DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT A PART OF THE PLOT!
Chapter 20 – EPILOGUE: REUNION
On one morning, in a tube station in London, United Kingdom…
It was the peak hours for work and school, so the crowd in the Underground station resembled mountains and seas. Whether at the station entrance, walkways, tunnels, platforms or ticketing area, one could only see people, more people and nothing but people. On the platform, workers and students as well as other commuters were waiting for the next arriving train. According to the electronic announcement board, it was one minute away.
Just then, a faraway howl came from the left, followed by bursts of air blowing at people's faces. Seconds later, the train followed the howl and appeared before the commuters. It came to a halt eventually and the doors opened after a second. Passengers alighted from the train and commuters waiting on the platform boarded after that. The voice in the announcement speakers reminded people to mind the gap between the train and the platform. After about ten or so seconds, the doors closed after a long beep. One more second later, the train left the platform in an accelerating speed, speeding towards the next stop.
"This is a Victoria Line train to Brixton." Before the doors were shut, a lady's voice came from the speakers in the train. But since most passengers were regular commuters, they did not pay too much attention to that. Everyone was minding their own business in the train. Occasionally one could hear people chatting softly. Nevertheless, most passengers were occupied with their phones, not really taking notice of their surroundings, while some passengers were using their commuting time to catch a brief nap or a shut-eye.
And someone… was conjuring up some idea in their head, sneakily going along with the inertia from the train's speed and inched closer to a young lady. Keeping a straight face, he carefully inserted his hand into… her unzipped handbag. He saw that no one noticed his acts and was secretly gleeful, thinking that he had another piece of fortune for his taking-
"Excuse me, sir. Put it back."
A quiet voice suddenly came from behind him, and a hand landed on his shoulder at the same time. He was truly taken aback, but he merely manifested his shock with a tiny jolt and he turned around to see what it was about. Before him stood a girl, quite a young one at that, but he could not really discern her actual age, being from a different ethnicity. She looked like a high schooler nonetheless. "Huh, little girl, aren't you supposed to be at school?" he jokingly asked. The girl was not wearing a school uniform from any schools in London, just a plain dark-coloured hoodie, a shirt and a pair of jeans. She ignored his question and calmly said, "I saw everything, so put it back, sir."
The man sized up the meddling kid in front of him. He figured that drastic measures were unnecessary and a simple feigned cluelessness would do. Besides, there were many eyes and ears here, it would jeopardise him more if he did anything to her directly. Thus, he acted like he had no idea what she was implying and said, "Oh, what are you on about? I did nothing." The girl blinked once and adjusted her glasses quickly. She continued using her quiet and calm tone and said, "You'd better not lie, because the cameras in this train has your face in it." Now the man did not speak anymore, glaring at this girl with a serious expression, but he started to panic a little on the inside. He was not sure if the girl was messing with him, but he had not the time to test out his hypothesis. Seeing that the man was awfully silent, she added, "And your hand is still holding it. Let go if you please."
At this point, some of the passengers had already overheard the conversation between the two. They averted their gazes from their phone screens to them, but they did nothing else besides staring. The man dropped his joking tone and hissed lowly, "What if I don't?" The girl reciprocated, "Then you might start to regret your life decisions." The man smirked and said, "Bah! What can you do?"
"Well, I warned you…" thought the girl, taking a deep breath. She suddenly raised her voice and said, "Miss, this man is stealing your wallet!" The unsuspecting young woman only then jolted in reaction and spun around to look at us with a surprised face. "The next station is Victoria. Doors will open on the right hand side…" At that moment, the announcement rang in the train, informing everyone about the imminent stop. The young woman did not react in time, and the onlookers were too slow to jump into action. Seeing that his chance was slipping away, the man pulled the wallet in his hand out of the lady's bag in one swift movement, pushed everyone surrounding him aside forcefully and made a run for it.
The girl did not expect his sudden escape, but she recomposed herself and yelled, "Get back here!" And then she broke into a sprint, but due to the crowd in the train, she had to squeeze in between the passengers while apologising along the way. She had been in the country for two years already, so she was more or less influenced by the British habit of saying sorry all the time. After five to six seconds, the train stopped at the next platform and the doors opened again. People started to get off the train, but the pickpocket successfully got out of the crowd and after getting off, he dashed into the depths of the platform.
