Some Author Notes: It's been a while since I wrote for my all-time favourite fandom. I've always wanted to do a story like this but didn't have any ideas... until now. It's ambiguously set between Sora leaving at the end of 3D and the hypothetical beginning of KH3 (whatever that turns out to be) even though I hate having to acknowledge 3D as canon because the story was so bad.

Personal disclaimer: some of you may read this story and think it's character bashing but I want to be clear that it's not. The reason I wrote this story was partly as a highlight for why some story elements of 3D are actually really, really terrible, specifically recompletion and the notion that the Nobodies had developed hearts all along and Xemnas was just tricking them. It makes for some problems in a particular character's development. (Also I don't own Kingdom Hearts because if I did I would have never let nonsense like that fly).

Fair Warning, Friend

Sora landed in the back alley behind the markets after disembarking from the Gummi Ship. The dead end alley was usually completely empty, making it the perfect place to drop into Radiant Garden without anybody seeing him arrive. Looking up to the blue sky on such a lovely day in the town made him grin. It was a perfect day to meet some old and new friends.

He ran out into the marketplace quickly, not one to stay hidden for too long. It was busier than he remembered but that could only be a good thing. That meant it was safer. He planned to cross the square on his way to the Restoration Committee's headquarters without incident but stopped in his tracks and turned around when an unfamiliar voice called his name. A silver-haired teenager in a white coat and a violet ascot waved to him from the item store where he stood with an older blond man wearing the same outfit. Sora waved back unsurely as they approached, trying to remember how he knew them, if he knew them at all. The blond man looked vaguely familiar but he was pretty sure he'd never seen the silver-haired teen in his life.

"What a surprise to see you here," the silver-haired teen said. "We thought you would still be training."

"I am, technically," Sora replied, smiling since they seemed friendly.

"So you've come to Radiant Garden to train," the blond man mused. Sora's smile shrank looking at him. His brain struggled to come up with the memories attached to his face and yet his heart felt certain that those memories weren't good. "I doubt you'll get much out of our little world any more. The Heartless are well under control thanks to our upgrades to the security system."

"You guys are working with the Restoration Committee?" Sora asked, grinning again because now he knew he'd definitely met some allies. "That's great! I'm an honorary member. Name's Sora." He held out his hand to shake.

The men before him exchanged glances.

"Ah, of course he wouldn't remember us, even though he met you," the silver-haired teen said. Sora cocked his head in confusion over that statement but the teen took his hand and shook it amiably. "I'm Ienzo and this is my senior research fellow."

"I've met you before?" Sora muttered, squinting at the blond. "Sorry, my memories aren't really coming to me but I think you're… I wanna say it starts with a V…?"

"Even," the blond man corrected.

"Shoot! Pretty close though," Sora said, taking Even's hand and forcing a shake. "Nice to meet you… I mean, re-meet you. Since you're also working with the Restoration Committee, I guess we're going to the same place then."

"Most likely," Ienzo replied. "We were just picking up some items for the other members. Just because the security grid is better than ever doesn't mean a few Heartless don't slip through every now and then but Yuffie, Leon, Dilan, and Aeleus have been doing a good job at managing the individuals that fall through the cracks."

"Dilan and Aeleus…" Sora wondered as the three of them began to walk together away from the markets. "I don't think I've met them either but I can't wait! What about Lea? Yen Sid has been sending him around to combat Heartless in various worlds too. Has he been around? Do you think he's here too?"

Ienzo and Even's eyes widened and they looked at each other again.

"Don't know him?" Sora guessed incorrectly. "He's the newest Keyblade wielder. He's gonna fight alongside us to hopefully end Xehanort's darkness for good."

"I see," Even murmured with an undertone of bitterness.

"So Lea has a Keyblade now," Ienzo muttered, a troubled expression crossing his face.

"So you do know Lea!" Sora exclaimed.

Ienzo and Even stopped by the wall fountain just around the corner from Merlin's house. Sora stopped with them, giving them a bemused look over why they weren't walking anymore.

"We have history with Lea, yes," Ienzo replied, opting to be truthful even as Even pulled a sour face. "Although we spent most of our time knowing him as Axel."

Sora's eyes widened at the revelation. He gaped at them for a moment before remembering himself and becoming sheepish about how stupid he probably looked. He rubbed the spikes at the back of his head. "To tell the truth, me too. He was supposedly a bad guy back then and I guess he did do a few pretty bad things but he was alright in the end. I think he was just stuck in a bad situation."

"Just stuck in a bad situation?!" Even parroted in disgust and lifting his arms to gesticulate but Ienzo grabbed one arm and pulled him back.

"Forgive my colleague's outburst," he said congenially to Sora's baffled expression. "Our dealings with Axel were rather… emotional."

