Gather around, because it's time for another sea-salt story. This is just some AkuShi fluffiness I threw together last night and decided to share. It can be considered the final story in the little AkuShi arc I inadvertently created with Addiction and I'm Here. Dedicated to v.t.7 and to the memory of Leonard Nimoy, who played Master Xehanort. Continuity is any time after Invader. I hope you enjoy.

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What Did I Do

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"Hey, guys! I brought the ice cream!" They stay silent, not even looking at me. "Um, guys?"

Roxas crosses his arms. "We hate you, Xion."

"Wha—huh? Why?"

"You know why."

"No, no I don't." I'm breathing heavy, starting to panic. "What did I do?"

Axel growls at me. "If you don't know what you did, then just go away."

"But…" I'm hyperventilating. What's happening? Did Vexen do something? I didn't do anything, I would never do anything to make them hate me. Why won't they tell me anything? Whatever it is, I can fix it, can't I? Why aren't they giving me another chance? Axel said… Roxas said…

Roxas hates me… the boy who's done so much for me hates me… how can this be? What did I do?

What did I… do…

Xion opened her eyes. Was that a dream? She wasn't sure. It had felt so real, it was hard to distinguish from an actual memory. What if it was real? What if they did hate her now, for whatever reason? And most importantly, what if she was alone now?

This train of thought meant that Xion woke up crying. She hated crying. It felt so stupid for her, a Keyblade wielder, kicker of Heartless butt, to be crying, and it seemed like a terrible way to start the day. But she couldn't think of anything else to do.

She checked the time. It was six in the morning. She was finally adjusting to waking up at nine, so this threw her off. She didn't care. She ripped off the blanket and ran to Axel's room. She had to know. She couldn't tell if what she had seen was real or not. It felt like it really happened, but it can't have. She had to know.

She burst into the room marked 'VIII', hyperventilating just as she had in the dream. It didn't feel good—it was making her lightheaded, a feeling that always scared her a little—but she couldn't stop herself. She almost reached for Axel, but stopped in her tracks. If he hates me, he'll just yell at me…

She shook her head to make the thought go away. Even if he yelled at her, she had to know. The only thing worse than being alone was not knowing if she was alone. She grabbed him and shook to wake him up.

Axel sprung up, then saw Xion. "Huh? What are you doing here?"

She sighed. "Axel," she asked, her voice small and light. "Do you hate me?"

Axel blinked. After a moment, he pulled the covers off and patted the bed, signaling for her to sit with him. She got on the bed, resisting the urge to snuggle into him like usual, just in case.

Not that it mattered. Axel hugged her, his comforting grip holding her safe. "Xion, what would ever make you think that?"

She breathed a small sigh of relief. "I had another bad dream. In it, you and Roxas hated me, and you wouldn't tell me why. It felt so real…"

"Xion, we would never hate you. What reason would we have to hate you?"

"That's the thing. I don't know. It was so scary, because you wouldn't tell me so I could fix it…" She sniffled. "In the bad dreams, no one ever tells me what I did."

"You're scared of not knowing why things are happening, huh?"

She nodded. "The bad dreams, they're always about me not knowing anything…"

Axel stroked her hair softly. "Xi, can you tell me why loud noises scare you?"

"They only scare me if I don't know what they are or where they're coming from. The Heartless… they're right in front of me. I know what they are and how to make them go away. And sometimes even they scare me… I still remember the first time I was flip-footed. Everything was spinning, I had no idea what was happening, it was so scary…"

"Xi…" Axel sighed. "All right, I think I have this figured out, but I just want to be sure. What's the one thing that scares you more than anything else?"

"Being abandoned… and not knowing why."

"And there we go." He would have hugged her tighter, if it was physically possible. He whispered into her ear. "I'm going to say something that will make you not afraid anymore. It might not work right away, and you might still get scared by loud noises or bad dreams, but if you memorize what I'm about to say, it won't be nearly as bad. Are you ready?"

Xion thought of every time she had been scared, how horrible it felt, how it was always like she was about to explode. "Yes. I'm done being scared."

"Okay. Here it is. First, I will never abandon you. Ever. Neither will Roxas. We will always be there for you, no matter what. That's what real friends are. Second, just because you don't know something doesn't mean it's inevitably bad. Remember when you got that stuffed elephant you love so much? You didn't know that was going to happen. Remember when you got the big promotion, with the seat and the title? You didn't know that was going to happen. Remember Valentine's Day? Same thing. And even if it isn't great, it can always just be normal. Just like the Heartless. The reason you're not scared of the Heartless is because they're normal. Most of the time, things are normal, and you don't have to be scared. Got it memorized?"

Instead of tapping his own temple like usual, Axel tapped Xion's forehead. She couldn't help laughing, just a little. "Yes." Then she thought of something. "Do you ever get scared?"

"Of course. I'm scared of the same thing, actually."

Xion raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Not knowing things?"

"Yeah. I don't like it when people won't tell me things, either. The difference is how we try to cope. When you get scared, you try to block out everything so that it's like it's not there anymore. You hide, shut your eyes, cover your ears. When I get scared, I get mad and try to force it to go away. I yell, throw things, set things on fire. And you know something else? Neither of those is the right way to handle fear."

"You… make mistakes?"

"Yup. We both need to work on handling it when we get scared. You're not the only one who feels these things sometimes, Xi. Never forget that."

"I thought you said Nobodies can't feel…"

Axel patted her back. "Well, it's like you just said. Even I make mistakes sometimes."

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THE END

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The only thing I really need to add here is that I definitely share Xion's fear of not knowing things. You can find out a lot about me by observing how RF!Xion thinks and acts. I can be a very anxious, panicky person, just like her. Heck, even I was scared of loud noises when I was younger. I think that's one reason Xion's stories are so much easier for me to write—they are, in many ways, based on my own experiences. This might be bad, if it weren't for the fact that she acts this way a lot in the manga, if not to the same extent. The manga truly is what made me so much of a fanboy of her—I could relate. But enough rambling.

Status update on my other stories: Heroics will be updated soon, and the outline for the KH3 story is coming along nicely. I'm also working on an AU story involving Babysitter!Saix and a parody of bad Organization XIII OC's (and possibly the Hate Dumb against Xion, if I feel up to it) set in the RF universe. The next sea-salt story arc will probably be more RokuShi, cause they're so fuzzy-wuzzy. :)

I hope you enjoyed this short story. Remember, reviews are always appreciated. Reviewer Question Time: Which KH character do you relate to the most? Why? And given a chance to meet them, what would you say? Giftfics and such, you know the drill. Bonus Points: What is the number one thing on your KH3 wishlist, anything from new game mechanics to certain pairings to new worlds to story twists? I'll take them into consideration for the KH3 story.

Thanks for reading, and remember, always reset the cute-o-meter before reading more sea-salt stories!