Sora pushed his way through the door form the first floor after he gathered his thoughts. Looking around the room as he walked through the second door. He flinched back as he was greeted by the same hooded figure as before, this time he had a more reserved stance.

"You didn't decide to turn back?"

Sora's guard rose, still feeling the strings from the his last encounter with the hooded figure, "Of course not! I'm not gonna run away from you!"

The hooded figure smirked at his comment.

"What do you guys really want from me?!" Sora demanded.

"What will you give up?"

"Huh?" Sora was about to question the hooded man's words but took a step back as another man appeared from behind him. He had a slim figure with bright red hair and a bright smile on his face that radiated a sinister aura.

"Hello!" The other man waved rapidly with a smile on his face, but not one that Sora liked.

"What do you want?" The hooded figure turned his head towards the red haired man.

"Come on now," The red haired man man rested his arm on the shoulder of the hooded man. "The rest of us want to play with Sora too."

"Play?!" Sora questioned openly, but was ignored.

The hooded figure looked as though he was pondering something. "Then perhaps you'd like to test him."

"Perhaps I would." The red haired man smirked as he glanced at Sora, the hooded figure disappearing into darkness.

"Just don't break him."

The red haired man hummed a happy sounding tune to himself as he walked towards Sora. "My show now, Sora. Who am I? Oh, my name's Axel. Got it memorized?

"Uh…" Sora was taken aback by his forwardness, nodding hesitantly. "sure."

"Good, you're a quick learner. So Sora, now that we're getting to know each other better…" Axel was engulfed with flames for a moment stretching his arms out, summoning two bladed Chakrams. "don't you go off and die on me now!"

"Ah-" Sora flinched as Axel suddenly disappeared, reappearing in front of him with a smile as he slashed him back across the room, leaving his body trembling as he was dealt a critical attack.

"Come now Sora, don't you want to see your friends again?" Axel remarked as Sora pushed himself up, gripping his fist in anger as he heard Axel walking up to him. The taller man was about to slash down at him again, Sora unleashed a blast of surrounding energy*, stunning Axel for a few seconds. Long enough for Sora to punch him straight in the gut.

"Hm." Axel mused as he looked down at the small child with the blood drained from his face as he realized the vast difference in strength. "Not bad." He complimented before he kneed Sora in the gut, hitting the door and then sliding to the floor gasping for breath.

"Ngh-" Sora tried to stand, but his body failed him.

"Listen up kid, " Axel knelt in front of the boy, he lifted Sora's head up so could they could properly face each other. The child glaring at him angrily as he slipped in and out of consciousness. "If you want to live through this you're gonna need to shape up."

Sora tried to speak, but he couldn't find his voice.

"Come now Sora, perhaps they're waiting for you even now. All you need to do is follow your memories. Trust what you remember and seek what you forget. Then you will find someone very special."

He saw Sora's eyes widen, struggling to talk, it was almost pitiful.

"Just have to give some more thought to who it is that's most important to you. Our most precious memories lie so deep within our hearts that they're out of reach. But I'm sure that you can find yours, Sora."

"Why..me?" He mustered out.

Axel smirked as he then placed his hand on Sora's head, gifting him something to equal the playing field. "You have lost sight of the light within the darkness. And it seems that you've forgotten that you forgot.

The light within darkness...

It was almost adorable, watching the Marluxia's new toy try to decipher his misguiding words. " But be forewarned…" Axel lowered his voice, taking a foreboding tone. "When your sleeping memories awaken, you may no longer be who you are now."

Sora widened his eyes slightly, as his chest beginning to swell with a new power.

"Cheer up now, you'll be together soon…" Axel seemed to almost promise as he ruffled Sora's hair affectionately, then disappearing into the darkness, leaving him alone once again.

Sora lifted up his hand, focusing the warmth in his heart into his hand, a weak flame forming on his fingertips...

Omake:

Riku pressed his hands against the door within their secret place, focusing on his breathing, honing in on anything that could be behind the could feel something on the other side, just waiting for him to enter, all he had to do was just…

[Your attempts to cross over will always end in vain.]

He cursed under his breath as he recognized the voice, losing his focus and the energy he had built up.

"Really? I couldn't tell." Riku chided, annoyed as he placed his hand on his hip turned to face the hooded figure that he met a long time ago.

[There is still too much light within your heart, too much, weakness…]

"So?!" Riku snapped, feeling a familiar anger within his heart, glaring at the figure.

[Should you truly desire to leave this prison, you must cast away all that weakens your heart.]

"My heart is not weak." Riku insisted, gripping his fist.

It sounded as though the hooded figure smirked at him, saying nothing more as he disappeared.

Riku sighed as he crossed his arms, glancing towards the picture that Sora and Kairi drew years ago when they were all kids. Something ugly always bubbled in his heart when he came in this room, knowing that his closest friends could share something that he and Sora could never. He took another deep breath, closing his eyes and easing his heart, this time sensing that his two friends were outside, sitting on the shore of the islands. Riku smirked as he picked up the log that he had chopped earlier.

Walking out into the sunlight, he saw that they were sitting closely sitting together. He narrowed his eyes as he could see Kairi was up to her usual antics, seeing that Sora sat beside her, she tried to hold his hand as he spoke.

"Hey!"

Sora turned as Kairi flinched at the sound of their best friend with a cocky expression on his face.

"Aren't you guys forgetting about me? So, I guess I'm the only one working on the raft." He saw Sora's face flush with embarrassment as he threw the log towards him, making his friend fall on his back while Kairi giggled.

"And you're just as lazy as he is!" Riku said, obstructing his face from Sora, knowingly staring at Kairi who smirked at him playfully.

"So you noticed, hm?" She tilted her head.

"Don't try and cute your way out of this." Riku remarked crossing his arms, but she simply stuck her tongue out at him.

Kairi placed both of her hands behind her back, bouncing on her toes for a moment before a sly smile struck her lips. "Okay, you wanna finish the raft? Let's make it a little interesting."

That's dumb, we're all going to be using the raft.

Is what he wanted to say, but he couldn't help but be curious at what she had to say. Leaning down slightly, Kairi lifted herself onto her toes, whispering something in his ear.

"Wha- Come on guys, what're you saying?!" Sora complained, still on his knees holding the log in his arms.

Riku's eyes widened, his face slightly reddening at Kairi's words, pulling back, he saw that she was covering her mouth trying to silence her giggles. He sighed at her, flicking her head playfully. "You kid around too much."

"Sure, but that's why you love me right?" Kairi pressed as she leaning forward, clearly trying to pressing his buttons. He just sighed, placing his hand on her head.

"Who could ever love a face like yours?"

The two then laughed together sincerely as Sora watched him with a mixed expression on his face.

*Stun impact

Me: I know what you're planning, be nicer to Sora.

Also me, to me: No.

Sora gets a dose of magic and a beat down while I write Riku and Kairi being cute, that's a fair trade off right?