A/N: SORRY FOR UPDATING SO LATE. Writer's block has reared its ugly head once again. Italics in whole paragraphs are flashbacks. Rated T for language, violence, and suggestive themes.

Disclaimer: The sparrow and the rose thing? I give credit to my friend Jellyn...thanks. Kingdom Hearts? That's Square Enix's. The plot? That's mine!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------

XV: Payback

----------------------

"Larx...c'mon."

"Wait a bit," she muttered, scribbling the last few corrections on her third long exam for her Healing Arts students.

It had been almost seven months since the Knighting. Lexaeus had recovered completely, but there were other incidents of the Wielder's Antiform breaking free. Xaldin, Marluxia, and Luxord had all been mauled (for the lack of a better term) almost to the point of Fading, but the Superior kept on saying that it was not Sora's fault. Yeah. The kid almost kills them, and he's still innocent.

They were still searching for a way though...Vexen had even gone as far as hacking into Tron, Radiant Garden's main computer system, but it seems that Ansem had not thought of the possibility of an Antiform breaking free-- that was why he wanted Roxas to remerge, anyway.

"Finished."

"You shouldn't be tiring yourself out," the lilac-haired number Six said gently.

"I know," she sighed, and got to her feet. Larxene never knew that this teaching business was this hectic--and demonstrating very advanced White Magic (like refining Elixirs from a very dangerous Ultima orb--she almost killed herself, and she got one hell of a lecture from Zexion) sapped a lot of her energy. That was saying something, since Larxene simply did not get tired. Even after grueling training every night, she was known as the energetic one. Or, to one redhead, simply 'Sparky'.

Axel...

She couldn't help it. She had tried to force herself to walk away or ignore Zexion everytime their paths crossed, but that thing called her shard of heart kept going, and Arlene almost always took over. It didn't help that she herself had agreed to move out of Axel's room and into Zexion's. The pyro had tried his best to oppose it, but her priestess alter ego wouldn't allow it.

Once, a long time ago, she would have laughed at the look on Axel's face as she walked out his door for the last time.

But at that moment, she felt like crying.

...and cry she did. Axel always made her cry. That somehow comforted her; Larxene was the one that Axel always teased, always drove to tears.

She actually honest-to-goodness freakin' missed Axel.

"Let's go see Vandalise already," Zexion said once again, and she nodded absently. Yeah. Sora had pleaded with them (as far as pleading Heartless could go) to cut off his enrolment--he was in no shape to go to the Academy anyway. Vandalise was the Academy Registrar, and that was where they were going right now.

The Wielder had undergone drastic change: he could portal almost as well as them, and Heartless bowed down to him. It was almost frightening, the extent of Sora's powers...and he (or his Antiform) was set on claiming Kingdom Hearts for his own, and Roxas had been reluctant (understatement; number Thirteen had not spoken to them for a week) to take up his Nobody's post as Guardian of the realm of light. The boy controlled light, for crying out loud!

She felt Zexion's arm snake around her waist, and she leant on his shoulder...Arlene was happy, but Larxene was not.

Sometimes, it seemed she was a Nobody once again, and that Arlene was her existing Other.

She wondered if this was what Roxas and Naminé felt.

-------------------------

As the two walked away, a redhead hopped down from the siderail, where he was sitting before. They had passed him unseen, too preoccupied with each other to notice.

Although Axel knew Zexion had picked up his scent. He wanted Zexion to know that he was there, watching for the right moment to snap Larxene out of it.

Problem was, Larxene was almost completely gone.

He could vividly remember the expression on her face as she walked out of his room, things in hand. Cripes, she looked ready to cry...and even so, she was beautiful to look at...

...that wasn't related, wasn't it?

He mentally kicked himself as he watched the two black-clothed figures disappear in the distance.

Was Axel...jealous?

As much as he'd hate to admit it, yes, he was. He realized that he missed Larxene, when it was too late--when she was in Zexion's clutches. He knew he had no right to interfere with Ienzo and Arlene, but geez...couldn't the two love each other in their afterlives or something?

The dismissal bell rung. Axel walked back inside his classroom, where he was giving his Advanced Spellcasting class a theoretical examination. "Okay, guys, pass your papers in an orderly fashion, meaning I don't care how you pass it as long as I get it," he droned, to the laughter of his students. He relaxed, and allowed himself to smile.

