Chapter 19: School Festival

The second hand ticked along as time passed. A single light on a desk flickered in the darkness. Xion propped her head up with her hand as she flipped through her text book. Her wrists ached from her faded bruises. She paused her page flipping to let out out a loud exhausting yawn. Pages upon pages of school work were scattered all over her desk and around her chair.

Her door creaked opened as Kairi peered in. "Xion, it's 2 in the morning, what are you doing up so late?"

Without looking at Kairi, she answered, "I'm making up work and finishing work early so I can help with the wedding. Besides I can visit Sora in the hospital and help him with his recovery while you work on getting everything ready."

"Xion," Kairi smiled weakly, "you don't have to do that."

Xion slammed her textbook shut. A few pages flew off of her desk. "How bad is it?"

Kairi looked down at her fluffy pink slippers. She grabbed her fingers, pulling at them nervously. "They managed to remove all the shells from his body but he's still suffering from second-degree burns on his face and some other areas on his body. The third-degree burns on his arms and legs are healing but the doctors are afraid that it might have caused some deeper tissue damage that won't heal and he might need a skin graft."

Xion sat up, holding her face in her hands. "That could take months," she sighed, pushing her hair back.

Kairi leaned against the door frame. "I wouldn't mind if he was in a wheelchair or if we just had a judge come in and let us sign our marriage registration, but he's so damn stubborn."

Xion looked over at Kairi. "He knows that you've been wanting this for a very long time. That's why he rushed in there to rescue you and he risked burning to death trying to get you out of that burning building." She turned away and rested her head on her thick textbook. "And I almost ruined it all," Xion whispered.

"He saved you too," Kairi reminded her. "That's why I love Sora. He's so selfless. He really wanted to see you and Roxas be happy together." She cleared her throat as Xion remained silent. "Well, you should go visit Sora tomorrow. He's been wanting to see you."

Kairi watched Xion's back slowly rise up and down, signifying that the young woman had fallen asleep. Her heart swelled with joy as she giggles. She couldn't help but smile at the sight. She tiptoed over to and switched the desk light off. "Good night, Xion." Kairi smoothed Xion's soft hair, her pink nails contrasting the raven strands. She leaned over, giving Xion a quick kiss on her head. She smells like the ocean. Just like home.

Xion took in the unnerving structure of the hospital as she stood nervously across the street. A faint breeze blew by, ruffling her black mid-thigh length skirt and her loose lavender v-neck shirt that reached down to her hips. She her lower lip, taking a step into the street.

Sora stared out of his single large window by his bed. He admired the view of the entire city as the urbanization blended in with the forestation, creating a sea of green and grey.

"Sora, you have a visitor," a young female nurse with short messy blue hair announced as she granted access to the visitor.

Sora cocked his head toward the door to greet his guest. His eyes popped opened as his jaw dropped. "Xion!" he exclaimed with a huge grin on his face. "I haven't seen you since Axel's funeral."

Xion played with a few loose strands of her dark hair, avoiding Sora's eyes. "Yeah, you didn't say much… well I'm assuming you couldn't because of the bandages wrapped around your face." She chuckled awkwardly to herself.

Sora beamed. "Xion, I'm so happy to see you." He reached out his hand.

Xion studied the red spots that consumed most of his flesh on his hand. She took his hand in her own. She tried to suppress her trembling, but his rough skin made it difficult. "Sora…"

"Come, sit down." Sora gave Xion's hand a slight tug, leading her to the edge of his bed. "Stay for awhile."

Xion pushed a few strands of hair behind her left ear. "So, Kairi's really excited about the wedding. She keeps going on and on about it." Xion clenched her fists and dug them into her legs. "She even asked me to be her maid of honor."

"That's wonderful!" he cheered.

Xion glanced up at Sora's big goofy grin. "Sora, why don't you hate me?"

He maintained his grin. "I can't really hate you, Xion."

Xion wrapped her arms around herself in a hug. "But everyone's dead because of me," she cried out. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. "How can you sit there and pretend to be happy when their deaths mean nothing? They didn't save anyone worth fighting for. I'm nothing compared to what their lives meant."

The corners of his mouth dropped. "Xion, don't say that."

"Roxas meant everything to me. He made me feel whole, like I was worth something, but now he's gone," Xion sobbed.

Sora took Xion into his arms, pressing her into his body. He ignored the pain that surged through him. "Xion, you are your own person. You always have been. A person cannot make you complete because you already are."

Xion continued to sob into his shoulder, listening to what Sora had to say.

"Look, I may not be the smartest, but listen to me when I saw this: you are not half a person waiting for someone to fill that other half. You are just one person. One beautiful person. And if someone comes along, you and that person come together, making a complete concept of an idea. You are still two people, but you now connected by this idea, giving you guys new found strength and confidence. It's amazing what becomes possible when you have someone."

