The three keyblade wielders scramble as they prepare to arrive at Twilight Town. Grabbing any supplies they may need.
"Do you really need five potions, Roxas? Ethers may be useful." Says Xion
"Xion I almost never cast magic, why would I need ethers?" asks Roxas.
"Unless you wanna try wielding a stick your gonna need to cast more magic Roxas," Namine says as they rummage through their belongings.
"I wonder how many packs of crayons I should bring. . ." Namine thinks out loud.
"Do you really need more than one?" asks Roxas
"Of course! What if we stay the night and I'm hit with bursts of inspiration Roxas? I can't just miss that many opportunities." Namine says as she grabs a couple of extra art supplies. After some time gathering supplies, the three stand in front of two objects and stare at them.
"Do you think we'll need them?" asks Xion, her voice in an uncomfortable tone.
"I mean, they could prove useful. . ." Says Roxas, though he doesn't seem very enthusiastic.
"Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it." Namine chimes in. Xion sighs
"Yeah your probably right." Says Xion. She grabs the organization coat and wraps it around her waist and using the sleeves to tie a knot of some sort, acting almost like a second skirt. Roxas grabs his coat and slings it over his shoulder like he's some sort of hard-boiled detective with family issues trying to solve a homicide case. The gummi ship begins to slow down, and then stops, signaling their arrival.
"Alright guys, ready?" asks Namine. Roxas and Xion nod. Xion summons her keyblade with ease, while Namine materializes her after a moment of concentration. Roxas holds Xion's hand and puts his other hand on Namine's shoulder. The three close their eyes and disappear in a flash of light. An instant later, they reappear in a flash. At the central station.
"So where to first?" asks Namine
"Probably the usual spot, they'll probably be hanging out there," says Xion. They enter the station plaza and are almost immediately attacked by three dragoons. The three manage to ward off and defeat the Dragoons, though they're a bit shaken as to how the usually peaceful Twilight Town has such strong nobodies.
"I have a bad feeling about this. . ." says Roxas.
"Yeah. let's make sure Hayner, Pence, and Olette are safe." Says Xion. They Run from the station plaza and go down Station heights where they take out four nobodies called samurais.
"There are so many just wandering the streets. I hope everyone's okay." Namine remarks as they keep running. They dash into the back alley nearby the usual spot and take out a few nobodies known as gamblers.
"Crap! They're everywhere!" Says Roxas anxiously. They take out the nobodies and Roxas dashes to the usual spot, Xion and Namine follow him, only to hear the worst-case scenario in their minds. "Guys, they're not here."
"Oh no," Xion says, panicking. They do a 180 and dash back to station heights. They reach Market street and find the shops completely empty, not a vendor in sight.
"This is bad, really bad!" Namine says as they make their way to the Tram Common portion of Market Street. This wide-open space is usually filled with people and many shops. But instead, it's completely empty, not a person in sight, only Nobodies, which they hack and slash through.
"Where else could they be?" asks Roxas
"Maybe the mansion?" suggests Namine.
"I guess? There aren't many places left that we haven't checked," says Xion. they begin making a mad dash for the entrance to the woods
"This is reminding me a little too much of our old missions. Dashing around in a panic trying to find something in time, though now instead of killing heartless, we're trying to stop our friends from. . ." Roxas trails off, not wanting to bring up that prospect. "Nevermind, let's just keep going." Says Roxas as he starts sprinting faster. Eventually, they make their way towards the entrance to the woods, and they hear a familiar voice.
"Stay out of our town! Or else!" says the voice of Seifer, and then another voice as well
"Yeah! Get lost!" A voice easily recognizable as Olette's. They quickly dash to the scene and see the commotion. Facing away from them is seven people, Vivi, Seifer, Fuu, Rai, and of course, Hayner, Pence, and Olette. They each wield some form of makeshift weapon, Hayner, Seifer, Vivi, and Olette are carrying spiked bats of some sort, Fuu holds some sort of frisbee with nails taped hammered into the sides to make a chakram-like weapon, Rai is holding a large metal pipe, and Pence. . . well Pence is just holding a bunch of rocks. In front of them stands a decent amount of Nobodies. From creepers to dusks to even a few samurai. They stand in defiance of the monsters that have plagued their home for seemingly some time. The nobodies suddenly dash, and the seven prepare for a brawl, but of course, they're interrupted.
