Le KH Fangirl: What I mean is that while the one-shots in Regroup and Rebuild are all set in the span of a single month, the stories featured in Ripple Effects take place over the course of several decades. Regarding what's canon in the MCU as far as this overarching story is concerned, only Phases 1 and 2 are canon as far as my Acolytes of Chaos fics are concerned. Basically none of the MCU movies after the end of Phase 2 happen in this story. Even though Civil War will already be out by the time I eventually start my KH4 fic, I'm taking the marvel side of the story in a different direction for the AOC saga.

6 more chapters to go, ladies and gentlemen. This is going to be another feelsy chapter, so grab your tissues.

Episode 26: Homecoming:

Destiny Islands – Pier:

August 26, 2015

Sora smiled as he pulled Kairi up onto the dock on the shores of the main island. They'd gone back and picked up their raft to sail home. They'd dragged it up onto the shores of the smaller island and paddled home in the boats they'd left moored there when they left. It had been a great vacation, but with school starting in less than a week, it was time to head home and start getting ready for their senior year. It was funny to think that after all they'd been through in the fight against Xehanort something as normal as school seemed so alien to them.

As they finished tying up their boats, they prepared to walk back home. Or they would have, if they hadn't gotten distracted making out like the lovesick teenagers they were. Only the arrival of Tidus and Wakka, who were heading back out to the small island for an evening of blitzball practice, made them break apart, blushing fiercely. The moment ruined, they settled for a romantic stroll through town as Sora walked Kairi home. The two lovers reminisced over the things that had happened on their tour of the worlds, both romantic and comedic. After dropping Kairi off at her house, Sora walked back to his own. He was looking forward to telling his parents about all the cool things they'd done on their trip.

"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" he called out as he opened the front door with his key. His parents called out for him to join them in the kitchen. When he walked in, he found his mom cooking dinner while his dad set the table. To his surprise and confusion, his father was setting out plates and silver wear for four people instead of only three. What's going on? He wondered in his head before asking his parents if they were having company over.

"Remember what we told you about your older brother?" his mom began after she sat the whole family down at the table for the discussion. "he was lost at sea during a storm?"

"Yeah…" he replied hesitantly, starting to put the pieces together in his mind. My brother's alive, he thought to himself in shock. "I take it he ended up on another world after that storm we all thought he died in, and he's finally made it back home?" He'd always wondered what his life would have been like if his older brother was still alive. Now it seemed like he'd finally get to find out.

"Yes," Emi confirmed happily. "When you called to let us know you and Kairi were coming home we decided to finally have a family dinner with the four of us." A knock at the door brought everything back into focus. Eager to meet his brother for the first time, Sora raced to the front of the house before his parents could tell them that he'd already met his older sibling. He was surprised and confused when he opened the door to find Ventus standing on the porch.

"Oh, hey Ven," he greeted, confused as to what the younger (physically at least) Keyblade wielder was doing here. "What's up?"

"Did mom and dad not tell you yet?" the blonde haired boy asked with a chuckle.

"Wait… what!?" Sora spluttered as he struggled to process what the other boy had said. Why did he… he wondered mentally. Of course! He realized everything makes sense now. Ven told me how he couldn't remember anything about his past after Xehanort created Vanitas, and that was the year I was born. A year after my brother was lost at sea. Xehanort must have rescued him from the storm only to force him into being his apprentice. And he never came back because after Xehanort split his heart he couldn't remember where he came from. Ven is my brother…

Though his thoughts were racing through his mind a mile a minute, he was aware enough to see Ventus nodding to confirm the unanswered question. Without a word, Sora reached forward and hugged his long-lost brother, welcoming him home. Though he'd already known Ventus for a while now, finding out that he'd been sharing his body with the heart of his long-lost older brother made him cry tears of joy. He'd just been reunited with the brother he thought he'd never get to meet and he couldn't restrain himself with how happy he was. After drying his eyes, Sora led Ven inside, where their parents greeted their oldest son with a warm welcome-home hug.

As the reunited family sat down for dinner, Sora realized how much things were going to change around the house. While Ven explained that he was still living at the Land of Departure, there were some things that both brothers were going to have to get used to. For the last several weeks they'd seen each other as friends, and now they needed to adjust to being brothers. It shouldn't be too difficult, since they got along so well anyway.

"So did you tell them about you know who?" Sora asked after taking a sip of his beverage. Sure Vanitas had proved that he'd apparently turned over a new leaf, but he wasn't sure how his parents would react to the fact that their oldest son had a clone. They were fine with Roxas (he hadn't really figured out how to explain Xion yet), but he was a little concerned that they might reject Vanitas because of his whole "pure darkness" thing. Ven quickly caught on to what he was thinking and answered the question.

"Yeah, I told them about Vanitas," he replied. Their parents quickly added that as far as they were concerned, Vanitas was always welcome there. "He just hasn't really come around," he explained. "He keeps saying he's busy at work with Coalition Intelligence, but I think he's just not really comfortable with people being so nice to him yet. He did say he'd try and come for dinner tonight though." And a few minutes later, there was another knock at the door, and Ven opened it to find Vanitas standing nervously on the front porch.

With the addition of Vanitas, the conversation expanded to the dark teen's work at the C.I.N. Sora and Ventus were both concerned that Maleficent's cabal was still at large, but their parents told them to stop worrying for now and enjoy the peace while it lasted. Vanitas looked a little uncomfortable answering so many questions from Sora and Ven's parents, and Sora couldn't help but wonder if that was how Roxas had felt before the simulated Twilight Town when his heart had really started to grow.

When everyone finished the meal, Sora and Emi went inside to do the dishes while Taro, Ventus, and Vanitas cleared the table. When Ven's father offered for the dark Key bearer to spend the night, Vanitas nervously attempted to decline, only for his light half to insist he stay.

"Sleep overs are one of the most integral parts of being a kid that you never got to do with Xehanort," Ven said. "So you might as well check this off the to-do list of things you never got to do living with Xehanort now." Vanitas reluctantly agreed, and a few hours later, Ven's dark side found himself sitting on the couch in the living room in a pair of Sora's old pajamas that had been found under his bed a few days ago.

He would have preferred to just sit quietly and meditate in the corner or something, but Sora and Ventus had roped him into a monster movie marathon, complete with soda and popcorn to keep them awake all night. But underneath his sarcasm and running commentary of the movie, he was enjoying himself. He never got to do anything so casual with Xehanort. Life with the old man was a constant cycle of 8 hours of training, sleep with random strangers at the nearest brothel in order to obtain a decent meal, come back to the Keyblade Graveyard, find something to keep himself busy for the rest of the day, sleep for ten hours, and repeat. And so the pure dark Key bearer went to sleep that night with a secret smile on his face, and a tiny flicker of light in his coal black heart.

So after all those various feels, some as-yet-unasked questions need to be answered.

The whole thing with Vanitas having a bit of light growing in his heart, I figured it made sense because if darkness can grow in a person's heart, then why not light too? Besides, I can't imagine Vanitas would stay all dark forever after what he's been doing in this fic.

Next chapter is just going to be Sora and Ven having some warm and fuzzy sibling bonding. They didn't really get a chance to interact much in The Xehanort War aside from one bonding scene right after Ventus got woken up, so now I'm going to have a whole chapter of sibling bonding. And the first major interaction Sora and Vanitas have really had since the end of TXW, too.