It was that time of week again. The time when the heartless cleared the streets in fear of what was to come, and every nobody made their way to the castle in order to prepare themselves.

Larxene and Xaldin were already out in the courtyard, stretching and warming themselves up.

"Ah, I LOVE this time of week!" Larxene smiled, cracking her fingers and groaning as her back stretched to it's fullest. "Nothing like an early morning training session…"

"…And the mindless slaughter of thousands of heartless…" Xaldin added, running a cloth over one of his spears to clean it. "Incidentally, Larxene, why weren't you at last night's meeting?"

She moodily glared at him and announced loftily, "And it's your business because?"

"Uh, because I'm your Superior?"

"I was busy. Satisfied?"

Xaldin's 'No' was cut short as another member joined them.

"Good morning Larxene!" Marluxia strode into the courtyard, giving her a pleasant wave and a smile.

"Ah, good morning, Marly!" she cooed back.

"Morning…" Xaldin grunted.

"Did I talk to you?" Marluxia narrowed his eyes at the Lancer. "No, I don't believe I did. Now please shut up, you great oaf. You're using my air."

Xaldin gave a quiet huff, then, in the blink of an eye, five out of six of his lances had throw Marluxia half-way across the area and pinned him up against the far wall.

"Hey, you shouldn't start the fun without me!" laughter suddenly burst out from above them as Marluxia screamed in a rather feminine fashion. Xaldin looked up and gave an exasperated sigh.

"Xigbar… get down from there: you'll hurt yourself…" he growled as the Freeshooter swung from the outer piping on the castle's exterior nimbly. He looked rather like an over-sized, pony-tailed monkey… wearing a black coat, but monkey-like all the same.

"Chill man! You sound like my somebody's mother…" Xigbar replied moodily, swinging himself up onto the pipe and standing on it precariously. "And what if I don't get down?"

Xaldin didn't reply, but smiled slightly. Suddenly, Xigbar felt a slight wind suddenly pick up at his altitude and found it harder to keep his balance. It soon turned into a gale, and before he knew what was happening, his foot had slipped and he was sent tumbling downwards flailing his arms wildly as he rushed to meet the ground. At the last possible second, a sudden updraft of air came rushing at him, making him stop in mid-fall, floating about a foot off the ground. He breathed a shaky sigh of relief and was about to curse Xaldin with every cuss word he knew when the air suddenly fell, and he with it. Landing with a bump as he dropped the last few centimetres, he lay on the floor groaning.

"Number Two! Get off the floor you simpleton!" Saix's angry growl called from across the courtyard as the rest of the order stepped out into the half-light. Muttering darkly under his breath, Xigbar rubbed his jaw and got to his feet, fixing Xaldin with a look of immense irritation. The Lancer simply smiled back and gave a pleasant wave of acknowledgement.

"Is it just me, or is Axel seriously sleepy this morning?" Roxas whispered to Demyx as they hung around at the back of the crowd entering the courtyard. Demyx looked over to where Axel was staggering wearily, rubbing his eyes and blinking oddly near the edge of the group. Demyx himself was rather tired: he'd been kept up by strange dreams, almost nightmares, with disembodied voices chanting something in verse to him over and over. Yet he couldn't remember it to save his life. Deciding not to mention his own sleeping problems through fear of being called a coward, the Nocturne yawned, scratched his head lightly then replied, "Dunno… he said he felt too ill to attend the meeting last night, so I left him in bed. I went back up to check on him but he'd gone out for some air or something. I heard him get back at around one, but I didn't want to disturb him. I noticed when I dragged him outta bed today he had some nasty bruises on his neck… Maybe he got into a fight?"

"Bruises? On his neck?" Roxas blinked then started laughing. Demyx asked what was so funny. "Well think about it! Who ELSE was missing from last night's mee-" he trailed off when Xemnas prowled up behind them.

"I trust you two are both ready for today's training?" the man asked almost cruelly. The two youngsters just nodded and gave wobbly salutes, trembling. Xemnas was terrifying first thing in the morning.

"….. very good. It's nice to see you embracing a training session for once, Nine."

"Uh-uh... uh... th-thank you s-s-sir..."

They breathed sighs of relief as the man swept away. "Do you think he's onto us...?" Roxas asked quietly. Demyx just shuddered and whispered back, "Don't think it Roxas. Else it'll happen."

"Is everyone here?" Luxord asked dryly, looking around as they filed out into the area and arranged themselves in order of rank.

