Everyone seemed to enjoy the entire Station of Awakening sequence. Which is great because that's such an iconic part of the series and I had fun writing it. But now we have a new chapter. And I know that all of you have been looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I'll have to break my chapter naming scheme for this one because it takes place solely at Radiant Garden and I've already used that chapter title. But I think you'll survive.

Awareness returned slowly. Everything ached. Most of it wasn't sharp and intense. The pain had dulled past that point. But it was everywhere. He was half-convinced that his hair hurt. And his body felt weighed down. He didn't think he could move even if he wanted to.

Briefly he wondered what hit him. Then, disjointed memory slithering out of the mental fog, Lea remembered. Almost everything hit him.

Heartless. Nobodies. Larxene and Marluxia. Xemnas.

But there was something else… Something good that happened right before his memories and consciousness began to fragment and splinter, shortly before he passed out…

Eyes still closed, he gradually noticed things beyond the dull aching of his body. Like a faint glow against his eyelids. Maybe a candle? Or a lamp? There was something soft under his head. A pillow. And occasionally he heard a rustle of paper. Like someone turning a page of a book a short distance away. Wherever he was, Lea wasn't alone. There was someone with him.

Part of him didn't like the idea of some unknown person looming over him while Lea felt too weak to move, let alone defend himself. But he wasn't a Nobody in Organization XIII. Things were different now. There were people that he could trust. Whoever was there, he was safe. His friends wouldn't let anyone dangerous near him in this state.

Besides, the sound was far enough that the stranger wasn't within arm's reach. They were at least a few steps away. Maybe it would give him a couple seconds if they turned out to be dangerous anyway.

As consciousness seemed to solidify, Lea began picking out more details than "everything hurt." The cut on his back and the one on his side had lost the sharpness that he now remembered from before he passed out, dulling to throbbing aches. The deeper lacerations in his chest were a little worse. Breathing agitated his battered ribs. Were they cracked? Maybe. Bones took time to heal, even with magic. But they could just be seriously bruised instead. He wasn't eager to poke at them yet and find out. He felt other bruises, faded enough that they barely hurt as long as he kept still. But as bad as it was, someone had definitely used Cure or some potions to start the healing process.

The slight chill, especially on his arms as they rested on the blanket, told him that someone took his coat and gloves. Probably around the same time that they added bandages around his torso. Firmly wrapped, but not tightly enough to hinder his breathing.

So he was in a bed, his injuries had been carefully taken care of, and now someone was even watching over him as he rested. All of that added up to support his earlier conclusion. His friends were keeping him safe.

As tired and aching as his body might feel, Lea knew that he could relax. He didn't have to be on guard or try to force his exhausted limbs to respond. He wasn't in any danger. He was safe. He could take his time and recover. Lea could let himself rest.

He could remember some of what happened. Fighting the Heartless and Nobodies. Telling Kairi to lock the door. Larxene and Marluxia. Xemnas and his stupid attack. He even remembered that someone stormed back out to save him from getting decapitated by Marluxia's scythe. But everything after that was more fragmented. Lea knew that he got hurt and passed out. And he remembered seeing two people… Two people that he'd desperately wanted back… But he wasn't certain that part was real. It felt more like an impossible fantasy.

He kept his eyes closed, breathing slowly, and barely on the edge of consciousness. Everything was calm and quiet, only the occasional rustle of pages turning to break the silence. It would be so easy to doze back off. Sleep would be a nice way to avoid the dull aching pain for a while.

But after an uncertain amount of time in his drowsy state, new sounds caught his attention. A door creaking slightly as it opened. Then cautious steps. Sturdy boots, but light footsteps from someone not wanting to be noticed. Lea then heard someone setting something small down. The book?

"The hour is quite late," said Master Ansem quietly, allowing Lea to identify the first stranger. His voice came from the direction of the turning pages. "It might even be more accurate to describe it as exceptionally early."

"I couldn't sleep."

The soft response made Lea's breathing hitch momentarily. Roxas. It was real. He was back. It wasn't a dream.

Unless Lea was still dreaming.

Cautious footsteps approached the bedside, but Lea didn't dare open his eyes and look. He couldn't risk the possibility that he was dreaming or hallucinating or imagining Roxas's presence. He couldn't risk shattering his fragile heart by destroying that hope. He couldn't risk waking up, losing his best friend yet again.

Something inside him seemed to whisper coward.

Yep, Lea responded to that voice at the back of his mind.

"He is past the worst of it," said Ansem the Wise. "He's healing and needs rest to properly recover, but Lea is out of any true danger."

Well, that was good to know. He still felt like someone dropped a skyscraper on his head, but at least it wasn't worse.