"Thundaga!" shouts Xion as she raises her keyblade to the sky. Thunder reigns from above, striking the ground where the Nobodies stand for roughly five seconds, shocking them all and dealing immense damage, before finally dissipating, with zero Nobodies in sight.
"What the-," Hayner says before the group turns around to see the three keyblade wielders
"Took you long enough. . ." Seifer remarks
"How long have you guys been here?" asks Pence.
"Like *huff* five minutes *puff*" Says Roxas, catching his breath from all the sprinting. They don't have time to relax though as a familiar voice rings through the forest
"Wow! Good job, good job. Nice to see you again, Poppet, Tiger, Witch."
"Who's there?" Olette asks Looking around, The three keyblade wielders push their way in front of the group.
"Xigbar. . ." Xion says with distaste. A dark corridor appears a distance away and out comes the one-eyed sniper.
"Bingo!" says their former comrade "Y'know, I was getting pretty tired of sitting in this boring town and watching everyone cower as the Nobodies infested the place. I almost thought you wouldn't show up!"
"What do you want Xigbar?" asks Roxas
"Straight to the point eh tiger?" Xigbar says amusingly. "Well, we were given the orders to take you two and your little friend over here out for quite some time. So I've just been waiting here ever since Saix last saw you, and would you look at that, it paid off." Xigbar sneers.
"Yeah, like you could do that even if you tried!" Roxas taunts.
"Oh, I'm not gonna do any of that work myself. I've got quite the day ahead of me, I wanna get a nice long rest before I give Xemnas the good news." Says Xigbar, taunting back. "I'm gonna let an old friend do that for me." Xigbar snaps his fingers and an orb appears in front of him surrounded by black thorns "Y'know, Xemnas said these things were limited to some sort of, battle inside the mind, or whatever he called it. I wonder though, just what would happen to that town if one of these guys were let loose to run wild." Xigbar sneers before going back into the corridor of darkness and disappearing. The thorns swirl around the orb before everyone is blinded by a flash of light. Once they adjust back to regular lighting they see a large figure in a black coat.
"Oh no," Roxas says aloud. He can already tell who this one is. The man removes his hood, no laughter, no taunting, just dead silence. With the hood gone, it's easy to see that the figure is number five of the organization, The Taciturn Stalwart, Lexaeus. "Run"
"What-?" Olette had never heard fear in the voices of the keyblade wielders before
"I said run-!" Roxas shouts but is cut off by Lexaeus. Lexaeus raises his weapon, known as Skysplitter, and lets out a battle cry, he's enveloped in a powerful aura that greatly empowers him, the intense power pushes the group back. Lexaeus slams the ground with Skysplitter and from it erupts a sharp pillar of earth, Roxas and Xion dodge but Namine is launched into the air by the pillar. Lexaeus prepares to swing at Namine but Xion manages to pull her away with a magnet spell. Xion catches Namine and jumps back before setting her down.
"Are you okay?" asks Xion.
"Agh. . . . no. . ." Namine uses her keyblade as support and gets back on her feet. Lexaeus turns his attention to the group of seven, he puts his weapon into the earth and runs it along the ground, before raising it to the sky, creating a massive wave of earth. Roxas envelopes himself in a familiar red energy before dashes and cutting clean through the earth wave
"Get out of here!" Roxas says as he looks back at the group, before turning and dashing at Lexaeus. Lexaeus swings at Roxas. Who manages to leap over him and hit him from behind. He slashes many times at the man. Lexaeus turns and performs a jump slash, Roxas jumps back, but as Lexaeus's weapon hits the ground, a pillar of earth erupts from below Roxas, knocking him into the air before taking a massive swing and hitting him right in the stomach. Roxas goes flying as he hits a tree, leaving a sizable impact, before falling to the ground, unconscious.
