A/N: Hehe, nope, Sora and Roxas ain't dead. How can I continue if they just die?? Loads of action coming up, not telling from who though. And of course, thanks to ALL my reviewers. Seriously, meant so much to me. And sorry for the slow update. I had a fever this week, had two tests, and juggling piano lessons and work, yeah, you get the pic……hopefully. Anyways, I tried. LOL.

And now, the long awaited chapter 10. Enjoy. XD

Disclaimer: Have never ever EVER owned KH in my life. Same goes for Nevaeh.

Hold Me Tight, Don't Let Go

Chapter 10: Comeback

"Axel! What……what are you……oh my god!" Namine exclaimed as the all too familiar pyro crawled through the portal. Something was terribly wrong though. She didn't remember pyros being red with blood.

"No……no time……hurry, damn that bitch. Sora……Roxas……danger……blood…… everywhere……hurry……" Axel wheezed. It was the truth. It had taken all the strength he had left to summon a portal.

Namine's eyes widened, as did Kairi's. Heck, everyone in the room froze. Nobodies don't bleed………

Namine gasped, "Those……those……"

Axel gave a tired reply, "Yeah……look, do……do you even understand when I said the word hurry?"

Kairi muttered "Curaga" and in an instant, gentle green light revolved around Axel and his wounds began to close at a fast rate. Axel noticed this and grinned, thinking that this trip might not have been useless after all……

With Sora and Roxas……

Izzy and Diffy looked at the two boys in contempt, not even bothering to kill them. Somehow, admiring their work had become a real habit for them. It was beautiful. Blood was everywhere. Such a brilliant piece of art.

Failure never seemed a possibility. And they had trained so hard too. And for what? They still can't beat them. They were just……too strong. Impossible seemed an adequate word to use now. Sora had never felt more useless in his life. Roxas felt the same way too. And he was ashamed. Why? How would you feel if the your enemy can't even be bothered to end your life because you're not worth dirtying his/her keyblade? How would you feel?

Izzy yawned, "That wasn't much workout anyway. How about we just leave……wait…… what do ya know……more prey……"

And right on cue, out stepped Namine and Kairi, armed with their keyblades, ready to protect themselves if needed. Sora turned his head away ever so slightly, not wanting to face her. He let her down. He lost.

Kairi had to stop herself from screaming at the sight of Sora and Roxas. It was beyond horrible. 'Injured' can't even begin to describe what happened to them. Half the amount of blood in their body were gone. And the scars that would remain on their bodies were countless.

Namine couldn't even bear to witness the scene in front of her. Roxas……no. 13 of Organization XIII, one of the strongest nobodies ever……was defeated. She knew she should take some form of action…… but she couldn't. The truth was just too hard to acknowledge.

Yet, Kairi was the first one to do something. She braced herself and muttered under her breath, "Firaga……Flame Pistil!" And in an instant, flames began bursting out from the ground, surrounding the two Atacantes. They were surprised at first, but soon, they got annoyed, for the found out, that the flames weren't even acting on Kairi's will. It was as though they were moving by themselves, attempting to engulf them. Even though they knew it was futile, they were alarmed.

Kairi however, had taken the opportunity and rushed over to the two boys. She looked over to Namine and got a nod for a reply. She then directed her keyblade over their chests and whispered gently, "Grant us strength; Floral Fallal…………Pulses of Life!"

Immediately, white light began to descend on the boys, tiny petals began to fall from the sky and tenderly lay themselves onto the wounds, and slowly, the petals began to melt into the wounds, and the boys felt strength course through their veins in an instant. Forget that they were on the brink of death. This was miraculous. It was incredible. All their stress, muscle strains, wounds, scars, everything……all healed. It was amazing.