The girl was not too far away and burst out of the growing crowd too. She saw his retreating figure from the corner of her eye and ran after him, initiating a chase in the tube station walkways. In her pursuit, she saw a few police officers ahead so she yelled, "Police! Help! This man is a pickpocket!" Currently, two officers had joined in the fray and were chasing the man down. They also radioed their colleagues stationed somewhere in this station and managed to seal off the corridors to other interchanging trains before the man got there, cutting off his escape routes. Out of desperation, the man made for the escalators. Since the commuters were standing on the right nicely, they left an unobstructed path for the pickpocket to run on. If the pursuers did not hurry, the pickpocket would finally escape the station and into the streets outside.
In a large coach station in London, United Kingdom…
People were everywhere here too, except that luggage was more prominent here compared to the tube station. Many white coaches branded with "National Express" entered and left the bays in the station. One such coach drove into a bay and stopped. Soon, the main coach door and the door to the luggage storage space at the bottom of the coach opened and the passengers got off one by one and collected their luggage. Two boys and a girl got off after thanking the coach driver. They retrieved their baggage and walked into the coach station building.
"So this is the 'legendary' Victoria Coach Station…"
"Oh… I'm still sleepy."
The guys spoke quietly among themselves, but the girl started squealing in an overexcited tone, "Oh my god! There's English everywhere! On the road signs, in the announcements, even in the people's speeches! Their accents… Oh my word, we really are in England!" Her two travel companions quickly reacted; one of them grabbed her arm while the other covered her mouth. They tried to ignore the odd stares from the people around them. One of them hissed, "Xion, control yourself for god's sake! Now everyone thinks we're mental. Surely you don't have to exaggerate your excitement even if you want to express your feelings?"
Xion wriggled out of his grasp but she explained in a calmer tone, "Come on, Roxas, we travelled all the way here from Penang. How can I not be excited? This is my first time travelling to Europe, and it's the United Kingdom! One of my dream countries… I have been planning this for a while now, and I finally get to set foot on this land! Oh yeah!" Demyx laughed heartily and agreed, "Xion's right though; we look forward to this trip very much, so excitement is normal."
Roxas sighed exasperatedly, "Excitement doesn't mean being high all the way from leaving for the airport until getting here, lasting for more than ten hours, while humming 'Rule Britannia' and 'God Save The Queen', plus the James Bond main theme and making a crap ton of Harry Potter references, right?" Xion was totally unaffected by Roxas' complaint, she just stuck out a tongue at him. Demyx snickered and sang quietly, "Pub, pub, pub and go~ Fish and chips!" The blonde stared at Demyx with a "not you too' expression and facepalmed, groaning.
Xion started fangirling again, "Ah, the UK… so awesome, so cool, so posh, so traditionally gentlemanly…" "And so chilly… Isn't it freaking summer now?" Roxas muttered after Xion's sentence and pulled the thin jacket on his form tighter, trying not to shiver. Xion said, "I did bring a few jackets just in case… I imagined it to be cooler. And I got lucky, it seems." Roxas said, "I was thinking that summer means heat, so I only brought this thin jacket. I thought I wouldn't even need it after getting off the plane… Ugh, maybe I'm just not used to this weather, because everyone here are wearing short sleeves now and haven't frozen to death yet…"
Demyx looked around him and asked, "Where are we supposed to meet up again?" Xion thought and said, "Eh… I think we need to get out of the coach terminal and go to the… metro station? Train? What the heck?" Roxas tapped on his phone for a while, looked at the signage boards hanging on the ceiling and said, "From the public transport map, the Victoria stop has more than three transport options. Since we are going to meet up at the tube station, if we follow the London Underground icon, we should get to our destination." Demyx stared at said map and shook his head violently, groaning, "Holy cow, this map is too complicated!" Roxas reminded, "Don't forget, the Tokyo public transport network map is worse. London is a metropolis after all."
After confirming their bearings, they dragged their luggage and got moving. Once out of the station building, they passed by various buildings and streets. On their way there, they feasted their eyes upon the architecture of the buildings lining the streets while discussing about their upcoming plans in the British capital, which included a truck load of tourist attractions like the London Bridge, Westminster Bridge, Westminster Abbey, the parliament building, Big Ben, London Eye, The British Museum, the 9 3/4 Platform, and many more. Even the gloomy weather and grey clouds and skies could not dampen their moods.
"Yeah, it's true that we haven't got together in a long time. Too bad Ven, Kairi and Nami couldn't make it though," commented Demyx, his tone reminiscent. Walking ahead to lead the way, Roxas turned his head to the back a bit and said, "Ven said his flight from Singapore was delayed, so don't worry, he'll get here anyhow… maybe many hours later." Xion was busy taking photos along the way, blissfully unaware of the ongoing conversation.
