Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters – they belong to Square and Disney.

Stare Into The Abyss – Chapter Fifteen

Axel surveyed the altered landscape silently. The dark sky had passed over them, and was now continuing to spread further. The entire town was almost covered by it.

Sora was standing alongside him muttering something about "finding the others". But what were the chances anyone was still down there? Wasn't the most important thing now for them to find a way to fix this?

No. Not "them". There wasn't anything he could do about this. That was Sora's job. His job should be to find out the reason for it. Why had they wanted this to happen?

And there were only two people who would know that. Two people he didn't intend on leaving alive much longer.

He turned away and started to walk towards the small door tucked in the far corner, which would lead back inside the Clock Tower and to the streets below.

"Where are you going?" Sora asked, his voice low.

"No point in staying here."

Nodding, Sora followed him. "Namine was here…"

The witch?

Axel bit back a comment about how he doubted she was anymore. The boy already seemed to be taking this badly. There was no need to make him feel any worse.

Axel didn't understand why Sora seemed to be insistent on blaming himself. Wasn't he just as responsible? He'd passed the information on, and gone along with it, even when he knew it would be a bad idea. But he didn't see the reason in thinking about any of that right now.

Passing through the Clock Tower, Sora called out for the girl until they reached the bottom floor. His expression was tinged by sadness, but he tried to sound hopeful. "Maybe she already left. She must be somewhere else."

Sighing, Axel ignored him and left the building, exiting out into what had been the large plaza in the middle of the town. No people around. Nothing. Empty.

Dead.

Just like the other world.

But as he scanned the area, a slight movement caught his eye. Black against black. A brief flash of something scurrying past.

Maybe not so dead…

Summoning his weapons Axel moved towards it. And stopped as he realized what he'd saw.

Glowing yellow eyes. Clawed hands. Small, black hunched bodies.

Heartless.

"No!" Sora cried from behind him, having caught sight of them too. "No, I didn't do this!"

The first few creatures sprang forward. Axel disposed of them with a wave of blazing flames.

He glanced back towards Sora. The boy was backing away slowly shaking his head. "Don't just stand there!"

Sora's eyes locked onto him. "I can't… They were the people here… I did this to them, didn't I? I can't…"

"It's not stopped you before," Axel snapped as he knocked another of the Heartless aside. As the others prepared to attack, Axel built up a ring of fire around the creatures, containing them, for the moment.

He switched his attention back to Sora. "Come on."

Sora stared at the creatures before hurrying after Axel. "I'm sorry."

Axel wasn't sure if he was apologizing to them or him for the lack of help.

More of the Heartless were appearing around them. Axel checked the area, looking for a clear spot they could head for, but there was none. They were coming from all sides.

Sora stepped forward, keyblade in hand. He pointed towards an area off to their left where the creatures seemed lesser in number. "We could clear our way through them."

Good. He hasn't totally lost it.

Axel was readying another burst of fire to aim at them, when he spotted flashes of something cutting through the Heartless coming from the opposite side.

Keyblades…

… Two of them.

Sora grinned slightly, relieved. "Kaze!" Using his own keyblade he headed for his NEO, slashing through the crowd of creatures to get to him. Axel followed, cleaning up the few straggling Heatless that got in his way.

Kaze waved his hand, signalling them. "This way Sora." He guided them into a small side alley and stopped.

Axel turned around and built up another wall of fire behind them to block the Heartless from entering the same way.

"I'm glad to see you made it back alright Sora." Kaze smiled. His expression quickly turned sorrowful. "I messed up. I couldn't do anything."

"Kaze?" Sora frowned.

"Ansem. He came and put up some kind of a barrier in front of the Keyhole. By the time I'd reached him, he was gone. I couldn't do anything with the Keyhole. I'm sorry."

"Funny he's let you walk away both times…" Axel remarked.

Kaze whirled around to face him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The sound of a Heartless hissing in pain as it lunged at the fire interrupted them. "We should keep moving." Axel suggested. "I can't keep that there forever."

"Did he say anything?" Sora asked, looking back towards Kaze as they started to move off again.

"He told me I should head outside. He said something beautiful was about to happen." He sneered. "I'd hardly call this beautiful." Pausing for a moment before continuing he added, "I left to find Namine and…"

"Namine? Is she alright?"

"She's safe."

Sora nodded, satisfied, seeming more relaxed at hearing that. "What do we do now?"

Axel came to a halt. "You need to find a way to fix this. Both of you." He hesitated. "I'm going to go and take care of them."

Neither of them needed to ask who he meant. Sora stared at him uncertainly. "We're coming with you."

Axel shook his head. "No. You need to do something about this. I can't, but I can take care of Ansem and the others."

"You can't go on your own." Sora protested.

Axel started to walk away.

"I thought you only cared about finding a way to become complete again?"

"I do. But that can wait until later." He glanced back over his shoulder. "You sound like you don't think I'll come back."

"I don't." Sora was shaking his head slowly, eyes closed. "You won't stand a chance. Look at what happened last time!"

"They're still planning on something, Sora. Why else would do this? This is just part of something much bigger. Find a way to fix this and I'll find a way to stop them from doing anything else."

He didn't give Sora the chance to argue any further, instead disappearing as he teleported a short distance away.

Axel carried on through the town, wandering aimlessly, without a good idea of where to go. He hoped Sora would get the message and not follow. He might not stand much of a chance, but at least this time he knew what he was going to get himself into. If Sora and the other one could find a way to fix what they'd done, they were too important to risk going after Ansem and Number Two.

