#khfanfic

“What was that?” Aqua asked, coming around to see. Vanitas normally stayed up late and awoke late, favoring the dark. So it was no wonder if she wasn’t expecting him already. Nevermind that he was normally significantly quieter…

“Uh… I guess Vanitas is up.”

Aqua and Terra split a look, but Ventus was too busy watching his other half. Vanitas had been living with them for almost two years now, studying alongside him and Kairi to be a Master. He had mellowed out significantly since being released from Master Xehanort’s control, finding comfort in sullen silences and snarky one liners. He acted aloof most of the time—sometimes he’d show some positive emotion, and he spent enough time with Ventus that he knew what his laugh and amusement and smile was like, but little else.

And this?

This was none of that. 

Starkly black against the white falling snow, Vanitas stood out like a sore thumb. His head was pitched to the sky, and when Ventus got closer, he saw his mouth hanging open. He looked entirely astounded. By what? The snow?

“Whatcha doin’, Van?” Terra asked when he squeezed past Ventus, leaning against the door frame. 

“Snow,” Vanitas said. 

Aqua hummed and stopped just in front of Terra, leaning back against him. “Yeah. We don’t see it often, so this was a surprise. Came out of nowhere.”

“Snow.”

“I see.”

Apparently realizing that he looked like an idiot, Vanitas closed his mouth and dropped his head to the white stuff at his feet. Aqua had gotten him a nice pair of slippers for his last birthday, which were covering his feet then. “I, uh…” he said, scratching at the place that used to be covered by the chin and headguard, in his hair. “Once we were split, I lived in a desert my whole life, and I don’t remember seeing any before that either. Closest I ever got to—“ he put out his hand to catch falling snowflakes, watching them melt in his palm. “Snow, was a Blizzard spell. But now it’s just happening. ‘S like magic.”

“Distinctly not magic.”

Vanitas shot all three of them a soured look. “You know what I mean.”

Terra and Aqua laughed. Ventus stepped inside to slip into his boots and follow his other half. Annoying as it was, there was nothing quite like someone experiencing their first snow. He stopped several feet away from him, knowing Vanitas would get up to shenanigans as soon as he realized what snowy options were available. 

Vanitas took a step away, not the recoil it used to be so much as taking back his space. However, his roly poly Unversed, the two Blue Sea Salts having a good old fashioned time in their element, did not expect the movement. One had apparently been having the time of its life, and rolled under his feet in just the wrong moment. 

Vanitas tripped and landed in a small snowdrift, his back immediately going rigid and hands flying out of the snow. “C-cold!” 

The other three all laughed again, and since Ventus was closer, he neared and extended his hand. The darker boy took his hand and was hauled to his feet, but the shivering didn’t stop. The Blue Sea Salt at his feet crooned, looking ready for death, but Vanitas’ annoyance with the creatures had drained years ago, and he merely tapped his ankle against it as some sort of reprimand, and left it at that. 

“Hey, Van,” Terra called from his place by the door. “Wanna know what the best thing about snow is?”

Vanitas turned to him, eyes huge with wonder at the clearly far wiser and much more knowledgeable Master. He shoved his hands into his fluffy pajama pockets to try to warm them.

“Terr—“

Ventus glanced over too late. A snowball pelted him in the face and knocked him off his feet, and instantly Vanitas and Terra were bent double, wheezing with laughter at his misfortune. To Ventus’ mortification, he even heard Aqua’s familiar breathy laughter shortly after scolding Terra. 

Helpfully, Vanitas came over and offered his hand, and he didn’t even shove Ventus face-first back into the snow after he helped him up. Instead, the dark-haired teen leaned over and whispered conspiratorially into his ear. 

Ventus’ face split into an ear-to-ear grin. He gathered snow and packed it together, handed it to his other half, and watched him vanish. 

Seconds later, Vanitas appeared above Terra’s head. Rather than smashing it onto his head, though, Vanitas yanked the back of Terra’s shirt from his neck, and shoved the entire mound of snow down it. Terra yelped and danced away, and Vanitas dodge-rolled away from flailing, frantic limbs.

When even Aqua burst into laughter right away, citing Ventus’ attack as “well-deserved retaliation”, it was war. 

Ventus and Vanitas arguably teamed up, packing snowballs and hiding behind heavy bushes, although they spent as much time pelting each other as they did Aqua and Terra. Terra hid behind the banister, collecting his snowballs, and Aqua used her magic to build up a fort of her own. 

Aqua won. Naturally. Or at least, she came out of it covered in less snow than the other three. Ventus surrendered to her warp magic pelting him with snowballs on all sides, all while Vanitas valiantly declared, “you’ll have to kill me, I’ll never give in!” Typical Vanitas. A drift of snow had fallen off the roof and coated poor Terra halfway through the game, which gave him more ammo but also set the cold in that much faster. He had been first to fold. 

Then, the shivers and sniffles set in, and they decided as a collective to head in. Aqua was pretty sure she saw Vanitas dunk Ventus’ head in snow one more time before running in, but she didn’t comment. They were having fun, and she’d never seen Vanitas have so much fun and act so carefree. 

Terra, bless his soul, dumped out all of their chilled mugs of coffee and tea and started on hot chocolate. Aqua went to set a fire in the fireplace, and sent the boys running off to find wool socks and blankets. 

“Well,” Terra asked once they were all bundled in. Ventus was sat between he and Aqua, cradling his mug, while Vanitas was wrapped up in no less than three blankets, chin propped on the coffee table. “How was your first snow? Hate it yet?”

Vanitas turned his face to the side and considered it, squashed against the table. He flexed stiff fingers and toes, then looked out the window. The snow was still falling. “Fun. I think.”

“Great. Then you’re going to love the part where we have to shovel out all of the walking paths and the gummi pad. It’s a thrill.”

Ventus groaned, having totally forgotten about the work that came with it. Vanitas groaned in solidarity and flopped back against the couch. 

Notes:

*In this story, if you are very close to the opal at the time of an explosion, your body can absorb a small amount of its blast.  This energy can cause some short term side effects (e.g. hallucinations, precognition etc.).  Aurora93′s nightmare could have been one of these side effects, or she just slept through the whole thing.

“Er, right. Van and Ri.” Sora was still a little weird around her two boys. One had tried to kill him and certainly had made attempts at the one locked away in his heart for so long, another looked exactly like his best friend when he was young, and shared memories with Sora of a thing that he couldn’t for the life of him remember. He was trying, but they were all still weird with each other. 

