Episode 8: Formal Reformed

It's the second portion of our time in Twilight Town. When I first completed this chapter, it felt short to me, so I then tried to extend it once more. Now you'll get to see what Roxas and his gang have been up to in this chapter, but before that, it's time for prom!

Genre: Romance/Humor

Prom had finally begun and the juniors of Twilight Town High were arriving on the scene at Sunset Hotel through cars and limos. Some were even checking in at the hotel to stay over. At the very top where the main event was being held, students were already taking pictures in the photoshoot area and teachers were watching over the students in case of any misconducts happened around the place. The girls wore various types and colors of prom dresses and the boys wore the usual tuxedos, but each had its own color when it came the ties and vests. Namine, Xion, and Riku finally arrived at the scene once the elevator doors opened. The girls had theirs arms locked on both sides of Riku and walked out. From there, everyone immediately stared at them. "Damn, do we look that good?" Xion cheered, feeling confident in her looks.

"They're staring because Namine is here," Riku told her.

"Can't you let me bask in some self confidence for once?" Xion pouted.

"Not a chance," Riku laughed.

"Namine! He's picking on me!" Namine couldn't help, but giggle at their playful banter since they were acting like little children.

"I'm sure he didn't mean it," she replied. "Let's just go in and—!" Before she could finish her sentence, everyone nearly swarmed her like the fans at the mall except this time they were welcoming her back, but at the same time were asking numerous questions. She couldn't clearly hear what everyone was saying, but she could tell it was about her new job, her co-stars, and what was it like being an instant celebrity. Compared to before, she didn't want to be answering any questions. She barely recognized half the faces she saw around her.

"Come on guys," Xion intervened. "Namine is back for one night only. Make her feel right at home. Don't bombard her with your petty questions." They all groaned and the group around the three started to break up.

"Thank you," Namine let out, feeling like she can breathe again. A few girls passed by and complimented how wonderful she looked tonight and thanked them. "It's funny when you're suddenly famous and everyone acts like your friend."

"Fame," Riku said. "It changes everything. Now let's go inside to our table."

"You saved a spot for me?" Namine asked.

"Of course!" Xion answered. "I left your seat in peace just in case." Namine smiled, loving how her friend always looked out for her. "Plus, you already paid before your audition. You weren't gonna get a refund anyway." And sometimes knew how to say the wrong things to kill the mood.

"How comforting."

"I'm just joking. Now let's go!"

As the minutes went by, Namine was happily enjoying her time at her school's prom because she got to see her classmates, enjoy expensively hotel food, take prom photos, and got to play some games. The only thing she had left to do was go on the dance floor, but she never did because the DJ kept playing fast paced, club like songs in the background and she never found herself to be a good dancer to those type of music except for one time for a certain occasion.

"It's so great to see you Namine!" a female student greeted, giving her a hug.

"You too!" she happily returned and the girl walked off. "I seriously didn't know who she was," she later said to Xion as the two continued strolling through prom.

"Neither do I, but hey, she knows you. It's such a shame you didn't want to bring your co-stars though. Darn Riku for saying such a thing."

"It's a good thing he brought it up. If I did, then I don't think prom would be prom. It'd be some kind of a zoo and we'd be the main attraction."

"C'mon. I think we're all mature enough to handle a few celebrities," Xion laughed off.

"No you're not," Namine raised an eyebrow. "If the people at the mall couldn't hold back, then you guys will be the same."

"Hey now, don't be so down about the type of attention you get these days," her friend advised while she took a seat at their table.

"But you know me. I was used to being alone when I was a kid. Looking back, it actually felt kind of nice to feel like it was just me. I didn't have to pay attention or worry about what others thought of me or notice me. I was off in my own world."

"Until I came along!" Xion happily sang and it made her smile. "First period science in middle school and we became partners. Funny, it seems the only way for you to meet people is through school projects," she continued, referring to Riku.

"Heh, it seems that way, but I'm fine with just the three of us."

"It's not just the three of us anymore.

"Speaking of which, I know you want to dance with him."

"If a slow song happens to come up, then I will." Right after that, a melodious tone started to play in the background and she couldn't help, but stare at Xion like she had something to do with it.

"What a strange coincidence for that to happen, huh?" Xion smirked as Riku tapped on Namine's shoulder, offering his hand to dance with him. "And here he is. Well, I'm off!" Then she dashed away from the scene to give the two some alone time.

"I see Xion isn't holding back," Namine said, taking Riku's hand as he guided her to dance floor with the other students. The two got into position as she put her arms around his neck and his around her waist. "And this was all part of her plan wasn't it?"

"I can bet," he guessed. "It's Xion. The girl isn't scared to show her cards to people." A small silence ensued between the two as they continued to dance. At first they looked at each other and then at different directions as she laid her head on his shoulder. "You always liked listening to ballads."

"I always did," she claimed.

"I remember one time your iPod kept shuffling slow, sad songs in the car."

"He was very sad that day!" Riku snickered as she referred her iPod as a person. "I'm going to miss you when you go away for college. We're gonna be even further apart."

"You moved to an island in the middle of the ocean. I think we can handle the distance."

"So tell me, how am I on screen? The TV version of me?"

