AN: So, I hope you feel spoiled by all these chapters in a day. This chapter is called Interlude because that's what it is. Don't worry, Axel will be back soon enough.

(Also, one computer has died between this chapter and the last chapter we complained about dead computers. Dead computer count is 3. I think)

Chapter 13: Interlude

Roxas lay on the sofa staring at the ceiling, listening to the sounds coming from the TV that was all but forgotten. Roxas hadn't been following the program airing for a moment now, it didn't matter if he paid any attention since there was nothing but reruns and an occasional word here and there allowed him to replay the episode in his head whenever he wanted.

Nobody had logged in all day and Roxas knew some of his friends would be away for an undetermined length of time – the joys of summer and families that took their children on travels to the other side of the world. Cloud, he and Sora had all gotten used to travelling when they'd been younger and at least Roxas wasn't envious about the thought of his friends taking sun on some faraway beach. He enjoyed the thought of staying in one place for once for a whole summer, Mum and Dad stuck abroad most of the year didn't encourage them to pack their suitcases and get going the moment they found time together as a family. The fact that Roxas didn't feel the need to travel didn't change the fact that other did and Hayner, Pence and Olette were all out of town, would be for five days more, and it was only Roxas and Sora and too many of Sora's not so little circle of friends that stayed behind.

"Sora," Roxas sighed and turned to look over the couch's back to see what his cousin was up to. "I'm bored."

Sora lifted his eyes from the magazine he had been reading sprawled on the floor. "You do look like you're starting to gather moss any minute now," Sora stated and returned to reading, but he didn't hide his smile very well.

If there had been a pillow to throw, Roxas would've known the perfect way to wipe that smirk away, but on as there wasn't he had to settle at glaring. "I need time to make friends and there's no reason for me to be an over-social-weirdo like you," he said and got Sora's attention.

"Come on, there has to be someone who's willing to spend time even with you," Sora said and did not manage not laughing at his own joke. Roxas pretended to throw a pillow and Sora pretended to dodge after what both smiled warmheartedly.

"Do you think I'd have called someone already if-" And then it hit Roxas. He had Naminé. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to cover his realisation.

Sora turned his attention back to the magazine. "I knew it. Now stop complaining and call who-ever-the-hell-he-or-she-is. I'm going out with Kairi and Riku within the next hour."

In no time Roxas was sitting on their sofa staring at his self-phone. What was he going to tell Naminé? After all, it had been almost a month since they had talked. Roxas couldn't believe he had forgotten about her. He had just been so happy to be able to spend more time with his old friends that he had forgotten about his new ones. New one. And only when his old friends were unavailable would he call to Naminé. He was such a terrible friend.

It was still possible, that Naminé had something else to do. He probably hadn't given any need to wait his call. Most likely she had given up on hope, if there had been any, that he would want her company long time ago.

Roxas shook his head. The only way to really know if Naminé was interested in spending time with him was to call her and ask. In the worst case scenario Naminé had something else to do and Roxas would continue lying on his sofa and staring at the ceiling. On the other hand there was always the possibility that Naminé actually had nothing else to do and Roxas could get some company and something to do.

And so before he could change his mind, he dialled Naminé's number and pressed the call-button. And after the third ring Naminé answered. "Hi Roxas," she chirped.

And Roxas instantly realised he had been too absorbed in thinking if he should call her to think of anything to say. "Ummm... Hi, how's your summer been?"

"Oh, it's been great. And busy. This is my fourth and last week at the café. Just three days," Naminé said.

"I-," Roxas said. "I hope I'm not interrupting your work."

"No, it's pretty laid back in here. Besides, there aren't many customers around here at the moment," she said. "But, do you have something you need to talk about or did you just call to say hi?"

This was the tricky part. Roxas didn't want to lie to Naminé, but telling her that she she was the one he'd call only when there's no one else around... Yeah, that didn't sound like a good idea either. "Well... I just happened to think about you." Because Sora did everything but told me to call you. "And decided it'd be nice to see you. It's been a month already."

"Sure, why not? When would it be okay for you?" Naminé asked.

"Whenever it's okay for you. I have nothing that needs to be done today. Or the day after tomorrow. Or the day after that one." It was an understatement. He had nothing to do for a week, period. The next session in the Game was the tomorrow evening, and during the day he was not bored enough to clean, Sora was seldom home and Roxas had only the television and the reruns of reruns as company.

"Well, my shift is officially over at four o'clock, but I can get out as early as two..."

