Whoop whoop, I'm so glad you all liked the last chapter! I'll try my best to keep up the good work, and I certainly hope that you like this next chapter!

'What a treacherous thing to believe

That a person is more than a person.'

~John Green, 'Paper Towns'

Xion

Xion's day passed without much excitement, and for that she was grateful. There was nothing she would distain more than having to put up with the problems of people that she barely knew. After Aqua's breakfast, which turned out to be one of the best meals she'd had since Luxord, she'd settled into the futon in Ven's living room and watched the TV across from her as best as she could until her eyes glazed over and she found that she was no longer focusing on anything besides the blurred shapes dancing across the screen. How long would she stay here? It had only been a few days, and yet she felt the clock ticking down on her precious time before she would inevitably have to roam the Town of Twilight for a different place to sleep. There was always Old Man Yen Sid, but she couldn't bring herself to mooch off of the hospitality of an elderly man. Her conscience wasn't yet completely dead. Perhaps she could find someone she'd used to deal with when Luxord was still alive… the thought made her wrap her blanket tighter around herself and shiver. She'd left for a reason, and no amount of self-pity would bring her back to them.

About midevening, however, Xion's uneventful day took a complete 180, and turned into a soap opera. Aqua had been napping in her guest room when the doorbell rang, and though Xion was closer to the front door than Aqua, her legs did not dare move from their position on the futon, and Aqua came running out of the guest room, her big blue hair disheveled from the mattress, and opened the door, revealing a scowling Terra, waiting on the doorstep. Xion quickly settled back down in her nest of blankets and throw pillows, letting her eyelids slide shut. Whatever her host's friend wanted had nothing to do with her, and she figured she might as well let them converse as loudly as they undoubtedly would without having to get involved.

"Hey! I didn't think you were coming over until later?" Aqua inquired, though she sounded plenty pleased that he was there.

"I know, I know, but I need to tell you something…" Terra trailed off, and Xion had to keep from smirking. She could recognize that tone in someone's voice anywhere. She'd heard it often when she still stuck around Luxord's crowd. His friends used that whenever they would speak to her. Nerves. Not just any nerves, though. This was the nervous that came with a confession. This was the voice men used before they exposed their soul. And Xion found it more than a bit amusing that Terra's voice dripped with that. She could almost feel the agonizingly painful silence that accompanied Terra's request. Aqua eventually said, "Of course," there was a pause, and then she continued, "I think she might be asleep, do you want to sit at the table?" There was a silence, but Xion heard footsteps, the front door shut, and the sound of chairs scraping against the floor.

She kept her breath even, careful to stay still, knowing that the two were just ten feet from her body. "What is it, Terra?" Aqua asked her tone casually, but Xion thought she could hear just enough caution lacing her words. There was a pause, and the she heard Terra sigh, and say, "It's been a while, hasn't it? I mean since we all got to really just…hang out. Two years?" "Just about." Aqua confirmed, and Terra continued, "Aqua…do you remember when we were in college and you told me that you loved me?" there was a startling silence, and then Aqua began, "Terra…" "Look, I know, I know, you've been back for like, two days. I get it. But I needed to tell you now or I never would…I know that before I told you that I needed some time on my own, and I got that. And I spent some time with other girls, and the thing was, none of them were you. I couldn't get into anyone else because I'd always compare them to you and they'd never compare to you."

There was a pause, and Xion strained her ears to hear something, anything at all. "I love you, Aqua." Terra said, and then, there was a terrific silence that ended with the sound of lips breaking apart and Aqua exclaiming, "Terra, I can't!" "What the hell do you mean you can't?" Terra questioned. She heard someone shift in their chair-probably Aqua- and then the blue-haired woman said carefully, "Terra, I care about you so much…you're one of my best friends. But I can't…I loved you, but you had to go off on your own for a while, and I was so sad for a while, but then I decided if you needed time, I'd make the most of it, and well…I still love you, but there's someone else, too." "Who?" Terra demanded in a voice that made Xion tense up out of reflex. "Ven." Aqua replied in a small voice, and then there was silence again. Hostile, angry, tense, silence. After a few agonizing seconds, Terra asked tightly, "What the fuck do you mean, 'Ven'?" there was no answer, and Terra continued, "I've spent the last year missing you, waiting to see you so that I could tell you how I feel, and he's already stolen you away from me…unbelievable."

