Okay...so this chapter for some reason was hard to get through, I was having some writers block with it, but I tried my best and got through it.
Thanks to everyone who has been reading this story, I am glad you all are enjoying it.
Ch.11 Seashells and More!
A few days had passed since Roxas had fallen asleep, and he still hadn't woken up, though Maxine and Xion would make sure to go and visited Roxas after every mission. When the two weren't visiting Roxas, they were out on missions, Saix had let Maxine go with Xion on all her missions, just as long as she made sure to also helped out.
One day when Xion went to get her mission, she was told that they would be visiting a a new world. Xion looked over the paper with the world information on it as Maxine sat on one of the couches.
"So where are we going?" Maxine asked.
"A world called Destiny Islands," Xion replied.
"Sounds pretty. Let's go already!" Maxine said as she jumped up and down.
Xion smiled, "Alright, calm down." Xion opened up a corridor of darkness and they walked through. When they exited out of the portal and into the world, they both gasped in amazement. They had exited out onto a island, looking out at the ocean that seemed to stretch on forever.
"Wow! We're at the beach!" Maxine cheered and she ran to the shoreline, splashing in the water as the waves washed up.
"We're not here to play Maxine, we are here to do some recon," Xion said as she looked over the recon list in her hands
"Aww…" Maxine frowned as she walked back over to Xion.
"It's really peaceful here though, doesn't seem to have any signs of Heartless," Xion said as she walking around.
"What do we do when there's no Heartless?" Maxine asked, followed right by Xion's side, holding on to her hand.
"We check out the area and then head back," Xion replied as they walked around the island.
They walked for a little bit, looking for any signs of Heartless or anything. But after several minutes of exploring, they didn't find anything. They had started to head back to where the portal was, and decided to walk right along the shoreline. Maxine happily giggled everytime the water washed up to them and then went back. But before they got back to the portal, Xion stopped and started down at the sand.
"Xion? Are you okay?" Maxine said.
"Yeah...I just saw this," Xion said as she reached down and picke up a pretty blue, round seashell. "It's so beautiful." Xion brushed off the sand from the shell and inspected it.
"Here's another one," Maxine exclaimed as she picked up another from the sand, this one though was a shade of pink. "Can we take these back with us?"
Xion smiled at Maxine, "Of course we can."
"Oh! We should show them to Roxas…" Maxine smiled, but then it faded away, "But he's still sleeping probably…"
Xion looked at the shell in her hand a little bit longer before looking over at Maxine, "Hey Maxine, what if we brought these back for Roxas? So when he wakes up he sees them, then we can tell him all about this place."
Maxine smiled again, "Yay! I like that idea!"
Xion and Maxine then headed back to the portal to The Castle That Never Was. Once they returned they headed to Roxas's room, where he still laid asleep. Xion and Maxine approached his bedside and carefully placed their shells on his bed, next to the pillow.
"Why is he sleeping for so long…" Maxine asked quietly.
Xion shook her head, "I don't know. But we'll come and see him again tomorrow, okay?"
Maxine nodded as they walked out of Roxas's room "Can we get some ice cream now?" Maxine asked. Even though Roxas wasn't there to join them, the girls would still go and eat ice cream on the clock tower each day, while watching the sunset.
"Alright, let's go. But when we get back I have to fill out the report on the the world we went to, okay?" Xion asked as they walked.
Maxine nodded, "Okay."
The two went out and enjoyed their ice cream, but both felt it wasn't the same without Roxas being there. The days went on and Roxas still didn't wake, though after every mission, Xion and Maxine had they would visit Destiny Island to pick up a shell and bring it to Roxas.
One day before Xion received the mission for the day, Saix informed everyone that all the members that were at Castle Oblivion had been terminated. Hearing these words Maxine ran off to her room, looking very distraught. After Xion completed her mission on her own she went and visited Maxine her in room. She found Maxine curled up on her bed, with her knees against her chest.
"Hey Maxine, are you okay?" Maxine asked as she sat on the edge of the bed.
"Axel's gone...and he promised me he would come back…" Maxine muttered.
"Oh...I'm sorry…" Xion said, not really sure how to comfort Maxine.
"He was my first friend…" Maxine said as she sat up and looked at Xion, "What do I do now?"
Xion sighed, "I don't know, but I am here for you, remember? I am here for you,"
Maxine nodded and hugged Xion, "Thank you Xion."
More days passed and the girls continued the missions, getting a shell, and bringing it back to Roxas. After many days had passed there was at least twenty different shells laying on Roxas's bedside. Then one day Xion and Maxine had finished the mission, and they headed to Destiny Islands to pick up another shell. They walked along the shore, looking for a nice shell to bring back to Roxas.
