Sora, Riku, and Axel teleported to Betwixt and Between, a place that looked like an endless blue tunnel of swirls and voids. It was like an in between place, not quite in any of the worlds, but not quite in The World That Never Was yet.
"Whoa...this place is funky," Sora said.
"Come on..." Axel said, "I'm here to get Kairi, and get out. The Organization probably already knows we're here." As soon as he finished that sentence, there was an ominous swooshing sound, and then a nobody appeared, then several more, then hundreds.
"Holy crap," Riku said, "here too?" Each of them took out their weapons, and prepared for battle.
"We can't get through unless they're all down," Axel, "so let's get going. Burn!" With that, the battle started. Each of them started in a different direction and began hacking and slashing, killing as many nobodies as they could. They fought for seemed like ages, but for each one they killed, two more seemed to replace it. There was no end. Finally, the three of them gathered in the center of the nobodies, gasping for air and exhausted.
"I think I liked it better when they were on my side," Axel said.
Sora glanced up at him, "feeling a little...regret?"
Axel shook his head and peered back at Sora, "nah, I can handle these punks. Heh, watch this." He jumped into the air and landed among the nobodies. Releasing his chakrams and letting them spin around and around him, burning flame, he crossed his arms and his body was enveloped in flames as he let loose a kamikaze attack. Fire columns erupted everywhere, filling the space with fire and explosions. Blinding flashes of red, orange, and yellow ricocheted off the air and burst as a spiral tower of fire blasted upwards. Suddenly, everything was silent. The sound of the nobodies, the heat of the flames was all gone, there was nothing. It was just back to the tranquil blue voids.
"Whoa..." Sora gasped in awe as he gazed around the empty space around him, a second ago filled with nobodies. Then out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Axel, lying on the ground, the last small flames dying out. Instantly, Sora and Riku ran over to him. As they neared, they could see that black shadowy smoky tendrils wisped off of Axel's body, drifting into the air and floating away.
"You're...fading away," Sora said.
"Well, that's what happens when you put your whole being into an attack, you know what I mean?" Axel said, not even glancing at him, "not that nobodies actually HAVE beings, right?" He added, glancing at Riku, "anyway, I digress. Go, find Kairi. Oh, almost forgot, sorry for what I did to her."
"When we find her, you can tell her that yourself," Sora said. Axel turned back to facing the ceiling.
"Nah, think I'll pass," he said, "my heart just wouldn't be in it, you know? Haven't got one." He laughed at his own little joke, "oh yeah, one more thing." He turned to Sora, "could you tell Fal that I'm really sorry?"
"She won't take it lightly, best if you tell her yourself," Riku said.
"I know...but she'd probably kill me," Axel said, chuckling, "take good care of her for me, will you?"
Sora nodded, "Axel...why'd you do it?"
Axel waited a few seconds before replying, "I wanted to see Roxas. Fal, me...it just wouldn't have been the same without him too. Fal and I both missed him, the two of them made me feel like I had a heart. It's kind of...funny." He looked at Sora, "you make me feel...the same..." he left his sentence hanging as his expression hardened again, "Kairi's in the castle dungeon, now go!" He raised his arm and opened a portal, then his arm feel limply to the ground again.
Sora and Riku watched as Axel's body faded away into the shadowy tendrils and disappeared into the air, "Axel..."
The second Axel died, Falcon sat up in bed, late at night. She had felt a jolt, but what was it? 'What was that?' she wondered, but decided to not let it bother her, and fell back asleep.
"Who are you...?" Kairi asked. A ghostly apparition had appeared in front of her, a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes just like Kairi's (the eyes, not the hair.)
"Just come with me..." the girl said as she appeared out of a dark portal, the same portal Organization XIII used for transportation, "I'm going to get you out of here. Sora and Riku, they're coming for you."
Kairi stepped forward towards her, "who are you...?"
"I am Namine," the girl said, finally introducing herself, "the old one. You might know the new one: Falcon."
"Falcon!? She's Namine? I never knew she was even part of the Organization!" Kairi exclaimed. Namine just smiled and extended her hand, which Kairi took and together they stepped into the portal.
"Will these stupid things just leave us alone!?" Sora cried as he and Riku busted more nobodies, "they're everywhere!"
"Sora! Riku!" a familiar voice called from the balcony above.
"Kairi!" Sora called happily, "there you are!" Kairi took two steps back and ran, jumping down to the floor below and landing gently, Namine following behind.
"Hello Sora, Riku," Namine said, her voice soft and whispery, "I am Namine."
'Namine...?' both Sora and Riku thought, 'but I thought...'
"The old one..." Namine said, as if she could read their minds, "you could say I am acquainted with Falcon, our new Namine?" Sora and Riku nodded and turned, finishing off the last of the nobodies.
"Kairi, come on, let's get out of here before the Organization gangs up on us," Sora said.
"But how?" Riku asked, "no ship, no portal, no-!" Cutting him off, Namine calmly opened a dark portal, and stepped back.
"Go on," she urged, "go, before they find you."
