Yes, I'm still alive. Actually, before this weekend, I only had up to the part where Char sees the letter written.
Char: She's gonna have plenty of time to work on it now, because this week is spring break for her school district.
Me: Agh, why'd you go and tell them that? Now they're gonna pressure me to work on it even more!
Char: (sarcasm) Whoops.
Me: Well, Char's bitchiness aside, here's Chapter 26. It's more of a filler than anything, but at least now they're leaving Disney Castle and heading to the Olympus Coliseum.
Char: (sigh)
Me: ...where something extremely painful is going to happen to Char... (smirk) Also, I'm going to try and stop doing author's notes altogether, since I think they distract from the plot and it's a pain to write them anyway.

Disclaimer- Don't look at me. I'm just the sane one among the sea of yaoi fangirls.

Char woke the next day feeling surprisingly refreshed, having not remembered any of the nightmares that had plagued her. She had a vague sense that her dreams had been haunted by the same specter of a memory that had followed her for so long, but when she tried to remember what exactly had happened, she found she could not.

But she figured it was probably just as well she didn't recall it; she was trying to suppress it in the present as it was.

The events of yesterday all seemed to crash on her at once – danger, awkwardness, more danger, and more awkwardness all rolled into one. The fact that she had hardly spoken to Sora last night – especially after saving him the way she had – felt like it was eating at her guiltily.

All right, all right, she thought irritably, trying to ignore the feeling. I'll go talk to him.

She attempted to push herself up from the bed, only to find that her body wasn't willing to leave the pristine comfort of the mattress just yet. Minnie had truly gone all the way with this guest room, despite the fact that she barely even knew any of them. Char made a mental note to thank the mouse queen as soon as they could get back on the road.

After many failed attempts to get out of bed, the redhead settled for retrieving her jacket from the desk and putting it on. As she put her arms through the sleeves, something sticking out of one of the drawers caught her eye – something white that fluttered in the breeze the fan picked up.

Hm? Blinking the sleepiness out of her eyes, Char managed to get out of the luxurious bed, aided by her curiosity. She pulled the drawer open with one hand and picked up the note with the other. Closing the drawer, she turned around and took a few steps forward into the light of the lamp in order to get a better look. Nevertheless, she still had to squint in order to read what it said:

My dearest Minnie,

How's everything going back at the castle? You know how things are out here: lots of Heartless, dangers that have to be vanquished and all that. I betcha Daisy's going nuts now that Donald's gone, haha!

Things are surprisingly good on my end. I've gotten Riku to a safe place like I said I would, and I'm still going to visit him every so often. Sora… well, he's been moved as well. In his current state, he didn't have much say in the matter, but I just hope he rises to the challenge when it revisits him, whether he remembers it or not.

My friend said he'll keep watch on both Riku and Sora – do you remember when I told you about Ansem? Well, now he's calling himself DiZ, supposedly to hide from his enemies. He had a girl with him – Char, he said she was called – who looks about Riku's age, so it's not like he'll be bored while waiting for Sora to wake up. From the looks of things, they're getting along pretty well already!

Anyway, I just thought I'd write, since I haven't had time to for a while and I don't want to make you worry. Trust me – though times may be dark now, there will always be a light at the end of that shadow.

Your beloved king,

Mickey

Char's eyes widened as she read, especially the part that mentioned her and Riku. It was ironic, because at the start they hadn't gotten along well at all. She knew that Riku had half-expected her to be a sort of "replacement" for Kairi, and Char herself hadn't taken very well to that idea. However, by the end of the sixth month together, he had gotten past that and they had become close. It had been so much better for the both of them to get along, because they had both desperately needed a friend at that time.

Carefully, Char put the note back in the drawer and eased it closed. Somehow, she didn't think the queen would take very kindly to some stranger having read a letter to her.

Now… where was she going again?

Oh yeah… to talk to Sora, Char remembered. The surprise of finding Mickey's letter had somewhat thrown off her train of thought.

She donned her green gloves, noting with some dismay their ragged state, and moved off down the hall. Since there had been a view of the courtyard right below her window, Char found that she didn't need a guide.

She remembered that Sora had been led out of the door and across the courtyard to another part of the castle. The way she saw it, if she didn't recognize the area when she entered the other side of the castle, she could just find a servant to tell her where Sora's room was.

It turned out that she didn't have to bother, because the first thing she saw when she stepped outside – apart from a dew-soaked array of grass statues and blinding sunlight – was a bushy brown head.

