Woahzles. I actually wrote a fanfiction. That's quite surprising, even to me. I should say straight off that I've had writer's block for what seems like years, and that this is by no means my best standard. But I had to upload just 'cause I'm so ecstatic to have actually written something!

So yeah... First fanfic – be gentle?

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square Enix – as does every single character, setting, existing plot point and keyblade.

Sora sighed.

No reaction.

His eyes slid slowly over to the panel, settling on the figure hunched over the many buttons, levers and thingamajigs that covered it. He sighed again, just a little louder, a little more deliberately.

This time he received a grunt in response. Interesting. He cast his gaze ever so slyly at the ceiling, waiting for the chance to strike. He languidly tapped a finger on the counter beneath him. When this garnered no punishment he tapped again – louder this time. Still in the clear. He quickly rapped out a five beat rhythm, before pausing to check his progress. The figure was still turned, though he thought that maybe that back looked a little more tense than it did a few seconds ago.

Sora grinned. His tensed hands came sharply down on the edge of the counter, drumming out a thoughtless rhythm; the sound growing louder and louder and louder and louder and louder and louder and--

"SORAWILLYOUSHUTTHEHELLUPALREADY!"

There we go. That's what he was waiting for.

He smiled innocently at the irate mechanic, his fingers relaxing on the counter. "Problem, Cid?"

"You bet there's a goddamn problem! If you keep thumping yer fists like that I'll bloody well slice 'em off, ya got it?!"

"Would you rather I sing the song that never ends? I've learnt it off by heart ya know!"

Cid's blue eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Go an' pester someone else, I'm busy. You crash the Gummi Ship, I fix it, you bugger off, got it?" He snatched up the screwdriver on the bench beside him.

Quickly noting the tool, it's position in the Cid's hand, and the slightly threatening way it tilted in the Keybearer's direction, Sora grinned widely. "No problem! I'm gone!" he yipped, flinging himself from the counter and out of the garage with the speed of a nymph.

He sped through the streets of Traverse Town, past shops and houses and the occasional peddling moogle; swinging himself up onto the rooftops of the second district and dashing along them towards the belltower. Here he paused, keeping one arm hooked around a pillar, and gazed out at the sprawling second district. Where to go next... he thought. That is the question.

He couldn't bother Donald or Goofy, they'd holed themselves away somewhere to report to the king – an activity Sora had seen fit to skip this time around. Whether or not the fact that it was his fault the Gummi Ship was invariably smushed had anything to do with that decision was something that Sora wouldn't specify. Better to let his trusty companions take the brunt of the king's squeaky wrath.

He couldn't bother Leon either, who had special business to attend to in regards to Heartless research and earning munny to deal with. Yuffie was off on a mission, and Sora wouldn't be as cruel as to bother Aerith – (never annoy the woman who bakes you cookies as a welcome home present!).

This left the spiky-haired brunette to entertain himself somehow, and with a marked lack of Heartless to destroy (probably thanks to Leon's ANNIHILATE THE EVIL schemes – er... Heartless Research – that he was always so occupied with).

Grinning slightly to himself, Sora's gaze settled on the hotel to his right. Hmm... Exploration? He thought to himself, his grin growing. He pushed lightly off the pillar, picking his way carefully down to the path, before jogging across to the hotel doors. He pushed experimentally, and wasn't surprised at the ease with which the well-used doors swung open. He glanced down the hall, checking for non-existent Heartless, before leaving the shelter of the doorway and eagerly regarding the coloured door in front of him. He reached towards the handle, but paused, turning his gaze left down the corridor.

"Hey Shadow! I'm just gonna poke around in the unused rooms, 'kay?" he called down to the counter. His only reply was silence, and Sora couldn't see through the folds of dark fabric that shrouded the desk, but he knew the hotel owner was down there. No one knew the owner's name, but Sora thought that the nickname was a fair one – though Aerith always disagreed.

Sora returned his attention to the colourful door, sparing no caution in opening it this time, and just as expected there were no heartless awaiting him. In fact, the room was really quite boring. The bed was perfectly made, the pictures all straight, and the door to the balcony wide open. Sora blinked. Well maybe that door was a bit more interesting. He headed straight for the door – if it's open state wasn't an invitation, then what was? - and leapt out the door with a harsh warcry. He glanced to the left. Nothing. To the right? Nothing at all. He relaxed his position. The balcony was depressingly empty.

"Is there nothing exciting in this town?" He mumbled to himself, leaning on the railing. He swept his gaze over the canal before him, until pausing on the open gate to the sewers. His eyes lit up. "That's better!"

