Today makes seventeen days.

The original doctor caring for Roxas had disappeared after my encounter with Axel a few days ago and a new doctor was assigned to him now. I can't say I'm very fond of this one either; he has no hope that Roxas will wake up. His injuries are healed, which I was told was miraculously fast, but he doesn't seem any closer to coming out of the coma. I can't help it, but I for one will not give up hope. I know he'll wake up, simply because he has to. I left the other day, against my better judgment, and went out to eat with my mom. She said it was unhealthy how much I'd stayed there so she took me to this really nice restaurant across town. I was worried the whole time that something would happen and I wouldn't be there.

I hadn't told Cloud, but the fact that only nine bodies had been found was bothering me. Organization XIII with only eleven members? And that was assuming Axel and Roxas were numbered members, which hasn't actually been explicitly stated yet. I'm just guessing here at this point. Regardless, that didn't make since. There's at least two more people out there, I just know it. And they will most likely go after Roxas; I can't let that happen. He risked his life by doing all this for me, the least I can do is keep a lookout while he's in his coma.

" Why won't you wake up Roxas?" I complained out loud, leaning back in the chair and closing my eyes. " You've had enough sleep, time to get up. You're body is completely healed too. I think you're just being lazy, you always have been but this is ridiculous." I sighed. " We really need to get all this mess straightened out, you know. You not waking up is making everything be dragged out. You have questions to answer." When once again, and not to my surprise, silence was my only response. I just stayed quiet.

The steady beeping of the heart monitor, which had not once changed its rhythm, began to beat faster. I opened my eyes to watch it curiously. The lines danced up and down quickly as his heart started to race. His face, which had the same peaceful sleeping expression since day one, isn't peaceful anymore. His eyebrow is twitching and his face was one of clear fear and worry. Was he dreaming? This had to be an improvement of some kind, right? He was moving!

I thought about calling the doctor, but he started mumbling something and it caught my attention. I could only catch " …nas…don't….kil…. danger ….coming…" All of this was nonsense to me, but he was talking. He had to be waking up!

" Roxas? Hey, wake up!" I shook his shoulder. " Can you hear me? Roxas!" I shouted to him, still shaking his shoulder roughly.

"…coming… run…Cloud…will kill…Sora…No!" He shot up like he'd been having a nightmare, his arm outstretched like he was reaching for something. I couldn't see his face but I was shocked; He was actually awake.

" R-Roxas…?" I can't believe it.

He turned his head slowly and looked at me, confusion and relief flooding his gaze. " Sora? What are you-" Tears poured down my face but I didn't care, I just tackled him into a hug. I can feel all my worry just leaving. He was finally awake! Seventeen days in a coma didn't even matter now! I was crying hysterically by this point, saying a slur of words I doubt he could understand, but I didn't care. " Sora, calm down, I can't understand what you're trying to say." He pushed my shoulder back. I let him go, gaining a little more control over myself.

" I'm sorry, I'm just so glad you're finally awake." I sniffled, rubbing my eyes to try to stop the flow of tears. I must be a pretty pathetic sight right now but I can't really make myself care at the moment.

His face grew serious as he slowly asked, " I was asleep?"

" You've… been in a coma… for seventeen days." I said cautiously.

" How?" It was like the news didn't even effect him yet with how quickly he asked.

" I was hoping you could tell me that. I came home one night and you were unconscious and bleeding on my front porch." More tears fell from my eyes. Stupid things won't quit.

" Your…porch…?" He seemed to be processing the information, trying to remember. I wish I could tell what effect this news had on him, but as soon as the words left my mouth, it was as if he shut down. He didn't move, barely seemed to breathe, and his face went devoid of any emotions or expressions except a slight furrow in his eyebrows as he gazed unseeingly off to the side. He had never done this before, which had me worried. Maybe I shouldn't have told him that…. " Sora, you have to leave." He said finally, moving to get out of the hospital bed while shaking his head as if trying to discard something from his mind.

" What?" I asked. Quite frankly, that hurt. I've been waiting for almost three weeks by his bedside for him to wake the Hell up and he tells me to leave almost right away? Maybe Cloud and I were wrong, maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and that fight had been real, not staged. " Why?" I couldn't keep the hurt out of my voice.

He froze and turned to face me again, his face softening, looking apologetic. " It's not because I don't want you here, Sora. I promise. It's just…it isn't safe." He looked away again.

" Is it because someone's after you? The last members of Organization XIII?" I asked.

His head snapped back up to look at me. " How do you…"

" Axel."

He looked down again. " Oh yeah, I did tell him to do that, didn't I?" He laughed to himself. It wasn't a real laugh, I could tell. It was more of an ironic laugh.

