Heartmaker

by Besket

Author's Notes: Wow, guys. 200+ hits and 3 reviews? (cracks up) You're really funny. . . but I love you all anyway. Thanks to Rios Masquerade for being the first one to review, you made my day with that. . . (smiles happily) And thanks to Ruaki and LKani-X for reviewing! Made me very happy! Hee, I guess there's no questions or corrections, then? Okay! So we're good!

Warning: May contain an idiotic author. (points to self and grins retardedly)

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or plot of Kingdom Hearts II, nor do I own the song Swim This Way. I own. . . um. . . a level 69 Japanese Sora who's currently trying to become higher level than a level 70 Japanese Riku. And not succeeding, to his extreme disappointment. He's also slightly sulky because Jap Riku keeps mispronouncing his name and calling him "Sorea". What a cute pet name.

Chapter Two: Swim This Way

I yelped as the portal spat me out and water hit my face. Looking around, I could see. . . um. . . water. And shells. And watery plants. And some fish I didn't know.

Where did Axel go?

"SURPRISE, Demmy!" I twitched, screamed, and swam about three feet away before turning back to shoot a soft glare at Axel, who had grabbed my shoulders out of nowhere. That's so scary! Hmph! He knows how easily spooked I am, why'd he do that?

. . . Okay, sorry, stupid question. I get it.

He stood, blinking at me, a surprised expression on his face. "Wow, Demyx. You scream like a girl." Shocked enough to use my real name, eh, Sparky? Well, for your information, I- I did that on purpose! Just to surprise you! So there!

"Demyx? Is that you?"

I turned around, and put on my nice-guy smile. "Good morning, Princess Ariel!" I waved at the girl as she swam up to us, trying to look over my shoulder. Why was she looking there?

"Who's your friend?" She asked, giggling as she swam in circles around the two of us. Axel followed her with his eyes, looking slightly cautious, though I don't see why; after all, Ariel's one of the gentlest people I know! The fact that she can rip apart Heartless with her bare hands just shows how gentle all the people I know are.

I cleared my throat. "This is my friend, Axel." I gestured to Axel, and he waved a hand awkwardly.

Ariel studied him, frowning slightly. "Axel, huh? Hmmm. . . you really need to eat more, Axel."

Axel's frown deepened, but I couldn't stifle a giggle. To have someone like Ariel tell you off. . . wow. That's pretty funny. Axel pouted at me, then mouthed, who is she? He jabbed a thumb at Ariel for emphasis, although it was really unnecessary, her being the only 'she' here.

"Axel, this is Princess Ariel. She's the. . . ahem. . . mermaid that I told you about." And that you insulted earlier. But Ariel doesn't have to know that. I put the emphasis on mermaid because, well, he has to learn that calling people "half-fish brat" wasn't exactly the most appropriate thing he could do.

He seemed to have ignored me, though, because he was back to his usual cheery self now that he knew the stranger's name. He held out his hand for Ariel to shake. "Hey. Nice to meet you."

Ariel giggled her beautifully bubbly giggle again, and accepted Axel's hand. "The pleasure's mine," she said, before turning to me. "Demyx, did you come here with another song for us to sing?"

Oh, great. I was sort of hoping she wouldn't bring that up in front of Axel. I looked away as Axel looked over at me, no doubt with some teasing comment to make at the thought of me singing. . .

W- well, why doesn't he give Ariel a song, then! I'm sure he knows plenty of great songs that she'd just love to try out.

I tried to picture Ariel singing a song that Axel wrote. It'd probably be called something confusing to her, like Let Our Non-Existent Love Burn. Ugh. I remember the time the Superior wanted to sing, and brought the entire Organization XIII to a Karaoke. . . the songs Axel picked were all pretty weird.

Then again, Saïx and Xaldin singing. . . bad. At least Axel can somewhat sing. Ugh. Saïx was right when he said he couldn't sing if his chances of getting a heart depended on it. Then again, it's not like he really cares much about hearts, does he?

I'm getting off topic! Argh!

Great, what's going on?

Axel's. . . no way.

No way.

He can't be handing music sheets to Ariel.

. . . Aw, Pooh Bear. He is.

"I found this under Demmy's pillow last week," he was saying. His expression was mischievous.

Ariel giggled. "Under his pillow? Really?" And she shot a glance at me before bursting into giggles again.

Huh?

Ack! No! No no no no no no! No! I was going to throw that away!

But it was too late for me to take it back now. I put my face in my hands as Ariel read out the title.

"Swim This Way," she was saying. She hummed the tune to herself, and I bet the two of them were snickering. I started groaning. That song was so bad, even I had laughed at the lyrics as soon as I finished writing them down.

"Is that how it goes?" I heard Axel say, as he started adding the lyrics along to the melody. "Swim this way, we'll dance and we'll play. . ." Another snicker.

Ariel joined in merrily. "It's very easy, come on in! Just take a chance and shake a fin!"

