[KH] Beyond the War: Down the Aisle

Beyond the War: Bound by Moonlight, Isa and Xion - Down the Aisle (rough draft)
A Kingdom Hearts fanfic by Raberba girl

Summary:  Xion asks her 'dad' to give her away at her wedding.

A/N:  This is much later in the timeline than usual.  Isa's now a college professor living with Lea in Twilight Town.  I'm not sure yet where Roxas & Xion are living or whether they've graduated college yet.

"Saa-chan?"  Xion kicked off her shoes and set her purse down on an armchair.

"In here," he called from the study.

She smiled and went over to find him leaning back in his chair, frowning at a document in his hand as if it was a small child that had just insulted him.  "Are you grading essays?"

"Yes.  If you can call this piece of tripe an 'essay.'"  Isa sighed and tossed the papers on his desk.  Then he looked up at Xion and gave her a small smile.  "Hello, Xion."

"Hi, Saa-chan~"  She sat down in his lap and put her arms around his neck.

"What are you doing?!"

"I want a hug~"

"Xion, get off!  You're a grown woman, this is ridiculous," he protested, fruitlessly pushing at her.

"Saa-chan...Isa...I need to ask you something."

He paused, then searched her face and seemed to discern that she was serious.  "...At least get up first."

"...I'll make some tea.  Let's go in the living room."

When they finally settled down on the couch, she cuddled right up against him, holding her tea carefully, and he glanced down at her.  "Is something wrong?"

"No...I'm just...kind of nervous about asking you."

He sighed.  From the way he wouldn't meet her eyes, she knew it was a guilty sigh rather than an annoyed one.

"I mean--  It's okay if you say no, I just...really, really want you to say yes."

"Stop beating around the bush."

She sipped her tea.  Then took a deep breath.  "Isa, can you...give me away?"

They were both silent for a long time.

"At your wedding?" Isa finally asked.

"Yeah...."  She closed her eyes.  "Yeah."

"...You didn't ask Lea?"

"I....  No."  She drank more tea.

"Why not?"

"I mean, I talked to him about it, and he totally understood.  He said it was fine."

She felt Isa shift uncomfortably.  "You don't want him to give you away?"

"I mean, I'll ask him to if you won't, but I...I really want you to do it, Isa."

"Why?"

Xion struggled back upright so she could set her mug down on the coffee table, then turned back to Isa and put her arms around his shoulders, resting her chin on his shoulder.  "Because it's supposed to be my father who gives me away, but I don't have a father, and if I have to pick someone to be my daddy, it's you."

There was a pause.

"You...you're the only person I can think of as a dad, Isa.  Please give me away."

Isa was staring at the floor.  He reached out and set his tea down on the coffee table as well, then gently dislodged her arms from around his shoulders.  She continued to kneel beside him on the couch, watching him intently, waiting.

"Xion...I'm not even--  It's Lea who adopted you, not me."

"He only adopted us so we could go to school and stuff," she said impatiently.  "He's my friend, Isa.  Like my big brother or something.  But you...I dunno."  She shrugged.  "You're the one who always helped me with my homework, you're the one who'd ground us most of the time--"

"Only because Lea turns to jelly when you two manipulate him."

"--you're the one my boyfriends were actually scared of, you're the one my teachers usually went to first--"

"Because Lea was always at work, whereas you people had much less respect for my studying time."

"--you're the one who gave us the Sex Talk, for heaven's sake...."

"Sacred moon," Isa groaned in miserable remembrance.

Xion smiled a little.  "I mean, you're my friend and my brother, too.  But...whenever I need a dad, it's always been you."

There was another long silence.  Isa, still not meeting her eyes, finally picked up her hand and held it, staring down at it as if it was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen.  "Xion...."

"Please," she whispered.

His fingers entwined with hers.  "You used to be so small," he murmured at last.  A tiny smile quirked his mouth.  "You're still small...."

"Ven says it's okay that my boobs are little," she pouted.

Isa jerked his hand free of hers, finally meeting her eyes in shock.  "Wha--?!"

She smiled in relief at having gotten his attention.  "He even said it when he was in Van Mode, so I know it's true."

