Me: Chapter 23!
Char: About time you posted it.
Me: Hey, shut up. I had a lot to do, okay? What with swimmeets and finals and all...
Char: And you still having to read The Count of Monte Cristo before Monday...
Me: -.- Don't remind me. Well, anywho, I get the feeling our lovely readers are going to like this chapter. (grin) No, Char and Sora don't have sex or anything...
Char: o.O
Disclaimer- YES! I TOTALLY OWN KH! That's how I can think up all those brilliant subplots!
"As soon as the trouble started," Minnie said, putting a hand on the shining bubble around the gate, "I made sure to seal this room."
Char and Anti-Sora watched, the former keeping an eye out for any Heartless behind them. A brief glitter shone from the ring on the mouse queen's finger before the barrier vanished in a flash of purple light.
Anti-Sora flinched at the flash and burrowed his head closer to Char's leg. The redhead sighed. She knew how uncomfortable he was, but she wasn't exactly an affectionate person.
A small door appeared inside the tall gate, and Minnie headed hastily into the audience chamber. Char delivered one final slash to a Heartless that got a little too close and followed. She made sure to close the door behind her, even though she knew that that probably wouldn't be enough.
The room was completely empty but for the red carpet that ran down its middle, leading up to an ornate golden throne. Char looked around in awe. "Wow, nice." She looked at Minnie. "So, where's the Cornerstone?"
The queen opened her mouth to reply, but then gasped and pointed up. Char followed her gaze and saw a horde of Heartless floating down from the ceiling. They all were tall, tower-like beings with what looked like golden eyes staring tauntingly out at them.
Great, she thought, readying her blades. And where's the Keybearer when you need him? Stuck up in Kingdom Hearts, that's where.
"Oh, no," Minnie moaned, scurrying to hide behind Char. "Not here, too…"
Char flashed her a grin that carried more confidence than she felt. "Don't worry. I've got 'em."
Without waiting for a reply, she pushed Anti-Sora backward out of the way and leaped forward. A few well-placed slices in the core of the Heartless on her way past rendered it dead on the spot.
As soon as the twin swords had passed through the Heartless, Char whipped to the side, narrowly dodging a bolt of lightning that fired out from one enemy. Silver blurs cut through the air in her strikes. The swarm of Heartless finally seemed to notice that an enemy was nearby, and began moving toward the redhead.
Minnie looked around nervously, not entirely sure what she should do; Anti-Sora just fidgeted, as pensive as the queen was. In front of them, Char was hacking and slashing as hard as she ever had.
Inside, though, the memory of when the Samurai Nobodies had nearly overwhelmed her was going through her mind. She knew she wasn't good with multiple enemies. In fact, she had known it since long before she had met Sora, since she had first become interested in learning the sword. A few days' training had told her that much.
And yet…
The mental image of Sora on his hands and knees, panting and bleeding as Anxclof stood over him, appeared in Char's mind. She couldn't glance back at Anti-Sora even briefly, the Heartless were coming at her so quickly. But she knew in the back of her mind, a dark corner that currently quivered with dread, that the Keybearer didn't have much time left.
The thought filled her with new determination and she raised her swords high in the air before spinning them in a circle. To her relief, the technique that she barely remembered learning from Dilan succeeded in obliterating the enemies around her.
"Char, help!" Minnie suddenly shouted.
The redhead in question spun to see what was wrong. To her horror, a group of Heartless was closing in on Minnie and Anti-Sora.
Her first instinct was to run toward them and fight off the swarm of tower-like creatures, but this thought was nipped in the bud almost at once when another Heartless smacked her in the back with its ball-and-chain. Char caught her balance just in time and slashed it away.
How the hell was she supposed to save the queen in time if these stupid things kept getting in her way?
She snarled, feeling frustration build up inside of her, and swung her blades out, wildly slicing in all directions. Most of the Heartless were knocked back and vanished in the attack.
She could see light flashing every so often from the small gap between the Heartless, and guessed that Minnie was trying to attack.
Key word being "trying", obviously…
The voice popped up in her head again. Didn't I tell you before that nothing is ever easy?
Char hissed under her breath and took out her anger on a few more Heartless.
"Come on, give us a break," she growled.
This would've been much easier if she hadn't let Anxclof kill Sora… But then again, if it hadn't been for Char's stupid mistake they wouldn't even be here in the first place.
