A/N: First of all, happy birthday to one of my most precious cinnamon rolls, Sora! Believe it or not, I started this one-shot on the twenty-fifth and I finished it on the twenty-seventh. I don't even know how I did it, I just wanted to get this done before Sora's birthday past.

If you guys have already seen the tags, then you can already guess which theory I'm doing. I know there's a huge chance that it might be wrong but I like the idea of it. So much angst to work with, I just couldn't resist!

So, despite the Doctor Who fan in me shouting that there are so many paradoxes wrong with this, I'm going to be enjoying this theory until proven otherwise. And you guys can get to enjoy the angst I bring with this!

Happy Birthday, Dear _

"Happy birthday to you…"

He practically jumped a foot in the air when he opened the door and suddenly everyone is screaming at him and throwing confetti at his face.

"Happy birthday to you…"

He launched himself at his friend, giving the older boy the biggest hug he could muster. He didn't care about the flailing arms that were the result of his sudden action. He just needs to show him how much this precious gift in his hand means to him.

"Happy birthday dear _"

A smile grew on his face as everyone he loves gathers around him, waiting for him to blow out the candle.

"Happy birthday to-"

The Master of Masters was awoken by a painful gasp escaping his throat. He shot up from the bed in a sitting position, his body automatically taking deep breaths to bring back the air that he lost so he could gather his thoughts.

And allow his tears to drip down his cheeks, if the wet feeling on his face wasn't sweat dripping from his forehead. Dang it, he thought he got those under control after all of these years.

After whipping away his tears - man, how embarrassing would that be if someone walked in on him right at this moment? -, the Master stood up and went over to his desk. With nothing else to do he, he decides to open the Book of Prophecies and skim through what's already been written.

Should he add more? Nah, probably not. After all, that dream was nothing but memories of the past. A past he wishes he could go back to but he can't.

(Because he failed them all.)

The Master closed the book with a sigh. This day has lost its meaning and now has become a day just like any other. Better get to the others before they realize something is wrong and that's the last thing he needs on this day.

He stood up just in time to hear the door to his room knocking.

Huh, now this is rather peculiar. Normally, everyone would wait for him to come out and not dare step a foot within the radius of his humble-a-dome. Wonder what's the special occasion that actually gave one of his students the courage to even go near his room.

The knocking came again, only a little more frantically. Guess this person is losing their nerve.

"Alright, Alright, I'm coming!" he calls to the person behind the door as he makes his way over. "And they say I'm the impatient one."

He opens the door, half-expecting some creepy jack-in-the-box popping in front of his face or Aced trying to do who-knows-what and the reaction he's going to see when his student realizes he's been caught by someone who he considers Superior.

But no, it was sweet little Ava. Who had her fist up like she was ready to knock right when he opened the door. Now the poor thing was standing there awkwardly with her fist in the air, sputtering her words when she sees him.

"M-Master!"

"Ava! Why, isn't this a surprise?" he remarks. "What brings you here into this uncharted territory? Wait a minute," he takes a second to look around the hall before he turns his attention back to Ava. "Somebody put you up to this, didn't they?"

"No!" Ava frantically shook her head but the Master couldn't help but continue with his jest.

"Oh, I see how it is! One of you guys thought it would be funny to prank me, the Master of Masters, in his very own room! Who's idea was this? Was it Gula? I'm betting it was Gula!"

"There's no prank, Master!" Ava finally shrieked, her face red from being flustered by his stunt.

Deciding to give her a break, the Master breaks into a fit of laughter. "I know, I'm just messing with ya!" he pats her on the head, being mindful to avoid the ears of her mask. "So, what actually brings you here, my little apprentice?"

"W-Well," Ava clears her throat. "T-There's this now patch of flowers that grew near the outskirts of the town. I was wondering if you and I could go out and pick some?"

The Master raises an eyebrow from underneath his hood. "And what's the special occasion that makes you want to bring me for some flower picking? Don't you usually go by yourself and not wait for the rest of us to follow?"

"I-I just figured, s-since we haven't spent much time these past few days, w-we could do something together today!" Ava said, almost a little desperate. Gotta work on your lying skills, Ava.

"B-Besides, do I really need a reason to spend some time with a loved one?"

…

Gosh, dang it. He can't say no to that.

"Alright, fine," he steps out into the hall while closing the door behind them. "But if something like a duck happens to bite me when we go out, it's going to be three weeks of nothing but chores for all of you!"

The flowers were actually beautiful, the Master of Masters noted as he and Ava pick some of them up. They were like sunflowers but in a variety of different colors and shorter stems. He's pretty sure one of those flowers that Ava picked up was a sick green color.

It was actually nice, being out here in the open fields. Just feeling the gentle breeze against his cloak, breathing in the sweet fragrance the flowers were giving off, Ava was at his side, now trying to make a flower crown. Everything was actually nice, for once.

It was almost enough to make him forget about all the burdens in his heart.

"It's a nice day today, isn't it?" the Master remarked once he finishes picking up his share of flowers.

