Merlin's house was quiet, the light clattering of keys the only noise. Cid was, as usual going over codes for the defences of Radiant Garden, as it was back to being called. Leon was leaning on the back of Cid's chair, giving the ex-pilot tips and recommendation. Aerith was sitting at the table, playing a silent game of chess with the wise wizard himself. Cloud was leaning against the wall, quiet and uninterested as usual. The peace of the small house was broken when an over-exited ninja burst through the doors.

"Guys! You'll never believe who's here!" Yuffie shouted. Everyone immediately turned to look at the ninja. She stepped to the side, a massive grin on her face as the line of people paraded past her, slowly filling the house. First came Sora, followed by Riku, Kairi, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, King Mickey, Queen Minnie, Chip, Dale and Jiminy riding on the back of Pluto. The group of twelve all had matching grins on their faces. Sora jumped forward and spread his arms out.

"Surprise!" The Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee were speechless.

"Sora?" Questioned Leon, stepping forward. "Why are you all here?" Sora gave Leon a cheeky grin.

"We heard that you guys have been working non-stop since we last saw you. So, we decided we'd all have a get together! We even brought picnic stuff and everything!" He shouted in excitement. Aerith stood up and clapped her hands.

"That sounds lovely. I think a break is what we need. Especially you Leon. And it will be nice to talk with everyone again." She gave the group a smile. Cid cracked his neck and stood, followed by Merlin.

"Yeah, I reckon a break'd do me good." Cid said with a smile.

"Yes, it's a splendid idea!" Merlin agreed. Leon looked around in mild surprise.

"Guess it's settled then. We're having a picnic." For the next half-minute cheers rung through Radiant Garden.

The place that had been chosen for the picnic was a grassy hill area that overlooked the town on one side, and Hollow Bastion on the other. Multiple blankets had been spread out and there was a mass of food scattered all over the place. Everyone was sitting in small groups. The girls, Minnie, Daisy, Kairi, Aerith and Yuffie were all together talking; Merlin, Cid, Chip and Dale were talking about Gummy Ships and the rest of the boys: Sora, Riku, Mickey, Cloud, Leon, Donald and Goofy were exchanging stories, being corrected every now and then by Jiminy, who was flicking through his completely full journal. Pluto was walking around the group in a circle, stopping to lick Sora or Mickey every so often. There was much laughter and excited chattering going on until Pluto went stiff.
His hackles raised and low, threatening growls erupted from his throat. Mickey immediately went over to his protective dog.

"What wrong Pluto? Are there heartless around?" He asked. Leon shook his head.

"No, we would have been notified if there had been."
Sora slowly climbed to his feet, keyblade appearing in his hand.

"Then who… or what is it?"
Their question was answered when a massive black hole began to appear in front of them, the trademark of an Organization XIII member.

"The Organization!" Sora shouted, getting into a battle stance. He was followed by everyone with a weapon, and those without weapons were pushed to the back of the group.

"I thought they had all been defeated…" Riku said softly.
The black slowly revealed a tall person with a long black coat, hood pulled up. The Organization member was facing away from them, leaving them ignorant of the members identity. The Organization member was still for a moment before flinching, as if noticing the presence of the fighters behind them. He slowly raised his hands and turned on his heel, to face them.

"Who are you?" Questioned Sora, pointing his silver keyblade at the intruder. The Organization Member's hands immediately went to his hips and his foot started tapping. Sora jerked when a very familiar voice answered his question.

"Wow, forgotten me already? Didn't I tell you to memorize my name?" Sora let his keyblade drop.

"No way," he said, reaching out the cloaked figure. "Axel!?" At this name everyone let their weapons drop.
Axel raised his hand and pushed the hood away, showing his identifying red hair. "Axel!" Sora shouted running to the Nobody. "But you faded! How are you here?" Axel chuckled.

"You think you're surprised? Imagine how I feel." He laced his fingers and stretched his arms to the sky with a yawn. Riku walked up and joined Sora with a frown.

"But does this mean all of the Organization XIII members are back?" He asked.

"No!"

"It can't be!"

"All that work for nothing!"

A chorus of protests echoed from the group behind them. Axel merely shrugged.

"Dunno. I woke up where I faded, which was basically in the space between, so I got no idea. Came straight here."
At those words Leon moved towards the Nobody, hand still on his gunblade.

"Speaking of which…Why are you here?" Axel glared at Leon.

"What? Can't a Nobody come home every once in a while?" There was a brief silence after his words.

"WHAT!?" A chorus of voices shouted at him. He sighed and scratched at his temple.

"Radiant Garden is my home world. I lived here before I became a Nobody, before the world fell into the darkness."

