Disclaimer: Characters/Locations are property of Square and/or Disney. I own nothing.

Break The Chains That Bind Us

Chapter Two

The small town he arrived in was quite the opposite of the city he'd left behind. The streets were bathed in a warm light and while quiet there were people around. His relief at seeing them pass by the streets was replaced by frustration. How was he supposed to ask them anything? Walk up and see if they knew why he'd found himself in the middle of an empty city with no idea why he was there? Ask them if people usually arrived here by walking through strange objects? They'd think he was crazy.

He continued along debating on what to do, accompanied by those same images from earlier.

"A Keyblade that unlocks people's hearts…"

"Sora!"

Why couldn't he remember who this 'Sora' was? And why did it feel like this 'Keyblade' was supposed to be important?

"Hey!"

He looked up, distracted from his thoughts. A young brown haired girl stood in front of him, her head titled to the side as she gave him a quizzical look. "You should be more careful and watch where you're going!"

"Sorry…"

Her tone quickly changed to a more sympathetic one. "Are you lost?"

"I guess I am."

"Well, where are you trying to get to?"

Where was he trying to get to? "I'm not sure."

"You're not..." She trailed off, blinking up, her eyes wandering to something behind him. "Uh-oh. You better follow me!" He didn't move, confused, but the girl grabbed his arm, dragging him into a side alley. Crouching, she pulled him to the ground alongside her.

What was she so afraid of? "What are you doing?"

"Ssh!"

Glancing back up he saw the source of her panic. A trio of figures in black cloaks passed by the alley. His gaze fixed on them intently, watching. One paused, level with their hiding spot and turned. The boy froze, feeling his breath catch in his throat…

… And then the figure continued to move.

"Who are they?" He whispered to the girl.

She folded her arms giving him a stern look. "You're not from here, are you? They're members of the Organization. You don't want to be around when they're looking for new test subjects!"

"Test subjects?"

She moved forward to lean around the corner of the alley and waved, signalling him to follow. She began setting off in the opposite direction the cloaked people had gone, but he paused before heading the other way. Realizing he wasn't behind her, the girl spun around, alarmed, "Where are you going?"

"I'm following them. If I can speak to them, they might be able to tell me something."

"Speak to them? Are you crazy? You can't do that!"

He slowed and faced her. "Why not?"

"They'll take you and you won't ever come back! I told you, that's what they do."

"It can't hurt to try." He began walking away again, determined to catch up to those people. He was startled to hear the sound of footsteps behind him as the girl ran after him.

"If we get caught, it'll be all your fault you know!"

He laughed half-heartedly. "Don't worry, I won't get us caught."

They rounded a corner, arriving at something that resembled a station; pillars lined the area supporting a roof overhead. His cloaked targets were gathered alongside a track, waiting.

"You're not thinking of sneaking on the train with them, are you?" the girl asked from his side.

A train? So that's what the station was for. He shook his head. "Wait here, I'm going to get a little closer."

"You're insane!"

"I want to hear what they're saying." Not offering her a further reply he ducked down low and crept forward, leaning against one of the pillars that was located closer to them.

"…And who cares anyway? We know he's here, job done. Let's head back."

Yes, this position was better. He could hear what they were saying clearly. But he was awfully close, if he made the slightest noise and they heard him…

"The Superior cares. His orders were clear. We're to observe him, but not interfere. He believes it will be a while before he Awakens."

"If he does at all," The first voice countered. "He's not going anywhere. I don't know about you, but I'd rather see what Sora is doing than stand around here all day. I can't believe they sent us out when things were just getting interesting..."

Sora? The boy bit his tongue to hold back his shock.

"He's probably sealed the Hollow Bastion Keyhole by now," A new, female voice joined in. "This other boy, while interesting, isn't of any use yet. I agree that we should leave."

"See?"

"You do not have authority here, Number Eight…"

"You know I prefer not been called that."

"You're only been awkward because you don't like the fact that he outranks you."

The boy pulled away, cautiously retreating to join his companion. He'd heard enough, and there was no way he was going to approach those people. He had no doubts that the person they were discussing 'observing' was him.

He rejoined the girl and sank down against the wall giving a defeated sigh. Awakening and Keyholes… he didn't understand any of it. And more importantly, they knew who this 'Sora' was. From what they'd said, it didn't sound like it was him, so just who was he?

"Did you find out what you wanted?"

If anything, things were even more confusing now. "…No."

"We should leave." She fixed her gaze on him, her expression pleading.

He nodded and reluctantly followed her away. It was only when they were a safe distance from the station that the girl spoke again. "You said you were lost… Do you have anywhere to go?"