Professor Fujiwara was now known as the professor to have. Aside from the fact that he was a good teacher (that was not bragging!), he was also easygoing and liked to make his lessons...interesting. Of course, that incident wherein he burned down Pavilion III of the Spellcasting building...that was an accident.

Wooh. That actually felt good.

He shuffled the papers into a semblance of a pile, and yawned. "See you tomorrow--don't forget to practice your Firagas."

A general murmur of assent, before the students poured out of the classroom. He wondered what would've happened if Sora was his student; he'd love giving the Wielder detention. Sora was improving now; he could actually portal okay. If you didn't count the event wherein he portalled right into the Pride Lands (smack dab in the middle of a pack of hungry hyenas) when he was supposed to portal to Fragment Crossing. Or even worse, when he portalled into the shower when he was supposed to portal into his room...the bad thing was, Xigbar was using the shower at that point in time.

And from then on, for a month, Sora kept bursting into fits of laughter everytime he saw Xigbar, and the eyepatched Nobody retaliated everytime with a bullet from his katar.

It was refreshing to hear Sora laugh, at the very least. The boy had been more angsty than Roxas even was. Maybe the fact that he was half-Heartless counted for something.

- - - - -

"Axel?"

The pyro looked over his shoulder inquiringly at the brunette sprawled across the white couch of the Castle Library. He slid the book he was browsing back into the shelf and continued searching. "Yeah?"

"Ever heard of the story of the sparrow and the white rose?"

He groaned exasperatedly. "What kind of title is that?"

Sora chucked the throw pillow at him, making him turn around. "You idiot, Axel...that's not the title, it's the subject of the story!"

"So...what's your point?"

It was the Wielder's turn to groan.

Axel laughed. "You're hopeless."

"I don't hope, Ax," he said pointedly.

"Exactly."

Sora groaned once again. "Moving on...I take that as you haven't heard of the story before."

He shook his head, fingering the spine of a book titled "The SOLDIER Project" (which, by the looks of it, had been torn apart and hastily put back together by the combination of super glue and scotch tape). Hm. That looked like a sakura petal caught in the glue...

"Well...I just thought of it right now. You see, there's this sparrow and white flower."

Axel rolled his eyes, unseen by the Wielder. "Obviously."

"Shut up. So then, the sparrow falls in love with the white rose--"

"Oh cripes, cross-breeding?" The remark was rewarded by another pillow thrown squarely into the small of his back. "Okay, shutting up now," he chuckled.

"--and so one day the sparrow proposes to the white rose. Then the white rose says that she'll marry the sparrow once she turns red--that's the time that she'll love him."

Axel shifted position, leaning against the bookshelf, wondering why the Wielder would choose to tell this story. Mildly interested, he urged Sora to continue.

For some reason, the brunette bowed his head, clutching a white pillow to his chin. He actually looked cute that way; curled up into a ball like that. Hm. "So," Sora hesitated slightly, but not enough to go unnoticed, "...the sparrow then tears himself apart and spreads his blood on the rose, and it turned red."

He stared at the Wielder wordlessly, and all of a sudden, felt very sorry for the fallen Keyblade Master in front of him.

"...then the white rose fell in love with the sparrow, but the bird was no longer alive..." Sora half-whispered, staring at the glass top of the coffee table in front of him.

"Sad," he remarked, unfolding his arms and returning to scanning the bookshelf. If he wasn't mistaken, it was very much similar to Sora's position right now--sacrificing to save his loved ones, and dying for them. Only difference was, the white rose, even though it had been stained by the sparrow's blood, had forgone the bird's sacrifice--even searching for another love.

As he said, it was sad.

Sighing, he strove to ignore the soft sobbing sounds, muffled by a white pillow.

- - - - -

The Wielder had taken to pouring his frustrations into training sessions, and into cleaning up those cardboard tetra packs he always left lying around. Seriously. Tetra-packed blood? Well, as long as it kept Sora's Heartless bloodlust under wraps, it was fine. It just freaked him out that a sixteen-year-old kid would be drinking blood -- and Axel had a hunch it was from some random blood bank in Radiant Garden.

He shuffled the papers once more, and got to his feet. Tucking the sheaf of pulp into his folio, he shuffled out of the door in the direction of the cafeteria.

-----------------------

"Seriously. You didn't actually have to kill him," Zexion said flatly, staring at Professor Vandalise's lifeless body on the floor.

Prod turned to push, and push came to shove, and shove came to stab, and stab came to kill.

