Here's another update from yours truly! It took me a while to come up with something worthwhile to write about so I just went on the tangent that I ended off from last chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters used in this story nor do I own the franchises Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy. I also do not own the song Summer Paradise.
Chapter 7 – (Camp)fire
Axel's hair was on fire. Well, it wasn't like his head was completely engulfed in flames. It was more like the tips of his hair were burning and the fire was making its towards his head.
"Axel, what the hell were you doing?!" I could see Lightning jumping out from her boat. She had arrived just in time.
"Thanks for the concern," he said; his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I could use some help! I don't want to lose my precious hair!" Axel was gripping the sides of his head like a madman and shaking it back and forth. He could run straight for the waterfall, but I think the only thing on his mind is his hair.
Noel was following closely behind with a bucket of water in hand. "Stand aside!"
Lightning side stepped and watched as Noel chucked the water at Axel's burning hair, dousing the flames. His hair was drenched and it was plastered to his head. It was really funny actually, seeing his hair down. It nearly reached his shoulders.
"You know you could have just smothered the flames or something like that," Axel grumbled, "Now my hair is all ruined!"
Lightning rolled her eyes; obviously she wasn't amused by Axel's childish behaviour. "You know, a 'thank you' would be nice." Noel, on the other, hand wasn't as open about his annoyance. He just had his hands on his hips, giving Axel an incredulous look.
Lightning walked away from Axel and towards me. "When I said 'Don't do anything crazy until I get there' I didn't expect it to happen right as I landed on the beach."
I grinned in agreement. "Neither did I. Say, how did his hair catch on fire in the first place?" It's pretty difficult to do when you don't have a fire in the first place, but knowing Axel, he always finds a way to make one.
"Naminé!" I turn around to see Noel run up to me. Before I could even utter a 'hello', I lifted off my feet and swung around like a little kid.
"Good to see you too, Noel," I manage to choke out. Noel was a strong guy. He completed his lifeguard certification course when he was 15 and he loves to rub that in Lightning's face when she's around and someone asks him about his career.
He set me down on the warm sand after swinging me around for a bit. "How's my favourite little artist doing?"
I pout at the lifeguard in front of me. "I'm doing just fine. And for the record, I'm not a little artist anymore." I poke his chest jokingly. "I've gotten better at creating-."
Noel put his hands to his ears. "Okay! I think I've heard enough!" I poked at him again his time on his sides. "Ha! You can't tickle me anymore! I worked out and I've eliminated my weak spots," he said proudly.
It was true. He did work out and it showed. About three years back he wasn't like this. He was almost like Pence (no offence), but not quite. He had the physical stamina to swim well and endure all the lifting that had to be done for lifeguarding. Apparently you had to swim with and lift a 20-30 dummy out of the water. Imagine lifting a real person. Now all that was gone and he packed some muscle.
"Okay, I think you two had enough time to catch up." Lightning pulled on Noel's ear. "We still have our shift to cover. You can play later."
Lightning forced Noel to sit on the lifeguard chair while she was in the water with her life preserver. He seemed pretty bored so I guessed that Noel wanted to be the one in the water.
I wanted to see how bad Axel's hair was so I walked over to the grill where he was standing. He was grumbling to himself and then he kicked the side of the grill.
"Hey Axel. What's wrong?"
"Hey Naminé. It's this wretched thing that's wrong. I love this grill and everything, but it was this thing that burnt my lovely hair." He grabbed the ends of his wet hair and looked at it intently.
I looked at his hair. It wasn't as bad as he said it was. It actually looked kind of cool. The tips of his hair were singed so it gave it a realistic fiery appearance.
"You know, your hair looks like it's actually on fire now."
His hands shot up to pat his head. "Huh?! What, there's no fire."
I giggled at his overreaction. "Not like that silly. What I meant was that it looks cool. The burnt tips of your hair make it look fierier than before."
"Humph. Well I'll just have to take a look for myself when I get back home."
"Axel, how did you manage to light your hair on fire in the first place?" I really wanted to know how he pulled that one off.
