Roxas’ room is a relaxing space to be in. While a bit messy, it’s clear that a lot of care has gone into putting it all together. The game console with a small TV in the corner, the bookshelf littered with books and video games, his sticker-covered desk, and his messy bed are all tied together by the warm lighting provided by a string of fairy lights.
Tonight, Roxas’ room is not a relaxing space to be in. The once comfortable dim lighting only exaggerates the angry look on Roxas’ face, and Riku feels like the room’s shadows are closing in on him.
“We settle this? How?” Riku asks, incredulously.
“We settle this. With Keyblades, since you like them so much.”
Before Riku can get a word in, Roxas opens the door and steps into the hallway. “Meet me at the Sand Lot. I won’t wait forever.”
What does he think he’s doing? He’s obviously provoking me, but why? I have to go, though. I need to show him how important saving Sora is, no matter what it takes… And I need his help.
Riku attempts to follow Roxas’ trail but loses him as he locks the door behind him. Riku huffs and quietly summons his Keyblade, unlocking the door and making his way to the Sand Lot.
Despite Twilight Town’s perpetual twilight, one can notice how late it is by seeing how the shadows grow and cover the town. Sunlight only manages to hit the topmost part of the Clock Tower, the rest of the town lit up only by dim streetlamps.
The way to the Sand Lot is full of twists and turns, but Riku finally reaches it.
“There you are, I thought you’d be a no-show,” Roxas says, leaning against the wall, his two Keyblades already summoned.
“Sorry, but someone locked the door on the way out.”
“Gee, I wonder who that could’ve been.”
There are countless Struggle posters laid out on the walls of the nearby homes, with the banner and stage for the event visible off to the side. Despite the festive atmosphere, the air in the Sand Lot is tense.
Riku is only met by silence from Roxas after their brief exchange, so he moves to summon his Keyblade, only to be stopped as Roxas throws one of his Keyblades, Oblivion, his way.
“I want a rematch.” He says.
“What are you talking about?” Riku tests Oblivion in his hand.
“You know what I’m talking about. That time at The World That Never Was, when you waited for me at Memory’s Skyscraper. You cheated.”
“Is this what this whole thing has been about?” Riku shakes his head in disbelief.
“Sure, if you believe that.” Roxas shrugs and settles into his fighting stance, bending his knees and holding Oathkeeper with both of his hands. “No magic, and don’t worry about making noise. Me and Hayner practice here for our Struggle matches all the time, and nobody cares.”
“Ready?”
“I didn’t agree to—”
Roxas lunges at him with an overhead strike, and Riku just barely manages to block it on shaking feet. He digs his feet into the ground and pushes away with all his strength. “Fine! Have it your way!” Sparks fly as Oblivion knocks away Oathkeeper.
Roxas recovers from Riku’s show of strength, but not fast enough. When he moves to attack, Riku spins to his left and thrusts Oblivion forward, landing a hit and making Roxas recoil backward.
Angered, Roxas runs at Riku and swings Oathkeeper repeatedly at him. Riku manages to block some of these unpredictable hits, but not all of them, leaving him winded.
In the heat of the moment, Riku almost draws upon his dark magic but holds himself back. This a strictly martial duel.
Riku recalls his spar against Yuffie and attempts to sweep at Roxas’s feet. Roxas sees through him, however, and jumps back at the last second.
“I thought I said no cheating.”
“By that you meant no magic, didn’t you?”
“Heh, I guess I don’t have to worry about fighting dirty.”
Roxas runs at him once more, low this time, which Riku is already prepared for. But instead of attacking him with his Keyblade, Roxas sweeps at the ground, kicking up sand. It was a feint, and now Riku’s got sand in his eyes.
Roxas laughs, “Now it’s exactly like last time.”
Riku stops trying to bat away the sand, closes his eyes, and listens.
Step, step, step. Roxas is circling him, looking for an opening.
He won’t find one; I’m used to fighting like this.
Roxas finally moves to strike, but Riku catches onto his jacket with Oblivion and moves to pin him down. He brushes away the sand from his eyes, revealing a jacket pinned to the ground, Oathkeeper beside it… But no Roxas.
As soon as Riku realizes this, he hears Roxas re-summon Oathkeeper and holds it near Riku’s side.