Keeping his voice gentle, Master Ansem said, "By this point, I am less keeping watch over his condition and more keeping him company in case he regains consciousness sooner than expected."

And based on the earlier sounds, catching up on his reading.

"Since I'm not sleeping," said Roxas, sounding hesitant, uncomfortable, and tense, "I could stay with Axel for a while. If you need to get some rest, I mean."

"I will admit that the late hour is not as easy to handle at my age as it once was." There was a slight sound of something scraping across the floor, like a chair, before Master Ansem continued, "One of the downsides of growing older, I'm afraid. If you would prefer to spend the night here rather than your room, I'll give you some privacy."

A few more footsteps and the quiet creak of the door opening again.

"Wait," said Roxas. The room was silent for a few moments before the boy went on. "I… I want to… Thank you. For helping him."

"After everything that I've done, I could not stand by when I had the power to help. And Roxas? I cannot begin to express my regret and shame over my past actions towards you, Xion, and Naminé." Ansem the Wise let out a slow sigh. "I will not ask for your forgiveness nor do I deserve it. And I did not help your friend because I thought it would make you forgive my past crimes towards you and the others. But you should know that I am sorry. For everything."

A moment of silence followed. No one moved or spoke.

Then Master Ansem quietly said, "Have a good night, Roxas."

The footsteps died away, the man withdrawing from the room. Lea listened to the stillness and silence for a couple minutes, listening for any sign that Roxas remained. It was too quiet. Was he gone? Was Roxas ever there? Or was it all a cruel dream born from desperate hope and wishful thinking? The longer the silence stretched, the more that Lea doubted himself. Maybe Roxas was still gone and he would never see his best friend again.

He refused to open his eyes. He couldn't look, his throat already tightening as the pain in his heart joined the rest of the aches. He didn't dare open his eyes and see what he already knew to be true. He couldn't bear the pain that would come when he shattered his fragile fantasy with a lonely reality. There was no one there. There was never anyone there. It was all in his head, a useless wish from a stupid and selfish young man who should have known better. They were gone. They were all gone. Gone, gone, gone—

The mattress creaked, the edge bending under a slight weight. Roxas. Instead of the chair that Ansem the Wise abandoned, he was sitting on the edge of the bed next to Lea.

If he could feel the mattress move from the boy's weight, then Roxas was solid. He was real. It wasn't a dream.

Lea wanted to open his eyes. To say something. He should say something. But now that he had the chance, when he finally had the chance to do and say everything that he'd waited so long to tell the kid, he couldn't.

Memories of everything that he'd done wrong hit him hard. He remembered the lies and secrets. He remembered attacking Roxas. And he remembered the uncomprehending expression on the boy's face, not recognizing Lea and not trusting him. And Roxas shouldn't have trusted him because he never did anything to deserve it.

Lea couldn't bring himself to face Roxas just yet. Maybe he could just stay like this, on the very edge of exhausted sleep with the kid safe and alive. He could enjoy the relief of having Roxas back without facing the intimidating question of "what now?" He spent so long wanting his friends back that he never had time to consider what would come after.

Or when he did, Lea could only imagine it ending in the kid hating him for what happened and wanting nothing to do with him. But that line of thought had resulted in Kairi smacking him in the head, so he should probably avoid it.

Another small creak, the door instead of the mattress, and he heard more cautious steps. Apparently everyone was up and about tonight.

"Xion?" said Roxas softly, his weight abruptly vanishing from the bed. "Are you okay?"

Sniffling slightly, she said, "I'm sorry. I can't sleep."

The way her voice cracked and sounded completely miserable broke Lea's recently-restored heart. He wanted to do something to help her and yet felt paralyzed by the very idea. She sounded like she was on the verge of tears. Not yet full-on crying, but close. Lea could never handle girls crying. He didn't know what to do.

"Come on," coaxed Roxas. The mattress bent again, the two kids sitting on the edge. "Nightmares?"

"Yes…"

Quietly, Roxas said, "Me too. At least when we were in Sora's heart, we didn't dream. Or we dreamed about what Sora was doing. We couldn't have nightmares." He paused before asking, "Was it about when… when you disappeared?"

There was a pause. While Lea's eyes were still closed, he suspected that she nodded.

She sniffled again and said, "It wasn't your fault, Roxas. I was draining the life out of you and we couldn't both exist. I didn't want to go. I didn't want to leave, but it would be worse if I lost you. I absorbed too many memories from everyone and could barely tell who I was anymore. And then Xemnas did something to me and it made it even worse. Only one of us was going to survive. All I could do by then was choose how it would end. And I wanted to end it by fixing everything that I was ruining. Which meant I had to go."

