Though they were exhausted, weak, and spooked already, Axel and Demyx spent the next few hours patrolling the area around Demyx's apartment. If the Heartless wasn't an isolated incident, they wanted to be the first to know about it.

"Look, uh…sorry about your dog," Axel finally said after a long, uncomfortable silence in the patrol.

"Sam."

"Right. Sam. I mean, I wouldn't actually kill the thing, I'd just…singe it."

"It's okay."

Another silence, more comfortable than the last. Demyx stuffed his hands in his pockets, finally beginning to relax again. It had shaken him up to realize that after having a heart for a year and coming to appreciate it, it might have been taken away in that one instant of him being careless.

"Maybe when you got dropped here, into this world, that Heartless was close enough to get drawn in too," he said with a shrug.

"You think it's coincidence that we got our powers back right before that Heartless showed up?"

"I don't know. But it did show up only a couple of days after you."

Axel frowned. "That's too many coincidences for my taste."

"Well, it looks like the Heartless was alone, anyway," Demyx said with a sigh. "I wonder…"

"What?"

"I wonder if Larxene got her powers back, too."

Axel winced. "I'm not calling her again."

Demyx sighed again, pulling out his cell phone and dialing the number. The phone rang four times before someone finally picked up.

"What!"

Demyx jerked in surprise, holding the phone further away from his ear. "Larxene?"

"Demyx, that had better not be you. I'm in the middle of mind blowing sex-"

"I just had a quick question…wait, what?"

"-and I've got idiots calling my cell phone at fuckin' three in the morning-"

"Did you get your powers back?"

"-I don't know why I even gave you this number, and hell, if I get my powers back you'll be the first to know, because I'll use them to dismember you, starting with your dick!"

Click.

"Well…now we know," Demyx said, putting the phone away and rubbing his ear.

"I heard all of that and I really didn't want to."

"I'm sorry. I'll turn down the volume on my phone next time."

"I don't think it would help."

"…Can I go bleach my brain now?"

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The next three days went by quickly. Demyx went back to work, there was no sign of any more Heartless, and Axel took to exploring the city when Demyx was at work.

In the evenings, when Demyx wasn't giving guitar lessons, he introduced Axel to the more interesting aspects of this new society- for example, miniature golf and the cinema. Demyx was insistent that Axel wouldn't even count as human until he'd seen Snakes on a Plane.

Quite suddenly, Axel was even less fond of snakes.

And of course, he learned the hard way how fussy people get when you burn the stupid windmill thing to keep it from whacking your golf ball away from the hole.

What surprised him most, though, was how much he enjoyed Demyx's company. Before he'd simply seen the blonde musician as a nuisance, a guy who did nothing but whine, complain, and occasionally cause lost sleep by playing music at two in the morning.

Turns out it was just the wrong place at the wrong time.

Or maybe having a heart changed Demyx.

Maybe having a heart…changed Axel.

"I'm home!"

Axel looked up from the show he'd been watching about some serial killer who ate people, and he immediately burst out laughing. Demyx was covered in brightly colored paint.

"The kids got a little carried away," he said, dropping his bag on a table. "Speaking of the kids, we're having a field trip tonight. Wanna come?"

"A field trip?"

"Yeah. We're all going to the carnival. And ever since you visited class they've been asking about the guy with the crazy hair and the black dots on his face."

"I don't do well with kids."

"Aw, come on. It's a carnival, Axel!"

"I don't know…"

"They have tons of great food."

"Alright, sure."

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"Can we go to the carousel?"

"I wanna win a teddy bear!"

"Is that your real hair, mister?"

Axel felt like his brain was about to implode. He was supposed to keep track of all these little…things? They wouldn't even shut up for more than two seconds!

Nonetheless, Demyx was unfazed. He somehow herded the kids around with ease, and managed to keep track of all of them.

"Alright kids, here's what we're gonna do!" Demyx said loudly, commanding the kids around like a cheerful drill sergeant. "If you want to get on the carousel, go ahead. I'll wait at the exit. The rest of you, stay at one of these three booths, and Mr. Axel will help you win cool stuff."