Professor Vandalise, as expected, didn't believe that Sora was never going to the Academy again. He supposed the Registrar was reluctant to do so, since Sora did hold a Royal Treasury Account...munny worked wonders. So him and Larxene had to do it the hard way: by force.

There lay the problem, for the brunette middle-aged professor did not believe that they were number Six and Twelve of Organization XIII, even after their displays of skill. Weapons were drawn, and mockeries were exchanged. The man even had the gall to insult Larxene--but the blonde took it in stride, and summoned Sora herself. It would have saved them a whole lot of trouble if the Wielder had gone and said it himself, but Sora opposed the idea vehemently, saying that if Vandalise saw him, the professor would attack him on sight.

...and that was what happened. As soon as Sora was dragged out of the portal by the blonde, Vandalise had fainted.

Sora then got a sword in the stomach for reviving him.

And as expected, the brunette killed Professor Vandalise. The boy had no remorse, either.

Said boy now rolled his normal eye and stuck out his tongue childishly at Zexion. "What? He attacked me first."

"But not to kill," Larxene pointed out, shaking her head gracefully and letting the professor's wrist drop to the floor. The corners of her mouth curled slightly.

"He thought I was a Heartless, Larx!" Sora defended, wiping down his Dark Keyblade on Vandalise's blood-soaked shirt. He groaned, seeing that it actually bloodied the Keyblade even more.

"Sora, you are half-Heartless," Zexion grunted, taking hold of Larxene by both wrists and helping her step over the body, ready to catch her if she slipped on the blood as she did so. The blonde gratefully fell into his arms and beamed up at him.

Zexion felt like dancing for joy. Wooh. Larxene smiling up at him--no, Arlene smiling up at him, and Ienzo was the one who was happy! Not Zexion! It was pretty sad to know that Larxene had Axel and Marluxia to stop her from reverting completely, while he, number Six, had no-one.

Sad.

Sora muttered something incoherent as he dismissed his Keyblade, and took out another tetra pack of paopu-flavored blood. Stabbing the straw through the top, he took a long sip before staring forlornly at them. "So...what do we do with this?"

Zexion blinked. "It's your mess. You fix it."

"Awww," the Wielder scratched his head resignedly. Zexion picked off a random sheet of paper and started wiping the soles of his shoes with it, 'cause bloody footprints screamed 'LOOK AT ME I KILLED SOMEBODY HAHA'. Larxene followed suit, clutching to his sleeve in order to keep her balance as she lifted one foot. He opened a small window to the Corridors and threw their scrunched balls of bloody paper in--some Dusk was bound to clean it up, anyway.

"So..." Sora grinned toothily. "Where're you two going? Getting a room or something...?"

What the hell?

"Maybe..."

Stunned, he stared at Larxene, who said that with a touch of amusement. Pink tinged her cheeks. "Larxene!" he exclaimed. "...you're a priestess!"

Uh. Not Larxene! Arlene! He opened his mouth to correct himself, but Larxene cut him off. "Not anymore. Besides, I'm with a guy whose nickname is Zex--"

He felt fire on his cheeks. "Gah! Food! We're going to eat out!"

Larxene beamed up at him once more, and giggled. She dragged him to the door of Vandalise's office. "See you, Wielder!"

Zexion threw the most murderous look he could muster at a smirking Sora. "...Sora, if you're my partner in training tonight, you're dead."

She tugged on his hand, and Zexion huffed, stomping out.

"I'm already dead, Zexy!" he heard Sora yell cheerfully. "Have fun with Larxene!"

Oooh, if he could only get his hands around that boy's neck...

"What, Zexion?" Larxene said innocently, bouncing beside him. "It's not like we're highschoolers or something...we're technically adults now, so..."

"Larxene."

She laughed again, and she was giggly all the way to the faculty room.

------------------------

"...I hate him, I'm never talking to him, ever."

Naminé rolled her eyes, and glanced sideways at the brunette pouting beside her. "Yuna, I'm sure Tidus didn't mean it."

Yuna shook her head, beads clinking as she did. "He's so stupid."

"Yah, boys are stupid," Selphie put in.

The three of them nodded simultaneously in agreement.

"So, about that field trip..."

"Overnight, right?"

Naminé tuned herself out of her friends' conversation (which consisted of a very animated Selphie and a enthusiastic Yuna), finding that she missed the presence of a certain--

Gah.

Boys are stupid.

