Redeeming Endeavor: I'm back and I'm ready to run. Also, check out Kyorii's latest story if you missed it. I collaborated with her and Jomatto.

Wait what?

Chapter 26: Gravity

Months passed, holidays came and went, and spring break finally arrived the week after Naminé's (and Kairi's) 17th birthday.

As a belated birthday present, their mother had led them to a remote lake house on the countryside, hours outside the nearest big city. The lake house had been built on the edge of a small unnamed lake (living up to its namesake), which was a ten-minute drive from the nearest town and the comforting sight of civilization. Unfortunately, the only nearby signs of the modern world were large wooden posts, connected with a seemingly endless wire, that lined the dirt road. The lake house itself had no TV, no internet connection, and an unreliable cell phone signal. But the lake house did have electricity. Then again, so did rich people in the late 1800s, so maybe that wasn't something noteworthy.

Naminé questioned her mother's "gift." Nature was lovely and all, but the lack of a cell phone signal just seemed dangerous. Three women in a secluded lake house seemed like the perfect set up for a horror movie. It didn't help that the lake house was obscenely large for three people. Naminé couldn't think of one reason to rent a two-story five-bedroom house. Were the other rooms there for an axe murderer to hide in?

Whatever the case, she had picked her room carefully. Hers was the closest to the stairs, and she had insisted Kairi sleep in it too since she didn't "want to be alone when a murderer arrives." Her mother had laughed it off and took the master bedroom downstairs despite Naminé's warnings that she'd be the first to go.

Naminé's room was perfect, and not just in terms of escape paths. She picked the only room—besides the master one—with a private bathroom, and her window opened toward the lake. She had spent her past two mornings sitting at the window nook, her window open and her sketchpad in her lap. She had added more details to her sketch with every session until she had captured everything she wanted.

It was well past noon now. Naminé sat at the nook with her back against the wall and her legs stretched in front of her. A light breeze swept by, cooling her face and filling in for the lack of an air conditioning system. Kairi sat on the edge of the lake with their mother. They were painting their nails, idly chatting about something. They had grown much closer after the new year started, and both seemed happier about it. Naminé had asked Kairi about the sudden change in their relationship, and Kairi had explained that she was simply being more transparent.

"I told her everything about Sora," Kairi had said. "She was surprisingly okay with it."

"Everything?" Naminé had asked. She had doubts that Kairi would reveal what she had gotten away with during their summer vacation.

"Fine, not everything. No dirty details, but enough to know that I'm serious about him."

Naminé had never seen their mother support one of Kairi's choices so strongly before. Apparently she was on board with Kairi dating Sora.

Next to Naminé's mother and sister were the kayaks and canoe pulled ashore on the bank. They had taken the kayaks out yesterday, all three of them, and Naminé learned that her physical education classes hadn't been doing enough to keep her in shape. Kairi, of course, was perfectly fine, and even their mother never got tired. Naminé, however, was exhausted by the time they had returned to shore. Her arms were still sore from all the rowing and paddling.

She was a little bored now and wished she had something else to do. She would have settled with a book, but there weren't any in the house that interested her. Above all else, she would have loved to give Roxas a call, but with no internet or phone, that was out of the question.

The last time she spoke to Roxas had been three days ago, or the day they left Radiant Garden for vacation. Roxas had seemed pretty down the entire conversation, which was easily understandable given that he had spent the previous month concocting a plan that would give Naminé an excuse to visit.

Their spring breaks didn't line up, but Roxas had made it clear that he wanted to arrange something for the Island Spring Festival, which happened during her weeklong break and a week before his school break. When Naminé brought it up with her mother, plans had already been made. The lake house had already been booked, her mother had arranged time off, and the plane tickets had been bought.

"We'll meet again. If not soon, then we'll meet in the summer," Naminé had said when she tried to improve his mood.

"That's a really long wait, Naminé. That's a really, really long time."