Char gasped suddenly. Where was Anti-Sora?
She looked frantically from side to side. All she could see was a mass of the tower Heartless, broken often by flashes of white from the rest of the room.
Crap. Crap, crap, crap…
Panic welled up in her chest, rising and almost choking her. Maybe the Heartless had finished him off…
At that moment, the sound of claws hacking through something made her turn. The tower-like enemies disappeared in orbs of murky dark light. Anti-Sora stood where they had been, his claws out and looking around. His yellow eyes caught her own gaze, and Char swore that he would've smirked at her if he could.
Then he whirled around toward the other Heartless, leaped high in the air, did a flip, and, using his back claws for balance, leaped off of one while slashing into another. Char grinned. "Showoff," she muttered, before turning back to her own battle.
With Anti-Sora's decision to help, the battle grew much simpler. Eventually, they stepped back, side by side, their respective weapons out in a battle stance. While the Heartless had been subdued, they were still ruthless and coming toward the group.
Minnie hesitantly stepped up to the throne, glancing around nervously at the Heartless. She reached over and pressed a button on the arm of the chair. Anti-Sora jumped in surprise and withdrew to behind Char as a rumbling grew beneath their feet; the redhead was nearly unbalanced as well in the tremors.
The throne was moving with the quakes and now it receded in a flash of blinding light. Not much to Char's surprise, Anti-Sora pressed himself close to her side, trying to get away from the light. The redhead put an arm over her eyes to nullify some of the brightness.
When the light cleared away, she lowered her arm and looked around, wide-eyed. The Heartless were gone. Behind them, the floor where the throne was had been moved aside. Next to it was a set of stairs leading downward.
Char glanced over her shoulder at Minnie. "Couldn't you have done that before?"
The queen sighed. "I was going to, but then those Heartless came…" She shivered. "Hopefully this castle will never be invaded by them again." Minnie took a deep breath as though to calm herself, and then smiled at Char. "You and… Sora have my thanks."
Char shrugged, though inside, she wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep now that it was over. "It was nothing." She turned fully around so that she and Anti-Sora were standing beside Minnie. "So… I take it the Cornerstone is down there?"
"Yes."
"Well then, let's go." The redhead could've cried with relief. After this they could finally get on with the rest of their journey.
Then she frowned slightly. Since when had she starting to think of this as her venture, as well?
"Hey!" A familiar voice suddenly called. The three of them turned and saw Donald and Goofy running through the door toward them.
Donald skidded to a stop in front of them and shot into a salute. "Your Majesty, we got everyone else to safety!"
"Thank you, Donald. And you too, Goofy." At the queen's words, Goofy rubbed the back of his head modestly, while Donald just stood up straighter.
"Aw, it was nothin', Your Majesty. Most everyone had already gone somewhere safe."
"Since we're all here now," Minnie said, "I'll show you to the Cornerstone."
They all started down the staircase. Char looked at Donald and Goofy. "Geez, we could've used you guys! A bunch of Heartless were in here and I had to fight them all off."
Goofy's eyes widened. "All by yourself?"
Char hesitated, realizing how her previous words must've sounded. "Er, well, not exactly." She gestured at Anti-Sora, who was looking more anxious than ever. "He helped out, too, near the end."
Goofy uttered an awed "wow". Donald gave a noise that sounded like "hmph" and looked away. "Pretty good," was all he said, under his breath.
They entered the corridor. The room was completely dark, but the light that came from the Cornerstone lit it up so they could see everything. Donald and Goofy gasped when they saw the thorns that covered the walls, and Minnie nodded sadly.
The Cornerstone of Light was what caught Char's attention. It was even more beautiful than DiZ's description, so long ago. It vaguely resembled one of the snow globes that Hollow Bastion sometimes sold when the weather got colder. Elaborate designs were on the stand of the Cornerstone itself, and the interior of the ball was black but for the swirling myriad of light within it.
Char found herself stepping closer, inadvertently dragging Anti-Sora with her. The Heartless, so docile before, if a little antsy, suddenly seemed to go berserk. He pushed himself away from the area the light hit so that he ended up pressing against the wall. He seemed to totally disregard the pain the thorns brought him in his effort to escape the light.
Minnie shook her head. "It's the same with everyone else brought here…" She looked squarely at Char. "If you can retrieve him, I'll do the rest."
"And then Sora will be back to normal?" Donald asked, a little worriedly.
