Riku! Sora could feel him. Axel muttered a curse and left. Sora wanted, no, needed, to see Riku. He gently laid Roxas down. The moment the physical contact stopped, the pain in his head and the rest of his body became near unbearable. But Sora was determined. He stumbled off the table and steadied himself for a moment, before dragging his feet towards the door. Only a few steps, but they felt like miles. His body screamed to go back to his other half. Nope, he told it sternly. My other half is this way. Just as he was reaching the doorway, Axel was offering a friendly greeting.

"Wow. You look like shit." No response. Sora struggled around the doorway, and was so shocked he almost collapsed all over again. Riku really did look like shit. All of the bruises on his face were haphazardly bandaged, most likely by Kairi, giving him kind of a deranged mummy look. His lip was still noticeably swollen, his normally pristine hair was frazzled and windblown, and the greenish purple bruising around his eyes set off their wild fury even more. Sora felt suffocated by the amount of dark energy rolling off of his friend, evidence that he'd dipped into his unspeakables in order to find him. He winced from a cocktail of pain and guilt. He was in too much pain now to be able to do anything to get Riku's attention, and Riku did not acknowledge that he had entered the room.

"You took something of mine," Riku growled, eyes never leaving Axel, voice low and even and very un-Rikulike.

"Funny. I could accuse you of the exact same thing," Axel said airily. He jerked his head. Sora was still stuck wondering why Riku wasn't looking at him when Vexen suddenly scooped him up and dragged him back into the tiny room with Roxas, slamming the door and locking it. Sora moaned pitifully in protest. Vexen unceremoniously dumped Roxas onto the floor and used the table to barricade the entrance. Sora grabbed Roxas's hand, and immediately enough for that to hurt a bit too, all of the pain flooded away. Roxas was close to the surface- close enough that he was hurting both of them. Sora held his twin, groaning as the temperature in the small room began to rise.

"Shut up and make yourself useful," Vexen hissed. "You want us all to die?"

"Riku won't hurt me, and Axel won't hurt Roxas," Sora said truthfully, holding onto the blonde boy like a kid with a security blanket. "You're the only one whose life is in danger."

"Fine," the scientist spat. "You want me to die?"

"I'm not sure," Sora answered a little too honestly. "For some reason I really, really don't like you." Vexen's face spasmed with rage. The temperature spiked and Roxas thrashed. Sora frowned. "Does he usually… move around like that?"

"No. He's close to waking up," Vexen said irritably, his ear pressed to the wall to listen to what was going on. He jumped back as an especially mighty clash of metal reverberated through the tiny hideout. Sora's heart leaped with unbearable worry. For both of them, all at once. This was just too much to deal with in one body. He had to stop Axel and Riku from fighting before something bad happened. And, as luck would have it, he knew just the way to do it.

"Vexen, separate us," Sora ordered, more confidently than he felt. Vexen stared.

"That is a very delicate proced-"

"Separate us," Sora repeated firmly. Roxas twitched. "See? Roxas wants out, too." Another huge clash of metal, and Roxas thrashed again. Sora could feel Roxas's panic for Axel, and Roxas's body was reacting to it. Very out-of-body, and very weird and wrong. Too much worry for one person to handle. This needed to end now. "You said he was close to waking up, right?"

"Yes, but…"

"Separate us."

"No."

"Not a request, Vexen."

"No." Sora summoned his Keyblade and whacked him in the side of the head with the flat. Not hard enough to incapacitate by any means, but hard enough to hurt. Vexen yelped and grabbed the side of his head.

"What!? What are- OW!" Sora thwapped him again. He felt like an old school principal with a paddle, or maybe a cat owner with a spray bottle. "FINE! Fine. You all die or worse, not my problem."

"Separate us, Vexen." He was beginning to feel like a broken record. Even unconscious Roxas seemed irritated.

"Fine. I'm working on it. Hold hands." Sora was already holding hands with his Nobody, but held on tighter to appease his only shot at getting out of here. "Now. Close your eyes." Vexen rested a hand both on Sora's head, and Roxas's. The hand was slick and grimy, and disturbingly cold considering the heat of the room. Like a corpse. "Focus on Roxas, as intently as you can. Feel your memories of Roxas, and purge them." Sora wanted to scream. It was that easy!? That settled it- Vexen was dead as soon as this was over. "Purge them, and hopefully they will transfer into the unconscious vessel." Hopefully? Well, too late now. Sora focused all his will on the boy in his arms.

Starting most recently. Seeing Roxas's sleeping body, speaking to Roxas in his dream. Sliding backwards. When he'd met Roxas on top of the Castle That Never Was. Fighting Roxas in the city. Even farther back. Axel's death. No. Those were all Sora's memories. He closed his eyes and concentrated harder. He saw a pod opening slowly, a flash of bright light. Twilight Town, his friends, Axel. The organization, fighting Riku, fighting Axel, all of his missions, meeting Axel on the clock tower. Meeting Xemnas, at the end of the world. And then everything was black, rushing upwards, rushing, rushing-

Suddenly, his mouth was forced open. A tiny white light breathed out, almost idly, floating in front of his eyes, as if saying a quick goodbye. And then, it entered Roxas's body with a sigh. Sora was in shock. A sharp icy sensation penetrated his heart, then ricocheted out through his body. The sensation was overwhelming, and for the first time in what felt like quite a while, Sora was dunked into unconsciousness.


