Notes: Aaaaand, I'm back! Surprised that I was able to get this chapter out so quickly? Okay, probably not, but still!

Anyway, for those of you who are fans of Rox and Nam (or just wanted something bad to actually happen to the heroes!) then this is the chapter that I actually get around to making up for the lack of true excitement!

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, only my own characters and ideas...supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! (Sorry, had to do something random to shake off the sheer dullness of that!)

Sora could feel something, or someone, lightly prodding his stomach even as he groaned and turned away, intent on getting his sleep.

"Sora, wake up…" Riku's voice commanded in a suitably gruff tone. Dimly, Sora could remember Riku going off into the night before he fell asleep in the cave Kairi led them to in the night before for some reason or another that he had failed to pick up on…the hike to the cave had utterly exhausted what little strength Sora had left, especially since the entire incident had woke him up at midnight, further depriving him of his sleep! Sora DESERVED his sleep…Riku owed it to him for waking him up and leading the villagers into Kairi's castle like that!

Instead of getting up as Riku wanted, Sora merely groaned and flipped on his side, away from the now undoubtedly frustrated boy. A sly smirk grew on the brunette's face as he pictured what Riku must have been doing to vent his frustration. As ruthless as the silver-haired knight in training could be, Sora knew that not even he would resort to literally kicking him out of the sleeping back that he had cocooned himself in, and pouring water on him wouldn't work either…all they had was what their canteens held, and wasting that precious amount on something so petty just wasn't Riku's style.

Call it immature, this was just Sora's way of getting back at his best friend for ruining a night of what could have been peaceful sleep!

To his surprise, Riku actually seemed to resign himself to waiting for his best friend and comrade to awaken…something that seemed extraordinarily uncharacteristic.

Sora had learned the hard way that Riku was never content to simply let someone, or something, beat him. He always had to win, to be the best…if he was defeated; he just brushed himself off and came back later, more determined than ever. In fact, during their training, the two had an intense rivalry going on in every single subject that could be considered "competitive". Who happened to be the best in the class always seemed to switch every few days…it was an almost never ending cycle, really.

A part of Sora was actually quite glad that that part of his life was over…Riku's nearly-taunting smirks were always enough to get his blood to boil and make him strive to surpass his previous limitations…while it was certainly good for his growth, that much work and responsibility took a serious toll on him…especially because he was a "lazy bum". It was just so…surprising to see (or I this case, hear) Riku give up…

Suddenly, Sora felt a slight pressure on his upper arm as another presence drew near…there was something about it that set Sora on edge.

"Good morning, Sora…" The voice belonged to Kairi…and he could feel something, or rather, someone pressing against him even as she whispered into his ear.

Instantly, he froze as a wave of panic broke out over him. To make things worse, one of her arms snaked its way across the sleeping bag and wrapped itself around his stomach, pulling him closer to what felt like Kairi's body.

"GYYYYAAAAH!" Sora screamed as he literally jumped out his cocoon, away from Kairi. He literally seemed spin around in mid-air, instinctively turning around behind him. As expected, Kairi was laying near his sleeping bag…with what seemed to be another, rolled-up, sleeping bag between her and it.

"Huh?" he asked aloud as the realization of what really happened sank in. Kairi burst out laughing, releasing the sleeping bag that she had put in between her and Sora in her own scheme to get him out of bed.

Now he knew for sure that he had been duped…even Riku was beginning to crap up at his facial expression, which was a mix of both shock and revelation. Apparently, Kairi had convinced Riku to allow her to wake him up in her own way, which involved tricking him into thinking that she was laying next to him by heating up Riku's sleeping bag (he was never one to trust anyone else with his supplies…Sora never could understand why he insisted on hiding his own supplies in nearby, yet hidden, locations) until it felt warm enough to be Kairi's dress-clad body and then forcing against him while doing a superb job of acting like it was really her.

…In other words, Sora now had a new appreciation for just how competent a schemer the auburn-haired half-demon was.

"Y-y-you…S-s-should…have seen y-y-you're face!" Kairi said in-between gasps as she desperately tried to regain the air she lost laughing at Sora's realization.

