Chapter 5 - Of Sea Salt and Friendship

Roxas, dressed in a clean Organization coat, left the locker room of the Castle That Never Was, towel-drying his hair. He was anxious to meet his friends for ice cream, mainly to make sure that Xion was okay after her mission in Halloween Town.

He swung by his room briefly to deposit his bundle of dirty laundry into the hamper by his bed and to finish styling his hair. He hurriedly scrunched some gel into his hair and haphazardly spiked it into its signature look, then blindly tossed his towel towards his bed. It missed and landed on his nightstand, which was next to an open window. The force with which it landed threatened to knock over his Mickey Mouse alarm clock. Roxas reached out and stabilized the clock just in time.

"Fewf, that was close!" He looked out the window and down at the long drop below. "Imagine if that'd landed on somebody's head! I'd be in so much trouble." With that, he shut the window, flipped off the lights, and left his room.

Roxas was the first one at the clock tower. He sat down on the ledge slowly, sea salt ice cream in hand, concern creasing his brows. "Weird. Usually Axel is here before me."

As if in response, Axel appeared with his ice cream. "Hey Roxas, you're early."

Roxas craned his neck to look up at the giant clock face behind them. "You're right," he admitted, turning to watch his tall friend sit next him. "Guess I was in a hurry today."

"Where's the fire?" Axel asked, then chuckled at his own joke. "I mean, other than me." He smirked.

"Oh yeah, you're real hot stuff," Roxas said sarcastically, lightly punching Axel's shoulder. He laughed briefly, then grew somber. "I'm worried about Xion," he admitted, staring at his ice cream.

"Yeah," Axel agreed, leaning back on his elbows. "Saix chose a pretty big mission for her. But she can handle it. You saw her when she left; she wasn't worried about herself. So we should have faith in her. Got it memorized?"

"Didn't you say just last week that friends worry about each other?" Roxas asked, genuinely confused.

"We do," Axel admitted. "It's only natural. But, at the same time, we need to trust each other."

"I trust you both with my life," Roxas replied fervently.

Axel was taken aback by his young friend's earnesty. He didn't know how to respond. "Me too," he said presently, but he immediately felt guilty. He trusted Roxas, but there were things he swore he could never let Roxas know.

"You guys never let me down," Roxas added, after finishing a bite of ice cream. "I can't say the same for Xigbar."

At this Axel sputtered, trying not to spew liquified ice cream from his mouth. He swallowed hard and gasped, "You actually got paired with Xigbar today?!"

"Yes!" Roxas exclaimed, exasperated. "I don't see what's so funny about it."

"Geez," Axel shook his head in disbelief but remained highly amused. "Next time I won't speak it into existence."

"Please don't," Roxas groaned. "Not only did I have to unpack and display dozens of Xigbars exactly how he wanted them, but I also had to complete the entire mission by myself. And, once we finally could RTC, he dragged me to two other worlds!"

"Ouch. That can't be legal. You should mention it to Saix." Axel pointed matter-of-factly with his ice cream pop.

"No." Roxas shook his head admanetly. "I don't want to give him any reason to doubt my ability to train Xion."

It was Axel's turn to shake his head. "I don't see how that would…" But, knowing his young friend's mind was made up, he left it at that.

Roxas craned his neck up awkwardly once more to glance at the clock face. "Okay, now she's late. What's taking them so long? Did Saix stick her with KP duty, too?"

"Nope! He and Luxord are handling that tonight," stated a familiar female voice. Axel smirked as he watched Roxas's excited reaction to Xion's long-awaited arrival.

"Xion! What took you? Are you okay?"

Xion, sea salt ice cream in hand, took a seat next to Roxas. She demurely pushed her black hair behind her ear, revealing a bandage on her jawline. "I had to stop at the med bay after washing up." Noticing her friends' concerned expressions, she quickly assured them, "But I'm fine. It's just a scratch."

"Saix didn't make you do all the fighting, did he?" Roxas asked, accusation ripe in his voice. "That would be like him," he decided angrily. "Micromanaging us but never getting his hands dirty."

"No, he actually was a big help," Xion replied. "I honestly couldn't have done it without him."

At this, Axel looked surprised. "Okay, I know those Heartless on Curly Hill were acting weird, but were they really that hard?"

"There were 40 of them," the girl said plainly.

Axel's eyes widened and he sat up at full attention. "40? There were only 10 when I found them yesterday!"

Roxas glanced between his friends on either side of him, discerning the gravity of the situation by the fear in Axel's voice.

"We defeated them all, though. Except for two. Saix captured them so Vexen could study their strange fighting style," Xion explained.

"How could Saix send you on such a dangerous mission?" Roxas asked, fuming.

"And why didn't he reassign you?" Axel added, clearly as upset.

"That's just it; he didn't know how dangerous it was until we got there. By then it was too late!" Xion was fed up with her friends' accusations. "Saix saved my life and taught me a lot. I know he's been hard on us, but he's really not a bad guy. Axel, I thought you of all people would know that." She turned her head away from them grumpily.

The boys looked equal parts surprised and ashamed; Axel especially.

"You're right. I'm sorry," the redhead admitted quietly. "All this time I thought he had left me behind. But I've done the same to him."

A small, satisfied smile tugged at the corners of Xion's mouth, and she faced her friends again. "It's not too late to fix that," she said gently, meeting Axel's eyes.

Axel rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably, but chuckled. "Easier said than done. But I'm going to start by giving him the benefit of the doubt." Xion nodded approvingly, then licked her ice cream.

"I'm sorry, too," Roxas apologized sincerely. "I shouldn't have expected the worst from Saix."

"There are people we can't trust," Axel clarified, "But Isa's not one of them."

Roxas and Xion smiled at each other, knowing Axel hadn't noticed he used Saix's true name. It was a good start.

"So, how did your missions go?" Xion asked, eager for a chance to finish her melting ice cream.

"Mine? Not so great," Roxas said sheepishly. "But at least it's over!" He was trying to stay optimistic for Xion. "But it seems like Axel and Larxene had a good one." He elbowed his tall friend, although not entirely sure why he did so.

"Really, Axel? Tell us about it!"

Axel reddened but didn't try to hide his face, hoping the crimson in his cheeks passed off as the setting sun's glow. "Nothing to tell. The usual bash-em-in Heartless crowd control routine. But, that does remind me-" he stood up and pocketed his LOSER popsicle stick, "-I have to get to bed early. Larx and I ended up getting drawn for KP duty tomorrow morning."

'Larx.' Xion and Roxas exchanged curious glances. There clearly was a lot Axel wasn't telling them, but, at that moment, Xion remembered something entirely different.

"Before you go-" she jumped to her feet to stop the pyro from leaving. "On our way out of Halloween Town, Saix and I stopped by the market to replenish our potions, when a local merchant gave me free snacks! I told her I usually snack on ice cream with my friends, but she promised me that this snack would make the bond of friendship even stronger! I wanted to pay for it, but she insisted it was a free sample and made sure I took a lot. And you won't believe who made these snacks!" With that, Xion proudly produced 3 shiny Xigbars from her pocket.

Her friends couldn't contain themselves. Axel collapsed against the clock wall in a fit of laughter, and Roxas first groaned, then laughed, so loudly it could be heard all throughout Twilight Town.

Their reactions threw Xion for a loop. "Did I miss something?" she asked, blinking.

Unable to give a straight answer, the boys pulled her down into a playful group hug, and she found herself laughing, too. Suddenly, a terrifying thought crossed her mind.

"Wait, don't tell me they're no good! I gave one to Saix!"

FIN