He threw himself over the railing, landing easily on his feet, and dashed deftly over to the gate, ignoring the shuddering sensation of water seeping into his bright shoes. With a last glance over his shoulder to ward off surprise attack, he entered the gloomy passage.

The brunette waded quickly to the side of the canal, where the rocks were higher and the water shallower, and picked his way along until he reached the underwater cave; the faint light from the mural down one end of the cave mingling with the glow emanating from the stairs to Merlin's house casting a gloomy light over the rocks and water.

Hauling himself out of the water and onto the slimy piece of land, Sora glanced around the cave, squinting to see the contents of the darkest corners. He sighed. Looks like this place is gonna be just as boring as the rest of town...

Just as he lifted his head, ready to turn and leave the dank atmosphere, he felt sharp pain on his forehead, accompanied by a dulled clunk as the missile hit the ground. "Ow..." he muttered, lifting his hand to feel his abused head. No blood, it mustn't have hit me too hard.

"Tag, you're it."

Sora jumped as the voice rolled lazily towards him, the echoes of the cave making it impossible to pinpoint it's location.

"Who's there?" The brunette's voice came out strong, just as a Keybearer's should do, but he couldn't deny the jolt of fear in his stomach. He never really did like dark caves with dark voices and dark dark figures like the one that just stepped out a little further into the light so Sora could see him and his inky hood and the thick red strands that jutted from beneath it.

"Nobody," the figure drawled and was that a teasing tone that Sora could hear? "Are you competent or do I need to spell that out?"

"No I got it."

"Memorised?"

Sora blinked. "No."

The figures head lolled to the side slightly. "Why, you really are incompetent – or maybe you're just spending too much time with those mouseketeer dumbasses."

Sora's eyes widened. "Riku?"

The laugh that floated from beneath that hood was scathing. "Riku? Do I look like Riku to you? Though I will admit I've been chatting to him recently." Sora regarded the figure, and quickly realised how stupid his past identification really was. Apart from the blatantly red hair that peeked from beneath the hood, the figure's whole physique was completely different from Riku's. This guy was tall – insanely tall – and the fitted leather of his jacket showed the thin waist and practically anorexic quality of his arms. "So," the figure went on, "whatcha up to down here in the dark, gloomy cave, young Keybearer?"

"...Just passing time."

"Oh really now? Funny place to pass time in, unless you were on your way to Merlin's...?"

Now why didn't I think of that? "Oh, yeah, I wanted to get him to teach me some more magic..."

The figure chuckled. "Now that's silly on two counts. One: why would you tell the shady guy in the dark cave about your future battle tactics; and two, you can't act for shit. Now, what you should be asking is, 'What the hell are you doing here?'" The figure motioned in mock encouragement to the brunette.

"...What the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh! I thought you'd never ask!" Sora wondered how a person could fit that much grin into such a small sentence. "Now, what I'm supposedly supposed to say is that my boss sent me to gather data on the 'Legendary Keybearer of the Modern Age' or some such – but that's not really it."

Sora blinked uncomprehendingly.

The figure sighed. "Well whatever, seems that even if I did tell you, you're too dense to understand simple English, so I'll keep my ulterior motives to myself. But y'know, I'm getting kinda bored with doing all the talking here, so why don't you say something?"

Sora watched as the figure tilted his head slightly, his teeth flashing in the dim light to show his wide grin. Sora stayed silent.

The smile dropped. "Fine then. What's Riku like?"

The brunette's eyes widened at the query. "What do you know about Riku? Can you tell me where he is? Why's he siding with the Heartless?"

The figure chuckled. "One track mind much? And you know I can't tell you any of that, it'd make the whole 'saving the world' thing and your deep psychological disturbances too easy to fix!"

"Psychololololo...."

"Your obsessiveness about Riku and 'Kairi-kins!'."

A change came over the Keybearer then. His teeth ground together, his eyes hardened, and gone was the island boy from the beach. "Kairi-kins?! That's not obsessive! They're my friends! Who the hell are you anyway?!"

"I already told you that!" The figure sang mockingly. "And I told you to memorise it but you just don't seem intelligent enough to--" He was interrupted by a flicker of movement in the stairwell. Both pairs of eyes flew to the spot, but the disturbance was gone.

Sora glanced sharply at the figure, noticing the surprised turn of his mouth in the light, before the hooded face swung back into an easy grin as he faced Sora. "What was that?," the Keybearer asked warily.