"That's not what I meant!"

"Eh?"

"I only meant that you looked about ten years old in the Organization, and you kept bemoaning how everyone towered over you in high school.  You've grown a bit since then, but I--  I was reminiscing!"

"I know, Saa-chan," she said soothingly.

He glared.

"You were reminiscing about how I'm your precious little girl and you can't wait to participate in one of the most important milestones of my life, right?" she said hopefully.

"I was reminiscing about how I spent the entire first year of your existence being as un-fatherlike as a person can be...."

Sensing that she was losing him again, she unfolded her legs and draped them across Isa's lap.  He glanced at her again, still looking upset.

"Yeah.  You were a jerk and I hated you.  Years ago.  I thought we'd moved passed that."

Instead of pushing her legs away, he rested his folded arms on top of them and leaned forward a little so that his hair hid half his face.  "We have," he said unhappily.  "You stopped being a brat, which I appreciate."

"And you stopped being a jealous tyrant, which I appreciate."

"Jealous--?"

"So you'll reward me by being my daddy at the wedding, right?"

"...."

"Pleeeeaaase?"

"...I'm not very good at dancing," Isa finally mumbled.

She frowned and gave him a hard nudge with her heel.  "You're using that as an excuse to not do it?"

"It's not an excuse," he snapped.  He glared at her.  She couldn't help being relieved at the eye contact again, despite his expression.  "It was...a warning."

"A warning?"

"Lea is the one who's skilled at this sort of thing, knowing the right things to say and performing well and being self-assured in front of a crowd.  You should ask him to do this for you.  But if you insist on it being me instead, just be prepared for it to be less than ideal."

"You're talking about the father-daughter dance at the reception?" she realized.

"Unless you choose to forgo that particular tradition.  Which I would have no objection to, by the way."

She curled her legs back in and leaned to kiss Isa's cheek.  "No.  I want you to walk me down the aisle and give me away, and I want you to dance with me, Saa-chan.  And to make a toast and everything else that daddies are supposed to do for their daughters when they get married.  You can trip and make both of us faceplant the floor and ruin the whole wedding, I don't care; as long it's you."

"You don't care?" he repeated dubiously.

"Well...just don't trip, okay?"

He sighed.  "Fine."

She hugged him.  "Thank you, Saa-chan."

He merely grunted in response.

She sighed.  "Isa...do you really not want to do it?"

"Of course I don't!  It's one of the last things in the worlds I want to do!"

She stared at him.

He stared back.  Then he took her hand.  "But I'll do it anyway.  Because I love you."

Her mouth dropped open.  "You...?!"

"Yes, I said it, but I'm not going to repeat it," he grumbled.

"Isa...you don't have to do it if you really don't want to, I just--"

"I'm doing it."

She smiled, her eyes misting a little.  "I love you, too.  I love you so much."

"Fine.  Now please leave.  I still have essays to grade, and you've got the rest of your wedding to plan."

"Saa-channn!"  She hugged him again and smacked another kiss against his cheek.

"Leave, please!"

She giggled and finally let him go.  "We should practice dancing together before the wedding."

"Let me know when you're available."

"Isa...thank you.  Thank you so much."

"You're welcome."  He picked up the mugs to take to the kitchen, hesitated, then touched his lips to Xion's hair in a brief kiss.  "I'll see you later."

"See you~"  Xion practically danced into her shoes and out the door.

Isa returned to his desk, but couldn't concentrate on grading for a while.  "Her father...."  He finally shook his head and picked up his phone to call his best friend.  "Lea, do you have a moment to talk...?"

Author's Notes:  Lol, I bet everyone forgot about this series. XD  Bound by Fire was for Taliax, and Bound by Moonlight is just me OCDing over my OT4.  This one is Isa & Xion's turn.

(Btw, hopefully you remember that "Ventus" in this universe is VenVan.  [He and Xion started dating when she was about 19.]  I can't romantically ship Ven with Xion unless Vani's in the picture, too. )

Randomly decided to draft this now because working on my original story is boring, and working on the Sora/Xion Day fic is tiring. *sweatdrop*  Needed to write some KH OTP stuff to feel refreshed....