"Hmm… she's kind of like you, but only prettier and has a better backbone."

"Prettier than me huh? It must be the makeup. You know how us girls like to hide our flaws with such expensive things we don't really need." The two smiled at each other as they continued to dance. "It's nice how the creators wrote the role specifically for me, but not totally me you know."

"I like to think the TV version of you is someone you ought to be. You have the qualities, but seem to hold yourself back despite what we did and now this." He was right. She did hold herself back on purpose that she never understood why a more confident Namine seemed to emerge at certain moments. It was bit of a mystery to her.

"Maybe I do. Or maybe my brain and heart take over and does things out of the blue."

"No. That would be Xion's doing," Riku snorted.

"Who knows. It's probably her instincts that rubbed off me since we'd always hung out."

"Hey, you forgot to thank me for getting you that job." Namine tilted her head because she didn't know what he meant. "If we never met, then you would've tanked that audition." He smirked at her.

"Such encouraging words." She played along knowing he wasn't being too serious about it. It was his of showing affection. "And without me, you wouldn't have made the decision to go to college so far. You're gonna do great over there. Possibly run into student debt that you're gonna have to pay off for the rest of your life." The boy chuckled at her sentence as she continued on. "But your future career should be able to pay it off too."

"Thanks for your encouraging words Namine. Who would I be if I never met you?"

"A lost little puppy," she giggled.

"And if we're mentioning student debt, maybe you can help pay it off for me?" he winked.

"Haha, in your dreams. But I would help if you were in a big bind."

"Can I confess something to you before you go though?" he safely asked, wanting to change the subject to something else. "Cuz' I don't know when I'll get the chance to talk about this to you personally." Now, this got Namine quite curious of what it was going to be about.

"What is it?"

"I know Xion's been trying to get you and me together for a while now." Those words immediately shot her up and she couldn't keep her eyes off him. "I've always known you had a crush on me."

"Y-you did?" she stammered. She couldn't believe this was happening now.

"But it's not your fault. You can blame Xion," he laughed. "You're good at hiding things, but with her, like I said. She isn't scared to show her cards." Namine was about to say something, but he kept going on, and she felt the need to keep hearing it. "You may or may not like me saying this, but… I don't necessarily like you like that. I love you like a little sister. I'm an only child and when I look out for you and Xion, it's like I'm looking out for my little siblings."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"It's just… hearing this now, it's kind of like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I've waiting so long to tell you my feelings, but since you beat me to the punch… I don't feel anything. I thought I would. Funny isn't it? It's like when you get into this huge hype for something and once it happens, it just burns out."

"I don't want this to change anything," he elaborated.

"Neither do I," she replied. "I think we are better off as friends. Maybe being away from you has made me not really look at you like that anymore. I never gave it a second thought."

"Thanks for saying you don't think of me at all," he playfully pouted and it made her giggle.

"Ha ha. Very funny. You mean something to me Riku and that's all that matters. You and Xion. Besides, we can now say one of her cupid match ups failed," she snickered.

"Oh my god! It's the cast of Destiny Islands!" a girl screamed from the distance.

"What?!" Namine shouted, quickly removing her hands from Riku.

~ Our Life is Not a TV Show or Maybe ~

Namine jaw dropped at the sight of her co-stars all dressed for prom and coming in like a bunch of party crashers. Actually, they were party crashers. Everyone's attention were all on them and prom suddenly became the red carpet. The people who were on the dance floor fled the floor, people who were at their tables left them, and even the chaperones were trying to take pictures with the cast. While she wanted to kind of kill everyone and go Carrie on them because she felt her night had been ruined, she wanted to hide.

"Namine!" Xion called out. "Your co-stars are—!" Xion stopped when she saw it was only the three of them on the dance floor. "…here. Ahehe, I saw them coming up and just knew I had to tell you."

"You guys have to hide me! I do not want them to spot me!" Namine panicked as she started running off to no known direction, fleeing the dance floor.

"And where do you supposed that is?" Xion asked.

"I don't know. Hide me in the bathroom like any other teenager at prom?"

"Should we throw in some crying audio too?" Riku suggested. The girls couldn't tell if he being serious or messing around. "Let's head for the bathroom okay?" The two guided their friend to the girl's restroom and walked inside with Riku standing close to the entrance as a guard to keep an eye on Namine's co-stars.

"Why are you totally freaking out about this?" Xion asked her friend.

"Because of that!" Namine pointed out to, referring to the main entrance. "You saw what just happened. They flocked themselves at them, and for a moment, forgot there was a prom was going on. Like it turned into some fan meet. Sure, it happened to me earlier at the mall and when I arrived here, but not like that. I was one person. Them being here is the whole package. I don't even know how they found me."

"Alright, I know you didn't want them to be here, but you have to remember you're in the public eye now," her friend told her. "You can't hide everything you do without getting your picture taken. They probably found out through some website. You did take pictures with those fans."

"But I wanted this night to only be the three of us. I don't see you guys anymore."

"Namine, we still got loads of moments and memories together before all of this crazy celebrity stuff. Do you wanna know what you leaving here has taught me and Riku?"

"What?"

