Zoo
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.
Here we are! The last of the Sea Salt Vignettes!
It surprised Axel sometimes, just how little Roxas and Xion had experienced. They had never flown in an airplane—Gummi ships really didn't count. They had never stayed up past their bedtimes (which was really weird, but not something Axel was in a hurry to change, since them following what few ground rules he laid out was something to encourage). And they had never gone to the zoo.
When he was a kid, Axel had loved the menagerie at Radiant Garden. It had been set up by one of the wealthy families—there was a herd of white deer and some peacocks. Turns out that hadn't been a zoo so much as it had been the family flaunting its wealth. So, a genuine trip to a zoological park was going to be a first for all of them.
Twilight Town didn't have a zoo, or at least not one within an easy distance—there was one three hours by train, but at that length of time, it was just as easy to go to a different world. King Mickey suggested they come to Disney Town. Apparently, they had quite a zoo. And Mickey was grateful for the opportunity, since he hadn't gone in quite some time, either.
As the four of them entered the park, Xion and Roxas took hold of each others' hands. Axel rolled his eyes. They looked for any excuse to hold hands.
"Awww," King Mickey said. "I remember when Minnie and I were like that."
"What do you mean?"
"Young, in love, without a care in the world…" King Mickey said wistfully. "Those were such simple times…"
"Roxas? Xion? In love?!" Axel blurted. "No, no way. I'm not gonna give that any thought. No way, no way, no way."
"Axel!" Roxas called, "You coming?"
xxxx
"Bears!" Roxas said. "Check it out, Axel! There's a whole family of bears."
Family wasn't the word Axel would have used. There didn't really seem to be any cubs. But there were about thirty bears roaming around the exhibit—which was one of the largest exhibits he'd ever seen. Some were brown and some were black and some were a more chestnut-y color and some were almost as blond as Roxas. And they were all walking around on two legs.
"Hiya Humphrey!" King Mickey called, waving to one particular brown bear rubbing his back against a tree.
"This sign says that Humphrey and the other bears are brown bears," Xion said. "Their scientific name is Ursus arctos. Neat!"
"They can weigh up to eight hundred pounds or three hundred sixty three kilograms," Roxas said. "They're omeny-vorous."
"Omnivorous," Axel corrected automatically. "Means they eat meat and plants. Like people."
The bear that Mickey called Humphrey waved at them. Xion waved back and the bear began clapping its paws together. Yeesh, these bears were more like people than Axel thought.
"Feeding time!" A fat little zookeeper called, waddling over. He had a large bucket of fish in one hand. "Here's one for Habbo and one for Hal and one for Hambone and one for Hank and one for Harriet and one for Harry and one for Hazel and one for Hebert and one for Heidi and one for Henry and one for Holly and one for…"
The bears ran up to get their fish, while Humphrey was still scratching his back. When he finally realized what was happening, he raced over, tripping over his own feet. He stumbled and rolled all the way down the slope, crashing into each and every one of the bears ahead of him in line. Bears went this way and that, and then Humphrey rolled into the zookeeper. The pail of fish flew into the sky. And then they began falling…some of them not in the exhibit where the bears lived. One of them landed on Axel's head. Blech!
"Humphrey!" The zookeeper bonked the bear on the head. "Just look at the mess you've made! Clean it all up, right now! And you're not getting supper tonight!"
Humphrey made a very unhappy sound and began picking up the fallen fish. One by one he handed them to the other bears, who began eating them with gusto.
"That doesn't seem fair," Roxas said. "It was just an accident."
"And eating them like that in front of him?" Xion shook her head. "That's just mean."
Humphrey sat on a rock, looking very hungry and very lonely. Axel paused. He still had a large fish..and there were a few others scattered around the zoo path. He nodded to the half-pints and they began to pick up as many as they could. When their arms were full, Axel began tossing the fish to Humphrey, A whole pile landed at the bear's feet.
"Heh!"
xxxx
"This mountain lion is the largest cat of the family…Fel…Filly…Felly-ade?" Roxas read from a placard. "It has one of the largest natural ranges of any carnivore."
"It's solitary," Xion said. "Which means it lives all by itself, without any friends or family…awww…doesn't he get lonely?"
The mountain lion was long and kind of scruffy looking and sleepy. It stretched out on its rock, sunning itself. It didn't look like it had a care in the world.
"Golly," King Mickey said. "I remember once, Goofy accidentally got his pet kitten mixed up with a mountain lion just like this one!"
At the mention of the name "Goofy," the mountain lion's eyes bulged open. It raised its head and began looking around frantically.
"Rar? Rar?" The mountain lion almost seemed to speak. And it looked like it was panicking. Man, how bad could it have been? Every time he had met up with Goofy, things had gone well.
"Aw, you don't have to worry about Goofy," King Mickey said. "He's busy feeding his goldfish."
The mountain lion nodded and then curled back up to get back to its nap. Ah, an animal that liked to sleep, sleep, roll over and sleep some more. An animal after Axel's own heart.
xxxx
Anteaters, buffalo, crocodiles, dinosaurs (!), elephants, foxes, gorillas, hyena, ibex, jaguars, kangaroos, lemurs, meerkats…it'd been quite a day, all things considered.
In additional to an absolutely absurd amount of animal facts that he didn't know—which was weird, since generally, Axel liked animals—Axel learned something new. Axel hated seals. Specifically, the dwarf seal that was making fun of him, bouncing its enrichment ball against his head.
"Ow!" Axel said. "That's the fifth time! That little ba…brat is doing it on purpose!"
"That's Salty for you," King Mickey chuckled. "Anything for a laugh."
"Ar ar ar ar!" Salty the Seal barked and clapped his flippers. He dove into his pond and then popped back up. He had another little red ball in his flippers and bounced it so that it would balance on his nose.
"Hahaha," Xion giggled. "He almost sounds like a dog! Like Pluto!"
Axel gave a small smile as he rubbed the back of his head. Yeah, leave it to Xion to fall in love with an animal that reminded her of King Mickey's dog.
Roxas and Xion grinned at him, their eyes wide with wonder and amusement. Axel rubbed the back of his head ruefully and he felt the small smile on his face grow.
This. This was enough. More than enough.
And we're finished! That's the last of the Sea Salt Vignettes! I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them, my dearest readers.
Thank you for reading my dear, dear readers. Leave a comment if you're so inclined! I appreciate each and every one of you!