After some strolling and chatting, they arrived at the Victoria tube station fifteen minutes later. Now they were at the ticketing area; Demyx and Roxas were watching over the luggage while Xion tried to figure out the Oyster Card. She firstly read through the leaflet, and played around the ticket machine, alas she gave up the mindless investigation and decided to head over to a manned counter to consult a staff member, so she would not waste money needlessly. Exchanging Malaysian Ringgits to British Pounds could cause wallets to die of shock…
After some time, Xion finally received three Oyster Cards, but she thought the money in them might not be enough, so she planned to reload the cards with the ticket machines. But… "Great…" thought the raven-haired girl. All the British Pounds she had on her were in cash, and coincidentally, all machines with cash payment options were all down, except one, with a ridiculously long queue. It seemed like it was going to take forever at this rate.
"Allow me."
Suddenly, a familiar voice came from behind Xion, she turned around and saw Zexion, who she had not seen in years, standing behind her with a small smile on his face. Her reaction finally caught on and said happily, "Oh hey! You're here! Oh my god, how've you been?" She grabbed and shook his hand excitedly, and she called out to the other two boys, "Yo! Zexion's here!"
They exchanged brief greetings (including Demyx almost smothering the shorter male in a bear hug), and then Zexion used his local debit card to help the three to reload their travel cards, and checked his own balance for good measure. Demyx said, "Oh wow, even if your hair is still the same, I almost couldn't recognise you. You dress so differently than before." Zexion skimmed the surface by saying, "Wearing like this back home would have earned me a nasty hyperthermia… Oh, by the way, how was the flight?"
Yawning, Roxas said tiredly, "Ugh… I couldn't really sleep, and I feel a bit jetlagged…" Xion merely shrugged and commented, "I'm OK though, I slept like a log." Demyx adjusted his bag on his back and said, "I adjusted my biological clock by going to bed late back at home, so I feel fine so far." Zexion nodded and suggested, "I should probably bring you all to breakfast after this; you look very hungry." "Oh hell yes! I want some English breakfast though, I've been craving for it ever since I started planning to see you here in the UK…" squealed Xion, her mouth watered at the mention of food.
"Speaking of which, where are the others?" asked Roxas, glancing around the station, seemingly looking for someone in the milling crowd. Zexion blinked and said, "Hmm, you mean-" "Yo!"
The four friends shifted their sights towards the voice. A redhead was exiting the ticket barrier. Once he noticed people waiting for him, he called out to them and ran over to them, waving his hand. "Axel!" Roxas returned the gesture and waved at him. When Axel stopped before them, he said, "You guys are here already? I'm not late, am I?" Glancing at his watch, Zexion answered, "Nope, you are just on time." Axel also looked at the clock hanging on one of the station walls; the time was barely a minute past nine in the morning. Xion took in Axel's appearance and said, "Well Axel, you don't look too different than before. Your hair seems a bit longer though, and spikier? Did you use a different hair gel?"
Axel replied with a bored tone, "Hey, I never used hair gel, my hair is just naturally spiky, OK? Did you ever get the memo?" And then, he waved his hand dismissively and said, "Anyways, enough about me. I'm starving, let's go eat. C'mon." He was clearly in a hurry to rescue his stomach, but Zexion interjected like nothing was happening, "Hold up, I believe we are still one person short, are we not?" Only then Demyx realised that too, so he joined in, "Ah, yes, we-"
All of a sudden, a loud commotion radiated from the depths of the tube station. Everyone, including the five-person-party, looked at the source of the commotion; the ticket barrier. Many people were heard shouting, but most of the commuters gathered near the ticket gates and there was a constant milling of people at said chokepoint, the literal human wall prevented anyone from afar to actually see what was going on. At that moment, a man burst out from the ticket barrier, shoving everyone in his way to the side. Close behind him was a person wearing a navy blue hoodie, with its hood pulled up. Since the person was running so fast, the air resistance pushed the hood down – "Nemix?!" exclaimed Xion, unable to react any more than that.
This was grating my nerves; I chased this bloody pickpocket from inside the train all the way to the ticket barrier and I still had yet to get my hands on him. Sure, there was additional help from the police officers who joined in halfway through and blocked out other escape routes, but once he got out of the station and into the opening outside, it would be hell to track him down. I thought I heard Xion calling my name. I almost could not recognise the voice; we had not seen each other for years after all. I then noticed Xion's location; so Organisation XIII had already arrived at the agreed meeting spot, and I was the only one left.
