Bound by Fire, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic series by Raberba girl
Part 6 of 6 - Axel, Saïx, Roxas, & Xion (rough draft)
Summary: Seven-year-old Xion and six-year-old Roxas decide to pick up their teenage big brothers from school.
A/N: Stepsiblings universe. Starts out in Roxas's simplistic third person style, later switches to first person with Axel. Then, because I couldn't help it, I went and added sections to be narrated by Saïx and Xion, too. *sweatdrop*
o.o.o
Part 1 - Roxas
Xion and the teachers called them "early release" days, but Roxas knew they were just half days. Instead of having to wait alllllll the way until the big hand was on the 8 and the little hand was on the 2, they got to leave school RIGHT AFTER LUNCH. It was awesome.
"I don't understand," Roxas's teacher said for the millionth time. Xion's teacher was standing next to her, looking mad. "Both of your names are on the after-school care list, but you both also have notes saying you're supposed to ride the bus home."
"I called their father," Xion's teacher said. "Mr. Acerbi said that they're to stay here and will be picked up at the regular time."
"Xem's not my dad," Roxas told her. "My dad's dead. We give him cake and flowers and potato chips. Xem's my stepdad."
They ignored him, like usual. Axel and Saïx were the only grown-ups who ever listened to him much. Except they weren't really real grown-ups yet, so Roxas was kind of afraid they'd stop listening to him when they grew up for real.
"But I called their mother - Roxas's mother, whatever," his teacher was saying, "and she said they ride the bus."
"Yes, because we all know how reliable Roxas's mother is," Xion's teacher said, rolling her eyes. Mommy sometimes slapped Axel when he did that and said "Don't you dare roll your eyes at me!" so Roxas wished he could slap this lady, too. But when you did things like that at school, you got sent to the time-out chair or to the principal, and Mommy and Xem would get mad, so he didn't hit her.
"I'm going to call again," said Roxas's teacher, but Mommy didn't answer this time and neither did Xem. "They're saying that Mr. Acerbi's in a meeting," she said, looking mad, "and now I can't get hold of Mrs. Acerbi at all."
"Mommy is Ms. Hayes-King," Roxas grumbled, even though everyone kept telling him that was wrong now.
"But they got married," Xion said, patting his head. "Now she's Mrs. Acerbi because she's Daddy's wife."
"She wasn't Mrs. Acerbi before. That's stupid."
"Maybe she's Mrs. Hayes-King Acerbi."
"Yeah, maybe." He wondered curiously how many names he could get if he had a lot of kids and married a lot of people.
The teachers were still talking like they didn't exist. "What about those boys who always pick them up? They're the older brothers, right?"
"Doesn't matter, they're not legal guardians."
"Saïx is my guardian," Xion said, but they ignored her, too.
Someone on the walkie talkie said that the buses were about to leave.
"How about this," Roxas's teacher decided. "We'll put them on the bus, and if there's no one waiting for them, the driver can bring them back to school."
"I don't wanna come back to school!" Roxas yelled, and they told him to be quiet.
Xion was really, really excited because it was the first time she had ever ridden a school bus in her life. "It's so big!" she yelled as they climbed up the steps.
"It's smelly," Roxas said.
"Roxas and Xion will be riding home with you, here's their address," Roxas's teacher said and gave the driver a card, but then she suddenly ran back down the steps and started yelling at a kid who had just punched some other kid on the sidewalk.
The bus was full of lots and lots of kids, so they had to squish together in a seat with another boy who was kneeling backwards, talking real loud to the kids in the seat behind them. The bus driver kept telling the kid to sit down.
"It's really loud," Xion said. Roxas covered her ears for her, and she smiled at him really big. He liked making her smile, it felt like he was the older one for a change instead of always having to be the baby.
The bus drove for a long time. It got quieter and quieter as kids kept leaving, and finally Roxas and Xion were the only ones left on the bus. Roxas was playing ponies with her because there was no one else to see.
"Holy cow," the driver whistled, "you kids live in a nice part of town."
"Xem's rich," Roxas said. He pointed Katana like a gun and made shooting noises. "Bwshbwshbwshbwshbwsh! The dragon's dead."
"Oh NOOO!" Xion cried in horror. "I'm sorry, Mr. Dragon! My friend Glimmerbreeze-I-mean-Katana is really a nice person, he just likes guns too much and gets carried away! Quick, Glim- Katana, let's weep tears of healing so the dragon won't die!"
"If we cry on someone who got shot, he'll come back?" Roxas asked interestedly, and mentally filed the new rule away for future reference.
