Episode 9: Turnabout to the Future
Yes! Another string of continuous updates! It's been a long time since I actually did update on a regular basis. What's going to happen in this chapter you ask? Well, I expand on some events that happened earlier while diving into the world of television. Lastly, big shoutout to iPonimeOtaku and xiemru for reviewing! I've been dying to hear what anybody has thought about of what has been going on so far. If any of you guys leave a review, I'll be happy to reply sooner or later!
Genre: Romance/Humor
It was now the beginning of April. A handful of days have passed since the junior prom at Twilight Town that Namine eventually forgave her co-stars for crashing it. She made Roxas her personal slave as punishment though whenever the two weren't working by coming to her house and he had to do whatever she wanted to do. Today was one of those days. She was happily laying on her bed re-reading her lines of episode eighteen as the last scenes she had to film involved Sora. The episode heavily featured the two since it was basically about how Namine's character hated going to dances and Sora didn't want to go due to Roxas and Kairi, so they throw themselves a day/night out away from the main scene. However, in the end, they end up going because Namine knew deep down that he still wanted to go and the two dance where Sora realizes he has feelings for her. Now, Namine herself saw this coming for a while now, but wondered how the writers were going to handle Roxas.
"Hey, how long do I have to be your slave?" the real Roxas asked, dusting off the room with a small feather brush.
"Until I feel like you've been tortured enough!" Namine replied, transitioning to her deepest tone to start a maniacal laugh. It lasted about two seconds until she started to cough on it, making Roxas chuckle. "Shut up slave and get to work!"
"Some boss you are," Roxas pouted. "I should report this unfair treatment to human resources."
"I can do a lot worse by making you cook me food."
"We just ate lunch and I don't know how to cook!"
"Exactly," Namine smirked. "I wouldn't help you." Roxas was about to say something, but she stopped him. "Neither would my mom."
"Darn it." Roxas sighed. "You do know we all have a meeting to go to later right? The network is coming down here to discuss the future of the show."
"What's it going to be about anyway? We're doing fine and working our butts off. It's odd how we ended up filming the whole prom scene first for the past couple of days."
"You been working for how long? You know we shoot scenes out of chronological order because of some locations."
"I know, but it still feels so odd to me. Anyways, back to the actual subject."
"I don't know what were going to be talking about, but we're gonna soon find out sooner than later," Roxas replied. Actually, he had an idea what the meeting would be about, but he wondered if he should tell Namine or not. However, since he wasn't sure, he decided not to say anything because it could set off some alarms.
Namine heard the doorbell ring and her mom called out for her to get it. She closed her script and laid it down on her bed, get off that very bed, and walked out to head on downstairs. She gripped onto the handle and opened the door. Once she did, whom she saw shocked her. "Well if it isn't my famous little sissy?" Larxene smirked. Namine couldn't believe her older sister was in Destiny Islands and questioned how she managed to fly all the way to the islands. The older girl let herself in the house as she carried in a bunch of bags with her. "Wow. This is so much better than our old house. I guess that's the perk of having a famous sister."
"Why are you here?" Namine asked. "But more importantly, how did you get here?"
"Silly Nami. I have a thing called money." The younger sibling raised an eyebrow, suspicious of her answer. "Alright, I used my boyfriend's money, so what? Me and him… we're having some alone time from each other."
"He broke up with you didn't he?" Namine guessed, not feeling sympathetic about it. Her sister wasn't necessarily a whore or a slut to say the least because she never did sleep with any of them. She just had been in so much relationships where she was the problem; something she always denied.
"We did not break up!" she tensely answered, but quickly changed her mood to a calm one. "We're just having some difficulties." And her anger management was also one of the problems.
"I hear a familiar bricking at the front door," the two's mom announced as she came downstairs. "Larxene, I didn't know you were coming down here."
"Hi mom," she sang, giving her mother a small hug. "It's been what? Two years since I last saw you."
"Huh? Then that means this is the longest relationship you ever had. You always run away to home whenever you have problems."
"We do not have problems!"
"Riigghhtt…" Namine said. "Then why are you here again?"
"I came by to visit my family of course."
Namine snorted at her answer. "I wondered what Cloud would say to you."
"It sucks our big bro isn't here to laugh at me too. Guess you're stuck with me."
"And what a shame that is."
"Namine, just show your sister our guest room and make her comfortable," their mom informed her.
"It seems she already has." The younger blonde followed her mom's orders and grabbed a few of her older sister's bags. She went up the stairs to guide Larxene and ended up in an empty room with only a bed already made. "Well here ya go and make sure to let anything hit you on the way," Namine smiled, leaving the room.
"Break a leg as they say in show business! Literally!" Larxene quipped, but her younger sibling ignored it, as went back to her own room to meet up with Roxas.
"Sorry. My sister unexpectedly showed up at our doorstep and now she's staying here," she announced, heading back to her bed.
"Why is she here?" he asked.
