Chapter 7: Homecoming

Cari walked out onto the deck and sat down on the steps. She was home, and had just finished unpacking. Now she could just relax outside. It was quite nice today. The sun was shining, and it wasn’t too hot. Just warm with a nice breeze. She loved days like this. And they had always said in most fiction that vampires either burned in sunlight or just hated it. It was absolutely ridiculous. It really didn’t even irritate them past burning easier.
She was about to get out her cell phone, that she had just gotten back, when she saw a boy with spiky caramel brown hair coming up on the sidewalk on a skateboard. The only problem? He was freaking out—a lot. Cari watched as he fell right in front of her.
“Nice one, Sora,” Cari said flatly. “Ten out of ten points for falling flat on your face.”
Sora got up and pouted. “Gee, thanks,” he said.
Cari smiled at him. “You’re welcome,” she said. “Roxas still trying to teach you how to skateboard? I thought after the last fiasco, he would have given up.”
“No, he hasn’t given up yet,” said Sora. “You seem to be as witty as ever.”
Cari laughed. “Hey, you made it so easy, I couldn’t resist,” she said.
Sora rolled his eyes. “Anyway, you’re back,” he said.
“Yup,” said Cari. “I’m home. So where’s everyone else? I would have thought they’d be here with you.”
“No, they’re all at home I think,” said Sora. “Have you called anyone yet?”
“I just got done unpacking,” said Cari. “I was just about to call Zexion when you showed up. Besides, if I had already called both Zexion and Yuki, everyone would have already known. Because, while Zexion probably would just head over here without telling everyone else, Yuki would have had everyone over here.”
“Good point,” said Sora. He picked up the skateboard. “I think I should go now. I kind of borrowed this from Roxas without telling him, and he’s probably not too happy about it.”
Cari started laughing. “You idiot,” she said. “You probably should get going now. I’ll see you later.”
Cari waved as Sora took off down the street again. He was going to get it when either he found Roxas, or vice versa. She laughed to herself at the thought of it. It would be interesting to see it. Though she half didn’t want to. Roxas could be terrifying when he was truly angry. And he had a bit of a short temper to begin with. It was definitely quite the contrast from Sora—who was particularly forgiving more often than not.
She stood up and headed back inside. While it was nice out, she wanted to take a nice little nap before doing anything else. Even though she had originally planned to call Zexion first. That could wait a bit. Because she realized just how tired she was from getting home. The drive from the camp to her house was hardly what anyone would call short. She’d been cooped up in Vincent’s car for about half the day.
When she got back to her room, she closed and locked the door. She didn’t want Vexen coming in and disturbing her without knocking. She went over to her window and looked out for a minute. Right now, she really hoped Yuki wouldn’t show up right outside and start knocking on it or anything like that. Because as much as she loved her friend dearly, Yuki could get a little loud. And right now, Cari just wanted some piece and quiet. Then again, Yuki had a tendency to show up just when she wanted to be alone.
Cari was about to close the curtains when, lo and behold, Yuki appeared from one of the sides, grinning. Cari sighed and opened the window.
“Hi, Yuki,” said Cari. “What’s making you grin like an idiot?”
Yuki pouted. “Is that any way to greet your best friend?” she asked.
“Sorry, I’m tired,” said Cari. “I was about to take a nap.”
“I wanted to see if you were home yet,” Yuki said, smiling again. She jumped in through the window, making Cari move to the side. She closed the window. “No time for napping now. Is that what you’ve been doing for half the time at camp?”
Cari sighed. “No,” she said. “Not really. I barely got any naps—you might as well have called it a boot-camp at times. But I didn’t get all that much sleep last night either because I was up half the night getting everything packed up again.”
“Yeah, uh-huh,” Yuki said flatly. She rolled her eyes and hopped onto Cari’s bed. “Anyway, have you watched the news yet? They still haven’t found the girl from the beginning of summer.”
Cari went over and sat by Yuki. “Really?” she asked. “Has anyone turned up missing?”
“No,” Yuki said, shaking her head a bit. “And that’s what’s strange. No one’s missing. And they have no leads. I’m surprised they haven’t given up.”
Cari scowled. “They should,” she said. Yuki stared at her in confusion. “Because that’s one mystery that they’ll never solve. Because no one’s missing or dead.”
Yuki furrowed her brow. “What do you mean?” she asked suspiciously. “How would you know anything about it? What do you know?”
Cari glanced away. “Just… Yuki, I need to tell you something,” she said after a short pause. The entire deal was nagging at her to no end. She hadn’t lied to Yuki, but she hadn’t been honest, either.
Yuki was even more confused now. “Just what do you know that you haven’t said?” she asked.
Cari walked over to the window and closed the curtain. It seemed like a very pointless action from anyone else’s point of view, but it made her feel a little more comfortable. It meant that if she had to show Yuki anything at all, they would have complete privacy. And with the door locked, not even Vexen would be bothering them. Although he also knew for a fact that Cari had been heavily debating when to tell Yuki about her status as a vampire.
