After nearly a half hour of walking along the outer wall of the Labyrinth, Roxas was becoming rather frustrated. "How the hell do I solve this thing if I can't even get inside?" he asked aloud, running his hand along the weathered bricks. His eye caught a glimpse of something bright red down along the wall, and he began to walk a little faster.

Whatever it was…a person…a something…it was a thing that could help him, he was sure. Roxas' trot turned into a run until he reached the person squatting down along the wall.

"Excuse me!" Roxas called out, reaching out to tap the person on the shoulder. The figure stood and turned, several inches taller than him.

"Oh, excuse me! Oh…its you," they had what looked like a can of raid in their hand.

Roxas took a step back. "A-Axel?!" he asked, confusion and shock flashing across his face. What was Axel doing here? Was he trapped here, too?

"What are you doing here?" Roxas asked, not sure whether to remain confused, or be absolutely thrilled to see a familiar face.

Axel look curiously at Roxas as his arm was snatched by the shorter boy and he began to be dragged away. "C'mon, help me through this Labyrinth," Roxas insisted.

Something small flitted past his vision, and he stopped. Was that a…? Roxas squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. He'd already seen enough stupid stuff today. Roxas tried to continue and pull Axel along, but Axel hindered his movement.

Another something flitted past his vision. Axel lifted his can of raid and sprayed at it. The small fairy flopped onto the ground, twitching a bit. "57!" Axel exclaimed, rather proudly.

Roxas bent down to look at the dead fairy. That was kind of gross. "How could you!" he asked, rather alarmed. "Poor thing." He looked up at Axel, who was stalking another fairy.

Roxas saw another fairy perched on a nearby plant. He scooped it up into his hands to inspect it. The little wings fluttered, and its golden hair lay about its head in pretty little curls. "Aw...its kind of-OW!" Roxas exclaimed, dropping it on the ground abruptly. The fairy flitted away. Roxas was sure he could hear it giggling madly.

"It bit me!" Roxas whined, turning towards Axel with a pout. Axel didn't appear to be phased.

"What did you expect fairies to do?" Axel asked, approaching one that was perched on the petals of a flower. He readied his raid can and advanced upon it.

Roxas watched, a mild look of disgust crossing his face. "I thought they did nice things like granting wishes and stuff," he muttered. He vaguely wondered in the back of his mind if this is the approach Axel took to killing all kinds of bugs.

"Shows what you know, don't it?" Axel replied, squirting another fairy rather enthusiastically. "58!"

"You're gross," Roxas said with a frown. It was becoming mildly disturbing. He tried to push thoughts of Axel spraying small dogs in the face with aerosol cans for his own amusement out of his head.

"No I'm not, I'm Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?" he winked at Roxas, then carefully started after another fairy.

Roxas almost gagged at the tagline that Axel had robotically recited since junior high. He'd always thought it was cheesy. Add how stupid Axel looked stalking fairies right now, Roxas really was not impressed.

"Who are you?" Axel asked suddenly, straightening up and looking at Roxas.

Roxas took a step back. He wasn't sure if he should be hurt or just plain confused. "What do you mean? It's me, Roxas," he said quietly.

"That's what I thought," he replied, spraying at another fairy. It dropped to the ground. "59!"

Roxas didn't get it. He searched Axel's face for any indication that he really was Axel, or some kind of…alternate personality. He acted like he didn't know Roxas…or like he only vaguely remembered him.

"Uh, Axel?" Roxas asked cautiously, taking a step forward.

"Hmmm?" Axel asked, turning his attention from the fairy he was cornering. The blonde boy was slowly approaching him, and he felt that he should probably step back, but he didn't. It wasn't like the kid was threatening. He was just…different. He thought he wasn't supposed to embrace different. That he wasn't supposed to give in to those who tried to intrude into the Labyrinth. Right?

"Are you really Axel?" Roxas asked, picking up his hand that dangled at his side. He turned the palm over and ran his finger along the lines etched into it.

Axel blinked. "Of course. Didn't I tell you? A-X-"

"I know!" Roxas interrupted him. Damn catchphrase. "I mean, are you Axel, like MY Axel, or are you…?" These looked like his hands, that was his face, those were his eyes.

