Warnings for Story: Eventual slash and also almost-immediate slash. Couples: Axel/Roxas, Riku/Sora, Axel/Riku.

Meeting As… Strangers

'How? How could Roxas do that?'

Emerald eyes watched the Nobody surrounded by people he had never truly met before in his life.

'Did he really just forget about everything?'

"Roxas, you were amazing!"

'How can he just believe that guy's fantasy world?'

He sighed, backing away from the open area.

'I guess he really did forget.'

There was no real direction; he was just putting one foot in front of the other. He just needed to feel like he was going somewhere, even if he wasn't. He didn't even know where he was going, or where he was. He'd never really visited the town before, except for a few hours, and even then he wondered if the town he remembered was so similar to this one.

He couldn't leave, not just yet. He knew that he had a mission to report back from, but what was the point when there was no news? Roxas was happily living some fairy tale created by a sadist with a deep hatred for the Organization and Nobodies in general. Axel had completely failed to bring him back, thanks to said sadist and some implanted memories. He was also carefully not showing the pain from their fight.

All in all, Xemnas was going to kill him. Maybe even literally, if he was lucky.

He glared up at the disgustingly clear, sunny sky. Why couldn't it just rain? It usually always did, why did this have to be the one time that the weather actually decided to be nice around him? Back in the World That Never Was, he'd practically drown just leaving the castle for five minutes. Not that he really minded. The rain could actually be sort of fun, especially if you forgot that your body was stuck at nineteen years old, that you weren't even human anymore, that you were a Nobody, and just ran through it with your best—

His head jerked to the side as he abruptly cut off the thought. He couldn't allow himself to think about that. It just hurt too much. He was trying not to think about Roxas at all, the last thing he needed was for a bunch of old memories to get him started again. Besides, none of them mattered anymore. If what he had just seen was anything to go by, they were all memories of somebody who didn't exist now.

Vaguely the thought crossed his mind that he should stop caring. There was no reason for him to be thinking about anybody who was essentially dead, and he shouldn't be mourning him either. Nobodies didn't have hearts, so they couldn't miss anybody. They didn't have what was needed to be sad or angry or anything that a normal person might feel after a death.

But it was all wrong anyway, no matter what spin he tried to put on it to block out any feelings that he might be imagining. Roxas wasn't dead; he was right back there, in the sandlot. Why mourn someone who was alive, well, and safe with his friends?

An unexpected growl slipped out between his lips at that thought. 'But they're not his friends. They're not even real. He's not even who he really is.' He knew Roxas better than anybody else. Roxas didn't grin at his friends, or play-fight, or yell out for them when he was in trouble.

More to the point, Roxas didn't fight with Axel. Not really. They'd sparred, but Axel could tell when they'd fought that whatever the redhead was doing, Roxas was fighting him like he was a Heartless. An enemy. He couldn't even tell that Axel was holding back.

Because of course Axel hadn't been fighting properly. As far as he was concerned, he was just trying to snap Roxas out of it. He'd realised that the Dusks weren't going to trigger anything, so he'd decided to try to something a bit more personal. And it hadn't had any effect whatsoever. If anything, it had just drawn Roxas further into the virtual world as he called for friends who were only data.

It was all so messed up. Admittedly being a Nobody had never been easy, even before he'd joined the Organization, but things had never been this hard before. Things had seemed much simpler when his main concern was trying to work out a way to get back at Demyx for soaking him in the hall. Then he and Roxas had been friends and Roxas still remembered him.

Sure, it hadn't seemed so perfect at the time. There was always that small matter of those weird thoughts he'd get sometimes. The weird way he used to feel when he saw Roxas for the first time after a mission. The relief, but also something else. It used to worry him for hours, especially towards the end, when it all seemed to be getting worse.

Despite all that, right now Axel would have given anything to go back to then. Whatever those feelings had meant, they had to be better than the sheer confusion he was feeling now. Not to mention the despair.

His hands reached up to rub at his temples, something that he'd been told was supposed to calm your thoughts. It didn't work. If anything, it just seemed to amplify them, creating a splitting headache right at the front. He closed his eyes in frustration as he rubbed harder to try to get it to go away. If anyone had walked past him at that moment, they would have probably thought that he was mad. Some psycho crouched against a wall and clutching his head.