"Roxas!" Xion shouts as she turns to Lexaeus with fury rising within her. She tosses her kingdom key to Namine before enveloping herself in a bright yellow energy, before charging at Lexaeus, meanwhile, Namine turns to the group.
"Please. . . Get out. . . It's not safe here. . ." says Namine, The group finally listens and takes off to safety, though Hayner, Pence, and Olette stay near the entrance and watch from a hopefully safe distance. Meanwhile, another figure watches from the woods.
"They're outmatched. . ." A voice says to itself. ". . . I need to get backup." says the voice, before disappearing. Xion casts an incredibly powerful ice spell, temporarily freezing her assailant. She prepares to strike but Lexaeus breaks out of the ice and lets out yet another battle cry as raises Skysplitter into the air. Xion and Namine are pushed back even more by the Absent Silhoutte's sudden increase in power. He jumps incredibly high into the sky, before crashing down, preparing to strike Namine down. Xion pulls Namine towards her using another Magnet spell, just barely dodging the strike from Lexaeus. Lexaeus runs his blade-axe across the ground and creates a massive earth wave. Knocking the two back. Xion gets back on her feet but is instantly met with a crushing force to her stomach. She blacks out as she's sent flying before eventually crashing to the ground at high speed.
Meanwhile. . . In a distant world, far away from such a battle, a girl, Kairi, is sitting on the curved log of a palm tree on a raised island, connected to the main island by a small bridge. Some time ago she would have sat down here alongside her two friends, and have fun as kids would, but now she's all alone. She grabs something out of her pocket, a star-shaped charm. She stars at it, and rubs it with her thumb, before sighing and putting it in her pocket. Kairi hears a strange sound behind her and looks over her shoulder, to see a strange black portal appearing on the bridge, and out comes a tall figure in a black coat. Kairi quickly leaps off the palm tree and turns to face the man, materializing her keyblade.
"Woah, Woah! Slow down princess" says the hooded figure putting his hands up. "She certainly looks like them . . ." the man mumbles to himself.
"What do you want?" asks Kairi
"I just want to ask a question. Do the names Roxas, Xion, or Namine ring any bells?" asks the figure. Kairi nods.
"Yeah?" She responds with a strange mixture of anxiety and anger. The man laughs a little before removing his hood, revealing his purple, tear-like marks below his bright green eyes, and his spiky red hair.,
"'Sup? The name's Axel. Got it memorized?" Axel says as he taps his index finger on his temple.
"Uh- sure?" says Kairi.
"I see you have a keyblade," Axel mentions.
"Yeah, what about it," asks Kairi.
"Well, I'm just staying, those three could really use your help right now," says Axel extending his arm to Kairi.
"How do I know I can trust you?" asks Kairi defensively.
"Well, who knows, I can't really give a reason." says Axel sarcastically "But if you want to see Sora again, then you might want to help them right now." Axel taps one of his fingers on his wrist as if he's trying to draw her attention to an imaginary watch. "Time's ticking Kairi," Axel says. Kairi looks around and thinks of her options before taking a deep breath.
"All right. I'll go." Says the princess of heart.
"Great, follow me," Axel says before turning and running into the corridor of darkness, to which Kairi follows. Back in the thick woods of Twilight Town, Lexaeus dashes at Xion and prepares an overhead strike. Namine's blood is pumped full of adrenaline as she dashes and puts up her two keyblades to block the attack. Lexaeus swings and Namine closes her eyes and prepares for the impact when suddenly, a white reflective barrier pops up and blocks the attack. Namine opens her eyes and sees Lexaeus preparing for another swing. She focuses on keeping the barrier up, and it manages to take another strike from Lexaeus, and then another, and then another, and then another. But suddenly Lexaeus strikes it again and a massive crack appears at the place where the weapon impacted the barrier, Namine flinches. He swings again, and the crack grows larger, and larger, before with one mighty swing, finally destroying the barrier, Namine falls back. Lexaeus takes a mighty swing, and Namine puts up the kingdom key to block the attack and puts up Destiny's Embrace behind it as support. Skysplitter meets the kingdom key and a cloud, crushing clank sound is heard. Namine's eyes widen as she realizes what she just did. Lexaeus raises Skysplitter once more and prepares to strike.
