Second Chance.

Note: We're getting close to the end, and I think a sequal is at hand for Lea and the others. Let's move on, shall we? I don't own Kingdom Hearts.


CH7: What it really means.

"I'll come back soon, so don't worry. Not that you have a heart to worry anyway." were Axel's last words to Roxas before he headed over to Castle Oblivion with Marluxia, Larxene, Lexeas, Zexion and Vexen, and the redhead remembered that quite well. Fortunatley for him, he was still alive after all the ordeal in the castle itself. The others, well, Sora and his companions got rid of the two traitors-Marluxia and Larxene-to which Axel dreaded on, not that he had a heart to dread, but anyway. Both Lexeus and Zexion were destroyed by Riku somewhere in the castle, and, by pretending to follow orders of Marluxia, Axel killed Vexen himself.

He was still rather confused on how or why he enjoyed the entertainment that Sora managed to unknowingly give him, and that he enjoyed Roxas's company. Axel still recalled on what the youngest Nobody told him when they partnered up for the second time.

"I've learned that you're a great guy, Axel. You looked after me while the others didn't." were the blonde-spiky-haired boy's words to him, to which, for the first time, Axel was stunned. The pyro had struggled to find the right words since he wasn't used to graditute from anyone, especially from kids. But as time moved on, which, thankfully, Roxas was becoming more and more aware since day seven, Axel found that he kinda liked being around the kid.

Especially after the missions that they can both have sea-salt ice cream. After some days, Axel finally decided to meet up with Roxas in Twilight Town after some time to think. Good thing too, because he found Roxas being attacked by Heartless.

Seeing this, he quickly summoned his Chakrams and threw one at the last heartless that tried to kill Roxas, saving him. While the youngest Nobody panted, Axel smirked as he spoke up to get his attention, "That was a close call, eh, Roxas?"

When Roxas looked up, his eyes widened in desbelieved shock, with an expression that he was freaking out, like seeing a blast from the past. Axel's smirk grew, while he desummoned his weapons, simply saying, "Yo!"

As he went up to Roxas, the said boy was shaking, pointing his Keyblade at Axel, shuttering, "A-Axel!?"

"What's wrong?" Axel asked, losing his smirk and held a confused look. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Roxas quickly stood up and stated, "But, I heard that everyone was annilated at Castle Oblivion!" still unable to believe it.

The older Nobody wasn't amused by this. "Oh come on. Did you really think that I would be annilated?" Axel asked, "Don't be stupid." he said before he gently flicked Roxas on the forehead, stating, "I told you not to worry, that I'd be back soon."

Despite the unexpected flick, Roxas beamed a smile at him, and from inside, Axel was surprised that he could see the signs of tears in the boy's eyes. That wasn't normal for Nobodies, was it?

"I'll go buy us some ice cream!" Roxas said before running off to get the treats. Axel watched him go, and, as though it was contagious, a smile formed on his lips, not the sinister smile he'd normally would have, but a different one.

'I seriously don't get it. I'm not supposed to have feelings, but...' Feeling his face grow somewhat warm, Axel shook his head, still confused, but decided to worry about that later.

Ten minutes later, the two of them were on the clock tower having ice cream, and after Roxas finished explaining what he heard while Axel was gone, the latter simply just said, "Those Dusk reports are half-assed. Don't listen to them." he should know, because, as a Nobody, he 'grew up' with the Dusks. Not that he grew up that much anyway.

Roxas nodded, then said, "That reminds me, I started inviting Xi- up here."

"Xi-?" Axel asked, puzzled, then remembered where the name came from and said, "Oh, you mean number 14." before taking another bite out of his ice cream.

"Yeah, and I said to her that when you came back, the three of us would all sit here and ice cream together." Roxas nodded.

Just after he said this, a second later, Axel nearly choked on his ice cream and, like one would to a drink in shock and confusion, he spat it back out unexpectedly. Once he got his lungs back on track, he looked at Roxas who held a worried look as he witnessed what just happened.

"Is...there a problem?" Roxas asked.

Blinking, Axel this smiled and shook his head, saying, "Nah, not at all. What would you do without me?" and with that, the two of them shared a good laugh together, which, was another mystery to Axel, but for some reason...he liked it.


