Someday We’ll Know

Author’s Note: Anyways, this is inspired from the song “Someday We’ll Know” by Mandy Moore and …some guy I don’t know the name haha xD Anyways…I hope you guys like it, it’s gonna be a simple, yet a cute story…

Please forgive spelling/grammar!

Tis as AU fic, just pretend TT exists in today’s world :D ((TT means Twilight Town))

And…I dun own them - though it’s fan fiction - assume you guys know this haha xD

Thanks to my NEW AWESOMENESS BETA-er LollipopLove

Mega props to her :D ((so now my fics will make more sense TvT))

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Ninety miles, outside Chicago

Can’t stop driving, I don’t know why

Sighing and squeezing the steering wheel tightly, Roxas was sure that his knuckles were as white as a ghost under the gloves he wore. It wasn’t snowing and the road wasn’t iced over at all, thank god, but it sure was cold. Something in the back seat was making this irritating sound, however, and Roxas was about to pull over and murder what ever it was that was making that horrid repetitive sound. All his belongings, that he could fit into his car, were jammed packed in the back seat and the trunk. Roxas was, unfortunately, heading back to his hometown after a mishap with his job up north At least, he remembered it was something about his job that was making him drive like a maniac. In any case, he was heading from there to here; here being his hometown, Twilight Town.

Looking off to his right, he passed a sign that read, “Welcome to Twilight Town! Home of the first Trolley System ever to be built!”. -Well- Roxas started to think, -That sure is something to be proud about…- he thought with a roll of his blue eyes and a sigh. What was he doing coming back to this place? Sure he knew his mother would welcome him back with open arms, she had a kind heart like that, but Roxas wasn’t sure he could transits from the city to a simple town that probably still had only three schools. Elementary, middle, and college. “Ugh” the newly adult groaned as inwardly as possible. But who knows, maybe time had finally caught up to the land it forgot.

Maybe.

In any case, Roxas made a right turn and pulled into his faithful hometown. “God…I wonder if anyone would still remember me…,” he murmured. It hadn’t been too long since he had been away. At least he thought so, but still. “Perhaps I should give mom a call…,” the twenty two year old murmured to himself. So reaching over in the passenger seat for his cell phone, he speed dialed his mother. Holding the phone to his ear, Roxas waited precisely three rings and lo and behold, his mother’s calm voice came through from the other end.

“Hello?”

“Hi mom.”

“Roxas? Roxas dear, is that you?” came her excited voice.

“Yes mom, it’s me.” And he couldn’t help the smile that broke across his face.

“How are you dear? Are you ok?” came her questions.

“I’m fine mom.” Roxas said, taking a right into the part of town where he used to live.

“That’s good. So what’s the occasion?”

“Nothing special…,” he murmured. It took Roxas about a good fifteen to twenty minute from the freeway exit to get to his mother’s house, on the other side of town. That was how small the town was.

“Well…I’m glad you called. I worry about you, you know,” she said in that motherly voice of hers.

“Yes…I know you do,” he chuckled. “I got a surprise for you though.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah…I’ll be in town for a few…things went bad at work…so…you know. Is it Ok if I visit and perhaps stay for the night?” he asked. -Maybe I should have asked her earlier to stay.- Roxas knew his mom missed him, but who’s to say she has to let him back in the house to stay for awhile?

“The night? Roxas, honey, if you’re in trouble you know you always have a place here,” she said soothingly. Roxas smiled -That’s my mom.- She was a wreck when he left for college. Roxas almost didn’t leave because he felt so bad, but she insisted he go.

“Thanks mom…,” he murmured. Pulling up into the driveway at that very second, he parked in front of her quaint house. Smiling, Roxas got out of the car and leaned on it, one leg still resting inside the driver’s seat. “Hey mom.”

“Yes dear?”

“Look out the front door.” Roxas could hear her gasp and her footsteps running to the door and-

“Roxas!”

x.x.x.x

“My, you drove here?”

“Yeah…it didn’t take as long as I thought it would,“ both Roxas and his mother had two bags in their hands as they lugged the blonde’s belongings up into his old room. It was all very nostalgic. Roxas could remember when, there, on that third step on the stairs, he had wanted to be a “big boy” and jumped off from the step. His knee ended up giving way and he fell flat on the floor. It hurt of course, but he didn’t cry; at least not a lot.

“That’s good dear…maybe you should rest a bit?” she said to her son.

“Maybe later…I want to see how much the town has changed.”

