Second Chance.

Note: Good news! My sister survive surgery and is doing pretty well. She managed to eat food, and while using a walking stick to support her, she can even move to her own bed, which is great! She'll be sore for a couple of weeks and won't be able to go to work for a week, but other than that, she's making a good recovery.

Stress over...thank goodness. Anyway, welcome to chapter 4, and please enjoy. I don't own Kingdom Hearts-it belongs to Disney and Square Enix.


CH4: Truth and reunion.

"It's been too long, my friend." said DiZ who is now known as none other than Ansem-the real Ansem.

And Mickey wasn't impressed, despite being younger. "Ansem the Wise." he stated, before asking, "Why didn't you come to me before things got so bad?" placing his hands on his hips. He couldn't believe that Ansem has disguised himself as DiZ for the entire time and Mickey himself didn't even realise it.

"Xemnas, the Organization's Superior, is the Nobody of Xehanort, my foremost apprentice. The burden was mine to bear." Ansem replied.

"Is that it?" Mickey asked, as he watched Ansem approach the railing-wall.

The blonde-haired man then explained, "I won't deny there was more. I was...obsessed with thoughts of revenge. My apprentices stole everything precious to me-my research, and my pride."

Hearing this made Mickey realise how much his old friend wanted Xehanort to pay for everything that's happened, especially in Radiant Garden. Still, he approached his human friend and stated, "I can't help you with revenge."

"I know." Ansem sighed, "Riku's told me a thousand times."

Mickey was surprised to hear that Riku was alright and around. He glanced around to see his friend, before turning back to his older friend and asked, "Where is he?"

"He must be with his friends by now." Ansem replied, before explaining, "Riku was a great help to me. I found him wandering the darkness, after you and he lost track of each other."

"Gosh," Mickey shrugged a little, "We didn't lose each other exactly. Riku left...well, 'cause Xehanort's Heartless was still inside his heart, troubling him. And he sure

must've been suffering." he sighed, knowing how much poor Riku suffered no thanks to Xehanort's heartless. He then added in a tone of confusion, "But what I don't understand is why he looks like that now, when he's still Riku at heart."

Ansem was silent as he listened to what Mickey was saying, and felt pain within his chest. Eventually, he answered, "I am to blame. When I met Riku the first time he still had the appearance of a boy. Probably because he had such a strong heart. I asked him to find a young man named Roxas from Organization XIII, and bring him to me."

Mickey was a bit surprised to hear this; He remembered that Roxas was also Axel's best friend within the Organization after the red-head explained what happened.

"When I told him it would help Sora awaken from his slumber, Riku left without a word." Ansem continued, "He fought Roxas. And I can only surmise Riku lost that fight. Riku must have realized then: to fight in the realm of darkness, he would have to immerse himself in that same darkness. And when he did...you saw what became of him. When Riku brought Roxas back to me, he was introducing himself...as Ansem. If that was what it took to awaken his friend, he was ready to live in darkness."

"Riku was the victum of my revenge." Ansem added, as Mickey got up closer to him. "Oh, how my heart ached." the blonde-haired man sighed, "I could only laugh to hide my shame."

It made sense now to Mickey, because he replied, "I guess it musta been after that when I saw Riku again. He said he wanted to help Sora...but he made me promise- Promise that Sora wouldn't ever find out about what happened to him while he was out in the darkness."

He paused, and the awkwardly added, "And gee, there's this fella named Axel who was Roxas' close friend."

"Axel?" Ansem asked, a bit surprised. "That young man from the Organization?" as he remembered how Axel was ordered to bring Roxas back, and how he found it ridiculous that the two nobodies were 'friends' as he witnessed everything from the data.

"Yup, and on our way here, he saved Sora, Donald and Goofy from a bunch of nobodies." Mickey explained, "I know this sounds silly, but I think Axel wants to atone for what he did, and, well, he wanted to see Roxas again. He explained to us that Roxas was the only one Axel liked and made him feel like he had a heart again. Even Axel doesn't understand how or why."

So Axel knows that he shouldn't feel emotions or be close to anyone, yet he does. Ansem was now beginning to think that perhaps even he was wrong about the nobodies and that he was too far harsh on all of them, when it was Xemnas-no, Xehanort who is responsible for the entire mess, and because Sora returned human form, Roxas gained memories of his own, personality of his own, and gained a new friend within Axel who was unknowingly becoming connected with him. Perhaps the young redhead was mysteriously devoloping a heart of his own?