“I win.” He says with a cocky smile. “How’s that for neglecting my Keyblade?”
Riku puts his left hand up and silently loosens his grip on Oblivion, carefully handing it back to Roxas.
“That move, by the way, I learned from practicing for Struggle matches with Hayner.” Roxas continues.
“Ugh, sorry, Roxas.” Riku concedes, “It’s like I got possessed by Master Yen Sid or something.”
“Maybe that Keyblade Master title comes with that sort of attitude.”
“I’d hope not.”
“Then you better keep it that way, don’t get all annoying like that.”
After some light teasing, Roxas’s face turns serious.
“Something’s up with you. Your movements were off. I know your Keyblade is much heavier than Oblivion, so what was up with you being so slow?”
Riku opens his mouth to respond but isn’t able to come up with any answers.
“You’re exhausted, man. Have you seen yourself?” Roxas walks up to one of the benches at the Sand Lot and motions for Riku to follow. “You need to rest. Figured I’d beat some sense into you after you blew up at me talking about ‘duty’ or whatever.”
Riku groans. “Stop reminding me,” he says as he sits down beside Roxas. “But I can’t rest now, not with Sora missing.”
“Yeah, you can,” Roxas says as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“I really can’t. I need to go check out the Old Mansion.”
“Would you stop insisting with that? It’s related to Ansem, yeah? So just let Axel and Saix look it over.”
“I don’t want to shirk my responsibility to—”
“Ugh, stop being so annoying when I’m trying to be nice to you. You’re not ‘shirking responsibilities,’ you’re resting! Let those two do it, especially Axel, so he does something for once.”
Riku considers Roxas’s proposition. “Are you sure they’d accept?”
“Yeah, of course. Everyone wants to help Sora, even them. Plus, they’ve got history with Ansem, while the only thing we have is bad memories.” Roxas says as he pats Riku on the shoulder.
“True enough.”
“Plus, you and Naminé should do normal people things for once.”
“Alright, alright. I’ll do ‘normal people things.’ But stop treating me like you want to snap my wrist again.”
“Only if you stop getting on my nerves with all that Keyblade talk.” Roxas outstretches his hand.
“Deal.” Riku firmly clasps his hand with Roxas to seal the deal, only for him to turn it into an impromptu arm-wrestling match, which Riku loses.
“Haha! You actually fell for it!” Roxas cackles.
“Oh, shut up,” Riku says as he holds his arm in mild pain.
“Let’s go back, it's super late.”
“Alright. But actually help me set up my mattress this time.”
“No promises.” Roxas chuckles and breaks into a jog back home.
The next morning, the group of six gathers for breakfast in the too-small kitchen. Everyone helps themselves to whatever is ready to eat from the kitchen cabinets, while Isa offers to make warm drinks for everyone. The group of teens claims the kitchen table as Lea and Isa stand around the kitchen.
The quiet murmur of conversation and the clinking of spoons against ceramic mugs is interrupted by a tired Roxas. “Hey, Axel?” he asks.
Lea leans against the wall, crosses his arms, and faces Roxas. “What’s up, Roxas?”
“You think you and Saïx could check out the Old Mansion for Naminé and Riku by yourselves?”
“Sure. You don’t wanna go back there, yeah?”
“Pretty much.”
“Very well. Lea and I will look into the Old Mansion.” Isa adds as he hands Roxas and Riku a cup of coffee each.
“Awesome, thanks.”
Roxas turns to his left to look at Riku. “See? Told you it’d be easy.”
“Yeah, looks like you were right.” Riku speaks up. “Thank you, guys.”
“It’s no big deal, kid,” Lea replies as Isa nods.
“Naminé! We won’t have to go back to that old musty place!” Xion cheers, hugging her friend.
“Oh! Um, yes! We won’t!” Naminé says as Xion’s hug shakes her back and forth.
“We should celebrate! Naminé, have you ever done karaoke?”
“No, but I know what it is.”
“Would you like to go? We can invite Hayner, Pence, and Olette to come with us after they’re done with school.”
“I’d love that.”
“Alright, I’m all done with my breakfast,” Xion says as she gets up and picks up her now empty bowl of fruit cereal. “Do you want to watch more of that mermaid show with me, Naminé?”
“Sure.” Naminé follows behind, putting her empty plate in the sink alongside Xion.
