Hey, guys. So listen, nanowrimo is upon us, so updates are gonna be scarce this month. As if I update every month anyway. The only reason this chapter's going up is because I lost internet for like, a week because of the hurricane, so I didn't have the tumblr to distract me from typing.

Anywhoosles, are any of you doing nanowrimo? If so, how do you plan on organizing your month? I have a lot of OCD things that I'm going to have to get around. For example, I can't stand if my paragraphs aren't more than one line when I type in web format, I don't like when too many lines in a row start with quotation marks, and I NEED to write long things, such as this and FTCT, out in a notebook before I type and post. Do you have any problems like that, or am I a weirdo?

Swimming around the brink of consciousness was not exactly a new experience for Roxas, but it got scarier each time around.

He did not want to wake up. His head felt so unbearably heavy, but somewhere inside he knew he had to move. He couldn't remember why at first, but he got this terrible foreboding feelingthat if he didn't move soon, bad things were going to happen. Unspeakable things. People were going to die. He was going to die. Axel was going to die.

Despite the searing pain in his head, Roxas shot straight up. A strangled cry of Axel's name escaped his lips as he searched fruitlessly around the pitch black. He couldn't hear anything but a sourceless drip, drip, drip, and he saw nothing but a dim light emanating from a distance. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he could make out a tiny window. It was ten or fifteen feet above him, and it offered only a tiny sliver of silver moonlight to leak through and provide some light. The ground below him was stony, damp, and cold. Was he in a cell?

He tried recalling what it was that happened to land him in here. He remembered going to the meeting, and leaving the meeting, and then talking to Axel. And he remembered that Axel thought that the Xemnas they'd mentioned was actually Terra, trapped in Xehanort's body. But past that… what on earth had happened? There were alarms… obviously they'd been discovered. Someone kicked him in the face, too. Who was it, again? That much he couldn't remember. But they were wearing a coat, he knew that much.

How had they been discovered? Did someone follow them, and listen to their conversations? Or maybe they'd been bugged? Or… what if the traitor Sephiroth mentioned, they traitor to the King's Men, had come back to tip them off? It was all so fuzzy.

"Axel!" he cried out, to see if maybe his Pull was in a neighboring cell, "Axel, can you hear me!?"

"He can't hear you, Roxas."

Roxas let out a startled cry and fell backwards slightly, "Wh-who are you? Where am I? Where's Axel?"

The woman speaking changed her voice from the smooth, cold alto to a more familiar, much higher pitched squeak. "But Roxyyyyy! Don't you recognize me!? I thought we were supposed to be friends!"

Any residual grogginess Roxas had been experiencing evaporated on the spot. He summoned his Keyblades, clenching his fists around them. He could remember who the traitor was now, all right, and it certainly wasn't Riku. "I thought we were supposed to be friends too, Xion!" he snarled.

He swung the blades with as much force as he could towards the direction of the voice, but jolts of pain shot up his arms as they clashed loudly against metal. He let the Blades vanish and began digging through his coat pockets for something else to use. His switchblade, pistol, everything but Kairi's little doodad had been confiscated.

"Don't bother," Xion sneered, her voice once again changing from the sweet, energetic one he knew to one of confidence and malevolence, "Why don't you just sit in the corner and pray instead. After all, it's done so much good for you in the past. You and you little boyfriend will be dead by morning, anyway."

With a growl of fury, Roxas initiated a bright beam of light from within himself, causing a loud ruckus all around him from what he assumed were the dusks that Riku claimed resided in the dungeon. Xion stood directly behind the barred door. When the light fell on her, she didn't move, wince, or falter. Her pupils shrunk to the size of poppy seeds, but otherwise she didn't react at all.

Clutching the bars, he shouted, "Why don't you look me in the eye and tell me why you betrayed us?!"

She backed off a step or two, letting out a loud, mirthless laugh. "Betrayed you? I was never with you! Do you honestly believe that your moving to Hollow Bastion was a coincidence? Are you that naïve? Who told you about the photography program at HBU? Who yanked your little fairy head out of the clouds long enough to get you to this country? Don't you see? This is what I was created for!"

