Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Disney and Square Enix.

Princess

Chapter 5: Discovery

Kairi stared up at the crumbling, graffiti covered wall and felt a shiver run down her spine. She stepped a little closer to see the names of those who were lost in the war that left her and so many other children orphaned nearly ten years ago. The wall was all that remained to show that the world happened.

"They call it the Gate of Hollow Bastion." Selphie said sadly, walking up beside Kairi. "The queen wanted it to remain as a memorial of sorts. There were a bunch of people who didn't like the idea. They wanted to replace it with a statue or something else."

Kairi frowned. "I remember seeing on the news how some people tried to tear it down themselves. The King and Queen had to send out the royal guard to stop them."

Selphie nodded. "Yeah."

"It represents their failure to protect their homes." Riku remarked as he, Pence, and Sora joined them. "It makes perfect sense that they'd want it torn down."

"You don't agree with them, do you?" Sora worriedly asked.

"Of course not." Riku said. "I only meant that I can understand why they'd want it taken down. Personally, I think it shows their strength that let them recover and reclaim Radiant Garden. But that's enough about the wall. It's getting late and it'll take a while to get to the palace. We need to find a nearby hotel to stay the night."

The others agreed and were soon settling down in the cheapest hotel they could find. They laid blankets out on the floor, ignoring the old twin beds, and tried to get some sleep.

Selphie was the first to wake up the next morning. She let the others sleep in for a while longer while she went about with her usual morning routine. When she returned from the bathroom, Pence was up making coffee.

"Good morning." He greeted.

Selphie hesitantly bade him good morning and then set about making a light breakfast. She had a feeling that everyone would be feeling too nervous to eat very much.

By the time breakfast was ready, the others had woken up and were dressed. Quietly, they all sat down to eat. Even Sora, who would normally fill the silence with mindless chatter, was quiet. Clean up after breakfast proceeded with silence broken only by a few murmured sentences here and there.

As they began to pack up their stuff and the sound of zippers running across their tracks and Velcro pieces being unattached were heard, Sora decided that he had enough of the silence. He began to sing as loudly and as off-key as he possibly could. The others stared at him like he was insane for a few minutes and then gave in and san, or hummed, along with him, keeping up with the off-key tune. At the end of the song they nearly dissolved into giggles and laughter at the ridiculousness of it.

"That's much better." Sora declared, pleased by the result. "This is suppose to be a happy day when none of us can stop talking! We're going to Radiant Garden, the most beautiful city on the coast!"

Selphie nodded in agreement. "Sora's right. And we don't know if we'll be able to speak with the queen right away. We could be there for weeks before we go see her. Now, what do you say to getting out of this depressing place and finding a ride into the city?"

The others agreed. A quick sweep of the room was done to make sure they had everything and then they left to find the trolley into the city.

Naminé stood back and looked proudly at her finished painting of the cherry tree in full bloom. "Loz will like this." She said to herself.

"Do you always talk to yourself when you're alone or is this a special case?" Axel asked form the doorway.

Naminé turned around to face him and wasn't surprised to see him leaning against the doorframe with an easygoing grin on his face. "Artists are crazy, don't you know?" She asked with a teasing edge to her voice.

Axel chuckled. "True. So, have you seen Roxas anywhere? He disappeared after breakfast."

Naminé shook her head, careful not to shake loose her hair clip. "I've been up here since then. Have you checked with the others or asked Aunt Aerith?"

"Nope. I figured that you would know." Axel said with a shrug.

"I can't keep any better track of him than you can." Naminé said. "Have you seen Loz today?"

"Stables." Axel told her. "It's the only place he and his brothers don't cause trouble. You can visit them later though. Help me find Roxas now."

"I have things to do other than hunt him down." Naminé said, turning away from Axel to straighten her paints. "Your so-called Roxas-radar is better than mine. Find him yourself."