"But I didn't want to do it," he said, his voice unsteady. "I didn't want to hurt you. But I did… I destroyed you…"

That's what happened? Lea barely stopped them from fighting to the death once, the pair sent on rigged missions and tricked into seeing the other as dangerous Heartless. He barely realized what was happening and got between them in time. But he stopped them. He kept them safe. But not the second time. Apparently Roxas ended up destroying his best friend against his will.

Next time he saw him, Lea would burn Xemnas alive for putting the kids through that.

"Because I didn't give you any choice," said Xion, struggling to keep her voice down. "I did everything possible to make you fight me. And I had to actually try or you wouldn't fight back. But you were so weak at that point. And I was afraid that I would accidentally destroy you instead. And it was awful and I hated it. I hated trying to hurt you. And I didn't want to disappear either. I didn't want to leave you and Axel. But we couldn't… All the options were horrible. I just wanted the three of us to be together, but I was ruining everything. I had to give Sora his memories back. And I had to save you from me."

"It wasn't fair," he muttered darkly.

"Maybe not. But it was better than letting you disappear instead. No one remembered me afterwards. I wasn't even meant to exist. I wasn't real."

"You were real." Roxas's words were firm, allowing no arguments. "You are real. You're my best friend, no matter where you came from."

Unable to resist any longer, Lea's eyes cracked open slightly. It was a relatively small room, a plain bedroom with only a couple pieces of furniture. He was right earlier; someone brought in an expensive-looking candlestick to provide a gentle light. The sky was dark outside, at least based on what he glimpsed through the window. Dawn was still a long way off. And two teenagers sat on the bed with their backs to him, Roxas wrapping one arm around Xion.

They were both there. Safe. Alive. Real.

"It hurt," continued Roxas. "It hurt watching you disappear. Even as I was forgetting, it hurt. And I was so angry at Organization XIII. All of them. I tried to destroy them and Kingdom Hearts because I thought it would bring you back. And when I completely forgot, I was still furious at all of them. I was so angry at everyone connected to Organization XIII. I think that it affected Sora when I rejoined him. Even if we didn't combine properly and he didn't get my memories then, Sora's anger with them seemed almost personal even before they went after Kairi."

Roxas shook his head, his entire posture agitated and tense. Xion leaned in a little closer to him.

"Do you remember much about what it was like in Sora's heart?" asked Roxas.

Xion shrugged and said quietly, "A little. I was sleeping pretty deeply. I remember it being bright. I felt warm and safe. But I couldn't really notice much else. Not until I started waking up at the very end. I didn't even dream."

"I didn't go to sleep immediately in Sora's heart. I… resisted. I didn't want to disappear in the first place. I wanted to stay me and I was still angry at everyone," he said. "I stayed awake. I could see and hear what Sora did."

Roxas drew his legs up and folded his arms across his knees, slumping forward until he could rest his chin on the limbs. Lea watched his shoulders rise and fall as the boy took a deep breath to calm himself.

He should say something. He should let the two of them know that he was awake. But Lea could only bring himself to watch them silently, a tight pressure squeezing in his throat, in his chest, and behind his eyes. He could scarcely believe that they were back, even with what he could see and hear. He wanted to believe and he mostly did, but part of him didn't dare risk shattering the illusion.

"I saw him fight Xaldin and even Demyx. I saw Sora beat them and they faded, but I was too angry to really care," continued Roxas. "But then Sora ended up in Betwixt and Between, trying to reach the World That Never Was. And Axel…"

His voice cracked slightly, reminding Lea of how Roxas sounded a moment ago when he discussed attacking Xion. When he described destroying her.

"I was still furious with him. Because of all the lies and secrets and everything. And the last thing that we did was fight each other. But he showed up and started fighting alongside Sora, trying to help him. To help me. And even then, I was angry and hurt and frustrated with him and the entire situation."

His voice came out strained as Roxas spoke, as if it was physically hurting him to recall the past. But he kept going, the words starting to tumble out faster as he went.