“Van lives in Halloweentown, now, remember? So he can let his Unversed run free without being called freaks. He works at maintaining the graveyard there, I guess. Last I heard, Jack Skellington was very impressed.”

“That’s cool, I guess.”

“It’s honest work,” Naminé chirped. “And he’s actually really enjoying it there. He walks me through the Hinterlands when I call him. They’re spooky.”

“That, they definitely are. Okay, we’ll go to Halloweentown, then. Maybe I’ll go visit Jack and Sally, too! What about Ri? Is he still… exploring?”

“Yeah. He was in San Fransokyo yesterday, but he sounded like he was on the move, soon. All this is doing him good, too. He’s finding ways to be a separate person from Riku, even as simple as going to worlds Riku’s never been.”

“Aw, Riku’s a cool person to be,” Sora said with a fake pout. He knew of Ri’s circumstances, but would also say many things to come to the defense of his best friend. 

“He is! I always liked Riku, he was so nice. But, Ri just… wants to be different. He’s trying to find a different name that he likes, too, but he hasn’t settled on one.”

“Maybe he should just stick an ‘x’ in Riku’s name and jumble up the letters.”

Naminé snickered, noting the mirth in his eye. “He’s not a Nobody.”

Sora laughed as he steered them toward Halloweentown, the dark and gloomy world already putting a light in her heart. Van may have been the dark half of Ven, once upon a time, but now there was no denying how happy he made her. He was going to be so surprised. 

They landed just outside of the square, and Sora quickly cloaked the ship. Before they could step out, he cast the same cloaking magic that Donald used to cast to protect the world order. Out of the ship stepped a vampire, and a girl with webbed hands and feet, gills on her neck and frills around her head, the hem of her white dress dripping around her like water. 

“Wow, Nam,” Sora said, looking her up and down while Naminé got as good of an eyeful as she could. This was her first time in Halloweentown, after all. “You make drowning look good.”

Naminé giggled and rolled her eyes. “Whatever, Sora. Come on! I don’t know where the graveyard is so you hafta show me, I bet that’s where Van is.”

“O-okay,” Sora said when Naminé squeezed his hand. “How are you even wet?”

“Let’s go!”

Sora led her around, tossing greetings at the townsfolk. All of them were surprisingly friendly, all waving to Sora and Naminé as if they’d known them their whole lives. That, Van had told her once, was the one thing he didn’t like about living here. For such a spooky town, these townsfolk were far too friendly.

Behind one of the decorative guillotines, Naminé got her first clue without even having to acknowledge Sora. Sitting atop a wall, there was a Flood, watching the sky. They, of course, had no order to protect, and Van didn’t often care one way or the other. 

“Flood, Flood!” Naminé cheered. She didn’t bother looking around for its master yet; since coming to live here, the Unversed had become staples of the community, and so were allowed to roam wherever they wanted. 

The Flood looked down to her and stared for a second, working out if it knew her or not. It slowly crept down the wall, clinging to the shadows, sticking its little nose out to get a good sniff.

“Aww, don’t be afraid, little Flood,” Naminé cooed, putting out her hand. Normally, she got along splendidly with the Unversed, but she looked so different, and it probably didn’t help that the water on her washed away easy traces of her scent. “You know me, I promise.”

The Flood crooned noiselessly; even now, Van was the only one who could hear them. It touched its snoot to her fingertips and took a deep sniff. 

And quickly leapt from the wall to her shoulders, knowing her now. It pressed its head to her wet chin and happily rubbed its head all over, just like a cat. Naminé pretended she could hear the crooning, and happily pulled it forward into her arms, to hug it and kiss its head. These were both Van’s pets, and extensions of Van himself. Showing them as much affection as possible was the easiest way to make sure Van felt loved. 

“...Nam? You good?” Sora asked after a moment of fierce affection. He struggled with the Unversed, too. Didn’t get the affection. But he definitely saw Naminé loving on the Unversed, and the Unversed loving on her right back. 

“Yeah!” Naminé pulled her face from the Unversed’s skin, smiling so wide it showed off her fangs. “I’m good. Sora, if you want to go see Jack and Sally, I bet this little guy can take me to Van. Isn’t that right?!?”

The Flood happily crooned at her and turned over in her arms to show her its belly and claws. Naminé took that as agreement. 

Sora didn’t bother to hide the relief on his face when she said as much. He turned away for a second, then glanced back to ask, “you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine! I’d trust him with my life. I’ll just text you if there’s any problems, okay?”

Sora sighed, shaking his head affectionately. “Okay, yeah let me know. Say hi to Van for me, okay?”

“Okay! Thanks Sora!!” Naminé chirped. When Sora turned away, Naminé was quick to say “good bye! Have fun!! I love you!!!”

Sora chuckled to himself and waved goodbye. “Okay, bye Naminé. Love you too!”

Naminé waved until Sora was out of sight, and then turned down to her little companion. “Okay, Flood, show me where Van is.”

Somehow, the little emotion understood her perfectly. It righted itself in her arms and took off out of the square, looking over its shoulder occasionally to make sure she followed. It darted up unnecessarily huge steps that she had to jump up, and then through the gates. Even just through the bars of the gate, she could see her target hard at work tending to some of the Jack o’ lanterns that just grew that way. 

The Flood scootched over to its master, but didn’t disturb him, instead watching Naminé as if to see if she saw. Naminé followed it silently. Van didn’t scare easy, but she almost hoped she could startle him. 

“Vani!!”

Van yelped when Naminé threw her arms around his neck and dragged him down. She had no balance to begin with and so fell to the side, and whatever balance Van had in his shaky crouch was lost with her weight. He fell on top of her, narrowly avoiding ramming his shoulder into her clavicle. 

“What the hell?!?” Van snapped, getting an arm beneath him to get a good look at his attacker. His eyes darted all around her, and he seemed to know her, but wasn’t certain enough.

The Flood who had narrowly avoided death crooned up at him happily and hopped up onto his shoulder, nuzzling its face against Van’s. It must have explained what it knew, because he turned down to look at her, a tiny smile on his face.

“Nam?”

“Hi, Vani. Can I hug you?”

“If I say no, will you let me go?”

Naminé pouted but retracted her arms. He was in one of those moods, huh? “Of course I will.”

