Aqua chuckled as she walked the sunset paths of Radiant Garden alongside Ikori.

Ikori shoved her arm, and huffed, "enough."

"Sorry," Aqua cooled. "It's that-" a single laugh broke out before she could stop completely. "-how did you perfect your sleep magic?"

Ikori crossed her arms.

Aqua bumped shoulders with her, playfully begging, "Ikori."

Ikori looked at her, easing up, yet retaining a small pout.

In the short time she's known her, Aqua's discovered Ikori could talk for miles, so the silence felt wrong.

Silence took Aqua back to the time that Nougat couldn't talk. Couldn't make a face. Couldn't use any subtle gestures to convey how she was feeling.

Like now; Aqua can tell from the jutting of her small peach colored lips, and low set brows, that she was sulking. And even though Ikori was annoyed, it felt great. Because she's allowed to be a person again. They're becoming friends on equal grounds this time.

No one sided conversations.

No dirt to write in.

No charades.

Just two people getting to know one another.

Aqua put her hands together and held them to her lips with an apologetic smile. "I won't laugh anymore, I promise."

Given a moment, Ikori uncrossed her arms. "Okay," she slowly conceded. "For that magic, I simply counted the time it kept me asleep."

Aqua gave an impressed hm, then asked, "what's the longest you've been asleep?"

"An hour." Ikori tapped her cheek. "But I might've been sleepy already..." Ikori trailed off, ceasing her walk as she did. Had she... mentioned her sleep magic to Aqua before?

Aqua turned in place. "Ikori?"

Ikori stood there, taking Aqua in. Her vibrant blue eyes. The soft curve of her cheeks catching the last flecks of sunlight. And the familiarity that refused to fade.

"What?" Aqua asked, nervously tucking her hair behind her ear.

Ikori shook her head. "Nothing." She grabbed Aqua's hand, encouraging her with a pull forward. "Let me show you something."

They came to the fountain court as night drifted lightly into the air. Waterfalls illuminated by a pink glow cascaded down three elevated platforms. Two separate platforms carried the water down to a lower platform that connected them, then down onto two smaller ones that dropped the water into the fountain itself. Meanwhile water sprouted from the walk-in fountain in time with colored lights shining from the ground. Making it all a beautiful sight to behold in the cover of night.

"The town's defense system is strongest here, so there's not much to worry about," Ikori informed her. "Now! ...um." Ikori wiggled her hand, Aqua had her in a tight grip.

"Oh!" Aqua released her. Ikori's presence brought Aqua's guard down, which made the fountains an effective distraction. Aqua reached up instead to rub her own upper arm as she uttered an embarrassed, "sorry."

Ikori chuckled. "That's fine. I'm a tactile person myself. I just need my hand for this." She pushed up pretend sleeves. "Now!" With the fountains to their right, Ikori faced the dry walls to their left. A green energy danced around her fingertips like vines twirling down her fingers to form a ball in her palm facing out the wall. She drew her arm back, then slapped her magic into the wall. Dozens of vibrant emerald beams shot out from her hand, curling in every direction, climbing the wall to its furthest points. Then the lights shattered into vines which sprouted multitudes of branching vines along the stems, crawling over nearly any available surface and poking out with buds sporadically throughout. Then, over the entire wall, the buds popped open all at once, revealing white flowers that shaded to blue at the ends. Flickering magic faded like glittering dust, raining over Aqua and Ikori.

Exhilaration charged Aqua's fingertips to her toes. She wasn't sure what to do with herself, but her heart pounded, and soon it tickled her chest till she couldn't help but laugh as she basked in the beauty coming to life right before her eyes.

Ikori wiped her forehead and caught her breath. "These are morning glories." As she introduced them, the flowers closed to sleep for the night. In tandem the various nicotiana plants bloomed awake in pots beside benches, and in flowerbeds against the wall and staircases. "Now the morning people can't complain about—"

"That was amazing!" Aqua cheered, throwing her arms around Ikori as she gleefully laughed.

Ikori gasped into a surprised chuckle and returned the hug by grabbing what she could reach of Aqua's arm. "Thank you." She exhaled. "I'd hoped you would enjoy that."

Ikori's spectacle flashed a memory of the moment they became a team across Aqua's mind. Nougat summoned effective magic to aid in battle. Something Aqua couldn't have predicted she'd be capable of.

Now this?

This pushed past her expectations once more. The vast expansion of her abilities astounded Aqua's belief of what magic could do.

And this is what she wished to explore and learn of from other worlds in the first place.

What surprises the worlds out there can hold.

Aqua released Ikori and approached a flowerpot of blooming night flowers. She smiled at the petals from Ikori's green thumb and told her, "if you keep this up, I'll have to higher my expectations every time we meet."

Ikori strolled back to plop onto a nearby bench. "I aim to impress," she airly declared with a flick of her hair. Aqua rolled her eyes and came to sit as well. Ikori leaned back, watching the stars as she continued in the same airy tone, "how will I impress the lovely miss Aqua tomorrow?"

Aqua scuffed her boot at the ground, watching the movement. The way Ikori referenced Aqua felt endearing, yet she couldn't look her in the eye after. It's odd. Aqua's aware she's never felt this shy with anyone, but today it's been occurring so often it's like she's not herself.

