Lea was walking on the high walls that surrounded the town of Radiant Garden, watching the people below in the market.

'When I first woke up, I was only in the castle searching for Isa. Didn't take a single look at the town before leaving.'

Curious he took in his surroundings. The quarters more outside of town and the gardens still looked very bashed-up, but the castle was back to it's old glory, as were a lot of the buildings in the center.

'Looks better than expected.'

A group of Heartless, that was chasing after some town-folk, got his attention.

'But the Heartless are still present. Pesky things.'

Moving without really thinking about it, Lea jumped over the rooftops to get to that group. But before he could reach them, a young man with short brown hair and a black leather jacket jumped in the way of the Heartless and started attacking them with a sword. Several spheres of light were aiding him and in no time the group was eliminated. The people surrounded the man, obviously thanking him.

Lea sighed in relief. He jumped down into an empty street and followed it into the borough.

'This world may not be so peaceful anymore, but the people are still holding up. That's pretty impressive.'

After a few minutes he stepped into the Residential area and stopped.

'I just have one problem now...'

Looking at the street left, right and ahead of him, Lea scratched his head.

"Where the heck did that wizard live?"

Racking his brains over the way, he simply took the right street after a while and hoped for the best. Vaguely he still knew that the wizard's house was an oddity, something he surely would recognize as soon as he saw it. But just not the way to it.

Suddenly he realized he wasn't even able to remember his own house right now. Or how his neighbors and classmates looked like.

All the memories from his past…

They were there and he should be able to recall them better than before. But instead, his time as Nobody was what haunted his mind since he woke up. All these horrible things he had done…the ever-present emptiness…

Lea had carved so much to have a heart again, he had never considered the possibility of all the feelings crushing on him and being unused on how to deal with them. And he didn't give himself time to figure it out.

Instead, to avoid thinking about his unpleasant memories as Nobody, he busied himself with other things: Searching for Isa, asking to become a Keyblade wielder, trying to find the way in his old homeworld…which didn't work so well.

After taking the last turn, he had ended up in a dead ally, much to his annoyance.

"Maybe I should just ask for the way," Lea mumbled to himself and let out a frustrated sigh. He hadn't even turned around, when someone was shouting.

"YOU THERE!"

Immediately his body tensed up and his eyes darted around, but the alley was empty besides a few barrels and boxes. Then there was just one other option.

Looking up he indeed spotted someone standing on the roof above him. He couldn't make out details, but it was with no doubt a woman, who held two short-swords in her hands.

The moment he noticed her, she started talking again.

"Who are you and what do you want here?!"

Lea raised an eyebrow at her demanding words. 'What's with that attitude? Is she a guard?'

He was thinking about a good way to get out of this situation, but apparently that woman hadn't much patience.

"Hey, Spikes! I'm talking to you."

"Spikes?" he muttered, getting a bit irritated now. He then raised his voice so she could hear him.

"I prefer to talk with people eye to eye, so why don't you come down here? Or are you afraid?" Lea said with a smirk that only grew wieder when he heard a growl coming from her.

But she did as he had asked and jumped down on the nearest stack of crates and then on the street. Right in front of him. Blocking the path out of the alley.

She also aimed the tip of her blades at his throat, looking at him with piercing eyes. Seemed like just walking away would be no option for him anymore.

Hoping to convince her he was no threat, he raised his arms in surrender.

"You always greet newcomers like this?" Lea asked nonchalant, but was eyeing the blades warily.

"Only when they wear black coats," she answered and nodded to his attire. "Are you with the Organization?"

That let his heart skip for a moment. He hadn't been aware of how far the knowledge of the Organization had spread and the last thing he wanted was to still be associated with them.

"Would a simple 'No' actually convince you?" he asked back, trying to regain his cool composure.

"Touché, it would actually not."

Despite the tense situation, they couldn't help but grin at each other. But just a moment later the woman's face turned serious again.

"So why are you here?"

For a moment Lea was inclined to lie. Just that there was no reason for that, since he didn't do anything bad. He was one of the good guys now.

"Oh, just have some very important business with Merlin," he answered, staying vague. "You wouldn't happen to know where the old wizard lives?"

"What kind of business you have with him?"

Fed up with the questions, he refused to answer this time and crossed his arms. "And who are you to interrogate me like this?"

After all, he didn't know who that woman was. Even when something was nagging at the back of his brain when she looked at him with her blue eyes.

"I'm responsible for the security of Radiant Garden and since that Heartless invasion we are a bit wary about new people." she explained after a moment of silence.

Okay, that he could understand.

Seemingly in a show of goodwill, she lowered her weapons, which made him loosen up his own stance a bit.

"So let's start again. With your name, if you please."

