Lexon and Rose stepped out of the portal, both pausing the admire the scene around therm. When they stepped out, they were taken to a bright and sunny island, surrounded by sandy beaches and beautiful tall palm trees. Rose shielded her eyes from the sun, Lexon grunting in annoyance as he searched his pockets for his pack of cigarettes, forgetting that they had been taken by Rose before they left. He sighed and shook his head, looking in Rose's direction.

"Come on, kid. We need to get out of these clothes before anyone sees us" he told her as he turned around, making his way up the path behind them. Rose nodded and went to turn away, something in the distance catching her attention. There in the distance, on the beach close the the water, two boys were fighting with wooden swords. One boy was about her height, appearing around the age of fourteen or fifteen and had short spiked brown hair and bright blue eyes.

The other boy, much taller than the other, silver hair tinted with purple just barely touching his shoulders and had ocean blue eyes. Rose watched them with interest for a few moments, debating whether or not to ignore Lexon, but decided against it as she did not want him reporting back to her father and be stuck with him again. Rose sighed and turned away, starting to follow behind Lexon who was already halfway up the path. She would go meet them later when she was in more common clothing.

When Rose finally got to the top of the mountain, Lexon was nowhere in sight. She glanced around, pausing at the bottom of the steps. She wondered if he had left her or maybe she went to the wrong place. A voice from the open doorway interrupted her thoughts.

"Are you coming, girl?" Lexon said, poking his head out from the doorway, "or do I have to come and get ya?" he said, a hint of impatience in his voice. Rose rolled her eyes and made her way up the steps to the porch, walking in through the doorway as Lexon closed the door behind her. Rose glanced around the room she had just entered, taking in the room. Rose was clearly inside the living room as there were two couches, a television and a coffee table. To her surprise, the room was not the usual white she was use to. Rose was use to everything white with the exception of one room that had red couches.

This room however, was decorated with blue couches, dark wood flooring, light gray colored walls and the coffee table was a chestnut color with a glass tabletop. She slowly made her way through the living room, to the next room over, Rose soon realizing it was the kitchen area. The floor was similar to the living space, but in the middle of the kitchen there was an island seating area, the top made of marble that sat four stools covered in red leather. Rose marveled the room as she went to touch the stainless steel fridge, a voice from behind her interrupting her thoughts.

"I designed the room myself" the voice said. Rose practically jumped five feet in the air as she whipped around, coming face to face (well, as close as she could to coming face to face) with Casaix. Rose sighed in relief, putting her hand on her chest to slow her breathing.

"Casaix! Don't sneak up on me like that!" she chastised him, her face softening when she looked up at him. Casaix chuckled in amusement and brushed a strand of hair aside that had fallen in front of her face and tucked it behind her ear like he always did when they were younger.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I just came to see how you're settling in. Though, I see you just got here" he said, chuckling nervously in embarrassment. Rose smiled and took his hand he had used to brush her hair aside and held it in her own smaller two.

"Thank you for your concern. I promise you I'm going to be fine and I won't get into any trouble" she assured him. "I don't want to go back to that horrible place anytime soon" Rose told him, her face hardening at the thought. Casaix pulled his hand away as he stepped closer to her as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a gentle hug.

"I'm glad to hear that, but the place would not be the same without you" he said, a hint of sadness in his face. Rose looked up at him, her chin resting against his chest as she looked into his eyes.

"I know, but you need I have a need to protect people. I don't want this Sora getting hurt over some stupid plans my father has. I'm sure he just wants peace in the world like I do" Rose explained, watching him carefully. Casaix moved to pull away, touching her cheek gently as he turned away, a voice nearby interrupting their moment.

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd swear you were trying to take her from me, Casaix" the voice said. Rose glanced in the direction of the voice, the figure coming out from the shadows. There stood Axel, arms crossed over his chest. A normal person would assume he was upset, but a grin on his face told them otherwise as he watched them, an amused look on his face.

"Axel" Rose said softly, unsure of how she should react to seeing him here. She glanced around the room, looking to see where Lexon had gone. Rose didn't want him finding out Axel was here and reporting back to Xemnas and having been sent back.

