So it's late at night and I'm tired and just want to get my work done, but I was checking out my voting thing and I saw that a few people had asked for me to work on Project Kingdom hearts Sequel and I felt kind of guilty. I'm actually up to Chapter Sixteen, but I kind of wanted to get it written before I started uploading it, but I think that's probably a bit unfair to ask those who are reading to wait for me to finish before they start to get new chapters.

But anyway, this is the next chapter so yeah.

Well, I hope you guys like this and I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

I used to have conversations with the characters then I forgot... I think I've left them somewhere... Oops.

Chapter Ten: Light Returned

'When you're stuck in the darkness just remember… light will always prevail'

Ven's eyes flickered from Sora to Xion and Axel then back again, he realised with a sinking sense of despair that in this fight, he could- once again- be easily defeated. His gaze turned to the raven and was surprised to see the girl staring at him, a blank expression on her face, Ven swallowed nervously, was she deciding the quickest way to kill him? To get him out of the way so that they could worry about subduing Sora?

He felt horribly certain that if she attacked, there wouldn't be much he could do, 'I'm a hindrance to this,' he thought, gaze flicking to the brunette beside him, 'not only does Sora have to fight against two people, but he has to worry about me too!' he wanted to groan, 'so much for protecting my little brother,' no one was making a move though.

Ven wondered at this, why hadn't Xion and Axel attacked yet? Clearly they understood they had the advantage?

Xion stepped forward and the two boys tensed, her gaze was still on Ven and he felt uncomfortable under the weight of her passive stare, what was she thinking? "You should leave," she said softly, Ven started, "w…what?" he asked, a frown forming on his face, Xion's eyes momentarily flickered back to Axel, Ven realised that she was gauging his reaction and he couldn't help but wonder, was this something she shouldn't be doing?

"We are going to win," she said simply, "and we will subdue the target and you will have to be killed while he is taken away, that would be pointless, I am offering you this chance to leave now, before you have to get injured," Ven clenched his fists, "as if I would leave, I'm not going to just let you take them back with you to that place!"

Xion paused, an eyebrow raised, "them?" she repeated, her monotone voice colouring slightly, Ven frowned, didn't they know? His eyes slid to Sora, wondering about the boy's reaction to all of this.

That was when he realised it wasn't Sora standing next to him anymore.

Xion's eyes were drawn away from his twin, she looked at Sora and realised that something about him was different.

Roxas gazed at his two friends, when their eyes moved to him he smiled slightly, "hey you two," he greeted, raising a hand partway before awkwardly lowering it, he watched as Xion's eyes widened, and Axel took a step back, he waited while they both recollected themselves and winced when their faces settles back into blank expressions, "what is this Sora?" Xion asked, Roxas shook his head, "not Sora, not anymore, it's me… Roxas," an eyebrow rose, "and how is it you? We were told you were killed in the process of bringing Sora back to life," Roxas shook his head hopelessly, "well I, uh, wasn't? I don't really know why but… I mean… my body was destroyed but my soul just… attached itself… to… Sora's… body…" he trailed off, realising how odd it sounded.

Both of them were gazing at him passively and Roxas was beginning to hate the look a little, he wanted to shake them, he wanted to go over and kiss Xion, hug Axel, try and get some kind of reaction out of them.

But he stayed still.

Waiting to see what Xion would say.

There was silence for a few long minutes before someone spoke, but it wasn't Xion, "using fire magic in a forest would be dangerous," Roxas glanced up at Axel to see the red head looking at him curiously, his eyes widened, was he suggesting…?

Xion seemed to think the same thing because she turned to Axel and nodded, "quite right, if you were to use your power the whole forest would burn down, we need to be very discreet and not draw attention to ourselves, as for me, without Axel's fire I'm afraid we'd be somewhat equal," she turned back to the two boys as she said this, her face was still blank but Roxas thought he could see a hint of something in her eyes.

