Disclaimer: Trust me, wow, I don't own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, you would have probably heard about it by now.

-,-,-

Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, and Naminé were lying on the beach at Destiny Islands together. The sun was slowly setting in the distance, though it was still hours from sinking below the horizon. A soft breeze occasionally swept the island softly and ruffled the palm trees, tickling the bangs above their faces. While they stared at the clouds beginning to shift color in the sky ahead of them, each of them feeling as if they couldn't be more content, Sora randomly sighed.

"I still can't believe we're all together like this," he said without turning his head. "I mean…even you, Roxas. Naminé."

Roxas smiled. He couldn't believe it either as he traced his finger in the sand next to him. Life was so much better now; better than it had ever been in the Organization. Now he could put that all behind him.

"I wonder what brought them back," Riku said to Sora from one side. He watched the darker part of the sky as it crept in, contrasting the sinking sun.

Roxas reached over Sora as they lay there, then hit Riku with a smirk and said, "I'm right here. You could just ask me. Even if I have already told you I don't know."

"See my point?" Riku said, reaching an arm over Sora himself to nudge Roxas back with his fist. Sora's face took on a look of surprise as the two continued exchanging hits at eachother over the top of him. He scooted himself from beneath the two's fists, then scratched the back of his neck and smiled. Kairi giggled and sat up as well, and Naminé did the same.

"Hey, it doesn't matter anyway," Sora said. He inhaled deeply for a moment, then swept his eyes along the shore while leaning back again. It was as beautiful as ever, and the time of day was causing everything to have stronger highlights and shadows. Far off, he could hear the sorrowful cry of a seagull. After a moment, he said in a quiet voice; "All that matters is we're here. We're home."

Kairi nodded, then glanced at her other. Naminé was still sitting up, and her sketchbook was lying open in the sand nearby, partially buried over one corner. A familiar and meaningful sketch was beginning to form on the paper, and already filled half the page in colors that reminded them of the sunset they always sat together and watched.

Suddenly Sora's elbows dug into the sand as he leaned on them and hung his back head so his eyes pointed towards the sky. He could see a small shooting star streak across his vision like a silver paper-cut in the sky before it disappeared, and he was reminded of all the other worlds out there.

At the same time, Riku was looking up at the same star, but as small as they were, he felt like the stars were blinding. The darkness was creeping back into himself. Almost in unison both boys turned to eachother, their eyes meeting.

"Sora, I…can't keep living like this. I need to find a way to forget about the shadow that haunts me." Riku didn't even blink, as if this would denounce his seriousness. Sora's expression was the same. He longed for one more adventure, but not like before. Sora missed the excitement of new places, but he would never miss the horror of never knowing where his friends were.

Then a familiar face moved itself into his peripheral vision, and he turned in surprise. It took him a moment to remember who it was, as if the eyes that shone the same blue as his didn't give it away. Roxas had been able to read his thoughts, and he was smiling.

"You wanna go somewhere, huh?" he asked. There was one place that Roxas himself missed, and it was the only other place in all the worlds that he knew that he would ever look at the same as he did this island. It was Sora's turn to read his other side's thoughts.

"And you miss Hayner's gang?" Sora asked. He could understand; Roxas had bonded with the group the moment that he had been put in Twilight Town.

Maybe if…

"Hey, Kairi, Riku, you guys," he began, his face lighting up. "Why don't we all go with Roxas to Twilight Town for a little while? Just for old time's sake…What do you say?"

"Sora, we've barely been back for two weeks; why do you want to leave already?" Kairi asked, her face confused. Sora, however, was grinning as he went over to Kairi, taking her hands in his.

"C'mon, Kairi," he said, giving her a smile she could never resist. "Just for a little while. Roxas misses that place anyway, and I just want one more adventure. Just one."

She paused for a moment, studying his eyes. At last she looked away with a smile.

"Alright, you win," she said, then giggled.

"Well," Riku said, interrupting suddenly. "How're you all going to get there?"

"Um, I think Roxas can—" Sora stopped. "Aren't you coming, Riku?"

Their eyes met again, and he realized what Riku meant. The darkness was eating away at his friend again, and he was longing to find some way to get rid of it. Twilight Town didn't have such remedies in its brick streets and sunlit back-ways.

