[KH] Stepsiblings AU: Thirteen Years Later

Stepsiblings, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic series by Raberba girl
Thirteen Years Later (rough draft)

Summary:  Saïx manages to make it to his little brother's high school graduation.

A/N:  This was one of my very earliest ideas for this series, after I realized that it was not going to end with the original six-drabble one-shot.  Therefore, it was before I figured out the full family tree and the timeline, so a lot of things don't fit with the main universe anymore.  Still, I wanted to write it as closely as possible to the original picture I had in my head.  One thing that's definitely AU is Saïx meeting Naminé for the first time, since he's supposed to already know her.  And he should have moved back to his hometown by now, he's not supposed to still be living so far away.

Also, a lot of things from this unwritten plot bunny influenced later-published stories and kind of ruined the tone of this one.  For example, this story was supposed to be the first time Lea acted outright hostile toward Saïx onscreen.  I now really regret not writing this sooner. :/  The whole point of this story was to reveal a certain plot development, some of the pairings, and to reinforce the "siblings all the way" theme, as well as sneak a peek at what the characters are doing so far in the future, but I ended up doing that in other stories before I could get this one written. :/

I didn't realize I had fallen asleep until my sister nearly gave me a heart attack waking me up.

"SAIX!"

I immediately found myself being assaulted, having trouble breathing, and forgetting where I was for an instant.

"I missed yoooouuuu!"

"Xion," I grunted, trying to pry her off me.  Airport, that's right.  Some sort of mix-up; Axel thought Xion was picking me up, Xion thought Van was, and Van didn't care in the least - I must have fallen asleep waiting.  "I missed you, too, but get off.  Flinging yourself into my lap is not necessary, I assure you."

She leaned back, beaming, but still kept her arms around my neck.  "I haven't seen you in ages."

"Likewise.  Get off."

She kissed my nose.  "Did you get Roxas a present?"

"Of course I did."

"Hee, Axel forgot.  He had to run out to go shopping this morning."

"Idiot...."  I glanced over her shoulder.  "Hello, Riku."

"Hi, Saïx."

Then there didn't seem to be anything else to say.

"Riku, get his bag!" Xion ordered cheerfully.  "You looked tired, Sai."

"I'm perfectly capable of carrying my own bag, and yes, I look tired because I am."

"Eh, you didn't sleep on the plane?"

"A difficult feat when seated next to a fussing baby on one side and a very inconsiderate cell phone user on the other for the entire flight...."

"Aw, poor Sai-Sai."

"That is not a valid form of address," I growled, doomgazing slightly.  Not that I minded the nickname much when alone among my siblings, but this was not the case at the moment.

"You're just shy because Riku's around," she pouted.  "He won't think you're silly, will you, Riku?"

"Never," he snapped, so sharply that I realized he must be having a flashback to his first encounter with his girlfriend's family.  Yet more reason to have no regrets about that, then.

"See?  You should like him, Saïx."

"I never said I didn't."

There was no time to drop my luggage off at the house, we had to rush straight to the auditorium through terrible traffic.  They were actually starting the ceremony as we made our way to our seats.

"Sai!" Axel leaped up and shoved his way past eight people at the end of the row before he managed to reach us, where he threw his arms around me.  "Finally!"

"There is a phrase you ought to learn, Axel.  It's called, 'Pardon me,' and you really should use it when you're being significantly disruptive."

"I don't even get a hello?!"

"Not until you sit down and start acting your age."

"I'm ecstatic to see you, too," he pouted.

We made our way back past the eight, rightfully annoyed-looking people to where our own family was sitting.  Lea completely ignored me and Van had eyes only for Xion, but the others all smiled and reached out to hug me or clasp my hand.  Once we were finally settled, I leaned close to Axel to whisper in his ear, "Hello.  I missed you very much."  He smiled and elbowed me in the ribs, which I took to mean he reciprocated my feelings.

The ceremony was just as dull and interminable as all the other graduations I'd been to - save for, of course, the part we were actually here for.  Xion and Axel spent the rest of it playing various games on paper, which they kept passing across me to Riku and Demyx.  I joined in occasionally whenever they pestered me to do so, otherwise resorting to a book I had brought.  It was only when the surnames starting with J began to wane that we all started paying more attention.