"Doing what she always does. Running away from her problems."
"As much as your family problems seem interesting, I think we should go now."
"But I have more things you need to do," Namine complained.
"God, how much do you have for me? I've been your slave since that night."
Namine started to gather her things since she knew work had to come first. "Much more than you know." She got her bag and stuffed the script inside. "Now let's get going my chauffeur or we'll be late." Roxas rolled his eyes and headed on out with her, getting his keys out. The two left the house and got in car and went to the meeting.
~ Our Life is Not a TV Show or Maybe ~
After many minutes passed, they finally arrived at their destination. Roxas had drove all the way into town and had park in a parking garage since the meeting was going to be in a building where the main office was for the show. It's where all the producers, writers, editors, and many more worked. The two got off the elevator and Namine instantly saw the place filled with cubicles and glass window offices except they were completely see through. They only blurred what was behind them. "It's been a while since I was here," Roxas said.
"This is the first time I'm here," Namine replied. "Wait, how is it that I never got a chance to be here?"
"Because work?"
"Point taken."
"Roxas!" Kairi shouted from afar.
"Speak of the devil," Namine said as the two turn around to see Kairi walking toward them and she hugged Roxas while Sora approached the two. "Hey Sora. Do you know what this whole meeting is about when we could be working right now?"
"I have a hunch."
"Really? What is it?"
"Guys, they're calling us now," Pence chimed in before Sora could answer. The four of them followed a crowd of people into a conference room where they saw Hayner and Olette already inside. They took a seat close to two as they all next to each other. Namine looked around to see some familiar faces and some not so familiar faces, meaning they must be from the network. Everyone around her were chatting, but she couldn't hear with they were exactly. It was rather loud in the room. She looked to her sides to see she was between Roxas and Sora with Kairi instantly holding Roxas' hands, but he shrugged it off.
"Hi everyone. It's good that you're all here," a man, who appeared to be in his fifties, announced, taking a seat with two others at his sides doing the same where one was a man and one a woman. "First, I want to give my thanks to everyone in this room for keeping Destiny Islands one of TV's most popular teenage drama." Everyone in the room clapped in joy at the good news along with an added note. "Especially our extended thanks Sora for his Emmy for last season."
"He won an Emmy?" Namine whispered to Roxas, clapping with the others.
"I thought you knew?" he replied.
"How did I miss such crucial news?" she wondered.
"It certainly has been growing once again thanks to our newest addition to the family." Everyone clapped in the room, looking at Namine since it was obvious it was about her. She felt surprised and flattered, especially when the man said she was a part of a family.
"T-thank you," she stuttered.
"You, Namine, have proven that people are well into our show since you came," the man continued. "Which is why we have big plans for you in the far future."
"You do?" she replied.
"Do you remember signing a contract?"
"Yes. The part where I agreed to be on the show for two years right?"
"Well, we would like to extend that time to a possible tenth season." At that moment, Namine felt ecstatic and wanted to jump in joy except she needed to stay professional. Her favorite show had a high chance going of going on for another five years and the news was music to her ears. She wanted to run off and tell Xion. She was shaking in excitement and it showed. Sora and Roxas kept looking at her strangely since the two could feel the vibrations coming from her seat.
"Namine?" the man called out since she never replied.
"Namine," Roxas whispered to her. "One of the head honchos is talking to you."
"Can't…" Namine softly whispered, keeping a straight face. "The feelings inside me are ready to burst."
"She's happy!" Roxas announced for her. "Screaming internally inside."
"I can tell. We believe strongly in you bringing the show to a milestone season. Now, that brings us to the next subject, we need to discuss the other six possible last season," the man said.
"What?!" Namine shouted and everyone in the room look at her. Her eyes bulged out in shock of her reaction and she nervously laughed it off. "I mean, what? Last season? Weren't we just talking about another five years here?"
"Like you Namine, the cast too have signed contracts when they first started," the female boss said. "All six of them were contracted till the sixth season, which is senior year for you guys. So there are a lot of crossroads here."
"We discussed with the creators with you leading the show if we want to have most of the cast go to different colleges," the other man added. "We took a big risk in the second and third seasons by shaking up the cast line-up. It has showed that most viewers are used to changes."
"No, it hasn't. One of the main reasons people watch is because these six here are the ones people care about the most," Namine answered. "Obviously they're the most important because everyone else is gone."
"Namine, stopped talking or you're going to get in trouble," Roxas whispered to her again.
"Do you plan on renewing your contract?" she firmly asked, looking straight at him. The question stumbled him because he didn't know how to answer it, so he ignored her. Namine squinted her eyes, looked at her other co-stars, and asked the same question. The room grew silence. "Why do I feel like I'm the only one who truly has no clue what's going on?"