"Help me and I'll give this back to you." With a flourish, Axel produced a small, white electronic device that had Naminé's name written across it in gold. The thing emitted a beep, which made Naminé whirl around to see what it was.

"You!" She exclaimed. "You're the one who took it! Give it back right now!"

"You'll have to catch me first." Axel said with a smirk. He waited a second and then took off down the hall. Naminé ran after him, intent on getting back the device.

Larxene raised an eyebrow at the short, blonde boy standing in front of her. She kept a disinterested look on her face, showing no sign that she so much as cared about what he was saying.

"You want me to use up my precious time to train you." She drawled. "And what would I get out of that?"

"Nothing." Roxas said honestly.

"Then we have nothing to discuss." Larxene said with a small 'humph!' "I have too much to do to waste my time training some snot-nosed prince." She watched him to wait for his reaction, wondering what it would be.

Roxas narrowed his eyes. "I came to you because I knew you wouldn't make a big deal out of it and won't go easy on me just because of my title." He said, barely concealing his frustration.

Larxene studied him overtop her book, her green eyes calm and calculating. "Fine," She said after a few minutes. "But first you have to do something for me. I am, after all, very busy."

Looking at her lounging on the couch with her book, Roxas had a hard time seeing her being very busy. In fact, if it wasn't for her slim, muscular body he would think that all she did every day, all day was sit on the couch reading books!

"What do you want me to do?" Roxas asked, having a slight feeling that he was going to regret asking. However, he knew that if he passed up the opportunity it wouldn't come again soon.

Larxene smirked. 'Hook, line, and sinker.' "I have a list of books I need to get from people around the castle." She waved a strip of paper in the air in an almost lazy manner.

"Done." Roxas said, taking the paper from her. "I do this for you and you train me. Deal?"

"If you say so. Now, shoo." Larxene waved him away, her full attention going back to her book. "I'm at a good part in my book and want to know if she's going to kill this guy or not."

Roxas inched away from Larxene. "I'll be back soon. Don't go anywhere."

Larxene made a noncommittal sound and said no more, fully intent on finding out what happened next in her book. Roxas quickly left to track down the missing books.

The thing with Larxene was that in order to get her to do anything one has to get her to say that she will do something. In fact, get it in writing if at all possible. Roxas learned that the hard way after running three more errands for the blonde book-keeper.

"I'm done." He told her, barely hiding his contempt. He dropped a stack of books on her table, trying his best not to glare at her or ask if there was anything else he could do.

"What do you want, a prize?" Larxene drawled, eyeing him over her book.

Roxas scowled. His level of anger was rising and he was finding it harder to control his temper by the second. "No, I want you to train me like you said you would." He said, hardly able to keep a growled edge from his voice.

Larxene picked up on his control as she peered up at him. She watched him stew for a few minutes with a hint of a smirk on her face and then she marked her place in her book. "Go change into something comfortable and meet me down in the courtyard." She told him, closing her book and setting it on top of the stack of books. She stood up and stretched. "She doesn't kill him, by the way." She told him as she left the library.

Feeling oddly relieved, Roxas left through a different door to go to his room.

Selphie pushed open the door to the café, smiling at the jingling of the bell above the door. She easily located her friends at a window booth and made her way over to them. She took a nearby chair and set it at the end of the table before sitting down.

"So, I found out what we have to do to go see the queen." She told them. Her statement immediately got their attention and they leaned in to better hear her.

"What is it?" Kairi asked anxiously.

"Well, we have to have proof, which we do have, and only one of us can go in with Princess Kairi." Selphie said. "First, we have to prove that Kairi is the princess to three of the King and Queen's advisors and if we do that, then we can see the queen."

"Question!" Sora said, raising his hand. "Why is it only the queen? Shouldn't the king be part of this too?"

Selphie shrugged. "I don't know. All I've heard is that you go talk to the queen. I'm sure we'll see the king later. Any more questions?"

"How soon can we get in?" Riku asked.

