Peanut

Roxas smiled, both nervously and sheepishly. "You seemed to like that one..." They were in the same group and naturally together when they found their treasure, so of course he noticed how she looked at the necklaces. Sora gave one to Kairi immediately, but Roxas didn't want to put her on the spot back then, so he waited.

"I, um..." Roxas tried, surprised at his sudden nervousness. Thankfully the hangar wasn't too well lit, so Namine probably couldn't see his blush. "I thought...this would look better on you than it would on me." He held out the necklace for her, inwardly scolding himself for saying something that lame when giving a gift.

Roxas witnessed Sora, Kairi, Aqua and Ven head off in front of him, but his attention was elsewhere. He still had his day's treasure in his pocket: a lilac purple shell necklace. As if he would need it for himself... "Hey, Namine?" he called, turning around to face her as he slowed to a stop.

Lightning accepted Riku's accessories, holding onto them in one hand. She set the other on Riku's shoulder when he bent down and picked her up, the girl on his back within moments. The pain in her legs seemed dull, but only because of the pain in her heart. She didn't want to go back; she didn't want to be trapped in that chair. She wanted to be free...of everything.

"No," Lightning said quietly. Prolonging the inevitable wasn't going to help her. And besides that... "Serah needs me." Serah knew the truth of Cedric now, and she wasn't taking it very well. She was very bubbly and cheery today to distract herself from the pain, but once they were back in the quiet castle, Lightning predicted she'd fall apart.

Lightning nodded slightly, the pompom on her head bobbing with the motion. "Forever," she said quietly. "...But I know that's not possible, so..." Whether she was ready to leave or not, it was time to go. She experienced freedom for a day; it was better than nothing, maybe. Going back to the chair was going to break her heart though.

Lightning lowered her head, gazing at her lap. That was a silly question, at least from her perspective. "...No," she responded quietly. Of course she wasn't ready to go. She got a taste of freedom today by flying around without having to use her legs. And now she had to go back to the castle to be in that wheelchair...It was almost more cruel now that she experienced freedom again.

Everyone agreed that it was time to take off, though all of them were sad by it. At least they could come back another day in the future and use the pixie dust Ven's group found to fly again. It would be the only way Lightning would be able to move freely again. As everyone else started back to the ship they rode to get there, Lightning lingered, sitting on the ground as she looked up at the sky. I don't want to leave.

Serah giggled along with everyone else, though she was distracted when she suddenly realized how dark the sky was. Night had fallen, and if there really were pirates on this island... "We should head back," she voiced quietly. Whether she liked it or not, their day of fun was coming to an end.

"Whoops," Lightning said with a slight shrug. What just happened was slightly accidental; she hadn't meant to flick him away that far. He didn't seem terribly hurt--In fact, he came flying right back in at her. She lifted a hand and pressed it against his head, easily keeping him away from her while he exclaimed "kupos" of frustration.

Lightning let the headband remain on her head, but for the sole reason that a distraction came before she could take it off. When Mog appeared to either bop her pompom or give her a hug, Lightning lifted her hand and instinctively flicked the creature away, sending him quite high in the sky. He was a lot lighter than she thought he would be.

"Yeah," Lightning nodded without hesitation. She wasn't going to wear this pompom on her head, though she expected Riku would keep his on. All this silliness was distracting Serah, and Lightning too. She didn't want to admit it to Riku, but even if she was flying and not walking, some movements in the air still made her legs hurt throughout the day. Even now, she was in pain. "Don't say that until we're back at the castle," Ven recommended. "We don't want to jinx it." But he seriously doubted they'd run into pirates now; they'd been around all day and didn't see them, so why would they now?

"Serah says otherwise," Lightning disagreed, looking at her sister. "You're wearing yours whether I am or not." She lifted her hands to take it off, though Riku's hands were large enough to cover any areas where she could get a good enough grip to take it off. She was stuck with this for a while, wasn't she? "I already can't wait for next time," Roxas confessed. "We need to do another hunt, and this time, I won't be stuck with this slacker." He pointed to Sora, whose eyes widened in dismay. "I said I was sorry," he groaned. "I didn't mean to get us lost!" Even if they could fly high above everything, it was hard to tell where things were if you didn't know the island well.

