Author's Note: Successfully managed to upload another chapter. Though this will now have to wait since the next three days will be busy.
I do not own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to both Disney and Square Enix.
CH3: Seeing Double?
It'd taken the group at least seven hours to explain to the Restoration Committee(including Aerith, Merlin and Cid) of the events that happened and the good news that came along with it. They did, however, also mentioned the bad news which was that Ansem the Wise-the real Ansem-was gone and the truth about Xehanort. Lea also revealed the Organization's goal which, given that it was gone now, was useless. Though at least, after thinking about it, three of the original members had succeded in getting what they wanted and that they were together and the worlds were saved;
Lea himself, Roxas and Xion had their hearts now, and even Namine was granted a Heart as well.
By the time the four of them, King Mickey, Donald and Goofy were done, the allies and friends of Sora thought deeply about this.
"I see...so that's what happened." Leon thought. He was still suspicious about the events that happened, but was far less hostile towards Lea and Xion now.
"No wonder he looks lot like Sora..." Yuffie commented at Roxas who shrugged. The young ninja then asked, "So how come you came here?"
"Needed a place to stay." Lea shrugged.
"They wanted a place to call home, so we brought 'em here to help them make a fresh start." Mickey continued, "If that's alright with you fellas."
"Ya' sure you wanna help these kids? Well, Namine and that girl-Xion was it-maybe, but the Nobody of Sora and that tall guy? I'm skeptical." Cid inquired, eying the former Nobodies with suspicion.
The former Nobodies, Mickey, Donald and Goofy shared uncertain glances, becoming worried that maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea. But then again, where else could Lea, Roxas, Xion and Namine go?
"I think we should give them a chance." Aerith finally spoke up, causing everyone to gaze at her in surprise.
"Aerith-!" Leon tried to reason, only to flinch slightly at the young woman's hard glare. "...Er, sorry. Please continue." He apologised, surprisingly rather scared.
"I think you're a big wuss if you're scared of Aerith, Leon." Yuffie teased, which made the older man glare at her.
Aerith ignored the two of them and continued, "If Sora, the King, Donald and Goofy trust them, then we should trust them too. After all, they helped in defeating the Heartless and the Nobodies."
"I agree. Especially since Lea has redeemed himself already." Merlin agreed. "Though the problem is finding a place for you to stay while you're here."
"Oh, that's easy. If it isn't already full of people, I know a place the kids and I can live in." Lea shrugged.
The wizard seemed fine with that, before saying firmly to the younger man, "You do know that, considering how Roxas, Xion and Namine were born from Sora and Kairi and were made humans, they have no parents. Meaning that you, being close to them, are their guardian."
"I know." Lea nodded, already fully aware that he is the responsible adult for the kids now, and despite the nervousness, he was ready to take that responsiblity and he was going to take it very seriously.
"What are parents?" Namine asked, confused.
"Uh...they're...well...people who give birth to normal people and take care of them as a family and watch them grow up. Basically, that's how life normally goes. Humans and other life with hearts don't just appear outta nowhere like the Heartless and Nobodies." Lea explained while feeling awkward.
"Isn't that like when a person turns into a Heartless and creates a Nobody?" Roxas asked.
"No. Well, that is a very complicated thing to explain." Lea shrugged. "See, when an adult guy and an adult girl get together, they are...do something which makes the woman have live grow inside her and after 9 months, she finally gives birth to the person which we call a baby at first. The gender, though, is always random. It could be a boy or a girl. Sometimes, they even give birth to twins or triplets."
An awkward silence.
Finally, Roxas shuddered slightly, "You're right. It is complicated."
"Well...if Aerith and Merlin think it's okay, then I'll give them a chance too!" Yuffie finally spoke up, in an effort to break away the rather embarrassing conversation that had shifted from the main point of the gathering.
"Three against two ain't a good sign, Leon. Might as well agree." Cid grumbled at the younger man who was still hesitant. He still wasn't fully sure if he could trust the four former Nobodies, but considering the situation...
Finally he sighed, and made his decision.
"Fine. You guys can stay here, under one condition." Leon finally responded.
"Name it." Lea encouraged, feeling very relieved that Leon was willing to give him and his friends a chance. Whatever the condition may be, the redhead was certain they can handle it.
"That you'll agree to help us rebuild Radiant Garden and keep the Heartless at bay."
Well, that sounded half-easy. Lea had considered in requesting in to help rebuild this world anyway. He turned to Roxas, Xion and Namine who all looked very eager to do that and they nodded.