"And I didn't stop being angry at him until he… he… Axel used some kind of huge fire attack, like a wide-spread limit break. And it worked. All the enemies were gone and we were safe. But he was on the ground, weak and not moving. Like today. Suddenly I wasn't angry at him anymore. At Sora, yeah, and I even managed to attack Sora afterwards because I was furious and everything hurt and everything I was feeling was too much to bear and I needed someone to blame for what happened... But right then, everything that Axel did that hurt in the past… It didn't seem to matter as much because my best friend was fading away and talking about wanting to see me and I couldn't do anything, couldn't tell him that I was there, that I was inside Sora trying to make him hear me, and I couldn't… I couldn't…"

Lea's fingers tightened on the quilt, guilt churning in his stomach. He remembered that day. Far too vividly. Lea remembered lying there, too weak to resist how his body was breaking down into scraps of nothingness. He remembered exhaustion, fading awareness, and regret. It barely hurt by that point. He'd been in pain earlier, but not then. Even with the guilt, regret, and the sense of failure trying to drown him, all those emotions that he wasn't supposed to feel and could barely identify, he remembered feeling relief that he wasn't alone. He remembered looking into Sora's eyes, thankful that the boy stayed and yet wishing that it was his best friend with him during what he expected to be his final moments. He'd wanted to speak to Roxas in that moment, to apologize and tell him that he never wanted to hurt his friend. He'd tried to spot his friend somewhere in Sora's sympathetic gaze, hoping despite everything.

But he didn't think. Even as he hoped that somehow Roxas knew that he tried to make up for past mistakes, Lea never thought about how it might hurt him.

Why did he keep hurting his friends?

"I destroyed you, Xion. And then Axel faded away in front of me," continued Roxas in a shaking voice, "because he tried to save Sora. To save me. And now… He was trying to protect us. He was hurt protecting us. I can't… Why does this keep happening? Why do I keep hurting my friends?"

The miserable and guilt-stricken note in Roxas's voice and the way Xion reached up to wipe at her face proved to be the final straw. Despite his nerves and the dozens of different emotions rising up like a flash flood, Lea knew that he couldn't keep quiet. He couldn't let them sit there, hurting and upset. Not when they were blaming themselves when it was his fault. He was the one who messed everything up. He's the one who hurt his best friends so badly more times than he could bear to count.

"I'm sorry," he rasped, his mouth and throat feeling dry and rough as he forced the words out.

Lea started pushing himself up on his elbows as the kids' heads snapped around in shock. His body complained loudly over the decision, his entire torso practically screaming at the attempted movement. Lea promptly ignored it and continued anyway. Gritting his teeth with effort to sit up, he vaguely noticed that when the quilt slid down, it exposed plenty of gauze and multi-colored bruises all the way down his torso. No wonder everything hurt.

Hopefully whoever patched him up didn't steal more than his coat because he was already feeling exposed and he didn't want to risk the blanket falling any further down if the rest of his clothes were gone. That could get embarrassing for everyone. Well, depending on how much they'd learned about the concept of public decency and the importance of clothes beyond "always wear the coats, it's a rule, they protect you from the dark corridors, got it memorized?"

Twin voices, somehow managing to shout and whisper at the same time, called out in unison, "Axel?"

He couldn't respond, the attempt to push his battered body up taking too much of his focus and breath. Moving had been such a bad idea. But when his arms started shaking from the effort, Lea was abruptly surrounded by kids crawling all over the bed.

There was a few moments of chaos, arms and black coats all around him, supporting and repositioning him carefully. Then Lea felt them settling him back again. Xion had moved the pillow behind him so that he could sit up slightly, cushioned against the headboard. He couldn't help breathing out a sigh of relief as the aches eased once more. But now there was a worried teenager crouched on either side of him, the bed creaking as they shifted.

There were worried, teary-eyed smiles on their faces. His chest ached for a different reason than the deep bruising and partially-healed cuts. He didn't want them to cry and they looked to be on the brink of that.

"Should I check my pillow for seashells?" he asked with a small smile. The watery laughter from the pair loosened up the knot inside Lea. A little quieter, he said, "I'm sorry, Roxas. And I'm so sorry, Xion."

That seemed to shatter the girl's fragile composure, a broken sob tumbling out of Xion as the tears started pouring down her face. Lea started silently panicking; he didn't know how to handle a crying girl.

Then she flung herself at him in a clumsy hug. Lea bit back a hiss of pain when Xion ended up hitting the battered bruises and bandaged cuts, pain blossoming across his torso from the impact. Like being struck by a Thundaga again. Realizing her mistake, she cringed and tried to pull back, but Lea's left arm had already snaked around her and hugged her close. Pain or not, he just got her back; he wasn't letting go that easily.

Lea started reaching towards Roxas, part of him desperate to reassure himself with physical contact, before he froze. His right arm hanging in midair, doubts began to gnaw at him. He slowly started lowering his hand. After everything, he couldn't assume that… that Roxas would forg—

Roxas buried his face into Lea's shoulder, gentler than Xion's frantic first attempt and yet just as desperate. His shoulders shook with silent tears as Lea wrapped the other arm around the boy.