The question took him by surprise. Where could he go? It was dangerous staying here if those cloaked people were interested in him, but it was the only place where he could maybe get his answers. "No. I don't have anywhere."

"I can find you somewhere to say!" The girl offered, trying to sound cheerful. "There are lots of people here who have nowhere left. Ever since the Organization took away their families…"

He understood, she didn't need to say anymore. "Thank you."

"So, what's your name?"

"…What?"

"You do have a name, don't you?"

He opened his mouth to reply with 'Sora', but hesitated. He wasn't this Sora, it didn't feel right calling himself that, but it was the only thing that came to mind. So, what other name could he give her?

After a moments consideration he answered. "Kaze." He nodded, satisfied. " My name is Kaze."

Sora sank back into the chair as the train drew closer to Hollow Bastion, wondering if this visit had been a success or not. They'd encountered no problems upon arriving at the world; it had seemed a more or less empty one judging from the small area of it they had explored. It even appeared free of Heartless.

And tucked away in a far corner of a cave, buried behind a waterfall, they had found a door thanks to Riku's directions. Sora's joy at finally having come across what they were looking for didn't last long.

His first problem was with the door itself – no matter what he'd tried, there didn't appear to be anything he could do with it, or at least, not alone. The door didn't have just one Keyhole, but two, one on each side. It hadn't taken him long to realize he'd need Kaze's help. Two Keyholes could only mean two Keyblade Masters were required.

The second problem had lay with Riku. His friend hadn't appeared very happy at their find, breaking off into confused ramblings to himself. It was as Sora had decided that they should head back to Hollow Bastion to get Kaze before returning, that Riku had finally spoken out loud.

It's the wrong one, that's what he said…

How could it be the wrong one? How could it not be the one that they were looking for?

It was only now, on the journey back, that Sora realized the possible meaning behind those words, as his mind drifted back to one of Ansem's earlier reports.

The present world.
The world of darkness.
The world of light.
And, the world in-between.

Four worlds… four doors? If he was right, things were a lot more complicated than he'd expected.

He leant forward again, meaning to question Riku on it, but the other boy was already on his feet, moving to the door of the vehicle.

"Riku?"

"Something isn't right. There's too many of them, I can't tell the difference between each individual…"

Sora stood up to join him. "Who? Too many of what?"

Any response Riku may have supplied was cut short as the train jerked violently, throwing Sora off balance. The lights overheard flickered wildly as emergency shutters slid down each of the windows, plunging the carriage into darkness.

Blindly grabbing for a hold of something to support himself, Sora felt one last shudder rock the vehicle before everything fell still. As he felt his way along the side, trying to locate the door, he called out to his friends. "Is everyone alright?"

Receiving a chorus of affirmations, he came to a halt alongside what he hoped was the door. Taking a hold of it, he pulled, trying to force it open. It gave way with ease. Before he had the chance to look outside, something flew through, hitting him in the chest and knocking him to the ground. There was a startled cry from Donald, as the mage made an attempt to get rid of whatever it was.

The Keyblade had already taken form in Sora's hand, as he began scrambling to his feet. A blur of white bounced off the back wall and lunged towards him once more. Swinging the weapon, he caught it in mid-flight, the creature dispersing as it connected with it.

He recognized what it had it been. A Dusk, a Nobody. What was one of them doing on the outskirts of Hollow Bastion?

"You might want to take a look outside, Sora."

Following Riku's suggestion, he moved to the door. The sight of what lay beyond them made his blood run cold.

A seething mass of white and silver bodies waited in the distance. Seeing such a large amount of Nobodies gathered in one place wasn't a good sign, but seeing them there, so close to the castle that he had been living at recently was worse.

"You shouldn't stay." Riku regarded him carefully. "They were sent here for you."

Sora looked away. "How do you know that?"

"Because he said they were, and I think he's right."

He didn't need to ask who 'he' was. "I'm not leaving." How could he leave when his friends were still there, at the castle? If they were there for him, what if they tried to tear Hollow Bastion apart just to find him?

"You're going to try and reach the castle?" A light smirk crossed Riku's face. "How are you going to do that?"

Sora held the Keyblade in front of him. "I'm going to go straight through the middle of them."

Their own weapons in hand, Donald and Goofy joined him. Sora smiled gratefully, he didn't even need to ask them for their help. At least three would be better than one.

"You can stay here, if that's what you want to do Riku. I'm not asking you to come with me…"

As he stepped out of the train, Riku walked past him. He didn't slow, instead heading straight for the writhing sea of the creatures.