"You see, I was setting up the grill. I hooked up the propane tank to the grill and I started the grill. It didn't exactly light so I looked back at the tank valve to see if it was screwed on correctly. I was also turning the ignition on, which was stupid of me by the way, and the spark ignited the gas that was leaking out of the tank. The valve wasn't screwed on completely so the fire kind of blew up in my face." He laughed awkwardly at his own idiotic actions.
I sighed, "Axel, next time, have someone beside you so they can prevent anything stupid from happening."
"It wasn't stupid! I just wasn't paying attention," he tried to salvage what was left of his dignity. "Well at least the grill is set up. I think it's a good time to start pulling out the food. What time is it anyways?"
I checked my phone. "It's almost 5:00."
"Yeah it's about time. Could you help me with some of the food?"
"Sure thing," I replied.
We brought out the food from the cooler that Hope brought and Axel put on his 'Kiss the Chef' apron. How cliché. I skipped back to the volleyball court and it looked like the boys were still playing. This time I could clearly see Roxas. He was playing without a shirt and he looked-
No. No Naminé. Bad Naminé. I chastised myself for thinking such thoughts. I peeled away from that line of sight and I covered my face with my hands. Then I slowly turned and I peeked out of the cracks in between my fingers. There he was again; except this time he was setting the ball up for Wakka and I could see his completely exposed chest-
NO. NO. NO.
What is it going to take to distract myself from him?
"Enjoying the view I see?"
I remove my hands from my face to see Kairi standing right in front of me. I flinch backwards and my hand flew to my beating chest.
"Jesus Kai! You have got to stop doing that!" She sat down beside me and left her legs swing over the sand.
"So you're checking out Roxas huh?" She nudged my elbow.
I turn away so I don't have to see her prying eyes. "No I wasn't," I muttered. I could feel my face flush with heat.
"Sure you weren't," Kairi said sarcastically, "I mean that blush means nothing as well right?"
"Exactly." I turn back to see Kairi's gaze wander in Sora's direction. There's something going on in her mind, but she's not showing it. I guess I have to be more observant later.
I turn back to the volleyball court, giving into my urge to look for Roxas. I see everyone that was playing except him. Everyone else was packing up the court net and poles, but Roxas was nowhere to be seen. I stand up and I sweep my gaze across the beach. Where could he have gone?
Suddenly, my vision goes dark as someone's hands appear in front of my eyes.
"Guess who?" A mysteriously familiar voice rings in my ears.
Roxas. I shivered at the feeling of his touched. He seemed to take it the wrong way and I felt his hands become tense.
"Are you cold? It's late afternoon so it shouldn't be that cold."
"Hi Roxas. Way to completely brush off the reason why you covered my eyes in the first place." I rolled my eyes in the darkness. "And no, I'm not cold. You surprised me, that's all."
I felt him relax and he removed his hands from my face. I turn around to see him still shirtless. I felt my face become warm so I quickly turned away before he could see or say anything.
"What's wrong? Do I have something on my face?"
"No, there's nothing on your face. It's just that…" I rub my arm in anxiety because what I would say next would sound awkward for the both of us. "You're shirtless," I said quietly.
"Oh," he uttered. I guess he didn't think about that did he now?
"Well is there something wrong with me being shirtless?" He still didn't understand why I won't look at him just yet so I didn't turn around.
"There's nothing wrong; it's just that I'm not used to seeing you like this."
"Then turn around, I just wanted to see your pretty fa-". He stopped himself from finishing his sentence. I wonder why? I turn around to see his blushing face.
"I'm going to put on my shirt now." He turned around and briskly walked towards the miniature boardwalk. I wonder what he was going to say that made him stop.
The smell of Axel grilling food wafted across the beach and I felt my stomach rumble. I haven't had much to eat earlier so I was feeling quite hungry. I walked over to where Axel was standing. He was leaning by the grill with tongs and barbeque fork in hand.
"What's cooking Axel? It smells nice."
"Wings, patties, and sausages." I scrunched my nose at that list of meat. Didn't we bring more than that?
