"Are we there yet?" Slightly asked.

We had been walking for about an hour and the boys were clearly getting tired. Peter, the cheater, was flying, while Sora and I were piggy backing Nibs and Tootles.

"We just need to make it to that bend right up there," Peter pointed off into the distance.

"Ugh this is the longest, most boringest adventure ever," one of the twins complained.

"Yeah, there is no fighting, no treasure, just walking!" the other whined.

They had a point. The trip started off with everyone in good spirits, but after about the second cliff we had to climb the boys' tune quickly changed. There was no sign of enemies anywhere. Which I was totally cool with but the boys apparently not so much.

"C'mon guys! Think about it this way: you are exploring. That means that you are seeing things people may have never seen before," Sora tried to reason.

The young boys gave a collective sigh.

"Tough crowd…" I muttered. "So someone tell me all about Tinkerbell? She's been here forever right?"

"As far as we know! Tink has been captured by Captain Hook quite a few times and Peter always goes to save her. If he didn't, her light might go out," the other twin said.

"And what happens when her light goes out?" I asked.

"She dies if she's not relit in time," Nibs said. "But don't worry! You just have to believe in fairies and she will be fine, right guys?"

There was an enthusiastic course of "YEAHs" from the small group.

"That's why she runs off: she starts to think when he leaves he doesn't believe anymore but knows we will always come back for her. Otherwise, what's the point of being in Neverland with no magic? Good thing Peter seems to always get to her just in time," Slightly said.

'He leaves, so she leaves to get him to come home and be with her. Seems pretty toxic…'

Can't disagree with you there, self. I'm no expert but I think this is what happens when you live long past when your prefrontal cortex is supposed to develop but never actually grow up. That's the only way these two could have not tired from the routine.

"Well let's just hope Tink is where she said she would be and we can be done with this," Peter said.

"Wait…you know where she is and you failed to mention this because…why?" I asked.

"Because I didn't need her," Peter responded.

Once again, dealing with a typical young boy. But also, a typical young girl. Don't get me wrong, I know even though Sora and I are legally adults, we don't know everything and still get into teenage-like fights, but at least we recognized our pattern of stupidity and acknowledged it…I think.

Before I could open my mouth to let the boys know what I was thinking we rounded the final bend and saw Skull Rock.

"Here we are!" Peter proclaimed. "I hope you can all swim"

We were on a cliff far enough away from Skull Rock to be able to see the whole thing without tilting our heads. As I looked at it, all I could think was 'How the heck are we "here" if we still have a marathon swim to get there?!'

"And we're supposed to swim there?" Sora asked.

"Nosilly, we fly!" Peter responded.

"...did we forget that some of us can't fly?" I asked.

"Oh…guess you have to wait here then," Peter said back.

I stood there stunned.

'Really…'

"I need Yumi to come too, Peter. This can't just be a boys' trip," Sora informed him as he dropped Tootles.

Sora's words were resonating in my head and my body felt all tingly. Realistically I knew I could swim out to the rock - I grew up on an island so long swims were nothing new to me- but to hear Sora say he needed me and come to my defense just felt, I don't know, great.

Awesome, I was getting all gooey from being treated like an equal. This was getting out of hand.

"Sora it's fine. I'll swim over and meet you there," I said, placing Nibs on the ground.

"But what if it's another trap? Remember Luxord said it wouldn't be easy to get to the keyhole." Sora stated.

"You're right. But Luxord is also a gambler, right? Maybe he was betting on us thinking it was a trap so we would take longer to get there."

"Or maybe he thought we would have to swim out there and there's a fight waiting for us inside that you'll be too tired to participate in once you have done the swim."

"Woooooow. Look at you, using your big buy conspiracy theory brain! You may be onto something. But what other choice do we have? It's not like I can fly out there without Tinkerbell and rooster boy over there isn't being the most helpful at finding her."

"So then what's the move here Coach?"

I smiled. He was getting really good at accepting my need to be in charge.

"I think we just have to bite the bullet here and let me swim. I have the utmost faith in you that if there is trouble you can handle it Sora. Besides, the conspiracy could be that Luxord thought we could fly and maybe there's a secret/easier path for me to follow by swimming. We won't know until we try."

"Let it be known that I don't like the divide and conquer technique."

"Well I don't think you have much choice."

As Sora and I were planning, Peter and the Lost Boys had already started their flight out to Skull Rock.

"Why would they just leave like that? Did they not think this through?!" Sora cried as he jumped into the air.

"They're a group of young boys being directed by a teenager. Do you really think that they think anything through?" I asked.