"Hmmmm… well, yet another training session is upon us… I shall now do the roll call!" Xemnas announced loudly. "Xigbar?"

"Wassup?"

Xemnas rolled his eyes and fixed his second in rank with a pleading gaze.

"Just 'Yes', or even the much preferred, 'Yes Sir' would suffice."

"Whatever, just get on with it…"

Sighing, Xemnas folded his arms and muttered something incomprehensible about doubting his purpose in non-life before carrying on with the roll call. "Xaldin?"

"Yeah…"

"Vexen?"

"Oh, Vexen had a little accident in the lab earlier…" Lexaeus piped up. "There was some kind of incident involving prototype ice cream and a potassium mixture which got a tad too close to a vat of boiling water… and a Bunsen flame…" he trailed off as if nervous of the reminder. "Let's just say he's got a lot of scrubbing and repairing to do…"

"Just… just… don't bother…" Xemnas held up a hand in disbelief. "Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, well Lexaeus you're obviously here… where is Zexion?"

Further down the line, Marluxia gave a nervous cough and let a sly grin slip onto his face.

"No one's seen him since he left the kitchen after breakfast," Luxord shrugged.

"Oh, well that's troubling… Lexaeus, go look for him, would you?"

"Yes Xemnas…" the man nodded before portalling away. Meanwhile, Larxene had noticed Marluxia smiling and leant closer to him.

"So… what did you do to him?" she asked knowingly.

"I caught the little emo bookworm pressing some of my prize tulips into one of his biology study journals… so during breakfast, when he had his back turned, I slipped some slightly poisonous herbs into his coffee. Not enough to kill him of course… but enough to make sure his stomach becomes his worst enemy over the next few days… He's probably passed out over one of his precious books as we speak or gagging somewhere…" the botanist grinned in triumph as Larxene burst into a fit of cruel giggles next to him.

"Number Twelve! Cease your laughter! I'm trying to do the roll call!" Xemnas shouted, hearing her glee. "Now, Saix?"

"Yes sir."

"Good… Oh, I'm not even going to bother reading out Axel's name, he ALWAYS misses these sessions, his attendance record is almost as terrible as Nine's…"

"I'm actually here today, if you don't mind," Axel grunted at the insult.

"Oh…" Xemnas blinked, staring hard at him as if completely taken aback by his presence. "Er, very well, while you're here, you can explain why you were absent from last night's meeting."

Axel turned slightly red in the cheeks but folded his arms, turned up his nose and announced, "I was busy. Satisfied?"

Xaldin's eyes went incredibly wide, but he said nothing.

"No I am not! I'll be having words with you later, you insufferable idiot," Xemnas growled at him before clearing his throat and continuing with the role-call. "Demyx?"

"Here Superior!"

"Luxord?"

"Present."

"Marluxia?"

"Yes…"

"Larxene?"

"Yo!"

"And finally, Roxas…"

"Yeah…"

"Well, despite a couple of us missing for one reason or another… let's get this started so I can go back to my office and have a freakin' coffee…" he sighed, putting his hands on his hips. "Nobodies! Arm yourselves!"

In a flash of light, all the seven members present summoned their weapons and stood to attention. Xemnas stalked silently in front of the line, like a general about to give a prep-talk to his soldiers. Once he'd got past Roxas, he turned back round to face them and yawned, checking his watch. He really should have had his first coffee by now.
"Okay, you know the procedure. You have one hour to kill as many heartless as you can… then, once the hour is up, you will be split into pairs to train with another member… as usual, Saix will be supervising that bit…"

The blue-haired man couldn't help but give a fang-filled grin and crack his knuckles, making everyone else wince.

"Anyway, your hour… starts now."

And with that Xemnas portalled away to his office to make that all-important drink and left the underlings to it.

His portal had barely vanished before the nobodies went pouring out the courtyard into the dark streets of The World That Never Was, ready to start the hunt.


As usual, everyone had gone into their own little groups for the exercise, despite the point of the activity being to compete to see how many heartless an individual could take down. As expected, Larxene and Marluxia had run off cackling into the sunset together, leaving death and suffering in their wake. Xigbar and Xaldin had paired off, though Xigbar was still annoyed for the trick he'd pulled earlier. The terrible trio had immediately sneaked off together and so Saix and Luxord were left stood aimlessly in the street.

"So, I'm guessing we're both paired together this week?" Luxord said finally.