" You didn't have to do that, you know." I said quietly, it was my turn to look away now.

" Of course I did. You're my best friend Sora." He said lightly. I looked up at him in surprise. Part of me had thought that maybe he did mean all those things he said. That he hated me. " You need to leave though. It isn't safe. Someone will be after me. I'm surprised they haven't been here already…"

" I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to help you. You've done all of this for me and now it's my turn to do something for you." I said resolutely. No way was I going to sit back while he went and risked his life again. If something happened, this time I was going to be right there with him.

He looked at me for a long minute, making me wish, once again, I could know what was going on in his head like I used to. " Were the clothes I came in kept? Are they here?"

" Uh, yeah, they're over here I think." I said, walking to the opposite side of his bed. " Why do you need them? They're bloodstained and have giant rips all through them… I think the coat is still at my house though…"

" I don't need the clothes, I need what's in them." He said as he got up, yanking the IV out of his arm and the heart monitor clasp from his finger. The machine emitted a screeching beep making me cover my ears. Roxas growled pushing a button on it roughly and silencing the noise assaulting our ears.

" Huh?" I finally said, grateful for the silence.

He just sighed as he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a small, black ball. " We're going to my house. There is some stuff there I need."

" Like what?" Roxas wasn't paying attention to me at the moment, giving me time to text Cloud to go home.

Roxas paused, thinking, before shaking his head again. " You'll see." He tossed the small, black bead looking object at the ground in front of us, making it explode upwards in a mass of swirling black energy. I stared at it openly. What the hell was that thing?! It couldn't be smoke; that wouldn't stay looking like this. It stayed in the shape of a black arch way with wisps coming out of the sides. Roxas stood quietly beside me for a moment, then, without warning, his hands were on my back, shoving me into the swirling portal. I gave a startled shout, then I wasn't in the hospital room anymore.

I, naturally, was completely freaked out by what had just happened. I mean, come on, we were easily an hour away from his house and here we are not five seconds later! What was that thing? A portal? When did he get that? Where did he get that?! Roxas, not fazed in the least by what just happened, just continued walking. " What was that thing?!" I asked loudly when I caught up to him on the stairs leading to his room.

" It was a portal, obviously. It's made of dark energy and is used by the Organization to get from one place to another quickly. Although we were told to only use them in emergencies." He said it so nonchalantly, like a magical portal is an everyday thing. Well, everyday for everyone.

" What are you going to do Roxas?" I asked, grabbing his arm to stop him.

He turned around quickly to face me, his expression grave and serious. " Did you ever figure out what my doctor's name was?"

I scowled in confusion, " No I never caught it."

" What did they look like then?" His eyes were so intense I had to pause, hesitant to answer. " Sora, I need to know."

" H-he was kinda tall, real skinny. Um, long grayish blonde hair. He was really mean and had bright green eyes." I stopped when he seemed to shut down again. Maybe this was all too much for him after waking up. I should probably make him lay down or something.

" Vexen…"

" Who?" Instead of answering he spun around on his heal and went into his room. I followed as quickly as I could, almost running into him when he stopped in his tracks at the door. " Wha-"

" Axel!" Roxas shouted, recovering from his shock and racing into the room. The red head was laying on his back across Roxas' bed, bare chest wrapped in bandages covered in dried blood.

He weakly opened his piercing green eyes. " Hey there Roxas."

Roxas worriedly looked him over. " You've been like this for days, haven't you?"

" Yeah, got beat up pretty bad. Looks worse than it is." With our help he managed to sit up.

" Start unwrapping the bandages." Roxas ordered as he walked into the small bathroom connected to his room, appearing back a few moments later with a large wrap of crisp, clean bandages to replace the dirty ones wound around Axel's chest. As I peeled the dirty mess from his chest, I noticed many large, dark bruises along the slices in his torso.

I remained quiet as the two former organization members talked. " It looks like you have broken ribs." Roxas concluded with a quick glance. He paused, gazing at the wounds carefully. " These were inflicted by Frozen Pride." It wasn't a question. Whatever this Frozen Pride was, it looked like it could really ruin your day.

" Yeah. The Bastard was posing as your doctor, couldn't let him get away with it. That shield of his hurts like Hell though."

" I knew it was bad when we couldn't locate him during our raid." Roxas shook his head, applying the bandages quickly and expertly.

" Who are you talking about?" I asked after Roxas made Axel lay back down.

Roxas' blue gaze fell on me seriously. " He was an Organization member; Number four, Vexen. He used to be a scientist."

" I don't know for sure, but I'm pretty sure he was giving you something he shouldn't have and that's why you went into that coma of yours."

