I blinked a few times to adjust to the sudden light, and saw we were back in the Lindblum Throne Room. Concealing a sigh of relief, I turned to Riku, my back automatically straight. “Darling, would you mind seeking out the Minister and informing him of our return? Thank you,” I said politely, and he nodded and left the room. I noticed Zexion giving a small nod of approval, but ignored it. “Vivi, Squall, you may stay for as long as you like. In fact, I would urge you to make Lindblum your new home; it has been…it has been good fun travelling with you for company. I can arrange for one or two of the guest rooms to be prepared as permanent residences for you both, if you would so wish?” Vivi looked at Squall and back at me, and nodded; just once. I smiled widely. “Very well; I shall ask that service of a guard very shortly. Shall we dine now?” There was a general murmur of agreement, and I sent a message to the kitchens to prepare a meal for five.
At breakfast, everyone seemed uncomfortable in the situation. “Please,” I said courteously, “act as you would in any other circumstances. We are all companions here, and I would not wish for you to be anyone other than yourself.” I remembered Gildas saying something similar once, long ago, and knew that it wouldn’t make much difference. We all fell silent for a while, and the only sounds were the gentle clattering and clinking of cutlery. “So,” Riku said after we had all finished. “What next? What are we all going to do now?”
I too looked up at Riku as he frowned slightly. Lots of frowning was happening lately, including one from Squall last night when he realised the Guest Room was a Twin Bed, not a Double. I didn’t know the difference, but he did, apparently. As Riku looked down, I knew there was bad news coming. He turned to me, however, with a new sense of vigour. “Vivi, would you like to stay as our Court Mage? We need someone to fill the position, and you would be the perfect candidate.” I smiled widely and giggled as I said I’d love it, and Riku then turned to Squall. “You’re welcome to stay, too. We need a Commander for our armies, as I can’t fill both roles; I’d like that to be you. We both would.” Squall smiled, and accepted.
“Zexion… I really hope that you want to stay, as our Chief Advisor? As you were before all this madness… please come back to us.” Zexion nodded, and a smile flickered across his face before he regained his gloomy gaze. Riku smiled at Haru, who squeezed his hand gently, and the staff came to take our plates and cutlery away. Zexion defied all the logical rules I’d considered and stood up first, and with a slightly waspish tone said “I’m heading back to my room. I don’t want any disturbances, thank you. Your Majesties.” He walked out, before anyone could protest. I began to worry slightly, but Squall grabbed my attention and shook his head slightly. “It’s… his way of… dealing with it.” I nodded. Squall had his own way of dealing with things, too.
I watched Zexion walk away anxiously – and even contemplated going after him. But, as Squall said, it was his way of dealing with it. I looked at Riku, who was gazing solemnly at the table. Catching his attention, I motioned for us to leave, and he nodded. “Thank you very much for your company this morning. We have a few affairs to cover in reference to our return. I can only imagine the amount of work that must have piled up whilst we were adventuring! So, if you will excuse us?” I asked. Vivi nodded, and Riku and I stood up and left.
Back in our bedroom, I dropped down onto the bed a little heavily. “What’s up?” Riku asked. I looked at him. “I’m just…so happy. I finally get the chance to be with you – it’s just us now. I’ve…missed this. More than I realised. So, coming back to it, I feel like I can finally appreciate what I have with you fully.” I stood up and slipped my hand into his. “See? It fits perfectly.” Riku nodded, and kissed my cheek softly. “But…” I whispered. Riku’s face grew tense, as though he had been expected something like this.
“I have to apologise.” Riku shook his head. “No!” he cried, “I won’t let you leave me! I love you; you can’t go. I won’t accept it.” Confused, I tried to speak, but stumbled over my own words and ended up laughing happily, out of relief. “I couldn’t ever leave you!” I spluttered. “So what’s the problem then?” he asked.
“…I haven’t treated you right. No, listen, I know I haven’t,” I said, cutting him off as he attempted to speak. “I love you so much. But I haven’t shown it as much as I should have done. There was…something stopping me. Nothing you’ve done! It’s just that…I feel like such a…nobody. I’m nothing special, I don’t matter. It’s true, I don’t!” For here he had tried to cut in again. “So I was…driven, I guess, by some sort of…need to prove myself. I wanted to be someone you could be proud to know, the way I’m proud to know you. I needed to know that I could be something, someone…so that I could know I deserved you. That feeling…it hasn’t gone away completely. But I’ve realised that I’m still young. There’s plenty of time for me to prove that I’m worthy of you yet.” Riku smiled. “But,” I began again. “There’s something else I realised. If I get caught up in proving myself…I’ll lose sight of what really matters in life.”
