A/N: Basic summary of this series: This story is a series of prequel one-shots to Breaking the Ice, but you don't necessarily have to read that first. In fact, some things will make more sense if you read this first. Axel and Kairi are siblings. Aqua, Saïx, Xion, and Vanitas are siblings (in that age order from oldest to youngest) and children of Eraqus. Roxas ends up in there somewhere. Disney characters like to make cameos, especially Gaston.

Pairings: Axel/Xion, Sora/Kairi, Terra/Aqua, Saïx/Jasmine, possible Roxas/Naminé. This universe likes to grow and change and I never know exactly what's going to show up.

This chapter is from Saïx's POV. He's 14 and in eighth grade, Vanitas is 7 and his grade doesn't matter because I'm too lazy to remember what it is right now, and Xion is 13 and in seventh grade.

"The silvery mist was touched with the first rays of the moonlight…"

I note in the margin that the mist symbolizes change. Only two pages of Great Expectations left. Two pages of annotation. It's a personal standard of mine to never complain about schoolwork, even when it would be satisfying to, as Axel says, "kill it with fire." Still, there is something cruel about assigning eighth graders one hundred twenty-eight pages of annotation to complete over Christmas break. Plus a book report, which I've thankfully already completed. Usually I can comprehend teachers' motives, but surely there's enough time in one school year to give homework without intruding on the second-best vacation. Xion's been pestering me endlessly to make Christmas cookies with her, but I've been so occupied with my assignment I haven't had time. It will be relieving to have this finished. Two pages, and I can get some much-needed rest…

"Saïx, read me a story."

…That is, if I can avoid unwelcome distractions.

Vanitas spins my chair so that I'm facing him. He's wearing his Power Rangers pajamas, the ones that are far too small on him, instead of the appropriately-sized ones Father dressed him in before putting him to bed.

"You know how to read. Besides, it's past your bedtime."

"But you're awake," he pouts, climbing into my lap. I attempt to push him out, but he clings to my nightshirt with one hand, which has a surprisingly strong grip. Never underestimate the strength of a small child. "Read me a story or I'll sic Flood on you."

Flood is his vicious pet hamster, who Vanitas seems to think is also his personal minion. "Unless you want to hear the story of Pip and Estella's reunion, which is exceedingly sappy and out of character, might I add, the answer is no." Why can't he just go away and let me finish working in peace; I'm so close…

"That sounds boring. I've got something lots better," he brags, and I suddenly notice what he holds in the hand that isn't tangled in my nightshirt: Xion's diary.

My eyes narrow. "Where did you get that?"

"In her room, duh," he answers, rolling his eyes and then grinning smugly. "Nobody can hide anything from me. I'm the best secret-finder-outer ever."

My younger brother has an obsession with being the best at everything, especially things that annoy the rest of our family. "Flood won't be able to save you when Xion finds out you went through her room."

I pluck the purple hardcover notebook, decorated with Xion's favorite seashell and heart designs, out of his grip.

"Hey! I found it first! Finders keepers!" Vanitas attempts to crawl onto my shoulder to reach it, but I dump him unceremoniously on the floor. "Ow! Saïx, you're a meaniehead! I'm gonna stab you!"

He grabs one of the pencils off of my desk and attempts to jab it into my leg, but I wrench it away. "You know what Father says about stabbing." And punching, and slicing, and biting, et cetera… Unfortunately, Vanitas either has memory loss or simply needs lessons drilling into his head an innumerable amount of times.

"So?" He shrugs, than jumps to snatch Xion's diary out of my hand and misses. "Arg! If I was bigger I'd beat you up! And then I'd feed you to Flood!"

Sigh. I wonder if it's normal for younger brothers to threaten their older siblings so much.

"Hmph. You have no business poking around places you are forbidden." It would do him (and everyone else) good to mind his own business for a change. Someday he'll find he can't weasel his way out of every bit of trouble.

Xion is a well-behaved sister for the most part, but there are a few things that will make her temper snap. Though Father doesn't allow violence or any form of fighting outside of the dojo, Xion may not think about that when she's fueled with anger. Then I'd have to keep her from murdering Vanitas, and I'd have to keep Vanitas from trying to murder her, and I'd rather just avoid that whole situation entirely.

"You're no fun." He crosses his arms, sitting up on the floor, but then his face lights up with a mischievous idea. "If you won't let me read it anymore, then you have to read it for me, hah!"

"Your logic is extremely flawed." I pause. "…Anymore?"

"Yeah, I read some of it already. What're you gonna do about it?" He taunted.

That's always his ultimatum. I can't physically harm him or even threaten to physically harm him, which leaves few options for giving threats other than tattling, which is immature and stopped working on Vanitas long ago. Very few forms of punishment work on him anymore, both Father and I have noticed. I doubt he has any nerve endings left on his bottom from all the times Father has had to use spanking as a last resort. Giving extra chores is usually his punishment of choice, but Vanitas will usually procrastinate on that until someone else does them or Father threatens to take away his toys.

"I can't change what you've already done, but if you don't leave now, I'll scratch all of your Power Rangers DVDs," I say. A childish threat, yes, but an effective one.

"Noooo! I hate you, Saïx!"

He tries to punch me; I catch him by the wrist and immobilize him.

"Go to bed now and leave Xion's diary here," I say calmly.

"Whatever," he growls, and I release him. "Does that mean you won't read it to me?"

I pinch the bridge of my nose. "What do you think?" Sitting back in my chair, I set Xion's diary on my desk, fully intending to finish my assignment.

"I think you'd like it better than that dumb book." He points to Great Expectations.

"Vanitas, I don't care how interesting you find Xion's everyday affairs. You must learn to respect our sisters' privacy." Aqua made sure I knew that long ago.