Roxas dropped his forehead onto the bars, teeth clenched, one frustrated tear slipping from his eyes. "All these months I blamed myself… and it was YOU! YOU KILLED NAMINÉ! How could you?! She was your best friend! How do you just kill someone who trusted you so much?"

"I didn't mean to kill her!" Xion shrieked. "I was trying to kill you! I should have killed you myself when I had the chance… She didn't need to die."

"You're mad!" Roxas shouted, "They're murderers, Xion! They—"

His words were drowned out by a tortured scream. It echoed through the stony ceiling from up above, reverberating many times over against the walls and through the clattering cells. It went from the walls, straight through his heart, like a knife. He could recognize that voice from anywhere. Axel.

"Whew! I wondered when they were going to break him," she said, as casually as she would had she just finished describing her morning run. "He's a strong one. Maybe we shouldn't turn him into a dusk after all."

Roxas' knees quaked beneath him as he tried desperately to think of something he could do for his Pull. Anything, but sit here like a useless lump.

"Xion, please…" he begged, falling to the floor as though an invisible hand attached to the screams were pushing him down. "Please help me. Or don't help me. Kill me, for all I care. But—" Just as the echoes were beginning to fade away, a ripe scream filtered through, filling the cavern with the sound of Axel's distress once more. "Goddammit, please! Get them to stop!"

He tried to tell himself that it wasn't her fault. She was only a puppet. Sephiroth—no, Xehanort was the one pulling all the strings. But it was hard to see it that way when they were up there torturing Axel and Xion was just standing there, laughing at him mercilessly. He looked frantically around for anything he could use either to escape or to at least kill Xion. Or himself, for that matter, if that's what it came to. But he found nothing but his Keyblades, which were nice and sharp but useless for when it came to fitting between the little crisscross pattern of iron.

"What do you want, then?!" he demanded, looking pleadingly at her. He didn't care if he looked weak. He didn't care if he was making himself vulnerable to the Organization. They had obviously been looking for his weakness and they'd found it. He'd do whatever it took to get Axel back.

Xion's lips curled up into a half disgusted, half satisfied sneer. "Isn't it obvious? We're trying to break you. Think of it as…hmm, payback for the millennia of trouble you've put us through. Add that to treason against the Organization and you're marked for duskhood. Forget dying, that would be much too easy. We can't have you coming back and mucking up our plans again. Enjoy your last few hours of sanity."

"Sanity?" he breathed distractedly. He felt as though he hadn't been properly sane for a long time.

"Also known as heartbreak syndrome? No? Oh, how delightful!" she squealed, clapping her hands together in a heartbreakingly accurate impression of her old self. "You see, in cases such as this, when a person subject to the Pull loses the one to which they're bound, well, they just can't take it!" She melodramatically splayed her hand across her forehead, "You'll start to block out brain functions, one by one, until all that's left is an emotionless blob."

"You're an emotionless blob!" Roxas snapped. He stood up and spat in her face, only to be torn back down by another drawn out wail. It hurt even more to realize that it sounded as though Axel were trying to hold them back.

Then, all of a sudden, something snapped inside him, and it wasn't his lucidity. It was his psyche. He could feel the energy growing, much more powerful than it had ever been before. The pressure was so much that he felt as though at any second he would explode from the inside out.

"You've taken everything from me! You're not going to take him too!" he screamed, his light growing brighter with his rage.

Then, it happened. A telepathic force field erupted from his chest like an elastic band of energy, connecting to every mind it happened across. Xion's, cold, stony; how had Roxas never noticed before? Vexen's, icy, yet yearning, unsatisfied. Resentful, even. Riku's brothers were all the same; sadistic and sharp. Sephiroth's…unyielding.

He felt Axel's next. It was slowly being drained from him, but Roxas was delighted to find that it still carried that signature, warm radiance. They hadn't gotten to him yet.

The ring was still spreading. There were more people in the castle than just the Organization now, but Roxas didn't have time to think about what that could mean, because his mind had just connected to an essence that could only belong to Xehanort. It was like a giant headache rammed into him with the force of a thousand freight trains. There was so much there, more than Roxas could even begin to comprehend. Through it he could only distinguish one thing: malevolence. Trademark to that of the Organization, the intent to destroy was there, growing, infesting. Taking over, even.