"Is that all? I swear we brought more food than that." I really wanted something else that didn't just have meat. If it turns out to be only that, it would be a literal sausage fest.
"Of course there's more. In the cooler are shish kabobs, corn on the cob, shrimp and potatoes if anyone wants them baked." The shish kabobs were certainly inviting and so was the corn.
"That sounds delicious. And it smells good too. Speaking of which, you should check on the grill." I could see tendrils of smoke escaping the cover of the grill. Axel swiftly turned around and lifted the cover, unleashing a wave of heat and aromas that washed over me. He jabbed a chicken wing with the barbeque fork and peered inside.
"It looks almost ready. Time for me to apply my special BBQ sauce." He flashed a wicked grin at me and took out a bottle of brown BBQ sauce. He poured some onto a grill brush and swept across the wings with it. He set the bottle aside and turned around.
"That should be enough. Now we wait another five minutes for the flavour to settle in and it will be perfect." Little did he know that the bottle he placed on the grill counter had spilled into the grill and was slowly trickling into the fire. I was about to point that out to him when the grill roared with flames, shooting fire upwards into the sky and lit Axel's hair on fire once again.
"Um, Axel, what did you exactly did you put in that BBQ sauce?" Maybe it had oil in it.
He crossed his arms and puffed his chest out. "That's a secret! Only I know how to make such an amazing concoction."
"Would your amazing concoction happen to contain oil?"
He looked at me like I was an idiot. "Well of course! How else would the mixture stick to the wings?"
"Okay then. And by the way, your hair's on fire. Again."
His hands flew up to his hair and he frantically swatted his head in attempts to smother the flames. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME EARLIER NAMINÉ?!"He was screaming loudly enough that everyone on the island stopped doing whatever they were doing to look in our direction. Axel was running towards the water to dive in most likely. He was stopped short by Lightning though who raced out of the water and shoved him in forcefully. I doubled over in laughter when Axel flailed his arms while falling into the surf. He emerged wet once again and stalked over to Lightning.
"You know I could have just dunked my head into the water. I had the situation under control."
Lightning snorted, "Sure you did. Screaming and flailing your arms is the definition of under control. Besides, it's my job to keep everyone on this island safe. I'd say I'm doing a very good job."
I walked over to Axel to help him out of the water. "I think he's had enough fiery attitude for one day or fire for that matter. Plus he has to finish cooking if you want to eat."
Lightning raised her hands in defeat. "Alright. Just make sure this pyro doesn't light his hair on fire for the third time today."
While Axel fished the wings, patties and sausages out of the grill and onto platters, I pulled out plates, forks, and knives onto the tables beside the grill. Everyone had gathered by the campfire that Wakka had assembled, but had not yet lit. Xion was busy mixing drinks and blending juices for everyone. Axel was still busy grilling the shish kabobs, shrimp and corn so he was going to join the rest of us later. Roxas and Riku were talking animatedly about their volleyball games with Sora, Wakka and Tidus. Apparently Riku was on par with Wakka's playing skill, but Tidus argued that Wakka's calibre was still higher than anyone else's here. Axel's friend Demyx, the one with a blonde mullet, arrived in the late afternoon and was sitting by the campfire, strumming a few notes idly on his sitar. By the time everyone had settled down with something to eat, Selphie stood up and raised her drink.
"Alright everyone! I hope you've had a good time today, but the fun doesn't end yet. Today was a day for Roxas, Sora and Hope here to better know us just chill. But none of this wouldn't have been possible if you guys hadn't pitched in." A light applause rose from the teens around the bonfire in response. Underneath that I heard Selphie mutter something under her breath. "And my amazing organizing talents." Of course Selphie, no one forgets you.
The brunette turned to face Axel who was leaning by the grill with a beer in hand. "I'd also like to thank our fiery cook here, Axel."
He raised his drink in acknowledgement. "Don't mention it. Seriously, don't mention it. I don't want to hear rumours about my hair getting caught on fire twice in a day. Or any Alicia Keys references." He said that last part pretty flatly. Then of course someone yelled the reference over the crackling of the bonfire. "THIS GUY IS ON FIRE!" It was Sora and he was getting punched in the shoulder by Kairi for doing so. A wave of stifled laughter rose from the group.