"Well, here we are," the driver said doubtfully, pulling up in front of the house. "Is there anyone to pick you up?"
"I dunno," said Roxas.
"Let's check," said Xion.
They went out and ran across the yard and rang the doorbell a lot. Nothing happened.
"Let's see if Mom left the back window open again," Xion said.
They ran around the house and yanked on the window. It went up. "Ta da!" Roxas said proudly, and started to climb in.
REET REET REET REET REET! the house yelled. Xion screamed and clapped her hands over her ears, and Roxas was so surprised that he fell out into the yard again.
"The alarm went off," he realized.
The bus driver ran up, looking scared. "C'mon, kids, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon, back on the bus...!"
They went back on the bus and drove away fast. The bus was really noisy and rattly. They drove and drove, then they stopped and the driver sat there with his face in his hands, breathing funny.
"Are you okay?" Roxas asked, wondering if he should try to cry on him to make him feel better. But maybe that only worked on people who got shot.
"What am I gonna do?" the bus driver asked. "Is it okay to just take them back to school? I'm not gonna get in trouble, right?"
"I don't wanna go back to school," Roxas told him loudly.
Xion gasped, looking happy. "I know! I know! Roxas, do you not want to go to any school, or just our school?"
"I hate school," he said.
Then she looked sad. "Oh. Never mind, then."
Now he was curious. "What were you gonna say?"
"Well...I was just thinking...it's only an early release day for me and you, right? Saïx and Axel are still at their school like usual."
"Oh yeah!"
The driver didn't look very happy and he still looked a little scared, but he drove them to the high school and dropped them off and waited until they ran into the front office.
"Hi!" Xion told the ladies at the front desk.
The desk ladies gasped and cooed like most ladies (and Axel) did whenever Roxas and Xion made their Cute Faces. "Oooooh! Who are you, sweetheart?"
"I'm Xion! This is my little brother, Roxas."
"I'm not that little," he reminded her.
"We came to pick up our big brothers!"
All the ladies laughed a whole lot. "Did you, now?"
"Yup. Saïx Sirius Acerbi and Axel Doo- Day..."
"Deucalion," Roxas said proudly. Axel's middle name was really hard, but Roxas knew how to say it right because he was smart. "Axel Deucalion Hayes is my brother. We're gonna sign them out and take them home with us, because it's our turn this time."
"They are just too cuuuute!" one of the ladies yelled, and the rest were all laughing again.
Part 2 - Axel
My partner and I are allegedly analyzing a poem when an office aide walks in to give a note to the teacher. I don't think much of it until Ms. Taft calls my name. "Axel, they want you in the front office."
"Huh?" I glance at my partner - out of reflex, as if he has any more of a clue what it's about than I do - but he just shrugs. "Okay. Am I going home?"
"No, leave your things."
Out in the courtyard, I'm surprised to see Saïx heading up from the elective wing. "Oi, Sai!"
He glances up at me. surprise curiosity apprehension confusion "Did you get called out of class as well?"
"Yeah. You have any idea what it's about?"
uncertainty discontent "..." fear anxiety apprehension desperation and then his Angstland stuff starts up again.
I get a bad feeling.
"Today was an early release day at the elementary schools. I hope that nothing happened to Xion and Roxas. If their school's staff had trouble reaching our parents-"
I don't even remember to reply, I run the rest of the way to the office and burst through the doors as if there's a fire in the hall behind me.
"There he is!"
"Axel!"
My darling little brother and sister, romping toward me like a pair of puppies and looking completely unhurt. For a second I want to throttle Saïx for scaring me, but then the confusion sets in. What in the world are these two doing here?
"We came to pick you up," Xion says importantly.
I'm already kneeling down to hug Roxas. "You came to...huh?" Xion wants into the hug too for a second, but just when I'm putting my arm around her, her face lights up and she breaks free again to pounce on Saïx, who's just come through the door.
"There you are!"
"Are you all right, Xion?" he asks sharply.
"We're fine, nobody died," she assures him.
"Who said anything about dying?" he bursts out indignantly, but I smile a little because he has no idea just how much we can pick up from those eyes of his. I think the kids might be even better at it than I am.
"It seems like there was some sort of mix-up at their school," one of the secretaries says. "No one can reach Mr. or Mrs. Acerbi, and they couldn't stay alone at home, so they were dropped off here."
"The alarm went off," Roxas tells me. "Mommy left the back window open again. I tried to climb in, but the house got mad."
"You got kicked out, huh?" I say absently, still holding him.
"How did they get here?" Saïx demands. There's an uneasy rustling, and I know the secretaries are scared of him.