"No, please, you don't have to do that. I can wait a few extra hours." He did not want the extra guilt from taking her out of her job.

"It's no trouble. Actually, I'm more than happy to have a reason to leave a bit early. Besides, it's not like I haven't spent any extra time in here," Naminé said and laughed. "But maybe we could compromise?"

Roxas shrugged, but then realised she could not see it over the phone. "That depends. What do you mean by compromising?"

"Say, I'll get out of here at three o'clock and we'll see at half past. But not in a coffee shop. I'm sick and tired of coffee shops."

It seemed like it was Roxas' responsibility to find them a place to meet. And he had none. Every time they had seen each other outside of school it had always been in a café or at someone's home. But now his home was not at the shape that he'd be comfortable with showing to his friends, and it would just be plain rude to invite himself to someone else's home. But where else could they meet, preferably sit down and have a chat. They could always go to the park, but that was where Roxas tended to go with Hayner, Pence and Olette. Roxas would just be constantly reminded of why exactly he had called Naminé in the first place.

Okay, he clearly had some cleaning up to do. "Well, we could see in my place. It's definitely nothing like a coffee house," Roxas suggested.

"Sure. But hey, my boss is calling for me and I have to go. We'll see at half past three," Naminé said and before Roxas could say good bye she had hung up.

He just stared at the phone and sighed. Why was it so hard to keep one little apartment in order? It was such a pain in the ass to tidy it up after it had become as terrible as Roxas and Sora's apartment was. But there was Roxas could do but start cleaning, or else it would never get done.

xxx

It took Roxas three long hours, but finally everything was in order. And by in order he meant "stuff was stocked in closets and Sora's room". But hey, out of sight, out of mind. Besides, who could assume that a place that was inhabited by two teenage boys could be anything but messy?

He glanced at the clock. It was twenty past three. That meant Naminé could be there any minute now, so Roxas couldn't even turn on the computer and check everything for the umpteenth time. He could try and see if there was something interesting in the TV, but a quick shuffle through the channels shoved him nothing interesting or new, so he turned it off.

Roxas considered making tea for himself and maybe coffee for Naminé, but before he could decide against it he heard the doorbell ring. Naminé had arrived.

When Roxas opened the door he saw Naminé, wearing even more revealing white dress than usually. But really, what else would she do in the middle of the summer? She was smiling brightly and Roxas stepped out of her way. "Long time, no see," he said.

"A way too long time," Naminé agreed as she stepped inside. She hung her shoulder bag in the coat rack and looked around her. "You know, I have never seen this place as this clean. Did Sora finally learn to put his stuff to their right places?"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "You wish," he said.

"Where is he, anyway?" Naminé looked around her. "He wasn't here last time, and the time before that."

"Yeah, come to think of it, you haven't seen him in three months," Roxas said. He leaned on the wall.

"Has it really been that long?" Naminé said.

Roxas smiled. "I think so," he said. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Sure, but not coffee or tea. You wouldn't believe how boring even special coffees and tea can get when you drink nothing but them for a month."

"Oh yeah, how's your job?"

"Well... It's not as good as I thought it would be, but still pretty nice," Naminé said and shrugged. "If nothing else it has ruined coffee for me."

"Yeah, you mentioned that. What then, do you want to drink something else?" Roxas asked.

"I don't know. Depends on what you have."

Roxas didn't remember, so he walked to the fridge. Naminé followed him. "Well... We have some orange juice and a bottle of cola, if you want some," Roxas said. The cola was Sora's, but he wouldn't notice if they took some. And if he noticed he probably wouldn't care. If he cared... Well, tough luck.

"Juice is all right, but only if you take some too," Naminé said, solving the problem before it even began.

Roxas poured juice for two, leaving the empty carton on the counter. Someone was going put it in a trash bin at some point but not right now. He gave one to Naminé who had sat down to the kitchen table and took a seat right in front of her. "You didn't give any details of your work. Where are you working at, anyway? All I got from you was that it's a café," he said.

Naminé looked down to her juice and brushed a stray hair behind her ear. "Well, you remember how I missed that one class and almost flunked because of that?"

For a moment Roxas didn't know what that had to do with anything. Then it hit him. Of course, what else? "You got a summer job just so you could spend more time with the barista you have a crush on?" No, it didn't sound any less insane when said out loud. On the contrary. "What is going on in your head?"

"What do you mean?"

"That's... That's stalking! You can't just randomly pop into someone's life," Roxas said, shocked.