“Hnnnn,” Van said, baring sharp incisors. “...Yeah, you can.”

Naminé quickly replaced her arms around his neck and squeezed him tighter, so tight he was probably struggling to breathe. She buried her face into the hair on the back of his neck and laughed to herself. Van wasn’t always a great hugger, but he sure was great at receiving them. Or, sitting there and doing nothing while he got them. 

At least sometimes he reacted to them very positively, hugging back when he was in a very good mood or at least pressing in close. At least when he did that, Naminé knew he didn’t entirely hate them. 

“What are you doing here?” Van asked when Naminé climbed off of him, sticking one leg between his so he had no choice but to stay seated with her. 

“I missed you,” Naminé said very simply, shrugging her shoulders. 

“...We are several worlds apart,” Van said very quietly. “That’s insane.”

“I know! But I missed you a lot and I just… wanted to be with you for a bit. Not just talking to you. Touching you.” She grabbed his arm and pushed her claws gently into his skin. She was one of four people he let touch him—the others being Ri, Aqua, and Ventus. She used it to her advantage, but made sure not to overwhelm him too much that he stopped letting her get close. “You’re my favorite.”

Van’s cheeks went a shade of gray, barely detectable in the moonlight, and he looked away from her. She didn’t miss the tiny smile pushing at his mouth. Van had spent far too long not being cared for by anyone, so he was always embarrassed when Naminé, and occasionally Ri, casually said something along those lines. He didn’t respond, but Naminé didn’t expect him to. It was enough when he squeezed his legs together around hers. 

“How long will you be here?” Van asked, leaning back and looking up at the moon. “I could show you the Hinterlands, if you wanted. We could go down to the lake.” He poked at her arm and smeared the water on her a little. “Bet this form would like that.”

“That’d be cool!! Sora never mentioned a lake. But I don’t know how long we’ll be here. I want to catch up with Ri, but he mentioned heading out in a few days so I want to get some time.”

“You’re gonna see Ri, too?” Van said. He turned suddenly excited red eyes on her, perking up like a dog. As much as he wouldn’t say so, he did miss Ri terribly. 

“Yeah!! It’s quiet in Radiant Garden and I missed you both, and Sora I guess had some time and wanted to roam.”

“...He’s here?” Van peered back towards the gates, scowling. He didn’t exactly dislike Sora, but he didn’t really like him, either. After being sealed in Sora’s heart longer than anyone else, Naminé understood his hesitation. They’d gotten along for as long as it took to drop Van off and make sure he could get himself settled nicely, but after that the two lookalikes had to back off.

“Yeah, he wanted me to tell you ‘hi’ for him. He's visiting with Jack and Sally now, though. You're in the clear.”

Van didn’t bother to hide silent relief. He lifted a hand to scratch at the Flood on his shoulder, who crooned again and affectionately nuzzled his cheek. He leaned back and laid in the dirt crossing his arms beneath his head. Apparently, he was done talking. 

Naminé smiled at him anyway. Neither of them were conversationalists, and she didn’t mind at all. 

So she scooted in close, pulled her leg back, and laid down right in his personal space, watching him the whole time to make sure that she wasn’t invading too much. He was a little twitchy, but then he often was.

“Hey Van?”

“Hmm?” Van hummed softly, moving his arm a little. When Naminé snuggled in a fraction closer, he adjusted enough to allow it. 

Naminé lifted her chin to watch his face, then lifted her head to press her lips against his jaw, kissing the place that used to be permanently covered. “I love you. You know that, right? I love you?”

For just the briefest of moments, Van looked startled. He definitely wasn’t expecting the question. Then he smiled, eyes beyond soft. “Well, you tell me every time we talk, so yeah I figured it out.”

The kiss was new, but Naminé didn’t regret it. He deserved to know and he deserved to feel it. “Good. I love you.”

He laughed a little, just a tiny bit, and squeezed her tight. He didn’t say it back; he never had, but Naminé wasn’t discouraged. She felt it, too, in how differently he treated her and Ri from everyone else, even the ones he got along with. He cared for her in ways he did no one else. 

After another moment of peace, Naminé wiggled around and sat back up. Her frills were pressed wonkily around her head, but she didn’t have nerve endings in them so she couldn’t feel it. “C’mon! We might not have the time to explore the Hinterlands, but you can show me around town and we’ll pretend we’re looking for Sora. And your home!! I want to see it!!!”

“Okay, okay. Let me finish what I was working on,” Van requested. He sat up beside her and ran a hand through his hair. Beside him, most of the leaves on the Jack o’ lantern stems had been trimmed away and neatened up, except a small section where Naminé had interrupted him. He took the shears he had and went back to work, working efficiently and diligently. He threw his scraps in a metal bin Naminé hadn’t seen before, then closed the lid and set the shears on top. 

Naminé took his hand but let him lead the way. The lone Flood hopped up onto her shoulder and happily nuzzled her wet cheek. 

They artfully dodged Sora, who was being shown things around town by Jack. The first time had been entirely Van’s doing, but Naminé decided to make a game out of it, if only so she could spend just a little more time here. The closer to Sora they got before they had to dodge out of his presence or line of vision, the harder Naminé giggled.

She was also fairly certain that Sora actually knew they were there, or had an idea, but was letting her spend more time with Van rather than rushing her along. 

Van showed her all sorts of things. Jack’s house was huge, to account for both his height, and his status as the Pumpkin King. Dr Finkelstein’s lab gave her the creeps, and Van very pointedly instructed his Unversed to stay far away. The fountain was beautiful, even though the water in it was green and goopy. Naminé was pretty sure there was someone in there; she wondered if it was part of her species. 

Lastly, he dragged her to the end of the town, bordering the Hinterlands, just to look at it. Apparently, deep in these woods, there were doors to a different holiday world. Easter, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Independence Day. Van claimed he’d been in a few, but he wouldn’t say which. 

They sat amongst huge gravestones, just looking out into the woods. The Flood played in pools of water Naminé left behind, very deliberately getting itself dripping only to climb into Van’s hair and shake off right there. 

Van only laughed and shoved the little creature away. Naminé was glad he’d found himself a home and a place he was comfortable; it was clearly doing wonders for his annoyance and anger. It made her glad she had yet to ask him to move to Radiant Garden, with her. He was happier here. 

“When we leave, you should come,” Naminé said softly, covering one of his calloused hands with one of her own.