"Roxas Aubade King!"

Most of our family surged to their feet and cheered wildly.  I let down my Shield and Spoke as strongly as I could how proud I was of my brother, how glad to see him complete this chapter of his life so successfully.

Roxas halted his march across the stage in mid-stride, his head snapping around.  He found us immediately and grinned, his eyes meeting mine.  He raised his hand in a salute, then looked around and did the same in a different direction, for some reason.  He seemed to truly be glowing as he continued on to accept his diploma.

"WAY TO GO, ROX!" Xion was screaming deafeningly.

I looked around for our other brother.  "...Axel?"

"I'm not crying, okay?!  Shut up!"

Afterward, it took a while to find Roxas amidst the sea of graduates and their families.  When we finally located him, he was sitting on a low wall, holding a girl in his lap and talking to his two best friends.

"Pence!" Kairi screamed at once, echoed by Olette's cheerful, "Pencey!"  The girls pounced to hug him before he could even turn around.

Hayner's eyes widened as he looked at all of us.  "Whoa - it's an invasion!"

"It's my family," Roxas said indignantly as the girl hastily scrambled out of his lap.

"There's so friggin' many of them!"

"Roxas, this is your family?" the girl said nervously, her eyes going straight to me.

Roxas took her hand.  "Yeah.  You already know Axel and Xion, and Riku and my jerk cousin Van--"

Van started to flip them off, then grunted when Xion elbowed him in the ribs.  Lea smothered Roxas in a hug as he tried to continue.

"This is Mom, you know her...that's Axel's friend Alice, Demyx and Zidane are my cousins, Sarah is Zidane's fiancée, that's Aunt Aqua and Uncle Zack and Uncle Terra and Aunt Ella--"

Aqua laughed, leaning to kiss the side of Roxas's head.  "She's not going to remember a single one of our names, dear."

"Hm."

"My turn," Axel demanded, yanking Roxas out of their mother's arms to do his own smothering.  "Rox-my-sooooocks, I'm so proud of yoooouuuu!"

"Don't call me thaaaat!" Roxas whined playfully.  Then he saw me and his eyes lit up.  "SAIX!"

"Hello, Roxas."

"Axel!  Get off, I want Saïx!"

"What's wrong with me?" Axel protested.

"I see you all the time."

"Meh, fair enough," Axel pouted, releasing Roxas so that our youngest brother could embrace me even more enthusiastically than I expected.

"You came!"

"Of course I did."

"You said you couldn't come because you'd miss the last two days of school!"

"I said that it would be difficult, but I would see what I could do," I corrected, trying to pry him off me.  "I managed to arrange things well enough for a substitute to handle."

"But now you're missing out on all the last-day-of-school presents and yearbook signing," Xion laughed, patting my shoulder.

"As if that even compares."  The wages I was losing by taking these particular vacation days were far more of a concern, but a sacrifice I was quite willing to make in this instance.  "Roxas, get off."

He pulled back, grinning.  "So I'm worth more to you than getting to sign yearbooks?"

"You three ask these sorts of questions in order to have your egos stroked, don't you," I suggested.  However, I let down my Shield, at least until Roxas startled me by his eyes filling with tears, at which I hastily drew it back up again.  "I'm proud of you, Roxas," I said awkwardly.  "That's all I meant."  Had he seen something different than what I intended?

"I know," he whispered.  "Thanks, Sai."  He hugged me again, and, to my surprise, Axel and Xion did, as well.  They're so sentimental.

"This love-fest is making me gag," Van remarked in disgust.

"Sshh, Van," Aqua hissed.

"Don't say something I agree with!" Lea exclaimed as she stared at my cousin in horror.

I looked at Jasmine and Ella.  "Why are you taking pictures?"

"You're all so cuuuute!" they squealed in unison before bursting into laughter.

Pence was staring at me, and Hayner was studying me with a slight frown.  "Wow...your eyes really do talk."  He stuck out his hand for me to shake.  "You're way better than Van," he decided.

"Well, thank you, I suppose," I said dryly.  I could sense Van doomgazing him in retaliation, so I turned around to intercept it.  "Leave him alone, it's not his fault you make yourself so disagreeable."