Sora rolled his eyes and after a beat of silence said, "You're not wrong. I'll meet you over there. Please be safe."

I just nodded and waved as he took off after the group.

"Well," I said to no one, "Guess I better get to swimming."

I backed up a few steps and took a running start to dive into the water below. Even though there was no one to race, I was sure I could make it there fast enough to help them out without totally gassing out right?

Sora's POV

I was flying as fast as I could to catch up to Peter and the boys. I was trying to think of happy things to make myself go faster as that's how, to my understanding, pixie dust worked. The happier you were, the more effective it was, right?

Okay, picnics on the beach, hanging out with my friends, sleeping under the stars, spending time with my parents…usually, what else…?

'Dream sequence dates with Yumi…'

Yeah…that was pretty great. But thinking about Yumi in dreams just brought to light the fact that it was only a dream. A safe place for us to tell each other we had crushes, we could envision it being more than that, but not talking about it during the day and having everything go back to just friends.

'Yeah but whose fault is that?'

Uh…both of ours?

'No dummy. I mean, yes, but also, it's not like things will change unless you do something about it.'

But what if I freak her out and ruin things?

Oh no…I was slowing down. I was thinking unhappy thoughts.

'But what if they don't? Just think about your happy things and Yumi at the same time.'

Alright. Let's think about it. Picnics on the beach with Yumi: not much would change except I'd get to see her and my friends at the same time. Bonus.

I was speeding up.

Hanging out with my friends with Yumi: this could only add to the fun, right? She was already great friends with Riku and she was getting along with Kairi before we got separated. Kairi had admitted to me during our break up that she was starting to see Riku in a more than friends way so I know she wouldn't be upset to see me with Yumi. Plus she was just saying she wished she had a bond with a girl like Riku and I have so she had someone to "do girl things with". Riku would probably feel more relaxed with all of us together (I know he isn't fond of her spending so much time with Wakka and Tidus after they almost broke her leg in the blitzball tournament a few years ago). So, that would probably be an improvement for all of us.

I was going faster.

Sleeping under the stars with Yumi: we could lay together like we did in Radiant Garden and I could get another night of great sleep. Because yes, I had woken up and saw her in my arms and then immediately fallen back asleep to have a dream about Kairi and Riku teasing us about what a cute couple we would make. It was embarrassing but I was glad to hear they approved. It was probably one of the best sleeps I've had in a long time.

I was getting really close to the group.

Spending time with my parents with Yumi: I slowed a bit. It's not that I don't think that would be great, because I know Riku's parents love her and that means I know she would get along with my parents great. But that seems pretty serious and I can't even tell this girl I have a crush on her without panicking. That seems really serious: like going from 0 to 100 in a nanosecond.

'Dude, the purpose of this was to just envision it. See what you feel.'

Fine, inner self. Let me think.

Yumi and I coming back from the island to have dinner with my parents. Everyone smiling around the table, laughing at the silly things we did during the day. Yumi bringing her emotional support cheesecake and tell stories about our adventures, reassuring my parents we were fine and we are happy to be home. Mom insisting she clear the table without our help and dad getting out the cards so we can play a game together. Me accusing everyone of cheating because I'm losing, more laughter and stories shared. Yumi and I getting up for me to escort her home and my mom and dad follow, giving her a hug at the door to say goodnight.

I choke on air.

"Sora, you okay?" I hear Peter ask.

I hadn't even realized I had caught up to him. I smile and nod.

The thing is, that scene really didn't take a lot of imagination to transpire. It felt almost natural to put her into every part of my life, but having her sit with my family was just so…perfect. Listen, I'm only 18 and I'm not ready to get married or settle down for the rest of my life, but the more I think about it the more it just feels right. Yumi is meant to be in my life. But none of those scenes were overly indicative of us beyond friends.

'But think about if she were…'

I picture feeding her grapes on the picnic blanket and her leaning into my shoulder laughing, her instinctively grabbing my hand as we walk around with Riku and Kairi on a Friday afternoon hangout, my arm around her as we sit on the paopu tree watching the sunset and waiting for the stars to come out so we can cuddle on the blanket set up behind us, and I picture me walking her home after a night with my parents, giving her a goodnight kiss on her doorstep.

I shoot off towards Skull Rock. If I needed an answer, I guess that's it. My life would be, no, will be, so much better with Yumi in it as a friend, but I can't deny that it would make me the absolute happiest if she was more than that.

'There you go bud.'

I chuckle to myself as I wait for the boys to get to the rock. Now I just need to figure how to share these feelings without making everything worse.

