Sora had grown to appreciate Tidus and Wakka more as adults than he had as playmates. Tidus had the same superciliousness about him as Riku, but without the reclusion and superiority that compelled Sora to seek him as a rival. Wakka was easy-going and wise. Between them, they could normally diffuse Sora's angst long enough for him to concentrate on putting on a happy face.

Today was no exception. Ever since his conversation with Riku earlier that day, Sora had become increasingly anxious. He had not seen his best friend for more than a week's duration since he had...

Well, it had been a very long time.

Sora slid into a booth for once, neglecting his normal space at the counter of the diner. The other two slid into the opposite side.

"It'll be good to see him again," Wakka was saying as a familiar pink-haired slip of a young woman bounced up to them.

"Can I get you boys something?" She grinned.

"Cheeseburgers and lemonades all around," Tidus said.

"And a strawberry smoothie, please," Sora added with a smile.

"Sure thing," Vanille said. She walked to the counter again, and Sora resumed talking.

"Yeah, it's been so-,"

"BARRET. HEY, BENNY!" Vanille yelled behind them. Sora wheeled his torso around, alarmed.

"What in the hell are you yelling for?" Barret growled, storming out from the kitchen.

"Got an order for ya!" Vanille said cheerfully, holding out an order pad. Barret rolled his eyes and snatched the order away before going back to the kitchen.

"Get me a sammich while you're in there, woman!" Tidus called back to the grumpy chef, and his friends laughed.

"So tell me," Vanille was suddenly back, and shoving Sora with considerable strength into the booth so she had room to sit. "Who are you guys welcoming home?"

"Busybody," Sora muttered, rubbing a shoulder he had hit on the table somehow in the process of being shoved two feet.

"Riku," Wakka answered, while Tidus shot a crumpled ball of the paper the straw came in at Sora, using a spoon as a catapult. Sora's expression did not change as the ball hit his cheekbone, his eyes only narrowed.

"He's the cute one, yeah?"

"Yeah," Sora answered absently, and Wakka and Tidus shared half a glance. "He's coming in the day after tomorrow."

"Goody," Vanille replied, rubbing her hands together. "What's the occasion? Just visiting?"

There was a pause.

"Oh, I guess I forgot to mention..." Sora looked sheepish.

"Relax." Vanille laughed. "Miss Kairi stopped in on her way home. She shared the good news. Congratulations, Sora!" She punched his arm lightly. Sora smiled faintly.

"Thank you."

"So how long will our silver haired nomad be in this time?" It was Tidus who voiced the question. "A day? Half a week, maybe?"

Wakka gave him a warning look that Sora didn't miss, but he chose not to react.

"Probably ," Sora said. "That's when the party is."

"Ooh, party?" Vanille chimed in.

"Yeah, well, kind of. Just a little get together. To celebrate... the engagement." Always the engagement. Never my engagement or our engagement. "You're more than welcome, Vanille."

"I may come," she smiled, and then it turned wicked. "Especially if Riku will be there."

"He will, obviously," Wakka replied. "But I wouldn't get your hopes up, yeah?"

"Why not?" Vanille looked disappointed. This time it was Wakka who received the warning look from Tidus, but Sora was too busy staring out the glass wall he sat next to to notice.

"I just wouldn't," Wakka shrugged.

"He's always on the move," Tidus supplied by way of explanation.

"'Ay! Server girl! 'Not paying you to mingle!"

"Gotta pay someone to do it, you grump, or else you wouldn't have customers," Vanille muttered, and Tidus beamed.

"I like this girl!" He declared. Vanille grinned back at him before leaving the booth and returning with their food. "Especially when she provides food! Good woman."

"I wouldn't," Sora cautioned. "I feel bruises coming up on both arms. And I don't bruise easily."

"Oh, you'll be fine," Vanille huffed. She looked at Sora fully, now. "So are you at all nervous?"

"No. I mean, yeah. It's been forever since I last saw him. And when he left it wasn't on exactly the best of terms... I guess things have been tense since then. But he's my best friend. I mean, there's nothing we can't settle, right? Especially now that we're getting all this time together, and... What?"

There was a lightly awkward pause, in which he realised everyone was staring at him a little strangely.

"I was talking about you getting, married, but I'm glad to hear you're optimistic?" Vanille laughed.

"Oh," Sora took a bite of his food and chewed slowly, thinking. "No, I'm not nervous about that. Should I be?"

Vanille shrugged and smiled. "If you can't come up with a reason to be, I don't see why you should."

Sora nodded. The conversation resumed around him, but he couldn't take part in it. For the rest of the evening, he stared outside at the darkening sky, a similar darkness growing in his thoughts.