The thought crossed his mind that he should get out of here before anybody did come. The last thing he needed was somebody trying to help him. The way he was feeling, they would be lucky if they weren't roasted on the spot. Besides, soon people would be leaving the tournament. They'd all be wandering around, feeling that weird sense of loss and depression that always came when you left some big event. Hell, maybe there'd be some baby crying, just to make the pain in his head even worse.

More importantly for him, seeing how his luck had already gone so far, Roxas would find him. Probably try to fight him again. Maybe even try to kill him to try to get some answers out of him. Whoever he was now, he clearly wasn't the cleverest guy ever. No, Axel had to get out of there.

But he didn't have anywhere to go. He didn't want to go back to the World That Never Was, not yet, and besides, all he'd find there would be a psychotic Superior. Not exactly a welcoming prospect for anybody.

The whole town was deserted now, so he could just walk wherever he liked. He vaguely considered just portalling to another world, but that seemed completely pointless. And there was always the chance that he'd run into one of the others, who'd almost certainly want to know how his mission was going. Twilight Town appeared to be his only option while he tried to sort his mind out.

The problem was that with so little distraction around him, there was nothing to stop his mind wandering back to the memories. Not just of before, but also of what had just happened.

"It's me. You know, Axel."

"Axel?"

"Talk about blank with a capital B. Man oh man, even the Dusks aren't going to crack this one."

He'd tried to laugh it off, making jokes like he always did. Too bad that Roxas still didn't have much of a sense of humour. Of all the things to keep from his old self, it had to be one of the most infuriating parts.

"What's going on?"

"Number 13. Roxas. The Keyblade's chosen one."

Maybe bringing up the Keyblade hadn't been the best idea. He'd just wanted to say something to try and jolt Roxas' memories. He'd thought that talking about one of the few things that seemed to have stayed the same would work.

"Roxas! Don't let him deceive you!"

DiZ's appearance hadn't really surprised him. He was more concerned about what it meant. If DiZ had found it necessary to turn up in a world that he appeared to have so much disdain for, then surely that meant that some part of his plan was being threatened. Perhaps Roxas had started to remember. Perhaps Axel had actually been doing something right.

"Hayner! Pence! Olette!"

It didn't matter in the end. Roxas had gone running back to his virtual, fake life. DiZ had won that round. It sounded ridiculous to have to basically fight for his best friend's mind, but that was how it had turned out. And Axel had lost. He'd failed his mission for now, but he also hadn't managed to snap Roxas out of it. Leaving him here. Crouched in some stupid street with a pounding pain in his head.

'Should've known something was wrong as soon as he started talking about leaving. Should've done something. Should've stopped him.''

Generally Axel didn't resort to what ifs. He'd always found them so stupid before. Why bother thinking about what could've happened when it didn't? Things had happened; you should just deal with the way they'd turned out in reality. Alternatives only made everything seem worse.

However, suddenly they seemed to make complete sense. If anything, they almost felt like they were necessary. As if he was trying to compensate for something by thinking about all the places where he'd messed up. As if all of that could somehow make a difference to what was going on now.

It all felt like too much. More than ever, he needed to hit something. Fight something. Not only set it on fire, but also slash at it, feel like he was actually doing something. He straightened up slightly, opening his eyes to look for someone else turning the corner into the street. Nobody did, luckily for them. Data or not, they would have been in for a bloody and flame-grilled death.

He felt the flames circling his arms, winding down to his hands. The chakrams formed in his hands, yet he didn't feel like he'd summoned them. They were just there, as if in answer to his thoughts. They did that sometimes, almost summoning themselves. It just showed how distracted he was that he hadn't realised until they were there.

As he looked down at them, the throbbing in his head seemed to double, almost triple. He yelled out and, as if he was trying to fight the pain like a physical thing, he threw the spinning discs behind him, not looking at where they were going. Then he brought his hands back up to his head, trying to massage some sort of numbness into it.

When he heard the clang of metal on metal, he froze. It took him a moment to register what it meant, but when it did, he spun around. Belatedly he realised that his hood was down, so whoever or whatever it was, they knew what he looked like. That would be bad if they recognised him. Maybe they already had.

A figure was standing at the other end of the street. He or she was holding some strange sort of blade across in front of them in a defensive position. It didn't look like anything Axel remembered seeing before; if anything, it looked like a single curving blue and red dragon's wing. Its unfamiliarity was worrying, since its wielder was dressed like him. The standard Organization XIII black coat hung to level with their feet, the way it did on all of them. It probably wasn't stolen then. Still, considering the sheer range of sizes in the group, anybody who did take one of the spares would easily be able to find one that at least vaguely fitted.