In general, their conversations since the second semester started had been pretty lackluster. They didn't talk as much as they used to, and Roxas seemed more resigned than ever before. Naminé had a feeling it had a lot to do with Xion's absence, which only made her more frustrated at the fact that she couldn't really do anything for him. When their new semester started, Roxas had buried himself in sports and other extracurricular activities. Their daily conversations had dwindled to weekend conversations, and then even further to once a week or once every week and a half.

Naminé got up, placing her feet on the cool wooden floor. It creaked beneath her as she walked down the stairs. She didn't want to think about Roxas, but those thoughts were as persistent as he was annoying just a year ago. Even after getting some space and separation, she still couldn't stop thinking about him.

She walked outside, slipping on her flip-flops before walking to the lake. The sun shined warmly as the clouds drifted by. It was the perfect day to be lazy; her sister and mother were clearly seizing the day.

"Mom, are we doing anything today?" Naminé asked as she approached her giggling family.

"We're relaxing, Naminé," her mother answered.

"No, we're trying to. Mom won't shut up about how much work she's missing or how much work waiting for her," Kairi said with a laugh.

Naminé pulled a plastic chair over and sat next to Kairi. "Well you can't paint your nails all day. That only takes so long."

Both Kairi and her mother stopped to look up. "And you called me a Debbie Downer," her mother mumbled.

"What's your deal, Nam? Something bothering you?" Kairi asked.

"I'm just wondering if we're doing anything today."

"Hon, quit sulking and sit up straight," her mother ordered.

Naminé sat up. "I'm not sulking."

"Just wait 'til tonight. We're still waiting on the other tenants," her mother said.

Naminé narrowed her eyes. "What other tenants?"

"You didn't tell her?" The question was directed at Kairi.

"I thought you said you were going to tell her," Kairi said.

They looked at each other, shrugged, then went back to painting their nails.

"Are either of you going to tell me what's going on?" Naminé asked. If she knew their new bond would lead to them having secrets, she would have tried to sabotage it a long time ago.

"What time is it? If it's near two o'clock, then you'll find out in half an hour," Kairi said.

"It's three, Kairi."

"Oh. Then they're running late."

"Could you make sure the other rooms are ready? And move my stuff to the room across from yours when you get a chance," her mother said absentmindedly.

"Oh, sure. No problem. Would you like me to try and open the locked cellar too? You know, just so we're sure there's no murderer in the house."

"Just remember to scream if you're about to get shanked. It'll give me and Kairi some time to row away." Her mother gestured to the double kayak with her chin.

"Love you too, Mom."

Naminé stomped off. She asked for something to do, and in a way she got one, but she liked it better when Kairi and her mother were at odds. Their whole mother-and-daughter bonding was getting annoying. And clearly her mother had learned how to deal with teenage sass after dealing with Kairi for so long.

As Naminé hauled her mother's luggage upstairs (with this and the soreness from yesterday's activities, her arms were now on fire and threatened to burn down the house), she wondered who the guest would be. Given that her mother and Kairi were extremely calm about it, it couldn't have been someone too foreign. Probably a family member, or maybe it'd be one of their annoying little cousins and rich aunt and uncle. Those kids were rather spoiled, and a vacation from all their electronics would do them a lot of good.

Naminé hoped that wouldn't be the case. Not only would that be the loudest, most rambunctious lake house getaway ever, but they'd be a liability if she needed to get away from—

She stopped. She really needed to ditch the horror movie narrative and enjoy her vacation.

Maybe it was her dad. Her parents were still on friendly terms, and he did stay with them from Christmas to New Year's Day, which marked the longest time they had all been together since the divorce. But it didn't make sense to rent out such a huge lake house for four people either. Her parents admittedly lived lavishly, but not to the point where they got a place with too many extra rooms. Naminé didn't think her father would survive long without being connected to his work either. The lack of internet and contact with his colleagues would kill him.

Naminé checked the other rooms, opening closets and pulling back shower curtains in the process. When she verified their vacancies, she walked back downstairs to heat up the leftovers from the previous night. The kitchen seemed newer than the rest of the house, as if it had been redone within the past year. The stainless steel fridge and the granite counter-tops appeared to be worth more than the rooms upstairs, and the freshly polished wooden cabinets served as the perfect complement to the black stove-top and elegant faucets. Even the floor tiles looked nicer than the rest of the house floor.

