..If Only in My Dreams [Roxas]

She was surprised by his voice.but she was too relaxed to be really startled; sitting up, she grinned up at her messy-haired blonde friend, her first friend ever, her best friend even now, after so much time had passed. Had it, really, been so long? Surely not.. Her ocean blue eyes met his bright blue ones, and she was filled with happiness that they could have this day together. It was like a vacation. That's what it was called, right? She thought she remembered someone describing a day like this in that way, but it seemed a passing thought, not much to be concerned with remembering just at the moment. She gratefully accepted the treat from him, another thing they had shared together. Her grin turned rather mischievous, and she took a small bite of ice-cream before speaking, looking to the ocean horizon before looking back to her best friend.

"You kept me waiting long enough. I was starting to worry you got lost, and if I should gather a search party to come find you."[/b

Her grin made it obvious she was playfully teasing him, as if she hadn't been napping when he had returned. She looked at the ocean again, sighing at the peace around them. Finally, they'd had that day at the beach..or at least made it to the ocean. Still, it felt like something was missing, even though she knew it was just her and Roxas here.

"Hey Roxas...d'you ever get the feeling something's missing, but you can't figure out what it is or why?"

The waves seemed to come ever closer, slowly, but it didn't disturb Xion in the least; she knew that the flowing and ebbing waves were simply part of the ocean's nature, to come in and go back out. But where did it go to? She had often wondered this when they saw the lower tide, at least, it seemed to happen rather frequently on Destiny Islands, but that was always the best time to look for shells. She had quite a collection of them somewhere, mostly the ones called Thalassa Shells. They were smallish but beautifully colored and she loved them for some reason. She couldn't explain why, but she did. They were the ones she looked for most while at the beach.

Roxas speaking drew her attention to him, and seeing his smile made her smile. He seemed so down, lately. Probably a lot on his mind; she could understand that. But he looked so much better, happier, when he smiled, even if it was a small one. Someday, she hoped he could truly be happy. And if she could help, you better believe she'd be there. He was her best friend, after all. Wasn't that what friends did? Be there for each other, help them? Make them smile, forget what was wrong, even for a little while?

She sat up a bit, watching the ocean and looking to her friend, glad they were the only two here right now. It just felt right, for them to share this time together. Like the old days...

"You know, smiles look good on you. You should smile more often. It's not like the world will end if you smile.."

It was clear she was trying to make him feel better, tease him just a little to ease whatever it was that was bothering him.

When he replied, asking if she was okay, she nodded, but it's clear there was something on her mind. As a child with a puzzle that they are trying to piece together, to see what pieces are still missing, but wanting to see the whole picture before the puzzle is complete. She looked at the sunset, running a hand over her hair, quiet for a moment and then shaking her head.

”Maybe it's nothing.. Maybe I'm just overthinking things. Sometimes things get to you, you know? Can't let them get to you, though. Somehow things seem to figure themselves out.."

@tapir

It was clear to Xion that her best (and first) friend was definitely bothered by something, and she wondered if he too might be thinking of the past, of darker days, days that even now, in the friends' seized moment of peace and solitude, seemed to creep up and darken even the brightest of sunsets, despite the fact that the sun never set. In fact, this world held some troubled times, too, for both of them. What they were, exactly, escaped Xion at the moment, but she knew they were darker than she wanted to venture into just now. She was lost, momentarily, searching for the answer to the nagging feeling in the back of her mind, that echo that said she'd forgotten something, something important. But what? What was it??

Her ocean-blue eyes would be drawn to the waves, their frothed and foamy edges seeming to grasp, to grab at the sandy shore as if desperate to stay, to not be drawn back to the vast shiny and salty surface that was the ocean. As if they wanted to leave their mark..

As if they wanted to be remembered... Not forgotten..

The thought made Xion start, as if an important realization had occurred.. But it was still lost to her. Looking to Roxas, Xion wondered just how much her friend had been through. From what she remembered, she had been gone.. So what had happened after? Roxas had still been here, on his own? She hoped not. The thought of him alone in the Worlds made her frown; that didn't sound right. Roxas' words about what was bothering her not being nothing to him made her smile a bit, though this time the smile was tinged with sadness, and maybe concern for her friend.

"You always did believe in me, didn't you.. Roxas, you weren't alone while I was... away..were you? I wouldn't leave if I didn't think someone would be here with you. You know that, right? I wouldn't want you to think I forgot you. Does that make any sense? I don't know, I'm just, trying to say what I feel inside, I guess. What's on my mind.."

She palmed a Thalassa shell from her pocket, and handed it to Roxas. It seemed like a thing to do.

”I found some more of these when I was visiting another beach. I think I remember correctly that you like these too, yes?"

@tapir

Xion looked at Roxas, listening as he talked about a fight with 'Axel'. Apparently, from the way her friend spoke, they had been friends. But she couldn't remember any memories of this Axel they had been hanging out with. Could she have forgotten a person? Really? That didn't sound like her, but then, her memory wasn't exactly reliable lately, though she was curious to see if he was a 'missing piece' to part of the past. She at least didn't want to be leaving out a friend.. she watched Roxas with concern and some empathy when he tells her the two had fought, and she considers this quietly as he talks.

When I ran away...? From what? From where? And if I ran away, was it from something bad?