"Really? No one's going to say anything?" Kairi asked, looking around. "I guess I am," she continued, and shoved Roxas to the side in order to talk to Namine. "Okay, in the world of television, some if not most, actors don't like to be typecast. We've been doing this for half a decade now and we're ready to move on." Kairi then looked at everyone in the room. "I love you guys, but I think it's time for me to move on," she said. "I mean, even Roxas has told me he wants to start getting into the movie business." Roxas sank in his seat in shame since that was supposed to be between the six of them. "And Hayner wants to start doing sitcoms while Olette wants try out other roles. And Pence…" Kairi was trying to remember if she even talked to him. "I don't know what he's doing after this."
"Kairi!" Olette called out for her outburst.
"What? Wasn't this meeting supposed to be about what we want do in the future? We even discussed this together." That last sentence stung Namine because she was entirely left out of it. "The six of us talked about it and thought it would be a great opportunity for her to lead her own show."
"What about you Sora?" Namine asked, crossing her arms. Words couldn't explain what she was feeling right now because she couldn't believe not one of them mentioned about any of these future plans to her. Maybe it was because they only knew each other for about four months now, but she thought it would be good enough to let her in on some things. But she worked with them and to be left out in the dark from this made her angry. "Sora?" He never replied and looked away. "Let me guess, you want to go back into doing movies, don't you?"
"Namine, I—!" Sora stopped mid-sentence because he didn't want to go any further without adding more fire to her temper.
She wanted to burst like a volcano, but she didn't want to look like a brat in front of everyone, especially to the people who gave her the acting job. However, what she said next might determine her fate of her job. "Granted, the cast has change numerous times, but if you keep doing it, then you'll lose people and this show won't go to see a tenth season. I know I would stop watching." Now that got everyone's undivided attention. "I don't see that. I believe there are more stories to tell that go beyond senior year and everyone would want to see it. We can't just stop it because of these contracts we signed."
"Namine," Sora cut in. "When I agreed to do the show, I said I wouldn't renew my contract once it expires because I wanted to go back to movies at some point, but—!"
"That was a long time ago. You still stand by that statement? Has nothing changed your decision along the way? There is no other teenage show out there like us right now and it would be a slap in the face to the fans to remove the characters we all fell in love with."
"I love my—our fans. Our fans," Kairi claimed.
"Then renew your contract and stay on it," Namine madly responded and looked at everyone else.
"Strangely I like this Namine better," Kairi thought. "She's more fierce."
"I just can't see this moving on with me and a new set of people that I'll magically befriend in the college years. As a fan, I want to see Sora be with someone that deserves him, have Hayner and Olette deal with parenthood, have Roxas and Kairi in a healthy relationship, have Pence deal with some other teenage problem that should be spoken. And probably a love interest. Maybe even get old characters we haven't seen in a while because we all wonder what happened to them. There's more stories you guys can tell."
"You have to remember that nothing is set in stone though," Pence told her. "That's the whole point of this meeting."
"Hah! It seems to me everyone has their future already set in stone and I never knew about it."
"We'll offer you a big raise if you lead it," the man in the middle seat from the network offered.
"Really? How much?" Namine suddenly asked as she was curious, but almost forgot what the discussion was about. "Wait, I don't care about the money. When I first auditioned, I did it impulsively because I don't take risks, so I did it to prove a point. Then when I did get the job, which I am still grateful for, I thought I could come on board and change some things. This show hasn't been the same. There were too many love stories that prioritize over other real issues teenagers deal with today. That is the main reason why your viewership has slowly diminished over the past two seasons."
"And we thank you for bringing those numbers up again," the woman said.
"I still believe the only reason for that happening is because the fan themselves think I can probably save this show since I'm one of them. It was a mission I gave myself, but it seems like it doesn't matter now. I'm gonna go while all of you discuss your futuretogether without me." Namine angrily got up from her seat and headed out the door, but before it closed, she came back to say one more thing. "And if this was really a family, then it would've been nice to have been told when I signed up for this. My parents and I read through ours and there wasn't a single mention of this." After that, she stormed out of the room.
"What are we going to do? We need her," Jake said.
"How 'bout we have hold off on this meeting tomorrow?" Marceline asked. The threes bosses agreed because they knew how important Namine was to the network and the show altogether. "Now you guys need to talk to her," she said, referring to the cast. "And fix this immediately."
"Shouldn't that be your guys' job?" Kairi asked, making Marceline groan.
"Just do it," she ordered.
Once the crew and staff left the room, the six actors were the only ones left inside. It was an awkward silence for about ten seconds until Olette decided to brake it. "What the hell was that Kairi? You told everyone everything when we didn't fully confirm it ourselves. We were all just discussing our possible future. Now Namine has stormed off before we even came to a decision."
"Everyone, don't act so innocent when we all thought we were giving her the dream job in television. Leading your own show," she replied. "I'm surprised she didn't want it."
"Well, yeah… but that was before," Hayner said.
"I hope you guys know the main reason why she's mad at us is because we didn't include her about our plans for the future," Sora pointed out. "I should talk to her." He was about to get up form his seat until Roxas stopped him.