"Lexon is gone if that's what you're worried about" Axel assured her, taking a step in her direction as he lowered his arms, extending them out in her direction. "Now, are you going to just stand there or are you going to come say hi to me" he said, an amused tone in his voice as he watched her, his bright emerald eyes shining. Rose paused for a moment before rushing over to close the gap between them, practically launching herself at him and she hugged him tightly, almost knocking him off his feet with the force.

"Oh, Axel! I'm so sorry. I swear there is nothing going on between us. You know I love you!" she said, her eyes filling with tears as she looked up at him. Axel watched her, a look of shock on his face. He did not expect this kind of reaction to the joke he had made.

"Sweetie, it was a joke. I know you would never do something like that. Just calm down, okay? I love you too. Got it memorized?" he said, his usual saying slipping from his lips. Rose sniffled and nodded, pulling away from him as she wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve.

"I'm sorry. I'm too emotional for my own good" she chuckled as she turned her attention back to Casaix, who was no longer there. Rose lowered her arm slowly, hoping she had not upset him somehow by turning her attention away from him for a brief moment after what he had done for her with this house.

"I'm not mad or upset at you" Cassaix said, coming out from one of the rooms, "I just wanted to make sure your room was ready for you, princess" he said affectionately. Rose cringed at the word princess, hating being called that, reminding her of her prison when she was with Ansem, never allowed to leave the castle because he feared Xehanort would kidnap her if she did. Rose rolled her eyes at the thought, finding it ironic how what he protected her from ended up happening anyways despite his efforts to keep her 'safe.'

"I'm glad" Rose replied, taking Axel's hand as she walked over to the bedroom Casaix was standing in the doorway of. She slowly peered around him and looked inside, shocked at what she saw. Instead of her usual completely white room like she was use to, the room was decorated in all dark oak wood furniture, the walls painted her favorite shade of light purple and her bed has red sheets paired with a black blanket.

"Now this is my favorite room. I actually designed this one" Axel said from behind her, resting his chin on the top of her head, taking in the room with a grin on his face. Rose glanced up at him, a smile on her face.

"It's great to know you actually pay attention when I talk sometimes" she joked teasingly, pulling away from them as she entered the room, making her way over to the bed. Rose paused in front of it, slowly taking off her shoes as she climbed onto the bed, immediately sinking into the extremely soft mattress. She sighed happily and lay back against the bed, staring up at the red canopy.

This was her favorite kind of bed as it offered privacy by being able to close the curtains completely around it. Rose suddenly blushed a bright red, one single thought crossing her mind as she quickly stood up from the bed, glaring over in Axel's direction. Axel put his hands up innocently, whistling as he looked away from her. Casaix watched them with amusement, cleatly oblivious of what was going on.

"I obviously missed something. I'm going to leave you two alone now" he said as he turned on his heels and disappeared down the watched him leave, the bright red blush still on her face. She was very embarrassed at the thought that had crossed her mind, silently cursing Axel for putting the idea in her head.

"You do realize I'm never going to be able to sleep in here, right? And it's totally your fault" she said, her blush slowly fading from her cheeks. Axel glanced back at her, a look of innocence on his face.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, sweetie. This is a great room" he said, taking a step in her direction, a grin forming on his face. Rose took a step back as he took a step forward, watching him careful as she bumped against the bed that was behind her, catching herself before she fell back.

"Stay where you are, Axel. I know what you're up to" she said, watching him as he continued to move in her direction. Axel's grin spread wider as he stopped in front of her, placing each hand on her hips, pulling her closer to him.

"I have no idea what you're talking about" he whispered, leaning his face close to hers. "Am I making you uncomfortable? If so I'll stop" Axel breathed, his lips inches from hers. They were soon interrupted by Casaix who had reappeared in the doorway.

"I hate to interrupt, but Lexon is back. I would suggest you leave Axel before he finds you here" he warned. Axel sighed, a small pout on his face as he quickly pecked her lips before pulling away.

