Chapter Text
“Whoa! There really are a ton of chestnuts just layin’ around,” Grim said with a beaming smile as he looked around the woods behind the school grounds. Naminé could only bite the inside of her cheek in worry though as her eyes flitted from Grim to Ventus. She had texted him during lunch on her Gummi Phone to let him know she would be helping Ace with his tart and asked if he wanted to come.
Instead of hanging back, he had enthusiastically asked her where exactly they should meet. At that point her hands were tired. She had done her best to make sure he understood the gravity of the situation to which he had responded, “I know Naminé I’ve been doing this for years. You sound like Donald worrying like that.”
“I’m gonna be livin’ large on chestnut tarts!” Grim cheered to pull her out of her slump.
“I can’t wait to try them,” Ventus agreed as he moved forward–eager to help Grim out.
“Let’s get grabbin’ new minion!”
“I’m not your mini–ouch!”
“Hehe, your some kind of wimp unable to pick up these chestnu–yaow!” Grim yowled as he shook his paw and began licking it. “The chestnut spines pricked my paws!”
“Let me see,” Naminé sighed as Grim dramatically began to limp over to her. She rolled her eyes a bit before smiling and kissing his paw better.
“I never realized chestnut shells were so sharp, I just figured they were a bit spikey,” Ventus admitted with a nervous chuckle. Naminé sighed a little at his cheery attitude while also trying to not glare too hard over at Ace and Deuce who were chuckling a bit. She wasn’t sure what they were laughing at, it would have likely happened to them too if Ventus and Grim hadn’t beat them to it. Even she didn’t realize they were that sharp.
“I guess we can’t do this with our bare hands,” Deuce finally managed to point out. “We’re also going to need something to put them in.”
“Any ideas where we can get supplies?” Naminé asked. “I don’t have anything really like that in my dorm… maybe Heartslabyul?”
“I am not asking either of those shady third years to grab gardening supplies from the dorm,” Ace shot down. “But maybe we can find some supplies in the botanical garden? It isn’t far from here.”
“It can’t hurt to check,” Deuce agreed.
“Will we be ok just taking supplies?” Naminé asked as she began following the two of them to the gardens. She hadn’t actually been in them yet, but she did know the general direction of the large, glass dome building.
“I doubt anyone will care as long as we put them back where we found them,” Ace shrugged.
“Maybe there will be a groundskeeper we can ask too,” Ventus suggested.
“It’s big enough, I can’t imagine there isn’t some staff member in charge of it,” Deuce agreed.
When the group reached the garden and entered Naminé was immediately overpowered by the lush greenery. The humidity sticks to her skin as the floral and earthy smells fill her nose. There’s a large sign that points to different biomes within the facility and she can hardly believe it’s really this big. She had figured it was, but actually seeing it was another thing entirely.
“We might need to split up to look,” Deuce suggested.
“Sure,” Ace shrugged. “Dibs on the right side.”
“Then I’ll go left, Naminé and Grim can go straight,” Deuce suggested.
“What about me then?” Ventus asked as he looked at Deuce with bright and expectant eyes.
“I guess… where ever you want?” Deuce admitted with confusion. There’s a small smug part in Naminé’s heart that feels satisfied to know someone else was forgotten about before she squishes it down. It wasn’t fair. Ventus had been left behind before too. The difference was he still had his teachers and a means of chasing after Aqua and Terra.
Then again, she supposed it was more accurate to say he was chasing after Vanitas than either of his friends. He was a part of Ventus after all, it'd be hard not to.
“I’ll stick with Naminé then,” Ventus said without hesitation or hurt. “It’d be bad if I was found wandering about since I’m not a student. Besides, I wanna spend more time with my cousin.”
“Do you have a complex?” Ace asked before gritting his teeth as Deuce elbowed him.
“We’ll meet up back here, just text if you find anything,” Deuce says and then the two split up leaving the three of them to walk down the path in the middle– leading deeper into the temperate zone.
“So, Cuz,” Ventus teases a little bit making Naminé’s cheeks heat in embarrassment. She really wished he wouldn’t address her like that. “How have things been at the school.”
“Ok, I guess,” Naminé admitted with a shrug. “I seem to be doing okay in my classes at least.”
“That’s good,” Ventus said before stretching his arms up a bit. “Man, I don’t think I remember the last time I had to study for a test.”
“Must have been nice,” Naminé laughed a bit. “But weren’t you supposed to finish your homeschooling with Yensid?”
“Yeah, but it took a back seat when I started traveling with Aqua and Terra.”
“Where are those two anyway?”
“Sightseeing,” Ventus shrugged. Naminé is pretty sure she can pick up what the two of them have been saying in censorship. Grim is hardly paying attention as he keeps jumping to sniff plant to plant and wrinkling his little nose at the smells he doesn’t like.
If Naminé had to guess, Ventus got separated from the other two when they entered the Realm of Darkness. At least it logically makes sense to her that it was happening. The question is… why and how did that happen?