It could have been one of the others playing around, finding some old weapon somewhere and coming to try to scare him with it. The hood of the coat was up, so in a way it could've easily been one of them. However, even as he first looked at them, Axel could somehow feel that the person was different. They were a little too quiet; a little too different in the way they stood; a little too comfortable with whatever they were holding. Somebody was pretending to be a member of the Organization then.

A burst of flame next to the person's head drew Axel's attention to one of his chakrams lodged in the wall next to their head. Another flare at the person's feet showed the other beginning to disappear back to wherever they were summoned from. From the looks of things, the figure had almost been skewered. Somehow that idea managed to bring one of Axel's traditional smirks to his face. Maybe it wasn't one of the idiots who lived in this fake world, but the idea of practically killing anybody seemed to be satisfying enough.

When the person didn't say anything, Axel raised an eyebrow. That wasn't normal. Even if they weren't with the Organization, they should have still reacted to almost having something pointed and deadly thrown through their chest. Reacted in a way other than simply blocking it.

Silences had never been something he liked. That was why he ended up being the one to break this one. "Well? You going to say anything?"

There was no response, not even in a lowering of the blade. Possibly they were just staying ready in case Axel decided to throw anything else. Or possibly they were going to attack him.

He moved to summon his chakrams again, but stopped himself. If the person was waiting for another attack, bringing out the weapons that had been used before would probably just provoke them. Besides, if they were going to attack him, he could do other things than just fight normally. Whoever they were, their reaction to being toasted by a pillar of fire would be the same as anybody else's.

His movement hadn't gone unnoticed though. Having had to watch so many battle scenarios and sparring matches, he could see the slight tensing of the other's body. Maybe they were going to decide what would happen next for him.

Yet nothing followed. They were still standing there, watching him as he watched them. It seemed almost ridiculous for nobody to be speaking, but Axel wasn't willing to be the first again. He didn't want to give the other person any excuses not to do so.

Abruptly, they turned away from him. The blade in their hand vanished into a ball of darkness, which then streamed away into nothingness. From the looks of it, his weapons were summoned and vanished in a similar way to the Organization's then. This discovery seemed more worrying than settling, since it only led on to the conclusion that this person's element (as Xemnas put it) was darkness. That did not bode well at all.

Axel was shocked out of his thoughts when a portal leapt into being in the wall behind the person. Same powers as well. Who was this guy?

It was strange... As he or she turned towards the portal, something about their movement became familiar. Something about the way they moved, in the way that from underneath the hood the face seemed to be looking at him like he was nothing. There was an almost arrogant tilt to the head, as if they believed that they were superior to him.

Wait. Superior? Why did that word click so neatly into place in his mind?

Then it hit him. That small movement was exactly what the Superior did when one of the others had messed up or questioned one of his ideas. Xemnas would simply turn his back on them whilst giving them a look that said that in his opinion they weren't even worthy to live. Axel had been on the receiving end more times than he liked to think about.

With that revelation came more comparisons. The body shape was roughly the same, or at least as far as he could tell given the cloak. The height was close enough to be similar from this distance away. The style of movement seemed more graceful than Xemnas', a little more different from the rest, but otherwise the person could easily be the Superior.

Before they could leave, Axel found himself moving forwards to stop them. Despite a few details that didn't quite add up, the similarities were a little too obvious for comfort. If it wasn't Xemnas, then someone was doing an incredibly good impression of him.

Just as the person was about to enter the portal, they paused, as if they could sense Axel coming up behind them. Interestingly, their first movement wasn't to spin around to face him, but to move their hands towards their hood, apparently checking if it was still there and perhaps to pull it down further. Whoever they were, they apparently didn't want to be recognised.

That was enough for him. Just as the hands reached their target, he grabbed the hood and pulled it back. He was rewarded with an elbow in the chest, pushing back and down to the ground. The impact hurt as much as the attack, but he barely noticed the pain. He was focused on what he'd revealed.

White hair streamed out behind their head, a lighter shade than he had been expecting. It also looked straighter, rather than the slightly wavy hair that Xemnas had. As they turned their head to look back at Axel, he saw that a small section at the front was swept back to both sides of their face, as if to keep it out of their eyes.

