Chapter Text
It was lonely in there. Despite so many people's hearts passing through, Xion felt so alone in his heart. There was no one to talk to and nothing to see. She didn't know how long it had been since her battle with Roxas but it feels like it had been years. Shouldn't she have seen him pass through? Did Roxas even fulfil her wishes? Xion sat on the floor of the stained glass and hugged her knees while crying for what felt like the millionth time. "Please, just let me see somebody, anybody..." She cried softly. Suddenly, a small light shone on the other side of the heart, catching Xion's attention. Wiping at her eyes and raising her head, Xion stared at it with confusion "What in the worlds?" She questioned. The light grew brighter and, and...was it growing larger? The light burst into hundreds of particles and they started forming a large set of doors. At the same time, a soft voice spoke inside her head. "𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘰𝘬. 𝘉𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦." It had whispered. "Another world?" The girl stood up and cautiously wandered over to the door in a trance. "Reclaim... my name." She reached out. The door seemed to pulse with her increasing heart rate. "𝘖𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳, 𝘟𝘪𝘰𝘯." The air was tense and she couldn't breathe. Xion quickly grabbed the doorknobs and threw both doors wide open, filling her circular prison with a bright light. Then, she was falling.
It. Smelled. It smelled 𝘣𝘢𝘥. When Xion finally came to, the stench was so strong that it nearly made her throw up. "Ugh so gross..." She sat up and looked around. Was this a dump? Was this a joke?! While she wasn't in a literal dump, Xion did land in a pile of garbage wedged in-between two buildings. Her face scrunched up and she picked herself up out of the pile of rotting filth she found herself in. "Thanks a lot, stupid door," Xion muttered and brushed the clinging trash off of her coat before walking. Where was this place? It didn't look like any of the worlds she and Roxas had visited before. At least in terms of aesthetic, the town closely resembled Twilight Town, but the sky wasn't red or orange. Instead, it was a pretty shade of blue without a cloud in sight. She didn't realize she was standing in the middle of the street until a voice broke her out of her haze. "Watch out lady!" Some little kids shouted at her and signalled for her to get out of the way while flying by on bikes, skateboards, and scooters. Xion watched them ride by and felt a small pang of loneliness again. "Where am I?" She wondered out loud. "Where are you? Sweetie, did you hit your head? You're in Olebrook." Xion jumped in surprise and turned on her heel to face the newcomer. In front of her stood a stern-looking older woman with her arms crossed. Her hair was grey and pulled up into a neat, tight bun at the top of her head. Her face looked disapproving and her nose was scrunched, no doubt from the smell that Xion was radiating. In the woman's arms was a broom, she was probably in the middle of cleaning before Xion had come along. Xion smiled sheepishly and rubbed her arm. "Sorry...I'm new in around here and I guessed I must have missed the town's sign..." She quickly lied. Was it a lie though? She is, in fact, new and she didn't come across any signs. The woman shook her head, muttered something about teenagers, and went back to sweeping her porch steps. Leaving the woman behind, Xion continued onwards and opted to try and explore the town. "So, this is Olebrook." The town looked nice enough. It was, for a lack of a better term, cozy. The buildings were tall and packed close together, the roads and sidewalks were narrow and somewhat unkempt. There were trees neatly lined up and down the streets and wooden poles with wires crisscrossing along the rooftops near some open windows. All sorts of music poured through the streets and the citizens were lively with one another. It was decently hilly and there were plenty of people wandering around the place. Most of the pedestrians paid her no mind, but a few certainly smelled her. They were kind enough to not make a scene but Xion knew from their faces and side-glances that it was bad.
After wandering the town for a while, Xion came across a public restroom. Her eyes lit up with joy as she quickened her pace. Maybe she could wash her hair with the sinks and maybe get rid of most of the smell! The bathrooms were spacious and luckily for her, unoccupied which allowed her to get to work without being embarrassed. The sinks were too small for her to completely stick her head under. She grabbed some paper towels and wetted them. Her hair felt grossly clumpy and crunchy as she worked the wet paper towel and soap through it. After a minute or so, she looked in the mirror, Xion giggled to herself at how foamy her hair had gotten. She worked her hair into various shapes and watched with serenity as it lost its shape and slowly fell over. She styled her hair to make some horns, a heart, spikes, she even matched Sora's hair at some point. A smile worked its way onto her face and Xion rinsed out her hair and began to wash her face and limbs. About 25 minutes later, Xion was as clean as she could get and she managed to reduce the smell of the trash. Satisfied with her work and running her hands through her damp hair, she went back outside to explore the town some more. Maybe she could find some munny and get something to eat. Watching teens and kids run around and playing made her heart hurt. It's funny, now that she's out of Sora's heart after begging to see other people, she feels even lonelier than before. Sora's heart had provided a sense of security and felt like home. She knew that she wasn't alone and she believed in some way, she was even helping Sora. Olebrook felt so cold in comparison. Great. Xion could feel her eyes welling up with tears again. the last thing she wants is to break down crying in the middle of some unknown town full of unknown people. She kept her gaze down to avoid any odd looks while she rubbed at her eyes. At least, that was the plan... She ended up bumping into someone and stumbled backwards ready to offer an apology, but the stranger her beat her to words. "Hey now, watch where you're going!" That voice. That's......that's 𝘩𝘪𝘴 voice! Xion looked up. He didn't have the marks under his eyes but there was no mistaking that bright red hair and those toxic green eyes.
"Axel?"