"That distance has proven to not be a problem for us. We still stay in contact with each other like we always do."

"Okay, but can we hurry up here? We're sticking out like a sore thumb."

"We have time," Riku pointed out. "Look at that crowd. They're our barricade, so let's hurry on up."

Right at the front, the cast of Destiny Islands were happily getting their pictures taken as all six of them were dressed for the occasion. They were used to it, so it didn't phase them except one person kept on posing and loving the limelight. It was none other than Kairi as she kept smiling and posing for the students of Twilight High. "Yes! I'm here!" she shouted in joy. "Your guest of honor have arrived!" Some guys were trying to take picture with her alone with some of their dates actually pulling them away only to take their place to take pictures with her. The same applied to nearly everyone else.

"Namine should be here!" Roxas shouted as a girl tried to pose with him. "Somewhere."

"Namine who?" Kairi asked, not paying attention to her friends as she continued to take pictures. "Can't we just hang out with these people that love us?" Sora immediately grabbed her hand and started to guide her away from all the attention. "Hey! Don't take away my thunder!"

"You'll live," Sora told her, trying to move through the crowd.

"How do we find her in this place?" Olette asked. "There's too much people."

"I'm positive we'll eventually see her," Roxas answered. "Now we need to handle this crowd."

"And how do we do that?" Pence asked. "Everyone's literally here and trying to take pictures."

"Alright everyone!" Hayner screamed at the top of his lungs that nearly silenced the chatter amongst the students. "We're here to party, so let's get down tonight!" The whole junior class cheered and started to disperse to continue the prom. In the midst of this, Namine, Xion, and Riku crouched a bit, trying to exit through the front entrance since the bathrooms were past it. They managed to get the Destiny Islands cast without detection and headed off to the bathroom.

The girls entered the bathroom with Xion storming in to check every stall to see if anybody else was in. Riku stood outside as their watch dog while they come up with a plan to get out. "Alright, we can leave now in the elevators and they'll never noticed us."

"I can't believe I'm trying to run away from my co-workers," Namine whispered to herself. "This is ridiculous. I didn't even get to finish my dance with Riku," she pouted. She wanted to sit down to feel the pity sink in, but she couldn't since it was the bathroom. She didn't trust the hygiene of the place, especially when she was wearing a white dress.

"Oh… did you kiss him?" Xion sang.

"No! We were talking about his future and other things."

"I guess you did get over your crush for him."

"About that… hey, what does that got to do with any of this?"

"Namine, c'mon. You danced with him to a slow song; something you dreamt of doing and imagined him kissing you."

"I hate to burst your bubble, but he knew about my crush." Xion gasped at the news. "Thanks to you from what he said and we decided to stay friends. But right now, I need to get out of here. We can talk about this some other time." Namine started to breathe to calm her nerves and remembered another place of her pain. "God, these heels are killing! Can I take these off?"

"And walk barefoot the whole night?"

"Fine…"

Outside the scene, Roxas and Sora were together going around the ballroom, looking for Namine, but they couldn't find her. They asked some of the students around them, but they gave the same answer where they knew she was at the prom, but don't know where she was or went. "I can't believe we crashed a prom. Her prom. You think she's gonna hate us?" the brown haired boy wondered.

"Oh c'mon. What's the big deal about these anyway?" Roxas asked. "Aren't proms just like school dances, but bigger and teenagers wanting to get drunk and have sex? Followed by something dramatic."

"Not everyone is like that," Sora told him. "These proms are supposed to be a special night for kids our age. We filmed many dances before."

"Yeah, but we don't dress this fancy all the time."

"We're gonna have to when we film our prom episode tomorrow."

"We should've just brought the crew then to film here since we're at a real one. I bet Namine looks beautiful in whatever she's wearing. Maybe she's wearing a white dress. She would look good in that color."

"Most girls do," Sora raised his eyebrow, seeing his best friend drifting into his own world. "Now snap out of it. Let's go check how Hayner and Pence are doing."

Kairi and Olette were paired up together in the search. While Olette was actually doing her part, Kairi wasn't as she kept on looking around the place. "So this is Namine's prom huh?" she examined. "I thought it would be more extravagant like ours. I guess not," she spatted, looking down at the place.

"Not everyone has all the money in the world Kairi," Olette replied, turning her head in different directions while holding up her dress since it partially touched the floor. "I think this prom is very nice. It even has a great view of the sky out those windows."

"Sucks there's not much stars to stare off into." Olette rolled her eyes since her friend seemed to keep finding the negativity in everything around them. "I can't believe we agreed to fly out here to search for Namine. Hello, the girl didn't even tell us. I'm sure she doesn't want us here."

"Don't be like that. Namine likes us. Maybe not totally you, but she likes us regardlessly."

"I just can't see what Roxas sees in that girl."

"Can I say something?"

"No and don't even try to comment on my love for Roxas." Kairi knew Olette was going to mention it to her, but she didn't want to hear it. "I like Roxas. End of story."

"How one-sided can you get?" Olette whispered to herself.

"What was that?!"

"Nothing."

