Two Plus One.
...
July 30

I woke up the following morning, and hauled myself out of my dark, windowless room. Everything around me was swallowed in blackness, and I found myself wondering (Just like most other mornings I could remember) if it was in fact light outside, or if it was still some deep, early morning hour where the night was still it's pretty velvet blue.

I opened the door, my icy blue eyes being instantly shattered by the bright whiteness of day. I headed down the long, cataclysmic hallways toward The Grey Area, wondering just a few simple queries in my gradually awakening mind:

A) What kind of mission I might have today, and with whom?
B) Were Axel and the others home from their confidential mission yet?

In The Grey Area, I saw several of my comrades, something that was obviously very typical. However, unlike yesterday, nobody seemed to be having any interesting or secretive conversations.

I saw Demyx, his normally shimmering blue eyes closed, as he lay in the state between wakefulness and distant drowsiness. The blonde hair of his crazy haircut hung easily down in his face. Xaldin, a man of mystery, sat on a couch alone. His eyes were focussed and hard, as was his expression, and his attitude. He had long tangles of black hair in dread locks and his face was rough with coarse hair of the same colour. I had never really said much to him before.

Other than those two, there was Saix, Xigbar pushed past me seconds after I entered the room and headed to sit beside Xaldin. I had assumed that nobody else was up yet, at least the ones who weren't off on assignment already, or with Axel.

Speaking of him, I didn't see that crazy redhead that I sickeningly adored at this point. That was something that made me feel like my invisible heart was sinking in my body; like the depths of my insides were nothing but quicksand. However, I tried to shake off these thoughts - after all, that's all they were. Thoughts. I felt nothing of the sort. (Or so I had then thought.)

Saix eyed me rather impatiently from across the room, and I figured suddenly that in his mind, I was just standing around gawking at everything in The Grey Area I had seen just yesterday. I swallowed, picked up the pace of my steps and rushed towards him to gather my assignent. At the very last minute, I noticed Xion standing close beside him.

"Roxas." Saix started, in his monotonous tongue, his eyes sinking into mine like sharp fingernails. "I'm going to be pairing you with Xion again today. Seeing as you did a suitable job yesterday," He glanced over at Xaldin and Xigbar (Who were now carrying on a muffled conversation) as well as the now fully snoring Demyx. "...I've decided to leave the harder, more urgent jobs up to the more capable recruits. Training our newest member is a fine task for you."

I knew he had openly insulted me by calling me pretty much useless, but I didn't really mind much. I figured I was better off with Xion, anyway - I wasn't really prepared in body or in mind to tackle a mission myself, and Axel wasn't back yet to team up with me, something I was pretty certain I still depended on.

I nodded my head at Saix's orders, and glanced over at Xion. "Good morning," I stated politely, smiling, hoping maybe to get just one peep out of her. I would feel somehow accomplished.

Her head turned towards me, and I think she might have been smiling, although I couldn't see through the giant shadow her large hood shrouded over her face. She said nothing, and her gaze was averted from my general direction after not too long.

Saix told me I'd be going to Twilight Town to eliminate a giant Heartless. (Something I hadn't done as of yet, and wasn't especially looking forward to..) So, I opened the dark hallway of murky purple and black, and headed towards it, Xion a step and a half behind me.

...

This mission had been a little more difficult than my previous ones, for obvious reasons. Giant monsters of Heartless were nothing like the everyday type I had destroyed many times in the past. It was complete brawn, and it had me worn out just chasing it, let alone trying to defeat it...

Anyway, only one particularly good thing had been born from such a cruel mission - I had discovered a little something about Xion. She used the Keyblade, just like me! It felt good to know that I wasn't the only one who had a purpose of collecting hearts, and who used such an oddly shaped weapon. It made me feel...back then, I wouldn't have known what to call it, but I can tell you what it is, now. I felt extreme happiness, in it's purest form.

