Epilogue time! It's a bit shorter than my chapters, but this time, I didn't need to write a whole lot. Here you go.

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SORA

"What about this one? It has a heart…do you think that's too sentimental?"

"Could be. But you're a pretty sentimental guy."

"Yeah, I guess…oh, wait, this one had a little red stone in it. Kinda matches her hair, doesn't it?"

"Kind of."

I turned to him. "Riku, I need some help here. I can't decide."

He nodded. "Yes, I've noticed from the way we've been in this section for over half an hour."

"C'mon, Riku, this is really important. I need to get everything just right. This is the moment that women dream of."

He gave me a smile that managed to convey a serious tone. "Sora, I've told you already. It will be just right no matter how you do it. That woman is deeply in love with you; just what you're doing will be enough to make this the happiest moment of her life. Besides, she's never been one to fuss over details."

His words were somewhat comforting, I'll admit. But they didn't help me decide.

Riku sighed. "You want my advice? Pick something simple."

I blinked. "Simple?"

"Yep. Extravagant's not really her style, and you don't need to break the bank on this."

I frowned. "Riku, this is an engagement ring we're talking about. What else am I going to break the bank on?"

"Hey, you yourself have said that business was slow recently. You don't have bundles of cash to spend on anything, much less something that isn't essential."

"Isn't…isn't essential? Riku, I'm asking this woman to marry me. This is the most crucial moment of my life."

"And a fancier ring will not make any difference. Her decision will be based on the time you've spent together, not the amount of money you've spent asking her."

My heart gave a jolt at the words "her decision." That, of course, was what worried me the most—that she would say no. Riku had assured me multiple times that, based on his evidence, there was no way she would…but nothing short of an answer from her would calm my fears entirely.

Riku steered me to another collection of rings. "Here, look over here. These are ones that I think would be more appropriate."

I looked them over. They were a good deal simpler than the ones we had just been looking at…but Riku was right, they were more Kairi's style. Unfortunately, there were still a lot of them.

We were there for another ten minutes before I finally picked one: a simple silver ring with a small blue stone, that I thought matched the color of her eyes. And before I could reconsider, Riku had told the jeweler that we'd take it. And we did. Then, walking out of the store, it dawned on me that I had just bought an engagement ring, and I began almost hyperventilating.

Riku noticed. "Sora," he said, putting a hand on my shoulder, "calm down."

"Easy for you to say," I said.

"What are you worried about?"

"I dunno. Everything."

He gave a sigh, but was still smiling slightly. "Okay, Sora, listen up. You have nothing to be afraid of. Getting married does have its rough spots, but we'll be with you all the way. And, of course, you'll have each other."

I turned to him, my unspoken question written in the worry on my face.

Riku sighed again. "Still on that, are you?" He paused. "Well…I suppose I can't say anything that would make you completely at ease. I can't read minds, but I can make some pretty damn good guesses." He grinned. "I am one of the best investigators in the area, remember."

"Yeah, you've mentioned that."

"But even if I wasn't, I would still be as sure of my opinion as I currently am. You don't have to have special skills to see the way she lights up whenever she's around you."

"Aside from the occasional fight," I interjected.

"Which is perfectly normal in a relationship. And when it's over, you two are just as in love as before. You want to know how I know?"

I nodded.

"You're in love with her, right?"

"Of course."

"And you tend to get a stupid expression on your face when you're around her."

"Yeah. And?"

He smiled. "She does the same."

I thought. Somehow, that was comforting. And…if I really looked deep into myself, I knew that Kairi loved me as much as I loved her.

Riku clapped me on the back. "So come on, let's get going and make sure everything's prepared." He made a face. "Though you did leave it a little late…"

"I wanted some help picking out the ring, and this was the earliest you were available."

"What about any of the others? They could have helped."

"They could have, but…" I shrugged. "Well, I wanted my future best man to be the one."

Riku blinked. "What?"

I grinned at him. "You surprised? If all this goes well, you'll be standing right next to me at the altar. Well, you know, except for the part when I actually get married."

He was still taken aback. "You…you sure?"

"Absolutely. Have you forgotten what I told you on our trip to Alaska? You're my best friend, Riku. Heck, we're practically brothers. Have been since we were kids. So in my mind, there's no better choice."

"Wow," he said. "Wow. Thanks, Sora. That…that means a lot to me."

"You're welcome," I said sincerely. "Now, how about those preparations you mentioned?"

It was kind of cliché, but I had planned to do it on Christmas—which, as Riku told me, further strengthened the idea that I was confident in her response—I wouldn't want to risk every Christmas being reminded of her refusal. The others agreed with him when I mentioned it; I had begun to let people know what I was thinking about about a month beforehand, and it had taken a good deal of coaxing to strengthen my resolve enough. (Strange that I could march headlong into battle with vampires, demons, and akhluts, but I was so nervous about proposing to my girlfriend. Though Roxas said it didn't sound strange at all.)

We had planned to have a big Christmas celebration at my apartment (since it had basically become the standard place for us to all come together), but only in the afternoon—the morning was reserved for Kairi and me alone. Fortunately, she didn't seem to suspect anything when I mentioned those plans to her, accepting that I just wanted to spend some time just with her.

Well, it was true…but for more reasons than she imagined.

Finally, the day came. I was awake at 5:30, and, as you may imagine, didn't even try to get back to sleep. Unfortunately, that didn't leave me much to do, as I didn't want to wake Kairi too early. I could try to get up without waking her, but I still wouldn't have much to do—everything was ready, aside from breakfast, which Kairi had explicitly forbidden me from preparing. So I just lay in bed silently, until about six, when Kairi woke up. "Oh, good morning," she said, upon seeing me awake. "Have you been awake for long?"

