Come on guys! I only got one review! (Thanks Shadowdragon1317!) But on the bright side, a guest named Koko reviewed on my new story! I think that's a book...
And I finally found the perfect gift: a deck of cards!
...he's a weirdo he'll love it.
Anywayz...
Warning: this chapter is full of INSANITY!
Disclaimer: Do I own anything?
...
Nope, didn't think so.
Chapter 29
Third Person~
Cloud gazed upon the scene in front of him, wondering how it happened.
Xion was lying, obviously unconscious, on an overstuffed pink couch that looked like a giant shrimp that had been stabbed. Said dead shrimp was in the living room.
Riona was on top of the refrigerator, poking at the ceiling with a lime green drumstick. Then, she poked too hard and the drumstick stuck in the plaster.
Squall was sitting on the counter, drinking a can of coconut water. He finished it when the stick stuck in the ceiling and grumbled "There. Done."
Roxas lay on the floor, his head in a puddle of water. A gash on the back of his head leaked enough blood to color both his hair and the puddle a bright red.
Cloud began chalking up explanations for the odd events.
Riona-on-fridge-explanation:
She saw a giant spider and snatched the blinding drumstick from Roxas' pocket and climbed onto the icebox. From there, she hacked at the ceiling and eventually got the stick lodged up there.
Squall-drinking-coconut-water-explanation:
Riona took one look at Squall's many cuts, bruises and burns and shoved him into the kitchen (this was before the spider incident). From there she pulled a very dusty looking can out of the inexplicably blood stained cabinet. Riona then gave it to Squall, telling him it would speed up his healing process. When he refused, she told him if he didn't drink it, she would pants him in front of Seifer Almasy.
Roxas-in-the-puddle-of-blood-and-water-explanation:
Uh...it doesn't quite exist yet.
Xion-passed-out-on-the-giant-dead-shrimp-I-mean-couch-explanation:
Cloud was about to find out.
"Excuse me." He said.
Riona looked down from her perch and Squall just tossed the blue can at the trash bin.
"May I ask why my daughter is unconscious on your lovely pink couch?"
"Ohhh!" Riona smiled. "I don't know."
Cloud just sort of stared at her.
"When I found Roxy he was carrying her." She explained shrugging.
Cloud tugged his fingers through his hair, a sure sign he was agitated.
"Ok, ok...um...why is Roxas asleep in a pool of blood?" He wondered bluntly.
"I can answer this one!" Riona cheered.
"Well," She began. "He fell and hit his head on the edge of the sidewalk and got a concussion. Then he hit his head on the counter." She said pointing at the blood on the cabinet. "And then...his ice bag broke and he passed out and the concoction of blood and water created that bright red liquid that is dying his hair."
Cloud took a deep breath. Then his 'dad' instincts kicked in.
He found a towel in the bathroom and used it to dry off most of Roxas' head. Then Cloud knelt by Roxas and gently woke him up.
"Em..." The boy murmured as sleep left him.
Cloud draped the towel over Roxas' shoulders and walked into the living room.
He pick up his daughter (you shoulda heard the incredible creak that thing let out when the only person that had touched it in three years left it) and carried her back to the kitchen.
Roxas, still sitting like an idiot on the tile floor, looked like a child with his legs splayed out in front of him, his hands folded in his lap.
"C'mon Rox." Cloud said softly, looking down at him.
Roxas pulled himself up.
"Leaving already?" Riona pouted, hopping down from the refrigerator.
"Yes." Cloud replied. "I'm taking Xion to the doctor, now."
Riona smiled again. "Well...ok."
With that, Cloud left. Roxas was about to follow him but Riona ran up and nearly choked him to death in an iron hug.
When the Strifes and the Fair boy were gone, Riona grinned at Squall. She stepped up to him and slipped her hand into his back pocket.
"Love you Squallie." She mumbled.
~x~
Roxas~
I sat in the passenger seat of Cloud's car. Xion lay in the back, still asleep/unconscious.
I looked at Cloud. He seemed...I don't know...like all his defenses were up and he wasn't gonna let anyone in under any circumstances.
But...it was worth a shot.
"Cloud..?" I said quietly.
"What...what's going on?"
At first, he didn't answer and I wondered if he was angry or he didn't hear.
Then:
"A lot of things, Roxas. Be more specific."
I had to think a little. "Why did Tifa leave? Why has Xion been falling asleep so much? What is a Keyblade for?"
Silence. In my anxiety, I started jabbing my finger into the side of the old black seat.
"Tifa left because...she thinks I still love Aerith."
It's a good thing I hadn't been driving. If I was, I would've hit the breaks so hard my foot would be stuck in the floor.
"What?" I gasped.
