Hello again, everyone! I hope you guys are as excited as I am that this story is FINALLY DONE! Here's what you need to know:

1. In case you didn't see it in the description, this is a sequel to my fic, "Sorrow's Promise". You technically could read this one without having read the other one (I tried to include some recaps in case that happened), but I highly recommend that you read them in order.

2. I'll be taking up my old updating schedule of Wednesdays and Saturdays.

3. This fic is rated T for violence (not as intense as last time, but more battles and blood) and heavy/sensitive topics. No language, no sex. Mostly just a lot of angst. Like, seriously, a LOT of angst. You have been warned.

4. 3D spoilers start in chapter 17, chapter 25 has some minor 2.8 spoilers, and KH3 spoilers also start in chapter 25. I'll give another warning when we actually get that far.

5. This story focuses quite a bit on the potentially sensitive topic of mental illness. I won't be posting trigger warnings/censored versions for most of the chapters, because it's too prevalent in the story for that. However, there will be a couple of chapters with more specific trigger warnings that I will mark and provide censored versions for. If you'd like to know more details about what type of mental illness the story deals with and what that will involve before starting to read (or at least before the next chapter, this one is safe), please feel free to PM me.

Alright, without further ado...here we go!

Winter mornings on Destiny Islands were completely different from the ones back in my universe. The island sun was still shining deceptively bright over the palm trees and distant, glittering ocean, a far cry from the dreary winter cloud cover that I was used to. Of course it was actually still too cold outside for me to want to be on the balcony, and my breath and the steam off of my coffee were still fogging up the glass just like they always did in my apartment. But back there, most likely there would be at least a few inches of snow on the ground. Here on the Islands, it would be warm enough later in the day that there would be people hanging out on the beach.

"It's time to get a move on, sleepyheads!" a voice echoed up the staircase. "You don't want to be late!"

I had a feeling that was aimed more at Kairi than at me. After all, I hadn't been asleep for hours, my nerves over the day to come making me restless. I was, however, still wearing my pajamas, which I needed to remedy soon. Glancing over at the uniform draped across my side chair, I bit the inside of my lip and sighed heavily. I guess it's time.

Once I was done dressing, I stood back to inspect my reflection in the mirror, swaying back and forth to try to see all sides of the outfit. I hated it. Who thought of the whole concept of school uniforms, anyway? Better yet, who on this island thought it was a good idea for the uniforms to include mini skirts, knee socks, and neckties? At least their dress code allowed me to wear shorts underneath my skirt, and at least I knew that every other girl in school would be dressed in the same ridiculous get-up. I would more than likely be the only girl there with purple hair, though, which unfortunately clashed horrendously with the red plaid of the skirt and tie.

There was a soft knock on the door. "Come in, I guess," I called, still wrinkling my nose at the mirror.

Kairi stepped in, dressed in her own uniform and looking much perkier than I felt. "Oh, don't you look adorable?" she cooed.

I shot her an irritated look. "Shut up. I know I look stupid, you don't have to try to flatter me."

Laughing, Kairi rolled her eyes. "Okay, so the uniforms aren't the greatest fashion statement ever. But trust me, you don't look any more stupid than the rest of us."

"Sure I do! At least you get blue," I whined, gesturing toward her skirt. "Blue would look so much better with my hair than red." I ran my fingers upwards through my hair, causing it to stick out at odd angles. I was on a mission to grow it out, and so far it had reached around chin length on both sides. That still wasn't long enough for it to cover up what I wanted it to, but thankfully the high collar on the white button-up uniform shirt accomplished that for me.

Kairi hummed in agreement. "Yeah, okay, I'll give you that one. Another unfortunate consequence of you being in middle school still. Besides, of course, you not being with the rest of us."

She didn't have to remind me. Mr. and Mrs. Yoshida had tried their best to convince the school board to let me into high school with my friends, but even Mr. Yoshida's position as mayor couldn't negate the fact that I hadn't been in school for almost three years. The fact that I was starting halfway through the school year didn't help much, either. Mrs. Yoshida kept reminding me, though, that the extra time off had been necessary for me to fully recover, and I tended to agree with her, despite it only delaying the inevitable. The board put me back in eighth grade where I had left off, with the promise that they would give me the opportunity to do extra work throughout the year and be able to catch up with the rest of my class in the fall. At least then I would be in the same building with Riku, Sora, and Kairi.

"Yeah, going into this alone is definitely not helping my nerves any." I tugged on my necktie, trying in vain to make it look a little more feminine.

"Hey, you're not completely alone." Kairi crossed over to me and threw her arms around my shoulders, squeezing tightly. After spending the last few months with her, I was finally starting to get mostly used to her touchy-feeliness. "We might not be able to actually go to your classes with you, but we'll be there every step until then." Pulling back, she yanked on the end of my short sleeve. "Starting with these sleeves. They're a horrible length, right? Some girls leave them be, but I like to roll them up like this." I glanced over at Kairi's own sleeves as she began rolling mine, starting with the left. "See, much more flattering!" she announced as she moved on to the right side.

"Yeah," I smiled. "It does help a little." It took until she was almost done rolling the second sleeve for me to realize the problem we were going to encounter. "Oh!" I gasped suddenly, clutching my shoulder.

Kairi jumped back, startled by the abrupt gesture, then seemed to realize what I was trying to hide and folded her hands together with a sigh. "Oh. Right. I'm sorry. Well, we don't have to roll it that far. I could take them back down a little–"

"No, it's okay." I moved away before she could reach out for me again, turning my back to her and picking up the light grey cardigan that I had left on the chair. "I was thinking about wearing this, anyway." I didn't want to take any chances on that monstrosity peeking out at school. It was bad enough that Kairi apparently still remembered its existence, despite not having seen it in a long time. Slipping the sweater on, I pulled up on the shirt collar in the back, making sure that end of the scar was still hidden, too.

