I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters.

Time Off

Tyler watched the world drifting closer. Despite him and Lightning talking about what had happened, things were...strained. He still hated himself, and she could tell. She had tried again and again to reassure him that he had done nothing wrong, but his depression refused to leave him. They had all decided to take a bit of time off, as much for Tyler and Lightning's sake as for everyone else. They were headed to a resort world, one with beautiful fields of flowers, mountains, waterfalls, beaches, and a resort where Oswald claimed they could stay for free. Tyler sighed, his gaze falling to the ground as he began to slip into self-loathing again.

"You okay?" Serah asked, Tyler sighing. "Sorry. Vanille told me what happened."

"It's fine," Tyler said. "We already talked it out."

"And yet you're still beating yourself up and keeping yourself at an arm's length from Lightning," Serah said. "What's wrong?"

Tyler was silent for a long moment before sighing. "It's nothing."

Serah sighed. "You know, even if Lighting knows you love her, and that you're staying away because you hate yourself, if you don't stop, you're going to lose her. I...I know you think you disappointed her, and that you're not good enough, but that's not true. Tyler, no one lasts a long time. You're not supposed to. And girls aren't like guys. We don't have to...finish in order to enjoy it. She told you that she enjoyed it, didn't she? She wouldn't lie about that. You know her. She would tell you if she didn't."

Tyler was silent. She was right. Lightning wouldn't lie to make him feel better. She'd help him get better however she could, but she wouldn't lie. It was part of what he loved about her. No matter what, she was always honest. And he knew he was hurting her, but he couldn't help it. No matter what he did, or tried to do, he couldn't stop that deafening shriek at the back of his mind that was continuously telling him how pathetic he was.

"I just...I'm not...good enough," he sighed. "Not just at that. At everything. I'm not good enough to fight the Heartless with my keyblade without needing someone to help me, I'm terrible with magic, even though a keyblade is supposed to make it easy...I'm not good enough. I can't protect Lightning. I can't even protect myself. So I...I just..." He sighed heavily. "I don't know."

Serah was silent for a few minutes before walking away, leaving him to stare at the resort world as it drifted closer. Finally, they arrived, and Tyler headed to his room, changing into a pair of swimming trunks, for lack of a better idea. He walked out to the teleporter with the others and remained silent as they were all teleported to the resort's hotel. They were split up into pairs for the room, Fang and Vanille taking one room, Serah and Noel taking another, and Sazh chose to stay alone, leaving Lightning and Tyler the last room, Alice agreeing to stay with Sazh. He remained silent as they walked up to their room, setting his duffel bag by the bed further from the bathroom. They were staying a couple of days, but it didn't really feel like a vacation. Vacations were supposed to be fun, but here he was making himself miserable.

"Hey, can we talk?" Lightning asked, setting a hand on his shoulder.

Tyler nodded mutely. This was it. Lightning was going to break up with him. He'd pushed her away. Except, instead of actually saying anything, she turned his head and kissed him. He kissed her back for a couple seconds before she pulled away, looking him in the eye.

"I'm not giving up or leaving no matter how hard you try to push me away," Lightning said firmly. "I love you, and I will do whatever it takes to be with you, no matter how long I have to wait."

Tyler's eyes widened before he smiled gratefully. "Thank you."

She smiled, hugging him, and they stayed there for a few long minutes. "After this vacation, we'll find a world without Heartless and we'll start training again for real. Now that we've found Serah and Alice, we don't need to keep travelling around. We've done what we wanted. We can find a home now. Maybe Twilight Town. Once we're wherever we're going to go, I'll get back to training you. Serah said you think you're weak, so if that's true, I'll just have to beat you until even you can't argue that you're not strong."

Tyler smiled, pulling back and nodding. "Okay."

"But first, I need you to do something for me," Lightning said. "I need you to enjoy yourself while we're here. Alice needs you to show her that everything's okay now. She needs to see that she's safe, and if she sees you mopey and depressed, she won't feel safe. You can be as depressed as you want after while I'm beating you black and blue, but you have to enjoy yourself here. Forget about the Heartless, forget about being strong or weak. Just enjoy yourself. Okay?"

"Okay," Tyler smiled, kissing her.

Lightning smiled, leaning into the kiss and they remained there for a while before someone knocked on the door. Tyler slipped past Lightning and opened it, smiling instantly as he found Alice on the other side. He scooped her up, smiling, and hugged her.

"Hey Alice," Tyler smiled. "How's your room? Sazh isn't too smelly, is he?"

