Author's note: Age: Kai - 17, Eli -16

Eli was perched on a branch of his favorite tree, swinging his legs. He'd been waiting months for this. He and Kai had originally met while Eli was Dreamwalking, and once they'd figured out the other was actually real, they'd started planning. So while he was mostly sure their meeting in the waking world was going to go off without a hitch, there was still a little nagging doubt in the back of his mind. They'd gone over everything, hadn't they? He'd be able to find Radiant Garden, no problem.

"Hope it's soon, I'm bored."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth before a Corridor of Darkness warped open just feet away from where he was sitting. Startled, the brown-haired boy let out a yelp before he fell off the branch, crashing to the ground below. He was greeted by a snicker, and a pair of black sneakers standing next to his head.

"Nice one there, Eli."

The teenager made a face at the sneakers before looking up to meet the amethyst eyes of their owner. Kai was just smirking at him, and Eli scrambled to his feet, trying to act like he hadn't just fallen out of a tree. Totally graceful here, yep.

"You're late. We said noon, didn't we?"

Kai rolled his eyes, closing the Corridor behind him.

"I forgot my watch, give me a break. Wait, I never had a watch. Does it matter that much?"

"Well, yeah, I thought we'd have lunch and go see aunt Ray before we left-"

Kai took an involuntary step back. Eli'd told him stories about that woman. Somehow he didn't think it'd end well if Eli introduced her to a playmate of his that used Darkness as much as he did.

"Nope, sorry, I want to live."

"C'mon Kai! She's not gonna do anything to you. Except maybe ask a lot of questions. And want to know what else you've done besides portals...and maybe she'll want to come with to make sure I stay out of trouble..."

Eli was starting to see why Kai thought meeting his aunt was such a bad idea. Okay, so maybe they wouldn't go. But lunch!

"I brought something." Kai answered as if he'd read Eli's mind, then grinned, tapping the backpack he was wearing. "'Jem made it. She said to tell you that if anything happens to me, she'll squish all your bugs."

Eli snorted, absently brushing the dirt off his jacket. Why did everyone threaten his bugs?

"If something happens to you? What about me? You're the Keyblade wielder! I've only been training with a regular sword, and I'm still not as good as my dad."

But he would be someday. He was gonna be an awesome warrior and Dream Mage and marry Larkin and-

He flushed brightly and reached out to grab Kai's wrist as a distraction. Not going to be thinking about his girlfriend, nope.

"Show me the Keyblade! You promised I'd get to see it for real!"

Kai's eyebrows were in his hair at both Eli's blushing and his grip, and he tried to tug himself free.

"What, are you sixteen or five? And you've seen Sora's before, anyway. Your Sora's, I mean."

The idea of parallel worlds was pretty damn weird, but somehow not as weird as other things Kai'd had to deal with.

"Just show me! Or I won't show you my compass."

Kai frowned at that, muttered something about Eli playing dirty, then sighed in defeat.

"Okay, but let go- thank you." He rubbed his wrist for a second and took another step back, not wanting to accidentally whack his friend in the face if the other boy got too excited. Kai wasn't the only one that took after his mother too much, apparently. Eli was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet while he grinned, fingers twitching.

"Any requests, or do I just start from the beginning?"

"Doesn't matter!"

A shrug and Kai was holding Heart's Star, because why not start from the beginning. Eli stopped his bouncing instantly, going still as he tilted his head, just studying the weapon with a solemn expression. After a moment he reached a hand out, hovering over the blade.

"The Light's warm. It feels like...your mom?" Which was a weird thing to say considering he'd never met her. But still, that was the impression the Keyblade left. A mother that loved her son so much she would give anything to protect him. Like his.

Kai gave a slow nod. It was a little creepy seeing Eli do this; not that he hadn't tried in the dreams, but the empathy didn't seem to work so well there. At least not on objects, anyway. He cleared his throat and gave the weapon an experimental swing, making sure to miss the other boy's hand.

"This was the first. And this one-" A flash of light, and Blooming Crystal was in it's place. "The second. Blooming Crystal."

