After finding Roxas and Nadia, the four pushed their way through the crowd, til they found a spot on the third row.
"I'm so nervous for them!" Xion repeated while squeezing Roxas' hand.
"Relax," Nadia leaned in to join their conversation. "If she's as any good as Riku said, Namine will like bring the house down."
"Still, they lost a lot of people from last year, I hope they do well." Roxas sighed. They continued chatting about random things, til the lights started dimming and a hush fell over the crowd.
Axel entered front stage, powerful and charismatic, Xion didn't know much about the myth of Perseus, but Axel seemed to fit the role well.
"He's awesome!" She whispered to Roxas about a third of the way through the show. He just nodded in reply, beaming with pride.
Throughout the play, Xion would catch glimpses of Namine, mainly just acting in the background, but it made her so happy. Riku and Roxas seemed tried of her random spottings, but Nadia always joined in.
Eventually, Xion started to get a bit sleepy, what with the dark lights and all, so she leaned her head against Roxas' shoulder for support.
"Wake me up, if I doze off." She told him, but for some reason she didn't get an answer.
Just when the play seemed to be dragging on, Perseus finally entered Medusa's lair. When Xion saw Namine she gasped in awe. She wore an ornate crown of snakes and a scaly, shiny green dress. Whoever had done her make-up was a genius, for her sweet twin really resembled a deadly gorgon.
As usual, Xion thought her performance was amazing, creepily trying to coax out Axel. She was ready to start a riot when Axel cut her head off, but then she remembered her place, and that she rather not be known as that girl getting worked up over a play.
For the rest of the play, Xion enjoyed the decent special effects. Pride welled up in her for Axel as he pulled Andromeda, an Indian looking girl, in for a kiss and the curtains fell.
When the cast came out, she was the first to stand up. "Bravo!" She shouted as the others joined her, laughing and clapping. The actors bowed, and Xion thought she had never been more proud of Axel and Namine than then.
"They were perfect," She turned to Roxas, beaming.
"It was, despite all the mistakes in the myth they made."
"But that made it better!" She laughed while poking him in the chest. He blushed at that, making Xion laugh even more. As the applause started to die down, Xion couldn't help but think things in her life had never been more perfect.
After the play was over, Namine was still breathless. It had been amazing, there were no words to describe it.
"You did great, Namine," She turned to see Axel approaching her, fidgeting in his costume.
"You were great too," She messed with her snake crown. They hadn't talked much about that day in the cafe. Instead they skipped around it, acting like everything was fine. Namine thought it was a generational thing, pretending not to notice the way things were falling apart.
"Listen, in a little, we're gonna go out for some food. Do you want to come along, or is Vexen not cool with that?"
She knew all the hidden words between his question. Before they had been so close, and that bond hadn't faded away completely. Namine saw the little sorrys squeezed in, Axel could be proud and this was the closest she'd get to an apology.
"Eh, I guess." She shrugged. It still pissed her off, he had just disappeared from the Clock Tower, only to come back and lecture her. It still felt like betrayal the way he had distanced himself from them, except for Drama Club.
"Cool," With that, the redhead left, probably to congratulate others on their roles.
So Namine went back to changing out of her costume, it was less comfortable than it looked. It was a lengthy process, and by the time she was through, Mercedes, a Junior friend of her, was yelling it was time to leave.
"I'll be five minutes, you go to your car, I'll catch up." Mercedes groaned in frustration at her excuse, but complied. As she said, Namine was rushing out to follow her, when she heard a familiar someone call her name.
"Yo Namine!" They smiled as they ran to catch up with her, bringing that annoying girl.
"Can't talk Riku, my ride's waiting." She moved to leave, but Nadia caught her hand.
"Oh my gosh, you were awesome, like Broadway material, no joke! I'm Nadia, we have Geometry together. Anyway you must be so brave to go up there! I could never do it, you know I say like like a thousand times like you get it?" She laughed while talking a mile a minute.
"I remember you." She quickly detached herself from Nadia, confused over why she was being so nice. "But like I said, Mercedes is waiting."
"Before you leave, can you at least tell me what's ticking you off?" Riku asked.
"What do you mean?"
"You've been kinda weird lately, Namine." They sighed. "And knowing me, it's my fault. I don't want a friend hating me, so please just spit it out." Light blue eyes begged.
It was true, even at her worst she had never hated them. Sure she had been jealous, had resented them for not feeling the same, but she could never hate a friend, when for years she had only dreamed of one.
A car honked in the distance, probably Mercedes, that impatient loser. "I have to go." She replied. Still before she left the building she turned and said, "But I don't hate you."
It's late when he heard Axel stumble into their room. "What took you so long?" Roxas looked up from his AP World textbook.
