Year

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.

Enjoy, my dearest readers! Enjoy!

They were sitting on the Clock Tower, again. Axel and his two closest friends, Roxas and Xion. Their ice cream had long since been eaten but they were still talking. Axel didn't think they'd ever run out of things to talk about.

"It's been a year…" Axel said. "Three hundred sixty-five days…sixty-six actually, since it's a leap year."

"I still don't really understand leap years," Roxas said. "I mean, why have them in the first place? Is it bad I don't get it?"

"Eh, don't worry about that," Axel said. "Those don't make sense to me either."

"Even says that leap years are important to synchronize the seasons," Xion said. "Because a year is actually about three hundred, sixty-five days and six hours and without them, everything falls out of alignment."

"Huh," Axel said. "No kidding?"

"Yeah, we'd wind up having Christmas in March, or something," Xion said. "I can't remember exactly."

"Calendars are weird," Roxas said. "I think we can all agree on that."

Calendars were pretty weird. Axel remembered learning in school that at one point, the entire world had to switch its calendars for some reason, but he couldn't remember why. Something about some scholars going through some old books and realizing they made rounding errors in the genealogy of something or other. He hadn't gotten the details memorized.

"Still…" Xion said, kicking her legs lightly. "It's been a year. Think of everything that's happened."

Axel closed his eyes and thought. There had been so many things. Some wonderful, some horrible. They were together, that alone was wonderful. A couple months back, Xion and Roxas had both gotten an awful fever, which really sucked.

There had been plenty of days where they trained with their Keyblades—Xion had learned how to use his chakrams, Isa's claymore, and some of Ienzo's spells. Roxas was learning to use Dilan's lances, in case he ever needed an additional weapon. And they could run and jump and were starting to learn a technique Master Yen Sid called "flowmotion."

There had been days of peace too. They had had trips to the beach, trips to the park, many, many trips to the ice cream parlor. A trip to the dentist. Lazy days where the most they'd done was lie on the couch and watch tv. Roxas and Xion were learning to cook, learning to build things, learning about themselves.

They had a home now. A home with a fully stocked pantry and a refrigerator. A home where they had whatever they wanted in their rooms. Their own unique clothes. Their own unique blankets. Books and videos of movies. Roxas had a skateboard and a really weird tiki-head tissue dispenser, but they were his. Xion had her stuffed animals.

They'd had holidays—the way their faces lit up that Christmas morning. Thanksgiving, with the turkey and stuffing and homemade pumpkin pie. The Founders' Day parade. It'd been a wonderful, magical year.

Here's hoping they'd have many more to come.

Technically speaking, this should probably be the final vignette. It certainly feels like a finale. But there's still one more letter in the alphabet, my friends. One more story to come!

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