"This is my future kitchen," Naminé said resolutely.

She ate, and just as she was placing her dishes in the sink, she saw a compact car pull into the long stony driveway. She couldn't tell who was in the car; a glare reflecting off the windshield covered the driver up. Ignoring her instinct to call for her mother, Naminé made her way to the front door and walked outside. They were probably the guests she had heard about.

The driver and passenger doors opened. Naminé's breath hitched in her throat.

Sora smiled, folding his hands behind his head and crossing one leg over the other. To his right, Riku scratched the back of his head where his hair had been cut short. Naminé blinked. It was still gone.

"Well, I didn't expect to be greeted at the door. You enjoying my family lake house?" Riku asked. Naminé didn't respond: she couldn't get over the lack of hair.

She heard Sora chuckle. "Been a while, hasn't it?" he asked cheekily. "Sorry we're late."

Roxas lowered the birthday cake his parents had just bought onto the floor behind the driver's seat of their rental car. He hopped into the driver's seat and started the car.

"You never tell me what's going on anymore!" his mom whined in the passenger's seat. "Are you mad at me?"

Roxas deadpanned. "Mom, please stop."

"What happened to my baby boy who used to come home and tell me everything about his day?"

"He's dead."

"I just want to know if you guys are… you know!" his mother said. "Sora told me he was dating Kairi now. And last summer, you were always tagging along with your brother to see Kairi, but clearly you were meeting with Naminé."

Roxas groaned. "So what?"

"You guys get along now!That's a big deal, Roxas. And then every day after school you'd chat with someone on your computer. Was it Xion? Was it another girl? Do you have a girlfriend?" his mother asked, speeding up with every word. "Have you been talking with Naminé ever since summer ended?"

"You shouldn't have eavesdropped, sweetie," his dad chimed in.

"I wasn't!" his mom said defiantly. She turned back to Roxas. "Did you tell her that you're coming to see her?"

Roxas tightened his hands around the steering wheel. He had tried to call Naminé when his mother told him that they were going on a family vacation to the same exact place Naminé had described to him: a lake house, which turned out to be Riku's family's lake house, ten minutes from some rural town and a solid two hours away from Twilight City's center. Unfortunately, his call had never made it through. By then, her cellphone had probably stopped working.

"Roxas, don't ignore me!" his mom whined.

Roxas wanted to slam his head on the steering wheel. He knew this nosiness and energy too well. His brother was the same way, and Sora was definitely his mother's son. There was no doubt about it.

"Sweetie, he's obviously mad at you," his dad said without looking up from his travel book. His dad was taking extensive notes on Twilight City, preparing and planning for the rest of their vacation.

"Are you mad at me?" his mom asked.

"No," Roxas replied curtly.

She turned to his dad. "He said he's not mad at me."

"That's because he doesn't want to talk to you," his dad replied.

Roxas sighed. If Sora was his mother's son, then Roxas knew he was his father's. He turned on the radio, looking for a station that wasn't just static. He found an acceptable country station, turned it up, and hoped that his mother would understand that he didn't want to talk. It didn't stop his parents from chatting.

"Why doesn't he want to talk to me?"

"Because instead of letting him ride with the boys, you dragged him with us to pick up the cake and kept him from his lady."

Roxas clenched his jaw. His dad was on point today.

The rest of the drive was silent. Roxas wondered if Sora and Riku were already at the lake house. They had probably already seen Naminé and claimed their rooms. As miffed as he was about not being there yet, he was grateful that his parents decided to go on a vacation at all. As far as he knew, it was arranged pretty recently, or at least recently enough that he found out only a few days before leaving. Not only that, but he and Sora got to skip the three half days of school that led up to their spring break. The half days were intended for students to enjoy the Island Spring Festival, but Roxas thought a chance to see Naminé was the better choice.