“...Leave where?”

“To see Ri!” Naminé reached a hand up to her shoulder, where the Flood was perched again. “He’s in San Fransokyo, now. He misses you, you know. You don’t call him, do you?”

Van’s cheeks went a shade of gray, and he sharply looked away. “...he doesn’t call me, either. I work a lot.”

“I know,” Naminé sighed. “I know you do, you keep yourself busy and it’s real, honest work and I’m really proud of you for it. But even if he doesn’t pick up, you should still call him. It reminds him that he’s loved. He needs to hear it, too.”

“Yeah, well… whatever,” Van said, cheeks grayer. Though Van didn’t deny that he loved Ri, too, he was embarrassed that it was spoken aloud. 

Naminé smiled but rolled her eyes, curling her fingertips around his. “It’s okay, you can tell him yourself when you come with us to see him.”

“Nam…”

“What?” Naminé asked, leaning back a little. The Unversed wrapped around her neck to stare at its master. “You miss him, you love him. You don’t talk enough. It’s an easy fix! And Sora won’t be too jumpy, I promise.”

Van frowned hard, taking his hand back and crossing his legs to lean forward a little, more than a little nervous. Since coming to live here, he had gotten accustomed to letting his Unversed run rampant. Going to other worlds meant he couldn’t do that. Which meant bottling. Ever since he no longer had to, since Master Xehanort’s passing, he hated bottling.

The Flood quickly crossed over from Naminé’s shoulder onto his, as if offering him comfort. It nosed his cheek, speaking to him, pressing closer and closer. Scrapper Unversed started materializing—he was getting very nervous. 

If she pushed him too hard, he’d flat out tell her ‘no’. He was nervous, and it was time to back off. 

“...But I won't think any differently of you if you decide not to come,” she said instead. He didn’t like having choices stolen from him; at least this way, whether he agreed to come or not, it was his choice, not hers. 

“...I won’t make any promises about Mr Sunshine,” Van finally said after a long minute, shoving the Flood off of his shoulder and vanishing the hovering Scrappers. His shoulders were a little stiff, but he seemed a little more at ease. 

A huge grin grew over Naminé’s face. She leaned her head down onto his shoulder and squeezed his hand. “Yay! I’m really happy you’re gonna come, Vani! Then I get to spend more time with you. And don’t worry about Sora, not much gets him down so if you don’t talk to him, he’ll get it. I’ll talk to him. I love you.”

Van’s cheeks once again went shades grayer. He mumbled something unintelligible under his breath, but he flashed her a surprisingly shy smile, lips sealed. As much as he could be a cocky asshole most of the time, something about having real friends now always made him clam up and get nervous. “Do what you want.”

“What are we doing?” Sora suddenly asked behind them, nearing from the town square. His sudden appearance made Van stiffen again, and slowly work Naminé off of him. Something about showing affection in front of people. 

“Sora!” Naminé didn’t mind that she had been forcefully detached, at least. She squeezed Van’s hand once, then let go and hopped to her feet, leaving Van looking very deliberately away from Sora. “Sora.”

“Hi, Nam. Having fun?”

“Loads! Van and me have just been poking around. Listen, I know I asked him before asking you, but I hoped it was okay to bring Van with us to see Ri. They don’t talk as much as they should even though they’re like best friends.”

“I, uh… I mean, sure, if he wants to! I don’t mind. Wanna come with, um, Van?”

Van was still looking away from him, and did not respond. He still seemed embarrassed about being clung to and found out.

“He’s not feeling very social right now,” Naminé said very quietly, reaching out and touching Sora’s arm. “Nervous.”

“Ahh. Well, that’s okay! You’re definitely invited, Van!”

The Flood crooned up at her silently, touching her webbed feet as if asking a question of its own. She leaned down to scoop it up. “This little guy is probably gonna stay out, because it helps him, is that okay?” She grabbed one of its little claws in her fingers and waved it at him. The Unversed had no care whatsoever. 

“Um, I guess, but make sure it doesn’t run around too much.”

“Will do! It’ll probably just stay in Van’s lap anyway; it helps.”

“Nam…” Van said warningly, shooting her a look. 

Naminé winced, hugging it tighter in apology and hoping he felt it. “Er, or mine.”

“Okay. Well, if we want to get over to San Fransokyo before it gets too late, we should go! Timing’s a little different there, and you don’t want to miss their sunsets. C’mon!”

Van took a second to catch up, but Naminé waited for him anyway. She looped her arm around his loosely, and flashed apologetic eyes his way. He shrugged, but said nothing more on the subject. 

Once they reached the Gummiship, Sora vanished the cloaking spell and let them in. Sure enough, when Van took a seat and was buckled in, the Flood leapt from Naminé’s arms into his lap, curling up like a pet. Naminé halfway expected it to start purring.  She took the seat next to Sora again so he didn’t feel forced to be social, and once they were buckled in (Sora happily chirping “safety first!!”), they took off. 

Naminé called Ri halfway to San Fransokyo, but hid who she was with and what she was doing to keep it a surprise. She screenshot her call so Sora had an idea of where they were going, then asked what he was up to. She happily shared conversation with Ri for a few minutes, until San Fransokyo showed up on Sora’s Navi-Screen, and she knew they were getting close. She happily turned her head back to look at Van, but he just watched the stars and asteroids fly by, and didn’t seem to notice. The Flood had yet to move. 

“Okay, okay, I gotta go Ri! I love you!! See you soon!”

“...What?” 

“Uh—nothing! Bye!”

“Smooth,” Van finally spoke up when Naminé hung up, which made Sora start to laugh, trying to at least cover it up with a wrist to his mouth for her sake. He reached over to take her phone when she offered it, saying “that’s where he was last.”

“Well,” Sora said cheerfully. “It’ll either be a huge surprise, or it’ll be small enough that he won’t get too surprised! If he’s anything like Riku, he won’t take surprises all that well.”

“He’s nothing like Riku,” Van snapped from the back, a hand resting on the Flood’s back and digging into its skin. “...But he doesn’t like surprises much.”

“He can be like Riku sometimes,” Naminé said. “He likes Riku. You’re the one who doesn’t.”

“He likes Riku because he thinks he has to,” Van corrected bluntly. “He’s still somewhere between ‘I Am Riku’, and ‘I Am Definitely Not Riku’, and all that self love crap is confusing him.”