The person's face was similar to the Superior's, but not exactly. Their skin was darker, though that was more due to sunlight than to an actual difference, and the face seemed slightly longer and thinner. However, the golden eyes that now glared at him were identical to Xemnas'.

Axel's breath suddenly caught in his throat. He'd seen pictures of this guy before; he'd even heard descriptions and stories of him. Ansem. Xemnas' Heartless.

The same Heartless that should have been killed a year ago. He'd tried to take Kingdom Hearts' darkness, but was instead consumed by its light. It had been almost poetic in a way. Xemnas certainly hadn't seen as upset as they had assumed he would be.

In that case, this couldn't really be him. Not unless he'd found some way of coming back from the dead, which was a theory that Xemnas had always found amusing to say the very least. Axel didn't think it was that likely.

Nevertheless, he still found himself asking the question. "Who are you?"

The other raised his eyebrows, as though he was surprised, confused or annoyed by the question. With Xemnas, it could have been any of them.

"...Ansem."

Axel looked at him. He heard the slight hesitation in the voice. He saw the slight twitch in the face. He saw the almost uncomfortable shifting of the body, like the person felt awkward in it. He saw and heard it all, and somehow it told him part of the truth.

Without flinching, he locked eyes with the other. "No, you're not." He grinned to try and cover up his thoughts. "Want to try again?"

If it really had been Ansem, or anybody else to do with the Superior, the redhead shouldn't have survived. By all rights, he should have been blasted by whatever powers this guy had. Instead, the man looked thrown by his refusal, unsure of himself.

Then they tried to cover it up again, but Axel had already seen their mask slip. The assumed confidence didn't fool him. "Believe what you like. It's no concern of mine."

"See, that was a stupid way to do it. You can't just brush people off like that." Axel pushed himself to his feet, trying to stay in control. Maybe he was still annoyed after how the Roxas Situation was going, but he felt like getting some answers. Besides, distractions were welcome in this case. "You're supposed to be somebody who thinks he's the best. I just insulted you. You're not going to react?"

He could see them trying to make a decision. It seemed like this whole situation was new to them. Axel had thrown them, so now they were trying to think of what to do.

"You don't think I'm telling the truth?" Despite all that, this guy was still good. It may have only been an impression, but it sounded convincing.

"No." It didn't matter. He knew that something was going on here now. "I think you're just pretending."

With every second, the impersonation was becoming more accurate. Perhaps Axel had just got lucky before, catching them off-guard so that there hadn't been the full shield against him.

"Why would I pretend to be somebody I'm not?"

That was a good question. Why would anybody want to be some power-crazed Heartless? Unless they were some other Heartless wanting a shot at the big time, but some part of that didn't quite add up. This person, whoever they really were, hadn't acted like a Heartless for that moment where they hadn't been pretending.

In the end, all Axel could think of was some simple statement. "Because you don't sound like Ansem's other half." That sounded pathetic. Still, it would have been worse to leave it for even longer.

A small chuckle startled him. It didn't sound as mocking as Xemnas', although they were still clearly laughing at him. The shock of seeing any sort of smile on that face was only overridden by the shock at the following words.

"And you seriously believe that you sound like your Other?"

The words hung between them with no answer. Without asking further, Axel realised that this guy knew that Ansem had been a Heartless, and that Xemnas, the Nobody that went with him, was somewhere out there. More personally, he also knew that Axel was a Nobody too.

Those words hurt more than they should. Unlike Xemnas or some of the others, Axel didn't like being reminded of what he was. He liked behaving like a normal person, even though he knew that there was nothing normal about him. Just the idea that he didn't have a heart scared him sometimes, so he hated having it mentioned at all. Let alone by a complete stranger.

"At least I know who I am," he finally shot back, far too late to make any difference. "I'm not pretending to be somebody else.

Ansem's impersonator shrugged in a way that seemed too human for any relation of the normally distant Superior. "You can believe that. But when you think about it, the same things are as true for you as they are for me."

They took a step back, moving towards the portal that was still swirling in the wall behind them. "You don't remember who you used to be, so you don't know who you are now. You only know what feels right to you. And you cling to whatever there is left, pretending to be your old self."

Now that smile twisted into the mocking one that the redhead had seen sometimes on Xemnas' face. Only this one was worse. Xemnas' showed amusement, or amazement at somebody's inability to grasp an idea that seemed simple to him. This one was more an open disdain, closer to what Axel had heard about Ansem from others. Just for a moment, he could believe that this was somebody who had tried to destroy everything just for himself.