"No, I'll do it."
"Why do you always have to be the one to go after her?" Sora aggravated.
"What's your problem?"
"Guys! Guys! Guys!" Kairi interrupted, knowing where this might go, so she put herself between the two. "Roxas, you should let Sora handle this since he volunteer first." She turned around and gave a wink to Sora, signaling to go after the blonde. It was her way of trying to get Roxas to herself again while giving Sora the opportunity to connect with his long time friend who seemed to not remember him.
"But—!"
"Roxas, let him do it," Kairi firmly ordered.
"Fine! Go Sora. She couldn't have gotten far," Roxas told him as he took a breathe of fresh air.
"Thanks man." With that, Sora left the room and went after Namine.
"Go get her Sora!" Kairi softly cheered.
"What do you mean by 'go get her' Kairi?" Roxas heard her clearly since he was close to her.
"Whhaatt?" the girl sang in a high pitch tune. "I think you're hearing me wrong."
~ Our Life is Not a TV Show or Maybe ~
Namine got off the elevator wanting to go home. She had money for the bus, so she thought of using one as transportation back to her house, but there was one problem. She didn't know how to get home by using one. She groaned at the thought because she didn't want to be riding with any of her co-stars when she was mad at them more than ever. "I can't believe I was singled out of everything," she said to herself as she headed out of the building. "And just when I thought we were becoming great friends. How the heck does anyone maintain a relationship in this industry?"
"Namine!" Sora called out.
"Oh no." Namine started to power walk when she saw him behind her. Unlike prom, she could run faster, but didn't have any of her best friends to back her up this time.
"Namine!" he shouted out again.
"I don't want to talk to you right now!" she shouted, heading into the unknown, passing through crowds of people in the area.
"But you deserve to hear the full story!"
"There's not much of a full story when I could tell you guys obviously had no doubts in leaving!" She thought she could get away from him until he managed to catch up and grab her wrist to stop her from moving ahead. "Let go of me or I will scream."
"You wouldn't do that."
"Okay, you're right, but that doesn't mean I can't slap you either."
Sora immediately let go of her wrist once she said that. "Just let me explain, but not here. There's too much people around and we can't get word out about what's going on." She reluctantly agreed to go with him where they later ended up at some ice cream parlor near the place. She took a seat by the front window while Sora sat in front of her. She looked around the place as it was painted in bright colors, namely purple, pink, and sea green colors with a checkered floor pattern. "Alright, you deserve answers and this whole thing goes back to that very day we saw you. Do you wanna know why we held auditions in the middle of the season?"
"Why?"
"Because shortly before that, we were discussing if the sixth season would be our last one. Today was a continuation of that."
"Oh, so this was discussed before I even came?"
"Yes!" Sora cheered.
"That makes it even worse." Namine's reaction made Sora drop his smile.
"What? How does that make it worse?"
"The fact I was never told about any of it since I came here. You guys never mentioned it to me. Never. I'm starting to question if I can truly trust you guys if you managed to keep a secret like that from me."
"Hey, you never told us where you were going," he pointed out. "How do we know if you're not gonna fly away again huh?"
"That was different. It was only prom; one you guys crashed. This is a big secret to me after all the development going on. What? Was Sora and Namine gonna be couple and break up down the road when he leaves for college? Talk about destroying people's hopes in a single year. I can't even think about the rest."
"Things slightly changed when you started working with us because of your audition. We all started in wanting to change some things when you went off script. Do you remember what that scene was originally was going to be?"
"No, I never got the chance because I was called up by the time I got the script. I only memorized the ones I skimmed through."
"After you and Roxas reach your class, he was supposed to do most of the talking where mentions how he's never noticed you in class, you say its because you don't like the attention, and he goes on how he's never seen a girl like you, you blush, and a hint of romance was supposed to start there. Oh, and you guys were supposed to only share one class too." Namine couldn't believe how off the record she went when she auditioned, but it was that very improv that sealed her spot.
"Wow. That's a whole lot different than the one I portrayed. I made it seem like my character hated him," she laughed. "Whereas that one got all flustered by his charm."
"You were supposed to be with Roxas in the end, but I persuaded the writers in changing the course of it. My character deserves someone happy too you know." There was some truth to that statement. While the idea was part Kairi's plan, he had to think of better ways why his character deserved someone new and it was the same reason Namine pointed out in her interview from before.
"So I really did start changing things around here? While I am flattered to hear that, it still doesn't change the fact why you six never changed your minds in staying."
"Actually, Pence was planning on renewing his contract. The rest of us were totally unsure because the way things were going. What Kairi said back there of what we wanted to do after this was before we met you." Now Namine felt guilty of what happened at the meeting. She may have the right to be mad for being left out, but she never knew how much their doubting their decision in leaving the show. When she thought about it, Sora was probably trying to tell her he was most likely going to stay, but she kept going on about how they didn't care about their characters and their stories.