"Do you want anything else...lip gloss or mascara or something?" Kairi asked, voice light as she changed the subject.

I took one more look in the mirror, taming my hair with my hands, then stuck out my tongue at the reflection. "Nah. Thanks, though. Guess that's as good as it's gonna get."

"Girls, your breakfast is getting cold!" Mrs. Yoshida called up the stairs again.

Kairi trotted over to the door and cracked it open. "Coming, Mom!"

Mrs. Yoshida was waiting for us in the kitchen, bowls of oatmeal with berries set in front of our usual places at the counter. She smiled brightly when we entered the room. "Good morning! How are you feeling about your first day of school this morning, Meli?"

I gave her a half-hearted smile. "Nervous, I guess."

"Well, that's to be expected. But you're such a smart girl, I know you're going to be fantastic."

I thought about telling her that back home, I had only been considered "average" in the smarts department, but decided against it. Besides, being smart and being able to keep up in school in a universe that I had lived in for less than a year were two totally different things. No one but me seemed to think it was going to be that big of a deal, but then again, I was the only one who had actually lived in two different universes. There was a lot that I still didn't know about this universe, but if what I had seen so far was any indication, there could be any number of facts and processes that I would have to completely learn anew. All while trying to fit in with a bunch of kids two years younger than me, who had known each other their whole lives.

"I guess," was all I said aloud. Kairi took over the conversation from there, chattering about classes and after school activities while I nibbled slowly on my oatmeal. I had only eaten about a quarter of the bowl when Kairi glanced at her phone and announced that it was time to go.

"Alright, honey, have a great day!" Mrs. Yoshida gave Kairi a peck on the cheek as she swung out the door, then turned to me and placed her fists on her hips. "You didn't eat very much breakfast."

I winced slightly, looking back at my bowl over my shoulder. She was always super vigilant about my eating habits, and went into over-protective mode anytime she saw me eat less than usual. I supposed since I was on the verge of starving when she first met me, it was understandable. "I'm just not very hungry this morning. Nerves, probably." I looked her earnestly in the eyes and patted my backpack. "I promise I'll eat all of my lunch later."

"You'd better," Mrs. Yoshida conceded. She relaxed into a smile and placed her hands on my shoulders. "I hope you have a nice day, sweetie. Try not to fret too much."

"Thanks...Mom." The word still felt strange on my tongue, but the way her eyes lit up whenever I said it made any awkwardness worth it. Nothing was official yet, but ever since they had presented me with the initial adoption paperwork a month ago I had been trying to get used to the title. Calling Mrs. Yoshida 'Mom' wasn't too hard, but I had not yet been able to bring myself to try calling Mr. Yoshida 'Dad'. It wasn't that I didn't like him. We had bonded a little over our mutual love of coffee, and he had always been more than kind to me. For some reason, though, it had taken me much longer to be able to trust him and get comfortable around him. I attributed it to our less-than-stellar first meeting, though I wasn't sure why my brain couldn't just get over that by now.

But overall, the whole concept of being adopted left me feeling like I was living in a dream, even more so than when I had first arrived in this universe. Adoption was a pipe dream for most foster kids. Sure, plenty of them eventually got adopted – the young ones, the cute ones, the well-behaved ones. I wasn't any of the above. At eight years old, I was already past the ideal age for adoption when I first entered the system, and each year that passed after that only doomed me further. To top it off, I was shy around adults when I needed to be outgoing, yet had a big mouth at the worst possible times. My 'attitude' was what ended up getting me put in a group home, and that's when I was off the adoption radar for sure. That's when I gave up any hope that I had left of ever having a real home or family.

Which is why now it was taking me some time to get used to the idea, to fully realize that this was not at all a dream. Not only did I get to stay on this beautiful island with all the people I had come to love so much, I got to do it as a daughter and a sister, as someone who was loved and wanted for the first time that I could remember. I had bawled my eyes out the day they showed me the paperwork and asked if I wanted them to be my parents. Of course I did. Who wouldn't want them as parents? They were two of the nicest people I had ever met in my life.

I caught up with Kairi walking out the front door, and we made our way down to the main path into town to wait for the boys. Riku and Sora lived right next door to each other in houses that were much closer to the beach, so they always stopped by Kairi's house – I mean, our house – on the way to school further inland.

After a few minutes of waiting, tapping our feet and bouncing up and down to keep warm, we saw the boys appear further down the path. "You're late!" I called.

"They're always late," Kairi pointed out.

"It's always Sora's fault," Riku returned as they approached.

"Is not!" Sora protested. "Okay, well, yeah, maybe it is. But I can't help it that I'm not a morning person."

Stopping in front of me, Riku bent down and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. "Morning, beautiful." I snorted a laugh, and he raised his eyebrow at me in question.

"Meli's not digging her uniform," Kairi explained.

"Join the club," Sora piped up. "Nobody likes the uniforms."

I scowled at him. "Yeah, but you guys actually look good in yours."

"Well, so do you, but I wasn't even looking at what you were wearing." Riku wrapped one arm around my waist and leaned in close.

Smirking, I shoved him away from me playfully. "Let's just get going. The last thing I need is to walk in late on my very first day." I intertwined my fingers with his as we began walking up the path, trying to listen to their conversation and ignore the pounding of my heart in my chest. Come on, Meli, lighten up. You've faced Heartless ten times your size, Aiden, and the Organization. Surely middle school can't be that bad.