I don't know why my author notes have disappeared, but they are needed to explain the writing below...

I do not remember exactly what I said before, so I'll just list the pairings for you. This is my anti-Valentine's feature of 2008. Hope you enjoy:

RikuxMitexi
SoraxKairi
ReplikuxNaminé
AxelxRoxas
Reader's Choice of KH pairing
RikuxMitexi

Dedicated to my loyal readers. My apologies for the disappearing act.

Twisted Valentine's

If I Cry Before I Wake

The sound of the waves spills salty ballads over our bodies, allowing the sunset a musical partner. The colours paint the notes across the sky and the water follows them without flaw. Perfect partners.

I think she drifted to sleep soon after we lay down upon the sand. The touch of her cheek against my heart is calming. We are here, together, wrapped up inside the blushing duet of the Sun and Earth.

The sunset will eventually fade, but we'll still have this moment.

But it's never enough. However real it may seem, feeling content was still just a dream.

-x-

Severed Thread

Hers was a fated heart, sought by the darkness and those intent to control the shadows. Attacked once before, but shielded, hidden within the chest of her protector. Her light in the darkness.

I'll always be there, deep down inside.

Etched connection on the fated cave stone, a precious star to illuminate the invisible crimson thread. Within the stone, not the sand, meant to hold them together, forever.

She fought them back, but without half of her heart, the Heartless claimed her theirs. The stone splits as the world tumbles back into darkness.

Severed Thread.

Precious Light...stained by Darkness

-x-

To Be Real

"What can I say to make you understand?" Naminé tried not to call his eyes "ocean" when she looked into their depths. They were, after all, clever imitations. "Your memories are fabricated."

"But they're still mine."

"No--" She bit her lip to silence his 'name'. "They are my creations." The coloured pages trembled in her hands. When he stepped toward her, she tosses them into the fire.

He didn't reach out to her or his embering memories; he looked so certain, his tears so real, that she almost believed him.

"I'm not going to forget you."

"But...you already have."

-x-

Ephemeral

Fingers cloaked in black etch light into the darkness. A fractured light. Petals of fire spark around their creator and search each other out. They come together to make a spirited whole, reflecting his broken desire.

The flames touch his icy green eyes. The flowers could not be more beautiful, but the vibrant red seemed so dull, ugly. How could they have beauty without someone to love them, accept them and the lost feelings within?

Without Roxas to revive their fallen heart...?

He is a Nobody, a cursed existence. Happiness extinguished once, and again. And too, does his fire wilt...

-x-

Things Left Unsaid

My vision had faded to black moments ago. But I can still feel him, holding me. I guess my heart doesn't want to let go of those sensations just yet.

His tears are really cold; it feels unrealistic. Aren't they supposed to be warm, coming right from his heart? But are they?

Yes, I think so.

His hair is soft; not silky, but comforting, like the final colours of the sunset. I didn't pay enough attention to him—he smells like the rain. It's captured in his hair.

Seems so silly now.

I'm sorry I never told you in words.

-x-

Pray the Darkness My Sorrow to Take...

I managed to hide one away from them all. Acting empty becomes second nature to a Nothing like me. Unlike many, I need only one sense to paint our precious memory. His heartbeat breathes content whispers into my ear. It sings to me the flirting colours of the sunset and dances among the twilit waves. Sometimes it reaches my cheek, a hidden kiss to convey our unspoken words.

I feel it touch me a final time, desperate to hold on as Naminé pulls away the only chain I have left.

Our words slip away, forever unspoken in ocean salt twilight...