Lost Memories of the Heart

Disclaimers: All Kingdom Hearts characters are owned by Disney and square Enix and are all copied without permission. I have made this story for fun and not profit.

Writer's Note: So, the idea for this story has been coming to me by bits and pieces.. I had kinda wanted to try my hand at making a mystery story, which I'm completely new to and it might be kind of confusing, so please bare with me.. This story may be slow going and so I apologize.. I hope you all enjoy. (Rated for bloodshed and suspense)

Prologue

Axel groaned as he began to stir, wincing a bit as a sharp pain torn through his head. He tried to focus on his surroundings, but any thought that came to mind, it only seemed to make his head hurt worse.

"M...y... H-head..."

He tried to sit up but clenched his eyes shut as he was hit by a wave of agony.

"Easy.." a voice said from beside him.

Axel turned to look to his right and clenched his eyes shut as the pain became worse.

"Axel.. You need to stay still.. You really took a beating.. You need to rest.."

"Roxas..? W-what.. Happened?"

Roxas looked at him with deep concern.

"Y-you.. Don't remember..?"

"I-"

Axel soon trailed off as shock struck him like a bolt of lightning.

"I.. I c-can't.."

Axel began to panic as he tried to get up but was hit by a jolt of agony that tore through his entire body.

"Axel, you need to calm down.."

It was at that moment that the sound of footfalls hurried toward the room. The door flung open so quickly that the handle to the door nearly lodged into the wall behind it.

"Axel? Axel, what's WRONG!?"

Axel's eyes snapped open as he turned toward the ones who had entered the room.

"Sora? W-what.. W-what are you doing here?"

Sora, Riku, and Kairi all exchanged concerned glances before Riku spoke up.

"Axel.. You were critically injured.. We found you in The Realm of Darkness.. Please, you need to calm down.." he informed gently.

"T-The Realm of..?"

Axel trailed off as complete shock overtook him. He could not understand. What could he have possibly been doing in The Realm of Darkness? Axel gripped at his head as he tried to remember.

"Axel?"

Axel looked up to see Kairi walking over toward the bed. She gently placed a hand on his shoulder. Just as her hand touched his shoulder, a flash of light overtook his vision. Moments later, he saw a young man with silvery white hair dressed in black standing with his back toward him in the darkness. As the man turned around to face him, another flash of light assaulted Axel's vision and Axel jolted back.

"Axel? W-what's wrong?" Kairi asked, concerned.

Axel snapped his eyes open as he stared at his friend.

"W-wha?"

"You blacked out," Roxas frowned. "Are you okay?"

"I.. Y-yeah.." Axel replied, turning to look at the window.

Roxas made his way toward his friend and gently took his hand. Axel stiffened as another flash filled his mind. This time however, it was accompanied by a rather familiar voice.

"You assume you have the ability to succeed.. Oh how wrong you are.."

Light filled his vision again and Axel shook his head.

"Axel?"

Axel looked up at his best friend, taking note of the growing concern on his face.

"I'm.. I-I'm fine.." he muttered, turning away.

Roxas however only continued to hold his friend's hand comfortingly. Sora turned to Riku, who was deep in thought.

"Riku?"

"Axel must've been through more than we originally thought.." murmured Riku, mostly to himself.

He soon turned to Axel and made his way over to him.

"Tell me, what can you remember?" he said.

Axel looked at him for a moment but soon tried to concentrate. While his head was still aching, it wasn't as bad as it had been earlier.

"I.. Well.. I mostly remember just waking up HERE.." Axel replied. "Nothing else really.."

"Hmm.." Riku said in thought.

"W-wait.." said Axel suddenly.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"There's.. There was this guy.." Axel said.

"What guy?" asked Sora. "What was he doing? Do you know who it was?"

"Sora, one thing at a TIME," Roxas frowned. "We don't want to overwhelm-"

"No.. I don't think I recognize him.." Axel cut in. "He had his back toward me.. I didn't see his face.."

'At least not yet..' he added, deep in his thoughts.

Who was the man he had seen? Why couldn't he remember? Axel then thought back to his friends. Small snippets of had come to his mind only when he had been at close proximity to his friends. Did they have something to do with what happened to him? How..? And more importantly.. Why?

"Axel?"

Axel looked up and was shocked to see another flash go through him. This time, however, it was accompanied by an agonizing pain in his chest as he saw a pair of eerie golden eyes.

"Darkness is within you.. You cannot escape your destiny.."

Axel clenched his eyes shut.

"S-stop.." he whispered.

"Axel?"

Axel pulled away from Roxas, who had grabbed his shoulder. Roxas looked at him and was shocked to see tears forming in his friends eyes.

"Axel, what's wrong?"

Regardless of his pain, Axel scrabbled to his feet, only to fall to the floor in agony. Axel clenched his eyes shut, his hands pressed against his temples in agony.

"Still so blind... I will make you see the truth."

Axel felt a sharp pain rip through his body and he doubled over in agony. Riku hurried over to him, horrified to find the bandaging around Axel's chest becoming stained with crimson red.

Author's Note: Please let me know how to improve if anything needs improvement? It has been a long time since I've written anything.. I will try to get more up soon..