Chapter 8

It was bound to happen sometime, I knew I couldn't keep this a secret forever.

That said...if I still had the option, I wouldn't have told him.

I never would have told him.

Because...

Naminé could feel the heat rising from the flames. They consumed the objects of the house in an angry fervour that singed her clothes and skin. Her sandals beat continuously on the hardwood floor as she ran through the house, calling their names over and over again. It was becoming harder and harder to see; thick black smoke had diffused through the air, blanketing the room. She coughed, expelling the dirt from her lungs. She had to find them, get them out of this place.

Naminé burst into their bedroom on the second floor. She screamed as she witnessed a beam crash thunderously down from the ceiling, and launched herself out of the way. Landing hard on the ground, she silently cursed as she saw it had blocked her only exit. Slowly pulling herself up, she rubbed her eyes to see through the smoke.

It was the light of the fire that showed her what she had been dreading. Naminé's eyes widened in horror as she saw them slumped on the floor. Her head shook from side to side, in frantic disbelief, desperate to deny the reality in front of her. Spurred to action, she ran to the bedroom window and opened it, relieved to feel a trickle of cool air rush in. Taking a deep breath, she screamed at the cluster of people gathered outside for help, before returning to the two figures on the floor.

Her vision was becoming spotted, cloudy. Her eyes drooped slightly, and she snapped them open quickly, admonishing herself.

"I didn't mean..." she pleaded. "I'm sorry."

Naminé's eyes closed completely and she collapsed on the floor.

It took several deep breaths to calm her trembling body. As she sat upright, wishing the nightmare away, she wondered how long it had been since that particular dream had disturbed her night's sleep. Bare arms hugged herself as she looked out the window at the woods. It was so dark, so quiet, nothing at all like her world. She was in Twilight Town. She was alone. She was no longer there anymore. It was history.

Yet it was history that was still to close, too fresh, too real.

Naminé drew her knees to her chest and sighed as she put her head in her hands.

"Damn it," she whispered.

Morning brings about many things. New days, new beginnings. Riku leaned his head against the backboard of his bed and watched silently as light slowly broke through the horizon; it's bright tendrils over-powering the darkness and seeping across the light of Twilight Town. As the sun travelled upward, going about its daily routine, he couldn't help but feel that things were starting to change. That soon, once this last hurdle was leapt, he could go back to being a normal person, with normal friends and family, on his normal island. A quiet, lazy and interrupted life didn't sound like much of a bad offer now after what they'd all been through in the last year.

It felt nice to have woken up in a bed. Over the past few days, weeks even, he had been sleeping rough constantly. It was only a small pleasure, but his back wasn't aching and tense, and his sleep wasn't restless or agitated. Yes, he knew that Heartless could travel inside houses, but the threat was always less in a building. The loss of the adrenaline rush he had been carrying for so long left him sleepy and slightly sluggish, but Riku couldn't have cared less. The King was here, and the King would take care of any dangers. It wasn't his responsibility anymore.

It was as if on cue, said mouse burst into the room.

"Get up, Riku!" he squeaked. "It's morning time!"

Riku groaned.

"Look who I found," Mickey proclaimed, presenting a dishevelled, bleary-eyed Riku to Naminé and Diz. While the mouse had been out, there lay a stony silence between the two. Naminé was not sure how exactly to approach Diz in conversation and the man didn't seem eager to assist her in bridging that gap. Even now, as Naminé greeted Riku, he sat chewing his toast quietly.

"Didn't want to get up?" she asked good-naturedly. Riku shook his head and made his way slowly to the kitchen table. The place could hardly be called a kitchen though; old statues were strewn in a frenzied, sporadic manner about the room. Most had large, white sheets draped over them, the others stood dejected, broken. A little gas cooker graced one corner of the room, where a table stood beside it to hold miscellaneous objects like the toaster Diz had just used.

"Would you like something to eat, Riku?" Naminé pressed, trying to receive an answer.

"Cereal," he responded automatically. Whenever his mother offered him food in the morning, it was his immediate answer. After a two second delay, he followed with a small "please." Naminé grabbed some off the table, poured it into a bowl and offered it to him, complete with a glass and spoon. Riku took it wordlessly, giving his blonde comrade a single nod in thanks.

"So," Riku started, pouring the milk into the bowl. "What's the game plan?"

"Game...plan?" Diz asked with a dead laugh. "Boy, this is no game of football." He took another bite of his toast.

"How do you do that?" Naminé asked offhandedly, referring to Diz.

"Do what?" he answered, his tone testing, warning her not to continue.

"Chew toast quietly."