"Please. Stop. Singing. Out. Loud." I peeked from between my fingers to find an available shell to hide in. No such luck. I groaned and started sinking as the two of them continued to sing my song, Axel inserting a laugh and wise comment every now and then.

Why is this happening to me? Why?

Roxas stood in the same room, still staring at the discarded raincoats on the floor. As much as he hated to admit it, he was. . . sulking.

His fist clenched around the thinner, charcoal-scented uniform, and it took all his willpower not to bury his face into the material and just drown in the scent of fire. His hands started to shake, and when he finally noticed this, he threw the uniform down as if it were something putrid and disgusting.

"What am I doing," he grumbled to himself, not so much as a question as a short self-scolding. He looked around, his eyes trailing over the bowls of water in the room and at the room exit to make sure no one was watching him. "I could just follow them," he told himself, once he was certain there wasn't anyone around to hear him. "They went to a world called Atlantica, didn't they?"

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, the name sounded familiar, but he ignored the feeling as he mindlessly mimicked Axel and Demyx by taking off his uniform, and concentrated on trying to open a dark portal. He hadn't quite gotten the hang of it yet, but the portal opened without much trouble, as if it were telling him to follow his absent friend.

Though he had no idea where he was going to end up, he walked through the portal without looking back.

No waaaaaaaaaaaay.

Okay, so they finished singing the song, thoroughly humiliating me in the process. Wonderful. But no, that wasn't enough for them, oh no. They decided it would be fun to drag Sebastian along.

"'Dis is great!" he was saying. Ariel seemed to agree, and Axel was too busy laughing to answer. "I been trying to write somethin' like 'dis for a while, but I just can't get the right feeling!"

I laughed uneasily. "Well, if you like it that much, then just take it. It's yours." I'm serious. Get that thing out of my face right now. I never want to see it again. Heck, you can even say you wrote it, if you want; your funeral.

"Really, mon?" Sebastian, for some reason, seemed delighted to have my failed project.

I nodded. "Well, yeah," I scratched the back of my head. Man, how embarrassing. "If you couldn't tell, I did originally write it for one of your concerts." It was just too terribly embarrassing to be shown to anyone, let alone everyone, that's all.

But Sebastian was wearing his I-can't-thank-you-enough expression. O. . . kay, that little crab has strange taste in music.

Just then, a whole bunch of bubbles suddenly gathered at one place. They all popped at the same time, and Roxas tumbled out.

Huh, that's strange, why did all the bubbles suddenly do something like that, and why did-

Wait, WHOA horsie, slow down!

WHY is the newest member of the Organization suddenly shooting out of exploding giant bubbles?

Ariel took this rather calmly, as if she'd seen this happen many times before. As if. "Who are you?" she gently asked a wildly confused Roxas.

He stopped staring at his tail for a minute to look at her. "Ariel?" he blurted. He seemed surprised by his own voice.

She nodded. "Yes, that's my name," she said truthfully, "how did you know?"

Roxas paused. "I didn't," he told her, still looking confused, though his eyebrows were starting to draw together. He just said her name out loud! And nobody even told him her name before! Weird.

Ariel swam circles around him, something she seemed to like to do. "My, you do look familiar."

Axel swam up to him as well, and he seemed amused as he reached out to grab one of Roxas's fins. "Hey, what's this thing that's sticking out of your- "

Roxas whipped around and slapped his hand away before he could finish the sentence. "It's called a dorsal fin," he grumbled.

"Yeah, but why is it sticking out of your- ?"

"Because it is," Roxas ground out, and that seemed to settle it. Axel's mouth snapped closed.

Well, there's something that I've been wondering for a while. "Hey, Roxas, did you do that yourself?"

He whipped around at the sound of my voice. Am I crazy, or is his glare even worse than usual? "This tail? No, I did not." Then his expression, if possible, got even more sour. "I don't think I have the right kind of magic to do that," he practically spat at me.

Dang, what's this guy's problem? It was almost like he was trying to tell me something.

Oh, well, I'll worry about whatever it was later. "If you didn't do it, then how did you get a tail?"

He stopped giving me the stink-eye for about three seconds to ponder this. "How would I know? I just entered this world and I had it," he snarled.

"Oh, yes! Now I remember!" Ariel suddenly exclaimed. She seemed happy to have remembered whatever it was. "I know someone who has a tail just like yours!" She peered at the tail, and then frowned. "Except it was a little more blue, I think."

We all looked down at Roxas's midnight-blue tail. Usually our tails turned black, because of our uniforms, and most mer-people had fish's tails, not the dolphin-like tail that Roxas had. Weird.

He was starting to look uncomfortable under all our stares, and Ariel seemed to notice that and decided to save him. "Oh, well, never mind that. . . Roxas, was it?" she smiled at him and waved the abomination in his face. "Come practice Demyx's new song with us!"

I shook my head. "No, it's not mine! I- it's Sebastian's!" The last thing I needed was for another person to laugh at me! Although Roxas seems to be incapable of smiling, let alone laughing. . .