"I work alone," Saix replied gruffly before promptly portalling away.

"What a repulsive man," the Gambler rolled his eyes. Oh well, he might as well get started.


"Are we all clear?" Axel panted as he pulled the other two round a corner into a dark alley. Demyx popped his head around the corner, looked up and down the main street then gave a quick thumbs up in confirmation. "Sweet, well, let's do this!"

"You sure we can just skip the training?" Roxas began nervously. "I mean, won't Xemnas get mad?"

"What old Mansex doesn't know won't hurt him," the red head smiled, opening a portal and promptly pushing the younger men into it. "Anyway, we've got a whole hour before anyone will realise we're even gone. Chillax."

"Coming from you, that terrifies me…"

"Shut up, Demyx."

They reappeared far from the dark streets of the abandoned city, and instead emerged into the bright sunset sky of Twilight Town - Sunset Hill to be exact. No one else was around, which was handy as it would have been awkward explaining to the locals why they'd just stepped casually out of a hole in space as if they'd just been for a stroll around the park.

After a quick head count, they crept quietly down the path leading up to the peak and back into the town, making sure the coast was clear before ducking into the large railway tunnel that had been in disuse for a few years now.

Thirty seconds later, they reappeared, having stashed their uniforms under one of the drain cover's that was empty and sorting out the casual wear they'd been wearing underneath.

"Right, once we get off the train, we can split up, but make sure you're both back under the clock tower by 11: we'll be cutting it fine, but it'll give us plenty of time to enjoy ourselves whilst making sure we get back in time for the sparring…understood?" Axel rambled striding up the flight of steps leading to the Terrace Station.

"Understood, now hurry it up would you?"

"Yeah, 'old man'."

Axel glanced up at the source of the giggles and found to his annoyance the other two were already grinning in the doorway of the train. He exhaled heavily through his nose and put his hands on his hips in a clear 'I'm not amused in the slightest' gesture. They just stuck their tongues out at him in reply.

After some playful bickering on the train, they arrived without much incident at the Twilight Town Central Station and Demyx had rushed off instantly, salivating and rambling on about needing some ice cream before he collapsed from hunger.

"Remember! 11 o'clock!" Axel shouted after him loudly.

"Yeah yeah whatever!"

"Well, knowing Demyx, he will eat until he's sick. What're you planning on doing?" he turned to face Roxas, who was wandering over to the wall to stare out over the town.

"Might check out the sandlot, see what's happening there…"

"That's it? Roxas: this is the Twilight Town FAIR! It only happens once a year, aren't you gonna check out the ferris wheel and the dodgems?"

"Yeah, but first I wanna look at the smaller stalls. Might have some bargains there."

"Well, whatever. I'M going on the rides!" Axel chuckled, before striding away down the sloping path Demyx had disappeared down seconds before. Roxas watched him go, then pulled out his wallet, checking how much munny he had. Satisfied he was well stocked, he pocketed it again and ran after him into the town.

As soon as he got into the streets, he was swallowed in a mass of people, all chattering and mingling around shops and cafés. Despite Twilight Town being a usually quiet and peaceful settlement, when the fair was in town, things got incredibly noisy and stifling. The sound of music and the smell of sizzling hot food drifted in the air amongst the chattering of people. Dogs ran about people's ankles, chased by young children. Teenagers stood leaning against walls, chewing thoughtfully on their corndogs or ice creams, sometimes in tight groups, laughing and retelling tales of what they'd been up to in the summer vacation. Adults shouted complaints at the prices of some second-hand junk, whilst the more elderly citizens exchanged juicy gossip and cackled merrily.

Pushing through the sounds and smells, Roxas managed to squeeze through the people and enter the quieter back alleys that would give him a short-cut to the sandlot, where a miniature marketplace had been set up. On his way, he spotted a group of kids his age talking quietly near the entrance to the underground tunnels. There were two boys and a girl. One of the boys – slightly chubbier than the other two – seemed to be upset about something and the girl was doing her best to console him, but the other boy was simply mumbling, 'Pull yourself together, Pence.'

"Uh, is something wrong?" Roxas found himself asking loudly, approaching them. They looked up, and the older looking boy just huffed and walked off, but the remaining two smiled politely and the girl answered, "It's okay. My friend here just had his wallet stolen, and so can't afford to buy anything at the fair."

"I only wanted some ice cream," the boy mumbled miserably.

