Wow. Sorry for the wait, I had to spend a week at my Grandma's and they don't have internet. So I'm trying to get back on pace. XP

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Sora sighed as he and Riku unpacked a few things into their temporary room at Radient Garden. Things had gotten...messy lately. Like Axel's new friend, Xaldin. His name was actually Dilan, but since meeting Axel, he'd been calling himself 'Xaldin'. And Sora knew immediately that he was another 'reborn' Nobody.

And they couldn't make Axel stay away from him, not without a good reason. And they couldn't tell Axel who the man really was, since then they'd have to explain their past lives. And Riku had decided that telling them about it would not be a good idea.

"Where did he get the smarts from, cuz I know it wasn't you, kid." Cid muttered as he peeked into their room, grinning. "Only took him five minutes while I had been working on that damn computer for three months."

Sora gave him a dry look. "Thanks, Cid."

"C'mon, leave them alone." Yuffie said, pushing the blond towards the computer room. "Go bother your new Apprentice."

Sora paused, looking at Yuffie. "Hey, where's Cloud and Tifa?"

The black haired girl smiled. "Oh right, I forgot to tell you! They headed out to Midgar. Tifa opened up a bar there, and Cloud helps out around the house. And I'm pretty sure they'll be getting married soon."

"What?! No way!" Sora gaped at her. "Cloud?? Married?!"
"I know! But they're really cute together." Yuffie giggled, smiling widely. "At first, we all thought that Aeris would be kinda depressed since it seemed she really liked him, but I guess she's found someone else."

Sora frowned, wondering if it was Leon, when Roxas poked his head into their room. "So~Ra! My room's, like....isolated from everyone elses! I'm at the end of the hallway."

"Like it matters." Riku shot, smirking. "Since you usually stay with Axel anyway."

Roxas blushed, sticking his tongue out at him. "Shuddup, Riku."

"Roxas, be nice." Sora scowled. "And I thought you didn't sneak in there anymore?"

Roxas frowned, fidgeting. "...Axel says he has a lot of nightmares, so I go in there to make sure he's alright."

Silence. Yuffie decided to leave, not wanting to impose as Sora and Riku exchanged looks. 'But...Axel said he didn't have nightmares anymore...' The brunette thought sadly. 'Did he really feel like he had to lie to us?'

"What's Axel doing?" Riku asked, trying to change the subject.

Roxas blinked. "Messing around with Uncle Cid's computer. But Cid doesn't want him reading any of the files cuz supposedly their 'confidential'."

Sora nearly fell over. 'Oh no! Those files are probably all about Heartless and Nobodies! What if Axel reads them and remembers??' Apparently, Riku realized the same thing because he walked out of the room towards the computer. Roxas and Sora followed him.

Leon was reading something as Axel and Cid talked rather loudly about something. Roxas stood next to the taller male, looking confused, and Aeris just giggled.

"What is it?" Sora asked Leon quietly.

"Just a bunch of things about Radient Garden." Leon replied. "He has a list of all the people who used to live here and what they did for work...But I doubt much of them are here anymore. But there was a file about how Xehanort made the Heartless, and then notes on Nobodies."

"Don't let Axel see them." the younger male muttered. "I don't want him to remember before."

Leon nodded. "I figured..."

"What did you say?!"

Sora and Leon jumped, whirling around. Axel was looking at Aeris, either angry or really surprised. Roxas looked confused, looking between the two. "What's going on?"

"I-I mentioned that boy I had met in Midgar..." Aeris answered, eyes wide in case Axel exploded again. "His name's Zack Fair, he works with SOLDIER."

"Are you nuts?! Didn't Cloud tell you to stay away from them??" Yuffie snapped.

Axel gulped, and Sora saw that his hands were shaking. 'Wait a minute...'

"Isn't Zack the name of your brother?" Roxas beat Sora to the question, making them all look at the red head.

Axel nodded. "Yeah...I don't remember much about him except that he had blue eyes and black hair...He was older than me by a few minutes."

