A/N: Hey look, the last chapter. Cool.
Sora just saw the credits begin to roll as he Dropped back to Castle Lampshade for the last time.
"Ahhh," he took a deep breath and let it out. The freshly-vacuumed carpet had never smelled so good.
"Hey, welcome back!" Ven powered off the vacuum. Sora had the strangest sense of déjà vu, but he ignored it and grinned at his friend.
"Yeah, I'm back for good this time! Well, not for good for good, but y'know, I might be eighty before they need me for Kingdom Hearts III." He shrugged, glancing around the room. "Sooo… where is everyone?" He thought they might be here, waiting to welcome him home. He found it odd that Kairi at the very least wasn't here.
"Oh." Ven rubbed the back of his head. "I'd check the Fourth Wall Window. There was something going on in there…"
"Something?" Sora asked. Ven unplugged the vacuum and curled up the cord, but left it sitting in the middle of the lobby.
"You'll see~" He sing-songed, leading the way to the elevator. Was it some sort of surprise party? Sora's heart lifted at the thought, but he pretended he didn't have a clue.
"Is it Mail Day?" He asked. Wait, was it Mail Day? No, Mail Day was Monday; today was Friday. It got hard to keep up when his sleep schedule was constantly interrupted with Drops. But today, that finally ended.
"Nope~!"
A short elevator ride later, they arrived at the doors to the Fourth Wall Window. It was definitely loud enough in there to be a party, but if it was a surprise party, wouldn't they be keeping quiet?
Not wasting any time on dramatics, Ven threw open the doors. "Hey guys, look who's here!"
Only about half of the crowded room heard him. The other half was too preoccupied, but it only took Sora a moment to see why.
"Riku!" Sora knew he'd just seen his best friend on the other side of the Fourth Wall, but that didn't stop him from shoving through the crowd to glomp him. "I didn't know you were back already!"
"Heh. I've always been a little faster than you," Riku teased.
"Hey!" Sora punched him lightly, not that the silverette would've felt it much had it been full-force.
"Welcome back, Sora." Aqua smiled. "We were just congratulating Riku on his Mark of Mastery."
"Oh." Sora scanned the room, where the now-dark television screens were covered with purple banners that read CONGRATULATIONS, RIKU! in bright gold letters. Not a single mention of his own name… not that it mattered, of course. He was happy for his best friend. "Well, cool! He deserves it," he added to make up for his jealous thought.
"Yeah…" Riku ran a hand through his still-too-short hair. "Honestly, I was just looking forward to taking a long nap…"
"Like me, huh?" Sora laughed. He still wasn't quite used to Riku being modest. If he'd gotten his Mark, he'd be bouncing off the walls right now.
That got a laugh out of Riku, too, which made Sora feel better. Now there was only one thing missing.
"Where's Kairi?"
"I suspect she'll be back soon," Aqua answered, scanning the crowd.
"Master Yen Sid wanted her for something," Riku added. "I think she's going to be training, too."
"With her keyblade?" Sora could hardly contain his excitement.
"I don't see why not," Terra wandered over, munching on a brownie. "We need all the help we can get."
"You got that right," Vanitas tailed him with a grin. "'Cause chances are Nomura'll throw me over on the other side. I get I'll get to kick your butt on the big screen."
"Yeah, right." Terra snorted. "Light always wins in the end."
Vanitas laughed. "Says the one who got possessed by Master Xehanort for over ten years!"
Aqua shot him a glare. "As long as you're under our castle, you should be polite."
He huffed, rolling his eyes. "Whatever. Me and Vanilla are still totally going to kick your butts."
Sora's eyebrows creased as he watched his darker incarnation leave. "Who's Vanilla?"
"You still haven't met her?" Riku suppressed a grin.
"Seriously, how did you miss that?" Terra wiped crumbs off his mouth. "She's only a giant dragon, for Kingdom Heart's sakes."
"Really?" Sora grinned. "Do we get to have real dragons in Kingdom Hearts now? 'Cause Mushu was cool and all, but if I had a giant dragon summon—"
"I wouldn't get my hopes up," Riku warned. "It's probably copyright infringement."
"Man…"
"So, you think you'll have time to take me up on that sparring match any time soon?" Terra asked Riku. Just the thought of fighting brought on a fresh wave of exhaustion.
"I'll see what I can do the day after tomorrow."
"What, are you going to sleep all day tomorrow?" Sora asked. Sure, he was tired, but he was planning on spending as much interrupted time with Kairi as he could.
"Not exactly…" Sora swore Riku's face turned red.
"Well, what are you doing?"
"Um…"
Naminé chose that moment to materialize from the crowd. "Can I tell them?"
Riku jumped; he hadn't seen her there. Not that it bothered him, his reflexes were just usually better than that… "I don't see why not," he said, smiling a little. Naminé's face lit up with a grin; Sora hadn't seen her that happy… well, ever.
"Riku and I are going on our first date."
Sora laughed and clapped his best friend on the back. "Awesome, Riku! You too, Naminé!"
"You and Kairi can double with us if you want," Riku suggested, actually sounding a little… shy? Why would Riku be shy? Going on a date didn't make him nervous, did it?
"Of course!" He wouldn't miss it for anything, no matter what. He felt giddy just thinking about it.
"So, what do you say, Aqua?" Terra grinned teasingly. "You wanna make that a triple date?"
The blue-haired girl blushed a deep pink. "First of all, we weren't invited." Terra's expression fell. "Second, I'd rather not look like their chaperone."
"Yeah…" Terra agreed glumly, but Aqua smiled.
"And third, I would prefer to do something with just you."
The brunette looked dumbstruck for a moment, before he finally realized what she meant.
