Chapter 1

As he sat there on his chair, keeping himself busy by juggling his two chakrams, (which he was an adept at), -------- contemplated his life, but not just his own. What happens to a nobody once it dies? The heart can not leave again once it already has, but what of the body and soul? A nobody consists of both so can one live without the other? Then again, nobodies don't even exist, so the separation between the two won't make much of a difference. --------'s pondering was soon over for at the moment, Roxas came in his room.

"Hey Roxas, don't you ever knock?" He said, as he stopped juggling his chakram.

"Sorry about that, Didn't think you'd mind." Said Roxas.

"That's okay..." -------- said, with a sad look on his face.

" Is anything wrong Axel?"

No, I was just thinking." Axel responded.

"What about?"

"Nothing important."

"You know Axel, you shouldn't think too much about your own existence, I heard it's bad for your mental and emotional well being."

"Don't tell me that androgynous clod Zexion told you that."

"Zexion shouldn't be trusted?"

"Well I mean he IS Zexion, you never know what he's up to, and what does he know about 'emotions' he doesn't even have a heart, none of us do."

"Yeah but do you ever get the feeling like you do have one, like you can actually feel emotions?"

"That's the first sensible thing you've said all day." He said, as he got up from his chair. "And you'll figure that all out soon enough, but for now, let's go train in your room."

" What about your room? It's as good as any, and we're already in it." Roxas said, pointing to the floor.

"Yes but you see your room is already a mess so it wouldn't make a difference."

"You're such an idiot." Roxas said, as he grinned.

Roxas took a look around Axel's room. It was pretty clean compared to his own, besides the default white room that every room has, several photos of Axel where put up. A small window showed the beautifully eerie heart-shaped moon that looked upon the World. Under the window was a white desk and lamp and on there was an open book placed on the desk. And finally, Axel's tow distinctive signature chakrams caught Roxas' eye. Both of them were hung up near the next to the door, one on the right side, and one on the left side. His face lit up.

"Okay, since you like my room so much and I like your weapon, let's make the fight interesting." Roxas said, with a smile on his face.

"I never said I liked your room---"

"If you win, we switch rooms, but if I win, we switch weapons..."

Axel was surprised at Roxas' sudden change of attitude; he made this clear to him by stating the following.

" Switch weapons? Since when did you decide to become a rule-breaker?"

"Since when do you pass up great chances like this one?" Roxas replied.

"Good point..." Axel contemplated, as he stroked his chin.

"Very well!" He finally decided. "We'll have it your way, but since I, Axel the great handsome fighter, intend to win, I won't have to worry about losing my precious chakrams. Besides, I'm getting tired of my room; yours will be much better."

"Since when do you like my room?"

"I never said I didn't." Said Axel, truthfully.

"Touché..." Roxas added.

And with that Axel gave Roxas a light punch on the arm and ran out of the room. As he did he said:

"Come on, I'll race you to your room." The redhead said, as he went out the door.

"Wait up!" Roxas shouted, as he headed out the door after him, but before he could reach it, he stopped... He felt an eerie presence was near, not quite out of the ordinary but eerie nonetheless. He turned around and saw nothing but the curtain flapping on Axel's window. He turned back towards the door, thinking it was nothing, and found himself face to face with Xemnas, leader of organization XIII.

Roxas let out a faint yelp.

"Roxas..." He said, eerily.

"Y-Ye-Yes..." Roxas responded faintly.

Xemnas had this habit of moving his arms around when he talked, particularly when he was giving a speech of some sort. Everyone in the organisation noticed this at one point or another, but this was the first time Roxas had. In fact, this was the first time Roxas had ever talked to Xemnas personally.

"May I have a word with you?" He said, holding out his hand.

Roxas was looking at his hand strangely, before lifting his own to point to the door. He spoke:

"We-Well Axel is sorta waiting for-"

Xemnas lifted his hand and the door blew shut with a loud BANG!

"I knew you'd understand" He said, as he grinned. "After all, it's not every day the leader of Organization XIII takes his precious time to converse with the lowliest member of the group, that member being you. Nonetheless I have a proposition for you...a proposition that could benefit you in several more ways than one. What say you? Interested?"

