Notes:

Song of the arc: Your Affection by Shihoko Hirata

Song of the chapter: Trust You by Yuna Ito

In the morning Riku would have been delighted to wake up to the sun rather than Sora's bare foot in his face so he did what any friend would do and grabbed his foot and dug his fingers into his sole until the boy woke with a yelp. The three boys shared a room not for lack of space but because the other two wanted to stay up and talk all night. Sora decided to sleep away from the headboard and Ventus decided to cuddle Riku all night because he was missing his Chirithy. Truly, not a care in the world for those two.

"Ouch, come on Riku what was that for?"

"As much as I like smelling a foot first thing in the morning… I don't." Riku was still in his suit pants and undershirt with the other two in fresh pajamas thanks to the queen. He needed to shower and start practicing while he still had the chance. "Don't you guys having training to get to?"

At that Ventus woke with a start, a thin line of drool coming out of his mouth. "Aw crap! If I'm late again Aqua is gonna kill me! Sora, get something to eat fast cause if she finds-" There was a knock at the door as the boys scrambled to even get on their shoes so they did the logical thing and opened the window, jumped out, and literally glided their way out to avoid detection. Riku opened the door to find Aqua in her regular battle garments.

"Are Ven and Sora ready to start training? I had a long night so Terra turned off the alarm." Aqua sighed as she stood outside the threshold trying to brush her hair out.

"You know, I think you just missed them." Riku decided it was best to let them deal with this themselves. "Any news about Vanitas?"

"I haven't checked, honestly as long as he isn't causing problems I'd rather not know." She stopped fusing with her hair. "I guess that's not very Master-ly of me but… he hurt Terra and Ven."

"Yeah, I guess we'll just have to deal with it. I'll keep you updated but first I've got to do my morning training as well." Aqua said her goodbye and went to meet the others at the training yard in Disney Town as Riku went to ask one of the many brooms for assistance.

It was two hours before he even felt confident in stopping having barely gotten anywhere. He supposed it was just going to take as long as it would take. He stopped by his room to shower and grab a fresh outfit of a simple white tee and black slacks. He was famished but needed to check on Vanitas so he went to where he was recuperating in a room near the King's study and the Throne.

Outside of the room was Naminé with a small table and chair happily munching away at some toast with butter and honey as it looked like she was just starting her day. Wearing a more elegant sea green dress than her normal dresses with her regular blue sandals she was still a comforting sight. She looked especially like a princess with all the brooms running about getting her whatever she wanted and clearing away the other dishes.

When Riku approached she had some of the honey butter mixture on her face so Riku scooped it off with a finger and put it in his mouth. "Food tastes better if it goes in your mouth, Princess."

Naminé pouted at his teasing, "Minnie made sure they wouldn't leave me alone. I figured I might as well have some fun with it." The phone to the side of her plate came alive with a jingle and she quickly turned it on she quickly typed a reply. "Roxas and Lea were asking about you all morning, you should really answer your phone more."

"Ah, sorry. I guess I'll have to pay you back for that."

"I do have my price."

"Fine, any favor you want." She smiled cheekily at that. "You're not gonna make me regret that, are you?"

She pointed at herself and joked, "Little ol' me? I would never." Riku's face softened. Even after all they went through last night somehow Naminé was always able to calm him. He hoped, one day, he was able to do the same for her.

You're doing it again.

"Riku, Earth to Riku." The table, chair, and final dishes had been cleared away. Only Naminé had been left waving in his face to get his attention. "Geez, you've been staring again. A Master has to be attentive right?" Riku looked away flustered as she held up her pinky to him.

He looked at her pinky in confusion. "What's that for?"

"For the promise, you have to seal them with a pinky or they won't come true." She said it with such confidence anyone would believe her. "Oh, I guess we never officially promised last night then," he said without a care as he brought his pinky up.

"Don't make a girl swear that, it's embarrassing!" She latched onto his and connected to his thumb, "Pinky swear, whoever lies has to swallow a thousand needles!"

Riku decided to double his efforts, he needed to be perfect if she cared this much about dancing. Now however he had to check on Vanitas. "Would you like to join me to check on him? I'm not sure he'd like it but it would be better to have you around."

"Silly, that's why I've been here. Minnie said I had to wait until a keyblade wielder was present to enter his room." She punched the air and then flexed, "But, if he starts getting rowdy let me at him! I'll give him the Naminé One-hundred Meter Special Punch!"

Riku started to open the door, "I'll be counting on you then."

"Um, maybe only twenty-five meters then. Or twelve meters."

Vanitas had been laying in the bed staring at the ceiling, save for a couch, two chairs, a small wheeled nightstand, and the IV attached to his arm the room was barren of anything stimulating. At least it had an attached bathroom. "Vanitas, you awake?"

"Would my eyes be open if I was asleep?" The boy said standoffishly.

Good start.

"Maybe if you were a vampire, you usually wear a helmet outside don't you and you're pretty pale." Naminé teased as they moved the chairs to each side of the bed.