"Wow, seriously?" Sora asked. "But wait, I thought Nobodies didn't have any memories of before?"
Once again, Axel shrugged. "When I woke up I remembered everything. It was weird… So many memories coming at me at once… But still no emotions." Axel gave a bitter laugh. "It's funny… As soon as I realised I was alive I put my hand right here," he began, placing a large hand on his chest, "and felt for my heart." He let his hand drop. "Nothing… As always." A look around the group showed that quite a few of them had sad and sympathetic expressions on their faces. He flinched inwardly and was quiet for a moment before perking up with a grin. "Anyway, enough with my pity party-" he was cut off when another voice broke in.

"Donald! Sora! I did it! I remade that old flavour I used to love!" Scrooge McDuck was waddling towards the big group, hands holding a box of light blue ice-creams. He ran past Axel and stopped right in front of Sora. "Here," he said, shoving one into Sora's hand. "Try it!" Sora shrugged and took a bite.

"Wow… that's cool!" Scrooge nodded quickly and began handing one out to everyone else. He stopped when he noticed Axel. "Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your… con…ver…sation…" He trailed off and his eyes widened as he took in Axel properly. Axel's eyes were just as wide staring at Scrooge. "It can't be…" Scrooge said walking up to Axel.

"Mr McDuck?" Axel asked, his voice incredulous. Tears appeared in the corner of Scrooges eyes. Donald stared at the Nobody and his Uncle.

"Wait… You know my uncle?" He was ignored by the duo.

"Lea!" Scrooge shouted and threw himself towards the towering Nobody.

"Lea?" Sora and the others echoed. Axel ignored them, grabbed the old duck in a hug.

"Wow… I didn't think you'd have made it!" He said with a laugh. Scrooge whacked him on the arm.

"I got out immediately with my nephews. Once they were safe I came back to help anyone else get out. I didn't see you or the boy you used to hang out with. What was his name? Ila? Ida?" He asked with a grin. It faded when Axel turned away and released the old duck.

"…Isa," he said softly. Scrooge nodded slightly.

"Yes that was it… What happened to him?" He asked. He and the other jumped when Axel gave a short bark of laughter.

"Ha-ha… Same thing that happened to me. We got our hearts taken. He doesn't go by Isa anymore." Axel explained.
Sora grabbed Axel's arm.

"You mean… You're best friend is in the Organization too?" He asked with a feeling off dread. He didn't want to have to tell Axel that he had killed his best friend.
Axel shook his head, filling Sora with relief.

"Nah. Isa was Saix," he began, ignoring the chorus of surprised shouts that followed his statement. "And Saix and I kind of… drifted apart in a way. We were going to overthrow the Organization… take down Xemnas but then Roxas came along." Axel said, looking at Sora.
"Roxas was my best friend. It was Him, Me and another member called Xion. Roxas was number XIII and Xion was number XIV."
This time it was Mickey with the question.

"Fourteen? But you are Organisation XIII not XIV. Why didn't the name change with the number of members?"
Axel gave the mouse a sidelong glance.

"I dunno about that one. But Xion wasn't there for long anyway. She had the same purpose as Roxas. After a while… both of them turned into the Sora you know now." Axel said with a shrug. Sora just stared at Axel, horrified.

"You mean… I am basically made out of your two best friends?" He asked in a choked voice.
Axel put a finger to his chin as he mused.

"I guess… That's probably why I keep saving you."

"Keep saving?" Asked Goofy. "You've only saved him once and that was when you faded."
Axel gave him a secretive smile.

"That's what you think," he responded slyly with a chuckle. The others gave him strange looks.

Axel was suddenly jerked on by the arm, sending him crashing onto the ground.

"Ow…" he moaned, rubbing his head as he sat up. Scrooge was sitting next to him, hand still on the Nobody's sleeve.

"I want you to tell me what happened to you." The mild chatter that had been forming behind them stilled and Axel could hear the big group all sitting back down, closer to Axel. Axel sighed and lay back down, staring up at the sky.

"It's not that cool of a story…" he warned.

"I want to know too Axel," Sora's voice came from behind him. Axel laughed.

"Sure… Why not. May as well tell someone my tale of woe." Axel gave another laugh before going silent, thinking of how to start.

"Well… I'm just going to say the short version, basically because while I have my memories back… These ones are kinda hazy." There were murmurs of agreement behind him.
"Well, believe it or not… When I was a kid, about Sora's age, Isa and I used to get into a fair amount of trouble." Axel ignored the laughs and scoffs he got at that, grinning himself.

"Now back then, Radiant Garden was basically run by Ansem the Wise. He was a very wise man as his name suggests and he had a castle, Hollow Bastion. Inside Hollow Bastian is Ansem's study, and hidden in there is a secret computer room. Isa and I decided to break into the castle and we managed to get to Ansem's study. When we were there we were poking around and managed to open the entrance to the computer room. That's when everything got ugly." Axel grimaced and heaved a sigh.
"I assume you have all heard of Xehanort?" He asked.