It contrasted strongly with everything else that Axel had managed to gather in only a few minutes about this person. In no way had that flustered expression from before indicated someone who would look at anybody else like that. True, it was impossible to tell exactly what somebody was like within such a short amount of time, but the redhead was usually reasonably good at gauging personalities.

The sudden switch threw him off. It was almost as if this person had known Ansem a little too well, so that his personality had a way of coming out if it could. For a moment, he was fazed, trying to work out what it all meant. None of this added together the way it should. It just made three different people, none of whom could go together easily.

The man seemed to sense the Nobody's confusion. Imperceptibly his smile widened, becoming possibly more mocking, but there was more a sense of superiority there than anything else. A player who had won his game.

His eyes stayed fixed on Axel as he stepped backwards into the portal and disappeared, the portal following suit a few moments later. Within such a short amount of time, it was nearly as if he had never been there.

Axel was left staring at a normal brick wall. Despite the fact that he was aware he wouldn't find anything special, he walked up to it and laid a hand against it. All that he could feel through his glove was the old surface, feeling impossibly real when he knew that it was only virtual, and the vague chill that was always left behind after using those powers. Even as his fingers brushed against it, he felt the surface warming up underneath his touch. Nothing ever stayed cold around him.

The whole exchange had barely taken five minutes. Practically nothing, really. Nothing special, just some person pretending to be somebody he wasn't. That somebody may have been the Heartless of the Superior, but all the same, it shouldn't matter to him. He was on a mission, after all. The most he should be concerned about was his best friend. The friend who earlier had tried to kill him.

He raised an eyebrow, still staring at the wall. By all rights he should just walk away right now. Maybe report all of this to Xemnas when he got back with Roxas. No doubt he'd want to know if someone was claiming to be any version of him, even if that identity had been just as much of a pretence.

Then again, Axel had never really followed orders before, not if he didn't want to. He just found ways around them, so that he couldn't be blamed for not doing what they called for. Under any other circumstances he would just portal after the other man. Tracked the already vanishing trail that his passing had left. Caught up with him. Forced him to say who he really was, what he was doing there.

But he was supposed to be finding Roxas. His mission was to bring him back to the World That Never Was and try to fix this whole mess. For once, it was a mission that Axel agreed with. He'd actually been slightly looking forward to being pleased about doing what he was supposed to be doing. For all he knew, he might finally understand why Saïx found it necessary to do every little thing exactly how he was told to do it.

Without realising it, he'd started to glare at the wall. This indecision wasn't its fault, but there wasn't anything else to blame. He never thought he'd end up trying to choose between a mission and what he wanted. Normally it was no contest for him.

Finally, he let out an almost animal-like growl and turned away. Later. He'd follow it up later. When he had the time and nothing better to do. Maybe Roxas would come with him as well.

He strode away, trying to gather his thoughts for another confrontation with his best friend. It didn't help that they kept drifting back to whoever that guy had really been.

It didn't matter though. Roxas came first. He always did.

Author's Notes: Well, that one turned out weird. Went all weird and introspective-y. Why do all my ficcies end up like that?

So, yes. Crazy as it may sound, I have had the desire to write yet another series, though this one will be given second or third priority, depending on how many priorities I have. In fact, this bit only got typed because I was on a KH/Axel high. Hence why it turned into something that was much more about him.

Basic idea? I like Axel. I also like Riku. I found it incredibly annoying that they never had a single scene together. So I decided to write scenes where they did. Try finding a plot idea that sounds worse. Not promising, ne? Also, since it's me, it'll go slashy (much) later on. As in Axel/Roxas (as you probably saw), Riku/Sora (as you will probably see) and Axel/Riku (as you probably dreaded). For this, I apologise. I find it physically impossible to play any version of those games without drifting into Slash Happy Land.

Hopefully the update will be soon. Still, it is me. I have a bad run of these things. Luckily, the intention of this series is that the chapters can stand on their own if necessary. It will link together, but more towards the end than now. And don't worry, there will be more talking between the two of them. This was just sort of a starter chapter/prologue thing. Which is interesting, since there was going to be a prologue to this bit before I decided to skip straight to it…

Ah, how I babble. Seriously, I need to stop talking. Soon.