"So, wait," Lea said, a laugh bubbling in his throat. "Your cousin is Cloud, his name is Sora, and your parents named you Ventus?" He grinned at Roxas. "What's the family obsession with the sky?"

The little blond punched his arm, but there was warmth in his eyes. "Your parents called you Axel Lea." He'd said that a few times before, and Lea had never corrected him. Xemnas had hardly been his parent, and the whole X-anagrams thing had started when they'd formed the gang. But it had stuck on enough it had become his real name.

The boat juddered as it gently bumped against the dock, signalling their arrival. They climbed out and unpacked everything, filling the trunk of Riku's car.

"So, back to mine?" He asked, his fingers toying with the frayed edge of the black hoodie Roxas had blatantly stolen from him.

It was Sunday night, and they were all aware this was the last weekend they'd have together like this. Sora had promised to sort things out with Naminé and Kairi on Monday, but it wasn't Monday yet.

Whether they were going to agree or not, Lea never got to find out. The ground rumbled, and the air seemed to throb – an unnatural turbulence. The weapons appearing in their hands was all the warning they got before a huge, hulking black creature climbed out from the darkness of the nearest alley. Before it could spot them, a few weird, silvery-white creatures appeared and started attacking the dark mass.

"Uh…?" Lea started. "What the hell is going on?" There was something familiar about the new creatures – vaguely human but too long, thin, and boneless to be real.

Ahead of him, Riku and Sora met eyes. "Kairi," they said in unison. And then they jumped towards the car doors. He met Roxas's eyes, and the blond just gave a silent nod before the two of them clambered into the back seat.

Riku drove, while the three of them hung half-out the windows, fighting off shadows or not-humans that tried to attack the car. People were screaming and disappearing as they drove through the streets, dragged away by either set of monsters, or just pixelating out. Buildings crumbled, melted, exploded into ash and smoke around them.

When they crossed the bridge, Neminem City was no better. Half the cliffside was blackened ruins, the other half a hellish warzone where monsters battled against each other, and against the world around them.

"What the fuck is happening?" Roxas asked, sliding inside the car window and winding it up quickly.

None of them answered. None of them had an answer for him. All of this felt both horridly familiar, and terrifyingly foreign. He had no memory of anything like this, but it almost felt like this was every-day.

They all but crashed the car into the mansion where Kairi and Naminé lived, taking down the gate. "Alright," Riku announced, summoning his weapon with a grasp of his hand. "We'll get Kairi, you clear us a path."

Riku had only meant Axel, but Roxas stepped up beside him. "Clear a path to where?"

"The darkness is spreading from the beach," Riku answered, hardly skipping a beat. "Head up."

"The clocktower at the station," Lea offered. "Other than Castle Oblivion, it's the highest vantage point in the city."

They nodded. None of them ever wanted to go to Castle Oblivion, even now. Not if they could help it. A brief moment – Riku met Lea's eyes. A silent moment passed between them. Everything they never needed to say: goodbye, good luck, protect the twins at all costs. A slight nod, Riku echoed it, and then they all turned to leave.

The fight up to the clock tower was brutal. He felt exhausted, his dual weapons heavy in his hands. He was slumped over himself, and if Roxas didn't keep yelling for him, he felt like he could've just melted back into the shadows and disappeared. But Roxas, Ventus, Ven, whoever he was, was important to him. So he kept going for him.

They pulled each other up in turn as they stumbled up the winding stairs with one another, bursting out into the open air of the top of the tower. They sat on the edge, catching their breath with deep, gasping inhales.

Lea could only watch in horror as the only home he'd ever known, the city and the town across the bay, melted into a shapeless black nightmare. He watched the monsters and the darkness crawl towards the train station, yanking Roxas back as the whole building shuddered with sudden instability as its foundation dissolved.

"Axel!" Roxas cried out. There was genuine terror in his voice, his weapon disappearing as he clung to the redhead's arms.

Back towards the mansion, there was an explosion of light. Shockwaves shuddered the melting tower, and the light began to spread, wiping out everything in its wake.

Roxas cried his name again, and he pulled his eyes away. Gently, he cupped the soft, round face of his lover. "It's okay, Roxas," he murmured. "Sora did it."

"Everything is disappearing," the blond shouted, panicked.

Lea silenced him with a kiss. Roxas melted into his arms, shaking with fear as they watched the light spread closer and closer. "Guess this world wasn't real after all."

Roxas's hand seized his wrist, squeezing vice-tight. "But it's not over between us, right? We'll meet again in the next life."

Something bitter bubbled in Lea's chest. Something he didn't dare to try and figure out. "Roxas, I would spend the rest of my life looking for you."

Roxas clung to him tightly, just as the clocktower gave a sick twist and toppled – tipping them over towards the light.