He had to admit, it was nice to see her laughing…and it was difficult for him not to join in the laughter as well.

"Alright, that's enough, you two," Riku said in a surprisingly light-hearted manner as he walked towards the edge of the cave towards what looked like a small pile of various odds and ends…including Sora's clothes and armor. "It won't take long for the villagers to find this cave, and we've got a full day's travel ahead of us…so get dressed."

Sora exchanged a look with Kairi and she merely shrugged in reply. It could have been worse…at least she and Riku weren't literally at each other's throats again!

"Well, see you later," Kairi called back over her shoulder as she and Riku left the cave to give Sora some privacy while he exchanged the pajamas Kairi had loaned him the night before for more suitable traveling clothes.

If there was one thing Sora hated about being a knight, even an inexperienced one, it was the sheer amount of traveling that he had to do. As much as he enjoyed sightseeing and the feel of adventure, hours upon hours of uneventful walking and riding had pretty much killed off any excitement that he got from traveling…

And this time, he wouldn't even have a horse to ride one.

"Hey…Hey you, wake up!" someone was calling him…but who? The voice belonged to a girl, but he simply didn't recognize it.

The boy suddenly felt an elbow violently jam itself into his side.

He jerked up, or at least tried to. "Huh, wha-?!" the boy's gravity defying, dirty-blond hair, shook as bit as the boy pulled against the ropes that were binding his hands behind him to what felt like a pole of some sort.

"OW! Would you stop that?!" the voice he had hear earlier demanded. The boy leaned sideways and turned his head to get a look at his cell-mate as she seemed to do the same, judging from the change of pressure coming from the pole, she was no longer putting her weight against it.

His blue eyes instantly identified her physical features. The girl had short blue hair and equally blue eyes. Her clothing was well-made, if a touch plain, though it was unusual for a woman. She was wearing a white shirt that had leather guards on its shoulder, and a pair of brown pants as well. The blue-haired girl was too finely dressed to be a peasant of some kind…but she also didn't seem to be a noblewoman either…she wore pants for one thing, something a traditional lady wouldn't be caught dead in, not to mention her less-than-charming manners.

…Perhaps the blue-haired girl was a shield-maiden or some other kind of servant? It wasn't unheard of for that to happen…most nobles were willing to turn a blind eye to the gender of those in their service if they were good enough at their jobs.

"…What?" the girl asked with a curious expression. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she glared at him until he finally sighed and turned back around. Yep…she must have been a shield maiden of some sort…no other servant could possibly have such an attitude and actually remain in their master's service.

"So…do you know where we are?" she asked after several seconds of awkward silence. The room was dark and there was nothing else for the two to do but sit there and await whatever fate their captors had in mind for them, so it was only natural that the girl at least try to make an effort to do something other than wait.

"No, I'm afraid not." It was a less than detailed reply on the blond boy's part, but it was all that he could think of under his present circumstances…his head was still pounding…

"…Well do you at least remember how you got here in the first place?" her tone held a hint of frustration in it…it probably wouldn't hurt to give her a more detailed answer this time, especially if they were going to be stuck together like this…the last thing the spiky-haired blond needed was another elbow in his side.

"…Yeah, I remember…we were going outside the city gates to get my medicine from Nami-," he froze as his blue eyes widened in silent horror. "…no…"

"Hm? What's wrong?"

He didn't even answer the blue-haired girl as he struggled against his bindings with all of his strength, desperately trying to break free. "NAMINE, AXEL!" he called out as the memories of what had happened shortly before his capture resurfaced. How could he have been so stupid as to forget, even for a few moments?!

He had left the city along with Axel, his best friend and personal body-guard, when they were assailed by creatures that seemed to be made of darkness itself as soon as they reached the blond witch's hut. They had the advantage of surprise and there didn't seem to be an end to them…he had lost consciousness when one of them somehow appeared behind him out of literally nowhere. Axel and Namine weren't fairing much better by the time he had blacked out…were they…were they even alive?

