Axel woke up in his bed in castle oblivion, frantically looking around for Xion. Where did she go? What happened to her? Why was he in his room and not in the hallway of the castle? Axel got up and decided to find Saix to see if he knew the answer to those questions.
"Hey Saix" Axel started.
"Yes what is it?" Saix stated.
"Where's Xion?" Axel asked and Saix gained a confused look on his face.
"Xion, who's Xion. We never had any members by that name. In fact our little project named Xion failed so there never was any Xion" Saix said.
"No, but that means" Axel rushed to her room, bursting in, seeing it empty and devoid of ever having any sign of life.
"Xion, why did you have to go and get yourself killed" Axel had to resist the urge to punch a wall in his, well it felt like anger and sadness. Wait it felt? She didn't? Did she?
~With Diz a few days later~
"Diz!" Namine stated, running towards him.
"What is it?" he asked, not caring unless it had to do with Sora.
"Xion had gained a heart of her own and when she passed on she actually was giving her heart to another and making him whole again. She wasn't sacrificing herself for Sora as much as she was for someone else" Namine explained.
"Will it affect our current plans to revive Sora?" Diz asked.
"Yes, this person needs to be near Sora when he awakens so he regains all his memories, but he can't be allowed to disappear as he will have his own heart, it's Xion's not Sora's though. He also will need to be put to sleep like Sora so his heart can fully function again" Namine stated.
"I see, very well who is this person?" Diz asked.
"Axel" Namine responded.
"Riku has already brought Roxas and Axel has been poking around so finding him won't be a problem" Diz stated.
"Also you'll need to convince him that Roxas and Sora are going to become one and there's no changing that you know that right Diz?" Riku questioned.
"Yes I know that's what I will do, don't forget to bring him to me" Diz stated and Riku nodded, leaving.
Axel was walking down the Darkened streets of Traverse Town when he suddenly heard a Dark Portal, opening behind him stepping out was a man cloaked in a black coat. "What do you want it's not like I have anything left for you to take other than my life." Axel grimly joked however the man didn't move. "Well?"
"Fact is Sora needs you." the Man in the cloak replied.
"Bite me!" Axel growled summoning his Chakrams in a burst of flame, and threw them in a Vengeful surge of energy. The man however summoned his own Weapons and blocked them.
"So much for coming Quietly." he muttered as he got into a stance, firing off several Dark Blizzagas Axel had to cartwheel out of the way he then charged and the two clashed weapons for a bit before they managed to knock each other back Axel managed to keep his footing and with a roar sent a burst of fire at the man who groaned in pain as he was burnt.
The man then sent a burst of Thunder spells that hit Axel but he managed to strike a combo on the man he then roared and charged for a deadly blow however a large Shadowy monster appeared and he found himself being grabbed and slammed around then finally a surge of Dark Hydro Spells from the creature's hand hit him hard making him shriek in pain Axel struggled but eventually the pain was too much and he passed out. The cloaked man hefted Axel over his shoulder and disappeared through a dark corridor. A dark corridor opened where Diz was and the cloaked man came out and threw Axel on the ground.
"Tie him up, Riku, wouldn't want him to try and free Roxas while we speak" Diz stated. The cloaked man, now revealed to be Riku, did so and Axel awoke.
"You! Give Roxas back!" Axel growled as he struggled against the bindings that held him, what Diz took note of was Axel blurred in and out to a much younger version of him. (Birth By Sleep Lea is what he's blurring in and out as)
"Now settle down, I will explain this to you now and only once. Roxas and Sora are going to become one and you won't be able to stop it and once they do become one there is no way ever reversing it. This is needed to awaken Sora and save the worlds" Diz stated.
"Don't make them become one!" Axel pleaded. His cries fell on deaf ears as he was encased in the same pod Sora was.
"What's going on here! What are you doing!" Axel started struggling harder in his binds before he felt suddenly sleepy and fell into a deep slumber. When Axel awoke he held the knowledge of how to wield a keyblade like he'd done so for years. Not only that but he was the age and appearance was the same as before he lost his heart. He slipped easily out of his bindings because of this fact.
"What the heck?" Axel asked himself before going to mirror and staring at his reflection. He wasn't Axel anymore, no he was Lea. He had his heart back that much he knew based on his appearance and the way his voice sounded. He even had the clothes he had before he joined organization thirteen.
"I rather have Xion than this" Axel had guessed this was her doing.
"I'd also rather have Roxas than the keyblades he gave me" Axel sighed, Roxas had come to him while he was asleep in the dive in his heart and given him the keyblades that he wielded along with the knowledge of how to use them to Axel just before he combined with Sora. Axel looked sadly at Sora, Roxas had told him he wanted this so he wouldn't interfere in his wants. He just wished he could have stopped him. Roxas also told him that none of the organization had come looking for him where he was, but he remembered him just before he disappeared.
"I guess I'm not Axel anymore now that I have a heart, well Xion's heart. I guess I'm Lea" Axel mumbled to himself. Axel, no Lea, walked over to Sora's pod and waited for him to awaken. When he did he was greeted by Donald and Goofy hugging and being happy to see each other. Lea looked sadly at the scene, it reminded him a bit how he, Xion, and Roxas would be happy just to see each other again.
"Xion, Roxas" Lea muttered sadly, his new found heart ached to see them again.
"Huh who are you?" Sora asked.
"Names Lea, got it memorized?" Lea asked with his usual catchphrase though with less enthusiasm.
"You seem sad, why?" Sora asked.