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Vincent accepted the call that came to Riku's cell phone that evening, but, not recognising the number, waited to let the speaker identify him (or, as it were, her) self first.

After an awkward pause, a youthful feminine voice asked with motherly concern, "Riku?"

Vincent perceived no threat, but he did not let his guard down. Riku, he knew, had run into some shady characters over the years, and Vincent was not about to let himself get tangled up in the younger man's bar fight vendettas or stalkers' obsessions. "Who is this?"

"Um, I must have the wrong number," the girl apologised.

"No," Vincent turned the volume of the television down and frowned, because she had already hung up. He shrugged and turned the volume back up. Almost immediately, the phone vibrated on the lurid floral bedspread beside him.

"." The girl from before said maliciously. Vincent raised a single black eyebrow.

"I haven't done anything to him."

"Liar! Why do you have his phone? EH? EXPLAIN THAT ONE, SMART GUY. I'll call the police, I swear to god I-,"

Vincent rubbed his temples. He already had a headache. "He left his cell phone here on accident. He's not here. He's traveling."

"A likely story." The girl seethed.

"Your name would not happen to be... Sora, would it?" He asked after a moments' thought. Though he could not see it, Kairi's face twisted into a confused countenance.

"No, that's my fiancée...?" It came across as a question. Vincent snorted. If she thought he was a torturer or rapist, she was not doing a good job of defending herself.

"Well, last I heard from him he had spoken to her and was leaving to go 'home'. This was at approximately two in the afternoon Central Island time." Vincent hoped she would not suppose he had just checked Riku's incoming calls to know that; he did not feel like dealing with the police tonight. All he really wanted to be doing, honestly, was watching the end of this horrible drama about a woman who gave birth to her child in a department store.

The girl finally exhaled. "So you haven't heard from him since? You don't know if he's stopped for the night, or if he's alright?"

Vincent almost smiled at the concern in her voice. "Generally, no news from Riku is good news."

"Oh," She sighed. "Okay. I'm sorry to have bothered you, Mr..."

"Valentine." Vincent drawled, bored with the conversation. "Comma Vincent. Riku should be there the morning after tomorrow. Until then, I would not expect him to call, but you may contact me if you need anything at this number. And tell Riku I have his phone,"

"Okay. Maybe I should get your contact info, too, just in case? I mean, I'm assuming Riku didn't leave his charger there, too."

Vincent had the inexplicable urge to throw the bedsheets to the side as he answered, "I do not carry a constant source of communication, and I will not be in this hotel room longer than tomorrow morning."

"You don't have a phone?" The girl asked, clearly perplexed. "Well, okay, I'll just call this number if I have anything I need to tell you, then. And, you know. Sorry about... About yelling, before. Oh. I'm Kairi, by the way." Then, a dial tone as the girl called Kairi disconnected.

Vincent eyed the phone bemusedly before closing it again and throwing it onto the nightstand beside him, slinking down further on the headboard as he turned the volume on the television back up.


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Sora padded barefoot outside onto the patio, wearing a t-shirt and flannel pajama bottoms and shivering in the abnormally cool summer evening.

"Yeah," he spoke into the telephone receiver, "he should be here tomorrow. I don't know what time. He didn't say. Well, I assume he's either on the road or sleeping now; he'll call if he needs us."

Sora tuned out his mother's voice as he gazed at the stars. They weren't as brilliant as on the smaller islands, away from the city limits and the shopping districts, but his apartment was sufficiently removed to allow a peaceful enough life, and a clear enough sky. He could just make out a constellation of stars that represented, in island lore, the gull that was said to have brought tidings of change to the great Kings of Land when the throne of the sea had changed hands. Change. Sora knew how much he had changed, how much his life had changed. Wondered if Riku had changed since he'd last seen him. Well, he guessed he'd find out one way or another, tomorrow.

Sora realised he'd been ignoring his mother. "Sorry, Mom. Just a bit distracted. Look, kiss Dad for me, okay? I've gotta go. I've gotta..." He felt arms wrap around him from behind.

"Hi, Mrs Hikari," Kairi piped up from beside him. Kairi's mom laughed and then said goodnight. Sora sighed relief before placing a kiss on Kairi's head as she slid to his side before wriggling out of her grasp. Kairi shrugged it off and followed him inside.

"So Riku's coming tomorrow." They'd been avoiding this talk.

"Yeah," Sora agreed, and hung up the phone before walking into the kitchen, obviously still avoiding it.

"You two... Haven't talked much lately." Kairi leaned against the doorway as Sora poured a glass of milk and grabbed a slice of leftover cake.

