Chapter Text
Another day in Twilight Town, with a sleepy sense of calm that was quickly becoming strangely familiar to the four new residents. It wasn’t long ago they were fighting a battle, some on opposite sides, for the the fate of the worlds. Today they were grabbing lunch, sitting on the steps of the train station and watching people come and go. Axel, Roxas, Xion, and Isa, the four strangers that Twilight Town had been quick to welcome as locals who were still adjusting to a quiet life.
“Hey! Roxas!”
Well, relatively quiet.
Hayner came running up, shouting and waving his arms to get Roxas’s attention. Roxas, who was nodding and making a ‘dude quiet down’ motion with his hands, got to his feet and accepted the greeting high five from his friend. It didn’t matter to either of them that they’d only been friends in a fictional datascape, Hayner had been quick to accept Roxas into the group and Roxas had easily fallen back into their old dynamic.
“What’s up?” Roxas asked. “And don’t say Seifer, cause I know he’s a jerk but keyblades really aren’t for showing jerks who’s boss.”
“You’ll change your mind on that when you hear what he’s been saying about you,” Hayner said with a smirk. “But no, that’s not why I’m here. I need you and your magic friends for a totally kickass mission.”
“And how much does this ‘totally kickass mission’ pay?” Axel remarked dryly from the steps, a smirk on his lips.
“None for you,” Hayner replied. “You’re still on thin ice.”
“Jeez, one kidnapping and-” Axel started to joke, but Isa elbowed him in the ribs and his joke turned into a grunt of pain. “Yeah, I really am sorry about that.”
“Besides!” came a response mixed with panting as Pence and Olette ran up to join the group. Pence recovered his breath, hands on his knees before speaking again. “Besides! It’s not about the pay!”
“It’s about the adventure!” Olette said.
“And discovering Twilight Town’s hidden secrets!” Pence added.
“C’mon, you’re in, right?” Hayner asked. “You’re totally in.”
Roxas looked back to the other three.
“Sounds like fun,” Xion said with a smile, and Isa just shrugged and nodded.
“Why not, it’s getting boring around here anyway,” Axel sighed, standing and stretching.
“You were just talking about taking a third nap of the day,” Isa pointed out.
“I can have a steady balance of action to sleeping if I want,” Axel shot back. “I’m a man of hidden depths.”
“You’re just lazy.” Isa sighed, making Xion and Roxas laugh.
“Traitors,” Axel said, hands on his hips as he pretended to glare down at the teenagers.
“We’re in,” Roxas said to Hayner. “What’s the mission?”
“Well first, you’re going to need a change of clothes!” Olette said.
The four “magic friends” made confused expressions and examined their clothes, before Olette gestured for them to follow her.
Back at the Usual Spot, Olette unpacked a big cardboard box. Her and the others had pooled their money to get the t-shirts and jackets made, and they were all pretty proud of them. They were all black, with the letters T.T.P.S. on the back and a picture on the front of the clocktower with a mysterious monster winding its way up around it. On the jackets the picture was on the right arm.
“T.T.P.S?” Xion asked, eying the jacket she’d chosen.
“Twilight Town Paranormal Society!” Pence explained with a grin. “It’s our new organization!”
The four former Organization XIII members shared an ironic an pained look.
“So you study the paranormal?” Isa asked, putting on his own jacket.
“Yeah, there’s a whole lot of weird stuff going on in Twilight Town,” Hayner said. “I’m sure you’ve noticed it.”
“The Seven Wonders,” Roxas said fondly.
“Not just that!” Olette said. “There’s been reports of even weirder stuff than magic staircases and moving bags.”
“Someone’s gotta deal with this stuff,” Hayner said. “Who better than us?”
“Right.” Axel smirked. “So where do we start, shorty?”
“Shorty?” Hayner huffed, rounding on Axel angrily.
“That’s easy,” Pence said, ignoring the impending altercation and flipping open his laptop. “Lately, people on the Twilight Town Community page have been complaining about a lot of weird stuff. Things going missing, fights breaking out, and strange shadows.”
“Shadows?” Isa asked, his face growing thoughtful.
“Could be heartless?” Xion asked, and he shrugged.
“We shouldn’t be quick to assume,” he said. “We haven’t seen any heartless in a long time, and rushing to conclusions is dangerous.”
“If it’s heartless, we’re ready,” Roxas said. “So no worries!”
“We thought it could be that too,” Olette said. “That’s why we wanted you guys on the case.”
“Good to have a couple of keyblade wielders on any dangerous job,” Axel said. “Oh, and Isa.”
Isa rolled his eyes.
“We were going to check out the main square,” Olette said. “That’s where most of the weird stuff has been happening.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Roxas asked. Him and the other kids nodded and started running for the main square. Axel and Isa waited behind a bit.
“It’s good to see them hanging out with other kids,” Axel said fondly. “They need a normal life.”
“Yeah…” Isa said. “So do we, Lea.”
Axel sighed and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly before nodding. “We do, don’t we? Kinda forgot.”
“Of all the things to not have memorized,” Isa teased. “The fact that you’re human?”
“Hey we weren’t human for a really long time,” Axel pointed out. “It’s been sneaking around and killing for longer than I can remember.”
Axel sighed and his shoulders dipped a little as he thought about it. He had been really worried about Roxas and Xion adjusting to a normal life, but here he was struggling with it.
Isa approached him, looking seriously at him for awhile before poking him in the temple.
“Cheer up,” he said. “You’ll get wrinkles.”
“Hey now,” Axel chuckled, batting Isa’s hand away. “You’re three months older than me you know, if anyone’s at risk of wrinkles.”
“Well, you’re the one playing mom to all these kids,” Isa smirked. “I hear parenting ages you tremendously.”
“Oh, like you’re getting out of this,” Axel said. “I saw you helping Xion text Naminé the other day, you’re in mom-town too.”
Isa shrugged. “Well, you going to go watch your kids or are we just going to sit here all day and argue over who’s gone softer?”
“You’re just scared cause you know I can out-argue you,” Axel said triumphantly. Isa rolled his eyes and took Axel’s chin in his hand, pulling him into a kiss.
“Well, at least something shuts you up,” Isa smirked.
“Cheater!” Axel swiped playfully at Isa, who dodged effortlessly and gestured to follow the kids.