Xion chuckled almost maniacally. Of course she'd known what he was feeling. Her mind was still within his. "You see?" she growled. "Your Terra is no more. Only Lord Xemnas is left."

New anger surged through Roxas. Despite the pounding headache brought on by Xehanort—or Xemnas now, as they were calling him, the psychic field was forced to spread even further. He was connecting to more minds, but by now, they were just voices added to the rising din of a crowded room.

One last mind in particular stood out to him. A cool, collected mind, one as sharp as his eyes but pure as his companion's. Perhaps it was because Roxas had spent so much time connected with him as of late, or maybe because he'd been on a constant watch for him for the last twenty four hours anyway. Riku.

Riku! Sora! Help us! Roxas begged, knowing all too well that every other damn person in the castle could hear them anyway. They have me in a cell with the dusks and they're torturing Axel!

Alertness was raised immediately. The same alarm from earlier sounded, even through the dungeons, and rage was a pretty common feeling amongst everyone.

"You idiot!" Xion screamed, "You'll ruin everything! Do you want Riku and Sora to die, too?!"

A pair of tiny, yet powerful hands clamped around his throat, forcing his light to go out and all psychic connections to cease so he could focus on keeping himself alive. "I'll kill you." She whispered, a tiny vein popping out on her forehead. For a tiny thing, she was very powerful. He wasn't breathing, and he was panicking. The threat she was making against his life was very real, and quite possible, she was going to make good on it. Part of him, in fact, hoped she would, just so he wouldn't have to listen to Axel's pain anymore. "I'll kill you, Strife."

"Not if I kill you first, bitch."

Xion might have died from the blow. Perhaps she was only knocked out. Perhaps she only feigned incapacitation out of self-preservations, as she was now outnumbered and clearly overpowered. Roxas never found out what became of her. He didn't really care. As he watched her body fall limply to the ground like a ragdoll, his eyes were drawn up towards his savior.

"Cloud!" he whisper-shrieked, not wanting anyone to hear them. "Why are you here?!"

His older brother rolled his eyes and ushered him to the side. Roxas complied, knowing that the full extent of Cloud's Jenova cells could be deadly. With a mighty battle cry and a powerful blast, the door was ripped from the stone wall by its hinges and sent crashing into the wall behind them.

"Let's go," he said. Roxas nodded firmly and let him lead the way out.

"How did you find me?" he asked as they hauled ass through the dungeons. The rows and rows of cells that lined the hallways were packed to the brim full of dusks, to the point where they had hardly any room to get around each other. With the clatter they were making, added to the scream of the alarm, added to the almost drowned out but not quite silent sounds of Axel screaming, it was a wonder Cloud could even hear him.

"It was hard not to. Right now you're like a psychic beacon," Cloud said, "Which is why we need to leave now."

It was hard for Roxas to just leave. All those dusks were still down there, trapped, innocent souls, possibly even people he'd already known. But he cleared his throat and pressed on. If Cloud was right, then it wouldn't be long before he had nobodies swarming in on him.

Once on a higher floor (a better lit floor) it wasn't as difficult to navigate the hallways. The sounds of battle nearby made the location of their friends a dead giveaway. When Roxas made to head in that direction, however, Cloud tugged him back.

"We have to get you to safety," he said roughly.

"Are you shitting me!?" Roxas screamed, "Fuck you, I have to go find Axel! They're torturing him, Cloud! And I have to find Riku and Sora; they wouldn't even be here if it weren't for me!"

Cloud looked torn. Roxas knew he'd most likely been given direct orders to get him to safety. But he also knew that, if the same Cloud he grew up with was still in there, secretly he agreed with Roxas. Never in his life had Roxas known his brother to be a coward. But Roxas really wasn't in the mood to just idly stand there while he figured it out.

"Whatever, I'm not gonna wait around for you to make up your mind," said Roxas. "I'm going to find Axel. If you want to go back, I'm not going to stop you. Thanks for getting me out."

He didn't wait for Cloud to reply. Instead, he wheeled around and burst through the door to the room where all the noise was coming from, also the room in which he'd first met Saïx. It sat directly above the dungeons, so he'd reckoned chances were good he'd find Axel inside.

