"... You... Want to go back to the Old Mansion? Are you sure about this, Naminé?" Riku asks as soon as he regains his composure. He's still sitting at the kitchen island with his journal open, he closes it to give Naminé his full attention and watches as she sits on the stool next to his.
After sitting down, Naminé replies, "Yes, I'm sure. Ansem- well- DiZ, at the time, didn't really allow me to explore the mansion much, I could only sneak out when you were around, so I'd like to look it over." With a reassuring smile, she begins to go over her plan, turning to her left to fully look at Riku, "You know the Old Mansion pretty well, but I don't, so maybe something will catch my attention. Could you be my guide, please? For Sora?"
"Naminé... even if it weren't for Sora, I'd help you." Riku says as he places a hand on her shoulder "We're friends. That place is full of bad memories, for me and for you, we can be there for each other."
Naminé smiles, and nods, "Thank you, Riku."
Riku energetically gets up, reinvigorated by Naminé's plan. "Right! I'll be your guide, and you'll be our fresh eyes, I'm sure that together we'll be able to find something." Riku stretches and stifles a yawn, despite his newfound energy.
Naminé watches Riku re-adjust his makeshift sleeping area on the couch by one of the windows, shifting around pillows and sheets, and complaining about the lack of insulation. He steps back to examine his work, nods, and turns around.
"Would you like some tea or something before I go to sleep?" He asks, stifling yet another yawn.
"No, thank you" she giggles, "I can see you’re quite tired already, I’ll make it myself."
"Alright, you know where everything is now, don’t worry about keeping me up," Riku replies, lying down on the couch and slightly tucking himself in. He pauses to say, "Goodnight, Naminé."
"Goodnight, Riku," Naminé says as she grabs the chamomile tea she’s grown so fond of over the past month and begins to heat some water in the kettle.
Riku usually joins her in this routine, except during nights when he’s particularly tired. Most of the time she sees him while he’s asleep, he looks very restless. Last night was one of those nights, she remembers seeing him hurriedly grab his journal as soon as he woke up, only to stiffly look at it for a couple of minutes, its pages remaining blank.
Naminé remembers to lift the kettle before it starts whistling, and finishes making her tea. She keeps having flashes of her time in the Old Mansion but does her best to push them away, at least for now. It wouldn’t do her any good to stress herself out right before falling asleep. She doesn’t have to be afraid anymore, Riku will be with her the whole time.
As she’s putting everything away, she notices that Riku’s sleep doesn’t look fitful tonight.
Naminé, who usually sleeps in, at least compared to Riku, wakes up to noises; rustling, and the sound of zippers being opened and closed. Curious, she changes from her pajamas into her day clothes and opens the door to the living area. She discovers the source of the noise; it’s Riku, and he's packing a bundle of clothes and other things into several bags.
"G’mornin’, Riku," Naminé says as she groggily stifles a yawn.
"Oh! Good morning Naminé! Sorry, did I wake you?" he replies, his smile bordering on a guilty-looking grimace.
"No, no, not at all, don’t worry." Naminé begins to make herself some coffee, or ‘her sugar monstrosity’, as Riku dubbed it. "What are you doing?"
"Packing for our…" he struggles, forcing some article of clothing into whatever space he thinks is left in the bag he’s currently fighting, "Twilight Town trip." Riku somehow gets the shirt to fit inside. "I know I’m getting way ahead of myself, but I wanted us to have time to say goodbye to the Committee."
"Um… but isn’t it a bit early?" Naminé asks, tilting her head to the right, and sitting down with her coffee.
"I have to account for Gummi Ship travel time" he explains, proudly examining his work; 2 duffel bags filled to the brim.
She has a small realization, "Oh right, you can’t make Corridors of Darkness anymore."
"Yeah, I can’t. Maybe I could, again, with enough training." Riku says, clenching his fists, "Anyway, even if I could, I wouldn’t want to risk over-using them."
"That’s true. I don’t know if I can still make them..." Naminé’s sentence drifts off, until she continues, "But. I’ve never been on a Gummi Ship, so I’d love to go along with your plan." She smiles.
"Oh, you’ve never been on a Gummi Ship before? Don’t worry, I don’t pull off any stunts like Sora does." Riku promises, with a fond smile on his face. "Anyway, we should get your stuff packed. Remember, Twilight Town is very warm this time of year."
