Chapter 98: One Night

After helping the elves repair Christmas Town and Max returned to Christmas Town with Jack, Goofy and Donald. The three had explained to them what had happened with Lizza and said that this world was safe once again for now. After fixing up the town, Sora explained to Donald, Goofy and Riku that Santa has allowed them to stay in the villa for the Christmas holidays so they could enjoyed themselves in another world for once. While Donald and Goofy liked the idea of having a chance to play in the snow, Riku wasn't sure whether they should stay if the Order are trying to capture Kairi but as soon as they had received a call from Hikari that she and Brian were joining them, it was funny how fast he agreed. The minute that Brian arrived onto the world, he had fixed the deflect that Max was suffering from and made sure that they garments didn't change, seeing no point in keeping a disguise when Santa already knows that they are from another world. The only ones that kept their Christmas outfits were Sora, Kairi, Donald and Goofy, wanting to keep to the Christmas theme.

At the moment, Sora, Brian, his chocobo, Steve and Hikari were enjoying a cup of hot coco with marshmallows enjoying the Christmas songs that Brian was playing on his unloved guitar, Max, Goofy, Donald and Kairi were outside enjoying the snow with Jack Skeleton while Riku was in Santa's office, having a good talking to about telling children that Santa Claus didn't exist.

"A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight. Walking in a winter wonderland." Brian sang on his guitar as he strum the cords, his chocobo jumping up and down in delight.

"I thought Christmas songs were played on the piano?" Hikari smirked as she took a slip out of her coco.

"Well, I can't play the piano so you get what you're given." He said to her playfully before placing his guitar down, allowing the elves to place the Christmas songs back on.

"I'm surprised that you came down, Brian." Sora grabbed one of the cookies that were set by the side of him. One of the elves said that there was a special deliver from Sora, saying that it was dressed to him with no name left behind, leaving Sora with the packet of cookies.

"Well...'Gravity'" Brian quickly casted, making the plate of cookies fly from Sora's grasp to Brian's hands.

"Hey! Those were my cookies." Sora whined, only making the mage laugh.

"Anyway, after telling Hikari that you guys managed to get a villa and around ten minutes of arguments, I decided that I should bring attention my unloved guitar and share it with you guys as a gift." Brian explained, eating Sora's cookies with pure joy.

"Have you been able to find anything?" He asked with curiosity.

"Actually!" Brian fed a cookie to his chocobo, "Jiminy managed to help me find a connection between the reports that I have been reading, right Jiminy?" He grabbed his brown bag and placed his hand in there to pull out a familiar cricket.

The cricket jumped of the gloved hand and onto the table next to Steve, you could tell that the chocobo chick was ten times larger than what the cricket was, "I noticed from the reports that it kept mentioning a resistance within them, saying that Brian and the Devon brothers used to go on missions for them to stop the Order."

"Well, that's great right?" Sora asked, looking at his friends for some answers. "We know that there are more people that are going against the Order."

"I wish." Brian huffed.

"The last report that was there said that there was a full-scale attack at the resistance base, the rest of the report was crossed out." Hikari explained.

"As well as the dates that each report was taken." Jiminy added.

"It explains where the password for Little Devon came from." Brian said, "The reports said that the base was called Cornwell Crescent."

"So another question for your brother..." Sora spoke as confirming what he has heard.

"Not like he will tell us anything." Brian growled, only to get a peck off of Steve. "Oww!"

"Kwek! Kwek! Kwweeeeek!" Steve flapped in front of him with an annoyed look.

"What?" Brian looked at his chocobo in confusion.

"I think Steve is telling you to stop worrying." Hikari translated.

"KWEK!" Steve jumped happily before turning to an opening door, "Kwek?"

"Guys quiet, Riku is back." Sora quickly shushed them as he tried to hold his laughter, watching Riku and Santa come into the sitting area.

"Now Riku, have you learned your lesson?" The jolly red man asked him as Christmas songs played within the workshop.

The silver head sighed, trying to ignore the content laughs that he was receiving from his friends, "Yes Santa, I promise that I won't tell any more of my friends that you do not exist. I have learned my lesson."

"That's good to hear. Now I must get back to work." And with that Santa left and a room of laughter entered.

"Ha Ha. Laugh it up." Riku glared at Sora the most as he watched his friend fall of his chair out of laughter, making the other two laugh even harder. Since he had asked Brian to change his appearance, he was back in his original clothing with a red Santa hat similar to Sora's, covering one of his eyes. "So, what actually are we gonna do for Christmas day?"

"It's simple. We'll make our gifts." Hikari simply said.

