Now, I will say, some people may find this chapter a little awkward. However, I feel it is necessary as I do try to make things more realistic, and this is a realistic thing, so it's in.
Ok!
Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy © to Disney and Square Enix!
Kraig and TJ © to YamiChaos27!
Iunia and Nico and other OCs © to me!
Joy © to Njoy!
Akira © to Lucywind!
Cowey and Sally © to my students!
Chapter 18: The Future Doesn't Scare Me At All
Roxas sat on the floor of the foyer, reading his history textbook. Kosho lay beside him, tail flopping on the floor as the boy intermittently reached over to scratch his ears.
Ever so often, he'd pause, taking notes on a piece of paper.
He didn't really mind this homework. It was really enjoyable to learn about this world and how it worked.
The door opened and Xion walked in.
"Hey Xion!"
"Hi."
"Are you ok?"
The girl looked… sick. Her face seemed paler than normal, and her eyes heavy. "No. My stomach hurts really badly. I'm gonna go lay down."
"Want me to tell Isa?"
"Sure."
The girl lumbered into her room and shut the door as Roxas stood up and headed up the stairs.
Just as he reached Isa's office door-
A scream rang out through the house.
Isa's door flung open.
"Xion!?"
Axel appeared from the library. "What's wrong!?"
Roxas leapt off the stairs, running to her door. "Xion!?"
"Help..."
He opened the door as Isa and Axel approached.
Roxas saw Xion sitting on the floor, her PJs beside her. It looked like she'd been about to change.
The shorts she wore under her dress lay on the floor.
Stained with red.
Blood.
"I-I think I'm dying! C-can we call Even!?"
Roxas ran to her side. "We have to do something!" But when he looked up at the adults, they just stood there, eyes wide. "What are you doing!?"
Isa sighed. "… I totally forgot about this."
"Same…"
"What!?"
"Xion," Isa took a deep breath, "you're alright. Trust me."
"Alright!? She's bleeding!"
"We'll explain later. Xion, go take a shower. Roxas, can you see if one of your friends, a girl in particular, can come here really quick. I'll give you a note for them."
"Why are you so calm!?"
Axel rubbed the back of his head. "Honestly, we should've remembered to say something before… but… This is all ok. We will explain everything. Let's go. Xion, go shower." He walked over, putting a hand on Roxas's shoulder as Isa pulled out his notebook and scribbled down a note, handing it to Roxas.
"Go quick." Isa walked in and knelt beside Xion, smiling. "It'll be ok. I promise."
"Really?"
"Really."
Roxas took off running for town.
How could Axel and Isa be so calm!?
Xion was BLEEDING!
But… he trusted them.
Running back into town, he ran to the bistro. Usually… there!
Iunia, Joy, and Olette sat at a table doing their homework. "Guys!" He ran up, panting, holding out the note.
"Roxas? Are you ok?"
"What's wrong?"
Olette took the note and read it. "Oh…" She showed it to the other girls. "Roxas, we'll be right there."
"Aw, poor Xion."
"I've got supplies in my bag." Iunia packed up her homework, the other girls following suite.
Roxas blinked. "Why are you all so calm? Do you know what's happening?"
"Of course." Joy smiled. "There's no need to panic. It's natural."
"Honestly, I'm not surprised she didn't know. Being the only girl in that house, Isa and Axel probably didn't even think about it."
"Probably."
Natural?
What?
The girls walked back with him to the mansion. Roxas fought the urge to ask them to run.
They seemed way too calm.
When they got inside, Axel stood waiting. "Hey girls."
"You forgot about this detail?"
"Yeah… She's in the shower. She'll let you know when she's out."
Isa came down from his office. "I'll give her an explanation about what's happening later, but I figured you ladies might be better suited to help her figure out what to do."
"Alright."
Axel put a hand on Roxas's shoulder. "We need to talk."
Roxas sat at the library table, staring wide-eyed. "Oh…"
"Maybe I should've explained before, but… honestly, you and Xion were so innocent, I didn't want to do it yet. But, now you know."
Roxas blinked.
That… was…
He didn't really know what to do with this information.
At all.
"And, probably being in a room alone with Xion, especially with the door closed is probably not a good idea anymore. Just to keep people from getting the wrong idea."
"Probably. But, how can I help Xion? She seemed sick?"
Axel smiled.
Roxas always did put her before himself.
Some things never changed.
"She'll probably be a bit emotional, so be understanding. And my mom said chocolate always helped."
The boy looked down at the table.
They never had to deal with this stuff as Nobodies. This was just part of being human.
No one warned him about this part.
And it was certainly the weirdest part.
"Thank you." Xion waved at the girls as they left, her gaze glancing back at the stuff they'd left with her.
Honestly, their calm demeanor about the situation comforted her. As scared as she was, hearing this was natural and them being so calm, made her feel so much better.
"Xion." Isa smiled softly. "You ok?"
"I think so… I just… I didn't know part of one of my organs came off every month. And it hurts."
He sighed. "I'm sorry. I forgot about this. I should've warned you ahead of time."
"I don't blame you. This never happened in the Organization. And Iunia said that boys don't deal with this, so it probably never crossed your mind."
"Yeah." He smiled. "Now, we need to talk."
"There's more!?"
"Yeah…"
After dinner, Xion sat outside in the back garden, staring up at the purple clouds above.
"You ok?"
"Yeah." The girl smiled as Roxas sat beside her. "They explained it to you too?"
"Oh yeah. I didn't realize being fully human was so complicated. And weird."
The girl giggled. "At least part of one of your organs doesn't come off each month. When Joy told me that, I thought Even made a mistake or something. Guess not." Her eyes focused on the distant clouds. "But… I guess- This means we really are fully human. And-" She looked at him. "I'd never even considered the fact that we will grow up, and one day we could have families of our own. But I can't stop thinking about that now."
"Me neither. I never thought of a future outside of high school."
"We have no past, and no experience of looking to the future."
"We can now."
Xion wrapped her arms around herself. "It's weird, I wonder what it would be like to be a parent. Do I want to be one, one day? Not now. But one day?"
"Good question." Roxas softly sighed.
The future-
He'd never really considered it.
Neither of them had.
Just moving from one day to the next, happy to be in the present.
But the future lay before them.
Growing up.
Graduating.
College.
Life.
They could get married.
Have jobs.
Have families.
They sat on those back steps, staring at the clouds.
These thoughts on their mind.
Xion…
She wondered.
Wondered if acting was a job. Could you live and do acting?
But, she could do anything. Any job she wanted.
What if she had kids? She could do what Isa did and take in other kids too.
And marriage? That was such a weird concept.
She'd heard of love, and she certainly loved her friends.
But love… she'd seen Belle and Beast in love. And of course, Sora and Kairi. She'd felt Sora's feelings through his memories.
She could have that, one day.
If she wanted.
…
Roxas…
He liked kids.
Caden, Sally, Cowey, Matthias, Marisa.
He loved teaching them new things.
Hey, maybe he could be a teacher one day.
That might be fun.
And what if… what if he had kids one day.
He could teach them too.
But getting married… that seemed weird. He wasn't sure about it yet.
He didn't even understand the stuff Axel told him when it came to feeling things about girls. None of that had happened to him.
Not yet.
Why did being human have to be so confusing?
…
But regardless, even as they went to sleep that night… for the first time, thoughts of the future-
Dreams
Plans
Wishes
Came to their minds.
Hold me,
Whatever lies beyond this morning
Is a little later on
Regardless of warnings,
The future doesn't scare me at all
Nothing's like before