He huffs at me, gold eyes glinting mischievously. "Fine. You won't know who Xion's in looooove with, then."

My own eyes widen, hand clenching around my pencil. I whirl my chair around of my own accord this time.

"Xion has a crush?" No, no, no. She's only thirteen. Way too young, and she seems younger with how small she is and all of her childish habits, like watching My Little Pony and play-fighting with Vanitas…

"Yeah, but I'm not telling who." He blows a raspberry and runs into the hall, yelling, "I hate you!"

I sigh. Will my brother ever change? I try to ignore what he said. He's a devious child, probably just tossing out more distractions.

I reach for Great Expectations, but my hand lands on Xion's diary instead. No. I refuse to play Vanitas's mind games. Just finish the assignment, rest, return Xion's diary in the morning and explain what he did, excluding the fact that he read it. He's annoying, yes, but I still wouldn't want him to face consequences that harsh. He'll be in enough trouble just for intruding in Xion's room in the first place.

"and the same rays touched the tears that dropped from her eyes."

Write about Estella's emotional change. Don't think about Xion feeling emotions that I have no experience with.

My eyes dart to her diary, and I wrench them away.

"Not knowing that I saw them, and setting herself to get the better of them…"

I lose focus quickly. Clearly I'm not going to finish this annotation while suffering from such anxiety.

"I'm sorry, Xion," I whisper, taking hold of her diary. I'm doing this to protect her. If Vanitas was being honest for once in his short life and she is in love with someone, I feel responsible to keep her from acting on it too early and getting hurt. Father has good reason to forbid us from dating until the age of sixteen. I've tried to explain this to Axel, who treats dating like tasting cheeses: trying every variety only to regret and spit them out, but still continuously sampling new kinds with reckless abandon. I can't comprehend how he could call it "fun."

Guilt tightens my throat before I can even open the diary. If our roles were reversed, Xion wouldn't do this to me. As obnoxious and childish as she can be at times, even though she's only a single year younger than me, she would respect any of my secrets.

I rest my forehead in my palms, struggling with the decision. She's my younger sister…

…Which is why I have to do this. I flip to the most recent entry, skimming but trying to avoid any in-depth reading. Just a name, a confirmation of Vanitas's comment. I neither need nor want to know all of Xion's girly feelings.

Nothing suspicious from today's entry, or yesterday's. Then it skips to a week ago, but still nothing, nothing…

There. December fourth. I drop the diary on the ground as if it was Vanitas's vicious hamster. The situation suddenly went from bad to worse.

Of all the teenage males to fall in love with, she picked my best friend. The one with more ex-girlfriends (I'm not sure if it's even correct to call them that; he only dated each of them once or twice) than I care to count. Axel.

I lift Xion's diary by one corner, depositing it closed on my desk. I didn't need to read past the first quickly-scrawled paragraph.

"Axel broke up with Megara today. Actually, Megara broke up with Axel, but he didn't seem too upset about it. He said he hadn't figured it would work out in the long run, but that their date had been fun. I still don't get why he goes out with girls he doesn't really love. He drives me crazy sometimes… But I still love him. I've tried not to love him so much since it's not like anything can happen between us for at least three years, but I still do. I don't think I'll ever be able to not love him. Why won't he listen to Saïx and stop dating all those other girls? Why won't he wait for me? Will he ever love me back the way I love him?

I try to slow my breathing. I've unconsciously dug my fingernails into my chair's armrests so hard that tiny crescent-shaped marks are left behind.

Xion, my younger sister, loves Axel, my best friend. I feel a throbbing in the base of my skull, and not just from having stayed up so late.

"Xion… you weren't supposed to grow up so quickly…" Definitely not supposed to grow up more quickly than me…

I should've left her diary closed, secrets unread. Surely that would have been better than knowing… knowing… this. I can't do a thing to change it.

But perhaps there is something I can do. I turn off my lamp and slide under the covers, schoolwork forgotten.

I can't change my sister's emotions, nor can I prevent her and Axel from interacting. They've been friends for too long. Still, I can't let her heart lead her to disobey Father, and I can't let her set herself up for disappointment. Axel gushes over her all the time, but not in that way.

But what if he did happen to return her feelings…?

The little sleep I get that night is filled with broken nightmares of my friend causing my sister to break down in tears and other awful scenarios. Not the worst case scenarios, however.

In the worst case scenario nightmares, they end up happily together while I'm banished to the moon, forced to watch them hold hands and bring their faces closer and closer together –

I awake the next day with a bitter taste in the back of my throat and light streaming through the blinds. It feels as if no time has passed; I still have a throbbing headache. I can't keep dwelling on this. Surely Xion won't act on her feelings; her diary said that she's going to wait. Just because I'm her brother doesn't mean I can protect her from everything, especially things that I myself have no experience with… Worrying will only make me anxious and miserable. And paranoid, though I fear it's too late to prevent that now.

Walking purposefully to my desk, I resolve to return Xion's diary to her this instant and never lay eyes on it again. The "never lay eyes on it again" part comes to pass more quickly than intended. The diary is gone.

And my completed book report is covered in multicolored crayon scribbles.

"VANITAS!"

A/N: knew that the copy of Great Expectations I had to annotate the last third of back in eighth grade would someday be useful! Well, I didn't really, but after I had to spend that much work on it I figured it would be a waste to burn it like a whole lot of my classmates ended up doing. Anyway, a lot of this chapter was kind of based on personal experience. I can sympathize with Saïx. Also in ninth grade I had a giant literature assignment to do over Christmas vacation, so I sort of combined those two awful experiences.

I didn't plan for this to tie in with the crayon-melting prank that got Axel in trouble with Eraqus, but they fell around the same place on the timeline, and then it just set itself up from there. Vanitas likes his revenge. I want to do more stuff with Vanitas in this universe.