"I'm lowly?"

"You know, if I were you I would befriend better people than that redheaded scoundrel." Xemnas said, blatantly changing the subject.

"Thanks, but I think I'm old enough to make my own 'lowly' friends."

"...Moving on." He said, as he looked up towards the ceiling as if he were contemplating something. "Roxas... Have you ever doubted your existence?" He said, as he lifted his arm and put it against his chest, on the place where his heart used to be.

"Uh...define 'existence'."

"Well my prop--"

The door flew open and hit Xemnas in the back, knocking him to the ground. Roxas could only watch as he fell. He moved back at first, somewhat shocked about his fall, but quickly bent down and went to help him up.

Outside the door was none other than Axel.

"Roxas are you com--" He managed to say, as he opened the door. It was after he felt something hitting the door that he stopped to see what it was.

"Oooh, sorry Xem--- Xemnas!! Oh gee, I'm so sorr--" He said, without actually doing anything.

As he got up, Xemnas lifted his hand to silence Axel; Roxas couldn't help but chuckle.

"Putrid fool!" He said, as he got up while holding his head. "You should know better than to barge into a room whilst other people are conversing!"

"But this is my room." Axel retorted. "I mean, shouldn't I have the right to enter my own room without having to be afraid of people engaging in conversation, in my own room?"

Axel emphasised the last four words to point out the illogic in Xemnas' statement.

"And furthermore," Axel continued. "How was I supposed to know you were engaging in conversation anyway, I just barge into my room whenever I want, you should get your facts straight Xemnas."

Xemnas rolled his eyes as turned around to face Roxas.

"Roxas, we'll talk some other time, in the meanwhile think about what I said and listen to your heart, or at least what's left of it..."

"But you didn't tell me anything." Roxas replied.

"Didn't I Roxas? Didn't I?" Xemnas said, before realizing that: "Oh wait, I didn't."

Axel rolled his eyes this time. Xemnas saw him and turned around.

"And you! Don't think this is over!"

Axel rolled his eyes yet again

"It's never over..."

Xemnas scowled upon seeing this.

"I'll expect to see you in the detention room a week from now." He said to the redhead.

"Um...Ok, although I hardly see that as punishment." The redhead answered back, while crossing his arms. "I've been there so many times, I'm more familiar with it than my own room.

Xemnas chuckled as he lifted his arms in all directions and said: "I'd advise you to watch your tongue, Axel. Because the detention room is far from being the only system of punishment we have."

"Really?" Axel said, crossing his arms. "Now that would be definitely something I would like to see."

Xemnas grinned before responding in is deep, imposing voice: "I doubt you would." He then left in a puff of black smoke that faded between the two.

An awkward silence filled the room for a while, before Axel started talking.

"Way to go, Roxas..." He muttered.

"Oh, this is my fault?" Roxas replied.

"Well you should have figured out sooner or later that I would have come. Once again, your inept sense of timing has left us both in hot water."

"Look, let's just spar for now, I'm not in the mood for pointless conversations."

"Spar?" Axel said, sarcastically. "Where did you learn a big word like that, Roxy?

"I'm sorry?"

"I said where did you-"

"No, I mean...what did you call me?"

"What, 'Roxy'? You don't like that name?"

"Yeah...no." Roxas quickly replied.

"Hey, if you don't like it than you're just going to have to deal with it, capische?

Roxas sighed as he muttered: "Just don't make a habit of it."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just get on with the 'sparring', shall we?"

"About that..." He said, as he put his hand on the back of his head. "Couldn't we play in the Hall of Empty Melodies? There'd be more than enough room.

"Hey, you're the one who started this whole 'room' business, so you'll have to stick the deal. Besides, Xigbar's already in the Hall. He's been training there for ages, that place is probably gonna be his grave. Now seriously, come on."

" Fine..."

And with that the two ran off into the Proof of Existence chamber.

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Once in the chamber the two headed for Roxas' room. His room was a complete mess, several black coats that were the Organization's trademark lay scattered on the floor, and several drawings were scattered on his desk. There was also a window, which, like Axel's, was over his desk.

Roxas was the last member to join The Thirteenth Order, yet his room was the messiest.

