Chapter 157: Piece of Peace

Kairi let out a long breath that was more a yawn than anything else. She didn't feel tired. If anything, she felt wide awake, despite her body's protests to the contrary. Currently she was lying on her stomach in the grass of some world—Tifa'd mentioned its name earlier, but Kairi hadn't caught it because a bunch of Heartless had attacked them not long after. She was supposed to be sleeping, like Tifa was, but, again, she didn't feel tired.

Kairi held her hands out in front of her, conjuring up a small light between them, and she smiled. It was really exciting to be able to do this; and it was also the reason why she couldn't sleep. She was still full of the exhilaration from most of today, which they had spent battling Heartless (there'd been a lot of them in this town and even the surrounding areas). It felt really nice to not only be able to defend herself, but to also be capable of doing usually severe damage to Heartless.

She tossed the ball of light between her hands, her smile widening.

It's funny, almost, she thought to herself. I told Sora when we were kids that I didn't want to fight, and here I am now, fighting almost like I'm a natural.

Of course, that statement probably wasn't entirely correct. Even if she could do quite a bit of damage to Heartless, her light wasn't nearly as effective against any other monsters. She found that out yesterday, when she and Tifa had run into some strange white creatures. Tifa had mentioned a name for them… Nobodies, was it? Kairi couldn't quite remember. They were a pain to get rid of, though; much harder than Heartless.

The smaller ones weren't that much trouble. It was the larger ones with spears that were a pain to do anything about.

Kairi let out a huffy breath at the thought. She would've been better off if she was better at this fighting thing. Her fighting skills were good enough that she was able to defend herself, but they certainly weren't the greatest. Her ability to wield Light made up for her lack of fighting prowess, at least against the Heartless. Against any other enemy…

Kairi tossed her little ball of light up into the air a few times, playing catch with herself.

"Kairi," Tifa said, wearily.

Kairi dropped the ball of light, and hissed a little as the energy left her. She'd used a lot of light today, and a lot of her energy with it. Even the drain of such a little amount of light was almost too much for her.

"Mm?" she said.

"You should sleep."

Kairi sighed. But she knew Tifa was right. Her vision had blurred slightly after that drain of energy, and she could probably use a good night's rest to regain her strength.

"Alright…" she muttered.

I don't feel at all tired, though, she thought, a bit annoyed with herself. She rolled over onto her back so she could stare up at the stars. If there was anything she enjoyed about traveling, it was seeing the stars every night.

The stars look almost exactly the same as they do at home. So it's… comforting, to just sit and stare at them like this.

Well, lie here and stare at them.

Kairi chuckled slightly, closing her eyes. Her body felt tired, even if her mind was awake. It felt good to just close her eyes… and…

She was asleep within seconds.

xxx

Axel looked up, hearing the sound of footsteps coming toward him. He couldn't tell who it was just by the sound of their gait—there were too many people wandering around this place for him to keep it straight in his head. He smiled, though, when he saw who it was.

"Yo! Roxas!" he called, raising his hand in a partial wave. This was the first time he'd seen Roxas up and walking since Castle Oblivion. Roxas had immediately gone back into editing the moment they returned to base.

Roxas paused, staring blankly at him for a moment.

"Axel," he said, finally, his tone a bit short.

Axel's smile faltered. That was… odd. He scratched the back of his head, trying to put up an I-don't-care-much attitude to blow it off. "Well, that's not the way to greet your best friend, is it?" he asked, half-jokingly, though genuinely confused about the whole thing.

Roxas stared at him for a moment more.

"Friends?" he asked. It sounded like the concept wasn't entirely clear in his head.

"Yeah," Axel replied, drawing the word out. "We're friends, aren't we?"

The blank look on Roxas's face was soon replaced by recognition. He flashed a half-smile at Axel. "Right," he said.

Axel regarded Roxas carefully, not sure what to think. That was a weird reaction. But… maybe he had to cut Roxas some slack—he'd just gotten out of editing, after all.

Still…

"You alright, Roxas?"

Roxas nodded, shrugging slightly. "Everything's just a bit foggy. 26 said it should clear up soon."

Exactly. He was still getting used to being back, most likely.

"Well, it's nice to see you out and about," Axel said, putting his smile back on. "Say, you still remember everything?"

Roxas gave him a funny look, obviously thinking the question stupid.

"'Course I do, Axel," he replied, slowly. "What, did you think I'd forget?"

Axel shook his head. "No…"

…I just, thought you'd be a bit less laid-back about everything. You were killed. And there's that whole business with Xion. Hmm…

Then again, I think 26 said something about he could only restore the memories that were still on Roxas's file. Which… probably didn't include him dying. I guess that's not a problem—he's probably better off not remembering that.

As for Xion…

Axel wasn't quite sure what to think about Roxas not mentioning her. Though he supposed, given how Roxas had first regarded him, everything concerning her could be just as foggy. That, or maybe Roxas just didn't want to think too much about it.

I'll just… not say anything about her unless he brings it up.

"Gee, Axel," Roxas laughed, punching him playfully in the arm. "Some friend you are! Thinking I'd forget everything just because I was out of commission for a few months."

Axel chuckled, rubbing his arm. He didn't remember Roxas being able to punch that hard, but, he found it hard to care too much. "Hey, just gotta check, you know?"