"Yeah, not happening," Lightning said, reaching up and taking the headband off again. There was no way she was going to keep that thing on her head, whether it was rude or not. She never did care much for facades or subtleties, and Mog actually seemed to appreciate her boldness. She could tell by how he kept goggling at her. "You guys totally topped us with sentimentality," Ven confessed. He picked up the jar in front of him, showing it off to whoever was still paying attention. "We found enough pixie dust to cover all of us for our next visit, but that was it." He was so bummed his group didn't have more findings!

"As if I could make her do that," Serah laughed. She could coerce Lightning into many things, but she doubted wearing a moogle headband would be one of them. "This one's for you, Kairi," Sora said, passing over the bright blue one for her. It matched her eyes really well, so he thought that it was fitting for her. Besides, he had to make up for not asking her to be on his team when he had the chance.

"Nuh uh!" Serah cried, reaching over and snatching the headband out of Riku's hands before she began to put it on his head again. "It's a gift! It's rude not to wear it!" She was determined to get Riku to wear both the headband and the wings--The combination made Lightning laugh. And it made Serah laugh too. She wouldn't admit it, but she really needed a reason to laugh. "Ah man," Sora groaned while Serah attacked Riku again. "Your find kind of tops ours..." He reached behind him and grabbed what his group found: Sea-shell jewelry. There were two necklaces and a bracelet that they found near the mermaids. One necklace, he planned on giving to Kairi to make up for him not choosing her for his team.

Lightning looked at Riku and laughed, though she quickly took off the headband on her head before Riku would notice it and make any smart remarks. Serah also sat up and looked over at the silver-haired teen, laughing louder than Lightning at the sight. If Riku had a mirror, he'd probably laugh too.

With the flick of Mog's wand, Roxas suddenly became aware of two adornments that he hadn't had before: a headband on his head with a giant pompom being held straight up atop his head and a set of fake wings on his back. "H-hey," he protested, while Ventus gave out an excited "cool!" at the adornments that appeared on his own body. Roxas felt so silly like this....

"Mog," Lightning responded. And for the sake of the rest of the group... "He wasn't really kidnapped, he just doesn't like to be held by his head like Riku was doing." That was what she gathered by listening in to the other moogles chatter away while Riku flew after Mog. She smiled more in that village than she had in the past month.

Sora's blue eyes widened as he looked at the creature under Riku's arm. "You guys kidnapped a moogle?!" he cried, though he wasn't sure if he was alarmed or amused. The poor little guy was squirming in Riku's hold. He didn't look...distressed or hurt--He just kind of looked flustered. "We didn't kidnap him," Serah said in their group's defense. "We found a village of them and you guys did say to bring the treasure with you, so..." "So you kidnapped him," Ven smirked. "Yeah, pretty much," Serah confessed.

Sunset Riku's team was the last to arrive back where they were, and they barely made it there for sunset. Everyone was sitting on the ground waiting for them instead of flying, obviously tired from a day full of searching. Lightning too was tired and she lowered herself to the ground, though she was careful about it. She extended her legs in front of her, witnessing Serah do the same to her side before she collapsed completely onto her back. Her sister burned a lot of energy today, what with putting Riku and Lightning in basically every awkward situation she could. Serah was trying way too hard to get them to confess their undying love for one another.

"Where are we going?!" Serah called after him, though she quickly flew after him. She accidentally tapped Lightning's leg as she flew by, causing her sister to pause briefly before she too followed Riku. Serah looked over the landscape, seeing a lot of trees up ahead. If she was a pirate, where would she bury treasure? "Are there any caves?" That was where she'd put a treasure for sure.

While Ven nodded to Kairi's question and led his group away, Lightning called to the attention of her group. "Hey," she said, setting a hand on Serah's shoulder as she began to pull her away. "It's begun." Ven's group was already heading out, and now Sora was recollecting himself too. They had a few hours before the end, but every minute was going to count, especially since they were the only group without a single soul knowing the lay of the land.

Seeing that Sora was distracted by the blunder he made with Kairi and Riku was being attacked by Serah, Ven took the lead. "Alright guys, let's get down to it," he suggested. "Some rules...Groups have to stay together. Any treasure you find will have to be brought back with you...The game ends at sunset. We all have to meet back here before the sun completely disappears. Any questions?" He saw Lightning shake her head slightly, but whether that was to him or a shake of disbelief to Serah, he didn't know.

"Little Farron?!" Serah cried. Though they were flying in midair and tackles were pretty much meaningless, she still threw herself at Riku's back and wrapped her arms around him, tugging and pushing at him to make him suffer for that comment. She wasn't that little--she was almost fifteen years old. While she was busy torturing Riku, Sora called on his last teammate, Namine.