"Aren't you coming?" Kairi asked as Sora and Riku ran in, all too happy to be out.
Namine shook her head, "I must stay, now go!" Kairi nodded and ran into the portal as well, and Namine disappeared as well as the portal with wisps of black shadow.
"Falcon's not going to take this well," Sora said as they made their way back to Hollow Bastion, "I don't know how to break it to her." They soon arrived at Hollow Bastion's front door, and Kairi rang the doorbell.
Inside, Aerith heard the doorbell first. They had been waiting for days for Sora, Riku, and Axel to return, totally unaware that Axel had died, how could they be? Everyone but Falcon gathered at the front door, as Falcon was in the library, the one place in the castle where the doorbell couldn't be heard.
"Falcon!" Yuffie called, "come on-!" Falcon heard her, but thought it was kinda weird how she was cut off, interesting... Slowly she got up and walked to the front door, having a strange feeling that something was not right. She distantly heard someone say, 'I don't know how we should break it to her..." and she suddenly became very afraid.
'Break what to me?' she wondered, 'what happened? Could it be...no...that can't happen...' She slowed her steps to the front door, and as she rounded the corner, she saw everyone standing there. Casting all thoughts aside, she was instantly relieved to see Kairi had been brought back safely.
"Kairi!" Falcon cried, giving her a hug, "I haven't seen you in ages!" She glanced around at Sora and Riku and she realized that something was missing. At first for some reason, she couldn't place what it was, then it hit her like a thunderbolt: Axel.
"Where's Axel?" she asked, though she already basically knew the answer, she wasn't willing to accept it, "he did come back, right?" Sora and Riku looked at each other nervously and gulped, avoiding her gaze, "right!?"
"Uh..." Sora began, "Falcon," there was a slight pause as he thought about how to say this, "he wants to apologize, Axel says he's sorry." Falcon's body seemed to freeze up, and every muscle in her body seemed to ice over for a second. She knew it was coming, but it still hit her like a tidal wave. It felt like someone had just slapped her across the face. She could feel tears form in her eyes.
"W-what?" she managed to choke out. She could see everyone gazing at her with sympathetic pity, and it made her angry that all these people thought that they could comfort her.
'Like they know how much this hurts...' she thought bitterly.
"He's...dead," Riku finally said, "he did a kamikaze attack to kill all the nobodies. He wanted us to tell you that he was really sorry." Falcon let out a half choke half sob, and turned so that no one would see the tears streaming down her face.
'I just got him back...just for a few days...and now he's gone..." she thought blankly, 'he's gone...just like that. Without even saying goodbye...' Sobbing, Falcon ran up the stairs, blinded by tears so that she could barely even see where she was going. She burst into her room, collapsed onto the bed, and began sobbing her eyes out. Without warning, images started flashing through her mind, playing like a movie. Mental videos of her and Axel, which of course only made her cry more.
"Why...?" she sobbed weakly, "why now...? I just got him back...and now he's gone again...How could the world be so cruel?!" The pain in her heart tore and shredded her apart, slashing at her, threatening to kill her. It was so great her whole body was shaking, "I...I love him..." she whispered, surprising even herself. She had told herself so many times she would never say that about someone, but she had just broken that promise. The sobbing continued for another half hour until she ran out of tears. By then her cheeks and eyes were red. Just wanting to be somewhere other than here, she charged down the stairs and zoomed into the field outside, where it was still raining. She ran and ran until she reached the bottom of the trail, then knelt down and let the tears mix in with the steady falling rain. She didn't care about how she was getting soaked, that was the last thing on her mind.
"Namine…" a voice called. As she looked up, Falcon realized it was Saix. Growling (she had never much liked Saix), she stood up and opened her wings, "the Superior wants you back. We lost half of our Organization already; it would do you well to come back." Falcon stubbornly shook her head, though less defiantly than last time. Now that Axel was gone, she didn't really know where she belonged anymore.
As if reading her mind, Saix narrowed his eyes, "Axel…he was always a troublemaker. Good riddance that he's gone. I don't know why you always hung out around the likes of him." With that, Falcon's eyes blazed and she unsheathed her two keyblades.
"It looks like I'll have to drag you back by force," Saix muttered, and his berserker weapon flashed into his hand, "still…same fate." With a snarl, Falcon leapt at him and began hacking and slashing. Saix expertly blocked them all, and with a swipe of his arm and weapon, swept her backwards. She crashed to the ground but instantly got up again. Saix slashed the weapon through the air again, sending a powerful air current towards Falcon, who nimbly jumped to the side and with lightning speed, ran up to him and slashed him with her keyblade. Saix was thrown into the air and Falcon threw her other keyblade at him for a long distance Strike Raid. Saix lifted his weapon and blocked it, and the keyblade clattered to the ground, but Falcon held out her hand and it transported back to her. The battle went on for sometime, each person getting a hit, and the stalemate never ending. But then Saix swiftly dodged in front of Falcon and jabbed her hard in the gut with his elbow. Falcon flew backwards, coughing, her mind swimming. As her vision dimmed, she saw Saix strolling toward her with a triumphant smirk.
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