Welcome back to yet another chapter of Messages in a Bottle!
I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed and favorited this story! It means a lot!
I only have about one more chapter of this written completely, so updates might be a little bit less frequent, but I'm sure you'll all patiently wait :)
Well without further ado, here's the next chapter.
Disclaimer:
I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any other name brands I may or may not mention in this story. I'm poor. Not rich and famous.
Messages in a Bottle
VI - Namine
Later that afternoon, Roxas drove to the Twilight Town Airport to pick up Namine.
To his dismay, when he found her, she was with Saix.
Namine squealed when she saw her father. "Mommy!" She ran up to him and hugged his leg tightly. "I missed you!"
A warm smile spread across Roxas' face. "I missed you too honey.."
The six-year-old looked over toward Saix. "Bye Sai-Sai! See you soon!" Saix waved at Namine, smiling. "Bye kid."
Looking at both of them, Roxas could tell that Namine had the blue-haired man wrapped around her little finger. Such was the case with everyone she met. Namine was simply charming and energetic.
She could be shy around strangers and usually preferred to draw alone at school instead of playing with the other kids, but she was a talkative little girl once someone got to know her.
Saix made his leave after about five minutes of waving. Namine loved to wave, like most six-year-olds did.
Roxas knelt down by his daughter, smiling. "Let's go home, okay Nami?"
Namine nodded, clutching her tan teddy bear in her arms. Xemnas got that teddy bear for her a long time ago; She had named it Cookie and was constantly hugging it. Roxas thought that it was adorable, but knew that her having a teddy bear all the time would get her picked on.
He hoped that she would stop that habit before first grade began.
After grabbing Namine's hand, Roxas led her out of the airport. Namine looked up at him. "Mommy? Can we go get ice cream from the Banskin place?"
Roxas chuckled and loaded her into his car. "Sure baby, but its called 'Baskin-Robbins'."
Namine thrust her fist into the air in victory. "Ice cream!"
After making sure she was safely fastened, Roxas closed the car door and got in on the driver's side. When he began to drive, he looked back. "Did you eat lunch, Nami?"
Namine shook her head. "We were on the airplane!"
Roxas chuckled then looked at the clock. It was 1:30 pm. He was rather hungry. "Want to go get some McDonald's before we get ice cream?"
"Yes please!" Namine replied, hugging her bear tightly. "Get Cookie some food too, he's pretty hungry."
"Alright, to McDonald's we go then!"
After eating lunch, the father and daughter went to get ice cream.
Once they were at Baskin-Robbins, they walked up to the front counter. A teen with a mullet-type hairstyle was there like always. His name was Demyx and he had a weird obsession with water.
When Demyx saw Namine, he grinned. "Hey Nam! Long time no see!"
Namine giggled. "I was on vacation with Daddy and Sai-Sai! We went to a water park and got really wet!"
"Awesome!" Demyx said, grinning. Roxas could swear that the teen was a six-year-old at heart. "So what kind of ice cream are we trying today, Nam?"
The small girl stared at the flavors and looked thoughtful. "Huummm~... How about the Snickers?"
"Snickers? Great choice madam!" Demyx grabbed a cake-cone and scooped one scoop of the Snickers ice cream into it. He handed it to her. "Here you go, Nami-Noo."
Namine giggled and took the ice cream, holding it with both of her small hands. "Thank you!"
She skipped off to the nearest table and sat down, licking her ice cream happily.
Demyx looked to Roxas. "You getting anything, Mama Roxas?"
Roxas looked thoughtful, ignoring the nickname that Demyx had given him. "How about Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough?" He asked.
"Sure!" Demyx fixed him a cone with his requested ice cream and handed it to him. "Here ya go."
The elder blonde thanked him and walked off to sit in front of Namine. She already had ice cream and chunks of Snickers all over her face. "Yummy!" She exclaimed, grinning.
Roxas chuckled and started to eat his own ice cream. He always loved these ice cream days with Namine. They made him feel like a great father.
After they finished their ice cream, Roxas told Namine all about their plans to go to Destiny Islands with Sora and Riku. She was very excited. Roxas had a feeling that this would be a fun weekend.
On Friday, Roxas and Namine met up with Sora and Riku at the airport.
They were all packed and ready to leave for the trip. When it was time for their flight, they all got on the plane. With Riku's "connections", (Roxas still didn't know who they were), Sora and Riku were able to get seats near them.
The flight was an hour-long and Namine ended up falling asleep halfway through the flight. Sora did as well, Roxas guessed that all of that energy could only last so long.
Riku and Roxas began to have a conversation about Axel and his father.
"Reno's a funny old fart," Riku recalled. "Him and Axel are actually so much alike that it's crazy."
Roxas blinked. "Really?"
"Of course. Reno always had a story to tell- Did you know that one time, he convinced Axel to punch this guy straight in the gut? Axel was only about four then, but shit, that sounds hilarious!" Riku said, grinning at the memories.
Roxas chuckled. He could actually see a smaller Axel doing this.
"Yeah, Axel's mom, Tifa, wasn't very happy about it though," Riku added. "I remember when she passed away. It was a dark time in Axel's life. He started drifting away and distancing himself from everyone. It didn't help that his father did that too."
The blonde blinked.
"It wasn't until our junior year of high school until he got over it. He had really loved his mother. But soon he started smiling again and became like a normal teenager." Riku continued.
"I wish I would have known him in high school.. Things could have been different," Roxas murmured.
Riku shook his head. "Don't wish that." Roxas blinked. "What? Why?"
"Because Namine wouldn't be here if you did," Riku replied. "And Namine is fucking awesome."
Roxas laughed. Riku was right like always.