Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

NOTE: I'd like to thank all my readers for their support and reading of this story. And a special thanks to Dani-Chan and Fantasy0Girl for being there the whole way. And Fantasy0Girl, while your guess about my surprise wasn't right, I decided to use your idea anyway. So thanks!

Chapter 19 – Better Times

The sun beamed down on Radiant Garden. The light was rivaled only by that of its Princess's heart, as Terra now told his wife every morning.

Rather than wait, Terra and Aqua had been married within a week of his proposal to her. Sora and Naminé had been happy beyond imagination to see them finally together, with a marriage vow to seal the deal.

Terra was temporarily governing the city in Xehanort's place, as he would until his brother was fully healthy and ready to resume his duties.

Xehanort had recovered from his strange coma after two months. When he'd woken up, as Ansem had predicted, he'd been stripped clean of several of his memories. The most he remembered was who his family was and who he was. He didn't have any recollection of recent events, including the rebellion of his family and Sora and Terra's battles with him. His eyes had also returned to their normal brown color.

The funniest thing of all was he was happy for Terra and Aqua to be married now. No one mentioned his old jealousy of Terra, nor his previous marriage to Aqua. In fact, he simply questioned who Naminé's mother was if he as her father. No one ever answered that question.

All of Radiant Garden knew the strange situation regarding the new marriage of Prince Terra and Princess Aqua. And they knew Sora was the one who'd caused Xehanort's coma several months back.

At first, citizens assumed Xehanort would never wake up, but when he did, the situation was cleared up and the people now awaited the return of their King, but were happy there was no more drama with his ex-wife. She was now treating him like a beloved brother and was more than happy with her new husband.

None of this mattered to Terra. What truly mattered was that now he was with Aqua again. And his new children.

The family now sat together picnicking in the outer gardens of Hollow Bastion.

Father and son were competing in a friendly spar as the ladies of the family watched, laughing at the men.

Terra knocked Sora down and laughed. "You're still off-balance, son. You need to—"

"Enough training, boys," Aqua told them. "It's lunch time."

The men laughed and dispersed their Keyblades.

"Alright, sweetie, I'm coming." Terra smiled and sat down next to Aqua. He kissed her cheek and looked down at the tiny bundle in her arms. It was a pink blanket containing his and Aqua's new baby daughter, Xion.

The baby was staring up at her father with her aqua blue eyes, her mother's eyes. She had dark hair like her father, but black rather than brown. She also had her mother's pale skin.

Xion squirmed in her blankets and reached a tiny hand out to her father, who took her little bundle in his arms. She giggled happily and blew spit bubbles.

"That's always so cute," Naminé cooed, tickling the baby under the chin. Xion dribbled baby spit onto her big half-sister's hand. Naminé wiped the spittle on her skirt.

"Baby spit is cute?" Sora asked.

"Not when it's on you," Naminé replied. She stuck her tongue out at Sora and flicked more baby spit in his face. Xion giggled in delight.

"Sure. The baby likes it. Babies like everything!" Sora wiped the spit off his face and also stuck out his tongue at Naminé.

Xion was giggling out of control now as Terra handed the baby back to her mother. Aqua picked up a bottle and began to feed the baby, who eagerly drank up for a minute before squirming, spewing milk and baby spittle on her parents. Terra reached for a towel as Aqua put the baby down while they cleaned up.

Xion grabbed a yellow star-shaped plush toy from near her father's leg and crawled over to Naminé. She tugged on the older girl's skirt and whacked her half-sister/cousin's thigh with the toy.

"What is it, Xion?" Naminé picked up the baby and pulled her into her lap. Xion continued to hit Naminé with the toy. It squeaked loudly when she whacked Naminé's arm.

"She wants to play, Naminé," Sora told her.

It was true. The star plushy was Xion's favorite toy and she always hit someone with it when she wanted to play with them. Naminé bounced the baby on her lap, enticing more giggles.

"I love you, Xion," the older girl whispered, still bouncing the baby on her lap

Naminé turned her attention to the castle, thinking of her father. Though she was now allowed to call Terra 'Dad', it felt wrong because she was the only one of her mother's children who wasn't also his. She only called him by his name, which Terra said was fine, understanding her discomfort.

She went to visit Xehanort everyday. She would bring him drawings and flowers, which he loved to see. Naminé liked giving him a reminder of what was waiting for him outside the walls of his room.

"Love… you…" the baby mumbled, snapping her older half-sister/cousin out of her thoughts.

Everyone else stopped dead and stared at the baby.

"What did you say, Xion?" Sora asked his baby sister.

"Love you! Love you!" she chanted, giggling happily.

"She said her first words!" Terra cried.

The baby was so happy she let her plush toy slip out of her grasp and it hit her father right in the face, leaving him dumbstruck.

Sora snorted with laughter, followed by the giggling of his sisters and his mother. Even Terra let out a chuckle at his daughter's antics.

"She's such a smart baby," Aqua said, picking up the toy and returning it to Xion, who continued to flail it around, hitting her mother in the face this time. She cracked a grin and took the baby back from Naminé, who handed Xion her toy.

"Smart and violent," Sora said. "I wouldn't be surprised if she gets a Keyblade in the future."

"Well, you never know," Terra agreed, handing Aqua Xion's bottle to resume feeding the baby. Xion didn't squirm this time, she just contently drank her milk.

"I'm glad you're here, Xion." Terra tickled his daughter under her chin when Aqua removed the bottle from her mouth. "Now, I get to know what it's like to raise a baby."

"I can tell you'll like it, Terra," Aqua told him as she snuggled into his arms. "Raising Sora and Naminé was the greatest thing in my life during the bad marriage. I loved it so much and I'm so happy I now get to share the experience with you."

Terra hugged Aqua before kissing her sweetly. The baby chirped when she was almost squished, causing her parents to separate and continue to tickle and coo at her.

Sora and Naminé exchanged a glance. A pleased one.

Their strange teamwork had brought together two people, Sora's parents, who couldn't be more right for each other. And even though Naminé was the daughter of the man who'd separated Terra and Aqua's beautiful love for fifteen years. And the two children, who were still considered twins despite having different fathers, who'd been born through Aqua's unions with Terra and Xehanort had been the heroes to reunite true love.

And with Xion now in the picture, life couldn't get better.

There you have it! 'Hidden Bonds' is finished!

I know some of you really hate Xehanort for what he did to Terra and Aqua, well the time for their happy ending hadn't come yet, but Sora and Naminé gave it to them. Did you guys really think I'd keep Terra and Aqua apart forever? Heck, no! I'd never do that!

And yes, I wanted Xion to be the baby. Thank you, Fantasy0Girl, for the idea of another baby. The reason it's Xion… Well, babies are cute! Especially when you turn KH characters into babies! And the 'Love you' phrase is a reference to Manaphy from Pokémon. I love Manaphy, but don't own Pokémon.

Now for my surprise! I'm planning to write a prequel of this story. A telling of the events of Terra and Aqua's romance in the past that led up to the events of this story. It won't be as long as this though.

But I won't work on the prequel for a while. I'm working on writing an original book, which I've been putting off to write this story. But I'll get to it soon enough.

Til then! *salutes*