"That's Zack all right..." Aeris whispered. "I didn't think anything of it when he mentioned a littlt brother. He said he was looking for you, so he joined SOLDIER."

"What's wrong with SOLDIER?" Axel asked Yuffie, frowning.

Yuffie sighed, looking uncomfortable, so Aeris decided to explain. "SOLDIER is a group of warriors who defend Shinra, which is a company trying to harness power from the Heartless...Cloud has had bad experiences with them in the past, and he warned us from being too close to them..." She turned to Yuffie. "But Zack isn't like that! He's a nice person, he only joined to find Axel."

"Aeris, he's got Heartless genes in him!" Yuffie argued. "Plus, they're destroying the Earth."

"Zack wasn't infected with Heartless, he said it was something else." Aeris frowned, defending the man. "You haven't met him, you don't know what he's like."

"Can I see him?" Axel cut in, stopping any more fighting.

Aeris hesitated, seeing Sora and Riku's concerned looks. "Well...it might be a good idea...He has been looking for you. But while Zack isn't dangerous, Shinra is. They might try to use you to control Zack..."

"Why would they do that?" Roxas asked, confused.

"Zack wouldn't do the Heartless Project, only something called the Jenova Project..." the brunette explained softly. "But even with just Jenova cells, he's their strongest member, so they want to use Heartless cells on him as well. Zack doesn't want that because he knows what Heartless do."

Roxas frowned, glancing at Axel. "What're Heartless?"

No one answered. Axel scowled, glaring at his 'parents'. "What haven't you told us?"

"Axel..."

"Heartless are monsters that go around stealing people's hearts." Riku answered, getting a look from Sora. "Me and Sora went to the other worlds and thought we defeated them, but....well, not everyone has given up on the darkness."

Axel scuffed. "Whatever. Are we going to Midgar or not? I'll go alone if I have to."

"I'll go with you." Roxas offered, making Axel smile.

Riku sighed. "Axel, maybe we should wait. We just got here."

"I can ask Zack to come here." Aeris offered quietly, not looking at anyone. "He mentioned that he would like to meet Leon, since he's head of Radiant Garden...plus, he said he needed a vacation away from Shinra."

"I bet." Yuffie shot.

"Yuffie." Leon gave her a look that made her huff and leave the room before he turned to Aeris. "It's sounds okay...Is that alright?"

The question was directed at Axel. Biting his lip, the red head nodded. He didn't think that finding his brother would be so easy...And then he felt bad because Roxas was the one who wanted to find his family. Really, until now, he didn't really care about finding anyone here in Radiant Garden.

"I'll go get ahold of him right now." Aeris said softly, hurrying out of the world.

Sora frowned, turning to Leon. "Wait...if they're using Heartless like that, shouldn't we stop them?"

"We can't." Leon grumbled. "It's out of my territory. And I can't start a war with a place like Midgar...They'd wipe us out in seconds."

"But we can't just let them do that!" the younger brunette argued.

Riku put a hand on his shoulder. "Of course not, Sora. But Radiant Garden needs to still recover. They can't just go out and declare war for people they know nothing about."

"Um..." Roxas broke the silence that suddenly engulfed them. "So, what now?"

"C'mon, Roxas." Axel grabbed his hand, making it obvious he was ignoring Sora and Riku. "We'll go look around."

"Sure that's a good idea?" Cid drawled, getting a look from Axel and Riku. "Them Dusks have been popping up everywhere lately."

Roxas blinked, looking confused. "Dusks....?"

"They're kinda liked Heartless..." Riku muttered. "Only smarter and more dangerous. If you see them, don't draw attention to yourself and get away."

Axel glared at them. "What else haven't you told us?"
"Axel..."

"Tch." Axel's grip on Roxas's hand tightened and he pulled him after him as they left the house. Sora and Riku watched them go, hoping beyond hope that they didn't come across any Heartless or Nobodies.

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So, what do you think? Woot, Axel's found Zack!! But will Roxas find Namine?? Even I don't know! XP

R&R