"Hey now!" Sazh laughed. "That's hurtful."

Alice laughed. "No, he's really funny! And he's got birdy!"

Tyler laughed. "Yes, that he does. Come on. Let's go find the pool. You coming, Lightning?"

She smiled. "I'll be there in a bit. I have to change first."

"Alright," he smiled. "Don't take too long. I'll be waiting."

She smiled, nodding, and Tyler and the others walked out of the hotel. Lightning quickly undressed, then took a deep breath before pulling out her new bikini and held it up to herself in the mirror, grimacing. How had she let Fang talk her into wearing that? The last one she wore to catch Tyler's eye had been bad enough, but this was even worse. She sighed, shaking her head slowly and beginning to pull it on. Then, once she was dressed and had adjusted it properly so that she didn't feel too exposed, at least as much as she could, she walked outside, looking around for the pool before walking over to it.

Tyler smiled as he watched Alice playing in the shallow children's pool with a few other children, a handful of which were anthropomorphic rabbits, not that that was the weirdest thing he'd seen since his world was consumed by the Heartless. He glanced at the others as he heard Vanille gasp and Serah let out a small, squeaky "eep." He saw the blush on Serah's cheeks and raised an eyebrow, turning, only for his eyes to almost fall out of his head and his jaw to clench shut so as to avoid falling open. Lightning had a new bikini on. He'd expected the same one from last time, and had been looking forward to it, despite everything, but he had never expected what she was wearing now. Her new bikini was white with the top having a thin, yet large, gold ring for the center piece, allowing her cleavage to show all the way down, then the cups attached to the sides of the ring, both of them being tiny. Neither of them reached the outside curve of her breasts. The top sloped upward toward the outside of the cup before thin strings reached up behind her neck to hold it up, and equally thin strings reached around her back from the bottom of the outside of the cups. The bottom half of the bikini was equally amazing, as the front was bordering on dangerously thin. The top of it sloped down about an inch below her waist, and the straps on the sides were barely an inch thick, then attached to gold rings on the sides. He wasn't certain, but he had a feeling that if he could see her from behind, the back of the bikini bottoms would probably be dangerously small as well. He swallowed hard. He was going to have to thank Fang, since there was no doubt in his mind that this was her doing. He'd also have to try and figure out how Fang kept convincing Lightning to wear these bikinis.

"I'd ask if you like it, but I think that's a given," Lightning said as she reached him, Tyler standing.

"You look amazing," Tyler said. "How did Fang convince you to wear this?"

"I don't know," Lightning groaned. "I swear that woman has mind control powers."

Tyler smirked. "Well, mind control or not, she has a great taste in bathing suits. Every time she puts you in one, you look more beautiful than anyone has any right to see."

Lightning smiled, blushing even more than she already was. "I feel like I need to put clothes on."

"I'm tempted to make you do that just to keep other people from seeing you in that," Tyler laughed, slipping his hand into hers and turning back to the pool where Alice was still playing with the rabbits. "So...where are we going to go after this?"

"I don't know," Lightning said. "Honestly, until I met you, I never really thought we'd find Serah, or that I'd survive doing it. And I'd definitely never considered what I'd do if I found her, one way or the other. I never thought about what I wanted for a life after." She was silent for a moment, staring at their joined hands. "But...ever since you joined us...I want to go somewhere peaceful. I...I want to be done fighting. I've fought my whole life. I...I want to be with you." She blushed as Tyler looked over at her in surprise. "I want to...I want to start a family with you."

Tyler smiled, taking his hand back and wrapping his arms around her. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that."

"But?" Lightning guessed.

"No but," Tyler smiled. "I'd have to be out of my mind to refuse."

Lightning let out a shaky breath, holding him tighter. He smiled, kissing the top of her head, then pulled back, taking her hand again. She reached up, kissing him, and he smiled, kissing her back for a few seconds before pulling away.

"I guess I should find a place to get you a ring," Tyler smiled.

Lightning smiled brightly, nodding. "Take your time. It's enough just to have you."

Tyler smiled, nodding, just as Alice climbed out of the pool and walked over.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Alice said.

"I'll take you," Lightning smiled.

Alice nodded, smiling, and took Lightning's hand, Lightning smiling and walking away. Tyler grinned mentally. He was right about the back of her bikini. He sighed, turning and walking over to the others, seeing Fang grinning widely from a distance.

"How the hell do you keep getting her to wear those?" Tyler asked.

"That's not the first time she's worn something like that?" Serah asked.