"They...well..."
"The bus dropped us off," Xion explains. "Saïx, I rode a school bus! It was so cool!"
"The driver of an elementary school bus dropped you off here?" Saïx says in disbelief.
Roxas runs to the window. "He drove away," he observes, not looking as if he particularly cares. "I hope he's not scared anymore so I don't have to cry on him."
There is a very long pause.
"Right," Saïx finally says. "So now what are we supposed to do?"
"We sign the clipboard!" Xion crows triumphantly. "The ladies showed me!" She runs to grab it off the front desk.
"Xion," Saïx starts to say, but then Xi is trotting back to him, flinging herself to the floor at his feet. Roxas comes over and plops down, too.
"Vvvviiiiissssiiiitooorrr," Xion reads obnoxiously. "Ssssiiii-" She pauses. "Siginin. Saïx, what's siginin?"
"It's 'sign-in,' but stop that; give me the clipboard."
"No! I get to do it this time!"
They're cracking me up. I watch as Xion grips the pen tight and carves Saïx's name into the paper.
"Put two dots on the i," Roxas reminds her.
"Yeah, I know," she says amiably.
"Gimme the pen, I get to do Axel."
"Okay."
Roxas writes an A. Then he writes an L.
"NO!" I yell. "It's X! X!"
Roxas stops, confused.
"You're writing 'Alexa,'" Xion giggles.
"Oops." Roxas scratches the whole thing out, pauses, writes another A, pauses, then takes a deep breath and proudly takes up three for four rows with the next letter. "I remembered the X," he says proudly.
"Good job, Rox!" I say, watching the IMPATIENCE writhing in Saïx's eyes. "Now an E."
The two of us are finally 'signed out.' On the visitor sign-in sheet, but whatever.
"Yay, we did it!" Xion cheers. "We get to take you home now."
"Xion, there are still several hours left before dismissal," Saïx says flatly. "We're not going anywhere."
"The kids can't either, though," I muse. "What are we gonna do, take 'em with us to class?"
And so, a few minutes later, I'm strolling back into English class with my six-year-old little brother in tow. "I'm back," I tell Ms. Taft. "This is Roxas."
She stares down at him.
He absently grips a fistful of my uniform and stares back.
"He's kinda stranded today," I explain, "so I had to bring him to class. He'll be good." I'd talked to Roxas a lot on the way here. "Be good, be really, really, really good, or they'll kick you out and you'll be all alone on the streets and I won't get to see you." Not mentioning, of course, that if Roxas actually did get kicked off campus - which probably wouldn't happen, - I'd be right on his heels without even sparing a thought for my truancy record.
"He looks like a kindergartener," she says blankly.
"I'm a FIRST grader," Roxas corrects sullenly.
She suddenly narrows her (mischievously sparkling) eyes, crouches down to his level, and says sternly, "If you dare distract your big brother from his schoolwork, or make any fart noises or pick your nose, I won't let you leave this room until you've written out a copy of that entire Shakespeare book," she says, pointing.
Roxas grips my uniform even harder and tries to disappear behind me. "I can't write a book."
"Then I guess you'd better behave~," she sing-songs.
"Okay."
"He'll be good," I promise. "Really."
I turn around to go back to my desk and realize that we're surrounded by adoring fangirls. Except they're not after me for once.
"He is so cuuuuuteee!"
"Axel," Roxas whimpers, "I said I'd be good. Don't let them eat me."
"Maybe you should stop looking so eatable," I suggest, picking him up for safety.
"He's like a little dolllll!"
"Just look at that adorable sulky face!"
"Aw, don't be scared, cutie, we love you!"
Roxas hides his face and mumbles "Make them go away" into my neck.
"Sorry, Rox..." Maybe it was a bad idea to pick him up - they're all practically dying of squee as they stare at me holding him. "Hey," I tell them, "I need to analyze my poem."
They all burst into laughter, but finally Ms. Taft shoos them away and we all pretty much get back to work. "So," I say. Roxas is sitting on the floor, drawing a picture of ponies shooting guns and arrows at each other on the back of my copy of the poem. "What was the first line, again?" Because we never actually read the poem, but now I want to at least pretend I'm being busy so that Roxas doesn't get in trouble.
My partner squints at his copy of the paper, which is pretty bedraggled-looking since he's been tearing bits off the edges to use for spitballs. "I dunno. 'Come to me, O ye children!'"
"Huh?"
"That's the first line." I tug the paper closer and skim through the rest of the poem. 'Ah! what would the world be to us if the children were no more? We should dread the desert behind us worse than the dark before.'
