Chapter XVII; Inseparable Friends

Sitting on the sand of a beach were four kids. A boy with silver hair and bright green eyes sat beside a girl with long black hair and bright blue eyes. On her other side was a slightly younger boy with spiky brown hair and similar bright blue eyes. And on the end was a young girl with red hair and blue eyes that matched the black haired girls. They were all laughing about something the brown haired boy had just said. He was always good for saying stupid stuff that got the others to laugh.

"It's getting late." The silver haired boy commented looking up at the sky that was slowly darkening. The other three followed his gaze and nodded.

"I guess your right Riku." The brown haired boy agreed. The silver haired boy shot him a mildly annoyed look. Actually he looked more amused than annoyed, like he had expected that sort of thing from the brown haired boy.

"Does that mean we have to go home?" The ravenette complained. Riku looked at her and nodded slowly, a little confused by the ravenettes complaint.

"Yeah, do you not want to?" He asked. The red haired girl leaned forward to look at her. She looked confused and curious.

"Yeah Yuki, is something wrong at home?" She asked. The ravenette shook her head.

"No, it's nothing like that. I just...I dunno..." She said looking up to the sky. "Do you guys ever feel like everything we have can vanish in an instant? Like tomorrow it could all change forever?"

"What do you mean?" The brown haired boy asked confused looking up to the sky with Yuki. He frowned trying to figure out what she meant.

"I mean, we might get separated or something. Like how me and Kairi came from some place far away. Something bad must have happened there." Yuki explained. She frowned watching the sky. "This place is just a small piece of something much bigger. What if that bigger thing takes us away?" She asked softly. The other three looked at her in shock, like they had never expected her to ask something like that. Riku was the first to come out of his shock.

"Then we'll find it first. We'll look for other worlds together, and find where you and Kairi came from. We'll find out what are place in the bigger scheme is and then play our parts together." He said standing up and looking down at Yuki. "I won't let anything tear us apart." He insisted. Yuki smiled at him.

"Yeah, we'll always be together as friends." The brown haired boy said standing with Riku. Kairi and Yuki stood as well. All four looked up to the sky at the same time. Each one looked determined, ready to fight whatever fate had to throw at them.

"Then it's decided." Riku said firmly. "We're going to get off this island, and find out where Yuki and Kairi came from." The others nodded in agreement. A shooting star crossed the sky in a long arch. Yuki closed her eyes to make a wish. The other three followed her lead. Each hoping for the same thing. To be together forever.

*3*

Yuki woke up feeling something running down her cheek. She sat up and brushed her hand against her cheek. She glanced at her knuckle frowning. It was glistening with water. How had it gotten onto her cheek? She looked up at the dark ceiling of her room. Perhaps there was a leak in the roof or something.

Yuki sighed standing up, deciding to just brush it off. It was probably nothing, a Shadow playing a joke by dripping water on the sleeping elite. She had heard of stranger things. The Shadows around this castle were much more playful than the ones at Castle Oblivion. Maybe being in the realm of darkness made them think they were safer so they could play those types of tricks.

Yuki paused as she reached her door. She had had a dream hadn't she? But what was it? She couldn't remember. The only thing that came to her mind when she closed her eyes was the sound of waves crashing on the beach, a feeling of safety and warmth, and something that seemed something like what happiness should be.

Yuki opened her eyes again with a small smile. Maybe she had a dream about her human life. A life when she had those things. She sighed and pushed open her door heading to the common room. She would worry about it later, maybe ask if Zaya knew what the hell was going on. Right now she had more important things to worry about.

*3*

Y scanned the dark terrain that made up the realm of darkness from her window. She narrowed her eyes looking for any kind of movement. The smallest thing, anything really. It had become habit for her to search the landscape when she woke up. It had made her late for work more than once. She used the excuse of sleeping in, but she knew that would only last for so long.

A knock on her door caused her to jump. Was she late already? She went to the door and opened it cautiously peeking out past the door. Another habit she had never gotten rid of from her days in the Land of Departure.

Standing outside was X, his arms crossed as he looked at the door with a rather calm look. He smirked seeing Y poke her head out.

"I knew you weren't sleeping all the times you were late." He said simply. Y frowned and glared at him. Trying to look annoyed, as if he had woken her from a deep sleep.

"What proof do you have of that? Maybe I was asleep until you so rudely disturbed me." Y challenged, still glaring. X shook his head with a laugh.

"Please Y, if you were actually asleep it would have taken a lot more to wake you up." X said with a knowing grin. Y gave a small gasp but looked down and nodded. X chuckled and ruffled her hair causing her to look up at him surprised. "So, why have you really been late?"

Y sighed stepping aside and opening her door further. She motioned for X to follow her into the room and crossed to her window. She again searched the landscape, waiting for X to speak. When he didn't she finally spoke.

"It's been over ten years. How could she survive without doing what I did?" Y asked, her eyes beginning to water, her voice sounding forced and scared. X looked out to the landscape.

"Time in this realm flows differently. To her it probably hasn't been ten years. Maybe only a week or so." X explained. Y looked at him confused.

"Then how does time flow normally in this castle?" Y asked. X sighed looking down at the ground for a minute, as if trying to remember.

"Aryum. As you should know by now, her natural magic is time. She just wills the time in this castle to flow equally with the worlds above. If she wanted to I'm sure she could change the flow of time all over this realm so each part flowed at a different pace." He explained looking up, back out the window. Y nodded following his gaze, tapping her nails against the window sill.

"So, she won't have changed that much?" Y asked.

"Not physically." X answered turning away from the window. "Her mental state on the other hand could be very different." He continued. Y looked to him afraid. She didn't say anything, just waiting for anything else to be said. X waited for her to say something, refusing to say something that might set her off.