She walked back over to Yuki and sat down, resting her back against Yuki’s. “Well, first, I have a question,” said Cari. She mentally gulped, knowing it might not work very well. But she needed to have faith in her friend. “What… do you think of vampires? Like if they were real.”
“I think they’re ok,” said Yuki. “I think, personality wise, they’re a lot like humans. Some are good, some are bad.” Yuki frowned. “Why do you ask? What does this have to do with the forest mystery?”
Cari hesitated for a second. And it was a long second. “Because… I was attacked by one,” she said.
Yuki was rendered speechless for a good long minute. When had Cari been attacked by a vampire? And what did it have to do with the mystery in the forest from the beginning of summer break? If she didn’t know any better, she’d say they were completely unrelated. But she knew better—the two topics were completely related. Cari wouldn’t have brought this up if it happened at camp. In that event, she might have let her know in a letter.
“You were the one in the forest,” she breathed, trying to control her basic instinct to do something virtually rash and barely thought out. Though had she not tried to recall all that she’d been told the next morning, she’d have accused her best friend of lying to her. Never once had Cari directly lied. She just never told the truth. “Speaking logically, no one could have survived such a thing. So… How did you survive?”
“Another vampire came and offered me a chance to keep living,” said Cari. “So now, I’m a vampire. I wasn’t allowed to see more than one person because it was technically too dangerous.”
“That sounds reasonable,” said Yuki. She forced herself to think logically. It was all she could really do now. If she didn’t, she’d probably snap and lash out for not being told originally.
“I was told I could tell one person,” said Cari. “And I was going to. But I was too conflicted to decide who to tell.”
“So then Zexy doesn’t know?” the blond asked. “I guess that makes sense, too.” She paused. “When I saw you last, you remember that I asked about Axy, right?”
“Yeah.” Cari knew this was coming, and accepted it calmly. After all, Yuki had been concerned for her porcupine boyfriend. “You don’t need to repeat it. I was informed that human blood was, in effect, better to drink. Vincent pointed Axel out that night, and I had no real way of arguing.”
“So I guess he knows too?” asked Yuki.
Cari shook her head, regardless of whether Yuki noticed or not. “We all agreed that it might be best if his memory was locked away. Axel really didn’t mind either way, but Vincent had a point. It’s dangerous knowing.”
“And you’re telling me anyway,” Yuki commented dryly. “Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?”
The brunette vampire chuckled. “You’d want to know regardless of the danger.”
“True,” Yuki conceded. “So what was the camp about?”
“Well, I had a lot to learn,” said Cari. “I’m not kidding when you said it might as well be called a boot camp at times. They waste no time in teaching defense. If I had to guess, the vampire part of the magical world was almost a militaristic society. But that was never really explained.”
Yuki sighed. Technically speaking, what Cari said was a lot to take in—given what it also implied. There was a lot to this world that she hadn’t been aware of before. She thought she knew things, but apparently she didn’t know as much as she thought.
“Am I the only one who knows right now?” she asked
“No. Dad knew from the start,” said Cari. “By his reaction when I talked with him after it happened, he’s probably known a while.” After all, he seemed to know more than he was really saying. She was curious, but knew she probably shouldn’t pry too much right now.
“In that case, he probably never told you for the same reason Axy doesn’t know,” said Yuki. She turned to face Cari.  “So what is there to know about vampires, anyway?”
Cari smiled, relieved that they were off the topic of what had happened to her. She really didn’t like talking about it. “That’s the fun part, I guess. But you know you can’t really tell anyone any of this, right? They’d send you to the nearest mental institution and have you diagnosed with Schizophrenia or something.”
“I belong in the ward,” she laughed. “I’m surprised they haven’t come for me yet.”
________________________________________________________________
Cari sat up on her bed. She hadn’t fallen asleep at all. As much as she tried to relax, thoughts kept running through her head. All about Zexion. She couldn’t help thinking about how she’d go about telling him she was a vampire one day. Sure, telling Yuki had went very well. But she had no idea how Zexion would react. She didn’t know enough about how he viewed vampires yet. It just seemed to bother her now more than ever. Then again, she really didn’t want him to get mixed up in her new problems.
She got up and opened the door. Lucky thing Vexen hadn’t wanted her for anything. She probably wouldn’t have even heard him anyway. She had learned to tune things out even better than before. It was almost a skill now—she’d block out the world and only tune in when she wanted to. So very much like a cat, which Vexen had at least once accused her of being.
She walked out to the living room and sat down on the couch. She was insanely bored, and had been seriously hoping Zexion would call or something. Every time she tried to call him, he didn’t answer. Had he been doing something? No matter the reasoning, it was getting to be highly irritating. If she didn’t talk to him soon, she might go crazy. Letters only conveyed so much.
Cari heard a knocking on the door. She jumped up and hurried over to it and quickly opened it. Her face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Zexion,” she squealed. She quickly grabbed him in a hug.
Zexion smiled and hugged her back. “It’s good to see you, too,” he said, kissing her cheek. “I’ve missed you.”
