Chapter 25

~Day 255~

"You're early."

Kairi and Roxas turned towards Axel, the former mentally blessing him for his arrival, and the latter retorting, "No, you're just late."

Axel crossed to his regular spot on the far side of the tower. The silence that settled between them was slightly more comfortable than the one left behind. Kairi had not been sure when Axel would be back from his special mission, and had assumed it would be Xion joining them, but as Roxas had stated, it was late, and she had yet to appear. Kairi and Roxas had hardly spoken the entire time they were on the tower alone together. At least Roxas did not show visible signs of irritation at Kairi's silence. Perhaps he had gotten used to it.

"Today makes 255."

"What's that about?" Axel asked the younger boy, not terribly concerned. Sometimes, it was impossible to follow Roxas's train of thought.

"It's been that many days since I first joined the Organization. Man, time flies."

Seriously? Kairi thought to herself. It feels like we've been here forever... not that I have an expanse of time to compare it to.

"So, you got the number memorized, do ya?" said Axel.

"Yeah. Have to hang onto something, right? It's not like I have memories from before the Organization. Don't you remember? I acted like a zombie."

Axel placed a friendly hand onto his shoulder, looking down with a glint of nostalgia in his eyes. "Right, that first week you could barely form a sentence... but come on-" he slapped Roxas's shoulder, nearly making him drop his ice cream in his startle, "-you're still kind of a zombie!"

Roxas swat at the hand that continued to pat his shoulder. "Oh, thanks!"

When their laughter began to die down, Kairi said, "You were here a little more than three weeks before me, right? So this makes this day two-thirty-two for me."

"She speaks!" Axel gasped in mock-surprise, earning more laughter from Roxas."I don't have a clue how long I've been here. Haven't thought about it until today.

"Hey, guys, bet you don't know why the sun sets red." Roxas and Kairi turned towards Axel expectantly. "You see, light is made up of lots of colors. And out of all those colors, red is the one that travels the farthest."

"Like we asked!" Roxas elbowed Axel, hard enough to make the older Nobody start. "Know-it-all!"

Axel tussled Roxas's hair, which Roxas quickly tried to fight off. "You wish you were me!"

Kairi quietly giggled at their antics as they continued to tussle, coming out victorless. Axel laid down on the clocktower, claiming he was only going to nap for a moment, and he deserved it because Saïx had him working all night! Roxas's calls of "Slacker" did not bother him.

"Seriously, where is she?" Roxas finally asked. Kairi instinctively followed his gaze to the entrance to the tower, but of course, she found nothing there.

Axel was clearly not sleeping as he had claimed, as he promptly sat up again, arms resting on his bent knees. "Roxas... I'm not sure she's gonna show today."

"Did she collapse again?!"

"She..." Axel turned away from their gazes as he drifted off. "What, didn't you hear? She got sent on a really important mission. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Oh..." The worry that had been etched into Roxas's face melted away as his body relaxed, turning out to the world again. "So, when's she coming back?"

"Well, I guess that depends on how well she does her job, right?"

"Heh, fair enough."

"Am I the only one who doesn't get any of these super important, fancy missions?" Kairi asked. Her eyes were locked on her fingers that were twirling her empty, sticky ice cream stick.

"Not satisfied with destroying Dusks?" Axel asked, quirking an eyebrow playfully. Kairi cringed. Saïx must have told him about the torturous mission.

"Fine... I'll stick to heart collection."

"No... Then... I'm not... The person I was before... wasn't me."

~Day 256~

"Why are there thirteen thrones?" Kairi asked Axel as he teleported them into the Round Room.

"Because that's how many thrones they made when constructing this castle," he said, teleporting away from her and onto his own throne.

Since no one else was in the room yet, Kairi did not feel need to suppress herself from asking, "What made them think they'd need thirteen? Isn't that supposed to be an unlucky number, anyway?"

"You listen to Luxord too much," Axel muttered as he slumped back in his chair. "I have no clue who made the place, so I don't know what was going through their head."

Xaldin appeared on his throne at that moment, and Kairi decided she would rather not yell across the room at her friend while another was in their presence. She would have to ask later why they did not just let her and Xion sit on the extra thrones. Instead of reclining on a tall chair like the other members, they always stood awkwardly at the base of the circular room. In order to gain the easiest look at Xemnas, they usually stood between Roxas's throne and the throne formerly occupied by No. XII, Larxene.

Kairi waited in this spot as Luxord, Saïx, Xigbar, Demyx, and Roxas came into the room. The Superior and Xion were the only ones still missing from the unscheduled meeting when Kairi felt a shock run down her back. She barely contained a squeal as her body stiffened, and she immediately looked up at Roxas, who was grinning at his successful, albeit weak, thunder spell.

After stealing a quick glance around the room to be sure no one was observing them, Kairi turned her face up and stuck her tongue out at her friend. Before she could get her revenge with an aero spell, Xemnas appeared on his throne at the face of the room.

"Xion is gone."

Everyone quickly turned to No. I, all previous interactions forgotten.

"What? Whoa whoa, time out..." Demyx's voice drifted as he shook his head, either not comprehending the situation or hoping, as best a Nobody can, that he understood it wrong. "You mean she, like, flew the coop?"

Xaldin scoffed. "Hah, preposterous. What would drive her to choose her own demise?"

"On the contrary, no one is to go looking for Xion without my express permission."

Kairi stared at her Superior in disbelief, feeling she must be misinterpreting the situation somehow. Roxas seemed to have gotten the same thing out of it as she did, because he yelled, "What? Why not?!"

"Your 'friend' will be left alone." Saïx spoke evenly, his manor seeming especially composed to Roxas's sudden indignation. "Or would you rather we find some punishment?"

"I'd rather you get her back!"

"And why would we do that?"

Because she's a Keyblade wielder! I know you don't care about her, but I thought you wanted Kingdom Hearts. Kairi did not voice her thoughts, however, and Roxas only growled from his station above her. Where could she have gone? Why did she go... is she coming back?

"All will be revealed when the time comes." Xemnas stated. Kairi nearly jumped in her startle, for a moment thinking he had been reading her thoughts. Then reality took over - nobody could do that! - and she mentally hit herself.

"Which means,"Axel muttered, seeming only to be thoughtful and not in any way alarmed by the situation, "if the time doesn't come, things can stay as they are."

Saïx gave a pointed lack-of-glare to Axel, then down to Kairi and Roxas. "Lord Xemnas has spoken. Obey, or face your end."

"Stupid leechgrave..." Roxas muttered, stretching his already sore arms over the Station Plaza. Melted ice cream dripped off of his stick and fell down to the stones below. He was not paying much attention. He had not looked at the ice cream since he bought it thirty minutes before.

Sighing, he hunched his shoulders over and brought his hands to his lap. "Guess no one's coming today... I had hoped... not that a Nobody can hope... that at least someone would show up. Especially her."

No one joined him on the clock tower that night.