Sora was leaning against a shaded, stool-shaped formation, his chin resting against his arms and his eyes half-closed. The pleasant breeze pulled his spikes almost teasingly, and in one hand he held something Char couldn't see. As she watched, he raised his hand, took a bite out of what he was holding, and put it down.

He suddenly seemed to come to awareness, and he turned his head. "Good morning, Char!" he greeted, his mouth clearly still full.

She rolled her eyes as she approached. "Hey, Key-boy," she murmured. Sora's face fell slightly, but he swallowed his food and grinned all the same.

She realized that she had hurt his feelings by not replying as enthusiastically, and for some reason this made her annoyed. What, does he expect me to be Little Miss Sunshine all the time?

To make up for it, she gestured at what he had in his hand. "What are you eating?"
Sora blinked and stared down at the food. "A croissant. The servants were making some of them this morning and offered me one."

"Ah."

"Do you want a bite?" he asked, holding it out to her.

Char shrugged. "Hm, sure, I guess." She took a bit off the end that didn't have a bite taken out of it, and popped it into her mouth. The croissant was delicious and eased some of the hunger that caused her stomach to growl, but she didn't say anything other than, "Pretty good."

She took up a position identical to Sora's next to him, and he duly scooted over to give her room. The two of them sat in companionable silence for a few minutes. After a bit, it came to Char that five days ago, she would hardly have called any silence with the Keybearer "companionable". She supposed that the trouble they had suffered together had brought them a little closer, somehow.

"Hey, Char?"

Sora's quiet words startled her, and she glanced at him. "Yeah?"

"Um…" The brunette was staring at the grass formation that was straight ahead, which happened to be a rabbit. "I just wanted to say thanks for yesterday," he finally said, managing to meet her eyes. His own eyes, wide and dark blue, seemed to bore into her own.

She suddenly came to. What is wrong with me!

Looking away, she shrugged, though she could still feel Sora's gaze on her back. "It was nothing. What could I have done – left you there as a Heartless?"

Sora laughed. "Yeah, you're right." He hesitated. "It's just that… I had a thought."

Char looked back and gave him a look that said she was listening.

"Yen Sid mentioned that when a strong-hearted person is turned into a Heartless, a Nobody is created too." He glanced back down at his hands. "So… does that mean that before, when I was turned into a Heartless at Maleficent's castle, a Nobody was created?" Softly, he added, "Or is my heart not strong enough for that?"

Char's eyes widened, but she hastily suppressed her instinctive reaction, which was to gasp. Oh, but Sora had gotten the idea more quickly than she thought he would.

In that moment, for some reason, she wanted to tell him everything. The way he was looking at her now, eyes wide with anxiety and naïveté, she would look back and marvel at her self-restraint.

In the end, however, all she said was, "If you do have a Nobody, he's most likely fodder by now. Even though they have a basic idea of survival from their Others, Nobodies come into the world almost like babies." Firmly, she added, "And who said your heart wasn't strong enough? I've only known you for five days and I know damn well that a lesser man would have killed himself by now. You've been wandering around for so long looking for your friends and haven't given up. I consider that strong at any rate."

Inadvertently, the mention of Riku and Kairi brought the memory of Braig, Ienzo and the others back into her mind. And I didn't even try to get them back, regardless of the friendship we had, she thought guiltily. Because DiZ said it was too late.

But what else could she have done at the time? It had all happened so fast.

Sora stared at her for a moment, half in disbelief, half in embarrassment. Char suddenly noticed that his cheeks were turning a rosy red.

"Thanks," he muttered, but there was an obvious grin on his face.

Trying to recover some of her front, Char gave him a light punch on the shoulder, unable to keep back a smirk of her own. "Hey. What did I tell you about being obvious?"

"Oh! Right." The smile vanished at once to be replaced by an overly-exaggerated look of seriousness, his brows drawn down in a deep frown and his eyes half-squinted. It reminded her of when they had gone to Hollow Bastion and he had tried to do an impression of Leon.

The redhead rolled her eyes, but she laughed as well. "You're so weird."

Sora's mock-serious face dissolved into an indignant pout. "Am not!"

They laughed together for a bit, before Sora's own chuckles petered off into silence. He looked at the rabbit formation for a moment, still smiling as he finished off the croissant. Then his gaze fell on Char again, his grin fading. "Can I ask another question?"