Suddenly, a corridor of darkness opens behind Namine and Xion, and from it comes a myriad of homing light projectiles. Lexaeus is knocked back before Kairi dashes out and stabs at him before pulling her keyblade out and striking him with Destiny's Embrace, knocking him back farther. She jumps away as he regains his footing, only for two flaming chakrams were thrown from the corridor of darkness, knocking Lexaeus into the air before Axel exits the corridor and slides under him, creating flaming pillars as he slides by. Finally, Axel swirls his flaming chakrams around Lexaeus and entrapping him in an inferno of pain.
"Now Kairi!" Yells Axel. Kairi Turns to the other three keyblade wielders and envelopes herself in light, before casting a powerful cure spell. Roxas and Xion open their eyes as the three are filled with sudden energy. They get back up and join the two. Axel pulls back his chakram and swirls them in a large circle around them and their foe, creating massive walls of fire. "He won't be going anywhere now." Axel remarks. The five prepare for battle as they face their foe again.
Lexaeus raises Skysplitter in the air and lets out one last battle cry, pushing the others toward the wall of fire. Roxas and Xion think fast and cast two magnet spells, pulling everyone together. Once the pushing force stops Lexaeus charges at them Axel jumps back through the wall of fire, while the other three dodge the overhead strike that lands where they once stood, then Axel slides through the wall of fire and hits Lexaeus, launching him into the air Namine runs up to Axel who pushes her into the air, allowing her to get a few good hits in before reaching out to Xionw ith Destiny's embrace, Xion grabs onto her keyblade and Namine throws Xion as far into the air as she can. Xion casts a few powerful spells of many elements before knocking Lexaeus even further into the air. Roxas jumps with all the strength his muscles have, Xion puts up her two keyblades like a platform, and Roxas lands on it, before being pushed higher into the sky. Roxas hacks and slashes at Lexaeus while he's still in reach before the organization member is sent even higher into the sky. Kairi is pushed into the air by Axel, is thrown higher by Namine, before being pulled high into the sky by a magnet spell cast by Roxas and Xion. She rises into the sky above Lexaeus before enveloping herself in light, she raises her keyblade to the sky before diving down and stabbing Lexaeus in the stomach, sending him crashing into the ground. Upon crashing Kairi glows even brighter and with a flash of light, Lexaeus disappears, leaving behind nothing but dust. The fire dissipates revealing the victors of the battle.
"That. . . was awesome. . ." Hayner says in awe, they begin to make their way towards the group
"It's been a while, Axel," Xion says with a smile.
"It really has. . ." Axel says, before suddenly being embraced by his two friends, to which he returns the gesture.
"We missed you." Says Roxas still holding on tightly.
"I missed you both so much. . ." says Axel. While they get their reunion, Kairi turns to Namine
"So you're Namine," says Kairi. "Axel told me everything."
"Oh. . ." Namine steps back nervously. "I- I'm-" but before she can go on Kairi, gives her a reassuring hug.
"I'm not mad. I'm sorry you had to go through that. You were in a lot of pain weren't you?" asks Kairi. Namine is stunned at the reaction.
"I. . . " she takes a deep breath. "Yeah. . ." Kairi lets go and looks her in the eyes.
"I'm glad I got to meet you, even if it's because of such poor circumstances," says Kairi.
"Yeah. . . It's nice to finally meet you too." Namine says, with a smile. Finally, Xion and Roxas let go of their friend.
