everybody used to play here. He remembered that as clear as day.

Everybody grew up, Sora, Roxas reminded him. They had a whole year to.

Sora frowned, and looked back out to the other island. Roxas was right… Everybody else out there had lived a whole other year that he hadn't. On the inside, he was only just turning fifteen. Riku, Kairi and the others had been fifteen for some time already.

But it wasn't the time to be upset right now. The boy made his way over to the tiny opening of a cave in the island that was hidden by plants. He'd visited here yesterday, sure, but not on his own, and he hadn't really concentrated on that one thing that he was looking for now.

There it was, a chalk scratching made in the corner of the cave, hidden amongst all of the others and situated between the world's Keyhole and a large root sticking out of the wall.

He smiled at the addition to it, kneeling down and trailing his fingers over it.

She accepts your offer, I suppose, Roxas said.

Sora turned around, thinking he'd just imagine Roxas into place again. It somehow felt so easy to do that, even though he only had a voice and a couple of meetings to work with. "Yeah, she d-…"

Behind him, a young teenage boy stood there, with swirling blond hair and bright blue eyes. Sora got up as fast as he could, gaping. This person wasn't an illusion – he was right there, in all his faint but self-generated glory.

Roxas looked himself over for a second. Now how did this happen…? he asked. It's not a corporeal form, but… Sora glanced over at the Keyhole. The Nobody followed his line of sight, before nodding. I guess that works.

"We're that close to the heart of a world that almost anything can happen…" the brunet mumbled in sheer disbelief. "Ansem the Wise was right."

Alex was right, too, Roxas pointed out.

"Yeah, but… never mind. It's not like we've lived the other version of events, is it?" Sora slumped back down, though he made sure to take the nearby rock for a seat this time. "I mean, we don't even know how much he's gone and changed."

The blond knelt in front of him like a man about to be knighted by his king, head down and eyes shadowed by his hair. We know he saved Kairi back in Twilight Town instead of letting her be captured. We know that also let you hear my voice… I met Joumae then, didn't I? And we also know he saved Axel from certain death, and that he defeated Saïx before we got there. But anything else…

"How much different could things have been if he hadn't been here?" Sora mused. "How many events has he twisted out of shape? How much did he influence the universe?" He scratched his head. "Probably what I'd ask if I were more philosophical."

Well, now I'm here, get ready to start asking. Roxas leapt to his feet. If we could find a way to contact the King, or Yen Sid, or anybody who was made aware of how the world works, we could go and ask them how Alex Karsath changed the universe.

"…Yeah." Sora turned around to look at the Keyhole – the golden mass upon the wooden door that no-one had bothered to question at any time in the past fifteen years, or at least for the fourteen of them that Sora had been aware of. "What do you think the odds of us actually doing that are?"

Roxas grimaced. Phenomenal, he grunted in a strange teenager-y way that Sora had long heard of but assumed to be nothing more than a myth until the Interference had made his presence known. If it happens, I'll be more than impress-

"Hello?"

At that moment, Riku walked in. He was huddled over from the small tunnel's low roof. "Hey, Riku," Sora greeted him. "What's up?"

Riku furrowed his brow. "What's Roxas doing standing there?" he asked slowly.

"We're near the heart of the world. Anything can happen," was the Keyblader's response.

"…Right." The response was rather slow, and that was worrying. Normally, Riku's nerdy wit was faster than that, 'sap'-type comments and their derivatives ignored for the time being.

Sora studied him for a moment. He was still wearing the clothes he had been yesterday, the same as he himself was (they both probably needed a shower tonight). But Riku's parents were still around, weren't they? And so were a change of clothes and a clean bathroom. It wasn't like everybody had forgotten his existence. "…Haven't you been home yet, Riku?" he asked.

The silver-haired boy looked down at the floor, causing Sora to frown again. Riku was having a pretty good streak with this. "Tell me the truth."

"…I didn't feel good about going, really…" Riku walked in a little closer. "Finding out you'd just lost your mom and then being told mine were okay when you were the hero and I ended up nearly destroying everything we ever loved… After that kind of thing, I'm not exactly up to it."

Sora fidgeted with a clump of hair for a second. "Well… you should really treasure the fact that you still have them, shouldn't you?" he said.

"It's not like I deserve having them still."

Sora then did the silliest thing he could think of, and blew a raspberry to the air. Riku stepped back with a little shock, while Roxas slapped himself in the face from the embarrassment he was beginning to regret being able to feel again.

There was silence. Then Riku found himself bursting out laughing. Sora had to smile himself; Riku's moping was well-justified, but it wasn't nice to look at it. "It's a nice distraction, isn't it?"

The laughter diminished almost as quickly as it had appeared. "Distraction?"

"It takes your mind off things, laughing and talking and all that… doesn't it?" Sora's face was, for the first time in history, completely blank. "You stop thinking about it, and suddenly everything just feels much better."

"Sora-"

"Go back to your house, okay?" he said, approaching the other real boy in the room. "And when you get back, smile, and say hi to your parents, okay?"

A/N: Continued in Mother of Mine.