"Yes!" He fistpumped shamelessly. Vanitas could kick his butt in KHIII all he wanted, but he couldn't take this victory away from Terra.
Aqua laughed, rolling her eyes. "Well, I don't know what you all plan to do, but I'm going to enjoy the party while I can. Welcome home, Sora and Riku."
She walked off, Terra nearly skipping behind her. Sora didn't try to hold back his laugh.
"It's good to be back." He smiled.
Riku nodded in content agreement. "It certainly is."
XXX
The Castle That Never Was had come out surprisingly unscathed. Well, as unscathed as it was before Sora and Riku's second arrival; it had never really recovered from Kingdom Hearts II. Saïx and Xigbar blamed Xemnas's skyscraper-throwing for that, but none of them particularly cared about the scenery anyway.
"So that's that, eh?" Xigbar brushed his coat off and stretched, reclining in his giant white chair. "Some plan, huh."
"Sora could never bask in the glow of Kingdom Hearts." Xemnas shook his head, lording over the room in the tallest chair again now that Impetus had returned to his own time. It felt good to be rid of him and regain his rightful place.
"Nah, the Imp was really trying, though." Xigbar chuckled. "Even hired all those actors so he could bluff his way through it. Bet he's glad the old coot didn't show."
Xemnas nodded. Even if they needed to pretend they had thirteen vessels, allowing complete strangers to don the Organization's sacred coat was a disgrace. He could hardly believe Impetus had allowed it. "Master Xehanort would have destroyed us all. That was a risk even Luxord would not have gambled."
"Ah, well, the odds of Sora saving the day are usually high enough to bet on. Honestly, I was surprised he slept through the whole ending." Xigbar scratched his eyepatch. "I'm sure Flamsilocks enjoyed his stunt in the spotlight, though."
If he hoped he could draw some sort of reaction out of Saïx, who had practically been comatose since the end of the game, he was sadly mistaken.
"Yo, Moony. How was the reunion?" He was rubbing salt in an open wound, but he couldn't let Saïx slip back into zombie-mode without doing anything about it.
The blue-haired man finally graced him with a weak stare, which lasted for about five seconds before his head dropped again.
"With whom did you have a reunion?" Xemnas asked. The events of the past few hours had been rather chaotic. "Did our beloved Kingdom Hearts return? Did I miss her?"
"…No," Saïx finally muttered when it became clear that Xigbar wouldn't answer.
"There ya go. Use those vocal chords."
"…Shut up, Xigbar."
"Heh, but then it'd be too quiet in here. Hate to leave everyone alone with their angst." He scratched his head. "For what it's worth, I think you'll get a chance to make things right."
If he was talking about Kingdom Hearts III, Saïx didn't have a lot of hope. "I may have to wait eighty years for that chance."
Xigbar laughed. "Don't get all emo on me yet. Word on the street says Nomura's got something planned for us before then."
Xemnas perked up. "What are these plans of which you speak?"
As much as Xigbar loved suspense, they'd been through enough today. He laid it out straight for them. "Oh, nothing much. Just a remake every single Kingdom Hearts game, sans this one." He grinned. "You know what that means, right?"
Xemnas frowned in confusion. "More time we must spend waiting for Kingdom Hearts III?"
"Well, yeah, but not just that," Xigbar said. "It means we get to go back through all the old games. At least for a little while, we get to be who we were."
Realization dawned on Xemnas. "You mean…"
"…Not possessed by Xehanort?" Saïx's voice sounded hopeful for the first time since they'd been in the Reorganization Organization.
"Bingo." Xigbar grinned, then snapped his fingers. "Ah, I'm gonna have my eye back for a little while! And my sweet scarf!"
"I…" Saïx still looked uncertain. "…I get to be Isa? I get to… see Lea?"
"I get to see my beloved?"
"Sheesh, you two and your sentiment. Some Nobodies you are." Xigbar rolled his eyes, but he was still grinning. "But yeah. Nomura needed the Imp to figure out the whole time travel thing before we could do these 'ReMIX' games, but now we're good to go. So at least this whole mess was worth something, huh?"
Saïx was still absorbed in the thought of being his Somebody again. Xemnas was already composing a love poem to recite to Kingdom Hearts when he saw her.
"Above the Worlds you shine so bright / Like a diamond in the night," the Superior voiced dramatically.
"Dude, you know that's just like 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,' right?"
Xemnas stared down at him in indignation. "How dare you suggest such a thing? It is a completely original composition entitled 'Glow, Glow, Raging Hearts."
Xigbar shook his head. "Whatever you say, Bossman…"
"Thank you," Saïx finally murmured to Xigbar.
"What was that?" He grinned. Saïx scowled.
"I know you heard me." He sighed. "But I will repeat it anyway. Thank you. For giving me hope."
"No problem, Moony." For once, Xigbar's smile was sincere, not teasing. "How about we celebrate with some ice cream?"
"I approve of this motion," Xemnas agreed. Saïx's mouth twitched into a barely-noticeable smile.
It had been a long time since his sea-salt ice cream tasted so sweet.
A/N: That wraps it up! Lol, I know 3D's been out for a long time now, really should've finished this a while ago. But oh well, the past is in the past. :P
Vanilla will likely cameo in "Unbreakable Chains" at some point if anyone's sad to see her go. :P Honestly, I'm sad to not have any good context to write funny Xigbar/Saix/Xemnas friendship anymore. And Vanitas/Aqua/Terra was kind of fun too. This fic gave me the chance to write characters that weren't Demyx, Axel, Roxas, and Xion for a change. xP
And last but not least, thanks to all the reviewers! I was really surprised this weird crack made it to nearly 100 reviews in 15 chapters. XD You guys are awesome!