"I'll do what?" Axel asked, but by that point he was already being dragged away by two little girls.

"Will you win me a teddy bear?"

"I want the big dragon stuftie!"

Fifteen minutes (and almost thirty dollars) later, both girls were clutching their hard-won prizes- and Axel was just about ready to hunt down and combust the sick person who invented the game with the bottles and rings. They met back up with Demyx's group, and Demyx kneeled down in front of the two girls.

"Did you two have fun?"

"Yeah!"

"Mr. Axel yelled a bad word at the game. He told us not to tell you," the other girl whispered, and Axel smacked his forehead. Luckily, Demyx didn't have a chance to comment before Tracey walked up to their group.

"How's everything going?" she asked, looking curiously between Axel and Demyx.

"Just fine," Demyx said, ruffling a kid's hair. Axel just stood there, looking a bit dazed from the whole ordeal.

"I just came over to tell you that a couple more parent chaperones showed up. Why don't you two have some fun on your own for a while? You're too young to be stuck with the kids at a carnival the whole time," Tracey offered, and Axel nodded fervently.

"You know, Demyx, that sounds like a great idea. Let's go," he said, grabbing Demyx's arm and dragging him away from the small, swarming monsters.

"That was sweet of you, winning them those prizes," Demyx said with a smirk.

"They were gonna chew my ankles off if I didn't."

Demyx laughed, the sound sending a tingle down Axel's spine. "Relax, they're just kids."

Axel shuddered. He was going to have nightmares tonight for sure about being swarmed and smothered by hundreds of annoying children. "Is there anything else fun to do around here?"

"That doesn't involve children?"

"That's the idea."

"Well, there's the Gravitron…but that'd probably just get us both sick…how about the House of Darkness?"

"House of Darkness?"

"It's a maze. With no lights."

Axel smirked. "I could fix that."

"…That would defeat the entire purpose of going in it."

"Oh, alright," Axel muttered. "Lead the way."

Demyx led Axel down the path just a bit further, until they came to the House of Darkness. The attendant took a look at their armbands, then let them go up the stairs to the entrance.

Axel stepped inside, and Demyx followed closely, letting the door slam shut behind them. Now Axel couldn't see a thing; he waved his hand within an inch of his nose and saw nothing.

A hand touched his back. "Why are you just standing there?" Demyx asked, amusement evident in his voice.

"I can't see."

"Just walk!"

Axel took a tentative step forward, then another, resisting the temptation to summon some fire to see where he was going. Instead he used his hands to feel along the path, and stepped slowly in case the floor became uneven.

After a few minutes of this, he was even enjoying it. The floor rose and fell, there were sharp turns, gradual curves, and stairs, and he had to depend on touch alone to find them. He heard Demyx's soft footsteps behind him, and occasionally a hand would touch his back or shoulder as the blonde tried to keep him within reach.

Then, suddenly, alarms began to sound and lights flashed, and a dog-like creature leapt at them from behind a mesh screen. Axel let out a cry of surprise, and immediately torched the creature- only to find from the metal frame under the fur that it was fake.

Demyx was laughing hysterically behind him, and Axel turned around and shot him a glare. "Why didn't you tell me they had those?"

"Because…the look on your face…"Demyx managed through laughter.

Axel had to admit, he'd have found it pretty damn funny too, were he not the victim.

"That's it. You're leading," Axel said, grabbing the blonde and pushing him to the front. Demyx was still laughing even as they began walking again.

They ran into a couple more of the 'booby traps', but at least Axel didn't fry those as well. They were getting near to the end, or so Axel hoped, when Demyx suddenly stopped.

"Dead end. We took a wrong turn back there, we should've gone right," he said, turning around. Axel could feel Demyx's breath on his neck, and moments later the musician's hands were on Axel's chest, probably to get him to move back. The hallway was only big enough for one person, not big enough to pass.

Axel didn't move. Not backwards, anyway.

