Chapter One: Flight of the Hero

Disclaimer: The characters in use belong to Squeenix. I don't own

them, and the situations are of my own design. This is rated M for

mature, and will contain yaoi (male & male relations).

"Namine, I am surprised you have remained in the castle this long. Doesn't it strike you as dangerous? It's nearly irresponsible of you to be keeping Sora there. I think the time has come for both of you to join me in Twilight Town. There, we can guard him in secret and I can help you restore his memory more effectively." DiZ's visage hovered in a dark corner of Namine's former prison; it bobbed up and down in her drawing room.

"Yes, you're probably right. How will we move him there?"

"We'll have to use the corridors. Tonight. I have some loose ends to tie up, and I'll arrive at exactly 8:30."

"That sounds fine."

"Namine! If any dark corridor appears before my planned arrival, know that it is not me, and that you must defend Sora."

"But-"

"Come now. You manipulate the castle. Its design is practically of your creation now that Marluxia is dead."

Namine paused looking distraught. "Yes, okay. I will keep Sora safe until you come for us."

"You must be vigilant, but there is no current evidence that Organization XIII will be investigating the castle today. Still, do not count on their lethargy or single-mindedness. I'm sure that soon enough they'll be wondering what went wrong here, and what can be salvaged. They'll want to keep you."

DiZ disappeared, and Namine sat very still. She looked at the hazy figure inside the budding flower. "You'll be okay Sora." A blue-white silken sheet draped over the giant figurine, and folded down around the floor. "Ahaha, that's just ridiculous," lashed out a ghost's memory of Larxene. "Just because we're not special nobodies like you, Namine, doesn't mean we don't have the same capacity for thought. What are you good for now?"

Her cruel laughter made Namine nauseous. She looked away from the covered bird cage, and out the window to a world locked in between. It was like living in a castle floating in outer space. She was alone. "It's not a cage. I'm putting everything back the way it should be. I'm good... a-and I'm not alone." Her meek monologue was suffocated by drawings, drapery, and her solitude. She paused in thought. "But I'm not alone!" She peered over at the hill of a sheet.

She crept over to her poorly disguised hero, and took a peak underneath. He was frozen in ice. But he was happy, but he was also happy being used. "I'm not using you anymore. I'm fixing everything I did wrong" He smiled at her. "I mean it." He smiled at her. "You have to believe me," she said looking more despairing than ever. He smiled still.

She pulled the sheet back over him, and dimmed the lights. "I guess I have work to do. Why wouldn't they come as soon as they could?" She set down a pair of binoculars in the room, and tied her sight to it. If she kept her left eye closed, she saw normally. If she kept her right eye closed, she saw Sora in safety.

If she opened both, she would feel dizzy. This would suffice. She walked quickly down the hallway from her room, and intended to make as many confusing changes within the castle as she could. She would start by erasing the front door.

Back in Sora's room, a soft orange light ate away the sterile and antiseptic blue-white glow of Sora's chamber. Axel quietly strode across the room, and turned the binoculars a quarter inch to the right. "Nice bluff Namine. What could you really do to stop me anyway? Call DiZ? Well he's awfully busy right now."

Axel lifted back the sheet, staring in at Sora. Charismatic as he was, the organization was acting pretty cooly around him. Xemnas was pleased, but he was always tepid. Demyx was easy-going and could still imitate friendliness pretty adequately, but Axel wasn't looking for those charades. "Someone who can feel. I wonder what that's like?" But he did not wonder so much.

The chakram that often burned him felt different. They felt good. They felt-

Pale ashes slipped down around Axel cloak. Dim light poured through the holes expanding over Axel's head, and smoke curled up from the sheet.

"Time to retrieve you." Axel smashed through the crystal. Pieces of it nicked Sora's face and arms, but he could not wake up. Axel stooped down to lift Sora from the smashed ruin. Sora's proximity made every spasm of muscle and electrical impulse from his brain feel.. worthwhile. Everything was reasonable again. Again? Had it been once before? The sheet crumpled oddly around the robbed chrysalis.

The castle was a demented maze, and the front of it was blank as a sheet of printing paper. Namine closed her right eye.

Axel paused. Everything was a coil being wound tightly. He was trembling slightly. Sora couldn't be heavy enough. He was like gold, a substance that he wanted more to hold and see. He wasn't a person anymore. He was a phenomena. The numbness and apathy that strangled the hole in his chest evaporated. He was paralyzed by it. His held tilted back, overwhelmed.

The room tilted maddeningly. Axel's quick reflexes met the west wall, which was now the floor. Namine burst through the door." Axel, what are you doing! I thought you wanted me to give him back his memories!"

Axel paused. A malevolent grin stretched his cheeks.

"I thought you wanted me to make him a real person again!"

This froze Axel. His nature retaliated. He would not relinquish his grip on Sora. If he could keep a hold, he himself could be real too. Or at least feel it.

"I wanted to fix my mistakes! I want to make amends for everything I did," Namine screamed.

"Yeah, you would." A dark corridor opened behind Axel's back. It summoned him.

Namine shook the room again. Axel slid to the floor on his side. Sora was seated safely in his arms, but his shoes bounced off the ground.

Axel laughed. "So you're going to kill me."

Namine looked frightened and dangerous clutching her pencil and pad of paper. A chakram flew at her, which was deflected by a streak of purple that crossed its flight. It spun back to Axel who was still laughing. Both chakram's flew at her. There was a flash of green and a streak of red. The chakram flew back to him. Sora had slid down to rest on Axel's thigh. He was crumpled like a doll, but heavy with life.

Axel struggled as a curl of yellow and a blend of orange tried to knock him over.

Listen kid. I was always Marluxia's superior!" A wall of fire divided the room in half and slammed Namine into the farther wall. She slumped over. Her pad of paper came to rest in a far corner.

Axel lifted up Sora into an awkward hug. His legs dragged on the ground, forming a v pointing at Axel's abdomen. A corridor opened up beneath Axel, and the two disappeared.

Much later, another cooridor appeared. DiZ stepped through, and caught sight of Namine on the floor. "Damned villains!"