Day 25

Getting up from his bed, Roxas put on his coat feeling extremely groggy. He walked over to his window and stared out at Kingdom Hearts. A troubled expression overtook his face as he talked to himself quietly. "What do I do?" He sat down on his bed waiting for an answer. "She knows who I am now, but how do I stop all of this?"

Saix walked in and interrupted Roxas's thoughts. "Roxas, Xion is waiting for you to leave for your mission." He took a card out of his pocket and flung it at him. "Get over there, now." As he was walking out, Saix stopped and looked back at Roxas. "Also, if you see Demyx, report him to me at once. That lazy oaf has had it too easy, until now." With that, he walked out of the room, resuming his search for Demyx.

Roxas looked at the card Saix had given him and noticed that there was a picture of a familiar heartless with a brief description of what his mission was. "Eliminate 'Darkside'…" He took a closer look at the picture trying to remember what was going to happen in this fight, but he couldn't.

Walking in the streets of Twilight Town, the dynamic duo began their search for the heartless. Before they went any further, however, Xion stopped and looked at Roxas who was still walking.

"Roxas…" she called in her soft sweet voice.

He turned around, wondering what the problem was.

Xion looked at Roxas and began to remove her hood from her head. He gasped as she revealed her true identity to him.

She was breathtaking. Roxas looked at her as she smiled brightly at him.

"Best of luck today."

He began to feel a hot sensation starting to build up around his cheeks. What was this feeling? And on that note, was he actually "feeling" something?

The two stared at each other for a while, Roxas still trying to get himself together. He smiled back at her blissfully and nodded. "Yea, let's go."

At the train station, everything was quiet. Having looked everywhere else, this was the only spot left. Looking around, Roxas noticed a few heartless starting to appear nearby.

At an instant, the two ran over to them and started attacking with no mercy. More and more started to appear, but Roxas knew that they could handle it.

Xion fought from a distance using her magic to eliminate them while Roxas took them head on.

After a while, the floor began to shake lightly. A giant dark circle started to appear on the floor as a big heartless started to slowly emerge.

Having defeated all the minor heartless, Roxas and Xion looked at this humongous being. This wasn't going to be easy. Roxas looked at it and remembered why "Darkside" looked so familiar. "That's right, Darkside punches me and sends me soaring. Well not this time." He took his battle stance and thought of a new way to approach him instead of head on.

Heartless started to appear from behind the two trying to cause more trouble. Stuck in a sticky situation, Roxas and Xion decided to defeat the little heartless first to make it easier on themselves.

As the two fought vigorously, Darkside proceeded to throw a punch at them. Both of them took notice and moved out of the way as fast as they could, causing the punch to hit the heartless and send them flying into the air.

Roxas saw that it was taking Darkside a while to recuperate, giving him a chance to attack from behind. He jumped on the creature's foot and began to climb to his head. Once there, Roxas began swinging at the back of his head as hard as he could.

Darkside took its hand and tried to get him off quickly. Before the hand could even touch him, Roxas jumped off right in front of Darkside and landed firmly on the floor. When he landed, Roxas noticed the fist coming at him again rapidly. He jumped into the air and looked back at the hand, relieved that he wasn't hit like last time. Still in the air, Roxas smirked as he turned his head back around to focus on exterminating this thing. However, once he turned his head fully, he noticed Darkside's other fist coming straight at him… just like last time.

The fist hit Roxas viciously, sending him rolling on the floor right passed Xion, unable to get up.

Xion looked at this bully of a heartless and became enraged. She closed her eyes and put her hand out, concentrating as hard as she could. Something then began to shine bright on her hand.

Still on the floor, Roxas watched as Xion finally summoned her keyblade. He looked in disbelief and frowned once it clearly appeared in her hands. "Oh no…"

Xion grasped her key as tight as she could and swiftly ran towards Darkside. She jumped in the air and slashed right through him, putting an end to this folly.

