Chapter 3: Normalcy
Mornings could be rough on Roxas. He didn't have nightmares, not often at least, but sometimes he'd wake up thinking he'd been captured in a datascape again and momentarily panic, not used to seeing a bedroom beyond the Organization's sterile white ones. Other times, if he were the first to wake up and the apartment was quiet, he would get worried that everyone had suddenly disappeared and force his way inside Xion or Lea's rooms to make sure they were still there. But there were also days where he would wake up like a normal kid on a normal mornings, groggy but otherwise fine, and today happened to be one of those days.
Roxas never was and probably never would be a morning person. Even after he forced himself out of bed, showered, and made his way into their apartment's small kitchen, he was still yawning and rubbing his eyes. As he turned the corner out of the hall, Roxas saw that two of his roommates were already awake. Isa was reading the newspaper, while Lea was devouring some reheated leftovers. When he saw Isa Roxas had to push down his first instinct, that first morning thought of "I should pick up today's mission." Old habits die hard.
Lea looked up from his food and smiled. "Heya, Roxas." Isa didn't say anything, but he did give an awkward nod to the kid.
"Morning, Axel. Isa." As they went back to their business, Roxas turned to find some breakfast of his own. Pancakes sounded good. But as he started getting everything out and heating the griddle, he felt eyes boring into the back of his head. With a jug of buttermilk in one hand and a pan in the other, Roxas turned around to see Isa watching him from the table. Uhh? "Have you um, eaten, Isa?"
"Yes. Thank you though. I was just thinking." Isa smiled slightly then turned to Lea, who was all but licking his plate clean. "Lea, wasn't there something you and Roxas spoke about the other day? You asked me to remind you this morning."
"Hm?" With his fork in his mouth, Lea looked from Isa to Roxas then back to Isa. "Oh! Right! Roxas, you're still helping out at the bistro today, right?"
Roxas nodded as he continued to work on his breakfast. "Yeah. I've got it memorized, Axel. Ignis said he'll be running late today, so you need someone to help Little Chef in the kitchen. Don't worry, I'll be there."
"Good, because Mr. McD will take it out on me if you're not." Lea picked up his plate and moved over to the dishwasher. "And who better to help Little Chef than our own little chef, huh?"
Roxas groaned as Lea ruffled his hair, but it was all in good fun. Cooking was actually something he had picked up since they settled down in Twilight Town, that much was true. He enjoyed doing it, and he was capable even if not the best at it. It kept him occupied when he didn't have anything going on in town, anyway. The last thing Roxas wanted was a repeat of his boring, wasted first vacation from back when they were still in the Organization.
Shuffling feet turned heads as Xion came down the hall, still in her pajamas and with her hair a mess. Lea hid his laughter behind his mouth, but Roxas watched her with concern as she sleepily greeted them and then got a glass of water. Had Xion had another nightmare last night? Roxas hadn't heard her crying out or anything, but she sure didn't look like she had gotten any sleep.
"Isa and Axel have already eaten, but do pancakes sound good to you?" Roxas asked.
Xion leaned her back against the counter as she cradled the glass in both hands. Her eyelids were drooping. "Uh-huh. Thanks."
A frown tugged at Roxas's lips. If the nightmare she'd had the other night was a recurring one, they'd need to find a way to fix that. For now though, he turned back to his cooking while he let Xion wake up.
Meanwhile, Lea had returned to the table. As he plopped down in his seat, he looked between Isa and Xion. "Any plans today for the two of you?"
Isa folded his newspaper and set it aside. "Well, I have the day off today–"
Lea grunted. "Don't remind me."
Despite being interrupted, Isa couldn't hide his smile at Lea's expense. "–so I'll probably clean up around here. Maybe I'll stop by the Tram Common to pick up some things Xion and I didn't get to yesterday."
Lea chuckled. "Where would we be without the team mom?"