So, instead of arguing, Sora turned to Roxas. "Hey, what d'you say you get us there?"

"No way, I don't remember how—!" Roxas spoke as what felt like his heart began to beat faster. Sora felt it in himself, and he held his hands in front of himself to calm Roxas down. Sora had a peculiar feeling that Roxas was just denying it, but he had no problem with that.

"Hey, I'll just open the portal for you guys," Riku said, hoping there would be no comments as to how the darkness had reached him deeply enough to perform such an act once more. "Roxas, you can lead from there. So, now we just have to pack."

Then, as they each clambered onto their feet, frowning at first from the mass amounts of sand in their shoes, they all turned to eachother and broke into different smiles. Sora and Riku stopped as the other three raced ahead to the dock, Roxas pretending to lose on purpose before suddenly running past the girls. Riku stood next to Sora, and they were silent for a moment.

"I'll be back after this last journey," he said quietly to Sora, not even turning. His soft gray eyes matched the middle half of the sky, which was still hinted with blue.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I'll see you before then," Sora said with a smile, finally running ahead in hopes of getting a head start in what might be his last race with his friend for a long time. The entire time he was thinking about his own journey, wondering what it would be like and what it might bring.

Sora was a Keyblade wielder, and he knew as well as anyone else now that his own journey would never be over, so long as he still wielded it.

Chain of Hearts, Chapter 1:

Twilight Town

By Nagori Kirashi

"It sure is nice out today," Sora said to himself mostly. He was in Twilight Town, sitting in the shade by himself, and he couldn't for the life of himself believe why everyone wouldn't want to want to live there. The streets were mostly quiet, except for the tranquil greetings of several kind citizens now and then or the soft chit chat of young groups of people walking to get ice cream.

Almost three weeks had gone by now since they'd left Destiny Islands, and as much as he liked this place, he still thought about his home often.

Just then in the corner of his eye, he saw Roxas walking down the calm street with Hayner, Pence, and Olette. A small smile played his lips at the site of the four friends together. Becoming a Heartless for that short amount of time seemed almost worth it to get to see Roxas and his friends so happy together, as well as witness how such love could exist among a group of friends.

"Sora!"

He looked at Roxas, who seemed the only one of them to notice him at first. Slowly, as if he were a new face to them all over again, they all finally looked over at Sora and said the same. Ever since they had returned as two separate people and Sora had been reintroduced to them all, the group hadn't bonded to Sora as quickly as before. There really did seem to be something missing, but whenever he looked at Roxas, he remembered without regret what it was.

"Hey, anyone wanna go sit at the Usual Spot?" Roxas asked them all with a smile. He wore the usual skater attire, and his cross-like medallion gleamed almost more brightly in unison with Sora's similar crown-like steel necklace.

"Sure!" Olette giggled, and grabbing Roxas' arm, she tugged them both towards the alleyway leading to their "Usual Spot".

When they arrived, though, they were surprised to see Naminé sitting there as if she had been waiting for them.

Olette, seeing Roxas' face light up, grew slightly jealous and let go of him with a huff.

"Naminé, what're you…doing here?" Roxas asked, dumbfounded. "Weren't you with Kairi?"

"Hey, I forgot you weren't with us," Sora said, somewhat embarrassed. "Um, by the way, I guess I should thank you again, huh?"

Naminé laughed. "Even apart, you two look so much alike." This made Roxas shift uneasily as if he were trying not to let himself blush.

Hayner's eyebrows had been raised almost the entire time. Finally he went over to the small blonde and sat down. "Hey, so…why don't you hang with us?" He grinned at her daringly as if about to put an arm around her.

"Hayner, you pimp…" Roxas looked at his friend somewhat angrily. They exchanged a brief series of facial expressions and mouthed words to back and forth before Hayner stood up at last with a heavy sigh and slumped onto a different spot.

Naminé laughed again, this time standing. "It's alright, Roxas, I'm pretty sure I'm taken already." She went over to him closely, touching his lip with one finger before walking past him. Roxas turned as she did, not letting her out of his sight, and only when she had moved past him entirely were they no longer touching.

"Wait…huh?" Roxas looked at her, no longer aware of the redness tinting his face after her teasing encounter. He stuttered, "And wait…why're you here again…?"