Lea sighed and shrugged. "Fine, if you insist." His demeanor then changed back to the cocky smirk "My name is Lea. Got it memorized?"

A roll with the eyes or a snarky comment were the things he had expected as reaction from her. Not that her eyes would widen and that she started at him in shock and disbelief.

"Lea?" she whispered and took a step towards him. "Are you...are you really Lea?"

He had to stop himself from taking a step back, while she was searching his face with her eyes so intensely. It made him only slightly uncomfortable.

"The one and only," he answered in his usual confident manner, but internally he was confused. She...knew him?

Recognition flashed over her face and just like that she smiled at him. "It is really you."

With a simple movement of her hands, she made her weapons disappear. However, Lea still tensed up when the woman grabbed his upper arms and was now standing toe to toe with him.

"I can't believe you are here. After all these years."

"Uh, sorry to ask, but...have we met before?"

Lea didn't even try to hide anymore that he was uncomfortable , which she must have realized and took a step back with an apologetic smile.

"Ohw, Mr. Get-It-Memorized doesn't remember me? Now I'm really disappointed," she said, feigning hurt.

"Ah, my memory is...is a little mess right now," he excused himself and scratched his head. "Care to jog it a bit?"

Now that he had his personal space back, Lea's curiousness was piqued. The woman obviously knew him and the nagging feeling from before had turned into a sense of familiarity the longer the looked at her.

She regarded him for a moment, her smile not abating. "Okay, I give you some help. But just because it has been a while and I've done some growing-up."

She started walking back and forth in front of him, listing a few things they apparently did in their past.

"A little girl who asked you to train her, who cheered you on during tournaments, played pranks with you and got lectured by Isa for them."

Lea had to chuckle at the last ones. Yeah, that sounded like something that would have had happened.

The woman meanwhile, had stopped and looked now expectantly at him. "Does that ring any bells?"

"Hmmm..." Lea closed his eyes and tried to remember with the help of those information. It frustrated him that the memories of his time as Nobody were the most present in his mind now. He tried to push them aside, to think back to the time before all went down the hill and slowly...he got a picture. A little red haired girl - maybe five years younger than him back then -, with a sideways ponytail, wearing overalls and having a cheeky smile on her face.

When he opened his eyes again, his face split into a wide grin. "I do remember! You are little Aki!"

The young woman in front of Lea snorted. "Hey, I'm not little anymore."

"Depends on who you ask," he countered with a smirk and indicated with a wave of his hand that she only went to his chin.

"Oh, excuse me," she laughed and gave his chest a knock. "Not everyone can be a tall beanpole like you."

The knock caused him to make an oomph sound, but his smirk didn't falter.

"Beanpole. Really?" he said in a mocking tone, rubbing his chest, but she just waved his scoff away.

"And the full name is Akira. Just in case your memory still gives you troubles," she said, poking his chest.

"Don't worry, little Aki. I remember that now."

Before she could poke him any harder, he grabbed her wrist to stop her. Akira frowned only for a moment, before she also smirked at him. He let go of her wrist, just for her hand to slip into his for a handshake.

Yes, he did remember now. Just has Akira had said, she had been asking him to train her after he had won one of the junior tournaments that had been held in Radiant Garden. He had been impressed by her spunk and so he had agreed. She had been a fierce little girl and soon they had not only been training together, but also had become best friends and gotten into a lot of trouble. Oh, but what fun trouble it had been.

"Has been a long time since we saw each other. You have changed quite a bit," he said, giving her hand a squeeze before letting it go.

"And you are still the same. Besides being taller and the hair," she laughed and gesticulated at his hair. "Seriously, I can't believe it got even more spiky."

"Well, what can I say? I had a great hairdresser," was his answer, which made them both laugh.

Unfortunately the merry mood didn't hold on for long. As soon as Akira had sobered up, her face got a sad touch to it.

"But where were you all these years? Since you didn't appear in Traverse Town I thought you...you were dead."

During her last words she hadn't been able to look into him anymore and instead her eyes fixated at his chest, while crossing her arms.

Lea stayed quiet for a moment. The fact that he had caused Akira grief didn't sit well with him and the last thing he wanted to do was now lying to her. It was not that he didn't trust her or that he thought he would get an advantage of it. He just didn't want to talk about it. Not yet anyway.

"It's a long story. I've been...occupied. Lot's of stuff to do," he then said, scratching the back of his neck and looking up to the sky.

"Occupied, really? And after over ten years you suddenly decide to show up again?"

Akira looked back at him, frowning. It was obvious that she was not satisfied with his answer, but Lea saw his chance to change the topic to the present, instead of the past.

"Well...kinda? I told you I have business with Merlin."