Char sighed in mock anger. "What now?"

"Um… you know how back home I had Kairi, right?" Sora's face turned bright red just mentioning the name Kairi, causing Char to giggle.

"Yeah, yeah. What's your point?"

"Well… at Hollow Bastion, did you have somebody?"

The question caught Char off-guard. Unbidden, the image of a gray-haired boy flashed through her mind.

"Hey, Char, wanna do this project with me?"

"Sure, whatever. DiZ said we need partners anyway…"

"You and I are buddies, right, Char?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't we be?..."

"Um, Char? I… I brought a flower for you…"

She suddenly realized that Sora was still watching her, waiting for a response. It felt like resurfacing from boggy water as she replied, "Somebody? In reference to what?"

"Well… you know…" Sora fidgeted. "…romantically…"

"Oh." Char found herself unable to look him in the eye. "Um, no. I mean, I liked my share of guys, but none of them were actually serious."

Actually, she hadn't. But she wasn't supposed to tell Sora everything on this journey, anyway.

"Oh, okay." Sora sounded relieved that they were finally getting away from this awkward topic. "I was just wondering."

Char shrugged, still not looking at him.

"Hey!" Goofy's voice made them glance over. The dog and the duck were walking toward them from Sora's side of the castle; the former grinned welcomingly at them, while the latter merely waved.

"Guess you didn't get a good night's sleep, huh, Donald?" Sora laughed.

Donald glared at the brunette. "Of course I did!"

"Of course he did," Char agreed, unable to resist her own little jab at him. "Daisy was there, right?" She smirked as Donald let out a "hmph". "Thought so."

"Well, um," Goofy broke in before a fight could break out, "we've already had our breakfast, right? So, let's get goin', a-hyuck!"

Sora glanced at Char. "Did you get anything to eat?"

"Other than that bite of croissant, no. But I'll get something on the way out; we should probably be going."

"Are you leaving already?" Minnie's voice sounded from just beyond. The queen and Daisy came forward from the other side of the castle. Daisy looked vaguely annoyed that her lover was going so soon, but Minnie just seemed resigned. "In that case, good luck to you all. And Char?"

The redhead, who had turned away with the others at the queen's alleged dismissal, looked back over her shoulder. "Hm?"

"If anything should happen to Donald and Goofy, I want you to take care of Sora," Minnie explained, a grave undertone lurking behind her words. "You proved to me yesterday that you're more than capable."

Char jerked a bit in surprise, but then stared at the ground. "Er… it was nothing. Really. Anyone would've done the same in my place."

Minnie gave her a look that said she begged to differ, but merely said, "If you see the king, tell him we all miss him."

The word "king" brought back the memory of the note Char had found in the drawer. She considered briefly telling Minnie how much she knew, only to decide against it. The last thing this frightened, shaken monarch needed was the knowledge that a total stranger had found a small piece of access into her privacy.

"Donald!" Daisy wailed. "Are you leaving again?"

"I promise," the duck said, "the next time I come here it'll be for good!"

"Are you absolutely sure?" She narrowed her eyes at Donald, causing him to cringe.

Goofy had to step in. "Yup, Daisy, I'm sure of it. And, if we're lucky, we'll have the king with us too!"

"Oh, thank goodness." Minnie's entire body seemed to relax with her sigh of relief.

"Alright, see you later!" Sora called over his shoulder, waving and walking backwards toward the Gummi shed. Char stifled a giggle when he nearly ran into one of the grass formations, which caused him to turn around and walk straight again.

She looked back at Daisy and Minnie once Sora, Donald, and Goofy were out of earshot. "Really, thanks: the meal, the bed, everything – they really helped." She nearly winced at the memory of yesterday; before, Char never would have guessed that so much danger could be packed into one day.

Minnie nodded. "Any time."

"Also, one quick thing." Maybe it was just Char's imagination, but the two of them seemed to lean forward to hear well. "I used to live in Hollow Bastion as a researcher, and every once in a while, King Mickey would come see my master. They were quite close, in fact, before… before I had to leave."

To Char's relief, Daisy and Minnie didn't ask why exactly the redhead had had to leave.

"Ask the king about 'Ansem' when he gets back," Char finished. Without waiting for a response, she turned away and headed toward the Gummi shed.