"We went to a resort world once before, and Fang somehow managed to get her to wear a bikini smaller than Fang's," Tyler said. "It wasn't as...bad as what she's wearing now, but it wasn't exactly...something I could imagine Lightning wearing."

"Armor on the beach, you mean," Noel joked.

"Exactly," Tyler said. "But really though, Fang. What the hell did you do?"

Fang shrugged. "All I said was that you'd probably like it."

Tyler rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "Well, you weren't wrong."

"So what were you talking about?" Vanille asked.

"Yeah, you two seemed awful happy," Serah said.

"I'm going to go ahead and assume she already told you three about it," Tyler said.

"Wait, what?" Serah asked.

"No, why?" Vanille asked. "What did she say?"

"Wait, really?" Tyler asked. "You don't know? Either of you?"

"No!" both said, Fang also shaking her head.

"Huh," Tyler said. "Go figure."

"Tyler!" Vanille said. "What did she say!?"

Tyler shrugged, smirking. "Can't remember."

"Hey! No fair!" Vanille pouted, only for Serah to suddenly squeal excitedly and streak out of the pool, grabbing Tyler by the hand and dragging him away, Tyler struggling to stay on his feet for a moment before following. "What was that about?"

Fang watched them disappear into the hotel with a raised eyebrow and an amused smile playing at her lips. "I wonder."

"Fang?" Vanille asked. "Do you have any idea what's going on?"

"An idea, yeah," Fang smiled. "Kind of surprised you haven't put two and two together yet."

"Really?" Vanille asked. "Just tell me!"

Fang laughed, then kissed her. "It's alright, Sweetheart. I still love you. Blonde moments and all."

"Fang!" Vanille groaned, the others laughing.

"Where's Tyler?" Lightning asked as she walked over, holding Alice on her hip.

"Serah just dragged him off into the hotel," Noel said.

"Really?" Lightning frowned. "Why?"

"I don't know," Vanille said. "Fang does but won't say anything."

Lightning glanced at Fang, who was grinning at her knowingly.

"Tyler was refusing to tell us what you two were talking about, then all of a sudden Serah got really excited and dragged him off," Vanille said. "What's going on?"

Lightning stared at her for a moment before shrugging. "I can't remember."

Vanille wailed in annoyance. "You two are the worst!"

Everyone laughed again. Lightning shifted Alice on her hip and walked into the hotel room, heading for her and Tyler's room first, deciding that Serah's probably there so Noel doesn't interrupt her chat with Tyler. She paused outside the door to see if it was alright for her to walk in, though, or if Serah wanted it to be private.

"-and a spell to fill put sparkles in the air, and tons of flowers, and a thirteen-tier cake," Serah was saying. "And obviously Alice will be the flower girl."

Lightning smiled, shaking her head and walked into the room, Serah smiling over at her excitedly, Tyler shrugging. "Already at the planning stage are we?"

"Apparently she's had this all planned out since she was thirteen," Tyler said.

Lightning laughed. "That doesn't surprise me." She set Alice on the floor, Alice going to find her toys to play with. "So, what do we have planned already?"

"Basically everything, by the sound of it," Tyler snorted. "Right down to the bridal party and the godparents."

"Really?" Lightning asked, raising an eyebrow. "Godfather?"

"Father is Noel, and mother is Serah," Tyler said. "Entirely her idea, by the way."

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "I take it that means Noel's going to be extremely happy soon? Or, are you two already..."

Serah shook her head. "I don't want to just tell him out of the blue. I want it to be a bit special. Apparently there's a fireworks display every night here. I think I'll use that."

Lightning smiled. "That sounds like a great idea. I'm really happy for you."

Serah smiled. "I just wish he hadn't had to wait so long."

"He won't mind," Lightning said. "It'll have been worth it to him."

Serah smiled before it turned into a knowing smirk. "Don't think you're getting out of the spotlight that easy, Sis."

"Shoot," Lightning said. "Almost had you."

Serah and Tyler laughed.

"Well, either way, it'll take us a while to actually get everything Serah wants four our wedding to be perfect, so I think we can hold off on planning until we're at least done with our vacation, don't you?" Tyler asked.

Serah sighed, nodding. "Fine. But I get to be the Maid of Honor, right?"

Lightning laughed. "Of course you do, Serah."

Serah cheered, hugging Lightning, then Tyler. Finally, Tyler picked up Alice and they all headed back out to the pools, finding Noel waiting but the others all gone.

"Finally," Tyler said. "They all went to get some food and check out the beach."

