Chapter 11:

Shock part 1

Roxas opened the door to the room where the pathway to The World That Never Was waited.

"Roxas, where exactly are you planning on going?" Riku asked.

"Well, I was thinking the old castle y'know." Roxas shrugged.

"Why, what's there?" Riku asked.

"I dunno, that's why I'm going. We have to check everywhere." Roxas answered.

"And if nothings there?"

"Then I screwed up, no big deal right?"

"I guess. But Sora'll want an explaination."

"Just tell him that I was asleep in the mansion and had no idea how I got there. I've gone sleep walking before."

"You sure that'll work?"

"It's Sora."

"True."

They found the green portal and walked through it. Roxas stopped when he noticed where they were.

"What's up?" Riku asked.

"Nothing, it's just... this is where it happened." Roxas said, looking at the ground.

"It?"

"Yeah, this is where Axel died." A tear rolled down Roxas' cheek.

"Oh. Sorry, I didn't know."

"It's ok. Let's go."

Roxas started to run to the other side. Riku sighed, and followed. He knew that Roxas was upset, but how could he cheer him up? Riku wasn't there when it happened. He didn't even know where Axel had died until now, just that he did. He remembered when Sora told him, how upset Sora'd been, it was almost like Axel was Sora's best friend, not Roxas'. Sora had almost broken down crying when he told them Axel's last words.

Flash Back

"Hey Sora, do you know what happened to Axel?" Kairi asked when they were all together in The Castle That Never Was.

"Wh-What do you mean?" Sora stuttered.

"Well, I just thought that he would've showed up, y'know since we're in Organization XIII's headquarters and all." Kairi shrugged.

"H-He d-died. H-He wanted t-to see R-Roxas." Sora began to cry.

"Roxas?" Riku asked.

"Y-Yeah, h-he s-said that, that Roxas m-made him f-feel like h-he had a h-heart. R-Roxas was his b-best fr-friend." Sora fell to his knees and cried even harder than before.

"Sora! It's ok." Kairi knelt next to the chocolate haired boy, rubbing his back to comfort him.

Sora wrapped his arm around Kairi, holding out the other. Riku sighed, and knelt with his friends, the three islanders were all together again. They all felt just like they used to as kids. They looked up, to see Donald and Goofy with tears in their eyes, but they weren't nearly as emotional as Sora.

End Flashback

"Riku, hello. You coming?" Roxas was waving his hand infront of Riku's face.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, sorry, I guess I spaced out." Riku shrugged.

"Obviously." Roxas sighed, "anyway, we're in The World That Never Was now."

"So, let's go."

Riku walked ahead and then Roxas followed. They walked for what felt like hours, but was actually more like five minutes. Both of them looking around the forgotten world, thinking about their past there. They only came accross a few nobodies and heartless, which was odd, but good. They didn't have to take an eternity killing a million enemies when they could be reaching the castle entrance, which they did. Roxas pointed his keyblade at the bottom of the castle and a beam of light came out of the tip. Then, a pathway for the two teens to walk up appeared. They walked silently, they never really had much to say to eachother, so they were just quiet. Until the silence got to a point where Roxas felt like it was killing him.

"So, umm. How'd you know I was at the mansion?" Roxas asked.

"I just sorta guessed, I figured you'd be in Naminé's old room though. When you weren't there, I checked the basement, and the portal to the virtual world was open, so I went in, and there you were." Riku explained.

"Nice." Roxas nodded.

"Thanks." Riku said.

*Silence*

"So, when we find Naminé, are we just gonna go home or what?" Riku asked randomly.

"I dunno, I guess we'll just do what ever we end up having to do, I hope we can go home though." Roxas replied.

"Why?"

"I feel safer on the islands than anywhere else, and I won't let anyone be taken away ever again so, we'll probably be better off there than any other world we go to."

"Heh."

"What's so funny?"

"Sora said the same thing when I talked to him last night before we split up to look for you."

"Riku, you're just jealous 'cause you don't have a nobody of your own."

"I don't want one."

"Really?"

"Yeah, Roxas I don't want to loose my heart just to have some kid inside me who reads all my thoughts and emotions."

"I guess. It's pretty annoying being the nobody too."

"Why?"

"Well, I was raised to think that I didn't have a heart, that I was just a shadow of someone else. But then, I met Naminé and Axel. And I felt something. It was like, like I cared about them. But I knew that I didn't have a heart so, I thought it was all in my head. But, when I was told that I would have to forget everything, I flet a huge weight in my chest, like something was broken. Once I got my memories back, and I found Naminé again, she explained everything. She said that the nobodies like us, the ones that look human, had hearts, they were just partial copies of our other half, so I had a heart all along, Xemnas just didn't want us to rebel. So I guess, you just get really confused and, that's no fun. I hate it."

"Well, I really don't want one then."

The two boys laughed, and stopped walking at the elevator. Roxas pushed the button with a fancy "N" on it, and the door opened. The two boys stepped inside, and the elevator went up 15 floors. When it stopped moving, Riku and Roxas exited the elevator.

"What'd the 'N' stand for?" Riku asked.

"Naminé." Roxas said, pointing to a name plate on the door a few feet in front of them.

"Oh. That's obvious." Riku blushed.

Roxas stepped forward, and pushed the door open. Riku followed him into the artistic girl's old room.

"Whoah. something's not right." Riku stated.

"I'll say." Roxas replied.