"Roxas, Axel."

They both turned, seeing who was addressing them. It was 26. Axel frowned slightly, and, if anything, Roxas lit up a bit—just excited to see a familiar face, Axel told himself.

"What do you want?" Axel asked.

26 stared at him for a long moment, as if debating something. From the looks of it, there was something on the tip of his tongue that he was trying to hold back. Axel wasn't sure what it was, but he entertained himself by thinking it was some bitter remark about the fact his plan had gone so well and 26 wasn't happy about it.

"Lord Xemnas wishes you take him on a… test mission," 26 said, his tone resigned. "To make sure he still… has a grasp on everything."

"Hey, I'm right here!" Roxas protested.

"Ah, come on, Roxas, what's a little practice run gonna hurt anyone?" Axel asked, nudging Roxas. "We can run around Twilight Town and kill a couple Heartless, can't we?"

"Alright," Roxas sighed, though he didn't sound terribly unhappy about the whole idea.

"Good, report to me when you get back," 26 said. "And Axel, let me know if anything goes wrong."

Axel rolled his eyes. "Right, we'll be sure to let you know." He turned to Roxas. "You ready?"

Roxas nodded enthusiastically.

Axel's mouth twitched upwards in a slight smile, and he formed a dark corridor.

"Let's go, then."

xxx

They emerged in Twilight Town—right in the middle of Station Plaza. It certainly wasn't the most discreet portion of town, but it wasn't like anyone had ever noticed newcomers showing up here before. Axel stretched.

"You ready to fight some Heartless, Roxas?"

"'Course I am!" Roxas grinned and summoned his Keyblade to him. Axel's eyes widened at the sight of it. Roxas's Keyblade looked… different. Not three hours earlier—back in Castle Oblivion—it'd looked… plainer. Silver and gold and fairly simple.

Now, Roxas's Keyblade was black, and much more intricate in design. The guard was formed by two demon wings—also black—and the teeth of the blade… Axel wasn't sure from the angle he was looking at. But it was all certainly different.

"That's new," he said, gesturing to the Keyblade.

"It is?" Roxas held it up, studying it for a long moment. He nodded in approval. "It is. I thought it was." He lowered it and turned to Axel. "I wonder why it changed."

Axel shrugged, clueless on this subject. "I dunno."

Roxas's face scrunched up in concentration. "Well, maybe-" The sound of Heartless appearing interrupted him, though. He turned, a small grin working its way onto his face. "Let's see how it works on Heartless!" he exclaimed, his previous train of thought forgotten.

Axel summoned his chakrams to him, not arguing. A group of Guardians had appeared, and this wasn't necessarily the time to chat. He started to set the nearest one on fire, but then reconsidered, deciding to wait and see how well Roxas could handle this.

Surprisingly, especially for having just been Rebuilt and still readjusting to everything, Roxas handled it very well. In fact, out of the three Guardians, Axel only killed one, and it'd taken a lot of damage from Roxas before being sent his way.

"You've certainly gotten back into the swing of things!" Axel said, twirling a chakram around his fingers.

"I told you so!" Roxas replied, grinning. The grin seemed rather… cocky, and maybe over-confident. That was odd for Roxas. At least, Axel couldn't remember Roxas ever grinning like that before.

Eh, I'm worrying too much. I'd be feeling pretty confident, too, if I'd taken out three Guardians all on my own.

"Let's keep going, yeah?" Roxas said, and, before Axel could reply, ran off.

xxx

About an hour later, after sweeping through Twilight Town three times at Roxas's behest, they returned to base. Roxas headed off to his room, saying he needed to check on something, and Axel went to report to 26. It was he who 26 wanted to hear from, anyway. He also had some questions for the Vexen Replica…

"How'd he do?" 26 asked.

Axel scratched his head, and let out a long breath.

"Perfectly fine. I don't see why you were so worried about him."

"I wasn't. Just making sure everything was in check—you can never be too careful." 26 shrugged. "Did he handle everything well?"

Axel nodded. "Better than I think I've seen him handle anything, actually." He still couldn't quite get over his shock. Partially because he was surprised he could feel shocked, when he had no heart. "You should've seen him kill some of those Heartless! One swipe of his Keyblade, and they were gone." He frowned, then, making eye contact with 26. "Since when was he that strong?"

"I may have upped his strength a bit," 26 said. "Trying to make up for lost time."

"Alright," Axel said, and swallowed. It seemed…

Well, perfectly logical, he admitted. Especially for a Vexen Replica.

"Guess I can't argue about that. What about his memories? Does he have all of them?"

"All that were on his file, yes."

Thought so.

"So he is missing a few?"

26 nodded. "Yes."

"Which ones?"

"Just the ones right before his death," 26 said. "He updated right before that, luckily enough."

"Mmm…" Right, just what he'd suspected. "What about his memories of Xion?" Axel asked.

There was a slight pause.

"They're all there," 26 responded, flatly. It seemed like he was trying to keep any and all emotion out of his voice.

Axel raised his eyebrows, not sure if he believed it. "They are? He hasn't mentioned her."

"And he might not," 26 said. "He might rather move on and forget about it, you know. We all handle death differently, Axel." He turned and walked off, leaving it at that.