Isa's response was absolutely deadpan. "Up to your necks in dirty clothes, I'm sure."
"Axel and I maybe, but Xion would keep us on our toes," Roxas said from his spot at the griddle. He glanced back over his shoulder to see that Xion had sat down next to Lea, and she still looked kind of out of it. "Hey Xion, you have class today, don't you?"
Roxas's question seemed to make something inside Xion click, and for that first time this morning she seemed actually awake. "Yeah, actually! And I'm really looking forward to it, too! I wanted to show the instructor some moves I've been working on."
As Xion continued to talk, Lea glanced at Roxas and Roxas grinned back at him. If there was one way to cheer her up, it was mentioning the dance lessons she'd been taking. She had picked them up only a few days after they moved into the apartment, and Roxas couldn't remember the last time he'd seen something capture her interest so deeply.
"…and I did mess it up once with Olette, but…"
He wasn't ignoring her as she kept going, but he did have food cooking. Roxas moved the pancakes off the griddle and onto a large plate, then grabbed syrup and carried it over the table. Xion paused from her story as he approached. "Roxas, it looks delicious!"
"Seriously, I already had breakfast and my mouth is still watering," Lea said mournfully with his hands over his stomach.
Isa calmly picked up his own plate of long-finished food and stood up to clean it. "You don't have any time, your shift starts soon."
"What?! Come on Isa, it'll only take a sec!" Isa ignored him, and so Lea turned to the kids. "Roxas!"
Roxas and Xion glanced at each other, nodded, and then Roxas smirked as Xion giggled. "You heard him, Lea. Better get ready for work."
"Some friends you are!"
x-x-x
"Och aye, it's good to have yer help, lad."
There were two things Roxas wasn't used to when speaking with others: being taller than the other person, and – despite everything that had happened – talking to anthropomorphic animals. It just so happened that when he spoke with Scrooge McDuck, he experienced both. Donald's uncle was always smiling, but he also always had this air about him, something that told Roxas "if you make me waste even one munny you're out of here." Luckily Roxas had a wonderful guide to help him out in the kitchen today.
Little Chef came running along on the floor. It was a sight that would have made customers panic at any other restaurant, but at Le Grand Bistro a rat in the kitchen was an everyday occurrence. He hopped up into Roxas's open palm and gave his index finger a high-five. "Hey, Little Chef! I know I'm not as good a chef as Ignis, but I hope you'll work with me today all the same."
Little Chef gave a thumbs-up in response, and Scrooge cleared his throat. "Well I certainly hope so. I dunnae think we'll be too busy today, but all the same that doesn't mean ye should slack off. I expect ye to work as if this were your real job, my boy! If nothin' else, it'll be valuable experience for the future."
Roxas shrugged while Little Chef scampered up his arm onto the top of his head. "I'm used to high expectations for me. Don't worry about it, Mr. McDuck."
Lea laughed as he picked up his notepad. "Don't you worry about it, Mr. McD. I'll make sure Roxas makes the grade."
"If anything, I'd say Little Chef will be the one makin' sure of that."
Roxas tilted his head. "What do you mean by– Ow!" Little Chef tugged sharply on his hair, and Roxas's arms lifted up. Hey, he hadn't meant to lift them! "Wha–?!" Another painful tug, and against his will Roxas's legs lifted up. He began awkwardly walking over to the fridge amidst Lea's uproar of a laugh. "Um, Mr. McDuck?"
Even Scrooge was chuckling a little, though it was largely drowned out by Lea. "Now why would ye think he's called Little Chef if he weren't our chef? Ignis is who the lad's got the most affinity with, but anyone will do." He paused for a moment in thought and brought a hand to his chin. "Ye look about as awkward with it as Sora, though. I hope ye don't break as many eggs as that boy did."
Little Chef twisted his hair and Roxas's body spun around on one foot. "I can crack an egg just fine. If I'm not being controlled, anyway!"
