Chapter Four: Freedom With A Curfew
An encounter that Roxas would have thought to be awkward now has him following the same four students that he had shunned earlier. He had told them, more or less, that their friendship was an unwanted social suicide, yet here they are, walking him around school again as if nothing had ever happened.
"Aren't you guys mad?" He finally asks out of confusion.
"Tch… You're still thinking about that?" Hayner laughs and shakes his head.
"We get that kind of thing every day." Pence nods. The five of them approach the large, black steel gate of the school. Hayner looks up and takes a deep breath.
"Ah… freedom." He smiles, "And the only thing that stands in our way is a giant gate with an intense locking system."
"But you guys didn't bring me this way just to tell me that, right?" Roxas says.
"You're catching on!" Pence says with a finger raised.
"The school has one of the most high tech containing systems around." Olette smiles, "But it does have its weak points."
"Containing system?" Roxas questions the wording.
"Come 'ere!" Hayner gestures and runs off to the side. Following the wall surrounding the school, the five students eventually find themselves in a very small path behind a brick building. The path has overgrown grass that is pressed down in places by the frequent trudging of sneakers and boots.
"The staff don't come back here." Hayner whispers with a grin.
"Are we behind the girls' dorm?" Roxas raises an eyebrow.
"Yep." Olette nods, "But it's closed off so that you can't get here from the front of the dorm, only the way we just came."
"And check this out." Hayner motions for Roxas to follow him, and then gestures behind a large rock. Roxas looks to see a sewer grate creating a hole in the school wall, barred up by several rusty bars. As he looks on, Pence moves in front and removes one of the bars, creating an easy escape from the school. Grinning, Pence and Hayner swerve past the remaining bars and leave the school. Olette gestures for Roxas to go next, and then she and Sora follow him out.
"We're… outside?" Roxas blinks, looking on in wonder at the brown and tan houses and the buildings further off in the distance that mark Twilight Town.
"That's right!" Hayner grins, brushing a cocky hand against his nose.
"From here it's just a short walk to get to the main part of town." Olette points.
"There are a lot of shops and cool stuff there too." Pence grins.
"And ice cream!" Sora jumps in the air in excitement.
"And that's what I'm craving." Hayner smiles. He pauses for a moment as a grin begins to form on his face, "Last one there buys!" With that, he runs down the dirt road towards the buildings.
"Hey wait!" Roxas frowns as the others join in the race. Deciding that he has very few options, he chases after them.
Dashing down the road, hopping over curbs, and dodging people, Roxas catches up to the four others who have, at this point, stopped. Hayner, Pence, Sora and even Olette who had joined in last, all managed to outrun him and are now standing at a set of stairs.
"Figured we'd wait for you." Hayner smiles, "We wouldn't be great tour guides leaving you behind like that."
"I don't have any money…" Roxas huffs.
"What do you mean?" Sora asks with a tilt of his head.
"You said the last one pays." He says, catching his breath, "I didn't bring any money."
"Oh, that was a joke." Olette laughs.
"Yeah," Hayner agrees, "I brought enough for the five of us."
"Have you ever ridden the train?" Sora aks.
"The train?" Roxas frowns, "No… I'm not from around here."
"Well you'll get to ride it now." Hayner smirks, leading the group up a staircase, "We have to take it to get into town." When they get to the top of the staircase, they just manage to catch a train bound in the direction they want to go. With a jerk, the train begins to move and Roxas takes a seat by the window. He's heard about Twilight Town's famous elevated railroads, but he had never ridden one before now. The view is amazing as Roxas can see islands out on the water past the town. The place where the sky meets the water emits a dream like green glow, and for a moment, Roxas forgets that there's anyone else aboard with him.
"So if you're not from around here…" Pence startles Roxas out of his daze, "Then you probably haven't tried sea salt ice cream, huh?"
"No…" Roxas says plainly. Sea salt ice cream is another thing he had heard about a while back. Yet another thing that Twilight Town is famous for. I guess it may look good that I went to a school here someday, Roxas thinks.
"Man!" Hayner laughs, "You haven't had sea salt ice cream? No wonder you're so mopey all the time!"
"It's really good!" Sora smiles. Roxas doesn't like Hayner's assessment, but Sora's comment seams to ease him a bit. They arrive at a station, and when they exit the train, Roxas can see that it is a rather large place with multiple tracks for incoming and outgoing locomotives.
