The sounds of arguing broke way to fighting as Roxas made his way down the ravine. He didn't worry about the well-being of anyone in either group; he knew no one was fighting to kill, just to get the other group to back off. He grumbled to himself as he ran, wishing Sora and his friends would mind their own business and let him do his job in peace. It wasn't as though they were doing any harm by creating their own Kingdom Hearts. They would just get the hearts they needed and then be on their way. It didn't affect any of them, so why did they have to butt in and make the job he didn't like doing even more difficult?

The clashing between nothingness and light didn't draw as many Heartless as Roxas had thought it would. He continued down the ravine, hoping that by putting some distance between himself and the conflict, perhaps the Heartless would pursue him. The few Heartless that did appear seemed to pay him no mind and wandered deeper into the ravine. Curious by their behavior, but even more set on slaying them and setting their hearts free, he chased after them, slashing through whichever ones he could catch up to.

As he continued, the sounds of the fight behind him faded, but another set of voices reached him from ahead. He wasn't sure what he could be running toward, but it was whatever the Heartless were after, and they were going to lead him straight to it. He would've continued to follow the Heartless right to the source if the sound of footsteps heading toward him hadn't come to his attention, and very quickly he dove to the side of the cliffs and hid himself in the shadows.

Holding his breath, Roxas dismissed his Keyblade and pressed himself against the ravine wall. His dark cloak helped to hide him among its long, dark shadows, and the rain hid his heavy breaths as he waited for whatever was approaching to pass.

Then, for a quick moment, Kairi was passing him. How had she gotten separated from her group? There was worry in her eyes and she was fighting through Heartless not to defeat them but to pass through. Before he could even think to speak, she was gone, heading back to where he'd come from. He didn't worry about her; she would be safe once she reached Sora and the others, and seemed to be doing fine on her own. Perhaps she was what the Heartless were after.

Sure enough, there was a small wave trailing up the ravine behind her, and Roxas revealed himself from against the wall. The Heartless didn't hesitate, but that was fine for him. He tore through them with his blade, destroying natural and Emblem Heartless alike. There was a short flurry of hearts released into the sky, and then the monsters were mostly gone. A few had slipped past his attacks and continued down deeper into the ravine, much to his confusion. Shouldn't the Heartless be chasing after the Princess of Heart?

He wasn't a Heartless, so he didn't know how their minds worked. He wasn't about to trouble himself with it, either; there were still Heartless, and the more hearts he released now, the less he would have to release later, and the sooner he and Axel could leave the Organization, with Xion in tow. Wiping his brow, still hidden beneath his hood, Roxas ran down the path and into another clearing.

Much to his surprise, there were plenty of Heartless here, and they were much bigger than the ones he'd been facing off against before. He scolded himself silently as he approached; he should've taken advantage of that brief reprieve he'd had and downed a potion, but instead he'd run ahead without thinking. He shook his head. That wouldn't matter. He could handle these monsters easily.

He rushed in without giving it much thought. There was a Large Body, several Shadows, and even some Neo-Shadows. He didn't pay attention to the natural Heartless until the Large Body was slain. It was easy enough; he knew he had to attack the backside, and expertly used magic to distract it from all angles. When it went down, he brushed the Shadows and Neo-Shadows aside as nothing more than pests. Surely all this commotion would cause more Emblem Heartless to arrive in a matter of moments.

As he caught his breath, Roxas looked down to where all the Heartless had been gathering. A light gasp escaped him and he stepped back hesitantly as he saw someone lying on the ground. They were still, but it looked like they still had their heart. At the very least, they weren't a Heartless themselves, or even a Nobody. What caused Roxas the most surprise was the fact that the boy laying on the ground looked exactly like him.