“So why did you come here instead of sightseeing with Terra and Aqua?” Naminé pressed a little bit before she noticed Ventus’ eyes narrow just a little bit. It was so quiet around them that Naminé could hear the low-string music playing in the garden volumes louder than it actually was. Ventus finally looks at her a moment before getting a hard look in his eyes.
“There was someone I was looking for,” Ventus admitted. Confusion washed over her in a moment as she contemplated exactly what he was saying. He couldn’t have been looking for her, though she knew that’s what Grim would think. Ventus didn’t even know she was off the island until earlier that day. Sora? But if he had a possible lead to Sora here then why didn’t Terra and Aqua come with him?
“Who–”
“Hey, come take a look at this!” Grim yells abruptly, disrupting their conversation and forcing her to pull her attention from Ventus to where the little creature is standing. “There’s a ton of fruit growing here! Smells like they’re ripe, too!”
“Grim don’t just pick fruit, it isn’t yours,” Naminé scolds as she rushes ahead to where Grim is. There’s something uneven under her shoe as she moves to grab Grim. Odd, had she stepped on a hose? Part of the irrigation system here?
“Hey! You got some nerve steppin’ on my tail and just walkin’ away,” a low, gruff voice says then just in time for Naminé to look behind her.
The man was older, maybe around Terra’s age. His skin was a darker brown shade with long, shaggy dark hair that was ruffled and showed off the messy layers. He had piercing green eyes and a rumbled uniform. The vest was in yellow but in Naminé’s shock, she couldn’t remember for the life of her what dorm it was supposed to be.
Still, out of all of his features, the most shocking that she focused on was the lion’s ears and tail he had. The tail in question was flicking with irritation behind him. As her eyes went wide with realization.
“I’m so sorry, I see your tail and I thought it was a hose at first,” Naminé apologized profusely to which he grunted in response. A sort of dismissal she guessed.
“Are you the groundskeeper?” Grim asked completely oblivious to the situation in front of them.
“Do I look like a groundskeeper?” The stranger scoffed before opening his mouth wide to yawn.
“Hey it was a simple question,” Grim huffed while Ventus seemed to move around the lion-man to stand closer to her.
“And I had been in the middle of a good nap before this herbivore stepped on it,” the man grumbled.
“Who naps by a path and doesn’t expect to be stepped on?” Ventus huffed as he put his hands on his hips. The sharp look the man gave Ventus was enough to make Naminé grab his shirt sleeve and pull him back. While he had seemed annoyed but indifferent to her, he looked ready to set Ventus on fire.
“It’s just a simple mistake,” Naminé tries to defuse before looking at the stranger again. “Really, I’m sorry. We were just looking for equipment. I should have been paying more attention to where I was walking.”
The stranger seemed to relax just a little bit from her words before his eyes really focused on her. “I know you… you’re that female herbivore from freshmen orientation that didn’t get sorted into a dorm.”
He pauses to sniff the air and Naminé recoils. Was he sniffing her? Did she smell bad? The water at her dorm smelled like rotten eggs, she hoped that didn’t mean she smelled that way.
“Quit sniffing her, you weirdo,” Ventus jumped in–seemingly unbothered by any glare this man could give him.
“You definitely don’t smell like any magic I’ve known,” the man admitted before turning his gaze on Ventus again. “And you, you don’t even go here.”
“I’m visiting my cousin,” Ventus defended.
“A family visit, how cute,” the man said in a dry mocking tone. “It’s not much fun to hurt a couple of helpless kids. Get out of my sight.”
“No.”
The man raised a brow as Ventus stared him down and Naminé could feel herself blanching. Ventus wasn’t supposed to be the one always trying to pick a fight. That role was supposed to fit Roxas. Then again, Ventus was always pretty reckless with his actions. She supposed it was why he and Sora got along so well.
“Ventus,” Naminé attempted to warn.
“No, Naminé, you apologized and he’s being a jerk for no reason. We also came here for something specific,” Ventus argued with her.
“I dunno,” Grim chimed in. “When this guy looks at me, it makes every follicle of fur stand on end…”
“If you’re eager to be an example that’s fine,” the stranger smirked in a way that made Naminé shiver to her very core. “I’m in a bad mood on account of bein’ woken up from my nap, too. So this little stunt is gonna cost you a tooth.”
“Bring it!” Ventus said as she watched his keyblade appear in his hand.
Naminé feels her panic rising as she watches the two ready to fight. She was trying to avoid this kind of confrontation, but Ventus’ sense of justice in combination with this stranger’s bad attitude didn’t seem to be helping. She could try and get them to stop with her magic, but… something about Ventus being involved made her hesitate. Would her stopping him with her magic just prove what she was sure everyone else thought of her; that she was too unstable to be helpful?
“Leona! There you are!”
“Heh?” The stranger, Leona, groaned suddenly as a shorter boy with sandy blonde hair and hyena eats came into view from a different part of the pathway.
“I knew I’d find you here!” The newcomer lectured as he stomped up to Leona without any fear or care. “We got after-school classes today, remember?”