...no. Naminé, you're the stupid one. You were perfectly happy with Roxas around, why'd you have to be so freakin' stubborn and push him away?

She shook her head vehemently, trying to clear her thoughts. Roxas was a friend. A best friend. But no way a boyfriend. He only loved her because Sora loved Kairi, no matter what he said. That was the truth.

Naminé had dated during the past seven months, and so far, none had lasted more than a month. One of the guys only wanted to bed her, and it took a furious Roxas to get the guy off her trail. Of course, Roxas had been mad at her for going out with the pervert in the first place, but he quickly got over it--asking her for help in Physics once more.

Well, the blonde was getting better at Physics. If before he was passing the subject by the skin of his teeth, Roxas was now passing the subject with not-so-flying colors, but still! In return, he helped her in her worst subject: World's Literature. How Roxas managed to memorize at least thirty poems in one sitting was beyond her comprehension.

The boy was probably hanging out with Tidus right now...

Gah! Stop thinking about him!

"...I've never been to Twilight Town," Selphie was saying. "How about you, Nam?"

"Uh?" she blinked. "...yeah, I've been there."

Hell yeah! That's where she had worked out her Plan! She had spent many sleepless nights on that Plan, but she had finally finished it two weeks ago. The scheduled Twilight Town field trip tomorrow was perfect, yes, it was.

"...how're we supposed to explain why night never falls on Twilight Town?" Yuna asked, hitching her backpack higher up her back.

"The name should be enough of an explanation," Naminé said flatly. "Geez...why do we even have to explain--"

KaiKai. Kill him.

She froze. Kairi's Antiform. She could sense it--

"...Nam?"

"Gotta go!" she squeaked out, before quick-running down the hall, oblivious to the stares of the people she had rushed past. She was quick-running with the speed she had been ordered never to use in public, her Nobody speed. But if Kairi was as angry as Naminé thought she was, she'd actually have go against Xemnas' orders.

KaiKai. Kill him.

--------------------------

It was not a good day. Axel had felt it. He should've curled up under his comforter and slept the day away. Yeah.

But going against his instincts, he went to work. And look what it got him.

Zexion and Larxene. PDA. And now...the very redhead he had been avoiding.

He was just walking along the corridors, chatting with some of his older students and joking along, when he made the mistake of taking the shortcut to the faculty room...across the school quadrangle.

He didn't know it was a mistake back then, but now, as he stared at a very furious, and very powerful, Kairi.

Beside her, that other Wielder, Riku, was trying to restrain her, but the Princess was furious. Yeah, he repeated that for emphasis. Cripes, he couldn't fight the girl here. He'd lose for sure if he restrained his Nobody skills, such as portalling.

"What are YOU doing here!"

Axel swallowed nervously, and he lookied discreetly at Riku, praying fervently that he would get the hint and stop his girlfriend (yes, Axel knew that, the whole Organization knew that, but they had enough sense not to tell Sora) from saying too much. "Well, Alcaia, I think your...girlfriend...is going a bit berserk here..."

"You bastard! You were the one who kid--"

He raised a hand to stop her words, hoping that it would work. "Now, now, Dalmasca, keep it down." And shut the hell up before Xemnas decides to kill me, he added mentally.

The platinum-haired Wielder put restraining hands on her shoulders, but she pulled away roughly. She whirled around and faced her boyfriend, gesturing wildly. "Riku! He was the guy who took me to the Castle That Never Was!" she was almost hysterical by this time. "God, he was the reason me and Naminé almost got killed!"

"Kairi--" Riku trailed off abruptly, because the Princess had faced him again. A circle of light flared from underneath her feet, and the outline of Kingdom Hearts carved itself a ribbon of light on the concrete. Her eyes flashed--she was really mad.

Oh crap. Okay, Axel, think. (a) Stand here and do nothing, 'cause Xemnas had forbidden him to use his chakrams--thusly resulting in a very dead Axel, or (b) Summon his chakrams and attack Kairi--thusly still resulting in a very dead Axel, only because Riku would most probably kill him for attacking his girlfriend, or (c) Summon his chakrams and kill the both of them before they got to kill him first--thusly still resulting in a very dead Axel, 'cause then both King Mickey and Xemnas would kill him.

He's screwed.

Panicking, he summoned his chakrams anyway, and gathered strength for a Fire Wall.

"RELEASE!"

Cursing under his breath, he stopped summoning fire. Cripes. About time!