"Easier said than done, Hikari." Brian said with a laugh, "How are we gonna make gifts for all of us and with the elves busy making toys, I doubt that they will let us use the toy making machines this close to Christmas."

"Sora, didn't you get a chance to use the toy making device last time you was here?" Riku asked him as he took as seat, taking the cookies next to Brian and began to eat the rest.

"Yeah but it was past Christmas last time." He answered.

"Well, we'll do Secret Santa then." Hikari simply said.

The door burst open, revealing a happy- hyper Max with his reindeer like father and his duck-snowman friend behind him, "Guys! They're playing 'Rocking around the Christmas Tree.'" Max grinned.

"Awwwww our Christmas song!" Hikari grinned as she jumped out of her chair, "Brian, you know the drill."

"Sure do!" Brian smirked as he grabbed his guitar and began to play as Max and Hikari began to sing to the song, brining Christmas cheer to everyone.

Rocking around the Christmas Tree

At the Christmas Party Hop

Mistletoe hung where you can see

Every couple tries to stop

Sora looked around the crowded room, noticing the reindeer like Goofy and Snowman like Donald but no sign of the familiar red head. He quickly made his way through the crowd and headed outside, not noticing that a friend's grin had landed on him while another looked with concern.

BOWBOWBOW

The words of the Christmas song muttered in his head as he bid Jack Skeleton farewell, seeing that he needed to head back to Halloween Town to let Sally know that he was alright. He continued to hum the song as he began to head to the Villa where his friend should be. As he reached the villa, he wondered why Kairi would be in the Villa all on her own and not with the others, enjoying the random Christmas songs being sung and the embarrassment on Riku's face when Santa told him off. He looked around the town, looking at the area where they had fought Lizza when she revealed how she managed to –

Sora froze from realisation. She knows! Oh crap! She knows! He had completely forgotten about it from the heat of battle as well as the tragic story how Lizza had come into the Order. Now that he thought about it, there were a number of things that he seemed to be confused by.

First; there was him. It's not that he didn't want the ability to affect him in a way, he was in love simple as that but he remembered Major Snake saying when he revealed that Brian was an Endless was that other Endless couldn't be affect by other Endless' abilities. Does that mean that the virus could be fading away? What that a good thing or a bad thing?

Second; there was Riku. He wasn't sure what his friend felt when it came to love now; he knew that he used to have a crush on Kairi and it was obvious after what happened on the gummi ship that Riku has possible feelings for HIkari. But for some reason, he wasn't sure what part of love was affected and he couldn't stand the fact of losing Kairi over his jealousy again.

Then there was Kairi. She was affected by the ability just as much as he was, could there be a possible chance that she felt the same way that he did or was she hiding away in the Villa because she didn't want to break his heart by saying that she was affected because of another, hearing that will properly break his heart all together.

He shook the possibility out of his head straight away before looking back at the door with question. What do I do? Do I bring it up straight away? Should I wait until the subject falls in our laps? Should I not confront her at all? Ahhh, Roxas! Where are you when I need you? After knowing that two members of the Order have already tried to take her as well as one finding his way because of his open heart, he was wondering if he could close his heart-

No. He thought, that will be changing myself completely. I have just gonna come clean. He nervously walked up to the wooden door and prepares to open the door when he feels his heart pull him away out of nerves. "Come on, Sora. You can do it." He told himself, he didn't know why this was so hard for him, maybe because this was it; this was when he was actually going to come front about everything, everything his heart has been dying to say for the last couple of months.

Just as he goes to try again, the wooden door opens up, making the red head walking out bump into the Keyblade Master. "Ohh." She looked up to see who she had walked into, "Sorry Sora, I was just about to meet up with you guys." She smiled at him.

"Kairi..." He said her name softly, making her look back at him in confusion. "Is it alright if I talk to you about something?" He asked her, as if his eyes were begging her to say yes.

"Sure. I'm always here to listen." She smiled as she walked back into the Villa with Sora following behind her, shutting the door behind him. "So, what's up?" She asked as she set herself down on her bed, patting the bed as an invite for Sora to join her.

Sora nodded as he sat next to her on the bed, looking nervously down at his feet before looking at her, "I-I got you something." He smiled as he dug through his pockets, "I was gonna wait till Christmas Day but-" He pulled out a brown bag and handed it over to her, "-Merry Christmas, Kairi."

"Sora."She smiled at him as she took the present off of him, "You know you didn't have—" She opened the gift to find something she didn't expect to receive. "Sora, how much did this cost? I don't deserve this." She told him and she handed him back the present.