“Oh…there have been a few changes. There’s a mall now, a big one.” she smiled and laughed.

“Really?” Roxas asked in mild surprise. Usually all the stores were spread out. They had big name shops here, but never really a mall. “I’ll have to go check that out as well.” Then a thought struck him. “Mom, do you know if my old friends still live here?”

“Oh? You mean…Hayner and them?” she asked.

“Yeah.” Roxas nodded to confirm. They finally reached Roxas old bedroom door and opened it. The white door slowly creaked open and he smiled. Nothing had changed at all.

“Oh…well, I don’t know.” she said. Mother and son walked into the old room and already the usual and familiar scent of Roxas’s old room made him sigh. -It’s good to be back home.- “I know that Olette works down at the mall.”

“Really? Then she would know.”

They continued their conversation, unpacking this and that from different bags. Roxas didn’t want everything unpacked for he wasn’t sure when he was going to move out again. After, his mom left him to be in his room and he found himself poking around the place as if it was someone’s else’s room. Everything was in it’s place though, just as how he had left it. Roxas looked outside his window and sighed. In all honesty, it was good to be back.

x.x.x.x

“Mom, I’m going out.” the blond called down the hall.

“Oh? Ok, be careful!” she said from somewhere in the house. Most likely the kitchen. Roxas pulled on a jacket and walked outside the door onto the front porch. -Where to start?-He figured he’d go to that mall that his mom had mentioned. -Maybe I can find Olette or someone. I can only imagine what everyone I knew were up too; what they became.-

The town hadn’t really changed, it was sort of funny. Roxas wondered who stayed and who left…? He couldn’t imagine there were many. The drive to the mall was literally a drive down memory lane. Everywhere he looked, Roxas could pin point what happened to him there. It was a little too surreal.

Soon, he could see the mall come into view and his eyes widened. It was a pretty impressive sight to see. “Whoa…upgrade…” Roxas said with a growing smile. He pulled into the parking lot and quickly snagged a spot. He never understood why people drove around looking for “the perfect spot” when there were plenty of open ones in the back. Sure you had to walk, but what’s a few steps?

If the outside looked impressive, then the inside was breath taking. Everything was very Greek oriented, very nice. “I think…mom said Olette worked here…” Roxas said as he gazed about. If he didn’t know any better, he would say the whole town was here, save for his mom. He slowly started to walk around, not exactly sure where to begin looking for his old friend Olette. -Who knows if she is even working?- Roxas thought idly.

A lot of memories and a lot of thoughts started to run through Roxas’s mind. Stuff he wanted to forget, and stuff he was surprised he still remembered. The place where they had built the mall used to be an empty lot. He could recall that the lot was sometimes used to play baseball or was used to hold Struggle matches. -I wonder if they still have those…- Roxas thought.

Idly, he windowed shopped, still amazed by the sight. He started to make his way towards the food court, the aroma of food becoming an enticing invitation. “R-roxas…?!” came an all too familiar voice.

Turning around with wide eyes, Roxas whipped his head to the side and his blue eyes fell upon none other than Olette herself, “O-Olette!?”

“Oh my god!” the petite girl screamed. Abandoning her post at her work site, she sprinted over to where the stunned blond stood and tackled him. “OH MY GOD!” she screamed again. “Is it really you?!” she asked.

“Haha, shouldn’t you have asked that before you tackled me?” Roxas laughed. “What if I was a stranger?”

“Nu-uh! You’re Roxas all right!” the brunette girl said. She placed both her hands on her hips and smiled, “No doubt.”

“Haha, yeah…it’s me.”

Olette’s smiling face soften and she embraced Roxas warmly, “It’s beenyears!” she whispered.

Roxas returned the familiar hug and nodded, “Yeah I know…five years…”

Pulling away, Olette smiled, traces of tears in her eyes, “How have you been?”

“I’ve been good.” Roxas smiled, taking his thumb to brush away the single tear that Olette let escape. “You?”

“Haha, same as ever.” She nodded, “this and that.”

“Olette! Get back to work!” came an angry voice from somewhere. The girl giggled and covered her mouth.

“I guess now isn’t the best time to talk,” she said, “I’ll be on break soon, so we can chat then.”

“OLETTE!”

“Coming!” she shouted, and smiled at Roxas, “I’ll meet you here in like an hour.” she said and Roxas nodded.