Lea shook his head at the memory as he, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey were passing through the Ruins and Creation's Passage, with floating platforms, and an invisable path that lead up to the door to the very tower where Xemnas was, along with the nearly destroyed Kingdom Hearts. Where'd that memory come from?

He then recalled the last memory, and wondered if the Organization did have fourteen members and not just thirteen? The fourteenth member a girl, and a name that started with an X and I? How strange, yet, he tried to remember who the girl was, and he felt...so sad that she wasn't around, and neither was Roxas. Still...It left him troubled, because of his time as Axel.

'No, don't think like that. You've got a job a to.' Lea told himself. Or was that Axel telling him that? He couldn't tell.

Just as they were about to enter the doorway, Kairi exclaimed, "Sora! Riku!" causing everyone to turn around and see that she was pointing at the windows, which the heartless were crawling into and towards them to capture their hearts.

"There's gonna be no end to this." Riku muttered, grunting.

Lea knew what to do, and summoned his Chakrams, stating, "I can handle these losers."

"Together we can stop 'em!" Sora corrected, causing Riku and Lea to glance at him, and both of them smirked at the younger boy's statement. But before either of them could do anything, unexpectedly, from the darkness and puff of clouds, Maleficent and Pete appeared in front of them, but facing the heartless, stunning them. Although Lea never met them, he remembered Pete while in Agrabah with Roxas at one stage. Why are they here, and facing the Heartless?

"Begone from here!" says Maleficent, "Leave these creatures to us!"

Lea was even more dumbfounded. "Whaa?" he asked. What the hell was going on?

"But there's no way we can take 'em all!" Pete stated, being the big chicken that he was.

The evil Witch thought of her companion being foolish, as she replied, "I will be sending them after Xemnas." before inquiring, "Or, perhaps, you would rather

fight them yourself?"

The large humanriod cat thought about it for a moment, then looked at her scaredly and he said in a slight raise of panic, "Frankly my dear, I'd rather...RUN!"

"Off with you then!" Maleficent shooed away in annoyance.

Just as Lea was having trouble in not laughing, wondering, 'Now, how is it reasonable that these two are partners?', Pete backed away, before noticing Mickey and stopped, turning to face his nemesis from a long time back.

"Well, if it ain't the boat-boy King." Pete smirked, his fear draining away.

Instead of being angry, Mickey just replied jokingly, "Time to weigh anchor, Captain Pete!" knowing all too well on how dumb and scared Pete normally was. They had history together in being enemies, and Mickey still remembered at one stage on how he always outsmarted Pete on the race right up to the formally named Un-named Mountain back in their world.

Not wanting to be seen like a coward that he was in front of Mickey, Pete just smirked, saying, "What, like "abandon ship"? I don't think so!"

Which was what Maleficent secretly planned in the first place. She then said to Sora and Mickey, "Do not forget, when I've destroyed them all, this castle shall be mine!"

"Go ahead if you want." Lea stated, "It's not like any of us are gonna be staying here." though half of that was in a hint of sarcasm.

"And who are you?" Maleficent asked, noticing the 'newcommer' in the Organization cloak.

Lea shook his head, answering, "Name's Lea. Got it memorized?" tapping the side of his head like he normally would. It also felt great to say his original name again too.

He didn't pay attention to what else Pete was saying, but he did notice that the fat-cat was standing next to Maleficent, this time, ready to fight the heartless. "Bring 'em on!" said Pete, before he and Maleficent charged towards the heartless, leaving the others behind to watch them go.

"We'd better hurry." Mickey stated.

"But..." Sora began.

But the King shook his head, remembering what both Ansem and Riku told him, saying firmly, though he could understand how Sora was feeling. "They're doing what their hearts command. We can't interfere."

"Besides," Lea began, placing a hand onto Sora's shoulder, "I seriously doubt that those two guys are gonna go down that easily. I might not know them, but they don't strike me as being defeated in just one or two hits." as he agreed with Mickey's statement.

Despite wanting to help, Sora told himself that Mickey and Lea were right. So, nodding to himself, he and the others continued on, ready to take down Xemnas once and for all. Lea lead them up to the Altar of Naught, and on the very top platform of the Castle, was Xemnas staring up at the damaged Kingdom Hearts. The redhead figured as much. Xemnas did nothing more than spend his entire time looking at the heart-shaped moon almost 24/7.

