Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and all of its characters are the property of Square Enix and Disney. Sadly it will never be mine, as much as I daydream about it.

A/N: Okay so here it is, a new story! I really like the idea for this one right now although I have no idea how it will end yet. I would just like to take a sec and put it out there that if anyone is interested in betaing this for me I would gladly accept because I know my grammar and structure might not be the best. Other than that, please enjoy the story! Reviews are awesome, good and bad I want them all!

Warnings: The Prologue is heavy with spoilers for the end of Kingdom Heart 358/2 Days. If you have not finished the game and you go ahead and read this anyways then please don't come yelling at me for spoiling things, I warned you.

Prologue: Fading

o.O.o

I was hurt, too hurt. Even with Sora there I knew that there was no way we could take on the vast amounts of nobodies that were surrounding us. I could just tell that the kid would try to though, to his last damn breath he would fight and probably still think he had a chance of winning too. It reminded me of him. Even on his worst days, Roxas would still go up against those heartless like it was nothing. It was a painful reminder to see Sora staring at me instead of Roxas. Everything for me in the past few months has been about getting Roxas back. I don't think I'll ever understand how I felt so strongly around Roxas even though I'm just a nobody. Eventually I didn't even care about Kingdom Hearts and being whole again, if I had Roxas around it was just as good. But any chance of that was gone now. Looking at Sora I knew that it was too late to ever return my friend to me. And so there was only one thing to do, save Sora and in doing so I would save Roxas who was undeniably a part of him.

The power you feel when you put your entire being into an attack is staggering. It went in stages. First there was the rush of power and adrenaline and then came the pain. It hurts like a bitch to destroy yourself. Finally came the fading away part. It surprised me that I felt nothing really, no physical sensations just the awareness that you are ceasing to be. Sora wanted to save me, it surprised me really, and I never imagined that he would want to even after sacrificing myself. But I was beyond the point of saving, fading quickly into the nothingness that I was created from. I wondered vaguely as I faded if Kairi would forgive me for stealing her away from Destiny Islands. I hoped she would understand that all I had wanted was my friend back. Maybe I wasn't the nicest guy in how I went about it but I'm a nobody, can you really blame me?

I don't know what I expected really when I finally faded entirely away. I guess I expected to be nothing, to not exist. Clearly though that was not what happened. I was alone in the darkness. I had awareness of my body again which I found to be strange. It was like I had faded away from that world only to end up in this one, if this nothingness could be called a world. It was a little scary actually because I truly had no idea what was going on, no clue as to how I could have ended up here. No idea as to how I was still 'me'.

After thinking about it for who knows how long I finally let out a scream of frustration that was sucked up into the darkness. It was kind of like that saying 'if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it does it still make a noise?' except in this case it was more of 'if the frustrated pyro screams into the darkness does he still make a noise'. I sighed softly and peered into the darkness around me. "Well, what am I supposed to do now?" I questioned the blackness, knowing my question would go unheard but still feeling the need to voice it. What I was not expecting was an answer.

"Axel you silly, you have to find your heart," a voice said from behind me. I spun around, ready to fight even here, although I was unnerved to discover my chakrams did not appear as normal in my hands. Thankfully the individual awaiting me was not threatening or at least she did not appear to be. The girl in front of me was rather small, she looked to be about the same age as Sora and Roxas had been, and she had black hair as well as these brilliant blue eyes. To top it all off she was wearing the cloak of the organization. The strangest thing of it all was that I felt like I knew her. Looking back into my memories though I found nothing, I knew that I had never met a girl like that before ever. But I still could not shake that feeling.

"I...know you?" I questioned, although it was more of a statement then a question. The girl just laughed and shot me a smile.

"I missed you Axel. It's been a very long time or at least it seems like it to me. I've been waiting for the change to see you again although I didn't want it to be like this," she said, a bit of a sad shadow in her eyes.

It all just made me so confused. Who was this girl who knew me when I had never met her before? Whose laugh tugged at some far buried part of my brain like I should remember something that had never been there. "W-who are you?" I asked again, eyes scanning her warily.

"Xion. We're best friends Axel. You and Roxas and I," she explained to me, as if it was something I should know.

"No. You're wrong. I've never seen you before in my life. Roxas is my only best friend," I said, a little anger in my voice, spawning from my confusion and frustration at not knowing what was going on.

"You have seen me before Axel. You just don't remember it. No one does. I was a replica. A copy and my existence only spawned from Sora's borrowed memories. I had to give them back to him though and when I did I disappeared because all I was made of were those memories," Xion explained, her voice showing her acceptance in what she had chosen.

"But how are you here then, if you never really existed?"

"I'm just your subconscious silly. You needed someone to explain what was going on," she said with a grin.

"But if I don't remember you then how can my subconscious remember you?" I asked, rubbing at my temples. This was getting more confusing by the second. I was not good with these kinds of things really, it was more the kind of thing for Zexion or one of the other really smart ones.

"You sure are full of questions, aren't you?" she said with a shake of her head, "I'm afraid I don't know the exact answer to that question but all I know is that it has something to do with your heart."

I looked at her bitterly, "My heart is long gone."

Xion rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips, "That's why you're here! You have to find your heart!"

I groaned and closed my eyes, running my hands through my hair. "What are you talking about? How am I supposed to find my heart?" I muttered.

When I opened my eyes again Xion was there with a smile, holding out a sea-salt ice cream bar to me, "Take it and I'll try to explain." I pouted but took the ice cream from her and took a bite of it, the taste instantly flooding my mind with memories of better times.

Xion watched me, licking at an identical ice cream bar as she seemed to contemplate what to say. "Okay. Well for starters this is all in your head Axel. You don't really exist anymore, not physically anyways. All that is left of you is the essence of who you were. Something about your friendship with Roxas helped to reconnect you to your heart in a way, giving you the chance to find it. I don't know how that happened but it's what you wanted Axel. You have a chance to live again, to have a heart again. All you have to do is find it," she explained.

I frowned and studied the ice cream for many long moments before looking up in to the blue eyes. "I don't understand. How am I supposed to find anything? You have already said that this is all in my head. None of this is real!" I cried out in frustration.

"That is where you're wrong Axel. This is all very real. The mind is a powerful thing, it has just as much power as the heart. Why do you think you became a nobody in the first place. You need to have a strong mind as well as a strong heart. As for how you are supposed to find your heart, your mind and your soul already know the way. You just have to let them guide you to it. I won't say that it will be easy, you will most likely face many difficult things and have come to terms with some of the things you have done. And the shadow can still find you here too, you can't let it take you over. I know you can do it though Axel. This is the second chance that you wanted," Xion said to him, breaking into a smile by her final words.

I realized by this time that we had finished the ice cream. I looked down at the stick in my hand and was shocked to see that it said WINNER on it. I looked up to Xion, a question on my lips but it died as I stared at the emptiness. "Xion?" I called out, turning in a circle and fining nothing but darkness. I clutched the ice cream stick tighter in my hand and frowned. "Xion! What's going on?" I called out into the darkness.

Xion's laugher came to me from somewhere I could not see, "Don't worry Axel, I know you'll find your way. Good luck!" I frowned and kept looking around searching for something, anything with vain.

Finally I spotted the tiniest pinprick of light in the distance and without thinking I started to run towards it. The closer I came the larger it grew until the light seemed to engulf me entirely. The next thing I was aware of was a blaring and annoying noise and the last thing I remember wondering was what the heck was going on.

o.O.o