After a beat of silence, Riku asks, “Oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask. What are you guys doing about school?”
“Skipping it,” Roxas replies, flatly.
Isa sighs and explains, “What Roxas means is that he and Xion are waiting until they turn eighteen so they can do an intensive schooling program. We planned to have them enroll in Twilight Town’s high school, but there was no guarantee they would be in the same grade as their friends.”
“Yeah, they could be thrown in some random year depending on their exam scores. But the accelerated school we’re looking at covers it all in just two years. It’s gonna be hard, but at least Isa and I can join ‘em for it since we never finished.” Lea chimes in.
Riku hums, pondering something. “I might have to look into that since I pretty much dropped out. I never went back to school after the Islands fell, but I think my town is too small to have a program like that.”
“You could always do it here,” Roxas says.
Riku blinks. “Hm… I could, you’re right. I do turn seventeen this year, so I wouldn’t have to wait much more anyway.”
“What, are you not gonna wait for us?”
“Well, it all depends on what happens with…” Riku trails off with a sad look on his face.
The awkward silence is interrupted by Lea. “Why don’t you two go and join the girls in the living room?”
“Yeah! Let’s go, Riku.” Roxas gets up, thankful for the excuse to leave the awkward silence behind.
Riku wordlessly follows him.
While Roxas messages Hayner, Pence, and Olette to meet them at Twilight Karaoke after school, Naminé and Riku put on some warmer clothes to prepare for Twilight Town’s early autumn. When Xion doesn’t do the same, Naminé asks her why, only to get a flimsy response.
“I don’t really get cold.”
“Are you sure you won’t need a jacket?”
“I’ll be fine, don’t worry!”
Xion leads the way to today’s designated meeting spot, while a bit further behind, Roxas approaches Riku.
“Seriously, don’t worry about Xion. We… don’t think her Replica body can feel cold, or warm for that matter.”
“What? Is the body defective? We should—”
“No, no. She’ll be fine; we’ve been in contact with Zexion and the others. Mine also has some issues, like I can’t control my own strength, especially when I’m mad. But from what you told us, I think the reason Vexen was so bent on having Naminé stay was so he could make our bodies perfect.”
Riku tenses. “Oh… Well, I’m sorry, but—”
“You don’t have to be sorry; we don’t want her to stay there either. We’re fine just like this.” Roxas taps Riku on the back.
After a moment, he asks, “Have you noticed anything like that with Naminé, though?”
Riku thinks, “It’s like, I don’t notice her enough. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah, I get what you mean.” Roxas says, “Well, whatever, we’re all here now, so who cares? Now come on, hurry up!” He yells out as he catches up to Xion and Naminé.”
The group meets up with Hayner, Pence, and Olette in front of Twilight Karaoke. After chatting for a bit, Hayner immediately takes charge and gets them a room inside the venue. “Quit yappin’ and follow me.” He says as he motions with his hand.
“Okay, so who is gonna kick this off?” Pence asks as he sits down on the room’s couch.
Olette stands up and hurries to grab the mic. “Me, duh! I’ve been practicing.”
“You’re not the only one, but sure, go ahead!” Xion smiles.
Olette picks out a song with the television’s remote control and turns her back to it, seemingly not needing the lyrics at all. She strikes a pose as soon as the first beat sounds out and begins to dance and sing;
“Hey, hey, you, you!
I don’t like your girlfriend.
Hey, hey, you, you!
I think you need a new one.
Hey, hey, you, you!
I could be your girlfriend.”
She continues to dance her choreography and belts out the lyrics, and once everyone is familiar with the chorus, most of them chime in as well. Naminé sings along under her breath while Riku claps along with the beat.
As the song reaches its end, the room erupts into cheers. Olette does a mock curtsy, slightly out of breath.
“Thank you, thank you,” she pants, sitting back down on the couch and drinking some juice.
Pence gravely looks at Hayner. “You know what must be done,” he says cryptically.
“I know. C’mon, Pence.”
Hayner and Pence both pick out a song together, moving through the user interface incredibly quickly as if through muscle memory.
The opening guitar riff sounds out, and they begin;
“It’s just one of those days when you don’t wanna wake up,
Everything is—”
“Hey! You’ve already done this one before!” Roxas yells out over the volume of the song.
