Being Home

Chapter 2

The fresh air didn't clear Riku's head the way he hoped it would.

Cobbled stone clacked beneath his foot with every step, echoing across the empty garden. He'd spent a lot of time in Radiant Garden over the years—even back when it was nothing more than a watery wasteland with Maleficent at its self proclaimed throne. He'd been there for the progress of the Restoration Committee rebuilding the world brick by brick. He even helped plant some of the flowers as a favor to Aerith and Kairi. But right now, walking through the castle ground gardens, he didn't recognize any of it.

Things were moving around him, changing at a pace he couldn't possibly keep up with. Every day was another race to make progress and he could feel himself losing steam. No matter how hard he tried, no matter where he went, there wasn't any sign of Sora. All the while, the rest of the worlds kept moving. They had to, Riku knew, and he had a responsibility to keep up. Push down the pain, the exhaustion, do whatever needs to be done. And somehow, that simple question from Ansem was enough to make Riku physically withdraw. The point where even his own body refused to keep going along with what was expected of him.

He wished he could say that was a first for him.

He sat down on a bench, letting out a sigh. A babbling fountain shimmered under the sun not too far from him. Droplets of water occasionally splashed over the carved stone pool and onto his skin. It was refreshing and just a little bit annoying, but Riku didn't move to wipe it away. He instead watched the water flowing over the stone statue in the center of the water. A rainbow occasionally appeared, matching the array of flowers swaying in the breeze. The stray thought passed him to make sure he brought Hinata here before he headed back to Merlin's. He wished she was there with him right then.

She was most likely worried about him, mentally kicking herself for bringing him along and putting him in the situation. It wasn't her fault though and she knew that deep down, Riku was certain of that. He hadn't wanted to admit it, but he needed the day away from the computer. His vision still throbbed and eyes watered from the sunlight compared to the dark room and blue light from the computer for hours on end. Ever since Sora disappeared, Riku hadn't taken a moment to himself. Barely scraping by and pushing away any thought that didn't revolve around figuring out what happened to his best friend. Sitting in that room with Ansem and Hinata… he was starting to realize just how much he was shutting away.

All the things that happened at the Keyblade Graveyard, had Riku processed any of it? Had any of them?

He couldn't recall even hearing how Hinata was handling it. Or if she had told him, he regrettably hadn't listened.

They used to tell each other everything. It wasn't as if either of them were becoming distant from the other, though Riku wondered if perhaps he was pulling away, but with everything going on, they hadn't had the chance to stop and check with each other in a meaningful way. He wished she was there right now, there to listen to him pour out everything before he broke and she could put the pieces back together again. It wasn't a vulnerable position he was used to, but he was starting to recognize it.

What a sap he turned out to be.

"Riku?" Hinata's voice drew Riku out of his spiraling thoughts. He looked towards the sound and spotted her entering the garden. All at once, the tension in his body released and he let out a sudden breath.

He stood from the bench, his movement catching her attention. A grin grew across her face and she hurried down the cobbled path, Riku moving to meet her halfway.

"Hey," Riku greeted, chuckling when Hinata immediately hugged him. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, sorry." She pulled back from the hug and fiddled with her locket while her tattoo gently glowed. "I finished up the question with my dad and when you didn't come back I figured you weren't comfortable answering the questions with him. So I asked for a break and came out to find you."

Riku's expression softened. "I appreciate it."

"He-um, asked if I would consider finishing the interview with you alone," she admitted, holding out her hand and summoning the notebook in a burst of blue magic. She looked at the cover, then flipped through some of its pages. "But, we don't have to do that." Tucking it under her arm, she looked up at him with an encouraging smile. "I'd rather do whatever you're comfortable with."

He glanced at the notebook, then out into the garden. It wouldn't be long until the sun began to set, the sky was already starting to darken with warmer hues. A peaceful breeze swished around them, bringing along the hints of sweetness from the flowers and the buzzing hum of bees. If there was ever a moment for him to slow down, this was it.

"I'd like to do that, actually," he said finally, looking back at Hinata.

She didn't react as she reached forward and grabbed his hand. "Are you sure? We don't have to do this."

"I'm sure," he replied, squeezing her hand.

"Ok," she accepted his answer with a breathy laugh, grinning. "Um, then come with me. I think I know a good place to do this. If it's still there."

"Oh yeah?" Riku asked, following after her with their hands still linked.