"Maybe your head will explode if I doomgaze it hard enough."

"I highly doubt that Xion or Aqua would be very happy if that happened."

"...You suck."

He turned away to cross his arms and glare at Aqua.

"Don't pout, love," she said, reaching to smooth the frown lines out of his expression, "it looks terrible."

He seemed to relax at the touch of her hands on his face.  "I'm not pouting.  I'm not a little kid."

"If you're not a child, then don't act like one," she said, kissing his temple.

Roxas was trying to coax the yellow-haired girl out from where she seemed to be hiding behind the happily chatting group of Hayner, Pence, Kairi, Olette, and Sora.  "Naminé, come on!  He's not gonna bite!"

"Wh-Who?" she said, avoiding eye contact with me with such determination that I knew it was I setting her on edge.

"Roxas," I said, "your mother is getting impatient, we had better leave."

"No," Roxas said stubbornly.  "Naminé, he's my brother.  It's really important to me that you like him."

I found her response rather admirable - it was obviously difficult for her to approach me and hold out a slightly shaking hand.  "H...Hello...I'm Naminé."

"She's my girlfriend," Roxas announced forcefully.

"The one he's always gushing about on the phone," Xion laughed.

I took hold of the girl's hand gently.  No telling what my evil cousin had done to traumatize the creature.  "I'm pleased to meet you."  I hesitated a moment, then let the Shield down again, arranging my thoughts as best I could.  "Be at peace in my presence, let the love I bear for my brother cover you as well, you are welcome among us...."

Her hand grew heavy in mine, and her eyelids fluttered for a moment as if she was falling asleep.  Then her eyes suddenly opened wide as she stared at me in wonder.  "Saïx?" she said uncertainly.

I quickly drew the Shield up again and stepped back.  I didn't care to have her touching my face....  It was more convenient for her to like me, but I could do without the physical affection.  Useful as the Speech could be, I hated it sometimes....  Axel was the only person, aside from my golden-eyed relatives, who had never once flinched away from me.  These eyes made me feel like a monster sometimes, and then like an abnormality even when I wasn't hated.

"What was that?!" Roxas burst out in amazement.  "I didn't know you could do that now!"

"What?" Axel and Xion gasped eagerly.  "What, what'd he do?"

"It's - like - what Father does sometimes, you know...like, talks instead of just spewing thoughts and feelings...."

"I've had opportunity to practice," I grumbled.  It was an endlessly convenient ability to have in my profession.

"Try it on me!" Xion urged, stepping into my line of vision, but Lea had had enough.

"Roxas, I'm sick of just standing around here, let's go!"

The celebration lasted late - we had use of the venue for as long as we wanted that night, and since it was very rare for so many of our family and friends to be gathered at the same time, visiting adequately with everyone was no brief task.

Lea, who had openly hated me ever since the divorce, tolerated my presence on this occasion for Roxas's sake, and because I did my best to ignore her existence.  Van did the same, since he was here solely due to Xion's goodwill and could not afford to even toe the line; if there was anyone Lea hated more than me or even my father, it was him.

"Hey," Axel said nervously at one point.  He had been drinking as much as Alice and I would allow him, and acting strangely for the past hour.  I had tried to be patient, guessing what he was working up the courage for.  "Rox, Xi...I have to tell you something."

"What's up?" Roxas said at once.  He swung away from the story Sora was telling, and came to come plop down into a chair.  Xion scooted her own chair closer.

"I...wanted...to...uh, introduce you to someone."

Xion frowned in puzzlement.  "Is there someone here we don't know?"

"I don't believe I've met that couple over there," Alice mused, "the ones from Agrabah."

Axel took her hand and squeezed it.  "Um, yeah," he continued, addressing our younger siblings.  "My...my girlfriend.  You haven't met my girlfriend."

Now Roxas was frowning, too.  "Wait, what?"

"Since when did you start dating again?" Xion exclaimed.

Axel winced.  "Keep your voices down...."

Alice was staring at him in surprise.  "Oh, are we telling people now?"

"WHAAAT?!" our siblings yelled.

"Keep it down!" Axel pleaded.

"Wait, you're going out with Alice?!"

