MADE FOR NOBODY
*Photo credit goes to UmaYorokobi
The famous Twilight Town Station Tower stood high above the hilly landscape, illuminated by the endlessly setting sun. Providing a picturesque view to anyone sitting on the ledge above the clock, this spot was currently occupied by a group of four that frequented the ledge, sea salt ice cream in tow: Roxas, Lea, Isa, and Xion, enjoying their newfound existence as completed people.
On this day, however, there was a peculiar chill in the air. Lea and Isa could both feel it; the tension was palpable. Lea glanced at Roxas on his left, who was slightly hunched over and paying little attention to his ice cream. This was actually quite typical of Roxas, or at least it was, but Lea noted how his young friend hadn't been in a pouty mood like this since before recompletion.
Isa turned to his right to look curiously at Xion. Where she sat was already a red flag in itself, since her usual spot was next to Roxas. Beyond that, the girl was visibly withdrawn, avoiding eye contact, and nibbling anxiously on her sea salt treat.
Lea could tell that something was up with both of them. He gave Isa a gentle nudge to get his attention, and once he had it, mouthed, "Say something."
Isa looked incredulous and mouthed back a refusal, "Me!? I don't understand Roxas and Xion even half as well as you do, YOU say something."
"Ah, but isn't this a perfect opportunity for you to learn more about them? That's how I got to know them so well, after all; dealing with their innocent little problems," Lea pointed out with quiet satisfaction.
"Yes, exactly, which is why YOU should be the one to handle it this time. Besides, they probably still don't trust me after everything I did…" he silently admitted.
Lea touched Isa's shoulder again, "All the more reason to make the effort, show that you've changed for the better and that you want to help them!" he encouraged, still mouthing his words.
Before they could reach an agreement, Roxas abruptly stood up and started for the exit, pulling their attention away from the silent argument. He stopped just before rounding the corner, and they could see that there was still a good-sized chunk of blue hanging off his popsicle stick. "I, uh… signed up for poster duty later. I should get going if I'm going to be on time…" muttered Roxas, barely turning back to speak to his friends.
"Hey, no worries, Rox! See you—" Roxas had already walked away before Lea could finish his sentence, and he deflated, "…later."
After witnessing the awkward goodbye, Isa turned to see that Xion had shriveled up even further, hugging her knees upon which she laid her head. Isa sighed, realizing he no longer had any excuse not to say something to her. Lea had a point: If he wanted to truly make amends to Roxas and Xion and be their friend, Isa was going to have to actually be their friend, and that meant helping them work through personal problems.
"Xion," Isa spoke in an uncharacteristically soft tone, "Is something, um…" he cleared his throat, "Is everything alright?"
Xion raised her head to look at Isa, surprised to see him taking an interest. She offered a small smile that quickly faded as she thought about how to answer him. "There's something I've been wondering about actually…" she paused, trying to formulate her question, "How do you know when you're… more than friends with someone?"
Isa's eyes widened slightly at the response while Lea practically jumped in his spot, going from passive listener to active eavesdropper.
"Well, Xion, um, that's a difficult question," Isa started, "You see, when two people share a deep connection, they might decide to start a relationship— a romantic relationship," he explained sheepishly.
Xion unfurled her legs and hung them over the ledge again, now listening intently to Isa's explanation. "You mean, like, 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend'?" she asked.
Isa nodded approvingly, "Yes, that's right."
"And boyfriends and girlfriends have to… you know, like… hold hands and… kiss and stuff…?"
Isa blanked at the question, "Uhhh…"
"Okay, my turn," Lea spoke up. Putting the finished popsicle stick in his mouth, he rose to his feet and crossed behind his friends to sit next to Xion, before taking the stick out and using it to point it at her. "No more beating around the bush, Xion. Something happened between you and Roxas, didn't it?" asserted Lea.
Xion hung her head in her hands and groaned, "Ugh, yes! I don't know what to do, it's all so confusing!"
Lea put a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, come on, it can't be that big a deal. We can help you figure this out, alright?" he assured with a smile, "Let's just start at the beginning: What happened?"