“No—I mean yes, but Riku and Naminé haven’t seen it!” Pence yells back.
The nonsensical argument continues over the backing track, and Naminé can’t help but giggle.
“Come on, this is like, the millionth time you sing this!” Olette says, recovered.
Hayner replies, frustrated, “Shut up! It’s a good song! Come on, Pence.”
Pence nods, and they continue their song after being interrupted. Clearly practiced and choreographed, Riku and Naminé can’t help but also be impressed, even though the others complain about seeing them sing this song countless times before.
Riku, Naminé, and Xion clap once they’re done, but they’re only met with sarcastic slow claps from Roxas and Olette.
Roxas huffs. “Well, Xion and I have something actually new to show you guys.”
“Yeah! Let’s go, Roxas.”
Hayner and Pence grumble about not getting as many cheers as Olette did as they sit back down until Roxas tells them to shut up as he and Xion’s song starts.
Xion starts singing by herself, Roxas clapping along and looking at her, until they reach the chorus and they both start singing passionately;
“I bleed it out.
Digging deeper just to throw it away
I bleed it out.
Digging deeper just to throw it away
I bleed it out.
Digging deeper just to throw it away
Just to throw it away, just to throw it away.
I bleed it out.”
Roxas then continues singing, and they trade back and forth after each chorus. They’ve clearly practiced, and they urge the others to join in on the chorus and manage to get everyone to join in, including Riku, who sings a lot louder than anyone would’ve thought.
They strike a pose once the song is done, standing back-to-back, mirroring each other, and the room erupts into cheers once more.
“That was awesome, guys!” Pence cheers.
“Yeah!” Olette agrees.
“Good job, you two, though I could barely hear you over this guy,” Hayner says as he points at Riku.
“My bad.” He laughs.
Xion sits back down. “Naminé, Riku, you two should sing too.”
“I don’t know that many songs, though…” Naminé sighs.
“It’s okay! We can all pick out a song for you if you want.”
“Let me think about it. Riku, would you mind going first?”
“Not at all.” He says as Roxas hands him the remote.
He scrolls for a while and goes through different tabs until he finally finds a song. He doesn’t turn away from the screen completely, but he does try his best to face the others.
It’s a somber song, and Riku slips up with the lyrics sometimes, having to look back and forth between the TV screen and his friends until he reaches a certain part where the guitars start rising up in volume;
“Red, yellow, sunflower, orange, ultramarine, hydrangea
Red, yellow, sunflower, orange, ultramarine, hydrangea
Swimming alone in the deep darkness
Until I can meet you.”
Riku confidently finishes the song, his friends clapping and cheering for him.
“Wow, didn’t think you had it in you to sing a song like that. I’m guessing it means something to you?” Roxas’ mocking turns into a genuine question.
“It did. But now it means something else.” Riku trails off into silence.
After a beat, Xion says, “It’s Naminé’s turn now!”
“I… I don’t know, maybe you guys should continue without me.”
“No, no… Are you afraid to sing alone?”
“Yes…”
“Then I’ll pick something easy we can all sing together! Would that be okay with you, Naminé?”
Naminé hums, considering, “…Yes. I’d like that.”
“Alright, come on everybody, get up!”
The group huddles together as Xion scrolls through the list of songs and finds one she considers easy to sing.
Xion starts off with others following her lead; she turns to Naminé and grasps her hand, encouraging her and handing her the microphone. Riku stays beside her the whole time as well. Naminé sees all of her friends singing and dancing along with the song and works up enough courage to join in partway;
“Do the D.A.N.C.E.
Stick to the B.E.A.T.
Just easy as A.B.C.”
While initially stiff as a board, she eventually joins in, dancing with the others.
When the song finishes, everyone turns to her, smiling.
Xion yells in excitement, “You did it, Naminé!” as she grabs her by the shoulders and shakes her.
“I… I did! Thank you! That was very fun!”
As the weeks go by, Xion and Roxas introduce the two to their ice cream ritual up on the Clock Tower, and Naminé and Riku continue to practice with their recently acquired scooter and rollerblades. It doesn’t take long before Riku can begin to do tricks while moving instead of being stationary. He and Roxas begin to get competitive over who can do laps around the Tram Common the fastest and even race in the Tunnelway. Roxas wins most of the time, but Riku begins to catch up to him in skill and even manages to win a few times.
