Well, that last chapter happened.

Also...

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Kingdom Hearts (c) to Disney and Square Enix!

My OCs (c) to me!

Chapter 29: Downtime

"Ven, I want you to come visit me as soon as you can." Jiminy sighed.

"Alright..."

"And no more lies. You should've told me about this sooner." He looked the boy in the eyes. "But what's done is done, and now we can just do what we can."

"I know."

Terra stepped into another room, opening up his own phone to call Isa. And thankfully, he answered quickly. "Hey Terra."

"Hey, Isa. How are you doing?"

"We're doing pretty good. So, what do I owe this pleasure?"

"One of us needs to talk to Jiminy ASAP, so, and I know this is short notice, is it alright if we come over tomorrow or the next day?"

"Come on over tomorrow." Isa smiled. "We have the space."

Terra gave a nod. "Hey, maybe while I'm there, we can get all the former vessels of Xehanort together and-"

"Do the 'Xehanort Sucks' get-together? I love it."

"Alright. See you tomorrow then."

"See you guys tomorrow."

"Welcome!"

"Thanks for letting us stay. I'm sorry it was such short notice."

"Don't worry about it." Axel looked over at Ven who held Chirithy in his arms. "You ok?"

Ven shook his head. "I'm the reason we're here. I've been having nightmares… so bad I can't sleep. And Chirithy here can't seem to get rid of them."

"Aw!" Xion gushed at the little creature. "I didn't know you liked stuffed animals."

"I'm not a stuffed animal." The creature hopped out of Ven's arms.

Xion squeaked and jumped back. "You're alive!?"

"I'm a Dream Eater." Chirithy sighed. "A Spirit."

Isa knelt down to him. "Wow. I didn't think you could manifest outside the Realm of Sleep."

"I'm one of the few that can for an extended period."

Roxas looked at Ven, his eyes glistening with concern. "What kind of bad dreams if you don't mind my asking?"

Ven gave him a small smile. "I'll tell you later."

Axel glanced over at Aqua. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm actually doing ok."

Isa smiled before looking at Ven. "Would you like to take a nap?"

"Yes please." He scooped up Chirithy again and headed for a guest bedroom. "Does it matter which room?"

"Pick one."

He entered the first guest bedroom and closed the door.

"His nightmares have been slowly getting worse." Terra sighed. "We sometimes hear him screaming in his sleep, when he gets sleep. We know that before he met us, there was part of his past that was before Xehanort started training him that was missing. Chirithy knows more than he lets on."

Aqua nodded. "Yeah, but these memories that he keeps having are bringing him pain, so I get why Chirithy refuses to say anything about it. But it's really hard on Ven."

"I bet."

Roxas glanced up at the guest bedroom, glancing back at Aqua as she put a hand on his shoulder. "Yes?"

"Roxas, while I'm here, do you want me to help teach those kids you introduced me too before?"

His eyes lit up. "Yeah. That would be great. I'm trying my best to teach them, but I'm not sure if I'm doing a good job."

"I'm sure you're doing fine."

Terra looked between Isa and Xion. "And we get to do the 'Xehanort Sucks' chat."

"And I get to work." Axel sighed. "Have fun you guys."

As Ven eventually woke up and came downstairs, he saw Roxas sitting alone in the kitchen. "Did you get some sleep?"

"A little." Ven rubbed his eyes as Roxas handed him a cup. "What's this?"

"Hot cocoa. Isa makes it when people have bad dreams. It's the one thing in the kitchen I'm good at making too." Roxas sighed. "Wanna talk about the dreams?"

Ven sipped on the hot cocoa as Chirithy hopped onto the table. "I guess."

"Would you like cocoa too, Chirithy?"

"Sure."

Roxas went to get another cup as Ven leaned back in the chair. "I keep dreaming about darkness. And not Vanitas, though he's sometimes in the dreams. There's a deeper darkness I dream about. And sometimes I see flashes of faces I don't recognize."