Namine and Xion slowly opened the restroom door to peek outside. They saw nor one of the others, so they slowly started to come out. "Alright Riku, let's make it to the elevators, so we can get out of here," Namine told her friend. He nodded and stood in front of her to hide her appearance. So far they were easily walking on by without bumping into any familiar faces until an upcoming obstacle stopped them in their tracks. As the three were approaching the main entrance to the ballroom, they saw Roxas and Sora getting closer. "Oh no!" They started to back up a little bit to get away from their sights and luckily weren't detected. "Whew! Now what?" She peeked at the side of Riku to see the two talking to Hayner and Pence by the elevators. "Oh they're good," Namine glared at the four. "They know I'm here and blocked the only exit."

"There's the stairs," Xion suggested.

"We're on the top floor," Namine retorted.

"The roof?"

"Well, now what do we do?" Riku asked as the three got into a corner with a closet door, giving Xion an idea.

"Hide in this janitor closet!" Xion advised, opening it.

"What?! Are you crazy? I am not going in there!"

"We're going to distract those two idiots by the elevators and you make your way when you have an open window," Xion responded.

"There has to be a better—!"

"Crap! Roxas is coming this way!" Xion whispered harshly, shoving Namine in the closet, which caused a large ruckus inside. Luckily, Roxas didn't hear it as Xion simply smiled when he approached her. "Hey Roxas… didn't know you were coming to our prom. It's such a surprise to see you all! Thanks for coming!"

"Oh, you must be Namine's friends from the auditions," Roxas recognized. "Have you seen her around?"

"Me? No, she went…" Xion and Riku nervously looked at each other and back at him. At the same time, they gave an answer except it wasn't the same one. Xion said she went to the bathroom, but Riku said she went to grab food to eat. Roxas looked at them strangely as the two once again tried to give the same answer except this time it was the other way around.

"She… went to the bathroom," Riku told the spiky blond. "And went to grab a bite to eat. I think. That's what she said before."

"Yeah! Girls. What can you do about them? We're a complicated species," Xion laughed off and tuned it down to a nervous tone.

"That's strange. Maybe I'll send Kairi and Olette into the bathroom while I check the food area." He was about to leave until Xion instantly grabbed his wrist to stop him. "Is something wrong?" She stopped to see what she was doing and then his face, thinking of an excuse.

"Um, uh, how bout I go with you?" she suggested. "I am looking for her too anyway."

"Ok then. Let's go," he agreed, dragging her with him.

"Whoa! Hey! Not so fast! How did you guys even know to come here?"

"Her parents. Once we found out where she really was, we dropped by her house to get some answers."

Hours earlier

Roxas had called in the others for lunch and all of them managed to come without Namine. He still felt down she couldn't come, but thought she was pretty worn out compared to them. The six of them went to the place Kairi wanted to go to earlier and took their order already since it was only acai bowls they were getting. It was a popular place to eat for the bowls, which meant it was crowded. They were offered an immediate seating, but denied it as they wanted to wait like everyone else except Kairi, but her friends kept her in check of her actions. Sora, Kairi, and Roxas sat next to each other with Hayner, Pence, and Olette sitting across from them. "I wish Namine got out of her bed to eat with us," Roxas pouted. "She would be seating at the end of the table with us."

"I swear, this guy has been talking about her non-stop," Kairi pointed out. "It's bad for our image."

"Aww… does someone have a crush on her?" Olette asked, smiling, seeing Kairi glare at her, but she didn't care. She never did like the fake relationship she had with Roxas for the press. "You two have been hanging out quite a lot."

"You have," Hayner agreed. "Even though we started hanging out with her more, you're still ahead of us. But that's probably because you do like her. C'mon Roxas. Don't try and deny it."

"I do not!" Roxas denied. "We're just… good friends."

"You guys do everything together," Pence added. "From eating out, playing games, working together, text, call, and a bunch of other things. You mind as well be dating each other."

"He's in a relationship with me," Kairi replied and everyone looked at her. "Cuz you know… that would be bad for us and our show."

"No, I'm sure some people know it's fake," Pence said, making Kairi gasped.

"They do not!"

"Kairi, you don't have to fully play out this act of yours," he replied.

"That's what I said," Roxas told him.

In the midst of the conversation, Sora was browsing on his phone and was looking through some Twilight Town local news reports since it was his hometown that he dropped on down once in a while to visit. One story caught his eye because it had Namine as the main picture above the headline. It read: Namine Hamasaki Back in Twilight Town. He clicked on it to see a small article about her return to her hometown and a picture of her with a group of fans in front of a shoe store. He couldn't believe it after Roxas told them that she was off sleeping the whole day. A part of him wanted to tell everyone the news, but thought she might have a good reason why she didn't want them to know her real whereabouts. It became obvious to him that she asked her parents to help cover for her since Roxas said he ran into her mom. He eventually decided to keep the news to himself until someone took it before he could put his phone away.

"Let me see that," Kairi ordered, snagging his phone away.

"Hey! Give that back!" Sora demanded.

"Why? Got something to hide Sora?" Kairi asked. "Like… naked pictures?!" she smirked.

"What?! No! I'm not that stupid to do that! Now give me back my phone!"

"Oh my god…" she continued, starting at the picture on Sora's phone.