Tiny white daisies speckled the vibrant grass blanketing the hill. It wasn't a considerably steep hill and was shrouded by the silhouetted shadow of the castle; but it was completely private, hidden away from the town and any guards wandering the castle grounds. Hinata laid back on the grass, letting out a relaxed breath.

"I used to come here with Lea and Isa," she recalled as Riku sat down beside her and leaned back on his palms. "There used to be a lot more flowers, or maybe I just remember more in that child-nostalgia sort of way. But when we were really little, we'd put flowers in each other's hair and just play here all day. It's technically still in the castle grounds, so not a lot of people in town ever show up here." She picked a nearby daisy and twirled its stem between her fingers. "I'm glad it's been regrowing."

"I bet it will be back to the way you remember it in a couple years," Riku told her. Plucking the flower from her hand, he slid it into her hair, smiling at her soft laugh.

"I think you're right," she agreed. Picking another daisy, she leaned up on her elbows and placed it in Riku's hair. "Suits you."

Riku scoffed with a chuckle. "Sure it does." Despite the remark, he kept it there. "So, you want to get started?"

With a puff of blue magic, the book reappeared in Hinata's hands. She flipped through the pages, while Riku gazed up at the warming sky. He closed his eyes, feeling the wind brush against him. Even knowing the question that was coming, he took a long, relaxed breath, almost feeling as if he could fall asleep sitting up. Hinata tended to have that effect on him.

"We can move on from the family questions," Hinata offered.

Riku shook his head, his eyes still closed. "I don't mind talking about it with you."

Hinata took a moment to reply. "Who do you feel the closest to in your family?"

"My mom," he answered, his eyes opening. "I used to think she hated me as much as my dad, but now… I think she was just scared of him. All those rules, the times she'd freak out anytime I messed up, she wasn't trying to hurt me, she was trying to protect me from him."

He peeked over at Hinata jotting down notes, noticing how purposefully vague she was being in them so the personal details were still just between them.

"She still hasn't tried to reach out to you, has she?" Hinata asked softly.

Shaking his head, Riku said, "I don't think I'll ever hear from her again. At least as long as my dad has anything to do about it." He sighed. "Which is fine. But… sometimes I wonder if there's a way I could get her away from him. I don't know if that'd change anything."

"I think it's sweet of you to think about," Hinata told him. "If you'd like, we could try asking Suki about it. She was friends with your mom for a while."

"I don't know if she'd help while her son's missing," he replied. "But that's a good idea."

"Maybe after we get Sora back," Hinata said, pointing her pen towards him. She wrote down a note, then paused. "Actually, it's funny, I mentioned wanting to go after my mom once Sora got back. One missing person at a time."

"Yeah?" Riku turned to look at her.

She nodded, then looked up at him. "So maybe our next mission can be helping our moms. Or at least finding out if they can be helped."

Riku chuckled. He moved to lay down beside her. "Sounds like a deal."

She smiled over at him, seeming for a moment like she wanted to kiss him but decided against it as she looked back to the notebook. Riku didn't even have to ask her about it, he knew she wanted to make sure they stayed focused.

"The next question is to describe your relationship with the rest of your family, but I feel like there's enough info for that already." Hinata turned the page, mumbling, "So let's not waste our breath talking about him."

Riku smirked, knowing she was referring to his dad. He couldn't disagree and waited for the following question.

"Here's one we both have to answer still," she said, finding the next question. "If you had a time machine, where would you go? Perhaps to the past to fix a mistake, or to the future to see what it holds." She placed the notebook against her chest and gazed up towards the clouds. "Where did he get these questions?"

With a chuckle, Riku shook his head. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"Do you have any ideas?" Hinata asked.

"About where he got them?"

"No," she laughed. "About the time machine."

He snickered, turning his attention to the sky. His smirk softened into a thoughtful frown the longer he mulled over the question. Hinata seemed to be similarly encased in the weighted silence, both of them trying to pinpoint the exact mistake they'd most likely attempt to fix if given the chance.

"There's too many," Hinata said eventually, voice distant and quiet.

Riku reached between them, gently grabbing her hand. "Usually, I'd say there isn't a point in thinking about it. We can't change what happened." He scoffed. "Then Xehanort went and proved us wrong. Then Sora right after that."

"If we changed anything though, where would we be?" Hinata asked. "I want to fix the pain I've caused for others, but… I also worry that if I did things wouldn't be the same between us."