"It really is, Master," Ava said, although her attention was still focused on her flower crown.

"Wonder if there's a reason for it," he sits back on the grass, the hand holding the flowers resting on one leg. "Nice weather on a day like this? There's gotta be a catch."

Ava's face falls into a frown when she hears this and takes a moment to stop with flower crown to stare at the Master with concern. "What…? Why would this certain day want something in return for giving something nice to us?"

The Master found himself a lost for words on what to say next. Dang it, Master, think of something silly to say to defuse the awkward situation his mouth got him in. Nope. Nothing's popping up. Dang it, this is why he spends these certain days alone so he could avoid these types of confrontation.

Time to be cryptic again. He's been good at that ever since he's gotten into this time period.

"Let's just say, this day has never really worked out in my favor for a long time and just leave it at that, okay?" he eventually admits. He hopes that Ava will do just that, leaving it alone and go about with what she was originally doing.

Although, that curious look on her face isn't exactly hopeful.

"But, Master-"

"Nope!" he holds a hand before she could continue. "Nope! Nuh-uh! Na! I already gave you your answer and that's all you're gonna get. So, zip! Zelch!"

Ava snaps her head down in an almost submissive bow. "Y-Yes, Master!" she stutters. With that, she goes back to making her flower crown. Well, attempting to, since she couldn't exactly tie the two ends correctly.

The Master of Masters couldn't help but sigh at his own behavior. Dang it, he really should've declined her invitation of coming out here. Goodness knows his students don't deserve to see this side of him.

"Here," he said as he gently took the unfinished crown - it was really just a vine with flowers on it - and tied the two ends together to make it actually look like a crown. "And there ya go."

He places the crown on top of her head, which draws a cry of protest from Ava's lips.

"B-But, Master! This crown was for you!"

"Hey, I was the one who did the finishing job on that thing, which makes it mine now and I just gave it to you, so you better deal with it!" the Master roared, his tone now back to the normal playful and teasing tone he usually has instead of that impatient, snappy voice he had earlier.

Ava's lips form into a pout - and gosh, darn it, it's so cute! - and he was so focused on how adorable it was that he didn't realize Ava had taken the flowers he was holding out of his hands until he noticed the flowers in her hands.

"H-Hey!" he makes a small attempt at grabbing the flowers back but Ava swiftly moves them away from his reach.

Without a word, Ava plucked two more flowers from the ground and added them to the bouquet. "Here," she hands the flowers out to him.

"B-But, those were mine!" the Master pouted, not caring if he sounded childish or not.

"Well, I'm the one who added more flowers to it so that makes it mine and now I'm giving them to you!" Ava shot back with a hand to her hip.

The Master was dumbfounded. His own words, thrown back at him by his own student? "Touché..."

It still didn't stop him from accepting the flowers, though.

Ava took the moment to remove the crown from her head to examine it. "This is really well tied, Master," she noted. "Did you always knew how to make a flower crown?"

"Well, I kinda learned to make one for someone special but that talent lost its use a long time ago," the Master said right before he realized his mouth had talked right before his brain could catch up.

"Someone special?" Oh, great here comes the awkward questions. "Who was it?"

"Nobody that you know," he quickly replies.

"But, if you learned to make flower crowns for her, why did you stop?"

She was reaching out to him. Even as the darkness swarmed her body and was forcing her away, she still found the strength to reach out.

He reached out his hand too. Maybe something could happen to stop all of this. She's a Princess of Heart, she can't be taken by the Darkness. Something has to happen to stop all of-

She was absorbed back into the darkness barely seconds after resurfacing.

"Let's just say she went away and I never saw her again, okay?" the Master eventually relented. There were a lot of things to guess from that type of sentence but it was true, no matter what anyone thinks.

Oh no, Ava looks like she's about to ask a question regarding the must-not-be-named topic.

"Master," she begins, her voice soft. "I know you're my mentor and the person I look up to, but sometimes I feel like I don't know you at all. I understand you have a past where the others and I didn't exist but you say things that make me wonder what happened to you."

The Master could feel himself cringing within his hood. Oh, boy, here comes the question.

"But if you don't want to talk about it, then I understand," the Master blinks in confusion. What? "You'll tell us when you're ready and I'll wait for however long that will be. Just, know that all of us are there for you as you are there for me and the others."

Boy didn't that make him speechless. Isn't he supposed to be grown up now?

"Someone's been eating up an encyclopedia," he remarked, which makes Ava's cheeks grow red.

"I-! I-I just wanted you to know-!" the Master's chuckling cut her off.

"Nah, it's okay, I get it," he stands up before holding a hand out to her. "Come on, it's time to go back. And I need to make sure the others haven't messed anything up yet while we're gone."

The first thing the Master noticed when they got back was how quiet the place is. There were no sounds of Aced bickering with Gula or the soft murmurings of Ira, Invi, and Luxu conversing with one another. It was just dead silence.

Something was up.

"Hold on," he tells Ava, who stops when she noticed he stopped walking towards the door. "I think something's up?"

"What makes you think that?" she asked.