Naminé ran up to them, and before she could catch her breath, had placed her hands firmly on her Other's shoulders. Kairi swayed on her feet, and the circle of light vanished immediately.

"Professor Fujiwara!" she yelled in a voice that clearly stated 'PLAY ALONG WITH THIS AXEL OR YOU'RE REALLY SCREWED'. "What a demonstration!"

Beside her, Riku nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Great magic there, prof!"

For a split second, Axel stared at them blankly. Then Naminé flashed him with one of her infamous death glares.

I hate girls.

"Yes, yes, Miss Dalmasca...your cousin shows great reflexes! Uh, well, guys, if you want another demonstration, follow me!"

It could be called a stampede, what happened after. After seeing Professor Fujiwara whip out his seriously cool true weapons (it helped that he had just polished his chakrams last night), he had something of a cult following now. Kairi was looking terribly woozy right now, and Axel decided this was the right time to hightail it out of the Princess' sight.

------------------------

"Take care of your girlfriend!" Naminé hissed, her eyebrows furrowing at Riku. The platinum-haired Wielder blinked for a few seconds before shaking his head vehemently. He gently eased Kairi from her grip, and her Other fell easily into his arms.

"You chained this memory down?" he asked worriedly, lowering his voice.

No duh, Riku. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Didn't have a choice."

He bit his lip, stroking Kairi's hair absentmindedly. "How long are we going to keep this up?"

"As long as the King says so," she murmured, looking around worriedly at the volumes of people who have seen Axel's chakrams...oh cripes, Xemnas was going to be pissed. People were whispering among themselves, and openly praising a still woozy Kairi for her display of power.

A flash of black...

Oh no.

"Uh, Riku...I gotta run," she said slowly. Her mouth dried up, and she fought to talk coherently, "I have, uh, a book to return! Yeah! Uhm...see you!"

She wanted to just run now--never mind she had some lame excuse; she'd rectify it later. She spun on her heels and sprinted away, feeling Riku's bewildered stare behind her back.

Naminé. She was sure she had seen Sora in the crowd--perfectly sky blue eye cold and furious.

It was only after she had ran into the cool white shade of concrete she realized she had run into the wrong building.

----------------------

"Roxas! Slow down!"

Grinning, the blonde bedheaded boy stomped on the southern end of his skateboard, making it flip into the air. He leapt in time to avoid falling and grabbed his skateboard before it hit the pavement.

Which earned no less than five girls squealing in delight.

"Whoa, Rox," Tidus ran up to him, and slapped him on the back. "Stop being such a show-off."

He rolled his eyes and smirked, hauling the skateboard higher. "Look who's talking, Ti. Who was the guy who kept on pulling off his Jecht shot, huh?"

"Shut up," Tidus groaned, slapping him playfully at the back of the head.

You could almost hear the fangirls go 'awww'.

"Let's get to the stupid cafeteria already," Roxas smiled, setting down his skateboard once again.

He had found out only a month ago that skateboarding was actually allowed in the Academy...that was almost a year of school that he could've spent skateboarding. Whatever.

School had been interesting lately--Larxene was well-known for being the highest level White Mage in the Academy (that Roxas doubted--there was no way in hell sadist Larx could be so...priestess-like). Axel was known as the best professor to have for the students of Year III--too bad he was only Year II. Zexion was a pretty good professor. Roxas was actually getting the basics of Physics, without needing to ask for Naminé's help.

Uh.

Not going there, 'cause he'd space out again.

Him and Naminé had...not been together. As opposed to the earlier part of the school year. He missed her.

not going there

"Rox, stop spacing out on me," Tidus growled beside him.

"Yeah. Okay. Sorry."

Shaking his head, Roxas hopped on his skateboard and pushed off into the corridors, into the quad, where he saw a sight that he didn't know whether to yell, cringe, smirk, or grin.

Riku had, once again, had his arms wrapped around a heavy-lidded Kairi, and...cripes it seemed the other Wielder was actually nipping at the Princess' ear...?

Talk about PDA. The two had gotten together about a month after the disastrous Knighting, and they had been inseparable ever since. It kind of made him jealous...he often saw himself and Na--

Shutting up now.

Sighing, he pushed off his skateboard into their direction. "OI! Riku, Kai! Stop the PDA!" he skidded to a stop beside them, and Riku glared at him. Kairi blushed furiously. "Some of us would not want to lose our appetites."

