After the first flush of being home wore off, Sora spent most of his time sailing or on their island; he'd bought a catamaran, just big enough for three very friendly people, with the money he'd accumulated traveling. Cash was a great way to get people to look around small issues like being underage and possibly crazy. Riku and Kairi had chipped in some money and a lot of labor to fix her up just the way they liked her, painted with patterns Naminé had designed in jewel-toned cool colors that Roxas and Riku both liked, with brighter, warmer colors on cushions and bedding inside, and a canvas awning for the cockpit on bright, hot days.  Their ship was almost home.

There wasn't any almost about it, he admitted, bringing her to dock at their island. He hadn't been back to his parents' house in about a month, and Riku hadn't been back to his parents' in about the same time;  even Kairi only went home once a week or so, and for less time every visit.

Kairi raced up the dock to meet him, tied up the ship, and came on board. "Get everything?"

"Even stopped by the bakery."

"Great! The fish are ready - we put them on what was left of the ice."

Sora'd already put away everything they didn't need tonight, so they picked up the two bags and headed down the beach to where Riku was building a fire. They'd gotten pretty good at this by now; Sora usually cooked the fish and roasted root vegetables or plantains, Riku dealt with other meats and vegetables, and Kairi took care of fruits and drinks. Or slicing up fresh bread from the bakery, which was a sort of rare treat, since they were trying to conserve what money they had left; their families weren't giving them anything, and they had a hard time finding work.  He decided not to think about it for a while, concentrating on cooking and eating fish, salad and bread instead, and keeping an eye on the fire. They stretched out on the sand afterward, Riku using his stomach as a pillow, and Kairi near enough to touch.

"It's all wrong, isn't it?" Kairi said, when the fire had burned down to coals. "I didn't think it was going to be like this."

Riku shook his head, trailing hair over Sora's stomach. "I was afraid of something else."

Sora shifted a bit, pulling one arm from under his head to drape it over Riku.  "I used to have this nightmare.  I came home and everybody'd forgotten me, even you two, and I was fading out of existence. But ... I came home and it feels like I did fade away."

Kairi nodded, rolling over on her side to face them. "Like they're not seeing you. Even my family's getting that way - they think you're delinquents, you know, and they're mad because I'm never in school any more."

"They don't want to believe us. Not about any of it."

"That's not it," Riku said, moving a little to see her better. "They don't want us to believe it. They want us like we used to be -"

"Before any of us left," Kairi finished. "Especially you two."

"But we can't. Even if we could, I'm not going to."

The others nodded, and they watched the coals for a while, listening to the surf and the birds. Kairi sliced up the last of the bread and spread it thickly with butter, splitting it among the three of them. The sky was full of stars, not a meteor in sight, and the moon was new and not blocking them out; in town, even their fairly small town, it was too bright to see most of them. Sora wondered which one was Hollow - Radiant Garden.

"...so, think we can sail all the way to Twilight Town?"