"That's awful. Did you see who took it?"

They both shook their heads.

"How much was in it?"

"Uh…" the girl looked uneasy about sharing this information with a stranger, but the boy just replied, "Around 30 munny."

Roxas bit his lip, then smiled. "That's not too bad. Here: I've got plenty to spare."

They both stared at him. The girl tried to protest, but Roxas insisted, and eventually they took 30 munny from him. They thanked him, almost dumbfounded, then Roxas felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned and saw the older boy had returned, gazing at him as if seriously confused by his charity. Eventually, he mumbled, "You're not a bad guy, kid. What's your name?"

"Uh… Roxas."

"Roxas, huh? I'm Hayner."

'Hayner' held out a hand. Roxas took it gingerly and shook it.

"It's not often we meet people willing to help someone else. You're a cool kid. Sorry for giving you the cold shoulder."

"N-no problem."

Hayner nodded then cleared his throat. Getting the hint, the girl stepped forward, a hand on her chest as she introduced herself as 'Olette'. The last boy did the same, saying he was 'Pence'.

"Hey, you're a stranger around here aren't you?" Olette mumbled nosily.

"Well, I've been here a few times, but, I've never been to the fair before, no."

"Hah, we have to show you around! Trust us, we know all the best rides and shops!" Pence laughed, considerably more cheerful to have some munny in his pocket again.

"Yeah, c'mon. It's the least we can do," Hayner nodded.

And Roxas, touched at their hospitality, could only agree, running along behind the other three as they scurried into the next street.


Roxas wasn't the only one showing a more generous side.

In the Tram Common, Demyx was sat outside a very busy café, happily 'om-nom-nom'ing on an ice cream (with those exact sound effects). He was sat on a wall, his legs hanging happily over the side as he enjoyed the breeze and the sound of people having fun.

And then he heard it.

It was very slow and uncertain, but still loud enough for him to home in on it. He opened his eyes and scoured the street, using the sound to seek out it's source. His eyes rested on two very scrawny, sickly pale children dressed in ill-fitting clothes. They were sat on the floor against a wall the other side of the thick crowds. A boy and a girl, both with long, matted brown hair. They looked so alike he assumed instantly they must be siblings, if not twins even. The boy was playing a rotted old piece of wood that seemed to be trying to pass itself off as a fiddle – but despite the terrible quality of the instrument and the fact he was obviously inexperienced, Demyx could tell he had potential. The girl sat expectantly with a hat in her lap, waiting for someone to throw munny into it. It was absolutely empty.

Absent-mindedly, Demyx finished his ice cream, glanced around, saw no one else was even giving them a second glance, then got to his feet, striding over. Any musician, no matter what they looked like, earnt themselves his attention.

"Hey."

The two children snapped their gazes up in slight fright at his voice, and the boy stopped playing, his sister huddling up to him. Obviously the last time someone had interrupted their busking, there had been tears. Demyx forced himself to swallow the lump in his throat: neither of the kids looked much older than ten, both had bags under their eyes and the girl even had a bruise on her face. They both had sunken cheeks and their bare arms were practically twigs.

"Hey, don't stop playing. I want to listen," he smiled at them weakly, crouching down so he was no longer towering over them. They eyed him warily, neither of them saying a word. Then the boy lifted his bow and fiddle and began to play. Again, the strings groaned and strained from it's shoddy craftsmanship, but again, Demyx heard it hidden under the flat notes and off-tune sounds: if it wasn't for the state of the instrument, this kid could have a chance.

"That's really good, awesome!" he praised him once he'd finished. "May I see your fiddle?"

At this the boy noticeably shied away, hugging it protectively against him, and his sister shook her head wordlessly. Demyx gave another weak smile and nodded in understanding. "Okay, okay, it's probably wise of you not to give it to just anybody when they ask. I just couldn't help noticing that it might need just a tiny bit of tuning though. I just wanted to check."

The siblings shared a glance, wordlessly exchanging conversation through their eyes. Then, they stared up at him, confused. To his surprise, the girl actually spoke.

"We don't understand. We just bought it off a man with the last of our Mama's munny. He said it's the finest fiddle in all of the world. That it would never need tuning. Said it'd make us rich."

Demyx had to try very hard not to crumble at this: these poor kids had been conned.

"W… where is your Mom?"

"She went to sleep one day. She hasn't woken up yet. The man said if we bought his fiddle and we played really hard, she'd wake up again. But some men took her away. We keep playing but we haven't seen her since."