"Um...."

"Is something wrong, dear?" Alice asked in concern.  "I thought you hated keeping secrets."

Xion's eyes widened.  "Axel!  She's my age!"

"I knoooww!" he wailed.

"She's like--"  Roxas paused to calculate.  "--ten years younger than you."

Axel buried his face in his arms.

"That's enough," I told them.  "I've already given him the cradle-robbing lecture."

"Saïx, you knew?!"

"Ohhh," Xion realized.  "That's what he was squirming about at Christmas."

Alice had a hand laid protectively over Axel's head.  "Is this really causing trouble for you?" she asked quietly.

It occurred to me to mention, "He did wait until she was a legal adult before speaking to her of the matter."

Xion studied me for a moment, then smiled at Alice and said, "Nah.  It's just a surprise, that's all."

Roxas poked his brother's shoulder, then the ribs when there was no response.  "Axel, come on.  We don't hate you."

"You probably should," was the mumbled response.

A mischievous grin crossed Roxas's face.  "Fine, we hate you.  That means you have to bribe us with ice cream to like you again, okay?"

"Well, there's ice cream over at the dessert table," Alice said dubiously.

Axel peeked an eye over his arm and smiled a little.

"Hey!" Xion gasped, fumbling for her camera, "Axel, make a boyfriendey pose with her!  Roxas, get Naminé; RIKU!  I WANT YOU!"

"Do you want me, too?" Van asked only half-playfully, reaching us before Riku did.

"Hmm--  Oh!  Yes, you can take the picture," she decided, thrusting the camera into his hands.

What?  "I thought I would be taking the picture."

"Of course not, silly," Jasmine laughed in my ear, startling me.  "Then you can't be in it."

"But--"

"Here, scoot in," Aladdin suggested, elegantly twirling another chair so close to me that Jasmine was able to sit in his lap and toss her legs across mine.

"I'm not taking a picture of you with Riku," Van was snarling.

"Vaniiii, take a nice picture for me and then I'll dance with you, okay?"

"Three songs," he demanded, which she readily agreed to.

"All right!" Xion cheered when we were gathered to her satisfaction, "Sexy poses, girls!"

"What?" Naminé gasped, and "I beg your pardon?" Alice said in what seemed to be genuine puzzlement.  Jasmine needed no clarification, leaning back in a way that made her husband catch his breath, and twining her fingers in his and my hair to draw us closer.  I hadn't been this near her in so long....  I realized that I had closed my eyes so as to have less distraction from her scent, so I made myself open them again.  As always, she was very good at distracting me from whatever I was supposed to be focusing on.

"Say 'puke,'" Van snapped, raising the camera.

"Cheeeese!" most of us called instead.

After the girls had finished exclaiming over how well the photo had turned out and made Xion transfer copies to their various devices, my sister turned to the room at large.  "Hey, everyone!  Mega-group picture!"

"Man, this is going to take forever," Roxas groaned, though he seemed to be aware that the result would be worth all the trouble.

It was after we had finally finished, when everyone was dispersing, that Roxas suddenly froze.  His head lifted alertly, and then he made a beeline for the door.

I was the only one who noticed at first, and I followed quietly, watching from the doorway as Roxas strode out into the night and flung his arms around the silver-haired figure who had silently called him.

Father tolerated it for a long moment, and I wondered if I always looked that awkward when people embraced me.  Then he finally took hold of Roxas and gently pushed him away, though he continued to rest his hands on his youngest son's shoulders.  "That's enough."

"You came," Roxas said happily.  "I thought you'd skipped out."

"I was...at the ceremony, too, actually."

He was?

"You were?  I thought that was you doomgazing, but then I wasn't sure because I never saw you afterwards...."

"I was there.  Not with your family, of course; your mother would never have stood for it."

"She let Sai and Van stay," Roxas pouted.

"You know it's different in my case."

"Well, whatever.  I'm really glad you were there after all."

"Forgive me for intruding here--"

"You're not--!"

"--but I realized I had neglected to give you your graduation gift."

"Please say it's not just a boring check."

"Perhaps you will find this more to your liking...."

"Holy--!  Is this a car key?!"

"Yes."

