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

Stare Into The Abyss – Chapter Twenty-Two

Emerging onto the roof of the building, Sora spotted his friend standing at the far edge, overlooking the town. As he approached slowly, he called to him. "Riku?"

Nothing. There was no response and no sign that Riku even knew he was there. He tried again, raising his voice. "Riku…"

The older boy kept his back to him, but this time he spoke. "It's fading." His voice was flat, almost emotionless… apart from the faint tinge of disappointment.

Sora understand what he meant. He was referring to the darkness. "Yeah. Guess we're nearly done here." He tried to sound cheerful, but as Riku finally turned to face him, he knew that his friend didn't feel the same way. His eyes flickered with an unmistakable anger. Sora took an involuntary step back.

"Is he here?"

"Riku?" Sora shook his head. "I don't understand. Is who here?"

Riku looked away again. "He told us he was coming."

Us? Sora shuddered. Hearing that was a cold reminder that the Riku he was speaking to wasn't the same Riku that he knew. Why wasn't this Ansem weaker? Hadn't Axel said something about them been linked? If that was true, why wasn't Riku fighting? Why wasn't Riku the one in control anymore? Sora took a deep breath before speaking. "What do you want?"

Riku glanced back over his shoulder. "What are you talking about, Sora?"

"Stop it."

A small grin appeared. "Stop what? What's the problem?"

"Stop it!" This time, the newly formed Keyblade emerged in his hand. Riku's expression grew darker as his eyes fell on it. "Tell me what you did to Riku."

His eyes remained on the weapon as he replied. "I didn't do anything."

"It's this world isn't it? The darkness in this world… It allowed you to take control. But now it's fading, you don't have long left before Riku will, do you?" Sora hoped he was right. He was sure it was something to do with what had happened to this world that allowed Ansem control, but would Riku be able to do anything about it once it had returned to normal?

Riku began walking away from the edge of the roof and moving towards Sora. Holding the Keyblade in front of him, Sora backed away. "Stay there."

His friend's face twisted into a smirk as he came to a halt, the Soul Eater taking form in his hand.

"You are not coming with me."

"If you want to talk to him, you'll have to put up with me or Sora listening in."

"Can you not mind your own business?"

"If it wasn't for your little habit of killing people when they tell you something you don't want to hear, I would!"

"That's not what happened…"

"Excuse me…"

Upon hearing the witch's voice, Axel sighed as he glared at her. "What do you want? We're busy."

Namine gave him a disapproving look. "I was going to say, maybe you should go check on Sora…"

Kaze hopped up from his position opposite Axel and hurried towards the stairs. Axel followed him. The boy stopped and whirled around to him. "You can stay here."

Axel scoffed. "I don't think so."

"She said for me to go check on him!"

"I don't recall hearing your name."

"Oh? You actually know my name. Now there's a surprise."

"Please." Namine interrupted them. "Why don't you both go?"

"Alright." Kaze agreed. Rolling his eyes at Axel, he continued up the set of steps.

Brat…

As they emerged onto the roof, Axel quickly dismissed his brilliant idea of somehow tripping the kid up at the top of the stairs, as the sight of both Riku and Sora facing each other with their weapons drawn caught his attention instead.

"Sora!" Kaze rushed to his side, taking his own keyblade out as he drew up alongside him.

Axel held back, observing the situation. Should he interfere? Or hold back?

Riku made the decision for him as he spun around. "So, he was right." His eyes glowered hatefully. "You did come."

Axel summoned his own weapons sensing things could end up turning nasty. "Ansem, right? The other one. He told you I was coming?"

"He told me you would come to kill us both. Just as you killed him."

Killing him may have not been his original intention, but how could he try and deny that? "I've got a few questions."

Riku smirked. "I know. You want me to help you first, don't you? You want me to tell you how you can get your memories back."

Axel glanced back to Sora and Kaze, expecting them to protest, but they both remained silent. Facing Riku again, he nodded. "Let me guess, you won't either?"

"Perhaps you could help me, in exchange for the information."

"Axel! Don't even think about agreeing to anything he asks," Sora yelled. He took a step forward, and was halted by something solid blocking his way. Something that Riku had put up to stop them from interfering?