The blonde girl gazed at him while looking in from outside their Spot, and with a small laugh and a smile that took Roxas' breath away, she said, "I'll see you later; I have things to do. I promise I'll be back, though."

"Uh, okay…?" Roxas continued staring at the same spot after she had left. It seemed there was almost no use going after her; every time he did, he ended up in trouble. But he knew a promise was a promise, and so he hoped he wouldn't have to chase after her this time anyway.

When he woke up from his daydreaming thoughts, Hayner and Sora were looking at him closely.

"What's up?" Roxas asked, looking at the other two oddly with wide eyes and one eyebrow cocked.

"You tell us, man!" Pence laughed from behind him somewhere. "What kind of look did you give her just now anyway, huh?"

Roxas looked confused and Sora, despite having felt the same way many times, laughed and pointed with the others.

"Aw, c'mon, guys, this isn't very nice!" Roxas defended. They finally got him to laugh along.

"Alright, let's get some ice cream and hang at the tower," Olette said finally. "Maybe we can catch back up with Kairi and Naminé on the way there." There were several 'yes's heard from the group, and so, with Naminé's image still in Roxas and somewhat Hayner's heads, they made their way towards the ice cream shop.

-,-,-

They, including Sora and Roxas, Hayner, Pence, and Olette, were walking down the sloped brick steps after riding the train downtown when Roxas thought he heard something. When he stopped and turned his head, he noticed a flash of pale hair.

He quietly slid apart from the others and, after watching them continue on without him, decided to trail the wielder of the hair he had just seen.

His low-speed chase took him down through many back ways and through some streets he swore even he had never seen before. It didn't take him long to figure out that he was right about who he thought the girl was, though. Roxas made sure to keep at least one street between them so he wouldn't get caught and be thought of as a stalker.

Suddenly it dawned on him that stalking was basically what he was doing. Just what had he planned on telling her when she finally did stop?

Roxas paused, turning his shoulder to the person he was following, lost in his own embarrassed internal conflict. What was he doing stalking her? Or even following her, non-the-less! What would happen if she found out he did stalk her?

Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder, and a gentle face looked around at him with a smile on her face. Not-so-short blonde hair streamed down past her neck, all tucked to one side so it looked like it was longer on one side than the other. Yet as she stuck her head around from behind him, it came loose from her shoulder and flowed somewhat freely while she giggled at him.

"I saw you following me," she said to him teasingly. Roxas stood with an expression of shock and embarrassment that caused her to laugh and several people nearby to stare. "It's alright, you're better than some people who've done that to me."

"I…!" Roxas was still speechless.

"Roxas!" Sora yelled from nearby, running down to where they were. Not much to his surprise, Kairi was now with him.

"Naminé, first…" Roxas turned to his mysterious companion. "Why weren't you still with Kairi?"

"I missed you," was all she replied, smiling as if this would help.

'…Was she leading me on?' Roxas asked in his head. He continued to look at her with an expression that seemed to ask the same question.

Then the others were all standing around them.

"Roxas, don't sneak off like that," scolded Olette unhappily, interrupting Roxas' thoughts. "We didn't even notice you were gone until Sora asked you a question a few minutes ago!"

"That's nice, seeing as I've probably been gone longer than that," Roxas said, looking at them with a disheartened expression. He knew not to take it personally, but what if he had been seriously hurt or one of one of their enemies had kidnapped him? He could have been halfway to The Castle That Never Was or something by now!

Not that it was likely. Roxas managed to laugh it off in his head.

"Don't worry, we wouldn't let anything happen to you," Sora said, literally reading his thoughts. "You just disappeared so suddenly…"

"Never mind." Roxas shrugged him off. "You guys, now that everyone's here, why don't we go check out what's happening downtown?"

"Yeah, sure!" Olette giggled randomly at Pence, who smiled and blushed slightly in response. Sora and Kairi were standing close to eachother and talking merrily. Nearby, Roxas had his hands in his pocket, hanging his head and apologizing to Naminé for admittedly stalking her.

Only Hayner had nobody to turn to, so he instead watched Naminé with an odd look on his face, now tinted with jealousy.

Roxas looked up suddenly, feeling as if it was him being watched. Instead he saw Hayner gazing at Naminé.

"…Hey, watch it." Roxas looked at Hayner threateningly. Naminé couldn't hear him, as she had just turned to Kairi to tell her something, yet Hayner could.