Naminé, however, doesn’t care much for showing off and instead leisurely rides about the town with either Xion, Olette, or both. Her balance gets better and better bit by bit until Xion gets her a basket for the scooter, which she uses to carry around her sketchpad and a few crayons. Olette tells her about the Seven Wonders of Twilight Town, and she decides to draw those locations in her sketchpad, alongside anything else that catches her eye.
Hayner runs up to the group during one of the times when they’re all taking a break together, posters in hand.
“Guys! Hey, guys!” he yells as he runs towards them, out of breath.
“What’s up, Hayner?” Roxas asks.
“Oh, you already know what’s up.” Hayner says as he unfolds the posters. “Just got some of these to hang up; check it.”
The word ‘STRUGGLE’ is prominently displayed on the posters, alongside a brief description of the event and its rules.
“We have to enter.” He says.
Roxas looks at the posters questioningly. “They’re doing another one so soon?”
“Yeah, but it’s definitely not as big as the one they do during the summer.”
“I want to sign up!” Xion says as she approaches the two on her bicycle. “Riku, you should sign up, too!” She calls out.
“Sign up for what?” Riku asks as he removes his rollerblades.
“The Struggle Tournament! You know the rules, right?”
“Remind me.”
“Two people fight to remove as many Struggle Orbs from their opponent’s velcro straps with their Struggle Bats. Whoever has the most Orbs at the end of the sixty seconds they give you wins.” Xion explains without even having to look at the rules listed on the poster.
“Oh yeah, I remember. Sure, I’ll participate.”
“Thanks! The more people we have, the higher our odds of winning.”
“And our odds of having to fight each other,” Hayner adds.
“Right.” Roxas nods, pointedly looking at Riku.
Riku shrugs back at him and asks, “Naminé, do you want to participate, too?”
“I’ll be okay cheering you all on; I really don’t want to get hit by a Struggle Bat.”
“Noted, and understood.” Hayner says, “Roxas here hits like a truck.”
“I do not!” Roxas huffs in response.
“Alright, sure, you don’t—” Hayner’s Gummiphone buzzes. “Crap! That’s my boss; gotta go, guys! See ya at the Struggle Tournament!” he says as he runs off.
The day of the Struggle Tournament arrives.
“Dude, look, no Seifer, Fuu, or Raijin,” Hayner says to Roxas in lieu of a greeting. He’s accompanied by Pence and Olette.
“Well, yeah. He’s still on his ‘Warrior’s Journey,’ remember?” Pence reminds everyone.
“Anyway, it looks like it’ll be an easy win for you guys!” Olette adds with a smile.
Roxas looks around and sees the four other contestants, a few of which haven’t even competed in a Struggle Tournament before. “Looks like.” After a pause, Roxas says, “Y’know, this kinda makes me miss those three.”
“Ew, don’t even say that.” Olette recoils.
“Yeah, the competition will be worth it with Riku here, too.” Xion chimes in. “Come on, let’s go put our names in.”
Xion leads the way as the group writes their names into scraps of paper, which are then blindly drawn out of a box to form the bracket. It looks like nobody will be fighting each other until the semi-finals if they manage to clear out their opponents.
Hayner, Xion, and Roxas win their matches with relative ease, leaving Riku to go up last.
Naminé walks up to him before he can make it onto the stage. “Good luck, Riku.”
“Thank you, Naminé.”
As Riku steps up onto the stage, he hears his friends cheer for him. But what was supposed to be a relatively easy win almost turns into an embarrassing loss for Riku when he has to accommodate for almost reflexively using magic to dodge a strike. Said mistake costs him most of his Struggle Orbs, but he manages to get ahead by relentlessly following after his opponent, who desperately underestimated him after his blunder.
As he sits back down beside Naminé after his win, Roxas joins him and says, “Good job, idiot.”
"Oh, shut up. I can’t be the only one who’s done that. I’ve seen how you dodge; you use magic too, don’t you?”
“You shut up.”
The boys’ petty argument is interrupted by Naminé bursting into a fit of giggles.
“What’s so funny?” Roxas asks.
“Nothing, nothing.” She says, still giggling. “Oh! The next match is about to start!”
The first match of the semi-finals begins: Hayner versus Xion.