“...Well, I hope it’s not crap,” Naminé said under her breath, frowning. Self love was not crap, and it wasn’t conceited either. It was a hard lesson that every person she knew of seemed to need working on, not just her boys. 

“...I’m just saying,” Van said, conceding just a fraction. 

Sora laughed goodnaturedly then coughed into his elbow when he felt Vanitas’ glare on him, silencing quickly. San Fransokyo was nearly just beneath the ship, so Sora turned the nose down sharply to descend into orbit. Naminé, and Vanitas behind them, both gripped their seats as the landing got shaky—no more than usual, but getting through the atmosphere was always a little disruptive. The Flood even darted into Vanitas’ jacket and poked its little head out to watch. 

The massive blue and green expanse they flew above soon gave way to a huge red bridge. Sora excitedly started talking about the first time he got here, flying toward the forest on the other side of the bridge, away from the city. Sora happily chattered about how apparently this bridge, the Torii Gate Bridge, was one of the largest in this world. Naminé supposed that was cool—probably would be cooler, if she lived on this world or visited it regularly. 

Still, the bridge was massive. That was cool. There was a semi-secluded clearing not far from the bridge that Sora dropped the ship into. Cloaking themselves apparently wasn’t necessary, so they exited the ship, and Sora cloaked it from view. Van took the Flood from his shoulder and stared at it, nervous. At least with one Unversed out, he could feel through it without being totally trapped. The Flood nosed his face and clawed at his hands happily.

“I bet,” Naminé said, feeling his nerves deep in her soul, “that if you put it in your jacket and don't make a big deal out of it, it’s fine to stay with you.” She couldn’t even imagine what it must be like, to not be able to feel emotions at all, without giving birth to a creature of darkness. That was one particular power of his that he’d never been able to put to words for them. The Unversed at least seemed to take on his emotions, varieties of them, once they were free, so he could feel in small spurts.

“...Yeah.”

“There’s lots of huge buildings too, with like 500 foot roofs at least, that are away from people and easy to get to, so they can, like, go free there,” Sora chirped. “C’mon! The sunset is to die for.”

Naminé gave him affectionate eyes, which she then tossed back to Van to see him lift his jacket and tuck the little critter inside. The Unversed seemed perfectly content to bury its face into its master’s side. 

The walk felt long to start, but then Sora flashed a wink at them and took Naminé’s hand, reminding her to have “light feet”, whatever that was supposed to mean. He crouched his knees just a little and waited for a decent sized passing car, and he and she jumped, much to Van’s surprise and hidden delight, on top of it. He followed suit quickly after, and the trip into the big city took much less time. 

Naminé was giggling like mad when they finally dismounted from behind, likely startling the driver. Sora waved them off with a sheepish grin, while Van actively fought back the appearance of another Unversed of some kind, hand protectively over his mouth. 

“Why didn’t you just glide?” Naminé asked once Van successively fought back the rush of emotion, eyeing Sora. “It’d be easier. Scare less people.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

“Did you really just ask,” Van asked, voice strained like he was still fighting back tarry vomit, like it was still balled in his throat, “where the fun is in flying?”

“Besides,” Sora said, ignoring him. “I didn’t think either of you could glide.”

Van frowned and looked away. Naminé mumbled sheepishly about not being that far in her magic. That was all the answer he needed. 

“Come on! Can I see your phone again? I’ll take you right to where he was, then I wanna see if I can track down Hiro and the others!”

Naminé passed off her phone. Sora got a good idea of the area, where Ri had been surrounded by round pink bushes, and then took off, Naminé followed closely with Van trailing a little behind. 

It was outside of a huge building, but Naminé decided that wasn’t saying much since all the buildings here were huge. The bushes were pretty much perfectly round and absolutely, in Naminé’s opinion, delightful. 

Ri, though, was not lost amongst them. This city was much bigger than Halloweentown was and, unlike with Van, there would be no delightful little darkness critters to lead her right to her best friend. They’d either have to hunt him down, or…

“Would the Flood know his scent?” Naminé asked Van, looking at the little blue critter tucked into his coat. “If he was just here?” 

“You would be amazed,” Van started, but he obediently removed the little creature, “just how stupid these things are. I doubt it’ll know Ri.”

“Aren’t they extensions of you?” Sora asked, half-innocent. Van shot a positively evil glare on him, and Sora paled and took two steps back. “Um, I’m gonna dash, track down Hiro and them, okay? Just, um, remember the World Order, and call me if you get lost, this world is easy to get lost in. And!! Call me just before sunset, I wanna watch with you guys and catch up with, um, with Ri for a bit. We’ll get ice cream!! Okay?! Have fun!!” Like that, Sora was off. He freeran up the damn building and leapt onto the railing of the highway above them, grinding off quickly.

Naminé waved him off, bouncing on her toes. “Bye Sora!! I love you!!!” 

Van shook his head, but now that they were alone again, the affection on his face was much freer to show when he looked at her. “You say that a lot.”

Naminè looked back at him, flashing her best grin. “Yeah, well, it’s true, and everyone should know. Don’t worry, you and Ri are still my favorite.” She surged forward and took his hand, and when he didn’t stiffen which normally meant he was okay with contact, she moved the rest of the way in and wrapped her arms around him, burying her cheek against his shoulder. “I love you.”

“Yeah, well, whatever. C’mon, before we miss him.” Excitement shown on his face, and in the suddenly jittery Unversed. It had been a long time since he had last seen Ri. “Find Ri.”

The Unversed, apparently stupid as Van claimed, just stared at him, shaking a little as Van’s excitement leaked off of it. 

“Go.”

If the Flood had been human, its eyes would have been dead.

But Naminé knew what to do. These things were extensions of Van himself, after all. She crouched in front of it and scratched its head, noting the way Van turned his head just slightly as if he could sort of feel it. “Go, find your best friend.”

The Flood stared at her, but this time with less stupidity and more confusion, like it was asking “why are you asking me to find you?” Then its nose twitched, and it whirled around and hopped over one of the bushes, now knowing what it was looking for. 

Naminé glanced back to see Van completely gray in the face, blackened blood making his skin turn ashen. If she didn’t know any better, she’d have thought him ill, but she did know, and so knew he was needlessly embarrassed. 

“Shut up,” he said, then took off after his Flood. Naminé laughed and followed. 