"Way to go Rox! Yeah!" Tidus chuckled, running up to them.

Roxas couldn't stop himself. "Dude, you're just saying that 'cos Yuna's not talking to you."

"Thanks for reminding me," the blonde replied in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

"...so Rox," Riku raised his voice, "Where're you two going?"

"To the cafeteria," he answered, jerking a thumb towards the white building. He grinned, and pointed to Tidus. "He's gonna see if Yuna's there."

"I was not!" he shot back.

"Admit it!"

"I was not!"

"Lover boy!"

Roxas laughed, for the sake of laughing, for the hairs on the back of his neck had just stood up in an ovation to the fear that crawled through his spine--somehow, Sora, his Nobody was watching. He sneaked a look back. Only students--only students...

He forced himself to laugh, praying fervently that he was just imagining things.

-------------------------

"Let me through, let me through," Axel said hurriedly, shouldering his way through the commotion in Pav I--the administration building. There was a huge buildup of students in the corridors, and some had their weapons drawn. "What the heck happened?"

"Professor Fujiwara!"

"Prof!"

"Sir...!"

Elazul, a student of Larxene's (not that Axel had been stalking Larxene while she was teaching) appeared at his side. "Sir! Professor Vandalise...he's been attacked!"

Axel's eyes widened, and he power-walked his way through. A crowd of people had formed outside the Academy Registrar's door, but none had dared to come inside. Grimacing, he stepped through the threshold, and raised an eyebrow.

Blood had been spattered everywhere, and the brunette Registrar was lying in a pool of his own dark blood. It was a familiar scene to Axel--it was the usual setup where Sora left his victims. Bloodied, and dead. Well, in Organization XIII"s case, almost dead. The Wielder probably had issues with murder--he himself had been killed in a bloody skrimish with his Antiform.

So Sora killed someone, for the first time. His sanity had probably snapped.

"The professor's dead," he said simply. "People, move along, nothing to see--"

"Heartless!" A shrill scream had pierced the afternoon air--and the crowd stampeded. Weapons flashed, and spells were cast. He sprinted out, summoning his chakrams as he went. "Students! Defend yourselves! Paladins, to your posts!" he yelled out instructions as he sprinted to the quad--a portal had just been summoned there.

Neoshadows suddenly rose from the ground, and chaos broke loose.

Sora had lost control...AGAIN.

Sighing, Axel plunged into the Heartless fight, wondering why Sora would kill Vandalise in the first place.

-----------------------

"Reflect!" Roxas yelled, deflecting a Heartless claw as it slashed blindly at him. He dearly wished he could summon his Keyblades, but no dice. Thus he was forced to use these two crummy shortswords he had for replacement.

For the second time in Destiny Academy history, the Heartless alarm had been raised. Paladins rushed forth, slaying Heartless in an attempt to protect the students. A freshman had burst into the cafeteria earlier, screaming Heartless at the top of his terrified voice.

Pssh...Roxas had left an unfinished tuna sandwich on their table. If he could only be number Thirteen, just for five minutes, he might be able to salvage the poor slices of bread. Hey, unlike any other item on the cafeteria menu, he deemed the sandwich tasty.

Sora's presence was gone; gone in a portal summoned right before the Heartless erupted.

Roxas knew Sora had seen Riku and Kairi, and he completely understood Sora's feelings. Cripes, but why did his Nobody have to vent out his anger on Destiny Academy? Didn't he feel at least guilty--oh. Heartless and Nobodies don't feel remorse.

He sighed as he whipped around, slashing at no less than three Neoshadows as he did. Sora was a killing machine once he went Antiform--he was reminded again of Xemnas' recent lecture. Sora needed him; it was either Roxas dies, or the known universe dies. Cripes.

"Freakin' Heartless!" he bellowed, voice lost in the din of Heartless and people's screams. Gritting his teeth, he drove both swords cleanly into the ground in an X, and drew on his element. People wouldn't notice who did it, anyway.

"Light!" he said firmly, and the ground erupted in pillars of light, which imploded simultaneously. The force knocked him off his feet and onto his back.

"...Roxas," a voice said, and he found himself pinned down by the shoulders to the floor, and staring into a furious Naminé's face. "You idiot. What if someone saw you? What if--"

"No one saw me; they're too confused to see anything!"

"Still!"

He pushed the blonde girl's hands off him, and kept her wrists in a tight one-fisted grip as he stood up and surveyed the damage. The Heartless were gone, and people were staring around, bewildered.

