Xion set down the box she was carrying next to the closet and began digging through for items that could be deemed as "useless clutter," to be gotten rid of on Xemnas's orders. After a certain member (Demyx) had been found with his room covered with music books all over the floor, the boss had ordered that they all clean out anything they didn't need. Admittedly, she didn't have much in her room to get rid of since she'd only been around for a little over one hundred days, but it still meant at least cleaning out her closet of everything that Xemnas would probably demand get tossed out.
"Alright, let's get to work." She nodded to herself before going through her belongings. Her Organization robes were hung up neatly, with the pants hung up underneath the cloak and her boots in the corner. The single casual outfit she owned (Vexen had bought it for her before he left, she thought) was kept folded in the corner and out of the way on the off chance she needed to go undercover. She almost decided then that there was nothing that she needed to clean out at that moment, but stopped when she saw a small box on the top shelf. She summoned her Keyblade and used the blade portion to push the box forward, hooking the key onto the back to pull it towards her and off the shelf. The box slid easily, and as soon as it fell off the shelf she sent away her Keyblade to catch it.
Box in hand, she sat down on the bed and opened it up. When she saw its contents, a soft smile fell upon her face. Inside the box were shells of all different colors from her early missions, back when she'd been sent frequently to the beach. Admittedly, it hadn't been the best time of her life; she'd collected some of those for Roxas in hopes that he'd wake up to see them, but she'd kept some for herself as well simply because they were pretty. And now that Roxas was fine, she could appreciate them just as they were.
As she picked up one shell, a plain white one that looked as though it had a mouth and teeth, her head began pounding.
"S-! R-!" a small girl with red hair approached two boys, a smile wide on her face. It felt like static was blocking their names, and their faces felt hard to make out.
"K-! What's up?"
"I wanted to give you these." She gave the two boys bracelets made up of the same shell. One was painted a bright yellow, and the other a bright red. On her wrist, she had a pink one that matched.
"You made these!" One boy looked at his bracelet with awe. The second boy looked over his own with a small smile as well.
The girl nodded. "They're friendship bracelets! That way no matter what happens, you'll always have something of me with you."
There was a slight feeling of sadness at the statement, and despite not feeling anything more there was a feeling of fear as though being taken from her friends was something that had happened to the girl once before and that she was afraid of happening to her again.
Before any elaboration could be given, Xion was pulled from the memory of her time before the Organization abruptly, leaving her confused as she glanced down at the shell in her hand once more.
"A friendship bracelet..." She couldn't keep the shells in the box in her closet anymore, not if she didn't want Xemnas mad anyways, but if she could get a few more shells like these, then maybe she could make bracelets like those for her current friends too.
It was about a month later, with the shells locked away in her drawers away from Xemnas's eye, that Xion finally managed to finish a mission early enough to go to the beach in her off time, so she took advantage of the opportunity almost as soon as it appeared. Her eyes skimmed the white sand for the ones from her memories. She could picture them in her head still, small and rounded, with a small opening that looked like teeth that would easily hold a string without allowing it to slide off.
She skimmed her hand over the sand, ignoring the feelings of familiarity as she searched, knowing that they belonged to a life she could no longer remember.
"You're looking for shells?" Xion turned around at the sound of a new voice, surprised to see a girl with dark red hair behind her. She almost summoned a corridor of darkness in panic, as they were never supposed to be noticed in the worlds they visited. The girl had evidently picked up on this, because she raised her hands in an attempt to show she had nothing on her to hurt Xion with. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to know." She smiled.
Deciding that, for now, she could at least answer the question, Xion nodded. "I am. I'm hoping to make bracelets for my best friends."
The girl nodded, and knelt down, her eyes skimming the area in front of her, much to Xion's confusion. "I used to do that all the time when I first got here," she said, her voice soft as though thinking of a good memory from her past. "I stopped a few months ago, when I lost my best friends."
Kind words full of reassurances almost escaped Xion's mouth, but there wasn't much more she could say. She didn't know the girl's best friends, even if she once had. "I'm sorry."
"It's alright, I know they're out there somewhere." The girl picked up a shell, and passed it over to Xion, reminding her once more of the search she'd been intending. "And I'll be here waiting for them when they return."