"So, what should we do now?" asks Roxas.
"Well. . ." Axel looks around and notices the three Twilight Town residents approaching. "We should probably make this place safe again," says Axel.
"Do you know where the Nobodies are coming from?" asks Xion.
"Yeah. It took a lot of searching, but I think I found the source," says Axel
"Where is that?" asks Olette, finally reaching the group. Axel turns and points in the direction of the abandoned mansion. The group nods and begins making their way to the mansion. Xion runs ahead with Olette, Kairi, and Namine, and Roxas tries to follow, but Axel gets his attention.
"Hm? What's up?" asks Roxas.
"Nothing really, I just wanted to confirm something." Roxas looks confused. Axel leans down to get closer to Roxas's level and says something quietly. "So. . . You and Xion huh?" Axel says with a grin on his face. Roxas's face turns red as he steps back. "Is that why you asked me all that stuff about love awhile back?" Axel teases
"What the- who told you about that?" Asks Roxas "A-and no! That wasn't why!" Axel suppresses the urge to laugh
"Oh nobody, in particular, told me, just a little punk in orange," says Axel smirking before walking after the rest of the group. Roxas joins him.
While Axel was teasing Roxas, Namine goes to talk to Xion.
"Xion. . . I'm. . ." Xion looks over at her friend who hands over her keyblade. "I didn't mean for it to happen again, I didn't. . ." Namine looks to the ground as Xion looks at her once Kingdom Key, now Fallen Kingdom. She looks as the saddened Namine, who looks like she's about to cry.
"Hey, hey. It's fine. Better mine than yours." says Xion "I can always use my other two keyblades If I need to, okay? So don't beat yourself up over it." Namine looks at her friend and smiles, before wiping away her tears. "Now c'mon, let's go. Roxas and Axel are coming. Namine nods and they begin to pick up the pace as they enter the mansion. "They make their way through the main hall, taking out the nobodies wandering around. They a few nobodies coming from the library, and they go there.
"What the-" Hayner, Pence, and Olette are taken aback by the lack of a floor in the library, instead there are metal stairs leading to some sort of lab below.
"Oh yeah, I guess you guys never saw this part of the mansion." Says Roxas. As he begins taking the stairs with Namine and Xion They walk some more before entering a room with a single computer, connected to many monitors, and some sort of device.
"That's where they're coming from," says Axel.
"Uh, the computer?" asks Pence.
"Not the computer but what's inside it," says Axel.
"What do you mean?" asks Hayner.
"Inside that computer is a simulation, specifically a simulation of Twilight Town, made of data," explains Axel. "This copy of Twilight Town is a perfect copy, down to the citizen and their memories."
"Even-?" Hayner is about to ask, but Axel already knows the answer.
"Yes, even you three have data copies inside that Twilight Town," states Axel. Silence fills the room, albeit for a brief moment.
"Why would someone need a perfect simulation of Twilight Town? And Everyone in it?" asks Olette.
"Well . . ." Namine looks down and scratches her neck.
"It's a prison," Roxas says bluntly. "One meant to hold me in and keep me distracted while Sora's memories were repaired," Roxas explains. The air in the room grows a bit tense. "But, that was the old plan, now it's just left to sit and collect dust."
'"Or so we thought." Axel interjects. "Organization Thirteen is using that data version of Twilight Town to send nobodies into the real one," Axel explains.
"How are they doing that?" asks Pence. Axel points to a device behind him.
"This machine has a counterpart in the data Twilight Town." explains Axel "By using that, they can send something from the data world to the real one." Axel takes a deep breath "However, this obviously works in reverse as well, as Roxas hinted at earlier. If we can go in there, we can enter the dark corridor that's being used to send nobodies here, and get rid of it." This gets Xion's attention.
"Wait, won't that leave us stranded on the other side?" asks Xion.
"It would if we didn't have these coats." Says Axel, gesturing to the black coats Roxas, Xion, and himself have on them. "Besides. We'd have to take down Xemnas eventually. I don't see why we can't now."
