Author's Note: So, this chapter's a tad different. Rather than one specific plot for this chapter, I've got three going. They're all split into segments and whatnot. But you get to see a variety of characters! I'll explain more about why this chapter is this way on the blog. (Saving you from reading long author's notes.) Anywho, enjoy!


"That is such a guy thing to do..."

xx

"See, I do stuff!" Axel said, throwing his chakram at some unidentified pureblood Heartless.

"You decided it would be fun to tag along while I worked," Kuin replied, shooting several more unidentified Heartless. She had two guns out and was aiming them opposite directions.

"We're in Twilight Town!" Axel said. "Of course I have to help out!"

Kuin rolled her eyes.

"You were only here for recreation," she said. "You don't even have that cloak of yours on."

Axel shrugged. "So?"

"Just observing, that's all."

"Aw flaming fu…" Axel said.

Kuin frowned, her head instantly snapping over to where Axel was.

"What's wrong?"

"Bandages are slipping," he grunted. "Aerith didn't put them on tight enough yesterday when I was over there… granted, I think she mentioned I probably shouldn't be fighting…"

Kuin put both of her guns together and set off a blast larger than she could usually set off with one singly.

"Do we need to move?" she asked.

"I should be good to…"

Kuin set off another blast and did a flip over to where Axel was. "I don't believe you," she said. "Activate that star shard for someplace without Heartless."

"I'm serious, I'll be fine!"
"Don't make me reach into your pocket!"

With a groan of annoyance, Axel activated the star shard, leading both him and Kuin to, of all places, the Grey Area.

"Why are we here?" Kuin asked.

"You said someplace without Heartless!" Axel retorted.

Kuin grunted. "Well, all right then. Off with your shirt, let's fix this bandage debacle."

"Excuse me?"

"They're falling off, they need to be fixed."

"And since when can you heal?"

"I didn't say I was a Healer, I just implied that I could fix your bandages. If you want to do it yourself, fine, go ahead. But I think I'm the only one out of the two of us that has fresh bandages."

"That is such a girl thing…" Axel muttered.

"Shirt, off."

Axel begrudgingly took his shirt off.

"Sheesh, what did you do?" Kuin exclaimed upon seeing the damage. Axel's wound had mostly healed up, but there was still a nasty soon-to-be-scar that oozed just a tad.

"Claymore to the gut," Axel said softly.

"You have to explain that one now," she said. "You can't leave me in the dark now."

"Just re-bandage," Axel said. "I'll explain while you do then, I guess. And do a better job than Aerith."

xx

"I had heard that you were still here," Mickey said.

Ansem turned around, surprised at the voice that he heard.

"How is it that you are here?" he asked. "There is no normal entrance to this Realm."

"I had a friend create a Corridor," Mickey said, walking up to the rock that Ansem was sitting on. He wore an old cloak of his, that masked everything except two distinct ears.

"Isn't that detrimental to their heart?" Ansem asked.

"She's a Replica," Mickey replied. "It's built into her Data."

Ansem made an understanding grunt. Mickey decided not to press the matter much further, given Ansem's past history of interactions with Replicas.

"What brings you here?" Ansem asked.

"I came to speak with you," Mickey said. "To ask you why you are still here. You could have easily left when Sora and Riku came through here."

"I chose not to leave. I have done my fair share of damage in the Realm of Light."

"Things are different now, you could easily come back."

"Are things really all that different?"

"Xehanort is gone."

Ansem raised his eyebrows. "Sora, I presume?"

"All of us," Mickey replied.

"And what of all the other lives I marred?"

"We saved them," Mickey said. "Well, most of them."

He looked down at his feet and frowned.

"Who was lost?"
"Aeleus; Isa."

Ansem bowed his head for his former fallen apprentices.

"I called together as many magical people as I could in an attempt to figure out how to combat the growing darkness."

"It will never work."

"You weren't always this pessimistic."

"You were always the optimist."

"I still am."

"How did the meeting go?"

Mickey sighed. "Unfortunately, we can't seem to come up with a way to get our magics to work together against the darkness."

Ansem gave a smug snort.

"We will figure it out," Mickey said, determined. "I have faith in all of my friends."

Ansem said nothing.

"We might be able to learn more if you came back."

"Not today. It is not time for me to return yet."

"When will it be time for you to return?"

"I will know when it is time," Ansem replied.

Mickey sighed. He sensed that this conversation was over. In swift movements, he stood up, turned an about face and squeezed a small charm. A corridor opened in front of him and he walked through it.

"I will have to thank Kairi for letting me borrow this," he mused, fingering the charm.

xx

"Why are you smirking?" Riku asked.