Nevertheless, I had to set aside the reunion for the time being; I had an escaping pickpocket to nab. I trained my eyes on my target, focusing all my energy onto chasing him down. I increased my running speed. The pickpocket ran past before my friends' eyes, and since I was hot on his trail, I zoomed past them too. While I sprinted by, I yelled, "Hi guys!" I could feel their eyes following my movement, and I was a few steps away for my hand to grab the man's sleeve. I mustered all my stamina and leapt, and I successfully landed on his back and tackled him to the ground. Although this landing was kind of rough, the man cushioned my fall, so it took some teeth gritting to tide me over the painful sensation.
I squashed him down harshly while trying to flag the police officers from earlier down, "Officers! The pickpocket is here!" I could feel him struggling beneath my weight, so I elbowed him hard on the back of his hand, and the impact caused him to loosen his grip on the wallet, which I swiftly snatched out. I only got up after the officers made their way over to me and took over. Just then, the wallet's owner also jogged over to me, so I returned her what was due. While she was thanking me, a few other officers came over to record our testimony. That took about five minutes or so. And then we went our separate ways while the pickpocket was taken away by the police. Soon, the atmosphere in the tube station reverted to normal.
"Mission accomplished!" I whispered to myself, and then I turned around to walk towards Organisation XIII who I had to ignore earlier. They were still staring at me. I waved and greeted, "Hi guys! Long time no see!" However, only awkward silence greeted me… "… Why are you staring at me like that?" I asked with evident confusion. Still, no one uttered a sound, but seconds later Roxas and Xion burst out laughing while others were either snickering or chuckling. After she finished laughing, Xion explained, "Good god, Nemix, after all these years, you haven't changed a bit… Haha." Demyx added, "You still go after lawbreakers like hunting down your sworn enemy, as gung-ho as ever."
Blinking at them, I slowly said, "… OK…?" And then I spoke with a normal tone, "Well, taking without consent means stealing, and it's wrong to steal anyway. I initially wanted to just intervene quietly, thinking he would realise that he was fighting a losing war and would just give up and scram, so I did not have to get into this mess; I'm in a hurry to see you guys after all. But he had the nerve to choose to waste my time and cause me to be late. So I ended his free trial of walking away unscathed and made him regret his life decisions."
Roxas said, "Well, since you're here already, I guess that's fine for me, we didn't wait too long anyway. Shall we go?" My stomach seemed to understand Roxas and grumbled in response so loudly everyone heard it. I sighed, "Yeah… and get breakfast. All those running and jumping burned up whatever energy reserves I had." Right after that, another groan from someone else's stomach could be heard, and it seemed to be Axel's. We stared at him, he could not be bothered to deny that it was him but could only say, "Agreed…"
Finally, we were having breakfast at a Wetherspoon restaurant. Now that everyone's orders were paid and on the table, we were busy resuscitating our stomachs. "Oh wow, is this how croissants really taste like? So aromatic, so flaky, and not oily at all, my whole life is a lie… What the heck were the so-called croissants I had eaten in the past twenty years?!" said Xion while chewing the pastries, but I would put her eating behaviour at the moment as retaliatory… Roxas was taking his time savouring the food in his mouth and commented, "Wow, this bacon is so good, but a bit salty…" Seeing their devouring, I could not help but say, "Guys, chill, no one's taking away your food." Axel snickered and teased, "Said the person who just gobbled up her hash browns in record time." I swallowed my food and retorted, "What? I'm extremely hungry, alright?"
We were chatting whilst eating, since it had been ages since we last met, we could not stop. Demyx started, "So how's life so far?" Axel sipped his coffee and answered, "Well… my study visit has been cool. I got to see and learn many things I don't get to do back at home. I had to say, this experience has been really… refreshing. But the weather is just miserable…" Roxas snapped his fingers and said, "Ditto, I'm still feeling chilly…"
I set my teacup down. Picking up a teapot to pour myself some tea, I said, "Huh, I don't feel much." Roxas looked at me and asked, "You're wearing a short-sleeved shirt in this gloomy weather?" I shrugged and admitted, "I feel OK… and I have my hoodie for any last-minute weather change." Xion asked, "What if it rains heavily?" I waved my hand nonchalantly and said, "Nah, 95% of the time it won't rain that heavily. Even if it does, it goes away quickly."
Just like I predicted, the drizzle that had been going on a minute ago stopped, and sunshine came through the window seconds later. But after a couple of minutes, the drizzle returned and the clouds sprawled across the sky. "OK then…" Xion nodded, finally understanding why hoodies were a necessity for many locals when out and about. Next, she asked, "Then how about you, Zexion?" After some thought, he replied, "Self-discipline is crucial. They have lots of learning resources here of all varieties, and universities greatly encourage self-study and self-teaching. The sources I can get my hands on or provided by my university are excellent, and we have personal tutors to go to if we run into any problems in academics or life in general."