"Oh right! I remember now! Thank you for reminding me, I had completely forgotten." Naminé replies as she moves to get up off the kitchen island stool. "I still have the bags Aerith and Yuffie gave me, they wouldn’t let me return them, so I can use those to pack."
"I’ll help you out," Riku says as he catches up to her on their way back to the bedroom.
"Hehe, thank you, Riku." Naminé replies, happy to see her friend in a good mood.
"You’re leaving!?" Yuffie questions, so loudly that Naminé is sure that half the inhabitants of Radiant Garden could hear. "How come you’re just now telling me?" The ninja directs her barrage of questions towards Riku.
"No, no, we just planned this last night, I wasn’t hiding it from you," Riku raises both his hands in a placating gesture.
It’s not even midday yet, but Naminé and Riku are saying their farewells at Merlin’s house. As usual, Cid is absent, but Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie are all there. Leon stands off to the side as always, but Naminé now understands that it’s not because he doesn’t like them, but because he simply is that way.
"Sorry, Yuffie, I proposed it last night," Naminé explains.
Yuffie’s, albeit exaggerated, concerned glare softens as she looks at Naminé, "Oh! Well if it’s your plan, Naminé, then go for it! I’m sure the both of you can find some sort of clues together!" she says as she clasps their hands together with a smile.
With her back turned towards the group, Aerith interrupts as she looks for something, "Well, if you’re going to another world, Naminé, you’re going to need..." she turns around to unveil something, "Your very own Gummiphone!"
The Gummiphone is a simple creamy off-white color, with a Moogle charm dangling off it. "We all pitched in for it, here you go, Naminé" Aerith says as she hands it to her.
"Wow, I… I don’t know what to say. Thank you so much!" Naminé beams.
As Yuffie and Aerith lean in to hug Naminé, Leon tells her; "We input all our contact information in it already, so if you need anything, just let one of us know" and pats Naminé on the shoulder.
"Yeah! You just need Riku’s contact info, and you’re set." Yuffie says as she and Aerith pull away from the hug.
"Even if you’re going to be with each other, you should still have it just in case" Aerith reasons.
Riku opens up his own Gummiphone, a sleek black one, unadorned "They’re right, we can do that right now, and we’ll be on our way-"
"Now where do you think you’re going, mister? You two need a proper meal before you leave, and I happen to be almost done with it" Aerith interrupts, making her way over to the oven.
"Yeah, come on guys! Sit down and eat with us, we’ve got plenty to share!" Yuffie exclaims as she begins to drag two more chairs near their table.
"Wow, everyone, thank you so much! Let’s stay for lunch, Riku." Naminé says, tempted by the delicious smell coming over from the kitchen, Riku doesn’t even try to fight her when she lightly pulls him towards one of the chairs Yuffie set up.
Meanwhile, Leon wordlessly begins to help Aerith serve everyone a portion of lasagna, as Aerith promises that there’s enough for everyone to have a second helping.
As the pair leaves Merlin’s house, stomachs full and Gummiphone set up, Riku asks, "Naminé, do you mind if I go visit Kairi before we head off to Twilight Town?"
"No, I don’t mind at all. I wanted to visit her, too." Naminé replies.
"We’ll go together, then," Riku says as they make their way to the corridors beneath Radiant Garden’s Castle.
Getting to Kairi’s room is easy, the cold, sterile room and its machinery are now familiar to the two, though there’s a lot less of it now than when Kairi’s journey began. While it’s still sad to see her asleep for so long, Naminé hopes that her plan results in Kairi not having to be in her comatose state for much longer.
Riku says his goodbyes to Kairi and as he does, he gently clasps Kairi’s hand, hoping that some of his words get through to her.
"Okay, I’m ready." Riku directs his gaze towards Naminé, "Do you want to head to the Gummi ship now or-"
"I think I’ll stay a bit longer, could you bring it around, please?" Naminé interrupts, sliding her chair closer to Kairi’s bed.
"Oh, okay. Are you going to be alright on your own?" Riku hesitates as he stands up.