The room was cold as ice, which immediately informed Roxas that Vexen was present. The old man did not seem to be taking much part in combat, though. Just freezing the room to give his side an advantage. Elsewise, Riku's entire family was present, including Riku himself. Loz and Yazoo were prowling along the perimeter, and Sora and Riku were sword fighting with Sephiroth and Kadaj, who were both attempting to keep them from reaching the unconscious person settled in the "throne."

"Axel!" shouted Roxas, summoning his Keyblades, prepared to fight. Kadaj turned his double-pronged blade to Roxas, and Loz jumped in to help his father fight the other boys.

"Riku!" he whined, "Come back to us!"

"Not happening!" Riku countered, "Not like this."

Yazoo jumped in too. "But Riku, we finally have mother!" he cried, "Haven't we been waiting our whole lives to meet her? We're not supposed to be separated like this. Together, we can be a whole family again, right?"

"Don't cry Yazoo," said Loz, sounding almost like a small child. What was wrong with this bunch?

"She isn't mother anymore!" Riku argued, not without a hint of pity in his voice. "She hasn't been here for a long, long time. Either we all look out for each other, or we can destroy each other trying to get back what's been lost for longer than any of our lifetimes. Which is it going to be?"

Both Loz and Yazoo stopped moving and looked at one another. Loz looked to be on the verge of tears. Even Vexen was looking back and forth from Sephiroth to Riku, as if unsure of which side to choose.

"Idiots! Destroy them!" Sephiroth commanded.

Loz stood adamantly. "You've been a very bad man, father. Riku's right! The time for mother has passed. That Xemnas is not the mother you told us about! You said we'd be able to feel her. I can't feel her, and neither can Yaz. You're just doing mean things to nice people."

"Fine! Kadaj, take them out!"

Kadaj nodded and went to fight the three brothers alone. Roxas, still not totally sure of the subject of their argument, tried instead to think of the best way to break through Sephiroth's defenses and Vexen's wall of ice to get to Axel. If only he had Axel with him, so he could melt the wall…

Then it hit him. Mentally he calculated how much time he would have. If Kadaj's battle could keep them occupied long enough… it was worth a try. He tapped instantaneously into Axel's lifestream and, very carefully, tried breaking down the sheet of ice. He didn't want to do anything too quickly, or take too much energy from Axel, in case he awoke.

Occasionally deflecting a stray attack or making a few of his own, he melted the wall just enough to see a little gaping hole. Vexen was too transfixed on the battle—which fortunately now included Sephiroth— to notice. Roxas saw the opportunity and took it. He sprang forward with enough force to break through, Axel was within reach—

But before he could reach him, his concentration was shattered completely and replaced by a searing pain. Sephiroth, even though he was standing over ten feet away, had caught Roxas' shoulder with his masume, and was now skewering him in midair like a shish kabob.

"I might not have a heart anymore," Sephiroth said casually, "But I do know how to injure one."

Roxas gritted his teeth, trying to hold back the screams of both pain and frustration trying to escape his throat. It was like someone set a fire on his arm; the deeper the blade dug into his muscle, the hotter it burned. His resistance broke and he growled a loudly as the pain from lack of proper blood flow began shooting down the rest of his arm as well.

"Roxas!" Sora called. He screamed out furiously and finally managed to deliver a blow that landed Kadaj on the ground, bleeding, and unable to continue in battle.

Despite what Sephiroth said about not having a heart, he seemed pretty infuriated. He flung Roxas to the ground, yelled and stomped around for a second, and then Axel was lifted into the air, his head flopping around uselessly. A dark material surrounded him, drawing out the life from within him. Roxas had seen Riku leech before, the proper way, but he'd never had intents to kill. But Roxas knew, in that instant, that if he didn't do something, Sephiroth would kill him. He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't let them turn Axel into a dusk.