He held his half-pints close as they cried into his chest. It wasn't a dream; he could feel them. Roxas and Xion were safe, alive, and real. He had them back. He could feel them in his arms, warm and breathing. He could feel their bodies shake with half-smothered sobs and he could feel tears as they cried against him. Lea could feel their heartbeats pounding on either side of him. And no matter how much it hurt, Lea dug his fingers into their coats and hugged them even tighter.

Right now, as selfish as it might sound, he needed the physical contact. It was the proof and reassurance that Lea desperately craved. He needed the certainty that it provided.

He had them back. Despite everything, despite how impossible it should have been, he had them back.

It was too much. Lea felt too full, everything overwhelming and intense.

The guilt, the old sorrow, regret, and the various forms of emotional hurt were familiar enough that he could have pushed it down and buried the sensation. Pain, whether physical or emotional, was something that he could handle. Something that he could ignore and push through. For those emotions, he could control his reactions to an extent.

But the others left him feeling like he was drowning. The sheer relief, the joy at having them back, and the indescribable warmth felt wonderful, but the feelings were too strong. He couldn't contain it all. The good and the bad, it was too much. Lea could barely handle the intense, powerful, and terrifying emotions that threatened to split him apart at the seams.

He wasn't even certain when he'd started crying.

As a child, Lea was a bit of a crybaby. Almost anything could spark off a flood of tears, big or small. He couldn't help it. Other kids teased him over it and his parents barely noticed either way. But one day, Isa decided to fix it. He grabbed a random marker and drew upside-down tears on the younger boy's cheeks. He explained that the marks were a magic charm, the drawn tears falling up into his eyes so that the real ones would stay put. And of course the four-year-old believed the wise and knowledgeable five-year-old's words. After all, Isa was older and lived down the street from the weird old man that everyone claimed was a wizard, so it made sense that he would know cool magic charms like that. Why wouldn't Lea trust him? The belief was strong enough that it worked; Lea's crying spells became rarer.

But now, after years of being unable to shed tears, his heart was back. He could feel and didn't worry if that occasionally meant crying. But right now, he felt too much. More than he could bear. Both good and bad, the emotions fill his heart until the pressure threatened to break him apart. And the only outlet to relieve the pressure was crying.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice rough and choked with tears. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Sobs shook him as Lea offered them apologies, holding Roxas and Xion close. He was sorry for lying to them. For the secrets. For fighting them at different points, trying to force them to stay when everything kept falling apart. For not running away from the Organization with them when he had the chance. For forgetting Xion. For being upset when Roxas forgot him. For taking so long to bring them back. For hurting them in countless ways, even when he didn't mean to. For never doing the right thing for the two of them. For making so many mistakes. For being a selfish coward when they needed him. For failing them over and over again.

The simple words kept tumbling out, repeating endlessly. Lea kept apologizing, always finding more reasons to tell them that he was sorry. He could practically hear Kairi begging him to stop. And when he couldn't think of anything specific, he continued anyway. He couldn't stop apologizing any more than he could stop the tears. Eventually the words gave way to silent sobs, but in his head, he was still trying to apologize. It would never be enough. He could say the words for a thousand years and it would still not be enough to express how sorry that he was.

Everything kept coming out in an uncontrollable stream. He couldn't stop.

It wasn't the first time that his emotions had overwhelmed him to the point where he could barely handle it. Not long after he was recompleted, when Lea went out to search the town for their missing Isa and Braig, the entire situation had abruptly sank in. All of it. Not being dead, but Roxas still being gone. Isa missing without a trace. Years of guilt, horror, sorrow, regret, and loneliness washing over him within the span of a few minutes. He'd barely managed to stagger into a tiny alleyway and collapse in a corner before the emotional breakdown hit him full force. Lea remembered shaking and gasping in the relative privacy of that dark corner, struggling to withstand wave after wave of intense emotions trying to drag him down. Emotions that he could barely remember or comprehend. Emotions that he was too out of practice to resist. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think, and couldn't move. And the sharp, twisting, and painful sensation in his chest had made him desperately want to claw out his newly-reclaimed heart just to make it stop. Lea had remained crumbled there for an unknown span of time before he could regain control of himself and resumed the search, not breathing a word of the experience to anyone. After all, he didn't have time for it when there were so many people who needed to be saved.

There had been other instances where his emotions had tried to consume him, but that first one had been the worst. The one where he had no control. And it had taught him that sometimes all that he could do was ride it out. Even if it didn't feel like it during the moment, his heart could take it.