The queen nodded. In the half-light, Char could see the anxiety in her dark eyes. "Yes."
The redhead thought she was more uncomfortable than any of them, except perhaps for Anti-Sora himself. From the dark creature's reaction to the Cornerstone, she figured that the real Sora didn't have much time left before Kingdom Hearts devoured him.
She gave a single, determined nod and, steeling herself, walked over to Anti-Sora. The yellow eyes glimmered at the sight of her and the Heartless hissed in warning.
Char ignored the sound that made Donald and Goofy shiver. She stepped forward until she was right in front of Anti-Sora. He pressed himself further back against the wall, as though sensing her intentions.
Without further ado, she scooped him up almost like she would a cat and started back to the Cornerstone. Anti-Sora struggled furiously, his claws leaving shallow scratches along her arms, but she just clenched her arms tighter together and eventually he fell limp. Clearly, this was not the Anti-Sora that had watched her in the Gummi ship and imitated her every move like she was one of the gods.
She stopped directly in front of the ball of light and looked expectantly at Minnie. Anti-Sora suddenly lashed out with renewed strength, causing Char to loosen her grip in surprise. This was just enough for him to leap away.
Char gasped and reached out, but Donald was closer. With a triumphant cry, the duck seized the Heartless by the back of the head.
"Do it!" Char called to Minnie.
The queen nodded and pressed a button on the side of the Cornerstone's stand.
There was a brief moment of silence. Then a blinding flash of light shone, enveloping the area in pure white.
When the light cleared, Char hesitated, her heart pounding, before opening her eyes and daring to look around.
Donald still held the being by the back of the hair, his grip clearly loose. Char took in the messy brown spikes, the confused dark blue eyes, the overly large amount of zippers on the outfit. Sora was indeed back.
He shook his head and glanced at Donald, looking somewhat pained. "Ow. Donald, could you let go now? I'm fine."
The duck did so; at the same time a ridiculously large grin was spreading across his and Goofy's faces.
Sora got to his feet and stretched, arching his back and holding his arms high above his head. "Man, this is worse than when we woke up in Twilight Town." He looked around, putting a hand to his head. "Wait, where are we now?"
"Our castle," Donald answered, still grinning.
"Yeah… because I remember I was talking to Char… and then…" Sora winced at the memory. His gaze landed on Char.
She stared at him with a weird mixture of relief and annoyance on her face. He felt a tingle of discomfort at the way she was looking at him. "Uh… what…?"
He was cut off when she suddenly charged toward him and…
…she hugged him.
Sora practically choked with shock, staring down at the crimson hair that currently matched the color of his cheeks. He had never really been this close to Char before, unless one counted when he had nearly rolled over on her in the tent at the Land of Dragons. And now that he was, he was stunned beyond words at why this anti-social, temperamental girl, this girl who before now had seemed to hate him – or at least strongly dislike him – would so much as touch him.
Let alone hug him.
"You're an idiot," she mumbled into his shoulder. (1)
One part of Sora was screaming to hug her back, and the other… well, the other didn't know quite what to think. He looked awkwardly around.
"Uh… what happened?" was all he could say.
"You turned into a Heartless, and we took you here, to the Cornerstone of Light, to put you back to normal," Donald explained.
"All for one and one for all," Goofy added.
Char finally seemed to realize what she was doing, and pulled away. "Yeah, well, I'm just glad you're back. You are the Keyblade bearer, after all." Dryly, she added, "We need you, but I can't understand for the life of me why."
Yup. She's back to normal.
"Hey, Sora," Goofy said suddenly, looking closely at the brunette. "Your face is really red."
Sora started. "Uh, is it?" He rubbed a knuckle across the bridge of his nose sheepishly.
"I hate to interrupt this touching little reunion," a voice said suddenly, "but I was going to need your attention, and I feared that you might be distracted." (2)
Everyone jumped and whirled around. In front of the Cornerstone of Light stood an image of Maleficent.
"No way…" Sora breathed.
Maleficent laughed her sadistic cackle. "I see the wretched Keybearer is back to normal. And his pitiful lackeys are with him as well."
"Who're you calling a lackey?" Char growled, summoning her swords and charging toward the witch. But she only passed right through her, nearly crashing into the Cornerstone in the process.
"All in good time," Maleficent went on. "I promise you'll be able to partake of my vengeance. But you must be patient."