Riku snorted into his soggy cereal flakes. Mickey hid a smile. Naminé waited patiently for an answer, looking at Diz in a strange mixture of bewilderment and curiosity. Diz placed the piece of food on his plate and pushed it away.

"I do not care much for my eating habits to be scrutinised," he said flatly. "You would do well to remember that."

"Yeah, but I was just-"

"Naminé!" he barked.

"It was just a question!" Riku exclaimed, slamming his palms on the table and pushing himself up in a flurry of motion. His chair knocked to floor with a resounding clatter. "Don't take your bad mood out on her!"

Diz's golden eyes turned almost robotically to stare at Riku. The teenager glared back in obvious anger.

"Now everyone!" Mickey squeaked. "We're all friends here. We've enough to be fighting without each other too!"

Riku remained stubborn, making sure his eyes were kept firmly in Diz's gaze. The man stared back apathetically, before his own eyes shadowed with a bare hint on annoyance. Diz broke eye contact and exited the room swiftly, his cape fluttering briefly as he left, a reminder of his lingering presence.

"What's his problem?" Riku demanded.

"He is a strange one alright," Mickey assented. "But he's wise, extremely talented when it comes to technology and has been helpful to our cause, so be nice, okay?"

"He shouldn't insult us like that," he argued. "We're not kids."

"Diz is not the type to be teased I'd say," Mickey laughed.

"He's not the type to talk much either," Naminé sulked. "It won't win him any friends, that's for sure."

"You looking for a boyfriend, Naminé?" Riku teased lightly.

"No!" she exclaimed, blushing, until realisation dawned on her and a sly grin crept across her face. "Well, all those bandages...it's kind of a turn on..."

"Naminé!" Riku admonished in disbelief. Mickey laughed.

"Anyway, Naminé's fetishes aside," he began, rummaging around in his pocket. "You two need clothes." His hand re-emerged with some munny, which he threw to Naminé. The spherical tender was juggled in her hands as she fumbled with it.

"Go out for a while and shop," he said. "After the week you've just had, you've earned it."

"Your Majesty," Riku began. "Can you really afford-"

"Thanks a million Mickey!" Naminé interrupted cheerily. "We'll bring you back some sea-salt ice-cream!" Shoving the munny in her bag, she grabbed Riku's hand and dragged him out the door.

"How about this one?"

"No."

"This one?"

"No."

"This-"

"No."

"Alright, this one then."

"No."

Riku heaved a tremendous sigh and slammed the shirt back on the rail.

"It's plain. It's a shirt. It's functional."

"And it looks ridiculous. You'd look like a middle-aged man with an identity crisis," Naminé argued with a laugh.

"Remind me why you had to come with me for this?"

"After the fashion disaster you've been wearing for the past year? I don't think you need it to be pointed out to you."

"Fine. You pick one then."

"I will," she replied with a smug smile, the kind that made Riku realise his mistake instantly. He cringed.

"Wait, on second thought I don't-"

"Too late!" she exclaimed, and disappeared among the stacks of clothing. Riku's eyes tried to trace her steps, but she was too small. It was only every so often that he noticed her blonde hair poking up over some rail, but she soon became lost to him again.

It was at that moment he wondered what it would be like if they were living together. Would she always be like that, running around, laying out his clothes in the morning, cooking his food... Could she even cook? He had no idea. Sure, they had all the instant stuff in their bags while they were on the road, but that wasn't exactly cooking. She could very well be an abomination when it came to the task. Naminé, the cooking monster. He chuckled quietly at the thought.

His thoughts continued to wander. What would it be like if they just sat down with a bowl of popcorn and watched a movie? What would it be like if she woke up next to him in the morning, her golden hair tousled, giving him a sleepy smile? What if she pushed his own hair out of his eyes? What if she...

"You look happy," Naminé said warmly. "What are you thinking about?"

"Hmm?" Riku replied. "Oh, nothing important." He straightened himself up and turned his back on her quickly. Naminé walked around to face him again.

"You sure?" she asked. "Is it embarrassing?" She grabbed his arm. "Is it dirty??"

"What? No!!"

"You're being awfully defensive."

"Give me a look at the clothes you picked out then," he said quickly, a desperate attempt to change the subject. He grabbed the garments from her hands and sifted through them.

"Okay," he said. "Sneakers with yellow laces, a sleeveless top, a waistcoat? Naminé, what are you thinking?"

"I know they don't look good on their own but together they'll look really cool, I promise."

"I'm not wearing this," Riku said flatly.

"Do you want me to keep bugging you on what you were just thinking about?" she countered.

Riku sighed. "I'll go to the dressing room."

Author's note:

And there you have it. Another long wait, another chapter. Thanks for the reviews and watches everyone! I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can!!

LastCetra.