Cari blushed. “Yeah, I missed you, too,” she said. “Now come in.” She let go of Zexion and quickly pulled him inside. She was so happy he’d come. At least now she wouldn’t be bored to tears for a while.
“You really have gotten stronger since you went to camp,” said Zexion.
He didn’t say it, but he also felt something else besides any physical attributes. It was something that nearly rolled off her skin. Something about her had changed over the summer. It wasn’t anything right in your face—he’d only realized it after realizing how strong she’d become. There was something that was attached to her—no, almost a part of her now—that was frightening. It unnerved him, but those two things were all that changed.
Cari laughed innocently as they sat down on the couch. “Of course I have, silly,” she said.
Zexion just smiled. Though he had a distinct feeling that Cari wasn’t about to really go into great detail on any other changes. Eventually, perhaps, but not now. She seemed to want something kept to herself right now, and really, he felt he had to respect that. He just hoped that whatever it was never bothered her. If it did, then he would have to push to find out what it was.
“You know, I tried to call you earlier,” said Cari. “But I couldn’t get a hold of you.”
“My cell phone needed to charge,” said Zexion. “Sorry about that.”
“I figured it would be something like that,” said Cari. “So what happened while I was gone that wasn’t mentioned in the letters?”
“Nothing too interesting”, said Zexion. He gave a small, nervous smile. “Though, I will admit that Yuki kind of scares me now.”
Cari almost smacked her forehead. Yuki didn’t make a habit of doing so, but she could be particularly intimidating. She felt she might even scare someone from the magic society. Although if she had to be honest, she really didn’t know why that was. Yuki hadn’t exactly filled her in on all the details of her life.
“What did she do to you,” she asked suspiciously.
“She didn’t actually do anything to me,” said Zexion. “But she did threaten me. She said, and I quote, ‘Cari’s my best friend. You break her heart, and I’ll break your face. I won’t stand to see her hurt because of you.’ She seems to be quite violent at times.”
Cari sighed. “She is at times,” she said. “She usually isn’t, but sometimes she is. But it usually takes something real nasty to make her snap. She gets very protective when it comes to her friends. Sorry she said that to you.”
Zexion put his hand on Cari’s head and smiled. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “She’s a good friend. A little crazy, but good.”
“Newsflash, Zexy,” said Cari. “We’re all crazy. That’s why we’re friends.” She smiled brightly. “If we weren’t crazy, we’d be normal.” She moved his hand off her head. “And trust me, normal is boring.”
“That’s true,” Zexion laughed. He sighed. “It’s a shame there’s only less than a week before school starts again. I was really hoping to have the entire summer with you. Camp ruined that.”
Cari’s smile saddened. “Yeah, that’s the only thing I really hated about it,” she said. “I know. Why don’t we go to the beach sometime? You know, just the two of us.”
Zexion smiled. “Yeah, that sounds like fun,” he said. “Let’s go right before the first day back. That way we can end the summer with something special.”
Cari blushed. “Of course,” she said quickly. “I can’t wait!”
“Good,” said Zexion.
Cari smirked leaned towards him a bit and kissed him. They’d been apart for nearly the entire summer, and she had hated that. Had none of the events leading to her becoming a vampire ever happened, they’d have been doing this throughout the entire summer. And she wouldn’t be afraid of accidentally scaring him away just because of what she was now. There were too many ways he could react to her new condition. She hoped for the best for when she told him, but was afraid none the less.
Zexion felt the need in the kiss and responded quickly. He was there for her—and he always would be. He would make sure she knew that, because it was almost as if she was afraid he wouldn’t be there. Why that was? He really didn’t know that. But he did know she needed him with her now that she had him. It wasn’t hard to see or understand. It worked that way for both of them. He would take care of her, and she would take care of him. It sounded so cliché in his mind, but he couldn’t escape that feeling.
When she pulled away, he could see her eyes watering. Was she really about to cry? It looked that way, though he could only think that it was due to more extreme emotions from being away for the entire summer. It was obvious she wanted things to turn out differently. He could understand that. But there was something else—one thing he just couldn’t place. Something must have happened while she was at camp. But what?
All the same, he pulled her into a hug.
Cari wiped the tears away before they could fall. She couldn’t really express what was wrong right now, partially because she didn’t know how. It was something that really needed said, but she couldn’t make herself say it. Still, she got the distinct impression that he understood at least that she didn’t want him to leave her. Whether or not he understood anything else from her expression, she wasn’t sure.
“I really, really missed you,” she said.
Zexion nodded. “I know.”
She officially didn’t want to go back to camp next summer. Not without Zexion at least knowing what was really going on. But then she’d have to make sure he could really handle the truth. She had to make sure he’d be ready when he told her. And she had to make sure she was ready above all else. If she wasn’t ready, then how could she expect Zexion to be ready? Hopefully, she would feel both of them were ready soon.
Cari pulled away and smiled, wanting to find a new subject that wouldn’t make her feel so pained. “So is there anything in particular you wanted to do?”

To Be Continued