"I suppose we'll have to let you go this time," she said, "since there's nothing we can really do," she gave them a warning look, "but you had better turn right around, it wouldn't do for our target to be… killed by… bears," Roxas saw her glance over at Axel, he saw the slightly imperceptible shrug the red head gave.

"You both…" he began uncertainly, he wanted to run over and hug them both, ask them to come back with them, but Ven was grabbing his arm and dragging him away, telling him not to push his luck, that they had confirmed the Organisation's whereabouts so now they should get out of there before either of the two change their minds.

Reluctantly, Roxas turned away and followed his twin, away from his two dear friends.

Xion saw the change that overcame the brunette, her gaze returned to him, she saw him smile slightly, raising a hand awkwardly in greeting before lowering it, "hey you two," he said. Xion's eyes widened, she saw a flash of gold and eyes a different shade of blue, she froze, rooted the spot, only dimly aware of Axel taking a step back behind her.

She knew it was impossible for it to be him but she knew it was impossible for it not to be him and she didn't know what to believe except that there were two boys in front of her and one of them looked like her blonde and the other…

Was their target.

She smoothed her face, she did not particularly feel anything strong at the thought that he might be alive, and even if she did, she had a task to carry out, "what is this Sora?" she asked, intending to play it off as some acting on Sora's behalf. The brunette (blonde) shook his head, "not Sora, not anymore, it's me… Roxas," she rose an eyebrow, "and how is it you? We were told you were killed in the process of bringing Sora back to life," the (her) boy shook his head hopelessly, "well I, uh, wasn't? I don't really know why but… I mean… my body was destroyed but my soul just… attached itself… to… Sora's… body…" she watched as his voice faded, he seemed to realise how unbelievable what he was saying sounded (she believed it).

She stood silently, waiting for him to say something else before realising he was waiting also, but she didn't know what to say. It was far enough down the hill that there were no cameras, if she so felt like it, she could let them go, there was no need for her to say anything.

But she had a duty.

If he was still alive it meant there were things about the situation she did not know, surely for now she should let them go, at least so that she could reconsider her plans and such.

Whether or not he was alive shouldn't change anything.

They could go after them another time, if she let them go now there was no need for her to say anything, she could let both (all three) of them go; surely they could pursue them another time?

What about Axel?

And so her thoughts went, moving backwards and forwards and she couldn't make any decisions other than the one that, if she could feel, she would dislike the indecision very much.

They were still waiting and she was still not speaking, "using fire magic in a forest would be dangerous," Xion's eyes widened and she turned to Axel, he wasn't looking at her.

She nodded, "quite right, if you were to use your power the whole forest would burn down, we need to be very discreet and not draw attention to ourselves, as for me, without Axel's fire I'm afraid we'd be somewhat equal," she turned back to the two boys as she said this.

The decision had been made.

And she knew that this was the preferred one.

"I suppose we'll have to let you go this time," she said, "since there's nothing we can really do," she gave them a warning look, "but you had better turn right around, it wouldn't do for our target to be… killed by… bears," Xion wasn't actually sure if there were bears in a forest, she glanced over at Axel who gave a slight shrug, "you both…" she turned towards the soft sound of his voice.

She could see the look she was giving them both and she almost wanted to smile, he didn't want to run off without them, despite everything, he didn't want to leave them behind.

She stood with Axel and the two watched as Ven grabbed his twin and ran off, dragging the other boy behind him.

She turned to Axel, "how about we go back," the red head offered, and Xion nodded, following him, "such an uneventful evening," she said idly, "I wonder if anything will happen back at the castle?" she saw Axel nod and give a slight smirk at her words.

She raised a hand and allowed light to grow from it, spilling into the darkness, she looked around at it all, feeling a stirring in her chest.

The light was still there.

Roxas followed Ven blindly, letting his older twin lead him, his thoughts were focused on their encounter, "they let us go," he whispered. Ven paused and looked back at him, seeing Roxas' expression he sighed, stepping forward and hugging the boy, "yeah, they did, I don't know why they're the way they are, but they're still your friends, they're still inside there I think," Roxas looked up at his brother uncertainly, "really?" he whispered hopefully, Ven smiled and nodded, "well, I don't think they would have done what they did if they weren't, do you?"