It would only last six days—Naminé had already been here for three days, and they'd probably use that last day to travel back and rest before getting back to school. Still, he really couldn't remember what it was like when he last saw Naminé. It had been nearly a year—or at least half a year—since the time they parted. Staying in contact had both helped and hurt, and recently, it had hurt more than anything else. He had tried to separate himself using more distractions, but nothing was quite as uplifting as see Naminé's pixelated face on his computer screen and hearing her voice talking back to him.

He drove over the speed limit the entire way, earning a couple warnings from his dad in the backseat. Riku's little vacation house was farther from civilization than he thought. He had memorized the directions that Riku had given him already. He wasn't kidding when he said it was secluded. The road he drove on seemed to cut through nature, and pavement eventually turned into beaten path. Just as Roxas began to wonder when they'd reach the house, he saw a lone mailbox on the side of the road. He sped up.

He was here.

He nervously licked his lips, reviewing the possible ways in which he could act. He had practiced a thousand times in his mind, but he knew he wouldn't do anything out of the ordinary. Would he greet her casually? Should he go all out and run up to her and hug her? Should he pretend that he didn't like her as much as he did? His throat felt dry as he pulled in behind the other Riku car that Sora had driven. No one was at the door, but there was another car in the driveway.

"Get your bag and the cooler, Roxas," his dad ordered. Roxas opened the trunk, his eyes trained on the front door. It almost seemed surreal that Naminé was somewhere on the other side of it. He gathered his belongings and followed his mom, who rang the doorbell. Moments later, Naminé's mom opened the door. Roxas stood back as the two women embraced enthusiastically, laughing loudly and yapping like two old ladies who hadn't seen each other in decades, only they were just as shrill as any teenage girl at a boy band concert.

He hadn't seen Naminé's mother—Auntie Lana as he used to call her—since they moved to Radiant Garden back in middle school. Despite being the same age as his mother, his honorary aunt hadn't aged at all. She had Kairi's auburn hair (there were a few obvious gray hairs), but dark green eyes instead. The only difference from his childhood memory was that she was smaller than he remembered: an obvious sign that he had grown much taller since then.

He greeted her with a hug. She commented on his height, mentioning the same thing about Riku and Sora. Inside, they set down their bags in the master bedroom. Naminé's mom sent him upstairs, telling him that his shared room with Sora was the second room on the right.

The staircase was directly across the master bedroom. It was a straight set of stairs that led closer to the high ceiling of the living room, reception area, and kitchen, giving the entire house an open feel. The stairs led to a floor with a wide hallway, with two doors on the right and three doors on the left. Roxas went to the last room on the right and dropped his bags next to Sora's. He sighed in relief when he saw two twin beds separated by a nightstand. He wasn't looking forward to sharing a bed with his brother, but now he didn't have to worry about it.

"Find everything okay?" Naminé's mom asked. He jumped. He hadn't heard her approach.

"Yeah, it's really nice." He cleared his throat. "Uh, where is everyone?"

"Oh, they're not here right now."

"O-Oh."

"Wait, they're not here here!" she said quickly, motioning at the house and the floor. "They're down by the lake. I think they went to take the kayaks out. You should change into your bathing suit and join them! The weather's absolutely perfect right now, so it'd be a shame to waste it."

"Thanks. I think I'll do that then."

Roxas walked over to the window. In the distance, he saw two kayaks, but he couldn't make out the people riding them. It had to be Naminé and the rest of them though. He quickly changed, then ran outside. A small dock stretched a few meters into the water. Roxas walked to the end and sat down. The kayaks were closer now.

He nearly choked on his breath when he spotted her. She was there, sitting on a kayak with Riku paddling from the middle of the lake, her blond hair turned a cartoonish yellow in the afternoon sun. She was still so far away, but she was actually there.

"Holy shit. I can't believe this." Roxas laughed to himself, suddenly feeling drained. He didn't have to wait anymore. Months of texting and phone calls and video chats all led up to this moment, and the weight that he had felt in the days building up to the present disappeared. He was here and she was there in plain sight, wearing a white bikini and an unbuckled lifejacket, just as beautiful as he had always known her to be.