The friend turned away resentfully, paying only half of his attention to Pence and Olette instead.

His face returned to normal as Roxas looked at Naminé and said, "Hey, shouldn't we be heading up town now? If we're going to do something, let's try to decide what it is before sunset—"

Suddenly all seven of them jumped, and before any of them knew it, the boys were standing in a circle around Naminé, Kairi, and Olette instinctively as a group of about eight Dusk Nobodies appeared out of nowhere, surrounding the group.

Sora and Roxas had their backs to eachother, holding their arms out to help protect the girls standing between them and block the strange enemies from them with the help of Hayner and Pence. All four of them had looks of determination and a gleam of warrior-like fury in their eyes as the Nobodies slunk closer, jerking about awkwardly. As unexpected as the situation was, neither Sora nor Roxas had even thought of using the Keyblades yet, as though this was a dream.

"Where'd these things come from all of a sudden?!" Sora cried angrily.

Suddenly, both Sora and Roxas' heads turned to one side as another creature began to appear.

Yet this wasn't the sort of creature they had expected. It was someone wearing a trademark cloak that Sora had first recognized from Organization XIII. As the mysterious figure walked over to the group, the person's hood drawn back only enough to reveal a harmless smirk decorating their calm face, both Sora and Roxas jumped out to block the intruder from the others.

"You, show yourself!" Roxas could feel a side of himself boiling to the surface that he had nearly forgotten about. He and Sora clenched their still empty fists.

Then the dark figure threw down their hood, and a rush of red hair and sparkling green eyes greeted them.

"Wait, Axel?" Sora asked, recognizing him. He seemed almost hopeful for a moment that the former member whom was formerly defeated had come here for a good cause.

However, despite what Axel had done for him before, something told him to keep up his guard. This was too unexpected. The brunette swore he remembered kneeling next to the pyro's side as the life faded from him.

'How is this possible…?'

Sora's faithful Kingdom Key appeared at last in his hand, and for Roxas, both Oblivion and Oathkeeper appeared in his grasps. Together with their Keyblades, they looked like an impassable wall of fury.

"Aww, Roxas, Sora!" Axel held his hands in front of him as if he were in the company of all friends—and he would have been were it not for the Nobodies nearby. "You two still look so much alike…And I hope you won't hold any of our past encounters against me, Roxas!"

"How did you…?" Sora couldn't help now but to stare.

"A good friend of mine—besides you two, of course," Axel replied with a grin. "They helped me come back, but really; I would have expected a much nicer greeting from you all! After being apart for so long, would it be too much to ask for a good 'welcome back'?"

"Way too much," Roxas snapped. "But I'm sure you'll get lots of 'welcome back's when I send you back to that Hell you escaped from!"

"Ooh, so touchy," Axel commented as if impressed.

"Roxas, he saved us last time, remember?" Sora finally said in a lowered voice, not taking his eyes off of the one who faced them.

"I don't care. He still tried to kill me once, too."

Sora's face took on a look of surprise as he glanced from Roxas and back to Axel.

"Don't worry, I didn't really expect a warm greeting so soon from you two anyway…" Their new-found opponent sighed dramatically. He then motioned behind the two boys, causing them to turn as he added, "…besides, I think I've got what I came for. And I can look forward to welcoming those twowhen I bring them back to my own home."

They turned just in time to see Naminé and Kairi being forced by numerous and overwhelming amounts of Dusks into a swirling vortex of darkness. Hayner and Pence were seen still struggling to fight the devastating creatures, yet Hayner was tossed aside like nothing as one jerked its weightless body around him in circles then thrashed itself against his own body. Pence was still fighting the countless Nobodies uselessly as Naminé and Kairi disappeared into the unknown portal.

"Kairi!" Sora cried, reaching in the direction of the struggling girl helplessly, powerless to stop them as she faded through the floating wall of darkness while yelling his name. Now he knew it was true; he was being forced to look at Axel as an enemy once more. A disgusted fury began to pulse through him.

"Haha, and so the question I'll ask you, boys…" Axel waved a finger in the air, his face still a calm mask of deception as he said, "…is what do you do now."

Roxas, being the more impatient one, was suddenly leaping through the air while yelling a furious battle cry, crossing his two Keyblades above his head and holding one foot outward as he flung himself swiftly towards Axel.