"Let me go, Roxas!" Naminé squealed, but he kept his hold on her wrists.

His eyebrows furrowed. Aside from the pavement (which was cracked wide open), the benches, and a few bloody students, he could see no permanent damage. Of course, it would take time to see that, since Heartless left no corpses once they took a heart. There might be an increase in Nobody population today.

Some of the students were lying unconscious, while others still held their weapons at the ready, staring around warily. Some were crying openly, and professors were hurrying around, checking if everyone was all right.

"...did you see that?"

"Light!"

"It came from Roxas..."

"...no, from Kairi! Didn't you see--"

"Kairi saw Axel," Naminé said nonchalantly. "Almost killed him, but I chained down her memory as fast as I could," she continued in a bored voice. "Now would you please get your hands off me."

Roxas huffed, and let go. The blonde girl eyed him angrily, rubbing at her wrists.

"Hey," Riku came up to them, Kairi in tow. Aside from a few cuts and bruises (and a whole lot of tousled hair), they were fine. Kairi was panting hard, however, and was clutching to Riku's arm tightly. The crossbow fixed to her arm was still loaded with at least three more arrows. "You guys okay?"

Roxas and Naminé exchanged glances, and stared at the floor simultaneously.

Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that I can see Kairi clinging to you like that, and I'm reminded that she's only gotten over Sora that quickly because I'm not there to control her Antiform.

Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that we have a furious fallen Keyblade Master who just set Heartless on us, and I'm reminded that he did so because I'm not there to control his Antiform.

"Yeah," they chorused together. "We're fine."

---------------------

creeaak.

"Wielder," Xemnas spoke disgustedly, poking his head inside Sora's room. "Wielder."

The brunette, who had been reading a book in bed, stared at him. Sky-blue eye and yellow Heartless eye pierced through him, and he flinched involuntarily. "Huh? Superior?"

Xemnas fought the urge to smile. Sora had taken to calling him 'the Superior', and, in his sane moments, seemed to think of him as a older-brother figure. Well, in his sane moments. He slapped himself mentally, that was not why he was here.

"Sora, you've left the kitchen sink bloody again."

He immediately sat up and got to his feet, and clasped his hands apologetically. "Oops. Sorry."

"Clean it up before dinner."

Sora bounced to his feet, grinning. "Yep. I'm going."

Xemnas raised an eyebrow, as he threw the door open to let Sora pass through. "You seem happy today."

"Heck yeah!"

Sora was only normally this happy after an attack on some poor unsuspecting Somebody--the Wielder didn't attack Nobodies and Heartless anymore; after all, they were his peers. He cleared his throat. Sora had extra bounce in his step today. "Who did you attack this time?"

"Pssh," he waved a hand dismissively, strolling past Xemnas. "Attack is such a harsh word. I only...uh...took back something."

"Oh...okay. Clean the counters too, Sora."

"Glad to!" the Wielder laughed--no, giggled, twirling one of his Keychains in between his clawed fingers.

Xemnas stared absentmindedly after Sora. Sometimes, he had the most extreme of mood swings. He rivaled number Se--

What the hell...?

The Keychain caught the light, and he could clearly see the Kingdom Key's Disney emblem.

Colored gold.

As far as he knew, Sora's Kingdom Key had a silver emblem...and the Kingdom Key had disappeared ever since Sora had given up his heart. And the only other person who had a Kingdom Key--

"Wielder!" he called, shard of heart pounding nervously. He prayed fervently Sora didn't do what Xemnas thought he did.

"Yeppers, Superior?" he looked over his shoulder, sky-blue eye bright and curious.

"--h-have you paid a...visit to King Mickey lately?"

Sora only laughed, and tossed the Keychain into the air. It transformed into the King's Reverse Keyblade...a bloodstained Reverse Keyblade.

"Y'know, royal blood tastes just the same as ordinary blood..."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wooh. This was a violent chappie, yeah it was.

About the last names...Larxene picked Kisaragi 'cause she's quite a fast one too, like Yuffie. Axel made up his own name--he's a lazy kid nn. And Zexion? 'cause him and Riku are alike, in more ways than one. That I leave it up to you to figure out.

I'm not going on with the reply thing 'cause I might really get kicked out if I go on doing the story reply thing. If you want to ask questions, I'll answer them in the next chapter...as long as they won't spoil the plot.

Review, guys! Please? Flames are accepted.