This story is dedicated to all Roxas and Xion fans.
That includes me. This story isn't connected to "Dark Fire". It didn't turn out good at all but I might edit it again later. Suggestions welcome.
358/2 Days Spoilers
***
"You seem to be under the impression that you're funny Axel." Grumbled Saix, staring hard at the strange book he was trying to read. Axel smirked at Roxas from over Saix's shoulder and continued to read the story aloud in a high pitched voice.
"He's gonna push Saix until he snaps isn't he?" Larxene drawled in her lazy tone to Roxas, looking more and more like a cat as she stretched.
"Probably."
Axel seemed to enjoy teasing the Luna Diviner until said Diviner went berserk, literally, and usually flattened Axel against the floor until he apologized.
"All of you." Lexaeus intoned in his deep voice. "We need to go to the meeting room."
Demyx scratched his head. "Why's it called Where Nothing Gather if technically we're-"
"Don't start this again." Growled Lexaeus, turning on his heel.
***
Roxas shifted uneasily on the cold marble seat. He didn't even want to think about how high up he was. Even though, for some reason, regardless of the fact that he was the newbie in Organization XIII, he wasn't in the shortest chair, which adjusted according to what you did in the field.
In the lowest chair was Vexen, who for once wasn't sulking and was staring raptly at the little hallway that the newcomer would emerge from.
Roxas suppressed a yawn, remembering what had happened to poor Demyx when he had yawned hugely right before Xemnas had spoken.
Xemnas's orange eyes flicked from face to face, his expression shadowed but the thin smile on his face was noticeable.
He spread his arms wide in his usual grandstanding gesture, flicking his hood back. "Today we welcome a new member into our ranks."
Surprise emitted from the rest of the members, Roxas raised an eyebrow and stared around. Thirteen chairs, thirteen members. Organization XIII.
What the heck?
Before he could consider it anymore a lean shape walked down the aisle.
The only noticeable thing was the bottom half of her small face, and her thin body. She also had heels on her shoes, like Larxene's, immediately confirming the fact she was a girl.
She came to a stop among the ranks, looking uncomfortable with her thin shoulders hunched.
"Members of Organization XIII, please welcome Xion."
Xion? For the love of him Roxas couldn't see what her name could arrange into. He leaned forward slightly, studying her expression, but her hood was still safely covering her thin face.
"Roxas."
Roxas tensed, tilting his head to look at Xemnas.
"You will watch after Xion when she goes on missions." Xemnas declared, studying him with the hard glare that only his eyes could produce.
Roxas dipped his head, deciding not to answer, and Xemnas nodded.
"Another girl? As if Larxene wasn't-"Axel began.
Sparks flickering off Larxene's body in warning, her eyes narrowed, and hands brushing back a strand of her yellow hair casually.
Axel coughed awkwardly and looked away.
If Xemnas was aware of the exchange he didn't show it. "Dismissed."
***
"Are you trying to get her riled up?" Demyx demanded, shoving Axel.
"Just teasing her." Axel smirked. "I want little Xion to know what I'm like."
Roxas said nothing as usual, just let his eyes slide around the glaringly white walls of the Castle that Never Was. Xion had left back the way she had come and he guessed she wasn't going on a mission at the moment.
Back in the lounge Roxas tapped his Keyblade from its position across his knees, listening to Axel and Larxene's bickering back and forth. He had the strangest desire in the world, or maybe it was just curiosity.
He wanted to see Xion's eyes.
***
Roxas left his room and headed for the lounge. Maybe Xion would do a mission today? He wanted to hear her voice and see what her face looked like underneath the heavy black hood.
Zexion was on the couch, legs crossed, turning pages in his strange book, brow furrowed in concentration. Beside him sat Larxene, tapping the table continually with the heel of her boot, until Zexion's shoulders were hunched from trying to ignore her.
Demyx was playing his sitar in quick, rapid strokes while Xaldin glared at him in an obvious message to stop. If the Melodious Nocturne noticed, he said nothing. Saix stared at the moon, as usual, that had always been there since before Roxas had even joined, and Axel was saying something to him quietly. It obviously wasn't serious because Axel's smirk was huge like usual.
Roxas decided to sit next to Zexion since Xaldin looked like he was about to hit Demyx in only a second. Zexion looked up idly before saying, "I had no idea I was this popular."
Roxas grinned in a friendly way at the youngest of the senior members. "You aren't. Unfortunately I'd rather sit next to you than have this happen to me." He pointed to Demyx and Zexion turned his head curiously to look at Xaldin.
The Whirlwind Lancer had summoned a single lance and struck Demyx's hand with it. With a comical yelp Demyx rubbed his hand and grumbled about critics before dismissing his sitar.
There were footsteps from down the hall, and Roxas lifted his head to see Xion enter, hood still up.
Saix walked away from Axel, pointedly ignoring him now, and said to Roxas, "Both of you are to go on a mission today. Twilight Town. Heartless are swarming near the mansion." Saix turned and went back to the window. Before Axel could ask he said again, "Axel the Superior wants you elsewhere. Don't even try."