Lea's laughter had died down by this point, at least a little. There was still a hint of in his voice as he spoke. "Come on, Roxas. You can't make an omelet without–"
"Finish that sentence and every broken egg will come out of your paycheck, mister!" Scrooge snapped. "Now get out there and work, the customers are startin' to come in!"
Lea gave a salute to Scrooge and a wave to Roxas, then headed out of the kitchen. Scrooge stopped at the doors and looked back. "Little Chef, I leave the boy in your care."
Little Chef didn't even wait for the door to close before he tugged painfully on Roxas once more and moved him over to a cabinet. "Alright, uh, what's our first one then?"
Sweet relief; at Roxas's question, Little Chef let go of his hair and jumped down onto the counter. He grabbed a cookbook and pushed it open, not without some effort, then excitedly pointed at the name of the dish he'd opened to. Roxas, on the other hand, was eyeing the rest of the page. Oh boy, the instructions were all in French. With a sigh, Roxas then looked up at the name.
"Ratatouille? Little Chef, I can't read the… Alright then." Little Chef had already started running up Roxas's arm again before he could even finish his sentence. Roxas sighed dejectedly as another painful tug on his hair caused his hand to reach for a knife. Thanks a lot Lea, this was going to be a long, painful day. When the heck was Ignis supposed to show up?
x-x-x
It was a couple hours past noon as Xion made her way through the streets of Twilight Town with a bag of workout clothes over her shoulder and sweat matting her hair to her face. Today's dance class had been fun, but like always it was quite the workout. Though that had actually been the initial reason she'd first tried the classes; without Organization missions or enemies to fight, she had wanted some way to stay active. Something else it helped with, which she hadn't exactly told the others, was that it kept her mind off of her recurring nightmares. And the good news was, on top of all of that she'd found that she just plain enjoyed dancing! And the new moves she'd wanted to try had gone well, too. She'd messed it up while practicing with Olette the other day, but pulled it off great today.
Xion rounded a corner onto Market Street, where she caught sight of a familiar little figure at one of the stalls that lined the street. Clad in blue and with a pointy yellow hat, the little kid strained to see over the counter of a candy shop.
"Vivi!"
The little boy stumbled back in shock as Xion called his name from behind, but luckily he caught himself before he toppled over onto the ground. Adjusting his cap, Vivi turned around and looked up at her with his "Oh! Hi, Xion."
"What are you up to today?" Xion set her bag down, then crouched down with her hands on her knees as she spoke to Vivi at eye level. He was a sweet kid, if a bit unaware at times. They'd first met when Xion had moved into town and found him playing alone in the sandlot. The group he'd hung out with had left town on a "warrior's journey" some weeks before then, apparently, and Vivi wasn't invited. The two had become fast friends, and sometimes Roxas would join in too though he'd privately admitted to Xion once that after some incident in the virtual Twilight Town Vivi kind of gave him the creeps. Xion didn't feel that way at all, though. Sure he looked a bit odd compared to everyone else, but he was just a sweet little kid underneath that oversized hat of his.
"I'm just trying to get some ice cream, but the shopkeeper isn't…" Vivi trailed off and looked up at the empty stall. Xion's gaze followed his. Yeah, there was no sign of anyone. "Grandpa Quan game me the munny for it too, but I guess I'll have to come back later."
"That's a real shame, huh? I don't know the last time I saw the candy shop unmanned." Xion stood up and shrugged. "I guess there's not much to do right now besides that, though." That really did suck though, she could go for some ice cream too.
"Sorry! Sooorrrrryy!"
A high-pitched voice made Xion and Vivi's heads turn. A Moogle was barreling through the shoppers of Market Street without any regard for them, and he was headed straight for the candy shop! Xion ducked down just as the Moogle zoomed overhead and flew into the stall. He stopped on a dime before crashing into the merchandise, then collapsed onto the counter, panting.