"I’ll be okay, I can just send you a message now, too." Naminé reassures with a smile, "Just message me once you’re here"
"Okay, I’ll only be a couple of minutes," Riku says, worriedly reassuring Naminé. "See you in a bit, Naminé. I’ll pass by the house and get our things, too, so don’t worry about that."
A few seconds full of silence pass by, and Naminé begins to speak to Kairi.
"Kairi... I know we haven’t gotten to speak much, but I understand you more than you know." The young girl begins to hold Kairi's hand as she leans towards it, cold, sterile lighting filtered by her soft golden hair.
She continues, "I know what it feels like to be left behind, to be used. Riku does too, even if he doesn’t like talking about it, I know. But he’s always been capable of fighting back, while you and I, even though we try our best, feel hopeless sometimes." Her grip on Kairi's hand strengthens.
"But it… It doesn’t have to be. I know Sora isn’t here right now but, you can always depend on your friends, Riku’s talked to me about how he feels like he’s wronged you, but I think if you two could just talk, you’d realize how much you two care for each other... And... When you wake up... I’d like to be your friend, too..."
Just as Naminé finishes talking, she hears someone walk into the room; one of the apprentices, Ze- Ienzo. Just as he’s about to say something, Naminé is startled by the buzzing of her Gummiphone; it’s Riku.
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• mnirilidimbfis View Profile | Send Mail | Comment |
mnirilidimbfis: Hey, Naminé, the Gummi ship is ready. Just walk out the back and I’ll pick you up.
seawavenami: I’m on my way
Naminé, politely but quickly, excuses herself from the room and makes her way back outside. She doesn’t see anything at first but feels the wind pick up around her as the Gummi ship finally makes its appearance. She watches as Riku carefully lands it and opens one of its doors to walk up to her.
"Are you ready for your first trip on a Gummi ship?" Riku asks.
"I’m… I’m a bit nervous but, I think I’ll be fine, especially if it’s you driving and not Sora."
Riku laughs.
Their journey on the Gummi ship goes well. Riku is great at fending off any Heartless that approach them without moving excessively, so Naminé gets to stare and wonder at all the stars and Worlds they pass on the way to Twilight Town. Naminé can’t help but notice how familiar this all is to Riku, but she does catch him staring off into a couple of worlds now and then.
By the time they arrive at Twilight Town, the shadows from the perpetual setting sun have given the Old Mansion an eerie and dark quality to it. The unsettling silence is only broken by their footsteps and the odd cry from the nearby crows.
"Hm. That’s weird." Riku remarks.
Naminé moves closer to him, despite it being late Summer in Twilight Town, she can feel a chill, "What is?"
"It looks like someone locked the gates to the Old Mansion again, it used to be open ever since Sora woke up last year, remember?" Riku wordlessly removes his jacket and gives it to Naminé.
While putting on the jacket, Naminé says, "Oh, you’re right, that is weird."
"Stand back, I’m going to unlock it," Riku summons his Keyblade. He takes his usual stance, but instead of bringing his left hand down as he usually would, he brings it up to his Keyblade hand, thrusts the Keyblade forward, turns it, and finally, unlocks the gates.
"Ready to go inside? I brought us some flashlights, they should be in my jacket pockets" Riku moves inside the formerly gated off front garden.
Naminé shifts nervously, checking the pockets for the flashlights. After she finds them, she hands one over to Riku. "Ready."
The doors into the Mansion aren’t locked, so getting the rest of the way in is relatively easy. Once inside, the only thing keeping them company is the dust motes in the air. The Mansion looks even worse than before; it’s dirtier, more furniture is broken, and the air is incredibly musty.
Sensing her unease, Riku gently holds Naminé’s wrist and leads her further inside the foyer. "Some of your old drawings might still be in the White Room, would you like to go pick them up?"
"Oh... Yeah, I’d like to..." Naminé nervously replies.
The pair begin to make their way up the stairs, until…
"Who’s there!?" Someone calls out.
Naminé yelps and hides behind Riku, while he shines his flashlight at the intruder.
"...Roxas?" Riku asks, seeing none other than the blond Keyblade wielder shielding his eyes from the beam of his flashlight.
"Riku!? What are you doing here? Can you get your annoying flashlight off of my face, please?" Roxas complains with a huff.