"Terra, please! I thought you weren't going to come around! You stayed away for two years! I thought you were done with me!" "But I was never done with you!" "I still love you, Terra, just give me some time to think about this!" "Aqua, I'm not going to sit around and wait for you to decide which one you love more, because we both know it's him." "Terra, would you just calm down for a minute?!" Aqua exclaimed, and Xion heard the sound of chairs being scrapped against the floor again, and then footsteps towards the front door. "Terra!" She heard Aqua shout as the front door opened, and then shut again. There was a beat of silence, and then the sound of something crashing against the wall and Aqua shout again. There was a flurry of footsteps after that, stomping back and forth from what Xion presumed was the bedroom and the kitchen, the sound of a drawer opening and paper being shuffled around, before the front door opened and shut again, and this time Xion was met with the silence of an empty house.

She opened one eyes, and then the other, peaking around the house, waiting to make sure Aqua was gone. Sure enough, the house was empty. A note had been placed on the kitchen table, stating that Aqua was out to a bar and would not be back until very late. What a whirlwind, there. Everything had happened so fast, Xion took a minute to recollect the past ten minutes, and she found herself giggling. This was why she stayed away from other people. She'd been on her own for essentially the past five years. Sure, she'd had Luxord, but she knew he was not the real company that she needed around. Who she needed around was Riku, but after hearing that little exchange, she was again reminded of why she did not go looking for him. She knew that as much as she needed him, it was far better to be out of contact with him than hear what she was absolutely sure she would hear if she were to see him again. She would rather guess that he did not love her than know for certain that he did not return the feelings that she so often tried to kill inside of her.

Sora

Sora had returned the next morning, hoping that this time he would have more luck with his red-haired friend. The woman at the front desk had greeted him just as she had the night before, and called up to the nurse taking care of Kairi. The woman had told him that she'd just sent Kairi's mother away, and to not get his hopes up about seeing her. The nurse had arrived, and told Sora that she would have to ask Kairi if she wanted to see him, but because of the disruption he'd made yesterday, he shouldn't expect to see her. So Sora had waited anxiously for what seemed like a hundred years in the plastic waiting room chairs, praying to whatever deity was up above that he'd be able to see Kairi.

Finally, the nurse had returned, a strange look on her face, and she'd said that Kairi wanted to see him. Sora could have cried. He thanked the nurse so zealously and grinned as wide as he possibly could. He followed the nurse up a flight of stairs and down the narrow, off-white hallway to Kairi's room. The nurse nodded towards the door, which had been shut, and Sora took a deep breath. Here went nothing. He steadied his shaking hand and turned the handle of the wooden door in front of him and opened it, and stepped inside. And there she was, his angel. Just as she had been yesterday, an IV still protruding from her arm and a heart rate monitor beeping incessantly at him from the corner of the room.

He'd thought of her so much over the past five years. He'd envisioned her walking into the building where he worked, eyes flashing, demanding something outrageous, or perhaps he would catch her eye from across the room at a restaurant. Never in a million years would he have ever guessed that they would meet again like this. With her lying in a hospital bed, lucky to be alive, her eyes glazed over and cold. She was beautiful-she always had been-but to see her so defeated and in such a painful spot. It made his chest ache in a way that he never thought it would. Their eyes met, and for a moment, he could almost forget about the over-sterilized room he was standing in, and the heart rate monitor's noise, and even the whole reason why he was here, in a hospital room. He just knew that he'd finally found her again, and when he got a glimpse into those big blue irises of hers he could not recall a time in his life where he'd been more certain about anything. And his certainty was in the fact that here, in the bed in front of him, was his soul mate.

"Hey," She whispered, so faintly that he half believed that he'd imagined it, until she offered him a half-hearted smile. He could have cried right there. "Hey, stranger." He offered in return, and she looked him over once from head to toe before weakly patting the padded chair next to her bed. "Have a seat." She mumbled. She didn't have to tell him twice, he thought, and he settled into the chair as quickly as possible. She held his gaze the entire time, which he found to be quite unsettling. There was silence for a noticeable amount of time, and he could not decide whether that silence was a comfortable one or an uncomfortable quiet. She finally looked away from him though, and studied the stitching on her blanket as she muttered, "Do you remember when we were kids? And our moms would force us to go on playdates together, and you'd want to play Sword Fight and I'd want to play Princess with my Barbies?" Sora furrowed his brow. Out of all the things to say, especially after she'd yelled at him yesterday, why bring such a thing up? But still he answered her.