And riding it out was what Lea tried to do now. He held tight, hugging the quietly crying teenagers close and refusing to risk letting them slip away. And after a while, the sobs that shook his frame violently enough to hurt began to ease. The tears gradually slowed, drying on his face. He didn't dare let go long enough to wipe them away. Lea was left feeling emotionally drained, hollow, and exhausted. His head ached and his breathing continued to hitch for a few minutes after, causing sharp spikes of pain through his chest, but the overwhelming crying had died down.

He could finally appreciate their presence.

The kids weren't crying as hard anymore. It was the softer, more tired version. Roxas had curled against Lea's side at some point, but Xion's face was still pressed against his chest. Some of the tension had melted out of them. Lea's desperate grip on the pair began to loosen, though he kept his arms around them.

In the Organization, there wasn't much physical affection displayed due to the "we're not supposed to have feelings" thing. Maybe ruffling their hair or a playful shove, but not something like an actual embrace. And no one really taught Roxas and Xion that it was acceptable. But they came from Sora and memories of Kairi, two of the most hug-y people that Lea knew. In fact, the only reason that he wasn't horribly out of practice with hugs himself anymore was due to Kairi's fondness for nearly tackling people with her hugs once she warmed up to someone enough. Roxas and Xion seemed to be adapting to the concept of him hugging them close quite easily.

The fact that this was probably their first hugs ever tried to stir up more guilt, but Lea was too focused on the present at the moment.

He tried to remember how to comfort and reassure someone who was crying. The half-pints might be winding down, but he needed to do something to help. He was supposed to take care of them. Vague memories of when he was very young and upset, seeking out comfort at his closest friend's house since even then he knew that his parents would have nothing to offer, caused Lea to start rubbing small circles on their backs with his thumbs. Isa's parents did that a couple times when he stayed over, the gesture oddly soothing. He honestly had no idea what he was doing. All that he could do was hope that it worked similarly for Roxas and Xion and at least helped them a little.

They were safe. Both of them were safe, alive, and really back. Roxas and Xion were finally back again. It wasn't a dream or a hallucination or wishful thinking. He could feel them. They were real.

This was real.

It wasn't easy, but they were here now. After betraying the Organization, after fading away, after waking up in Radiant Garden when he expected everything to be over and realizing that he needed to do something with his second chance, after forcefully joining Sora and company, after bullying his way into getting a Keyblade, and after fighting off everyone to keep the replica bodies safe… After everything that he'd gone through, Lea had his friends back.

"Why you gotta cause me so much trouble?" he whispered in a rough voice.

Stiffening slightly, Xion muttered into his chest, "Sorry."

"Don't apologize. Either of you." Lea tightened his embrace on them briefly. "You two were worth it. You're worth any amount of trouble."

For a while, they remained there without saying another word. Crying that much could be exhausting and he barely had the energy to be awake in the first place. Roxas and Xion remained curled against him on either side, sprawled onto of the quilt in their coats and boots, while his arms eventually relaxed enough to rest lightly against their backs. Lea listened to them breathing, felt their twin heartbeats, and did his best to reassure himself that his best friends weren't about to disappear again. He was so tired and sore. He felt utterly drained and wanted nothing more than to drift off, safe in the knowledge that they were all right.

But there were at least one or two issues that needed to be dealt with first. As much as he wanted to avoid it, they needed to talk.

"How much do you know about what's going on?" asked Lea.

Shifting slightly so that he could look up at Lea, Roxas said, "We know some. They tried to explain what's happening. Like Xemnas lied. They explained some stuff about him, Xehanort, and the weird plan with a bunch of lights and darknesses that are supposed to fight and the new Organization XIII all being Xehanort's hearts in other people? It didn't make much sense, but I probably missed something. I heard enough to know that we'll have to fight them soon."

"No," snapped Lea, the force in his voice startling both of the kids and himself. Taking a slow breath and trying to sound a little calmer, he continued, "No, you don't have to do anything. This is important and I need you to understand what I'm telling you right now. This isn't Organization XIII. You both have a choice. You don't have to fight. You two can choose what you want to do next and no one can force you. I won't let them. Honestly, I'd love to toss you both in Twilight Town and let you eat ice cream on the clocktower until this all blows over. I'd love for you to be safe. But I can't make you do that either. I can't be that selfish." He took another deep breath to steady himself. "You've been ordered around all your short lives, mostly by people who couldn't care less about you, your wellbeing, or what you want. You've been fighting since you were a couple weeks old. But no one will make you risk your lives or control you like that again. It has to be your decision. No one else's. Got it memorized?"

No one immediately responded. But he could feel both of their heads move, the pair exchanging looks across him.

"But won't they need us?" asked Roxas slowly. "Something about seven guardians of light?"

