Prompt: Fortress

Given by: Endoresu

Setting: The World That Never Was, KHII

Pairing: None

Axel crashed to the ground. He tried to stand, but could not.

He might not have a heart, but every other body part he could name hurt…as well as several he could not.

The man he had been fighting approached him silently, as always.

The fiery Nobody managed to bring himself up to his knees and look as threatening as he could from his current position.

He braced himself for a coup de grâce that did not come.

Looking up, Axel received the shock of his non-life.

"You… Who are you?" asked the Nobody.

The man had lowered his hood, which had remained up throughout their entire battle somehow. Axel decided to assume that the man was just particularly skilled as opposed to believing it was due to some form of ineptitude on his own part.

In either case, the man before him looked just like Xemnas.

"I'm no one important."

Now Axel was even more confused. The man's voice sounded like it should be coming from an adolescent. In addition, he could have sworn he had heard that voice before. Hearing it issue from this form was unsettling.

The man raised an arm, clearly casting some spell or another. Once again, Axel prepared for a blow.

Instead, he was bathed in a soft green light as he felt his injuries begin to heal.

Green eyes blinked in confusion. "I don't get it. Who are you really?"

"I'm someone who understands what you're doing…but who won't let you achieve your goal. Understood?"

"Yeah, but if you think…" Axel suddenly realised where he had head that voice before, although it had sounded a little different then. "Wait, you're that boy…The one who escaped Castle Oblivion…You're his best friend."

"If you know that, then you understand that I'm not going to let you harm him. After all, you've been acting for the same reasons I have."

Axel remembered that he could stand now, and that gave him considerably more confidence. "Yeah? And what's that?"

"We both just want our friend back. Unfortunately, only one of us can have him, and I've already won. He's whole again."

"He still exists in there somewhere," Axel said stubbornly.

"Then help him as he chose to be."

Axel's retort died on his tongue. Roxas had chosen. He just had not wanted to accept it.

The man who was really just a boy spoke again as he raised his hood. "Don't try to hurt them again. I won't let you off the next time."

The man-child began to walk away then. Axel called out to him before he left the alley. "She's there."

Both turned to look at the castle floating above the city. Darkness instead of walls, magic instead of might, and its occupants instead of guards, protected the fortress. It would not be an easy feat for anyone to succeed against its defences, but Axel thought this boy and his friend would. He did not feel bad about that.

"Thank you." The boy who was older than his years said before disappearing into the darkness.

Axel looked at the castle, and then down the other end of the alley, where the portal to the real world lay dormant.

"If this is what you want to do Roxas, then let's do it."