'Baby steps my friend.'

Yumi's POV

The water was beautiful here. Not like Destiny Island beautiful but the area I just swam over was a solid 8/10 on the amazing scale. Fish, a little water garden, clear water, it was surprisingly pretty for a freshwater swim. The problem, I was now discovering, was that the reef suddenly dropped off and opened up into a giant area of dark water. As an island girl, you'd think it wouldn't scare me, but you would be wrong. I knew what to expect in the open island waters so, even though not always pleasant, I knew what I was getting into. Here? I had no idea what might be learning in the darkness.

"Okay Yumi. Deep breath. You can swim, you have a keyblade, there is nothing to be worried about."

I looked up at where the boys were and saw Sora shoot out from the group to make it to Skull Rock. I'm not entirely sure how the whole pixie dust thing worked, but Sora clearly had a handle on it and I was jealous. I could swim any time I wanted to back home: I wanted to fly damnit.

Shaking my head to rid myself of jealousy and fear, I continued the swim to Skull Rock. I figured I should be there in no more than 10 minutes if I kept my leisurely swim pace. Doesn't sound like a lot, but 10 minutes of swimming can really wipe you out. I figured it was better to get there with a slower pace though since I wasn't sure what we would be dealing with when we got into that skull. Sora would have a decent head start on things in there, and I would hopefully only be acting as support for whatever he had started.

Just as I was trying to think of what could possibly be inside that skull, I heard a faint tick from the water. Instinct told me to stop swimming, but I knew if I did I would start to panic and panicking while swimming is an absolute disaster, especially with nothing to rest on.

'Probably just playing games with my own head. Why would I hear a clock out in the middle of-'

Tick.

'Shit…'

The noise was a bit louder, and I sped up my swimming speed.

'Okay, okay, no need to panic. Probably just something that fell off Captain Hook's ship, right? He said he sailed these waters all the time and Smee probably had a clock that would wake him up so he was ready for the captain in the morning. Yes, that's it.'

Tick.

'They did mention something about ticking, right? They lost their tick tock or something?'

TICK.

'No no, that's not right. Hook lost something.'

TICK.

'Well the only thing he's clearly missing is his hand.'

TICK.

'And he lost his hand from doing what?'

TICK.

I couldn't ignore the sound anymore. I fought my nerves and put my head underwater. I opened my eyes and saw something green swimming up towards me. As quickly as I could I popped my head up and did the only thing I could do: swim. Thankfully I got out of the way just in time and the crocodile just missed me as it shot straight out of the water.

I was swimming as fast as I could, hoping that even if I couldn't outswim the croc I could at least get close enough that someone might see and inform Sora, or at the very least I could find something to hold on to and be able to slash at the thing with my keyblade without treading water.

Unfortunately I wasn't that lucky, and after the croc landed back in the water, it caught up to me in about 30 seconds. I turned to look at him and he was chomping on the water, getting closer and closer to my feet.

Thinking as quickly as I could, I shouted, "Cartoon logic, don't fail me now," and slowed down swimming. As the croc opened his jaw wide to swallow me whole I summoned my keyblade and shoved it vertically in the crocodile's mouth. When he tried to slam his mouth shut the keyblade prevented him from doing so. The croc stopped swimming and was trying to swing the blade out of his mouth. I took that as my cue to speed swim the rest of the way to the rock. I could see the water start to lighten as I swam. I knew I was getting closer to somewhere I could stand, but I was still worried the crocodile would either break free or I would run into other danger so I never slowed down.

'So much for preserving energy.'

"UUUGGHHH"

I heard Sora shout from Skull Rock.

"Come ON. Why can we not get our solo adventuring to work out for once on this trip!?" I screeched as I made it to shallow enough water that I could stand.

Wading as fast as I could I waited until I got to knee deep water before stopping to catch my breath. I knew I couldn't stop for long but I was spent. So spent, in fact, I couldn't even shout up to Sora to see if he was alright. Skull Rock was a lot bigger up close than I had thought it would be, and I wouldn't have been surprised if I shouted and he still didn't hear me.

"Gotta….get….up there," I huffed between breaths.

I had no idea what the inside of the rock looked like so I wasn't sure how I was supposed to get up there. I thought about scaling the outside of the rock but it looked pretty smooth, and I honestly had no idea if I would have enough arm strength to even try. I glared into the mouth of the skull and cursed in my head.

"Stupid…physical…challenges. I want a riddle again," I breathed.