"They were both able to read me like a book too. I'm sad because I lost two very good friends, though they were my only friends as well" Lea sighed.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Hey I know! I'll be your friend!" Sora cheered and this put a smile on Lea's face.
"You're just like them" Lea stated.
"Really I act just like your friends?" Sora asked.
"Like a combination of them, yes you do. Though there's a reason for that. I don't know if I should explain it to you yet. I'll tell you when you learn about organization thirteen, alright?" Lea asked.
"Are you coming with us Lea?" Sora asked, practically bouncing on his heels.
"No! Absolutely not!" Donald quacked.
"I'm coming rather you like it or not" Lea stated.
"Yes!" Sora cheered.
"Come on let's go!" Sora stated, starting to run out of the pod room while dragging Lea along with him.
"Hey slow down! I can't walk that fast, Sora!" Lea shouted.
"How'd you know my name?" Sora asked while running.
"I told you I'll tell you when you learn about organization thirteen" Lea responded.
"Alright then I want to learn about them now" Sora pouted and this made Lea burst out in laughter as they exited the building.
"So the world we're on is twilight town" Lea sighed.
"You know about other worlds?" Sora asked.
"Yeah, I use to be able to travel freely between worlds, I'll tell you everything when you learn about organization thirteen" Lea responded.
"Sora! Why'd you leave us!" Donald shouted.
"Oops" Sora laughed sheepishly.
"Oops! That's all you got to say, oops?!" Donald shouted.
"I'm sorry Donald I guess I got all excited" Sora stated.
"But why are you so excited to hang around Lea, you just met him Sora" Jiminy Cricket stated.
"I don't know, but it's like I've known him for years" Sora stated.
"There's a reason for that but again I'll tell you when you learn about organization thirteen" Lea stated. Suddenly they were surrounded by dusks, Lea summoned the keyblades that Roxas had given him.
"Your a keybearer!" Sora gasped.
"Yeah I am but I wasn't always one, no time for idle chit chat though. These things are called dusks and they're apart of organization thirteen. In other words they're the bad guys" Lea stated and Sora nodded and summoned his keyblade and Donald summoned his staff and Goofy his shield. Lea easily dispatched the dusks he was dealing with, with practiced ease. Though Sora, Donald, and Goofy weren't so lucky. Suddenly King mickey dispatched the rest of the dusks that were about to attack Sora.
"King Mickey!" Donald, Goofy, and Sora gasped.
"To the train station, Lea take good care of Sora" King Mickey stated before leaving again.
"Come on I know where the station is" Lea motioned for them to follow and they did, getting on the train that would take them away. Soon the train made it to Yen Sid's castle there they saw Pete trying to get in. He was mumbling something about Maleficent, Sora, Donald, and Goofy started giggling.
"What's so funny?" Pete demanded, turning around to see the four of them.
"Pete!" Donald and Goofy shouted.
"How'd you get out?!" Donald demanded.
"Maleficent freed me" Pete responded.
"Oh well, she's defeated now, we took care of her" Sora waved Pete off. This made him angry and started charging at Sora but Lea pulled him out of the way. Soon they defeated Pete and Pete fled.
"Come on let's get into the castle, whoever lives there must be endanger with the heartless there" Sora stated and they went up the stairs, hacking and slashing any heartless they came across. They had defeated all the heartless when they reached the top of the stairs. They walked into to the room and Donald and Goofy immediately bowed upon seeing it was Yen Sid who owned the castle. Donald growled at Lea and Sora for not bowing.
"Sora, Lea, show some respect" Donald hissed.
"It's quite fine Donald, besides I bet you all want to hear about the dusks and organization thirteen, right?" Yen sid asked and they nodded eagerly.
"Well you all know how a heartless is formed right? Well when a person who becomes a heartless had a strong enough heart they leave behind a empty body called a nobody. The lesser nobodies are called dusks. Though if a heart is very strong they can form a more powerful nobody with a conscious mind and they came together to form organization thirteen. We don't know what organization thirteen's purpose is but they must be stopped" Yen Sid stated.
"Organization thirteen's purpose was and always had been to get their own hearts but I recently learned that they're going about it the wrong way. I don't know the right way but I know the way they're going about it could get them and everyone else killed. As for your question about what I said I would tell you when you learned about organization thirteen, I will tell you now. You once sometime in your life were turned into a heartless, yet somehow turned back but you left behind two nobodies when you turned back. Those two nobodies were my best friends, Xion and Roxas, they gave their lives up to revive you from your sleep-like state. I was once a nobody too before Xion gave me her heart that she had somehow developed. Roxas gave me the keyblades I now wield, I truly miss them but this is what they wanted and I respect their wishes. They wanted to go back to you Sora so you could save the worlds. The reason you felt like you've known me for years is likely due to their subconscious influence on you. I was formerly known as Axel before I got my heart back so some of the organization may refer to me as that when we meet them. They will also try to kill me for betraying them" Lea explained.
"Lea, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take your friends away from you" Sora stated sadly.
"Nah, it's alright Sora, I know that it isn't your fault so I don't blame you" Lea stated.
"Thank you" Sora smiled.
"We now know why organization thirteen is doing what they're doing and they must be stopped are you two up to the task?" Yen Sid asked and they nodded.
"Alright, Sora go to the three fairies and they will give you a change of clothes as well as a new power" Yen Sid stated and Sora did so coming back in his new clothes not to soon afterwards.
"What do you think?" Sora asked.
"I think you look good" Axel nodded.
"Well you four it's time for you to leave, we provided you with your Gummi ship so hurry onward" Yen Sid stated and they all boarded the ship. Now they were off to the next world while Maleficent was revived again.