The Flood was sniffing at a spot by one of the bushes that looked recently matted down, as if Ri had been laying there before vacating. Once it got a decent enough scent, it looked back at them as if to make sure that they were catching up. Then, it took off toward the side of the building, melted into the surface, and ascended like it was no problem. 

Naminé stared up at the little critter, seeing its shadow in the building but only slightly. She looked to her companion. “You know how to freerun?”

“I think so. You?”

“I hope so.” Naminé gulped, then took Van’s hand and laced their fingers together. “Come on!” 

She jumped and he jumped with her, activated their high jump, and angled themselves so their feet touched the building, and she prayed to something. Sure enough, their feet clung to the side of the building, as if gravity was merely a suggestion. After a second, she lost her footing, but as soon as they started moving, gravity forgot to care about them, and they followed the Flood up to the roof. It was a testament to how much time Sora spent here climbing walls, when so few people even noticed. 

They soon had to jump to another building, following the Flood’s suggestion, and headed towards the center of town. It lead them up another tall building, where it rocketed right to the top of the building and stopped. 

Once Naminé and Van were safely obeying gravity once again, the Flood took off to its final destination, the shoulder of the person standing there and staring at the flying fish things. 

Ri started hard, not knowing they were there at all, when the Flood happily launched onto his shoulder and forcefully nuzzled his face. He grabbed it and lifted it away, then realized exactly what it was. “Flood…?” It would make no sense for an Unversed to be here, unless…

He turned in the direction it had come from, eyes absolutely lighting up when he saw its master, his best friends. “Naminé? Van?”

“Ri!” Naminé gasped. She luckily avoided tripping over her feet in her rush to grab him. She launched forward and hugged him so viciously that he lost his footing and hit the roof on his rear. She understood why Van didn’t like being touched, what most of his life had been like before turning to the Light, but she was still really really happy that Ri didn’t have the same qualms. She loved hugging him. He had been, out of everyone she knew and loved, of Sora and Roxas and Xion and Axel and Kairi and now Van, he had been her first friend. She huddled into his suddenly exposed lap and pressed in all the closer, possibly squashing the Flood. “I missed you. I love you.”

Ri was still somewhere between amazed and startled, staring up at Van and eyes darting toward the blond hair not for from his face. After a moment though, he wiggled the Unversed somewhere safe, and hugged Naminé back just as tightly, kissing her cheek for good measure. “What are you guys doing here?”

9

“Aw, didn’t you miss us?” Van asked, half mocking. There was black tar dripping out the corner of his mouth, which meant Van was attempting to squash emotions and, ultimately, was failing. 

“I kidnapped Van.”

“Of course you did,” Ri said with an affectionate sigh. The affection flashed between both his friends, and Naminé knew there was no judgment toward Van for not being the one to decide on his own to visit. Where Ri wanted freedom to be who and where he wanted to be, rather than trapped in a castle or Riku’s heart, Van wanted control over his life and choices, and a place to call home. 

Ri shoved Naminé off of him playfully, then got back to his feet, offering the Flood to its master, although the extra outlet for emotion didn't seem like it would do him any good. An Unversed was well on its way. 

Regardless, Van stepped forward and opened up his arms, a gesture he had never given to anyone but them. “I’m hugging you,” he said, a semblance of the question they always posed for him. Naminé wasn’t sure if he was telling them that yeah, it was okay and he wasn’t forcing it, or maybe it was him warning himself, but he had always done it and they didn’t question it.

“I won’t stop you,” Ri assured with a laugh. Like Naminé had, he invaded Van’s personal space and buried his face in Van’s shoulder. Despite not being terribly tall, Van was still the tallest of them, and Ri and Naminé always took full advantage of it when he let them. 

The hug lasted for five seconds tops, before Van suddenly lurched in Ri’s arms and shoved him to the side, not violently but enough to get him out of the way. A hand flew to his mouth, and he quickly doubled over, gagging. Naminé and Ri’s hands quickly went to his back.

He lurched again, a terrible, bubbled noise coming out of his throat. Thick, black tar flew out and splattered on the metal, more dripping from his mouth to fill out the pool. He coughed and more came up, bubbling out of his mouth. He spat the acrid taste out and shuddered there, hands on his knees, Naminé and Ri rubbing his back helpfully. After a minute, the tar bubbled up again and took life, forming into a Hareraiser who stared up at its master and stepped forward as if to help soothe. 

“...Did you have to do that now?” Ri asked, shit-eating grin spreading across his face. 

Van shot him a heated glare and pulled a kerchief out of his pocket, a gift from Jack Skellington apparently, judging by the skeleton face in the corner. “You know damn well I don’t have a choice. I should kick you off this building.”

“No!!”

After a moment, the three sat at the edge of the building, staring at the mechanical flying fish. Naminé linked her fingertips with Ri’s and leaned on his shoulder, giving Van the space he needed after so violently birthing another Unversed. The Hareraiser perched on Ri’s shoulders and occasionally nuzzled him happily, very much embarrassing Van again without meaning to. 

“Why did you guys come here?” Ri asked after a short amount of time, silver hair swaying in the breeze. He kept his hair back in a low pony now, because he didn’t like his hair getting in his eyes but wasn’t prepared to cut it yet. Kairi had once braided it not long after he was reborn, lamenting how much she missed Riku’s long hair. “I mean, why here. Why now?”

“We missed you, dumbass,” Van snapped. 

“We love you,” Naminé said very simply, making Van sigh while Ri tossed her the fondest expression known to man. He squeezed her tight, and stuck his tongue out at Van, who snottily stuck his out back at him. 

“She’s become fond of the phrase,” Van explained, although it was hardly necessary. 

“Well, I do. And we did miss you, and I had time, and I had Sora. We do miss you. Plus Van doesn’t call you because he’s mean.”

“Oh yeah, he’s the worst.”

“Hey,” Van snapped. “I just spit up some awful bunny for you.”

The Hareraiser raised its ears as if aware it was being spoken of. Van winced when supposedly its voice shrieked in his head.

“Happy birthday to me.”

“Screw this, I’m going home,” Van snapped, although the tone in his voice suggested less. He shoved himself up off the side of the building, turning around to walk away. Ri laughed and released Naminé to lean back and grab at Van’s ankle. The Hareraiser lifted its ears to wrap around his knee, too, forcing Van to a stop. Well, more or less; he was certainly powerful enough to kick them both off without struggle, if he really wanted to. 