"Yes, I do." There was a pause, and then she shook her head, "I wonder if our little five-year-old selves would believe it if we told them what they'd grow up to be like…" She thought aloud. Sora fought the urge to chide her-that any little girl would love to grow up to be half as captivating as she was. Instead he raised an eyebrow and thought about it. What would five-year-old Sora say? He was an employee of a prosperous company before he was thirty, had bosses who adored him, (for the most part) and was financially stable. He knew that his honest answer would probably be that five-year-old Sora would not care about financial security, and would instead worry about how many people he'd battled and how many maidens he'd rescued. He could not answer aloud though, because Kairi continued, "My younger self would be horrified. Absolutely horrified…I was supposed to be a princess," she chuckled for a moment, "A big strong knight was supposed to come and carry me off into the sunset…but we both know that didn't happen."

Sora felt a twang of guilt spring from his heart, and he opened his mouth to apologize, but Kairi stopped him, "I don't want to hear apologies right now, Sora, I really don't. I'm not going to lay here and listen to you apologize to me. But…I do want an explanation." Sora cocked his head to the side, "Explanation?" he inquired. "Why did you wait until now to come find me? Why did you ignore me for five years?" Sora looked down at his shoes, and studied the laces intently. He'd never meant to ignore her. He'd never meant to ignore anybody! It'd just, well, happened. Now here he was, expected to give an absolute answer to her, and he intended on giving her that. He'd been away from her for so long, and had almost missed the chance to ever see her again, and he intended on being honest. He just…couldn't think of a solid reason why he'd never gotten back to any of his friends.

"I guess…I just got busy. At first I figured I needed to get away from everyone in high school. This was college; I thought it was the real world and that I needed to just grow up. I figured I needed to get on with my life despite how much I loved all of my friends…But then I started to miss everyone. I missed you all so much. I wanted to just pick up the phone and call so many times, and I almost did. I really did so many times. But then a thought would come to mind and it scared me silly, Kairi. I was suddenly aware of the fact that everyone else could've moved on, and I'd be the one stuck behind, missing everyone. And I believed that so whole-heartedly, and I don't know why I did, Kai, I really don't. I was so paralyzed with worry that nobody needed me anymore that I just…ignored everyone. Not that anyone tried to talk to me, but I didn't go out of my way to find any of you.

"So I got deeply involved in my major and then eventually my job, and then I just…kept looking forward. I volunteered at speech events and hosted banquets, hell; I'm gathering all our old friends together to set up new managements around the country. I let myself get so unbelievably busy that it became almost impossible to go find any of you guys. But then about a month ago my bosses came to me with a proposal for new company expansions that would require new managers…five, to be exact. And I'd begun to miss you all so much that I told my bosses that I had some old friends to fill the positions…and to think, I was almost too late in getting you back…"

He'd rested his chin on a hand and had been glancing out of the window opposite his seat. His heart was racing and he was trying his best to keep the quiver out of his voice. He waited for Kairi to say something, to start crying, to start screaming, anything. But he was met with a stony silence that rocked him to the bone. The hush was almost too much for him to handle, and he glanced down at Kairi. She lay on her back, her hands crossed on top of her stomach, her once bright and shining blue eyes gazed emptily up at the tiled ceiling, hazed over and utterly hopeless. "Kairi?" he asked cautiously. There was no answer, and he looked up at the heart rate monitor just to assure himself that the girl in front of him hadn't stopped breathing. He tried again, "Please, can you say something? I came all the way here and now you're just going to lay there and let me babble at you?"