Xion concentrates while Hayner’s attempts to trash-talk her into attacking him sloppily fail, and she easily wins the match with precise strikes. All in all, more time was spent taunting than actually fighting.
“Good job, Hayner.” Roxas claps him on the back.
“Keep your sarcasm to yourself,” he protests.
“Riku, Roxas, your turn.” Xion says, sitting down.
“Good luck!” Naminé cheers.
Riku and Roxas step up to the stage for the second match of the semi-finals.
“You know, you should quit while you’re ahead. Wouldn’t want you to make another mistake while on stage.” Roxas seems to have a similar technique to Hayner: taunting. It doesn’t work, however, as Riku silently settles into a fighting stance.
Riku and Roxas strike each other back and forth, both tied neck and neck in Struggle Orb amounts.
Roxas sweeps at his feet, and Riku seems to fall down until he curls his knees to his chest and suddenly shifts all his weight forward, getting up off the floor in one quick movement and striking at Roxas as he does so.
Noticing Roxas’ surprise at the move, he taunts, “Come on, Roxas. Giving up already?”
Roxas angrily strikes back at him, but not fast enough, as Riku manages to knock down the last of his Struggle Orbs, earning him a perfect win.
“Oh, come on!” Roxas complains.
“Looks like I win this one,” Riku says, with a small chuckle.
Roxas steps off the stage as Riku awaits his opponent for the finals, Xion.
In the benches, he’s met by a slow-clapping Hayner. “Wow. Good job, Roxas. That was one of the worst matches I’ve ever seen.”
“I don’t want to hear that from you.” Roxas sits down with a huff.
Meanwhile, Xion cheerfully steps up to the stage, ready to face Riku head-on.
“Don’t hold back, Riku.” She says with a mischievous smile.
“I won’t.”
Xion wipes the floor with him. Unlike Roxas, the way she wields her Struggle Bat isn’t at all similar to the way she wields her Keyblade, so Riku has no idea what to expect. In a few quick but strong movements, she’s already knocked off over half of his Struggle Orbs, and by the time Riku adapts to her unfamiliar fighting style, the sixty seconds are already up.
Riku couldn’t have held back, even if he wanted to. She all but knew she was going to win from the beginning.
The crowd erupts into cheers at her skillful display, and Riku can’t help but clap for her as well.
“Great job, Riku!” she says, earnestly, and helps him stand up off the floor.
The winner’s ceremony is a quick affair. She’s given a Champion’s Belt and a bundle of prize Munny, which she lifts up, and the crowd erupts into cheers once more.
Once the ceremony is done, she quickly runs off the stage and gives the belt to Naminé as a memento of her time here in Twilight Town, and says, “I hope you can participate next time. I’ll train you!”
“Thank you. I’ll do my best.” Naminé replies with an honest smile.
Much later on, as Riku's headed to sleep in Roxas’ room, his Gummiphone buzzes.
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• Rainfell View Profile | Send Mail | Comment |
Rainfell: Hello, Riku. This is Aqua. Master Yen Sid gave me your contact information. I wanted to reach out to you regarding matters of the Realm of Darkness, and Sora’s disappearance. We haven’t found much yet, but since you’ve also had experience in the Realm of Darkness, I wanted to speak with you. Would it be possible for you to visit Ventus, Terra, and myself at the Land of Departure?
mnirilidimbfis: Oh, Hello Aqua.
mnirilidimbfis: Thank you for the message. I should be able visit soon.
mnirilidimbfis: What is it you need?
Rainfell: Terra and I are very curious regarding your resistance to Darkness. I think it would be a very helpful skill for us to have in our search. We’ve just started our break from the Realm of Darkness so I thought it best to contact you now.
mnirilidimbfis: Naminé is with me, is it alright if she stays at the Land of Departure, too?
Rainfell: Of course! We are more than prepared to receive you two as guests. Feel free to arrive when you please.
mnirilidimbfis: It’s a bit late right now so I can’t show up tonight. Give me a day and I’ll be right there.
Rainfell: oh i forgot about the time difference with twilight town im so sorry riku
mnirilidimbfis: It’s alright.
“Would you shut that thing off already? Can’t sleep.” Roxas complains.
“Yeah, yeah.” Riku moves his whole body under the covers so he can continue using his Gummiphone.
