This is the author, talking about her story. You can ignore this bit if you like.

Not much happens in this chapter, but Kairi shows up! I hope I haven't mangled her character too horribly, or the characters of anyone else. Tell me if I did so I can fix it, please. Also inform me if there is something about the setting or happenings that seems illogical to you, but I warn you: the characters don't necessarily operate by logic. Speaking of characters and logic, Roxas and I do not share opinions on various things, such as Axel's awesomeness. Speaking of Axel, there is a disappointing lack of him this chapter, but I think he and the rest of the Organisation will show up…sometime soon, I think. I never can estimate how much happens in one chapter.

This chapter was posted November 11, 2011, or 11/11/11. I know I said there would be no updates during NaNoWriMo, but I had the chapter written and all I had to do was type it up, so here you go.

All these characters are not mine; I merely borrow them and return them all busted up.

Chapter Eight

After staying with the Heartless for several weeks, Roxas was finally persuaded to at least visit his family. However, he refused all help from Riku and only grudgingly accepted the bit of paper with directions on it in neat, loopy handwriting. He did his best to follow those directions, but somehow ended up somewhere that looked nothing like a residential district. He flipped the bit of paper over to see if there were further instructions, but saw only—a phone number? Curious, Roxas made his way to the nearest pay phone, fished a few of the quarters Riku had given him out of his pocket, and dialed. The phone rang a few times before someone picked up.

"Hello?" The voice was feminine, probably younger than Roxas.

"Hello?" Roxas greeted cautiously.

There was a high-pitched squeal. "Roxas!" Slightly more distantly, as if the speaker had taken the receiver away to yell to someone else in the house, "Kairi! Roxas is on the phone!" A brief clatter, then someone else spoke.

"Roxas? Is that you?" Slightly breathless, as if the speaker had run to get the phone. "It's Kairi."

"Kairi…? Yeah, it's me," Roxas answered. "I'm lost and can't figure out how to get home."

Kairi chuckled. "Lost is right. Where are you now?"/P

Roxas glanced around for street signs. "The corner of 115th and Addition."

Kairi whistled. "You're pretty far off track. I can direct you to my house, if you'd like."

"Great, thanks," Roxas said absently.

"Okay," said Kairi. "Commit this to memory: east on Addition until you hit 67th, then turn left…"

Roxas listened carefully as Kairi rattled off a long, fairly complicated set of directions.

"Have you got it memorised?" she finished.

The phrase sent a pang through Roxas's heart. Even now, far away from Axel in both space and time, Roxas could not escape his shadow. "Yeah, I think so," he answered. "Run that by me one more time?"

Kairi repeated the directions. "Are you going to be okay getting over here, or do I need to ask my aunt to go pick you up?"

"I'll be fine," said Roxas. And I have to believe that. I'll be just fine.

XIII

When Roxas finally arrived at Kairi's front door, he was exhausted. He rang the doorbell weakly, wanting nothing more than to fall down and sleep.

The door was opened by a little blonde girl, perhaps seven years old. She stared at Roxas for a moment, then attacked him with a hug and the same high-pitched squeal he'd heard over the phone.

Roxas staggered. "Get off me!"

"Selphie, don't traumatise the poor dear," came a commanding, unfamiliar voice. Another blonde girl, this one perhaps Roxas's age and wearing a white dress, appeared at the door. "Hello. You must be Roxas." She smiled at him.

"Yeah," Roxas answered, trying to pry Selphie off. "And you are…?"

"Kairi's cousin Naminé. Selphie's my little sister." Turning towards the house, she called, "Kairi! Roxas is here!" She turned back and scowled at her sister. "Selphie."

Reluctantly, Selphie let go of Roxas and trotted back into the house. "Meanie-pants," she muttered, sticking her tongue out at Naminé.

"Come on inside," Naminé invited, standing aside. Roxas entered, glancing around at the entrance hall. It was plain, the floor linoleum and the walls white. "Shoes off," Naminé reminded him. A bit perplexed by the command (neither the Organisation nor the Heartless enforced such a rule), Roxas obeyed.

At that moment, Kairi rounded the corner from the hallway. "Hey, Roxas," she greeted pleasantly.

"Hello, Kairi," Roxas answered, a bit awkwardly.

"You remember me, right?" she said, her tone encouraging but with a touch of anxiety. "I came to visit you and Sora."

"Oh—yeah, I remember you. You came with your…mother?" Roxas said, a bit unsure.

Kairi shook her head. "No, Aerith's my aunt. My mom's been dead for a couple years now."

"I'm sorry," Roxas said awkwardly, staring at his sock-covered feet.

Kairi smiled brightly. "Don't be. I've got plenty of family—Naminé and Selphie are like the sisters I never had, and Aunt Aerith's motherly enough for three people."

Roxas returned her smile hesitantly. "That sounds—nice."

"That reminds me," said Kairi, taking Roxas by the hand, dragging him to what he assumed to be the living room, and dropping him on the couch. "Where have you been all these weeks? I know you weren't with Riku, 'cause he would've told us, and you weren't with your family, and you weren't at the hospital—so where were you?"

"Around," Roxas answered vaguely, stifling a yawn. "Somewhere safe." Although I'm not sure, now, just how safe the Organisation was…

Noticing his yawn, Kairi's inquisitive gaze softened. "You must be exhausted, walking all the way here. You can kip on the sofa for tonight. I'll get you a blanket."

