Xion stared down at the grey metal spoon in her hand as if it had personally challenged her to a duel to the death. Strangely, she could wield a Keyblade and a Claymore twice her size with no issue. But holding a spoon with some milk and tan circles in it, she had been told it was called cereal, was like she was a little kid trying to feed themselves for the first time. To be fair her new body was only three days old and it had been created for using a keyblade. Not the normal day activities such as eating and brushing her teeth. Her sink would look like a war zone if she didn't focus on not brushing her teeth too hard. But, despite the complications, it was good to be alive again and not stuck in her friend Sora's mind. This body was hers and no one else and she wouldn't have to give it up.
Then this time being alive she wasn't stuck doing the orders of some evil organization bent on taking over everything. Well technically that's how this second chance of life started and she almost murdered her new friends. But now she could have a normal life, whatever that was. She had heard Axel and Saïx, or Lea and Isa since they were no longer Nobodies, talking about her and Roxas attending school, apparently something people her age did. And it excited her, to be filled in a place with teens her age not having to wonder if something was going to jump out of the shadows to attack her, learning normal things and not combat and magic. It sounded almost like a dream to the young teen. But before she could deal with any of that she had to get through her breakfast and she carefully put the metal spoon in her mouth. She did cheat by moving her head down to meet the spoon, but at least she hadn't gotten more milk and cereal on herself.
"Xion," Someone said, grabbing her from her train of thought and focusing on breakfast. Her eyes darted up to see Axel looking at her with a raised eyebrow. The man was leaning over the table they were sitting at, his hands wrapped around a white coffee cup that had a stream of steam coming from it. "Have you heard anything I've said, kid?" The redhead asked the girl, who immediately sat up straight, using her arm to wipe her face clear of any milk.
"No, sorry Axel, oh er… Lea." She immediately spat out, she hadn't even realized that the man had said anything much less that he was talking to her.
"Axels fine." He said with a smirk as he let go of the cup with one of his hands, brought it up to his head, and poked his forehead, "Remember it."
"Yeah, will do, Axel." The girl said with a soft chuckle as she sat her spoon in her bowl. "So what did you say?"
"We gotta talk about your wardrobe." He said, leaning back on his chair as he crossed one leg over the other and brought his cup up to his lips to take a swig.
"What's wrong with it?" She asked, looking down at what she was wearing. It was an oversized T-shirt that she was wearing from Axel while her organization's coat was outside drying. On the T-shirt, there was a Warrior in red armor, a Red Mage in a pair of red pants, a shirt, a cap, and a large red hat on his head. There was also a White Mage who had a flowing white robe on and a monk in just a pair of black martial arts pants. They each had an instrument in their hands, the Warrior holding a saxophone with a red lighting bolt on it, the Red Mage holding some brown drumsticks in his hands, the White Mage holding a black clarinet, and the Monk had an electric blue bass guitar. THE WARRIORS OF LIGHT were spelled out in white letters on the top of the T-shirt, though at this point the shirt was pretty faded. The shirt was pretty old, it had smelled a bit musty and like cheap cologne when he first gave it to her. She also had on a pair of baggy black shorts that dropped to her knees that he had given her.
"Nothing." Axel said, "I'm glad that shirt is some more use after all the munny that I paid for it and to go see that show." He chuckled, "But you need more than just an old rock band T-shirt, some shorts, and a cloak from an evil organization." He informed her. "So you are going to go clothes shopping today. That way you have a few more options to wear. And besides you can't tell me that you like the cloak." He sighed.
"I mean… I guess not." She said with a shoulder shrug as she grabbed her spoon again. She hadn't really thought about not wearing the cloak. During her time with the organization, it was the only thing she ever wore so wearing it every day. "So you're gonna take me shopping?"
"Ha!" Axel laughed as he put his leg down, "Careful kid, I got hot coffee." He told the girl, making her blush and shift in her seat, making her spoon movement a bit more clumsy and the milk and cereal splashed down onto her shirt. "No, I don't think you want me to choose your clothes. I'm not exactly mister fashion." He informed the girl.
"So you're going to send me by myself to go?" She asked, her heart suddenly pounding a lot harder in her chest. She hadn't talked to anyone in this new town up to this point and hadn't explored the town on her own yet, much less going to the grocery store. She wasn't sure she could handle all that talking to new people and picking out her own clothing.