"Well, as far as I know, they were planning to wake up a kid named Ventus," he said.

Scowling slightly, Roxas muttered, "They already did. And he looks like me too. It's weird."

Chuckling quietly even as it made his chest ache, Lea said, "Yeah, it's a little weird. Don't know how that happened. I guess him camping out in Sora's heart for so long had some side effects."

"It's still weird."

"Not his fault though." Lea managed to move his hand slightly, rubbing the boy's back briefly. "I met him once. A long time ago. Knew him for maybe an hour. He was nice and we ended up as friends." When Roxas shifted uneasily, he continued, "But like I said, I didn't know him for very long. And we certainly weren't best friends. It'll be nice to see him again, but he wasn't the one I joined the guardians of light to bring back."

Man, was he sounding corny. Though Lea had to admit that he'd been sounding that way since he woke up. He was going to blame exhaustion and possibly blood loss. Or maybe Larxene's Thundaga frying his brain.

"But with Ven back," he continued, "that gets the count up to seven. Sora, Riku, Kairi, King Mickey, Aqua, Ven, and me. You two can stay out of it if you want. Like I said, you can make your own choice. We've got it covered."

"But you can't," said Xion, twisting in his grip so that she could face him. "You're hurt."

"I volunteered for the job," he said. "And I'm not done. There's something that I still need to do."

"No," said Roxas. "You can't do this." He shook his head. "Not when you… You didn't fade like before, but you stopped breathing and it was wrong and you didn't start breathing again until Donald used that powerful spell to heal you and…"

"You scared us," said Xion in a small voice.

He took a shaking breath. After what he just heard, Lea was a little unnerved himself. He knew that he was hurt pretty badly, but what the kids were describing was… bad. He stopped breathing? Definitely cutting things closer than he would have preferred. Roxas and Xion might only have experience with Heartless shattering into darkness and Nobodies fading into nothingness, so they didn't have the right frame of reference for what happened, but Lea knew what it meant. He almost died. Permanently.

He definitely owed the duck a thanks.

"I'm fine. Let me nap a few more hours and I'll be ready to go," he said evenly. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

"What if we go instead and you stay here? That's what best friends do, right? They help each other," said Xion.

The idea of staying behind while Roxas and Xion risked their lives sent a chill to his core. Lea couldn't bear the idea. Not when he just got them back. Not to mention what might happen to Sora, Kairi, and the others if he wasn't there to watch their backs. If he couldn't force Roxas and Xion to stay somewhere safe, he could at least stay close enough to protect them.

"I'm not staying, but you two can come with me as backup if that's what you want. You know. Watch each other's backs." Lea took a deep breath before letting it out slowly, his ribs complaining the entire time. "Besides, I have to go. I'm not leaving Isa behind again."

"Isa?" asked Roxas.

"When he became a Nobody and Xemnas started getting his hooks into him, he started going by 'Saïx.'"

He felt both of them stiffen and sit up, looking at Leas with confusion, anger, and hurt. He couldn't blame them.

"I know Saïx hurt you two. He was spiteful, cold, and cruel to both of you, but he was worse towards Xion. And I'm sorry that you had to go through that. You didn't deserve it," he said slowly. "I don't expect either of you to forgive him. You don't have to. But… Isa was my oldest and closest friend for a long time. And as you said, friends help each other."

"But Saïx was awful," said Roxas sharply. "Don't you remember what he used to say about Xion? And he—"

"He was awful," Lea interrupted. "He's cold, uncaring, ruthless, and everything that you would expect of someone without a heart. And if you gave him a reason or if he was ordered to, he would kill you without hesitation." His eyes briefly flickered down to his right side, gauze and bruising disguising signs of the older injury from sight, before he looked back at the boy. "But it could have been me that ended up like that instead."

After a moment of stunned silence, Xion asked, "What do you mean? You're nothing like Saïx. You were always nice to us, helping us, friendly, sweet—"

"Do you know why no one else in Castle Oblivion made it back?" he interrupted again. "Why they were destroyed? Because that was my mission. I went there to make sure that no one else survived. Riku and Sora took out most of them, though you can't blame them when everyone kept going after the two of them, but I incinerated Vexen and convinced a replica of Riku to take out Zexion. And I would have slaughtered the others if necessary. I would have annihilated people that I'd known for years. Without hesitation."

Both of the kids were sitting up now, staring in wide-eyed shock. They had pulled away enough that he was no longer holding them. Lea pulled his empty hands onto the blanket, folding them across his lap. He hated this, but they deserved to know. No more secrets or lies. And that meant telling them exactly what kind of person that he was. Even the pieces that he'd tried to hide from them.

