This is it, people, the final chapter. It's been a blast writing the stories of the Kingdom Hearts cast's lives after Xehanort's downfall, and I'm looking forward to showing off the Marvel connections to the Acolytes of Chaos saga. Since we haven't really had a lot of POV chapters from Namine in a while, I figured I should have this last chapter be from her perspective, and I decided to give her some interaction with Xion, since they only ever had one conversation together in 358/2 Days. And yes, the title of this final chapter is a deliberate call back to Roxas' six days in the fake Twilight Town in the prologue of Kingdom Hearts 2.

Episode 32: The First Day:

Twilight Town – High School Auditorium

September 1, 2015

Namine fidgeted nervously as she, Roxas, and Xion sat in the bleachers among all the other incoming freshmen at Twilight Town High School. Today was the first day of school, and the first period of the day was the new student orientation. Classes would start tomorrow, and today was reserved for the new students picking up their schedules, paying the various fees (She and Xion doubted they'd end up going to sports games, but Roxas figured having a student pass to get into school games would come in handy when they needed to get out of the house for an evening), and sitting through the welcome assembly.

Personally, she thought it was overkill, but who was she to judge. Between being held captive by the Organization and living with DiZ, she'd never really understood the purpose of something like school. A look at Xion's face told her that the replica was just as baffled by the concept as she was. Only Roxas looked like he remotely knew what was going on, and that was only because he at least knew how school worked from his fake memories in the simulated Twilight Town DiZ had forced him into. Hayner, Pence, and Olette promised to help the three of them out, but today they were on their own.

Speaking of DiZ, however, she'd finally gotten the chance to speak with him about all the verbal abuse he'd heaped on her in the year that she'd lived with him in the mansion. Ansem the Wise apologized profusely for his actions, but that didn't mean she forgave him yet. He may have had a change of heart and regretted the things he'd said, but that didn't make the pain go away. She'd spent the majority of her short existence being told how she didn't have any right to exist and how worthless she was. Her shattered self-esteem wouldn't repair itself simply because the man responsible said he was sorry.

But Vanitas, Riku, and everyone else in the support group had been right. Working up the courage to face him had been a big step on her path to healing. Now she could finally stop dwelling on the past and focus on her future. Movement down at the bottom of the bleachers brought her focus back to the present. What do cheerleaders have to do with freshmen orientation? She wondered to herself as a group of girls dressed in brightly colored outfits and carrying pom poms strode out into the center of the audience.

Half an hour later, the orientation finally ended, and the three of them carefully made their way through the crowd of students stampeding down the bleachers towards where different staff members were waiting to break people up into groups and take everyone on a tour of the school. When they got to the ground, the three of them checked the tickets they'd been given indicating what group they were in before looking for the corresponding sign. Xion and Namine were in the same group together, while Roxas was placed in a different group.

As the two girls made their way through the crowd of students toward the faculty member holding the sign for their group, Namine was glad that Xion was in the same group as her. Roxas was a good friend, but Namine enjoyed hanging out with other girls. That was why she got along so well with Olette and Xion. Although Namine had been nervous about how the replica felt about her, Xion reassured Kairi's Nobody that she didn't have any ill will towards her over what had happened back when Sora was in his coma.

"My death was going to happen no matter what any of us did," Xion had said. "You and Riku helped me come to terms with that and make the time I had matter." Namine had felt much better at that, and the two of them had been firm friends ever since. As they walked in the back of the group listening to the tour guide spout off trivia about the school and its history, Xion leaned over to Namine and whispered in her ear.

"I think the tour would be a lot shorter if they just focused on what each building is for," she remarked quietly. "All this trivia doesn't mean anything to me." Namine nodded her head in agreement.

"I guess it's just one of those things we never really learned before when we were just Nobodies," she whispered back. "It'll take some getting used to, but I wouldn't trade any of the stuff we think is weird or pointless for anything."

"Me neither," Xion replied softly. "Having an actual life as more than the Organization's pet experiment is worth a little initial confusion." Namine whispered that she agreed before the tour guide's voice rose as he finally stopped talking about trivia. The two girls listened silently from the back as the man went back to outlining where things were. Yes, they and Roxas were quickly learning that there was more to being human than simply having a heart. While they all struggled with basic details of adjusting to society (Lea, Hayner, Pence, and Olette explained everything the best they could, but they couldn't really cover every aspect of life in only a month) to varying degrees, they all agreed that their new life was worth all the confusion at the beginning.

And that is the end of Regroup and Rebuild, ladies and gentlemen. I'm going to take a break from writing for a day or two, then start on the one-shots of Ripple Effects. That fic will be posted in the crossover section as a Kingdom Hearts/Avengers crossover, so be on the lookout for the first chapter this weekend. Just a heads up, Ripple Effects will be fairly light on Kingdom Hearts characters, but the events and concepts of the games will be subtly referenced throughout. While Regroup and Rebuild was about one-shots showing everyone's life when all the fighting is done, Ripple Effects will be focused on world building and tying the Marvel, Disney, and Kingdom Hearts elements of the overall story I have planned together.