"Really?"

"Yeah, a bunch of people. But I keep seeing a girl with orange hair most of all. Every time I see her, I feel sad."

He didn't want to even mention the whole killing thing.

"I'm sorry. When are you going to see Jiminy?"

"Tomorrow. I hope I don't wake you guys up tonight."

Roxas handed the small cup in his hands to the dream eater. "Actually, we're used to that kind of thing. I think all of us have had a nightmare that woke the house up. I mean, I had a night where I panicked and ran into a thunderstorm. They all had to come find me."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah." He looked over at Chirithy. "But why can't you just get rid of the nightmares? You're one of the Dream Eaters that gives good dreams."

Chirithy sipped at the cocoa. "I can, but these are more than dreams. They're memories, and something is making it harder for me to block them. The best I can do is make sure his sleep is peaceful at least at the beginning, but the nightmares usually overtake the dream. Sometimes I can get him a full night of sleep, but it's taxing."

"And I don't want Chirithy overdoing it too much."

"I'll try to give you a good night's sleep tonight though." Chirithy nodded. "You want to be a little more alert for the meeting with Jiminy tomorrow."

"Yeah, and you'll be there with me."

"Of course."

Roxas stared at the little creature on the table. "Where did you find him, Ven?"

Ven finished his cocoa. "He just kinda showed up on The Land of Departure. We'd never seen anything like him before, but the moment I saw him, something told me he was a friend. And he felt familiar. Later, he told me that he did know me from the past; the past I can't remember. And I'm sure that's where these dreams are coming from."

"Yeah…"

"You'd rather I didn't remember, right?"

"Ven, that was a painful time. You're happier now. I honestly wish you could forget those terrible times."

"I know." Ven sighed, glancing around. "Where are the others?"

"Isa, Terra, and Xion went shopping for their little gathering with all the former Xehanort vessels. I think they're calling it the 'Xehanort Sucks' gathering(1)."

Ven laughed a little. "I love it."

"Me too." The other boy laughed as well. "I think I'll be out with Aqua while they're doing that. Aqua said she'd give me some training tips since I have been teaching Caden still. Caden might join us."

"Thinking of becoming a Keyblade Master and him being your apprentice?"

"No way. But I'm thinking about teaching one day."

"Cool."

"Yeah." Ven stretched. "I'm going to go relax. Chirithy, get some rest if you're going to work to give me a full night of sleep."

"Ok."

Ven pick up his little friend and the two walk off, leaving Roxas alone again.

Aqua and Roxas walked a little ways out of town to a small clearing amongst the tall fir trees.

The ground looked trampled, roughed up in places.

Just like the training grounds she knew so well.

"Roxas!" The young boy with orange hair Aqua met before came running up. "Oh, hi. I remember you." He smiled.

"And I remember you."

Roxas ruffled the boy's hair. "This is Caden."

"Roxas has been teaching me some cool fighting stuff."

"So I've heard." She looked at the teenager. "Go ahead, I'll watch and add on if needed.

Caden looked at Roxas, one eyebrow raised.

"She's a Keyblade Master, so she's going to give me some teaching tips, and probably some tips for you since she knows a lot more than me."

"Ok!"

Standing on the side as the two boys began sparring, Aqua watched.

She'd only seen Roxas fight once.

He was good.

His form looked a little sloppy, but he was self-taught, just like Sora and Riku.

"Roxas," she stepped forward, summoning her Keyblade, "one thing to note is how he is holding the blade." She twisted her wrist. "Holding it like that and taking a hard hit could damage his wrist. But if he holds it like this… it's better for him."

Caden looked down at her hand, adjusting his grip on the practice sword in his hand.

"I didn't even think about that." Roxas sighed.

Smiling, Aqua looked down at him. "It's alright. It's just something to note for the future. And by the way, you're doing a great job teaching."