Daisy looked worriedly at her queen. "Do you think they'll be all right? It's so dangerous out there…"

Minnie sighed. "All we can do is hope, and place our trust in them that they'll come back." She gazed up at the sky; a flash of light caught her eye, and she watched in wonder as the beam of white light pushed aside some of the pale blue to make room for a contrasting slit of murky-brown clouds.

"Sora has the Keyblade," she added. "And Char, Donald, and Goofy to support him. I believe that they will find whatever they may be looking for."

Daisy lifted her own gaze to the dark rip in the sky, and together, the two friends watched the Gummi ship lift off and sail through the gap just as it closed.

The queen looked back down at her shoes and clasped her hands.

Mickey… I just hope you're all right.

"So, where to next?" Sora asked, kicking back in his chair with his feet up on the dashboard.

Donald frowned at that, but replied anyway. "I saw a world on the map that looked a little like the Olympus Coliseum." He walked over and pointed at the dome-like symbol on the map.

"Well, at least it's familiar territory. Let's head over there and see how Herc and Phil are doing," Sora agreed.

"Wait just a second," Char suddenly said. Everyone turned to look at her. She pointed at Donald, who was currently piloting the ship. "Um… I know it's a really stupid request, but…"

"Spit it out," the duck growled.

An embarrassed grin crossed the redhead's features, and Sora blinked. Embarrassment? That's not like her at all.

Yet he wasn't complaining. In these rare moments when she allowed the shell to crack, just a little, Char was strangely… cute.

Wait a sec, what! Sora shook these thoughts out of his head at once. It's just pointing out facts, he told himself. You can say a tiger is cute, but that doesn't necessarily mean you're in love with it.

Yeah, a tiger's definitely what Char is, he thought dryly. But at least you can pet those.

In his thoughts, Sora had almost missed her question, but he caught it just as she voiced it.

"Can I drive?"

Donald blinked, and his brows furrowed in a frown. "What?"

"Can. I. Drive?" Char repeated, leaning over and closer to Donald's face to emphasize her point. Now the grin was starting to resemble a smirk. "Come on. Just once."

"But…" Goofy interrupted. "Didn'tcha say once that you were a bad driver?"

Char simply shrugged.

"I think we should," Sora said. Donald and Goofy stared at him like he had just grown an extra head, but Char just straightened and smiled wider.

"Thanks, Key-boy." She looked at Donald. "I think that requires you to move over," she remarked, making a finger motion at the words 'move over'.

Donald did so, grumbling all the way about how they were going to regret this. Char plopped down in the pilot's chair and then looked down at the map on the screen. "Okay, so we're going to this world, right?" she asked the others, pointing at the symbol that they had classified as the Olympus Coliseum.

They all nodded.

"Alright then, full speed ahead!" Char laughed and yanked the steering wheel to the left, which was where the actual Olympus Coliseum was in front of them. In response, the Gummi ship veered sharply forward, and a mist of pale green cloud briefly obscured the view before the clouds cleared away.

"Oh, no." Sora groaned.

The grin on Char's face was growing wider as she steered directly into the swarm of whirling asteroids that served as a barrier. "Oh, yes."

"She's gonna kill us," Donald moaned.

Now the only question in Anxclof's mind was: What the hell am I supposed to do?

She had decided right after waking up that she would put Roxas out of her mind as much as possible, but of course that was rather difficult, considering how she felt about him. Whenever he did pop up in her head, though, the memories of the past and what could have been brought the irritating warmth of tears to her eyes and a lump in her throat that made it hard to breathe. So, Anxclof had decided to stop thinking about him altogether. If anything, that was even more painful, but at least now she could sort of think without the impediment of grief tempering her decisions.

She suddenly felt, rather than heard, the insistent rumble of hunger resonating from her belly, and she winced. Of course – the three human needs, or at least Anxclof's essential three: shelter, company, and food.

She tried to remember if Roxas had told her about any good restaurants here. While they had been wandering the tunnels below the subway, Roxas had mostly told her about his exploits with his friends during the short time he had lived in Twilight Town, so that couldn't be it.

The thought of that inadvertently brought the image of Roxas talking animatedly, his ocean-blue eyes shining bright with nostalgia: eyes that had reflected the darker part of the sea when he had vanished.

Anxclof found herself furiously rubbing her hand over her cheeks in an attempt to head off her tears before they could fall down her face. Stop it. Think of what to do next. You're hungry. Find food.

She shivered as she realized how bedraggled she must look. She had been standing in the rain for a while, crying, after Roxas had… vanished.

