Chapter 2 – Making Friends

"They've captured her", said an unknown voice. Their voice was deep.

"What happened?", replied another unknown voice. This voice was slightly higher, but still deep.

"They got in during the few minutes that our guard was down. They must've studied our patterns with each attempt to get to her", replied the first voice. The shadowy figure looked down at the ground. "What should we do now?".

"There's nothing we can do right now", responded the second voice. "They've likely taken her to the Castle That Never Was. It's a fortress, as I'm sure you well know. It will take time and planning to even get close."

"What if they discover her real power?" asked the first voice. "That could give some serious power to Xemnas and the Organization".

"They already know she has power, but not the extent of it", replied the second voice. "It's a risk we'll have to take. We must start planning a rescue operation. See to it that our people are informed. We'll need to be prepared if we're going to get her back from them. All the members of the Organization will be in that castle. This will be tricky".

"Understood".

Demyx gave me a brief tour of the main areas of the castle, and reiterated where I was and was not allowed to go. The place seemed huge, and I had a feeling he had only shown me the bare minimum to get around. There didn't seem to be any outside-facing doors that I could see, but then again, why show a captive the door to freedom? Even if I did find it though, there were 5 million dusks outside waiting to greet me, and I didn't have a keyblade to fight them with. Where was Sora when you needed him?

I wondered where Sora was. If this was the Kingdom Hearts universe, didn't that mean that he and all the other good guys would be here somewhere? Did they even know I existed? I was worried about what the Organization had planned for me. Surely, they were keeping me here for a purpose…

"You spacing out?" Demyx was in my face.

"Woah, no", I responded, backing up a bit and waving my arms in front of me. I had gotten so lost in my thoughts, that I must've just been staring blankly ahead.

"Okay, then", he said. "This is our final stop. Somewhere you can come to get out of your room." I looked around. There was no door to this room, just an alcove leading into a much larger space. There were couches spread around like the room Saïx was in, as well as a large window as the far wall, but this room was much bigger. The variety of furniture was much larger as well, with coffee and end tables scattered around the couches and armchairs.

As I glanced around, I noticed there were some members of the Organization there. Luxord was sitting at a table playing cards with Zexion. They didn't seem to notice us at the entrance. I looked around the other side of the room, and saw Axel's piercing green eyes glance at me. I immediately jumped behind Demyx. Axel seemed kind of scary right now; not the kind person he was to Roxas at all.

"Hey, what are you doing?" said Demyx looking behind at me.

"Axel looks kind of scary right now", I said.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about him", said Demyx. "He's a big softie once you get to know him. The only harm you need to worry about is if you try to leave the castle. We wouldn't have captured you if we meant you harm. Just don't go trying to leave, and we'll get along swell, kay?". He spoke in a generally playful tone, but there was a hint of seriousness to his voice in that last sentence. They were being nice to me now, but if I tried anything, that would quickly change.

"Roxas!" I exclaimed happily, walking out from behind Demyx. Roxas had just come in to the room, and was standing a short distance from us.

"Oh, hi", he said, looking a little confused. "Demyx give you the grand tour?"

"Yes, we've just finished." I responded. "He said this is a place where I can come to hang out."

"Ya got that right", said Roxas. "How about we go and sit down?". He scanned the room, and pointing in Axel's direction said "How about over there? We can join Axel!".

"Okay…" I said, a little nervous. I followed Roxas to the back-left corner where Axel was sitting by himself on a couch with another opposite him, and a coffee table in between. Roxas and I sat on the couch opposite him. There was a brief, awkward silence before Roxas spoke.

"Hey Axel, how's it going?" he asked Axel.

"Fine, I suppose", Axel responded. He looked at Roxas with kinder eyes.

"Megan's just had the grand tour with Demyx", said Roxas cheerfully. "She's free to roam around now."

"Ah, is that so", said Axel. He looked at me, our eyes meeting, and said "Hope I didn't scare you too much earlier".

"You did look a bit intense when I saw you across the room…" I said, trying not to break his gaze.

"Sorry about that", he said. "I was deep in thought. That tends to happen."

"What were you thinking about?" I asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know!" he said sarcastically. "I'm sure you've heard the typical 'don't try to leave' speech by now. I don't think you want me pinning you with my chakram again. Got it memorized?". I became nervous as I briefly recalled his expression when he had me pinned to the wall in my room, but then I giggled. When Axel looked confused, I explained.

"You always say that!", I giggled. "'Got it memorized?'". I laughed. "But yeah, preferably no more chakrams to my throat. You looked kind of scary then".

"Yeah, well", Axel began. "We were on a mission. Now that you're here though, things can be a little more laid back."

"That's good to hear…", I said nervously. Axel was like a different person when he was on a mission… I changed the subject to a friendlier one. "You and Roxas have been friends for a long time, right?".

"You got it!" said Roxas.

"Roxas was completely hopeless when he came into the Organization", said Axel. "We became buddies, and he slowly came out of his shell".

"Mmhmm", I said, recalling the games' storylines. This was weird. Suddenly I'm friends with the people who had taken me captive; the one who had a weapon to my throat! But I couldn't help it. These were the people from the game! It was strange, but it seemed like although they were the ones that captured me, they were really good people at heart. Just following orders. I knew that didn't necessarily make it right, but for the meantime, it was better to be friends with them than enemies.

We all laughed at Axel's stories about Roxas. As long as I didn't try to leave, things would be hunky-dory. I could be friends with Roxas and Axel, and be free to move about the castle. My only worry was what Xemnas had planned for me…