Vacation

I do not own Kingdom Hearts. It is the property of Square Enix and the Walt Disney Studios. This is a creative work that I do not profit off of in any way.

Axel walked over to the couch. Roxas and Xion…well, he wasn't actually sure where they were today. Master Aqua and Ven had showed up, in a change from the usual routine, and asked to see how they usually trained. Roxas and Xion were very dedicated to their Keyblade training, so they probably wouldn't be home for several hours.

Axel wasn't sure what it was that made him pick up the photo album. Maybe he was just feeling sentimental.

There was something odd about albums, or at least this photo album. Even though it was only a few months old, it felt like it had been around much longer. As if it had been part of Axel's life for his entire life. Certainly, it was part of his new life. The life he had with Roxas and Xion. And more specifically than that, the part of their lives that wasn't tied to the thrice-damned Organization. More specifically than that, it was a collection of photos from their vacations.

Axel opened the cover. The first page had a simple drawing that Naminé had done of the three of them. It was the first picture of them Axel knew of that had them in their regular clothes, not in the Organization robes.

The first proper page of photos was dedicated to their vacation at Disneytown. King Mickey had invited all of the Guardians of Light to come and visit. Turns out, most of his world was dedicated to being an amusement park. There was a picture of the three of them on a freefall, a picture of them playing a game called Fruitball with Master Aqua (Aqua won), a picture of them racing go-karts with Terra (Xion came in dead last, but she liked going slow), and a picture of them in front of a gargantuan ice cream sundae with Ven. That had been a great day.

The next set of vacation pictures had been a trip to the beach. Or, one of several trips to the beach. Pictures of Roxas and Xion sharing a very large slice of watermelon; pictures of Xion wading through the shallows looking for seashells; Roxas and Xion building a giant sand castle; Roxas burying Xion under the sand…Axel smiled. Those two had always wanted a beach vacation.

After the beach vacation photos, there were pictures of them hiking in a forest in a world called Corona, having a picnic. Xion had cooked everything herself…and had gone a little bit overboard. Several of the recipes were based on dishes ol' Scrooge's bistro served. The picnic blanket was sea-salt blue, naturally.

There were a few more pictures of their trip to Corona. In the courtyard in the city capital, it was tradition to dance. The princess, Rapunzel, was dancing with Roxas and Xion at the same time, looking as happy as any could be. Made sense, since Rapunzel was one of the Seven New Hearts.

There were more photos from other vacations. There were a dozen photos from the trip where they had traveled to Colosseum in Olympus and Roxas had led them to victory in the tournaments. There were loads of photos from Neverland—though Xion had taken a bunch of these, and bless her, her thumb was in a good chunk of them. There were so many pictures of Destiny Islands, which not only had the nicest beaches of any world, but also was the world where some of their dearest friends lived, Axel didn't bother trying to keep count. But the photo of Roxas and Sora and Xion and Kairi and Naminé all huddled together might be his very favorite.

Vacations were something special, there was no denying that—the chance to get to a new environment and try new things with no real pressures for success or failure. The chance to simply be. That was something Roxas and Xion had never really gotten to experience, that year in the Organization. Back then, they'd had one vacation day. And Xion had spent it training (Axel couldn't judge too harshly—he had spent it sleeping).

But it was something Axel was determined to put as much distance between their lives now and their lives then as possible. Here's hoping there were many more vacations to come.

I couldn't think of any vacation to write over another, so I decided Axel reflecting on several was just as fine!

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