I get an uncomfortable image in my head of Roxas and Xion dead. 'That's what Sai sees,' I suddenly realize. He'd seen Xion almost dead before, for real. He'd seen his mother dead, no almost about it. Years ago, before we'd met them. "We're fine, nobody died," Xion had told him earlier. Maybe that's what he sees in his mind, every time he thinks that she and now Roxas are in danger, the same thing I'm picturing now.
'Ye are better than all the ballads that ever were sung or said,' the end of the poem says. 'For ye are living poems, and all the rest are dead.' That's...a good thing, right? It's not...it's not literally 'dead,' he just means...words on paper...different from living flesh, from children who can still walk and speak and watch me with blue eyes full of expression...
"Axel, why are you looking at me like that?" Roxas asks curiously.
"Quit spacing out, man," my partner complains. "Hurry up and figure out what it means."
"Uh, we're partners?" I remind him, trying to shake myself out of it. Roxas is fine. "You're supposed to, yanno, help me figure out what it means."
I'm glad that lunch is next, because I really, really want to see Xion right now. When I first came to this school, I made fun of Saïx for 'hiding' that way he does, eating alone outside with a book when he could be inside with other people. But I found out pretty quickly...
The less snooty girls are always all over me, they think I'm hot (well, 'cuz I am, heh), and they get a kick out of how I can deal with Saïx in a way no other idiot at this school has figured out yet. They give me messages for him, mostly stupid ones that I don't bother passing on, and flirt with me like crazy. But they're kind of annoying, and the sad thing is that they're the best I have. The girls who are more full of themselves look down on me, like I'm some kind of grubby intruder on their turf because of my mom's 'trashy' family.
Most of the guys here are the same, except they also hate me because they hate Saïx. Saïx scares the heck out of everyone, and so the ones with the most to prove try to make his life miserable when they get the chance. A lot easier when they can get his eyes covered. The first couple of times I saw it happen, I just threw myself in there without a second's thought. I got in more trouble than I would have back at the public school, though; not just with the school, but with Mom and Xem.
So I behave now, which means I couldn't defend myself when they went after me for revenge, but...heh. Saïx always has my back. It used to surprise me, since he's usually so...Saïxey. But Xion's right. Doesn't matter whether he actually likes you or not; once you belong to him, he'll crush anyone who tries to hurt you. The two of us can be like night and day, it's enough to make me want to punch him sometimes, but as far as protecting our family goes, we've always been in perfect agreement.
So yeah, Saïx and I don't eat in the cafeteria.
I have to go in there to buy something for Rox, though. He already ate at his own school, but if I ever try to eat in front of him, he'll get bored and start picking pieces off my own meal whether he's hungry or not. In the line, one or two guys comment on "the midget," and girls keep cooing at him or reaching over to try to pat down his spiky hair. He keeps batting them away like they're flies. "What do you want to eat, Rox-my-socks?" I ask, hoisting him up so he can see the lunch choices.
"I want Jell-o."
I laugh. "Okay, but what else do you want to eat?"
"Umm...that and that and that," he says, pointing.
As the lady is handing me the little disposable dishes to put on our tray, someone suddenly grabs me around the waist at exactly Xion height, which is the only reason I don't freak out and hit whoever it is. "Hey, princess," I say, looking down and glad that I was right.
She's beaming up at me adorably. "Hi, Axel!"
"You want anything to eat, too?"
"No, I'm not hungry," she says, still hugging me.
"Roxas got some Jell-o, you want some of that, too?"
"Oh, yeah! No, wait, a cookie! Or...um, I don't know."
"I'll get you both, Xi, how does that sound?"
"Yay! I love you!"
"So if I didn't buy you Jell-o and a cookie, you wouldn't love me?" I tease.
She stares at me. "I love you always forever."
"Awesome."
Saïx is waiting for us, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, face turned away so his fake doomgaze won't bother the lunch ladies. It's bothering other people, though, which is stupid because he's not doomgazing for real, the only thing in his eyes is boredom. The girls at the table closest to him are hunched together gossiping in self-defense, the guys father down are glaring at him.
It's kind of hilarious, watching their expressions change to shock and amazement when our little sister goes running right up to him. "Sai-Sai! Axel bought me junk food!"
"Splendid," he says sarcastically, reaching to take her hand. I swear, the 'Lovely Item' thing actually does work: he's standing there in all his glaring scar-faced glory, but he actually looks cute just because he's got an adorable seven-year-old girl swinging off the end of his arm.
"I already ate my real lunch, so it's okay."
He makes a noncommittal grunt.
"I can give you half my cookie, too."