Her sobs grew quiet and more gentle.

"And that's what relationships are, whether it be friendship, dating, or marriage. You are still you, and nobody else." Sora pulled Xion away from him and looked into her red puffy eyes. "That's what I kept trying to tell Roxas."

Xion wiped away the remaining tears. "Thank you, Sora."

"Now be free my sweet child!" He threw his arms up in the air.

Xion giggled. "See you again, Sora." She jumped up from his bed and headed out as Sora watched her, content with himself for being able to reach out to her.

Xion shielded her eyes from the bright afternoon sun. She glanced around across the street. She noticed a blonde woman standing by a small white car. "Huh?" The woman waved at Xion. Xion cautiously approached the mysterious woman.

"Kairi told me you would be here," Naminé called out to Xion as she got within earshot. Naminé pushed up her brown framed glasses.

"Naminé, what are you doing here?" Xion asked in confusion.

"I wanted to see how you were doing," Naminé replied.

Xion carefully observed Naminé. Everything about her looked different. Naminé wore a pair of light blue sandals that matched her light blue tights. Her white blouse hung loosely on her slightly fuller frame and her hair was in a french braid the wrapped around and draped on her right shoulder. Her eyes were soft and caring.

Naminé smiled, her soft pink glossed lips glistened in the light. "I came to give you this back." She pulled out the ancient novel that once belonged to Xion. It yellowed significantly over the years and the pages hung loosely to the inside of the spine of the book. "I read it countlessly over the years. I really loved it."

Xion was speechless. "I… I really loved it, too, Naminé. But why?"

Naminé clasped her gently hands onto Xion's. Xion's cheeks grew red. "I wanted to apologize for everything. I saw the whole thing… how Roxas saved you, and how he and my uncle sacrificed themselves. And I kept thinking it over. I wanted to change because I don't want anymore people to remember me as a selfish bitch." Naminé glanced away from Xion. "I'm still jealous of you, but I also admire you because of how strong you are. You may not think you're very strong, but in my eyes you are, you've always been. And we're adults now. It's time for us to act like it, so now more trying to be someone I'm not."

Xion kissed Naminé on the cheek. "You're perfect the way you are and don't let anyone tell you differently."

Naminé's cheeks flushed a bright red. "Let's go get some fro-yo."

Xion giggled. "That sounds great!"

Xion glanced over at the calendar on her wall. She couldn't believe that it was already June and time for the school festival. Even though Xion caught up on all her classes and managed to receive her diploma, albeit was a little later than the rest of her class, she wanted to return to the school one last time for the school festival with her new friend.

Kairi suddenly burst through the door and waltz around Xion's room. Her absolutely gorgeous wedding ring sat on her ring finger. "Xion are you almost ready?" she sang.

Xion assumed that Kairi was still deep in the honeymoon phase from her wedding a few weeks ago. "Jeez, you're so happy."

"Mhm," she eagerly nodded. She waved her hand at Xion. "Now hurry and get ready!"

Xion rolled her eyes. "All I have do is put my shoes on." She grabbed her soft pastel blue slippers and slipped them onto her feet. She stood up, smoothing out deep blue dress and stretched out her black tights underneath. "Why'd you want me to hurry up and get ready?"

"Oh, Xion," Kairi beamed. "I didn't want to distract you or anything, but I'm pregnant."

Xion's jaw dropped. "Wha? How? Sora's barely able to walk."

"He insisted because he wanted to make me happy. He knew that I was waiting for that special moment where everything was right. He wanted the night to be perfect."

"Did you tell him yet?"

Kairi hung her head. "No," she admitted. "I was going to tell him after you left." Kairi grabbed Xion by her shoulders and started pushing her out. "Which you should do now."

"But Kairi," she protested.

"Don't worry, Naminé's already here."Kairi gave Xion a nudge out the door. "Have fun!"

It felt still felt a little strange to hear Naminé's name used in that context. After years of torment, it would be strange to casually use your tormentor's name, especially since they became friends. Awkward friends, but still friends. But Xion couldn't hate Naminé forever as that would be useless, so in the end she was forgiven and the past was left in the past.

Xion glared at Kairi. "I love you too Kairi," she said sourly. Xion heard the small beep of a car horn across the street.

Naminé rolled down the window and waved at Xion. "Come on slow poke, let's go."

"Okay, okay." Xion jogged across the street and hopped into the passenger's seat.

Five minutes away from the school and the two heard starting fireworks. "Look," Xion pointed up at the sky.

Small red, green, and yellow fireworks popped in the sky above the school, welcoming the two. Naminé found a spot to park. Xion rolled down her window, the music blasting from the school filled the car.

"I love traditional music!" Naminé clapped her hands together.

"It's okay." Xion slipped out of the passenger's seat.

"Do you want to split up, Xion, or do you want to walk around together before the real fireworks start?"