"What?" Roxas asked.

"Those shoes in the front window are beautiful!" she screamed. "I must have them!"

"Kairi!" Sora yelled.

"What? Oh, Namine? Yeah, totally her," she said, tossing Sora's phone to Roxas. "Looks like our newbie has made a secret getaway back home."

"We must go after her," Roxas highly suggested, being serious about it.

"Are you out of your mind?" Pence told him. "It is five hour flight to get to Twilight Town."

"So? We made tons of trips to other places together," Roxas answered.

"This isn't some movie where you magically get on the plane instantly to see someone," his friend responded.

"Don't we have some sort of private jet?" Roxas asked.

"I do…" Sora admitted in shame, not wanting to go, but it was too late already to say 'no.'

"Then it's settled! We are going to Twilight Town! But first I want to go to her house to get some answers!" Roxas was about to get up, but Kairi stopped him. "Hey, we need to go."

"At least have the decency in waiting for our food. I'm hungry," she told him.

"Fine."

After getting their bowls and finishing it, the six of them took a trip to Namine's house to get some answers from her parents, namely Namine's mom. Roxas once again rung the doorbell and Mrs. Hamasaki opened it. "Oh hi again Roxas," she greeted and later saw the others. "What brings you here again? I wouldn't want to wake my daughter," she nervously laughed.

"We know she's not here," he replied.

"Whhaattt?" her mom sang. "Really?" Roxas and his friends busted into the house and started to gather in the living room. "Okay, so she went back to Twilight Town for her junior prom," she confessed. "I don't see the big deal about it. She has her reasons of why she didn't say anything. She even turned off her phone to avoid contact with you guys."

"That explains why she's not answering," Roxas said. "Where and when is the prom?"

"I don't know. You probably will find more answers in her room, but please respect her privacy too," her mom advised.

"Thank you," Roxas answered. As the six were about to head up, Namine's mom immediately took a seat, feeling weak already. "Are you okayMrs. Hamasaki?"

"I'm fine. I just never ate lunch yet."

"Oh my god, your nose is bleeding!" Kairi pointed out as everyone started to see red liquid from her right nostril.

"Ugh, I accidentally hit my nose earlier when I was trying to open a cabinet," she explained. "I thought it stopped earlier, but I guess it came back. Roxas dear, can you please get me a napkin?" The teenager went into the kitchen to grab a small napkin, torn it from the roll, and gave it to her. "Thank you. Now go find some answers in my daughter's room." The six started to leave and head on upstairs. As they were about to head up, Sora stopped and looked back to see Namine's mom clean up her blood.

"Sora," Pence called out.

"Yeah, I'm coming up."

~ Our Life is Not a TV Show or Maybe ~

The closet door opened and Namine struggled to get outside as supplies kept falling on her. "Damn it!" she softly growleed, trying to get the falling objects steady. Some people were looking at her strangely and noticed it. "Like you never been shoved in a closet by your own best friend!" she shouted at them and yelped at the end of her sentence since it was loud. Riku came by as she was left alone. "Oh good. You're here. Xion shoved me in a closet!"

"That's nice, we have to move now," Riku said, not sounding sympathetic for a moment since his mind was on hiding his blonde friend.

"What's the rush?"

"One of them is close to finding you." The two were walking past a few people as he tried to find her a new hiding spot since Xion was keeping Roxas busy by leading him in the wrong directions. The two were fine until they turn around a corner and see Sora approaching. Both softly gasp and turn the other way. "You think he saw us?" Namine asked, but Riku didn't say anything as the two kept on walking without looking back.

"Namine!" Sora yelled.

"Crap!" Namine cursed, trying to run faster, but her heels weren't letting her. "How does any girl run in these?!"

"You go ahead of me and I'll distract Sora," Riku told her.

"And where do you suppose I hide?"

"I don't know. Now go!" Namine ran back into the ballroom as Riku stopped Sora in his path. "Sora right?" he asked.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm one of Namine's friends," he answered.

"I thought you did look familiar. What's that her with you earlier?"

"Huh? She was right by me? Darn, I guess I just missed her," Riku lied. "We should go find her together!" he suggested, remembering what Xion did to Roxas.

"Where am I supposed to go?" Namine wondered. "I was having such a good time here until they had to come on in and ruin it all. Now I'm running around like a maniac with these heels killing my feet and possibly bruising them." She felt exhausted and stressed that she needed water to rehydrate herself. She carefully looked around and saw that the coast was clear. She ran on over to the beverages and started to chug down some cups of water. She felt great again in gaining back some energy and then she saw some macaroons on the sides and started to grab those too. "These are so delicious," she told herself. As she was looking at the table, Kairi and Olette happened to appear by her side to get drinks too. She saw them and immediately turned her back toward them and slowly eat her pink macaroon while holding a cup of water in the other hand, listening onto their conversation.

"I swear, there are a dozens of students here and we can't find her one bit," Olette complained.

"I know, it sucks," Kairi bluntly put it, not trying at all. "We should totally leave this place and wait for her to come back tomorrow for work."

"Now we came here because Roxas made us."

"Roxas made them come here?" Namine whispered. "I can't tell if that's sweet or annoying."