He looked over at her. "What do you think would change?"

She didn't look back at him, keeping her gaze settled on the sky. "Like, if I went back and told my dad about Xehanort right away. Keep myself and Lea and Isa away from him. Maybe my dad could have stopped him before it was too late. Then everything that happened… the manipulation, the killing, the world falling, maybe I could stop it from happening." She finally did look over at him. "But if I did, we wouldn't have met. At least, not until I was a lot older." Unable to hold his gaze, she averted her eyes and brought their clasped hands up to her chest. "Even if I was given the opportunity to go back and change it, I don't know if I would take it. It feels selfish."

His eyes danced over her, resting on their clasped hands. He watched her thumb gently running over his fingers every so often. "I don't think that's fair to you," he replied. "You could go back and you might not be able to change anything. Xehanort's pulled enough tricks to be a step ahead even when we think we're the ones ahead."

She nodded, not replying right away. "Another thing I'd really want to fix… When Bane took me and James. I fought Bane on the ship. We were so close to getting away and all I had to do was buy Ben some time to get the Highwind working. I had the chance to kill Bane, but I… I hesitated and, well, you know how it turned out."

Riku rolled onto his side to face her, using his arm as a pillow. He knew Hinata's struggle with killing. Even after everything with Keres and the Organization, it still wasn't something she took lightly. There were others that told her it was a weakness, but to Riku, it was something he envied. How much she valued life to the point of saying she didn't have the right to decide someone's fate. She felt the weight of life differently.

"If you killed him, he wouldn't have helped you free Glee Anselm," Riku pointed out.

Hinata snorted unexpectedly and she brought her hand to her mouth, stifling a laugh. "Oh please. He still tried to shoot down our ship when we were leaving."

Riku smiled to himself, glad he got her to laugh. His expression fell after a moment and he confessed, "If I could go back, I wouldn't have agreed to Sam's plan to have you sneak on the ship to Montressor. DiZ warned us to keep you in the mansion and the moment you left, Bane followed."

"I didn't have to agree to the plan either," Hinata countered. "There was so much going on between me being stir crazy and you releasing your darkness. I would have found a way to sneak out at some point." She took a breath. "But at least James would have been left out of whatever happened to me."

"Without James being with you on Kamino… I don't know if we would have shown up." Riku hated admitting it, even though he had no control over forgetting Hinata. His stomach knotted in a nauseous sort of way that made him roll onto his back. "But… I wish we could have gotten there sooner."

"Me too…" Hinata whispered, before taking a breath and quickly changing the subject. "I think I prefer your idea about trying not to imagine fixing the past."

Riku laughed half heartedly. "Yeah, that's fair."

They fell quiet and Riku closed his eyes. He listened to the wind blowing through the grass and the trees, rustling the leaves and carrying the songs of birds. He listened to the sound of Hinata's breathing, subtle and soft, with the occasional sigh. Her warmth beside him shielded him from the evening chill in the air. It wouldn't be long until nightfall, but he didn't want this to end.

Someday, it wouldn't have to.

"If I could go into the future," he began to say, hearing the rustling grass as Hinata moved her attention to him, "I think I'd go to the last part of our vision. Figure out when it all happens."

He yearned to see their lives in a time of peace. Late nights at Merlin's, the few times Leon got him to go to bed, he'd pull out his locket and watch the vision as a self given lullaby. Seeing him and Hinata with a family to call their own, it wrapped him in a sense of hope and security. Someday they'd get there.

Hinata grabbed his arm and Riku peeked an eye open to see her. She lifted his arm and scooted over to rest her head against his chest. Riku smirked, closing his eyes again as he wrapped his arm around her back to pull her closer.

"I think I would, too," she whispered, though Riku could hear her voice vibrating through him. "I think about it a lot, actually."

"Me too," he agreed.

"Have you thought about names?" Hinata asked, giggling when she heard Riku's heart jump.

Riku laughed sheepishly, his eyes opening when he felt Hinata prop herself up to look at him. "Have you?"

She smiled, her tattoo glowing as she nodded. "A little bit. I've only really settled on a name for our little boy." She leaned into Riku's hand when he grazed the backs of his fingers along her cheek. "I was thinking, Destin."

Riku couldn't help but smirk. Destin was a name he'd been attached to since he was a child. He used it in make-believe games, as a name to hide his identity on missions; he could never really pinpoint exactly what it was about it. Maybe because it reminded him of the word destiny. Which if that was the actual reason, he felt a bit foolish for it, but it remained a name he felt a connection to regardless. And Hinata had chosen it for their eventual son.

