.

.

The moon pulls at the tides while—

She breathes in perfect rhythm with him as she strings all those oh-so important paper chain pieces together with proverbial thread and needle: a moment on the beach, her arrival in the moonlight on the first night of summer while—

The sea rises and collapses and sea breeze lures sailors. They know though that—

A summer heat wave hits a week later, and she tells him about the things she can't remember about her home. He reluctantly introduces her to Sora for the first time on the beach the night because she's lonely. She is bashful and sincere while he protective and selfish and she says—

The moon is merely the sun's light, reflected, it has no light of its own—

She teaches them everything she learned in books in libraries on her (Kairi's) old home about the night sky, so they can sketch correct. She sits closer to him and whispers that she's cold, despite the fact there's been a heat wave all week.

—IT'S FAKE.

.

The glass splinters, her pencil goes outside his lines. His empty fake eyes stare at hers from across a hospital white room and his heart begins a different beat to her. She realizes her mistake is those confused blue eyes.

She breathes in the sea-scented air around her deeply, her lips inching closer to his, and begins again.

.

.

postscript:

It's the coldest summer he can remember since, well, God knows. She tells him that the stars shine three times brighter on the coldest night of summer, so they should watch them every night, to make sure. Sora smiles and says that he loves the stars, and the rest agree.

When the moonlight shines bright on her eyes, she leans closer and tells him how cold she is—like ice-cream. He blushes and she doesn't know what she's done.

.

.

1. Naminé/Replica Riku: because I just watched the Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories musical on youtube. I tried to keep it canon-compatible, but I ended up giving up. It was, like, five parts longer, but they were terrible and—this is okay.