-Chapter 3: Twilight Town

Sora was still pretty down about everything, even on the Gummi Ship. He could try to mask it up by saying to everyone, "Hey, look on the bright side," but he didn't see a bright side. He couldn't see a bright side in darkness and fighting, even though he believed that there was always "that little light that never goes out". He didn't know who to believe, what to believe it for, and why these people seemed to love making him suffer. Sora felt like turning the knife for once, like maybe he should dish out a worse punishment than what he already has.

"Hey, pal! Cheer up!" Mickey wasn't about to give up on him.

"Easy for you to say..." It was easier said than done.

"Aw, gosh, Sora. You know it always turns out for the better. It always has before, right?" Mickey was desperate to get Sora back in his old spirits.

"Yeah...but I'm tired of having to fight. I mean...it was a year and a half since I saw home, then I finally came back and it gets destroyed again. And Kairi..."

"Well, then, lemme tell ya something you may not know."

"There's a lot of that, I guess."

"When me and Minnie met, way back, when I was a comedian, I wasn't required to do anything, say anything, fight Heartless, or even be away from her. Now, I wield a Keyblade, and I barely even know her."

"Wow...I never really thought about that."

"What I'm tryin' to say to ya, pal, is that what you have with her is more than just friendship, it's more than love. You have the power to fight directly for her. Me...I've got a kingdom and a half to uphold. There's a lot more than just Minnie on my mind."

"There's a lot more on my mind, too."

"But what're you always thinking about with every step?"

"I'm thinking about her."

"Pal, we got something in common. And as long as you've got that on your mind, as long as you don't forget her, you'll never lose, you'll never grow weak, and you'll never be able to back down."

"Yeah. It's just that, though. I'm worried about what could have already happened to her...I can't get it off of my mind."

"But it's always gonna relieve you to confirm whether or not it's happened."

"Yeah...I know..."

Donald, out of nowhere, exclaimed, "Arriving at Twilight Town now!"

Sora got up. He recognized the town, suddenly, and without notice. "Wait...stop there! Donald, we need to park in Twilight Town!"

"Got it!" Donald slammed the brakes and sent the entire team flying forward in the ship. The cockpit broke open, luckily after they had landed.

"Gawrsh! The ship's broken!" Goofy had some sense of knowledge. He was a guardian, all right, with the stupidity to boot. He tended to re-state the obvious a lot.

"Well, looks like we'll be stuck here for a while. Perfect timing," Sora said.

The trio darted off to the usual spot to go and meet up with Hayner and his gang. But Sora immediately realized something was wrong. Along the way, Heartless, Chasers, and Nobodies came by the flocks. Surprisingly, Sora didn't fight them, and turned past the alleyway, where Donald and Goofy went and lost sight of Sora. Instead, he pushed away whatever got in his way, and ran straight for the Clock Tower.

And there stood Axel, with his black and white coat. "Hey, Sora. Hasn't been too long, now, has it?"

Sora ran towards Axel, and with amazing strength, grabbed him by the collar, ran to the side of the building, and slammed him into the wall. "What happened here? Answer me! NOW!" Sora was severely pissed off.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down! What do you mean?"

"I woke up in a warzone and found out my island's gone again! You know what happened! You're better off telling me right now!"

"What? What in the world would they want the--" He stopped. "Uh-oh..."

Sora's face turned from angry to frantic. "Answer me, please!"

"Did Riku go back with you...?"

"Yeah...why?"

"Do you have ANY idea whatsoever? When someone goes to the Realm of Darkness, they're supposed to stay there!"

Sora let go and backed up a bit. "But...why?"

Axel took out a keychain and handed it to Sora. In its backside, it read Pyromaniac. "I'll explain later. Now we need to get out of here."

Sora clenched the keychain, tight. With that fist, he slammed it into his opposite palm. "You'd better be right..."

"Sora. Remember Roxas...my best friend? You know where he is."

"Yeah, that's right."

"That's what you can base your trust on." Axel was obviously telling the truth. For the first time, Sora saw a tear from his eye.

"And that's exactly what you shouldn't trust." Someone came out from the tower in a black cloak.

"Xavier! Stay back or I'll get rid of you myself!" Axel recognized his voice.

"Oh, you're no fun. Then again..." He lifted his hood and took out a pair of revolvers. "You never were, anyway!" He shot at Axel, barely missing.

"The Organization is reformed. If you fight us, you're just committing suicide," Axel informed Xavier.

The man, now exposed as a Xigbar lookalike, complete with an eye patch and short gray hair, shot at Axel again, barely missing. "We don't want you to give us our hearts back. You know what we want."

Sora knew right away. "You want to become a Chaser, don't you?"

"The kid catches on rather quick, don't you think, Axel?" Xavier shot again, this time at Sora. He blocked the bullet with the Keyblade and threw his chain at Xavier's gun.

"Ah, ah, ahh...I wouldn't do that if I were you." He shot at the halberd of the chain and unveiled a duplicate of Sora's picture of Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

"No...! You wouldn't!" Sora knew right away. The new Organization had captured them and were holding them hostage, or so he thought.

"Ah, but we would. Association XIII never does business politely." Xavier threw a card at Sora. "Just in case you're willing to fight for us and leave them behind."

Sora pretended to put the card away as Xavier warped away. Then, he took it back out and ripped it to shreds. "I don't do business politely, either. Especially not with you ungrateful Nobodies!"

Axel took Sora to the side and said, "Look, there's something you don't know about me. Something that could change your world fore--" He was cut off when Xavier came back through and grabbed him by the back of the collar.

"Axel!" Sora tried to run after him, but he was too late. Axel was gone. "No...not you too..." He dropped to his knees.

Hayner, from on top of the clock tower, yelled out, "Hey! Roxas! Is that you?"

Sora looked up. "Hayner?"

"Yeah! Go around to the back of the train terminal! I'll meet you there!" Hayner got back to his feet and darted off. Sora did the same.

As they both arrived behind the train terminal, Hayner saw Sora. "Hey, Sora! Long time no see!"

Sora said to Hayner, "Long story, but there's trouble over here."

"I know. Some guys in black coats with hoods tried to take all three of us. Olette and Pence are back at the usual spot."

"Oh, wow. That must have been what Xavier was saying."

"Who?"

"That guy just now. The one me and Axel were fighting."

"Axel's the redhead, right?"

"Yeah. Come on, we better make sure everyone's safe over there." The two ran off to the usual spot.