Demyx posed his question after that, "And you, Nemix? How do you find London?" I looked at him with a mildly surprised expression and said, "Huh? I am not studying here. My university is in Nottingham, in the middle part of England." They seemed to have lost their words for a brief moment, except for Zexion and Axel who had already known that. I added, "Actually, I just got here by train this morning." "So early?!" Roxas and Demyx asked in bewilderment. Xion asked with a slight astonishment, "How long did the train journey take?" I recalled out loud, "Eh… about two hours, depending on the time slot. I took the train leaving Nottingham at twenty to seven in the morning and arrived at London St Pancras station at half past eight."
Now everyone was looking dumbfounded. "What?" Axel looked at me as if I had gone nuts. I defended myself, "What? That time slot was the cheapest! And using my railcard, I can get 33% off on tickets too. Choosing to depart on the day itself means that I can save one night's worth of accommodation. London prices are outrageous and Zexion's and Axel's living spaces are limited, so I thought I shouldn't burden them more than necessary. I stored my luggage at the train station and strolled around before coming to see you guys."
Xion continued her questions, "How's Nottingham like then?" "Of course, it's very different than the capital. It's a nice city, not too big and just nice to get around. Not having a metro system like London might make it seem a bit inconvenient, but the most annoying thing is that the bloody airport is so far away and a headache to get to… The good thing is that prices are great as a student living there, and I get to save a lot of money towards my travel funds, hehe!" Zexion nodded in understanding and mused, "Ah, that explains why you are especially concerned about the airport's distance from the city." And then his tone turned more curious, "So… where have you been?"
That was it, the dam broke. I got really excited all of a sudden and my face lit up. I said, "Oh, now we're talking!" In a long period of time after that, I recounted each and every of my adventures and trips after I arrived at the UK. First off was the insane Winter European Trip; I bought the ticket on a whim and ended up meeting this crazy bunch of fellow countrymen and countrywomen and a few more other nationals, who became my new friends instantly after fooling around together. In that trip we visited Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and France. Granted, we only visited one or two towns and cities per country, but from that time onwards, I started charting my own "territory", my passion for travelling and adventures ignited like a never-ending fire and could not be put out. Few months later, I travelled solo to Austria to pay a more in-depth visit, and then joined with another group of friends halfway before heading over to Hungary and Czech Republic.
Following that, I proceeded to travel over every holiday I got to Italy, Denmark, Spain, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Slovenia. Although I still have bucket loads of European countries I wanted to visit, I also travelled quite extensively in the UK itself, like Sheffield, Lake District, Northern Wales, London (yes, it was not my first time here), Cambridge, Oxford, Windsor, Bath and Edinburgh. Demyx's eyes were wide and his mouth was ajar. Roxas laughed, "Oh wow, Nemix totally stole the whole show now." Xion added, "And you managed to save so much travelling on a budget and still had so much fun. Not bad!" "Of course, my travel style might seem uncomfortable and inconvenient to some, but a little goes a long way if you can save tiny bits of money wherever you can. Besides, I still have tons of places I want to go to… like the Nordic countries, Eastern Europe, Ireland, Portugal and so on. The Balkans are a bit overwhelming and overbearing, but I might be back for other countries in the region… at some point…" I drank a gulp of tea, and with flashing eyes I said, "But the food though… oh my god, it's so good, even if it is from a random streetside stall or a quiet quaint café, it tastes like heaven. The culture and history in this continent are quite rich and good to learn about, they are fun and interesting too. And to top it off, the scenery is just… gorgeous, whether city or nature, it has the charm to take your breath away every time."
Demyx seemed to be infected by my enthusiasm and said, "But damn, your adventures sound awesome and crazy at the same time. Like your solo travel in Austria, sitting and sleeping through the sleeper train from Budapest to Prague – I heard it's notoriously shady – stranded in the middle of nowhere in Italy and having to speak Italian to buy tickets to get out, going to Copenhagen via low cost flight in the height of winter when its travel season is at its literal coldest…" Xion continued after him, "Braving the rain whilst hiking on the dead volcano in Edinburgh, managing to get by in Spain mainly by Spanish, and the general chaotic YOLO travels in the Balkans… You're one insane nasty plotter indeed."