"What makes you think that?" Sora didn't meet your eyes.

"Are you two going to be okay? Like, I don't want you getting into any fights while I'm gone."

Sora stopped chewing his bite of cake, a piece of chocolate stuck endearingly on his lip. "Gow?" He questioned.

"Yeah," Kairi smiled at his boyish appearance as Sora slowly began chewing again, looking contemplative. "I have to pick up my parents for the party. Dad isn't up to driving so far himself, and mom hasn't driven in years, so... Yeah."

"Oh," Sora said, swallowing and looking distracted. "Well, don't worry; Riku and I are fine."

"No, you're not. You guys don't talk ever since you kissed."

Sora choked violently. Wiping tears from his eyes, he asked, "You knew about that? How?"

"You and he need to make peace this week," Kairi said, ignoring his question. "Especially if he's going to be your best man."

Sora had not considered this. "You're right," he sighed.

"I know," she smiled faintly. "I'll see you in bed?" She left the room, but Sora knew it was more to let him think than any actual tiredness on her part. Sora abandoned his snack and went back onto the patio and stared at the sky. He leaned against the white wooden railing, admiring various patterns in the sky like one would identify shapes on a cloudy day. He longed for it irrationally, that intangible distance that he had dreamed at night of flying through so many times as a child. Before all his dreams became nightmares. Sora's head dropped into his hands. Sometimes, he missed the nightmares. They were, in a way, better than dreaming of nothing at all.


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It was early morning; early enough that everything still had the slightly bluish tint of semi-darkness, and the air smelled of dew even more so than the ever-present salty scent of the ocean. Riku drove over a long bridge, and was suddenly in very familiar territory. He was on the outskirts of his hometown; on the other side of this very city (about a forty-five minute drive, assuming good traffic and no abrupt inclement weather), Riku knew he would find the home of his two best friends. The thought was not comforting. He had long avoided the thoughts of what had last happened between Sora and himself ten months ago, but avoidance worked much better when he was not getting miles closer to facing the erstwhile object of his affections every minute.

Riku was not exactly over Sora, but then, he didn't spend a lot of time dwelling on it, either. When he had first left, the very first time, the boy had been all he could think about; Sora would have said this, Sora could have reminded him that; how was Sora feeling, what was Sora doing; it had been a trying six months. Riku had called no less than a few times a week back them, just to hear his voice, just to feel some comfort in the short, whispered arguments in which Sora insisted Riku come home, and feel bitter satisfaction as he would taunt his best friend that he would not allow his life become a stagnant travesty, unlike the other boy seemed so keen on. At the time, Sora had not known of the other boy's feelings, but Riku had often reason to wonder if they were not reciprocated. Sure, Sora was with Kairi, sleeping with her, even, but that did not mean he was not fighting feelings for Riku, also. And for a while, Riku felt as though he loved his friend more than ever, and would not be able to stay away. Upon coming home and seeing how close he and Kairi had grown, how they were the quintessential "it" couple around town, referred to no longer as SoraandRikuandKairi, but simply SoraandKairi, Riku had been driven right back out of town within two weeks, leaving not a note to anyone, other than kissing his mother's cheek and whispering a "see ya later". Sora had been devastated, believing at the time Riku had come home for good. That had been two and a half years ago. Riku sighed, and the intake of breath that followed was full of the fog coming off the ocean. It was a purer scent than normal. This was the smallest main island of the chain of over one hundred, and therefore the sea was always the closest. Riku was a rarity even here; his brilliant silver hair never failed to attract, and the early morning commuters who had to travel furthest, usually to the neighbouring island he'd just come from, stared at him from the bus stops and passing vehicles. Helmet laws were not mandatory at his age, but it was times like these he wished he had one to cover his abnormal pallor. Usually he basked in the attention; right now, all he wanted was to melt into the crowd and pretend his life was less complicated than it was.

Riku rolled his eyes at his own thoughts. Feeling sorry for himself was something he both did very well and despised. Was not the point of staying on the move to keep from wallowing?

And yet, he frowned, here he was, coming back at Sora's beck and call, willingly walking back towards the cliff of a slippery slope. One false move and he'd fall over the edge, fall into hopeless adoration that would, at best, leave him as a clandestine Plan B when Kairi proved too decent a person for Sora to deal with.

