Beaches

I do not own Kingdom Hearts. It is the property of Square Enix and Walt Disney Studios.

Hey everyone! This next vignette is all about the beach! Sure I've written a beach trip for these kiddos before, but really, what's better for the Sea Salt Trio than a beach trip?

Back in the old days, in the Organization, Axel had promised Roxas and Xion that when they had another day off, whenever that might come, they would all go to the beach. That had come crashing down…like pretty much everything else from that year. But the promise was something he intended to keep. Now that they were back, there was nothing stopping them.

xxxx

The first beach they went to, was the Destiny Islands. It was the obvious choice, really. Xion loved it here. Back when Roxas had fallen into a coma for three weeks, Xion would leave a single seashell by his bedside drawer. One seashell a day, every day. And each seashell came from this beach. When Xion fell into a coma herself, Roxas returned the favor. A seashell a day, every day, placed on her bed. But each of those trips had been about as little as you could get. It took only a few minutes to find a seashell. Neither Roxas nor Xion had ever made a real day out of a beach trip.

Which is why they were here in the first place. This was their chance for a beach day. And what better beach than the Destiny Islands?

Axel's arms were filled with beach gear: an umbrella for shade, three towels, a cooler filled with cold soft drinks and ice cream bars, two of his frisbees, . He was going to make sure that Roxas and Xion had the absolute best day they had ever had.

Right from the start, his two half-pints practically squeed with delight. As Axel set up his umbrella and towel, so he could take a nap if he were so inclined. Hey, it was a day off—and if he wanted to sleep, sleep and turn around and sleep some more.

The Destiny Islands were tropical, though Axel couldn't remember where exactly they were on the planet. Kairi had said something about…the eighth latitude? Or something, he hadn't paid that close attention.

Point was, it was hot here. Hot and humid and it apparently was just about always the same exact weather. Hot enough that Axel needed to take off his shirt to ring it out of sweat less than ten minutes after he got himself settled. Eh…kind of icky. Probably better to leave it off.

"Alright, guys, where'd we put the sunscreen?"

"What's sunscreen?" Roxas and Xion asked in unison.

"Hahaha…." Axel trailed off. They'd always asked him questions about…pretty much everything. Life in the Organization had been so sterile, there was so much they didn't know. But he was pretty sure they were kidding about that. He hoped, anyway. If they didn't know what sunscreen was… sunburns would be their next question. And sunburns were icky.

"It's so warm," Xion said, slipping off her flip-flops. She giggled with delight as she dug her bare feet into the sand. "It tickles!"

Roxas wasted no time in ditching his own sandals and he and Xion began chasing each other. Man, even that was a novel experience for them—running barefoot on the beach. Axel's vision began to blur. They looked so, so happy. Wonderfully, blessedly happy.

"Help me find seashells!" Xion called, waving a plastic pail. Roxas nodded and together, they walked along the shore, looking for shells. They walked mostly in companionable silence—Axel could hear the calls of gulls and what might have been a pelican—occasionally picking up shells. After maybe fifteen minutes, Roxas and Xion had a full pail of shells.

"Look at this, Axel!"

Axel glanced at the pail. He could see clam shells, spiral shells that might have been used by snails or maybe hermit crabs, and Xion's favorite, thessala shells. There were white shells and yellow shells and a couple of purplish shells.

"Great!" Axel said. "So, what're you gonna do with them?"

"Well…" Xion said. "I was going to keep a few for my collection at home. But I don't want to take them all. Everyone should have the chance to collect seashells."

"Well…I have an idea. Lie down on the sand, Xion," Axel said. "Roxas, what do you know about shell outlines?"

Xion lay down in the sand on Axel's instruction, stretching her arms and legs like a starfish. Heh. Axel liked calling her half-pint, but Xion was so small, she was practically a quarter pint. Making sure to leave a few of her favorites as keepsakes, Axel and Roxas began setting the seashells around her. Clam shells by her elbows, sand dollars by her feet—in a bout of mischief that Axel wouldn't have expected, Roxas snuck a hand out to tickle Xion's bare toes. She gave a small shriek of laughter.