"Oh, sorry." Riku apologizes.
Naminé steps out from behind Riku, "Hello, Roxas. Riku and I came here to look for clues to see if we can help out Sora."
"Naminé! You’re here too!" Roxas quickly walks up the stairs to greet her, completely brushing Riku off, who only slumps his shoulders in mild annoyance. "How can I help out?"
Taken aback by his forwardness, Naminé starts; "Oh... Um... Before anything, Riku and I were headed to the White Room to see if I could find any of my old drawings, then-"
Before Naminé can continue, Roxas interrupts her, "Actually, I came here a few months ago with Xion and Axel to see if we could find anything, too, but we couldn’t." Roxas blinks, remembering something, "We did find your drawings, though, and we took them home with us before they could get water-damaged or something. I think they’re in a folder in Xion’s room."
"Oh that’s so nice of you Roxas, thank you" Naminé beams.
"No sweat. Why don’t you, and Riku I guess, come on over and stay the night so we can give you back your drawings? You’ve gotta be tired, Naminé." Roxas says, walking down the stairs, leading the way outside the Old Mansion.
"That’d be great, thank you, Roxas," Naminé follows behind.
Once they’re outside, Riku catches up and clears his throat, "So, I’m guessing you’re the one who locked the gates?"
"Yeah, I hate this place" Roxas bluntly replies.
After a bit of silence, Naminé overhears Riku say; "... Me too."
Roxas leads them to one of Twilight Town’s many town homes. A three-floored exposed brick affair, which looks a little bit more run-down than the adjacent homes, but not unloved. "Saïx got this for us, his way of making amends, he said." Roxas explains, "I live here with Xion and Axel, Saïx has a room too, but he barely uses it, anyway, come on in. I think Axel is probably working or something."
"I’m back! Naminé and Riku are here!" He shouts into the home.
Rapid thumping is heard from upstairs until Xion emerges from the stairs into the entrance way, "Riku! Naminé! It’s so great to see you!" she hugs Naminé and Riku in turn.
The pair agrees with Xion, remarking how good it is to see both her and Roxas in non-dire circumstances. They make small talk until they hear someone yawn extremely loudly, and turn to see Lea.
"Hey, kids," he says, somewhat sleepy.
"Oh, hello-" Naminé begins to say but is interrupted by Roxas.
"Axel, I thought you were at work" Roxas remarks, annoyed.
"Nah, I’m on holiday" Lea replies.
"Ugh, seriously? This is your fourth holiday in a row."
"Hey, a 9–5 is demanding work, you know."
Fed up, Roxas raises his tone, "The only 9–5 you do are the 9–5 hours you spend napping on the couch!"
While Roxas continues to argue with Lea, Xion steps closer to Naminé and Riku with a conspiratorial grin and says, "Saïx is the real breadwinner in this house, don’t listen to Axel." she finishes off the sentence with a giggle.
"I heard that," Lea says.
"Oops!" Xion decides to play dumb.
"Aaaanyway, what do you two need here in Twilight Town?" Lea asks.
Riku explains the situation to Lea, and he nods. "Well, as Roxas said, of course you can stay the night, but you’re welcome to stay longer. I know this place needs a little TLC, but hey, we’ve got the space for the both of you."
"Really? Thanks, Lea." Riku says.
"But! You’ve gotta follow house rules." Lea’s tone turns serious.
"House rules?" Naminé hears Roxas and Xion giggle.
"Yup." Lea begins to say, as if checking off items off of an imaginary to-do list. "Bedtime is at eight PM, breakfast is at six AM, no ice cream unless you’ve done the chores I’ll assign you, and no Gummiphones at the table."
By now, Roxas and Xion are cackling. Xion says, "Axel, if those were the house rules, we’d have to kick you out."
"Nah, you can’t do that. I’m the man of the house, I’m the person in charge of you two" Lea replies, smiling.
"More like the clown of the house," Roxas teases.
"Okay, okay, quit making fun of me. As the clown of the house, I get to decide who bunks with who." Lea says, smiling at Roxas conspiratorially, "Roxas, you’re with Riku."
"What!?" Roxas complains, indignant.
Lea points at both of the girls, "Xion and Naminé, you’re together."