"Axel!" he yelled again, struggling to get to his feet. Once he had, though, Sephiroth's sword pierced his shoulder again, pinning him to the ground and causing him to knock his head against the floor. On one hand, this was somewhat of a good thing since his head was too fuzzy to process the intense pain he was bringing upon himself by struggling against the sword. It might even have gone all the way through this time. It didn't matter, he didn't care. He had to get to Axel before Sephiroth killed him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

Suddenly, the pain lessened considerably, and Roxas was able to get up. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cloud swinging his giant sword expertly against Sephiroth's. But none of that interested Roxas. He was dead intent on getting to Axel, whose lifestream was so faint that Roxas could barely even pick it up anymore. But it was hardly any use trying. Roxas could barely even drag himself along, let alone take Axel with him, once he reached him.

"Now, Cloud," said Sephiroth, rising from the floor by means of his single wing, "I have seen into your heart, and you cannot lie to me. Are you not jealous of Roxas? Your kid brother, the Keyblade's chosen wielder? You can do so much better than him."

"SHUT UP!" Cloud bellowed. "I know my place, and I am not going to let you hurt my brother!"

He hurdled himself into Sephiroth, his skin glowing a faint blue from the energy of his Jenova cells. He was much faster and stronger than any human being, every sense incredibly heightened. The weight of his blade alone, Roxas knew, was enough to kill. He saw the sword sink into the side of Sephiroth's skull, fracturing it, and he knew the battle was won.

The great and mighty Sephiroth sunk almost gracefully from the air to the floor, defeated, to be encased in Vexen's ice. A ghost of his last smile remained on his face, as though even in death, he was still pleased that he'd made his final act tormenting Cloud.

The effect on everyone was immediate. Riku tensed, grasping his serrated blade tightly. Loz had actually started crying, the tears looking very out of place on a face as masculine as his. Yazoo was looking on edge as well, like he would lose it any minute. Vexen just looked stunned, unsure of what to do now that his leader had gone.

Kadaj was the worst.

"You killed him!" he screamed, "Mother! Father! Don't leave!"

He lunged himself at Cloud, but was grasped tightly by Sora. "Don't!" said Sora, as gently as he could muster. "You're hurt. You'll only hurt yourself more."

"You killed him!" Kadaj spat again, ignoring Sora. "You killed father. I'll kill you!"

All heads abruptly turned the wall as it, with a deafening crack, split into a wide enough gap to allow Lexaeus to step through. "The other members are rousing," he said seriously. "They are going to let the dusks loose through the entire stronghold. We must leave now. We'd be outnumbered well over one thousand to one."

Riku and Sora nodded to show understanding, while Kadaj still struggled viciously to get to Cloud. Loz approached Sora hesitantly, but once he was close enough, he struck Kadaj over the head, knocking him out, properly this time.

"Can we come with you, big brother?" he asked Riku.

Riku patted him a few times on the shoulder. "You may, but I don't think you're going to like it," he replied. "If you do, you mustn't struggle. You must do everything we tell you to do, even if you don't want to do it. You are our prisoner. Do you understand?"

Loz nodded solemnly, with Yazoo eagerly coming up behind him as well.

Roxas laid his head down on Axel's chest, unconcerned with anything else. It was rising and falling, and though the movements were shallow, his heartbeat was steady and even.

Thump thump Axel's alive thump thump for now, anyway thump thump are we even going to make it? Thump thump don't die. Please don't die thump thump I don't think I could live without you.

"Roxas, can you walk?"

The not-blonde opened his eyes. They'd laid Kadaj in the corner and bound Loz and Yazoo to one another. Vexen and Lexaeus were glaring rather strongly at one another. Riku was standing above Axel, and Sora was gently trying to pry Roxas off his body.

"I think so…" Roxas replied, wincing as Sora examined his shoulder. "He's gonna wake up, right? I-I can hardly feel him…"

"He's weak," said Riku, hoisting Roxas up so he could walk. "But not gone. He might be a little bit… different, but he'll be okay. He'll still be Axel, anyway."

Roxas shuddered. "Don't let him out of my sight."

"Are you coming with us or not?! We don't have all day, so make up your damn mind already!" Riku demanded Vexen. The old man lowered his shield and looked frantically between Kadaj, his dead superior, and Lexaeus.

"Y-yes," he stuttered bashfully. "That is—I mean, yes, please take me with you."

Lexaeus picked Axel easily and slung him over his shoulder, which was plenty wide enough to hold him without threat of sliding off. "This way."