She watched him play with the shell, smiling as it seemed to inspire memory in him, and she listened curiously when he talked of being sick and her bringing him shells, and then as he mentioned her apparently being sick later he looked at her..
And his expression changed; Xion would have even referenced the 'seen a ghost' line people seemed to use when they saw someone or something unexpected. She was concerned when he stopped mid-sentence, waiting for him to continue. Was something wrong?

The moment seemed to pass before she could say anything, and she continued to watch Roxas with concern. He didn't finish what he was saying, but instead smiled sheepishly and apologized. She didn't think there was an apology needed, but she was more concerned with what had just happened.

"You don't have to apologize, it's all right. Are you okay? Maybe we've been out here too long, you need rest too, right? Can't just keep running around doing things and not get sleep.."

She had more questions now than she had started with, but her main question was answered. Roxas was still here, and, at least if he got rest, okay probably?

"Maybe we should call it a day for today, and tomorrow we can do this again, maybe? Or even go sit up on the clock tower like we used to?"

@tapir

Xion watched her best friend with some concern for his health and well-being. She was about to ask him if he was okay when he stood, scattering grains of sand everywhere. She looked up at him, nodding when he talks of taking a walk. She stood, too, brushing the sand from her cloak, watching it scatter to join the rest of the sand. She picked up the ice-cream stick, and after reading it, offered it to Roxas with a smile.

"Here...I think you should have this. I owe you, after all, for getting me an ice-cream. Have one, my treat."

Her blue eyes were round, genuine, her smile was honestly happy and she seemed to briefly shine with a light. However, this may possibly be a trick of the twilight sun, and dissipates as the two move from their current position. As they reach the streets, Xion continued to smile, but this time it's of familiarity, knowing these streets and backstreets and recalling fond wanderings of the streets on past visits with her best friend. Still...the memory was tainted with sadness, which she couldn't explain, and of a nagging feeling in the back of her head, as if an echo from the past whispers about reality. She paused in her step without realizing it, halted by this conflicting thinking. A sharp pang ran through her head and her hand clasped to it in momentary agony.

What's happening???

The moment passed quickly, and she brushed aside the nervous after-effects and hurried to catch up with Roxas.

"So, where did you want to go?"

@tapir

Something isn't right here.. where is everyone?

Even at whatever hour the time might be, Xion knew there would at least be a few people out and about still, right? So then, why were the streets so empty and silent? Could it be early in the day? No, that didn't make sense because how else would they have gotten ice-cream? Things didn't seem right, but Xion couldn't explain it. She also couldn't explain the on-edge feeling she was beginning to feel more strongly, as if something were about to happen, or when one knows something isn't right but you can't put a finger on it; it's enough to frustrate someone a lot, or to make them question a lot.

She caught up to Roxas quickly, running from a fear of being left behind, alone, in whatever strange thing was going on here. There weren't even any surrounding sounds, like birds or other animals. In fact it seemed the only thing that made any noise at all was the wind, sun-warmed and breezy, as it wove its way around the places and streets. One could almost say the silence and lack of people was..spooky. This feeling banished any sort of the confident familiarity and sense of peaceful sanctuary she had felt earlier. Moving closer to Roxas, she would walk quickly, as they made their way up to the Plaza.

"Oh, right! The view is always great from up there. Are we going all the way to the clock tower ledge?"

She doesn't mention the now somewhat eerie atmosphere the town has with its unnerving complete silence, but she didn't feel she had to; Roxas probably felt it too. That's what she liked about them, when they could spend time together. They seemed to be on the same page a lot of the time, and it was almost like...how has it been described once..siblings? She couldn't remember where she had heard that but it seemed that those who were together a lot could often share similar thoughts and ideas and feelings. It felt right; maybe they could be like the 'siblings'. She felt that the time they had shared and everything they had been through made them closer than just friends.

They entered the Station Plaza, and Xion trailed just a bit behind Roxas, so intent was she in her thinking, that she was startled when the sunset light suddenly was in her face. A glance around the plaza revealed they were alone, as it seemed they had been all along, today.

As she stepped into the plaza, a huge sense of dread filled her, as if something very bad was about to happen. But what? She couldn't argue the feeling, or deny it; it froze her in her steps, she wouldn't go any further into the plaza. Not on her own; and at the moment, she felt powerless to move even one step, or to breathe, or even speak. So intense was the dread that it seemed to paralyze her, even steal away her words.

No, I don't want to be here! Something is very wrong!

The thought was almost like an internal scream, a cry against whatever darkness or danger was here, or had been here; the complete and total sense of wrong was denied by every part of her. Images flashed once more, and this time they would not stop, a whirlwind of scenes and thoughts and possible memories.

The clock Tower, talking, anger, fear, despair, darkness, fighting, light, sadness, echoing thoughts of not wanting to do this, sorrow for having to, anger at having no other choice...!

And over it all the dread grows like darkness, seeking to swallow her up entirely until she no longer exists.

Her eyes lifted to Roxas, her best friend, closest companion, and there was a shadow over the blue, as if light had been diminished in her fear, as if whatever had happened here took away something treasured, something safe. Her eyes are panicked, begging for his help, weary with a heavy burden that is partly confusion and mostly fear and dread.

"Roxas...something happened here.. It's heavy..and dark.."

Her mind felt tired, in fact her whole body was beginning to feel that was, as if weighed down, unable to think as clearly as before. She felt almost sleepy, but it wasn't quite. She looked to her best friend, blue eyes saddened and confused, a hand on her head.

”Did I..did I hurt you, at some point? I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to..I just feel..very sad, like I did something wrong. Did I do something wrong?"

@tapir