"I can never have any fun" he muttered as he pulled away, pulling his hood up over his head. "I'll see you later, sweetie" Axel said as he disappeared through the dark portal he had created. Not long after, Lexon appeared in the doorway, glancing around the room.

"I heard voices. Were you talking to someone?" he said, his eyes stopping on her. Rose shook her head and stretched her arms up over her head.

"Nope, I just turned on the radio for a bit that's all" she assured him, hoping he bought her lie. Lexon shrugged and turned away from her.

"Whatever you say. I know Axel was here. I'll keep it to myself if you let me have my cigarettes" he said, looking back in her direction. Rose glared at him, not believing he was actually using blackmail against her for an addiction. She sighed softly as she sunk onto her bed, watching him.

"Fine, whatever. Just don't smoke in the house" she said as she pulled the pack of cigarettes that she had confiscated from him earlier from her pocket and tossed it in his direction. Lexon caught the back and nodded to her in thanks, disappearing through the door. Rose huffed and stood up, making her way over to the closet to find something to change into.

She had decided on a dark blue sundress that had a pink bow on the back of it. Rose suddenly kind of missed the nice dresses she use to wear in the castle. They were girly, but she had picked them out with the help of her sister. Rose stared down sadly at the dress as she thought of her sister who was stuck with their father still. Rose hoped she was okay and would make a note to ask Axel or Casaix to watch over her when she saw them again.

Rose unzipped her jacket and tossed it on the bed, glad she was finally able to breathe as she pulled off the rest of her clothing except her undergarments and pulled the dress over her head. She then stood in front of the mirror and admired herself as she tied the bow.

"This isn't that bad" she said to herself in the mirror, turning the look at the back. Once she was done admiring herself, she slipped on a pair of sandals and made her way to the door. Rose paused at the front door as she opened it, Lexon's voice coming from around the corner of the porch.

"Where do you think you're going?" he said, taking a puff of his cigarette. Rose rolled her eyes and closed the door behind her.

"I'm going out. I'll be back before dark, okay? Father said I was suppose to make friends with 'Sora' so I'm going to find him. Is there anything else you want to know?" she said in irritation, crossing her arms over her chest and tapping her sandled foot impatiently. Lexon shrugged and leaned back against his rocking chair, taking another drag of his cigarette, his usual coffee in his right hand.

"That's fine. I just wanted to know where you are in case I had to find you" he said, taking a sip of his coffee. Rose rolled her eyes again in annoyance as she unfolded her arms and headed down the steps.

"I'll see you tonight Lexon" she said as she made her way down the path in the direction of the beach.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rose paused at the end of the path, glancing around the corner of the large boulder she had stopped in front of. To her disbelief, the two boys who were on the beach were no longer there anymore. She sighed and turned to head back to the house, a figure stopping in front of her and made her jump five feet. The figure, who was in fact female was similar to her height, but she had red hair that barely touched her shoulders, bright blue eyes and wore a white tank top with a light purple skirt.

"Who ya looking for?" the girl said, watching her with amusement, her hands behind her back. Rose flushed in embarrassment as she glanced away from her.

"Oh, uh, no one in particular" she said, looking back at the girl. The girl grinned and held out a hand to her.

"Well, my name is Kairi! You must be new because I've never seen you here before" Kairi said. Rose slowly took her hand in her own and shook her hand gently.

"I'm Rose. Yea, I just moved in with my uncle Leo. Nice to meet you, Kairi" she said, a small smile on her face. Kairi grinned, but didn't pull her hand away. Instead she held on to Rose's hand, pulling her in the direction of an island she hadn't noticed.

"Come on! I want you to meet the guys. We don't see many people around here so I'm sure they would love to meet you!" she said as she led Rose by the hand. Rose followed after her, silently glad she found someone who could bring her to the two boys she had seen. Rose had hoped one of them was Sora so she could find out more about him and protect him from whatever her father had planned for him. She knew if he found out he would be furious, but she didn't care. Rose didn't believe in hurting people for no reason for the sake of evil.