"You did. And would you care to elaborate on that now?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Grinning widely Lea pointed with his thumb at himself. "I was sent here by Yen Sid for Keyblade training."

"What?"

The shocked look on Akira's face was priceless, but he managed to keep it together and struck a proud pose.

"That's right. You have a Keyblade-Master in the making in front of you."

"You have to be joking."

Now it was Akira who had to keep it together, which peeved Lea.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" he grumbled, putting his hands on his hips.

Before getting to explain herself, Akira had to take a deep breath. "I read a lot about Keyblades and the people using them and..." Now she couldn't hold herself back anymore and started to giggle. "Sorry, you were just one of the biggest troublemaker in our town, it's hard to picture you as one of those glorious and wise figures."

"Oh, I will show ya that I actually can be, just you wait." he said, poking her forehead.

"That surely will be a long wait," she laughed and swatted his hand away. "In the meantime: Can I escort you to Merlin's house, oh great Keyblade-Master to be?"

Lea had to roll his eyes at the exaggerated bow she made.

"C'Mon, you said yourself it has been over ten years. And I have a hard time remembering!" he whined, but Akira was unfazed by it.

"Excuses, excuses," she waved his words away. before she turned around to lead the way, she winked at him. "Now follow me and try not to get lost."

His only answer was a grunt, but just a moment later he smiled when he started following her. He was happy. Happy to have found an old friend of his again and that he had gotten some of the memories of his youth back.

'It's nice to be remembered.'

On their way to Merlin's home Lea asked Akira how Radiant Garden was doing. According to her the world and the people in were in a stable condition, especially since Sora and his friends had helped them out fending of the horde of Heartless. And thanks to Tron finding the real name of their world and the people remembering, it rebuilt itself day by day.

A bit of guilt nagged at Lea's conscious. As Axel, he had been to Radiant Garden during the Heartless attack, but hadn't helped them. He had been too wrapped up in warning Sora and apologizing for-

"Hey Lea, you remember Mrs. Otillia's cake shop?"

Akira's question snapped him out of these guilty thoughts and he looked at the shop windows she was pointing at to their right.

"One day you had suggested we should carry all the flour sacks for her, saying it would be a good training. As reward she gave us so many sweet that we got stomach ache from eating them all at once," she told with a fond laugh.

It took Lea a few moments, but with the help of her narration he could replay part of this day in his mind. He mirrored her fondness with a smile.

"Yeah, it hurt like hell and Isa talked our ears off, but it was worth it."

But there was also another person in his memory: a green haired girl who brought them some tea. She didn't feel as familiar as Akira did, but there was still a connection.

"Man, now I really want one of these chocochips cookies Mrs. Otillis always made," he mused, putting this girl at the back of his mind for the moment.

"Well, she has become too old to bake all by herself, but her granddaughter has already promised she would re-open the cake shop, once the area is safe enough. And her cookies taste just as good as her grandmother's." Akira explained, making him hum in anticipation.

"I'm really looking forward to it."

The streets they walked along were empty, aside from a few weak Heartless that lingered in the shadows of the houses. Akira was always quick to eliminate them, so Lea didn't even bother himself with summoning his weapons. Instead he watched her fight and was impressed how much she had improved her dual wielding fighting style over the last decade.

"So, saying that you are responsible for the security here...that true?" he asked her, after another group of Heartless found it's end by her swords.

"Of course. I'm part of the Restoration Committee and besides rebuilding I made it my priority to keep the town safe. Altho everyone who can fight does and Cid's security program makes our job easier. Since Sora and his friends have been shown up a few months ago, I'm practically out of work," Akira answered, dispersing her swords.

"So you jumped at the first chance of an intruder. In a very rude manner I might say," Lea teased and nudged her with his elbow.

With a sheepish smile she scratched her nose. "Sorry about that. I can get a bit...overzealous."

He just hummed amused.

"It suits you."

At his words Akira looked puzzled to him.

"This whole security thing," he elaborated. "I still have trouble remember everything, but..you always looked after the other children in the town." He paused for a moment, the girl from before coming to his mind again. "Even declared yourself the personal bodyguard of that one flower girl. What was her name again? Ina?"

"Ilana," Akira corrected him and started walking again, Lea hot on her heels.

"Was your best friend, right? She's still around?"

"... Long story."

Just now he noticed the lack of emotions in her voice and that she was staring straight on. Seemed like he wasn't the only one who didn't want to talk about the past.

"Hm, fair enough," he said, giving her a pat on the back. She smiled thankfully.

"What about Isa? You two were occupied together?"

"Well, in a way. Yeah." Lea thought back to Saix, Isa's Nobody, and how different he had been from his best friend. "Just that we got separated. Was looking for him, before I started this Keyblade business. Thought I had a better chance finding him like that."