But that didn't matter now. Lea was prepared to get the answers that he needs, and then rip his former superior into several pieces until there's nothing left-literally. But he also had to control his anger, that anger which was for the loss of those he cared about, those he loved; Isa, Roxas, that girl, his parents, Namine, and his home.

"Ohh...my Kingdom Hearts...ruined." Xemnas said, as if he was moarning for a loss. Lea snorted at this, unamused. "Now I'll have to start all over again." Xemnas continued.

"Good luck with that," Lea said sarcastically, before stating, "'Cause that ain't gonna happen, and you want to know why?" he then summoned his Chakrams, and held them tightly in his grip, continuing, "It's because you're gonna end up disappearing!"

Xemnas ignored Lea's comments, and turned to face Sora, Riku and Mickey, saying, "Warriors of the Keyblade! Go forth, and bring me more hearts!"

"NO!" Sora, Riku and Mickey all exclaimed in unision while summoning and pointing their Keyblades at Xemnas at the same time.

"Told ya." Lea smirked at Xemnas who's expression didn't change.

The silver-haired Nobody shook his head, and inquired, "Denizens of light, answer this: Why do you hate the darkness?"

Mickey was the one to answer to that, explaining, "Aw, we don't hate it. It's just kinda...scary. But the world's made of light AND darkness. You can't have one without the other, 'cause darkness is half of everything." before sort of wondering himself, "Sorta makes ya wonder why we are scared of the dark."

"Simple: It's because of who or what's lurking inside it." Lea answered. "In the darkness, you can't tell on what's going on or what's gonna happen. That's why everyone's afraid of the dark."

"Then allow me another question." says Xemnas, "You accept darkness, yet choose to live in the light. So why is it that you loathe us who teeter on the edge of nothing? We who were turned away by both light and dark-never given a choice?"

Riku sneered, "That's simple; It's because you mess up our worlds."

"And YOU alone, Xemnas." Lea added, softly growling, "Or should I say, Xehanort? You caused damage to everything from the very beginning, it's no wonder most of us Nobodies lost our hearts in the first place!"

Then Sora continued for both of them, "Even though Nobodies don't even exist and aren't sad about anything, I think there are some who make an exception! It's you who's the real heartless and nobody from the start! Even as a human, you were never sad about anything!" accusingly at Xemnas who chuckled.

"Very good. You don't miss a thing. I cannot feel-sorrow... No matter what misery befalls the worlds. No matter what you think, what you feel, or how you exist." said the Nobody.

Lea started trembling in anger, but he did his best to hold it in, while he said, glaring at Xemnas, "You knew from the very beginning on how heartless and nobodies work, and you lied to all of us, except for Xigbar! Here's some newsflash-when Ansem's device-thing damaged your Kingdom Hearts, as you can tell, it got Riku back to normal, and on top of that...I have my heart again!"

"So you know part of the truth." Xemnas stated. It wasn't a question.

"I remember everything now." Lea continued, "Ten years ago...it was YOU who killed Isa and me, causing both of us to split into a heartless and nobodies." which was shocking Sora and the others at this reveal, but he wasn't finished yet.

The redhead continued, "And if I remember correctly, you had a Keyblade too at some point. If that's the case, then why go through all the trouble in turning yourself into a heartless and a nobody and not use your keyblade, instead just used Roxas, and lie to us? What is it that you really want, Xemnas?"

"Xehanort had a Keyblade too!?" Goofy exclaimed in shock.

"He...was the reason how you lost your heart?" Sora asked, stunned and horrified at this, before facing Xemnas again who smiled evilly.

"That you will never know, Axel." Xemnas sneered, using a blast of energy towards the others, but Lea quickly stood in front of Sora and the others, using his Chakrams to block the attack, though he was struggling to hold it back without getting himself and the group killed. As if time seemed to have speed forward, when Lea lowered his weapons, he gasped as Xemnas had quickly levitated himself, doing something bad with the heart-shaped moon.

"Hear me, Kingdom Hearts! It seems we must begin anew." Xemnas was saying, "Ah, but know this: I will give to you as many hearts as it takes. Mark my words! You can no more be complete without me than I without you. Heed me, Kingdom Hearts! Lend me your power, so that we may be complete! The power to erase the fools that

hinder us."