"I think that's the one," Riku said finally, his ears warming at the sight of Hinata's tattoo glowing brighter. He looked up to the sky and repeated the name, "Destin."

Hinata kissed his cheek before settling back down to rest her head against his chest. "It's been on my mind since Halloween Town."

"That long?" Riku asked.

"Mmhmm, it was the first time I'd heard you use it," she explained, tracing the embroidery on his shirt. "Then I heard it the whole time we were there and it sounded so natural and just… I don't know, it stuck with me. And once you told me about how much you liked it and used it growing up, I knew that was the one."

"Huh." He smiled, running his hand along her back. "Any ideas for the other one?"

Hinata giggled. "You mean our daughter?"

Riku's face warmed. Even all this time he still struggled to say it out loud. His kids. His future son and daughter.

"Yeah," he chuckled.

"Nothing's felt right yet," she admitted.

Riku hummed, nodding. He watched the clouds above them, his eyes drawn to the rays of sunlight striking through them. The last bit of light before nightfall and it was making its mark, as if promising it wouldn't be gone forever.

"Nellie," he muttered.

Hinata's hand paused her ministrations to his shirt. She propped herself up on her elbow. "Nellie?" she repeated.

"It means ray of sunlight." He motioned his head towards the sky and Hinata followed his gaze to see the powerful and breathtaking sight of the sunset.

She repeated the name again, but this time with a sense of weight to it. She looked to Riku, then away to the sky, then back to Riku again with a sheen of tears over her eyes. "It's beautiful."

Riku drew his attention to her, his smile growing. "I like it too."

Hinata laughed, wiping the corner of her eyes. "Where did you hear that name?"

"I think it's from Velcia's homeworld," he explained. "I was reading up on it after we went there." He shook his head. "I wasn't even thinking about it, but when I saw the sunset it just… I don't know."

"Nellie and Destin," she said the names, holding up her locket and looking at it.

Riku looked at the locket as well. "Nellie and Destin."

Hinata sniffled, letting go of the locket and using both of her hands to wipe her eyes. With a laugh, she asked, "Can we go use that time machine now?"

Riku laughed along with her, pulling her back down beside him. "Nah, I'd rather see the journey."

She hugged him tight. "We'll get there someday."

"We will," he agreed, kissing the top of her head. "For now, we should probably finish the questions while we can still see them."

With a snicker, Hinata rolled onto her back, picking up the notebook from where it had been discarded from earlier. She brushed off a few stay flower petals and grass blades from the pages and looked for the next question.

She took a deep breath, ending with a breathy laugh. "I don't know how I'm supposed to focus now."

Riku chuckled, rolling onto his side to face her. "I know what you mean."

Finding the question, she took another deep breath, blowing out the exhale. "Alright, this seems like the last batch of questions. They're all related."

"Alright." Riku nodded, awaiting to hear them.

"What is your favorite thing about yourself?" She read the first part of the question aloud then sighed. "Who's going to want to know this?"

"People that want to be more like you?" Riku suggested, smirking when Hinata scoffed.

"I'm sure," she laughed. "Um…" She sat up, crossing her legs and settling the notebook in her lap. "I don't even know what to say."

"I could give you some ideas," Riku suggested.

"I'd say yes if this wasn't meant to be a personal reply," Hinata sighed. "How about you?"

Riku sat up along with her. He rested his arms over his bent knees. "I guess… how I made it out of the darkness." Hinata looked over at him as he continued. "It's not a part of my life I liked, and I did a lot of stupid stuff along the way, but I also made it out and made things right eventually. That's something I'm actually pretty proud of."

"I'm so happy to hear you say that," Hinata said softly, the light of her tattoo lighting the night between them. She grinned when Riku looked over at her. "It's something I have always been so proud of you for. One of the reasons I fell in love with you."

Riku's heart could have jumped right out of him. He matched her grin, looking away. Hinata leaned her head against his shoulder, jotting down a couple notes into the notebook. Riku didn't even look to see what she wrote, he knew she'd keep it just vague enough to give DiZ what he wanted without giving anything too personal away.

"Now it's your turn," he said once she put down the pen.

She sighed. "I don't know if this is something I like or just something I notice I do… But," she moved from Riku's shoulder to sit up straight, "I don't see darkness the same way a lot of other people do."