"I do not want half of your cookie."
"Pleeeaaase, Sai-Sai, eat half a cookie?"
This is fun, and I'm curious. "Hey, Rox," I say, "run over and make Sai-Sai pick you up."
"Why?"
"To make me laugh."
He shrugs and goes over and lifts up his arms. "Pick me up, Saïx."
"Why?"
"To make Axel laugh."
Saïx glares over at me, and I grin back and indicate with my eyes the way half the cafeteria is staring at him with the two small children. "No."
Roxas plops down on his foot and wraps both arms tightly around his leg. "Try to walk now," he challenges.
Saïx makes a huge sigh and gives in. "Stop that. I'll pick you up."
"Yay! I love you, Saïx!" Roxas says mischievously.
"DO NOT even think of starting that up, too."
"Or what~?" is the challenge.
Saïx pauses. Then suddenly scoops him up over his shoulder and marches over to the trash can in this Really Businesslike way.
"No! No! Wait!" Roxas screams, except I can barely understand him because he's laughing almost too hard to speak. "Noooo, don't throw me awayyyyy...!" I think Sai is actually going more for the Ultimate Pit Of Germs angle, but whatever works.
I quickly herd them all outside before anyone can get Saïx arrested for fake child abuse or something. The sky's clear, a little hot but it's fine with shade. Xion insists that we're having a 'picnic,' and uses my school jacket to spread out on the grass under a tree when Saïx refuses to lend her his. Mr. Prim-and-proper insists on keeping his entire uniform together even in this weather.
Roxas sits in my lap at first like he usually does, but polishes off his Jell-o in, like, a minute, and the rest of his food in less than ten, then gets bored. He and Xion start trying to collect ants, with Xion constantly shrieking for him not to hurt them until she finally assigns him the task of keeping them all together in a tiny makeshift corral. Saïx is watching the two of them as if he has absolutely no clue how he ended up related to them. I'm watching the three of them and just...I dunno. Enjoying them. They're so cute. I love them all so much.
Saïx's gaze shifts, and I look over my shoulder to see a group of girls - some of the giggly ones who like me - making their way over to us. They stop abruptly, giggling more than ever in this nervous kind of way. I can't decide whether I want them to brave out Saïx's eyes or get scared off. Eventually they win, and cautiously keep coming over until their shadows cover the ant corral.
Roxas looks up in annoyance. "Get out of the sun, I can't see the ponies."
They all shriek with laughter. Then about five of them descend on him, and I can't rescue him because three are clinging adoringly to my shoulders, a couple of them are cuddling a happy Xion, and one of them has even crept apprehensively up to Saïx, who's leaning away as if she has cooties.
"Can we sit with you guys?" one of them giggles in my ear.
"Umm..."
"Get off me! I'm not cute!" Roxas yells.
"Yes, you are~," they sing, fluffing his hair in that way he hates.
"I'm cute," Xion purrs, basking.
"Yes, you are~," the girls purr back, snuggling her like the big sisters she'll never have.
"We're trying to eat," Saïx growls.
"Can I feed you?" his fangirl asks interestedly.
shock horror disgust desperation
"Saïx," one of the others says, "I never knew you were so good with kids."
"I'm not." He's edging closer to Roxas, who wriggles free and presses close to him, pulling Saïx's school jacket around himself protectively. Saïx looks like he minds way less than usual. The girls are taking pictures now. ...I kinda don't blame 'em.
"So cute!"
"Is he your little brother, Saïx?"
He glares. embarrassment pride "All four of us are siblings."
"Oooooh!"
"I didn't know that!"
"Yeah." I manage to get free and scoot closer to my brothers. "The kids are hanging out with us today."
Xion finally catches on that the rest of us aren't exactly basking in the attention, and crawls over to join us. Saïx and I don't even look at each other, we just move close until the kids are nestled safely between us.
"Why haven't you brought them sooner?"
"They're adorable!"
"Axel," Xion whispers, not quietly enough, "is it bad I'm adorable?"
"If you wanna go get cuddled some more," I whisper back, "go ahead."
"Nope. I wanna stay with you." She links one arm through mine and the other through Saïx's, and grins at the girls. "My big brothers are really cool."
They burst into laughter again.
"Yup!"
"That they are..."
"Hotties, too."
Xion cocks her head. "Saïx, what's a hottie?"
"It means they come to your house and push him down on the couch and kiss him so he ignores you," Roxas grumbles.
Whaaaat?! "When did that ever happen!?"
"The girl with the curly hair who smelled like fruit."
Ummmm...that doesn't...narrow it down much... "I never ignored you!"
