"Come on, Riku," Lea whined, letting his Keyblade drag on the ground. "Let's take a break!"
Riku sighed in exasperation. "You just had a break half an hour ago."
"But we've been out here for hours!" Lea pressed. "It's hot, and I'm tired!"
Crossing his arms, Riku shook his head firmly. "You think you won't be tired when you're out there fighting Heartless? Now take it again."
Lea groaned and lifted his Keyblade, ignoring Kairi's snickering from nearby. When he had asked for a Keyblade, he had never expected so much training to go with it. Riku wasn't messing around, either. It was clear that he had very high expectations for his two students, and he didn't tolerate slacking off.
"Hold the Keyblade with both hands, and point it straight at the target," Riku instructed.
"All of this work for a simple Fire spell," Lea muttered. "You do know who you're talking to, right? Fire is kinda my thing."
"Just do the spell."
Begrudgingly, Lea did as he was told. "Fire!" he shouted, jerking to the left at the last second. Flames leaped from the end of his Keyblade and engulfed a bush a few feet away from the target.
Riku quickly summoned his own Keyblade and cast a Blizzaga spell onto the bush, immediately putting out the fire. Turning, he glared at Lea. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
Lea put on his best innocent face and shrugged his shoulders. "Oops?"
Placing his hand on his forehead, Riku sighed and shook his head again. "Fine. Take five. I'll work with Kairi for a while."
"Thanks, boss," Lea grinned, giving a playful salute. Dismissing his Keyblade, he crossed to a nearby bench and took a seat, stretching one of his legs out across it. The bench afforded a great view of the beach and the ocean, stretching on as far as the eye could see. Lea took a deep breath of the salty air, then turned back and watched Kairi shooting the target. Unlike him, she was the perfect pupil, always trying her hardest, asking all the right questions, and listening to everything Riku said. It wasn't like he hadn't been learning himself, and acing everything that Riku threw at him, even if it took a few tries. He just had a slightly different idea of how long and how often the training should happen, and also just enjoyed giving Riku a little bit of a hard time.
A smirk crossed his face when he thought again about Riku's reaction to that last stunt he had just pulled. The Keyblade Master reminded him a bit of Isa, with his no-nonsense attitude and dry humor. He wasn't sure that Riku had quite come to appreciate his own sense of humor like Isa had, but when they weren't training, at least, Lea felt like they could grow to be friends.
He had certainly gotten to know Kairi better throughout this training process. Their relationship had started out rocky and awkward, mostly because of his own guilt over having kidnapped her as Axel. She had dismissed his frequent apologies, and didn't seem to be bothered by having to hang out with her former kidnapper, but he still had a hard time forgiving himself. It wasn't like he had had any intentions of hurting her, but at the same time, it was his fault that she had ended up in Saix's hands and locked away in the Organization's castle. But as they worked side by side, Kairi had not only shown him kindness, but seemed to want to be his friend. She was easy to talk to, and they often bonded over training experiences and laughing at each others funny stories. In a way she was beginning to feel like the little sister he had never had.
Then there was Sora. Lea felt like his relationship with Sora was probably the most complicated of them all. Sure, he was a really nice guy, and they often found themselves chatting freely like they had been friends their whole lives. But it was hard to look at Sora and not see Roxas. Lea had hated Sora for a long time without ever having gotten to know him, even though he knew that Sora had no say in what happened to Roxas whatsoever. Then he found himself defending Sora, though only for Roxas' sake. He had never imagined that they would end up being friends in the end, but Sora's perpetual grin and zest for life were hard for anyone to resist. Lea knew that Roxas was still in there somewhere, and every once in a while he would catch glimpses of him in something that Sora said or a certain face he would make. Those moments were always bittersweet.
"Hey guys!" As if he knew Lea was thinking about him, Sora appeared in the distance, running toward them with something in his hands. Kairi stopped her Keyblade work and waved happily.
"Hey Sora," Riku greeted him as his friend drew closer. "What's up?"
"I brought ice cream!" Sora announced, out of breath, holding the blue sticks up in the air proudly. "Who wants some?"
"What flavor is that?" Kairi asked.
"It's called Sea Salt," Sora replied. Lea nearly gasped in surprise, but stopped himself.
"I don't know why, but it just sounded really good to me," Sora continued. "Almost like I was craving it, even though I'm pretty sure I've never had it."
"That sounds gross," said Riku.
Kairi laughed. "I'll give it a try."
Handing her one of the ice cream bars, Sora turned to Lea. "You want one?" he asked.
Lea swallowed the lump in his throat and gave a nod. "Sure," he answered.
Sora crossed to the bench and gave Lea an ice cream, then took a seat next to him. "This is pretty good," he commented. "Salty and sweet at the same time."
As the familiar flavor melted in his mouth, Lea let the memories wash over him. If he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine that he was sitting on top of the clock tower with Roxas again. Opening his eyes, he sighed. "Sea Salt is actually my favorite ice cream flavor," he said.
"Really?"
"Yeah." He debated for a moment whether or not to continue. "Roxas and I used to eat these all the time."
"Oh." Sora went silent, and Lea wondered if he should have kept that part to himself. After a minute, Sora spoke up again. "You think maybe...that's why I wanted some? Because of Roxas?"
Lea smiled slightly. "Could be. I think sometimes he's closer than we both realize."
"Yeah," Sora nodded, taking another bite. "Maybe he really is."