The glitter of the sun on a nearby puddle caught her eye, causing Anxclof to peer into it. What she saw was a young woman with stringy, dark brown hair and tired emerald eyes that had crimson veins curling off the edges of the iris. She winced and unconsciously pushed her hair behind her ears. It wasn't as bad as she had assumed it would be, but it was still gapingly obvious that she had been out in the rain for a long time.

She got to her feet and looked around. A sign next to the building she had sheltered under read "Sunset Terrace."

Sunset Terrace, she repeated mentally. She and Roxas had taken the tunnels to get here from the main area of Twilight Town, but he had mentioned something about the tunnels being "more fun than the train".

More fun… she thought dryly, remembering the terrifying shock of feeling the trains directly above her head. Sure, and sitting on an angry porcupine is fun too! Barrels of fun!

Briefly, she dug through her pockets for munny for the train. It turned out to be a fruitless search, however, and Anxclof felt a sigh whoosh out of her as she plopped down to lean against the building. She rested her head against the wall, a sense of despondency spreading through her. No munny, no company, no food…

She just thanked the gods and Kingdom Hearts that it was too early for people to come out to Sunset Terrace, which was evidently the shopping area of Twilight Town. If anyone saw her looking like this, there would undoubtedly be some negative results on both parts: hers for being noticed, and the other for having a Keyblade wound on the back of their head.

A smile twitched across her face at that part. It made her think of another memory of Roxas, and yet this time, she managed to keep back her tears; for this was of the somewhat happier time, back in the Organization.

"Are you absolutely sure that Xemnas was right about this place?" Axel complained.

Roxas glanced back at him; the blond had been named the leader of the small group because he usually took these missions seriously. "Look, Axel, I don't even know myself. I just know that disobeying the Superior usually leads to negative consequences."

The redhead winced, clearly remembering something along those lines, as he rubbed the back of his head. "Eh, yeah, you're right, I guess."

The three of them were exploring the world known as the Olympus Coliseum, where, supposedly, Xemnas had sensed a huge gathering of Heartless. The Superior had told them to go to the sub-world within the Coliseum, which was aptly named the Underworld, in order to eradicate the Heartless and strengthen Kingdom Hearts.

The Underworld wasn't exactly the ideal vacation spot, though. Falling rocks, mud that sucked at their boots, and winding corners that often had Heartless hiding behind them made things difficult for the group.

As for Anxclof, she was situated at the rear, behind Axel, which was almost where she preferred to be. This was her first mission for the Organization, however, so that meant that when danger appeared, she would have to make the first move to take care of it.

She had heard Xemnas and Xaldin, numbers I and III of the Organization, talking earlier when she had passed the lower Hall of Empty Melodies. Even though she had been walking in the hallway on the other side of the dark platform, she could still hear every word her superiors were saying.

"She doesn't control any lesser Nobodies, nor does she have the strength to keep a Heartless under her command for longer than five minutes!" Xaldin was saying to Xemnas. "How do you expect Number XIV to hold her own if she cannot accomplish even these small tasks?"

Xemnas had chuckled. "All in good time, Number III; all in good time. Have you considered that Number VIII and Number XIII took almost as long to merely discover their weapons, whereas Number XIV has had quite a while to adapt to hers?"

Xaldin opened his mouth to reply, only to growl softly and look away, his dreadlocks swaying slightly with the movement. "I suppose you have a point."

"Besides," Xemnas continued, "like Number XIII, Number XIV is the Nobody of a Keybearer. Together, they could prove to be a valuable asset."

Thinking of what they had said, Anxclof sighed. She raised one dark-gloved hand, clenched it into a fist, unclenched it again.

Was that all she and Roxas were destined to be – just weapons for a "cause"?

She also just loved how Xemnas kept addressing them as their numbers. It made her feel less like, well, at least the remnants of a human being and more like a package getting ready to be shipped.

"Anxclof? Hey, Anx!"

The brunette looked up at the sound of Axel's voice. The redhead had put his hand on her shoulder, and his green eyes were now looking worriedly into her darker green ones. "You doing okay? You're kinda spacing out."

Anxclof lowered her hand and grinned. "Nah, it's okay. Just thinking."

Axel straightened in mock surprise. "Anxclof thinking – what an oxymoron!" he commented sarcastically, causing the girl to punch his arm playfully.

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "Are you two done goofing off?"