"Flaming--!  I get the car it turns on?!"

"It is back at my house, you will have to come pick it up."

"Father!"

"...This is not satisfactory?"

"No, stupid, it's awesome!" Roxas cried, throwing his arms around him again.

"Well, I am glad you're pleased."

Xion came up beside me.  "Whatcha lookin' at--?  Daddy!"  She ran to fling her arms around him as well.

"Xion...."  He raised his head and met my eyes.

"I, too, am glad you came," I Spoke.

He didn't respond for a moment.  Then, "Saïx...Roxas is not the only son I am proud of."

I had to turn away, unable to Shield what I was feeling.  Such a humiliating lack of control, even after all this time....

Axel startled me, appearing so suddenly at that moment.  "Man, so it is possible to be happy and still emo at the same time."

"What?" I said in annoyance, simultaneously grateful to him for distracting me.

"Where's Roxas?"

"He's--"

"Oh."  Axel shrugged.  "C'mon, Sai, might as well."

"What are you talking about?"

My father had never had any problem with control.  His face and eyes were both perfectly composed as he was tightly embraced by all four of his grown children.

"Daddy," Xion asked, "are you staying?"

"Of course not.  I only meant to run an errand concerning Roxas and then be on my way."

"I'll make Mom be nice to you," Roxas offered.

"Do not trouble yourself."

"At least take some cake back with you," Axel ordered, and Xion ran to fetch some.

Father frowned.  "I have no taste for sweets, you know this."

"It's your son's graduation cake, Xem!  At least taste it."

"It's good," Roxas assured him.

"I don't see why the quality should have anything to do with--"

"Father," I said, "it's not worth resisting."

"...I suppose not."

After he had left, we leisurely made our way back to the celebration, and were met by Lea in the doorway.  "Precious, I was looking for you."

"Sorry, Mom."  He leaned to kiss her.

"What were you all doing out here?"

"Being a family," Axel said.

She frowned.  "What does that mean?"

I could tell that my brothers and even Xion were all having trouble not telling her, so I rested a hand on Axel's and Roxas's shoulders in warning.  No good could come of it right now.  "Sometimes it's nice to get away from all the noise and the crowd for a moment," was all I could think to say.  I could sense her glaring at me even though I wasn't looking at her, so I backed away from her sons.

"I missed you," she said, wrapping her arms protectively around Roxas.

"Aw, we missed you, too, Mom," Xion said, embracing her.  "I really wish you could have been with us...."

Lea didn't say anything, but set a hand against Xion's dark hair and closed her eyes, holding her for a moment.

"You have two more people to hug," Roxas told her.

"Roxas," I said, "Ms. Hayes-King is under no obligation to show affection to a person who is no longer related to her, and you only distress her by continuing this insistence."

Lea, who had her arms around Axel now, looked at me cautiously over his shoulder.  I was careful to keep my eyes averted.  "It feels weird when you call me that," she growled.

"Apologies, madam."

"Stop it," she snapped.

"Mom, what is he supposed to call you?" the other three clamored in exasperation.

She fidgeted.

"What, he's just supposed to keep pretending you don't exist?" Axel said angrily.  "Well, guess what, Mom, you do, and so does he."

"Fine!"  She suddenly surged at me and seized the front of my shirt.  "Fine!" she shouted again.  "Do whatever you want!"

I looked at her cautiously, not sure what she wanted.  She was staring intensely at my face, her breathing quick and shallow.  I could feel her hands trembling slightly.

"I want you to be happy," I finally said.  It certainly made things easier on the rest of us whenever she was.

She was searching my face in a more bewildered way now.  "...Your eyes," she finally whispered.  "They're just...empty now...."

As carefully as I could, I Spoke.  "I don't hate you.  I never have."  I was not prepared for her to lower her face to my shoulder and burst into tears.

Uncertainly, I put my arms around her as Roxas whispered to the other two, "There!  There it is!  That's what he did to Naminé earlier."

"Ohhh...heh, what is it, a Doomgaze Upgrade?"

I glared at them as Xion giggled.