A few minutes later, Kairi paused in front of the two boys, both sitting on what appeared to be a fallen palm tree. They both glanced in Kairi and Rose's direction, curious looks on their faces. The boy with the spiky brown hair spoke first, a grin spreading across his face.

"Kairi! Who is this? I haven't seen her around before" the boy said, hopping down from his seat and examined her. "Hi! My name is Sora, what's yours?" Sora said, extending a hand out like Kairi had done. Rose paused, something in the back of her mind clicking when he said his name. This was the boy she was looking for. She smiled and took his hand in her own, shaking his hand firmly.

"Hi, Sora! My name is Rose" she said, a large grin on her face now. Sora grinned back at her and motioned his head in the direction of the other boy who was still staring off into the distance, not even acknowledging her presence.

"That's Riku. He's not much of a talker" Sora said, rolling his eyes playfully. Riku glanced over in there direction, pausing his gaze on Rose. Rose glanced back at Riku as their eyes met, a feeling slowly creeping up on them as they both quickly glanced away from each other. She had never felt that feeling before besides when she first met Lea, she didn't realize she could have it again with someone else.

Rose felt bad for even thinking about doing that to Axel, but she knew the heart wanted what the heart wanted. In her heart she knew she loved Axel and wanted to marry him one day, but knew the heart did what it wanted to no matter how she felt. She then glanced back at Riku, who was now looking at her again, but was now in front of her.

"Nice to meet you, Rose" he said, extending a hand to her. Rose looked at his hand and then back as him as she shook his hand gently. Riku's mouth formed into a small and they shook hands for a moment, before they pulled away from each other. "Why haven't I see you here before? Did you just move here?" he asked, tilting his head to the side in curiousity Rose nodded and laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head.

"Yea, I just moved here with my uncle Leo. I just came down to the beach to enjoy some sunshine. What do you guys do for fun around here?" she questioned, looking around. Riku shrugged and sat back in his spot, patting the spot beside him.

"Pretty much this and we play fight with wooden swords sometimes. Though, we're planning on building a raft to get off this island. We hear there's different worlds other than t his" he explain, looking somewhere off in the distance. Rose glanced in the direction her was looking, a look of hope in her eyes. Maybe she could bring Sora somewhere where her dad and the other members couldn't find him and would be able to protect him easier.

"I'm totally in to help" she said, a large grin spreading across her face. "Where do we start?" Rose questioned, glancing back in Riku's direction. Riku looked at her, a determined look on his face.

"Well, we have most of the materials already. We just have to build the raft and get the food for travel" he explained, hopping down from his spot once again. "Come on, we'll show you" he said as he walked past her, taking her hand as he went. Rose glanced over at Sora and Kairi, Sora moving to follow after them, but Kairi chose to stay back. Rose shrugged and followed after Sora and Riku, stopping when they got to where the raft was going to be built.

"This is going to be great! We'll have one more person with us on our journey. I'm super excited!" Sora exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air. Rose watched Sora with amusement, laughing softly. She could not believe her father would want to hurt someone such pure of heart.

Rose rolled her eyes, soon realizing what he was up to. He wanted to corrupt Sora's heart so he could control him for whatever other plans she had for him. She would make it her goal in life to stop this of course. She sat down in the sad and watched the two boys start to build the raft, using rope to hold the raft pieces together. Rose watched them quietly as she rested her chin against her knees, a wave of exhaustion suddenly hitting her. She slowly closed her eyes for a moment, soon falling asleep.

Rose awoke a few hours later, both Sora and Riku kneeling on either side of her. She glanced at both of them, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"I'm sorry, guys. I didn't mean to fall asleep" she said sleepily. Riku chuckled to himself and held out a hand to her. Rose took his hand and pulled herself up, now noticing the sun was setting around them. She also noticed that the raft had been finished, which meant she was out for quite some time.

"It's fine. We didn't want to wake you! You really really tired" Sora said, his typical grin on his face. Rose smiled and let go of Riku's hand, stretching her arms up over her head. She then suddenly felt her stomach rumble, feeling as if it was so loud the other two could hear it. Sora and Riku both looked at each other, clearly having heard it. They both burst out laughing as Rose's cheeks turned bright red. Riku held out a hand to her again, motioning for her to follow him.