"Done." Lea replied, and the two men shook hands to finalize this new arrangement. Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Aerith and Yuffie smiled happily while Merlin was sastified. Cid just shook his head with a shrug, wondering what the Realm of Light was coming to but said nothing.
"We should head over to the Bailey. Heard there's something suspicious happening near the castle." Leon continued.
"Do ya's need a hand before we head home?" Mickey offered.
"If you're okay with it."
"Sure! We can do that. Can't we?" Goofy answered this time and both Mickey and Donald nodded in agreement.
"And I'll be heading to the shops for a few supplies." Merlin spoke up.
"I'll go with you." Aerith volunteered.
"And I'm going with Leon and the others!" Yuffie happily said.
"Good luck with that." Cid waved off sarcastically.
"Do you think...I can go with you and Merlin, Aerith?" Namine asked.
"I'll go with too, if that's okay." Xion added.
"Of course you can." Aerith nodded.
With that settled and with Lea's approvement, the group stood up and began heading out the door, though the redhead had to admit, he still felt that not all of them fully trusted him and his friends just yet.
"...So, you're willin' to let us stay?" Lea asked, hesitatedly.
"Of course. I mean, we all had our problems everywhere." Merlin nodded. But as he shut the door behind him to head over to the Marketplace on foot, he didn't realise that his beard got stuck in the door which pulled him back. As he yanked at it, the wizard complained, "There! See what I mean?"
With a giagantic tug, Merlin successfully pulled himself free. But his heard rapidly wrapped around his head and wand. He pulled hard while groaning, only for his entire head to be covered in white aging hair. For a split second, it reminded Lea of a dandelion covered in seeds. For another second, Merlin spluttered as he unrolled his beard from his face, resulting secret snickers from Roxas, Xion and Namine, while Lea tried not to laugh.
"Oh, this confounded beard!" Merlin complained, while everyone else tried not to laugh either. He then turned to Yuffie and warned her firmly, "And you'd better not tell Cid about this, young lady! If he finds out, I'll never hear the end of it."
"Not a word." Yuffie snickered with a grin.
"Kids..." Leon groaned to himself, placing his head to his face in exasperation.
Lea smirked, "Ah, most of 'em aren't too bad."
"I think you're only saying that because you haven't changed and you're still a big kid yourself." The gunblader deadpanned.
"Hey!" The redhead pouted.
Half an hour later...
"Well, that was a bust." Yuffie grumbled as she and the others had rechecked the Bailey for the fifth time.
"Wonder where they could've gone?" Roxas mumured as he glanced around carefully again.
Lea shook his head as he placed his hands on his hips, glancing around the area for the sixth time, "Well, we're not gonna find much if we stand around here. Maybe it was just a few remaining Heartless running around."
"We should head back. Whatever it was, it's gone now." Leon reluctantedly agreed. "Sorry for bringing you guys here for nothing."
"Oh, that's okay, Leon. It was better to be safe than sorry." Mickey replied, before saying, "I guess me, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy gotta head back home too."
"We can't forget to say goodbye to everybody else, though." Goofy reminded.
"Yeah." Donald nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, can't have you guys run off without giving Xi' and Namine a heads up." Lea smirked.
Everyone else nodded before treking their way back, but as they did, Lea suddenly noticed something at the corner of his eyes and froze before spinning to see what it was. He gasped as his eyes widened in shock and confusion, was a figure as familiar as he was, standing there with similiar confusion as well.
Lea shut his eyes and shook his head before opening them again as though thinking he was hallucinating. But now, his vision stayed the same and he felt himself go all cold.
"A-Axel?" Lea whispered, shocked beyond belief. It couldn't be. He was restored, so he shouldn't be seeing his Nobody here. Though something else didn't add up; he also see-through, like a ghost.
"Hello, Lea." Axel greeted, rather calmly as though this was casual. "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"H-How-!? Y-you're supposed to be..." Lea found himself having trouble breathing, unconsciously taking a step back. This wasn't right. Axel shouldn't even be standing there! He was supposed to be within Lea, because they had merged!
"Gone?" Axel finished, before shrugging, "Yeah, I have to admit, this is completely weird. But I think I have a pretty good idea what's going on, and this all started since last night."
Lea's mind went blank at first, before he remembered collasping, and then that horrid dream he had on the Island. "So...it wasn't just a dream, then?" When he didn't get an answer, he looked up and realised that Axel was suddenly gone as he'd appeared.
Was that really a hallucination? Had Lea been talking to himself? Was he suddenly going crazy?