"I am sorry Sora. I'm such an idiot. I should've let you finish what you were going to say back there."
"No. It's not your fault. It's our fault for not telling you sooner Nami."
"Nami? None of you have called me that besides Roxas."
"Really? I'm sure someone else has before." Namine shook her head.
"Nope. Only Roxas did."
"As a sign of peace, I'm gonna go get your favorite ice cream treat. Sea salt!" Sora got up from his seat and headed to the cashier. Namine could only smile because of how genuine he was being in letting her know the whole truth behind some things like the audition. Other things were going through her head now, but one question nearly slipped her mind. "Hey Sora, how did you know sea salt was my favorite ice cream flavor?"
"Huh?" he replied, turning around to face her.
"Sea salt. I never told any of you guys that. Not even Roxas."
"Lucky guess because it's my favorite too!" he smiled and turned around to make a concerned face. He didn't want her to know about their young childhood together because she may grow suspicious of him. At first, he thought it was because they were young, but they took pictures before and her parents knew him too. As he waited in line to the make an order, he recalled another memory.
Spring 1999
"Namine! I said I was sorry!" a young Sora apologized to a younger Namine as he followed her while she had her arms crossed. She was mad at him for telling her that he was going to be leaving Twilight Town at the end of summer. She couldn't believe her best friend in the whole world was going to leave her all alone and never come back. No one was trying to stop him from moving as it was beyond her limits. She's been trying to do the silent treatment the whole day when she heard the news from him, which was earlier today, but he kept on talking and following her. "When are you going to talk? I want to hear you talk."
"You want to hear me talk? Fine. My bestest friend in the whole wide world is leaving me all alone. When are you leaving again?"
"Once summer ends!" he shouted, but had second thoughts. "No wait. I think it was when summer ends! Yes! I'll still be here!"
"Why didn't you tell me before that?"
"I was told to not tell you," he sadly replied, looking down on the ground, playing with his feet while he had his arms tied behind his back. "I'm telling you now so we can have fun together before I go. I'm going to miss you Nami." Namine couldn't help, but laugh at the weird nickname he just gave her. "Nami? My name is Namine."
"You're Nami to me. I'm going to call you that because you are my friend."
"I can't give you a nickname. Your name is too short," Namine pouted. "Does your name mean something?"
"Mm… my mom said it was 'sky' or whatever."
"That's weird if I call you that. Sky? Hey Sky!"
"I don't like it!"
"Then what?"
"I can always get you your favorite ice cream!"
"Sea salt ice cream?!"
"Yes!"
"Yay for sea salt ice cream!" she clapped in joy.
Present Day
Roxas and the others exit the building to try and find Sora and Namine. That was if he did manage to find her. Right at the exit, Kairi took a hold of Roxas' hold and he looked at her, raising his eyebrow. "What? We need to keep up with our couple image," she told him and he rolled his eyes, but knew she was right. The two walked on forward through people while Hayner, Pence, and Olette followed. As the four walked, Kairi started to think about what Namine said earlier. Despite what she may think of her, Namine pointed out some important points. "I was wondering… was Namine right?" The sentence shocked everyone around her as they stared at her. "Have we really tackled love so much that we kind of forgot to talk about real issues these days?"
"Well… yeah. I mean, how many teenage dramas do you see out there today that kind of teach you something about life now?" Roxas asked. "What kind of issues have we touched on since the start?"
"Friendship obviously," Olette answered. "That's always been a strong point. First crushes, bullying, broken homes and families, the pros and cons of popularity, some sport issues, and even death a few times. There were more we touched upon when we entered high school as we got older."
"Remember the episodes where Sora's brother abused sleeping pills because he was pressured about getting into the right college?" Pence pointed out.
"I forgot about that," Hayner replied. "I remember my character was very closed off because he had trouble making friends. Then there was that crazy love triangle between my character, Olette, and Selphie."
"There was also cancer, depression, and suicide for Sora," Roxas mentioned. "I nearly cried when I watched it. Sora can pull off a real tear jerker. It's the reason he has an Emmy. Maybe I should strive to get one…"
"There was also that psychopath Aerith and Tifa faced," Olette remembered.
"I just remembered that one interview Namine did where we were called traitors," Kairi said, remembering what Namine said in her interview from before. "Roxas and I were deemed traitors. I can't have my fans calling me that. I hope the writers kind of redeem us now that I think about it."
"Yeah… kind of ruins how your character had to start from the bottom again freshmen year after those three senior she-devils were practically tearing you down," Roxas pointed out. "Then we had that awesome arc of revenge."
"Hey! We did something like that with Selphie before she left!" Olette noticed. "Funny how that story paralleled with our lives."
"The perks of playing a character who is popular amongst her peers," Kairi smiled. "But it did feel refreshing to take my character down a peg to remind her that popularity always has a price."