Yet he was blown back before either of the two teenagers even knew what was happening by a shockwave of flames that disappeared seconds after impact. As Roxas' body hit the ground, skidding slightly on his face, Axel was twirling his flame wheels around his head at a level of expertness that caused Sora to stall for just a moment. He had forgotten how good some of his adversaries were. Then Sora seemed to snap out of it.

"That's it, you're goin' down," Sora threatened, taking his turn next. Instead of bolting straight at Axel, he ran alongside as if circling him, then spun himself around, letting the Keyblade fly from his hand. To his frustration he ended up letting go of it sooner than he intended.

Axel then swung one of his chakrams at Sora's Keyblade, sending it even farther away, and the pyromaniac let the other one whirl in Roxas' direction. The blonde had barely sat up, seen the attack, and crossed his Keyblades in front of him when he was knocked backwards once more by the flame-inducing weapons. Roxas felt as if there was no getting up; every time he tried he was knocked back down by another attack. His hope was fading as much as his hatred grew, and with one last effort, he leapt up, avoiding an attack as he struck at Axel.

Instead, the mysterious enemy disappeared, reappearing behind him seconds later. Roxas was so taken back that he turned himself around in mid-air and ended up wiping out on ground he couldn't see.

"Roxas!" Sora ran over first to Roxas, dropping his Keyblade as a sign of forfeit. Just as his blonde ego looked and sat up slowly, Axel was laughing and walking backwards into a swirl of black and deep blue.

"Impressive fight, you two, but you could sure use some work on those moves if you really plan on rescuing your girls."

Sora clenched his fists and glared.

The last thing they saw of Axel was his spiky fire-like hair, and a look that sent chills down Sora's spine and along Roxas' arms.

As Roxas sat up, the disappointment in his eyes like a thick haze, he said softly to his somebody, "…What happened to us? Why couldn't we defeat him?"

"We were unprepared," Sora countered right away, as if trying to comfort himself. However, he couldn't hide the same question from his other's mind, the disheartened and frustrated feeling of defeat that kept forcing him to ask himself how either of them had let this happen.

A moment of silence followed, until they heard Pence.

"Guys, c'mon, I need a little help here!" they heard him say, trying to ward off one of the Dusks that still remained.

Sora and Roxas looked at eachother, both now kneeling. Setting aside their dismal thoughts, they leaped into action in opposite directions and began to clear out the devious creatures that were still attacking the group.

Soon there wasn't a single Dusk in sight. The only sound now was that of the small wisp of their Keyblades disappearing from Roxas and Sora's hands as well as the heavy breathing that was coming from the two main heroes of the fight, despite the fight having been more than a considerable loss.

"Guys, look at Hayner! Is he alright?" Pence shuffled quickly over to where Hayner was lying with his arms out next to him as if he had been knocked down face first. His head was tilted to one side, and after a moment, they could see both of his eyes slowly opening.

"Wh…" He blinked several times, then pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. All of a sudden he was on his feet. "Where's Olette?!"

All of the boys looked around, examining the area, but none of them saw anything.

"…Oh no, they must've taken her too," Roxas moaned at last. "God, why can't these people just mind their own business?!"

"Who are they, anyway?" Sora asked them with a look of slight confusion on his face to replace the horror and misery he still felt. "And how do we know where to look if we don't even know who we're looking for?"

"We know we're looking for Axel, right?" Roxas said.

"Yeah, but…" Sora was still confused as to why Axel had suddenly switched sides again. The question crossed through his head several times, and a somewhat annoying habit of both he and Roxas came into play as the blonde somehow heard Sora's thoughts and said, "Axel is like that. He always has been, trust me."

"Well, he mentioned more than one person, didn't he?" Sora questioned aloud.

"Maybe that one chick in black with the staff-thing brought him back…"

"Maleficent?" Sora said, raising an eyebrow at Roxas' choice of words. "Then why would she help the Organization…?"

"I'm coming with you."

The two boys turned to see Hayner standing behind them, clenching a fist in front of him and looking at them with a dead-serious expression. A dark, colored bruise had formed on one side of his cheek from being knocked down into the brick pavement, and a bloody scrape added to his new look of defeat on the opposite arm. Yet the passionate gleam in his eye would never have let any of them guess that he had just been harshly overwhelmed by undefeatable enemies.

