Chapter Text
Xion ran as fast as she could. The foliage of the woods slowed her down as she had to avoid ditches and push bushes out of the way, but she had to run. She had to escape, or she would be left helpless against the heartless chasing her.
It was so fast... the giant lizard heartless was unlike anything she had ever seen, and when it wasn't trying to lunge at her, it was turning invisible and jumping through the trees. If only she had her keyblade, then she could try to defend herself and hopefully turn the tables on it, but as it stood she had no other option but to flee.
She wanted to turn her head around to see how far behind it was but she couldn't risk tripping over something. After a little more running she could see the walls around the town and she knew it was her chance to get away. She broke into a sprint when she heard the leaves of the trees rustling just behind her.
The black haired girl ran straight for the hole in the wall, but in her panic failed to see a piece of debris and tripped, falling just short of the hole. She gasped and started panicking more as she frantically tried to crawl forward, but when she looked up she saw a boy holding his hand out to her and without thinking twice she took it.
Xion shot herself up and was pulled along by the boy as the two of them ran forward out of the hole. Xion was pulled safe into the safety of the walls and she heard a thump from the wall, likely the heartless hitting a dead stop as it was too large to fit through the hole.
The boy slowed down to stop, however Xion's mind was still preoccupied with just trying to get away and she ran right into him as he slowed down to stop.
"Woah!" the boy shouted. He threw his arms around her as her body crashed into his, and just barely managed to keep her from falling on top of him. Instinctively, Xion held onto him to keep herself steady.
The two shared a few seconds in each others arms, and in that time Xion was able to get a look at him. He had spiky hair that was combed up and pointed to the back of his head, brown eyes, a black shirt as well as green camouflage pants and a yellow X-shaped necklace.
Xion let go and took a step back and took a moment to catch her breath, which was still shaky after her encounter with the heartless.
"Hey, are you okay?" the boy asked her.
She looked back up to meet his eyes, his expression curious though a little concerned. "Yeah.. Yeah, I'm okay." she said, still catching her breath. She felt a sense of wonder as she looked at him, "You... you saved me."
"Yeah, I guess I did." the blonde haired boy said before his own words seemed to actually register a second later. "Wait, I mean, I did?!" He looked surprised, "What happened? You were in danger?"
Xion nodded, "Yes, I was being chased. But.. you helped me get to safety. Thank you."
The boy looked concerned, "What was chasing you? Was it like an angry animal or something?"
Xion wasn't sure if he would understand what a Heartless was, and she was too out of breath to explain it. "Yeah, something like that."
"Wow, you must be really scared after that. I'm just glad I was there to be able to help you." he said. "Hey, what's your name?"
"Xion." she replied.
The boy gave her a smile, "My name is Hayner. So, uh, you want me to walk with you back to your place? You know, just so you have someone with you?" Hayner offered.
"I... I don't have anywhere to go." Xion said. It was true, she was still stuck on the mission she was assigned, and there was no way she could return to the castle like this. She couldn't tell Saix that she hadn't made any progress and she definitely couldn't tell him it was because she couldn't use her keyblade. If he found out... she didn't even want to think about what would happen.
"Oh..." Hayner frowned, but then his face seemed to light back up in realization. "Wait. You could stay at my place!"
That took Xion by surprise. She had never even considered being able to stay somewhere outside the castle, let alone with someone from another world. "Huh? Really?"
Hayner nodded, "Of course," he said as his smile began to return, "My parents are out for the next few days, so you'll have someplace to be while we get things worked out for you."
Xion thought about it. The organization probably wouldn't be happy if they knew she was staying with someone besides them, even if only temporary. But then again, she didn't have much an alternative--she couldn't go back to the castle until she finished her mission, which was impossible until she could use her keyblade again. Besides, staying the night at Hayner's place seemed a lot nicer, and safer, than sleeping out in the open.
"Okay," Xion said, "I'd be happy to stay with you for a couple days or so while I figure things out."
"Great!" Hayner smiled, "Follow me, I'll show you to my house."
Seeing Hayner's smile made Xion feel reassured. She had never interacted with anyone who was uninvolved with the organization and she was always told to avoid them, but the boy had saved her, and was being so nice to her... Suddenly, Xion wanted to get to know him better.
This is so weird, Xion thought as she walked by the blonde haired boy's side, I should be worried about my mission and my keyblade, but all of a sudden now I'm staying with a boy from Twilight Town, and I'm actually feeling kind of positive about it... Who knows? Maybe this will give me a chance to figure out how to summon my keyblade again.
It didn't take them too long to reach their house. "Well, here we are," Hayner said. He opened the door and held out a hand to motion her in, "Well? Come on in."
She slowly entered, and she felt a little amazed when she saw the inside of the house. The furniture was clean and well made, there were personal objects laying around, and the place just seemed... cozy, Xion thought. It was certainly a much nicer place to live than the castle, which was cold and empty besides the bare necessities.