"No," He said, "Do you remember Sora's friends?" He asked her, "I asked a couple of them if they could take you shopping. They seemed a bit more appropriate to take you clothing shopping." He said. "Those quirky girls that hang out with the moody dude and the old man."
"Leon and Cid?" Xion said as she lifted up her bowl and started to slurp the milk in the bowl. The Smmmmmmmmmmm echoed through the apartment.
"Maybe the fancy one can teach you a thing about manner while you're there." He teased as he stood up making the black-haired girl blush as she sat the bowl down. "Now go get ready, we don't need them waiting on you while they're trying to help you out." He said as he stood up, his legs letting out a pop as he groaned.
"Will do, Old Man." She teased as she got up, a small smirk on her face before epping and dropping to the ground as a handful of wet tan cereal circles were tossed at him. "You missed!" She cheered, laying on her back.
"Wasn't aiming for ya!" He shot back as he walked away a small ting was heard from the counter above her and suddenly a wall of water slid over the counter ledge and fell right into the girl's face.
"Ah!" She cried as he jumped up to her feet, wiping away the water from her face, and saw a cup knocked over with bits of cereal around it. "Lucky shot." She muttered as she went to her room. The place was pretty empty other than the bare essentials to call a bedroom a bedroom. There was a bed with a pink bedspread and pillow on it, a brown wooden dresser, and two doors. One of the doors was beside the teen's bed and led to a closet and the other to a personal bathroom. She wasn't sure how tidy Axel was but she wasn't sure if she could handle sharing a bathroom with the red-head. He had to use half a gallon of hair gel to get his hair that spikey and that could not be a clean process.
But that was a problem she didn't have to deal with thankfully. So she got into her bathroom, which like her room was pretty bare. It was pretty small with just a toilet, a sink with a mirror and a medicine cabinet above it, and a shower. But it was enough for a simple girl like her to manage with. So discarding her hand-me-downs she quickly jumped into the shower, not even bothering to wait for the water to warm up, and immediately started to clean herself up. Not that she was that dirty, but it just seemed like the proper thing to do. So quickly scrubbing herself and washing her hair the girl jumped out, drying herself off and wrapping herself in a purple towel. She got dressed in her clothes from the organization, the only other pair of clothing she had. It consisted of a large pitch-black leather cloak that fell all the way to the back of her heels, a pair of black pants, and knee-high boots. The outfit also had a pair of black pair of gloves but the girl decided to keep those tucked away in her pocket for now.
"Ok, Axel I'm ready." She said as she walked into the living where the man was sitting on the couch, dressed in the new power outfit that Master Yen Sid had gifted him. A black shirt with white stripes on it, a black jacket that had its sleeves rolled up, red pants, and black boots that were almost hiked up as much as Xion's boots did.
"Kay, kid." He said as he got up and turned the TV off. "Man I know this place hasn't been back in a living condition but you would think they would have a few more options for channels past the News and a Public Broadcasting Service." He muttered as he straightened out his jacket and led the way out of the apartment and into the hallway of Ansem's castle. The redhead had managed to get his room from his time before becoming a Nobody back and then had gotten an upgrade when he informed the King of the castle that he was looking after a girl.
"Ah, Axel and Xion." A soft yet cold voice said, making the girl jump and hold her fist in the air, but when she turned and saw Ienzo she lowered her guard. The boy, who was only a bit older than her, had been a member of the Organization with her before he got turned back to normal. "Just the two people I needed to see." He said, walking up to them, reading a thick book in his hands, leaving Xion to wonder how the teen knew it was them. He was dressed in his normal outfit of a black shirt, a white long lab coat, black slacks, boots, and a lavender handkerchief around his neck. "Well, I need to talk the latter more than the former." He insisted as he folded the corner of the page he was reading before shutting the book, and stared at Xion. "We're gonna need you to stop by either the lab here or Mr. Cid's lab at some point soon to see if there is something in your head that can help us locate Sora." He informed the girl.
"Oh yes of course." She said with a head nod, she wasn't exactly sure what she could have in her head to try and help find her friend. But she was willing to try to do anything to help, Roxas had also come all the way from Twilight town to try and help. However, they didn't find anything particularly interesting in the blond's head, which Axel said he wasn't surprised by.