"Should we let him?" Sora turned to Roxas.

"I dunno…"

"C'mon, guys, let him come along." Pence came up behind them from the other side, putting a hand on both of their shoulders. "In fact, if you don't mind, why don't I come along too?"

"Aw, man, I don't know," Roxas said, shrugging at them both almost in disappointment. "I don't think you guys would be able to go up against what we've had to face."

"And why's that?" Pence asked again. "Isn't it enough that I'm willing to try? For Olette's sake. We all have something in common now."
"And him?" Sora turned to Hayner, who was now looking away with his arms crossed. "You're looking for Olette, huh? Oh, and you sure had your eye on Naminé earlier, too."

There was no reply.

"You saw that?" Roxas laughed.

"C'mon, guys, please?" Pence interrupted again. "I can fight. So can he, and if we stick together, then there's no way anything could stop us!"

"I wish Donald and Goofy were here." Sora hung his head sadly. "Then they could help."

"Well, without them, a little help would be good." Roxas put a kind hand on Sora's shoulder, causing him to look up. "And besides, now we've got eachother for back-up, and two is better than one, isn't it?"

"…Yeah, you're right!" Sora said at last. "Alright, guys, but…what about Gummi Ships? Only three can fit on those."

They were all silent until Pence smiled again, this time putting an arm around both of the two similar boys' shoulders.

"You know what," he said cheerfully, "I think Hayner has more to fight for than me." He shot a wink in Hayner's direction, then went over and pushed them towards eachother. "Hayner, welcome to the team. You can bet I'll be cheering for you back home, though!"

"Really?" Hayner said, now stunned. "You mean…?"

Sora and Roxas smiled and looked at him.

"…Okay, but…do you really think I'm good enough?" Hayner asked them again.

"It's alright, we'll work our way up there." Sora said. "Just like you, we'll have to work up our own strength too, now that me and Roxas are different. We can do it together!"

Hayner smiled somewhat thankfully.

"Hey, what're you gonna fight with, though?" Pence asked Hayner, surprised that the other two hadn't already asked.

"I've got my fists, that'll work!" he said smugly, looking at his somewhat well-built arms that still had some way to go.

Sora shook his head. Roxas couldn't help but snicker as he bit his lip.

"I…don't think that'll be enough," Sora finally said hesitantly. "That didn't affect those Dusks, did it? And those things are nothing compared to some of what we'll face, assuming it's anything like the last eight-million times we've…"

Hayner pulled out a camouflage pocket knife and flipped open its somewhat large clip point blade. "Then how about this?"

The other three stared at it oddly. It had a strange gleam to it, and there was an odd symbol cut into one side of the blade's lower half, more of an insignia than an actual design.

"Where'd you get that?" Pence asked quietly as they all studied it in awe.

"I bought it off some short little guy in black, why?" Hayner said, flipping it shut and putting it back in his pocket.

"Short little guy, huh?" Roxas said, crossing his arms. "Then it's settled. That thing has got to be the real deal. So that says it, doesn't it?"

Sora nodded, a somewhat mischievous grin of anticipation spreading across his face as past memories from his adventures and traveling to other worlds began to fill his mind. "Okay, then, so we're all set?"

"We'll grab some supplies, like potions, and I think I have a few ethers I saved from the last adventure that we can bring, too." Roxas and Sora were talking when they heard Hayner's confused voice nearby.

"Potions? Ethers?"
Sora and Roxas both laughed.

"Boy, have you got a lot to learn," Roxas commented.

-,-,-

"In here," Roxas motioned to them quietly. The four boys walked inside the Usual Spot, for the first time not accompanied by at least one girl. It felt strangely quiet, almost uncomfortable as each of them were set on their mission. They weren't there to hang out this time; they were there to get ready to go rescue their friends.

Hayner watched as Roxas and Sora went around, checking the room for any items that they might be able to use that weren't left at Destiny Island. They found several leftover potions, a Dark Anklet which Roxas tied on, and a few ethers that Donald had given to Sora before they had last departed. Sora held them in his hand, staring at them almost longingly until Roxas nudged him and reminded him they should keep moving.

The room still felt strangely silent and empty without Olette, Kairi, or Naminé there to contribute to the group.