"This place is a sty, don't you ever clean up?" Axel said, as he rummaged through the pile of papers on Roxas's desk.

"If I did I wouldn't know where everything is, you see I'm happy in my messy madness." Roxas replied.

"Right..."

Suddenly, something struck Axel's eye. As he was looking through the pile of papers on Roxas' desk, he came across a very interesting one. It was Roxas, dressed in his organisation attire, holding hands with Sora, who was dressed in his regular Mickey Mouse clothing. Axel immediately brought the drawing closer to his face to examine it, while several other papers fell on the floor. Axel was simply astonished to see this, he turned his head, only to see Roxas fiddling through his coats. Quickly, he folded the drawing and stuffed it in a pocket inside his coat.

As Roxas was still rummaging through his coats, Axel came over to him casually, to give the impression as if everything was fine and he hadn't just found a picture that might be a key part into making Sora complete.

"What are you doing?" Axel asked, casually.

"Looking for my Keyblades" Roxas answered.

"I thought you knew where everything was."

"Yes but my Keyblades always seem to lose themselves."

Axel snorted. "Why not just materialize them?"

"I need the power of light to do that and as you can see, I don't have it."

"I'm sure you don't." He said, as he crossed his arms.

Roxas lifted coat after coat and eventually found the Oblivion Keyblade.

"Great!" Roxas exclaimed. "Now, I just need to find the Oathkeeper..."

"Ok Roxas, one is enough let's just get it on." Axel said, as uncrossed his arms.

"Just a minute, I can't seem to find the Oathkeeper Keyblade..." Roxas said, his voice was muffled from being under all those coats.

"You know, instead of wasting time finding the Oathkeeper, why don't you actually keep your oath and fight me already."

"I don't remember ever making an oath." He said, as he got back up from under the coats.

"That's not the point..."

Axel sighed as he surveyed Roxas hopelessly looking through his various coats.

"That's it...Roxas..." He said, as he spread out his arms, his hands flashed and immediately his two chakrams appeared in both of them. "Let's get started!"

"In a minute..." Roxas replied, without even turning his head as he head for the closet.

Axel had had enough. While he was still in back of Roxas, he ran up to him and struck him from behind with a horizontal slash.

But Roxas had blocked from behind by lifting the Oblivion over his shoulder and both weapons clashed, emanating a white flash.

The two stood still in the same position for a while, Roxas with his back face to Axel.

Suddenly, Roxas jumped over Axel and landed face to Axel's back, he swung his Keyblade horizontally but Axel turned around just in time to deflect the attack.

The deflection left Roxas open to further attack. Axel struck him in the chest and he fell to the ground.

Axel continued the attack by bending down on Roxas, who was laying on the ground, but Roxas had guarded it while still on the floor, Axel lost his balance and fell on Roxas, who then placed his feet on Axel's chest and threw him backwards with a backwards somersault. Axel landed on his feet on the other side of the room.

"Not bad..." He said, as he got up. "But I, being the older and more experienced one, shall no doubt emerge victorious."

"Just wait until I find the Oathkeeper." Roxas said, as he scowled.

"That should be interesting," He said, as he stroked his chin. "But I'm really not the patient type"

And with that Roxas fled to the other end of the room, frantically looking for the Keyblade. He lifted coat after coat but couldn't find anything.

"Running will get you nowhere!" Axel exclaimed.

Axel sprinted after him. Roxas continued searching under the coats but still nothing. His heart raced by the minute as Axel continued sprinting.

"There's no escape!"

Axel jumped, and struck Roxas in the air...

The sound of clashing metal was heard throughout the castle. Roxas had blocked one of Axel's chakrams with both Keyblades.

"It was under the bed covers." Roxas said, with a grin on his face.

He applied pressure to his Keyblades and pushed Axel away, who landed with his feet on the wall. He propelled himself back towards Roxas while twirling in the air; he lifted an arm to strike at Roxas.

As he hit him Roxas ducked. Axel stayed in the air for a few seconds; Roxas took that time to jam the Oblivion Keyblade into the chakram Axel attacked with.

Once Axel landed back on the ground, the two struggled to get their weapons back, but they were stuck betwixt each other.