After that, Lea went back to ignoring me, but the tension had gone out of her posture, and the hostility from her tone and expression.  Her opinion didn't matter to me one way or the other, but her feelings really did have an effect on both the atmosphere and my brothers' moods.  I wished I had learned how to Speak properly when I was younger, but I supposed that it was better to know it now than never....

Ella and Terra stayed behind to help us clean up afterward, as did Alice, Naminé, and Riku; and Van stayed because Xion did.  "Be sweet and carry these to the car," she said, handing him a box and several bags.

"What am I, a pack mule?"

"No, you're a gentleman," she said threateningly.

Alice was in the kitchen, drying pots and platters as Riku washed them.  Lea was up on a ladder taking down decorations which Naminé gathered into trash bags, while Ella ran the vacuum cleaner, and her husband worked with Axel to get all the tables and chairs put away.  As I was tying the last trash bag closed, Roxas came by, carrying two more of them.  "Wait just a moment, we can take them out together."

"Okay."

We walked out to the dumpster.  "You probably shouldn't be carrying out garbage on a day that's supposed to be in your honor."

He chuckled.  "I don't mind."

I smiled a little.  "How does it feel to be a graduate?"

He raised both hands in the air and crowed.

"All right, all right, I understand."

"I'm glad you made it, Sai."

"I would not have wanted to miss it."

He grinned.  "You've changed a lot, you know."

"Probably...."

"You couldn't stand me when I was a kid."

"That's not true."  At least, not entirely.

"Can't blame you; I was a brat."

"You were," I acknowledged, "but that's all right.  I'm sure Axel was many times worse."

He laughed.  "Yeah."

"Thank goodness I missed out on that...."

"Saïx?"

"Yes?"

"If you had a choice...if you'd known everything that would happen, would you still want me and Axel for brothers?"

"Of course I would, why would you ask that?"

He grinned again.  "I wanted to see your eyes when you said it."

"You really do love having your ego stroked."

"What, you want your ego stroked, too?  Here:  you're the best--  well, the second-best big brother ever, Saïx; if I had a choice between you and Van, I'd choose you every single time; you've gotten really good at not being a jerk, and--"

"Roxas, your compliments leave much to be desired.  Just so you know."

He smiled.  "I was teasing you.  You're awesome, Sai."

"You've grown up to be a very admirable young man, Roxas."

"Heh heh.  I think we're about even on the compliments now."

"You're ridiculous...."

We had reached the doors by this time, and went in to rejoin our family.

Author's Notes:  Before I finally came up with a title just now, I was calling this the "pre-XemRoku Day" fic, because the two are somewhat connected (though the actual XemRoku Day fic is in the real Stepsibsverse, it's not an AU like this one is, and it takes place much earlier in the timeline).

Axel/Alice - she's sixteen when they meet, seventeen when he realizes he's in love with her, eighteen when he actually tells her how he feels.  By the time of this story, they've been secretly dating for about ten or eleven months.  I actually dislike the pairing as romance, it feels too weird despite being "technically okay"...but seriously, I hate shipping Axel with anyone romantically except Aqua or maybe Larxene, and Aqua's already taken in this universe and I don't really like long-term AkuLarx and I didn't feel like OCDing over the rest of the Disney/Squeenix girls, so my options were limited.  Since I can at least tolerate adult-who-falls-in-love-with-minor-but-is-actually-freaking-responsible-abo ut-it pairings, I thought it would be interesting to at least experiment with Axel/Alice romance.  Just as with XigLarx, Stepsibs was NOT the ideal place to do so, but whatever. *sigh*  I lost control of this series a loooooooooong time ago.

I've been noticing that Naminé is getting more and more OOC in my writing, not just in the Stepsibsverse....  I want to fix that in the final drafts, but I figured I'd just leave her as she is in this story, since it's an AU from the main Stepsibsverse.

Olette & Kairi both love Pence - one of them is his girlfriend and one of them is his big sister.  But which is which~?

*deletes paragraph about Pairing Wars because, unlike in a certain other fandom, I've never had a problem with this from my Kingdom Hearts readers. XD You guys rock!*  I don't at all mind when people disagree with me and politely express their pairing preferences, but I have no patience for Fan Dumb and Die For Our Ship and the like.  I write according to story and character flow, and for the Stepsiblings universe, these are the pairings that worked best.