Hesitantly, he approached the unconscious boy and examined him. He was scratched up a bit, but other than that he seemed okay. He must've been overwhelmed by the Heartless and knocked out, Roxas figured. It was unsettling seeing someone who looked so much like him, even more so than Sora. He should've looked in pain or even scared, but he looked rather peaceful, like he'd just laid down to take a nap. Roxas shook his head. This definitely had to be one of Sora's friends; only someone like him could take a nap in the middle of a battlefield.

There were still no Heartless popping up, so Roxas decided to examine the boy further. He carefully flipped him onto his other side, that way he wouldn't be breathing in the puddles of water on the ground. Roxas frowned. He had no responsibility for this kid, he didn't even know his name, and yet he felt like he needed to do something to protect him, at least from the weather.

The blonde Nobody looked over his shoulder. Still no Heartless, and no one from the hero side or the Organization coming down after him. It was probably only a matter of time before Kairi caught up to the others and let them know about their fallen comrade. He couldn't stick around here. He had to lead the Heartless somewhere else.

Bracing himself, Roxas hooked one of the boy's arms over his own shoulder and heaved him off the ground. For such a small person, he was pretty heavy. Half-carrying and half-dragging the other boy, Roxas moved him off to the side of the ravine under an overhang. The rain splattered onto them even under the rock's cover, but it was better than sitting in the middle of the downpour.

As he attempted to set the sleeping boy down, something dug into Roxas's shoulder, making him hiss in pain and nearly drop the other. He caught him and managed to set him down somewhat softly, but then stepped back to figure out what had cut him. Looking the boy over, he saw something he hadn't noticed before: a strange piece of equipment attached to the boy's shoulder. The edge of it looked rather sharp, and he supposed that was what had cut him. But what was it?

Looking around again and sure that there wasn't anyone coming their way, Roxas bent over and unclipped the armor from the boy's arm. Lightning flashed in the sky and a loud clap of thunder made him jump, making him practically drop the equipment. He looked back down at the other boy.

"Hold this," Roxas muttered to the unconscious youth, then unzipped his coat and dropped it over him. The clothing he wore beneath his cloak was almost identical to the other boy's, but that hadn't been his reasoning in changing his outerwear. Instead, he attempted to attach the armor to his own sleeve now that the obnoxiously large and baggy cloak was off of him.

It slipped on rather easily and Roxas couldn't help but chuckle to himself. This seemed stupid. What was this measly thing supposed to protect? If anything it would assist in dislocating one's shoulder. It wasn't heavy by any means, but it stuck out at such a strange angle that it had to get in the way sometimes. Maybe the other boy was used to it.

Roxas went to grab the armor and take it off to return it, but instead of slipping off, his thumb found an impression and part of the armor sunk in, like a button. There was a flash of light and Roxas let out a surprised yelp as he clamped his eyes shut. At once, his body felt heavier, and something was wrapped around his head. Panicking, he wrenched his eyes open to find a visor in front of them. He looked at his arms and what he could see of his body and found that it was covered in sturdy armor.

Now the thing on the boy's shoulder was seeming a little more practical. Roxas took a few hesitant steps, listening to the clanking of his new boots as he walked around. Tentatively, he punched at his arm, not surprised he couldn't feel a thing. He looked back down at the boy. Why hadn't he been wearing this when he was fighting off those Heartless? Had they been ambushed? Or was he just as dense as Sora? Roxas chuckled to himself at his joke. Probably.

There was a murmur in the air and the atmosphere changed. In the pit of his stomach, Roxas felt something coming, something big. As long as it was a Heartless, he didn't care, and he was sure that the other boy wouldn't mind him borrowing his armor for one little battle.

Summoning up his Keyblade, he scanned the area for whatever it was that he'd sensed. Just as he was about to give up and decide he was just imagining things, he looked up. A very large, dragon-like Heartless swooped down at him just then, and he barely had time to duck out of the way.