"Yay!" Xion exclaims, raising her hand to give her a high-five. Naminé stares at her, confused for a second, until she remembers and completes the gesture.
"Okay, you guys can complain or celebrate your room assignments after dinner. Come on, I’ll order some pizza." Lea says, making his way over to the landline phone.
Isa arrives in the town home as the group is already scarfing down the cheap mozzarella pizzas Lea ordered. A bit taken aback, he greets his guests and grabs himself a slice, which he then takes up to his room, citing Lea’s loudness as the reason for his departure.
They pass the time watching some random episode of a serial drama on the living room CRT until Naminé begins to get sleepy, which is when everyone decides to turn in for the night. To Roxas’ dismay, his requests to have Riku bunk with Lea or Isa are rejected as Lea laughs in his face.
"Hey, Naminé, follow me, this way!" Xion happily leads the way to her room.
Once inside, Naminé notices that the furniture in Xion’s room seems as well-loved as every other object in the house, and the house itself. Her sheets and curtains are mostly black, like her wardrobe, but the lack of color in that department is more than made up for by Xion’s collection of seashells and plushies. The seashells dot the window frame of her bay window, desk, and edges of her bookshelf. The plushies, a mix of animals and people, have all but completely taken over her bed, not even her pillow is visible.
Xion heads over to her desk, opens up one of the drawers, and pulls out a purple folder. "Here you go!” she hands it over. "Open it!"
Naminé opens it up, curious, to find all of her old drawings, lovingly preserved. "Oh, Xion, thank you so much!" Naminé accepts the folder, almost tearing up.
Xion carefully gives Naminé a hug and holds her as she calms down, extremely happy to have helped out someone who she wishes to be better friends with.
"You should thank Roxas too, he also helped out, it was a group effort," Xion says, dragging out a mattress from below her bed. "Here, you can take my bed and I’ll sleep on the mattress."
Naminé starts, "No, no, I couldn’t possibly-"
"Really, I don’t mind at all. Maybe we could just switch off every night, how does that sound?"
"Yeah… Yeah! I’d like that." Naminé agrees.
As Naminé sinks into Xion’s mountain of plushies, she hears her Gummiphone go off from the bedside table.
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• mnirilidimbfis View Profile | Send Mail | Comment |
mnirilidimbfis: I think Roxas hates me.
seawavenami: That can’t be true
mnirilidimbfis: He just went to sleep. I had to set everything up on my own.
seawavenami: Maybe you just need to talk to him
mnirilidimbfis: Trust me, I tried. He wouldn’t reply.
seawavenami: But he was so nice to me earlier, even with all that’s happened
mnirilidimbfis: That’s the thing. You had no choice but to stay with DiZ, while I did.
seawavenami: Did you, though?
mnirilidimbfis: ...
mnirilidimbfis: Crap, I woke Roxas up. Goodnight, Naminé.
seawavenami: Goodnight Riku
"Goodnight, Xion." Naminé says as she turns off her Gummiphone for the night.
"G’night, Naminé!" Replies a slightly muffled Xion. Some of the plushies have fallen onto her, but she doesn’t seem to care.
The next day, Xion tells everyone that Naminé doesn’t have any clothing of her own choosing, so they all pool some Munny together to take her clothes shopping. Lea divides them into two teams:
Team Isa; which consists of Isa, Xion, and Naminé.
And Team Lea; consisting of Lea, Roxas, and Riku.
Team Isa will take Naminé shopping, while team Lea prepares a surprise.
After a full breakfast, both teams depart to opposite ends of Market Street.
Xion, posed as to give her teammates a pep talk, begins; "Okay team, together we have ei-"
"Don’t worry about the Munny, I’ll pitch in for anything our Munny pool can’t cover" Isa interrupts.
"But Saïx, you already placed Munny in the pool, right?" Xion asks.
"Yes, but if I told Lea I had this Munny, he would simply ask for it." Isa replies. Gravely.
"Ohhh. Smart idea! I should probably do that too..."
"Smart indeed," Isa says.
As the trio is about to enter one of the many clothing stores on Market Street, they run into Olette, who seems to be doing some shopping of her own.
"Olette! Hey!" Xion calls out to her.