Eventually, he stopped his struggling and fell back against the pole, utterly exhausted. The ropes were just too tight…

"Hey…um…what's your name?" it was that girl's voice again…she actually sounded…cautious…careful…she must have realized that she had unintentionally hit a nerve with her question and was trying to avoid getting him worked up a second time. It was a pointless effort though…his two best friends…they could have been dead for all he knew!

But…it's the thought that counts…right? Besides, what good would it do to make another enemy?

"…Roxas…what about you?"

"Aqua…my name's Aqua," her tone was less strained…she was relaxing, if only a bit.

And Roxas was as well…even if it was only a simple exchange of names, it was nice to break the ice a bit…especially after their less-than polite introductions.

Of course, as nice as it was to meet Aqua, the primary question on the blond's mind was how they were going to escape. He knew he had nothing on him, just a suit of chainmail armor with a lather vest over it, and his pants…not that it would matter if he had anything that could be used to free him and Aqua from the ropes. It was difficult to so much as flex his hands, much less use them to take anything out of his currently-empty pockets…if escape from this dark prison cell was indeed possible, then it wouldn't be done by through anything he could come up with.

"I don't suppose you have a way out of here, do you?" Roxas's tone was a resigned one…he already knew the answer he was going to get, but there was some part of him that was silently hoping, praying that something miraculous would happen…

He…he couldn't just sit here knowing that axel and Namine could be either dead or in danger!

"…I might, but…" Even though they were back-to-back, the blond could tell that aqua was biting her lip in hesitation, though the reason behind it escaped him. Did she have a way to get them free or not? If they could just get free of the ropes and pole, it would be something to start with, regardless of whether or not it would be possible to pick the lock to the cell's door.

"But what?!" Roxas's tone was impatient and even a little angry, normally he always kept a cool head, but right now he needed a straight answer…could he save Namine and Axel or not?

There was a pause before Aqua finally took a breath and answered.

"…I'm just not sure whether or not it'll work…I don't know if he's even coming…"

"Hm?" Roxas looked over his shoulder, a curious expression developing on his face. "Who's 'he'?"

The blond could see Aqua opening her mouth to reply when a metallic sound rang echoed throughout the whole room…and it was coming from the door's lock.

…Someone was trying to gain entry…and Roxas didn't even want to try and guess the odds of it being his and Aqua's captors…

The noise continued to echo for several seconds and then…nothing.

His muscles untensed for a few seconds even as he held his breath…had it been a mistake? Was it a cruel trick to try and intimidate them before an interrogation began? The suspense was just as bad as any one of the suspicions and ideas of what demented tortures may happen!

A loud "crack" was heard, it sounded like something had been broken somehow, and then the door opened…

Of all the people who could have come through the door, the person who walked into the cell was unquestionably one that Roxas, in all of his suspenseful imaginings, hadn't even come close to picturing.

He was a boy around his age with short, ash-black hair that seemed to have an "organized chaos" messiness to it. He wore a black robe with a hood, though it was currently down, allowing his features to be seen. Also, the boy held a steel knife in his left hand that seemed to be of impressive quality. What most drew Roxas's attention, however, was what looked like a cast of some sort on his right arm, though it seemed like it was meant to hide and conceal its appearance rather than force any broken bones back into place…the raven-haired boy was moving it around without any visible discomfort, and it was clearly made to COMPLETELY cover his arm…not even his fingers were coming through.

Perhaps he had leprosy or some other disfiguring skin disease on his arm?

Regardless, judging from the way his brown eyes rapidly scanned the room and lit up in relief when he saw him and Aqua tied to the pole immediately removed any fears of him being a torturer of some sort from Roxas's mind.

"Ven, I found her and someone else!" he whispered, just loud enough for Roxas to hear as he walked towards the rope that bound him and Aqua, apparently to cut them with the knife he had used to break the lock on the door.

Another boy about his age walked into the room, causing Roxas to audibly gasp.