I was hunched over taking deep breaths, so I barely registered that the spots of light that were in front of my face were attached to an actual thing and not my vision going in and out due to exhaustion. I blinked a few time and saw the face of a little blond pixie with her head turned to the side staring at me.

"Oh…hello…?"

The pixie flipped her head to the other side.

"Are you Tinkerbell?" I asked.

The pixie nodded her head.

"Great. Have you seen Peter and a bunch of boys?" I asked again.

She made an angry face and stopped her foot.

"Ah…didn't go well. He didn't apologize then?"

She shook her head.

"Well listen, for what it's worth I think he's an idiot," I tried.

Tinkerbell got really red in the face and began flying around me, kicking me with her tiny feet.

"Hey! Okay! Listen I'm just trying to say he should have come and found you sooner but it took Sora and I some convincing to get him moving which is dumb!"

At that she stopped and pointed to the eye sockets of the skull then tilted her head again.

"What? Oh yes I know Sora. We're together…not like "together", just like, he's my friend, who travels and sort of lives with me, but strictly out of convenience. I mean just because it seems like it's more than friends, it's probably just forced proximity that is causing some romantic feelings to float around. How do you not start to think about a guy like that when you're basically living together. Anyway, when a boy likes another girl he's off limits, right? So even if one of us did like the other, nothing is going on there."

Tinkerbell frowned.

"Right…Wendy. But she's moved on and Peter has too, yeah? So even if they are friends, he's not like…into her anymore? So unless he hasn't moved on then don't worry!"

She looked even more upset.

"You know what? Don't even worry about what I'm saying! I confessed my feelings in a dream and I'm all jumbled up on the difference between reality and imagination so what do I know? Anyway, I'd be happy to help you sort things out with Peter if you could help me get up to Sora. This seems like a case of miscommunication, and Sora and I are experts on that by now."

Tinkerbell hopped from foot to foot, looking like she was debating if she should help me or not. As she was doing her little dance, I heard another groan from Sora up above.

"Please, Tinkerbell, it sounds like we don't have much time and I'm starting to freak out," I begged.

With that, she nodded and spun around me, dropping dust along the way.

'Cool. She just pixie dust farted all over me.'

When she was back in front of me I tried not to be rude, but I really had no idea what to expect and I honestly felt a little gross. I just stood and stared at her.

"So…now what?" I questioned.

Tinkerbell put her two index fingers in the center of her mouth and then drew them up to her cheekbones.

"I have to smile?"

She shook her head no and did the action again. I honestly had no idea what she was doing if it wasn't smiling, so again I just stood there. Frustrated, Tinkerbell made a heart with her hands and mimed a smile.

"I have to be in love?"

She shook her head no again. Then she mimed laughing, and did a smile and heart again.

"I need to be giddily in love? Crazy in love? I HAVE TO BE BEYONCE?!"

She smacked her head.

"Man, I would be so happy if I could just figure this out…"

She jumped up and pointed to her nose.

"Wait…that's it? I need to be happy?"

She nodded and smiled.

"Okay. Think, think, think, what makes me happy?"

I closed my eyes. Picnics on the beach, hanging out with my friends, sleeping under the stars…

I felt a little ping in the center of my chest. Was I being pulled to Sora? When I opened my eyes I saw that I was floating off the ground.

"WICKED! Sora, I'm on my way!" I laughed as I shot up. I'd be there in no time.

Sora's POV

"I…am…so…sick…of…getting…this…WRONG!" I grunted.

When we got to Skull Rock, Peter explained that the head was broken into three sections: one for each opening in the skull. We checked the left eye socket and there was nothing in it. When we got to the right side we saw a chest in the middle of the cave and immediately the Lost Boys went to it and started trying to open it. Unfortunately, it needed a three digit code to get in and the boys were blindly putting in numbers and trying to open the chest. However, every time they entered a wrong code, the room filled with a combination of heartless and nobodies that Peter and I were trying to fight off. At some point while we were fighting, Tinkerbell appeared in the room. I heard Peter trying to talk to her between slashes, but it didn't sound like the conversation was going well.

"Tink! We came to find the keyhole. It's just lucky we crossed paths with you," Peter had said when she flew up to him. "You were here when the guy dropped this off? Great! What's the code to open it? …What? Of course we were going to look for treasure without you, why would we have waited? …No, I didn't say we needed to find you first…because the boys wanted to go on an adventure and who was I to say no? …Who's to say I wasn't going to come find you after? …Tink, I can't do this right now, are you going to help us or not?"