It takes her a second, but she finds the source of the voice calling out to her and runs over, "Hi, Xion! Hello Isa! And..."
"Hello, my name is Naminé" Naminé lightly waves to her.
"Naminé! Hello! I’ve heard so much about you! I’m Olette, it’s so good to finally meet you." Olette says as she gives Naminé a hug. "So, what are you three doing?"
"Naminé doesn’t really have many clothes of her own, so we’re going to help her pick out some! It’s like how when you met me for the first time" Xion explains.
"Oh yeah, I remember. I’d love to tag along. What do you say, Naminé?" Olette asks.
"Oh, uh… Sure" She says with a small smile.
"Great!"
The team immediately notices Naminé’s preference for dresses and skirts, so they know which stores to head in.
Isa watches as Olette leads Naminé and Xion into various stores as they all pick out clothes together, the majority of which are dresses. Xion gathers them up and clears a dressing room for Naminé, as Olette eggs Naminé on to “model” her new clothes for them.
Naminé agrees, reluctant at first, but ends up having tons of fun in the end. Xion makes Isa act as a judge, but the only rating he gives is a small approving smile.
Pass through skirts of various lengths and end up picking out some circle skirts, wrap skirts, and a single tulip skirt. Dresses, predictably, are the majority of their haul, with various sundresses, a couple of shirt and mini dresses, some skater dresses, and a blouson dress. Of course, they also purchase different tops and jackets that Naminé can mix and match with.
Something they almost forgot among all the skirts and dresses was shopping for footwear, which Isa gently reminded them of. So, aside from sandals, Naminé now owns a couple of sneakers and a nice pair of boots.
Olette also pitches in gifting her various accessories, such as some hair scrunchies, hair clips, and a headband.
Meanwhile, Roxas leads Team Lea into some sort of sports shop, where various skateboards, bicycles, roller skates, and scooters are on display alongside equipment for Struggle Battles.
Inside, they find Hayner and Pence, looking at said equipment, seemingly mid-debate.
Roxas calls out to them; "Yo, Hayner! Pence!"
"Hey, it’s Roxas!" Hayner calls out in reply, but before he approaches, he seriously looks at Pence and says, "We continue this later."
Pence rolls his eyes and joins the group.
"Hey Roxas, your skateboard break again or something?" Pence asks with a grin.
"Will you stop with that? No, it didn’t. I’m here to buy something for a friend." Roxas replies, with a small grumble.
"Who, him?" Hayner points at Riku.
"No, not him. Another friend, her name is Naminé, I need something good for beginners." Roxas answers.
"So you’re not gonna introduce us to the tall guy?" Hayner questions.
"Uh, yeah, I already introduced him, his name is Axel." Roxas points behind him with his thumb, pointedly ignoring the other ‘tall guy’ beside him.
"Dude, we already know Lea. I mean the other one." Pence says.
Riku lets out a deep sigh and realizes that Roxas is never going to introduce him properly, so he decides to do so himself. "I’m Riku, I’m visiting Twilight Town with Naminé."
Pence stretches out his hand in greeting, "Nice to meet you, Riku."
"Yeah, same here, I’m Hayner." He points to himself with his thumb, and then cocks his head to the right “And that’s Pence.”
"Nice to meet you guys" Riku shakes Pence’s hand.
"Let’s not get sidetracked, we were looking for something for Naminé" Roxas says, somewhat irritated.
"Fine, fine" Pence concedes, "You said something good for beginners, right? But what? A skateboard, a bicycle, or..." he trails off.
"Uh." Roxas expertly replies.
"A scooter should work." Riku pitches in.
"What?" Roxas asks.
"A scooter. A skateboard would make her nervous, and roller skates have a steep learning curve. A bicycle would be too bulky for us to transport, so, a scooter." Riku explains.
"And to Riku goes the award! Let’s find us some scooters." Hayner walks further into the store.
They end up picking out a large but foldable sky-blue scooter. While Lea pays for it, Roxas spots Riku looking at a set of rollerblades, which he promptly picks up and buys for himself.
Team Lea’s mission has been a success.
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• mnirilidimbfis View Profile | Send Mail | Comment |
mnirilidimbfis: We’re done on our end, come meet us at the Sand Lot when you’re ready.
seawavenami: On our way!