Being the down-to-earth person he was, Zexion queried, "Surely the planning prior the trips must have been hell?" Sighing softly, I replied, "Bingo. It did take up a lot of my time and energy to look for ideas and inspiration, to find the right prices and time, to think about safety and backup plans… you name it, I might have at least dabbled in it. Nevertheless, in the end, I feel that all my sacrifices are worth it, it's so satisfying." I glanced over at everyone and suggested, "You all should try solo travelling sometime. It's really empowering. Guys might be able to get around easier than me."
Axel was somehow convinced, and he was slightly rubbing his fists. But then his expression changed to a neutral one and he said, "Just one problem; we don't usually have a lot of time and money… What about studies? How did you cope?" To be honest, this kind of hit a sore spot, but I still told the truth, "It is fine so far. Of course, it is not as great compared to my high school and A-Levels years, but above average. For real though, it is tough to get the best of both worlds, especially with my degree of choice…" I sighed again and explained, "I don't have enough practice, and I can't find any, so whatever I read, whether I understand the concept or not, will seem to escape my memory quickly. Perhaps the many years in Malaysia spent doing practice questions for exams makes it harder for me to adapt to this new way of studying."
"… But, I regret nothing," I concluded, and continued elaborating, "Whatever decision I took back then, about my pre-university studies, subjects, degree of choice, university, destination country and scholarship acceptance… no regrets. Furthermore… they gave an excuse for me to have a date with you all here." I shot a joking look at them, trying to not dampen the should-have-been-cheery atmosphere. Roxas nodded and breathed, "Yeah… though the separation was kind of unbearable, it creates an opportunity for the next reunion."
Demyx chirped, "Well, I did hear people say that if a friendship lasts longer than seven years, it will last for a lifetime. Fun fact; this year is our ninth year together!" Upon hearing that, Zexion coolly put his cup down and said, "Actually, from another study, it is proven that common circumstances and experiences influence the longevity of a friendship, not the span of the friendship itself or personal preference towards certain people." Roxas deadpanned, "Well, the stuff we've been through together could have made us sworn buddies for life if you think about it." Axel stretched and said, "Yeah, so we're stuck together forever, it seems. If that's the case, we need to preserve this friendship."
"With a photo!" interrupted Xion. In lightning speed, she dug out her phone and snapped an impromptu selfie of her with us. We did not see anything coming, so we did not react in time. Axel reacted first though, "Yo, what the heck? We weren't ready yet!" Xion inspected the photo on her phone and laughed, "Haha, your faces are priceless! Literal deer in headlights!" Roxas tried to scramble over to her while saying, "Hell no, Xion, I demand a retake!" And that was how we got into a friendly banter. After we finished our food, we left the restaurant.
For the rest of the day, we visited many famous London landmarks and strolled around. Of course we were also looking for food while we were at it and we basically just messed around. I personally disliked cheesy reunions and emotions, but it did feel good to meet up with old friends and reminisce old tales. New friends were undeniably important, but old friends could just get you easily and they had a similar background that was the most relatable to you.
Before dinner, we retrieved our respective luggage and spent the night at Zexion's rented house. His housemates had gone home for the holidays, so… this world was ours now! Again, we fooled around and bantered with one another, and then cooperated to make dinner. While we were sitting/lying on our respective sleeping spaces, we reminisced the past once again…
Roxas started the train down memory lane, "Hey, remember how we busted those bunch of kids who tried to skip school? Now it feels odd to see that is similar to how we nabbed Scumbag Vanitas seven years ago." Demyx looked at Roxas and commented, "God, that sounds creepy now that I think about it. That has to be more high stakes than the haunted school building." "You sure? You were absolutely spooked out of your mind that night too. Is there anything more high stakes than the haunted school building?" Xion jokingly asked. Demyx explained, "Ghosts are still scary, but not as much as evil people, OK? Real or not, doesn't matter."
Xion added, "Well, the whole Atsumi Peninsula beach incident was pretty high stakes too. We could have died back then…" I sighed, "True that… but luckily we made it out in one piece… and the food we had after we survived was worth it." Finishing my sentence, I high-fived Axel. Foodies for the win!
Zexion said, "We did face a lot of obstacles and threats… like we did in school sometime after our official inauguration as prefects." I cringed inwardly. Yeah… Almost getting acid on your head is not cool at all. Even the thought of the imagery sent shivers down my spine. However, the moment of getting our recognition was so satisfying… Zexion continued to recall, "We went on various missions, were dismissed from school altogether and were recalled back…"
Xion sat up and joined in, "At one point, we even suspected each other… but it's all good. No hard feelings and we even strengthened our friendship." Axel added, "We also got the chance to meet so many people from so many cultural backgrounds and insights. That isn't too bad at all." I concurred, "That was not a world party for nothing. The most incredible thing was that we somehow just clicked despite having never met before."