"Come, we'll take you to get something to eat" he said, not waiting for her to take his hand as he led her towards the central part of the island. There, in the grassy part of the island, stood a sort of cabana where Kairi was sitting, accompanied by who she realized was Lexon who sat leaning against the bar, a drink in his hand. Rose frowned as he glanced over at her, a grin spreading across his face. She now knew that he was here to make sure she didn't try anything.

"Hello my beautiful niece! Come join us" he said, motioning for her to come over. Rose rolled her eyes and followed after Riku who led her over to where Kairi sat. Riku helped her into the seat between Kairi and Lexon and he sat down on the opposite side of Kairi while Sora sat beside Lexon. "Ah, you must be Sora who everyone's taking about" Lexon said, turning so he was facing Sora. Sora grinned and nodded, holding out a hand politely.

"Nice to meet you, sir! I am Sora and I'm glad I got a chance to meet you! Your niee is really great" he said, complementing her. Rose's cheek flushed red again at the compliment as she glanced away. Lexon chuckled and took Sora's hand, shaking it firmly.

"The please is all mine. I can assure you" he said, pulling his hand away from Sora as he glanced over at Rose. Rose glanced back at Lexon, daring him to try anything. Lexon shrugged and pulled a cigarette from his pocket, jumping off his stool and walked past Rose, whispering in her direction. "I'm watching you, child" he muttered as he passed, heaving in the direction of the ocean line.

Rose watched him leave and sighed, turning to the bar. The man behind the bar turned to her, placing a drink in front of her. She glanced up at the man who ran the shack and soon realized it was not a man, but Rae standing there with a smile on her face. Rose sat there shocked for a moment, soon snapping out of it.

"Oh, hey Rae" she said shyly, clearly embarrassed. Rae smiled and leaned against the counter, pushing her glassed up the bridge of her nose where they had slid down.

"Hi, Rose" she whispered so the others couldn't overhear their conversation. "Don't worry, I'm not here to spy on you or try to stop you. I'm here for suppose" Rae assured her as she moved away again, turning back to what she was working on. Rose sighed in relief and lifted the drink to her lips, taking a small sip. It tasted like Sea Salt Ice Cream, but in liquid form. She smiled to herself, a sudden memory of when she first met Axel as Lea and they shared their first ice cream together.

"Thinking about me again?" a voice whispered from nearby. Rose jumped a little, a few drops her of drink spilling om the top of the bar. Rose turned, now face to face with Axel, his usual grin on his face. "You got me memorized, huh?" he said, leaning to kiss her on the cheek. Rose blushed and glanced around, realizing it was as if time had stopped. No one else was moving but her and him.

"How did you do that?" she questioned, looking back at him. Axel shrugged and leaned up against the bar, taking the drink from her hand as he took a sip.

"Some call it magic. Casaix taught me that trick so I can visit you more often without being noticed" he explained, handing her drink back to her. "Though, he said not to do it too often or it might disrupt time or something" Axel said, shaking his hand dismissively. Rose smiled and sat her drink down, leaning towards Axel to whisper in his ear.

"Well I'm glad you're here. I think Lexon is catching on to my plan. What do you think I should do?" she asked him. Axel looked back at her, a serious look on his face.

"Well, I would suggest you cool off your plan for a while and go along with Lord Xemnas' plan. You don't want something bad to happen to you or to Sora, do you?" he said, pushing himself into a standing position again. "You need to be more careful, alright? I don't know what I would do without you" he said, his tone softening as he touched her cheek. Rose side and put her hand over his, staring into his eyes adoringly.

"I'm sorry for worrying you, Axel. I didn't mean to" she muttered. Axel shook his head and leaned forward, placing a kiss on her lips gently before pulling away again.

"Enough of that, now. I'll see you later, okay?" he said before pulling away and disappearing inside his portal. Once he was gone, the world around her began to move again, as if nothing had happened. Rose tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and leaned against the bar, enjoying her drink as they sat there enjoying each others company for the rest of the night.