“Get back here, asshole, we’re only messing with you. Of course I like your awful bunny. It’s wonderful.”

The aforementioned Unversed cheered to itself, waving its ears in delight. Van kicked its ear, and Ri’s hand, out of his way, then obediently melted into the rooftop, crossing his arms over his crossed legs. Naminé leaned her head back and flashed him her best smile. 

The trio fell back into silence. Ri was stretched back, one hand knotted in Naminé’s shirt, the other just barely grazing Van’s knee. The wind was cool and gentle, the sun bright but they were protected by the shade of the building. They were so high up that the chatter from down below was pretty much non existent. It was like the three of them were the only people in the whole world. 

“...You know,” Ri suddenly said, stretching his hand up to reach for nothing but air. “I think this is the best random hangout session we’ve ever had.”

“I don’t think we’ve had one before,” Naminé said. Since the three of them regularly lived on different worlds, nothing they did could be random. Everything was planned. It was nice, and it worked for them. She’d take what she could get. 

“You have sad hangout sessions,” Van commented, flicking his head. “All we’ve done today is find you, hug, I threw up an Unversed, you made me hate you, and this.”

“Thrilling,” Naminé agreed, in such a sardonic Roxas voice that it made her start giggling to herself. 

“Shut up Van. Naminé has a point. We haven’t had one before, and that means that legally I’m allowed to call this one our best yet.”

“Legally?” Van asked with a laugh. His laugh had mellowed out since his release from the dark, and Naminé and Ri both found it quite pleasing. “You must not have gotten the memo. You aren’t allowed to do that anymore. CDA’s gonna come and break down your door.”

“CDA? What the fuck is CDA?”

“Oh—wrong world?” Van pulled a face, and Naminé and Ri started laughing with him. Naminé pushed herself back a little and laid back to use one of his knees as a pillow. It was bony, and he was still skinny, but she liked the warmth.  

“I agree with Ri,” Naminé said softly. The Flood was in her arms, arguably sleeping if Unversed ever slept. “This is the best, even if all we’ve done is find Ri and watch you throw up. I really needed this.”

“Needed?” Ri asked, turning his head to look at her. And there it was, that protective thing he was always so good at. 

“You didn’t say anything was wrong earlier,” Van said, voice suddenly tight. Naminé worried she was forcing on him some sort of emotion that was going to come bursting out in the form of black tar. 

“No no it’s… I mean, everything’s fine. Nothing’s wrong, don’t either of you go worrying about me.”

“Legally we have to,” Van protested. 

“Shut up.”

“Everything’s fine! I just, I’ve been missing my favorite people a lot, and we don’t always talk as much as I like, and obviously we can’t spend a lot of time together and, I don’t know, I guess I’ve been lonely.”

“Lonely?” Ri sat all the way up, removing himself from Van’s personal space, to look down at her. He shared a suddenly nervous look with Van, who shifted a little to allow the adjustment. “You can’t be lonely. You said you’ve been doing better.”

“I was. And I am! Leon and his team, they’re all awesome. Sora’s awesome. Xion’s awesome. Terra’s—awesome. But they’re not… they’re not… I don’t know. I know I shouldn’t be lonely because I have friends now, loads of them, and it’s great! Kairi calls me every day, all the time, and she keeps saying ‘oh, you should have seen what Sora did this morning!’ or ‘Riku spent the night last night and we were up for hours’. Stuff like that. I just. I don’t know.” Naminé looked away from Ri and Van, going red in the face. She hugged the Unversed closer. She didn’t want to look at either of them, because she knew why they did what they did, and she knew why she did what she did. She didn’t even always feel like this, in fact most often she didn’t, but some days the miss happened, and she called up Sora to drag her all across galaxies. “I don’t know.”

“Nam—Nam, do you… are you jealous?” Ri asked, poking her bare arm. “Of Kairi? ‘Cause I mean that’s cool, Kairi’s cool, but if you ask me she’s got nothing on you.”

“Are you, like…” Van leaned over her a little, struggling with his words because emotions were hard to feel, let alone talk about. “...sad? That we don’t live on the same world as you?”

“It’s dumb! I know it’s dumb! Because you guys are awesome. You really really are! You’re out there living your best life, Van you have a steady job that keeps you busy and distracts your anxiety that you’re really good at, and you have a home where your emotions can do whatever they need or want to the way that they should, and that’s awesome!! Ri, you’re out here exploring worlds upon worlds upon worlds, you’re finding yourself in this spectacular way and you’re finding out every way that you are and aren’t Riku and that’s awesome. I hate feeling like this. Because it isn’t fair of me to want to uproot you from where you guys are finally happy.” Naminé squeezed the Unversed even tighter, so tight the squeak was nearly audible, but the wince from Van was definitely visible. 

Van and Ri shared another look before looking down on her. Van lifted her head and scootched out his knee from beneath. He moved a little and slid down alongside her, laying back so they were side by side. Ri scooted down and laid on her opposite side. The three huddled together like sardines, and for once none of them minded the touch in the slightest. 

“It’s okay, Nam. If you miss us. Or if you want to call us up in the middle of the night because world times are fucked up and you want to tell us all about your latest art project. We might not talk but we’ll listen. Well— I’ll listen, Van’ll fall asleep.”

“You—knew damn well how much work I did the day before, you called me then on purpose!” 

“Shut up Van this isn’t about you.”

“Pot shot,” Naminé said quietly, reaching over to pinch Ri like Van asked her to every time he made a low blow. 

“The point is, we’re still your friends, no matter what. You were my first friend.”

“You were my first friend,” Van agreed softly. 

“So we’ll be here, even when you’re lonely and you don’t think you should be.”

Naminé sighed, wiggling her shoulders a little so she came out on top. “I know. In my head, I know. I just… it’s not the same as being with you. Touching you.” She released the shaky Unversed, reaching out both her hands to track down Van and Ri’s hands. “Even when you don’t always like it.”

“...Sorry we can’t be there, then,” Van mumbled. Their pinky and ring fingers locked. 

The trio lapsed once again into silence. The Hareraiser once again found Ri’s free hand and was demanding head skritches, so Van occasionally turned his head in a fruitless attempt to get away from the bizarre muted feeling. 

“You know what I think?” Van suddenly asked, which was odd considering he didn’t often voice his opinions unless he was being snide. 