Seeing how there was still a lot of work to do, Ansem looked at Mickey, and says, "My friend, the time has come. I must make amends to these young people." before he picked up his device, and he and Mickey walked towards inside another passage.


Axel threw his chakrams at the heartless, shouting, "Get lost!" but to his frustration, more and more kept on coming. He skillfully caught his weapons, before falling to his left knee, panting, out of breath. He was still weak from his attempted suicide attack, one that shoud've caused him to die, and he would've been erased if Sora's curaga hadn't saved him. Donald and Goofy were also struggling, and Sora tried using magic with his own hands and without using his Keyblade to avoid giving Xemnas more hearts for his Kingdom Hearts.

Suddenly, a familiar katar takes aim and shoots. The shard lands on the battleground near Axel and Sora, who both looked up to see more shards obliterate the Heartless. Axel knew who the katar belongs to.

"Came to get rid of us, Xigbar?" Axel mocked as he stood up with a bit of difficulty, glaring up at the elaborate ledge where he knew that Xigbar would most likely appear.

It was confirmed as Xigbar appeared on the ledge, chuckling. "What'd you expect, Flamsilocks?" he joked.

"Flamsilocks?" Donald asked, looking at Axel who told Xigbar to shut up and said, "I hate it when you call me that."

Xigbar ignored Axel and turned his attention to Sora, saying, "Looks like you haven't been a good boy." before calling out, "Sora! Roxas!"

"NO!" Axel screamed in horror, while Sora asked in confusion, "Roxas?" before turning to Donald and asked, "Hey, did he just call me Roxas?" and the white duck nodded, also confused.

"You've really put Organization XIII in a pickle." Xigbar said, Axel knowing that the former is trying to speak to Roxas through Sora. "I guess that must be why the Keyblade chose you. But MAN, did it pick a dud this time. You don't look like you're half the hero the others were."

'Others?' Axel thought. 'How does he knew there are others? Did he meet them before?' So many questions filled up his mind, and then Axel remembered that Xigbar is the second member of the Organization. His brows furrowed in realisation.

"Geez, do you ever stop talking about the Keyblade?" Axel grunted, "You're almost half as bad as Xemnas, and Demyx called me a loudmouth? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you and Xemnas are hiding something other than using Kingdom Hearts to get our hearts back."

Xigbar snorted, "Hiding? As if! You and Roxas had discovered way too much, and now, traitors, your time is up!"

Just as he was about to attack the group, suddenly, something comes whirling at him, and he ducked just in time to avoid losing his head, crying out in fright at the close call, and the weapon landed. Then everyone looked, to their surprise, it was a flower-type Keyblade. Turning to see who threw it, everyone was in even more surprise as Kairi, on another ledge with the transformed Riku, held out her hand to try and get it to rematerialize. She was concentrating hard, and she knew that if Sora and Riku could do it, she can too. Riku gave her the keyblade, and Kairi was surprised that it didn't disappear on her, thus, she too was chosen to be a Keyblade wielder now, and not just a Princess of Heart.

"What the!?" Xigbar gasped, "How did this happen!?"

Fortunately, the keyblade vanished and it reappeared in Kairi's hand. "I did it!" she cried out happily.

"Well done." Riku praised with a smile.

"Since when did she get a Keyblade?" Axel asked, stunned at this.

"Kairi!?" Sora called out, shocked.

Both of them were even more shocked to see another familiar man with her, and while Sora thought Xehanort's Heartless has returned, Axel had a feeling that it was actually someone else. But neither got the chance to figure this out, because Xigbar, in irritation, fired more shards towards Kairi. However, Riku stood in front of her and blocked all attacks, much to her horror and the others' shock. Seeing this made Axel turn to Xigbar, while saying to the others, "Get over to Kairi! I'll handle this one-eyed weirdo!"

Before anyone knew it, Axel teleported himself up towards the ledge, his chakrams in his hands, glaring at the older nobody who just chuckled.

"Came to disappear, huh?" Xigbar mocked, his own weapons in hand.

"Not yet." Axel replied, "When I win, I want answers."

The older Nobody laughed again, taking arm and fired several of them, but Axel held up his Chakrams and blocked every single of them with a bit of struggle, before teleporting and vanishing out of Xigbar's sight, causing the one-eye-patched nobody to try and glance around, trying to sense Axel's movement, but because Axel still wore his coat, it made things impossible. Xigbar then dodged out of the way just in time as Axel reappeared and slashed, but missed.

The redhead Nobody then threw his weapons at him, and this time Xigbar used his weapons to knock them back, and Axel caught the chakrams before dodging more mutiple shards to avoid getting hit. Xigbar then disappeared and Axel looked around for him.