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• seawavenami View Profile | Send Mail | Comment |
mnirilidimbfis: Naminé? Are you still awake?
seawavenami: Yes
mnirilidimbfis: Aqua just messaged me asking if I could go to the Land of Departure.
mnirilidimbfis: Would you like to come with me?
seawavenami: I’d love to!
seawavenami: I’ll miss everyone here though
mnirilidimbfis: That’s OK, we can come visit.
Before Riku can get the chance to tell Naminé ‘Goodnight,’ Roxas throws a pillow at him. “I can still hear you text, stupid!”
“Alright, alright, fine. I turned it off. Happy?”
“Very. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Riku relays his text conversation with Aqua to everyone over breakfast, alongside his plans to head to the Land of Departure after lunch with Naminé, until both Roxas and Xion frantically tell him to, “Wait!”
“Yeah! Wait a bit; give us… Uh… Why don’t you stay a little bit more? Please?” Xion pleads.
“Hmm? Why?” Riku asks.
Roxas frantically looks between Xion and Riku. “Yeah! Stay until... tomorrow morning!”
“I don’t mind staying until tomorrow, but will it be okay with Aqua?” Naminé turns to Riku.
“It’ll be fine; I’ll message her to let her know.”
“Okay, good,” Xion says, relieved. She gets up from his chair and walks over to Lea and whispers something to him. Lea smiles and nods.
“Alright, you two,” he grins while pointing at Riku and Naminé, “you’re under house arrest with me while Roxas and Xion get something sorted.”
“What?” They say in unison.
“Why?” Naminé questions, worried.
“Come on, lose the long face. Ever heard of a surprise? It’s nothing to be worried about.”
“Uh…” She turns to look at Riku, and he smiles and shrugs. “Alright, we’ll stay here.”
“Awesome!” Roxas high-fives Xion.
Xion and Roxas practically run out the door once they finish their breakfast.
Lea does his best to entertain the pair of guests, which involves inviting them to play some of the board games they have. It doesn’t go that well, however, as most of them have either missing instruction booklets or missing pieces. Lea ends up making one up on the spot, which he wins since he’s the only one who really understands the rules.
Other attempts at entertainment include watching mediocre reality television that only he’s a fan of until he notices Riku’s boredom and pulls out their collection of movies. They watch a few until Xion and Roxas finally return home, and Lea has to herd the guests away from them while they hide something.
The whole group then reconvenes in the living room to binge-watch the mermaid show Xion and Naminé like so Naminé can make it to the season finale before leaving.
The next morning after breakfast, everyone accompanies Riku and Naminé to the outskirts of Twilight Town, where Riku’s hidden the Gummi Ship.
Naminé bids goodbye to a tearful Olette, promising to return, while Hayner and Pence tease Riku about his performance in the Struggle Tournament. He bids them farewell.
As the goodbyes continue, Xion and Roxas interrupt the two.
“Here! We got you two these!” Xion says as she hands over a bag to Naminé and Riku.
“They’re portable CD players, so you two can listen to music whenever you want. Especially you, Naminé.” Roxas explains.
“Roxas even burnt you guys a few CDs, so you already have some music to listen to! We picked out the songs together. There’s some we sang at karaoke and some we just thought you guys would like!”
“Wow… Thank you so much, guys.” Riku says as he looks the bag over.
Xion points to something inside of the bag. “We also wrote down our Gummiphone numbers in one of the cases, so you guys can contact us whenever you want!”
Naminé tears up a little. “Thank you so much!”
“It’s Xion you should be thanking, really. We used her prize Munny for these,” Roxas says.
Naminé gasps, “Xion! But that was your prize Munny!”
“Yup, and I used it how I wanted to use it.”
Naminé gives Xion a big hug, which she urges Riku and Roxas to join, which they do, albeit a little bit awkwardly. Especially Riku.
“You just have to promise to tell us what music you end up liking, Naminé,” Roxas says, withdrawing from the hug.
“I will!” she promises.
Roxas looks at the pair. “Stay in touch, alright? Even you, Riku.”
“Yes, sir.” Riku salutes mockingly.
They say their final goodbyes for now, as they all promise to see each other again.
The sound of music can be heard through the tinny speakers of a portable CD player in the interior of the Gummi Ship as the pair makes their way to the Land of Departure.