"I didn't even agree to it," Kairi pointed out.

"Not like you had a say in it because he knows what you're gonna say," Olette replied. "Hey, wasn't it weird how Sora reacted to those Toy Story toys in her closet? Then again, she had every single one of the characters. I'm so jealous because I could never find the time to collect them."

"Yeah… like they have some sort of past together," Kairi smirked.

Hours earlier

Roxas opened the door to Namine's room and saw everything was neatly in place except for the bed and the floor near the closet as it was littered with clothes all over the place. He assumed she was in a rush to leave since he sensed she left early in the morning before he or anyone woke up. "I remember the last time I was here, Namine attacked me in her bathroom," he said out loud, making the girls gasped and slapped on both sides of his shoulders. "Ow!"

"What were you doing in a girl's bathroom?!" Kairi yelled. "You know that's an invasion of privacy!"

"Hey, I was buried by a bunch of bathroom supplies!"

"At least she knows how to fight back," Kairi retorted. "Sort of."

Roxas went over to her bed to see her laptop still on, so he opened it to see the last page she was on. It was left on a Facebook event titled, "Twilight Town Junior Prom." He scrolled through it to see it was being held at the Sunset Hotel and it was going to start at six o'clock. He knew they had to leave soon if they were going to make it in time. "Sora?"

"Yeah?" he said, looking around the place.

"How fast can you get that jet of yours?"

"As soon as you want it." Sora was looking around the place and happened to stumbled upon Namine's closet, turning on the lights. He went inside and saw numerous clothes hanging around the place, along with shelfs and boxes in the area. One box caught his eyes as it said "Childhood Stuff." He tried to reach for it since it was at the top. He struggled to get it down as he wiggled it from side to side until it finally came crashing down. "Damn it!" Everyone heard the commotion and came in to see a bunch of toys littered around him.

"What just happened?" Olette asked.

"Some things fell down. You guys can go. I'll clean it up and then we can go," Sora replied as he bend down to see a bunch of Toy Story toys around him while the others left. Namine had every single character from the first movie and it was because he gave them to her when he left. To make sure, he picked Buzz Lightyear and checked to see his name was still written on the toy's right foot. He formed a small smile on his face and picked the Woody toy to check his right shoe too to see Namine's name on it. He remembered he gave her the toys because he had the other half of the set that completed Namine's collection, which was why they played together all the time. "Hmph, she kept it all," he murmured, feeling nostalgic.

"Sora?" Kairi called to see him. "What's taking so long?"

"What's it look like? I'm cleaning."

"More like reminiscing if you ask me. Do these toys mean anything to you?" she simply asked, bending down to help out.

"They're from Toy Story," he answered and looked at the toys scattered around the floor. "And half of them were mines and half of them were hers. We had a complete set together and I gave them away as a goodbye present."

"I'm surprised you remember something like this all the way from that time," Kairi replied, astonished at how far Sora can remember. "I can barely remember the last nanny I had when I was a kid."

"As a kid, I could easily remember things. I didn't know why. I just did. It's one of the reasons why I was great at remembering my lines as a kid."

"Huh, now that you mention it, it's possible you have a photographic memory," Kairi insisted, picking up the toys one by one. "You just look at something and have imprinted in your brain. Hmm… that means you could be the smartest person out of all of us then."

"Let's hurry up and clean this, so we can get on the plane."

"Sora, I know Roxas is your competition—."

"He is not my competition Kairi."

"Don't worry. I have this under control. Once I have him, you'll have her. That is the plan."

"Maybe I don't to follow it anymore."

"Hey, don't go rogue on me now. We have got the writers to push for a Sora and Namine relationship and its going well. Heck, I even believe the chemistry to be real onscreen and it's great for storytelling."

"We're not you and Roxas."

"You're right. There's only one of us."

"I wonder what he would think of you right now."

Kairi froze on the spot by his words. She never thought he would say such things when it was a fragile subject to talk or mention to her. "I think it's best we get going now," she sternly replied, dumping the toys in the box and stormed out of the room.

Now

"C'mon Kairi. Sora and Namine never met each other till she came here," Olette responded.

"I can't believe they went through my room," Namine whispered to herself. She was about to leave until Olette's voice stopped her, causing her to panic.

"Excuse me, we're looking for a blonde girl. Her name is Namine and I was wondering if you saw her," she asked.

"Uh…" Namine stopped as she had to come up with a solution. "I think I saw her go in the bathroom," she answered in a very girly, high pitched voice with her back still facing the two.

"Thank you," Olette answered, taking Kairi with her.

"Whew," Namine sighed as she headed toward the opposite direction of the two.

"Whose ready for the award portion of the evening?!" Xion shouted in the sound system that blazed through the whole room as everyone in the ballroom started to cheer. The announcement made Namine stop in her tracks. If her best friend was up on the stage, she wondered who was distracting Roxas for her. "Everyone gather around on the dance floor! Or stay in your chairs if you're too damn lazy because now it's time to get the show going!" At that point, the prom committee was up on stage as they announced each category, such as 'most likely to succeed,' 'best sense of humor,' and 'class clown,' and gave each award to two winners of both genders. It was going by rather fast as all the juniors clapped at the end of every title. Namine herself was distracted since she knew some of the people that won and almost forgot she was trying to hide.