Axel grumbled, crossing his arms and leaning against the glass.
Roxas looked at Xion interestedly. Any member of the Organization could tell when another member fell, and not only that, but any member could judge another's power if they were relatively close to them.
Saix's powers increased with the moon, and the larger it got the stronger he was. Xaldin was easily the strongest in the room besides the ever changing Saix. Roxas wasn't sure who was next, everything was so cluttered he didn't feel like studying the auras. Xion's was absorbed by the others, she was hard to track.
Opening a Dark Portal and feeling the familiar cold leeching at his limbs from calling it forth, Roxas pointed. "Shall we?"
Xion stepped by without saying anything.
***
The Heartless were the standard kind, Shadows and a smattering of Soldiers in their odd clanking armor. Roxas was about to tackle them when suddenly he whirled around in shock. Xion had a Keyblade clenched in her hands, and was attacking Heartless with wide deadly strokes.
Trying to get over his surprise Roxas dived into the melee.
It wasn't long before the Heartless were cleared away and the eerie light filtering down through the trees shone on nothing but the old mansion behind its big black gates.
Roxas paused, staring at the window. He thought he had seen something…a girl? Or was that just the white curtain?
A Dusk appeared, its white body sliding forward in easy spirals. It rose up, stretching unnaturally until Roxas winced involuntarily. The Dusk unzipped its mouth and revealed the jagged black toothed face inside that was still hidden by the strange clothing over its lean body. The Dusk raised a scythed hand and crossed it over its chest, bowing low, so low its face touched the ground.
"Quit the theatrics. What is it?" Roxas was in no mood for dramatic Dusks, even though he kinda thought he had seen this particular one before.
The Dusk's "voice", light and airy, with its strange words slipping through Roxas's mind until he had finally gathered its meaning. He supposed understanding them came with experience.
Master Axel has said to meet him on the Clock Tower.
"Thanks. You can go now." Roxas waved a hand idly and the Dusk vanished in a flash of white sparks.
Xion's shuffling cloak alerted him to her presence, she was so quiet he had almost forgotten she was there. She must not have learned to open a portal yet, he himself had just learned.
"Want…to come with me to the Clock Tower first?" Roxas offered.
Xion tilted her head to the side.
"Axel and I always eat some ice cream there after missions. Want to come with me?"
When she didn't say no or yes, he decided to just go ahead and take her.
"C'mon then." He smiled, trying to get her to say something, anything, in return. He sighed and opened a Dark Portal; it snapped open immediately, the tendrils of darkness hungrily grabbing the air.
***
They emerged on top of the Clock Tower. Roxas sat down next to Axel with a grin, accepting the Sea Salt ice cream. Axel stared in surprise as Xion sat down beside Roxas, looking nervous, or at least Roxas guessed so because her shoulders were hunched.
Giving Xion his ice cream Roxas grinned hugely. "Hey lighten up. Here try this."
Xion took it, turning it over in her gloved hand, and then she pulled her hood back.
She had a young looking face, with short black hair and with the bangs falling into her eyes. Her eyes were beautiful, like a blue ocean, with shimmering patterns on them. She licked it uneasily, her eyes flicking from side to side. She smiled slightly then and kept eating.
"Well fine Roxas be like that." Axel grumbled. "I'll go get you another ice cream. Don't fall off the tower when I leave." He grinned at Xion for some reason then left.
Roxas looked at her, bending down to look her directly in the face. "What's the matter?"
She answered in a quiet voice. "Nothing."
Roxas shrugged and yawned. Butchering Heartless really took a lot out of a guy. He put his hand down and accidentally landed on Xion's. He tensed, and she went really rigid like a statue. He pulled his hand back but she kept hers still.
"Hey…sorry about that. Wasn't intended." He apologized. Xion didn't say anything more.
Axel returned, flicking an ice cream at Roxas that he caught by the stick. "Well, Xion how was your first mission?"
She just shrugged.
Axel sighed and gave Roxas a look from slanted green eyes that said, "What's with her?"
"You're welcome here any day Xion." Roxas smiled at her and she pushed her hair from her eyes, nodding.
***
Days came and went and Roxas saw little to nothing of Xion. She didn't come back to the Clock Tower and none of the other members had seen her since that day, except for once where she was talking to Vexen.
Whatever. Or at least that's how Roxas tried to feel, tried to ignore that squirming feeling in his stomach that got worse the more he didn't see her.
Finally, impossibly, Xion came back to the Clock Tower where Roxas had been sitting alone since Axel was looking into something he called "a crud load of overtime for me".
She sat down beside him, her hood back, kicking her feet.
"What's up?" Roxas said casually, handing her Axel's ice cream.
"Nothing."
Silence. Then:
"Say, Roxas…What happens if someone runs away from the Organization?"
Roxas looked at her. "I don't know. Not at all. They'll probably try to catch you."
She wrung her hands. "Why?"