This time he couldn't help himself. He got back to his feet and turned his head away, a hand over his mouth, taking a tearful breath. He sniffed and wiped his eyes, trying to regain his composure. He felt a tiny hand clutch at the bottom of his shirt. He looked down with eyes threatening to overflow, and saw the girl looking up at him.

"Why are you crying, mister?" she asked with a frown.

He couldn't answer. Instead, he crouched down again, took the girl by the shoulders and croaked, "And… and your father?"

The girl just looked at him strangely, then asked, "What's a father?"

He shook his head, trying so hard not to cry all over again. "You… you kids wait here… okay? Just… wait here. I'll be right back. I promise."

And true to his word, he came back five minutes later after wandering away. He held two family-sized chinese-takeaways in each hand, and sat down next to them, offering them the bags. Their little worn and battered faces lit up almost as if Demyx had simply handed them a truckload of Christmas presents, and they practically tore the bags open, devouring the food, and even licking the wrappers clean once it had all been eaten. He watched them eat, advising them to slow down or they'd be sick when the hunger drove them to chew much faster than they were able. They must have been absolutely starved.

Once every last morsel and crumb had been eaten, he went and brought them drinks to wash it down. As soon as the very last drop was gone, he requested again to see the fiddle, and this time was granted his wish. Within two minutes, the fiddle had been tuned, and actually made a half-decent sound. He smiled sadly as he listened to the boy perform the same song he had earlier, but this time with so much more gusto and fine quality, it actually caught a couple's attention and to the children's delight, some small change finally hit the bottom of the hat.

Satisfied he'd done all he could, he got to his feet, dropped all that was left of his munny into the hat, and wished the children luck. They both hugged him, crying in gratitude, asking if he'd ever come back. He didn't make any promises, but nodded and said softly, "I'll try. I'd love to play along some time."

He'd just left the street and begun making his way towards the Sandlot when he heard a familiar voice behind him sigh, "I'm surprised you didn't try to adopt them."

"Wish I could, but… it's impossible… isn't it?"

Axel sighed again and pulled away from the wall he'd been leant against, striding over to stand beside him. "Afraid it is."

"Unless they get a guardian soon… they aren't going to make it… are they?"

There was no answer.

"Poor kids. They're too young to have to be put into that situation. Even that food and munny I gave them isn't going to help… is it?"

"It helped them for a day. But your care and kindness will probably help them all their lives. You may be the very first person who hasn't used and abused them in their lives other than their parents. They won't forget you."

He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"C'mon: let's think positive, right? You're good at that, Dem. Better than all of us at it."

"Heh, about the only thing I AM good at."

"Along with playing almost every instrument I can name, cheering people up, defending a friend, caring for others, sorting out the plumbing, dancing, singing and just generally being an awesome guy." Demyx actually managed a laugh and just grinned, a slight tinge in his cheeks at such praise. "And you're incredibly easy to embarrass," Axel finished with a devious smirk. "Now c'mon… I heard they got a 'Ducking Stool'… how about you try and get me wet, huh?"

"Oh you are so on! You're going down, Ax!"

" Ptt! I doubt it! You can't throw to save your life! And no, you may not use your powers when you FAIL to get me in the proper way."


As Axel had predicted, Demyx didn't quite manage to send him cursing into the pool, but he didn't particularly mind, and had cheered up considerably. The fact Axel had won him another little goldfish to keep Phoenix company in his bowl made him even more glad to have come and he couldn't stop thanking him.

"Okay, enough already!"

"You're the greatest, you're just the most amazing friend ever and I love you in a totally un-gay way and you're so frigging awesome and I'm so proud to be your pal and if you ever need anything just ask and I'll do all I can to do it-"

"Really? In that case, can you SHUT UP ALREADY?"

"You betcha! I'll shut up so quiet you'll think I'm DEAD! Why I'll clamp these lips and they won't open until I say so, by God. You've never HEARD someone shut up until you hear me shut up-"

"Shame that I CAN'T hear you shut up, isn't it?" Axel sighed, but gave up trying to silence the blond and kept walking about the stalls, lazily glancing over each one. He stopped by one, Demyx still gabbling and walking straight on, not realising Axel had halted. The pyro picked up a little silver charm bracelet, eyeing it over, mumbling to himself, "Hmmmm… maybe she'd like this?" to himself.