"Namine?" a voice called out to her, which made her turn head in different directions. "Don't you recognize my voice?" She finally found the source and it was Roxas, who had one eyebrow raised and his arms crossed on his chest.

"Roxas," she squealed. "Fancy meeting you here. I was just about to go!" She was about to run for it, but he immediately grabbed a hold of her arm. She had no other escape as she knew a long talk was coming her way. She tried to get out his grip while turing away from the stage until her best friend made one last announcement.

"We have one more award to give out," Xion announced. "It's fairly new. Namine? This one is for you. From all of us." Everyone in the room scanned for her and a spotlight just so happened to spot her quickly on her back. She slowly turned to see all of her former classmates' eyes and it felt nerve wrecking that she felt she was growing numb. The fact Roxas was actually holding her hand now didn't cross her mind. From a small distance, Kairi glared at the two at their little interaction, but no one noticed. Namine slowly started to make her way on stage through the crowd as Roxas let go of her hand as she headed on up. Anyone who was in her way pushed themselves aside to make a path for her and by the time she got on stage, she immediately felt numb to her bones as stared off into the crowd. She scanned it and saw her co-stars were together, right in the middle of it all, then at Roxas was not too far, and lastly at Xion. "As you all know, Namine is a dear friend of mine and I'm pleased to say this on behalf on all of us."

"W-what?" Namine mumbled not knowing what was fully going on.

"We know you've been away for a few months now, but that doesn't mean we haven't noticed you," Xion read off a piece of paper. "We always have and it is not because you're on our television screens every week these days. We never forgot for what you did and we haven't gave you the proper thanks and celebration. As we all know, we had a mean girl who tortured our whole class and believed we all were part of some hierarchy. Not you. Not me or Riku. Not anyone."

Namine was taken aback. She couldn't believe her classmates were actually thanking her for something. She hardly knew most of them yet they still did this for her. Its no wonder why Xion and Riku wanted her to come back. It was intentional and imperative. She felt slightly bad though for seemingly taking the credit for what her and her friends, including her own mom, did for her whole class. It was because of them that she was able to stand up to the meanest girl in her class. Then again, when she happened to get the last laugh, people seemed to remember that the most.

"Which is why we present you 'The Badass' award," Xion held out a mid-size trophy that was a clenched fist for Namine to grab. Namine couldn't help, but giggle at why the trophy looked the way it did as it was a pun to what she did. She grabbed it and slowly looked at all of her former classmates cheering her on while holding on to it. Then her best friend handed her the microphone.

"I have to say something?" she asked, and Xion nodded. "W-wow. I-I seriously don't know what to say. I-I may not totally know all of you, but I just want give you guys my thanks. I almost didn't come because of work, but thanks to two of my best friends, I'm here to celebrate. Hope you guys enjoy the rest of your evening," she finished as the praising continued while she walked off the stage to place the precious award on her table. She needed a breather from the scene and decided to go outside on the terrance. Once she passed through the glass doors, she proceeded onward and the only things she heard were the music playing inside, her heels clicking on the ground, the engines of the trains down below, and the calm wind breezing through. She went to the ledge and laid her arms on it to look over her hometown.

"You know," a familiar voice sounded, making her jump in fear, and turned around to see it belonged Roxas. "That was quite moving to see what your classmates did for you. You really must be popular here, huh?"

"Popular isn't exactly the word I would use to describe my old social status here," Namine replied. "How did you guys even found out where I was?" she asked him.

"Your mom."

"Figures."

In the midst of this, Xion peeked through the window to watch the scene since she followed Roxas, but she wasn't alone. Riku and the rest of the cast of Destiny Islands started to peek through the glass windows while the rest of juniors continued to party all night. Xion was with Sora and Riku, Kairi and Olette were at one glass window while the next one to them were Hayner and Pence. "I can't believe my best friend gets to be alone with Roxas," Xion cheered.

"If you were working with us, this isn't new," Sora told her. "They always hang out with each other."

"So we've been told," Riku replied.

"Ugh, I should stop this right now before it gets anywhere," Kairi said as she was about to open the door, but Olette stopped her.

"Hey! Don't ruin this moment!" Olette told her and Kairi didn't say anything after that. "You can be so childish sometimes."

"We should take a picture of this," Pence suggested. "But I left my phone in the car."

"It's amazing we get to see all of this in person," Hayner said.

Back with the two outside, Roxas continued to explain what they did before coming to Twilight Town. "Alright, we found out online. You're in the public eye now Namine. You can't hide for everything from the media."

"Xion told me the same thing," Namine replied.

"Then she's a great friend," Roxas said.

"You damn right I am!" Xion shouted, but everyone tried to shush her.

"She is, but did you guys have to follow me here?"

"I thought it would be a great experience for us to see a real prom," he answered, walking toward her now. A part of him knew that was entirely a lie because he didn't want to say that he just wanted to see her. He had a feeling that he couldn't shake off when he heard she was gone even if it was only going to be a day. He had spent so much time with her that he wanted it to keep on going.