"What makes you think I know?" Sora raised an eyebrow at the figure, enjoying his slight upper hand. "Okay, let me rephrase that. What makes you think I'd tell you?" The figure chuckled as the younger boy pouted shamelessly. "I'm a bad guy, in case you hadn't noticed. Shouldn't you be running me through with that shiny Keyblade of yours?" The figure asked cheekily.

"You bet I should be. But I need to know. Where are Riku and Kairi?! I know you know!"

With a chuckle, the figure then stood, the strands of red bobbing as he moved, and Sora followed the figure's progress as he moved towards the stairs. "Well, I'm sorry Sora but our time is up. Gotta go!"

"What? Why?! What the hell is your problem?! You can't just run away!" He drew the keyblade, illuminating the cave momentarily. "Get back here and answer me!"

But the figure slipped round the corner. "Sorry little Keybearer, but our rendezvous came to an end when you failed to have anything important to say..." Sora froze as the words seemed to echo around him, driving into his ears and rattling his temples. When it stopped, he was able to straighten and dart around the corner, but the only evidence he could find to prove the figure's existence was a few pages (obviously stolen from Merlin's study upstairs) with flames licking at them and turning them the same inky black of the figure's hood.

Sora sighed and shook his head, letting the keyblade in his grasp disappear. What was that all about?

***

"Are you happy now? I went and spoke to your boyfriend, now you go and help Maleficent like a good little boy, 'kay?"

"What did he say? Is he worried about me and Kairi? Or is he too stuck on those inbred 'friends' he's following around?"

"Don't worry Rikky; as soon as I mentioned you he went crazy-protective on my ass – you heard him."

"It's Riku, you bastard."

"Details, details. With the track your following, you'll probably be offed by Sora and I'll never see you again anyway."

"Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Oh sure, it's not like I ever lost my heart to a bunch of heartless. Ofcourse I wouldn't know how it feels, huh?"

"...What are you talking about?"

"Forget it. You'll find out sooner or later – if you live that long."

"..."

"Ugh. Whatever, I'm leaving. But I bequeath unto you my parting words, Rikky: Be careful if your gonna go after the keyblade. Those things kill more brain cells than Heartless, in my humble opinion."

"Since when did I care about your opinion?"

"True."

***

"I told you those things kill brain cells."

"I'm surprised you can even remember that."

"I memorised it."

"You do know that catchphrase of yours sucks, don't you?"

"I won't accept it, no matter how many times I'm told, so shove it, Rikky."

With a sigh, Riku peeled his hood away. "I'm not Riku."

Axel raised an eyebrow, drinking in the almost-familiar tan skin and amber eyes. "I thought you looked beefier than you used to be. I'm not surprised though."

"It's better than dying, like you thought I would."

Axel laughed. "You've got a point there."

The two were silent for a few moments as they gazed around at their desolate surroundings – the Dark City in all its glory. But soon enough, Riku asked quietly, "So you've lost Kairi, Naminé's gone AWOL, and your the traitorous enemy of the Heartless, the Warriors of Light, and the Nobodies – what're you gonna do now?"

Axel glanced slyly out of the corner of his eye at the pseudo-Ansem. "I sound uncannily like you, don't I? But I dunno. I seem to have come to the depressing realisation that without Roxas, I've got nothing to occupy my time with."

"You could go help Sora; I'm sure he'd forgive you for being on the baddie's side. ...It wouldn't be so different from helping Roxas, would it?"

Riku didn't even have to turn to know that the redhead was sneering at him. "You just want me to go make sure your boyfriend doesn't drop dead before your tearful reunion."

Riku laughed sadly. "If only it was that simple." The two fell silent again, each preoccupied with their winding thoughts. Riku turned his head to the Nobody. "Roxas is still in there y'know? Sora wouldn't be Sora without Roxas."

Axel tilted his head slightly, silently regarding the trapped teen that towered above him. His sight drifted down to the concrete street as he slipped back into thought, and Riku let his gaze wander from the redhead.

"I suppose you're right." Riku turned back to see the Nobody looking up at him again. "He is still in there." The redhead pushed away from the wall they leaned against, and turned to glance at the other. "I'd better go help out the young'uns, huh?"

Riku smiled softly, but as the redhead opened a portal, he called out. "Thank you."

The Nobody turned, eyes widened questioningly. "For what?"

"You've done a lot for me over the years. It's about time I thanked you for it, that's all."

Axel blinked, before a wide, cocky grin spread across his face. "No problemo, Rikky. See ya around." The redhead spun back around, and quickly disappeared through the corridor of darkness before the other could respond.

"Yeah," Riku muttered. "See you around."