"We can meet the advisors today." Selphie said. "It depends on them when we get to see the queen."

There was a pause in the conversation before Kairi spoke up. "Lets go see them after lunch." She said. "No sense in sitting around and worrying about how it'll go, right? We should just get it over with."

No one called Kairi out on her nervousness. They felt the same way that she did. It was like a sickening fear that things would take a turn for the worse.

"After lunch." Selphie agreed.

After that, there was no more serious talk for the rest of lunch. Sora and Pence did their best to keep the conversation humorous and cheery, but even they fell prey to small bouts of silence.

Lunch was quickly over. Instead of sitting around to talk for a while longer, they paid for their food and left.

Next stop: the palace to meet the three advisors.

A tall, raven-haired man stepped into the kitchen, his heavy boots clunking against the floor. His blue eyes twinkled as he took in Squall sitting at the table and Cloud hovering over the stove. He cleared his throat to get their attention and Cloud jumped nearly a foot in the air and dropped his spatula.

"Dad!" He exclaimed. "What are you doing in here?"

"What, I can't come in my own kitchen to watch you slave over the stove like a woman?"

Cloud narrowed his eyes. "Dad…!" He said warningly. He hated being called a woman. It wasn't his fault that he was only 5'6"!

Squall chucked only to stop as soon as he felt Cloud's glare on him. He cleared his throat as if that's what he was doing the whole time and then tried to start up a conversation with Cloud's dad. "Any news from General Sephiroth?"

"He's coming home in a few days." Cloud's dad said.

"Good, maybe he can calm down his damn nephews." Squall grumbled. "They're driving the rest of us mad even though they are in the stables most of the time!"

Cloud's dad chuckled. "They are a most exuberant bunch. In a way it reminds me of Cloud when--"

"Dad!" Cloud interrupted, turning red. "Don't tell that story!"

"Aww, but Cloud--"

A raven-haired girl dressed in black and white skidded into the room, grabbing hold of the doorway to keep from falling over. Cloud nearly breathed a sigh of relief at the interruption.

"Zack! Come quick!" She exclaimed. "One of the guys got stabbed in the shoulder again and it was so not my fault this time!"

Zack groaned. "Again? Alright, get him down to the hospital wing. I'll go down and figure out what happened. Squall," He looked over to the brunet. "Come with me. And Cloud," A slight grin crossed his face. "You just keep cooking."

Cloud restrained himself from picking up the spatula to throw it at his dad and instead picked it up and put it in the sink before retrieving a new one from the drawer. Squall waited until Zack and the raven-haired girl - Yuffie - had left before he got up and crossed the room to hug Cloud and kiss him on the cheek.

"You know he isn't being mean." He murmured. "I think he's just a little disappointed that neither you or Roxas is interested in following in his footsteps."

Cloud muttered something unintelligible and roughly stabbed at the sizzling food. Squall sighed and kissed him on the cheek again before turning around and walking out of the room.

"I can fight, you know." Cloud said to an empty room.

Sora, Riku, and Pence nervously waited outside the advisor's hall for Selphie and Kairi. The two had been in the room for a little over a half hour and they were starting to get worried.

"What do you think's taking so long? Do you think thing's are going well?" Sora anxiously asked, starting to pace. "What do you think is happening?"

"I don't know." Riku tersely said. "Be quiet, Sora."

Sora fell silent and stopped his pacing. He stared down at the floor, upset by Riku's insensitivity. For a moment, all was silent. And then the doors glided open and a forlorn Kairi and Selphie walked into the hallway.

"The queen….she doesn't want to see anyone." Selphie quietly said. "The advisor's said they'd call our hotel if she changed her mind."

Kairi self-consciously tugged at the edge of her sundress. "Lets go. Please? I- I need to get out."

They slowly began making their way to the exit, wondering what made the queen not want to meet Kairi. Around that time, Axel dashed around the corner and continued down the hall laughing like a maniac, his long legs carrying him much faster than Naminé's could. He breezed past the group on their way out with a shout of, "Hey, Roxas!"