"Yes, you did. I came in and said Axel play with me, and you said Mmmn, and she said Tell me you love me, and you said Mom's coming home soon, and I said I'll tell Mommy you wouldn't play with me, and she said Well we'd better hurry, and you said Ummm I think, but you didn't finish, and I threw a balloon at your head, and you didn't say anything but you and her were wrestling with your shirt, so I gave up and went away and then Mommy came home and you all were yelling and you were mad and came to play with me but I was mad too so then you were sad and you gave me ice cream and I was happy again."
There's a long silence. I drop my face down on Saïx's shoulder even though he's staring disbelief disgust at me. "Fail," I mutter under my breath, "fail, fail, fail..."
"Ooooh," half the girls finally crow, and they're laughing. "Can we wrestle with your shirt, Akuseru-kun~?"
"Ladies," Saïx says in his coldest voice, "have some respect for my young siblings, please."
"D'awww..."
"Okay, Sai-Sai."
I can feel his doomgaze even though I still have my face buried in his sleeve. "Only my sister is allowed to call me that."
Another long pause. Mostly of awe from them. Amazement from me and the kids.
"Well..." one of them says reluctantly.
"Okay," another one sighs.
"...Saikusu-kun," a third pipes up mischievously.
They burst into laughter again.
"Saïx," Xion says with shining eyes, "I lo-"
"I know."
Part 3 - Saïx
I don't understand how Axel abides them, but I suppose if I'm his only other option for spending his free time with at this miserable school, it would make sense for him to tolerate them. He is far too social a creature to be able to avoid human companionship.
Thankfully, the girls did not have much longer to torment us before the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period. Xion looked sorry to see them go, but my brothers' feelings better reflected my own.
"Do they bug you all the time?" Roxas asked.
"Well, sort of. They're more fun when they're not picking on you and Sai."
"They weren't picking on them," Xion said in puzzlement. "They loved them."
"Xion, you're a girl," Axel said, as if that explained it. "What do you think, Sai, you wanna switch kiddos for the afternoon?"
Xion and Roxas both watched us curiously as I said, "No, keep Roxas." Axel was far better at keeping the boy under control than I was. "Take both of them, if you like..."
"But that's not fair," Xion objected, as if that was the issue here. "If me and Roxas get to stay with Axel, who'll be with you?"
"I've done quite well on my own thus far," I said dryly. "I hardly need a small child underfoot during my classes the way Axel seems to."
"I wasn't under your foot," she pouted, while Axel stuck his tongue out at me as if he was the same age as her.
"Fine, keep my princess," Axel huffed in an exaggerated show of resigned annoyance. "I'll just play with her extra tonight to make up for it."
"After you both finish your homework."
"What are you, my parent?"
"He doesn't want you to get grounded again," Xion said unhappily, and I could tell that Axel didn't want to get grounded again, either, despite his trying to pretend he didn't care.
"We can do our homework in Sai's room and have a Homework Party."
"Yay!"
"No."
"Are Homework Parties fun?" Roxas asked doubtfully.
"We're going to be late for class," I said. "Xion, if you're coming with me, I'm leaving for it now, so do not dawdle."
"Okay, I'm coming!"
She trotted to keep up with me as I made my way to the science wing, where I did not quite manage to cross the classroom threshold before the tardy bell rang. No matter - the teacher glanced at me, mouth open in preparation for censure, but once he saw it was me, he quickly looked away again, and I went to my seat unhindered.
Fortunately, my desk partner at the beginning of the school year had been intimidated elsewhere and the teacher had never bothered to replace her, so not only was I able to indulge in my preference of completing 'joint' assignments on my own, but now my sister was free to climb into the chair beside me without displacing anyone.
We were receiving odd looks as the teacher began calling roll. "Saïx Acerbi?" he said, looking dubiously at Xion.
"Here! He's here!" she shouted, pointing at me.
"Xion, I am perfectly capable of announcing my own presence, be quiet."
"I didn't want him to forget you," she said.
As if such a thing was even possible, since I'm sure he wished he could forget about me. "You didn't even give me a chance to respond."
"Okay, next time I'll wait for a few seconds."
"Next time you will be silent, regardless of whether I answer or not."
"But if you don't answer, then you'll be absent!"
I was trying to whisper, but she was making no such effort, and the entire class was staring at us. The teacher had not resumed his task. "Xion, what were your instructions?" I snapped.
"Behave and don't say anything," she remembered. "Can you play tic-tac-toe with me?"
"No."
"Can I sit in your lap?"
"No."
"Can I sit in your lap if I'm reeeeeaaaallllly really good for five minutes?"
