"Axel considers Roxas and Xion to be like his own children, which makes him the father. The poor, eternally single, very reluctant father. But hey, it makes him feel like he has a heart, which makes it all worth it.."
— The summary on Cloudhead's profile
The Reluctant Father universe is a series of Kingdom Hearts fanfiction by Cloudhead. It is an alternate version of Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, focusing on Axel, Roxas and Xion. The title refers to Axel's relationship with the other two. Notable change: Saix isn't a jerk. That's the tip of the iceberg.
Find a summary and the stories here.
Note that there is no actual fic called 'The Reluctant Father'—the series starts with Stupid Questions.
As you can tell by the edit history, this page is mostly Word of God. And he would appreciate some help.
The Stories in the series are:
- Stupid Questions
- Sea-Salt Stories
The Reluctant Father Universe contains examples of:
- Ax-Crazy: Kacela, complete with actual axe.
- Berserk Button:
- Only Axel gets to call Roxas and Xion 'Rox' and 'Xi'. Ever.
- Messing with Xion too much will incur the wrath of Roxas. Kind of ironic, when you consider how much she gets messed with in the game with no consequences for the perpetrators whatsoever.
- Blackmail: Roxas gets a nice RC car from Vexen thanks to this. Axel approves.
- BFS: Kacela has a giant battleaxe that's large even by Final Fantasy standards. Even Axel isn't sure how she manages to carry it.
- Blast Out: This is how the Mexican Standoff ends in Chapter 20 of The Longest Night.
- Butt-Monkey: Poor, poor Demyx. He gets all his stuff burned and thought Xion was a boy.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Well, this is Organization XIII. Especially evident in The Longest Night.
- The Comically Serious: Saix. Much humor stems from his (generally deadpan) reactions to usual Organization XIII antics.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The Figure/Sora versus the entire Organization in Invader.
- The Cutie:
- Xion. The one who has two stuffed animals and is afraid of loud noises.
- Cloudhead has noted multiple times that he considers Xion as a bit of an Author Avatar because she's so cute.
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: You get the feeling that Vexen would get a lot more done for the Organization if he wasn't so focused on breaking up Axel, Roxas and Xion.
- Deadpan Snarker: Saix.Saix on American football: Axel, it's a stupid sport where men overcompensating for their low intelligence run into each other at high speeds and then beat each other to the ground.
- Didn't Think This Through: Xion does this perpetually.
- Disappointed in You: Axel towards Roxas and Xion at the end of the Ice Cream Ban Incident.
- Fix Fic: Cloudhead really, really likes Xion, and she has a seat in the Round Room and a cool title.Author Note: The ending of Days is basically like, oh, you care about this person? Screw you, she goes in the shredder. Also, no one else has read the manga and everyone hates her. HAVE FUN! DISNEY! I felt the need to give he a break for once.
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: This happens in The Longest Night due to Roxas and Xion starting to merge.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck!: You'd think Axel would use stronger language than 'fudge' and 'darn'. Justified in that he probably doesn't want Roxas and Xion picking up on it.
- I Call It "Vera": Xion calls her Keyblade Darklight. In the game, the Keyblade she uses is called Oblivion.
- Le Parkour: Most of Organization XIII can do this. Roxas and Xion... can't.
- Lighter and Softer: It's written with this in mind. The result is extremely fluffy.
- Love Makes You Dumb: Both Roxas and Xion are afflicted by this. It's even lampshaded in "Date Island".
- Mathematician's Answer: Roxas and Xion to Ashoka Tano.Ashoka: Can you tell me your names?Roxas and Xion: [completely serious] Yes.
- Mexican Standoff: Occurs in chapters 18-20 of The Longest Night.
- Oh, Crap!: The card soldier's response to Roxas defending Xion, with those exact words.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The moment Saix starts being nice to Xion, both she and Axel know something has changed in the status quo.
- Papa Wolf: Axel is this to Roxas and Xion. He beats up or threatens to beat up everyone who so much as touches them.
- Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Kacela was Lea's girlfriend. She didn't take the breakup well.
- Suddenly Always Knew That: Axel is a very talented person. He can, at time of writing:
- Use a yo-yo!
- Style hair!
- Knit!
- Trash of the Titans: The basement of The Castle That Never Was in "Castle Cleanup". It's bad enough that Saix undergoes a minor Break the Haughty upon seeing it.
- Trash the Set: Roxas utterly destroys the outdoor courtroom in Wonderland in Defense.
- Unstoppable Rage: Roxas gets very angry when people start messing with Xion.
- Villains Out Shopping: Much as in the game, the Organization spends a lot of time doing normal things.