"I wasn't aware I belonged to anyone?" Axel asked, confused. What was this kid getting at?

"Uh," Roxas stuttered, face flushing a little. "I-I didn't mean…" he had meant it innocently, but now he felt dumb. Axel cocked an eyebrow at him.

"D-Do you know where the door to the Labyrinth is?" Roxas said, dropping Axel's hand as if it were on fire and turning his attention to the Labyrinth walls.

Axel shrugged. "Maybe," he replied.

"Well, where is it?" Roxas asked. Was Axel going to be a jerk about it?!

Axel had begun to concentrate once again on mercilessly extinguishing the fairies. "60!" he announced triumphantly.

Roxas felt ignored. "I said where is it!" he demanded rather childishly.

"Where is what?" Axel, not turning to pay attention to Roxas.

"The door!"

"What door?"

Roxas folded his arms across his chest. "Its hopeless," he huffed, annoyed. He stepped back a moment later when Axel's face appeared in his direct line of vision. "Not if you ask the right questions!" he hinted, a smile planted on his face. Axel wasn't quite sure yet why he felt like helping Roxas, but he just did. As long as Riku didn't find out…

"How do I get into the Labyrinth?" Roxas asked after a moment.

"Ah!" Axel exclaimed, tapping Roxas on the nose. "Now that's more like it!" He stood up and grinned. "You get in there," he pointed to a large door that was emerging from the solid brick Labyrinth wall.

Roxas jumped a little, staring down the heavy door that had opened for him. He took a step towards it and looked back at Axel, calmly holding his can of raid. "You really going in there, are you?" he asked. Roxas thought he saw a look of concern flash across his face.

"Yes," Roxas replied slowly. "I'm afraid I have to." He had to get Sora back. Sora was in no condition to rescue himself. At full health, no problem, but as sick as he was, no way. "Want to come with?" he asked Axel hopefully. If he couldn't spend his night with the real Axel, he could at least spend the horrible time in this stupid maze with him.

Axel leaned against the door of the Labyrinth, that carefree smile of his neatly in place. It was clear he wasn't going anywhere. Roxas sighed, stepping into the Labyrinth. 'Finally inside. Now where to?' The path disappeared to the left, and again to the right.

"Cozy, isn't it?" Axel commented with a little chuckle. "Now, would you go left or right?"

"They both look the same!" Roxas whined. His legs were going to fall apart from walking before he solved this thing.

"You're not going to get very far," Axel teased, pushing off the wall and shaking his can of raid, as if he were preparing for another onslaught of fairy massacres.

"How would you go?" Roxas growled at him.

"Me? I wouldn't go either way," Axel replied, shrugging.

Roxas was fed up with Axel's snide comments. He wanted him to come with! Or at least to be a little more helpful! Not tiptoe around the subject so much.

"If that's all you'll say, then you can leave," Roxas turned his back on Axel, if only so he didn't see him pout a little about the situation.

"You know your problem? You take too much for granted," Axel informed him. "Take this Labyrinth," he used as an example, patting the wall before him almost fondly. "Even if you reach the center, you'll never get out again."

"That's your opinion," Roxas said defiantly, turning to the left, then changing his mind and turning to the right.

"Its much better than yours," Axel replied in a singsong voice, chuckling as he disappeared behind the outer wall of the Labyrinth.

"Thanks for nothing, Axel," Roxas muttered, starting down the path to the right.

Axel hit a fairy with a particularly large burst from his can. "Don't say I didn't warn you," he muttered. 'I wonder if he'll be alright.'

Roxas continued on, slowly at first, figuring he'd take the first opening he saw. However, an opening never presented itself. The Labyrinth hadn't looked THAT big from atop the hill, not so big that he wouldn't find an opening for miles. Was it?

Roxas checked his watch. Ugh, he'd already wasted an hour! Thoughts of Sora kept bombarding him. How he'd treated him, while he was sick no less. His poor brother was still sick now, holed up in that castle with Riku (or whoever he was). It wasn't that he didn't trust Riku at all, but Axel had been no real indication that anyone was who they seemed, and Roxas worried for Sora's condition.