“Ok, see you then.” He nodded. Giving him one last hug, Olette ran back to her shop to face her manager’s wrath. Roxas smiled, well, looking for Olette wasn’t as hard as he thought it’d be. He knew that if he didn’t find her working, she was probably shopping. Olette hadn’t changed one bit it seemed.

After an hour of walking around and trying out a hotdog on a stick, Roxas wandered back to where Olette had designated them to meet again. Rounding the corner, his blue eyes spotted the girl in front of the store and he waved. “Hey!” he shouted. Olette smiled and ran over to the blond.

“Hey! I took off work early!” she said as she ran up to Roxas.

“Should you have done that?” he asked.

“Psh…the boss is Hayner.” Olette laughed. “The manager is just a sour prick. He hates how I’m on good terms with Hayner is all.”

“H-HAYNER?” Roxas gaped, “HE owns a SHOP?”

“Yeah! He sells Struggle gear!” Olette giggled, “I told him you were in town, he’s so excited.”

“Well, where is he? Where’s ANYone?” Roxas smiled. Olette motioned for them to walk along towards the food court.

“He’s away. He’s visiting his Grandma up North, but he’ll be back in town next week.” Olette said, “Pence is away at college still.”

“Oh? Oh yeah…he wanted to go to Hollow Bastion and study…”

“Yep. He visits now and then.” Olette nodded. They walked up to a small café, the younger girl ordering an ice coffee. “Want anything?”

“No, I hate coffee.” Roxas smiled.

Olette laughed as she paid, “Still? I figured with that business job you had…you’d make friends with coffee.”

“I learned to not make friends with it.” the blond said and Olette just laughed.

“Well, it’s good to see you. We have lots to catch up on.”

“Olette!” one of the café workers called.

“Oh! Here!” the brunette excused herself from Roxas curtly and went to pick up her delectable treat. When she walked back towards Roxas, they both started to saunter their way to a near by table. ”So tell me, what's it like it in the big city…?” Olette eagerly asked.

“Well,” Roxas scratched the side of his head, “It’s different all right. It’s actually very stressful.”

Olette blinked and then smiled, “Is it?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, “It’s like…you feel like you have no time in the world and that there’s something you have to be doing…even when you don’t.”

“Oh, sounds wonderful.” the brunette haired girl laughed sarcastically.

“Haha, it’s…different. Well, it’s noisy too. But, I sort of like it.”

“Miss it?”

“It’s definitely a transition, you know?” Roxas smiled, “I mean…from the big city to a small town…”

Olette nodded, “I understand. So, what else? Girlfriend…job…?”

“Haha, you know me, Olette.” Roxas said all knowingly.

“Oh, yeah I know…” the younger girl waved a hand. With a coy smile, she leaned forward, “You know…he hasn’t left either.”

Roxas’s smile turned stale, but he blinked it off, “That’s nice…” he said with a shrug. Not thinking clearly, he reached across the table and took a sip of Olette’s coffee. “Ack…!”

This caused the brunette to burst out in laughter, “Ah! Roxas…you’re so silly! Now I know you’re lying!” she said. Roxas just kept swallowing repeatedly, trying to get the bitter taste off his tongue. He threw a look at his old time friend, then smiled a bit.

“Well…you know. He hadn’t even crossed my mind.” he said.

“…I think you’re lying again.” she said.

“No I’m not!” Roxas said with a definite nod, “I mean…it’s been five years…”

Olette just smiled and sat back against the white chair, “Well…so, then you haven’t gotten a girlfriend or…?”

“No…I was always too busy with work to even consider it.” Roxas said.

There was a pause, Olette staring across the table at Roxas through her cold coffee drink. The dew collecting on the sides of her palatable drink trickled down and met her hand half way. She smiled as she bit the straw in her mouth. “So…are you curious as to what he is up to?”

Roxas blinked and looked away abruptly, “N-no…!”

Chuckling to herself, the diminutive girl just nodded, “Well, all right…”

Turning his head slowly to regard his long time friend, Roxas slowly spoke his next words, “Do you know…where he is…?” he asked quietly. Olette just looked at him, taken off guard at first, but then smiled.

“I do.”

And that was the end of that topic.

“So, what about you?” Roxas asked, “What have you been up to?”

“Oh…this and that…I was attending the community college here.” she said.

“You stopped?”

“For a bit…” Olette smiled. She wanted to get back to the topic of Roxas’s little passion over him. She remembered when he had told everyone, everyone being herself, Hayner and Pence, that he had this “passion” for him. She wasn’t surprised, but the other two were quite shocked. Their shock didn’t last long though, for Hayner started pressuring Roxas into talking to the guy.