When they had finished outlining Xion with her seashells, she leaned back and closed her eyes. She almost looked ready to take a nap.

"I'm surrounded by my seashells. I have my two best friends. I…don't know if I could be happier."

Axel reached a hand down and ruffled Xion's hair. He wasn't sure he could be happier either.

xxxx

The beach in Twilight Town was barely an hour by the train. A trip there wasn't nearly as intensive to plan as a trip to the Islands. So, they were able to make trips on the fly.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, today the weather stank. Well, maybe not "stank," but the sky was overcast—which was weird in Twilight Town. There was a sharper wind too. The ocean looked choppier. No swimming today.

"Sorry kiddos," Axel said. "Looks like it's a bust."

"That's alright, Axel," Xion said, linking her arm through his. "This is still gonna be a great beach day."

"Yeah," Roxas said. "So long as we're all together, that's the important thing."

"But it's all spoiled," Axel said. "The water's too rough to swim, and the wind's kind of chilly so we can't sun ourselves. I mean, I suppose we could find some seashells, but if that guidebook of yours is anything to go by, Xion, you have every kind from these parts."

"Don't care," Xion said, tugging his hand. "We're together!"

"Yeah," Roxas said. "And there's other things to do…we can watch the waves!"

"Waves?" Axel asked. "How do you figure that?"

As if on cue, a particularly large wave crashed down onto the shore. Axel had to admit, it was pretty cool, but he was very glad they weren't under it.

"All we need is to find a bench," Roxas said with a nod. "And maybe get some nice hot pretzels to eat."

Axel let Roxas and Xion take hold of his hands and drag him towards one of the benches. They plopped him down in the middle and Xion sat down next to him, stretching her legs across his lap to keep him from getting back up, while Roxas ran over to a pretzel cart. Axel humored them—it would have been absurdly easy for him to get up. He was over a foot taller than Xion and at home, she was as often as not flung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. But he liked that the kiddos were so enthusiastic about what was otherwise a pretty icky set of circumstances.

"There's lots of games we can play with wave-watching," Xion said. "We can count the seconds between crashes…five, six, seven, eight…See, eight seconds. Just like you, huh, Axel? No. VIII?"

Man, they'd even managed to find ways to make light of that awful year in the Organization. His half-pints were awesome!

"Whatever you say, Number XIV," Axel said, reaching a hand to ruffle Xion's hair. He considered scooping her up and tossing her over his shoulder, or maybe dangling her by her ankles—that was always good to make her laugh—but it was cute that she thought she was pinning him.

"I'm back!" Roxas said, with three hot pretzels in his hands. "Fresh from the oven! One for Xion, one for you Axel, and one for me!"

Xion rolled back to sit up straight. Roxas sat down on Axel's other side. Axel took a large bite of his pretzel. Mmm…soft and chewy and cinnamony. Salty, and sweet. Like sea salt ice cream.

"Or, we can have a Hold Your Breath For The Most Waves Contest," Xion said, between bites of pretzel, taking a deep breath. She was pretty good at holding her breath—until she remembered she was hungry and opened her mouth to take a bite of pretzel. "Awww.."

"Or," Roxas said, "We can have a Who Can Finish Their Pretzel First Contest!"

Roxas, having the metabolism of a teenaged boy, destroyed them both, finishing his pretzel before Xion ate four bites.

Axel gave a bark of laughter. These two…yeah, they were right. This was a pretty darned nice beach day after all.

"C'mon you two, let's see how long till the next wave comes down."

Growing up of the Central Coast of California, one of my favorite things to do at the beach was watching the waves, which could be done on sunny days or cloudy days. Thus, I brought it here.

Thanks for reading, my dear, dear readers! Leave a comment if you're so inclined! I appreciate each and every one of you!