Eli was smiling again, having pulled his hand back long enough to avoid getting whacked. He poked at the crystal petals and snickered. "So you kill the Heartless with nature?"

"Ice magic, shut up. This is one of my best ones!"

"It's a flower. You're seventeen and swinging a crystal flower at things!"

"And you're sixteen and still collect bugs!"

Eli stuck his tongue out at him before dropping his hand. So Kai had a point, big deal.

"Fine, whatever. Next one?"

"Compass first."

"No way. Last two Keyblades or nothing."

"I can see why Larkin torments you for fun."

"Hey!"

Kai laughed, changed out Blooming Crystal for Howling Flame and tried to tap Eli's head with it. Eli surprised him by throwing up his arm to block; instead of connecting with his hand, the Keyblade met a bluish swirl of solid air. Kai almost dropped Howling Flame at the sight of it.

"You didn't tell me your mom taught you that!"

It was Eli's turn to smirk, and he kept the barrier up for a few moments longer before letting it fall. He'd been working on that spell for almost as long as they'd been planning to meet, but it was still tiring to have it active too long.

"Surprise! I wasn't sure she would, I wanted to wait. That and I thought it might act up like my Fire does."

"...Yeah. Is that any better?" Kai dismissed Howling Flame and shifted, crossing his arms. Eli never had a problem with his magic while they were dreaming. Eli looked uncomfortable at the question before nodding. He made it a point to avoid Kai's eyes, though.

"Sorta. Aunt Ray has me work on it whenever I can. And the rest of my magic's okay, it's just that one. At least I haven't been in any real battles though."

Yet.

"...I don't get how you guys haven't had to deal with Heartless for years, and we're almost drowning in them. How screwed up is that?"

"Sorry..."

Kai shook his head and reached out to bop Eli. Idiot.

"How's it your fault? You didn't decide that parallel universes should be a Thing, or-" He broke off and pulled his hand back. Eli was rubbing his head while he gave him a Look. Kai snorted.

"Compass."

"Last one."

"Forget it. Compass."

"If you can show 'Jem, you can show me." Eli's brown eyes were serious, and now Kai was the one that looked away. Damn it.

"Not a good idea."

Eli dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out his compass. The dragonfly engraved on the bronze lid looked just as new as when it'd been given to him on his first birthday. He held it out toward Kai.

"I've got enough Light. So do you, if you think about it."

Kai glanced back over and stepped forward, reaching out to take the compass from the other boy. It was so warm, almost warmer than Heart's Star. He smiled a bit, studying the dragonfly. This was pretty much the equivalent of his pendant, minus the locator spell. Too bad he didn't have something like that, but at least his sense of direction in the Corridors had gotten a lot better. He flipped the lid and watched the arrow of the compass spin until it was pointing behind him. He raised his gaze to Eli's.

"Rainbow's End?"

"Yeah. Pretty cool, huh?"

"You'd better hope it'll get us back here if I can't." He was joking, really. Kai handed it back, watching as Eli returned it to a pocket before summoning Heart's Shadow. He sort of expected Eli to at least jump, or even back away a bit, but instead his friend stepped closer, reaching out both hands this time to touch the weapon. He hummed a little before glancing up.

"Not that bad. I mean, it's dark, but it feels like my mom used to. When Awiergan was- but anyway. It's not scary. I mean, you're not."

"...Remind me to change your mind on that." Kai snickered and the Keyblade vanished in a flash of dark light.

"Let's go, we've been here too long. We'll never get in all the sightseeing I've got planned at this rate." A couple worlds here, a few more back home...It was going to be a busy day. He opened a Corridor and held out a hand.

"Remember what I said about these?"

Eli made a face, taking his hand. "Yeah. I've been through these before though, and came out okay. Larkin too."

"There weren't any Heartless in that one, you got lucky. They tend to pop up in mine. Safer this way."

"...You know my parents and aunt Ray and Larkin are all gonna kill me, right?"

The only answer was Kai's laughter as the Corridor closed after them.