"Sounds like a plan," Tyler said.

The five of them headed into resort's food stalls area. It was set up like the food stalls of a fair or carnival, and with just as unhealthy a variety. Tyler loved it, and even without having to ask, he and Lightning had already agreed to get fried dough, and a donut for Alice. Once they had their food, they headed to the beach, finding Fang and Vanille making out on a beach towel and Sazh off to one side, playing with Dajh, who Tyler was actually surprised to see off the ship, even on a resort world. Dajh had been too afraid to leave his and Sazh's room the entire time Tyler had known the group so far. However, Alice really liked him, so as soon as she saw him, she began squirming trying to get down. He chuckled, setting her on her feet and taking her donut, and she ran off to play with Dajh and Sazh.

"And just like that, I've been replaced," Tyler said.

"It's alright," Lightning said. "I still like you."

Tyler snorted. "I sure hope so. Come on. They left us towels."

Lightning nodded and they all walked over to four available towels, sitting down on them and beginning to eat, all of them ignoring Fang and Vanille, since Fang wouldn't have stopped even if they'd asked. Once they were finished, Tyler lay back on his towel sighing contentedly as the sun warmed his skin. However, after a few minutes, several gallons of ice-cold water suddenly crashed down on him, making him suck in a breath and sit bolt upright, glaring at Lightning.

"There," Lightning smirked. "Now we're even."

Tyler huffed, then grabbed her hand yanking her down onto his lap and holding her tightly, Lightning trying to get away, only for him to wipe his soaked hair all over her face and head. Finally, he pulled back, grinning. "Got you."

Lightning pouted. "That was gross and mean."

"Your fault for standing within range," Tyler smirked.

Lightning rolled her eyes before leaning in and kissing him. Tyler smiled, kissing her back, but after a couple of minutes, he pulled away, swallowing hard and trying not to look too conflicted. Lightning rested her forehead against his and kept her eyes closed, not saying anything. After a couple more seconds, Tyler took a deep breath.

"You want to go for a swim?" Tyler asked.

Lightning smiled and nodded, and they both stood, walking out to the water. They spent the rest of the day alternating between the beach, the food stalls, and the various amusement park rides the resort had. Later, once the sun set, they went to the beach with the others to get ready for the fireworks. They all spread out in groups, Alice staying with Tyler and Lightning this time, and they all waited quietly. Finally, the fireworks began to light up the sky out over the water and Tyler smiled, looking over at Lightning and remembering how badly he'd wanted to kiss her the last time they'd watched fireworks like this. She looked over at him and smiled, leaning over to kiss him, Tyler meeting her halfway. After a few minutes, they both pulled away, Lightning resting her head on his shoulder. Tyler glanced off to the side and grinned, seeing Serah and Noel kissing finally.

"Don't stare," Lightning said. "Let them have some privacy."

Tyler smiled and nodded, leaning his head on Lightning's. About an hour later, they all headed back to their hotel rooms, Tyler tucking Alice in for the night before walking back to the room he was sharing with Lightning. He walked over to his bed, only for Lightning to catch his hand.

"Please," Lightning said quietly. "We don't have to do that, but please sleep with me. I want to be able to hold you."

Tyler nodded, smiling, and slipped his sandals off, climbing into bed beside her and wrapping his arms around her, kissing her. She sighed, kissing him back, and after a few minutes, he felt her tongue trail across his lower lip. He pulled away and she pressed her face into his chest.

"I'm sorry," Lightning said.

"No, I'm the one who's sorry," Tyler said. "I'm being unreasonable."

"No, you're not," Lightning said. "You need time. I'm the one that keeps pushing."

Tyler smiled, squeezing her. "You have nothing to apologize for, Lightning. I'm happy that you do, because it lets me know you still love me."

Lightning looked up at him, eyes watering. "I will always love you. And I promise you I'll wait as long as you need."

Tyler smiled, nodding, and kissed her. "Let's go for a hike tomorrow. We can find a place on the mountain somewhere and start training."

Lightning nodded. "Okay. But I'm warning you now. It's going to be harder training than we've done."

"Good," Tyler said. "Then maybe it'll make a difference."

Lightning's eyes softened before she sighed, resting her head on his chest. "I wish you could see yourself the way I do. By the time we're done training, I'll make sure you do."

Tyler sighed, kissing the top of her head. He hoped she was right. And he'd do everything in his power during the training to make sure he got as strong as possible. He needed to if he was ever going to deserve the future she wanted to share with him.

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