"Well, let's go," says Kairi, with a hint of impatience.
"Well that's the problem, we can't," Axel responds.
"What do you mean we can't?" asks Roxas
"If we want to use that machine well need to enter the password. . ." Axel turns to face the computer with many monitors. "On that computer."
"Do you know the password?" asks Hayner.
". . . No" Axel responds. With a collective sigh from everyone in the room, Everyone brainstormed possible passwords while Pence and Xion took turns entering the passwords. This goes on for many minutes. Kairi sighs as she looks around the room, Namine looks at her somebody and smiles, crouching down and joining her on the floor.
"Do you want to see something?" asks Namine quietly. Kairi looks at the nobody and smiles.
"Sure she says, as she gets up from the ground and follows her to another room." They walk through a large square room before entering a small hallway Kairi stops as she sees three familiar faces in the two small and one very small capsule. "Donald, Goofy, Jiminy," Kairi says out loud before in disbelief.
"That's not all," Namine says as she opens the door at the end of the hallway. Kairi turns to look at Namine before her eyes open wide as she covers her mouth with one of her hands. She enters the white room and puts her other hand against the glass as she looks upon the slumber Sora. Kairi smiles as she closes her eyes and places her head against the glass.
"One day. . . One day we'll get to talk again. . ." Kairi says to Sora. She takes her head and hand of the glass, before opening her eyes. "Love you. . ." Kairi says quietly, before turning to her nobody. She approaches her and gives her another hug "Thank you" Her Nobody returns the gesture.
"Of course. It was the least I could do for you two." Namine responds. The two let go of each other before Namine turns and opens the door for Kairi. "Let's go, everyone else might be waiting for us." Kairi nods and they make their way back to the computer room.
"Organization," Hayner says as he stars up at the ceiling.
"Nope," Pence responds.
"Xemnas." Axel thought aloud.
"Incorrect." Says Xion.
"Have you tried Ansem?" asks Namine.
"Yeah, didn't work," says Roxas.
"What about Sora?" asks Kairi. Xion types away at the keyboard before pressing the enter button.
"Didn't work, sorry." The two sigh before taking a seat
"Twilight?" asks Olette.
"Nope, incorrect," Pence responds. "What about you Roxas, do you got any ideas?"
"Ugh, I don't know. Um- sea salt ice cream?" Roxas says as if he's asking himself.
"Roxas, the password won't be-" says Xion as she looks over to monitor as pence enters his idea. Suddenly their eyes open wide as the computer begins logging in. "Are you kidding!?" Everyone else in the room gets up and rushes to the computer as it finishes logging in.
"How did that work!?" Asks Hayner in disbelief
"Who makes their password an ice cream flavor?" Olette asks in confusion.
"Diz I guess. . ." Namine says, almost laughing to herself. After some time, Xion and Pence manage to get the machine up and running.
"Will we be able to see them once they're in the data Twilight Town?" Olette asks Pence, but Axel answers for him.
"While we're in the data Twilight Town, yes, but once we go inside the corridor of darkness, we'll be on our own" Hayner and Olette sigh before nodding.
"Alright, well, be careful okay," Olette says.
"Don't worry, we got this," Axel smirks. He turns to Roxas and Xion as they finish putting their organization coats over their clothes. "Everyone ready?" Asks Axel. Everyone nods and in only a few moments, the size of the group in the room goes from eight to three as the keyblade wielders and Axel enter the data world.
They appear in the data world and for a moment, it looks like nothing has changed, but the lack of Hayner, Pence, and Olette in the room confirms that they're in the other world. Axel motions for them to follow him, and they enter the large square room, identical to the one Roxas, Xion, and Namine had fought him in so long ago. In this room, was a corridor of darkness, open for Nobodies to wander out of.