Before any coherent thought occurred, Axel had leaned forward, put one hand on the side of Demyx's face, and clumsily kissed the younger man. He felt Demyx stiffen, but it was only moments before he leaned into the kiss, and Axel felt one of Demyx's hands move up to tangle in his hair.

Soon Axel had Demyx pressed against the dead end, his hands on Demyx's hips, holding him close. Demyx still had one hand in Axel's hair, the other low on his chest. The darkness surrounding them seemed to heighten every sensation, and make the whole thing that much more exciting.

Axel wasn't really sure how they made it back to Demyx's apartment that night. Somehow they did, though, and once there they left a trail of discarded clothing from the door to the bedroom. The rest of the night consisted of exploration, nervous words, soft moans and loud cries of pleasure, and eventually the rhythmic slamming of the headboard against the wall.

Then that moment, that moment when Demyx lost all control- Axel had never seen anything more powerful in his life.

When it was all over, Axel collapsed onto Demyx, his breath coming in short gasps and his body covered in a thin sheen of sweat. Demyx was still dazed as he wrapped an arm around the redhead's waist, and Axel laid his head down on Demyx's chest, listening to the musician's slowing heartbeat.

"Wow…" Demyx said softly, letting his eyes fall closed. "Wow."

Axel smiled, kissing Demyx's chest lightly. "Glad you enjoyed yourself."

"Mmhmm," Demyx hummed, obviously not completely coherent yet. Axel watched the blonde for a few moments, sighing softly- maybe this world wasn't so bad, if he got to experience this.

Maybe having a heart wasn't so bad, if he got to feel this.

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Axel woke up shivering the next morning- Demyx was gone. Off to work again. Though Axel wanted nothing more than to have Demyx all to himself today, he was beginning to understand the whole 'have to go to work to earn money or we starve' thing.

Reluctantly, Axel got out of bed and stretched, then got dressed and headed into the kitchen to make breakfast. He'd just gotten out the milk and cereal when the phone rang.

Probably Larxene wanting to yell at us some more, Axel thought, stepping around the counter and picking up the phone. "Hello?"

"Axel! I need you at the school!"

"Demyx? What's wrong?"

Axel heard the sound of a water attack. In the background, he could hear the kids crying.

"Heartless!" Demyx said breathlessly. "We're trapped back here! I'm holding them off, but they just keep-shit!"

A child shrieked in terror, and there was a loud clatter- the phone dropping to the floor.

"Dance, water, da-"

The phone cut off. In seconds, Axel was out the door and sprinting for the school. Outside, it was pandemonium; Heartless seemed to be everywhere, attacking people on the street, forming out of the ground itself.

And quite suddenly, Axel realized that he wasn't alone. Sam had caught up with him, and the Doberman was now running at his side.

Hang in there, Demyx, Axel pleaded silently as he approached the school. He spotted Tracey outside, trying to herd the fleeing children in the right direction.

"Where's Demyx?" he asked her. She looked up, tears running down her cheeks.

"Still d-down by the classroom. They couldn't get out…"

Axel nodded and pushed his way past the running kids into the school, Sam right on his heels. He sprinted past Heartless, down the hallway and toward the red door. The red door that, actually, wasn't there anymore- the Heartless had chewed and scraped right through it. Demyx stood in the doorway, holding off the onslaught with water attacks; Axel could see the kids huddled in the classroom behind him, wide-eyed.

It all happened too fast. While Axel was in the middle of summoning his chakrams, a Heartless leapt, knocking Demyx flat on his back.

Sam was on the Heartless in an instant, barking and growling as he attacked. It was a Heartless pile-up as all of the Heartless attacked the dog to get through to Demyx, and as soon as Axel had his chakrams in hand, he let loose on the creatures.

It was a short but intense battle, and when all the Heartless had been mowed down, he looked down to see Demyx cradling a bloody Sam in his arms.

The dog was dead.

Demyc's fists clenched, and he looked up at Axel, his eyes bright with tears and helpless fury.

"It's time we talked," a voice suddenly said, a voice that both Demyx and Axel heard- but no one else did.

Moments later, for the second time that week, both Demyx and Axel fell unconscious.