She sat up so fast it startled him into leaning back in his chair. "You came all the way here?! You came all the way here." She paused for a moment, and then continued, "Do not act like you are performing some huge chore by coming here, Sora Hikari, don't you dare. You just said that you were planning on coming here anyway, but I guess having to actually walk the walk was too hard for you. I'm sorry that I'm not perfect like you were expecting, and that I hindered your perfect little life! You can go fuck yourself you over-confident brat!" she snapped, and then sat back, chewing on her bottom lip as tears trickled down her cheeks. Sora blinked slowly. "Kairi, you know that wasn't what I meant. I've driven across towns for you in high school when your tires blew out, and I've covered for you when your parents could have found out about those parties you went to. I am not expecting you to be perfect! And whoever told you that I'm perfect is a fucking liar, because I've messed up more than most of the people I know. I came all the way here and I'd gladly do it over again a thousand times because I was worried sick about you. It's not every day that you get a call saying that your best friend threw herself in front of a car…I had to make sure you were okay. I couldn't rest until I saw you…and you're treating me like I'm the scum of the earth right now."

By this time Kairi was sobbing in a way that genuinely scared Sora, and it was all he could do not to wrap her up in a huge hug. "Kairi…please help me. Tell me what's going through your head?" He reached out a hand, and to his surprise, she took it. They stayed like that for a while, Kairi quietly sobbing, Sora watching her with wide, worried eyes, their hands laced together tightly. Once her sobs died down to occasional sniffles, Sora asked in the softest voice he could muster, "Can you please talk to me?" Kairi took a moment to catch her breath, and finally shook her head, "I'm sorry, Sora, but I need you to leave for today." Sora frowned, "But…Kairi-" "Please, Sora, just give me some time. I can't do this right now!" she cried, and a single tear dripped from her long eyelashes. "Well when can you do this?! I'm staying here until you talk to me!" He persisted. "Leave!" she wailed, and he pulled her hand away. He sighed, and stood. "Fine, if you don't want to talk about it, I'll leave. But I'm staying in town until you talk to me." He snapped, and began to exit the room.

"Wait, Sora?" Kairi asked tearfully. He turned, halfway out the door, and raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "C-come back tomorrow, please?" she whimpered, and he gaze softened. He found himself nodding despite how frustrating she was. "Of course, Kairi, of course."

Riku

Riku spent the entirety of the next day further roaming the streets of Twilight Town, asking people if they'd met Aqua, if they'd met Xion, anything that might give him a clue as to where either of the women were. But much to his disappointment, nobody in that entire town seemed to know anything helpful. So after a long and fruitless search, Riku resolved to going back to his hotel suite and getting impressively drunk. He found no other way to smooth over the fact that another day had passed and the love of him life was still out there. His anxiety was growing over whether he would ever see her again, and lingered on the possibility that he may never see her face again. That made him pour the alcohol faster.

Once he'd became sufficiently intoxicated, he managed to detect that his phone was ringing in his back pocket, and pulled the phone out. An unknown number. His alcohol-soaked brain recalled that the last unknown number to call him had been Sora, and so he'd answered the phone, shouting "Sora!?" into the receiver. But alas, it was not Sora on the other line, but a husky voice that muttered, "Well, this isn't Sora, whoever that it. This is Leon." When Riku said nothing, Leon continued, "You know…the man from the bar you talked with last night? Well I just wanted to let you know that that woman with the blue hair, Aqua? She was in here tonight, I have her cell phone number here for ya." Riku gasped, and dove for a pencil near his night table and began scribbling on a receipt from his dinner earlier that night.

When Riku had the number down, he hung up, and stared at the receipt in awe. He could find her now. He could really, honest to god find!" He stood up so fast that he felt a wave of dizziness roll over him, and he stumbled into the bathroom, where he promptly threw up the content in his stomach, and stepped into the shower, all of his clothes still on. He was going to find her after all! He had to call Aqua as soon as possible; he couldn't wait a second longer! Xion was so close to his grasp, he could almost feel her skin, soft as sati, brushing up against his. He stepped out of the shower in a hurry, and, due to the wetness of the floor beneath him, of the overall lack of coordination that he possessed then, he slipped on the floor, felt his head connect with the edge of the bathtub, and then his vision blurred into a thousand blurred, black splotched.

Ugh, I'm so excited to get the next few chapters up, we're actually getting into the meat of the story now, and I just love it! Please review, favorite, etc. Let me know how I'm doing, I really do want to know. I hope you all have a fantastic day!

Special thanks to: mckail397, Lucenthia, 89niners-best-team-ever, FoehammerE419, Zack1187, and Lg. Thanks for reviewing, guys!