Mickey cried out, "Xemnas, NO!" but he was ignored.

"Hearts quivering with hatred..." Xemnas continued.

"Xemnas, don't!" Sora shouted.

"Hearts burning with rage..."

"You'll never win!" Donald screamed.

"Hearts scarred by envy..."

Lea practically shouted at the top of his lungs, "SHUT UP, Xemnas!"

But Xemnas continued to ignore them as he continued to Kingdom Hearts, "That fool Ansem said the heart's true nature was beyond his understanding. But it's not beyond mine! Hearts are the source of all power!"

At this, the moon then glowed insanely bright, causing everyone to cover their eyes at the brightness. When everyone lowered their arms and the light disappeared, Xemnas was gone too, but they knew that he was around somewhere.

"Hey, don't run from us, coward!" Lea shouted.

"We're not gonna let him get away now!" Mickey said to the others who nodded in agreement, before Kairi told everyone to look and when they did, magically, a giant blue door appeared, just in front of the moon.

"What's goin' on?" Goofy asked.

Lea blinked in confusion. "What in the world is that?"

"Kingdom Hearts." Mickey said knowingly, as Lea turned to him, and the redhead asked, "That's Kingdom Hearts? But why did it appear out of nowhere?"

Mickey then explained, "The worlds gave us this doorway. They want us to be the guardians of their destiny!"

That made some sort of sense, though Lea can understand the worlds choosing Sora and his friends, but Lea himself? Even after what he's done? Was he ready to begin his atonement? Even so, he decided that he'll join them in the final battle. Then once Xemnas is finished, he'll work on what to do with his life.

"Xemnas's gotta be inside." Sora stated, having no fear what so ever.

"Once we go through, there's no turning back. It's victory...or oblivion. So, Sora...are you ready?" Riku stated and inquired.

"As ready as I'll ever be!" Sora replied.

Riku smiled, before saying, "Do you remember before? We stood facing each other on opposite sides of that door. Now we stand side-by-side. Let's go home together

this time."

"Yeah." Sora smiled back.

At this, Lea felt sad. While he was glad that Sora had his best friend back, the pyro himself lost everything, only to gain his heart again. What would he do now? 'Isa...Roxas...Namine...and...whoever the girl is...I'm sorry.' he thought.

'Don't be sad, Axel.' a female voice that sounded like Kairi spoke in his mind.

When Lea blinked, he suddenly found himself in an empty space, no sign of Sora or the others as he looked around for the source of the voice. Wondering where he was, when he looked again, standing in front of him, was Roxas, Isa, and the girl from his dream...when he got his heart back, except...she looked just like a fourteen year old Kairi, but with short black hair, a gentle smile, and an Organization coat.

"Who?" Lea asked, trying so hard to remember who she is.

'Everything will be alright.' said Roxas, also smiling. Isa didn't say anything, as he was in his adult-self, but lacked Saïx's 'X' scar, lacked the pointy ears, and his eyes...were his normal shaded green instead of the amber colour. Instead, he nodded with a sad smile.

Lea could've sworn that he was about to cry, and just as he was about to approach him, in another blink, he found himself back on the tower, and Sora and the others were there.

"You okay?" Donald asked, seeing the puzzled look on Lea's face.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." Lea replied, before thinking to himself, 'That girl...who is she? Why can't I remember her?'

He then shook his head, and decided to worry about that later. They had a job to do; the final battle was just inside these doors. Lea was not afraid. He was ready, even at the cost of his own life. He will do all of his power to help Sora to defeat Xemnas once and for all.

At this, Sora, Riku and Mickey stood together, touching their Keyblade together, as the weapons glowed brightly, before they pointed them up in the air, and as three beams of light shot into the dark sky, the door opened, revealing a path mystic realm inside, where their final battle is.

"Get ready, Xemnas." Sora stated, "It all ends here!"

'It does end here.' Lea thought to himself. 'After that, everything will return to normal...except...for me.' knowing that despite all this, he had no clue on what to do.

He had no clue on what's ahead of him either.


The final battle begins in the next chapter, as well as more unexpected surprises! 50 points to those who can figure out the answer on what will happen in the next chapter! Continue those lovely reviews and We'll be back soon!