Jessica's Point of View

True to my word, I went on my mission the next day. I was paired with Axel again. We went to Twilight Town to defeat a Dark Follower near the train station. When we got to Twilight Town, we were in the alley. "Why aren't we closer to the Heartless's location?" I asked.

"Yeah, because people seeing us walk out of a tunnel of darkness would be real great," Axel retorted.

"Okay, I get it. Let's just go," I huffed. I pushed past him to make my way to the Train Station. He followed me.

"Jess, what happened yesterday?" He questioned suddenly as we were walking.

I stiffened. I didn't really want to discuss what Xemnas had done to me. Telling Axel wouldn't change anything. "I got scolded pretty badly. That's all." I sped up so my back was toward him so he wouldn't see my face.

"That's not what Saix told me," Axel brought up.

I froze in place. "He told you?"

"Don't act so surprised. He and I are still friends," Axel remarked.

"Sure, I believe that," I said sarcastically.

"What's your deal? I don't get you at all. You're lying to me now? About this? I'm on your side," Axel reminded.

"It doesn't make any difference. Let's just get this over with," I replied coldly. I quickened my pace to stay ahead of him. Axel didn't even bother keeping up with me. When I arrived at the front of the train station, the heartless appeared. I began to fight it, and it wasn't long until Axel caught up and started helping me. I tried to push my emotions away and focus on the Heartless, but it proved to be a difficult task. I knew it was weakening and put more of my energy into what I hoped would be the finishing blow, but I was out of practice and got knocked back by its giant hand.

Axel ended up finishing the Heartless off and ran to me immediately after. "You okay, Jess?" He checked, holding out his hand.

I took Axel's hand, and he helped me up. "Yeah. I'm okay. Just out of practice, I suppose. No real harm done. The mission is over. Let's go meet up with our friends," I prompted. I started heading to the clock tower, but Axel didn't follow me.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" He called before I made it inside the station. I turned back to him, confused. "Our tradition. You know, the one where we eat ice cream up there?" I stared at him blankly. "Ice cream."

"Right. Let's go get ice cream. I guess that fall distracted me," I sighed. I winced as the adrenaline wore off, and was in slight pain.

"Hey, you sure you're okay? Maybe we should just go home," Axel suggested.

"I'd really rather not. It's not a big deal. I'm fine," I assured him.

Axel didn't seem to believe me. He just stood there in thought. Suddenly, he pushed me. I fell to the ground and screamed as pain shot through my arm. "If you were fine, you wouldn't be in that much pain. Let's get you home. I'll get you ice cream tomorrow," Axel insisted.

"Did you have to push me?" I questioned.

"Would you have listened to me otherwise?" Axel pointed out.

"No, I guess not," I admitted.

Axel held his hand out toward me. "Come on."

I took it, and we went back to the castle. Xaldin seemed to take on my father's former responsibility of caring for my wounds. He apparently had the most medical experience of anyone left in the Organization, which still wasn't anywhere near as much as my father, but it was something. In my father's lab, I took my coat and glove off carefully so Xaldin could take a look at my arm. It was already starting to bruise. It felt strange to be in the black t-shirt and pants that I always wore under my coat. Despite hardly wearing anything as a mermaid, walking around in anything less than my coat felt awkward. "We need to find you a real doctor. I can't keep this up," Xaldin commented.

"I'm really fine. I just got a little bruised up," I tried.

"This is more than a little bruised. I think you sprained it. Congratulations. You just got out of work for a while. Likely a couple weeks so long as you take hi-potions daily," Xaldin said.

"You guys can't make up your mind. One day I was being punished for not going on my mission, and now I'm told I need to stay home. Irony," I chuckled.

"I'm sure Lord Xemnas will wish to speak with you shortly. Prepare yourself for that," Xaldin said, putting a splint on my arm. Though I knew he tried doing it carefully, it hurt, and I shrieked and pulled away before letting him finish, gritting my teeth. "My apologies. As I said before, I don't generally do things like this." I let out a sigh of relief when he finished. "Would you rather wait for Xemnas here or in your room?"

"I'll wait in my room," I replied.

"I'll inform him that's where you'll be," Xaldin stated.

"Thank you. For everything. Out of all the people who could make use of this lab, I'm glad it's you. Besides Axel, you're my favorite reminder of the past," I mention.

The corners of Xaldin's lips turned upright, forming into a small smile. A rare sight from him since the Castle Oblivion incident. "You are mine as well."

Xaldin left the room, and I headed to my room. Sure enough, Xemnas came by shortly after. "Where's your coat?" Xemnas asked.

"I left it in the lab. I took it off so Xaldin could look at my arm," I explained.

"Your arm. Be honest, did you do this on purpose?" Xemnas inquired.

I was appalled that he even thought that there was a possibility I would do such a thing. I was so mad I couldn't even look at him. "You know I wouldn't do that. I just started getting back into the field. Is it that hard to believe that I'm just out of practice?"

"You're better than that. It should have been child's play for you. You've been here long enough. You even had a partner with you," Xemnas commented.

"I was distracted, okay?! I'm not any more thrilled about the situation than you are!" I snapped.

"Do not take that tone with me. I had to check. With your recent behavior, I can't put anything past you," Xemnas huffed. I turned my back to him. He came near me and placed his hand on the shoulder of my good arm from behind. "Jessica, I love you very much. I only want what's best for you."

"Don't you remember? You only pretend to love me. You can't actually love me," I grumbled.

Xemnas removed his hand. "Neither could Number IV or Number VI." I heard him walk away.

I shuddered at the cold reminder before turning to Luna. "Maybe we should go. I still have the other Sailor Guardians to find," I suggested.

Luna hopped into my good arm. "About time. I've been waiting for years," She replied.

I opened my drawer to get anything I wanted to take with me when Roxas, Axel, and Xion came into the room. Roxas held a sea salt ice cream bar out to me. I set Luna back on the bed and took the ice cream. "What's this?" I wondered.

"I told them you hurt your arm, and they wanted to bring you an ice cream," Axel explained.

"It doesn't come with the view of the clock tower, but we thought that maybe it might be nice for you to still be able to have one today," Roxas commented.

"I hope your arm gets better soon," Xion added.

I was touched. Tears flooded my eyes and soon slid down my cheeks. "Whoa. Hey, what happened?" Axel asked.

I smiled and wiped the tears away with my arm. "I'm just so happy I have friends like you. You have no idea how much this means to me." I began eating my ice cream, but I focused mainly on my amazing friends. They knew I had a bad day and came to cheer me up.

"Axel, why was there water on her face?" Roxas wondered.

"I'll explain that later," Axel said.

"What happened to your coat?" Xion inquired.

"Oh, I took that off. I don't think it will come back on until my arm is healed up. It really won't help me right now anyway. It just protects me from the darkness, and I won't be going into a dark corridor anytime soon," I answered. As I said it, I realized how ridiculous it would be to leave when I wasn't in any condition to. When I finished my ice cream and tossed my stick in the trash. "You guys are the best. Thank you so much for thinking of me. I would be so lost without you."

"Okay, okay, don't get mushy on me," Axel chuckled.

"I don't think I've ever been in your room before. Why does it have colors?" Roxas questioned.

"It's because she's Xemnas's favorite. Got it memorized?" Axel answered

"My blessing and curse," I groaned.

"Hey, no more frowns. I'll tell you what, instead of going to the Clock Tower, we'll come straight home and play board games tomorrow. Sound good?" Axel offered.

"Yeah. Sounds great," I agreed.

Tara Mccann: Believe it or not, that was actually a plot twist that I planned since the beginning. I was going to wait, but in the end decided it would be appropriate to reveal it now.