"I can see you!" Xigbar mocked, causing Axel to look up and saw him on a higher ledge, and the second Organization member took aim and fired. Axel's eyes widened, and he quickly teleported out of the way just in time, before he had an idea and then whistled at Xigbar from below before teleporting again. This seemed to work because Xigbar telelported to where he heard the sound, only to find an empty area.

"No you don't!" Axel mocked back as he teleported behind Xigbar and with both of his Chakrams, punch-stabbed the older nobody right into the body, the weapons sticking out of Xigbar's body, while Xigbar stood, shocked and horrified as he realized that he has been tricked.

Axel chuckled, and then said, "You should know better than to unexpect this kind of skill from a trained assassin." before pulling his chakrams out of Xigbar's body, causing the latter to fall to his knees, and drop his katar to the floor. He then walked around the now dying Xigbar, frowning before standing in front of him.

"Alright, interrgotion time." Axel said in a firm tone. "You've known Xemnas longer than I have. His oldself's name wasn't Ansem, right? His real name is Xehanort, isn't it?"

Panting, Xigbar glared up at Axel, and said, "How'd you figure that out?"

"Sora and his friends know about Xehanort's heartless who was supposed to be 'Ansem', the same one who is the half of Xemnas or whatever." Axel answered, "You're the second guy to join in the Organization, so tell me." he then demanded, "Who the thell is Xehanort? Why did Xemnas lie to the rest of the Organization? What does Kingdom Hearts really mean? Why weren't we getting our hearts back?"

Instead of answering, Xigbar smirked, chuckling, "Wouldn't you like to know..." as he began to fade away. But Axel grabbed him roughly on the collar, shouting, "Don't you go and disappear on me now! Answer my damn question! What was the point of collecting hearts if Xemnas lied to us!?"

"Seeing how you're a traitor, doomed to disappear, maybe I can fill in a few details." Xigbar grunted, "Kingdom Hearts was really meant to prevent us from getting our hearts back. We all were to become one single person in thirteen bodies...Even our minds were doomed to disappear."

"That doesn't make sense." Axel shook his head. "You can't just turn thirteen people into one single person. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, and believe me, this is really starting to become a pain in the butt."

Xigbar just laughed as he is almost vanished. "With Xehanort...anything is possible." and with that, he was gone, and Axel's grip ended up closing in empty air.

The redhead was left troubled in Xigbar's last words. What did he mean by what he said? It didn't make sense. Axel sighed, then he quickly remembered Sora and the others and cursed at himself, before quickly teleporting away to find the others. He knew that they would be near the spot he left them to reunight with Kairi and apparently Riku.

For one thing that Axel learned all day, Kingdom Hearts wasn't the answer of getting his or anybody else's hearts back.


Axel arrived just in time to aid Sora and the others in helping Kairi who surprisingly, for a Princess of Heart, was a decent fighter in her first battle with her own Keyblade. This reminded the redhaired Nobody on that girls are much, much more than just whimy girls and not just damsels in distress.

Once things had settled down, the others looked at Kairi who was a bit dazed on her first determinded battle.

"Kairi, you were great!" Donald praised.

Hearing a familiar voice, Kairi turned to see that Sora, Donald and Goofy were there, smiling and impressed. Blushing, she giggled while bushfully flipping her hair, as Sora and she approached each other before stopping. Axel smiled, relieved that Kairi was safe.

"You are different, Kairi." Sora admitted, "But I'm just glad you're alright." he didn't want to admit that Kairi had become more beautiful in his eyes. Her new pink short dress suited her perfectly, and her hair was a bit longer and a bit darker, and her face...it become more mature and beautiful. He always had a crush on her, but he was too embarrassed to express his feelings.

"You and Riku never came home, so I came looking for you." Kairi replied.

'That part being my fault.' Axel thought as he leaned against the wall with his arms folded against his chest, but he didn't say anything. Let these two 'lovebirds' have their moment. Besides, he had a feeling-er, I mean, he figured(there, much better) that Kairi wouldn't forgive him; not yet, anyway.

Sora, feeling a bit guilty, looked away, muttering, "I'm sorry-" only to be caught off-guard when Kairi suddenly ran up to him and the next thing he knew, her arms were around his lower waist, her body leaning onto his, and her head resting on his shoulder. All Sora could do was stare in shock, his hands in the air in a stance of, 'Wha-huh?' as Kairi was hugging him.

"This is real." Kairi whispered, tears filling up her eyes, as well as her voice cracking, refusing to let go.