Namine on the other hand, knew she had to cover Kairi while she did all the healing. She got ready, "Full Throttle……Dark Knight Form!" And as beckoned, the darkness began to surround her, and just as she planned. To her, the darkness now acted as an armour, an extremely impenetrable one at that. Her attack power has strongly increased, but of course, her magic power was the main one that mattered, and now, it was time to test the arts of Arcana that she came up with………

Izzy was getting real frustrated. The flames were still popping out of nowhere, and it was just pointless dodging them, yet, she refused to let such a simple thing get to her and finally came to her senses that of course……you're supposed to use blizzard against fire…………damn.

Diffy had done it for her. She was seething. She had just been made fun of. No one makes fun of her. Hell no. Ah well, at least, someone's here to fight her. Yet, that someone was somehow right in front of her, keyblade raised, stance correct, keyblade brimming with power………shit……

Namine had already charged the attacks up; it was going to be more than enough to stall for time. "Aestus!" And with a leap, the keyblade responded with flames circling around, and WHOOSH! It was brought down directly upon Diffy's head. Unfortunately, she dodged that and judging by the look on her face, she was surprised.

Namine smirked, 'Well, you wanna be surprised? Fair enough. Here goes.' "Levin!" And instantly, electricity coursed through the keyblade. She executed a quick run and got her just where she wanted, and just before the keyblade came in contact with Diffy, she remembered how Leon had told her to control the timing. She did, and that was why……Diffy was sent flying after getting hit by a thunderbolt right in the face.

Izzy was shocked; no way this little runt is this strong. Namine didn't change her position after successfully injuring Diffy, but only gave a 180 degree spin, whilst charging her keyblade up once more and in a flash, she was behind Izzy. And as cold air begin to assault her, Izzy knew she was in trouble.

And she was. Namine shouted, "Winterkill!" And WHAM! The hilt of the keyblade hit her squarely in the back, but that wasn't the painful part. Icicles were forced out of the keyblade into her back, which meant sending her right into the wall of the Coliseum, with ice fully stopping her movements, she was about to curse when Namine appeared right in front of her and muttered, "Fiers."

And again, she went flying………

With Riku and Nevaeh……

"Mickey, as requested, I brought Nevaeh with me." Riku said while almost dragging Nevaeh along with her. She apparently sees no point in meeting up with a gigantic mouse just to talk. Seems as an insult to her IQ.

And of course, the said mouse immediately jumped up from his seat, and squealed, "All right. Now let's begin. First Nevaeh, I know you don't see a point in talking to me, but soon, I guarantee, you'll hope you had the opportunity to meet me earlier. I need you to first inform me about the two different groups of wielders under Razor's control. I'm sure you know about that. And as a reward, I shall allow you to spar with me."

Riku's eyebrows rose. Sparring is a reward? Why? He had sparred with the mouse for loads of times, and yes, they drew for most of the time, but surely, Nevaeh wasn't going to take the offer. I mean, come on, anybody would want something better.

Nevaeh seemed doubtful at first, but straight after seeing the Reverse Keyblade being held in Mickey's hand, she nodded her head furiously, and gave a slight cough to readjust her posture, before beginning her speech, and of course, to say Riku was bewildered would be a severe understatement………

Back With Sora and Co.

Sora was staring at Kairi unbelievably. "Ka…kai…Kairi……how did……where…when…"

Kairi merely paced a finger on his lips and told him to hush and went over to check Roxas, making sure he was recovered as well. And suddenly, her face showed anger for the first time since her appearance, "WHERE WERE YOU TWO FOR TWO BLOODY WEEKS?" She bellowed.

This was not exactly pleasant, but it was expected. Sora sighed and scratched his head,

"Well, we uh……well the usual. We were training, trained too much. Exhausted ourselves, got wasted………yeah……that's pretty much it." He grinned, only to get clobbered by Kairi.

"How can you still grin? If we didn't get here on time, you would have died!" Kairi was screaming by now.

Roxas laughed, "Well, we did see Axel slip away……"

Kairi looked surprised, "Huh?"