"A Dustflier!?" he exclaimed, gritting his teeth. One of the toughest Heartless known to the Organization. He'd had to tackle these things before, and every time he'd almost come out a loser. It was probably too soon after him reawakening to take on such a monster, but Saïx's voice echoed in his mind. He knew how many hearts this Heartless contained, and to return without taking it out, Saïx would never let him live it down. Besides, Zexion and Axel weren't too far up ahead. He was sure whatever skirmish they were in with the heroes would be over soon, and then they could come to help. The three of them would be able to take it out no problem.

The Dustflier spun around and charged at Roxas again, which he was easily able to sidestep. He heard it make a guttural growl and it turned to him again, this time flying upward before landing hard in front of him. The ground shook beneath Roxas's feet and caused him to stumble forward, but he managed to catch himself in time to parry a slash from the monster's tail. The Heartless seemed taken aback at the boy fighting with him, giving Roxas enough time to leap into the air and land a few strikes on its rock-hard back.

Roxas continued this volley of dodging, parrying, and attacking as the Dustflier continued to try to flatten him. It seemed to be ignoring the other boy completely, which was fine with him. He didn't have time to be worrying about an unconscious dummy, as it was. The Dustflier was well aware that Roxas was the threat to take out, and it was doing its best to do exactly that, and was almost successful.

Roxas was knocked around quite a few times, but each was mostly a glancing blow, and the armor nullified it for the most part. Honestly, the worst part of this creature was that it was wearing him down, and he didn't think that he was tiring it out in turn. He wanted to take his time with it, knowing there was no other way to beat it, and buying time for the others to join him as well. However, he was already tired from the many Heartless he had already slain, and this was not a good first mission for him to go on. He hadn't warmed up at all since reawakening just a few days ago. He definitely wasn't up to a challenge as great as this.

Growing tired of playing around with the monster, Roxas grasped his Keyblade with both hands and let the light within him flow into his weapon. The blade began to shine and Roxas jumped back to avoid the shaking of the ground as the Dustflier landed. Pulling back his Keyblade, he let out a savage cry and dashed forward, the light expanding past the bounds of his sword and slamming into the Heartless's body. It recoiled and stumbled back, allowing Roxas to land hit after hit, each burning away the darkness the Heartless held.

Jumping back, Roxas let the light free from within him, pillars of its radiant power bursting forth and knocking the Dustflier away. When all the light was gone, he fell to his knee, panting. He shouldn't have done that. That had taken way too much energy, and he knew his opponent wasn't going to give him enough time to recover before returning the barrage of attacks. Using the Keyblade as a crutch, he forced himself to his feet, shaking hard.

The Dustflier fluttered its wings and shook its head, coming out of the stupor Roxas's strikes had caused. The Nobody groaned, half-hoping it would have at least given up and flown away, but it probably wasn't even halfway defeated. It looked too alert for that. It took every ounce of strength he had left just to lift the Keyblade.

Come on, Axel, he thought angrily. You guys can't still be messing with Sora, can you? I need your help!

The Dustflier sailed forward, bringing its feet in front of it for a mighty kick. Roxas braced himself behind his Keyblade, held in front of him defensively, but it made no difference. The Heartless knocked him back with ease, throwing him onto his back and sending him rolling over the dirt. Again he was thankful for the armor, which prevented him from being scratched up or seriously injured. The blow had knocked the wind from him, though, and was making it difficult to stand up again.

He had only managed to get to a knee when the Dustflier flew by again, this time whacking up his front side with its tail. His head spun as he went airborne, and the next thing he knew was his body crashing into the ravine wall. He fell forward, landing in a heap, and there was the sound of light shimmering as his Keyblade disappeared beside him. He tensed his arms and tried to push up, but he couldn't budge. His breathing became shallow and any consciousness he was still grasping to was slipping away quickly.

The Dustflier was approaching him again – he could hear the shuttering flaps of its fleshy wings – but he could do nothing against it. He had hoped to hold it off at best, not get erased by it. He heard voices, distant and garbled like he was underwater, and he fell unconscious before he could feel the inevitable weight of the Dustflier crushing down on him.