"Okay…" Xion took a deep breath, collecting herself and her thoughts, "Earlier today, Roxas and I were hanging out and watching TV. Everything was normal until we started watching this movie, what's it called… 'Made for Each Other', that's it. And then—" Lea and Isa interrupted her with simultaneous groans, stopping the story in its tracks.
"You've seen it…?" Xion wondered aloud.
Isa shook his head, amused, "You'd be hard pressed to find someone who hasn't seen it."
Lea added, "It is the most gut-wrenchingly saccharine story ever created. Boy and girl grow up together, fate tears them apart, then they overcome impossible circumstances to be together, yadda yadda…" he pinched his brow in annoyance, then quickly turned back to Xion, "N-Not that I'm saying that you should feel bad for liking it, it's just…" Lea paused with a thoughtful squint.
"It's not very realistic," Isa clarified, and Lea pointed as a show of agreement.
Xion blinked, "O-Okay… Anyway, so we're watching this movie together, and everything is perfectly normal, until…" she trailed off.
"Until…?" Lea encourages her to continue.
"Well, there's this one scene—you probably know it—where they get caught sneaking into the academy archives. The headmaster came down especially hard on Sheela, but Roger spoke up for her, and they both managed to get off with just a warning," Xion recounted.
Lea nodded, "Yeah, I remember. You know, that sounds like a familiar situation now that you mention it…" he pointed out, casting a smug grin over at Isa.
The once vindictive supervisor scowled at Lea. Before he could respond, Xion spoke up again.
"That's exactly what I thought. Not just that one scene either; a lot of the movie hit pretty close to home for me," she folded her arms, hunching over slightly as she relived the memory. "I kept looking over at Roxas during the movie, and I guess he picked up on it too, because he looked over at me a few times, and sometimes he would catch me looking or I would catch him looking and we'd both turn away quick and do it all over again and then our hands almost touched and I—!"
"Xion!" Isa put a hand on her shoulder, interrupting her winded panicking, "Breathe…"
Xion took his advice and a deep breath, pausing to regain composure. "Okay…" she goes right back into story mode, "So, the movie ended, and we just kind of sat there for a bit. Then Roxas says, 'Good movie,'" she said in her best Roxas voice, "And I said, 'Yeah, I really liked the ending'. Then he looked at me said, 'Me too', and I looked at him, and we just stared at each other, and then…" Xion trailed off, her hands clutching her beat red face.
"And then…?" Lea and Isa both repeated in suspense, leaning into Xion eagerly.
"…We kissed," Xion confessed, then dropped her head down into her open hands.
The tower ledge fell silent, save for the sounds of the passing breeze and the bustling town below. Her two friends stared at Xion in astonishment. Lea's brow raised and his mouth froze in an "O" shape; Isa covered his mouth with his hand to hide his gasp; they peeked above Xion to exchange shocked looks with each other, then back to her.
"And!?" Lea urged her to continue, desperate to hear more.
Xion rose her head slowly, staring out at the sunset with an unexpectedly stoic face, "It felt… wrong."
Isa gawked briefly. "That is not what I was expecting to hear," he thought out loud.
"I'll say!" Lea piped up in bewilderment. "Xion, what do you mean by 'wrong'?"
"I don't know!" Xion despaired, looking upwards in frustration. "I thought it would be just like we saw in the movie. It's not that the kiss itself was bad; like, I wasn't grossed out by it or anything, but something about it was so…" her mouth hung open as searched for an accurate adjective, "unnatural."
"So, what did you do?" Isa inquired, trying to suppress his own burning curiosity.
Xion continued reluctantly, "Well, we stopped kissing, and then Roxas apologized, saying that it 'probably wasn't the right moment', but then I said that I couldn't have imagined a better moment. Even now, I still can't. I thought it'd feel like something that should've happened a long time ago… but instead it felt like it should never have happened at all," she despaired, agonizing over the whole situation again.
Lea sighed, "Look, Xion, you shouldn't be basing your expectations on what you see in movies—especially when it comes to romance. They're just stories. It's all fake. Almost nothing that happens is even remotely accurate to real life," he explained, casually bringing his right foot up onto the ledge and leaning his elbow on his knee, "It's all just in service to a plot which doesn't even make sense half the time."