Sora grinned once more, though it was beginning to resemble a smirk now, "What, you think we really couldn't take them on? Well, yeah, sort of. We may get a draw, at best, but then, we wanted to know the full extent of their attacks, and what we were hit with, I suspect, are the most powerful ones they can manage. It was painful, I'll give them that, but we would have lived easily."

Roxas continued for him, "We purposely let them hit us so that Axel might sneak off unnoticed. How they got wasted however, was totally beyond me……wait, maybe Superior ordered them to not help us……damn……I forgot about that. Oh well, anyway, we knew you two had become stronger. Don't ask us how, we just knew, it was as if the keyblades were crying out to us, about your improvements, and so we decided to take a gamble. Risky, yes, but necessary."

Sora went on, "They are the ninth and tenth of the Atacantes, namely the Attackers, to be simple, under Razor's control. And I think, it's high time Riku got some information from that Nevaeh girl. But first, Kairi, I'll show you what my training has done for me. I swear, you won't regret letting me go off with Roxas."

And with that, his eyes became focused, and that familiar flash of gold and silver surrounded his body, and within an instant, Trance Form was activated. Roxas merely activated Final Form, and one look between them said everything. Kairi couldn't help it. She grinned.

With Riku and Nevaeh……

"So, Nevaeh, the strongest groups of Chasers are split into two, namely the Atacantes and the Defensores?" Mickey inquired with great interest.

Nevaeh nodded, "It should be. That was the way it was before……before Master died. They were originally named the Espada. But I suppose Razor changed it and added more members."

"The Atacantes are actually the weaker group overall, yet they have the most gruesome fighting abilities. Superhuman strength and special-types of battle keyblades are just a few of the stuff they have. The Defensores are in charge of protecting Razor when needed. They are even stronger than the Atacantes, and even though their strengths are in defensive powers, their attack power is high……higher than us at the moment."

Mickey frowned, that was not good news, "Now, Nevaeh, I would like to know. Which group would you belong to if you were on of the Espada?"

Riku was surprised, that was not the question he was thinking of. The question he would've wanted to ask was who do you reckon is stronger? You or the Espada?

Nevaeh bit her lower lip, before saying, "I would probably be a low-rank Defensor………because……well……my……"

Mickey held up his hand and smiled a genuine smile that took Nevaeh completely off guard. He then summoned the Reverse keyblade once more and said, "I know. You lack the basics. You have all the good moves, and the speed you need, but, that's not enough. No one has ever taught you the correct way of holding a keyblade, the difference between a slash and a slice, and etc. Which is why you accepted my proposal?"

Nevaeh sighed, and looked to the ground, not wanting to answer the question. That has in fact, been bothering her. All the training she did in the Espada was to just train on her assassination move, such as Oblivion. She had always wanted to start from the beginning, but sadly, it wasn't to be so. Yet……

Riku looked amazed and then gave out a hearty laugh.

Nevaeh frowned and looked at him, "What's your problem?"

Riku shook his head and smirked, "To think that I nearly got beaten by a little kid……"

"MR. RIKU, THAT'S SO RUDE!" And with that, Dragon fang was already equipped and she charged straight for Riku, who easily blocked her attack with Way to the dawn. He finally understood what Mickey meant by 'lacking the basics'. It was obvious. The way she held the keyblade was just inviting the opponent to slash her stomach after parrying her obvious attack.

Riku sighed and smirked again, "Temper, temper."

Nevaeh growled and attacked again, which of course began futile in a second.

Riku then stopped and said, "Look, tell you what. I'll spar with you as well, I'll teach you all the basics there are to know, and believe me, the only reason Sora is stronger than me, is because, well not really the only reason, but more like the main reason really. That reason is because he trained at the basics far harder than anyone I knew."

Nevaeh's eyes widened, "Really? Mr. Sora beat you? You must be pretty useless then."

She somehow managed to ignore the vein popping out of Riku's forehead and continued to talk about how weak he is.

It took a certain amount of willpower to stop himself from mutilating the girl in front of him whilst him can, because he knew, once she got hold of the basics, whoo boy, watch out.