Selphie turned back to us and looked like she was about to give a final statement. "Last thing guys, no one is leaving till we finish cleaning and packing up! Capiche?" She was dead serious when she said that. If anyone left the island before everything was packed up and ready to go, they wouldn't hear the end of it from her.
She sat back down and the soft chattering continued from where is left off. Roxas appeared beside me and had a shish kabob in between his teeth. He sat down on the log beside me and silently munched on his multi-coloured skewer. I took a sip from my drink before attempting to talk to him. Hell, I had no idea what to talk about. Thankfully, Roxas broke the silence by asking how the party was for me.
I turned to face him. The warm glow from the fire illuminated his golden blonde hair and the light danced across his face, casting shadows just above his forehead. It made his eyes sparkle and stand out more than usual.
"It was really relaxing. I got two drawings in while you boys were playing volleyball. One of you and one of Tidus." I pulled out my sketchbook so he could take a look at my drawings. I hope it wasn't too messy looking. I did finish both of them in two hours so they probably look rough.
"They look great. You really captured the action of his spike here." He nodded his head at the drawing of Tidus in midair, performing a spike. His hair was flowing in the breeze so it looked like he really was in motion.
The blonde flipped the page to see my drawing of him. He smiled at it and looked up at me. "Do I really look that good?" He held my sketchbook beside his face, prompting me to compare the two similar visages.
I looked at my own drawing and compared it to his face. There wasn't much difference between the two. It was surprising to see how realistic my drawings are since I don't compare my work to reality.
"Yeah, you do look good." Then I realize what I had just said and I slapped a hand over my mouth. Oh no. I wish I never said that.
Roxas chuckled at me lightly. "It's okay, I get what you mean." He quickly winked at me before turning away and continued eating his kabob. I turned away in embarrassment. Hopefully it was dark enough to hide my blush, but knowing I have a pale skin tone, he probably noticed it.
It was about 8:00 PM when people had their fill of Axel's food and Sora passed around blue ice-cream bars to everyone. Roxas was delighted to see the cold blue treat land in his hands. Everyone else was looking at it funny.
Wakka in particular made a really confused face. It was a mixture of confusion and interest. His eyebrows were scrunched together, but you could see his brown eyes brighten with curiosity.
Hayner on the other hand looked like he seen it before. He was licking at the bar slowly; his face content probably because he was expecting a bubble gum flavour or a blueberry flavour since blue is linked with those tastes. Instead, his face twisted, but suddenly relaxed as if it was the best thing in the world.
Roxas nudged my shoulder, grabbing my attention. "Why aren't you eating your ice-cream?" He was casually leaning against the log with his back so he was half-lying down, half- sitting.
"I'm just looking at everyone else reactions, seeing if this turns out to be good."
The blonde sat up and looked at me incredulously. "You can't judge the taste by other people's reactions you know. You got to try it for yourself" I understood what he meant so I licked the blue frozen treat lightly. My tastes buds were tingled with a salty taste. I was about to pull a face, but then it tasted sweet complimenting the salty tang from before. The two clashing flavours soon swirled about in my mouth like a romantic melody.
"This is certainly different. It starts out salty, but then it becomes sweet. It's actually really good!"
Roxas smiled at my reaction. "I'm glad you like it! It took me and Sora forever to find an ice-cream parlour that sold this flavour. When we asked to buy twenty bars the worker there had to call out the manager just to make sure that we weren't some punks joking around."
"Which shop was it? And what flavour is it called?" I continued to lick my ice-cream bar, but then I noticed that it was disappearing too quickly for my tastes so I slowed down a bit.
Roxas had finished his ice-cream bar and he pulled out the popsicle stick out of his mouth with an audible 'pop'. "The shop is called 'Uncle Scrooge's Ice-Cream' and the flavour is sea-salt. It was the flavoured that I mentioned on the first day of school when I talked about where me and Sora came from."