"Ha, this is nothing. I only meet him in the café and that's going to end after the summer ends. I mean, I'll still be going there and buying coffee, but it's not the same. Besides, he has a blond, cute girlfriend of his own age who comes there at least twice a week. And then he goes to sit in her table and..." Naminé's voice trailed off.

"I still think that's stalking."

"No, stalking is when you 'randomly'-" To Roxas' amusement she actually did do the air quotes. "Meet someone in several different places several times during a short period of time."

"No it's not. That's just a coincidence."

"Sure, but how many times can you really believe it's random and not stalking? I'd say… three."

Roxas thought back. "Not really. It only felt like stalking on the fourth time." He noticed what he had just done when Naminé stared at him.

"So… Am I to assume you have some previous experience on this subject. Please, do share." She smiled deviously.

"I might have accused someone of stalking after four honestly random encounters."Roxas gave Naminé a brief summary of what had happened between him and Axel during the last months. Naminé sat quiet the whole time, but when it seemed that Roxas had quit speaking it was her turn to talk.

"Okay, that's definitely stalking. I can't believe you didn't tell me about this. You just said you met him a couple of times, but that's not what happened, is it?"

"Well... It kinda slipped my mind…. We'd already sorted it out when you two met at the café." Kinda. It was the truth, that it had slipped his mind. It really had. It had stopped being an issue.

"But you don't know what might've happened… Your stalker…"

"Axel. You know him."

"I've met him. Well, you can't know what kind of ulterior motives he might've had. The world is full of all kinds of fucked up people. You should've told someone of his stalking," Namine said and there was something… motherly in the way she spoke.

Roxas felt like hiding behind the sofa and he knew that Naminé saw that. She threw her hands in the air. "Fine, don't listen to me. Let's talk about something else, see if I care." She folded her arms and leaned to the back of her chair. When Roxas still didn't say anything she sighed, took a deep breath and started talking. "Well, as for my new job and my …co-workers, not everyone is as likeable. There's this one guy who never comes on time and who I'm almost certain can't count for more than three…"

In fifteen minutes Naminé had gotten Roxas back into the conversation, and they were soon back to the sheer delight their reunion had been in the beginning.

xxx

Sun shining, a clear sky and the perfect breeze for a midsummer day accompanied Cloud and Tifa on their walk down the street. The new kind relationship growing between them was only taking its first steps, but it was there, there was no denying about it anymore. Cloud stubbornly insisted that there was nothing that should change, but Tifa had taken care there was occasional reasons to spend time together, eat lunch at the same time, walk to the store, small things that Cloud could easily accept as normal. It wasn't like all the business with Aerith had been completely forgotten, it was a slow process getting fully over it, but on days like this it was surprisingly easy to put it aside. Tifa had managed to revive her friendship with Aerith and it was now Cloud who felt unsure where he stood. Tifa reassured him daily that they didn't need to think this as anything romantic – yet - but Cloud really wasn't oblivious to the fact that he allowed himself to be fooled into this play of dating. The detours their walks down to the store were quite obviously longer time after time.

Today's excuse had been the same Tifa had used last Wednesday. Cloud really didn't care or had chosen not to mention about it, he had only shrugged when been given the orders of accompanying Tifa to collect some new decoration for the bar she had ordered. She insisted that the place needed something that would turn it cosier – Its current state was reputedly old and dated, even if Cloud didn't see it. They had visited a store with a very bewildered shop assistant – who insisted there had been neither orderings nor deliveries by or for them - on the Wednesday week ago. This week the story was the same and Tifa acted furious by the incompetence, once again.

"I can't believe it!" Tifa muttered and glanced at the closed door as if the look could make its way through the glass and the distance. "I really didn't expect they could make the same mistake twice-"

"Wait, Tifa," Cloud said and hushed her. He nodded ahead of them. "There, next to my motorcycle." She stopped and turned her attention right away curiously to the direction Cloud had pointed.

"Who's she?"

Cloud shook her head and gripped Tifas hand to stop her from greeting the girl crouched next to his motorcycle admiring its surface very closely. "We need to catch her. I have a few questions to ask," Cloud stated.

Tifa looked at him questioningly. "You said you didn't know her."

"I don't!" Cloud said and once again nodded towards the girl. "Look at what she's doing! She has to be the one who did the scratching job on my bike the last time too. I have to know what it is, why is she attacking me, what have I done to deserve this and-"

Tifa listened, nodded once she had looked more closely what was happening and understood what made Cloud so restless. "What do we do?"