"A bit," I said.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

I smiled. "No problem." Acting on impulse, I leaned over and kissed her passionately—and in that moment, I felt excited, excited that, if things went well, this was the woman I would be spending the rest of my life with.

She looked at me with an expression that was a combination of surprise and amusement after I pulled away. "You're in a good mood this morning."

I grinned. "It's Christmas. What's there to not be in a good mood about?"

She smiled back. "I suppose you're right. I guess I still have to remember how great it is."

"Well, let's work on that," I said, getting out of bed. "C'mon, let's take a look at those presents."

The gift exchange didn't take too long; the only presents that were—well, present—were the ones the two of us had gotten for each other, though I made sure to save the ring for last. It actually wasn't under the little tree we had gotten; I was keeping it in my pocket, waiting for the right time. As a result, my heart was pounding so heavily as we opened our presents that I was surprised Kairi wasn't giving me concerned looks.

Finally, we had finished, and I decided I couldn't put it off any longer. As Kairi made her way to the kitchen to try one of the recipes in the cookbook I'd gotten her, I cleared my throat. "Um…hold on a moment, Kairi." She turned around. "There's, ah, one more present I got for you."

She turned around. "Oh?"

"Yeah…this." I pulled out a small wrapped box from my pocket and handed it to her.

She took it, unwrapped it, and opened it. And her jaw dropped when she realized what it was. "Kairi," I said, the words coming out a little faster than I had originally intended, "these past months with you have been the best of my life, and there is nothing I would like more than to continue living with you. Forever." It was short, but I hadn't wanted to bombard her with speeches while she made her decision. "So…will you marry me?"

She took a while to say anything, looking overwhelmed. Tears filled her eyes, and she tried to speak several times, finally getting words out. "I…I never would…would have dreamed anything like this would happen…just a year ago." The tears were rolling down her face as she looked up at me. "Sora…this is the best gift I could ever have."

And she threw herself into my arms, hugging me tightly. "And that's a yes, Sora. I will marry you."

I let those four words sink in. Then, an expression of absolute delight spread across my face, and I swept Kairi up, laughing. She joined in, and we laughed until tears were rolling down our faces. It was hard to imagine anyone happier than us at that moment.

ROXAS

I woke up on Christmas morning feeling particularly good. After calling my dad and wishing him Merry Christmas (oh, and by the way, his colleague had accepted me to be a research assistant in January), I headed out into the apartment, where Ienzo and I had gifts for each other. After that, I spent some time hanging out with him before gathering up a bag of other presents and making my way to Sora's for our planned Christmas get-together. "Who'd have thought," I muttered to myself, "that I'd be headed to Sora's for a Christmas party?" It didn't seem like too long ago that I had felt animosity towards him for scarring me with the whole Sephiroth incident. Now, he and the others were people that I would consider my best friends—and his sister was my girlfriend. That was nice (even if he gave off the protective brother vibe fairly often).

I was the third to arrive, after Riku and Naminé. I greeted both warmly (and Sora averted his eyes when I went to greet Naminé), as well as Sora and Kairi, who seemed particularly cheerful. When I looked down at Kairi's hand, and remembered what Sora had been talking about for the past month or so, I realized why. "So," I said, looking at the ring, smiling.

Kairi and Sora followed my gaze, and both grinned from ear to ear. "Yep," said Sora. "We're getting married."

My smile grew wide as well. "That's great! Congratulations!"

"Thank you, thank you," said Sora. "And, if you'd like, we'd love to have you as an usher for the ceremony."

I blinked, taken aback. "I…well, sure, I'd love to."

Kairi beamed at me, and I became so caught up in the moment that I went over and gave them both hugs. We talked for a little while, finding ourselves staying on the subject of the upcoming marriage—for which Kairi, and once Sora, had to excuse themselves from getting too emotional—until the other three arrived, Lea making sure to shout, "Ho, ho, ho!" as he entered.

After Lea, Donald, and Goofy were brought up to speed, and also made ushers, we began handing out our presents. There were quite a lot going around; eight people buying things for each other made for a lot of gifts. Mostly nothing too extravagant, though I did buy a silver necklace for Naminé, which she immediately put on, smiling broadly. She also got me a nice watch—very much appreciated, since my old one was rather battered and had trouble working.

After everyone had received and given everything, Naminé stood up, her new camera from Sora in her hands. "Picture time?" she suggested.

Everyone agreed to the idea. I offered to take the picture, but she insisted she use the timer function on hers. When she had some trouble figuring it out, I renewed my offer. "Worried about being not photogenic, Roxas?" said Lea.

I shook my head. "No. It's just…I dunno, I haven't known everyone here as long, and so…"

They cut me off with shaking heads and denials of my statement. Sora spoke above them. "You're as much a part of this group as anyone, Roxas," he said. "Doesn't matter how long we've been friends."

"Yeah," agreed Donald. "All that everyone's been through together…heck, we're practically family."

I blinked. "Family?"

Goofy grinned. "Sure. Why not?"

Riku nodded. "Why not, indeed."

I paused, finding myself in thought. Behind me, Naminé said, "Got it! Okay, get ready…"

She pressed a button and hurried towards the others. "Roxas, come on!" she said, holding out her hand. "It's about to take!"

I nodded, and took her hand and joined the others, still thinking. Family, huh?

Yeah, I could do that.

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And thus concludes the saga of Sora Parker, supernatural investigator, and friends.

Well, it's been a year to the day since I first published The Darkness Hunter, and I've been very happy to see people enjoying what I've written and being supportive of my work. FanFiction has turned out to be a good outlet for a lot of my creativity, even if I sometimes hit a writer's block. So if you liked these stories, and want to see more from me, keep an eye out; I have many ideas brewing…

So, farewell, at least for now, and, as always, keep reading.