Finally, it's the end of the beach party! Someone really likes Roxas! And now it's time to see just how insane Axel went with his fireworks! Enjoy the madness!
Chapter 12 -- Ice Cream! Fireworks!
Zexion sighed. It had been over an hour since he and Xaldin had brutally beaten Tidus and Wakka in blitzball, and there was still no sign of Demyx.
"Are you just playing a joke, or do you actually know where the Mullet-head is?" he asked the boys impatiently.
Tidus turned to the Nobody and gulped. "Honest! He was here earlier! He must have left or something!"
They were at an ice cream stand in the middle of town, surrounded by schoolgirls who were secretly spying on the good-looking guys who had come to the Islands. Wakka was desperately asking the stand owner if he knew where Demyx had gone.
"It's no use, man," Wakka mumbled as he came back, hanging his head. "Da ice cream guy doesn't know where da Mullet-head went."
Xaldin grunted, which made the two boys jump.
"Look, we got you this far! We don't know where he is! Just let us go!" Tidus pleaded.
Zexion thought for a bit. Then he spoke. "Xaldin, I suppose it is time to steal their hearts. They have been of little use to us."
Xaldin nodded in affirmation.
"PLEASE DON'T EAT US!!" Tidus begged. "Wakka! Say something to them! Make them stop!"
"Hey, isn't that Selphie with the blonde guy over there?" replied the redhead.
"What?"
The four of them turned to see Roxas and Selphie arm-in-arm, with Axel and Kairi walking in front of them in the same way. Axel was happily chatting with Kairi about his plans for the beach party. Roxas was badly faking a smile and listening to Selphie talking nonstop about school and her stupid stalker Ti--
"SELPHIE!!!"
Tidus angrily ran over to Roxas, while Wakka, Xaldin, and Zexion followed after him.
Roxas stood helplessly as Selphie intervened, trying to explain, "He's just being polite! Unlike you!" Then she stuck her tongue out at Tidus.
"You said you weren't interested in anyone!" Tidus shouted back.
"Why me..." Roxas moaned as he listened to the two of them argue back and forth.
"Ah, Number VIII, it seems you were unsuccessful in finding Number IX as well," Zexion commented as he approached Axel and Kairi.
"Yes, but we did find some lovely ladies!" Axel exclaimed happily. "You know, we should really open a branch in Destiny Islands! We would be oh-so popular!"
"I'm not so sure if Roxas would be popular in a good way," Xaldin noted as he watched the argument with interest.
"Oh, that's just Tidus being jealous," Kairi explained with a giggle. "He likes Selphie but she won't admit that she likes him back."
"Hm, this is interesting!" Axel mused. "But I can't have my daughter getting ripped to shreds by a Skater Boy type, can I?"
"Be quiet, both of you!" Wakka shouted to Tidus and Selphie, who were still yelling at each other. The two of them stopped and abruptly turned to their friend. "Man, you two are so loud! Now, Tidus, maybe this little guy was just being friendly. Selphie isn't just your friend, you know!"
Tidus sighed. "Fine, fine. Sorry for yelling at you," he muttered to Roxas, who had almost grown deaf from all of the shouting.
"Okay. That's cool," Roxas replied with a dazed voice.
Zexion decided that it was time to do something productive.
"All right, well it seems that in all this time we still haven't found Demyx. Now, does anyone have any idea where he went?"
Everyone silently looked at each other.
"Let's head back to Marluxia," Roxas suggested. "I don't feel so good leaving him by himself with all of those flowers."
"Good point, Roxas-kun," Axel commented. "Yes, let's head back! We shall just have our party without the Mullet-head!"
"Ooh, can we come along!" Selphie squealed. "You've been talking about this party and now I'm really interested!"
"Yeah, I want to go, too!" Kairi exclaimed with a giggle. "I love fireworks!"
"Of course!" replied Axel. "The boys may come, too, if they wish!"
