WARNINGS: SPOILERS FOR KINGDOM HEARTS III. MAY CAUSE A PHENOMENA WHEN SALTY LIQUID BEGINS TO PROFUSE FROM TEAR DUCTS. IF SENSATION CONTINUES AFTER FIFTEEN MINUTES, READ MORE FLUFF.

Chapter One: Ice Cream and the Moon

"The moon's not that great."

There was a quiet whisper of admonishment from Xion after Roxas's brazen and blunt statement, the look of dismay on her face showing how much she'd hoped they'd gotten passed the trading-insults part of their relationship. At some point, Isa had realized being ornery was part of Roxas as a person and stopped taking it personally.

He bit off some ice cream, letting it melt inside his mouth, enjoying the disgusted expression on Lea's face as he watched (of the two of them, Isa never got cold headaches), and waited for Roxas to finish his statement.

"It didn't invent ice cream, after all."

Xion let out a laugh, half relieved, half amused.

"Who did invent ice cream?" she asked.

"The moon," said Isa flatly.

It took a moment for his words to register with Roxas and Xion, their faces going through a complicated struggle of emotions as they processed it. Eventually, they whirled around, eyes wide, while Lea choked on his ice cream in the background.

"No way," said Roxas. "I call bullshit."

"Language," said Lea halfheartedly.

"It did," said Isa, leaning forward on his knee, his fingers laced primly. His voice was dry as bone. "The moon was so cold that humans attempted to gain its favor by sending it things they loved: like sweets, salt, and blue food coloring. From the union, sea-salt ice cream was born. It's a sacred dessert."

Xion wavered, worrying her thumb in her other hand, chewing on her lip. If the cogs in her head turned any harder, they'd start smoking. A little piece of Isa that secretly loved scrolling through cute puppy pictures for hours on end wanted to have mercy on her and tell the truth already. The cold-hearted savage that was born from years of friendship with Lea and decades of prank wars held out, steady and true.

It was Roxas who broke, slamming a hand on his thigh.

"No way, that can't be right! You guys used to buy it from that duck!"

"And where did you think the duck got it from?"

"I—You—you are not going to convince me sea-salt ice cream comes from the moon!" he yelled, strangely serious, and yet not at all so: ice cream was serious business. "Tell the truth."

"Lea, they don't believe me."

Lea let out a surprised wheeze, a hand over his mouth.

"Sorry, asthma attack."

"You don't have asthma," said Roxas.

"It's all coming back now."

"You've never had asthma," Xion sighed.

"You kids are gonna give me asthma."

The conversation went downhill from there, ending with many unique threats of bodily harm and the promise of using someone's toothbrush to scrub the mayor's toilet. On that topic, Isa made a mental note to buy himself a private stash of toothbrushes. He also needed salt for the morning glasses of milk.

Life was not always conventional with them, that evening on the clock tower a testimony to the fact.

Lea often woke up shaking, rubbing his hands through his hair, only to press them to his heart and sit there, utterly still and silent. Listening. Sometimes, Xion would stand in one spot for hours on end, staring into nothing at all; there were days she spoke of Sora's adventures as though it were she wielding the Kingdom Key, and Isa worried.

And Isa worried.

Roxas, in his own way, worried, too. He was saner than any of them, in the most peculiar of ways. He had his habits, his schedules, his routine. No one dared touch it, because so long as it was there, he was fine. Roxas's routine included ice cream on Sundays. On Mondays, they went to Radiant Garden for check ups with the apprentices. Isa would stay the night into Tuesday. Either one—or all—of them would stay, or someone would pick him—or them—up. Wednesday, they did casual studies: math, grammar, reading, the likes. Thursdays through Saturdays were a bit of a toss up, usually littered with missions, as those were the keyblade wielders of the group's officially scheduled days for missions. It was a good schedule and worked for all of them.

Isa still worried.

He would open his eyes to a room where everything was out of place. A sofa would be rearranged, a mug in the wrong counter. He would fix it all, only to realize it was still out of place. His own body felt cold, moved from its personal comfort zone. It was all he could do not to bite his nails down to the quick and find a small, quiet place to curl up in. Losing his heart twice had done something to him.

Those were the kinds of things the Apprentices wanted him to speak about during his visits in Radiant Garden. A wrongness in his veins, even as he clung to the vestiges of regularity. Brilliant as they were, they knew there was a whole lake of words dammed up behind his mouth. It pushed, but he pushed back, not quite knowing why. Perhaps it was the remains of his Nobody, clinging to the secrets, to surviving.

Stories grounded him, tales of his past that he'd taken for granted. The rabbit and the moon; the fable of Morgoza; legends and myths alike. Roxas and Xion loved hearing them, so no matter how many times they wanted to hear about the rabbit and the moon, he would repeat it.

On days where noise was too loud and lights made his soul cringe, the others left him inside with a mug of tea and a warm blanket. Lea would sit next to him, pressed into his side, keeping pressure around his shoulders just right. Xion was allowed to believe neither of them had a clue she often snapped pictures of them like that.

Life was not perfect, nor was it ever, but it was life and for that Isa was content.

"I lied."

"What?"

"The moon did not create ice cream."

"You asshole, I knew it!"

"Language!"

Author's Note: Cross-posting from AO3. Kingdom Hearts III has me shook and crying tears of happiness.