At the end of my patience, I slammed my hand on the table and glared at her, and was a little surprised when I sensed many of my classmates flinching along with my sister.
"Then can I draw Moonwolf Crescent?" she whispered.
"Keep your mouth shut," I hissed.
Staring at me with very wide eyes, she pretended to zip her lips closed. I watched her for a few seconds. Once I had determined that she was going to remain silent (for the time being...), I gave her some blank paper and a pencil, upon which point she immediately knelt up in the chair and started happily drawing one of her infernal ponies.
I looked around, exasperated to find that we were still the center of attention. "...I apologize for the interruption."
"...Fred Alvarez?" the teacher finally continued, though still watching me as if he expected me to answer.
"H-Here," Fred called nervously. Also staring at me. What was the matter with everyone?
The period felt interminable, just like the one before lunch had. I was used to being left to myself and determinedly overlooked, which suited me just fine. Yet somehow, having a little girl in my presence and under my charge seemed to cause everybody's eyes to stay glued to me, despite the fact that they should have been paying attention to the lecture. Not that I could blame them very much, considering the disturbance Xion caused...humming under her breath, asking me questions, climbing into my lap so she could see better, interrupting the lecture which I was hesitant to rebuke her for since she was learning science beyond her grade level, after all...
"Oooh, ooh! I know! There's an eight on the right side!" she cried triumphantly. "Because fourteen minus six equals eight!"
"Er...very good, um..."
"Her name is Xion," I said wearily. "And she needs to sit down in her own seat." This was accompanied by a glare, causing my sister to sheepishly retreat from my lap into the chair next to me.
"Oh," the teacher fumbled. "Well, yes, Xion, that's right. The net force is eight Newtons. Ahem. Which means, Carly, that the object would then be actually moving in what direction?"
I doubt she even heard the question. Xion finally waved at her, and she uncertainly lifted her hand in response.
"Carly!"
"Um, what?"
This was not difficult material. "It would be moving to the right," I said. "Since the stronger force on the left nullifies the weaker force acting upon the object from the right. Obviously."
"...V-Very good. Ahem. Um...Saïx...do you think that - you and your, um, companion could run an errand for me?"
I recognized an attempt to get rid of me when I saw one. I shut my textbook and put everything in my bag. "Come, Xion."
"Where are we going?" she asked curiously.
"The library."
"Ah!" my teacher exclaimed in relief, "Yes, the library. Um, I need you to, uh-"
"Don't bother." I paused by his desk, grabbing hold of Xion's hand before she could go over to touch a dangling keychain hanging from the zipper of one of my classmates' backpacks. "What is our homework assignment for tonight?"
"Um, read chapter 7 and do the questions at the end..."
"Very well. Come, Xion."
"But it's sparkly!"
I picked her up and carried her bodily from the room as she giggled and put her arms around my neck.
We spent the rest of the period in the library, where I didn't get much work done because the only way to make her sit still was to read a story to her. She picked some incomprehensible fantasy novel about a personified star whose name was the same as my middle one.
"Saïx, what's a Zoi?"
"Something fictitious that I suspect is a throwaway plot point."
"What's that mean?"
"It means you need to stop interrupting me so I can keep reading and perhaps find out what it is."
"Sai-Sai, why is Sirius a star but a dog too?"
"They call it the 'Dog Star' because it's a part of the Canis Major constellation. 'Canis' means 'dog.'"
"Why?"
"It's Latin."
"Why don't they just say 'Dog Major'?"
"Xion, do you want to find out what happens next, or don't you?"
"I wanna find out! I'll be good! Saïx, did Sirius really kill the lumasomething, or are they all just being mean to him?"
Part 4 - Xion
I felt bad about bothering my big brother, but I couldn't tell whether he liked it or not. All the interruptions annoyed him, but he also liked showing off, so I kept asking whenever there was something I didn't understand and watched his eyes going, "This is infuriating, why won't she be quiet?!" and "There is so much I know that she doesn't..." and things without words: hands, tiny green stems, petals opening in the sunlight. It made me feel like a flower being protected in a storm, and I couldn't tell whether I liked it or not, just like he couldn't, either. I did like being confused with him, though. It was like it made us both together.
When the bell rang, we went to a different class and Saïx said "SIT DOWN SIT DOWN SIT DOWN" so much with his eyes that I was afraid to say anything. But there was no one sitting in the desk behind him, and these desks were only for one person at a time, not the tables like in the science class, so I couldn't sit next to him. I was so boooooored and his hair was so long and blue and right in front of me, I wanted to fix it and make it pretty. I don't think he liked it, but he didn't tell me to stop either, so while everyone was talking about boring stuff, I twisted and twisted until he had all the prettiest braids, except I didn't have anything to tie them with. Then the girls started laughing, and Saïx saw what I did to his hair and he was so mad, but he was actually embarrassed so it didn't really hurt.