The boy looked almost EXACTLY like him, the only difference was their clothing ad hair styles…whereas he wore a suit of chainmail and had spiky, nigh gravity defying hair, the boy wore a simple tunic and pair of pants, and his dirt blond hair was in a more traditional, albeit messy, style. It was similar to the raven-haired boy who was cutting the ropes, but it was noticeably messier, as if someone had been pulling upwards on it for a minute straight before releasing it…

"Nihlus, what kept you?!" Aqua hissed as the ropes fell to the ground.

Ah, so that was the name of their savior.

Roxas stepped away from the post and turned around in time to see Nihlus roll his eyes and mutter something that had the word "ingratitude" in it before her turned away from the Aqua.

"Ven, you check the other cells for anymore prisoners, I'll keep a look out…that should give Aqua enough time to stretch…" It was easy for Roxas to pick up on the more than slight hint of irritation in Nihlus's voice as Ven nodded and gave a rather cocky salute before running off.

"So…who are they?" he asked as soon as both of the other boys had left him and Aqua alone in the room for a few more moments, not that he could blame either of them for not bothering to make introductions, given the current situation.

Aqua sighed in reply and massaged her forehead with two fingers, obviously just thinking of her two…whatever they were to her, was enough to give her a headache. "Well, Nihlus is the son of the lord I serve…I'm supposed to be his bodyguard to make sure that he doesn't go and get himself killed, and Ven's another servant like me…"

Roxas raised an eyebrow in mild surprise at Aqua's reply and overall demeanor. "You certainly seem to act casually around him, if you really are technically supposed to be subservient to him." It truly was unheard of for a servant, even a bodyguard, to treat their employers the way the blue-haired girl had treated Nihlus…how could he not be curious?

Aqua spun around to face him, a fiery expression in her eyes as she raised a fist to his face. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

Instantly, he regretted being so blunt…not only was getting Aqua mad at him bad in itself, but he very much doubted that she wouldn't go through with her threat to punch him in the face…she really didn't seem the type to not back up her threats…

"Nothing, I just…"

The blue-haired girl sighed and turned away before he could even finish apologizing.

"I'm…sorry…you just look so much like Ven, and I'm used to knocking him around whenever he acts up…"

…That was a rather…awkward way of phrasing things…still, Roxas wasn't about to look a gift-horse in the mouth!

"It's fine," Roxas replied simply as he heard footsteps echo down the hall, it must have been Ven…or maybe…no…that was too much to hope for…

"The name's Axel…got it memorized?"

Roxas's heart nearly stopped…could it? No…it must have been wishful thinking, surely!

"Heh, got it…say, what's wrong with you? You seem…well…depressed for someone who just got rescued!"

"Oh…sorry…I just…Roxas…"

Now the blond's heart really did stop. With all the haste of a man near madness, Roxas sprinted out of the cell and turned towards the voices. Standing behind Ven were two people, a man and a girl roughly his age.

The man was relatively young, probably in his early twenties, and had fire-red hair that was both long and wild, and his eyes were an emerald green. His overall build was rather on the thin side, but it was obvious that there was quite a bit of hidden strength within the man…and a bit of maniac as well, not to mention a cocky streak from the smirk that was decorating his features. The red-head was dressed in an identical manner to Roxas, the only difference between their armor was the size...obviously, a full-grown man needed a bigger suit than someone Roxas's age.

It was the girl, however, that dominated the blond's attention.

She had a petite, almost fragile-looking figure, though there was something about her…a powerful and even unbreakable will that hovered behind her sea-blue eyes. Her hair was a golden blond that reached down to her shoulder blades, and her skin had the slightest hint of paleness to it, not enough to mar her appearance, but just enough to add an almost holy look to her already pure appearance. The blind girl was clad in a simple brown, hooded cloak and an equally simple white dress that only reach down to her knees, the rest looking as though it had been torn off over the passage of time. Apart from that, the slight dress was in extraordinarily good condition, it was obvious how much she cared for it…while her clothed were simple, they only added to her beauty…

And beautiful she was, jaw-dropingly so, in Roxas's opinion, however inappropriate it may have been for someone of his position.

If his heart hadn't stopped earlier out of sheer shock, it certainly did so now…though it was more out of joy than surprise.

"N-Namine?!"