"Who'd like what?"

Axel jumped and hastily put the bracelet down, blushing before looking over his shoulder at Demyx, who had quickly come back after realising he was talking to himself. "N-none of your business! U… Uh… o-oh, look it's Roxas!"

"Where? Where?"

Axel grabbed Demyx's face under his chin and guided it to the right direction, thankful the boy had provided a distraction to cover up his own activities. The boy was in the middle of a session on the coconut shy, and seemed to be doing quite well. Behind him three teenagers his age all cheered for him and clapped at each successful hit, then shouting how the game was rigged when he missed. "Heh, looks like he's got a fan club."

"Not surprised, looks like he's doing pretty well."

"Let's go cheer him on."

"Fine- whoa don't just run off!" Axel called as Demyx bolted towards the shy, leaving Axel trying to awkwardly maneavour through the crowds with a bag of water containing a goldfish in one hand, and a stick of candy floss in the other. By the time he'd made it, Roxas had finished his game and was presented with a bag full of various little trinkets as prizes. Beside him, Demyx was jumping up and down applauding.

"Nice one!"

"Ah, it wasn't that hard," the boy smirked cockily, before performing various high-fives to the three members of his 'fanclub'.

"That was unreal!"

"Impressive. Didn't think you could do it."

"Can you try and win me that teddy?"

Roxas turned to Olette to give a relaxed and confident, "Sure, whatever you want!" when he saw Axel checking his watch anxiously. Roxas did the same. They only had ten minutes left before they were due back, and Demyx had insisted beforehand they end the hour of fun on the ferris wheel.

"I'm sorry guys, but I've got a train to catch and it isn't going to wait for me, I'm afraid. But it's been a blast!" Roxas smiled apologetically. The other three looked minorly upset, but nodded in understanding. Roxas barely managed to wave goodbye before he felt both Axel and Demyx grab him by his upper arms and haul him off giggling towards the giant ferris wheel.

Though it was still mid-morning, Axel noticed Demyx yawning sleepily as they clambered into a carriage and squeezed into their seats together. "Hey, c'mon man: we got sparring after all this. Don't tell me you're worn out already?"

"It's been too much fun. I'm tired."

"Yeah well, if Saix sees you slacking in the sparring, God help you."

That proved a good enough prompt to keep the Nocturne's eyes open and he shifted a little in the seat as the bar came down. Roxas leant lazily on the metallic bar and couldn't help grinning as he felt the carriage begin to judder and lift up off the ground.

"I've never been on one of these before."

"Heh, it never gets old – you're always guaranteed a cracking view," Axel smiled, enjoying Roxas' enthusiasm and excitement to something most kids his age would deem boring. However, as neither Demyx nor Axel knew how he'd react once they got to the top, they'd sat either side to offer support should the dizzying heights get too much.
Thankfully, the boy didn't seem at all scared and as the carriage stopped near the very peak, he was actually laughing, glancing about and gasping in amazement, pointing to random buildings and stalls and exclaiming excitedly how small it looked from up here. Axel and Demyx shared a fond grin then joined in. It felt good to see the kid so enthralled by something so simple, and it seemed to awaken the kids inside them too. Soon all three of them were pointing, laughing and swinging their legs into the sky below them. Axel and Roxas even managed to talk Demyx into hurling a few discreet water bombs at the people below.

Once they were back on solid ground and Axel had absolutely insisted that they needed to get home now, the younger two had pouted and given sad little 'awww's but did as he said and soon they found themselves boarding a train for Sunset Terrace. Demyx fell asleep on the train, hugging his newly dubbed goldfish 'Kipper' in his arms and his head bowed so it was practically resting on the air-tight bag of water. Axel took great glee in capturing the moment on his phone before Roxas saved Demyx from further embarrassment and woke him up – just in time, apparently, as the train stopped shortly after and they all piled out, made straight for the abandoned tunnel, got back into their uniforms and portalled straight to Axel's room.

"Quick, stash everything you got at the fair under my bed."

"I can't keep Kipper in here until training is over, he'll get all stuffy and uncomfortable!" Demyx protested. Axel rolled his eyes and hissed, "Fine, go get him settled in the bowl with Phoenix then meet us outside the Empty Remnants café: hardly anyone goes to that part of the city anymore."

Demyx nodded frantically and ran to his room next door. They heard movement from his room as they carefully sorted through Roxas' bag of prizes and placed each one individually under Axel's bed.