An awkward laugh left Demyx and he said, "Well, everyone was a bit upset when we were 'economically sanctioned'. Strangely, no one held grudges but got through the ordeal together." Now, I could only deplore, "You don't get to see that nowadays, it is just sad…" We descended into silence, maybe we all shared the same thoughts? I continued, "But… the drama we pulled off was epic though, and everyone put up with my antics and planning." I stuck my tongue out briefly after the last sentence.
"We had a whole bunch of crazy people with different talents in one class, we would have put up with each other's antics either way, no matter how crazy they could be. Like how the six of us investigated the school cyberattack, followed the clues and finally caught Samara and Devilish Director in her office, by joining all of our expertise and wills." Xion said. "And that was also how we worked hand in hand to sniff out Samara in the whole Fayra framing incident, and saved Nemix's sanity…" And with that, Axel averted his gaze to me, smirking. I turned into a metaphoric porcupine and said defensively, "Oi, don't look at me like that!" Still wearing that expression, he teased, "Nah, it's funny to see how flustered you get whenever we get to such topics, you act like a robot with a fried brain, it's hilarious."
Perhaps it had been too long since Axel last got his butt kicked, so now he was asking for pain? Of course, I was not really mad, just not amused that my current flustered state was all thanks to him. I cracked my knuckles slowly and said lowly, "Why, Axel, you are still as annoying as ever..." And we bantered again. Sipping his tea on the sidelines, Zexion mused, "They can be such idiots sometimes, but we are always a dysfunctional family that seems to work out just fine… After all, we are entertaining to read about. Right, readers?"
[Authoress suddenly appeared from the kitchen and said, "Dang it, Zexion's abilities got so strong he broke the fourth wall. But I guess this means he would have no issues finishing his PhD without any hitches with this and his academic abilities, right?"]
The next day, Ven finally arrived at London and met up with us in the city. After listening to his story/rant, we walked around other places in London. And the day after, we hopped on the Eurostar train to Paris for a three-day trip. And as you would have guessed, we were messing with each other throughout the trip, as if our past teen selves came back to possess us. After returning to London, I went back to Nottingham first to settle the issue of me moving out of my dorm. My tenancy agreement only lasted until late July, and if I wanted to keep my stuff in the room, I would need to pay for another contract to cover the gap until the next tenancy agreement began in September for the next academic year. That was basically paying a slightly reduced rent for no one to stay in my room, so I had to pack up everything in the room before leaving, call a lorry to drive everything to a storage facility downtown and lock them up there for about two months before retrieving them when I came back. Besides, the expenses of storing in a dedicated facility was way cheaper than that of an extra tenancy contract, even though it was troublesome as well as tiring, but in order to save money, I would do anything.
One week later, the seven of us arrived at London Heathrow Airport, ready to return home for the summer holidays. Well, Zexion and I were going home for holiday, while others were going home for good after having the time of their lives abroad. Now, we had passed through the check-in and security check procedures, and were now chilling in the waiting lounge and waiting for the boarding gate to our flight to be announced. Listening to the music from my phone, I was lost in thought…
Man, it was a lot of fun getting together with my old friends again. We had many adventures together, and I still wanted to create more adventures with these idiots, even though they were crazy… fortunately their craziness were mostly on doing the right things… Axel said Organisation XIII salvaged my sanity, it was true. Without them, I did not dare to imagine what my high school life would be like, especially when I came across problems I could not solve all by my own. Had they not intervened selflessly without hesitation, I probably would have been done for. May our friendship not be washed out by the flow of time…
"Yo! Nemix! They announced the gate, move out!" Axel clapped his hand right before me, pulling me back to reality. I was startled, and I pulled out my earphones, pinched his nose before collecting my personal belongings. I tried to catch up with the rest of the group. "Coming!" I said. Well, the following flight would be very… interesting…
Nonetheless, in a nutshell, no regrets. From the start to now, I chose to be stuck with this bunch, and I would still do so in the future. I would not have wished for the things that happened to me to develop in a different way. I would gladly be the nasty plotter for this eccentric bunch of friends, fighting alongside them. We might not be fighting school crimes anymore, but the whole Counter Crime Group deal left us with this solid relationship among us; Organisation XIII, and that was what I would cherish forever. Long live Organisation XIII, long live friendship!