It was over. The being was defeated and began to fade away. Xion watched as this creature's giant heart floated into the air, all the way to Kingdom Hearts. Once it was out of seeing distance, she turned to Roxas who was now walking towards her.

"Xion…" He said, with a concerned expression.

She examined Roxas, and thought that he was disappointed. She looked down in shame, wondering what she had done wrong.

Realizing that he was still portraying his worrisome, Roxas put on the biggest smile he could and began to feel ecstatic for her. "That was amazing!" he yelled enthusiastically. "You killed that heartless in one blow Xion! I couldn't even do that! You were awesome out there!"

Xion looked back at him and smiled bashfully. "Thank you, Roxas." She said as they both shared a laugh.

"Hey y'know, you've earned something," he said having thought of an idea.

"What?"

Roxas chuckled. "The icing on the cake."

"Huh?"

"Come on!" Roxas said enthusiastically as he grasped her hand, "I'll show you!" With that, Roxas began to run towards the shop to show Xion some of the best ice cream in the world.

She looked at Roxas's cheerful face as he led her to who knows where. Her cheeks began to warm up as she started to feel something starting to ignite in her chest. She looked at her hand that was being held by him. It felt cozy… and nice. Looking back at Roxas, she began to smile a bit. Something about him just made her happy.

As the two keybladers sat down on the edge of the Clock Tower, Xion took notice of the sunset and how captivating it was. She couldn't ask for a more perfect day.

"This place is so beautiful, how'd you find it?"

"Here ya go." Roxas said handing Xion her ice cream. "It's sea salt ice cream… come on try it! You'll love it!"

Xion cautiously brought the sea salt to her lips, not knowing what to expect. She slowly opened her mouth and took a bite of it. "It's sweet… and salty."

Roxas grinned as he watched her try it. "I told you you'd love it."

Xion giggled, "Yea, you're right. It's really good. It sounds like it's your favorite flavor too."

"Yeah," he said as he gazed at the mesmerizing sunset. "I've eaten so many of these ever since Axel showed me this spot. That was a long time ago, but I haven't stopped eating them."

"You guys must be really close." Xion responded as she enjoyed her ice cream.

"Yea, me and Axel are friends."

"Friends." Xion looked at her ice cream wondering what a friend was and what it was like to have one. "Roxas? Do you think that maybe… I could be a friend?"

Roxas looked at her and smiled. "Xion, you're already my friend."

Xion looked up and glimpsed at his cheery expression. Seeing him so happy made her happy. She was delighted to have a friend, and she was even happier knowing that that friend was Roxas.

As time passed, the two of them seemed to grow closer and closer by the minute. The whole day was filled with smiles and laughter, and neither one of them wanted it to end.

Roxas watched as the sun was slowly swallowed by the night sky. "We should probably RTC now," he suggested, "It's going to get dark soon."

Xion nodded and they both began to stand. Roxas opened a portal back to base and let her go in first. She took one more look at the amazing view that was in front of her and then walked inside. About to walk into the portal himself, Roxas began to hear something close by. It sounded like it was coming from the side of the clock tower.

Closing the portal, Roxas walked slowly to the other side of the tower, wondering what was making that strange noise. As he got closer, he began to hear strange whispers in his head. Grabbing the corner of the wall, however, caused the voices to subside, leaving the area around him dead silent.

Roxas began to peek cautiously, staying on guard in case of a surprise attack. He summoned his keyblade, and –at that moment- he turned the corner, yelling at the top of his lungs.

Realizing who was in front of him, Roxas stopped his yelling and lowered his weapon. He watched as the stranger brought a cup of tea up to his lips.

The man then looked at him and began to grin eerily. "Having fun, Roxas?" he asked, wiggling his tail.

A/N: I really hope this was a good chapter. Haven't written something in so long, I feel like I've lost my touch or something. Well, Review/ Follow/ Favorite in that order!(No Rebels)