"But for now we have another appointment," Axel butted in, clapping the girl on the back, making her stumble forward a bit, "We'll check in with ya later!" He assured the grey-haired boy as he pushed her forward and thankfully there were no other run-ins with castle guards. Considering most of them were once a part of the organization it was pretty awkward seeing them now.
"So what are you gonna do while I'm clothes shopping?" She asked the redhead as they got outside the castle, the bright morning sun greeting them and making Xion raise her hand to shield the rays from blinding her.
"Eh, just meeting up with Isa, we gonna hang out, maybe get a bite to eat." He said, leading the way, his hands on the back of his neck, "We got some catching up to do now that…"
"He isn't trying to kill you and become the clone of Xehanort?" Xion suggested seeing her friend.
"Yeah." he chuckled, "And since he won't be shouting orders at me… well he might do that still, Saix had gotten that from Isa, and I doubt it'll change." He sighed, though he kept his smile on his face.
"Well, hopefully, a bit has changed." She whispered, thinking back on her interactions with Siax. All the times the blue-haired Nobody had called her it and worthless, the nights she feared that he was going to be the one to finally turn her into a Dusk. The unrealistic expectations he had set for her and scoffed whenever she failed to meet them. But before anything else could be said about the man they were interrupted.
"Axey!" A high-pitched voice said as a puff of smoke appeared in front of them and a girl with short cut black hair jumped out at them. The girl had a black headband hugging her forehead, a black crop top with a flower design on it, a black sleeveless jacket, army green short shorts, and brown boots. "About time you two got here!" The girl huffed as if the two were an hour late.
"Eh, Ninja girl!" Axel said to the girl, Xion rolling her eyes and giving a fake cough going Yuffie into it. "Yuffie, why are you jumping out of a smoke cloud?"
"It's a ninja thing." She said, winking at Xion as if the girl would understand what she meant. "Anyways, the rest of the girls are ready for Xi-Xi!" The ninja said as she reached over and grabbed the girl's arm. "See ya! Smoke bomb!" She cried out, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a tiny gray ball, and threw it on the ground before dragging Xion away from the man. Which, in between coughing from the smoke, did make the girl give off a small chuckle as she turned back and waved to Axel, who just looked at her confused as the smoke disappeared. "Mission 'Retrieve Xion for Girl's Day' was successful!" The girl cheered after a minute of running as they got to a group of two girls. One girl was dressed in a pink skirt and a dark pink top and had long brown hair that was in a couple of braids on the side of her head, and a long braided ponytail going down her back tied with a red ribbon. The other girl had long brown hair and wore a sleeveless crop top, braces, a black belt, a black skirt, gloves, sleeves, and black boots. Of course, Xion recognized them as Arieth and Tifa
"It wasn't exactly a mission, Yuffie." Tifa sighed, planting her hand on her forehead with a sigh, "We didn't kidnap her, we were asked to take her clothes shopping, remember?"
"She's just having fun, Tifa," Arieth said with a giggle as she looked Xion over like the girl had a huge pimple on her forehead, which made Xion's cheeks tint red. "Axel really shouldn't have waited for this though, look at how drab these things are!" The girl blurted out as she walked over and lifted Xion's arm to examine her robe a bit further. "What are you, an assassin? Going to a funeral? I know you didn't exactly have a choice in what clothing you wore with that organization but have they ever heard of a thing called color?" She asked before lowering Xion's arm.
"I don't think so," Xion said, "Our entire base was pure white, I don't think making things look pretty was a part of Xemnas' plan."
"Unless his plan was to make everything look super boring!" Yuffie chirped, "As a ninja, I appreciate the cover the color black gives. But even I need to spice things up now and then." She informed them all."
"I don't know why we're bullying the color black," Tifa butted in, looking at them with a raised eyebrow, "I think it's a great color." She said holding her hands out, giving a silent reminder that was all that she was wearing, making Arieth and Yuffie look at each other nervously.
"Oh no, it looks great on you, Tifa!" Arieth started, but it just made the black-clad girl start to laugh.
"I'm just teasing you, girls." She said with an eye roll before looking at Xion and giving a 'what can you do' look before turning on her heels. "Anyways, let's get moving, we're burning daylight!" She said, leading the way with Arieth following and Yuffie grabbing Xion's hand and pulling her forward.