When all the fighting was over, I opened the gateway to RTC. I waited for Xion to walk inside, but, she didn't. I didn't walk inside either, but that's because I had a place to be - that same place I had to be, everyday after work. I waited for a second, but she just stared at me. It felt..weird.

"I have a place I need to go. You can go ahead and RTC, Xion." I stated, trying to maybe give her that nudge she needed to go. Maybe she was waiting for permission, considering I was the one put in charge of this small time operation. "I'll see you later," I told her, wondering if I actually would.

Xion still didn't move, and I thought maybe something was the matter. I continued to juggle around possible theories about her strange behaviour, and why she was...malfunctioning, almost. "Xion? Are you - "

"...Roxas."

Suddenly, a low down, girlish voice of small magnitude cut the air, and I felt somehow startled. Had she just...spoken to me? Finally?

I stared at her in disbelief, almost, but it was a sort of gladness and lightness of the chest. I felt like I had done something right, maybe, and upon hearing her voice an extreme guilt took mixture with this fluffy joyfulness - guilt, realizing at the first sound she had ever made in front of me, that she wasn't a 'malfunctioning' robot the way I had portrayed her just minutes ago. She was a very confused person, just like I had been many weeks ago.

"Xion?" I said, wanting to urge her on as much as possible. I continued to watch her, and her invisible eyes were on me as well.

Xion brought her small hands and slender fingers up to her face, and she clasped the hood somehow gracefully. She flipped it down with the utmost simplicity, and then, for the first time, I had layed eyes on the other most important person in my life, during the course of this story. I let my eyes touch her now, and I never wanted to avert them elsewhere.

Now I had a good look at her: She was a petite girl, short in stature with a very gentle looking face. Her hair was choppy and black, barely reaching her shoulders and it somehow matched well with her almost opaque and lost, glass like eyes. She was like a porcelain doll.

I smiled at her, and I received a small, weak smile in return.

I thought about where I was going. The Clock Tower...everything about that place was simply irresistible. The warm sun on my face that was like the soft touch of a beautiful angel, the coolness and satisfaction of the ice cream after doing an exhausting mission. The view from above, where almost everything was seen with the naked eye; nothing could hide from the touch of your vision. I thought about that beautiful place, and there was something that gave me the same feeling the wind did when it whipped a cold breeze up my spine. The feeling of isolation and loneliness had made an unpleasant new home there, since Axel had deported himself for that strange mission two days ago. I had adapted what felt like a fear of this cold shoulder feeling, and I suddenly had an idea - one that was going to fix that problem for me, while still retaining Axel's and my tradition.

"Hey...I'm going to get some ice cream, and sit up on the Clock Tower for a while. Me and Axel always do that, after work," I started, taking a few steps towards Xion, enough to reach over and seal up the portal of darkness I had created earlier. Each day it took less effort, and the gateway to the castle was easily closed, like zipping up a noiseless zipper in thin air. "It's the icing on the cake. Do you want to come with me, today?"

I waited for her response, hoping she would agree - I'll admit, I was getting pretty excited. I mean, we could actually carry on a conversation, now! It might not be in much depth, but, it was a start, wasn't it?

After a moment, Xion nodded her head, another smile crossing her lips.

I started to walk, showing her the way, and before I knew it, she was sitting on the side of me that Axel didn't, and we were enjoying all my favourite things about Twilight Town and the Clock Tower, together. It felt good to have some company, even if she wasn't the best communicator yet. I knew that would change in due time.

And about Axel? I guess I'd have to explain to him that Xion just might be having ice cream with us everyday from now on - at least, that's how I imagined it then. I was sure he wouldn't mind. After all, it was going to be better now. More people to talk to, more stories to share, more laughs to be had...what wasn't good about two plus one?

For once, I was right about something. Or, at least half right. With one more person, that's one more importance to stress about, to care about and to support - something that was going to eventually become increasingly overwhelming for me.