“What do you think,” Ri asked. 

“I think somewhere out there, there’s a world for us. Like how stupid Ventus and his friends have a world practically made for them, and OG Riku and his friends have a world made for them, and even the two carbon copies and their friends have worlds made for them. I think somewhere there’s a world like that for us. Some kind of weird mix of light and dark.”

“Mostly dark,” Ri interjected halfway playfully, watching him. Van was suddenly talking with his free hand, fingers up towards the clouds. 

“Oh obviously, light is gross.”

“Obviously,” Naminé giggled. 

“What do you think of this world made for us?” Ri asked. “What will we do with it?”

“I dunno. I’m not saying we, like, we move there but. Who knows. Maybe one day, you’ll go there Ri, and you’ll find out its like hella artsy and shit. So you call up Naminé, and because it’s hella dark and there are weird monsters everywhere you call me, and now we have to go check it out, and maybe we just don’t leave.” 

“Hmmm…” Naminé said seriously, setting her chin. “We’ll be on the same world.”

“Pretty much all the time.” 

Naminé’s smile grew back over her face, in a soft and gentle way that really, Van and Ri both loved. “I think that sounds amazing, Van.”

“Yeah, it sounds pretty cool. I’ll keep my eye out for really super fucking dark but also really super fucking artsy worlds, and I’ll let you know the next one I see.”

“Cool.”

“Until then,” Ri said, squeezing Naminé’s hand, “maybe Van and me can get out to Radiant Garden more. So you’re not so lonely. Would that be okay? Van?”

“...Yeah. I can make it work. But Naminé, you have to show us something cool every time.”

“Legally, or CDA will kill you.”

Naminé looked between her two half-bickering boys, her best friends in the whole multiverse, attempting to make plans that she wasn’t even sure they’d be able to keep, just because she sometimes got lonely. The Flood was nuzzling her chin as its own affection as well as Van’s took over. 

“...Okay, I think I can do that. I really love you guys.”

Ri pressed closer to her and leaned his head against hers. Van squeezed her hand tight, and she knew they felt the same.

Sora was right. The sunset was fucking spectacular, especially from the vantage point atop the Torii Gate Bridge. As promised, Naminé called up Sora and they met him on the bridge. Van glared at him, but then he presented bars of chocolate ice cream, and he mellowed out. Sora took a slightly higher vantage point than them, leaving the three to their companionship while still able to interject himself. 

Ri had spent the rest of the day showing them cool things around the city and talking about his time there. He only dropped Naminé’s hand when he had to. 

He also carried the Hareraiser around all day, and it curled in his lap now, not prepared to leave, apparently. Van mumbled under his breath when he noticed, but didn’t seem all in all too upset that it stayed where it was. 

“I feel like we should come back here more,” Naminé said softly. “Just for this part. Or for all of it. Today was great.”

“I’m leaving here the day after tomorrow,” Ri reminded her, poking her head. 

“...Elsewhere then. Somewhere else pretty. Oh!! The Caribbean would be cool.”

“We should live there,” Van agreed. “They have ships and you don’t have to talk to people because you can be on the ocean one hundred percent of the time.”

Ri rolled his eyes and smacked a fist on Van’s thigh, making him laugh. 

“That won’t work because I need electricity to do digital art and also phones won’t charge.”

“Yeah, Van, you’d die without your phone.”

Van willed an Archraven into existence, then pulled out his phone to consider it. He shrugged, said “eh”, and tossed it over the edge. 

“Van!”

The Archraven instantly trailed after the little device, depositing it back in his lap and perching on his shoulder. 

“That’s the only way we can contact you when you’re on a different world, asshole!”

Naminé, giggling, dropped her head toward her lap and the Flood, who lifted its snoot to her, ready to be kissed. “Why are you the way that you are,” she said, as Van had asked them a number of times when he was simply too tired to put up with their shenanigans. She took the Flood’s head in her hands and angled it back a little bit so she could easier kiss it. 

“Hey, you guys like me this way, that’s not my fault.”

Ri let out a startled laugh and shoved Naminé into him, making them both start laughing as well. The Archraven waved its wings in protest of the movement and clicked its beak at Ri. They settled and left the poor Unversed be.

“...I don’t think I want to go home,” Naminé said. “I love Radiant Garden, but I don’t wanna say goodbye yet. I love you guys so much.”

“We love you too,” Ri said softly, flashing her a warm smile. 

“Love you too,” Van agreed, halfway startling Ri and Naminé. They looked at him with huge eyes; he’d never said so before. He showed it, but he’d never said the words. 

“...You do?”

“Yes? God, fuck off. Nevermind then.”

“Nono!!” Naminé gasped, flinging her arms around him and squeezing him tight. “I love you too, Vani. I’m just surprised you didn’t throw up an Unversed again.”

“...That really only happens when it’s sudden.”

Naminé squeezed him tighter, enjoying that implication. “I hope it’s okay that I’m hugging you. I forgot to ask.”

“Yeah yeah…” Van said, putting his arm around her. “Just don’t make a habit of it.”

Ri stood from where he was now left alone and slunk over to Van’s other side, putting his arms around him and squeezing him tight too. “I’m hugging you now, since they’re free.” 

“Whatever. Last one.”

Naminé leaned her head on Van’s shoulder, looking up to Sora who was smiling very warmly at them. He leaned back and watched the sky, as if they had all the time in the world. Maybe they did. She didn’t know how times worked on different worlds. “Do you love him too, Van? Or just me.”

“Definitely just you.”

“Ouch,” Ri said with a laugh.

“Van!”

“You asked!”

“It’s okay Nam,” Ri said, patting her head. He released Van and let him take some space back. “I know he loves me because a few weeks ago I called him three times on the same day and he only yelled at me for like ten minutes the last time.”

“Three times in one day is unnecessary.”

“It must be love,” Naminé agreed. 

“It is,” Van snapped, then he realized he’s spoken alone and his skin went several shades ashier. “Anyone else but you two and I wouldn’t even have answered once.”

That was true.

“Yeah, well, anyone else but you two and I wouldn’t even have called, so it must be love or something.” Ri gently kicked Van’s boot so he knew, and Van kicked back.

Naminé smiled at her friends and leaned back, the sunset now almost totally blocked out by the Flood. “You know, I think today might be the best day ever.”

Ri leaned back. Van sat up between them, but put his hand on her belly to pat.