"Ok so for our girl's day," Yuffie announced as they caught up, "Let's get some clothes, then maybe get our hair done, and then have a bite to eat!" The self-proclaimed ninja said as they all got to the shopping district.
"That sounds like it could work," Arieth said with a nod as she looked around at all the different buildings. To Xion, they all looked the same, brown wooden houses with yellow and brown paint, a couple of cinderblock buildings, and finally a few stands. The ice cream stand was run by a small elderly duck that had a thick-sounding accent and was Axel's favorite place to get a seasalt ice cream. Which Xion loved as well, the icing on the cake her friend Roxas had called it, and it was the treat the three of them would get after their missions for the organization. But after seeing all the flavors that the duck offered, the girl was curious about some of them. Flavors like caramel, peanut butter, cookies 'n' cream, and others made the girl wonder if getting the same flavor over and over again was worth it.
"I don't think my hair is exactly long enough to do much with." Xion reminded them as she reached up with her free hand and tugged at her short black hair. Not that she was particularly interested in trying to do something with her hair, she had never been one for looking super fancy or anything.
"Don't worry I think we can find something for you," Arieth said, winking at the girl as she led the way into a store with them all following her. The inside of the building was all a light gold rose pink from the ceiling to the walls and there were mannequins that had on different dresses, skirts and shirts, even a few bathing suits since the hot summer weather was in full swing. "Now, what kind of stuff do you like to wear?" Arieth asked the girl, riping Xion away from Yuffie and sitting her down on a soft red padded chair. The brunette was leaning over to meet Xion's gaze and looked at the girl like she was ready to tell her the biggest world-shattering news that was ever uttered.
"Well, I like the T-shirt that Axel gave me, it's a lot more comfortable than this jacket." She said, tucking her hands under her legs as she thought.
"Great, what kind of T-shirt is it?" Tifa asked, leaning against the wall beside a mannequin wearing a pair of pink short shorts and a pink tank top, "There are dozens of T-shirts here."
"Well, it's got a picture of a band on it." She said, "It's black and a bit big on me, it's really comfy."
"The band is…?" Tifa asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, the Warrior's of Light." The girl said, "I've never heard their music. But Axel said he was really into their music when he was my age." She explained, though when she realized that the three girls were looking at her.
"The Warrior's of Light?" Yuffie asked confused, the girl was now on the ground hugging her legs up to her chest as she looked at everyone. "Who are they?"
"They're like a music band." Tifa scoffed with an eye roll, "I didn't take Axel as a Jazz kind of guy, Punk Rock yeah, but not Jazz." She muttered to herself. "But I don't think we're gonna find any Warrior of Light merchandise here, and if it's big on you it sounds more like Pajamas anyway." She sighed. "But if you want something black then we could probably find something for you." She said.
"On it!" Yuffie cheered, shooting up to her feet, tossing another smoke bomb down, and vanishing into the halls of clothing.
"I'm gonna go and try and find something else before we get yelled at for throwing smoke bombs in here… again," Arieth said as she slipped down another row of clothing.
"Maybe you should try and find something," Tifa suggests, walking over and putting her hand on Xion's shoulder. "They are for you after all." She reminded Xion, grabbed the girl's hand, and lifted her up.
"Yeah, right." The girl said, shooting her head in different directions, narrowing her eyes as she looked at all the clothes.
"Don't worry, kid, I'll help ya." Tifa joked as she lightly punched Xion's arm before leading the way down another row.
"Oh, thanks!" The girl said before following Tifa down the forest of clothing, the two immediately looking at different options. They grabbed shirts, shorts, pants, skirts, dresses, bathing suits, and shoes. All of which came in every color and style that the girl could ever imagine. Then the fact that they ran into Yuffie, who had a mountain of different black clothes in her arms. The ninja had kept her word about finding black clothing: shirts, mini skirts, chokers, shorts, and net stockings.
"I think a few options would have been fine, but thank you." Xion sheepishly said as she looked at all the clothes.
"Yeah, I don't think that she's going to be reading poetry while she and her friends sit in a graveyard in the middle of the night," Arieth said, appearing behind them, making Xion jump in surprise.