"Wow..." Xion said as she walked into the house and looked around. She turned to Hayner and put her hands together, "You have a very nice house, Hayner."
Hayner put a hand in the back of his hair, "Heh, thanks. Just wait until you see my room." He took her hand, and she was pleasantly surprised by how warm it felt. "Come on, take a seat."
He led her to the leather couch in the living room and invited her to sit down, which she did. "Make yourself comfortable, alright?" Hayner said, "I'll go get you some snacks. I'll be just a minute."
Xion enjoyed how comfortable the couch felt--it was certainly a lot nicer than the cold, hard ones in the castle. Looking around, Xion could see some pictures on the walls. One was of Hayner and presumably his parents, and another was of him grinning along with a boy and girl who looked the same age as him. Could those be his friends? Xion looked at the picture and wondered if she could be Hayner's friend.
After a minute Hayner walked back into the room and sat next to Xion, then handed her a plate with a sandwich and a bowl of grapes. "Here you go, Xion. Lemme know if you need anything else, I'm going to go get something to munch on myself."
"Thank you." Xion said, to which Hayner gave her a smile and a nod before getting up to go back into the kitchen. She snacked on the food he had gotten her, and she found it quite tasty.
Hayner walked back into the room and sat again beside her. The two ate together, and at some point Hayner looked over at her, "Hey, you can take off your shoes and gloves if you want."
That took Xion by surprise a little; the organization made her wear them at all times outside her bedroom. "Oh, yeah, I was distracted thinking about things so I forgot to take them off." Xion slipped the gloves off her hands and the boots off her feet, setting them aside, and found herself feeling more comfortable. She gave him a grateful smile, and he smiled back.
"So," Hayner said after another moment of them eating, "Tell me a little more about yourself. What's the deal with you not having a place to stay?"
Xion froze, trying to think of a way to answer the question. She would be in big trouble if the organization found out she was talking about its existence to people outside it. Even if she could talk to him about it, he was just an ordinary boy from this world, and the organization's existence would bring up too many questions that she just couldn't give the answers to. Still, Hayner was being kind to her and she didn't want to break his trust by being completely dishonest with him.
It seemed like the best way to go about things would be to give him a general description of her situation while leaving out anything about the organization. "Well," Xion started, "I'm from out of town, and I lost my keys the other day. Until I find a way to get them back, I'm not going to be able to get my way back home. Plus, there's other stuff I can't get to without my keys that I have to return home with." It was true enough; she was missing a key, and without her key she was unable to return to the castle with her report of defeating the heartless.
"Ah, so you just need to stay until you find your keys?" Hayner asked, "You could try to file a missing object report, maybe that could help."
"Maybe," Xion said, knowing full well it'd be impossible to file a report for a missing keyblade, "But I think I want to try finding them myself first. I think I should be able to."
"Well, I hope you have luck in finding them." Hayner said.
Xion nodded before taking another bite of her sandwich. "So, what about you, Hayner?" Xion asked, looking at him with interest, "I'd like to get to know you better as well. I mean, it's only fair now that I told you a little about myself, right?"
"Oh, me?" Hayner said before shrugging, "Well, I'm pretty into sports, you know struggle and grandstander and stuff. I've been practicing for the next tournaments coming up, and I think I've gotten good enough to win this year."
"Practice?" Xion asked. She didn't know much about this "struggle" or "grandstander" thing, but if there was some kind of exercise involved, it could help her get her keyblade back. "Could I join you in practicing?"
The blonde's eyes widened a little before giving Xion a smile. Something about Hayner's smile seemed so.. reassuring to her, Xion thought. This was such a difficult and unfamiliar situation she found herself in, but he was taking care of her and making her feel safe and just being kind to her.
"Of course we can practice together," Hayner said. He stood up, "Come on up to my room, I've got a second struggle bat for you."
The two walked upstairs to his room. When Xion walked in with him, she was impressed by all the stuff he had lying around, as well as the soft carpet on her feet. His bed looked really comfortable, too. She wished her room in the castle could be half as nice as Hayner's was.
"Wow, your room has so much stuff in it." Xion said.
Hayner put a hand in his hair, "Heh, yeah, sorry it's a bit cluttered. I still have to get around to cleaning things up."
"Oh, no, I didn't mean it like that," Xion was quick to reply, "I mean your room feels like it's personalized to you and the stuff you like. My room back home is just empty, so I mean, I wish my room were more like yours."
Hayner looked back at her while he was walking over to where he kept his sports equipment, "Huh, when you put it like that, maybe I don't need to clean my room so badly after all. Thanks, Xion."
Xion looked down, "Well, maybe it wouldn't hurt to move just a little of this stuff off the floor."
He started to laugh, and she found herself laughing too. It was nice being able to laugh about stupid stuff like this with someone. In fact, something about the moment stood out as special to Xion, though she couldn't put her finger on what it was.