"Station Plaza!" Pence says enthusiastically, "At the peak of Station heights, this is the pinnacle of the best transportation in all of Twilight Town!" The five kids walk out of the station, which upon exiting, Roxas realizes is built into a very large clock tower, "Station Heights is the homeland of the triple Ts." Pence goes on, his charisma sounds like a commercial ad.
"Triple Ts?" Roxas and Sora inquire together.
"Twilight Town Tourists." Hayner clarifies, apparently on the same page as Pence, "They love coming here because of all the shops and the clock tower." They all stroll down a well paved, down hill path, bustling with many people. Shops with outside counters are built into the walls, and stands are set up where people are advertising various things. The whole area is a bit louder than Roxas is accustomed to, but it isn't bothering him as much as he would think.
Hayner leads them all past the shops and to the bottom of the sloped path into a wide-open area with trams driving about here and there. He steps up to a shop with pictures of Ice Cream and sweets around the sides.
"Ah, Hayner!" The man inside smiles, "Four as usual?"
"Five actually." Hayner gestures to Roxas, "We've got a newcomer today."
"Well, well!" The man smiles at Roxas who makes no attempt to smile back, "Nice to meet you, newcomer."
"This is Roxas." Hayner says, pointing, "Roxas, this is Biggs."
"Hey…" Roxas says as usual.
"Well." Biggs turns around and rummages through a large freezer, "Five it is. Here you go!" He hands out five popsicles to the group. Roxas examines it, questioning the blue coloring. After Hayner pays, he gives a casual wave to the ice cream man and begins to walk again. Roxas thinks that they're going to go back up the busy path until Hayner takes a different path that leads them through a sandy lot and into an alleyway. The brown eyed boy steps into the corner of the alley and pushes open a chain link door on a fence.
"Where are we?" Roxas questions as they step inside. It is a somewhat well furnished room for being in an alleyway, with a dartboard on the wall and remnants of an unfinished card game on the table.
"This is our hang out spot." Olette says and then turns to Pence, "And I told you that our cards would still be here."
"I just don't think it's safe leaving them lying around is all." Pence shrugs, taking a seat on a comfy looking couch.
"Not a bad place." Roxas says, sitting on a chair as the others all take seats too.
"Yeah." Pence smiles, "It even has a radiator so we can hang out here in the winter."
"Spiffy!" Sora adds.
"The best part is that everyone knows it's our turf." Hayner smiles, his arms propped up on the back of his chair, ice cream in his mouth.
Roxas takes his first lick of the sea salt ice cream. Immediately he can tell that it's one of his favorite flavors. It's a taste that's difficult to describe. Kinda salty and kinda sweet. No wonder Twilight Town is famous for it.
"So…" Roxas says after another lick, "Do a lot of people know about how to get out of school?"
"A few of the students do." Hayner shrugs, "But we keep it quiet to prevent any of the prefects from finding out."
"They'd seal it up for good!" Pence agrees.
"I suppose it's not all that safe to leave." Olette decides out loud, "I mean, you have to get back before curfew or you're sealed out."
"What about the way we came out?" Roxas questions.
"The school's got a barrier." Pence shrugs, "Kind of an electric field that they turn on at night. Pretty high tech stuff."
"You can get out through it," Hayner begins, "but you can't get back in. Not until they shut it off the next day."
"Geez…" Roxas frowns in disgust, "They really want to punish students that bad?"
"It's not about the punishment." Olette shakes her head, "It's about safety. In fact, a lot of parents send their kids to this school because of how safe it is. Especially since the Heartless started making trouble." It just suddenly clicks in Roxas' head why the name Sunset Hill was so familiar. He had heard about the Heartless in the past, but he thought it was just a rumor.
"The Heartless?" Roxas questions, hoping it was a joke.
"Don't feel bad." Sora says, "I don't really know who they are either."
"They're an occult group." Pence says in his best spooky voice, "They haven't done anything too close to where we are, but they say that there have been kidnappings and such further out."
"Seriously!?" Sora says in an over dramatic way, shoving his hands over his mouth.
"What a great place for a school…" Roxas says sarcastically.
"Well that's why the field's so important." Olette points out, "They usually only turn it on at night, but it can go on whenever they need it. If something bad ever were to happen, it would be safest there."
"I guess so…" Roxas admits, "But we'd better be back before curfew."