"What is it you need help with?"

Riku smiled, satisfied. "I need access to the Other Side. I can't stay in this world for much longer."

"Axel!" Kaze swung his keyblade wildly at the "wall" in front of them, attempting to break through it. "What are you doing?"

Ignoring him, Axel shrugged. "Why do you need help with that for? Can't you do it yourself?"

"Unfortunately, I can't open a doorway to there any longer. However, your friend can. You should tell him it's rude to listen in without showing himself…"

Axel's eyes narrowed as he scanned the area. His gaze fell on one of the corners as the air became distorted and Number Two emerged from a rippling blanket of purple and black energy. He made no move towards them, instead observing from where he stood. Axel felt a wave of anger towards him. Why was he just keeping out the way, watching? Knowing that he had been there and not shown himself irritated him. When he was done here, he was going to make sure Number Two gave him some answers.

"Do we have a deal?" Riku asked.

"Axel, no!" Sora cried. "Don't let him leave!"

Axel didn't even pause to consider before giving his answer. "Fine. Deal. Now, tell me."

"You believed you could become complete and in the process gain those lost memories." Riku paused, his smirk spreading "That's not how it works. Quite the opposite, actually."

Axel frowned. "Then what am I supposed to do?"

"The body is just a shell. If you want your memories back, the only way to reach that which contains them, the heart, is for the soul to be cast off. Heart and soul… Separate, with the soul contained within its shell, you are nothing but a non-existent one. Split the three up however, allow the soul to reach the place where the heart is, and you could get them back."

Split them up? How is that supposed to work?

"Are you saying that I'd have to die to get them back?"

"Are you even paying attention to what I'm saying?" Riku sneered. "No. You wouldn't die… but you wouldn't exactly be alive either."

Really helpful… "What's that supposed to mean?" Axel demanded. The entire thing didn't seem to make any sense. How could I be dead… but not dead?

"You would continue to exist but not as you are now. I suppose you could say that your soul would be stuck in a permanent state of nothingness." Riku's face appeared to light up as he noticed Axel's dismayed expression.

Axel closed his eyes. He didn't need to ask him to clarify that. 'A permanent state of nothingness' spoke for itself. Was that really worth it?

"At least you'd get to re-live all those memories over and over again." Riku laughed, the sound cruel. "I'd be almost jealous. The sounds of those who died because of you, screaming and…"

"Shut up!"

"Is that all? Tell your friend to open a doorway."

"No, not yet. You still haven't told me how I'm supposed to do all that."

Assuming, you want to bother…

"Isn't that obvious?" Riku glanced over to Sora before he began to walk away to where Number Two stood. Axel waited until the silver-haired boy had passed him before delivering a sharp blow with one of his weapons, to the back of his head.

As Riku crumpled to the ground, the wall that had blocked Sora and Kaze seemed to disappear too, as both of them began to run forward. As Axel moved to take a step towards them, a sharp feeling that burned across his back stopped him.

"I wonder, was this how Vexen felt, as you killed him?"

Recognizing the voice, he turned his head slightly to see Number Two standing behind him, his weapon in hand as it held Axel in place, the blade impaled firmly in his back.

As Axel tried to summon his own weapons, the blade was twisted sharply, the pain shattering his concentration.

"I am sorry, Axel."

The weapon was pulled out, leaving Axel to drop to the floor.

Kaze skidded to a halt as he saw Number Two drive his weapon through Axel's back. He blinked as he stared blankly at the scene. Sora reacted first, taking out his keyblade as Axel hit the ground.

Is he dead?

Armed with his own weapon, Kaze approached the cloaked figure carefully. "Why? I thought you were trying to help him…"

Number Two gave no reply, instead summoning his second weapon into the other hand.

"You betrayed him. He trusted you, and you were just lying and stringing him along!" Sora gripped his keyblade tighter as the NEO took a step towards them. "What is it you were trying to do?"

This time, Kaze was surprised to hear him answer. "The same thing as he was, to become complete. Axel did well finding out what he did, it's just a shame that what we were lead to believe isn't true." His head cocked to the side as he glanced at Axel behind him. "I did him a favour."