"Um…"
"Heeeyy! Wait for me!" Coming up behind the Moogle – and unlike the Moogle apologizing to everyone he bumped into – was Pence. When he reached the candy shop he leaned against the wall as he stopped to catch his breath. "I can't…fly…you know…"
"Sorry about that, kupo." The Moogle crawled up to his feet, fluffed his pom-pom with his hands, and then looked between Xion and Vivi. "What can I get you?"
"Um…" Xion repeated for the second time. She looked to Pence for an explanation.
Pence smiled apologetically. "I'm helping him out at the shop today. We just had to deliver a cake to a kid's birthday party though, sorry we left the shop unmanned. We were gone longer than expected." He paused then leaned to the side to look behind Xion. "Oh. Hey there, Vivi."
Vivi adjusted his hat. "H-Hello, Pence."
"Hello, kupo! What can I get you? Wait…" The Moogle leaned forward with…well, Xion wanted to call at an investigative stare, but with Moogle eyes always looking closed she couldn't tell. "Xion! It's good to see you again! I'm so glad everything worked out."
"Um, thanks?" Xion raised an eyebrow. The only shopkeepers she knew were Scrooge's nephews and the old woman who ran the ice cream shop she, Lea, and Roxas frequented. But that wasn't this shop. "And you are, um…?" He looked sort of familiar, but Moogles could be hard to tell apart.
"My name is of no importance, kupo."
"Oh!" Xion's hand flew to her mouth, and she grinned. "I didn't know you'd come to Twilight Town. Yeah, it is good to see you again."
"You know each other?" Vivi and Pence asked at the same time.
"Xion and Roxas are favorite customers of mine."
Her grin not fading, Xion rested her hands on her hips. "Does that mean we get a friends discount?"
"Nope, kupo!"
Xion lowered her head in defeat. Fair enough. "Well, okay then. Two ice creams. I'll have sea-salt, and Vivi…"
"Mint, please." Vivi reached into his pocket and pulled out his allowance, but Xion had already beaten him.
"Don't worry about it Vivi, I can pay for both of us."
"Are you sure?"
"Sure! I don't see why not." She handed over the munny, the Moogle handed over the ice creams, and Xion gave Vivi his green bar while taking a bite out of her blue. "Consider it a gift, okay?"
Even with his features hidden by the shadow of the brim of his hat, Xion could still see Vivi's eyes light up. "Thank you, Xion!" He took it the ice cream with glee and a bit of a spring in his step. "I should go see Grandpa now. Bye bye!"
"Bye, Vivi!" Xion waved after him, and when he almost tripped over his own two feet she added, "And be safe on your way back!"
But behind her, Pence spoke up with a questioning tone. "He's a good kid, but you ever feel something is off about him?"
Xion paused mid-bite. "…Not that I've seen, no. Why? Roxas said Vivi kind of creeps him out, but he also said that's because of an incident with Nobodies in the other Twilight Town. It's not like that's the real Vivi's fault."
Though Vivi was long gone, Pence still kept his eyes on the road where the little boy had run. "Yeah… I guess if you didn't know his story, you wouldn't think he was anything but a shy kid."
"His story?"
"As much as there is one, I guess. I don't even pretend to know everything." Pence shrugged. "It was maybe a little over a year before you guys all moved in? There was one night where the whole town was just covered in mist, thick like soup. Vivi showed up out of nowhere then, and no one knew where he'd come from so old man Quan took him in. And on top of that it took a while for him to start talking, let alone start emoting. Hayner always tried to avoid him because of that; still does, kind of."
Xion's ice cream was all but forgotten now. She too stared down the road where Vivi had run. That certainly did sound weird. And a little bit familiar too, especially the part where he took a while to develop emotions. Was Vivi a Nobody? No, he couldn't be. But then what was his story? He certainly didn't seem bothered by it, he was always cheerful even if shy…
"Hey Xion, your ice cream's melting."