They were paddling toward him now. Rather, Riku was paddling, and Sora and Kairi were paddling in their separate kayak. Naminé threw her head back, probably whining about something. The others seemed to encourage her to paddle as Kairi splashed her. Roxas watched as Naminé looked to the lake house. He wished he could've seen her face when she realized that he was there. He knew the exact moment though: seconds before she was hunched over, her paddle laid across her lap, and now she was paddling clumsily, too quickly.

Roxas wanted to tell her that her movements were very inefficient, but decided it was something he could tell her later. He stood up, waved his arms, and walked back to the bank where a canoe was left ashore.

She was so close now. He smiled, and so did she. She pulled off her life jacket and handed Riku her paddle as they coasted to shore.

"Roxas!"

She stepped out of the kayak as it came to a stop. He took a step toward her before she tackled him with a hug. They fell into the grass, laughing. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed his cheek to her head.

This was all real.

"We meet again," he said. He could hear her breathing heavily into his shoulder.

"Told you so," she said in between breaths. She was hugging him so tightly that he thought he might suffocate, but she loosened her hold a bit. "Roxas, I…"

Roxas let his arms fall to her side, giving her a chance to look him in the eye. He took in every detail of her face. He waited for her to finish. "Naminé? What is it?"

"I… I feel like my arms are about to fall off."

Redeeming Endeavor: How are you fine readers doing? It has been a while. So much for short chapters leading to more frequent updates. That's applying this year, especially since I have a lot more time on my hands seeing as how this is the last semester of my college career and I'm essentially done with my degree and oh my god I'm old.

The goal is to get this done by mid-February. There are maybe two chapters left. Yeah. There are two chapters and an epilogue left, all of which will be around the length of this chapter and last chapter. So that's not a lot! I'll have the updates more frequent for sure, especially since I want to do something for Valentine's Day and have this done before then.

I don't know if you guys know this (you do if you read the top note), but I recently collaborated with Jomatto and xoKyorii. It's under Kyorii's profile, and the story's titled "It's Good To Be Back." We actually came up with challenges for each other and it was a ton of fun, so if you want to read the result of that, go visit Kyorii. We also had a google doc that logged our status updates with each other, the outline that we threw together when we tried to organize ourselves, our rough drafts, and a few conversation highlights, which you can find a link to in my profile. Consider this a PSA: if you like my writing, check out theirs. They're awesome people, yes, but they're awesome writers too.

I think I'll save an important announcement for Chapter 28. For now, let's end my yapping.

I don't know why you guys put up with me, but Versivalia, Marionette of Ancient Relics, FromSoraXWithLove, GengaJupite, KurukiXV, kaibasgirlx, Mina Arellano, Revenge of the Red Pen, Lilaclia, GreyPurpleBlack, Gear001, Satyrykal, CarelessWhispers13, PinkParadise23, Twenty-Twenty-One, CJ122, CherryTree, CascadeofRaindrops, Guest, Xerzo LotCN, GummyDrive, Vitality Astral, Otherguy14, Naivette, RedSeaGlassStories, Brown Eyed Sage, Justice Tokidoki, Bebe17, ADarkerHero, Muledragon, It's My Lucky Charm, LemonCookie2, anon, Listless-Nobody, Bellesora, Eternal Abyss 59, phuckinayes27, Demigod103, Burai Stelar, cloudy112, and Erdric Calhar, you all have my thanks for sticking it out and reviewing despite the long waits. Thank you also to anyone who, in these past millennia, added this story to their alerts or favorites too.

Chapter Data- Total Editing Time: 923 minutes. Word Count: 3736. Twenty-Five Chapter Checkpoint: 19402 minutes (323 hours) of editing time. True Word Count: 200,172. 1126 reviews, 476 favorites, 463 alerts. 122,538 hits.

Were you disappointed with this chapter? If it makes you feel better, the next one's coming out in a week. I say that with utmost confidence because it's already done!

Thanks for reading. Take care, and I'll see you around.