Minnie stepped forward, trying to glare at the other but failing miserably. "Just what do you want her, Maleficent?"
The witch in question bowed in mock respect. "Ah, Queen Minnie. Radiant, as always. You see, I'm here on a… property venture. I want this castle for my own." Looking around, she added, "Although it's a bit too 'bright' for what I have in mind." She smirked. "I suppose I'll just have to fill every room with my own personal touch of darkness."
She reached her hand out and everyone watched with bated breath to see what would happen. Clearly the witch's intention was to touch the Cornerstone, but as soon as the glove-clad finger grazed the surface it seemed to jerk back, as though it had been shocked. To her credit, Maleficent didn't seem to be flustered at this turn of events; she just let out a "hmph".
"You'd better stop right now if you know what's good for you!" Minnie blustered. Behind her, Sora and the others readied their weapons.
The brunette raised his Keyblade and made to charge forward, but a sudden pang in his side brought him to his knees.
"Sora!" Donald and Goofy rushed over.
Maleficent chuckled. "Oh, not feeling well, Keybearer?" Looking at Minnie, she said, "Don't worry, I'll stop… Just as soon as this castle belongs to me!" She cackled in a way that made the animals' hair stand on end, and even Char shuddered as the witch vanished, her laughter still echoing eerily.
"What a hag," the redhead muttered. Looking around, she kneeled in front of Sora. "You alright?"
Sora looked up. Seeing the slight worry on her face, he grinned and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Your wound from when that girl stabbed you must still be there." As she mentioned the brown-haired girl, Char stumbled almost imperceptibly. Almost like she knew the girl from somewhere, but didn't want to mention her name.
"I got it." Donald brandished his staff and put it to Sora's chest. Both the staff and the boy's wound glowed with a brief, white light; when it faded away, Sora placed a hand on his wound.
"Hey, it doesn't even hurt now." He smiled at the duck. "Thanks, Donald."
"Oh, dear," Minnie murmured. "What should we do? Nothing like this has ever happened before…"
Char got to her feet and sighed. "I wish I could say I knew something, but… I don't."
"What a surprise," Donald muttered, earning himself a glare from Char.
"I know!" Goofy suddenly said. "We should go ask somebody who knows stuff that ain't in any book!"
Donald's eyes lit up in understanding. "Merlin the wizard!"
"Yes," Minnie said, her voice thick with relief and exhaustion. "Merlin just might know something about this mess."
"Alright, let's go ask his advice." Char glanced at Sora. "Are you okay to travel?"
Sora stood up and winked at her. "Ah, I've been through worse than this." A slight shadow seemed to pass over his eyes as he spoke.
Is he remembering the last time he turned into a Heartless? Char wondered.
"But how can we leave?" Donald said suddenly, looking helplessly at Minnie. "All those Heartless could still be out there…"
"A ton of Heartless are here?" asked Sora, tilting his head to the side. Char realized that he must be totally lost. The fragment of his heart that had been contained in Anti-Sora had probably been too small to maintain memory.
For some reason, she felt relieved at that. The thought of how she had treated Anti-Sora so well, and the Heartless in return, still made her redden a little at the thought of the real Sora's reaction.
Is it that I don't want him to see me being anything other than tough?
She knew it was okay to open up – had known it from the moment she'd committed to this stupid journey. But it was in her nature to keep secrets; wasn't it in every human nature to want to have just a few things held dear to them alone?
Either way, this wasn't the time to get contemplative.
"Yeah," Donald was saying. "We had to get all the castle citizens to safety." He puffed out his chest. "They were swarming everywhere! The walls were black with them!"
"Donald, don'tcha think you're exaggerating a little bit?" asked Goofy.
Minnie managed to chuckle, though her voice cracked a bit with the strain of the day. "There's no need to worry." She glanced at a part of the wall that wasn't covered with thorns. The others craned their necks to see and caught sight of a few flickering buttons.
"Those will take you to any location of the castle," the queen explained. "Mickey had them built, just in case something like this happened."
"Where is the King, by the way?" asked Sora.
Minnie shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know… He's always gone nowadays."
Donald and Goofy sighed in disappointment.
"So, will one of those things take us back to the Gummi hangar?" Char questioned.
Minnie nodded. "Yes. As you know, that's the only safe place."
"Okay, let's go!" Sora chirped.