"Oh!" Well that snapped her out of her thoughts. Xion licked the salty sweetness up before it got all over her hand, then picked up her bag. "Anyway, sorry Pence, I've got to run. Roxas and I are supposed to spar in the sandlot when he's done at the bistro."
"Sure. Keep up those key-sword skills of yours, alright?"
"Keyblade!" Xion said with a laugh. As she ran off she turned back to the Moogle. "It was good seeing you!"
The Moogle waved a stubby little hand. "You too, kupo! And Pence, stop lollygagging and get back to work!"
x-x-x
By the time the sun was starting to set, Roxas groaned and rubbed his scalp. He could still feel Little Chef tugging at him, and he wouldn't be surprised if some hair had gotten torn out with all that work today. Pretty much the moment Ignis had arrived Roxas had taken off. Still, he felt he did a pretty good job overall! Little Chef certainly seemed to like working with him. Though he didn't know how Scrooge felt, and after the pretty dramatic way he had screwed up the chocolate mousse, maaaybe it was better if he didn't see the old duck for a while.
"Hey! You ready?"
Across the sandlot, Xion stood proud with her hands on her hips and her feet planted firmly in the sand. Roxas shook his head and laughed. "I'm surprised you're so eager to do this after just having your dance classes today."
"Nothing wrong with a bit more exercise. Ready or not, here I come!" In a flash of light her Kingdom Key was in her hands and she was dashing toward him. Roxas cried out in shock and summoned Oathkeeper to block moments before she would have slammed the Keyblade upside his head.
"Give me some more warning!" With Oathkeeper fighting back against Kingdom Key, Roxas held his other hand out to his side. In one fluid motion Oblivion formed in a flash of black light and then swung at Xion, but Xion spun from the front of Roxas to his side to avoid it. Then she dropped to the ground, propped herself up with one hand, and swung her legs out from beneath her to trip Roxas up.
He was too blindsided to avoid it. Did she just breakdance in the middle of a fight?
While Roxas fell back into the sand, Xion was already back on her feet. Embers crackled to life at the tip of her Keyblade. She always was better at magic than him. When the Fire spell came flying his way, Roxas jumped up to his feet – and vanished. His body dissipated into particles of light that the fireball passed harmlessly through. The particles flew as one behind Xion, and an instant later the particles coalesced to form Roxas once again. From the air he brought Oathkeeper and Oblivion down as one, forming an X-shaped eruption of blue and gold flames on the ground where they slashed.
As the embers from the attack faded away Roxas held his two Keyblades in front of him with their hilts against each other. Xion may have been better at magic than he was, but he wasn't helpless at it. The two Keyblades spun in front of Roxas and from them came two spiraling bullets of blue and gold magic. Xion braced herself and knocked the one from Oblivion aside where it dissipated harmlessly, but Oathkeeper's slammed into her chest and sent her skidding back.
Roxas dropped to the ground and darted at Xion with his Keyblades held out to his sides. Both swung up at Xion to her right, but she swiftly brought her Kingdom Key up to block. So Roxas quickly pinned her Keyblade down with Oathkeeper and lifted Oblivion to swing at her shoulder. Xion in turn let go of her trapped Keyblade and dropped to the ground once more, this time raising her legs and kicking Roxas's swinging hand aside.
Roxas winced and shook his hand. The heel of her boot had collided with his wrist. "Did you seriously take those dance classes just to show off in a fight?"
Xion giggled and summoned her Keyblade back into her grip. "No, but they certainly help!"
She launched a handful of Blizzard spells forward, the ice chards racing through the air. Roxas splintered one, two, three with his Keyblades as he ran toward Xion, but he missed the fourth. It struck his right foot and froze him there on the spot. But with only one foot locked in place, Roxas's left side flew forward awkwardly. Xion avoided the slowed swing, more of a trip really, and darted toward Roxas with her Keyblade ready.