The first thing Ventus became aware of was how soft the sheets he was swaddled in felt, and how warm the bed was. A small smile pulled on his mouth and he nestled into his bed more firmly, cozy and comfortable. Soon, he would hear either Terra or Aqua laugh at him for being lazy and chide him to get out of bed. There was still plenty to be done with Sora, Kairi, and Riku. His smile faded some, trying to remember what he had been doing before he fell asleep. He remembered flying to Radiant Garden…

He shuddered slightly, remembering the Heartless and the heavy rain that had chilled him to the bone. He pulled the covers up even further, to his chin.

"Finally, you're waking up."

Ven heard the voice, but he couldn't identify who it was. They probably weren't talking to him. He wasn't waking up at all; in fact, he wanted to go back to sleep. This bed was so warm.

"Roxas, come on, you're freaking me out a little bit."

Roxas… that was a name he'd heard before, but he couldn't exactly remember where. He was sure Sora had talked about it when he was explaining his journey, but there were a lot of names in that story Ven wasn't familiar with. How could he be expected to remember all of them?

"Hey… Roxas!"

This time, Ven was jostled and nearly rolled out of the bed. He sat bolt upright, a mistake as his head stung. He grabbed his forehead and moaned, clamping his eyes closed again. However, in that short millisecond he had seen his surroundings, they hadn't been his room at the Mysterious Tower. It took him a moment longer to process that, still recovering from his head pounding and threatening to break free of his skull.

"Axel, you shouldn't push him out of bed like that."

There was another voice, somewhat familiar, and more feminine.

"Xion! You were supposed to stay in the hallway until I cued you!"

"I'm not going to let you push Roxas out of bed and knock him out again before I get to see him."

Xion? Axel? Who were those people? And why was the room he'd been in a blinding white? There wasn't any white in the Mysterious Tower, and now that he thought about it, the beds hadn't felt like this either. Everything was different, and even the scent of the room was stale, not like the musty smell of books and magic he was used to.

Slowly, Ventus opened his eyes. The room was perfectly square and devoid of anything interesting to look at. There were no books piled so high they were falling on top of each other, no desks filled with strange artifacts he wasn't allowed to touch. The window showed a world of black outside with a tiny moon forming on the horizon.

Most puzzling of all were the two people he found standing beside him. One was very tall and lanky, with limbs thinner than even his own. Atop his head was something that looked more like fire than hair, and his sharp green eyes shined at him expectantly. Beside him was a much shorter person, who Ven would've mistaken for Kairi if she hadn't had short, black hair. She looked much less excited than the man; she almost looked concerned. They both wore long, black coats he knew he'd been told about before, but he couldn't place them at the moment.

"About time you focused, Roxas," the tall man said, waving a hand dismissively. "Like I said, you had me pretending I was worried for a while. You were out pretty hard. Good thing I found you in that ravine after the good guys took down that Dustflier."

All of these words were very foreign to him. He just stared blankly at the pair, trying to figure out how best to ask where he was without freaking them out.

"Axel…" the girl said, stepping forward and looking at Ven closely. "I… This isn't Roxas."

"What are you talking about?" Axel said irritably, also taking a closer look. "Of course this is Roxas! I wouldn't just—"

He cut himself short. When his eyes met with Ven's, something seemed to click in his expression. He went from looking relaxed to much more lost.

Ven cracked a shallow smile and backed up on the bed as much as he could.

"Uh… hi," he grinned, unsure. "Um… I don't know who this Roxas is, but I'm Ventus. Ven for short. Uh… nice to meet you?"

Axel backed away very quickly, then slammed his palms into his forehead.

"What happened to Roxas!?" he asked, mostly to himself. The girl, Xion, bit her lip and fiddled with her fingers.

"To be fair, he does look just like Roxas," she said. "And you said he was knocked out when you found him, right?"

"What were you doing wearing Roxas's coat!?" Axel demanded, turning on Ven quickly.