"And this is only in high school," Olette said. "Imagine what else we could do when go to college. We have less people in the main roster. We can easily focus on having more character driven storylines."
"We still touched some topics during high school," Pence said.
"Yeah, but how many rounds do we have to go through just to see someone get with someone?" Olette asked.
"Well, most of us were likely to renew our contracts," Roxas said. "We just never told Namine about it."
"I'm not so sure if I want to…" Kairi wondered.
"Kairi, think of our fans," Roxas told her. "Don't you want to see our characters grow up like we are now? We're still a group of teenagers." Kairi sighed because she didn't want to deny Roxas of anything. He took both of her hands, held them close to him, and made a puppy dog face. "Please Kairi," he begged. She knew he was doing this on purpose because it always worked when he needed something from her no matter how many times she looked away. "We must give the network a decision by tomorrow."
"I'll give you an answer tomorrow. At least give me that," she replied.
"Fair enough," Roxas said. "Now where the heck could Sora be?"
"Hey, isn't that him with Namine at that ice cream place?" Olette spotted where she saw the two talking and laughing with each other by the front window.
"That could've been me," Roxas pouted.
"Come on," Olette said, passing by him. "Let's go our little Romeo."
"I don't want to be him! He died!"
"Okay Jack," Olette replied, referring to Titanic.
"He died too!" Roxas couldn't believe his friend was referencing him as male leads that died in a love stories.
"Let's just go!" After walking inside, Roxas spoke up first. "Hey there you two! I see you guys have been getting along." The two turned their attentions to her and the others with ice cream still in their mouths. "Let me say that I'm sorry for not telling you either. We all talked about it before we met you because we thought we were giving the newest cast member to lead her own show."
Namine removed the sweet yet salty treat from her mouth and replied to him. "It's okay Roxas. Sora told me everything. I want to say I'm sorry for not hearing you guys out. I was so mad that I never gave you guys the chance to tell me. I'm pretty sure I'm fired after that outburst."
"You're too important now to let go," Roxas informed her. "Jake said we need you."
"He said that? He's been a great guy since I came here. I should apologize to him to and Marceline. Ugh, I'll bake some goods as a sign of forgiveness! For every single person that was in the room! Yeah! That's what I'm going to do! And all of you are going help me! It's part of my ways to have you guys do things on your own."
"Say what?" Kairi said. "I have a chef that can do whatever you do faster."
"Roxas is still my slave, so he's obligated," Namine smirked, patting his left shoulder with her free hand.
"Lucky me…" Roxas trailed off. He didn't want to cook because he knew he was going to suck at it, but the thought of Namine being with him was good enough for him to be with her minus the slave part.
"Yes! Think of this as a way of making up to me guys. I may be happy about everything now, but there's still a price to be paid."
"Maybe I will not renew my contract then," Kairi said, making Namine drop her jaw.
"Haha!" Roxas laughed, putting his arm around her. "She's just kidding with you! You are going to renew your contract right?" Kairi's eyes looked at a different direction hoping to avoid the question. "Right?" he asked again, shaking her.
"I said I'll give an answer tomorrow," Kairi bluntly put it.
~ Our Life is Not a TV Show or Maybe ~
Namine was back at her house in her room after her co-stars left to go home. They had made the treats for the meeting tomorrow where they were neatly packed in small blue bags tied in white ribbons. While she tried to get some rest, she couldn't fall asleep as her mind was racing about what would happen tomorrow. To keep her distracted, with hopes of eventually falling asleep, she was watching the past winter finale that she happened to have saved on her DVR as it was a rerun. She loved how the episode was simply titled, "Backstabbers." It came up to the big fight scene were Sora confronted Kairi about her cheating on him once again because he found out through a classmate that she had slept with someone else at the winter ball. It was bit of a dramatic scene that took place at school before they went on winter break.
Hayner, Pence, Olette, and Roxas were in the chemistry lab alone as Olette was helping the boys with the remaining homework before they went on their small vacation until the new year. "Hey Roxas, can you go in the closet and get some new markers for the board. These are running out of ink," she claimed as her friend went inside. Everything was casually going so well as Olette was writing chemistry equations on the board while the boys were buried in the books. That was until the four heard the voices of Sora and Kairi approaching. Olette was expecting them since they needed help too, but they sounded like they were arguing. "Guys, are they fighting outside?" she asked as their voices started to get louder.
"I can't believe you!" Sora agitated, busting the classroom door open, which made their friends run and hide in fear to the open closet that Roxas was in and closed it softly.
"What the hell is going?" Pence asked, holding the door handle while pressing his ear up against the door.
"I-I'm sure it's nothing," Roxas jittered because he very well knew what this fight was going to be about.
"Why is it that you always cause so many problems for us?" Sora asked outside the door. "And what you did is just downright low even for you!"
"You're right," Kairi confessed. "It is, but I can't apologize for what happen. I got a bit drunk and—."