"Yeah." He held her hands and pushed the present back towards her, "You do." He reached into the brown bag to pull out a silver 2 inch chain with a plate to hold the chain together. He moved himself so that he was behind her, unclipping her pearl necklace, replacing the old chain with the new one and placed the necklace back onto her. "There." He smiled, "Perfect."

Kairi looked down at her pearl necklace, something that she has had since a little girl, looking at the chain that held it with wonder before looking back at Sora, "Sora, I love it. Really I do." She smiled at him lovely before feeling arms fall around her, she could only guess that was one of the things he wanted to hear and she could only guess what the others things were.

BOWBOWBOW

"Jingle bells! Jingle bells! JINGLE ALL THE WAY!" Brian and Max sang loudly as the two held on to their fifth cup of eggnog that night, only for Hikari to shake her head in humour, muttering something how this happens every Christmas holiday. "Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh, HEY!"

"You guys are idiots!" Hikari laughed at his two friends, seeing that Donald, Goofy and some elves were enjoying Max and Brian's mad performance. She looked around to see familiar keyblade wielder heading to the door. "And where are you off to Silver?" She giggled.

"Well..." He smirked, "Sora has been gone for a good half an hour, most properly with Kairi. Sooo, a little payback wouldn't hurt."

"I would love and come with but-" All she had to do was to look back at her two crazy friends, one of them had managed to fall off the sofa there were standing on and there face was now in a bowl of eggnog. Her point was proved for her.

"Knowing Sora, he will properly chicken out." He chuckled as he headed towards the door.

"Hey Silver!" She smirked, looking above the Wielder of Dawn before approaching him.

"What is i-" His eyes widened and closed at the same speed from feeling Hikari's lips on his.

"HOLY CRAP!" Brian gasped at the sight, "HIKARI PULLED!" He shouted before tripping over once more, only to hear the laughter from the others, including his chocobo.

Hikari pulled away from the blushing teen, pointing upwards at the item that caused her action. He looked up at the item above only to shake his head in amusement.

Mistletoe but of course!

BOWBOWBOW

"Kairi..." Sora breathed in, "There was another reason why I've been overprotective." He said

"Really?" She looked back at him with concern, "What is it?"

At first, the Keyblade Master looked away from her eyes, knowing that he would crack under her glance but after a wonder, he sighed as he looked back at her. "I've been having this dream ever since I ran into the Colonel at Disney Castle." He began to say. "It would be Riku, Donald, Goofy and this guy going through this random castle in search for you. The vision would be from the guy's point of view, running and running through this castle, reaching the top over to get stopped by this barrier and to see-" he paused for a minute, seeing the dream flash through his eyes again.

"To see me." Kairi finished for him.

He nodded at this, "You were fighting against the Colonel." He told her, "He broke Oathkeeper in half and he—" He didn't finished as he shot away from her and looked down to the ground, sighing sadly as tears began to form. "I promised you that I would protect you only to dream a horrible fate. I promised to keep you safe and I'm not even in the dream of your end. I watched your smile, your body, your heart just-disappear. I'm supposed to be your friend and I wasn't-"

"Sora!" Kairi pulled him from behind and held him close. "I'm not going anywhere." She assured him, "It was just a dream."

"But dreams like that have their way of becoming reality." Sora looked at her with fear and worry in his eyes, "This dream have been haunting me with everything I do, acting with everything my heart says, aiding the virus within me, destroying who I am." He closed his eyes, holding his heart tight as if expecting his heart to get ripped from breaking the deal he had made with the soul. He didn't want to hide anymore; he didn't want to be someone he wasn't. He wanted to step into the light he used to live within and fight for.

"The virus..." Kairi slowly repeated, looking at him with worry not because of what dangers Brian had warned her and Riku about if Sora was to know that others know about his virus but because of this dream and what has been happening, he had feared that he was losing himself, piece by piece, that he was changing, that he was going to break the promise he made to her those innocent few years ago.

"I feel like that I'm not myself anymore. That this thing that got a hold of Roxas and controlling is changing everything I am. The only thing I know that lets me know that I'm still myself is that I still follow my heart but now-"

"Just because of what has happened with the Order members, doesn't mean you should close your heart off." She told him with a serious look, surprising the boy next to her slightly. "Sora, I know that some things look impossible at the moment but your friends are here, everyone one is here for you, everyone connected to your heart is here for you." She told him.