"For once, Lea is absolutely right," Isa interjected, prompting a scowl from the red-haired guardian. Isa tilted his body towards Xion to address her more directly, and spoke in a soft, almost paternal intonation, "Don't try to emulate what you see in movies. You're your own person now, Xion. You need to rely on your own experiences and decide for yourself what the right thing to do is. Ask yourself: How do you feel about Roxas?"
"Roxas?" Xion thought about the blonde boy for a moment, "Roxas was there for me since the very beginning, always by my side; and now that we get to spend every day together, I've never been happier. Roxas is the reason I am who I am. He's my closest friend, and I... I love him…or at least I think I do… but if you love someone then you have to kiss them, right? If I can't kiss Roxas then how can we be more than friends? How can I actually love him…?" Xion lamented, shriveling up again.
Isa shook his head lightly, "Xion, there are more kinds of love than just romantic. You and Roxas obviously share a deep connection, but that doesn't mean you have to be a couple. Maybe your love is just platonic?" he suggested.
Xion tilted her head, "Platonic?"
Lea chimed in, "As in a 'no kissing' relationship. You know, how you and Roxas usually are with each other," he explained.
"So, Roxas and I are 'platonic'…" Xion worked everything out as she spoke, "Okay, so, now what? What does that mean for us?"
Isa answered, "That's for you and Roxas to decide, I think. You should be asking him that question. No one can tell you what's in your heart, Xion, but sharing how you feel with Roxas might help you both figure it out," he suggested.
Suddenly, Lea came forward: "Or, better yet, if you wanna know for sure whether you and Roxas are compatible, ask him out on a date!"
"A date?" Xion repeated curiously.
Isa shot him a bewildered look.
"Yeah! You and Roxas just go out and… do something together!" Lea gesticulated with his popsicle stick as he explained, "You could go out for a meal, or see a movie, or even just hang out and talk somewhere. Dates can be whatever you want as long as both people are into it, really."
Xion looked at Lea skeptically, "That just sounds like what Roxas and I do every day. I mean, this whole thing started because he and I watched a movie together. Do you think we should try a different movie?" she asked herself.
Isa peeked over Xion's head at Lea with an amused smirk, delighted to witness the latter's failure to get his point across.
Lea snapped, "Then do something you don't do every day! I don't know! I'm just trying to be helpful here…" he muttered, chewing on his popsicle stick.
"Something we don't do every day…" Xion trailed off ponderously. It didn't take long for her to think of the perfect activity, and exclaim, "I got it! I know what we can do on our date!"
"Great! That's step one, now for the hard part; you have to actually ask Roxas out," Lea reminded.
Xion gasped, "You're right, Axel! I'd better go ask him," she hopped to her feet, but just as quickly knelt back down and pulled in Lea and Isa for a double hug. "Thanks for the help, both of you…" she cooed graciously before running off, "See you guys at home!"
Lea and Isa waved her off with sincere smiles, knowing full well that this was not the last they were going to hear of this.
Isa then turned to Lea with a grimace, "Why would you get her hopes up like that?"
Lea retorted with indignation, "I am not 'getting her hopes up'! What, you don't think Roxas and Xion are gonna kiss and make up?"
Isa flashed a grimace at the choice of words, then wore a thoughtful expression. "I'm worried about her—about both of them," he admitted, prompting a surprised look from his friend, "They're young. They're inexperienced. They don't know what they want—they barely know who they are. In fact, that might just be the source of their incompatibility," he mused, touching his chin curiously.
Lea turned with a sneer and asked, "What's that mean?" subtly grilling Isa.
"Xion was originally intended to be a clone of Sora. She only looks the way she does because she absorbed Sora's memories of Kairi from him. Xion said it herself: Roxas is the reason she is who she is. That's more literal than she realizes," Isa held up his palm, shutting down Lea's attempt to interject, "Yes, Roxas and Xion are their own people now. there's no denying where they came from. They are essentially fraternal twins."
Finally given his turn to respond, Lea shook his head, "Come on, Isa, you're over thinking it. Maybe they're a little too alike in some ways, but you forget they're not completely human. They have replica bodies now, it's not like they're biologically related, so what's the problem?"
"There's more to being family than just blood, which you—being their self-appointed guardian— should already be aware of," Isa reminded.