"Perhaps the flowers shall perform a ballad?"

Aqua broke face, sharply exhaling into a grin. "Will there be dancing?"

"Oh, definitely."

Aqua smiled.

Who would have known that they would get along this well as people. Aqua had hoped that if their personalities didn't match, at the very least they could be acquaintances. But this... All that time Nougat had been pleasant, yet unable to show her vibrant personality under the guise of a shadow.

And now that they're here... she's wonderful.

Aqua lifted her eyes to the flowers once more, and relaxed. "It's nice to finally hear the sound of your voice."

Ikori tried focusing on the stars, yet couldn't help but come back down to Aqua. "My voice?"

Oh.

No.

She said it without thinking. "Yeah, it," Aqua stammered. "It's very, um, it's..." She stretched out the word, "uuunique?"

Ikori jumped to her feet.

Aqua facepalmed.

She almost made it to the stairs before Aqua noticed and shouted, "please don't go!"

"I- I wasn't going to..." Ikori turned in place and walked, this time moving back and forth in a pace. "I can almost remember," Ikori explained with all her nerves flaying. "Because I couldn't remember my name as a heartless. She gave me one." Ikori stopped before Aqua, firmly planted, with fists clenched at her sides. "She gave me a name."

Aqua wasn't sure where this was going, searching Ikori's eyes explained nothing. It made her more uneasy than any heartless ever could.

Yet she softly answered, "Nougat."

Ikori cupped both hands over her mouth, wide-eyed and amazed. "It's you." She took a wide step closer, folding both hands at her chest. "From the beginning I had that feeling that I knew you, and then the things you would say... But I thought, if it was you, you would tell me." Her eyebrows creased. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I-" Aqua spread her hands out, then dropped them at her sides. It would probably be best not to lie now that they've gotten this far. She looked at the flowers in lieu of eye contact, timidly confessing, "you said you love me."

"Oh." Ikori swooped back sharply, like Aqua hurt her.

Maybe she did.

Ikori returned to the bench.

Carefully watching her movements, Aqua did the same.

Shoulders tense, Ikori closed her hand, leaving a small space in the middle. She rested it upon her lap, and using her other hand, she grew tiny white baby's breath. Her index finger began at the gap, then lifted upwards, creating a stem which she trailed down to decorate here and there with blossoms dotted with a simple touch. When one stem was done, she made another.

"It's like," Ikori began, "my heart knew it loved you. When we reunited, I could feel it, but my mind couldn't make sense of it since I couldn't fully remember. I chalked it up to the most intense crush on a vaguely-familiar-stranger I'd ever had."

Although the talk they'd begun left Aqua feeling bereft, she couldn't help but let a chuckle slip at her phrasing. "The most intense?" Aqua asked, slightly monotone. "You have comparisons?"

Ikori blushed. "It might be becoming a category." She cleared her throat. "What I'm trying to say is, that feeling has only gotten stronger even though-"

"I'm sorry," Aqua interrupted. She held the edge of the bench with white knuckled trepidation. Ikori's words were overwhelming her, and a line had to be drawn somewhere. "I've finally regained some normalcy in my life," she explained softly like one wrong word would send her running. "I'd like to hold onto that a little longer. I'm not ready for dating. And actually, I'm not even sure that's something I'd want in my life to begin with." Aqua's heart pricked with ice cold shards of fear. She didn't want to hurt Ikori, but everything had to be put on the table.

"I... understand..." Ikori quivered, her hands could hardly keep still, although she continued her magic idly to keep herself busy. "I'm sorry," she quieted considerably. "This has probably been on your mind for awhile now..." She took a soothing breath. "I hadn't given any thought to dating, just knew how I felt. But still, I'm sorry I did that to you."

Aqua drifted her upper body toward Ikori. "Don't apologize. Emotions are... difficult at times. I only hope we can continue to be friends. I like spending time with you. And most of all, I want to properly thank you for everything that happened in the Dark Realm."

"The Dark Realm," Ikori absently nodded. Then smiled, yet it didn't meet her eyes. "I'd like that."

Aqua felt a pang from Ikori's expression. It's easy to see past that false layer to the truth. However, in reaction to her words, Aqua managed to smile.

Building from Ikori's fingertip climbing upward, two large green leaves fell outward from a thick green stem. And at the top, Ikori created a large blue rose. The rose sat nestled in a small bouquet of baby's breath.

"I respect your wish to be friends, but I do want you to keep in mind that for anyone, emotions don't fade immediately just because you don't act on them." She fiddled with the petals and exhaled. "While we work on our friendship, I ask for patience." Then Ikori got up to stand before Aqua, and offered her the bouquet. "I can't promise to stop loving you." Aqua accepted it, not breaking eye contact as tears built in Ikori's eyes. "But I can promise I won't expect you to do the same."

A/N

I kinda... forgot about that whole DLC huh. Data battles don't make life easy, but I'll get it one day. The button memory is completely gone for me on that game at the moment. I've been on the switch, Animal Crossing it up. I've always loved the game, but the timing was coincidentally perfect for sales in this time we now live in. Funny how that works.

Also, thank you Kessie-Louise that's very kind of you :)