"What do they mean 'Labyrinth'? There aren't any turns or corners or anything!" Roxas said, frustrated. He picked up his pace to a jog, hopping over the fallen branches and bricks here and there. It wasn't like he had all the time in the world! He started to run a bit faster. Wall on the left, wall on the right! "This just goes on and on!"

Roxas stopped to catch his breath, leaning against the cool brick. "Maybe it doesn't," he muttered sarcastically. "Maybe I'm just taking for granted that it does." What was Axel even implying with that statement? Roxas covered his face. He didn't want to try to figure out stupid riddles right now.

"'Ello," a voice said suddenly. Roxas jumped and looked around. It wasn't a moment before he spotted a tiny, fuzzy looking worm inching along a small ledge in the wall.

"Did you just say hello?" Roxas asked incredulously. Did a bug just TALK to him? Bizarre.

"No, I said 'ello', but that's close enough." the worm replied.

Roxas wasn't sure if he should be grossed out or not. The thing was purple and blue and…definitely not normal. "You're a…worm. Aren't you?" He wasn't sure what else it could be, really.

"Yeah, that's right," the worm replied happily.

Well. It was worth a shot. "Do you know the way through this Labyrinth?"

"No. I'm just a worm," the worm replied. Roxas sighed. Maybe it wasn't worth wasting the breath.

"Come and meet the missus," the worm offered, gesturing with his body towards a tiny crack in the wall. Roxas raised an eyebrow. Uh huh. Him, go inside a tiny crack. Not likely.

"No thanks, I have to solve this Labyrinth," he replied, standing up. He felt defeated already. "There aren't any turns or openings. It just goes on and on."

The worm could be heard chuckling lightly. "Its full of openings. You just ain't seein' them," the worm informed him.

Roxas whirled around to face him. "Where are they?!" he demanded rather abruptly.

The worm wasn't phased at all. "There's one right in front of you."

Roxas turned, hoping that a magical opening had popped out of nowhere just like the door. He frowned upon discovering it was only the brick wall he had been staring at earlier. "No there isn't."

"Come inside and have some tea," the worm insisted on inviting Roxas into his little nook.

"But there isn't an opening!" Roxas argued. Apparently everything in this world was as dumb as the next thing. He hated these little mind and word games.

"Of course there is," the worm said calmly. "Try walking through it. You'll see what I mean."

"What?!" Roxas huffed. Walking through a brick wall was the stupidest idea he'd ever heard. Did the worm intend to laugh as he ran headlong into it?

"Go on then," the worm urged, no impatience in his voice whatsoever.

"That's just a wall! There's no way through!" Roxas refused to give up on the logical part of him that didn't want to try and walk through a wall.

"Things aren't always as they seem. So you can't take anything for granted." The same thing Axel had warned him about. But it didn't make sense.

Roxas groaned, figuring he could at least humor the worm by attempting to walk directly through a wall. He stuck his hand out in front of him, anticipating the cold, rough brick under his fingers, and stumbling just a little when he hand passed through only air. "Hey!" Roxas exclaimed, taking an eager step forward into the newly discovered opening.

"Hey, hang on!" the worm called urgently. Roxas ignored him in his excitement. Finally! Getting somewhere.

"Thanks! That was incredibly helpful!" Roxas said, disappearing to the left.

"But don't go that way!" the worm shouted. Roxas' head appeared from behind the wall a moment later.

"What was that?" he asked, curiously. He wasn't dumb enough to not heed a warning. Of course.

"Don't go that way. NEVER go that way!" the worm cautioned rather sternly.

"Oh," Roxas replied. He wondered why not. It made him want to go that way all the more. "Thanks, I guess," he replied, deciding to play it safe. He turned heel and headed the other direction.

The worm watched Roxas disappear and sighed in relief. "If he had kept on going down that way, he would have gone straight to that awful castle!"

Next time, Chapter three! "True Lies: I am the Goblin King!" and the reappearance of Riku and Sora. D