Char couldn't help but roll her eyes at that. Even after all that had happened, he could still be so chipper…
They walked over to the buttons on the wall. Char's thoughts wandered to a certain brown-haired Nobody.
Hm… I wonder what happened with her… Roxas is gone, probably. And now she'll be more eager to kill Sora than ever.
Maybe Riku had been right in choosing Char for this… The redhead heaved a sigh, being careful not to let the others overhear.
This was going to be harder than she had thought. (3)
Anxclof and Roxas sat on the hill, each holding a stick of what the blond called "sea salt ice cream".
"It's only the best food here," he had said when she'd inquired as to what exactly sea salt ice cream was. "C'mon. I'll get you a bit and you'll see what I mean."
Now, as much as she hated to say it, Roxas had been right. The ice cream managed to combine the salty flavor of the coastal air along with the general sweetness, without being totally repulsive.
They looked down at the beach. The waves lapped slowly back and forth underneath Sunset Hill, and the dying sun reflected the whiteness of the sand, making the light almost blinding. Truth be told, Anxclof didn't like the permanent twilight of this place; it made it difficult to tell what time it really was. According to Roxas' watch it was early afternoon, though.
"You know…" Roxas suddenly said. Anxclof shifted a little so she could look at him. The other Nobody was staring absently at the remains of his melting ice cream.
"I never did find my friends," he went on quietly.
Anxclof hesitated. She never had been good at the comforting stuff.
"But it's probably just as well," he said when she didn't reply. "They… they wouldn't have recognized me anyway." He laughed softly, but his words lent a sort of bitterness to it. "Because according to them, I'm not real."
Anxclof had to protest at that. "But you are," she said. Roxas looked up, meeting her gaze with distraught blue eyes. "You're real," she continued. "How else would I be sitting here talking to you right now?"
Roxas smiled a little, and Anxclof punched his shoulder. "See? You know it's true, and that should be all that matters."
"Heh, yeah…" The blond grinned wider. "I guess you're right. Thanks."
Anxclof shrugged. "Don't mention it." Sarcastically, she added, "I'm just trying to help out our resident depressed kid."
"Oh, thanks a lot," Roxas joked.
They sat in silence for another moment, finishing up their ice cream. Then Roxas spoke again.
"You know… while I was here… my memories were all gone."
Anxclof stiffened. "Those guys…?" Her voice trailed off in her effort to keep back her anger. She looked away and clenched her fists. "Like it wasn't bad enough that they took you away from everything you'd ever known? They had to take away the memory of everything too?" A snarl managed to escape her. "Someday, I don't know where or how, I'm gonna find the guys who did that to you, and then I'm gonna –"
She was interrupted by Roxas putting a finger to her lips, effectively silencing her. Anxclof took a deep, calming breath. "Sorry."
Roxas shrugged, but didn't take away his finger. Clearly, he had something important to say.
"Like I said, I didn't have any memories of you and Axel, the Organization… I didn't even remember that I was Sora's Nobody. So… I can't exactly say I missed you."
Anxclof didn't say anything.
"But… my memories all started to come back in the last week that I was here." Roxas met her eyes. "In my dreams, I saw you and Axel, and everything we would get up to while we were in the Organization. I remembered… who my real friends were."
Anxclof held her breath, waiting for him to get to the point. She had a small idea of what he wanted to say, but she wanted to hear him out first.
"I remembered who you were… and I know how sappy I sound," he added at Anxclof's raised eyebrow. "Just hear me out."
Anxclof shrugged, even though she was starting to feel both nervous and excited. "Go on."
"The point is that…" Roxas heaved a breath and looked at her. For the first time she noticed that his free hand was gingerly touching hers.
"I… I think I love you. Okay? That's all I wanted to say." Roxas said all this in a rush.
Anxclof stared wide-eyed at him.
"Well, Sora did like Kairi, after all, so I guess that emotion must have carried over to me, because Nobodies remember what their Others felt…"
He was babbling. Anxclof managed to put a finger to his lips, making him close his mouth and stare hopefully at her. (4)
"Roxas," she said, her mouth forming into a grin as she spoke. "Just shut up, okay?" Hesitantly, she added, "I… I like you too."
Roxas' eyes grew wide enough to mimic Anxclof's.
"I don't know…" Anxclof took her hand away from his face and put it on her chest, over the place where her heart should be. "I never found out who my Other was – I wasn't in the Organization long enough to find out, and it wasn't like Xemnas ever gave a damn. But… I must've gotten some sort of positive feeling from her – or him, for all I know."