He looked at her once more, "I have a request before teaching you, and you better agree, or else I'll be forced to take unnecessary actions." His eyes were filled with laughter.

She knew it, he was teasing her. How dare he. Oh, he was sooooooo going to pay once she got hold of whatever he taught her. Yes, she would repay him nicely, so she purred, "What is it you want, Mr. Riku? I didn't know you were such an aggressive person……"

Riku blinked. Huh. Okay. Weird.

"Tell me your real name Nevaeh, your full name. I'll tell you mine in exchange. This is the first step in proving I'm your friend. Full-time from now on. Even though it means I'll have to sacrifice the chances I get at bullying you, I'm willing to do it." He grinned.

Nevaeh knew she heard wrong. No way Mr. Riku just said he could bully him. "HOW DARE YOU JUST SAY YOU COULD BULL…………what did you say?"

Riku looked at his nails, "I said I gave up the chances to bully you……"

"Before that."

"I'm working full-time now, and I don't get paid too, which is kinda sad, but I never heard of getting paid for a job like mine, so fair enough."

"Before that."

"Look, you deaf or something? I'm your friend from now on. Okay? You got it?"

Nevaeh immediately turned her back towards him, no, she would not let him see the tears in her eyes. She would not be weak in front of him. Yet, she couldn't stop herself. Her whole body started shaking as she was overwhelmed by her emotions. It can't be. It was just too good to be true. No way Mr. Riku just said that…………

Her eyes widened as she felt a strong pair of arms gently secure themselves around her, pulling her into a hug. She was shocked. Totally. Yet, all she heard was Riku say, "Isn't it about time you had someone you could care about? I think so. Don't be afraid. Take your time to adjust yourself. Remember, you're not alone anymore. You have friends."

And the next thing she knew, she was beginning to sob, but she had to stop. Oh boy, she HAD to. If she didn't, it would turn out to be a crying session with one of the most irritating guys in the whole wide world……worlds actually. And stop she did, but not before roughly wiping off her tears and pushing Riku away. She adopted her usual naïve look once more as she smiled genuinely this time and whispered, "My name……is Heaven 'Nevaeh' Alexander……"

Riku gave a small smile in return, "Mine's Riku Amista. Nice to meet you." He finished with a mocking bow, yet they both knew, that they were one step closer than they were before, for good or bad, they were friends now. And there was no changing that fact.

Back with Sora and Co……

Namine was holding off pretty well, for one, her attacks caught the opponents off guard, yet, she had to be careful now, for she knew, that they were pissed. And seeing that her Arcana arts are really perfected yet, she decided to call it quits and leave it to the boys.

"Full throttle, deactivating Form." And in an instant, the darkness around her melted into nothingness, and bracing herself, she let off one final attack in order to delay them and allow the boys more time for recovery, and the only ideal attack in this kind of situation would be, "Shockstorm!"

And as if answering her call, electricity shot out of the keyblade in a frenzy, streaking across the arena and found its targets. The electricity shot right through them and secured themselves tightly around the targets, preventing them from moving and began to pour the voltage into their bodies, temporarily paralyzing them.

And this in Namine's opinion, was perfect. And as she turned her head, the mere sight of Sora and Roxas walking towards her, in their forms no less, made her feel that all the hard work Kairi and her had placed into their trainings, were worth it after all.

Roxas ran up to her and caught her in a bear hug. He missed her so much during the two weeks, it was real hard to resist the temptation of just zooming into the portal and give up about training. Yet, he knew what had to be done. But that doesn't mean that he could just forget about his feelings for Namine. Hell no.

Namine returned the hug too, and pulled him in for a passionate kiss. She missed having him by her side. He was her pillar, her support, her everything. She wouldn't even want to exist had it not been for him. She loved him, it was simple as that.