"Did you ever encounter her, beside in our final fight?" Y asked suddenly. X shook his head.

"To be honest, we had no interest in Aqua. Terra and Ventus were our targets. Vanitas saw her a couple times, but that wasn't exactly scheduled." He explained. Y frowned and nodded. She stood silently thinking, her orange eyes softening.

"Why did he go after her? If you didn't need her why waste your time?" She asked. X rolled his eyes crossing his arms.

"Vanitas was a little unorthodox. He didn't follow orders very well. He was certain Ventus wouldn't be strong enough for the plan, so he thought he'd prepare his own plan." X explained. Y frowned again.

"And what did you think?" She asked. X shrugged.

"Didn't really care. That plan had nothing to do with my goals. So long as you were ok I didn't care what happened to the other three." He said turning his back to the window and heading for the door. "We should probably get moving, before we're late." He said. Y nodded and followed after him, casting one last glance over her shoulder out the window.

"Was he really that great of a friend that you never thought to question what he did?" Y asked walking with her brother to the common room. X shrugged.

"Neither of us really knew what a friend was, but we only had each other. The only people we could count on was each other. And that was good enough for both of us." He explained. Y nodded thinking. Her mind wandering again to her old friends. It was hard to picture a friendship so different from her own. One that formed because of few other options. Hell, practically no other options. X looked over his shoulder at her.

"Don't over think it sis." He warned. Y glanced up at him and nodded, pushing the thought out of her mind. No sense worrying about it now.

*3*

When Yuki had completed her mission, which had been collecting hearts in Wonderland, she went up to the clock tower. Axel was already up there watching the sky. He was frowning, like he was thinking about something unpleasant.

"Hey Axel." Yuki said sitting a little ways away from him. He glanced at her and smirked.

"Hey there Snowy." He said before looking back towards the setting sun. His frown returned as his eyes narrowed slightly.

"What are you thinking about that's making you frown?" Yuki asked. Axel looked towards her, surprised she had asked. He laughed trying to get rid of his frown.

"The guy in charge is just annoying me. He really changed from when we were somebody's." Axel said with a shrug. Yuki nodded thinking. Before she could say anything Roxas and Xion arrived with X and Y following only minutes later.

They all sat quietly for a short time, just thinking about what they had encountered that day. X and Y were having a silent conversation with their eyes, constantly exchanging looks. At one point X nearly laughed.

"So where were you all sent today?" Axel asked suddenly. Y immediately started to laugh while X looked down moodily.

"Me and X were in Neverland." Y said through her giggling. She shot a look to X who glared at her.

"I was in Wonderland." Yuki said, looking at X and Y confused. For some reason the mention of Wonderland caused Y to laugh even more. X looked ready to pull out his dagger and stab his sister. Axel, Xion, and Roxas watched them confused. After Y stopped laughing Roxas and Xion answered.

"We were in that place you and me went before," Roxas said. He looked up trying to remember the name of the world. "Uh, what was it again?" He asked giving up and looking to Xion. Xion smiled before answering.

"Argrabah." She said. Yuki frowned trying to think if she had been to that world before.

"Oh that city in the desert." Axel said. Yuki nodded, now remembering the world. She didn't like it too much. Too much sand and too much sun.

"Yeah, there a lot of interesting people there this time." Xion commented. Roxas nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, that Pete guy and Genie." He agreed. Yuki tipped her head to the side. She didn't remember meeting anyone like that. Hell she hadn't met anyone.

"What were they like?" Yuki asked curiously. Roxas looked to Xion, obviously telling her it was her job to explain the strange people they had met.

"Well, Genie seemed to be really worried about his friend, some guy named Al. He wanted to jump right in and do whatever needed to be done." Xion explained. X snorted off to the side.

"You can't do everything for your friends." He said in response to all the looks he was getting.

"That's right, people need their space." Axel agreed pointing at X. X glared at him.

"So why did Genie say he and Al were 'inseparable'?" Roxas asked challenging Axel's words. Yuki narrowed her eyes trying to figure that out. It wasn't possible, was it?

"Yeah, it's not like they were joined at the hip." Xion agreed. Y giggled a little. Yuki noticed her hand go towards the charm on her coat.

"You can be inseparable even if you're apart." She said with a smile. X rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath. Yuki thought she heard 'you would know all about that'.

"Really?" Roxas asked.

"Sure, if you're really really close. Like best friends." Y explained. X rolled his eyes again. Apparently he didn't like this cheesy stuff. Roxas frowned looking down to the ground below. Xion tipped her head to the side, obviously confused. Yuki furrowed her eyes brows together. Axel just smirked, meeting Y's eyes.

"What's it like having a best friend?" Roxas asked. Y tapped her chin trying to think of how to explain it. She was silent for several minutes trying to decide.

"It's like having a brother or a sister without actually being related. You know almost everything about each other, sometimes they even know you better than you know yourself." Y said finally. She glanced at her friends and smiled. "And most importantly they're with you where ever you go." She added. Roxas frowned looking to Axel.

"That really doesn't make sense to me. What do you think Axel?" He asked. Yuki glanced to Axel herself. What Y had said made very little sense. Perhaps to someone with a heart it would have made sense but not to Yuki.

"Don't really know." Axel said with a shrug. "I don't have a best friend." Roxas looked down.

"Oh." He said.

*3*

Day 75- Friends,
This morning when I woke up there was something wet on my cheeks. I don't know why. I think I had another dream though. But I can't remember what it was about.
Today on the clock tower Axel and Y tried to explain what friends were to Roxas, Xion, and I. I couldn't really understand when they started talking about best friends. Guess I just have to wait to get a heart to find out.