The girl's head, which had been facing the ground in what seemed to be depression and worry earlier, instantly jerked up, her blue eyes filled with both surprise and relief.

"Roxas!"

To his surprise, she ran up to him, practically, shoving both Axel and Ven aside, and nearly jumped on top of him, wrapping her bare arms around his neck and burying her head in his chest in a close hug.

A startled gasp escaped his lips as he struggled to stop himself from falling from the added weight and the force of Namine's impact; it was nothing short of totally unexpected!

"Wha-?! N-Namine?!" Roxas stuttered as she continued the clutch at him tightly, his face was beginning to turn a light pink. To make things worse, both Axel and Ven were starting to smirk and elbow each other in a joking manner…apparently, Axel had finally found someone who's sense of humor was identical to his own.

"Roxas…I thought…" Namine slowly stepped back just a little, barely enough to allow him to see her face…her eyes were on the verge of letting a torrent of tears flow forth. "…I thought you were dead or…or going to die…"

He was at a loss for words…he did know that he and Axel were the only friends she had, everyone else shunned her since she was a "witch", so it only made sense that she would break down at the mere thought of losing either one of them…and he was closer to her than Axel was…

…Nevertheless, it was embarrassing to have her this close to him! There were already enough rumors about the two of them circulating about without these kinds of scenes…but…he couldn't just pull away…one look at her blue orbs instantly rid his mind of such a callous idea…and the hug wasn't an entirely unpleasant experience either…

Roxas gently patted the back of her head and slowly stepped away.

"We don't have time to sit here and chat, we have to move, now!" Nihlus's voice hissed through the hallway, followed by the sound of his footsteps.

The blond mentally grimaced and, after giving Namine a comforting look, turned to face Nihlus. As bad as his timing was, he was right, they couldn't afford to tarry much longer…there was no telling when whoever or whatever guarded this prison would discover their escape…

"Ugh…Nihlus…you…" Aqua stomped out past Roxas with a sour look on her face as she advanced toward her charge. Nihlus's face was one of both confusion and fear as his bodyguard began to practically drag him by his good arm down the hall and towards what Roxas believed to be the exit.

Despite his irritation with the raven-haired boy, he couldn't help but feel a degree of sympathy for him…he had come perilously close to finding out just how terrible Aqua's wrath could be, and it looked like the poor boy was about to suffer for his mistake…

Still, a part of Roxas couldn't help but smirk at Nihlus's apparent misfortune…he DID deserve some kind of punishment for breaking up his moment with Namine…it was…nice…perhaps too nice to be allowed by the rather restrictive rules of politics and society that bound him…

"So, are we going to stand here all day, or are we going to get a move on?" Ven asked as he walked past both Roxas and Namine, Axel close behind him. To the blonde's amusement, the red-haired man lightly hit Ven in the back of the head and muttered something that Roxas wasn't quite able to hear. "Oh…um…sorry for forgetting to mention that Rox was in another cell, Namine…"

"Oh…it's fine!" the "witch" replied in an almost cheerful tone.

Cheerful? A moment ago she was nearly in tears….but then, Namine had always managed to cheer him up when something in his life seemed to go horribly wrong…perhaps she was just doing the same for herself?

Ven muttering something to Axel about "ruining his chances" was enough to instantly sap him back to reality…in fact, Roxas nearly fired off a retort of some kid when Namine planted two fingers over his lips. It was amazing how girls seemed to possess an almost unnatural ability to silence their male counterparts with such a simple gesture.

"Roxas, it's fine…" she giggled, clearly amused by his reaction. "I don't mind…the real question is, do you?"

"Huh?!" he nearly gasped in surprise as Namine merely smiled in a mischievous manner in reply. It was probably just a joke on her part, she was rather fond of them, but it affected him nonetheless.

"Well I-,"

"Hey, come on, that Nihlus kid was right, we really do have to get out of here!" Axel's voice was low, but it held a hint of steel in it for once, he wasn't joking around and he certainly didn't feel like playing the daredevil role that he usually did, something that spoke volumes in itself.