At this, Roxas smiled again, and she stepped away to watch more.

A few hours went by, Aqua speaking up a few more times, but for the most part she watched.

Roxas did well teaching.

He was gentle and kind.

And Caden-

She could see he wanted to be a fighter. Maybe someone could take him as an apprentice one day.

Maybe.

"Oh!" Aqua turned to see Brielle Cooper from the coalition standing nearby, holding a basket. "Master Aqua, it's nice to see you again."

"Nice to see you too, Brielle."

"What are you doing here?"

"Roxas asked me to come."

The woman smiled warmly. "Did he now? Well, I wasn't expecting to see you." Lifting up the cloth on the basket, she mused, "I think I still have enough."

"Enough?"

"I brought lunch." She sat down, spreading out the cloth. "I usually prepare lunch when Roxas is training with my son."

"Oh, I didn't know Caden was your son."

Brielle smiled. "He is." She took out some sandwich preparations, laying them out on the blanket. "Boys! Lunch!"

Roxas and Caden ran over, leaving their practice swords behind.

"Thanks, Ms. Cooper."

"It's no trouble."

Caden looked at Aqua. "My mom told me about the other worlds she's been to. Has she been to yours?"

"Yes, she has."

"Aqua is from that pretty castle I told you about."

"Wow!" The boy gasped. "That means you're one of the people who can train warriors!"

Aqua could see a slight concern in his mother's eyes. "I am, yes."

"That's so cool!" The boy took a big bite of his sandwich as his mother let out a long breath.

"So, Caden, when did Roxas start teaching you?"

"After he beat me in the Struggle tournament prelims!"

"The what?"

Roxas giggled. "It's a sparring tournament the town has every year. We were in the prelims, and he asked me to teach him after I won."

"That's cool. Maybe next year, you should let the rest of us know when the tournament is, and we can all join in."

"That would be amazing!"

"Or you could make your own tournament." Brielle added. "It would be fun to watch."

"That it would be."

Actually, that didn't sound too bad.

As the day moved on, eventually Caden needed to go home.

And as Aqua and Roxas walked back to the mansion, the young woman asked, "Do you like teaching?"

"I really do." He smiled. "But if you're asking if I want to be a Keyblade Master and train Caden, I don't think so. I didn't have a choice to be a Keyblade wielder, and I don't really want to be one as a job."

"I don't blame you." The young woman patted his shoulder. "Actually, why did the Organization want you and Xion? I get having a Keyblade and all that, but why specifically?"

"We could release hearts. You haven't dealt with Heartless as long, so maybe you didn't know. There are two kinds of Heartless: Purebloods and Emblem. Purebloods are pure darkness and just poof away when you kill them. Emblem Heartless come when people lose their hearts. If you kill an Emblem Heartless with a regular weapon, the heart will just pop up again as another Heartless later. But, killing it with the Keyblade releases the hearts. Xemnas was collecting them to make a fake Kingdom Hearts."

"Interesting." Looking at his face, she changed the subject. "So, are you thinking about continuing to teach?"

The boy's face lit up. "Yeah. I think it's the job I want to have one day. I really like it. And I just want to have a normal life."

"I think that's wonderful."

"That doesn't mean I won't help if people need me. If another big bad guy shows up and the worlds need help, I'll help. But I don't want to spend the rest of my life fighting."

Aqua stopped him, looking the boy in the face. "I think you're right. Even what little I've heard about your lives, I know you and Xion deserve normal lives. Being a Keyblade wielder is a hard life, and you didn't choose it and you don't have to choose it. I know all our friends will support what you and Xion want. Enjoy a normal life. You've earned it."

The boy smiled up at her, his eyes shining slightly. "Thanks, Aqua."

"You're welcome, Roxas."

What? No Ven stuff...

Next week you'll get all of that drama!

Footnotes:

If you want to see the "Xehanort Sucks" meeting, go check out "Sweet and Salty Days".