"All right, let's go," says Axel, as they enter the dark corridor one-by-one. Despite the name, the dark corridor wasn't all the dark, it was a wide variety of colors, with an invisible floor that you can only notice is there because of the white Nobody symbols on it. The group walks through the corridor for a few minutes, dead silent, before finally, someone speaks up.
"Are we almost there?" asks Namine, Axel nods.
"Almost. Once we're there we can close the dark corridor and move on to the castle." Says Axel.
"Oh great, another castle with a tall silver-haired man who wants to summon kingdom hearts. I feel like I've heard this story befo-" Before Kairi can finish her sarcastic statement, a flash of light blasts through the corridor, blinding the group. As they open their eyes they find themselves surrounded by hundreds, maybe thousands of Nobodies. The group materializes their weapons and prepares for battle.
Roxas envelopes himself in the red energy, entering valor form before sprinting off with Xion. Kairi and Axel run in different Directions to deal with another large group of Nobodies, while Namine Rushes in her own direction. She jumps and prepares to slash at a Nobody, but despite her efforts, her keyblade doesn't materialize, and she's knocked back. She gets back up and focuses even harder, before finally managing to materialize her keyblade. They try with their best efforts, but the Nobodies are far more intelligent than the Heartless, and the group begins to get overwhelmed. Namine is sent flying by a group of berserkers, who charge at her and prepare to crush her with their claymores. But Kairi swoops in and knocks away the Berserkers, but before she can even help Namine up, she's blindsided by Axel, who was thrown a massive distance by a Twilight Thorn. Roxas and Xion don't fair much better, the two fight with their best efforts, but fall to the floor as they're surrounded by Legions of Heartless. Axel looks up from the ground and sees the two, exhausted, and unable to get up as a group of three twilight thorns prepare to strike them down. Axel's eyes widen.
"Roxas! Xion!" Shouts Axel quickly getting two his feet and leaping into the air in a blast of fire. He lands in the middle of the gap between his two best friends and his two new friends, He summons his chakrams and swirls them around his body. "BURN!" shouts Axel as fire envelopes the entire corridor, eradicating all the Nobodies. The four keyblade wielders look up in astonishment at Axel's feat, before the expressions on their faces turn to that of dread, as they see Axel fall to the floor, and see the familiar black dust rising from his body.
"Axel!" Roxas and Xion cry as they forget about their exhaustion and run over to their best friend.
"No, No NO! This isn't happening. . . " Roxas looks down at his first friend, as he begins to fade away.
"Axel. . . we promised we would. . . that we'd all. . ." the tears begin to fall from the two as they look upon their friend.
"You two. . ." Axel looks at his friends "You've grown so much since I last saw you. . . I know. . . You can do this without me." Axel says as he smiles. Kairi and Namine watch from afar, unable to utter a single word.
"We. . . we were supposed to go to the beach. . ." says Roxas. "We promised we'd get to eat ice cream again once this was over. . ."
"I'm sorry. . ." Axel says before a moment of silence. "Bury one in the sand for me. . . will you?" asks Axel. the two Nobodies look at their friend with tears in their eyes, but they nod and agree. "If you ever feel like the world is too much. . . that you can't handle it anymore. . . Just remember. . . I'm proud of you. . ." Axel utters, before he finally gives in, and fades away. The sounds of mourning echo through the hollow corridor for seconds, then minutes, before the sounds of speech echo through.
"*sniff* c'mon. . . Axel wouldn't want us slacking off. . ." Says Roxas, as he wipes away his tears. Namine looks at her friend with concern
"No, it's fine. Take all the time you need. . ." Namine says in a somber tone, soon Xion gets off her knees and stands up.
"No. . . *sniff* Roxas is right. . . Let's go. . ." Days Xion, quickly walking off, Roxas does the same. Namine reaches out to stop them but Kairi stops her
"Their hearts have made a decision, let's go." Says Kairi. Namine looks at her friends with worry, then back at her somebody, before nodding. "Some people just handle grief differently. . ." Kairi says quietly before the two begin to chase after what remains of organization thirteen's trio of friends.