"Yeah, yeah," Axel replied nonchalantly, turning to face his friend. "Honestly, Roxas, do you even know what the word 'fun' means?"

"Of course I do," Roxas answered. "But I, unlike you, actually believe in priorities."

"And just what is that supposed to mean?"

Roxas was about to reply, but then gasped, his gaze suddenly on the cave ceiling. Without waiting for a response, he ducked to the water-sheathed ground, rolling forward so he stood directly in front of Anxclof and Axel. A white-and-blue Keyblade appeared in his left hand in a flash of light, and as Roxas' body uncurled from the roll, the Keyblade jerked up, blade out.

Axel and Anxclof looked up and realized what was going on. The huge boulder, about to fall on them, had smashed harmlessly to pieces on the Oathkeeper's blade.

Roxas stood up and looked over at them, one eyebrow cocked over a dark blue eye. "Now aren't you glad that I was paying attention?"

"Yeah," Axel muttered.

Roxas stared at his friend for a moment, and then raised his Keyblade and tapped Axel lightly on the back of the head with it. The redhead blinked.

In response, Roxas smiled one of his subdued smiles. "Use your head."

The harsh clarity of what was going on in the present hit Anxclof like a fist – or a Keyblade – as the memory came to an end. She put a hand over her mouth in an attempt to stifle her sob and put her head against her arms, which were propped up on her upraised knees.

Roxas… I miss you…

"Hey!" a voice suddenly came from above her.

Anxclof's head jerked up at the abrupt interruption. She glared at the wild-haired blond who had spoken, not even trying to disguise her tears. Even if she had, her sorrow was audible in her voice. "What the hell do you want?"

The boy blinked in response, surprised. He wore a dark black shirt under a gray jacket and camouflage-colored pants. Behind him stood a girl with long brown hair and green eyes, who was clad in an orange shirt and khaki pants, and a dark-haired boy in a red jersey.

"Are you okay?" the dark-haired boy asked, his brown eyes wide. "We saw you crying over here."

Anxclof raised an eyebrow, reaching up to push the hair out of her face. "And who said it was any of your business why I'm sad?"

"Geez, touchy, aren't we?" The blond glared at her. "Look, we just wanted to see what was going on. Don't get so mad about it."

The girl, however, touched both boys' shoulders. "We should leave her alone," she said quietly.

"But –" the blond began.

"Hayner," the girl said warningly. She smiled a little hesitantly at Anxclof. "Sorry about these two. They're really nosy."

"Am not!" Hayner squawked. "Are we, Pence?" he asked the other boy.

Pence shrugged, holding his hands up in surrender. "I'm not getting involved in this."

Anxclof stared at them. For some reason, the boys' names struck an odd chord within her.

And then she realized where she had heard their names before. It was when Roxas had told her about his friends, back in the tunnels.

Even though this was the real Twilight Town – not the virtual one, with the virtual friends that Roxas had had, with the virtual nature Roxas had attained – Anxclof still found herself wanting to ask Hayner, Pence, and Olette if they actually knew a boy named Roxas.

"You okay?" Hayner's voice cut into her thoughts, sounding as though he were a long way away.

Anxclof shook her head to clear it. "Yeah…"

"Are you going to tell us why you were crying?" Pence pressed.

Anxclof frowned. The anger from before pricked at her stomach with his words. She turned her head away almost indignantly. "No, I am not."

"Have it your way, then," Hayner muttered. He straightened. "C'mon, guys."

He turned away. After a tentative, almost apologetic look at Anxclof, Olette and Pence followed suit.

Anxclof glared after them, but then she heard the pleading grumble of hunger coming from her stomach. Apparently the others did as well, for they looked back and stared at her: Pence and Olette with amusement, and Hayner with a raised eyebrow.

The Nobody gave them a small, embarrassed smile. "Um… I'm hungry?"

Me: Whoo. That's over with. Lots of AkuAnkuRoku friendship fluff to keep my flashback-writing side polished, AND Char gets to drive the Gummi ship.
Sora: Oh, no...
Me: Yeah. (puts her hand on his shoulder) May God have mercy on your soul.
Char: (demonic grin)
Me: ALSO! FANGIRL MOMENT! Signal Fire by Snow Patrol should be the Char/Sora theme song, I swear to God.
Char: She's fangirling over her own couples... NOT a good sign... And didn't you say it fit better with Haseo/Atoli, anyway?
Me: It can do two couples at once, because it's just that awesome!
Char: (sigh)