"I… What?"

Ventus looked down at himself. Sure enough, he wasn't wearing his normal clothes at all. He was wearing a cloak just the same as Axel and Xion. He certainly didn't remember putting it on.

"I didn't do this!" he argued. "I just remember passing out, really! I don't even know a Roxas."

"Axel, I don't think this is his fault," Xion cut in. "I think we made a mistake somewhere."

"Yeah, but then where's the real Roxas?" Axel grumbled. "I knew Zexion making duplicates was a bad idea…"

"I'm not a duplicate," Ven interjected. "I'm Ventus. I'm friends with Sora and Riku, and Aqua and Terra, and Kairi, too."

"Oh great," Axel muttered. "So we grabbed a hero. They are not going to be happy about this."

"I'm sure they'll understand," Ven said, gaining confidence. He slid to the end of the bed and hung his legs over the side. "Sora's the nicest guy I've ever met, and I bet Aqua and Terra will just be happy to see me again. Oh, where are we, anyway?"

"Ventus, I don't think things are going to be that simple," Xion answered. "You see, we're in the World That Never Was, headquarters of Organization XIII."

Those names clicked. He remembered distinctly hearing about Organization XIII, the group of Nobodies that tried to build their own Kingdom Hearts for their leader, Xemnas, to gain a heart and bring back his other half, Xehanort. Ven shuddered and just as quickly as he'd warmed up to the two, he cooled off.

"But Organization XIII… are bad guys," Ven said.

"No, now that's not completely true," Axel replied. "Some of us are, yeah, bad guys. But then some of us just want hearts. It's not that bad."

"Most of the bad guys are gone this time around," Xion explained. "Xemnas was the real bad guy. He wanted to use Kingdom Hearts for himself to do awful things. But now that he and Xigbar are gone, Saïx is in charge. All he wants is to get hearts for all the members who need one."

"That doesn't mean he'll take kindly to you being here," Axel continued darkly. "You see, Roxas was an important part of our team. He has a Keyblade, the only weapon capable of releasing the hearts inside of the Heartless. Those captured hearts would come here and start to form Kingdom Hearts, the only place we're gonna be able to go in and find the hearts that rightfully belong to us."

"And more importantly, Roxas is our friend," Xion said. "He was there for me and Axel when everyone else had turned their backs on us. He's always trying to do the right thing."

"Oh. I'm sorry," Ven replied. He hung his head and thought. These people could be lying to him, he realized. Sora had said Organization XIII were the bad guys in one of his journeys. However, he did remember him mentioning an Axel, and from the way he'd been described, it sounded like he had really helped them out.

"Wait, is Roxas… Sora's Nobody?" he asked after a length. He seemed to remember hearing something like that.

"That's right," Axel answered.

"That's what makes him so special," Xion elaborated. "Even though he could never have a heart of his own, he still wants to help everyone else get theirs. It's how I feel about it too. As long as Axel can get his own heart, then I don't care if I have to defeat thousands of Heartless."

"You can wield a Keyblade, too?" Ven questioned.

"Yes. That's thanks to Roxas as well. I was supposed to be a duplicate of him, a replica. Something went wrong along the way and I became my own person, and my creators even brought me back to help the Organization again. They promised me that if I help, once Kingdom Hearts is complete and everyone has hearts, I can leave along with Roxas and Axel, and we can live the lives we never had a chance to before."

Ven lowered his head again. If Xion and Roxas were so selfless to help their friends, they couldn't be bad guys. In his experiences, bad guys didn't know what friendship was, but these two at least seemed to have a good idea of what it was. He knew Axel was only being short with him because he wasn't Roxas, and he couldn't blame him. If his best friend had gone missing and he thought he'd found him, only to find out that it wasn't his friend at all, he'd be pretty upset. He knew how hard it was to lose a friend.

"So… how come I can't just leave and help you guys find Roxas?" he asked.