"What do you mean?" Sora asked. "Do you think Axel was a bad guy? But if you got to know him like I did—"

"On the contrary," Even interrupted, "you should have gotten to know him as we did."

Ienzo covered his face with one hand as though that way he could hide from the inflammatory turn of events.

"What are you talking about?" Sora snapped defensively.

"Axel was a very complex character," Ienzo interjected before Even could make another tactless outburst. "I doubt he was the same person to everyone he encountered. To some people he was very much a sincere friend."

Sora turned his full attention to Ienzo, going from irritated to just a little frustrated. Ienzo seemed to be picking his words carefully and he'd been doing it the whole time now that Sora thought about it. "A friend to 'some people'… then who was he to you?"

The pair looked at each other again. Ienzo's visible eye searched for some form of permission while Even scoffed. He was the first to look away and Ienzo took that as his cue.

"An ally in name but not in nature."

"What are you implying?" Sora inquired.

"What are you inferring?" Ienzo countered.

Sora thought about it for a moment. "That you two were also a part of Organisation XIII."

"I'm impressed," Ienzo said patronisingly, making Sora huff. "Since you're able to infer at least that much, I might as well impart the whole truth. As a fellow member, Axel should have been our ally in the Organisation's goals but he betrayed us at every turn."

"As far as I can see, that's a good thing," Sora said, folding his arms. "You guys were up to no good."

"And we appreciate that it was an error and a folly. However, I can't say the same for Axel as I don't believe his betrayal was motivated at all by a higher morality, nor by any specific loyalty."

"What? You keep talking like you're hiding something. Just spit it out!"

"Axel's top loyalty has only ever been to himself," Even clarified, "and I doubt much has changed with recompletion. After all, we've been finding out that becoming a Nobody didn't make us monsters that we already weren't—that is to say, not having a heart only tore down the inhibitions that would have stopped us from doing things we otherwise would not have done."

"And didn't diminish the impact or motivation of the injustices enacted prior to the transformation," Ienzo finished regretfully. Even sighed in remorseful agreement. "The person that Axel was is likely the person that Lea still is and perhaps always was."

"So… what are you saying?" Sora gulped, feeling dread crawl down his spine.

"We're giving you a warning," Ienzo told him. "We called him the Flurry of Dancing Flames but in reality he is more like the wind fanning the fire, weaving through the flames but never getting burned. He'll use that wicked cunning to its full potential to achieve personal gains above all others. You know that he had a friend in the Organisation?"

"Yeah, Roxas," Sora answered. "He's my Nobody… made him feel like he had a heart."

"Axel was willing to forsake everything the Organisation gave in order to keep him. It was a gamble even Luxord would have thought twice about betting on. Yet he was lost in the end, in order to complete you. It's obvious even to lesser learned folk how the cycles go: when Ienzo disappeared, Zexion appeared, when Zexion disappeared, Ienzo reappeared; when Lea disappeared, Axel appeared, when Axel disappeared, Lea reappeared; when you disappeared, Roxas appeared, when Roxas disappeared, you reappeared. Though the mechanics are far more complicated than that, the principle is easy to follow."

"Y-you don't think…" Sora stammered. His hands and feet felt sweaty despite feeling cold. "B-but he and I are friends now! He w-wouldn't…"

"He might not," Ienzo considered, "but we can't assure you with confidence that he won't. He's already killed us once scorning lofty promises to achieve his own goals. What I need you to understand is that we can't guarantee that he won't forsake the Seven Lights if it means he can meet Roxas again."

"There are dark times ahead," Even said ominously, made more so by his refusal to face the others as he spoke. "Be mindful who your friends are."

The pair walked on ahead, passing Sora on both sides. He stood petrified as they continued on to Merlin's, staring fearfully into the nothingness as the fountain bubbled mockingly like laughter in his ear.

More Author Notes:

A bit of a scary ending there. Before you hit that review button, just a friendly reminder that I did not write this to bash Lea/Axel. I really like that character but DDD handled his character development really poorly and added some story elements that made his character so problematic to the point that the direction his story arc seems to be going in doesn't make sense any more. Honestly, NOBODY SHOULD BE TRUSTING HIM! All he has done since recompletion is a few token Good Guy acts like saving high-bred ladies and whatnot with no solid evidence of actual reform from all of the terrible stuff he did previously as a Nobody, who apparently actually had a heart that he and and all the other OrgXIII members didn't know they had. And that ruins everything for him because it means that Lea/Axel wasn't a murdering and conniving sociopath because he was a Nobody, he was a murdering and conniving sociopath because he just is. It's his personality! It adds another thick layer of "I can't handle this stupid sh1t" to my dislike of DDD's story.

To that end, though, nobody should be trusting Ienzo and Even either. They were doing bad stuff even before they became Nobodies.

Anyway, you can go ahead and review now if you want.