"That'd explain a lot," Roxas said playfully.
Anxclof raised an eyebrow. "Don't ruin the moment, spike."
Roxas chuckled. After a few moments, it grew into chortling, and then into hearty laughter, which the girl couldn't help but join.
They spent a happy minute laughing at the joke that, in retrospect, hadn't even been that amusing in the first place – laughed to the point of tears at such a stupid nickname, a nickname that Anxclof had given him herself.
She realized that the reason for the laughter was that both of them were relieved; relieved that the other returned their feelings in kind.
Roxas' laughter petered off into silence, to be replaced by a sudden, unnatural seriousness. Anxclof suddenly realized that they were inches apart.
Almost of its own accord, one hand came up and pushed a dark brown lock out of her face. She stiffened at first, then relaxed as the hand gently came to rest on the back of her neck.
One part of her was screaming for him to kiss her already, and yet the other part wanted so badly to savor this. She knew that even now, Char and the others were probably trying to get Sora back in whatever way they could.
And while Anxclof didn't know a true way to give a Heartless back what it had lost, she was pretty sure that there were ways.
She suddenly realized that while she had been thinking, Roxas had leaned further toward her, so that his lips now covered hers.
Anxclof's mind seemed to shut down. Kiss him back, you idiot! Kiss him back!
She could feel him smirk into her lips and felt an almost competitive feeling surge through her.
Tentatively, she leaned forward, being careful not to fall and break the contact – the contact that, in retrospect, she had worked so hard for. In response, the hand around her neck tightened almost imperceptibly into a fist.
Eventually, they had to pull back for air. As Anxclof did so, she was staring at the ground, and brought a hand to her lips.
"Roxas…" She looked up when a random beam of light shone out of the corner of her eye.
The blond was looking urgently at her, his entire body seeming to become transparent – which, Anxclof realized with a pang of horror, was where the light had come from; it had shone through his body.
"Roxas!"
Roxas' eyes, half translucent as they were, seemed to shine with an unwilling understanding. "Heh. Looks like they got Sora back after all." His voice almost echoed, as though he were disappearing into the distance even now.
Anxclof shook her head fiercely. "Damn it! If I'd known there was a way to get Sora back, I would've disposed of the others as well!"
Tears were sliding down her cheeks, creating shameful trails of heat in their path. Roxas reached forward and wiped them away with a finger.
"It's like DiZ said…" He shrugged sadly. "This is the fate of a Nobody."
A strangled sob managed to escape the confines of Anxclof's throat, and she clutched his hand tightly to her cheek.
Light rent the air: brighter this time, more definite than the dying sun. Anxclof had to close her eyes against it.
When she opened them, the hand that had held his was empty, pressed only to her face. Roxas was gone.
Anxclof fell to her knees and pounded a fist on the ground. The tears were falling more quickly now, which only frustrated her even more.
So, all that had been for nothing…
"Damn it," was all she could say. She stared at the ground, which seemed to blur before her. "Roxas…"
The whispered word turned into a cry of pain that echoed throughout the area and sent the seagulls flapping away.
"ROXAS!"
(1) Oh, the awkward fluff. She's really only hugging him because she's so relieved. Besides, what did you expect? Something like this:
Char: Omg, ur back to normal! I now see how hott u r! Lets hav sex liek omg!
Sora: Liek, okay! (insert... inappropriate... things)
Come ON. This fic is rated T, people. :)
Anyway, there they are, having their desperate cuddle moment...
(2) ...and then Maleficent shows up, all "zomg evul", to ruin it. xD
(3) Ah, yes. Here comes the beginning of one of the most awkward parts I will probably ever write, mostly because A) I've never been kissed, so I don't really know what it's like (aside from fanfics, which as you all know aren't always accurate), and B) the ending that follows is somewhat cliche and probably expected by all our readers.
(4) Anxclof's such a copycat...
Anxclof: Well, WHAT? I had to think of SOME way to make him shut up for a second!
Me: So, yeah. One of the best action scenes I've written thus far, and a bit of fluffy/tragic romance too.
Anxclof: All in all, a great chappie, I would say!
Char: Tch. You just liked it cuz Roxas kissed you.
Anxclof: MAYBE I DID!
Me: (sigh)