"And I figured that if you're going to be hanging out around here," The brown-haired girl said holding out another outfit, "You'll be needing one of these. The school year will be starting soon." She informed Xion, a soft smile on her face as she continued to hold out the outfit, which happened to be the school uniform. A white button-up shirt with a red tie and a black skirt that had white lines in it. "Unless Axel is planning on home-schooling you." She mused.
"Oh, well I guess the topic of school never came up," The girl said, and it wasn't something that she had given much mind. A few days before she was fighting to end all the worlds and then fighting to save it. Whether she was going to school or not hadn't exactly been on her mind. But Arieth was right, if she was planning on staying there she would need to figure something out about education. Even if she left and went to a different world, something she exactly didn't have permission to do on her own, she would end up in school. "But thanks." She said taking the school uniform from the other girl.
"You're welcome." Arieth chipped as she put her hands on Xion's shoulders and pushed her forward towards a changing room. "Now get to trying these on! As Tifa said, we don't have all day!"
After what felt like a lifetime of changing different outfits, from bright colors such as hot pink and sky blue- colors much more appropriate for her friend Kairi, but not for her. And though she didn't like all the outfit options that Yuffie picked out she did accept a few of the options. But the one she decided to wear out was a lot better than her organization outfit, though the material felt a lot like the same. It had a leather-like feel to it, though it definitely wasn't as heavy as the cloak. It was a dress that fell above her knees a white skirt under it that covered a few more inches of her legs, and a new combat boot.
"I think this looks great." Xion chirped as she walked out of the changing room, spinning in a circle for the other three to see. Yuffie had decided to sit on the floor and had been tossing one of her smoke bombs in the air and catching them before they hit the ground.
"Yeah very fitting," Tifa said, leaning against the wall again. "I'm sure Axel will approve of it as well which is always a plus." She said, "Along with the other outfits." She said, nodding her head towards a small pile of clothing that Xion had wanted.
"Yeah," Xion said, grabbing the pile of clothing and looking at the reject pile, that was almost as tall as she was. "Though I feel bad about all of this." She sighed, knowing it would take the worker a while to put it all back where it had to go.
"Oh don't worry!" Yuffie cheered, tossing a smoke bomb in the air, and clapped her hands, "I got it!" She assured them as the smoke bomb hit the ground, covering her and the clothing.
"Let's get out of here before we get kicked out," Arieth suggested before coughing and waving her hand in front of her face. "We gotta go and head to the beauty salon anyways." She said as she grabbed Xion's hand and pulled the girl forward, Tifa giving a chuckle as she followed the other two.
"What?" Suddenly Yuffie asked as she reappeared, "Where did you all go?!" She called out.
"Hey there kid," Axel said as he stood outside of the castle, obviously waiting for the girl to return home. "Hey look at you with the new duds." He said seeing the girl with a couple of bags in her hands. "And wow is that makeup?" He asked as she got closer to the castle. Her lips now had a light red on them, and some blush to her cheeks. "And… your hair definitely wasn't that long a few hours ago was it?" He asked, his eyebrows reaching up to his red hair in surprise.
"Oh yeah, I guess the clothes shopping was more planned to be a girl's day." She said with a smile as she held her bags in front of her. "We went shopping, I'm pretty sure Yuffie got banned from the clothing store, and then we went to a beauty salon. They couldn't do much with my hair because of its length, so they put extensions in for me! Then they did give me these." She said, pointing at her hair where there were three hair clips, one blue one yellow, and the last red, and ran her fingers down her black hair that was now twice its original length and going past his shoulders to show Axel the blue hair band with a butterfly on it. "And then they did my makeup and even gave me some extra!" She cheered, leaning forward and holding her bags up. "The lady who did my nails said I got them just in time for the school year." She cheered, making Axel frown as he took a closer look at the girl's nails, which had also been painted red.
"School… right." Axel said as he rubbed the back of his head, "Are you wanting to go to that? I mean it's pretty boring and I'm pretty sure you know everything you need to know." He said as he led the way into the castle.
"Well…" Xion said, following the man, "It's what normal teens do right?" She asked him, "And honestly I think I need some normal in my life." She sighed as she walked up beside the redhead. "And besides, I already have the uniform!" She cheered before rushing forward to put her new stuff away.