Even if it drove them away.

Lea looked down, unable to meet their eyes. It was easier to stare at the colorful bruises and gauze than them. He didn't want to see their expressions. He didn't want to see the moment shock turned to distrust and hatred. Or fear.

"I could have ended up exactly like Saïx did. Twisted by whatever corruptive influence that Xemnas and company specialize in and with Xehanort's heart jammed in my chest. I was already heading in that direction. I could have been another of his vessels when the time came. It could have been me running around with yellow eyes, pointy ears, and blind obedience. The only difference between us? You."

"What?" asked Roxas.

"Spending time with you and later Xion? All those sunsets spent on the clocktower, talking and laughing and… And being your friend? Turns out that none of us Nobodies really knew it, but we could regrow hearts. And being around both of you helped me… I started feeling again. I started acting like who I used to be before. You saved me."

Hands suddenly slipped into his, startling him into looking up. Lea wasn't expecting the sad and sympathetic expressions from them. He didn't expect them to…

This should make him feel so many things, but Lea was still too exhausted and emotionally drained from earlier to feel anything other than relief. Somehow he wasn't driving them away with his confession of the darker elements of his past.

After a moment, he continued, "But no one saved Saïx. He was alone and now… I don't know if there's anything of Isa left." Lea shook his head slightly. "Saïx was awful, but Isa was my friend. Maybe it won't work and he's too far gone. I don't know. If he is… Fine. Xemnas still doesn't get to keep him. But if there's even a small chance that even a shred of Isa is still in there, I owe our friendship at least one more chance. I have to at least try and save him. And if I can get him back somehow, I don't expect anything from you two. You don't have to talk to him, spend time with him, or even look at him. If you want nothing to do with him, that's perfectly fine. Saïx hurt everyone too much for me to expect any different. You don't owe him a thing. You don't even owe me anything. I pulled some pretty bad things on you too."

Lea closed his eyes briefly. He was exhausted, but he had to get this out.

"But I can't just give up on Isa," he said quietly. "Not again."

"You'll always be there to bring us back," said Xion quietly before leaning back, gently tugging his arm back around her. "All of us. All of your friends."

Following her example, Roxas curled back up against Lea's side and said, "He's important to you. He's a jerk, but he was your friend before he was a Nobody. I still want to hit Saïx in the face and I can't promise what'll happened afterwards, but we'll help you get him back."

"Thank you," said Lea, some of the tension melting out of his body. "I didn't think you'd want to help with this, you know."

"You've done a lot for us." Xion snuggled a little closer, sounding drowsy. "And like Roxas said, this is important to you. He's important to you. Saïx… Saïx wasn't nice to us, but maybe he… Maybe he can change. Maybe we can try and give him another chance. And if you're going to try and save him, then we want to help you. Let us help you, please."

He smiled and said, "I don't know how I ended up lucky enough to have you two as friends."

Yep. He was apparently very sappy and corny when he was tired, battered, and overwhelmed by everything. Hopefully he would sound more like his old self in the morning.

They slipped back into silence. A comfortable and tired silence. Lea knew that he should try to lay back down properly instead of staying propped up against the pillow and headboard. Sleeping sitting up like this would leave him stiff in the morning. But the bruises would already do that and it really wasn't worth the effort to move again. Not when Roxas and Xion were curled against him and acting like they wanted to fall asleep too.

Though he did wish that could pull the blanket a little further up without disturbing them. It was a little chilly.

"Axel?" said Roxas. "Or, uh… Do we… What do we call you now?"

Xion mumbled, "I think some of them called you 'Lea.' Should we do that too?"

"My name is Lea," he said. "But you can still call me 'Axel.'"

Because he'd always been Axel to them. They'd never known him as anything else. They liked Axel. And he didn't want them to think of him as a different person than their friend, even if he was trying to do better now that he had his heart back. Hearing them call him "Lea" would feel strange.

Honestly, if someone knew him as Axel first and he liked them enough, then they could keep calling him that. Hence why he stopped correcting Sora, Kairi, and the others. New people or people who annoyed him too much in the past had to stick with "Lea."

"Okay," said Roxas quietly. "Axel's good."

"Glad to hear it." His eyelids heavy and noticing how tired they sounded, Lea said, "Try to get some rest. It's the middle of the night still. And I personally would like a little more sleep."

"Mmm-hmm… Night, Axel," murmured Xion softly.

It was hard to tell which of the three of them dozed off first. But it didn't take long for all of them to fall asleep, Lea's arms curled around the kids protectively.

And there's the reunion that we've all been waiting for. And this time, there's no battle to distract them. I hope that everyone enjoyed it.