Riku frowned at me slightly. “So what does really matter in your life?” I smiled even more, and kissed his soft lips gently. “That answer your question?” His hands slipped through my hair. “…Not quite,” he murmured in my ear as he nibbled it gently. “Oh…well then I may just have to show you,” I laughed quietly, enjoying the way his fingers played over my waist softly. He nodded, and I stepped closer to him; so close that I could feel his warm breath on my neck. “Okay,” he whispered, his eyes burning with a new fire. I could feel my heart starting to race in a way it hadn’t for a long time, and I could hear Riku’s heart thumping quickly next to me. My smile grew again; I still got butterflies in my stomach from being around him, being this close to him…And what’s more, it was still fun, still exciting, still…just plain great.
I followed Squall back to the Guest Room, which really needed a new name now. When we got in, and Squall closed the door, I flopped down on my bed before realising I’d nearly missed something important. “Oh no!” I jumped off my bed and scrambled at the corner of the room, where my belongings had been placed (shipped first-class from Twilight Town) and pulled out a tape measure. Grabbing a piece of chalk, also from my cases, I stood against the wall and took off my hat, and drew the chalk across the wall on my head. I turned round, and frowned. The wall was white, the chalk hadn’t shown. Now I’d have to use a pencil instead.
So I grabbed a pencil and drew the line along the wall, grabbing my notepad and checking the dates. Yes, today was right. I used the tape measure to measure the distance from floor to line, and wrote down the measurements. I gasped. I’d grown three inches in the past year! I was finally growing! Squall came over and asked what I was doing. “Grandpa Quan always measured me on my birthday, and since he left two years ago, I’ve been doing it myself. I’ve grown three inches this year, I’m finally growing!” Squall smiled and picked up my hat, putting it on my head and crouching down. “It’s your birthday?” I nodded. “It’s never been special or anything; I just always got measured today. It’s a tradition.” Squall stroked my cheek. “Most people… get presents… on their birthday. You’ve never… got a present?”
I shook my head. “I don’t mind though, it doesn’t matter. I just need to make sure I measure myself.” Squall frowned a little and looked to the side. “Vivi… you know… how I feel about you. Do you… want a present… from me?” I thought about it. “What exactly is a present? It’s like a gift, right? Something you give to someone else?” Squall nodded. “Then, that thing you did last time, when you leaned in real close and touched my face, that’s called a kiss, isn’t it?” Squall nodded, smiling as if he thought it funny. “Then, if you want to give me a present, do I get to choose?” Again he nodded. “I want another one of those kiss things.” Squall blushed a little. “You…sure? Isn’t it… weird for you?” I nodded. “Very weird! But I like weird things!” Squall laughed a little, and leaned in, I closed my eyes as his lips brushed mine, then there was that weird sound again, and he pulled back. My stomach felt all quivery. I think I liked it. “Maybe… in a while… I could show you a real kiss.” I gasped. “That was fake? That’s not a real kiss? Tell me! What’s a real kiss like?” Squall laughed. “Come on! Tell me!” I jumped and grabbed hold of his chest. “Tell me! I wanna know! I’m curious!”
Squall wouldn’t tell me, so I decided to take a gamble and see what would happen if I threatened him with a spell. “I’ll cast Drain on you! Or Osmose! Or maybe I’ll cast Slow on you!” Squall just laughed more, and sat down on the bed beside me, while I jumped up to join him. “You… really want to know?” I nodded. “I can’t… take it back… once you know.” I nodded. “Just show me what a real kiss is like! I just wanna know!” I was about to continue ranting when Squall put his hand on my cheek, and leaned in again. Was he going to give me a real kiss this time? His lips touched mine, but opened and closed a few times. My stomach started quivering again, but I decided the best thing to do would be to try and copy what Squall was doing. I got the hang of it, after a few tries, and I felt quite pleased with myself afterwards. However long it was later, I couldn’t tell but Squall pulled back, blushing a deep red. “You know… what we just did?” I shook my head. “They… call it… making out. Ask Haru… or Riku about it.” Squall lay back on the bed and gazed at the ceiling, the late morning sun shining on him. I lay next to him, and tried to see what he was looking at, but I couldn’t see anything. Fake kissing, real kissing, blank ceilings… adults were weird.
