Sorrow's Promise

Chapter 18

The three of us arrived in Twilight Town at the time of day that Roxas and Axel would normally be enjoying their ice cream up on the clock tower. A quick glance told us that they weren't there, though, so we started to walk through town in the general direction of the cafe. We only had to go a couple of blocks before we heard familiar voices from around the corner.

"Just take it easy for now," Axel was saying. I wrapped my arms around myself. The fact that he sounded just like Aiden still freaked me out.

Xion poked her head around the side of the building we were standing next to. "Are you okay?" I whispered from behind her. "Do you want to go talk to them?"

She didn't answer, but took off walking without warning, out into the open. Riku and I hurried to keep up, staying right behind her. All three of us had our hoods up now, concealing our identities.

"Who's there?" Axel demanded.

Roxas spun around to face us, and his face lit up in recognition. "Xion?" he queried, taking a step forward.

Xion's stance wavered, and she ducked her head. I could tell that she was thrown off by being recognized, and still uncertain of her decision. She started to turn to leave, hesitated, then opened a dark corridor behind us and walked through.

"Xion, wait!" Roxas cried, running towards us. I glanced up at Riku, who nodded at me to follow her. As I exited, I could feel Riku step in front of the corridor behind me, blocking Roxas from chasing after us.

I caught up with Xion in the In Between. She had pushed her hood off and had her back to me, staring off into the nothingness. "I'm sorry," she said without turning around. "I don't know what came over me. I thought I was ready, but...I just wasn't."

"It's alright," I assured her. "You can always try again, if you want."

She didn't answer right away. Another corridor opened to our right, and Riku walked through. "What do you want to do, Xion?" he asked.

Looking back at us over her shoulder, Xion created a corridor in front of herself. "I just want to see them again for one more minute. Is that okay?"

"Of course," Riku answered. We all walked through the corridor and stayed close to the wall of the building that we came out next to. Around the corner, I could hear Roxas and Axel talking again.

"No way that was Xion!" Axel exclaimed.

"The one who ran away first was Xion," Roxas responded. "But...why run?"

Xion turned from watching them to look at the two of us, uncertainty still written on her face. Riku pushed his hood off. "You want to go back?" he asked.

Her head dropped, and she looked back at her friends. "I think...I still need more time."

I could tell from watching Riku's lips press into a thin line that he was frustrated, but he kept his voice level as he responded. "Sure. If you need to get in touch with us, head back to Beast's Castle. We'll meet you there. We have a colleague who can keep an eye on things there and let us know if you show up."

"Okay," Xion nodded. "Thank you both."

"I think you did the right thing by not pushing her," I told Riku after we had watched her leave. "It's very possible that if you did so now, she would just bolt."

"Yeah," Riku replied, not sounding convinced. "We can't wait forever, though. Sooner or later, DiZ is going to find out what's been going on, and he's not going to be happy that I let her go. Besides, we really do need Sora to wake up soon. He may be the only one who can stop Organization XIII from whatever they're planning to do."