Riku had, at one time, believed that was why Sora had chosen her over him. Riku had a heart tainted by exposure to darkness, a heart frail enough that his responsibilities had been passed on to Sora, when the Keyblade chose Sora over him. It had been this that resigned him to never having Sora for his own. It would have been easy to convince himself to hate Kairi because of this, because of her artless goodness, so preferable to his own weakness and need to prove himself in all ways superior. It should have been easy to despise Kairi for being able to draw Sora to herself. But Riku had nothing but brotherly affection for the younger woman, whom indeed he had never known anything with an iota of decency to dislike. It was not Kairi's fault she was so perfectly pure-hearted. She was a Princess of Heart, after all. It was to only be expected that she would be the one tether that could ensnare their friend.

Riku's thoughts were interrupted by the startling realisation that he was in their neighbourhood. He cursed himself for not having brought his cell phone, but was fairly certain he remembered which one was their place...


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Sora rolled his eyes as Kairi flew around the kitchen, labeling things with marker on plastic wrap informing him and Riku Do not eat! For party. Or Dinner tonight- preheat 360 and bake for thirty minutes.

"Yuh duh know ah cuhn cook, righ'? Sora said through a mouthful of doughnut.

"Don't talk with you mouth full, Dear," Kairi answered without looking, fully dressed and hyped on caffeine as she bent over a casserole dish. "I won't be back until the day before the party, so I had to cook everything ahead of time. Don't eat anything that tells you not to, especially the pie.

Sora blinked. "Did you just say pie?"

Kairi sighed and put her hands on her hips before turning to face him. "Maybe I'll take it with me. I don't trust you."

"Maybe you shouldn't be marrying me, then." He scratched a pectoral muscle lazily as she scowled magnificently. "You packed yet?"

"No," she admitted. "I've been so busy baking that- oh!" A timer went off, and she opened the oven to pull out two delectable-looking pies; paopu, by the smell of them.

"Awesome," Sora declared enthusiastically.

Kairi set the pies on cooling racks. "No," she said sternly. "I've gone through too much in the last twelve hours for you to screw this up."

"Yeah, yeah. Do you want me to pack for you?"

"Would you?" Kairi turned to him, wide-eyed with gratitude. "Oh, baby, thank you."

Sora shrugged. "Yeah, just yell if you need any help in here, especially with..." He eyed the pies in a predatory manner.

"I think I hear empty suitcases calling forlornly to be filled," Kairi said, completely deadpan.

Sora was already down the hall, calling as he went, "I think you're mistaking the suitcases with my stomach!"

Five minutes later, Sora heard the motorcycle driving outside before Kairi did. He dropped the blouse he'd folded into the case and walked- calmly, not ran- to the front door. Riku didn't bother knocking. Sora was in the doorway to the foyer when Riku opened the door, pulling off a heavy leather jacket and calling, "You kids outta bed, yet? I'm home!"

Sora was unintentionally, abruptly immobilised in the doorway. Riku stopped as soon as he saw the other. They both froze, and stared at each other for three whole seconds.

Riku was as lithe and muscled as ever, Sora decided, and looking decidedly less scraggly than last time he had been around. He wore a blue t-shirt with a large vintage graphic stamped on it, and snug, well-worn, but not to the point of falling apart denim jeans, as well as the same white and black shoes he was usually seen wearing.

Sora, on the other hand, had gown taller and a bit more broad-shouldered. Perhaps this had been true last time Riku had seen him, but it was particularly evident as Sora stood in only his pajama pants, gawking at Riku as though he were seeing a ghost.

Neither moved, and neither blinked. Something angry and passionate clawed up Riku's esophagus and clenched vengefully at his heart, whereas Sora looked lost, and yet, curious. It felt like minutes they stood, wanting to communicate something, but unable to express the faintest emotion, but in reality it was but a few seconds before a reddish blur launched itself into Riku's arms, keening his name in an ungodly pitch. Riku broke his staring match with Sora and looked, startled, at Kairi, who barely came up to his collarbone, before breaking into a soft smile and ruffling her hair.

"No!" She squealed in delight. "Don't mess it up, I haven't got time to straighten it with all the baking I've still got left! Oh, I can't believe you're here! It's been forever, and we've missed you so much, come into the kitchen, tell me about your drive, you worried me sick when I couldn't reach you by phone, I met Vincent by the way, he told me to tell you that he had your..." Riku was again distracted when he noticed his arms again, as abruptly as the first time, filled, this time by a spiky-haired brunette, who was the perfect height to rest his chin on.

"Riku," was all Sora said in a breath, his arms wound around the other's chest as though they were children again and Sora was afraid of a monster in the closet. Riku, ignoring the pains in his chest, wrapped his arms hesitantly around Sora's waist and held him close. He sighed, and then broke away from Sora, giving him the lightest of shrugs before following Kairi into the kitchen. Sora stared after him, an unfathomable expression on his face