Namine shot him one last look, one that Roxas wasn't quite able to read, before she turned and ran to join the rest of the group.

Roxas ran to catch up, but quickly stopped and looked over his shoulder. He…he couldn't shake the feeling that they were all being watched, but there was nothing there, not even a slight flicker of a shadow, to indicate that…

Reluctantly, he turned back around and ran to make up for lost time, it was probably nothing…and he always did tend to trust his head more than he trusted his gut feelings…

A black, armored figure stood on a nearby rooftop as the band of escapees slowly made their way through what they were most likely beginning to realize was the city known as "Hollow Bastion", the capital of "Lord" Ansem's little scrap of land.

Everything had gone perfectly from when he left Maleficent to begin machinating the events leading up to this, including the witch's attack on the city itself. Roughly half of it had already been overcome by the heartless, and his experiment was going along even better than he had hoped!

The being of darkness would have smiled if he was the smiling kind of entity.

The escapees were probably going to be suspicious of how easily their escape from the prison the heartless had taken over and locked them in under his orders went, but that wouldn't matter…there was absolutely nothing they would be able to do to avoid their inevitable fates. They would be trapped in the heartless half of the city and forced to watch as everything they knew and cherished was slowly picked away…something that would inevitably cause the dark emotions in their hearts to surface…

Roxas , Namine, and Axel would unquestionably be torn by the utter destruction and conversion of the city and its inhabitants…a public display of Ansem having his heart torn out would bring the young noble to his knees, and the witch's feelings towards him would cause her to begin to submit to the darkness within her once he became lost, and the warrior named "Axel" wouldn't last long without his friends to support him…humans were such wonderfully fragile creatures!

And then there was the trio…Nihlus, Ven, and Aqua…they were quite literally dragged from their home, far from Hollow Bastion, but he had already engineered their fall as well…

Watching the inhabitants of Hollow Bastion be converted wouldn't be enough, nor would watching it burn, but that was why he had forced Nihlus's arm to become infected with darkness…by now it must have been completely consumed, judging from the cast.

The bond between him and his friends had proven too strong to be severed by his partial transformation into a creature of darkness, but how would the others react to it, especially when their home was being torn apart by the heartless?

The darkness fed on the so-called "Dark" emotions, and Nihlus was perfect a candidate to show that…there was so much of them, so much potential for darkness to grow and flourish in the boy!

He would eventually be consumed by it…or perhaps he would willingly submit to it? Now THAT would be interesting!

Of course, his friends would soon follow…ah, what was this?

The armored figure's yellow orbs narrowed as it looked down at the raven-haired boy as he seemed to clutch at his arm in pain, getting a concerned Aqua's attempts to ease it in reply…she had managed to see and hear him scream in agony when the darkness first began to eat away at his arm of flesh and blood when he was first "infected" by it before she had been dragged away by the heartless…

Hm…yes…perhaps she would be the next to fall?

The possibilities were endless…especially considering that humans who gave in to the darkness within them always turned into creatures far more powerful than anything the heartless could create by stealing hearts.

The group of escapees soon vanished from his view, no doubt trying to find a safe place to hide out in, unaware that the heartless were under orders not to directly assail them…

Humans were truly fascinating creatures…they struggled and struggled against the darkness, but when it finally caught up with them, they turned on those they fought so hard to hard to protect with such a terrible vengeance that it sent shiver of horror up even the heartlesses' spines!

It was going to be interesting to see what "dark" emotions took control, of each individual escapee…there were so many to pick from…rage, sorrow, desire…the possibilities were enough to send shivers of anticipation down the being of darkness's spine as he slowly backed into a dark door, vanishing into the night…

Okay, I know it was probably an underwhelming chapter, and I'm sorry…I'll try to get in some action during the next chapter…

Oh, and just so you know, Aqua, and Ven aren't really OCs…they're two of the three chasers from the Birth by Sleep trailer…I'm pretty sure you can guess at who Nihlus is, right?

Anyway, sorry if you don't like me including them in the fic…I promise their roles won't be very large, so you'll be able to focus mostly on the main cast of the already released games…please don't forget to review!