"Wait wait!" Sora shouted. "Where's Xion! She hadn't come home by the time we left! What if she got captured? We have to go back for her!"

Roxas tightened his lips considerably. Hate and anger and hurt towards Xion bubbled up inside him. Yet he had neither the heart nor the words to explain it to Sora. Cloud spoke up for him.

"Xion's not coming back with us," he spat. "She's been playing us the whole time."

Sora's jaw dropped. He looked to Roxas, who nodded gravely. They entered Lexaeus' makeshift tunnel quietly. With his free hand, Roxas lit the way so that he and Riku could see Axel's fiery mess of hair at all times, and Sora kept watch on Loz and Yazoo.

"What do you mean she played us?" Sora asked in a little voice. "That just can't be right… I thought you and Cloud had always known her!"

"Not always," Roxas replied shortly through gritted teeth. The pain was becoming more and more difficult to endure. He didn't want to think about Xion on top of that.

Thankfully, the tunnel was short, and Roxas could see moonlight already. In a few moments, they'd be out of that prison and could figure out how to strike Xemnas another day. They would still have a fighting chance, especially with their new allies.

Just then, a shadowy figure began blocking the light shining through the end of the tunnel. It was a man, Roxas saw, but past that, there was no telling who it could be. Until they got close enough for Roxas' light to illuminate his face, they'd only be able to see his silhouette.

"Riku, do you see that?" Roxas whispered fearfully. If someone were to attack them again, he wouldn't be able to do anything to defend himself, let alone Axel. He was really beginning to regret not searching Xion for his pistol when he still had the chance.

"Yeah," said Riku stiffly. "But trust me, at this point I'm not above turning this bitch into a dusk."

"But Riku!" Sora argued, "That would make you no better than they are!"

As they approached the figure, Roxas' light began to light up his face. Pointed chin, white long bangs, teal, almond shaped eyes…

The man was unmistakably Riku.

Roxas looked wildly back and forth between the man he was hanging off of and the man at the end of the tunnel. Their Riku (he hoped, anyway) hadn't bothered changing out of his Organization coat, and the other Riku was wearing one too. They were exactly identical.

"Why are you outside of your quarters, Replica?" Vexen asked, sounding both appalled and authoritve. "You must return at once."

"Roxas, get away from that thing!" the Riku at the end of the tunnel instructed. "He's a puppet! A fake!"

Roxas tensed, but he made no moves away from his Riku just yet. How could a fake know his name?

"How could I possibly be a fake? I came in here with you," he said reassuringly. "After your 24 hours expired, I went to get Sora and the others, and he and I have been together the whole time."

"No we haven't!" the other Riku insisted with conviction. "Remember, we split up to search the grounds! He ambushed me and took my place. I've been wandering out here looking for you ever since. Seriously, get away from there! He could attack at any minute!"

Roxas' confidence in their Riku was wavering, and he could tell Sora's was too.

"I-I'm so sorry… I'm not sure anymore," he said sadly.

At that, Roxas removed himself from Riku's grip, only to fall against the wall and slip down to the floor. His mind was beginning to go fuzzy. Meanwhile, Riku (the one nearest him, that is) removed his cloak to reveal his own normal, boring ass clothes. The ones he left in. The other Riku did the same. Identical. They both sprang at the same time.

If there was any hope in identifying the real Riku before, it was gone now. With all the commotion of their clashing and fighting (with identical blades, by the way) now it was impossible to be sure of who was even on which side of the tunnel when the fight began. There was nothing they could do to help the real Riku, either, because they might accidentally harm the wrong one.

"Puppet, I order you to stop!" Vexen screeched. "Do you hear me?! Obey your master!"

Roxas let himself slide diagonally over the wall until his head hit the floor. He was losing too much blood. His head swam as he tried to keep conscious.

A Riku crashed to the floor in front of his eyes, defeated. The clothing on his skin melted away, revealing a fleshless, red and blue doppelganger, stamped with the Nobodies' insignia. Roxas' light, which had been providing most if not all illumination the group had, flickered and went out.

A/N I really hate Xion. Like I was seriously gonna have Cloud slit her throat, but I figured it would be sexist to kill off two girls in a row.