Roxas sighed, looking at the sky, and then looked her directly in the eyes. "I don't know. They don't tell me a lot of things." He stared at her longer as she said uneasily,
"Why not? And why am I not allowed to attend meetings or…?"
"I don't know." Roxas whispered in return. "I seriously don't. It's like they don't like to acknowledge you're here. But why do you want to run?"
"It's like I'm invisible. I'm not here. I'm like some kind of tool before they lock me in my room."
"They lock you in your room?" Roxas felt anger flash in the empty area where his heart should be.
"Basically. I can't leave." She whispered back.
"I'll try to help you. Let me help you. If you want to leave they have no right to keep you here."
"You'll help?" The look in her eyes was unbelievable.
"Normally, he would. Except he can't, because he'd have to go through me."
Roxas and Xion looked behind them to see Axel staring at them with his glowing green eyes. Roxas then realized that during the conversation he had leaned closer to Xion until they had been barely any distance from each other.
He pulled back, scowling. "You'd let them keep her here against-"
"I would. I have no choice. It's my job." He growled in return, heating the air up. "Because, Roxas, I don't want to be a Dusk, and I don't want to see you two get in trouble for plotting treason. Got it memorized?"
Roxas snapped open a Dark Portal, ignoring Axel, and offered Xion his hand. She took it. "Fine, Axel. We're goin' home."
***
He pulled Xion from the portal and emerged in his room. He let go of her hand and gestured. "Nothing much here, but you're welcome to stay until you have to leave."
Xion sat down on his bed, smiling at him. "You'd actually go against your friend to help me?"
His smile came before he could stop it. "Yeah I would actually. I trust Axel, he won't rat me out."
He hummed tunelessly, sitting next to her. "However, maybe you won't want to escape if you give it a chance. I've been doing the same thing over and over for awhile, it's monotonous, but I don't want to leave. I don't have anywhere to go, and where would you go?"
Xion bit her lip, her brow furrowed as she thought. Somehow the expression was endearing to him. "Well…anywhere is better here." She admitted.
"I couldn't go with you." He replied, looking down.
She sighed, placing her hand down on his. He was about to move his own hand but didn't. He let the gentle contact endure, lifting his face to hers. They were a lot closer than he thought they were, staring directly at her eyes. Shimmering.
"Why not?" She asked. "They're just using you."
"They're the closest thing I have to a family." He replied just as quietly. "We don't have hearts and the Organization-"
"You honestly believe we don't?" She said with a small smirk. It looked out of place on her small face.
"Yeah." He mumbled, even though it sounded fake to his own ears. He sometimes swore he had a heart, the feelings that exploded when he got angry, or made him feel happy whenever he was on the clock tower. The satisfied feeling of completely a mission, the ability to laugh at Demyx's jokes…
"Well?" She insisted, the small smirk still in place.
"I don't know."
"That your favorite words?" She teased, using her other hand to wipe the bangs from her eyes.
"Not really. I just don't know a lot."
"What if I can prove you have a heart?"
Roxas felt surprise emanate from him. "How?"
Then she kissed him. The thing itself was thoroughly unfamiliar, the feelings too.
Feelings. Wow. She was right.
She pulled back, smirking slightly again, placing her hands in her lap. "Well?"
Roxas lay back on his bed and shrugged. "That was the oddest thing ever. But I think you're right."
Her eyes lit up. "Does that mean…?"
He nodded, sitting up.
"I can't leave Axel here alone. But I will get you out safely."
***
Roxas slammed back onto the ground, his Keyblade clattering alongside him. Flames erupted everywhere, spurts of it burning his already black cloak. Axel forcibly grabbed his friend's head and he was forced to stare into his green eyes.
"You helped her escape? We'll never find her! She's going to look for her Somebody!"
Roxas struggled to his feet, ignoring Axel, and picked his Keyblade back up.
"We have no right to have kept her here."
Axel stormed away before coming back. "It's my job to find her! I'm the tracker! If I don't I have to become a Dusk, you did this for some girl you barely know?"
But he did know her. Roxas felt like he would see her again soon. But…he had been selfish. He had wanted Xion to escape. But that meant Axel would have to get her again…or…
He'd become a Dusk.
So…Axel or Xion?
Best friend or…girlfriend?
Roxas just sat down, dropping his Keyblade, and the flames vanished as Axel sighed.
"We have to find her."
But did Roxas want him to?
***
All of this and more flashed through Roxas's mind as he held the formerly insane Xion in his arms, tears going down his face. She had attacked him, tried to absorb him in some insane attempt to become whole. She was going to be gone soon.
Into him. Because he was absorbing her, because she had chosen to let herself die.
He wiped tears away and watched her smile gently, placing her gloved hand on his cheeks, wiping the tears away.
"Roxas. Don't let…Xemnas…get his way."
Roxas lowered his head and tried to listen to her last instructions.
"Release…the heart back…I can't…I'm glad I had a friend like you."
Roxas felt like a piece of his soul had died inside, watching the gold shards fly toward the sky.