Olette remembered it as the good old days. When they were young and stupid in high school. Oh the senseless drama they all ensued. If you were to ask Olette if she would ever repeat her High School years, she would say, “I would like to go back to that TIME, but god no way would I EVER want to do high school over!”

“Hm…do you still live in the same place?” Roxas asked.

“I moved out.” Olette said, then she blinked for a moment, “Wait…why are you here again anyways?”

Roxas just laughed a bit nervously, “Eh…well…the business I was in…fell.” he explained, “So…I didn’t know what to do. So I thought I’d come back here.” Roxas looked down at his hands, “The town sure has changed. Well…I guess five years can do that…” he murmured.

“You have changed as well.” Olette said.

“R-really?” the blond looked up, quite taken back by the comment. “How so?”

“Well,” she started, “You’re more confident now. You used to be so shy and … I guess meek. I mean…you were always out going…but now you’re more…confident.”

“God, was I really such a pansy?” he asked in amusement. The two old friends shared a laugh and Olette nodded.

“Not a pansy, but you used to just avoid confrontations.” she explained, “Or rather…you just never had any conflict.”

“So now I’m a trouble maker?” he asked with a mock impaired smile.

“No…at least…I don’t think so.” the younger girl took a sip of her slowly depleting coffee and cleared her throat, “Well, I guess going into any sort of business firm is asking for trouble…” she said.

“So Hayner is-”

“You know Hayner is!” she laughed. Roxas laughed right along with her. He was glad Olette was still her usual cheerful self. Nothing had really changed in the girl, that was good. He liked Olette the way she was. Always had a smile on her face, that was what he remembered of her. So coming back after all this time to find her smiling still, was making his racing heart settle more comfortably. He was afraid that everyone had changed.

Though it seems so far…everyone is still the same- Roxas thought idly. “So, have you been everywhere else in town yet?” she asked.

“No, not yet. My mom just told me about the mall…and that you worked here. So I figured I'd try my luck and look for you,” he explained. Nodding at this, Olette smiled and stood up, the metal chair making spine chilling screech along the floor.

“Then let’s go! I’m sure you want to see the town again,” she said.

Roxas smiled, “Yeah, that’d be nice.”

“Haha, thought so, but you drive!”

“All right, fine.” Roxas smiled and followed his old friend towards the exit.

x.x.x.x

“So…has the school changed?” Roxas asked as he took a right.

“Just this and that.” Olette said with a shrug.

Olette was directing them to the park they used to hang out at. She informed Roxas that the old ice cream man that used to walk around selling ice cream still worked around there.

“He’s so old though! At least he was back then…I’m surprised…” Roxas had said. Olette had laughed and assured him that the man was quite well.

“Yeah, some of them got a new paint job, but that’s about it…” Olette said.

“Oh, that’s cool…are all our old teachers still there?”

“Yeah, a handful of them.”

“Hm…I should go say hi someday.”

“So…how long are you here for?” Olette asked as she pointed to the right. “It’s right there,” she said.

“I don’t really know,” Roxas answered. Indeed, the park came into view a few seconds later. Roxas unconscientiously let a smile cross his face. The park hadn’t changed one bit. “It all depends I guess…”

“Depends…?” Olette asked.

“Well, if I get a new job again,” Roxas said as he turned into the parking lot and parked in the first space open. He pulled his keys out of the ignition and sat back against the driver’s seat. He looked at Olette, “My boss said he would recommend me to others, so I might be heading back up again.” Roxas said with an indifferent shrug.

“Oh…” Olette said looking down, a bit saddened. She then looked up and smiled, recovering before Roxas could ask what was wrong. “Well, I guess we all have our separate lives now. And you being a business man and a big city slicker…I guess it’s not a problem.” she laughed. Roxas smiled, but underneath he was taken back. -I suppose…- he thought. He was unsure of the uncomfortable atmosphere that had settled in the car, but Olette just smiled. “Anyways…let’s go!” she said quickly. Roxas nodded and Olette just shrugged and got out of the car. The blond followed suit, locking the car and following the girl up the grassy hill.

“Is that retarded caterpillar still there?” he asked.

“Yep, it’s all still here.” she replied and laughed. Olette pointed down the opposite of the hill and they ended up running down it. They laughed and soon, Roxas spotted the old ice cream salesman.