Riku hummed, nodding. He knew she was right.

"Like when you were struggling with coming out of the darkness, I never held what you did against you. Because to me it wasn't you that did it. I was able to separate you from it in my head. The same way I did with Isa and Lea, even my dad… and I guess, eventually even Keres."

"Without thinking like that, things would have ended a lot differently with Keres," Riku pointed out and Hinata nodded, her gaze focused on the pen she fiddled with in her hands.

"Yeah, I know it would have," she said quietly. "She's mentioned the same thing." She took a breath. "I don't know if it's the right way to think about it. But it seemed to mean a lot to the people it affected. Lea's told me it helped him a lot back when he was a Nobody. So… right or not, I think it's something I like about myself. Something that's unique to me."

"I think it's fitting," Riku told her, smiling when she glanced up at him. "It helped me a lot too. Even if I didn't understand. To me, I thought you had every reason to hate me. But you didn't. It was like your feelings were unconditional."

She hummed. "They are… for you, anyway."

He smirked. "I better not screw it up, then."

She chuckled. "I don't think you could even if you tried."

He chuckled too, watching as she made notes in the book.

"Ready for the next part?" she asked.

"Go for it," Riku said, looking up at the appearing stars.

"What's your least favorite thing about yourself?" She read aloud.

Riku blew out a breath. "DIZ doesn't mess around."

"No, no he doesn't," she sighed.

"How do I pick just one thing?" Riku asked, laughing when Hinata pushed him.

"Don't you even start," she scolded him, laughing too.

Their laughter died down after a while and Riku did find himself lost in pinpointing the exact thing he disliked the most about himself. It seemed as if DiZ intended to send them into a spiral, which he wasn't sure he appreciated but also wished he could say he was surprised.

"I wish I didn't struggle with killing," Hinata confessed with a small voice. "Even after all this time… every life I've taken still haunts me. And so many horrible people have gotten away because I hesitate."

Riku rubbed her back, but she tensed even further from his touch.

"You shouldn't have to comfort me about it," she told him. "It's something we've talked about a thousand times. It's just one endless, frustrating, loop. So many people tried working with me on it… You, dad, Gladiolus, Velcia," she laughed bitterly, "even Keres talked with me about it. But nothing really changes."

He didn't take offense to her statement, but retracted his hand regardless. Looking up at the stars, he said, "I remember the first time I took a life. It had to be on Prydain, when the Horned King trapped me. There wasn't any other way to get out and I didn't have magic yet." He hugged his knees just a bit tighter. "It still sticks with me, seeing their eyes go dark… Then Castle Oblivion… I didn't know they'd come back. Sure, I was fighting to survive, but I could have held back. Given them the chance to leave. I didn't though and I'm still expecting them to hate me for it."

"I think you gave them their lives back," Hinata told him with a mumble. "If anything, they probably feel guilty for putting you in that position."

Riku laughed breathily. "Yeah, maybe." He glanced over at her. "You're doing it again."

"Hmm? What?" She looked back at him.

"Telling me not to try to help you, but then turning around and helping me with something we've talked about a hundred times," he recited, returning his hand to rub her back.

She thought about it for a moment, before laughing softly and admitting, "Yeah, it's a bad habit I guess."

Riku smiled, finally feeling her body relax as he continued to rub her back. "It's alright."

"So, um, what's your least favorite thing about yourself?" she asked, changing the subject away from her.

He blew out a breath, looking out at the field beyond them, though it was considerably harder to see beneath the veil of nightfall. "Probably how little patience I have."

"Yeah?" Hinata asked. "I don't know, I don't think it's that bad."

He chuckled. "I'm better at internalizing it now, but remember Wonderland?"

She pursed her lips, then bubbled into a laugh. "Are you saying you feel that way inside all the time?"

Closing his eyes, he nodded and Hinata's laughter grew.

"No, yours cannot be something as simple as patience when mine was about literal life and death," Hinata objected, wiping her eyes and still laughing.

Riku scoffed, but chuckled at the end. "You were the one that said it was supposed to be personal answers."

"Ok, but you had every right to be as done as you were in Wonderland," Hinata pointed out, accepting his answer. She covered her mouth, giggling. "Remember the talking flowers? I thought you were going to pick them!" She fell back onto the grass, recalling different memories from Wonderland while Riku merely listened, not as amused.