" So you attacked him after your visit? He disappeared the same day." I said.

Axel looked at me like he was just now really realizing I was there. " Yeah, couldn't let him keep the kid in a coma. Anyway, seeing as you're now awake just a few days after my taking out Vexen says that I'm right."

" Good thing you did. Who knows what else he could have slipped me." Roxas said it lightly, but I could see the worry deep in his eyes. He was very worried about that. Hell, so was I now. He could've been poisoning Roxas this whole time and we wouldn't have known until after it was already too late. " You're lucky Cloud didn't find you here, you know."

" Your brother's been way too busy to come here. I doubt he's been home once since you disappeared." He was probably right knowing Cloud and by the way Roxas was cringing he must know it too.

I watched him as he took a deep breath and wiped off all the emotion from his face. " It's time to end this. You've done your part, now it's my turn." He walked over to his closet door and opened it.

He had a fairly small closest, just big enough to fit his clothes. I don't think it's really big enough for anything else so I don't know what exactly he's looking for in there. He crouched down and started feeling around the cracks in the floor boards, surveying each seem with his fingertips until finally stopping. Grabbing a pen off the floor next to him, he stabbed it into the crack, ripping the board off the floor with a violent jerk of his hand. Surprisingly, there was virtually no noise produced. He reached in, up to the middle of his forearm disappearing below the rest of the floor, and felt around for something. Axel and I remained quiet as we watched curiously.

Suddenly he withdrew a black cloak, like the one I had found him in, and long bundles of cloth wrapped around something. " Using those, are we?" Axel asked, his teasing tone overlaying the surprise.

" This will end today." His voice was cold and absolute. It left no room to argue or even believe that what he said could be false. That voice was final. What it said was going to happen, there was no other option. Which was slightly concerning because he had just woken up from a coma.

" What are those?" I asked instead.

Without a word, Roxas untied the cloth, and, with a flourish, he uncovered the two most beautiful, eloquent looking blades I've ever seen in my life. They looked like twin blades but were opposites. The one in his right was white with a yellow design down its blade that had a gap in the middle where the metal split and then reattached itself together, and ended in multiple spikes. The spikes sprayed out like the edges of a star with blue laced into the yellow. It's guard and hilt were decorated with what looked like angel wings. In his left hand the sword was black and looked as if it had a black chain running through the middle of it, attaching to its anchor like edge that sprouted from one side. Around its hilt and guard were also wings, but these seemed like those of a demon.

The two blades looked deadly and beautiful. " These are the special weapons made just for me by the Organization when I was approved to become number XIII." So he was a number, at least I got that answer without having to actually ask. "Their names are Oathkeeper-" He indicated to the white one, " and Oblivion." He finished, lifting the midnight blade up slightly.

" So I'm guessing you know how to use them…" I wouldn't even begin to know what to do with those blades.

" Dual blades is my specialty." That smile on his face is kind of creeping me out.

" How did they get there? Didn't you fight with them before hand?" I asked.

" No. I didn't have time to get here and grab them so improvised." Roxas replied, putting on his black cloak.

" Why are you wearing that? Isn't that the uniform of the Organization?" I asked curiously.

" Yeah, it is. It's to rub it in that a member brought them down." That was a completely Roxas answer. Spiteful as hell and liked to rub it in. I watched quietly once more as he attached the two blades to his left hip.

I jumped when the sound of a slamming door suddenly penetrated the quiet. " Sora!" Cloud shouted from downstairs. His loud footsteps could be heard as he walked hurriedly through the house.

Roxas snapped up his head. " Cloud." He said quietly. He glanced at Axel, now asleep, then to me.

" He's been really worried about you, Roxas." I said quietly. He nodded once before walking to the door, leaving the two blades by the door, and out into the hall. I followed hesitantly, peeking out the door before walking out of his room.

Roxas stopped suddenly, Cloud standing completely still in front of him. Surprise and relief flooded across his face, no attempt to hide them made, as his blue eyes settled onto the form of his little brother, finally awake after so long. " Roxas… you're awake…" I could barely hear his voice.

" Hey Cloud." Roxas said awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

Cloud suddenly reached down and grabbed Roxas in a giant hug. This was completely uncharacteristic of the normally stoic Cloud I know but just goes to show how worried he was about his little brother. I saw Roxas tense at the contact, then force himself to relax. " Don't ever do that again. Do you understand?" Cloud's voice didn't hold the normal commanding tone it did when he said such things, it only sounded relieved that he was able to say it at all. Roxas simply nodded. Cloud released him and looked down at him again, regaining control of himself. He finally seemed to notice what Roxas was wearing and narrowed his eyes. " What do you think you're about to go do?"