But it had been a feint. Once more Roxas vanished into the light, freeing him from Xion's ice. The light darted some yards away before reforming into Roxas's body, his Keyblades crossed in front of him. This time he struck Xion before she could block, then as she flinched he jumped away before she could retaliate. Once more: in, rapid strikes, out. Xion cast a Fire spell, but Roxas moved aside to avoid it. She sent another forward, and he dodged that one too. If there was one thing he was good at in a fight, it was never holding still.
Xion threw up Reflect to block another spiraling blue and gold blast; a wall of interlinking hexagons was all that Roxas's spell collided against. And this time when he charged in Xion met him head on. She brought her Keyblade up and blocked Oathkeeper, then down and blocked Oblivion, then – Roxas struck with Oblivion a second time, when Xion had expected Oathkeeper. Roxas watched as her Keyblade flew through the air and landed in the sand some distance away.
"Looks like I win–"
WHAM!
Roxas felt something large and hard slam into him, and the next thing he knew he was lying next to Xion's Keyblade while seeing stars.
"Sorry! Are you okay?!" Xion cried. Letting out a low groan, Roxas looked up to see Xion running toward him with a massive blue claymore in her hands. Isa's weapon disappeared in a flash of light and she dropped to her knees beside Roxas while casting Cure.
"Just...dazed," Roxas admitted as he felt the healing magic work through his system. "I should have seen that coming. My fault for taking my eyes off the fight."
Xion sighed in relief. "Yeah, I guess so. I should have warned you it was coming, though."
Roxas sat up and crossed his legs. Xion moved from kneeling to sitting beside him, too. He shook his head. "Nah. I knew you could do that, so like I said: I should have seen it coming. Being able to copy weapons is handy, isn't it?"
"I guess so." Xion shrugged and stared down at her palm. Roxas watched a familiar look of focus and thoughtfulness cross her features, and then in an instant a bat wing-shaped sword appeared in her grasp. It disappeared soon after in a cloud of darkness, which was quickly replaced by a flash of light as she settled on the Kingdom Key. "I prefer my Keyblade overall, though. It's just what I'm used to."
Roxas nodded. "I can't say I blame you for that."
Xion's ability to copy weapons and powers was… Well, it was something that Roxas had known about for a while, obviously, given everything that had happened in Organization XIII. But it wasn't until this second life of theirs that both of them truly came to realize how in-depth it could go. Any weapon that Xion held onto for a decent length of time – like how she had borrowed Roxas's Keyblade for several missions back in the Organization – was a weapon she could replicate and use herself. She had wielded Isa's claymore against Sora, Lea, and Kairi while she was still one of Xehanort's vessels, and she had copied some others during that time too. But the Keyblade was hers.
Roxas stood up, then held out a hand to help Xion to her feet. "What do you say we head home? I don't know about you, but I'm starving."
Xion dismissed her Keyblade and nodded. "Yeah, sounds good. And when Axel gets off work we can go to the clock tow–"
"H-HELP!"
A panicked scream came from the direction of the Tram Common, and both of them turned to it as one. Even if their weapons had just vanished, they already were in their hands again. A man neither Roxas nor Xion recognized ran into the sandlot in a wide-eyed panic, and continued running past the two of them while crying out for help to anyone who'd listen. "Monsters! At the mansion! Those white creatures are in town again!"
Roxas felt a chill run down his spine. "Nobodies?!"
Ahead of him, Xion was already moving toward the entrance to the woods. "Roxas, hurry!"
Scrooge's accent always has and probably always will give me trouble.
Thanks for reading! I can't gush enough about how much I loved that Xion was using the claymore and berserk mode in KH3. It opens up so much potential for her fight scenes. Power copying characters are so much fun to work with. As for Roxas's light dodge, that really is something he had in 3 too. Xion incorporating dancing into her fighting, well yeah, that's new. I wanted to differentiate her style from Sora's. What do you think?