"Uh, these prizes aren't as great as they promised," Roxas commented, picking up a Rubix cube and looking at it in distain.

"Hey, don't diss the Rubix. I would have killed for one of them at your age. If you don't want it I'll gladly have it. Uh, now THIS is a shoddy prize…"

Axel picked out what looked like a badly painted egg shaped paperweight. It was painted in such loud and head-ach inducing colours that he quickly put it under the bed with the other stuff, muttering, "Can't even look at the damn thing without feeling sick."

"That's everything," Roxas announced, discarding the empty paper bag finally.

"Great. Let's go to the café and wait for Demyx to finish getting his new friend comfortab…" He trailed off as he heard a knocking on his door, and Demyx call nervously, "Guys? Um… I think you should come on out."

The other two looked at each other in slight confusion, then Axel called back, "What's the matter?"

The door opened to reveal Demyx looking very pale and frightened. Behind him, both with a hand on his shoulders, was Xemnas and Saix. The hands that weren't resting on Demyx's shoulders held their weapons, and just behind Demyx's head, a red lazer hovered, waiting to strike should there be any unwanted movements.

"You really think we'd not get suspicious of your three running off together in the training? And even the fact you bothered to show up this morning, Demyx, Axel… very suspicious." Xemnas growled unpleasantly. "You really must be as clueless as you look. No matter, you'll all pay properly for your neglect to your training."

Axel had a strong urge to just up and portal his ass out of there. But then Roxas and Demyx would both be left behind to suffer the punishment. Saix's mouth curled into a cruel smile.

"Don't worry. I've been after some volunteer targets in my very own training session. You'll all do nicely."

All three of them just gulped loudly.


One last cry of agony echoed around the arena as Axel hit the wall, landing on the other two, who had been downed some time ago, groaning and coughing painfully. His charkams dissipated in a flash of fire and light and with one last wavering moan, he crumpled on top of the pile of bleeding and battered bodies. Saix smiled over his handiwork, then dismissed his claymore, already declaring himself the victor. Watching from the podium above, Xemnas nodded in approval, then portalled away. The Diviner cast one last look over his victims. The two blonds were starting to come to.

"Maybe that will teach you not to disobey your superiors in the future," Saix sneered before portalling away, leaving them to scrape themselves up off the floor. Coughing, Demyx managed to roll out from under Axel's prone figure and just about managed to crawl closer to the wall to help himself up. That. Had been. Torture. Forty minutes of being batted around the arena like a rag-doll, never given an opening, never given chance to breathe properly, never allowed to get up, not a single ounce of mercy.
Behind him, he heard Roxas coughing too and asked quietly through a sore jaw if he was okay. The boy nodded distantly, then spat out a clot of blood. Roxas had fared a little better, but not by much – he'd taken advantage of Saix's distractions on Demyx to get some hits in, but once Demyx had passed out after being pummelled through a wall, Roxas had been next. Axel, again, had fared even better. But, there was only so long Saix would let him get away with hurling fireballs from afar before the Flurry too was thrown around and tossed about effortlessly by the berserker rage.

Saix just HAD to use the arena that was overlooked by Kingdom Hearts. He just HAD to hadn't he? Damn, maybe if they'd been locked in a five-foot by five foot cage with a dozen starved lions, they'd still have had more chance than against Saix when the full light of the moon hit him.

Sighing, he peeled himself away from the wall and knelt beside Axel, summoning a tiny orb of water over his face and letting it drop. It had the desired effect, and Axel was brought back to the conscious world, coughing and hacking.

"Am I dead?" he asked once he'd finished.

Demyx shook his head but grinned. "I wish."

"You wish me dead? That's not very polite."

"Save it for when I have the energy to think up a retort. Uh, my ribs…"

"We'd better get back to our rooms before he comes back for more," Roxas finally spoke, spitting out another clump of blood and wiping his mouth afterwards. "Let's make it Axel's room, I think he's gonna need help lying down…"

"I'll be fine once the world stops spinning and the pain goes away from my everything."

"Axel: don't even try, okay?" Demyx rolled his eyes before gingerly scooping the redhead up as much as he could with his inferior strength and carefully hobbling along with him through the portal Roxas was waiting by. Once in Axel's room, they rolled the guy onto his bed and then both collapsed on the floor, severely worn out. "Despite how much pain I'm in right now, I've got to say, it was worth it," Demyx smiled dreamily.