With that, she flew out of the cave. While he paused to listen to Tinkerbell I let out a few grunts and shouts to get out my frustration just listening to the conversation. Yumi was right: young boys really didn't understand how to talk to girls. Even though I was no expert I still knew he shouldn't have talked to her that way.

"CAN YOU PLEASE STOP ENTERING IN NUMBERS?!" I shouted at the boys.

It was one thing to have to fight, but it was another when you had to protect a group of kids and had no end in sight because of their stupidity and not yours. I was taking a break to catch my breath and reminded myself why I was putting up with all of this nonsense.

'Yumi will be here soon. Gotta make sure that the room is cleared when she's here or else she's going to try and fight too and I know she's going to be tired from that swim.'

I figured she had to be a decent swimmer but it was a pretty long swim. Even I would have been tired and I practically lived in the water when I was home. Thinking about home made me think of all my happy thoughts from before and I felt a ping in my chest.

Odd. I wonder why -

"I'M HERE!"

I looked to the entryway of the cave and saw Yumi floating in the entrance.

"Yumi, you're flying!" I hollered.

She flew into the room and landed a few feet away from me, stomping a heartless in the process.

"Yeah! Tinkerbell came and helped me out. She should be up here any second. What's happening here?"

I slashed away what I hoped would be the last nobody and sent a glare at the boys by the chest. I filled her in on what we had discovered and the boys managed to look apologetic as Yumi's eyes wandered over to where they sat by the chest.

"We're sorry! We just wanted to have some treasure ready for you when you get here. We were hoping we could buy you and make you our mom," Cubby said.

"There is…so much to unload there," Yumi said.

"Yeah, if anything, you should be giving us both treasure since we're a package deal," I joked.

"Or, let's think like smart people here and remind you guys that people cannot be bought," Yumi said, giving me a dirty look.

"So you're saying you wouldn't like it if someone brought you, say, jewellery? Cause that's treasure."

"There's a difference between being bought and someone giving you a gift," she said.

"Noted."

I swear I saw her blush. Before I could read too far into it, Tinkerbell came into the cave and flew right up to Yumi. Tinkerbell was floating around Yumi's face as she began to speak.

"Ah, yes. Okay. Before we do anything else, Tinkerbell has been a great help to me already and I'm sure she would love to keep being amazing and helpful to us, but we need to sort something out. Peter, a word please."

Peter rolled his eyes and floated over to Yumi and Tinkerbell. Both Peter and Tinkerbell had their arms crossed and were looking away from each other.

"Okay kiddos, this is the most mothering you will get out of me so soak it all up. Peter, whether you meant to or not, you said some things that really hurt Tinkerbell's feelings."

Peter tried to interrupt but Yumi held out her hand to stop him.

"I don't care if you're about to tell me you didn't mean to or she took it the wrong way. At the end of the day you cannot control her feelings. She is allowed to feel hurt because she has a right to feel how she feels. In the same sense, Tinkerbell," she turned to the fairy. "You're allowed to be upset, but you can't hold it against Peter if he said something and he didn't know it was going to upset you. Boys and girls think differently, so it's important to be able to talk about things so that they don't happen again in the future. For example," she then turned to look at me, "Sora could say something to me like 'Wow Yumi, your hair looks nice today.' I would immediately think, 'Oh my goodness, he thinks my hair looks bad every other day.' When in reality he means…"

"I really just mean I like your hair today. That's it. I wouldn't put much more thought into any hidden meaning. If I thought you looked bad I'd just say it."

"Right. So Peter might have done something like that but you won't know unless you ask him to clarify."

I turned to Peter and I could see he looked bored just listening, so I made sure to answer for him.

"Exactly. When Peter said we went without you for the treasure it wasn't because he didn't think of you, it's because we asked him to and he only thought of doing one task at a time. We definitely would have come to look for you after."

"And remember I said we kind of persuaded him to help, so it's not totally his fault," Yumi added.

Tinkerbell looked at Peter, who nodded when I made a face at him from behind her back.

"Yeah Tink. I really am sorry. I just had to help these guys because I knew they would be lost without us," he said.

Tinkerbell looked back at Yumi and I, then turned and twirled around Peter.

"Hopefully that means she forgives him because I have no other therapy ideas in me," Yumi whispered to me.

Assuming they were fine, I asked Tinkerbell if she knew how to find the code. She flew over to the back of the cave and pointed to a picture.

"Oh, that's got to be one of the numbers!" One of the twins said.

"Yeah but it's a picture. And how do we know where it goes?" The other asked.

The boys all started to bicker. Knowing when to rely on my partner, I turned to Yumi.

"Got any ideas, Coach?"