Seeing this, Sora felt his heart pump, and he embraces her in return. While Axel smiled at the sight, still remembering of how he held Roxas in his arms, just in a more brotherly kind of way and not the romantic kind of way, Donald and Goofy both smirked, both already knowing how much Sora can be complicated when it comes to girls.

Axel then decided that maybe it was his time to leave. But he still wanted answers from Xemnas. For one thing, he was destined to disappear forever, no longer living. It was his fate. He just stood up and began to walk away, when the others heard him, and when Kairi looked up, she was shocked to see him again, but was even more shocked to see him walk away. She was still angry at him, but at the same time...he had come earlier to try and rescue her.

As Kairi was in her cell, with a couple of dusks handing her food, all of the sudden, the dusks were wiped out, and from a corridor of darkness, the one person she didn't want to see appeared from a corridor of darkness, the red-spiky hair and the sea-green eyes.

"Good thing it was the dusks that were watching you." said Axel as he stepped out so that he can rescue Kairi and get her out. "Don't worry, I'll get you out ASAP."

Her response was throwing a rice-ball and sushi at Axel's face unexpectedly, making a SPLONG(or whatever splattered sound effects Disney studios use even to this day), sound. "BAH!" he yelped, before trying to block Kairi's food-throw, as he became more and more covered in porriage and other wet food.

"Took you long enough!" Kairi yelled, while Pluto growled at Axel who cried out, "Stop it, you idiot!" at the girl.

"If you think I'm going to listen to you again, think twice!" She continued until she had no more food left.

Axel just stood there, covered in food grease, before wiping them off, chuckling sheepishly, "Well, you could say that things aren't looking well at my end."

Even though Axel was truthful at his word, he had been injured by another man-Luxord, was it?- and the redhead had to escape for recovery. Kairi didn't think that he'd be here with Sora, Donald and Goofy, and now he was leaving?

"Axel, wait!" Kairi called out, causing Axel to pause, but he didn't say anything. "I...I'm glad that you're okay." she said a bit awkwardly.

Axel sighed, before turning to face Kairi and said, "I'm a Nobody, and I messed you guys up. You shouldn't...be glad to see me." he paused, not used to this kind of thing. Eventually, he managed to say, "Kairi...sorry for bringing you into this mess."

"It's okay." Kairi shook her head, "It's because of you that I found my friends." she smiled, "Thank you, Axel."

"Oh man." Axel groaned, facepalming himself. "I don't deserve any of this from you guys." he knew he had to tell them the truth, especially about Roxas. Why did Kairi and Sora have to be too nice towards everyone?

Before anyone else could continue, Sora and the others noticed that 'Ansem' was about to leave, when he called the taller man to wait. Sora then says, "I never thought for a second that I'd ever see YOU again. Just thinking about all the things you did makes me really mad. But..." he paused, before looking at him with a thankful smile, adding, "But you saved Kairi, right? I have to be grateful for that... Thanks."

Riku, understanding that Sora doesn't know that he wasn't 'Ansem', and that he didn't want Sora to know, just continued to walk away, until Kairi ran up to him and pulled him back by the arm, pleading, "Riku! Don't go!" much to Sora, Donald and Goofy's surprises, and even Axel was surprised, though he knew all along that it was Riku. The question is, why did Riku look like Xehanort's heartless now?

"Kairi...what did you say?" Sora asked, confused.

"Riku." Kairi answered.

"I'm no one," answered 'Ansem', "Just a castaway from the darkness."

Axel begged to differ as he approached before pausing just in front of Donald and Goofy, saying, "C'mon, man. I'm the one who isn't anyone. You're the one who exists-not me."

Kairi told Sora to approach, which he did, before she held hers, Sora's and 'Ansem's' hands together, saying, "Here. You'll understand. Close your eyes."

Still puzzled, Sora did close his eyes, just as 'Ansem' turned to look at him. Within his closed vision, Sora could see a familiar silver-haired teen, a year older than him, in an Organization coat, but with aqua eyes, looking at him in the same stance. Opening his eyes again, Sora's heart seemed to stop. Despite the different body, the teen came to realise that 'Ansem' was known other than Riku all along. Sora didn't know how, or why, but now he understood why Mickey was reculant. He knew all along and promised not to reveal the bad news to Sora, but thanks to Kairi, Sora knew half of the truth.

"Riku..." Sora mumbled, beginning to cry, "It's Riku. Riku's here..." before falling onto his knees while still holding Riku's hand, tears falling, relieved, sad and happy to finally reuight with his best friend who was also a brother to him. "I looked for you!" said Sora, silently crying.

