Stargazing

Ever since Roxas had learned it had been Valentine's Day last year, when he'd pressed the wrong buttons when it came to Xion, he'd been hellbent on giving her a nice Valentine's this year… now that they were both back in the real world, and he had any inkling about what the day was supposed to be.

The question after he'd come to that decision, had been how to make a Valentine's Day special for Xion at all.

And as Roxas had with most of the things in his life, he'd ended up asking Axel… who, for whatever reason, had suggested that he go stargazing with their mutual friend.

And Roxas had gotten the sense that the idea had popped into Axel's head because of a certain girl friend of his and Isa's–with star earrings–that they were still looking for, but Roxas didn't comment on the fact. Instead, he nodded his head in understanding, grabbed a blanket, and tried to figure out what world would be the best for looking at stars.

Curiously enough, the two former Nobodies ended up in what was left of The World That Never Was: something that Roxas had been unsure about at first. But this place held as many good memories as it did bad ones for the two of them (and Axel, of course), and Roxas wanted to hold onto that. And he was sure that Xion probably felt the same way, too. Besides, if there was any place to see stars against a black sky, it was here.

The next problem, however, was that Roxas really had no idea what to talk about when it came to constellations… save for a few that he'd read about in a book, but hopefully he'd get to those later.

He'd heard from Sora that Simba thought stars were kings of the past or something, but he wasn't quite sure he bought that himself. Roxas knew for a fact that many of them were other worlds… and while the blond supposed that he and Xion could strike up a conversation about that, the topic didn't have quite the same allure when you already knew this fact and had been to many of the other planets.

But still needing something to discuss–as the two of them laid down on the pavement at Memory's Skyscraper together and held hands–Roxas was about to test Terra's theory that stars were also people's hearts, when Xion spoke–seeming somewhat to have read his mind. "You know what stars are, Roxas, in the literal sense? Rocks. And probably much closer to metamorphic ones, at that. But I'd really have to study all of the worlds' makeup in order to tell… And as someone who loves all rocks–igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic–I couldn't imagine a better Valentine's Day than getting to examine them some with you. Thank you."

Roxas smiled at this. Ever since the two of them had come back as their own people, Xion had greatly wanted to understand the world around her–probably so if something ever tried to pull her back into Sora, or anyone or anything else's, existence again, she could try and fight against it–and for that reason, she'd become a bit of a scientist. And as it was, Roxas' girl preferred nothing as much as she did geology.

So, this really was the perfect date for them, then, Roxas thought as he smirked and squeezed Xian's hand a little tighter–giggling ever so slightly. "Sure thing, Xion. And later, if you want, we could even try and dig here and see what kind of stones are underneath this pavement… or what kind of debris happened when that truck crashed into the skyscraper, but for now let's fittingly try and find the romantic Perseus and Andromeda constellation for Valentine's Day."

And though Xion surely much preferred the previous topic, she still gladly did this for Roxas–and found said constellation, and pointed it out to him–because they were a little bit like Perseus and Andromeda, weren't they? One of the few myths that Roxas had heard about from Mount Olympus who had, like them, actually gotten their happy ending after the many trials they'd faced.