"Oh Scrooge's. I didn't know that they had that flavour. Scrooge's is a chain of stores right? I'm guessing there's a Scrooge's back at your hometown." Uncle Scrooge's Ice-Cream was a big brand name of ice-cream. It had a chain of stores throughout numerous cities and sold its products in grocery stores as well.
Roxas nodded his head. "That's right. I didn't think there would be one here on Destiny Islands as well."
"That's because it recently opened. News spread fast about the parlour opening and people all over the island flocked to the shop. Since the island isn't that big anyways, people do bother to make the trip across."
Hayner passed around a bag of marshmallows and sharpened twigs for roasting. We were all chatting idly when Demyx started to play some tunes on his sitar. Hayner's ears perked up at the sound of the melody coming from Demyx.
"Isn't that Summer Paradise?" he raised an eyebrow in question.
Demyx scratched his head. "Yeah, it is." Axel punched his friend's shoulder lightly.
"I didn't know you were such a softie! I thought you liked more grungy stuff or like I don't know, Three Days Grace?"
Demyx's ears turned red from Axel exposing his musical interests. "I don't just listen to that stuff. Besides, it can get dreary and depressing from listening to all that. Too bad I can't sing. It's just notes without the lyrics."
He continued to strum his sitar idly. Roxas stood up without notice and started to walk away, but I pulled at his hand. I didn't want to touch him, but it was the only way to get his attention without attracting attention to myself.
"Where are you going Roxas?"
"It's a surprise." For the second time today, he winked at me and left with zero hints as to what was going to happen next. I sigh quietly to myself. That boy is a mystery.
I sat there for a minute or two, burning my twig in the small fire that was once a bonfire. Roxas returned with a guitar case and sat down.
"What's that for?" I pointed at the guitar case. "Do you play guitar?"
Once again, he gave me a vague answer. "You'll find out soon enough." He pulled out the guitar from the case and started tuning it. After strumming a few notes to tune the pitch, everyone was turning their attention to him. It wasn't like they were staring him down. Just curious glances. Demyx was the last to notice when he stopped plucking his sitar. Roxas finished tuning and raised his head in Demyx's direction.
"How about some harmonizing Demyx? Sound good?"
Demyx looked skeptical about it. "Only if someone sings. And what are we playing?"
"Summer Paradise. And don't worry. I'll sing," he replied coolly. He turned to Sora who was sharing some joke with Kairi. She was laughing pretty exuberantly.
"Sora, give me the intro whistle."
His head turned around. "Huh? What did you say?"
Roxas shook his head at his brother's inattention. But I don't blame him. He was having too much fun spending his time with my sister. It would only be a matter of time.
"Sora. Intro tune to Summer Paradise. Come on, you know what to do." 'You know what to do'? What is that supposed to mean?
Sora did know what to do. He was whistling the tune that began the song. Roxas and Demyx started to strum their guitars in sync, playing the melody. Then, Roxas started the lyrics to the song.
My heart is sinking
As I'm lifting up
Above the clouds away from you
And I can't believe I'm leaving
Oh I don't kno-kno-know what I'm gonna do
But someday
I will find my way back
To where your name
Is written in the sand
Cause I remember every sunset
I remember every word you said
We were never gonna say goodbye
Singing la-da-da-da-da
Tell me how to get back to
Back to summer paradise with you
And I'll be there in a heartbeat
Oh-oh
I'll be there in a heartbeat
Oh-oh
My soul is broken
Streets are frozen
I can't stop these feelings melting through
And I'd give away a thousand days, oh
Just to have another one with you
Well real life can wait
We're crashing like waves
Playing in the sand
Holding your hand
Cause I remember every sunset
I remember every word you said
We were never gonna say goodbye
Singing la-da-da-da-da
Tell me how to get back to
Back to summer paradise with you
And I'll be there in a heartbeat
Oh-oh
I'll be there in a heartbeat
Oh-oh
They arrived at the bridge of the song and I could see that Roxas was intensely focused on playing. It was a break from singing, but he could rest entirely. Concentration was etched on his face. His head was dipped and he occasionally looked over to his other hand, checking the fret that his fingers were on. It was nearing the end solo and the harmonizing melodies between Roxas and Demyx dissolved into the night. Roxas' voice broke the silence again.