And, apparently, he's also incapable of reading music, judging by the bewildered look he was giving the sheet. Yes! Saved from more utter humiliation!

Axel swam up to me and put his hands on my shoulders. I couldn't tell what he was doing, but I could just imagine the grin he must have had on his face. . . "Aw, don't be so shy, Demmy," he cooed. He started moving his hands until they settled on the opposite sides of my body, ending in more of a light hug. "After all, it's such a wonderful song. . ." he whispered, loud enough for everyone else to hear him – why does he want everyone to hear! – but quiet enough for it not to hurt my ears, and instead send shivers crawling down my bare body. . .

Thump.

I winced in pain. What was that? Hmm. Maybe I'll have Vexen take a look at me later. Maybe my lungs were getting infected or something. . . probably from the sudden overdose of Axel's charcoal smell. Maybe it gives people lung cancer.

Come to think of it, when Roxas and Axel became best buds, they had something like this, too. If I remember correctly, Roxas had said he had a lung infection, and Axel had told everyone who would listen that he had discovered a fast and easy way to gain a heart.

As if.

Anyway, maybe by now Vexen has some sort of cure or something, because whatever they had before, none of us have heard from it for several weeks, so he must of gotten rid of it somehow, right? I'll ask him about it later.

In the meantime. . .

Ack! In the meantime!

Roxas was glaring at me again, with that creepy scarier-than-normal glare that he was using earlier. Except, this time, it seems to have gotten worse.

No! Don't eat me! I taste yucky! . . . At least, I'm pretty sure I taste yucky, I haven't really tried myself before. . .

"I don't sing or dance," Roxas growled, startling me out of another mental ramble. Huh? Oh, right, Ariel was inviting him to rehearse my song. Well, it's a good thing he doesn't, then, isn't it? "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see King Triton about. . . the Screwdivers. Yeah. The Screwdivers." And with that, he turned and swam away.

Okay, what had that been about?

"How does he know Daddy?" Ariel asked Sebastian. The little crab shrugged his claws. Good question. Even I've never gotten to talk to the King of Atlantica. I've been to his palace, sure, but I was never allowed to actually meet the guy.

Axel moved from his awkward position around me. Phew, finally. "What are Screwdivers?" he asked Ariel, one eyebrow arched up.

"They're a type of Heartless," he turned to me as I answered his question, "but there's no way Roxas has ever heard of them. They only exist in this world." I shook my head. "That guy's never going to make it to King Triton's palace; this world is like a maze. Only people who've been here loads of times can find their way there from all the way over here."

"Really?" Suddenly, Axel's entire nature changed. His smile turned upside-down, and his eyebrows lowered over his eyes, which became slits. "I can't just let him wander off like that."

This said, he turned tail and started swimming slowly in the direction Roxas had gone.

Ah, he's not even swimming properly! The idiot's going to get himself lost, too!

I swam in front of him and barred the way. He stopped, but looked impatient with me. "Hey, why don't I help you look for him? First of all, you can't even swim yet." He froze. Guess I got a point in, eh? "Second of all, I just told you that this place is a maze. You'll really get lost, and then you'll be more trouble then help."

He was thinking about it, he was thinking about it! Yes! The smile's back! And he's directing it right at me. Eh, that's nice to know. "Fine, Demmy. Point the way."

Aw, come on, Axel. Now you've gone and made my face all hot and my body all fluttery.

"Ahead lies something you need.

But to claim it, you must lose something dear."

A brunette boy with ridiculously spiky hair approached a castle in the middle of nowhere. The construction defied all laws of gravity, and the boy found himself wondering how he had stumbled across such a bizarre place. Perhaps this was a new world? But they had walked to it. . .

Followed by his two friends, he stepped into the castle and looked around. The inside was completely white, with bits of light blue everywhere. Nothing like what was to be expected from the brown-and-green colored exterior.

The shorter and more bad-tempered friend was the one to speak first. "Looks like nobody's home."

The other, who was taller and more calm and relaxed by nature, turned around. "You sure we should just barge in like this?"

"We have to if we're going to find the king. . ."

The three started off a conversation about the king, and the observer secretly made a note to reward the witch later. The first phase- successful.

As the other two moved to explore the castle, the tall one stepped back. "We should close the door behind us." He turned around, and his eyes widened.

"Sora!"

The boy turned around. The observer smirked to himself as he advanced toward the scared boy.

He looks just like you.

Tailnotes: Whee for obviousness. :D

Okay, here comes the part where I really need to know if I screwed up. If you couldn't tell, I'm trying to align it with the canon story as best as I can. My biggest concern is whether there's something written in the Secret Ansem Report that tells a lot about Organization XIII, in which case I'd be completely screwed, seeing as my Secret Ansem Report is in Japanese.

If I take a long time to put up the next chapter, that'll be because I'm busy trying to beat my English game, get the complete Secret Ansem Report, and read it so that I can have an accurate story, okay?

Although I despise spoilers, lots of help will be highly appreciated.

Thank you for reading! (smiles at all the readers that made it this far)