Instead of getting mad as Riku suspected, Vanitas actually gave a little chuckle then clenched his fist in pain. "Sure, I am blood sucking monster. When I get healed enough I'll strangle the life from- agh!" Naminé flicked his head which caused him to grab his forehead.

"You know, talking about hurting people with Sora's face is so weird. Be nice or you'll get another one." Naminé readied another flick as Vanitas looked toward Riku who just put his hands up.

"Hey, the girls are much scarier than any of us. I couldn't stop her if I wanted to." Riku said as Naminé flicked Vanitas in the head again.

"Okay, that one was because I wanted to."

Vanitas reeled back from the pain in both his chest and now his head. "Call off your girlfriend, please!"

"She's cute but not my girlfriend!"

"Just because he's handsome doesn't mean we're together!" They both spoke at the and then realized what the other said. Blushing, they turned their heads away.

Annoyed, Vanitas slammed back down into the bed. "Really? I thought that only happened on TV. Now I feel worse about losing to you guys. Just torture me, kill me, just get it over with!"

Riku looked at Vanitas sympathetically and reached out to his shoulder. "Hey, we're not gonna kill you."

Vanitas backed off as much as he could while staying in bed. "Don't touch me!"

Naminé spoke up. "Vanitas, it's okay. We won't hurt you. You aren't a prisoner either. Once you're healthy you can go if you promise not to hurt anyone, right?" She looked at Riku and he nodded. She was very convincing, perhaps she should handle negotiations more.

"Honestly, we just want to know more about how you're even here. You and… whatever that thing was. Truth, they said."

"Bastard." Vanitas said under his breath. "Whatever it calls itself. It's a True Darkness. Primordial. They shouldn't even be able to come to this realm normally."

"Mind if I record this? So you don't need to tell everyone again?" Riku asked and Vanitas waved him off as he started recording.

"It found dear Veny in the Ocean Between a whisper a darkness tore me out of him before he or anyone else even knew it. It tethered itself to my existence and wherever Ven can go I can so can it now." Riku listened intently, honestly most magic went over his head but weirder things have happened to all of them so why not this?

The door was basically ripped open as Ventus barged into the room. "Van!" The boy proceeded to pounce on the black haired boy with a hug eliciting a yelp of pain.

"Ven, you have to be careful he's still healing!" Naminé urged them both to calm down as Vanitas started yelling expletives.

"I'm sorry, Van! I just thought… I thought I wouldn't see you again!" Ventus had tears well up in his ears and for just a moment Riku thought he saw Vanitas' expression lighten if just for a moment.

—-

Training in the Training Yard was already winding down before Ventus had left but the others stayed just a bit longer. Kairi was learning from Terra about how to escape holds from stronger opponents while Sora was sent to meditate after their break when he was being a little too aggressive dueling Ventus while Aqua was supervising and practicing her strikes on a target dummy. "Alright, no use in burning the midnight oil. You guys are dismissed," Sora jumped up before Aqua spoke again. "Sora stay back, we'll need to talk."

Feeling dejected, Sora pouted until Kairi went over to him and he puckered his lips expecting a kiss until Kairi put her finger to his lips. "Nope, you didn't brush your teeth this morning. I'll go ahead and meet the others to talk with Vanitas. Brush first and then we can talk." Sora sighed until he received a kiss on the cheek and a wave as she walked away. His eyes followed her as his heart swooned.

"Ah, young love." Terra said.

"Don't say it like that, it makes you sound old." Aqua said to the young man. "Did you have time to think about what we talked about?"

Sora sat back down on the ground and was absentmindedly playing with a dandelion growing in the soil as he thought he heard something from Aqua mentioning she was going to shave her legs… or something like that. He wasn't paying attention but apparently Terra perked up quickly before leaving.

Aqua sat on the ground next to Sora. "Do you want to talk about it."

"No," Sora said while still mussing with the flower.

Aqua sighed, "Do you know you should?"

"Yes," Sora said simply.

Aqua sat with her legs crossed; it only took a few moments before Sora spoke up. "I… I wasn't able to do anything to Truth." Aqua kept her silence. She knew Sora did not need someone to give an answer to his problems, nor could they even have an answer. What he needed right now was someone to listen. "Every time we fight we're able to pull through at the last moment but usually someone ends up hurting. I love everyone and I'm so tired of being useless!" Tears welled up in his eyes but try as he might to wipe them away they fell to his face and the ground.

"When I was named Master," Aqua began, "I was tasked with fighting the Unversed and Vanitas and Xehenort. I failed, big time." Sora sniffing and eyes puffy from rubbing them listened to her. "And because I failed you and all your friends had your lives uprooted. You had to fight in battles that no one, especially kind hearted kids like you all should have gone through." She had a thousand yard stare as she thought of the new prophecy revealed to her and Riku last night. "I'm not saying this as a Master or even a comrade-in-arms but as an adult to a kid. Our failures moved onto you all. I'm sorry you've had to grow up like this."