"Okay," Sora said at last. He turned to Hayner and handed him one of the ethers and a couple potions. "These are important—don't lose them."

"What're they for?" Hayner asked him curiously, taking them and putting them in his different side-pockets.

"Whenever you get hurt you'll need to use these. If not…" Sora stopped.

"…Who knows what'll happen?" Roxas finished for him, a different ending for the sentence than the one he knew they were all thinking.

Hayner patted his side-pockets again and checked to make sure they were tight. Obviously he didn't need to be dropping something so important.

"Aw, man, I'm gonna miss you guys," Pence said, leaning back on one of the make-shift chairs in the Usual Spot. Roxas seemed to ignore Pence completely, currently checking around the area right next to where the larger friend sat. Suddenly Pence leaned forward with a frown on his face as he felt Roxas poking around behind his back in search of more items. "Hey, watch it!"

"Sorry," Roxas said, still concentrating on his search.

"Never mind, man," Pence shrugged him off somewhat angrily, moving to sit somewhere else.

"I'm sorry," Roxas repeated, this time standing and holding his hands in front of him as if he were forfeiting an apology to his friend and awaiting his response.

Pence was silent for a moment.

Finally the soon-to-be-left behind friend shrugged again, yet this time he looked more forlorn than he did angry. "You know, it's fine. I should be sorry…I'm kinda being a jerk about this." They all turned to him as he spoke, and Pence added, "…It's just that, once you're gone, I'll be here all by myself."

Sora tried to think of some words of comfort, like "Don't worry, you still have so-and-so." But nothing of truth came to mind, and he joined the other three as they all felt weighed down by the realization of how right Pence was.

"How about we'll keep in contact with you?" Sora said. "After all, we'll need someone to touch bases with now and then, in case anything happens or we need you to hold onto anything for us."

Pence sat upright with a smile on his face, taking that much hope from Sora's words. "Yeah," he agreed. "I'll always be here looking forward to your visits!"

"I'm sure you will," Hayner said, and both grabbed onto eachothers' hands to make a fist that seemed to represent their rock-hard friendship. Roxas, who was still several feet away, gave him a thumbs up, and Pence winked and held up his thumb as well.

"…Alright, um, don't you think we should be going?" Sora said at last, watching their semi-departing ceremony and recalling painful memories of his own. Roxas turned to face him.

"You're right," the blonde said. "If we're going to find Naminé and the others, then we had better hurry. And we have a lot of training to do, too!"

Sora nodded in agreement. It was a long road ahead of them.

"Alright, then, let's head out!" Hayner said finally, an expression of bravery upon his face as he held his fist in the air.

"Wait, I wanna watch you guys leave," Pence said, catching up with them as they stood at the door of the Usual Spot. None of the others said they minded, and Roxas and Hayner actually looked quite happy about it.

All four of them walked in silence to the train station. For some reason, Sora knew deep inside that, though he didn't have his Gummi Ship any longer, the train that would lead them to Yen Sid's castle would be there waiting for them like last time. The mighty sorcerer could help them get their ship back like last time!

Inside the train station, all four were still amazed for some reason to see the strange train they had seen long ago, back before Roxas had even re-become a part of Sora and the four friends from Twilight Town had sat on Sunset Hill, waiting for it patiently. Before, the train had brought Sora to King Mickey's teacher Yen Sid, and hopefully it would do the same for them again, now that they were nearly back where they had started.

Sora watched with a strong feeling of recollection as Roxas, Pence, and Hayner said their farewells.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," Pence said with a sad expression. "But I'm going to miss you guys…"

"Yeah, same here," Roxas said. He turned away to hide what he thought might be a tear.

Suddenly he grabbed Pence in a bear hug.

"Woa, hey," Pence said, no longer very sad-looking as he struggled to escape Roxas' tight embrace. Hayner laughed, yet sniffed at one point as he did.

Sora stood aside, watching them all with a sad look of his own until Hayner grabbed Roxas and Sora's shirts and began tugging them toward the strange-looking train.

"Come on, guys, we have to go find Naminé and Olette!" Hayner declared. "Let's go!"

"And Kairi, don't forget!" Sora said as he was dragged forward. Only Roxas was left to say something, yet he felt so torn that he could barely manage a deprived look of longing and sadness as he watched Pence become farther and farther away.