"Nice going..." Axel said.

Roxas, frustrated, pulled his Keyblade as hard as he could, eventually, he pulled so hard that he accidentally flung it to the other side of the room, and Axel along with it, who fell in a pile of coats.

Once he got back up, Axel noticed the Keyblade still jammed in his chakram, he quickly yanked it out and threw it across the room.

"Fetch!" He said, as he threw it.

He then headed for Roxas who was also running towards him. As soon as he got within close proximity, Roxas ducked and stepped on Axel's foot as he struck. Axel subsequently tripped and fell over Roxas and landed yet again into another pile of coats.

"These coats are always there to break my fall!" He proclaimed.

"They'll do that..." Roxas replied.

Roxas got back up and his back was facing Axel, then it came.

He heard a loud FWOOM!

He turned around slowly and saw Axel floating in the air; the chakrams he held and Axel himself were on fire.

"I told you I'd emerge victorious!" He shouted, while looking down at the terrified Roxas. "There's no cowering now!"

Axel frowned once he saw Roxas frantically searching for his Keyblade.

"You know just killed the excitement right there." He said to him, from above.

"Shut up!" Roxas said, as he searched frantically yet again, this time for the Oblivion Keyblade.

"You should learn to organize yourself!"

Roxas kept looking under the coats, Axel couldn't have thrown it that far. It had to be somewhere near.

"Of course, it's too late for that now!" Axel said, while stretching his arms out to prepare for his attack.

Roxas searched under the bed covers as Axel threw one of his fiery chakrams towards him. He was still searching frantically under the bed when...

"Found it!" He cried out, with joy.

Roxas turned around and whacked the flaming chakram back at Axel; the ashes caused from the clash and the smoke from the fire both flew in Roxas' face. Also, the force of the chakram caused Roxas to move back.

Axel caught the deflected chakram and threw the one in his other hand, which left a trail of fire and smoke in the air. Roxas deflected that one with ease and sent it back to Axel while more ashes flew in his face and he moved another step backwards.

They continued until Roxas was at the very end of the room.

Axel was sick of giving Roxas all these chances, so he decided to end it once and for all.

"This is it!" He said, over the roaring blaze of his own fire. "Prepare yourself!"

His chakrams disappeared from his hand, but he was still on fire.

Axel got ready.

He put his two hands in front of him, one next to the other; his two chakrams then appeared in front of his hands one in front of the other. They quickly caught fire and started spinning. The top one was spinning right and the bottom one was spinning left. Axel was charging up power, and as he was, the fire around his body grew thicker.

He put his arms back and prepared to strike with full force while Roxas watched in awe and fear.

Wind...

Axel felt the wind on his back and heard it whistling. He saw his own ashes and smoke being carried away by it.

It grew stronger and stronger, as did the trails of ashes dust and smoke.

It extinguished Axel's chakrams and they fell to the ground while Axel was still floating in the air.

"Wind?" Axel asked himself.

Then it struck him.

"Oh no, not... Please not--"

"AXEL!" A loud voice exclaimed.

Axel flinched as the voice yelled out his name, he turned around while still floating in the air with his head hunched, Roxas had immediately seen who it was, and quickly tried to hide his Keyblades underneath his pile of coats..

"H-H-Hi Xaldin..." Axel said nervously, as he tried his best not to look directly in the Whirlwind Lancer's blue-ish eyes.

"You numbskull!" Xaldin proclaimed, while several strands of his hair flew in his face. "What did I tell you about fighting here! Of course it doesn't surprise me that you of all people would stoop so low!"

"Now Xald--" Axel tried to say.

'Quiet you!" Xaldin interrupted. "And get on the ground!"

Axel slowly floated to the ground until both feet were on it.

Silence...

"And you, Roxas!" Xaldin said, to the blond-haired boy, breaking the silence that filled the room seconds earlier. "I know you're new here, but you can make better friends than this redheaded scoundrel!"

"You know technically my hair's not entirely red," Axel dared to say. "if you look close enough you can see the roots are--"

Xaldin stared at him as Axel kept taking. After a while, Axel noticed him and felt a little uncomfortable. He hunched his head.

"I'll stop talking now..." He said, with a smile on his face.