" I've got some things to go take care of." Roxas said quietly, looking off to his side.

" No; I will take care of things from here on out, with the help of the rest of the force. You can't just go around doing what you're doing, Roxas, it's illegal."

" I couldn't just let them get away with what they were planning! What they were doing was much worse. What they were going to do….I couldn't, I wouldn't let them get away with that!" Roxas shouted.

" You should have told me. I'm a cop, Roxas, dealing with these things is my job."

" The police would have never been able to find them or trace anything back. You know that. Can it be proved in any way what I've done? Is there any evidence at all linking me to anything?" Cloud remained silent. He had said that they had nine bodies without any evidence. That's because Roxas is an assassin now. A highly trained one. Still felt really odd to think about. " I didn't think they would." Roxas said, eyes aflame with determination.

" I'm not letting you do this alone, Roxas. You know how to find them, right? Then we will set an ambush and arrest them."

" Him and that won't work. He's too strong for anyone but a Number." Roxas said urgently. I could tell he was trying to protect his brother too. Whoever this last guy was must be scary strong. Scratch that, terrifying; downright, without a doubt terrifying because, right now, Roxas is pretty scary looking.

" No, Roxas, and that is final." Cloud said, his tone reminding me of Roxas' earlier as it left no room for argument.

Roxas, however, made room. " You can't change my mind, Cloud, and you can't stop me. Not anymore. I'm going to finish this."

" Roxas let us help." I finally spoke up, stepping forward to stand closer to Cloud and in front of my friend. Roxas gave me a look like I had just betrayed him in some way, making me avert my eyes. Thanks for making me feel guilty for worrying about you Roxas. " You just woke up from a coma. You can't seriously be thinking about fighting so soon after that." Granted he isn't acting like he was bedridden for seventeen days—yet another mystery. Is that some Organization power too? I mean it would be pretty handy…

He stared at the both of us for a moment, even glancing into his room where Axel was, before sighing. I was a little surprised when a small smile spread on his lips, even if it did look somewhat defeated. " Oblivion Mansion."

" Ansem's mansion? What does that have anything to do with-"

" My dad? My dad doesn't have a mansion." I was thoroughly confused.

" No not your dad, Sora, this is a different Ansem. You're dad's called Ansem the Wise around here because of all of his research. This Ansem made his fortune in illegal arms deals in the guise of being a politician. His alias is Xemnas, leader of Organization XIII." As he spoke, he shifted his weight nervously back and forth on his feet like he was uncomfortable with sharing this information.

" There's no way; Ansem's been actively helping the police in tracking down and stopping Organization XIII and the other gangs around here." Cloud replied. I couldn't stop myself from giving him a dirty look. Yeah, arguing with the one that obviously knew exactly what he was talking about because you thought you knew better. I don't think he could possibly know more than Roxas on this matter.

" And what else could possibly be a better ruse?" Roxas challenged, crossing his arms. Cloud, it seemed, didn't have a comeback for that one. " I think I know who the leader to the organization I was in is. Only the numbers were trusted with the information after all. Besides, I've been in that mansion several times. It's where all our meetings were held. There's a huge underground training ground under it only for the numbers, complete with training weapons in our specific specialties and a virtual training system."

" That sounds so cool!" I couldn't help it. A virtual training system? What could be more awesome than being able to be in a virtual video game?

Roxas grinned like his normal self and I felt a part of me relax at the sight—my friend was still in there somewhere buried underneath all of these revelations. " It is pretty awesome. There's even this setting where we can fight against monsters from video games." I stared at him in awe.

" Alright you two snap out of it." Cloud snapped. " I'll head back to the station and tell them this information. I'm going to say that it's from an anonymous source so you need to lay low Roxas." The blonde nodded wordlessly.

" What about me? What can I do?" I asked excitedly.

" Nothing. You're to go home and wait until this is over."

" What?! No way!" why does everyone keep trying to force me out? I'm helping if they like it or not!

" You're just a teenager, Sora, and untrained. It's too dangerous." Cloud glared at me like he was daring me to argue with him before he turned around and began heading down the hallway. This time, however, it didn't work. I opened my mouth, completely intending to set him straight, when I felt a light shove on my shoulder. I turned to face Roxas, him shaking his head wordlessly.

Not him too! Why was everyone against me helping? Roxas was untrained and kicked peoples' butt in school; I did too. Maybe not as well, but I can still hold my own in a fight. I wasn't being left out of this. Not again when it's my fault my best friend got wrapped up in it all.

They think I can't handle it, that I'm too weak to be of any real help.

I'll prove them wrong.