"My connections are breaking." Sora spoke as he continued to look at the ground, looking at his claw. "Yours and mine broke because of what I did." He sighed once more, "I don't deserve to be your friend anymore, Kai-"

"NO!" Kairi turned him around to face her, grabbing his face so that he looked at her, "That is one thing I will not allow. I have nearly lost you so many times already and I'm not going to lose you again. Not after everything that we have been through." Tears began to form as she spoke. "Even after facing Lizza, are you going to take back what you said about love being our light?" Sora's eyes finally looked at her in surprised while Kairi let go of his head shutting her eyes in regret of bringing up the subject.

He continued to look at Kairi, the two remaining in silence before saying, "As much as I want to say it, I know now that at this moment...we can't be together." He spoke, risking everything he held dear in his heart. He watched Kairi gasped slightly as she looked at him with a look he couldn't catch, "I don't want to lose you." He said, "We will be each other's weakness, the Order will be able to use us more." He watched as he saw Kairi's face turn away from him, he moved himself closer to her ad he held her chin within his claw, "Kairi, I believe when I say that I care about you more than any of the worlds and my heart won't be here without you. You're my light."

Kairi sighed happily; some tears still falling from her eyes, feeling the softness of Sora's hand rub away her tears. "You're right." She hiccupped, ""We can't—"

"We will be though." He stood her, "When this is all over, it will be just me and you, Kairi. No more travelling around the world, no more keyblades, just the two of us enjoying life...together." He smiled softly.

She smiled at the thought of being on Destiny Islands again, no more fighting, no more journeys, just the two of them fully free to let their hearts out to their full content. She looked up at him, only to see how close they had come to each other once more, the situation seemed different from before, the both of them noticed that their eyes seemed to shine for something more this time, maybe knowing what to the two of them feel for each other thanks to the Order has had an effect on their hearts, just knowing the fact that the two possibility felt the same had their hearts beat faster than any affect can do to them.

She could feel his breathe crawl across her skin, sending chills that over he could give her, slowing placing her arms around his neck while he placed his claw on her shoulder as he moved slightly closer to her, their noses and foreheads touching, their eyes locked and a comfortable silence between them, their eyes speaking for them finding that the same request rested in them.

One night to forget anything that has been happening, one night to feel the light once more, one night to let their hearts speak once more, one night where there will be no talk of Heartless or Unbirths, or the Order or the Virus, one night to forget the possible dangers ahead for them, just one night to let their hearts be together once more.

"One night for love." Sora whispered between them as he began to close his eyes, closing the distant between the two of them as he placed his lips onto hers, ignoring his claw flashing rose pink before fading into a black greyish colour.

BOWBOWBOW

[Recording...]

"Well done guys." Riku smiled as he saw his friends together, holding the cam-recorder that he managed to steal off of Max while he was getting eggnog, even though he was getting even with Sora for catching him and Hikari together and telling Kairi, he couldn't help but be happy for his friends, only wondering whether this is a one-off thing or if they are actually be together. He watched from the window his two friends pull apart, watching Sora pull Kairi into a hug, looking as the two enjoyed each other's company. He lowered the recorder and began to head back to Santa's workshop; perhaps Hikari would need a hand dealing with that eggnog high Brian and Max.

[Stop]

He placed the recorder in his pocket and made his way into the workshop, only to see a shocking sight. Max shot past the silver head faster than he has ever seen him run, he assumed that he was either getting Sora or Kairi or heading to the gummi ship, Donald and Goofy tried to came the elves down as well as explaining to Santa Claus what had happened. The chocobo was flying around in panic and Hikari was on the floor, trying to aid her friend. On the floor was Brian, breathing heavily as he held his chest in pain. Riku stepped a bit closer to see what was wrong with the mage, "What's goin-" He halted his actions as he looked at Brian with wide eyes.

His arm was fading in and out of existence.

A/N: WRITER MOOD! I've been waiting to writ this chapter for so long! After watching, Mickey's once upon a Christmas, I got the inspiration for this chapter, deciding the crew should have a Christmas party. Consider this a Christmas present guys. I know that there won't be alot of messages since I updated yesterday but I will answer the ones that are there.

Janus-juan: AWESOME! Your first! XP. The gummi was Hikari. I hope this speed is good for you for updating though this is the first that I have updated within a day.

Transitions End: You speak truth! Lol

FloraFaveXNara-Wire: Awww thank you.

Kisdota-The Freak Gamer: Noooowww Halloween Town is done. Lol. I tried making it like a normal fight chapter, just that every emotion will affect the chapter different. Love can make things overdramatic sometimes I guess. You will just have to wait and see where they go next.

YAY! Sora and Kairi finally kiss, only for Brian to suffer with part of him fading away. Why could this be? Enjoy!

Kingdommad