"Because it's never this quiet," with that, he strolls over to the door, his voice loud and clear as he spoke. "Alright, whatever you guys are planning, give it up!"

He opens the door to the dark room - did he forget to open the curtains when he left? - and strides in. "If this is some prank you guys came up with, it's going to be a month full of chores for all of-!"

"SURPRISE!"

At once, lights flood the room, five people jumped out from nowhere, and multicolored pieces of paper were thrown at his face.

The Master acted accordingly; he screamed like a little girl, summoned No Name, and got into a battle stance.

Others screamed right after him. He took a moment to observe his surroundings and was both relieved and annoyed that it wasn't an ambush attack from an enemy.

There were the rest of his students, who had jumped out places where he believed they were hiding behind. They previously had their hands out wide with huge grins on their faces but that quickly converted into fearful expressions with their bodies tensing when they see him with his Keyblade, ready to attack anything.

"I told you all he would react like this!" Luxu's terrified voice brought the Master back into reality and the man couldn't but groan as he dismissed his Keyblade.

"Oh, seriously guys?" he looks over at the five with an annoyed expression - although they couldn't exactly see his face. "We've talked about this; no sneak attacking me or there's gonna be disastrous consequences!"

"We weren't trying to sneak attack you!" Invi quickly protested.

"Y-Yeah, we were just trying to surprise you with a birthday party!" Aced blurted out.

The whole world seemed to have slowed down the moment the Master heard those words. "M-My, what?"

"You were kinda right about the prank, Master," Ava's voice spoke up from behind him but it felt so far away at the same time. "Gula had this idea of doing something to your room while you were sleeping - which we tried to stop, by the way! - but then we found your personal calendar and…"

"It said it was your birthday today," Ira finished for her. "So, we came up with this plan where Ava would keep you distracted while we got everything ready."

"I'm the one who baked the cake, by the way," Gula spoke up, gesturing his head towards the chocolate cake with a single lit candle in his hands.

The Master was still at a lost for words. This… All of this… Was for him? For his birthday?

His mind drifted back to his time on the islands, where everyone would always surprise him when he got home from a long and he always fell for it. Looking back to what just happened moments ago, nothing has really changed for him, has it?

"Master?" the Master slowly turns his head and was barely able to make out the shape of Ava's mask right next to him. "I… I know you said you don't like this day because you felt like it takes things away from you and, I still don't understand why you think that way..."

He didn't either, sometimes. There were days when the fog of pain would lift long enough for him to think about why he's here in this time period when nothing has changed yet.

"But, Master, it's still your birthday," Ava continues on. "And we want to celebrate it with you. So, whatever ties you have with the past, can you forget about them today so we can celebrate?"

Forget? Forget about the pain and loneliness that's been driving him for years now? He didn't know how he could do that.

But, looking at his students before, he could see the anxious looks on their faces. They were waiting for his answer but they obviously want him to agree. These guys really want to spend time with him on this day… They even prepared a cake and a party for him…

With that, the pain and loneliness were able to leave his mind at that moment.

It was one of the most horrible experience he's ever had in his life.

"Uh, Master?" Aced hesitantly spoke up. "Are… Are you crying?"

Wait, what? The Master rubbed his eyes and was surprised to find wet patches on his glove.

"No!" he quickly denies. "I'm just… Suddenly allergic to the flowers I'm holding at this very moment!"

No one knew what to say to that. Something that he was very grateful for since it gave him time to recompose himself.

"Anyway," he begins, his tone now back to the playful one. "Why don't we get this party started? I mean, after all the hard work you guys put into this…"

Smiles appeared on his apprentices' faces at once. "Well, it's nice to know I didn't waste time baking this," Gula gesture to the cake.

Ira and Luxu lead him over to a chair at the table. Ava had removed the flower crown from her head and placed it on him instead. Gula walks over, the candle on the cake still glowing brightly.

"Happy birthday to you," the six apprentices sang together as they crowd around him, Gula putting the cake down in front of him.

His mind goes back to the time on the Islands, where his silver-haired friend had given him a gift on one of his birthdays. He still wears that gift proudly underneath his cloak, right at his heart where he can feel the cold metal on top of his skin.

"Happy birthday to you,"

This was his first birthday party ever since he first started his journey, wasn't it? He didn't remember having a birthday party with his friends after leaving the Islands. There was also a chance he slept through one of his birthdays at one point.

"Happy birthday dear Master,"

Tears began to fall down his cheeks and he's really grateful for the hood. Just hearing that brought him back to the now. His friends were still gone and he was still alone in this new world. It didn't help that he was about to send his new family into an event that will be the start of all his problems very soon.

What a bittersweet birthday.

"Happy birthday to me," he sang softly, closing his blue eyes before blowing out the candle.

A/N: I swear I do love Sora. But I have a reputation to uphold.

This was really fun to write. I don't know about you guys, but I had blast writing the Master of Masters. He's just a fun character! Maybe because his sense of humor is exactly like mine? Who knows?

Happy birthday, Sora! Sorry if I gave you a bittersweet gift!