"Lea?" Roxas called from a short distance, causing the redhead to turn and saw that he realised he trailed behind and Roxas came back to find him. "C'mon, hurry up!"
"Uh, y-yeah! Comin'!" Lea called back, and when Roxas turned back to rejoin the others, he turned back to the spot where Axel had been standing. Or at least the hallucination of his Nobody.
At least he hoped it was a hallucination.
Meanwhile, in a medieval like room with a huge round table, several silhouette figures were seated in chairs, with a dark-red cloaked figure with a hood covering the head seated at the head of the table. There were seven chairs in total, and were already filled, except for one.
"Good greetings, friends." The head figure spoke in a deep voice. "Today marks a celebration; I am pleased to announce that Organization XIII has been defeated by the bearer of the Keyblade and his allies. Which means we can finally begin to achieve our goal."
"Beg your pardon for interrupting, Master." One of the figures, a male, in the middle of two others on the left side of the table spoke. "But we are missing a member of our council."
"He will come shortly. Which is why I have not yet spoke of our plans."
Shortly was an understatement, as in a mist of darkness, appeared the Jester who materalized in a seated position on the right side of the table, his head leaned on his hand while his elbow was on the table, and his left leg crossed over to his right.
"So sorry. Am I missing something marvelous?" The Jester inquired camly.
The third mysterious figure on the other side snorted in his direction, saying, in another male voice, "You're late, Kefka."
"Am not! You all are simply far too early. It's not my fault many of you just come to the table every day without going out and doing something more exciting; Like, oh, I don't know-destroy and cause death and doom!" The Jester, known as Kefka, pouted.
"That's all you ever do; you just destroy everything you touch." The fourth figure pointed out, and if the light shined on him, one could see he rolled his eyes.
Kefka just cackled maniacally, "Ah, but that's not always the case. I discovered something quite interesting and delicious in Hollow Bastion."
"Do tell." The third figure gestured.
"Well, you know how Heartless and Nobodies are created and when both are destroyed, they fused together to become an original being once more?" Kefka inquired, and when the other people nodded, he continued, "It seems that Sora has once again set his Nobody free, and that Replica whom was meant to be forgotten has returned. As for one of the seven Princess Brats, her Nobody is sighted, and that Pyro Assassin of the Organization has become a human."
"Is that so?" The head figure questioned.
Kefka grinned evilly, "Ooh, you haven't heard the best part; fear has crept into his heart, which is causing the fusion to be torn apart; meaning that that Nobody could return while his Somebody will be overcome by fear and become what Sora and Xehanort's Heartless were. And we all know we want Sora's Nobody, right? Why not simply also use this to our advantage; even lure in that King Mickey who was oh so giving those Nobodies and that Puppet a tour, as well as that brooding puppet and his manifested Darkness?"
"...The King has guided the Nobodies and the Puppet to Hollow Bastion?" A fifth figure, also a male, inquired, before chuckling as though he found this amusing. "A young King still as innocent as Sora; two young warriors with no path to fully understand. It seems a sequel to a long-everlasting story has just began."
"I was just saying that!" Kefka grunted, quickly annoyed. "Didn't that get through that thick-everything is a tragic story-skull of yours!?"
"Your skull is not that thinner, Kefka." The third figure snorted.
"Who asked you!?"
"Enough!" The head figure commanded, silencing everyone else before continuing, "While the assassin, the two Nobodies, the Puppet, the King, the wandering swordsman and his darkness could be quite useful, we only aqquire one, but they cannot be fully reached into our grasp as they would not cooperate willingly, especially Sora. What we need is to make sure they would fall into our grasp...with a certain incidents and tests. But there lies a bit of a problem; three others are moving as we speak."
"What? Those little wrenches? What would they be doing now?" Kefka grunted in sheer annoyance and a hint of anger.
The head figure shook his head, "It's obvious that they still intend in stopping us. So, for now, we wait until we can catch those Nobodies off-guard."
"And when will that day come?" The fifth figure inquired.
"...In three days."
When Lea and the others all returned to Merlin's house, the four former Nobodies and the Restoration Committee shared their goodbyes to Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Jiminy who all returned to the Gummi-ship to finally return to their homeworld of Disney Castle. After that, Merlin and Aerith had both provided new clothes for at least three of the newcommers, while Roxas had retrieved his old coat but decided to keep it for emergancy as he still wore his clothes when he was first born.