"Now I wonder of you lost him or if he actually tried to get away," Akira joked. Lea was able to feign a laugh. He wondered the same.

"We are there!" Akira finally announced. Lea looked to the house she pointed at and sure enough: The magical gimmicks on the rooftop of it immediately brought back memories of times when he and Isa had walked by. He also realized that he had been almost on the other side of town, before Akira came across. And given her current cheeky grin she knew that very well, but thankfully said nothing and just opened the door.

"Hey Merlin!" she called inside, while she entered and immediately received a greeting from an elderly man.

"Ah, good day Akira. Lovely to see you." The wizard sat on a desk on the left side of the wide room, almost hidden by a bookshelf.

Akira made a confirming hum.

"Cid isn't here?" she asked and beckoned Lea to enter too. He was surprised not only to see mountains of books and old furniture – something he had expected to see in Merlin's house – but also a big computer that took up most of the room in the right corner.

"Hmpf, he is in the backyard tinkering on some cursed machine of his," Merlin answered rather indignant, still looking at a book on his desk.

"Why do you still let him live in your house when you are at each other's throat so often?" Akira sighed.

"Because, my dear, I have manners, unlike him," he explained and turned to look at her. "There aren't enough houses repaired yet and the townspeople take precedence." That was when he finally spotted the other newcomer. "Oh, who is your friend?"

"Hello," Lea grinned him, waving salutatory.

"His name is Lea. He says he was sent by Yen Sid to you for Keyblade training. You know anything about that?" Akira asked, watching how Merlin came closer.

"Oh, yes indeed. I just got a message from him where he asked me to train a new Keyblade apprentice," he confirmed. Adjusting his glasses, Merlin inspected the younger man before him. "So you are that Lea fella. Master Yen Sid told me everything he knows about you. Said you already have an affinity with fire magic and fighting experience, correct?"

"Uh, yes." Lea was a bit perplexed about how well informed he was. Maybe a bit too well, if Yen Sid really told him everything. Nervously he glanced to Akira and hoped that the wizard wouldn't say anything he didn't want her to hear yet.

Luckily he didn't seem to have any intentions in doing so and instead clapped his hands together in delight.

"Splendid, that surely will make things easier. I will call the three good fairies and we can start with the training right away. No time to waste."

Muttering to himself, Merlin walked over to a little crystal orb on the other side of the room.

"Haven't seen him being so enthusiastic for a long time," Akira said with a chuckle.

Meanwhile, Lea sighed in relief, before he turned to her with a raised eyebrow.

"What was that about, asking him if he knew about my training? Didn't believe me, huh?"

Nonchalantly Akira looked at her nails, before she gave him a sideward grin. "You know I'm responsible for the security. Had to be sure."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," he grumbled, giving her shoulder a playful punch. She took it with feigned indignation, but not without punching back.

Before this could start to become an actual tussle, Merlin - who seemingly had finished his business with the orb - got their attention.

"I have contacted the three good Fairies," he announced. "They are ready to come over, so I will go and pick them up. Will be back in a jiffy."

With a sweep of his wand, the wizard vanished into nothingness and glitter. Lea blinked confused.

"Teleportation magic," Akira explained, before he even could form a question.

"Ah."

They stood there in silence for a moment, before Akira spoke again.

"You better prepare yourself. Merlin's training methods are a bit...unique."

"Speaking from experience?" Lea asked her with a grin, whereon she only answered with a confirming hum and a grimace.

"Well, I have to go back patrol. Be nice to the old people," she then said and walked back to the door.

"Have fun bashing Heartless and terrorizing innocent newcomers," Lea bid his farewell jokingly, even tho he was not that happy about her leaving already.

Akira's retort was to stick out her tongue at him. She had her hand on the doorknob, but didn't open it.

"Hey Lea."

"Hm?"

He had been walking into the room to take a look around, when Akira called back to him. As he turned around he saw her coming back to him, an expression of uncertainty on her face while she looked down to the floor.

"Think you can spare some time later for that long story of yours?" Only when she had finished her question, she looked up to him.

Why was she so hesitant out of nowhere?

Lea didn't dwell on it for long and instead thought about the question. He didn't want to keep the past years a secret from her, especially since many other people knew about it and there was always a chance she would hear it from them. Still he dreaded to talk about it and what she would think of him after she knew what...he had done. But maybe it would be as bad has he imagined it now. There was no way to tell without doing it.

Coming to a decision he looked at his hand, when suddenly something came to his mind.

"Sure, why not?" he said with a smile and hold his fist towards her. "As long as you share yours, too."

Akira looked at the fist for a moment, before her face brighten up. She hold up her own and bumped it against his. Just as they used to do as kids.

"It's a deal."