Seeing this made Riku say, back in his normal voice, "C'mon, Sora. You've got to pull it together."

Wiping his tears, Sora said again, "I looked everywhere for you!"

"I didn't want you to find me." was Riku's reply.

Axel couldn't help but smile, before looking away. He wished he had this kind of reunion with his best friends. He listened to Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald and Goofy talk about the clues Riku left behind, Riku explaining how he didn't want Sora to see him the way he was now, and how he used become this way in order to use the power of darkness, and that the battle isn't over yet and that Riku still needs the power of darkness.

Sora had so many friends, Axel thought it'd be kinda hard to keep up with them.

"Then, let's finish it." Sora declared, "You're still Riku, no matter what!" with Donald, Goofy and Kairi nodding in agreement. Riku just remained silent.

Just as Axel thought now would be the time to leave, Sora called out, "Axel! You coming with us?"

"Nah, just..." Axel paused, before finishing, "Just finish me off." much to everyone's confused shock.

"Though, before you guys do that," he turned around to face them, ruffling at his own hair, "I'd better tell you the truth; ya know, on why I took Kairi in the first place."

Donald looked annoyed by this, and demanded, "Well, just tell us!"

Sighing, Axel looked at them, and began, "The reason why I took Kairi...is so that..." he paused uncomfortably, "So that I could get to Sora to bring Roxas back, turning him...into a heartless."

"A heartless!?" Goofy asked, shocked.

"Yeah..."

"You wanted to turn me into a heartless and then find Roxas?" Sora asked, shocked and confused.

Axel groaned, "You seriously don't get it, do you?" before explaining, "Ever figured out why almost everyone in the Organization called you a traitor, and why Xigbar called you Roxas?" when Sora shook his head, Axel concluded, "Roxas's been with you all along. Because he's your Nobody."

It confused Sora at first, but when he realised what Axel just said, he exclaimed, "My...Nobody!? But that's crazy! I never turned into a Heart..." he trailled off, before he realised what he was about to say, and remembered that he did turn into a Heartless a year ago, back in Radiant Garden when it was known as Hollow Bastion, before Sora turned back into a human thanks to Kairi. "Oh, right."

"It was when you came to rescue me, remember?" Kairi added, even she somehow knew.

"So that's why..." Sora realised, looking at Axel in annoyance.

"Yeah, pretty much." Axel shrugged sheepishly. "Xemnas found Roxas even after you turned back into a human. Out of all of us, Roxas was the only one who didn't remember anything about you, but at the same time, he didn't turn into a dusk because of your heart. He was brought into the Organization and I was assigned to mentor him for a while. He could use the Keyblade too, since he's your nobody and all."

"That's why Xemnas brought him into the Organization." Riku added.

Axel nodded, then continued, "Through out the time, since a week after he joined, Roxas and I began to hang out together, having Sea-Salt Ice Cream, and talking and all. As time moved on, he began to gain his own personality, becoming less and less zombie-like."

"Zombie?" Goofy asked, confused.

"He was totally like a zombie," Axel said, "Barely even forming a sentence until time continued on, then he became...well, more human than everybody else. I still don't get how, though, but maybe it was him being his own person slowly was the reason why I was starting to get my emotions back, even though I still have no heart. Though sometime later, he began to question himself, and despite that I tried to keep him from leaving, since I knew that if anyone gets on Xemnas's bad side, they'll end up destroyed. He left because he wanted answers-he didn't really betray us, but I guess I'm the only one who sees that."

Riku then took over, saying, "After that, I fought him because I thought it would help

you wake up. I lost, but the next time we met I made sure I was the stronger one." looking at Sora, "Maybe I didn't need to fight him after all. I think he left the

Organization because...he really wanted to meet you."

Axel approached Sora and added, "Yeah, I'm thinkin' the same thing. I guess you coming here must've woken Roxas up and the darkness messed up his head before, well, you know. And that's why I left, because I wanted things back the way they were. I thought that by turning you back into a heartless, I can get Roxas back."

When everyone else looked at him, he sighed, "But now I know that he wouldn't want me to do that. I kept a lot of secrets from him and I wish that I didn't. I kinda wish that you and he would both exist at the same time as yourselves and not just you, ya know?"

"Roxas..." Sora sighed, feeling a bit guilty for being cluless about all this. "I wish I could meet him, too."

Axel knew what Sora was thinking; the teen figured that Roxas should be his own person.


See you in the next chapter and keep up those reviews!