Azure eyes blinked at a plain, red, brick wall with a single, barely-noticeable red-curtained window up high as a head turned to scan behind its owner. The boy ran a hand through his spiky blond hair in confusion before pressing it firmly against the wall. Nothing happened. Frowning, he repeated the gesture in a different place with the same result. He desperately tried multiple times, scowling at the successive failures. Now gritting his teeth, he kicked the wall in frustration, immediately regretting it as he clutched his foot and howled in pain. Sighing, he turned and hobbled away, glaring ahead. Stupid Axel! Why the hell would he want to live in a place like that? The entire world is a ghost town, just full of empty houses, and yet he picked the one with no doors or stairs?! What maniac would choose that? How can he even live there? What was he thinking?

Axel lay on the couch, staring at the ceiling with his arms behind his head, absently nudging the armrest with his foot. He was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice the pressure on his wounded arm, now securely wrapped in a bandage. I guess I wasn't thinking clearly… I just needed to escape. With Roxas gone, there was nothing left for me. He hates it here, and now he probably hates me too… Rolling over onto his uninjured side, he felt his tired green eyes slowly wander over the coffee table in front of him, before falling closed. How in the worlds am I going to break it to him that this is to be our permanent residence until I work out how we can get the Organization off our tails for good? Groaning softly, he brought his hands together beneath his face and pulled up his legs. Provided he comes back at all, that is…

Walking with his hands in his pockets, Roxas glared at the ground, a pebble dancing before his feet. As he whirled around to a crash behind him, Keyblade in hand, he saw none other than Demyx picking himself up and dusting himself off. Carefully stepping out from behind the trash cans with his arms up, the taller man peered into the shorter blond's eyes from behind his mullet, silently pleading with him. "Roxas, come back to us." Said boy continued glaring, this time at the pseudo-brunette mullet atop the older boy's head. "Why? No one would miss me. And last time I checked, neither of us had hearts." Demyx's eyes appeared hurt and saddened, and he briefly stopped his subconscious dance-like bouncing. "Naw, we do too have hearts! Don't be maaaad. " Roxas' grip tightened on his keyblade. Although I've never had a reason to not trust No. IX, he's talked badly about Axel before, and for that I'll never forgive him! The mullet-haired boy observed the fierce look on his face and strength of his stance and sighed, looking away as he found his answer. "I wish it never had to come to this, Roxas. I liked you – you were nothing like the other members. I see the lack of a heart has finally set in, though." Roxas swished his keyblade between them in irritation. "Shut up!" Demyx tossed up his hand and felt the moisture in the air condense around him, water drops becoming rivulets flowing into his palm, forming his instrument. As it materialized, he spun it around for show and dramatically pointed at the younger boy, resuming his dance.

Demyx easily fended off the blows, though he begrudgingly used his sitar to do so. Arpeggio, forgive me! With a grunt of exertion, he brought down the blunt end of Arpeggio on Roxas' head, cringing at the sound of the impact. Looking past his weapon to observe his opponent, his eyes flew open and the top half of his body bent backwards as he narrowly dodged the keyblade swung at his neck. "What the-" he yelled as he did half a backflip, hands going the rest of the way to the ground as he threw his legs over his head to keep them out of harm's way. Back on his feet a safe distance away, Demyx turned to watch Roxas' movements. "You're tense, much more so than when we last fought together. Why is that? Was it because you were on my side back then?" The spiky-haired boy glared in response, defensively raising the arm that already held his second keyblade.

Surprised emerald eyes keenly watched the battle below, wandering over to Roxas. "Two?" the redhead whispered, staring at the keyblades. He blunk once and his friend was on the ground, pinned beneath his assailant's foot, keyblades out of reach as the bludgeon was positioned above his head. "No!" Axel's scream was muffled by a sleeved arm flung across his mouth from behind, a firm grip digging into his wound. Not caring who it was, he bit down hard, earning a yelp from his attacker who released him to clutch the bitten arm. Whirling around, he glared at the man standing slightly away from him. "What are you doing here?!" The man sneered in response, unsightly scar adding further menace to his malicious features. Saix simply pointed past them to the battle. "I never expected you to question it." Axel's eyes narrowed, latching onto his former friend's golden ones. "I'm not looking! You have the eyes of a monster right now. Why should I trust you?!" Messy blue hair was shaken from his face as a low rumble emerged from his throat, an amused smile tugging at his lips. Saix laughing? This can't be good. "Because, Lea, this may be the last you ever see of your little toy boy." Growling, the pyro glared, summoning his chakrams to his hands, slender fingers curling around the cross-pieces. "He is not my toy-" the redhead gasped at the blow to his neck, slumping against Saix and dropping his weapons with loud clinks, eyes rolling as his vision blurred and faded, but not before hearing Xigbar's deep chortling blend in with Saix's gravelly chuckling.

Author's Note: Okay, guys: In all my stories, I always try to be as IC to the characters/places as possible, but I've always been confused about whether or not "Keyblade" always has a capital or if it's only in some cases, so please excuse any continuity errors, and if someone could kindly point it out to me, I will NOT make the same mistake in future. Thank you all for your help and support.