"For once, I must say I agree with you," Roxas mumbled, lying on the floor with half his face under Axel's bed.

"I… I'm not so sure…" Axel admitted above him.

"Aw, c'mon Ax: this morning was fun, even with Saix almost killing us!"

"Heh… well I suppose just hanging out with you two was fun enough to make up for it…"

"N'awwww, big brother's getting all sentimental!" Demyx teased.

"Little brother is getting irritating," Axel replied.

"I'm not irritating… am I, Roxas?"

Roxas didn't answer, but instead kept staring under the bed, now looking intrigued and a little confused.

"Roxas?"

"Um… guys?"

"What?" Axel tried to sit up but slumped back down again as his back firmly told him 'oh no you don't.'

The boy wormed an arm under the bed and withdrew something carefully, sitting up a little, face still a little stunned. Demyx shuffled over to peer over his shoulder and see what was in his hands.

The badly painted paper-weight Axel had turned his nose up at earlier lay in two halves in the boy's palms. And sat comfortably between the two halves, sat an ugly, almost naked, pale, slimy, baby bird. Its eyes were tightly shut and a solitary yellow feather curled up behind its head.

Axel – who hadn't seen what the cause of the fuss was about - got the shock of his life when Demyx squealed directly next to his ear. The little bird didn't seem to like the noise much either and gave a very startled, "KWEH!" recoiling back into one of the halves of the paper-weight-turned-egg.

"The hell was that?" Axel forced himself to ignore the pain as he heard the strange noise, sitting upright with a groan and staring down on the other two from his bed. When he saw what Roxas was holding, he felt his jaw crash open.

"Where did that come from?"

"It… It must've… hatched from the paperweight…" Roxas managed dumbly, before putting down the other half so he could focus on the half the baby bird had hidden itself in. He reached in with a finger gently and stroked it's naked skin, cooing, "It's okay... we're not gonna hurt you."

It gurgled strangely, and then, with timid strength, peeled its eyes open. They were like tiny black specks glinting in the moonlight pouring through the window. It was looking directly at Roxas, then playfully latched its beak around his finger. It didn't hurt and Roxas actually giggled as he felt a tiny tongue licking the tip.

"I think it likes you!" Demyx grinned, still fighting not to burst into a fit of squeals over the tiny creature. "Hey, maybe it thinks you're its Mama!"

Axel snorted then burst into laughter. The noise was loud enough to attract the bird's attention and it craned its neck up to face him. Then gave a chirrup and flapped its tiny skinny wings feebly in expectation. "Hey what's with the wing-jive?"

Roxas shrugged then tickled under its beak, making it give a satisfied gurgle and hobble out of the egg into Roxas' palm. It opened its beak and gave another loud 'Kweh!'.

"Gah, it's so god-damn adorable I just wanna hug it!"

"No, because you'd choke the thing to death," Axel gave Demyx a playful clip around the ear, then held out his hand expectantly. Roxas obliged him and gently transferred the bird over. It seemed a little concerned as to the sudden separation from 'Mama', but didn't protest when Axel brought it up and eyed it closely. That is, until it pecked his nose irritably and gurgled again.

"Ow, cheeky lil'…"

His snarl was cut off as the bird tottered down his wrist, scrabbled up his sleeve and sat comfortably on his shoulder, nuzzling against his cheek.

"Looks like we just found it's Daddy!" Demyx howled. Roxas joined in and they both rolled around on the floor holding their ribs. Ignoring them, Axel simply blinked and then began to giggle, hissing, "Stop it that tickles!"

"Aw, see, I always told you you'd make a great father!"

"Fine. So if Roxas is the Mama, I'm the Daddy… then that makes YOU…" Axel grinned deviously before placing the bird on Demyx's head where it snuggled down into his hair. "…the nest."

"Ah! No no no! Get it out! It'll wreck my hair!"

"Actually, your hair does look nest-like…" Roxas mused with pretend seriousness. "And it seems to like it up there."

Sure enough, the fragile little creature had settled down nicely, nuzzling into Demyx's hair and closing it's eyes, cooing as it relaxed.

Demyx looked torn between giving the bird some comfort and complaining it would mean he'd have to re-gel his hair. Instead, he sighed heavily and mumbled, "If it goes to the bathroom on my head, I swear, I will drown you both in your sleep."

That just made the other two laugh harder.


A/N: I own none of these character except little No-name~