"I'm sorry, big brother. Do you want me to unbraid them?"
"There's no time..."
We went to his last class of the day and everyone looked at him funny, but no one said anything. This time there was somebody in all the desks around him, so I stood next to him and unbraided his hair while the teacher talked, but everyone and the teacher too were staring at us just like they did in the other classes. I don't know how Saïx ever learns anything with people staring at him like that all the time.
"Saïx," I whispered, "do you have a brush?" All the braids made his hair a little curly, I had to fix it...
"I am not in the habit of carrying grooming tools to school, where they should not be necessary," he said in his Using Fancy Words To Make Himself Feel Better voice. Oops. I didn't mean to make him mad, it's just...his hair is so long...
People were giggling. When I turned around, a girl was holding out a comb to me. "Thanks!" I took it and started pulling it through Saïx's hair. I could see in his eyes that it hurt even though he didn't say anything, so I tried to be careful, but I was still hurting him and I didn't know what to do.
The girl who gave me the comb got up and said, "Here, sweetie, hold it like this. Start from the ends here and work your way up, see?"
"Ohhhh." Then some other girls came over and all of us helped fix Saïx's hair together, and he was mad at us so he ignored us and started writing in his book instead. The teacher finally ignored us too and went on talking about letting ham do something, except all the big kids were still staring at Saïx and only a few people were paying attention. Saïx's friends at school are all really weird. My teacher would get mad at me if people were playing with my hair in class, but Saïx's teacher didn't get mad at him, so I guess she was really nice?
When everyone was supposed to work together, all the girls wanted to work with Saïx, and he said he wanted to work alone, but they kept staring at his eyes and touching his face and laughing and telling him that they would all help a lot. "I can help, too," I said.
"You cannot," he growled.
"Yes, I can!"
"Very well, then tell me what your interpretation of the symbolism is in this passage of Hamlet."
"Whaaaat?" He thought he was mad at me, but I felt bad for him because it was really that he didn't like the girls and wanted to go home. I sat in his lap so he'd feel better. "You answer the questions and I'll color pictures for them." I'm good at coloring.
"No. Draw whatever you want in this notebook and be quiet until the bell rings..."
I wasn't quiet, I couldn't help it, but no one else was quiet, either, so I think it was okay. When the bell rang, all the girls said good-bye to Saïx, and one of them hugged him and another one kissed his cheek, and he took my hand and dragged me out while I was trying to wave good-bye, and they all called after me that I was really cute and to tell Axel hello for them when I saw him again, so I said okay.
"Saïx, why don't you like those girls? They were nice."
"If you were capable of understanding the concept of respect for one's personal space, I might explain it to you. However, you don't, so I'm not going to bother."
"Are you mad?"
"Yes."
"Are we gonna find Axel and Roxas soon?"
"Yes."
"Can we have ice cream on the way home?"
"...I don't care."
I could see from his eyes that he really wanted ice cream. "I'll buy you some."
"You don't have any money."
"I'll get Axel to buy you some."
"I have money, I'll buy it myself."
"And for me, too?"
"I'm not going to eat ice cream in front of you when you don't have any."
"So you'll buy me some?"
"Xion, you're going to get it one way or the other, it doesn't matter who buys it."
When we got to the front of the school, Roxas ran to grab my hands, and we danced in a circle singing the We Pwn song as loud as we could. Axel came up to sing it, too, and Saïx walked right past us like he didn't know who we were.
"Sai-Sai! Waaaaiiiit, you forgot about us!"
"I think that was on purpose," Axel said. He was laughing. He grabbed our hands, and the three of us ran together to catch up.
o.o.o
Author's Notes: Axel's assignment was the poem "Children" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
"Lovely Item" - from Ouran High School Host Club, lol. The Host Club tries to explain to poor Bossanov- Cassano- Kasanoda (:p) that the reason no one's scared of big silent Mori is because he's always got adorable little Honey clambering over him like a monkey. XD
Btw, I wrote over half of this before I wrote Wind's Legacy and Daughters of the Heart.
Ummm, Saïx's science class lecture...that was just the first thing that came into my head, I don't know if it's something he's supposed to have learned already. *sweatdrop*
Argh...just like with the first four Stepsibs stories, Xion's POV gave me the most trouble. X(