"You know how the seniors always go off for fun," Axel replied before yawning and sitting on his bed. "We spent a lot of time talking, 'bout the future and all." He sighed, scratching his head. "Whatcha been up to?"
"Eh, studying for the test Monday," It was strange, they had never been big on small talk. They were close, but their closeness didn't come anywhere near the familiarity the twins had. "Xion's missed you. You never seem to come to the Clock Tower anymore."
"Oh yeah..." He acted like he had just remembered all their days of fun and friendship. "You know I've learned a lot about myself. All my life I've been constantly surrounded by people, and I've never really experienced solitude. But these last few months, I've tried being alone, and it's not that bad." Emerald eyes held an unfamiliar somberness.
"I've thought a lot, 'bout and life in general, and I'm going to Oblivion University." The news hit Roxas like a semi truck.
"Since when? I thought you and Saix were gonna stay in Twilight Town and go to WTNW?"
"I did too." Axel sighed again. "You know I love him, I really do, but I need my space. WTNW was always his dream not mine. Oblivion is offering me of all people a scholarship! They have a great theater department, but I'll still have room to branch out if things don't work out." He seemed so happy, talking about this strange college, Roxas had barely heard of. So unlike the past, when he dreaded the future.
"It's amazing Roxas, but it wouldn't have taken so long to decide if there weren't drawbacks."
"Oh man, Saix..." Saix the cold senior Roxas still barely knew after all the years. The one who slaved away and scared Axel with how hard he'd push himself. What would he say, seeing his dream crumble to dust?
"When are you telling him?" Blue eyes turned serious.
"Tomorrow, and I'm gonna tell him it's better if we take a break from each other, so he don't have to force something later that's not there."
Roxas cursed in shock of the discovery. "Am I the first one to know this?"
"Yeah." Axel answered. "I may not have been acting like it lately, but I'm your older brother. I raised your nerdy butt just as much as Mom and Dad did. It seems fitting you know."
Roxas grinned, memories dancing before him. "Well I want you to know I'm here for you and your complicated love life."
"Right back at you," Axel winked before rolling over to face the wall. "After all, that's what brothers are for."
It's 9, when Xion woke up, lights flashing on and off.
"Why'd you wake me up Namine?" She yawned as she rubbed her eyes.
"Do I look like your sister?" A cold voice sliced through the silence. She cracked one eye open to see Vexen standing in the doorway.
"Anyway, I was instructed to pick up your sister at this 'Mercedes' house at 6, however I'll be busy all day, you'll have to do that yourself."
Xion held back a snarky comment, not missing the way he referred to Namine as if she was a stranger. "Alright, Vexen."
"Very well," With that he turned and left, quick and efficient.
Well this sucked, Xion couldn't go back to sleep after that rude awakening, so she threw on a shirt and headed downstairs for some sort of breakfast.
As she munched on a muffin, it occurred to her she had never heard of a Mercedes. Namine had a friend she didn't know.
"She has a life, unlike you," Those intrusive thoughts whispered to her.
"Shut up!" She growled in frustration.
"It's not like it's anything new, you wouldn't be friends with the Osburns if it wasn't for her," Xion could feel her old demons coming out to rip and tear at her mind. "And face it, they have much more important people in their lives then a useless mistake like you."
"That's not true," Maybe she was going mad, but she need to feel each syllable to believe they were true. "I'm not a useless mistake, Namine needs me," Ever since they were young, she had been her protector. Even when the younger sister couldn't protect her from those stinging words, Xion was there to kiss her and make everything better.
"Funny, she doesn't seem to need you now," That was it, she was stopping this war in her head. Xion stomped back upstairs, pulling out her cheap MP3 player, Demyx had bought her. She popped in a pair of earbuds, trying to forget everything but the dancing melodies.
Still, something felt off. No song was right, they all made her feel reckless. So she pulled up YouTube, hoping cat videos would make her smile.
It didn't work, neither did writing, nor TV, nor those silly bracelets she made with Roxas.
"What's wrong with me?" She idly twirled Roxas' gift from February around a finger.
"It's because your life is so empty. Nothing you like is fulfilling, and nobody cares about you enough to notice."
"That's not true!" Blue eyes shimmered as she remembered Roxas' tone when she called him on one of her bad days. God, she wanted to talk to him, wanted him to wrap his arms around her form, and hold her gently.
Instinctively, her hand reached for Namine's phone. Xion had to will herself to not pick it up. This was her problem, she can't burden anyone else with it.
So she just sat there, wondering how after such a magical day, she could fall so far.
A.N. Why can't I end a chapter happily anymore? Anyway here's some much needed Akuroku interactions