Though before they left, Merlin had provided five cards to Mickey, Roxas, Xion, Namine and Lea, and even two more with Riku and Kairi's names on it; like Sora, Donald and Goofy, they had now become honorary members of the Restoration Committee, and Mickey promised to deliever Kairi and Riku's cards to them as soon as possible.
"So, how do we look?" Lea spoke up behind the group after he, Xion and Namine got dressed. Roxas, Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Cid and Merlin all turned to see that the three of them had emerged from the two seperate rooms, fully clothed in their new garments.
Lea's new clothes were a black leather jacket with an orange shirt underneath, black jeans and leather brown boots. His jacket also had orange lines on the collar and lined down on his sleeves.
Xion's was fairly simple, but she loved her new clothes none the less. She wore a think dark red jumper, dark gray tights and brown boots that resembled to Aerith's.
Namine's resembled Aerith's pink dress from Traverse Town, except that hers was white and blue, her new short jacket a dark navy, and brown shoes, and her hair was in a braid with a blue tie at the bottom and a blue ribbon on the top.
"...Wow!" Roxas gapped, stunned. "Guys...you look amazing!"
"You think so?" Xion asked, blushing a little as did Namine.
Lea grinned, saying, "That's the best compliment you ever said, Rox'."
"You look cool and the girls look beautiful!" Yuffie commented with a big smile.
"They really suit you." Aerith agreed happily.
"Not bad." Cid simply shrugged.
"Splendid, indeed!" Merlin praised, before quickly saying to the four former Nobodies, "Now, thoses are no ordinary garments. The King had requested some sort of protection magic which I did, with a bit of help from Yen Sid and the Three Good faries."
"That wouldn't happen to be the magic you casted on me, right?" Roxas asked, curiously. His three friends looked curious as well.
The Wizard nodded, "Yes, indeed. Since Lea still uses the power of darkness, it was best that, to avoid any suspicion without wearing coats and only if you agree to explore the worlds without breaking the rules, including visiting Sora and the others, your clothes will protect you from the darkness; the same way your coats once did, or even like Namine's light because of her connection with Kairi."
"Seriously? We're even allowed to do that?" Lea asked, surprised.
"But only if you use that just to open up corridors, but do not do it constantly. You can't always rely on darkness to solve all your problems, because darkness cause problems as well." Merlin told him firmly.
"Okay, okay. I get the idea." Lea quickly replied, holding his hands up in surrender. "Besides, I don't think any of us will be exploring the worlds anytime soon, especially since things had just calmed down a little."
"He has a point." Roxas agreed.
"Well, if that's the case, then we should all call it a night. It's starting to get late." Leon suggested, before asking, "You got a place to say?"
Lea smirked when everyone gazed at him, "Sure do. If it's still there."
Thankfully it was still here, and also thankfully, it was empty. After bidding their new allies a goodnight while promising to return to Merlin's house the next morning, Lea had led Roxas, Xion and Namine into an abandoned building with caution, though they didn't need to worry, because the house, although wrecked via for the past ten years, was rather homey. Lea glanced around before sliding his fingers on the dusty old railing of the stairs that lead up to rooms above.
It's been years since he'd been home, and his chest tightened as did his throat. Memories began to fill up in his mind, as well as regrets. Lea could remember the last thing he said to his parents before they all died; that he would be home in time for dinner and that he loved them.
"Lea?" Xion asked. "What's this place?"
Snapped out of his slightly emortional trance, Lea turned to look at the three teens who had now become his brother and sisters, and answered, "This, is where I grew up in, before I became a Heartless and a Nobody. This is my childhood home."
"This is your home?" Roxas asked, surprised as he looked around.
The redhead shrugged, "Well, I guess you could say that." he then added, "And, since we don't have a place to live yet, might as well provide it as our house. It ain't much, but it's home."
The teens smiled at this, and looked around again, with Roxas saying, "I think it's great."
"You couldn't have picked a better place to live, Lea." Namine said. "I love it already."
"Me too." Xion added, as she walked up the stairs to explore.
"Glad you guys like it." Lea smiled, before stretching out his arms, and yawned, then said, "Well, this place does need a renovation, and since we don't any beds or couches yet, I'm gonna go and buy us some sleeping bags for starters while you three get used to this place."
As he walked towards the door, he paused and told them, "Starting tomorrow, we start in help in rebuilding Radiant Garden, to earn some more cash to buy furniture and all that."
"Sounds like fun! I can't wait to get started!" Roxas exclaimed happily, while he continued to look around.