Roxas was aware. His eyes fluttered open. He was aware. He was aware of the hard concrete beneath his back, he could hear the battle raging just outside, he could even smell Vexen. And yet, he wasn't in Sora's body. He had a body! He reached up and pulled a tuft of hair down, going cross-eyed to try to see it. It was blonde. He had blonde hair! Roxas giggled with glee, grabbing the boy next to him for an impromptu hug. Sora was breathing deeply, apparently still asleep. Roxas sat up. Vexen was sitting in the corner of the room, staring at the two of them in fear.

"How long?" Roxas asked simply.

"Only a few minutes," Vexen answered breathlessly. "Uh, hello, Roxas."

"Hi, Vexen." He was grinning like an idiot. It wasn't every day that you got resurrected. "Never thought I'd say this, but it's actually kinda nice to see you."

"Uh, thanks?"

"So, sorry about this, dude." Roxas summoned both his Keyblades, and slammed Vexen so hard with Oblivion's hilt that it knocked him unconscious. No way he was going to risk having him pull any stupid shit with Sora while he was stopping the fight outside. He moved over to the door, whistling cheerfully, and pulled the table out of the way. He was about to open the door the conventional way, when he realized, hey, new body. Why not show it off? So he knocked the industrial door off its hinges with a well-placed roundhouse kick. As luck would have it, the door flew directly into Riku, effectively stunning him long enough for both fighters to pause and see who it was.

"Roxas?" Riku whispered.

"Roxas!" Roxas turned. Everything in the lab was, of course, on fire, but all the fires sputtered out as soon as he locked eyes with Axel. "Roxas!" the redhead repeated, smile getting bigger and bigger. He staggered over to Roxas, hobbled due to a stab wound in his side. Nobodies felt pain, but it didn't slow them down.

"Roxas…" Riku whispered again. Axel reached Roxas and grabbed him into a deep hug. Roxas laughed and hugged him back. He didn't even mind the blood and the sweat and the off-the-charts heat. He had a body back, and he was home, and he had just effortlessly stopped his two lovers from fighting. He indulged himself a triumphant little snuggle into Axel's chest.

"Hi, Axel."

"Hi, Roxas." Axel squeezed him tighter.

"Sora… where's Sora?" Riku's darkness was wearing off, and he seemed to have trouble remaining standing. Of course. He had to have already been in extreme pain from the injuries Sora gave him- that plus fighting Axel and he must have been walking death. No darkness, no adrenaline, and all of that pain was catching up with him. Roxas gave Axel an apologetic look- no worries, I'm not going anywhere- and Axel reluctantly released him. He walked over to Riku and extended a hand to steady him.

"Sora's fine. He's asleep." Riku looked incredulous, but wasn't in any position to fight. "Here, I'll show you." Roxas carefully led the brutally wounded teenager back to his old room. He was a bit sad to see it destroyed and littered with unconscious bodies like it was. He'd been resting in there for God knows how long, and he'd become a little attached. But that was then, and this was now. Sora was in the corner. Sleeping peacefully, curled up in a loose fetal position, snoring lightly. Riku barked out a laugh that clearly caused him a great deal of pain.

"This asshole. He always falls asleep while I'm trying to rescue him." He shook his head. "Look at that. As if he has no idea that this place is burning down around him."

"Don't worry. He was the one who beat up Vexen into telling him how to separate us," Roxas grinned. The memory was hazy, but even a hazy memory of the look on Vexen's face at being thwapped repeatedly was enough to make him chortle. "He definitely helped out, even if he's taking a much-deserved break right now…" Sora snorted and rolled over. He was drooling a little. Roxas smiled at the affection that was still noticeable through Riku's swollen eyes.

"Axel and I can get you guys home. Just say the word."

"Yeah. Yeah, I think I'm done." Roxas scooped up Sora, knowing Riku wouldn't be able to.

"All right, let's go."

"Roxas-" Riku shuffled his feet and averted his eyes. "I'm, uh, sorry."

"What for?"

"For, you know. What we did. Sorry for upsetting you." Pink tinged Riku's cheeks, visible even through all the bruising and bandages. "Sorry for making you leave the Organization. And for beating you up and kidnapping you. I just… I needed to get Sora back. Do you… can you forgive me?"