“Auron!” Roxas called.

The gray haired man turned around, his one good eyes widening, “Well, look who it is.”

“Hey! Long time!” Roxas smiled. The pair walked up towards the taller male, memories of years ago coming back to Roxas.

“I haven’t seen you in a good long time. How is your story going?” he asked.

Roxas just smiled more -Same old Auron…- “It’s going fine. Yours?”

“It’s repeating a lot recently.” Auron said with a smile. “What can I do for you?” he asked. He was never one to “catch up”. Straight forward was his game, unless someone needed to learn a lesson.

“Do you still sell Sea Salt Ice Cream?” Roxas asked in high hopes.

“I still do.” Auron said. He opened the cart next to him and reached inside.

“You know…I never pictured you as an…ice cream man, Auron.” Roxas admitted.

“Neither does anyone else,” the man said. He pulled his arm out of the cart and presented a wrapped treat to Roxas. The blond paid eagerly for his and Olette’s choice of ice cream, ripping the wrapper off the icy treat and quickly indulging himself. “But this is just a side thing.”

“Oh?” Roxas blinked, “What are you then? Occupation wise?”

“I’m a guardian.” he answered cryptically. At Roxas’s confused looked, the older male sighed, “Like a body guard.” he said stoically.

“Oh…I see.” Roxas smiled. -An ice cream man by day…body guard by night…very interesting “story” he has.- the blond thought. “That’s interesting.” he commented.

Auron just nodded and continued walking on. He paused and turned around to regard Olette and Roxas again, “Besides…this is Tidus’s job now…I just fill in now and then.” And with that said, Auron continued walking down the sidewalk, towards a group of hungry children.

“Tidus’s?” the older of the two asked.

“Yeah…he hired Tidus to continue on…That was about a year after you left,” Olette said. “Auron fills in every now and then though, since Tidus has classes.” she explained.

“Oh I see…” the blond nodded. His blue eyes flashed up to the sky, the blue turning vibrant colors of orange and pink. A plane was flying over head, leaving a trail of smoke behind it. The brunette suggested they go lay down in the grass again like old times and Roxas agreed. They both climbed to the top of the grassy hill and flopped back down, ice cream in hand.

Many thoughts started floating through Roxas’s mind. He continued to watch the small plane travel through the sky as some birds flew over head. Olette started talking, but the blond was, unintentionally, tuning her out.

Olette had said that he was still in this town. At the thought of him, Roxas’s heart began to speed up. Taking a rather large bite of his ice cream, blue eyes hazed over as memories began crashing down all over him. Trying to catch them as they fell, Roxas picked out specific ones.

Ones entailing him and them. What mystified him more was that he was sure he would have buried those old memories long ago. It wasn’t like it was anything painful, rather, they were quite happy memories. But that was just the thing. Even happy memories can be painful, maybe more than regular cutting ones.

Roxas wondered if he had changed in appearance at all. What was he doing? How was his life going? Had he thought of him like Roxas thought of him? The blond slid his eyes shut, hiding azure eyes from the world. The cold ice cream was keeping him grounded to Earth as Roxas drifted from memory to memory.

Indeed, he was sure that if he moved away, he would forget these memories and perhaps this feeling. Quite ironic how things were now.

He could have sworn that after five years, this man wouldn’t be on his mind anymore, but here he was, thinking of him. When he thought about it though, he had always been on his mind. Almost everyday of the five years away from this town, he had still been on his mind. Roxas opened his eyes and saw the faintest marks of stars brimming from the sky.

Olette had grown silent by now, noticing Roxas had suddenly become mute in their conversation. However, the blond hadn’t notices hers. Honey brown eyes observed Roxas and a small smile crept to the corners of her mouth. -He’s thinking of him…- she thought. Acknowledging that, she settled back into the grass and continued to polish off her own ice cream.

The name that belonged to him lingered in his mouth. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to speak his name though. The blond swallowed, licking any remnants of his ice cream off the popsicle stick and lowered his hand. His mouth twitched; he wasn’t sure if he could even say the name. He had a foreboding feeling that if he did say his name, things in town would turn a bit pear shaped. For the better or worse, he couldn’t tell, but before he could stop himself, that name rolled off his tongue, falling from his lips and disappearing into the wind.

“Axel…”

Olette just smiled.

-end 1-

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Ah, this will be a cute story…but I’ll have to throw in angst somewhere…haha.

chapter 2