Well, four is better still…

Sora started to hurry after him, but froze as his gaze fell on the Nobodies ahead. They were moving. The entire tide of them was moving as one, turning in their direction, and as Sora watched, the wave of them rolled down the sides of the valley, surging towards them.

His mind searched for something different, something new. Any minor detail he might have missed that he could examine until there was nothing left to look over.

Axel found nothing.

How many times now, had he seen everything repeated? Over and over again, a never-ending cycle of memories that were probably best forgotten. How long had he been there? Just days? Weeks? Or had it been months already? Years even…

The cycle started once more. Axel tried to divert his attention by focusing on something else, but his efforts were for nothing. He knew that. There was nothing else here to focus on, nothing to do but watch.

At first, he'd taken the time to compile a list of those who were responsible for the mess he'd ended up in. 'Number Two' had certainly earned his place at the top, but it hadn't taken him long to add Sora's name to it. This was Sora's fault after all, even if he was the one that had asked him to do it, if it wasn't for Sora, he wouldn't be here. Still, his entertainment in developing his list had quickly been killed when he'd realized it wouldn't really amount to anything.

With nothing left to do, he'd made several attempts to 'reach' into the void around him. Those results hadn't been very encouraging either. There wasn't anything else there. Nothing but him and his little shell of recycled memories.

How long would it take, for him to totally break? How much of the same stuff could someone's mind take, before it shattered from it all?

Eventually, there didn't seem much to do other than to shut his mind down completely. Stop thinking and stop watching. So when the sound of a faded, distant voice echoed through the abyss, it took a while to register.

"Is this what you wanted? Are you enjoying yourself, Axel?"

Familiar somehow, but difficult for him to recognize.

"Which part is your favourite?"

Or maybe he'd already lost it. Maybe he was just talking to himself.

"I personally think the one where you killed that poor innocent civilian, for the sake of revenge was amusing…"

No, that wasn't him.

"Or maybe you prefer the one where your home world falls to the Darkness, as the people around you that you once knew die, or are taken by the Heartless…"

Definitely not him.

"…Heartless that you killed without a second thought."

Whoever, or whatever it was, Axel was at least thankful. They were enough to bring him back from the edge of insanity.

"I'm surprised that you lasted this long."

He hoped that they wouldn't stop. It was something else to focus on.

"It would be so easy…"

It was something different.

"…To just leave you like this."

It was something new.

"Now, what shall I do with you?"

Kaze gripped the Keyblade tightly as he stared numbly at the army before him.

That's what it is, an army.

How could he possibly do anything against that? But that didn't matter right now, he wasn't here to stop them. He just needed to get to Sora, and to do that he'd have to go through them. The train would arrive on the far end of the valley. If he could get there before Sora arrived back…

Stepping straight into the mass of creatures, he began slashing wildly as he tried to pass through them. Some of those to his sides responded, coiling their limbs and springing at him, but it was only as he had made some progress that he realized he was mostly been ignored. The majority of them that surrounded him seemed passive, hunched over as though waiting for something, paying him no attention.

Waiting for orders…

And the only ones who could control them, were those in the Organization. His fears confirmed Kaze began hacking through those in his way with a renewed effort. He needed to find Sora quickly. If someone had ordered them here then they weren't all gone like he had thought, and that wasn't good.

His attention snapped back to his current problem as the Nobodies around him whirled around. It wasn't hard to tell that they were preparing to attack. Stopping, Kaze braced himself, holding the Keyblade at the ready to defend against them.

White shapes blotted out the sky as a landslide of them rolled over his head. He dropped to the floor, feeling their legs and hands brush against him as they passed by. Using the Keyblade to shield his head, he flattened himself to the ground, hoping he wouldn't be crushed by the sheer amount of them. His only relief came from the knowledge that they weren't attacking him.

They weren't interested in him. They had other orders to follow.

Note's: Well, that wasn't supposed to be finished that fast. How nice of the new trailer to include so much footage of that "war" scene, although what I have in mind is much more based off the really old footage. Is it just me, or have they altered a lot of the scenes now?

Ahem, anyway…

AloneInDespair: There should be a little "BHK instalment" (hehe) at the start of each chapter. For now, anyway. I have a few planned, but I might run out if this ends up growing anywhere near the size SITA did!

Ginger Ninja: Ooh, flashbacks sure are fun! Especially those involving our favourite blonde!
I love the way those little things move – they're so slinky!

Saddened Soul: I've lost count of the amount of members now, it's like everyone is walking around dressed as one of them! And if you're thinking what I'm thinking, you're on the right track. ;) But… I'm not sure what you're thinking! There's something that's there for a story related purpose, however, that purpose probably won't be revealed for a while yet. If that helps anyway!