The two gave each other a fond look after the laugh they shared, and Hayner walked over to hand her a struggle bat, which she accepted. The handle was shaped sort of like a sword, she noticed. Maybe this would jog something in her memory about the keyblade?
"Thanks," Xion said, "Um, by the way... Where am I staying when I go to sleep? Am I staying the night in your room?"
Hayner's face went red for some reason. "Oh, no, the guest room is already free, you can stay in there." Hayner said, "Besides, uh, I already don't think my parents would be thrilled to learn I had a girl staying over without their permission. If they found out a girl slept in my room, I'd be grounded for sure!"
"I can have my own room to stay in?!" Xion asked, surprised. "Oh, thank you Hayner!"
This meant a lot to Xion, as it meant she'd have a private spot where she could try getting her keyblade summoning to work again. Oh, and it was fair that Hayner's parents wouldn't want her sleeping with him in his room.
"It's nothing," Hayner said with a smile, "Come on, Xion, let's get started on some practice."
The two walked down to put their shoes on and went outside to the backyard. It was a small fenced in area with well kept grass, a good place to practice Xion thought. Hayner explained the rules of grandstander, which was pretty simple; all she needed to do was keep the ball in the air by hitting it as many times as possible before it hit the ground.
On the count of three, Xion threw her ball into the air alongside Hayner and the two began chaining hits to keep them in the air. Since she was doing this for the first time, she was only able to keep it in the air for a few hits before she lost it and the ball hit the ground. Hayner concentrated on keeping his above the ground, but stopped when he noticed Xion had already lost.
The blonde walked over to her, "Harder than it looks, isn't it?"
Xion giggled, "Yeah, and it sounded so simple too. But I know I can get better at this, just a couple more tries and I should have the hang of it."
Hayner smirked, "Confident, huh? I like that. Let's see what you can get going on the next try."
Xion picked her ball up and started another round with Hayner. She didn't do that much better this time, only keeping the ball in the air for one more hit until it got away from her. But within a couple more goes at it, Xion had managed to keep the ball above the ground for up to eight hits.
The girl was having so much fun that she had almost forgot about trying to remember something about summoning her keyblade. She realized that swinging this bat around did feel like swinging her keyblade around, so she might be making progress towards figuring something out.
On the next round, Xion felt herself deeply concentrated on trying to keep the ball above her. She was doing especially around until twelve hits, when the ball bounced away from her. She ran after it but was so focused that she didn't notice herself running right into Hayner, who was running towards her trying to catch his own ball.
The two bumped into each other, causing Xion to stumble back and fall on her butt. She looked over at Hayner, who had also fallen back onto the ground. They looked at each other for a second and, realizing what had happened, both started laughing.
It was stupid, but something about it was just so funny to her, and hearing Hayner laugh only elevated her own laughter. As their laughs died down and she shared a moment where they both sat smiling at each other, Xion realized she was starting to enjoy spending time with Hayner. Not only was he nice and accomodating with the way he had looked after her, he also made her laugh and was fun to hang out with. It really started to feel like he was her friend now.
"You know, you're actually pretty good at this," Hayner said as he got up, "Are you sure this isn't your first time doing this?"
Xion stood up as well, "I told you I'd get the hang of it." the girl said, seeming quite satisfied.
She walked over to the boy, "So, Hayner, I was wondering. Do you think.. the two of us could be friends?"
Hayner gave her a grin, "Of course we can be friends. I mean, I was already starting to feel like we were." he said, before seeming to realize something. "Wait, I totally have to introduce you to Pence and Olette! I'm sure you guys would get along just fine."
Introducing herself to even more people of this world? That didn't exactly fit in with the organization's policy of keeping a low profile, but what was the worst that could happen? Besides, Xion liked the idea of making new friends, and since Hayner was nice his friends probably would be too.
Xion nodded, "I would definitely like to meet them," she said before brushing some hair out of her face, "It is a little late though. Do you think we could get some sleep for the night first?"
"Of course," Hayner said, "I was planning on introducing you to them tomorrow anyways. Plus, you must be exhausted from earlier. Come on, I'll show you your room."
They walked into the house together and Hayner showed her to the guest room. It had a comfortable looking bed with a drawer beside it, a desk, and a rug that felt soft on her feet. Besides that it was mostly empty, but it was still way nicer than her room in the castle.
Xion and Hayner gave each other a "good night", and then she was alone in the room, free to collect her thoughts. The first thing she tried was summoning her keyblade, trying to recapture how it felt swinging her bat around as if it were a keyblade. She didn't have any success summoning it, though she could feel warmth in her hands when she tried, proof she was at least getting closer to getting results. That at least gave her some hope.
She yawned and decided to get some rest after the long day. As she sat on the bed, she thought about how scared and lost and almost helpless she was when the day started, but then she met Hayner... Hayner, who had taken care of her and treated her as a friend, and given her hope that she could get her keyblade back.
Feeling safe and reassured, Xion was able to fall asleep without issue.