"S'ok. Besides, I think Axel already paid you back in full," Roxas said gently. "Seriously, forget it. After everything that's happened, I wouldn't have it any other way. I mean…" He looked at the ground, a little embarrassed. "I was happy inside Sora. Not that I'm not also happy now, but- I mean, I wasn't suffering, or anything. I just was." He paused. "Please… do me a favor and tell Sora and Kairi not to worry about Naminé. She was miserable as a Nobody… I'm sure she's much more happy where she is now."

Riku nodded. "That's a promise." Axel limped in, nursing the stab wound, which he'd used the interim to clumsily bandage up with a piece of his shirt. Roxas's eyes narrowed at the filthy cloth, and he made sixteen mental notes to clean up his redheaded friend properly as soon as they reached civilization. Axel stared stupidly at the unconscious bodies.

"God. What'd you do to Vexen?"

"Knocked him out," Roxas said cheerfully. And a job well done, at that.

"Oh. Nice work. Think he'll be ok if we just leave him here?"

"Yeah, I think so. He probably never wants to see us again, anyway. Let's just go."

"Yeah. Somewhere with a beach!" Axel grinned.

"You have a goddamn hole in your torso. You're not going anywhere but bed."

"Oh, Rox, you wound me. Though I suppose if I'm stuck in bed it won't be too hard to find something to keep myself entertained…" Roxas smacked him in the head. Axel yelped in indignation and pouted like a little kid, muttering darkly about ungrateful short people. Roxas ignored him, but inside he was giddy. Axel, his Axel, hadn't changed a single bit, even after death. They actually were going to be ok. And so was Sora, he just knew it. Roxas summoned a portal.

"All right- let's get you guys home."


Three weeks later, Sora woke up. He was in his own bedroom in his own house. His stubborn window was propped open, and a cool island breeze drifted over him. He felt good. Peaceful and well-rested, as if a massive weight had been peeled from his chest. The bed was so soft and inviting, he found himself rolling over to go back to sleep.

A few hours later, Sora awoke again, this time when his mom came in. She was gently changing his clothes, to make him more comfortable. His eyes opened, and he offered a weak smile.

"Hi, Mom." Before he could react, he was being swept up into the beariest bear hug he'd ever had. His mother was sobbing. He instinctively reached his arms around to comfort her. "Hey, Mom, it's ok…" She cried harder. He found himself being swayed back and forth like a baby, and before long, he was bawling too. He was home. For the very first time since his world had been destroyed all those years ago, he was home. He let himself be held by his mother until they both were too exhausted to go on.

"Oh, baby," she smiled through tears. "I thought I'd lost you all over again. Don't do that to your mama, you hear me?" Sora snuggled contentedly.

"Don't worry, Mom. I'm not going anywhere, ever again," he promised. The smell of his mom's clothes took him back, way back, all the way to his early childhood- no keyblades, no rafts, not even Kairi. His islands were all he needed. His islands and…

"Is Riku ok? Are Riku and Kairi ok?"

"They're fine, sweetie. But you can't see them yet- today, I get you all to myself for once!" His mom gave him another squeeze. "Now get your lazy butt out of bed and I'll make you some waffles." Sora cheered and was gone down the stairs before before his poor mother could even blink. She wrinkled her nose. "Honey, you might want to shower first..!"

The next day Sora was awakened by a loud battle whoop, as Kairi ran across the room and tackled him. He oofed in surprise as she hopped around on his bed, apparently undecided between just hugging him and leaping about in excitement.

"God, Kairi. What time is it?"

"It's 2:00 in the afternoon. Your mom wouldn't let me wake you up before now. Says you need sleep, or something. As if." Kairi never stopped smiling, and the smile was becoming infectious. Sora picked up a pillow and threw it at her. She caught it and tossed it right back, hitting him in the face.

"So, what're we going to do today? It's super nice out, there's still enough time to go to the beach, or we could go into town if you want to just chill out, maybe get some ice cream, or we could just stay here. I brought movies!" she gushed. Sora was more than thrilled, and leaning towards movies, but something was nagging at him.

"Kairi… where's Riku?" Her face fell a little bit.

"He… he was kinda messed up when he brought you back. I think he's nervous." Sora filled with guilt. Riku's being afraid of him was the absolute last thing he wanted. He'd managed to put off talking to him for a while because of the visions and the kidnappings, but if he kept stalling, he'd risk losing his friend forever.

"Do you know where he is?" Kairi's face fell again. "Sorry, Kai, the movies sound great, they really do, but… if I don't put things right now, they'll only get worse."

"You really are feeling better, aren't you, Sora," she said softly, with a crooked smile. "I think he's out on the island. But please, don't get upset if you don't get the answer you want…" Sora waved his hand dismissively.

"Please. That guy would still be in love with me if I killed his cat."

"Uh, Sora? Riku doesn't have a cat. Or a dog, or even a bunny, for that matter." Sora just flashed her his big stupid grin, and purposefully strode out the door. Everything was going to work out perfectly.


Sorry for the relatively short chapter. But be sure to tune in for the final installment, Everyone Has Sex With Everyone Else. Woo! ... In hindsight, that should've been the title of this fic.