Sora grinned at the sight, and looked down at Kairi, who was finding it very comfortable latching onto Sora's arm. He then took a last longing look at Kairi before steeling himself, and walking off towards the direction of the Atacantes. Roxas noticed it and too, separated himself from Namine. He kissed her one last time, before following his other, determined to rid the two Atacantes for good.

Izzy and Diffy, meanwhile, are beyond pissed. Who the heck does the girl think she is? And what the heck is this stupid electricity bond thingy? All right, that's it. "Dios De la Lanza! Show them your true strength!"

Diffy too, had just about enough. She summoned Petalos and in an instant, got out of the bond. She glared at Izzy, as if saying it was all her fault. Yet, what was startling was the fact that the boys now stood in front of them, face to face, no longer injured……and what's more……their power………this is not good.

She immediately executed her movement technique, only to find Roxas waiting for her already. It was pointless, with Final Form, he could easily see through all her movements, and it was then, that he realized how they were moving that fast. He snorted, "So, by stamping your foot on the same spot twenty times in a mere two seconds has allowed you to move with such amazing speeds, well then, let's give it a try shall we?"

And sure enough, as expected, it worked. Roxas grinned as he totally caught on with her movements, this was going to be simple after all. Diffy's eyes widened at his ability to use Flash Steps as well. That wasn't possible, only wielders with great potential were able to accomplish it! How could this weakling………uh oh.

Roxas apparently could disagree more about the weakling part. "Weak huh? Well, let's see what this weak guy here can do." And with that, he summoned Oblivion and Oathkeeper, and began his combos. The speed he was fighting at now, was at least five times the speed he was using before. Now, he was attaining his true potential through Final Form, and he was liking it. Hell yeah.

He smirked, and suddenly, he disappeared. Diffy knew that he executed Flash steps and therefore, cannot be seen temporarily. Roxas appeared right on top of her and shouted, "Rough Divide!" And WHAM! The keyblade almost found its target but instead, it hit the ground and a small crater was formed. Diffy barely managed to dodge it, when she heard a voice behind her, crap.

"Blasting Zone, ready." Roxas smashed Diffy towards a wall and using his keyblades he pinned her there, and summoned thousands of lasers around her, and with a simple snap of fingers, yep. All lasers launched themselves at her, not a single part of her body was left unscathed. Roxas then summoned two more keyblades, namely Fenrir and Fatal Crest.

He knew Diffy was unable to move and therefore, he charged up the two keyblades, and with another Flash step, he disappeared. This time however, he appeared above her and with one swift movement, he charged down towards her, keyblades brimming with energy, ready to split her in half.

Namine gasped in surprise, "Roxas! Don't hold back!"

Roxas didn't need to be told twice. He readied his stance, but something different happened, Diffy had gotten out of the hold by using Petalos and was now standing in the middle of the arena, Petalos forming a huge rapier, ready to strike. Roxas ignored it and charged head on, "Shockwave Pulsar!" And BAM! The keyblades collided with each other, yet, Roxas was not done, oh no, far from it. He released the huge energy compressed within the keyblade and SLAM! Petalos was forced out of Diffy's hands, now she really is powerless.

Roxas then began slashes at the speed of light, not stopping at all, he must have done at least sixty before he gave her an uppercut using both keyblades, and then, he jumped right up into the air and continued the combo. As the combo amounted to one hundred, he got ready. Fatal Crest and Fenrir were both glowing, and as if on cue, Roxas' eyes gleamed, "FATED CIRCLE!" And WHOOSH! A huge beam of light pulse was directed right where her hearts were, and as Diffy's eyes widened in disbelief, Roxas finished the attack by flinging both keyblades right at her chest, and the impact that brought her to the ground was unbelievable. Diffy had been defeated.

Roxas landed swiftly, not bothering to even look at her, for he knew that she was dead. I mean, if you had a huge hole in your body, you wouldn't live, now would you?

Namine was amazed, Roxas had grown even stronger. And yet, here he was, grinning at her, like a good little boy waiting for his reward for doing something incredible once again.