“Ugh,” Leona groaned again as he whipped his face with one of his hands. It was a motion Naminé had seen Ienzo do more than a few times when he was embarrassed by any of the other apprentices. She might have even laughed a little if he didn’t still terrify her. “Now I’ve got this guy on my tail…”
“Leona, you’ve already had to repeat a year,” the guy lectured as he continued to ignore Leona’s obvious distaste for the situation. “If you get held back again, we’ll be in the same grade!”
“Oh, put a sock in it already,” Leona grumbled as he put his hands in his pockets. “I’m tired of yer yappin’.”
“Look, you think I like always being on your case? C’mon, man. You act like it’d be hard for you. You could skate through life if you’d just TRY. Come on! Let’s go already!”
The hyena beastman started shoving Leona in the way of the entrance. Even as Leona walked away his eyes were fixed on the group of them with pure annoyance. “Next time you stink up my territory, there’s gonna be a price to pay, herbivores!”
It isn’t until he’s gone that the group of them finally breathes a sigh of relief. Even Ventus, for all his bravado, seemed content that Leona was gone.
“What were you thinking?” Naminé lectured then. “You can’t go kicking up a fuss for no reason around campus! I’ve already been almost thrown out once!”
“You almost got kicked out?” Ventus questioned looking both surprised and amused.
“Not the point,” Naminé pressed. “I know he was a jerk, but there was no reason to cause unnecessary problems.”
“And there’s no reason for you to just take it,” Ventus argued with her.
“It’s fine, it isn’t anything I’m not already used to,” Naminé said. Ventus looks like he’s about to protest when finally a quiet jingle alerts Naminé she’s gotten a message. Ace and Deuce had found a basket and some tongs. “Come on, the others found some stuff.
We should head back up front.”
“Fine, but we’re talking about this all later,” Ventus pressed as they walked. “Hey… what happened to the music?”
“Now that you mention it,” Naminé said as she strained her ears to listen for the sound of the string music she had heard earlier. But there was nothing now but the occasional ruffling sound from somewhere deeper in the garden.
…
“What happened to the three of you?” Deuce asks them as they approach. Naminé can only imagine since they were all rather quiet and probably looked distressed.
“Some guy tried to pick a fight with us,” Grim announced before anyone else could speak as they headed back to the forest. “But we made him run with his tail between his legs.”
“That’s not what happened,” Naminé interrupted as she began to tell the full story. “After that, he just kind of left with his friend.”
“Yeah, definitely another student,” Ace agreed. “What uniform was he wearing?”
“The yellow-gold one,” Naminé recalled. “Savanaclaw I think.”
“And he was a real jerk too,” Ventus argued. “She apologized and he was still treating her like garbage.”
“That’s to be expected,” Ace brought up. “I mean, I’d be pissed at you still too if you stepped on my tail… though I guess I can’t relate since I’m not a beastman.”
“Still, turning to a brawl?” Deuce said with a worried expression. “I’m starting to think there’s an awful lot of delinquents here at Night Raven…”
“Delinquent is right,” Ventus huffs, still clearly annoyed by everything that had transpired.
“You were the one who continued to pick a fight,” Naminé mentioned as she picked up a particularly large chestnut and dropped it into her basket.
“Hey, you never lectured Sora or Riku when they fight. Or even Roxas and he’s probably the worst out of all of us.”
“Who’re they?” Deuce asked curiously. “Friends from your hometown?”
“Sora and Roxas are my brothers,” Ventus supplied and Naminé tried to not twitch or gag at the idea he was saying she was related to either of them. She understood the connection since Sora was the part of Ventus’ hard he tried to replace Vanitas with while Roxas was Sora’s Nobody. It would make them kind of like brothers. But since they were arguing she and Roxas were cousins it felt gross.
“Riku is just a close friend,” Naminé supplied to try and wash everything from her mind. Especially the ache that came with Riku. Their relationship was somehow even more complicated than her’s and Sora’s.
“Ah,” Deuce nodded.
“What about you Naminé, you have any siblings?” Ace asked seeming to more try and pass the time than care about her answering the question.
“I have a sister,” Naminé answered not thinking of a better way to describe Kairi. “And a cousin I’m pretty close to that isn’t related to Ventus’ side.” Xion. How else could she describe the girl who was created from Sora’s memories of Kairi; she’s living proof of how much Sora loves Kairi.
“Cool, I’ve got an older brother,” Ace answered. “What about you Mr. Honor’s Student?”
“Only child,” Deuce answers even if he shoots daggers at Ace.
“Man, lucky,” Ace groaned. “Anyway, I think we’ve gotten enough chestnuts. We should get these baskets over to Trey.”
“Myahahaha! Now that we’re all set up, it’s a destination: Flavortown, baby!” Grim was practically bouncing around again and Naminé couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit. Grim was just so silly sometimes, and it made her feel just a little lighter about everything that was going on and had happened.
“Come on then,” Naminé chuckled as she picked up the basket. Ace and Deuce were quick to get up as well but Ventus stayed sitting for a moment. When she looked at him his eyes were surprised as he looked her over. “Is something wrong Ventus?”
“No, nothing’s wrong,” Ventus said as he got to his own feet. “Let’s go, I can’t wait to try this tart your friend is going to make.”