"You might wanna think about sleep first, Rox'." Lea suggested. "It's gonna be pretty busy until this entire world is fully rebuild. Got it memorized?" as he walked out the door.
"He's still got that habit of sleeping?" Xion giggled as she shook her head while coming down the stairs. "Why am I not surprised?"
"He hasn't been sleeping lately before he got his heart back." Namine stated. "Ever since Roxas returned to Sora, Axel's been restless."
Roxas, overhearing this, paused before looking at the floor. He recalled that day, and mentally sighed. Deciding to worry about that later, he looked up to the two girls and said, "Well, I for one, probably won't be able to sleep tonight since I wanna get started in helping rebuilt this place!"
That, Xion and Namine doubted.
Lea ventured through the streets as he made his way to the Marketplace. The good thing about defeating Heartless was that they dropped munny, and since he was flat broke, whatever munny he picked up was enough to buy four sleeping bags. He sighed before gazing up at the twilight sky which was starting to become darker.
'Well...at least this is a start.' The redhead thought to himself.
Later that night, with sleeping bags ready, and having to sleep in the living room since it has a fireplace, Lea, Roxas, Xion and Namine were all bundled up, the fireplace having a fire set up by the flames of flurry, and were all nice and warm. Roxas, despite his claims earlier, was snoring his head head, while Xion and Namine slept peacefully like small children.
Lea on the other hand, for the first time in his two lives, was sleeping silently, breathing steadly in his sleep, having rolled over to his side, and using his hands to act as an extra pillow to be more comfortable.
However, something woke him up in a flash-a familiar voice that was supposed to only belong to him. "Nice place you've got."
His eyes immediately opening, and awakening from, to his horror, a memory of his and Isa's death ten years ago in a form of a nightmare, Lea sat up and to his fear, it was Axel who was now leaning against the wall next to the stairs, same as he appeared earlier in the Bailey. Lea's eyes widened at the sight of his Nobody for the second time in a row.
"What're you doing here?" Lea whispered, careful not to wake the kids up.
Axel shrugged. "I think the question should be, "How am I here?""
'That's not really helpful.' Lea thought to himself, though he had to admit, Axel did have a good point. But doubt and fear was starting to creep up inside his Heart, and he had no clue why.
"Lea, is something wrong?" Roxas's tired voice gave Lea a start, and when the redhead looked, the blonde-haired teen looked half-asleep, though he didn't even see Axel at all. Lea looked at Axel again, before looking at Roxas, not certain if the boy was aware or not.
"N-No, it's nothing." Lea lied. "Go back to sleep, Rox'."
With that, Roxas collasped back into his sleeping bag, and was right back to dream-land. Lea felt bad for it. He hated lying to his friend...but with Axel here, was Roxas really his friend? What was wrong with him?
"Heh, looks like you're the only one who can see me." Axel chuckled, having figured it out that Roxas didn't notice the conversation.
The Somebody turned to glare at his Nobody, and asked, "Alright, say that you're here when you're supposed to be inside my body, what do you want of me?"
"What do I-?" Axel asked, startled, before realising what his real-self meant, and replied, "You know better than that. We're supposed to have merged together. As a matter of fact, I was ready to give up my existance and fade inside you. We're the same person. We're not like Sora or Roxas. There should only be one of us."
Lea didn't like how this was going at all. "But...if it ended differently, what would you do?" he asked, feeling scared.
Axel blinked, before looking at the floor, and admitting, "I don't like what happened in the past, either. So, if we didn't merge together again, even if Roxas, Xion and Namine would still come back, I would've done the same thing you want to do."
"So how are we in this situation now?" Lea asked.
The red-haired Nobody looked at his original, answering, "You should be the one to answer that one."
Gasping, Lea looked at the floor, but when he looked up to ask another question, Axel was once again gone, leaving Lea to think that it was just another strange dream. He sighed, before looking at the ceiling, deep in thought.
"I should be the one to answer, huh?" he thought to himself.
Sighing, he layed back down in his sleeping back and placed his hands behind his head, too deep into thought; both of the sudden memory of losing his heart and his best friend in nightmare form, and his unusual hallucinated conversation with his Nobody.
'But I thought I already accepted being both. Why we are feeling seperate now?'
For one thing, Lea knew that he wouldn't be getting back to sleep soon now. So much for a good start tomorrow morning.
A/N: Thought I'd try something a bit different. Haven't figured out who the other five mysterious figures in this new group are yet, but I know who the fifth one is at least.
Well, the next chapter will have to wait until possibly next week(if my computer doesn't die during this week), so in the meantime, see you later!