"Saïx would find out, and he wouldn't be too happy about you being here at all," Axel repeated. "As far as he's concerned, your baggage."

"That's not true. Check this out!"

Ven raised his hand in front of him and Wayward Wind materialized into his hand, causing both Axel and Xion to jump back.

"A Keyblade?!" Axel exclaimed.

"That's right!" Ven nodded. "I'm a Keyblade wielder too! That means any Heartless I take out will go to Kingdom Hearts, too, right?"

"That's a good point," Xion said, thinking. "But Saïx still won't be happy you're not Roxas. And with the run-in the Organization just had with Sora's friends, I don't think he'd be willing to just let you walk away."

"That's right," Axel agreed. "From the way he was talking, he's looking for anything to lord over them to convince them to let us release hearts in peace. From the sound of it, he'd be willing to make you a hostage, using your well-being as a way to keep Sora and his friends out of our way."

Ven fell quiet. So there were definitely bad guys in this group. He would have to look out for those.

"So what do we do?" he asked.

"Well, if I had to guess, I would think that Sora and his friends made the same mistake we did," Axel began.

"And what might that mistake be, Axel?"

The three turned when they heard another voice come from the doorway. Standing there was another man, an X scratched across his face. He had long blue hair and had a very grumpy expression. Ven guessed this had to be Saïx.

"Oh uh… you know… almost getting run over by that Dustflier," Axel lied quickly. "You know, we're lucky we got out of there still holding on to our existence!"

"You're also lucky you chose to let the Keyblade wielders eliminate it, or we would have lost all of those hearts it contained thanks to Roxas's carelessness." Saïx's eyes fell directly on Ven, who just managed to look confused. "I expect you are ready to return to your work."

Ven fumbled over his words for a few seconds, trying to figure out how he should respond. Luckily, Xion did it for him.

"He just woke up," Xion explained. "He needs some more time to rest, or he'll just collapse again—"

"He can tell me that for himself," Saïx interrupted. "Besides, he's already caused enough problems nearly losing that Heartless. He needs to make up for his lackluster performance."

Ven swallowed hard, trying to not look as worried as he felt. He saw the hardened expressions Axel and Xion were giving Saïx, and did his best to mimic them. Saïx did not look amused.

"I will give him until this afternoon," Saïx decided. "Then he will go on a mission as I see fit. See to it that he is rested and ready to go."

"And let me guess… we're not allowed to go with him?" Axel said bitterly.

"You're catching on," Saïx replied, and the door closed in front of him.

There was silence for a few moments longer as the three waited to be sure Saïx was out of earshot.

"Nice guy," Ven commented.

"You're lucky he didn't realize you weren't Roxas," Axel reminded him. "That was Saïx being nice. Usually he'd send you on another mission right away."

"You mean he'd send Roxas on another mission right away," Xion corrected. "Either way, I think we should be careful. I think he knows something is up. But he's not going to send Ven alone, either."

"What am I supposed to do on these missions anyway?" Ven asked.

"Basically, defeat Heartless," Axel answered simply. "You can handle that, can't you?"

"I mean, I'm not really used to fighting them," he admitted. "But I can do my best. After all, I have a Keyblade."

"One that doesn't look like Roxas's," Xion muttered. "What do we do about that?"

"You'll just have to use your Keyblade when other members aren't around," Axel concluded. "Defeat Heartless, the ones with the emblems on them, and keep your Keyblade out of sight."

"What about everything else I'm supposed to know?"

"We'll give you a crash course," Xion answered. "There's a lot to cover and not a lot of time."

"Come with me, I'll summon up some Dusks for you to practice on, out of Saïx's view."

Ven nodded, but the knot in his throat wouldn't go away. He was walking a very thin line, he could tell, and one mess up could land him and the others in a lot of trouble. But for now, he had to consider himself a member of Organization XIII, call himself Roxas, and pretend like he knew what was going on.