Cloud winced a little and shifted his hands on the steering wheel.
"Aerith and I used to...um...date, I guess."
A/N Lol it's fun to write Cloud as an awkward dad :P
I continued to stare.
"Date...?" I'll be speaking in one-syllable sentences for a while.
"Yeah...when we were...younger." He seemed both embarrassed and sad at the same time.
"But..." Thankfully, Cloud was more than fluent when it came to confused, uncomfortable teenage conversing.
"Yeah, I know. We...broke up...about a year before you and Kairi were born." He explained.
"In fact, when you guys were...two I think, Zack beat me up because he thought you were mine." He laughed quietly.
Ok, imagine your best friend's dad says he used to date your mother.
Throwing up yet? No? Well, then imagine if her dad told you there was a possibility you were HIS kid?
How bout now? Yep, that's what I thought.
Then, I was once again able to speak in complete sentences (aren't you all proud?) and said:
"Why did you guys break up?" Not that I think they should've stayed together.
Cloud didn't seem to wanna answer that one.
"Let me think about it Roxas." Cloud said.
I'm pretty sure I adopted the art of Cloud-language from my mother, because the second he said that, I knew he meant "It's hard to talk about I'll tell you when the probability of my daughter dying isn't so high."
Speaking of Xion, time for question two:
"Ok. Why has Xion been falling asleep so much, then?"
The car, I noticed, sped up quite a bit at that point.
"I don't know." Cloud answered.
Liar. I thought. He doesn't know I see him grinding his teeth...
I wanted to push him for information, but I knew my time was short, and I still had one last question:
"Why...what is this for?"
Flash, my Keyblade appeared in my hand.
Cloud stopped the car in the MIDDLE OF THE ROAD!
Some angry Volkswagen bug driver honked at us as they swerved to avoid the little black traffic block we had become.
"Roxas," Cloud said calmly. "Put that away."
I was going to hold my ground, but then Cloud gave me a "Kid, you will be getting well acquainted with the road if you don't put your friggin Key away" look and I reluctantly obeyed.
The car assumed motion. "Roxas...the ability to wield a Keyblade has to be kept secret. You can't just summon it in the middle of the street." Cloud said.
"And you can't just stop the car in the middle of the road." I grumbled.
"What was that?"
"Nothing!"
I looked down. I had created a huge hole in the seat.
~x~
Cloud~
We arrived to the hospital. I got out of the car and turned to get Xion out of the backseat.
But she wasn't there.
After a miniature heart attack, I realized Roxas was holding her and walking towards the hospital doors.
I figured he was mad at me. I barely answered any of his questions, and probably shocked him a little. I'd be mad at me too.
I sighed and trudged after him.
Roxas~
I carefully held Xion close to me as I kicked open the double doors of the hospital.
"What do you-oh!" The man (...T-song? Seeng? Crap it matters now...) actually showed emotion: worry.
"Help...?" I asked awkwardly.
He quickly called in a nurse. A blonde woman with green highlights sped in with a gurney and two male nurses.
One of those 'nurses' was Rude.
He ripped Xion out of my arms and set her on the temporary bed.
I stood there, a statue. Even when Cloud pushed through the doors and stopped next to me. I stared at the ground, my arms at my sides.
"Where's Xion?" He asked.
"Gone." I mumbled.
~x~
Cloud and I paced around the room. Because she was a Strife, they put Xion in the Sky Wing. We were forced to stay in the Gray Area.
A/N I changed the name of the Underground Ward to the Sky Wing. Sounds cooler and makes more sense.
After we had carved out a shiny path around the perimeter, Dr. Klaus made an appearance.
"Hey, guys." He greeted as if we were old friends.
Cloud stopped pacing. "How is Xion?"
Dr. Klaus rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
"Um...well..."
Cloud was across the room in an instance, holding Dr. Klaus up a foot in the air by his collar.
He looked straight into the scared doctor's eyes.
"Bartz. Tell. Me. What. Is. Wrong. With. My. Daughter." He growled.
"Ok! Ok! It was as you thought. She has Geostigma." Dr. Klaus...Bartz...whatever...said.
Cloud still didn't put him down. "And...?"
"Cloud..." He mumbled. "Put me down please..."
The distraught dad put the mousy doctor down.
"She...she has fallen into a coma."
My first thought:
What a terrible doctor. He can't keep people out of comas.
My second thought:
WHAT?!
X
Yes...she is in a coma like Roxas. This coma is very important. Very.
Um...there will be some Christmas-ness in the next chapter. Also some sadness. So bring tissues.
And when Christmas break starts, I'll be able to update a LOT more. So-:)
(Sorry. I have this weird thing and I have a hard time finishing some thoughts and sentences.)