"You keep walking, I'll slow down. She shouldn't be that alarmed if you walk by…" Cloud suggested.

"If I was committing an act of vandalism, anybody would send me running," Tifa pointed out, not really taunting the stupidity of Cloud's words.

Cloud kept fidgeting. "True. If we run over there and try to catch her the traditional way of tackling her if she runs?"

"I don't see that many options here," Tifa agreed.

They agreed that Tifa should be the one that would try to reach to the other side of the girl, she was the less alarming after all. Cloud would wait in the other direction, closing the other means of escaping. They plan was an easy one and worked miraculously well. The girl destroying the surface of the bike noticed Tifa after she had almost walked past her, making it easy for Tifa to suddenly jump close and grip her arm.

"Why?" Cloud asked angry immediately he had reached them and watched the girl try to skirmish away. Tifa easily overpowered her and the way she tried to claw her way from Tifa turned out to be completely useless. "Why?" Cloud asked again and this time the girl looked at him.

"None of your business!" she hissed like it was she making the accusations now.

"It's my motorbike!" Cloud stated and his tone made her flinch.

Tifa stepped in to let Cloud breathe. He was fuming dangerously. "Why are you doing this?" Tifa asked, her tone hard, but less angry than Cloud's was.

"It's something personal," the girl admitted and kept defiantly glaring back. Tifa still had a secure grip of her arm and wasn't letting go before answers.

"How can it be personal when I don't know you?" Cloud asked, not easily pushed aside from this conversation.

The girl darted her attention back and forth between her captors. She was acting brave, kept her head high even now. "It was a mistake! I thought this was somebody else's bike!"

Cloud let a tens laugh. "How could you make the mistake? There are hundreds and thousands of motorbikes like this one…"

"The mark that is painted on it," the girl said and pointed at a square that had several characters written in it with red. Cloud looked shocked by the reason the girl gave and wasn't able to give an answer.

"What does that mean?" Tifa asked and pointed at the picture painted on the bike. There was a few scratching marks around it, the damage the girl had already managed to make.

"I don't know," admitted the culprit. "It was something that I remembered his bike from. And I know he painted it himself, there shouldn't be a second one!"

Tifa turned to look at Cloud. "Cloud? Do you know where that mark came?" she asked, really hoping that he could pull himself together, not break down and force her to get this mess solved. She had no idea what was with this girl and Cloud wasn't a great help even now that he kept himself together.

"Zack… Zack painted the first one. This one is a poor copy I had to draw when… the original was destroyed," Cloud said, staggering a little and all the while staring at the logo. "It relates to the place we… met. Shinra."

"Zack?" the girl asked, once more trying to pull her arm free from Tifa's grip. "I remember you! You were his friend!" she suddenly managed to connect faces from the past. "But you didn't have a motorbike then… Why did he have a mark like that if it's a sign how you met?"

"It's a logo. Logo of the place we both… knew," Cloud said, wording the thoughts carefully. "He painted it on my bike just before that day." Very few knew the complete story about Cloud and Zack and what had happened, but Tifa was one of the privileged and one to know Cloud shouldn't be the one to tell it to the girl.

"What do you have against Zack?" Tifa asked to take away the attention from Cloud.

The girl snorted like the question had been somehow a very stupid one. "He destroyed my marbles."

"What?" asked Tifa dumbstruck by the words. Cloud lost control of the glare and looked very bewildered.

"You heard what I said!" the girl cried out.

Tifa shook her head and looked at Cloud hopping that he would know what to do now.

"I'm not crazy!" the girl stated. "He ran over my poor marbles with his motorbike and-"

"Zack wouldn't do something like that," Cloud shook his head.

"He did! I lived next doors and used to sit there on watch him take care of his motorbike. I was there when he painted the mark, I was there when he polished the surface. I was there playing with my precious marbles the day he left and drove right over them, scattering them everywhere and breaking so many of them!" she suddenly started explaining.

"It was a mistake!" Cloud declared.

"No it wasn't! He just laughed and said he was sorry and then left. He was 'in a hurry'," the girl said.

"He apologized?"

"He didn't mean it really," the girl said sure about herself.

"Why are you still trying to destroy his bike? It must've been years ago! You don't look like someone who still plays with marbles."

"I've succeed only once," the girl admitted. "He moved away right after that accident. The coward. Could handle the fear of my wrath!"

Tifa started draw lines and the picture of what had happened started to clear up. "When did he move away?"