"Thank you, Kairi," Roxas murmured automatically, already curling up with his head on the armrest of the couch. "For everything."

When Kairi returned a minute later with a blanket, he was fast asleep. She tucked him in, then bid him a quiet goodnight and went to bed.

XIII

When Roxas awoke the following morning, his memories of the previous night were hazy with exhaustion, but one thing he remembered clearly was red hair—bright, fiery red hair. He almost thought that he'd returned to the Organisation—and then his memories came rushing back.

Kairi. Not Axel. Her house, not the Warehouse. A normal family, not the Organisation.

A few tears slipped from his eyes and ran sideways down his face (he was lying on his side). He abruptly felt very homesick from the plain rooms of the Warehouse, the chatter of the other members, and—

Axel. I think—I miss him most of all.

Roxas was trying to forget Axel—after all, Larxene and Marluxia had died by the redhead's hands, and that was not usually the sort of person one wanted to associate with—but he was finding it utterly impossible. It was almost funny when compared to the way he'd lost all of his memories not too long ago—he could lose his whole life in an instant, but he couldn't forget one person.

"Axel…" he whispered.

You always used to ask it I'd got it memorised. It looks like I have—you're unforgettable, Axel, even if I wish you weren't.

"Who's Axel?" asked Selphie from the corner of the divider between the kitchen and the living room.

"He…we used to be friends," Roxas said distantly.

"You sound like you miss him," observed Selphie.

Roxas exhaled slowly. "Yeah."

"So why don't you go visit him?" asked Selphie.

Roxas paused. "He…did a very bad thing," he said, trying to make it so the seven-year-old would understand.

Selphie nodded sagely. "Like when I pull Nami's hair, my mom and dad won't let me visit my friends."

"A little like that," Roxas allowed. "But…this is different. I don't think I can trust him anymore."

"Did he do something to hurt you?" Selphie asked, tilting her head to one side in childish curiosity.

"It didn't hurt me, exactly," said Roxas. "But it hurt two people who were…close to both of us."

"Did he have a reason for what he did or not?" asked Selphie. "Like, did they take his toys while he was still playing with them or something? 'Cause if I explain things good to mom and dad, sometimes less bad things happen."

Roxas hesitated before answering. "He…said he had a reason."

"What was it?" Selphie perched on the end of the couch not quite occupied by Roxas's feet.

Roxas shrugged. "He said he was 'just following orders'."

"Then it sounds like the bad thing he did was the person who told him's fault," Selphie reasoned. "If he was told to do it and he had to do what he was told, then it's not really his fault, is it?"

Roxas laughed quietly. "You make a lot of sense for someone seven years old."

Selphie puffed herself up with indignation. "I'm not seven! I'm seven and a half!"

At that moment, a woman unfamiliar to Roxas entered the kitchen. She had long brown hair, which she was tying back with a pink ribbon, and warm blue eyes. "Good morning, Roxas," she said calmly. "Kairi told me you'd be staying the night. Do you want breakfast? My name's Aerith, by the way—I'm Kairi's aunt."

Roxas stood. "It's nice to meet you, ma'am," he said politely. "Breakfast would be—fantastic. Thank you."

Aerith smiled at him. "It's no difficulty, dear. And call me Aerith, please. We're lucky it's summer break—none of the girls have school, so Kairi can escort you home later." She turned to the cupboards around the kitchen and started taking things off shelves. "Your mother's been worried sick, dear," she called. "Your father, too."

"I'm sorry," Roxas muttered, finding the carpet fascinating all of a sudden.

"Tell that to them, not me," Aerith reminded him. "Selphie, dear, could you come help me stir this?"

Selphie jumped off the couch and ran over to help her mother. "What are you making?"

Aerith smiled at her daughter. "Pancakes."

Just then, a blond man with hair almost as crazy as Roxas's came stumbling into the room, his eyes half-shut with sleep. "I heard pancakes," he murmured, wrapping his arms around Aerith's waist from behind. "Good morning, love."

Selphie mock-gagged.

Aerith turned in the man's arms and smiled up at him. "Good morning, Cloud darling. As food-oriented as ever, aren't you?"

Cloud grinned at her. "I have to make sure I've got enough fuel for the day," he joked. "Delivering stuff's hard work, you know." He glanced over at the living room, where Roxas was still standing awkwardly. "Morning, Roxas," he said amiably. "You remember me?"

Mutely, Roxas shook his head.

"I'm Cloud, Aerith's husband," he introduced himself, letting go of Aerith to pick Selphie up, "and father of this here terror."

Selphie shrieked. "Papa, put me down! I'm a big girl now!"

Cloud complied, putting the girl back on the step-stool she'd been standing on to reach the counter.

Kairi bounced in next, full of energy and, in Roxas's opinion, far too cheerful for any hour before noon. "I heard screaming."

"Just me," Selphie said brightly.

Kairi glanced over her cousin for any sort of wound and, finding none, shrugged and dismissed the matter. "What's for breakfast, Aunt Aerith?"

"Pancakes," said Aerith.

Roxas watched the scene of happy domesticity in bemusement, feeling a bit like an intruder looking in. He remembered no such scenes from his own family—there was no doubt that they had happened, but he just couldn't remember them—and the Organisation had never been very family-like in the first place (apart from the constant bickering). The family before him seemed very happy, and he wondered if his own family would be so happy. He hoped so.