"What was the next part of the question?" Riku asked once Hinata seemed to have her fill about reliving their first few missions. He looked back at Hinata with a smirk.

"Fiiine," Hinata sighed, sitting up and nudging Riku with her shoulder, making him chuckle. "The last part of the question is, what do you most want to improve about yourself?" She paused. "I feel like we already answered this."

Riku hummed. "I'm not planning on working on my patience." He smirked when Hinata sputtered into another laugh.

"Alright then," she turned towards him. "What's your answer?"

He looked away from her and towards the stars, leaning back on his palms. "I want to be more open. Maybe not as much as I am with you, but there's still this wall I have around everyone else. I even noticed it when we were with Sora and Kairi back at the island."

"We hadn't seen them in a long time," Hinata pointed out.

"Yeah, but they were being open with me," Riku countered. "A lot of people are vulnerable around me and sometimes I'll say something that lets them in, but I close up again right after."

She hummed. "I think that's a great thing to want to work on. But I also don't think there's anything wrong with being guarded."

"I just want to be able to take it down when I want to," he said and Hinata hummed again, smiling sweetly when he glanced towards her. "How about you?"

"It'd be nice to be able to cook," Hinata said and Riku snickered, causing her to join. "And I know, I know, you've tried teaching me."

"It goes back to the patience thing," he remarked and Hinata pursed her lips, nodding.

"That does explain things a bit," she said with a laugh. "Maybe you should work on the patience thing."

"Not a chance," Riku replied, making both of them laugh.

"But in all seriousness, I think I'd like to work on not blaming myself for things." She wrung her hands in her lap. "There's been plenty of things I put on my shoulders when they didn't belong. I know it's driven everyone crazy a few times. And in the end, it doesn't help anyone if I get caught up in it. Sometimes, things just happen and I need to let it be."

"Now it's my turn to be proud of you," Riku told her, reaching over and squeezing her shoulder. "That's a great thing to work on."

She smiled over at him, placing her hand over his. "Thanks. Yours was too."

He smirked, watching her write the final notes in the notebook. It didn't take her long before she closed the entire book and let out a sigh.

"I think that's it," she said. "We've finished the dreaded interview."

"And we didn't have to tell your dad all the details," he added.

"Which I'm sure he is very distraught over," Hinata said, then chuckled, "but also not surprised, I think."

"Probably not."

Hinata got up from the grass, taking a breath of the crisp night air. Riku watched her, pushing her away when she started brushing off the petals and grass on her clothes, causing it to flutter down onto him. He smiled at her responding laugh, then moved to get up himself.

The sun was well gone and the moon's glow illuminated the field around them. The daisies appeared to glow beneath the moonlight, more noticeable now than they had been during the day. Hours had passed since they first arrived. They were able to answer the questions in their own time, enjoying each other's company and the scenery in peace. There wasn't a single interruption, just the breeze, the flowers, and personal company.

"What if, we stayed here tonight?" he asked before the idea fully formed in his head.

Hinata stopped what she was doing and turned her head towards him. She watched him as if expecting him to say he was kidding and take it back. When he didn't, she smiled and went over to him. "Would you like to?" she asked.

"I think so," he said, looking back at her with a lopsided smile. "What do you think?"

She grabbed his hand with both of hers, nodding. "I think I'd like it a lot. We can take the notebook back to my dad tomorrow morning, get you some breakfast, then—"

"I'll get back to work," he finished for her.

She nodded. "We both will."

Riku smiled, a bit sadly at the mention of them getting back to real life. But seeing Hinata's sweet, understanding expression, feeling her hands wrapped around his, he pushed away the dread and replaced it with the feeling of her lips pressed against his. Hinata hummed into the kiss, squeezing his hand. They rested their heads together when they broke apart.

Tonight would be just for them. A night at home.

**Author's Note- Thank you so much for taking the time to read these interviews! It has been so much fun exploring these themes, especially so much later in the timeline. It's gotten me excited to get here naturally. Come on Forgotten Traveler! I can do this.

I couldn't believe how inspired I got. I mean two full chapters about five interview questions? I went into it with no expectation. And now I want to keep writing these. I'm even currently working on a shipping ask fic. But sadly won't be able to share that one for quite some time, because it has major spoilers in it. SOB! But I'm having such a fun time writing it. It's honestly gotten me reinvigorated for writing in general.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed getting a glimpse into this future!**