"I just wanted to spend time with my best friends for this one day," she told him. "I barely see them since it's work, work, work, back at the islands. I'm amazed that I still have energy left in me."

"You're not the only one tired Namine," he told her once he close to her. "I'm exhausted too, but we have a job to do. You know there's work that needs to be done tomorrow."

"It's just being here has reminded me all that I have left behind. I had such a simple life. All I had to do was be a teenager. Go to school, hang out with my friends, do homework, help out at home, and do teenager stuff like prom. And its only been a couple of months."

"You're probably home—."

"Then you guys come crashing in and suddenly become the main attraction. Why? Because you're the cast of Destiny Islands. Everyone loves you guys. A part of me feels like you guys kind of ruined the night for me when everything was going so normal."

"I'm sorry. I didn't think we would ruin it," Roxas sadly responded. "But, nothing is ever normal. I've known that for quite a while when I was a kid. The entertainment industry is surely packed with a bunch abnormal things."

"With you guys as living proof," Namine grinned.

"Hey now, we're totally like other teens out there. You've hanged with us for quite some time now. Don't we act like other groups?"

"Besides having money and fame, I guess you kind of do," Namine responded. She then turned around to face the city again to enjoy the view. "You know, I missed looking at this place. My friends and I once snuck to the top of the clock tower to watch the sun set." Roxas made a fake gasp.

"Namine, you know that can get you in scandal," he laughed off. "We should stage an intervention for trespassing."

"Very funny Roxine."

"Now that's not funny Nami."

"To me it is," she laughed. "It'll be my little nickname for you."

"We'll see about that." Roxas grabbed her from and started to drag her to the middle of the empty terrance. He took her hand and spun her around to face him and smoothly got her in his arms in a couple's dance position. Once that happened, the music they heard from inside turned into a mellow 90's R&B song. "Alright, I didn't know that was going to happen," he said, referring to the timing of the moment.

"Or did you?" Namine wondered, giving him a skeptic look, but she did this on purpose to mess around.

"I swear I didn't!" Roxas denied, which made Namine smile and giggle at his reaction.

"Shut up and dance with me."

"You know the others are watching us right now?"

"Mhm. Privacy is a thing I knew I had to give up once I signed up for this kind of life. Maybe I should retract that and come back here." Roxas scoffed because he knew she was joking around. "Okay, okay. While I do miss it here, I have found a great new life in Destiny Islands. I mean, who says Twilight Town can't be my only home when I have wonderful people at the islands too? You were the first person I saw when I arrived and I'll always cherish that because you made feel right at home."

"I'm always full of surprises. Not your usual hotshot actor huh?"

"No, but you are a guy who crashed my prom." Roxas gulped at her sentence. "Oh yes, there are going to some consequences Roxas. But for now, let's just dance a little bit longer and go back to the others." While the other teenagers were simply watching from a distance, Kairi couldn't help, but feel a sense of grief. Sora noticed the look on her face as her eyes started to water up.

"Kairi?"

"Huh?"

"Your eyes."

"The dust on these stupid curtains are burning them!" she quickly replied, rubbing her eyes out.

"You can't hide everything from me Kairi," Sora continued and she didn't respond.

"Do you want me to toss you off that ledge outside," she threatened while flashing a smile. The image in front of Sora actually frighten him, but he wasn't backing down that easily.

"Sure, but I'm dragging you with me," he smirked.

"They're coming back!" Xion called out as everyone got away from the windows and saw the two entering into the ballroom. "Hey guys! We totally were looking for you! Not like we were spying or anything," she obviously lied. "Right Riku?"

"What?" Riku asked as Xion slapped his stomach. "Yeah… totally," he awkwardly put it.

"We know you guys were looking," Namine called out. "Which is why we cut our little dance short."

"Sorry for the ruckus we caused earlier," Olette apologized to her.

"It can't be helped," she answered. "You guys are here and things have quiet down for a bit." Then an upbeat pop song started to play in the background after the slow song and it made Namine think one thing to help end the evening. "Now, we must dance it out together." Then she was making her to the dance floor as she held onto Roxas' hand without realizing it. Roxas noticed, but didn't care because he felt he was getting closer for her to fall for him. Everything was happening so naturally that he didn't need a plan. It all came in place.

"What does that mean?" Hayner wondered, following the two.

"It's something we did before," Riku replied, following his friend to the dance floor.

"Just go with it! I want the chance to dance with you guys!" Xion cheered, dragging some of the other boys with her.

"You're coming with us!" Sora said to Kairi, pulling her along with him as did Pence with Olette.

"But everyone is dancing already," Roxas pointed out, looking at the other students gathered in one area. His comment made Namine giggle at how literal he was about it.

"You had to be there to get it," Namine responded as everyone followed her. She forced her way into the middle easily with Roxas and started to dance as she see fit without caring what people thought of her dance moves and Roxas went along with it. The others also joined them and boogied on down with the rest of the juniors class of Twilight High School.

And so prom night ends and our time in Twilight Town. This won't be the last time you see Xion and Riku for sure, but for now, you won't see them for a while until I bring them in for another reason.

Thanks for reading and leave a review or any thoughts if you can!