Lea scoffed, "Okay, sure, but which one of us here knows them better, according to you, hmm?" he asked with a wry grin.
Isa grimaced, "Actually, I mouthed it. Not the same thing."
"Still counts! Anyway, Roxas and Xion are totally into each other. They're just a little wet behind the ears when it comes to relationships. You'll see, those two are gonna work things out just fine, and then they'll be aaall over each other," Lea attested.
Isa shook his head, "Don't make this weirder than it already is, Lea."
Roxas sullenly carried a stack of posters in his arms through the winding alleyways of the back streets, stopping at spaced-out intervals to slap a poster on a wall or lamppost.
Now living in Twilight Town as a completed person, Roxas and his friends were staying in a small townhouse just up the hill from Market Street, which they pooled their munny together to rent. He frequently took odd jobs posted on the listing boards around time to make some munny to keep up payments on their new abode. Isa insisted that he didn't need to pay rent, but Roxas wanted to pitch in where he could, and it was a good way to pass the endless dawns and dusks when he wasn't spending them with his friends.
Friends like Xion.
Roxas stopped to put his fist to his forehead in frustration. His thoughts kept drifting back to her, and the awkward incident that occurred earlier that day. What was supposed to be a simple movie viewing turned into a very eye-opening experience, and none of it made any sense to him.
Roxas knew how much he cared about Xion; she was the possibly most important person in his life. He cherished his bond with Axel, of course, and his other friends were all important to him as well. But after everything they had been through together, Roxas connected with Xion on a different level. Up until now, Roxas merely saw her as his friend, but that movie made him realize that perhaps she was meant to be something more than that. After all, Xion was a girl—a very pretty one, at that. With how close they are, why shouldn't Roxas be romantically interested in Xion?
At least, that's what he thought up until the kiss, which drove that whole idea out the window. Now Roxas wasn't sure what they were supposed to be anymore, and it made him anxious to see her again.
"Roxas!" Xion's voice called to him from the end of the alley.
Startled, Roxas turned to see her approaching from around the corner, and felt his stomach begin to tie in knots as she bounded over to him. "Xion, hi…" He wasn't quite sure what to say to her, "Um, what are you—"
"Let's go on a date!" Xion interrupted Roxas' stammering, leaning alarmingly close to him.
Roxas did a double take, "W-Wait, what!?"
Xion took a step back and shyly apologized, "Sorry, let me rephrase that," realizing she was going about it the wrong way. Standing up straight, Xion cleared her throat, and asked with a formal flourish of her hand, "Roxas, would you liked to go on a date with me?"
"A-A date…?" Roxas repeated, anxious but curious. He was familiar with the word, but didn't really have any conception of what that entailed. On top of that, he now felt especially hesitant to do anything with Xion so soon after the… incident. "Uh, what did you have in mind?" he asked.
Xion snatched one of the posters Roxas was carrying and held it up as she answered, "Let's go to the carnival!"
Roxas blinked, realizing he had not once acknowledged what he was advertising until now.
"There's going to be rides, games, snacks, prizes; it'll be so much fun!" Xion touted excitedly as she handed the poster back to Roxas, "What do you say?"
Despite his reservations, Roxas wasn't about to refuse Xion's glowing expression. "Y-Yeah, sounds like a good time. Let's do it!" he agreed, trying to match her enthusiasm.
"Great!" Xion smiled, "So, I… guess I'll see you there… you know… later on…" she rambled, becoming more nervous as she spoke.
"Heh heh, right…" Roxas chuckled awkwardly in response. Silence ensued as Roxas and Xion stood there uncomfortably, neither of them sure what else to do at this point. Eventually, Roxas remembered the stack of posters he was holding, "Oh! Uhh, I should probably finish putting these up…" he trailed off.
"Mhmm, yeah, okay!" Xion nodded rapidly in agreement, "So, um, I guess I'll see you later then," she muttered, slowly stepping backwards towards where she came from, "Good luck with the posters, Roxas!" cheered Xion, just before rounding the corner.
Roxas waved her off with an awkward smile that faded as Xion disappeared from view. What he assumed was a gut feeling told Roxas that this date would not go the way he was hoping.