"Hold up. Do you really think you're gonna get out of this just because of some booze? Kairi, you slept with another man!"
"Oh god," Olette gasped. The boys minus Roxas were also in shock at the news. However, a bit of it didn't surprise any of them given their history together.
"Why the hell would she do that?" Pence whispered. "Is Sora not that important to her?"
"Alright! I did sleep with someone," Kairi sternly replied. "B-but we weren't in our right minds. It didn't mean a thing!" Roxas was a bit taken by her words, but at the same time, she was right about it.
"And yet it was worth jeopardizing our whole relationship again!" Sora screamed in anger.
"He's been there for me!" she weeped.
"And what about me? Where were you when I needed you?! I've always been there for you yet you can't do the same for me? Who the hell is this guy?!"
"It's Roxas!" she unknowingly blurted out, which made her cover mouth in shock. The room grew silence as Hayner, Pence, and Olette immediately stared down at Roxas. He felt ashamed now that everything was out in the open. He felt he lower than dirt as he betrayed his best friend once again.
"You're the other guy?" Hayner called out, scoffing at him. "Why am I not surprised?" Roxas had no reaction because he knew this was rock bottom.
"You… and Roxas?" Sora gritted through his teeth as he clenched his fist. "Oh my god… I can't believe we're back at this spot. I can't keep having the same fight!" he claimed, putting both his hands on his head in pain. He felt ready to pull his hair out from the news. "When things seem to get too tough for you, you go off running to him out of all people! Did he offer you something I couldn't again? Is that it? He still had feelings for you? Or do you? Was it so hard to be with me because it was too much? Tell me Kairi. Which is it?"
"I-I don't know?"
"That's a whole load of crap. Glad I didn't give up my virginity to someone unfaithful," he sulked.
"Hey!"
"I'm glad you two found each other. I hope you find happiness and rot in hell," he sneered.
"Stop it!" Roxas wailed, opening the door to reveal himself.
"How long were you guys listening?" Sora asked their friends. They purposely tried to shield Roxas because they knew what Sora would do to him despite what their ill feelings toward Roxas now. "And why is he here?" There was a small pause before he tried to launch himself at Roxas until the three of them tried to stop him. "How could you do this to me?! After everything we've been through! I want you out of here! I want you gone!"
"Sora you need to calm down!" Pence let out. "This isn't good for your health. You're still recovering!"
"Tell that to the two people who just loves to keep on ruining my life!" he yelled as Roxas started to guide a grief stricken Kairi out of the room.
"Watching that scene again makes me hate myself," the real Roxas announced.
"Oh my god!" Namine screamed, falling over her bed in surprise, and hit the floor hard. "Ow…" she groaned as she slowly got up, feeling the pain in her back, and got back into her comfy bed. "What are you doing here?! And how did you get inside my house?" she glared.
"I forgot my car keys," he answered, showing her proof by showing it. "And you forgot to lock the front door."
"I must be really tired to forget that," Namine thought to herself.
"Yet here you are watching a rerun of one of our episodes."
"I can't sleep," she claimed.
"How 'bout I slip you a poison apple then?" he suggested, walking toward her. "Then I can wake you up with true love's kiss."
Namine raised her eyebrow since she knew where he was going with this. "And how do I know you're my true love oh dear Roxas? That's quite a big decision to put me in eternal sleep. You sure you want to risk that?"
"I'm sure."
"I don't recall the prince trying to kill the princess. That makes you a villain then, but judging from that scene on my TV, you kind of are by sleeping with your best friend's girlfriend."
"Is this what you mean when we seemed to focus on relationships too much?" he asked, watching his own show with her.
"Well, yeah. Sure that was a great dramatic scene, but this can't always be what the show does. Yeah, teenagers get into relationships and it's crazy and complicated because love is just like that. It's always portrayed like that in any form whether it's a show, a movie, or a book. But since this happened, there needs to be a way to redeem these characters, which is why I said there's more to tell. It's just odd to try and wrap up their stories one more season because you wanted to leave."
Roxas never personally got to talk to her about what happened earlier and this presented the perfect opportunity to discuss it. "I'm sorry about what happened today. And for everything else."
"I thought we talked about this already?" she said, tilting her head. "We don't need to dread on it anymore."
"I know, but it's just…" Roxas paused for a moment to take a seat on her bedside. "When I nearly decided in leaving the show, I thought I could go through with it without ever doubting myself. It seemed right at the time to leave and start a new chapter to look at new opportunities. I didn't want to get stale or typecast." Namine was about to say something, but he kept going on, so she decided to just listen until he was finished. It seemed rather important to him to discuss this compared to her conversation to Sora. "But then I met you and you mention all these things. Maybe, maybe that's why it hurts. When the thought of all of us not seeing each other anymore, it scared me." This surprised Namine. Roxas was opening to her. He may seemed like an open book, but to get on an emotional level at a time like this caught her off guard. She never thought it would happen any time soon. "Is that normal to feel so scared like that?"