Xion nodded, unsure of what to say, and returned to her initial search for shells as she grabbed a few more that she managed to find. She expected them to continue to search in silence when the girl spoke up again. "You're from another world, aren't you?"
"I am." She could have lied to her, but given the girl's pre-existing knowledge, perhaps it wouldn't matter if she mentioned the other worlds after all. "You've been to other worlds?"
"A couple," the girl said. "My friends are on other worlds too."
"If I see them, I'll let them know you're looking." Something deep in her told Xion that she wouldn't manage to find the girl's friends, but there was a part of her that felt a connection with the girl. A vague inkling that maybe, before she'd become a Nobody, she and the girl had been close. "Maybe I could have my friend's search too?"
The girl shook her head, a sad smile forming on her face. "Thank you. I have a feeling they're not ready to come home yet, but I'll see them again soon." She held out the shells she'd collected to Xion, who took them. "Do you know how to make the bracelets? I can help if you don't."
"I'd appreciate it." Xion smiled, the help appreciated given her memories had never supplied the steps to make them.
The girl grabbed her hand. "Let's go to my house then, my parents won't mind, and I can show you how and lend you paint!"
She spent the rest of the free time after her mission working on the bracelets and making a new friend.
It was late when Xion had arrived back in the castle, late enough that even Saïx had turned in for the night. She hadn't intended to stay on the islands that late, but the girl (her name had been Kairi) kept her late and she hadn't been ready to leave. As it was, she was probably going to be in trouble for not turning in a mission report, but had she stayed any later she wouldn't have left until morning and that would have gotten her a worse punishment than the one she was already looking forward to.
As she started to walk the corridor to her room, she heard her name and turned around to face a very worried Roxas, followed by a concerned Axel. "We've been looking everywhere for you."
"You have?" Xion asked.
Axel rubbed a hand through his spiked hair, as though embarrassed. "Well not everywhere, but we were already worried when you didn't show up at the clocktower, and then when Saïx said you never rtced..."
They'd gone looking, which was probably why they were still up at this hour. Xion couldn't help but smile. Even if she'd felt bad for causing them to be so worried, it meant that she could give them the bracelets now instead of waiting for tomorrow. "I'm sorry, if I'd known I'd be on the beach this late, I would've found a way to let you know."
"You were at the beach?" Roxas tilted his head slightly, waiting for an answer as to why an impromptu beach trip was even taken, let alone one that would take hours.
She pulled out the two extra bracelets she'd made, one now a bright red and the other a light blue. "I had a memory of who I was before. I used to make bracelets like these for my friends then. Now that I remembered, I wanted to give them to you too."
Axel and Roxas both were caught off guard, though Axel recovered faster, giving Xion a big grin. "So you wanted to surprise us? Well, I'd say this is a pretty good surprise, right Roxas?"
Axel nudged Roxas with his elbow, pulling him from his thoughts. "Right." He nodded. "Did you make one for yourself too?"
She nodded, and lifted up her wrist to reveal the purple shell bracelet she'd made herself. "Of course. They're meant to connect us together, I couldn't just not make one for me."
"Axel and I could've made one for you, right?" Roxas asked.
At that comment, Axel laughed, though he disguised it as a cough. "I suppose we would've, it might have been made out of ice cream sticks instead of sea shells though, knowing Roxas."
"I could've gone to the beach and collected shells!"
At Roxas's protest, Xion held back a giggle. "Even if it was made out of ice cream sticks, I would've loved it anyways." And she would've. It would've been a gift from her friends and that would've been priceless.
She watched them share a grin, before Axel turned to face Xion once more. "Anyways, it's getting late, and after spending so much time searching. I'm beat." He started down the hallway, beginning the walk to his room. "I'll see you both tomorrow before our missions."
"Of course." Xion smiled. "And Roxas, Axel, I promise, next time I'm late, I'll let you both know, so you don't have to worry about me."
"We'll hold you to it."
As Axel and Roxas left down the hallway, Xion went to her own room, a smile on her face and a spring in her step.
Sure, she still had some paperwork to do, but she'd given her friends something to show her love for them, and their smiles made all the trouble that she'd be getting into the next day worth it.