Roxas shook his head and it was like a dam had broken, all the private concerns and worries, all the times he had wondered if they could really reverse what had happened, the secret horror that maybe they couldn't. It drained out of him, and he leaned against Ven and sighed, scrunching his eyes up in relief, he had never wanted to lose his friends, and now, for the first time he believed.

He believed that he could get them back.

Ven walked with his brother back home, part of him wondered when Sora would take control again, and part of him guiltily hoped that he would let Roxas stay for a bit, so that they could have a little longer together.

He glanced at his younger twin, Roxas was walking beside him, looking at the ground with a small smile on his face, Ven wondered about that, but didn't say anything, instead, he reached over and wrapped his arm around the other boy in a hug, "let's go back," he said with a smile and Roxas nodded, pausing for a moment, "but what about the girls? Aren't they going to wonder where we were? Or, in a best case scenario, why we went to bed so early?"

Ven thought for a moment, secretly pleased that Roxas was relying on him, feeling like a proper older brother again, 'because you've failed every other time so far,' he ignored the thought, "well…" he began slowly, "I suppose if it's only asking about why we went to bed so early, meaning they'd be asking us tomorrow morning… we'd just say that we were really tired," he shrugged, expressing his thoughts on the simplicity of the answer, "and if they noticed we were gone… I…" he frowned, "I couldn't get to sleep, I decided to go for a little walk around the place, maybe have a look at one or two things while it was still light, you decided to come with me since neither of us had ever been to Radian Gardens before and stuff, how does that sound?" he glanced at Roxas, giving him a smile, the smile was returned, albeit uncertainly.

Roxas walked up to the front door with Ven next to him, he cast a glance in his brother's direction before taking the lead and opening the door, he slipped in with Ven close behind; the excuse Ven had suggested was already on the tip of his tongue, but his words died away when he saw that no one was around.

He turned to his brother and frowned, raising an eyebrow in question only to receive a shrug in response; Roxas considered simply going to the room the two of them were sleeping in, taking advantage of the girl's sudden disappearance to avoid awkward questions. But he had a feeling that they weren't just in another part of the house, there was a sense of quiet that gave of a deserted feel.

With a shrug he started checking each of the rooms, opening doors and poking his head in, before shutting the door once more. His quick search confirmed his suspicions.

No one was home.

He walked over to the front door and checked to see if they were maybe someone nearby outside, but he couldn't see anyone. The sun had started going down now and he glanced at the clock, 'it stays bright for quite some time here,' the boy thought to himself idly.

"Do you think they went out looking for us?" he asked guiltily, turning to the older blonde with a frown, Ven bit his lip, "I think… they could have," he replied, speaking carefully, "but if that's the case, they'll be back soon," Roxas sighed unhappily, "still, it seems a little mean, what if they're really worried about us right now?"

None of them spoke for some minutes after Xion and Axel had gone, Atsuko stared at the place they had been, whatever she had been expecting. It wasn't that.

It was Yuri who broke the stunned silence, "oh wow, okay then, that was… unexpected," Atsuko turned to Aya with a small frown, "it's him, isn't it? When I first saw him at school I wondered," Aya nodded and Atsuko continued, speaking as though maybe saying it aloud would help her to understand it, "they have magic," she said softly, "just like-" "I know," the taller girl interrupted, "I was standing here, I was watching," her voice grew softer, "I saw it."

Atsuko frowned, but remained silent, and they stood together in the forest, each thinking their own thoughts until- once again- Yuri spoke, "well," she began conversationally, "I guess this is a bit more a fantasy story than horror."

Hmm... I wonder how the girls weren't discovered? Is there a reason? Do one of them have powers that can do something like that? Actually not really, it happened because of plot development and important things. Yeah.

I don't have anything else to say about this.

Review please! Let me know what you thought.