"Yeah, he was Ansem the Wise's apprentice, right?" Sora responded.

"Yup. When we got into the computer room, Xehanort was in there. He was… unlocking hearts of people we knew. I remember trying to leave but that's where it gets hazy. I remember seeing Xehanort took Isa's heart and then he came over to me." Axel paused and scratched his head.
"I remember him taking my heart… the feeling and all that. And the last emotion I felt was fear. Ha-ha. But I don't remember after that. Just kinda waking up and being inducted into the Organization. When I ran into Isa again, he went by Saix and I went by Axel but we decided to join together in order to get our hearts back." He stopped.
"Yeah that's about it." He finished with a laugh. Everyone behind him was quiet. He turned his head and grinned at the group. "What, no questions? I'm surprised!" He laughed.

"As am I," another voice said from behind them all. Axel jumped to his feet and spun.

"Saix?!" He exclaimed.

"Axel," Saix greeted in return. Axel walked cautiously around the now standing and battle-ready group that was separating the two Nobodies.

"You came here… Why?" Axel asked quietly. Saix was silent for a moment.

"I knew you would be here. And I wanted to go back to the castle. See if our hearts are still there by some chance." They were both silent for a while.

"I haven't heard you say so many words in one go in a while." This comment was followed by a solid whack to Axel's head.

"Ow…" he complained as Saix walked around him to face Sora.

"Sora. I apologize for the last time we met. I was merely doing what I had to do to get mine and Axel's heart back." He apologized in a monotone.
Sora awkwardly nodded in acceptance. Saix turned to Kairi.

"I also apologize for holding you captive and using you as bait to get Sora."
Kairi just waved her hand.

"I totally understand."

There was another silence until Axel walked past them to the stand on the downslope of the other side of the hill.

"It's not like you to get sentimental Saix. We gonna find our hearts or not?" He asked with a grin in his voice. Saix walked up beside him and ignored it when Axel threw an arm over his shoulder.

Scrooge crept up to the group behind them.

"They look so much like they did when they were younger… I still have that photo," he said with a sigh. Sora went up to Scrooge.

"Really?" He asked in excitement. "Can I see it? I wanna see how Axel looked when he was little!"
Scrooge laughed at Sora.

"Sure, I've got it on me actually." He said and began fishing around in his pockets. When he looked up, Axel and Saix were gone. He held his hand out with the rumpled photo in his fingers.
"Here," he said handing it to Sora. Sora smoothed it out as a crowd of people tried to peer over his shoulder. He laughed as he caught sight of the young Axel.

Axel's face was the same, with a bit more of a younger look. His hair was just as red but shorter and it stuck up straighter in the air. He was wearing three-quarter length, light brown cargo pants, red shoes, a white singlet with orange vest on top and a yellow scarf. His left arm was draped over a younger version of Saix and his right hand was holding a somewhat square Frisbee with flames on it. His face was sporting a huge grin and there was a ice-cream stick poking out of his mouth.

Saix was much younger looking and his hair looked that same at the front and was much shorter at the back. He wore black shoes, white pants and a blue jacket with a yellow moon on the left side. He was staring rather begrudgingly at the camera, both arms crossed and his own ice-cream stick poking from his mouth.

The photo was passed from person to person until it finally made its way back to Scrooge who carefully put it back where he had found it.

"They were cute," Kairi said with a laugh.

"It's kind of sad though… Both of them lost their hearts and they were just trying to get them back… That's why they were helping the Organization…" Sora said sadly. Mickey patted his shoulder.

"I think every member of the Organization, even Xemnas were just trying to get their hearts." He added.
Sora let out a soft sigh, before putting a grin back on his face.

"Okay! No more sad stuff for the rest of the day! We're having a get together picnic!" He shouted, pumping his fist in the air. The group laughed and all went back to their places before Axel had arrived and started laughed and talking again. It only lasted a few moments before the entire group was sitting in one big circle instead of a few separate groups. Axel's story had taught them a valuable lesson. To spend as much time with each other as possible, because you never know when you might lose someone or something important to them.

...

...

Soooo. That random Axel past that I felt like doing. I got the whole, how he lost his heart from the Kingdom Hearts Wikia, which is a really good read 'coz its really detailed and tells you alot of things that you didnt know. Its online so just type it into a search engine.

Well, I hope you enjoyed it. I didn't do any proof-reading (I'm sooo sorry but I'm rather lazy today) so there might be a... few mistakes haha.

Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading :) There's another Axel story on my profile if you're interested :D I really do hope you liked/enjoyed my story so please, if you're feeling kind and loving ;) *wink wink* favourite and review. I love to know more tips on how to be a better writer. Hope to hear from you :D

Sincerely,

Sam (Unknown229)