A few seconds later, Naminé skidded around the corner and continued chasing after Axel. Her hair had long since come free of her hair clip and only a few long pieces remained held up by it. "Axel Firehaven! You get back here right now!" She screamed. As she ran past the group, she seemed to do a double-take when she was Sora and then she said, "Roxas, don't move! I'll be right back!"

"I'm not Roxas!" Sora yelled after her. "My name is Sora! S-O-R-A!"

Naminé stopped at the next bend in the hallway, removed her shoe, and threw it at Axel. ("Ow!" Axel yelled, stumbling.) Then she hobbled back down the hall to Sora and the others. "I apologize. He gets me so worked up sometimes that I can't think straight." She frowned and stepped a little closer to Sora. "Have… we met before?"

Sora looked confused. "No. At least, I don't think so. Not unless you've been in Olympus City or Twilight Town recently. And why did you call me Roxas?"

"Isn't Roxas the name of one of the prince's?" Pence whispered to Kairi, who shrugged.

"I'm sorry." Naminé apologized again. "It's just, you look a lot like my cousin Roxas. In fact, if I didn't know any better I'd swear the two of you were tw--" She stopped talking and raised a hand to her mouth, her eyes going wide. Trembling, she spun on her heel and walked down the hallway, calling Axel's name.

Axel walked around the corner, holding Naminé's shoe and looking annoyed. "You didn't have to throw it at me." He crossly told her, handing the shoe back to her. His annoyance with her was placed on hold when he saw that she looked shaken. "What's wrong?"

"Look at his eyes, Axel. Please tell me they're not like Roxas's. Please!" She begged..

Axel frowned. "What do his eyes have to do with anything?"

Naminé shook her head. "Please, Axel. Go check."

Axel frowned. "Naminé, you can't be seriously thinking that after over ten years that he would just show up out of the blue! It doesn't work like that!"

"Maybe for once it does!" Naminé said, blue eyes blazing. "Maybe for once something is going to turn out right and if I am right, then this would snap Roxas out of his yearly depression and pull Cloud out of the kitchen!"

The two glared at each other for a minute or two before Sora interrupted them.

"Um, should we go or, uh, something?" He asked, feeling uncomfortable.

It was then that Axel saw Sora's eyes and he cursed under his breath when he saw what shade of blue they were. Feeling a little triumphant, Naminé stepped in front of Axel and said, "We think you're Roxas's twin."

End Chapter

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...!

If I said this wasn't a fun chapter to write then that would be a lie. This is the chapter I've had in mind since I first started this story. It's when my entire plot spins itself upside down and snaps into place. I LOVE THIS CHAPTER!!

(cough) So, no one saw this coming, right? I did try to hint about it. Want me to list the places so you can go check? Well, in case you're a crazy person like me and enjoy going back to hunt through chapters for obscure little things, here we go!

Chapter 1- nothing; at least, nothing that I could find.

Chapter 2- I put in THREE things in this one! The first is when describing Sora's eye color : Royal Blue. The next was what was written on the photo. It doesn't read "princess", it only reads 'PRIN'. See, sneaky, huh? And the last thing is probably the biggest hint in the entire story and that would be the crown necklace that Riku gives Sora. Crown royalty prince

Chapter 3- Selphie and Riku calling Sora feminine; it was more for fun, but when I thought about it I realized it could be applied to the 'missing "princess"' theme.

Chapter 4- the second biggest hint is in this chapter with Namine and Roxas. Since the section is in their POV in a way (but don't want to give everything away) I say "the missing member of the royal family".

See, I can actually be sneaky and not give away things too early! Neat, huh? Usually I don't last this long.

And please don't hurt me for this cliffhanger! It's the only one I've done for the entire story and I wanted it to be a big one because it's always tons of fun.

So, next chapter they get to play "meet the parents" or more like, Meet the Family.