She giggled, well, she could comply……

With Sora……

Sora wasted no time in even letting Izzy attack, for he knew, once she got the advantage, there was going to be no room for him to breathe. He started off with a simple ground combo, and halfway through it, he executed a quick-run and got behind her, now was the part where he gave it his all………

Using the move he used on Roxas, Sora yelled, "Climhazzard!" and once more, shockwaves were sent directly at the girl, slashing her back perfectly, and at the same time, she was sent into the air. And as he launched himself into the air, he grinned, "it's over."

Izzy looked at him with a sort of crazed look, "What the heck? What the………oh hell no!!!" And for the first time, there was actually fear on her face.

And on Sora's face, there was a look he thought he would never pull off. He knew that if he used that move, it would be over. Good.

And with a burst of power, all the key chains on Sora flew out of his clothes, and began to levitate all around in a big circle around them. Sora was left with one keyblade in his hand and the keyblade reverted to its simplest form, Kingdom Key. Dark clouds began to gather in the sky, all the more showing the strength of Sora's attack, being able to even change the weather……

Now, let it begin.

Izzy knew she was in trouble. She just knew it. She tried to summon Dios De la Lanza, but saw that it wasn't answering, and her eyes widened, recognizing the force field being administered by this Keyblade Master. Damn, looks like they did underestimate them. Shit.

Sora's eyes sparkled and with a huge spurge of energy, charged straight at Izzy, SLASH! Once. He was determined to repay her strikes from just now.

He then grabbed the next keychain and attached, Star Seeker, and with great agility charged once more. He was now to her right, after the slash, he then attached Hidden Dragon, and soon the slashes were gaining velocity, after each slash, one more keychain is attached. Hero's Crest, Monochrome, Follow the Wind, Circle of Life, Rumbling Rose, Guardian Soul, Sleeping Lion, Oblivion and then Oathkeeper were attached.

The power of the slashes were getting stronger every second. It soon reached the point where the slashes couldn't even be seen, and a faint aura began to follow his movements as his power was increasing. Just as Sora charged through her once more and got into position about a metre above her, he equipped the final keychain, Ultima Weapon, and braced himself, as he dashed straight down keyblade in hand and with all his strength, he sent the keyblade right through her body, "FINAL HEAVEN!"

KABOOM! The force of the blow was so great that Izzy was sent crashing into the ground, forming a huge crater in the middle of the arena. Sora landed gently and caught his keyblade, his back towards her. Without needing to look back, he knew. Izzy was dead.

And she was. The damage done was incredible, every single bone in her body was broken, yet all the blood that could be seen was the thin line of blood down her chin. Kairi couldn't believe her eyes.

Sora looked at her, and smiled tenderly, and gave her a thumbs-up. His expression was so gentle, so naïve, so cute……

Kairi immediately rushed towards Sora and hugged him as tightly as she could. Sora closed his eyes and slowly ran his fingers through her beautiful hair. Kairi was crying. She hit her chest numerous times with her fists, yet Sora let it happen without resisting. He knew the reason behind this.

Finally, Kairi spoke up, "Sora……"

"Yeah."

"Don't ever do that again, you hear me! Don't ever leave me……"

"Got it." And with that, Sora kissed her once more, erasing all her worries and pain that she felt for the past two weeks, for right now, it didn't matter. Sora was with her. That was enough. That was enough………

And just as both couples quietly enjoyed the presence of each other, the multiple hearts that left the body of the Chasers and rose freely into the sky, was more than enough to signal the comeback of the protectors of the Realm of Light.

How was it?! I felt I did a pretty good job there. Hehe. I hope the Riku and Nevaeh part seemed alright. Oh, I just LOVE battle scenes and fluff. LOL. Anyways, review and tell me what you thought about it. Again, I'm sorry for the late update, and I'll try and shorten it as much as I can. Well, then, see ya! Oh, and don't be too confused if you don't get Sora's move. I love it. Points to anyone who can guess where it came from! XD