Someday
I will find my way back
To where your name
Is written in the sand
Cause I remember every sunset
I remember every word you said
We were never gonna say goodbye
Singing la-da-da-da-da
Tell me how to get back to
Back to summer paradise with you
And I'll be there in a heartbeat
I remember where we first kissed
How I didn't wanna leave your lips
And how I've never ever felt so high
La-da-da-da-da
Tell me how to get back to
Back to summer paradise with you
And I'll be there in a heartbeat
Oh-oh
And I'll be there in a heartbeat
Oh-oh
I'll be there in a heartbeat
The song ended and a round of applause erupted from our group of friends. Roxas was being showered by compliments, a lot of them being amazement. He never mentioned that he played guitar and if he did I guess we forgot.
Roxas rested his arm on his guitar and turned to look at me. He had this smile on his face that told me he had fun. I felt a blush creep up on my face so I dipped my head down.
Sora was the first to raise his voice above everyone else's. "I didn't think you would sing again so quickly."
Roxas' face flickered in what seemed to be irritation. I don't know why, but he didn't want to show it. "Well, I brought my guitar along and I wasn't about to spend the rest of the night without using it at least once or else I would have brought it for nothing."
He clearly avoided the question. I wanted to know more, but I could tell that he didn't want to talk about it. The emotion on his face didn't change. I poked his arm, grabbing his attention.
"That was really good. I didn't think you could sing so well. It was amazing." I smiled at him. The moment he heard me, his face instantly lit up.
"You think so?" He scratched the back of his head and smiled bashfully. "I didn't this I would be able to pull it off. It's been a while since I last did something like this or just plain sing for that matter."
I patted his arm and looked at him. "I think you surprised everyone, but you certainly surprised me."
"I'm glad that you like it that much."
Selphie kind of ruined the mood by saying it was getting late, but it was only 9:30 PM and it was a Saturday night. Lightning reinforced her statement. I know why my oldest sister did that. My mom would be pretty annoyed to see us get back home so late. So everyone started packing up the equipment and cleaned up all the paper plates, plastic utensils, napkins and other pieces of trash that was lying around the island. Though no one else really used the island except us, we try to keep it clean since we wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of cleaning up whenever we arrive to hang around. Everything was packed and loaded on the boats around ten and the beach looked spotless. We all said our goodbyes and 'see you on Monday' farewells. By the time that Lightning, Kairi and I got home, April was sitting out on the porch with a laptop. She looked up to see Lightning pull into the driveway. Instead of getting a scolding from our mother, we got a few questions. Stuff like 'Did you drink?', 'Did the boys get too close to you?' and most importantly 'Did you have fun?'. We all answered them truthfully knowing that our mother can tell when we were lying or not. It's scary when she does.
I marched up the stairs and took a shower instantly, scrubbing all the ocean smell away from my skin. I didn't mind the smell, but it became stiff and uncomfortable from the warmth of the sun. I stepped out of the bathroom feeling refreshed and I lay down on my bed. I didn't want to sleep yet so I let my mind wander. Why did Roxas become so uncomfortable when Sora said that one sentence? Is there something that I don't know like a part of his past that he doesn't want to mention? Why am I so concerned with this boy? I shook off the last question from my head. I didn't want to think about that so I slept, dreaming about his beautiful, angelic voice.
I liked that song. I know it's kinda old, but it's not bad. It's catchy and stuff, but I'm more of a Three Days Grace fan ya know?
So what did you think? I think it was kinda dry; sorry for the lack of development, but I had to get it out of the way. Sorry if it's a waste of a chapter or a waste of your time. I plan to pick up the pace in the next few chapters, maybe fast forward the story by a few weeks or maybe a month.
Also, if there's a problem in the text alignment, namely the part with the song lyrics, please let me know so that I can fix it.
Leave your thoughts in reviews and don't forget to follow and favourite!
Until next time~
-Icey