"Because you and Namine finally kissed," Kairi responded.

"How did you know?"

Kairi raised an eyebrow.

"I should have known. But really, why is that cause for smirking?"

"I won the bet that Sora and I made about when it would happen."

Riku frowned. "I feel that you have an unfair advantage with that."

Kairi shrugged. "He was the one who insisted we make it."

Riku buried his forehead in his hand. "He would."

Both of them paused, looking around the hedge maze they were in.

"Heartless," they whispered.

In the time it took them to summon their Keyblades, a large mass of Novashadows surrounded them.

"Well, isn't this just beautiful," Kairi muttered.

"You've learned Holy, right?" Riku asked.

"Yeah."

"Let me teach you a combo then."

Kairi looked warily about the Novashadows still surrounding them.

"How long is this going to take?"

Riku grabbed her arm. "Not long at all. Let the Light take over and shoot out bursts of Pearl at them."

"Okay."

Riku spun them about. Kairi followed his lead and they both shot bursts of Pearl out of the tips of their Keyblades at the Novashadows. The Novashadows almost seemed to grimace at all the Light. In no time, Kairi and Riku were alone once again in the hedge maze.

"That was fun!" Kairi exclaimed, pushing her hair out of her face. "What was it called?"

"Holy Burst," Riku replied. "The King taught it to me."

"The King!" Kairi exclaimed. "Wow. I feel like I probably didn't do it nearly as good as him…"

"Don't worry about it," Riku said with a bit of a laugh. "You'll learn and get better."

"Do you think he invented the combo?"

"Quite possibly. There's another one that goes with it. Inverse Burst."

"How would I do that?"

"You just do the same thing. I'm the one who uses the darkness."

Kairi cocked her head to one side. "Is that good for you?"

Riku shrugged. "I don't think it's bad. I've got my darkness in check. I'm not too worried about it."

"Huh," Kairi said. "Well then we'll have to test it out sometime. Just so I can see what it does."

"It's not as effective against the pure bloods as the Light is."

Kairi shrugged. "Another day then."

Riku's nose flared.

"Heartless!"
"I feel them too," Kairi said, summoning her Keyblade. "Let's do this!"

xx

"So, let me get this straight," Kuin said, leaning back against one of the couches in the Grey Area. "Saix went crazy, but in the end, you still tried to save him?"

Axel shrugged, easing back into his shirt. "He was my best friend once, I had to."

Kuin frowned. "Did Xehanort die that day?" She didn't look at him as she asked this question, she just stared off into the windows that showed more Nothingness.

Axel frowned too, gazing off into the distance like she was doing. "Yes, he did. What does that have to do with Saix?"

"It doesn't. Xehanort and I have a history, that's all." She sighed.

"I know that," Axel said. "Well, I know some of it, anyway."

"I just…" Kuin began. "I just want to be sure he's dead."

There was something different in her tone, something that Axel wasn't used to really hearing. She sounded, slightly desperate, actually. Desperate in the way that she really needed to know that Xehanort was, in fact, dead.

"Trust me, he's gone," Axel said, looking right at her.

"How can you be sure?"

"He had several Keyblades full of light blasted through him. Xehanort's gone. It left Terra behind, that's it."

"Terra?"

"Yeah, some poor kid that Xehanort possessed like… ten or so years ago."

"Mm, him," Kuin said.

"Yeah," Axel said. "Pretty sure Xehanort's not coming back after all that."

"Just pretty sure?" Kuin asked. It sounded like she had been trying to make a tad bit of a joke, but it didn't work all that well.

Axel laughed. "Do you want me to vow to protect you if he does come back?"

Kuin frowned. "No! I can take care of myself. If he does come back though, I'll have to kill him myself. Make sure it's done right."

Axel laughed. "Whatever you want."

"Were you seriously going to vow that?" Kuin asked.

Axel shrugged. "If it was going to make you happy."

Kuin frowned once again. "That would imply that you were my protector in some sort of relationship. That's… no."

Axel rolled his eyes. Kuin chose not to say something.

They were quiet for a few moments.

"So can we just talk about how you have 'Got it Memorized' tattooed across your chest?" Kuin said, her voice lifting up a little at the end as she started to smile.

Axel burst out laughing.

"Why?" Kuin asked.

"Why not!"

"Why would you get something like that tattooed across your chest?"

"Why not?!"

Kuin rolled her eyes. "That is such a guy thing to do…"

"Oh come on, don't you have some random tattoo like that?"

Kuin shook her head. "Absolutely not."

"Oh, whatever."