Wearing one of her new sundresses, Naminé and her newfound friends head over to the Sand Lot as Riku instructed them to.
he sees Roxas sitting on a step with his foot on a skateboard while he holds on to a purple bicycle with similar patterns to the skateboard. Riku’s sitting on a nearby step as well, putting on what appears to be a pair of rollerblades. There’s a sky-blue scooter nearby. Lea is there as well, along with two boys she doesn’t recognize.
"Hello, everyone." Naminé says, shyly.
"Oh, Naminé, you’re here!" Roxas turns and gets up to face her.
The two teams recount their successful missions to each other, and Hayner and Pence introduce themselves to Naminé, and Olette to Riku.
"So, yeah. Riku said this would fit you best." Roxas points to the scooter.
"Oh, thank you so much, everyone!" Naminé beams.
Riku approaches her and asks, "Do you want to try it? I know you’ve never done this before, but neither have I. I bought myself a pair of rollerblades so you wouldn’t be the only one just starting out."
"Yes! I’d love to." Naminé smiles.
"We can help you out, too. I swung by our house and picked up Xion, and I’s gear." Roxas says.
"Oooh I’d love to help, I just started out, too!" Xion runs towards her bicycle.
Naminé very carefully steps onto her scooter, gripping the handlebars a little too hard. She pushes off with her right foot... and... Almost falls to the left.
Roxas and the others give her some tips and follow her closely so she isn’t afraid of falling until she gains enough confidence to do a full lap around the Sand Lot all by herself. As soon as she pulls it off, everyone erupts into cheers.
A few more laps later, everyone pointedly looks at Riku, who has his rollerblades on but still hasn’t gotten off the steps.
"What, you’re not gonna do anything?" Roxas taunts.
"Okay, fine, I’ll stand up." Riku flawlessly and effortlessly goes from a sitting position to a standing position. He gives Roxas a cocky smile and lifts one of his feet, balancing on only one foot.
"Dude, I thought you never did anything like this before." Roxas huffs.
"That’s right. I did do ballet as a kid though, So I think some of those skills translated into this" Riku replies as he carefully puts his foot down.
"Okay, sure, whatever, cool, now try actually moving." Roxas says.
Riku carefully does a lap around the Sand Lot, almost losing his balance a couple of times, but not quite enough to fall. Everyone cheers but Roxas, who was anticipating that he would fall.
The group stays in the Sand Lot until it’s time for dinner.
Time goes by rather quickly as Riku and Naminé settle down into the Twilight Town group’s daily routines. The re-exploration of the Old Mansion is always put off by Roxas for whatever reason, though. Riku doesn’t ask why since he doesn’t want to cause trouble, especially because of Roxas’ uneasy relationship with him, but once three weeks have passed, Riku reaches a breaking point with Roxas’ excuses.
Before Roxas gets the chance to make it to his bed, Riku grabs him by the wrist, "I need to talk to you about something."
"Let me go."
"Why are you always putting off our visits to the Old Mansion?"
"I said, let me go." Roxas struggles against Riku’s grip.
"This isn’t for me, it’s for Sora."
"I know it’s for Sora, but you won’t find anything in there." Roxas' tone begins to rise.
"How do you know that?"
"I just do. Now let me go" Roxas tugs.
Riku, tired of not being listened to, begins to raise his tone as well, "We have to make sure. You’re a Keyblade Wielder just like I am, you can’t just neglect your duty-"
"Duty!?" Roxas breaks free of Riku’s grasp. "Uh, just to remind you. I didn’t choose any of this. I know people think I’m strong or whatever, but I don’t care. I want to help Sora, but I don’t want anything to do with Keyblades anymore. He’s my other, I have a connection with him, you know how empty it feels without him!?"
I do, more than you will ever know.
"He’s always sacrificing himself for some greater good, he never takes care of himself. All of this happened because some old man was obsessed with Kingdom Hearts and the χ-blade. I want to help Sora, but I’m not going back there."
"Fine. But you can’t just ignore the fact that you’re a Keyblade Wielder forever."
"Yes I can, it’s been working perfectly so far."
"It won’t last!" Riku clenches his fists.
"Fine, then. If you don’t understand me when I try to talk to you, then we settle this."