And they weren't even on the train yet!

"…Wait," Roxas said at last, tearing away from Hayner. He pulled out a perfectly round, smooth sapphire gem that was flat on one side. It fit snugly in his palm as he held it out to the others. "Does everyone have theirs?"

Hayner and Pence pulled out their matching round jewels and held them out as well. They looked brilliant together, but they could each tell there was a color missing.

"We have to promise that all four of these will be together again," Roxas said. "No matter where we go, if we still have these, then we're still with eachother, right?"

The other two were silent as they gazed down at the three present gems.

"…Wherever Olette is, she has one too. That means we still have something to hold and remember eachother by. As long as we keep these and remember eachother in our hearts, nothing can keep us from seeing eachother again, right?"

Pence and Hayner were silent for another moment, then both nodded and smiled.

"I promise not to lose mine," Pence said. "And Roxas, let's hope you don't either this time!"

"I didn't lose it, it was stolen!" Roxas defended.

"Right, of course," Pence said, "but I'm still worried."

The three friends laughed. Even Sora, who now stood aside while leaning his back against the oddly colored train, laughed along with them, despite a small tear in the corner of his eye.

-,-,-

"Did you bring them?"

"Yeah, I've got them in that one place. Betwixt and Between, I think we call it. Pretty little things when they're all together like that, aren't they—?"

"You think I care about that…?"

Axel shrunk away from his leader, who had his shoulder turned to him. The night was dark and crisp, the moon a giant talisman of light that seemed to want to claim the entire sky with its enormous size. The area around them was dreary and gray even at night, and the purity of water that reflected the moonlight seemed to contrast the gloomy appearance of their surroundings. They stood at the edge of a cliff that was overlooking the shore below, and a shore could be seen down at the edge of the water. Pillars of blackened rock arched over the water in various places. Thin clouds in the sky blocked any and all starlight, yet the bright moon could not be swayed of its brightness by such a thin fog on this fateful night.

The shore that was so distant that it was nearly hidden in the black shroud was the same place where Riku and Sora had sat together some time ago after the defeat of the mighty Xemnas.

"What did you tell them about your return?" The leader didn't even turn to look at his subject.

"I just hinted it was an old friend of mine," Axel said casually.

The other figure cast an incautious glare at Axel from under his hood. It was obvious that he disliked the red-head strongly, most likely because of what Axel had done before.

"Alright, so what do you want me to do next, then?" Axel asked, this time his tone much more wary.

"Just be grateful that I'm letting you still live," the figure masked in darkness said. "You have no idea how much I hate you right now."

"Hate is a strong word."

"Not strong enough," the figure replied deeply, gazing in the direction of the piercing moon. Despite its powerful light, even the moon could not reveal the figure's face that was concealed in the darkness of his hood, though Axel could see a scar reflecting off the figure's face lightly.

Axel was silent for a moment, still facing his leader without protest, yet with a look on his face that showed quite the opposite of someone who was grateful.

"Just keep track of Sora and that Number Thirteen for me. When I'm ready, I'll confront them myself."

"…You mean Roxas?" Axel asked somewhat distastefully. Even if they were enemies now, he and Roxas had been friends at one point, and he was never going to forget that.

"That's right, he has a name too, doesn't he." The leader's voice showed no emotion. "Call him what you want, we're all still the same, just numbers. Now go do your job before I decide to condemn you myself."

"Oh, that's real nice," Axel sneered to himself under his breath as he turned, only to be knocked over by an invisible force. Axel turned his head and looked up, staring in awe at the cloaked figure before him and seeing that the man's arm was now held out. It was as if the powerful figure before him had literally knocked him over with an invisible fist, or had used the air itself to knock Axel over simply by pressing his weight against it. Putting his own arm out to push himself up, Axel could feel nothing but open space to one side, and suddenly his eyes were filled with a new sort of horror-like respect as he noticed he was right at the edge of the cliff, not even inches short of falling.

"Now, go, do as you're told," the figure said, lowering his arm at last and throwing down his hood. "Or I promise you won't live to find out what the first thing is to touch the ground next time I knock you down."

Axel clambered onto his feet, backing away while making sure to avoid the cliff's edge as he stared at Saïx uncomfortably.

Then, with a swirl of blackened darkness, Axel was gone.

-,-,-,-