~ CHAPTER 20 FIN ~
THE END
Hello readers! It is I, the long unseen Authoress herself! Haha, I have not popped up since the beginning of Chapter 16, only appearing for a cameo in the epilogue. I chose not to barge in because I do not want to negatively affect the story development. After all, the last five chapters of this story are more on the serious end of the spectrum, and whenever I appear it is for comic relief, except for the fact that they are not comical at all… So I thought I should not ruin the atmosphere then!
This story dragged on intermittently since 2009, and ploughed right into 2020 and finally, we hit the finish line and close the whole series! This is also the only novel I actually finish, so you can probably see how much importance I place on it, yes? To be able to have one complete piece of work (horrible or not) feels so great… In the story, my writing style had drastic changes as well as my thoughts, besides the obvious handwriting and vocabulary. For a writing starting from 8th Grade to when I start working, it is hard to not reflect changes in thoughts and beliefs. However, I maintained a single philosophy; good karma is always returned with a good one, and vice versa. Karma is never forgotten, but late. The net of law may seem loose, but it never lets anyone who broke it escape, no matter how long it may take. Committing a crime is wrong, regardless of how minor or major it is, if left uncorrected, one may never know if there will be a second time such crimes can happen again. Appropriate judicial punishment is necessary.
The character of Nemix aka 207 is a very typical Lawful Neutral person, things are either right or wrong to her. She might seem a little overeager on following the rules, but she is actually an extension of a part of my personality, just that her law-abiding qualities are on steroids… For me, I am the sort of person who just keeps to herself. I will uphold the law and will push for everyone around me to follow. If others break a law, I will deplore about it and decide not to care about it in the end. I do not know them, and they do not know me. They do not affect me, so I could care less. But this also means that if said person involved me in their mess in a bad way, I will defend myself to kingdom come, the same applies for my family and friends if they were in my shoes.
When I started writing "The Great Adventures of 207", it was purely because I thought the prefects in my high school were so cool; they maintained order for the benefit of everyone. I myself was not a prefect, but I had always been that one quiet student who never created problems for them. And I watched a few school detective shows that provided this story with many ideas, like the Taiwanese drama series "霹雳MIT". When I was in 8th Grade, I sat with a group of prefects, and through a few limited exchange of words, I could feel that it was incredible for them to manage their studies alongside their duties. That was why members of Organisation XIII in this story was inspired by real characters, and most major villains were also created from real life people I know. After I got obsessed with Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy, especially Organisation XIII, the characters just fit nicely into the original characters. In fact, they fit so nicely that I do not feel any clashes. What a miracle, haha! Only Devilish Director, the Discipline teacher and Scumbag were not inspired by real life people.
It is originally intended to be a full-fledged school detective story, but then elements of crime, action, thrill and whatnot seeped in (I am looking at you, Police Academy), so I hope it would not be too illogical. OK, it is actually way off the track of reality, but my real high school life was too bland, where should I actually find inspiration and ideas from it?! Of course, I also adore comedy and anything humorous, so I apologise for my overly exaggerated humour and use of crazy words. I am grateful for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to study abroad in the UK, so I can at least create a few logical chapters to save this story… I would like to thank everyone and everything that enabled me to successfully finish this story, including parents, friends, money, air, food, home, computers, laptops, pens, papers… Agh, you know what I mean, so I am going to stop rambling. Also, thank you for your patience in reading this story. I know I am terrible at keeping up with a schedule when it comes to this, but now that I have finished the story, at least my efforts spanning so many years are not wasted.
I originally wrote the story in Chinese, and had nothing to do with Kingdom Hearts at first. The reason why I decided to translate it to English is so that people who do not understand Chinese can witness my bumbling piece of work. Of course, most of the early works were translations from my 11th Grade, so the grammar and overall quality are bad, so bad that I cannot stop cringing whenever I edit them. So I will be constantly correcting the mistakes besides uploading any new chapters. Some parts where it is best expressed in the Chinese language are not included in the English version and vice versa.
Before I put down my pen/stop typing, I hope I still have the chance to continue writing. I have been feeling stressed out lately and I discovered that writing helps with relieving those pent-up negative feelings. Regardless of the length of the piece, the language, about school or not, I want to make writing as a channel to de-stress myself. As of now, the COVID-19 pandemic situation does not seem to get better, so I hope while people are working hard to get back to their normal lives, they can find something to alleviate stress and negative emotions like I did with writing. I stand with you all. May the world find peace soon.
Non desistas, non exieris.
Yours truly,
Nemixiljix221
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