Or that was what he told himself. Was that really why he wanted to go for them himself? Or was it out of an obligation because they were like him?

No, that wasn't it. Because…

…Nobodies can't be somebodies.

Wasn't that right?

"Axel."

He froze.

"You were looking for me."

It wasn't a question. He turned to the sound of the voice. The cloaked figure was hard to make out against the darkness, but he could still see the shadowy outline of someone standing there.

Number Two.

Axel smiled coldly as he gripped his weapons. "Thanks for saving me the trouble."

"This wasn't how this was supposed to happen."

"What, everything not going to plan? A shame." Axel lunged forward intending to strike him, but his weapon struck something solid instead.

A faint, pale ripple ran across the air where his weapon had connected.

Some kind of a wall that Number Two had put up? Axel hit it again with the side of one of his Wheels. "Stop hiding behind this and fight back!" He yelled, frustrated.

The wall dropped and Number Two started to walk away. "He interfered. This wasn't my doing."

"Right. I'm supposed to believe that?"

"I'm not asking you to believe me, I'm asking you to listen."

"Even if you didn't plan for this to happen, if you knew what he was going to do, you could of stopped him!" Axel seethed.

"I couldn't risk him finding out what I was doing. I didn't realize he already…"

"Too late." Axel cut him off. "It's too late for that now."

Number Two responded by calling his own weapons into his hands. Red, pulsing, energy blades held in each.

"You ready to fight back now? Turn around."

But Number Two wasn't paying attention to him. He was focused on something on one of the rooftops nearby. Axel's gaze drifted upwards.

Red and black.

Ansem. Flanked by two Organization members that could only be the remaining Araxiel and Kralexus.

Then, I'll just have to kill them too this time.

"Go ahead Axel." The Superior, Ansem, smirked. "Don't let us stop you. Kill him."

Axel lowered his weapons. "No. I'm not doing anything else for you."

"Very well, you can watch and wait your turn."

The two hooded members vanished, re-appearing on the ground. They started to circle around Number Two, each of them summoning a group of Nobodies.

So, he had being planning something different? Something that they hadn't agreed with?

Axel backed off. He could stand by, let them take care of him. It'd save him the trouble of doing it himself.

Number Two was good, but could he handle all of them at the same time? And what if Ansem decided to join in? They were bound to kill him eventually.

Then you'll be next.

And he wasn't anywhere close to Number Two's level.

Or…

Number Two's arms spread to the side, the red blades flashing as he watched their movements carefully.

… Or you could help him. Perhaps even tilt the odds in your favour.

Axel moved forward, joining Number Two. He stood at his back keeping an eye on the smaller figure, Araxiel, who had had positioned herself behind him.

"What are you doing?" Number Two demanded.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Axel grinned as he readied his weapons. "Let's just say, I'm more pissed off at them than you right now."

Sora looked out across the dark horizon. All of this, his fault. Even if they could find a way to fix it, wasn't the damage already done?

After Axel had gone, they had agreed to return to the Clock Tower to think what to do next, as Kaze assured them it was the safest building in the town. Sora imagined he probably also felt more comfortable there, in a familiar location. How many friends and people that had passed as his family had Kaze lost to the darkness?

Because of me…

They'd collected Namine along the way from where Kaze had told her to hide when he'd caught sight of Sora and Axel. Sora was glad she was safe. He'd been so worried that something bad may of happened to her when he couldn't find her.

He'd come up to the roof to have a few moments to himself. He had no idea where to even start. How could they possibly do anything about this? How could they correct it? From what Kaze had told him, the Keyhole in this world was totally un-accessible because of the barrier Ansem had made.

And the window he'd returned here with Axel through was gone. There was no going back to the other world to do anything from that side.

Kaze had said that maybe if Axel could kill Ansem, the barrier back there would drop, but he didn't seem confident that Axel would succeed.

Axel…

Why did he have to be so cocky? Now his over-confidence and arrogance was bound to get him killed.

What exactly was Axel? A friend? No, not really. An ally? Perhaps. Whatever he was, Sora didn't like that he'd gone to "take care" of Ansem alone. Axel had helped him, stuck alongside him, even if it was for his own reasons, and hadn't tried anything despite how many people seemed convinced he was up to something.

But he was right. Only him and Kaze would be able to do anything about this mess now, and if Axel believed that the both of them could, then Sora was determined to prove him right. He owed him that at least, didn't he?

Sora shuddered slightly as he took a final look at the world before him.

"It's impressive, in a way, don't you think, Sora?"

He spun around, alarmed at the sound of the voice. He immediately recognized it and felt a flood of relief at hearing it again… Which quickly turned to a chill as he heard the leering tone behind the words.

The figure behind him still wore the Organization clothing that he had earlier. The hood was pulled down, showing those aquamarine eyes and the silver hair that Sora knew so well.

"…Riku?"

Author's Note: It'd be cruel to leave everyone with that last chapter for too long so, here's the next! Although I think it ended up almost as bad.

AloneInDespair: This doesn't count as another does it? The new Axel pic is quite nice! But yes, they need to feed us with more of him!

sorastalker08: Poor Sora, he just keeps finding more trouble!

Ginger Ninja: At least they seem to be giving us lots of new screenshots recently. But it's like they're taunting us :( And I'm sorry to hear you've not been having a good week.

Azrail Liddell: Thank you for the review! Yay, another Org fan? There are so few stories with them in, which is a shame, they're all quite interesting characters with lots of potential.

Saddened Soul: Well, we've got a Riku! And looks like at least one great big fight will be breaking out next chapter!