Xion shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe we should split up. I kinda wanted to revisit some old classrooms and that might take awhile. I don't want to take any time away from the festival from you."

Naminé nodded understandably. "Well, I'll go check out everything the festival has to offer. I'll leave you to gather your thoughts and reminisce about the old times."

Without any further words, Xion headed off toward the school buildings. Less and less people appeared where she was heading. Weird, she thought. Shouldn't there be more people this way. I wonder why there aren't any booths over here.

"Did you see that strange blond kid sitting all by himself in the quad?"

Xion froze.

Two young women passed by Xion. "Yeah,it's kind of sad," said one of them.

"He looks awfully like that one kid who died."

Xion felt her heart race in her chest. Her hands shook and her palms sweated profusely. She took off, bolting towards the empty quad. He's alive… he's alive… Tears welled up in Xion's eyes. He's alive! She skidded to a halt entering the quad. She peered around.

A silhouette of a familiar shape sat at the far side of the quad. Xion clutched at chest, overwhelmed by what she saw. She walked towards him. "Roxas?" she called out.

He turned his head and looked at her, shaking his head. She was able to make out a goatee and a short ponytail. "I'm sorry, Xion." His voice was lighter.

She covered her mouth. "Ven?" She saw the cast on his leg and the crutches propped up beside him.

"Long time no see," he smiled at her. "I'm sorry I'm not Roxas," he apologized.

"Ven, I'm so happy you're awake."

Ven laughed. "I thought you'd be mad if you saw me here."

"Did you hear about Roxas?"

Ven let out a deep sigh. "It's really shitty news to hear when you wake from a coma… but I don't blame you Xion. No one really blames you."

Xion felt a little relieved. "So what brought you here?"

"I heard a rumor, a bullshit rumor, that there's a kid that looks like Roxas that's hanging around the school, so I wanted to do one thing. Fuck with people who believe that shit," he explained. "Why do you think no one is here?"

"I never heard that rumor but you sure had me fooled." Xion punched Ven's shoulder.

"You know, you're welcomed back to my place anytime," Ven added.

"I'll stop by and visit sometime," she promised. Xion looked up at the corridors that overlooked the entire quad. Towards the back she caught the eye of a silhouette. It turned and began walking down the corridor. She started walking towards the entrance that lead up to the upper floors.

Ven watched her as she left. "Where are you going?"

Xion didn't hear him as she entered the building and climbed the stairs up. The silhouette stood at the end of the hallway. "Who are you?"

The silhouette didn't respond, but instead it turned around and walked around the corner.

"Hey!" Xion called out. "I'm talking to you." She followed him down the hallway and around the corner. The door to the last room from the end was wide opened. Xion looked around the hallway quizzically before carefully heading over to the classroom. She grasped the wooden frame and peered in. She stepped in.

"Hey."

Xion looked over at the opened window to see a familiar face. "Roxas?"

He smiled warmly. "It's been awhile. I'm guessing you're wondering how the Hell I'm standing here. Well after you left, I started passing out. I was slowly being crushed to death. I couldn't move at all so I accepted my fate, that's when I felt this heavy weight being lifted off of me and I felt free. I was semi-conscious at the time so I couldn't really tell what was going on. Later I woke up in a strange place and found myself being taken care of by Riku. He's so fucking strange. He wouldn't' tell me much. He just made sure I was healing properly."

Xion took a step towards Roxas. "I can't believe you're alive…"

"I can't either," he admitted.

Xion looked down at the ground, hiding her tears. "Why Roxas? Why'd you let yourself get hurt like that? You could have died." She couldn't help but let the tears fall down. She was tired of crying, but it helped.

"Xion, remember that day when you jumped?"

Xion looked up at Roxas. "Yeah?"

"You were scared, weren't you, but I jumped in after you. Hell I was scared shitless too, but I did it"

Xion gave him a confused look. "What are you getting at?"

"When we were running down that hallway," Roxas continued, "I knew that the building would collapse soon and we were both scared shitless, but I was right behind you, making sure you were safe." He held out his hand. "Because if I didn't then you wouldn't be here right now, and a future without you would mean nothing to me."

Xion stepped towards him, accepting his hand. "And a future without you would be no future at all."

Roxas held Xion close to him as they both looked out the window. They felt stronger with their new bond blossoming between them, connecting them together. It's beautiful what love can do and how it can change people. The first firework lit up the sky in a blaze of glory.

Xion closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of the fireworks exploding in the sky. She didn't feel so scared or alone anymore because she had Roxas. He was there, always supporting her from the very beginning, even when she didn't realize it. Because of him she was able to find her voice and who she really was and because of her, Roxas was finally able to let go of his past and look forward to the future. She was no longer afraid of what the future held in store for her and he was no longer afraid of what the past meant to him. Xion opened her eyes to see the multiple colors bloom across the night sky as the sound echoed right after each other.

"Thank you."