FINAL CHAPTER! I'm so excited! I'm so happy I finally finish it! I'm so proud of myself! Okay, this one was five pages on word, but I'm not sure it'll be that long on here. I want to thank everyone for sticking with me and being patient. I know I took forever, but I love to get your reviews.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Martha Stewart. I think that's everything.

I slammed the door shut when I got home. I was upset and I was gonna make sure everyone knew.

"Hey." A voice called from the couch startling me.

"Marluxia?" Since when did brother-dearest come out of his room?

"Dad went to play cards, so I'm watching Nami. You would think Dad would realize she's old enough to watch herself." He explained noticing my confusion. "All she's done is sit in her room and talk on the phone. It's been rather uneventful."

It must have been if he was talking to me.

"Have you talked to her yet?" He asked, his eyes never leaving the television screen.

"Who?"

"Mom."

"No." I said flatly. What was everyone's obsession all of the sudden?

"Want my advice?"

"Have I ever?"

He laughed. "You used to. Remember when you were trying to ride a bicycle without training wheels? You begged me to tell you how. And when you wanted to tie your own shoes, or when you watched to write your name."

He turned to look at me. "You didn't always hate me"

I smiled, "I just wasn't as good of expressing myself back then."

"Yeah, that's it." He laughed.

I sat down next to him. "Let's hear it, for old time's sake."

"Go off on her."

"You're joking, right?"

"Nope," He turned off the TV. "You deserve it and she needs to know how you feel."

I nodded. That made some sense. The silence began to creep into our conversation. There was a slight awkwardness. How long had it been since we had had an actual conversation? A part of me missed having a big brother.

"Why are you being so nice to me? I mean, we aren't exactly poster children for 'best friend brothers.'"

"You looked like you need advice and that's what big brothers are for."

"So now we're gonna play house?" I said with a smile.

"Hey now." He said, "I've been a great brother, just from behind the scenes."

"Oh really?"

"Most definitely, I never said a word when these" He said poking the mark under my right eye, "became a little more permanent then the previously used Sharpie."

I grinned, the tattoos had been a gift to myself.

"You think Dad knows?"

"Nah, he's too busy trying to be Martha Stewart."

We both laughed.

"You were always better at being a big brother then I was. So I figured I'd let you take care of Namine. I just watch over the two of you to make sure you don't get into too much trouble."

The silence fell again, but this time slightly less awkwardly.

"I guess I'll head to bed." I said standing, "Thanks, Mar."

"Night, Aku."

Namine was asleep in her room when I looked in. The lights were on, and her phone lay open next to her.

I walked over to her bed, picking up the phone. Who ever she had been talking too had hung up. I slipped the phone in my pocket and switch off the lights.

"Night, Nami."

I walked to my room, the phone heavy in my pocket. Might as well be now, right? The number was under the recently dialed. I took a deep breathe and pressed send.

Ring…

I begin to doubt myself.

Ring…

This was an epically stupid idea.

Ring…

Besides, it was kinda late.

Ring…

"Hello?"

I froze.

"Hello?"

I fought for my voice.

"Mom?" I whispered.

"Axel?"

And I broke down.

"No, no, no. It's perfectly alright; he's been up for hours. It's really no problem at all." The voice said worming its way under the crack at the bottom of my door. Marluxia was lying. You could hear it in his voice. That, and the fact I was still in a haze from waking up. Ah, back to our usual brotherly show of affection.

I grabbed my phone off of the dresser, navigating my way to my inbox all the while planning a colorfully worded text to my brother-dearest explain for his to shut up. But before I could press send, my door was thrown open, light pouring into the dark room while my brother made his overly dramatic entrance.

"Axel." He practically sang, "You have a visitor."

"Tell 'um to go away and get your overly theatrical as-"

"Aku!" He cried placing a hand over his chest. "That's no way to act in front of company."

At that time, Larxene , who had been waiting behind Marluxia stepped forward and gave an amused smile. I was still upset about yesterday, but if she came all the way over here to apologize how could I stay mad?

"Go away, Marluxia." I said, running my hand through my flattened-down hair trying to improve my current appearance but knowing it was a lost cause.

"Fine." Marluxia sighted, "but you know the rules. Door open. And you might want to consider putting on some clothes."

Older brothers are always quick to try and embarrass you when they're jealous about you having a good looking blonde in your room. I was willing to bet the only blonde that had been in Marly's room was Namine. Wait, don't take that wrong.

"I'll wait outside." Larxene said, staring at the pile of clothes on my floor.

"Nah, you're fine." I said grabbing a pair of jeans off the floor and a t-shirt off my desk. "I'm not completely naked."

She turned to give me some privacy, but I could still see the blush creep up on her face.

"So, um, how did you get your nickname?" Larxene asked trying to fill what I'm sure she considered an awkward silence. "Aku isn't really that close to your name."

I took my time threading my white belt white belt with the neon colored dinosaurs, courtesy of the world's coolest little sister, in the belt loops of my jeans. "It was my mom's pet name for me."

"Oh," She said, "Have you talked to her?"

I could feel her hesitation with the subject. I kinda felt bad for going off on her.

"Yeah." I replied simply.

"And?"

"Thank you."

Silence fell as I realized that all the stuff for my hair was in the bathroom down the hall that I shared with Namine. (Dad's and Marluxia's rooms were the only ones with adjoining bathrooms.) I was going to have to deal with my hair down. "So, what's up?"

"I wanted to…" She began, but she seemed to struggle with phrasing what I assumed to be an apology. "How about we get some breakfast, my treat."

And that was as close to an apology as I was going to get.

"That sounds fantastic."

She laughed. "And bring your swim trunks. There's a pool at my house and I believe I owe you a lesson."

I grabbed her hand and led her downstairs where Xigbar was trying to cook.

"Hey, Dad. We're going out for breakfast and then Larxene's going to try and kill me. I'll be home before dark."

But he'd turned on the blender forgetting the lid, and what I assumed was going to be a milkshake splattered across the kitchen. Sadie barreled into the room hoping for her fair share of the clean up. "Sure, whatever, have fun."

We went out to my car and I unlocked the door for her.

"Where to?" She asked.

I smiled. "I know this really great pancake place."

I was falling. I couldn't see anything around me. The space around me was darker than black. I was dying. And I was falling.

That's when I hit the water. I couldn't see it. It was as dark as everything else, but I could fill it soaking my hair, pulling down my clothes, forcing its way into my lungs. I kicked trying to pull myself up, anything to keep me from sinking, but the motion pulled me down. I frantically flipped around looking for anything to help me, looking for anything other than darkness.

Then I saw it: the faintest light in the darkness. I began to swim towards it, pulling myself up through the water. Every motion was slow, but deliberate and I began to make my way towards the bright light. With every stroke the light grew brighter til I was close enough to reach it. I could make out a person in the light and a hand was stretched out to me. I gratefully accepted the gesture. I was pulled out of the water and could feel solid ground under my feet. I looked up at my savior her golden hair was short and her blue eyes gleamed.

She had the cutest smile.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I did writing! Reviews are always loved!

Shay