"How about this one?" Maxine asked as she picked up a spiral shaped shell. This one was a little larger than the other shells that they had brought back, but it was just a pretty.
Xion took the shell and looked over it, she then placed the shell up to her ear and closed her eyes. A small smile spread across her face "Yeah this will do."
"Why were you listening to the shell?" Maxine asked.
"Here, listen for yourself," Xion said as she held the shell out for Maxine.
Maxine placed the shell right up against her ear and gasped, "Wow that's cool! It sounds like the oceans inside the shell"
"Yeah, it's pretty neat," Xion said as she placed the shell back into pocket of her cloak.
"Alright! Let's go get ice cream now!" Maxine cheered.
Xion chuckled as they headed back to the portal. They went back to Twilight Town and ready to buy their ice cream when Xion looked over at the clock tower and noticed something.
"There's someone sitting up there," Xion said as she squinited to try and see if she could see who it was.
"Let's go see who it is then, 'cause that's our ice cream spot," Maxine stated as she headed to the clock tower.
The girls made their way up the clock tower, and when they got to the top they were surprised who they saw sitting there.
"Roxas?!" Xion and Maxine asked at the same time.
Roxas turned to look over at them, "Xion… Maxine… What happened to me?"
"You were sleeping for a long time. Saïx said there was no telling when you might wake up…" Xion explained as she and Maxine walked over to Roxas. Maxine sat down next to Roxas's left while Xion said down on his other said. "But I am glad you did." Xion said once she had sat down.
"I'm glad you woke up too," Maxine added in.
"I kinda feel like a zombie, though," Roxas said, causing everyone to chuckle a little.
Xion then reached into her pocket and pulled out the seashell and held it out to Roxas, "Maxine and I brought you this,"
"Huh?" Roxas said taking it and looking at it.
"It's a seashell. Maxine and I have been picking one up on every mission. Hold it up to your ear." Xion instructed.
Roxas placed the shell up to his ear and listened, "I can hear the ocean."
"Isn't it so cool?" Maxine asked with a giggle, "It's like a mini ocean!"
"Yeah...cool…" Roxas said as he looked at the shell in his hands.
The three then watched the sunset, as they had done the time before. Afterwards they headed back to the castle and headed to bed, to prepare for the next day. After that Saix said that Xion's missions were going to be longer and that Maxine couldn't join her on them anymore. At first Maxine was upset about it, but soon felt better knowing she could then join Roxas on his missions. The two then went on missions for the next several days and afterwards would head to the clock tower, but Xion never showed up.
Soon a little over twenty days had passed, Roxas and Maxine had just finished up a mission of destroying some shadow globs around Twilight Town. They were just walking back to the portal when they heard a voice behind them.
"Hey Roxas! Maxine!"
The two turned around and they couldn't believe who they saw in front of them. It was Axel!
"What's the matter? Looks like you two have seen a ghost," Axel said as he walked closer.
Maxine just stared at Axel with wide eyes, not saying anything. But Roxas looked a little confused and said, "Axel? But...I thought you were gone! Castle Oblivion...the whole team was annihilated…"
"Correction: the weaklings were annihilated," Axel stated.
"You had us worried," Roxas said as he pointed to himself and them Maxine, who still was staring at Axel.
"Worried? Well, that's a neat trick, considering you guys haven't got a heart to feel with," Axel chuckled.
"W-wait here. I'll go buy us some ice cream!" Roxas said as he ran off.
Axel watched him run off and then felt someone grab onto his cloak. He looked down to see Maxine gripping his cloak and staring at the ground. He placed a hand on her hand, "Hey Maxine."
"You lied…" Maxine murmured.
"What?" Axel asked, looking a little confused.
Maxine looked up at him with big sad eyes, "You promised me you would come back...but then I thought you were gone! You pinky promised!"
"Oh…" Axel said with a sigh. He then squatted down to be at Maxine's eye level. "I'm sorry I made you think that Maxine. But I am back now, I kept my promise didn't I?"
"Yeah..." Maxine said with smile before throwing her arms around Axel, giving him a hug. "I'm glad you're back Axel." After she gave her hug, she smiled, "Let's go get ice cream now!"
Axel smiled back as he stood back up, "Alright let's go." He turned and started walking when he felt Maxine hold on to his hand. Though this time he didn't mind that she held on to his hand.
"I can't believe that I actually missed having this kid follow me around…" Axel though to himself as they walked. "I still feel responsible for her becoming a Nobody….but I still want to look out for her. I want to be there for her...like a big brother."
And that wraps up chapter 11. Axel's back yay!
I got nothing else really to say, but I will try to update this story when I can, I am currently going through a bunch of my stories trying to update them. So I'll get back to this eventually. Hope you all enjoyed!