Kaze shook his head in disgust. "You're insane! You call that a favour?"

Number Two's pulsing red blades flashed as he lunged towards them both. Realizing their conversation was over, Kaze blocked the attack and tried to strike back with his own weapon. Sora moved to deliver some blows from the rear, but Number Two was able to block both of their attempts with each of his weapons.

As Kaze kept him busy, Sora backed away, launching his keyblade at their opponent's head, but it was swiftly knocked aside. Kaze swiped at his legs, hoping to try and catch him off guard, but the NEO was fast and avoided it with ease.

As Sora unleashed another powerful attack, Kaze caught sight of someone from the corner of his eye, standing at the doorway that lead to the inside of the tower.

Namine!

Checking that Sora would be able to cope alone for a moment, he hurried over to her. "Namine! You need to leave."

She looked around the rooftop, confused. Her eyes wandered from Sora, to Riku and Axel. "What happened?

"You have to go. You can't stay here."

"Are they… dead?"

"I don't know. Please, Namine."

She rushed past him heading to Riku. Kaze stayed with her, hoping that Sora would keep Number Two occupied until he could get her to leave, or at least to somewhere safer. She crouched down beside Riku, as he hovered over her, holding his keyblade ready.

"He's alright." Standing up, Namine stepped over to Axel before kneeling alongside him. She tilted her head up at Kaze. "He's still alive too."

"Will they be alright?"

"Riku should be fine. I don't know about him. If the bleeding doesn't stop, he'll die."

Kaze paused as he tried to decide what to do. "Go down the bottom and stay there. If anything happens, I want you to run, ok?"

She looked up at him, her eyes sad. "You don't think you and Sora will be able to beat him?"

"I never said that." Kaze smiled. "We'll take care of him. Just… if anything does happen, run."

Climbing back to her feet, she nodded. "What about them?" She asked.

"Riku could still be trouble when he wakes up. There isn't anything we can do for Axel. Leave him."

"You're not going to try and help him?"

"…Leave him."

Reluctantly, she started to head back to the door, before casting a last look at Sora and then disappearing behind it. Once she had gone, Kaze crouched next to Axel. Namine was right, he was still breathing. What were they supposed to do? There was already so much blood. How could they possibly help him?

Glaring back up at Number Two he raced to re-join the fight. Sora was backing up, trying to defend himself against the onslaught of attacks from both blades.

Why had Number Two turned on Axel?

No, he didn't turn on him. This was planned.

But why? What he had said wasn't much of a reason. There was something missing. Something that he hadn't told them.

But it doesn't really matter now, does it?

Swinging the keyblade he tried to land a hit on the NEO's back, but one arm twisted to the side and the red weapon met his own, absorbing the blow.

Number Two was far too fast and effective with both of his blades for either him or Sora to do any good. They needed to distract him somehow, or slow him down.

How?

They weren't going to get anywhere at this rate.

What would Axel do?

Author's Note: Sorry this one took a little longer than normal. I had some trouble with it. This is the third re-write of it I've done! It ended up a little shorter than the last few have been, but the next chapters should be back to been a bit more lengthy. Another three chapters (assuming my plans don't change!) and this should be ended. I was going to finish everything up and leave it at that, but it would have meant a lot of other stuff I had in mind wouldn't be used. So, I am planning on continuing this story through a (sort of) sequel. Probably won't be as long as this turned out, but… We'll see how it goes! ;)

AloneInDespair: I am so sorry that I missed you out last chapter! I think I must have updated as your review came through so I ended up overlooking it. My apologies!

Dubaby: Thank you! I'm glad you've been enjoying it!

sorastalker08: Aw, nice to know that cheered you up! Oops, I didn't end up confusing you again, did I? I think we've got the timing thing right now – I've just not been around the past few days.

Ginger Ninja: I do love DD for all those little clues that come flashing up – sets the imagination off! Ooh, looks like this chapter has answered those two questions at least!

Saddened Soul: Sorry it took a while! I wanted to get this one just right. I'll try and get the next up faster.

Crisis Haylo: Haha, don't get indigestion from that! ;) And we have some Namine talky-ness here!