"I don't know. It's almost two years."

"Would it happen that he disappeared around the July?"

"Yeah. Somewhere around that. How did you know that? Are you his girlfriend or what?"

"No, but I knew him though. He was no coward and would never have intentionally hurt someone's feelings. Think of it. Did he really mean to break your toys?" Tifa asked in a soothing tone, smiling just a little to make the girl relax a bit.

"He died," Cloud stated. "He died in July. That's why he never came back."

The girl went silent. But only for a moment. "I- I –I didn't know," she went on like a broken record, clearly upset about the truth. Suddenly the whole act of toughness disappeared. She didn't want to look into their eyes and it was almost like she was crying. "Okay, I'm sorry! I won't ever do this again. I did not know!" she sobbed.

"Hey, it's not like we're accusing you of his death!" Tifa tried to calm down the girl, surprised by the reaction. She loosened her hold on the girls arm and tried to make an eye contact with her, not succeeding in it. The girl obviously felt the degreasing of pressure on her arm and tugged it free. She jumped away from her captors and lifted her head proudly up again. There were no tearstains.

"Sorry! I'm truly sorry!" the girl yelled and started running. She disappeared behind the street corner before neither of them thought of catching her again.

"So. Mystery solved?" Tifa asked and stared at the spot where the girl had just stood.

Cloud nodded, stunned by the sudden departure.

xxx

"Yeah, I know," Axel stated firmly, not giving the advance of a moment's hesitation, and continued on as he had continued the whole evening; repeated his excuse over and over again, changing a word here and there, and always ending with the same, "I know I should be there, but I can't tonight."

"Yeah, right." It wasn't all that miraculous that Saïx didn't believe a shit Axel said. He, if anyone, knew Axel throughout and this conversation was nothing but playing cat and mouse around the lies that Saïx didn't want to catch or allowed Axel to tell for reasons unknown. They had known each other for too long. "What's the story tonight?"

Saïx had to know Axel was up to something and seemed to trust that Axel would tell the story once it was safe to do so. Axel had let Saïx on his plans almost every time. There was only two things Axel had never told the truth about; both nights that Axel had spent in Larxene's company had neither ended up comfortable in anyone's bed like he'd allowed Saïx to believe. It had been years since the first accident and several months now from the last one.

Axel snorted and tilted his head to stare at the ceiling. "You can tell them I babysit Roxas tonight," Axel said jokingly and was pretty much giving on the hope to come up with anything reasonable, but from the laughter he knew that he had given an excuse that had been approved.

"Suit yourself. Babysitting it is then."

xxx

Roxas had, like usual, not left home to spend the Friday-night someplace noisy. It wasn't like he hadn't had any invitations or that he didn't know where to go, but there was something that Roxas still liked about family-Fridays. They were uncomplicated. Roxas didn't care about the complex going-ons or the webs of relationships that one should know or end up left out. He could've gone out with the clan if he'd wanted. He had gotten the invitation again, but declined it without too much thinking.

He chose to spend the night with Sora.

"Movie?" Sora asked though the question was unnecessary. He had gotten out earlier this evening and rented something for them to stare at for the rest of the night. Roxas didn't know what, but nodded nevertheless.

It was when Sora had just managed to find the remote controller and gotten the DVD in the player that Roxas phone rang. Roxas' first guess was a wrong number since he didn't recognize the number on the display. He picked the phone from his desk and returned to the living room before answering it.

"Hello, darling," said a female voice.

"Um...I think you've got the wrong number-"

"Roxas, don't you recognize my voice? I'm disappointed," she said in a way that sounded very much like Larxene.

Sora looked curiously at him since he didn't hang up the call. Roxas raised his hand to signal patience. "How did you get my number?"

"It wasn't that hard to get. Don't feel all flattered now," she answered. "So, how's Axel?"

"What? Why do you ask me-"

"He's there babysitting you, isn't he?"

"Babysitting?" Roxas had no idea what Larxene was babbling about, but wouldn't be surprised if Axel was to blame. He'd appreciate if he'd be warned about when he was to be the cover up for him though.

"He's words, not mine," Larxene laughed.

Roxas rolled his eyes and Sora gave him a questioning look once again which he dismissed. "What do you want?" he asked Larxene hoping she'd get to the probably nonexistent point someday.

"Oh, we were just worried if Axel's going to be alright."

"Why wouldn't he?"

"Oh, he has a... habit of getting himself into problems when alone with somebody," Larxene said and Roxas guessed she meant that Axel got himself into trouble when with her. Or at least that would explain a lot of things.