Xaldin walked all the way to the other end of the room to speak to Roxas. Axel crossed his arms as he leaned on the wall.

"Now Roxas," Xaldin said calmly, as if he thought Roxas was scared. "since you're new and are apparently easily influenced by Axel...I'll let it go for now."

"Um...ok." Roxas replied.

"As for you, Axel!" Xaldin said as he turned around towards Axel.

"That's me." Axel replied.

Xaldin scowled.

"I'll expect to see you in the detention room a week from now."

"Gee, sorry Xaldin," He said, as he looked at his nails to give off the impression that he was unimpressed. "but I have a date with Xemnas next week, can I squeeze you in Tuesday?"

Xaldin walked over to Axel until the two were face to face. Axel rolled his eyes as he did.

"I suggest you try adopting a more humble attitude..." Xaldin said, sneering.

"I suggest you try some mouthwash." Axel said, smirking.

Roxas, who was still in the back, let out a small burst of laughter and did his best to keep it in.

Xaldin looked at him, then back at Axel.

"Infantile brat!" Xaldin whispered, while sneering again.

He stormed out the door and the wind blew it shut.

"Finally..." He said, rolling his eyes. "Now, let's-"

Suddenly, Axel and Roxas felt the wind again, but this time, it was going in a circle around the room, they both saw a trail of dust moving in a circular motion.

All the coats on the floor started moving, they were moving in the direction of the wind. Soon, they were all lifted in the air and flying around in a circle until they all gathered up in the middle of the room and were dropped on the floor in a big pile.

"I'll expect to see those coats hung up by tomorrow Roxas!" He said, through the other side of the door.

Silence...

"It really, truly never ends with him, does it?" Axel said.

"I don't see what the problem was, aren't we encouraged to train in our rooms?" Roxas asked.

"Yeah...no." He said, while juggling one of his chakrams.

"But..." Roxas stuttered. "Didn't you say that-"

"I say a lot of things." Axel interrupted. "You should know by now that nothing I say is true."

"So...we're not allowed to fight anywhere in the castle?"

"Only if it's under threat, and with the way Xemnas is running things around here, it shouldn't be too long before somebody else takes control of this castle."

"So, where are we supposed to train?"

"The Hall of Empty Melodies, but that place is Xigbar's territory now. We should try fighting at Memory's Skyscraper."

"You think?"

"Sure, it has wide open space, perfect for fighting."

"Hmm...sounds like my kind of place." Roxas said, holding his chin.

"Yeah, I picture myself fighting there too."

"So, how are we gonna settle this whole 'room business? We never got to finish the battle."

"Well, I guess this match is a draw, we'll just have to wait until our next 'spar', which shouldn't be too far from now."

"Yeah..." Roxas said, with a melancholic look on his face.

"Anything wrong, Roxas?" Axel asked.

"Well...it's just..."

"Yes..."

"Did you ever...dream?"

"Dream as in...aspiring to be something?"

"No, I mean...did you ever dream while sleeping?"

"Oh...of course not. Nobodies don't dream, you know that. Why did you happen to..."

Roxas looked at him with a strange look on his face, as if he were unsure of himself.

"I...I dreamt about the Skyscraper..." Roxas said, while looking up.

Axel was speechless. He tried to mutter a few words, but though about the picture of Roxas and Sora.

"Wh-What did you see, exactly...in this dream." Axel managed to mutter.

"I can't seem to remember," Roxas said as he sighed. "Do you think this has anything to do with my heartless?"

"I can't imagine why, are you even sure you dreamt?"

"I don't even know anymore." Roxas said, while hunching his head.

Axel noticed that something else was bothering Roxas.

"Is there something else, Roxas?" He asked.

Roxas sighed and said: "There's a lot of things"

"Oh, wait...is this because you don't have a..."

Roxas nodded.

"Don't worry," Axel said to comfort him, "I'm sure you'll discover it soon enough, I mean, we didn't all get ours the second we became nobodies."

"Really?" Roxas asked.

"Yeah... Well sort of, ok not really, but give it time I'm sure it'll come."

"Thanks Axel."

And with that, the two ran out of the room and back into the proof of existence chamber.