"Are you sure that's safe, Number VIII?" Zexion whispered to Axel, but Axel paid no attention.
"Yeah, man! Tidus and I will come! We'd be glad to! Right, man?"
Wakka turned to Tidus, who grunted a "Yes" but continued to glare at Roxas.
"It's party time!"
The eight of them slowly made their way back to the beach. The sun was starting to set by this point, which made it the perfect time for fireworks! Marluxia was right where they had left him, admiring the tropical flora of the island. But something was different about him: he had a popsicle stick hanging lazily out of his mouth.
"Marly-kun, where did you get that ice cream?" Axel demanded when they came up to him. "You were supposed to stay here and watch for Demyx!"
"I did stay here!" Marluxia retorted.
"Hey, what took you guys so long?"
To everyone's great surprise, Demyx popped out of the ocean, inner tube and all, and ran toward them.
"I've been waiting like for an hour!" he continued when he caught up with the rest of the host club. "Good thing we packed a cooler 'cause I've had all this ice cream waiting for you guys! Where were you all, anyway?"
He was not expecting the answer to be the hateful glares of the rest of the host club.
"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ANYONE YOU WERE JUST BUYING ICE CREAM?!" Axel shouted as he angrily shook Demyx by the shoulders.
"I'm sorry!" Demyx squeaked. "I thought I had told someone that I was getting ice cream!"
Zexion sighed. They're all stupid. All of them. Just stupid.
Marluxia spoke up to break the tension. "Hey, so who wants ice cream!"
Axel suddenly brightened at the mention of food. "Ooh! Ice cream! I want some!"
Soon the ice cream was dolled out amongst the host club and their guests. All previous anger was washed away by the sheer delectable sweetness of the creamy dessert filling their mouths. Even Tidus was in a good mood again.
"Hey, Wakka! We should teach these guys how to play blitzball and just not let Zexion play!" he suggested excitedly.
"Nah, that last game tired me out, man!" Wakka replied.
"Wait, Zexion played a sport?" Axel turned to Zexion with interest. "Like, you actually played a contact sport and didn't make Xaldin do everything for you?"
Zexion gave a mysterious grin. "Let's just say that it was the biggest waste of my time besides joining this club."
Before long it was time for fireworks. Roxas feared the types of explosives that Axel had packed, since Axel is after all a pyro. The sugar-high redhead dashed over to his big bag of goodies and pulled out ten large bundles of paper and gunpowder.
"Let's shoot these babies off!" he shouted.
"Axel, are those 200 gram fireworks?" Demyx gulped as he marvelled at the size of the explosives. (A/N: for those who aren't familiar with fireworks, 200 gram means the most explosive fireworks you can buy in the United States, not necessarily legally...)
"Heck yes!"
"Just don't burn the plants," Marluxia whimpered as Axel lit the first one off.
It loudly exploded in a magical array of yellow and green light, which reflected off of the ocean. Everyone applauded the spectacle, and Axel ended up shooting all ten of them off.
"This was a lot of fun!" Kairi giggled as the last one went off. "I haven't had this much fun in ages!"
"So, what did you think?" Axel asked Roxas while the others were out swimming. "Weren't the fireworks awesome?"
"Yeah, they really were!" Roxas replied enthusiastically. "You know, we really should come here more often!"
"Exactly!" Axel turned to Zexion, who was recording the events of the day on his clipboard. "Zexy-kun, I have Roxas' approval! We're going to open an Organization XIII Host Club branch on Destiny Islands!"
"Fine, just so long as we get good profit from it," Zexion muttered without looking up.
"Ooh, so you guys will be coming back?" Kairi asked.
"Yup! Then maybe we can spend more time alone," Axel replied with a wink. Kairi giggled.
"Roxas-kun, I'll be your first customer here when you come back!" Selphie exclaimed after making sure she was out of Tidus' earshot. "And I'll get some nice customers for your friends, too!"
"I really can't wait to come back!" Roxas said, and he really meant it. The islands here almost felt like home to him.