"Obviously he's not in trouble right now," Roxas said. He wanted to begin watching the movie already. Maybe it was because Axel's influence, but he didn't like Larxene all that much.

"Oh and how do you know that?" Larxene taunted.

"I just know," Roxas said and hung up.

Sora was watching over the back of the sofa. "Who was that?"

"Just someone I know from the Game. No one important."

"Who did he think was in trouble?"

"She. She thought Axel was here."

"Why?"

"How should I know?" Roxas said and sat down to the sofa. "Actually, I think he told her that he was here babysitting me."

Sora looked puzzled, but didn't say anything.

"Yeah, I don't know either. Let's just watch the movie, okay?"

Sora looked at Roxas for a moment, but finally he did push play and the movie began. Unfortunately Roxas didn't pay much attention to the movie. He just thought about what he'd say to Axel. He should really think twice before he used Roxas as an excuse for something Roxas didn't even know he was doing. Or at least note Roxas about it before hand. He was so going to call Axel at six AM to yell at him for this. That way Axel would know how it felt when something was interrupted.

Still, Roxas knew that Axel had a good reason for not going to the meeting. He had to. That guy worshipped the clan. Whatever it was, it didn't matter right now. He'd probably give an explanation next time they'd meet.

xxx

Roxas yawned contently and reached for the skies with his hands. There were only few clouds occasionally passing over them, giving shelter from the frying sunlight. The perfect day for finally hitting the beach, Olette had made that one clear on the phone this morning, and Roxas couldn't agree more. They were expecting a beach filled with people, but the day proved to be a windy day. A really windy day. The sand on the beach kept moving in dynes, small sandstorm passing them at regular intervals. And it seemed like most of the regular guests on the sandy heaven had thought to leave the place early today. Roxas and his friends had almost the whole place to themselves.

"This is heaven!" Hayner sighed contently and choose a place where to build their camp. Some small tornado wasn't clearly enough to make them forsake their beach-trip today.

"It really has been too long," Pence stated smiling and placed the bags filled with their sandwiches and drinks and cookies down next to the blanket Olette had brought with her. She tried to find out a way to hide from the sand-grains that just wouldn't stay nicely on the ground today. The only working solution she came up with was to keep near the ground and to keep her scarf close, making a small shield of it when a bigger sandstorm passed.

"I doubt that we can play any beach volley today," Roxas said while he looked over the empty area. The waves hit the shore high, white-headed and strong. The water had never looked a welcoming. "Race to the water?"

The challenge was accepted and soon enough they had their stuff nicely tucked inside the blanket to protect it from the weather and were running across the burning sand. The water was cold, not ice-cold, but freezing enough to make them shiver hard at first. Roxas dived beneath the surface, trying to get rid of the sand in his hair, but managed only to turn it into mud that clustered and then stuck fast and safely. Olette laughed at the sight when she saw Roxas rising out of the water and shaking off some of the mud, but leaving his hair in otherwise desperate condition. She stood up to her waist in the water, her hair still dry and shining in the sunlight.

"This is summer!" she delightedly decided and continued walking towards the deep sea. She was soon swimming among the waves, still keeping her head high and dry. "Come on, boys! Don't be afraid of the water!"

Hayner was there immediately, disappearing for a moment beneath the surface and trying to surprise the girl from behind – and failing miserably. Olette was swift in the water, dancing away and smiling at the boy chasing her.

Roxas stood Pence with him near the shore, not even waist deep in the water, and watched their friends swimming closer, soon starting to run in the shallow water. Olette was uncatchable for Hayner, that much was very clear. She sprang past Roxas long before Hayner reached them and Roxas decided to join the chase, to aid Hayner a bit. She laughed and dived into the deeper water to get away.

"Tag!" Hayner huffed as he passed Pence and planted his hand on Pence's shoulder. Before Pence had had the time to nudge the tag back, Hayner dived out of the way, splashing an admirable wave of water in the air at the same time. The later was all that saved him, Pence was after Hayner as soon as the surprise wore off.

Olette and Roxas had seized their chase to follow the happenings on the shore and swam still among the waves, both smiling. "Never too old to play tag?" Roxas asked and Olette shook her head.

"We need to go help Pence," she then said and was gone the next second just to dive up many feet away. Roxas allowed the waves to float him closer to his friends. There were no rainclouds today. The salty seawater tasted just as awful as always. He'd missed this.