"Yes. It does," Namine answered. "It means you're human. It means you have something to lose. I was scared to lose my friends because of the distance and that we live in different worlds now. But that doesn't seem to be a problem. We still talk from time to time and it's like I never said goodbye to them."
"And we only started becoming friends. It'd be a shame to leave you Nami."
"Yeah, you douchebags," Namine frowned, making Roxas chuckled. "Making me the lead of the show. I'm flattered; really, but I don't even know how to lead."
"You have potential."
"Let's get through the rest of this season and see what happens. Who knows; people change people and for that reason, I may see things differently than I do now. Plus, I'm still trying to understand how your world works anyway."
"Sometimes we don't get it."
"Then I'm doom," Namine replied, making herself and Roxas laugh at the comment.
After that night, tomorrow came and everyone was back to where they were from yesterday. The moment everyone settled in, the whole room grew silent. After yesterday's little fiasco, it was kind of hard to talk about it and no one knew who should speak up first. Namine looked at everyone in the room feeling the guilt sink in because it was her outburst that caused another meeting and halted filming. "I want to apologize for yesterday everyone. I was out of line to talk back like that. It's just… I guess I wanted to save this show before it became something else than when it first came out. I mean, who gets a chance to do all that from a person like me? A fan."
"I take it you're staying right?" one of the people from the network asked.
"Yes. There's no doubt about it and the others agreed," she answered.
"We agreed to renew our contracts up to the tenth season," Roxas chimed. "We all talked about it yesterday and Namine's right. There are more stories to tell and we have a family that we loved to work with, so why not continue on for another five years? We have grown up with these characters and at the same time we're growing up as well."
"Not much people in the industry these days have this opportunity," Sora added. "When I was doing movies, I never played a character no more than a year. I always played someone else, so it's nice to play a character who grows as much as me."
"I wouldn't have meet great people here if I didn't take this job," Pence announced. "Sure it's the only job I ever had, but I feel lucky to part of it all because I always hear how lucky shows get when everyone gets along. Alright, Selphie was a problem, but that's all."
"She told me to sit and roll around like a dog to obey her," Hayner said, making everyone in the room giggle because they all witnessed that. "Joking aside, the show must go on. How else are we going to have a show that actually speaks to people. You know, back in the old days where we taught people stuff like friendship? Something we should touch upon again because of where we are right now. There's not much as before."
"And it's not just that. There is one thing that the six of us discussed yesterday after we left Namine's house," Olette pointed out.
"You guys excluded me again?" Namine asked, raising her eyebrow, and it only made Olette giggle.
"Don't worry. It's something you will love to be part of," she replied, looking at her, and back at the crew. "I know the writers are still writing for the last two episodes, so we want Namine to be part of that process. If she knows what the fans want and need, then we suggest you guys give her the chance."
"Huh, funny you should mention that," Jake said. "We thought about that too."
"Really?!" Namine cheered, but quickly realized her reaction, and tried to once again calm down. "I mean, really?"
"We thought about it after yesterday," Jake replied. "We even did a little chart of what we did since the first season to avoid repetitious storylines on the show like love as you said before, which is true. We have done romance too many times now. To show our appreciation, you get to be part of the writing process where you get to be a consultant."
"Especially with the big one hundredth episode coming up as our season finale. It's best we use it to our advantage," Marceline added. "And it's a good most of you agree to renewing your contracts. Not only will you guys be in syndication with other networks, ABC has signed a deal with Netflix to stream the show."
"You mean that online thing people are starting to use these days?" Roxas asked.
"Yes and it's proven to be getting popular as subscribers get to find and catch up on shows like ours," Jake answered. "It could possibly bring in another generation of fans while we're still on the air."
"Thank you so much! I will not let any of you down!" Namine screamed in joy as she deeply bowed in respect and almost felt like crying, but tears didn't come out. She wished they did come out though. Then she remembered she baked a huge batch of chocolate chip and macadamia nut cookies that were neatly packaged in transparent baby blue bag, tied with a white ribbon. "Oh! The cast and I baked some cookies for everyone in this room!" At first, she had the others bake the first tray as a test run and they burnt it. She couldn't believe how bad of a cooks they were, so she took it upon herself to teach them and they got the hang of it. At least they easily packaged the bake goods, which she brought out underneath from the table. "But before I pass this out, Kairi? What's your answer?"
"Hm? Oh, me?" Kairi asked as everyone stared at her. It seemed there was peer pressure, but she easily brushed it off. "I guess… I'll renew mines like the others."
"Yay! I'm so happy!" Namine immediately hugged her in joy at the news.
"Ew, get off me already."
Another day at work for the characters and another chapter done. Everything has been going smoothly now as I keep bringing in new chapters for you guys. It's exciting to see a story that you're into update consistently right? I know I would be.
Thanks for reading and leave a review or any thoughts if you can!