"Don't worry, buddy," Hayner smiles, "We do this all the time. Now lets stop talking about school, it's depressing."
Roxas looks awkwardly back and forth at the people around him. He's not used to doing things like this. In fact, this may be the first time that he's intentionally 'hung out' with people. Part of him wonders what it will do to his image.
"Thanks…" He says out of nowhere, "for the ice cream. It must've cost you."
"Nah…" Hayner waves his hand in a dismissive way, "You remember that guy out there? Biggs?"
"Yeah?" Roxas nods.
"Well he's a little connection I have here in the town. Even though I'm not supposed to be out of school, he finds work for me and pays for it."
"Isn't that child labor?" Roxas inquires with an accusatory look.
"Meh." Hayner shrugs, "Labor with benefits. He even gives me a discount on the ice cream."
"Do you like it by the way?" Olette looks at Roxas.
"Oh yeah! You haven't had it before!" Sora gets excited.
"Yeah…" Roxas nods slowly, "Yeah, it's pretty good."
"Glad to hear it." Hayner smiles, kicking himself up out of his seat, "We oughta head back now. Don't forget we got a train ride on the way."
The five kids stroll down the streets of Twilight Town and finally up the path towards Station Plaza. It's not as busy now as it had been earlier, and the sky has become just a little darker while they were inside. When they enter the plaza, they aren't as lucky as they were the first time, and they end up having to wait for the next train to come in. While they are waiting, Roxas fidgets a bit and then finally looks up at the others.
"I've been thinking about it, guys…" He begins and hesitates, "I really wouldn't mind hanging out with you all."
"It'd be a bit too late if you actually did." Hayner laughs, but Roxas looks gloomy.
"That's… not really what I meant." He looks at Hayner, "I know you guys are trying to make me feel better, but I was a jerk earlier. I guess I'm just not used to all this…"
"Don't worry about it." Pence gives him a thumbs up.
"We'd love to be friends with you." Olette smiles. Roxas blushes a little bit as he had tried to avoid the word friendship. He's still not used to this kind of thing, but he's starting to decide that it really isn't all that bad.
"Sure…" Roxas says after a moment, "Friends." The train pulls into the station and everyone gets situated into their seats. As it makes its way back towards Sunset Hill, Roxas watches the fading sunlight on the water and the islands. Feeling the warmth on his face left over from the blush and still tasting the sea salts ice cream in his mouth, Roxas decides that it really is time to make a new start.
The group leaves the train, this time walking the path leading back to the school. They slip back into the school, replacing the rusty bar after them, and then move along the wall back to the main gate.
"Have a goodnight guys." Olette waves before heading off towards the girls' dorm.
"Goodnight! See you tomorrow!" Sora waves after her.
"Keep it down." Hayner frowns, "I think we may have just made curfew, so I don't want to get caught by any of the stingy prefects who could still be lingering about." The four boys sneak their way back to their dorm and finally part ways inside. Sora and Roxas step into their room, and as Sora begins to get changed into the same pair of pajamas as the previous night, he gives Roxas an odd look. Roxas has climbed up onto his bed already, still fully clothed. His chains make a clinking sound as he lies back with his arms behind his head.
"You're gonna sleep like that again?" Sora makes a sort of slanted frown.
"Yeah." Roxas nods, "I'll change into something else tomorrow morning."
"Somebody's really gotta get you some bed clothes." He shakes his head, slipping on his PJs and climbing into bed.
"By the way, Sora?" Roxas says up on his bed.
"Yeah?"
"Now that there's two of us in here, we have to split up the space a little."
"Oh…" Sora considers this, "You can get half the room, okay?"
"Sounds fair." Roxas nods, "So can I take down some of your stuff?"
"Yeah just leave it on the stool over there." Sora points off to a pile of miscellaneous stuff in the corner that is apparently built over a stool.
"Thanks, Sora." Roxas smiles.
"Did you have fun today?" Sora inquires with a yawn.
"Yeah…" Roxas says softly. The light flicks off as Sora yawns again.
"That's good." He says, closing his eyes. Roxas stares at the stars on the ceiling and all of the good feelings he got out of the day lead him back to a single unexpected thought: Axel reading poetry. Not even registering the fact that his roommate has begun to snore, Roxas lets out one last, soft response as he closes his eyes.
"Yeah…"